Chapter 11
One moment, they’re heading for rescue, and the next someone’s racing straight for Nora like she’s on the menu.
They attempt to bypass Theo completely, which takes some effort considering he’s directly blocking her. She only has a moment to ready her weapon, but Theo slams the dull end of his bow right into the soft, torn face of her attacker before she has a chance to use it.
He drops like a rock into the snow, limbs twitching and a pitiful groan sounding one last time.
He doesn’t get back up, but the commotion alerted his companion, who emerges from the woods with a blood-coated mouth and strips of skin hanging from his teeth.
This time, Theo kicks him backward, yelling at her to run for the house.
She isn’t about to leave him, not a chance.
Not when the struggle only gets worse. Theo throws his weight on top of their attacker and pins him to the ground.
Despite her desire to help, she has no fucking idea what to do.
He’s trying his best not to use lethal force this time, but when this one gets the upper hand, it finds the same end as its companion when Theo slams the bow into his forehead with a sickening crunch.
“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” His concern for her is instant once the threat is gone and paired with roaming hands that check her for injuries despite the lack of contact made.
He’s making a fuss over her, and she lets him. Too numb to do much more than cooperate while staring at their attackers turned into victims.
“I’m okay. They didn’t get close enough. What the hell just happened?”
“Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Fuck.” Her well-being confirmed, he finally turns back to the people who came close to mauling them.
He nudges a leg hopefully, the fishing line wrapped around it, dragging the attached pole a few inches as it shifts.
Reaches down with shaky fingers to feel for a pulse before his face pales.
“He’s dead. Is he dead? I killed them. I killed someone.
I wasn’t trying to. I didn’t even hit them that hard. ”
Theo alternates between monotone and unraveled as realization hits that he took not one but two lives.
“Come on, we have to get inside. There could be others.” She gives him a gentle push that only succeeds in tilting him back, his eyes still locked on the bodies painting the ground an alarming red. “Theo! Come with me. We’ll figure this out.”
She reaches across to the other side of his face, cupping his cheek to turn him toward her.
Not quite sure how she’s managed to stay calm so far, but maybe years of practice at trauma and shock have given her a barrier.
She’s good in a crisis. Usually. Assuming it doesn’t involve the death of someone she loves, or, it would seem, defending herself against someone trying to rip her throat out with their teeth.
Theo’s no stranger to stress, but this is hitting him hard.
If she has to be the practical one right now, then so be it.
Eventually, Nora succeeds in pulling him away from the scene and sheds her extra layers once they’re inside, enveloped in warm air.
It quickly becomes clear that he’s lapsed into a semi-non-functioning state.
He only stands motionless in the entry hall, eyes fixed on the front door window with a clear view of what they left outside.
She shuts the curtain, cutting off his line of sight and locks the door just in case.
He doesn’t move to shuck his coat, so she does it for him, carefully unzipping and peeling it off his shoulders, mindful of the sore one. He’s pliable and easy to maneuver, and that’s worrisome when he hadn’t even been this affected after the crash.
“I killed someone,” he whispers, slumping against the wall, head hung low.
“The first one was heading straight for me, and the second one almost ate the nose off your face. If you didn’t, then I would have. I had my knife ready. You were protecting me and yourself, Theo. You had no choice.”
Something seems to click while she’s fussing over him and he forces himself upright, full of false confidence that’s a clear cover if she ever saw one.
“Whatever this is, it’s spreading. It’s not just on the plane anymore,” he says, calmly. “We have to get into the communications room. The risk of using the rifle is worth it. The radio works. We need to reach it.”
She nods. “Let’s shoot the lock off then.”
They haven’t yet, for fear of a ricochet bullet, but evidence of a working radio inside makes it impossible not to try after their ordeal.
Even with the promise of Gwen returning soon, they can’t simply sit on their hands and wait for rescue, trusting that she’ll show up.
Nora knows better than anyone how easily well-laid plans can get completely fucked.
“Wait around the corner. Just in case.” He hefts the gun up and aims it at the door handle.
She glares at him.
“We can’t both catch a stray bullet.”
He has a point, even if she hates it. She wants to ask why it has to be him, but they’re wasting time already, so she does as he asks.
The sound of the shot is louder than she remembers when she used it to scare the bear away. She flinches on reflex before leaning around the corner to find the door to the communications room wide open and Theo still upright.
They lock eyes at the threshold of this new frontier.
The glow of the computer monitor illuminates the dark room, blinking again and again with ominous instructions to tap the enter key.
It would seem that booting up the overall power did more than turn on the radio.
It’s offered them specific directions on what to do next.
Nora takes a step forward, her finger hovering over the keyboard, when her peripheral vision catches sight of a figure in the corner. She springs backward and into Theo. “There’s someone here…there’s…”
Except the reality is that there used to be someone here.
Right now, they’re nothing but a corpse with a knife sticking out of their skull, slumped against the far wall, dried blood coating their face and neck.
That would be more than enough for one day, even without the other one against the opposite wall in a similar condition.
“What the fuck happened here?” Theo’s arm shot out to shove her behind him, but it relaxes a fraction when it’s clear their company won’t be getting back up.
The answer to that question might be waiting on the monitor. Without further hesitation, she hits the enter key and watches with rapt attention as Gwen’s face appears on the screen.
If you’re seeing this, it’s probably too late.
There’s been a discovery in core sample number four seventy-two.
Something we haven’t seen before. There were…
creatures frozen in the ice. Some kind of parasite, maybe, I’m not sure.
We followed protocol for containment and removal to prep for transport, and I know how this sounds, but the moment it was free from the ice, it moved.
They were alive. Henderson got bitten. Minuscule really.
So small he barely noticed. But then the fever came.
Communication has been spotty due to the storms. I couldn’t get a signal out.
It came on so fast, there was nothing I could do, and then…
he was dangerous. He attacked Willis, and I had no choice.
He came right at me, like he was going to rip my face off. I had no choice.
They watch as Gwen tries to contain herself and maintain some composure, their attention drifting briefly to who they now know is either Henderson or Willis sitting in the corner.
It took twenty-four hours for Willis to turn.
Faster than the first time. You have to get the brain.
Nothing else stopped him. As far as I know, it’s transferred from a bite but I can’t be sure how aggressive it is or how far it can travel if it becomes airborne.
Can’t be sure how fast it mutates either.
The wildlife research center has a stronger signal and more power, so I’m heading there today.
She pauses with a sniffle, her voice self-deprecating and hopeless.
I’m supposed to meet my fiancé there at the airstrip anyway.
We’re supposed to get married soon. Fuck.
Fuck. Nora? If you see this, it probably means something even worse happened.
That I’m infected too, or that this thing got out into the population.
We um, we sent samples to Barrow, which means they’ll be forwarded to Juno and then DC.
If you’re already in Alaska, then get to the wildlife center five miles north of Barrow.
If this is as bad as I fear it is, then it’ll be the only way out now.
The entry code is thirty-seven twenty-nine.
Do not go into more populated areas. I’m so fucking sorry I made you come all the way out here for my wedding only to walk into this mess. I don’t think-
And then the video cuts off. The screen goes black and Gwen’s face disappears into the ether, leaving them both frozen as they absorb the information.
“Is this really happening?” Nora whispers.
“I think it is.” Theo swallows hard, fixing her with a stare as troubled as she feels.
They can’t stay here in this cozy little compound waiting for rescue because no one is coming.
“We have to push on and get to the wildlife center.”
“You think Oliver and Gwen…it got them, too? Got everyone?”
“Dunno. I’m trying like hell not to think about them right now. Can’t. I just know that whoever…whatever was trying to get us out there had half a face and still kept coming. Fishing wire wrapped around his leg, dragging the pole, and he didn’t care. He was alive but…not.”
She starts pacing the length of the hallway, thinking out loud.
If he wants to brainstorm and plan, then at least they’re being productive.
“Looks like they were out ice fishing. Not near the plane. The transmissions didn’t mention anyone showing up to help, so if they’re not connected physically, then is it even the same thing? ”
“We thought he was dead, but then he wasn’t. That’s what she said. Sounds a hell of a lot like what we just saw. Dead but not dead.”
“Until you hit them in the head, which turned out to be the right decision.”
“Remember the good old days when our biggest problem was surviving that damn plane crash instead of dealing with this bullshit?
She smiles, sadly. “I do.”
“If we’re going, then we have to be prepared. We’re how far from Barrow now? Twenty miles? Ten?
“Something like that. She said not to go into more populated areas. I know it’s a small town, but—”
He shakes his head, turning to head for the supply room. “We can’t make a straight shot to the wildlife center. It’s too far. We’ll have to stop and find somewhere to rest and warm up. The weather is turning.”
She’s been trying to ignore the fact that the snow is piling up higher and higher by the hour, and the wind chill already chapped her lips from only a few moments outside.
They’ve been lucky until now, if any of this can be considered lucky.
They crashed right on the edge of the incoming winter and were granted mostly survivable temperatures.
Now, that small windfall is fading faster than they can chase it.
“What we need is enough weapons to survive if others in town are infected,” he admits. “We can fend off one, maybe two, but beyond that, fast as they are?”
They have enough food to take for the trip, but bullets are scarce. They’re going to leave the only safe place, with no transportation, and few weapons, and head into the unknown during a brand new plague. It sounds insane.
“Hey, what if this isn’t actually as bad as Gwen fears it might be? What if it’s fine, and she just doesn’t have a good signal yet? She could still come back.”
Theo pauses in the middle of packing a bag. “Stranger things have happened, but I’d rather be proactive at this point. Are you having second thoughts?”
“Leaving all the supplies and the heat and the running water just feels like a questionable decision.”
“I get it. And you’re right. We have to decide together. I can’t force you to leave.”
“But you’ll go without me?”
He winces like she hit him, and she wishes she could take back the comment that slipped out before she actually thought it through. Her heart already knows he wouldn’t abandon her. Her head simply hasn’t caught up.
“No,” he grumbles. “Stop that. Whatever we do, we do it together.”
“You think we should go.” It’s a flat, resigned statement that earns her a nod of agreement.
“It won’t be easy, but it’s doable.”
The thing about being faced with life-altering decisions is that she never expected them to keep coming at breakneck speeds.
They hardly get a moment to rest before some new awful thing springs up, and they’re standing at another fork in the road.
As much as she wants to pretend that Gwen overreacted, she knows her friend is the last person to spread panic if it isn’t warranted.
If they stay and no one comes, it’ll be harder to leave after they’ve run through all the supplies, and this place could end up a prison.
“Okay. Let’s go to Barrow.”