The Strong Will Survive

Chapter Twenty-Three - Lilith [EDITED]

 I was bursting with happiness for what felt like the first time in months. I could tell Benji was just as ecstatic.

First off, we had found another survivor. Secondly, that survivor was Benji's little sister, which meant that Benji was happier than I had ever seen him. Finally...Benji had called me a beautiful blonde!

Lydia leaned into her brother as we walked, obviously made immensely comfortable just being with him. She looked to be about seven years old. Seven years old and she had been surviving on her own for close to six months? How?

I remembered the look on Benji's face when he saw Lydia. Like he'd seen a ghost. Then, the pure joy in his voice as he realized, yes, it was his little sister, alive and well.

I choked back a sob as I realized that scene would never play out with Reggie and me. Not if we couldn't find this cure.

What could four teenagers and a little girl do that every scientist in the world had failed to?

*

The hospital had a small lab, probably just used to mix different medicines. KC began shuffling around, grabbing bottles and scanning the labels.

Jared dragged the zombie into the room. He had taken over its care from Benji once we found Lydia.

"We need to take a blood sample of that thing," KC said, eyeing the bag distrustfully.

"How do you plan to get a blood sample?" I demanded.

"I don't know, okay?" KC snapped. She sighed and ran a hand through her short hair.

"Wait," Jared broke in thoughtfully. "We can knock zombies out, right?"

"Yeah, but it would take a hell of a lot to actually kill them," KC said dryly.

"No, not kill - We can knock it out and safely take it out of the bag, then tie it to something. Then we can experiment on it," he suggested.

KC thought about this plan for a moment for a moment before suddenly shouting, "Well, who's going to knock it out? We need to get going, people! Jared, go," startling everyone. But then, what else would we expect from spontaneous KC?

Jared sighed, hefting the sack like it was nothing and bashing it and the howling zombie within against the counter. The zombie instantly fell silent.

Benji sucked in his breath and pulled his sister even closer, if that was physically possible. "Jared!"

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Can we not violently smash living creatures into countertops while there are small children as witnesses?"

Jared glanced at Lydia, realization dawning. "Right. Sorry."

"It's okay. I've seen worse than that," Lydia said slightly disdainfully, as if basically torturing a living (nonliving?) thing was something that could never faze her, like it was innocent and for babies.

The look on Benji's face at his sister's words was physically painful. My chest tightened and I looked away.

"Where have you been?" KC muttered wonderingly as she pointed the gun at the bag nervously and carefully kicked it open with her foot. Lydia didn't answer.

The zombie was, indeed, knocked out cold. That or dead, but I knew it took a lot more to kill one of these creatures.

Jared and KC hastily tied it tightly to a drainage pipe and duct taped its mouth shut to keep its venom inside. At Benji's request, they also used the duct tape to tape its hands into fists.

"Its nails might be infected from some normal disease," he explained. "The venom isn't the only thing to fear from these monsters."

Benji took Lydia out in the hallway, presumably to talk to her, while KC and Jared poked around the lab for the correct type of needle. "Aw, forget this," KC finally muttered, and used a surgical knife to slice a gash in the zombie's forearm before anyone could protest.

I gagged and joined Benji and his sister.

Lydia was just beginning to speak when I entered the hallway.

"Some men came after you left. They tried to cut me and I ran. They chased me far away, further into the city, but I hid in a church and they left. I stayed in that church for a long time. I was really scared. But I finally got super hungry and left to find you or food.

"I walked around for a while and found some yucky bread in a store. But I was really hungry, so I ate it, and then I almost threw up. I stayed in the church and ate yucky food like that until I couldn't find any more.

"I don't know how I got back here. I just knew you go to hospitals to make you all better and so I decided to come here. That was a few days ago. But I'm not all better."

"Where are you hurt?" Benji asked desperately, his eyes filled with pain that I felt in my heart.

"Here." Lydia jabbed viciously at her head. "It hurts all the time. There are these voices."

My eyes widened. A little girl who had been living all alone in a hospital, hearing voices in her head. Great. Exactly what we needed.

"What do these voices say?" Benji asked quietly.

"I can't tell most of the time. But sometimes they tell me to go outside and wait for the zombies to come get me. And I get scared and they yell at me and tell me you're dead and our parents are never ever ever coming back, even if the zombies go away!" Lydia's voice has risen to a shout and Benji placed a calming finger to her lips.

He looked terrified.

"Can we talk?" he asked me tightly. I nodded, and Benji ushered Lydia inside the lab.

"What's wrong with her?" Benji's voice was broken and desperate. My heart tightened painfully.

"I'm not an expert - "

"You're the closest I've got. Please."

I bit my lip. "Maybe Dissociative Identity Disorder? Although that's more split personality than necessarily hearing voices. Schizophrenia? I don't think so, since she didn't talk about seeing really weird things. I'm thinking that it's probably psychosis."

"What happens in psy - whatever?"

"Um, aggression, agitation, self harm, suicidal thoughts, limited (and negative) range of emotions, hearing voices, hallucinations in reality and subconscious - like, in dreams..." I trailed off at Benji's expression. "But she might not have it," I hastened to add.

Benji lifted his head and looked at me with dead eyes. "What's happened to the world?" he whispered brokenly. I remained silent.

Finally, Benji straightened up and strode silently back inside the lab. I stayed staring at the ground for a few more seconds before following him.

He raised a good point. What was happening to the world?

To us?