Flynn shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
Serj stepped forward. “Hopefully he got out before she made it to the monitor room. Does anyone know you’ve come out?”
Another shake of his head.
“Okay,” Vicky said. “We’ve not told Scoop because it won’t achieve anything. Meisha’s been bitten. If Scoop knew about that, she’d want to get her out and we can’t afford to do that.”
“She’s in the pen?”
Vicky looked at Serj, who seemed to be dividing his time between the argument in front of him and their surroundings. “Yes, but it’s not her daughter anymore. What’s trapped in that pen is a twisted version of the beautiful girl we all knew. She’s no more than a poisoned shell now. A rotting mess that doesn’t even know she’s Meisha.”
Flynn paused and stared at Vicky. “And what was the other good reason for you lying?”
Vicky said, “You.”
“Me?”
Tension gripped Vicky’s shoulders and lifted them to her neck. “Look, you’re not going to like this.”
“Just spit it out.”
“I wanted to protect you.”
A shake of his head and Flynn pulled his hair from his eyes. The sides of his jaw tensed and relaxed as he glared at her. “When will you let me grow up?”
The genesis of tears itched Vicky’s eyes. Her vision blurred. “I’m not sure I ever can. Whenever I want to let you take more responsibility, I think of your mum and dad. I think about what they would do and how they would feel if my decision led to your death.”
“You can’t protect me forever, Vicky.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try.”
“I’m coming with you,” Flynn said and he walked off towards the pen.
Vicky caught up with him. “No, you’re not. You need to go back to Home.”
“If you don’t let me come with you, I’ll go back to the community, and I’ll tell them everything.”
Vicky looked at Flynn and then at Serj, who had also fallen into stride with them. What could she do? A deep sigh and she shook her head at him. “You listen to what we say, okay?”
Flynn nodded.
“I’m being serious. I don’t want any of your jumped-up teenager bullshit.”
Flynn nodded again.
“Right.”
The sound of the diseased had already grown louder for the few metres they moved forward. Maybe they’d been resting before. Maybe they’d heard the argument and had grown agitated. Whatever the reason, they seemed riled.
“I’m still not happy about this,” Vicky said as they crested the hill just before the pen. “And you’re not coming to Moira’s community with me. You and Serj can wait here while I …” She didn’t finish her sentence.
Although Vicky focused in front of her, she didn’t need to look at Serj and Flynn to know they’d be doing the same. Despite opening and closing her mouth, she couldn’t find the words.
Serj did a pretty good job when he said, “Fuck! They’ve got out.”
“Or they’ve been let out,” Flynn said.
Chapter 40
Vicky stood frozen to the spot as she stared straight ahead. The other two on either side of her did the same. They all watched the diseased wander through the mist. Limp jawed, limp limbed, and uncoordinated, the monsters moved with an aimless ramble, ready to focus their hive mind on whatever presented itself to them.
“Who do you think did it?” Flynn said, leaning close to Vicky so she could hear his whisper.
“Who do you think?” Vicky replied.
Serj shook his head. “We should have let them out sooner. You know what, fuck it. After all the effort we’ve put in, maybe we should still lead them to Moira’s community.”
The clouds of condensation formed in front of Vicky with more frequency than before as her breathing sped up. Driven by her rapid pulse, she tried to slow it down, but she had no control over her panic at that moment. She lifted the hammers. “How will I get these to the prisoners?”
“It might be too late for them,” Serj said.
“But I made a promise.” Vicky shook her head and spoke to the ground. “I should have freed them days ago.”
“We need to do something. Standing here like lemons won’t help us.” When Flynn spoke, he’d raised his voice a little bit too loud and it carried across the quiet morning.
Vicky’s heart beat in her neck to see one of the diseased spin around and stare straight at him. Recognition—or as close to recognition as could register on the diseased’s face with its eyes still dead and jaw still limp—lit it up and it opened its mouth.
“Come on,” Vicky hissed as she tugged on Flynn’s shoulder.
By the time the diseased loosed its scream, the three of them had spun on their heels and were sprinting back towards Home’s entrance.
Just a few steps into their retreat, one scream turned into many.
Vicky had been here before countless times, but not often with Flynn beside her. She’d heard someone say they didn’t know fear until they had children. She finally understood that.
The long grass dragged on Vicky’s retreat. The diseased had to run the same path as them. Surely it would slow them down too. Enraged screams came after them in a wave.
A glance behind and Vicky nearly lost the strength in her legs. The pack had seemed numerous when penned, but now it looked like twice the amount.
Vicky turned back around and faced the entryway to Home, every footstep rolling as it coped with the undulations in the ground.
When Vicky got a few steps closer, she saw the mist had cleared a little, revealing the sign above the entryway to Home. The others clearly saw it too because Flynn uttered a breathless, “What the hell?”
A huge white banner—a sheet or something similar—painted red. From the distance between them and the banner, it looked like blood. If Vicky knew Moira at all, they’d probably find out whose fairly soon. It read We’ve found your pets. Now it’s time for you to join them.
Another look behind. Maybe they’d gained on them, Vicky couldn’t tell, but she couldn’t let up either.
The sound of her own ragged breaths rang through Vicky’s head as she sprinted, and she pulled her door key from around her neck. A stampede behind them, she couldn’t quite feel the thud of their feet through the ground, but much closer and it would shake as if an earthquake ran through it. The reek of rot had caught up to her, and with every lungful she inhaled the noxious stench. It damn near gagged her.
Before Vicky could pull the key from around her neck—her damp trousers chafing on her thighs as she ran—the door to Home opened and Scoop stood in the doorway. It gave Vicky the extra burst she needed and she opened up a gap between her and the other two, running into Home before them.
Once in the foyer, Vicky spun around and called out, “Come on! Hurry up. They’re gaining on you.”
Flynn looked almost as pained as the mob of diseased chasing him. He winced, his mouth open wide from the effort of the sprint.
Everything seemed to drop into slow motion at that point. Like Vicky had done, Flynn turned around to look at the mob behind him as he ran. Although, unlike Vicky, he tripped as he looked over his shoulder. One moment, Vicky watched him run, the next he vanished into the long grass.
Serj—who ran next to Flynn—continued on, clearly oblivious to his fall. He sprinted into Home like Vicky had.
“Where’s Flynn?” Serj said once he’d spun around, his entire body rising and falling with his gasps.
Vicky didn’t answer him. Instead, she darted outside and sprinted towards the fallen Flynn. Hammers still in hand, she wound them back and swung them into the jaw of the diseased at the front of the pack. Two more came at her and Vicky dealt with them, each blow from the heavy metal tools cracking as they sank into a jaw and then a cheekbone. Blood sprayed away from the impact both times and the second and third diseased fell to the ground.
Before any more could jump them,
Vicky reached down to Flynn, took his hand and pulled him to his feet.
The boy seemed hurt and unable to put pressure on his ankle. Hopefully no more than a twist, Vicky shoved him back toward Home. “Go, now. I’ll cover you.”
Vicky faced the diseased again and swung for the monsters as they descended on her. Each blow scored a hit and each blow drained her energy that little bit more than the previous one. No way could she fight them all.
Vicky took down the seventh and eighth diseased, the vibration down the handle of the hammers making her hands buzz. Now she’d taken down the lead runners, she didn’t have long before the rest of the pack caught up.
When Vicky looked behind to see Flynn had stumbled into Home, she took off after him.
The second Vicky sprinted through Home’s front door, Serj slammed it shut and slid the bolts across.
The only sound for the next few seconds came from the heavy breaths of the three as they recovered from their run. A few moments later the loud booms of the diseased crashed into Home’s front door and windows. One after the other, they peppered the front of Home like a meteor shower.
Scoop spoke first. She pressed her face against one of Home’s large windows and tilted her head to the side as her voice cracked. “Meisha?”
Chapter 41
“I’m not letting you out,” Vicky said as she stood in front of Home’s exit. Serj and Flynn flanked her, the three of them united against Scoop’s fury.
“My fucking daughter’s out there!”
“She’s not your daughter anymore,” Vicky said. “What do you hope to achieve by going out there?”
Scoop continued to pace as she had done for the past fifteen minutes, staring out of the window as she moved back and forth. Many of the diseased had moved away from the front door, but Meisha remained close, almost as if she knew she had once belonged inside.
After a glance at the other two, Vicky moved over to Scoop and they both stopped to stare out of the window. “Look at her.”
“You think I’m not?”
“That’s not Meisha.”
“What would you do if that was Flynn out there?”
When Vicky didn’t answer, Scoop turned to her, clenched her fists, pulled her shoulders back, and jutted her chin out. Her voice came out as a low growl that turned the air between them electric. “Let me out.”
“If we let you out”—Vicky pointed at the window—“we’re letting them in.”
“I’ll get out quickly,” Scoop said. “They’ve backed away from the door now. Open it a crack and I’ll run out and get them to chase me. Then you can close the door and lock it behind me.”
“It won’t work.”
“Make it work! Because if you don’t let me out now, I’ll get out sooner or later, and I’ll make sure I leave that fucking door open behind me.”
Two gentle snaps called through the foyer as Serj undid the bolts at the top and bottom of the door. For a moment he and Vicky stared at each other before he turned to Scoop. “You need to be ready to run.”
“What are you doing?” Vicky said.
“Letting Scoop do what she wants to do. She’s an adult, Vick.”
“But she’s too distraught to think straight. She can’t do this. It’s suicide.”
“She’s an adult.”
“What about everyone in Home? What if we let them in?”
“They’re far enough away. Besides, they’ll chase her, I’m sure.”
A final glance at Scoop and Scoop nodded. “Just let me do this,” she said. “I need to get to my little girl.”
“She’s not your little girl anymore.”
“She is.”
The clenched jaw, the creased brow, and the dark stare told Vicky everything she needed to know. Scoop would do this regardless of what she said. Nothing would change her mind. Nothing.
Vicky shook her head, walked over to Scoop and pulled her into a tight hug. “Be ready to get out as quickly as you can.”
Scoop squeezed Vicky back and Vicky felt her nodding into her neck.
After she’d handed the hammers to Flynn, Vicky pulled her crossbow from her back and pressed the stock into her shoulder. She looked down her weapon at the front door and said, “You ready?”
Scoop and Serj both nodded.
Vicky tried to push her grief to one side with a heavy sigh and said, “Take care of yourself, Scoop.” Tears swelled inside of her. To say goodbye would set them loose and she still needed to see. Maybe they should have told her sooner, but maybe Scoop would have sacrificed herself sooner had she known. Too many good people had gone from this world already.
Vicky could do nothing to stop her flow of tears as Serj gripped the front door’s handle. “Three,” he said.
The tension wound tight in the foyer and Vicky pulled a dry gulp into her arid throat.
“Two …”
Vicky’s finger shook on the trigger of her crossbow.
“One.”
Serj pulled the door open about thirty centimetres wide. The closest diseased stood about two metres away. Vicky unloaded a bolt into its face. It scored a direct hit and drove the rancid fucker back a step.
As the beast screamed, Scoop ran out, body-checked it, and took the attention of the rest with her.
Serj slammed the door behind her and bolted the locks again. He exhaled hard enough to blow his cheeks out and shared a look with Vicky.
Vicky moved to the window, her face damp with tears, to watch her friend push through the dense pack of bodies as the ravenous mob climbed over one another to get at her.
Scoop swung for them, shoved them, and kicked out. Maybe she’d already been bitten by the time she got to her daughter, but when she arrived at Meisha, she still had all the traits of the living. At that moment, she gave up defending herself and wrapped her arms around the girl.
If Vicky could judge anything by the look on Meisha’s face, it would be that she didn’t recognise her mother. Maybe her inclination to remain close to Home had been a coincidence. Like all of the other diseased, she seemed lost in the torment of the plague. She pulled into her mother’s hug, spread her mouth wide, and bit into her neck.
Scoop didn’t show the pain she undoubtably felt. Instead, she clung to her daughter as blood spread from the bite mark out over her clothes, turning her khaki guard shirt dark.
When Meisha took a second bite into Scoop’s neck, Vicky turned away and looked at both Serj and Flynn. They too cried freely, their eyes bloodshot, their cheeks glistening with their tears. They should have told Scoop sooner.
Chapter 42
The four remaining guards stood together in Home’s foyer. Serj, Flynn, Piotr, and Vicky. Vicky looked at the other three and then the space where Scoop should have been. It somehow filled the rest of the area. A quiet, yet vigilant observer, she’d offered a calm reassurance that she had anyone’s back should they need it.
Serj walked along the line of guards and gave each of them a silver key. “The new lock has been fitted.” When he got to the nail on the wall, he hung up two keys where there had previously only been one.
A heavy sigh to Vicky’s right and she looked at Flynn. He bit his bottom lip and his eyes glazed. Vicky reached across to hug him and he stepped a pace away from her, throwing her a dark scowl. The rejection sank through her heart, but she lifted her chin and stepped back. Even after what they’d just been through, she still couldn’t be the one to offer him comfort.
“We need to go and talk to them, then,” Serj said as he nodded in the direction of the canteen. “They need answers.”
“And you have some, do you?” Piotr’s deep voice echoed in the foyer.
Serj shrugged. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll think of something.”
The back wall felt cold to the touch as Vicky leaned against it with Piotr next to her and Flynn next to him. Were it a Tuesday morning, then she’d be addressing the people of Home. They had a weekend to get through before it got to Tuesday again. Maybe she’d already led her
final training session.
As what seemed to be the last of the people of Home filled the canteen, Serj stood still and stared at the wall of monitors. No matter which angle they flicked to, scores of diseased milled about outside the complex. The people of Home looked at the monitors too.
“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you we have a problem outside,” Serj said. “We don’t know where the diseased came from, but my guess would be that Moira had something to do with it.”
Vicky’s cheeks heated up at the lie and she felt Flynn stare across at her. No doubt she glowed red for everyone to see, but she couldn’t hide it. A look across at Piotr and then Flynn and she met the same dark judgment from both of them, although Piotr hid it slightly better.
The silence threatened to crawl up from the ground and throttle Vicky, but Serj broke it before she had to tap out.
“If you don’t know by now, Scoop didn’t make it.”
Tears itched Vicky’s eyes and she watched the monitors to see if her friend appeared on them. The people of Home didn’t need to see that. None of them did.
“Meisha went out on her own the other day,” Serj said, “and when the diseased attacked, Meisha got caught up in it. Scoop saw her infected daughter and ran to her. She knew Meisha was gone, and the monster that remained wasn’t her, but she couldn’t control her impulses. She died within three steps of Home’s front door.”
Vicky felt sick with grief as she looked from the monitors to Serj to the judgment of Piotr and Flynn. The intensity of Flynn’s glare and how he leaned toward her made it look like he wanted to say something, but he’d managed to keep it to himself. So far anyway. One word from him and everything would come crashing down. The boy had a hot head. Hopefully he could keep himself in check.
All the while Serj spoke to the crowd, he paced up and down the crash mats. Even with the gravity of their situation, Vicky wanted to tell him to take his shoes off, but she refrained. They probably wouldn’t need to train again anyway.
One of the men from Home stepped forward. Brian maybe? Vicky couldn’t remember his name. There were so many people at Home she’d barely spoken to. A tall man, at least six feet and three inches, he had long thick hair and a bushy beard. “How are we supposed to fight them and Moira?”
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