by Maya Riley
They all still had a sweet side. Hell, even Mateo was a bit sweeter than he let on. He presented a tough exterior, but now I had seen a peek of the softness hidden deep inside.
Adam was curled up on the floor several feet away, his dirty blond hair falling into his face as he slept. Jonah was wrapped up in a blanket on the other side of Puppy, his face peaceful, as if nothing was wrong.
Warmth slowly trickled through my body throughout the night. I’d been so cold since I was brought in, I wasn’t sure if I would ever feel warm again. My toes thawed and I was starting to feel much better.
I sat up and the sleeping guys stirred. A dark eye flew open and bored into me from the corner and a calculating look filled Mateo’s face. Jonah and Adam sat up and watched me. The abruptness of it made me wonder if any of them had really been sleeping after all.
Throwing the blanket off my body, I went to stand up when rough hands stopped me. “You shouldn’t move too fast; we don’t know how you’re doing yet. You’ve been freezing all night,” Lincoln wrapped his hands around my own, startling me with the coldness of his touch. “Or… at least you were a minute ago, but you feel fine now.”
“I feel good. I’ve thawed out. I’m pretty sure I can handle going to the bathroom by myself though.” I gave him a small smile and stood up, testing my legs. Even my healing ankle felt normal, and I headed toward the bathroom. The sulfur smell assaulted my nostrils as I opened the door, a sign that the plumbing had been off for too long.
Turning to the mirror, I looked myself over. Color was returning to my face. No scratches or bite marks that I could see. Lifting my shirtsleeves, I noticed a strange mark on my shoulder. It was small with some swirls—not a bite. I had a birthmark there, but it was always a plain, faint, and simple mark. Now, though, there were more lines and swirls added to it. Unable to wrap my head around a reasonable answer, I continued my inspection.
I raised my shirt and inspected my stomach, and then turned around to see my back in the mirror—still in the clear. The little marks all over my body were shrinking and becoming no more than little pink dots, healing faster than I’d expect. I lifted my shirt higher past my shoulder blades and saw the suspicious little indents of human teeth. I stopped and stared in the mirror, willing the image reflected before me to not be real. If I was infected, then this was where it’d be from. The guys had inspected me, but they didn’t mention this. Unless they were trying to hide it from me.
My fingers reached back and traced over the mark. It was definitely a bite, but the way it seemed to be healing made it look older than it should be. I knew something felt different last night, but I could’ve sworn it didn’t have anything to do with the virus. Strangely, I felt… better.
Dropping the shirt, I bent down to my leg and removed the brace. Fabric fell to the floor as I unraveled the wrap. A surprised gasp escaped my lips at what I saw. My ankle… it was better. My hands rubbed all around it, but it looked and felt perfectly fine. Normal, even.
Confusion filled my mind as I tried to process it. I had no idea what was going on. That bite mark should be turning me into a rotter, not… healing me.
Undecided on whether or not to tell the guys, I replaced the wrap and thought about what to do next. The safest thing to do would be to leave them, in case I did turn. But what if something else was going on? If there were some people who were… immune to the virus and actually healed from it rather than decayed?
Shouts interrupted my thoughts and I whipped around to face the door. Thumping sounded through the door, as though bodies were being thrown around, and I panicked. I felt around my clothing and found nothing, the daggers from yesterday must still be outside. Cursing, I looked around until I spotted the small razor blade on the sink underneath the handle and smiled—weapons in random places really came in handy. I hid the small blade in my palm and opened the door.
Several scavers greeted my vision. Nobody noticed my entrance in the chaos that broke out. Jonah was restrained, with his arms behind his back, by some guy who looked like he never once owned a toothbrush. Adam was slumped to the floor and against the wall, unconscious. Mateo was pinned down several feet away by three guys, and Lincoln was up against the wall with a hand around his neck. Barking told me that Puppy was locked outside and that made my blood boil the most. Gurgling noises sounded from Lincoln’s mouth as the hand around his throat squeezed tighter. Gripping the blade, I ran, jumped, and dug the blade deep into the shoulder of the guy restraining Lincoln. He cried out and released his victim with the blade still stuck in his shoulder.
Spinning, I raced toward the next closest, the one holding Jonah. This guy was a split second more prepared than the first and jumped toward me with a knife. Dodging left, I ducked underneath and grabbed his forearm, digging my nails in and twisting until I heard the telltale sound of the blade clattering to the ground. I released the man’s arm and bent down, picking up the knife. I stood up with the knife held out in front of me, ready to take down another scaver.
A strong arm wrapped around my neck from the back, slightly cutting off my airway to make me compliant. I kicked out at the attacker until I felt the coolness of a blade press against my throat, and I stilled. I would be no help to anyone dead.
My eyes wandered around, seeking out the others without moving my head. Lincoln and Jonah were both free, but not yet making a move. I noticed their inconspicuous hand motions as they tried to form a plan between them. Rather than acting immediately, they were looking at me, and the beast of a man who had a gun pointed at my head in addition to the guy with a knife at my neck.
“Well, well, well,” the beast man chuckled. “We seem to have a little fighter on our hands.”
He stalked closer until I could feel the cold barrel against my cheek. “I was just going to kill you all and take what’s mine. But,” he ran the barrel of the gun down my face to my chest, dipping it into the V-neck of my shirt, “I think I can come up with a much better use for you.”
Roars echoed around the walls as Mateo tried to buck the three guys off of him, but was unsuccessful. My eyes flew to the pileup of people on the floor right as his head was lifted and then slammed back down into the cement. This was not good.
Stay calm, Blyss. You can fight your way out of this. Just think.
Lincoln and Jonah instinctively began to move toward Mateo, but the two guys, who originally restrained them, stopped Lincoln and Jonah again. The one with Lincoln grunted in pain from his shoulder wound, to which Beast Man yelled at him, “Shut up, Ryker, you’re fine.”
All was silent. Nobody moved, everyone remained still as they tried to figure out their next move.
A slow clap sounded and I looked toward the door. A woman, fairly pretty with clean, short blonde hair and rosy red lips, stood near the doorway, having emerged from the shadows, and was leaning against the frame with a smirk on her face. Her eyes watched Mateo as though his situation was humorous. “Hello, darling. It’s good to see you,” she purred.
“I’m not your darling, you bitch.” Blood sputtered onto the cold floor as Mateo spat out the words.
The woman walked over to him and knelt down. Stretching out her hand, she took his chin in between her thumb and forefinger and forced him to look at her. “Someone has forgotten his manners. I might need to teach you a lesson. Let’s see,” she reached into her back pants pocket and pulled out a knife. “What do you think, should we go for the other eye, or start on the ears?”
“I’ll use small words so that you’ll be sure to understand. You. Fuck. Off.” And with that, his teeth latched onto her hand and wouldn’t let go. The blood oozed farther as his teeth dug in deeper. She raised her knife hand and I screamed, desperate to break free and help.
“Bitch. What, you think having a bunch of goons hold a man down makes you all big and powerful? You don’t show up unless you can kick someone while they’re down? You’re nothing but a damn coward.” I spit at her with the last word and watched as it landed on her perfect cheekbone.<
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She tilted the knife back and threw it at me, before pulling her other hand free and jumping back as a trail of blood dripped from her wound. I managed to duck in time, grateful for the distraction it caused as the other two men were too focused on Mateo to remember they each had their weapon on me. Which was unfortunate for the one behind me who crumpled to the ground with a knife in his chest.
Standing up, I threw an elbow into the face of a scaver who tried to grab me next and heard a crunching sound. That would hurt. Then I ran and grabbed an arm of the beast man and flung myself onto his back. I wrapped an arm around his neck and squeezed, placing his throat in the crook of my elbow. He clawed at my arm then jumped, and we were suddenly falling backward. I managed to jump off before his back made impact with the ground, and slid across the floor to the fallen knife.
Right as I reached it, a muddy brown boot stepped on top of it and I looked up to see a bloody nose on the face that was scowling down at me. “You bitch! You’re gonna pay for that,” he yelled, his eyes practically bulging out of his head.
I jumped at a clicking sound, spinning around to see beast man, still on the floor, but with the gun pointed right at me. A sneer crossed his face as the word, “Goodbye,” passed his lips.
I didn’t have time to fight or beg, before a warmth brushed over my arms and I looked over to see flames. My eyes widened in surprise as the flames shot straight for beast and me. His cries were the only noises I heard as I was tackled and rolling across the floor. Coming to a stop, Jonah’s hands were on my waist, lifting me off the floor, and pulling me toward the nearest window. I looked back to see that Mateo had freed himself and was looking toward us, yelling at us to get out.
Jonah pried the window open, and we climbed out and fell to the ground. I spun around for the others, my worry increasing as fast as the spontaneous ball of fire that seemed to be spreading faster than normal. I moved to run toward the window but Jonah held me back. All of them had to make it out, but why wasn’t he letting me help? I needed to help. His hands gripped me tighter as my struggle increased.
Finally, four dark figures formed, running out of the smoke obscuring the entire front of the building. I yelled even louder as I made out Mateo and Lincoln, who was carrying Adam, as they emerged from the window, with Puppy trotting around the side of the building. Jonah and I reached our hands out and grabbed Adam, pulling him through so the others could more easily climb out on their own. Soon, we were all sprawled out on the grass that was poking through the melting snow, right before the roaring inferno encased the fire station in flames. It was a bit poetic, really.
“Does someone want to explain to me what the fuck just happened?” I coughed out.
The only answer I got was more coughing from the others. Roars and cries from inside the station reached our ears and we froze for a moment. Another string of screams from the inside spurred us into motion and we scrambled to our feet. Jonah reached inside the broken window, and I went to grab him. Before I could move, he was jumping back with a backpack hanging from his hand. An emergency bag. We set one on both ends of the fire station last night, Jonah signed before tossing the bag on his back and moving away from the fiery station.
Lincoln threw Adam over his shoulder and we were off, heading toward the trees with no particular direction in mind. We left the light and the fire behind us as we headed into the darkness
We ran for what felt like hours, but was much shorter, not stopping until our legs were ready to give out. We were already tired and injured from our confrontation with the scavers, so everyone’s stamina was running low. Nobody made any comments on my sudden ability to run and keep up with no issues though, since everyone was stuck in their own heads.
We kept going straight, heading toward the sunrise.
We happened upon the occasional rotter, which was quickly taken down by whoever was nearest. I began to slow down, needing to rest. My legs felt like jelly and it would only be a matter of time before they gave out.
“There should be enough distance between us and the scavers by now. Our tracks in the mud seemed to be mixing with all the animals that are running rampant,” I stated, wanting to stop and take a break. “They might not have even made it out of the building.”
The sound of rushing water broke me out of my need to slow down and I stopped, turning to the other guys. “Do you hear that?” A smile crossed my lips. “It’s water! Come on, let’s follow it.” Leaves and pinecones crunched under my feet as I took off toward the sound of water with a burst of renewed energy, and the guys and my pup followed behind.
The next sight I saw stopped me in my tracks. There was a rotter on the ground, but it was the first time I saw something like this. A pile of cats were on the rotter, feasting on the rotting corpse as though it were a fresh can of tuna. Sickening sounds filled the air as each piece of meat was torn off and loudly chewed. My nose scrunched up at the smell—similar to tomato soup left at the bottom of a trash can over the course of weeks—and I nearly gagged at the stench. The bony, decaying hand reached forward toward me as a feral-looking cat took a bite out of the finger. Through the mess of matted fur, I could see bones peeking out from the legs. Edging my way around the gruesome sight, I continued on toward the sound of water, shaking my head to try and get the image out of my mind.
We’d left all of our food and belongings back at the station, which were surely destroyed in the fire by now. My heart ached at the thought of all the weapons we had left behind. We would have to scavenge for more, unless we could find our way back to the cabin I’d lived in when I found the guys. Weapons were too necessary for survival, even though I was grateful we all still had our lives. All those blankets and extra layers of clothing would have been great to have also. I didn’t know what things they’d managed to fit inside the emergency bag, but I was eager to find out. All I could see on it was Lincoln’s bow strapped to the outside.
Soon enough, we came upon a small body of water hidden in the trees. A waterfall, about ten feet high, poured into it from above. It was the sound we had followed.
I immediately went to the water’s edge and dipped my hands in, cupping them. My fingers were quickly turning white from the coldness, but I could handle it. “B, wait, we don’t know if it’s safe. We should probably get a fire going and boil it first.” Lincoln gave a slight cringe at that, and I didn’t blame him. We were all nearly boiled alive not too long ago. “Mateo, could you start working on a fire? I want to check the area and see what I can find.” Lincoln set Adam on the ground nearby. “There should be a water bottle in the backpack,” he called over his shoulder as he took off.
I thought he was usually the whiz at making the fires. Maybe he just needed some time alone to decompress after all that had happened. I couldn’t blame him; we would all need a breather after that.
I looked around at the guys. Mateo had his usual “don’t fuck with me” face. Jonah’s eyes snapped to me when I waved my hands around to get his attention, and I signed, what kind of things are in the pack?
Some knives, a couple shirts, first aid kit, a package of crackers, a couple cans of beans. One tent. Some emergency basics. He listed off the items, and I became really grateful that they got this together ahead of time. We’d begun to get comfortable at the fire station, most of everything else had been on the second level.
I turned my attention back to the water, wanting to get somewhat cleaned up.
Lifting my hands up, I washed my face and arms with the water before moving over to check on Adam. He was still out cold. I took the opportunity to look him over. His blond hair was wet and stringy, falling to his shoulders. His blue eyes, which I knew were hidden under those lash-filled lids, were closed as if he was in restful slumber. He even had some faint freckles I’d never noticed before.
“So, once I get this fire going, what will we use to collect and boil the water?” Mateo’s question startled me out of my creeping and I jumped, turning to look at the back of his head. He hadn’t noticed
.
“Um, that’s actually a good question,” I answered, looking around. “Oh, what about some rocks? Some of these have small depressions in them, put them in water and—”
Mateo interrupted me. “You should never put wet rocks in a fire. They can explode and send shrapnel flying all over the place. You can put hot rocks in water, but not the other way around. Bad idea.”
A clapping noise had us looking over to Jonah to him fingerspelling ‘eggs’ and pointing upward. “Well, I’ll be damned.” I looked up to see some pine trees surrounding our little oasis. High up in the branches were some birds nests, at least four in one tree alone that I could see.
“There’s a lot of birds nests here,” Mateo noted. “We could always hunt an animal, too. There should be some knives in that pack.” He squinted at the sky. “There’ll still be some daylight left.” He shrugged and turned back to working on the fire. “Once I get this going, I can help figure out how to get some down. We should be able to use some heated rocks to cook them on. Some dry rocks added to the fire, not the wet ones.”
I began to look around at what we could use to help get us up there, and then my eyes fell on Jonah and I had an idea. I pointed to his belt and signed, asking for it. Curious, he took it off and handed it to me. Checking to make sure Mateo’s back was turned because I didn’t need to get yelled at right now, I swung one end of the belt around a tree and grasped the other end in my hand. I braced one foot against the base of the trunk and pulled the leather taut. Making sure the belt could handle my weight, I leaned fully back and hopped my second foot up onto the tree. Switching back and forth between leaning back to walk my feet up, and throwing my arms forward to scooch the belt up a little higher, I slowly began to make my way up the tree.