When The Light Goes Out (33 page)

And I nodded my head.

I'd trust Malachi's judgment. So far, it hadn't failed us. "Here we have it!"

And the boy brought in the TV, with the help of the original boy in our group. I was glad to see that he was okay, nearly facepalming when I realized that he'd helped carrying Ian in. So, obviously, he was still okay. It was such a stupid mistake to make. But whatever.

"Put on the news."

"News doesn't have anything." "International channels?"

"Let's try."

Sure enough we got news from Europe. And Korea.

And Japan. And Canada.

All of them seemed to say the same thing.

"All travel to, and from America has been suspended until the crisis there has been solved. Orders have been given to shoot any ships out of the water, and any planes out of the sky."

Apparently the Mexican, and Canadian borders had both been sealed from us. But no one knew exactly how much of the U.S. had been taken. S.O.S. signals were still coming, however sporadically, from cities all over the nation. So, as far as we knew, it could have just been a couple of cities. It could have been the whole damned country. But regardless of how much
had
been overrun with the walking dead, the rest of the world had found out.

We were condemned.

We were fucking condemned. No one was going to help us.

Who knew how long it would be before the cable companies gave out. We were damn lucky to be getting any signal at all, I was sure. It must have taken quite a bit of tinkering to work. I could have kissed Jaden, and punched him in the teeth at the same time. True, it gave us information. But it also gave up pictures of the carnage.

Apparently, in all the chaos, videos had been put on Youtube. Fucking
Youtube
.

Kids had recorded little things. Animals being eaten. People being attacked, and put it on the internet before they realized how fucking dangerous it really was. Some up close shots had been taken as a matter of fact. One person or another had gotten the guts to go and get a close up of the monsters face.

Him and his buddies had seemed amused before the zombie lashed out at the camera, and from the background you heard something along the line of, "Fucker scratched me." The creature had been beaten. The people had retreated. A close up of the wound had been taken. The video had been put on the internet.

I couldn't help but wonder how long the kid, and his friends survived after that.

Probably about as long as it took for the infection to kill him.

Of course videos such as those had been censored, and ripped, and put on the news all over the world. Proof of the turmoil we were going through. Proof that America had fallen from it's pedestal, and we were all screwed. Fucking screwed, and there was no getting out of it.

Ian fell asleep to a video of people rushing the airports, trying to escape death. Failing. Being beaten back by the police. People who traveled from America to other countries being forced back onto planes. Not being allowed to go wherever they were going for fear of the infection. And yet, I couldn't entirely blame the leaders of these other countries.

Their people had to come first. The community at large.

Doubtless, our president would have done the same exact thing if faced with the choices being made at that very moment. Still, no one had any idea what caused the whole fucking thing.

Damn it, why were Americans so stupid? Didn't we ever learn?

Apparently not.

But, then again, I wasn't entirely sure there were any other zombie invasions recorded in American history to learn from. If there were, the teachers neglected to tell us such at school, and I felt rightly betrayed. That would have made quite the history lesson. Especially since the only way many teachers get to show us movies is by connection to their current lessons.

Imagine watching a zombie flick in class. Awesome, right?

Sure, I'd be clinging to my neighbor.

But it still would've been more fun than reading from a text book. Much more fun.

By far the most interesting lesson ever. "So much for allies."

There was a collective chuckle. A very
sad
collective chuckle.

"What do you think's going to happen?" It was the chick who spoke. "Who's that?" I leaned towards Malachi when I whispered it.

"Lila." "Ah."

"They may start bombing." "And him?"

"Jeremy."

"All righty." I paused. "How come
you
know this?" "I asked when we were traveling."

"Okay."

And I attempted to zone back into the conversation. Unfortunately it was damn depressing, and I wanted nothing to do with it. And I didn't want to leave the room. And my tummy rumbled. The room went silent, and everyone stared.

"I'm still hungry." Indignant. "So sue me."

Then there was genuine laughter, because it was genuinely funny.

"All right, someone find a crow bar, and we'll go pry open that damned vending machine." It was Jeremy's offer, presented with a grin that got me smiling as well. I wasn't too sure about anyone else. "Given we don't have a crow bar, I'm pretty sure we could make a sturdy chair work."

And then, everyone was looking for a sturdy chair. A damned sturdy chair.

And we settled on a half plastic piece of crap that was immediately taken apart. The only thing the boy seemed to want was the metal part, which he used to beat the vending machine into submission. As depressing as it turned out, the vending machine won. Jeremy was bent over himself, panting.

It took three boys (including Jeremy) and Lila before the damned thing finally cracked. And then we were
all
happy.

It was potato chips this time. They were my little slice of heaven, and I even got Ian to eat a few. Not much, in all honesty, but the fact that he was eating at all made me feel much better. I could only wish we had a certified doctor, or fully trained surgeon with us though. Someone who could tell me Ian would be perfectly fine without any hesitation.

I was just going to have to deal with Malachi's personal opinion. There was jolly conversation.

"And you'll never guess what he did next." "No, no I won't."

Lila had been talking about her boyfriend for God knows how long, and I was only giving her half an ear. Not that it was an unpleasant subject or something. I mean, considering we could have been discussing whatever seemed to be body slamming the front door of the clinic, the topic was welcome. But there's only so much boy talk one can take before one wants to strangle the offender.

"He proposed."

It felt like a lead block took the place of my heart then. I didn't want to say it. I didn't want to say what I was thinking. I didn't want to hurt the girl, but the topic was just so so

obvious
, if you will. If she wasn't expecting the question running through my mind she was a fucking loon. "He's dead, isn't he?"

Jaden asked for me.

"Yeah. Trying to get me out of his apartment. Apparently his roommate went.. and"

The crying started. Not that I blamed her or anything. If my fiancé died trying to protect me, I'd be flattered sure, but I'd cry. I probably wouldn't have stopped crying, 'specially if I

loved soandso enough to accept the proposal.

Seemed everything we spoke about lead directly to talk of death, and zombies. "Don't worry, Lila. You're not the only one who lost someone."

"Who'd you lose, Excel?" "My brother."

"Really?" "Yeah." Silence.

There's not much a person can say to that, I guess. "Dunno how, or when he got infected either."

"I'm guessin' it was somethin' in the water supply. Some'un must've slipped somethin'."

"That's the only logical explanation, Blaz." "No it's not."

"Excuse me?"

Everyone turned to look at Malachi, wondering what the hell he was getting at. Did he know something that we didn't? I could
tell
that
everyone
was pondering that exact question merely by their expressions.

"It's not the only logical explanation." Jeremy, and Jaden both stood.

"What do you know?!" "I"

I never thought I'd see Malachi nervous. "You?"

"The people who took care of me," Malachi indicated his head. "Who gave me this location. They gave me an explanation of sorts to all of this." "Did they now?"

"Yeah." "
And
?"

The attention of Malachi's audience was complete. Everyone wanted the story, and they wanted it that very second. I, myself, am not excluded from the bunch. I was actually looking for something to beat him with for keeping such a goddamned secret from us. It just wasn't right.

"Something about one disease or another that the rats carry, getting mutated by an accidental spill in their chemistry lab. I don't know all the details, but that's the overall theory. And the whole lot of them agree on it. One of their projects spilled on a rat, the rat got away, probably got into the schools food, and it passed from there."

"Fuckin' college students." "Shut up Blaz."

I was beginning to feel rather ill.

"
I
ate the food at the local college." "Then you may be infected."

I could swear I was going to hurl.

I
so
did not want to be infected. Being infected meant I could die at any moment, and take down everyone around me. All my friends if they could be considered that. My comrades, my allies. Whatever they were, I didn't want to take that risk.

"Don't worry, Excel. If you start turning, I'll kill you." "
Thanks
."

I suddenly didn't want to sleep. What if that was when my body decided to give in to the disease? The virus? What was it really? I didn't know anymore. I didn't entirely care knowing that there was a possibility of me having it. With that little bit of information, I suddenly understood exactly why Cathy killed herself.

I understood.

I respected her decision. It was a wise choice.

"Malachi, don't say that." I was half glad when Lila started scolding him. "It's not nice. Excel, he will not kill you." "If 'e doesn't, I will."

"Blaz!"

"No, Lila." She looked at me. "They're both right. If I change, I do need to be killed. Because if you guys don't take me down, I'll attack you. All of you. I don't want to do that. I

really don"

"Shush! Guys! Listen to this?"

Jeremy turned up the volume on the TV.

"It is of popular opinion that the viral epidemic in America was a government creation." The lady on the screen had an accent that I couldn't quite pinpoint, but she looked as sure of herself as she looked nervous. "The virus, dubbed the Rvirus, standing for 'Reanimating', was accidentally released into the general food supply before testing was completed. It was hoped that the Rvirus would act as a steroid, to strengthen the people, and lengthen their lives.."

I started zoning out about there.

Now we had three possible stories to chew on, if you'll forgive the dry humor. The mutated virus on the rats, the virus in the water supply, and the accidental release of a government project. All seemed frighteningly possible. Completely likely.

I was that much more sure that I wouldn't be surviving the ordeal. I had to be infected.

Whether it be by a terrorist act, or mistake, I'd most likely consumed some of the infected material, and I really didn't want to die. Briefly the thought of putting a bullet between my eyes was there, but it passed. I was planning on staying alive as long as I could, if only to help the people I was with.

And find Dustin and Pixie.

And suddenly we all looked down at the food before us. "General food supply.."

"What's the likelihood of the government pumping candy full of steroids." "It's the American government."

Lila beat all of us to the bathroom, and I'm sure she was doing exactly what the whole lot of us were planning on doing. Forcibly emptying the contents of our stomachs as an offering to the porcelain gods.

"Why is our government so fucked
up
?!" I fell back against my blankets, completely exasperated. I suddenly knew why the crazy old men on the street didn't trust 'The Man.' It all made perfect sense. "Why do they
do
this shit to us?!"