by Fitch, E. M.
"Why, why did you do that?" she said, her voice breaking. He was still pinning her to the wall and she struggled to bring her hands up, stroking the side of his face and using her thumb to wipe the smear of her blood from his lip.
"You are not infected," he whispered again, leaning forward and pressing his forehead to hers.
Jack hadn't taken his eyes from Andrew's frame, his gun out, his arm tense. Marco looked confused and nervous, even as the rest of the women slowly backed away. Seconds passed, Andrew kept repeating, over and over, "You are not infected," as tears streaked Emma's face. At first the mantra was slow, reverent, like a prayer. But as the seconds stretched, as Andrew stood tall and straight and still, his cadence shifted and the words became triumphant.
"You are not infected," he said, smiling now. Emma shook her head in disbelief. Her lips, still red, parting in wonder.
"It could just be slow, you could-" she whispered. He cut her off, kissing her again. Her arms came around him as he moved forward and Kaylee could see the tentative movement of her mouth against his. When he broke away this time, he was grinning, his eyes lighting as he watched her.
"You are not infected." He said it slowly, his gaze soft and tender. "Immune, not infected.”
"So, she was bit?" Marco asked in wonder. No one answered.
"Maybe you're just immune," Emma continued, her breathing picking up again. "They're right. I could be a danger, maybe you're just-"
Kaylee moved forward now, shaking Jack's warning hand off her arm. She grabbed her sister from Andrew's hold, caught her jaw between both hands, and kissed her right on the mouth. Tension saturated the group behind them, voyeurs to the fear. Emma cried out as Kaylee released her. Kaylee turned towards Andrew with a grin, her tongue darting out, tasting the blood from her sister's wounded mouth.
"Immune. Not infected," she said through a smile. She held her hands out in front of her. Andrew did the same. Both were steady, no shaking.
Emma's breath was fast, panicky as she watched her sister and Andrew. The seconds stretched. The women all drifted back, confused and uncertain but no longer trying to kill anyone. Gunfire from the square was present, but sporadic, usually preceded by guttural moans and cries.
Emma let out a shaky laugh through her tears, stopping to wipe the remaining blood from her lips. She finally nodded, smiling up at Andrew. "You're an idiot.”
"And you're a stubborn pain in my ass.”
"Corey was so sure," Marco whispered. His eyes were locked on Emma, his brow furrowed. "He swore that's how the infection got in.”
"It was Patrick," Jack explained in a rush. "It's been him for a long time. Him and his brother, Michael.”
"Mike?" Marco asked in a horrified rush. "No, Mike was kicked out, ages ago.”
Jack explained in a rushed whisper, told the huddled group the short version. Some didn't seem all that surprised and it made Kaylee wonder, how many insane groups had they all belonged to before this?
Kaylee and the rest had only had each other at the start of this insane world. They were family already, sisters, daughters, sons, fathers. Anna had fit in so naturally, an older sister, so non-confrontational with her textbooks and desire to heal. But it wasn't like that everywhere. The Mill, the Circle, now here. Power and struggles, using starvation, knowledge, even the infection to further their own status, hedge their bets. It was horrifying and sad, and a truer loss of humanity than the infection itself could ever be.
"We're leaving," Jack concluded. "Out the back and over a fence. Any of you are welcome to come with us.”
It should have surprised Kaylee when only a handful decided to, but then again, maybe she should have expected it.
Chapter Twenty
The air was cold and still when they exited the back of the mess hall. Jack went first, Kaylee right behind him. Her boot broke through the crust of untouched snow as she moved to the corner of the building. Gunshots sounded all around them, peppering the woods. But they were distant, reminding Kaylee of fireworks that were going off where she couldn't see them. Bursts and pops with no sign of death or destruction.
There was no time now to revel in the miracle of Emma's immunity. Something precious had shifted in her sister though, Kaylee saw it in her expression when she looked back to make sure Emma was behind her. She looked truly frightened for the first time that day. She jumped at every noise, her hand kept fast in Andrew's.
She finally had something to lose, a future with Andrew, and she was terrified it would be taken from her. Something clenched in Kaylee's chest at the realization. She ran her tongue over her lips, tasting the residual blood there, and firmed her resolve. They needed to get out of here before the chaos settled and Patrick and Michael were able to reunite and take stock of their conquest.
Because they would win, Patrick's men and the Circle combining would sweep through the camp, win over whoever they needed to. Not with the stories they'd concoct. Those wouldn't really matter. They could tell everyone it was Emma who started all of this, make it sound believable, even though it wasn't true. Even though the women huddled together in the mess hall knew it wasn't true. They could spin that lie, hold the members of the Circle high as heroes, form a new Council, pretend they played by any rules, but it none of it would matter. None of the people left had strength enough to oppose them. It would all be for show.
Just as it was with the last Council. Rules for everyone but themselves, ways to destroy those who opposed them or presented a threat.
She sucked a breath in when she turned the corner of the mess hall to follow Jack back across the empty square.
Bodies. Everywhere, in huddled piles, melted puddles of slush and snow and blood all churned into the mud. Boot prints ran around and over them, trampling the people into the earth. None of them were moving.
"Rebecca." Kaylee heard the name fall softly from Anna's lips and she followed her line of sight. The bushy hair looked commonplace, ordinary, and yet at the same time so familiar that it was like a punch to the gut. Kaylee couldn't see her face, her body was already crumpled in the snow, lifeless.
What was she even doing here? This poor woman who had no where else to turn, why had they coerced her to do this? Because this wouldn't have been her idea. She wasn't strong, couldn't fend for herself, and so Kaylee could understand how she would have complied. If Michael gave her a gun and told her to point in any one direction, Kaylee could imagine her doing it. But she was defenseless in so many ways, too. Getting her to do this, it was as good as killing her himself.
Kaylee reached back blindly and grabbed for Anna's hand. Disgust flooded her stomach. A hatred, not for the men themselves but for their way of life seared her belly. She wanted to leave, wanted to take everyone she could away from here and never look back. She found her eyes moving longingly towards the front gate. A dangerous, wonderful idea occurred to her.
"I bet they don't have a guard on the vehicles," she said, looking to Jack. Marco appeared beside her, one of the few who decided to leave with them.
"You don't think?" he asked in a hushed tone. She shook her head.
"They didn't before," she reasoned. "And even if they do, it won't be more than a couple of people.”
"We could take a car, get far away from here," Anna whispered. The rest seemed hesitant.
"They'd follow," Andrew argued.
"I can take care of that," Jack said, gritting his teeth.
They crossed the square as silently as possible, picking their way carefully through bodies that wouldn't even notice they were there. Trampled snow made a clear path to the front gate. Kaylee could see the top of it through the bare branches that now stretched overhead. The sun had mostly risen now, brilliant orange making way for the palest of blues. The group stopped as one when they heard the first moan. It was joined by another, and then more, before they realized that it was the infected from the moat.
The Circle had left a single guard. A young man that Kaylee recognized but whose name she never knew. He w
as perched on the bumper of a jeep, a shot gun loose in his hands.
"Don't move," Jack called out clearly, moving from the trees to stand in front of the boy. He tensed up immediately, raising the barrel of his gun. “Stop."
At Jack's order, he froze. Jack nodded for Andrew to secure the gun and he did. He handed the weapon off to Anna, telling the guard to get on his knees and stay quiet. As soon as he knelt, Anna came up behind him and smashed the butt of the gun into his head. He fell face first in the snow.
"Just in case," she muttered to Kaylee. The boy was alive, but wouldn't bother them any more.
The Circle's cars were parked in a scattered formation all along the gate entrance. Some were so close to the gate, there was no way to even pull the doors closed. Andrew and Emma were ushering people forward. Marco was already under the dashboard of one of the jeeps, one closest to the exit. Kaylee heard the distinct spark of him hot-wiring the vehicle and then a rev of the engine. He offered a tight smile as the few people who had followed them jumped in the back.
"Get out passed the grates," Jack said. Marco nodded and took off. Kaylee wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but the gunfire sounded close again. Jack looked hurriedly in the windows of the vehicles nearest him. He reached into an armored van and pulled out a set of keys, tossing them towards Anna. "Take everyone out with Marco. I'll be right behind.”
"We'll be right behind," Kaylee corrected, daring Jack with a look to argue. There wasn't time. A bullet nicked one of the trees nearby, showering the snowy ground with bark fragments. Emma and Andrew got into the back of the van Jack indicated, her sister shooting her an awful, pleading look. Jack smacked the side and it took off, tires crunching over ice and left-over debris from the grenades.
Kaylee spun back to Jack, finding him crouched under one of the cars. A pungent odor arose, the snow staining yellow in a halo around him. When he stood, he was clutching a torn cloth, soaked in the gasoline he just drained from a punctured gas tank. He ran towards a car near the gate, reaching for the door to the gas tank. As he unscrewed the gas cap, Kaylee stopped him.
The van, Michael's van, was parked just inside the gate, close to one of the massive concrete sides that held the wooden doors in place. She recognized it and she knew what was inside. She reached for the sliding door and yanked it open, finding, as she knew she would, a floor packed with homemade grenades, and open boxes of dynamite.
"Blow this one," she whispered, nodding towards the dynamite. They didn't have time for anything elaborate. She slid the door shut and he unscrewed the gas cap. Jack stuffed the gas soaked rag into the opening and brought his lighter to the end.
It caught with a whoof that brought a shock of heat over Kaylee's exposed skin. He grabbed for her hand and pulled, running towards the gate that hung open.
Infected fingers reached up through the grate and grabbed at her boots. She stared straight ahead, crushing fingers as she ran. The howls and moans didn't shift, even as their bones were snapped. They had a hunger that would never be satiated, not until death, no matter the injury. The jeep was a safe distance away but the van was waiting. Kaylee was startled by the shout that came from behind, a scream of anger that rose over the snarls. She jumped when a loud ding sounded, confused at first by the circle of metal that bloomed on the side of the van, bright silver where navy blue had been. Then she realized, someone was shooting at them.
Whoever it was, they must not have realized the gate was about to blow. Kaylee ducked her head and ran faster, her hand melded with Jack's. Emma's face peered from the cracked door of the van, urging them on. Out of nowhere, Kaylee felt the grate under her feet tilt and pitch. Jack tugged her hand and they leapt to the side, staggering as the grate they had been running on slid back. A horde of infected gathered at the mouth, reaching and then climbing over one another to get at them.
They ran forward. Adrenaline surged through her limbs, pushing her faster, faster. They were so close, almost there.
Something whizzed by, she felt as it passed her body. But it was too late now. Behind her, she could hear the soft roar of a fire catching. The gas tank had caught. If the van was on fire, the dynamite would go next. She heard another scream, one of warning and fear, as she threw herself into the van. The door slammed shut after Jack joined her. Anna floored the gas and the van rocketed forward. Kaylee and Jack both tumbled backwards, sliding along the empty floor until they were tangled with Emma and Andrew.
Blood and gasoline, sweat and tears, they mingled together on that van floor. The whole vehicle shook when the first stick of dynamite blew. The rest followed with an explosion that rocked the earth. Anna slowed down, turning the van so that the driver's side faced the crumbling gate. Ahead of them, through the windshield, Kaylee could see that Marco's jeep did the same.
The four of them untangled their legs, Kaylee and Jack yanking open the sliding door with trembling hands. Emma and Andrew didn't leave the floor, eyes only for each other, reveling not only in their survival, but in each other. Kaylee kept her back to them, knowing more than she ever wanted to by the sounds that were coming from behind her.
"Where to now?" Marco asked, coming to stand with Kaylee and Jack. The gate was a massive pile of splintered wood and concrete. Parts of it had smashed into the pit of infected. Some of the rotting bodies were climbing up the remains of the doors, staggering towards the camp.
"We head west," Jack answered. "Drive until the cars break down or we get to the coast.”
"Sounds good to me," Marco answered, dipping his head.
Kaylee let Jack drag her back into the van. Emma disentangled herself from Andrew, but she didn't move away. Kaylee kept her eyes to the windshield.
Epilogue
The ocean air breezed over them, cold and stinging. And yet, the scent of the salt reminded Kaylee so forcefully of summertime, that for the first time in weeks, she felt warm.
A sound, sharp and piercing in the night air, startled the group.
Emma turned towards it. Even in the dim light, Kaylee saw tears spring to her sister's eyes.
The couple that walked towards them moved carefully, weighing each step. Their skin was dark, almost lost in the nighttime, but they're eyes were locked on the small group and in each hand, moonlight glinted off gun barrels. In the woman's arms, a bundle of blankets squirmed and screamed.
"Is that a baby?" Emma whispered, stepping towards them. Andrew's hand went to restrain her, but she slipped passed. The couple tensed.
But the adoration, the longing, in Emma's gaze was clear. Kaylee stepped forward with her, reaching to clasp her sister's hand in her own.
"See, Em," she whispered. "I told you you weren't the youngest person left alive.”
Emma laughed softly and reached a hand discretely to her eye, wiping away any moisture. The child in the women's arms let out a wail, the normal cry of a hungry infant.
"Is that a bite mark?" the woman asked, staring at Emma's scarred hand. Emma smiled warmly.
"It is," she answered. "I'm immune." As if on cue, Andrew strode over and took Emma's face lovingly in his hands. He pressed a kiss to her lips, lingering as he was prone to do. The woman stared, horror and shock gradually making way for curiosity.
"I've never known anyone-" she murmured, breaking off at Emma's grin.
"We haven't either," Kaylee said kindly. "She's one of a kind.”
"Yeah, it does come in handy," Emma joked. Her tone grew plaintive towards the end and her eyes were drawn back to the infant wiggling in his mother's arms.
"This is Henry," the woman whispered. "Are you the one's who have been leaving the signs?”
"And the food?" the man added. He looked passed the girls to Jack, Andrew, and Marco and his gun lowered fractionally. Their group had already set up for the night, most were circled around a small campfire as they warmed their food. The few that weren't standing looked up, gave cursory glances to assure themselves the newcomers weren't dangerous, and then went back to their dinner. The boys moved forward,
slowly so as not to startle the couple. And as Jack explained to the newcomers about the New North America, about what they were going to do instead, Emma spoke to the young mother.
"Can I hold him?”
The tender longing was something Kaylee had never expected from her younger sister. She watched as Andrew's eyes flit over Emma, burning in intensity. The woman offered a strained smile and looked to her partner. His gun was holstered now and his attention was focused on Jack.
"Hi, Henry," Emma whispered as the infant was placed in her arms. The mother hovered protectively, pressing close to Emma. She didn't seem to notice. Her face was low, almost nose to nose with the baby.
Kaylee moved forward and impulsively pressed a kiss to her sister's cheek. Emma smiled but didn't look up. Kaylee stepped next to Jack, letting Andrew take her place next to Emma. He belonged there anyway.
The young couple were Ridhi and Lawrence. They had traveled from Georgia, following the signs that first Quinton and Jack, and then the rest had left outside decimated cities. They had used all the food and had particularly appreciated the baby formula Anna insisted they leave outside Kaylee's own home city.
They wouldn't be traveling North any longer.
On that night, on a freezing shore on the Northwest coast of North America, a new colony was born. Looking out over the dark horizon, pretending they could see the islands they would travel to in the morning, they left a sign. It started as all the others had before.
Supplies here for those who need them.
It did not read that anyone should head north and it did not promise safety. Instead, there was a simple message.
We have found freedom. If that's what you're looking for, you have found it, too.
Kaylee knew this truth now. There was no such thing as safety without the loss of freedom, they were ever balanced on the scales of life. It wasn't safety that their group could offer anyone. It wasn't safety that Kaylee should have been searching for; it was companionship, the hope of rebuilding, the re-establishment of humanity. Since the dawn of the infection, those should have been the goal. True freedom, freedom from fear, from attack, freedom to live as they chose, that was the real hope. It had been convoluted, lost in the daily struggle of infection, pain, and hunger.