[Longlisted!] -Ghosts of Galena- [#Wattys2018]

The Fray

A glance upward shows me a swirling coil of razor wire perched atop the fence with nothing on the other side but a small concrete ledge, about a foot wide. The fence, I can do. The razor wire, I can do. The water, though, that's a whole other problem in and of itself.

Swinging back around, I try to assess the situation. The Leader had been standing off to the side, and there is a wider ledge there, but it still ends in water, and is mostly occupied by horses at the moment. Either way we do this, we're going to have to jump.

"Take your shirt off," I tell Ree, and start shucking off my flannel, stripping down to the cotton undershirt. "At the top, throw it over the wire, double it up, and jump."

"I can't do that!" She tells me, but starts stripping off her shirt anyway like she's gonna try. "I can't jump. Not from so high. Not into the water."

"You can, and you will. I'll be right behind you. I won't let you drown." I tell her, taking hold of her shoulders. She flinches as a shriek pierces the air, her fingers clamping down on the ball of flannel clenched between her palms. Ree squeezes her eyes shut so hard that tears leak out. Her whole body curls in on itself because she knows, she knows what that cry means.

"What if there are jellyfish?" she asks.

"What?" I ask, blinking.

"Jellyfish," she repeats. "What if there are jellyfish?"

"Not gonna lie," I tell her. "There are probably jellyfish in the water, but--" I turn, grasping her by the shoulders and pointing her in the direction of the carnage happening no more than thirty feet away. "-- there are definitely zombies here."

The tiniest whimper escapes her; she's shaking so violently that her teeth clack together, but she gives a jerky nod and says, "Right. Okay."

Nudging her around, I put a palm to her back and urge her toward the fence before she can start asking me about zombie jellyfish. Her hands find the metal links, but climbing is apparently easier said than done, because she hops twice and slips thrice before finally getting a foothold. I have my doubts that she'll make it over the coil at the top, but it's this way or no way, so I gotta hope she can manage it. Standing below her, I give her a boost, bracing my hands on her thighs, right below her rear, in an attempt to keep her from skidding back to the ground. After a shaky start, she seems to get the hang of it.

Well, this part, at least.

That is, until she buckles nearly in half with a grunt, jerking to one side so violently that she shakes loose and nearly falls on top of me. As Ree crashes back to earth, her hands grasp for any purchase, fingers sliding free as momentum and gravity carry her downward. With my help, she manages to avoid landing on her backside. As it is, it's all I can do to take a step back; the last thing I need is another cracked rib or, heaven forbid, a punctured lung.

"Something hit me!" she says, clutching at her side. When she pulls her hand away, there's the slightest bloom of blood beneath the white of her undershirt, and when I yank up the edge of the fabric, there's a near-perfect puncture wound.

"Air rifle, looks like," I say, and let my eyes flicker over the current landscape. There are horses still tied to the sides of the enclosure, Dead Ones still working their way closer, although they're bottlenecked a bit, crowding around ragged bits of flesh hanging from posts. As many of them as there are, there are too many to fit, but with each passing moment, the small bubble of space around us gets smaller.

"We need to get out of here now."

"Jesse!" A voice, but not Ree's, and not belonging to The Leader. A different voice that's familiar all the same. "Over here!"