by Casey, Ryan
Chapter Forty-Five
Hayden pounded his foot on the accelerator in pursuit of the helicopters.
He looked at the car dashboard. Saw that it was just past 5.20. Less than ten minutes. Less than ten frigging minutes to find his way to the extraction point.
He knew he was up against it. He knew the odds weren’t in his favour.
But he’d made it this far. He wasn’t going to just give up now.
He wasn’t going to give up on Amy.
The cool wind smothered his face. His vision blurred, distorted. His arm and fingers were starting to sting. But he was still here. He was still conscious. That was the main thing. The only thing that mattered.
He was getting Amy to the extraction point. What happened after that… well. He’d cross that bridge when it came to it.
The only sound he could hear was the engine. It’d been a while since he’d heard the helicopters fly overhead, so he figured they were at the extraction point now, waiting for any arrivals.
And they’d get one. If they just waited a little longer, they’d get one.
“How much time?” Amy asked.
“Enough,” Hayden said. He didn’t want to scare her. He didn’t want to tell her the truth about how close they were pushing it. If they were held back for a single minute, he knew what it meant. They’d miss the final extraction at 5.30. The bombs would fall. They’d be incinerated, as would the rest of their great country. Everything would collapse, and Hayden would die knowing he wasn’t able to do the one thing everyone had been badgering on at him to do his entire life:
Step outside his comfort zone.
Achieve something.
He started to think about what might lay ahead, over this hill, as he accelerated faster. Started to think about what’d happen if these people weren’t what they said they were. If they were just like the army the first time he’d met them on that very first day of the infection—ruthless, hunting humanity down.
Maybe so. But the truth was, it didn’t make sense. They were taking the nuclear option. He’d seen the UN symbols when the choppers had flown over just before.
They were legit. He didn’t know what that meant, whether it was ultimately a good or bad thing in the long run, but they were legit.
And they were getting Amy off this island, away from this world.
“Will there be kids there?” Amy asked.
Hayden kept his focus on the hill. Wasn’t far to drive now. “Probably. I’m sure there’ll be someone around your age.”
“Oh,” Amy said.
Hayden looked around. Saw she looked concerned.
“Why? Not want to make any new friends?”
“I never really got on well with other kids,” Amy said.
Hayden swallowed a lump in his throat. “Well hey. This is a new world. A new start. A chance to be cool all over again. Besides, wait ’til you tell them how many zombies you killed. They won’t mess with you then.”
Amy looked at Hayden. Smiled.
And then her face turned.
Her eyes widened.
Hayden looked back at the road ahead.
He slammed his foot on the brakes.
Almost went flying through the clear windscreen.
He sat completely still in the car. Stared down at the scene ahead.
The extraction point was there. All the helicopters sitting there, just waiting for people to arrive. A wall set up around them, where people were armed and waiting.
But there was something else between them.
Something between Hayden and the extraction point.
Infected, closing in from either direction.
“Can we make it?” Amy asked.
Hayden tightened his hand on the steering wheel. “We have to.”
He put his foot down on the accelerator.
Nothing happened.
He looked down. Puzzled. Startled as to why this was happening. As to why the car wasn’t moving. “Oh, no. Oh no no no.”
“What’s the matter?”
Hayden tried to start up the car again. Nothing but a splutter. “The car. The shitting car. It’s…”
He heard the groans close by. Saw the infected turning their attention from the extraction point over towards Hayden and the Land Rover.
“Shit,” Hayden said.
He tried the car once more. But fuck. The engine wasn’t working. The frigging thing had given up on him.
He had to figure out what to do. Had to think quick. Time was ticking.
He unclipped his seatbelt.
“What’re you doing?” Amy asked.
“There’s only one way now,” Hayden said. He stepped out of the Land Rover. Hobbled on his weakened legs over towards the passenger door. Opened it up. “Come on.”
Amy narrowed her eyes. “What—”
“We need to get through them, Amy. We don’t have much time. Quick.”
Hayden watched as Amy slowly, hesitantly unclipped her seatbelt. When she had, he picked her up. Held her in his arms.
“You’re… you’re bleeding,” Amy said.
Hayden saw she was looking at his hand. And then at his arm. The blood flow still hadn’t stopped. “Don’t worry about that,” he said.
“Are you bit?” Amy asked.
Hayden went to run.
But then he stopped.
He lowered his head. Nodded. “But I’m not sure it matters anymore anyway. Not with the immunisation inside me.”
“I don’t want you to leave me.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“But you’re bit—”
“I’m not leaving you without knowing you’re safe, Amy. I promise you. I promise. Do you trust me?”
He looked into Amy’s eyes. Saw they were red and tearful. She nodded, hesitantly.
“Good,” Hayden said. He looked at the road ahead. “Now let’s do what we have to do.”
As weak as his body was, as pained as his arms and legs were, Hayden ran down the hill. He could hear the infected closing in from each direction. Hear their jaws snapping. He could almost feel them again. Feel what it’d felt like when the infected bit him on the road a few miles back.
Or what the teeth of the infected felt like when he shoved his fingers in its mouth, dragged its mouth open and ripped its jaw apart.
He kept on running, though. Kept on sprinting, as painful as it was, as hard as it was. He’d resigned himself to what was going to happen anyway.
But he had a new purpose now.
Protecting Amy.
Getting her to the extraction point.
Getting her to safety.
He saw the infected closing in either side. The extraction point wasn’t far away now. But time was running out. Fast.
“Wait!” he shouted, at the top of his voice, wanting to reassure them that he was human, he was coming.
“Wait!” he screamed. And then Amy joined in too. She joined in even though the infected were approaching from either direction. Even though they were a matter of minutes away from enclosing them.
He started to feel hope. Even though his knees were about to give way, his body about to collapse, Hayden started to feel a sense of positivity and optimism.
He could do this.
He was so close.
He was…
Then the helicopter rotors started spinning.
He slowed. Slowed, just for a second. And then when he realised what was happening—that they were leaving without him, without Amy—he threw himself even further towards them. Pushed his body to its absolute limits. Unlocked muscles he never knew he’d had before now.
All because he wanted to keep his people safe.
Amy was his people now.
She was the only thing that mattered.
“Wait!” he screamed.
He saw the helicopters hover off the ground. But he refused to accept what was happening. Refused to accept the reality of what he was witnessing. It was just too painful. He hadn’t come all this way t
o fail. He couldn’t accept that. He just couldn’t.
But the helicopters were getting higher.
The infected were getting closer.
Through one of the helicopter windows, Hayden saw Gary. Gary was smiling.
Hayden pulled aside the makeshift walls that’d been erected to hold off the infected. He put Amy down. Stood underneath the rising helicopters. Jumped. Waved. Screamed. Did all he could to get their attention.
And then he fell to the ground and he cried.
He didn’t know what he was going to say to Amy. How he was going to tell her they’d failed. That they were going to burn here, the pair of them, and all their pain getting here had been for nothing. He didn’t know how to tell her that he’d let her down, that he’d failed her, and he’d failed everyone who’d ever cared for him.
He just lay there underneath the departing helicopters and cried.
He just lay there underneath them and—
“They’re coming back!”
Hayden didn’t understand Amy’s words. Not at first. He was too wrapped in the devastation, too focused on the failure to even think.
“Hayden! They’re coming back! They’re coming back!”
And then he comprehended Amy’s words. Not only that, but he felt the breeze from above growing stronger. He heard the rotors getting louder.
When he lifted his aching neck, he saw one of the helicopters descending.
They’d done it.
They’d made it.
He heard Amy laughing. And he laughed with her. As he did, he tasted blood on his lips. He could barely move.
“We did it,” Amy said. She sat by Hayden’s side. Kissed his head. “We—we did it!”
We did it.
As the helicopter descended, Amy’s voice and the joy in her words were the only things that seemed anything like significant.
We did it.
The helicopter landed. Someone opened the door. Hayden could see the new world from here already. He could smell it. Taste the lushness of fresh food. Feel the joy of laughter, of a beer in the sun. He could smell a barbeque. He could almost see an older Amy chatting with boys in the distance, enjoying herself.
He saw two men running out of the helicopter. Saw them running towards him, towards Amy, guns raised.
And beyond them, he saw someone else.
Gary.
He saw the frustration in Gary’s eyes. The misunderstanding, as one of the men dragged Amy towards the helicopter.
He saw the defeat. The confusion.
And then he saw something else.
There was a gun in Gary’s hand.
He was lifting it. Looking from Hayden, to Amy, then back to Hayden again.
The gun in Gary’s hand. The look between Hayden and Amy.
Everything was coming together.
“Wait!” Hayden shouted at the top of his lungs.
But it was already too late.
Gary stood up.
Lifted the gun.
Pointed it at Amy.
Fired.
Chapter Forty-Six
Hayden watched Gary lift his gun.
Point it at Amy.
Pull the trigger.
And in his mind, he saw the bullet hurtling towards Amy. He saw it piercing her skull. He saw the last thing he cared about—the last person on this planet he was willing to fight so hard for—falling to the ground, that dead look in her eyes that he’d seen in so many people’s by now.
But that didn’t happen.
It didn’t happen because nothing came out of Gary’s gun.
He looked at the gun. Looked at it, eyes wide. Like something was wrong. Like things weren’t happening the way they were supposed to.
Then he saw the man holding on to Amy lift his rifle.
Point it at Gary.
“Wait!” Hayden shouted.
He wasn’t sure where that voice came from. Wasn’t sure which place inside him it’d come from, or how it’d happened. He hated what Gary had done. Detested what Gary had done. He wanted to see him dead for what he’d done to Miriam. For what his people had done to Hayden and his friends.
But he found himself shouting again. Shouting at these UN people to hold their fire. Not to pull their triggers.
He saw them turn around. Look at him. The rotors of the helicopter grew louder. He saw that Gary was restrained now. His gun was on the floor of the helicopter. From behind, he could hear the infected approaching. He didn’t have long left. None of them had long left.
“Don’t kill him,” Hayden said.
Again, he wasn’t sure where those words came from. Wasn’t sure which part of his deepest consciousness they’d sprouted from. But as he said them, he found himself crying. He found himself meaning them. Totally meaning them.
“He’s—he’s done bad things. But he’s one of my people. He’s… he’s one of New Britain.”
He saw the look in Gary’s eyes then. Saw the look of hatred change in the space of a second. The look of hatred suddenly shifted to a look of embarrassment. A look of fear. A look of sorrow.
“He fucked up. He fucked up so much. But—but he’s alive. He’s alive and he’s uninfected. So he’s important. Don’t kill him. Please.”
There was silence. The UN people didn’t say anything to Hayden. Gary didn’t say anything. Nobody—not even the humans on the helicopter, who Hayden could see clearly now—said anything.
And then, a voice came from inside the helicopter. A woman’s voice.
“We might not kill him,” she said. “But we don’t want him in our new world.”
Hayden watched as the people of the helicopter pushed against Gary. As they kicked him and beat him until he fell out of the helicopter, hit the ground below. Nobody tried to help him up. And Hayden couldn’t help—as fucking stupid as he knew it sounded—but feel sympathy for Gary.
Despite everything Gary had done, he was one of his people.
He’d had the same goal as Hayden. The same mission all along.
Keep New Britain safe.
He’d done what he thought he had to do. And the truth was, they’d all done horrible things since the world collapsed. They’d all done nasty things.
Gary wasn’t alone in that.
Hayden couldn’t hate him. No matter how much he wanted to, no matter how much he knew he should do, he just couldn’t hate him.
Hayden stood. He dragged himself to his weary feet and he walked towards the helicopter. Gary lay on the ground. One of the UN troops had a gun to his head.
“Leave… leave him,” Hayden said, limping.
The guns lifted.
Turned on him.
“Keep your distance, sir.”
Hayden knew why they were looking at him in the way they were right now. He knew why they were looking at him with such fear. With such uncertainty. He knew what it was like to be looked at like a monster. He’d been looked at that way so many times already.
“Hayden,” Amy said, whimpering. “Please. Please leave him. He’s just… he’s just Hayden.”
Hayden felt the stare of the troops burning into him. But more than anything, he heard the fear in Amy’s voice. He’d promised he’d never leave her. But he knew now—he saw now—that he had no choice.
“The girl,” Hayden said. “At least let me say goodbye.”
“No,” Amy said, kicking and shaking against the UN troop. “Please. Please no. Please no.”
One of the troops standing closest to Hayden—a black guy, well built, clear sympathy in his eyes, nodded. “One minute. Then we’re out of here, with the kid or without her.”
Hayden nodded back. “That’s all I’ll need.”
He staggered towards Amy. He could feel the focus on the rifles still on him. In all his life, he’d never felt so watched. Never felt so important, in a way. Even though he’d done grander things, like “saved” New Britain, nothing seemed to conquer the importance of walking up to Amy right now and telling her to be brave. Walking up to the gi
rl—the last of his people—and telling her how sorry he was that he couldn’t go with her into the next world.
He crouched opposite Amy. Held out his hands.
She shook her head. “I won’t go. I won’t go.”
“You have to,” Hayden said, taking her hands.
“I don’t. I won’t—”
“Amy, I know it’s hard. I know how hard it is.”
“I’ve got no one. Just you. Just you.”
Hayden tightened his hands around Amy’s. He could tell that everyone was looking at him, looking at Amy. Some of them were crying.
He took in a deep, shaky breath. Then he leaned in, leaned right into Amy’s ear. “There’s a new world waiting for you. And as scary as it is… someone once told me something.”
He felt himself back at that swimming pool again. Annabelle by his side. Her hair swaying in the breeze, shining in the sunlight.
“The monsters. The worst monsters of all. They’re inside your head. But if you can conquer those—if you can stand up to those and tell them to get out of the way—you can achieve anything.”
Amy was quiet. She snivelled.
“I never used to believe it. I never even used to know what it meant. But I do now. I have for a while now. And it got me here. It got both of us here.”
“Wrap it up, folks.”
Hayden pulled away from Amy’s ear. Her eyes were bloodshot. He could taste his own tears on his lips.
“You go into the new world and make your mum proud,” Hayden said.
Amy’s bottom lip shook. “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay to be scared,” Hayden said. “Being scared shows that you’re still alive.”
They looked into each other’s eyes for a few seconds. For a moment, Hayden felt a connection with this kid. A connection unlike any he’d ever had.
Any, except for the one he’d had with Annabelle all those years ago.
“Be brave, Amy,” Hayden said.
The UN soldiers took her arms. Started to move her towards the helicopter. Towards the unknown. She protested again. Kicked back. Not as much as before, but still kicking up a fight.
“And remember what I said,” Hayden shouted.
He watched as they took Amy into the helicopter. As they sat her down. Reached for the door.
“The monsters,” Hayden said. “The worst monsters are in your head. If you can defeat them—if you can be brave and stare them in the face—you can do anything. You can be anything you want to be, Amy. You can…”