"You know what your problem is?"
"Enlighten me, please. You"re going to anyway, so you might as well."
"You"re too caught up in the past."
"Oh, am I, now?"
"Yes. You"re so caught up in whatever s.h.i.t happened to you that you"re not looking around at the present. And it"s going to get you killed."
Ricky smiled. "Is that s-"
He heard the groan right behind him.
He felt a flicker of fear, just for a moment.
But that flicker was extinguished seconds later as the woman rammed her axe through the head of the zombie that, up until a millisecond ago, Ricky hadn"t even realised was there.
She pulled the axe out of its head. Then she wiped the blood onto Ricky"s coat.
"Hey. This is my favourite coat."
She looked up at him, smarmy smile on her face. "That"s what I was telling you. About being so focused on the past that you don"t see the present. Now come on. It"s just up ahead."
They walked further. Ricky didn"t know where this woman was taking him, in truth. She claimed it was a shelter she"d found, and one which would be good enough to support themselves for a short while, at least until the ma.s.sive wave of zombies had definitely moved on.
At least they were out of sight now. They seemed more focused on Mattius" camp, for whatever reason. Ricky"s old home.
"We"re here," the woman said.
Ricky squinted. He could see trees, he could see gra.s.s, but he couldn"t see a cabin. "Where..."
The woman stomped. As she did, Ricky heard the sound of solid metal echoing. She pointed down.
When Ricky looked down, he saw a hatch.
"You"ve no idea how much the Lost nerd inside me is freaking out right now," he said.
The woman smiled again, then held out a hand, gesturing him to continue. "After you."
Ricky looked down at the hatch roof. He lifted it, and then went to descend the ladder.
It was only at the last moment he saw the man down below poke a gun up towards him and pull the trigger.
Chapter Four.
Cody opened his eyes.
It was bright. He didn"t know where he was. He didn"t know how long he"d been here. But he was totally at ease with his situation, in a weird kind of way.
He felt like he was just waking up from a long sleep, where all of the nightmares he"d imagined didn"t happen.
He lifted his head off the pillow he was lying on. His neck was stiff, and it didn"t feel like he"d moved it in a long time. In fact, his entire body was stiff. Kind of like a brand new toy that had yet to be played with, or some new leather boots, the leather still not yet broken into.
He couldn"t deny he liked the way he felt. He might be hungry, but he sure was fresher than he"d felt in a long time.
But... wait. Had it been a long time? Or had he just dreamed everything after all?
His heart started to race. He thought about the undead. He thought about all the people he"d seen bitten. And more than anything, he thought about his wife and daughter. If it"d all been a dream, then they would still be out there. They wouldn"t be dead. They wouldn"t- He heard a door opening, and he realised right then that his hopes of everything being a dream were sadly misplaced.
The man standing at the door, smiling, was familiar. He couldn"t properly place him, but he knew that he knew him. He"d spent time with him. A long time with him.
"Cody?" the man said. "d.a.m.n, I didn"t expect you to be back with us for a long time. How"s the shoulder?"
Cody looked at his shoulder and saw it was bandaged up. He remembered the pain he"d felt then, as he"d taken a bullet to it. And then he remembered something else. Being bitten back when Gav had left him to die in that creepy old building.
But he was alive.
He was still here.
"How..."
The man-who Cody remembered now as Michael-sat on the edge of his bed. "You"ve been out cold a long time. We didn"t think you were ever gonna come round. But you"re awake now, and that"s the main thing. It says a lot about your strength, for sure."
"My wife. My-my daughter."
"Still not with us," Michael said. He put a hand on Cody"s other shoulder. "I"m sorry."
Cody lowered his head then. He felt the grief returning. His family were still gone. His hopes of any of the things he"d witnessed being false were scuppered. This was life, and he was still being forced to live it. "I was infected," he said. "How am I still here?"
He looked up then, and he saw Michael smile. And it was then that he remembered everything else. Michael"s promise to take Cody and his group to an extraction point. The chaos they"d faced on the road together. Cody finally, finally getting Michael to the place he"d wanted to go... and then Michael reuniting with his family. Cody could vaguely remember a military presence unlike any he"d seen since the fall. Part of that filled him with hope. Part of it filled him with fear.
"You"re still here because you"re strong, partly. But also because..."
Michael stopped, then. He looked around at the door, like he was checking if anyone else was listening.
Then he turned back to look at Cody and he smiled. "I think you should see what we can do for you. In your own time."
Cody didn"t need any more prompting to get out of this bed.
He staggered to his feet. Pins and needles spread right up his legs. But he didn"t care. He was just glad to be here. Glad to be alive. Glad that his faith in humanity had been reinforced.
"Whoa, there," Michael said, steadying Cody as the pair of them walked towards the door. "You know, I can get you a wheelchair if-"
"I don"t need a wheelchair."
"Trust me," Michael said, barely able to contain his smile. "What you"re about to see could knock a perfectly healthy person down."
Cody gritted his teeth. He was still here, for one, so something strange was happening. But Michael seemed excited. He seemed hopeful. There was something about the tone in which he spoke that told Cody he was about to discover something big.
He followed Michael towards the door.
"My family," Michael said. "I"ll introduce you to them properly. I"ve told them everything about you. The lengths you went to in order to get me back here. And they"re grateful. Eternally grateful. You should join us for dinner when you"re feeling yourself."
Cody nodded. The thought of food was nice. It was only then that he realised how ravished he was, and how bony he"d become in the s.p.a.ce of an unconscious month.
"But for now," Michael said. He stopped by the door. "Cody, are you sure you"re ready for this?"
Cody narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Michael didn"t respond at first. He couldn"t keep himself from smiling. "What you"re about to see. It might... it might knock you back."
"I"m used to being knocked back," Cody said. "Just make sure you keep b.l.o.o.d.y hold of me and I"ll be fine."
Michael laughed a little. Then he nodded. "Yes. Yes, I guess you will."
He reached out for the door handle.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
Cody nodded.
He thought he was ready.
He really did.
But when he saw what was outside, he realised there was no way he could be ready for a thing like this.
Nothing could"ve prepared him for the reality of what was facing him.
Chapter Five.
Riley looked at the fire burning around the door and he knew he was going to have to act fast.
He could feel the room getting warmer. The smoke was thick. Soon, the entire structural foundations of this room were going to crumble down, no doubt. There was no telling what kind of repercussions that"d have on the rest of the building. At least Carly, Amy, and Melissa were technically in the area between the building, so they should be safe from any fallout.
But Riley knew there were more problems than just the burning building.
Those problems started as soon as he got outside.
The creatures.
In the corners of his consciousness, he had a vague sense that the others were calling for him. That they were shouting at him to come back. And that would probably have been the wisest thing to do. Might burn himself on the way down through the bathroom window, sure, but it was certainly a better decision than the one he was facing right now.
He looked at the inferno wrapping around the door and he knew he didn"t have long.
But it was something he had to do if he wanted to save Kesha.
He held his breath, sweat dripping down the sides of his face. He tried not to think about the ma.s.s of the dead outside, or the searing pain he was going to feel the second those flames touched his skin.
But it was worth it.
If it meant a reunion with Kesha, saving her from Mattius, then it was worth it.
Besides. He still had a bone to pick with Mattius.
He gritted his teeth together and he had a momentary flash of everything that had happened for him to get to this point.
It couldn"t end now. This couldn"t be it.
He closed his eyes, wrapped the towels further over his body, and he held his breath and readied to drive himself through that doorway.
Then in the corner of his eye, he saw the fire extinguisher.
He laughed. Even though he was choking on smoke, he couldn"t help laughing. He"d come so close to throwing himself through the flames, and they"d all got so close to burning, and yet he hadn"t even noticed there was an extinguisher. Not even Mattius had noticed there was an extinguisher.
He rushed over to it. The metal was hot to touch and burned his fingers. He struggled with the nozzle, and he pulled the pin and readied to spray.
"Watch this not work," Riley muttered, still dazed by the hilarity of the situation. "Watch this not frigging work."
But it did work.
The extinguisher fluids sprayed out. It cleared the way right in front, covered some of those flames. In a matter of seconds, the fire had gone from raging to calm.
Riley turned and saw to the rest of the room. Not a lot of it had burned, mostly furniture and things like that, so the foundations of the building should be okay for now. He was thinking about the others when he did it, really. Carly, Amy, and Melissa. He wanted them to be okay, as well as clearing a route for himself.
He grabbed his knife, turned to the door when he"d done and, without the threat of being burned to a crisp, he walked through it.
He walked outside and gripped his knife in hand. He looked to the right, then to the left. There was nowhere to go to the right other than other rooms. On the left, a corridor.
But Riley sensed something at the end of that corridor. He knew something was coming up those stairs.
He could hear their dull groan from here.