"Jake, come on. Wake up." Courtney shook me violently.
My eyes shot open. "What happened?"
"You've been out a couple days. Your hand is starting to look pretty bad — Haze and Joe went out to find some antibiotics."
Courtney's caramel brown eyes had plenty of worry in them. Her brows furrowed with panic.
"I'm up, don't worry." I assured as I sat up. "How long have they been gone?"
"Couple hours. Hope they come back soon, they have the car."
They should know better than to leave us stranded without a vehicle.
"Joe? Why'd he take Joe?"
"He wants to help. Ever since we left Tabitha's, he had some sort of epiphany. Wants to put more into the world than he did before." Courtney leaned in, "besides, Haze figured Joe is the most useless. Less of a loss if something happens."
"Vick died for Joe. He had to have known Joe had it in him to survive. He's not useless — not if Vick didn't think so."
"Hey, I didn't say that," she corrected. "Haze did."
I chortled, "of course he did."
_
Before I knew it, I was out again. Maybe the infection was taking a tole on me or maybe it was the apocalypse in general. When I woke up once more, Haze had arrived and Anna was tending to my hand.
"Were you a nurse?" I inquired curiously.
"Pretty much. Mom was a nurse and she was constantly giving me tips, telling me stories — I feel like I've heard it all at this point." Anna chuckled, "she was an emergency room nurse for a long time. Saw the craziest shit and I always heard about it."
"It's definitely come in handy." I commented, admiring her. "You do a good job."
When my hand was wrapped, I stepped out of our campsite and skimmed the surrounding area. We're in the middle of nowhere.
"Jake, want some beef jerky? It's really good over the fire. Has that burnt, smoky taste." Courtney offered me a piece of jerky. I accepted.
"We used to buy beef jerky just to char it over the fire. Unbelievable how much of a difference it makes," Christie reminisced. "Dad taught us the best foods to cook when we burned out in the backyard."
They're right. This jerky is unbelievable.
"Haze!" Nista shouted, running over to the now arriving Haze.
"Got your pills, brother." Haze commented as he handed them to Anna.
"I can't thank you guys enough, man." I stood up to bump fists with Haze. "You didn't have to do this."
"That infection is pretty bad. We had to."
I examined my hand. Though I couldn't see through the gauze, it was extremely swollen. I was unable to bend it. Good thing I'm not left handed.
Grrrgghh..
Before I could react, a zombie attacked Nista. It moved strikingly fast and my heart dropped. Haze quickly grabbed the zombie, whipping it back onto the ground and stomping into the head.
"That wasn't a regular zombie." I commented, staring down at the now battered head of the creature.
"Nope. Moved too fast," Haze stared down at the zombie. "Had big blisters all over it's face."
"Think this has anything to do with the sirens going off?" Anna chimed in, examining the body on the ground.
"I think that has everything to do with it," Nista responded firmly. "There's a power plant nearby. It's been letting sirens off for days now."
"If there's a meltdown, we're going to be affected in one way or another — that is, if we don't die." Christie added, "radioactivity isn't a joke. This zombie doesn't look like any other one I've seen."
"So what do we do?" I skimmed the group, meeting each gaze one at a time.
"Anyone know how to stop it?" Haze questioned.
"We'll have to go there and see what we're dealing with." I suggested, "until then, pack everything back up from the campsite. We might have to leave if shit gets bad."
I found myself in and out of sleep for the rest of the night. Dreams of Kara filled my mind and the more I thought about her, the angrier I got. Finally, I jumped out of the back of the minivan and shuffled quickly through the trees.
Rrrgghh..
A zombie appeared. I shoved the dead man to the ground and stabbed him in the skull. Then, I stabbed him again. I couldn't stop.
"You.. said you couldn't pick and choose who you save..." I managed to voice between stabs. "You can't save everyone, Kara! You can't!"
I stabbed until I fell over the zombie, and in result, my face smacked the ground. My voice broke as I repeated myself. I could feel the splatters of blood drying on my face.
"You.. can't.. save.. everyone."
All went quiet for a moment. Then, another voice broke the silence.
"Jake?" Courtney's soft voice interrupted my thoughts. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm — I'm fine." I responded before standing up. "The zombie attacked me, that's all."
"Death isn't easy. When I lost Andre, I didn't know what to do. I remember crying, just feeling like I was malfunctioning. I didn't want to live anymore."
"So why did you?" I asked curiously. "Why'd you keep living?"
"Because I still had something to live for." She responded in a hushed tone. "Sometimes you don't even know what it is but you know you have something more to fulfill. It's hard and it never gets easier — you just learn to numb yourself."
I fell silent. The dark shrouded the tears that rolled down my face.
"I just want you to know we all feel it. We feel your loss and we feel ours. Every single one of us knows what it's like."
I finally spoke, "I don't know how to keep going."
"We're going to do this together." She assured before going in for a hug and setting her head on my chest.
We stood as moments passed, our arms wrapped tightly around each other.
_
"This place is huge," Anna observed as we approached the power plant. "We need a layout of the building or something. We're going in blind."
"We can't go in at all until we get hazmat suits." Haze objected, "we probably shouldn't be this close right now but we don't have a choice."
"The sirens haven't went off for a few days," I stated. "We have to make this quick. If it goes off now, every zombie within miles will be here."
"What the Hell?" Joe questioned as his eyes settled on a utility truck parked near the fence of the property. "I think I see someone over there."
I noticed movement. Human movement. We approached cautiously before getting out of the vehicle.
"Now, now," the old man put his hands up. "No need to draw weapons, son. I'm Allen."
He held his hand out for a shake. I put my gun away before accepting his offer skeptically.
"What are you doing here, Allen?"
"Same thing you are, I suppose. Trying to stop the damn thing from blowin'. It's overrun inside."
I shifted my gaze to the large facility. "If we get you in there, can you stop it?"
"I do think so. I worked here for a long time. Tried getting back in after the place turned and I was chased right back out. Been looking for help to get me inside."
"We need hazmat suits." I spoke hawkishly. "We can't go in without them."
"I have three, that's it. Don't see how three of us could go in and make it work."
"Dad? Dad!" A woman approached before coming to a stop and staring at us.
Her short, dark hair was scraggly and pulled into a small bun at the top of her head. She wore a black dress, regardless of the fact it was the apocalypse. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was going to a funeral.
"It's okay, honey. We're going to find a way inside and they're going to help. We'll save the farm."
"You have a farm?" Haze interrupted.
"Sure do. Animals and all. Can't take 'em anywhere so we have to find a way to stop it. Don't know what I'd do without them."
I volunteered, "I'll go with you. Haze, you in?"
A smile appeared across Haze's face. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, brother."
We geared up in our hazmat suits. Allen made a base plan about which way we would head once inside. As I followed him, a chill went up my spine.
Rrrgghh...
A zombie dragged itself along the pavement. The dead man had the same large blisters on his face as the others. His eyes weren't soulless — they were darkening to a shade of black. I stared at him as he stared back.
Bang!
Haze shot the zombie in the head, causing the blisters to burst and splatter on the ground.
"Stay away from that!" Allen warned, "if you get any of that on you or bring even a particle to the others, who knows what the hell would happen."
"They're even nastier than the regular zombies." Haze commented as he continued walking.
I took a step and was interrupted by yet another growl. We skimmed our surroundings and became confused. Where is it? As I turned around, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.
"Holy shit." My eyes widened, "the zombie is still alive."
"The one I just shot in the head? No way." Haze turned, his face changing to disbelief.
It was confirmed.
Allen concluded, "well, boys, looks like headshots are a thing of the past."