FULL NOVELXO Chapter Chapter Twenty - The Walking Dead
Scott’s arm was filthy with dirt, sweat, and blood, and it was sliding easily from Sally’s grasp. She could see he had lost weight and was beginning to look drawn. He had cuts and scrapes all over his face and neck, and one of his ears was badly mangled. His face was dirty and his hair was caked with mud. His pant legs were shredded and one of his boots was missing. He was almost unrecognizable as the healthy, round faced, apple pie farm boy she’d always thought of as cute. She noticed his smile again. It was the same as the others. Instantly a terrible coldness traveled through her soul like an army of ants through every one of her veins!
“Scott, please!”
“I’m glad they found you, too! Join me!” he cheered, trying not to let himself be pulled from the group. “It’s time to work metal! Let’s stay with the others.”
“Scott, we have to get you out of here! We don’t have much time!”
“Something’s wrong,” Ian said.
“Yeah, no kidding!” Sally snapped. “Scott, we’ve got a ship here! We can take you back to the Kelthy!” She fought to maintain her grip on his arm.
He looked down at her hand. “Let go of me,” he said, taking on a hint of annoyance. “I have to work metal! The Masters need it!”
“Forget the Masters! We’ve got a pod on the hill! Don’t you understand, we can get you out of here!”
He looked at them with confusion, trying again to pull away. The others looked curiously at the scene they were making but didn’t slow their pace.
“Something’s wrong,” Ian repeated.
“Of course something’s wrong, I’m not blind! Scott!” She grabbed his arm, which had almost escaped her grip.
“Let me go!” 4702 shouted, losing all patience as the line disappeared ahead of him. “The Masters have told us it’s time to work metal __” POP! “dfsiiiic juuuskeeere pppppft yyeis iiuelin!”
“What the hell?” Sally reached up with her free hand and discovered Ian had stretched the headset off her ears.
“He’s not speaking English!”
In the confusion, Scott’s arm slid free and he started sprinting back towards the line. Ian rushed ahead and tackled him. They both tumbled to the ground and the struggle resumed. The tail end of the group quickly passed them again and Scott continued to wrestle frantically, pushing Ian off him with all his might.
Sally could see some of the others glancing down at them with looks ranging from tentative amusement to mild concern. The scene was no longer being ignored. She could feel a growing number of eyes on them and could sense trouble on the way. It was time to do something. “God forgive me,” she whispered to herself.
“Ian, let him go!” she shouted.
“Are you daft?”
“Now!”
Something in her words got his attention and he threw her a quick glance. She held the taser in both hands, pointing it directly at Scott’s back. Ian saw and jumped clear just as the whining cords fled the gun with a crackling metallic whir. They hit their mark with a fleshy sound and Sally could feel the buzz and tingle of voltage. Scott shook violently and sunk to his knees. Seconds later, the buzzing stopped and the electrodes reeled back in with a twang. One of them slapped Sally painfully in the leg as it made its mad dash back into the unit.
They both rushed to Scott. His smile was bigger than ever now and he seemed to be groaning with pleasure. Sally fumbled with her medical kit and grabbed a pre-loaded injector. She thrust it into his neck with a doctor’s precision and his trembling slowed. His body went limp with a final gasp.
“What do you do here?” somebody asked from behind her.
Sally looked up to see a ring of emaciated on-lookers blocking their retreat. A woman with matted red hair and a large piece of her scalp missing came forward. The remains of her hair on one side folded down over her ear like half a set of bad earmuffs hanging from a festering wound. One of her breasts was exposed and was covered with huge scabs. “What did you do to my brother?” she asked. “Why did you stop him?”
The others looked on with interest.
Sally panted with fear as more of them approached from all directions, giving the impression of some third-rate teenage monster movie. She panned the taser around the rapidly closing circle and she could hear Ian clicking back the hammer on his gun.
“He’s finished!” someone said. “It’s his time!”
“I will help,” another man said, his voice distorted in an unnatural slur. When Sally whirled to train the taser on him she could see why. His mouth was torn badly, as if he had tried to kiss a circular saw. The remains of his lips hung loosely over his ruined teeth and part of his jawbone was exposed. If Sally had time, she might have wondered how the man was still alive and what kind of pain he must be in. He entered the circle with shaking arms outstretched.
“Please just go,” Sally said, forgetting they couldn’t understand.
The red-haired woman glided forward, slipping beside Sally. She grasped Scott’s legs. Sally turned with a shout and sprang into action. She grabbed her by the shoulders and flung her headlong into the lip-less man and two other onlookers, sending them all tumbling backwards. The woman’s face contorted in confusion but she quickly regained her footing. She looked back to Scott and took another step closer, ignoring Sally.
The taser sprung again, throwing the redhead down in convulsions and creating dancing sparks as it reeled back in again. The woman giggled uncontrollably, to Sally’s surprise.
“Can I try that?” the lip-less man asked, spittle escaping through his teeth.
“God almighty, they get off on it!” Ian mumbled.
“Ian, can you carry him?” Sally asked, staring from one face to another.
“Absolutely!”
A man with a beard down to his bellybutton and a seriously mangled leg limped forward, as if volunteering to be next. His face was largely intact but his nose was deep purple from numerous recent breaks. With a grim sigh, Sally obliged. He rolled over on his back in enjoyment as another came forward.
“Here!” Sally grabbed the next person in line, put the taser into one of his three-fingered hands, positioned one finger on the trigger, and fired at the lip-less man. She heard Ian slipping through the group, carrying Scott in a fireman’s hold. Sally brushed through after him, half expecting to be brought down by her own weapon. But others quickly crowded in behind Sally, eager to try out the new toy she’d given them. She heard another taser shot from behind and more giggling. And then another after that.
Now they ran! The walls flew by as they dodged more convoys of brick carriers. Navigating around one such group, Ian collided heavily with one of the walls, hooking his pack on a protruding piece of metal and spilled its contents. Sally helped him heft Scott and they ran again, zigzagging through piles of concrete and steel rods.
Sally almost did a double somersault when they leaped from the platform. She got up and limped her first few steps in agony before catching up with Ian. They made a beeline for the road this time, running until they were out of breath. Every few yards Ian whirled around with the gun, fully expecting to see a mob in pursuit. But, each time he did this, he was left squinting at an empty field between them and the camp. The steep hill loomed ahead now and they both looked at it with expressions of utter defeat, contemplating the impossible climb.
“Help me with him!” Ian shouted.
Sally took Scott by the waist and guided him to the ground as Ian crouched. Looking to each other for readiness, they each shouldered one of his arms and lifted in unison. Then they stumbled forward, trying to match each other’s gait with Anderson between them. Anderson was much lighter than he should have been, but they were both out of breath and their knees ached from the abuse of the higher gravity. Ian paused and looked back again, pistol drawn. Nobody followed.
“Where are the bloody guards?” Ian asked in amazement. “How did we get away with this?”
“We didn’t yet,” Sally panted. “But I don’t think they have to worry about these people escaping! Let’s get back up out of sight while we still have a head start!”
The climb was hard and they were tired and uncoordinated, often toppling over and gathering Anderson up again. Sally’s knees and ankles were on fire and her muscles felt like stretched out rubber bands. Coming down the hill had been hard enough with the higher gravity, but she had never considered the problems of getting back. In truth, Sally had never expected to get this far and now cursed herself for such an obvious lack of planning. She listened to Ian’s breathing and her own and gauged the response of her muscles as she ran. Her assessment of their useful performance was grim. Ian was panting in uncharacteristic exhaustion and his deeper breaths were ending in coughs. Sally was breathing hard, too, and her knees were becoming unsteady with pain. Ian was still watching their back, but the gun wasn’t pointed as high now.
“You’re hyperventilating,” Sally warned, drawing them to a stop. “We both are. We’re exhausted.”
Ian nodded.
Sally reached into her pack and drew out a ration bar, handing it to Ian. He shook his head.
“You’ll need this,” Sally insisted. “Trust me on that! It’ll keep your stomach settled.”
As Ian was about to ask what she meant by this, she reached into her medical pack and handed him two red capsules.
“What are those?”
“Something I hoped I’d never use. It’s a mixture of things, namely a pain suppressant and a strong stimulant. I prepared it before we left.”
Ian grunted approval. “You plan ahead.”
“But don’t tell anyone,” she said with a grin. “I’m giving you twice the allowable dose and that’s just for starters!”
Ian didn’t argue. He popped the pills into his mouth and reached for his canteen. Seeing it was missing, Sally handed him hers. Then she took her pills and popped a granola bar into her mouth, gasping between bites. “You’ll feel it in about five minutes.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
She nodded. “So’s this,” she said, snapping her injector into his neck. He jumped and shivered. “That’s adrenalin and a mild assortment of amphetamines.” She injected herself as well.
“I’ve just put your body into overdrive, Ian. It should give us the edge, but let me know if you experience anything you can’t handle.”
Ian took a deep breath and shivered again. “I see what you mean.”
“It won’t make you invincible,” she warned. “In fact, you’ll feel far worse tomorrow, but it should get us up that hill. I wouldn’t call it good medicine, but it’ll save our lives.”
“I thought that was the purpose of medicine,” Ian joked. “Sounds like good medicine to me.”
Sally let herself smile and favored Ian with a wink. Then Scott began to stir. He looked around for a moment and struggled.
“Now, he gets a different recipe,” Sally said with a smile that was probably fortified by her potion. She reloaded the injector. “Hold him!” she said. “Time for a nap!” Then, trying out her fortified awareness, she raised him up by the shoulder and injected him again. His terrified expression disappeared into unconsciousness.
“Let’s go!”