by Casey, Ryan
Right away, Noah felt a defensiveness.
“You can’t just go climbing over there. It’s not safe.”
“I can do it,” Iqrah said. Turning around. Facing Noah. “I can climb the fence. I can drop down the other side. And then I can get those hedge cutters and cut you through.”
Noah shook his head. “Iqrah, it’s not safe.”
“Since when did you care about my safety?”
Noah opened his mouth to say something, to protest.
And in the end, he just closed his mouth again and sighed. “Be careful. Seriously. I don’t like how quiet it is. If I see anyone… you need to get down immediately. Okay?”
She looked back at him. Nodded. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. We can do this.”
She put her hands on the metal wiring. Started to climb.
“And Iqrah?”
She looked back at him.
“If… If we see someone, you get over there, and you run. Without me. Okay?”
She smiled back at him. “It won’t come to that.”
“But—”
“It won’t come to that.”
She turned back around and started climbing that fence.
Noah watched her every step. He kept on looking left, right down the length of the fence, as it creaked away under Iqrah’s feet. And then to the right, off towards the trees. Over his shoulder, he swore he heard movement in the distance. Movement heading their way.
It’s okay. It’s all clear. You’ve got this. You’re gonna do this.
Bruno whined. His ears were back. He looked unsettled. Like he knew someone was out there, too. Like he knew something was coming.
He looked back up at Iqrah. Halfway up the fence now. “You doing okay up there?”
She held out a thumb, which made Noah’s stomach turn.
“Jeez. Both hands on the damned fence, okay?”
“I’m fine. Really.”
She kept on climbing. High up now, a good thirty feet in the air.
He looked to his right, over to the woods.
Then over to the left.
And then back over his shoulder.
Still all clear.
But still the sense someone was coming.
Still—
“I did it!” Iqrah called.
He looked up. Saw her sitting there at the top of the fence. Smile on her face.
“Not even close,” Noah said. “Gotta get down before you start celebrating like that. Now hurry the hell up. We don’t have time to…”
He saw them, and he froze.
On the other side of the fence, in No Man’s Land, there were four figures.
Infected.
Standing there.
Staring.
Watching.
“Iqrah?” Noah said. “You need to…”
And that’s when he heard something else.
Shouting.
Down the left side of the fence.
He looked around.
And when he saw them, his body froze.
Four guards were racing down the perimeter, right towards him.
Infected on one side.
Guards on the other.
“We’re fucked,” Noah said.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Iqrah! You need to get the hell back down here now!”
Noah stared through the gaps in the fence at the four infected. All of them staring at Noah. All of them walking slowly through the long grass of No Man’s Land towards them.
They were naked. Their skin looked grey and pale. Mushrooms and moss grew from them like they’d been in that water for ages. Almost immediately, the smell of rot filled the air.
And Noah knew he couldn’t just stay here. He couldn’t just wait. Iqrah. She had to get down. And they had to run. Because as much of a threat as the infected were, they had another problem. A bigger problem.
Over to the left, four guards raced down the perimeter towards him.
He looked back up at Iqrah. “Iqrah, you need to… What the fuck are you doing?”
Iqrah clambered her way down the fence, faster now. “We need to get through here. We can’t give up.”
“There’s infected—”
“I can deal with the infected.”
“But the guards—”
“Trust me, Noah. Okay? Trust me.”
She climbed further down the fence. Landed on the boggy ground.
And then she looked around at the infected. Approaching the dead man with the hedge cutters lying by his side.
More shouts from those approaching guards, who got closer and closer.
“Hide,” Iqrah said.
“Iqrah, you need to get away from here.”
“Hide. I’ve got this. I can do this.”
And then she turned around and walked towards the body. Towards the infected.
“Shit,” Noah said, looking back at those guards. “Holy fucking shit.”
He didn’t want to leave Iqrah. Didn’t want to abandon her. It just felt so wrong, walking away from her like this.
But at the same time… what choice did he have?
He had to trust her.
He had to believe she had this.
“Fuck it,” he said.
He turned around and ran back towards the trees, Bruno by his side.
He didn’t look back once. He heard the shrieks of the infected at the other side of the fence, and he waited for a cry; waited for a scream. The kind of scream that Kelly let out when that crowd of infected carried her away all those years ago. The cry of someone terrified. Of someone else, lost.
But no. He couldn’t think like that. He wasn’t attached to Iqrah. He was just helping her out while he was on the road, ’cause that was his duty.
He wasn’t attached.
He—
A blast.
Something whooshing past his shoulder, so close it nearly hit him.
Gunfire.
The guards. They were closing in. They were going to get him if he didn’t hurry.
He kept on running towards the trees. Parried from side to side, desperate to avoid any more stray bullets. He wanted to look back and see how Iqrah was getting on, but he knew it would just slow him down.
He had to focus on himself right now.
Iqrah might not get out of the mess she’d got herself into. But he had to.
He tripped up. Smacked against the ground. Landed in a boggy, muddy pool. Tasted stagnant water. The sound of those guards getting closer behind him. Footsteps. Shouting.
He rolled over onto his back. Lay there in the dirt, held on to Bruno. Shielded by the tall grass. His heart raced. His breathing was rapid. He felt such a weak fucker for lying here and hiding like this.
But at the same time, there wasn’t a thing else he could do.
He held his breath when he heard the footsteps slosh through the mud beside him.
Held Bruno close.
“Where’d he go?” a voice said. Gruff. Male.
“Not a clue. Footsteps stop here.”
“Well he can’t have just vanished. Get looking.”
“Was it definitely him?”
“Matches his description.”
“Shit. We’re gonna be in the good books if we find that fucker.”
The hairs on Noah’s arms stood on end when he heard these words. They were after him. They were onto him. There was no turning back anymore. No escape.
And despite all this, despite the immediate danger he was in, all he could think about was Iqrah.
Racing into that death trap of infected in search of the hedge cutters.
She was strong. She’d already proven what she could do to the infected.
But he just wasn’t sure whether she’d be able to do it in time.
The footsteps passed by, waded through the mud. Further away from him. His heart thumped, almost bursting through his chest.
And then those footsteps got further away…
A chance.
An opportunity.
He couldn’t wait around here. He had to get to his feet and run while he had the chance.
He sat up. Squinted through the trees.
He saw three guards wading off into the distance, running.
This was it.
He had a chance.
He stood up and went to run back towards the perimeter fence when he saw a man standing there pointing a rifle at his chest.
“Stop right there, buddy,” a crackly voice said. “Game’s over.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Not another move, buddy. Your game’s up. Down on your knees right this second and we can get this over with as quickly and cleanly as possible.”
Noah stood and stared into the guard’s sharp blue eyes. Behind, he saw the other guards turning, running over, switching their attention to him. A heavy breeze blew against the trees as the sky grew darker above. He couldn’t hear anything from Iqrah. He didn’t know whether she’d made it, where she was, whether she was even alive still.
He just had to live in the hope that she’d realised it was too late for her to come back over this way. That she’d done a runner. Made a break for it.
But at the back of his mind, he couldn’t shake the sense that she was in danger, and he had to help her.
But what the fuck was he supposed to do now?
“Do you not understand what I’m saying? On your knees. Right this goddamned second.”
“What difference does it make?” Noah said.
“Huh?”
“I said, what difference does it make whether I’m on my knees or standing? You’re going to kill me anyway. Might as well do it while I’m standing my ground.”
The guard shook his head. Lowered his rifle.
“Trust me. I wouldn’t make it that easy for you.”
And then he stepped over to Noah and cracked him across the head.
Noah fell back. His head spun. The taste of blood filled his mouth. Stars filled his eyes. He could hear Bruno barking, kicking back. He wanted to tell him to shut up, to tell him to stop, because he knew these people wouldn’t give a shit about the well-being of a dog.
But Bruno was loyal. He didn’t stop barking.
Noah turned over onto his back. Looked up. His vision blurry. The taste of blood on his lips.
That guard stood over him, rifle in hand.
Behind him, he saw the other guards there now. A few of them saying things.
“Just get it done with, Calvin,” one of them said. “No need to mess around.”
But the guard who’d hit Noah—Calvin—didn’t seem to be in a mood for following orders.
“Nah,” he said. “Nah, it ain’t fair. This guy here killed our people. He doesn’t deserve a clean death.”
Noah went to drag himself out of the way when the butt of the rifle came crashing down on his skull once again.
Another blast of pain. Throbbing and aching, right across his face.
“You heard what Shelley told us, man. Quick and clean. No bruises.”
“I don’t give a fuck about Shelley at this point. And will someone shut that goddamned mutt up?”
“No,” Noah said.
He stretched out a hand. Reached towards Bruno. Desperate to protect him. Desperate not to lose him, too.
Calvin clearly saw the look in Noah’s eyes ’cause he let out a little laugh. “Aw, shit. Tough man here gonna get all emotional over a dog?”
Noah dragged himself further over to Bruno’s side. Desperate to protect him. “Please. Do whatever you have to with me. But the dog… leave the dog.”
Calvin lifted his rifle and laughed louder. “Shit. You know what that makes me think?”
He turned the rifle and pointed it right to Bruno’s nose.
“It makes me want to kill the little shit even more.”
Bruno let out a whine.
Calvin tightened his grip on the trigger.
And then something happened.
Out of nowhere, a crack echoed through the woods.
Calvin’s rifle started to shake.
Noah didn’t understand. He was still dizzy. Still in pain. Still dazed.
He looked up and saw blood oozing down from Calvin’s eyes.
Saw him clutching his neck.
He saw his skin turning blue.
And he knew what this was.
“Iqrah,” he muttered.
He didn’t even have time to think.
He kicked Calvin in the gut.
Snatched his rifle from him.
And then he turned it on him and gunned him down.
Shot at the rest of his companions before they even had chance to figure out what the hell was happening.
He watched the blood splatter from their chests. Watched them clutch their necks. Watched them fall to the ground.
And then, as he stood there in the cool breeze, he looked down at Bruno.
Bruno stared up at him. Wagged his tail. Ears raised. Like he’d done this.
“Not that tough, you soft little git,” Noah said, ruffling behind his ears. “Now come on. We have to…”
He turned around and saw Iqrah standing right there.
Blood trickled from her nostrils. She looked tired. More ill than before. Weak.
But she was here.
And she had the hedge cutters in hand.
“Could’ve timed that better,” Noah said.
Iqrah rolled her eyes. “Considering I’ve saved your life three times now, you’re not very grateful.”
“I’ll be grateful when we get the hell through that fence and into No Man’s Land. Come on. We can’t wait around here forever.”
He ran alongside her. She was slower. Weaker. Turning people, it must take it out of her. He knew that feeling all too well, even if he was far less in touch with it than she was.
He reached the fence. “Come on. You first.”
She clambered through, and he heard something.
More voices.
More Society guards, racing their way.
He clambered through the fence, clenching limply on to the rifle. Saw Iqrah running off ahead, into the long grass. And he felt a tension within. He was in No Man’s Land now. Uncharted territory. Dangerous territory.
It felt darker out here. More lawless out here.
It felt like eyes were watching, now he was beyond the threshold.
“Iqrah, wait up,” he said.
She turned around as she looked back at him. “Thought you told me to keep going?”
“It’s…”
He had a funny feeling about something.
And it was at that moment that he realised what that funny feeling was.
The bodies of the infected lay around him. Their heads had burst, much like earlier. Flies buzzed around their decaying flesh.
But someone was missing.
“The man,” Noah said. “The man with the hedge cutters. He’s…”
He didn’t have time to think before it happened.
The man with the hedge cutters jumped out from behind a tree.
Knocked Iqrah to the ground.
And buried his teeth into her neck.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Noah watched the infected wrap its teeth around Iqrah’s neck, and his entire world stood still.
It landed heavily on Iqrah. Bit down, right away. The bloke’s immense weight was enough to send her collapsing violently to the ground. She let out a little scream of pain, and then all Noah saw was blood.
He lifted his rifle right away and disregarded any sense of caution inside; any sense that his bullets might accidentally hit Iqrah, and he fired.
He shot the infected in the back three times. Watched the blood splatter out of it. Watched it roll off Iqrah, over to the side.
And then he ran over to her. Bruno close behind. Right into the depths of No Man’s Land, which already felt dangerous and unpredictable, already made him want to seek out the security of the world within the confines of his district.
“Iqrah?” he sai
d.
She lay on the ground clutching her neck. The bite marks were bad. She was bleeding heavily, all over the grass. It wasn’t good. She needed stitching up. Some kind of urgent medical attention. But he wasn’t sure he could give it to her right now. How the hell was he supposed to give her any kind of medical attention when he was out here, away from any form of society?
He clutched Iqrah close to his body. Held her cold, thin frame over his shoulder, desperate to get away from here, but clueless as to where to go. “Stay with me, Iqrah. Don’t you go dying on me. Not now.”
She spluttered blood. It drooled right down her lips.
Fuck. This wasn’t good at all.
He lifted her over his shoulder. Heard footsteps and voices in the distance, approaching at the other side of the No Man’s Land fence. The guards. More of them were chasing them down. They were after them.
And as much as they tended not to police No Man’s Land, he sensed these guards were different. Iqrah was different.
He was learning so much about her mystery, and even so, he still sensed uncovered secrets when it came to this kid.
He ran towards the trees. Disoriented. Afraid. He heard footsteps somewhere to his left. Swore he heard a snarl, somewhere over his shoulder. The infected, they prowled these parts. There were all kinds of nasty unknowns out here. Supposedly, the infection had developed in new, terrifying ways out here.
But he couldn’t dwell on it now. He was in this shit, whether he liked it or not.
And whether he liked it or not, this young girl had saved his life three times. He owed it to her to at least get her somewhere safe. Somewhere she could receive medical attention.
He ran on. Gripped his rifle in his hand while Iqrah balanced over his shoulder. The grey sky grew darker as night approached. One crazy day, getting closer to blending into another.
He ran towards an opening up ahead when he heard banging against the fence.
He looked around. Although the perimeter fence wasn’t in sight, he knew what that sound was. The guards. They’d crossed the threshold. They were right on their tail.
Which meant Noah had to think carefully. Muddy footprints. Easily followed.
He had to find somewhere to lay low. But at the same time, Iqrah needed urgent medical attention. He looked down at her. Saw her bleeding from her neck. Badly. If she didn’t bleed out, she’d get infected, and she’d die.
