Z-Virus (7 page)

 Chapter 14 

To Stand For What Is Right

"Where did you get this beast?" I was curious enough to know more about it. As far as I know there were no auto mobile store that sold car near by, especially in this small town.

"I don’t have this baby until two years ago, I got it from another city in Green Dale. It was the last car that was untouched and in good condition. The others were already taken and some were smashed and destroyed by some explosion. I changed car each time I saw a better one, used to drive a Mini Volkswagen. I am lucky to have this one spared." As we chat in the car, we passed by Claire who walked by foot and drove up the hill where my apartment was. I waved my hand to Claire and saw her irritated face through the rear view mirror. We arrived soon after, followed by Claire. I heard Prince barking from the highest storey of my apartment looking down at us. He probably had been looking for me, for I was missing when he was sleeping. We went out the car and glad to see Roger looking at my place in complete amazement. "Is that Prince?" Roger asked. I nodded. He smiled and said "Cool!". I led the way and warned Roger about not to step on my traps. He carefully watching where he stepped on and moved along behind me. Claire had already entered the apartment.

That night we enjoyed partying. We dance, we sing, we play games as well to celebrate a new member to the family. It was hard for me to describe the feeling I experienced right now. Roger has become like my own brother. He too was touched by our welcoming nature that I saw his eyes were teary. He again thanked me for letting him stayed with us and be part of the family. We stayed up late, Prince was drunk with his milk and we were drunk with liquor and wine, partying like there was no tomorrow.

The day after, Claire and I were planning about going to Greendale to find the hidden thing. We were discussing this in the library.  We needed a very good strategy that we have map to help us with our direction or any possible route to get to Greendale. But there was no other way to get to Greendale faster except that we have to cross the Dead Bridge. This is very risky. The bridge hasn’t been used for many years and it was made of wood. The door creaked opened as we busied with our plan and saw Roger slowly entering the room. "Hey, I heard what you guys said. Can I join you? To Greendale?" He looked lively and showed the interest in participating.

"Roger, I think it’s better for you to stay here with Prince. This is a very dangerous mission . We won't be able to watch for your back if there were three of us." I said.

"Who needs protection? I am used to live out there alone and this mission is just another day hunting some hidden I don’t know weapon? Shooting some zombies won't be a problem for me."

"McKenzie, this is not like what you think. This is more than just that. You are still young and inexperienced. We had considered if you were able to be part of the team, but we thought wrong. You still had a lot to learn. This is not a game." added Claire.

"Excuse me lady? I caught you yesterday, you still think I am a junior and incapable of this?"

"I could have taken your weapon out of your hand if I wanted to yesterday but I decided not to." Claire clarified.

"Such big words on small body." Roger replied.

"Want to try?"

"Guys! Enough!" I yelled to both of them. "Stop this pointless fight. Fighting won’t solve anything. Roger what Claire had said is true. You can’t join us. Not yet."

"You too? No, I am in and that is that."

"Fine! But don’t expect us to watch your back! We were trying to save your ass, don’t blame us if anything gets you hurt!" Claire went out from the room and left us both in the library. "Travis, I promised I won’t be a burden. Trust me." He said.

"Okay, but make sure you follow the rules and stick to the plan when we were on our mission, do you understand that?"

"I will. I promise Travis." I asked him to prepare because we were going on to start our mission soon. He walked out the room a happy man, because his face expression told me so.

I wore my SWAT uniform and asked Roger to wear the same as I have extra of them. We were completed armed with weapons. Claire as usual with her leather battle outfit and attractive to the eyes. It reminds me the outfit wore by one of the famous DC Comics superhero named Catwoman. Only she doesn’t have the cat mask. We are going to Greendale with my loyal truck. This time I didn’t bring Prince along with me. It’s better for him to stay, at least he will not be caught in the middle of the war later and has someone to look after the apartment when we were gone. He was already barking repetitively as if to bid us goodbye and wished to have a safe trip. Each of us prepared well for this mission. We discussed things what to do and not, always work as a team and don't be foolish to do things alone, unless it is safe. Claire had already entered the Truck, she asked me that she would drive again this time. Roger was standing next to my truck staring at the sky as if praying for his safety and peace during our mission. I reached for him and greeted him at that instant moment touching his right shoulder, he startled and looked at me. 

"Are you okay my friend?" I asked.

"I am not weak Travis. I promised I will not fail you. I just need some motivation right now." Answered Roger.

"You may need not to worry about that. All you have to do is to believe in yourself and have self confidence. Just remember that, you are doing this for your brother, not for revenge, but to stand for justice for the death of your brother."

"Yes, thank you again Travis. You’ve been kind to me and supporting me all this time. How I wish you are my big brother."

"Hey, we are brothers now and no one can changed that." Upon hearing this, Roger hugged me and pleased that he was not alone in this mad world. Claire honk the car and shouted at us. "Okay! Enough being sentimental, we’ve got job to do! Get both of your ass moving quickly into the truck!" We quickly let go each other’s embrace and went inside the truck.

Chapter 15 

The Dead Bridge

So this is the day. The day we would uncover the secret of the pendant and the map we have found inside it. The time showed 10:32 hours in the morning. We were now on our way to our next and probably our last destination. I have many things playing in my head now. I worried about Roger and I worried about Claire. I know that Claire could take care of herself without me but I didn’t know what would happen in the future. I’ve been thinking to myself what would happen if I lost both of them? I would be all lonely again. The journey to The Dead Bridge took longer than what I’ve had expected. I took out the map again from the inside of my kevlar jacket. Same route, same place to go and no changes. I wished that I could find another way, not wanting to cross The Dead Bridge. I  must admit, I am afraid of Heights but I kept myself silence and put back the map inside my jacket. Claire noticed this strange behavior of mine and started to ask me about it. "What’s wrong Travis? Your mood seemed different today. Is there anything you wanna tell me about?"

"No Claire. It’s just that our expedition took longer that I thought it was not. It’s almost been two hours now since we left home." I lied even though there was truth in it.

"Well we can’t always trust the distance on the map now does we? It was probably just an estimation, not an accurate one."

"I guess you’re right Claire." I replied. I looked through the rear view mirror and saw Roger was fast asleep. No wonder he was quite. Probably thinking too much about this mission made his brain tired. I wonder if he even slept last night.

Along the journey I witnessed many horrible things. Dead bodies on the road, car crashed with corpses inside, mutilated hands, arms, limbs, legs and even severed heads on the ground with faces looked so horribly terrifying. The feeling when looking at those savaged faces and body parts were madly nauseating. Even animals, insects and fishes in the river were now couldn’t be trusted. Except for my dog Prince of course. Not even cats can be trusted to be your friend anymore. These animals were infected with the virus by feeding from the dead. Rats, snakes, eagles, crows and cows are all infected. Viruses are transmitted from little insects such as flies and mosquitoes, increases the rate of the spread. The only animals that I trust right now were sparrows, pigeons and butterflies, for they didn’t feed on the dead.

We’re almost there, to The Dead Bridge and my heart start to beat faster and faster. I thought Claire might have heard the sound of my heartbeat for I imagined it was very loud. Claire suddenly slowed down the truck. I could not resist staying quite and asked her, "Why are you stopping Claire?"

"There in front of us, a group of walkers crowding a big tree. I thought I saw something on the tree."

"What is it?" I asked. Then a sound crying for helped was heard from the tree. Claire immediately took out her binocular and zoom it onto the tree.

"Travis, there’s a little girl on the tree! We need to help her now!"

"What?! How?!"

"You take this sonic wave, while I sneak behind the bushes you distract them by shooting to the sky. Then once they come for you, you run towards them and throw the sonic wave. Remember, it lasted only for thirty seconds. I will take the girl down from the tree during that time. While they were paralyzed, you shoot each one of them in the head. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear Claire." I answered. I took the sonic wave and Claire went to the near bushes and waiting for the signal. I walked up ahead and saying a little prayer, I shot to the sky with my gun and they all stopped facing back to where I was standing. At this time I heard a "thug" sound from the truck, I saw Roger was awaken by the shot I made earlier. I signaled him to stay down and he did so. The furious walkers started running towards me and I did the same. When we’re about few distance meters away I threw the sonic wave and in five seconds the thing buzzing activated. Claire made her moved and run faster as quick as a cheetah. She reached the tree in seconds and asked the girl to jump down. While they were paralyzed I started shooting them in the heads as quickly as possible, it would be troublesome if they ever got on their feet again. I finished the job in time and killed all twelve of them. I ran towards Claire where she was trying to get the girl down. "Come on now, it’s okay. You’re safe now", said Claire trying to calm her down. She was still crying shouting mommy, daddy pointing her index finger toward the wooden house.

"I want mommy, I want daddy!" Cried the little girl. She was dressed in white soaked with blood, holding a teddy bear but she looked fine. Claire signaled me to go and check the house and I did. I came to the house and found the little girl parents both dead missing their heads. I came back to Claire and told her about the little girl’s parents.

"Sweetie, your parents are gone but you’re safe now, we want you to come with us. All you have to do is jump and I’ll catch you", she cried even more upon hearing what Claire had just said but she understood. She slowly released her grip from one of the tree branches and jumped down. Claire caught her perfectly in her arms. We immediately went to the truck and have the little girl rest at the backseat with Claire. This time I drove and Roger sat in the front of the passenger's seat. The girl was still crying in the backseat but not as hysterical as before. I drove my truck immediately as everyone was in.

"What’s your name beautiful?" said Claire to the little girl.

"Sarah", the girl said and slowly stop crying.

"What happened back there sweetie? How did you end up on that tree?"  Asked Claire.

"Daddy carried me on his back and climbed up the tree, then he went down to save mommy in the house. Since then he never went out again. I thought I was gonna die. Daddy said everything will be fine but I know I can’t trust what he said, with them around that many".

"Don’t be sad dear. You are a very brave young little girl. May I know how old are you?"

"I am eight years old".

"As long as I’m here, you’ll be saved. Just think of me as your guardian angel, who protects you days and nights." Said Claire trying to comfort the little girl. Sarah only nodded and wiped her tears from her cheeks and hugged her teddy bear tightly.

The mist starting to get thicker and I could hardly see anything in front or around us. This made me to drive slowly and reduce the speed for a safe drive. Then the thing that I feared the most is right in front of me. We just passed a massive sign board which wrote "The Dead Bridge" then another sign board "No trespassing.  Bridge Closed" and  the last sign board wrote "Danger! No vehicles are allowed to cross  the Bridge". I stopped the car just after I passed the third sign board, which was the last one. This was what I feared the most. The mist around the bridge was very thick it came from the nearest waterfall to the right from the other cliff. Below was an extreme river, deep, rocky and have a very strong current. At the end of the river was another waterfall. Roger looked at me in a sight that I know he too was afraid. The wind was very peaceful and sometimes made way across the bridge and I could see the end of the other side. I walked out from the truck and cleared up the blockage at the entrance of the bridge to the side of the road. Then I went back to my truck and had a plan on how to cross the bridge.

"Okay now everyone listen. Roger, Claire and Sarah, all of you are going to walk crossing the bridge. Claire, you’ll lead the way and carry Sarah. Roger you’ll follow Claire. And all of you please, watch your step. Keep your distance close. The only reason I did this because if all of us cross the bridge in my truck, the bridge will probably collapse because it cannot support the weight. I will drive this truck alone, once you reach to the other side you just wait there. Also I’ll switch on the hi-lights of my truck so you’ll be able to see me from across the bridge. Claire, we’ll communicate through a walkie-talkie, get one for your self, leave one for me." They did as what I have instructed and immediately went to the bridge and slowly missing into the mist. I kept on contacting Claire if they were still on the bridge, she did reply few times. After waiting for about fifteen minutes Claire informed me that they had finally crossed the bridge. I was relieved, and that I can always count on her.