Altered

by Kimberly Montague

  I kept my attention focused on the figure I thought was most likely to be Dev, fighting something shaped like Jay. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shorter, but heavier figure drop to the ground and knew Donald must be in trouble. I tried to multitask and see both scenes at once, but I heard Jay cussing at Dev from the opposite end of the clearing and couldn't stop from giving my whole attention to their fight.

  Dev's larger body easily stood out against the backdrop of the blood-red sky while Jay's thinner arms were reached out toward Dev in some claw-like zombie pose. I shook again at the fence and kicked at it, wanting to get to Dev, but it barely moved an inch. The high-pitched snarling sounds they made were inhuman and something I was sure would haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life.

  Dev was punching Jay over and over and over again. A very small part of me felt bad for Jay—felt upset and sad for the Jay I had loved, and I nearly shouted for Dev to stop. I didn't want Jay to die. I wanted him cured. I wanted him to go back to who he had been before. He was a good guy. It just didn't make sense for him to be this monster.

  As my brain was having this internal battle, reality punched me right in the gut. I watched, almost in slow motion as Jay got up from what had looked like the final blow and threw Dev a good fifty feet into the air. Dev landed awkwardly on a large boulder. Jay was on him in seconds, reaching up to yank a branch right out of the tree above him before bringing it down onto Dev. I thought I would scream or cry or do something, but all I could do was just stand there and stare. I couldn't move. It felt all wrong and fake—so incredibly fake. It all just felt so off. He had to get up. He had to move again… but he didn't.

  I tried to tear my eyes from his body—to see what Jay was doing in order to protect myself—but I couldn't get myself to care in that moment. I was just in shock. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. Finally though, Jay's angry, freakishly horrific eyes came into my line of vision, and I realized he was coming for me.

  It suddenly occurred to me how stupid I was to bring these people with me. I put them all in more danger than if they had just stayed alone. I turned to them. "Run! Run into the mine! Now!"

  Gary tried to push his way in front of me, but I wouldn't let him. Jay—his eyes were just something from another world. I was sure they were fake and that someone would jump out at any minute and shout "Gotchya!" He was so evil it didn't seem possible. I didn't really believe much in religion, but the look in Jay's eyes was enough to make anyone in the world believe in the existence and need for hell. He was so dirty and thin, like all the fat had been sucked from his face. I flashed back to the images of Raymond Acacia and our drive to Bishop just a few months earlier. How had our world gone from that carefree ride where he teased me and laughed about creepy-guy's face to what he did to Samantha, what he did to D—

  When he ripped open the gate in literally the blink of an eye like it was made of toothpicks, I felt my knees shaking. His lips were curled in this smirk that made me want to puke all over him. Is this what he looked like when he killed Samantha?

  "I'm gonna to rip your damn head off before he even has the chance to get to you."

  My brain was slow, but his words finally sunk in. He hadn't killed Dev. Relief flooded my body as he lunged forward. I had just barely enough presence of mind to lunge back. His claw-like fingers barely grazed the fabric of my shirt. Gary jumped between us trying, to shove Jay away from me, but Jay just laughed this cackling, hyena-like laugh that sent chills down my spine. The way he threw Gary up against the side of the mine entrance made me cringe in something stronger than terror, but I don't think the word exists. When he turned back to me, I chickened out and just started hoping it would be quick. Images of what he must have done to Samantha and his parents—brutally murdering them and mutilating their bodies—flashed through my mind as I closed my eyes and waited.

  The pain is what knocked me from myself. I just kept my eyes shut tight, which may seem stupid, but it wasn't like I had any freaking hope of outrunning him. He was blocking my way out, and Gary, who was a football jock, couldn't even push past him. So what was I going to do? Flash him my chest and hope he was distracted? Yeah, not likely to help much. So when his hand grabbed my wrist, and I felt the pain, I thought—oh, I don't know what I thought. He literally dragged me away from the mine entrance by yanking my body harshly in an angle not humanly possible, which must be where the snapping noise came from.

  The pain that followed from continuing to be pulled by the wrist he just snapped made me scream and cry out, but no one came to help me. I tried to be brave, but he just kept laughing, and I knew there was none of my Jay left. We reached a large tree and he stopped, bending over me.

  "You bitch! You think this hurts?" He twisted my wrist backward, and I screamed even louder than I had before. "Wait until I rip it off. Why don't you cry out for him, slut? Cry out for your precious captain."

  When I shook my head, he twisted my arm back more, but someone was looking down on me in that moment because the pain seemed to top off there. I didn't want Dev to come. Jay would kill him then kill me. Maybe if I could keep him busy, Dev would have time to get a plan together or something.

  Through panting breaths, I managed to gather my courage. "Go—to—hell! You aren't half… the man Dev is."

  His fingers threading around my neck was the first clue that I had maybe done too good of a job pissing him off, but when he lifted me up off the ground by my neck, there was no denying it. Between his strength and how high up I was, I only felt pain for a few seconds before everything went swirly and black.

  I liked the swirly and black. It was peaceful there. Under better circumstances, I might like to go back and visit. As it was, I only got to live in the pain-free peace for a few moments before the world came back to join in the "Let's Kick the Crap Out of Evie" fun fest. The same grunting fight sounds flooded my ears, but were joined now with cussing. I recognized Jay's voice immediately, and my eyes opened wide, bringing the pain in my wrist and my neck to my attention. I really wanted to close my eyes and black out again, but Dev's voice rang clearly through every cell in my brain.

  "Not—getting—anywhere—near—her!"

  Sitting up quickly, everything spun round and round, making me want to puke, but I managed to start crawling in Dev's direction. After just a few drags of my body, Kim appeared next to me on the ground shaking her head.

  "Stay where you are, you can't help them, you can barely move." She was hobbling quite a bit herself, but she still held the shotgun.

  Jay and Dev were rolling around on the ground exchanging punches that no human body on the face of the planet had any right to survive. The sound alone made me wince each time a fist connected with a body. When Dev landed twenty feet from me, spitting out blood, I couldn't handle it. I couldn't sit back and watch Jay beat the crap out of him.

  "Sh—" it took me a couple tries to clear my throat enough to use my voice again. Thank goodness Jay hadn't wanted to actually kill me yet, or he could have snapped my neck without even trying. I looked up at Kim. "Shoot him." I nearly pulled the freaking gun out of her hands and did it myself, but my wrist was in no shape to support a shotgun.

  "They're too close. I might hit Dev. And I only have one shot left. I have to be sure." I would have argued or been angry, but her tone was so pleading—so desperate—that I knew she wanted to help Dev as much as I did.

  If only she had killed him when he was walking to the fence alone… alone… we had to get him alone. I looked at her again. "Get it ready. J-Jay," I taunted as loudly as I could. "Why are you bothering with him… I thought it was me you wanted to kill? Here I am?"

  He looked up in my direction, but went back to lunging at Dev, punching him up into his stomach and pushing him into the air a few feet.

  "I'm the one that slept around. Why you attacking him? He's just the latest guy. There were a bunch in the Bay Area."

  He paused in punching Dev, but Dev was still trying to fight back with his hand clamped around J
ay's throat. Somehow, I got up and started stumbling away from him.

  "You remember Michael, don't you? You were too drunk at that party at the beginning of the year, but yeah, it was a nice night for both of us."

  I coughed, and he kicked and punched at Dev a few times before Dev dropped to the ground grunting. I did my best to keep my face as neutral as possible, but I really wanted to cry and cry. Jay looked so much more deadly. Survival instincts kicked in as I found no difficulties in backing away from him now. He was just starting to charge in my direction when I caught Kim raising the gun out of the corner of my eye. I closed my eyes in that moment, knowing it was all over and breathed a sigh of relief.

  It took me several breaths before I could open my eyes, which is when I had an epiphany. You know that saying old people like to tell you about not counting your chickens before they've hatched, it's true.

  Kim hit him square in the chest, but it was like it did next to nothing. Maybe it slowed him down a tiny bit, but he came at me with more force than he had before, and I knew this was it. When his hands touched the skin on my neck, I was almost relieved to have it all be over. My parents' faces flashed in my mind, smiling warmly and encouragingly at me like some kind of "Mirror of Erised" moment.

  I heard Dev yell "no" and looked at him one last time before closing my eyes to it all.

  But death never came. What did come were soldiers and gunfire, and Jay's bleeding and crumpled body riddled with so many shots I had lost count jumping at the sound of every single bullet pounding into his body. Dev rushed to me and wrapped his arms around me kissing me over and over again.

  "I love you, Evie. Just remember—"

  "Dev—"

  A harsh voice yelled. "Everyone on the ground, now! Hands behind your heads!" Their instructions were clear, but I couldn't. I just couldn't let go.

  Dev's instructions were much more gentle. "Let go, baby."

  I shook my head, my entire body shaking.

  "She's not infected!" Dev yelled. "She's in shock! Please, let me just calm her down! Don't shoot!"

  A ring of soldiers surrounded us with guns and lasers trained on us. Dev's forehead had so many red lights on it that I could feel my body shaking even more—if that was possible. The sun had finished setting, and the once blood red sky had turned even darker. I could see several soldiers pull the shape of a resisting body up onto its knees before the repetition of shots rang out so loud I thought the sound would never leave my mind. The body slumped to the ground. They killed him. Or her? Where was Kim? Where was Kim! I didn't see her anywhere. Where did she go?

  End of the Line

  "They aren't murderers!" I screamed at the top of my lungs not paying any attention to the fiery flames burning in my throat. "Don't hurt them. They saved us all. Please listen! They aren't the same. Please!"

  "Step away from her." a soldier to my right ordered.

  "Get down on the ground!" a soldier on my left yelled.

  "Let me at least say goodbye to her." Dev begged. "Please, just let me say goodbye." His voice cracked making me grab onto him tighter.

  He wrapped his arms around me. I tried to memorize the way it felt to be in his arms—the strength and love I felt. I tried so hard not to just cry and cry, but I couldn’t keep the tears from streaming rapidly down my face. Wrapping my arms around him, the pain and fear of losing him seemed to be a natural anesthetic for the pain in my wrist and neck. Part of me thought if I could just hold onto him as tightly as possible, he wouldn’t be taken from me. I kept rearranging my grasp on him with my good arm—trying to pull him closer, trying to hide him or make it clearer to everyone around us that I wouldn’t let go.

  "I love you, Evie. I love you. Don’t forget that, baby."

  My sobs came out in bursts. On quick, forced breaths I managed to get the words, "It’s not fair," beyond the massive lump in my throat. "We’ve been through… so much… I—I—"

  "I know, baby." His voice broke, and I could hear the tears strangling his words now too. "I don’t want to let you go."

  My heart-broken, gut-wrenching sobs mingled with his ragged breathing as his shoulders shook. He ran one hand roughly through my hair, and the other clung painfully to my back.

  I wanted to tell him how much I loved him, and that I wouldn’t have survived without him—wouldn’t have wanted to survive without him. I wanted to say everything that I knew I would never again have the chance to say, but all I could do was hold onto him with all the strength in my body as I died inside. How do you even say goodbye to someone who has so profoundly affected you? How do you separate yourself from someone you know you were born to be with? Fairy-tale stuff—that’s what Gary had called this connection Dev and I shared, but where was the fairy-tale ending? This was no fairy-tale. This was some horrific nightmare that would haunt me every single day for the rest of my life.

  I found the only word coming out on each sob now was, "Why?" Through the illness and death of my uncle, my grandpa, then my aunt, even as I grieved for the two people I loved most in the world, my mom and dad, I’d never really been angry, hurt, or confused about why this was happening to me. I accepted it and did my best to move on. But enough was enough! Why was Dev being taken from me? Why would fate let me know him, know this bond we shared, know this love that I could feel for someone, know everything that he would bring to my life only so that they could take it all away?

  "Why... why… why?" I exhaled with each desperate breath.

  "Shhh." Dev’s voice was firmer, more controlled, causing me to open my eyes and see that the soldiers had moved closer to us. "Come on, now." Dev’s grasp on me loosened, and I started crying harder, shaking my head. He was trying to let me go, but I couldn't let him.

  "No—no, please Dev. I don’t want to be without you, please." I looked up at the soldier nearest to me, begging him with my eyes, begging him through all the tears and love I could show on my face. "Please don’t—"

  "Evie." I felt Dev draw in a rough breath. "Evie, you have to let me go."

  "No… no!" I screamed loud enough for the whole desert to hear.

  "I love you. I'll always love you, but you have to let me go, baby… Please Evie, you have to let me go."

  The soldiers moved closer, and I felt hands on my arms much more gentle than I thought they'd be. But I couldn't let go. All I could do was cry so hard my chest hurt and shake my head.

  "Hold on," Dev said, "just let me. Just hold on a sec." The hands on my arms dropped, and I felt Dev pull me away from him. "Look at me, Evie. You are so strong. Don't stop now when I need you most. I love you. You remember that" The conviction in his voice burned deep into me, but I dug my fingers into his arms, not wanting to let go. He kissed my forehead and pressed his lips so tightly against mine that I could feel his lips quivering. He pulled back, his eyes never leaving mine. "Take her," he said quietly, and I held on with all I had left in me. "Take her now."

  I felt gentle arms around my waist, pulling me away from him as stronger hands tried to pries the fingers of my non-broken arm off Dev's. I fought as much as I could, but they were too strong.

  The second my fingers left his skin, I collapsed onto the ground, not even able to shed tears anymore, just shaking and burning, feeling so twisted and tortured inside. Dev struggled against them, but only so that he could keep eye contact with me as they dragged him away. I didn't know where they were taking him except that it was in the direction they took the others, and I couldn't do anything to stop them from killing him. I couldn't protect him or get in the way; they'd made sure of that. I was weak and powerless. I heard more shots and knew it had to be over.

  "I'm so sorry, Evie," the soldier said to me compassionately as he sat me on the ground. "I know it's tough to understand, you're so young, but we have orders."

  "Orders," I huffed. "I know what orders are. My brother is Special Forces, but he can see when someone isn't a murderer. He can see when—when—" my voice caught in the back of my throat, and I couldn't speak anymore
. I didn't even want to.

  "I know." The soldier's voice was firm. "Kenley's a good guy."

  I nodded, still staring in the direction they had taken Dev when it hit me. "Kenley? How did you—"

  The soldier kneeled on the ground next to me and took my broken wrist in his hands. "He should be here in a minute. Now, let me look at this wrist."

  "He? He? Harm?" Before the word even left my lips, I started sobbing uncontrollably again.

  "Shh, just be still for a minute."

  He poked at my wrist, but the second I saw a soldier come running in my direction, I found the strength to shove myself up off the ground and at Harm. Collapsing into him, he picked me up and carried me for I don't know how long as I cried into his shoulder. I think he was saying soothing things, but I was crying too hard to notice. I wanted to ask about Gary and Sonya and the others and D—I just couldn't pull it together long enough to even string together a complete thought.

  In the back of some military medical vehicle, Harm was about the closest to crying that I had ever seen him in my life. He was looking at the bones sticking out of my wrist, at my neck, which I was pretty sure looked gruesome and glancing every now and then in my eyes.

  He ran his hand down the back of my head, smoothing my hair. "God, Evie, I—just—I can't even look in your eyes. Tell me how I can make that go away. I can't stand you being in this much pain."

  They were filling my IV with a lovely liquid of pain-free numbness as Harm looked down at me. He explained that Gary had been brought to the vehicle a few moments earlier with a slight concussion, but nothing that required hospitalization, which was good since the hospital in Bishop had been destroyed by "infecteds."