by Leyton, Bisi
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
As Wisteria fled through the orchard, she heard a loud explosion that seemed to come from outside the walls. Painfully, she thrust herself forward into the darkness, still hurting from the bruises and beating she had endured.
Several shots fired behind her; unsure if Rupert and his people were aiming at her or the infected, she pressed on. Then she heard it: someone or something else moving behind her, and she willed her feet to run faster.
They were getting close. Don’t stop, she told herself. There was a loud explosion that seemed to come from the mainland. In the distance, she saw the night sky light up.
After what seemed like an eternity, the Mulberry’s farmhouse came into sight. There had to be someone inside to help her, but getting to the backdoor, she found it locked.
Checking the windows, she saw they were barred. “No, no!” She pounded on the door, hoping to attract the attention of anyone inside, but there was no response. Her heart raced and she felt dizzy but she knew she had to keep focused on saving herself. Moving around the house, she looked for a way in, and she found a metal pipe on the ground. Knowing she could use it for protection, she picked it up and continued checking for a way into the house. When she came around to the front of the house there was a biter plodding toward her. Backing away, she turned to see Rupert standing behind her with his firearm raised.
Rupert fired once at the biter. It dropped. Then, he turned his weapon to her.
Dropping the pipe, she raised her hands.
He reloaded and fired his weapon as more infected emerged from the trees.
A female biter ambled toward her, its blood-red eyes fixed on her as it grabbed her arm.
Taking her pipe, Wisteria grunted and swung, hitting the biter and sending it falling.
Unhurt, it rose and continued staggering toward Wisteria.
The flesh eater lunged for her and Wisteria dived away, but lost the pipe in the process.
“Ugh,” the biter groaned loudly, while moving advancing.
She spotted a shovel leaning against the side of the house. Darting over, she picked up the large tool and smashed the biter’s head in. The flesh eater collapsed and stayed motionless. Wisteria hit its head again to be certain, just as another emerged. This one was bigger and stronger than the first. Then, she recognized it was Blair’s flesher.
Mustering her remaining strength, she swung at it, but the biter kept coming. Pounding the creature repeatedly with the metal end of the shovel, she only cut up its face and it didn’t slow down.
The biter marched forward as if her hits had no impact on it.
“No!” She swung once more, but the monster smashed through the wood.
“Ah!” she heard Vic scream. She was just able to see three biters overpowering him, pulling his flesh off with their bare hands.
As if drawn by the smell of fresh blood, the flesher shuffled toward Vic to feast.
Horrified, she scrambled to reclaim the pipe she dropped. She started climbing up the side of the house. This was her last resort. The infected didn’t climb, although Red Phoenix did. Once she got up there, she would be an easy target for Rupert, who would have no problem shooting her down. But she wasn’t able to get up there because Rupert dragged her back down while bashing her head against the hard ground.
“Why didn’t you go with the helicopter?” she asked while her voice broke with pain.
Without answering, he hit her with the handle of his rifle sending her crashing down.
“They left without you when you came after me?” She got up on to her knees, trembling in fear. “You should’ve gone with them.” She gathered her strength and rolled the pipe into her right hand.
“Get up, we’ve got to keep moving,” Rupert answered, seemingly oblivious to her grabbing the pipe.
“No.” She wiped the blood of her lips. “I’m dead either way.” Her eyes widened as three more biters appeared around them.
He shot the first biter and then shot the second one. When he tried to shoot the third, the weapon clicked.
“You’re out of bullets?” she noted.
“Shut up.” He pulled the trigger again, but nothing happened. Producing a large bowie knife, he tossed it at the biter, stabbing it in the head.
The flesh eater moaned and fell to the ground.
Rupert rushed over to it, reclaiming his knife, and then threw the blade at another biter, also curing it.
Seeing his back was to her, Wisteria raced toward him, pipe in hand, and pounded him across his back.
He screamed out, falling to the ground, and rolled over in attempt to get away from her, but she was on him immediately.
Unflinching, she struck him over and over, knowing if she gave him even a second, he would overpower her and kill her. As she swung, she saw his blood on the pipe, but she kept hitting him.
“Please, stop,” he pleaded, raising his bloody hands at her. “There’re biters here. You need me or you’ll die.”
“I’m not dead yet!”
The battered man tried to reach for a rock, but before he could use it she bashed his hand with the iron instrument.
He screamed. Unarmed and badly hurt, Rupert lay there in front of her.
Taking the pipe in both hands, she raised it above her head. This would be the last blow. “I want you to remember my mother when I send you to meet Satan.” Swinging hard, she lowered the pipe, but it did not move.
“Wisteria, stop, you have got him,” someone said.
She looked behind her and saw Bach, holding the other end of the pipe in one hand and her sword in the other.
“Bach, he killed my mother.” Wisteria wouldn’t let go. “I…”
“Drop the pipe; you have beaten him.”
Shaking, she loosened her fingers and Bach took the bloody weapon from her hands.
Glaring at the wounded man who had terrorized her and murdered her mother, Wisteria slowly got up. There were no words to say.
“What happened to you?” Bach ran his fingers over her bruised cheek. “Did he do this to you?”
She nodded. “Bach, we need to warn everyone. They have a helicopter. You’ve got to stop them.” She broke out Bach’s arms and started moving toward the trees. “If they get out they could—”
“His helicopter crashed outside the city walls and we got the last of the team. It is over. Wisteria, we must leave before the swarm arrives.”
“The swarm?”
“Can you walk? Do you need me to carry you?”
“No, please don’t. I’m fine.”
“Let us go.”
“No…” She hesitated at the sight of the many infected walking all around.
“Trust me,” Bach reassured her. “You will not get hurt.”
“I was wrong, you’re not a Thayn. You’re a Red Phoenix—” Rupert croaked.
“I’m not a Thayn and I’m not one of you,” she snapped. “You’re a killer.”
“No, girl, you’re one of us. I didn’t realize it until…” He groaned while sounding like a biter.
“You’ve been bitten?” she asked
“Yeah,” the man disclosed as he succumbed to the sickness. “I should’ve known you were truly your mother’s daughter. I couldn’t believe it until I saw your mother’s eyes in you when you tried to kill me. You’re Red Phoenix and your father will be proud to know that she trained you well.”
“My family would never sink so low. She’d never associate with animals like you,” she seethed. “My mother did not train me to be a killer.”
“Red Phoenix, we’re not trained, we’re born this way. You’re one of us whether you like it or not and you’re going to kill that boy.” Rupert pointed to Bach. “You may not know it, but you hate that boy and all he stands for.”
“Please, Wisteria, let us go.” Bach took her hand.
“Unless—he kills you first. Why do think your mother ran? You don’t even know…” His voice trailed off.
“Know what?” Wisteria
replied.
Rupert didn’t respond.
Nudging his leg with her foot to rouse him, the man still didn’t move.
Bach squatted and stared at the man but didn’t touch him. “He is dead.”
“I killed him,” she stated in horror, steadying her trembling hands. “I’m just like him.” Never in her life did she ever imagine she’d be capable of doing something so terrible. She felt weak and pathetic because he killed her mother and now she was the one who was petrified over his death. Needing to kill this man and celebrate his death, only made her feel emptiness. She wanted her mother back.
“You did not kill him. He is infected.” Bach rose.
“So, he came up here to shoot me or turn me into a biter.” She stepped away from Rupert.
“And you almost killed him.” Bach didn’t show any emotion. “He was really the fool.”
“Ugh” Several biters staggered past them. How did the infected get here? “Got a plan to get us out of here?” Wisteria moved to pick up her sword.
“I still have not learned to fly.” He smiled weakly. “Trust me, you are safe.”
As much as she wanted Bach’s words to make her feel better, somehow she still felt empty and afraid.
Several more infected staggered by.
“Ugh…” Rupert’s flesher started to stir.
* * * * *
They moved quickly through the orchard. Bach felt Wisteria come up close to him and he’d expected that she’d take his hand. She didn’t, so he took it and held it tight. Touching her, he felt stronger.
The infected were scratching and growling among the trees but didn’t come near the pair.
The teenagers came to the clearing where the helicopter was and saw the remains of an infected man flinching on the ground. The man had lost both his legs and one arm to the biters before becoming one himself.
She gasped at the sight.
“Who is he?”
“Kyle, he was Corporal Kyle Blair. He was helping Felip and Red Phoenix.” She moved behind him, past the eyes of starving biters that seemed desperate to devour her.
Nearing the gate, he heard the sounds of bullets firing and people shouting while yet another siren sounded. Even Bach knew this was odd. “Which siren is this?”
“Lockdown.” She clenched his hand. “The explosion will attract a swarm of infected.”
“Enough to overrun this island,” he concluded.
“We can’t stay here. Come on, we have to get to cover.”
“Why? As long as you are with me, the infected will not hurt you,” he assured her.
“Most of the time, but you don’t look very well, Bach,” she muttered and swiped the sweat from his face. “And I’d just feel better home with my family…my brother, he’s all I have left.”
He stepped close to wipe a tear from her cheek but she moved her head away. Then he realized that if her mother was still alive, Wisteria would never agree to leave with him. The girl was tied to that woman, but with her mother gone and the town consumed by the biters, there would be nothing keeping his Terran—his girl—from returning with him.
“Can you stop them or at least slow them down?” Her eyes lit up. “Just enough to make sure everyone’s gotten to safety.”
“I am not certain I am strong enough to now, but why would you want to save these people? They have treated you so badly.”
“What are you saying?” She squinted at him in confusion.
“No,” he refused, still hating them for how they had lied to and abused his Wisteria.
“Bach, please?”
He looked up to the moon, and then closed his eyes to concentrate.
* * * * *
Wisteria watched Bach stand very still, as if entranced. “Bach,” she whispered, but he didn’t move.
“Ugh…” Now the biters in the trees were moving toward her.
In his entranced state, the biters now sensed them and more biters emerged from the darkness, moving closer to Bach.
Even what was left of Vic’s flesher was crawling toward her.
“Bach?” She shook him.
He didn’t respond and remained planted on the ground.
“Bach!” She slapped him, but still nothing. Wisteria looked around to see more and more biters appearing. The pair was surrounded. The stench of the biters began to flood her senses. It was so strong that her eyes watered.
Fortunately, Vic had dropped his weapon, and, being a biter, he no longer understood how to use it.
She darted over to Vic’s flesher, grabbed the rifle, and dashed back up against Bach who still stood rooted. Pointing the weapon at the biters as they neared, she fired, but nothing happened. Maybe it was broken. His weapon was more advanced than anything she’d ever used so she had no clue as to what was wrong with it.
“Arrgh…” The biters were closing.
Relax Wisteria. Dropping the gun and taking her sword from Bach, she readied herself to protect them both, as the flesh eaters shuffled closer.
‘‘Ugh…”The first biter lunged, its mouth spewing thick black blood.
Swinging her sword, it sliced through the infected’s head, separating it from the rest of its body. The biter fell and its head rolled across the ground. As two more infected attacked, she gored one in the forehead before jabbing the other through the eye.
Three more biters hobbled toward them.
Wisteria wanted to flee, but she was unsure if Bach was safe in his current state. “Bach?” She nudged him, but he remained stationary. She remembered that he’d once said he could protect himself from the infected when he wasn’t distracted and right now, his mind seemed somewhere else. She slashed fiercely at the advancing biter. Its left arm dropped to the ground, but the flesh eater kept coming.
“Bach!” She struck the biter again, slicing off part of its hand.
Suddenly, a strong wind blew through the trees. The gust became so strong that it started to blow her across the orchard.
“Colista-Bren-Navida,” she screamed to him. “Bach!”
“Wisteria.” Bach aroused from his trance and reached out to her.
“Whoa.” She clutched to his arm as the blast of air blew around her, lifting her and the other bodies off the ground and into the air. “Don’t let go!” she screamed as the corpses of the biters flew by. “Don’t let go of me, Bach.”
“Trust me.” He held on tight.
Clasping him as securely as she could, she didn’t know how long she held on. Eventually, the winds died down and Wisteria landed gently on the grass. “What was that? What just happened?”
“The infected will not bother this town today,” he panted. “The swarm is heading north now.”
“Thank you.” She stroked his sweat soaked face. She stared at him, unsure about his condition.
“Wisteria?” Coles emerged from the trees.
There were four or five other soldiers, skulking behind him in the dark.
The Major grimaced as he inspected the biters on the ground and dangling from the trees.
“You did this? How?” Coles asked Bach.
“He’s not infected!” She stood between the soldier and Bach.
“Thank you. You have my respect.” Coles held out his hand to Bach.
“The rumors were lies by…” Her voice trailed off in shock at the sight of his extended hand.
“I was not trying to earn your respect.” Bach inspected Coles’s hand, as if deciding whether or not to touch him, as he wasn’t one for touching people.
She thought he was like Coles in that way.
“I was talking to Wisteria.” Coles turned to her. “This is the second time you’ve put yourself out there for the island. You didn’t have to warn Cheung. You could’ve just hid.”
She doubted if hiding would’ve made any difference. Killers like Rupert and Brenda would’ve found her. “What do you mean, the second time?”
“You sounded the alarm last week,” Coles pointed out.
“You believe that?�
�� she asked him.
“I don’t believe Steven Hindle could’ve done that,” the man quipped. He turned his attention to Bach. “I know we’ve had our differences.”
“Interesting that you would call them differences,” Bach answered in a cold tone.
“I can admit that I was—wrong. I am sorry. And you’re welcome to remain here in Smythe, freely.”
Wisteria could see that it was killing the Major to say those words.
“Just keep you super-human crap to yourself in my town. I don’t want you giving these people ideas.”
“You do not think I will infect your island?” The boy seemed more irritated than pleased.
“Cheung explained that you aren’t contagious. That is all I need—for now. So, if you can control yourself? You can stay,” Coles replied. “I’m going to have a tough time explaining this to the leadership council. I don’t need them getting nervous.”
“Do not worry about me. I will not be staying,” Bach replied.
* * * * *
Wisteria stared at Bach as the soldiers fanned out in the trees, curing the unconscious biters.
Without a word, they walked through the gates and found several trackers collecting the bodies of the cured biters under the supervision of Cheung, as well as Tom Hindle. Steven’s father was inspecting the bodies.
“Do you need these?” A soldier pointed to a pregnant biter.
“Yes.” Cheung paused when he saw Wisteria passing.
“You’re still researching. So this isn’t behind you.” she walked up to her teacher.
“Come on, Wisteria,” Bach whispered. “We need to leave.”
“Like I told you, this island isn’t here by mistake,” Cheung replied. “One day you’ll thank me for this.”
“Oh yes, I see Dr. Hu.”
Silas Cheung looked over at Wisteria and then shook his head.
“Wisteria, get into the car,” Coles called out and gestured to his vehicle. “We need to take you to your brother.”
