The Immune

chapter 4 - Ash

"You have to hold still" the soldier told me.

"It's something metal sticking out of my chest, you're planning to cut me open to get the rest of it out. Tell my again how I have to remain calm."

It had been a few hours since we left the van behind us. They had allowed me to walk on my own, without the assistance of cuffs. They had insisted on fleeing the area before taking stock of all the injuries, myself included. We were in a grassy field, a couple of clicks from the site of our crash.

Jax, the soldier was called, was examing my wound with care, digging a scalpel around the metal piece, trying to fish it out. He looked to be about thirty, his beard and unkept hair making him look like a wilding.

"Hold this between your teeth and bite down" he passed me a sturdy looking stick, I knew what was coming.

"do you think you can keep from hitting me, I don't want the blade to go any deeper than it needs to be"

"I'm sure I'll pass out before then, dont you worry."

"just no screaming"

As he prepared I listened to the others.

The girl with the bleeding leg sat off to one side, attempting to communicates via radio. There had been only silence so far.

Jeremy stood watch, pistol in hand.

The young man from earlier was bandaging the broken mans arm. His face was as white as paper, his teeth gritted in agony as his bones were carefully wrapped up.

A scalpel dug deep, digging in to my tensed stomach.I couldn't help the whimpers that escaped my mouth.

"nearly got the underside, it's coming free" the tugging began to feel abit removed. The pain taking over.

" got it" the sharp discomfort was removed. With bleary eyes I gazed at the object that could cause so much pain. It was a shard of metal, no more than 2 inches wide, and three long. That had been in me.

"aha, the twisted metal at the end was caught, thats why it didn't come free as quickly as I though it would." said Jax, as began to sew up the skin.

"I can only give you three stitches, the rest are for the others. I only had the backup kit." he let out a sigh and stood.

" Get a few minutes rest, while I take care of these guys. Oh and don't think about running away, you'll be dead before sunset with a wound like that" he turned and walked away, his voice barely registering.

My eyes drifted shut. Even if I wanted to run away, it'd only be a crawl at this rate.

--

"wake up Ashlyn, we gotta go" the voice sounded far off, as though it was under water.

"Ashlyn, come on. We need to get out of this area, the zombie pack is too close" that raised my attention.

I blearily opened my eyes. Looking at the silhouette above me.

"Will!", came a distant shout.

"She's coming around Jax, give her a minute" the guy shouted back, making my head ring in pain.

I groaned in pain, shifting up.

" You alright?" his stark green eyes looked rather concerned.

" I aint dead just yet, suites me just fine" I replied

I struggled to my feet, ignoring his outstretched hand.

" I can take care of myself too" I said, he continued to look at me, an unreadable expression on his face.

" I don't doubt it" he replied.

Put off by this strange person, I turned and joined the others, with Will following close behind.

We joined Jax as he was finishing up talking to the others.

"- the radio silence is unusual, but we have no other choice now. The city is within walking distance, if according to the maps, we are where brooke says we are. "

"so, Atlanta?" asked Will,

"Atlanta." Jax finished.

The ragtag group of soldiers gathered what little they had brought with them and set off. The three injured including me, stumbled along in the centre of the group, allowing jeremy, Jax and will to protect the flank and front.

The woodlands were dense, the pine trees giving of their fresch scent, reminding me of the farm where thr family and I had stayed only earlier today. That was torn away, ripped from me.

Out here one could almost for forget that the world hadn't competely gone to hell.

The pain had dulled when jeremy had given her a pill.

" For the pain" he said " if I were to drug you that would mean I would need to carry you all the way to atlanta. No thankyou" I begrudgingly took the pill.

It was sunset when we finally reached a clear stretch of road.

"exactly where the road should be, good job brooke" said Jax.

"take a breather, Derek can you have a look at this"added Jax, indicating for the man with the broken arm to join him. The two began a hushed conversation. It would be getting dark soon, and we needed to find good cover.

I sat down on the road, pulling grass from the cracks in the sidewalk.

From here I could see the crumbling city of atlanta in the distance. Where ghost buildings could be seen reaching up into the sky with metal spires cloaked in the growing darkness.