Dying to Live

by Roxy De Winter

  “Excuse me, sir...” The still unnamed man said tentatively.

  “Just give me a moment,” Harry said, not looking up.

  “Sir, I’m really sorry, but you should move away from him before he turns into one of them.”

  “What?” Harry asked incredulously, turning his face up to look at the man.

  “Like that woman,” the man replied anxiously. He looked uncomfortable and on edge. “Please...”

  Harry removed his hand from Rogers shoulder. He looked at the body uncertainly and slowly began to get to his feet. Roger let out a long groan and the shock caused Harry to tumble into the dust, landing on his ass.

  “I’m sorry!” The stranger blurted, before letting off a shot into Roger’s twisting face.

  “What the...!” Harry puzzled, before turning on the stranger. “HE WAS ALIVE!”

  “No. No, he wasn’t. He was like them!” The man countered, taking a step back from Harry.

  “He moved! He groaned! You killed him!” Harry accused, taking a step closer to the man.

  “Please, sir. Listen, you saw him die. You saw how much blood he lost! He wasn’t alive. He just came back like the others!”

  “Came back? What others?” Harry did not understand at all.

  “Zombies!” The man spluttered.

  “You’re crazy! I need to call this in, and you need to get in my car!” Harry said forcefully.

  “No, please...”

  “Enough! You’re under arrest!” He bellowed, reaching for his handcuffs.

  The man looked panicked and took another step backwards, coming to a halt against the RV’s door.

  Before Harry could do anything else, the RV’s engine roared into life and the door flew open.

  “Zack, get in!” A woman yelled.

  Harry watched, outraged, as the man climbed inside and the vehicle took off. He quickly grabbed up his gun, Rogers gun and the first aid bag. He threw them into the patrol car and jumped in after them. Slamming his door, he turned on the sirens and the lights and headed off in pursuit.

  “This is Officer Thomas. I’ve got an officer down and am requesting back up!” Harry called into the radio. It crackled and a voice came back.

  “Officer Thomas, all back up services are occupied and unavailable-- Oh, to hell with propriety! It’s all going to shit! There’s nobody to help you, you’re on your own! I’m going home and I recommend you do the same.”

  Harry could not believe his ears. He slammed the mouthpiece back into its cradle and swore, as it fizzled into silence. He was fuming but he channelled it into keeping the RV in his sight.

  He was unaware of how long the chase went on, but at some point the RV took a turn off and stopped by a big, wired metal gate. The booming horn blasted, as he pulled up behind it. He quickly turned off the siren, which was starting to give him a headache, and reached for the door handle. Before he could climb out, a man and a girl appeared from a shack on the other side of the fence. They were holding guns and motioning for something. Harry couldn’t understand what. They were quickly followed by three others, who had clearly been woken by the commotion. There was another girl, Asian, clad in pyjamas and rubbing her eyes sleepily, and two bare-chested, sleep-tousled men. One of them was significantly older than the other.

  Harry picked up his gun and opened the car door. As he climbed out, a voice called over.

  “Hey, officer. Please... Think you can cut the lights?” It was the blonde girl that had called. She held her gun unthreateningly by her side.

  Why not? He figured he didn’t need the lights anyway, and leaned in quickly to flick them off.

  One of the men approached the gate, then. Followed closely by the young Asian woman.

  “Officer, we heard the sirens. I’d have thought, given the state of things, you’d be trying to draw less attention... That’s why we asked you to cut the lights. It’s not wise to have them on, given the situation.” The man made no sense to Harry.

  “What are you talking about?” Harry asked, as he approached the gate.

  “Well--” The man began to reply, but was cut off by the dark haired, scrawny man who had appeared first.

  “You know. The dead people? The ones who are attacking everyone.” Seeing Harry’s blank expression he added, “Zombies?”

  “Not very tactful, Frank.” the other man said flatly to him. “He’s right, though,” he added to Harry.

  Harry could not believe it. More crazy people. “You’re all mad!” Harry shouted, throwing his hands up.

  “SHHHHH!” The blonde hissed.

  “If I may, sir?” The older man approached the gate this time. As he stepped into the light, harry noticed that he was also Asian. “It seems that you haven’t had the chance to understand what is going on. We can help if you...”

  “You’re right. I’ve no clue what’s going on! But this man,” He said, gesturing to the RV. “Just killed my partner, and he’s under arrest!”

  “Hey, Luce. Can you go inside and open the gate please?” The scrawny guy asked the blonde girl. She scurried off inside and the guy added, “Look, officer. Please just give us a chance before you arrest anyone. Let us just try and make sense of all this?”

  The gate slid open and the scrawny guy approached him. He offered Harry his hand to shake.

  “Officer, I’m Frank Burton.”

  The stunned officer didn’t know what else to do. He shook the offered hand.

  “This man, here,” Frank gestured at the other young one. “Is Pete. And this guy,” He gestured the older Chinese man. “Is Dr Yuan.”

  “How many times need I tell you, Frank? My name is Bao,” Dr Yuan said with a nod to Harry.

  As the girl emerged back from the shack, Frank introduced her as Lucy and the other girl as Xin.

  “Alright then. Since you know all of us now, can we please go and talk inside? It’s not safe out here,” Xin frowned.

  “Frank, why don’t you get our friends off of the RV, and fetch them to join us?” Pete gestured towards the huge vehicle.

  Harry was at a total loss. He was alone, outnumbered and had no idea what had happened in the past couple of hours. However, he struggled to keep some control over the situation. He stayed on guard, with his weapon in hand, and refused to be led inside before the man who had shot his partner. He was not letting him out of his sight until he knew what to do with him.

  When Frank hammered on the RV’s door, it was opened by the man that Harry had already met. It took him a moment to recall the name that the woman had used, she had called him Zack.

  Zack looked cautiously over at Harry, and Harry watched him exchange some words with Frank. With a small nod, Zack disappeared back into the RV. He reappeared moments later, followed by the other occupants, whom Harry assumed must be his family.

  Zack stepped down from the RV, trailed by a woman of about the same age. After them, came an older lady, then a teenage boy. He was holding hands with a small girl, no older than six years old. Then came two girls, who looked about the same age; possibly early twenties Harry thought. One carried a young boy, who looked to be a little younger than the small girl. The other held the leash of an excited and bouncy dog.

  Harry watched as they shut the door to the RV and were led inside. He followed reluctantly behind them and into the shack.

  10.

  ‘It had been a really tough ride. We’d encountered the dead people way before we’d heard the radio message. It had started so innocently, the whole of the Ford family just road tripping across America. It was supposed to be the dream trip. I should probably mention that I’m Zachary Ford. With me were: my wife; Fiona, My parents; Herbie and Annette, our teenage son; Sam, Our three daughters; Lanie (the oldest), Joanne, and Shania (the baby of the three). There was also our grandson, Lanie’s little boy; Evan, and our dog Kenco. We’d lost my father in an attack just after we’d reached the California state line. Not long after that, we heard about a message that was offering people the truth. We’d ended up tur
ning around and heading back to Nevada again. The run in with Harry was a misunderstanding, but I sure am glad that we met the others when we did.’

  It was a wonder that they’d all fit into the cabin. With fourteen of them, plus a dog, it was a push. Once the door was shut, Fiona immediately launched herself at a stunned Harry.

  “My husband saved your life! How dare you even think about arresting him! You should be on your knees thanking him!” She jabbed a finger into his chest as she spoke. Her face was mere centimetres from his. He leaned away from her and looked beseechingly at the others.

  “Hey! Hey!” Pete warned, rushing over and placing a hand on her shoulder. “Ease up there. I’m sure that if we all calm down and talk, we can sort this out--”

  Fiona turned on him, “Oh, you’re sure of that, are you? Were you there? Did you see this asshole when he was chasing us at high speed? We had kids on board!”

  Pete held up his hands, palms facing towards her. “No, Ma’am. I wasn’t there and I didn’t see it. But, with all due respect, I don’t think that having your children witness their mother shouting into an officer’s face is good for them either.”

  Fiona’s face contorted with rage. She was trembling and red faced, giving Pete a murderous look, but he did not flinch.

  “HOW DARE YOU--” She began, before her husband stepped up and cut her off.

  “Fi, that’s enough. He’s right. Control yourself.” He turned his wife to face him and was met with a withering look. She opened her mouth to contradict him, but he took her hand and said simply, “No.”

  Fiona took on a brooding silence and stalked over to the children, who were staring wide eyed at the grownups altercation.

  “I’m sorry, officer. Please, forgive my wife. Will you let me explain what happened out there earlier?” Zack asked, looking questioningly at Harry.

  “I think it would be easier if we explain what we know about what’s happening first. It should help to explain a few things and then we can hear your stories when we’re all on the same page,” Xin interjected. “Officer...”

  “Harry,” The cop said. “Just call me Harry. Right now, I’m not sure I deserve to call myself an officer.” The poor man sounded resigned and disappointed in himself.

  “Harry, I don’t know what happened out there. However, I am convinced that the crime you think occurred is a misunderstanding, and that none of this is your fault,” Xin said calmly.

  “A misunderstanding? He shot my partner and--”

  “Was he bitten?” Xin interrupted. “Your partner?”

  “What--” Harry started, intending to ask what relevance that had, but he was interrupted again. This time by Zack.

  “Yes, he was. I saw it with my own eyes. I watched him die and I watched him come back.”

  “I don’t understand. What do you mean by ‘come back’?” Harry asked, totally confused.

  “I’m sorry, buddy. But the best way to make you understand this is to show you,” Frank replied. He was seated in a swivel chair by a bank of monitors. “C’mere.” He inclined his head to beckon the officer. Harry looked around at the shacks original occupants. They looked apprehensive but didn’t stop him. The older man, Bao nodded in agreement.

  “Go on, officer,” Bao said. “It’s not pleasant but you will see.”

  Harry squared his shoulders, crossed the short distance and leaned down with a hand rested on the desk. He gazed into the small screens.

  “This one,” Frank said, tapping the glass and indicating one particular segment of the screen. Harry didn’t realise what he was seeing at first, so Frank tapped a button that expanded the view to fit the full screen.

  “Oh my God...” Harry gasped. The feed he was witnessing, was displaying the carnage from further into the base. The initial group of five had spotted the scene on the cameras not long after arriving, and through curiosity had been checking it occasionally since. It showed one particular corpse that had obviously gotten caught during a security lock down. A heavy, solid metal, security door had come down on the midriff of this particular woman. Even on the camera feed you could see that her body was completely cut in half. The only thing holding her in place was the long coat she had worn, which would not pull through the closed door. The screen even caught the wide, blank, white eyes as she shook her head from side to side, clawing and trying to move.

  “You see, it’s true!” Zack said, having silently approached from behind to see for himself. “There’s no way she could be alive!”

  “Excuse me,” Harry said, straightening up and heading to the bathroom he had spotted through an open door.

  Everyone heard the retching noises that followed, and wore mixed expressions of pity and exasperation. Looking to distract everyone, Lucy stepped forward.

  “Maybe you guys would like something to drink? We’ve got tea, coffee, juice...?” She looked at the little ones. “What about you two? Fancy some juice?”

  The little girl looked up at her mother, whose sullen mood softened a little. She nodded and said, “Go on, Shania. It’s alright.”

  “Yes, please,” Shania said in a shy, quiet voice.

  Lucy smiled and looked to the little boy. “How about you? Are you thirsty, sweetie?” The boy gave a small nod and nuzzled into the neck of the girl he was clutching at.

  “Thank you.” Lanie smiled at Lucy. “This is Evan,” She said, patting his arm. “Say hello, Evan.” The boy squirmed and hid his face in her neck, Lucy laughed.

  “And you’re Shania?” Lucy asked the little girl, who nodded in response. “What a pretty name. Want to help me get those drinks?”

  Shania looked up at her mother again. She gave her an indulgent nod and the girl let out a beaming smile. She skipped off to explore the fridge with Lucy.

  When Harry reappeared from the bathroom wiping his mouth, the others had introduced themselves over hot drinks and were laughing as Kenco, the crazy, coffee coloured pit bull, ran giddily from one person to the next, sniffing madly at every hand he could reach.

  “Feeling better?” Pete asked sympathetically.

  “Not really, no,” Harry sighed. “Could I trouble you for a glass of water, miss?” He asked Lucy, who was still lingering behind the kitchen counters.

  “No problem,” She smiled understandingly. “And my name’s Lucy,” she added, before busying herself finding a glass and retrieving a bottle of water from the fridge. As she did so, the others caught Harry up on everyone’s names and he made apologies for both his toilet dash and his attempt to arrest Zack. Thankfully, everyone was too absorbed in the bigger problem to hold a grudge. When Lucy made her way over with the glass of water, which she had thoughtfully dropped some ice into, Zack and Harry had all but forgotten their run in. She handed over the glass and Harry thanked her, before taking an appreciative swig.

  “Now that things have calmed down a little, maybe we could discuss what you said on the radio?” The old woman; Annette, spoke up. She had, up until that moment, been sat with the teenage boy; Sam, having a quiet discussion.

  “Gran wants to know how you can keep us safe,” Sam stated. “I was telling her about this place. It’s got weapons, right?”

  Xin flinched. She had known when they put the message out, that they were setting themselves up for some hard questions. Including some which they had very few answers for.

  “As it stands currently, we haven’t been here for very long ourselves. We don’t know much about the base itself just yet. One thing we do have, though, is knowledge. And that puts us in a strong position to help,” Bao offered as a reply.

  “And what exactly does that mean?” Zack asked. “Tell me we didn’t travel this far to be told that you guys have nothing.”

  “We don’t have ‘nothing’,” Xin explained. “Myself and Bao...” She paused to think of a way to explain the fact that they had been involved in the research, without causing anyone to think that they were the ones who allowed an outbreak to occur. “We were given certain information. It relates t
o the research that was taking place here in the lead up to all of this. And Lucy worked on this base, but in a different department to the ones involved in the break out.”

  “Again, what exactly are you trying to say?” Zack pushed.

  Xin sighed. “I’m saying that we have all the information it is possible to have about this infection. We have the ‘know how’ to use that information, and everything else we need is here on the base somewhere. In short, if it can be cured, we have the best chance of doing it.”

  “And if it can’t be cured?” Sam asked.

  “Then we’re in as good a place to defend ourselves as anywhere else,” Frank shrugged. “If it can’t be cured, it ain’t gonna matter where you fight it out. At least we’ll have tried.”

  Pete nodded his agreement and Zack and Fiona exchanged a look.

  “If I’m honest, this wasn’t the answer we were hoping for. We just want safety for the kids. They’ve seen enough... But I guess this is the best we’re going to get from anyone right now, right?” Zack questioned, looking around at everyone.

  “I’m sorry to say that yes, it probably is. From what we know, the military already made a failed attempt at containing things here, hence the evacuation. The disease is already out there now, so it’s too late for them to sort it. The powers-that-be are too busy playing their blame games to have a solid plan and to top it off, all the researchers who worked on things here are either dead or...” Xin trailed off but Pete finished her sentence for her.

  “Undead,” He sighed, pulling at his stubbly chin.

  Zack rubbed his face with both hands, then looked over to his wife.

  “What do you think, Fi?” He asked. “Should we stay here or keep moving? We could look for somewhere... else.” He had intended to say safer, but nowhere was going to be particularly safe anymore.

  “We still haven’t heard what these people intend to do, what exactly their plan is,” She reasoned. “And nobody has mentioned what they think their chance of success is.”