Infection Series (Book 1): Preservation

by Nelson, S. L.

  “Do you think that would be a bad idea, with the sound of the motor as a beacon?” Samuel asked.

  “We have no choice. I think if we stick to the back roads, we will avoid most of the infected along the highway, maybe even get ahead of it like Cody suggested.” Lucas offered.

  “We already passed Wyocena. We’re pretty close to Portage but it’s right on the highway. Do we risk it?” Caleb asked.

  “What would be our other option?” Veronica questioned.

  “There isn’t.” Samuel replied, “There is nothing big enough without going completely out of our way.”

  “Isn’t there a superstore in Portage? Could we hotwire an RV?” Colby added, “It would have enough room for all of us and then some.”

  The group of adults looked over at Colby and quietly though about his plan. If they could get to Portage and get lucky enough to find an RV without coming into contact with any infected, they would have a real chance of getting ahead of the infection.

  “Does anyone know how to hotwire a car?” Matt questioned.

  Veronica, Bethann, and Jake all raised their hands, trying hard to hide their grins.

  “I knew it,” Colby said. While the rest of the group smiled widely.

  Chapter 27

  “Jake, can I borrow your phone?” Cody asked, waiting while Jake dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Tapping the keys, Cody wrote, ‘Cindy we’re heading to 612 Bauman Ave in Eau Claire. We hope to be there tonight, by tomorrow the latest. See you there?’

  Tucking the phone in his pocket, Cody moved to catch up with the group, climbing out of their hiding spot he fell in line behind Jake. Single file, they walked along, listening to the birds chirp along with the distant moan of infected.

  Jake paused, holding Cody up to created some distance from the group, “Do you think she’s alright? We haven’t heard from her since we split. ” Jake asked Cody.

  Cody didn’t know how to answer. He hoped that Cindy was fine, just not able to respond. “She’s tough. If she hasn’t responded it’s because she can’t not because she’s dead.”

  Jake let Cody walk away. He wasn’t as close to Cindy as Cody but Jake understood the bond of a partnership. Sighing he followed Cody down the path, catching up to the rest of the group.

  “Look, there’s a stream up ahead.” Matt pointed out excitedly, racing to the bank, “Can we drink from it? You know, to save our bottled water?” Matt asked when the group caught up to him.

  Lucas smiled and Matt’s enthusiasm, “No buddy, we can’t. There is too much farmland through here, the water would have to be filtered and treated to be able to drink.” Lucas handed Matt a bottle of water, “We’ll be just fine. Split that with your brother and we’ll get more when we reach town.”

  Matt took the bottle of water and tucked it into his pocket, “How are we going to get over to the other side? Looks deep?” He commented as they stood on the shore of the stream.

  “We’ll walk along for a bit, find a narrow section.” Lucas commented. Standing next to Matt as the rest of the group moved along the river.

  “I guess.” Matt replied, turning to follow Lucas, “Ahhh!”

  Lucas turned at Matt’s cry, watching as Matt’s feet slipped in the mud at the edge of the stream. Lucas reached out his long arm, trying to catch Matt, but he was too late. Fear ripped through Lucas as he watched Matt splash into the water. Matt splashed and kicked his legs, only to realize that he was sitting in knee-deep water.

  Matt looked up at Lucas, “Well, I guess it’s not that deep.”

  Lucas silently chuckled but couldn’t hold back when he watched Matt pull out a weathered old boot and look at it with utter disgust. “Still interested in drinking the water?”

  “Matt! Are you alright?” Colby exclaimed as he reached the streams edge, “What are you doing?”

  The group laughed as Matt stood up and turned to make his way to the opposite bank, knowing that he was just fine, albeit a little wet. Matt pulled himself up the steep incline and sat on the soft, dry ground.

  “Well, if I can cross, so can the rest of you,” Matt muttered, pulling the bottle of water from his pocket and giving it a good shake, making sure none of the water from the stream leaked in.

  With shrugs and grins, the rest stripped their shoes off and rolled up their pant legs.

  “This should be fun.” Jake bantered, letting out a squeak of surprise at the coldness of the water.

  “What’s your problem? Did a fish get you?” Dana teased as she hopped through the water and up the bank quick and limber.

  Cody picked his way through the water, keeping a hand out for Caleb, “Be careful, try not to get your bandages wet.”

  Caleb swatted Cody’s hand, “I’m injured, not old,” he laughed, “Just give me a boost up this hill.”

  Cody cupped his hands, lifting as Caleb put the foot of the uninjured leg in. Dana and Matt both reached down and pulled Caleb up so he was sitting on the edge of the hill.

  “Come on Samuel, you too.” Jake beckoned, knowing Samuel wouldn’t be able to pull himself up with his injured arm.

  Sheepishly, Samuel stepped into the cupped hands, grateful for Dana’s help as she reached out a hand to him, “Thanks, I don’t know what I would do without you guys.”

  Dana smiled and placed a comforting hand on Samuel’s shoulder, “What would any of us do without each other?” She replied.

  “Will you be alright?” Matt asked, kneeling down to hand Caleb his bottle of water.

  Caleb took the bottle of water, twisting the cap off to take a drink. He watched as Jake and Lucas offered to help Veronica up the hill, joking about remaining gentlemen, “Yeah, Matt, I’ll be al....”

  The trashing of branches against tree trunks was the only warning they had before three infected burst through the thicket of bushes a few feet from the stream.

  “Move!” Lucas yelled, grabbing Veronica around the waist, forcing her up the bank of the hill. Veronica clawed the bank, pulling herself up as fast as she could. Reaching the top, she twisted around, lying on her stomach, she reached down to pull Colby up.

  “Come on Colby, I’ve got you!” Veronica encouraged as she grabbed onto to his upper arms, pulling him up and over her.

  The infected snarled and snapped their jaws as they scrambled toward the bank of the creek, their excitement increasing at the smell of fresh prey. Quick jerking movements hindered their progress, each step an obstacle to the infected next to them. Lucas took the bags off his shoulders and threw them up onto the ground above him.

  “Bethann, get up the hill!” Jake screamed as the first infected reached the water’s edge, slipping into the creek and falling down, the current moving him closer to Bethann.

  Bethann ignored the order and waded toward the infected body in the water with an arrow in her hand. She did not intend to be afraid of the infected. She watched as the thing that used to be a man, an executive by the look of his suit, struggled to gain his footing. She reared her arm back to get strong momentum, ensuring a puncture through the skull into the brain with the metal arrow tip. Just as the arrow pierced the back of the skull, the infected man whipped his arm out of the water raking his claws across Bethann’s stomach, tearing the fabric and scraping her tender skin.

  “BETHANN!” Veronica screamed, “NO!!”

  Cody and Lucas waded through the water to meet the other two infected on the bank of the creek, jabbing sticks at their faces until they hit an eye, the wood sliding into the brain. At Veronica’s yell, they turned to see Bethann standing in the water, an arrow sticking out of the dead infected and a bloodied hand holding her stomach.

  Jake moved through the water as quickly as he could, “I told you to get up the hill, Jesus Bethann, why didn’t you listen?” He asked with tears in his eyes. Brushing a hand over her head, he pulled her into his embrace and held her as tears streamed down her face.

  Veronica quickly dove to the edge of the hill, preparing to slide down to her best friend
when Caleb held her back.

  “They’ll bring her up, it’s safer up here for now.” Caleb said softly.

  Sobs choked Veronica as she watched Cody, Lucas, and Jake carefully lift Bethann up on to the hill’s edge. Dropping to her knees, Veronica pulled Bethann into her arms.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would move that fast,” Bethann sucked in air as she tried to breath through the pain.

  Veronica moved Bethann’s hands away from her body to inspect the wound. Blood oozed from four long, deep, half moon scrapes across her midsection.

  “Someone get me the first aid box.” Veronica pleaded, “Don’t worry Bethann; we’ll get you cleaned up. You’re going to be just fine.” Veronica whispered.

  Cody walked to Jake, where he was holding Bethann’s hand, and kneeled down, “Kevin was scratched across the face and turned.” Cody whispered, “We need to be prepared.”

  “We don’t know if it was the scratch, he was in the lobby with the rest of us. He could have been bitten and we didn’t know.” Jake replied

  Bethann let out a hiss as Veronica poured hydrogen peroxide on Bethann’s wounds. Tears sprang to her eyes again at the pain. With each pour of the peroxide, the pain lessened.

  “They’re deep but it looks like it’s clean. I going to bandage you up and we’ll get going. We can’t stay here much longer.” Veronica explained.

  “Veronica, I love you. I’m sorry.” Bethann breathed sharply as Veronica placed several gauze pads on and secured them with an ace bandage around her body.

  Veronica scrunched up her face, fighting the tears that threatened to fall, “Well, I love you too dummy. Don’t think you’re going anywhere, because you’re not. You got it?”

  Bethann let out a breathy laugh, “Yeah, fine, whatever you say Captain.”

  Cody and Jake lifted Bethann onto her feet. Bethann stood slightly hunched over and took a few steps.

  “I’m good for now. Let’s get going, we still have three hours of walking before we reach that store.” Bethann nodded at the group and turned to lead the way.

  Veronica watched Bethann walk to the front of the group, letting loose the tears that she had held back, “Please, I can’t lose my best friend.” She whispered to herself.

  Silently they gathered their bags and formed a single line behind Bethann, each with a weapon held tightly in their hands.

  Chapter 28

  The group walked through the tiny forest, rustling leaves and snapping twigs as they made their way north. The sound of birds chirping created a peaceful atmosphere, they knew it was an illusion. There was no peace beyond the trees any longer.

  Bethann walked ahead of the group, thoughts rushing through her head. She took a deep breath and inhaled a bug. She stopped and grabbed hold of a tree, bending over she started coughing hard to dislodge the thing from her throat.

  The group froze behind her. Each one held their breath as they readied their weapons.

  “I’m ok!” Bethann assured, “Just choking on a bug.” She turned and smiled at her group, “Try not to breathe with your mouth open.” She joked.

  The group continued through a thicket of bushes and vines. Bethann did her best to create a path for everyone, using a small knife to cut back small branches and vines. Muttering about the absurdity of zombies and the end of the world, she missed the thick root sticking out of the ground. Bethann didn’t even have time to yelp in surprise, she hit the ground hard, rolling down a little hill into a small clearing. When she came to a stop, all she could do is moan.

  Veronica saw Bethann disappear, fear rippled through her body when she heard a deep moan. Veronica lurched forward to get to her friend.

  “No, don’t.” Cody cautioned, grabbing hold of her arm.

  “She’s my best friend.” Veronica reminded him, gently shaking off Cody’s hand, “I’ll take care of her.”

  “Wait, I’ll go with you.” Cody conceded.

  They carefully stepped their way through the path that Bethann made. Veronica holding her gun at the ready, her head telling her it was the right thing to do but her heart refused to believe that her best friend, her sister, is gone.

  “Stupid nature! Stupid trees! Stupid dirt! Stupid zombies!” Bethann ranted as she lay on the grass, cradling her injury and wondering if she poked any more holes in her body.

  At the sound of Bethann’s rant, Veronica smiled and skipped down the small hill as fast as she could, careful to jump over the large root in the ground.

  “So, beauty is bested by nature,” Veronica teased, “Who would have thought?”

  Bethann glared at Veronica but couldn’t hold it long, “Well, I never said I was a girl scout.” She bantered back, “That was you. I just went along for the cookies.”

  Veronica help Bethann stand, mindful of her stomach, and checked her for any new injuries.

  “How long have we been walking?” Matt moaned as he reached the clearing with the rest of the group.

  Everyone was so focused on Bethann; they didn’t notice time slipping by.

  “About an hour.” Caleb replied looking at his watch.

  Bethann looked up at Caleb, then at the rest of her group, “Does that mean I’m not going to turn into one of those things?” Hope lighting up her face.

  “According to the data that we had, turning occurred within the first 20 minutes.” Samuel informed them. “I’d say no, you will not turn.”

  Veronica grabbed Bethann and hugged her hard. Bethann wrapped her arms around Veronica just as tightly. Slowly, each person surrounded the pair until they were one large group hug.

  “Does this mean she’s immune?” Jake asked hopefully, pulling from the group.

  “We just don’t know for sure.” Samuel replied stepping back as everyone else turned to look at him, “We know it is a bacteria and transmission is evident in a bite. Anything else is a guess.”

  “What do you mean by transmission, what kind of transmissions are there?” Caleb inquired.

  Samuel crossed his arms and winced, forgetting the injury to his right elbow, huffing out a breath he continued, “Transmission is a bite, as we know. A scratch, which appears we may not have to worry about. The only other that I would be concerned with is blood spatter. We don’t know if getting blood on the skin or in the mouth or eye would cause transformation.”

  “I’m glad you’re not going to change. I’d miss you.” Matt said, still holding onto Bethann’s hand.

  “Yeah, we all would.” Dana agreed, reaching up to hug Bethann again.

  “Well, let’s keep going. Caleb, are you doing alright?” Bethann inquired, placing a hand gently on her own stomach.

  Caleb nodded his head. He was pain, he had found a large stick to used it as a crutch but stopping wasn’t an option. “We have to get out of here before dark, hopefully in Eau Claire before dark. We really don’t have much time to waste.” Caleb took a few steps before adding, “Besides, we don’t know what we are going to run into from now on.”

  “How much longer do you think we have,” Dana asked as she passed out water. “Maybe we should find a car sooner rather than later?”

  The group stood in a field close to the edge of the tree line. In the distance, Caleb could make out a clear skyline.

  “I think we are closer than we realized. I can see a chimney in the distance.” Caleb pointed through a break in the trees. Everyone turned to see what he was looking at, relief evident on each of their faces at getting closer to their destination.

  “Let’s get to the tree line, we can still use it as cover, and take a look.” Jake suggested.

  With renewed energy, the group set out.

  Chapter 29

  “The only problem I think we’ll have is getting through that neighborhood if it’s infected.” Caleb informed the group, adding, “Bethann, Samuel, and I won’t be much help in fighting off a group of infected. I think ripping our wounds open would just excite them more.”

  “If you three can stick with Matt and Colby, we’ll
take care of the rest.” Dana said confidently, looking at the rest for confirmation and nodding when she received it.

  “Alright then, let’s prepare ourselves.” Caleb said.

  Bethann, Dana, and Caleb took possession of the packs and decided to keep Matt and Colby between the three of them, creating a small circle. The rest of the group made a larger circle around them, hoping to defend themselves in every direction.

  They reached the back of the house that Caleb had pointed out in the forest. The house was quiet, no sound from inside, or outside. Slowly, keeping their circle tight, they rounded the side of the house to enter the street out front.

  The scene before them was a nightmare, they were too late, the infected had already raged through the neighborhood.

  The group stood in shock. There were no infected in sight but the destruction was too much to take in.

  “Colby, Matt, keep your eyes on me,” Bethann ordered.

  Colby and Matt had both pulled their shirts up over their mouths and noses, “Colby, I can’t see very good. My eyes won’t stop watering.” Matt choked.

  “Breath through your mouth.” Samuel suggested, taking small breaths himself.

  The group did their best to skirt around the mangled bodies on the street. Cars were smashed up against light posts, trees, and other cars. One of the houses sported a nice new hole, the back end of a pickup sticking out. Sadness crept through the group at the carnage of the infected as they worked their way through the streets.

  “Can’t we find a car somewhere around here?” Colby asked, risking a look around them. What he saw made his stomach turn.

  “Should we split up?” Samuel asked, “Cover more ground?”

  “No splitting up. We’ll take whatever we can find that will fit all of us as soon as we can.” Cody responded, “I don’t think going to a superstore is such a good idea anymore. Everyone, keep an eye out for a vehicle.”