The Survival Pact

by Christy Sloat

  “You’ve stayed here, this whole time, and didn’t try to escape? Why?” Emma asked, showing her annoyance at the girl’s flaw.

  Linda pointed toward the fire that engulfed the town just outside the window and said, “You see that fire? My house is right there in the middle of that town. My husband was home and he’s probably dead now.”

  She sobbed and went on with shaky hands. “And there is the hospital where these things crawled and walked out of like ants pouring from their nest. Behind that is the funeral home. If I went out there, I’d be walking into certain death. My husband is gone and all of my family, probably. I’ve never seen a tornado like the one that ripped through the town and the fire seemed to start on its own and everything went up in flames so fast,” she told us. Then she walked to another window. “You see that ridge there, well it wasn’t ever there before. That was caused by a massive earthquake just yesterday. I saw the earth rip apart and separate with my very eyes. So no, I didn’t try to leave here. I stayed and I cried for all that I lost. Is that okay with you?”

  Just then I felt arms around my waist as I was ripped away from my friends and pulled down the hallway. I screamed and fought but I was pulled away so fast, neither of my friends had time to react, but Snack ran after me. I was held so tightly that I struggled to breathe, but it wasn’t until I felt the clammy fingers of the dead thing reach up around my skull that I realized what had yanked me away from Emma and Lou. It flipped me around and I smelled the stench of the lifeless and it’s hollowed out eyes seemed to bore into my soul. How could a thing without eyes see me the way this thing did?

  I hadn’t realized the evil that filled them until it began bashing my head against the floor.

  20

  I struggled against the lifeless as its strength overpowered me. I kicked with my foot and connected with its leg until I felt a part of it disconnect from its body. I knew what I had to do.

  Reaching up, I grabbed its hands that surrounded my head, and pulled. When the first hand came off, I yanked the other, but it didn’t come apart. I could feel the anger inside it as it formed a fist and slammed me in the face.

  “Ah, you asshole!” I yelled in pain as I moved to the side, blood pouring from my nose. I shoved it hard and stood up fast, feeling the dizziness overcome me. I reached for my gun but it wasn’t there. Dammit, I had probably dropped it.

  The lifeless came at me with one arm and shoved me against the wall; its strength was tremendous but I had something it didn’t; life. And it was something I refused to give up so I took both of my hands and wrapped them around its neck, and took all of my strength and fear and hate for how awful our life had become, and I put it all into squeezing until the things head came off into my hands, disconnecting from its body. As it fell to the ground I heard the collective gasp from behind me. I turned toward it and saw Lou, Emma, and Linda staring at me.

  “You’re still holding the head,” Lou pointed out. “You might want to put it down, gal, because that’s nasty.”

  I looked its face and realized that it had once been someone’s family member.

  “I’m thinking of putting it on the car as a hood ornament actually. What do you think?” I asked teasingly.

  “I vote, no,” Emma said, as she took it from me and tossed it aside. “Well, Linda, looks like you can finally get out of here now.”

  Linda nodded as the shock remained on her face.

  “Where will I go?”

  It didn’t seem like she was asking us but more so asking herself.

  “Do you have family anywhere else?” I asked, as Lou held a rag up to my bloody nose and checked me over carefully. Snack jumped up on my legs and I scooped her up into my arms.

  She shook her head. “No. The bridge is out anyhow and I’ll never survive on foot.”

  “How do you know the bridge is out?” Emma asked.

  “Because I heard it over the radio when this first happened. I had been in contact with another station and then they… they went quiet.”

  Emma left us and went back into the control room, pulling out the lifeless that she had killed, and went to work. I had never known how she knew how to do all that she did, but she was good at it. She went into her zone and started putting wires together and moving buttons up and down.

  “There isn’t any power,” Linda stated, as she slumped against a wall. “So it isn’t going to work, but good luck.”

  “You okay?” Lou asked her.

  She shook her head. “I’m hungry and I’m tired,” she cried.

  Lou tapped my shoulder and left the room. I followed her out and down the stairs to the Range Rover, where she began pulling out food and drinks.

  I thought about asking her what happened to us not taking care of anyone else and not helping others, but I didn’t say a word. I knew that regardless of what Lou said and felt she always cared for others; it was the teacher in her. Or perhaps it was the way she was raised.

  She passed me some to carry and then we went back inside. She tossed a few packs to Linda and then opened up the rest for us.

  “We better fuel up and eat tonight. We’re staying here for now,” she stated. I didn’t argue but I didn’t eat. My head was killing me. So I curled up in a ball as Snack snuggled with me. I watched Emma for as long as I could until sleep came to claim me for a while.

  I awoke to the sound of radio static and Emma celebrating with a yelp and clapping. I sat up, careful not to disturb the sleeping dog.

  Lou sat beside Emma with her feet resting on a soundboard. She smiled at me and asked, “How ya feelin’?”

  I touched my nose and it was so tender that it made me dizzy.

  “I’m in some pain.”

  She nodded and got up to grab me some painkillers out of her pack.

  “Where’s Linda at?” I asked, looking around the room.

  “She’s asleep, finally. God, she got so whiny that I had to tell her to take a nap,” Emma said, as she grabbed a microphone. “I can’t stand people who can’t fight for themselves. She had the capability to fight that thing, just like you did, but God forbid she ruin her manicure.”

  I laughed but then bit my lip. She was weak but she didn’t know any better. She seemed like a prissy girl who had never had to fight for anything in her life before. And no doubt she was scared.

  But I couldn’t help but feel frustrated that she stayed here while the lifeless roamed the halls. She stayed here and let her family and friends die and she did nothing about it; she didn’t fight for her life.

  Before I could think too hard on this, Emma began speaking into a microphone.

  “This is Staff Sergeant Le Blanc from the United States Marine Corp. I’m currently in Olympia, Washington trying to get to Lake Crescent. Is anyone out there?”

  She let go of the receiver and we waited in still silence.

  “Who are you trying to talk to?” I asked, as I took the pain killers and sat closer.

  She shook her head, “Anyone, but I’m hoping I’m on the radio frequency that the military uses.”

  The static filled the air and we breathed silently as if that would help us hear better.

  “Copy, Staff Sergeant, this is First Mate Cole of the United States Navy. We are currently aboard the USS Independence. What are your coordinates?”

  We all screamed and celebrated at the sound of his voice.

  There was hope if our Navy was talking to us. And Emma had done it! Regardless of the fact that there was no electricity, she got it working.

  “You did it! How did you do it?” I asked, curiously.

  “Linda forgot to mention that there was a backup generator in the basement,” she rolled her eyes. “Figures it’s a squid that answers the signal.”

  “Squid?” I asked Lou quietly, as Emma rambled off a ton of numbers.

  She shrugged.

 
They went back and forth talking about where they were and I was too excited to really care what they were saying. Until she asked, “We’re trying to get to a safe house in Lake Crescent. What news have you heard of the area there?”

  We waited for a while before Cole responded.

  “Sorry for the wait, Staff Sergeant. I had to contact another ship positioned near there. All seems intact, but there has been significant damage along the coastline. California is… gone, ma’am.”

  Gone.

  California was gone?

  “How, First Mate Cole?”

  “Earthquake ma’am. We’ve lost Hawaii due to a tsunami and several other coastal states are gone as well, including most of the upper East Coast. You’ll find that Lake Crescent is probably larger than normal due to higher waters, but you’ll be safe there on the Strait rather than on the coast of the Pacific. It doesn’t seem like Canada has suffered as much to their coastlines but they are in fact fighting the same fight we were. It’s happened all over the world, ma’am.”

  I zoned out after that.

  The fact that the upper East Coast was now gone made me sick to my stomach. I turned to Lou and grabbed her, “Did he say the East Coast was gone?”

  She nodded and hugged me tight.

  I cried in Lou’s arms while Emma talked to Cole via their radio communications. I thought about how harsh I had been to Sam and all the people I knew still in New York. I cried because my parents were probably gone now, too. My mom lived in Rhode Island with her boyfriend and my dad had relocated to Maine several years ago. This world was scarier than I ever imagined and we were losing control of our very existence all because the Devil wasn’t happy. Well I refused to let him win. We would take back our country and we would put a stop to it. All we had to do was believe in ourselves again.

  “It’s all right, gal. We’re almost there.” Lou pulled me away and looked me in the eyes. “Listen, I know about sadness. I know that Ida didn’t make it. But I do know that whatever happens is what is supposed to. And we are going to make it to that damn cabin if it’s the last thing I do. I’m a fighter.”

  Ida. I hadn’t thought about her recently and I instantly felt the guilt rush against me faster than any tsunami.

  “Lou, I have to tell you something,” I began. I couldn’t go on any longer without telling her the truth about it. She had a right to know that truth. It might tear our friendship in half, but she had to know.

  “What is it?”

  “Your mom, she… she asked me to do her a favor the day we left. And I didn’t want to, but I did it, Lou. I did it because she was suffering and she told me she didn’t want to die by their hands. And I wanted to tell you but—”

  Lou began shaking her head no and backed away from me.

  “Please don’t tell me this, Kami,” she said, as she cried. I didn’t see Lou cry often so as she sobbed and slid down the wall, I was literally broken into two.

  I did this to her. I took away her mother. I was no better than the lifeless.

  “She asked me to do it, Lou. But I didn’t want to.”

  “That didn’t mean you had to, Kami! You could have said no or you could have told me. Jesus Christ, I didn’t even get to say goodbye,” she broke down into horrific sounding sobs. “I would have done it, if you just would have told me. You’re a horrible person, Kami.” She cried louder and louder and then she screamed at the top of her lungs.

  “What’s going on?” Emma asked, as she came closer to us. I looked at her and said nothing. I had no words.

  Maybe I should have stayed silent because telling the truth may have cost me my friendship.

  Lou got up and walked out of the building and I watched her go without going after her. I didn’t wish her ill, ever, but I knew that there wasn’t anything I could say to make her understand or feel happy right now. She needed to grieve because of something I did to her. Perhaps she needed to be away from me for a while. So I got up too and I grabbed my backpack and Snack, because I couldn’t be away from that dog, and I left.

  Lou took the front, I went out the back, and Emma stayed in the building no doubt wondering what the hell happened and who she should go after. As I made my way down the hill behind the station I realized that life was possibly going to be like this for a while. Maybe I should be on my own and maybe going with them to the cabin wasn’t a good idea. It was better if I left. They’d be better off without me.

  While I didn’t have any idea what to do without the plans we had together, it didn’t mean that I wasn’t smart enough to survive without them. I wasn’t pouting. I knew when I needed to leave and I had taken that leave. I was a horrible friend and I needed to give Lou her space.

  “Wait up!” I heard behind me. I turned around hoping it was Lou, but found Linda instead.

  “What are you doing out here, Linda?” I asked without any remorse. “You don’t have a gun, or a pack and you’re not following me.”

  I turned around and kept walking but I heard her following me. I turned fast, “What are you doing?”

  She bit her lip, unsure of herself. “I don’t want to stay there and I thought maybe you could help me survive out here. I saw you rip that things head off and I know that you’re strong enough to fight them.”

  I shook my head. “Really? You followed me so that I could help you survive? How about you fight for your own survival for a change, Linda?”

  “Well, I don’t know how, exactly. I thought that I helped you girls to have a place to communicate with the Navy and that in turn you could help me get to my Aunt’s house north of here.”

  She had some balls asking that in that manner. She really felt entitled to that and that pissed me off.

  “No.”

  “Really?” she asked baffled.

  “Yeah, no. Have you heard that before in your life? Or are you so used to things going your way that you haven’t heard that term used often?”

  She bit her lip and tears filled her eyes. “Okay, well then, I’ll just go ask one of the other girls.”

  I laughed. “They’re not going to help you either, trust me. You could have asked me to teach you to make it out here. Did you think about that before you rode our coattails the last day?”

  She shrugged. “This world isn’t exactly different from what I’m used to. It has always been cutthroat and if I didn’t get your help, then someone else might’ve come.”

  Wow. She was really delusional, and to think I actually felt sorry for her at first.

  “Listen, life was cutthroat but this isn’t anything like the world you used to know. And let me be clear, no one was coming to help you.”

  I turned around and walked away from her but she followed me anyway. She could have been way nicer about it and I would have offered to teach her like Emma and Lou taught me, but she decided to use me and I wasn’t okay with that.

  “You know that I was almost raped when this whole thing started,” I told her as my voice hardened. “If it wasn’t for Lou I would have been really hurt.”

  “Sorry,” she said, but I didn’t hear the sincerity in it.

  I realized that I didn’t tell her this because I was looking for sympathy but because I was simply reminding myself of what Lou did for me; it was my way of proving to myself just how much I needed her. She and Emma had my back from the very start of this, shit from the beginning of our friendship. And I betrayed Lou by hiding such a huge secret and by assisting in her mother’s death. What kind of friend was I?

  I contemplated that question as I walked down the path into the woods that led us away from the town and away from where most of the lifeless were. I could hear their shuffling feet though, and that only made me walk faster.

  Part Three

  21

  Kami’s survival tip: Be prepared to face some of your worst fears. The world you once knew is gone. Learn how to survive t
his one, without looking back. The sooner you learn that, the better off you’ll be.

  I was lucky enough to find a hollowed out tree that was free of any forest dwellers and I slept there for the night. As for Linda I have no idea where she slept and when I woke up I felt a little badly for how I treated her, but I still wasn’t going to just take care of her just because she felt it was owed to her. Screw that.

  I climbed out of the hole and searched the forest for any Lifeless. Snack was already out roaming the area and if she had smelled anything off, she didn’t show it. I hadn’t heard a sound all night and surprisingly, I slept okay, even though it was hard to fall asleep at first. I think exhaustion beat out sadness. I regretted leaving the girls behind but it was too late to walk back and beg for forgiveness now. I had walked so far away from them that I wouldn’t even know where to go if I tried. I was so deep in the forest that I didn’t know my surroundings. I pulled my bag out of the hole and unzipped it, looking at what I had.

  It was pretty much the same as it was in the hotel, except now I had a few bags of the food from the school stuffed inside, thanks to Lou. I wasn’t sharing my food with Linda; no way. So when she came up to me with her hands out, I gave her a nasty look.

  “You’re kidding right?”

  She pulled her hand back and looked away. “I left my food behind.”

  “Too bad for you. You better try to find some breakfast or you will starve out here. This is why you should have stayed put, Linda.”

  “I’m beginning to see that you were not the one to follow.”

  Ugh. I wasn’t in the mood for this girl’s attitude at all this morning. I contemplated a fire but then thought against it. I didn’t need to make myself a beacon for the lifeless. I pulled on a jacket that was stuffed inside the pack and ate a piece of granola bar just to give me the calories that I most definitely needed since I walked so far into the forest. I watched as Linda searched the ground for something to eat. When she picked up a plant I stiffened. I hoped she knew what she was doing.