I could only suppose that both Dean and Richard had been handpicked by the prick. He didn’t give me any maps, not trusting me to not destroy them as the captain had sneered in my face. One of them should have been given the maps that would point us in the right direction. If they didn’t have any maps or know exactly where we were going, I’m leaving them and I’m coming home and I’m getting my family out. I didn’t trust Romero. I didn’t trust him to keep his word, if it benefited him in any way, he would stab his own mother and leave her to die. He had no loyalty to anyone other than himself. If he handpicked these two, I most definitely did not trust these two to have my back. They would serve their own purpose first before anything else. I wish I could say that I trusted Brody. But after what he did, I don’t, I don’t know if I could fully trust him again. He wasn’t even on my list right now. Brody was so far off of it at this point that hell would freeze over before he’d be allowed within ten feet of it.
We were walking down the middle of the street, swerving in and out between cars. I kept a tight grip on my knife, constantly peering around me. Sometimes infected like to hide in between cars or underneath them. I stopped. I swear I heard buzzing. Mechanical buzzing. I looked up to the sky. There was nothing. Like an itch on my neck, the feeling of being watched creeped up on me. Behind me I could hear someone muttering.
“We haven’t even been walking for twenty minutes and she’s already stopping.”
I turned around just enough to glare at them. Dean wasn’t looking at me, he was peering all around us, looking. He must have heard it too. At least he’s alert. He would survive. Richard on the other hand. He was staring daggers at me, anger and attitude plain in the way he was holding himself. He was relying on everyone else to be observant but him. Pain shot behind my eye, and my hands were beginning to sweat and shake. I needed to get away from him. I pressed my hands to my sides to keep them from shaking. I haven’t had an episode in years. I would not have one now. I surged forward again. Determined to keep moving. As long as I had something to focus on I could push it away or at least I could try.
In some places the cars were so close to each other that we had to scramble over them and walk along their roofs. I didn’t mind, the physical motion gave me something to focus on. I could push the pain that was throbbing in my head with the beat of my heart away. I had to push it away. If I let it consume me, no. It won’t. Just think through it. Think of anything!
Why were they picked? What special assets do they have that made them the top picks? Obviously, I was here because I knew how to survive. I had the experience in handling infected, not just one or two but how to handle hordes. Honestly it was mostly running away but then it was the hiding and staying out of sight. Brody made sense as a backup, just in case something did go wrong. He didn’t have nearly as much experience as I did but it was more than these two did. Brody and I made sense. Besides them being trusted by Romero, I wasn’t sure why they were here.
I grumbled to myself, what was the point of sending such a small group with only two of us that we were certain could handle their own? Stupidity that’s what it was. I stomped along ignoring all of them, the two strangers were grumbling to themselves and Brody kept shooting me his doe eyed looks. That was another of his problems. If someone was pissed at him, he tried sucking up till they forgave him. He’s done it to me before. But if he kept it up, I would break his nose this time.
Behind me the murmuring was escalating. I sent a glare back at them. They were engrossed in arguing with each other, Dean was looking around nervously so was Richard. Did they feel like they were being watched too? Or were they just nervous? Brody was standing awkwardly to the side of them, nervously looking around us. If they didn’t shut up soon I’d make them. I stopped, my anger taking over. “If you two insist on arguing why don’t you just go on ahead and go out there skipping and singing songs why don’t you. Be my guest.” I hissed. Neither of them replied. Dean had leveled his eyes with mine, while Richard dropped his gaze and shoved past me. Knocking me in the shoulder. I pulled my cheek in and bit down. Hard. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. If I decided to murder him in the first twenty minutes it wouldn’t be a very good start to this stupid expedition. At ten I opened my eyes and followed Richard from a distance.
…
We were crossing the bridge, leaving the city behind us. The cars were parked bumper to bumper here too. I still didn’t get why everyone decided to pack up their cars, when everyone else was doing the same thing. Did they not think of how bad traffic was on a regular work day, how bad it got backed up when no one was panicking? I guess I couldn’t blame them at the same time. Ten years ago, when hell broke loose I probably would have done the same thing if it wasn’t for my dad. My dad decided to lay low, gather supplies and keep us safe. I remember him telling me that everyone was a fool for leaving and letting panic run their minds, overriding common sense. Going out and panicking was what caused so many people to die. If they had hunkered down instead there would have been so many more survivors. But after the initial rush to get out, together he and I had stocked up on food and anything else that we could think of that we might need. The early times when everything was in chaos is when he taught me most of everything and one of the prominent thoughts in my head was: never put your trust in a vehicle. If I had to depend on a vehicle for getting away then I needed a backup plan or rethink if I really needed to go through with it. It could break down or get stuck. If either of those happened what would I do if I was being chased? What would I do if I was trying to get home? Backup plans. He emphasized it every time we went out. We’d pause and during our pause he’d ask how would I get out if we were attacked by infected? What about soldiers or raiders? Constantly asking me what would I do.
I scrambled over more vehicles. Some of the drivers had started ramming other cars, trying to move them out of the way. All it did was make it more difficult for me to crawl over. Most of the owners of these vehicles were dead and they left their mess behind. I turned around to face the rest of my group. To my disgust they’d fallen behind. They were going to have to learn to keep up, if they couldn’t then they need to go back now. I wasn’t going to play nanny for them, if they weren’t used to the walking then they would eventually get used to it. Hell, I wasn’t entirely used to long distance walking. The most I’d done was within the outer city limits, where I knew I could get back inside the safe zone just in case I ran into trouble. It wasn’t infected that truly scared me. It was the raiders. They roamed wherever they felt like roaming. But I wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction of knowing that, maybe down the road. I sat down on the trunk of a car and waited for them.
While sitting there the wind tugged on my hair that had fallen loose from my braid. The wind wasn’t strong, it was really only a breeze. Not like how it could be during the latter part of fall and winter when the real storms came in. Above me the sun was trying to peer through the clouds, giving a bit of warmth where it was able to shine through. The car I was sitting on was covered in moss. It had a strange feeling to it. It wasn’t soft but it wasn’t rough either. Under the moss rust was taking hold. The edges of the car had given up entirely, it was purely rust. The cars around me looked the same. Covered in both moss and rust. All of them were sitting on flats. Even without the traffic they’d be useless.
Below me, under the bridge the water was rushing, and slapping itself over rocks. I didn’t have to look to know that the river was high. The recent rain we had left the water murky and higher than usual. If anyone fell off the bridge or if it collapsed, we would all be swept away, more than likely we’d drown before we could try to swim out. The road itself on the bridge looked sturdy enough. A few cracks here and there but overall it was fine. The railings though were showing spots of rust. It may last another ten years or it might not. If someone were able to come out and maintain it like it should be, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it collapsing. Maybe get some of these cars off of it, get rid of the unnecessary
weight. If this collapses then there goes the direct route out of the city.
Brody was the first to notice me waiting. He stepped up his pace. The other two didn’t care, they didn’t speed up, just kept going at the same pace. I patiently waited till they were standing in front of me. Richard had his arms crossed over his chest. “Once we’re on the other side of the bridge it’s all new territory to me. Everyone will have to keep their ears and eyes wide open.” I looked at the darker of the two men. “No unnecessary close calls. Stay close, no wandering off or lagging behind. And that goes for all of you. This isn’t just a class field trip. You mess up, you die. And I won’t hold a funeral for you. I’ll leave you, dead or not.” Brody shifted uncomfortably, he looked like he wanted to say something but bit his tongue.
Richard shook his head. “No. You don’t get to make that call.”
I clasped my hands in my lap. “Enlighten me.”
He looked incredulously at Dean, who shrugged. “Drop it. She’s our guide. This is more of her territory than ours.”
Richard looked like he’d been slapped. Before he could retort, Dean put his hand on Richard’s shoulder and whispered something to him. At least it seemed like Dean wasn’t lacking in the brain department. If he was going to listen to me without giving me grief, we would be able to work together without too much trouble. It would make everyone’s life that much easier if they would just listen without wanting to argue, well if Richard didn’t want to argue. Brody and Dean seemed to just accept my orders, at least for now. I hopped down from off the hood of the car and continued trudging along, weaving in and out of stalled cars. Brody trudged beside me.
He cleared his throat. “Um... Alice I just wanted to say I’m sorry… I didn’t want to drag you into this but you are one of the best.” He grabbed my arm and turned me to face him. I stared icily down at his hand. “They threatened my family! You can understand that. I had no choice.”
I pulled my arm out of his grasp since he wasn’t getting the point. “Alright. I get it.” I growled before continuing to walk away. Now not only was my family in danger but his was too. That was just what I needed to be thinking about. He should- augh. I breathed forcefully out through my nose. I can’t help his family. I can’t do anything. From here I couldn’t do anything to help my family. I did the best I could, I left them directions. I can’t guilt myself over his family. I can’t do that to myself. Maybe I just shouldn’t talk to them, the less I talk to any of them the better I would probably be. My anger was sitting right below the surface, rippling like water. I hated dealing with people on a general basis. Doing business with them, I was fine but having to depend on them like this and having at least one of them dump guilt on me, wasn’t going to work out. I’m going to have to figure out how to keep it under control. The last time I’d lost my temper my dad had to use a tranquilizer on me and none of us could afford that to happen. When I let go, I didn’t care who was friend or not. The only people I willingly deal with on a daily basis was my family, other people I tried to avoid as much as possible just because of the fact that I didn’t want to lose control. I’m going to have to work hard to push it down and keep collected and cool.
Dealing with people out here was a nightmare in of itself. Any little noise could give your position away and of course people insisted on talking. It was bad enough I had to listen to them breathe. Wait, what was that? I stopped. There was some kind of noise, like a squeaky door being pushed back and forth.
I tightened my grip on my knife and stepped forward on silent feet, landing mostly on the balls of my feet, ready to take off at a given moment. I scanned the area around me, looking for any place that someone might try to hide in or behind. I didn’t bother to check on the other three, if they wanted to stay alive, they would have to learn to use their eyes and ears. I climbed up onto the roof of a car and walked over it, looking for whatever was making the noise. At the end of the trunk, I jumped off of it with ease and stepped forward on still the balls of my feet. I came around the back end of a R.V. to find a truck with its driver door wide open. The wind was pushing back and forth just enough to make it move, and with every movement the metal screeched.
I frowned. The door should have seized by now being out in the elements, rust should have tightened its grip not allowing it to move at all. Something had to of broken it open, or someone. I moved to the truck and looked in. Nothing. Just torn up seats with blood splashed all over the seat and the windows. Trash littered the floor, but besides that it was empty. Someone died in here. I turned to the side to climb into the back when something grabbed my feet and pulled. “Shit!” I yelped. I fell face first but I caught myself with my hands, bloodying them on the pavement. On the ground I pulled my legs into my chest as hard and as fast as I could. By doing that I managed to break its hold on my ankles and I rolled away to come up to a crouched position facing it. The once human pulled itself out from under the car, growling and snarling. One of its cheeks was torn and hanging down in flaps around its jawline. Its eyes rolled wildly at me. The parts of its skin that wasn’t torn, covered in blood or dirt, was white and waxy looking. Wild hair wrapped itself around its neck and face. It’s ripped and rotting clothing hung off of its emaciated body like rags. Before it could launch itself at me again, I leaped forward and shoved my knife through the top of its head. I smashed the knife hard enough that it went into the head all the way up to the hilt. Almost instantaneous its whole body went limp. All signs of life went out of it and it looked just like the corpse it should be.
I heard someone gasp behind me. I turned around to see Dean watching me, gun pointed out in front of him. Aimed at me. No, aimed at the infected that was by my feet. Richard came from the other side, staring at the corpse. I looked at one then turned to the other, before sarcastically saying. “Took ya’ll long enough. What were you doing picking daisies?” I put one hand on the top of its head and pulled on my knife, sliding it out of its head, dark blood spraying the ground underneath it.
Dean looked at the now corpse. He stared at it with fascination. “It still looks human.”
I scoffed. “What else is it supposed to look like? An alien?”
He glared at me. “No. What I’m saying is that they’re still alive. Beating heart. If the heart wasn’t beating then there shouldn’t be blood in the brain. It would have settled down at the feet and coagulated down there. What we’ve been told is that they’re basically the undead. They don’t feel anything and it takes a lot to kill them.” He looked at Richard for backup.
Richard shrugged. “We’re not allowed to look at any ‘alive’ infected. So honestly, we’re not sure how exactly they function. If they really are alive or…” He trailed off.
What? Originally that’s what they thought but… I’ve been out here. I wasn’t sheltered like they were. “Then this may be difficult for you to understand then. Yes, they are still alive. Yes, their hearts are still beating, I’ve seen them drop from blood loss before. So yes, it takes a lot to kill them unless you get them in the head otherwise it’ll be awhile before they drop. Sometimes they survive losing a hand or an arm, I don’t know how they manage that but they are not undead I guess you’d say. Their condition is irreversible but they aren’t undead, but they are not people. They are monsters that will not hesitate to rip out your organs and eat them.” I tried to feel some sympathy to these shocked men but I just couldn’t do it. “They’re like severely deranged people. I don’t know if they have any memories left or not but don’t hesitate in killing them, because they won’t.”
I stood up, both knees cracking in the quiet air. Dean tore his gaze away from the corpse and headed off. I didn’t bother putting my knife away, just in case but I did borrow the infected’s shirt to wipe my knife off. I followed Dean, and Richard fell into step behind me. Dean surprised me by setting a cracking pace. Apparently, he didn’t want to run into anymore monsters, which I wasn’t in the mood for either. No matter where we were, there would always be the chance to run into
them but being in an area like this where it was difficult to maneuver it was always best to move quickly. I followed behind him with Brody and Richard spread out behind me. Instead of scanning the area around us, I couldn’t help but appreciate Dean’s profile as I followed him. May not be good for much at least so far but hey he’s eye candy. I smirked to myself. As long as he didn’t know that I was checking him out, I could do this all day. So far this is the only pro that I’ve gotten out of these two. Eye candy. Maybe they’ll do better if we ran into raiders. I shook my head. No, it would be better if we just avoided those guys all together. If our luck holds we’ll only see them from a distance. Otherwise it’ll turn into a shootout.
We crossed the rest of the bridge in silence and it didn’t bother me one bit. As we were coming down the bridge traffic seemed to ease up a little so it was easier going. I could almost walk in a straight path without having to squeeze myself through. The bridge was part of the main highway so we could just keep on following it. I kept peering into cars, hoping to see something useful. But either their former occupants had taken everything with them or someone had already looted them. There were so many cars here that there was bound to be something.
I straightened from looking into a car and I saw that Dean was staring back the way we came. He was frowning. I turned to see what he was looking at but I couldn’t see anything. “What are you looking at?”
Dead Paper Birds Page 6
