Resistant Box Set

by Perrin Briar

  “If we die, do we become like one of them?” Hugo said.

  “I don’t know,” Dana said. “And I’m in no rush to find out either.”

  She filed the question away to analyze later. Now was not the time.

  They were on the home straight, heading past the cinema on the top floor.

  Dana pressed on, taking another step with her hands. Something red dribbled across the glass. Dana looked at her palm to see a small, but deep, gash. The cut was a straight line, that could be caused only by a sharp-edged object.

  Looking down, she saw a long splintered crack in the glass, shaped like curious tree roots. She could feel the glass shift beneath her hands and body weight.

  The glass was breaking.

  Things had just gotten a lot harder.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  DANA HAD to be cautious about which glass panel she would take. The glass grated and shifted beneath her weight. There was no question in her mind that should she put down too much weight too soon it would give way altogether.

  Hugo was having to make the same decisions too. They were crawling perhaps a dozen feet apart and needed to keep up with each other, heading at the same speed or else risk Debbie swinging too far to one side.

  Dana and Hugo shared a look, not daring to even share a word with one another for fear the noise might break the glass. An irrational fear, but one with very real consequences.

  Dana moved her hands slowly, checking the glass would take her weight before allowing herself to go any farther and risking more weight. The glass grated, groaning, making sounds Dana was not altogether comfortable with.

  Then something happened, and it happened all at once.

  “Woah, woah!” Hugo said.

  Dana barely had a split second to look over at Hugo before he disappeared. He had fallen through the pane of glass. Time slowed.

  Dana’s breath caught in the back of her throat, hitching, sharp, and full of fear. She hit the window pane and dragged along the glass. It bit into her hands. She didn’t feel the pain—she could no longer feel pain—but she did feel the tug of glass on her skin.

  Red—it was no longer blood in Dana’s mind—sprayed as she was dragged onto a large pane of splintered glass. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. Dana seized upon the advantage.

  She dug in her palms, acting as an anchor to Hugo’s fall. Hugo swung in place below her. Debbie, thankfully, hadn’t gone over the side. She had caught on the corner of the broken window pane.

  But she wouldn’t stay there forever.

  Dana carefully released the tension on her cord that was attached to Debbie. She began to slip toward Hugo. Dana increased the tension again.

  Damn. If she attempted to cross to Debbie, the woman would fall over the side, and then, it would just be up to Dana to keep both bodies from falling. An impossible task.

  Below, through her hands, Dana could see the undead, gathering for the approaching meal. Dana’s blood, that dripped through the cracks in the glass, was a particular draw, and they raised their hands, celebrating like a bloody rain dance.

  As if the fall wasn’t bad enough, Dana thought.

  “Dana,” Hugo said.

  She was surprised she could hear Hugo via the broken window pane, but then she realized his voice wasn’t coming from that direction, but from the hole in the window pane she was currently perched on. She could see him through the hole.

  “Well, this is a pretty pickle, isn’t it?” Hugo said.

  “Climb up!” Dana said.

  “Me, pull all this weight up my cord using just my arms?” Hugo said. “I don’t think so.”

  “Try!” Dana said.

  Hugo did, but his arms shook and he barely rose more than an inch.

  “I can’t,” he said. “Serves me right for not keeping in shape in the old world, huh? We’ve done well, Dana. But this is the end. We had a good run.”

  “No,” Dana said. “We’re not beaten yet.”

  But for the life of her, she couldn’t think of a way out of this.

  “It’s okay,” Hugo said. “I think I understand now. I know what dying for someone you love means. You can’t let me drag you down, let me stop you. You have to find Max. Your means of getting to her is located in the mind of the woman dangling from our cords.

  “Get her to the hospital, get her the medicine she requires and find your sister. I get it. I understand. Look at me. I’m as much a dead weight on you now as I’ve been on this whole adventure. Now I’m directly threatening your life, your existence, your mission, and Max’s too. You can’t let me do that.”

  Hugo came up with his knife. He put the blade to the cord attached to Debbie, the only thing holding him in place.

  “Wait,” Dana said. “There’s a way out of this.”

  “No, Dana,” Hugo said. “There isn’t. You have to be logical about this. Max is relying on you.”

  “Just shut up for a minute and let me tell you,” Dana said. “I just need to shift my weight and make sure Debbie is always pulling on you, right.”

  “Yeah, so?” Hugo said.

  “So wait right there,” Dana said.

  “Like I have any other choice,” Hugo said.

  Dana couldn’t approach Debbie as she needed to use her weight to keep Debbie from falling over the edge. Then all she had to do was pull Debbie down, and, if she could pull hard enough, she could pull Hugo back over the side with her.

  The glass underneath Dana creaked ominously. One false move, or wait any longer than she needed to, and she would be doomed.

  “Here goes nothing,” Dana said, and the moment she said it, she had to smile.

  Not anything, Dana thought. Everything.

  She was risking everything on this. And now she let go, swinging down with her feet sliding along the glass. She maintained the taut cord attached to Debbie as she swung around and down. As she reached the lowest angle of her swing, she threw her weight down.

  Debbie moved… About an inch. Nowhere near enough.

  Now, Dana was dangling from Debbie. Hugo’s weight was keeping them both in place. Dana jumped on the spot, tugging. She daren’t do it too hard for fear she might snap Debbie’s delicate back.

  The problem was, Hugo was entirely too heavy. If it had been the other way round, Dana was certain her plan would have worked. But as it was, it was no good.

  She was in no worse a position as she had been before. But what else could she do to improve her situation? Then she had another brainwave.

  She began to climb the cord, arm over arm, taking care not to lose any of her weight by pulling on Debbie. As she got closer, Dana got to her feet. She edged closer and closer, bracing Debbie’s weight with her arms. Now came the hard part.

  She seized the cord in both hands. Debbie’s weight was, frankly, negligible. It was Hugo’s heft that was the real challenge. But with a strong base, as her feet currently were, on a metal strut that ran along the top of the cracked window pane she was perched on, she bent her legs and pulled. She didn’t need to pull much if she wanted to get Hugo up. She just needed to raise him a couple of feet, but even that was a big ask.

  Dana began to pull. Hugo rose an inch. Dana’s arms felt heavy and she could see Hugo on the other end, but something surprised her: there was no reason not to be able to pull Hugo up. Her arms shook and normally she would have doubted herself, but now, there was no doubt. Only the confidence she could do this.

  It was the virus. It had plenty of negative traits, and she shouldn’t have been surprised if there were a few positive ones too. Hugo rose, one inch, two, then half a dozen.

  And then, all of a sudden, Hugo’s weight disappeared from the other end of the cord. Hugo’s fingers grasped the edge of the window pane and pulled himself up too. Dana was certain he would not have been able to do that if he wasn’t currently infected.

  He got up on his elbows. Dana bent down to help him. Debbie began to slide, but it didn’t matter now that both Dana and Hugo could carry her w
eight between them.

  “That was pretty clever,” Hugo said. “How did you think of the fulcrum idea?”

  “I just decided to think like you,” Dana said.

  Hugo smiled.

  “Thank you,” he said. “For deciding to keep me instead of cutting me loose.”

  “You’re welcome,” Dana said. “Now, how about we get on with scaling the last of this wall?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Hugo said.

  They were both infused with a different type of energy now, fully aware of the powers they had, as well as the weaknesses. The virus was both a blessing and a curse. But right now, they relished in the strengths it had bestowed upon them.

  They took off at a run, careful to place their weight on the metal joins of the glass panes, running as fast as their legs could carry them.

  They got to the top and threw themselves through the deep gash in the side of the hospital building. They had made it.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  DANA AND HUGO got to their feet, leaving bloody handprints on the floor. The room they found themselves in was a mess. It was a ward. The hospital beds had been turned over, tray tables and bed pans dented almost beyond recognition. Empty IV drips, long since evaporated.

  Dana moved to the IV packs and began searching among them for one that was even partially full. She was out of luck.

  “We need to find where the supplies are kept,” Dana said.

  “Great,” Hugo said. “We’ve only got a whole hospital to search. Any thoughts where you’d like to begin?”

  Dana headed for what was called a ‘treatment room’, the place where all basic equipment for everyday treatment was stored, items for sutures, bandages, IV drips, and other first aid materials.

  “Here we are,” Dana said, seizing the door handle.

  It was stuck. Dana pushed on the door, but it had been knocked off its hinges and sat at an angle, the wood crying against the dirty floor. Dana pushed. The door opened a few inches before catching, and then she pushed again and again. It opened by a few inches, then a few more, until finally it was open enough for her to squeeze through.

  She found a large store cupboard with mountains of shelves. But each and every one of them was empty.

  “Maybe there will be some in the treatment rooms in the other wards,” Hugo said, voice hollow.

  The hospital was indeed a cavernous place. It did not look the kind of place children ought to attend. It had been painted with the same sense of hopelessness as the rest of the world, but it seemed accentuated here. Hospitals were always the places you went for help. The last line of defense. And if they looked like this…

  A bloody streak ran from one end of the hall to another, like a giant arrow pointing the way to damnation.

  They headed deeper and deeper into the enfolds of the building. The closer to the first floor they got, the more dilapidated the building was. This wasn’t going to be easy. And they still lugged Debbie’s body between them.

  They came to the oncology ward and quickly discovered the treatment cupboard. It, again, was empty.

  “Someone beat us to it,” Hugo said.

  “No,” Dana said, real panic entering her voice now. “It can’t be like this. Debbie’s going to die. And that means… That means… Max.”

  Dana slumped onto a mattress, head bowed low. Her shoulders heaved and she began to cry. This time she didn’t hide her tears from Hugo. She didn’t care if he saw. She covered her face with her hands, bawling into them.

  Uhhhhhhhh.

  Somewhere down the cavernous corridors, an undead was approaching.

  “They’re coming,” Hugo said.

  “Who cares?” Dana said, not moving an inch. “Let them come.”

  “Get up,” Hugo said. “We have to find somewhere safe.”

  “There is nowhere safe!” Dana said, pulling her arm away. “Don’t you get it? We’ve spent all this time covering a couple of blocks and we still failed. Without Debbie there’s no clue where Max went. It’s hopeless.”

  Hugo looked down at this creature, this person he didn’t recognize. Dana had always been the one full of energy and motivation before, had always been the instigator of action. To relate that person with the pathetic girl before her now was not palatable.

  “Listen to me,” Hugo said, getting to his knees in front of Dana. “You’re tougher than this. This is not the Danielle Ward I know. If Debbie doesn’t know where your sister is, then someone else will. And that’ll be the person who we track down next. And next time, we will be fully prepared. We’re going to find your sister. Even if it kills us.”

  Dana’s eyes made a zigzag pattern as they rose up to Hugo’s face.

  “Us?” she said.

  “Yes,” Hugo said. “Us. Now, get up and help me with Debbie. She might die anyway, but it won’t be because we were too lazy to carry her.”

  He led them up the stairs toward the roof. He figured that at least from there they could scale back down the mall building they had climbed up earlier. All they needed to do was reach the roof.

  They got to the top of the stairs and ran toward a single scuff-marked door.

  Unfortunately for them, the universe wasn’t quite done with its run of bad luck yet.

  The door was locked.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  HUGO BANGED on the door with his fist.

  “Hey!” he said. “Open up in there! We’ve got a sick person here!”

  Uhhhhhhhh.

  The undead were getting closer, hurrying up the stairs.

  “Hey!” Hugo said, banging on the door even louder. “Hey!”

  “Knock it off,” Dana said. “You’re just attracting more of the monsters.”

  “There’s someone in there,” Hugo said. “I saw their shadow under the door.”

  “Living or dead?” Dana said.

  “Shadows are always dead,” Hugo said, before turning back to the door. “Let us in now!”

  A rectangle wedge slid to one side, revealing a large pair of blue eyes.

  “Will you knock it off?” a high-pitched voice said. “We’ve got children in here. And you’re attracting the monsters to us.”

  “Let us in and I won’t have to get their attention,” Hugo said.

  “So maybe we fill you full of lead, that way you won’t be able to attract attention to nobody,” the voice said. “Speaking of which, you’re looking a little grey around the gills there, fella. You haven’t contracted anything by any chance?”

  What was the point in lying now?

  “Yes,” Hugo said. “We have. Several days ago.”

  “Immune?” the voice said, interest piqued.

  “Resistant,” Hugo said.

  “What does that mean?” the voice said.

  “It’s the next best thing to immune, okay?” Hugo said. “Will you let us in now?”

  The undead footsteps were rounding the last few stairs now, their shadows dancing a jig on the walls.

  “They’re here,” Dana said.

  “Please,” Hugo said to the blue eyes. “You could choose not to let us in, but I assure you, that is a very bad mistake. You see, my friend here is looking for her sister and the only way to find her is to wake this old lady up and get information out of her. But we need supplies to do that. Let us in, and we’ll be gone the minute the undead are gone. What do you say?”

  The eyes cocked to one side in thought for a moment.

  “Take off your weapons,” the blue eyes said. The eyes turned to someone else. “Open the door.”

  A series of bolts and locks were shifted aside, one after the other. There were so many locks they could have King Kong inside and he couldn’t escape.

  The zombies were fully visible now, lurching closer, closer…

  The door opened. A dozen small hands grabbed Dana, Hugo and Debbie by their shirts and dragged them into the room on the other side of the door.

  “Finally!” Hugo said. “Any later and you’d be welcoming a pair of ra
re steaks to your door-”

  A dozen kids of varying age and height aimed their weapons at the hapless trio.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  IN A WORLD where the dead walked and every adult had been turned into a raging monster, it was the young who took control.

  After the military had failed at the detention center, it had been the juvenile delinquents who took charge. Here at the hospital, all the doctors and nurses were missing, and in their place, still standing? The children.

  The hospitalized kids moved with purpose, the smallest slipping into hatches. The smallest boy poked his head out a moment later, wearing a dead raccoon for a hat.

  “There’s six of ‘em, Swatter,” the boy said.

  He’d spoken to the eldest boy, who stood head and shoulders over the others. And yet he too couldn’t have been much more than twelve. He was tough, a solid lump of muscle. A born bully if ever there was one. He turned to the assembled kids.

  “Half a dozen,” Swatter said. “A walk in the park for you lot. Get to it.”

  He turned, leaving the others to open the door and open fire on the hapless undead who’d had the misfortune of stumbling into this gang’s territory.

  Swatter faced Dana, Hugo and Debbie. He leveled his shotgun at Dana.

  “Now,” he said, “do you mind telling me what you’re doing here, and how you managed to get past our defenses?”

  “The building fell,” Hugo said. “And we climbed it to-”

  “Thanks,” Swatter said. “But I’d rather talk to your leader, if you don’t mind.”

  Hugo frowned.

  “Wondering how I knew it wasn’t you?” Swatter said. “Simple really. She’s got leader written all over her. Like me. I guess we’re just a couple of people who like to have drawings all over our faces, aren’t we? How about we head somewhere nice and quiet to continue our little conversation?”

  Dana and Hugo bent down to pick Debbie up.

  “We won’t be needing her,” Swatter said. “I doubt she can add much to the conversation. That is, unless she does a good ventriloquism act.”