by Max Lockwood
“I thought you said that Colorado is done for,” Thomas said, remembering their discussion when they first met. “You said that we didn’t stand a chance if we wanted to cross the border now.”
“I did say that. I suppose I was feeling particularly pessimistic at the time. Perhaps I’ve had a change of heart. I’d like to go there and see it for myself. I don’t have any other good ideas. Do you?”
Thomas shook his head. His only plan was to wait for Alec to return. He wasn’t even sure if Alec and Elaina were still alive. He wished he had a way to contact them, to tell him that Melissa had perished in a fire and that he needed to meet up with them. Most of all, he worried that Alec would return to the spot, see the remains of the cabin, and write Thomas off as dead. Alec would never find him again.
Bethany pulled a tiny gold compass out from her shirt. She wore the instrument on a long gold chain. It looked expensive, like it was a rare antique piece of jewelry that wasn’t ordinarily used for navigation purposes.
In fact, she looked too glamorous for someone who was on the run. The other girls Thomas had met along the way were pretty, but they were always understandably a little dirty. They all were. It only made sense for everyone to have a little grime on them. They worked hard to get to where they were, and their appearance reflected that.
Bethany’s dark, silky hair was still pin-straight. Her face was clean, and Thomas thought it looked like she was wearing makeup. She wore tight dark jeans and an oversized sweater that only made her look taller and thinner despite its size. He noticed this because he swore she was wearing something different when he first met her. Thomas, and many of the others, had been wearing the same unwashed outfit for weeks.
He watched her as she carefully consulted the compass, as if she had clear instructions for where she wanted to go. Thomas could hardly make heads or tails of where he was. If it weren’t for the trail that ran past the cabin, he wouldn’t know how to get through the mountain.
“I’m going this way,” she said, pointing into the darkness. “You can come with me if you like. Otherwise, I wish you luck. It’s not safe in these woods. I think you know that better than anyone.”
Following others had done nothing but get Thomas into more trouble. Part of him wanted to be alone after Melissa died. She was the last person he truly wanted to be with and he was confident that no one could ever replace her.
Bethany began to walk away, not seeming to care if Thomas stayed or followed. He held his ground, his feet frozen on the spot as he watched her go. Alec told him to stay on the trail, if possible. He needed to be able to return for Thomas. Thomas gave him his word. If he went any further into the forest, he would never see Alec and Elaina again. He had two surviving allies left. He didn’t want to lose them for good.
At the last moment, he turned and followed Bethany through the trees. He had no idea why he felt the need to go with someone he didn’t particularly trust. She was too cool and collected for the situation they were in, and every time she explained herself, Thomas only had more questions. But she seemed confident, and Thomas was lacking in that department, so he followed.
Chapter Eighteen
“I knew we should have taken the first aid kit,” Elaina said as she propped her swollen ankle on a chair. “I thought I was being kind by leaving all of our things with Thomas and Melissa since she was going through so many bandages and alcohol swabs. Now I realize I was just being stupid.”
“You were being kind,” Alec said, returning with a small plastic box. “We had no idea we would need elastic wraps,” he said, opening the first aid kit he found in the back office of the library. “Let me look at that ankle.”
She obliged, lifting her foot up a fraction of an inch and moving it toward Alec, who was now sitting in a chair across from her.
“Ouch,” he said, noting the swelling and bruising. He rolled a bandage over the area, compressing the swollen tissues and stabilizing the joint. “Give that a try,” he said when he was finished.
Elaina got up and hobbled around. She could walk, but not very easily. After a few steps, she collapsed back into the chair. Alec gently lifted her foot and rested it on an empty chair.
“Well, keep it elevated,” he said. “I hope you’re feeling better by tomorrow. I know how excited you were to get to a hospital.”
“I know,” she said glumly. “I’m sorry I’m such a klutz. I feel terrible about delaying our mission another day. If you want to head back now and get Melissa and Thomas, I’d understand.”
“No, they’ll be fine on their own for another day or two. Accidents happen. You didn’t mean to get hurt, and I know you’re upset about it. We’ll do what we need to do on our own time. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay,” she relented, feeling a little better after Alec’s pep talk.
Elaina was terribly disappointed by the way things were going, but it wouldn’t help to beat herself up about it. She was still excited about the prospect of being able to spend time in a laboratory and the possibility of finding a working phone.
For as many infected people as they had encountered in the city, it looked like it was still in decent shape. It was nothing like Seattle was when they left. Here, most of the buildings were still intact. The air didn’t smell like smoke the way many other towns did once the infected took over. Elaina figured it was recently infected, and whoever survived fled the city and headed east.
She hoped that this meant that where there was electricity and access to the outside world. She longed to use a telephone. If Internet access were a possibility, she’d be overjoyed. But she knew better than to get her hopes too high.
“If you want,” Alec said, “you can get some sleep. I’ll keep watch.”
She looked at his watch. It wasn’t even that late. “I’m not tired. I actually feel more rested than I have in quite some time.”
“Me too,” he replied. “Want me to find some books for you? We’ve got another eight hours or so until daylight.”
“Sure,” she said. “Surprise me.”
Alec disappeared into the stacks. She listened carefully to make sure she heard him, and only him, walking around in the dark. If she had to jump up and run for her life, she didn’t think she would be fast enough to escape.
He returned momentarily with two books in hand. One was a trashy romance novel, and the other, a book on survival techniques.
“I didn’t know what you’d want to read, so I grabbed a few options.”
“Really?” she asked, grabbing the paperback with a shirtless beefcake on the front before tossing it right back at him. He laughed as it hit him in the chest.
“I had a feeling you’d react that way. I found this survival book, though. I figured you might learn something you didn’t know. I think it’s supposed to be a novelty book, like for people who built bunkers for the zombie apocalypse. I guess they got the last laugh.”
She flipped through the first few pages that explained basics like how to build a fire and which kinds of mushrooms were dangerous.
“Thanks,” she said. “What did you find to read?”
He held up a stack of city maps and a marker. “I’m going to draw up a few routes, just in case we run into any unexpected trouble.” He turned his chair to work at the adjacent table.
Elaina read about how to tie several different kinds of knots, which she practiced with her shoelace. Then, she learned about which forest berries were edible and which would cause crippling diarrhea. When she finished the book, her eyes felt heavy. According to the clock in the reading room, it was nearly two in the morning.
“I’m going to take a quick nap,” Elaina said, getting up from her chair and gingerly moving to the carpeted floor. “Let me know if anything happens.”
She waited for a response before realizing that Alec’s head was not bowed in concentration but in sleep. She chuckled to herself before closing her eyes, just to rest.
That night, she dreamed that she was sitting around a roaring cam
pfire with Alec, Natalia, and Will. Will and Natalia were smiling and laughing while roasting hotdogs over the fire. Elaina sat next to Alec on a log, his arm around her. They were talking about something trivial, like the traffic, when Alec leaned over to kiss her.
Elaina closed her eyes, inviting Alec’s lips to touch hers. She savored the moment and the warm, fuzzy feelings the kiss invoked. Suddenly, the air changed. She felt like something was wrong but didn’t know what. When she opened her eyes, she realized that the mouth touching hers belonged to an infected.
Elaina jolted awake, hitting her head on the chair above her. She rubbed her aching forehead as she tried to orientate herself. Her dream had been so strange that she completely forgot that she was in a library in southeast Colorado.
“What’d you do that for?” Alec yawned, sitting up from the table.
“Bad dream,” she grumbled. “I don’t even want to get into it.” She was so relieved that the person greeting her that morning was Alec and not the infected version of her companion.
“Good. We don’t have time. It’s light outside and we need to get moving. How’s the ankle feel?”
Elaina got to her feet and tried to put even pressure on both legs. The right one was still throbbing and definitely felt weaker than her good ankle. She took a few steps and managed to walk without falling over.
“I can walk, but I don’t think I can run.”
“Then let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I’ve mapped out a route that avoids infected-friendly spots like gas stations and nursing homes. If that doesn’t work, I have a few other backup plans.”
Elaina took a few slow steps toward the door. Alec came up beside her and held out his forearm.
“You can support some of your weight on me,” he said, nudging his arm toward her. “I know you like to do all the hard work by yourself, but we’ll get there faster this way.”
She grabbed his arm and playfully rolled her eyes at him. “I can’t wait until we get to the hospital. Maybe I’ll find a spare crutch around. I hate to think that you’re enjoying my dependence on you.”
“Oh, you know I am.” He grinned.
They walked out of the library and onto a side road, as Alec had mapped out. Alec did his best to walk slowly so Elaina could keep up. But the longer they walked, the easier it was for her to put weight on her foot. Eventually, she could walk with only a slight limp, without Alec’s help.
“Feeling better?” he asked after a mile of walking. They had passed the grocery store on the map, which according to Alec, put them on pace to reach the hospital by nine o’clock.
“I think the anti-inflammatory medication is finally working,” she said sheepishly. “I forgot to mention that I did raid a few key items from the group’s first aid kit.”
“Good thinking,” Alec said. “If I’ve learned anything about surviving out here, it’s that you’ve got to watch out for yourself.”
They continued walking and quietly talked about strategies for retrieving Thomas and Melissa from the cabin. Alec wanted to retrieve the motorcycle and bring them to the hospital while Elaina worked, but Elaina thought it would be too risky. He would have to make two round trips to reunite the remaining members of the group, and she was afraid his luck would run out before he made it to the city for the third time in one week, especially if he planned on walking the distance from the bike’s hiding place to the hospital.
Elaina suggested that he find a truck so he could use the bike to ride up the path to notify the younger two that he had returned. Then, they could all ride together. Elaina suggested that she come along, just to be an extra set of eyes on the road. Alec shut that idea down quickly. He didn’t want her to feel obligated to help him out while she was in the middle of such important work.
“What we need is one more person on our team,” Alec said. “Then, I could stay with you and we could send someone else out to retrieve the others.”
“I wonder how they’re doing in there. Melissa was in bad shape when we left her.”
“I wonder what they’re doing?” Alec said with a grin. “Thomas is totally in love with Melissa. It’s pretty hilarious to watch.”
“He is?” Elaina asked. “I thought they were just being nice to each other because Will was acting so strangely.”
“It’s pretty obvious. I don’t think most people are that protective of strangers if they don’t have feelings for them.”
“You’ve been pretty protective of everyone we’ve encountered thus far,” Elaina said, a little confused with where Alec was going.
“Well, that’s just my nature. Besides, most of the people we’ve traveled with were younger than me. How could you not want to watch out for the kids? I didn’t feel like I needed to protect Derek.”
“Me neither,” she replied. “Maybe we should have.”
Alec shrugged. “And then there’s you—but you already know why I want to keep you safe. The world depends on it. That, and you’re a cool girl. I want to keep you around.”
Elaina became embarrassed from all of the relationship talk, so they just walked in silence for a while. There were no further than a mile out from the hospital, by Alec’s account, when he requested a pit stop.
“I—er—I kinda need to use the bathroom,” he said, feeling uncomfortable discussing it with Elaina. “I’m going to go behind those bushes, if that’s okay with you.”
“By all means,” Elaina said quickly, turning her back toward him.
She pulled a piece of long grass from the ground and twirled it around her finger as she waited. She was in her own little world, daydreaming about what she would do once she had all of her lab equipment at her disposal. She was running through equations in her head to figure out how much serum she could make when she heard Alec return.
“I hope the hospital has some of those chemical ice packs,” Elaina said as she started walking again. “My ankle sure is throbbing.”
Alec didn’t respond. That was unlike him. She turned around to find that it wasn’t Alec approaching her, but an infected.
She started running, but her ankle threatened to give up on her. She ran from the grassy area where they walked toward the street. She wanted to scream out to Alec, but she was petrified of attracting more infected than she could handle. Alec would have to figure out where she was headed on her own—she couldn’t notify him without putting herself in greater peril.
There was nothing but open road in front of Elaina. She hobbled down the concrete, crying out in pain with every step. Grabbing her bag from her back, she plunged a hand inside to find her knife. Her hand searched wildly for the handle, but she came up empty. It was then that she remembered that she took the knife out while she was at the library. It must still be there.
The first building she saw, she ran around to the back, in hopes that she would throw the infected off her scent. She dropped to the ground and held her breath, waiting for the infected to pass by her.
It was of no use. The infected found her immediately, flailing wildly at Elaina. She shrieked, her hands searching for anything that could be of use to her. In the tall grass by the garden shed she had hid behind, she found a small trowel. With as much force as she could muster, she plunged the tool into the infected person’s neck.
It wasn’t enough. The infected dove toward her, scratching a long, jagged fingernail into Elaina’s arm. She recoiled, ready to strike again, when she heard the sickening crack of the infected’s skull breaking. Elaina looked up to see Alec standing over her with a spade in his hand and a terrified expression on his face.
“I’m so sorry I turned my back for even a minute,” Alec said, scooping Elaina up into his arms. She returned his embrace, but her limbs hung limp like noodles.
“I’m fine,” she said, her ankle twice the size it had been before she had fled. “I just don’t know how much more I can walk right now.”
Alec took his bag from his shoulders and gave it to Elaina. “Get on my back. We’re nearly there.”
&
nbsp; Elaina was too tired to argue. She put both bags around her shoulders and hoisted herself onto his back, her hands grasping his broad shoulders. He started walking, much faster than they’d trekked the previous miles toward the hospital.
“According to my map, the hospital is in sort of a secluded location. I think we can get away with using a gun to remove infected,” Alec said, turning over his shoulder to speak to Elaina.
He noticed the small gash on her left arm that she had mopped up with her shirt.
“Lainey, did that just happen?” he asked, a tone of alarm in his voice.
“It’s just a scratch,” she replied. “At least it’s not the first time I’ve come into contact with the virus. If anything, it’s just another way to test my serum. Let’s just hope it’s working.”
Alec tried not to think about the fact that Elaina was technically infected too. The thought of her turning into something unrecognizable was too much to bear.
“Like I was saying,” he continued, changing the subject, “ I think we can get away with a little gunfire. You’re not in fighting shape, and we need all the help we can get. You’ve got a good swing, so just grab the first heavy object you can find and defend yourself. I’ll do a sweep of the rest of the place.”
“Any intel on the hospital?”
Alec flipped through his loose pages until he found something that appeared to be ripped from a magazine.
“We’re looking at six floors. The lab is on the third. State of the art technology, it says. That was at least ten years ago, though.”
“That should work. Any word on where the generators are?”
“The article didn’t deem that information as necessary, I guess,” he said sarcastically. “I’ll check it out.”
In no time, they were standing in front of the hospital’s doors. One was propped open by the corpse of an infected person.
“Well, that’s one we don’t have to worry about,” Alec said, pulling his gun from his pocket. “You ready?”
