Seeking Daylight

by Becky Poirier

  “He’s with them, helping them.”

  “Who?

  “Alex…and he’s obviously still got enough of the drugs in his system to make him lucid enough to…”

  “To not lead them into a slaughter,” he finished my sentence. “What do you think he’ll do?”

  I searched the room trying to figure out what weakness Alex could be trying to exploit. He’d always been good at finding the weaknesses of every building we ever called home. We never stayed the night anywhere, without his approval. He would be able to exploit any vulnerability here. I looked up, and in the dim shadowed light, I could just make out a tiny crack that was slowly, quietly spreading.

  I pointed up as discreetly as I could. Seth followed my line of sight until he saw it. It wasn’t directly over our head. But if there was scaffolding above our heads, they’d certainly be able to use that to climb and then it would be a simple, most likely painful, jump into our defences. They wouldn’t be afraid of a little pain though. We were sitting ducks in a cage.

  Seth rushed from my side to whisper to Cletus and Kyle. He was trying his best to not incite panic, but everyone was watching him, and they knew something was wrong. I watched as Cletus and Kyle both looked up and saw the crack which had already spread by several feet.

  “Everyone back up,” Seth warned as quietly as he could.

  Cletus rushed over to me. “We need you back now. We’re going to aim for the crack and try to take out the infected above us before they become a problem.” I nodded and allowed him to lead me forward to Kyle. We all took up our positions and without any signal, we all began to fire at the growing threat.

  The ceiling was already damaged, so a little bit of gunfire only helped the process along. It was risky, but no riskier than allowing the infected to continue with their plan. The silence that had been broken with our gunfire only grew louder as we hit the infected with our bullets. The screeching and howling slowly grew until it was once again so loud, that we could barely think.

  We didn’t know how many had been working silently above us. All we knew, was that we managed to hit at least one, most likely more, judging by the blood that slowly dripped through the now basketball sized opening in the ceiling. A pair of glowing red eyes peered down through the hole. I raised my gun again and fired but I missed my target.

  “What do you think they’ll do next?” Seth asked me. He was looking at me like I had all the answers. I knew old Alex, how his mind operated. This infected version of Alex was a very different person. If any of Alex’s personality was still intact from the medication Doc had given him, then he wouldn’t be attacking us.

  The more I thought about all we’d been through tonight, the more the pieces started to fall into place. Alex was with this second group, but then how did the first know about us? He would have had to have told them and then gone for this second group. He’d probably set up the first group as a test, willing to sacrifice an unfamiliar hive.

  I looked back at Seth. He was still waiting for an answer, as was the rest of the group. “I don’t know. But if he’s anything like the old Alex, he’d probably want us to waste as many bullets as possible. I’m guessing the ceiling was a test, a distraction and an opportunity to deplete our ammo.”

  “So we just do nothing?” Nina asked with growing irritation. She was still holding onto the same vile of chemical she’d been holding since the first hive attacked.

  “No, I’m saying we need to be smart about how we use our bullets. From now on if we see something like that,” I said pointing to the ceiling, “only one person fires at a time. And keep the bullets to a minimum. We only need to scare them enough to retreat from whatever task they’re up to. All we need to do is hold them off until daylight. And probably not even until then. They’ll want to retreat to their home before the sun rises.”

  Seth nodded. “Okay new strategy. We stop them from making progress on any attempts to break in, with minimal ammo usage. Paige is right, we only have to hold them off for a few more hours.”

  “You call eight hours a few?” Nina asked sarcastically.

  “Now’s not the time to bicker with ourselves. We need to focus back on the threat,” Jane responded before a fight could start. I could see Seth was seething. Nina wasn’t helping with her negativity.

  “Paige why are they so quiet?” Matthew asked, reminding me that he was still standing next to me. I’d almost forgotten he was even there. I looked out beyond the fence. He was right. In the midst of our arguing, the screeching and howling had completely stopped once again.

  “I really hate it when they do that,” Kyle blurted out to no one in particular, echoing what I was thinking. Their silence made my stomach twist more painfully then when they were screeching.

  Seth was the one to spot the next attempt before the rest of us. In the midst of the screeching and the arguing they’d managed to tear the two holes in the wall open much wider than before. They were now nearly as wide and tall as the main doorway.

  “Ah crap!” Cletus blurt out. The words had barely left his lips before the infected began rushing the doorways.

  I raised my gun to the ready, but Seth put his hand over it and shook his head at me. “Nina, Jeremy, now’s your time to shine,” he said looking in their direction.

  Jeremy looked more likely to throw-up, than help. Nina on the other hand, wasn’t waiting to be told again. She rushed the fence, and just before she reached it, tossed her vial smashing it on the floor in front of several infected. Only she missed, smashing the bottles contents onto the content floor. I heard several annoyed grunts. I was in complete agreement with them. She was finally given her chance to attack and she blew it. But she wasn’t acting like she blew it. In fact, her smile had grown…to creepy proportions. She almost looked sadistic and a second later I figured out why she was so pleased with herself.

  The infected slid into the liquid she’d smashed on the floor, and as they did, I watched their bodies go limp. They couldn’t stop their forward momentum which drove them straight into our electrified fence.

  It was the sparking and frying of the infected that brought Jeremy out of his nauseous haze. He grabbed another vile and before the infected could retreat again he smashed its contents into his targets. Several of them crumpled to the floor while two more slid into the electrified fence sparking and hopping with the rest of their fallen friends.

  Cletus and Kyle took the opportunity to shoot the infected that were attempting to flee. They managed to gun down four before the rest retreated and then the ones that had collapsed from the toxin, they took out easily.

  “We need to push the infected away from the fence,” Seth shouted above the crackling sound of frying infected. Austin rushed forward with a large wooden pole and carefully began shoving the dead infected off the fence. Several of the bodies continued to jerk around even after being removed from the fence.

  “I don’t know if the fence will hold against another round of that,” Austin said after dropping the pole by the fence. “I think we were lucky that the system didn’t fry out with the ones we just killed.”

  “Anyone want to suggest our next tactic? I think it’s smart to keep changing things up. They’re obviously doing the same,” Seth addressed the whole group, but he was looking at me again. I hated it when he did that. I wasn’t an expert on them. The only difference between myself and the others in our group, was that I’d had more recent encounters with the infected then they had.

  “What else do Jeremy and Nina have in their arsenal?” I asked. Nina actually looked happy to hear my voice this time.

  “We have Molotov cocktails,” she replied with a chipper voice. When no one gave any response she grunted. “Seriously you all need to take Jeremy up on his offer for some higher education some time. The chemicals, once lit by a flame, explode. We light the rag, toss and boom.”

  “I don’t know that that’s the brightest plan,” Kyle said with a smile. “We’d just end up setting the whole place on fire and
then we’d have to leave our cage.” I was glad he said something, because if I’d spoken up Nina would be back to hating me and I kind of liked her not directing hatred at me. It was a welcome change, especially in such intense moments.

  “What else?” I asked trying to ease the tension and move us in forward momentum. Alex was more than likely doing the same thing as we were and I bet he wouldn’t take as long.

  Shy old Jeremy was the one to speak up. “Well we have this one,” he said pointing to liquid in a small mason jar. “It scalds the skin. And if it gets in their eyes it will blind them. Only my arm is not very good at throwing. I’m more likely to hit the fence then the infected.”

  “Well I used to play baseball. I was a pretty decent pitcher back in the day,” Kyle said stepping up to the table. “You pass them to me and I’ll hit the mark every time.”

  With that settled we all moved back into our positions to wait. Waiting was the worst part. We knew they were up to something, but with them being so quiet and the room being so dimly lit, it was hard to tell what. We all had our positions to watch, to look for the slightest change. Seth and I kept an eye on the ceiling.

  My eyes were getting harder to keep open and staring at the boring ceiling wasn’t helping things. I wasn’t used to late nights. We always went to bed at sundown to limit noise. I hadn’t pulled an all-nighter in nearly a year.

  “You okay?” Seth whispered next to me startling my eyes open again.

  “I’m sorry. I’m awake, I promise,” I replied rubbing my eyes aggressively.

  “It’s okay. You’re not the only one struggling,” he said pointing towards one of the ammo tables. There was Matthew curled up under a blanket with a sack of dried apples for a pillow, sound asleep.

  “When did that happen?” I asked bringing my attention back to the ceiling.

  “About thirty minutes ago. He fell asleep by Jane’s feet and Austin set him up under the table. I envy him. I think we could all use a cat nap.”

  “That might be his plan,” I said turning my gaze back to Seth. He looked back at me and I could see the bags under his eyes. This was just as hard for him, probably more so. He hadn’t slept well the last night we were in the panic room. I doubted many of the others had slept well either with Doc and us missing. “Weaken us, by exhausting us. The more tired we are the worse aim we’ll have. The better chance they’ll have for success.” The infected didn’t have the same problem. They were active at night. They were fully rested.

  Seth grunted in agreement. We both put our focus back up towards the ceiling. It was nearly two hours later, that they finally made their move. Well, they’d actually been working for some time. When they finally attacked again, they were able to divide our attention in six different directions.

  This time no one was able to be idle. They came rushing through the three doorways in the wall, as well as three holes in the ceiling. At least, none of the holes in the ceiling were directly above us. The two new ones they’d created, they’d done so stealthily that we hadn’t even realized they were making them until it was too late. They made them right above posts that they could slide down. And then the hole they’d already made in the ceiling they attached some kind of cable rope they’d found and began swinging down from it.

  Seth and I took aim at the infected swinging down on the rope. It was easier for us where we were, because the infected couldn’t get more than one down at a time because of the weakness of the rope. We were taking them out easily. Even Seth managed a couple good head shots.

  The others were having more trouble with the ones rushing the door. Kyle was doing his best to throw the chemicals at them but they were fast. Getting them directly in the eyes wasn’t easy. He only managed it with two. Cletus took those two out before they slid into our fence. It looked like every single infected that came into the room, had the same goal in mind. Attack the fence, even though they clearly knew it was deadly.

  Alex was making them attack it. It would only take one or two at most to burn out the system and then we’d be free for the picking. Nina had abandoned her chemicals and taken up a gun to get back in the fight. The chemicals were only effective at close range and we needed to keep them as far away from the fence as possible.

  “Help them,” Seth shouted. “I can take care of these ones.” He was right. He didn’t need me here and Cletus was overwhelmed trying to take out as many infected as he could. The others were trying to help, but most were only good at shooting a still target, certainly not one that could run ten times faster than the average human.

  I rushed over towards Cletus, who breathed a sigh of relief to have me at his side. He took aim at the ones descending the nearest post. Kyle had taken his gun up again as well and was targeting the other post. I was in charge of helping the rest of the group take on the onslaught of infected coming through the doorways.

  “Just take them down,” I shouted out, “I’ll put the final shot in the head.”

  “We both will,” Nina said coming to stand beside me. I was actually grateful to have her there. It was too much for me to take on myself. She took the ones on the left and I took the ones on the right.

  The dead began piling up on the floor. There were several injured infected, that took to fleeing after they were shot. And they didn’t just run from the room this time. We heard them actually running out the building. And they weren’t alone. Others joined them, so that the throng of retreating howls grew. There was a fear in their howls. It sounded so strange coming from them. I’d never thought they were even capable of that emotion anymore. I had the feeling that if we actually decided to stay here, they’d think long and hard about attacking us again. Not that we were going to take that risk.

  In the midst of the howls, was one lone screeching voice, that sounded anything but afraid. He sounded furious. His howls sounded like commands being barked out by a commanding officer. But they weren’t being obeyed. His fury grew, until his howls stopped altogether.

  A collective sigh of relief ran through our group, as we realized we’d won. We still had several hours until daylight, but we’d won. They were gone and we didn’t hear any others coming this way.

  Kyle began doing this ridiculous victory dance and cheering at an annoying volume. And when he stopped, a tiny little tired voice yawned out, “Is it morning yet?” We all looked over at Matthew who was still half asleep. He’d managed to sleep through the biggest fight we’d had that night. He’s slept through the gunfire, the howls, the screeching. Several of us burst out laughing, myself included.

  I walked over to Matthew and knelt down on the ground. He was looking at us, with this confused drowsy face. “It’s over Matthew. We won. Now go back to sleep.” He yawned, nodded, rolled over and immediately fell back asleep.

  Seth came up behind me, and before I had a chance to react, he picked me up in his arms and swung me around. When he finally put my feet back on the ground, he kissed me right in front of everyone and though my cheeks were on fire, I kissed him back.

  ​

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Our whole group looked absolutely exhausted, to the point where I swore we might actually have a couple people collapse. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time for rest. There was way too much work to do. We were leaving this place. That much Seth had told us, but he wasn’t releasing any more details than that. The day before, most of our provisions were loaded into one room which was secured as best we could, to make sure the infected didn’t destroy it. I personally thought that was the worst plan ever, but it was what Doc had suggested and Seth was going by the book when it came to Doc’s plans. I guess we were a bigger target for the infected, as they left that room completely alone. Alex’s medication must have really been wearing off because if he was still more himself, he would have taken out our supplies for sure.

  “I know we’re all exhausted and the last thing we want is to do more work today, but we just need to get a little more done and then tonight I promise we can rest and if
we want, we can even stay an extra day on our first pit stop,” Seth said, addressing his anxious audience. I didn’t know about the others, but as for me, I was anxious to get out of this cramped cage we’d been stuck in all night. “I’m going to ask Kyle, Cletus and Austin to join me in making sure this place is secure.” The three men he asked didn’t hesitate as they grabbed their weapons and joined him by the cage door, which Austin had just turned the power off to.

  “Wow,” Nina said sarcastically. “Not being the least bit sexist, are we?”

  With how tired Seth was I thought he might just take the opportunity to snap at Nina, but to my surprise he kept completely calm. “Nina, I need you here because if anything goes wrong, you and Paige are the strongest shots here, as well as the best at coming up with plans. It has nothing to do with gender, trust me.”

  Nina rolled her eyes, but she didn’t need more convincing. I, on the other hand, wasn’t at all okay with staying behind. Seth saw it in my eyes before I even said a word. He walked over to me and pulled me aside. The others pretended not to listen in on our conversation. “Seth I can help you guys out there, more than I can help them in here. They’d be fine with just Nina in here.”

  “I wouldn’t be,” he replied in a hushed tone. “If you’re out there with us, I’ll be distracted worrying about you.”

  “You said yourself, you were positive they’ve all left and I am too,” I fibbed. I had a feeling, in the pit of my stomach, that I just couldn’t shake. It was the same visceral reaction I got every time I heard the infected howl. But I wasn’t about to tell Seth that. He’d just use it as another reason to keep me in here. “Really this is just clean-up and prepping for our trip and you could use an extra hand for that.” I was trying everything I could to convince him, but I knew that it wasn’t working. For the most part Seth was pretty flexible, but when it came to my safety, that was something he refused to budge on. It was both sweet and infuriating.