Cellar Sheep

Chapter 17

Today was the day we left and a good thing at that. For one the water had shut off for good. Luckily we were smart enough to save up what we could while we had it but food was running low and everyone was getting antsy. Not to mention it was only a matter of time before the infectees upstairs went savage and found the heard.

It was also good because I was starting to go insane from being locked down with that voice.

I leaned against the wall, twisting the ring on my thumb as we all gathered around the garage door. Gerald held the note from the room on the tenth floor in his hand, as I found out it was a code to a safe which held the keys to the snowmobiles and garage.

Our mission was simple: Ride to the lodge with as least possible conflict with infectee, get in and secure ourselves in the radio room and contact the safety camp.

Risky, dangerous, probably impossible but there was no other choice if we wanted to survive. We were all hens waiting for slaughter back at the hotel, we needed to leave.

The garage door opened with a click and we all headed in. The room was dark but a flashlight was just enough. I could tell it was cold in here just by the fog of their breath and the slight steam coming from my skin. I shrugged the jacket I grabbed over my shoulders, knowing even though I was constantly hot, whenever I was on the roof I felt slightly chilled. Not cold enough to freeze and make me shake but like that one gust of cold wind that shocked you for a moment.

Several snowmobiles were all lined up and untouched, the room was empty save for us and the vehicles.

They dispersed, talking and discussing, filling the empty room with echoes. I watched silently from the garage door, eyes flickering to each vehicle as they mounted and messed with to make sure they'd work. I felt Wanda's presence behind me before I heard her. She folded her arms together and watched as well.

"This may be the biggest event in your life with the most consequence." She told me. I said nothing, staring straight ahead. That made her impatient. "Make one wrong move and there'll be a bullet in your skull before you even know what happened." Still no response. "Be grateful we haven't already."

"Threatening to kill children now, are you Wanda?" I snapped, not bothering to look at her. She gave a strained laugh.

"Oh, Karma, you're no child anymore."

"Maybe not, but those sheep in the cellar are," I said. "Killing me would be the worst consequence, but you don't really care about them, do you?"

"Everyone's life here matters to me and you'd be a fool to think otherwise."

"No, they don't," I said simply. "You just care about yourself." I could tell I was stepping way over a line here and she was about to snap at me. Hell, if I wasn't infected she probably would've hit me hard across the face for that remark. But surprisingly she didn't. 

"I may be a selfish woman, but that's keeping everyone here alive." She said lowly with a bite. "You, however, are just an ignorant child that will eventually turn and become one of those monsters."

"Yet you're betting everything on me," I said, turning to her and giving her a look that I knew coated my eyes in ink. She stiffened. "Don't worry, though. If I ever do turn I'll find you first."

I blinked, setting my eyes back to normal before walking away from the door and away from that bitch. And whenever I had made it to the snowmobile I'd be on she was gone from the frame.

Our mission group, like always, was small. There was Thomas, Caleb, Mary, and three others plus me. We were taking three mobiles and there were four flamethrowers. Everyone also had a gun and whatnot while I had my handy dandy little knife and voice.

Everyone got a partner to ride with and mine was Thomas. Probably because he was the only one who'd let me close enough to him to ride but either way that was fine by me.

I brushed my hand over the slightly dusty leather seat.

"Think you're up for it again?" Thomas asked me. I stuck my hands in my pockets.

"Kinda have to be, don't I?" I said back to him.

"If things go south, you know what to do." He shifted the gun strap on his shoulder. "If you can't save us then at least save them." I didn't exactly know how to respond to that. I knew if this mission failed I couldn't return unless I had a death wish but I also don't think Thomas knew the pressure his words had.

"Just... don't die," I said quietly, glancing up to meet his good eye. "You guys keep betting everything on a ticking time bomb."

"Aren't we all?" He said grimly. He was right, though. No one was safe from the second stage and Hunter proved that. I proved that. The infectee's roaming around proved that.

Sooner than any of us wanted, it was time. And after a brief yet surprisingly encouraging pep talk by Caleb, we were all ready to go. We'd got our blood pumping and feral side out and ready to fight for our lives; for the sheep's lives down in the cellar. This whole thing was almost kind of thrilling, as bad as that sounded. Most of my mission group found hell outside and were risking going back, but they had a look in their eyes that told me they were ready.

And as we boarded the snowmobiles and readied our weapons, my heart was pumping wildly with something I thought I'd never experience again.

Not fear, not happiness, but the genuine determination to live. To win.

And as the garage door opened and the blinding light from the snow appeared, we were off.