Survival

Part 24: Valerie

Jeordie stood on the other side, looking around desperately. He was cornered between the cliff and the horde of Changed. Jeordie's gun flashed out and he took down countless Changed to no avail. He turned and met my eyes with a look of resignation.

"Love you, Val." He said, barely audible above the keening of the Changed. I screamed his name, falling to my edge of the gorge. Aluna held me back from jumping. Tears streamed down my face and I reached out to him uselessly. Jeordie smiled sadly and shook his head slowly. The Changed were upon him. He grabbed a corpse from the ground, held it close, and jumped.

He fell for a long time.

A knock on the front door roused me from my usual nightmare. I wiped my tear stained face and took a moment to get my bearings. Once I was more or less awake I got up to answer the door, stumbling down the hallway. It was 11:03.

"Ben, hi! It's a bit late, isn't it?" I greeted him, masking my annoyance by rubbing my face.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is, Valerie," Ben said with a frank smile. "But I'm going to have to ask you to wake your friends. We have a situation." He left the doorway as abruptly as he appeared, coughing violently.

Panic seized my heart.

"Indiana! Grace! Paz! Marcus!" I ran down the hall hitting their bedroom doors.

My friends were up in minutes, their bodies still in the stage of paranoia that makes you always jumpy and alert. Marcus started crying nervously while Paz and Grace whispered urgently, shooting me covert looks that they thought I didn't notice.

Indiana was at the window, already fully dressed and packed. He peered through the blinds.

"Shit." He breathed.

I looked over his shoulder. The courtyard below was a mass of fleeing people, screaming in terror. Blood was everywhere. The gates were locked. We were trapped.

I ran outside. Ben was sitting on the kerb watching the commotion.

"Won't you do something?!" I shook him.

"No. This was God's will." He said simply before erupting into a fit of hacking.

"If this is God's will then why did you secure this town in the first place? Open the gate, Ben." I stifled the urge to kick him and his horribly flawed logic all the way to the courtyard.

He just coughed more blood and wordlessly handed me a key. I ran back into the house, slamming the door behind me.

"What about Aluna?" Marcus asked Grace, his lip quivering. I waited for her response, curious.

"I'll get her." Indiana said confidently, breaking the tense silence.

"It's way too dangerous." Paz shook her head.

"We need Aluna." Indiana looked Paz deep in the eyes. She backed off. I suppressed the urge to laugh and pat Indiana on the back.

"How will I find you?" I asked instead.

"Wait in the truck for an hour at least. Then assume we were held up."

With a nonchalant fringe flick and a rakish smile, Indiana slung his bag over his shoulder. I hugged him tightly, aware that I might not see him again.

"Thank you."

"Take them to safety." He whispered against my shoulder. We both knew they wouldn't make it on their own. Grinning, I pulled away from the hug. I brushed his fringe to the side and kissed him on the forehead.

"May Satan be with you." He said in an ominous voice and kissed my head back. We giggled together at our inside joke, giving each other the metal horns symbol. Out of my peripheral vision I saw Grace frown and put her hands on her hips disapprovingly. Indiana followed my stare. He rolled his eyes and patted my shoulder.

"Later, yo." He slipped out of the doorway.

"Let's go." I led the others into the night. We rounded the corner with minimal disturbances. Fires had started up in some of the southern houses. Blood trickled down the dirt paths. It was like a scene from Hell.

Which was pretty ironic, all things considered.

"Hold up." Grace gestured to us. I looked around her to the gate.

It was sheer chaos. A crowd of bodies were writhing as if one big creature, a beast of screams and flailing limbs and gunshots. Desperate people fought desperately, died desperately, Changed desperately. And they were being rapidly outnumbered. As I watched, a corpse stood and joined in the massacre.

"There's no other way out. We have to do it." Grace said adamantly.

"Are you crazy?" I pretty much yelled. "There's almost a hundred of them!"

Grace stepped towards me, using her superior height to her advantage.

"Do you have a better idea, Valerie?" She almost snarled at me. I bristled. What had happened to Grace?

"Only that we try and find something that won't get Marcus killed." I attempted to appeal to Grace's better nature by using Marcus. She didn't seem to have heard me.

"I'm in charge now! Aluna has left! I was here before you. I make the decisions!" Grace appeared to be close to tears. I tried again for a peaceful solution.

"Grace, Grace, Grace. I'm not saying that I'm in charge. I'm just saying that trying to fight through a mass like this... It's almost suicide, especially for Marcus. We can find another way out." I put my hand on her arm.

Grace looked almost like she was going to accept, but narrowed her eyes and shook her head stubbornly.

"We go through the gate. You got the key. That's all we need. If you think you can find a better way, go ahead. But Marcus, Paz and I are doing this. With or without you."

I looked into the dangerous eyes of Grace and Paz.. Leaving them would mean their certain deaths. Staying would almost guarantee the messy deaths of all of us. However I felt a strange amount of loyalty to them; mainly to Marcus and the girl that Grace used to be before Paz came. And my feelings towards Paz? Maybe I would ignore her if she needed help.

I pushed the childish thoughts away.

"Fine. I'll come." I sighed.