Pandemic

Chapter 9 - Drunk and unstable.

9

 ‘Give it back!’ Kyle roars and whacks Michael’s head into the lodge wall. ‘Where are they?’

All of his drugs are gone, and the only other person who has been close to them is Michael. That filthy, little creep! ‘Answer me!’ He screams, and bangs Michael’s head into the hard, red wall again, and again, and again.

 ‘I told you I don’t know,’ Michael cries and tries to flounder out of his iron grip. He lies. Everyone lies. He can’t even trust his very own friend!

 ‘Bloody liar,’ he whispers into his pal’s ear. ‘You’re going to regret stealing and lying to me.’ 

The knife in his pocket lures for his hand, and in a few seconds Michael could be taking is last breath. Kyle feels great power of being in charge of someone’s destiny like this. The intensity is almost better than the drugs he usually takes, but just almost. Now Mike deserves to die. He deserves blood and pain for stealing, for being an unforgivable sinner. 

What a filthy thief he is. Kyle shudders in complete disgust. 

His hand slips down in his belt and slowly drags up the silvery bladed knife. Soon. Only a few more seconds until the punishment would be delivered and he finally can be at peace. Michael’s life will end in suffering, which is the only thing he deserves. After he dies he will rot in hell for stealing his precious medications. The cold blade is a contrast to the grip that has been warmed up by hanging so close to his sweating body. He can already feel Michael’s blood on his hands.

 ‘Stop!’ A voice calls. Kyle stumbles backwards in shock when Mike pushes him. In anger, Kyle turns and sees a man. ‘I’m Dr. John Lemmon, the owner of this house. Put down your knife immediately.’

 ‘Whatcha gonna’ do about it, punk?’ Kyle spits and hopelessly tries to get control over Michael, who is running in circles around him. Each time he reaches out to catch him, he grabs after air and stumbles forward. The alcohol in his blood keeps him from reaching out fast enough to grab the thief before he moves to another place. 

All of a sudden, one Michael turns into two Michaels. Then three… four… And then it all goes black.

                                                     ***

 ‘I’ve told him to quit drinking for years, but these last days after the outbreak it went out of hand… At Monday he had an overdose and-’

 ‘Did you steal anything from him or not?’ John grits his teeth and paces some more in front of him. Michael swallows nervously and tries to ignore the sweat pearls running down his face. His hands are tied. A kitchen chair has never been so uncomfortable.

 ‘Look, I’m not a bad person. I’m an elementary school teacher. My name is Michael I’ve lost just as much as you have!’ He tries defending himself, but John doesn’t seem impressed. It’s true, though. Everything he says is true. ‘Kyle isn’t bad either! He used to have a family and we’ve been friends for years. He just lost it when they died and…’ 

John is nearly screaming. ‘Did you steal or did you not steal?’ 

 ‘Okay! Okay! I took his drugs and drink and put them in the thrash!’ Michael admits. As soon as he does, the girl behind him cuts loose the rope that ties his wrists together. It had been so badly knotted that he could have pulled himself to freedom without much effort, but chose not to. The last thing he wanted was to create mistrust between him and these people who also has survived. Survivors need to stick together. To make it seem more believable, he massages his wrists like they’ve been hurting. At least that’s what he sees people do in the movies.

 ‘When your friend wakes up, you leave. We will get one of your two cars, because you don’t need both,’ John says coldly. He leaves no room for discussion, but Michael refuses to cave that easily. When Kyle had noticed that his stock wasn’t there, Mike hadn’t had any choice but to take one of the cars and try to escape. The cabin looked like it would be a safe place to hide, but he never got inside before his buddy came for his revenge.

 ‘Kyle wasn’t himself! He is a great guy, really. Please don’t throw us out,’ he pleads. Honestly, he has no idea how long he’ll be able to stay sane if he gets out there alone again. ‘We’re survivors. We should stick together! Please…’ 

He seems to think about it. There are three teens standing up against the wall. They all look at him with curious, but doubting eyes.

 ‘Why can’t they stay? I get it if you throw Kyle out, but this guy seems like a nice person,’ the curly haired girl says. Her eyes searches for his, and when she captures them she won’t let go. For a few, but long, seconds they have an intense eye contact. They are pretty eyes.

Something moves in John, and he turns around to face his kids. They can’t all be his children, unless he was fifteen when he started reproducing.

‘We can take a vote,’ he suggests. He stops up when he starts talking to them. Michael hasn’t seen him hesitating this much during the whole time he’s been here.

Could a man in his mid thirties really be affected by the meanings of a small group of teens? If so, this was Michael’s lucky day. Maybe Kyle’s as well?

 ‘Everyone we’ve met until now has been bad people,’ the boy says. Michael bites his thumbnail as he feels his heart rate speed up.

 ‘I guess that’s a no from Matt, then,’ John says. To Mike’s relief, the boy shakes his head. There’s an awkward silence lying upon them as they wait for one of the two girls to speak up.

 ‘Even though I don’t like people in general, it doesn’t mean everyone is bad,’ the shortest girl says. She has a rude, edgy tone, but Mike doesn’t really care for it as long as she helps him out.

 ‘You gave us a chance, why shouldn’t we give them one? And they have cars.’ Matt supports his friend. Then they all turn to look at the girl wit the dark red curls.

 ‘Aria?’ John says.

She shakes her head slowly and takes a deep breath. ‘We have no reason to let them into our group, nor to trust him.’ She gestures towards him.

Michael sends her pleading look after pleading look, but she doesn’t cave to look at him. Doesn’t she understand that what he says is true? He has never intended for anything bad to happen to anyone.

 ‘So it’s a tie.’ Matt bites his lip. ‘John, come on… We need more people and they have cars! It would be easier to travel further if we don’t have to do it by walking.’

John scratches his short chin scruff. ‘Fine. Kyle will be kept in custody, always being watched by Aria or me,’ John decides. Aria is about to protest, but gets cut off. ‘Remember our deal. As long as you travel with me, I make the decisions.’ 

The clump in Michael’s throat shrinks until it’s gone. He is somewhat safe, at least for now. Finally.

 ‘But you wanted to throw them out,’ she mumbles. A quick look up at John makes her turn around and walk quietly out of the room without any further discussion.

 ‘We leave tomorrow. We’re looking to find a research lab where I can cooperate with others to fin a solution and a cure,’ John says.

Everyone leaves the bedroom, and Michael is left wondering if this really was a good idea after all.

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