by Lake, D. K.
"Uh...she's part of my research-" Nick started to say but Lane nudged him to shut up.
I couldn't believe Nick was even speaking to these scary-looking individuals. These guys wanted to hurt me and he was going to tell them about how I was his research project, I doubt they'd be interested in that.
"She was locked up in the basement." Drew answered calmly.
"So you guys wanna share?" the one with the yellow teeth said. Ew.
"Share what?" Nick asked quietly and I refrained from rolling my eyes. He was the smartest person I knew but he didn't get what was going on. I mean, it's not like they were offering to share a bag of sweets.
I noticed Drew was smirking at them...I knew that look as well.
The driver saw Drew smirking and started laughing, obviously thinking they were on the same team.
"I don't like sharing." Drew said and before anyone could speak he had shot the driver through the neck.
His laughing stopped as he struggled to breathe, grasping his neck and falling to his knees. The guy with dirty hair looked down at his buddy with wide eyes and then back at Drew as though he couldn't believe what had just happened and before he could react, Lane was running at him with the machete above his head. The other one took off like a bolt of lightning, running full speed towards the vehicles that were headed this way, full of more of those crazy outlanders.
Chapter 7
"Alex! C'mon!" Drew yelled.
I was still watching the trucks as they zigzagged all over the grass, and I could see the guy in the army helmet running over to the nearest truck. This wasn't good.
"Fuck's sake." Drew muttered before grabbing me roughly and dragging me away.
He scanned the area as he hauled me away, checking for more of those people. He let go of me and picked up my hand like it was the most natural thing to do, the second time he had held it since we had made it outside, not that I was counting. We hurried across the gravel, dodging disoriented deadbies as they wandered around looking confused. Lane was already in front of us, running beside Nick, he kept looking back at me to make sure I was okay. Drew was a fast runner compared to me, and I knew he was purposely holding back because of me. I hadn't had to run like this since I was in the desert with him. I was huffing and panting and already had a stitch as my little legs pounded the gravel as we rounded another corner. I was so out of shape. I had spent the past four weeks stuck inside, watching box sets and movies, and eating all the chocolate I could consume whenever Ross brought down a box of goodies for Robin and me. I glanced up ahead and saw Nick keeping up with Lane, all his spare time in the lab was spent on the treadmill that he had inside his own apartment, I should have taken a leaf out of his book and got myself in shape while I was underground. I hadn't really noticed how much weight I had put on in the last four weeks, I probably looked more like my old self when I was in high school, a little extra weight on my face and hips. I was used to looking in the mirror and seeing bones.
I pressed my hand to my side and tried not to think about the ache and focused on breathing. I kept slowing down to look over my shoulder to check we weren't being followed and I was also desperately searching for Josh or Robin but Drew kept yanking on my arm and I was scared he would pull the thing out of the socket if I didn't keep up with him. How much further? This place was huge!
I only got a glimpse of this place when Ross snuck me in, but it was much larger than I ever thought it was. It was like a maze of tall gray buildings, I wondered what was inside all of them, or under them. I still couldn't believe Nick had been living underground in the lap of luxury. The government had spared no expense in setting up a testing facility out here. Shame they couldn't have put some of these resources into saving people in the outside world. Drew pulled me around another corner as my pace started to slow down. My legs were hurting and I just wanted to sit down or fall down.
"Drew, wait!" I slowed down, pulling him to a stop next to me. "I just need a sec."
"We're running for our lives, and you need a sec?"
"Shut up!" I panted, wiggling my fingers out of his grasp and using the brick wall to support myself. The pain in my side hurt like hell. I was so unfit. I turned to Drew, my face hot and flushed and I could feel a bead of sweat rolling down my forehead which I quickly wiped away.
"You're slower than you were before." Drew muttered.
"So I'm a little out of shape." I glared at him.
"You've put weight on."
What a way to make a girl feel good about herself.
"Whatever! I was in recovery!" I snapped, drawing in a deep breath.
"We don't have time for this. Come on, we're nearly there anyway." Drew said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the wall, digging his fingers in so I couldn't get away from him. I heard a loud explosion somewhere behind me but I didn't dare look back as Drew led me down an opening between two buildings. I could see Lane and Nick at the other end, taking a quick look back at us before running off. We were nearly at the end of the opening when I heard my name being called. I turned to look over my shoulder and Drew barely bothered to slow down and I nearly fell over my own feet. His grip on my tightened as he lifted me upright and gave me this annoyed look.
"Will you look where you're going? Lane went this way. Not that way."
"I know. I heard someone calling my na-"
"Alex! Wait for me!" Robin shrieked.
We both spun around and saw Robin running this way, her long red hair bouncing around her shoulders, it's was so long, getting in her eyes as she ran towards us.
"Robin..." I breathed, pulling away from Drew and going back to get her.
She had nearly reached the opening between the buildings when a pair of arms appeared from the side and grabbed her.
She screamed so loud. I froze on the spot as the deadbie pulled her down to the ground and took a chunk out of her neck. It literally took all of two seconds and I would have never made it to her in time. I was still moving towards her as she screamed out my name. I start walking faster, I knew it was pointless as she was as good as dead with chunks already missing from her neck and the amount of blood she was losing. And she was still wearing that stupid white dress which was now covered in red. I told her to get changed but she never listened to me. The deadbie was joined by another, and another, and in seconds there was a whole crowd of them all kneeling around her and squabbling over her.
I felt sick, reaching out to the wall for support but instead, I found Drew's chest. Sometimes the blood and gore got to me.
"She's gone." Drew whispered as the screams stopped and all I could hear was the breathy moans and groans, and what sounded like someone slurping their dinner.
"Alex!" Drew said my name but I couldn't think straight.
I wasn't over the top in love with Robin when I had first met her, but she had grown on me, she made the days less boring and kept me entertained. She used to make me pose for her so she could draw me, she was so talented, and she loved playing Twister because she was long and ridiculously flexible, and she was a badass at darts. But she wasn't trained to kill and defend herself. I felt bad for not spending the time we had together to train her, prepare her for if she ever had to fight.
"Alex!" Drew growled, shaking me.
I snapped out of it just as a loud explosion went off and I looked back at the deadbies eating yet another one of my friends.
We were so close, Robin was so close. How was she dead? Was I dreaming? This all felt so unreal like I was watching it through someone else's eyes. I didn't cry or feel like I wanted to cry. I felt numb, the way I always felt when someone died. I had put up so many walls, death didn't seem that scary anymore. People died. A lot of people. I just didn't think about it anymore, what was the point of dwelling on it? This was life now. Death and more death.
Drew pulled me away before we were spotted and led me to the opening. In front, I could see a brick building, and on top, I could see the helicopter. He put his arm out to stop me getting any clos
er to the edge of the wall and stepped forward to make sure the coast was clear before looking back at me. I glanced back down the building at where we had left Robin. I felt bad just leaving her to get shredded but we couldn't take on a whole army of deadbies.
"Don't think about it. Just keep moving." Drew said, taking my hand and we raced across the grass to the building.
I could see Lane and Nick rushing up the metal stairs at the side of the building. Lane stopped halfway up to look back at me before climbing the rest of the way and disappearing onto the roof where the large, shiny black helicopter sat waiting for us. I had never seen a helicopter up this close before. I remembered the last time I saw one was when I was ten, it was one of those police helicopters with a searchlight. There had been a bank robbery and there were police sirens going off everywhere, it was the most exciting thing ever to happen in our small town. And the robbers were never found. It was exciting and scary at the same time, thinking there were bank robbers on the loose, but now criminals were the last thing anyone thought about. The world had already been robbed of life, what else was there left to take?
The helicopter blades started turning as we reached the bottom of the staircase. I took one last look over my shoulder, praying I would see Josh running this way, but instead I saw a group of those crazy outsiders making their way through the deadbies to get to us.
The metal staircase rattled and thunked under my feet as I bounded up the steps with Drew, using the rail to pull myself up with one hand and my other hand was still firmly in Drew's hand as I had already ditched the metal pole. I heard gunshots and my immediate reaction was to duck. I crouched down and Drew shielded me with his body, and as soon as it stopped he pushed me up the stairs and the staircase rattled loudly and clanked as I ran to the top. More gunshots fired and I ducked down and Drew pushed me forward and I ran around the wall at the top and bumped into someone.
"You okay?" a girl shouted, taking my arm and leading me to the side of the wall.
The helicopter blades were starting to pick up speed, creating a gust of wind and I held my hair off my face to look at the person standing in front of me. It took me a moment to figure out this was Zoe, Ross's girlfriend. She was wearing a camouflage jacket with tight black pants and biker boots. Her black hair had been tied up into two little topknots on top of her head, and her face was covered in green paint, and she was holding a machete like the one Lane was holding. I noticed there was a mountain of people all wearing dark clothing with camouflaged faces laying in a pile behind her, covered in blood. She had obviously been busy keeping people away from the helicopter. I nodded at her to tell her I was okay and looked over at the helicopter and saw Lane helping Nick to climb in. Ross was already inside with a pair of earphones on waiting for us and making hand gestures at us to hurry up.
"Where's Josh and Drew?" Zoe yelled.
"Uhh...?" I started to panic, wasn't Drew behind me?
Just as I was about to go back for him, he dived around the wall and ran over to us.
"Where's Josh, and isn't there a girl with you?" Zoe frowned.
"We lost him. But we have to get out of here. There's a whole bunch of those people heading this way, the deadbies won't stop them." Drew told her as Lane jogged back over to us, ducking under the blades as they whizzed around, creating a gust of dirt to fly everywhere and some went in my eyes.
I rubbed them as Lane took my arm and started pulling me towards the helicopter. We both ducked down and my hair whipped around my face and I wished I had tied it up.
"Where's the girl? Is she with Josh?" Zoe yelled over the noise, talking to Drew.
"Gone." I just about heard Drew say over the noise.
"Are you hurt?" Zoe yelled.
I tried to look over my shoulder but Lane pulled my forward and I still had dirt in my eyes. I was lifted into the helicopter and quickly took a seat near the window and Lane climbed in next to me. I was still trying to get the dirt out of my eye when Lane was buckling me in.
"Where's Robin?" Nick asked.
Oww. Stupid dirt.
I used a clean section of my vest top to wipe my eye.
"Alex, where is she?" Nick panicked.
"We have to go. ZOE! GET IN!" Drew bellowed.
"We can't leave without Josh!" I said loudly, still not able to open my right eye. "Fuck." I grumbled, rubbing it again.
"Where's Robin?!" Nick shouted.
"She's dead!" I screamed.
"Dead!" Drew snapped at the same time.
"LET'S GO!" Lane yelled.
I felt the helicopter start to lift off the roof. I finally got the dirt out and shot forward in my seat to look out the window and saw the mass of people down below, climbing the stairs and running onto the roof where the H for the helicopter landing pad was painted in white, but it was too late, we were already in the air flying away. I scanned the grounds for Josh, trying to pick him out in his white t-shirt but it was useless, there were too many bodies moving around and from up here I couldn't tell who was alive and who were deadbies. I felt Lane's hands on my head as he lowered a pair of headphones over my ears.
"What happened to Robin? What do you mean she's dead?!" Nick shouted and Lane passed him a pair of headphones to put on to stop him shouting at us. I looked around and saw that there were six seats in the back, but two were empty. Nick sat opposite me, hugging his bag, and there was a spare seat between him and Drew, and Drew was looking out the window at the scene below. The inside of the helicopter looked like the inside of a VIP lounge with cream colored seats and there were even cup holders like Ross has said. Lane leaned forward and handed Drew some headphones and I thought I saw Drew wince as he reached over to take them.
I could hear Zoe and Ross in the front talking among themselves, Zoe was telling him to circle back to look for Josh but Ross was saying it was too risky. Lane was sitting next to me, leaning over me to look out the window.
"Alex?!" Nick said loudly and nearly deafened me.
"What?" I yelled and looked up at him as Lane leaned back in his seat.
"Where did Robin go? Did you see her?" Nick asked, looking at me for answers.
"She...she..." I looked over at Drew, hoping he would tell Nick but he was hunched over, looking out the window on his side.
"I don't know, Nick. We lost her. She just took off when Josh told us to run and then...she was too far away."
"What?"
"I-we...couldn't get to her...there were so many of them."
"Alex, what are you saying?"
"Nick. She's gone." Lane said.
I watched Nick as his face changed when he realized what Lane meant, and it finally sunk in.
"What, how? What happened?" Nick asked.
I closed my eyes and tried to block him out as he asked for details. I didn't want to tell him what I saw, how bad it was, and how the images will probably give me nightmares.
"Does that mean this trip is a waste of time? Wasn't the whole point of going to Washington was to show them your research? Robin was proof that the cure worked but now she's dead." Ross said.
"We still have Alex, she's more important." Nick replied like it was no big deal Robin had just been eaten alive.
I hated the way they were talking about me as though I wasn't here with them. This was not what I wanted. Now I was the research, I was his proof. Now I had to try and not die and stay alive until we made it there and met with whoever was in charge. The only reason I was going was to keep Robin safe and make sure Nick delivered his research into the right hands, but now Robin was dead, and I was the next best thing he had. I didn't like the idea of it, though. What if I was taken away and experimented on some more. I would be a lab rat for the rest of my life and never see the outside world again. Yeah, I don't like this idea so much now. I liked it better when he wanted to use Robin for show and tell.
"I don't want to go to Washington. I've changed my mind." I blurted out.
Nick frowned and I could see the lecture I was about to get but befo
re he could argue with me something rocketed into the helicopter causing a loud explosion, throwing us violently to the left as the helicopter shifted course and spun around, making a strange swirling sound. My head knocked into the window and all I felt was a shooting pain before everything went black.
Chapter 8
I heard panicked voices and something else...fizzle, hiss, snap, snap, pop. I tried to open my eyes but my head hurt and when I reached up to touch my forehead it felt warm and sticky. It was the smell that forced me to finally open my eyes. Thick and smokey.
I could hear someone coughing violently and Ross calling for Zoe. The air was filled with smoke and I couldn't see much as another gust of smoke engulfed me. I was no longer sitting in the helicopter, I was lying down in the damp grass. I leaned up on my elbow and managed to sit up and saw the helicopter in the distance, a twisted mess of metal and broken blades, the burning aftermath creating an orange glow as the flames flickered and the fire crackled and popped.
I was so disoriented, my forehead was cut badly and there was blood dripping down my face. I looked around but couldn't see anyone nearby. I heard Ross calling for Zoe again and I struggled to stand up before making my way over to him, following the sound of his voice. The smoke cleared and I saw a very bloody Ross lying in the grass surrounded by Lane and Nick. Nick looked relatively unscathed, with one small cut on his cheek and a cracked pair of glasses. Lane looked like he was okay except for a bloody ear. Ross was hurt bad, though. Nick was pressing his hands on Ross's shoulder that was bleeding and there looked to be some kind of metal thing sticking out of his stomach which was causing most of the blood...too much blood. Nick glanced over at Lane and shook his head slightly. I looked back at the helicopter where Ross was extending an arm and calling for Zoe.
Zoe was dead. Gone.
Lane saw me standing nearby and stood up and came over to me.
"You okay? You hit your head pretty bad, you were out of it before we even hit the ground."
