Radiation Point

Twenty Two

"Easy now," Bubba said from the bottom of the embankment. I realized with a shock he was talking to the contaminated. He must have seen the same intelligent look I had seen. Although, I would never have talked to it. That was a whole different level of crazy.
She hissed at him and moved closer with slow, methodical steps. Her head was tilted to the side, like a dog looking at its master in confusion.
"That'ta girl," he said, standing firm. The contaminated shuffled faster, each step determined. She stopped within arms reach of Bubba and snapped her head up with a painful sounding crack. Then she did the scariest thing I'd ever seen.
She smiled. Her entire face shifted expressions and she looked wildly happy-and triumphant.
Then she lunged.
I had my shot gun out, racking it loudly, as Bubba pulled out his knife and slammed it into chest. She gave a horrible, pre-contaminated sounding scream and twitched before falling to her knees.
Bubba stood frozen staring at her. From the bridge, it looked like he was shaking. Then he climbed up the side of the embankment, returning to the bridge, the hard look back in his eyes. He didn't speak, instead he looked past me to Tyler and Jackson who hurried through the brush to meet us.
"Are you okay? We heard a scream."
I shook my head, "That wasn't me."
Tyler looked confused. He glanced at Bubba for answers.
"Well, it sure as hell wasn't me," Bubba muttered.
"It was her," I said, pointing over the bridge to the contaminated. "She screamed when he killed her."
Jackson and Tyler moved to the railing of the bridge and stared in shock at the contaminated. They didn't speak for a long time. They looked as shocked as I felt. Contaminated didn't scream. They were primal; monsters. If they yelled at all, it was guttural. Mostly they just groaned, but never, ever screamed. Period.
It was Bubba who spoke first, breaking the spell we were under.
"Y'all just gonna stand there? We got things to do."
He looked totally unaffected by what had just happened. Never even mentioning that he had tried talking to her. I couldn't help wondering what he would have done had she been able to answer him. Would he still have killed her? But who was I kidding? It was Bubba after all.
"You're right. The town looked clear from the brush. Other than," Tyler nodded down at the contaminated, "That thing, did you guys see anything else?"
"Not a thing, Boss" Bubba said, his tone strangely bright.
"All right. Then we'll make a run for the local pharmacy. When we get what we need there, if there's anything else you guys need, we'll go as a group to get it."
I followed silently, my mind still down on the embankment where the contaminated lay. It was strange, but for the first time I felt almost bad about the death of the contaminated. The thought burst into my mind, and I quickly pushed it aside. That was how people became weak. They couldn't face the contaminated and do what needed to be done.
"This way," Tyler whispered, leading our group towards the pharmacy. It was just a short way from us and looked so regular that for a moment I felt like it was back before the war. Mia and I would walk to the local pharmacy, feeling cool that we had somewhere to go without our parents. We'd leave loaded up on pop and candy, feeling on top of the world.
We stepped through the already broken glass, our boot crunching the glass under our feet.
"Do you think looters hit this?"
A look at the bare shelves and the damage in the store was answer enough.
"Well, let's just hope that there's some antibiotics left," Tyler said, herding us to the back of the store. We stopped under a counter with the word Pharmacy in bold letters. Even from our side of the counter, the shelves of medicine looked scant. I felt a wave of despair at the sight of it.
As if reading my mind, Tyler said, "There's still some medications. Grab it all; hopefully one will be what we need."
We circled the shelves, opening our backpacks under each shelf and tipping in whatever bottles there were into them. We didn't speak, instead we meticulously moved making sure not to miss anything. Once the shelves were cleared and our backpacks full, we turned to leave, feeling lighter despite the extra weight in our backpacks.
For the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to smile, letting a little of the extra stress melt away. Tyler caught my eye and grinned back. For a moment, he looked like that senior boy who had charmed me so much.
The sound of glass crunching ruined the moment, and I felt the smile slip from my face. We had made sure to check the town before we entered. Had a contaminated slipped in without us seeing when we were scouting? Tyler moved his finger to his mouth, then gestured for us to move forward slowly.
I had my shotgun ready against my chest, as well as my knife in my pocket. No matter what happened, I was ready. Not to mention that Bubba and Jackson looked deadly. The contaminated didn't stand a chance between the group of us.
Tyler rounded the corner first and instead of shooting his bow, he lowered it in shock.
Then I saw what he was looking at.
It was a little girl who looked as if she was about five or six. Her skin was a dark olive tone and her eyes were big and bright, making her look doll like.
She stared at Tyler without moving for a long moment.
"Are you lost?" Tyler asked, his voice kind.
"Careful, she may be contaminated," Jackson said the words that had drifted to the back of my mind. The girl was being far too quiet. There was no way that she was a normal little girl. Why would she be alone?
"I have to be sure," Tyler countered. "I'm not just gonna shoot a little girl until I know for a fact she's contaminated."
"Over thinking, I swear," Bubba muttered, but he didn't move either. Instead, he was sizing up the girl as if trying to decide for himself if she was contaminated or not.
"I can't find my mommy."
Her words floated around us, and the shock of hearing her talk was almost palpable. If contaminated didn't scream, they definitely didn't talk.
The girl stepped farther into the store, her eyes brimming with tears. "I can't find my mommy. I think the monsters took her."