Contamination

by Ryan Casey

  All that mattered was walking.

  All that mattered was keeping on going.

  No direction in sight.

  No idea where he was heading.

  But walking on regardless.

  He didn’t look down at Jasmine. Couldn’t bring himself to see her in the state she was in. He’d seen her in the darkness, and that was brutal enough. The way she’d cracked her face against the ground. The way that virus took hold of her, sent her psychotic.

  But more painful than anything was that look of clarity on her face when he told her he was there for her. That he loved her.

  Realisation cutting through the virus, just for a moment.

  Then, gone.

  He heard a whine by his side. Barney. His ears were low. His tail not as upright as usual, not wagging. His head slumped.

  And Noah wanted to tell him to get away. He wanted to tell him to run. Because he couldn’t stand the sight of him. He couldn’t stand looking at him because looking at him just reminded him of Jasmine. Reminded him of what he’d lost.

  And reminded him of how he’d failed to protect someone he loved, all over again.

  He fell to his knees. Jasmine’s body tumbled out of his arms, rolled onto the road. Barney ran over to her, started licking at her face, licking at her wounds, at the blood.

  “No!” Noah shouted.

  He lunged over to Jasmine. Grabbed her body. He didn’t want to look. He didn’t want to see. He didn’t want to let go…

  And then he saw her.

  Those vacant eyes.

  That pale face.

  Tongue dangling out.

  And the wound across the neck where he’d—

  “No!” he shouted.

  He lay on the ground with Jasmine’s body in his arms. Lost all sense of his surroundings. Of the sights. The sounds. The smells. The tastes. Everything.

  He just lay there. Head tucked against her bloodied neck. The smell of her skin. The smoothness and the softness of her hair.

  He didn’t want to keep going.

  He couldn’t keep going.

  And then he felt a nudge at his right arm.

  He looked up.

  Barney.

  Looking for attention.

  Looking for comfort.

  “I can’t,” Noah said. “I… I can’t give you what you want, buddy.”

  Barney just looked at him, tilting his head, confused.

  Anger picked up inside Noah. “I said I can’t help you!”

  But Barney didn’t edge away.

  He didn’t move.

  “Go away,” he said. “Please just… just go away. I can’t look after you. I can’t lose you. Not like everyone else.”

  But Barney walked back towards him.

  Rested his head on the road, by Noah’s side, by Jasmine’s side.

  He sat there. Pushed right up against Noah. Like he was here for him.

  He was here for him.

  Something shifted inside Noah, then. It was brief. But it was profound.

  Through all the sadness, all the shock, all the devastation, Noah realised something.

  It didn’t matter whether he felt he was strong enough to look after others or not.

  Others relied on him.

  Barney relied on him.

  And he had to keep going.

  He had to keep fighting.

  It’s what Jasmine would want.

  He looked down at Jasmine’s puffy, dead face.

  Squinted at her through tear-soaked eyes.

  And then he rested her head on the ground.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I’ll look after him. I’ll—I’ll keep fighting. For you. Because I love you. I love you.”

  And then he kissed her on the cheek with no regard for whether he got infected or not, and he stood up.

  He looked back at her body, lying there beside the road.

  He wanted to bury her.

  He wanted to do so much for her.

  But then he saw the other bodies.

  The other fallen.

  And he knew it was her memory that mattered more than anything else.

  “I’ll see you in another life,” he said.

  Then he looked around at Barney, and together, they walked into the sunlight.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  “We’re gonna have to talk, Eddie,” Bruce said. “About you guys. But more about your friends. Your friends, Noah and Jasmine. And what they took from me.”

  Eddie stared at Bruce and tried to wrap his head around what this guy was saying. Noah and Jasmine? It didn’t make any sense. How did he know about them? And what in the name of hell had they “taken” from this guy?

  And then his attention turned to Kelly. Knife to her neck. Eyes drifting as the sun beamed down on them from above. Empty streets surrounding them. The occasional sight of someone in the distance, mask across their face, rushing by with some supplies or other. A desperate world. A paranoid world.

  “I—I think you must be mistaken,” Eddie said. As much as he didn’t believe himself. ’Cause what were the odds this guy just happened to know another Noah and Jasmine? No. It didn’t make sense. None of this made sense.

  “I’ll tell you how it happened,” Bruce said, tears streaming down his face. “Well. I’d tell you how it happened. But you already know exactly what happened.”

  Eddie shook his head. “I—I don’t understand.”

  “My daughter. My Sadia. Noah and Jasmine. Your friends. Right?”

  Eddie didn’t know what to say. He could only stand there. Stare. And hope Bruce kept that knife firmly away from Kelly’s throat.

  “I found a place for me and Sadia, just like I told you. A good place. Well stocked. Good visibility all round. And it had what we needed there. The supplies we needed. Sadia’s medication.”

  A bitter taste filled Eddie’s mouth. He had a sense he knew exactly where this was going.

  “They turned up. Started stealing our supplies. I told them to get away, but they wouldn’t. They… they distracted me. They took my attention from my daughter. And then something happened. Her scream. Something… something awful.”

  He looked away, then. Let out a pained gasp. And as much as this didn’t add up, as much as it didn’t seem to make sense, Eddie understood exactly what’d happened. And why Bruce felt so much pain for what’d happened.

  “I tried to get to her in time,” Bruce said, eyes wide like he was reliving that awful moment again. “I—I tried my damnedest. But it was already too late. She’d fallen. She’d cracked her head. And if I’d been there with her, I could’ve stopped that. Or I could’ve… I could’ve helped her. I could’ve done something. But no. Noah. Jasmine. They took me away from her. They kept me away from her. They… Her death is on their hands.”

  As terrified as Eddie was for Kelly right now, he felt sympathy for Bruce. Total sympathy. He took a deep breath. Tried to calm himself. “I know it’s awful. I know what happened is impossible. But Noah and Jasmine… they’re good people—”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit. Just don’t.”

  “They’re good people,” Eddie said. “And they wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

  “They hurt my daughter.”

  “It was an accident,” Eddie said.

  Bruce shook his head. Tightened his grip around Kelly’s throat. Kelly’s eyes continued to drift and wander as blood trickled down her face. “They could’ve walked away. They could’ve found somewhere else. Sadia didn’t have to die.”

  Eddie stood there in the warmth of the sun, and he knew there was no bargaining with Bruce. He knew there was no making him see the truth of the situation. Because it was an awful situation. No doubt about that.

  But Noah and Jasmine weren’t killers.

  “So here’s what’s going to happen,” Bruce said. He sounded more confident, now. More assertive. “You’re going to take me back to this nice home of yours. We’re going to have a nice sit down with Noah and Jasmine. And if you’re luck
y… if you’re lucky, I might just let your girlfriend here live.”

  “Don’t you dare hurt her,” Eddie said.

  Bruce smiled. “That depends on your response right now.”

  Eddie felt trapped. On the one hand, he didn’t want to put Noah or Jasmine in any danger—if they’d even made it back home. On the other… Kelly. He cared about her. He didn’t want to watch her die. He didn’t want to lose her.

  All his instincts told him to go along with Bruce’s demands. To stand down. To give in to the bully, to the more powerful, like he’d been doing his entire life.

  But then another feeling sparked up inside.

  A courage.

  A strength.

  He took a deep breath, and he did something he really didn’t want to do.

  He started walking towards Bruce.

  Bruce narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing?”

  “Bruce—”

  Bruce pushed that knife closer to Kelly’s neck. “Don’t move another step this way.”

  Eddie’s heart raced.

  He wanted to stop.

  He wanted to give in.

  He wanted to protect Kelly.

  But he pushed past that resistance.

  He kept on walking.

  “I know what you went through is awful,” Eddie said.

  “Don’t move another—”

  “And I wish I could take it back. I wish I could… Man, I wish I could carry some of what you’re going through right now.”

  Bruce shook his head. Pushed that knife so close to Kelly’s neck, it started bleeding a little. “Not one more step!”

  Eddie took a step.

  Stepped right up to Bruce.

  So close he could smell his sour breath.

  And hear the light, whining tone every time he breathed.

  Like he was in agony.

  Like he was suffering.

  “But you’re not alone. And you don’t have to carry this alone. None of it.”

  A shift.

  A momentary change in Bruce’s eyes.

  Then he blinked, and that darkness returned.

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” he said.

  He pressed the knife hard against Kelly’s neck.

  Everything unfolded in a blur.

  First, Kelly opening her eyes.

  Staring at Eddie.

  Then in a moment’s panic, clamping her teeth down on Bruce’s hand.

  Hard.

  Eddie watched that knife fall from Bruce’s hand as blood trickled from it.

  He saw it land by his feet.

  He looked down at it.

  Then up at Bruce.

  Also staring down at it, then at Eddie.

  Eddie scrambled for the knife.

  A punch to the face, knocking him back, sending his head spinning.

  He fell onto his back.

  Bruce on top of him.

  Swinging his fist—

  Eddie pulled back the knife and buried it in Bruce’s stomach.

  Bruce stopped. Froze. Looked down at his belly. And Eddie felt terrified. Because he’d done this. He was responsible for this.

  But he’d done what he had to do.

  He watched Bruce swing a fist at him again.

  And he buried that knife into his chest.

  Between his ribs.

  Right by Bruce’s heart.

  Bruce’s eyes widened.

  Blood trickled out of his mouth.

  He looked down at Eddie. Pale. Pained.

  “They did this,” he muttered. “They… they did this. You destroyed us. You people dest…”

  He fell to the side.

  Eddie dropped the knife. He scrambled from underneath Bruce. Heart pounding. Barely able to breathe.

  Kelly rushed over to him. Held him. “It’s okay now,” she said. “It’s over. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

  Eddie stared at Bruce’s fallen, twitching, bleeding body.

  And as much relief as he felt that Kelly was okay, that they were both okay now, he felt sadness.

  He felt guilt.

  But he felt a strength, too.

  That’s when he heard the footsteps.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Noah saw Eddie and Kelly up ahead, and his entire body went numb.

  Sun shone down this street. A street he wasn’t familiar with, a street he didn’t know. A warm breeze brushed through the air, reminding him of better summer days. Eddie and Kelly were on the road. Kelly was bleeding from her head. Looked like she’d been hit.

  There was a man beside Eddie. Bleeding from his stomach. From his chest.

  The guy from the medical centre.

  What the fuck was he doing here?

  What the fuck was going on?

  Noah took a few steps towards them. Barney rushing up beside him, tilting his head, curious. Noah wanted to say so much. He wanted to open up so much. He wanted to talk about Jasmine. He wanted to talk about everything.

  But in the end, he could only stare at these two people—two people he could barely believe were still alive—and wonder whether they were a hallucination. Whether his broken mind was playing tricks on him.

  Eddie looked around.

  Kelly looked up at him.

  Both of their eyes widening.

  Noah stopped. He stood there. Heart pounding. Unable to say a word.

  And they didn’t say anything, either.

  They just looked at him.

  Just stared at him.

  Eddie stood up.

  He walked over to Noah.

  And Noah couldn’t hold back anymore.

  He couldn’t help himself.

  He rushed towards Eddie and wrapped his arms around him and cried.

  “I thought you were dead,” Noah said, tucking his head into his best friend’s big shoulder.

  “It’s okay. We’re here, man. We’re here.”

  Noah held him tight. And as much as he’d told himself he was strong, as much as he’d told himself he wasn’t alone as long as Jasmine’s memory lived on, he was grateful. So grateful for Eddie. So grateful for Kelly. So grateful for these people he cared about.

  Noah couldn’t stop the words spilling out. “What are—how did you escape? The truck. We saw the truck. It was…”

  Eddie looked him in the eyes, and he smiled. “We got out, man. We got out. And we’re here now. We found our way. Right?”

  Noah looked over Eddie’s shoulder and saw something.

  Kelly. Bleeding from her head. Pale.

  But alive.

  She looked at Noah, and just that look brought it all back.

  Jasmine.

  “Where is she?” Kelly asked.

  Noah opened his mouth. He had to tell her. He had to tell the truth.

  But then he closed his mouth.

  He shook his head.

  And that was enough.

  He wasn’t sure why it was, but he didn’t expect Kelly to break down. She was always so tough. So pragmatic. Ruthlessly so, at times.

  But something shifted in her.

  The way she turned pale in that split second.

  The way her eyes glazed over.

  And then the tears.

  “It’s okay,” Eddie said, walking over to Kelly.

  Kelly shook her head. “No. Fuck off. Get the fuck away from me.”

  “Kelly,” Eddie said. “I’m sorry. I’m here. I’m sorry.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. She hit out at him. Scratched him.

  And then she fell into his arms and held him tight and cried.

  Noah stood together with his friends. The body of the man beside them. He didn’t know what this man had been through. He didn’t know what had led him to Eddie and Kelly. He didn’t know what he’d lost.

  But he saw Barney. And he saw Eddie, and he saw Kelly.

  And as tough as things were, as impossible as things were going to be, they were going to fight through this.

  Because they were together.

 
They were together.

  Noah looked back at the road he’d walked down.

  Stared back, through tear-soaked eyes.

  “There’s somewhere we need to go,” he said.

  Eddie and Kelly didn’t say anything. Not for a moment.

  It was Eddie who spoke eventually. “What?”

  Noah swallowed a lump in his throat. It wasn’t going to be easy. It was going to be the hardest damned thing he’d ever had to do.

  But he knew what he had to do.

  He started walking.

  “Noah?”

  “Come on,” he said. “There’s somewhere we need to go.”

  Eddie walked up to him, panting. “Can you be a little less vague?”

  “Jasmine,” he said, almost breaking down just saying her name. “She deserves… she deserves to be put to rest. Properly. Will you help me?”

  Eddie rubbed the back of his neck. Looked back at Kelly. Then at Noah.

  He nodded. Wiped his eyes. “Always, bro. Always.”

  Noah nodded back at him.

  Then he turned around, looked at the road he’d walked down, the road ahead.

  He stood with his friends. With his people. With his dog, now.

  And then he took a deep breath, and he walked.

  He knew exactly where he had to go.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Noah knew something was wrong the moment he got to the spot where he’d left Jasmine’s body.

  Clouds had formed overhead. A rare chill to the usually stifling summer air. The streets were quieter than before. The bodies he’d seen scattered around the streets, there seemed… he wasn’t sure. Fewer of them, somehow.

  Maybe he was imagining things.

  Maybe he was totally wrong.

  But something just didn’t feel right about any of this.

  “Noah?”

  Noah looked around at Eddie, who had that band back around his wrist now. Saw Kelly close by his side. She hadn’t said a lot. They’d both agreed to head back to where he’d left Jasmine’s body so they could give her a proper burial. So they could give her the send-off she deserved. So they could say goodbye to her, all of them, properly.

  But Noah looked around at that patch of grass by the side of the road. Saw the blood on the ground.

  And he got the same feeling he’d felt when he was down in that sewer, earlier that day.