by Max Lockwood
“I was wondering the same thing,” Will said softly.
Thomas pulled his gun from his pocket and turned the safety switch off. He got out of the truck after Will and went to investigate.
“Stay here and look after the others,” Thomas said. “I’ll take care of the other car.”
Will watched as Thomas jogged over to the other vehicle, which had come to a stop at the intersection where they collided. Before checking on the others in the front seat, Will took a closer look at Melissa.
She was unconscious but still breathing normally. She had a few visible cuts and bruises on her, but Will didn’t see any significant damage. Will had no doubt that she would likely come to in minutes with a pounding headache and maybe a little nausea.
But he was the only one who knew that.
If Will wanted her gone badly enough, there would be no witnesses to his crime. He could finally seek justice for Natalia, and the group would be better off for it. She would feel no pain as she ceased to live. When Thomas returned, Will would say that there was nothing he could do—she was too far gone. It would all be too easy.
When he thought about the act, though, it sent a dreadful feeling through his veins. He couldn’t be responsible for another’s death—not directly. If he killed Melissa, then what would separate him from the monsters they ran from?
He couldn’t be around her anymore. He slid out of the truck and shut the back door, focusing his attention on the injured three in the front of the truck.
Across the street, Thomas was nervous about approaching an unknown vehicle, but he felt like he had been trained for the job. After all, his post-virus job at home was to either arrest or kill any out of town visitors. This was just another day on patrol.
When he got near the truck, a girl hopped out from the front seat and pulled her gun on Thomas. He immediately raised his arms in the air in response.
“Hey, take it easy! I’m not infected and I don’t want to hurt you.”
“The infected aren’t the only ones who are dangerous,” the girl said. She pushed a long, black strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he repeated. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Thomas heard a muffled noise coming from the truck. He took a step closer to get a better look.
“Is there someone else with you?” he asked.
“No,” she said, her silky straight hair waving back and forth as she shook her head. “That’s just the radio.”
Thomas got a better listen. It sounded like someone was calling a name—Bethany.
“Are you Bethany?” he guessed.
“That’s right. And you are?”
“Thomas. What kind of a radio is that?”
She reached in and pulled a little black box from the front seat.
“Bethany, are you okay?” the muffled voice said. “Are you there? Get back to me.”
“Who’s that?” he asked.
“No one. I need you to tell me who you are and who else is in that car,” she ordered, raising the gun again.
“I told you, my name is Thomas. There are five others with me. We’re from Washington and we’re trying to get past the border.”
“Good luck,” she scoffed. “Have you had any contact with the infected?”
“Who hasn’t to some degree? No one’s been bitten, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Good,” she said. “How can I know if you’re trustworthy?”
“Huh?” he asked.
“You don’t have to be infected to have ulterior motives.”
Thomas shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know how I can prove my trustworthiness to a complete stranger. I guess I can tell you that I rescued some of those guys from a vigilante group trying to execute them.”
This answer seemed good enough. Bethany lowered her weapon, much to Thomas’s relief.
“Where are you heading?” he asked.
“Anywhere. I don’t even know anymore.”
“We’re trying to get to Oklahoma. Once we get into Wyoming or Colorado, I’ll feel a lot better. Too many infected people around here, I’d guess.”
She cackled. “Colorado is gone. The rich people in their mountain homes might be okay, but everyone else is toast. I heard that the government is going to keep moving their border back until they see some results.”
“What? I thought anything south or east was relatively safe.”
“Just heard it on the radio.”
“Seriously? We’ve been flipping through the channels for hours. We finally turned the damn thing off because it was nothing but static. Everyone has gone off the air.”
“The commercial stations, sure,” she replied as if he had said something stupid. “You need to be listening to the emergency stations or the private ones. I don’t know if you can pick up those signals in your vehicle.”
“And your little radio told you that?”
“Sure did. I do a lot of channel searching too. Helps me pass the time.”
“Is that what you were doing when you crashed into our truck? Where did you come from? No one saw a thing.”
Bethany blinked quickly. “I blew a tire. Do you think I’m happy about ruining this truck? Also, I don’t use my lights when I don’t need to. Lights attract people. People do terrible things in a crisis.”
“I don’t know. If you’d had your lights on, we might have dodged you,” Thomas said. He walked closer to examine her tire. He wasn’t sure if he believed Bethany. There was something different about her, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“That thing didn’t blow. It absolutely exploded!” Thomas exclaimed, looking at the shredded tire. He had only seen a tire like that after shooting one from the roof. “Did you get shot?”
She shrugged. “What does it matter? My car is ruined and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
She looked down at the ground. Something didn’t seem right about her story, but Thomas was interrupted before he could ask for clarification.
“Do you think I can ride with you?” she asked.
Thomas looked back at the truck. He wasn’t even sure if everyone was okay. The last he knew, four out of six people had head injuries of some sort. He wouldn’t allow himself to even consider that anyone could succumb to their injuries. When he retuned to the truck, he fully expected to see the vehicle running and everyone sitting up straight. He was terrified to think of any other reality.
“I–I don’t know,” he said, imagining everyone’s reaction to squeezing one more person in the truck. “There are already six of us. We might have some injuries too. I’d have to check.”
“Okay,” she said brightly, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “Let me know if you can manage it. If not, it’s whatever.”
For being alone in a serious situation, she didn’t seem very concerned. Thomas figured that he must have been spending too much time with dramatic people. Maybe this was how relaxed people behaved in times of stress.
“Okay,” Thomas said, feeling nervous for some reason. He looked back at the truck. He really wanted to make sure his travel companions were alive. “Stay right here. I’ll be right back.”
“I won’t be going anywhere,” she said, kicking the ruined wheel.
Thomas ran back to the truck and immediately found Will. He had his fingers on Derek’s neck.
“How is everyone?” Thomas asked.
“Still unconscious. It’s only been a few minutes. When I accidentally hit Alec over the head, he was out for a good while longer.”
The truck was a complete mess and Thomas didn’t know if they could get it back up and running again. He had a little experience working with cars, but not enough to do any serious repairs. If they needed new parts, they would be screwed.
He wondered if there was any chance Bethany knew how to fix cars. Also, there was someone in contact with her through the radio. If someone was looking out for her, maybe they could send help.
“
Hey, what did you find out about that other car?” Will asked, concern etched on his face.
“Oh, it was just some girl,” Thomas replied, not exactly sure how to describe the woman or the strange vibe she gave off.
“Is she alive? That was a head-on collision for her.”
“Oh, yeah, she’s fine. She wanted to know if she could ride with us since her truck is pretty messed up.”
Will scoffed. “I think we have bigger concerns on our plate. If we can trust her, you should tell her to come over here and help us out. We need to sort out this mess soon, or we’re going to attract the infected.”
“Right,” Thomas said. He turned toward Bethany’s truck and jogged back to speak with her. He hoped the girl would be willing to help. He wasn’t great at ordering people around and she seemed like she would be hard to give directions to.
When he got to the truck, she wasn’t standing where he’d asked her to stay. His stomach dropped. She was in no position to go anywhere. If she wanted a ride, she had no reason to leave.
Thomas searched around the truck, hoping that she had decided to collect her belongings. But when he looked inside, the usual cache of stolen food and drinks was littered amongst the seats.
“Bethany,” he called, hoping that he hadn’t overlooked her in a moment of panic. She didn’t respond.
This was a bad sign. Either she had run off, or something had taken her. If the infected were in the area, it would be difficult to make a quick escape.
But she had a gun. If someone tried to grab her, she would certainly fire her weapon, and Thomas would have known.
Still, the girl was nowhere to be seen. Her disappearance sent a chill down his spine, but there wasn’t time to solve the mystery. His own group needed him.
He walked back to his truck, looking behind the whole way. As quickly as she’d appeared, Bethany had vanished without a trace.
Chapter Three
Back at the truck, Elaina was beginning to stir but still seemed out of it. The others remained completely unconscious. This made Will extremely nervous. If Elaina’s brain was damaged in any way, he feared that she might not have the intellectual capabilities she once had. She always said that her notes were detailed enough to guide any scientist worth their salt in the right direction, but Will wasn’t so sure about that. Besides, how were they going to find a good enough scientist without her?
Will found the small first aid kit that they constructed at the hospital and dug through it until he found what he needed. He had gotten so used to seeing horrific injuries and assisting with patching people back together that he was starting to feel like a medical professional.
He started in the front seat, hoping that by the time he finished making his rounds and began to attend to Melissa, she would be too injured to continue on with them.
Several of the truck’s windows were broken, which sent shattered glass throughout the cabin. This resulted in tiny cuts and scrapes all over everyone. Because they sat in the backseat and were on the opposite side of the collision, Will and Thomas had the least of the lacerations. Derek and Melissa probably had it the worst, as they were hit more directly.
Will made sure that there were no bits of glass sticking out of Alec’s arm before he gave it a quick spray of disinfectant and wrapped it tightly in gauze. He wound the cotton until the blood stopped leaking through, then sealed the bandage with a layer of tape. Once he was satisfied, he moved on to Elaina.
Elaina’s eyelids flickered when Will touched her face, which he reasoned was a good sign. He dabbed an alcohol-soaked cotton ball onto a scrape on her cheek, which caused her to moan with discomfort.
“Hey, Elaina,” he said softly, checking the rest of her upper body for injuries. “Wake up.”
She groaned something unintelligible and opened one eye before shutting it immediately.
“Stick with me, okay?” Will asked, moving on to Derek.
Derek had a large piece of metal sticking out of his shoulder that made Will’s knees feel weak when he looked at it. Thomas hadn’t gotten back yet, and Will knew he needed to take care of it soon or risk having another group member bleed out in front of them.
With his eyes half closed, Will yanked the scrap out and tossed it on the ground. Quickly, he stuck a handful of gauze to the puncture wound and wrapped a length of elastic bandages around him from one shoulder to the other. By the time Will was done, Derek looked like he had begun to be mummified due to the number of bandages on him.
After that, Will hunched over and placed his hands on his knees, trying to focus on taking smooth, even breaths. Apparently, he wasn’t as desensitized to dealing with nasty injuries as he thought.
Before Will could even think about tending to the enemy in the back seat, Thomas returned with a dazed look on his face.
“What’s up?” Will asked, the nausea fading.
He shook his head. “She’s gone.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I say,” Thomas said, feeling frustrated. “I went back there to talk to her and she was nowhere to be found. I don’t understand it.”
“Whatever,” Will said dismissively. “We don’t have time to play hide and seek. I’m trying to fix up all of these people and it’s hard to do on my own.”
“Just tell me what to do,” Thomas said.
“I’ve patched up those three as best as I could,” he said, pointing to the front seat. “They could have more injuries that I haven’t seen yet. It’s hard to tell when they’re squished in there together.”
“What about Melissa?” Thomas asked.
“I haven’t gotten that far yet,” Will said, his voice low. “I was meaning to talk to you about her. I think she’s a danger to the rest of us.”
“Melissa?” Thomas asked incredulously. “I know you aren’t happy with her, but I really don’t think she’s a danger. She’s offering us a safe place.”
“She’s trigger-happy,” Will retorted. “She gets spooked easily and doesn’t think before she shoots. She’s moody and impulsive. She’s not a team player and doesn’t trust us. I don’t trust her.”
“What are you saying?”
Will leaned a little closer to Thomas. “I’m saying that she’s out cold right now. She’s probably pretty injured and will be dead weight to us. I say that we just pull her out of the truck, prop her against the gas station over there, and let fate decide what happens to her.”
Thomas stood with his mouth agape. “Are you kidding me? She’s done nothing to deserve that. You’re basically sentencing her to death.”
Will shrugged. “I’m sure someone else might find her to be an asset to their team. I think she’s doing us more harm than good.”
Elaina mumbled something from inside the truck, but neither of the boys paid attention. They were sizing each other up, ready to fight if they couldn’t come to an agreement.
“Once the others wake up, they’re going to side with me,” Thomas said.
“Maybe I should just act on my own before they do,” he said, walking over to Melissa’s door.
“Hey,” Thomas shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” he replied flatly.
“Get away from her!”
“Why are you defending her? What has she even done for you?”
Thomas threw up his hands in disgust. “I can’t believe what you’re suggesting we do. How would you feel if I left Elaina out here because I thought she might spread the virus to me?”
“That’s completely different. She’s working on the cure. This one is doing nothing but killing people who could have easily been saved.”
Will opened the door and reached for Melissa’s arm. Thomas jumped in and shoved Will before he could touch her.
“Don’t touch her. I’m warning you. You’re not going to win this fight.”
Will’s face had turned bright red with anger. All of the fury he felt toward Melissa and the situation she’d put him in threatened to explode inside him.
Thomas didn’t have a problem with Melissa. In fact, he kind of liked her. She was strongly opinionated and fueled by fear, but who wouldn’t be if they were running from infected people? She had a clear goal and wanted to survive. Thomas didn’t see anything wrong with that.
Will threw a punch that Thomas managed to duck. Then, Will threw another one that made contact with his gut. Thomas reeled but surged forward, pulling Will into a headlock. Will struggled to escape, but he was no match for Thomas, who was a bit larger than him.
“Let me go,” Will choked out.
“You have to calm down, man,” Thomas said. “If you lay a hand on Melissa or do anything to harm her, I will hurt you. Have you ever thought about the fact that you might be the danger to this group?”
Will’s face was starting to turn purple and his eyes bulged slightly from his head.
“What’s going on?” Alec croaked from the front seat.
Thomas released Will and froze. He didn’t want the others to know that they had been fighting. Will dropped onto his hands and knees to regain his breath.
“What happened?” Alec asked again. He sounded miserable and a little agitated.
Will scrambled to his feet and rushed to Alec’s side. “We were in a car accident. This truck came out of nowhere and rammed into us.”
“Elaina,” he mumbled, “are you okay?”
“I think so,” she groaned. “I feel like garbage.”
“Me too,” Alec replied. “My head is killing me.”
“I think we have plenty of painkillers if you want some,” Will replied, reaching for the bag. He poured a couple of pills out and gave one to Alec and one to Elaina.
“Is Derek—“ Alec started.
“Knocked out,” Thomas finished. “So is Melissa.”
Alec sighed. “I think I packed some smelling salts in the kit. Take the little glass vial and waft it under their noses. It should revive them.”
“Oh,” Will said. “I didn’t know that was what those were.”
