by Justin Clay
“Alright Lena, you’ve made your point,” Eli says with finality. “It was an asshole move…You didn’t deserve that.”
“Thank you,” I say, and sigh. “Some rescue mission this is though…”
“But you’re here…We’ll get out of this.”
“You haven’t told me about Cari yet, Eli — I mean what actually happened between you two.”
“Right, well,” he says with hesitation, “Cari isn’t exactly the one to give valuable information away freely…I needed to know where Judas was…I knew she knew…But she just wouldn’t say anything about it…So I had to pressure her into saying something…anything.”
“How, Eli?”
“I hurt her,” he says at last. “Again, it was wrong…But it worked…I got what I needed.”
“So that’s how you ended up bleeding.”
“Yes, unfortunately…But how did you get here?”
So I tell him all that happened between Cari and I since we left the camp together. I tell him about the side of Cari, few most likely had never seen. A vulnerable side. A part of her that was kind. The part that was trust-worthy. The part of her that fed me bird for breakfast, before she was murdered. One last act of kindness.
“Sounds nothing like her,” Eli tells me after I’ve finished.
“I know,” I admit, “I couldn’t believe it either…I think she just needed someone to show they cared about her…After all she’s been through…Did you know she lost her children to a virus?”
Eli shakes his head, meaning no. “I had no idea…Gives reason, I guess to how erratic she became afterward.”
“I guess,” I say, and I return my gaze up at the rope, thinking. “Now…We need to see about tearing down these ropes and getting the hell out of here.”
What feels like hours trickle by and still I’m unable to pull the rope from the ceiling; I ask Eli, if he has had any luck. He’s stronger than I am. He shakes his head, and the answer is disheartening. However they have got it tied, they’ve got it tied pretty good. Desperate, I search the room for something sharp I could use. My eyes hover on the deteriorating skeleton crushed into the dirty cement against the gray wall. That will have to do.
Scrambling, I attempt to near myself to the sad pile of bones, their stench becoming worse. I hold my breath; the rope yanks taut just as I’m inches away from reaching them. Cursing, I try to figure out what to do. I stretch out my feet and endeavor to roll the skeleton toward me with a kick. Grunting, my feet collide and the bones rattle across the floor even further away. This is hopeless.
Suddenly, there’s a banging noise: sounds like a door’s been opened and closed. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Footsteps. There must be a stairway nearby. I look to Eli; he’s solemn faced. What to do…What to do…
I distinctly hear the jangling of keys, before I see the figures emerge from the dark. Concentrating, I notice there are two of them. The fat one carries in one hand keys and the other a sharp, shimmering knife. His taller more burly friend is the one who is armed with a pistol. This could work…If I do it right.
“Alright, Judas is ready for you,” the scavenger says, and he chuckles, thinking himself extremely clever. “Ladies first.”
He sticks one of the keys into the hastily made doorway to my half of the barred chamber, turning it, until there’s a dull clicking sound. I try to not concentrate on his face as the firelight shadows it, reveal deep disturbing crevices and dark glinting eyes. I know what I must do in order to survive this; I stand up. I plan what will happen as he takes his final steps toward, until he’s right in front of me.
“You are a pretty one,” he says to me with a devilish smile. Bastard. I could feel the hot stench of his breath against my cheeks. Bile inches up my throat in revulsion. He lifts the knife, slowly. Yeah, go ahead and cut the rope. “Now, don’t you dare make any sudden movements — you hear, or Ribs here will blow your fucking head off.”
It takes him a few seconds to hack away the rope with the knife, but he cuts it so my hands are still bound together as they finally drop before. I want to sigh in relief, but there are more important things to do. Snarling, I rush the man with a quick blow to his head with mine; the fat man howls in agony as I’ve apparently busted his nose as I feel his blood drench my shirt. Ribs, behind him is a bit stunned, but as promised he shoots. But his reaction is as predicted a little too late. I swiftly snatch the fat guy’s shirt at his chest, as he’s cursing me, and use him as a shield; the bullets penetrate his back, stopping them deep in his flesh, some of them whiz millimeters along my body, grazing me.
Wincing in pain, the man is grunting, blood spewing from his mouth; his body is becoming heavily limp. Screaming, using the last of my adrenaline left, I plow his body forward smashing into the other head on; Ribs cries out in pain on impact; there’s the clattering of the pistol onto the floor, and I roll forward, and pry the knife from the now dead fat guy’s pudgy fingers and panting, try to free myself from the remaining restraints of the rope. Ribs continues to groan, sprawled out on his side, against a filthy wall.
At last I manage to tear through the rope complete, and watch it drop to ground. I swivel the knife around in my hand for a better grip, and spring onto Ribs while I have the upper hand. He looks at me with these eyes that know he is going to die as I plunge the blade directly into his neck; Ribs gags, coughing up blood and I slide the knife out, wiping the blade on my pants. I couldn’t afford any more unwanted noise from his gun.
“Lena, you did it!” Eli says, astounded. “Hurry…Get me out of here; his gun will most likely bring attention to us faster than we want; look for the keys.”
I breathe heavily, lost in a daze. I’m not sure exactly what just happened, but somehow I did manage it all. I nod, and begin my search for the keys. My eyesight is blurry; it’s hard to place what’s what, especially from the aching places where Rib’s bullets grazed me. I take in a breath and scramble, scavenging. The keys had fallen a few feet from fattie’s hand. I grab them; there’s six of them and they all look too much alike. How am I supposed to know which one is which? Frustrated, I jam the first one on the ring into the door and turn…Nothing. Damn. I try the next one. Again nothing. I try the next, and finally there’s a signifying pop and the door swings open.
I have the knife in my other hand as I approach Eli, whose kneeled before me, his arms strung up like mine had been moments ago. As fast as I can, I slice through the rope and free Eli from the bondage. He rubs his reddened hands wearily; and, I take a good look at him. He doesn’t look so good. Of course he doesn’t…
“Can you stand?” I ask him, and Eli frowns.
“I’ll manage.”
“You sure?” And as I advance to assist him in getting upright, he throws up a hand.
“No…No, I can do it.” Struggling, he grimaces and stands to his feet. Eli takes a couple of steps, and falters. Gasping, I catch him just before he collides into the floor, and throw one of his arms over my shoulder, my other arm hoisted around his waste. He winces as we move further forward. How are we going to do this? How am I going to get him out of here? How am I going to both of us out in one piece? The answer is simple. I probably won’t. Maybe, he knows it too…But dammit, we’ll try our best.
“Get the gun,” he says, his voice strained, and I nod. “Put me up against the wall; I’ll lean.”
I do as he says, he’s breathing is too shallow. It’s scaring me. I reach down and snatch the rifle into my hands, after I slip the knife between my belt and pants. I watch Eli as he stands there pathetically, haggardly breathing, his head lolled against the wall. How the tables have turned…Eli would be saving me in a situation like this…Not me. Things change, I suppose.
“We need to look for Cari’s body, too,” I tell him. “I can’t let them feed her to the Infected.”
“Wha….What? Infected?”
“Yeah, Judas, mentioned something about Infected; he must be keeping some for his own sick biddings…Did he not tell you?”
Eli shakes his head. “No, but he said to me, he had a great surprise planned…A fun little game of survival…He’s out of his mind, Lena.”
“Trust me,” I say, “I know…So, how are we going to get you up those steps? You can barely walk…”
“We’ll have to manage…Unless, there’s another way.”
Suddenly, we hear a voice. My eyes snap wide open. My heart almost stops. I suck in air, as I realize I know that voice. It’s Judas. But it’s broken up by static. Blinking, I look at an odd shaped shadow lying a distance away from us and recognize it to be a walkie-talkie…
“Sid…Sid are you there? Where are you? Where are the prisoners? You’re late! — Sid, you answer me right now, or I’ll have your hide thrown into the cage with the rest of the Infected — Answer — ”
Having enough of Judas’s yammering, I crush the communication device with forceful crunch of my heel downward. “You’re right,” I tell Eli, as he is on most occasions. “They’ll be coming for us soon…What are you looking at?”
Eli’s staring off into what I think is space, but when he glances my way I know it’s more than just that. “I know how to get us out of here,” he tells me. “Without the stairs.”
RIANPRIME
23
WAR
THE NOON SKIES ARE a clear blue, a blue you could almost lose yourself in, a daydream blue. Any other day I would take this as a good sign for things to come. But not today. Today will be a day of bloodshed and loss. This much I’m already certain. My gut tells me. So far, it hasn’t been wrong. This day will be a day of war. But also a day of rescuing. Both Eli and Lena are alive, somewhere in the village camp we’re surveying carefully from a safe distance, for now. That’s all about to change. That…I can feel too.
Apart from the few oblivious Scavengers walking around, toting their rifles, there had been no other movement for the past hour we’ve been here, waiting. For the opportune moment. The dam’s Protectors eventually met up with us — most of them had come, including the commander. A couple stayed behind to ensure defense for the rest of their residents. About half an hour ago, the commander sent in one of his best soldiers to infiltrate the area, searching more intently for Lena and Eli’s whereabouts. We would respond to whatever information he relayed.
That was the first phase of action. The second phase would be the infiltrator is supposed to begin a campfire with smoke to draw out attention from where we would reentering. Once we witness the smoke, we know it’s time to move forward.
The commander and two of his forces, are positioned about twenty feet from us, crouching. Across from them on the other side, hidden from view by an outcropping of trees is Kage, and two more Protectors, one of them I remember by name — D, a tall, muscular black man.
Terek, Gavin, and I are positioned on the left flank, obscured by the undergrowth on a ten-foot hill overlooking the camp. June is not here; I had her promise me that she would remain at camp, until I came back for her. I know she will be fine; she knows how to take care of herself properly. I’ve taught her well. I couldn’t risk her life in the chaos to ensue. Because it’s going to happen. Judas’s Scavengers haven’t become aware of us just yet, and so for the time being we have the element of surprise on our hands. Not sure how long that would last, however.
“Look,” I hear Terek mutter, pointing. I follow the direction of his hand, and in the distance — yes! There’s the smoke, black and billowing against the brilliant blue on the outskirts of the lakeside village. It’s time.
We begin our descent. I feel the familiar smoothness of the handle of my bow as I carry it. Eventually, we see the commander and his group heading for the camp, a distance from us, and beyond them — I can barely make out the others. Just as we’re say, a few yards from reaching the village, there’s an incoming voice on Terek’s walkie. It’s the commander.
“Terek, we have a bit of a situation on our hands,” the Commander Jed says, his voice somewhat altered by the reception. “Halls has located Lena; she’s being surrounded by Scavenger forces up ahead, near the center of the camp…Look for a green building with a tethered flag; we’re going to have to take them out immediately, on my signal.”
“Understood.”
“There’s something else you need to know,” Jed continues, “they seem to have a cage of Infected in this area of the camp, for whatever sick reason; be extremely careful…We’ll take them out afterward,
while they are trapped, until then our main priority is saving Lena.”
“Understood,” Terek repeats in the walkie. “What about Eli?”
“No word on him yet,” the commander replies, and the static disappears, becoming silent once more.
The snowy ground squishes noticeably beneath our feet, most of us wearing boots. But we move as quietly as we can; Terek remains at the front, Gavin behind me, aiming about with his rifle. I have to squint for the sunlight becomes too bright, once we clear a huddled mass of cabins, and cross a rocky slope downward. The smoke is still very much visible floating off into the skies beyond; we can hear the lake rippling, and the splash of fish occasionally. I try to concentrate on something simple. Like my breathing. My mind is too distracted.
My heart is beating too fast. Pound. Pound. Pound. Lena, we’re coming for you. Hold on. Please, don’t be dead.
Terek raises an arm pointing again, and I see it. The green building the commander was talking about. It’s a three-story building with frosted windows, black roofing, and there’s a massive flag whipping from a towering silver pole above it. The flag has become faded with time and tattered in places. Just outside of it, we see the commotion that we only could hear up until now.
A crowd of about twelve or so are gathered — they appear to be Scavengers, and from what I can tell, there’s someone standing in the clearing at the heart of them all. It’s Lena! She’s at gunpoint, her hands raised positioned in front of something that takes me a minute to figure out. It’s a makeshift cage made of long man-sized metal bars, at least twenty of them arranged in a square, bound together by an enwrapping of barbed wire. Lopping about inside it, I realize is a mass of naked Frothers, as we approach it more, all of them pushing themselves toward Lena, outstretching arms, grasping hands through the gaps of the cage.
They’re not going to make Lena go in there are they? We have to stop this! A man with a shaggy mane of black hair is the one holding the gun at her head; he’s yelling at her to do something. Lena is refusing.
We’re waiting in the shadows of the cabins ringing about them; none of them have noticed us yet. Almost there. Hang on, Lena.
They won’t see us coming.
Just then, as if in a dream — a terrible dream — there’s the resounding POW! of a gunshot; it’s deafening. My ears are ringing. The gunshot was aimed at us. How!? It takes a moment for reality to set in; horrified, I look over and witness that Gavin is somehow…dead. His body is lying on the ground now, his head…Oh God. Oh God. It’s obliterated. I can’t look anymore. The blood. The gore. It’s too much. I turn to Terek with tears in my eyes. There’s no time to relay a message to the commander. Someone. A sniper knows we’re here and if we don’t act quickly, everyone else will too.
Terek runs forward firing at the crowd of Scavengers; and soon all I can hear is the sound of gunshots going off and we’re lost in a sudden world of war.
I’m sprinting, searching the rooftops for the Scavenger who killed Gavin. It doesn’t take me long to spot the dark, crouched figure on the balcony of the top floor of the green tavern. I ready my bow with an arrow and fire directly at their head. The scavenger looks my way, wearing a black hood and ski mask stunned by their stiffened body language, but narrowly escapes by rolling about and disappearing through a window into the building. Dammit.
I’ll have to let them go for the time being. I need to find Lena. I run, keeping my head low as bullets are fired; many of the Scavengers are already dead, unaware of our ambush, bleeding out into the snow that’s becoming more crimson b
y the minute. Breathless, I finally can see her; her face is flushed, and bruised tremendously. What happened to her? They must have hurt her somehow.
Lena is looking at me desperately. There are tears in her eyes. The same man with the scraggly black hair is thwarting her into the snow relentlessly, a hand clenched about her throat. I scream out a no; the man — the man who I assume is Judas — he looks my way, confused, his brow furrowed; I already have my bow strung by this point, and I fire. It’s too late for him. Even though Judas attempts to dodge my arrow, it catches him in the thigh, and he throws his head back, hollering in absolute pain. Blood is already gushing from his leg. Quickly, I watch Lena scramble for something. She picks up a bloodied machete that had been nearby Judas — maybe he was holding it? — and she shrieks.
“THIS IS FOR CARI! THIS IS FOR ELI!” she screams maniacally at Judas. “THIS IS FOR HIS FAMILY YOU MURDERED, YOU BASTARD!” She swings the sharp weapon with a mighty force; the blade catches into his neck, cracking bone, before completely removing his head from his body. Judas’s head rolls, pulsing blood as it does before stopping just before my feet.
