by Coralee June
“Okay,” I whispered, my head pounding too hard for loud sounds.
It took some strategic maneuvering to get Huxley’s large body out of the window, but he moved efficiently. The moment he was out, Jacob sat up with a jolt, finally waking up. He rubbed his head, blinking a few times as his mindspeak provided an amusing commentary. “Oh my God, what the fuck happened? Okay. Legs? Check. Dick? Yep. Still there. Arms, stiff, but check. Head? Fuck, what is that goddamn pounding?” He started looking around the transport, but it was obvious he was struggling to see. “Ash? Ash! Ash, are you okay?” His mindspeak was moving in rapid succession, barely keeping up with the questions he was firing off.
“I’m okay,” I whispered as Patrick stroked my hair. He was still looking outside, but neither of us could see Huxley as he did a perimeter check. Jacob sighed and reached out to grab my knee.
“Thank goodness,” his mindspeak said.
“Can you get off me now?” Kemper pleaded. Jacob reeled back as if just realizing he was halfway in Kemper’s lap. If everything weren’t so dire, I would have laughed.
They shifted, but there wasn’t really much room for them to move. When the transport took a nosedive, the front half of it crunched on impact. Thankfully, the only thing that got trapped when the transport collided with the ground was Cyler’s arm. We were confined to the back half. Cyler groaned as Maverick tried setting his arm. “He’s going to need a healing pod,” Maverick said with sadness.
“There was a hospital in Galla about an hour’s walk from Stonewell Manor. Assuming it hasn’t been destroyed, we could take him there,” I said as hope bled through my words. Everything in the empire was destroyed. The healing pod was bulky and awkward to move, so I doubted anyone stole it unless they had a crane. But there was still a good chance that it was no longer functioning, or that the clinic was leveled during the riots.
“We’re about a three hour walk from Galla,” Kemper said while looking at his tablet. Huxley poked his head through the missing window.
“All clear.”
Sighing in relief, I squeezed Patrick’s hand, which was propped on my thigh. I then worked my way through the window, moving feet first as my head pounded. Huxley grabbed me on the outside, and the twins eased me out of the window with care. The moment my feet landed on dirt, I stretched my stiff muscles and helped Huxley get everyone else out of the transport. Cyler was the most difficult to move. Every jolt of his body had him screaming out in pain. I nearly vomited at the sight of his crushed arm, his bone and tendons pushed through the skin in a sickening display.
He crumbled to the ground in agony the moment he was out of the transport, and Maverick looked at his arm, keeping it held up to prevent more dust and debris from getting in it. “We need to move fast. The longer it’s exposed, the more chance he has of infection.”
“Plus it fucking hurts,” Cyler grit out. I immediately went to his non-injured arm and helped steady him, his large frame nearly knocking me to the ground when he went limp. This was so bad. We were still far from Galla, and there was no way we’d get there in time, not to mention that without the safety of the transport, we’d be exposed to Walkers and resistance groups.
Kemper immediately pulled me away with a gentle tug and took my spot to help hold Cyler up. “Do you know how to get to Galla from here?” Jacob’s mindspeak asked Kemper.
“Yes. Walk east,” Kemper replied with a grunt. We’d all have to take turns supporting Cyler as we traveled to Galla.
“Make a circle around Cyler and Ash,” Huxley instructed while pulling Heat from his waist. My men created a wall of muscle around us.
And we walked.
Chapter Fifteen
Every step hurt. My head was pounding as the sun beat down on my back. Although it was cooler from the change in seasons, it was still unbearable, and my skin started to burn. My salty sweat traveled down my cheek and landed on my lip. I kept sticking out my tongue to taste it as it was the only relief my dry throat could have.
“Fuck!” Cyler groaned while bumping into me once again. He had been swaying the last hour, barely keeping steady.
“Huxley,” I called out, concern lacing my words like poison. Cyler wasn’t going to make it much longer. We’d been walking for hours, way more than the three we originally thought it would take us to get to Galla. “Cyler needs someone to help prop him up, I’m not strong enough,” I said through gritted teeth while wrapping my arm around Cy’s waist. The guys were so focused on keeping their eyes out for looters and infected Walkers that they’d almost missed how miserable Cyler was. Despite my best efforts, his knees hit the dirt with a smack, causing the rest of the guys to jump into action.
Maverick propped Cyler up on his right side, and Patrick joined him on the left. Both of them carried Cyler, who was grunting while keeping his arm close to his chest, crying out when Patrick bumped into it.
“Shit, sorry man,” Patrick apologized. “Let’s sit down for a minute.”
“We don’t have time,” Maverick said while continuing to hoist Cyler up into a standing position. This was a shit storm. Oh fuck, we wouldn’t get him to a healing pod in time—that is if we had a healing pod to use.
Although we crashed in the expansive, sandy desert, we were now in the bordering woods surrounding Galla. We were close, I think. We’d found the train tracks leading to the city and were following it east. The sun was beginning to set, and I knew that once it was dark, we’d have a less likely chance of keeping Cyler alive through the night.
I looked at my strong man, biting my lip hard to stop the tears from falling. His shirt was soaked with blood, and I couldn’t breathe. It was like a weight was on my chest. “What’s that noise?” Jacob’s mindspeak said while turning to look off to the left. I followed his gaze and peered at the dimmed sky. The trees in the distance were shifting, but it was hard to hear anything over Cyler’s cries and moans of pain.
“Shhh,” Huxley said while standing to join Jacob in the clearing. They both stood at attention with their fists clenched. They watched the distance with trained eyes. Something felt off; there was a stiffness in the air that had every hair on my neck standing on edge. And then, chaos erupted.
Something slammed into my back, knocking me to the ground. My tongue was coated with dirt as I felt teeth on my neck and heard a snarl in my ear. The smell of death filled my nose as I cried out, shifting my body to get out from underneath whatever was on top of me. I gripped the blades of grass and yanked my body forward as frantic yells and wheezing filled the air. Soon, the dense mass of weight was pulled from my body. And I stood up, orienting myself while placing my fists at my face.
The scene before me was chaos. Cyler was on the ground, passed out and bleeding in the grass. Maverick was fighting an infected Walker. Huxley had Heat out, the weapon stolen from Lenny’s man. Kemper had managed to fix it before we left. Hux aimed at the Walker, but they were moving too much to get a clear shot. Another Walker was stalking closer, his head bent at an odd angle as bursting boils on his arms oozed puss and dark blood. “Watch out!” I screamed just in time for Huxley to turn around and aim Heat at the wandering Walker. These men were more aggressive than others, mindlessly clawing at the world, their nails like infected knives. One prick could kill us all. Huxley aimed and fired, making the Walker’s body erupt into nothing but dust and decay, coating our bodies with the sandy remains.
Shit. My men couldn’t get close. Kemper and I were the only ones immune. I grabbed the knife from my boot and ran towards Maverick as the same Walker that had attacked me kept pulling back and leaning forward to punch him. He was still too close for Huxley to get a clear shot. Kemper surged towards him, yanking Maverick out of the way before hitting the Walker in the jaw. I launched myself at the Walker’s back before he could go back to fighting Maverick, and wrapped my arms around his neck, dragging the blade along his jugular with one skilled swipe. All those lessons with Huxley had paid off.
The infected Walker collapsed, and I fell
with him. Maverick took a step back, staggering a bit as he wiped the blood from his lip.
Not his blood.
The Walker’s dark blood.
I stood up and looked around, the infected blood covering my skin and clothes. “Everyone stand back!” I screamed. “Maverick we need to find a stream. Now. We have to wash that off of you.”
“It’s...it’s too late,” Maverick stuttered while staring at his fingers, like the boils from X would suddenly start appearing.
“It’s not too late. Kemper, find me a stream. We have five minutes to wash off. Now!” I screamed, working everyone into action. Jacob rushed forward to pick up Cyler and drag his heavy body away from the puddle of blood collecting in the grass from the dead Walker. Kemper scrolled through his tablet then looked up.
“We have to run. Follow me.”
I glanced at Maverick, giving him a steely look of determination before nodding once. At my slight movement, Kemper took off. I pounded my feet into the dirt, my lungs bursting from the adrenaline and fear as I chased after Kemper. He weaved through the woods with skill and ease, using his tablet as a guide.
“Right!” Kemper yelled.
We eased right.
“Forward ten meters!” he screamed even louder, his lean, long legs straining as he chased the source of water. I could hear the stream in the distance. We were so close. So fucking close.
Hold on, Maverick.
We ran until there was nothing left of us. And the moment we saw the stream, we each stripped out of our outfits and plunged into the water, submerging our naked bodies completely. I knew I was immune, but I couldn’t risk getting the infected blood on anyone else.
Please work. Please, please work.
The river was lazy, but at the riverbed, the force of the water was incredibly strong. I dug my feet into the bottom, curling my toes on the rocks as Maverick stood in front of me. He scrubbed at his skin with frantic movements, using the gritty sand as an exfoliant to get the remains off of him. I emerged from the water and gasped for air before going back under. I grabbed sand and ran it along his body, making sure every inch of skin was clear.
Sometime during my frantic scrubbing, Maverick went still. We were both underwater, and I watched as his face slipped into something that looked a little too much like acceptance. Cupping my cheeks, he guided us both to break the water's surface. And the moment I gasped for air, he crashed his lips to mine.
I wasn't sure when I started sobbing into his mouth, but my chest rattled with the sadness I felt. Maverick saved me from the Walker that had caught us off guard, and would likely start showing signs of X soon. He cupped the back of my head, crashing our bodies together, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to deepen the kiss, our bodies moving like water against one another.
"Don't cry," he pleaded against my lips. I could feel the pain between us. He started stroking my spine, kissing me so deeply, so hard that I felt like we were the same person. He pulled away for a brief moment to rest his forehead against mine. "I'm gonna be okay," he promised. But how could he know for sure? We were on a hunt for Payne, but even then there was no guarantee that his blood would hold the secrets to the cure. We were going off blind hope.
"I'm so scared," I sobbed. I wasn't sure where Kemper was because all I could look at was Maverick. I felt like I was already losing him, and the boils hadn't even begun to form on his skin. I took in his red hair and haggard expression. I gazed into his brown eyes like they were never-ending. I clutched his arms, digging my nails into his skin like it would keep him here with me. "I would be lost without you. We need to find Payne. We don't have time.” Maverick picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he kissed me and walked us out of the water.
On the riverbank, Kemper stood with a frown. Naked and dripping with water, the three of us shook, our trembling limbs cold from the breeze hitting our skin. "Ash!" Huxley yelled. A light rustling through the trees and bushes drew my attention towards the east, and soon my fearless protector appeared.
“Cyler’s not doing well. And now we need to move faster than before,” Huxley said while eyeing Maverick in somber trepidation.
He didn’t have to say it out loud. We were all thinking it. It was only a matter of time before Maverick started showing symptoms of Influenza X. I closed my eyes for a breath, resolving to keep strong and push the worries I felt out of my mind. Huxley took off his shirt and tossed it at me, then reached in his backpack for some boxers and a spare pair of pants. “Get dressed. We will carry Cyler if we have to. I want to be in Galla within the hour. I hope you’re ready to run.”
Chapter Sixteen
I never thought I’d be so happy to see Galla. The tall buildings once flashing with advertisements and lights were now ruined. It was dark by the time we crept into town undetected. The guys took turns carrying Cyler’s limp body while Maverick hung back away from the group, too scared to potentially infect everyone.
The metropolis which was once booming with the Elite was now scarce. We only saw a couple of people, but they ran and hid the moment the six of us came into view. We didn’t run into any more Walkers, but there was a graveyard at the edge of Galla near the Walker Zone. We could smell the death the moment we got downwind of it. The stench made me gag and even woke up Cyler from his feverish delirium. Bodies were piled high, rotted corpses covered in boils and blood stained the ground. We circled around it, keeping away from the rot and decay. It was a sight I never wanted to see again. Everyone was dying. Everyone was killing each other.
“This is awful,” I murmured as we passed, regretting speaking the moment the words left my lips. I’d been holding my breath, and the moment I opened my mouth to speak, it was like death coated my tongue with its rancid stench.
Although we were exhausted, we continued to move quickly while keeping our eyes open for danger. I knew where the nearest hospital was, and prayed that it was still standing, despite the crumbled buildings and boarded up windows surrounding us. The Stonewells had taken me there when I was a little girl after Josiah dared me to climb a tree and I fell. I remembered feeling fascinated by the technology there. At the time, it was a painful experience, but now I felt relief that I even knew where it was.
The chill in the air kept wafting the smell of death towards us, making me nauseous. The moment my eyes connected with the hospital, I started sprinting towards it, praying that the healing pod would still be there.
The only reason I didn’t wrench open the door and storm into the seemingly abandoned hospital was because Jacob intercepted and stopped me. “Let me check it out first. Make sure there’s no squatters or Walkers,” his mindspeak said while gripping my arm to pull me back. He was right, but I was still frustrated to have to wait any longer. Time was of the essence. We had to save Cyler then find Payne so that we could save…
Maverick.
I turned to look back at him, noticing how his steps were staggered. I couldn’t tell if he was weak from the sprinting we just did for the last hour to get here or if he was feeling the beginning stages of X. “I’ll only be a minute,” Jacob assured me before slipping inside the dark building. Kemper quickly followed after him.
It took all of ten minutes for them to inspect the hospital, but the entire time, it felt like I was holding my breath. Now that Maverick had been exposed to X, I worried that the rest of my men would succumb to the same fate. Cyler groaned, and I turned around to stare at him. His shirt was completely soaked with blood, as were the rest of my men. Pulling Huxley’s shirt down so that it covered more of my ass, I walked closer to him and inspected the bleeding wound. If there weren’t a functioning healing pod here, he would undoubtedly die.
Kemper poked his head out of the door and whistled at us. Looking side to side, he then motioned us in. I helped Huxley guide a feverish Cyler to the door while Patrick ignited a lighter to illuminate the space inside. Inside, Kemper was working with the power box, likely trying to find a generator while Maverick made quick work of searching fo
r the healing pod. Luckily, healing pods were large and weighed too much to be stolen, so it was still plugged in over in the corner.
It looked like a giant tube, and Mav raised the lid before gasping. After setting Cyler on the floor, Huxley and I ran over to him to see what had caused that reaction.
There, in the healing pod, was a skeleton of decay. Maggots were eating at the poor person’s skin, and you could even see the victim’s broken leg that he was trying to heal. I gagged, bile rising up my throat as I tried to back away. The stench filled the room almost immediately, like the healing pod had covered up the smell, but now that it was released, we all were suffering.
Kemper managed to flip a switch, turning on the generators and illuminating the room with fluorescent light. We all used whatever we could to cover our noses and mouths while taking in the place. The shelves were mostly empty, and the equipment on the tables was covered with dust, but for the most part, everything was still here.
“I’ll move the body,” Maverick said with a frown. It was so decomposed that he had to take bits and pieces of its limbs, placing it in a nearby box before pushing it out of the building. Kemper sprayed the healing pod down with disinfectant he found under the sink before wiping it down. Once it was clean, Huxley and Patrick picked up Cyler and placed him in the pod, lowering the lid with finality before switching it on.
Healing pods were meant for broken bones and easy fixes. It could cure cancer, but couldn’t cure Influenza X. And now that I knew that X was a fabrication of Lackley, I figured that it was intentional. Why create a disease meant to wipe out the world's population if it could be easily cured?