What Remains: The Outbreak

by Tyler Barrett

  Ramirez called to him, “Are you alright?”

  Knight replied in between pulses, “I’m…fine.”

  He sat up, greeted by a blinding light shown on his face. The light sent a searing pain through his head, making him dizzy. He leaned up against the sewer wall, eyes closed, and hand on his temples.

  “Fucker stepped on the cover, and it hit me in the head,” Knight stated.

  Ramirez stepped forward, “Sorry about the light. You sure you’re ok? We can take a quick rest.”

  “Nah, we need to keep moving. Can’t waste time getting out of the city,” he replied.

  Kenji looked at Knight, “I can lead them for a bit. That way you just have to worry about following us. Does that sound good?”

  Knight thought about it for a bit and then replied weakly, “Yeah, that’s fine, do whatever. My head is killing me now.”

  Kenji didn’t wait and motioned the group to follow him. Several beams of light started off down the tunnels, while Knight waited against the wall. He slowly rose up, still slightly dizzy, but remained upright. He hobbled after them, Ramirez just ahead of him.

  Chapter 39

  Echoes in the Dark

  They continued in the dark, relying on the flashlights to lead them. The sound of the footsteps in the dark seemed to coincide with the throb of his head. Knight couldn’t tell if the pain had dulled or stayed the same, but he tried to focus on the group. It would be easy to get left behind in the tunnels, easily lost in the labyrinth beneath the city.

  Knight could just make out the dark shapes of the people moving ahead of him but couldn’t tell who he was following. He wanted to ask them to stop so he could have a minute to rest. However, that would be more time wasted, the time they could have moved further through the city. It was that thought alone that forced him onwards, fighting through the dizzying pain.

  Soon all he could hear was the pounding of his heart pushing the blood through his body, overtaken by the occasional splash of his footfalls echoing. He knew that he would have to stop eventually, but he was trained to ignore all pain, focus on his mission, and complete it. Focus on the mission. Focus on the mission. Those words repeated in his head, the voice inside his head yelling over the pain.

  He started to feel normal again, cut off from his emotions, like so many missions before. He was imagining his vision getting blurry, and the tunnels moving on him, for it to be real would mean weakness, and that wasn’t allowed. His narrowed his eyes at the beams of light, following them like a ship would a lighthouse. He felt very much like a ship at sea, swaying back and forth, with the beat of the ocean.

  Knight put one foot in front of the other, fighting the notion to heave what little food he could muster to swallow earlier that morning at the base. Sleep deprived, overstressed, and hungry, all while constantly on the go off and on, left him weak. He knew but did not want to admit it. Deciding to take a quick second to catch his breath, he stopped and leaned against the musty, slimy wall.

  He took in the deepest breath he could and counted to ten. His pulse quickened a little at first, but then slowly steadied itself as he exhaled. The surge of oxygen worked its way into his system putting him on alert, awakening his deadened sense. He no longer felt dizzy, but a little shaky. He closed his eyes, listening to his heartbeat pump the blood throughout his body. It was a calming experience for him, knowing that he was still alive.

  Knight opening his eyes again, now feeling somewhat better, or, at least, clearer minded. With that, he pushed off the wall and started to walk down the tunnel, following the sound of the group ahead. He could only hear them softly walking through the water but couldn’t see the light from their flashlights anymore. Knight hurried along, breaking into a brisk walk.

  How far had they gotten ahead of him, he wondered? It had only been twenty seconds at the most he had taken to rest. Surely, he would catch up soon. He felt his heart beat faster until it was pounding on his chest. Panic set in that he had lost the group, maybe they decided to take another tunnel and didn’t tell him.

  He started to run down the tunnel, knowing that he should have run into the group by now. Knight was for sure that he had lost the group now. He stopped and listened, hearing only silence interrupted by the occasional dripping of water. Checking both lengths of the tunnel knight couldn’t see anything. Listening for any noise coming from either end, he shut his eyes again, hoping to catch an echo.

  The seconds ticked by, he waited for a sign of an echo, anything indicating their location. A splash, followed by several more, echoed from the right, footsteps from one of the group members+. Knight opened his eyes and began to sprint down the tunnel to the right. The splashing of his steps matched those of the person he was chasing.

  “Hey, wait up,” yelled Knight, deciding to break his order to stay quiet.

  Pushing harder to catch up to whoever was running, he leaned forward, pumping his arms. Each tunnel he passed he tried to look down, but still couldn’t see anything. The dark tunnels amplified each sound, and he couldn’t figure out which direction the sound was coming from. He didn’t worry about that and forced himself forward into the never-ending dark.

  Knight ran and ran; he ran until he slipped on the slimy, slick, tunnels. He fell hard, sliding and scraping his elbows and hands trying to stop himself. When he finally came to a stop, he realized how much his body ached, and the adrenaline came to a halting stop. The blood rush to his head brought him to the point of fainting.

  For a few fleeting moments, he thought that he had, but could not tell, since everything around him was black. Once his senses entirely came back to him the sound of someone approaching him, about one hundred feet from him, bringing him back to reality. Knight opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself up using his elbows, which stung from the weight put on them.

  In the dark, a figure appeared slowly moving towards him, with that same awkward walk that the infected had. Soon he could hear more approaching from the same tunnel. The splashing of the water echoed in the dark, creating a thunderous roar of people walking towards Knight. He could tell they were infected, but they hadn’t found him just yet. He had alerted them with his running and yelling.

  He didn’t move an inch, taking shallow breaths, thinking that even that might be too loud. He could see the horde approaching, stumbling in the slippery tunnel. Maybe, if he was quick enough, he could outrun them, having better control of his balance than they did. Knight knew that every second he hesitated was another second the infected got closer, so he needed to make a decision.

  Deciding his fate, whether it was a right decision or not, he got up, hoping the thunderous echo of the horde would mask his noise. He took off jogging, making sure that he wouldn’t lose his footing again. Knight couldn’t allow for any more mess ups, any more mistakes, not now. He moved quickly, not daring to look behind, knowing that the fear would only make him panic.

  Hissing moans followed him down the tunnel, begging him to stop running. Dark tunnel passages passed by him again, leading him back towards where he initially lost the group. Knight decided that he needed to reach the surface if he wanted to escape the horde that was growing bigger by the minute. He slowed his jog to make out a ladder to the surface in the dark.

  Squinting in the dark, he could make out a set of metal rungs laid into the concrete wall leading up. He sprinted to the ladder, deciding speed would be his only saving grace. He reached the ladder, looking back at the approaching horde that was closing in fast on him. Heaving all his body weight up, he started to climb, pushing with all his might.

  Not a moment too soon did he lift his foot up to put it on the next rung did the flood of infected swarm the ladder, reaching up with their arms to get him. The moans followed him up the ladder, fueling his desire to be far away from them. Reaching the top, he lifted the utility hole cover, sliding it out of the way. The sun was bright and shining; Knight began to pull himself out of the hole when a pair of hands grabbed him from behind.

  Wretche
d, the putrid smell hit him, and could only mean one thing. Infected hands were on his back, shortly followed by the strength of a person that didn’t tire or feel pain, yanking on him. Knight reached behind him to throw a punch, but couldn’t get leverage, since he was halfway out of the utility hole cover. With each tug from the infected that had a hold on him, he could feel his feet slipping off the rungs.

  He knew that falling would only lead to one outcome. Determined to escape the infected once more he started throwing wild punches at the hands that were pulling on his shoulders and gear. With each jerk, he could feel himself slipping until a single tug was too firm. For a moment, he felt as if he was floating, but then quickly gravity corrected that.

  Knight’s weight brought him full force downward, bringing the infected with him back down the dark hole. On his way down his forearm hit a rung, and a cracking noise was heard, followed by searing pain. Seconds later he exploded in pain, as he landed on legs, and other infected. He shoved the infected that he brought down off him, pushing it back into the crowd of infected.

  He tried to reach for his knife but couldn’t reach the sheath in time before he felt another pair of strong hands gripping him. More infected grabbed him, latching onto anything they could find, pants, pack, arm. Soon it felt like he was caught in a game of tug of war, each infected wanting to claim him as their prize. Eventually, one of the infected won the battle and sunk his teeth into Knight’s shoulder, tearing muscles and tendons.

  More searing pain shot through his body as he felt more teeth rip into him; the infected deciding that it was easier to bite him if they gave up their tug of war. Soon the pain bursting throughout his body caused him to go into shock. Knight could feel the spasms shooting through his body, attempting to seize his entire body. Then he felt nothing, but slowly his vision faded, his heart stopped beating, and his mind slowly shut down.

  Chapter 40

  The subway lines

  Adisembodied voice spoke from afar, “I think he is finally coming to, set him down.”

  “Good, I was getting tired of carrying him,” said a second voice.

  Knight could feel himself shuffling about; someone was moving him up against the wall. Finally, they had him the way they wanted and stopped moving him around, which was good because he felt light-headed. Soon a bright light shown in his left eye, blinding him, and then the light moved to his right eye.

  The disembodied voice, which came from the person shining the light in his eyes, spoke again, “Knight. Can you hear me?”

  He tried to tell him to fuck off and shine the light somewhere else, but all that came out was a low moan.

  “I think he’s trying to speak. Here let’s get him some water,” said the voice.

  He felt a bottle of water being put up into his mouth and soon cool, wet liquid, was being poured into his mouth, where his body’s natural instinct took over and swallowed it. He quickly felt the fluid rejuvenate him, awakening his body. His eyes felt heavy, but he fought to open them, he squinted in the dark, seeing a dark, damp tunnel.

  He was still in the sewers, surrounded by people, not infected. No horde chasing him through endless tunnels, and streets flooded with more infected. He wasn’t dead, eaten alive by his nightmare. Somehow, he had passed out, and the others had to carry him, at which point he passed out he couldn’t remember. Deciding that he should try to talk again, now that he had water in his system, he spoke, “What happened?”

  “You hit your head and dropped down from the ladder. You were knocked out cold, and we thought you might have fractured your legs. Either way, we did not have time to wait for you to wake up, and we could not just leave you there. So, Carter and I have been carrying you,” said the voice, which now he understood as Ramirez.

  “How long… have I been out?” asked Knight.

  Ramirez replied with apparent relief, “Long enough to make us worry that you had gone comatose. You hit your head pretty badly on the way down as well, your head was split open. I tried to clean it up the best I could, but we didn’t have time to dress it properly. Once we get out of here, I will fix you right up, though.”

  Knight’s head was throbbing, but nowhere near the pain, he had experienced earlier in his dream. That pain had felt so real, the residual pain from the real world carried over to his dream world. He could feel a knot on his head where the hastily applied bandage was on his head, which was slightly soggy to the touch. It was apparent that the bleeding did not stop immediately.

  His eyes adjusted to the dark interior of the tunnel they were in, and he could see the shapes of the others from the group nearby. He felt pain of sorts, not physically, but mentally, that he had held the group up, slowed them down. He had caused them to slow their pace, cutting their precious daylight hours probably by at least a quarter. Knight felt weak and felt as though all eyes were on him, pointing out his weakness.

  He attempted to stand up but found his legs didn’t want to cooperate, stiff, and still angry with him for suffering the fall that he did. His head was also upset with him and was causing the world to spin just a little too fast, making him light-headed.

  Deciding he just needed a few minutes to let his body acclimate to his new injuries; he spoke to Ramirez and Carter, “Just give me a minute. I think I will be ok; I just need a minute to breathe.”

  Carter replied indifferently, “Yeah not a problem, just let me know if you need help again, alright?”

  Carter walked away, towards the rest of the group to tell them that Knight was awake and responding. Ramirez still held his flashlight in hand, ready to keep moving, but stood to study Knight for any visible signs that he was not ok. It gave Knight an unsettling feeling knowing that Ramirez was scrutinizing him.

  As Knight closed his eyes and gently massaged his head, Ramirez spoke, “I didn’t want to say anything earlier, but now seems like as good as a time than ever. I think you have been pushing yourself too hard. I understand that you want us all to make it out of here alive, and get out of this shithole, but if you push yourself too hard, you are going to make mistakes. We both know from experience in our line of duty that all it takes is one mistake, just one, and you and everyone else could end up dead.”

  Ramirez paused letting that sink in, “I just don’t want you to make a mistake and lose anyone else. I know that we have been doing everything from when we landed on the fly, and not sticking to protocols and the mission. However, I don’t think taking a quick breather before we leave the city might not be a bad idea. We all could use the rest, and I know that all of us from the mission are on edge as it is. We all have lost teammates, friends, and it's taking its toll on us. Even if it doesn’t show, eventually it will.”

  Knight stopped him, “It’s not that easy, and you know it. I’m the only one willing to lead all these people to safety. This is our mission, and we dragged these civilians out of their safe building. I’m responsible for all of you, and it’s not easy. All I can think about is how I was helpless to save anyone; nothing I know or have trained for could ready any of us for this. I feel blind, leading you all to your deaths. If not now, then eventually.”

  He took a breath and continued, “I just don’t know what to do and that scares me. We plan for days for these missions, and none of that planning has worked. We are stranded in a sewer right now, cut down to less than a fourth of the original team. We have no support coming, along with no way of contacting anyone outside the quarantined zone. I’m tired, worn out, and damn it I feel like I got the shit kicked out of me.”

  It was at this point Knight moved his leg, trying to get some feeling back into it and put some pressure on it. A sharp pain jolted through his leg. He winced in pain but did not cry out.

  “On top of that, I think my leg is either broken or fractured as you said. I have a sharp pain when I put pressure on it. This day is already off to a bad start, and we aren’t even out of the city yet.”

  “I understand how you feel. I just keep hoping that this plan of ours works. Part of me
wants to go back to the base and try to stick it out,” replied Ramirez softly, “But, I know if we stay things would be just as bad. We have been in bad shit, barely getting out with our asses still on fire from enemy fire, but that doesn’t even come close to seeing a mob of those infected closing in on us.”

  Ramirez leaned in closer inspecting Knight’s leg, tenderly pulling back his pant leg and flashing his light at it. Both stopped speaking looking down at his leg, which had swollen slightly about a third of the way up from his ankle, knowing that what they both feared, that his leg was broken. They both had unloaded what they had been keeping to themselves; now they had a more pressing matter.

  If Knight was going to keep leading him, they would have to find a way to make a stint for his leg or have someone be his crutch. Neither option was good for the upcoming trek they had ahead of them. Knight sat back almost defeated, realizing that his fears kept becoming a reality, the further they went on their journey. He grabbed his leg feeling around where his leg had swollen; it felt sore but didn’t bring any pain.

  He could already feel himself beginning to dull the pain out as he had been taught so long ago, if you did not feel the pain it would not hold you back, that was the saying drilled into his mind. Ramirez dug into his pack, finding some rubber surgical tubing he tied a metal pipe that he grabbed earlier, to Knights leg. Knight felt the cold metal being placed on his leg, enjoying its cool touch against his swollen skin.

  Ramirez looked up from his work at Knight, “This should help ease the pressure a bit, but that doesn’t mean you won’t feel any pain. I would give you something, but we need you awake and alert in case something happens.”

  Taking a deep breath and gathering his strength Knight replied, “It will have to do, we have already wasted too much time. Have Carter come back here and help me, you go ahead and tell the others we are moving ahead.”