Drabbles and Containment by A Forum User

Containment Part 7

~Sang~

Everyone halted for a moment and stared. At the little girls limp body, at the crying parents, at the soldier who had dropped his gun and was simply staring in horror.

North's arm wrapped tightly around my shoulders but I stood stiffly.

It was practical, and really I should look at it in the detached way. Kill the few to save the many.

But it was a little girl.

People drew within themselves, tucking their families into corners protectively, giving the soldiers reproachful looks.

"He killed her," I said quietly.

"She was infected, Trouble," Gabriel said, making his tone soft, "it was for the better."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess."

We fell back into our original place, and I watched the soldier who had shot her pick up the little girl and pass her to her parents. They held the lifeless corpse against their chests, hugging her tight.

My fingers traced the cracks on the concrete, the other hand holding onto my knife securely. My knife. Great. I was attached to an object.

The soldier picked his gun back up, holding it with shaking hands before he became sturdy again. The first kill, I guessed, would always be the hardest.

I heard hushed conversations from the guys that I didn't really have the energy to be interested in. Instead I watched more people trickle into the area.

Occasionally people were dragged to the side. A gunshot would echo in the air and everyone would simply stay silent before the corpse was hauled to the edge of our little compound, where a growing hill of carcasses were piled on top of each other. I assumed they were going to be burnt. Sometimes there would be crying, be it a parent, a sibling, child, friend, lover, anything.

Some people walked in clutching bleeding wounds. Not always bite marks; knife wounds, bullets, people beaten up so much they were close to passing out. Humanity took no time making an opportunity of chaos work for them.

The wounded would be brought over to military medics, or nurses and doctors who had run like the rest of us. Dr. Green had joined them, treating injuries as best he could with the makeshift materials.

Everywhere you looked there were families being torn apart.

We were just waiting for the buses to show up.

Speaking of the buses...

"Where are we going?" I broke their whispered talk.

Mr. Blackbourne looked up.

"Asheville, it's good enough place. Large city, large population, but from what we've gathered from the soldiers talking, most people fled to the country so it's fairly empty."

Made sense.

"Most people went to the country?"

Silas raised his eyebrow at me and smiled.

"If you could drive, and the world was going to shit, where would you go?"

"Fair enough," I mumbled, my eyes sliding to the part where 3 soldiers were guarding. The two Academy...Representatives? Were stood with them, looking so pristine it should have been illegal. When everyone was looking like this...

The path they were stood around curved around the back of the hospital, to what I could only presume was a second car park.

"Looks like the buses are coming," I pointed out. Rumbling was echoing through and people were starting to stumble to their feet.

Soldiers that were patrolling and not defending a certain area congregated, forming a human shield. Probably to stop some people who looked like they were going to stampede to the safety of the vehicles.

Dr. Green gave a quick word to an anxious, overly stressed looking medic and gestured for us to join him.

"Pookie, you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm..." going insane, furious, depressed, annoyed, terrified, "...I'm fine."

I waited for him to make me answer truthfully, but instead he just smiled at me and turned to Mr. Blackbourne.

Thank god.

I seriously did not want to speak about anything that had happened. I wanted to get on that bus and get to 'Ashville'.

We meandered over to the line that was slowly forming in front of the soldiers. Buses pulled up beside each-other. They were army green, with thin slits for windows and looked fortified to the brim.

The line was getting longer, so we jumped in quickly. About eight families stood ahead of us.

Great.

My hand sneaked out, finding another, and I looked up at North. He gave our interlocking hands a small reassuring squeeze. Or at least that was what I thought it was going to be. His hand squeezed close to painfully tight, and he looked nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked, as softly as I could in case he didn't want the others to hear.

His tongue darted out and he licked his bottom lip anxiously.

"Nothing, Baby. Just... I don't like the military that much. Bad memories."

Oh. Oh. I remembered what he'd said about his father being in the military. I was curious about what the bad memories were, but it didn't feel like the right time to ask.

The line slowly moved down, more people joining and us getting closer to the end until finally we were there. I let out a relieved breath.

The buses on the right were filling up with citizens, the ones on the left empty. I assumed they were for soldiers or officials.

Mr. Blackbourne went first, standing in front of the female Academy representative. She was average, with a nose slightly too long to be called attractive, sharp dark eyes and a pinched mouth that was c0vered in a small layer of red lipstick. She looked very much like an authority figure.

The woman licked her ruby-red lips and glanced down at the board.

"Blackbourne?" She asked. Even her voice was filled with authority.

"Yes."

"Last left bus, you're going to Asheville," she said sharply, and gave him an expectant glance that openly said 'move or I'll make you move'.

I frowned, my expression mirrored on Mr. Blackbourne's face. He was equally confused as to why he was going to the ending empty bus.

He gave some eye-communication with guys and then moved up, pulling himself into the coach.

Dr. Green was next, then Kota, Victor, Luke, Gabe, Nathan and lastly North, who let go of my hand reluctantly.

They were all moved up to the same bus as Mr. Blackbourne.

I was next, and my hands wrung together nervously. But I was reassured by what the guys told me earlier. They were Academy people, so they'd vouch.

"Sorenson?" The woman raised a thin, finely arched blonde eyebrow.

"Yeah," I said, and then immediately corrected it, "Yes." I felt like I had to speak properly in front of her.

She gave another glance to her clipboard and then looked back at me.

"Third right bus, you're going to Emperton."