by Lauren Beltz
backup.
“We draw straws,” Sebastian suggested. It was a tried and true method and offered as much fairness as possible. Though was it really fair to leave their survival up to chance? Could they trust the weaker in their group to continue on, much less return, if they faced danger on the run? Anna didn’t like the odds. Without a suggestion of her own though, she kept her opinion to herself.
No one objected, and it appeared the matter was settled with his lone suggestion. Anna sucked her left cheek in and began to chew on it as she stood and waited. Then Lenore spoke up. “We can draw straws, but we all know Davidson has to stay.”
It wasn’t the objection Anna had hoped to hear, but it was at least a start. “And just why is that?” William asked.
“Aerial support,” Davidson replied with a bit of a wicked grin. None of them knew what he meant with his cryptic replies, but they knew it would come in handy in situations like the one they found themselves currently in. To emphasize his point, Davidson held a hand up, index finger and thumb extended, winking one eye shut as he pretended to aim a riffle.
“Do you have the necessary equipment?” William questioned.
“I have the bare necessities I need to scrape by, but if you have something else,” something hidden from the rest of us, Anna read through the lines, “then I would be more than happy to take a look at it.”
“Stop by my apartment tomorrow,” William offered. “We’ll see what we’ve got. Maybe we can find some ground support for the runners to take to help protect themselves.” From the way he said it, Anna knew there was no way in hell William would be making the trip. She didn’t know how he would justify not putting his hat in the ring with the rest of them, but she couldn’t wait to find out.
“We can draw straws,” Daniel pitched in, “but regardless of the outcome, I’m going.”
Everyone turned to look at him. If Davidson hadn’t been needed to cover the group from the roof, she would have expected such a claim from him. But from Daniel? It was not something she saw coming. It just went to prove how little they knew about each other, even after all the time spent in such tight confines.
“No one seems to object, so it’s settled,” declared William. As if anyone would object. Objections would have flown, to be sure, if he had declared he wouldn’t go. But a volunteer meant everyone else had a less likely chance of having to do ground support. Anna still didn’t know if she liked the randomness left, no matter how fair it was, but she doubted anyone else would volunteer to join him.
No one did. “So we will take tomorrow to gather what supplies we have. The day after, in the afternoon when the sun will afford us the best advantage of seeing any of the infected, the team will set off.”
“I’ll pull together some packs with some essentials for the team,” Sebastian offered. Anna tossed in an offer to help.
“Morning would be better,” Davidson commented. “Or late afternoon. When the buildings block out the overhead light. With the sun in the sky above us, I have to deal with glare and potential obscured sight.”
William did not like having to listen to another’s input, but he took it in stride this evening. “Very well then. We will reconvene tomorrow evening to sort through our supplies, select our group, and make sure we have everything we need to be prepared and safe. And then we will decide on morning or evening depending on where we are at tomorrow evening.”
They all nodded in agreement. They hardly knew what to expect, so precise input was unlikely. When William asked if there were any questions and no one spoke up, he brought the meeting to a close. Always a man in need of the last word. Anna hesitated as she watched Lenore, Sebastian, Davidson, and Daniel move to the pile of makeshift rope in front of the elevator. She almost offered to help, but it looked like they already had more help than required.
Lenore
Lenore attempted to conceal her nervous twitching. If the others noticed, they didn’t comment. Sebastian had brought her a Bass Pro Shop rain suit they had collected into their storage from one of the apartments scavenged. It had been a coincidence since it wasn’t an object he usually would have snagged on their shopping runs. None of them had thought ahead to a time when they would have to leave the building and brave the natural elements again.
“Just in case,” Sebastian said as he handed over the cheap PVC material. It crinkled loudly as the plastic material rubbed against itself in folds. “We don’t know how the infection spreads, so the more skin you have covered up, the less we have to worry about the unthinkable.”
“And if it’s airborne?” Lenore dared to ponder as she stepped into the elastic stretch waist pants. An airborne virus was her biggest fear, the one she tossed over and over in her head throughout the night as she laid awake in fear.
“Then we all would have died already,” Davidson admitted. It was hardly reassuring, but he had a point. They had shared the same small space with Hayley for who knew how long, yet none of them were showing any visible signs of symptoms, not even Nathan.
Lenore’s fingers fumbled uselessly as she slipped on the jacket top and tried in vain to engage the zipper. Davidson moved to stand before her, stilling her hands as he took over the simple task. As the zipper reached the top, he gave it a final tug of reassurance. She reached out, her hand finding his arm. He returned the gesture, giving her arm a gentle squeeze.
“You okay?” he asked. She nodded her mute reply. “You sure?” She nodded once more. “It’ll be smooth sailing, chica,” he promised her. “And we’re going to have you covered up here. We won’t let anything happen to you. Scout’s honor.”
Lenore choked out a strained laugh. “You were never a boy scout.” Intentional or not, he had managed to lighten the mood, for which she was eternally grateful.
“I never specified what kind of scout,” he said as he winked and clicked his tongue. “Hoorah.”
“Ready?” Daniel asked. Sebastian stood patiently, waiting by the elevator doors. Sucking in a deep breath, Lenore nodded. She was far from ready, but they could wait all evening and she wouldn’t be any closer. The plastic suit was warming her quickly, and the least amount of time she had to spend in it, the better. It wasn’t as if she would be able to take a bath once she finished.
Lenore held on to Daniel’s shoulders for support as he leaned down to position the harness they had made. When he looked up at her to signal it was good to go, she stepped in one foot at a time. He pulled it up, patiently as it snagged on the extra material of the rain suit. “Relax,” he told her as she tensed while his hands brushed against her legs.
“How about you guys focus on what you need to do and stop telling me what I need to do?” Her words carried an undertone of malice. Her nerves were already beyond wrecked, and the close proximity to Daniel was not helping matters any. Especially not when she recalled the image of him on the roof, clad only in his boxers. The image was something she tried hard not to focus on but that popped up regardless.
He pulled the harness taut, the material pulling against her crouch, far rougher than necessary as he caught her eyes. In return, she tightened her grip on his shoulders. If only she still had fingernails left to dig into his skin.
As he tightened the knots on one side of his homemade contraption, Davidson stepped forward to help with the other. She could feel the body heat radiating off both of them, even through the oven of the rain suit. As they finished, Davidson pulled away. Daniel moved back to stand before her, double checking the harness one more time. “It’s fine,” Lenore finally insisted, anxious to put the task behind her. Though her nerves were ebbing away, they were being quickly replaced with impatience.
“You’d think she would thank us,” Daniel said to the other two as he stood up and moved away.
“I’ll thank you when I get back up here. Assuming the rope holds.”
“It’ll hold,” he promised.
“Right then.” She tried not to be obvious as she turned her gaze towards the elevators. “Seb, if you’ll do the honors.�
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As her brother pulled back the heavy metal doors, Lenore tried not to gag from the smell quickly consuming the hallway. She took small comfort in the fact that Davidson and Daniel immediately turned their heads away as well.
Tucking her head into the inside of her elbow, Lenore coughed into the rain suit and breathed in the smell of the PVC. If she had eaten anything in the past twenty-four hours, she would have been seeing it again for an encore. “I can do this,” Sebastian offered once more, but Lenore shook her head from behind her arm. She didn’t try to talk, afraid it would only lead to inhaling more of the putrid smell.
Davidson stepped up, grabbing hold of the rope. Sitting down, he paused to gag over his shoulder before he braced his feet against the parted doors. With one foot positioned on either door he bent his knees, sliding closer to the opening and the smell as he positioned himself to lower her down. “Oh, shit,” he moaned as the smell overtook them. “Come on.” Lenore figured the comment was directed towards her, no longer the only one in a hurry to finish the task. The faster they got this over with, the better for all of them.
She moved to stand by his leg. Daniel handed her the gloves and the trash bags. “Some of the bodies should already be in bags,” Sebastian told her. Though initially affected as much as the rest of them, he