“She looks like Lara Croft,” Dean said, earning a smack from Vanessa.
He smiled at her. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m not the gaming type. You’re still the most beautiful girl in the world to me.”
Vanessa blushed, and the adults chuckled before announcing it was time to retire. Chas couldn’t agree more, hoping that this time she could sleep without having nightmares.
Chapter 5
Thanks to their hard work the previous day, Chas was able to sleep through without bad dreams disturbing her slumber. She awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and energized, ready to take on the day.
On Sundays, they were allowed to wear their normal clothes, freshly washed and repaired after the night they first arrived. Chas relished the chance to wear ordinary jeans and a t-shirt once again. It made her feel like she was back in the old days, like things hadn’t changed that much, after all.
After a hot shower and a surprisingly decent breakfast, the entire base made their way to the Chapel where a local priest held sway. It was said he’d been rescued from a nearby town and was a real fire and brimstone type. As such, he made sure that everyone attended his sermon, whether they liked it or not. If they didn’t, he brought down the wrath of God on their heads, dooming them to eternal damnation. He also made very sure that they knew their clothes were not appropriate for the occasion unless it was full-dress uniform, but that he’d allow it under the circumstances.
Nobody liked him much, not even the most devout, and each Sunday the kids groaned at the thought of sitting through one of his lengthy speeches. It was not unusual for one or more of them to fall asleep during the process.
But, Church was Church, as much a part of them as of their history and traditions. It functioned as a social gathering, and the adults loved getting together afterward just to talk and catch up.
As usual, Chas and her friends, her grandmother, and the rest filed into the back of the chapel and sat down. Major Brown, his nephew, and the other officers were seated at the front right under the preacher’s nose. That suited Chas just fine as she tried to fly under the radar and keep out of the Major’s way.
Vivienne was there, and she greeted Chas with a tight hug before looking her over with sharp eyes. “Why are you so thin? Aren’t you eating?”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look fine to me. I’ll have to speak to your grandmother. This is unacceptable.”
Chas sighed. “Please, Mother. Nothing’s wrong.”
“I can always tell when you’re lying, Chas. We’ll discuss this later,” Vivienne said before taking a seat between Amelia and Lala. Emily sat with her parents while Dean and Vanessa sat in front of her. Sarah was still in the infirmary.
Chas had the second-to-last chair on the bench, and usually, the seat next to her remained empty, so she was surprised to hear a soft voice ask, “Is this seat taken?”
“No, sit, please.” Chas looked up into the face of the young lady soldier from the night before. She looked just as pretty as ever with her braided hair and golden eyes, but Chas was quick to notice the well-developed muscles of her arms through the t-shirt she wore.
Besides the army issue t-shirt, the lady wore camouflage pants, army boots laced over the ankles, and her dog tags hung between her breasts. She looked strong and capable, brimming with youth and confidence.
She flashed Chas a smile and whispered, “I’m Julia Paige. Nice to meet you.”
“Chasity, but my friends call me Chas.”
Julia’s smile widened. “So, I’m a friend then?”
Chas nodded, dumbstruck by Julia’s charm.
Not long after that, the preacher arrived and silence fell over the congregation. As ever, they started off with a prayer and a hymn before the preacher began his sermon. On this particular day, he chose to speak about sacrifice and how Jesus gave his life for them.
At first, everything was fine, but as his speech progressed, Chas began to sweat. That in itself was unremarkable with it being so hot, but soon, other symptoms presented themselves. Her chest closed up until her breath wheezed in and out of her lungs. Her vision narrowed until she could barely see in front of her. The room spun, and her stomach lurched.
Chas squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists, all in a bid to fight the terror that threatened to overwhelm her. In the distance, she could hear screams. They were growing louder all the time. Louder, and louder, until she could no longer handle it and pressed her hands to her ears to shut it out.
Suddenly, Julia gripped her by the shoulder and whispered in her ear. “Come with me. Let me help you.”
Chas stumbled to her feet and followed Julia outside on wobbly knees. She barely made it out of the door before collapsing against the wall. “What’s happening to me?”
“I think you’re having a panic attack, sweetie. You must try to calm down. Relax,” Julia said.
Chas shook her head as the screams inside her head threatened to drown out reality. “I can’t. They won’t stop screaming.”
“Who, Chas?”
“The soldiers. Justin.”
“It’s not real, sweetie. Calm down.”
Julia’s voice faded away as the vision took over. This time, it was stronger than ever before, so real that nothing else mattered, and in the background, a single word kept repeating over and over. Sacrifice.
***
A gurgling cry sounded as a zombie launched itself at one of the soldiers with a shriek, latching onto the poor guy’s throat with a death grip. The soldier fought back, stabbing the infected in the temple with a knife, but it was too late for him. He was infected and would change within minutes. With a despairing look at his team, he shot himself in the head with his pistol while blood still poured from his wound.
The rest of the squad continued fighting, but their fire grew sporadic as their ammo ran out. The continuous hail of bullets became a stream and then a trickle. The infected pushed forward, more streaming from the hospital and onto the roof in seemingly endless numbers.
The hospital staff had followed Vivienne and Lala’s lead, ringing themselves around the sick and the elderly, each armed according to what he or she could scrounge up. One woman even sported an umbrella, its sunshine yellow the only bright spot in the murky gloom.
Alvarez cast a desperate look at the civilians and cried, “Smith, where’s that damned evac?”
“On it’s way, Sir. Five minutes out,” Smith replied, his face pale and scared.
“That’s what you said five minutes ago,” Alvarez shouted.
“There was a problem with the lead chopper, Sir. It had to turn back.”
Alvarez swore before snapping a shot at a zombie that was closing in. The woman plowed to the concrete mere inches from his feet. The soldiers were rapidly losing ground, and Alvarez waved his fist. “Fall back to the helipad. Slow and steady, men.”
Step by step, his team retreated, giving up precious rooftop space to the infected who poured into the openings with eager cries. Their faces were like those of rabid dogs, their teeth snapping at the air, and their eyes glowing with insane rage.
Behind Chas, the old and the sick cried out in fear, many sobbing with hopeless desperation as the circle of death around them grew tighter and tighter. To Chas, it felt like they were being strangled by a noose.
Gaps appeared in the soldier’s ranks as more of them fell, disappearing beneath the writhing bodies of the infected with helpless cries. Lala’s shotgun boomed, and a zombie grappling with Alvarez fell away, half its shoulder blown clean off. He finished it with a quick thrust from his knife and shot her a grateful look before launching himself at the next infected.
The soldiers retreated even further, closing ranks around the civilians in an effort to keep the crazies away. With each passing second, the fight grew more desperate. Even as Chas watched, their ranks rippled as more brave men fell away, lost forever. She gulped and raised her knife, taking a strong stance.
Vivienne thr
ew herself at an attacking zombie with a cry of rage. Wielding her knife with brutal accuracy, she slashed its throat open before booting it away with her foot. Lala shot another with her shotgun, pausing to thumb more shells into her weapon.
A teen girl slipped through the soldier’s ranks and launched herself at Chas, her face contorted in a snarl. Chas stabbed at her temple but missed, and the girl grabbed her arms with clawed hands and squeezed. Chas hissed in pain as cruel nails dug into her flesh, and she pulled back to get away from the teeth that snapped at her throat.
It was useless.
The crazed girl was too strong for Chas to break free. Changing tactics, she slammed her forehead into the infected’s nose. Cartilage crunched and blood spurted from the wound as the zombie girl’s nose broke.
Chas turned her head away, trying to avoid the fine droplets of blood that misted the air. In the next moment, the zombie was yanked away, and Chas looked back to see Dean smashing its head into the ground with his bat.
“Thanks!” she yelled.
He shot her a grin and turned back to the fight. Vanessa warded off yet another infected with her bat, while Vivienne hacked and slashed at the zombies like a mad woman, backed up by Lala who didn’t waste a single shell.
Above the boom of Lala’s shotgun, Chas detected a different sound. The rhythmic whap of rotor blades in the distance. She twisted her neck and spotted two helicopters flying toward them over the building tops. Her heart leaped in her chest. “The evac is here. The choppers are here!”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Lala cried, reloading once more.
A barrage of fire opened up from the front-most helicopter, and the infected were cut down by the dozens. They fell like wheat before a scythe, reaped by the gunner in the chopper.
The second helicopter moved in for a landing, its whirling rotors causing gusts of wind to buffet the survivors waiting on the roof. Their hair swirled in the air, and dust stung their eyes.
Vivienne turned to Chas. “Get on the chopper, now. You and your friends.”
“Not without you,” Chas cried.
Vivienne’s face grew stiff with anger. “Get on the damn chopper now, or I will tan your hide so you won’t sit for a month. You hear me?”
Chas shook her head, numb. Now that the moment had come, she refused to leave her mother, or Lala, alone for even a second.
With a frustrated growl, Vivienne yanked the shotgun from Lala’s hands. “Get her and the others to safety. I’ll cover you.”
Lala nodded, and she grabbed Chas by the arm and hauled her to the chopper. “Come, Chas. It’s time to go. Dean, Vanessa, follow me.”
“Lala, no,” Chas protested. “What about Mom?”
“Chas, stop fighting me,” Lala cried, forcing Chas into the waiting helicopter where a set of rough hands grabbed her and buckled her into the nearest seat.
Vanessa and Dean quickly followed while Lala remained on the ground and helped others to climb in as well. The seats filled rapidly, and Chas realized with horror there wasn’t enough space for everyone.
The co-pilot who’d buckled Chas in, signaled to the pilot, “Go, go go. We’re at full capacity.”
The whine of the turbine intensified as the pilot took off despite Chas’ cries as she reached for her grandmother who still remained standing on the ground. “Lala, no!”
For a second, their eyes met, but Lala was lost to Chas as they lifted into the air. The chopper swung to the side, and the co-pilot took up a position by the open door where he opened fire on the infected below.
The other helicopter took its chance to land, and Chas nearly sobbed with relief when she spotted Alvarez herding both her grandmother and mother into its confines.
Her relief quickly changed to horror when she noticed how close the infected were to swarming the chopper. Her eyes landed on Justin, and even at that distance, she could see the determination on his face as he tackled the oncoming horde with everything he had. He emptied his rifle and sidearm, lobbed a couple of grenades, and even resorted to punching them with his fists.
His efforts kept the zombies at bay long enough for the last civilians to board, and the soldiers followed suit. Alvarez waited until his remaining men were in the chopper before jumping in himself. Holding onto the side, he stretched out his hand to Justin. “Come on! Jump!”
Justin leaped backward with his hand outstretched, but at the last minute, an infected grabbed him by the waist. He was pulled down into the swirling press of bodies, his pale freckled face the last thing Chas saw of him.
***
“Chas, please. Answer me. Are you all right?” Julia cried, her voice penetrating the fog around Chas’ mind.
Her warm hands pulled Chas back to the present, and the faint smell of her perfume filled Chas’ nostrils until the vision was banished, taking its horror with it into the past where it belonged.
Chas blinked away the tears that clogged her lashes. “I’m okay now. It’s gone. The screams are gone.”
“Oh, my dear. It must’ve been horrible,” Julia exclaimed.
Chas nodded. “It was. They died that night. Justin and the others. They died because I lied to them. It’s my fault.”
“You can’t believe that. I’m sure it’s not your fault, sweetie. Whatever happened it wasn’t your fault, you must believe me.”
Chas looked at her. “How do you know?”
Julia gripped both of Chas’ hands with her own. “Because I know that you’re not capable of something evil or bad.”
“You weren’t even there,” Chas said.
“Then tell me about it,” Julia said taking Chas by the hand and leading her to a sheltered corner beneath a big oak tree. They sat down, and she handed over a bottle of water. “Here, drink this.”
Chas took a deep shallow before daring to look Julia in the eyes. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Just start at the beginning or whatever you feel comfortable with, okay?”
Chas took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Julia about the night on top of the hospital’s roof. When she was finished, she looked down and said, “So you see? It really was my fault.”
Julia was quiet for a time before she replied. “I understand why you feel guilty, Chas, but there is something you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“Every soldier takes an oath to protect his country and the people within it. Those same soldiers know exactly what they’re doing and what might happen during their service. Those men and women gladly gave their lives for you and the other survivors in that hospital knowing that they were serving their country and their fellow man.”
Chas nodded slowly. “I know that.”
“Yes, but do you understand it?
“I think so.”
“What I’m really trying to say, is that you should stop mourning their deaths and accept the gift of life they gave you. That way, you can truly honor their sacrifice. Their lives will have meaning through you.”
“They’ll live on through me?”
“That’s right.”
Chas thought about it for a time. “I think I get it now, Julia. By not living a good life, their sacrifice is wasted.”
“Exactly,” Julia said.
Chas chewed it over for a bit, fitting the puzzle pieces together to form a new picture, one where she thanked the soldiers for her life instead of allowing guilt to crush her into the ground. “Thank you for helping me back there. I really appreciate it.” Chas shuddered. “If my mum had seen that episode, I would never have heard the end of it.”
Julia smiled. “Don’t worry, Chasity. It will be our little secret.”
At that moment the church doors opened, and people spilled out into the open talking and laughing like they usually did. Chas jumped up, and after giving Julia a quick hug, she ran to her mother and Lala.
“Where have you been?” her mother asked. “You just disappeared all of a sudden.”
“I’m sorry Mother. I felt ill and needed to get
fresh air.”
“I knew something was wrong,” Vivienne said. “Maybe you should come with me to the infirmary.”
“No, I’m all right now, Mom. I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“Tired?”
“She’s been working hard, lately. Volunteering and all that,” Lala said.
“Has she?” Vivienne’s eyebrows roused. “In that case, be sure to get a proper night’s sleep, Chasity, and don’t overdo it. Your schoolwork is more important.”
“I will, Mom.”
“Promise me,” Vivienne insisted, and Chas duly promised, though she hardly heard a word her mother was saying.
“Who was the girl that helped you?” Lala asked.
“Her name is Julia. She’s with the army.”
“I’d like to meet her and say thank you,” Lala replied.
“Oh, she’s right here, Lala,” Chas said, turning to point out Julia, but her new friend was gone.
“Maybe next time,” Lala said. “For now, why don’t you go play with your friends? You have the afternoon off, after all.”
“Okay, Lala. See you later,” Chas said, rushing off to find her group. As she walked away, she suddenly realized something. The guilt that have been crushing the life out of her all along…was gone.
Chapter 6
That night Chas and her friends snuck out of the dorms once more to break into major Brown’s personal stash. This time, they took Emily with them, and afterward, they all sat on the roof of the kitchens and watched the sun come up in the distance.
It was a beautiful sight, the sky painted in all the rich colors of the sunrise against the backdrop of the magnificent Red Rock mountains, and Chas relished the chance to admire such beauty undisturbed.
More than that, she felt good, much more like her old self now that Julia had helped her resolve her guilt. It was still there, hovering in the background. One conversation couldn’t completely erase it, but now it was manageable. She could control it.
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