The Scavengers

  Chapter 13

  “No. No. Nooo!” Cya flailed against Drake's back and shoulders. She had been sobbing and wailing for the last 30 minutes but he had yet to show any sign of emotion as he carried her towards what I was beginning to believe would be certain death.

  Kennedy hadn't even begun to explain the horror that was Mylon when he'd been describing the town to me last night. I stood on the bank of the river and stared down at the walled-off city below. Almost every visible inch of ground inside the massive fence was covered with twitching, rotting flesh and decaying bones.

  “We only have to go into the junkyard,” Shayla said. She pointed to the closed off area to our far right. It had been surrounded by a humongous chain link fence prior to the outbreak of the zombie virus. The gate that lead into the rest of the town was open, but it was pretty clear the zombies mostly didn't care for ambling through piles upon piles of rusting cars. I could only see maybe 10 or 15 zombies inside the junkyard. It sounded like a lot until you realized that there were easily 500 on the area immediately outside of that chain-link fence.

  “I won't go,” Cya wailed. “You can't make me go!

  “I can and I will,” Drake said as he abruptly dropped her onto the ground at his feet. Cya let out an earsplitting scream as she hit the dirt broken leg first. The zombies below us looked up in a single, disturbing gesture. Several of them began slowly ambling towards the edge of the wall closest to us.

  “Stupid girl,” Shayla snapped. She kicked Cya hard with the toe of one of her pointed boots. Cya wailed.

  I swallowed a lump in my throat and considered simply making a break for it. Kennedy had said the Church of Chaos was up the river. I'd clearly found the river. Thirty feet of bubbling water and frothing rapids at the narrowest point.

  “How do we get across?” Jeb asked.

  “Swim.” Shayla pointed down at the churning rapids below us.

  “I don't know how to swim.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized I'd spoken.

  “Well, doesn't it suck to be you?” Shayla sneered at me. “Should have grown up in Block A. We had a pool.”

  “Must have been nice,” I muttered under my breath. “The only water I've ever been in was in the showers.”

  “We can walk across the railroad tracks.” Drake pointed to a high, rotting railroad bridge that was swaying slightly in the breeze over the river. The cloudless blue sky above us gave no indication to the pit of hell waiting within the fence below.

  “The railroad tracks will put us 20 feet above the junkyard,” Jeb pointed out. “I guess we can use them to get across the river and then climb down the support beams once we get to the other side.”

  “I'm not- I can't-. I won't go.” Cya had curled into a ball on the ground. Her broken leg was three times the size of the normal one. I no longer had any doubts that the limb was badly infected. If Cya didn't get real medical treatment soon, she would die.

  “You'll do what I order you to do,” Drake told her.

  “We can't take her,” I said. “She'll slow us down. Please, Drake. I don't want to watch her get ripped to pieces.”

  “She's right, Drake. We can get in and out faster without her.” Jeb pulled his knife out of a holster on his belt.

  Drake tensed and for a minute I thought he was going to argue but then he stepped back. His eyes went from me to Jeb and then back to me. “We can't leave her behind. She'd be defenseless against any zombies that are nearby in these woods. You guys don't want her to die, do you?”

  Cya moaned again.

  I took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. “Leave her here, she might die. Take her with us, we can try to protect her but she'll probably die. There is no right choice here, is there?”

  “How about I carry her?” Jeb offered.

  “You would do that?” I didn't even try to hide my surprise.

  “I'm not going to leave her to die.” Jeb knelt down beside Cya and gently reached for her. “Hey. It's okay. We're going to get through this.”

  “Bad idea, Jeb.” Shayla shook her head as she and Drake exchanged identical looks of disapproval.

  “We can't leave her.”

  “You don't have enough experience dealing with zombies to keep her safe and yourself alive. Your brother was very clear when he told me he wanted you brought back to the Cube alive, Jeb. You know he has big plans for you. The Scavengers are just a pit stop for you.”

  “Yeah. I know. He expects me to take Uncle Eddrick's place in the Powers That Be,” Jeb said as he shrugged his narrow shoulders. “He doesn't think Uncle Eddrick is going to be alive too much longer. The old man's heart keeps giving him fits.”

  “You're going to be initiated into the Powers that Be?” I gaped at Jeb.

  “Assuming I survive long enough,” Jeb nodded and smirked. He stared up at Drake and then looked pointedly down at Cya's quivering form. “If I'm going to be one of the Powers That Be then I have to start worrying about other people, right?”

  “Maybe,” Drake acknowledged. “But today isn't your day. It's mine. I'll carry the girl.”

  “Drake-.”

  “No. I'm the leader here. You are all my responsibilities. I can't let you put yourself at risk for her. I'll do it.”

  “But then you're putting yourself at risk.”

  “That's part of being in charge.” Drake's smile should have been comforting but I hadn't forgotten the look he'd had in his eyes when we'd talked about Cya's accusations against him last night. Drake didn't plan on allowing Cya to survive this hunt. Why would he tell Jeb that he would take care of her?

  “No,” Cya said. “Please no. I don't want to die. Drake will let me die.”

  “Drake won't let you die,” Jeb said confidently. He reached out and took Cya's hand in his own. “Drake's a good man. He's a good leader. He'll get you through this.”

  “He won't,” she whimpered. “Oh God. I'm going to die. I don't want to die.”

  “You're not going to die,” Jeb promised her with a squeeze of his fingers. “Drake, tell her she's going to be fine.”

  Drake knelt down next to Jeb and smiled brilliantly at Cya. His golden eyes flashed with a strange light as he reached for Cya. He picked her up by the waist even as she squirmed and struggled to get away from him. He leaned close her to her ear and whispered something too low for any of the rest of us to hear. Cya tried to pull away once more and then went limp. Tears were running down her filthy cheeks as Drake picked her back up, cradling her in his arms like a small child. “It's time to go,” Drake said.