Toxic (14 page)

“And now what? We wait for them to leave?”

Alva had also understood. They were cornered on the roof.

Bruce walked along the perimeter looking for a way-out. He also hoped to catch a glimpse of Dewei, him or his remains. If he was hiding in a corner – and he prayed for that option – he yelled out quickly for him to not leave his hiding place.

Behind the store, the exterior ladder led to a narrow alley full of garbage but free of L-Ds.

“Over there!”

The idea of a descent into hell didn't thrill Alva, who was already tired from their previous efforts.

“If we get caught in the middle of that rat hole, we're dead.”

“We have to meet up with the others.”

Gripping the rusty bars, he threw his leg over the wall. Hesitant, the artist merely put her hands on the ledge without moving.

“I'm not sure we're making the right decision. High up, at least, we're safe. They can't reach us.”

“And Masters and Elaine? We have to warn them. And Dewei? Do we abandon him?”

“Frankly, I don't think he made it. Because of a crisis, he hid, with all of those infected people down there...”

Bruce shook his head. “We don't know. Come on, we have to get out of here.”

The singer narrowed her eyes and asked to go back to the boat.

“To get your fix?”

The diva's pupils grew bigger the moment he said the word
fix
.

“If you refuse to go there, I won't budge from this roof.”

That has nothing to do with us! The Colombian doesn't want to drag us around with him. It's as simple as that,” Bruce protested.

He almost said that he wasn't transporting drugs. None of them had seen the tiniest gram of it. However, although forcibly, the situation appeared clearly to him: they were making a mistake by choosing to move around on land which still belonged to the L-Ds. The ocean kept them safe from that plague, at least.

“OK. We leave that way.”

The creature stretched out its bare arms through the cage trying to reach them. The fingers, extended to the extreme, threatened to dislocate. The bars bruised its grey flesh. The colonel observed its chaotic gestures and its back and forth movements with disgust. He was still clasping the 45, imagining that the very thin infected creature would dismember itself to slip through the cage. He was seriously considering the possibility of escape, remarked Elaine.

Carcasses of animals – poultry going by the feathers and remains of feet – were scattered across the floor of the cell. The girl explained to them once again that he was her dad and that she fed him with what she could find in the surrounding area. Elaine invited her to sit down on the only chair in the room and sponged her face with a bit of the water from the flask in her backpack.

“I'm Elaine,” she started.

Accustomed to obtaining her patient's confidence, she went on to do an auscultation quickly without showing herself to be inquisitive. The pre-teen didn't argue and even anticipated her precise movements, which as a healthcare professional, she interpreted as a clear sign. She was suffering from mild dehydration and malnutrition. She didn't see signs of bites.

“Who's the doctor in your family?” she ventured.

“My dad. I'm taking care of him right now.”

“You're very brave.”

She finished her exam.

“Did you come to save him?”

Her voice conveyed hope with the faith and the fear of someone who wouldn't easily stand an unwanted response. Instead of telling her the bad news, the nurse evaded the question and winked at Masters.

“You'll give him medicine, right?” the girl said once again, in a less assured tone of voice.

The colonel bowed his head and replied, “Who told you that?”

“Dad explained that I should feed him with living creatures until people came to our rescue. He said that you were going to arrive soon. He never lied to me.”

As an echo to her affirmations, the grunts doubled up inside the cage. The creature was getting more and more excited. Elaine shot Masters a furtive look. He kept silent.

“A medicine?”

“Dad promised me. He works as a doctor in the army,” she added, “in Atlanta.”

Pride smoothed across her features as soon as she heard the tone used. Intrigued by a noise, Masters left his post and went back up to the first floor.

“So, your dad's a doctor,” Elaine repeated to gain time.

“Yeah. He got bitten when we were looking for gas. He insisted that I lock him up. You have the medicine, right?”

Had she witnessed the transformation
? That unbearable ordeal must have left its mark on her. Nonetheless, Elaine preserved an unreal sense of calm in the heart of hell. Once again, Elaine avoided the main worry of the young girl.

“What's your name?”

“Alison Montgomery.”

“OK, Alison. My friend is in the military as well. In fact, we’re travelling as a group on board a boat.”

The girl's eyes shone with excitement. “Dad brought us here exactly so that we could set out on a boat. He was right!”

The child plunged into her arms. Disconcerted, Elaine lost the flow of the conversation.

“You're going to cure him. Oh, thank you, thank you!”

Masters came back with bad news. “We have to get out of here. The area is going to be teeming with infected from one moment to another.”

Elaine agreed, detaching Alison from her neck.

“I know that what I'm asking you to do is difficult, but I think that you should come with us. We'll watch over you.”

“No way! I'm staying with my dad.”

“They'll attack us if we don't leave immediately,” Elaine insisted.

“And the medicine? One shot would cure him.”

The nurse closed her eyes, conscious of the damage which the truth would cause. From the beginning, she had avoided lying.

“I would love to tell you that we had a cure and that we could save your dad, but we don't. I'm sorry.”

Alison took the shock and the deception without flinching. On the contrary, she reaffirmed her initial resolution and went back to her spot near the cage. The creature's excitement went up a few notches. He shook the bars with such a rage that he seemed on the brink of dislocating his shoulders. Masters took advantage of the moment to slip his point of view to his companion in misfortune, a victim of helplessness. She categorically refused the idea of taking the girl by force.

Suddenly both of them froze. The infected dad stopped his racket.

The hallway had window hatches. Through those broken skylights, black feet, marked with wounds, appeared in a procession of muffled rubbing. The colonel put a finger to his lips.

“I'm going to convince her,” Elaine whispered.

“Hurry up, because things are getting pretty ugly.”

She re-joined Alison, who was standing away from her father, whose twisted fingers moved around in the empty space trying to catch her.

“Nothing will happen to him here.”

“I need to feed him. Who will take care of him otherwise?”

“In reality, the infected can survive without eating, you know.”

“I don't believe you. They need raw meat.”

Hearing a child state such a horror in such a cool way paralyzed her. Masters showed his impatience with a hand on her shoulder. Elaine pushed him away.

“I'm going to make this very clear. I'm not leaving here without her.”

“And she won't leave without him. This debate could cost us our lives. Do you realize that?”

He wasn't wrong
, she recognized, but she refused to abandon the girl. It was easy to understand. She crouched down, facing Alison.

“Listen to me. We're going to free your dad.”

Masters opened his eyes wide as a reaction to the stupid idea that she had just expressed. The girl wanted to protest, but Elaine clasped her hands.

“With the cage open, he’ll join the horde again and will find food. Nothing bad will happen to him. But you, you can't stay here. You need to come with us.”

The child's hesitation pushed her to making an overstatement. “We'll come back and find your dad as soon as we have the medicine.”

Masters’ silent disapproval, shaking his head and closing his eyes, didn't surprise her. She was making an impossible to keep promise. The desire to convince her and to save her revealed itself to be more powerful. Sometimes, there was no other way to get someone to make a decision.

“But you said you didn't have the medicine.”

“For the moment, no. We'll find it.”

She backed up her lie with her most sure look, the one she reserved for defiant patients. The proposal had unsettled her, Elaine noted. Masters looked at her disapprovingly.

“OK,” Alison accepted, after a few seconds. The keys are with my things.”

She pointed at her backpack, which she dug through to grab an impressive bunch of keys.

“You promise that we'll come back?”

“Of course. You go follow the colonel on the first floor. In the meantime, I'll free your dad and catch up with you.”

The girl handed her the keys. Elaine made a signal to Masters who took Alison's hand before she could change her mind. Until it disappeared from her view, the child didn't take her eyes off the cell. Elaine remained alone, only two meters away from the girl’s father, who was trying in vain to scratch her.

Was there really a cure
? It was enough to look at the creature to doubt that it would become a doctor again one day. Its gaunt eyes and hollow flesh seemed to be abandoned by life. It subsisted on only convulsions, a spasmodic movement devoid of all humanity. If she freed him, he would jump on her. Even if she knew she was faster, fear kept her from keeping her word. She murmured an “I'm sorry” and turned her back to the cage. Elaine threw the keys onto the moth-eaten old mattress among the motley odds and ends assembled by the girl.

After a race up the stairs, she caught up with Masters and the girl on the first floor. They were waiting near a window. Outside, the view reached up to the gas station. The street was teeming with infected. The horde had come out of nowhere.

“We can't go look for a vehicle again in these conditions,” Elaine said.

Alison raised her eyebrows. “I thought you had a boat.”

“Absolutely and we're going to go there immediately,” the nurse confirmed.

The colonel's hand twitched on the fabric of his uniform and his face hardened. “And the others?”

“I hope that they show themselves to have common sense.”

The colonel then proposed that they leave the building through one of the emergency exits at the end of the hallway. According to the half torn up evacuation plan on the wall, it led to a less exposed alley. The journey took less than three minutes. Standing still, Masters put his finger to his mouth as a signal to the girl and then half-opened the door. Assured, he pushed it completely open and one by one, they started the descent on the metal stairs. Masters helped the girl jump from the last step. The passage joined back up with the main street twenty meters from them.

Elaine closed her eyes and took a breath. The race for her life was starting again. In reality, it had never really stooped since she set sail on that damned yacht. The rare moments of calm in these past forty-eight hours had happened on Hector's boat. She reopened her eyes.

“We're going back to the Colombian’s boat, OK?”

Masters agreed. At least he didn't trap himself in his original decision, which wasn’t that bad after all. It just wasn't the right moment.

She put her back to the wall and stuck out her head. The way seemed clear. The street led directly to the oceanfront and from the beach, the pier started forty meters to the left. She gripped Alison's hand. Before them, the road crossed a boulevard. Arriving at the intersection, the marine raised a hand as a warning by pure reflex. Elaine held the young girl against her.

An individual was walking on the central reservation. They recognized him by his clothing, his canvas bag and his drawling walk.

“What the fuck is he doing there?”

The situation reminded her of that forbidden moment at Key West. Dewei wandered, his head between his shoulders, his back arched. Then, they heard grunts. Elaine wanted to call the Asian, but Masters told her to keep quiet. To justify himself, he pointed at the crowd which was approaching.

“If they hear us, we're done for. I suggest that we take refuge inside that store,” he proposed.

Like the neighboring pharmacies, the building had lost its former shine. They moved into the darkness among the dusty stalls leading to the front desk. Dewei wasn't walking any more. Breathless, Elaine was glued to the window.

“What is it?” Alison asked.

“A friend.”

“He's going to get bitten.”

In an irritated voice, the nurse ordered the girl to get away from the window. Even if she had already gone through the worst with her dad, she couldn't allow herself to leave a child in front of such a scene. Elaine, on the other hand, couldn't take her eyes off of it. She saw the Asian straighten up his head slowly.

“He's having a crisis! I can't abandon him!”

Before she reached the door, the colonel intercepted her and grabbed her by the waist. “If you leave, we're fucked!”

She struggled unsuccessfully to release the giant's hug. His arms almost strangled her. She bent in two. Masters pushed her against a pillar.

“You're staying here! It's too late for Dewei!”

Tears rolled down her sweat and mud-stained cheeks. Outside, the horde was approaching the Asian, who wasn't moving or running away, still in the center of the boulevard. Some might have said that he wanted to end it all there. Was he conscious of his actions? The grunts grew louder as the infected reduced the distance that separated them from their prey, excited by the view of an easy feast. Accompanying the agitated walk, the hooked fingers stretched in unison towards the common objective. The creatures, united by a bestial instinct, resembled a pack of soulless wolves driven by predatory energy. Masters maintained his companion against the post. His jaws shook at the moment of contact between their friend and the boogeymen in rags. All of a sudden, he released the pressure, dumbfounded by the unexpected outcome, so incredible that they remained with their mouths open.