Walking Bodies

by Durman, Jason

  Aaron sprang above me, into the trees and towards the direction he two went, already impatient with my constant brooding. I felt the corners mouths tSiren as I ran to catch up with him.

  Chapter 14

  I ran hard and fast to keep up, following Aaron more than looking where I was actually going. I couldn't remember the exact path to take, but he seemed as if he knew exactly where to go, seeing as he didn't hesitate to take another leap after another.

  The leaves crunched beneath my feet as I ran, the cabin growing closer in the distance. Aaron was still above me, scouting up in the trees, hidden from view by the branches. I could see the front of the cabin now, and the front door was wide open. I stuck close to the forest line, running many different plans through my head.

  One of the plans was to burst inside, and shoot the first thing that moved. Although, with both of them dead, how would I know how to get to Paradise? And that doesn't exactly guarantee my own safety either. Ok, so second plan: Find out how to discreetly hold one of them hostage, and get rid of the other.

  While just as risky as the other plan, it would still help me find Doug and Olive. That is, if I survive and the remaining person would be willing to cooperate. Tanya doesn't look like somebody that would be easy to get information out of. However, I didn't know about her comrade, the sniper.

  It would be a two on two, them VS us. I had a gun and so did they. But I also had someone they didn't. Glancing up, I searched the branches for a dark hoodie. I didn't spot him; instead, I looked over to the roof of the cabin. He sat perched onto the roof, waiting for my go.

  Aaron was stronger, and faster than them, and while not as smart, together we had a chance. The only thing I really had to worry about was how to make my entrance.

  Slowly, I crept up to the porch of the house. How Aaron was able to land on the house undetected escaped me, but a special infected's abilities are not to be questioned. I lost count on how many times they've come to be very useful.

  Something small and quick fell in front of my face, and I realized quickly was water. Looking up, I mentally scolded myself for not noticing the clouds expanding earlier. The forest's trees blocked the sky before, and only now did I know that it was going to rain.

  One drop fell after another, and while it wasn't pouring, it was certainly freezing. Looking over to Aaron, he seemed unaffected by the sudden appearance of rain. I shivered and took note of how he didn't show any signs of feeling the cold, though I'm sure it was due to his thick, dirty hoodie.

  He crawled on the gutter quietly as I inched away from the tree line and closer to the cabin. With my back against it, I slid along the wood cautiously until I reached the door. Aaron crouched just above the frame, in a pouncing position, as wolf would wait for a rabbit to leave its burrow.

  I was about to swivel around the door and bolt inside, when I realized just how stupid I was. I knew it was a trap, and that I was strutting right in it, but the thought never crossed my mind of setting a trap of my own. Aaron, however, unlike me, wanted to wait patiently so he could catch the victim by pure surprise. He was smarter than he was given credit for, part of the time, anyway.

  Biting my lip and gripping my gun, part of me hoped that it would be Tanya to take the bait. Simply because she deserves to get humiliated first.

  I bit my lip even harder. Humiliated? When did you ever think about actually wanting to humiliate somebody, Sara? I mean, sure, those pranks in collage you did to your friends were one thing, but this was a life or death situation.

  The pranks in collage were harmless, funny, small little tricks that you did every once in a while when you were bored or it was a friend's birthday party or something. Child's play. But this is different. You're either about to kill someone or be killed. It should be straight to the point, blunt. Get the info and leave.

  So why the sudden urge to be an asshole? Maybe it's because you're hungry, maybe because you're tired, or maybe you just hate this chick's guts. I sighed; once again, my sanity is to be questioned.

  With a leap of courage, I used my leg to kick the back of the door so it slammed shut, a loud bang echoing through the rain. I cringed at the noise, and heard a yell of alarm accompany the fading echo. A faint growl sounded above me, and I barley heard it among the pitter patter of the rain. And the thunder footsteps heading my direction.

  It wasn't Tanya who swung open the door, but her comrade, Theron. He took a couple steps out to the porch and I held my breath, honestly surprised he didn't notice me right away. He scanned the open field, sighed, and swiveled around and met Aaron halfway.

  He yelped in shock as his back hit the boreds, and open his mouth to scream, but I dropped to my knees, quickly putting one hand on his throat and his cry for help was cut short. "Scream…" I let the breath out I was holding. "And this will be much worse than it has to be."

  But he wasn't looking at me. Instead, he was staring at the claws being raised above him. Aaron was going to kill him, and part of me was ok with that. But the thing is, I rather have the sniper as my hostage then have to deal with his bossy partner. Something tells me that I'll have a better chance with him then I do with her.

  I pushed Aaron off with my shoulder as best as I could, though he didn't budge, he took the hint and crawled off the man, snarling deeply. You'll get your chance, just wait.

  Theron gasped for air, still trying to emit some sort of distress noise. In a moment of quick thinking, I brought my gun up and hit the side of his head. A small trickle of blood flowed down his temple and mixed with the rain. His eyes closed and I made sure he was out cold before removing my hand.

  Checking him for weapons, I figured he must have set his sniper rifle down somewhere, because the only thing he was armed with was a combat knife, which I pocketed of course.

  Aaron still beside him, fingers flexing rapidly, as if he still wanted to tear him apart, although Theron wasn't a threat anymore. Among the splatter of rain, I heard the sound of footsteps again. I stood up, staring inside of the cabin as Tanya walked out of the hallway.

  For a split second, everything froze. Kind of like what you see in those cheesy action movies before a huge action scene breaks out. But instead, there wasn't even a need to raise our guns or spit out some corny catch line, because Aaron was already inside and on top of her, razor sharp talons ripping through her clothes.

  Her overalls were shredded in milliseconds, and he was already digging into her collarbone before she was able to realize that she had been pounced on. I stepped inside, my knuckles turning white as I watched him paint the room with her. In a sense, I almost felt bad for her. Almost.

  I wanted to kill her myself, really. But something about watching Aaron tear apart a human was making it impossible for me to get any closer. This wasn't like the other time where he had amputated the Siren's arm, or stole a rib from the common infected a while back. It was more like when he attacked the man when he and Doug had gone to investigate.

  It was much more horrifying to see him slaughter a live victim, and not a mindless infected.

  Tanya screamed and screeched in pain, and Aaron simply growled in return. He was so caught up in enjoying the thrill, he didn't notice the wench.

  Why she didn't have her gun out, I'm not sure. But I caught a glimpse of it sticking it out of her boot, and I assume that she just didn't have a fast enough reaction time to save herself with it. Her wench, however, hit Aaron directly in the jaw, scraping his flesh just enough to make him grimace in pain, but not enough to stop him.

  "Aaron" I said softly.

  The Leaper showed hesitation, but continued to slash away. Even when his victim's thrashing began to slow, and her cries started to sound more like whimpers. "Aaron, come here." I spoke a little louder, and this time he obeyed, but not before giving Tanya one last gash across the face. The wound was so deep I almost thought her pretty green eyes would get caught in his nails and torn from its socket.

  I gulped, and stood in place as he cr
awled backwards towards me, then past me and sat against the wall, a smirk on his face. How he could do something so disgusting and act so casual about it was beyond my will of thinking.

  I don't think I'll ever want to know what ever goes on in head. I imagine it's something twisted and morbid, rabid and confusing. But he was getting smarter with every passing hour, and easier to understand. What I really wanted to know is that if it was the infection, or the human running the show inside his head?

  A wheeze brought me out of my musings and Tanya lay sprawled on what used to be a nice clean floor. The same woman who had me down to the dirt on the verge of tears around hour earlier was now sputtering and hacking up what little life force she had left in her, seeing as how the rest of it was now the new color of the wallpaper.

  Her eyes landed on me, and I briefly thought of kicking her in the ribs. But that would only get my shoes gory. So I strode up to her, my footsteps making a rippling motion in her pool of blood and leaned down, using two fingers to pick the gun out of her boot.

  "You won't need this anymore."

  She opened her mouth to retort, but choked in the process. Once I had the gun securely in my grip, I backed away from her when I felt finger nails brush against my pants leg.

  Her body heaved and recoiled repeatedly, still sputtering and yacking. It was clear to me that she was in an unbearable amount of pain, and an emotion that you wouldn't expect for me to feel for her was beginning to show itself. Pity.

  Not the same kind of pity I felt for Aaron, however. That feeling of pity came because he was helpless, vulnerable and defenseless. No, this pity was different. She brought this upon herself and the only reason why I felt sorry for her was because of the agony she was going through.

  This could have been avoided. She had no actual reason to kidnap an old couple surviving on their own. They weren't disturbing anyone, were they? And attempting to force me to go with her didn't help either. Decisions were made and this was the result. Although, Aaron's brutality might have been over doing it.

  Her gun was rich on ammo, but it was a decent amount. I sighed, praying that there weren't any infected within ear shot. I aimed at her head, to provide a quick, simple death.

  Before I had even pulled the trigger, the look in her eyes seemed almost thankful. A shot rang throughout the air and her body pulsed for a minute, even with the bullet in its skull, then was still.

  Aaron wrinkled his nose at the sight of mercy. He stood up to full height, and simply walked outside. I followed, shutting the door behind me for the sake of my own stomach. The Leaper pawed at the unconscious man, glaring down like he was some kind of chew toy.

  I rolled my eyes. "Don't touch him." I ordered. Aaron seemed to ignore me, though his shoulder's sagged a bit. "At least, not yet." The bucket that sat next to the porch stairs was now filled with freezing rain water, and I snatched it up quickly, before sloshing it over Theron's face.

  The sniper's eyes flung open, and he coughed and snorted in an attempt to clear the water that had run up his nose. Taking a step back, I flung the away and crouched down so I could meet him at eye level.

  Theron glared up at me, and I smirked in response. "Good to see you're awake." He wiped his mouth, and visibly gritted his teeth. I could tell he was debating on whether to attack me or not, but the clearly agitated Leaper three feet away made the decision for him.

  "I just want to talk." I said, sitting down with my knees crossed, relaxing. "I really don't want to hurt you. I just want information." I stated, but he didn't look very convinced.

  "Really, now?" The man countered, his voice draped in sarcasm. "Who's to say that you won't try and kill after you get what you want, huh?" He sneered.

  Shrugging, I looked him in the eye. I had the upper hand at the moment, and I'd like to keep it that way. So while I had no intention of killing him, I certainly not going to tell him that. "I'm making an offer here" I replied, fiddling with my dual hand guns. It felt good to have one in each hand again.

  "And the offer is?" He responded.

  "You and your friend kidnapped two people. An old couple, remember?" I asked, glancing up to watch him. He glared daggers at me, before sparing a glance of his own at Aaron, whom leaned against the closed door, for some reason more intrigued by the rain then by our conversation.

  Theron slowly used his elbows to rise into sitting condition, facing me head on. "Wasn't my idea." He defended.

  "But you helped, didn't you?" I accused, taking a more hostile tone than I had intended.

  It was silent for a moment, and then he shrugged. "Orders are orders, kid."

  "I'm not a kid."

  "Look pretty fucking young to me."

  "I'm older than you think."

  "What are you, like, 12?"

  "Funny, in fact, I bet I'm older than you."

  "I'm 26"

  "…close enough"

  I watched him pat for his knife, and smiled when he realized that I had taken it. "Listen," he finally spoke. "Just tell me what you want." Being friendly before had gotten me nowhere, but it was always a bad habit of mine of wanting to be civil. To an extent.

  "I overheard you and Tanya speaking about a place called 'Paradise'. I need directions on how to get there." I declared, and he smirked in response.

  "I have no idea what you're talking about."

  "Bullshit. I head you both loud and clear." I interrupted, calling him out on his attempt to evade answering. "Just give me what I want and I won't have to do anything drastic."

  His smirked grew bolder, and he scanned me up and down. I had half a mind to smack him. "Like what?" Theron scoffed, a smug look plastered on his features. "You're pretty puny. I could take you."

  Puny? Shit, he had no idea what I was capable of! I've faced hundreds of infected and special infected on my own, and I was the one with the upper hand here, being the only one with any weaponry. Not to mention his only back up was…unavailable.

  Speaking of back up, I pointed a finger towards the Leaper across the porch, whom was now zeroing in on our conversation, completely ignoring the oh- so- intriguing rain. Probably due to my sudden rise in vocal volume, though slight.

  "What about him? Think you could take him on?" I grinned, and his sudden courage from before began to fade. "Feel like getting torn to shreds, today?" Taunting him, Theron sat defeated, visibly anxious.

  "Where's Tanya?" He questioned, and I stole a quick glance towards the front door without him noticing. The current plan was to get directions before revealing her gruesome death, and getting the hell out of sight before he could find any more of his little buddies to exact revenge. So far, it had been working.

  "She absent at the moment." I answered, and his glare grew even colder. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair, and I caught a glimpse of the red letters clearly evident on the back of his hand. "What is that?"

  "What is what?"

  "Your hand says CLEAN on it." I said, eyeing the familiar color on tan skin. "What's the point of that?"

  He turned his hand over and observed it himself, as if he had forgotten that it was even there. "Oh this?" He began. "This is a tattoo, stating that I'm not infected. Everyone gets one."

  "That sounds pretty stupid; since it's obvious you're not infected. You look pretty human to me."

  "No, it means I'm not a carrier."

  Carriers, people who are immune to the infection to a degree where they don't go around and attack non-infected, but still have the ability to spread the plague just by having it in their bodies.

  I heard Steve once discuss it with Markus before the separation. The old man was angry that the military wasn't allowing carriers to be living in close proximity with the fully immune. Carriers can truly only pass on the infection to a non-infected person through physical contact, such as sharing drinks.

  The military however didn't want to take any chances, and began to imprison and sometimes even execute carriers who happen to be unlucky eno
ugh to pass by. It was a regular protocol to follow, and I've seen innocent people get shot because of it. I wonder if the group that had picked up my friends also followed that code.

  "Oh"

  It was the only reaction I could muster at the moment. I remembered that CLEAN wasn't the only tattoo I had questions about. My thoughts drifted off to the walker in the woods, and the biohazard sign on his right hand.

  If the word CLEAN in bold red letters etched on someone's skin separated them from the diseased, I had a feeling that the biohazard sign meant the exact opposite. Whoever the straggler was, he must have been a carrier.

  "Listen, I'll cooperate, ok? Just tell your lap dog to take a hike." Theron muttered aggressively, eyeing the quiet, unmoving Leaper.

  "Just give me a lead, a map, a set of directions. Anything to help me get my friends back." For a second there is almost sounded like I was begging, so I quickly chipped in again. "Help me and I swear we won't hurt you."

  "You're a horrible captor, with horrible negotiation skills, you know that?"

  Shrugging at his remark, I asked again. "Paradise, that's all I want."

  Theron looked distraught, like he was torn between telling me or flipping me off with a big F-U. For a moment he glared at me with pure disgust, then starting patting around his shirt, and opened up an inside pocket I didn't realize he had.

  "Don't we all." He mumbled.

  For a moment I thought he was going to pull out a weapon, and I reacted quickly, whipping up my weapons and aiming directly at him, which caused him to freeze in fear. My sudden hostility didn't go unnoticed by Aaron, who in turn emitted a warning growl, claws flexing and teeth showing.

  Theron removed his hands from the pocket slowly, all while staring wide eyed at us. I focused on the object he was pulling out, and suddenly felt like a massive asshole when I realized that it was only a small folded up piece of paper.

  Lowering the guns, I apologized. But the sniper didn't even acknowledge my apology; still keeping tabs on the special infected who still seemed quite agitated with the man. I recall that Theron had been the same sniper that Aaron had fought with in the trees, and I could tell that the Leaper still held a grudge.