“We’ve wasted enough time already dealing with side quests from our supposed map.” Manson was flat in his delivery; he expected no argument. “We’re not turning around.”
“I want to go Julia, please! Just let me go.” Alana was begging and put a hand on Miles’ knee. The boy swelled with delight.
“Alana, no. Castle, turn around!” Julia shouted this time.
“We’re already halfway to where our group was last heard from on the radio. It doesn’t make sense to go back now.” Castle was shaking his head with his eyes focused on the road.
“Castle!” Julia screamed.
“We have to keep going! I want to find my wife!” Lance turned around in his seat tempered, but quickly looked away when Julia glanced at him.
“Wait!” Miles perked up, “We have to stop here!”
“What?” Castle was looking back through the mirror, “We’re not stoppin’ so you can look through old boxes and crates kid!”
“We came from that way in the woods!” Miles pointed out to the right as they passed a highway sign that fell.
“So what, we’ll get there on the road.”
“The road doesn’t go that way! We have to go through the woods! It’s the only way! Through the woods! We have to go through the woods!” Miles was starting to rock back and forth. “We’re going too far now! We have to go that way through the woods! We have to go through the woods!”
“Stop the van Castle! He said that way!” Torrez was leaning forward in his seat.
“What the hell!” Castle stomped on the brakes and the van screeched to a stop; all its occupants nearly falling to the floor when it finally stopped.
“It’s that way.” Miles was starting to settle down. “We came that way through the woods on our bikes. I can take you that way through the woods. I know the way. I’m the map.”
Julia sighed, “We can’t keep going with Alana with us.”
“Please Julia! They already said we don’t have time to go back!” Alana was pleading her case to stay.
“I can protect her.” Miles said.
“Miles, you already gave us teams and told us it would be difficult.” Julia was shaking her head.
“I can protect her. I can do it. I’ll watch her and watch you. I can keep her safe.” Miles looked at Alana and stared into her eyes.
Alana smiled nervously but went along with it, “He said he can protect me. Miles said he can do it and you said he’s like the best person to survive with.”
Julia rolled her eyes and cursed under her breath in Spanish. “You’ve got to be kidding me right now.”
Manson turned around in his seat, “If that is our direction, then let’s get going already.”
Julia just stared back at him and the air grew thick with contempt.
Miles broke that air as he started playing Drake from his phone. “You should park the van off the road in the trees.” He was nodding to the song and starting to sing along to 6 Man, “Young but I’m makin’ millions to work the night shift!”
Castle pulled the van to the side of the road and turned it off. Manson got out and grab his bag while everyone else climbed out of the vehicle. Miles took Alana by the hand and pulled her along with him as he followed Julia out the sliding doors behind the stumbling Clint.
“Is it ok to just leave the van here? What if somebody finds it?” Clint asked the question to no one person but hoped someone would offer an answer.
“No. No one this far out. Most people who try to make it in the woods die.” Miles said with a nonchalant attitude. He gripped Alana’s hand tighter and looked back at her, “But we’ll be ok. I know where to go. I’m the map.”
Alana just smiled.
“Hurry up now boy. Tell us which way to go?” Manson jumped when he heard a branch break and saw an owl take flight.
“Don’t worry doc, no monsters are gonna get you with us around.” Castle chuckled.
Burrows laughed, then stopped when he started coughing and hacking. The group watched him hunch over and start spitting bile on the ground. No one looked more concerned about Burrows than Dr. Manson who went white.
“Burrows, you ok?” Torrez went to check his comrade.
“Is he sick?” Julia asked next.
“Did he get bit?” Miles squeezed Alana’s hand, hard
“Ow!” Alana called out.
“Did you get bit or scratched Mr. Burrows?” Miles pulled his knife from his belt.
“Whoa, what the fuck are you doing?” Castle nearly rushed the boy and Julia stepped in front of him.
“Calm down! Those are legitimate questions.” Julia had her hands up to stop the soldier.
“Legitimate?! He’s just throwing up and coughing! And this brat’s pullin’ his knife out.”
“Better safe than dead.” Miles put his knife away. “The old man always says better safe than dead. The infected, they spit out green stuff when they change. They spit out green stuff.” He squeezed Alana’s hand harder and she snatched away.
“Chill out kid!” Burrows stood up straight and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “I had some of them eggs with some salad this morning. I’m probably just sick from that. I told them those salads are starting to go bad, even if we freezing them.”
Castle looked back at his buddy then turned to Miles, “See, he’s fine.”
“Better safe than dead.” Miles repeated. “The old ma--”
“Well if you don’t mind, I’d prefer if you kept all those lessons you learned to yourself. We’re trained marines. We don’t need you instructing us on how to survive. Just show us the way to go. You’re the map, right? Stop dicking us around and show us where to go.” Castle spat on the ground.
Miles, with a very sunken expression, started to walk and everyone followed him. Torrez shook his head at Castle and Julia flashed him a stern look. But Castle just rolled his eyes. The group walked in silence as they made their way through the woods and Miles moved with his head down and his eyes low. Julia noticed this and went to catch up with him.
“Hey, it’s ok Miles.” Julia said, “We do have to be careful out here.”
“I just had to ask. You always have to ask.” Miles still hung his head. “I didn’t mean to upset Mr. Castle. I just had to ask. You always have to ask when someone shows signs of infection.”
“What are the signs?” Alana asked, a bit nervous to speak when Julia’s eyes cut to her.
“You twitch and you shake and you act errad-dic-lee.”
“We already know the symptoms.” Lance broke in from behind them. “We saw the pamphlets at the store and heard the news reports.”
“Yeah, we saw how it changes people.” Clint added.
“And Mr. Burrows isn’t showing any of those symptoms so he’s fine.” Manson said, with a half-smile.
“I ain’t get bit or scratched or nothin’ ok! I’m perfectly fine.” Burrows hit his chest with his fist. “Let’s just find our people and get back to the store and I can eat somethin’ other than old salad.”
“They said dinner was BBQ beans and cornbread again.” Castle chuckled.
“I love BBQ beans.” Burrows laughed and both the men started laughing.
Miles looked around through the trees and even though they were safe for the time being, he still felt like they were being too loud. But he didn’t want to tell them to be quiet and get in anymore trouble or make anyone else mad at him. Lance hadn’t stopped giving him the evil eye and it made Miles feel uneasy. When they came to a tree with shrubbery and leaves piled up, Miles found his and Antonio’s bikes, buried and hidden away.
Miles stood his bike up and looked at Alana, “Sorry I squeezed your hand so hard. I just wanted to protect you.”
Alana nodded, “Thanks. But it’s ok. I can protect myself too.”
“Nobody is going to protect you from your dad when we get back.” Julia snapped and crossed her arms.
Alana just rolled her eyes in silent protest.
“Do you want to rid
e my brother’s bike? I don’t think he’ll mind.” Miles grabbed the other handle and offered the mountain bike. Alana shook her head and turned him down.
“So, what, you get a bike and we have to walk?” Lance put his hands on his hips. “How far do we have to go?”
“Not far. I just… I can’t remember the way without my bike.” Miles said back.
Castle scoffed at him, “Don’t you remember anything? Do you even know where you’re going?”
“Castle! Do you want to wait back at the van?” Julia threatened.
Both Miles and Castle said no at the same time. “I can’t keep track of everyone if we’re separated.” Miles said. “I have to keep track of everyone.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t gonna stay at the van anyway. Which way kid?” Castle pushed on and Burrows followed, both men taking the lead.
“Stay together please. Don’t go too far from your partner.” Miles called after the men but they kept on, followed by Manson, Lance and Clint.
“Don’t worry mio, we’ll stay together.” Torrez said to the boy. “You’re the map. You know where to go.”
Miles smiled and nodded. Then he went off, wheeling his bike while following Burrows and Castle, leading from behind them. He pointed left and right and told them where to go and what to look for. Miles directed the group through the woods, moving cautiously and pointing them in the safest directions. There weren’t any infected in sight, but Miles was still cautious. He warned Dr. Manson about getting too close to a body slumped up against a tree, but the doctor didn’t listen and still took swabs from the corpse’s wounds. Burrows and Castle were loud and obnoxious, hooting and laughing at any dumb joke made between the two of them. Even after Miles warned them again to be quiet, they just continued on.
Lance wouldn’t stop second guessing everything the boy said. If Miles said go left, Lance asked what was right. When Miles said go right, Lance asked why they went left in the first place. He was eager to find what remained of his wife and urged Miles on like a tracking hound.
“C’mon, which way now? Where are we even going?” Lance stopped to look around but could see nothing but trees in every direction.
“We’re going the right way. We just keep going this way.” Miles pointed straight ahead. “We just keep going this way.”
“Are you sure? We’ve been going this way for what seems like hours!”
Miles laughed, “It’s still early though.” He looked up at the sun high above, pouring light through the branches. “It’s still early. There’s plenty of time to find your people and get back before it gets dark.”
“So if there’s so much time, then why do we have to rush back in such a hurry.” Manson was clutching his duffle bag strap across his chest, making his way through the brush and looking out through the thicket. “We should venture out and find more samples of the virus.”
“What are you going to do with the samples Dr. Manson?” Alana asked, keeping her distance from Julia who wasn’t far behind her.
“I plan to make a cure of course.” Manson replied matter-of-factly.
“A cure? For real?” Clint stumbled and tripped over a rock, too busy trying to hear more from the scientist and not looking where he was going.
Torrez helped the one-eyed man up, “You ok old timer.”
Clint thanked him and dusted himself off, “You can make a cure… Dr. Manson?”
Manson simply responded, “Ha.” Then went quiet for a long time while the group continued on.
“Is… is that a yes or a no?” Clint asked hesitantly.
“Of course I can make a cure. It’s actually quite fortunate that someone like me has been able to survive this long and get this opportunity. All the scientific minds that where in the cities trying to come up with some explanation to the cause of this virus are all most likely dead. If not from the infection, then from riots and looting and the collapse of government. I’m the world’s only hope now.”
Julia rolled her eyes, “Ay dios mio.”
Manson looked back at her briefly then turned away, “You’ll thank me one day, doctor.”
“I’m sure I will, Bob.”
Manson went quiet.
“There is no cure.” Lance said after a few beats. “Whatever the hell this thing is, it’ll kill everybody off until there’s nothing left. And whoever’s left will just have to dig their way out from under the bodies.”
Everyone looked at Lance feeling the pessimistic vibe. “Poetic.” Torrez said with a raised eyebrow. “Even if it’s dark as hell.”
“The old man said the world would go back to the way it was.” Miles said, still looking up. “It would go back but it would take a long while. He said, people want to live and will find a way.”
“What if there isn’t a way?” Lance said back.
“There’s always a way.”
“What if there isn’t?!” Lance stopped and turned around to the boy.
Miles stopped pushing his bike and looked back at him, “Then you die. But you don’t die until you die.”
Lance sucked his teeth and turned around to see a figure stumble out from behind a tree in front of him. “Holy shit!”
Miles threw down his bike and looked around with a new focus. “Check left, check right!” He called out.
Castle looked back at the small boy and dropped to one knee. “Check left, check right.”
Burrows was hesitant at first but dropped down as well, “Uh, right! Roger!” He swung his gun left then right and Castle had to move to avoid the barrel of his gun.
“I don’t see anything. Nada.” Torrez looked around and grabbed Clint to pull the old man behind him.
Lance backed away from the lumbering creep as it groaned, and it dropped to the ground from fatigue. “Help… help!” Lance shouted.
“Castle get over here and help him. Lance is your guy. You gotta watch him.” Torrez aimed his weapon at the simpleminded creature shuffling to try and stand back up. It was wet in a long t-shirt and dark cargo pants.
“It’s a lurker. It’s one of the slower moving infected.” Miles moved towards it slowly, with his knife in hand. “You can kill it Mr. Lance. Easy. Just a knife to the head and it’s over.” He imitated the gesture and the monster tried to lunge at him but fell down again. “You can do it.”
“No… no! Kill it!” Lance’s heart started to race, and his palms started to sweat.
The infected husk with empty white eyes, outstretched its arms and clawed the air, reaching for Lance. Miles stepped up behind it and with one hard thunk, he drove his blade into the back of the monster’s head. Miles stared at Lance and Lance looked back at him trying to catch his breath. The body dropped to the ground and Manson moved to collect samples. Then more lurkers started creeping out in the distance.
Clint looked around scared, “There are more of them coming!”
Miles turned, “Ok, there’s only--”
A spray of gunfire tore through the trees and splattered the four slow moving creatures. They dropped after several shots and Burrows stood up, raising his weapon in the air.
“Whoo! That’s how you do it!” Burrows pumped his fist in the air with his gun raised.
“No guns!” Miles dropped down, panicked and covering his ears. He pulled his phone out and started scrolling. “No guns! No guns! You can’t shoot! You can’t shoot or more will come! More will come!”
Burrows shook his head, looking at the boy strangely, “Man… that was a lot of them. We can’t just fight them hand to hand.”
“Burrows! Miles said don’t shoot your gun out here!” Julia was spinning around, looking in every direction but also making her way to help Miles; who was freaking out. “He said don’t use any guns!”
“Puta! What’s wrong with you?” Torrez stomped over to Burrows and shoved him.
“Hey man! Watch it!” Castle got between them and pushed Torrez.
“I killed those things! That’s why we out here right? To protect them…” Burrows pointed at Lance, Clint,
Julia and Manson. “What was the point of bringing guns if we ain’t usin’ them?”
Miles was still down and scrolling through the songs in his playlist. He finally stopped on Jody Watley, Looking For a New Love.
Burrows scoffed at the music coming from the boy’s phone. “I can’t shoot my gun, but he can play his stupid music all he wants?”
“Burrows!” Julia snapped at him. “Miles, you have to calm down ok. Burrows won’t use his gun again. But look, there aren’t any infected people around.” She was kneeling next to the boy.
Manson was opening his bag and making his way to the corpses, “Burrows is right. If gunfire will attract them, that music will too.”
Julia side-eyed the doctor but let it go, whispering to Miles to turn the music down. Miles just rocked next to her and struggled with pulling out his earbuds to put them back in.
“That kid retarded.” Burrows turned up his lip, “He gon get us killed out here, listenin’ to him.” He stomped off and Torrez launched curses at him.
“He’s fucking autistic you dumb fuck!” Torrez spit after cursing again in Spanish.
“I found somethin’!” Clint was off on his own, pointing a gun down at a long since dead body. “It looks like David’s jacket. Is this him?”
Lance ran over to the old man and turned the body over on the ground. He recognized Franklin’s dirtbag brother, no problem. “This is him. This is David! They’re close! They have to be!”
“They’re close? Where? Where are they?” Alana was spinning around, ready to go sprinting in any direction.
“Where do we go kid?” Castle was moving towards Miles, who was still rocking on the ground, and Torrez stepped in front of him.
Lance took off running in the direction Miles last told them to go.
***
Carver woke up, being carried with his feet dragging across the floor and shoved the two men off him.
“Umph! Sorry sir.” One of the men stumbled and dropped his gun.
“What the hell is going on?” Carver took a few steps back and tried to gather himself and regain his composure.
“Eric! Calm down!” Chakrabarti pushed the two lunkheads aside and went to check his patient.
“Martyn… what happened?” The major was starting to recognize faces and saw Dr. Martyn Chakrabarti standing in front of him. The world around him made sense. He was in the hallway near Manson’s lab.
Two Alive Page 29