Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Twenty Nine: Nothing makes sense

Word count: 1651

Jacks crossbow quickly turned to me. I tried to keep my breathing calm and level.
"Finally showed up I see." He grinned at me and I slowly put my hands up.
He flicked the weapon sideways as an indication for me to move. I did. I stepped around the puddle of blood on the floor and tried not to look down. The overwhelming smell of metallic ran up my nostrils. From there I could see a van parked outside the house. Each member of Jacks "crew" had their own weapon, ready to attack if one of us made a wrong move I supposed. There was something strange about the group, though.
I had seen him before, the one at the end. His arm was all veiny and black like it had been infected. Kevin. His name shook my core, I saw him get bit! How could Kevin be there? Was he after Caleb? Please don't let him be after Caleb.
Another guy from the New Years party, the one with the creepy smile and the eyes that tried to devour me. The next guy in the group didn't look familiar but he only held his weapon in one hand, unlike the others. As a matter of fact, he only had one hand. My breathing hitched.
"What's going on?" I outburst suddenly, my mouth taking over my fear.
"Shut up! " Jack growled, aiming his weapon at my abdomen. "Unless you want to be like your friend there."
I closed my mouth shut, my eyes firmly locked on the crossbow pointed at me. I felt like I was a lamb about to be led to the slaughter. Maybe I was. Whatever Jack had planned for me wasn't going to be pleasant.
"There should be one more," the man with no arm interjected.
"Kyle, we have who we want now shut it! " Jack responded.
My breathing stopped. My mind whirling as I tried to I fit the pieces together... was that Kyle? The one who died at the school? The reason behind Tyler's hatred of the school. What the hell was going on? Kevin got bit, Kyle died. How can they be here now? And why were they after me? I shook the thought away, I should be thinking about how to get out of it alive. Finding out how they're there wasn't going to help me. It soon became obvious that the only thing I could do was listen to whatever Jack told me to do and not argue back. I've known Jack long enough to know about his fiery rage and the things that made his gears grind - being disobeyed was one of those things.
No matter what I did I was doomed. If I followed I'd be led who knows where and if I ran I'd be shot down, I'd be dead. I wanted to run so badly, I wanted to leave - whether 'leaving' meant this world or just where I stood with my feet firmly planted on the uneven ground being watered by blood.
"Into the van," he hissed at us and pulled open the van doors aggressively.

The van itself was dark and empty. I was squashed up against Archie on one of the narrow wooden boxes that were placed on either side, he put a protective arm around me as Jacks' footsteps echoed through the vehicle from outside. It smelled like rotting metal and death. If hell were to have a smell it would smell like that and, I must admit, it was a fitting scent for my situation.
I jumped up when I heard what sounded like a car door slam. I ran down the metal flooring and banged into the door. I hurriedly pulled at the handle but it just wouldn't budge.
Shit! It was locked, of course, it was. What more had I expected? Jack was stupid but he wasn't stupid enough to not lock the damn doors. I began to bang into the door furiously, still nothing. I hadn't made a dent.
"Remi!" The vans engine kicked in, "Remi!?"
Quiet hands pattered against the door but I couldn't see who was on the other side. They tried to open the door from the other side but it didn't work, "Remi don't leave." It was Caleb, his voice was thick with fear and tears.
"Caleb," I yelled hoping he heard me over the roar of the engine. The vibrations made my words shake.
"Remi!" He yelled back, sobbing. His scared little voice was not drowned out, I heard it loud and clear. I heard his voice fly into my ears and seep further into my brain until his voice was all I could hear - even when he had stopped speaking. I had to get out, I had to. I banged my shoulder into the door but it didn't so much as move. It stayed firm.
"Don't worry!" I yelled hoping he would hear, "Just go, just keep runn-" before I could finish the sentence I was flung backwards. I flew through the air and landed on the metal ground, butt on the floor and knees bent. I was crumpled on the ground and wanted nothing more than to cry, not because of my aching limbs but because of the amount of emotional damage I had encountered the past couple of weeks since the apocalypse started.

Archie helped me up and gave me a worried look but I couldn't manage a fake smile, I just turned away so he wouldn't have to see me. See the worry. See something deeper than worry because that one insignificant word couldn't possibly define how I was feeling, nothing could ever describe how I was feeling - not words, not emotions. I hoped he'd be okay. Caleb will survive. He'll make it... somehow. If I can survive he can, I'm sure of that. The further down the road we got, the more I felt strings tug at my heart like a kite blowing in a storm. Soon it would fly out of my chest altogether until I was nothing more than an object with no purpose and I'd have nothing to keep me on the ground.
I pushed myself up from the makeshift seat that Archie had placed me down on. I felt the familiar tang of pain run down my leg and cursed. I stood up slowly and moved over to the door. I put my hand against the metal, we were going at a steady pace. I shouldn't be falling over again anytime soon at that rate. I took in a few deep breaths, my foot was tingling and I couldn't keep lying. I couldn't keep it to myself. That's when the reality of the situation dawned on me. If I were to turn, if the scratch were to turn me, then they'd both be in danger! I'd be responsible for their death.
I should've run, I should've let Jack kill me when I had the chance. Who knows how long we would be kept in there and who knows how long I had left before the infection took over?
"Have you got anything sharp?" I asked shakily, not turning around from where I stood. My hand placed on the flaking metal.
"You're not going to pry the door open," Archie reasoned with me but I shook my head rapidly.
"It's not for the doors... " I spoke slowly. That was it, no going back. "It's for me." The words fell into silent air, no one said a word for a long while.
"Is that an inside joke between you two? Because I'm not getting it," Lily asked cautiously. I shook my head again and turned around slowly, taking in the biggest breath ever.
I made my way over to them. As I walked I could feel their eyes constantly locked onto me, carefully watching my movements. I tried to ignore them, I just focused on the patter of my feet on the metal, the comforting sound of life. I sat on the floor, my bad leg outstretched.
"What happens when you get scratched?" I questioned the two of them. My eyes scanning them both.
"You become one of them?" Lily said but she sounded unsure of either herself or why I had asked the question.
"Why?" Archie asked, suddenly quiet and very pale. It looked like he was about to throw up at any second. I smiled sheepishly at him as an answer. He raised his hoarse voice, "when?"
"Same time the Logan thing happened," I told him and tried to read his facial expression. He just seemed shocked and completely drained. "I was going to tell you soone-"
"-Are you sure?"
"Well yeah..." I replied confused. It looked pretty damn infected.
"Check!" He commanded, his face red and flustered. "It could've been a branch!"
"Okay. Okay," I muttered as I pulled my trouser leg up. A part of me hoped it had been just a branch, that maybe I had overreacted. But I hadn't. There were the lines running up my leg, bright red like it'd just happened.
"Shit!" Archie hissed, he reached his hand out as if to touch it but decided against it at the last minute. His hand hung in mid-air.
"Oh my," Lily joined in.
"Wait!" I spoke hurriedly. The scarring had shrunk since the morning. It was curling down like a withering flower deprived of sunlight, no longer having the energy it needed to grow. It was going down? How could it? That isn't how it works, you get infected, you get worse and then you become one of them. It doesn't get better. It never gets better.
"What's wrong?" Archie questioned.
"She's been scratched we can obviously see what's wrong!"
"Guys stop." I never took my eyes off the scratch, I was expecting it to grow but it didn't. I was expecting it to flourish and reach for the sun, but it stayed. "It's gotten smaller... it's-"
"-Healing?" Archie finished hopefully.