“Rebecca, stand up and gather your things.” The moonlight cut through the trees and bathed the corpse in a bluish tint.
“Oh, God,” Rebecca whispered roughly, now standing right beside him with her arms wrapped tightly around her middle. “Collin, he’s just a little boy.”
Yeah, he was, probably not much older than eleven or twelve, but he was badly decomposed, no longer the child she was envisioning in her mind or what he had once been. Right now, he was a walking corpse, hungry for human flesh. Their flesh.
The infected lifted its head and parted its lips in a silent cry. Blood oozed out of his mouth, nose, and eyes. It was old blood, congealed and dead, just like he was. These creatures were no longer living but rotting from the inside out. Its flesh was black in some areas, necrotic and starting to spread across his gaunt cheeks and sunken, cloudy-white eyes.
The little boy—or corpse, as Collin thought of him now—wore a pair of stained and torn striped pajamas. The pocket in the corner was torn clean off, and a festering bullet wound could be seen.
“Grab your things, because we have to leave.” He planned on waking her soon anyway, but it looked like sleep would have to wait.
The young boy made another low, wet gurgled sound and moved closer. Rebecca had all her things packed now, stood beside Collin, and whispered softly, “Collin, let’s just leave. He’s a little boy.”
He looked at her, at her soft face that was so innocent even though this world could eat her alive. She lasted this long, although clearly she hadn’t dealt with a child who was infected. “He isn’t a child anymore, Rebecca. He isn’t even alive. He’ll attack us without even thinking twice, and then we will be like him.” He smoothed his finger over her cheek and then looked back at the male. It was staring at the fire, clearly transfixed at the bright flames for a second. Sometimes, they could be taken off guard by something small, and this was one of those times. “Leaving him alive to continue to wander aimlessly around and potentially infect more people would make me a vile man, Rebecca,” he said without looking at her. “I’m not a good man by any means, but I sure as fuck can’t let this once little boy continue to be the way he is. It’s not right. Don’t you think he deserves peace?” he asked softly and glanced at her once more.
She shook her head. “No, but God, all I can see is the little boy he used to be.”
“I know, baby. Maybe you should look away.”
She shook her head, not saying anything about the fact that he kept calling her baby. Collin walked around the fire, and then the boy came forward, following his movements. He made more strangled sounds, and then Collin took him out swiftly. He wasn’t into making them suffer, because he just wanted them dead.
Whoever this little boy used to be didn’t deserve to have to wander this world, feeding on flesh, dead and rotting more each day. It was a sad world, and the thought of children being infected made it worse.
12
The sun started to rise over the tops of the blue spruce trees, and Rebecca shielded her eyes from the glare. They had been walking for what seemed like forever.
She was tired, her feet were sore, and her body wanted nothing more than to lie down and just sleep the rest of the days away. But they couldn’t stop, not until they were in a safe place.
After the assholes at the grocery store, and the infected all around them, sleeping out in the open again didn’t sound like the best option for them. And she could see the wear and exhaustion on Collin’s face too, but he never stopped, never gave up his composure or alertness.
The sound of the leaves crunching under their feet seemed overly loud, or maybe she was so exhausted that what she heard was just the thundering of her own heart. They had been walking for miles, farther and farther up the mountain until the air thinned and a crisp wind blew through the trees.
Her whole body burned, and all the adrenaline, endorphins, and energy that kept her going thus far had since dwindled away to nothing. But she kept her mouth shut, knew Collin was just as tired, and told herself that when they got wherever they were headed, this would have all been worth it.
The trees had broken way to show a small backwater, secluded village. They both stopped. Everything looked like it had been taken right out of a western movie where the towns were small, intimate even.
A schoolhouse was in the distance, a small diner of some sort, a few cabins, and even a doctor’s office on one side of the school. There were a few corpses moving around, but they were slow, clearly hungry, and they’d be easy enough to take down.