Break Free The Night (Book 2): Loss of Light (24 page)

              "If ever I wanted to burn something down," Jack murmured, looking back at the oppressive piece of forest, "it'd be those woods."

              It was a nice thought, knowing no one else would fall victim to it, but they had no gasoline, no explosive. This was the first place they left in ruins with no parcels of food or directions on where to go posted around the perimeter. Jack and Quinton had been diligent in the cities they had destroyed, leaving supplies for any survivors that came across it. But here, they could
n’
t. There was nothing to leave and no clear way to go.

              "We should keep moving," Kaylee said, her voice hollow. Jack nodded and they ran on.

              They walked in a slow line, heading in the direction that seemed most promising for finding food or transportation. They didn't know where Quinton had hidden the motor home and tanker, even Jack's Hummer. They were gone. One direction was as good as any other. The woods and meadows seemed never ending, no road or track anywhere in sight. Twice Emma climbed to the top of a tall tree, scanning overhead for anything helpful. Both times she came down shaking her head. Despite the fact that Kaylee's clothes had not yet fully dried, her throat was uncomfortable with thirst. But they had no water. And they couldn't go back, even if they could drink the water that had mingled with the bodies in that marsh.

              The group limped, their feet dragging through the woods and into the grass filled openings between tree lines.

              "Stop," Anna rasped from behind. Kaylee turned, taking in the sight of Anna stooped over, a hand gripping the side of her head. "I can't do it anymore. I need water."

              "We all need water," Bill said, moving to put a hand at her elbow. She jerked her arm away, an uncharacteristic flash of annoyance coloring her features.

              Andrew shifted in the tall grass of the meadow, his eyes moving from Anna to the nearest tree line. His gaze was agitated, his stance restless. Emma's matched his.

              "It's probably better if we-"

              "Bill, I'm serious," Anna interrupted. "I'm dizzy and my vision's going."

              "Let's just get to the next patch of woods," Kaylee coaxed, coming back and taking Anna by the arm. Kaylee's whole body felt heavy, weighted down, and yet empty at the same time. But she knew one thing, they had to keep moving forward. She could see the blood seeping into Anna's hair again. The wound on her head kept doing that, the bleeding starting and then stopping. She needed to rest and she was right, she would need water soon. Kaylee caught Bill's eye, nodding to the injury. Anna clamped her hand to her head and grit her teeth, moving forward.

              It was slow going. When the dam had burst and they were swept up in the torrent that followed, everyone had taken a beating. Bill and Andrew were both limping, their gate slow. Jack's breathing was coming sharper and Kaylee could see the sweat beading on his neck.

              "Do you hear that?" Emma murmured after a minute, shushing the rest. She stared past the trees just ahead of them before breaking into a jog. "This way," she called back.

              The shade of the woods was cool, a breeze filtering through that set off another round of shivering in Kaylee. Not that that was new, she hadn't been able to stop shivering since she dove off the dam and into the icy water below. Even after her clothes had stopped dripping, she felt chilled completely through.

              Emma was darting through the tree line ahead. Andrew called for her to wait up. But then Kaylee heard it too, the unmistakable cadence of water flowing over rocks. She sped up and almost ran into Emma.

              It was quiet, running slowly and shallow through the trees. It bubbled over low rocks and carved out ruts in the forest floor.

              "Oh, thank goodness," Anna murmured, falling to her knees by the flowing water. Her hands were already scooping up the cold liquid, pulling it towards her mouth, when Kaylee yelled.

              "Stop!"

              She could just see him. A torso. The innards floating from his severed waist, blackened and shriveled, like seaweed caught in the current. His eyes were deep yellow, almost brown, and his breaths rasped unevenly over broken teeth. At her cry, he groaned, a weak, guttural sound followed by the snapping of his teeth, the bone fragments scraping together as his jaw restlessly chewed. His arms stretched out, reaching, but there was no shift, no movement towards the group.

              "Son of a bitch!" Anna exclaimed, water sifting from her fingers. Bill already had his hands under her arms, hauling her to her feet. They followed the line of the water, drifting upstream, Jack pausing only momentarily to sink his knife into the back of the infected man's skull. He fell forward, a waterlogged corpse, with a dull thud.

              They traveled another mile upstream, following the cool and tempting water. No one saw any more infected. The sun hovered over the horizon, reaching fingers of orange and red into the sky. It was just visible through the thinning trees. "I can't make it any longer," Anna murmured, falling to her knees by the stream. Before anyone could stop her, she had a handful of water to her mouth, then another. The wound on her head was bleeding again, another slow trickle down her temple.

              Every muscle on Kaylee burned with injury and exertion. She knelt next to Anna, pressing her face low to the water, closing her eyes and letting the current wash over her features before taking a long pull of the cold water. When she emerged, blinking the stream out of her eyes, she ripped the hem of her shirt off, rinsing it first in the water and then pulling Anna closer and wrapping it around her forehead. She tied it off tightly, ignoring the grimace from her friend. It probably wasn't comfortable, but it would keep her from bleeding anymore.

              "Thanks," Anna whispered.

              The trees had shifted from the tall, thick oaks and beech trees to thin pines. Just ahead, on the edge of the tree line and butting up against another rolling meadow was a small copse of trees, mostly white birch. Kaylee brought another handful of water to her mouth before moving back. Pine needles covered the forest floor, long dead but soft. They cushioned Kaylee's tired body as she lay back and looked through the bare tree branches at the dimming sky.

              The group began to take inventory. From where she lay, Kaylee could see Emma had a nasty scratch that started at her hip bone and cut across her stomach and under her ribs. Emma was fingering the slice ripped through her shirt when she caught her sister's eye.

              "Broken pipe, I think," she said.

              Kaylee nodded. They had two guns, a functioning lighter, no food. Kaylee had lost every one of her possessions with the exception of her mother's medal. Emma had her regular and her utensil pocket knife, she never took them out of her pockets. Jack had a knife. The rest only had the clothes on their backs, and even those were tattered. All the clothing had tears, some from the debris ridden water, some from deliberate rips so cloth could be used for bandages.

              "Are you okay?" Anna asked in a low voice. Her eyes raked over Kaylee, lingering on her cheeks and shoulder. Kaylee's immediate thought was that no, she was not okay. Her father was dead. Her mother long gone and her sister most likely infected with an incurable sickness. Quinton was no longer with them, their unelected leader. They had no car, no idea where the nearest road was, and barely any ammunition for the two guns that had survived their escape from The Mill. Her chest felt like a void had opened up in it, a deep hole that was sucking her down.

              But Anna wasn't asking her if she was mentally okay. Her eyes were raking her body, cataloguing the blood stains and tears in her clothing.

              So Kaylee nodded and held still, knowing Anna would want to examine. Sure enough she drifted closer, peering at her wounds, her hands fluttering close to Kaylee's skin.

              "I'm okay, what about you?" Kaylee asked, her eyes flitting over Anna's head. Her own father's face flashed before her eyes, the skin shifted, odd jags and points from the broken bones beneath. She could feel the muscles of her face contract in a grimace, the hole in her chest enveloping any other possible reaction.

              Anna merely shook her head, dismissing her concern. "If I had anything, bacitracin or something..."

              "Don't worry about it," Kaylee murmured, looking at Anna's unusually pale face.

              "Is this from a bullet?" Anna whispered. She was pointing to Kaylee's shoulder. She nodded and Anna grimaced.

              "Tell us what happened," Bill prompted. Kaylee owed them that. Exhausted as she was, the rest deserved to know what had happened that resulted in the loss of Nick and Quinton, the explosion of their safe haven. When Kaylee started speaking Anna went to her side, examining the bullet wound more closely and sighing.

              Kaylee heard her voice recounting the details of the night as though from far away. It sounded like her, sort of, but it was flatter, more hollow than she had ever heard her voice before. She told them how she left to look for Emma after realizing Marsden had lied about the fence, how she found Emma chained, how she had been knocked out and woke to Cynthia and Marsden and Danny, how she had killed Cynthia. She was glad she felt far away when she told them this part, glad her voice and the rest felt a million miles away. She didn't look to Jack or Andrew. She didn't want to see the look of disgust or horror, or even worse pride or understanding crossing their features. She didn't want that stuck in her brain. She'd rather not know the reactions to what she said. And, though she'd never admit it aloud, a small part of her was glad her father would never have to hear this. Throughout it all, she could hear Emma murmuring, speaking low to Andrew.

              There was no privacy in the group. There had only ever been the illusion of it in the firehouse. Now, here in the woods, out in the world; there were no walls, no separation. And so when Kaylee heard Emma whispering in her low voice to Andrew, she ignored it. It was easy to tell from her tone that it was private.

              But she couldn't not hear the words either.

              Andrew remained separate from the group, his eyes cloaked in grief as he stared toward the setting sun.

              "It's not your fault," Emma whispered, coming to kneel in the pine needles behind him.

              "The others didn't even have a chance, bitten before they could cross the yard. I cut the electricity, they're dead because of me."

              "They're dead because of Marsden. You had no choice but to cut the power. If you hadn't, Quinton wouldn't have been able to get in and then Kaylee would be dead. I'd be dead."

              Kaylee saw the pain spasm across Andrew's features, his jaw clenching and his forehead wrinkling.

              "If the infected didn't get them, the explosions would have. Marsden was out for every one of us," Emma whispered, stopping him.

              "I'm so sorry, Em." Her hand reached out for Andrew's shoulder and he clutched at her fingers like they were a lifeline. She was just behind him, on her knees so she could whisper directly to him. She let her head drop until it rest against his back. She looked scared. It took Kaylee a minute to place the look, because there was not much to be scared of now. They got out; they made it. Sure the woods may contain hordes of roaming infected, but there was no direct threat at the moment. Grief she could have understood, and admittedly, she could see that in her sister's features too. But it was more than that. And then she realized, Emma was scared for Andrew, worried about him. Something shifted in Kaylee when she realized, but she couldn't be sure why that was.

              The rest of the group was silent, listening to either Kaylee or Emma, she couldn't be sure. When she finished speaking, it was Bill who broke that silence.

              "We should get some sleep." There was no food. And no one mentioned it, though Kaylee knew they all must be as hungry as she was.

              "I'll need help with Jack first," Anna said, gesturing for him to sit by the water. With Bill and Andrew holding his shoulders back, Anna undid his bandages and pulled the cloth she had stuffed into his wound gently out. A small whimper escaped past Jack's lips as she did this. "It's dark now Jack, you can scream if you want. I know this hurts like hell."

              He didn't though, his jaw was grit tight, the muscles in his cheek twitching with the effort. Once all the cloth was free, Anna cleaned the area with cold stream water, and gave the bandages to Kaylee to rinse.

              The wads of cloth released swirls of blood into the water as Kaylee soaked them. She waited until the water she could squeeze from them came clear before handing them back to Anna.