Lavivrus

Chapter 7

Pain shot up Shai's leg. He flinched.

"Hold still," Fabian told him, a bottle of disinfectant in his hands.

A large shard of glass lay beside the injured boy on the bunk where he sat. His outstretched leg was being doctored. Messy stitches held the previous hole together.

Near him Lake was pacing back and forth. "Why?" He repeated for what felt like the hundredth time to the listeners.

Mav was exploring the armory and other supplies within the bunker while Roanna was wordlessly doing the same beside him. Asumi was curled up on a bunk, her back turned to the others.

"So." Fabian looked up from where he had just placed gauze on Shai's leg. "When do we leave?"

Lake stopped pacing. "No. We should stay."

"No rescue will be coming," Mav spoke without turning from where he was handling a shotgun.

Shai watched as Lake stuck the gauze on with duct tape. It wasn't ideal, but their supplies were limited.

"If we go out there we will die." Lake jabbed a finger at the door. "It's just a matter of when."

"We already talked about this." Having completed his job, Fabian got to his feet. "Our best option is to make our way to the outpost at the harbor. Who knows, maybe we'll find a scavenging group along the way."

"Not likely." Roanna added her input. She picked up a fuel can and shook it only to be rewarded with a sloshing.

"On top of that, there're infected and infectors everywhere out there." Lake eyed the can.

"And if we stay here we'll run out of what rations we have. Not to mention power." Fabian shot a glance at the lights. "The batteries won't last much longer. Would you rather die here than at least give it a fight?"

"We can set up...wait until the bombers come back," Lake pointed out. "Besides, the outpost is too far! With the condition of the roads it'll take a week if we drive...and that's if we even have enough fuel..."

"What's wrong?" Roanna raised her eyebrows. "You don't have legs to walk on?"

Lake opened his mouth to reply but Shai beat him to it. "We'll face the problem when we get to it." He slowly got to his feet. Putting his weight down on his injured leg he winced.

"Heads up."

He caught the bottle Roanna tossed at him just in time. Turning it around he was pleasantly surprised to see it was painkillers. Shai nodded his thanks.

Mav let out a grunt. He clutched something in his hands as he walked over. He threw the object on the ground a proceeded to unroll a map.

"That'll be useful." Roanna leaned against the door that separated the weapons from the rest of the room.

Fabian and Shai walked over to take a closer look.

"We're around here." Mav pointed to a spot. "Our outpost is..." his finger traced along it until it came to the edge of land by an ocean. "Here."

Shai's eyes scanned the route as he unscrewed the bottle of meds.

"Quickest way is this..." Mav pointed it out, "But..."

"Lots of towns." Shai was quick to pick out the problem. He popped a pill in his mouth, swallowing it dry.

Mav nodded. He leaned back on his hunches. "Higher chances of hordes and infectors."

"But also fuel and supplies," Roanna voiced. "Also, we could get lucky and run across a scavenging team."

"And a 99.9% chance of death," Lake muttered as he leaned back against the wall.