by Taja Kartio
"It's not for him," Beckett grunted, "It's for the soldiers. It won't stop them for long but it will do better than that small garbage can."
"But-" Casey stepped forward again but Kale tightened his grip.
"He made it clear he didn’t want to come!" My brother's eyes softened slightly and his expression went from one of frustration, to almost desperate, "I'm sorry man. I know he's been your friend for a lifetime but we need you now. Help us get out of here. Help me save my family."
There wasn't an answer for a moment. I was almost certain Casey was going to refuse, but he nodded. His eyes never left the hole hiding under the garbage dumpster. Smoke was slowly starting to ease out from under, "Okay..."
Kale patted his shoulder, "Okay."
Beckett ushered me beside him as we headed out of the alley we'd been currently standing in. With the day coming to a slow end and no street lights lit up, it was going to be a little difficult to maneuver around the junk piled up on the sidewalk. The upside was that it was also going to get harder for the soldiers to find us. The shadows were in our favor, for the most part.
"Get down!" Alex hissed, ducking behind one of the abandoned cars parked by the sidewalk. Kale and I dipped behind a partially burnt van beside Casey.
A small battalion, no more than half a dozen men, slowly tracked down the street, waving their large guns in every direction. My heart was bumping at a pace I couldn't compete with. Kale turned his head and nodded at Beckett. I'd totally forgotten about Kale's old pistol he had, which now seemed to be in Beckett's possession. My brother pulled out from his belt, where it'd been hiding underneath his shirt.
We waited for a short moment after the soldiers passed by but none of us seemed to notice that more were coming down the street, a couple hundred yards away. Alex had stood and one of those men saw that quickly.
"Hey!"
"Across the street!" Casey yelled.
"Go!" Kale nodded, "We'll cover you!"
I didn't like having my brothers be our defense. I preferred it because I trusted their aim but we were outnumbered. I didn't want to think about having to leave one behind because of stray bullet.
A few loud shots followed Casey, Alex, and I as we ran. Bullet's raged through car windows, windows exploded. They collided into the stonework of buildings as we ran. Casey, who was leading, made an unexpected sharp turn into a convenience store wedged between two taller brick buildings, "Through here! There's a manhole cover in the alleyway behind this store that we can use!"
I didn't see how our only option out of the quarantine zone was a sewer system. The fact that both Casey and Tatum had known that it was our only way out was gross, let alone knowing that they'd used it in the past. On better conditions and had we not been under fire and if Tatum had been with us, it might have been a interesting story for them to tell.
The store was jammed pack. Not with neatly stocked shelves of goodies and daily products which had been, for the most part, either scavenged through or scattered on the floor but with metal carts. The aisles were already a tight squeeze the way it was. Some of the shelves had been shifted to a heavy slanted angle, making the aisles look smaller than they should.
"Dani!"
Kale was beside Beckett. I didn't realize my brothers were already behind us. How far back were the soldiers then?
Beckett pointed toward a small opening on the ground between all the carts, "Crawl through here."
I looked down at my escape route for a moment, "What about you guys?"
"We'll find a way back there!" Kale nudged me quickly, "Just go!"
Rapid gunfire followed. I felt myself hesitate after I had belly crawled far enough that I was completely surrounded by the bars of the shopping carts. I didn't even know how it was possible for them all to be positioned just the way they were, an easy getaway for someone my size. The only discouraging factor was when the bullets hit the shelves above me. Smithereens of materials fell through the carts and onto me. My hands went to cover my head and I froze. It felt like the soldiers were right on top of me, that they were only firing rather poorly and at any moment, I would be shot and I would be as big of a mess as the shelving was now.
The shots in my particular area deceased and moved on, following some other target. I had the time to crawl out from under the carts and out of the aisle I was in. The back of the store was a small, littered hallway. Papers covered the floor. Random utensils, food products and items covered the floor in an unorganized way. What caught my attention the most was the blood smeared across the walls. There was a limp body on the ground, blood pooled around the head. Her skull was so smashed in that she would be unrecognizable. Her long ponytail and bloody low cut shirt were the only indications that she was a female. I felt a foul fluid of bile creep it's way up my throat at the sight and the vile smell that soaked the small space of air. Spacing myself from the rotting carcass, I tiptoed my way through the hallway to the last door at the end with an unlit Exit sign hanging above it. Through there, was an alleyway. Sort of. The alleyway didn't lead anywhere. It was closed off from the streets by high brick walls. There was an open garage on one wall but other than that, nothing. However, there was the sewer opening on the ground. Just where Casey said there would be one.
I turned, only now realizing I was still the only person in the area. I wasn't quite sure what to do. Stay out here? What if it was the soldiers that came out through the back door, not my brothers? Screwed. I didn't know if I could lift the sewer lid but I decided it was worth a shot. The holes were big enough anyway. If I could get a good grip on it.
My first attempt was worthless. I didn't realize how heavy it would actually be and with being sore, it was hard putting enough muscle into lifting the damned thing. I took a heavy breath and tried again. The heavy cover shifted and loosened, I managed to lift it just enough to get an edge on the pavement so that I could push it away.
I was heaving, which was pretty pathetic.
Behind me, the back door slammed open. Alex and Casey were followed a second later by my brothers. Kale was last, and shut the door behind him quickly.
"Hey, Dani," Alex waved breathlessly, "How're you doing?"
"Fine, I guess?" I turned to my brothers, "Well?"
"They're dead but more will be coming." Kale trotted toward me in a huff, "That the sewer, Casey?"
"Well it's the only manhole back here so yes, I suppose," Came the very sarcastic, monotone reply. Casey leisurely stepped toward the garage, "Hopefully nobody breaks through that way."
"Why do you think they haven't yet?" Beckett asked.
"It's uncompleted so I wonder if they even know about it. It's an L-shape garage, which is kind of weird. Straight ahead, on the other side, is a long alley with a chain-link fence that hasn't been cut down and then that way..." Casey pointed to the right, where we could see the brown roof of the garage cut between two buildings, one of them being the building that we had just gone through, "... is a dead end. It connects with those two buildings with a couple of side doors."
"How did they construct something like that with so little space?" Alex asked, "A dead end? A chain-link fence?"
"I don't know. It's old. Rotting. It was never completed and I don't think it was ever used. Now can we please go?"
"Don't move," Beckett said suddenly.
I saw what he did. The opening of the garage was dark. We couldn't see inside, but the creatures in there could see us. Slow steps, they made an appearance. Five of them, all grungy and crooked. Their postures were irregular and disproportionate. They stared, never blinking.
"Infected." Alex whispered.
"Why aren't they attacking us?" I whispered back.
"I don't know but let's not give them a reason to."
The second any of us break, these Infected would be all over us. There would be no way we could all get down into the sewer untouched and unharmed. Noting now, Kale didn't have his machine gun anymore. Now he had his pistol back from Beckett. Which was better than nothin
g, but not quick enough to take down five full Infected with the distance he was away from them. Kale was a good shot, but he wasn't a master marksman with the quickest trigger fingers.
Kale didn't move an inch but with his voice just as low, he quickly eyed Casey, "Why exactly was this the better way?"
"It wasn't," Casey replied sharply, "The way I wanted to go for would have been a straight shot but we were blocked off by soldiers."
"And uh," Kale gulped, "What are the directions down this way?"
"Why are you asking right now?"
"Because we're probably going to have to try to outrun them. You're not the closest to that hole right now and we sure as hell aren't going to wait for you to get ahead of us down there."
It made sense, but what made him think we were going to be able to outrun them down there? I was barely able to make it past a lumbering jog.
"Right," Casey breathed, "We go down there and take the first right, then the first left. Run straight until we hit an open area with four different routes, like a four-way stop. Go left and then walk straight to the first manhole opening above you see. Can't miss it. There's a ladder hanging from the ceiling."
"Right. Left. Straight. Open area. Left. Straight until ladder."
"Yep."
I watched Kale's eyes slowly linger away from the Infected and back to Beckett a few feet back. They seemed to have the same thought and I wasn't quite sure what they were getting at. Their unspoken language was annoying sometimes. It was like they were telepathic with each other. Kale's eyes then shifted to Casey, who was still staring ahead at the Infected, then back to Beckett, who gave the ever so slightest nod.
What are they...?
"Casey," Kale whispered, "I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"For this," Kale immediately raised his gun and pulled the trigger right on Casey's kneecap.
I didn't see what happened after that. Alex pushed me into the sewer and before I could even really recover from falling five feet and hitting solid ground, Kale was pulling the sewer cover back over the hole. Above, inhuman screeches tore in the air. In between was crying. Agonizing crying. Flesh and bone was ripped and bones were crushed. I could hear it all.
"Sorry about that Dani," Alex remorsed.
I ignored his apology but didn't push away his helping hand. I was dazed, I knew that. My knee throbbed. I was lucky I didn't hit my head.
Kale stepped ahead of us all, "Let's get out of here."
"What's the rush?" I asked. My voice was a bit bitter, "They sound busy up there right now."
"Dani-"
"What the hell Kale? Why did you do that?"
He stared at me long and hard, trying to find the right words to say. Emotion stung, "I didn't like it any more than you did. I didn't want to kill him, especially after all he's done for us... but family comes first. It's you, before him. It's us, before anyone else."
It was so brutal, so heartless. Using Casey as a... a distraction. There was no humanity in it.
"But I'm not family," Alex mumbled, "Would you have done the same thing to me?"
My brother shifted looks, still guilty but more straightforward. I knew the answer already and it burned to hear the words, "In a situation when it's you or my sister? Or you or my brother? Yes. Probably."
Alex nodded solemnly, “I guess I appreciate the brutal honesty but I understand. Family is always first."
I didn't like what had just happened. Casey was dead because of us. Even if I hardly knew the guy for more than a week, he was still a survivor, like us. He was still normal and breathing and living. He helped my brothers save me. He was a part of giving my brothers and I a roof over our heads and a place to hide from the soldiers, a place to hide from Brinston. He helped find food and water and he helped us escape. Casey didn't have to do any of that. He could have just fended for himself and turned a cold shoulder. In return, we used him and he was dead for it. He deserved better than that.
But given the circumstance, as much as I hated to think it, Kale was right. Family was first. If it was someone I hardly knew, no matter how much they'd done for me, my brothers came first.
Above, the screeches turned to grunts and barbaric groans. The Infected forgot about us.
"Let's get out of here," Kale repeated.
This time, I didn't argue.
Fifteen
"I can't see a damn thing," Kale muttered. I watched his fingers trail along the cold brick wall.
"You've said that already," Beckett said from behind me.
"It felt appropriate to say it again."
Alex stumbled for the fourth time.
I didn't see what their problem was. The outlines of the curved tunnels were clear. It was dark, yes, but it wasn't a nebulous blackness devoided of any and all light. I was more worried about the-
"It smells bad in here," Alex complained, recovering from his slip.
"If you hadn't noticed, we are walking in a sewer," I could hear the annoyance on Kale's tongue.
The tunnels twisted in all sorts of dark and confusing ways. Even with directions from Casey, I found it all to be really complex anyway. It wasn't a dead right after first coming down here, we had to walk for actually a really long time before a tunnel to the right even presented itself. We just turned left a while back, now we were looking for an open area. I hoped it was soon. I wanted out of this place. It was dank and dreary and even claustrophobic. Our footsteps lightly splashed the small stream of sewer water beneath our feet and the sound echoed off the dense stone walls. I couldn't believe Kale was actually touching the walls, disgusting. They were probably all slimy and clammy.
"Why do you think Casey and Tatum used the sewers?" Alex asked, trying once again to start up a conversation.
Instead of ignoring, Kale answered, "I don't know. I didn't stop to ask him."
More silence. I stepped over a pile of garbage, whatever it all consisted of. Behind me, Beckett nearly tripped over it.
"You hear that?" Kale asked, stopping in his tracks. Alex bumped into him.
Rushing water. Distant.
"Sounds like we're getting close," Beckett said.
Kale nodded enthusiastically, "Right."
We all wanted to get out of here, I got that, but I was starting to find it hard to keep up with the pace that was picked up. I was tired. My lungs were expanding but little air was finding its way into them. An encouraging hand was placed on my back by Beckett, but it was awkwardly placed several times like he had to make sure it was actually me ahead of him.
Kale and Alex were several paces ahead. Neither of them noticed or could see the pile of crap blocking their path.
"Hey, watch for that-" I tried to warn them but my efforts were a little too late.
Kale, who was in the lead, caught his right foot and fell instantly. He hit the hard floor and sent a plume of dirty water skyrocketing. Almost as if I asked to see an instant replay, Alex tripped and fell right on top of him.
"Gross!" Alex flapped his hand, small liquid drops flew from his fingertips.
Kale pushed him away, "Get off me!"
"What happened?" Beckett asked.
Kale pushed himself to his feet and held his arms out from his sides in disgust, "This idiot fell on me!"
"Liar," I called, "You tripped and then he fell on top of you."
"How would you know?" You can't see any better than the rest of us."
"Well..." I wasn't quite sure how to come back to that. I was the only one of the four of us that hadn't tripped or fallen yet. I hadn't complained about not being able to see anything because I could see just fine, "... I don't know what to tell you. I watched you trip."
I stepped around the two of them and over the small pile of garbage.
"I didn't trip," Kale muttered.
The open area was actually just down the tunnel, a few steps away. I could see the tunnel widen up greatly. The source of the loud noise were the pipes below me, they repelled sewer water like faucets and made the center of
this room look like a very large swimming pool.
"I thought Casey said this area was going to be like a four-way intersection?" Beckett asked, "I only see the tunnels to the left and right."
I pointed across the water, "There's a tunnel straight ahead of us. You see it?"
Beckett squinted, "Kind of."
"I guess it doesn't matter," I looked to my left, "Left, right?"
"Left," Kale answered firmly.
"That's what I said."
"You said 'Left, right'."
I glared with dull eyes, "No. I said 'Left' and then said 'Right' as in like, 'Right?'. Like, am I right?"
Kale was silent for a second, "It's left."
I rolled my eyes, Beckett nudged me, "Alright. Let's just keep moving."
The drop into the sewer water was a few feet down, "There's a three-foot ledge around the room. Stay next to the wall and you won't fall."
"That kind of rhymes," Alex commented. A half second after and I heard a small smack like Kale had hit him.
The tunnel we were directed to was short at least, the shortest part of our travel down here. Ahead, I could see the metal steps of the ladder and above, two tiny holes casted two tiny beams of silvery blue moonlight.
Beckett stepped ahead of me, taking the lead as we approached. There seemed to be more light down here in this area. Enough for everyone else to see what I saw, "Here. I'll go first. Make sure the coast is clear."
I watched him climb and push the lid up enough for his eyes to scan the surrounding area. His head turned, panning side to side like the scope of a submarine and he stopped for a minute like he saw something but wasn't quite sure what it was. I'd rather he saw and Infected than a soldier at this point.
"Coast is clear."
I let Alex haul himself up before me and I would have had Kale go too but he indicated he wanted me to go first, "Come on sport. Up you go."
I inhaled as my fingers grasped the metal. I managed to get up halfway before having to rest my forehead on the next bar up. My arms were shaking.
Kale positioned himself on the other side of the ladder, "You okay?"