Chapter 13
“Guys?” Jody wished Tom had stayed with her in Sigrid’s comms room. She needed a strong comforting presence and Amelia wasn’t it. She told herself to be strong and summon her inner-Janine. “Situation report? What’s happening? Peter?”
“I somehow miraculously managed to survive that hail of bullets. Just wading through the sewage to unlock the cells. Oh, good! I’m going to have to duck my head into the sewage to get in there. This day is amazing!” Jody’s stomach turned slightly at the squelching sound that followed.
“That’s, ummm ... okay. Tom?”
“A few guards are choosing to remain loyal until the end. But I’m giving them one last chance.” Jody heard the sound of a body collapsing to the ground and grinned.
“Well done, both of you. Five, Paula?”
“Veronica took our retinal scans to help us get into the training ground.” Paula said. “We’re about a minute away.”
“You’re doing well, guys. Cameo, Kytan, and the others are getting out now. Peter found a lot of booby traps Ian’s left around the place. They’re mostly just stupid things.” As if on cue, an explosion sounded somewhere nearby. She could hear it over comms and outside the window. “And less stupid things. But - Paula, Five. Your mission is the most important. You remember how long that training ground is? Ian has it set up as a maze, so you’ll have to run up and down a bit to get to the end. To where…where you need to be.“
“It’s fine, Jody. We’re here. We made it. We’re going in now.” Five placed her eye near the security pad and waited to be cleared. There was a beep and she was allowed through, followed by Paula.
“All right, Five. Head this way with me. Ugh. We can actually see that Ian’s in that glassed-in part at the end.” Paula groaned again. “There are zombie parts everywhere.”
Five shook out her hands to stop the trembling. It didn’t work. She could hear Sam. She knew he was behind the gore-smeared window with Ian. He was talking with Ian so calmly. Bravely.
But she knew Ian. She could hear it in his voice, and he knew they were listening. By torturing Sam, he was torturing everyone.
Ian was keeping his anger under control. Toying with Sam. He liked it. Sam was still alive because Ian didn’t want to let go of this power.
“Oh good. There are the zombies.” Paula sighed, tearing Five out of her own thoughts. Zombies were stumbling toward them. The blood on Five’s hands, not quite dried from her earlier fall, wasn’t helping. “It’’ll be fine, apart from the fact that everything’s covered in zombie bits and pieces, which is nice.”
“Lousy decorating sense.” Five tried, and failed, to land a joke.
“Just double back around those oaks. It’s all part of the maze.” Jody guided. “You’ve got a great pace. For some reason Ian didn’t use fast zoms, so we can be grateful for that. Plus, zombies aren’t great at maneuvering around mazes. Just…just keep running.”
Five and Paula ran in silence until they reached their next obstacle.
“There’s…oh. Delightful. There’s a trench here. It…how far does it go? Can we go around it?” Paula asked.
“Let me zoom in on…oh.” Jody frowned. “It goes the whole length of the training ground. Of course. And those things floating in it…I don’t suppose-”
“Zombie parts.” Five confirmed. “Yeah. Hey, so, quick question. How much longer do I have immunity? Am I good to wade through?” The trench was not only long, it was wide. Five bounced on her heels, needing to keep moving forward.
Silence on comms.
“Amelia, that question was for you.” Jody spoke up.
“What?”
“Amelia! Are you playing Candy Crush?” Paula and Five exchanged a look of annoyance, likely similar to the one Jody was shooting at Amelia.
“Yes.”
“Five’s immunity! How much longer?”
“Oh.” There was a brief pause as Amelia checked the test kit. “This reagent is reacting much more quickly than I had thought. Looks like Five has a few minutes left, at best.”
Five clenched her fists.
“Can you be more precise than a few minutes?” She yelled.
“Sorry. No. I wasn’t watching so I don’t know how quickly the time is going down.”
Five was about to retort with an angry sequence of insults, but closed her mouth and decided not to waste her time. It wouldn’t change what happened before and, knowing Amelia, wouldn’t change anything that would happen next.
“I see something on cams, guys. I have a new plan. Head south from where you are, turn the corner, and come back up. Quickly.”
“Got it, Jody.” Paula said. They turned on their heels and ran south. This is taking too long. Five could still hear Ian and Sam talking in her ear. Ian was getting aggressive. He was emphasizing random words. That was never a good sign. He was about to snap.
“Stop. There - do you see those fake trees in front of you?” Jody said.
“Yeah, there’s a stand of three pines. They’re attached…it looks like they have moving gears at the base.” Paula squinted and moved forward, inspecting the pines.
“Both of you, push hard on them. You should be able to bring them down.” Paula and Five stood in front of the tree, arms outstretched, and took a bit of a running start. The tree dug into Five’s already scratched hands but it only made her push harder. Using all of her anger, all of her pain, all of her fear, she dug her feet into the ground and pushed until the tree collapsed. The movement caught her by surprise and she nearly toppled with it. Paula caught her by the shirt and pulled her up.
“Five! Are you okay?” Five could only nod.
“Good work, you two. Use that as a bridge over the trench.”
“Got it, Jody.” Paula held out a hand for Five, who refused it. She skittered up onto the trunk and found her balance. One foot in front of the other. Gently. Swiftly.
“The noise attracted the zombies, guys. Paula, if you get them to chase you, that will leave Five with a clear path to Sam. Now! Go! Run for that room at the end! Go!” Jody’s voice shook.
Five ran. Feet and heart pounding in sync.
In one ear, she could hear helicopters leaving Abel.
In the other ear, she could hear Ian’s descent into madness.
“She promised me! She promised me she’d stay!” She knew that scream. She knew how close to the edge Ian was. She knew spit would by flying out of his mouth, his eyes would be wild.
He’d never hear her coming.
The door was unlocked, of course, because Ian would never have expected anyone to have gotten this far.
“She can’t leave me!” He was shouting. “She hasn’t!”
And Sam.
Five peered around a randomly placed desk in the center of the room that appeared to have been an office.
Sam.
He was there.
Bound and tied.
Bleeding.
Ian was holding a spade high, ready to strike.
It took her breath away.
Sam looked to the side and their eyes locked. He looked surprised at first and then…
And then he was laughing. Ian dropped the spade in surprise.
“She has, you know.” He looked back at Ian. He spat at him. “She left you.”
“You’ve done this!” This was it. Five felt it in her gut - that same feeling right before he shot Owen. Before bringing the brick down on Steve. “You, and your sick, depraved, disgusting crew. All of you working against me since the first minute we met. You think you’re so much better than me. You think you can tell me what to do but you can’t!” She could see his shaking hands, his manic movements. He pulled back a fist and it connected with Sam’s face.
Sam’s head flew backward. He stopped laughing.
“How do you like that, Sam Yao? What’s my plan? What’s my BLOODY PLAN? My plan is to kill you. And then I’ll kill every single one of your friends and report it on the news!”
Ian picked the spade back up. He wasn’t planning on hesitating this time. But Sam had another surprise for him.
“Oh, right. So basically your plan is to become your own downfall, apparently. NOW FIVE! NOW!”
Five ran at Ian, full speed.
This is for holding me prisoner. This is for fucking up Steve’s face. This is for you ever thinking you could touch me with those fucking hands. This is for starving my friends. This is for Owen. For Owen.
For Sam.
Five gathered every ounce of hatred for this man and pounced.
She threw herself on his back. She clawed at his skin. Her fingers twisted in his hair and she pulled his head back. She sent a kick straight to the back of his knees and they fell forward.
“Let me go! Let me-” Five got her other arm around his neck and squeezed. He started to choke. Five only tightened her grip. Ian struggled underneath her, gasping for breath. Small, ragged gasps were escaping from his throat as she tightened, tightened…
She was going to kill him.
She smiled.
“No, Five.” Sam was calling. Five loosened her grip momentarily and Ian’s head collapsed onto the dirt. She briefly wondered if she actually had killed him.
“I can finish him right here, Sam. This can all be over.” She felt him shift under her, but she was sitting on him and managed to hold him in place. She had weakened him, but not for long.
“There’s rope over there. Tie him up.”
“But-”
“Five, please. I…” Sam looked away. “I don’t want to watch you kill someone out of anger. It’s…please.” He looked shattered. Five felt pangs of guilt and worry. She silently grabbed the rope and bound Ian’s hands and feet and left him on the ground.
She walked over to Sam, her feet like lead. She couldn’t take the weight of Sam’s injuries. She had held that face in her hands so many times - in joy, in sadness. It always brought comfort. She could see that his nose was now crooked, likely broken. His eyes had dark rings around them. His lips were cracked and swollen. Still, she placed her hands gently by his ears and kissed his forehead. She tasted blood along his hairline and couldn’t stop tears from forming.
“There’s not much time, Five. I don’t suppose you could untie my-” Five didn’t need him to continue. She took a knife out of the holster around her leg and cut him free. Sam sighed with relief. “That’s better. Oh, my hero!” He chuckled. Five couldn’t help but smile.
Same old Sam.
“Sam, I-”
“I know.” Sam nodded. Five was going to continue, but Ian began stirring. His eyes flew open and he struggled to remove the rope.
“What the- untie me! Now!” Ian screeched. Five rolled her eyes.
“You’re going to guide us out of here.” She said, “I know you have a clear path somewhere.”
“He does.” Sam nodded. “That bookshelf is a door. It just needs a retina scan. At least, that’s how he got in.”
“Really?” Five raised an eyebrow at Sam. “A secret bookshelf? That’s…kind of cool.”
“Yeah. Yes. But…listen, Golightly. We’re getting you over to the farmhouse so that we can meet up with the others. Quickly. Five, you grab one arm. I’ll grab the other.” They heaved Ian up and dragged him to the bookshelf. Sam grabbed his head and turned it toward the security pad. It wasn’t beeping.
“Keep your eyes open!” He yelled, firmly. It was the most un-Sam sound Five had heard. “There. Disarmed. Let’s go.”
They hauled Ian through a dimly lit tunnel. When they reached the end, they opened the door and walked out into the sunshine. Sam held his hand up to his eyes, the sun burning too brightly.
“You good?” Five asked him, taking more of Ian’s weight for the moment.
“Yeah. Let’s just…” He stopped short. Five hadn’t realized he stopped and kept moving, yanking Ian out of Sam’s grip. Ian fell to the ground and Five allowed him to bump along for a bit, silently delighted as his head bounced off a large rock.
When Sam didn’t move to catch up, Five stopped and looked back, worried.
“What’s up?” She asked gently.
“That’s it. Wow. I mean…just… this is amazing.” He lifted his head to the sun and smiled. “This is it, right? No Sigrid. We have Ian. Are we…” He brought his head down and looked at Five. “Are we done?”
Five took a minute to process his words. Done? She allowed herself to look around. Abel. No guards. Sam, hurt but safe.
And an explosion behind them.
Startled, Sam and Five looked to find the source of the detonation. A million possibilities were running through their minds. We didn’t clear all the guards. Sigrid is flying back over them with bombs. They have a traitor.
But then Peter’s familiar whooping came through the final echoes of the explosion. Five saw smoke clearing and realized-
“They just blew up the punishment cells.” Five uttered, somewhere between shocked and impressed.
"I think I figured out why Steve loves explosives so much." Peter said over comms as he breathed a sigh of relief.
Five looked over at Sam. Should we be celebrating? Is this over? But Sam’s expression was unreadable.
Blood had pooled in the corners of his mouth, and when he smiled a droplet dripped down, leaving a thin crimson trail. His eyes were dark, unfocused. The smile - it wasn't his. It was tight.
“Anyone else feel like we need to raise a flag or something right now? Have we got a flag?” He laughed a sharp, discordant sound.
Paula was coming up from behind them. Because Five was watching closely, she noticed Paula hesitate upon seeing Sam in person, her smile wavering for just a moment. But she recovered quickly and folded Sam in her arms.
“I’ve got one of Maxine’s maternity dresses. It’s quite, uh, stripey.” She laughed.
“That will do.” Sam hugged Paula back and nodded into her shoulder. “That will absolutely do.” He let go of the hug and Five noticed how much tension he kept in his body. His shoulders were hitched, his hands were shaking, muscles tense.
“What are you going to do with me now?” Ian whined from the dirt. Sam jumped a bit, clearly having forgotten he was there.
“I’m going to ki-” Five began.
“We’re going to put you on trial, obviously, for your crimes.”
“Wait, what?” Paula let him go. “Trial?”
“Yeah, I’m tired of revenge. That’s what Sigrid would do. It’s what Ian would do. It’s not what - HEY!” As Sam was talking, Ian had made his way back up to his feet. Somehow he had made his way out of his bindings. Five grabbed for him but missed.
“Shit. The rope. It was weak. He broke through.” The rope wasn’t weak. You made a mistake. You didn’t tie the knots right.
“He’s running back into the training ground! Five - come on! Let’s go after him!”
“I’m going to release my hoard of fast zombies on all of you. I’m going to let them go inside the gates and you’re all going to die.” Ian screamed.
“Ian, don’t do this!” Sam called after him. “Don’t do it. You’ll die, too!”
“I don’t care. I don’t care about any of it. We’ll all die together.”
Five threw herself forward. She couldn't remember ever having such a strong desire to tear someone apart before. She grabbed at every piece of his withered, nasty flesh. She wanted to pull it off, rip his whole body into shreds. Five felt like a rabid animal, with nothing but ringing in her ears. She felt strong hands pull at her and suddenly she was only clawing at the air.
“What the hell, Paula? Let me at him.”
“It’s not - we can’t-”
“No!” Sam interrupted. “Ian!” In the commotion, Ian had managed to pull himself up off the ground. Sam reached for him and missed, unsteady on his feet. “He’s heading back to the training ground. That’s where the fast zoms are. We have to go after him. We have to stop him. Five!” His voice was desperate. Five took his hand in hers and pulled him with her.
Five would always look back on this split-second decision and realize this was probably the biggest mistake she had ever made. Why did I grab his hand? Why didn’t I leave him there? Why didn’t I grab Paula? Maybe it would have changed nothing. But maybe it would have changed everything.
She didn’t let go as they crossed back into the training center, through the back door. She didn’t let go as they ran through the secret bookcase and the (still bloody…still so much blood) back office. She didn’t let go as they chased Ian through a set of doors and all the way to the tree bridge over the zombie infested river. Ian took a leap and landed on the makeshift bridge. He stopped short and turned around.
“Stay away. This isn’t how the story goes. Stay back!” He was looking around frantically, a trapped animal. He realized his mistake. If he continued forward, he would end up on the zombie part covered ground. If he backtracked, he would run into Sam and Five.
And Five was not someone you wanted to run into right now.
She had finally let go of Sam’s hands and stood in a fighter’s stance. Her muscles taught, ready to pounce. Her eyes were on fire. Her mouth bent in a frown, shoulders back.
“Careful, Five.” Sam put his arm out as if he had a chance of stopping her.
“I’m going to destroy this bridge!” Ian shouted. “That’s what heroes do, isn’t it? Then you won’t be able to chase me!”
Five twitched and then relaxed and shared a quizzical look with Sam. He will…what? If Ian was a thinking man, he would have used this moment of shock to escape.
Fortunately, Ian was a very stupid man.
A very stupid man who was jumping and working to break the bridge.
“Is he trying to…is he trying to destroy the bridge while he’s still on it?” Jody asked, making Five jump, since she had forgotten she was even wearing her headset. “Oh, God. Just bring him in. For his own safety. I mean, what does he think is going to happen?”
Five was about to make a move and grab the idiot off the bridge when a loud snap echoed through the training grounds.
The bridge had broken.
Ian’s mouth made a perfect O in a silent scream as he fell. He splashed into the river. His arms waved through water and rotten flesh.
“Help me! Help me out of here! It’s in my mouth! In my eyes! Help! Help me out!”
Five looked over the edge of the river and spat into it. She raised her middle finger, the one with the old cheap ring. The one she wore as a promise to come home. Abel was home. Sam was home. And Ian had fucked them both up.
He deserved this.
But Sam.
Her beautiful Sam.
He was reaching down into the water. Ian’s hands - his hands that had just been used to inflict as much pain as possible - connected with Sam’s hands - black, blue, and bloody. Sam winced in pain and pulled. He had little strength left and started to slip. Resigned, Five held on to Sam’s waist and helped pull Ian out of the water.
“This is for you, Sam. Not for him.” She whispered in his ear.
“I know.” He whispered back. To Ian he said, “Did Veronica do that test on you? The one to see if you’re immune?”
“Yeah. I’m not immune! That’s why I needed a serum!”
“And have you taken the serum?”
“No! She never sent it to me.” Ian’s voice was quieting. He knew exactly what this all meant.
“So, you know what just happened, then. I’m immune. All these zombie bits you just got on me? I’m immune.” Sam’s voice was flat, a strange lack of emotion. “But you…you are not immune. That water got in your mouth and your eyes. Do you understand what’s going to happen to you?”
“Oh, God. No. No. It’s a mistake. They’re not…they can’t…I’m going to die.”
“It’s better than you deserve.” Five muttered. Sam didn’t hear.
“Well, we might be able to do something for you with plasmapheresis.” A harsh chuckle left his throat. “I’ve got to be honest, though, Ian, there’s a list of zombie-infected people who we’d give that treatment to. You’ll be right at the bottom of it.” He took a breath. Let it out slowly. And whispered, “What do you want?”
“There’s no point. I know what you’re going to do with me.”
“What are we going to do?” Sam’s voice was calm. Almost too calm.
“Oh, don’t look at me like you don’t know.” Ian turned over so he was looking up at them. He looked like a post-tantrum toddler. Eyes wide, red and rimmed with tears. Hands balled in fists. “I know what you’re planning. You’re going to keep me here as a zombie, aren’t you?”
Five didn’t know what she expected Ian to say, but it wasn’t that. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and glanced at Sam expecting him to look the same. Instead, he was still watching Ian with that unsettling air of calm.
Ian continued.
“You’re going to put me in a cage, you’re going to keep me on show, you’re going to publish photographs of me like that. Laugh at me. Make jokes about me. Joke Ian Zombie. That’s all you’ve ever wanted.”
Five had enough. She brought her leg back to kick him, opening her mouth to yell about how stupid he was.
But she heard Sam sigh and stopped. She finally recognized that his tone wasn’t calm. He was drained. His whole body wilted with the effort of keeping itself alive.
“You have never understood the first thing about who we are. About what Abel is. Ian, what is it that you want?”
Five looked at Ian. He was rising to his knees. He moved his hands to a prayer position and a tear fell down his cheek.
It was pathetic, really. Ian on his knees, begging for death. Giant alligator tears of regret sliding down his dirty face, running into his pathetic mouth.
It didn’t move the needle on her sympathy meter.
“I want you to shoot me. Please.”
Five’s heart stopped.
Sam was running beside her, carrying a lullaby CD for his child. Not yet born and already so loved. He wasn’t crying, but he was quiet. Pensive. Sad. He explained how his dad got home from work with signs of the virus. His mom was caring for him when she was bitten. Sam hadn’t been in the room. He used a lamp to kill his dad. He and his mom watched her bite. She didn’t want to turn. He killed her, too. Brought the lamp down right on the crown of her head.
Janine spoke of giving a loved one the dignity of a human death.
Did Ian think he had a right to a dignified death?
Did Sam think he had the responsibility to give him one?
“No.” Five said, simply. Sam looked at her with weary, bloodshot eyes. “I can do it, Sam. Just go.” Five took the gun from its holster.
“It’s fine, Five. I’ve done it before.” Sam laughed. “This will be easier than my mom. Because it’s a gun not a lamp. And also because it’s Ian. Five, give me the gun.”
“I won’t.” She shook her head. She lifted the gun herself but couldn’t keep it steady.
“Look, Five. You’re not steady. Look at my hands.” Sam lifted his arm to show her. They were oddly steady. “Not so much as a quiver. Give me. The gun.”
Five wanted to argue. She wanted to hurry up and pull the trigger.
She should have pulled the trigger.
She’d fired a gun with shaking hands before. She knew how to correct for it. Sara Smith had taught her that trick.
Instead, inexplicably, she handed the gun over. Sam nodded.
Five didn’t look away.
“You want this?” Sam asked, placing his fingers around the gun. Five tried to remember if she’d ever seen him shoot one before.
Once. On the training ground with Runner 8. He jumped at the sound and swore he’d leave the shooting to the runners.
“Yes.” Ian lowered his hands to his sides. “Please. I didn’t…I don’t think I…”
“All right. It’s done now. All debts are paid, Ian, just like they always are in the end. I hope you find some peace, wherever you’re headed.”
The gun went off.
Ian slumped over on his side.
Five jumped when she heard the gun a second time and turned her head to check on Sam.
He was still standing there. He had sent a second bullet into Ian’s chest.
Sam sighed.
He gently handed the gun back to Five. She took it and secured it back at her hip.
“Sam?”
“Let’s go back to the farmhouse. I feel like raising a flag or, uh…” He laughed a bit, an empty sort of sound. “Maxine’s maternity dress, or something. Come on. Let’s run.”
“Sam?”
“Five - just…run with me.”
She grabbed his hand and together they ran.