The Last Plague

Chapter Forty-One: Retreat

We started walking out of the building as calmly as we could. You should at least try to warn people. I thought about warning people, it seemed wrong not to. I thought about shouting out in the streets warning people, but who'd listen to that? I'd look like I've gone crazy and everyone would ignore me. The more people that came the less order we would have had too, causing more problems. You'd save more lives, my mind argued against me. It was a selfish decision of mine, but I chose it. I didn't warn anyone of what was possibly coming. Even if they did listen, it only had a chance of coming. Would people even decide to go if they listened?

You should at least get the man who allowed you to run. My mind suddenly came to that though. It seemed like the minimum I could do for him. If the city was taken over, we'd at least have saved the man who saved us.

"Guys," I started telling Grayson and Trina. "We should at least help that man," I told them as they turned around. "He's the one that warned us, we should at least bring him."

Grayson let out a small sigh. "Do you think we can get him out of there?" he asked me, his eyes told me he didn't want to get the man out.

"It's the least we could do, he warned us. Come on, what do we have to lose?" I asked rhetorically. Your lives, my mind thought. You could lose your lives. I pushed the thought from my head before I thought about it too much.

"Even if we could help him, how would we get in?" Grayson asked me.

"You've been here since the place opened, right?" I asked him, recalling what he'd said.

"Yes," Grayson responded with his voice drifting off.

"Do you know the shifts they have around here?" I asked him, almost certain he would.

"Yes, you don't have to go any further. In about thirty minutes they should trade off, we can try to get him out then. Does that work for you?" Grayson asked me, obviously annoyed.

I was slightly impressed with myself, talking Grayson into getting the man. I was also scared because of it. The man may not even want our help. He might go crazy and try to kill you all. Are you sure you want to get him out? I tried ignoring my mind, but it had its grip on me. I couldn't stop thinking about every possible thing that might go wrong. Then I realized the chances of us getting him out were slim.

"Does that work for you?" Grayson repeated, capturing my attention.

"Yes, sorry, it works for me," I told him after leaving my daze. "I don't think it will matter when they trade off, though," I told them, confusion painted their faces though. "Okay, this is what I was thinking. We tell them we are trying to check him, and since you're a doctor, they should believe you. Then we take him with us out of the city. It's simple, but it should work." I knew it wasn't a complex plan that took much thought, but it should work. I found no trouble coming up with the plan, and I was grateful for that.

"I guess that works," Grayson mumbled loud enough for us to hear. "You guys stay here, it'll be more convincing if only I went."

I watched as he walked away. "Do you think he'll get the man?" I asked Trina.

She was watching Grayson walk away. "Well, I hope so," she responded doubtfully.

After only ten minutes Grayson came back leading the man with him. He was speaking quietly to the man. The man had his head down and was staring at the floor. He nodded occasionally at the ground as they walked towards me and Trina.

Grayson walked up to me and whispered in my ear. "I don't know if this is the best idea," he said, then walked back to the man.

We started walking out of the city as quietly as possible. Several people around us gave us glances and looked at us strangely. I hoped we didn't draw any attention, or someone would recognize who we had with us.

"Faster, faster, let's go faster." The man started chanting as he picked up his pace. "Faster, faster, let's go faster." He started jogging.

We all started jogging after him, gaining more notice from people around us. Some people stared us down suspiciously, probably wondering what we were doing. We continued running through the city until we got to the edge.

"Are you ready?" Grayson asked me, looking at me worryingly.

I nodded at him as we walked out of the city.

"Once you leave you can't come back!" a woman shouted from a turret above us.

"We know," Grayson said under his breath; much too quietly for her to hear.

We walked out of the city without any more notice. I felt a small regret leaving another place, but I continued walking. From place to place I went. Trina's confession still slightly haunted me, but it worried me more than anything. She murdered someone in her past life; the one before everything happened. I hated thinking about it, but there wasn't anything else I could do. We continued walking without any noise, aside from the constant mumbles of the man.

"What's your name?" I asked the man, hoping he would respond.

"My name, my name, my name is Aiden. Aiden, yes, my name is Aiden," he repeated to himself, sounding more troubled with every word.

I didn't know where to go from there. So, I just started talking to him, trying to get to know him more. "Where are you from?" I asked him, noticing he was still mumbling.

"Aiden, my name is Aiden," Aiden repeated, then he lifted his head up. "Where am I from?" He repeated my question to himself. "I'm from, where am I from? Where am I from?" he started asking himself. "I don't know, where am I from? I don't know," he started repeating again.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do with him. I didn't know if I should try to talk to him or not. I decided to keep walking and not listen to him anymore. His constant mumbling started to annoy me. I started to have mild regrets about bringing him, but I refused to have any. He warned us, the least we could do was take him with us. Of course, he could have still been falsely warning us, but I refused that as a possibility.

We continued walking down for a few hours, our footsteps were the only thing we heard. Aiden had stopped talking, and nobody else said a word. We started seeing trees in the distance. They seemed to break the barrier of silence between us.

"Trees, trees, there are trees," Aiden started rambling on again.

"I'm guessing that's where we are going," Trina said, pointing to the trees.

"I don't see another option," Grayson said, sounding annoyed still.

"Well, of course, there's another option," Trina said back to Grayson.

"Guys, we are going there. We aren't going back and we aren't going to take another way. Grayson's right, this is our only option." I told them, breaking the potential fight.

We continued walking down towards the woods. Aiden was still mumbling under his breath. Grayson continued to hold his hand behind Aiden's back, leaving him with us. Trina walked silently staring at the trees, fear shined in her eyes. I just walked, not knowing else what to think or do.

We continued walking towards the trees staring in awe. I don't know why, but the woods seemed to mesmerize me. We all paused right in front of it. The lush green trees cast a dark shadow into the woods. The dark brown trees made a border across the entire woods. They were about twenty feet tall each. Their leaves merged together, creating a dark shadow across the floor.

"So, are we ready to go?" I asked them, knowing the answer.

Grayson looked at me stupidly. "What else would we do?" he said sarcastically.

"Let's go in," Trina said softly.

We all walked into the woods.