Radiation Point

Thirty Nine

"Nessa!"
A sharp voice and fingers digging into my shoulders brought me back to the present. Blood and gore still surrounded me, but I was back inside the hallway. My mother's death was just a memory-though the sound of the gunshot was real.
"What is wrong with you?" Ellen asked, frustration in her voice. "We have got to move!"
It felt like my eyes were blurry and my mind in a fog as I glance around.
The little girl was gone, along with any other survivors. Only the bodies and blood littered the floor. The thundering bang of gunshots still echoed, followed by frenzied yelling.
"Right," I said, swallowing hard. "We've got to help them."
"Yeah," Ellen said, shaking her head. "And you have got to stay with me, kid. No more disappearing into your head or whatever that was."
I followed Ellen down the hallway, keeping my eyes peeled for any movement-any signs of life. But most of the commotion seemed to be in the sleeping areas now. No one alive remained in the hallways, at least for now. It was a war zone when we opened the doors to the sleeping area. For a moment, I stared, sucking in my breath at the sight. It was just like what happened at the first camp all over again.
Shambling contaminated pushed through the crowds of people, gnashing their teeth and clawing at the refugees.
A teenage boy stood in front of a smaller boy with matching blonde hair. He gripped a knife with a shaking hand and with his other hand, he pushed the boy farther behind him.
As if in slow motion, the contaminated lunged at the boys. He moved with the blur of speed that only the newly contaminated had.
Reaching for my gun, I attempted to aim, but the contaminated was moving too fast. The boys were doomed. I couldn't save them.
I averted my eyes, ashamed at how slow I was being. Ellen was right. I needed to get my head into the present.
The sound of a crack pulled my attention back to the boys. An arrow struck of the side of the contaminated's head. The teenage boy was covered in think, dark blood but he was alive. He looked more shocked than I felt as he stared at the dead contaminated at his feet.
Turning, I saw Tyler making his away from across the room. Of course. Only Tyler could shoot without aiming. Only Tyler could have saved that boy.
Giving the boy a nod, he yanked his arrow from the corpse and re-loaded. He moved with a sureness and blitheness of someone seasoned from battle. As I looked around, every other renegade was fighting in the same brutal style.
This wasn't the first camp, I realized with a small smile. These refugees would survive.
With that in mind, I threw myself into the thicket of bodies. Contaminated and non-contaminated alike moved shoulder to shoulder by me, but I kept focused on my target and sent more than a few contaminated falling at my feet.
Sweat and blood covered me, as I finally wiped my blade on the side of my jeans, leaving a line of red across them. We did it. All the contaminated were dead. Only exhausted renegades and refugees remained.
"You coming?"
Ellen didn't wait for an answer. She was already hurrying out the sleeping hall towards the nurses station. She was just as worried about Mia as I was.
Sprinting after her, I left the mess hall behind and readied myself for what other tricks the commissioner had left for us. But the hallway was quiet and we made it to the nurses station before I was quite ready.
What if we had taken too long? What if my sister had been attacked?
Our squeaking shoes on the gymnasium floor was the only sound. Even without the lights on, I could see the outline of my sister's cot outside the nurses station.
Relief flooded me, as I moved closer. Mia was all right.
But just as quickly as relief filled me, so did dread. At the foot of the bed lay a crumpled outline of a person.
Breaking into a jog, I hurried to my sister's side. I felt my heart was going to explode as I slipped in what could only have been blood.
"Mia!"
Panic stricken, I turned over the crumpled form only to stare at a strange girl I had never seen. She stared up at me with glassy eyes. Around her mouth was foam, and in her eye, a knife.
"It's not her. It's not her," Ellen said from above me.
Blood thundered in my ears as the adrenaline coursed though my body. Pulling myself up from the bloody mess, I moved to my sister's bed.
"Mia?"
With trembling hands, I touched her tiny form.
"Mia!"
Then with more urgency, I began to shake her. It didn't matter. Her body was cold. She wasn't moving.
With the weight of the world on my shoulder's-crushing, suffocating, killing me-I fell to my knees.
My sister was dead.
Nothing mattered, not anymore. My life was over, had been over since the day my mom died. And now Mia...
Blood thundered in my ears, as I stared at the wood floor with a strange sense of detachment. It was wet, why was it wet? I lifted my hand and looked at it. Red and wet, sticky.
And then I let out a shaky sigh and let the floor reach up to meet me.