by Lauren Beltz
the smile that spread across it.
“Say uncle,” she teased.
He chuckled, then spun one-eighty and caught both her wrists before she even had time to react. Her jaw practically dropped, and the smile disappeared in an instant. Perhaps he should have let her enjoy the moment longer, but he didn’t take well to gloating.
“How about we leave uncles out of this, hm?” he suggested with a raise of an eyebrow.
“Deal,” she agreed. He released his hold and took a step back. Then he watched as she rubbed her wrists, and he instantly regretted his actions. He had forgotten how easily she bruised, and with the length of their sessions increasing with every outing, her skin had turned into a palette of different tints of blue, black, and purple. Her wrists were bound to bruise even from his simple hold.
“How about we call it for the day?” He hadn’t even wanted to continue their session after the rainstorm died down, but she had insisted. The gleam of excitement in her eyes had done him in, but he couldn’t let her push herself too far.
She shook her head, abandoning her wrists as she held her fists up protectively in front of her face. “Let’s go again. I think I’ll still be able to get you even if you put up a little resistance this time.”
At least she understood he was taking it easy on her and that she wouldn’t be so lucky against a real opponent. He hadn’t given her enough credit for that. He had almost decided to give her a couple more rounds to prove herself, but then she started to cough, and her hand went to cover her mouth.
As she cleared her throat, he shook his head. “You’re done for the day. The last thing we want to do is risk affecting your immune system if there is even the slightest chance that you might be getting sick.”
“It was one cough,” she protested.
But he wouldn’t budge this time. “We’ve been at it long enough today, and it’s about to get dark soon anyway. We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow.”
“Fine,” she consented, but she clearly wasn’t happy about the fact.
He followed her across the roof to the stairwell and watched the way she moved carefully as they proceeded. Her limp was faint but noticeable if you knew what to look for. The bruises on the backs of her legs were much more obvious, as were the ones on her arms. He was a little surprised no one had said anything about it yet, but he gathered the one who would be paying the most attention was Sebastian, and he was the one who asked for the training in the first place. Still, he didn’t like the way she looked as she slowly ambled down the stairs to their floor. Maybe he would have to ease back on their sessions to give her some time to heal before she pushed herself too far.
They ran into Anna right as they exited the stairwell onto their floor. “Ah, perfect,” she exclaimed when she saw them, “just the people I was looking for. Group meeting in ten minutes in front of Nathan’s apartment.”
The group meeting surprised him, but he had been expecting something of the sort ever since Sebastian had asked about the self defense classes. Something was clearly up, and it apparently had to do with both Anna and Sebastian, which only meant one of two things - infected people or food. Neither option left him feeling optimistic.
“I guess I’ll see you in a few minutes then,” he told her as they reached Sebastian’s apartment and he continued on down the hallway to his. He wanted to at least clean his face and try to steel himself for what was to come next.
Nathan
He ignored the pounding on the door as he sat at the small dining table and stared down at the bowl of soup in front of him. He didn’t want to eat, but Hayley kept insisting that he couldn’t just give up on life. Every time he pushed the bowl away, she would move it back and stare him down.
He grudgingly slurped the soup, but it had no taste as he forced himself to swallow. Every bite upset his stomach. He wondered if he would even be able to keep it down this time.
The knocking returned at the door, and he grew frustrated. Why couldn’t they get it through their thick heads that he wanted to be left alone? They have caused enough damage for one lifetime. They were a disease, each and every one of them, and he was better off keeping his distance. But still they came, at least once every day or so, knocking at his door, pleading for him to open up and talk to them. Trying to apologize or make excuses.
“Go away!” he shouted, though his voice was hoarse and cracked at the words. He coughed into the soup in front of him.
“Group meeting!” a voice shouted through the door. He recognized it immediately, and the spoon tightened in his grip. “Five minutes. In the hallway!”
He ignored her as he had in the past. He wouldn’t listen to a single thing that bitch said. Her words were poisoned with lies, and she would stab him in the heart if it pleased her.
The group had turned their backs on him when they had tricked their way into his home. They had manipulated him, lied to him, and taken away the one thing he treasured most in the world. They could have their group meetings as often as they liked, but he wouldn’t show his face for such a farce.
“Screw them,” he grumbled aloud. He stared across the table at her ghost of a reflection. “I won’t let them take you away a second time. I promise, Hales.”
Daniel
“What?” he asked. At first he felt certain he had misheard Anna. They all stood cramped in the narrow hallway while Anna spoke louder than normal to try to project through the door for Nathan to hear.
“The supplies in the building have diminished,” she repeated, “and it’s time that we got together to come up with some alternative solutions.”
“Diminished as in we have picked the metaphorical bone completely dry?” Davidson asked as he propped one foot up against the wall and leaned back against it, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Afraid so,” Sebastian confirmed Daniel’s worst fear. They didn’t have to say what came next - that they would have to leave the fortress they had worked so hard to build up. The relative safety and security they had spent so much time and effort building was worthless now if they were going to survive.
“So the plan is…” Lenore trailed off, waiting for Anna to fill in the blank.
“That’s what we’re hoping to figure out. Two heads are better than one, and five are better than two.”
“There are a few grocery stores within a block or two of the building, but we still need a plan on how to get there safely to retrieve food and supplies.”
“If there are even any left,” Lenore added. “How do we know others haven’t already raided the places clean? We could risk our lives to get there just to find out the store has already been emptied.”
“We haven’t seen any other humans,” Davidson pointed out.
Lenore turned her head to address him. “We haven’t been looking for them either,” she reminded him.
Davidson snorted, “You haven’t been looking for anything.”
Daniel felt the insult poorly veiled in the words. Lenore looked down at her feet.
“I’ve seen a lot of infected out there, but I haven’t seen any other humans on the streets.” Davidson continued. “Not since the first week. The people who had been out on the streets either got infected or got the hell out of dodge.”
“Or have been holed up like us,” Anna added.
“So then what makes you think it’s a good idea to go out on the streets?” Lenore asked. “What if there is another group who has already claimed the store?”
“No one said it was a good idea,” Daniel finally joined in the conversation, “but it’s not like we have much of a choice. What else are we going to do?”
Lenore glanced up at her brother, almost desperately, but no one said a word. He was right and they all knew it. They were all thinking the exact same thing, Daniel was just the only one willing to say it.
“So what’s the plan that you have developed so far?” Daniel asked, turning his attention to Anna.
“Get to the store, get supplies, and head back to the building.�
� Anna shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket while she talked. “I would suggest sending either two or three people to retrieve supplies, at least for the first run.” Lenore scoffed at the suggestion of more than one run. “Leave the rest for look out and back up. Plus, we’ll need people to re-barricade the doors on the first floor once the retrieval group has left.”
“And how is the retrieval group supposed to get back into the building with the supplies if the doors are barricaded?” Lenore asked.
“Hence the need for a look out. We’ll need someone watching the group’s position to see when they are coming back so that the remaining people can unblock the door and provide ground support as they make their way back.”
“Broadway is a mess,” Davidson said. “Cars were deserted bumper to bumper, not to mention bodies and trash, and you won’t have good sight from the ground across the street. And there’s no way you would be able to watch the side streets from the front of the building. Your look out is going to need to watch from the roof and communicate somehow with someone on the lower levels. I can scout from the roof if you want,” he shrugged off the suggestion as if he was just making a comment on the weather. “It’s kind of a hobby of mine already.” They all glanced at him as he called spying from a rooftop a hobby, but no one voiced a concern.
“We don’t necessarily need to relay the position from the roof to a look out on the ground floor,” Anna