All Is Lost

8.

Citizens of the camp bustled back and forth across the yard as the late afternoon sun beat down on them.

Jillian and Vanessa cooperatively slipped on the uncomfortable. derogatory camouflage uniform and did a light face of makeup to match.

The ringleader directing the circus-of-a-compound barged into their room with a string of curse words and a harsh announcement tailing behind that raised a pair of freshly-thickened brows.

He was acting like someone had died.

Jillian led the charge to the front door that caved into his office and dragged Vanessa to crouch in the middle. They kept their eyes trained on the one running everything.

"I hate to say this as I had promised everyone a vampire-free world as long as you lived here, but unfortunately that status has changed." He looked Vanessa in the eye and she challenged him. "We have a rabid in our midst and I intend on keeping every single one of you safe."

A frail grandmother coddled by her daughter's kids, raised her bony, skeleton-like hand. "How...are you...." she coughed, hacking up a lung. ".....going to.....keep us.....out of harm's way? My grandchildren..are young." She coughed up a bloody chunk of something gooey and literally dropped to the ground, her skeleton snapping in half.

"Guards! Remove her body at once." He shouted, tossing the lead soldier a pair of silver keys.

The old, dying woman waved at her daughter, saying goodbye to the world after completing all her respective duties.

Vanessa crept away from the crowd and trailed after the fallen warrior as they carried her on a stretcher toward the chute. Blood as black as the rabid's eyes littered the Main Street and poured down the gutter, taking chunks of her intestines and pancreas with it.

"Don't just stand there. Come help!" The closest soldier shouted as he buckled under the weight of the overly-stretched grandmother. Blood still oozed out of her mouth, ears and nose. Pus leaked from sores on her chest and neck. "It looks disgusting, but you get used to it."

"Get used to them dying from some disease, then being dumped like an abandoned animal?" Vanessa scoffed as she easily tossed the old woman into a bubbling pit.

"That's how it happens around here, how it's been since the explosion. All of our elders are dying at an alarming rate and contracting every symptom you just witnessed." He wheeled the gurney back through the main building and loaded the lunch lady on as her corpse slowing decomposed. The bite marks she'd made, oozed with blood and filmy pus. "It's pretty rough seeing your own family member on their deathbed, finally at peace. Boss has no clue how a vampire could've snuck in with all the extra precautionary details up front. Any ideas?" He questioned as she assisted with dumping the last corpse down the chute.

"Plenty. But, you'll think I'm nuts." She chuckled, shifting her katana from one hip to the other.

"Nah, I've seen crazy. And you're not it." He tossed something to her and she caught it. "Now that's a crazy story right there. I defeated one of the ferals and took my own souvenir."

"That's pretty reckless." She tosses it back. "Rabids are the toughest to kill, especially if you're standing against an entire coven."

"Is that coming from personal experience?" He blocked her path from entering the building.

"Maybe," she dodged under him. "Or maybe....it's none of your business."

"Is that so?" He challenged, wrapping his arms around her.

"Yes.." she huffed, slipping out of his grasp and landing a clear blow to his nose. "It is so." She wipes a bead of sweat away. "And I wouldn't suggest using hand-to-hand combat with me either. I might've broken your nose."

The ex-marine held the two bones together and tipped his nose back. "You're joining my combat class first thing tonight. Be ready to challenge those who know more."