“Nuh uh! We got rid of the hive! Me and my brother” Antonio cried out, being louder than the praise that was building for Baker. Now everyone was looking at the teen.
Carver eyed Antonio with a cold gray look and sucked at the back of his teeth. “The second thing… is during the undertaking of dealing with the infected outside. We unfortunately lost two soldiers. Chris Anderson, who was killed by a mob of infected. And Ryan Bates… who was shot by this child.” Carver waved a hand over Miles’ head.
The crowd looked at the boy and a gloom came over them. A cocktail of shock and surprise and anger and frustration. A similar surprise was seen on Miles’ face that seemed to convey a sense of, “What? What’s wrong?”
Carver continued. “These two boys were the cause of the large group of infected freaks swarming around the store and while our men were out taking care of that issue, this boy killed one of them.”
The collective’s mood was slowly building to rage and fury and shouts were coming up with how to deal with the young boy. Miles started rocking and looked out at all the faces among the mobs. The faces contorted into scowls with teeth bared and cruel words flew from their lips like spittle. The group was riled up into a frenzy and when Miles looked up at Carver, he could see the cold expression on the major’s face and a sly smile that revealed his control over the gathering. Carver was manipulating this crowd with a maestro’s skill. Not even Lesly could step in and try changing the tone of the information being given out. Carver blocked her advance to step out in center stage; a place she was more than happy to take when the time called for it. Now was not one of those times.
“Now I know you all want some kind of retribution…” Carver paused to let his audience give an auditory response in the affirmative. “But he’s still only a young boy…” This time the major stopped when he noticed Julia pushing through the masses and approaching.
“What the hell are you trying to pull now Carver?” Julia said under her breath, as she got closer.
“What should’ve been done when these boys first arrived.” Carver replied in the same low tone then raised his voice to the people. “We first need to find out where these boys came from, and whether they have more people looking to come after us.”
“You sound like a goddamn broken record, major.” Julia scoffed.
“They have more people?” Voices began to ring out.
“How many are out there?”
“Do they know we’re here?”
“Did they do something with Franklin and the others?” Kayla chimed in now, still feeling concern about the whereabouts and the safety of her missing husband.
“We should go out and find them!” Lance was next. “We should’ve gone out looking for them ages ago!” His motion for a second search party for their missing people often stirred up others who felt the same.
Julia had watched this happen time and time again. Major Carver would stir up the community as a collective and sway their consensus to whatever judgment he found the most appropriate. The biggest plays Carver made was in the begin-ning when appointing himself the leader of what remained of Captain Baker’s military unit. He wasn’t even a serving officer, but throw a grenade to stop a mass of infected from getting in the store like he did, and who wouldn’t see you as a war hero. Then there was when he kicked out Karen and Joshua with their son, weeks ago. The major was manipulating the community and inciting exile for Antonio and Miles’ or worse, executions.
“Please, everyone! Calm down!” Julia raised her hands to get the crowd’s attention. More members of the community were starting to come out from the aisles and if the mood wasn’t changed, Carver would get more to back his intentions no doubt. “We don’t know if any of that is true. We don’t even know what happened outside with Bates.”
“We saw what happened. We watched the monitors.” Carver’s booming voice was loud enough to command attention and stop everyone’s side chatter. “We watched it, Julia. We saw what this boy did.”
Julia cursed herself and then cursed Lesly under her breath for not settling this before the major got this much attention. But the store manager wasn’t much for verbal combat and wouldn’t stand a chance with Carver’s smooth disposition and imposing presence. “We saw him kill Bates, but we don’t know why.” Julia said.
“Does it matter?” The major said curtly. The crowd began shouting in agreement. Carver showed no sign of emotion on his face but he may as well be beaming from the way he crossed his arms over his chest. “They killed him in cold blood. The boy shot him.”
“It… it didn’t go down like that.” Captain Baker joined in, hesitantly. “They… they thought he was infected.”
“He was!” Antonio shouted from where he was kneeling. Miles only continued rocking and picking up speed in his nervousness.
Carver’s lip curled back as he looked at Baker with disgust. “And you believe these boys captain? You saw him change? You know for sure that he was infected with the virus?”
Baker lowered his head like a chastened loyal dog and Julia rolled her eyes. But in the middle of her eye rolling, she caught sight of the mad doctor slinking his way through the shirt racks and pants. Manson was trying to go unnoticed as usual.
“We don’t know whether Bates was infected but we can find out.” Julia pointed out into the crowd. “Dr. Manson took samples from the body and is going to test them to see if the boys were right.”
Manson, slightly startled but more irritated, turned to Julia and his eyes looked almost vacant behind his glasses. When the audience turned their attention to the scientist, he regarded them only for a moment with a small wave then continued on towards his lab in the back of the store.
Carver’s eyes left Manson and he stared Julia down, sucking at his teeth before stifling a cough. “And why does that matter? We just kill people before they even change?”
“No. We just kick them out and let them die on their own,” Julia fired back.
The major’s expression was so wroth that when he made the smallest step towards Julia, she backed down from his dark expression and overbearing size. After a beat, Carver turned to the audience and knew to quell his anger. He regained his composure and stood up straight, not speaking for another five heartbeats.
“Those circumstances were different, Julia. You and I both know that. But really, do you think that these two should go unpunished for possibly killing a man in cold blood?”
Julia took her time to respond. “Well they did just finish saving all our lives.” She said matter-of-factly.
It brought a smile to the major’s face. But before he could say anything back in retort, Antonio was shouting something and jumping up to his feet.
“This is bullshit! We fuckin’ took care of that hive for you, we risked our lives to get rid of all those strikers and shit and now y’all mad cuz we killed somebody who was already infected! When you get bit by a striker you turn hella fast!” The teen was so fired up Baker had to grab his shoulder to restrain him.
“He was about to turn.” Miles whispered. “He was about to turn and then he’d attack us and then he’d turn one of us. Better safe than dead.” He continued rocking and repeating the words. “Better safe than dead.” It was something the old man often said when making a tough judgment call.
The crowd looked sympathetic, even swayed by the boy’s timid behavior. Many couldn’t believe the child was actually capable of doing what Carver accused him of. But when some people saw Lincoln and Torrez carrying Bates’ body down an aisle, trying their best to go unnoticed, the gathering turned on the boys.
“They should be sent out there to die!” a voice shouted over the crowd.
“Let the freaks get ‘em!” Another called out.
“They’ve got people out there waiting to get us, we should find their people!”
“Those bastards killed Bates!”
“Kill them!”
The shouts continued and the collective seemed to be saying the same thing. Kill the boy
s. Kill Miles and Antonio and find their people and kill them too. Carver almost let slip a smile, but instead, just eyed Julia before he started coughing. Julia wasn’t sure what to say next or even what could stop this mob from turning even more intense. But in the midst of all the shouting, a man stepped out in front of the crowd of thirty or so survivors to get a better look.
“Miles… Antonio…?” The man was shaking and trying his best to hold back tears that were already running down his face.
The two boys recognized the man immediately and a similar expression of elation and I-can’t-believe-it’s-you, took them over. Miles got to his feet and went sprinting to the man. “Brandon!” the small boy cried out.
“Brandon!” Antonio broke away from Baker and went racing to the man and when all three of them met in the middle, they embraced each other as much as they could; the boys both still with their hands zip tied behind their backs.
“What the hell is going on now?” Carver asked, looking vexed.
“I don’t… know.” Julia shrugged her shoulders, just as vexed.
“How the hell did you two make it this far? Where have you been? What have you been…” Brandon was getting choked up again and wiped his face on his long sleeve shirt.
“Brandon! You’re still alive! Have you been here this whole time? How’d you get here?” Miles was rattling off just as many questions and getting just as emotional with the man who seemed familiar to the two boys. He was a similar shade of light brown as Antonio but beyond that, there didn’t seem to be any other similar traits between the three of them.
“Brandon, man. How the fuck is you still alive?” Antonio was shaking his head and tried blinking his tears away, trying to look tough.
“I could ask you the same thing. Oh my god. Where’s Johnathan? Francine?”
Both the boys’ expressions went sour and their smiles faded. They couldn’t look Brandon in the eyes, both turning away or looking at the floor. Before they could offer some answer to that, Carver was grabbing both the boys and shoving them aside.
“Brandon… you know these two?” The major asked, ignoring Antonio and Miles yelling at him.
“Uh, yeah… yeah.” Brandon wiped at his face again and tried to compose himself. “I was a teacher’s aide before all this. Those two went to my school in Oakland.”
Julia stepped up to the major and this time spoke only to him in a low, but stern voice, “You are playing a dangerous game Eric! Are you trying to kill these kids in front of these people? Are you trying to have a public execution?”
“No.” The major was abrupt and simple, speaking before looking down at the psychologist. “I only mean to convince the majority so that you and the others realize the seriousness of this. None of you seem to get it.”
“And the way you do that is by inciting the community to want blood?”
Julia saw Ben moving through the crowds, trying to avoid being seen. She called out to him and he looked her way, flushed and almost frightened by her finding him. He felt the most at fault with letting the boys into the compound in the first place and with how things were developing, he wanted to avoid being seen. Nonetheless, Ben moved through the not-yet-suppressed, unruly crowd and met Julia and the major in the middle of everything. Ben wasn’t an official committee member anymore so to see him stepping forward during all this of course rose questions, and Ben wasn’t sure how to answer them. Julia, however, hadn’t asked him forward for decision making or campaigning for one side or the other.
“Ben, take the boys to the back office.” Julia said, then turned to Brandon, “Will you come with us. I have questions that need to be answered.”
Brandon swallowed and nodded his head. “Yeah, ok.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Carver’s teeth were clenched, and he started coughing.
Julia turned to address the gathering, eyeing the major before she spoke. “I know there is a lot of emotion right now and I know that things have escalated very quickly. But there still must be order. We made a committee exactly for this purpose.”
“And the committee has been fucking up for a while now!” someone shouted above the rallying people.
But Julia bulled over the statement and continued. “You appointed us to make decisions so after getting more information we’ll make a reasonable judgment.” She turned to leave and the major stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“So what the fuck happens next?” Carver said in a low growl as the crowd’s voices started to rise.
Julia snatched away from him. “You can calm everyone down and convince them that things are being handled. And tell Torrez and Lincoln to hurry up and deal with that fucking body!” She shook her head when she saw the two soldiers continuing to the security room in the back of the store.
Julia started leaving with Ben and Brandon and the boys were following, still restrained with Baker behind them. Carver watched them leave and the ire coursing through him was enough to make him see red. But he somehow managed to keep himself calm and address the people gathered around him.
At the back of the store, in Manson’s bathroom laboratory, the scientist went to the counter sink and placed the samples down as he rushed to wash his hands, put new gloves on and prep his microscopes. He was sitting in his rolling chair, brimming with anticipation as to what he might find with his new samples. The doctor took a deep breath, removed his glasses, and licked his lips as he rolled forward towards the counter. Before he could even ready the sample he got from Bates on his slide and look through the scope, his door burst open and Burrows was standing there.
“Doc! What the hell is going on?” Burrows entered the bathroom and quickly closed the door behind him; stopping to check if anyone was coming before the door shut.
Manson’s shoulders dropped and he let out an exaggerated sigh. “Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to be watching the lab.”
“What? They told me the freaks in back were all gone! I had to see for myself. Was it those kids? Did they really get rid of those things?” The soldier approached Manson, who put a hand up to stop him.
“Stay right there. I don’t need you coming over here and contaminating the sample.” The scientist took a breath and put his eye to the microscope.
Burrows said something under his breath but shook his head as he stepped back a few feet. He found himself staring at the stall again and looked down at the foot of the corpse inside. He stared long enough to make sure the foot wasn’t moving and the body was still dead inside.
“Incredible! Absolutely incredible!” Manson belted out and Burrows backed up a few more feet.
“What, what is it?” The soldier asked.
“This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. This specimen is alive and intact.”
Through Manson’s scope, the blood slide was magnified to a cellular level and the blood cells were still active with a foreign agent infecting the cells. A black spot centered each infected blood cell and vibrated intensely, spreading to each nearby cell to continue vibrating. The scientist was smiling from ear to ear when he looked up from the microscope. It was a strange smile that made Burrows feel uneasy; the soldier shifted his weight from one leg to the other.
“It’s still alive? The virus is still alive?” Burrows asked, still eyeing the foot in the stall.
“It’s actually quite remarkable, really. Those boys were able to identify the change so quickly. And the specimen is still alive after killing the host.” Manson jumped to his feet and ran to the file cabinet he placed against the wall. “I’ll have to take the utmost precautions.”
“What the fuck? So Bates was infected?” Burrows was becoming even more uneasy. “That’s fucking crazy. So what happens now? Are you gonna burn it or something?”
“Burn it? Why on Earth would I do that?” He chuckled and removed a baggy to ziplock the blood vial he got from Bates. After writing on a piece of tape, he placed it on the bag, labelling it Bates. “This is a scientific
discovery that no one this far along into the apocalypse could ever dream of obtaining! Even in a sham of a laboratory like this, with my brilliance I’ll be able to do what not even the fools at the CDC could do! This specimen is the key to humanity’s revolution and it’ll be all thanks to me!”
The scientist started laughing. It was an unnerving cackle that seemed to build in dramatics as Manson held up the vial in the bag and threw his head back. This was far from the doctor’s normal behavior, where his usual displays of humor were no more than a half chuckle or an intake of air and a dispassionate “Ha.” Now he was having a real gut buster that was starting to disturb the soldier in the room.
“Man, you really are a Manson,” Burrows said, and the doctor instantly stopped.
Manson stared at Burrows and saw the same look in the military man’s eyes that he saw from everyone he had encountered throughout his scientific career. It was the curse of coming up with the same last name as the cult leader and murderer, Charles Manson. Something he couldn’t help even if his first name was Bob. It also didn’t help him that his theories and scientific practices were a bit unconventional. Bob had grown sick of constantly being judged or watched. So to go unnoticed he remained as reserved as possible. But even now with the world ending and a virus making people kill each other, people still compared the scientist to the psychopath.
“So, you can find a cure now?” Burrows asked. “You can use the other sample from that body and this one to make a cure?”
Manson straightened and cleared his throat. “I will make a cure. But I no longer need the first sample.” Manson went to the microscope and removed the slide with Bates’ blood.
“What the fuck? You mean I moved that thing for nothing?” Burrows pointed at the stall. “I still want some kinda credit in this. If you cure the world, let me get some of that fame. I ain’t a scientist but I still helped.”
Two Alive Page 19