by Hamid, Dean
He didn’t sign up for this leadership thing. He kind of fell into it. Maybe it was time for him to fall out of it. Chill.
Kalene helped move whatever she could from off the bus. At times, succumbing to bouts of coughing. Curtis asked how she was doing and she responded by saying that she was well. He told her that when she got to the Island, she should be looked at. Kalene agreed but, deep down inside, she really didn’t want to. She kept thinking about her brother and his symptoms.
After boarding, the ferry left the dock soon after. Ed stood along the side with Curtis and asked him about his brother. Curtis was curious himself. “I’m not sure. I asked about him, and no one seemed to be able to give me a solid answer. I hope he’s alright.”
“Probably so. Maybe he just couldn’t make the trip over today.”
“Maybe.”
They got closer to the Island and he asked, “So. What’s the deal with this place?”
“It’s a safe haven of sorts. Keeps those monsters away.” He pointed towards the perimeter of the Island. “As you can see. They have people watching at all times. Making sure no one comes in. As well as on and off the Island.” He pointed towards the razor wire along the shore. “It’s all around the Island, except when the boat comes through. And as you can see. That’s armed.”
Ed watched as the ferry was waved through an opening surrounded by barb wire. He was relieved to see the armed men. Maybe, now, he could relax and let someone else put in the work.
He looked back towards the mainland. It was getting dark. He watched as the creatures came out of their respective shelters. Some headed towards the bus that stayed parked at the pier. They’ll more than likely tear it up, he thought, but then something strange happened. It was cranked up. He found Curtis and pointed towards it.
“Yeah. That’s definitely strange.”
“Did we leave anyone behind?”
“No. Not according to the count. Might just be a survivor.”
“Might be. But, whoever it is, why didn’t they just reveal themselves to us?” Ed asked as he looked up at the building from earlier. “I wonder why.”
They both watched as the bus turned off, and one of the occupants of the bus came over and said, “What the hell was that? Somebody trying to drive the bus away?”
Not wanting to cause any alarm, Ed glanced over at Curtis and said, “Uh… yeah. Believe it was a survivor.”
“A survivor? I thought we were the only ones.”
Curtis turned towards him and said, “Uh… no. Just some people. They’ll be back.” He guided him towards the front of the boat, pointing towards the Island. “Don’t worry about that. Look. Your new home!”
He turned around once more, then shrugged his shoulders and turned back towards the Island as the ferry started to dock. “Yeah. New home.”
Curtis turned towards Ed and said, “C’mon. Don’t worry about it. We’ll check into it later. Maybe these guys on this side know something.”
Ed turned towards him and nodded as they started walking to the gangway. “Maybe. It’s not my headache anymore anyway.”
*****
The figure on the bus stepped off and walked into an abandoned garage underneath a building. The same building Ed saw the figure in the window from earlier. The driver walked up the stairs into the lobby inside the building and gave the same man from earlier that Ed had seen in the window, the keys.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ed, Kalene, and Curtis were shown to their quarters. The place where they were staying was a three-story apartment complex, with two and three bedroom apartments. It had a nice sized lobby with a lounge and several small private dayrooms. There were also several large screen TV’s. Not that that would do any good, but he did notice the DVD player.
Children were scattered all about, and they played. They were not permitted to go outside without permission or even an escort, for that matter. The adults hung out mostly. Reading. Looking outside. In what seemed to be pleasant conversation. It seemed like a decent place. And, it was pretty clean.
But, there was one question. Where was Jeremiah? He asked Curtis and even he didn’t know. He was told he was busy on the other side of the Island. And, he was told that he’d be in touch with him soon. Right then, they both knew that was strange.
“We’ll give it a day or so.”
“Then, we’ll go looking ourselves.”
Curtis started looking around at the people and said, “You know something just doesn’t feel right.”
“I know. Too damn perfect.”
“For real.”
Kalene walked along the shore checking out the perimeter. About ten feet into the water, it was gated with barbed wire around the top. Along the base of it were rocks with razors embedded in it. She guess that was to make sure no one was able to climb on top.
She watched as the children played. She did notice that they weren’t any pets around. But, she hasn’t seen much of that since this epidemic began anyway. She also noticed that there weren’t any newborn babies either. Thinking further, she realized that she hadn’t seen a newborn baby in months.
She also wondered if she should stay. Maybe have some sort of life. Be free of the running. The killing. The creatures. It sure seemed like a good plan. She spotted a bench and sat, staring off into the water. Suddenly, she felt a massive pain inside her head, along the temples. She screamed out some, then rubbed at them. Her eyes fluttered rapidly and she stared to have a seizure.
Someone had spotted her and rushed her back to the dorm. A few hours later, she awoke inside a room. It was small. Like a jail cell. She got up and ran to the door, looking out the small window. Across from her and up and down, the hall were other doors similar to hers. She yelled out, but nobody responded.
Then, she looked at the door across from her and watched as someone slowly appeared to the window. It looked like one of the creatures. But, it didn’t seem like it was fully developed yet. Almost looked half-human. She backed away from the window against the bed and fell to the floor crying. Now what!
A few days had passed, and Ed hadn’t seen or heard from Kalene. He looked around the facility and couldn’t find her. He asked around and no one knew who she was. He knew something was wrong. He caught up with Curtis and he said the same thing. A few people that they brought over were missing. And he still hadn’t heard from his brother, Jeremiah.
“Where’s the guns?” he asked Curtis.
“Hell if I know. They took them from us when we got off the ferry.”
“They must be an ammunitions storage around here somewhere. There’s no way they don’t have any weapons.”
“I agree.”
They noticed that they were being watched closely. Most of the people now stayed their distance away from them as well.
“Something ain’t right.”
“Yo. Go pack a bag and meet me back in front of the building.”
“Why?” Ed asked.
“Because we’re getting the fuck out of here!”
“Damn right!”
They both disappeared up to their rooms.
Someone tapped on Kalene’s door. She got up and turned to the door. It was an armed guard with a nurse. The guard ordered her to back away from the door; then, he opened up the door, pointing his rifle her way. “Turn around and put your hands up!”
She did, and he quickly searched her up and down. The nurse grabbed her arm and checked for a vein. Kalene started to pull away and said to her, “What are you doing? Why am I here?”
The guard poked her in the ribs with his gun and said, “Shut up!”
“Where the hell am I?”
“Didn’t I say shit the hell up!” He went to poke her again and Kalene decided she’d had enough. She side stepped him and caught him off balance. She snatched the rifle from out his grip and spun it around, pointing it at him and the nurse. “Now, both of you! Get towards the back!”
They complied. The guard said, “Look. You won’t get too far!”
> “Am I still on the Island!”
“Yes!” the nurse said. “But, they won’t let you off.”
“The hell they won’t!”
“You’re sick!”
“I’m what.” Kalene stopped.
“You’re infected.”
“No, I’m not.”
The nurse started approaching her slowly, telling her. “The headaches. The seizures. It’s starting to take.”
“What’s starting to take? What are you talking about?”
She started to point the gun at her and the nurse yelled, “7.3000!”
“What?”
“The 7.3000 virus. Evidently, at some point, you were injected with it.”
Kalene remembered. When she was at the base with her mother and her brother.
“It was an antiviral drug. But, it doesn’t work. It will make you turn… eventually.”
“Turn?” Kalene started backing towards the door. “I’m good, trust me.”
“For now. But, eventually, you’ll turn. And, what will make it worse is. You’ll still think. Might even look the same, but you’ll be a creature. Please, let us help you.”
Kalene looked up and down at the doors at some of the faces that started to approach the windows. “Doesn’t look like you’re helping anyone!”
The guard jumped towards her, and Kalene shot him. The nurse started to move towards her as well, and Kalene backed out the door and shut it. Then, she locked it. The nurse banged furiously. “You’ll be a monster! You’ll never leave this Island alive!”
Kalene turned and ran towards the exit. She had to find Ed.
By the time Ed and Curtis made it back downstairs, a crowd of people had gathered. They were pointing security their way. “Looks like trouble,” Ed said.
Curtis nudged him towards the exit. “Let’s get out of here.”
It was blocked off by security, and they started heading towards them. Ed and Curtis were backed into a corner.
They put up their hands and took a stance, ready to fight. Then, gunfire erupted behind them. “Alright, drop to the ground!”
It was Kalene.
The security that had surrounded Ed and Curtis turned towards her and they both dived to the floor. They knew what was coming next. Kalene started shooting at them. Some were able to scatter and get away but, the ones who didn’t, Ed and Curtis grabbed for their guns.
Ed gave the high sign to Kalene to cover the entrance, and she did. They ran towards it. Curtis fell. He’d been shot. Ed reached down and helped him up as they ran out the building. Curtis yelled out. “Now what!”
Kalene pointed towards the pier and said, “That’s the only way.”
“The ferry? It’s probably more guarded than the Island.”
“We’ll have to take that chance.”
Curtis caught a round to the shoulder, but the bullet went straight through. He was still able to brandish a gun. Kalene and Ed were able to get to a toolshed posted across from the ferry. The guards were starting to gather and roll on them.
“What are we going to do Ed?” Kalene asked.
“Well. We can’t swim off this damn Island. And, we’re going to catch hell trying to take the ferry.”
Curtis loaded his gun and said, “Then, I guess we have to make the best of it.”
The guards started coming their way. The ones that were in the ferry pointed their guns their way as well. Kalene pointed towards the building she’d just left and yelled, “Look!”
Creatures started coming out the front in droves.
“Where’d they come from?”
“That’s where they had me held. There’s a bunch of people locked in cells inside of there.”
“What was going on in there?”
“They were experimenting. Trying to inject people with drugs.”
“Drugs?”
She rubbed the side of her arm and said, “The vaccine. From when it first happened. The 7.3000.”
“The cure.”
“That’s what they said it was. But, it might not have been.”
Curtis interjected, “It was just another goddamn virus! That’s all it was!” He watched as the guards started running out in their direction. “And, all this time, all they did was experiment with people they brought over!”
“Damn!”
“Damn right!”
The guards turned from them and started shooting at the creatures. They had started attacking the residents in the building. Some of the guards from the ferry started running that way as well. They’d completely forgotten about Ed and them. They saw their shot and scrambled on board the boat. “Who knows how to drive this damn thing!”
Out of the shadows stepped Jeremiah, “I do.”
Curtis rushed him. “Damn good to see you. What happened to you?”
“They tried to make me take the shot they were giving everyone. When I refused, they kept me prisoner on here. They didn’t want me to say anything to anyone.”
“Why didn’t they take you to the building where they took me?”
“They were. Today. But, all this craziness started happening.”
The Island had exploded into a war zone. The creatures were attacking everyone. Men. Women. And, even children.
“Well, we better go then, before they come this way,” Curtis said.
“Too late.” Kalene pointed towards the swarm of creatures that started approaching them.
“Pull up the anchor and untie us from the pier. I’ll do the rest. And, oh yeah. They’re more guns downstairs. We’re damn sure going to need them.”
They watched somberly from the ferry as the onslaught continued. They managed to get the boat away from the pier out into the open waters before the creatures got to them.
Ed and Curtis stayed topside along with their weapons, keeping watch. A few had made the attempt to rush into the waters after them, but they picked them off.
Now, it was a matter of where to go.
“I guess we’ll go back into the City,” Curtis suggested.
“Yeah. We can. Or, we can just leave. Go somewhere else,” Jeremiah said to him.
“Where can we go with a damn ferry?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“How about fuel?”
“There’s a few fuel stops along the inlet. We’ll go north up into Canada, perhaps.”
“It’ll be cold as shit, and we don’t have the supplies.”
“Ok. Then South.”
Curtis thought for a second and said, “Yeah, that sounds cool.”
“But, we still have to go to the City,” Ed said to them.
“For what?”
“Supplies. Food.”
“You’re right. We’ll go. In and out.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
They heard something downstairs and Ed looked around and asked, “Where’s Kalene?”
They rushed downstairs and Kalene was stumbling around, holding her head and screaming out in pain. “Oh, my God. It hurts so bad!”
Ed rushed over to her, trying to hold her down. “What’s wrong!”
Kalene’s eyes had started to get bloodshot red. She started grabbing at her skin. Then, at her hair, pulling it out. Ed jumped back. Her gums started bleeding, and then she lunged at him. Fighting her off, Curtis came over to help him, and he said, “She’s turning into one of those creatures.”
She rubbed at her arm, and then Curtis pulled up her sleeves. “They injected her with something.”
“Damn,” Ed said. “We have to get her some help. Get some rope and we’ll tie her down.”
They did. Once they got upstairs, Jeremiah said to Ed, “Bruh, there’s is no help. She’s turning into one of those things.”
“No, we can help her. There’s got to be a way.”
Curtis patted him on the back. “There is no cure.”
Ed looked up at them. Tears had welled up in his eyes. “So, what do we do?”
Jeremiah handed Curtis a gun and said, “I think you know.”
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Curtis held his head down and said, “I’ll do it.”
Ed stopped him and said, “No. I got it. She was my friend.”
Curtis and Jeremiah backed away and started going upstairs topside, and Jeremiah said to him, “We still need to go into the City… for supplies.”
Ed stopped and just nodded his head. “Okay.”
He stepped into the small cabin where Kalene was being held. She was breathing heavily, and her head was hung down. Ed could tell that she had fought hard against the straps that held her restrained. Her wrists were swollen. He closed the door back behind him. “Kalene? Kalene?”
She lifted her head up slowly. Ed backed away some. “Yes. I’m still here.”
“You’re infected. They want me to come down and uh…”
“Kill me.”
“You seem to be okay now. Maybe, you were just sick.”
“Maybe. But, maybe…”
Ed got closer up on her, trying to hear. She lunged at him and he fell back against the wall. “What the hell!” Her teeth gnashed out at him. Her eyes were bloody red and she snarled. “You’re the sick ones!”
Ed got up to his feet. He glanced at the gun he’d just dropped, and she also looked at it and started to plea. “Ed. I’m okay. I just need some rest. I’m not one of those creatures.”
“How can I tell? How can I be sure?”
She started to gag, like she was starting to throw up. Ed looked around for a bucket. Finding one, he slid it her way. She tried leaning forward but couldn’t. “Ed, please help me…”
Ed leaned forward some, pushing it closer towards her. She lunged again. This time, the chair she was in fell forward towards him. Ed tried getting out the way, but it was too late. She fell on top of him and started biting at him. Ed finally fought her off and kicked her away and lunged for his gun.
Kalene fought with the rope around her arms that were now loosened, and she got free. She got up and yelled at Ed, “Don’t fight it Ed. It’s beautiful. You can be free-”
