Humanity's Hope: Book 1 in the Saving Humanity Series

CHAPTER 19

Caleb was afraid to go back to sleep. When he closed his eyes, he saw Jan's pale face, her eyes staring at him with both a look of horror and pleading, and the taste crept into his mouth. He tried to convince himself it was just stress from needing to hack into the computers, and he almost believed it. It wasn't because he was one of them. He couldn't be. There was no way. He was immune. The bite hadn't changed him. Not like it had the others.

Are you sure? How do you know you're the same person?

His throat tightened.

They wouldn't kill you. They think you are one of them.

His breathing hitched, black dots danced in front of his eyes. He sat on the edge of the bed and lowered his chin to his chest, sucking in air between gritted teeth. He wasn't one of them, but he had changed. What did it mean? Visions of his bloody hands moving toward his mouth entered his mind, but he pushed them away. Standing from the bed, he paced his tiny room.

* * * *

"Tell me about your parents."

Caleb shifted on the couch so he was leaning against the arm. "What do you want to know?"

She shrugged. "I don't care. Anything. What's something fun you used to do as a family?

He leaned back on the couch and averted his gaze toward the ceiling. Searching his memory banks, he looked for moments that didn't involve death and destruction.

"Well ..." he said slowly. "My dad and I used to have an annual fishing trip." He averted his gaze to the doctor.

The psychiatrist smiled. "What did you do on this trip?"

"It was just us guys. My mom and sister stayed home. It was always the week before school started, and we had been doing it for as long as I can remember." Caleb brought his gaze to his lap. A small smile crossed his lips as the memory become prominent in his mind. "We went to a friend's cabin that was right on the lake. We'd get up with the sun every morning and fish until we were hungry. Then after eating, during the heat of the day, we'd either hike in the nearby woods or swim." He chuckled softly. "I can't believe we used to swim in that water. It was so scummy. Algae always lined the beaches, and there were clouds of bugs floating over it." He shook his head. "But I wouldn't have changed a moment of it."

"Did you catch lots of fish?"

"Sometimes. But that wasn't really the point. It was more for my dad and I to bond."

"Did you?"

Caleb nodded. "Yeah. I could tell him anything. He was my best friend."

The words caught in his throat as he said them. Sadness and loneliness flared in his chest at the thought that he would never be at the cabin with his dad again. In fact, the last time he had been there, he had tried to take his own life.

"What about your mom? Did you do anything special with her?"

Caleb took several painful breaths. Visions of their pale faces and lifeless eyes flooded his mind. The moans and snapping jaws of zombies echoed through his brain. He grabbed the edge of the couch cushion and squeezed.

"Leave the painful memories behind." The doctor's voice sounded far away and barely cut through the sounds of the undead. "Bring back the light, Caleb. Focus on the good."

Caleb turned his head so he could look out the window. The sun was high in the sky and streamed through the window. Outside, the last vestiges of snow were melting off the grass and green strands poked through the crunchy brown. Knobby buds adorned the barren branches of the trees. Even though there weren't any birds visible from the window, he imagined they were outside singing. Their song started softly, buried beneath the violence of the undead, but then it grew louder and stronger, drowning out the sounds of the zombies. Caleb closed his eyes and let it reverberate through his skull. Slowly, the chirping changed into a song, one that his mother used to sing. Caleb cleared his throat.