by Q J Martin
Jane hit her head hard, and she groaned. Black blood poured from her eyes once again. “I’m losing it!” she exclaimed as they got back to their feet. “I can’t stop them!”
Logan didn’t even have time to process Jane’s words before the Infected arrived, hemming them in. “Come on, Jane, we need to get out of here,” he exclaimed, dragging her along beside him. “If there’s any possibility that you can open a gap, now would be the time.”
Jane focused with all her might, shot her hands out, and caused the Infected to split before them. Then, together, they ran through the opening. They ran, and ran, and ran.
Chapter XVI
Logan and Jane ran for ten solid minutes, but in that time, it didn’t seem as though Jane had gotten any closer to regaining the mastery over her powers. She could do just enough to keep them from being attacked head-on, but that was it. And even that seemed to be taking its toll on her. She was losing a lot of blood. Logan was at the point of giving up when he heard someone call out to him.
“Over here!”
Logan’s eyes darted around, desperately trying to identify the source of the voice. It sounded like it was a young boy
“They don’t get in the water!” the boy called out again.
Logan became instantly aware of the river that was running to his right. He hadn’t even registered its existence up to that point, but he now found himself making a beeline for it. He still didn’t see the source of the voice, but he knew that he had no better option than to heed its command.
“Jump!” the boy yelled.
Logan reached out and took Jane’s hand. Together, they leaped straight into the river. They landed in a pile of mush just a few feet from the shore.
The hoard of Infected that had been chasing them piled up right at the edge of the river. A couple were shoved into the water. They howled and jostled around until they could find their footing again, then they clawed their way to solid ground.
The rest of the Infected just stood there, watching Logan and Jane with hungry eyes, snarling, and snapping their jaws at them. But they didn’t enter the water.
“We’re safe,” Logan said, amazed. “Where is the boy that was calling out to us?”
A dark-skinned, muscular young boy appeared in front of Logan and offered him his hand. He helped Logan rise to his feet, then did the same for Jane.
“Thank you,” Jane said.
“What’s your name?” Logan asked.
“Luke,” he replied. “Luke Paige.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Luke. My name is Logan Turner, and this is Jane.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Turner.” Luke made his best attempt to sound sophisticated.
“Oh, no, we’re not…” Logan stammered, while Jane simply looked at him and laughed. Logan finally decided to just laugh along, letting the stress and tension of all that they had been through wash away, if only for a moment. Logan looked back at the Infected standing on the shore, dozens of them, and asked Luke, “How did you know that they wouldn’t get in the water?”
Luke looked uneasy. “Why don’t I explain that to you as we head down the river? There’s a place I know, about a mile from any crossing, where we can climb out on the south bank. The Infected wouldn’t be able to follow. They’re not smart enough to head all the way down the river to find a bridge to cross.”
“Ok,” Logan agreed.
Together, the three of them began their watery trek.
⌬
“My mother took me and my sister across town to go swimming. That was on Friday afternoon. She wanted to get us the Cure so badly, but there was no way she could afford it. I think the price of admission to the pool didn’t seem so bad once she saw what they were charging for the Cure.”
Luke took a deep breath, then said, “After a while, a man came stumbling inside, drenched in blood, mumbling about how hungry he was.”
Luke described the events in such a matter-of-fact way, something Logan didn’t expect from someone so young.
“Next thing we all knew, he was sinking his teeth into some woman’s shoulder. Everyone screamed and started running. A few of them ran towards the woman, to try to help her. By the time they managed to pull the man off of her, though, her wounds had healed, her skin had turned grey, and she attacked her saviors together with the man.”
“It’s amazing that the Cure takes effect so rapidly,” Logan pondered. “It was the same way with my neighbor that lived across the street from me.”
“I imagine it would depend on the level of reparations that the Cure has to make on the individual. The more that it has to fix, the greater the strain on their metabolism, and thus the quicker they turn,” Jane assumed.
Logan nodded. “So what happened next?” he returned his attention to Luke.
“People kept on screaming and yelling and calling for help. Next thing I knew, a hundred of them, those…”
“Those Infected,” Logan offered.
“A hundred of those Infected,” Luke said, accepting the terminology, “came swarming across the pool. My mom, she yelled at me to come out, to run as fast as I could, but I couldn’t make myself move. I was too afraid. I just stayed there, floating in the middle of the pool, closing my eyes and singing to myself so that I wouldn’t hear the victims screaming and the bones snapping and the blood spurting.”
Luke looked up at Logan uneasily. He took a deep breath, then crossed his arms.
“I’m so sorry,” Logan said. He put his arm around Luke’s shoulder. He winced as his injured hand grazed against his arm.
“No, no, I’ll be alright,” Luke said, composing himself. “That’s more than I can say about anyone else there. They were all killed. Blood poured into the pool. There was a little girl standing in the shallow side. She fell and took a big gulp of water. Then she started changing, too. But it was like the water started to burn her skin. She flailed and screamed and tried to get out, but she went under. The next thing I knew, she was floating face-down. She never got back up again.”
“Infected can drown,” Logan contemplated. He looked to Jane.
“It’s possible,” she said. “From what I saw, I don’t imagine InstaRegen is capable of restoring all the complex processes that are required to make the brain function. If an Infected had their brain destroyed, such as by blunt-force-trauma, or by drowning, or by suffocating, I’d imagine that their flesh wounds would heal, but the spark of life would never come back to them. It’s just too complicated to bring life to a dead thing.”
“So their fear of water,” Logan said, connecting the dots, “must be some type of defense mechanism.”
Luke continued. “I just stayed in the water the whole time, and none of them ever touched me. They stood at the edge and snarled, growled, but they never came close enough to get me. Eventually, they all ended up wandering away. I guess they got distracted by other things and went after them instead. Once they were all gone, I swam to the stairs and climbed out of the pool. I was so cold. I never… I never saw my mom or my sister again. I’m sure they’re part of the hoard now. Infected, like everyone else.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” Logan contemplated. “Can I ask, how old are you?”
“I’m ten,” the boy replied.
“Ten,” Jane wondered. “You sound so advanced for your age.”
“That’s because my mother purchased an intelligence mod for me when I was four.”
“Four!” Logan exclaimed. “That’s against the law.”
“Well, the men she purchased it from didn’t really care about things like that,” Luke sighed. “It only took a couple minutes after they injected me with it for me to realize what my mother had done to purchase it.” He paused and took a big gulp. “She wanted me to have a better life than she ever could.”
“I’m sure she’d be proud of you now, helping a couple total strangers like this,” Logan said, smiling.
“So where are you trying to go?” Luke asked.
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“I have a couple children in Rochester. One’s about your age. The other is a little younger. I’m trying to find them.”
Luke stopped walking and closed his eyes. A tear rolled down his cheek.
“Do you have anyone left, anyone you need to find?” Jane turned and asked him.
“My grandmother. She lives in St. Cloud.”
“Have you heard anything from her?” she asked.
“No,” Luke said sadly. “I have no idea if she’s ok or not. I want to see her so badly, to know that she’s all right.”
“Why haven’t you tried looking for her yet?” Logan asked, looking him in the eyes.
“I don’t know. Every time I try to leave, something happens and it keeps me here.”
“I understand exactly what you mean. I wish I could help you right now. I’d go straight north from here and take you right to your grandmother’s doorstep if I could. It’s just…”
“Your kids,” Luke said.
Logan nodded. “I know I can’t expect this of you, but if you’re willing to stick around for a while, I promise that as soon as I find out what happened to Glenn and Roselyn, I’ll help you find your grandmother, to the best of my abilities.”
“Thank you,” Luke said. He seemed to be touched by the offer. “No one’s ever been so kind to me. I’ll—” he paused, gulping. “I’ll help you,” he said abruptly, and resumed walking, not even waiting for Logan’s response.
Logan turned and followed after him. He took a step and found that there was nothing underneath his foot. He tried to stop himself, but he had already shifted his weight too far. He plunged forward and sunk into the deep hole before him.
Chapter XVII
Logan felt himself sinking under the weight of his backpack and the weight of the water that filled his boots. He struggled to get free of the straps of the bag, but was unable to. He could feel his feet sinking into the muck below him. He wiggled his shoes, trying to free himself, but they were firmly stuck in the mud.
Logan struggled to continue holding his breath. How long had it been since he went underwater? How much longer could he last? His lungs were burning. His chest was heaving. He wanted to just take a breath, a deep breath. He longed for the water around him. He imagined it would be the greatest thing he ever tasted, the greatest relief.
Someone brushed up next to him. They began to feel around with their hands. Logan fought to the urge to gasp. The person pulled the backpack off of Logan’s arms, then felt along his waist until they found his knife. They released it from its sheath.
They pulled themselves down Logan’s leg, then sliced at his shoes until the strings were cut and Logan was able to wiggle himself free. As he pulled his left foot out, he felt a stinging sensation. The knife must have dug into the top of his foot as it slid across his shoelaces.
The pain was nothing compared to the ache of his chest. He heaved it in and out, in and out. It begged for oxygen, for some relief, but got nothing.
Logan breached the water. He gasped for air. His head went back under. He felt someone drag him away from the hole, and he managed to get his feet back under him. He looked around, and saw Jane standing next to him, soaked.
“Thank you,” he gasped, still trying to recover from the burning sensation in his chest.
Jane wrapped her arms around Logan and squeezed him tight. “Actually,” she said finally, “it was Luke that helped get you out of there.”
“Luke,” Logan contemplated. “Wait, where is he?” Logan looked around, but saw no sign of him. The two of them seemed to be alone in the river.
“Oh my God,” Jane said, looking around with growing concern. “I think he’s still down there. We need to help him!”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Luke rose to the shore, dragging Logan’s backpack behind him. He lifted it up and handed it to Logan. Logan just stood there, shocked.
“I’m a good swimmer,” Luke smiled. “I love to swim.”
“You saved me,” Logan said. His chest was feeling a little better now. He was breathing a little easier. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Luke gave a thumbs up as he attempted to catch his breath.
⌬
“Here we are,” Luke pointed to the shore. “We can get out right here. The river doubles back on itself a ways from here, and by the time the Infected make it to the next crossing, they’ll have forgotten what they started chasing to begin with.”
“Ok, good,” Logan nodded. “Right now, I think I have more river water than feet.” Logan had been limping ever since Luke rescued him, and it had been getting progressively worse as they continued trekking the waters. He was ready, if not eager, to get back out on dry land and see what sort of damage he had suffered.
They waded their way to the shore. Luke took a cautious step onto the dry ground, then he finished crawling out and offered his hand to help pull Jane up. Finally, he offered his hand to Logan.
Logan took it, but as he stepped out of the river, and his weight came down on his bad foot, he doubled over in pain.
“Are you ok?” Jane asked.
“I’m…” Logan gritted his teeth. “I’m fine.”
Logan climbed the rest of the way out of the river and joined Jane. Together, they looked back at the Infected that were still following them from the other side. Their numbers had diminished significantly since Logan and Jane first jumped into the river. Apparently, the Infected didn’t have very long attention spans. The few that were left continued to stare at them with hungry eyes, snarling and drooling.
They turned around and began heading south once again.
“We should start looking for a house with medical supplies we can use to treat your foot,” Jane said “We need to get it disinfected as soon as possible.”
“No,” Logan said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to do anything that will postpone this trip longer than absolutely necessary. We can wait until we stop for the night, and see if we can find anything there.”
“Actually, I think that we can help with that,” a muffled voice said. It was coming from behind some bushes to their right.
Logan unholstered his revolver and pointed it at the source of the voice, although he couldn’t see the person it belonged to.
“Whoa, now, easy fella,” the man said, walking out into the open. He was a marine. He wore an advanced bio-suit prototype with a biohazard filtration mask. “You don’t wanna be giving the wrong impression to me and my men. We’re just here to help you, after all.”
Several others followed behind him. There was a woman with a sniper rifle, a few men with assault rifles, and another man with a melee weapon. None of them had their weapons at the ready. Logan lowered his revolver, but kept his finger on the trigger.
“Good man,” the stranger said. “My name is Sergeant Skylar Parsons, United States Marine Corps.”
“Logan,” Logan introduced himself. “And this is Jane, and Luke.”
“Nice to meet you all,” the Sergeant said, shaking each of their hands in succession. “Well,” he said, opening his hands up to them, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here. Well, the job of my men and I is to try to round up as many survivors as possible while our main forces continue to deal with the Infected themselves. We have a base not far from here where you’ll all be safe.” Skylar held up his hands. “Now, this isn’t an order. It’s not obligatory. If you want to keep walking on that foot and taking your chances with the road, that’s up to you. But we do hope that you accept our offer.”
Logan looked back at Jane and Luke. Luke didn’t say anything, but Jane nodded slightly.
“Ok,” Logan said. “We’ll go with you. But I’m on my way to try to find my children in Rochester, and I’m not willing to give them up for dead yet.”
“No problem. We would never come between a father and his children, obviously. In fact, we’d be more than happy to help you search for your children after we regroup back at our base.”
“That
’s a kind offer,” Logan said, nodding his head in appreciation.
“The way I see it, we all need a little kindness right now.” Skylar smiled, then gestured to his men. “Our base is about a twenty minute walk from here. Just stay behind us, and we’ll have you all safe in no time.”
Chapter XVIII
They walked along the side of the river for about two miles before finally making it to their destination. Skylar’s base was an abandoned factory directly behind a Rejuice station next to the river.
“As far as we can tell,” Skylar said, gesturing toward the building, “the factory closed down on the Friday of the rollout, after several reported incidents of violence. It was completely abandoned by the time crap really hit the fan. We were able to slip in and use it as our forward operating base pretty early on. It’s on the outskirts of the city. There’s a river on the side. We couldn’t ask for a better location.”
Logan looked around the case. There were two soldiers with mini-guns guarding the front door. There were a couple tanks forming a barricade in front of the entryway, as well as a half dozen fire trucks.
“What are the fire trucks for?” Logan asked, his interest piqued.
“Those, shockingly,” Skylar replied, “are just about the best damn weapons we’ve had against the Infected thus far. But considering we found you guys climbing out of a river, I’d say it’s safe to assume that you know how the Infected react around water already.”
Logan shook his head. “Luke informed us, as we were running for our lives, actually. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him,” he said, resting his hand on Luke’s shoulder.
The group skirted past the tanks, and came up on the men that were guarding the door. They gave Logan and Jane a cursory glance, but seemed less than interested in them. They didn’t even look at Luke at all. They simply gripped their guns more tightly and stared straight on ahead.
