They Walk

Chapter Thirty Eight

Still standing inside the door, I’m having a hard time taking my eyes off of the prone body lying on the floor. I don’t even move out of the way for the guys to come in behind me, because Claire is too shell shocked looking, for everything to be alright. The room they are in is small, and I don’t think it’s the communications room Noah was talking about. It looks more like a storage room or something, there are a couple unopened boxes lying around and a few cleaning supplies. Claire is standing off to the side on the left near the boxes, and the body and Noah are in the middle of the room. Noah is kneeling over the body, so I don’t really get a good look at him or her. But I do notice that on the concrete floor all around is smeared with already drying blood.

“Who is that, are they alright?” Gabe asks from right behind me, but he doesn’t force me to move.

Noah turns around then, like he didn’t realize we were even in the room, and so does Claire. They both share the same haunted look, and that is what forces me into the room to get a better look at the person on the ground.

“It’s all right; he’s not turned yet, so were safe.” Noah says in a low voice, as I approach.

“…for now.” Claire says under her breath.

When I step into the room, Gabe and Sam flank close behind me and we all have a look at the person together. It’s a boy our age, and is wearing a soldier’s uniform that is so dirty with blood and shredded, that I wonder how long he’s been hurt. He’s favoring his left arm, and I can see that there is a large portion of flesh missing from the inside of it. There is a discarded bloodied shirt lying beside him, and I figure he must have given up thinking that he’ll recover. His face is ashen and clammy looking, and he seems to be having a hard time keeping his eyes open. I keep checking to make sure his chest is rising and falling, but I still know that he won’t be alive for much longer.

“We can’t leave him like this.” Gabe says.

“I know.” Noah says so softly that I almost don’t hear him.

Noah reaches behind him, and grabs his handgun from his belt, and turns it on the boy.

Before anyone can yell for him not to, he puts the guns barrel to the boys head and pulls the trigger. The body jerks, and then stops moving with a sigh and I know he’s dead now. Noah simply replaces his gun into his belt and gets to his feet. Claire is turned away and is crying, and I can hear Sam throwing up as he turns away too.

I can’t look away from the body though, how can I?

What have we become that a life doesn’t matter, even one that is dying. We might have done him a favor by ending his life and saving him from turning, but is it even better? I can hear the others move about the room, and maybe even leaving it, but I can’t move from the spot I’m in. I glare up at Noah as he walks past, and I can’t stop the flashes of Matt that cover him, but mostly it’s my hot rage that I see.

“How could you do that?” I say through gritted teeth.

He stops right in front of me, and returns my glare easily with a sigh.

“It had to be done.”

“Did it? He couldn’t even move, let alone talk. We don’t know what he could have wanted.” I raise my voice, and can feel it shaky with unshed tears.

Gabe steps closer behind me, and I can feel his arms aching to wrap around me, but I stay just out of reach. Noah though, his glare deepens and he takes half a step closer to me.

“And what should I have done, Maggie, huh? Just toss him outside and wait for him to turn? Then sneak up on him and kill him anyway, how is that different?”

“Noah.” Gabe says as a warning and steps around to face him too.

“It’s just not fair to that kid, he wasn’t even dead yet and here you are just treating him like a piece of meat.”

“Nothing is fair Maggie; it’s just how it is. He was a hazard being in here, and could have infected anyone of us before we knew it. Do you want that on your shoulders?”

My eyes go wide, and I can’t make anything slip out of my lips, nothing. Not even to stand up for the dead kid who couldn’t speak for himself. I know Noah is right, but I can’t just change everything I am and let go of a life. Everything can’t be so different these days, where nothing matters. But I know the truth, and I’m just lying to myself.

“That’s what I thought. Now if you all don’t mind, I’d like to round up all the weapons we have together in the mess hall.” Noah says as he steps around Gabe and me and walks out the door.

Sam is wiping his mouth and turns to go with him.

“Why the mess hall, shouldn’t we take them out to the car?”

“We wasted too much time in here, and it’ll be dark soon. We’re bunking in the mess hall until daylight.” Noah says as he disappears out of the door.

“Oh.” Sam says as he gives us a nervous look before he follows after Noah.

I still rooted in the same spot, still staring at the body of the boy and I don’t know what is wrong with me. I’ve already killed dozens or more of the dead, but this one hits deeper for some reason. I guess it could be that he was alive a moment ago, or the fact that I keep seeing shadows of Matt lately. I thought I already got over killing him, but it wasn’t even that long ago, so maybe not.

“Maggie, I hate to say it but Noah is right. It’s wrong to kill him like he did, but he was going to turn any minute.” Claire says as she walks over to Gabe and me, and gives us both sad looks.

“It doesn’t make a difference, but thanks for saying it.” I saw in a whisper.

She lowers her eyes, and with hunched shoulders she leaves the room, and goes after the guys I’m guessing. My sudden anger is leaving me slowly and I’m left feeling shaky and cold. I realize I’m standing in a small room with a dead body, and it’s already starting to smell. In a panic, I spin around to get away and bump into Gabe’s arms. He holds me tightly, and whispers soothing things in my roaring ears and leads me out of the room. We don’t stop moving until we are safely out in the hall, and he closes the door behind us, and only then do I let out a shaky breath I didn’t know I was holding.

He walks me into the walk of the dark hallway, and I let him press into me, feeling his weight as a shield from everything. With one hand I wrap it around his neck and pull him tighter to me, my other one is still holding the ax too my side.

He must have gotten rid of his gun at some point because both of his open palms are around my hips.

“I don’t agree with Noah you know, but it could have been dangerous to have that boy in here with us.” He says so softly, wonder if I even imagined it.

But I nod my head into the space between his shoulder and neck, and I feel him grip me tighter.

“I certainly don’t agree, with how he said it either. I want you to know that I’d keep all these away from you if I could.”

With a sigh, I lean back a little so that my head is leaning on the wall, and so that I am staring up at him.

“You can’t protect me from everything Gabriel, but it’s sweet of you to want to.”

I give him a small smile and a light squeeze to his neck with my hand. He bows his head so that our foreheads are touching, and he holds me tighter too.

“I know I can’t, but I’m going to try. We just have to get where we’re going, and then everything will get better. It has too.”

“I know, and it will.” I say as I lean up to him so that our lips lightly touch one another.

I can feel him sigh, as he smiles into me and deepens the kiss. We both pull back at the same time and hold on to one another, like we can’t get enough or can’t get closer. I know I told him that I thought things will get better, but I wonder if he knows I’m lying. After all we have gone through; I don’t see how anything could be better. At least we aren’t alone, so that has to count for something.

An hour later found me laying on a loveseat, which was dragged into the mess hall, and am trying to sleep. Trying, being the operative word here, since it hasn’t worked for the last twenty minutes. There are two other similar couches that Claire and Same are occupying, and from the snores, I know they had no problem falling asleep. The room we are in is the biggest by far, but we had to move tables and chairs along the walls to fit the couches. When I thought of mess hall I thought it was going to be a cafeteria that smells like old food, but there isn’t even any soda machines. So I guess it should be called a break room, but whatever.

Gabe and Noah both refused to rest or even sleep, so they are staying awake and keeping watch. They are positioned in two chairs by the door, and I can’t help listening in too their conversation, while I can’t sleep.

“You know, I hate to say this, but you might not like what we find at the Collisee.” Noah says in a whisper, but I can still hear him loud enough.

“What do you mean, why not?” Gabe says as he leans forward with his hand on his knees.

“We haven’t found another living person yet Gabe. I can’t help but to worry about the condition of the place after a week. If they weren’t prepared, then who knows what we could be walking into?”

“You really didn’t pick anything up on the CB radio?” Gabe asks.

When we first came into the mess hall, Noah had explained he was trying to get a radio to work before Claire walked in on the boy. He said that it was battery powered so power wasn’t a problem. He said it was just static interference and nothing else. I hate to agree with Noah, but it doesn’t exactly sit well, the fact that there is no communication of any kind going on.

“It was just silence. You know I wouldn’t blame you if you and your friends wanted to go back to the apartments with the others. It could be more dangerous the father we go.” Noah says intently.

“I promised Maggie that I would get her to her parents, and that is what I’m going to do. I’m not letting the unknown scare me away.”

I can hear Noah shrug his shoulders and sit back into his chair.

“It’s your choice. I just hope she’s worth all the risks your taking.” Noah says.

“She’s worth this and more to me. Isn’t your sister?” Gabe says softly.

Noah doesn’t say anything to that, and I wonder if any of us will find who we are looking for. They don’t say anything else to one another, and I feel the welcome embrace of sleep pulling on me. As I drift off though, I think of Gabe and how he said I’m worth it to him. I hope I don’t let him down, because he is worth it all to me too.

Eventually my body goes numb with sleep, and I’m free of thought, as least for a little while.