Red Eye | Season 2 | Episode 1

by Riley, Claire C.

  A man pushed past me, splashing water on his head and face to cool himself down. Droplets of the warm liquid splattered my arms and face and I scowled at him.

  He mumbled an insincere apology and kept on moving through the crowd of people, the sound of his shitty apology getting lost within the thick folds of noise. Of crying children, of men talking, or women laughing, of footsteps and bodies moving. Of helicopters in the sky and trucks on the ground. A shiver trailed down my spine, the hairs on my arms prickling as I looked around me.

  “There’s too many people,” I muttered to myself.

  The stench of sweat was heady and the voices of so many people were making me feel dizzy. All care and caution seemed to have gone out the proverbial window and my stomach dropped at the thought of Sam out there all alone.

  I stuck my head back in the tent and all eyes were on me. “We need to find Sam, now,” I said, panic in my voice.

  Nolan was the first to move, closely followed by Barrett and then Andy.

  “Fuck,” Nolan said looking around us, “where did they all come from?” He looked towards Andy.

  “It always gets busy around this time. It’s too hot to stay in the tents.” He glanced around nervously. “Another group must have arrived too.” He frowned.

  “We need to split up and find her,” I said, my eyes widening as a woman let out a loud laugh that sounded like nails down a blackboard. “I’ll head back to the canteen, you guys.” I started looking over at them all and realized that Barrett had already left. “Just find her!” I snapped urgently, and then I took off into the crowd.

  There were too many people for me to run, but I could power-walk and I was short so I could duck underneath and in between people quickly. I found the canteen easily, and though there were a lot of people there also, there was no sign of Sam. As soon as I saw the crowds I had known she wouldn’t be. She’d want to find somewhere quiet, somewhere away from people and noise.

  I stood and turned in a circle, seeing the tops of tents in every direction. sweat trailing down the side of my face and down my spine as panic started to grip me. What if she zommed out now, with none of us there to help her?

  Would she hurt someone?

  Kill them?

  She’d never forgive herself if so. God, she wouldn’t have the chance to forgive herself—they’d kill her on sight.

  I squeezed my eyes closed and took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself and try to think more logically instead of letting panic control me. The underlying smell of fuel hit me and I snapped my eyes open. Looking around me again a little more closely, I noticed the tips of something over the top of some of the tents to the left. I jogged through the crowd, pushing past people.

  “Sorry, excuse me,” I called as I ran. “Pardon me, thank you!”

  People muttered and cursed as I barged past them, apparently too hot and bothered to listen to me when I asked them to move, so I changed up my tactics.

  “Get out of the bloody way, now!” I stumbled out of the crowd of people and into a more open area, and looked around.

  Helicopters, trucks, army tents, and best of all—hardly any people.

  If Sam was going to be anywhere, it would be here. I stepped out into the area, passing over a spray-painted line that had restricted written above it.

  “Restricted-shmicted,” I muttered, and kept on walking.

  There were army personnel walking around the area and I did my best to hide from them, but James Bond secret agent I was not. I ducked behind a truck, making sure to stay at the side of one of the truck’s tires so my feet couldn’t be seen from underneath.

  “Hey! This is a restricted area!”

  I stayed where I was, holding my breath and wondering what the hell I was even doing. I mean, way to look suspicious! Surely I could have just said I was looking for my friend and they’d help me, right? I mean, that’s what these army guys were there to do—help people. Yet something kept me exactly where I was, hiding behind the wheel of a truck as he marched on by, his hands on the gun that was slung around his neck, his eyes staring straight ahead at the supply tents where I was heading.

  When he was out of sight, I breathed a sigh of relief and looked over the top of the truck. Happy that no one else was coming that way, I jogged over to a group of round metal containers and ducked behind them. I was close to the helicopters then. There were two of them, and they were much bigger than any I had seen before. When my father had turned fifty, my mum had booked him a one-hour helicopter flight experience over Manchester. Since my mum is afraid of heights I got to go with him, and it was amazing! But that helicopter was tiny compared to this beast of a thing!

  I took a step back and stared up at it. Its blades were huge, stretching on for what seemed miles though they could only be six or seven feet. It had a large mount for a gun on one side, though the mount was empty at the moment, thankfully. And that thing could hold at least twenty people. I looked over at the second and third helicopter, and then at the trucks, realizing with sinking dread that there was no way there were enough vehicles to get everyone away from there and to safety, should we need to. I didn’t like that at all.

  Of course, I shouldn’t have been worrying about getting out of there in case of an outbreak, yet I couldn’t help it. There was no way I wanted to be stuck somewhere without an escape plan again. Being trapped on a falling plane that was on fire and infested with flesh-hungry zombies would do that to a girl.

  “Rose?”

  I turned at the sound of my name spoken softly, spotting Sam over by the second helicopter. I checked both ways and then jogged over to her, crouching down by one of the large wheels next to her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, her eyes closed now.

  “Looking for you, love,” I replied, nudging her with my shoulder. I noted the sweat on her forehead and tried to put it down to it being so hot, but I knew by the way her hands were gripping the metal of the wheel that she’d been zomming out like I’d suspected. “How are you doing? Better now you’re away from everyone?”

  She nodded quickly. “Much. The smell of plane fuel masked everyone.”

  “Anything I can do?” I asked, and she shook her head. “Let me just get this out of the way then, okay? I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but the fact is we don’t know what’s happening with you, and I really think bringing someone new into our little group is a bad idea.”

  “I do too,” she replied breathlessly. “Keep talking, it’s helping.”

  I paused in shock, wondering how I could be helping her when all I was doing was word-vomiting. It was her turn to nudge me with her shoulder now.

  “Sorry, yeah, umm, but I guess Nolan’s right too; Andy is on his own, and he’s got no chance on his own.” I looked out to the distance, to the sea of tents and buildings, wondering how many people were out there. How many had similar stories to Andy’s—alone, vulnerable. How many people had died so far, and how many more would do so before this thing was over?

  “He’s always got the nuns,” she laughed. Her voice was still panicked and breathless, but she finally opened up her eyes and looked over at me.

  I smirked back. “I am sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to say sorry for. You’re right: I’m dangerous. Probably more dangerous than the things beyond the fence, because you trust me. At least with those monsters you know exactly what you’re getting, but with me—”

  “Hey, stop that. We might not know what’s going on with you, but that doesn’t mean you’re one of them.” I nodded in finality, letting my words settle between us. “In fact,” I added, “you’re like a secret weapon. You can go near those things without them turning on you. You’re like some crazy superhero.”

  Sam snorted on a laugh. “That might be a bit of a stretch.”

  “Maybe,” I laughed back, “but we don’t know enough about what’s happening to you yet to make any decisions.”

  “I think you should tie me up when I s
leep—just in case I, you know…”

  “Zom out on us?”

  She shrugged. “Yeah. I don’t think I could live with myself if I hurt someone—especially you.”

  She reached for my hand and squeezed it, and I smiled at her.

  “I’ll speak to Nolan about it. I doubt Barrett is going to be okay with us tying you up, though, and there’s no way to explain it to Andy without him becoming suspicious.”

  She nodded sadly and I reached over and squeezed her hand.

  “We should get out of here before that guard comes back and yells at me again. Besides, everyone is looking for you.”

  She groaned dramatically. “I hate that.”

  “There’s worse things than your friends looking for you, babe.” I smiled.

  “What? Like being scratched by a zombie and half-turning into one of them so that whenever too many people are around, or you get freaked out, you start to hulk out? But, you know, instead of turning big, green, and strong, you see red—literal red—and want to rip everyone’s throats out and eat their flesh?” She slammed out the words, syllable by syllable. And I could tell each letter she spoke ate at her like acid. “God, I’m so hungry.”

  Silence fell like lead between us, and my jaw went slack at her sudden outburst. Tears welled in her eyes, but she fought them off determinedly.

  “Umm, yeah, something like that,” I replied with a grimace, and then for no apparent reason she started to laugh, and I joined in. “This is really messed up, you know?”

  “I know,” she replied, still laughing. “I don’t know why I’m laughing, either.”

  I swiped at the laughter tears under my eyes. “Me neither, but I’d prefer to laugh than cry.”

  When we’d gained our composure, we stood up and started back across the restricted area, ducking behind things as we went. But as we got closer, I could see Sam struggling more and more, the scent of so many people sending her freakish zombie powers crazy.

  “We need to stop,” I said as we dropped below a huge pile of sandbags.

  She nodded, and we crouched down. I swung my backpack around and opened it up, rooting through the meager contents until I found something useful: a spare T-shirt.

  I pulled it out and bit the hem of it with my teeth until I’d made a small tear, and then I tore it right down the center.

  “Lean forwards,” I said, and Sam complied with confusion until I started to wrap the material around her nose and mouth and tie it at the back of her head. “This should help.” I looked through the bag and found some hand sanitizer and squirted some of it onto my hands before smearing it over the material that now covered half of her face. “How’s that? Any better?”

  She nodded emphatically. “Much better, actually. All I can really smell is disinfectant. But won’t this look suspicious?”

  I smiled. “Not if we both do the same thing. We’ll just seem like cleanaphobes or something.”

  “Cleanaphobes? You mean germaphobes?” Sam corrected.

  “Shut up, yeah, that too,” I laughed.

  Chapter Six

  ~ Sam ~

  We did get a few strange looks as we walked through the camp, but if a crisis did anything to a group of people, it did this: it seemed to make folks less inclined to be nosy. Maybe that was a good thing, maybe it wasn’t. Either way, I had a feeling we’d be seeing a lot more people wearing masks soon enough, because if there was one thing people didn’t like, it was germs.

  I mean, sure, there were exceptions before the end of the world smashed into our faces. A car accident? Some people would stop, try to help. Most of them would rubberneck, though…drive slowly past, mouths agape, wanting to see the carnage out of morbid curiosity. A man trying to jump off a bridge and kill himself? People would tie themselves to him to keep him from jumping, to keep him alive. A stag caught in the middle of a muddy bog? A group of men—the same men who might shoot the stag during hunting season—would come together to rescue it.

  The world had instances of great, soul-filling shows of humanity.

  Sure, those happened. Sometimes often enough to restore a modicum of faith in mankind, between the news reports of school shootings, babies left in cars, human trafficking, and other noxious, blackening evil.

  Looked like the “end-of-the-world” was the more typical crisis situation though. Heads down. Eyes up. Keep to your own. Stay alive. Glance furtively at the bad shit as a reminder of how lucky you are.

  “See? I told you no one would really care if we both wore them,” Rose said, giving my hand a little squeeze.

  “Cleanaphobes for the win.” I let out with a small giggle that still held an edge of mania. “Likely they think we’re lesbian cleanaphobes too.” I squeezed her hand back, smiling beneath the cloth over my face as she also let out a small, albeit mentally stable, laugh.

  “God, don’t say that. Barrett would probably have a fit and try to kill me off if he thought I was after getting in your knickers!” she snorted.

  We were only a few yards from the tent when a large shadow cast over us from behind. Rose jumped a little, but something told me that I didn’t need to be scared of whoever had just appeared at our backs.

  “You worried me,” Barrett’s low voice rumbled. “I don’t like being worried.”

  I turned slowly, using my free hand to reach up and make sure the cloth was still over my face. Barrett’s fingers reached at the same time. He gently tucked his index finger beneath the cloth and pushed it downward to pool around my neck. I cringed as the sanitizer scent was shifted away, to be replaced by the overwhelming aroma of body odor.

  Rose tried to protest, but Barrett spoke faster.

  “You’re okay,” Barrett continued to growl, his voice deep and harsh, but not in a cutting way. It was throaty with concern. And I could see the evidence of it in the tightness around his eyes as well. “You’ve got to focus on something else. Something that means more than what’s going on around you.”

  He stared at me while Rose was frozen at my side. She’d taken a step closer to me, and her fingers still gripped mine firmly.

  I struggled, my nose wrinkling, my mouth beginning to fill with saliva.

  “Think, Sam. Think.” Barrett tilted his face a little closer. His breath was heady. Nutty, almost. It reminded me of something I couldn’t put my finger on.

  And then it came to me. He smelled a bit like my dad. Sitting about on a Sunday, snacking on peanuts because they were cheaper than cashews, which were actually his favorites.

  So I thought of my dad. I thought of how he towered over me, or so it felt when I was a child. I thought of how it had been just the two of us. I closed my eyes and saw him playing the violin while I twirled in circles about the room in front of him. I loved him. I missed him. I did not let myself fall into that void where I saw the ambulance lights undulating.

  I stayed in my happy childhood, with no mother yet blanketed in the love of a father who’d have died for me.

  “Good, that’s good.” Barrett put his hands on my shoulders.

  I felt Rose let go of my hand. I didn’t like that, but I was focusing on control, on not going crazy every time I smelled a person. I didn’t want to keep walking the edge. Rose had said “zom out” when I’d told her how I feared hurting someone…especially her. It sounded so funny, so casual. And it scared the living daylights out of me.

  Rose spoke then, her voice soft and wary. “Sam, you okay?”

  I opened my eyes and looked at her. “Yes. I think so.”

  Her eyes were still flooded with worry, but she pulled down the cloth she wore around her own face. “What did you think about?”

  Barrett’s hands were still on my shoulder. I glanced at him, then back at her. “My dad.”

  She nodded but didn’t say anything, and I knew she was probably thinking about her own dad.

  “You found her.” Nolan’s voice joined us. Andy trailed behind them. They’d stayed together during the search for me, perhaps. His tone was a mix of relief
and annoyance. “You can’t just run off whenever the fuck you feel like it, Sam, with what’s going on with you and shit. We’re protecting you, don’t you get that? We’re staying with you, even though we damn well shouldn’t.”

  “Nolan, stop.” Rose moved to glare at him. “She’s having a harder time than the rest of us put together. So just stop.”

  “I’ll stop if she promises not to go running off like that again. Send us all on a damn goose chase for her ass.”

  Now I looked more closely at my berating end-of-the-world companion and noted the sweat upon his brow, the strain in his face. He’d been genuinely worried—either for me or for how my absence and condition might affect them all should I be found out.

  Barrett had tensed beside me, no doubt ready to get into another fight with Nolan. So this time I spoke first. “I won’t run off again. I promise.” I considered tossing up a scout’s honor.

  “Good, because we won’t come looking for you next time,” he growled out.

  Scout’s honor forgotten, I pushed past everyone, though Barrett stayed close in pursuit, and made my way back to our tent that wasn’t too far in the distance now. I could hear Rose yelling at Nolan behind me but I didn’t care. It wasn’t like anything he’d just said was wrong, or a lie. He’d been right. That was probably what I hated the most.

  I finally reached the tent and pushed inside. The dark interior was swelteringly hot; it took my breath away.

  But the material did something else also—it muted all the smells floating through the air outside. I let the memory of my dad float away and I slinked toward the back of the tent, where my body, almost of its own volition, collapsed down onto the ground.

  Barrett had followed me into the tent, but he’d hung back near the entrance. Everyone else piled in not too long after, their eyes scanning the dimness as if they thought maybe I’d pulled a fast one again.