"I'm going to run for it" Jagger said sternly, ignoring what Jinx said "Who's coming with me?"
"There is a child down there" Jinx said again. David put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed roughly.
"There are no rescues for outsiders" He explained. Jinx looked down at the child again, it was hard to tell how old or what gender they were, but easy to tell they were alive. Jinx watched Jagger take the lead and make a run for it. Paul and Brandon followed. David went after them, glancing back toward Jinx. He could tell she wasn't going to budge and took off in a sprint. Jinx looked back to the child. It was stumbling along as if it were one of the undead. Its eyes shifted from the fleeing group members and back to Jinx. She looked around the bridge, hoping to spot a useful tool.
She began trying the car doors until one opened. Inside she found camping gear. She didn't think any of it was useful until she noticed some rope. She took it and found a flare. She pulled open the glove box and found some old receipts. She wrote the same note on each of them. She went back to the bridge and saw the child was nearly underneath her. She threw down the receipts that read:
Take the exit
The child swooped down and grabbed one of them and read it, still pretending to stumble like an undead. It began to turn up toward the exit and Jinx tied one end of the rope to the bridge, the other end to the flare. She waited until she saw a few of the undead starting to follow the child. Then she lit and flare and threw it over the bridge. The bright light sizzled and spat sparks. The undead roared and ran toward the flare, dangling out of their reach. Jinx waited at the intersection where the exit turned up onto the bridge. The child came into view and Jinx waved them over. They took cover in the car Jinx found the camping gear. It was a boy, only seventeen. When he unwrapped himself from the blanket Jinx gasped. He held in his arms a toddler, five years old and wide eyed.
"What's your name?" Jinx asked. The boy thought carefully about is words.
"Isaac" He said.
"And your brother, is he?"
"No" Isaac shook his head "Found him. Alone"
"Does he have a name?"
"He no say"
"You don't speak much English do you?" Jinx chuckled softly.
"Exchange student" He shrugged "Studying French"
"Wow" Jinx said as she searched the car "Not much English at all"
"No" He sighed.
"Well there is a refuge not too far from here, I'll take you there Isaac"
"Your name?" He asked.
"Jane" Jinx told him. He put his hands on Jinx's face, cupping her head in his hands. He gently placed a kiss on her cheeks.
"Thank you" He said, his eyes locked on Jinx's. She could feel how thankful he was, his eyes portraying his very thankfulness to be alive.
"You're welcome" Jinx said uncomfortably "It was nothing"
"No" He said sternly "It everything. You stay. You save me. They runned"
"Yes, they ran" Jinx nodded.
"You stayed" He smiled. Jinx nodded and got out of the car. The flare was still burning strong, it helped Jinx and Isaac sneak by. On the way to the stadium Jinx only had to kill a few stray undead. At the gates she explained what happened to Surge. He allowed them in. Jinx took Isaac and his five year old to the medic tent and got them fed. Jagger found her. And tried to talk to her. She pulled him outside the tent, away from the boys.
"You survived" Jagger was smiling. Jinx wasn't.
"You left that boy to die" Jinx snapped "He had a five year old with him, they would have died"
"We couldn't risk it for some kids" Jagger explained.
"You cold hearted piece of shit" Jinx growled, the buzz around them went silent. People who heard had begun listening "You would rather save your own ass than try to save two helpless boys. That horde would have caught up to them eventually and it would have torn their flesh from their bones. I stayed behind alone and I brought them both back here alive. Unlike you I can't turn a blind eye to a child. A child Jagger"
"You'd never make it as a scout" Jagger said simply.
"I don't want to be a fucking scout" Jinx snapped "I don't want any part of it, of any of this anymore"
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I won't be here tomorrow" Jinx said aloud "And I am not coming back"
Jinx went back into the tent and made sure the boys safe. She then went searching for Mira, she got Isaac a job helping Mira while she was pregnant. That way she could help with the five year old boy Isaac found. Lastly Jinx headed for the storage rooms. Kentwood caught her leaving with her new military duffle bag.
"Going out scouting again?" He asked, his cheapish smile made it easy for Jinx to know he knew the truth.
"Not this time" Jinx shook her head. She had filled her bag with new clothes and food preserves. She hoped it wouldn't be looked through, since the food was mostly stolen.
"I'm not going to try and change your mind" Kentwood shrugged "I just want you to know you're welcome back anytime, if life outside the walls gets too hard"
"Life in here is making me soft" Jinx growled, more at herself than Kentwood.
"You saved those boys" Kentwood stated "You could have left them there. Would you have done that if you weren't soft?"
"I don't know" Jinx shrugged as they walked together toward the gates "I guess I would have still tried, maybe. If the risks weren't too high"
"Really?"
"I saved a man before I came here" Jinx nodded.
"And?"
"I threw him to a horde to save my own ass" Jinx said with a shrug of her shoulders, a strand of guilt in her voice.
"Hard ass" Kentwood laughed and slapped her buttocks. She laughed with him, not minding. She told herself it was good to have a fallback plan, a place to go if she was injured or starving.
"Fruit cake" She teased. They said their goodbyes at the gate, they were quick and held little emotion. Jinx liked their farewells, simple and to the point. As she walked north she turned back and waved. She didn't know it at the time but it would be the last time she would ever see Kentwood alive. Jinx understood life was like that in the new harshness of the world, how some people made it to the next day, and some didn't. Still she longed for Jerry.