by D. J. Molles
He felt the urge to pee. His bladder spasmed.
He wasn’t sure why he gave a shit, except that maybe the infected would smell his urine. So he gritted his teeth and tried to hold it in. Felt a little bit dribble out. Just barely wetting his underwear. He didn’t want to block out the world, but that’s what he had to do. He had to close his eyes and hunker down inside himself, like he’d done before. Go to that place inside him where nothing could get him. That was the only place left for him now.
He wasn’t sure how long he lay there in silence. The world outside that shanty was chaos, but it was lost on him. People were still yelling, the infected were still growling and barking and screeching in the background of it all, but he refused to hear them. After a time, he regained control of himself.
He fidgeted slightly, felt the slight wetness in his underwear getting cold.
He opened his eyes.
Still dark, but now he could make out some forms and shapes inside the shanty. Shapes that made his heart beat fast until he was able to interpret them and figure out what they were. The shape near the door that loomed over him was only a jacket, hanging from a peg. Some boxes in the corner, though he didn’t know what they contained. A tiny table with some unlit candles on it.
He realized that he had been holding his breath, the air burning stale and hot in his lungs. He let it out with a sudden huff and sucked in cold, parched air.
“Who’s there?”
The small voice hit him with all the force of a bullhorn.
Sam shot into an upright position on his knees, his rifle held level at his hip, sweeping the darkness back and forth. He searched for the source of the voice, even as his mind told him through his fears, It’s Caleb, it’s just Caleb. Calm down. You have to be calm. You have to be the one in control.
“Caleb?” his voice was shaky.
“Sam?” the voice responded.
“Yes!” he whispered back.
In the corner of his vision, the darkness moved.
Pale, white eyes, staring at him through the gloom. So close that Sam could feel and smell his breath. “Did they see you come in here? Oh my God, Sam, why the hell did you come over here?”
Sam was taken aback. He forced his voice down to a whisper, though he wanted to scream. “I came over here to get you back into the Camp Ryder building, you dumb shit! What the heck are you doing running off into Shantytown like that?”
Caleb—or the white, glistening eyes that were all Sam could see of him—just stared back blankly. “Everyone was jammed up in the door. Don’t you remember what happened last time? Don’t you remember? They were… they were carrying people off, still screaming, still alive…”
Sam reached out with his left hand and groped for Caleb. He found the other boy’s arm and gripped it tight, intentionally hard, and he shook it back and forth. “Shut up! Just shut up!” Sam breathed harshly. “Everyone’s inside the building now. It’ll be fine…”
Somewhere outside, there was the sound of metal on metal, hard, distant. Final. Like a cell door slamming home.
Caleb’s face turned in the direction of the Camp Ryder building. “That was the doors,” he moaned. “They just closed and locked the doors!”
Abby tried to swim through a violent sea of people. She felt like her heart wasn’t beating anymore. Like the blood was dying in her veins. She kept trying to breathe but it was only ragged sobs, like someone had knocked the wind out of her. She pressed through legs and hips, and the people looked down at her as she moved, and perhaps they looked at her with pity, but none of them tried to help her. She was in a state of panic, and so were they; everyone was just cramming themselves into the Camp Ryder building, trying to get as far away from those open doors as possible, as far away from the bad things outside as they could get. But Abby wasn’t trying to get away, as terrified as she was, and that was not what was putting her into a panic. She was trying to find Marie. She had to find Marie, in all these people, these strangers, this crush of bodies; she had to find Marie, that friendly face, and she had to tell her that Sam had run off into Shantytown. Oh my God, Sam had run off into Shantytown and if they didn’t help him get back then he was going to get eaten by the infected, and then he wouldn’t be here anymore, he would be gone like all those other people that Abby had once known. Sam couldn’t be gone like all of those people, he just couldn’t. He was Sam. He was the big brother she had always wanted. He was supposed to be there to take care of her. To make sure that she was safe. What would she do if he was gone?
She couldn’t breathe. Could barely keep moving her feet.
She stopped in the middle of the building and let the panic out of her chest and it came out in a scream, and it burned her like fire, but afterward, she was able to take a deep breath to cool her lungs.
She had been loud, but so was everyone else in the Camp Ryder building. Only the ten or twelve people that immediately surrounded her looked down at her, their faces surprised, concerned, even a little irritated.
“Honey,” a woman said that Abby didn’t recognize. “Are you okay?”
Abby’s chest hitched, she blinked tears out of her eyes, and then she pushed the woman out of the way and delved into the crowd again, this time yelling as she did. “Marie! Marie! Muh-REEEEEE!!”
She made it another ten struggling steps before hands shot out of the tangle of bodies and seized her by the shoulders in mid-scream, twisting her around, and then she was face-to-face with Marie, her dark brown, almost black curls framing her slightly astringent features, which were currently screwed up into a look of fear and concern.
Abby felt relief unlike anything she had felt before. She almost melted to the floor.
“Abby, what’s wrong? Why are you screaming?” In the same breath that the questions fell out of Marie’s mouth, Marie looked around and seemed to realize that Abby was alone. And Abby was never alone. Abby felt Marie’s grip on her shoulders tighten. “Where’s Sam? Is he inside? Did he get inside?”
The words were like an avalanche.
“He’s outside!” Abby sobbed. “He’s outside and he’s gonna get eaten! The bad guys are gonna eat him, you can’t let them eat him, don’t let it happen, don’t let it, don’t let it! He ran off into Shantytown! He ran off and he told me to find you! Please! You have to get Sam!”
Abby had gotten a little turned around as she’d been pushed back and forth in the throng of people. And when you’re only four feet high, and can’t see past most people’s midsections, it’s easy to be disoriented in a crowd. But she realized that she was standing in the middle of the Camp Ryder building, facing the back, when she heard the front doors slamming closed and the sound of people yelling.
“Bar the doors!” a voice shouted.
“Someone get me some water.” That one was her mother’s voice.
“Strip her down,” the original voice ordered, and Abby realized it was Captain Harden.
Marie was standing on her tiptoes to see what was happening at the front of the building, but her face was still screwed up with the concern of what Abby had told her. She looked back down at the girl, very serious, trying to gauge how much of what Abby had said was true and how much of it was the hysteria of a young girl in a panic.
Finally, she grabbed Abby’s hand and started pulling her through the crowd. “Come with me,” she said. “And come quick.”
Lee almost dropped Jenny as they hauled her into the main area of the Camp Ryder building. The metal steps up to the office were immediately to his right, and he could see people standing on them, peering down, trying to get a better look at what was going on.
Lee was heaving air. His legs and arms were burning.
He heard the heavy metal doors of the building slamming closed behind him and he looked, going down to one knee. Then he pointed at the two guards that were locking the doors. “Bar the doors!”
No sooner had he said it than something slammed into the doors on the other side. A howl rose up, muffled by the concrete w
alls and thick doors. But the two guards took a hesitant step back as the doors rattled and shook. Then they dove forward and barred the doors with a two-by-four.
“Get me some water!” Angela shouted out.
Lee turned back to her and saw that she was hovering over Jenny, shouting out to the crowd. Jenny was on the ground and looked horrible. Her face had turned ashen, but it was dotted with sweat, despite the cold temperatures. Her eyes looked hollow and miserable. Lee had seen several others come down with this flu, but this was by far the worst he’d seen someone react to it.
Lee pointed to her and spoke loudly for Angela’s benefit. “Get her out of those clothes. She’s burning up. She needs to be cooled down. Even if she fights you about it. She’s gonna get brain damage if we don’t lower her core temperature.”
Angela began fumbling with Jenny’s zippers and buttons, but the other woman was not being cooperative. Lee was about to stoop to help when Marie emerged out of the crowd, towing Abby behind her. The look on Marie’s face made Lee immediately stop and stare, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Lee! Angela!” Marie pulled Abby up next to her. The little girl was sobbing.
Lee reached out and touched Marie’s shoulder, then Abby’s. “What? What’s wrong?”
Angela did the same with her daughter. “Baby, what’s wrong? What’s wrong? Where’s Sam?”
Marie spoke for the hysterical girl. “Abby says that he ran off into Shantytown. He didn’t make it inside.”
“He ran off because of Caleb!” Abby sobbed. “He went to help Caleb, because he wasn’t coming inside.”
“That kid he got in a fight with?” Angela balked. Then her hand went to her head as she realized the full implications of the situation. “Oh my God. Oh my God.”
Lee knelt, looking Abby square in the face. “Abby, did you actually see Sam go into Shantytown? Are you sure he didn’t make it inside?”
“I’m positive!” she yelled in his face. She tried to take breaths that were escaping her for a second, and then yelled again, this time tilting her face to the ceiling. “He went out there to help Caleb and he told me to come inside and to find Marie so I could be safe. But he’s out there! He’s out there and he’s gonna get eaten! You gotta help him! You gotta help him right now!”
Lee stood again and turned away, swearing.
Old Man Hughes was standing there, shaking his head. “Cap, we can’t open those doors.”
As if to reiterate, the thing outside the doors slammed them again and screeched. The people inside the Camp Ryder building jumped, everyone at the same time, and a gasp worked through the crowd.
Mac and Georgia pushed through the crowd and appeared to Old Man Hughes’s left. Mac spoke for both of them. “Don’t open those doors! You can’t open those doors again!”
Angela was suddenly beside Lee, fists clenched at her sides. “What the fuck are you talking about?” she demanded. “We’ve got kids out there, by themselves. And one of them is my kid.”
“Your adopted kid,” Georgia said bluntly.
Angela’s eyes went wide and she took a step in Georgia’s direction, raising her fists, but Lee put a hand out and pulled her back. Angela pointed in Georgia’s face. “You stupid bitch! You think that makes a fucking difference? All of you were about to have a fucking heart attack because one of your people got capped trying to steal some shit! And he was a grown man! Blood or not, those are our children out there, and we can’t just leave them there! They’re a part of our group. How do you not fucking understand this?”
“All right!” Lee shouted over the turmoil. “Everyone shut the fuck up.” Mac opened his mouth to speak again, but Lee raised a finger and put it in his face, staring into his eyes, deadly serious. “Shut up.”
Abby couldn’t hold back her tears. “Please. Please go get Sam!”
Lee turned to the girl and he saw her red, blurry eyes, the tears staining her cheeks, and the misery scribbled all over her young features. Angela had been right. Abby was losing little bits of herself. It had started at the beginning of all of this, and Lee had not made it any better when he’d gunned her father down in front of her. He hadn’t known it at the time, but it didn’t change the facts as they were.
And now she was looking at him. Asking him to save one of the only people she had left in the world beside her own mother. She was looking at him desperately, and whether she meant to or not, the look on her face made him cringe and want to look away. He had fought the feelings of guilt for some of the things that he had done, but this was one that bothered him, not because of what he had done, but more out of empathy for the girl who seemed secretly terrified of him, no matter what he did—good or bad.
“Please,” she moaned. “You can get him. Please go get him. You’re the only one that can do it.”
Lee gave her his full attention, sinking to his knees in front of the girl. “Abby, you have to be quiet.” He held a finger to his lips, then he looked up at the crowd of people surrounding him, watching him. “The more noise we make in here, the more the hunters are going to try to get in.”
“But…” Abby whispered. “But what about Sam?”
Lee put a hand on Abby’s head, gently, and for the first time, she didn’t flinch away from him, or seem uncomfortable. Her desperation was beyond what feeling of reproach she had for this man who had killed her father.
“I’m gonna get Sam, okay? Don’t you worry about that.”
“Captain,” Old Man Hughes said.
Lee stood, shrugging into his rifle strap again. “Not a discussion, Hughes.”
“I’m going…” Angela started.
“No you’re fucking not,” Lee said sharply. “No one is going with me. The more people go, the more chance someone else is going to be left behind. For God’s sake, just let me handle this. No more talking.” For the benefit of the crowd around him, he raised his voice just slightly. “Everyone stay quiet. Get your weapons ready. Get on the doors.”
Then Lee bounded up the metal staircase and onto the catwalk that led to the roof access.
In the silence, in the dark, Sam crouched, facing the barely visible outline of Caleb. A kid he wanted to hurt with his bare hands, but couldn’t bear the thought of him being ripped apart by the hunters. Someone he was willing to risk his life for, though he didn’t know it before the instant that he did it.
The gunfire had stopped. It seemed oddly quiet in the camp.
There were rustling noises through the trees. The sound of gravel shifting, sometimes from this direction, sometimes from that. In the distance, shouts from the men on top of the Camp Ryder building, but again, no shots were being fired.
They’re still here, Sam told himself. Still inside the camp. Just prowling quietly through Shantytown. Looking for stragglers. Easy prey. An easy meal. Like me and Caleb here.
Sam’s voice was barely audible even to himself. “Caleb. We need to go.”
Caleb just stared for a while. The sound of light footsteps in gravel to the right of their shanty drew his attention. He watched the right side of the shanty for a time. Perhaps an entire minute passed in silence. Sam was having a hard time keeping track of the time that was passing.
Finally Caleb shook his head, still staring at the opposite wall. “I’m not going out there. Not until it’s light out again.”
Sam felt his stomach drop. “It’s not gonna be light for hours!”
Slowly, Caleb pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged them there. The human body’s method of trying to become a stone. Motionless. Senseless. Dead to the world. If I can’t see you, you can’t see me. If I play dead, maybe you’ll go away.
Sam was beginning to feel panic again. The darkness and the closeness of the shanty had a calming effect. Like a good hiding place. But it was just an illusion. The walls were thin. They offered no protection. And now Sam’s heart was beginning to slam in his chest again, and he could feel the adrenaline tingling in his fingers, muddling his thoughts, playing with his percepti
ons of things.
I need to get out of here. I can’t stay in this shanty.
I want to go. I want to go now.
Lee pushed the hatch of the roof access open and stuck his head out. The night air on the roof was cold, and oddly still. The first thing he saw was Staley, Brinly, and their half dozen Marines, crouched against the roof abutments. The creaking hinges on the access hatch caused Brinly’s head to snap around. He saw Lee and then motioned sharply.
Lee hauled himself up onto the roof and ran, low to the ground like he was taking enemy fire. He went to his knees beside Brinly, who was hovering over a Marine that appeared to be their designated marksman, or DM. The Marine was hunched over an AR-platform rifle, but the barrel was much longer, and it looked like it might be a larger-caliber rifle. It had a large, electronic-looking scope attached to it.
“What’s happening?” Lee whispered. “What’d you see?”
Brinly pointed outward. “They hit that door right after you guys, but then they backed off after a minute or so. They all ran in separate directions. But they’re still inside the camp.” Brinly gestured to his DM. “We’re watching them on thermal.”
“Good heat signatures,” the DM put it quietly, squinting one eye as he looked through his scope. “Those fuckers burn hot. And they ain’t got no clothes on.” He stiffened as he spoke. “Okay. Got two more. Moving in the back of all those shacks. Over by the shipping containers.”
Something crashed through the woods, near the gates.
The DM snapped his rifle in that direction and scanned the darkness. “Two… three more signatures on that side. Moving parallel to the fence. Looks like they’re circling around back.”
Lee reached out and grabbed Brinly’s shoulder. “I’ve got no time to argue. I’m going out the front door. I need your guns tracking with me. Shoot any of those fuckers that start chasing me.”
Brinly turned and met Lee’s gaze, a little disbelieving. “You goin’ back out there?”
Lee nodded. “Just keep them off my back. Please.”
Brinly nodded in return. “Well, now’s your chance.”