Anubis

Chapter eight - Mission 326

I shake my wrist quickly, causing the small flame to disappear instantly. Twenty or so candles are lit around the motel room, reminding us that nighttime has struck us once again. Everyone is standing in the kitchen with a small bowl of barely warm beans, shovelling them into their eager mouths. The motel room looks nice with the small flickering flames casting a soldering orange light. 

"So," I pipe in, shoving a spoonful of beans into my mouth. Everyone looks at me and waits for me to continue patiently. I wipe my mouth and swallow. 

"Were the landmen cannibles?" Everyone stops eating and thinks for a second. 

"I don't know, the guy who," Sarah gulps and William rubs her back comfortingly before she continues. "He was really sick, he kept complaining about it." I frown, glancing at the bowl of red beans as I stir them. 

"The guy who I was with actualy sent me to go get some food and water for him," I add. She nods and Kit rubs his chin. 

"Not to mention, when I came back, his eyes were white and he had blood coming from his nose. Also, Victoria had the same thing happening when she was eating that old man," I begin piecing the puzzle pieces together as everyone hums in agreement. 

"Do you think," I am interrupted by Cameron, who surprisingly hadn't said a word since the whole couch thing. 

"The virus." His jaw clenches as he continues to appear unfazed by his theory. My frown deepens as he doesn't care to elaborate or at least provide any evidence. 

"What about it?" William grunts, sensing his sisters unease. She puts her bowl on the bench and stares down at her feet as Cameron lets out a humourless laugh. 

"Can't you see? Obviously the virus is causing this. Those animals probably didn't have any of the vaccine which explains why they turned into flesh eating zombies." I interrupt him, clanging my spoon down into the bowl. 

"You can't say that with no evidence, all you're doing is scaring yourself and those around you," I sneer, poison dripping from my words as I glare at him. He laughs again and sets his bowl down too. 

"You can't say it hasn't crossed your mind. Either its Anubis, or it's another disease. Either way, we're fucked." Sarah begins wailing and I grind my teeth together in anger. He's right. There's no other explanation for how they acted and how they looked after they died. I'd be in denial if I tried to think that the cause was simply that they were cannibles. 

"We don't know that though," I defend in a quieter tone, looking at Sarah. Kit squeezes the bridge of his nose as he exhales. 

"We don't know anything, but if they are zombies, how are we going to survive? We have no hope," Cameron sighs defeatedly. Kit perks up quickly and snatches his bat from the counter that he found when he went back to the store earlier. My eyebrows crease as I look where he's staring at. 

"What Kit?" I ask as I look at the front door and windows surrounding it. He moves towards it after telling us to stay, slowly peering out of the gap between the floral curtains that are on either side of the door. 

"I saw you," Kit mutters, his eyes wide as he stares out into the darkness. I slowly come up behind him, trying to get a look outside as well. He jolts and moves to the door, reefing it open before bolting outside, ignoring our screams. Cameron follows after him and I turn to William and Sarah. 

"Stay here, watch her," I point at William and he nods, passing me his silver pole. I take it and chase after Cameron and Kit. The grass lets out a soft crunch as I make my way across it after Cameron who's about ten meters ahead of me. Kit is about ten metres ahead of him on the ground. 

"Kit!" I yell, coming to a sharp stop once I catch up to him, gasping when I see another man underneath Kit. His glasses are on the floor next to his head while his white lab coat is sprawled out around his body. The man kicks his legs and begins making bird calls, obviously a signal. I fall into stance and hold the pole in both hands horizontally, squinting into the darkness around us as this small man continues his cry for help. 

The click of a gun comes from behind me and I slowly turn around, my stomach dropping when I see a red dot appear on my chest. 

"Tell your buddy to get off the man," the man husks and I nod my head quickly, looking over my shoulder at the small brawl. 

"Kit," he looks up at me, his face dropping before he slowly stands up, eyeing the man on the ground. 

"Oh thank god you came Gerkins," the man rolls into a seating position before struggling to stand up. He's short and fat and I try not to laugh as he pulls an asthma puffer from his coat. 

"I told you not to leave your post Doctor, you're cargo," Gerkins growls, motioning him over to stand next to him. The doctor does as instructed and turns to us, looking at me through his glasses that he retreived. 

"Hello," he says randomly, catching me off guard. I nod slightly and look back at Gerkins who is eyeing all of us. 

"Who are you all? Are there more of you?" he asks, lowering his gun. I answer calmly. 

"I'm Lucy, that's Kit and that's Cameron. We came from the city and were heading to New York for our second vaccine." He nods and looks at Cameron, aiming his gun at him which causes Kit and I to rush towards him. 

"Stop!" 

"Who's this? You have a badge," he points the laser at Camerons military badge which he had pinned to his pants. Cameron looks at it before glancing back at Gerkins. 

"I'm Cameron Smith, I was apart of the junior military base before the apocalpyse." Gerkins sighs and lowers his gun, throwing it over his shoulder to lay against his back. We all let out a simultaneous sigh.

"There's two more of us, in a motel room over there," Kit pipes in, pointing at our motel where William and Sarah stand in the doorway. Gerkins looks at them and back at us. 

"I'm Gale Gerkins, an active Lieutenant in mission 326; bring the cure. This is Doctor Henry," Henry smiles and waves with a small 'hello' before Gale continues. 

"I have a van over there and I'm offering you all to come with us to Mississipi. We need to refill on supplies and the lab there is the only one standing. There we will travel to New York." Kit, Cameron and I all nod enthusiastically. 

"Grab your things and friends, meet back here in five minutes."