WorldLost- Week 1: An Infected Novel (14 page)

I sat there silently thinking though what this meant. Of
course, I could do this, that wasn’t my problem.

What the hell was the problem then?

“It’s like the first time you have sex. Once you’ve done it,
you can do it again. I’m not saying the fighting is the same feeling, because
it’s not, it’s pretty weird when you think of it. But, once you do it, you can
do it again,” He said still looking out his window.

“Maybe riding a bike is a better analogy,” I said. Seriously,
like having sex for the first time and I thought I knew Butch...

“You know what I mean. I don’t get anything sexual from it.
I’ve killed an infected, I can do it again. I know they are dead and that they
will kill me. It’s enough for me to justify the blood, the destruction, the
killing.” We sat there silently as I drove for a while when Amy stuck her head
in the window.

“So, is he going to clear the area when we find a place to
hold up for the night?”

“Really, you two are in this together.”

“We’re only looking out for you. One for all and all for
one.” She looked at Butch and I caught him nodding at her. I was going to have
to deal with this when we got to the place we would stay the night. We arrived
in Severance and drove down the one street in town, past the western wear
store, the small five and dime and Bruce’s bar.

We’d stopped here every time we had visited Butch’s parents.
On the way in and on the way out. I once bought a cowboy hat at the western
store, something I never wore once I got home. We spent many an hour drinking
and eating at Bruce’s. They were known for their fried fish balls and I
wondered if they had any that were still fresh.

The town looked deserted, but we knew that didn’t mean that
we weren’t being watched from behind closed curtains. Butch knew of a few farms
on the outskirts of town and pointed in the direction I should drive. We didn’t
think it would be good to be in a town, chances of people around being too high
and there was no telling what those people were like. Many a small town had
forced strangers out.

We drove for about 10 minutes past Severance and pulled into
the first farm house that was set off the road. As we pulled in, we could tell
that this place had seen better days, but we weren’t being very picky. We just
needed a place for a single night, somewhere that we could rest and get away
quickly if needed.

The farmhouse was really a double wide trailer, set to the
back corner of the lot. There were a few pins for farm animals, but they were
empty. There weren't any lights that we could see and the place looked pretty much
deserted. We pulled up to the double-wide and sat there for a minute, letting
the noise of the drive up stir up any infected that might be around.

“Time for you to get your cherry popped,” Butch said.

Amy appeared next to my window having climbed out of the
truck bed without me notices. She nearly caused me to need to change my pants.
She tapped on the window and wiggled her finger at me to get out of the truck.
I exited the truck and stood next to her. “She wants you,” Butch said laughing.
I’m sure the two passengers in the bed of the truck were thinking we were
crazy, I mean, what kind of idiots would joke about this.

“Shut up, you perv,” Amy whispered in the truck. “Watch Mary
and Jamie.”

Amy pulled me forward and quietly said to me. “You lead and I
will follow. I’ll be right behind you, but you need to try to deal with this
yourself. Our lives will depend on it someday.” She continued to push me
forward towards the double wide’s front door.

We arrived at the front door of the double wide and stood
there as I tried to figure out how I would handle this. I had to make this kill
or my friends would lose even more faith in my ability to back them up.

I tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. “Just like
always. Knock and wait.” Amy took the butt of her rifle and hit it against the
door. There was some slight sound of something moving inside, but nothing that
rushed the door.

“Your turn. Make it count.” Amy said stepping back and
waiting for me to make the next move. “I know you can do this and we’re
counting on you to do this, so just make it happen.”

I opened the door so I could see inside. Sine nothing rushed
the door or was visible I stepped into the double wide. It was black as night
inside because the windows had been blacked out, so very little light came
through. Amy pulled the door closed, waiting on the outside. She was really
going to put me on the spot. Now or never I guess.

I moved into the living room while my eyes adjusted to the
darkness but could only make out shadows of furniture and walls dividing the
various spaces around the trailer. To the left was a wide open space with all
kinds of clutter from what I could see and to the right was a hallway leading
to the other side of the trailer.

I pulled out my flashlight and held it with my left hand while
I held a spear in the right. I moved forward and put the light on the living
room to the left. All I saw was trash and blankets, cardboard and empty cans of
food. All over the living room space.

The lazy boy chair was the center of attention and it was
surrounded by boxes and blankets and wrappers and magazines. Someone was using
this space to live in; it was a safe place for them. The infected didn’t act
this way, they didn’t have this need.

I could tell that whoever was here was scared, alone and might
need our help. Whoever it was, was trying to make a bad situation better. I
moved into the living room of the trailer and walked around the chair, looking
for anything that would help me figure out what I was up against.

I stood at the chair, running the flashlight around the room
and looking for anything that might help me figure out what had happened here
over the last three days. Since I didn’t find anything else to help figure out
the mystery, I headed to the back end of the trailer stepping softly to reduce
any noise of me moving through the trailer.

There was an eerie silence as I moved through the trailer; it
felt like something was watching me, that something or someone was following me
around the trailer.

I moved past the kitchen area and headed to the first door
that I came to. The bathroom was behind this door and it was empty; it was a
disaster, but it was empty. The shower curtain was on the floor, so I knew
there wasn't anyone waiting in the tub.

I moved to the next room which looked like it was used as a
home office. There was a PC sitting on the desk, the file cabinet drawers were
all open and empty with the paper laying all over the floor.

The third door was closed, but the fourth door was wide open.
I moved to the fourth door and looked inside.

This was the master bedroom with a king bed in the middle of
it, but most everything else was removed from the room. It was the cleanest
room so far and looked like someone had spent some time cleaning up and making
this room special.

I moved to the third door, the closed door I skipped and used
the end of my spear to knock on the door. There was no response from the other
side and the mobile home was silent so I opened the door. Out of nowhere, I
felt a brush against my leg and instinctively moved to the side of the door
expecting an infected to take hold. Instead, I saw the shadow of a small figure
jet out the door and head to the master bedroom.

I looked inside the room and saw a child’s room, a little
girl's room. There were pink unicorns and purple princesses on the wall;
stickers on the closet that showed the latest Disney characters. A single bed
sat in the corner and most of the bedding from the master bedroom had been
brought into this room and placed on the bed. A child must have been staying
here for the last few days all by themselves. What had brushed my leg when I
opened the door was the little girl.

I really felt a need to find her and make sure she was safe.

“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” I said in the most level
tone I could muster. I had zero experience with dealing with little kids and
didn't really know how to proceed.

“I’m here to help. My friends and I will help you. We have
food and water that we can share with you. We are going to a safe place, where
there will be animals to play with, lots of food and a safe place to rest.” I
walked to the living room and sat down on the lazy boy chair.

I didn’t see anything as I moved past the kitchen and into
the living room. Whatever was here was good at hiding. I sat on the couch and
placed the spear to the side. “It’s OK. I’m not here to hurt you, but I do need
to make sure you are OK. I can’t just leave.”

After a few minutes, “I’m OK. You can leave.” A soft voice
said from the back of the trailer. “I don’t need your help. My mom and I are OK.
We’re doing fine.”

“Your mom?” I asked.

“She’s in the backyard right now, in the shed. She stays
there so I’m safe.”

I got up and moved to the front door. “OK. I’m leaving.” I
opened the door and stepped out to the front porch.

“There’s a little girl inside. Her mom is out back in the
shed. You should go inside and talk with her, make sure she is OK and see if
you can get her to come with us... I’ll head to the shed in the backyard and
deal with the mother.” I said to Amy. She was looking at me with a skeptical
look on her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it.”

Amy watched as I walked past her heading to the back of the
trailer. I wasn’t sure what I might find but moved forward anyway finding my
way to the shed. The shed door wasn’t locked allowing me to open the door
without any problem. Inside was the mother, she was infected and chained to the
walls trying her best to get to me once she realized I was there.

She really didn’t look that bad, no missing flesh, no
noticeable bite marks, and no blood. But you could tell she was infected and
wanted nothing more than to get her teeth sunk into my flesh. How the little
girl didn’t get bitten with the mother locked in the shed was beyond
comprehension for me.

I walked into the shed and stood just a few inches from her.
“Thank you for doing the right thing. You knew you were turning and to save you,
child, you locked yourself up.” She stood there, cocking her head back and
forth like a dog does when you talk about it. “If you hadn’t done this, your
child would be dead. You did something most people wouldn’t do.” I took the
spear in my hand and pressed it through her eye, hearing the pop of the eyeball
and then pushing even further into her brain.

She fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes being dropped
on the ground and everything went silent except for some crickets. This was a defining
moment for me. I knew then and there that I would do everything I could to save
my friends and the people that choose to travel with us, that I would fight for
every inch of life left and that anyone that got in my way would pay for trying
to stop me. If this little girl could make it through this unimaginable
situation, then I could.

I turned around and found Butch and Amy standing there
looking at me. “We knew you could do it. Sorry, it had to be this way.” Amy
said.

“The girl?” I asked.

“She’s in the truck with Mary and Jamie. We should leave this
place and find somewhere else to stay tonight.” Amy said as she followed me
back to the truck.

“OK.” That’s all I could say, that’s all that would come out.

I headed to the truck and sat on the passenger side, it was
time for someone else to drive, I needed to take some time to reflect and get
my head right. I don’t know why the events of the last hour caused me such pain
and concern, but I knew that they were going to define what I did going forward
and how I treated this new strange world where everything you came across would
cause you pain, try to kill you, take those things that meant something to you
away and would run you into the ground till your only way out was to fight back
or give up.

I knew I wasn’t going to give up; I’d fight back and take
back what was ours, what my friends and I had lost and what humanity had lost.
We would fight back, we would come back from this and we would kill this
disease once and for all.

“You OK,” Amy asked as she climbed into the cab of the truck,
behind the steering wheel. “We’re heading out to find another place to spend
the night before we hit the last stretch to Butch’s parents. You ready?”

“Born ready,” I said sarcastically.

 Amy started the truck and backed up to go. Butch stuck his
head in the window and said, “There’s a house about two miles up the road. I
used to date the girl that lived there when I was in high school. It would be a
good place to try.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Amy said. I just stared forward,
thinking about what might be next for us. We’d only been at this for three days
and I was already tired of it.

We headed down the driveway and back out to the main road.
After a few minutes, we turned into a new driveway and made our way to the
house. It was a standard ranch style house you would find in any small town America.
There was a big Elm tree in the front with an old tire strung up as a swing, a
tricycle turned on its side in the yard and the only thing that really told us
we had a problem was all the blood sprayed across the front door.

“I got this,” I said as I opened the door of the truck and
jumped out before Amy was fully stopped.

“Hold on!” Amy yelled. “Rule number two. You need someone to have
your back.”

“Got it,” Butch said as he jumped out of the truck bed and
headed after me. “Hold up there John Wayne.”

“I got this. You guys think I can’t kill, but I can and I
will. I don’t need the help and I don’t expect you or Amy to help me. I can
deal with this shit myself.” I headed to the door and kicked it in.

“No….rule number 5. Knock before you enter.” Butch moaned as
I headed into the house.

“I got this, stay here,” I replied pointing to the front
door.

I headed into the house and ran right into an infected woman.
I thrust my hand into her throat wrapping my hand half way around her throat
pushing her to the wall on the opposite side of the room. While I held her
against the wall, I pulled one of the hunting knives from my belt jamming it
into her left eye. She went limp in my hand and I let her drop to the floor. I immediately
turned and headed straight into the kitchen where she had come from.

In the kitchen, I found a man on the floor, trying his best
to move to the door. His legs were missing but I could see his lower body
against the back door, he was having a slow go at it, but he was determined. I
walked up to him and placed my foot on his neck to hold him in place. His arms
were all over the place with his hands trying to grab my leg. I drove the hunting
knife into the back of his head, straight thru the soft part at the base of his
skull, driving the knife up into his brain. I tried to pull the knife out, but
it was stuck. I had to place my foot on the back of his head and pull with all
my might to get it free.

Butch crashed into the kitchen with another infected latched
onto him. Butch had his forearm pushed against the guy’s neck holding his mouth
just a few inches away from his face. They fell against the kitchen counter but
Butch was able to stay on his feet.

I kicked the infected in his side which caused him to let go
of Butch and fall to the side. I jumped on the infected as he fell and plunged
the knife into his mouth, driving it through his head and into the floor
underneath him causing the guy to stick to the floor. Since the knife blade didn’t
penetrate the brain, the infected guy was still alive and biting against the
knife blade.

I pulled Butch to his feet. “Are you ok?” I asked. “Were you
bitten?”

“No, I’m fine,” He said rubbing his arms where the infected
dude had held him.

“Stay here like I said. I’ll finish clearing the house.”