Dead Last (Vol. 1): Dead Last

by Quaranta, Marc

  "What did you do?" Travis panicked.

  "There's nothing out there anymore! The air isn't the problem."

  "What is the problem?" Haylea asked.

  "It's the people out there--the stragglers. Every single person in Frank's group is dead. We got to the hospital and the place was empty. There was a room in the back that I think they were all hiding out in. There was one way in and out. They were cornered. They were trapped inside and all slaughtered to death. You think Molly and the kids looked bad, this was worse. This was a blood bath."

  Everyone except Kurt and Haylea looked shocked over this news. Even Frank looked like this was the first time that he had heard of this information.

  "Why didn't you tell me?" Frank asked.

  "It was brutal, man. I didn't want you to see it. It wouldn't have done any good."

  "Was...was Cameron in there?" Frank asked.

  After a moment, Jack said no.

  "Jesus Christ," Travis said. We all looked at his late response to everything, but he meant it for something else. "We left Nick out there."

  "That was too early. The air was probably still volatile then. If Nick was still alive, he would have come back, alright?"

  "Look, we need to decide who is staying and who is going," Kurt said.

  "Jenny and I are going," Travis reiterated.

  "Okay. That is four including Haylea and I. Anyone else?"

  "I'll go," Elyse volunteered.

  "No," I put my foot down.

  "I'm going, mom."

  "No, you're not!"

  "Emily, we may need some sort of medical help when we get down there. We don't know what to expect. I'd really appreciate it if you came with us," Kurt interrupted our mother-daughter dispute.

  I understood that. I wasn't going to go out there without leaving someone behind to help Sam. That gave me a good argument against Elyse wanting to go. Before, it was just because I didn't want her out there. I didn't want her to go into unidentified territory. It was too dangerous. Here, I knew she'd be safe.

  "Okay. Elyse, you need to stay with your father. Please."

  "Okay. Fine."

  "Thank you."

  "Okay, that's five. Anybody else?" Kurt asked. He looked over to Jack. They connected eyes for a moment, but then Jack looked away. Jack didn't want to go. I was a bit concerned about that. The first couple of days inside WTIX Jack wouldn't lend a helping hand for anything, so it made sense, but over the last couple of weeks, he was as helpful as anyone. He was the first to volunteer to help Frank find his brother. Jack's decision to stay back made me question if we should be going at all.

  "I'll go," Heather volunteered.

  "I'll stay behind," Scott said. "I've got to make sure the building continues to operate."

  "Okay. So, the six of us will go, then," Kurt said. He put his arm around Haylea who seemed to be giving Heather a pretty demonic look. I knew there was tension between them, but, in my opinion, Haylea needed to grow up and realize there were bigger problems at hand.

  We all looked around the room like it was the last time we were going to see each other. We had all grown a lot over the last month being stuck in WTIX. Tensions boiled over at some points, but we continued to work together and I think that was more than what people outside of our building were doing.

  "Okay, let's head out."

  "We don't need to pack anything?" Travis asked.

  "No, we're not staying long. Either way, we're coming back here to get the rest of the group. If this place is real, they'll have plenty of supplies there."

  "Alright, I'm in," Jack surprised us all by volunteering at the last minute.

  "What?"

  "You saw what's out there. I wouldn't feel comfortable with just you keeping an eye on four women."

  "Hey, I'm going," Travis said.

  "I'm sticking to my statement, but thanks," Jack said.

  "Alright, let's do this."

  I watched the five of them all head to the front doors. Elyse came over to me and gave me a big hug. I held her in my arms and didn't want to let go, but I had to.

  "Please, take care of your dad. I... he doesn't have much time left--"

  "Mom, stop. Dad will be fine. He'll be right here when you get back and you can continue to treat him until he gets better."

  We both had tears in our eyes. I hugged her tightly one last time worried that I wasn't going to make it back. This trip could either be the best thing to happen to us in our post-apocalyptic life or the worst thing to happen.

  "Emily, are you ready?" I turned my head, still with Elyse in my arms, and saw that Jack was waiting for me.

  The rest of the group was already out the door and hopping into the van. Jack was waiting for me.

  "Bring her back, ugly," my daughter said to Jack.

  "I will, shorty," he said to her.

  They were too friendly with one another. I didn't like it. I would have preferred Elyse started a close friendship with anybody else in the building, but for some reason, I did not like her getting close to Jack. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way. I don't ever see him protecting her or defending her. He isn't the hero. He isn't the knight in shining armor. He was anti-hero. Every girl's dream, but every parent's worst nightmare.

  "Let's go," I said to him.

  I pulled him by the arm and got him away from my daughter. We walked through the front doors, for the first time without masks, and the sun felt different. It felt like it really was safe for us to be outside. It was turning into a bright, sunny day. For a second, the future seemed as bright as the day would be.

  LVII

  Kurt Elkins

  H ope.

  Hope is the only word I could use. It was what we were all thinking. It was what we all wanted. Hope was what we were looking for. On our drive to Banker's Life we were all hopeful, but also so nervous. We didn't know what to expect when we got there. This was going to be the beginning of a new life for us or it was going to be a great disappointment.

  I'm not sure about the other six in the van, but I was beginning to lose hope as our drive went on. The streets were empty. Downtown Indianapolis, a place that was once crawling with people...with life, was now a shell of its former self. It was a ghost town. It was worse than a ghost town.

  The stores' windows were smashed in. The doors were broken down. If there was a building that still had the door and windows intact, they were boarded up with signs all over the face of the building. Signs telling people to stay away, go away, and to leave the people inside alone.

  It was bone chilling. It was a sight that nobody would ever dream about seeing...unless the dream was a nightmare. Cars were smashed from roof to floor mat, doors were completely ripped from the hinges, and tires were flattened. Some of the cars had small fires burning underneath the hood. There were spots on the streets that I could only guess was dried blood.

  There were dozens of breathtaking sights that we saw on that drive, but the most memorable sight was a sight that we never saw; people. There wasn't a single person on the road. Well, I shouldn't say that. There were some that we came across. Some that were face down in the road...dead.

  I watched Jack's eyes as he drove the van. He was cool and collected, but there was a lot of fear behind his eyes. There had to be. He didn't want to come on this trip in the first place, but changed his mind at the last second and I couldn't help but wonder why that was. He said it was to look after the girls, but I don't buy it. I didn't buy that a man that could cold-heartedly take the lives of three young men could give a damn about anybody else.

  I looked back at Haylea. She looked scared, too. We were all scared. There wasn't a question about it, but some of us were better at holding it together than others. Jenny was squeezing Travis' hand like she was trying to juice it. Emily sat with her fingers interlocked but tapping on the back of her hands rapidly. Heather tapped her foot. Nobody could sit still. We were all sitting on pins and needles and couldn't wait for an answer.

  As I got
lost in a trance making sure that everybody in the back of the van was still doing okay, Jack honked the horn. One, long honk.

  "What the hell are you doing?" I asked him while hitting his hand away from the horn.

  "What?"

  "Are you trying to draw attention to us? What if there are stragglers out there?"

  "This place is a ghost town, Kurt. Look around. There's nobody here. This whole thing was a mistake. I should turn this fucking thing around and take us back to the station."

  "No. We continue on. We have to know for sure," I said as Banker's Life Fieldhouse rose from the horizon.

  I felt an acorn form in my throat and swallowed it down. It was like pulling up to a haunted mansion on the night of a terrible thunderstorm. It gave me that feeling of panic and turned my stomach into knots. Even on a perfect afternoon like the one we were witnessing; the building gave me chills.

  Jack pulled the van up to the curb and turned off the engine. Nobody moved. I continued to stare at the building hoping that I wouldn't have to go inside, that the people inside would just come out and save us the trouble, but I could feel the stares of everybody else looking at me. Jack, Haylea, everyone. Looking into my eyes, into the back of my head, wanting me to be the first one to step outside. I wasn't ready. I couldn't think of anything to do, I just sat there.

  Jack finally sighed and stepped out of the van. That calmed my nerves, along with everyone else's, to step out of the van.

  We walked up to a large display of fireworks just sitting on the sidewalk waiting to be used. Cases and cases of fireworks. These weren't typical Fourth of July family fireworks. There weren't any sparklers or the small waterfall kind. These were the big kinds that were used for big city shows. There were a few empty rounds, but more were unused than used.

  "What's all this?" Heather asked as she walked slowly behind us.

  "They were shooting these off," Jack responded.

  "Did you see this too from the Tower Cam?" Haylea asked.

  "Yea...I did."

  Haylea looked at me and shook her head. She hated Jack so much right now. All I could do was rub her back and move her along.

  We all walked cautiously not knowing what we were going to expect after we walked through those doors.

  Jack was the first and I was right behind him. He put his hands on the big steel handle and pulled open the doors. Instantly, we were hit with a foul smell. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it smelled like bad body odor or a crate full of old fish. Whatever it was, it didn't smell very good.

  "Oh my God. What is that?" Jenny asked with her hands to her nose.

  "I don't know," I said.

  "You still think this is a good idea?" Jack asked me.

  "I don't know." I nodded at him to keep going, though.

  We walked through the lobby, which was just as quiet as the streets outside. Not a person in sight, some broken glass and other shattered stuff. It took more hope out of me. Every time we continued forward it seemed to get worse and worse. We probably should have packed up and left at that time, but I needed to know if it was safe. I needed to save my people and the arena might have been the best way to do that.

  There were posters for the basketball team and upcoming events that the arena was hosting spread all over the lobby floor. It looked like a wild stampede stormed through the building from one side to the other leaving nothing but debris and destruction.

  "Maybe we should split up?" I asked.

  "It doesn't look like there is a single person in this building," Jack said.

  "Jack's right, Kurt," Travis said.

  "I know what it looks like, Travis!" I raised my voice a little too high. After I looked around, I spoke quietly, "But we don't know that for sure."

  "Kurt," Haylea said.

  "Okay, I've had it. I'm tired of calling the shots. If you guys want to get in that van and turn around and drive back to the station, I'm all for it. But there may be people inside this place that could help us. They may have answers. They may know something we don't. If you are willing to pass up the opportunity to find more survivors, then tell me and we'll leave."

  Nobody answered me. They all looked around at each other and then around the rest of the building. I took that as my answer. As scared as people were, they couldn't let that fear change who they were. I wasn't going to allow that to happen. No matter what circumstances were laid out before us, we needed to continue on. We had no other choice but to.

  "Who goes with who?" Jenny asked.

  "Travis and Heather, you two come with me. Emily, Jenny go with Haylea and Jack."

  "No way in hell. I'm not leaving Jenny," Travis said.

  "Travis, I'll be okay, sweetie."

  "No. What if something happens to you?" Travis was on the verge of tears.

  "Nothing is going to happen to me. You go with them, I'll go this way and we'll meet back here in a few minutes."

  "But I love you. I love you so much," Travis said.

  "Stop. Nothing is going to happen, okay?" Jenny was showing more signs of courage than I ever would have given her credit for.

  "Why can't she come with me?" Travis continued to beg. "How can you just turn Haylea away to another group?"

  I looked at Haylea and she didn't seem as worried about it as Travis was about being apart from his loved one. If Haylea understood me as well as I hoped she did, and I think she did, she knew exactly why I needed her to go with that group. My eyes met his for a moment and he smiled. Jack knew exactly why I needed her to go with that group, too. I didn't care if he knew. I trusted Haylea to be a leader.

  Travis and Jenny shared a long kiss. As for me and Haylea, I just smiled at her and she nodded back. We knew that there was nothing to worry about...at least we both hoped there wasn't anything to worry about. I watched as Haylea lead Emily and Jenny down the far hallway. Jack stared at me for a moment with cold pupils, but then slowly turned away and walked with his group.

  "If anything happens to her, you'll regret it," Travis warned me.

  He walked past me and, bravely, lead the way down the other hall. Heather shot me a smile, but it was more fear than humor. We both understood what Travis was feeling, but he wasn't the brawn type.

  We had searched a couple of hallways and a couple of restrooms and storage areas, but there wasn't a person to be seen. Outside, as terrible as it sounds, it was refreshing to see a dead body every now and then because it reminded us that we weren't alone or, at least, weren't alone at one point before that person died. But when we walked and walked and there wasn't a single sign of human life, it was suffocating. Like being in a pitch-black room and not being able to breath. You don't know why you're suffocating, you can't see anything, you just feel the pain in your lungs as you fight for air. You feel alone. Just like we felt.

  We started walking up the stairs to the upper section. The escalator was operating, but not successfully. The stairs would move up a few inches, but then come to an abrupt halt and then jerk back and forth before moving up again. We hadn't gotten much exercise, though, so the stairs were fine by us.

  I wasn't doing too much thinking about the other group and Haylea. I wasn't too worried about her. Over the years, and especially during this outbreak, Haylea had proven herself to be strong. Stronger than any of the other women I'd ever met. She could handle herself. Was I nervous to be leaving her with a murderer? Yes, but I wasn't worried about her safety.

  The upper section of Banker's Life wasn't much different. Coming out of the stairwell the first thing on the second floor was a line of concession stands. Hot dog joints, pizza vendors, burgers, and beer. Lots of beer. And all of them, just like the area downstairs, were ransacked. Torn through and apart like people were willing to take anything and everything from the place.

  Popcorn was sprawled all over the floor. I reached down and picked up a few kernels. I wanted to feel them. I wanted to know how long ago this mess was made. I wasn't an outdoorsman. I wasn't a boy scout. I wasn't going to be able to touch
cold popcorn and estimate a date and time of its popping, but I had to try. I had to try something to piece together what was happening.

  "Ew," Travis said.

  "I'm not eating it, you fucking moron."

  "Guys..."

  I sprinkled the popcorn back to the ground and stood up hearing the crunch of kernels with each step I took.

  "Guys," I heard Heather quietly say.

  I turned around to see what it was she was worried about and then I froze. Across from us, coming down from the third level, the nose bleeds, of the arena, was a girl. A girl that couldn't have been any older than Heather, maybe a few years younger, but she was no younger than 19.

  She limped off the escalator and slowly came walking to us. Her face was gray and she looked like she hadn't eaten in days. Her breathing sounded blocked by something in her lungs. It was raspy and uneven. She walked with such a bad limp that I'd guess she had a broken leg or a torn ligament.

  Travis moved closer to her excited to see somebody alive. He moved slowly, but with intent to make contact.

  "Travis," I said to him unsure of the girl's health and well-being.

  The girl wasn't too aware of us being in the same place as her until Travis got closer. She slowly turned her head on a swivel like a child's doll to connect eyes with Travis. One of her eyes was bloodshot. Red enough to believe more than one blood vessel popped. Her other eye had no iris. It was just a clear white color with a small block dot in the middle.

  "Travis, stop," I said again.

  "Stop? This is what you wanted now you want to just stop?" he turned to me and said with sarcasm.

  She jumped at him.

  He wasn't looking at her so couldn't react to her when she sank her teeth into his arm. He screamed and it rang through the halls of the arena. Her teeth were deep into the skin of his bicep and it took a lot of effort to push her off. When he finally got free from her mouth he shoved her backward.

  She stepped on her own leg while falling backwards. The force of the fall pulled her leg completely off the kneecap. We heard the pop and tear and saw blood and muscle hanging from below her knee. She fell to the ground but didn't make a sound. She didn't scream or moan in pain. She fell and remained motionless.