Point Of Destruction

by Max Lockwood

  Thomas shivered as they walked through the quiet woods in the early morning. It would have been a nice walk if he hadn’t spent the majority of it negotiating with his traveling companions.

  He dragged his feet as he trailed behind the others. After a stressful morning, he just needed a little time to himself.

  Chapter Five

  As the sun rose, it did little to help the chill of the mountain air. Having assumed they would remain in the truck for the remainder of the trip, no one was really prepared to traverse in high altitude. Derek removed his excessive bandages from his shoulder and fashioned them into makeshift gloves. Elaina pulled out a hospital lab coat from her rucksack and wrapped it tightly around her body.

  They walked wearily through the picturesque landscapes, following a trail that had once been frequently used by hikers. Now, like everywhere else, it was abandoned.

  Will spotted a trail marker in the overgrown bushes along the way. He pushed back the branches to glean any insight into how much further their journey would be.

  “Four and a half miles to base,” he said. “That’s a little longer than I thought it would be.”

  “At least it’s all downhill,” Elaina said. “I wonder if there will be abandoned vehicles at the base.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Alec replied. “Hopefully, we can find a nice, big vehicle so we don’t all have to cram into a car.”

  “Hopefully, it will have a working heater,” Will chattered.

  They walked in silence for a while, having nothing to discuss. There was only so much planning one could do when heading into completely unknown territory.

  Suddenly, Melissa stopped dead in her tracks. Thomas nearly ran into the back of her.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Shh,” she said, holding a finger to her lips. She looked petrified.

  “What is it?” Thomas whispered again.

  She wordlessly pointed to a tree, no farther than ten feet from the trail. Leaning up next to a tree was a body. At first, the grey-green tone of its skin made it hard for Thomas to distinguish it from the mossy trunk, but it was unmistakable—there were infected people in the woods.

  Thomas didn’t know what to do. The infected person was still, which seemed unusual. Perhaps they weren’t aware that there were healthy people around them because they were being quiet.

  Thomas quickly tiptoed to the front of the group, motioning for them to stop.

  “What—“ Will began to ask before Alec clamped a hand to the teen’s mouth.

  Thomas pointed back to the spot where he saw the infected. “Just next to that big tree trunk over there,” he breathed.

  Elaina’s eyes widened when she finally saw what Thomas was pointing at. She reached for the vial of serum in her pocket with one hand and clutched Alec’s forearm with the other.

  “There are more,” she whispered, looking around the forest.

  Sure enough, once Thomas looked around, he saw more bodies blending in with the scenery. Some wandered slowly through bushes while others lay flat on the ground, completely motionless.

  “It looks like they’re in their dormant state because they don’t realize we’re here,” she said. “Let’s stay in a close group and keep going as quietly as possible. I think we can get to a safer spot if we keep moving.”

  Everyone was noticeably terrified. Guns and knives were pulled from pockets, just in case. Thomas wished that he had brought his hunting rifle from the truck, but it had been lost in the wreckage. The only weapon he had left was a tiny pocket knife.

  The group moved quickly but silently down the path. A few times, Elaina was worried that they had been spotted, but they remained unbothered as they hiked down the mountain.

  It was then that she wondered how quickly her cure would begin to work after administering it. She had promising results within her own body, but she hadn’t experienced any serious symptoms when she’d injected herself. She wondered if she could use a loaded syringe as a defense if the infected attacked. It wouldn’t be the most effective weapon, but curiosity was taking over her brain again. It would certainly be an interesting experiment.

  Unfortunately, she had a limited supply of the serum. If she started injecting it into every infected person who crossed her path, she would likely not make it to a lab to replicate it before the next emergency arose. Once again, she found herself feeling very impatient.

  “I think we’re in the clear,” Alec whispered after walking a while. He hadn’t seen any infected, and if they stayed relatively quiet on the rest of their journey, he figured they were in good shape.

  Then, out of nowhere, what sounded like a gunshot caused the nesting birds to scatter into the sky.

  Everyone froze. Besides the infected, they believed they were the only people on the trail. If there was someone else out there and they were making noise, they would most certainly attract the attention of more infected. There was no way a single body remained in the dormant state.

  When the next shot rang out, the six took off like the shot was to signal the start of a race. They sprinted down the trail, stumbling over rocks and powdery soil.

  Then, five large figures blocked the path in front of them. Derek skidded to a stop, scrambling backward to get away from the infected. They snarled and screeched at the group, arms raised to snatch anyone they could get their hands on.

  “Just go,” Alec shouted as another gunshot rang out. Derek raised and fired his gun at the infected, which only drew more decaying corpses to the area.

  Thomas wasn’t about to stay and fight. He heard Alec’s order seriously. Brandishing his pocket knife, he grabbed Melissa by the hand and backtracked a few feet. The forest dissolved around him as his focus narrowed. He needed to find a way out as quickly as possible. Nothing else mattered.

  The once-dormant infected they had passed were now beckoned by Derek’s fire. They crept down the path and immediately spotted Thomas and Melissa. One lunged at Melissa, and Thomas swung his arm at it, gouging a small chunk of flesh from its face. It recoiled for a moment but persisted, lunging at Thomas this time.

  Melissa pulled away from the infected, losing her balance on the side of the trail. Her body weight pulled Thomas backward and the momentum caused them to tumble down the side of the mountain.

  They slid down the shallow incline, trying to grasp onto whatever they could to slow their bodies down. It was of little use. The dry season had coated every surface in a layer of fine dust, decreasing friction between their bodies and the earth. Melissa dug her long nails into the ground, slowing herself down to the point where she could land gently on her feet on the ground below. Thomas crashed down to the ground, sending shockwaves from his heels all the way up to his hips. He was in pain but he was alive. That was enough for him.

  Coincidentally, their fall landed them onto the trail below. They were close to the base of the mountain now—the rest of the hike would take less than an hour.

  “Are you okay?” Thomas asked Melissa.

  “I think so,” she panted.

  She got up to dust herself off when Thomas saw the blood. Her entire shoulder was soaked in sticky red liquid.

  “Your shoulder,” he gasped, pointing to her apparent injury.

  She looked down, confused at first, then horrified. The adrenaline pumped through her veins as she slid down the mountain, apparently blocking any pain from her injury. When she finally had the chance to stop and realize what had happened, the pain hit her.

  Melissa dropped to her knees and howled in pain, clutching her arm. Thomas ripped at her clothing, trying to find the source of the bleeding. Sure enough, one of the wayward shots from the forest had struck Melissa and the bullet was now imbedded in her flesh.

  “Help me,” she cried.

  “I don’t have the first aid kit,” Thomas said frantically. “I think Will was carrying it, but I don’t know where they went.”

  As far as Thomas knew, the others didn’t survive the attack. The last time he sa
w them, they were directly in front of the infected. Derek was doing his best to hold them back, but there were just so many of them.

  “We need to keep moving,” Thomas urged. “I don’t know where the others are and I don’t know if there are more infected chasing after us. We don’t have the weapons we need to fight them off, but we can run.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” Melissa said, clutching her arm. Her face was pale and sweaty. “I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

  Thomas could hear someone, something, getting closer. He didn’t know what he would do if Melissa couldn’t get up. He couldn’t leave her, yet he couldn’t just stay and let himself be devoured by a pack of infected just because she was too weak to get away.

  “Look, I know you’re not feeling very good, but we need to get the hell out of here. If we can just make it a little farther, we might be able to find a car at the base. I can try to carry you, but I don’t think I can go fast enough to outrun the infected. Please, just try to get up,” he pleaded.

  Melissa struggled to get up to her feet as if she were a newborn foal. Thomas held her steady as he watched the trail. They didn’t need to be fast, but they needed to be quick enough to get themselves out of the line of fire.

  Suddenly, Alec came speeding around the corner, followed by Will, Elaina, and Derek. Alec was mouthing something at them, but Thomas couldn’t hear him over the sound of the river beside them. The water was rushing through the rocks of the shallow river, adding to the chill in the air.

  He kept shouting something at them, but Thomas still couldn’t make it out.

  “Melissa got shot,” Thomas shouted back, putting pressure on her wound. “We need the first aid kit.”

  Alec began waving his arms, a furious look on his face. Thomas didn’t understand what was happening. This made him even more frustrated. He was terrified that Melissa would lose too much blood before they found a safe place to rest.

  “Get in the river,” Alec roared once he was close enough for the two to hear.

  Thomas shot Melissa a confused look. That didn’t make any sense to him. If Melissa was injured, she would need to get the bullet removed, maybe even stitches. The river would wash the blood away but would do nothing to help her injury.

  Then Thomas saw them. A large pack of infected turned the corner and came into view. There were tons of them and they were rabid. It was only a matter of time before the six were surrounded again.

  “Get in the river,” Alec screamed, and Thomas obeyed, finally understanding his message. Thomas carried Melissa into the freezing water and they floated on their backs, letting the stream push them away. Seconds later, the other four splashed into the river, paddling themselves closer to Thomas and Melissa.

  “Was this really our best option?” Melissa sputtered.

  Alec swam a sort of breaststroke with his head out of the water. He watched the infected line up along the bank of the river, not daring to go in.

  “Yeah, I’d say so,” Will responded, pointing to the infected.

  “But how will we know where we’re going?” Melissa asked, her teeth chattering.

  “We won’t,” Alec replied. “We’ll move a lot faster this way. We just need to stay on the surface of the water and watch for an opportunity to get back onto land.”

  Thomas rolled back over onto his back. He watched the clouds float along in the sky as he floated down the river. They were away from the infected, but he still didn’t feel like they were any safer.

  He supposed it made little difference whether they were safe or not. They were no longer in control of the situation. No matter what they did, they’d be taking a risk. Thomas couldn’t decide what would be the worst way to die in the epidemic.

  Initially, his greatest fear was to die from infection. He was terrified of losing his mind and killing innocent people as a result. Then, he was taken in by the town survivors. After that, he feared getting killed by a healthy person who had chosen to go against the basic rules of society. Then, he escaped. Now, he wondered if anything would be worse than dying from a simple accident.

  If the mountain were any steeper, he might have perished during the fall. Or, if the group encountered a waterfall or rough rapids, they could easily drown in the river. It would be such a stupid way to go after risking his life in so many other, nobler ways.

  As Thomas floated down the river, he willed himself to stay afloat to the end. He had gone through too much to lose his life now.

  Chapter Six

  On the bank of the river, near the trail, the six stood shivering as they tried to reorient themselves. They could have been floating down the river for minutes or hours—time seemed to move slowly as they made their way through the mountain.

  Eventually, Derek found a stopping point where they could rest and reevaluate their situation. They swam in complete silence, absolutely terrified and miserable to find themselves evading hoards of infected in a seemingly peaceful landscape.

  Thomas helped Melissa strip off wet layers of clothes. He wrung them out and hung them to dry on a branch. As the sun warmed her exposed skin, she still shivered. Blood flowed freely from her shoulder despite the constant pressure Thomas put on the injury.

  “That bullet needs to come out,” Alec said after examining her wound. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait for a hospital either. We might be wandering around for quite a while.”

  “Yeah,” Derek agreed. “That was our mistake with Victoria.”

  Elaina opened the first aid kit. A few bandages were soaked, but it was otherwise in good condition. She gathered a bottle of rubbing alcohol, tweezers, and gauze.

  “We need to be a bit more careful,” she said, rummaging through supplies. “At this rate, we will be out of bandages and antiseptics by the end of the day.”

  She splashed alcohol on the wound, eliciting muffled shrieks from Melissa. Then, she touched the tip of the tweezers to the opening in the skin. She could hardly see what she was doing with all of the blood.

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” she said, dropping her hands by her sides. “I’ve done dissections and that sort of thing, but I don’t know if I’m qualified to do this.”

  “Let me,” Derek said. “It’s not going to be pretty, but I think I can get the job done,” he said to Melissa, who nodded weakly.

  He dug around in her arm for a while, his tongue between his teeth as he concentrated on finding the bullet. Thomas found himself holding his breath as he watched. Finally, Derek pulled the bullet out and dropped it into the dirt. He packed the hole with gauze and wrapped it tightly. Thomas grabbed her slightly damp, blood-tinged shirt and helped put it back on. She was pale and her teeth had yet to stop chattering.

  “How does it feel?” Thomas asked, sitting beside her.

  She just shook her head and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

  “Now that that’s taken care of, can we discuss what the hell happened up there?” Alec asked, his frustration rising. “How did she get shot?”

  “You heard the noises from the woods,” Will said quickly. “Someone else was in that forest. Maybe they were shooting at the infected and missed. Maybe they were shooting at us. I don’t know.”

  Derek looked at Melissa’s arm. “It’s strange that she got hit from that angle though. It almost looks like she got shot by someone standing in front of her. What do you remember about getting hit?”

  “I don’t really remember anything.” She trembled. “I didn’t even realize I was hurt until Thomas pointed it out. I don’t know when or where it happened. All I know is that I was walking with the group one moment and falling down the mountain the next. Somewhere along the line, I got shot.”

  “I think that’s somewhat common if there’s a lot of adrenaline in your system,” Elaina mused. “I bet you were too shocked and scared to even feel it.”

  Alec pulled off a shoe and dumped water out of it before tossing it to the ground. “Okay, let’s think—who fired shots here?�
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  “I did,” Derek admitted. “I took down at least eight infected.”

  “Same here,” Alec said. “I didn’t even see that Thomas and Melissa were gone until we were able to keep running down the trail. Thomas?”

  “I didn’t have a gun. I tried to keep them away with my knife, but we lost balance and went over the edge.”

  “Will?” Alec asked.

  “I didn’t have a gun, either,” he said. “I’m telling you, it was someone else. We weren’t alone.”

  Thomas narrowed his eyes at Will. Something seemed a little off about his story. Will seemed a little too jittery for what the situation called for. While the others laid out all of their possessions to dry in the sun, Will clung to his bag, holding it tightly against his chest.

  Will’s eyes darted around, never landing on anyone else’s face. He blinked rapidly and seemed eager to change the subject whenever possible. Thomas was amazed that no one seemed to suspect that something was up with the kid.

  “What’s in your bag?” Thomas asked Will, point-blank.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I just asked a simple question. What’s in your bag?”

  Alec turned to look at Will. Thomas watched as Alec pieced together the suspicious evidence.

  “Go back to your girlfriend,” Will said dismissively. “Unless you need a snack—then I can help you. That’s about all I have in here.”

  “You are acting a little weird, man,” Alec said to Will. “Why can’t you just show him your bag? Then we can drop the subject and figure out what we’re going to do.”

  Will scowled at Alec. “No. I don’t think we should give in to unreasonable demands,” he said. “How can we work as a team if he doesn’t trust us? I already know that Melissa doesn’t trust us, nor can we trust her.”

  Melissa looked at the ground. She didn’t have the energy to fight.

  “Then just show him the bag,” Elaina said. “We’ve been through a lot this morning—maybe we should do what we can to put each other at ease.”