The Last Legacy (Season 1): Episodes 1-10 (12 page)

I stepped beside him so we were in line. By the wrinkles around her eyes and the ‘o’ her mouth formed, I knew she was scared of us. I had to show her that she wasn’t in danger and that we weren’t a threat to her.
 

“Have you been hurt?” Jim wrapped his left arm around my shoulders, not letting me get close to the girl. He continued to point his gun at her face. She peeled one brown eye open, cocking her head to the side.
 

“No. I haven’t been bitten, or scratched, or even touched by those nasty ass excuses of mankind. Trust me, I won’t turn.” Her entire demeanor changed. In a matter of seconds she jumped from scared little kitten to confident minx. She rested her elbow on the shelf beside her and sank into her right hip. She smiled, pursing her lips and nodded, surveying us like we were inspecting her.

“What do you mean turn?” Jim asked, pulling me against him.
 

“You know. Like get infected?” The girl frowned at Jim.

“Are you with anyone else?” The serious tone in Jim’s voice never wavered. The girl stepped forward. The same exact second Jim pulled me behind his back and stepped forward her.
 

“Touchy, huh?” She laughed to herself, a bubbly yet annoying noise. “My husband was killed three days ago. I’ve been alone since then.”

“I’m sorry,” I told her as my chest constricted. I’d lost many people in my life so I instantly felt connected to her. Her eyes softened when they found me. I nodded, but knew my words couldn’t make it better. She didn’t seem like she was grieving, which came across as cold. But maybe she had just come to terms with his passing.

“Well, we’re just gathering food and then we’ll go.” Jim didn’t turn, but he stepped backwards towards the refrigerator section, pushing me along with him. I grunted. When my back pressed against the lukewarm refrigerators, I reached in and grabbed a water.

“Wait!” the woman yelled. My fingers tingled, the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. My gaze cut to the front windows. No eaters were around, but if they really were attracted to sound, we were screwed since this woman had the loudest, most high-pitched voice ever.
 

“You can’t just leave me here. I don’t know how to survive alone.” She crossed her arms over her chest as her voice rang out. Her body language changed again as she cowered into herself. I couldn’t decide if she was being fake or not.

“You’ve lasted three days. I’m sorry, but we can’t take you,” Jim said, his voice hardened.

“But I’ve never been alone before!” She stepped towards us. “I won’t make it out of here alive. You’ll be signing my death sentence!” She could’ve come closer, but she stayed away from Jim. She stood in the center of the station. Her arms dangled at her sides, picking at the hem of her designer sweater.

I would have to make a decision here. I knew Jim wouldn’t want to bring her along with us. He’d say it was too dangerous or that she’d slow us down. But I couldn’t just leave her. She was right. We’d be accessories to her death. I didn’t want that on my shoulders.

“Give us a second,” I told her. I grabbed Jim’s arm and tugged him a safe distance away from the girl. I didn’t want her to be privy to our conversation. Once we were at the opposite side of the room, I spun and faced him, raising my eyebrows.

“We can’t leave her.” I shook my head and leveled him with a steely frown.

“We have no idea who this woman is. She could’ve been a murderer before the outbreak.” His arms flailed as he pointed back to her. He didn’t make an effort to conceal his voice, speaking in his regular tone.

“If
you
get to have a start over, then why not her?” I pointed back towards the woman, too. I glanced over my shoulder, and she paced the aisle she hid behind. One hand was in her mouth, and it looked like she was chewing her finger raw.

“Lana, I can’t risk it.” He at least made the effort to look upset about it. But I wasn’t going to give in this time. I had killed eaters for him, to help him. I was officially a murderer. I wasn’t going to do this, too.
 

“Law of threes.” I tried to play on his survival theory. He narrowed his gaze at me, and I cocked my head to the side. “She’d make the third person with us. If anything, she’ll only help us fight the bigger groups of eaters. You know they’re walking in packs. If it goes bad, I know you’ll take care of it. We can’t let her die. It’s wrong, Jim. We still need morals.” I widened my eyes after my speech, hoping I got him to understand.

“I don’t know…” He pursed his lips and glanced away from me.

“Please. Just give her a chance.” I sighed and dropped my shoulders, licking my cracked lips. “I’m the last person to trust blindly, but we have to try.”
 

Jim muttered under his breath and ducked past me. He stomped right up to the woman, his footsteps reminding me of the night I was kidnapped, and stopped in front of her as she twirled a piece of red hair. I could only see his back, but from the hard line of his spine and his raised shoulders, I knew he was fuming.

“You don’t touch her.” He pointed back at me without turning. “You carry your own weight with us. We’re staying in a library up the street. You can come. But I swear, you do anything to jeopardize our safety and you’re gone as fast as you came.”

“He’s not usually this mean.” I touched his shoulder as I stepped beside him. I outstretched my hand to her with a goofy grin on my face, and she took it, shaking it with her sweaty palms. I placed my hand on Jim’s chest when she let me go to try and soften him up. “But he is right.”

“I understand.” She bit her bottom lip, nodding. “I swear I won’t slow you down. I’ll help you, that’s all. I can cook really well, and I’m kind of funny. It’ll be completely fine, I swear.”

“You always talk this much?” Jim asked with a snarl.

“Sorry. Only if I’m nervous, which I totally am. I’m sorry. I won’t talk again.” She gestured zipping her lips and throwing the key over her shoulder. But her eyes widened as if she had an epiphany. “After I ask one question. Where are we going?”
 

I giggled at her while Jim just stared at her with narrowed eyes.

“We’re getting food and supplies then sleeping at the library,” Jim answered very robotically.
 

“I mean like where are you going long term?” She reached down into the rack and tossed a gummy worm into her mouth. I smiled to myself. The amount of sugar she ate was probably what made her so hyper and jittery.
 

“South,” Jim answered.

“I have a car.” She raised her eyebrows. Jim nodded. His heart picked up under my hand. I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head. A car was a good start, but it wouldn’t give us safety. Maybe just get us there.

“Hurry up,” Jim said to both me and the new girl. “Fill a bag with whatever you want. But we have to go soon; the sun is setting.” Jim turned and sauntered down the potato chip aisle. I looked at the woman, and she winked.
 

She closed the space between us fast and wrapped her skinny arms around my shoulders. I laughed as she squeezed me tight. She muttered a ‘thank you’ in my ear at least seven times before she let me go, her hands still on my shoulders.
 

“Five minutes!” Jim barked from the front of the store.

“Is he always so bossy?” The girl bent down and picked up a green cloth bag from the floor. It was already half full of goodies, mostly sugary products.
 

“Yeah. He saved me. What’s your name?”

“Scarlet.”

“I’m Lana.”

“Thank you for taking me in. I owe you my life. Literally.” She cocked her head to the side and smirked. She laughed as she shoved a gummy worm into her mouth.

“You don’t owe me. I just did what was right. You deserve a shot. Trust me, I wouldn’t want to be alone either.” She reminded me of someone but I couldn’t quite place her. She acted young and carefree—like I always wanted to be. She was innocent in a completely naive way., but she had an edge that gave her attitude and strength.

“Do you trust that guy?” she asked, nodding towards the front of the store. I cut my gaze toward Jim, but he was out of sight.
 

“He’s saved me numerous times.”

“If you trust him, then I do.” She nodded.

“Why would you trust me?”

“I just do. Women stay together, right? Plus you’ve already proved you’re willing to stick your neck out for me. Anything happens, I’ve got your back.” She held out her hand to me, her fingernails painted pink.

“And I’ll get yours.” I shook her hand and smiled. “We should go.”

The sun set fast, and by the time we made it back to the playground, the blue dusk of night bathed us in its cool touch. Scarlet held up her promise to us. She ran when we did, and shut up the entire time we darted through the center street of the small town.
 

Jim was strangely quiet, and I knew he was upset with me for taking her in. He hadn’t said a word since we left the gas station. But he also never let go of my hand. Until right now at the back wall of the library.

“Eaters are crowding the entire front of the library.” Jim stopped at the edge.
 

I peeked over his shoulder and saw what looked like fifty eaters, all pounding on the front glass in one big horde. They acted more violent than when we had left, and my heart lodged in my throat. We couldn’t fight through that many. We’d have nowhere to go, and it was dark now.

“You said this place was safe,” Scarlet whispered behind me in a clipped tone. I glanced around us, looking up at the speckling white stars in the navy blue sky. We didn’t stand a chance walking foreign territory in utter darkness.

“There’s a back door,” I told her, nodding in that direction.

“We can’t stay here longer than tonight.” Jim pulled me backwards and past Scarlet. I grabbed her hand and dragged her along as we raced to the back door.
 

Jim opened the door, barely making a peep, and shoved us in before him. I couldn’t see a thing, but soon Jim grabbed my shoulders. I followed behind him until my ankles hit the bottom stair. I followed the walls to the second floor, navigating up the winding stairway.

We tiptoed up the stairwell, nobody so much as breathing aloud. In the blackened room, I found the tables in the center, two beside each other. I dropped my bag on top of one and felt my way around the room until I found the flashlight. I flicked it on, making sure that it was pointed to the ground. I didn’t want to attract more eaters.

Our lunch still sat beside where I put my bag of food. Scarlet and Jim placed their bags in the middle of the wood table, both standing in front, not moving. But Jim didn’t stay long. He left the upstairs area minutes after we got there and ran down the stairs. I figured he was checking to make sure no eaters got inside.
 

“Is he your husband?” Scarlet asked as I fiddled with the flashlight, trying to get it to project more light.

“Who?”

“Who else?”
 

I flipped my light towards Scarlet, and she pointed down towards the stairs.

“No. I just met him.” I shook my head with a frown. Husband? Why would she think that? Nothing we did screamed intimacy. Nothing I felt did, either.

“Could’ve fooled me,” she muttered under her breath.
 

The most affection Jim showed me was hand-holding. I hardly thought that would make her think we were in love. I didn’t even believe in marriage—it was too vulnerable and disturbing and possessive. I didn’t even have friends; how could I hold a man for more than one night? I shook my head again for emphasis.
 

“I should go find him. Why don’t you take a nap while we keep watch?”
 

Scarlet nodded as I grabbed a protein bar from my bag. I had taken two whole boxes of them since the package promised to fill your stomach with one bar. I grabbed another one for Jim and toed my way down the stairs.

I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. I didn’t know if eaters had gotten in. Plus if I was loud, they might start banging against the windows harder and crack them wide open. But I had to see where Jim had gone. I hugged the walls as I stumbled through the empty building, only using the flashlight when it was absolutely necessary.
 

Even knowing Jim was downstairs didn’t quell my fears. Every step I took I paused after, waiting to hear if a monster came out. My fingers trembled, the beam from the light vibrating on the floor. I sucked in a breath and held it, trying to slow my rapid pulse.
 

I heard the growl before I felt it grab me. Something clawed me from behind, and I fell face forward onto the musty smelling carpet. A scream got caught in my throat as I kicked at the eater that reached towards my face. The electric red eyes glowed brighter than normal from my flashlight hitting them. I reached into my back pocket, but my knife was missing. Shit. I had lost it at the gas station

Panic set in. Without my weapon, I felt vulnerable. Defeated. I had nothing to kill with, and I was going to die. As a last ditch effort, I swung the flashlight at the eater’s head and connected with his forehead. He didn’t even budge from the blow.