by Sarra Cannon
He decided to go for it.
He leaned forward and crouched low as he reached the edge of the rooftop. He vaulted himself across the space, imagining the wind lifting him higher so he could reach the next ledge, but by the time he’d gotten halfway over, he knew he wasn’t going to make it.
He risked a glance downward and cried out. He was so high up that if he fell now, there would be nothing left of him but a bloodstain on the pavement.
He stretched his arms, reaching for the ledge that hung over the next rooftop. His body slammed against the brick and his fingertips latched on. Light flashed through his eyes from the blow, but he concentrated on holding on above all else.
He wasn’t strong. He’d always been a scrawny kid, fast but small. He tried to pull himself up, but it was too hard. He was barely hanging on and every second that passed seemed to add ten pounds to him.
He glanced down and closed his eyes, pressing his head against the brick. He didn’t want to die. Not now.
He looked from side-to-side, searching for the fire escape or a ladder of some kind. He spotted one several feet away and started swinging his body back and forth. With each forward swing, he let go and flew just a little closer to the ladder. It took almost half an hour to go five feet, but when he made it and his fingers curled around the cool metal ladder, he cried for joy.
He hugged the ladder tight and rested his arms for a minute before he climbed to the top of the building.
There were no infected on this rooftop, so he sat down and leaned his back against some kind of air vent. The sun beat down on his dark skin and sweat trickled down the side of his face. He shrugged out of his hoodie and stuffed it deep into his backpack.
Hunger pains twisted his stomach, so he searched for a pack of crackers and his bottle of water.
Everything looked different from up here.
The sun was shining and as he ate, he looked toward Manhattan at the tall buildings that made up the iconic skyline.
He looked toward the area of Central Park. He couldn’t see the park from here, but he could feel the guardian’s blood pulsing through her veins. She was close. He closed his eyes, a vision of a hotel coming to him. The girl was in a room at the Four Seasons. He could see the sign out front as plain as day. She was there, in a balcony room. If he could make it to a nearby rooftop, he could jump to her balcony and save her.
When he opened his eyes, the vision faded, but the information was burned on his brain. He didn’t understand how he knew, but he trusted it.
He finished his meal and sat for a few more minutes, looking out over the city. From here, it still looked like a postcard, windows glinting in the light. The Empire State Building rose above all the rest. It was beautiful and quiet, the air so clear.
But even for all its beauty, there was a sinister silence that sent a shiver down his back. It wasn’t supposed to be so quiet here. The city was all about life and movement and noise, but the virus had stolen that.
His mom used to complain about all the traffic and the constant honking outside their building and on the streets. She’d hated that about New York, but the boy would have given anything to hear cars honking and people shouting at each other right now. It wasn’t right to hear the city so quiet.
As he stood and pulled the backpack onto his shoulders, he wondered if the city would ever regain its life, or if it would always and forever be a tomb where the only sounds were those of the hungry rotters stumbling from place to place.
The three miles to the hospital were quiet, but then, she had known it would be. The Dark One knew exactly where they were headed, and she had commanded her minions to wait for them there, only attacking when the time was right.
Everything was coming together. The Dark One’s powers were growing rapidly, and soon she would be able to escape her prison of ice.
Her minions had finally located Parrish’s sister, too. The girl was exactly where her sister believed her to be—still hidden away in the safety of her hotel room. The witch wasn’t sure why the girl had failed to answer the phone, but it was a stroke of luck for the Dark One. Now she would have the child all to herself, a bargaining chip if and when the time came.
The fifth was in New York, too. The Dark One’s servants had spotted him yesterday, leaping and flying across rooftops. He was nothing more than a child himself, several years younger than the rest. And now that he had shown himself, it wouldn’t be long before the Dark One put an end to him.
After today, this could all be over.
The witch hated the thought of betraying her new friends, but whenever her devotion wavered, she thought of the Dark One’s promise of great power.
A few rotters stumbled out from behind houses or hiding places between cars as they walked, but there were never more than a couple together at a time, and Parrish and Noah took care of them quickly.
“I can’t believe how quiet it is,” Karmen said. “We’ve barely seen any of those things out here.”
“Tank said some of his buddies cleared out a lot of these neighborhoods a few weeks ago,” Crash said. “It shouldn’t be too hard to get to the hospital if it keeps up like this.”
“We’re lucky,” the witch said.
They walked along the sidewalk at a brisk pace, anxious to get to the hospital, but the witch wanted to slow down. Lately she’d been having doubts about her part in all this. What if she had chosen the wrong side? What if it was the Dark One who was wrong for wanting to go free and go home to their world?
What if the guardians truly had saved her people from a terrible nightmare all those centuries ago?
She tugged on a strand of her long dark hair and followed behind Crash and Karmen, her feet not wanting to move any faster. There was a part of her that wanted to tell them not to go. They could turn around right now and leave this place. It would be difficult to hide from the Dark One now that she had eyes everywhere, but with her help, they might find ways to survive and stay hidden.
But she knew that if she told them, they would never forgive her. All their kindness would disappear and they would look at her like she was a monster. It had been her who sent those super-zombies after them in D.C. It was she who had told the Dark One about their journey and made sure there were hordes of zombies slowing them down along the way.
And she had told the Dark One about the hospital.
Whatever they faced inside that place would be because of her. She wanted to feel proud of that, the way she had in the early days when she’d been so sure she was fighting on the right side. All she wanted was to be powerful and to be needed.
Her whole life, she had been treated like she was nothing. Nobody. But these guardians had given her a name and welcomed her into their life. Now, she was repaying them by leading them straight to their own deaths.
She knew what waited in that hospital. Nightmare didn’t even begin to describe it.
Several times on their journey, as the miles passed, she opened her mouth to tell them the truth, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to betray her mistress.
When the hospital came into view and the opportunity to warn them disappeared, she held back tears of regret. She had gone too far down this road to turn back now. She had committed her life to the Dark One, and she would have to live with that decision, as painful as it may be.
All she could hope now was that the guardians would go quickly. That they wouldn’t feel much pain as the rotters ripped them apart.
Crash stopped on the lawn of the large hospital and clapped his hands together. “Let’s get this shit over with,” he said.
He set his large duffel bag on the ground and unzipped it. Guns and ammo filled the bag and he took one out and passed it to Karmen.
“I really hope I don’t have to use this thing,” she said.
“Just so long as you’re not pointing it at one of us, you’re good,” he said with a wink. He held the next one out to her. “Lily?”
She blinked, still not used to her name. After
today, would there be anyone left who would ever call her by that name?
“Thanks,” she mumbled, taking the shotgun.
Noah stepped forward and grabbed a handful of shells, stuffing them in his pocket. Parrish had her sword and two handguns strapped to her belt.
“Where’s the list?” Parrish asked.
“What list?” Lily asked.
“Tank gave us a list of things to get if we made it inside,” Crash said, pulling a piece of paper from the pocket of his jeans. “We’re supposed to grab inhalers for Asthma, any kind of antibiotics we can get our hands on, painkillers, blood pressure medicine, saline, needles, a defibrillator, and a few other odds and ends.”
“That’s a long list,” Noah said. “Even if we do manage to get inside and not get killed, how the heck are we going to carry all that home?”
Crash patted him on the back. “That’s where you come in, my friend,” he said with a laugh. “We’ll just load you up like a pack horse.”
Noah shook his head and ran a hand across his forehead. “Awesome. My life’s dream realized.”
The witch smiled. She loved the way they all joked around with each other, even in the most terrifying of circumstances. She was really going to miss them.
“I was thinking we should check the ambulances first,” Crash said. “We might be able to find a lot of the meds and a defibrillator in there.”
“That would be nice,” Parrish said. “Maybe we could bypass the hospital completely.”
The witch jerked her head toward Parrish. The Dark One’s servants were all waiting for them inside. If she didn’t get them in there, the Dark One might punish her again. She pulled her injured arm close to her body.
“I have a bad feeling we’re not going to be that lucky,” Crash mumbled. He looked up at the sky, covering his face with the piece of paper that held Tank’s list. “It’s about ten in the morning, so if we hustle, we really might be able to do this and be home by dark. At the very least, I’m hoping we can get clear of the hospital and hunker down in one of those houses we passed.”
“If we don’t find what we need by five this afternoon, I say we leave,” Noah said.
“I’ll second that,” Karmen said, raising her hand. “I do not want to end up stuck in there overnight.”
“Let’s get to it, then,” Parrish said.
The witch hesitated. “Can you wait up just a second?” she said.
The others stopped and all looked at her, squinting in the bright morning sun that had finally burned away the foggy mist of morning.
“I just wanted to let you guys know that no matter what happens today, being a part of this group has meant the world to me,” she said. Her words were a betrayal to her mistress, but she couldn’t let them die without telling them what they had meant to her. “I know I haven’t said much about my past, but growing up, I didn’t have a lot of friends. I never knew my parents at all, and the people who raised me didn’t think much of me, to be honest. I just wanted you to know that the past couple weeks with you have been some of the happiest of my life. Thank you for that.”
Parrish shifted her weight and looked down at the ground. “What do you think is going to happen to us today?” she asked.
The witch shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “But in case we run into any danger, I just wanted you all to know how I felt.”
Crash touched her arm. “Thank you,” he said. “If things go south in there, I hope you know that we’ve always considered you one of us. We never wanted you to be anything else.”
A tear slid down her cheek and she brushed it away.
“Are we done with the sappy friendship phase of the day?” Karmen asked. “Because I’m ready to get to the kick-ass and get-the-hell-out-of-here phase, if you don’t mind.”
The witch smiled and nodded. “I’m ready,” she said.
The group walked down the small hill to the ambulance bay, and she wondered what her life might have been like if she had grown up in this world instead of her own. If she had known friends like these, would she have felt so broken? So desperate?
The questions were pointless now, because her choice had been made. The path had already been laid out, and there was no turning back now.
But still, she wondered if she’d had lifetimes to try again and again, if in one of them, she might have finally gotten it right.
A bead of sweat trickled down her back. The morning had started out nice, but it was getting hotter by the minute. She was melting out here.
“Let’s get this over with,” she said, tying the leather jacket around her waist.
She held her katana close by her side as she walked toward the bay of ambulances. Even from here, though, she could see that someone else had been here before. There were five ambulances parked near the emergency room entrance, two of which had their back doors open, supplies spilling from the back.
A few dead bodies rotted on the pavement behind the first of the vehicles.
“Doesn’t look good,” Noah said.
“Let’s check them anyway,” she said. She pointed to the second nearest ambulance. “Crash, you and Karmen check that one. The rest of us will look in this first one.”
She caught Lily’s eye.
“You stand out here and watch for any sign of activity. Any movement, let us know.”
Lily nodded and clutched her shotgun awkwardly against her body. “I can do that,” she said.
Parrish didn’t trust her. What was up with that speech she’d just given? It had seemed truly heartfelt, but it put a bad taste in Parrish’s mouth.
Did she know something about what was waiting for them in the hospital? Had she set them up?
Parrish wasn’t ready to confront her or totally write her off yet, but she was definitely going to keep her eye on the girl. And she was going to be careful every step of the way in that hospital. Any sign of trouble and they needed to run.
Noah hopped into the back of the first ambulance and held his hand out to her. She grabbed it and pulled herself up.
“What exactly are we looking for in here?” he asked.
“Medicine, supplies, whatever we can find,” she said.
The inside was a mess. The seats had been ripped to shreds and the gurney was hanging half-in, half-out the back door. Most of the lockers were open and empty.
Parrish checked them all anyway, making sure they didn’t miss anything that might be useful, but this one was already cleaned out.
The two of them jumped down and moved to the third ambulance. The doors on this one were closed. Noah grabbed the handle and met her eyes. She lifted her sword and nodded, ready for something to jump out at her.
The doors swung open, but thankfully, no one was inside. This one looked relatively untouched, and a spark of hope ignited in her heart. Maybe they really could avoid the hospital. She didn’t like the idea of going in there. It was too big with too many unknown factors. Open the wrong door and there could be hundreds of rotters waiting on the other side.
A few of the lockers opened easily, revealing gloves, needles, sanitizing wipes. She shrugged off her backpack and unzipped it quickly, stuffing everything she could hold inside.
“That’s something at least,” Noah said. “These others seem to be locked.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I thought you had some kind of super strength?” she asked. “You’re telling me you aren’t strong enough to break a simple lock?”
He smiled and shrugged. “I hadn’t thought of it that way,” he said. “I’ll give it a shot.”
Noah pulled on the first locker and the drawer flew open, nearly knocking him on his ass.
Laughter rocked Parrish backward. She doubled over and clutched her stomach. “Maybe that was a little overkill,” she said.
“You think?” he asked. He had fallen onto the paramedic’s seat, his body completely sideways in the chair. He laughed and when their eyes met, her stomach fluttered. She really hoped last night’s kisses were just the begin
ning for the two of them.
“It’s nice to hear you laugh,” he said.
“You too,” she said softly. “Now get the rest of these lockers open. We’re burning daylight.”
Noah opened the rest of the drawers more carefully, but most of them were empty. The last drawer had a large bag inside and when Noah unzipped it, Parrish whistled.
“Look at that,” she said. There were several bags full of fluid. She dug through them, reading the labels. “Saline, Valium, Morphine, Dopamine, Glucagon, there are all kinds of painkillers and stuff here.”
“Sweet,” Noah said, crouching beside her to look through the IV bags. “I don’t see any antibiotics, though.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “Would you recognize them?”
“My parents were doctors, remember?”
“Yeah, but you weren’t,” she teased.
He smiled again, bumping his arm playfully against hers. “I know drugs,” he said. “And there are no antibiotics in these lockers.”
“What about a defibrillator?” she asked.
He stood and motioned to a small shelf. “I think that would usually go here.”
“So it’s missing.”
“Looks that way,” he said. “But this is a lot of stuff. I’m surprised we found so much in one ambulance.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky in one of the other ambulances and walk away from this place without ever going inside,” she said.
They jumped down and told the others what they’d found.
“Awesome,” Crash said. “The two we checked were trashed, but that’s a huge find. Good job.”
“Let’s just hope we hit the jackpot with this last one.”
“Yeah, out of the whole list, they need the antibiotics most,” he said. “Without those, we may as well be going home empty-handed.”
“It’s quiet out here,” Lily said. “Maybe this place is deserted.”
