Red Zoned

7

     I run to the edge of the cliff along with the rest of the team, each of us peering into the water below, hoping to see Sam emerge. I swallow. Too much time has passed.

"Where is she?" someone whispers behind me. "Is she... Do you think she's..."

I glance up to find Burke but she's gone. She must have ducked back onto the trail.

The group begins cheering. I look down to see Sam swimming back to the muddy shore. I breathe a sigh of relief and run toward the trail, hoping I can catch Burke.

One of the other Rangers, a woman whose name I've yet to learn, grabs my arm. "You should be here when she gets back."

I freeze. She's right. Sam will assume I chose a side if she comes back and I'm gone. "I'll catch up with her later."

The girl rolls her eyes as I pull my arm from her grip and continue toward the trail.

Overgrown bushes scratch at my arms as I run through. I'm about to give up, assuming she's long gone, but as I duck under some overgrown bushes, I find Burke in a clearing, on a knee with her back to me.

"Hey, Burke. You okay?" I ask, taking a step to the side to get a better view.

She looks at me and snaps her eyes closed. There's an orange prescription bottle in her hand and she pops a handful of pills into her mouth."Could you stay back, Greene?" she asks, turning her body from me.

I nod even though she isn't looking at me.

After a moment, she stands and lets out a long breath. With slumped shoulders, she asks, "Is she okay?"

I nod again and raise an eyebrow at her. Is she going to tell me why she just swallowed a handful of pills?

"I'm going to head down the mountain. I should talk to Morgan before Sam does." She sighs and rubs her eyes. "Fuck."

"I'll go with you," I say. "I don't really want to be around Sam right now anyway." She'll be too riled up after her conflict with Burke.

Burke's lips purse into a small smile. "Seems odd that you'd rather be around the person who just shoved someone off a cliff."

I shrug. "I've never been the best judge of character," I say, and wink as I pass her toward the trail.

She chuckles and follows after me.

The air is suffocated by silence and the sound of pine needles and twigs crunching under our boots.

I clear my throat. "Did you want to talk about it?"

She chuckles again. "Which part?"

"Why does Sam hate you so much?"

Burke rolls her eyes. "She wanted to be Team Lead. And she thinks the only reason I got it was because my sister was Team Lead before. There's more to it than that but--" Burke holds a hand out to stop me, her eyes focused on the line of trees to our right. She pulls the knife from her belt. "There's a Flesh Eater in the trees."

I strain my ears to hear what she's hearing and try to search the woods for movement but there's nothing. I glance at her. What is she seeing that I'm not?

As Burke takes a step toward the trees, a group of Rangers emerges from the other side of the trail.

"We'll take it, Boss," one of them says. "We're on rounds."

Burke nods once and holsters her gun. "Check the fence for a break too," she orders as we continue down the hill.

"How did you know there was a zombie?" I ask.