The Passing

Chapter Ten [updated]

"HEY!" I hear someone shout, their voice a growl. The pressure at my throat is instantly relieved as I hear a thud close to me. I suck in heaps of air, scrambling blindly on my back until the back of my head hits something. My vision slowly comes back, my head a thousand pounds refuses to stay upright as I get to my feet. Savanna wrestles with the girl on the ground, and I immediately launch myself back in. Grabbing a fistful of whatever I could, I yank her off Savanna, and shove her into the wall. Like tunnel vision, I focus on her staggering frame as she hops back on her feet. Ready to charge, I ball up my fists.

"Don't." She warns, simultaneously pointing a gun straight at Savanna. Without hesitation, I force Savanna behind me, throwing my hands up by my head. Behind me, Savanna struggles to steady her breathing as she braces herself against me. We stand in silence, chests rising and falling to an unmatched rhythm, blood slips from Scrubs nose.

"You don't have to shoot," my voice shakes. Her eyes narrow on me, but the barrel of the gun is trained on my head. As if a laser marked the very spot, I could feel a dense pressure building where the bullet would land.

She laughs sinisterly, continuing on her spree. "Do you have any idea what you have done? Dr.Owen was working on a cure. She was so close and you fucking ruined it!" Her bloodshot eyes drill through my soul until I am left hollow. All that's left is the lingering seeds of guilt, just waiting to be planted by the right words. She's so sure of herself I'm not sure she even knows the truth herself.

With hands raised by my head, I raise a brow. "There is no cure." I drop the hammer on her false reality and her expression reeks with desperation.

"You're lying." She says, her voice crazed. The gun starts to shake as tears slip from her puffy eyes. She throws up her other hand desperate to keep it steady.

"I swear it's true. There can't be a cure because we are all infected. It's already inside of all of us." I gulp down the pit forming in my throat. Is this girl delusional?

"She's telling you the truth." Savanna tries, poking her head from behind me to look the girl in the eyes. We watch her contemplate it for a moment. The idea that her leader could possibly have tricked all of them into believing there was a way to fix what had already dismantled humanity, like the concept was insane.

"Shoot me." I blurt, instantly tasting the regret. Savanna gasps, appalled I would make such an offer. "Shoot me. Anywhere but the head and you'll get your proof."

"That can't be right. I helped Dr.Owen run the tests and treat her patients." She pleads with herself, eyes darting between Savanna and I. From the corner of my eye, I see Lazarus emerge from the back hallway. Two dead squirrels hang on a string around his neck. He lowers his catch onto the ground, his eyes glued to Scrubs like an animal to prey. He moves with such precision and stealth, when I look away I almost forget he's here. Scrubs sucks in some air and straightens her posture. "Which one of you did it?"

Savanna and I both stand silently. Staring down the barrel it's hard to focus my mind on anything else. Yes, it was me. I had no choice. But who in their right mind would listen to a bargaining deal with the person that killed someone you loved? It's exactly why I did what I did.

"Answer me!" She screams when too much time has passed, spit flying from her mouth as the veins in her neck protrude. My heart beats faster with every passing second as my mind is unable to form the word. I don't want her to think it was Savanna, she did nothing wrong. With a shaky inhale, my lips part, ready to spill my guts out onto the old dingy carpet between us, but his voice comes out instead.

"It was me." Lazarus says from behind her. The shock in her expression is the only reaction she has time for; wrapping his arms around her neck carefully, he knocks the gun from her hands as he leans back, picking the girl off the floor. Their bodies collide on the floor and she immediately wrestles to regain power. Savanna dashes for the gun, giving it a quick once over. The click of the bullet loading into the chamber as Savanna pulls back the hammer makes Scrubs freeze. Lazarus forces her to her feet, the power back in his court.