by Amy Miles
I don’t want to have to stop and explain myself, not when time is so slim, but I know that Nox isn’t about to jump on the faith train just yet.
“While I was out there on my own, I noticed a pattern among the Withered, or Flesh Bags, as you people call them. They are attracted to darkness and cold. Heat and sunlight drive them away, right? Well...I think it’s time we set a little trap for our guests.”
NINE
When the barricade finally comes crashing in, the overspill of Flesh Bags is simply staggering. Nox was right not to tell me how many he saw coming after us. If he had done so, I might have given up and put a gun in my mouth so that I could control my own death.
The first few zombies that regain their footing pause to sniff the air. Their decaying nostrils flare and a strange grunting sound erupts from their throats. Nox and I watch as one steps forward from the pack, appearing to assume dominance as it surveys the room.
Nox’s grip on my hand is cold and clammy but I cling back to him with the same ferociousness. I can barely breathe as I watch the Withered move forward with three more following close behind as if in some way guarding its back.
The leading male clicks its teeth, weaving its head from side to side as it steps cautiously forward. Its body moves in a fluid motion that I know from past experience can suddenly erupt into a burst of speed once its baser instincts are triggered.
Four more zombies span out behind the initial group while six scramble in through the broken door. Each one looks to be in a similar state of decay, though there is one defining similarity among all of them: a bite mark somewhere on their bodies.
None of the original Withered possessed such a mark or even a desire to sink their teeth into anything. Somehow, something has changed their form of mutation. Perhaps it is nothing more than their newfound hunger that has driven them to bite, but I have yet to see one of them eating their own kind.
My fingers turn white as I grip the metal grate beneath me, staring down through the dusty vent slats as the dominant male approaches the open freezer door. His cranes his head back and breathes deeply. A sudden bark from him sends eight zombies rushing toward the freezer.
But eight is not nearly enough.
I look to Nox, feeling my own dismay mirrored by him as only part of the group takes the bait. I knew that my bloody wrist bandages would attract them. I just didn’t bank on the fact that they would be smart enough to split their forces.
“What do we do?” Nox whispers.
The air vent that we are hiding in is narrow and far too small for Nox, despite being of a lean build. His shoulders are hunched as he tries to minimize his bulk. There is no way he could manage to back his way through the vent into another room and I’m not leaving him behind.
“We stick to the plan.”
“But the plan didn’t work!”
I twist around and stretch my arm back until I can reach the knife at my side. “They just need a little more incentive.”
Running the blade across my arm, I hiss with pain and close my eyes, willing myself not to let this added blood loss take me down. I have lost a lot but I’m determined not to pass out until it is safe to do so.
The blood drips down my forearm and splatters against the slats. Applying pressure just above the cut, I place my hand over the vent cover and squeeze. When the first drop of blood falls, a frenzy begins below.
“That’s enough.” Nox reaches out and tugs my fingers back from my wound. “You’ve got their attention now let’s roast the bastards!”
As the initial Flesh Bags tear apart the freezer, sniffing at the walls and bloody handprints I left behind, the remaining that lagged behind take that crucial step over the wide pool of oil that we poured out just before climbing up into the vent.
“Now!” I shout as I set the entire box of matches on fire with the stick lighter. Nox releases his grip on the grate and it clatters to the floor just behind the back row of zombies. The sound startles them and alerts those searching the freezer.
Dropping the match box into the oil, I watch as the flames come to life and race along the arch, catching several of the zombies unaware and creating a fiery barrier.
“The heat won’t hold them for long and it won’t kill them,” I shout and lower my legs out of the vent. “We need to herd them into the freezer!”
Gripping the edge, I swing down and land a perfect kick to the chest of the Withered closest to me. It stumbles back and takes down three with it. They roll and catch their clothing on fire as they struggle back to their feet. Nox follows directly behind me and smashes in the head of another on his way to the floor.
“Grab that cart!”
I’m already on the move and heading straight for an overturned prep cart while Nox fires his gun in rapid succession. The sound is deafening in the small room, but the zombie’s growls rise to counter it with each shot.
Righting the cart, I spin and race back, swerving around Nox at the last second to ram into a couple Flesh Bags who have breached the barrier, unconcerned with the state of their melting flesh. “You shoot. I’ll push them back!”
Nox nods and takes aim. Three go down within seconds while I battle to keep two more from reaching him. I hear the clatter of a magazine and know that Nox is going to run out of ammo far too soon.
Reaching over the table, I stab a steak knife through the eye of a woman and she collapses backward into the flames. Another takes her place with arms reaching for me as I battle to keep the cart upright and between their gnashing teeth and me.
“Nox!” Just when I feel the cart starting to tip, the ringing of gunfire strikes me and two more zombies collapse, their weight taking the cart down with them.
“Stay away from the fire,” he shouts as he takes aim and shoots a hole right through a man’s head that was bearing down on me.
“I have to get to the freezer!” Glancing all around, I realize that the flames have risen too high for me to be able to just jump over from a standing position. Slamming my foot into the knee of a middle-aged woman when she reaches for me, I rush past and hoist myself up onto the counter. Jumping over pots and pans, I reach the end of the counter and leap, using a particularly disintegrated zombie as my landing pad.
My hands bury themselves in its chest and come out slick with rotting ooze as I rise.
“Down!” Nox yells and I drop and roll without a second’s hesitation. A Flesh Bag staggers backward and collapses, landing heavily across my legs. “My gun is jammed! You need to move your ass!”
“I’m trying.” I wiggle and try to shove it off, but its dead weight proves too heavy for me to lift. A loud growl sends my eyes flying upward and I come face to face with the dominant male.
“Nox!”
From behind me, I hear him grunting and realize that one of the zombies must have breached the line and he’s resorted to hand to hand combat. Reigning in my fear, I buck and thrash, shoving at the dead zombie weighing me down, but a pair of hands seize me and hoist me free.
I scream and fight, slashing with my knife but the Flesh Bag seems completely immune to my attacks. Its grip feels like a vice and its blackened teeth reek of death as it stares at me with unblinking eyes.
“Avery!” Nox’s yell sounds like it comes from underwater as I stare into the monster’s eyes. Though they are pure white, I see something in them that makes my blood run cold: awareness.
This thing is far more intelligent than I suspected. It allowed the others to sacrifice themselves so that it could get to me. It had my scent and had tasted my blood. I was its sole target.
The zombie attacks with frightening speed, tossing me into the wall hard enough to break a rib or two. After my earlier tumble through the trees, that broken bone count was on the rise.
I barely have a chance to push up to my elbows before it seizes my leg and tosses me again, like a dog playing with a rabbit th
at it will eventually eat, but not before it enjoys the game for a while.
My screams echo in my ear when it bends over and grabs my hair, yanking my neck back. It shudders twice when Nox puts two bullets in it, but not before I feel its teeth sink into my neck, piercing the skin. Its saliva burns when it mingles with my blood and I cry out.
I’ve been infected.
This realization shifts something in my mind, something buried so deeply that I thought that I might have lost it: a will to survive and avenge Cable’s death. To make this thing pay for the millions of people that its disease has claimed and now I have to add myself to that number.
With a deafening shout, I slam my forehead into the zombie’s face and feel its nose and cheekbones shatter, spraying my head with its filth. The thing’s nails tear into the muscle of my arm as I wrench my right arm free and turn to ram my knife straight up under its chin.
Its lips part and hang open. Its wide eyes continue to stare at me even as its hands fall away and I drop back to the floor. The tile is stained black and the smell turns my stomach as I watch the alpha male fall sideways with my knife still buried to the hilt, piercing its brain. My blood stains its teeth and lips as it takes one final breath and then falls still.
The sound of pounding boots hits my ears and I turn slowly, taking in the carnage around me as I look up into the incredulous face of Cap. Behind him stands Jax, Ryker, and Monroe, all three bloodied and barely standing on their feet from exhaustion.
Using a Flesh Bag as a bridge, Nox leaps over the flames and skids to my side. Placing his hands on either side of my face, he calls out to me several times before I blink.
“I’m fine,” I whisper. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”
“Like hell you are! You’re going into shock!”
He tosses his gun aside and scoops me up into his arms as though I weigh nothing more than a small child. I can hear the murmurs of the men around us as they fan into the room, but I don’t care as Nox carries me back across the fiery arch and sets me down on a table that two soldiers rush to turn over for him. He stands over me, protective and fierce, just the way I suspect he has always been with Zoey.
“Were you bit? I thought I saw...” Nox’s hands tremble as he pulls my collar back to check and then falls still. “Oh, shit.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be okay.” I smile through my tears but I know that I won’t be. I’m going to be one of them now. A thing. A monster.
Nox’s legs give out on him and he sinks to the floor, resting his head on my knee. “This is all my fault. I should never have let you come with me.”
“Just trying to live up to my nickname. Dumbass seems fitting, doesn’t it?” I place a hand on his head and feel him shudder and wonder if he’s crying. I don’t want him to. He owes me nothing. Hell, he barely even knows me after all.
Yet it feels good to know that I might be missed by someone.
I look up through watery tears to see Cap staring at us from a distance. Behind him, his men move systematically through the room, putting a few extra bullets in the Flesh Bags to make sure that they stay down. It is an efficient clean up that came just a few minutes too late.
“I made my choice and I don’t regret it.” I wince at the burning sensation in my neck and place my hand over it. It didn’t take long for my entire body to feel like one bundle of nerves set to an extreme pain level but I breathe through it.
“Nox.”
He raises his head and slowly pushes up to a standing position when Cap approaches. Spreading his feet, he strikes an “at the ready” pose and takes on a distant gaze instead of looking directly at his commander.
“At ease, soldier.” Cap turns his attention to me. “That was quite a show you just put on, though I imagine we only caught the last few moments of brilliance.”
“I had help.” Clutching my left shoulder, I try to make my collar rise up higher on the right side to hide the bite mark but Cap’s eyes immediately locate the blood. With a heavy sigh, he lowers his gaze. I watch his hand sink to his hip as he unlatches the safety guard holding his weapon.
“Don’t.” Nox’s voice sounds strangled as he reaches out to stop his commander. “Please. She deserves better than that.”
“She’s infected now, Nox. Putting her down is the humane thing to do.”
“And I’m sitting right here, guys,” I growl and flex my fingers, feeling an odd stiffness beginning to set in. New sensations race through my body and it takes all of my strength not to let on to the changes. Whatever these mutations are, they don’t waste time.
“My apologies for speaking so boldly in front of you, ma’am, but I am sure you understand the reasons for it. You now pose a risk to this facility and I cannot allow that to continue.”
I snort at Cap’s response. “Sure, because this place is perfectly safe as it is.”
Cap blinks and looks to Nox for an explanation. Nox looks less than thrilled to share my analysis.
“You’ve got something shady going on here,” I say when I realize Nox is going to remain tight-lipped. I flex my hands again, realizing that the effort has become much harder the second time around. “That girl, Samantha, Zoey’s friend, is the one who attacked us in my room. Then a doctor that works here, who can’t have been dead more than a day or two at the most, attacked after that. If we’d had time to stop and pay attention to the zombies attacking us, I’d wager Nox knew one of them too.”
Cap turns to give Nox a hard stare but Nox keeps his eyes fixated on the ground. A part of me didn’t want to make this harder on him, but I’ll be damned if I let these last few minutes go to waste.
“You have proof of this?”
“Well,” I frown and wipe a long line of newly formed sweat from my brow that I fear stems from something more than the flames that the soldiers are working to smother. “Samantha is a crispy critter up in my room now and that doctor is back in the atrium with Zoey.”
Nox lifts his face. “Zoey! Did she make it? She’s badly wounded. I told Kenzie and Cyrus not to leave her side until help arrived.”
Cap glances over at Jax and Ryker, jerks his head and the two hurry out. “They will get her. Don’t you worry about that, Nox. If she’s still alive, she will receive the best care available.”
Nox looks as if he’s dead on his feet when he waivers and reaches out to use the table to steady himself. I want to comfort him and tell him that Zoey will be okay and everything we risked was worth it, but I can’t. I just don’t have it in me at the moment.
“Avery risked everything to save her and me,” Nox says. “She deserves to go out in the way she chooses.”
Cap stares hard at me and then motions for one of his soldiers to approach. “Get me a gurney and straps.”
“Thank you.” Nox clasps Cap on the arm.
“You did well today, Nox. A lot of lives were saved because of what you did here. Go get some rest and then check in on Zoey. I’ll see to it that this one is cared for.”
Nox nods and looks to me with a weary smile. “Hang in there, dumbass.”
It hurts to smile back and the instant he turns and is ushered out, I don’t even bother trying. Cap stands beside me for a few minutes in silence before he turns to look at me.
“We both know that I have to put you down.”
“Thought you might say that.” I clear my throat when my voice cracks. I refuse to sound weak, even in the face of certain death. “He will never forgive you if he finds out.”
Two soldiers appear in the doorway with a foldable stretcher between them. Thick straps dangle from their arms as they approach and lower the stretcher to the floor.
“There are a lot of things that Nox is better off not knowing.” I look to Cap, trying to judge the harsh edge to his tone. “We do what we must in times like these. Sometimes those things might seem to be nothing more than an abomination but its survival.”
“Spoken like a true self-righteous prick.”
Cap’s eyes narrow. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
“Why should I? I’m still fighting for the good side. You’re just pretending, aren’t you?”
The commander frowns as he turns away from me. “There is no good or bad anymore, Avery. Just the living and the dead.”
“You knew my name all along, didn’t you?”
“Long enough.”
And that is when I realize that of everyone here, Nox is ultimately the one who has been duped. I was set up. Hell, this entire thing was probably a set up to allow Cap and the others a reason to take me and it worked.
As the soldiers reach out to take hold of me, I don’t fight them. I don’t have the energy. Without a word spoken, Monroe and another man lower me to the stretcher and tighten the straps. Hefting me up into the air, my head rolls to the side and I spy the bastard that sank his teeth into me.
I can already feel the changes working their way through me. Soon, I will become one of them. Or at least I will if Cap doesn’t put a bullet between my eyes fast enough.
When he glances over at me as I am carried past, there is no hint of remorse or guilt in his eyes and I know without a doubt that he is part of the underbelly of this place. He is guilty for the events of today and he is more than willing to do whatever it takes to clean up his mess so that no one else suspects what I do.
The only saving grace is that Nox never really believed me. Maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe he just couldn’t bring himself to. Either way, I have to believe that he will survive this. That he will live long enough to expose whoever it is playing God in this place and get people to safety.
Because if he doesn’t...I won’t be the last human to die on these grounds.
TEN
Sounds are strange to me as I become aware of the fact that I am no longer trapped in consuming darkness. I struggle to sort through the hazy memories that flit through my mind faster than I can grasp hold of them. I remember being placed on a stretcher and the odd sensations that overcame me. A recurring face drifts forward in my thoughts, it is of a woman, but I can’t make out who she is or why she would be important. The harder I try to focus on her features, the faster it slips away into blurred nothingness.
