— Beca —
As I spoke, Chloe's face went from mildly resentful and confused to terrified. Benji paled, and took a step backwards, as if physically knocked off balance.
"The… bodies?" her voice was barely a whisper, and I sighed, casting my eyes downwards. When I looked up after those boxes fell, I'd seen them. The bodies of several people piled up underneath. But these people weren't infected, that much was clear from their permanent state of death alone. The thing that had chilled me to my core was that they bore no signs of being killed by infected either. It hadn't taken us all long to figure out that being bitten or scratched by an infected was what caused you to turn into one yourself, and these people…. most of them looked like they had been shot. I didn't stick around to look for too long. The moment I saw that I knew that we had to get out of here. Aubrey's plan to head into the wilderness was a good one, I had known all along, but now more than ever I wanted to enact it as swiftly as possible. It seemed like anywhere there were other people was dangerous now. I didn't stick around for long enough to decide whether those bodies were old or new, but I didn't really need to know. All that mattered was that people had been killed here by other people, and we didn't know if whoever did it was still around, and if we might be next. I tried to voice these thoughts to Chloe and Bejni, but emotion constricted my throat.
"There were murdered people in there, Chloe, covered up with all that crap. They weren't infected, they'd just been shot. I… I don't know when. It's just not safe here." We had started moving again, back towards the vehicles where Stacie and Amy watched us curiously from their respective vehicles. I signalled for them to start the engines running. I wanted that swift getaway we'd planned for. Looking over my shoulder now, I was relieved to see Jesse and his group behind us now, looking similarly frantic. I wondered what they'd seen, but assumed it was something equally horrifying to make them turn and leave immediately too. I was almost glad, because I had been imagining we might have to make an awkward drive-by round back to quickly pick them up. This way would be a lot easier. They were no more than 20 feet from us when we heard a sound that stopped us dead in our tracks. A shot rang out to our left, and we all ducked instinctively. Not wanting to be split up from Aubrey, Stacie had swapped me into the driver's seat of the car, and I stood half out of it now, with Chloe and Benji peering out of the windows behind me. In the cab of the truck, Stacie and Amy cringed as a second shot pinged off the roof of the truck's container. Gun in hand, I swivelled to face the direction I gauged the gunfire to be coming from, and tried desperately to find the source. Jesse and the others had finally reached the truck, and piled in the back. With a nod to Amy, I retreated back into the car with one final backwards glance, and we raced off, speeding out of the parking lot and back towards the highway. This time, we turned onto Route 28, which would start taking us North-West, out into the National parks. My eyes darted between the road ahead and the rear-view mirror. I was certain someone had to be following us. Why would someone take a couple of shots at us from some great distance then just let us drive away? I supposed they might just be a lousy shot, whoever they were, but something just didn't feel right. I felt like a wild animal being chased into a trap, unable to combat my panic enough to find my way to safety. But maybe that was silly. We were taking our own planned route, not just hurtling off in any old direction. Another look into the rear-view mirror. Nothing. Sweat was beading on my forehead. Chloe looking at me nervously, clearly sensing my agitation.
"We got away, there's nobody coming after us now." She said soothingly, placing a hand on my shoulder from the seat behind me. I caught her eye in the mirror, and she gave me an encouraging smile. I felt my foot relax slightly on the pedal, and some of the tightness left my chest. The needle on the speedometer pricked down a fraction. Maybe she was right. I was paranoid, and not for nothing after what we'd been through, but right now maybe there truly was no danger.
We continued travelling along the highway as it wend its way further West, finally pulling to a stop as the sun finally vanished from the sky. My hands shook a little as I turned the engine off, and I took one final glance in the mirror. Nothing.
We exited the car, and met with the others, who all wore similar expression of worry and exhaustion. I made my way over to Jesse, and pulled him into a hug.
"Beca-"
"It's okay. I saw it too." I felt him shake his head as he pulled away, searching my eyes desperately.
"No Becs, we found the freezer unit in the back. It was locked and the power was still on, so we got it open and inside… There were people in there Beca, cut up like cattle in a slaughterhouse." He whispered. My eyes widened. Cut up? Could this have been even worse than I had previously imagined? I had envisioned some kind of massacre, a cull maybe, of people sheltering there for refuge, or maybe looters following the initial virus fallout. But this…. if Jesse really had seen… that, it put a whole knew spin on it. Who would do something like that? And were they the same people that shot at us? A million questions raced through my mind. I forced myself to swallow them down for a moment. Jesse wasn't really up to talking about it right now, that I knew and understood perfectly. It was, all of it, awful.
"I saw… something similar out front." He looked away, his brow furrowing. I turned back to the others, now loosely gathered in semicircle behind us. By now, everyone had a vague idea of what we'd both seen. Panic coloured the air between us as the silence hung heavy, a millstone around my neck. Finally, Chloe spoke.
"What happened back there… It's horrible, I don't know what else to say about it. But it's behind us now. We need to rest tonight and carry on putting it further behind us tomorrow. We're close to the wilderness areas now, we can escape the worst of this soon if we just push a little bit further." The weight lifted slightly, and I shot her a grateful look. It was tiring being looked to for answers all the time. Sometimes I just wanted to listen. The others began to voice their agreement and encouragement, and we drifted apart again, each returning to a familiar motion, preparing our little convoy for the night. Part of me wanted to drive through the night, but I knew we needed to keep a look out for trails leading up into the forest now, and it would be impossible to do that in the dark. I had to keep suppressing my fear, just give in to reason and force myself to calm. Nobody wanted to light a fire tonight though, and we picked at few old granola bars between us. All of our minds kept turning back to what we'd just been in the midst of, and none of us could stomach much. Amy hadn't cracked a joke or made a daft remark for hours. It was an eery atmosphere to find myself in after the peace I'd been feeling so recently, and yet this constant state of turmoil in itself was familiar to me now. This was the downward spike I'd been anticipating, and I hated myself for predicting it. Not that I could have predicted exactly this. As we settled in for the night, I lay awake in the back seat with Chloe, my eyes fixed on nothing in the darkness. What would tomorrow bring?
— Bumper —
It hadn't been an easy few days, but then again, it hadn't been an easy few weeks. After miraculously coming across the very people I'd been hoping to find, I was swiftly cuffed and bundled into the back of their van, much to my annoyance.
"I can help you!" I spat, until they shut me up with a kick to the abdomen. I spent the ride back to the hospital in silent pain, rage coursing through me in equal measure. These guys were morons, just a pack of mindless brutes and scared kids. I needed to speak to the guy in charge, make him see I was an asset, not just bait for the infected. When we finally arrived at our destination, I risked a question.
"What are you gonna do with me now?" The captain chuckled, grabbing hold of my arm and yanking me out of the van and towards the main entrance.
"I've got someone who I reckon wants to speak with you." I suppressed a smile. Good. They dragged me, still handcuffed, up to the top floor of the hospital. There, I was pushed into a plastic chair in the hall and left alone. It was stiflingly hot up here, and I was quickly drenched in sweat. I assumed they were testing me, and stayed put. It wasn't like I wanted out of here anyway. I was exactly where I wanted to be. Finally, I heard a door swing open, and a man emerged at the far end of the hall. He was tall but well-muscled, and wore his greying hair cropped close to his scalp. There was something in his eyes that made me flinch inwardly as he looked me up and down, giving a disdainful snort and beckoning me towards him.
"Come on then, get your ass down here boy." I approached, and he pointed towards the door from which he had emerged. "In you go." So in I went. He followed close behind, and once inside what I took to be his office, I suddenly felt the handcuffs click open and my wrists fly free. He strode past me, and flopped into the large leather chair behind his desk. There was no hiding the fact that we were in a hospital by the general decor, but he'd not done a bad job of making this particular room into something more. Guns were stacked against the wall behind him, and crates of grenades stood beside them in turn. I could see baseball bats replete with nails, sections of pipe wrapped with barbed wire, crossbows, riot shields and tactical gear, and I knew there was more elsewhere. Was this a show of power, or did he really keep total control of all this gear? He smiled as he watched me take it all in, then we locked eyes again. He raised an eyebrow, and spread his hands.
"Well?" He spoke with a heavy southern accent, drawing out his words almost lazily. "What do you make of this side of the building? I'll bet it beats the basement." He was mocking me, but I fought the urge to rise to the bait.
"You're well stocked up, and I'm glad to see it." He looked mildly surprised, but still retained his air of amusement. He shrugged.
"Sounds like you've had a think about whose side you're on since you were last here. We never met, but I got to know a friend of yours pretty well. Interesting girl. Coulda really made something of her. Still, I'm surprised after all that to hear you're having a little change of heart. Then again, they told me you weren't made of much, only fit for bait." I bristled a little, but tried to meet his nonchalance. I leant back in my chair.
"That bitch was never any friend of mine. I'm here now because I want to be here, because I believe we share a common desire right now - revenge. Am I right?" He leant forward a little at this, clearly interested.
"Well well, you've certainly got a better set of balls on you than I had you figured for. Anyone would think you were in a position to bargain with me." He mused, and my blood ran cold as I realised how dangerously close I was to a horrible death if I couldn't pull this off. I carried on.
"You want her back so you can finish what you started, right? I'd happily bring her back here for what she did to me. You let me in as a real part of your organisation, and I'll help you to find her and all the others. There were more of them, you know. You can have them all." I swallowed, hoping that I'd said enough to persuade him. I hadn't really thought about what might happen if I had judged this incorrectly. The silence stretched out between us, and I felt sweat rolling down my back as I forced myself to remain perfectly still, seemingly unbothered. Finally he got to his feet, and extended a hand to me.
"I'll take you up on that." We shook, and I let my face relax into a true smile. My position was still fragile, and I knew I'd be in relative danger until I could truly prove my worth, but I'd got a foothold, and I wasn't going to let it crumble underneath me.