The Passing

Chapter Fifteen [updated]

Her bloody image flashes behind my eyes, colliding with the faces of every other person we lost. Lisa, arms outstretched, half buried in the mud. Carson, his little body wandering the road looking for his mom. Aryand, Jevan, Matthew, Lola, Marcus, Julie, all the littles. My mind wanders over the faces of the ones yet to be accounted for. Yet, her face stands out the most. The one locked in the bathroom stall. As if seeing Kate in her Returned state forced the memory to the forefront of my mind. Something about her was familiar but I couldn't figure out what.

Savanna's blood curdling screams fill the car, her body wracked with sobs. My mind spins like a cyclone around what just happened. Jane sits, motionless and stunned, like a deer spotted in the wild wood. Lazarus grips the steering wheel tighter, and pushes the gas, taking us back onto the main road. We take the road heading away from town, but all eyes look back at what we leave behind. Hundreds of the undead crowd the streets and sidewalks. From this far, it's hard to see if the bodies still remain on the ground. After a while, Savanna stops screaming and sits motionless in the seat in front of me.

"What the hell was that?" Lazarus asks as we speed down the road. The engine hums as Lazarus' foot is relentless on the gas. He swerves past walkers that roam the street, limbs smack the car, smearing murky blood over the glass. The car is dead silent, every mind too wrapped up in thought and worry to be able to muster any logical explanation.

How could so many undead bodies just show up like that? And Kate— proof that some of our people made it here, the only question is who else was with her? One thing that stuck out, more defined than the boots on her feet, was the line dug across her face— marking her the way all the bodies in town were marked. The bodies around her were burned so bad they were nothing but skeletons draped in melted skin, their features warped by fire and pain. My heart sinks at the thought of Sam or James and what answers possibly lie ahead. If they aren't at the next location, the chances of finding them alive only grow slimmer. And I'm not prepared to leave without saying goodbye, not when our last encounter was so short-lived.

Smoke puffs from under the hood, and everyone in the car immediately tenses up. Lazarus pulls the car over, and kills the engine as we come to a stop. For a moment he sits quietly, before ripping the keys out of the ignition and tossing them in a cup holder.

"We gotta go on foot." He states flatly, opening the door and hopping out without further explanation. Savanna whips her head around in a panic, and springs out of the car after him. Opening the trunk, he grabs one of the plastic crates and starts walking.

"I thought you said you fixed it!" Savanna yells after him, standing by the open trunk. He throws up his hands but keeps walking.

"I did!" He turns back, walking backwards, "But when a radiator hose explodes and leaks all the coolant, shit gets too hot and breaks." he rolls his eyes and turns back forward. Savanna stops at the hood of the car, crossing her arms over her chest before jetting her attention to Jane and I, who still sit in the car.

"Are you two coming or what?" Savanna huffs, stomping to where she sat to gather her things. Jane scurries to grab the small makeshift sack she made, and hops out. "Stupid fucking car." mumbling under her breath, Savanna kicks at the tire before jogging after Lazarus, Jane following suit. They slow once they catch up, neither of them looking back to see if I had followed.

This would be the perfect time. I failed to stay behind at the house, too wrapped up in what needed to be done in the moment. As more time passes, the less I have. Already, my skin looks a shade lighter, and my upper right leg has started to go numb. Glancing up quickly, I check that no one is around, before gingerly lifting the edges of my shirt high enough to see the makeshift bandage. Soaked in red, only the outer edges of the fabric covering remain unstained. Dark lines shoot out from beneath it, under my skin, jetting out like lightning in all directions. That is the virus, already embedding in my bloodstream and taking over the dwindling live cells that remain. Pulling my shirt back down, I sigh, resting my head back on the head rest.