by Jack Hunt
I stood up and looked out the slatted openings. “We need to get out of here.”
“And then what? He’s just going to throw everyone back inside.”
The frustration could be felt by all of us. None of it seemed to make sense. Why go through all of this just so a person could oversee two sections on an island? Sure, power could go to a person’s head but this was insane.
“Whatever happened to the warden? James Fritz?”
“No one has seen him since we pulled you all out.”
“Annora must be curious as to where her father has gone.”
“She’s focused on the task at hand.” Ethan snorted. “She’s the only one who’s not vying for power like that idiot Sebastian.”
“What’s his deal anyway?”
“We used to work together. Let’s just say that he had trouble climbing the ladder and has always been looking for a shortcut to get what he wants.”
“But what’s he gaining here? I mean, sure he gets to rule over section A. But that just seems more work.”
“I don’t think he just wants section A. He wants all of the districts.”
“Let him have it. I’m getting the hell out of here and leaving behind this shithole,” Elijah said.
That was easier said than done.
We spent the night in there. Though it was warm in the day, it was freezing at night. Sometime in the early hours of the morning, I awoke to the sound of a bang on the side of the metal. I jolted awake. My eyes drifted over the others. I staggered to my feet and glanced outside. It was silent.
Then, the back doors opened up. Standing beneath the light of the moon were Wren, Jess and Rowan. “Anyone order a wake-up call?”
Baja rolled over and stared up at them. He glanced at his watch. “Five in the morning?”
“Better now than never.”
My muscles ached from the hard floor. Hopping out, I noticed the guard on the ground was unconscious.
“Time to get out of here.”
“We won’t be able to get out the main gates but we have another option.”
“Please tell me it’s not via Shelter Island?”
“Problem with that?” Wren asked.
“Baja is not too keen on boats.”
“It’s not that. I just don’t like the water.”
Jess had an empty expression. She looked as if she was just going through the motions. The death of Izzy had torn her apart. It had affected all of us in one way or another.
Rowan directed us towards a cluster of trees about a hundred feet away. “We have a jeep waiting.”
“I can’t go,” Ethan said from within the truck.
I turned sharply. “Are you insane? If you stay here, you will become his bitch.”
“The people need me.”
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “Um, maybe you were not at the same meeting as me, but I’m pretty sure every bloody person on this island voted you out. It’s time to let go, Ethan.”
“I can’t do that. I have to believe that there is another way to turn this around. Help him to see reason.”
I stepped closer to him. “Trust me. Men like Sebastian don’t listen to reason. They never will. They only understand one thing — a bullet in the skull. And hell, I would like nothing more than to be the one who pulls the trigger but we are outnumbered. There is nothing more we can do here.”
I went to leave.
“And the cure? What about that, Johnny?”
I spun around. “What about it? I’ve given my DNA. They have more blood samples from me than they could ever use. I’ve done my part, now for the first time I’m thinking about us. Call it selfish, I don’t care. We have stuck our neck out enough times and look where it’s got us? My brother’s dead, trying to help. Izzy’s dead, trying to help. I won’t lose anyone else.”
“But…”
“No. No buts. They have five other immunes. That’s more than enough to continue research.”
“Go then. I’m staying.”
“Suit yourself.”
Under the cover of darkness, we shuffled away from our hellish prison towards what had to be better than this place. What we once thought was freedom was slowly becoming what I imagined life in North Korea was like — everyone under the rule of one insane lunatic.
It took us just over forty minutes to get to Shelter Island. Rowan had a small fishing boat down on Sunset Beach. It would take us across the Peconic River to Conkling Point. From there we could take 25 over to 25A and that would take us to Throgs Neck Bridge and on to the mainland far out of the way of Manhattan.
Right now it was all about survival and less about helping anyone else. We had spent our entire time since Castle Rock risking our necks for others. It was time to move on.
A small rowboat tied to a mooring post bobbed gently. We moved fast not knowing if we had been followed. As we piled into it and it rocked from side to side, Rowan and Jess stood on the edge of the dock.
“You’ll find some weapons wrapped up in that blanket.”
“You’re not coming?” I asked. My eyes met Jess’s.
He shook his head. “No, we’re going to stay.”
I was in no mood for hearing some story about how the people needed them.
“Why?”
He held on tightly to Jess’s hand. She looked a shell of her former self. Once strong, and confident, now she didn’t protest.
“There is nothing for us out there.”
Wren got back out of the boat. “I’m not staying here, Rowan. Whatever you think this place is, it’s changed and I’m sure it’s going to change even more.”
“That’s to be determined,” he replied.
She looked at him despondent and unable to comprehend that he would let her go. She sighed and looked back at me. “I’m staying.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake. Not you as well.”
I pulled myself up out of the rickety old boat.
“Please tell me you haven’t changed your mind?” Rowan asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Trust me. I’m not staying.”
I pulled Wren to one side. “Come with me.”
She cast her eyes down. “He’s my brother. He’s all I’ve got.”
“And what about us?”
She looked back at Rowan as if contemplating the situation. There was no easy way through this. Both ways didn’t hold much hope. If they left, they would have to face whatever existed beyond the walls. The undead, the insane and whatever else had mutated.
“I’m sorry, I can’t.”
With that she walked over to her brother. He looked more than pleased. The guy was holding the winning lottery ticket. Not only did he have my ex, he now had both of them. Love was a strong motivator but after a year inside the wall I was ready to move on — with or without them.
“So be it. Take care of yourselves.”
I got in the boat, grabbed up one of the oars. Ben grabbed the other and we pushed out into the dark waters. I didn’t look back. So there we were, Ben, Elijah, Baja and myself rowing away from all we had known towards the unknown.
When we finally made it to the other side, the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. As a warm band of orange spread across the sky and birds were trilling in the treetops I finally felt free even if I didn’t have Wren or Jess.
We were pretty certain that Sebastian would send men out to search for us so we used the morning to our advantage and got as many miles as possible between us and the eastern shore. We had made it to the town of Riverhead when we heard trucks. Exhausted and with my thighs screaming in protest we sought shelter inside an abandoned home and waited for them to go by before we decided to venture out.
“What about the men in the city?”
“What about them?”
“Are we going after them?”
I stared at Baja. I knew where he was going with this. He wanted revenge for what they did to Izzy. As much as I would have liked to see them all dead, it would have been suicide to attempt to
take on such a large group. Besides, we had done our time. What could be gained by going after them? Izzy was gone. That would never change.
“No.”
Baja stopped in his tracks as we continued a few feet ahead of him.
“No? That’s it? You are just going to let it slide. You lied to me.”
I came back fast keeping my eyes the road behind him.
“Look, things change, Baja. We need to think about ourselves for once.”
“I’m not going, Johnny.”
“Oh c’mon! I don’t think I can handle someone else bailing. What about you Ben, Elijah? Do you want to stay behind too?”
They shook their heads. They weren’t suicidal.
“Use your head, Baja. We are four people. And you want us to go up against, God knows how many of them? That is suicide.”
“If it was Dax you would have done it.”
I blew my cheeks out. “Well, it isn’t.”
“Oh, so what you are saying is that Izzy’s life meant less than his?”
“No.” I tossed my hands up in the air. “I don’t know what I’m saying.”
With my rifle in my hand I slumped down on an old dilapidated couch. The undead could be heard outside groaning. For once it was actually good to know they were out there. At least some things didn’t change.
As we sat there in the quiet of the home chewing over what direction to head in, a noise like a can being overturned was heard below us. My eyes darted between them.
“You hear that?”
I got up and started looking around for a door that led down to the basement. There wasn’t one. We ventured into another room and that’s when we saw a trap door on the ground. I yanked at the metal handle and lifted. It creaked, groaning for oil. Below, steps led down into darkness. Ben pulled out a flashlight and aimed it down.
“Probably a Z.”
None of us were in the mood for endangering our lives. We closed it and were about to leave the house when we heard it again. This time it sounded as though it had been done on purpose. Three times it occurred. I tossed them a look.
“Okay, let’s go see.”
We descended down into the musty basement that smelled like water had seeped in through cracks in the foundation. The flashlight beam swept over dusty shelving units. I kept my assault rifle on the ready, Elijah moved ahead. In the corner of the room huddled together were two small children. They couldn’t have been more than eight years of age.
As they cowered in fear, the look on their faces was disturbing.
“It’s okay, we aren’t going to hurt you.”
I placed my weapon down and held out my hands. “Come here. It’s okay.”
Then we heard the metallic noise we’d heard upstairs. It was coming from the next room over. Elijah cautiously moved towards the open doorway. As he turned the corner he unloaded his weapon twice. All of us rushed in to see what he had fired at. Attached to the wall by chains were two adults.
“What the hell?”
They had turned and were now out of their misery. Turning back to the kids Ben asked them if it was their parents. They nodded.
“We can’t take them with us,” Elijah said.
“We can’t leave them here,” I replied.
“Shit!” Elijah stammered.
“We’ll take them back,” I said.
“We can’t do that. The moment they spot us we are screwed.”
“If we leave them here, they are screwed. Now you decide what you want to do.”
Elijah leaned against the wall with his rifle down by his side. He reached into his top pocket and pulled a packet of Marlboros out. He tapped one out and lit it. Blowing out a cloud of smoke he motioned to them. “So we put them on the boat and send them over.”
“No, that water was rough enough with both of us rowing but two kids… It’s going to have to be the main gate.”
“Or we could just wait until trucks are returning and leave them in the middle of the road,” Baja suggested.
I moved towards the kids and they flinched. “It’s okay. You’re safe. What are your names?”
“Lukas and Kiera.”
I studied their faces. “Who did this?”
The boy looked at the girl.
“He doesn’t talk. He’s mute,” Kiera said. “They had pale faces. There were lots of them. Our parents told us to hide. They came in looking for food. After our parents gave them some…” she looked as if she couldn’t even bring herself to say what they did to them.
Whatever they had been through, whatever they had witnessed, it would stick with them for the rest of their lives. How long that would be, was to be seen.
CHAPTER 10
WE WEREN’T GOING ANYWHERE. I knew that the moment we saw those kids. We remained in that house for another hour as we tried to determine the best course of action to take. At first I figured it would just be a matter of getting them to the community. Sure, Sebastian had gone off the rails but there were others there that could help. It wasn’t like there was anywhere else they could go. The chances of them surviving by themselves weren’t good and going with us wasn’t an option.
What they told us next, changed everything.
“They have our sister.”
“There are more of you?”
The girl walked over to a side table and picked up a photo frame. She handed it to me. It spoke of better times. The parents were smiling, behind them an ocean. The two youngest were out front and a dark-haired girl off to the right.
“What’s her name?”
“Jade.”
“Didn’t she hide with you guys?”
“She did, but when they began hurting our parents she tried to reason with them.”
Why would anyone think they could reason with the insane?
“When they left they took her.”
Elijah looked at me. “Oh no, no, no. We are not getting involved. We are leaving right now. Like you said. We don’t want to place ourselves at risk any further. Remember?”
When I didn’t respond he strolled off and kicked the back door open.
“This is not a good idea, Johnny. The best we can do is get the kids into the community and then get the hell out of here,” Ben said.
“And the girl?”
“We can’t help everyone.”
I looked down at the photo frame and removed the photo.
How many others had they taken? On one hand we could leave and live. On the other, we could raise a little hell. If we died in the process, well so be it. We should have died long ago. The fact that we had got this far had to mean something.
Baja got this smirk on his face. He knew me better than anyone else. I don’t even know why it riled me up but the thought of people being taken against their will brought back a flood of memories. Apocalypse or not, no one had the right to supersede another’s will.
“So when are we going over there?” Baja said as if reading my mind.
“As soon as we have dropped these kids off.”
It was still early morning when we rolled out. The idea was pretty simple, we would get them as close as we could to Sunrise Highway and the first access point. Before leaving I had written a small note to Wren and given it to Kiera.
“Whatever you do, don’t let anyone else see this.”
I gave her the address of where Wren would be and then we left. The journey took us another two hours to reach the highway by foot. It didn’t help that we encountered a fair number of Z’s along the way. I was starting to think that we had wiped them all out. But that couldn’t be done. They were everywhere, whether that was in homes, below the ground or navigating their way through the forest.
With a machete in hand, I hacked the head off some old guy who looked as if he had worked as a mechanic in his previous life. His head rolled across the ground leaving a trail of blood behind.
“I still think this is a big mistake. I’m all for helping people but we don’t know this girl. Does it really make sense to risk our l
ives for someone who may just die later from a bite? Heck, her sister could be dead for all we know.”
I stopped in the middle of the road and twisted around to Elijah. “Does any of this make sense? You know, I have been asking myself that from the day we left our small town. What is the purpose of existence if the world we knew no longer exists? What’s the purpose of helping anyone?”
He rolled his eyes and continued walking. I fell in step.
“Believe me, Elijah, I’m tired of helping others only to have shit thrown back at us but I will be dammed if I am going to die without having helped somebody.”
“You have, Johnny. We all have. We don’t need to help everybody.”
“I hear you. I really do. The odds are stacked against us. No doubt there. But what would have Izzy done? Do you think she would have walked away?”
“We’ll never know,” he replied.
“That’s right, we won’t.” I paused. “Maybe we should put this to a vote.”
“At least then we can all have a say.”
“Really? We had our say back in the community and look where that got us.”
“There’s too many of them, Johnny. You would need an army of people to go up against them.”
“I’m not thinking about killing them. That’s insane. I’m talking about going into the city, observing them, finding out where the girl is and then seeing if we can get her out.”
Elijah chuckled as we continued walking the deserted road cluttered with charred vehicles. “Okay, smart-ass. So we go in there and get her out. Let’s say two of us get killed in the process. Now what? What good have we done? In our attempts to save one life we have lost two. This isn’t rocket science. It’s common sense. Salt Lake City, that made sense. It wasn’t just about saving one life. It was all about getting the cure.” He let out a laugh. “And look at where that has got us. No further ahead. But let’s continue on. The Fortress. That made sense, there were a lot of people and far fewer that we were going up against. Hell, even the Hive, which was completely crazy, made sense but this… no, I’m sorry, Johnny, but I’m not down with this one. We drop the kids off and then we are on our way. If you want to go in, that’s on you. I’m not going.”
