I had never seen anybody move with such conviction and anger as Thom was then. He had that floor splintered open in a matter of minutes. After chipping away the rough edges with the head of the axe, Thom stood up straight and looked right at me with a fire in his eyes; a confused, burning, angry fire that I had only ever seen once before from him. He broke the stare and took a step forward almost as though sleepwalking, and dropped right through the hole. As if by reflex, we moved forward and knelt on the floor, looking down through the gaping hole that had opened inside this beast of a building to us. Thom stood in the middle of someone else's living room, and was already hacking at the floor there. I moved to drop down the hole myself, but Clive held his hand to my chest.
"I'll go. You should keep your distance, at least for a while."
I didn't like hearing someone tell me to stay away from my best friend, but he was right. I backed off. Clive sat on the floor and stuck his legs through the hole, and I helped lower him down. He hung from my hands for a second, then he let go and landed beside Thom, who didn't even look over--he just kept swinging that axe as if he were slaying some invisible dragon. By the time Clive had checked out the apartment below, Thom had already finished his second hole and was heading through to the next apartment. Thom was now on the second floor, and he began savagely attacking it, letting out loud grunts with each swing of the axe. I jumped down one level to join Clive. Everyone else would stay put until we were sure it was safe. After another 30 minutes of Thom the one-man-wrecking-crew's efforts and he was standing on the ground floor in some stranger's apartment. Clive appeared beside him and they both looked around that apartment to be sure it was safe. I was above them now and watching them through the second floor hole as they both disappeared from view.
Out of nowhere, I heard a sudden scream, a young-sounding voice, and I quickly jumped down the hole and towards the noise, my gun drawn. I ran into the hallway, almost bumping into Clive. We both got to the bedroom Thom was in at the same time, and wedged into the doorframe together, frozen. Thom stood in the room over a small single bed. The bed was drenched in blood. A woman in her fifties was splayed out on the mattress, literally ripped apart. Slumped over her was what looked like a young boy, lying on his stomach over her torso, his head sideways with those fluorescent yellow eyes, and Thom's axe buried between his shoulder blades. Thom stood beside the bed, hands still wrapped around the handle of the axe, his face wet with blood and sweat, his whole body shaking. I stretched my hand out, eager to console my friend, but just the motion of my hand moving in his general direction seemed to repulse him, and he recoiled quickly, pulling the axe out of the child's back. He stepped away from the bed and adjusted his grip, rocking back and forth from left foot to right foot. I opened my mouth to say something, but before the words could even form, Thom flew into another rage. He slid the axe through his belt and tore through the apartment. In the living room he picked up a sofa by one end and shoved it across the room at top speed, yelling loudly in a raging, animalistic voice. The sofa crashed into the patio doors and created a small supernova of shattering glass. The shards flew everywhere as we cowered behind our own arms. Thom dropped the sofa once it was outside the door, leaving it half-sitting on the balcony. He turned to us and took a few deep breaths before speaking.
"You're on your own now Denny. You're all on your own. I have to leave before I do something I'll regret."
My brain barely had time to register these words yet they already haunted me. Thom turned and ran, and as he got further and further from the building, a small crowd started forming behind him, running in the same direction, following him. They were leaping off the building over our heads, hitting the ground with thick thuds, some breaking joints, but still attempting to join the migration after Thom, even crawling, pulling their useless bodies behind them, but following nonetheless. I moved forward to follow Thom and the sea of infected, but Clive clamped his hands on my shoulders, halting my departure.
"You can't do anything Denny. He is a lost soul now; he has suffered too much and needs to find his own answers. You saw the look in his eyes; he won't listen to anything you have to say."
"Then I'll beat him into submission and carry him back with me! It's better than those things getting him."
"He'll be okay; he knows what to do and where to go. He'll be fine."
"What do you mean he knows where to go? What the hell did you say to him? Where is he going?"
"Denny, he needs to be alone; he needs to sort things out in his soul, in his heart. I sent him to my church. There is a secure, single room in the cellar where he can hole up; he'll be safe. There are supplies there for him, so he'll be fine. He has nowhere else to go now Denny, leave him be."
I wanted to punch Clive in the face, but I knew that what he was saying made sense. Thom had lost everything twice over. As long as I knew he was safe I should leave him alone. I could come back after I got Diane and Jordan; I could come back and see that he was all right. Even though he was angry with me, he had sacrificed his own safety to get the infected away from the building long enough for us to get away. Now we stood together, the three families plus Clive and me. I had no idea where we would take these people, but I now felt it was my responsibility to make sure they would be safe before I could continue on my way home.
We discussed our options and at first we thought about checking another building for a secure apartment, but it seemed too risky considering the events of this afternoon. Clive suggested we go to a self-storage place not far from here. Since the units run on electricity produced by a generator, with a few supplies it could be the ideal place to hole up until either help came or this thing somehow ended. Then there was our other option. We could go straight to the military encampment set up by the mall. The families would definitely be safer there--I just knew I wouldn't.
We decided to go with the safest choice, so I would accompany them as close as possible, then make my own way in another direction, staying clear of the armed forces. We figured it wouldn't take any longer than 20 minutes or so to get there if we went straight across the highway. The way was wide open so we'd be able to see everything in all directions plus it wouldn't look like we were sneaking up on the military once they saw us. Ensuring there were no accidental shootings was our first concern; we had to make it very clear that we weren't infected and that we needed help. Clive would lead the families across the highway, and I would cover them from the treeline on the farmland to the north of the highway, using a scoped rifle that Frank had. I wasn't the best rifleman around, but I could handle it if I needed to.
We all started moving in the direction of the highway. After about 500 metres I splintered off to the east and headed into the woods. I quickly came to a hill that provided good visibility and proceeded to lie down in the tall grass. I followed the group through the scope, watching them run at a good pace, the adults helping the kids over the guardrails of the highway. Once they started moving across the blacktop, I moved the scope to focus on the north to see if there was any activity from the military. There was a makeshift guard tower not far from the north side of the highway, and the soldier in it finally took notice of the group after a short time of daydreaming in the haze of the midday sun. He raised his rifle and took aim at the group after tilting his head slightly to mutter some warning into his shoulder-mounted radio. I looked further north and saw a hummer already making its way over to them. It skidded to a stop at the base of the tower and four soldiers jumped out with great urgency and rushed to the northern guardrails. They all fell into strategic positions and yelled out harsh warnings to the group, who stopped in the middle of the road, hands raised. Wayne yelled something I couldn't make out and two of the soldiers jumped the rail and approached them. They did a quick search and pat down of everyone, then led them over the rail and into the area where the post was located. The families were all safe for now, and I didn't have to fire a shot. Until a hand landed on my shoulder from behind. My finger twitched and a round flew into the air, the echo carrying on the wind. I rolled over in the grass, swinging the rifle around with me, and the barrel was stopped by Frank's large hand. His other hand was held out in a stopping gesture. Frank looked up and beyond me as I turned to look back towards the military encampment. It may not have been the shot heard round the world, but it was certainly the shot heard round Scarborough. The troops had already started to mobilize in our direction.
