by A J Donovan
“I was hoping you could tell me,” he says. He seems happy but he’s slow to show it. He’s worried I might take a bad turn soon.
“I meant after you came inside, not... Not what happened to me.”
“Does it matter? We can trust them. How do you feel? Do you remember anything after you were bitten?”
“No.” I look down at my shoulder. Under the shirt I’m wearing I can feel a thick bandage covering it. Who knows how long I have left. I do feel fine, though, but maybe that’s how it happens. Pain, then nothing, then suddenly I’m chewing on Matt’s intestines.
“You should have left me behind.”
“What? That’s ridiculous! Why would you even say that?”
“Matt, listen. We both know the bites are how the infection spreads. I’m infected. Sooner or later I’ll turn and I’ll try to hurt you. I don’t want to do that. I’m sure Jeremy didn’t either, but he didn’t have a choice and neither will I. I need to leave.”
I move towards the door but Matt steps in front of me.
“You’re blocking me,” I say.
“That’s the point.”
I glare at him and try to shove past but it’s like trying to shove a wall. He doesn’t move an inch. “Matt.”
“I’m not letting you leave here. You don’t know that you’re going to turn.”
“Of course I do,” I snap. “We know how this virus works.”
“No, we don’t,” he says. “Yesterday we didn’t know how it spreads. The day before we didn’t know it existed. You might not turn. You could be immune.”
I sigh. “Matt, if that is even possible - and we don’t know if it is - then the chances of it happening must be slim. Otherwise, there would be lots of immune people walking around, completely healthy.”
“I’m willing to take the risk.”
“Well, I’m not!”
I try to rush past him again but this time he steps back so that he is standing in the doorway.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Matt, please, this isn’t fair. You can’t keep me here against my will.”
His resolve weakens for a moment. “If you go outside, you’ll die.”
I can see how genuinely concerned he is for my well being and it warms my heart. “Matt-”
“Hello?”
Instinct pushes me to grab a vase off of the kitchen table and raise it as a weapon.
“Kim, it’s fine. It’s them.”
A little girl in pigtails walks in.
“You’re awake!”
I blink. “Hi.” Matt puts his hand on my arm, and suddenly I remember that I’m holding an ornament over my head like a club. I lower it quickly and smile at the girl.
She giggles. “You’re funny. Scott’s funny too. You should be funny together.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Really?” I have no idea who Scott is but I know how much it will annoy Matt, so I smile at the girl. “Can I meet him?”
Matt frowns at me and I know he’s only holding his tongue because of the child in the room.
The girl nods and grins impishly. “Come on.”
I let her take my hand and lead me from the room. Matt wastes no time in following us.
“My name’s Cara.”
“I’m Kim.”
“I know. Your boyfriend told us.”
“Who else is here, besides you and Scott?”
Cara’s bright smile falters, and I instantly regret asking.
“No one. Mommy and Daddy are on their way back, we got separated at the supermarket. Scott says they’re just taking their time, playing it safe.”
The way she says “playing it safe” sounds like she’s reciting something he said. I feel sympathy for this Scott person, lying to her to protect her from the truth.
Cara drops my hand and shoves open the door, running into the kitchen. A teenage boy, I’d guess around sixteen, is leaning against a black marble countertop, trying to wrap bandages around his bleeding arm.
I stop walking as soon as I see the blood.
“How did you cut your arm?”
Scott looks up. “You must be the damsel in distress.” His eyes run over me once, but not in a creepy way. I feel like I’m being assessed. When he meets my eyes again I’m surprised at how old they look. He’s seen things no teenager should ever have to see.
I ignore the compassionate part of my brain. In this new world, people have to be strong to survive horrors. He’s strong, he’s a survivor. He’s not a child anymore.
“Answer the question,” I say.
Scott laughs. It’s bitter and cold and Cara looks up at him with concern. “So you’ve figured it out, huh? How the infection passes on? I didn’t get bit, if that’s what you’re asking. Cara, how did I hurt my arm?”
His little sister frowns up at him, confusion creasing her brow adorably. “You caught it on the barbed wire when you moved it so I could get through. Why?”
Scott looks down at her and smiles warmly. “Just letting you help me with the story, Cara.”
The girl brightens instantly. “Oh! That’s good. I’m great at telling stories.”
Scott laughs, a real laugh this time. “You sure are. Why don’t you go tell Matt about the time you helped that rabbit who broke his leg?”
“Okay!” She rushes off with Matt in tow. I smile at the girl, I can’t help it.
“What?” Scott asks.
“Nothing. I was just thinking that you remind me of how I used to be with my brother.”
“Oh.” He doesn’t ask any follow up questions. I guess he’s afraid to say anything in case my brother is gone, like so many other people after the outbreak.
I start to tell him that my brother is fine and he doesn’t need to avoid the subject when I realise that I can’t say that. I don’t know if it’s true.
“Need some help?” I say quickly, pointing at his fumbling attempts to tie the bandage with one hand.
“Uh, sure. Thanks,” he adds, when I move closer and take it from him.
I pull away the wrapping to see the gash. It’s pretty deep, probably should be disinfected first. Just in case.
“Sorry about your brother,” he says quietly.
“He’s not dead. Well, I hope he’s not dead. I just don’t know where he is or if he’s okay.” Emotion clogs my throat and I clear it quickly. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’s with his friends and they were in a big house when it happened. Not too many neighbours. I’m sure they’re fine.”
Scott nods. “I’m sure he’s fine, too.”
I smile. “Thanks. His name’s Jake. He hates school, spends far too much time in places he shouldn’t be, and spends the rest of his time annoying me into oblivion. So, a typical teenager, I suppose.” I grin. “No offence.”
“None taken. It sounds like you two are close.”
“Do you have a first aid kit? Yeah, we are. Our parents aren’t really in the picture anymore, so it’s been just the two of us for a while.” I decide not to bother going into detail about my parents.
Scott reaches into a drawer, and hands me a first aid box. “And Matt? What does Jake think of him? I can’t imagine he’s too fond of the guy his sister’s dating.” Scott’s eyes flit to the door Cara just left through.
“This is going to hurt.” I disinfect the cut and put a few temporary sticker stitches on, to help the healing. “Jake didn’t like him at all for the first few months. I don’t think he would have liked whoever I was dating, but Matt wore him down eventually. They’re friends now.”
Speaking about him in the present tense helps calm the anxiety rushing through me. When I’m finished, Scott starts telling me a story about Cara, and then we go back into the kitchen to see if she’s finished telling her story to Matt.
It worries me how much I like them already.
* * *
We stay in their apartment for a few hours. Matt is happy to stay safe for a while before we move on and Scott doesn’t want to shatter Cara’s world by telling he
r that it’s time to leave. I would love to get out of here but at least there’s a bathroom here, I can keep checking my reflection for signs of the infection or death. I also found a box of sewing supplies and used a lighter to sterilise a sewing needle. Every so often, I prick my finger with the needle to measure my pain response. Jeremy didn’t feel pain.
So far, I’m not showing any symptoms.
“If we don’t leave soon, we won’t have much daylight left,” I say softly to Matt.
Cara is showing Scott a drawing she made. Matt sits down next to them and after a moment I call for her.
“Will you show me your drawing, Cara?”
She eagerly hurries across the room with the drawing in her hand. Matt leans over to Scott and whispers into his ear as soon as she stops paying attention.
A few minutes later, Scott sighs and stands. “Cara, I need to talk to you.”
She hops up and follows him, completely oblivious to the look of raw pain and regret I saw in Scott’s eyes.
The room is silent.
“Do you know what he’s telling her?” I ask. “Is he telling the truth or...” I trail off. I have no idea what other options he has, unless he wants to lie to her.
“I don’t know. All I know is that we’ll be able to leave soon. Scott agrees with us about running out of daylight.”
I nod.
“We never discussed it, but you do want to travel with them, right? You’re not worried after what happened with Jeremy?”
“No, I’m not. They’re not infected, not yet anyway. And they won’t survive on their own. They need us. The only thing I am worried about is the fact that I’m still alive.”
Matt sighs. “Can’t we just accept it as a miracle or something?”
“You know I’m not stupid enough to pretend like nothing happened, especially when it could mean the difference between you and those two kids surviving this or all of us dying.”
Matt leans towards me and takes my hand between his. “You can survive this too, Kim. You don’t have to choose.”
I don’t say anything.
“Kim, say it. Tell me you can survive. Tell me you know you’re going to live.”
Anger flares up in my chest. “No, Matt, I won’t. I’m not going to lie to make things better, because none of it will be real!” The anger picks up quickly, blowing into life like a flame.
“Don’t talk like that!” Matt yells.
I get to my feet, and so does he. Anger is filling my mind now, blocking out any rational thought. I don’t usually get so angry so fast but something is different today and within moments I’m furious.
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
I throw my arms wide and a gust of air picks him up and throws him across the room and against the wall. He hits it hard and drops to the ground.
I stare at him for a moment, too shocked to understand what I’m seeing.
“Matt!” I scream and run to him. I drop to my knees and grab his arm. A low groan comes from him but he doesn’t get up.
I try to roll him over so I can see his face but panic is flooding my mind and another gust of wind throws him over my head like a ragdoll. A sob rips itself out of my chest. “Matt,” I say, begging for him to be okay. My anger has been replaced by fear and it thrashes and twists violently, far stronger than the anger was. I’m sobbing openly now and something moves in the centre of the room.
I don’t know what it is but I have to protect Matt from it. Fear spikes and I throw myself over Matt in a pathetic attempt to protect him from whatever is coming for us.
There’s something forming in the middle of the room. I can’t see it but I can feel something being created. The air currents start to move and turn, spinning faster and faster, and I start screaming as the whistling wind becomes deafening. I scream like I’ve never screamed before and then there’s a fully formed tornado tearing through the room in front of me.
Somehow, beyond the fear and the pain and doubt, I know what this tornado is.
It’s mine.
Matt shifts beneath me but he still doesn’t get up. He’s not safe. If this tornado gets worse or doesn’t stop, he could be hurt. He could die. I can’t lose him.
I look back at the spinning wind that has started to rip through the floor and the ceiling. All the small items in the room have been dragged into it already. I can feel its strength growing. It could destroy the entire building.
I use Matt as the anchor in my mind when I reach out to it. It’s angry and afraid and lashes out at me every time my mind connects to it. I force myself to ignore the pain and latch on. I can stop this. I have to stop this.
I cry out through gritted teeth and push my mind to its limits. The tornado slowly starts to get weaker. The spinning air slows and stops and lamps and books and coffee tables all drop to the floor.
More tears spill down my face, but these are happy ones. I can’t believe it. I stopped it. Matt is safe.
Exhaustion hits me like a train and I pass out on top of him.
***
Chapter 7 - Rafael
Jake
I’m standing in the kitchen with Diana when we hear tires on the gravel outside. I tense, straining to hear a familiar voice. I’m not letting any of us walk outside until I know it’s Reggie. It’s probably the end of the world, so I’m not worried about avoiding door to door salesmen, but anyone could be outside and I’m not letting any thieves, or worse, hurt my friends.
“Front door’s that way, Duke! Where are you going?” Reggie calls out.
I nod to Diana, and she smiles. I hear footsteps on the stairs, and turn as Leo comes into the kitchen. “Your dad’s outside. He’s with people. A lot of people, from what I can hear.”
Leo looks confused. “Why didn’t you just look out the window? I know you think the driveway is unnecessarily big but I’m sure you’ll be able to see them.”
“Windows are places people get shot, Leo. Movies are all the experience I’ve got, and I’m going to use them.”
“Reggie will probably want to come in and get stuff,” Diana says. “But we’re done, yeah? Everyone has their bags and weapons?”
We nod. Diana picked out her favourites from the guns and put them into her bag. Leo has a butcher knife and his laptop, along with laptop batteries he took from every other compatible computer in the house. It wasn’t hard to find the right batteries, this house has more electronics than my whole neighbourhood combined. I spent some time getting the rest of the ice out of my hair and took a compact handgun and a few knives.
We locked all the doors but Leo hurries over to open the front door for his father.
“Leo!” Reggie booms, his powerful voice filling the hall. He crushes his son in a hug, and Leo makes pained noises. Diana says a quick ‘hi’ and then darts past him to find her aunt and brother.
Reggie turns to me. “Jake, my boy!” He pats my shoulder and I grin at him.
“Took your time, Reggie.”
Reggie laughs at me and a man steps up beside him. He’s tall and muscular and covered in blood. He is staring directly at me. I frown but say nothing while he looks at me. I want to speak but something about him feels... strange. The feeling comes from the same place in my mind that lit up when I turned the zombie to ice.
As soon as I recognise its source, I realise that what I’m sensing from this man is the same strange power I possess. There are others.
“Something’s wrong with this one, Reggie,” he says, still looking at me.
Reggie looks startled, and I shake my head at Leo before he can start yelling at the guy. Leo is clearly angry at the nerve of this stranger but he nods at me.
If I’m right, the man knows I’ve been bitten. But I know he’s been bitten too. I should wait and see how much he knows before I reveal anything.
He steps forward. “You bit?”
I mimic his movement so our faces are only a few inches away. “What’s it to you?”
He smirks, a subtle thing that flickers across
his face and disappears again before I’m even sure I saw it. His eyes are unbothered, even though he has clearly just been through hell. I wonder what he’s been through in his life that made him so numb to this much violence.
“I’m Rafael. I got bit, two and a half days ago, and now I can tell when other people are bit. That’s why Reggie keeps me so close. If anyone tries to pretend they’re fine, I don’t have to wait around until they turn. I can tell straight away. And you know what? I see you, and I know. You been bit.”
My eyes widen. “You were infected two days ago?”
Rafael laughs. “Yeah, because a bunch of idiots in police uniforms decided to put a biter in a cell with me.” Dark humour flits across his face. “They regretted that.”
Most people would probably take this as a cue to back down from the scary infected guy. I’m not most people. I need answers. “I got bit two days ago. I was out for a while, and I woke up fine.”
Rafael frown and stares me down for a few long seconds. “I believe you.” He turns to Reggie. “Boss?”
Reggie looks at me with concern, which isn’t a surprise, but there’s something else there too. There’s a calculating look in his eye.
“Leo, is it true?”
Leo nods. “Jake was out for two days, he had a fever and he was muttering in his sleep, and then all of a sudden he just woke up.”
“Was that the end of it? Nothing else?”
I tense up, waiting for Leo to tell his father about all the weird things I can do.
“Yeah, that was it. Well, he did keep asking for food.”
Reggie laughs and the tension in the room vanishes. “That sounds familiar.”
I shrug and pretend not to be worried about the look I saw on Reggie’s face. “So? I was hungry.”
Rafael considers me, looking me up and down again. “I was only out for a few hours, not two whole days. But still, your story checks out.”
Reggie clears his throat. “Alright. Rafael, you stay outside and keep watch. Yell if anything goes wrong. The rest of you!” There are about a dozen men nearby and they all turn at the sound of Reggie’s voice. “You know where to go, get what you’re supposed to and regroup outside. Time is not something we have a lot of, let’s go!”
