Chapter Fifteen
They ran.
I don’t know why, they just did. The infected dragged Iris behind them and ran, leaving nothing behind except for the carcasses of the fallen.
Milo just kept trying to shoot at the infected. He didn’t stop. I don’t think he could. The clicking noise that came from his now empty gun rung in my ears. I watched as he snapped in half, the darkness he held in his heart rising to the surface. I watched as his hope was whisked away. Tears welled in his eyes as he continued to pull the trigger, aiming at nothingness. He threw his gun at the floor and took out a knife. He made his way towards the alley where the infected had gone down.
“Milo, don’t!” I yelled after him, “We can’t go after her, we have to get home!”
He didn’t listen. He just kept running in the direction of the infected, away from us. I chased after him, Landon following behind.
“Milo! Milo, please.”I called out, growing nearer to him. I reached out for his shoulder and pulled him back to me. “We need to get back to the house. After we drop off the clothes and get Landon sewn up we can organize a search party--”
“No.” He shot back at me, taking a step forward, “No, we can’t. She won’t be able to survive out here, not with all those things out there. Have you seen those fucking things? They’re monsters, who fucking knows what they’ll do to her? They’ll kill her, or worse, she’ll be turned into one of them and I’ll end up having to fucking shoot her in between the eyes to put her out of her damn misery,” He screamed at me.
“Milo, she will be fine, just please relax. We will look for her tomorrow,” I kept my voice as level as I could, trying not to show him how much I wanted to just go after her then and there. I tried to reason with him.
“You say with the slow ass house search party. I’m going to look for her.” He spat back at me, growling.
“Milo, don’t. Iris will be fine.” I reached for his arm, but he pulled back. “Iris would want us to plan first, instead of just jumping into this headfirst. Think about this.”
Milo sighed, and I felt the grief he harbored bubble to the surface as he collapsed into my arms, sobbing. He shuddered in my arms, letting out broken sobs. I felt his grip around the knife in his hand loosen and heard it drop to the ground.
By the time we had got back to the house, Iris’ flannel that she gave Landon was soaked in blood. First Aid gave him bandages. The girl that was nursing her was named Larentia. She had deep brown, wild, curly hair, hazel eyes, and mocha skin. Dark freckles dotted her cheeks and nose. The glass hadn’t gone too far into his back, it was only a flesh wound, but he needed medicine to make sure it wouldn’t get infected.
“I’ll go. I’ll get it.” I heard myself say.
“Hannah, no. You’ll get yourself killed,” Landon attempted to get out the words and sit up all at the same time, wincing and groaning as he felt the wound reopen.
“Landon, shut up and lay back. You’re the one in danger here. I’m sure Hannah can take care of herself. She seems like one hell of a girl.”Larenita interjected, placing a gentle hand on his arm to stop him from moving any farther.
“No, I won’t let you.”
“Too bad. I’ll go with Paul, Lea, Olivia, and Milo, if he’s up to it.”
