by Ryan Casey
“We need to split up,” he said.
Everyone turned to him as the echoing groans of the dead got nearer, piling their way down the road.
“What?” Anna said.
“If we split up then at best we can get around them and meet at the other side.”
“The other side?” Anna said, exasperated. “Have you seen how many of these things there are?”
“Well there’s the other option,” Riley said.
“The other option,” Anna said. “And that is?”
He swallowed a lump in his throat and prepared to offer an option that, all things considered, actually scared him quite a bit too. “A small group of us goes around the side of them. Let’s say the right side. We… we draw them towards us. We open up a path down this road. And then we regroup here and we make our way through.”
Silence followed. Silence, that was only broken by the rapidly increasing echo of groans and the dragging of heavy footsteps in their direction.
“You’re asking us to risk killing ourselves,” Anna said. “You do understand that, right?”
Riley nodded. “It’s the only way I—”
“I mean we could just try going around them. Wouldn’t that make more sense?”
Riley looked down the road at the mass of creatures heading their way. He could tell from here that there was only so far either side they could go, because eventually, the space cut back into the road, which wouldn’t leave them with much time at all.
“We could try. But I don’t think it’d—”
“Riley’s right,” Melissa said.
Riley looked at Melissa. He hadn’t been expecting to have her unanimous approval. Sure, they agreed on a lot of things. But this was something he knew would be divisive. This was something he knew would cause trouble.
“The way I see it, we have no other option than split up and try and go around the side of the dead. If we all go one way, they’ll all be onto us. If we go back, then we’re risking delaying our entire journey by days. But if we take a chance… we might do this. We might actually do this.”
She smiled at Riley. And for a moment, Riley thought he saw that look of suicidal determination in her face. He hoped that’s not what this was. He hoped Melissa’s demons were staying well away from her decision making at this point.
But he was glad she had his back.
“So how’re we going to do this?”
He turned and he saw it was Ricky who had spoken.
Ricky looked reluctant. But he too seemed to have Riley’s back. It was only when Riley looked at Anna that he saw she was still unsure; she was still on the fence.
“We have to be quick about it,” Riley said. “We… we can’t stand here deliberating any longer. What’s it going to be?”
Anna shrugged. “Do I have a choice?”
Riley nodded. Then he cleared his throat, feeling that streak of leadership growing in his body again; that determination to lead the way building up and returning to its former strength. “Okay. We just need a few of us to lure them away. To clear the road. At least that way… Carly and Kesha can make their way down the road. And Cody. Because they’re the most important people here. Right?”
He looked at Carly and Kesha when he said this. And then he looked at Anna, and at Cody. And although he felt guilty about it, it was just the truth. Carly and Kesha mattered more in the grand scheme of things than anybody. And Cody, well. Cody had the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. He was going to be vital to them getting to where they wanted to go.
“So what’s it going to be?” Anna asked.
Riley swallowed a lump in his throat. “You… you should stay here. Stay here with Carly and Kesha. And Cody… you stay here too.”
He looked at Melissa and Ricky then.
“We’ll go off to the right. We’ll lure the dead in our direction. Anna and Cody will fight off any small stragglers who stray from the wider group. And—and that’ll clear the road. It’ll clear it for Carly to take Kesha to safety. And… and hopefully someone else will be there with her.”
Riley saw the look in Carly’s eyes. The building tears. The sense of disappointment and fear that she was being left all over again.
“We’re not leaving you,” Riley said. “I’m not turning my back on you. I promise. This… this is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. You just have to trust me and watch Kesha. Okay?”
There was a pause. A moment of hesitation, where Carly didn’t say a word or make her standing clear.
Then she let out a shaky breath and nodded. “I trust you.”
Riley felt filled with relief. He nodded, tensed his fists and looked at Anna and Cody. “You’ll watch her. You’ll make sure she’s safe, no matter what.”
“You know I will,” Anna said, voice quivering. “Until my dying day.”
Riley nodded. And at that moment, as he stood at a crossroads, the dead approaching, he knew that things could change. He knew that everything could fall apart. He knew everything he’d held so dear could be on the verge of disappearing again, once and for all.
He wanted to go over to Anna and kiss her. To tell Kesha how precious she was.
But in the end, all he could bring himself to do was look Cody in the eye. “You take care of them,” he said.
Cody nodded and raised his rifle, which Riley knew now was empty, but still a damned good melee weapon. “I’ll do what I can. Goodbye, Riley.”
Riley turned around. He looked at Melissa and Ricky.
“You ready?” he asked.
Ricky kicked a stone and snorted. “No. But it doesn’t look like you’ve left us with much of a choice, does it?”
Riley smirked. And as he stood there with Melissa and Ricky, there was a pause. A pause where it felt like time stood still. Where it seemed like nothing was going to change. Like nothing would have to change.
He looked at Anna, Carly, Kesha and Cody once more.
He went to say something.
Then, he looked away and with Melissa and Ricky by his side, he ran.
As they ran, Riley couldn’t turn back. He couldn’t bring himself to look at any of the people he’d left behind, not again.
But all he could hear were Cody’s words.
“Goodbye, Riley.”
He hoped it wasn’t goodbye.
He really hoped it wasn’t.
But he couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling that things were about to change…
When he looked back, the rest of his people were out of view.
He was alone in the wilderness with Melissa and Ricky now.
One impossible task in mind, as the mass of the dead got closer and closer to their prey.
CHAPTER FIVE
Riley heard the creatures’ groans echoing beside him.
It was getting warmer and warmer as he waded along the side of the wide road. Ricky and Melissa were either side of him. They were running up a hill, so they’d have a higher vantage point. From there they’d be able to look down at the creatures and get their attention.
And after that…
Well.
They’d have to find their way back to the rest of their people.
It wasn’t a foolproof plan. Make no mistake about that.
But it was the best plan they had.
“Does it look like they’re following us to you?” Ricky asked.
Riley looked through the thin lining of trees at the swathes of creatures. He couldn’t deny he felt fear deep in his body when he looked at them. Such a mass of undead. So many of them, all confined to this one spot. It was terrifying.
But the groans were getting closer to their direction. And a few of the creatures were breaking from the bulk of the group, making their way towards Riley, Melissa and Ricky.
“Just keep faith.”
“Isn’t it about time we started, like, making a racket or something?” Ricky said.
“We will,” Riley said. “We just… we just have to get to the right position. We have to t
ime it just right.”
They kept on going. And the further Riley, Melissa and Ricky got, the more concerned Riley grew about the creatures. Because they were still heading in the direction of Kesha, Carly, Anna and Cody. As much as they’d made themselves visible on the higher ground, the undead just didn’t seem interested for the most part.
What if their plan failed?
What if it collapsed completely?
“We need to get a move on,” Riley said, noticing a cabin to his right. “The sooner we get to that hill, the better.”
“Argh!”
He heard the gasp.
And then he heard the thump.
He looked around.
Ricky had cocked over. His ankle was twisted in an unnatural position. He was clutching at it, wincing, trying to move it but failing every time he did.
“Shit,” Melissa said, going over to Ricky’s aid. “Riley, give me a hand here.”
Riley looked at the creatures and his stomach turned. Ricky had really yelped when he’d fallen, in a way sure to attract the attention of more of them.
But not enough of them.
The bulk of them were still powering on.
“Riley!” Melissa said. “A hand, please.”
Riley managed to drag himself up and over to Ricky. He crouched by his side. “Can you walk on it?”
“Walk on it?” Ricky said. “I can’t even bloody shake the thing.”
Riley saw the pain on Ricky’s face, the bloodshot look in his wide eyes, and he knew that this was bad.
And then he looked back at the undead, and he saw another option opening up. The only option he had.
“You get Ricky to the cabin,” Riley said.
“Wait, what?”
“You heard what I said. It’s going to be too late to get him back to where Cody and the others are. It’s going to be too risky continuing on while his foot’s dodgy. So you get into that cabin and you hide, and you get ready.”
Melissa frowned, like she didn’t understand what Riley was suggesting. “Riley? What… what are you saying?”
He swallowed a lump in his throat and this time, he felt like the one with a death wish. “Doing what I have to do.”
And then he turned around and ran in the direction of the mass of the undead.
He regretted it right away. He questioned whether he’d made the right call. He wondered whether he had been stupid. Because this wasn’t a plan. This was ridiculous. Sheer ridiculous.
But fuck it. Ridiculous had worked for him before.
Just had to hope he didn’t bloody trip again.
He saw the mass of creatures getting closer as he powered towards them. Some of them were looking in his direction, but the bulk of them were still looking ahead. And he thought about backing out of this. Running away, while he still could.
But Kesha.
Kesha, Carly, Anna, Cody.
This was for them.
This sacrifice was for them.
So he took a deep breath, cupped his hands around his mouth, and he screamed.
He wasn’t sure how long he screamed. He wasn’t even exactly in tune with what he’d screamed. He just let out the biggest noise he could, hoping that it would resonate amongst the massive crowd of undead.
When he opened his eyes, he saw something.
The creatures had stopped stumbling. All of them had stopped, like in a scene out of a horror movie, which it kind of was, really.
All of them were looking at Riley, as his scream continued to echo.
All of them looked torn as their hive mind tried to figure out where the easiest meal was.
He looked into their eyes and the hairs on his arms stood on end as he remembered what he’d learned. These weren’t dead. Not totally. These were people. There were conscious people behind these glassy eyes. Men. Women. Children.
He looked at them and he prayed they’d come for him. He prayed they’d show mercy on the others.
And then, right on cue, they started walking in his direction.
He staggered back, in disbelief initially. Because they weren’t just walking. Not anymore. They were power-walking. Hell, some of them were even jogging.
He found himself smiling, although it was a smile filled with fear. Because he knew he’d got their attention. He knew he’d distracted them. He knew that in no time, the road would be clear.
Just one problem.
They had scent of a meal. They weren’t going to give up on it.
He turned around and he ran as fast as he could into the taller grass, past the trees, and towards the cabin.
His heart pounded as he ran. There was no sight of Melissa or Ricky. He hoped she’d got him to the cabin.
And then he realised he had to slow down, because he wanted to keep the undead on his trail.
He had to use himself as bait.
Which meant they had to see where he was going…
He stopped. Let the undead catch up a little. All of them shoving to get to the front of the line, all of them snarling, desperate for a meal.
And then he kept on going, the cabin now in sight.
When he got to it, he stopped at the door, heart racing. The echoing of the creatures’ snarls was so close. The smell of rot was so strong. And their footsteps… their footsteps were pounding more and more on the ground.
“Well,” Riley said, holding the cabin door. “Here goes nothing.”
He pulled the door open.
Melissa and Ricky were inside.
He slammed the door shut. Then he walked over to the window, which was covered in dust, and peeked out of it.
“What’ve you done?” Melissa said.
Riley swallowed a lump in his throat as the first of the creatures emerged from behind the trees.
And then another.
And another.
And another…
“I think I’ve saved the lives of the rest of our group,” he said.
And then when the creature groaned and made eye contact with him, he ducked out of the window and looked back at Ricky and Melissa.
“Minor problem. I think I might’ve killed us in the process.”
CHAPTER SIX
Anna held her breath and watched the infected stagger closer to her position.
She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting to happen, really. She’d hoped that Riley, Melissa and Ricky would find a way to distract and divert their attention, but of course that was easier said than done. There was an absolute mass of the infected. Hundreds of them at the very least.
She didn’t know how they’d all got into the position they were in. She didn’t know what had brought them together. She didn’t know how they worked, whether they cooperated in some way, mentally. There was a lot she was learning about the infection—or the parasite, or whatever it was. A lot of things that she’d previously had no clue about.
But that didn’t matter right now.
What mattered was the sea of the infected rapidly making ground on their position, and what they were going to do about it.
“Should I take Kesha somewhere safe?”
When Anna heard Carly’s voice, her stomach sank. After all, she didn’t want to have to make a decision that might jeopardise hers and Kesha’s lives. But at the same time, she didn’t want Carly and Kesha standing here either, witnessing the events that were unfolding.
She was caught between a rock and a hard place, and she didn’t know what best to do about it.
Anna swallowed a lump in her throat as she watched the infected get closer. Cody was standing beside her, totally still, totally focused. He looked ready for whatever was about to happen.
“Don’t you think we should do something?” Anna asked.
Cody didn’t flinch. He just kept on staring ahead, rifle in hand.
“I mean… they’re coming. It doesn’t look like Riley’s been able to distract them.”
“He’ll find a way,” Cody said.
“And if he doesn’t?”
Cody looked at Anna then. And in his eyes, beneath everything, she saw something that filled her with a strange sense of hope.
She saw absolute certainty. Certainty that Riley could get the job done. That Ricky and Melissa were going to pull through, and that they were all going to succeed here.
“Nobody’s dying today,” Cody said.
Anna waited a while longer. She couldn’t see Riley and the others anymore. She started to wonder what could’ve happened. All the things that could’ve unfolded. They could’ve been caught by an enemy group. Or they could’ve run into another bunch of infected and been bitten.
All these possibilities swirling around her head, and yet none of them could be proven.
And despite all of this, the undeniable truth was that the dead were still coming.
Anna wanted to bite her tongue and hold her ground. But she’d done that too many times in the past. She’d stood around and watched as chaos unfolded and time and time again, it’d held her back.
So this time, she was going to do something about it.
“I’m going after them,” Anna said.
Cody frowned. “What?”
“There’s something wrong. Something must’ve happened. You… you should stay here. Watch Carly and Kesha.”
“I can’t fight off the stray infected on my own, Anna,” Cody said.
“I’ll be back before you have to deal with that problem.”
“And if you’re not?”
Anna heard the desperation in Cody’s voice and she felt torn. On one hand, she knew she was wrong to abandon Cody. She knew she should stay by his side, as was part of the plan.
But on the other hand…
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a scream.
She frowned. She looked at Cody with bemusement, and he looked back at her.
Then they both looked out at the sea of infected.
And right there on the edge of this crowd, Anna saw him.
“Riley,” she said.
Just as soon as she’d noticed Riley, she saw something else.
Something significant.
The infected were turning away from her, Cody, Carly and Kesha.
They were swarming towards Riley at a rapid speed.
Anna felt a strong sense of relief at first. But that relief was soon replaced by tension. A tension for Riley. She wanted him to be okay. She wanted to be sure he was safe.