Dead Last (Vol. 1): Dead Last

by Quaranta, Marc

  "We shoot him," Jack said calmly.

  "Jack."

  "We shoot him in the neck so he'll feel what Joe felt."

  Pete's face was pale white. Ghostly. He hadn't said a word since the incident and was walking around like a zombie. Not one word.

  "I know what he did was wrong. We all know that he did it. We all caught him red handed."

  "If we kill him, then we are no better than him. We can't just shoot someone and end a life. We can't," Dan said.

  "He ended a life!" Jack screamed.

  "Jack! We have heard from you, okay? We're going to listen to everyone else," Kurt stared at Jack with hard eyes.

  "We let him go," Dan said.

  "You mean take him outside and be done with it?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay. Thanks, Dan. Anyone else?"

  "Shoot him," said the youngest of us all. Elyse.

  "Elyse?" I said in shock.

  "Jack's right. What if it was Kurt? What if it was Jenny or you or my mom? Just because it was Joe, someone none of you have emotional ties to we're going to let him walk? He killed one of us. We shoot him."

  As right as she was, I couldn't believe that I was hearing those words from a seventeen-year-old. If it was Kurt that was killed, I think I would snag a gun and shoot him myself.

  "Anyone else? Kurt asked.

  Travis and Jenny both shook their heads. They didn't know what to say about anything. How could they have no opinion? This was life or death about someone and they had no opinion. I was disgusted to even know them.

  "Shoot him," Scott said. He didn't make eye contact with anyone.

  "We let him go," I said loudly looking directly into my fiancé's eyes.

  "Let him go," Molly said as she walked back into the meeting.

  Heather walked behind her and held her hands up to let us know that she tried her best to keep Molly away, but couldn't. Molly's eyes were bloodshot. Her face was red and damp with the tears that she had been crying.

  "He is a miserable excuse for a human being. He deserves everything that is going to come down on him. God's wrath will condemn him to hell...but we can't be the ones to make that decision. We are not God. Let him go."

  She didn't wait for anyone to say anything. She smiled at Kurt and then turned away from us. She walked with her arms pressed into her stomach like she had a painful ache. She probably did. I think each and every one of us was dealing with a stomach pain. Whether it was nausea or cramping. We all felt it.

  "You heard the lady," Jack said. "We let them go."

  I didn't like Jack much, but I was gradually learning that he was a respectful guy. On the first day in here, he wasn't much help, he wasn't much for conversation, and he was plain as day a rude guy. But he grew on me. He always did what he thought was right and was becoming a strong backbone to the group.

  "Then it's settled."

  The group started to scatter off in all directions. It was a long day and everyone was tired. Kurt and I walked over to Frank to have a conversation with him. We made sure that nobody was going to go near Pete. When the room was empty except for Reggie, Kurt, Myself, Frank, Seth, Cam, and Pete, we took a deep breath and relaxed for a moment.

  "I'm sorry that this happened, Frank," Kurt said to him.

  "No. I'm sorry. These boys...I should have never let them leave the hospital."

  "Frank, this is my fiancé, Haylea."

  Frank reached out his hand to me, "Hi. It's an honor to meet you. I'm so sorry that it has to happen under these circumstances, though. I apologize to you and your people."

  "It's okay. Nobody knew this was going to happen. It's not your fault," I emphasized. I didn't know him but I could tell that he partly blamed himself. Being it was his brother and his brother's friends. I could see he blamed himself. But it honestly wasn't his fault. It wasn't Cam's fault. It was a horrible mistake.

  "Kurt, if it is okay with you and the rest of your group, I'd like to stay here with Reggie."

  "Look, we had a deal. Once Emily checks on Reggie and gets him some help, we'll send you on your way. I won't let you leave until then. But we're going to have to send your brother and his friends now. I'm sorry."

  "No, I understand. And thank you for being so understanding. You are a great leader."

  "I really appreciate that."

  There was a moment of silence between us. I watched Frank with a lot of interest. He turned away from us and spoke quietly with his brother. We stayed by closely, though, to make sure that nothing was being said that would put our group into danger or would have us regretting our decision to let Frank stay.

  “Get back to the hospital. Go straight there and I will deal with you when I get back tomorrow.”

  “Frank, they star- “

  “Shut up! These people are good and you killed one of them,” he grabbed Pete by the collar and pulled him over to the door with Cam and Seth following along. “Do you understand that? You killed somebody, Cam. Now get out of here.”

  “We need masks, Frank,” Seth said.

  “No, you don’t.”

  “What?”

  “Trust me. You’ll be fine. I swear to God if you don’t head straight back to the hospital, if you aren’t there when I get back, you’re going to wish that these people put a bullet in you. I promise you that.”

  I watched him give a slight shove to Pete. It pushed him out the door and then he also tossed Seth out. They stood in the lobby not wanting to leave. Scared. Cam looked at his brother with tears in his eyes. Frank didn’t look so broken. He was angry. I had no idea what kind of relationship these two brothers had, but I could see that Frank was a mentor to his younger brother. I wondered if they had a father or if it was Frank that was Cam’s father figure.

  It shocked me that Frank was sending them outside without any masks. I think Frank was a religious man and figured that God would decide their fate. If they got sick, it was because they were meant to die and pay for their crime. If they were fine, God would forgive them. I had no problem with it. It wasn’t my place to say anything and we only had so many masks to go around.

  “I’m sorry, Frank,” Cam said softly.

  “I know you are, but you messed up. You messed up severely, Cam. Go,” Frank didn’t even look Cam in the eyes when he kicked him out.

  Cam walked through the door into the lobby and looked back at his brother before walking through the second door and out of the building. The youngest one, Seth, put the collar of his shirt over his mouth to protect him from breathing anything in. The other two didn’t seem to care.

  “What do you say we get a good night’s sleep and Emily can start with Reggie in the morning?” Frank asked as he turned to us.

  “That sounds fine. I’ll show you where you can rest.”

  Frank took Reggie in his arms and smiled at me, “It was a pleasure meeting you. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, Frank.”

  I grabbed Kurt by the sleeve of his arm and pulled him toward me. He gave me a slight smile and wrapped his arms around me. I wasn’t as upset as I was before, I didn’t feel scared, but for some reason a couple of tears fell down my cheek and onto his chest. I looked up at him and kissed him gently.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine. What are we going to do with Joe’s body?”

  “I don’t know. We need to take it outside I think.”

  “Should we bury him?”

  “It might be a good idea. We’ll take him outside tonight and bury him first thing in the morning,” he said.

  “Go get Frank and Reggie settled in and then come find me. I’m not letting you out of my arms tonight.”

  “Deal. He seems like a good guy, doesn’t he? Frank, I mean.”

  “Yea, but we need to get him out of here as quickly as possible, you know?”

  “I know. I’ll get him settled, take Joe outside, and then come find you. Deal?”

  “Deal,” I sealed it with a kiss and watched him walk away back to Frank.
<
br />   I walked over to the window and watched Cam, Seth, and Pete walk down the street. It was only a matter of seconds before they faded into the darkness of the night. I wondered if I would see them again. I hoped that I wouldn’t. At that point, I didn’t care if they made it to the hospital, if they ran away, or if they died…I just didn’t want to see them again. Ever.

  XXXVIII

  Emily Clark

  I didn’t want to deal with any of that. Joe was a nice guy and I felt terrible for Molly, but I was too concerned with my husband to worry about that. I didn’t care if those boys were killed or simply walked out of our building. Whatever happened, happened, and I could care less.

  I needed to get my husband better. I set him up on the EKG machine. I took his blood and put it in the blood analyzer and then hooked him up to an IV to give him a lot of fluids. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Haylea put him in a bigger office and made him a bed to relax in. They took out the rest of the equipment in the office and made room for the medical equipment. It was nice to see that the rest of the group cared, too.

  “What happened out there?” he asked me with a low voice.

  “Don’t worry about that, hon. You need to get some rest. Close your eyes,” I had dampened a washcloth and was dabbing it on his forehead.

  I watched him look at me with sad eyes. I just didn’t think telling him that Joe died was going to do any good. He wasn’t going to feel better knowing that one of us was dead. But knowing him he wasn’t going to let it go.

  “Emily. What happened?”

  “One of those stragglers that came into the building…he killed Joe.”

  “Which one was Joe?”

  “Joe was one of the kid’s teachers,” I answered. It was sad to see that he didn’t even remember who Joe was. I tried to remember when Sam was feeling better and was social with the rest of us. I couldn’t remember if he had ever talked to Joe. I only hoped that it wasn’t his sickness that was affecting his memory. Hopefully, he really didn’t know who Joe was.

  “What’s going on now?”

  “They’re deciding what to do with the boys.”

  “What do you mean? They’re going to shoot him?”

  “Possibly. That or kick them out of the building.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing. I’ll be surprised if they decide to kill them. I didn’t think anyone in here had it in them…besides Jack.”

  “I think they’ll decide to let them go.”

  “We’ll see. It’s only a matter of time before everyone goes a little mad. Things are going to change, Emily. Trust me. These people are going to change. Don’t get too close to any of them. You hear me?”

  “These people are all we have left, Sam. We need them as much as they need us.”

  “They need you. They don’t need me,” Sam coughed a couple times.

  “I need you,” I wiped his mouth with the washcloth. “I need you so they need you. Everything is going to be fine.”

  His eyes read quitter. He looked at me with sadness and fear. That was one thing I was afraid of. I didn’t want him to quit on me. I needed him here and I needed him to continue fighting to live. I was going to fix him. I was a good doctor and I would not stop until he was better and out talking with the rest of us.

  “I think I need to rest now. Can you turn the lights off when you leave?”

  “…Sure,” I leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. His skin was so warm.

  I left the washcloth on his forehead and walked over to the door. When I turned around to say goodbye to him, he had already pulled the cloth off his head and to his side.

  “Call me if you need me, okay?”

  He didn’t answer, but I did see him nod. I turned the light off and walked out of the room. I wanted to be strong for him so I didn’t let myself cry until I had the door closed and was a good twenty feet down the hall. Then I let it out. I cried like I hadn’t cried in years. I felt my legs give out and I slowly slid down the wall and onto my butt. I held my legs close to my body because I needed something to hold. I felt better being in a small ball.

  XXXIX

  Kurt Elkins

  I didn’t want to waste any more of the night. I wanted to be right by Haylea’s side and hold her in my arms until the sun came up. As soon as Frank and Reggie were comfortable, I quickly walked down the hallway back to the Master Control area. I went back and forth on the idea of asking Jack to help me with Joe’s body. I didn’t know if it was best based on his reaction to his death.

  Luckily, the first person I ran into was Scott, who seemed to be in a little bit of a hurry.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “I got to piss like a race horse,” he said to me with a smirk.

  “Well when you’re done can you come help me with something?”

  “Sure. What do you need?”

  “Umm…well…”

  “Kurt?”

  “I need help moving Joe’s body.”

  “Moving him?”

  “Yea, I thought it’d be best to take him outside…and then in the morning, we’ll bury him. I think it will be respectful.”

  “Okay. I agree. I’ll be over there in a minute.”

  “Thanks,” I patted him on the shoulder and it seemed to jump start him down the hall. He was definitely walking like he had to pee.

  As I watched Scott skip down the hall, I turned my gaze over to the kitchen where Heather was smiling at me. I walked toward her and she toward me and we met in the middle. I embraced her with a hug and we both kind of laughed for no reason.

  “Are you okay?” I asked her.

  “I’m doing okay. How are you? How was the hospital trip?”

  “It was good. I think Emily got everything she needed. So hopefully Sam will be better in no time.”

  “I’m glad you made it back safe. I was worried.”

  “No reason to worry about me, but thank you.”

  “I’ve got plenty of reasons to worry about you.”

  She smiled at me and I could tell it was a bit flirty. I decided it best to end the conversation and get back to taking Joe outside. I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea about anything. I was with Haylea and devoted my entire life to her. Heather knew that too. I think the apocalypse was getting to her head. I think she felt a little lonely.

  “Well I’ve got to go,” I said.

  “Oh, do you need help with something?”

  “No, that’s fine. Scott’s going to help.”

  “What are you guys doing?”

  “We’re taking Joe’s body outside then we’re going to bury him tomorrow so we can give our respects.”

  “Really? That’s such a good idea,” she put her hand on my arm and smiled at me.

  I pulled away, without her knowing I was uncomfortable, and smiled. I told her to have a good night and walked away. It was perfect timing because as I turned away, Scott came walking out of the bathroom. We walked together back to the prep area.

  “What was that all about?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Seemed a little cozy.”

  “It was nothing. Shut up,” I looked back at Heather and she was still watching me with a smile. As I turned my head forward, my sight was interrupted by a vision of Haylea standing at the end of the hall with her arms crossed. I think she had seen the entire interaction between Heather and I. I held up my finger at her to let her know I’d be another minute before I got to her. She didn’t react.

  When we got into the prep room, the blood was beginning to drip all around. I told Scott to grab a sheet or a blanket or anything that we would wrap him up in. It wasn’t the most exciting thing I’d ever done. It was hard to touch him. It was different than being at a funeral with an open casket where you could reach in and put your hand on the body and say goodbye.

  We were lifting him off the ground, putting him in the blanket, and wrapping it around him. It felt wrong. It felt like I was in th
e mob and had just finished a whack job on someone. I had a strong stomach, but this was approaching my line. I don’t know what would be considered crossing it, but this was as close as I could get.

  “Let’s try to get him out of here as quickly as possible. We don’t want to start a commotion. Do you know where Jack is? I don’t want him to see this,” I said.

  “I think he’s taking a shower.”

  “Alright, let’s go out the back door. I don’t want Molly to see, either.”

  We got out of the prep room and looked around to make sure nobody was watching. It was clear so we quickly moved down the hallway with a dead friend of ours in hand.

  XL

  Jack Scoville

  S ome people will never be able to pull the trigger. There are soldiers and then there are the people that say they are soldiers. Everyone says they can do what is necessary to get the job done, but really don’t know what they are capable of until they are put into that situation. I am a soldier. I will get the job done. Kurt is not. Kurt is a fake. He is a joke. He has everyone fooled, but me. I know the kind of man he is now and I will be damned if I have to ever take another order from that sorry excuse of a man.

  I needed to wash away the event’s nights. I needed to stick my head under the faucet and let the water trickle down my body and wash my soul clean. It wasn’t just a way to get physically clean, but a great way to clean my mind. To wipe my thoughts clean and just clear everything out. I understood that I was reacting on instincts in the heat of the moment, but it is usually instincts that are the best choice. Sitting on a problem and thinking about it nonstop isn’t the best way to come to a solution. It’s called over thinking. I don’t like it and I don’t do it.

  However, this time a shower wasn’t the answer. It’s not what I wanted to do and it’s not what I was planning on doing. I waited until everyone went their separate ways. Molly went back to the kids, Travis and Jenny went to bed, Emily went to help Sam, and Kurt went to take care of Frank and Reggie. I told Scott I was headed to shower and snuck out the back door.