by Powell, Lora
“What do you mean?”
“The thing is I know what the options would be for him if we were in a hospital—as fast and as far as the infection is spreading—I would be talking about amputation at this point. But right now, I’m not sure if there’s any other option for him.”
A heavy silence fell between the four of us.
Amputation. How would we do such a thing safely in these conditions? And even if he survived the procedure, how would Devon make it with only one leg? I wasn’t naive enough to think that we would never have to run for our lives again, no matter how nice this place seemed to be.
“Does he know?” I breathed.
“No. But it’s time that I’m going to have to tell him.” Alex sounded like it was the last thing he wanted to do.
After another pause, we ended up talking for several minutes about just how we would break the news to Devon. In the end, there really was only one way to do it. He deserved to know what was going on and to have a say in the matter. After all, it was his leg we’re talking about here.
We were just about to go talk to him when Shawn stopped me. “After this, you should have Alex take a look at your back.”
Maggie and Alex turned to look at me, forcing me to reply, “It’s fine, really. I hardly even notice the scratches anymore.” That was a lie. They pulled unpleasantly whenever I moved wrong, and they had burned like fire during my shower, but I felt like there were more important issues to worry about at the moment.
Seeing that I was going to be stubborn, Shawn went ahead and told on me. “She cut her back on a fence a few days ago. We cleaned them up, but one, in particular, was pretty deep.”
I glowered at him, but the three of them ignored me. “I’ll check you out when we are done here. Come on over to my bunk whenever you’re ready.”
I grumbled my displeasure at Shawn, “They are just scratches. Yours were way worse, and you’re fine.”
“Mine was not worse. You can’t see your back, but I have.” When he noticed that the attention had shifted to him, Shawn elaborated. “Back towards the beginning, a zombie scratched me.” He pulled his shirt aside to show the healed marks. “They’re fine now.”
“Wait, you were scratched by a zombie?” Alex moved closer to look at Shawn’s exposed skin with interest.
“Yeah.”
“And you didn’t get sick at all?”
“Nope. We were worried for a while, but I guess scratches aren’t dangerous.” He released his shirt.
The look on the nurse’s face was starting to make me uncomfortable again.
“That’s just it.” Alex looked rapidly back and forth between Shawn and me. “I was in an ER at the start of all of this. I saw patients with plenty of bites and scratches. They all were infected. If blood was drawn, fatality seemed to be a hundred percent.” He looked like he was lost in thought, and his tone suggested that he was talking more to himself than anyone else.
“The scratch itself isn’t deadly. Or so we thought. But the zombies are all filthy and covered in blood. Blood from under their nails introduced into an open wound was all it took. You would have to be the luckiest person alive to be scratched and not get infected. Unless you did, and you were somehow immune.” Alex looked speculatively at Shawn. “I wish there was some way for us to know. If there were actually a person who was immune; that could maybe be a start to a vaccine.”
Listening to the nurse ramble on was making me uncomfortable. I had watched my share of TV in the past. This was always about the time a crazed scientist would decide to experiment on some unlucky person. I felt myself glaring at Alex and couldn’t seem to stop it. Anyone who messed with my family was going to get on my bad side in a hurry.
“Well, that’s a talk for another day.” Maggie was watching me with interest. She appeared to be the only one who had picked up on my body language. “Right now, I think it’s time we tell Devon the truth. He needs to have some time to decide what he wants to do.”
Her words were the wet blanket I needed to put out the slow anger that had started in my veins at the mere thought of anyone hurting Shawn. Maggie was right. Devon needed us right now. He needed me calm, not freaking out over something that hadn’t even actually happened.
I attempted to shake off my bad mood and turned to Alex. “Lead the way.”
FIFTY-THREE
DAY 24
He cried.
Devon tried to hide the tear that slid down his cheek, but I saw it. That tiny bit of moisture dragged an answering tear from my own eye. It wasn’t fair. Devon was barely an adult, and he was faced with an impossible decision.
I held back my gasp when Alex pulled the blanket up to expose his leg. The entire lower part of his limb was swollen grotesquely, and the area around the wound was black. Pulling out a sharpie, Alex drew a line where the infection met the paler color of healthy flesh. The mark was at least an inch higher than a similar sharpie line already on his leg and above his knee.
“The infection is spreading too fast. Whatever you decide, it needs to be soon.” Alex pulled the blanket back down to cover his leg.
I shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t know what to say to Devon. Around me, the others seemed to be having the same problem. Maggie hovered just inside the door. Shawn and I had stopped near the end of the bed Devon was laying on. Fallon was sitting cross-legged on the cot next to his. Bill and Maya took the other two cots in the room.
I was glad to see that Bill looked as good as he did, but that had been tempered by the knowledge of what we were about to hear. Now, everyone in the room looked equally grim. We all knew that there was no good solution to this problem.
“Um, I need some time. Could you guys leave me alone for a while?”
“I’ll just be at the door. Call for me when you’re ready to talk.” Alex flashed a tight smile at Devon before gesturing for me to follow him.
I spared a backward look at Devon—more than anything, he looked like he was in shock—before allowing Shawn to lightly direct me after Alex. Over in the next sleeping cubicle, I found the nurse rummaging through the well-stocked contents of his shelves.
There were only two cots in this space; the rest of the floor was taken up by a variety of medical things. One cot was obviously in use, but the other seemed like it hadn’t seen a body in a while. Alex pointed to the empty cot.
“You can have a seat there and pull the back of your shirt up.”
I eyed the cot with distaste but walked to it and plopped down. Shawn was still hovering; I think he was making sure I didn’t make a break for it before Alex got a look at my scratches. Making a face at him, I reached back and gingerly worked my shirt up high enough.
“You hardly even notice them, huh?” Shawn hadn’t missed how carefully I was moving my shoulders.
I wasn’t going to win that argument, so I just sighed and kept quiet. Alex was pulling on a pair of latex gloves anyway.
“Ok, let’s see what’s going on back here.”
The rubber gloves felt cold as they brushed against my skin. Alex moved my shirt a little higher, and I felt him gently poking around the wounds. They were already sore, and whatever he was doing wasn’t helping any.
I had never been a good patient, and I knew it, so I grit my teeth and let the nurse do his job. After a minute, he spoke, “Bri, these actually don’t look too bad. This one probably should have had a couple of stitches, but it’s healing without them. I think if you keep them clean and take it easy with how you move for a few more days, they should heal up fine.”
“That’s great. Thanks.” I waited less than patiently while I felt him smear ointment over the scratches and plaster some kind of bandage over the whole mess.
He stood up, and I heard the rubber snap of the gloves coming off. “All finished. Come back tomorrow, and I’ll have a check on it again, but don’t worry, I think you’re fine.”
I jumped to my feet and pulled my shirt back into place. “Will do. Thanks.” I had no intention of coming back tomor
row.
I started to make my escape, but what Alex said next stopped me in my tracks, “Shawn, would you mind if I took a closer look at your scratches?”
“Sure.” Shawn shrugged and moved closer to him.
He didn’t seem to mind the nurse’s interest, but I felt myself getting defensive all over again. I crowded closer to the two of them and watched skeptically. I had no idea what Alex could hope to learn by looking at already healed wounds.
Alex pursed his lips in thought and studied the marks on Shawn’s shoulder with dark eyes. He didn’t touch, but he looked like he really wanted to.
“You are positive that they were caused by the zombie?”
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think it could have been anything else. I didn’t actually feel it when it happened, just noticed them after.”
“And they didn’t get infected at all. Or you didn’t have any symptoms?”
“No, nothing. But Bri hauled me inside and spent a lot of time cleaning them right away.”
“Interesting.” Alex flashed a look my way. “I don’t honestly know what to think. Maybe you just lucked out and were scratched by a freakishly clean zombie. Or maybe having the wounds cleaned so quickly made a difference. Or, maybe, you have some sort of immunity.”
Shawn frowned a little. “Is there any way to find out for sure?”
Alex finally backed up a step, making me feel like I could breathe again. I had half expected him to go all mad scientist on us. “No, I’m afraid not. At least, not here. Some place with a functioning lab would be able to run tests and give you answers, but we aren’t capable of anything like that.”
It made me perversely glad to hear those words. If they were less capable here than my overactive imagination had feared, then maybe there wouldn’t be any reason to worry. Then again, being in any way less capable during the zombie apocalypse was not a great thing.
Confused by my own inner monologue, I reached down to scratch behind Rex’s ears. I needed to get a grip.
The empty growling from my stomach had turned into an embarrassing snarl by then. Fortunately, it was time to go eat, so Shawn and I worked our way back to the larger community area. Fallon and Maya were already there, having left too when Devon asked for privacy. Bill was the only who stayed with him, although he wasn’t supposed to be getting up just yet.
I slid onto a bench next to Fallon. “How you holding up?”
Her voice was quiet when she answered, “Not good.”
“Yeah. Me either.”
No one really knew what to say after that, so we ate a subdued lunch with the people from the group, and waited to find out what was going to happen next.
I had just finished shoving the last of the stew down in a very unladylike fashion when Maggie walked out of the shadows.
She walked right up to our little group. “Alex just informed me that your friend has made his decision. He’s decided that he doesn’t want to amputate.”
FIFTY-FOUR
DAY 25
It wasn’t until after I learned that Devon was choosing to not have his leg amputated, that I realized that I did have an opinion on the subject. A rather strong one, in fact. Hearing that he was essentially giving up, I suddenly knew what choice I would have made in his situation. This was one thing that we did not see eye to eye on.
No matter what, I knew that I could never stop trying. Not just for myself, but for the rest of our little group. We had become something of a family as the weeks went by. I guess you couldn’t really expect anything less when your life literally depended on those around you. We were all going to feel the loss keenly, but no one more than Fallon.
The two of them had grown close. It seemed to be more of a best friends or brother and sister kind of thing, and that maybe made what was inevitably going to happen all the worse. Fallon was only a couple of years younger than me, Devon only a couple of years younger than her, but they both seemed so young to me. The kind of young that still needed a family around, and I knew that Fallon was going to be wrecked if we lost him.
The whole situation made me mad. I was mad that the world had gone to hell, making it a possibility to die from a cut. I was mad that Devon was giving up without a fight. And I was mad that I hadn’t been able to fix the situation before it got to this point.
We had spent most of the previous day hanging out with the group. The mood had been subdued at best. The conversation had been stilted. Alex continued to do his best to treat Devon, but the sharpie lines steadily advanced higher up his leg no matter what the nurse tried.
I had come to a conclusion, in the night, that I did not want to spend another day sitting around and watching a friend slowly die. That was how Shawn and I ended up joining the group of scavengers who were spending the day searching for anything useful that might still be in the nearby buildings.
“We’ve already been through most of this area. There’s a small grocery store that we skipped at first because we could see a lot of zombies inside, but the last time anyone went by it, they reported that the zombies seem to have gotten out. Today’s goal is to check it out. If the zombies were there from the beginning, there is probably still a lot of usable food inside.” It turned out that Mark, the gym guy, was in charge of scavenging.
“Alright.” I checked my knife that was strapped to my belt and gripped the machete that had become my favorite weapon. Someone had offered me a gun, but I hadn’t the first clue what to do with it. I’d be just as likely to shoot a friend as a zombie. Better to stick with what I knew, for now.
“You know how to handle yourself with that?” The throaty voice could only belong to one person.
“Yeah.” I turned to face Charlie, who was eyeing the machete. “I’m better off with this than anything else.”
“Ok. Just checking. We had a guy cut his own thumb off with one of those once.” She grinned at me.
It felt good to think about something other than Devon and his leg, just for a while. I smiled back at her.
“You have everything you need?” Shawn walked up to the group gathering by the front door. He’d picked up a knife from somewhere, and was carrying the tire iron. It had turned out to be an effective zombie killing weapon.
“Yeah, I’m ready to go. I just need to get out of here for a day.” I felt like I needed to explain myself.
“It’s alright, Bri. Sitting around doing nothing won’t change anything. If we can go out and help bring back food, we will be doing something good for the whole group.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised that he understood so well. That was just one of the many reasons that I had become so attached to him, despite the tough guy exterior, Shawn was actually very observant of those around him.
“Luna is having a good time with that dog of yours,” Charlie interrupted my thoughts.
I had decided not to take Rex out with us. There were too many things that could go wrong, and if I could keep him safe, that’s what I wanted to do. The problem had been figuring out who to leave him with. The rest of my friends were too busy, and then inspiration struck. Leaving him with the little girl would keep both of them occupied for a while. “Good. Maybe they will tire each other out.”
“Right!” She chuckled. “That child needs another kid to play with.”
“Let’s go!” Mark called the group and ended the conversation.
The same two trucks that we’d used before stood waiting outside. Charlie, Shawn, and I climbed into the back of one, as a woman I hadn’t met yet got behind the wheel. Mark and two other guys I’d seen around took the other. Before long, we were winding our way down roads clogged with abandoned vehicles. Zombies, mostly of the slower variety, bounced off of the sides of the trucks. Most of them stood no chance of getting inside at us. The few who came too close were dealt with easily.
The edges of the town looked like every other place we’d seen since coming back out of the mountains. Fires had burned a few buildings. Cars, trash, and zombies littered the streets. A tabby cat dar
ted in front of our truck and into some bushes along the side of a house. It was going to be another hot day, and the smell in the air was decay with hints of the fires that had burned.
Despite it all, the wind felt good on my skin as we drove along. The strip mall was too dark and enclosed, and with emotions running so high, I was feeling trapped.
Within a couple of minutes, the trucks pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. The front wall was made mostly of glass, and we could easily see a lot of the interior of the small building. A zombie was roaming up and down the aisles, but one glass pane had broken out, and the rest of them must have gotten out that way.
Driving slowly, the trucks came to a stop not far from the front doors. We had attracted a small group of zombies. One of them was a runner. It shrieked as it sprinted towards us, making me cringe. That call would attract more unwelcome attention.
Beside me, Charlie nonchalantly took aim and the running zombie immediately dropped. Remind me not to get on that particular woman’s bad side.
“Nice shot.” Mark jumped out of the other truck.
Shrugging, Charlie jumped down. She didn’t seem to overthink, one way or the other, of her own ability with that gun. I had been drawn to the older woman from the first time I met her. After that little display, I was starting to wonder if maybe she wouldn’t mind teaching me.
“Ok, guys. Here’s the plan. Sara and Ed will stay out here and keep watch. If anything too bad comes our way, they will honk the horn once. The rest of us are going in. We will sweep the store first. Once it’s cleared, we’ll load anything that’s left up and get out of here. I don’t want to stay any longer than absolutely necessary. You know how it is: the longer we stay out here, the more zombies will find us.”
FIFTY-FIVE
DAY 25
The inside of the grocery store smelled like long rotten produce and death. We had walked across a dried pool of blood with bits of torn jeans and bone right inside the front door. Overturned shopping carts had spilled their contents across the floor. It looked like when this building was overrun, there had still been more than a few shoppers inside.