Page 14 of Surviving Her

When River returned to the maintenance room, Eliza was still standing by the door, her posture tense.

“Everything okay?” Eliza asked, glancing over at River.

“Yeah,” River replied, her voice steady. “I just needed a minute.”

Eliza nodded, her expression softening. “I get it.”

No, you don’t.

River felt a pang of guilt at the concern in Eliza’s voice. She was here, risking her life to help River’s father, and all River could think about was how hot the woman was. It was selfish and immature, and River knew it.

“Anyway…erm…we should talk about what’s going on,” Eliza said after a few moments of awkward silence. “We need to figure out what we’re dealing with.”

River let out a small sigh, grateful for the distraction. “That’s your area of expertise, right? Do you have any idea how all this started?”

Eliza ran a hand through her messy hair. “I don’t think so. I want to be honest with you. I’ve seen viral outbreaks before…we all have. But nothing like this. It’s spreading way too fast. Is itmutating, or…you know what? It’s almost like it was designed to do this.”

“Designed?” River echoed, her eyebrows arching.

Eliza hesitated, as if weighing her words carefully. “Yeah. Listen, I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but this feels…unnatural.”

“Supernatural, you mean?”

“Well…maybe. No. No, I don’t think that. But viruses don’t usually behave this way. They spread, yes, but when did we first hear about this outbreak?”

“Around two days ago? Maybe three?” River answered.

“Right. And look at where we’re at already. This feels…targeted. We’re only a couple days in, and look how wild it’s gotten. It’s like someone wanted it to spread quickly, to cause as much chaos as possible. I mean, I’ve seen this shit in movies, but never thought it could be reality.”

River’s stomach somersaulted. “You think someone did this on purpose?”

“I don’t know,” Eliza admitted. “But I think it’s a real possibility. And if it’s engineered, then whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. And that means it could get a lot worse before it gets better. We need to protect ourselves. We need weapons.”

River scouted around and noticed two crowbars stacked by the wall.

“Reckon they’ll do?” She pointed at them.

“Better than nothing.”

6

ELIZA

Eliza and River waited until nightfall before daring to venture outside. It seemed the zombies, for want of a better word, had ventured off elsewhere. The front of the hospital seemed quiet. As they walked across the bridge toward the downtown area, Eliza saw just how much the city was in shambles. She’d thought she’d seen the worst of it back at the hospital, but out here, in the open streets, it was clear the situation was even direr than she could’ve imagined. Buildings that once stood as pillars of the community were now nothing more than smoldering ruins. The air was thick with smoke and ash, making it difficult to breathe.

“Why the hell have people been setting fire to everything?” she asked, voicing her thoughts aloud.

“Maybe they’ve been trying to burn the zombies, the walkers…the risen? We need a name for them,” said River, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

“Erm, I don’t think we do,” replied Eliza, rolling her eyes. “I think we need to prioritize. We need to find a place to lay low for the night and work out how to get our hands on some supplies.”

“We’ve got plenty of supplies at the cabin: canned goods, dried pulses. You name it, my daddy’s got it,” said River in a reassuring tone.

“Surgical equipment? Antibiotics? Sterilizing fluids? Morphine? A qualified anesthetist? We need supplies before getting to him, or this is pointless,” said Eliza with a hint of irritation.

“Well…no. I guess not,” replied River, lowering her head.

“I thought as much,” snapped Eliza.

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