Z-Nation Imagines

Sacrifice

Have you ever stopped to think about how far you would go for the ones you love? Would you take a bullet for them? Trade your life for theirs? Do anything it takes to ensure their survival?

Before the apocalypse, I never really thought about stuff like that. I was always too absorbed in surviving until the end of high school to think about my loved ones. And then it was too late. Everyone I loved either turned or got ripped apart in front of my naive eyes. There was no more time to think about what I would do for them…they were just gone.

When I met Operation Bitemark, I was empty. I had let the world make me hard…let my loss turn me into an emotionless shell, no better than the dead that desperately tried to tear at my flesh. They showed me a better way. The small spark of hope I got from Murphy’s sad ass was enough to stir up the fading life within me. I began to care again. I began to love again.

The ragtag group became my family, and I vowed to never take them for granted in the way that I had my old family. These people were so important to me, I would die in an instant to preserve any one of them. I would stand face-to-face with a thousand Zs to protect them.

That would be put to the test when Sun Mei developed a cure for the zombie virus. An honest-to-god cure. One that would turn a Z back into a human, granted they were preserved well enough. The only problem was that it couldn’t be injected straight into a zombie; it had to have a living human to activate, and the zombie had to then bite the human, resulting in the transfer of affected human blood to the unwitting zombie. The theory was that it would work on fresh zombies, and how they still had enough of the human consciousness left to bring back fully.

It was a true pain in the ass. It also hadn’t undergone human trials yet. It was a bit difficult to find someone willing to get bitten by a zombie and risk turning. When Addy and 10k got into a rough spot with a horde of zombies and ended up with bites, there was only one option for me to take, and that was the way of being the first human volunteer for the trials.

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“I can’t just leave them as Zs. I have to do something. Just give me the injection,” I growled at Sun Mei. She was reluctant to use the experimental cure on someone she was so close to, but I wasn’t giving her much of a choice. “Look, either you stick me or they are as good as forever undead. Please, Sun….I love them so much. Let me do this.”

She looked at me, eyes searching my face for any lingering reluctance. There was not a conflict or doubt in my mind about doing whatever was possible to save my friends. 10k especially…I had allowed myself to fall in love with the boy, and nearly ripped my own heart from my chest when he turned.

“Okay…” she raised the syringe full of a brown, viscous liquid to my neck. “Are you sure you want to do this, KJ? There’s still a chance it won’t work…and if it doesn’t…” she looked away. Not bothering to finish. We both knew what would happen if the cure didn’t work and I got bitten. I would walk among the dead with Addy and 10k.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

Sun Mei nodded and pierced the soft skin of my neck with the thick needle.

The sensation of the thick liquid seeping into my jugular was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and had an afterburn as if I had let fireants crawl into every orifice of my face. My body jerked to the floor and seized, convulsing around the foreign substance that ran through my veins. I gasped and panted, horrified at the agonizing pain. Still cringing and trembling from the effects of the medication after a few minutes, I stood from where I had dropped to the floor and stumbled to the small bell that contained my friends as Warren, Doc, and Sun sat back and watched.

Addy and 10k snarled and clawed for me as I reached the lock to the cell door, dripping frothy saliva as they yearned for my blood. I averted my eyes downward. I had seen enough of them as Zs to haunt my dreams for the rest of my life, however long I may have left. Hands trembled as they clutched the cool metal of the lock and twisted the small key. The contraption sprung open with a loud clack and I let it clatter to the floor.

“Fuck,” I muttered to myself. “I really, really fucking don’t want to do this. You guys owe me big time.” Addy and 10k continued trying to get to me through the bars, unaware of what I was about to do for them….to them.

The door pulled open silently and I stepped inside, taking care to fully shut it behind me. Addy and 10k were on me like stink on shit and I shoved Addy to the side before bringing the outside of my forearm to 10k’s chomping mouth.

My other arm came up as Addy flew back at me, and they both ripped through the filthy leather of my jacket to my unmarked skin. Teeth sunk in to the bone on both sides, and I dropped to my knees, crying out in fear and overwhelming pain. My friends followed me to the floor, releasing their vice-like grips on my shredded arms to fall to their sides. They roared and thrashed around, spitting my blood and their infected saliva, smearing the mixture into the dust-covered wooden planks that made up the floor.

I cradled my arms to my abdomen, head lolling backward into the metal bars as the room spun around me. I focused my fading vision as much as I could on the stilling figures that occupied the cell with me. Gasping breaths came from both of them–startled breaths that ripped the oxygen from the air and spat it back out in huffs.

Sharp intakes of breath rose from behind me as the others watched Addy and 10k cough and drag themselves into a slouched sitting position. Addy looked around, startled, tears falling from her rosy cheeks. I watched from behind heavy eyelids as 10k’s cloudy, white eyes faded back into the sea-colored eyes I fell for. We locked gazes and he crawled toward me slowly, deliberately. Rough, gloved fingers came up to stroke my face as his eyes filled with wonder, spilling over with tears.

A smile rose to my lips. “It worked. It actually worked.” Joy bubbled up in my chest and spilled from my lips in a breathy laugh, and I brought a bloody hand up to touch his face, full of new color and life. We pulled each other into a firm embrace, living hearts raving against each other as we shared in the joy of a renewed life.

At last, we had a cure for zombies.