Frozen Flesh

by A J Donovan

  “Kim, are you hungry? We haven’t eaten in hours, do you want anything?” Cole offers me some bread from their collection of food items.

  They collected loads of stuff from every place we’ve passed. Every wall of the Jeep is piled high with bags of every shape and size, filled with supplies and other useful finds. A lot of it is perishable, things like bread and cheese that won’t last much longer in the apocalypse. The inevitable change to non-perishable food, like cans of vegetables and fruit cocktail, hangs over us like a dark cloud. No one wants to say goodbye to fresh food.

  Despite knowing about the invisible countdown on our food stock, I’m not hungry. “I’m fine, thanks.” I force a smile for his sake and then turn back towards the road stretching out behind us. The hard ground rushes past my dangling legs. There was a time when this would have been a rush, being so close to something that could hurt me. I’m not scared of much these days.

  “You haven’t eaten since yesterday, Kim,” Cole says, and without turning around I can tell he’s concerned.

  “And I can summon tornadoes. I’m not the most normal person in the world, Cole.”

  “I throw lightning,” Cole says quickly, joining me on the back of the jeep. His army issue boots hang several several inches below my boots. “I still need to eat.” He offers the bread out to me again. “I don’t think your powers stop things like hunger.”

  I take the bread. “Cole, listen. I don’t want to eat, I haven’t been hungry in days. I know I should eat it, but...” I sigh. “I don’t know. What’s the point?”

  Cole swallows a huge piece of bread and looks at me with concern. “Kim, you can’t start talking like that. You must have someone left, someone to give you hope. I do, and even though I don’t know if she’s even alive, I’m going to keep going, no matter what, for her.”

  I frown. “Who is she?”

  “My grandmother. She is the strongest person I’ve ever known. I know if it’s at all possible, she’ll be alive when I finally find her. Not knowing is horrible, but I can’t give up. Do you have anyone like that?”

  Tears well up and one spills onto my cheek. I brush it away impatiently and fight to keep the rest of them held back. Jake’s out there, somewhere. I know deep down, I just know, he’s still alive. It doesn’t feel like wishful thinking, something in my gut or my mind or somewhere else is telling me that he is out there. He’s out there and he’s looking for me. We’ll find each other again. All I have to do is keep going and keep myself alive until I find him.

  I smile. He’s going to be insanely jealous when he finds out that I have superpowers and he doesn’t.

  So I’m smiling and holding back tears at the same time when the jeep pulls over to the side of the road and comes to a stop. Cole’s looking at me like I’m crazy. He’s probably right.

  “Sorry guys, I need to go take care of some business!” Will says to us as he jogs over to some bushes and turns away, undoing his fly. The usual pang of envy hits me when I think about how easy it is for men and then jump down to stretch my legs.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Cole asks me.

  I stop as I walk past the side of the jeep and smile at him. It’s the first real, genuine smile I’ve given him. “Yeah, I think I am. Thanks for reminding me that I haven’t lost everything.”

  He smiles back at me and I wander off to have a look around the area before we have to move on again.

  Cole reminded me to have hope, and this time, I’m not going to let go of it. Never again. Jake needs me.

  * * *

  I’m standing behind a really big shrub, pulling my jeans back up after dealing with some business of my own, when I hear a scream.

  I’m running before my mind can catch up. My instincts tell me to throw away my panic, throw away the fear that my new friends will be dead when I reach them. It will make it easier when everything goes wrong, but I don’t. I won’t. Fear for them will make me run faster, fight harder. Fear of losing them could help save their lives.

  Will’s on the ground beside the jeep. He’s trying to fight off a walker, a creature that used to be a man with a bloated stomach and no hair. Its face is ruined, half of it torn off and the other half covered in gore. The rest of the body isn’t much better.

  The walker breaks through Will’s struggling and clamps down on his arm.

  I was too late.

  Emotion rushes through me and suddenly my mind is there, in the tiny space between Will’s arm and the infected teeth. The air molecules clump together and form a solid barrier between the two. The walker growls angrily. It doesn’t understand why it isn’t tasting blood.

  Air curls around the monster and I throw it off my friend. Then I squeeze my fist and the walker’s skull pops.

  Will turns to me, shock and fear covering his pale face. “Thank you,” he says hoarsely. “Thank you so much.”

  I nod and look through the window of the jeep. “Where are the others?”

  Will is still gasping for air but he struggles to his feet. “They went to look for you so we could leave. They should be back soon.”

  I nod and scan the surrounding area. Nothing.

  We stand in silence for a while, just Will’s rapid breathing and muttered prayers. There’s nothing for miles around, just barren wasteland, and I hope the two men don’t get lost.

  Eventually I spot movement by a tree and they walk into sight.

  “Oh, good, you’re here,” Cole laughs. “We thought you might have gotten lost.”

  “What happened?” Captain Knight asks, gesturing at the dead walker.

  Will grins sheepishly. “Uh, it snuck up on me.”

  The older man’s eyes narrow. “You let it sneak up on you?”

  “Uh, yes, but-”

  “It was under the jeep,” I cut him off. “But we dealt with it. It’s fine now. No harm done.”

  Knight looks at me for a long moment, then nods. “Alright. I suppose crushing his head was your work? Or did Will attack it with a rock?”

  “It was me.”

  “Thanks for saving one of mine,” he cracks a very small smile. It’s the first time he’s shown any positive emotions towards me. We’re making progress. “Okay, let’s move out.”

  ***

  Chapter 19 – Blood in the Water

  Jake

  Molly’s two friends integrate well with the group. The girls are friendly and helpful, and immensely grateful to us for taking them in. It also helps that they’re both beautiful and the majority of our group is male.

  Molly is an entirely different story. She won’t let anyone get close to her, except for a few brief conversations with Betty. Whenever anyone else approaches her she intimidates them so badly that people are starting to whisper about her being dangerous. I’m not surprised. Ever since the outbreak, everyone has become more paranoid and suspicious than I ever would have thought possible. It’s understandable, there is danger and death around every corner, but I worry about what will happen to Molly if the group’s opinion of her worsens.

  Apart from the developing relationship between Molly and everyone else in the group, there isn’t much happening. It’s been days since we saw more than a stray walker. Killing walkers gets boring after a while, and we haven’t even encountered any other people since we found Molly’s group.

  It almost rained today. I felt the clouds pass overhead. I could see them too, but it was more than that. I could feel it in my mind, like an extra sense. I was so focused on the clouds that a walker almost sank its teeth into my arm. Rafael yelled my name just in time for me to jump out of the way and then Diana took out the biter. I tried to be more aware of my surroundings after that but I can’t get my mind off it. I have some kind of connection to water, like I do with ice. Could I control water?

  Molly is sitting on the roof of one of the cars and she nods her head in greeting. I tilt my head as another thought occurs to me.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” she demands.

  “Ca
n I talk to you for a second?”

  She watches me for a moment, searching my face for something. After a few moments she jumps down from the car.

  “What do you want?”

  The line of cars continues on without us but they’re not going far. We’ll be able to catch up.

  “You were bitten but you didn’t turn into a walker.”

  Molly shrugs. “So were you.”

  I frown. “You can tell?”

  “Of course I can. You, Betty, one of the other guys in the group. You’re all immune. It’s one of the reasons I decided to join you.”

  “What is your power?”

  “It’s none of your business what I can do.”

  “So you know what I mean when I talk about powers.”

  “You’re not the first immune person I’ve met,” she says.

  I wait for her to explain but she doesn’t say anything else. “I want to help you figure out how to use your power, whatever it is. I can’t believe how many times my power has been the difference between life and death. It’s important. You seem to know what it is but if you need help controlling it or understanding it, I can help you.”

  Molly starts to speak but something makes her hesitate. I can’t read her face, whatever is going on in her head is a mystery to me.

  “I can control animals. I think.”

  “Really?”

  Molly shrugs again. “I think so. It only happened once and I didn’t do it on purpose.” She starts walking away and for a moment I think she’s leaving until she turns back to frown at me. “Are you coming or not?”

  I follow her. She leads me to a cluster of trees by the side of the road. I’m confused but I say nothing as she moves closer to the trees. She stops suddenly. I look around for an animal or whatever else she is searching for.

  “There,” she points at a shadow near the top of one of the trees. A squirrel peeks out and when it sees us it rushes down the side of the tree and starts to sprint away. Molly tenses up beside me and the squirrel freezes in place. I look closer to make sure that it’s still breathing and it is, but its little body is motionless, frozen in an uncomfortable position that looks unnatural.

  Molly breathes out and the squirrel’s body returns to normal. It looks around, spots us, and then makes a panicked noise and scurries away.

  “I can control animals,” she says, more to herself than to me. “I can actually control animals.”

  “Or just squirrels,” I mutter.

  “What did you say?”

  “Nothing.”

  * * *

  I thought everything was going a little too smoothly, and I was right.

  “What kind of bad?” Reggie asks us when we tell him what’s happening.

  Rafael, Molly, Betty and I all experienced the same feeling of danger and dread. We immediately went to Reggie to tell him, though none of us are sure of exactly what we’re feeling.

  The rest of the group looks nervous. They listened intently when we first spoke about the possible danger and now they’re waiting to see if we have more information. It’s annoying that they have no problem whispering bad things about us when everything’s going well, but as soon as things get dangerous they want to rely on us again.

  I try to ignore them.

  Betty’s eyes are closed and a part of me can feel her consciousness expanding beyond herself, beyond me, and beyond the group. I lose track of her range soon but I have no doubt that she reaches out as far as she can, much further than anyone else could go.

  “I’m not sure, not for definite, but I think there might be more beasts here.” Her voice is shaky but there’s not a single person here who doesn’t trust Betty with their life.

  “Then we should get moving,” Reggie says.

  Eliza’s eyes tighten and she pulls her Diana closer to her. Diana gently pulls away from her aunt and looks at Betty. “Beasts? Plural?” she asks.

  Betty opens her eyes and nods. She looks tired. I help her sit down against the side of the jeep. “I also felt humans, walkers and...” She hesitates and looks up at me.

  “What’s wrong?” Rafael asks.

  Diana snorts. “You mean apart from multiple beasts in the area?”

  “Is it Cole?” I ask her, not knowing why I’m so sure.

  She nods.

  “Is he alive?”

  “I don’t know. He’s not human, I’m certain of that. But I don’t know if he’s like us or... like them.”

  The pain in her voice is heart-breaking.

  I nod and try to smile at her. “We’ll find him and we’ll know.”

  “We have company,” Molly cuts in.

  We all turn to look at the street ahead. There’s nothing there.

  “I can sense them,” she says, and then glances up at me. “They’re part animal, after all.”

  The others don’t know what she means, but I do. Her connection with animals extends to the undead beasts. They must retain more of their animalistic traits than I thought.

  “Duke,” I say. “Will you protect Betty?” The man is huge and he’s holding a semi-automatic machine gun.

  “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

  “These monsters things like our blood more than uninfected blood so one of them might go for her. Can I trust you?”

  “You can trust me.”

  “Okay,” I turn to the rest of the group. “Don’t shoot at them unless they get past us. Bullets can’t penetrate their skin, but it’s worth a try if they get too close. If that happens, go for the eyes.”

  I smile at Diana, and her tight expression softens for a moment.

  “And keep an eye out for walkers, we’ll be making a lot of noise.”

  Before anyone can reply to me, three beasts emerge from a side street up ahead. They sniff the air and reach the middle of the road, still sniffing wildly. It almost looks like they’re searching for something.

  “What are they doing?” Diana whispers. “Can’t they see us?”

  I frown. “They should be able to. We’re not that far away.”

  I didn’t think about hiding because we assumed they were hunting us, but now I wonder if I was wrong. Something else could be drawing their attention. We continue to stand in the same position, trapped by indecision. We should move before they see us but moving might make them notice us.

  After a few painfully long seconds, the beasts start panting and growling and then they start running. By some miracle, they’re not running towards us. They sprint through the intersection, heading away from us.

  “Let’s circle around to the west before the come back,” Reggie said quickly. Rafael hurried to pass the order along to the rest of the vehicles.

  “What are they hunting?” I ask.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Reggie says quickly.

  “We know what it is,” Diana says. “An Unturned, like Jake and Betty and Rafael. They’re hunting a person.”

  “We don’t know that for sure,” Reggie says.

  “I can try to sense them,” Betty says, starting to stand.

  “Don’t,” I tell her. “If you push yourself much further, you could seriously hurt yourself. Think of how much it would hurt the group if we lost you.”

  It sounds selfish but I know the only way Betty will agree with me is if she thinks it will help the group.

  “Alright,” she concedes. “But don’t go alone.”

  “He’s never alone,” Diana says, grinning at me. “Now let’s go kill some monsters.”

  * * *

  Molly comes with us.

  I try to tell her she doesn’t have to but she insists. She’s stubborn.

  “I’m not stubborn,” she says stubbornly. I don’t point this out to her.

  “Sure.”

  “I’m serious. I just want to help whatever immune person is injured somewhere and needs our help.”

  “Why do you think they’re injured?” Diana asks.

  “They prefer our blood to normal peoples’, right? So why else
would they ignore four of us, right out in the open, and run off somewhere else? There must be an immune bleeding nearby and the beasts caught the scent.”

  “Like sharks when there’s blood in the water,” Diana says.

  I don’t like the comparison between the beasts and sharks. If it’s true, they’re even more dangerous than I thought.

  The beasts are easy to follow. Their heavy footprints are impossible to miss. We move quickly but the true urgency of the situation doesn’t hit us until we catch up with them. The three of them are clawing at the walls of a small house and leaving deep scratch marks in the walls. They start snarling and snapping and one of them finds the door and starts throwing itself against it. The door is old and heavy but it’s only a matter of seconds before it gives way.

  “It’s a good thing they didn’t try the windows,” I say.

  Diana and I have fought together enough times that we don’t need to discuss a plan.

  “Hey!” I yell. The beasts don’t turn, consumed by their bloodlust, but I’m not surprised. This works with walkers but I need to get creative to get the attention of these monsters. Molly’s idea about their hunting methods gives me an idea.

  Power flows through my hand and ice gathers and forms an icicle in my hand. I run the edge across the inside of my forearm and warm blood quickly starts dripping down my arm and onto the ground.

  “Come and get it,” I say.

  The scent reaches them a few moments later, right before the door finally cracks and splinters. It doesn’t fall open but all it would take is a small push to knock it down and get inside. They turn towards us and I can feel their minds focus on us. They are completely focused on my blood, to the exclusion of everything else. I guess that fresh blood is more attractive than whatever is inside that house.

  They rush towards us.

  Diana fires her first shot before the beasts have crossed half the distance between us and the middle one drops to the ground. She fires again but this time the bullet ricochets off the beast’s face, narrowly missing its eye. It is almost within striking distance so I step in front of Diana and throw out a blast of ice. The beast gets knocked sideways.