by Ryan Casey
Riley’s heart thumped. He knew where Ivan was going. He knew what the business was he was attending to. Ted. He had to find him before Ivan did. Find him then get the hell out of here while they still had some sort of chance. Maybe even their best chance.
But he was losing blood. His chest was burning up. He wasn’t going to make it, not without medical assistance.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Chef said. The words slipped off his tongue like grease. Even with everything that was going on, he still seemed as manipulative and scheming as ever.
Gaz exchanged a glance with Pedro, who in return took a deep breath and nodded at the other soldiers as they gripped their guns.
“What are you doing while we’re out there?” one of the soldiers asked.
Chef placed the lamp on one of the canteen tables and shone it up against the ceiling. He looked at Riley. At Anna. At Claudia and Chloë. “I’ll deal with our guests.”
The soldiers grumbled and headed towards the door.
“I don’t know how you can do this,” Anna shouted at Pedro. “After everything we’ve been through. Everything we’ve worked together for.”
Pedro looked back at her. He smiled sympathetically. “Sorry, love. Sorry.”
He closed the door and, with the rest of the soldiers, ran outside to deal with the growing crowd of creatures, like blots in the horizon. They had no idea how many of them there were, but Riley figured from the loudness of the groans at that distance that they were dealing with more than just a couple of lone stragglers.
Anna raised to her feet. She looked around at the blood dripping from Riley’s chest, then turned to Chef. A bewildered expression covered her face, as well as the blue florescent lamp. “You can’t just keep us here. You can’t—”
Chef pulled a bandage out from the front of the canteen with his shaky hands. He dropped it to the floor and cursed before picking it up again and crouching opposite Riley.
Riley frowned. “What are… what are you—”
“When Ivan finds your friend, he’s going to gut him. He’s going to take his guts out and spread them all over the walls as a reminder of what happens when somebody defies him. I don’t want that to happen.” He pressed the bandage against Riley’s chest which sent a sharp stabbing pain right through his body.
“Why are you doing this?” Anna asked. Claudia and Chloë were silent. They held one another. They looked like mother and child again, confiding instead of bickering. After what Claudia had seen in the freezer room, she needed her daughter right now.
Chef finished applying the bandage to Riley’s chest. “Now I can’t promise that won’t get infected. Fortunately for you, he didn’t cut too deep. But all we can do for now is stop the bleeding. Especially now we’ve lost Barney.”
Riley frowned. Chef looked more humane than he’d ever looked. Sweat coated his bald head like condensation on a window.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Anna said.
Chef stood back up. He wiped the blood from his hands onto his already bloody apron. The footsteps sounded outside the barracks. Gunshots started to fire and specks of light glistened in the distance, over by the main gate. “It doesn’t matter why I’m doing it. Just that I am doing it. We’ve lost enough humanity as it is. With… with the things I’ve done. Just save your friend and get the hell out of this place. I’ll deal with the repercussions. I always do.” He held a hand out to Riley.
Riley examined it. The hand that had cut up the bodies. Thrown them into a stew. The hand of a man that was responsible for so many bad things. A man that seemed shady right from the start. But the offer of a hand regardless in the toughest and most loyalty questioning of times.
Riley grabbed Chef’s hand and winced as he rose to his feet.
“It will hurt for some time. But you know what you need to do right now. You know.”
Riley nodded. He held Chef’s hand for a few seconds after he’d made it to his feet. His knees were wobbly like jelly, but he was on his feet. He was alive. He still had a chance here, they all did.
“What about the rest of us?” Claudia asked. “What do we do?”
Chef clattered around the canteen counter as the explosions of gunshots rattled through the serene nighttime air. He pulled a set of keys out of a drawer and shook them. “This is a key to the basement passage. It’ll take you right out to the main gate. It’s not safe right now, but it’s the best chance you’re going to get.”
“Basement passage?” Anna asked. “Since when was there a basement passage in this place?”
Chef threw the keys at Anna, who caught them. “Only problem is you… you have to go through the freezer room to get there. Emergency exit of sorts. Underground safe spot in case of crisis.”
“And what about you?” Claudia asked.
Chef sighed and shrugged. “I figure I’ll have to explain your absence. If anyone can calm Ivan down, it’s me.”
Anna stuffed the keys in her pocket and nodded. She didn’t thank Chef, but a nod of the head was enough coming from her.
Riley stumbled towards the door. He could feel the strength returning to his legs with every step he took, but he wasn’t sure for how long that was going to be the case.
Anna placed a hand on his back as he reached the double doors leading out to the corridor. “You be careful,” she said. “And if we don’t see you again—”
“Get into that basement passage,” Riley said.
Tears built up in Anna’s eyes. “But… But if we do, we might have to leave. We might get split up.”
Riley looked around the room and rubbed at the bandage on his chest. “Then so be it. Just get to safety. I need to find my friend. I need to help him. Don’t wait for me.”
He pushed through the double doors and turned towards the staircase.
When he looked back at the double doors, swinging as they shut, he saw Anna staring back at him, fear in her eyes.
“Be tough,” Riley muttered under his breath. “Be tough.”
Riley staggered over Barney’s body and out into the corridor. The gunshots and cries from outside were totally audible inside these walls. He’d check the generator room then he’d go up the stairs. Go upstairs and look for Ted in the darkness. Hope he got to him before Ivan did.
And if he didn’t, at least try and make Ivan see sense. He was human, after all. He’d done some terrible things. The pain in his chest said enough about that. But things had reached a climax. They didn’t need to go any further. Riley and his group could walk out of here through that basement and never turn back.
But somehow, Riley couldn’t imagine Ivan agreeing to let potential meals on a plate walk out the front door all that easily.
He reached the end of the corridor, being sure not to look inside the freezer room as he passed. The generator room was empty. The humming noise had receded. Riley held his breath. Closed his eyes and squinted as he tried to hear through the buzzing noise in his ears and the commotion outside.
Nothing.
He turned away and walked to the stairs. Turns out Ted’s interest in electrics and computers had come in handy after all. If Ted had interrupted the generator, chances are he’d hidden somewhere. Climbed out of a window or locked himself in a room. But Riley needed to know. For certain.
He pulled himself up the staircase, gripping the railing. The slice on his chest ached and throbbed as he ascended. He took a few breaths. He could handle the pain. It could have been worse. And it could still get worse. But while it was the way it was, he had to find Ted.
When he reached the top of the staircase, he stared down the corridor. The window at the end of the corridor let in a small amount of light from the starlit sky. The doors on the left and the right — bathrooms, living quarters — were mostly shut. He crept across the creaky wooden floorboards. Ivan had to be here somewhere, and so did Ted. He couldn’t have got too far away.
He held his breath as he pushed open the door to their bedroom. He thought he saw a movemen
t in the corner of his eye, and swung back round to look down the corridor. Nothing. Just a trick of the light. Just the darkness playing tricks.
But then he heard the floorboards creaking in one of the rooms on the right.
The tingling sensation that he’d grown so accustomed to engulfed his body, wrapping him in a blanket of pins and needles. But that didn’t matter anymore. He could pull through that. Deal with it. It was only a mental thing, anyway. He crept down the corridor. The floorboards were definitely creaking in there. Somebody was inside.
Riley jumped as he heard the double doors swing open downstairs. It would be Anna, Claudia and Chloë leaving through the basement door. He’d join them later. That was the only way for it. He had something else to see to right now.
He placed his hand on the cold, hard wood of the door to the room with the creaky floorboards. Something was still moving in there. It could be Ivan, searching for Ted. If he saw Riley, he’d finish him off, just like that.
Or it could be Ted. Hiding. He was a heavy guy, so it made sense that the floorboards might creak if he were moving around.
Riley bit his lip. Nerves held his chest and stomach tightly. He needed to go inside. He needed to see.
He pushed the door open.
At first, the dim glow of the light took him by surprise. There was a candle burning on a table beside a window. Wax dribbled down the side of the holder. It was a smaller living quarters, with just two bunk beds and wooden floorboards.
And at the opposite end of the room, by the window, Ivan was holding a knife to Ted’s neck.
Ted’s eyes were filled with fear. He tried to shuffle free of Ivan’s grip, but whenever he moved, the sharp edge of the knife nicked his skin.
Riley was completely still. He couldn’t move. His heart raced. He had to play this right.
Ivan looked up from Ted to Riley. His jaw was shaking and he was exhaling loudly as he held the knife against Ted’s neck. Tears streamed down Ted’s cheeks and snot spewed out of his nostrils. He blubbered, trying to speak, but he couldn’t.
“Please,” Riley said. He felt completely weak, seeing his friend in this situation. Fear surrounded him. He couldn’t think rationally. He hadn’t prepared for this.
Ivan tried to smile at Riley. A reassuring half-smile. He was crying too, as the gunshots and screaming outside drifted into the background.
“We need to defend this place,” Riley said. He raised his hand and took a step towards Ivan. “We… We can start again. It doesn’t have to be like this.”
Ivan sniffed and kept the knife against Ted’s neck. “I worked so hard. We all did. Worked so hard for—for things just to be normal. Just for a little longer.”
“And they still can be,” Riley said. He took another step closer to Ivan. Ted’s breathing was calming. Becoming more rhythmic. He’d sealed his mouth shut and he wasn’t talking or muttering anymore.
Ivan edged the knife away slightly. Nodded his head. “Yes. Yes.”
“That’s right,” Riley said. He reached out for Ivan. He’d grab the knife. Take it away from him. Do what he had to do. “Just… Just put that down. Please.”
Ivan moved the knife further away then stopped. He looked Riley in the eye. The room seemed to freeze. “I’m sorry. But there’s no going back.”
He brought the knife back to Ted’s neck and he slit his throat.
Riley rushed towards Ted. Everything felt like it was moving in slow-motion. Riley screamed out at the top of his lungs. The pain vanished from his chest. Everything else in the room — the candle, the bunk beds, even Ivan — blended into the murky background.
Ted fell to his knees and then to his back. Blood splurged out of his neck. He looked up in fear, trying to speak, but couldn’t for the mass of blood in his throat.
Riley gripped hold of him. Grabbed his big, damp, sweaty shoulders. “Please, Ted. Please. Please.”
But Ted’s spluttering slowed down. His struggling grew more and more half-hearted. Quarter-hearted. Eighth-hearted.
“Please, Ted,” Riley said, holding his head against Ted’s chest. “Please.”
Ted’s arm stopped flailing and moving.
The spluttering stopped.
Ted was still. Completely still.
EPISODE SIX
The gunshots outside the barracks got louder and louder. So, too, did the screams. The shouts. The orders as the groans got closer. There could be tens of them. Hundreds of them. It could be the group from earlier that had wandered in the direction of the mother and child, torn the dead flesh from their bodies. It could be another group.
But none of it seemed to matter.
Riley held his head against Ted’s chest. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been there. He waited for a breath. Kept his eyes tightly shut and waited for Ted’s heartbeat to return, like it always seemed to in Hollywood movie characters. Ted was his friend. His best friend. His only friend. He couldn’t be gone. There was no world without Ted.
He heard footsteps creak past him. He knew whose footsteps they were. He knew exactly what he had done. What he’d done to Ted. He knew exactly what he wanted to do to him for it. To ram a knife into his skull. To beat him repeatedly into the ground.
But he couldn’t do it. He pushed his head into Ted’s chest. He had to wait for a heartbeat. Waited for him to wake up. Like in the movies.
The door to the bedroom creaked open. As it did, the gunshots and commotion outside seemed to amplify. It must have been bad. The creatures must have heard the gunshots from the barracks earlier, or Claudia’s screams, or both. Ted had sent the generator into meltdown somehow. His final act a selfless means of distraction. He’d paid the ultimate price. He hadn’t survived. That was all there was to this world now — survival. There was no room for selfless acts.
But Ted had saved them all.
“I am sorry. Sorry I had to do that.”
The voice was muffled and the words jumbled as they entered Riley’s ears. He lifted his head from Ted’s body. His face had turned pale, and thick, dark blood reflected from the deep gash across his neck in the glimmer of the candlelight. His eyes were wide and lifeless, like stones. Eyes that had played so many video games; eyes that had seen Riley at his lowest points and helped him pull through. All of those experiences and images, gone.
Riley turned around. Ivan was standing by the door. He was pale, too, as he fidgeted with the bloody knife in his hand. He stared down at Ted’s body, totally fixated, almost as if he himself couldn’t believe what he’d done.
“I was just really angry,” Ivan said. His lips shook. “Really, really angry at him. For what he did. For letting them inside. Careless. Careless.” Saliva dribbled down his chin. He looked like a rabid dog as he attempted to justify his actions to himself.
Riley’s shock began to boil into anger. Every muscle in his body felt as if wire had tightened around them. “You—you murdered him. You murdered him.” Talking wasn’t easy. Saying the words out loud added a reality to the situation. Ted was gone. Dead. Never coming back.
Ivan moved his head from side to side. He took a sharp, deep breath in through his nostrils and nodded. “I did what I had to do. For the safety of the group. For the safety of—”
Riley shot to his feet. He was possessed with rage. The vein in his head pulsated. “You killed him. Fucking killed him. My friend. My—my best friend. You fucker. You fucker.” He threw himself towards Ivan.
Ivan took a step back and raised the knife but Riley threw himself at him anyway. His mind only wanted one thing, and that was Ivan to pay for what he’d done. He plummeted against Ivan, barely missing his knife, and pushed him to the ground. The gash on his chest stung, but it didn’t matter.
“You fucking killed him,” Riley shouted. He held Ivan by the scruff of his collar and thumped him in the eye. It cracked his fingers. Riley’s chest seared with pain as Ivan dug his fingernails into him and pushed Riley back as he made another swing at Ivan’s face. “You—you killed Ted. You killed Ted
.”
Ivan threw Riley off him and pressed him down against the floor with his forearm across his neck. His eyes were bloodshot and the skin surrounding his eye was beginning to bruise from Riley’s punch. But he had the strength. He held Riley down. “And I’m going to do it to the rest of you. I’m going to—”
Something clattered downstairs. The previously unclear gunshots and shouting became much more vibrant. Much closer.
“Get back inside!” one of the guards shouted.
Ivan frowned. He turned to look down the corridor, keeping Riley pinned onto the floor. Riley attempted to scramble free of Ivan’s strong grip, but it was no use.
The gunshots built in number and in clarity. More voices entered the barracks.
“There’s too many of them!” another voice shouted. “Back inside.”
Ivan stared down at Riley. He looked preoccupied, mumbling barely audible words. “Got to protect… can’t come inside…”
Riley continued to scramble free of Ivan. “You’ll pay for this. You’ll fucking—”
Out of nowhere, Ivan yanked Riley to his feet and propped him up against the doorway. It was as if he had found a sudden bout of strength and energy; a determination to protect the sick fantasy world of the barracks that he had built.
“You won’t—” Riley’s words faded out as Ivan pushed him further back into the room. “You won’t—”
Ivan threw him onto the ground. He grabbed the door handle and lifted his gun out of his pocket. “You’ll stay right here. I’ll be back for you.”
Then, he slammed the door shut.
Riley stared up at the door as the lock made a clicking sound. Ivan’s footsteps resonated further down the corridor and down the staircase, towards the shouting, towards the nearing groans.
Riley was alone again. Alone with Ted.
Alone.