Walking Bodies

by Durman, Jason

  I thought back to what I saw on the rooftops, the ant sized men I spotted walking around the building. A lot of guards meant something very important was being held in there, or someone. It could serve as the 'city hall' or perhaps the 'headquarters' of Paradise, hell if I know. The only issue was getting inside. When I can do that, then I can care about what's in it.

  I looked down at myself. My jacket was left back at the radio tower. I was clad in Doug's T-shirt; though I think I've worn it enough to call it mine now. Rolling up the sleeves to my elbows, I looked pretty decent. I could pass as a citizen. The only unusual thing about me was the combat boots, but it was a lot less strange then running around barefoot.

  A light bulb was flickering in my head. I turned to Aaron. "Hey" I called, distracting him from tracing the dust on the floor. I eyed his wardrobe. Plain black shirt, cargo pants and sneakers, add his cap. Nothing unusual. If he tried, he might be able to pass as a citizen too. He's done before, though he didn't enjoy it.

  "Put your hands in your pockets." I ordered. He tilted his head, confused. I shoved my own hands into my jean pockets, feeling both guns on my fingers. Say yes to deep pockets. "Like this" I urged, trying to get him to mimic my actions. He stared, before standing up to full height. He patted his pants leg, as if trying to understand.

  I nodded. "Pockets," I patted my own to show him. He snuffed, fumbling with his hands. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his wrist. He gave protest, but I shoved his right hand into the first pocket. "Keep your hands…" I took his other hand and repeated, barely missing his claws. "Here. Do you think you can do that?"

  The Leaper looked down, baffled at why his hands had suddenly disappeared. He's used his hoodie pockets before, was he really that detached? I stepped back and looked him over. I tried to imagine as if I was a normal citizen and he just passed me by on the street. He looked human, especially from a distance. Just as long as nobody touched him, he'd be fine.

  I had a feeling he was going to hate this.

  I smiled, feeling satisfied. "Ok, so…" I trailed off, pieces my plan together with words. "Go to the library, and figure it out from there. Sound good?" I asked him, though in reality I was talking to myself. Still, this way it sounded a little less crazy. His mouthed thinned in disagreement. His eyes may have been hidden, but he was clearly not too happy.

  "Don't give me that look." I muttered. "You're the one that decided to wake me up, some you must be eager to go, huh?" I grinned, hands on my hips. With a smirk, I turned my back and ran down the stairs, hearing him following a moment later. He hesitated at the top step, before walking down as I did. I take it he usually crawled down these sorts of things, and walked up straight was still a work in progress.

  I made sure to walk carefully over the broken glass still lying around the floor. As I reached the door, I waited for him. He simply sauntered over, ignoring the crush beneath his shoes. My smirk disappeared and I frowned. "Now what if glass had gotten into your shoe, huh?" I teased, and he remained blank.

  Swinging the door open, I look to my left and right before setting a foot outside. It was warm, warmer than yesterday but a wind blew through my hair and tickled my neck, reminding me of how much colder it was going to get if we didn't get moving soon. Aaron stood statue still had the breeze passed us. "Ugh, can't you feel that?" I mumbled as I walked down the porch stairs.

  The Leaper caught up to me, denying an answer. "It's like you're an alien or something…" I wondered out loud. An alien, puppy, toddler. Yep, that sums him up just about right. Wait, it's missing something. What a word for something that is overly aggressive and hates society?

  Speaking of society, people moved around us, obviously too busy in their own lives to care enough and look over to us as we silently passed by. There wasn't a crowd, but still a decent amount of people. Mostly adults in uniforms, plumbers, aprons and even electrician passed by. Heading off to work, I suppose?

  A woman carrying a heavy purse rushed by us, coming dangerously close to Aaron. He bit his lip as she passed by without so much as a word. I noticed he was close to me, attempting to avoid any other human contact. Helpful, since anyone could discover his infection and draw attention, but he also did the same thing about a day ago, when we first arrived.

  I kept my hands to myself, glaring at the store windows as we passed by them. Social anxiety? Whatever it was, he obviously wanted to keep his interaction with the living world as thin as possible.

  Something caught my eye and I slowed my pace, falling behind the Leaper a few steps. He noticed my sudden change in movement and copied, also following my line of eyesight to see what I found was so distracting. He found it, having a similar reaction to mine.

  Two infected stood in a store window, or really, were trying to stand. It looked as if their knees would buckle any second now. Both glanced at us with tired, glazed eyes. Their mouths moved as if to cry, but the movement was so small I took it their jaws were stiff. They were incredibly skinny, skinnier than a normal infected should have been. Definitely hadn't of had anything to eat in a while.

  Their skin looked sicker than normal, covered in bruises from head to toe. I eyed one of their ankles, a dark mark burned across the skin. The brand looked painful, black against the ill colored skin. They were both clad in a raggedy dirty t-shirt and shorts, barefoot. On one of their faces, I noted how her nose was bent unnaturally to the left, clearly broken. The other didn't look any better.

  It didn't help that they were both children.

  I swallowed my emotion and turned away. There was nothing I could do for them without getting caught. Besides, even if they were free, wouldn't they just attack us? How are they any different from the infected outside of these walls? Still, they shouldn't be sold like cattle, even if they have the minds of animals.

  I glanced at Aaron, glaring at his feet as we walked away. Not animals, but not human.

  The rest of the walk to mid-down was uneventful, aside from a few close calls from the locals. All I had to do was smile and wave, not accustomed to the friendliness. Aaron kept him head down, gritting his teeth whenever someone came a bit too close.

  A steep path of steps led to the front library doors, men and women minding their business as they trot passed. I stared at the ground for a moment, hesitating, before making my way up to the large chestnut colored doors. On either side of them, two officers eyed me with suspicion, but kept their mouth shut. I followed one of their eyesight's down the stair, aimed directly at Aaron.

  The disguised Leaper stared blankly at the challenge ahead, cautiously taking the first step. I noted on how this was his first time walking up the stairs, not crawling, and he was actually smart enough that crouching down on all fours would of sent off alarm bells.

  He joined me at the top, ignoring the distrustful stares of the officers. A male voice spoke from behind one of the mask. "He shy or something?" he asked, obviously trying to insult more than trying to sound concerned. I smiled at the man, "He's not a people person." A normal answer, nothing strange about not being a people person.

  I remember back in college days, I would rather spend a night in a dark room with only a screen to light my dorm. I hated going outside, and only attended the classes when I knew I didn't have a choice. Sure, I had friends, but they didn't understand my need for independence. I was definitely a loner when times were easy.

  The officer said no more, looking away and tending to his post like he should have been. I swallowed thickly, reaching out to open the doors. I inwardly winced at the creak of the wood, quickly stepping inside. Once we were in, the door shut behind us with a thud, leaving us with little to work with in terms of reaching our goal. It was like playing hide and go seek, I suppose.

  Aaron looked up for once, sniffing the air. This motion made my own senses come to life, a scent rushing to fill my nose. I took a whiff of the warm air. The aroma was a mixture of bleach, ink, and cheap air freshener. The flowery fragrance overlapped the inky and bleach odor, no
t really something pleasant. If my nose was suffering, I wonder how Aaron's heightened senses were doing.

  As if to answer me, a small cough was heard beside me. I gave a reassuring look, since it was the only help I could offer at the moment. Now if only we had telepathic communication, that would just, be dandy.

  I took a moment to fully take in the appearance of the room, doing my best to ignore the smell. It was large, with an open upstairs that once could simply look down or leap over the rails to the bottom floor. There weren't many rows of shelves, since the walls had shelves nailed to them, but the few that were separate and were empty. Instead, stacks of paper, and even bags were littered across the room. A neat mess, for lack of better words.

  There were lights, hanging from the ceiling and the occasional lamp now and then. I spotted a woman, seating neatly behind desk. In her perfectly filed nails, I spotted a blue leash. I followed the blue till it led to the neck of a small, shivering form semi-hidden underneath the desk.

  I frowned, gritting my teeth. Aaron simply chose not to show a reaction, looking away from the frail mass of bones. The Siren looked up from her silent sobbing for a moment, before clutching her face in her declawed hands in another round of tears. Heartbreaking and cruel, but there was nothing I could do. At least, not yet.

  The woman seemed to glance up from her paperwork, and with a dull glance, she motioned for me to approach. I smiled, putting up the friendliest, most harmless façade I could manage. It was easy for me, all I had to do was play clueless. Aaron, on the other hand, seemed more like he would rather of rid of the woman before anything else.

  With a warm smile still plastered on my face, I took a single step towards the desk. Sirens suddenly blared from every direction.

  The sudden noise erupting from plain quiet was deafening. My hands flew in my ears in attempt to stop the ringing; my head was already swirling in nauseous motion from the unwelcome headache. Dispite my hands covering my head, I could still hear the sirens clear as day. My eyes were clenched shut. I struggled to open one, shocked to see a red tint cast across the room.

  The pain for Aaron was worse. His claws flew to his skull, clawing at his eyes partly hid by his hat. Suddenly, he let loose a feral screech, filled with agony, anger, and eagerness. He took off before I could have any say. When I finally had the ability to pry my eyes open again, I caught him hanging off the side of a railing, snarling at the officers that had bombarded inside, aiming heavy artillery precisely.

  They rushed past me, for the moment ignoring my existence. I heard something slam and lock behind me. The door was locked, and the only option we had was to run. But everything was happing so fast, the ambush was coming in so quick that I didn't even have time to consider it.

  The room was filled with men and women clad in black uniforms, all aiming their sights at me. Distracted, I went unaware of the danger, standing frozen as I watched Aaron leap from wall to wall, nearly missing full clips of bullets. I was so focused on him, I didn't feel any other senses until something small and sharp pierced my neck.

  I gasped, clutching the spot where the dart had landed. The needle like dart had dug into my skin; I could feel a trickle of blood flowing down my collarbone, barely reaching my shirt. With wide eyes, I scanned around myself. I was surrounded, the dart was buried too deep to rip out without tearing my flesh off in the process, and the room was becoming very blurry at an increasingly alarming rate.

  I fell to the floor on my side, frozen and barely conscious. My sense of touch was gone, my entire body numb within seconds. Using the best of my slowly dying vision, I spotted a detector to the side of the door among the fuzzy shapes and colors that seemed to blend together. A device they use to detect shoplifting attempts.

  Suddenly, my vision was gone, and so was my sense of smell. I wouldn't have missed the bleach, flowery stench, the ink or the smell of freshly spilled blood that pooled together underneath the librarian's desk. But I didn't appreciate the black canvas that had covered every corner of my sight. Or maybe it was white, to be honest, I don't even remember.

  My hearing was the last to go, and with it echoed the shrieks of outraged infected, both of Leaper and Siren origin.

  A clang of metal on metal rang in my ears and I sat up with lighting speed, covering them. Gritting my teeth I waited until the ring faded away to unclasp my ears. I opened my eyes, regretting as a bright white flashed across them. I shut them tight again, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the light behind their protective eyelids.

  There was a hand on my shoulder, and a male voice calling out to me but I shrugged them both off instantly. I had no clue where I was, or what was going on. I needed to collect myself first.

  Another male voice joined the other. The first sounded angry, the other amused. A third, more feminine voice joined the crowd and my head began to pound. Groaning, I opened my eyes.

  Spotting the hand that tried to support me, I followed it to its owner. I blinked twice to make sure I still wasn't delusional.

  Doug was blurry, as was Olive. She knelt beside him and I, watching as her husband shouted curses at the stranger behind the bars. Wait, bars?

  I blinked again and the fuzziness began to fully cease. The room looked as if we were in a former police station, and the bars belonging to the holding cell, the very one I was now trapped in. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling giving off not a lot of light, but the white paint of the room was causing it to be unbearably blinding.

  Another metallic ring and I turned to glare at a sharp suited man grinning at us behind the bars. In his hands he held a ring of keys, hitting them against the jail repeatedly. He caught sight of my awakened state and smiled, gold teeth glinting.

  "You're awake! Good, good…" He trailed off, stuffing the keys back inside his pocket.

  I swallowed thickly, staring harshly at the overweight man. "Who are you?" I questioned. My voice cracked ever so slightly, and as I spoke a small tingle ran up my neck. Rubbing my skin with one free hand, my fingers brushed over a small hole in my skin. A flashback of the dart raced through my mind.

  The large man, still smiling, watched as I tried to pull myself together. "Oh, there's no need for an introduction. It's not like we'll see each other much longer anyways." He chuckled, walking away from the cage. I felt something dribble down my chin and I wiped it on my sleeve, putting the distraction aside.

  The man pulled the keys from his pocket again, twirling them atop his fingers for us to watch. I sat fully upright now, glaring harshly. "The hell is that supposed to mean?" I spat. To my right, I heard Doug's booming voice. "Shut ya damn mouth pudgy boy!" He hollered.

  He only smirked at my distress. "I'm done here, now that you're awake," He muttered. "I'll see you three in an hour, in the meantime; have a chance to catch up." He began to walk towards a door, located on the far left side of the room. "You won't get another one." The door slammed behind him.

  The sudden rush of events and the severity of them run circles in my head. My head was already pounding as it was, and it was only getting worse by the minute. I looked to my right, where Doug sat beside me.

  The only way I knew how to respond was to lunge and embrace him. I hugged them both, ignoring the fact that they both smelled of dried blood. They smiled, and my chest felt a wave of relief and shot term joy. Doug's beard was tousled and unkempt, just as dirty as Olive's hair, but the only thing that mattered at the moment was that they were alive, breathing and living.

  I pulled away when I realized that Doug had only been holding me with one arm.

  The joy felt from only a moment earlier vanished, and in its place a feeling of guilt and pity replaced it. My heart dropped and it went silent. Olive looked down to her dress, picking off measly specks of dirt across the fabric. My eyes began to water and my immediate reaction was to apologize, but he silenced me before I could.

  He clutched the stump of his arm. "It's nothin, Bub." He reassured, a soft look painted across his features. "
Ain't nothing in the world gon put me down. I tell ya I've been through a lot worse than this." He smiled, putting his free hand on my shoulder in a show of comfort. In a moment of unease, I glanced at Olive. The red in her eyes and face was a clear show that she had been crying recently.

  I swallowed thickly. "When…did it happen?" I stuttered, unable to look him in the eye. He thought for a moment, also sparing a short glance at his wife. "That ain't important. What's real important right now it that ya livin, and we both livin with ya. Now ain't that-"

  He cut himself off. Whether it was because he had run out of words to say or he saw the tears fall from my cheeks, I don't know. But all I could do was shake my head in denial. "Oh god," I whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

  "It ain't ya fault, Bub! Listen to me!" He demanded. I blinked through teary eyes, but brought my head back down again, unable to look him in the face. I felt two arms circle around me and I clutched Olive's hands as held me. "Sara, I need you to listen to us, just for a minute." She whispered, her soft voice reminding me of my own mother's.

  "Why? Why should you explain anything?" I choked out, eyeing the missing limb. Even the sleeve that had covered the arm had been cut away, like there was no compassion to it. "That's my fault! If you hadn't of gotten caught, you'd be at home right now! Safe!" I pulled away from her, and she stared at me in a mixture of shock and hurt. My chest swelled with unpleasant feeling.

  "Ya didn't get us captured, Bub." Doug interrupted, grunting as he stood to full height. "Them fools were lookin for us for quite a while, it was only a matter of time before they found us." He held a hand out to Olive, helping her stand as well. I could still see the hurt on her wrinkled face from my perspective on the floor.