They Walk

Chapter Forty One

My first impression of the Collisee stadium’s inside, is that it doesn’t really look like a stadium at all. There is more plastic covering the inside, and it makes me wonder what it’s actually for, sanitary reasons maybe? The lobby we are in is large in size, and has four hallways going off in different directions and there is a roped line going to each, as if to keep the order or something. The thing that might make me feel less welcome has to be the line of soldiers standing in front of us, but that’s not the worst part. They are all aiming their handguns at us, and not in a friendly way, if there ever is a way at all. A man in the middle steps forward, and it takes all that I have to not flinch away from him.

He’s large man maybe early fifties, and it’s clear from the way he’s watching us, that he’s in charge.

“How many of you were bitten?” He asks harshly.

Claire and Noah are standing in front of me and Gabe holding Sam.

They shift to the side and glance at us with sad expressions. Now I do flinch, and back up a step gripping Sam tighter in my arms. Gabe follows suit, but he keeps glancing between me and the solider man in front of us, like he’s not sure what to do.

“Step away from the boy slowly, and keep your hands in the air.” He says slowly, as if he’s afraid of how we’ll react.

He should be afraid, what exactly does he intends to do with Sam.

Before I even finish that thought though, I flash back to the boy we found at the army base, and how Noah dealt with him. Sam, like he knows what they are going to do, stirs a little and tries to walk away, but I hold on tighter. I might not like him very well, or even know him that much, but I can’t just pass him over to strangers. Especially ones with guns that might just outright kill him, even I know that’s not right by any means.

When Sam gets even limper in my arms, I glance up to find that Gabe has stepped away from him.

“We have to listen to them Maggie, I’m sorry.” He says so softly, and I can tell he’s having a hard time meeting my eyes.

The man in front of us, trains him gun right at me now and takes half a step forward and the others behind him follow suit.

“Listen to me young lady, don’t be stupid. This boy has been bitten and will turn sooner or later, and you have to step away NOW.” His voice practically echo’s in the room and I feel like my heart is breaking.

I look over to Sam who is trying to support himself on his own feet, but is having a hard time.

His eyes are flickering around the room at the men, and then back to me. He looks even worse than he did just a few moments ago, and I can feel his blood oozing out and onto me too. I glance away from him and find Noah watching me, and the way he nods I know he wants me to do what they say and let Sam go. Beside him, Claire is a sniffling mess and can’t even lift her head to look at me. Then there is Gabe, and it makes me want to run to him crying the way he watches me.

I know that I have to let Sam go.

“I’m so sorry Sam.” I whisper.

Achingly slow, I unhook his arm from around my shoulders.

Then, once sure that he’s steady, I step aside.

As soon as I do, Sam crumbles on the floor and the men close in around him like sharks to bait. I get pushed back by the amount of them and crash into Gabe’s arms. When I feel something wet trailing down my cheeks, I realize I’m crying. I begin shacking and crying in earnest.

I can’t seem to stop.

Gabe tries to sooth and turns me away from the scene before me, but I refuse to look away. So instead I watch as two soldiers lift Sam up and drag him from the room and toward the roped off section all the way to the right. All the while, half of the other men keep their guns trained on Sam. The others take up posts around the lobby and the mains doors to outside.

Just as they are about to disappear from around the corner, Noah comes over to us with Claire in tow.

“Come on, we should know what they are going to do. It’s our right, but just stay close to me.” Noah says in a rush, and quickly paces after the soldiers.

Gabe lets me go only to take my hand in his, and leads me after Noah.

Still crying and hiccupping great gasps of air, I follow blindly and pray that they don’t do anything to horrible to Sam. I relax a little bit when we go through the roped off area after the men, and the other soldiers don’t try to stop us. I do notice that they are watching us intently though, and it makes me wonder if they have had similar problems before.

We end up in a narrow hallway that seems to go on forever, and there are kerosene lamps on hooks as the hall loses the light from the lobby. I notice that there are closed doors here and there all through the space. The men holding Sam come to a stop at a door at the middle of the mile long hallway, and bang on the door forcefully. The rest of us huddle together a couple paces away from them, but what I really want to do is run to them and Take Sam out of here.

He, who by the way, is hanging so limply in the arms of the men, doesn’t look to be doing so well.

The door opens with a creek.

An older woman wearing hospital scrubs steps out with a stern expression.

“We got another one for you to test Marge.” Says the man in front of them I thought was the boss.

The woman looks between the men holding Sam before finally resting on him, and then flickers over to us before she turns into the room with a wave. The man in front nods and steps aside, and the men hold Sam haul him into the room. The door swiftly closes behind them, and I feel my stomach plunge into my toes and have to lean on Gabe for support or I’d fall over. There are only three men in the hall with us now, the ‘boss’ included. The two others take up post around the closed door, and the other one walks over to us. Instinctively, Gabe and Noah lean back opposite walls and take Claire and I with them.

The man grins at us, and looks between us but it doesn’t make me feel any better.

“Don’t worry about your friend yet, the Doc is just running a few tests to see how long it will be before he turns.” He says a little too cheerfully.

He glances between us and takes in our appearances, one that can’t be that great since we are all covered in blood.

“You sure none of you were bitten, because I have to say, you don’t look so well there kids.” Now his eyes are narrowing at me, and I realize I’m more soaked with blood than the others.

“None us were bitten Sir, I can a test to that myself.” Noah says as he steps from the wall and faces the man head on.

He turns his glare to Noah and says, “And just who are you my boy?”

“Corporal Noah Riley Sir, Army National Guard from Lewiston.”

“Is that right Corporal, and what brings you here away from your post?”

Noah glances to his feet, and I can see him clenching his jaw before he returns his gaze to the smiling man.

“I’m looking for my sister Sir, and she takes priority over anything else. She is the only family I have left, and I couldn’t just leave her alone without trying.”

The man’s expression turns serious, as he takes a step closer to Noah and places a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself son, the last week a lot of us have left to search for surviving family. Even a Captain like me thought about it.” Now he steps back and stands up even straighter if that’s at all possible, and locks his hands behind his back.

“Captain David LeBoeuf, only officer left of high rank here at the Collisee. Your group is welcome here, no worries.”

Noah straightens himself too, and places his outstretched hand at his brow before pulling it away in a salute. The Captain follows suit, and when they both relax they’re pose, the door Sam went through opens and the Doctor Marge steps through. She and the Captain share a look, before she shakes her head at him. Before I can even understand what it can mean, the other two soldiers cart a scared looking Sam out between them again. He has a bandage covering his wound now.

But he doesn’t look any less scared or what could happen to him.

“Take him to the rink and lock him up before he turns.” Captain LeBoeuf says with authority to the men holding Sam.

His eyes go wide when they practically drag him off further down the hall, but he seems almost weak to even protest now. The Doctor disappears behind her door, and The Captain signals for us to follow him as he goes after the others. Noah takes Claire in his arms and leads her after him, where as I tense and try to hold Gabe back. He tries to give me a reassuring look, but I know he’s just as upset as I am. With his eyes he’s saying if this is the last time we see Sam, then we owe it to him to see what happens.

I know he’s right, and even though I don’t want to know, I let him walk me after the others.

After the Doctors office, the rest of the hallway doesn’t have any doors and I notice that the temperature gets cooler the farther we go. At the end of the hall there are a set of double doors with a chain linking the handles closed with a lock on it. There are small windows on each door, and from the way the Captain said rink, then this must be the Hockey rink Stadium.

The men holding Sam step to the side, so that the Captain can step forward, and I notice that he is pulling a key from his pocket as he steps up to the doors. As Noah and Gabe hold tight to Claire and I, it seems that Sam is getting a little antsy. It could be from the way the mood in the hall has turned gloomy, or maybe he is finally catching on to what is going on, but he seems a little more alert now.

His eyes flicker around all of us, and I force myself to meet his gaze when it lands on me.

It breaks my heart the way he looks at me, like I’m betraying him or something. Maybe I am.

He did save my life when he got bit, and look how I am repaying him. As the Captain is unlocking the chain, I can almost sense the tension that flashes through Sam, and later I wonder if I was the only one to notice. Because in the next moment, Sam with a new strength, pulls his arm free of one of the soldiers and reaches into his holster for him gun.

He flicks the safety off in a blink, raises it to his temple, and pulls the trigger.