by Maya Riley
A thought crossed my mind. “Hey, Lincoln?”
“Hmm?” he responded from somewhere off to my right.
“That fire back there, do you think it would travel to us here?”
A moment of silence filled the air as he thought it over. “I’m not sure. I mean, it may continue to spread, but there really isn’t much we could do about that. We don’t have the tools or supplies to put it out. There’s the creek we crossed, so maybe it won’t pass that. Otherwise, I’m hoping it doesn’t continue to grow. I wanted to stop the horde of rotters, not set the forest on fire.”
“We won’t be going back to the cabin, will we?” Maura asked, somewhere behind me.
“Probably not,” I responded. “With the lab and the fire, we need to keep moving away. We’ll find something though. We always do.”
We watched the sun lower the rest of the way. Puppy stayed down below, keeping guard on the ground. Nothing could touch us with the fiercest ball of fur as our protector.
Despite being surrounded by my friends once again, I was still alone with my thoughts. Alone in my head. To replay Dr. Crazy’s words over and over again, a record set on repeat.
We created you, we gave you life.
You’re our most marvelous piece of work.
Together, we could’ve changed the world.
I shook my head, trying to clear it. The information we’d come across before even meeting him would be enough to drive me insane on its own, let alone the harsh words of the one who created me.
BMC is everywhere. All over the country. The continent. Every continent.
The repeated words invaded my mind, its rough caress a lullaby for my fears. I let my eyelids droop down with the hopes they would surround me in darkness and I’d be welcomed by sleep, letting my brain shut down for a while. My skin vibrated from information overload. Although… no… that wasn’t it.
I opened my eyes just a fraction, afraid to let too much of the world in, and lifted one hand. Very faint, light lines skimmed beneath my skin, and it was like watching storm clouds light up from miles away.
Taking a deep breath, I held it, before letting it out through my nose. I repeated the process a few times until my heart rate slowed back down and the lines of light stopped.
Huh, that was weird. I had no energy left to figure that out tonight. It had to be a problem for another day.
I closed my eyes once more, wanting to keep the concerns at bay. The nasty headache from earlier was gone, and I wanted to keep it that way.
I felt the prickle from the cool night air slip up through my gaping sleeves, and gripped my hoodie tighter around myself. I breathed in the earthy smell that surrounded me, and drifted off to sleep.
I saw myself running. I was angry and hurt, and electric light danced around my fingers, threatening to zap the trees as I sprinted by. The urge to yell at myself to stop, to turn back around and reconcile with those left behind was too great. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. The muscles in my thighs strained as I tried to make them move forward, but I remained in place. I was stuck, watching my past self run away in anger, unaware of the mess she was running toward.
I saw Maura, moving quickly through the trees, looking so fearful. The fear was mixed with hurt and anger. I wanted so badly to grab her and tell her it would be alright. That I made a human mistake and regretted it so much.
Colors blurred together as the scene shifted around me.
I saw myself outside in the cold, pinned down by a pile of rotters. I battled aggressively, not willing to go down without a fight.
Then Mateo appeared and the fire that burned in his eyes made my blood run cold. At least, it would have if I’d had blood running through a corporeal body right now. Rather, I was on a different plane, watching from the sidelines as my life flew by in front of me.
I watched as our mouths clashed together, the feel of his lips on mine ghosting through my memory. The shadow of the kiss still searing to my lips, wanting more even when I wasn’t aware that I did.
A barrier broke between us that day, and I refused to let him build it back up. Instead, I’d savor the feel of his hands cradling my neck until I could feel them again in person.
For a moment, I forgot about the world. About the family I never had, the messed up place I came from, and the doomed fate of humanity. For one fleeting, divine moment, I just was. Then I opened my eyes.
Everything came rushing back, and I groaned.
“You okay?”
I turned toward the voice and saw Adam’s light blue eyes looking back at me. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just remembered how fucked up our situation is, that’s all.”
He gave me a meek smile before looking down. Following his gaze, I saw Puppy laying on the ground, her head between her paws, with a pile of corpses littering the dirt around her.
Blyss
My hands scraped against the splintered wood as I dangled from the branch. Letting go, I dropped to the dirt below. Quickly, I tucked and rolled off to the side as each of the guys landed on the ground around me with a thud. Puppy stood up, bowed down into a deep stretch with her jaw opened wide in a yawn, and then trotted closer to greet each of us with a lick to the face.
“Hey there, girl.” I scratched behind her ear and she moved over to give Jonah his morning lick.
She took them down before I could even get out of the tree, Jonah signed.
“I’d like to take a good guess and say we may not need to worry about nearby rotters right now,” Adam commented, nudging a dead rotter’s head with the toe of his boot.
“Whatever, I’m going to take a piss.” Mateo walked over to a tree a few feet away, unzipped, and began.
“You couldn’t move another foot to go behind the tree?” I pretended to gag as I walked away to find some privacy to do my own business.
A few minutes later, we regrouped, drank some water—thanks to the guys being prepared by having backpacks filled with some of the basic—and continued to head in the same direction we were going yesterday.
The ground was cast in a warm glow from the sun peeking through the treetops as we walked. The faint smell of smoke hung in the air, and the leaves high in the trees bristled with movement as squirrels and other critters moved about to get away from the possibly growing fire.
“Yup, definitely best to keep moving this way,” I noted, as I watched a bunch of birds fly overhead and picked up my pace.
Everyone around me was more silent. I glanced over to Mateo, and sure enough, he had his famous scowl set in place.
I fell back a bit to walk with Maura and linked arms with her. “Hey,” I murmured, as I bumped her shoulder with mine.
“Hey.” She smiled, bumping back. “Well, that doctor guy may not have been Mama G, but I think it’s safe to put him in the same category as her.”
My head fell back as I laughed, the sound cutting through the silence as we walked. “Yeah, I can agree with you on that.”
“Of course you can,” she chirped.
After a while, we happened upon a deserted town. Various buildings in faded brick and peeling paint stood tall. A sign hung loosely on its post, threatening to fall at any moment, reading, “Welcome to Town Erie.”
“I’ve never seen a more accurate town name before in my life,” Adam remarked.
“Well, this is something new,” I whispered. It dawned on me then that I’d never been very far away from the town I grew up in. There were the occasional trips with Mama G where she’d never let me out of sight, but that was it. Even after the Void Virus broke out, I still stayed somewhat close to a familiar area.
This was all new territory. There was a grocery store a block from where we stood. It looked aged and worn down. The large sign was hanging at an angle, the hinges on one side apparently having been dislodged at some point. The posters that normally adorned the windows of your average store were ripped and strewn about. Others hung in tatters against the windows, the flimsy strips blowing in the light morning breeze. The ro
tter-pocalypse had really done a number on this place. No doubt it had already been cleaned out, but it wouldn’t hurt to look amongst the scraps.
We walked toward the old grocery building. The glass in the front doors had been smashed through and lay scattered about, foretelling the type of chaos we’d be facing once inside.
Careful to avoid getting any large, stray debris through my thin and shabby shoes, I gingerly stepped around and proceeded inside.
Ripped, empty boxes littered the floor, along with broken glass and busted cans that had spilled their contents. It looked as though someone had tried to scoop up the food, since faint marks were smeared across the dirty white vinyl tiles.
A clanging sound echoed off the empty walls and I jumped. Adam flinched and moved away from the can his foot had hit. I watched as it rolled around the floor, changing directions as it knocked into the debris. It finally came to rest in a darkened corner with a thud.
“Watch where you’re walking,” Mateo snapped. “You never know what’s out there.”
I turned to walk farther in and Puppy rushed in front of me to take the lead. Her nose twitched as she sniffed the air, then she put her head to the ground and began walking forward. I had no idea what smell she’d picked up, but curiosity made me follow without hesitation.
She led us toward the back of the store and through an “Employees Only” door. We kept going, pausing while she sniffed everything, until we ended up in a small room. It was difficult to tell what the purpose of the room was, but Puppy stopped, trying to get between a large box and the floor. I placed my hand on her head, urging her to stand down. Bending down and putting my shoulder against the box, I heaved. After a few moments, it still wouldn’t budge.
Adam kneeled next to me. “Here, let me help.”
Together, we managed to scoot the heavy box across the floor, revealing a trap door. “Well, that’s exciting.”
Jonah bent down on my other side and lifted the latch, freeing the door from the floor. A cloud of dust flew up, and I sputtered as the grime invaded my mouth. A sputtering chorus of coughs sounded out around me. I moved forward, ready to descend into the darkness, when a rough hand landed on my shoulder, holding me in place. I turned my head to the side and up, craning my neck to see behind me when Mateo stepped around and knelt at my side.
“I’ll go first,” he stated, before twisting himself around to face me. He didn’t waste any time. It was dark, but he was ready to jump right in.
His forehead creased, and he held my gaze for a split second before he descended into the dark unknown. “Do you see anything?” I called down after a long several seconds, the anticipation and curiosity building up.
“Stay with her, I’m going down too... He’ll need some light.” Lincoln nudged around us until he was positioned on the ladder and climbing down after Mateo.
“I can’t see anything, but—oomph.” His words were cut off, and my body stilled as my ears strained to pick up any sound at all. Lincoln hurried down the ladder, but other than the thumps of his feet pounding quickly down the rungs, there was silence. The sound of both his feet hitting the ground and then moving around were the only sign that he’d made it.
The shuffling sounds moved farther away and I waited for the flow of fire that never came. I sat there, waiting very impatiently for who knew how long, until I finally couldn’t take it anymore. Before either of the other two could stop me, I was climbing into the hole and onto the ladder.
“Skittle—”
“Don’t worry. If there was anything bad down there, don’t you think Puppy would’ve alerted us?” I pointed out, nodding to the side where she was laying on the floor, watching. “I’ll be fine. I just want to check on them.”
I descended the ladder so fast, my hands and feet practically glided down the front of the ladder, nearly missing every rung until I landed on solid ground once again. Standing up straight, I waited for a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the dark, but I still couldn’t make anything out. The only light was from above, but it didn’t illuminate anything other than myself and the corners of some dusty boxes at the edge of the glow.
“Hey, guys?” My wary voice called out. I was uncomfortable with them having ignored us for this long, it wasn’t right. If there wasn’t any danger down here, then what could possibly be keeping them silent?
I stared up at the eyes that were watching my every movement.
Are you okay? Jonah signed. The sunlight that streamed in through the window in the room above was enough to barely make out his hand motions.
I responded, Yes, I’m just going to look around. You guys stay there in case anyone comes.
Turning my attention back to the darkness, I held my hands out, one in front of me and the other out to the side, and walked until I bumped into something. A cardboard box nudged across the floor as I walked into it. I then moved about until my hands found a wall, one that was cool to the touch. It felt like one of those smooth walls normally found in a school. Hard, cold, and covered in glossy paint.
I closed my eyes. I couldn’t see anyway, but it helped me focus, and I threw out all my senses.
Feeling my way along the wall, I started to move. I had no idea what direction I was going in, or whether or not I was moving toward my guys or away from them, but moving was the only option I gave myself. So, I moved.
I could hear the sounds of static farther away. Like the white screen on a TV without a channel present, or changing stations on a car radio. That was weird, though, since electricity was a thing of the past. There couldn’t be a working TV here… could there?
My feet kicked into a box in front of me and I jumped. After carefully maneuvering my way around it, I found the wall again with my hand and continued on.
The static was coming in and out, as though someone was turning the dial. Were my guys doing it? Could we have mistaken Puppy’s reaction, and there may indeed be another living human being down here? I had to find out.
My hands slid along the cool concrete wall, the static acting like a magnet and drawing my feet forward. I cracked my eyes open and saw the glow that must be Lincoln. It was farther away and seemed to be coming from around the corner. Like a moth to a flame, I stepped closer, eager to see what was going on. My fingertips remained on the wall, grounding me to the one familiar thing here.
I was silent, stealthy, my ears fully trained on the sound—until I tripped over something solid and fell to the hard floor with a thud.
“Who’s there?” Mateo’s gruff voice called out and I groaned, closing my eyes again. I brought my arm in toward my chest and used my other hand to feel around the elbow. Only a little pain. It wasn’t serious, but it’d most likely bruise later. I still didn’t know the extent of my healing, so I was pretty curious to see if there would be any bruising at all.
“B?” The tip of a boot nudged my shoulder before Lincoln bent down and felt around with his hands. I opened my eyes in time to see a glow of light go out as he got closer. “What are you doing here?”
“You guys never answered to let us know you were alright.”
“So you came down after us?” he questioned.
“Obviously.” Now may not be the best time for sarcasm. “Puppy was all calm, so there wasn’t a threat nearby. Besides, I was the quickest. I was on the ladder before any of them had even realized I’d moved.”
“Here, let’s get you up.” Lincoln stepped behind me and looped his hands underneath my armpits. Then he lifted me up like it was the simplest task of the day. Which it probably was.
Once I was standing, I brushed myself off.
“Are you hurt?” he inquired.
“Is she okay?” Mateo called from wherever he was. I didn’t think he’d even moved.
“I’m fine,” I answered. “I just tripped over something is all. I can’t see shit down here.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty dark.” A small light flickered along Lincoln’s palm at his words.
“What was that noise?”
“The static,” I responded. “I heard a static kind of noise. Like an old TV or a radio or something.”
A hand landed on my shoulder. “Trouble, we may have found something. Let’s get back to the others and try and figure it out,” Mateo suggested.
“What happened?” I pressed.
Mateo sighed, and then it was silent for a beat. “I’m not entirely sure. But we may have a radio. It’s working, there are batteries in it, but nothing has come out of it other than static.” He moved his hand down to my upper arm and gently pressed me toward the direction we came from, but I didn’t budge. A radio? This was… huge. If it worked and if we could somehow get in contact with other survivors… but who would be broadcasting over radio frequencies? Would anyone out there even care enough to try sending messages over the radio waves? Or has the world become so damaged that radio communication has become obsolete?
“Trouble? It would be a whole lot easier if you moved your feet.”
“Huh? Oh, right.” I began to shuffle back down the hall. Lincoln’s hand was in mine, guiding me and pulling me gently behind him, while Mateo took up the rear with a gentle grasp on my upper arm so we’d all stay together.
“I want to check out some of these boxes before we head back up,” Lincoln called back, maneuvering me over to said boxes, “while we’re still down here. There could be some useful supplies, especially if no one else has come down here before us.”
Mateo brandished a knife and cut into the nearest box. Inside was women’s clothing. There were piles of shirts and shorts. I immediately dove in, tearing apart the plastic to get to the untouched fabric, while the guys moved onto another box. The firelight faded slightly as Lincoln placed himself between us, trying to give us both equal lighting.
The fading fire was a bit of a relief. I didn’t realize how thirsty I already was, and the added heat wasn’t a huge help.
