said that free energy was available but large corporations would never allow it to happen.
The truth was, humanity didn’t need an apocalypse to demonstrate their selfish need to gain and control others. It existed long before the infected showed up.
Birdy’s words echoed in my mind. They want to develop and sell the cure.
As I drifted back into a slumber I could hear Elijah and Ben talking.
“You think you’ll ever return to Salt Lake City?” Elijah asked.
“I have no reason to go back.”
The thought of returning to Castle Rock hadn’t crossed my mind. Even if we could return, the place was devastated. The only reason it felt like home was because of the people around me. Beyond that it was just another town in the middle of nowhere. My eyes fluttered and I saw Izzy looking at me.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Some days I’m not sure.”
“How did he die?”
She was referring to Dax. I let out a sigh and told her. Her eyes welled with tears which made me choke up.
“Do you miss him?” she asked.
“Every day. Him, Specs. So much has changed since this began.”
Izzy leaned her head back against the window and banged it ever so softly. “I wished I’d told him what I felt when he was still around. You know, I just couldn’t seem to find the right time or words.”
“Is there ever a right time?”
“Do you have any regrets?” she asked.
I thought back to Danielle, then cast a glance over at Jess who was asleep.
I was about to respond when the window behind Izzy shattered. Shards of glass shot in every direction. The entire van began rocking as she started fighting for her life against a Z. It dragged her out through the window, trying to bite into her. I was still processing what the hell was happening when Elijah leapt out of the back wielding the tire iron and began beating on that thing. It screeched like an injured animal as he turned its head into mush.
“We need to move. There’ll be more coming.”
When Elijah hauled Izzy up, she was bleeding at the neck.
“Have you been bitten?”
Ben pushed her into the light coming from the moon without a moment’s hesitation. We didn’t know if the bite of these new mutations would speed up the process of changing.
“It’s okay, it’s just glass.”
Glass had embedded in her neck and for a few brief seconds we all feared the worst. Elijah didn’t waste any time. He went to the next vehicle and smashed the back window, unlocked the door, and fumbled around in the back. When he rose up he tossed Baja a tire iron then moved on to the next. Five minutes later all of us were packing. It didn’t make us feel any safer but at least we had something. And right now that was better than nothing.
We ventured down to the third level, searching for a stairwell to get out of there. That’s when Ben spotted an elevator.
“Give me a hand.”
“There’s no power, Ben,” Izzy said.
“Just help.”
They shimmed open the elevator and we peered up and down the long dark shaft. Thick wire and iron rungs went down into what we could only imagine was where the elevator was.
“I’m not going in there,” Jess said.
“It’s just for tonight.”
I didn’t know she was scared of enclosed places but the alternative wasn’t any better. We squeezed through the envelope-thick gap and climbed down the sides until we found ourselves on top of it. That’s where we slept that night. Hidden away inside an elevator shaft. The smell of piss and metal permeated the air. It was cold and damp inside but it was better than being awoken by the screams of the undead. Without knowing where we were in the city it was the best option we had.
That night I didn’t sleep much. I maybe got an hour tops. I thought about Specs back at the fortress, and how far we had traveled up to that point. There was so much we didn’t know about what our government had planned for the cure. Up to this point we were going on the words of someone who belonged to an unknown
The truth was, humanity didn’t need an apocalypse to demonstrate their selfish need to gain and control others. It existed long before the infected showed up.
Birdy’s words echoed in my mind. They want to develop and sell the cure.
As I drifted back into a slumber I could hear Elijah and Ben talking.
“You think you’ll ever return to Salt Lake City?” Elijah asked.
“I have no reason to go back.”
The thought of returning to Castle Rock hadn’t crossed my mind. Even if we could return, the place was devastated. The only reason it felt like home was because of the people around me. Beyond that it was just another town in the middle of nowhere. My eyes fluttered and I saw Izzy looking at me.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Some days I’m not sure.”
“How did he die?”
She was referring to Dax. I let out a sigh and told her. Her eyes welled with tears which made me choke up.
“Do you miss him?” she asked.
“Every day. Him, Specs. So much has changed since this began.”
Izzy leaned her head back against the window and banged it ever so softly. “I wished I’d told him what I felt when he was still around. You know, I just couldn’t seem to find the right time or words.”
“Is there ever a right time?”
“Do you have any regrets?” she asked.
I thought back to Danielle, then cast a glance over at Jess who was asleep.
I was about to respond when the window behind Izzy shattered. Shards of glass shot in every direction. The entire van began rocking as she started fighting for her life against a Z. It dragged her out through the window, trying to bite into her. I was still processing what the hell was happening when Elijah leapt out of the back wielding the tire iron and began beating on that thing. It screeched like an injured animal as he turned its head into mush.
“We need to move. There’ll be more coming.”
When Elijah hauled Izzy up, she was bleeding at the neck.
“Have you been bitten?”
Ben pushed her into the light coming from the moon without a moment’s hesitation. We didn’t know if the bite of these new mutations would speed up the process of changing.
“It’s okay, it’s just glass.”
Glass had embedded in her neck and for a few brief seconds we all feared the worst. Elijah didn’t waste any time. He went to the next vehicle and smashed the back window, unlocked the door, and fumbled around in the back. When he rose up he tossed Baja a tire iron then moved on to the next. Five minutes later all of us were packing. It didn’t make us feel any safer but at least we had something. And right now that was better than nothing.
We ventured down to the third level, searching for a stairwell to get out of there. That’s when Ben spotted an elevator.
“Give me a hand.”
“There’s no power, Ben,” Izzy said.
“Just help.”
They shimmed open the elevator and we peered up and down the long dark shaft. Thick wire and iron rungs went down into what we could only imagine was where the elevator was.
“I’m not going in there,” Jess said.
“It’s just for tonight.”
I didn’t know she was scared of enclosed places but the alternative wasn’t any better. We squeezed through the envelope-thick gap and climbed down the sides until we found ourselves on top of it. That’s where we slept that night. Hidden away inside an elevator shaft. The smell of piss and metal permeated the air. It was cold and damp inside but it was better than being awoken by the screams of the undead. Without knowing where we were in the city it was the best option we had.
That night I didn’t sleep much. I maybe got an hour tops. I thought about Specs back at the fortress, and how far we had traveled up to that point. There was so much we didn’t know about what our government had planned for the cure. Up to this point we were going on the words of someone who belonged to an unknown
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