by Max Lockwood
“You don’t need to,” Bethany said quickly. “Please trust me.”
The three walked slowly down the hallway, checking each doorway as they passed every classroom. Bethany whimpered with every glance into a dark room, terrified that she would look into the window and find her old travel partner grinning back at her.
“I think we’ve covered the entire ground floor,” Bobby Dean said as they reached an exit on the other side of the building. “I think we need to go upstairs to the next floor.”
They had passed several more bodies along the way, each one horribly mutilated. Some soldiers were missing limbs while others had several deep slashes, far more than it would take to kill a person.
Melissa could see lights on in the second floor and swore she heard soft voices, though the other two didn’t seem to react to them. Perhaps it was because Bobby Dean was breathing so heavily from walking over heaps of dead bodies and Bethany was whimpering and whining so much.
She took the lead, walking up the steep steps, when the three heard a loud pop from above.
“I think it’s just a blown light bulb,” Bobby Dean said, but Bethany did not take comfort in this. She turned around and bolted back down the steps, disappearing from sight.
“Bethany, get back here,” Bobby Dean hissed. “You said we were going to stick together.”
His efforts were futile. Bethany was already downstairs, back to the hallways where there was no sign of life.
“If that girl leaves without helping us, I’m going to be so pissed,” Bobby Dean scowled. “You were right about her being a bit of a snake, by the way,” he added.
Melissa shook off his comment. There was no time to get caught up in haughtiness over a correct judgment. The two continued up the stairs, their hearts pounding in anticipation.
They heard the sound of metal on the tile floor coming from down the hall. Bobby Dean reflexively grabbed onto Melissa’s arm for security. This time, she let him touch her as it also provided her with a smidgen of comfort. At least she knew he wouldn’t be so quick to bolt on her.
Bobby Dean whipped his head around when they heard a squeal coming from downstairs. He momentarily pulled away from Melissa, but she pulled him back.
“It was her choice to run,” she said, scowling at Bobby Dean. “We still need to find Alec and Elaina, remember? What’s more important to you?”
Bobby Dean nodded, turning back toward the second-floor hallway. “You’re right. We’ll find the other two first.”
“Good,” Melissa said, looking toward the classrooms on either side of the corridor. The majority of them had lights on, but the doors were shut, casting an eerie glow on the dark hallway.
“Well,” Bobby Dean said, turning to Melissa for advice, “where should we start?”
Chapter Nineteen
After checking one classroom to find that it was clear, Melissa quietly pulled Bobby Dean into the room, silently closing the door behind them. She sat on a desk and he pulled up a tiny chair beside her.
“I’m completely in the dark here,” Melissa said. “Before we go looking for the thing who did this, do you want to tell me what you know? Obviously, the militia isn’t doing enough to fight whatever keeps killing these soldiers. Who are we dealing with? Is it a healthy person or is this the work of the Infected?”
Bobby Dean shrugged. “Bethany thinks it’s this girl she used to travel with. Her name is Samantha and she’s a crazy bitch who keeps murdering people with a machete. If you look at the way those soldiers were killed, I think that’s who we’re dealing with.”
“One person did all of this?” Melissa asked skeptically. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know. It could also be the Infected, but I think we would hear them if that were the case,” he said.
“Unless they’ve gone dormant,” she replied. “Now, what about Bethany?”
“What about her?”
“Do you have any reason to believe that she’s in on this?”
Bobby Dean shook his head. “No way.”
Melissa raised an eyebrow at him.
“I know what you’re thinking and you’ve got it all wrong,” he replied. “She has some problems telling the truth, but she’s not going to hurt us. You saw her—she’s absolutely terrified. She’s a coward for not helping us, but she’s not a danger to us.”
“If you insist,” Melissa said. “Now, what’s our plan of attack? Do you have any weapons?”
“Nope,” Bobby Dean said. “I don’t think those soldiers did, either. Otherwise, I don’t think they’d be dead. Either the ones with the weapons are hiding out up here, or the killer disarmed and stole them from the soldiers. “
“So, what you’re saying is that we’re either going to come across a crazy yet healthy woman or a gang of powerful Infected, and we don’t have any weapons to protect ourselves with?”
Bobby Dean thought for a minute before nodding. “Yep.”
“What are our chances of making it out alive?” she asked.
“Slim,” he replied.
They had two options at that point. They could either search for Alec and Elaina and risk their lives, or they could cut their losses and run back to the house. The motorcycle was still outside the school. The two could easily make a break for it and hope the others eventually rejoined them. It was so tempting to just turn around and bolt like Bethany did moments ago.
On the other hand, Alec once missed a helicopter to New York with Elaina, just to search for Melissa and Thomas. It would be a horrible betrayal to ditch the two who’d looked after her for so many months.
“Let’s find them,” Melissa said, getting up from her seat. She reached out and helped Bobby Dean out of the child’s chair. He gave her hand a small squeeze before they turned and headed back toward the hallway.
They heard laughing at the end of the hall, deep, rasping chuckles that made the hair on the back of Melissa’s neck stand up. Without warning, Bobby Dean took off in a full sprint toward the last room on the left.
Melissa followed, stopping short in the doorway when she saw a young woman hovering over an injured Alec with a giant knife in her hand. The entire machete was coated in a thick layer of blood, which seeped onto the woman’s right arm.
“Stop,” Bobby Dean yelled as he tried to put himself between Alec and the attacker. “Get away from him, you monster!”
He reached for a scalpel from a tray of medical supplies, but it was no match for a blade twenty times its size. She squealed with laughter as he tried to threaten her.
“You’re so cute,” she said, twirling her knife around. “So, so stupid, but you’re absolutely precious. You think that you could possibly beat me? I have the blood of a winner running through my veins. What do you have?”
“You’re sick, do you know that?” Bobby Dean growled.
“I can’t get sick,” she sang. “I’m invincible. Let’s find out if you are, too. I have a feeling you’re not.”
She raised the machete above her head, ready to strike. Melissa bolted into the makeshift hospital room and tackled Samantha with as much force as she could generate. Caught off guard, Samantha toppled onto the floor, where Melissa pinned her down.
Bobby Dean quickly jumped in, pressing his knee into her back as she wheezed in pain. The more she swore and hurled insults at them, the harder he pushed her into the cold tile floor.
Grabbing a thick roll of gauze, Melissa tightly wound the cotton around Samantha’s hands, binding them together behind her back. Melissa tied several different complex knots to ensure that she wouldn’t break free. When she was finished, the two lifted the squirming girl up by her armpits and placed her against the wall before starting on her ankles. Bobby Dean ripped the shoelaces from Samantha’s tall boots and wound them around her shins, cutting into her pale flesh.
“A lot of people have been looking for you,” Bobby Dean said as he tied his final knot.
“Is that so?” she asked snarkily.
“Is there
anyone helping you?” Melissa asked. “Or did you do this all on your own?”
Samantha shrugged, then smiled.
Melissa turned toward Alec, who was lying in the hospital bed with restraints on his arms and legs. Melissa carefully untied the straps, much to Alec’s relief.
“Thanks,” he said weakly. “I think the doctor may have been killed. I don’t know who this person is, but I think she’s killed a lot of the soldiers.”
“Good riddance,” Samantha chimed in.
“That’s the Samantha that Bethany was talking about,” Melissa said. “As it turns out, she knew her from before and lied about it.”
“Where’s Lainey?” he asked, his voice soft and raspy.
“Um, we think she’s around here somewhere,” she answered, not wanting to upset Alec by telling him that she was taken away by soldiers before the massacre began. She knew what it was like to undergo physical trauma. She would tell him the truth when he was feeling stronger.
“She was taken away by soldiers,” Bobby Dean carelessly answered. Melissa shot him a glare.
“What?” he asked, trying to sit up in bed before remembering the hole in his shoulder.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Bobby Dean recovered. “She’s always been able to hold her own.”
“I’m not worried about the soldiers taking her,” Alec answered. “For the most part, I think they’re fairly benign. I’m worried that this girl . . .”
He trailed off, not wanting to say the words.
“Listen up,” Bobby Dean said, nudging Samantha in the ribs with his toes. “Have you seen a small woman with brown hair? She kinda looks like a mouse,” he asked.
“Hmm,” Samantha hummed, a wide, toothy smile on her face.
“Did you hurt her?” he asked, louder this time. He tugged a handful of her hair, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Special girl,” she said.
“What the hell does that mean?” Alec asked.
“I think that’s a good sign,” Bobby Dean said. “Bethany said something about this. I’m sure she’s hiding around here somewhere.”
“Help me out of this bed,” Alec said drowsily. “I need to be with Elaina.”
Chapter Twenty
Bethany retched as she ran back down the hall, through corridors packed with slaughtered soldiers. The smell of blood filled the air and the warmth from the hallways made the air feel thick. She swore she could taste death as she breathed through her mouth, panting as she got as far away from the second floor as she could.
She knew that Bobby Dean and Melissa were probably furious at her for running away, but she also knew that there was a good chance they were already dead. She winced, knowing that Samantha would take great pleasure in killing someone like Bobby Dean. Melissa would likely perish too, likely from being too stubborn to take Bethany’s advice and save her own life.
Bethany tried to keep running, but she found that it was impossible to breathe. Her throat felt tight, as if she was breathing through a coffee stirrer. She wheezed and gasped with every step until her head started spinning. She practically fell into a classroom and curled up in a ball in the dark room.
Stopping to catch her breath, she told herself that she would get back up and start running the moment the tunnel vision stopped. She tucked her head down to her knees and breathed in slow, shuddery breaths while she made a game plan.
Leaving the others behind, she would exit through the door Melissa entered the building through. Then, she would search for a vehicle, hopefully something large enough to be a force to reckon with on the road but not so large that it slowed her progress. An SUV or all-terrain vehicle would do.
Then, she would drive east. If the coast was clear, she’d head back to the farmhouse and take everything she could get her hands on. Food, blankets, clothes, and other odds and ends would go in the back of the stolen vehicle. If the vehicle had a large enough backseat, she would be able to live comfortably within that space for quite some time.
Fresh water would eventually become a concern. She probably would not have time to bottle well water from the farm, so she would have to find a natural water source where she could boil drinking water and bathe on occasion. Again, going east would help.
She wasn’t sure where she would drive, but she thought Canada would be a good option. If the country managed to keep Americans out, then maybe she could plead her case. After all, there was a good chance she could prove her immunity to the virus. They would have to let her in then. Or she could head south to Mexico, although she wasn’t confident in her ability to plead her case in a different language.
It would be hard to navigate the country without the help of others, but she would have to make do. This time, she would have to do a better job of keeping to herself. It always seemed as though trouble found her the moment she teamed up with someone else. While she was thankful that Samantha had pulled her out of her mother’s bunker, she wished her association with the woman had ended there.
If worse came to worst, she remembered hearing stories about Cuban refugees floating on tiny rafts to Florida. Bethany didn’t know how long it would take to get to the more remote island territories by raft, but it could be another option if her other choices didn’t work out.
She wondered if she could simply dig a big enough hole, fit it with the proper ventilation, and hide out in a bunker until the virus wiped out the rest of the population. Dr. Adler was in the process of doing just that when her daughter killed everyone there. Perhaps that could be another option if things got desperate.
Feeling as if she had some agency in what happened to her, Bethany stood back up, suddenly able to breathe again. She stuck her head out of the classroom to make sure the coast was clear before darting back down the hall, hurdling slain bodies. She was a mere feet away from the outside when someone came sprinting from around the corner and slammed into her.
Bethany flew backward and hit her head on the ground, just missing a corpse by inches. Instantly, she saw stars as the back of her head swelled. She felt sore all over from the collision and struggled to get back to her feet. A hand reached out in front of her to help her back up.
“I’m so sorry,” Elaina said, lifting Bethany to her feet. “I didn’t see you there.”
“It’s fine,” mumbled Bethany, touching her tender head with her fingertips. Elaina wiped a small trickle of blood from her nose on her shirt and pinched the bridge of her injured nose.
“Are you okay?” she asked, walking behind the girl to check. With one hand, Elaina parted Bethany’s hair, looking for the source of the bleeding. “I can’t tell where it split open.”
Bethany ran her fingers through her hair, not finding the wound that Elaina was talking about. Then, she understood her confusion when she raked her fingers through the full length of her locks. The ends were sticky with cold blood.
“Not my blood,” she said through a grimace.
“Oh,” Elaina said, looking at the stabbed soldier to her left. She took Bethany’s hand and started moving toward the hall that Bethany had just escaped from. “Come on,” Elaina said. “There’s someone attacking the militia. We need to get the others and go.”
“I can’t,” Bethany said, stopping dead in her tracks. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Please. I just can’t do it. You don’t understand how powerful she is.”
Elaina frowned. “Did you see the girl too?”
Bethany shook her head. “I haven’t seen her, but I know Samantha did this.”
Elaina raised her eyebrows. “I see. We need to get to Alec and Bobby Dean before it’s too late.”
“Melissa’s with them,” she said. “She was the one who broke us out of the boiler room.”
“Then how did you get split up? I haven’t been gone for that long.”
Bethany looked at the floor. “Look, I get that you four are pretty close. But here’s the thing—I haven’t known you for more than a day. I don’t know anything about you guys. The only thing I’ve done wa
s ask for a meal and a place to sleep. I didn’t promise to stick around forever. I think I even mentioned that I like to travel alone.”
She was beginning to hyperventilate. Elaina put her hands on Bethany’s shoulders.
“Breathe,” she said. “Things are looking pretty bad at the moment. I just met a man who had all the information I needed to create a cure for the virus. Then, he was hacked to death by that woman before we could get started. I think I know how you’re feeling.”
“I don’t think you do,” Bethany cried. “I knew Samantha from before. I’ve seen what she’s capable of.”
“Then you’ll know better than any of us how to stop her.”
“I don’t think you can stop her,” Bethany argued. “I’d rather just get out of her way.”
“And we can do that,” Elaina said calmly, “but first, we have to get the others.”
Bethany didn’t budge. “You can’t reason with her. She’s going to kill every man she locks eyes on. She’ll kill women, too. You can’t convince her that she’s crazy.”
“That’s what I’ve realized,” Elaina replied.
“She thinks that individuals who are immune are some sort of chosen people. Her mother thought the same thing.”
“Then we won’t bother using our words to stop her,” Elaina said simply, grabbing Bethany’s hand again.
“I’m not one of you,” Bethany protested. “If I walked out that door right now, I wouldn’t give the four of you a second thought. I would find a way to move on without all of you. I’ve done it before and I can do it again. You guys have a shared history and you care about each other. I don’t have any of that.”
Elaina gave her hand a squeeze. “You could if you tried. I’m going to look for my friends. I don’t care what you do, but we could sure use your help.”
Bethany looked toward the door. She was so close to getting away. All the soldiers were already disposed of. It would be too easy to sneak away with absolutely no consequence.
At the last moment, she decided to help Elaina, thinking about what Will had told her about finding the good people. Bethany felt partially at fault for Samantha’s reign of terror. After all the lies she told, she figured she’d unwittingly put the others in danger. That and the regret of not stopping Samantha sooner loomed over her. If putting a little effort into helping the survivors atoned for her mistakes, then perhaps it was worth it to stay and fight.