She fell silent, elbowing Owen. Axel made no haste of scooping Shay's body up in his arms and hurrying out the door, his movements marked by a trail of blood droplets that were not his own. Katrina followed quickly, drowning in her own fears and concerns. Marena was dead, Carson was gone, and now Shay, their leader, might possibly be dead as well. The big three, stripped away in one day. What would they do if she really was dead? Their support network was gone. The only other person that had much experience in a shootout was… She froze. I'm next in line. Oh God no, I can't do it.
They were halfway back to the campsite and Shay still hadn't moved. She could tell by the looks in Axel and Owen's eyes that they too feared the worst. Her head was hanging limply as she bounced with Axel's strides, blood still dripping from the wound. Kyleigh was trailing behind the others, avoiding looking at their fallen leader. She hadn't seen most of the fight- she probably believed she was dead. Katrina was torn- she didn't want to even think she might be lying dead in Axel's arms, but with each passing moment she didn't wake it seemed all the more likely. Come on Shay, pull through. We won't make it without you.
Laylia and Newbie were sitting around the campfire, conversing with not a clue to the dire situation they were in. The new girl was small, skinny and carried herself as if she lacked a drop of self-esteem, but she had a pretty name. Alexandria. Despite its beauty it was one hell of a mouthful, prompting her to dub her 'Newbie'.
Upon seeing the group stumble into the campsite Newbie rose from her chair, hands over her mouth. Katrina could easily recognize the look in her eyes- it was the look of someone facing death for the first time.
"Clear the table!" Axel commanded. Another drop of blood landed in the dirt near her foot, causing her to recoil. Shay was her friend, but the idea of someone else's blood on her skin sent her reeling.
Newbie complied, sweeping everything off the table carelessly. The contents fell to the ground with a clatter, including her soda. If the circumstances were different she would have shot some snarky and inappropriate remark at her yet she had bigger matters to focus on. It wasn't the time to be an asshole.
Axel laid Shay's limp figure across the table with haste while Katrina snatched some napkins from the ground. She pressed them against her head, scarlet blooming across the material maybe forty seconds later. She cursed and swapped the stained white squares for new ones, beckoning for Owen to come help her apply pressure. Even with her boyfriend's help the pressure wasn't enough to stop the bleeding- it just kept coming. She remembered her health teacher once telling her head wounds bleed a lot but this seemed extreme even for a head wound. She feared they were losing her.
"Is she dead?" Newbie asked, her blue eyes round as saucers.
`"I don't know! The only three people that any idea about the human body was Marena, Carson, and Shay, and none of them are currently with us!" Axel responded briskly, his tone panicked. His fingers were on her neck, searching for a pulse.
"Where's Carson?" Newbie asked, gracing her eyes over the group as if just to confirm he wasn't amongst them.
"They got him." Axel murmured, his eyes growing dark.
"Excuse me asking, but who exactly is 'they'?"
"If you don't know what we're talking about then leave!" Katrina spat. She didn't intend to be so harsh- she didn't perform too well under pressure. She was terrified that the burden of leader was about to rest on her shoulders. She wasn't as strong as Shay- she'd changed, yes, but it wasn't in her personality to be a leader. She wasn't wired for it.
"In my defense, I haven't been here more than a few-"
"Shut up Newbie, nobody gives a shit! We have better things to worry about, like our leader possibly being dead!" Her shout was strained, voice threatening to crack. Newbie instantly shied away and Laylia shot her a glare as sharp as knives. She rolled her eyes and flipped her off, losing sense of her self-control. If there was one thing she had in common with Shay besides sense of humor it was the sense that they had powerful emotions, often the drive behind their actions. If the job was to be placed in her hands it might be her only saving grace.
"I don't think she's breathing!" Axel cried, his face contorted in panic as he searched for a pulse. No. This isn't happening. She's not dead. She can't be!
Rushing to the side of her friend she placed her hands across her bare stomach, searching, yearning, for a rising and falling. Katrina felt none.
The roots of Shay's blonde hair were stained red around the wound, leaving faint lines of blood on the wooden table. Everything was crashing down now- their first three in command were gone. It didn't seem to click in her mind that Marena and Shay both were dead- she'd been friends with both of them. They were the reason why she and all the others were still living to see another day. Maybe that was the Government's plan all along. Kill the strong so the weak would be easy.
"She isn't." She confirmed numbly. Gasps of shock rippled through the group.
"Well, we're fucked." Axel muttered under his breath, just audible enough for her to make out his words. He was spot on. Shay was dead. Marena, the one who would take over in the case of her death was dead too. Carson probably would have begrudgingly accepted the position as long as Shay's death didn't render him useless with grief, yet he was gone too. Odds were he'd be dead soon as well.
She was fully aware everyone here, minus Newbie, owed their lives to Shay, Marena, and even Carson to a degree several times over. Shay kept them together and fought hard, Marena kept her from making decisions that would likely get her killed, and both Marena and Carson kept her grounded. They saved her sanity. Now all three of them were gone.
Who's going to step up now? Kyleigh can't even be considered. She squeals at the sight of blood and once pointed a gun at Marena's head with the safety off because she wasn't sure she was holding it correctly. I love Owen, but he's too quiet and I'm not sure he knows what he's doing with a gun. Newbie just got here and doesn't seem like she's made to be a leader. I wouldn't trust Laylia with my life. Axel's good with guns but he's not doing so well adjusting to the whole idea of killing people and his decisions are too brash and poorly thought out. We'd all be dead before I could say shit, she said silently, trying to work things out in her head. I'm the only other one that's halfway decent with a gun. She swallowed hard. She knew what she'd have to do.
"She isn't dead?" Kyleigh asked, taking a curious peek at the other blonde's body.
"No, she isn't breathing!" Katrina snapped back. She had to look away. She felt like she might just cry. She'd struggled to hold it in earlier, watching Shay absolutely lose it after Marena's death. It hit her then how bleak their situation really was. Now those emotions were back but a thousand times stronger, the realization their situation was all the worse. I'll be dead before I'm sixteen.
A pressing silence settled over the remainder of the Carriers. In less than two weeks they'd lost four members, three in about four hours. It was difficult to believe. It would be a sign of poor character to admit it, but she was thinking about who would go next. It truthfully didn't matter to her, as long as neither she nor her boyfriend was that victim. The rest could go- the only one she'd grieve for would be Axel, not because they were friends but because his death would mean she wouldn't have any backup whatsoever. She had little faith the others would step up.
Katrina backed away from Shay's body, drifting her eyes over everyone. Newbie was looking away. She'd obviously never seen something like this before, but she was sure as hell going to see more of it down the road- she ought to get used to it then. Laylia looked indifferent. Kyleigh had her face buried in Axel's shoulders, cries not too difficult to hear. He was stroking her hair, trying to comfort her. It wasn't working.
"Kyleigh, go find a place in the woods nearby to bury her. Newbie, get a blanket. Axel and Owen, you guys dig the grave. Let's get this done quickly and get the hell out of here." She ordered curtly. Whether she liked it or not they needed a figure of authority to keep them together, and, ultimately, she was best suited fo
r the role.
"Who are you to command us like you're the girl on the table?" Laylia spat, her gaze disapproving. She stiffened. Don't insult her, don't insult her, don't insult her…
"Someone needs to step up now and looking at things I'm best fit for it. Kyleigh's too passive, Laylia you're insane, Owen's too kind and Axel's still having difficulty grasping the whole 'kill or be killed' thing. Oh and by the way her name is Shay, not just some girl on a table. She put up with your shit and kept us alive to the best of her power and that deserves some fucking respect!"
"I could have easily survived on my-" Laylia shut her mouth at the sight of the barrel of a semi-automatic weapon in her face. Katrina had snatched the m-16 Axel had grabbed for whatever reason from his hands, whipping around to point it directly towards the girl's head.
"I've never even seen you shoot." Laylia taunted, a smug, malicious smile on her lips. Katrina clicked off the safety, moving it all the way to automatic. Screw one bullet or double tap. That smug little smile would be enough to drive her to do a quadruple tap, if she was feeling generous.
"Katrina, don't." Axel warned.
"No Axel, don't try and stop me! This should have happened a long time ago! Every time Laylia cheats it! Jaycee! Why did they shoot Jaycee instead of the fatass who refused to move? Did they think you were too easy of a target? Cops do like challenges it seems!" She sneered, jutting the gun forward. Laylia inched backwards, remaining calm.
"And then Marena! While she fought with her oar you just sat your little fat ass there and did nothing! Absolutely nothing! And you're the one who told Carson what to get you when he came back here for the gun. I heard him muttering about it. If you had just come yourself, maybe they'd taken you or killed you instead of Shay and Carson! Why is this Laylia? Why do you keep cheating death?" Katrina screamed, her voice breaking on several words. She failed to remember the last time she'd been so angry, blinded by a white hot fury she just simply could not blink away. It was time someone put her in her place.
With a cry of rage Laylia grabbed the barrel and slammed it backwards, the butt slamming with a force she didn't expect into her face. It knocked her backwards, sending her stumbling over a tree root and slamming against the metal side of the truck. The delicate skin between her eyebrows was busted, a sudden rush of blood splitting down her face in two separate streams. She quickly reaffirmed her grip on the gun and aimed towards Laylia, finger spaces away from the trigger.
Suddenly Axel snatched it away from her hands, cursing at her as she did. She fought back, holding onto the weapon with all the strength she had left but the stronger boy prevailed.
"Stop it! We don't have time for this!" Axel warned yet again, clicking the safety back on and handing to Kyleigh, whom would undoubtedly not use it. He then continued to pin her by the shoulders, his hazel eyes boring right into her light brown ones. She'd never seen him so furious. It was terrifying.
"We won't have people to spare the next time Laylia decides to be useless! We've lost four in the last two weeks, three just today; can we really afford any more Axel?" She snapped back, kneeing him hard in the stomach. He instantly released her with a grunt of pain, doubling over.
"Killing me will just prove you're a hypocrite Katrina- you just said yourself we don't have any people to spare." Laylia hissed, her smug grin returning. There, in that moment, she was sure she'd never felt such an intense hate for anyone like she did for Laylia. She'd had enough of her. She was going to do what Shay never did- take care of her disrespectful, hateful ass. Shay undoubtedly had reasons for doing what she did and Katrina respected her, but this was just a lost cause.
Katrina stalked her way over to Kyleigh. With Axel still doubled over in pain, she roughly shouldered the measly blonde into the truck, not even having to put up a fight to steal the gun back. She just stood there with her blue eyes wide, glued to Katrina. There wasn't a set of eyes that wasn't on the new leader. The sudden attention she'd never had before sent a mixture of feelings through her. She was somewhat proud she'd gathered the attention of those who had once ignored her but she also knew it wasn't in a positive light. She could almost hear Laylia's seething voice mocking her in her head, only fueling the flames to her anger. She found the safety and clicked it off again- there was no stopping her now.
"I could care less if I'm a hypocrite- you're that and then some. Any last words?" She spat, silently cursing herself for the cheesy, cliché line she ended with. The Queen of Comebacks should have been able to muster better words.
"Yes, actually. You'll never be half the leader Shay was, and she was hardly a leader, which means you'll kill them all within the week." Her tone was cool yet the malice that was dripping within her voice even Kyleigh could sense, for she cringed in her peripheral vision.
"Please explain how I was hardly a leader, because for the situation I felt like I was pretty damn good."
Every head whipped to the table instantaneously. Shay was dead, there was no way. Katrina herself hadn't felt breathing when she placed her hands on her stomach. She hadn't moved in at least twenty minutes. There was no way yet there she was, propping her body up with her elbows, eyes glassy with pain despite the presence of her typical cocky smirk. She sure seemed very much alive.
"What… How? You weren't breathing!" Katrina stammered. She dropped the gun, feeling as if her jaw could fall to the ground.
"It's called holding my breath."
"Why would you do that to us?" Axel inquired, sounding furious as he did. "Do you see what you've caused?"
"Yes, and it wasn't my intent to. I was just going to pop up and say surprise, but things got a lot more interesting. I think someone if far more responsible than we give them credit for," she snickered, Shay's brown gaze directly on her. Katrina felt her face grow hot as she took a few steps backwards. All her anger had ebbed away, instead becoming replaced with embarrassment on a number of levels and a little bit of awe. Sometimes she questioned her sanity, as she would have been willing to swear on Owen's grave that their leader was dead.
"You're insane!" Laylia screamed suddenly, slamming her palms down on the table. "She was about to kill me!"
"Well I have come close to several times… It takes massive amounts of self-control not to. Am I right?" Shay snapped back. Despite her apparent amusement the weakness was present in her voice- She needed to rest and recover, not bicker with Laylia.
Several heads bobbed in response to her statement. Everyone seemed to agree with the exception of Newbie, who seemed to be muttering she's insane by the way her lips moved. Katrina couldn't determine if she was speaking of Laylia or Shay.
"Laylia, stop. You can finish this when Shay's strong enough to deliver you a formal ass kicking. For now, just go stuff a marsh mellow in your mouth." Katrina crowed, flashing her a smug smile.
The tiring Carriers broke out into laughter with the exception Laylia and Newbie, both shooting glares as sharp as knives in her direction. Who cares what they think? They're irrelevant. Laylia and Newbie stalked off in the direction of the woods, dragging beat up lawn chairs behind them. Nobody put an effort into stopping them.
"Thanks, Katrina. Once I can rest a little I need to talk to all of you about something. Unfortunately, none of you are going to like it." Shay said, her tone growing increasingly grim towards the end of her address. For a moment this worried her, as when something was going to be bad she didn't sugarcoat it. She was often a little too blunt and a little too negative- there was a reason Carson affectionately dubbed her Sourpuss Shay.
"Well you hated my Hooters idea so I guess we're even, but nobody's dying this time, right?" She responded, passing it off with a light chuckle at the end despite knowing her efforts were transparent. It wasn't opaque that the nervousness had struck down into her core. It was a hovering vibe in the air, radiating from each and every one of them, mixing with the tension and pressure that was already a cloud in the air. They seemed to wait for her response with bated breath, praying it wouldn't be anything bad.<
br />
"Well, I can't promise that. Definitely cannot promise that."
Chapter 35
When Carson awoke he wasn't exactly sure where he was. The room was fairly dark; the boy could only make out outlines in the darkness. His head was throbbing and he struggled to recollect anything that had happened recently. The last thing he remembered was pulling Shay off of that girl Alexandria after her break from reality- after that everything was blank. His hands were secured behind his back in what felt like handcuffs while his feet were left free to roam, although he doubted he'd be able to get anywhere handcuffed to a chair
"Shay? Axel?" He called out. If he was there they had to be there as well, right? When he got no response besides the echo of his own voice panic started to take hold.
He was alone. He was beginning to grow increasingly nervous. He shifted his weight from side to side, hoping he'd somehow be able to dislodge the handcuffs from the chair. He attempted to do so several times, failing on each. He was a prisoner to the darkness.
To his surprise lights flickered on with a whirr, the sudden brightness blinding. He squinted his eyes for a few moments before they adjusted- what he saw was horrifying.
The dark shapes he'd believed to have been furniture were instead people, or more so bodies. They were unrestrained, sprawled out across the floor in several different positions. He was smart enough to know there was no life to be found in those people.
The lifeless figure closest to him was a girl, her hair blonde but lifeless eyes light. She was close enough for him to see the rings encasing her pupils. She was a Carrier. Her mouth was parted in a silent scream, her eyes still open but glazed, forever a capsule of the fear she felt in her final moments. The resemblance of the girl to Shay unnerved him, even though knew it wasn't her. He just couldn't fight away the image of the dead body being someone he loved and not some stranger.
Carriers Page 27