by Sarra Cannon
“We don’t even know what these powers mean or who else might have them, though, do we?”
She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said. “What if they are out there waiting for us again?”
“Then we’ll know,” he said. “Karmen, is there anything strange you might have noticed about her? Anything, no matter how small?”
She took a deep breath and tried to think about the past couple weeks since they’d met up with this girl. She stared down at the girl’s backpack and her eyes widened.
The cloak.
The night she’d accidentally searched Lily’s bag, thinking it was her own, she’d found that weird cloak made of a material she’d never seen before.
“Karmen, what is it?” he asked.
She looked away, shaking her head. “Nothing,” she said. Telling him about the cloak wouldn’t change anything, and if the girl walked in on them going through her things, who knows what might happen. She kept her mouth shut, but deep down, she knew he was right about this mission.
They needed to know the truth.
“I’ll go with you,” she said. She pressed her index finger hard into his chest. “But so help me God, if I die out there tomorrow, I’ll come back as a rotter and kill you myself.”
Crash laughed and stared into her eyes, stepping a little closer than she wanted him to.
“You’ve got a deal, Barbie,” he said. “And by the way, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that kiss earlier.”
Anger flushed her cheeks and she pulled away, wanting to slap him again.
“You are such a jerk,” she said, throwing open the door to the room. “And if you pull a stunt like that again, you better get used to sleeping with one eye open from now on.”
He walked past her into the hallway, but turned before he walked away. “I think next time, I’ll wait for you to kiss me,” he said. “And believe me, there will be a next time.”
He winked and started down the hallway, but Karmen stayed behind. When he had disappeared through the door to the main armory warehouse, she went back into the bedroom and closed the door.
She squatted next to Lily’s bag and opened it with trembling hands, wanting to get another look at the strange cloak.
Instead, she found normal clothes. Jeans. T-shirts. A sweater. She pulled them all from the bag, turning it over onto the floor. The cloak wasn’t there. What in the heck was going on?
Karmen was sure of what she’d seen that morning in Crash’s apartment. She could never forget a cloak like that. What had she done with it?
She looked inside the bag, making sure it was empty. The cloak had taken up most of the backpack, so she knew it was too big to fit into one of the smaller compartments, but she opened the zippered pouch on the side anyway.
She stuck her hand inside and felt around. It was empty except for a smooth stone. Karmen clasped her hand around it and a small shock went through her palm. She drew her hand away and shook it. It hadn’t hurt, exactly, but what in the world was it?
She reached in again and took the stone from the bag, turning it over in her hand.
It was a black rock with five sides, a symbol etched into each one. As she turned it over, she gasped when one of the symbols—a rose—lit up with a dim red glow.
Her heart raced as she stared down at the stone in her hand.
What was Lily doing with something like this? Karmen wasn’t sure what it meant, but whatever it was, her body had reacted to it. And the stone had reacted to her.
Somehow, she knew that rose meant something to her. She’d seen it before, but where?
She stuffed the girl’s clothes back into her bag, carefully setting it against the cot where she’d found it. She slipped the stone into its pocket inside the bag and turned off the light as she went to join the others in the dining area, thinking that tomorrow’s outing might be a lot more dangerous than any of them imagined.
Still reeling from her argument with Karmen, Parrish sat down at the table and picked at her dinner. She knew she should be eating, but she was too angry. Too scared.
There was something greater and more dangerous at work in this world than any of them realized, and she was sick and tired of guessing at what that might be. Where had this virus really come from? What did their dreams really mean?
She just wanted answers.
The virus has taken everything away from her. Her future. Her family. Her identity. And now it was threatening to take her sanity.
They had come so far and been through so much, trying to find a place safe enough to rest and think through everything. But what if they had brought the enemy along with them?
She looked up at the girl sitting across from her. She looked normal. She was beautiful with her long black hair and pale skin. Other than the fact that she didn’t have a zit or freckle on her perfect skin, she looked like any normal teenager.
But what about her past? The rest of them had shared stories about their families and their lives before the virus, but this girl had never once told them anything about her past. Not even her name.
“Hot dogs again for dinner,” she said as casually as she could. “Not that I’m not incredibly grateful to have a hot meal, but I was just thinking how much I miss pizza. And Reese’s Pieces, oh man, I’d kill for some of those. I’ve been looking for them at every gas station and pharmacy we’ve stopped at so far, but apparently everyone loves them, because they’ve been cleaned out. What about you?”
She stared at Lily, who had just taken a bite of her baked beans and scrunched her nose.
“Who, me?” she asked, swallowing.
“Yeah, we hardly know anything about you,” Parrish said. “If you could have any meal in the world right now, what would it be? The sky’s the limit?”
Lily shrugged and looked down at her food. “I don’t know. I guess I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Come on, there has to be something,” she said. “What was your favorite thing your mom ever cooked for you? Like on your birthday? What would she make for you?”
Lilyl’s hands tensed into fists around her plastic silverware. “I don’t have a mother,” she said.
Parrish finished taking a sip of water and set her cup back on the table. “Damn, I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t know. What happened to her? I lost my mom to the virus.”
“I never knew her,” she said, her tone harsh and bitter. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
Under the table, Crash kicked her foot, but she ignored him.
“Okay, but everyone has a favorite food, right? What’s your favorite kind of candy?” she asked.
Lily cleared her throat and looked up. “I don’t know. Those Reese’s things you mentioned. Those are good.”
Parrish glanced at Crash and he shook his head. She could tell he didn’t want her to push the issue, but she had known Lily wouldn’t have a favorite food or share stories about her family or her birthday. There was something definitely off about her, and Parrish was surprised none of them had really noticed it before now.
She was different. Guarded.
And Parrish wanted to know why.
“Mine is Hot Pockets,” Crash said. “I could eat those things for every meal, every day.”
“Ew, those are so gross,” Karmen said, finally joining them at the table. “They’re hardly even real food.”
“They’re delicious,” he said. “And I’ve been surviving just fine on them for years.”
“Well, if I could have any meal in the world right now, I’d want to go to Makoto. Have you guys ever been there?” Karmen asked.
“I went once with my dad,” Noah said. “They had the best sushi in the city.”
Karmen smiled. “I loved their sushi. I always made my parents take me there for my birthday,” she said. “And I’d always make them get me a cake from The Cakeroom. I miss that place so much. They had this Hummingbird cake that had bananas and walnuts a
nd the most delicious cream cheese icing you ever tasted in your life. It was to die for.”
“I remember that place,” Parrish said. “Did you ever try their Nutella cookies? Oh my God.”
“Right?” Karmen asked, giggling. “Beats hot dogs and baked beans any day.”
“Sounds like you guys are having fun over here,” Kaya said, placing a hand on Parrish’s back.
She blushed, hoping Kaya hadn’t misunderstood their conversation. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful.
“We were just reminiscing about our favorite restaurants back home,” she said.
“I understand,” Kaya said. “Sometimes it gets old having the same meals over and over again, but you’ll get used to it.”
“These hot dogs are great,” Noah said. “Thank you for cooking for us again.”
“Anything for you guys,” she said. “My husband told me what you’re planning to do tomorrow, and I can’t tell you how thankful I am that you’re willing to go out again so soon. It will mean a lot to all of us if you can find some medicine.”
Parrish nodded. “My sister and father were in New York when the virus hit,” she said. “I understand what it’s like to be afraid you’re going to lose your family.”
Kaya’s face softened and she leaned down to give Parrish a hug. “You poor girl,” she said. “I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for you.”
“It’s been hard, but we’ve all had to face hard things over the past month or so,” Parrish said. “If we can help a family stay alive, that’s all that matters.”
“Eat up,” Kaya said, clapping her hands together. “You’re going to need plenty of good food and rest if you’re planning to be on the road so early in the morning. I’ll say a prayer for you all and hope to see you back here safely before dark tomorrow night.”
Kaya smiled and moved on to talk to a group further down the table.
I hope so, too, Parrish thought, and looked up again at the mysterious girl sitting across from her.
Tank spread the map on the table and pointed to a spot he’d circled in red. Crash leaned over him to get a closer look at the route.
“The hospital is over here,” he said. “It’s about six miles from here by car, but like I told Crash, the bridge is completely jammed up and unless you drive about fifty miles out of your way into more unpredictable territory, your best bet is on foot after you hit the bridge. We had some guys try to drive up north for a better way around to that side of town, but they ran into some large hordes of Z’s and had to turn around.”
“Does anyone in your group know much about that side of town?” Crash asked. “Anyone who might have gotten a good look at the hospital?”
Tank sighed and studied the map. He pointed to a subdivision a couple blocks south of the store. “One of the men, Jenkins, used to live over in this subdivision. He and his two sons did a pretty good job clearing things out at the beginning before they came here. They said they took care of a lot of Z’s over by the hospital, but that they didn’t risk going inside.”
“We’ll do the best we can,” Crash said.
“Thank you,” Tank said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “This really does mean a lot to a lot of people around here.”
“We’re glad to help,” Parrish said. “Anything else we need to know about the surrounding area? Places we should absolutely avoid, things like that?”
Tank circled an area north of the bridge. “Last time I was out there, this section had a huge population of Z’s. There’s a area of public housing there, so there were a lot of people living in a confined space. I’d avoid it at all costs if I could.”
Crash looked up and saw that Lily was studying the map hard, her burned hand touching her temple. Something tugged at the back of his mind and his pulse quickened.
“You feeling okay?” he asked.
She looked up. “Sure,” she said with a wavering smile. “I’m just trying to think about the plan and how we’re going to get in and out of that hospital without getting hurt.”
“I thought you maybe had a headache or something from the way you’re touching your head like that,” he said. He glanced over and met Parrish’s eyes. “Want someone to get you an aspirin or something?”
“No, I’m fine,” she said. She hid her hand inside her shirt sleeve and backed away from the table.
Crash was sure she’d done almost the exact same thing the other day. He was probably reading too much into it, but his nerves knotted in his stomach.
“Well, we all need to get some rest, I’m sure,” he said. “Tank, thanks for walking us through the route. I’ll set an alarm for five so we have time to get up and get some coffee and breakfast before we take off, if that sounds alright with you.”
“Absolutely,” Tank said. “Some of the women, including Cheryl, volunteered to get up early and fix a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs to make sure you guys leave with energy and full stomachs. They’re packing up some snacks and MRE’s for you, too, in case you end up being gone overnight.”
“That’s very nice of them,” Parrish said. “What about cell phones? If the electricity and internet is still working, does that mean phones are, too? That way we could call if something goes wrong.”
“I wish,” Tank said, shaking his head. “I can’t explain why one thing works and the other doesn’t, but cell service has been down for a good while now. We have a few sets of walkie talkies you can take, but the signal won’t reach the whole way.”
“That would be great,” Crash said.
He folded up the map and stuck it in his backpack for safe keeping.
“I’m heading to bed,” he said. “If you guys know what’s good for you, you’ll turn in early, too. I have a feeling it’s going to be a very long day tomorrow.”
He shook Tank’s hand and said goodnight to the others, hoping that for once, his dreams would take the night off.
Parrish and Crash had explained why they were going on this wild goose chase tomorrow, but he didn’t like it at all.
Lily might not be like the rest of them, but it was obvious she’d faced some kind of trauma and had been having a hard time getting over it. She was suffering from amnesia, which really wasn’t that uncommon when it came to severe post-traumatic-stress.
Leading them into the unknown as a test to see if she was somehow controlling the super-zombies sounded like a practice in insanity to him.
If they were wrong, they were still putting themselves in danger from the regular zombies out there. They could come across a horde of them and someone could get hurt or killed in the process.
If they were right, they would have to face another group of super-zombies. They’d barely survived the attack in D.C., so why would they willingly walk into another attack?
But Parrish had said it was better that they find out the truth when they were away from the compound, rather than stay here and risk the entire place getting ambushed by those things.
And she was right.
Noah just didn’t like the odds. Either way, they were taking themselves away from what had to be one of the safest places in the country and putting themselves back in danger.
He was still hoping he might be able to talk Parrish out of it.
When the others had headed back to the room, he hung back, touching her arm and motioning for her to follow him upstairs.
She glanced toward the others and nodded. “I’ll be there in a minute,” she said. “Meet you on the roof?”
He nodded and watched as she disappeared into their bedroom. He made his way to the stairwell and up to the roof, amazed at how bright it was at this time of night.
With the electricity still on around town, all the street lights were on. They must have been set on some kind of timer. Floodlights had been attached to all corners and sides of the armory about ten feet apart from one another, the light shining out in all directions.
The shopping mall was mostly dark, but he could see houses with lights shining through the
windows up and down the street. Was anyone still alive in there?
He guessed not, since they would have surely realized what was going on here at the armory and come here instead. Still, he liked to think there were survivors all across the country, and maybe even the world, living in their own homes with their families intact. Safe and alive. When all this was over and the rotter population had been eradicated, he hoped those families would be able to rebuild the world.
“What are you thinking about?” Parrish asked softly, coming to stand beside him at the edge of the rooftop.
“I didn’t even hear you come up,” he said.
“You looked so peaceful just now,” she said. “Hopeful.”
He smiled. “I was just imagining that there were families in those homes who hadn’t lost anyone,” he said. “I was thinking how the survivors would be able to rebuild someday, once the rotters were gone.”
“Do you think that’s really possible?” she asked.
“Some people are immune,” he said. “I can’t imagine there are many people left who weren’t exposed to the virus at all, so that means most people who are still alive can’t get sick. If we can find a way to get rid of the rotters that exist now, all that will be left are healthy people, right?”
“That’s a pleasant thought. A world without rotters,” she said. “I was thinking about Cheryl’s baby. She’s six months along already, but what happens when that baby is born? We don’t know how immunity works. Zoe and I seemed to be immune to the virus, but not Mom and Dad. It could also work the other way around. What if the parents are both immune, but the baby is born with the virus?”
Noah shuddered. He hadn’t thought of that at all. He’d only been thinking about the people who were still alive now. Not the ones who hadn’t yet been born.
“I guess we hope for the best,” he said. The world didn’t have much of a future if babies born to survivors weren’t immune. Not unless someone was able to find a cure, and he doubted there were many scientists like his father still alive and qualified to find one.
