Day 2: Children of the Grave Part lll

The survivors entered the safe zone and descended through an elevator to the warehouse area. Many of the group were surprised to see children alive, which would certainly lift their spirits as it gave everyone a little hope that all was not lost.

—So... How are you dealing with all this? —Asha wanted to make conversation because of how quiet everything was. The dimly lit corridors of the shelter didn't help either.

—We are currently cleaning Grand Mont Plaza. The men in the group will be going to the home and garden stores and nearby builders to get materials and build fortifications. We are trying to contact the outside, but it's no use... the emergency numbers are not working either —Lilly was making sure none of the children were left behind and everyone was following her.

—Do you have any idea how this all started? —Markus also wanted answers.

—It is currently unknown to us what caused the dead to rise. Our paramedic believes it is possibly due to a virus mutation, although we don't have a certain answer. All we know is that we are all infected, and keeping this truth to ourselves will do nothing but misinform and endanger the lives of others.

—Infected? But how? We haven't been bitten —Asha questioned, confused.

—No bite is necessary for infection. Apparently whatever is making them come back... is in the air, whatever is making the zombies exist is swarming around the mall, in this shelter... everywhere. There is absolutely nothing we can do about it, just accept it.

—What proof do you have that what you say is true? —Markus still didn't believe a word Lilly was saying.

—I was rescued from a group that destroyed Black Card Plaza, a group that kidnapped, tortured and raped to death any woman they came across. Four other girls and I managed to be saved by... Jason and Nikolai, I'm sure you know them. In any case... our rescuers tell us that these bastards had an altercation and killed each other, but soon after they died they came back as zombies and devoured each other, cannibalistic behaviors among zombies are not surprising, as we have seen them constantly these last hours.

—God... Hadn't they been bitten and that's why they killed each other? —Asha felt a big shiver run down her back.

—We didn't have time to check because the guys who rescued us saw this whole event through the cameras... but, there was another event. One of the girls who was rescued from that group committed suicide here in this shelter. Jason testified that, the woman had blown her jaw off when she didn't shoot herself properly and bled to death, but then she came back and, they had to shoot her in the head to cut her down.

—And did they check the body? Were there any bites? —Markus asked.

—No bites. She hadn't been bitten, although her body had signs of torture, none of these wounds were consistent with what could be a bite. Apparently the bite accelerates this "infection" process. If we had at our disposal a laboratorian, a chemist or someone who worked in a laboratory and had everything at his disposal to tell us what is happening to us... things would be easier to understand.

Markus looked stressed out. Asha went over to him and tried to comfort him, giving him a hug.

—The only thing we can do right now is to resist. The mall will stop having electricity and water, so we must take advantage of daylight and as much time as possible to make good use of the resources and fortify ourselves. So we are trying to expand out of the shelter and move to Grand Mont Plaza, once it is safe and habitable. For the moment we have a long month in which we must work... that is the plan of our Council. Rescue as many survivors as possible before the Blackout and expand. The shelter will cease to have light and we can't risk someone turning and killing everyone in the middle of the darkness.

—Someone could commit suicide, come back and kill everyone....

—Or they could have a heart attack and come back from the dead —Lilly replied to Asha. —Now, please enter. This is the area we use as an infirmary or health center. Since you are the caregivers, I don't know which of you would want to be present during the examination.

Asha saw out of the corner of her eye how another man was present, who had a shotgun in his hands and looked very well armed, with tactical vests and a face of few friends.

—He is Michael. One of the guards.

—Will he be present?

—That's right... Your name?

—Asha Love, and this is Markus Thompson. Girls, you can introduce yourselves to the lady.

—I'm Amber Williams. This is my friend Zoey.

Amber WilliamsA brunette girl spoke up, taking her friend by the hand.
—Z-zo... Zoey... H... Hil- TON.

Zoey HiltonLilly looked confused when she heard Zoey, so she knelt down to keep up with the girls and gave them a big smile.

—Tell me more about Zoey.

—Zoey has a speech problem... But she's very smart! I used to defend her at school from bullies. They made fun of her because she couldn't pronounce well... and they made fun of me for being her friend.

—Is it true, sweetheart? You defended your friend? That's very noble.

—Yes! We're a team and I would never abandon Zoey.

—And who are you, honey? —Lilly asked another of the older looking girls.

—Mariana Hernandez...

Mariana Guadalupe Hernández—What about the little ones? Does anyone know anything about them? Where are their parents?
—We don't know anything about their past. The twins are named Kali and Jimmy... I worked at the Fun-Time Play-House at Children's Heaven. We assigned them colored cards with their names on them when they came in...but otherwise, we don't know much. Kali doesn't talk and Jimmy just makes noises. They are the smallest members of the group as far as I have noticed.... —Asha said kinda uncomfortable.

JimmyKaliLilly nodded. She proceeded first with the girls who she asked to stay in their underwear and a t-shirt only, she would check for possible areas of exposure to which they may have been inadvertently bitten or injured.

Zoey and Amber always held hands and when Lilly had to check a part, such as Zoey's back, Amber decided to help with the examination, realizing that they did in fact have scratches that occurred when their backs rubbed against the car seats as they quickly entered the car.

—This probably happened with the seat belt. Zoey and I felt a burning sensation as we got in... and noticed that the metal plate of the seat belt was exposed, in the middle seat.

—You are very perceptive. Indeed, this type of wound could have been caused by that, because you can clearly see how the skin is a little bit exposed, see this hair-like thing? It's actually skin.

—I saw this with a teammate who fell in the middle of a basketball game! But we'll be okay?

—You will be fine, Amber. She clearly don't have any injuries to worry about, you are such a duo of healthy girls. Mariana? You're next.

And so on and so forth Mariana agreed. All the things Lilly did were watched by Asha and Markus, who watched with folded arms. Sometimes Lilly would tell Asha to approach her to tell her how the girls got some injuries or wounds, to which Asha would reply calmly as she watched Lilly take out a first aid kit with material to treat those wounds.

Finally there were the twins left. Lilly didn't have much trouble checking on Kali and making sure everything was okay. Finally, there was Jimmy.

As soon as Lilly saw Jimmy she noticed something strange with him, as his eyes were red, as if he had been exposed to something that made him tired. Also, when Lilly approached, he immediately put his hand in his pants pockets, which alerted Christensen.

—Markus, could you please tell the boy to show us his hand?

Markus glanced sideways at Asha who also didn't know what to answer him. She just grimaced at him with a face that she agreed. Jimmy got upset and started to yell, but Markus used force and forced him to pull his hand out.

Lilly opened her mouth in surprise as she saw how Jimmy's hand was black, the product of a wound that she could identify as a bite. Without hesitation she called Jason and Nikolai on a walkie-talkie.

—How did it happen? I demand to know how the boy was bitten! —Lilly pulled away from Jimmy as Markus released him. Jimmy put his hand back in his pocket and became angry as he grimaced and pouted at the way Markus touched him.

—We don't know! When I brought him with me he didn't have that wound....

—Or you were too clueless to notice, Asha! The kid has a bite the size of his hand and there's no way you didn't notice! How the fuck did it happen and why did you let it happen?

—I swear I don't know! We didn't notice!

—That's why we checked them! The kid can transform and kill us in our sleep! He can't stay with us!

—But he's a child! —Asha interrupted.

—He's a threat to everyone! He's a threat to all the people we meet here! He can't belong to our community because he's been bitten. For a child he is taking a long time to convert. I've seen people get bitten and turn within minutes... the wound was probably fresh.

—Maybe they were bitten during the escape? —Michael commented.

Nikolai and Jason had already arrived. When Lilly explained the situation to them, it was clear the decision of both of them, especially Nikolai who looked at Jimmy with disgust.

—The boy is leaving.

That was what Kalinic said, who was not happy with what just happened.

—I already heard what happened with the bitch who committed suicide, Jason, and I am deeply disappointed in you for not having the confidence to tell me earlier. I don't want this brat in our group, he's a threat, he dies or we all die.

—But it's impossible! How can you be so cruel and say so calmly what should happen to him? What If he's immune? —Markus interjected, clearly angry.

—I've seen so many people die out there... before and after this apocalypse in this godforsaken town. Immunity? Immunity my balls. That kid will soon be converted, just look at his fucking face. We can take him out to Grand Mont and let the zombies do whatever they want with him, or we can kill him. But HE CAN'T STAY HERE.

—That's unfair! We have no right over other people's lives! Absolutely not! We can't just kill this kid!

—Yes we can and I will do whatever it takes to protect this group! If you don't like it you can suck my dick, Markus. We saved your ass, you ungrateful bastard, you know how fucked up things are nowadays, you WILL NOT SURVIVE on your own. You couldn't do it before, you won't be able to do it now.

Markus was silent, arms folded and looking quite helpless at what Nikolai was saying to him. Deep down Markus wanted to hit him, but the man was right.

—I don't agree with what he's going to do to Jimmy... but if he has to die, it would be merciful to shoot him instead of leaving him to the zombies. I will kill him.

There was silence, even the teenage girls in the place held hands at the same time as they believed that something bad would happen to them too.

—But Asha...

—It's the right thing to do, Markus... it's the right thing to do. The child will not be able to understand what will happen to him, and in a way I am relieved to know that... You see, my duty as a Monitor is to protect the children, Markus, I could not protect all the others... but I can protect him from turning to whatever is going to happen to him if... I can protect our girls. You must understand that... you must understand that this is hard, but it is the right thing to do, it would be too selfish to allow Jimmy to come back from the dead and now we do have a "valid" reason to kill him, regardless, zombie or not, we are going to KILL a child.

—Maybe we can put him under observation!

—Just look at his eyes, Markus! We've seen that in the other kids... you know that. You know what will happen.

—Fuckin'... Just perfect! We're trying to save lives and now... now...

—We will save lives... with this we will save lives. Can we do this where no one will see us?

Asha asked, turning to Jason and Nikolai.

—On the rooftop you can do it. We have lots of extra blankets and curtains we stole from the locals. Are you sure you want to do this, Asha? Nikolai or I could....

—It's the least I can do, I couldn't save Jimmy from this... but I'm going to save him from becoming one of them. I just can't live with the thought of leaving him like this! What if they feel it? What if they still have consciousness and they feel everything, even the pain? I... this is what it has to be done.

Said and done, Nikolai grabbed the boy and Asha went after him. The three of them went up to the roof, where they could clearly see that it was raining. Nikolai told Jimmy to stand in one area of the roof, stuck against the wall.

—I don't know if I can handle this, Nikolai... I sounded too confident back there but now....

—Think of the other girls, woman. Think of all of us... you know it's for the best.

—I know! I know... but... I have a feeling that... maybe... just maybe...

—No. Don't start. What will happen is that this child will turn, in the middle of the night he will bite someone's neck and that someone already turned will stick his hands in someone else's intestines and there will be no safe place anymore. Do you understand the gravity of the matter? He must die.

Asha felt miserable. She knew Nikolai was right...but she didn't need to be told the truth like that.

Asha reached out to Jimmy and stroked his hair. Jimmy was crying, asking Asha what was going on, where was his mom, but Asha clearly had no answers to his questions.

—I just want to tell you to please forgive me. I didn't mean for things to be like this... you're too young to understand things, and in a way that naivety of yours relieves me a lot. For that and more... I'm sorry, Jimmy. I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you, I know this is my fault... which is why... I will protect your dignity. I hope you can rest easy, my child... I hope you go someplace better where all your worries are erased.

Asha moved away to a safe distance, as she could see the veins in Jimmy's arms and forehead begin to stand out... they were black.

—Forgive me, Jimmy. I'm so sorry to take your life like this... maybe you could have been a good man...God, maybe you could have been the person who could have brought the cure to all of this? We'll never know...and that's why... can you cover your eyes with your hands, sweetheart?

Jimmy listened. Asha broke away from him and pointed the gun.

Some time later Asha and Nikolai came downstairs, soaking wet. Asha was off-center, looking too tired.

—Asha? —Markus approached her, for he noticed that she was not feeling well, and that radiant smile was gone.

—I killed a child.

Everyone fell silent.

—I killed a child, Markus... I killed a child.

Markus put his arms around Asha and soon they both fell to the ground.

Asha began to cry in Markus' lap as everyone in the room watched in silence.

—I killed a child, Markus! I...

—Hey... You did what you had to, Asha. You... you freed him from this, from whatever happens to people once they turn. You didn't kill a child... you saved one.