Alive Like Us

by Quinn Hallows

  Sanna closed the distance between them in a single heartbeat, cleaving the Infected skull with the hatchet Kai had given her. The Infected collapsed; his skeletal body splayed wide.

  She planted a boot on the Infected’s chest and wrenched the weapon free.

  “God,” Kai said, panting as he caught up. “You’re even faster than you were before.”

  Sanna sniffed the air, catching a whiff of dog. “Frankie’s over there, in that one—I think.” She pointed to the trailer with the tallest spikes.

  “That’s Cerise’s.”

  She led the way. Around them the Infected were huddled into groups, digging into fresh kills. It was almost as if they were forming...packs. One stage two was tugging a fallen soldier deeper into the forest, only to have two others grab the dead man’s legs. A contest of gnashing teeth and bloodcurdling growls ensued.

  “Damn,” Kai whispered. “We need to get out of here before dinner is over.”

  “They’re just like us, aren’t they? Fighting over resources. Trying to survive,” Sanna said as the stage two gave up and started tearing into the man’s neck, while the others went after his legs. Theo would lose his mind when she told him what was happening. If she ever saw him again.

  “Don’t let any official hear you say that. Humanizing the Infected is a capital offense,” Kai warned. “When we get to the trailer, you grab the kid and I’ll grab my pack and Frankie. Then we run for it. There’s no reason to confront that freaky voice if we can help it.”

  Sanna knew in her heart it wouldn’t be that easy. The voice wasn’t going to let both of them escape. She felt his presence everywhere. Why hadn’t he attacked her yet? Was he waiting for something?

  She crept towards the nicest trailer and tried the handle. Locked. There was no other way in, except for the hatch on the roof. Kai caught Sanna’s gaze and cupped his hands, ready to help.

  She shook her head. The trailer was well over seven feet tall—not including the metal spikes. She was crazy to think she’d make it. And yet...

  She squatted low, felt the power building in her legs, and jumped. The dark velvet sky rushed towards her, and for an exhilarating moment, she thought she’d land on a star. She landed on the roof instead. Breathless and jittery, she helped Kai up.

  He tried the hatch. “Dammit! It’s locked too.”

  A soft rustling pricked her ears, a thousand rodent feet skittering across the frozen Earth. She scanned the campground and found all the Infected were fleeing into the forest, leaving behind their half-eaten carcasses.

  Ching! Ching! Ching! Dread hardened her stomach as Kai pounded the lock with his cudgel.

  “Watch out!” he shouted.

  A shadow swooped over her. Sanna spotted a winged silhouette sail past the crescent moon before making a sharp turn towards them. Her heart raced.

  Kai clasped her shoulder and dragged her to the hatch. Her feet slid on the ice-glazed metal. She fell, hard. Kai reached for her, the winged shadow falling over him. She tackled him, protecting his body with her own, and bit back a scream as the creature’s claws raked across her back.

  Thump! Something heavy landed behind her.

  Claws screeched against metal. The elongated shadow of the Alpha loomed over them. She twisted around, her mouth hinging in horror. The monster’s great wings blocked out the sky. Her human body had been broken and healed at odd angles. A mantle of horns traced her collarbone.

  It’s her. The Alpha that had killed her grandfather, and the Infected that defended her outside Erling’s gate. She’s come to finish the job.

  The Alpha advanced, her wings folding behind her in a leathery cape. Sanna backpedaled. The hatch screeched open behind her.

  “Hurry!” Kai shouted.

  Sanna lunged to the left and ducked as the Alpha swiped the air above her head. Her feet skated and she fell forward, clawing the icy roof for purchase as she careened over the edge and into thin air. The Alpha snatched her like a hawk, her claws digging into Sanna’s flesh. She cried out, kicking and thrashing, but the monster’s grip was like iron. Unbreakable. She flew upward, pumping her massive leathery wings, until the air was thin, and the trees were pinpricks of green among the snowy ground.

  And then she let go.

  Sanna plummeted to the earth, her eyes watering and the icy air stinging her face. The small clearing with its rusty ring of trailers surged towards her. She wouldn’t survive. Not from this height. Her body would shatter like glass.

  The bonfire glowed under her like a malevolent eye. Sanna braced herself, wrapping her arms around her head even though she knew it was useless. Kai shouted; his voice muffled by the wind. She passed the treetops and squeezed her eyes shut. It was over. All over

  A force slammed into her. The world spun. Her face was pressed to something cold and leathery. The Alpha’s chest—but why?

  They crashed into the bonfire. Sparks blazed. Bones crunched. They bounced around rolled and at last came to a stop.

  Sanna head spun. She struggled to suck in a breath. What just happened? She pushed herself up and tried to piece her scattered thoughts together. It was almost like the Alpha had...saved her.

  Footsteps raced across the snow. Kai. He was coming to her rescue. The Alpha’s malice emanated like a sun.

  “Stop!” Sanna shouted, her head throbbing. “The Alpha doesn’t want you here. She’ll kill you in heartbeat. You won’t even have a chance. This is between me and her.” Like in the basement, with that stage two.

  “But—”

  “It’s okay. Find Frankie and the kid. Make sure they’re safe.”

  Infected materialized around the scattered fire, forming a ring. Some were so fresh they were still in gray and white fatigues. There’d be no running away this time. The Alpha stepped into view, her amber eyes blazing. One of her wings dragged behind her, broken.

  The Alpha bared her teeth and charged, her vein-wrapped muscles bulging with the effort. Sanna backed away. Fingernails raked across her flesh, reminding her this was a fight to the death. Or worse.

  She braced herself for impact.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Every cell in Kai’s body roared to go after Sanna. The thought of her facing the Alpha alone felt like a knife in his gut. But he had to trust her. She was strong, capable, and she had a connection to the Infected that he couldn’t fathom. He’d find Frankie and the kid, as Sanna asked, and then he’d go help her anyway he could.

  He just hoped it wouldn’t be too late.

  Kai dropped through the hole in the ceiling and landed in the darkness with a soft thud. The cloying scent of Cerise’s spices pressed him on all sides. Light spilled out from the potbellied stove in the corner. It was hardly enough to illuminate the shadowy stacks of boxes and baskets, or the bundles of god-knows-what hanging from the steel ceiling.

  A pot clattered onto the floor. He froze. The fine hairs on the backs of his arms stood on end. There was something else in the trailer.

  Something...dark. Evil.

  He had to get the kid out. Now. Before whatever lurked behind the towers of stuff decided it was hungry.

  “Hey kid, where are you?” he whispered, heading for the meager light. “I’m a friend of Sanna’s. We need to go.”

  Something shifted behind a box near the stove. A single, wolfish ear silhouetted on the wall, one straight and the other folded over. Relief washed over him. “Frankie, come here.”

  The dog lowered his head and whined.

  “What’s wrong, buddy?” Kai asked, drawing closer. He nudged the dog’s fluffy butt with the toe of his boot. Frankie scrabbled out, his tail tucked tightly under him. He glued himself to Kai’s leg, his ears plastered against his skull.

  “Hey,” Kai sank to his level. “What’s got you so nervous?”

  He stroked the dog’s head. Frankie yelp and ducked away just as Kai touched his ear. Or rather, where his ear should have been. “What the hell...?”

  Frankie avoided danger above all else. If he was hurt
, the kid probably was too. Or worse.

  Kai made his way to the other end of the trailer, pushing past the bundles of dried plants that hung from the scene like giant, desiccated bats. There was no sign of the boy, or what might have torn off the dog’s ear.

  Maybe the boy had managed to escape on his own. Kai wouldn’t be surprised. The kid had struck him as a survivor from the moment he stole Sanna’s backpack.

  Kai brushed away a final bundle of reeds and peered into the trailer’s shadowy corners.

  Nothing.

  “All right Twig.” He turned around and surveyed the narrow space one last time, “Come out now or you’ll be left behind. I’ve got better things to do than play hide and seek.”

  A pair of yellow orbs flashed at the edge of Kai’s vision. He whipped around; his cudgel raised. A spidery shadow scuttled across the ceiling. A child giggled.

  “Twig?” A heavy mass struck Kai from behind. His knees buckled. Cold fingers wrapped around his throat and squeezed with iron strength.

  Kai reacted through instinct alone, slamming his back against the wall once. Twice. Cartilage crunched. His attacker hissed, and the vise around his neck loosened.

  It was all Kai needed. He pried the attacker off his neck and flung him into a tower of baskets. They tumbled down, their contents exploding into a cloud of dried grass and spices.

  Kai’s sucked in a breath, his chest heaving. Adrenalin burned through his veins. He felt like the live wire around the Governor’s mansion, ready to shock whoever dared cross it. He spun the cudgel in his hand and charged the heap of boxes, ready to finish the job.

  Until he saw his opponent. His boots squeaked against the floor in an abrupt stop. Kai raked a hand through his hair, guilt piling on him. The kid looked like a sleeping ragdoll amidst the garbage. His face wrapped in a dark scarf up to his eyes. Where had he come from? He must have thought Kai was infected to attack him like that.

  Twig’s eyelids flew open.

  “Hey,” Kai said, using the same voice he used when Esme was upset. Calm. Soothing. “Sorry about...all that. I didn’t realize it was you.”

  The boy stared at the ceiling.

  “You need to take Frankie and leave. Now.” He edged closer. “Okay? We’ll be right behind you.”

  Twig sat up, his back ramrod straight. His gaze locked on Kai. His eyes were as dark and empty as a grave. “I don’t think Frankie likes me anymore.”

  Kai chill settled over Kai like a clammy blanket. “Why’s that?”

  The boy’s lips spread into a wide smile, revealing a set of bloodstained teeth that seemed longer than before. His eyes shined like silver coins at the bottom of a well.

  “Shit.” Kai lunged backward, swinging his cudgel in front of him. “What the hell are you?”

  The boy laughed. “An Omega, stupid. The final stage of the infection. Sanna may think she’s like me but she’s not.”

  He’s the voice. The one controlling the horde and the Alpha. If Kai killed him, it would all be over. He squeezed his cudgel tight and surged forward, bringing the weapon down in a wide swing.

  The boy vanished before he struck.

  “You really think you can kill me? You. A stupid, pathetic human?” Twig scoffed. He was stuck in the corner of the ceiling like a frog. “You’re nothing but livestock. A two-legged pig.”

  Twig scuttled down the wall on all fours, disappearing behind a stack of wicker bins. Kai charged and swung. Rice poured out onto the floor.

  “Should I kill you now? Or make you watch while my Alpha finishes her off?” Twig taunted from the far side of the trailer.

  Kai followed the kid’s voice. Damn, he was fast. And small enough to hide just about anywhere in this dark, messy space.

  Twig zipped right past him, slamming through the stacks of goods one after another like a child-sized bullet.

  “C’mon, let’s play!” He laughed, amused by the swift destruction.

  He’s running out of stuff to break. And Kai clearly couldn’t chase him down. He had to trap him. It was the only way. He spied a pulley attached to the metal wall. A thick rope hung from it and coiled on the floor like a fat snake.

  Kai dropped his cudgel, grabbed his side and groaned, screwing his face into a look of sheer agony. He took a step forward and stumbled, falling to his knees.

  “What’s wrong?” The boy sneered from the darkness. “If you’re boring, I’ll just kill you.”

  “You mean Cerise...poisoned me?”

  “She was gonna give you to me anyway, but I have to tell her to stop doing that. This is way more fun.”

  “I was on the menu until Sanna’s horde showed up.”

  “No! No, no, no!” The boy stomped into the light. His scarf had fallen off, and his face was a patchwork of skin sewn together. Blood oozed from the clumsy stitches. “It’s my horde. Not hers. Mine! Mine!”

  “Really?” Kai feigned a wince. “Then why did the Alpha save her at the last moment? You didn’t see it, did you? She dropped Sanna from a mile up, then caught her right before she went splat.”

  “There’s no way she’d do that!”

  “Sanna also turned a guy into an Infected just by looking at him.”

  “That’s easy.” Twig snorted. Something glinted in the boy’s hand. Kai guessed it was a knife. “I can make anyone infected if they’re sick enough. But she can’t control the Alpha like I can.”

  Kai cried out and writhed on the floor until the small loop was close to his face. His fingers brushed against the coarse fibers of the rope behind him.

  Now if he could just get Twig to step into it, he’d have a chance. “But you’re just...a kid.”

  “A kid?” The boy’s face darkened into a fierce scowl. “I’m one-hundred, thirty-seven and a half years old!” He stormed closer and his foot stepped into the loop.

  Kai yanked the rope. Twig inverted, his head smacking against the floor as he was hoisted into the air. The rope creaked as he swung like a pendulum, cursing enough to make a Bone Boy blush.

  Twig hissd and clawed the air like a feral cat, until Kai finally managed to bind his wrists together. “Now call off the Alpha.”

  “No,” Twig said; his voice deep as pit. He swung back towards Kai, snapping his teeth.

  Kai jerked out of reach and noticed Twig’s knife underneath a jumble of bowls and grain sacks. He grabbed it and pressed the point into the creature’s nape. “So you can control the Infected, huh? I wonder if you die like one too?”

  Twig stilled. “I will gut you for this. Filthy human! I will crush your skull beneath my feet!”

  Kai pressed the blade deeper.

  The creature squeezed his eyes shut, and his face trembled as if a thousand tiny insects were scuttling underneath his skin. He opened his eyes and the silver glow was gone. What kind of creature was he?

  “Owwww!” he squawked, sounding once again like a terrified, sobbing child. “Owie!”

  “Drop the act. I know what you are.”

  The creature’s lips pressed into a frown. Tears filled his eyes. “Where’s Sanna? I want Sanna.”

  “You know where she is. Fighting the Alpha you sicced on her like a dog. Call. her. Off.”

  “I can’t,” the boy whined. “I have to see her first.”

  “Now who’s the liar?”

  “It’s true. “And if you kill me before I stop her, she’ll hunt Sanna forever.”

  It wasn’t worth the chance, even if the brat was lying. Kai cut the rope with a curse. The kid fell hard and immediately lunged.

  Kai kicked him in the face, sending him sprawling, and felt an automatic twinge of guilt. He had never hit a child. But this was no child.

  Not one born of flesh and blood.

  A piece of skin had peeled away from Twig’s cheek, and the musculature shined wetly beneath. For a split-second his eyes were wide and blank, like holes drilled in his skull, then narrowed and his whole body seemed to seethe with rage. “You’ll pay!”

  Kai pressed the blade against
Twig’s throat with one hand and dragged him up with the other. The kid refused to stand, acting like his legs were overcooked noodles. Kai tucked him under his arm, careful to avoid his ever-snapping jaws. He headed to the door, the bundle squirming in his arms, and prayed that he wasn’t too late.

  THIS WASN’T GOING TO end well.

  Sanna ducked, averting another swipe from the Alpha. An Infected lunged behind her, herding her back to the center of the ring, where the Alpha seethed and waited.

  It happened over and over again. Sanna avoided the Alpha’s attacks, got too close to the writhing ring of Infected, and was forced back. The Infected on the sidelines never attempted to bite her, but their hits were solid—and she had a shredded coat to prove it.

  How long could she keep this up? Before the Alpha went for the killing blow? She’d nearly gotten her twice already. Sanna was no match for the beast without a weapon, which mean she had to break through and find one.

  She spotted at tall, lanky stage one. He’d probably been a teenager in his former life, if the spots on his face was any indication. He stared mindlessly ahead, drool dripping from his gaping mouth.

  Perfect.

  Sanna inched towards him as close as she dared, never taking her eyes of the Alpha. “What are you waiting for? Come and get me!”

  The Alpha hissed, baring her viper teeth. Sanna watched the pale venom arc towards her, diving at the last moment. It hit the teenage Infected instead. He staggered back, a watery moan rumbling through his throat. Sanna grabbed his wrist and used his weight to propel her through the split-second opening.

  A gust of wind blew her hair in front of her face. The Alpha took flight again. Sanna raced for the nearest trailer, searching for Kai’s scent amidst the smoke and blood. She sank down next to the wall, breathless. The Alpha was strong—too strong—between her venom and rapid-fire punches.

  Sanna needed a weapon. She couldn’t dodge forever. And, most of all, she needed to find Kai.

  The Alpha landed on top of the trailer, rocking it. Sanna dove underneath and crawled out the other side. She ran along the trailer’s length, tripping over the body of an Infected with a hatchet buried in his skull.