by Marie Lanza
“Nic, you got something back there I can use?” Jason asked.
Nic turned her attention back to the inside of the cab. She looked around for a second, then patted her legs, all the way down to her ankles, pulling a knife from under her pants. “I can’t believe this is still on me,” she handed Jason a knife with about a six-inch blade that looked more personal than military issued.
Jason rolled down the window enough to get the knife out. The infected woman hissed at the opening, and soon bit and clawed at the glass trying to get to Jason.
Melody grimaced at the immediate stench that came with the infected. A rotten smell worse than anything she had ever experienced. Melody thought if she had eaten anything, she would surely vomit. She lightly held her hand over Aubrey’s eyes, hoping to shield her from the gruesome visual of what they were all about to witness.
Jason took the knife and plunged the blade directly between the woman’s eyes. The bone cracked as he pierced through it. The infected quickly disappeared as it collapsed to the ground, giving a loud thump on the concrete.
The perimeter gates finally opened with Beck walking around fence waving the vehicles in. Joe readied his weapon, aiming at the infected coming from behind, but never fired.
Jason and Mike drove the vehicles on to the property, while Beck and Joe closed the gate behind them.
The vehicles parked in the circular driveway right in front of a large two-story home.
Melody thought it nice to stretch her legs, but standing quickly made her realize how hungry she felt. She hadn’t noticed while at rest for so long. She wasn’t worried so much for herself, but thought about Aubrey; she had to be feeling the same way. Melody noticed the other family, an older couple with a woman who looked to be in her forties, climbing out of the back of the truck. The older woman looked as though she had been crying, her eyes were puffy and pink. Then, the soldier who looked like a kid and Melody didn’t think he was more than twenty years old, jumped out last.
“Joe, take care of those, would ya?” Beck pointed at the infected that had gathered at the gates. “We don’t want them drawing more attention to this place.”
Joe pulled a knife from his waistband and approached the fence.
Jason, Beck, Nic, Mike, Joe, soldier I don’t know, family of three – mother, father, daughter… Melody took a mental picture of everyone as she said their names to herself. A personal headcount of everyone who made it.
“Place is clear?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, we did a quick sweep. The residents were home, but we took care of them.”
“Maybe we can find something for Aubrey to eat?” Melody asked.
“Yes, we’ll work on that.” Jason rubbed Aubrey’s back.
“Everyone could use something. We have some MREs back in the trucks. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find some stuff in the house,” Beck said. “Let’s get inside, get some food, and maybe a change of clothes. I know we could all use that.”
Melody hadn’t even thought of a change of clothes, but as soon as the words left Beck’s mouth, her thoughts could only think of how sticky and smelly they all were from being in the ocean. Her mind was suddenly stuck on how dry her skin was from the salt water, a feeling only a fresh shower could cure.
Beck led everyone inside.
The house looked remarkably untouched from the entrance. The group went straight for the living room and kitchen area to settle in. The space was open with the kitchen bar-style counter separating the rooms, most likely where the family would have casual meals. Melody noticed a more formal dining room off the other side of the kitchen.
“So where are the residents?” Jason asked.
Beck’s eyes shot up and nodded his head towards the stairs. “In the master bathroom. Everyone should avoid that room.”
Melody put Aubrey down in the middle of the living room and sat on a small chair across from the family who had made themselves comfortable on the couch. She gave a small smile as a friendly gesture to them when they finally made eye contact.
“Melody. This is Aubrey.”
The younger woman smiled, “I’m Stacey. This is my mom and dad, Richard and Beth.”
It was exhausting to even attempt small talk. There was no point in asking the usual questions, How are you? Where are you from? because everyone had the same answer – it was a nightmare.
Melody was grateful Jason walked in with a couple of plates to break up the stale air of awkward silence. He put the plates down on the coffee table. Nic followed closely behind with more plates of food to add.
They had emptied the MRE’s and a couple canned food items they must have found in the kitchen. As unappetizing as it looked and almost certainly tasted, Melody was grateful she would be able to get something to Aubrey. She kneeled down next to the table and scooped up a small bite with a plastic spoon.
“Aubrey, honey, come have a bite.” It didn’t take asking a second time for Aubrey to make her way over and start eating. She was surely hungry from going so long without food.
“Mel, be sure to eat something, OK?” Jason said with concern.
“I will, I just want to make sure…”
“Mel. You need to eat too.” Jason knew Melody would give up eating so Aubrey could eat as much as she wanted, but Melody needed to keep her nourishment up as well, as long as she could. Jason was planning for the days ahead, and he was concerned they may be in a situation where they don’t have anything to eat.
“We should eat, do some planning. See if we can’t find everyone a change of clothes. Maybe try and get some rest,” Beck talked between bites.
“We should also think about going through the neighborhood and look for some supplies to stock up on,” Nic suggested.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Jason agreed.
No one else seemed to have the energy to add to the conversation. Everyone had been awake for over 24 hours, and it was apparent in their eyes they were feeling defeated.
“Why don’t I go look around the house, see if I can’t find those clothes.” Mike jumped from his perched seat on top of the kitchen counter.
“Mike, stay out of the master bathroom,” Beck directed.
“I thought you said you took care of the residents.” Jason was suspicious of the order.
“We did.” There was an uncomfortable pause. “We left them in the bathroom.”
Melody didn’t like his word choice. “Beck?”
Everyone had all of their attention on Beck.
“The residents were still in the house. We found them in a closet. Only… There’s a child. And that child is still with us.”
Jason closed his eyes realizing what he was telling them.
There is an infected child in the house. That infected child is locked in an upstairs closet.
“Beck, we have to take care of it. It’s just as dangerous as an infected adult.”
“It’s not dangerous locked in the bathroom,” Beck attempted to defend his decision, but deep down, he knew they should have just killed it.
Melody didn’t know what to think, or how she would react to seeing an infected child. She did know she wasn’t going to rest easy being in the house with it.
Jason stood up slowly taking in a deep breath. “I’ll do it.”
“What? Jason, no…” Melody stood up.
“The reality is, I’ve seen just as many children die in my career as adults. And it’s not something I’d wish on anyone.”
Melody just gave him a nod of approval.
Jason pulled the knife that Nic had given him in the Humvee earlier. He made his way to the stairs and he got his first glimpse of the tragedy that had taken place in the home. Small bloodied hand prints smeared on the wall. Each step carried bloody footprints stained in the carpet. As Jason got to the top of the stairs, Mike met him in the hallway.
“What’s going on?” Mike asked as he curiously stared at the knife Jason was wielding. He had his hands full of clothing that he had gathered from around the hous
e.
“Beck left the kid.”
It took a second for Mike to absorb Jason’s words. “Oh shit, you’ve got to be kidding.”
Jason didn’t want to talk more about it; he just wanted to get it over with. He made his way past Mike, into the master bedroom.
This where it all happened.
There was blood everywhere, a trail through the bedroom, and into the bathroom where he found the closed door of the closet. Blood spatter covered the walls and a pool of gore seeped from under the door. The same familiar heavy wheezing breath of the infected came through faint at first, but louder as the body approached from the other side and made contact with the door, scratching against the wood.
Jason slowly approached the door as he thought about his actions. He paused as he realized he hadn’t seen an infected child, then he thought about the gruesome reasons why – They were probably all eaten. He didn’t want to see a baby taken by this virus, but he knew it had to be done.
As Jason sat on this thoughts, staring at the bloody door, he felt Mike’s presence standing behind him. Jason knew he was watching out of some sort of morbid curiosity, but he didn’t need a viewing party, yet on the other hand he just ignored him. He gave himself a few more moments, mostly listening to the sounds from the other side of the door.
Just get it over with.
Jason took in a deep breath and approached the door. His hand gently grasped the doorknob, and he paused again, giving himself another moment. He knew he had to get this task done. They couldn’t just leave the infected alive for the next person or group to find. Jason twisted the handle slowly, listening for the latch to release. He readied his knife and steadily cracked the door.
Staring up at him, Jason was met with dull eyes, with that white film that glazed over them when one becomes infected. It was a little girl, who looked no more than four years old, blonde hair wrapped up in a ponytail. A tiny little thing, with a raspy growl, and blood-stained lips and teeth with her skin gray.
An animated corpse.
Jason felt himself falling into her blank eyes, wondering what her life must have been like before the infection and how this once precious child contracted the virus.
The little girl’s hands squeezed through the crack of the door in an attempt to reach Jason. Her nails were caked with filth, as though she had been playing in the dirt for a week and never washed her hands.
From Mike’s vantage, he first saw the small fingers, then the tiny hands. It was all he needed to see. He didn’t want to have the image of a child in his head.
“Jason, man…” Mike whispered.
Jason was thankful for Mike breaking up the thought of what he needed to do; pulling him from being transfixed on this little figure before him, but he needed to concentrate. He took in another deep breath.
Quick and painless, he told himself, but he wondered if in this stage whether they felt pain.
Jason opened the door a bit more, letting the little infected get its head through, still attempting to bite him. He took the knife and placed the blade against the ear canal, and used the door to brace the girl’s head against. Then, in a swift action, Jason stabbed through flesh and soft bone, causing the child’s body to go limp and slump to the floor, slipping away from the knife.
Jason opened the closet door the rest of the way to find the girl’s parents. He entered the closet with Mike right behind him.
“What are you doing?” Mike asked.
“I just want to know how they died,” Jason responded as he looked over the bodies.
“They fucking ate each other, that’s what happened.”
Jason walked over to the little girl, leaned down to her and picked her up. Her body seemed weightless, and softer than a usual kid her age, like she had no bones. Jason brought her over to her parents and laid her beside them.
Before he left, Jason grabbed some clothes hanging in the closet. In just a couple of quick selections, he grabbed the closest stuff hanging next to him. “Let’s go,” Jason said as he walked out.
“Happily,” Mike followed.
Inside the bedroom, Jason went through the dressers, pulling out a couple of items – T-shirts, pants, socks, before leaving the bedroom and heading back downstairs.
The family of three were making their way to an upstairs bedroom to get some rest, so Mike stopped them and to deliver what he had found for clothing.
Jason continued down the stairs and over to the living room where he found Melody sitting curled up in the small chair while Aubrey played patty cake with Nic. Walking up, it was like an ordinary get together with friends, only this get together was with strangers all smelling like sour seawater and sweat.
Melody got up as soon as she laid her eyes on Jason. She didn’t want to talk about what he had just done, nor did she think he would want to. So, in her best ability to avoid the conversation altogether, she reached for the clothes and looked through them. “Anything Aubrey can wear?”
“I didn’t make it to any other rooms; I figured we could look when we go change.”
“Sounds good.” Melody smiled. “Ready, Miss Aubrey?’ We should go get dressed.”
Aubrey looked up from playing with Nic and made her way over to Melody, lifting her arms up to be held.
Mike entered the room to deliver the rest of the clothing he had compiled and delivered to the rest of the group.
Melody and Jason climbed the stairs into what was the little girl’s room. The walls were a light shade of pink with wood floors. A few pictures of the family in happier times hung on the walls. Stuffed animals lined the floor, and filled an old rocking chair. There was a small bed, low to the ground with a blanket and teddy bear that were probably the girl’s most comforting things.
“It’s a strange thing to just be here… In someone else’s house, in their clothes.” Melody looked at the family photos on the wall. “These belonged to a family that loved each other.”
Jason plopped Aubrey on the bed and began stripping off her salt-encrusted clothes. Melody found some wipes and training pants for kids. She handed them to Jason. “They’ll be too big for her, but…”
“Better than nothing. We should pack them up and take them with us.” Jason finished dressing Aubrey and set her down. Her attention was quickly captured by the stuffed animals on the floor and she began playing with them. Jason wrapped his arm around Melody as they watched Aubrey entertain herself with the toys. “What do you say we go back downstairs and see if we can’t talk about what’s next?”
“Sounds good.” Melody kneeled down to Aubrey, “Honey, ready to go downstairs?”
“Yeah, bear?” Aubrey asked as she brought a little teddy bear close to her chest and hugged it.
“Yes.” Melody smiled. “Yes, you can take the bear.” Aubrey walked into her mother’s arms and Melody lifted her from the ground as she clinched her new teddy bear.
Jason gathered the extra clothes they found in the room along with other various items and they headed back downstairs.
Beck, Mike, Nic, and Joe were gathered in the living room and kitchen still wearing their same dirty clothes. Beck, Mike, and Nic sitting on the couch and a chair, while Joe perched himself up on a stool at the counter that separated the living room and kitchen.
Melody and Jason entered with Aubrey and the three made themselves comfortable, Melody on another chair, and Jason on the floor with Aubrey.
“We hit gold.” Beck held out a bottle of whiskey and handed it to Jason. “It’s the cheap stuff, but who can really be picky about it?”
Jason thought the better of it, as he wanted to make sure to keep his wits about him at all times, but then figured, why not. He took the fifth of whiskey, took a sip and swallowed fast, feeling the harsh liquid burn as it traveled down his throat. He passed the bottle over to Melody. Melody wasn’t much of a hard liquor type of girl, but it was something to take the edge off.
The whiskey circled the group twice before Mike capped it and set it aside. “We’ll ke
ep this for the special occasions.”
“So what are we thinking?” Jason asked.
“I think everyone could use some rest. We can sweep some nearby homes for supplies, and leave first thing in the morning,” Beck said.
“Sounds good to me. We could all use sleep, but we should go out for the supplies now so we’re not held up tomorrow,” Nic suggested.
“I’ll go,” Mike spoke up, “Nic?”
“I’m with ya, and let’s keep it small. Just us, quick. In and out,” she said. “We’ll take a bag or two from the trucks.”
Joe remained quiet, but no one really took notice. Melody interpreted his silence with being very young. If she had to guess, she would say he graduated high school, joined the military, and watched the world collapse into chaos all in the same week.
Mike pulled out a map from a large pocket in his pants and opened it up on the table. “Tomorrow, we head for Glen,” he pointed to an area over the map.
Jason leaned in to examine the routes.
“Fort Mesa is closer going that route,” Joe finally spoke up.
“I don’t see Glen on this map,” Jason kept searching.
“You won’t.” Beck scooted in closer. “And Fort Mesa may be closer, but it’s a risk.” Beck directed his comment to Joe. “If anything, they’ll have supplies, but there’s probably nothing left. Like I said, the infected were housed there.”
“What do you mean housed there?” Melody asked.
“They were running a lot of trials there, trying to find a cure,” Beck answered. “Camp Glen,” Beck pointed to the map. “Town on top, facility underneath. Unbreakable.”
Jason placed his finger on the map, just north of where Beck labeled Camp Glen. “Summer Springs. That’s where we’re going.”
“Has anyone thought about staying put?” Joe asked.
“No,” Beck snapped firmly without looking back at him.
Everyone felt the sudden tension in the air between Beck and Joe, but as soon as it came, it disappeared, with Nic standing to her feet. “What do you say, Mike?”
“Yeah, let’s do this. I could use some serious sleep.”
