Alive Like Us

by Quinn Hallows

  “You heard him!” Dinah bellowed to the cowering group. “Half of you search the cellars, while the rest keeping soaking the fire.”

  Kai studied the rows of shanties and dilapidated buildings. One spark from the tavern’s flames and they could all go up like dry tinder.

  A ribbon of smoke curled out from the roof of the nearest building, a squat, square structure with a single cracked window facing the street. Kai sprinted over and bashed down the door. He scoured the spartan, threadbare interior. It was empty, and he couldn’t find a basement. He left quickly, coughing as the smoke thickening smoke burned his lungs, and headed to the next one.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Sanna awoke in a dark room, the air smelling of musty earth. She sat up; and noticed her pale, spidery hand splayed on the cracked cement floor. Confused, she lifted it up, studying her long, milky fingernails that ended in sharp points.

  She looked down at the skirt bunched around her legs. The fabric was light and summery—unlike anything she owned. Worse yet, was the body beneath. Her strange hands flew over her legs, her stomach, her chest. None of it was her. Her legs weren’t that long. Her chest was sunken, her skin stretched over her ribs.

  She was someone else. Something else.

  She explored her face, her panic edging into horror, then her hair. Something tugged gently at her fingers and when she looked down. A hank of auburn hair lay across her palm, still rooted to a piece of her scalp. A silent scream tore from her throat as the realization crashed into her. I’m...Infected.

  How long had she been like this? Why had her hair turn red? Where was she? She leapt up, scanning her surroundings. Like everything else, the basement was unfamiliar.

  Slats of weak light filtered through the narrow windows near the ceiling, just enough to cast shadows around moldering boxes of forgotten junk. A staircase rose from the center, ending at a door. Her stomach growled. Food came from up there, and she was so, so hungry.

  A thin ribbon of yellow light flickered on at its base.

  Something hissed fromed the opposite corner. Sanna scuttled deeper into the shadows, terror needling her skin. Two shiny white orbs glistened in the dark. The monster was awake. Her chains scraped across the floor.

  Sanna had to stay away. Far away. If she got to close, her skin would hurt.

  Footsteps creaked across the floorboards above, sending rivulets of dust through the cracks. A heavy thwack made Sanna jump. Her mouth watered as the mineral scent of blood wafting down the stairs.

  The monster’s chains rattled. The door at the top of the stairs opened, and a chunk of flesh landed with a squlech at the base of the stairs. The monster pounced, ripping off chunks with its claws and teeth. Sanna edged closer, knowing she shouldn’t take the risk, but her stomach ached. She ducked beneath the wooden steps. Her hunger sharpened to sheer, jabbing pain. No food. No hope. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

  The door opened wider, throwing a wedge of light at the bottom of the stairs. A male silhouette filled it. “Ruthie?” The first step creaked beneath his weight. “Honey? Where are you?”

  The man’s boots settled on the wooden step right in front of her nose. The roar of the blood rushing through his legs filled her ears, drowning out the painful, mewling noise he was making. She grabbed his ankle through the open steps. The man jerked his leg, but she held firm, turning her head sideways to fit through the slat. So close. So close. Her mouth watered.

  “Let go, Ruthie! Bad girl!” The man shouted, kicking back.

  The familiar voice made her pause. Ruthie? Why did that name sound familiar? Her head started to pound, and she released his leg as just the man kicked out again. The momentum sent him crashing down the stairs, where he laid in a heap of legs and arms. His neck was bent at an odd angle, away from her.

  The monster’s chain scraped across the floor. Ruthie pounced on the body and quickly dragged it out of the other monster’s reach, desperate to fill the aching void inside her.

  SANNA JERKED UPRIGHT, gasping for breath. The dank basement was gone—she was in the clinic instead. She tasted copper and traced her bottom lip. Her finger was stained red. Had it all been a dream?

  It had seemed so real.

  Ruthie. Where had she heard that name before? She stared at the red stain on her fingers. Two figures hovered over her. She jolted back, but then her brain re-shuffled.

  Haven. That was the girl’s name who stood beside her bed, frowning softly.

  A beam of light shone into Sanna’s eyes, piercing her amorphous thoughts. She winced, her head pounding, and rubbed her temples. The sweet scent of perfume tickled Sanna’s nose. Haven’s lips were moving, but her voice was a muffled, underwater drone. Her words slowly took shape.

  “...you were in a coma.”

  Sanna shook her head clear of the cobwebs. Haven’s hand was splayed next to her leg, the rich honey of her skin a stark contrast to the crisp white sheet. Sanna’s stomach growled. She was starving, just like in that weird dream. “How long was I out?”

  “Two whole days,” Theo had been studying her from the foot of her bed.

  “We didn’t think you’d make it,” Haven added. “Your burns were the worst any of us had seen.”

  The memory of the fire, the Alpha, and her father’s death came rushing bacl. “Kai.” Sanna gripped Haven’s arm. “Did he make it? Is he okay?”

  “Your Outsider is fine,” Theo said. “Actually, he’s better than fine. The whole town thinks he’s a hero. The fire took out about a quarter of our buildings but didn’t kill anyone, thanks to him. Erling’s suffered some heavy losses though, and the horde is still out there, growing every day.”

  “Theo.” Haven shot him a warning glare.

  Sanna glanced down at her banadgaed hands. The coppery tang of blood still lingered in the air, or maybe that was the remnants of the vivid dream. “I knew I was healing faster than normal before I went in after Ivan and Kelsey. I had a cut that healed in a few minutes—”

  “A cut? By the time Kai brought you here, you hardly had any skin left. Your clothes had mostly burned off,” Haven said.

  “I know.” Sanna squeezed her eyes shut. The agony of her tortured flesh still haunted her, even if her wounds were healed.

  “I can’t believe you went in there. After what Kelsey did to you? I thought you were over your stupid death wish but—” Haven squeezed her lips into a bitter line and shook her head. “You know what? Never mind. I’ll go tell Anne you’re awake. This is the only second time she thought you were dead in the last two weeks.”

  “What’s gotten so upset?” Sanna wondered after watching Haven storm out the room.”

  “She’s worried. We all were, actually. You came out of there looking like raw meat formed into a human. Even Kai figured you weren’t going to make it.” Theo grabbed from instruments from a nearby cabinet and placed them on a metal tray by Sanna’s pillow. “I’d like to take some vitals. And some blood.”

  “Sure.” Sanna sat up, swinging her legs over the side. Her gaze caught on the gray sweater and pants she was wearing. A stranger’s clothes.

  “Let’s see what your skin looks like, shall we?” He gently unwound bandage wrapped around her arm, starting at her elbow. “Amazing,” his fingers traced the smooth skin. “Not even a mark.”

  “I don’t understand. Haven said I was burned to a crisp.”

  “You were.” Theo moved onto the other arm. “Some might write it off as a miracle but,” he reached for a syringe on the tray. “I’d like to figure out how it works.”

  Sanna forced a smile. “You haven’t changed at all, have you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re like...one of those robots in the stories your dad used to tell us.” She shifted her attention to the dark whirls on the pine-planked wall, not wanting to watch.

  “I’m not a robot.” Cool metal pinched her arm. “I just know what it takes to make scientific discoveries. Focus. Dedication. Sacrifice. It’s the only way we can def
eat the virus.”

  “I know,” Sanna heard the syringe clink on the tray and shifted her arm.

  Theo pinned it down. “One more. Please.”’

  Her stomach ached. She was starving, and the blood draw made it worse. “Okay. But afterwards I need some food.”

  Theo drew a second vial, then padded the crux of her elbow with gauze and wrapped it in clean linen. He slipped the vials into his coat pocket and left her alone in the exam room. “I’ll see what I can find.”

  Sanna unraveled the bandages on her other arm and rubbed the flawless skin. The constellation of freckles along her forearm was gone, along with the fish-hooked shaped scar she’d gotten the first time she’d scaled the wall. She was ten, and her grandfather had been so proud when she rang the bell at the top. “That’s my girl!” he’d crowed, opening in his arms the minute she’d landed on the other side. She’d ran to him, laughing, so happy she didn’t even feel the nasty cut.

  The scar was gone now. Just like Ivan. She’d never see his face again. Or hear his voice. Tears dripped onto her lap. Never seemed like such a long time.

  The door opened. Sanna stiffened, wiping her face with her sleeve.

  Theo tossed her a bundle of dried meat. “This is all I got. They might still be serving lunch in the armory—that’s where Dinah’s set up now since the tavern burnt down.”

  Sanna unwrapped the fabric and ripped off a leathery hunk with her teeth. It would better fresh—raw, even—but at least it dulled the ache in her stomach. She polished of the stack of jerky in minutes, licking her fingers clean. Theo was watching her, his eyes magnified by his thick glasses. She felt like a pile of cells under his microscope. “Where’s Kelsey?” She hopped off the bed, dusting her hands off on her pants. “Is she alive?”

  “She’s in the cell,” Theo said as Sanna brushed past him. “Hey—you should rest!”

  Sanna hurried to the main room and spotted the girl inside a cell the corner. She was curled into a ball under a pile of blankets. “How is she?”

  Theo hovered behind her, agitated. “Not great. Her burns weren’t as bad as yours, but still pretty severe. Unfortunately, she doesn’t heal like you.”

  “And Simon?”

  “The Lieutenant’s still looking for him.”

  First her group of friends, then her father and now Kelsey. She was supposed to protect people, not be the reason for their deaths. “Theo,” Sanna faced him, “promise me something.”

  He took a step back, surprised. “W-what?”

  “I—I need you to promise to treat her and let her go.”

  Theo frowned, opening his mouth to speak. Sanna talked over him. “I mean it. You can’t let the Lieutenant execute her. I know you have clout. You can make something up about the CVC.”

  “Sanna, you now the Lieutenant won’t allow it. Or your mother, frankly,” Theo said, evenly. Always the robot. “Kelsey put the whole town at risk that night and so much property was destroyed. Not to mention your father—grandfather, I mean.”

  “She was confused,” Sanna said, the words pouring out. “Scared. The voice in the forest—”

  “Then she should have told someone, instead of acting on her own. Maybe then we could’ve been better prepared, and Ivan would still be alive.”

  The same voice had been threatening me for weeks and I said nothing. “M-maybe she was afraid that no one would believe her—that people would think she was crazy.”

  Theo shrugged. “So what? That just means she cared more about her reputation than Erling’s safety.”

  “I have to go,” Sanna pushed past Theo, guilt heavy on her shoulders.

  “Wait, are you sure?” His boots tromped after her. “I really want to run more tests!”

  “Later,” Sanna grabbed Haven’s dark red shawl coat hanging by the door and flung it over her head and shoulders. “Tell Haven I’m borrowing this, okay?”

  She rushed across the quarantine yard, ignoring Theo’s pleas to stay. The guardhouse was abandoned, and the chain link gate propped open. She turned down the narrow alley that led to the main street. The fire’s devastation was evident; a swath of hollow, blackened buildings centering around the smoldering remains of the church.

  Her grandfather’s grave.

  She squeezed her eyes shut as his blackened body flashed in her mind. Was Theo right? Would things have ended differently had she told him? No one could ever know for sure.

  She walked down the deserted street, the buildings on either side glaring down at her with soot-blackened eyes. The damage got worse the closer she got to the town’s center, and soon the structures were reduced to a handful of blackened studs and rubble-filled basements. It’s amazing no one else was injured.

  A few figures picked their way through the remains, searching for salvageable goods, mostly the very young and very old since everyone else would be on the wall. Their filthy faces shot up as she drew nearer, as if sensing a predator. Her mother was among them, sitting on the cement stoop that had once led to Dinah’s tavern.

  “Sanna!” She beamed, as she wrapped a bandage around a little girl’s elbow. “Just a minute.”

  She finished her task and stood; her arms opened wide. Sanna welcomed her embrace. “Haven stopped by on her way to the wall. She mentioned you were feeling better, but I didn’t expect you to be up and walking. Let me look at you.” She held Sanna at arm’s length, studying her. “Amazing! Like a newborn babe.”

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Sanna said, tears rolling down her face. “I wish I could have saved him.”

  “Oh dear,” Anne squeezed her tight again. Her familiar scent made Sanna cry harder into her shoulder. “You have to be strong, remember? The fight isn’t over yet. And I’m afraid it won’t be for a good, long while.”

  “This is all my fault. If I’d only stayed in that tower—"

  “Then you’d be dead as well. Your grandfather loved you so much, he’d do it all again I’m sure.”

  “Have you...” Sanna sniffed, pulling away. “Found him?”

  “They’re looking for metal for to make more weapons, not bones.” Anne’s gaze drifted to the church, and her lips tightened to a resolute line. “Listen, Sanna, a horde that size was bound to attack no matter what. Don’t waste your time on what-ifs. Especially when there are real things you can do to help. Understand?”

  Sanna nodded, in awe of her grandmother’s indomitable strength. She was right. No matter how much grief and sorrow weighed on her, now was for action. “Where’s Kai? I hear he’s joined the cause.”

  “He said he’d be with Raj today,” the little girl—Reina Timms— chirped behind them.

  Sanna had forgotten she was there and looked to her mother, incredulous. “Really?”

  Anne lifted a shoulder. “What can I say? A shared enemy makes good friends, I supposed.”

  “Kai saved my life!” Reina squealed, rolling down her sleeve. “He came into the basement and rescued me, just like a knight in a fairy book. Mama said he’s hero. I’ll take you to him.”

  “We need you here, Reina, remember? You promised your mother you’d help the others look for scraps.”

  Reina held her gaze for a moment, her bottom lip protruding.

  “Fine,” the child sighed, overly dramatic. She picked up the long stick beside her and tromped over the charred mess, her dark corkscrew curls swinging with each exaggerated step.

  “Your Outsider has made quite an impression these last few days,” Anne said as she watched Reina stabbed the rubble with as much force as her stubby arms allowed.

  “I can see Reina’s smitten.”

  “She’s not the only one. He helped a lot of people evacuate the night of the fire If Raj tried to collect his bounty now, he’d have a mutiny.”

  “That’s good. And the wall? How’s it holding?”

  “Fair,” Anne put the roll of bandages and bottle of disinfectant into her doctor’s satchel. “Though the horde grows by the day. It’s only a matter of time before there’s
a second breech.”

  “Any chance of reinforcements?”

  “We sent a message to Sorenson, of course, but it’d take them a week get here, if they choose to help at all. I think Ivan bought us time, wounding that Alpha. Let’s hope it’s enough.” She picked up her satchel and squeezed Sanna’s hand as she passed by. “I have other patients, sweetie, but I’m so glad you’re okay. Go talk to Raj. See where he wants you.”

  “Okay,” Sanna whispered, but Anne was already gone, entering the toiling masses with her shoulders set and her chin held high.

  Sanna knew her grandparents love for each other had been a rare and precious thing, which made Anne’s steely resolve all the more incredible. She was right. Protecting the living took precedent over mourning the dead, even if it was your soulmate, or beloved grandfather.

  Sanna hurried to the wall, ready to join the fight.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Reina had been wrong. Kai wasn’t at the wall, though everyone there knew where he was—the dining hall attached to the armory. Their faces had shone when they spoke about him. A big change from three days ago, when they were all willing to let Raj send him to New Hope in shackles. Sanna wondered how Kai’s rocketing fame set with the second in command, but knowing Raj, he was probably just happy to have another pawn to arrange on his many blueprints.

  Sanna found them both sitting at a makeshift table near the wall of windows, hunkered over a tattered map of Erling’s territory. Bowls of rapidly cooling venison stew were set near their elbows.

  “Spotters estimate the horde’s at least four-hundred strong now, with clear factions here, here and here,” Raj said, dragging his finger across the page.

  Kai whistled. “I didn’t know there were that many left in the forest.”

  “That’s the thing. There aren’t. We send scouts out every spring to count, and they’ve never found half so many. The spotters say there’s hunchbacks from the Great Plains mixed in, and even some amphibians from the South. What could be bringing them all the way here just to freeze.”