Born Page 20

  At the base of the hill I scramble up a tree. Leo hides in a bush at the base, as he always does.

  I feel my tree moving as if a windstorm has taken it. I look down and see Will climbing the same large tree as I am.

  I climb faster.

  Finding a fat enough branch to sit in, I wrap my legs around it and steady myself.

  "Where?"

  I pull my arrow and bow and ready myself. Dust is starting to rise in the east. The truck is closing in on Muriel. They will see her soon.

  I steady my shot and wait. The infected don't see her yet. She has stopped and started to walk toward the truck.

  "Stay calm Emma." Will whispers. I release the arrow when I think they are close enough.

  The arrow lands a few feet in front of the one I was aiming at.

  There is no breeze thankfully. My aim was dead on. I give it a few more seconds and release the arrow I have at the ready. The arrow drops the taller one.

  Nine left.

  A scream fills the forest.

  Muriel has spotted them. She is making her own bit of dust on the gravel road. She runs fast but the infected have heard her scream. Somehow they move faster than she does. They're gaining on her.

  "Fuck." Will is shaking the tree and nearly knocking me out of it as he climbs down. He jumps when he's close enough to the ground and sprints through the forest. I release another arrow as soon as he is out of the tree. Another drops.

  Eight.

  They are running fast. My next arrow misses.

  I climb down fast but by the time I reach the ground the gunfire has filled the forest. The truck has rounded the corner.

  Leo and I run for the disaster the infected have created.

  I want to run away. I've made the mess in front of me.

  I push my legs. When I arrive the truck is pulled over and Muriel is being dragged behind it. Guns are firing like mad. Bullets come from the truck and the forest. No one notices at first that the infected are running hard for the truck.

  "Holy shit Blake." A man shouts and one of the others turns to the infected. He shoots his automatic weapon and drops them to the their knees. They crawl and drag themselves. I pull an arrow and from the woods I hit the man in front of the truck in the eye. He drops a massive gun.

  I fire another arrow but I miss the man holding Muriel by the throat. He drags her to the far side of the truck.

  Four men with guns surround the huge white truck. Bullets are being sprayed into the woods. I hear the bullets knocking on the trees around me. I duck and wait. My heart is pounding in my throat.

  The truck door opens and Muriel screams for a second. The closing door cuts her screams short.

  "Let's go." One of the other's shouts.

  The truck drives away but the bullets still pelt the forest. When I glance up I see the bullets come from the man standing on the side of truck holding onto the mirror and shooting as the truck speeds away.

  I cover my eyes and wait for the panic to subside.

  I am tackled and thrown to the ground.

  Fingers grip my skin and my throat. I feel something hard against me. A loud growl fills the forest followed by a scream. My back is against a stick. It's stabbing in. It hurts a lot.

  I see something black flash across the canopy.

  "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

  Stars flash in front of my eyes like when my granny used to take pictures of me. I try to focus but my head hurts. I see things go black but I can feel his fur and hear his growl. I know he'll kill anything that comes for me.

  xxxx

  Waking from a blackout is a bad experience. The pain is the first thing I feel. Then the alarming sense of confusion takes over. As the light hits my eyes I wince and lean to the side. I throw up and try not to notice the pain everywhere.

  A cold nose is pressed against my cheek. The weak sickening feeling is everywhere at once. I want to close my eyes again but her scream is locked in my memory. She is caught because of me.

  I hear his voice, "You are not responsible for everyone on the planet. It's us and them. You need to take care of you. That's survival Em."

  I can't make that my mantra anymore. I cost a life today. I am responsible. Like the women who were taken when I was in the town. Meg's mom and aunt. I am to blame.

  "You know the rules." I hear talking. I open my eyes.

  I can't see much, it's dark. I put a hand out and feel fur. Leo is sitting guarding me.

  "A life for a life Will. You made the fucking rule."

  "I made the rule for reckless loss of life. Muriel might not be dead firstly and secondly Emma never cost her life on purpose."

  "I want her back, god dammed. I don’t care how you feel about that fucking kid."

  "Your vision is clouded Will. This is just like Star. You're risking the good of everyone for a piece of ass. Now that a new piece of ass has come along you're doing it again."

  "I told you already once you don’t bring Star up. She's off limits."

  "Yeah well you always have had a thing for a pretty face and a tight ass. I vote we take her to Marshall and he chooses. It's fair."

  "You guys want to kill her you come through me." Will's voice sounds frightening.

  "Marshall is going to be the one to decide. We leave at dawn." A scuffle starts up. I hear branches breaking and a man grunting.

  The light of fire flickers on the trees high up. I look around me. I am on my bedroll. I see my bow and quiver next to me. They are leaning against my backpack. I drag them slowly to me. I pull the backpack on. Leo doesn’t move but I feel his awareness of me. I put a hand on his back and whisper, "Shhh Leo. Down low buddy. Down low."

  He knows the command. He stays put. I roll away from the bedroll and slither through the woods. I make no noise. I might not have been born into this world but I have mastered surviving it.

  When I am in the lower part of the hillside they're camped on, I stand but maintain a crouch. I run.

  My head hurts and I want to throw up again but I hold my breath. I can only breathe short inhales and exhales.

  I stumble and trip. I'm far enough away that they don’t hear me. I can't hear their bickering.

  I hear a crunch behind me and sigh when I see the yellow eyes. I'm sprawled out on the ground. Leo nudges me and helps me stand. We run.

  We reach the bottom of the hill where the road was. I feel the gravel beneath my feet. I don’t know if it’s the same road. I can't see anything. The moon isn’t out.

  I am lost. Leo growls.

  I stop and wait for him. My hand is out. His fur is suddenly in my hand. I grip it lightly and let him pull me. My eyes are still fuzzy from my knockout. I hear something. A scratch on the gravel and a high moan. Shivers tickle up and down my spine. We are on the same road as before. The infected are here.

  The gravel beneath my feet makes a thousand noises I wish could be silenced. I know they can hear me. If they have upper body strength the infected are dragging themselves to me. Madness could overwhelm me if I had listen to their scratches on the gravel.

  My knees nearly buckle as the ground slants into the ditch on the other side. My eyes are clearing and I'm able to focus. I can see a log in front of me. I jump over it with Leo and we start to run again. My back is aching and my neck feels like it's been cracked the wrong way. My throat hurts to swallow. I'm sure I couldn’t scream if I had to.

  I ignore it all and run into the woods. When we reach a place with a high canopy I climb into a tree. I hug the tree and try to piece together what I can. The villagers no doubt blame me for the Muriel fiasco, which is entirely my fault. Will had sex with Star and for whatever reason that makes me angrier than the guys trying to kill me. The rough bark of the tree reminds me of the last time I felt this alone. I was happier then. It was Leo and me and no one else in the world mattered.

  I wait for the night to feel less intimidating but it never does. I want Will as deeply as I loath him. I smile and think about Jake. His soft touch, his shy kisses, his funn
y smile. He is everywhere but where it matters. My heart belongs to Will.

  I am fickle in love, just like my mother. I never would have imagined her two years with me were enough to influence me. There is a place reserved for her in the back of my mind. It's a dark little corner where the things I remember about her tend to cower. The memories of her have a stain that taints them. The only untouched memory is the one of us in the hospital bed. The stain of my father's contempt ruins all the others. Long before I was born my mother had an affair with my father's little brother, my uncle Rick. My father discovered Rick and my mother. My mother swore it meant nothing and it would never happen again and my father believed her. He loved her and he let it fool him until she died and he was able to see things for they really were. My mother loved two men at the same time. She never gave up my uncle to be with my father. She just kept the secret better.

  I am like her, more like her than I ever imagined I would be. I love them both for opposite reasons. I hate myself for that.

  I fall asleep against the rough bark with the images of the things I cannot change and the things I can, floating around in my head.

  When I wake I use the rising sun to navigate my way back to the breeder farm. The area is starting to feel familiar, that bothers me.

  Leo and I hike through the woods like we did before, only now I barely notice the birds or the animals and I don’t feel the freedom of just the two of us. Now I feel the weight of other people in my life. I understand the word baggage and how it applies to people. Somehow I have gained baggage in the short time I have known them all. There is only so much room inside of people for things. I see that now. I used to have room for many things. Now those things seem unimportant and the people have taken over the limited amount of space I have.

  I hear trucks along the road and I grimace, the plan had been flawless but I never accounted for the infected. It was a mistake. One I will never make again. As much as their numbers have dwindled they still manage to destroy the things we love.

  Through the light of the canopy I can see the roof of the breeder farm. I don’t have a plan. I pull my backpack off my shoulders and grab the handgun I was given by Mary when we left the camp. It's her favorite. She had said it was Australian. I smile and remember her favorite features were the seventeen rounds and silencer. Anna looked like she was going to pee her pants when Mary handed it to me. The cold polymer gun feels heavy in my hands. I grip the handle that was clearly fitted for a man. I adjust my hand to compensate for the large grip. I promised Anna I would bring it back and she could use it. I want to keep that promise.

  I sling my bow over my arm so the quiver and it are easily accessible and put the extra clip of ammo in my pants pocket. I stuff the card that opens the locks in my other pocket.

  I leave the backpack on the ground and take a deep breath. I take my first step from the woods and feel the sickening fear inside of me subside as my instincts take over. Inside of me are animal instincts. They were born in a world I wasn’t. They take over when I need them to. They've taught me how to survive. I have learned it is the most important part of the world I live in.

  My feet crunch on the short dry brown grass. My eyes narrow and plan for the moment I am spotted. I move quickly and as silently as I can. I get close to the building and recognize the door in front of me instantly. It is the door I was brought to. I run along the side of the building to the place where I left the building. The huge bins are lined up. The still air stinks like a cloud that is stuck in a valley.

  My feet move quickly along the large part of the garbage lot to the staircase that leads to the door I came out of. I never in a million years imagined I would be trying to get back in.

  I pull on the door before I have to shoot the lock. It opens with a hard pull. My heart pounds. I look in with my gun ready. No one is inside. Whoever left there last never closed the door properly? Inside it looks as it did when I was last here. The hose with the nozzle like the one my grampy had is sitting as if no one has been by to touch it. Leo saunters in sniffing and watching me. I close the door. The door inside has no weird scanning thing for the card. I turn the handle and the lock clicks open. It's one sided.

  I look both ways down the hall before I creep out. Leo and I leave the garbage room and walk down the hallway. It's only early in the morning. The staff tends to get to work at around nine. The clock on the wall says seven eleven. I smile and remember it was a store. I called it the slushy store. My stomach growls but my animal instincts kick in and push my smile and hunger away.

  I hear a rustling of papers and take a breath. The footsteps inside of the room on my right sound heavy. I glance in nervously. A man in a white lab coat is looking for something frantically.

  I look at Leo and wink. He drops to his belly against the wall and waits. I hold the gun up and round the corner.

  When he looks up I don’t recognize him.

  "I'm one of you." His words are fast.

  I look him over. He looks like a doctor. He doesn’t look shiny like a citizen of the city.

  "I worked with Marshall. I'm helping the rebels if that’s who you are."

  I put my finger on the trigger and take his pass from his desk. I check his door. The pass must be used to get out. I tear his phone out of the wall and rip the cord out of the back.

  "Sit. " The large older man sits at his desk.

  "Leo." Leo stalks in and growls.

  "Push your chair back."

  He does and Leo rests his growling face in the doctor's groin.

  "That’s a fucking scary dog lady."

  "He's a wolf." I mutter and tie his hands to the armrests on the chair. "If you are one of us you'll need proof you tried to stop me. This looks convincing." I finish the knot and smack him in the eye with my gun. He winces but doesn’t cry out. His eye is red and swelling instantly.

  Holding his pass I walk to the door and look both ways. Leo makes a grunt and leaves his groin.

  "There is a destruction level in here."

  I glance back, "What?"

  "You have to come back and get me out before you detonate."

  I nod.

  He sighs, "In case the infection ever makes it in. It's new. Every building has one now. The infection got into a building in the south. We have a way to wipe the building. All the breeding institutes have it. It's in the basement, in the far left corner when you come off the elevator. It's a time-release detonation bomb. The building implodes like how they demolished buildings, before."

  "How can I get the women out first?"

  "Each wing has a pool. It's their best hope. It's where we were told to go in case of detonation. The building has an alarm. The minute you set the bomb the alarm will go off.

  "Like a fire alarm."

  He nods. His eye is watering and swelling.

  "I will come back for you." I take a doctors coat off the back of his door and shrug it on. Leo and I walk out again and look around. I need to get the women out before I blow the building. The pool sounds like a bad idea but I don’t see any other hope. If I set the alarm with too much time they could stop it from blowing up the building.

  I try to remember the way back but I realize it doesn’t really matter. I need to get them all out. I have to go to every wing.

  I see a nurse ahead of me I recognize and follow. I assume she is on a night shift. She leads me through a doorway. I stay far enough behind that she doesn’t pay attention to me or the giant wolf behind me. We end up in the hallway that has the windows to the garden. The place I used to escape.

  "Hide Leo."

  I open the door to the garden and let Leo in there. He leaps in and hides in the garden.

  The nurse goes through another doorway and I break into a run. I arrive at the first door and open it.

  "Get up and wake up the girls next door."

  A very pregnant redhead wakes with a start and looks at me startled, "What?"

  "The infection has gotten inside. Everyone needs to go to the pool. Immed
iately. We're doing a lockout."

  She waddles out of the bed and starts banging on doors.

  I walk until I get to another door that needs my pass. On the other side of the door there is another hallway with a kitchen and garden like our side. I run and open the first door, "Wake up and help wake the other girls. You have to tell them the infection has reached us. We are all going to the pool. RUN!"

  Two women get up and start gathering their babies. This is the baby hallway. I hear babies starting to cry as I make my way to the next door with a scanner on it. When I open it I see a man talking to a young girl on a couch. He's rubbing her leg and shaking his head. I raise my gun and take aim. They don’t see me. His hand squeezes her thigh and my finger pulls the trigger before I reason with myself. His head jerks back. Blood seeps down between his eyes. She sees the blood spray on the back wall and screams. She screams louder when she sees me.

  I put a finger to my lips, "The infection has gotten in. Tell everyone to wake up and get to the pool. Hurry. They're destroying the building."

  Silent tears roll down her cheeks, "He was such a kind man." She whispers.

  "If you want to stay here with him feel free. You will be dead shortly if you do. Then you can be together. Forever." She's up and running before I have to say another word.

  I knock on another door just in case she decides to be a moron.

  I wake a young girl with a swollen belly. She can't be older than Anna. I gag a little, "Everyone needs to wake up. The infection has spread here. Everyone to the pool. Wake everyone and go there now."

  I go to swipe the card to open the next door at the end of the long hall but it opens. A shiny woman with a pretty face frowns, "Who are you?"

  I lift the gun and pull the trigger before she has a chance to scream. She drops to the floor. I step over her and see another nurse. I know I am in the little kid section. I shoot the nurse in the back of the head. I look back and see a girl with brown hair who has a slightly swollen belly, "Come and help the small kids get out."

  She follows me but stops when she sees the dead nurse.

  "They're going to leave us here to get the infection. The alarm is going to sound in a minute or so. They plan to blow the building up. The pool is the best bet apparently."