Genesis Virus

by Pinto, Daniel

  Ava pushes David again, cutting him off. “We’re just struck together. I just need you like the Indians, when this journey is done we’re done knowing each other.” She swipes her arms apart. “I had it up to here with you. Everybody that connected us is going to die because of this choice and I will put you in the ground if we don’t make it in time.”

  David drops his pack, recognizing Phillip in her. “Many have tried over the years. You’re welcome to do the same.”

  Ava tries to punch David, but he sways back. “The next time I’ll knock your fucking teeth in.”

  “You ain’t gonna do shit.” Ava pulls out her handgun from her hip; David rushes towards her and slaps the weapon out of her hands, then draws his knife from its scabbard as he pushes her back into a tree.

  He brings the knife to her throat and leans his forehead to hers. He says in a low and slow tone, while looking into her eyes. “Ava I don’t want to hurt anybody, but also I can’t save everyone. Stop turning me into a bad person. I’ve done enough good for multiple lifetimes and yet I can never do enough for you people. I’m just one man.”

  Ava says. “You’re going to kill me for her.” Her hands drop to the side.

  “I will never hurt you.” He gives her his knife, and then slowly steps back with open arms, ready for a deadly embrace. “Just be my friend and have my back. Like your sister did.”

  Ava points the blade towards his chest. “Don’t talk about her, traitor.”

  David says. “If you ever cared about me, do me this last favor, watch Delilah. I’ll be back by morning, if I’m not, leave her in the camp with a protection perimeter, then go for the Boss.”

  Ava looks at the knife then runs up to him, bringing the knife upwards. David shuts his eyes and feels a gust of wind through his hair. Ava walks past him and drops his knife. “Don’t expect me to be here when you get back.”

  17

  By the solar dirt bikes and horses, Cooper walks up surprising David, who’s sliding the launcher over his head. His voice loud and harsh. “Coop, not now.”

  Cooper says. “I want to help.”

  David looks into the trees. “You don’t have to, Ava will lead you to the Boss, he should be a day away.”

  Cooper walks in front of David. “You insult me friend. I want to help because you and the girls are a part of my group, now and forever. After we deal with the Boss, I was hoping you all would join our group. You’re a good man. Stupid, but good.”

  David sighs, putting a hand on Cooper’s shoulder. “This way, old fool.”

  Lou says to Coop. “What the hell?”

  David gets off the bike and approaches Lou head-on. “If Delilah dies before I return I’m going to kill with this handgun and I’m not going to pull the trigger, but instead I’m going to beat your head in until my hand gives out. And no one here can stop me.”

  The Chief says. “David, it’s not his fault.” David lifts his index finger to silent the Chief as he stares down Lou.

  The Chief walks between David and Lou. “We will make camp around Delilah and wait for you two.”

  Lou says. “Fuck this.” Then marches to his belongings.

  18

  Ava stands in mediation, holding her bullet necklace like a pendant.

  An oily faced Delilah says. “Did you make that?” She’s shrouded in David’s poncho with his sleeping bag resting on top of her.

  Ava jolts in fright. “Shit. No and let’s leave it at that.” She says it in a disparaging manner as she pounds leafs considering an ostracized place to set up David’s tent for Delilah.

  Delilah says, “why do you swear so much,” pulling up the coverings as the unyielding wind tugs at it.

  Ava wide steps measuring distance, “my father and his father were sailors, what’s it to you?”

  Delilah spies around detecting she’s alone with Ava, there is more tents, but no Indians. She opens her raw eyelids and in a parched voice, says. “How long have I been out?”

  Ava sweeps her leg to clear the area. “A few hours, I suppose.”

  “What did he do this time?” Delilah can taste blood.

  Ava’s hammering a rock into a metal rod. “He put a knife to my throat earlier. I almost pissed my pants.” She omits the part about wanting to kill David and panders to her; maybe she’ll shut up and go back to sleep.

  Delilah has a chagrin glow about her. “Don’t feel embarrassed, I pissed all over myself and David saw me in all my glory. Talk about intimacy, he saw me dying and covered in urine.”

  Ava covers her mouth with her fingertips, Delilah squints her eyes as she tries to look for Ava. “It’s fine, you can laugh.”

  Ava laughs, then says. “I’m sorry, but be thankful you didn’t shit yourself. I don’t know if he could of gotten past that image.”

  Delilah attempts to grin as she holds her side. “I don’t even think those monsters would want to touch me again.”

  Ava says. “Ahh…I should really finish putting this up before nightfall.”

  Delilah says. “Ava, could we be on good terms after this. I like David and he cares for you. Can we be civil?”

  Ava says. “If he gets back at all.”

  “Where’d he go?”

  Ava says. “To some hospital around here.”

  “So that’s why you’re keeping me company?”

  Ava says. “Can you eat?”

  “Let’s see.”

  Ava grabs the can of peaches on top of a rock and pops open the lid with her knife. She walks over to Delilah, holds it to her lips like a bottle for a baby. Ava tilts it up and lets the peaches slide into her Delilah’s famish mouth, the moisture provides balm for her throat. Some peaches and juices hit her cheeks and fall down to her shirt.

  Ava pulls the can away so Delilah can take a breath.

  Delilah says. “I’ve been listening to you and David talk about your bunker and some traitors these past weeks.”

  Ava says. “Yeah…”

  Delilah says. “Never mind.” She pets away greasy hair from her eyes.

  Ava puts the can down and has an uncanny gut reaction for some reason. “Do you know anything that could help us…did you remember something?”

  Delilah bites her bottom lip in agony, is quiet for a moment, and drops the glib facade. “My brother’s name is not Saul, it’s Paul. When David saved me from those guys…they were trying to bring me back home to the Boss…because I was looking for my brother Paul. You know him.”

  Ava backs away. “Ava, please don’t tell David, he’ll probably kill me.”

  Ignoring Delilah’s entreaties, Ava throws the can of peaches into a tree. “What?”

  Delilah says. “Paul is a good guy, he couldn’t have burned your people alive, he observes and reports on camps…something is rotten in the state of Denmark. He would never hurt a child.”

  Ava slogs away, stops with her back to Delilah, and slams one leg in the dirt like a charging bull. She slowly faces Delilah, her eyes are watering up, and the veins on her neck are protruding. “You don’t have to worry about him.”

  Delilah says. “Thanks, Ava.”

  Hackles are percolating on a fuming Ava; she clamps her hands around Delilah’s throat. Lifeforce on the precipice, Delilah swings up for the edge, and scratches Ava’s eyes and neck. Delilah’s face is turning purple; her head is driven back through the hollow tree she was using as a pillow. Tiny insects flood into her nostrils, Ava’s hands become black with wet soil.

  Ava says. “You evil bitch, I knew it.”

  She takes one hand away from Delilah’s throat and reaches for her gun. Enough punishment, now for the sweet release. Delilah’s face is covered in wet leaves and critters; she’s stretching her hand for Ava’s knife. Ava decides against a quick death and regrips Delilah’s throat with both hands. Delilah spits out dirt and worms.

  Youngblood blindsides Ava from behind, rugby tackling her to the ground. “HEY GUYS HELP.”

  Delilah spasms to the side coughing and exhaling in rapid
yawns, blowing leaves up into the air.

  Youngblood tries to hug Ava from behind. Honing her senses to kill everything, she clobbers him in nose with her elbow, making him bounce on his ass in the dirt. He has to roll around on the ground and dodge a barrage of blows. Where is she?

  Ava draws her handgun and aims it at Delilah. Fires at her, but Youngblood sweeps her leg throwing her shot off. It hits the ground a few feet from Delilah’s head. Lou comes through the trees and aims his shotgun at Ava. “David will become a madman if you do this. None of us will see our friends again…I will shoot.”

  Ava keeps the gun on Delilah. Youngblood gets up and aims his handgun to the back of her head. Ava stares at Delilah, her hand gets tighter around the gun’s handle.

  She says. “Do what you have to do gentlemen.” They all stand still for a minute, in a L-shaped standoff.

  Lou tosses his shotgun down and leans over to pick up Delilah. Youngblood runs up to help him; they heft her up in unison keeping their eyes on Ava. Guilt, shame, who gives a shit?

  Both men shuffle their feet carrying Delilah to their tent, tightening their grasp each time she spasms. Ava still has her gun pointing at the choking Delilah positioned on the men’s hips.

  Ava says. “I wholeheartedly don’t give a fuck about any of you.” Ava squeezes the trigger, seeing only Delilah’s face and a red blur around it. She has to continually readjust her aim.

  Ava yells and tries to holster her weapon, missing it a few times and ends up keeping the gun in her hand. “Damn it.”

  Ava says. “You win, but I’m telling David. He probably won’t come back because of this backstabbing bitch, she could have led us to the Boss days ago. Her brother Paul burned my bunker down and murdered my sister, days ago, not a lifetime ago. And you two want to treat her like a little princess.”

  Ava walks up to Lou. “Think about your brother,” she looks over at Youngblood like a interrogating cop, “and your mother.” Hard selling them to send a person down the river, when they ignore her, she imagines shooting both in the back of the head. Ignore that fuckers.

  As she is laid down, Delilah lets out a monstrous yell. “Fuck you.” Her knotted neck has red rings around it. The commotion has had deleterious effects to Delilah’s sutures. Blood is soaking through her blankets. Duplicitous gazes can’t stop Ava.

  “Mother…” Ava rushes towards the tent and the Indians immediately each grab one of her spindly arms and pull her back, Ava tousles her hair as she kicks up in the air trying to run on Delilah’s face. “Stop pussyfooting and let me put this cunt out of her misery.” Bitter sweat leaks into her eyes.

  Lou says. “We understand, but she’s not Paul. Now she can help us and maybe we can trade her instead of David.”

  Ava stops kicking and turns her head. “What? You were going to give David to the Boss.” That thought never crossed her mind, she was so preoccupied with Delilah’s role, she never put two and two together. Why the Indians never killed David for the information. But it all makes sense now. She can finally clearly see everyone’s motives.

  Youngblood retracts from her. “It was his idea. I thought you knew.”

  Ava pulls her arms away with boundless energy of rage. “First of all, no one is going to trade David. And second, if she doesn’t tell me something I want to hear, I’m going to scalp her and leave her tied to that tree over there.”

  Ava picks up her gun and holsters it, she says to Lou leaning in his ear, her anger in remission. “Me and you could leave with her and have what we want by tomorrow morning. Just step aside.”

  A staunch Lou says. “I can’t Ava.”

  Ava confronts his face. “What about earlier, you were crying about not being at the Boss’s already.”

  Lou says. “I can’t. I’m going to give David till morning then you can have her. A man has to have a code.”

  Ava gives him a surly stare down. “David was right, you have lost your balls. Pull them out of your vagina and let’s finish this.” She pauses a beat then continues. “The fucked up thing about it, she’s been plotting to kill you, and you…all of us.” Getting the last word will have to do as a consolation prize. Ava vacates from the situation and the men watch on, fearing her more than the zombies.

  After a respite, Youngblood says. “How are we going to defeat the Boss, when half our group is gone and the other half can’t agree. I don’t feel good about any of this.”

  Lou says. “What do you want me say? Everything is going to be ok. You’re too old for fairy tales, my friend.” Lou kicks the empty can of peaches into the distance.

  Youngblood says. “David has to come back, he’ll know what to do.”

  Lou says. “He’s not coming back. In the morning, hard decisions will have to be made.”

  Chapter Ten

  1

  The Chief gazes into the dipping sun, waiting for a glimpse of David and Cooper, he’s carving a totem pole to busy his mind, wood shavings cover his toes. He says over a shoulder to Youngblood who’s approaching from behind. “That old fool.”

  Youngblood points his axe into the sun. “He’ll be ok with David.”

  “If he doesn’t return, I will kill David.” He turns to look at Youngblood. “Will you be ok with that?”

  Youngblood lazily swings the axe. “It seems too emotional for you. You always said it’s easy to react emotional, but to be a leader is to make the correct long-term decision even if everyone will hate you in the short-term.”

  “Which version of me is right then?”

  Youngblood squats low, pulling grass up, tossing single blades one at a time. “We all should be dead, when our friend’s times do come up, why murder people to feel better?”

  “So you would forgive the Boss if he killed your mother?”

  A calm and collected Youngblood says. “It’s easy to hate a man I don’t know. If I have to dehumanize him to murder him first I have to dehumanize myself…I don’t know what I’ll do, honestly. A person can live without my forgiveness.”

  The Chief places his carving into his pocket. “I need to take a walk to mull some things over. I want our people back, no one has to die. But you need to prepare yourself for the possibility of killing many men to help our people.”

  The Chief walks off and out of sight into the banks of the brush. Youngblood stabs the mud with his axe and hopes his mom’s okay.

  2

  Ava has David’s blanket wrapped around her hunched shoulders in the early brisk night. “It’s fucking freezing out here. It’ll be a damn shame to die of a cold.” Lou puts his hands in his armpits, says to her, “man up,” then bites his quivering lip when she looks away.

  A crispy viper is roasting over the flames. Ava wraps a shirt like a scarf around her neck, and asks the guys. “Where the fuck is the Chief getting off to…I think he has a dark dirty secret.”

  Youngblood scratches the hives on his neck. “Beats me.”

  Lou makes a pumping gesture over his groin. “He’s a chronic masturbator. That’s why his hands are so fast, he’s ambidextrous, it’s a three-way every time with his cock.”

  All start laughing, nestling the campfire…until a thump in the forest takes the smiles away from their faces.

  Without looking, Ava says. “Chief where you been?”

  Lou says. “We were talking about a different Chief, Chief.”

  A man with a group of two, enter into the campsite with their arms raised, slowly spinning in a circle like three synchronize dancers, meant to alleviate everyone’s stress, but the oddness of coordination has the opposite effect.

  The leader says. “We mean you no harm, we saw your smoke and decided to take a chance that there might be help here, is it?” Ava and the fellas point their firearms at the outsiders and move them like Australian cattle dogs, guiding the unwelcome guests closer together with the mere suggestion of violence.

  The leader puts his arms down as Ava’s group spreads around the three of them with weapons in their faces, he says. “We got separ
ated from our group. A huge herd of those things came upon us as we were out looking for supplies. May we rest for a little while with you? We’ve been running in the dark and we saw a faint light out there and ran without stopping until we saw your faces.” They move about off balance as if they’re missing some toes.

  Lou says. “Are there anymore in your group? I don’t like surprises.”

  The leader says. “I’m afraid not.” It comes out like his heart is in his throat.

  Ava walks up to him, restraining her anger. “What’s your name?”

  He says. “My friends call me the Prophet.”

  Ava grins and rests her gun back against her shoulder. “Really? What’s going on, no one has a real name anymore?” She’s been talking to the same people for days and could use a change. Three versus three if shit goes down.

  The Prophet says. “Our names were who we were, not who we are anymore. Everyone’s potential to do great things is used and wasted only on surviving this hell on Earth. We have reinvention written in our DNAs.”

  Ava sits back down and puts her handgun sprawled across her lap like a fancy napkin. Only to be used if things get messy. “First comes sad stories, then shooting.” She studies the strangers. “You can stay for a bit, but we will kill all of you if one does something we don’t like. It’s only fair…” She makes the man feel rushed to answer by the way she’s looking at all three of them. “Or you could just leave. It’s a free country.”

  The Prophet looks down, letting her know he wants to sit. Ava nods up.

  The Prophet says. “We understand.” He asks his friend for the man’s pack and hands some cans to Lou to cook over the fire. Lou cordially accepts the token of appreciation like a bottle of wine.

  The Prophet says. “After we eat, we’ll leave. Thanks again.” Both groups exchange handshakes as the food heats up. Each group stays near their relative friends.