What We Become | Book Two

40. No One Like You

I found a truck abandoned at the back of the compound. I hadn't been looking for it specifically but I felt a surging sense of relief when I found it. There was something in me that told me to leave it alone. Dr. Rhodes' therapy maybe. Then I remembered everything within EDIN's gates that I was trying to avoid and I found myself opening the door and slipping inside.

I slipped on the contact lenses but they felt unnatural in the rush and I could feel them shifting across my pupils. I blinked hard as I twisted the key in the engine, rumbling the truck to a throaty start.

The guards stood in front of the vehicle once I reached the gate, as I'd expected. Dark uniforms covered their bodies and their black face coverings gave little indication to their expressions.

"Open the gate!" I shouted, revving the engine.

They raised their weapons in synchronisation. "Turn the vehicle around, Harrison," one of the guards ordered, aiming a large gun at the windshield.

"Oh look, I've got one of those too," I said, pointing Donut's pistol out the window and to the sky, firing a warning shot. "Move out of the way."

They ducked for cover, shielding themselves behind any object they could. Their guns still aimed forward towards the vehicle as the gates remained still.

"Let her through!" one of them called out. "It's not worth it!"

"Pilot would eat us alive!"

"He's not fucking here! Open it!" the man yelled. "Do it now!"

The gates began to open and from the rear-view mirror, I saw another dark figure charging down the track towards the gates.

"Stop!" Donut yelled. "Don't let her through!"

The panic began to grow. A tangible mix of adrenaline and fear pushed my foot against the gas and I sped through the gap when it was just wide enough.

The road out the compound was bumpy and uneven causing the steering wheel to judder under my grip which was already tighter than it needed to be. It had been a long time since I'd driven any sort of vehicle, though that seemed to be the easy part. The hard part was navigating the truck around the bodies that crowded the narrow path from EDIN.

I had no destination in mind when I hit the main road. EDIN was far behind and I was confident that nobody would be following, not even Donut. The time it would take him to report me gone would be long enough for me to be far away from that place.

Maybe I would head north, find a place where I could survive on my own.

The ambling bodies I passed seemed to fill me with sympathy. I knew what was happening to them and yet, I knew there was no way of saving them. They wouldn't want to be saved. To remember and have to live through everything they did as an Infected was a fate worse than death.

It was only as I grew closer did they seem to move and twitch like tumbling dominoes, each one reacting to the movements of another as their necks snapped to the truck. Most of them were covered in blood, dripping in chunks from their mouths and hands. I felt sorry for the unfortunate souls who'd been the victims of their feast.

*

I'd been driving for half an hour when I came across a blue and white bandstand near the coast. It was a quiet area with no Infected around so I decided to pull over. The coloured metal sat in the open space, surrounded by grass that was just below the handrail that wrapped around.

Just a few shallow steps led up to the blue structure that overlooked the sea. Out there, the waves crashed and tumbled, fighting their own battle of nature. I rested my elbows against the cold railing and hung my head down. The wind was sharp this time of year but I didn't mind. I finally had enough space to think.