Breathing the Dead ~ H.S

Chapter Fifty-Four

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR: HATRED

Eric

"Something's wrong," Liam said as he began to pace back & forth on the patrol tower.

"What do you mean?" I asked him with a frown.

"Laura," he replied, "she's...she's acting weird."

"Well, obviously she's still grieving about-"

"No," Liam interrupted me, "this is different."

"How?"

"I thought she seemed a little happier yesterday – before we took her out to the shooting field. And then...when we came home...she seemed to be even worse than she already was."

I crossed my arms. "I don't think so."

"I think she saw something. While we were on the road," Liam seemed to be ignoring me completely, "or...maybe someone..."

"What?" I frowned again, "What do you mean, Liam?"

"What if..." Liam looked at me, "...what if she saw Harry?"

My eyes widened. "What? That's...that's not possible...is it..?"

"Eric, when we got stuck in the mud yesterday, it wasn't far from where we left him. And after he turned...he probably started wandering around – trying to find food."

"But...but the forest is huge. He could've gone anywhere in the forest," I argued.

"Eric," Liam looked at me carefully, "just think about it. After we dug out the van and went to find her...she was so shaken. As if she'd just seen her worst nightmare come to life. And what do you think could be her worst nightmare in this world?"

I bit my lip. "Harry...as a walker..."

"Exactly," said Liam, "maybe she saw him walking by or something...and the sight of it made her...freeze perhaps...and she couldn't move or make a sound – so he probably went right past her."

"Well..." my eyebrows furrowed a little, "even if it was Harry...does it matter? I mean...what if we make it so that she doesn't have to see him like that again? By...keeping her in the camp, or something..?"

"Oh, it matters, Eric," said Liam, "do you know what would probably happen if Laura & Harry ever ended up face-to-face with one another?"

I didn't say anything and only frowned.

"Eric, I know Laura. If she ever sees Harry like that...and if he sees her...it'll be a disaster. All he'll be interested in is eating her, but she won't be able to protect herself...because she can't bring herself to harm Harry in any way – even if he isn't Harry anymore. As a result...she'll be dead before she can even look twice."

"So...what are you saying..?" I asked him cautiously.

"Harry isn't Harry anymore. He needs to be eliminated," he replied, "but that's something that Laura will never be able to do, so..." he lowered his eyes towards the shotgun in his hands, "...it's up to us to do the job ourselves."

My jaw dropped. "What?! We can't do that! We can't kill Harry!"

"Eric, I just told you," Liam gritted his teeth slightly, "he isn't Harry anymore."

"But we don't have to hunt him down and kill him!"

"Yes, we do. We need to get to him before he gets to us. We're all in danger – especially Laura. And I'm not having another orphan in this group."