Where the light survives (French-English)

Chapter 26

Thomas

It's only eight in the morning, but the summer heat is already infiltrating every inch of my body. I guess wearing all black isn't a good idea either. I didn't choose this outfit; Leah gave it to me when she banged on the door of the apartment earlier. I changed into black jeans and a t-shirt; over it, I have an old bulletproof vest with an awful logo on the back. It's supposed to say 'Police.' but some letters got erased over time.

For reasons that I don't know, I have knee and elbow pads, not that they are useful. Probably because people need to recognize us on the street. The bulletproof vest would have been enough, but anyway, I also have, just like everyone else in this 'police.' a gun hanging from my shoulders.

As I walk towards the meeting point, which is in front of the gate that Madeleine and I crossed two days ago. Damn, it feels like an eternity already. In my dreams, we are back in our house, but instead, I am here, playing cops.

Some people are waking up; kids are going to school, and some are going to whatever job Leah assigned them to. All of these strangers are still staring strangely at me. I couldn't care less, to be honest. But I care for Madeleine's sake, I know those stares makes her uncomfortable. I hope that one day they'll look at her like a human rather than a monster.

"Finally!" exclaims Leah from afar; she is wearing the same outfit as me. A few people are behind her talking. When they spot me, I can see them tense a little. Some are thumping their chests, others look embarrassed, and some appear tense but show nothing.

"So, I present y'all my right-hand man, Thomas Archer." She turns, waiting for me to say something, but all I do is sigh. "Anyway, those who need to take their morning shift, let's go!" she shouts, and five people are now running towards those watching towers.

"You!" She points to three people. "You go on patrol in the streets!" I can't say I am not surprised at the authority that she has. "Both of you! Gate duty!" And just like that, everyone disappears except us.

"Does gate duty mean that they are guarding the door?" She looks over to me, her short hair is tied in a tiny bun and some strands are loose.

"Exactly! Seems weird, but since you and I arrived here and nobody was answering the door, we should have at least one person guarding it. Just in case this happens again." I nod in agreement.

"Follow me; I am going to explain everything." She starts walking, and I follow her a couple of steps behind. "Currently, we have fifteen cops. Every day, their tasks change." We are approaching one of the wooden watching towers. As she climbs the ladder, she continues her explanation.

"We have five towers just like this one. They are made to see from afar but also to kill some Infected if they are becoming too loud or too close to the gate."

We are now on top of this watching tower; I can see everything. All the land is just right there in front of me, as if I could grasp it in the palm of my hands. There are a lot of suburbs surrounding the community.

"Isn't it too loud to kill them with a gun?" I ask her, resting my forearms on the wall, looking at the landscape.

"Well, yes, it is. At first, we didn't do anything. We were mostly quiet all day long, letting them pass. That's what you get when your community is near a big city. But then, what was hundreds of Infected became about twenty, and then a couple of them each day. Since then, it's as if they are a rare thing. We can afford to shoot them with noisy weapons. Ah, look, there is one." She says, pointing at the very bottom of the wall.

"Go ahead, shoot it." she tells me.

I look at the dead below, a newly turned one; his flesh isn't even burned by the sun yet, a red puddle staining his shirt. I take my weapon to my head and shoot it, a perfect and neat shot. I feel eyes staring at me, and I look over to the guy on guard duty, his eyes going from me to the Infected, wide as a doe's. Once his gaze meets mine, he lowers his head, trying to find something more interesting.