Love and Decay (24 page)

We had just dodged another patrol when I saw
the wall.

Luke had taken us to the fourth floor of an
office building of some sort. As we stood in the middle of an
expansive floor, I finally got a panoramic view of the city.

With windows bashed out in every direction, I
stood on the only remaining upright desk to see what lay ahead.

The wall was manmade after the infection.
Whoever built it had used all kinds of mismatching city debris to
piece it together. I could see spots where they’d used the siding
of a house and in others, they actually built pieces made from
brick or stone. There were billboards next to restaurant signs and
places where people actually knew what they were doing and crafted
with care and precision.

On the top of the wall, I could see from
their chest up men walking around with weapons in hand. A platform
or walkway attached to the wall protected the men against enemy
fire and Feeders.

Guard towers were positioned systematically
around the wall, connecting the hodgepodge pieces and making them
credible. For as interesting as the wall looked, it was just as
intimidating.

“How are you going to get through the wall?”
I asked Luke.

He and his friends stood back and looked at
me. They stopped their quiet chatter and digested my question. “We
have a contact,” Luke said. Again. “I told you that already.”

“That doesn’t explain how we’re going to get
in.”

Luke ignored me. “Come on. We need to keep
moving.”

Once we hit the ground again things got
enormously more complicated. Keeping the patrols from seeing us and
moving forward, towards the wall, took time and effort.

I could sense the tension rising as we
struggled to make ground. Luke looked especially impatient and
agitated.

Knowing this was a high risk mission, I
understood why his concerns were skyrocketing. But there seemed to
be something else too.

There was some other reason that he wasn’t
sharing.

We moved sideways around the wall for a long
time until the wall brushed up against more overgrowth. Luke led us
to an abandoned house on a street dotted with a hundred other
houses just like it. But Luke seemed to pick this one
specifically.

When he pointed at the wall with two fingers
and then held up his entire palm, flashing five fingers, I realized
this house had been chosen for the garage. The garage faced the
wall perfectly. We squeezed our bodies between a spider-web covered
wall and a beat up old truck that was covered in about two inches
of dust and dirt.

We could see the guards walking around the
wall perimeter, but they hadn’t spotted us yet. Luke looked at his
watch more than once and at the setting sun. He whispered something
growly at Trish and she agreed in that same tone.

Nobody shared any pertinent information with
me. If I’d had to guess, I would have suspected they were trying to
pretend I didn’t exist. Which was beyond annoying.

My brothers didn’t do it often, but every
once in a while they would get into this brotherly groove that made
me feel like the obnoxious little sister tagging along.

That’s how I felt right now. I knew they
didn’t want me here.

I knew they didn’t think I was capable of
holding my own or not getting us killed.

I knew they wanted nothing else than to leave
me here so they could get on with their business and go about
pretending I didn’t exist again.

But that was not going to happen.

I was here, damn it. And I was bound and
determined to pull my own weight.

My feet were set and my body was ready, so
that when Luke finally gave the signal to run for the wall, I
jumped into action.

We took off in the quickly dimming sky,
racing for the tiniest section of wall that we could squeeze
through. We ran as hard as we could. I pushed myself to my limits
while eyeing the ground so I could navigate the unfamiliar
territory and jump over anything in my path.

Crash, unsurprisingly beat us all. His legs
moved like they were set to super speed and his arms pumped
alongside him naturally.

Luke was a close second. He also ran with
incredible speed. Both of them could probably outrun Feeders.

Or at least keep up with them.

I knew it wasn’t a competition. Luke had
never said out loud that running to the wall was a race. …But, I
grew up with five brothers. I had never not had something be a
competition.

So this run to the wall was everything I
needed to prove myself. I might not have beaten Luke or Crash, but
I sure as hell beat Trish.

Smoked her.

We didn’t have time to catch our breath
before Luke lifted a thin metal slab and slipped through to the
other side.

I followed quickly as Luke kept a good pace
around the city. Again, he seemed to know exactly where he was
going.

I looked around wildly, trying to absorb
every little detail. I knew it probably wouldn’t help in the end,
but I had to try. I had to take something back for my family.

We stopped near a tall building with people
leaning out over their balconies above. Luke led us around back and
through a sketchy looking doorway. We climbed six flights of stairs
before we came to another door that had been bashed in and
splintered beyond repair.

“Shit,” Trish hissed. “They found out.”

“What is this place?” My voice was a whisper,
but the question screamed through the charged atmosphere.

Luke turned away from me and stared out the
narrow window. A baby cried overhead. A woman opened their door,
saw us, and slammed the thing just as quickly.

“We gotta go,” Crash whispered.

Luke nodded and we ran back down the stairs,
out into the open air again. We pushed against the shadow of the
building and worked our way around.

Just at the edge of this building, Luke
stopped and faced me. I had finally gotten into their routine and
how they jumped from shadow to shadow so easily. But his sudden
stop startled me into paying more attention to him.

“We’re going to the square,” he panted. “If
you haven’t figured it out yet, our contact was taken. We’re going
to see what’s going to happen to him and if there’s a rescue
attempt possible. If we can save him, we will. But as the seconds
tick by, his chances of survival dwindle.”

“I understand,” I said simply.

His eyebrow quirked. “I thought you were
talky.”

I shrugged and stared across the street,
“This isn’t my first time.”

He leaned in so his voice wouldn’t carry.
“You keep saying that. Maybe it’s time I start believing you.”

I wanted to smile but that would have ruined
everything I’d worked so hard to achieve- which was obviously
looking cool.

The Zombie Apocalypse happened, but that
hadn’t changed how teenagers wanted to be perceived. Sure, I hated
how Zombies wanted to eat my brains and skin me alive. I just
didn’t want anybody else to know how much I hated it.

It was all about perception.

I finally settled on, “Did you want me to say
something else? Or should we just wait until they catch us
first.”

His lips twitched with the barest hint of a
smile, but then he was off. He plunged ahead and crisscrossed
through the walled part of this mostly neglected city until he
found a public square surrounded by armed men.

“There he is!” Luke whispered.

Crash and Trish halted in their steps. I was
the last to join because this part of the city was slapped together
out of necessity and overpopulation, making it difficult to judge
and navigate.

We’d taken cover in an open alley and could
see the center of the square clearly. Posts had been pushed into
cracked cement. People gathered at the edges of the crowd and
guards patrolled the posts and overhead.

A man had been placed on one of the end
posts, tied with his hands behind his back and one of his legs
strapped to the post so he couldn’t sit on the ground. His face was
tipped toward the sun and he was wailing while two guards took
turns beating him with their fists and short, stubby batons. One
would punch him in the face and the other would whack him with one
of those rounded sticks in the gut. They were relentless.

They were brutal.

And he was breaking in front of my eyes.

I had to look away for a long moment to deal
with the gore. The man’s entire torso was painted with black and
blue bruises and thick lacerations across his abdomen and arms.
Every time one of the guards hit him, I thought the man would
finally die.

But the man didn’t die.

And the guards didn’t stop beating him.

“That’s our contact,” Luke whispered right in
my ear.

Which one?” I asked in sheer hope that it
wasn’t the man being beaten to death.

Luke leaned closer, “The one getting the shit
kicked out of him.”

“How are we going to save him?” My question
was instinctual. Immediate. I didn’t even have to think about it. I
just needed to answer it.

I felt Luke’s stare as I watched the horrific
scene play out in front of me. The guards looked deranged… almost
giddy. My stomach churned at the sick look on their faces and the
way they relish their jobs.

The crowded plaza did nothing to save him or
stop the madness. Most watched on in terrified silence. A few
children cried, but no adult spoke up. Except for those enjoying
the spectacle.

Luke’s voice cut through my nauseous haze.
“We can’t save him, Page. They would kill us too. Before we even
reached him.”

That might be true, but there had to be a
way. “What do they use for light here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like for light. How do people see at
nighttime?”

Luke’s eyebrows disappeared into his
hairline. “Electricity.”

“You have electricity here? Are you serious?”
Well, this was an unexpected luxury.

“For limited amounts of time,” he clarified.
“It’s not always reliable. But it works most of the time.”

I crossed my arms and tapped my toes. I had
wanted him to say fire and candles and things that could burn. “I
need a fire,” I murmured out loud.

“What?!”

I turned to face Luke, needing him to get
this right now. “I need a fire. A big one. I need to start
something on fire that pulls all of the attention off this man and
towards their burning town. My guess is that most of the people are
here. In this square. And that if we set one of these buildings on
fire, everyone would go rushing to put it out and we could untie
your man and take him back with us.”

“No,” Luke answered immediately. “That’s
crazy.”

“And watching an innocent man die isn’t?”

He shook his head in disbelief. “This won’t
work. They’re going to catch us.”

“Then be fast.”

“You want
me
to start the fire?” he
laughed, but it wasn’t because he thought I was hilarious. He
really couldn’t believe the words I was saying.

“Take Trish,” I told him. “Crash and I will
wait here while you set up the diversion. We’ll meet you back at
the car.”

“I can’t do this, Page. If something happens
to you, your brothers will kill me. Besides, what will be the
point? You came all this way to die on the first day?”

I couldn’t help myself. I shoved his shoulder
and met hard resistance. There was nothing but muscle and steel
hidden beneath his shirt. I ignored that and said, “I’m not going
to die. I’m going to keep him from dying. Trust me.”

He shook his head again. “That’s the thing
though. I don’t trust you.”

I admired his honesty even if his words
stung. “Then learn. Fast.”

The corner of his lips kicked up in half a
smile. “You’re going to do this with or without me, aren’t
you?”

“You’re damn right.”

“And your brothers?”

I rolled my eyes. “They know I’m like this.
You’re not going to have to explain anything to them.”

The second half of his mouth joined the
first. “You owe me for this.”

He turned around, jerking his head for Trish
to follow him. I whisper-shouted after him. “If this works, it’s
going to be you that owes me!”

“Where are they going?” Crash demanded.

“We’re saving that man,” I told him. “They’re
going to cause a little redirection.” I turned to hold his gaze.
“Be ready.”

“Be ready?” His head jerked back and his hand
shot up. “You’re kidding?”

“I’m not. So be ready or get out. If you’re
not going to help me you can go wait at the car.”

“You wouldn’t even know how to get back to
the car!” he argued. “There is no getting out. I’m in this whether
I want to be or not.”

“Do you want to be?”

He turned back to face the man on the brink
of death. “Of course I want to be. Micah is a good guy.”

“That’s his name?” Crash nodded. “I hope so.
Because we’re probably going to have to carry him out of here.
Which means we’ll be moving slowly. Which means we’ll probably get
shot.”

“Girl, you are full of positive energy. Just
stop already.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Just want you
to be prepared.”

He looked at me and rolled his eyes. “I’m
prepared. Trust me. I’m prepared.”

Ten minutes later gunshot peppered the air. I
leaned forward, careful to stay in our hiding spot, but anxious to
see what Luke had come up with.

More gunfire rent the air, pulling the
attention off the helpless victim in the square. A low murmur
rumbled through the crowd. At first they hadn’t thought much of it,
but now their curiosity was peaked.

The first guard stopped pummeling Micah and
slowly the second one stood up as well. A scream pierced the air.
“Fire!” Shouted someone else.

More gunshots.

I couldn’t see the fire, but the way the
crowd reacted encouraged me that something big was happening.