by M. J. Haag
I was trapped until something else distracted the infected and they wandered away. It couldn’t be more than nine or ten in the morning. I had time.
Sliding down the wall, I got comfortable and waited. The calls outside eventually quieted. Only the occasional scuff of noise in the hallway indicated they hadn’t left yet.
I rationed my water and watched the patch of light on the wall slowly move across the room. Hunger gnawed at me, and I wondered if I’d be able to check the kitchen before I left.
When the light touched the bed, I got to my feet and checked the yard. My mouth dropped open at the number of infected milling around. A few stood still and watched the house. One saw me in the window and let out a call. It set off a chain reaction until their noise echoed in the house.
They weren’t leaving. There was nothing else out there to distract them.
I stood there, still making eye contact, while realization settled over me. There would be no slipping away before dark.
“Shit.”
Quietly crossing the room, I tried the switch. No lights. I had until dusk if the infected didn’t figure out how to get into the bedroom before then. I couldn’t decide which was the worst way to go. Eaten by a herd of infected or torn apart by a hound. A hound might be quicker.
I rubbed my face and swayed on my feet. Adrenaline and hope had kept me going. Without either, I stared at the door, half debating if I should just open it. Why put off the inevitable? It wasn’t like anyone would find me and–
I looked at the window. After what I’d done to Van, returning would be hell. But, it wasn’t like I had a choice. It was either give myself over to the raiders or be eaten, and I wasn’t ready to die yet.
With determined steps, I moved to the window and slid it open. Aiming at the infected who’d met my gaze, I shot it right between the eyes. I paused for the count of three before killing two more. That was the distress fire pattern Oscar’s gunmen had been taught to use if they were ever separated.
I waited and repeated the pattern again a few minutes later. The reports drew more infected from the trees, and I began to doubt my plan. Even if scouts from Oscar’s group heard and came, how would they ever make their way through all of the infected?
A distant volley of five reached my ears a few seconds after my last shot. A mix of relief and terror gripped me. Now, I just had to wait. The shots hadn’t sounded as far away as I’d thought I’d run, but everything was skewed when on foot and zigzagging through trees.
I moved to close the window and caught a glimpse of something dark moving very fast within the trees. A hound? My pulse spiked, and I jerked my gaze to the sky.
Since the earthquakes that brought them, hellhounds only came out at night. They feared light in any form. How could a hound be out already? I scanned the trees but didn’t see dark movement again. The infected in the yard continued their loud calls, oblivious or uncaring about what lurked in the shadows behind them.
Spinning from the window, I scanned the room. The gunmen would never reach me in time. I needed something. A plan. A hiding spot. Something. But, there wasn’t anything.
I looked up at the cracked ceiling and briefly wondered if I could break my way through and maybe find a crawl space. To go where, though? I couldn’t live up there forever.
The hush in infected calls drew me back to the window. Disbelief robbed me of thought. Decapitated infected bodies littered the yard. Where ten had stood, none now moved. As I stared, a head came rolling into view. An infected awkwardly ran toward the trees from the other side of the house as if it were running from something. They never ran away.
“What the hell?” I said, softly.
In the hall, the infected grew louder. My stomach churned as I turned toward the door and lifted my rifle. I did not want to know what was out there killing infected.
Thumps and grunts filled the air before only the sound of my harsh breathing remained. My everything shook, and I struggled to keep the rifle steady.
Someone knocked on the door, and my stomach flooded with relief a moment before it clenched with fear.
The wooden panel started to swing open, and before I’d fully decided how I wanted to greet Van, my finger spasmed on the trigger. Everything slowed as the boom filled the room.
A grey hand gripped the edge of the door and pushed it wide. My mouth dropped open at the sight of the man standing there. Gore covered every bit of clothing he wore, but that wasn’t the cause for my shock.
He stood on two legs and wore human clothes, but he wasn’t human. Grey skin covered every exposed bit of his body. His yellow-green reptilian gaze locked with mine. He smiled, showing enormous, pointy canines.
I remembered the rifle I held and lifted the barrel level with his head. Before I could fire it a second time, he crossed the room in a blur and pulled it out of my hands.
I flinched back and closed my eyes.
I’m too young to die, I thought.
“How old are you?”
It took a moment to realize the man had spoken to me. I opened my eyes in surprise.
“Wh-what?”
“You said you’re too young to die. How old are you? And how old will you be when you die?”
I hadn’t realized I’d spoken that out loud.
“I don’t know.” My eyes flicked to the rifle he still gripped, and I swallowed hard. He looked down at the weapon then tossed it onto the mattress before focusing on me again.
“You don’t know how old you are?” His eyes slid over me from head to foot. “You don’t look like a child. You look eighteen.”
That glance reminded me way too much of Van, and I quickly shook my head.
The thing’s shoulders slumped a little, and he reached out to pat me awkwardly on my head.
“It’s all right. I will still keep you safe. My name is Ghua. What’s yours?”
“Goo-ah?”
“Yes. Ghua. What’s your name?”
“Eden.”
“We need to leave, Eden. The hellhounds will be out soon, and this house has no light. It wasn’t a good place for you to hide. Come.”
He waved me forward, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
He saw my hesitation.
“I can’t carry you because of all the infected blood.” He waved at his messy clothes then picked up the gun. “You’ll need to walk. I’m sorry.”
I glanced at the gun again and nodded jerkily.
One step in front of the other, I made my way toward the door. There, I stopped. The hall was littered with body parts. Well, mostly bodies and heads, but I did see a separated arm wedge between the wall and the railing.
“Oh. Right. Wait here, and I’ll clear a path.”
He moved past me and started pushing the bodies down the stairs with his feet. I listened to the thud-thud-thud of a head rolling down before I turned and fled down the other end of the hall. The doors were open. A few dead infected lay on floors in those rooms as well. I reached the end of the hall and slowly turned, noticing the thudding and squishing noises had stopped.
Ghua waited at the top of the steps. His gaze locked with mine as he held the gun, the strap now on his shoulder.
“Come, Eden. It’s safe now. The infected are off the steps.”
He motioned impatiently. When I didn’t move, he continued speaking.
“We don’t have much time. There’s a house with lights not far from here. We can stay there tonight so I can keep you safe.”
He wanted to take me somewhere else? Hell no. But, the only way out of the hall was down those stairs, so I nodded and slowly walked toward him.
He showed me his teeth again, and I quickly looked away to focus on the blood-slicked stairs.
I considered it a miracle that I made it to the bottom using my feet and not my ass. Just when I was thinking of sprinting for the door, Ghua spoke from behind me.
“Wait here. Let me check the yard again. A few infected ran away.”
I watched him walk out the door, th
en I pivoted and ran for the back of the house. The door opened easily, and I stumbled down the steps in my hurry to get away. Ahead, the trees beckoned. I just needed to get to them.
Ghua rounded the corner of the house at a jog, cutting off my escape route. I skidded to a stop and stared at him with wide-eyes.
“You should have stayed inside, Eden. It’s not safe out here.” His gaze dipped from my eyes to my heaving chest.
“How old do you think you are?” he asked, tilting his head to study me.
“Twelve.” The response slipped from my mouth without thought; and as soon as I heard it, I couldn’t believe I’d said it. There was no way he’d believe I was twelve.
“Six more years until you’re eighteen.” He sighed and nodded slowly. “I am a patient man, though. It will not seem so long.”
I wasn’t sure how to react. First of all, I couldn’t believe he actually thought I was twelve. But mostly, the rest of his comment terrified me.
“What happens when I turn eighteen?”
“You will no longer be off-limits. Come. It’s a long walk to the next house. We want to get there before dark.”
I barely registered all of what he said. My brain was stuck on the first part. Off limits for what? And, he really expected me to go with him after he said that?
I glanced to my right and my left, wondering if I’d make it very far in either direction.
“Are you afraid of me, Eden?” he asked softly. “I am not angry that you shot me. I will not remove your head. I promise. Come on.”
He motioned again. Numbly, I started walking. I’d seen all the separated heads in the house, but until that moment, it hadn’t clicked he’d done all of that with his hands. I glanced at his biceps, clearly visible under the long-sleeved shirt struggling to encase his arms.
I couldn’t go wherever he had in mind because I knew, once there, I’d have no chance of fending him off when he figured out I’d lied about my age. And, I was terrified what exactly he would do when I was no longer off limits. Was he another form of infected? Was this what the smarter ones were evolving into? Was I just a live snack for later?
“I’m so fucked,” I said to myself.
Ghua stopped walking and slowly turned to look at me. The shock in his lizard eyes made me want to run. Instead, I stumbled to a halt.
“Children are not supposed to say that word.”
I nodded quickly. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I won’t say it again.”
“Good. When we get home, I will tell Mya you already knew the word. You did not learn it from me.”
“Mya?”
“Yes. She is a human female, like you. The first one we found.”
This guy was collecting us? My stomach sank as the rest of his words sunk in. There were more of him?
I needed to run, and I needed to run now.
Four
An infected called out somewhere nearby. Ghua put his hand up as if to stop me from walking although I hadn’t started again.
“Stay here, Eden.” He took off at a run to the east.
Heart racing, I immediately hauled ass to the west. Tree by tree, I put distance between me and the grey-skinned man. It sucked that he still had the rifle, but I’d manage with the knife. Just so long as I got away.
An infected moved out from a tree only steps in front of me. I reversed, almost falling on my butt and losing the knife.
The infected let out a low groan and lunged for me. I lifted my arms up, already visualizing how I would block and try to go for the broken branch to my right. However, that never happened.
A roar filled the air a moment before something dark jumped over me. The blur crashed into the infected and sent the body spinning horizontally, spread eagle. Its head connected with a tree and burst open like a ripe watermelon.
Stunned, I stared at the mess. The force of impact from that throw further kindled the fear I felt for the man herding me.
My gaze shifted to Ghua, who crouched in front of me. He watched the infected for a moment before he turned to me.
“Are you all right, Eden?”
He wiped his hand on his pants and reached for my face. His touch was gentle as he gripped my chin and nudged my head left then right for his inspection.
“The stupid human didn’t bite you, did it?”
If I said yes, he might lose interest in me. However, I was also aware of the very real possibility that he might rip my head off before I turned into an infected.
I quickly shook my head no.
“Good. Mya said that children like to wander. I didn’t know you could move so fast. I won’t leave you alone like that again. It’s too dangerous. That stupid human could have bitten you. You don’t want to be stupid, too, do you?”
“No.”
“I don’t want you to be stupid, either. Stay close, and that won’t happen.”
I swallowed hard, knowing a threat when I heard one. The next time he started forward, he didn’t need to motion for me to follow. I wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to run like that again. I wanted to keep my head.
It didn’t take long to reach the house.
On the porch, Ghua hesitated at the door and looked at me.
“You will need to follow me. But, stay close. There may be more stupid humans inside.”
“Infected, you mean.”
He tilted his head and studied me for a moment.
“You’re a very smart child.”
I shrugged slightly. “My friends called them infected.”
He made a non-committal noise and opened the door.
For a brief moment, I considered taking off while he looked around. However, that thought fled when he flicked on the switch right inside the door. A hellhound wouldn’t hesitate to attack me in the dark. This guy, however, hadn’t done anything but kill infected. Hoping it stayed that way, I followed him over the threshold.
Other than electricity, I held little hope that the house had anything more to offer. The furniture in the living room was bloody, and every cupboard in the kitchen hung open. Not that Ghua let me stay in that area long enough to investigate further.
He herded me upstairs then used a twin mattress from the closest bedroom to block the hallway. While he wedged it into place, I checked the rest of the rooms. One had a possible escape route out the window and an adjoining bathroom. However, the water didn’t run. I wasn’t surprised. It’d gotten cold since that first attack. A few nights, it’d even dipped well below freezing. While scavenging, we’d found a few poorly insulated homes that hadn’t yet had their heat on, which led to burst water lines.
I lifted the toilet tank’s lid and refilled my water bottles from there.
“I didn’t know that held water,” Ghua said. “You are really smart.”
My stomach clenched with fear and hunger. Was he catching on that I wasn’t twelve? Was he just toying with me?
“I don’t have a choice,” I said. “If I’m not smart, I die.”
He nodded and watched me guzzle down half a bottle of water. When I finished refilling it, I capped it and moved to drop it into my bag.
“Can I have some?”
I wanted to kick myself for not waiting until he slept to fill the bottles. I knew better than to openly display what supplies I had. That was the fastest way to get them stolen. Hopefully, he’d only take the one.
Sullenly, I held out the water bottle. He unscrewed the cap, chugged the contents, and handed me back the bottle.
We stared at each other for a moment while I waited for him to demand the other one.
“Thank you, Eden.”
He turned and started looking in dresser drawers. We were in a girl’s room. He took out a pair of jeans and held them up, studying them.
Not sure what to think of that, I refilled the bottle and put it in my bag before shutting the door to use the toilet. I made sure not to flush in case I needed what was left in the tank. When I reemerged, I found Ghua comfortably sitting against the door to the hallway. We w
ere closed in the room together for the night.
Fear was a real motivator in my life. Fear of the hellhounds had me running for shelter long before sunset. Fear of becoming infected had kept me alert and ready to defend myself. Fear of becoming Van’s next plaything had taught me when to use attitude to keep him at bay and when to keep my mouth shut.
Ghua was something to fear too. He’d ripped off heads like it was nothing, showing an aggression that would make armed men wet themselves. He’d threatened me and wanted me to come with him. But why? Without the why, I didn’t know how to respond. I didn’t know how to stay safe.
Again, we watched each other for a minute before I moved to the bed and sat down.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Home.”
“Why?”
“To keep you safe.”
“Why?”
He bared all his teeth at me. If they weren’t so scarily sharp, I might have thought he was trying for a wide smile.
“Now you sound like Timmy.”
“Who’s Timmy?”
“A child.”
Ghua wasn’t really giving me much. But, I knew I needed to find out more about him if I wanted to understand how to get away from him. So, I risked annoying him and kept trying.
“Where did you come from?”
“Ernisi. It’s our home under the ground. Mom says our home is on the surface now, in Tolerance, near Whiteman.”
Finally, a more substantial answer. Too bad I had no idea where Tolerance or Whiteman were, and my brain didn’t want to wrap around the idea of him coming from underground because that rang too close to my imaginings of hell. So, I went with the safest bit of information.
“Your mom is with you?”
“She’s not mine. She belongs to Mya. But Mom says we can call her Mom because we don’t remember our own. Dad lets us call him Dad because Mom says so.”
Belongs to Mya? The human he already captured?