Kylie6100: Thanks! Yep everything is so much more exciting when she's with them. I hope this wasn't too long of a wait for you!
stupid-nickel: FEAR NOT! Here's one right now!
XKaterinaNightingaleX: Based on the other reviews, you are definitely not the only one who's waiting for that! Sorry for posting this up a little later than I usually do :[
flyingmole: I'm glad you think my story is worth the wait! Sometimes I get a little worried that if I don't post soon enough readers will lose interest, but I guess as long as there are some people who keep reading I'll keep posting. I'm glad you like the chapter!
Emily: Hahah I'm happy you're enjoying the story so much! I hope this chapter satisfies all your feels! It's alright I use henna sometimes to make the brands lol, and I always draw on myself. I have yet to be poisoned by ink.
HAHHAHAHAHA: Afra, quit being a weirdo man.
SamanthaP: Everyone seems to get that irked feeling when they start to read this. I feel extremely encouraged to continue writing when people actually comment on my writing. I hope to see you around again, and enjoy this next chapter!
TimbreWuulf: Yep! Hope you like this next chapter! (Sorry for the long wait).
ooo a jellybean: I believe I already addressed your review in PM!
OK guys. SORRY AGAIN. Too much has been happening. So here's the bad news: Similar to our recent "season finale" I am going to go on a small hiatus. I KNOW I KNOW this is not exactly making your day, but it's only so I can catch up on certain things including this story. The good news is that when I do come back (which I promise wont take more than a month) I will have a nearly endless supply of The Hunt waiting for you! I hope that fills the hole that I may have possibly created! Don't worry though! You have at least one more chapter before my "hiatus" so use this time to reviewreviewreview! Thanks for anyone who chooses to stick around!
You're awesome.
Enjoy!
21
Dave was just a few feet away from me, making out with some girl in a black dress.
This was weird.
What was even more strange than Dave and this mystery woman he decided to suck faces with (ew), was the feeling on my shoulder blade. I tilted my head back as far as I could to see that the feather that was branded into my skin had a faint reddish glow about it. It was hardly noticeable and the only way I was able to catch it was because it was so dark around me, it kind of stood out against the black sheet I was stranded in.
What was this place?
I figured I was dreaming but this felt completely different. This felt real. It felt as real as it did when I first got to this universe those four years ago.
I looked over to Dave, who was still kissing the woman, and called out his name. It echoed into the blackness.
When he turned around my entire perception of what he had been doing changed. His face looked thinner, and his eyes were blood shot, and all of a sudden it seemed as though he had been drugged or something. He sunk to his knees and all I could think was how he managed to stay standing for all that time.
The woman was revealed to be the demon we had encountered the night before, looking more attractive and venomous than I actually remembered. She bent down grabbing his face.
"We have to seal the deal, Dave. If you want your family to be one again, you must give me a kiss." She told him in his ear.
The sound of her voice bounced off imaginary walls, momentarily surrounding us.
I realized this was a dream, but somehow it wasn't mine. Most probably, it was Dave's.
"Then," She continued. "Your time will come."
This time her voice drifted off as she leaned down to kiss him. I could see her almost draining the life out of him with her poisonous demon kiss. Once the kiss was over, the ground began shaking, and all of the darkness that was around us was illuminated with an orange glow that came from the cracks that were beginning to form beneath our feet.
I looked up to see if Dave was okay, and found that the demon disappeared, and instead of hearing her voice, our ears were ringing with the cacophonous howls of souls and hellhounds beckoning for the next victim. They were waiting for the next fool who gave up his soul.
I sprinted towards Dave, and caught him before he could fall through. I grabbed him by his leather jacket and shook him.
"Dave," I cried over the noise. "Dave look at me!"
But his eyes were glued to the pit that was about to consume him. I grabbed his face and turned his head to look at me.
"Damn it, Dave!" I yelled. "You have to wake up! You're dreaming!"
"This is all real." He said.
No, it wasn't. I remembered this dream showing on the TV screen, and that Dave was dragged into the pit by hellhounds, just before he woke up.
I didn't want him to go through that again.
"Dave!" I yelled. "This isn't real! Wake up!"
Maybe I needed to wake up in order to get him to wake up.
Right.
So how was I supposed to wake up?
All of a sudden, instead of blackness and streaks of orange light surrounding me, the sun shone in my eyes. My shoulder was feeling only a little less strange, and I wasn't lying down, I was standing up, watching Zach push his brother awake.
"Dave!" Zach cried shoving his brother.
At first it sounded as though he was scared, but later he started sounding like he was just frustrated.
"Wake up already!" He yelled.
Dave jolted awake, and began clutching the spot where I was asleep.
"Where's Cru?" He asked Zach.
"I don't know," Zach replied.
"I'm right here." I said causing Zach to spin around, and Dave to get up.
"Where did you go?" Zach asked. "I woke up and you were gone. I thought you went back, you scared me."
I smiled at the thought of Zach being frightened by my absence, considering how fearless he was of everything else.
I looked at Dave who upon meeting my gaze turned away and began gathering his things.
"I was there," I said. "I don't know how, but I was."
Dave just stopped and looked at me.
"Where?" Zach asked.
"Why don't you tell him?" I said looking to Dave.
I didn't remember much else from the episodes about what happened after Dave's nightmare, except that he wouldn't tell a soul about it. If he maybe told someone, I was sure it could've helped him somehow.
"It was the weirdest thing," He began, much to my surprise. "I was dreaming and she was there."
"How do you know you weren't just dreaming about her?" Zach asked.
"Because," I said. "I was there. I was actually physically there. I don't know how—"
"Okay," Zach said cutting me short. "You guys are just messing with me right?"
"No!" I cried. I made my way up to him and pushed my hair away so that he could see my feather brand. "My shoulder was burning," I explained. "I mean, it wasn't as bad as it was when I was getting them, but—"
"It's all red," Dave said. "It doesn't look like how it did when you first got it, but it looks… sore."
"It feels funny," I said turning around.
"How did you get into my dream?" Dave demanded to know.
"I don't know!" I cried defensively. "And don't keep thinking you can get away with just saying it was a dream. You were having a nightmare."
"So what?" Dave said shrugging. "People have nightmares all the time."
"I don't think we have time for this." Zach stated, sounding even more concerned than usual.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Where do we have to go now? You just finished a hunt."
"I think we need to go to someone to consult about this." Zach replied. "We clearly don't know everything that we should about your brands. We need to talk to Bobby."
Bobby. Oh God, I forgot how much I had missed that man. I didn't even get to meet him when I did my table reading. Apparently I had worked with him at some point, but I was also, unfortunately, getting killed at the same time, so I didn't actually have any memory of meeting him. Stupid transitioning phase.
"And plus," Zach continued. "we need to tell him what the demon told us."
"Alright," Dave said. "We'll give him a call so he can start researching, and then by the time we get there, we can get caught up on whatever he figures out."
"Sounds good." Zach said, already carrying his things out of the room.
"Dave," I said the moment Zach was out of hearing range. "What the hell was that?" I demanded to know.
"What?" Dave asked. "You really don't want to see Bobby that bad?"
"No! I mean—I do want to see Bobby, but I'm talking about your nightmare." I said.
"Oh God," Dave rolled his eyes. "Not this." He walked away from me and began zipping up his bags.
"I don't have a very good feeling about this." I said making my way up to him.
"It's just a nightmare, get over it!" Dave cried.
"No!" I snapped blocking his way.
"I swear to God…" Dave muttered under his breath. "Cru."
"Mhmm?" I gave him a disdainful smile.
"Ella…" He said. "Cru Ella…"
"Yes." I said folding my arms.
"Please get out of my way, so I can take my bags back to the car so that we can get going to Bobby's. Zach's waiting for us and he's going to get suspicious." He said in a very modulated manner.
I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Good." I said. "He should be suspicious because you aren't telling him something that is vital information!"
"It's a nightmare, it's not vital!" Dave said pushing past me.
"You've had the same one before!" I argued. "Don't you think that is at least a little worth mentioning?"
Dave stopped and turned around.
"No I haven't." He said. "That's the first time I've had that nightmare."
That couldn't be good.
"Well," I said with a sigh. "I vaguely remember it not being your last time."
Dave let his bags drop, and sighed squeezing his eyes shut. He pressed his palms into his sockets and abruptly released them leaving pink marks behind.
"Alright, alright," He said, picking up his bags. I grabbed mine too, having already stuffed my belongings into it the night before. "How's this? If I have the dream one more time, then I'll tell Zach… or someone."
"You better." I warned.
We walked out and loaded the car while Zach checked us out of the motel. I dozed off for what seemed like no more than two minutes, and woke up in the car.
"You're awake." Zach said turning around. "We're only a couple more minutes away."
"Okay," I said rubbing the feather brand.
"Let me see your shoulder," Zach said.
Dave took a couple glances back and muttered "Man, that's weird," under his breath while continuing down the road.
"It doesn't hurt does it?" Zach asked.
I shook my head and sat back properly in my seat as we pulled into the giant lot of Bobby's home. I practically leapt out of the car, and stampeded my way into the house, and found Bobby's back facing me for a split moment before he spun around.
"What the—"
I hugged him before he could say anything. The smell of dust, whiskey and car oil soothed every nervous feeling I carried since my return. I could hear Dave and Zach climb up to the house as well, and chuckle upon seeing me suffocate Bobby with my ridiculously long hug.
"We thought we should mention that it's been a while for Cru." Dave's amused voice informed Bobby.
"Right," He replied. "Almost two months."
"Try four years." Zach corrected.
Bobby immediately pulled me off of him and looked at my face, suddenly being able to see how I'd aged. His eyes looked sympathetic and then he hugged me again, this time more tightly.
"You never should've left." He told me.
"I didn't want to." I told him. "I don't even know how I did."
"You poor girl," Bobby said as we pulled apart for the second time. "And they still got you in those clothes?"
He made a face at the boys and guided me elsewhere.
"I'm gonna find you somethin' of my wife's but just for the time bein'." He told me. "We can't have you runnin' around tryna save the day in a sundress."
I examined my clothing. The first few buttons of my shirt did have to be undone to keep them from popping off, and my sweat pants were the only other article of clothing I could fit into aside from my bedclothes. My boots were the only pairs of shoes that didn't stop my blood circulation, and they kind of looked ridiculous with the rest of my outfit.
Despite the fact that I apparently ate "like an Ethiopian child", I seemed to have grown a little since I was 18 (obviously), so a much needed wardrobe change would've been a relief.
"Thank you." I said as I followed him up the stairs.
We walked into the room where I had been sleeping with Dave after I had gotten my last brand. I wanted to sink to my knees beside the bed, and just take in feeling of those sheets whose existence I had often times questioned—just so I could know that it was all real. I obviously didn't do that, knowing that I would otherwise freak Bobby out.
I took my boots off and set them aside while Bobby looked through the wardrobe.
"Here you are sweetheart." He said handing me a pale blue dress. "Hope it fits." He said closing the door behind him.
I took off the pink button-down shirt and pair of sweat pants I had on, and slipped into the dress surprised at how comfortable it fit (I was never really a dress person). It was nice not to be in something that would leave an imprint on my skin.
Before heading back down, I started running my fingers through my black and white hair to get rid of the tangles I received by keeping it down, and decided to braid it in order to keep it from tangling any further.
Again, the black boots did not fit with the dress, but they were the only shoes I had and fashion wasn't really something I was all too concerned about, so I went downstairs all the same.
"That's better." Bobby said being the first to see me.
He and the brothers were all seated in the front room looking as though they were talking about something somewhat serious before my arrival. Bobby was in his own chair, while Zach and Dave were facing him on the couch opposite.
Upon seeing me, Zach gave a slight smile while Dave tried suppressing his laughter. Jack ass.
I leaned down, kissed Bobby right on his cheekbone, thanked him and took a seat next to Dave.
"I was just tellin' these boys what I found out about your brands." Bobby said.
I shifted a little in my spot, accidentally bumping knees with Dave, who hastily scooted down to give me room.
"Sorry," I mouthed to him while Bobby continued.
"I hate to disappoint you but it ain't much." He leaned over and passed me a few papers that had a few things written down here and there that I didn't care to read. "It talks about your second visit here, and how each brand gives you the rest of your power needed for this universe."
"Power, what do you mean power?" I asked.
"I'm assumin' it means you get some sort of special ability." Bobby answered.
"That makes no sense." I replied, again shifting in my seat bumping knees with Dave. "Sorry," I muttered again while he scooted over more for me. "I mean, everything having to do with my brands just seemed to have made me more ordinary in this universe." I continued. "In fact, I had more of a superpower without some of my brands than with them." I argued, recalling the day I had stolen an entire wardrobe with Zach. "So far, nothing makes sense." I complained.
"Like I said," Bobby responded. "It ain't much."
I sighed and leaned back bumping knees with Dave yet again. His poor knees.
"Sorry." I said again, briefly rubbing his knee with my hand, worried I had probably made a bruise on it by now.
He only scooted over more.
"So what am I supposed to do?" I wanted to know. "Just sit around and wait for answers to come falling out of the sky?"
"Look," Bobby said leaning in closer. "I'll find out what I can for you and dig around some more, but in the meantime…" He leaned back looked through some papers on the table beside him. "There's something I think y'all ought to take a look at. I hate to sound impolite, but I think it's a bit more pressin' than Ella's brands."
"A hunt?" Dave asked growing interested.
"Somethin' a little more extreme." Bobby answered vaguely. "There's this town in River Grove that's been exposed to some kind of a virus."
"Where?" Zach asked.
"River Grove." Bobby answered.
"A virus?" Dave asked sounding disappointed. "A virus is a virus, Bobby. There ain't nothing supernatural about that."
"There is about this one." Bobby replied gravely. He leaned in closer as though he was trying to keep any possible eavesdroppers from hearing. "I got a phone call late last night," He started to explain. "An old friend of mine told me he went down to a small community in River Grove, Oregon because some locals went missin'. He had done a little bit of digging and found the words Croatoan carved into a tree."
"Croatoan." Zach said. "Like the lost colony Roanoke?"
"Precisely," Bobby answered before continuing. "Now, I don't know what it means, but I talked to him again this mornin', shortly after I got your phone call. The reception must have been bad because I could hardly hear a single word that was comin' out of his mouth. All he said was that the people were getting sick with some sort of virus that made them… crazy almost."
"What, like those zombies?" Dave asked. He looked at me obviously recalling the day I had first met them.
"I didn't get much other than that." Bobby said with a shrug. "It didn't matter though because one thing was for sure." He paused for effect. "He was the most scared he had ever been in his whole damn life."
We were silent for a bit when Zach asked about this fellow hunter.
"Tanner Jacobs," Bobby said. "You probably don't remember him, but he stopped by every once in a while when your daddy was over, just for a couple of drinks." Bobby took a swig of his own drink that he seemed to have forgotten about before. "I hope he's still alive."
"Let's find out." Dave said getting up.
I was digging through the trunk of the Impala when Zach approached me carrying my leather jacket.
"We left it behind after you disappeared." He said handing it to me. "And look what I found inside the pocket."
The custom knife glistened as Zach held it against the sunlight. His finger rubbed over the carved C.E. that I just noticed. I grinned and took it from him, stroking it, almost apologizing for forgetting about it. This beautiful knife was the one thing that I had so far, that really stood for the sense of belonging I felt with the brothers.
"Thanks," I said turning to Zach. I put on the jacket, and it fit like a glove. It was, without doubt, the best article of clothing I decided to steal.
"Don't thank me," Zach replied. "I just found it."
"You didn't manage to find any pants or shorts did you?" I asked.
"I'm sure we could make a quick stop." He told me leaning against the car. "Maybe we won't be able to get you a whole wardrobe, but a pair of shorts would be manageable. If we do stop, remind me to eat. My mind's been on a million things, I can't even remember to grab a meal every now and then."
"Well I'll be happy to do that as long as you remind me to shower." I replied. "The problem is I don't have any clothes that fit me anymore."
"And by clothes you subtly mean underwear." Zach said sheepishly.
"Yea." I replied slamming the trunk door shut. "And I don't think good old-fashioned shop lifting is going to work with a bunch of bras and underwear."
"Hey can I talk to you about something?" Zach said abruptly changing the subject.
"Uh… yea, I guess." I replied. "What's the deal?"
"The night you came back, I had a dream." Zach started. "It was of Dave, and he was pointing a gun at someone."
"Who?" I asked.
"Some guy. He was begging for his life, but Dave he—" He stopped himself then leaned in closer. "He shot him anyway."
"Why didn't you mention this earlier?" I asked.
"I was going to, but you seemed to be remembering a lot of things, and I was hoping you would remember this." He answered. "I'm mentioning it now because from what I could get from my dream, I traced this guy down."
"And?"
"He lives in River Grove."
Oh boy. Well this wasn't necessarily a bad thing was it? I mean, this way we could at least stop it.
"Maybe he wasn't human." I said.
"He was. I'm sure of it." Zach replied.
"Look, the best we can do is to just go there, and help out as much as we're capable of, and if things get ugly, we'll know how to handle it."
Zach nodded but he looked skeptical. You would think out of anyone in the world, he would trust his brother to do the right thing. But I supposed it was hard to distrust his visions, which had mostly been fulfilled.
"Alright kids!" Dave said coming through the front door. "Let's get rollin'."
We climbed into the car and waved Bobby goodbye.
"Bobby says if we don't call within the next few hours, he's sending help." Dave told us. "Hopefully we'll manage just fine on our own."
Unfortunately we didn't.
For one, all connection to the world outside of River Grove had been cut of. On top of that, we had expected to be surrounded by people struck with this virus and instead we arrived at a ghost town.
We were definitely not off to a good start.
"Ssshhiit." I whispered as we stood by the parked car.
"What's wrong?" Zach asked concerned. He too had lowered his voice as it felt almost necessary in our quiet surroudings.
"I have to pee." I replied hesitantly.
"Now?" Dave asked. When I nodded, he rolled his eyes and we followed him down a road to the first house we saw. "What do you think will happen if we knock on the door?" Dave asked his brother.
Zach only made a face and shrugged.
Dave got his fist ready and pounded on the door. I rolled my eyes and rang the doorbell, relieved to hear footsteps approaching.
"Can I help you?" A young man around my age asked.
"We were just wondering where your whole town went…" Dave said trying not to sound too ridiculous.
The young man chuckled.
"Well you know, people have been getting a nasty virus," He explained. "Town council held a meeting and thought it best to keep everyone inside."
"Who is it, son?" A much older mans voice asked. He appeared from the corner and smiled upon seeing us. "How may I help you?"
"They were just wondering why no one's around." The son answered for us.
"I see." He replied. "Just didn't want everyone to be getting sick."
"That makes sense." Dave replied before I hit him in the arm to remind him why we had approached he house in the first place. "Oh right." He said. "You guys wouldn't happen to have an available bathroom would you?"
"Not right now," The father said hastily. "My wife's sick and she's been throwing up in there all day."
Dave and Zach glanced at each other and then just nodded. I pulled at Dave's sleeve and once I could, I whispered in his ear.
"They have the virus."
Unfortunately I underestimated the volume of my whisper and as the man tried slamming the door shut, Dave used all his strength to burst it open. The man and his son lunged forward to attack, but Zach and Dave managed to push them over and fight them. There was a lot of broken glass from a large picture frame that had fallen from off the wall and I was worried that in the midst of the four of them rolling around and attacking each other, one of them would get severely cut. I guess I couldn't really do much else because there was something a little more serious I had to tend to.
I ran down the hall and into a closed off room, and found a woman tied up and gagged in a chair. Thanking my memory for this huge detail, I made my way towards her and used my knife to cut through the rope tied around her hands and feet. Immediately, she tore off the gag.
"They tried to kill me!" She cried.
"I know, I know," I said helping her up.
"My husband and my son!" She yelled.
She was practically going hysterical and who could blame her? She was violently attacked by the two people she loved the most.
"We have it taken care of." I assured her leading her out of the room.
"They cut my skin…" She said showing me her hand. "They gave me blood from their hands."
At this point she kind of just sounded crazy. I knew she was trying to say something that actually made sense, but I just couldn't follow along at that point. I sheltered her eyes as we walked passed the dead bodies of her husband and son.
Zach helped me bring the woman along as Dave guided us through the town. He glanced at the buildings to see what was written on their doors, and stopped in front of one banging on it repeatedly. I looked up to see that it was a clinic.
A woman in a white lab coat approached the door hesitantly, carrying a piece of broken wood as a weapon.
"We need help!" Dave called. "We've got a woman who's bleeding pretty bad, and I swear we aren't… infected or anything."
For some unknown reason the young doctor trusted Dave's words and opened the door for us dropping the chunk of wood and helping us carry the woman.
"Mrs. Rhodes." The doctor said catching her. "What happened?"
"They gave me blood from their hands." She said. "My husband and my son!"
"Let's get you relaxed and we'll bandage you up." The doctor said in a soft reassuring voice.
Zach came in last locking the door behind himself, and we all followed the doctor to a waiting area that lead to a series of rooms. She walked the hysterical woman into one of them as we took a seat in the waiting room. I examined the chairs to see one was broken with a missing leg.
Suddenly two men walked out. One was older and looked like he could take down the entire building we were sitting in if he really wanted to. He looked rather exhausted, his black skin glistening with sweat. The other was most probably a year or two younger than me and he looked as though he had never been so scared in his life. He gripped a gun until his knuckles turned white like he didn't know what else to do with it.
"Who are you?" The older one asked in a gruff voice.
"They're not sick." The doctor said walking out of the exam room. "They brought Mrs. Rhodes."
"Who was it?" The young man asked in a shaky voice.
"Husband and son."
"Will someone start explaining what the hell is going on?" Dave demanded. "Where's the rest of your town?"
"Probably locked up inside their homes." The older man told us. "I'm Jack but everyone calls me Sarge." He paused. "Everyone used to call me Sarge."
Dave gave him a funny look then extended his hand.
"Nice to meet you…Sarge. I'm Dave and this is my brother Zach. What else can you tell us about this virus?"
"That depends on what you already know." Sarge turned to me. "Who's this?"
"I'm their si-"
"She's a friend." Dave said. That had actually been a great call considering Dave already introduced Zach as his brother. It would have looked out of place for him to later mention me as his sister.
"I'm Ella." I said.
"I'm Pam." The doctor said quietly.
"Duane." The young man said. "I'm going to go check on Mrs. Rhodes." He said turning into the room.
Zach made his way towards me as Dave and Sarge got into talking more. He pulled me aside and leaned in close with a lowered voice.
"That kid Duane," He said. "That's him. That's the guy that Dave shot in my dream."
"Okay, that's a step." I said trying to sound as optimistic about this as possible.
"She says she's feeling a lot better now," Duane said walking out of the room.
There wasn't a person in the room who didn't react to this news.
"She said that?" I asked. Duane nodded.
"That's not possible." Pam said. "She was hysterical not a few minutes ago."
Duane only shrugged and we all went inside of the exam room.
"Mrs. Rhodes?" Pam asked taking out her stethoscope.
"Oh, Pam, thank goodness." Mrs. Rhodes said already sitting up. "I have this awful headache. Do you have an aspirin?"
"Mrs. Rhodes what happened?" Pam urged.
There was a bit of a silence as tears began forming in Mrs. Rhodes eyes.
"My husband and son…" She began sobbing as Pam held her.
We all took this as a cue to leave the room. While we waited, Dave seemed to be getting as updated as possible on the virus, and Zach was nervously pacing and occasionally looking over at Duane. I was ready to go over and tell him to calm down already when Pam walked out. She turned to Duane briefly and after telling him something she walked over to us.
We huddled around her as she informed us on the woman's condition.
"She was just in a little bit of shock before." She started. "She said her husband knocked her out and tied her up and when she woke up they were cutting her hand and mixing their blood with hers."
"That doesn't sound too good." Dave mused. "Mixing blood is usually a bad thing right?"
"Yea," Pam replied. "That's why I've collected some as a sample to make sure she didn't get sick or anything."
"And?"
"And nothing. There was nothing irregular and she apparently was cut a few hours ago, so that's a good sign." Pam looked back into the exam room where Duane and Mrs. Rhodes were talking. "I've asked Duane to stay in there and keep her company."
"Uh… Mrs. Rhodes?" Duane's worried voice sounded even more anxious and we all spun around to see her standing over him looking as though she was about to attack at any moment.
Once she pushed him into the glass medical cabinet we all rushed in, Dave and Sarge being the first to pull out their guns. Pam rushed over to Duane to help him up, and a psychotic looking Mrs. Rhodes lunged towards them looking as though she was going to eat them or something.
Everything was happening so fast. Mrs. Rhodes was yelling incoherent things and he hand was still bleeding. I dragged Duane out of the room as Pam was needed. He got up and threw aside the gun he was holding, shaking profusely. I tried calming him down until I heard shots and screams.
"Listen lady!" I heard Dave's voice yell. "You're like fifty, I don't want to shoot you. But I will if I have to!"
I heard a shriek and rushed towards the room but stopped when I heard a gunshot, and a body fall. Pam rushed out covering her face, and I could see Mrs. Rhodes dead on the floor. Zach followed Pam out clearly trying to soothe her, and I ran inside only to have Dave's body block me from walking in any further.
At least that's what I thought he was doing until I saw the copious amount of blood that was oozing out of her head, and I realized he was trying to make sure I wouldn't see.
"Dave," I whispered.
He pushed my head against his chest so I couldn't see a thing and walked us out of the waiting area.
"Sarge had to, Cru." He told me. "She was sick. She would've infected more people."
I pushed away from him and began rubbing my head. I wasn't used to that much blood. The zombies from the grocery store were different. They didn't bleed and they weren't people who I had carried as they were going hysterical because their husbands and sons just tried killing them… or turning them into zombies as well.
"Are you okay?" Dave asked after a little bit, and I nodded.
We walked back in only to see Sarge pointing a gun at Duane who was begging for his life.
"He's could be infected!" Sarge said before Dave could ask. "He's had an open wound from before. It could have already been mixed with their blood."
"Please!" Duane cried. His eyes were flooded with tears.
"You can't just mindlessly kill people just because you suspect them of being sick!" Zach argued.
"It's not mindless if he is sick." Sarge said. "In which case he would be infecting the rest of us!"
"No you're wrong!" Zach yelled.
"No he's not." Dave said.
I spun around to look at him, bewildered at the fact that he agreed with Sarge.
"If he is sick, he's going to start infecting us and it ain't gonna end well." Dave turned to Sarge. "How long did you say he had the open wound?"
"A few hours."
Dave took out his gun and pointed it at Duane.
"Dave!" Zach cried. "Don't do this."
"I have to Zachie." Dave replied gravely.
"Can we at least talk about this?" Zach pleaded.
"Please," Duane sobbed.
"He's just a kid!" Zach yelled.
Dave lowered his gun.
"Alright," He said. "Let's go talk." He turned to Sarge. "Don't pull your trigger just yet." He advised.
Him and Zach walked to the back where another series of rooms stood. I vaguely remembered something about Zach being locked in a room. I ran towards the back where they were but I was too late. Dave had already locked Zach inside with a very apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry Zach," He said. "I've got to do this."
He turned and paused once he took notice of me. He sighed, as he brushed passed.
"What are you doing?" I wanted to know.
"Trust me, Cru." He said. "It's for the best."
He walked out and I turned to Zach who was still banging on the glass.
"Don't let him do it!" He cried. "Go follow him before he does! Hurry!"
I ran back to where everyone was to see Dave pressing the gun to Duane's forehead as Duane sobbed and begged.
"Please!" He cried. "I'm not sick, I swear! I just want to live!"
"Dave," I said. "You can't—"
But I didn't finish what I said because he lowered his gun and tucked it behind his shirt.
"We'll keep close watch on him." He said. "If he does anything, we'll take care of him."
Pam walked out with a nurse following after her.
"We spotted the strangest thing in the blood." She said. "There was sulfur everywhere."
"Sulfur, huh?" Dave muttered as we glanced at each other.
"What does it mean?" The nurse asked.
"Demonic virus." Dave said. "That's really something."
"Are you crazy?" Sarge asked.
Dave just shook his head and took out a door key he'd somehow obtained earlier.
"I've got to get my brother." He said.
"I'll do it," The nurse offered. "I have a key anyway."
She left and I turned to Pam.
"Who was she?" I asked.
"She's a nurse that I work with." Pam replied.
"Where did she come from?" I asked. "Aren't all the doors locked?"
"She has a key…" Pam replied.
"So she decided to show up for work a couple hours late?" I asked.
Pam only shrugged.
"She could be infected." I said immediately bolting to where Zach was.
I was right. The nurse was on top of him as he tried fighting her off but she had somehow grabbed hold of his knife and was already cutting his shoulder. I grabbed her by her waist and tried yanking her off of him, and got some help from Dave who shot her the moment she fell to the ground.
We turned around to see Sarge pointing a gun at us.
"He's infected." He said.
We turned back and looked at the cut on Zach's shoulder and after looking at the nurse, we saw that she had managed to cut her hand. The smeared blood surrounding the wound suggested that she had rubbed it on someone.
Zach was infected after all.