Nick had struggled throughout the past few years of his life with an on-again and off-again case of insomnia. He used to have medicine he could take on nights when sleep wouldn't come, but cabins out in the Colorado wilderness didn't come with that luxury. He walked down the dark hallway and clicked on the bathroom light. As it hummed to life, he examined his face in the mirror. The cut above his left eyebrow was still healing but wasn't very noticeable and his stubble had gotten too thick for his liking. He splashed cold water on his face and lathered soap in his hands to act as shaving cream. They had a bag of disposable razors from the pharmacy and he picked one out to start the task of making his face more smooth and acceptable. He felt that he looked younger without the five o'clock shadow.
When he finished, he put his razor away and wiped his face. The work was good, no cuts. Sure, it wasn't as smooth as he used to get it back home, but it would do. After shutting off the light and stepping out, he heard voices coming from the kitchen. Pausing to listen more closely, he realized it was Kaylee and Morgan. He moved out of the hall and sat down at the bottom of the stairs, out of their view but still within earshot.
"Tell me a story." Kaylee asked, sitting on the tile floor with her back pressed against the counter.
"What story?" Morgan asked, opening the box of crayons Ellis had hardly touched.
"I don't care. Something happy, but no romance. I'm tired of romance." Kaylee smiled.
Morgan let out a quiet laugh and sat down in front of the plain white wall on the other side of the kitchen. "All right...give me a minute to think."
"Something to chase away our bad dreams."
"You mean our existence?" She chuckled, tearing the paper off a blue crayon. "Okay. I think I have one."
Kaylee pulled her white-suited bear close to her chest and watched Morgan as the girl began to draw with the crayons on the wall. At first, it was nothing more than a blue line that slowly swirled around. She added more lines with green and purple, then began to speak softly.
"Long ago, there was no land. The oceans of the world were all one and they flowed into each other with the ever-changing tides. Their vast waters brought life to all sorts of creatures and plants and everything in between.
The wind played alongside the water and would brush gently against her, creating waves. These two existed in harmony with one never pushing too hard against the other."
"I thought this wasn't romantic?" Kaylee questioned, laying down and using the bear as a pillow. Morgan's swirls had slowly transformed into water with the first of a long and elegant koi in sketched lines.
"It has only just started." Morgan smiled. "Patience."
"Okay." Kaylee smiled.
"Lower than the water lurked a great evil. It was hot and firey like the golden sun but more violent."
"The Earth's core?"
"Yes, the Earth's core. Do you want to hear my version or not?" Morgan laughed.
"I'm sorry, continue."
"The fire in the middle of the Earth grew envious of the harmony between the sea and sky. It began to push against the wide ocean, trying to draw her attention away from the wind above. But it was useless. The two had played together so long that the sea easily changed her shape to go around the fire. Eventually it pushed so hard that it broke past the ocean and created land. Now the land could see the sky that the ocean had grown to..." Morgan paused and looked at Kaylee, who was giving her a smug glare. "Admire. In a friendly way."
Kaylee laughed. Now the water and Koi on the wall were complete and Morgan had to stand to continue drawing on the wall. She was adding in lighter colored swirls to the top that carried flower petals in its breeze.
"Instead of fight back, the sky and water welcomed the land to their world. The ocean would rise against its shores in a welcoming embrace and the sky scattered seeds across the surface of the land. When the land had lived so long with fire, it had come to only know hatred and self-loathing. But the wind and water greeted him like an old friend and he pushed no more against them. They all lived together in the new world, each bringing their own wonderful gifts to bring happiness to the others."
Morgan stepped back and looked at her wax mural. A combination of the four elements, with the fire lurking at the bottom and the wind floating happily on top. "Even fire was welcomed on the surface, bringing warmth to the creatures that frolicked in the fresh air and drank from the water's streams. Each had a place, and not even the darkness of night could seperate them. Because even though they could not see each other, all felt each other's presence and were comforted by it. They knew that at the end of each night, the dawn would come again and their play would never end..."
She turned around and saw Kaylee looking at the picture and smiling. "I liked that story."
"I did too. Do you want to try and sleep now? Knowing Coach, he'll be up bright and early, limping around and barking orders."
Kaylee got up slowly and stretched. "That's probably true. Wake me up when you get up, if I'm not awake already."
Morgan nodded and Kaylee walked back into the living room with the others. Coach was fast asleep on the couch, Alan in the easy chair, and Zack and Rochelle were both laying on the mattress by the fire that Keith and Ellis had drug out of Dave's room. Kaylee crawled into the space between the two of them and snuggled up against Zack's back.
Nick watched her from the shadow as she walked past. He stood up after she laid down, intending to go back to his chair in the corner to try once more and sleep. But his curiousity was getting the better of him and he stepped into the kitchen to see what Morgan had been drawing while she told her story. Morgan had her back to him when he walked in, and didn't acknowledge if she had heard him. She was making slow and precise strokes with an orange crayon, adding glimmers of shine to the koi's scales. He didn't understand why she was bothering, since they would be leaving and she couldn't take an entire wall with her.
But the more he looked at it, the more he felt...connected to it. He felt his own presence in the drawings of the fire, full of anger and greed. Fire burned all it touched and only knew destruction...something he had been doing for too long. As he moved his eyes up, he saw Kaylee and Rochelle in the water, always moving and staying positive. They brought hope with them, just as a mirage brings hope to a dying man in a desert. Coach and Zack were the land, two men firm in their beliefs who were built to be unbreakable; Though any stone may crack when hit hard enough. Alan was in the petals floating on the wind. They were not powerful or strong, but carried a message of tranquility and healing. Ellis was the air in Nick's eyes, always floating just over trouble, never quite touching down on the real problems the group faced.
Is this what people see when they look at art? He wondered to himself as he looked intently at the mural while she silently added little details. Do other people feel so...part of the things they look at?
"You probably think I'm silly for wasting my time on this." Morgan smiled, still adding thin strokes to the Koi's whiskers. "But I'm not very tired tonight and I'll go crazy unless I keep these hands busy."
"Where are you?"
"Huh?" She turned around to look at him.
"Where are you, in this...thing?" Nick asked again.
"Why would I be in it?" She chuckled.
"You drew everyone else in it."
"Nick, you aren't making any sense. I think you should get to sleep." Morgan smiled. "We have a big day tomorrow. That base is either freedom or Hell on Earth."
"I mean, I know they aren't literally drawn here." Nick continued, walking up and touching it with his hands. "You'd run out of crayons before you even finished half of Coach. You're more artistic than me, yet I can still see everyone in it but you."
She folded her arms and looked at the drawing. "Art is what you make of it, Nick. If you can see everyone you love in it, then that is what it is to you. To me, it's just another drawing."
"Wait, everyone I love? Morgan, let's not get-" But when he turned around to look back at her, she had already walked out of the room. He furrowed his brow and looked back at the wall, suddenly finding it hard to see the meaning that was there a moment ago.
"Everyone, c'mon and get up!" Coach declared as he threw back the curtains in the living room. "Important day today. Let's get to the base as fast as we can."
Kaylee pulled her bear over her face to shield her eyes from the harsh sun. "Coach! It's early! We want to sleep!"
Rochelle sat up slowly, her hair flattened against one side of her face, "Coach, in case you forgot while in your delicate state...we spent all damn day yesterday fighting zombies!"
"We've spent the past month and a half fighting zombies!" He barked. "Stop complaining and brush your teeth. I want to be on the road in an hour."
Zack rolled over and wrapped an arm around Kaylee, burying his face into her soft blonde hair to keep the light out.
Alan walked in from the kitchen, a bowl of dry cereal in his hands. "The art fairy visited us last night." He pointed.
"The what?" Coach asked, walking in to see what Alan was talking about.
The two of them stared at it for a minute when Nick walked in looking bitter about the loud awakening. "When we cure this damn infection, you'd make a killing as an alarm clock." He growled at Coach. "With your ceaseless blarring."
"You're the wise guy who gave Ellis crayons. Look, the boy went and drew all over the walls."
Nick looked over at Morgan's mural. Something was different than before but he was too tired to figure it out. "Who cares, it isn't our house. I'm making coffee."
"Alan, go wake up the lovebirds." Coach asked, taking down a can of coffee grounds for Nick.
"Why do I have to?" Alan pouted. "What if they sleep nude or some other gross thing?"
"I thought doctors made a buisness of seeing people naked?" Nick muttered, scooping coffee into the maker.
"You two are just doing this because you hate me. I know that's why." Alan muttered, dragging his feet as he moved to the stairs.
Keith walked in from outside, shaking off the cold. "Good morning, fellow survivors." He waved to the cranky people in the living room. "I scraped the frost off the windshield so we're all ready to go!"
"Oh God, did it snow?" Rochelle gasped.
"Nope." He shook his head. "But it got cold enough in the night to leave a little frost. It ain't no thing, Darling."
"I'm not your darling." She warned, pointing her comb at him.
He raised his hands in surrender and walked into the kitchen. "Everything is ready, Coach, Though most of you will have to hop in back."
"Can this day start out any better?" Nick asked the ceiling.
"You might want to take some of that coffee in a thermos." Keith suggested.
Alan jogged quickly down the stairs, tails of his Doctor's coat flapping against his heels. "They'll be down in a minute."
"Thank you, Alan." Coach smiled.
"You owe me." Alan warned, pointing a finger at him.
"What's the matter?" Nick chuckled, "Did you see his Little Peanut?"
"No." Alan glared. "They were both awake and dressed when I walked in."
"Well I'm glad they're on the ball. Now if we could wake up everyone else." Coach replied, boxing up one crate of food to take with them just in case.
Once everyone had gathered in the living room, Keith and Alan started handing out all the clothing they'd taken from various dressers around the cabin. Kaylee pulled on a large black sweater over her tee shirt. It was long enough to reach her thighs and she twirled once to see if it spun like a dress. It didn't, but she loved it anyway. After Rochelle zipped up her red jacket, she helped Kaylee roll up her long sleeves. Nick took off his suit jacket and pulled a form-fitting gray turtleneck over his head. He tugged the collar, trying to get comfortable in the wool fabric.
Zack got trapped in his white sweater, flailing around with his arms trapped as he tried to find the neck hole. He bumped into the coffee table and almost fell when Alan grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled the sweater down. Zack gasped for air and then laughed, looking down at his new turtle neck. "Hey, this isn't that bad. I feel like I'm being hugged by a sheep."
"Ellis, you make sure you grab a jacket too." Coach said, holding one out for him.
"Thanks, Coach. I found some long john's upstairs so I'm wearing them under my clothes." Ellis smiled, pointing at the red sleeves showing under his shirt.
"You found a stranger's full-body underwear and you put them on?" Nick sneered.
"I got my boxers underneath."
Morgan buttoned up her flannel shirt before pulling on a black jacket. "I think we're good to go."
"I can fit two people in with me." Keith spoke. "The rest of you are in back."
"Shotgun!" Alan shouted.
"Me too!" Rochelle followed up before anyone else could fight over it. Her and Alan high-fived while everyone else sighed.
Zack gave one last look at the cabin as they drove away, stiff witch corpses still scattered around in various states of early decay. He wondered what they would find at this base, if anything was still there at all. A bump in the road nearly knocked him over the edge, and as he rebalanced himself, he quickly forgot what he'd been thinking about.
Kaylee laughed and scooted up close to him. "Careful, Zack. We aren't sailing smooth roads any more."
"Yeah I noticed." He grunted, rubbing his sore tail bone.
"How's your leg today, Coach?" Ellis asked.
"Don't worry about me. It's nothing worse than any of my old football injuries." He replied with a chuckle.
"I find it hard to believe that you were stabbed out on the field." Nick said.
"Did you ever play football, Nick?" Coach asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, no."
"Seen a game?"
"Maybe a glance from a tv at a pool hall..."
"Then how the hell would you know?" Coach laughed.
"It's okay, Nick." Morgan smiled, patting his leg. "I'm sure you did something noteworthy in high school. Maybe greased back your hair and fell for a girl named Sandy?"
"Oh very funny." He growled, looking away from them and out at the mountains as Keith rounded a corner between tall pine trees.
Morgan quietly slipped a scrap of paper into his pocket while he was distracted, and did so when nobody else was even glancing her way.
"How long did it take you to reach town yesterday?" Ellis asked Kaylee.
"Maybe an hour." She shrugged. "It wasn't too bad. Well, the ride wasn't. The hospital was horrible."
Keith stopped the truck as they approached the town. The sight developing before them was almost unbelievable. Two large helicopters were circling over head, firing down at the infected with large machine guns. (At least that's what they looked like). There were two large trucks on the ground below, built up like tanks. As infected fell to the ground beneath the barrage, soldiers poured out of the trucks and began picking up the bodies and carrying them to the backs of the armored vehicles.
"What the hell is going on?" Coach asked, jumping out of the back and standing tall as he watched the military men rounding up infected like cattle. Everyone else followed after Coach, getting out and staring as if they were looking at the scene of some terrible accident. The truck nearest them was closed back up after several infected had been carried inside.
"Hey!" Keith yelled to them ,waving his arms. "Over here!"
Nick grabbed onto him and forced him down, "Are you crazy? Those could be more look-alikes! Didn't we already explain to you twice what those people did?"
But it was too late, one of the soldiers had spotted Keith already and was radioing someone. A circling helicopter stopped firing and flew toward the nine survivors, creating a vicious wind tunnel around them as it hovered overhead.
"Are. You. Immune?" A man's voice asked from behind a megaphone.
"Yes!" Coach called back. "We've fought our way here all the way from Georgia!"
The helicopter hovered for a few agonizing minutes as the people below waited in anticipation and fear. There was a sound of crackling as the unknown soldier turned his megaphone back on. "Stay where you are. We are sending a squad equipped for carriers."
The helicopter gained altitude and turned around, flying back over the city. The two tanks and the other chopper had already gone away.
"I don't like this." Morgan whimpered, holding her arms.
"Morgan, it'll be okay." Kaylee smiled, touching her shoulder. "We're immune."
"You're immune." She corrected. "We don't know what's wrong with me. If they find out I have that virus, they'll put me against a wall and give me the firing squad."
"Hey!" Nick interrupted. "Nobody is getting shot. If they can't help us, we will just be on our way."
"You really think they would let us all walk away with a carrier with us?" Coach barked.
Morgan began to shake in fear. Ellis took her into his arms and held her close. "Coach, stop it!" He yelled, "You're scarin' her."
Before more words could be exchanged, a third tank rolled over the rubble of the destroyed town and parked a few feet away. Two soliders climbed out, dressed in the uniform of the United States military.
"Please, come with us peacefully. We mean you no harm." The older gentleman asked as they approached. He had a tired face and soft green eyes.
"Where exactly are you trying to take us?" Coach asked, stepping in between his group and the soldiers.
"You're the group that went with three men through the hospital here yesterday, correct?" The general asked.
"You mean Bill, Francis, and Louis?" Coach asked.
"Yes sir. They arrived at the base yesterday and shared vital information with us about what you've discovered and gone through. We have been clearing the path to the base since early this morning in preperation for your arrival."
"Wow, rolling out the red carpet, I see." Nick sneered as he eyed the roads painted with infected blood.
"We have precious little time to waste, survivors. The country needs your help."
"Wait...what?" Rochelle asked, standing beside Coach. "The country? What the hell are you talking about?"
"My superior can explain our situation when we return. If there is good we can do, we have to move fast."
They reluctantly agreed to go with the soldiers. They were all moved into the back of the armored vehicle and sat down, a shared sense of unease among them. The engine roared to life and they felt the machine rolling away from Keith's truck and through the burning town. Morgan buried her face into Ellis' chest as he kept his arms tight around her. Kaylee leaned against Zack with his arm around her shoulder, holding her gun tight in her hands in case she had to start shooting.
Zack closed his eyes in the dim light, not wanting anyone to know how truely terrified he was. He kept trying to force himself awake, like this whole encounter had been a bad dream. After all, he'd gotten himself into bad situations before so who was to say this wasn't a guilt-induced nightmare? He was in a karma coma, that's what he thought of it. The way he openly mocked Kaylee her senior year for things she hadn't done was finally coming back to kick him where it hurt. At the time, he'd always thought making her feel as bad as he did would make him feel better but it never did. Now he was trapped, and no matter how hard he dug his nails into his palm, the nightmare just wouldn't end.
Nick sat nervously rubbing his hands together. He felt like a man awaiting a death sentence. Though deep in his heart, he knew he had deserved it. All those nights coming home late with alcohol on his breath and blood on his knuckles...all the times he'd yelled at her for asking him questions he didn't want to answer...they were meager additions to the sign hanging around his neck that read 'guilty'. Nobody could see it but him, but he always felt its weight growing every day. He looked up and saw a slender figure in the shadows crying into Ellis' chest. No...He thought to himself. She can see it too. I have to know what that stupid painting meant. I have to ask her how the hell she knows about my life. I'll get that chance if I have to kill for it. What is one more addition to a death sentence anyway?
Rochelle looked out of the small window in the back of the tank-like machine, feeling oddly hopeful even in this tense situation. She trusted Francis, and if he had told these people about them then it must be good. There were many unanswered questions floating around in her mind but that soldier had said that their country needed them. The look in his eyes when he said it was genuine, and her feelings about people were rarely wrong.
Ellis ran his hand up and down Morgan's back, trying to calm her down. She hardly ever cried and he wasn't sure how to react to it, but she seemed to be calming down on her own. He promised himself that he wouldn't let her go again, but as the vehicle continued to roll over the ground, he felt that promise growing more and more dangerous. He held her a little tighter, laying his head against hers. "We're going to be okay." He whispered. "I know we will."
Alan sat in silence, fiddling with his scalpel between his fingers. I've been watching her for over a week now. She doesn't look sick, so it would be easy to lie. If they run scans, they may find something. If one of those men already told them she was sick, then we have to let them check her out. If she is in any way a threat, they will kill her. Then they would test all of us to be safe. We might all be carrying an experimental nerve-eating disease. We will all die.
Kaylee was watching Alan with fear in her eyes, afraid of his eerie blank stare as he rolled his sharp instrument between his fingers. There was something very haunting about the way he seemed paralyzed by his own thoughts and it only added to her sudden sense of claustrophobia.
Nobody had even noticed when the truck stopped and the doors opened. Everyone seemed lost in their own minds, paralyzed by their individual fears and worries.
"Come with me." The General spoke, stirring them.
The walked off slowly, looking around at their new surroundings. The base had high walls and barbed-wire fences. There were several trucks matching the one they had been in, but most looked like they no longer moved. As the General walked them ahead, the large concrete building came into view. There were small windows only on the floors not at ground level, reminding Kaylee of an oddly-shaped castle. All around them, young men in uniforms were running around on various drills and none seemed to take any notice of the survivors.
Once inside, the atmosphere changed. It was built like a hospital inside, everything clean and in its place. "Everyone in this end of the building is immune." The General explained. "On the other side are where those being treated are kept."
"Treated?" Coach asked. "People with the infection?"
"That is correct. Our scientists have been working tirelessly and just last week we have discovered an antibiotic that will attack the virus that is causing the infection. Those we are treating now show signs of recovery, though it is still too soon to be positive."
"That's...that's great news." Coach smiled.
"Earlier you said you needed our help." Rochelle interrupted, walking right next to the General. "What do you mean?"
"As you must be aware, we have quickly lost almost the entire east coast to the infection." The General explained. "My men here have been doing a more than acceptable job protecting the people inside as well as capturing infected subjects to be tested and treated."
"But?" Nick asked.
"But...we have no means of communicating our successes with the bases that still stand along the east coast, namely the one that is harboring our President. Time is quickly running out, and we have lost all communication with that base. In a matter of weeks, they will run out of food and ammunition supplies."
"What exactly are you asking of us?" Coach asked.
The General turned around once they were inside a waiting room-type area. There were chairs and cots set up around the space with bookshelves and coolers of water.
"We need messengers to deliver our cure to that base. You nine have already proven yourselves as capable. The mission is dangerous; I won't lie about that. It would mean going back into heavily infected territory. Our helicopters would only be able to get you halfway there. Your very nation is at risk of falling to this disease, survivors. We are calling on you as our country's last chance. Even with our cure, we would perish if we can't circulate it before these people mutate any farther."
"I don't know." Coach sighed, rubbing his neck nervously. "Some of us have only barely made it through this. I don't know if we would make it."
"We only need five of you. You have tonight to talk it over amongst yourselves, but need I remind you of what is at stake?"
"No, I think we got it." Nick said with a firm raise of his hand.
"One last thing." The General spoke. "Which one of you is the sick girl?"
Morgan stepped away from Ellis, "I am, sir."
"We would like to run some tests."
"I understand." She answered.
Morgan followed the second soldier as he led her down the hallway.
The General looked at Coach, "I will return in a few hours for your answer, bringing news of your friend as well."
"What if she is...sick?" Kaylee asked, walking right up to him.
"I assure you that if we find something wrong, no matter how bad, you will get the chance to say goodbye."
"Thank you..." She whispered, lowering her head.
They remained in the room the General had left them in, exchanging little conversation. They had all decided to wait until they were all together before even considering the idea of splitting up. But the long wait would be a slow and painful one, even with books to read.
Nick sat down on a cot by himself away from the others, trying to sort through everything that had happened today in his mind. He slid his hands into his pockets after taking off his sweater and felt something poke his finger. Upon pulling it out, he realized someone had stuck a folded-up note in his pants pocket when he wasn't looking. He unfolded it carefully in his fingers, spreading out each fold before reading it.
You ask me why I was not in my art. Last night was not the time to explain and chances are that if you are reading this without me here, then this is not the right time either.
I know if you think hard enough, you'll understand. You're a smart man, Nick. You just make poor choices. Then again, haven't we all? I've seen that look in your eyes, Nick, when you would look at me. You wanted to die at some point, didn't you? I think out of everyone, you must've done a lot of things you regret.
When you asked me why I wasn't there, I knew at long last that you had finally come to trust us. No, not us...them. I am an unknown to you, a force that you don't understand. It makes you angry. It is because I can see you for what you are: a man who hates himself.
Let go of your anger, Nick. You don't have to like me but you can trust me. You can make up for the things you've done if you actually want to. Don't leave them behind, Nick. Because if the chance to be a good man comes and you don't take it, you'll never know why you couldn't see me in that drawing. Because I will never tell you what you already know.
He read the note three times over before folding it up and returning it to his pocket. As the others finally began to talk, he did his best to be invisible. There was a lot to think about and now the clock was ticking.
"I want to go." Kaylee announced.
"What?" Coach asked.
"To deliver the cure. I want to be one of the five that go."
"Kaylee, I can't let you risk something like that." Zack gasped.
"So come with me. We're in the best shape we've ever been in from as far as we've come." Kaylee said, grabbing his hands.
"Okay, fine." He growled. "I'll go. I know I can't stop you from doing something you've made up your mind about."
"Yeah, I'll go." Ellis agreed. "I want to wipe out that infection so I can come back here. I want to make the best country in the world safe again."
"I knew you would be brave enough, Ellis." Kaylee smiled.
"We don't even know what we are running into." Nick said, standing up. "They could be tossing us out of an airplane with an envelope for all we know."
"Well if they think we have even a small chance, they'll give us parachutes." Kaylee replied.
"Before we get all high and mighty, let's wait for him to come back." Coach sighed.