by Max Lockwood
“I’ve got it under control,” Thomas said. “You can go back to sleep.”
“I’m up now. You might as well rest up. We need everyone to be sharp today.”
Thomas looked around the forest. It had been rather quiet. Melissa wasn’t in great condition, but she wasn’t in horrible shape. Thomas knew that Will wouldn’t work for longer than absolutely necessary, so Elaina would be in control in an hour.
“Fine,” Thomas relented, settling down next to Melissa. “Wake Elaina up in an hour for her turn.”
“You got it,” Will said.
Thomas rested his head in his arms and closed his eyes, but he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t trust Will to behave himself. He nestled in closer to Melissa, her excessive body heat warming him. If Will laid a hand on Melissa, he would know.
But he couldn’t let Will know that he wasn’t going to sleep. Thomas kept his eyes closed tightly, like he used to do when his mother would check on him after bedtime as a child. Instead of watching, he listened, tracking Will’s movements in his head.
He heard Will unzip a bag and rummage through plastic bags until he pulled something out and zipped it shut again. Then, Thomas heard the sound of crinkling plastic.
Will got up and began to walk down the path before trekking deeper into the forest. When Thomas didn’t hear him return, he got up to investigate.
“Will,” Thomas hissed toward the trees where his footsteps disappeared. When there was no reply, Thomas grabbed a flashlight and a gun and made his way into the forest. He just had a sinking suspicion that Will was up to no good. First of all, everyone had agreed to keep a close eye on their camp. Secondly, there was no good reason to go into the forest alone. Will knew that.
Finally, Thomas heard footsteps again. He picked up his pace, following the sound, but he was careful not to get too close. He didn’t want to startle Will in case he was armed, but he needed to see what he was trying to pull.
In a small clearing, Will stopped and crouched down. He took two batteries from his pocket and swapped them with the oxidized batteries from the radio. He turned a knob to hear a faint static sound.
Thomas’s heart skipped a beat. He was catching Will in another lie, but even more importantly, he was witnessing Will try to communicate with the rest of the world. He didn’t know why Will was doing this in secret, but he hoped that if there was any decency left in the kid, he would use his discovery to help the whole group.
Will turned the knobs, trying to get a strong signal from the radio. Thomas could hear muffled voices, but nothing clear.
Then, as clear as day, Thomas heard someone talking to Will.
The radio distorted the voice so much that Thomas didn’t know if the person was male or female. But he distinctly heard the question, “Where are you?”
Will cupped a hand over his mouth and spoke back into the radio, trying to stay quiet enough as to not attract any attention. Thomas needed to get closer to hear what he was saying.
Thomas tripped over a tree root. The sound startled Will, who whipped his head toward Thomas.
“Who’s there?” Will whispered, fear in his voice.
“It’s Thomas,” he hissed, walking into the clearing. “What are you doing out here?”
“What are you doing?” Will asked, stuffing the radio into his back pocket.
“Trying to figure out why you abandoned your post. You’re lucky I was still awake when you got up. You could have been ambushed out here.”
“Look, I don’t need your help,” Will said. “Everyone is fine. There hasn’t been a sighting all night. I just needed a little time away from the group to work on this radio. I need to be able to make things right for the group.”
“For the group?”
“Yeah?”
“I saw you change the batteries. My guess is that the radio worked just fine before it got wet. Once Alec dried it out and you replaced the batteries, it started working again. Why couldn’t you have done this in plain sight?”
Will looked exhausted. His usually bright eyes were rimmed with red. He had patchy stubble covering his face. More often than not, his typically happy face was stony.
“Tell me who you were talking to.”
“I—I don’t know. I couldn’t get a very clear signal.”
“You know I have to tell the others about this.”
Will’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t have to. Let me tell them. It always sounds worse coming from your mouth.”
“And it never sounds accurate coming from yours,” Thomas fired back.
“Please,” Will said softly. “I’ll let you have a listen. Just don’t make me out to be the bad guy.”
Thomas knew the importance of delivering accurate information, but curiosity got the best of him. If there were people out there willing to communicate with them, he didn’t want to have to wait until morning to do so. He thought about Melissa and how she could use emergency medical attention. The radio could help them.
“Fine,” Thomas grumbled, squatting on the ground. “Let’s hear it.”
Will turned the dial when a horrible shriek rang out. Thomas and Will bolted upright, wildly looking around.
“I think that’s from camp,” Thomas said, stomping through the tall grass and weeds. “How do we get back?”
“I—I’m not sure,” Will said tremulously.
Unfortunately, the screams continued, giving the boys a good idea of where to go. Finally, they found the trail and ran as fast as they could, ready to thrust themselves into the unknown.
“I don’t hear anything,” Thomas said as they neared the camp.
“I don’t either,” Will panted.
The chill that ran through Thomas nearly froze him in his place. He didn’t want to hear screams, but the sudden lack of screams was almost more terrifying. Finally, they found their resting spot and skidded to a stop.
At the scene, they watched as Elaina swung a tree branch at a lone infected person’s head, knocking them down. She raised the stick above her head and pounded it into the fallen person’s skull three times for good measure.
Melissa was propped up against a tree further back into the forest, her long hair hanging over her face. At first glance, she looked dead, but Thomas could see her chest rising and falling, ever so slightly.
Derek was flat on his stomach, arms sprawled out. The back of his head was covered in blood and he had chunks of flesh missing from his legs. There was no doubt about it—Derek was dead.
Alec was bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. Upon hearing the other two return, he looked up. His eyes practically glowed with rage.
“Where were you?” he growled in a deep voice.
Thomas had never seen Alec like this before. He was typically so cool and collected. Now, he could see his face redden as the sun came up.
“Will was on duty,” Thomas said, his voice so low that he was barely audible. “I heard him leave camp before I had the chance to fall asleep. I followed him to see where he was going. I—I just had a bad feeling.”
Alec turned his attention toward Will, his expression unchanged. “Where were you?”
Will slumped down against a tree, his face as white as the lab coat on the ground that was now flecked with blood. His mouth hung open, but no words came out.
“No?” Alec asked, standing up straight. “No answer?”
Will was practically catatonic. He made no attempt to respond.
“Then let’s pack up and go,” Alec said simply. “It’s morning.”
Elaina picked up the white coat and shook the leaves off it. Then, she gently draped it over Derek’s body.
The five left the scene of the attack as if nothing had happened. Alec and Elaina led the way, navigating through the forest. Thomas and Melissa followed just behind them, Thomas supporting Melissa as they walked. Will trailed behind, unable to come to terms with the horror he had done nothing to prevent. They could not stop and weep for their lost travel companion. They had to move forward.
It went without saying that Derek’s death was not to be spoken of. Everyone ruminated about it in their own minds, but his name didn’t dare escape their lips. Thomas and Will were especially down about his death, since both felt responsible.
Will felt sick. Technically, he was supposed to be watching after the group. If he’d seen the infected sneak up upon them, things could have ended differently.
Alec was furious at him—he knew that for a fact. He wouldn’t so much as look at Will. Will didn’t know if he could ever come back from such a disappointment. Alec hadn’t even been told about the radio. It didn’t matter why he abandoned the group. It only mattered that he wasn’t there when he was supposed to be there.
Thomas also had an overwhelming amount of guilt riding on his shoulders. While he wasn’t technically supposed to be on the lookout, he was awake. Instead of choosing to keep a watchful eye over the others while they slept, he chose to follow Will. As much as he insisted that he was trying to make sure Will didn’t do something to harm the others, Thomas couldn’t shake the fact that it was his own curiosity that had caused him to go.
This was a secret that he tried to push down deep inside him until he forgot that he wanted proof that Will wasn’t as great as Alec and Elaina thought he was. His own selfish need for justice took him away from people who needed him. He could have taken over for Will and told the others about it in the morning, after everyone was safe and sound.
Not to mention, Melissa was in terrible shape. While Thomas and Will were away, her fever spiked. Her body temperature soared, but no one was there to give her medicine or cool her off. It was nothing short of a miracle that she’d survived the attack—the infection had rendered her so weak that she could hardly run away. When the infected came, she managed to scoot herself into a pile of leaves and blend in with her surroundings. At first, she couldn’t stop screaming. Eventually, she became too weak to get any sounds out. While she was perfectly still, the infected gravitated toward Derek, who was wildly swinging a knife.
Unfortunately, the stress of the battle took its toll on her already fragile health. At one point during their hike, Thomas carried Melissa on his back when she was too weak to walk.
As vocal as Melissa had been in the past, she kept her discomfort to herself for the most part. She rarely complained as her body suffered aches and pains. She tried to hide her tears as she realized that help was not coming any time soon. She tried to walk when her legs felt like rubber and threatened to collapse under her.
The further they walked down the trail, the narrower it became. Eventually, they were walking on what appeared to be horse tracks. Signs of habitation popped up every half mile or so, giving the group pause. If people lived in these remote areas, it was possible that there were healthy citizens left who could take them in. It also meant that there could be more infected who hadn’t strayed far from home.
After discovering fallen signposts and empty bottles on the ground, the five discovered a dilapidated stable in a clearing. White paint chips covered the ground like a light snow and the faint smell of manure wafted in the air.
When Elaina spotted it, she stopped dead in her tracks.
“Oh, thank God,” Thomas sighed, gently setting Melissa down from his back. “Do you think anyone around here has antibiotics? There have got to be houses around here, right? Abandoned houses? Someone’s got to have unused medication. A stable might have horse antibiotics. At this rate, that’s better than nothing.”
Elaina jabbed a finger toward the front window. “Did anyone else see that? There’s movement. Someone is in there.”
Alec looked around nervously. It hadn’t been long since their last encounter with the infected and he was still a little on edge.
“What are the chances that the people inside are infected?” he asked.
Elaina thought for a moment. “Well, based on past experience, I’d say there’s an eighty percent chance that whoever is in there is dangerous.”
“Melissa can’t go in there,” Thomas said, his voice strained. “I’ll go in if you guys stay with her. I just want to check for medicine.”
Alec pitied him. He seemed so upset about Melissa’s condition, but he knew the boy couldn’t go in alone.
“You and Elaina can stay with her,” Alec said, pulling his gun from his pocket. “Will, you’re coming with me.”
“Me?” Will gulped.
Alec nodded, pulling the confiscated handgun from his bag. “It’s time to redeem yourself.”
Will knew exactly what he meant and couldn’t argue. As much as he didn’t want to be on the front lines, he would have to obey every order to regain even a sliver of Alec’s trust.
“Lainey,” Alec said, “get your gun ready. Be ready to defend yourself.”
She nodded, pulling Derek’s old gun from her bag.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” Will squeaked out as they walked toward the stable.
They slowly crept through an open door, careful not to startle whoever was inside before they knew of their condition. Then, Alec saw a woman walking briskly toward a sofa.
On the couch, a teenage girl was muttering and convulsing. She was covered in red bite marks and her skin was grey. The woman, who appeared to be her mother, placed cold compresses on her forehead, just as Thomas had done with Melissa.
“She’s infected,” Will whispered so the pair at the back of the stables wouldn’t be notified of their intrusion.
“Should we get Elaina’s serum?” Alec asked. “This could be our first cure—besides Elaina, of course.”
“There wasn’t much left,” Will said anxiously. “If we give it out to strangers, then there won’t be any left for us if we need it.”
“What else can we do? It doesn’t look like the girl is in really bad shape. Otherwise, she’d be attacking her healthy mom. I think we need to offer the serum to her. Elaina would want that.”
Alec walked forward, his gun in his back pocket and his hands raised. “Excuse me,” he said, approaching the woman. “I don’t mean to intrude, but we have medicine that can help that girl,” he said.
“We don’t need your help,” the woman said, glaring at Alec as she tended to her daughter.
“You don’t understand. We have a cure for the infection.”
The woman turned her entire body toward Alec, revealing a matching set of inflamed bite marks. “Get out,” she shouted. Behind the rage on her face, Alec could see her eyes pleading with him.
“But—“ Alec said, shocked by the woman’s own injuries.
She lunged at Alec, rousing her daughter from her fevered state. The young teen jumped from her prone position and came toward Alec.
The second she laid a hand on Alec, Will fired two clean shots, hitting each woman in the head. They crumpled to the ground, blood seeping out onto the dirt floor.
Alec wiped his hand on his pants, avoiding looking at the people Will had just killed.
“I—I had to,” Will sputtered.
“No, I know you did. Thanks for having my back,” Alec replied.
“Do you really think we could have saved them?” Will asked, feeling guilty. He had hounded Melissa for days about shooting Natalia when there was a potential cure miles away. Now, the cure was sitting twenty feet from the stable and he’d shot two women who weren’t even in advanced stages of the illness.
“Sometimes, you just have to do whatever it takes to survive,” Alec said, draping a wool blanket over the two. “It’s something that I struggled with a lot at first. Hell, I still struggle with it now. But there are people who need me and depend on me to get home safely. I don’t know if it justifies all the killing, but we’re just doing our best out here. Do you understand that?”
Will gave a noncommittal shrug. “What happens when you can’t even save the people who depend on you?”
Alec scratched his head. His short hair had grown longer than he had ever had it while working on the forc
e. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw his reflection, but he assumed he no longer looked like a cop.
“I think we could all stand to do a little better,” Alec replied. “We face death every single day. I often wonder if I’d have any regrets. You know—if I got bitten by an infected person one of these times.”
Will was silent. He didn’t want to think about that. “Should we get the others?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Sure,” Alec said, a little disappointed that he wasn’t getting anywhere with Will’s bad attitude. Alec was never one to talk about his feelings. It was no wonder he couldn’t get through to Will. “Let’s check out the rest of this place first. You take the west side and I’ll check the east.”
Once Will left to search the rest of the stable, Alec turned around to watch him. He wanted to trust his young friend, but between Thomas’s stories and the things he had witnessed firsthand, he didn’t know if that would be possible. Everyone was getting antsy and anxious to get to a safe place. Alec’s biggest concern at the moment was getting his people out of the warzone in one piece.
Chapter Nine
“It’s all clear,” Alec said, poking his head out of the stable door. “Come in.”
Elaina ran forward, and Thomas and Melissa followed behind. Melissa could hardly keep her eyes open.
“We need to do something for her,” Elaina whispered to Alec. “She’s been mumbling all sorts of weird things. I wonder if she’s having hallucinations from the infection.”
Alec frowned. “There’s a little office in the back. You can put her on that couch. We might not want to use the old couch in the front, though.”
“I’m not even going to ask,” Elaina said. “Have you had the chance to look for medicine?”
He shook his head. “We haven’t gotten that far yet. We just secured the area.”
“I heard gunshots.”
“You did. We’ll get rid of the infected once we get Melissa settled.”
Elaina grabbed one of Melissa’s shoulders and brought her inside. Alec led them to the back office and helped them gently lower her onto the cushions. He could feel the heat radiating from her through her clothing. Derek did say that she wouldn’t make it more than a few days without medical attention. According to his timeline, she wouldn’t be around much longer.
