The Fox, the Hound and the Virus

The Bite

—

Chapter Nine

The Bite

—

At first, the two foxes just stared out the windows at the group struggling towards them. Will glanced at his sister. Her expression was grim.

'Zoe?' he asked slowly.

'They haven't seen us yet,' Zoe growled.

He stared at her. 'Zoe, we can't just leave them.'

'Why not?'

'Zoe!'

His sister threw her hands up. 'Okay, fine!'

'Get the door open!' Rob bellowed.

'I'm trying! Someone- fuckin hell!' Josh squawked. The group looked up. Rob might have laughed if the situation weren't so horrific. Their not-so-helpless kids were on the other side. They had made it through the storm with seemingly no weapons to find the only decent building around for miles. Rob watched as the two cut through the zip ties holding the doors closed. Zoe swung them open with the expression of a looming storm cloud.

'We fucking told you twits to leave the zombie chick behind, but oh no, you had to bring it with you!' she thundered. The little group stared. 'Well don't just stand there! Bring her in!'

'Yes ma'am,' Trudy muttered.

Rob led the way, Ash groaning as they jostled her.

'I would ask what happened but honestly it looks pretty obvious,' Zoe barked as she pulled her pack over. She and her brother went rummaging through it until they pulled out a hefty looking first aid bag. Will unzipped it and pulled out a bottle of disinfectant as Zoe pulled out some gauze.

'This place has cleaning running water. I'll heat the kettle and we can wash the wound properly.'

'Zoe,' Rob began. 'You should cut her shirt so we can see what we are doing,' she went on. Will was studying the bite and from how pale his face was getting, Rob could tell that the boy was beginning to understand what his sister was refusing to acknowledge.

'Zoe, there's no point,' Rob said quietly.

'She's bleeding all over the place.' Zoe wasn't actually looking at Ash. Her eyes flicked in every other direction except for the woman on the stretcher.

'Don't waste your supplies,' Peter said. The young man was filthy. His jacket was torn, and one eye was angry and blood shot. He'd gone down hard during their battle against the infected and hadn't yet had the chance to wash the gravel and sand from his face.

'So, you're just going to give up on her?!' Zoe barked.

'It's not a matter of giving up lass,' Josh replied sadly. Ash groaned in pain. She'd stopped talking about an hour ago. Rob wasn't sure if she was even still aware of where she was or who was with her.

'The infection doesn't move that fast, does it?' Will asked anxiously.

'It depends how the person is infected. When the virus first started to spread, it took weeks to incubate but that was airborne. We think its evolved since then. People don't seem to sick from the airborne virus as much as they did two years ago but in exchange, the infection moves much faster than it did before,' Rob explained.

'I didn't know that,' Will said softly.

'You kids seem to have a very strange collection of knowledge if I'm honest. How did you find this place?'

'An obvious hiking trail, sheer dumb luck and a crappy map,' Zoe growled defensively. Ash's groan dropped an octave, making them all jump.

'Do you think she will change?' Zoe asked anxiously.