by Aline Riva
Rick slipped the weapon out of sight as he followed the Captain to the door.
“I'm just going to pay a visit to Vince, he's a bit down,” he said, not daring to look back at Lois for fear she would see the look in his eyes. Then he left, following the Captain out and closing the door behind him as together they began to walk up the corridor towards the room where Vince rested in the medical centre, and to Rick, it felt like the longest walk of his life...
Down in the accommodation area, Jason, having consumed half a large bottle of whiskey that had been kept with his possessions since he had lived back at the safe house, was decidedly drunk and just about ready to face what he feared was inevitable. He picked up his loaded gun and staggered out of his room into the empty corridor.
“I know it's me!” he yelled, blinking as tears ran down his face, “I'm ready for it now...”
Doors opened up. Lauren looked on in horror as David, shattered from the loss of Tara, wearily came outside and looked in disbelief at the sight of Jason, swaying on his feet and waving a loaded gun about the corridor.
“I'm not changing into one of those things!” Jason raged, gripping the gun harder.
Further down the hall, Lois opened the door, her eyes widened at the sight of Jason drunk and armed, and as a curious Flossie poked her head out, the child was yanked back inside to safety as the door was shut firmly and locked.
“Put it down,” Marie said, taking a step towards Jason.
“Get back,” he told her, waving her away with the hand that clutched the weapon, “One bullet, that's all I have...it's all I need...”
“Marie...” David hissed, catching her attention, “Don't...”
She dismissed his warning, looking to Jason kindly.
“You could at least wait until you get the results,” she told him, “It's more likely to be Vince – he was caught in the explosion surrounded by a horde.”
Tears filled his eyes as Jason stood there in panic.
“I don't want to be one of those things!” he yelled, and with a shaking hand, pressed the gun to his temple and then stood there, finger a fraction from the trigger as the others looked on in horror as he swayed drunkenly and blind panic blazed in his eyes...
Chapter 12: Aftermath
As Captain Tina Swan entered the room first, she glanced to Rick and then the loaded syringe on the table next to the bed.
“He only has to give the word and I can have a medic administer the experimental drug, under supervision,” she said, “It's risky, but it could work. But he won't agree...he thinks it will fail. He's wrong – it's a chance! I can't force it on him, base policy forbids me.”
Then she looked over to Vince, who was sleeping deeply. His face was deathly pale and the dressing that covered his shoulder where his arm was missing did nothing to make the wound look any less horrific as traces of a bloodstain showed through. For a moment, the Captain's gaze lingered on him as he slept.
Rick looked at her thoughtfully.
“Tina, forgive me if I'm wrong about this, but I think you care a lot more than you admit for that guy, I think you're desperate to save him. Does he know how you feel? It might make a difference.”
The Captain blinked, her face flushing.
“He's a young man, Rick! I'm older than him, by around twenty years! How wouldn't look at me like that.”
“But he has,” Rick told her, “I've seen him do it. He looks at you the way I look at Lois. I think you've just chosen not to think about it. I can see it in your eyes now, you're terrified for him.”
“And what does that have to do with you?” she said as annoyance crept into her voice.
“I don't want to kill him,” Rick replied, “He's got years ahead of him if the antidote works. I know he feels like giving up, he's terrified and I would be too – but if he won't listen I can't promise I can see this through.”
Pain reflected in the Captain's eyes.
“If he won't try the antidote, at least I can hope he has a quick and painless death,” she replied, “And he asked for you...it's in your hands now.”
She looked back one more time at the man sleeping in the bed and then she left the room, closing the door softly.
Rick gave a heavy sigh.
“Hands?” he muttered, “My one regular hand, and the metallic add on made by yours truly... it's in those hands is it, thanks a bloody lot, like I need this choice on my conscience!”
Then, with his heart heavy, he sat at his bedside, speaking his name quietly.
“Wake up, Vince. I know you can hear me.”
Vince stirred, pain registered on his face and then as he opened his eyes a look of despair came to his dark brown gaze as everything came flooding back that sleep had briefly lifted out.
“I asked for you, thanks for coming,” Vince said weakly, “I know I had nothing to do with the mall massacre, but I once worked for Mortiz. Maybe I'm the only one left alive, the last guard...it's only right that you pull the trigger and finish me off, out of respect to the people you lost. I also wore the uniform of their killers, remember that.”
Rick showed no reaction to his plea even though his words had stirred up painful memories.
“Do you love Tina?”
Despite the haze of pain medication that made his head feel cloudy, that question had shaken Vince into feeling much more alert.
“What? No...maybe...Oh, what's the point now? It never would have worked anyway, I'm too young for her. I'm in my mid twenties, she's got to be around forty -”
“So what? I asked if you loved her.”
“It's too late now,” Vince replied, “I'm infected. I've seen the infection take hold in others. I don't believe there's an antidote that can stop it – I was told it's never been tested. Either way I'll die because the drug fails or because I react to what ever poison is in it, without it I die and come back as one of those creatures...” he drew in a slow breath, fighting pain as tears filled his eyes.
“Just do it, Rick. Fucking shoot me!”
Rick pulled his seat closer to the edge of the bed, meeting Vince's gaze intently.
“You know what I did before the war. If you get through this I can make you a very high quality prosthetic. You can live without your arm. I don't think it will bother Tina. She's outside waiting for a gun to go off. When I fire that shot, any fragments of feeling she had for you, any hope she had for the future, will be gone. Do you really want to do that to her?”
“I told her on the battlefield, I thought it was going to be okay. I thought we'd win and everything would be fine...I never thought this would happen to me...”Vince blinked and a tear ran down his face, “I thought when I lost my arm, I can learn to live with this...I have to...I have to cope with it. And Tina was so kind...she still looks at me like nothing is missing. She still looked at me like she cared when she told me about the virus!”
“You should try the antidote,” Rick said sincerely, “Just try it and if it doesn't work, maybe you'll die from the side effects before the virus hits you. That way you still beat it, what do you think?”
“I think a bullet to the head will solve everything and ensure I don't come back as one of those creatures,” Vince replied, “Please, Rick, I can't go on. Please help me.”
Rick pulled the loaded gun from his pocket, looked down at it thoughtfully and then slowly nodded.
“Okay,” he said, blinking away tears, “And the past is nothing to do with this – I take no pleasure in killing you, Vince, none at all. It's the last thing I want to do.”
Rick got up from the chair and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I'll try and make this easy for you, okay?”
Vince gave a weak sob and nodded.
“Thanks, Rick,” he whispered, sounding utterly broken.
“I'm going to put the gun down for a moment. I won't fire it until you're ready,” he promised, setting the gun down on the bedside table, “I'll wait for a peaceful moment, you won't even know when I pull the trigger. Close y
our eyes.”
Vince obeyed him, shutting his eyes as Rick paused to wipe tears from his face, then he gave his cheek a gentle pat as he spoke to him in a fatherly tone.
“Don't be scared, just give yourself a minute to relax, I'm right here, I'm not leaving you, I just want you to listen to the sound of my voice, stop that crying and be calm...It's okay, it's all going to be okay...”
As he spoke, he reached towards the bedside table.
“It's all over now, “ he added, “Nothing to be scared of...”
Then, taking great care not to disturb the dressing on his shoulder where his arm was missing, Rick slipped his arm around him, grasping him by his uninjured side as he pulled him closer, resting his head on his shoulder.
“It's okay, Vince...” he said gently, “Just keep your eyes shut and remember how brave you were in battle...I think that's why Tina likes you so much, her handsome hero...It doesn't matter how important she is in the ranks, or how tough...all girls love a handsome hero...”
His eyes still closed, Vince smiled.
“I hope you're right about that,” he said weakly, but then as pain flickered through his shoulder wound and he thought of the sleeping virus that would transform him, Vince gave a sob.
“I'm so scared, Rick! Kill me, just kill me... I don't want to turn into one of those fucking things!”
“Its okay,” Rick said again, keeping a firm grip as he held on to him, “Just be calm...That's better, eyes closed, deep breath...”
As Vince managed to take breath and let it out slowly, Rick made his move, jabbing sharply down and sending the needle deep into his arm as he administered the injection containing the antidote.
“Bastard!” Vince yelled, “Why did you do that? Why?” then he gave a sob as weakness took him over, and tears still ran down his face as Rick gently laid the now unconscious man on his back, straightened the covers and then put the gun back in his pocket.
“Why did I do it?” he said as he looked down at him, “Because you deserve a chance, that's why!”
Then he leant over him swept his hair off his face with a gentle brush of his metallic hand and placed a kiss on his brow.
“Keep fighting, Vince,” he added, then he straightened up and turned from the bed, just as Tina Swan walked in. The Captain had heard Vince shout, and looked alarmed as she saw the syringe was now empty and cast aside.
“You forced him to take an experimental drug? But that's against base policy -”
“I don't work for you, Tina,” Rick said as he headed for the door, “MY policy is to keep my people alive. I wasn't known as the Mall King for nothing. I once protected hundreds when the outbreak started. And he needs medical attention, I've never given an injection before. I hope the antidote works.”
The Captain stared at him in disbelief, watching as the man with the metal hand walked off down the corridor. Then she looked to Vince, who was deeply sedated as the effects of the antidote began to take hold. It was then she noticed the deathly shade of white had left his face and now Vince was rapidly looking healthier, despite the loss of his arm. She started to smile as she watched the cure take hold.
“That's right, Vince,” she said as her hopes rose, “You fight it...I knew you could do it.”
Then she looked back down the corridor, feeling gratitude she could not put into words as she reflected on Rick's actions.
“Thanks, your majesty,” she murmured, fully understanding why he had earned his title, and then she pressed a button on the wall to call the medics to check on Vince, before taking a seat at his bedside, to watch over him until he woke.
“PUT IT DOWN!” David yelled as Jason swayed on his feet, pressing the gun harder to his head.
“I just don't want to die!” he sobbed, and then his legs gave way and buckled and he sank to the floor, sobbing with the gun still in his hand.
Then the gun was snatched from him.
“You're pathetic, do you know that?”
He looked up through a haze of drunkenness and tears to see Marie glaring down at him.
“Fuck off back to your room and sober up!” she said sharply, and the others looked on in surprise as Jason staggered to his feet, apologising quietly as he wiped his eyes.
“What's happened?” Rick exclaimed as he turned the corner to walk into a strange scene there before him, Jason was drunk and crying, Marie had just yelled at him and for some unknown reason, was putting the safety catch back on Jason's gun.
“The prick wanted to shoot himself. He's scared he's infected!” Marie said, glaring at Jason.
“Listen Jason, I've got something to tell you,” Rick said as he approached him, saw the unpredictable look in his eyes and then stepped no closer, because if Jason kicked off, he wasn't about to kick off back and batter a guy who was too pissed up to fight back properly.
“Gun,” David said, and Marie handed it over.
David held up the weapon to Jason as he spoke like he was scolding a bad student back in his teaching days.
“This is confiscated,” he told him, “Until you sober up!”
“You're in the clear, Jason,” Rick added, “Vince had the virus.”
“Had?”Lois had just unlocked the door and stuck her head out, eyes wide as she kept Flossie out of sight and out of harm's way while Jason was still swaying in the corridor.
“He had the antidote. He started looking better as soon as I injected him,”Rick explained.
“Its working?” David said in surprise.
“Yes, by the look on Tina Swan's face when I left her with Vince, I'd say it's definitely working,” he replied, then as Marie marched Jason back to his room, her stern words echoing down the corridor, Lois opened up the door and as he saw her and Flossie standing there waiting for him, Rick paused to flex his metallic hand as it caught on the artificial light.
“I saved a life today. At a time like this, I still feel like I'm the Mall King,” he said proudly, then with a smile on his face, he went into the best living quarters on the base to join his family, closing the door behind him.
As the corridor became quiet once more with Jason back in his bed to sleep off the booze, Marie returned to find everyone had gone back to their rooms to rest – everyone but David, who stood there in the doorway of the room he used to share with Tara.
“You took a chance,” he remarked.
She crossed the corridor and joined him.
“A drunken prick sits crying on the floor, his finger off the trigger? No, I just put a pissed up idiot to bed.”
“I miss her,” David admitted, getting that feeling once again that the world, not just this room or the corridor beyond it would seem a lot more silent, so much more empty, now that Tara was gone.
“I'm staying around,” Marie replied, “You're not alone.”
David nodded.
“Thanks,” was all he said, and then he hugged her tightly, thankful of her arms around him as her presence helped to ease the pain that nothing on earth could cure.
Then she let him go and for a moment loneliness engulfed him, but all the same he stepped back, closing the door, and then went over to the bed that carried the scent of his dead lover as he laid back on Tara's pillow, looking at the bare ceiling as his thoughts turned to the future:
The gas had worked – at least, it had worked in the Arctic. It meant that perhaps the world now had a chance of fighting back... Victory seemed hollow without Tara, but knowing there was a chance for humanity to claim back the world from the rotting hands of the undead was enough to give him a reason to hold on to hope. Maybe this war could be won, he kept that thought as he lay there, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
David Harley:
'None of us know if the gas will work for the rest of the world like it did in the Arctic. That place has extremes of temperature, if that was the deciding factor, we're all dead. I'm hoping I'm wrong about that.
Captain Swan said the gas production will be rolled out worldwide and then the global effort wi
ll begin to clean up this planet, a chance for us to claim it back. We don't yet know what effect the lingering smoke from the gasses will have on our world in the long term, but we have no choice in the matter.
When I held Tara's body in my arms I felt as if I had nothing left to fight for, but I was wrong. I have everything to fight for, most of all, I'll fight for her and the right to live the life she dreamed of living one day with me. I'll do it by myself. I'll do it for both of us. I'm still in this war and I'm seeing it through to the finish...'
End.