Affliction

Chapter 6

The Jester lunged at me, eyes wide, wild with fury, a fire lit in its eyes. It reached for my shoulders, latched on, and yanked me toward it. It slammed its head forward. I reached forward with the bottom of my palm, slamming the bone against its forehead so hard that I was surprised its head didn't collapse on itself.

I fell back from the weight of the monstrous creature in front of me, trying not to smack my skull against the concrete below me. I pushed my arms up, holding the Jester above me, stopping it from smashing its skull into mine. I clenched my teeth, failing to breathe. My eyes widened as it snarled, reaching for me. It was so fast. I couldn't stop it as its head slammed forward, into mine. I yelled out for the others. For anyone. And finally, finally, a figure appeared next to me, swinging the butt of a shotgun full force at the head of the Jester. I flung myself the opposite way once it crashed to the ground. It cackled even louder before jumping up to its feet.

I stood up, wobbling, before catching my breath. Dawson stood in front of me as Avery jogged out of the store behind us. The one that I was supposed to be on watch in front of. The Jester leaned forward, stumbling a step or two before continuing to laugh. The laughter got so loud I thought my ears were going to start bleeding.

Dawson racked his shotgun and aimed it at the Jester as it began sprinting at him. Dawson pulled the trigger, but the Jester slammed the shotgun to the side. Dawson stepped back, struggling to reload the shotgun. The Jester was too quick and reached him. It slammed his head into Dawson's making a loud thud.

Stumbling back, Dawson allowed me to see the Jester. And through its chest was a machete sticking out. Avery stood behind the figure. She spread her legs apart and ripped it out before stabbing it into the neck of the Jester. And it began to choke.

_____

Avery had the two of us sitting on dusty chairs in the store. The hard plastic was cracked, possibly from the freakout on the day of the outbreak. Avery walked over to me, finishing up bandaging Dawson's forehead.

Avery crouched down until she was slightly looking up at me. She pressed a wet rag against my forehead. One of the ones we had in our bag. She had already tested the two of us. We both ended up clear.

I avoided looking her in the eye as she wiped the blood from my wounds. I felt a sharp pain in my chest that I refused to acknowledge. It reminded me too much of her. Avery seemed to get the hint and quickly finished, bandaging my head as well before going to the back room to wash the rag again, leaving me and Dawson alone together.

I looked down at my hands, at the dirt outlining every wrinkle in my fingers. I frowned at the dirt. Just how much have I changed since she was alive? Am I really moving on without her? Is there nothing else I can do to keep her memory alive? It's not like I can write a book that everyone can read about her, or blog about her online. I doubt telling her story to the others would do much. I don't even know if they will be alive at the end of all this. I don't know if even I will still be here. And that thought scares me.

Seeing just one Jester almost killed me. It almost killed Dawson as well. How are we supposed to make it to the safe zone? How many infected are out there? My hands began shaking, trembling. I held onto them, trying to stop it.

"Mason? Are you okay?" A voice called out. I looked up at Avery standing in the doorway from the backroom. She looked worried. She walked closer to me, slowly. Dawson seemed to notice how uncomfortable I was now.

I stood up, stuffing my hands into my pockets to hide the shaking. I nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine." I cleared my throat before grabbing my bag, slinging it across my shoulder, and turning to the dirty glass door toward the front of the store. "Come on. Let's get going," I said, trying to get the focus off of me. I hated when they saw me like this. I'm stronger than that. I have to be. This world has no place for weaklings.

_____

The three of us walked for about two hours, trying to stay on the edge of the closest faction, walking in the more wooded area, not knowing exactly where it starts, but not wanting to run into anyone. We decided to set up camp when we found a clearing in the trees. Dawson agreed to take watch first, letting Avery and I get some sleep first. He said he would wake Avery next. Neither of them outright said it, but I knew it was because they knew I was suffering from nightmares lately. I was glad they didn't say it because it only made me feel like a child. Weak, helpless. That is not me.

I laid my axe next to me, within my reach. I used my bag as a pillow, and I rolled onto my side, facing away from the others. I tried my best to clear my mind before sleeping. Maybe it was wishful thinking. That maybe if I cleared my mind, I would dream of nothing, not of the one thing I've been thinking about today. But I knew it would happen either way. I had no choice.

I watched as if it were a scene from a movie. A boy sat atop the bathroom counter, only four years old. An older girl, nine years old, stood in front of him, long, brown hair and thick bangs covering her forehead. Bright blue eyes stared sympathetically back at him as she dabbed at his bloodied lip with the washcloth. He did nothing about the pain. He just sat there, waiting for the blood to be gone.

The girl moved on to cleaning the blood from his forehead, dripping down from his bloody scalp. Clumps of hair stuck to his blood, some of which torn from his head. The girl wiped the stray hair away and very gently brushed the rest of it back. She leaned forward and kissed the boy on the cheek in a way to comfort him. Through this whole process, the boy did not cry even once.

Once the blood was gone, the boy looked at himself in the mirror. He reached up to touch at the top of his head, lingering at the bald spots near the front of his head. Only then did he frown, just barely. But it was enough for the girl to notice. She turned and dug in the drawer next to her. She pulled out something that was black with a long cord attached to it. She held it up for the boy to see. Neither of them said a word. He only nodded and closed his eyes, facing her once more. The girl plugged the cord into the wall and held the object to the boy's head, running it along his hair as it buzzed. He refused to open his eyes. He refused to watch as the last of his hair fell to the counter next to him, and the floor below him.

A hand shook me awake, placed on my shoulder. Waking up this time, I only opened my eyes slowly. Avery leaned over me, her eyes filled with the same sympathy as the girl in my dream, but for a whole different reason.

I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I did so. I nodded at Avery. "Alright, you can go to sleep." I waved her away, looking down at the dirt in front of me. I thought back to the dream for only a split second before pushing it to the back of my mind, hoping I could just forget about it altogether. I know that wasn't going to happen, though. It never does. It never works, no matter how hard I try. Someday, I'm going to have to give up, but that day is not going to be today.

I stood up, attempting to walk off the tiredness I was feeling. I watched as Avery got ready to go back to sleep. I only just now noticed that this was one of the rare moments that Dawson wasn't snoring. Lucky for us.

I walked over to the edge of the clearing and leaned against a tree, looking back at the other two. I looked up at the sky. At the stars. I took a deep breath before letting it out. The cold air nipped at my skin, and I happily let it. It reminded me of home. When everything was at least decent, and before it all went to shit.