by Jesse Gagnon
“John watch out! Savanna!” Jason yelled as a slow crawling Azrael quietly managed to pull itself towards Savanna, drawn to her uninfected blood and bit her right arm she was using to brace herself.
“Arghh. FUCK!” Savanna cried out. John stood up, kicked its head and it rolled away tearing a mouthful of flesh from Savanna’s arm.
“She’s bit. Damn it.” Jason muttered as he scanned for any more crawlers approaching. A few were moving towards them but they moved much slower than the other one and were a good forty yards away.
“I didn’t see it Sweetie. I didn’t see it. I’m so sorry. Fuck! I didn’t see it.” He belted and walked over to the Azrael, now pulling itself back on its elbows and dragging itself towards Savanna again while still chewing on her arm meat. In a fit of rage John kicked it in the chest and it took a few feet of air before rolling into the wall of the building next to it. He moved towards and mounted the legless Azrael. His weight held it in place as he placed his left elbow in its throat holding it against the concrete. He punched its head with his right fist over and over until he crushed its skull. In a moment of clarity he stopped, hopped off and stood to his feet. The Azrael still reached, grasped and held onto his shirt. He swatted its grip from his collar, stretching it out and it landed on its back on the ground. He finished it off with his right boot instead stomping it until it only twitched. His knuckles were a bloodied mess. He wiped the blood off and didn’t notice any cuts. Nights of conditioning his fists punching the heavy bag formed a thick layer of calloused skin on them. He turned to Savanna and wondered when the virus would take root. He knew he didn’t have the courage to put her down. However, he knew that of anybody he had the right to do so. Jason reached for his pistol and started to take aim at her. She gawked at him.
“No, no don’t. Wait!” Savanna shouted placing her hand up to stop him. She leaned on her left elbow and held her bitten arm up. It was bleeding badly and dripped quickly into a pool beside her.
“You’re gonna turn Savanna.” Jason removed the safety. Savanna heard it click.
“I’m not.” She protested.
“It’s denial. We all have it. I’m sorry Savanna.” Jason brought in a deep breath and prepared to shoot his friend.
“I’ve been bit before. I’m immune! I’m immune!” She explained holding her hand up. She turned away and closed her eyes fearing what was to come.
“You’ve what?” Jason responded. He deactivated the safety. The clicking noise verified it and calmed Savanna slightly. She opened her eyes, lowered her hand and attempted to control her breathing. Her heartbeat was still thumping out of her chest.
“News to me. What the fuck are you sayin’ Savanna?” John walked over to see what she was talking about. He noticed Jason still pointing his gun at her. He gave him a stern look and he lowered the weapon.
“It was before I joined. Remember finding me at Sports King?”
“Yeah, you were all alone holed up in the back room.” John remembered.
“Yes, well. Fuck, it hurts. Can I get a bandage, a shirt, towel or something? Shit!” Savanna inquired as the pool of blood next to her started to get her pants wet.
“Sure.” John pulled out a shirt from his backpack, ripped it and wrapped it around her arm.
“Thanks, I’d like to tell you more but I think we should get somewhere a bit more safe.” Savanna insisted making eye contact with a small group of amputated Azrael that dragged themselves towards her. Their skin had already scabbed up.
“That’s a good idea. She would have started turnin’ by now.” John glanced at an imaginary watch and stared at Jason. He was still wary but nodded in agreeance. John picked Savanna up and tossed her over his shoulder. She exhaled a small yelp as her stomach hit his shoulder.
“You’re not gonna bite him are you?” Jason asked. She pulled her head up, made eye contact and gave Jason the finger.
“Just asking.” Jason added donning his backpack; put the duffel bag strap over his head and on the opposite shoulder of the bag.
“My shoe!” Savanna yelled as John accidentally knocked it down the storm drain.
“Sorry Babe. We’ll get you a new pair. I promise. It’s the least I can do.”
“Okay I guess. Took me forever to find my size in those.”
“If we look around these Azrael bodies long enough, we might find a matching shoe.” Jason joked pointing to mangled bodies nearby.
“Ha Ha. I’m not wearing some dead girl’s shoe.”
“Just saying. Okay, I see Mario.” Jason reported leading John safely across the mess of Azrael parts and twitching bodies.
Mario whistled towards the women trying to get their attention. They ignored him. One Azrael was already on its feet and it staggered as it gained its balance. The other three pulled themselves up using the food truck as a brace. With quick thinking, Mario replaced a silver bolt with a yellow one. He aimed and shot the Azrael on its feet. It struck him on its right shoulder and caused it to fall into the food truck. Five-hundred volts and fifty amps surged through the Azrael, the food truck and the others touching it. Mario knew it wouldn’t kill them but would provide the two women time to get over to him.
“HEY, OVER HERE!” He yelled and whistled again. He observed one of the Azrael notice him while still convulsing from the shock. He didn’t know how long it would keep the voltage moving. He finally got their attention. They paused, squinted and recognized that Mario was not an Azrael. They ran towards him in a maddened dash.
“DON’T TOUCH THE TRUCK.” Mario shouted while trying to fully enunciate in case they could only read his lips. They rushed past the truck investigating it and heard the sparking and popping of the Azrael cooking. The Azrael gazed at the women and their heads followed them as they hurried past. The smell of the cooking flesh was awful and one of them paused to puke.
“HURRY UP!” Mario hollered and replaced the empty spot in his crossbow with another red tipped bolt. The women finally made it to Mario and he pointed so they noticed the mangled mess of Azrael behind him and pointed at Jason and John who were passing through towards them. He paused, turned, aimed and released a bolt towards the four that were still seizing from the electric shock administered to them. It connected and exploded. The flame plume was twice as large as the other two explosions, probably igniting the fuel tank and the propane tanks that were used to cook on the food truck.
“My truck!” The blonde woman yelped as she fell to her knees and wept.
“It was her husbands. It was the only thing she had left of him. She doesn’t even have a picture of him.” The brunette woman sobbed while rubbing her fingers through her friend’s hair as she leaned on her leg weeping.
“I’m sorry. They would have followed us.” Mario explained and replaced the empty slot in his crossbow with a silver tip. “We should move, now. Wait. Where’s Savanna?” Mario scanned for her small frame.
“I’m here.” She spoke while waving at Mario on John’s right shoulder. He turned around so she could look at him.
“Oh, I didn’t know whose butt that was.” Mario added.
“It’s my ass.” John smirked and smacked it. Savanna tensed from the contact.
“Yes it is you Neanderthal.” She admitted and he grunted in response.
“So what happened?”
“Remember when my foot got caught in the grate?”
“Yes.”
“You shot that explosive arrow thing and boom.” Savanna gestured an explosion with her hands.
“Yes.”
“The pressure of the blast pushed me back and it broke my ankle since I couldn’t move with it.”
“Damn it. I’m sorry Savanna.”
“It’s fine. We’re all alive.” She cringed and rubbed at the bite wound.
“What happened there?” Mario pointed at the bleeding injury wrapped up.
“We’ll talk about that later. We’ve got incoming.” Jason insisted pointing at a medium sized herd of fifteen Azrael in the road coming right
for them. They were trapped in the alley. John turned to face the Azrael and Savanna looked towards the food truck still on John’s shoulder.
“Damn, that was one big explosion. Wait. There!” She called out.
“What is it?” John turned again and she was now facing the Azrael approaching from the road.
“Behind the truck, a hole in the wall, look.” She exclaimed while turning around and trying to point towards the building twisted up on his shoulder.
Jason reached in his backpack, removed a blinder grenade. He activated it and tossed it at the herd.
“Run! Savanna shut your eyes.” As he finished his sentence the grenade was igniting vibrant flashes blinding all of the Azrael approaching. Savanna closed her eyes moments before the explosion. She could see the change in light through her eyelids. The two women listened in time as well turning and running for the open wall.
The group made a break for the massive hole in the side of the building. Mario located a set of stairs and waved the group up. Jason led the group upward aiming his pistol tactically as he blew-through the stairs searching for Azrael on the way up.
Mario waited until everyone made it to and up the stairs before going up himself. No Azrael came. He had no way to block the stairs and knew the building was now unsecure but needed to get to a safe-ish location to treat Savanna’s injuries. They entered the first floor whose door wasn’t locked. The first two floors labeled B2 and B1 were locked from the inside. ‘L’ was the first floor that was unlocked. They entered the lobby cautiously. As they entered a soldier aimed down on them.
“WHOAH! We’re friendlies.” Jason shouted lowering his weapon and raised his hand peacefully.
“Armed? Are you looting?” A butt-ugly middle-aged woman in an expensive dress, adorned in lavish jewelry bellowed with disgust on her face. She clutched her luxurious purse close to her chest in fear of being robbed.
“Looting? Are you kidding me? We’re trying to clear out the streets of the infected.” Jason scowled at the woman.
“Doing a shitty job of it. Blew up the back of our building. Now this place is unsecure.” A soldier griped still pointing his pistol at them. “Seriously, why are you here?” He persisted.
Mario pushed through the group and emerged out of the front with an authoritative posture.
“We’ve eliminated a threat in your alley. Over a hundred Azrael are no longer a threat to anyone due to our actions out there. I would be thanking us, uh, Private.” Mario noticed the young soldier’s rank immediately. The man gulped hard. “Instead of keeping hostile intent towards obvious friendlies.” Mario continued berating the soldier.
“The people are scared. I was just…”
“Scared too. I get it. We are all scared, but we need to be smart. This young woman here needs medical attention. Is there a doctor in here?” Mario asked while attempting to take charge. An old man raised his hand.
“I’m a doctor. I’ll take a look at her.” He stated. He grabbed his bag and walked over to Savanna.
“Thank you sir. Also, we need to barricade this door with anything you have that’s big and heavy. They will come inside eventually and may try to get in here. Jason will supervise the barricade process so it’s done properly.” He gestured for Jason to begin the process of creating a sturdy barricade. Jason nodded and pointed out some of the large and strong looking occupants to assist him. “Is the rest of the building occupied?” Mario continued.
“Same as this one. One soldier per floor.” The soldier reported.
“Contact each floor and have them do the same thing. Eventually, we’ll get this under control. For now, we need to rethink our strategy while allowing Savanna to rest from her injuries.” Mario instructed.
“Roger that.” The soldier picked up a military grade handheld two-way radio that was on a nearby table. He relayed the message Mario gave him moments before in exact detail. He was good at taking orders.
The doctor inspected Savanna’s ankle.
“Yup, it’s broken. Need to splint the foot and the shin so it’s held in a natural position to avoid any further injuries.” He expertly wrapped her ankle with a flexible splint and a large bandage in under a minute. “What’s this?” The doctor pointed at her arm after inspecting her for any other injuries.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“You’re losing a lot of blood dear. Let me have a look at it.”
“I said it’s nothing.”
“Look, I can’t do my job if you won’t let me help you.” He paused a bit, inspected it a bit closer and looked into her eyes. “Were you bit?”
“Uh.”
“She’s bit! She’s a zombie. Shoot her!” The rude middle-aged woman cried out and pointed at Savanna.
“Yes, Bitch, I was bit. But I’m immune. I was bitten a few years ago.” Savanna roared pointing at her hip.
“That’s what they all say. Shoot her. She’ll kill us all.” A man yelled out obviously afraid to be bitten himself.
“Shoot her.” A few more cried out. The soldier reached for his weapon.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” John put his hand on the soldier’s hand, keeping him from drawing his pistol. The look on John’s face frightened the man more than the threat of Savanna turning into an Azrael. He froze.
“Let her explain.” The blonde woman from the food truck yelled out.
“She saved us from those things outside. She lured them away so we could get out.” The brunette added.
“Thank you. Well…” Savanna took in a deep breath. She knew eventually she would have to tell someone else. “I was pinned down at a Sports King sporting goods store. Know the place?” She asked trying to connect with the crowd.
“Baseball fields and boxing rings, you’ll find it at all at Sports King.” A man recited the slogan while following with the jingle through a whistle.
“Yes, that’s the place. Thank you, sir. It wasn’t much different than you guys in here. Me and a colleague were in the back office trapped with the Azrael outside. We both were armed and had plenty of ammunition to hold them off for a bit. He decided that it would be a great idea to leave to try to reach his family. It was eating him up for a while and he eventually just snapped after having multiple unsuccessful attempts at reaching them through the phone. When he opened the door two poured in and were on top of him in seconds. I shot them after they bit into him. I didn’t know at the time how those things were made. I just knew that they were dangerous. I shut the door after having to shoot them again killing them with headshots and locked the door. I watched as the virus worked quickly. I tried to stop the bleeding with a piece of his shirt I ripped off. I could feel his heartbeat beating faster and faster violently within his chest. Then it just stopped. He died. So, I thought anyway. I continued to hold his corpse.
I remembered having Thanksgiving at his house the year before. I was new to town. His wife cooked a big Thanksgiving feast every year. They had plenty of leftovers so he invited me. They were a nice couple. He had two well behaved boys.” She hesitated to think about her friend. “Then he woke up. Just like that. I didn’t notice at first until he started to fidget. Something didn’t seem right and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. His eyes, those eyes were gray and wild looking. He looked like the ones lying dead on the ground. I got scared. He bit into my side. Right here.” She lifted her shirt and pointed to a faint scar on her left hip. “I shot that son of a bitch in the head. I was scared. I thought that it was going to happen to me. I could feel my heartbeat quicken, but it was just from fear. I started to cry. But that was it. After a minute or two I just felt the pain of the bite. I didn’t get sick. I didn’t change. It just didn’t work on me. When the people came to save me I told them that I cut it on the edge of the table fighting the Azrael in the office. They didn’t question me because turning into the Azrael was instant. By that time they all knew that. Plus, I didn’t want to be experimented on and locked up in some lab. I’m sorry John I never told you.” She looke
d fixedly at John and there was a long pause.
“I’d have done the same shit.” He admitted, walked over and hugged her. Everyone else seemed at peace with her story.
“Did you tell Dr. Schwinn? Maybe he could have used your blood for some type of cure or something.” Jason asked.
“Eventually, after a year or so I brought it up to him. He said something about the mutation rate of the virus and how many strains there were. Maybe some small strains could have been cured from it. But of the hundred thousand versions and climbing, it would be a waste of resources to administer it to everyone in hopes to cure one or fewer per thousand.
“But you’re still immune. There have to be specific antibodies that you have that you can share.” Mario asked.
“Yes, I asked about that too. He said the antibodies I have that fight off the virus die when it exits my body. Something about my temperature, blood type, genetic make-up and other sciency terms he used kept it from being passed along. Hell, maybe one day that might fail me and I will get infected.” She wondered checking on the bleeding bite wound on her arm.
“It’s been about thirty minutes since she’s been bit. I think she’s fine.” Jason added.
“So, uh, could I get cleaned up please?” She asked. The old man had fallen asleep during most of the conversation.
“Oh, right. Let me just put these on. Just in case. Don’t want to cause any infections.” The doctor opened his eyes and responded appropriately as if he does it all the time. He searched for and retrieved gloves. Savanna knew that he was mostly worried about getting infected himself. She didn’t blame him. She’d do the same thing. What bothered her is that he lied about it. She hates men that lie. That’s why she loved John. He’s an open book.
The doctor removed the old bandage, cleaned and applied a new sterilized dressing on her bite wound. Mario and the others worked on a new plan. However, they needed a few days to recover and get a better grasp on the full scope of the outbreak.
