by Max Lockwood
“Yes, but that number of calories is only enough to support necessary functions of the body. We will be walking for days on end, potentially running and fighting at times. She has carefully picked out all of the lightest foods, leaving us with the heavy canned goods. We’ll have to carry all of it, which is going to eat up more of our energy stores and slow us down. We don’t have a vehicle, so we’ll all have to go on foot. We don’t have a gun, so if we encounter any Infected, we’ll be fighting by hand.”
“Oh,” Melissa whispered, staring at her feet. “I’ll go out to the chicken coop and grab some eggs for breakfast. There should be enough for a big meal.”
Elaina shook her head. “I already checked earlier this morning. Someone smashed them against the side of the coop.”
Elaina omitted the perpetrator’s name, so as not to upset Melissa. There was only one person who would do such a thing.
Melissa’s stomach ached. It was one thing for Bethany to run off in the middle of the night. It was another for her to steal all of their most valuable possessions that were vital to their survival.
“I–I think I might be responsible for this,” she stuttered, overcome with guilt. Melissa knew how secrets led to trouble and wanted to get this one off her chest before they ventured out into the streets.
“What do you mean?” Alec asked, slouching over their meager reserves.
“I talked to her last night while you two were sleeping. She was asking me all sorts of questions about what our plan was. She seemed really nervous. Then, she said that Will asked her to travel with him and that she still had the option to catch up with him.”
“Really?” Alec said, raising his eyebrows. “Is that why she left?”
Melissa shrugged. “She seemed really unsure of herself. She mentioned something about how she thought it might be best if she traveled alone, and I agreed with her.”
“How so?” Alec questioned.
Melissa sighed. “I didn’t go out and say that I didn’t want her anywhere around us, but I certainly didn’t make her feel welcome, either. I don’t know . . . I just didn’t want her around if she was going to screw us over again. We can’t trust her, and we all know it would lead to trouble. But now she’s gone and we’re still in trouble. I feel like it’s my fault that all of our stuff is gone.”
Alec and Elaina didn’t immediately dispute this statement. They were left with tins of salty sardines and bulky cans of green beans packed in water. They had a measly book of matches with half of the matches missing and a single flashlight with no spare batteries.
“Well,” Elaina said, “I guess we couldn’t all fit on the motorcycle. It might have been nice to have a faster and more energy-efficient way of hauling our stuff, but we couldn’t all ride together.”
Melissa appreciated her effort in trying to comfort her, but she didn’t feel much better. Even Alec tried to hide the disappointment on his face. But Melissa knew all too well that their journey would be much more difficult without the things they needed.
“I guess you’re right,” Alec added. “We have fought off the Infected with things lying around on the ground before, and we can do it again,” he said. “When it comes down to it, our ultimate goal doesn’t change. We still need to find a vehicle so we can put more space between the incoming army and us. It might take us a little more time if we have to go on foot and gather more supplies as we go, but it’s still possible.”
“I’ll consolidate the supplies,” Elaina said, reaching for the bags. “We’ll have to do with one bag of supplies each. Alec, I’ll carry your bag because you can’t carry anything on your bad shoulder.”
“I can carry it on my good shoulder,” he argued. “Melissa, go get dressed. “We’re going to have to leave as soon as possible if we want to make it out of here before we’re found.”
Melissa raced back to her room, trying to figure out what to wear. She knew all too well that she would be spending weeks on end in the same clothes. Eventually, she decided on the jeans and sweater she got from Safe Haven and wrapped one of her grandfather’s flannel shirts around her waist. When she returned to the kitchen, Alec and Elaina were standing at the back door, ready to go.
“Here’s your bag,” Alec said, handing over a small drawstring bag. When she put it on her back, the contents rested awkwardly against her body, the thin nylon bag doing nothing to cushion its contents. Whatever was inside sloshed and jangled with every step.
Melissa laced up her sneakers, trying not to think about the fact that she may never return to the house she’d called home for the better part of a year. Before they left for good, Melissa twisted the lock on the door handle, sealing the house shut.
“What are you doing?” Alec asked as they waited for her to lock the door.
“If I can’t live here, I don’t want anyone else to, either.”
The other two kept their silence, not mentioning what Melissa already knew. If someone wanted to get inside the house, it would be all too easy to break in.
As they headed toward the main road, Melissa jogged over to the barn and cut the feed bags open with her utility knife. The cows looked morosely at her as she scattered food on the ground. It was a futile task, as the farm animals would surely die once the food supply ran out.
“Maybe someone else will find the house and use what we couldn’t,” Elaina suggested as Melissa looked at the farmland. So many hours of planting crops had gone to waste. Little sprouts poked out of the dirt, with promise to become fields of corn and beans, among other fruits and vegetables. “There are still good people out there,” she said firmly.
While Melissa knew that she was probably right, it didn’t feel like it. Taking one last glance at the house from her childhood, she marveled at how it had become such an important place in her adult life. She knew her grandparents would be proud of her—at least she hoped they would.
The walk into town took them much longer than they thought it would. On a motorcycle, the trip went quickly, especially because there were no longer traffic laws that applied to them. Walking straight into wind, they quickly became tired. Sitting around the house for the majority of the day quickly de-conditioned the survivors, who had grown strong with day-long walks and prolonged sprints to avoid dangerous people. After about three hours of walking, the three were visibly tired, though no one wanted to admit it.
By Melissa’s calculation, the three were about five hours behind Bethany, who likely made the trip into town in about thirty minutes. She couldn’t help but wonder if Alec could have returned to them with a decent car by now if they still had the bike. Her feet certainly wouldn’t be so sore if that were the case.
A fresh wave of anger overcame Melissa at that thought. When Alec woke her with the news of Bethany’s disappearance, she was too shocked and guilty to be furious. Now, she wanted to hurt Bethany.
The only thing propelling Melissa forward at that point was a revenge fantasy involving Melissa finally catching up to Bethany. She would be out-armed, but she imagined a scenario where she could wrestle her gun back from Bethany and point the weapon at her while spewing all kinds of insults. Melissa wouldn’t shoot her—that would be too kind. Instead, she would tie Bethany up at the side of the road and leave her for whatever creature came for her flesh first.
She tried different scenarios in her head, each one ending with Bethany’s pleas for help and forgiveness. The white-hot fury in Melissa’s mind made it easy to walk for a few more miles, even when she was already exhausted.
Even Alec, the most athletic in the group, was struggling. He looked extremely uncomfortable, constantly shifting his bag from one shoulder, down to his hand, then back to his shoulder. He frequently touched the spot where he had been shot.
“Are you okay, Alec?” Melissa asked.
“Yeah,” he said, grimacing. “It’s just a little painful right now.”
Knowing Alec, that was an understatement. Melissa stopped and dug through her bag, remembering that Elaina had packed first-ai
d supplies in there.
“What are you looking for?” Elaina asked.
“Some pain pills for Alec,” she replied, digging through odd items like allergy medicine and tweezers.
“I don’t think we have any,” Elaina answered.
“I could have sworn I grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen, at least,” Melissa said.
“I–I think that was something that Bethany took,” Elaina said quietly.
Without another word, Melissa slung her bag over her shoulder and continued to walk. She didn’t speak for the next hour.
Eventually, they found themselves at the outskirts of town. Elaina suggested that they rest briefly before continuing, knowing that there had been confirmed Infected sightings in the area. She passed around cans of fruit cocktail—their second meal of the day after their breakfast of stale saltines.
“I think we should be able to find a car,” Alec said. “When we were here last, I remember seeing a few parked around the business district. We’ll just grab the car and get the hell out of here, assuming that Will and Bethany haven’t torched all of them.”
The sky looked clear and bright, so Melissa felt hopeful that there would still be available vehicles when they got there. They were only about a mile away from downtown, much to her relief. She couldn’t wait to ride in a car for a change.
Alec drained the rest of the juice into his mouth and rolled over to his side, letting the warm sun envelop his body as he reclined. Melissa and Elaina followed suit, the bright sun too much for their tired bodies.
Melissa’s eyelids grew heavy. She ultimately surrendered, allowing her lids to rest, only for a minute. In her head, she counted the seconds she was allowing herself to rest. When she got to a hundred, she would stand up and continue on her way.
Somewhere along the way, she heard footsteps on the dirt road and sat up quickly, embarrassed that she had dozed off. Alec and Elaina were on a mission and she didn’t want to be the thing that held them back.
“Are we ready?” Melissa mumbled sleepily, only to realize that the other two were still resting. She whipped her head to the site of the footsteps, finding a soldier standing right in front of her.
Melissa let out a yelp, jolting the other two from their sleep. They scrambled to their feet, ready to run from the soldier that Will had warned them about. It was strange that he was alone, as all of the soldiers she’d encountered traveled in packs.
The soldier, decked out in the standard camouflage uniform, looked at the others with a curious expression. He didn’t speak to them but simply stared. He was rather handsome, with broad shoulders giving way to muscular arms. He was tall with closely-cropped brown hair covered by his matching cap. He looked tired, as though he had been separated from his fellow soldiers and had spent the entire night looking for them.
“You guys,” Elaina said, her voice low. “Look at his hands.”
Poking out of his sleeves were two festering hands with oozing, open wounds. One thumb was hanging on by a flap of skin but didn’t bleed. Perhaps the most horrifying part of his injuries was that he didn’t seem to notice or care that the skin was falling from his body, right before their eyes.
“It’s you,” he said in a deep voice, pointing a mangled finger at Elaina. He lunged toward her, sinking his teeth into the side of her face.
Alec tried to wrench the soldier off Elaina, but his shoulder was too weak to separate them. Melissa joined in, and together, they were able to pull the soldier off Elaina, who was clutching her face with both hands.
Alec delivered a series of swift kicks to the soldier that knocked him back a bit before he grabbed onto Alec’s foot, sending him crashing to the ground. Melissa dug through her pockets, searching for her knife, but she couldn’t remember where she had stored it. She dumped the contents of her bag on the ground, searching through the miscellany until she spotted it by the edge of the road.
Just as the Infected was about to sink his teeth into Alec, Melissa plunged the knife into his back. She yanked the knife out and kept stabbing until she could no longer lift her arms. The soldier fell back onto the road, completely motionless.
Completely exhausted, Melissa sat down in the grass and rested her head on her knees. Her arms felt like wet noodles and her lungs burned.
“Did you get bitten?” Alec asked Melissa.
“No,” she wheezed. “You?”
“No. Elaina got a nasty bite, though.”
Melissa looked up to see Elaina pressing a chunk of gauze to her face. She had a rather deep gash where she was viciously attacked. Melissa pulled a large adhesive bandage from her bag. She opened it, smeared a thin layer of antibacterial ointment, and helped Alec apply it to the wound.
“At least I’m immune.” She winced as she applied pressure to the gash. “Thanks for having my back.”
As Alec sat on the ground, Melissa noticed that blood was seeping through Alec’s shirt.
“Are you sure you didn’t get bitten?” she asked carefully.
Alec looked down at his arm, a little alarm in his eyes. He pulled off his shirt with one hand to inspect his injury.
“My stitches ripped open,” he said with a sigh of relief. “Would you help me with those bandages?” he asked, nodding at the pile of random first-aid supplies.
Melissa peeled the back off another large adhesive and pressed it over his bullet wound.
“Thanks,” he said, struggling to pull his shirt back on. “Now, let’s try not to get any more injuries. We haven’t even made it to town and we’re already running low on bandages,” he said facetiously.
“I’ll do my best,” Melissa said grimly as they got back to their feet.
As they walked into town, the near-miss was still on their mind. There was something strange about the ambush and Melissa couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
“Unfortunately, my wishful thinking surrounding the state of the Infected population seems to be erroneous,” Elaina said. “If it weren’t for his hands, I would have had a hard time telling him apart from a healthy soldier. All of the others that we’ve seen in the past year have looked emaciated and on the verge of death. He looked strong. It’s a bit troubling, don’t you think?”
“I agree,” Alec replied. “He might be one of Bretton’s creations. That means that they’re moving faster than Will thought. We don’t have any time to spare.”
The three picked up the pace, walking down the center of deserted streets with their knives in hand. They were in a race against time and were already dealing with more handicaps than they had previously accounted for.
Melissa gripped the handle of her soiled knife with greater intensity as they marched through the streets. If she happened to spot either of the traitors, it would take all of the restraint she could muster not to attack them with the same voracity as she attacked the infected soldier.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
As Bethany cruised around the streets of the tiny town, she immediately felt stupid for believing that Will was going to wait for her. It was still dark, and the one beam of light from the motorcycle did little to illuminate her field of vision. Out of all the hidden entities lurking in the dark, she wondered if Will was one of them.
Not wanting to miss him if he had been earnest, she slowly drove up each street, looking for signs of life. When she found none, she circled back to the downtown area to top off the gas tank before she left.
As she poured fuel from a plastic canister into the tank, she heard a noise coming from the gas station convenience store. Bethany jumped, sloshing a few trickles of gasoline onto her hands. A beam of light shone directly in her face, momentarily blinding her.
“You’re awfully twitchy tonight.” Will laughed, moving the light to the ground as he approached her.
“Don’t scare me like that,” she said, covering her eyes with her forearm. “I can’t see anything.”
“Sorry,” he said lamely, shuffling toward the bike. “Sweet ride,” he joked. “Where’d you get it?”
/> “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said gruffly, twisting the cap back on the gas tank. “Can we just get out of here?”
“Sure thing,” he said, hopping on the back of the bike. “I really wasn’t sure you would come. You seemed quite enamored with the idea of sticking around the Golden Three.”
She rolled her eyes. “Plans change. I know when I’m not wanted. It would be stupid to hang with a crowd that hates my guts.”
“Ah, so you’ve talked with Melissa,” he said wisely. “Well, I’m glad you’ve come to the dark side. I see you’ve brought goodies.”
He unzipped a compartment and took a handful of jerky, popping it into his wide mouth.
“Save it,” she said. “I could only carry so much, and I’d prefer not to make a lot of stops on this trip.”
“Fine,” he said, resting his hands on her waist as she started the bike. “Thanks for coming, by the way. I was worried I wouldn’t find you, but you made it impossible not to find you. This hog is loud. If there are any Infected left here, you’ve definitely woken them up.”
“Then let’s go,” she said, kicking the bike into gear. They drove out of town to the next highway entrance ramp. Once on the road, Bethany drove as fast as she could to outrun the army and the survivors she’d abandoned. She didn’t know what scared her more, being approached by the militia or Alec, Elaina, and Melissa. She had directly harmed both groups and she had a feeling that everyone wished bad things upon her.
She traveled down the road as the sun rose, putting her more at ease. Now, if anyone approached her, she would be able to see what was coming. She couldn’t count how many times she saw a traffic cone or tumbleweed in the dark and mistook it for an unsavory character.
A few hours into the drive, Bethany made a quick stop at a service station to fill the tank and stretch her legs. She didn’t realize how tense she was until she got off the bike and she could hardly move her muscles. She waddled to the gas pump while Will found a nice shrub to relieve himself behind.