The Deathlock virus

Chapter 4

When they made it out of the tunnel, they were met with the sound of gunshots. Directly to their left there was a group of Lost that were peeking over the wall and shooting into the Grid. Ryker ducks back down as he spots them, cursing under his breath.

"We might have to go a different way." He whispers, jumping off the ladder and landing besides Nessie.

"We can't. The other way out of the tunnels leads straight back into the Grid. Going back into the Grid with all the Seekers that the Lost must have left in is worse than just making a run for it." Nessie sighs, adjusting the mask on her face. She turns to look at Valerie who is clearly deep in thought. "What do you think, Valerie?"

"I think we might just have to make a run for it. The forest isn't too far away and the Grid is surrounded by forest. We could lose them easily." She looks over at Ryker before continuing, "Downtown is huge. There's no way they could follow us after a good while of running. Besides, Seattle barely has any Lost in it." They both knew that was a complete lie. "We'd be safe downtown once we make it past West Seattle Bridge."

"You know that the bridge is full of Seekers, right? There is no way in hell we are making it across that bridge in one piece." He raises an eyebrow, looking down at both of them.

"I never said we were going on the bridge. There's a walkway underneath it that was used for construction. I know the way to it."

Ryker stops her before she can get to the ladder, his hand gripping her shoulder as he turns her around to face him. "How do we know this is safe, Val?"

"I used to work in construction, remember? I worked on the bridge a few years before the Outbreak."

"The Outbreak was five years ago. The walkway underneath could be completely destroyed or unsafe by now."

She gives him a look of annoyance. "Your constant worrying annoys me sometimes."

"Well without it you'd be dead a long time ago."

"Do I look like an idiot to you, Ryker?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" A shit-eating grin appears on his face before she smacks him on the back of the head. "Ow!" He winces, rubbing his head and looking down at her. Nessie giggles and covers her mouth with her hand to hide it.

"The walkway will be fine. Last time I was on it they had huge metal beams as supports for the whole thing. It's not like the metal is gonna give out any time soon." She grumbles, adjusting the straps of her bag and putting her gun in her back pocket. She made sure the safety was on before she did.

"How high is it off the ground?" Nessie asks quietly, a tremor in her voice.

Valerie immediately moves to comfort the girl, "It's not that high, don't worry. Besides it'll be fast okay? And we'll be there for you the whole time so nothing bad can happen."

Nessie gulps but nods, a bead of sweat dripping down her temple. Ryker adjusts his jacket and tightens the straps of his backpack before climbing back up the ladder. He moves the piece of wood away from the exit and slowly climbs out, his darkened gaze set on the Lost that were on the top of the wall. He was watching them like predator watched prey. It was almost unsettling. Almost.

When Nessie climbed out after Valerie, one of the Lost spotted them and yelled out, "They're getting out of the Grid!" Which caught the attention of the other Lost standing there.

Valerie grabs Nessie by her hand and pulls her along as bullets land in the dirt next to them. Ryker leads the way, running quickly towards the trees. He looks behind to see if the girls are following. Thank god they were. Valerie holds Nessie's hand tightly as they run, almost scared if she let go of the redheads hand that she would disappear.

They run into the trees and the gunshots slow before stopping completely. Ryker stops them and they hide behind a few large trees to catch their breath. Valerie lets out go of Nessie's hand with a sigh of relief, her breathing quick and slightly panicked. Nessie takes off her mask so she can breathe properly. She sees how hard the older two are breathing and panic strikes her hard.

"Are you two okay?" She asks, looking concerned.

"We're just old, kiddo. We're fine." Valerie gives Nessie a soft smile and slips the metal mask off her face, clipping it onto one of the loops of her jeans. Ryker sighs, his hands on his hips once again.

"So we're headed downtown, right? It's not that far of a walk, around half an hour?" He asks, looking down at his watch.

"Yeah, last time it was thirty minutes from the other exit which is farther away. We should make it in no time."

As the three walk, Valerie and Ryker are on edge. For maybe different reasons. Ryker was on edge because of Nessie. He was watching her every movement, looking for one sign that she might be developing a fever. One sign that she was infected after what she had told them. Valerie was nervous that Ryker was right about the walkway. She was worried that it would collapse underneath them while they were walking. It was obvious that Nessie was nervous, her hand was tapping against her thigh and she was trying to keep her breathing under control.

Valerie's gaze softens and she walks a bit closer to Nessie. "You ever been downtown before?"

Nessie looks up at Valerie and smiles, knowing that Valerie was trying to make her feel a little less nervous. "I did before everything started going crazy. I was really little though, I don't remember much of it. Raven said that after Mom got the virus, Dad hated going into the city."

"Oh...Well he didn't miss much. The whole city was crazy quarantined. There wasn't any really fun things to do anymore."

"Did you go into the city a lot?"

Valerie sighs, "Almost everyday. Most of the construction projects I did were downtown."

"Really?"

"Yup." She rubs the back of her neck, "Mostly to just fix up broken buildings or to build new apartments. We had to fix up roads a lot, that's one of the main things that we did besides building apartments. People really didn't know how to drive down here."

Nessie raises an eyebrow, "Did a lot of people live downtown?"

"You have no idea, so many people it was ridiculous." She chuckles, "You were eleven when everything officially broke down, right?"

"Yup."

"And you're sixteen now?" Valerie asks. Nessie nods, a soft smile on her face. "Damn Nessie, I should start teaching you how to drive if we ever find a car that works."

"You could start driving when you're sixteen?"

"Yeah, You could get your drivers permit when you're fifteen and then when you turn sixteen you could apply for your license." She explains, looking ahead of her as they walk. She could see the start of the road that led to the West Seattle Bridge. They were getting closer.

"Did you get your license?" Nessie looks up at Valerie.

"Yeah but I drove a motorcycle instead. I never really owned a car."

"She used my car if her motorcycle wasn't working." Ryker speaks up from besides them.

"Excuse you, I used your car once." Valerie puts her hands on her hips, looking up at Ryker.

"Still used it."

"Did she really have a motorcycle?" Nessie holds back her giggles at their bickering.

"She did. And it was really loud and annoying at 5 in the morning when she started it to go to work."

"Hey I offered a position for you in construction, you could've taken it and then you'd already be awake when I would go to work."

"I had the job that paid more though."

"I didn't ask you that."

Ryker smirks, "Well I thought I'd put it out there."

"You're annoying."

"I know."