“What’s wrong?” Julie asked. Alex was silent with that same indifferent appearance. “Talk to me!” Julie demanded of him.
“You screwed me,” Alex said looking up at her with now disapproving eyes.
“What?”
“Back at the lab, you just handed me over. Why?”
“What else was I supposed to do?”
“Keep your promise?” Julie stuttered back at this remark. Alex had just sparked a memory of when they were both younger. They were both in that very spot that they are now four years ago. Julie’s mother died giving birth to her. As a result, she was raised by her father, and he was extremely protective of her in these times. Time and again, she would go out without her father knowing and meet with Alex at the hole in the fence. They would go there and hide and watch the life of the infected. They would sometimes see negotiations take place, and they would leave if things got out of hand. One day they saw a fight going down and they looked away. “Hey Alex?” Julie asked.
“Yeah?” Alex replied.
“What do you think it would be like if we were infected?”
“We would probably die in there. You’ve seen how they act around each other, not even the healthy. They think they can play God.”
“Is that why everyone turns on them when they first get sick?”
“Most likely.” Julie paused at this remark and asked finally. “Hey…Alex?”
“Hmm?” He responded.
“If I get sick, you’ll hide me right?”
“Of course,” Alex replied. Julie smiled and said thanks.
“Only if you’ll help me of course,” Alex said with a snarky smile.
“Oh right, like I haven’t been protecting you from bullies your whole life already,” She said sarcastically. “Okay, I promise,” She said.
“So do I,” He said as well. Julie then held up her pinky and Alex rolled his eyes. “What are you, six?” He insulted, she just smiled. He raised his own pinky and wrapped it around hers. They both shook, and released. It was a sweet memory, but sadly, one rather for children. When fear takes over a human could be capable of great feats, or become a complete burden. Julie had regained her bearings, took Alex’s shoulder and spoke.
“I know, and I’m sorry. But what could I have done? They had you from the get go,” She excused.
“You could have stalled them, or, I don’t know, something. You just left me in their hands and now I’m here.”
“You don’t have to be here Alex, come with me. Let me keep my promise.”
“How do I know you won’t just turn me over again?”
“Because I’m your best friend,” She said taking his hand again and staring him in the eyes. He saw her worried and caring brown eyes underneath her lenses. He slung his hand back down to his side away from her.
“Were. You were that,” He spoke with cold eyes.
Julie’s mouth slid open and she choked up. She stepped back and covered her gaping mouth, her misty eyes magnified by glass. Alex turned his back towards her and left her with this: “I have new friends now,” He lied. He walked from her, back into the once glorious city.
Julie, with a scowl of anger on her face shouted at him. “At least take this jerk!” Alex turned and was immediately struck in the chest with a plastic grocery bag. The bag hit the ground as he held his chest. He could see that it had been filled with at least a weeks’ worth of canned food, fresh bread, and water. He looked back up at Julie as she gave him one last appalled look and started somberly away, out of view. Alex sighed and looked back down at the food. The truth was that he just threw away his best friend for a lifetime of fighting for his life.
He had now lost Julie, and as far as he knew, Levi could have been right. John really was dead. And Thomas, Alex just supposed that he didn’t care either way about him. Thomas never liked people anyway. Mrs. Smith, his friends at school, everyone was gone, he was alone. All he had was the job later that night with Levi, and Levi himself. He lied to Julie when he said that she wasn’t his best friend anymore, he didn’t want her to get affiliated with him. If he bailed on Levi that night, he would hunt him down. If he were to die, he didn’t want Julie or the rest of the people in his life facing the same life. He also spared himself from the possibility of abandoning them. He was not brave, he was a coward, and he always ran when the bullies attacked him in school, it was always Julie protecting him and he repays her with this. He just needed an excuse to tell her to never see him again. He fell to his knees looking down at the bag. A single tear fell from his eyes and onto the bag with a quiet crunch. He wiped his eyes with his arm and rose to his feet again. But what was he to do with the food? If he took it, he would run the risk of Levi finding out that he was holding out on him and kill him for it. He turned around, looked back at the bag, and quietly walked back sullenly. Leaving it wear it lay.
It was sunset when Danny had been reinforcing the large wall made of wood and metal. He was drilling a large sheet of iron into the wood making up the shelter they lived in. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Merrick pulling back into the parking lot for their vehicles. He and the other recruits fell out of the pickup truck. Danny walked over toward him and asked, “Anything?”
Merrick just frowned and shook his head whilst grasping his shotgun in one hand. “We found a place in an alleyway kind of close to here. But everything looked to orderly, there was a cloth and a pipe there, also some food underneath some trash. It seemed like someone lived there so we left.”
Danny sighed at this and responded. “Do you always have to be such a boy scout? We might go to war here any day now at any time. At this point we have to take anything we can get. Don’t you get that?”
Merrick gave a disappointed expression to the young survivor and spoke. “You didn’t let me finish,” He said. “Were going back tonight to see if someone comes back there, if not, then well take everything.”
“What if we need you tonight, what if they send a PU here, and then were all dead,” Danny said.
“Why do you think we have children here?” Merrick asked. This confused Danny, as he didn’t understand the question.
“Because we get anyone we think will help with our cause. If they know that we have children, they’ll hesitate to attack.”
“And because no one else will take them.”
“Hmm?” Danny said.
“Haven’t you noticed that no other groups in any of the zones have any children? The reason why is because they can’t fight as well as us. They’re defenseless, and to others, a burden,” Danny’s eyes grew large as he looked over to the small girl, Elizabeth, with her mother, working on the wall.
“Its survival of the fittest in the zones, and the zones are no place for children. They either end up a corpse in the streets or some scumbags come and pick them up for their own use. This place is a home for them, and their families,” Merrick lectured. “We have to be an example for them in here too. When they look at us, they can’t see the monsters or demons that they were told to believe in.”
Merrick walked off passed Danny with shotgun in hand. Danny kept looking at Elizabeth with sudden insight of why they take everyone they can. This place was designed so long ago not as a POW camp or a war headquarters, but rather a haven. Throughout the weeded mesh of a lawn that the quarantine zones were, this place became a flower amongst the madness; it symbolized beauty and the possibility of serenity. Elizabeth looked over, smiled and waved at Danny. He regained himself, smiled, and waved back. Danny had always understood that he wanted to protect his people, but now he knew why everyone else fought. They needed to be heroes for the children, so that they may go against society. He fought for something different though. The truth that everyone lived with was that any day could be the day they die, and it’s true more than ever now. Danny walked back over toward where he was working when he saw Ashley looking out with binoculars. She was perched on top of a snipers tower just barely outside of the wall. Danny walked towards her from the ground and c
limbed a ladder that had been built into the wall.
He walked along the flat top of the wall that had metal barricades jutting out the top like and enormous crown resting on the head of the king. The wall was a true work of their combined ingenuity and skill. It was the same height as a four and a half story building that a normal man could die if he were to fall from the top. The tower Ashley stood from was at least six stories tall with a latter from the ground up, and another one from the wall up. The massive size of the wall was to ensure that no matter what power an infected had or what the military attacked with, the mother would still stand. Danny climbed the ladder and came up behind Ashley and asked, “See anything we should be concerned about?” Ashley tuned her head back and spoke.
“Oh, hey. No, there’s nothing so far.”
“What about that other supply group?”
“Delsin didn’t go today so he sent ‘you know who’.”
“Just wonderful,” Danny said exasperated. Ashley looked back towards where she was surveying and put her binoculars back to her eyes. Danny walked closer behind her and kissed her on the cheek.
“What was that for?” Ashley looked back smiling.
“Just, you know,” He said with his face turning a tint of red.
“Just you know what?” She teased smiling. Danny’s face turned to a bright red as he opened his mouth.
“Just those, well, times aren’t like they used to be before all of this and it’s pretty dangerous and all now,” Danny said with a stammer here and there. Romance was clearly not his strong suit.
Ashley just said giggling and turning back around, “Get back to work, hot head,” It was an affectionate name that she gave him when he actually got so mad one time his head literally caught fire.
Danny expostulated at this and said, “Hey, you haven’t called me that in a while…scissor hands.”
Ashley jumped back around wide eyed and said, “Scissor hands?!” It was a name Danny gave Ashley based on the fact that she uses bone claws to open things.
Danny smiled and said, “Normally this is the part where ‘you know who’ would tell us to get a room, literally,” Ashley wrapped her arms around Danny’s neck and spoke with binoculars still in hands.
“Well, he’s not here right now at least.”
“Are you saying that since were alone…” Danny said lifting his hand toward her shirt.
Ashley grabbed his hand tight and said, “Try anything in here, where people could still see us, and you’re not going to like where this fifty cal. is going to end up.”
“You’re such a tease you know that,” Danny said smiling and lowering his hand to place it on her back. Finally as she reeled in to kiss him, the growing sound of death metal could be heard. She paused, closed her eyes and groaned at this. She let go of Danny, but she was still close to him. “That’s him all right,” Danny said disappointed. “What a mood killer.”
The whaling sounds of guitars and deep, monstrous and inaudible vocals attracted the attention of everyone in the base and turned towards the gate that was being opened by one of the new recruits. The insane driver didn’t slow down for him, barely making it through the opening gate without demolishing it. The muscle car the speed demon had been driving came to a screeching halt as it drifted across the open parking lot, striking Merrick’s pickup. The car’s engine shut down with a hum and the driver’s side door opened and out stepped a psychopath. He bore a large grin with his teeth showing and a gleeful disposition even though everyone was annoyed by his presence. He had at his sides’ two machine pistols and two knives in his back pocket. His black trench coat had been completely doused in crimson from his chest down to his stomach. He wore black pants that had been sprinkled with little droplets of blood. His grin showed what had appeared to be extremely long fangs.
“Hey, learn to drive!” Merrick shouted from somewhere amongst the people. Without looking around, the deranged killer responded.
“Suck it soldier boy!” he shouted with a gay disposition.
Danny, looking down at the scene, sighed and said, “Looks like Vlad’s back.”
“At least he didn’t bring any leftovers back,” Ashley said to Danny. The minute she said that, Vlad walked over to his trunk, popped it opened and shouted.
“Hey kids, wanna see a dead body?!” He shouted the same way of an announcer of a children’s show.
“Darn it Ashley you keep jinxing stuff,” Danny said to her. He sighed and said, “I’ll take this time,” He jumped down from the snipers nest and hit the concrete ground. His rough skin protected him from the pain and from death. As he walked over towards Vlad he thought to himself about the world that he wakes up to everyday of his life, knowing that he was also just a kid when all this started, then Merrick picked him up and brought him here. He was glad he at least had a moment with Ashley as he didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, or the day after that. He was happy as he went to deal with their little pain, Vlad.
It was a short drive from where Logan was to his target. He parked his vehicle at the curb and started toward a tall building with a neon sign. When he reached the door, his phone went off again. He checked and this time it saw on the caller ID “Industry”. He gave special names to his contacts as the government began scrutinizing the citizen’s calls for affiliations to the infected. Industry was a special name he gave Huntington due to his new relationship to him. He answered the call and, to his surprise, Huntington spoke as though they were old friends or roommates.
“Hey, Logan, I’m just calling to let you know I got that new job today.”
Logan went along and communicated to him. “Congrats man,” He said nonchalantly.
“So yeah, I got dinner for tonight and put it in the back,” Huntington said.
“In the back,” He quoted. “Got it.”
“See you tonight,” Huntington said.
“See you then,” He replied and hung up. Logan then moved from the door and walked along the side of the building, whilst walking toward the back door, he noticed a couple kissing against the wall. He ignored them and continued on. He found the back door and found a conveniently placed metallic trash can adjacent to the door. The couple was too busy to notice him digging through the garbage. Then again, in this part of town, it’s actually common to see that. But it’s not so common to see a man pull out a small, handheld shotgun from said garbage. Logan saw a note attached to it like a tag on a Christmas gift. Trust me, you’ll need it. Logan read. He pulled the tab off and quickly shoved it into his trench coat. The weapon he received was fondly referred to as a “shorty”: a small, handheld shotgun with a wide spread due to its short barrel. In other words, it was a doubled barreled shotgun that had been sawed off to the handle.
He pushed open the door and a barrage of mechanical harmony burst forth. He walked in and let the door fall back into place. All around him he could see young bodies tightly packed and moving in a rhythmic sequence to the robot music of their time. He made his way through the sea of beings until he found what he was looking for. It was a narrow, neon lined table stretching from the dance floor to the wall across. Lined from left to right were the forgotten, the left, the cheated, and the giddy. Behind the table were the doctors, the healers for their ailments. Lined behind them was their medicine, their elixirs, all for whatsoever may harm you. Like all medicine, it comes with a prescription. The user must take it frequently. Logan walked over to the healer on the far left and requested one of his elixirs.
“I’m looking for this man. Have you seen him?” He asked holding up the picture of Alan as the healer prepared another prescription.
“He’s not here, you’re early. If you want to talk to him he usually comes at around eleven. You’re welcome to wait though,” The healer said after handing him his prescription and looking at the photo.
“Thank you,” Logan said and then took a drink from his tincture. He looked back and watched as the people began to forget. People come to this place of healing as a way of wiping
their memory of everything happening in the world and in their life. It is a vicious cycle as during the day people fight a war, all the while at night were the vampires lurk, free of remorse and guilt with a false sense of immortality. Stupid robot music. Logan thought to himself as he sat at the healing table, indulging in his solution.
Alex was so rushed to get back to Levi that he nearly ran into the wall trying to catch the ladder. He climbed back up to the top of the short building on which he resided. Levi turned when he heard the sound of flesh clasping metal growing closer. “’Bout time,” He said. Alex put his hands on the building and lifted his knees onto the building and stood up. “What’d she want?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Just to talk,” Alex said and then, with eyes suddenly widening, realized that Levi was watching him. “You knew?!” He exclaimed.
“Yep, I saw you and you’re lady friend duke it out in the middle of the street. This isn’t Long Island you know,” He insulted.
“Not very subtle at all are you?” Alex retorted. His skin was glistening in the clear moonlit night from the sweat of the rush to return. Levi handed him a canteen he had had attached to his belt loop since the morning.
“Take it. You need to be in tip top condition if you’re going do that raid tonight,” Levi said holding the canteen in front of Alex. Alex gave him a stern look of disbelief. “It’s clean, I promise.” Alex retained his stern look throughout his statement and snatched the water from him and took a big gulp.
He swallowed and said, “Look whatever happens, she had nothing to do with it, just leave her be.”
“You mean go outside the zones and increase my notoriety? I don’t think so. I’m just happy you’re loyal to who you’re working with,” Levi said. He watched as Alex’s face relaxed and he sat and took another gulp. Levi suddenly eased into a smile and spoke.
Disease X Page 8