by Lahey, Tyler
“There has to be someone. Someone has to be willing.”
Kylie clutched her stomach. “I’m so hungry.”
Adira she cursed the lack of food. As soon as the first alarm had been sounded a day before, the food had stopped coming in.
Adira wondered where Jaxton was, and ached to know if he was ok. She could scarcely focus on keeping the Citadel secure, which she knew was her duty as a faction commander. All the other commanders were in the field, fighting the infected to keep the valley secure. They would turn the infected back, she was sure.
“You alright?” A figure rounded the corner in the darkness.
“Billy, you startled me. Wait. What are you doing here?” She eyed the southern man in camouflage, standing before her with sluggish eyes.
He barely moved his jaw when he spoke. “We tried to hold. There were too many.”
A pair of women darted past them in the darkness, scurrying to find food.
“Wait. Wait. What was your position?”
“The northern ravine. I lost five men. All Wolf.” Billy could barely stand.
“Billy.” She clutched him by the shoulders. “Billy when did you get back? Have you told any of the commanders?”
Billy sunk against the wall, fighting the looming exhaustion. “Few minutes ago.”
She shook him. “Billy! Is the northern ravine open? Are they coming through?!”
Billy nodded slowly, his eyes opening and closing. “I’m sorry, miss. I’m sorry.”
“Is he ok?” Annabelle rounded the corner with her own torch. She knelt to his side, and her face stretched with lines of worry.
Billy smiled broadly as he sat, and he touched her face. “Hello darlin’.”
“Billy. What are you doing back?” She looked to Adira, who’s own eyes were wide in the yellow light. “What’s he doing back?”
Adira could not move. “The north ravine is open. They lost it.”
Annabelle stood. “What?” Her mouth rested agape. “Billy, there’s still men out there. Billy they’re all still out there. They’re going to be attacked from behind! What is wrong with you?!”
Adira panicked, and fled, leaving the doctor and Kylie alone with the fatigued Wolf commander.
She hailed a man in camouflage as she entered the darkened lobby. “You! Are you Wolf!?”
He staggered to her, his rifle slung awkwardly across his front. “I am.” She saw the sigil.
“What’s going on? Did you send runners to the Lion? Where’s the Eagle?”
“We didn’t have anyone who would go,” the man said drearily. “We lost seven in the west.”
“The west! What do you mean the west?! You lost that one too!? Jaxton was supposed to be there. Did you see him? Did you see him!?”
He staggered back, disgusted by her frustration, and faded into the blackness.
Adira wailed, dropping to her knees. Jaxton was out there, in the dark. She didn’t dare contemplate what morning would bring.
They had agreed to use only one set of doors for all entrances and exits- the music wing. Who was on guard? Adira jogged through the halls, passing several more stunned and exhausted Wolf survivors, shocked into silence by their defeats.
As she wheeled down into the music annex, her heart soared. “Troy!”
Troy turned from the doors, flanked by two men with shotguns. “Adira.” His face was red and mottled with infection. “I’m sorry. I was just about to come find you. The ridges, they’re overrun. They-“ His eyes swam as he spoke.
She stopped him, “Troy, you don’t look well. You need to see Annabelle? Have you seen the doctor?”
Troy struggled to maintain his balance, and leaned on one of the guards for support. “There’s no time. Every entrance must be secured,” he whispered.
“Troy, I know. We need to get word to the others. Liam was on main street. Jaxton was at the Western Ridge. Wilder was at the Mansion. Bennett, Bennett…where is Bennett?”
Troy shook his head, and winced as if it pained him to do so. “Bennett left yesterday. Jaxton sent him with half the Eagle to save you.”
Adira’s mind reeled. “What? Bennett’s in the field too?”
“We haven’t heard from him. Adira.” Troy drew to her till she could smell the stench of musty sweat. His bloodshot eyes could barely focus. “We need to secure the Citadel. The infected are coming. It’s too late for everyone outside.”
Adira advanced on him, her fists shaking with rage. “Well we have to try! They’re going to be out-flanked and die out there! The infected are pouring over the ridges and they don’t even know!”
Troy looked away, out the plexiglass windows and he snorted. “Do you think I haven’t considered that? I am in command here.”
She stared him down, unwilling to let Troy escape her accusing gaze. “Your friends are dying out there. Help me get a team together. I have the vehicles. I need the men!”
Troy turned away from her. “It’s all for nothing. It’s over, Adira. Billy pulled the Wolf out hours ago. If Jaxton is still alive, he won’t be by morning.”
Adira howled and struck him in the face with her closed fist, which he bore silently. Then she retracted, her eyes burning. Racing through the halls, she found her way to the cot she shared with Jaxton. Pressing her face into the pillow, she wailed for a long time. She stopped suddenly, sensing someone was in the room with her. She turned, and was ashamed to see a friendly face. Joseph approached slowly, with kind eyes. Adira studied his walk; he had healed well from the beating at the hands of the Lieutenant.
He sat on the cot next to her, and she was relived at his presence, which, somehow, was immediately reassuring and comforting. He felt safe. He didn’t want anything from her, she knew. That had been a rare skill in the new world, when few could be trusted.
“I heard what is going on, outside,” he said slowly.
Adira wiped her eyes. “They’re dying out there.”
Joseph nodded his head a fraction. “We must not let them fall without trying to reach them.”
Adira looked up, a desperate hope burning in her breast.
“If the Lion is still trying to hold the western ravine, the infected will hit them from behind and they will all die. We must warn them.”
Adira stood. “I want to go.”
Joseph met her eyes. “I will go with you. And we will go now. It is a full moon tonight. If we move quickly, we can be at the ravine in two hours.”
“Why are you helping me?”
Joseph stiffened, and reached down to hand her a pistol. “I have no family left alive, and I don’t really have any friends left. But I see how much you care, and that is worth something to me.”
“I am in your debt forever.”
“Enough, let’s go. There is no time to waste.”
Chapter Nine
Near the Church
Jaxton stumbled through the trees, fearing his ankles would give out and break. All around him, his men ran through the dark. Close behind, he heard one tumble and cry out. Jaxton inhaled sharply, horrified that he could not be helped.
Jaxton shot a glance over his shoulder and considered going back. In the soft white glow of the moonlight, dancing in between the trees for miles back, the infected moved quickly in the pursuit.
“No sir. Don’t quit now. Keep running,” his officer growled beside him. Jaxton obeyed.
They passed through wild berry bushes and the thorns tore at their clothing. They had long since ditched the weapons. Jaxton looked to his left and right, and saw his fellows sprinting among the softly glowing trunks. They would be lucky if half made it back. It was four miles to the Citadel from the base of the ridge, and they would have to sprint all the way.
As they moved onto flat ground and broke into a wheat field, the straining Lion troopers saw another red flare arcing into the night.
“Who’s that?”
“No idea,” Jaxton whispered. And he didn’t care. He could hear the infected closing in behind them.
> The men cut little tracks through the waist high wheat, and their path took them past an old farmhouse. Jaxton pressed his hand into his side to combat a cramp and tried to breath through his nose. It was too hard, and he could feel the spittle collecting in his dry mouth. He wanted to quit, but he heard another scream echoing behind him under the starlight. They had caught another.
For what seemed like a fiendish eternity Jaxton and his men ran alongside one another in full combat gear, their feet pounding the earth. Finally, they broke onto the main street, passing porched two story wooden buildings and little stores. Jaxton swept his head around as his heart hammered his nauseous body. About half. Half of his men were still with him. The infected were a stone’s throw behind.
“What’s that?”
Jaxton peered in the moonlight, and saw a firebrand burning brightly, alone against the night sky. It was sticking out of the church steeple a quarter mile ahead.
“Someone’s there.” He raised his voice. “Make noise men if you want to live! Let them know aren’t infected!”
The exhausted company hollered and screeched, their dry mouths rattling hoarse cries. Jaxton thought he could see a flicker of movement on the church steeple, and to his left and right. If it was more infected, he would never see Adira again.
“It’s the LION!” a single voice cried from atop the church.
Just ahead of them, the double doors to the structure burst open, and two torches emerged. In that firelight, the men of the Lion saw their salvation. There were a handful of survivors there, urging them forward with fiery desperation. “Keep moving! Come on!” They cried.
Jaxton could see their eyes, and he knew death was following closely. The men raced up the steps to the church and poured inside, past the other survivors. As soon as the last man crossed the threshold, the doors were shut and sealed with a heavy wooden beam. Within ten seconds there were booms and shrieks outside, and the door shuddered.
“I told you he wasn’t dead.”
Jaxton looked up from the floor, and grinned despite his exhaustion. Liam crouched down and embraced him warmly. “That would be the first time the Lion has ever called for the Bear’s aid.”
The Lion troopers collapsed in between the pews and reached up with trembling hands, begging for water. Liam signaled his men. They would pass out what provisions they had.
“How…I lost it. It’s the horde. There are hundreds, at least,” Jaxton spat out.
“We stopped shooting them hours ago. They’ve been all around the town since midday. Too many to count. We’re down to last rations on ammunition. Others have taken shelter here with us. Everyone is falling back,” Liam said grimly.
Jaxton tried to rise as the booming continued outside. “We need to get to the Citadel. The others must be warned.”
“They know. I’ve seen four flares in the sky today. Every settlement we have is under attack, Jax.”
Jaxton cursed, and steadied himself on a pew. “We need to get back. The Citadel has all the food, all the supplies. They have a skeleton crew. It’s too few to hold.”
“We have to wait till dawn. You know that,” Liam said quietly.
Jaxton wanted to punch the pew in rage, but his fatigue got the better of him. He slumped down, and motioned for a canteen. “At dawn, we go. No matter what. We have to get back.”
Liam nodded, “I’m with you.”
…
“What are you thinking?” Jaxton whispered in the torchlight.
Most of the survivors were huddled around them, collapsed in various states of exhaustion and hunger. The infected were still pounding on the doors, as they had been for hours.
Liam looked to Jaxton on the pew beside him, barely able to keep his eyes open. “I didn’t think we would make it this far.”
Jaxton guffawed lightly. “At what point did you give up on us?”
“That day we tried crossing that river, back in the initial Outbreak. Do you remember? The infected hit us as we got off the boats, and we had to tackle that boat driver to get him to turn us around.” A flicker of a smile touched his lips, and was gone when the doors continued to rattle. “Harley, Tessa, and Elvis were still alive. I never thought we’d make it home.”
“Nothing quite like home, eh?” Jaxton croaked, his lips cracked.
Liam managed a weak laugh. “I’ve been stuck in the past more and more here. I feel like it’s reaching out for me. I always think about the things we all used to do. You, me, Bennett, Elvis, Troy.”
“Don’t listen to it,” Jaxton ordered, suddenly alert.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. Don’t let it convince you that you have any less reason to live. Don’t be careless, Liam.”
“I just end up thinking about her a lot.”
“Harley?”
“Even though I shouldn’t be. She betrayed us, she betrayed me.”
“So you’re still in love with a girl you aren’t supposed to be in love with? Don’t try to tell me that.”
Liam forced a smile. “At least Adira’s alive.”
A silence lingered between them. Normally, Jaxton would have rushed to fill the void with words to comfort this friend. But he was too tired. He didn’t care.
“I used to love snow days.”
“It was so simple. We always had to go to school the next morning, but for one whole day, that didn’t matter at all. Greatest feeling in the world.”
“Remember getting dropped off at the movies in the strip mall?”
“Ahhh, 8th grade legends.”
“I used to come here, for Church like…only on Christmas Eve and Easter. And literally no other time.”
“Obviously your family followed the Good Book closely,” Jaxton said with a wink.
“I don’t give a shit about the book. I care about you, about our friends. That’s what matters to me.”
Jaxton sighed and looked at the broken forms around them, huddled in the darkness. “We need to be ready to run tomorrow Liam.”
“Let’s not talk about tomorrow.”
Location Unknown
Adira quickly realized Joseph didn’t know what he was doing. She could praise his courage, but she would have to lead if they were ever to reach the western ravine and find Jaxton.
She hit her shin on something else in the darkness, and she wanted to scream. They would never make it up that hill. As soon as they had stepped outside, the cloud cover had blocked out the moon completely.
“Are you ok?” She heard Joseph whisper, though she could barely see him.
She bit her lip, and nodded.
Joseph took a step forward and she held him back. “Let me.”
Stepping in front, Adira took them out of the little backyards and onto the main road. It was too dark to be crawling through enclosed spaces. She led them down the road, and twice halted. Each time, she felt her life hanging in the balance, as she heard things moving in the dark around her. Each time, she advanced only after waiting several minutes in total silence.
After an hour, they had advanced a half-mile through the town. She could feel her body shaking, terrified at the prospect of failing Jaxton. After stumbling through a fence and hearing something stalking through the bushes behind them for a time, Adira conceded defeat. It was impossible, at least till the clouds cleared.
She took Joseph by the shoulder. “We can’t do this now,” she hissed.
“Do we go back?” Joseph asked.
She hesitated. “How far is the mill?”
Joseph mused quietly. “Maybe fifteen minutes, down that way.” She could barely see his arm pointing.
“We go there. There’s a Bear unit there. Or at least there was, yesterday.”
“If they are dead, the infected are likely to be there, feeding,” Joseph cautioned.
“I’m going,” Adira said harshly. “That way, we can set out at first light and be that much closer.”
Joseph exhaled. “So am I, but I need to warn you.”
; “Come on,” she whispered, and they stalked through a grove of apple trees.
To her left, there was a crunching among the swaying trees. Adira halted them, and crouched closer. She could hear Joseph whispering for her to stop as she approached a tiny glade, surrounded by shivering leaves.
There was a mass of mottled humans feasting on a dead horse still attached to its carriage. Their rotten canines tore into the beast’s rough meat and through the leather that bound it.
Adira froze, transfixed by the spectacle of flesh and gluttony. Only Joseph’s shaking hands were able to pull her away from that grotesque spectacle.
Shivering in disgust, she lead the pair on, clutching weapons that, if fired, would mean their death so far from help.
They stalked into the forest and down the gully, using the faint moonlight as their guide. Their soft footsteps sent little pebbles scattering down the incline and into the river that gurgled at the valley’s floor.
“It’s not far now,” Joseph whispered. “There were a few workers trying to get the mill up and running again, for when we get the first grain harvest. There’s the dam.”
Adira followed his arm, and could just make out a dark pool of water, with a little stone structure to its side, under the leaves. She peered up, and cursed the trees. There was almost no visibility under those leafy boughs.
Taking Joseph by the arm, she crept closer to the stone walls. The walls ran almost three stories high, the remnants of an old mill from a century past. When she came to the first window, it was boarded up. She considered knocking, then thought better of it. Rounding the corner, she nearly tumbled into the dark, sloshing pool. She trembled, imagining how deep and cool it might be. Hugging the stone fragments of a path, she emerged onto the front side of the mill.
There was a great wooden wheel sitting in a trough, suspended below a wooden channel which led back fifty feet to a spot further upstream. The wheel was silent, as the survivors had not yet finished repairing the trough that would carry water to it and turn the wheel.