by Max Lockwood
“Stop touching me, asshole,” she retorted, causing the soldier to slam her into the tree trunk. He slapped her across the face, leaving a handprint on her skin and a ringing in her ears.
“I should teach you some manners,” he said. “Start acting like a lady and maybe I’ll start treating you like one.”
“Come on,” the third soldier said, exceedingly uncomfortable with how his fellow soldiers were treating Elaina and Melissa. “Let’s just get out of here. You can take them with us, but I don’t think this is necessary.”
“What are you afraid of?” the ringleader barked, pushing his full body weight onto Melissa’s shoulders. “Are you scared of the woods?”
Elaina saw movement in the distance, where she initially spotted the figures. There were Infected in their midst, but she decided not to say anything. They were dormant, just wandering aimlessly toward the clearing, until Elaina let out the loudest scream she could muster.
The soldiers were slightly startled at the noise but continued laughing and making crude jokes about the girls. Melissa looked at Elaina with a confused expression. She had never heard Elaina scream like that before. Elaina locked eyes with her, then gave an exaggerated glance toward the area where the Infected lurked. She blinked hard, trying to convey to Melissa that she was working on a plan and that the timing was urgent. Melissa was terrified, completely in the dark about what Elaina was trying to say, but she trusted her.
“Everyone, shut up,” the short soldier said, causing the other two to give him dirty looks. But in the silence, they could hear the low moans and growls of approximately ten infected people coming out of the trees, thirsting for prey.
The soldiers, going limp with shock, provided the perfect opportunity for Elaina and Melissa to break free. But because Melissa was also startled by the group of attackers, she also froze in place.
Elaina lunged toward her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her loose from the soldier’s clutches and ran as far away from the Infected as she could. She could hear the soldiers’ screams as they tried to fight off the Infected. At one point, Elaina thought she even heard the sound of bones snapping.
With a quick glance over her shoulder, she could see more Infected coming out of the woodwork but didn’t see Melissa. With just a few feet to go until she made it to the pasture, Elaina doubled back to look for the young woman she had gone into the forest to retrieve in the first place.
A few feet back, Melissa swung a pocket knife at an infected woman who had cornered her against a group of trees and thorny bushes. Elaina grasped at stones on the ground, trying to lift one to use as a blunt object, but they were too heavy. Melissa tried to escape the Infected, but she was slowly losing the battle. She would kick the woman and send her stumbling back a few steps, only to return with more fury.
Finally, Elaina settled on picking up a few smaller rocks and started lobbing them at Melissa’s attacker while the sound of gunshots rang out in the background. Elaina’s ambush, plus the sound of the guns, confused the infected woman so much that she took off running toward the clearing, away from the girls.
“Run,” Elaina ordered, taking off in a sprint toward the farm. This time, Melissa was right on her heels.
They didn’t stop running until they reached the house, the screams of the soldiers echoing behind them as they bolted from the forest. When they reached the property, Melissa collapsed on her hands and knees, wheezing.
“Are you okay?” Elaina asked, bending over to check on the girl.
Melissa shook her head. “I’m so sorry,” she choked out. “I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I just needed a little space.”
Elaina reached for her hands and pulled her back up to her feet. “We need to go inside and warn the others about what just happened,” she said grimly.
“I don’t know if I can face them,” Melissa said, her eyes welling up with tears.
Elaina understood that Melissa was still upset and ashamed of the trouble she had gotten herself into, but there was no time to wallow in self-pity.
“Why don’t you go inside and get yourself cleaned up? You’ve exposed a new risk in this area. The others will be glad that you’ve called it to attention, preventing us from a complete surprise ambush.”
Melissa nodded, wiping her eyes. “You won’t tell them I was crying, right?”
“I think that’s the least of our concerns right now,” Elaina replied before opening the front door.
Chapter Eight
In the living room, Alec, Bobby Dean, and Bethany sat on the slip-covered couches, saying very little to one another. Bethany clutched her coffee cup, sipping every time she was asked a question, buying herself a little time to formulate a response.
“No, I’m fine,” she said after Bobby Dean’s fifth or sixth question about different ways to make her feel more comfortable in their home.
Alec observed the two and their awkward exchange. Bobby Dean was trying too hard and Bethany was hardly paying attention to him. She kept trying to take his interest off her by asking about the house and making comments on the little trinkets that adorned the shelves.
“There’s an antiques shop that I used to go to back home that would probably pay a fortune for this stuff,” she thought out loud. “This stuff is just so kitsch and quirky. I mean, get a load of those creepy little dolls on that bookshelf.”
“Where are you from, exactly?” Alec asked, his lips drawn tight as he waited for an answer.
Bethany took a sip of her beverage. “All over the West Coast. I don’t really have a home town, per se. My family moved a lot. My parents worked in tech, so they were always being moved around as they worked on new projects.”
“Do you have a big family?” Alec asked.
“It was just my parents and my brother. All dead now, of course. What about your family?”
She said this with the slightest level of vitriol, as if she were notifying Alec that she knew what he was trying to do. He persisted anyway.
“Most of my family was gone even before the epidemic began,” he said casually. “So, did you have a hard time getting to Oklahoma? You said that crossing the border was easy. What was the rest of your trip like?”
Another sip. “Well, I can’t say that it was fun. I’ve been chased after more times than I can even count. I watched a lot of people die. I’ve even had to kill a few Infected just to survive. I don’t enjoy that kind of thing. It’s really not pleasant for me. I don’t know if you feel the same way about it, though.”
Alec couldn’t help but smile. It was now a game. He asked the questions and she would do her best to dodge them but sting Alec in the process. There was important information to be gleaned, no doubt, but in the moment, he was enjoying their back and forth.
After about fifteen minutes of asking questions to little response, Alec was beginning to get frustrated.
“Tell me again, how do you know Will Domenica?” he asked shortly.
“Was that your friend?” she asked. “We weren’t really on a first name-last name basis. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know a lot about him. We were acquainted for a short amount of time. Were you close?” She paused for a split second between each statement, waiting for each message to land.
“I don’t know about close,” Alec started to answer.
“From what I heard, he went crazy,” Bobby Dean answered. “He was being all threatening and stuff.”
“Really?” Bethany asked, feigning interest in what Bobby Dean had to say.
“He wasn’t always like that,” Alec argued. “When I first met him, he was a really nice guy. He was very upbeat and positive. I mean, he had just watched his parents kill each other, and he cleaned up the mess and stuck around. When he told me about it, he still tried to look on the bright side of things. I don’t think there was a bright side to any of that, but at least he tried.”
“Maybe we’re not talking about the same kid,” she said. “The Will I met was the complete opposite. I though
t he was a bit of an ass. He nearly got me killed a few times and basically wanted us to roll over and die when we were faced with any adversity.”
“No, that’s the same guy,” Alec answered. “Short, scrawny, tan, short brown hair?”
“I guess we are talking about the same person,” she said, amused by Will’s change in character. “What was your experience with him like?”
Alec gritted his teeth. “Why are you resisting me so hard?”
Bethany raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean? I thought we were having a nice conversation.”
Alec shook his head. “You’re dodging questions at every turn. I just want to know why I should trust a word you’re saying. I want to like you, Bethany. I really do. But you’re making it really hard for me to find a single reason to let you stay here.”
Bethany looked surprised. She turned to Bobby Dean, who looked shocked by his sudden outburst. “Does he always do this to people he’s just met?”
“No, he doesn’t,” Bobby Dean said, scowling at Alec. “I think you’re crossing the line, man.”
“I’m crossing the line? Don’t you think you’re crossing the line by fawning all over Bethany while your girlfriend is out there on her own? I shouldn’t have to send Elaina out to find her. You should have gone.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” Bobby Dean argued. “You’re being rude to me and you’re being rude to our guest.”
“Oh, you haven’t begun to see me when I’m being rude,” Alec sneered, completely fed up with Bobby Dean’s behavior. His poor manners, while annoying, were forgivable. Refusing to stand up for someone who cared about him was not.
Bobby Dean stood up, his hands balled into fists. “You want to say that to my face?”
“I already did,” Alec said, coming to his feet. “Let me spell it out for you—you’re a hypocrite. You were so worried about Melissa falling for that Callum guy instead of you. Now, you don’t even care about her.”
“That’s not true,” he said, standing so close to Alec that their chests were nearly touching. “Take that back.”
“No.”
“Guys, please stop,” Bethany said. “If you want to hear more about Will, I’ll talk. Just sit down.”
Neither of the men seemed to hear her.
“Why is this any of your business, anyway?” Bobby Dean asked. “Have you thought of the fact that Melissa’s a tough girl and doesn’t need your protection? Do you think the women around here like it when you treat them like they can’t take care of themselves?”
“I–” Alec stuttered. “I know they’re perfectly capable.” Alec knew Melissa had street smarts and was tough. Plus, Elaina was the smartest person he knew.
“Then why don’t you let everyone just live their lives? We don’t need you to micromanage our personal lives. You’re like the overbearing dad of girls who are not much younger than you. Melissa will be fine.”
Elaina burst into the house, panting, with Melissa close behind. Melissa tried to rub the dirt off her cheeks, but once everyone saw the tear tracks through the mud on her face, it was clear that Melissa wasn’t fine.
Alec ran to the doorway and wrapped his arms around Elaina as she caught her breath. “What happened?”
Elaina frowned. “We ran into some trouble in the woods up the road. We didn’t get hurt, but it was still pretty scary.”
Alec kissed her on the top of the head, furious at himself for not searching for Melissa himself, especially after Elaina was so hesitant. “I’m sorry I suggested that you go out there. I’m glad you guys are okay.”
“Me too,” Elaina said, giving Alec a squeeze back.
Bobby Dean stood in the middle of the living room, staring at the floor. Melissa gave him an expectant look, pleading with her eyes to get him to approach her and share some sentiment about how he was worried about her wellbeing, or at the least, apologetic for driving her to bolt in the first place. But he didn’t budge and eventually took his seat back on the couch.
Melissa ran to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. Alec and Elaina gave Bobby Dean reproachful looks, but he was avoiding their gazes, too.
“Is everything okay?” Bethany asked nervously.
Elaina shook her head. “We’re not alone. We ran into three soldiers in the woods and they were really awful. After they grabbed us, they kept talking about ‘using’ us for some purpose. I’m just thankful we got away before we found out what exactly that purpose was.”
“Did they hurt you?” Alec asked, his cheeks turning pink.
“No. They roughed Melissa up a bit, though. One of them was saying really crass things to her and felt her up. It was awful.”
Bobby Dean gritted his teeth and clenched the arms of the recliner he was sitting in.
“That’s awful,” Bethany gasped.
“It was. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m thankful that there were Infected in the forest. Because of that attack, the soldiers let us go and we managed to escape. I can’t say for sure, but I think they might have been killed by the Infected. It sounded like it, anyway.”
“Great. Now we have healthy people and infected people to worry about,” Alec said, frowning. Do you know what organization they were with?”
“No, I didn’t get the chance to figure that out. They didn’t seem like any of the other ones we’ve encountered, but it’s hard to know.”
Bethany’s face had gone pale. She hung on to Elaina’s every word, leaning so far forward that she looked like she was going to fall out of her chair.
“What did you find out?”
“Well, I’ve figured out that they weren’t sent here to kill Infected. That makes me think they’re not affiliated with the government, because that was their primary goal. They said something about looking for a girl, but we would do for the time being. I think she might have been unpleasant or dangerous because they didn’t seem very keen on grabbing her.”
Alec turned his head toward Bethany, as if he were catching her in the act. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was thinking and violently shook her head.
“I’m not dangerous,” she asserted. “I do think I know who they were looking for, though.”
“Who?” Bobby Dean asked.
Bethany poured the remainder of her cold coffee into her mouth. “Her name is Samantha. It would make more sense that people were looking for her, not me.”
“Who’s Samantha?” Elaina asked.
“Yeah, what do they want with her?” Alec chimed in.
Bethany sighed. “Look, I don’t know. I’ve just heard that a lot of people are looking for a girl named Samantha.”
Elaina and Alec exchanged glances. This wasn’t helping her case. In fact, it just felt like she was making up a fake story to throw the others off her trail.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” Bethany groaned.
Elaina cringed. She didn’t want to say it outright, but her story was fishy. Melissa came back from the bathroom, her face scrubbed clean. She sat in the far corner, studying the others as they spoke.
“To be perfectly frank, not really,” Alec said, a tinge of sadness in his voice.
Bethany twiddled her thumbs. “Fine. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. I’m not going to dodge questions and I’ll give you the best answers I’ve got. You know, besides Will’s word, none of you have given me a reason I should trust you with my knowledge.”
Elaina thought she had a good point. It didn’t seem fair that they had to vet Bethany without proving their good character to her.
“For what it’s worth, I’m technically still on the Most Wanted list,” Elaina offered. “If you ever get the feeling that we’ve betrayed your trust, you can always find someone who wants to take me down. It’s the closest thing to collateral that I can give you.”
Bethany nodded. “That helps. If I’m going to talk, can I at least get a cup of tea?”
Bobby Dean began to reach for her empty mug, but Alec stepped in first. “I’ve got
it,” Alec said, shooting Bobby Dean a dirty look. Bobby Dean slumped back into the recliner, looking sheepish.
When Alec went to retrieve the hot water, he looked out over the horizon. For as far as he could see, there was nothing but forgotten fields. Even when he looked toward the little patch of trees, he saw nothing that could be construed as suspicious. It made the knowledge that there was danger out there all the more chilling. Something was lurking below the surface and he had no idea what they were dealing with.
When Alec returned to the living room, he handed Bethany the mug she requested, letting the liquid carelessly slop down the sides. Melissa’s body tensed up when Bethany placed it on the bare wood of the end table, though several coasters sat mere inches away.
“Now,” Bethany said, blinking several times. She did not hide behind her coffee cup but looked the others straight in the eye. For the first time since he had met Bethany, Alec felt like she was finally being authentic. “Where do I even begin?”
Chapter Nine
The others stared at Bethany as she composed herself, sitting at attention in anticipation. Bethany felt like she was speaking directly to a jury and that they would decide her fate once she was finished talking. It was difficult to begin, knowing that one wrong word or facial expression could condemn her.
“Why don’t you just start from when you met Will?” Alec suggested. “Then, tell us everything that happened after that.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding. “I guess I first met him in Bretton Vincent’s camp. He was helping the soldiers bring in people for experimentation. I don’t know this for certain, but he may have been infected with one of the experimental strains.”
She paused and looked at the floor, remembering his superhuman strength.
“Actually, I’m quite confident that he was infected by one of the strains. A lot of the soldiers were. At best, they were brainwashed into thinking that Dr. Vincent was a god. They didn’t act sick, but their brains weren’t right. Will couldn’t remember anything about being infected.”