…
I groaned. Richard cursed and Dean stood in silence.
I looked at the land in front of me, we were on a hill allowing on us to overlook ahead of us. Everything rose on gradual hills giving us a great view of where we needed to be but couldn’t get to. In the far distance I could see miles and miles of trees covering the hills and everything that I could see. Farther behind the trees I could see the blue/grey haze of mountains with snowy tips. Closer, hidden in between trees was the outskirts of suburbia, farmland. Although it was more forest than farmland now. Instead of cows and horses dotting the landscape it was trees. There used to be fields filled with all sorts of plants, like corn and wheat. Even closer there were a few neighborhoods with more land in between them, giving each house breathing room, but not quite the close suffocating atmosphere of suburbia. Even there it was evident that nature had taken over everything. Then right here, the bridge that we needed to cross. The bridge was laying in ruins in the river. The only things left of the bridge were the posts at either end signifying the beginning and ending of the bridge. The support beams were standing up out of the water like silent guards. They stood there covered in rust, while the cold water rushed around them, eating slowly away at the metal.
I stiffly sat down and hugged my knees. The whole trek out this way had been a waste of time. We were going to have to go through the downtown area after all. God help us, we were going to need all the help we could get in there. I was going to have to break one of dad’s rules. I thought back to standing in Romero’s office. He hadn’t outright threatened my family, but he didn’t need to. He probably had soldiers watching the house day and night to make sure that nothing was going on that he didn’t want. No visitors were coming or going. Making sure that my family weren’t making any unnecessary stops or visits to people known to fraternize with me or other rebels. They had the ration cards, they had enough for years if they got cut off. They could survive if I didn’t make it back, unless he decided to just kill them. Even though Romero hadn’t given us a time limit, he did emphasize that speed was a priority. I did tell mom and Jack after two weeks to get help. I’d told them who to call and, in the note, it said how to contact him. As long as they listened to him they’d be fine. But we’d already wasted a day just trekking out to the suburbs and now we had wasted another portion of a day coming out here just to have to turn around. It was going to take us even longer to trek our way through the downtown area and then we would have to travel all the way around to get back to where we need to go. On top of the distance that we would have to cover we would have infected all the way up to our necks and raiders. I shivered. Just the thought of raiders scared me to my core. I shoved my face into my knees. Raiders were possibly the only thing that scared me absolutely to my core. Infected scared me yes but raiders were on a whole different level.
They ruled out here. They were the ones who ran the areas that were not part of safe zones. They made their own rules. They were their own vigilantes. When there was so much chaos the military tried to keep everything under control. But how were they supposed to keep control when their own men kept abandoning their ranks and joining those who were trying to push the military back?
Dean squatted down beside me and interrupted my thoughts. “There’s no way to make it across without the bridge. Our only option is to go back and go through the downtown. It’s… um… not quite noon yet. Maybe ten or eleven.” He poked his watch, shook it and then held it up to his ear. Then continued. “We could make it to the outskirts of downtown sometime tonight, if we moved fast.”
I lifted my head from my knees, twisting my head to look at him. “Yeah but we are going to have to boogie to get there. We can travel at night but it’s not the wisest just because of limited vision. The infected don’t care about lights but if there’s anyone else in the area they’ll see it. We’d also be able to camp outside downtown if we’re quiet and don’t draw attention to ourselves. Once we’re in, I want to get out as fast as possible.” I looked at him, I mean I really looked at him. He had green eyes with flecks of gold in them, while his hair was shaggy and greasy looking. His face was narrow but he had a strong jawline the offset the narrowness of his face, along his jaw a shadow of a beard could be seen. But it fit him in a good way. I looked away before he could notice me looking, no ogling at him. Oh Alice, it’s not the time nor the place. I could feel him staring at me, so I looked back to see him studying me with a quizzical look on his face.
He held out a hand and pulled me to my feet. “Thanks.” I mumbled. I dusted my butt off with my hands.
Richard was still staring where the bridge should have been. “This isn’t fair. Why can’t something be easy for once?”
I bent over to retrieve my back pack that I had dumped before sitting down. “Because Richard, life isn’t fair.”
He looked over his shoulder at me, anger visible on his face. What more did he want me to say? We were all stuck with this, not just him. All of us were going to have to deal with the walking. Richard stood there shaking from anger and stared at where the bridge used to be.
Dean broke the awkward silence. “C’mon, we need to get ourselves in gear.”
Without waiting to see if we were following Dean took off. Eager to be off, are we? I chuckled. Taking a leaf out of my book now. Instead of feeling frustrated by it, I was grateful that I wasn’t the only one who wanted to move on. I shifted my pack and followed him. We walked down the middle of the street. It was oddly empty of vehicles except a few scattered along the way, even then they were pulled off to the side of the road. They were considerate at least, not blocking the road making us crawl over them. Even knowing where to look we could hardly see the traffic lines on the road because of the dirt and leaves that had settled on it. There were layers and layers of grime plastered on the pavement. We passed by buildings that used to house businesses ranging from restaurants to computer repair places. Almost all of the windows were broken with the glass littering the street, and there was trash and debris that either people or the wind threw around, probably both. The only sound besides our footsteps and breathing was the wind. There was no other sound. Even after years of knowing that at least ninety percent of the world was dead it was still wrong for this place to be empty and silent. It should be bustling with traffic. There should be conversation and laughter. But there was nothing. I wrapped my hands around my straps of my backpack and kept walking.
I crossed the street to stop to look at what used to be a café. I stepped up to where the door used to be. The glass was missing from the door, instead of opening the door I slipped in through the frame. The booths that were next to the windows were covered in mold, dirt and had stuffing coming out of them. Like someone had taken a knife and had gone through slicing them up. I couldn’t even tell what color the floor was anymore there was so much dirt on it. Garbage was thrown everywhere. There was even a broken coffee pot laying on its side. Dishes had been thrown on the floor. Pieces of them were laying on the ground. They were even covered in dirt. Everything out here was covered in dirt and leaves. I huffed to myself. Did everything have to be covered in leaves? There wasn’t even that many trees around here. And why do I have to insist on commenting on it all the time? I walked past broken tables and chairs, while my boots crunched on glass and leaves. Since there was so much air moving through here there wasn’t that much of a rotting, musty smell that all the closed-up places get. The smell was constantly being dissipated with the fresh air. I took a deep breath of air through my nose. Yup it was still there, just not as predominate. The smell was everywhere. I just had to really smell it, when it was everywhere it was easy to get used to. I reached the counter and used it to lean on. Stop Alice. Don’t think, take small breaths and don’t smell it. I lifted my head and tried to take my mind of off the smell. It was disgusting and depressing at the same time. I peeked over the counter. There wasn’t a whole lot in here. Just garbage and memories of how life used to be. I turned around and boosted mys
elf up onto the counter, I picked up my legs and flipped them over to the other side. There were still mixers and blenders in their places as if someone was going to come along and pick them up again. I ran my finger down the side of one blender and left a trail in the dust that had accumulated on it. It was sad how everything was just abandoned. People used to come in here and order drinks and food. Now everything is just left here waiting for someone to come and pick them up again. Otherwise they’ll just sit here until they finally fall apart.
There was a crunch behind me. I didn’t even have to look to see who it was because Dean came into my line of sight. “Pretty sad isn’t it. Seeing everything like this.” He leaned on the counter. His muscles flexing in his forearms as he leaned on them, palms on the counter.
I nodded. “Sad doesn’t even encompass what happened here. With what happened everywhere.” I paused. “So why did he pick you?”
He looked puzzled. “What?”
I picked up a menu that was laying on the counter to flip through it. “Why did Romero pick you to come with me? Was it to make sure I actually do what he wants me to do? Or are you being forced into it to? Are you just muscle? Why you?” I sighed. “If we want to get through this, we are going to have to work together instead of fighting.”
“Well then you’re going to have to say sorry to Richard.”
I looked up to see him watching me, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He saw me watching him but I couldn’t tear my gaze away. There was something about him that made me want to just watch him. With a small jolt I tore my gaze away from him to the menu in my hands. He laughed quietly. I felt the blush creep across my face.
I cleared my throat, trying to take the attention from my face. “I’m not saying sorry. If he can’t handle being punched then that’s his fault.” I flipped through the menu. The pictures of food making my stomach grumble. I slammed it shut before I threw it across the room where it fluttered to the ground and sent a wave of dirt spiraling across the floor. Richard stomped in through the door, his presence made everything look small in comparison to him. “I swear with how big you two are, you both have to be on steroids.” I pulled open drawers. Just to see what was in them.
Dean laughed and Richard scowled as if he didn’t approve of jokes. Dean’s laughing trailed off. “I guess you do have a right to know why he did pick us. To be honest Richard and I both haven’t been outside of the walls since they were implemented, we weren’t picked for being experienced scavengers.” He snuck in a sly smile as if he was trying to make me laugh. “Before all of this, I was in the army, and Richard here is a certified genius who likes to work out in between experiments. I know how to survive in a gun fight if it comes to that, and based on what intel was given to us, a firefight is likely. And it’s better to have some backup when it comes to those, which is where I come in. And Richard here is the one who’s in charge of finding the cure, and testing people to see if they are actually immune and all that jazz. And you to round it all up, you have the first-hand experience out here, dealing with all of this. So that’s us.”
Richard cut in, “We also have supplies that you don’t have.”
I shot him a mocking look. “No way, I never would have guessed.”
He glared at me and I swear he even growled. Oh, he was too much fun to taunt. I switched my gaze back to Dean, the smile that was on my face faded at the look he gave me. Ugh, standing up for each other like actual buddies or maybe Dean just didn’t appreciate people picking on someone for not having decent social skills. I wonder if he would defend me the same way he defends Richard. Nah, don’t even go there. You can defend yourself well enough and besides no attachments allowed. If someone were making remarks to my face I could match them word for word and if they were saying it behind my back well I’d move on, cut them out. I shrugged my shoulders and held my hands out in mock surrender. No fun at all, and some people say I don’t have a sense of humor.
“Why aren’t we leaving Dean?” Richard growled.
I picked up a glass and twirled it in my hands. “Alice decided on a detour. I thought she had seen something but-“ He looked pointedly at me, laughter written on his face, “I guess she didn’t.”
I had to fight rolling my eyes at him. I climbed over the counter and hopping down onto the other side, I dropped the glass onto the ground. It shattered. They both cringed at the noise and looked around to see if anything came flying out at us. I walked out of the café and back onto the street without looking back. I was done talking for now. Daylight was wasting. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.
…
The sun was on its downward trek when I turned the corner to see a familiar shape leaning against a car. Before Dean or Richard could react, I began running. In the matter of seconds, it took me to get to him, I had forgiven him and gotten angry all over again. When I got there I stopped and stared down at the stranger at my feet.
The man was a mess, he was covered in blood and dirt. Most of the blood looked like it was his. I crouched down next to him. I looked over his arms and along his torso where parts of his shirt was missing, there was pieces of flesh missing with teeth marks that could be seen through the blood. His skin was pale, almost white and it was almost cold to the touch. I felt along his arm for a pulse. It was weak but there. I sat back on my heels. There was just so much blood. He was covered in it head to toe. Not to mention the bites. He was dead. No getting around it, it was only a matter of time at this point. The man coughed and looked at my feet, his eyes slowly traveled up my body to my face. He coughed. It was wet sounding, like inside his chest was torn up. “Well I know you’re not infected, or I would be in even more pain than I am in now.” He groaned and it sounded wet, like his lungs had been penetrated.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. This was the first person I had ever met outside the wall that wasn’t trying to kill me or rob me. His clothes hung off of him, like they were several sizes too big for him. His skin was stretched tightly across his skull, his eyes were deep set into his face with dark circles around them. Ignoring my instincts on leaving him I stayed crouched by him. His bloodshot eyes drilled holes into mine. “What happened?” I asked, my voice quiet.
He laughed. He laughed hard enough that his laughter turned to coughing and his coughing turned to wheezing. When he finally caught his breath, he said. “You ain’t blind. I got bit.”
I shook my head. “That’s not what I meant.”
He shrugged. I saw it in his face, anger, pain and sadness. I reached out my hand to touch his forehead. He jerked away from it. I followed his face and pushed my hand onto his forehead. It was hot to the touch. He didn’t have much time left, maybe a couple of pain filled hours left at the most. After being bitten it can take up to twenty-four hours for the infection to consume a person, but for most it happened in eight or less and that was with only one bite. He had so many. He’d be lucky if he had an hour left. I dropped my hand to his and held it in between both of mine. Holding his hand, showing compassion, it was like I turned the faucet on because he started talking, his speech was interrupted by coughing and wheezing but he kept going.
“My family and I, there was other people there too. But um, we were in the school back over there.” He jerked his thumb up the street. “We were in the gym and we thought we had cleared the building but then my wife came in running with one of them on her tail. I jumped up from where I’d been trying to catnap. I grabbed it to throw it on the ground but before I could do that it turned around and bit me, I screamed. I couldn’t help it, it just hurt so damn bad. I couldn’t pull it off of me, it latched itself onto my arm, like a dog would. My son killed it. But the damage had already been done. My wife fainted but I couldn’t, I couldn’t go to her. We heard more infected moving and I told them to get out. I’d take care of the infected that tried to follow them. I’d keep them busy so my family could get away. My son, my son! He offered to kill me so I wouldn’t have to endure the change. How could I put that
weight on him? I couldn’t do that to him. I couldn’t have it on his head that he had to put me down. Besides they still needed a distraction so they could get out. I told him to take care of his mom, make sure that she stayed alive, to make sure that they all stayed alive.” He had started crying long before he finished and once he finished his story, he sobbed.
I gripped his hand tight. I didn’t know what to say to him. This man had lost everything, all because of one bite, one mistake. What was I supposed to say to someone in his situation? I squeezed his hand and he squeezed mine back.
He gathered his composure and stared me directly in the eyes. “You’re a stranger and I have no right to ask this of you. I have no right to put this on your shoulders. But I don’t want to be one of them.” His bloodshot eyes were drilling holes into me.
I nodded. “Of course. I understand.” I pulled my pistol out of its holster and cocked it. I stared down at it momentarily before looking back up at him. He had closed his eyes. I put the barrel of the gun against his forehead. “Goodbye.” I whispered. He opened his eyes and smiled at me. I pulled the trigger.
I saw it. Whatever keeps a person alive, whether it be your soul or just your personality, whatever it is; I saw it leave. The man’s eyes went dark and his whole body went limp. I held his hand in mine. Tears started forming and falling down my face but I couldn’t move. This man, he lost everything. His family lost him. All because of a single bite that started the whole avalanche. This is why Romero was having us look for a cure. At least I hope that this was the reason he wanted us to find the cure.
Dead Paper Birds Page 10
