by Jack Hunt
“She’ll know what to do.”
We wouldn’t have to walk far to reach a waiting vehicle. They had them parked around in different areas of the city. They were only used in times when escaping the Hive was urgent.
“I’ve got to ask,” Ben said. “How did the Coalition form?”
“Annora will answer your questions,” Wren said, running ahead of us.
We were two blocks from the vehicle that would take us to one of the compounds the Coalition had when we found ourselves facing down an immeasurable number of Z’s. I don’t know to this day what had drawn them together. Maybe it was fate but when we rounded a corner the street was full of them. There was no squeezing by. From one side to the next they stumbled and staggered forward like drunk men and women, clawing at the invisible. What did they see in front of them when no one was there? Right then, their heads turned in our direction.
Loud, repeated gunfire erupted as we backed up. We double-timed it towards an alley only to come face-to-face with more. I yanked out a machete and stabbed two of them in the face. Blood squirted over me, blinding my right eye. The assault was fast and there was no way we could look out for each other. There were so many attacking that it was every man and woman for themselves. That’s when I realized that we had lost sight of Hannah. She had been knocked to the ground. My blade went into the temple of one of them. As the blood squirted out, I turned my head and saw Hannah being dragged by Z’s. Izzy tried to stop them but there were too many. She had to climb up onto a dumpster to avoid being killed herself. All I could do was watch in horror as they tore that little girl apart. One tore the flesh from her face, another chewed into her neck. Her screams would forever stay with me. Hands dived into her stomach and pulled out intestines as she disappeared beneath the tide of the undead.
“In here, now.” Rowan fired his gun at a doorway and smashed it open using brute force.
“Izzy.” I ran towards her, hacking my way through the dead with fury. I was certain I was going to die. As I reached for her and pulled her down, I didn’t feel it bite me. I thought my jacket had got caught on the dumpster. I yanked away, pumped up with adrenaline still shooting when I dived through the door and they slammed it shut. The sound of the dead smashing up against the door after we blocked it off was fierce.
Sweat was streaming off us as we tried to catch our breath and accept the reality that we had lost Hannah. It was only as I began to pick myself up off the floor that I felt the harsh pang in my side. It was sharp and stung hard. I lifted my shirt and saw it. The bite hadn’t torn the flesh off, instead it was dangling like a tongue. I pushed down my shirt and gazed around hoping that no one had seen it. I never imagined what would go through my mind the day it would happen, I just knew that eventually all of us would die. One by one the reaper would come knocking for us all.
What did it feel like?
An intense burning, like someone had held a branding iron up to my side and left it there. I wrapped my coat around me and held my side with the corner of my arm so it didn’t look as if I had been bitten.
Why? Why would I do that? Self-preservation. It was simple as that. I knew any one of them might have turned the gun on me immediately. Logic would have told them to act fast as who knew how quickly the virus was affecting people. Everything we had seen up to that point had contradicted the way Z’s acted. So it was very possible that the virus itself may have adapted, evolved, and changed too.
As we made our way through the empty factory and found our way out another exit, Dax, my father, and my best friend, Matt, occupied my thoughts.
I’m coming, brother; I’ll be there soon.
You would think it would be easy to know that you are going to die. As no matter what, we all knew we were going to die one day. But there is something to be said about knowing for sure that your life is about to end in a matter of twenty-four hours or less. Everything around you even in a zombie apocalypse appears brighter, more vivid and meaningful. Or, perhaps that was my body’s way of fighting back as the virus worked its venom through my system and took over.
A NEW HOPE
WOULD IT HURT? Death, I mean.
We drove for another seven blocks. Everything started to become a blur to me. My vision was beginning to double. My bones and muscle began to ache. I felt as if my body was on fire.
“Are you okay, Johnny?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, I just feel a little sick.”
I could hear them talking but couldn’t make out what was being said. It was like being half awake and half asleep while a TV played quietly in the background. To the best of my recollection we entered another building that had a door that led down into a basement. I remembered going through another hidden compartment until we entered a subway system. It was one of many that had been abandoned in New York. Subway platforms that had been bricked up and were hidden away. Down there it was warm. It was like entering a small village. There was a marketplace. Not exactly what you would imagine a market would look like but they were trying to build something here, a home for those who were trying to survive or fight back.
Smoke billowed in the air. The smell of meat only turned my stomach. My vision was beginning to get worse. My whole body was sweating. It was going to be hard to hide this. I turned to Baja and he narrowed his eyes as if waiting for me to say something but nothing came out. The whole experience was rather trippy. Like someone had injected me with LSD. The walls themselves began to vibrate and move. Eyes on people’s faces looked as if they were covered by skin. I knew this was just a hallucination.
The effects of the virus were spreading through me fast and I couldn’t stop it. I don’t know if at one point I lost my step or if someone noticed and smashed me on the back of the skull to end my suffering, all I can recall is waking up with Jess beside me.
I was naked from the waist up. A large white piece of cloth covered the area where I’d been bitten. My head thumped hard and I felt like throwing up. I turned and she already had the bucket ready. I hurled into it and the acid from my stomach burned my nostrils, making me choke and my eyes water. Jess handed me a cloth to wipe my mouth. It was then I had a sense that I done this many times before.
“It’s okay,” she ran her hand over my head gently. I wanted to speak but was at a loss for words. They knew now. It was only a matter of time before I would die. I watched her take off the cloth that covered the bite and she replaced it with a fresh one. I winced as dry blood that was stuck to the cotton material peeled back, reopening the wound.
“Where are we?”
“Safe. At least I think so. They took us into a subway system that is hidden away.”
“Jess—”
Her eyes were red from tears. I didn’t have to wonder what she was thinking, it was clear. She expected me to die. It was only a matter of time now. I coughed hard.
Baja came into the room. “You’re awake.”
Gone were the sarcastic comments, the need to make a joke out of every situation. It was the same way when Specs had been bitten, except you couldn’t cut off this part of my body. All they could do was try to make me comfortable for my journey to the other side. A Glock sat on the side table waiting for me to make the decision.
I took in my surroundings. From what I could see I was inside a train.
“What the hell is this place?”
“Quite something, isn’t it?” Baja remarked. Wren came in at that point.
“It’s the remains of City Hall Station. This train never made it out when the bombs hit. The station itself back then was used as a loop. No trains stopped but the place works for us. It’s a temporary base that we have below the streets. It keeps us out of the crosshairs of the Hive while we conduct business.”
“And Z’s?”
She tilted her head to one side. “We’ve managed to prevent Z’s from getting down here so far.”
I breathed out, taking in the room.
“How long have I been asleep?”
They all looked at ea
ch other. I frowned, wondering what the problem was.
“Johnny, you’ve been asleep for over thirty-two hours.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No, it’s not. If you are an anomaly,” Wren said.
Jess smiled a little. Her lip curled up at the sides.
Baja was the first one to break the silence. “Numbnuts, it means you are going to live. Which, to be honest, I’m not too sure how I feel about that. I mean, cause you tend to get on my tits.”
Jess tossed a rag at him and he burst out laughing.
“But how is this possible?”
“How’s anything of it possible? How are the undead walking?”
“How many others are like me?” I asked Wren. She took a seat on a table. Her legs swung gently below it. “Since all of this happened, we have only come across five other people who weren’t affected by the bite. Of course the moment you are bitten you react to the virus just like anyone else would but your immune system seems to be able to fight it. You’re a novelty and the key to turning this all around.”
I had gone from having zero hope to becoming hope to others in a matter of thirty-two hours. Was it fate? Luck? I wasn’t sure it was. I might have been able to withstand the bite but I wasn’t invincible. Hannah’s death made that clear. I could still be torn apart. How many others beside the five and me were capable of surviving a Z’s bite and what did this mean?
“Annora is looking forward to speaking with you when you are up to it. No rush.”
“Who is she?” I asked.
“You’ll see. Anyway, rest up and we’ll talk later.”
Wren left the room with Baja who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Jess curled up beside me and continued to use a damp cloth on my forehead. I could feel Jess’s heart beating against me.
“For a moment I thought you were gone. I really didn’t know what to do. Several of the people wanted to kill you.”
“What stopped them?”
“All of us. Ben and Elijah ended up fighting with Rowan and well… it got out of hand for a little while but it’s okay now.”
I breathed out hard and felt a twinge in my side. That was the downside to it. While my body could resist the virus, it still was suffering from the pain of having some of the skin torn away. It was going to leave one hell of a gnarly scar on my side.
I looked around. They had converted the inside of the train into small, enclosed rooms. Widened the benches using wood and covered them in old mattresses, pillows, and coverlets.
“Do you trust them?” I asked her.
“Well, they haven’t killed us yet and they don’t appear to have anyone hooked up to machines that pump out blood. So yes, for now.”
I scoffed and felt a shot of pain. We had spent so long not trusting groups of people, it was hard to allow someone else into our group. I was reminded of what Specs had said after our time at the fortress. He wanted me to trust people. I was trying to do that. Right now we had to, if we were going to survive. Living out in the chaos above the subway wasn’t an option anymore. The answer to survival was in the cure. And it seemed everyone was after it. The Hive had their own ideas about what needed to be done. I was curious about who Annora was, and what role she would play in our future.
“By the way, there is someone who wants to speak to you. I’ll be right back.”
Jess ducked out and I closed my eyes for a few minutes. I could still hear Hannah’s cries. It never got easy seeing people die in front of you. Every time another one slipped through the cracks you had a choice to either become numb or use the pain like fuel to push you forward.
Jess came back into the room, carrying a radio pack and transmitter. It crackled as she placed it down beside me. She passed me the mic. I frowned.
“Hello?”
“So what’s this mean now? Are we like blood brothers? Now that you have been bitten.”
“Specs?”
I felt myself becoming choked up at hearing my friend’s voice again after so long. I didn’t think I would hear from him again. I wiped the corner of my eye.
“How did you …” I asked Jess.
“I’ll come back later,” she said with a smile.
I nodded and she exited the train. I took a deep breath.
“It’s good to hear your voice, my friend.”
“You too, brother.”
In many ways they were like brothers to me. Even though they weren’t blood, Baja and Specs were the closest I had to brothers.
“I hear you are the miracle child.”
I laughed, then groaned a little at the ache in my side.
“I don’t know what to make of it. Tell me, Specs, what’s going on with you?”
“Ah you don’t want hear about my boring life.”
He chuckled. “No, I do.”
He must have caught an edge to my voice.
“You okay, Johnny?”
I rubbed tears from the corners of my eyes.
“I’m tired, Specs. Tired of the fighting and trying to survive. I feel as though I’m barely keeping my head above water.”
“I hear you, man.”
“I mean it’s not just about the risk we face every day, it’s the thought of losing people.”
A few tears streaked my cheek. There was a moment of silence.
“Jess told me about Dax. I’m so sorry, man. Dax was a good guy.”
“Yeah he was.”
I breathed in hard, trying to get a hold of myself.
“So what’s happening where you are?” I asked.
“Well, we are making progress. We’ve managed to secure the walls using steel. You wouldn’t recognize this place. There are another twenty people here. Good people. Hard-working and fighters. They know how to fight. Oh, and me and Eva… have got hitched.”
I laughed. “You serious?”
“Yeah, why not. It’s not like we are going to live forever, right, unless of course things change.”
I pressed the button on the mic and paused before speaking. “I’ve been thinking a lot about that. Change, that is. A few days ago I was more than ready to check out. Specs, when that Z bit me. It might seem strange but I was glad. You know, that it would all be over. That this constant striving would end. I wanted it to be over. To see my family, my mother, father, Dax, Matt. But now this, this changes everything. I thought I could walk away from the responsibility. Let someone else shoulder it. But now I hold something that could actually help others.”
I released the button.
“That’s a good thing, right?” Specs asked.
“Yeah. I mean. I guess. I need to know more about this and then see how it can help.”
While we continued talking for over an hour, it only felt like a few minutes. Our conversation with each other had always flowed. Years ago, before all of the chaos started. When we just kids, innocent, and untainted by killing, we would spend our weekends going on these long bike rides into the middle of nowhere. Smoking cigarettes, cracking jokes, and talking about the girls we were into. Everything about our lives was uncomplicated and free of stress. Of course we didn’t think that at the time. No one does. Everything looks different in hindsight.
I now clung to those memories. In many ways they were what kept me from putting the gun to my head and ending it. It sounds selfish but when you’ve been in this situation long enough, a bullet looks very appealing. It’s only when you have felt hunger and thirst ravage your body, and looked into the eyes of evil, do you realize how sweet death could be.
But I couldn’t look at it that way anymore. I didn’t need to.
Like it or not, my life had a purpose now, a meaning to it all. Didn’t it? Perhaps that’s why I had survived. Maybe I was meant to help.
By the evening I was able to get up.
The pain in my side was still present but no different than any harsh flesh wound or a broken rib. Breathing was a little challenging but I was managing. One thing for sure, I wasn’t going to let it keep me bedridden.
> I shuffled out of the train and was greeted by the sight of a train platform. Its colorfully glass-tiled walls, historic arches, and luminescent skylights were beautiful. Small flames flickered, illuminating the place. The faces of the young and old looked at me as I made my way over to Jess who was chatting with Rowan.
“Hey,” I said.
Rowan glared at me. Obviously the animosity between us was still there, regardless of the fact that I was an anomaly. She led me through an archway and a series of ten steps to another area that was guarded by several of the men I had seen with Wren.
“Let me introduce you to Annora.”
There was a large table covered in cutlery and food. Off to one side in the room was a serving table where people were helping themselves to apples and bananas as well as small rolls of bread.
“Johnny Goode, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
I nodded, casting a glance over her. Annora was in her early thirties; she was thin, slightly gaunt and had wiry black hair. She was wearing a leather jacket, with jeans that had been patched up.
“I’m sure you have many questions. Come take a seat. Are you hungry?”
My eyes drifted over the food. Most of it was basic, food still in cans. Though some of it was heated and had been poured into bowls.
“Who are you?” I asked.
She poured some water and passed it to me. “I’m one of several who are trying to turn this virus around.”
“You’re a doctor?”
“Somewhat. My full name is Annora Fritz.”
“Fritz,” I mumbled. She must have seen me looking confused as she filled in the blank.
“James Fritz is my father.”
“The Warden?”
I backed up slightly.
“Oh, it’s okay, don’t worry, I don’t agree with what my father is doing. In fact, I opposed it.”