The Virus

Six

I sit by the truck loading in some weapons. Mark and Alex make their way over. "Okay look, we're only going down the road to the high street. We need to be alert. The herd goes along that road. If we see the herd we make a full circle back. We don't plough through, we can't. By the time we circle back to school the herd will be long gone. Only use guns as an absolute last resort. We don't want to attract any. Alright." I finish and put the last of the knives and water in the back. "If we get stuck out there. I've put enough supplies for all of us for a day." I tell them.

They glance at each other. "Why would we get stuck?" Mark asks.

"Maybe the herd decides to stick around here." I reply. They nod and Mark jumps into the back while Alex goes to the front.

I go to open the door when someone's shouts stop me. I look and around and find Solomon running towards me. "Herd! Herd!" He screams.

I motion for him to stop. "Where?" I ask him calmly.

"They're spilling out into the park again. It's bad." He replies breathlessly. In an instant, I am out of the car and sprinting up to the tower to see. Solomon is right. It's bigger this time. Much, much bigger.

Noah comes up behind me "How bad?" He asks.

"Bad." I reply. "Solomon go downstairs and get everybody inside. We can't risk them sensing us." I say. "Wait Solomon did you seal up the fence?" I I ask.

"Yeah." He replies before leaving.

We watch as the group makes its way over to the other side. Once again spilling onto the road. I don't breath as they walk past. I keep my eyes trained on them willing them to leave. And they do. Slowly but surely, they do.

Even though the herd passed everybody was too shaken up to do a run. We all agree to wake up early the next morning and go then. This also means I have to take watch in less than twenty minutes so I make my way downstairs and grab a bag of crisps before taking over from Solomon. He leaves and I can see he's on edge from the scare.

It's only nine in the evening but already the moon is high. It's a full moon tonight, I always found them beautiful. I take a deep breath and sigh, closing my eyes for a second.

I snap awake. My watch says less than ten minutes has passed, but it could have been longer, I needed to stay awake  and alert, there was a reason I was on watch. I wake up properly and settle in for the rest of my shift.

 "You look beautiful when you sleep." Someone whispers. 

I spin around and throw my hands out, striking them in the face. They falls backwards with a grunt. I point my gun straight at their head. Noah's head. He holds his hands up in the air and gives me a small smile. 

I shake my head and try to calm my breathing. I offer a hand to help him and pull him up. 

"Please... please don't do that," I tell him, my voice shaky. 

"Hey, hey.. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry," he replies, giving me a small hug, holding me close. 

I bury my face in his neck for a moment and try to focus on his smell, try to calm myself through distraction.

"You always were jumpy actually. I guess with a gun you're all the more dangerous." He chuckles. "You jump at the sound of leaves rustling." He pauses for a moment. "Why?" He asks.

I keep my eyes trained forward. "Can we not talk about this." I murmur as though I'm concentrating really hard.

"Well by the way you talk in your sleep. So I already know a lot more than you want me to." He gives me a sly smile. "You might as well tell me the rest." He says with a soft, coaxing tone.

"The rest of what? It's not one thing. It's my entire life." I say. He looks at me as I turn and lock eyes with me.

"You're hurting. And I know deep down you can and will deal with it on your own. But I don't want you to. Before, I wasn't there. I should've been, but I wasn't. I'm here all the time now. We should talk more." He says regretfully.

I nod. "I'd like to. But I can deal with this." I say, convinced.

Noah gives a weak but genuine smile. "You're a survivor in so many ways Ophelia Clarke. You were meant for this world." He murmurs. I smile. Maybe he's right. Maybe I ran into so much trouble before because I didn't belong there. Because I belong here. I shake the thought and divert my attention back to the park.

"I'm still here you know." He says. I jump at the sound. "See? What happened to you? What made you like this?" He asks curiosity in his voice.

"I told you what ha-"

He interrupts me. "No. Tell me what really happened." He says. "You think I didn't know it was a lie. Ophey, I know you. You're strong. You're grandfather's death couldn't break you. It's something else. Something bigger." He says with conviction.

I shake my head. "Can we not." I whisper. I turn away from him letting a single tear slide down my cheek.

"This isn't you. It never was." He says.

"This is the only me." I reply sadly before walking away. Leaving him to finish my shift and his own.

850 words