Cured [ManxMan]

Chapter Twenty-Eight

No matter how much Mattie tried to get me to tell him my idea, I refused to speak until he'd located Kiara and Ajay.

There were two reasons for this. The first was that it was going to take enough effort to explain this once, and I didn't want to have to do it again. The second was that I was sure if I told him, he would refuse to consider the idea, and would drag me off to the civilian group and we would evacuate, trapping me in close quarters with a bunch of humans who are already scared without adding a sort-of zombie into the mix.

Luckily, Mattie decided to oblige, and ten minutes later we stood on a rooftop near the damaged section of the wall, where Ajay was directing his men on how to defend the base, having brought Kiara with us from where we ran into her near the main building.

"Okay, Toph, what's this idea you had?" Mattie asked.

I glanced at Ajay, who was still watching the wall below, but tilted his head to indicate he was listening. I took another moment to watch the horde below, which had to be over a hundred zombies all clawing blindly at the wall. As I watched, one of them pulled a piece free and stared at it, looking perplexed, before dropping it and continuing to attack the wall with bloodied hands.

"They won't... stop coming," I said, still watching them, flashes of memories from before the cure flooding me, of being in a herd ripping things apart trying to get to a human, only to find they had already escaped. "Even if... everyone... gets out... not safe... out there." I gestured to the city behind the horde, where thousands of other zombies wandered. "People... will die."

"We know that," Ajay said. I'd had few interactions with Ajay since my return but remembered him well enough to know the gruff tone and hard lines in his face were worry, not anger. "Most of these people haven't been outside the wall in years. They don't know how to fight zombies, how to protect themselves. But if we stay here, we all die when they get through the wall. What other option do we have?"

I kept my gaze on the horde below so I wouldn't have to see any of their expressions when they figured out what I was proposing. "Zombies... stupid," I said. "If you... lure them... away... can't find... way back."

Ajay finally turned his attention from the horde to me, watching me with narrowed eyes, but it was Kiara that spoke. "So how do we lure them away?" she asked. I could tell from her tone she didn't suspect anything yet, but from the way Ajay was watching me, he had some idea, and Mattie was suspiciously quiet, though I couldn't bring myself to look in his direction.

I hesitated. This was my idea, but I didn't like it any more than I knew any of them would, and I could just as easily keep it to myself and save all of us the pain, but what then? I escape with the humans and wait for the infection to reach a point where I couldn't control myself and I attacked someone? Watch as the zombies picked them off one by one until I was alone again?

"Zombies... drawn here... by scent... of humans... but their... own scent... covered... that by now," I said. "They keep... coming... because..." I coughed, my throat burning from so much use after not speaking much for days, "remember... smell... but also... herd creatures... will follow... if one... leaves... in case... they saw... something... others missed."

There was silence. I couldn't bring myself to say the last bit, rubbing at my sore throat and avoiding looking at any of my friends, as I was sure by now they had figured out what I was proposing.

And indeed, it was Mattie who finished my plan, his tone carefully neutral. "You want to go out there and lead them away."

"Yes."

"And if they don't recognize you as a zombie?" he pressed. "If they attack?"

"I am... zombie," I responded, finally turning to look at him, so he could see me just as clearly, could see my gray skin and bloodshot eyes. He, in turn, looked to the casual observer just as calm as he sounded, but I was no casual observer, and I could see the firm set of his lips, the crease between his eyes, the slight tremor in his hands at his sides. I could see the panic setting in, and I wished there were something I could do to stop it, but this was something that needed to happen.