by Maya Riley
Ripping the blade from the corpse below me, I turned around, seeking out my next target.
What lay before me was chaos.
There were so many rotters. There may not have been that many when I first woke up, but more of them kept stumbling out from the trees.
Our once hidden paradise was now bathed in gore. Blood was splattered over the lively green leaves of the bushes. Maggot-filled chunks of bloody flesh was strewn across the ground where we slept not minutes before. Now that I was clean, I was more sensitive to the smells around me, and the putrid stench that invaded my nostrils had me bending over and gagging.
We were aware that a lot of the survivors had traveled south for the winter, so that could also mean more survivors were infected as we traveled, therefore more rotters. This was getting ridiculous though. We were about the same fraction of being outnumbered as we were when it was Mateo, Adam, and me back when I first met them at the Hennessey house. Now, there are twice as many of us, and also at least twice as many of them.
Did the rotters spend the entire night collecting themselves and crawling in our direction, waiting until daybreak so they could attack us all at once? Where the fuck were they coming from.
Something hard bumped into me from behind and I stumbled forward.
“Sorry,” Maura grunted, as she righted herself, keeping a hand over her nose and mouth in a failed attempt to filter out the smell. “They’re coming from every direction.”
“Whatever you do, don’t let them bite you,” I stated, as I finally got a hold on my gag reflex.
“Duh.” She rolled her eyes and turned around.
We stood back to back, jabbing and slicing the dead that came at us.
I pushed away, urging the rotters to follow me and get away from Maura. My arms scraped against the ground as I rolled toward my pack. Reaching in, I felt around until I had a handful of knives. They weren’t the best for throwing, and not my original pack of throwing stars that I regretfully left behind, but they would do for what I needed.
Standing up, I held a handful of blades and placed one knife between my thumb and forefinger in my other hand, holding it by the tip of the blade. Taking aim, I threw and it embedded itself into the back of the neck of a rotter that was about to grab Jonah from behind. Its head mostly disconnected from its neck, so it was hanging off to the side. Jonah turned around and ripped the head clean off the rest of the way.
Turning around, I repeated the process with the rest of the blades in my hands, taking down all the rotters I aimed at. I was so focused on watching out for the others, I forgot to watch out for myself.
A rotter came at me from the side and I turned, but I wouldn’t have been fast enough. It would have ran straight into me if it weren’t for the arrow sticking out of its head.
I watched as it fell to the ground, motionless, after one last twitch of its leg, and then I looked up. Jonah was watching with another arrow nocked on the bow in his hands, ready to shoot another if the rotter got up. But it stayed down, and I threw a grateful nod in his direction before spinning around and taking down the last rotter standing. I twisted its head on its neck with my bare hands, and then let go so the body could drop to the ground, forever motionless.
Once the ground was littered with the carnage of the dead, I gazed around for the others, wanting to gauge the state of my group. The first person I saw was Maura, kneeling on the ground with two knives beside her. I ran over to her.
“Are you okay?” I inquired, as I searched her over for any injuries.
“Yeah, I’m good. Just tired is all. That was a lot.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief and looked around again. The others were gathering by the fire. I lifted Maura up, wrapped my hand around the back of her arm, and guided her over to the fire with me. “Everyone okay?” I eyed each of them, urging them to tell me the truth. “If anyone needs any healing, has any injuries at all, now is the time to speak up.”
“I’m good.”
“All good here.” The remaining wisps of smoke dissipated around Lincoln.
Jonah gave me a thumbs up.
“Adam? How are you?” I asked, noticing him standing silently, looking at his hands.
“I’m good, I think.”
“You think?” I began to worry.
“Well, I seemed to be able to push away some of the rotters without touching them.” His face scrunched up in confusion.
“What do you mean you pushed them away without touching them?” Mateo questioned.
I shared a look with Adam. Whatever he was experiencing, I’d witnessed it too. Although at the time, I had no idea that what I saw was actually him who did it.
“As though they kind of blew away.”
“Blew away? By a gust of wind?” Mateo pressed. “Maybe a gust of wind came through?”
“There was no wind though,” I noted. “It wasn’t windy at all.”
“It sounds kind of crazy is all, I’m just trying to understand.”
“How much crazier could that be than the girl who can heal her own skin, or the guy who can shoot fire from his hands?” Lincoln stepped over to Adam. “This is something we need to take seriously and not just brush it under the leaves.” Lincoln grabbed Adam’s hands and inspected them, although I was pretty sure he didn’t have a clue what he was looking for. It could be just like how he was, only manifesting when there was danger, and not yet able to even begin to control it. “Did something happen recently?”
“If you mean the horde of rotters that just ambushed us at the crack of dawn, then yeah, that happened,” Mateo scoffed.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Teo. I mean with you, Adam. And B.” Everyone looked at me as though I were the cause for everything. Which I guessed in a roundabout way, I really was. “When I started throwing fire around, it was right after we thought she was dying. She touched my face and I felt sparks, and then warmth.” There was silence, nobody had a response to give, so he kept going. “Then we found out she could heal herself, and that wasn’t something she could do before that moment. So what I’m asking is, did something similar happen? It’s possible you could be experiencing the same thing—except, without the fire.”
Adam stared at me, waiting for me to give the go-ahead to say something. I appreciated the gesture, but there was no reason to keep anything from the others.
“There was something similar that happened,” I spoke up. “Except without the nearly dying part. It was last night. When my hands were on his face, they felt different somehow, but I didn’t think anything of it. And actually, now that you mention it… the night I ran away. My hands were all electrified. Emotions were so high, and then so many things happened right after that, that I kind of just… forgot.” I shrugged, feeling every bit as awkward as I probably looked. “Plus, I mean, technically I’m not really human so… who knows.”
“Well, if you’re not really human, then what does that make us?” Lincoln asked, turning around to face me. “I know what that crazy guy said. You have the power to unlock magical DNA. That’s what’s been happening here, right? Have I ever been human to begin with? Were the rotters human? What exactly is human?”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know you were created in that lab back there. I know you have doubts about yourself.” He stepped in closer to me. “But human or not, whatever the hell you are, I don’t care. Whether or not I’m human, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter what you are. What matters is who you are. The kind of person—or being—that you choose to be.” The corner of his mouth tilted up into a smile. “Don’t use that as an excuse. It doesn’t matter. What does matter,” he turned to the side and pointed at Adam, “is figuring out what the hell is going on with him now. If he doesn’t shoot fire, then it must be something else.”
Adam
I repeatedly pushed my hands out in front of me, but nothing happened. I couldn’t even make a twig flip over. Whatever had happened this morning, I wasn’t able to recreate it right now. Maybe they
were right, I had to wait for the right circumstances.
Like when Lincoln first used his fire power. We were all at the fire station, at the mercy of some scavers. Mateo was about to lose his other eye to Conni, and the rest of us were a mess. Lincoln had dealt with it in silence for so long before he finally let someone else in, and now he’d gained better control over it. At least, he’d learned what triggered it. I thought back to earlier this morning. I’d woken up with Skittle wrapped in my arms and it was the greatest feeling I’d had in a long time—aside from the feeling of her lips on mine.
We were thrown into chaos before we were even awake. She’d jumped up ready to fight, and I only stood there, looking around. I recalled the panic I felt when I saw the group of rotters coming after us. We were already greatly outnumbered, and they just kept popping out of the trees as though there was an infinite supply. Then I felt light, a mixture of feelings I couldn’t begin to comprehend at the moment, and then they were gone.
I didn’t know what Lincoln felt every time he threw fire, but I had a basic assumption.
I jumped when a hand landed on my shoulder, and was filled with relief when I realized it was Jonah.
Sorry, he signed.
No problem. I should’ve been paying better attention.
How are you doing with all this?
I shrugged. About as well as I can. I’m a bit freaked, and a little confused, but also curious to learn more about how this works.
It’ll be alright. She’ll help you, like she helped Lincoln figure out his. It’ll turn out well.
I reached out and squeezed his shoulder in appreciation, then got back to work on making sure my bag and stuff was all packed up. I was really looking forward to getting out of here and getting back on track to find this Salvaged Lands place.
“Doing alright?” Mateo slung his bag over his back as he walked up to me.
“Yeah, I’m doing alright.”
“Little worried about you.”
I shrugged. “There’s not really much to do at the moment. I can’t seem to get it, whatever it is, to happen again, so now I’m just waiting until something does happen to make it… well… happen.”
He nodded. “Very well put.”
I decided to change the subject. “I’m still disappointed I didn’t find the radio frequency in time so we could hear more of the message, but at least it confirmed the place existed. So that’s a plus.”
“That is a plus. We’ll keep trying too. It might help if they put out messages a little more often. That one was on different radio waves than the first one, right?”
I nodded.
“Another benefit would be if they would stick to one damn frequency, but what do I know. I’m just a survivor trying to find them.”
A thought popped into my head. “What if they didn’t want to make it easy to find them?”
“I’m not following, Adam.”
“What if they do that, switch it up, to make it more difficult for others to find them? Not survivors, I mean, but whoever’s out there that they don’t want to have knocking on their front door.”
His eye seemed focused on something that was right through me, as he processed whatever was going on in his mind. “You might have a point there. I guess it’s possible they might know something about the labs.”
“Or maybe they are the labs.” Lincoln walked toward us, his belongings already packed up and ready to go.
“Aren’t I supposed to be the negative one in the group?” Mateo countered.
“It’s good to share. Today, I’ll carry the negativity. You’re welcome.” I barely caught Lincoln’s smirk as he walked over to greet the girls who were emerging from the trees and into the clearing. Mateo remained standing there as though he’d been smacked in the face.
Blyss
“These are all edible, right?” Maura inquired, as she dropped some more berries into her little pouch.
“The general rule of thumb is that ninety-percent of blue, black, and purple berries are edible. They’re usually the safest to eat.” I dropped another handful into my own little pouch. “But don’t worry as much. I’ll be the first one to taste them. If they make me sick, then I could probably heal the sickness away better than the rest of you guys.”
She nodded and moved along to another bush and absentmindedly fumbled around with the little branches. “What do you think happened to the others? Our foster siblings, I mean.”
“I have no idea,” I answered truthfully. “I’d stayed in the same area for so long, running around the same areas, scavenging, but I never saw any of them. If they became rotters, then I assume I would’ve seen them. They probably would have stayed in the same area, moving slowly and chasing people around.” An expression of horror crossed her face and I quickly continued on to reassure her. “My guess is they probably ran away, as fast as they could, and may be somewhere safe.”
“Did you ever go back to that house?”
I hesitated before answering.
“No. No, I didn’t.” Truth was, I tried not to even think about it. I was already filled with guilt for leaving them all behind when the infection broke out, and I was so focused on staying away from Mama G.
“I did.”
“Oh?”
She slowly, and carefully, picked some more berries, biding her time, thinking over what she’d say next before she said it. “The house was empty. There was no sign that any of them were still staying there. The whole place had been ransacked, torn apart. All the food was gone, as well as most of our clothing. It wasn’t too long after the outbreak that I went back to see if I could get the others out, but they were already gone. All of them. Even Mama G.”
Water welled up in the corners of her eyes, so I turned her around and wrapped her up in a hug. “They’re probably somewhere safe, I’m sure of it. We may find them again someday. The world is big, and they’re strong. If they can survive the time they spent there, they can survive anything.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, not even the end of the world could be worse than life with Mama G.”
I let her go and bent down slightly to give Puppy some pats. She was doing her best to nuzzle her nose in between us and get in on the hug with her tail wagging in excitement.
Taking advantage of my lowered height, she stuck her nose into my berry bag. “Puppy! I just picked those.” I sighed and gave in. Without a moment’s notice, she’d commandeered the whole bag. I held it open for her, giving in to a losing battle.
When she was done, she pulled her nose out, which now had a purple tint to it, and licked her jaws. “What am I going to do with you?”
I sighed, and went back refill the cloth bag with more berries. “These are supposed to be road trip food. Trying to take as much advantage of a food source as we can.”
Taking one last look around our campsite, I couldn’t see anything that we’d missed, so I shouldered my pack and turned to face the trail we’d come down the day before.
This was actually one of the best times I’d had since the outbreak. I got to relax, swim, and actually get clean. Aside from that, relationships progressed. We all had packs of clean clothes, filled water bottles, and full stomachs from what nature had provided, so we barely needed to tap into the food we’d brought. We were doing pretty good right now.
Puppy trotted along ahead, her tongue lolling out of her mouth. She got in a lot of action this morning, and she was still energized. Hopefully, some of her energy would dissipate for the car ride.
We weren’t able to figure out what was going on with Adam. Whatever it was, it stopped as soon as the threat was gone. We’d see what happened next time he faced rotters. Not so luckily, this world was full of them.
Once we reached the car, we packed our gear into the trunk, and then piled inside. This time Mateo was driving, and I was once again in the middle seat. Maura was on my left, while Puppy curled up into a ball to my right. Adam was in the passenger seat, fiddling with the buttons on the car radio. It was all static, and
he was determined not to give up. That was one of the things I liked about him, his perseverance. When he really wanted something, he didn’t give up until he got it.
I’d offered to take over the knob turning and give him a break, but he wouldn’t let me. Nothing against me, he said, but it was an issue for him. He’d become obsessed, determined that it would be the way he was going to save us, his contribution to our survival.
“So, if two of you have some cool powers, does that mean I’ll get one too?” Maura inquired, breaking the silence about fifty miles down the road.
“I have no idea, Maura. I don’t know how this works, at all. So far it’s kinda just… happened.” I shrugged.
“But according to what we found out back at the lab, people turn into either rotters or get a power? That’s what it seems like to me,” she mused.
“That’s what it seems like, yes. We’re still figuring it all out.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But if it’s either turn into a rotter or get some kind of magical power, I’d rather not take that chance with you.”
“What if you try to ‘heal’ the rest of us?”
My hand stilled in the air, halfway back to resting in my lap. “I have no idea. I don’t really want to find out though. If I changed you into a rotter, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“You’re going to change us by accident though?”
“Maura—”
“That’s how it works, right?”
I sighed. “I really don’t know how anything works. I’m mostly flailing through all of this, figuring things out right alongside you. Right now, in this moment, I’m not going to do anything reckless. Not on purpose. For the moment, we’ll see what happens next.”
The car was spun, the world around me nothing but a blur, and the taste of iron filled my mouth. Puppy flew off the seat and crashed into the car door with a yelp, before I could react quickly enough to grab her.
