Page 46 of All Your Days
There is another sound—a scuffling sound, just outside my tent. At the back. And then ripping. Slow, ripping—something is coming inside my tent!
Panic chokes me, full body trembles stopping me from moving, locking me in place on my cot. I don’t know what to do. Tears sear my eyes, but no rational thought comes. It’s just a screaming noise inside my head warning me of danger.
A hand settles over my mouth, breath brushing my ear. A familiar smell fills my tent. It’s reassuring, until Jacob speaks.
“Run.”
Chapter thirteen
Jacob
I can’t sleep. We’vecome so far over the trip, but after the shit over the past day, I don’t trust the guards one bit. I hear them as one drink turns to two, which inevitably turns to three. They just keep going. I toss and turn in my cot, torn between wanting to go out and confront them and knowing that whatever I do will make it worse.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen this type of thing—when the freedom of the supply run gets to people’s heads. It drives them a bit crazy after being inside The Facility all their lives.
Unless… unless there is another reason for Cale’s behaviour. It’s been days since we tested. It’s a risk we take out here—not knowing how close any of us are to flipping. It’s been a while since one of the team’s turned zombified out here.
Lou had the same thought; he caught me on my way back from taking a leak before dinner. We considered locking Cale inside the trailer for the night. It was risky, though. We knew Ryan and Malcolm wouldn’t take kindly to us locking up their friend without a word.
So we tried to talk to Ryan. As non-threateningly as I could, I caught Ryan whenhewent for a leak and told him what me and Lou were worried about.
It went just as terribly as I expected it would. He didn’t exactly threaten to mutiny, but it was close. Really close. Ryan’s blood was already all angried up for whatever reason and I just handed him a golden key to let loose for going after his ‘brother’.
This is why I hate having tight knit, pre-formed groups with me on the run. Their allegiance is to each other, not the team as a whole. It puts everyone at risk.
Lou and I decided to just be ready. It’s all we could do without causing trouble. And really, is it any different to how we live every day? It was Lou’s idea not to tell Eli our suspicions. I didn’t like it, but Lou was right, there was too big a chance that Eli would panic and give us away.
All we could do was wait.
At some point, I must’ve drifted off, upright in my cot. I fall over gasping and think that’s what roused me.
But then I hear it.
“What the fuck?!”Malcolm’s yell pierces the night. “Get off me, man.”
“Ow! You’re hurting me! Ryan!”
And snarling. The sick sort of animal sound that is unmistakably human.
One of them has turned.
I snap into action without thinking, my heart racing at lightning speed, erasing all thoughts of sleep.
Pulling my knife from my belt, I slide silently to the floor and slice open the back wall of my tent. My gun makes some sound as I sling it over my shoulder with my emergency bag, but no one would be able to hear it over the sounds of the fight on the other side of the tents.
Crouching low, I hurry to Eli’s tent, cutting my way into his tent just like I cut my way out of mine. His panicked breaths are loud in the small space. He’s on the cot, and he’s awake, but he’s frozen.
His erratic breath gets worse the closer I get. Crossing the tiny space feels like I’m crossing the entire galaxy. It takes for—fucking—ever. Screams from the guards punctuate the moment. Once I’m beside his cot, I place a hand over his mouth.
“Run.” I breathe the word into his ear. It’s all I can do.
And then, we’re moving.
With one hand I grab his forearm, with the other, I snatch his emergency bag up. Bursting out of the hole, we launch into a sprint while I’m dragging him, but he manages to keep up. It’s too dark to see much where we’re going in the waxing moon, but that means that we also can’t be seen.
We can be heard, though. Risking us both, I look back over my shoulder, and I can just see the shadows of our camp in the orange glow of the fire. Whoever has turned has spotted us. A body is moving between the tents. Or trying to—the guide ropes slow their angry, jerky movements.
“Oh god.”Eli turns, too. Looking over his shoulder in the dark, he stumbles over an unseen bush, and would have hit the dirt if he weren’t still in my iron grip.
