The Immune

14. Short but sweet

Will

The cold sting of freezing water brought me back to consciousness.

Lifting my heavily eyelids, I began to feel pain radiate throughout my body. My head was pounding, and my neck hurt. My arm was strangely numb and wouldn't move.

I dangled from the seat belt, half dragging along the ground. The van lay upside down, and in the darkness I could see water, at least a foot high, streaming quickly through the back windshield.

I could see Ash, laying limp in her belt.

Brooke's body had fallen out of her strap, her body lying submerged in the freezing water. If she hadn't passed already, the fall would have killed her.

The final knot on the seat belt was hard to remove. My numb arm remained , helpfully unavailable, sitting still in the freezing water.

Tugging free the final knot sent me splashing heavily onto the roof below. Pain radiated up my now, not so numb arm.

I rolled over, sitting up, attempting to survey my arm in the dim light. A thick gash twisted up my bicep, twisting around the muscle. Thick streams of blood dripped heavily. The wound seeped thick rivulets, making me queasy. There didn't seem to be anything in the wound, and appeared to be clean cut. I ripped a piece of material off my pant leg - it would have to do as a bandage, for now. I tied the material as tight as I could, over the top of the wound. I gritted my teeth and shut my eyes against the pain. If only it had remained numb.

"Ash!" i cried out. She hung limp in the last remaining strap, unconscious. I stood gingerly in the cabin, pulling gently at the belt. She was breathing steadily, her skin warm beneath my fingers. I untied the cord slowly, letting her body gently fall into the freezing water.

I made my way over to the back door, and attempted to shove the metal open. Putting my good arm through the broken window to reach the handle, only cut my fore arm. The fall had seemingly jammed it shut.

The front windshield had smashed on impact with the ground, the bent and disfigured frame would still allow a nicely shaped person to squeeze through.

I glanced over at Brookes body. The submerged form still. i could come back for her body, and take care of her if need be. It should be a few hours before she turns.

I heaved Ash's body into the front compartment, twisting our way between the front seats. Broken glass littered the floor, with what was left of the glass windshield standing jagged and dangerous. The freezing water rushed into the front, making its way out through the broken windshield. Kicking what i could from the frame, i pulled myself out through the windshield, lowering my torso into the aching water. Was there more water than there was a few minutes ago? I could feel each jagged piece of glass snag at my clothes, and bite deeply into my skin. I felt a particularly sharp edge cut deeply into my pants, yanking firmly at my leg. I gasped at the pain, accidentally jerking away from the sharp edge, made the piece cut deeper. As calmly as i could, i moved my leg away from the spike. The piece of glass revealed, was coated in a layer of my blood that quickly washed away in the icy water.

With my good arm, i reached into the cab, pulling Ash's sleeping form out. I tried to avoid any glass, pulling her, almost as if she were floating, through the windshield.

I rested a moment, heaving her body against mine. The rain beat down on us heavily, the frigid water making me shiver. The light was better out here, and from this angle i could see Ash had hit her head hard - a firm bump had raised on her forehead that was already turning purple.

The water from the canal was definitely rising, its current moving quicker.

Fighting exhaustion and blood loss, i tugged myself, and Ash towards the inclined banks of the canal.

In the light i could see the bridge above us, and i could see the gap in the barrier where the van had broken through. We had fallen that distance, and we had survived, all because of Ashs' quick thinking.

Hazy figures stood on the bridge, their distorted figures wailing in hunger. They weren't brave enough to face the jump. Strange, seemingly they can understand death when they see it.

Ash shuddered suddenly, her blue eyes opening wide in alarm. She tried to raise her head, but let out a yelp of pain.

"Ash, hey! Don't move just yet." i said, raising myself onto my good elbow.

"You've hit your head pretty hard" i said, examining her frightened face. She seemed so terrified for a few moments.

"Did we actually make it?" she half whispered, her eyes seemed confused

"Yeah! you're an absolute genius!"

"hah!" she laughed, her face lit up with a dazzling smile, "Who knew hey!"

"Champagne all around!" we both laughed.

I stopped, without her i would probably be dead right now. She lay against me, the only warmth on this frigid night.

"I want to Thank you, honestly" I said. She smiled up at me, with that smile and those eyes.

Without a second thought I lowered my lips to hers. Her lips joined mine eagerly, soft and tender. i felt an exhilarated chill sneak up my spine. For the first time in my life, something felt well and truly right. Despite the zombies overhead, despite the freezing rain and my possibly life threatening injuries. Maybe i should worry about that last one, this really wasn't exactly the best time for this. There was never a good time these days.

But for this moment, or several moments, everything was right.

The sound of a hungry moan broke us apart.

"Brooke!"

"She turned!"

The wreckage of the van lay still. The sound of the creature moaning and struggling could be heard over the rain.

"Stay here" i told Ash. I ignored her protests as I shakily got to my feet, and heading back into the water.

I removed my gun from my holster, clicking the safety off. This needed to be done. This is what she would have wanted. This is what peace needs.

i stood just back from the windshield, watching the darkness for the creature to emerge.

I had been so stupid. So disoriented. I had clumsily forgotten what would happen to Brooke. She turned faster than I thought she would. I could've stopped this from happening.

I watched on in fear as my friend, co worker and mentor crawled through the front seats. I watched as she crawled her way through broken glass. She or It, now ignored the glass shredding her bare arms and hands. I watched the hunger grow in her eyes, I saw the deranged expression on my former friend's face.

It's hands clawed desperately, Its teeth gnashed aggressively as it panted words of rage.

"Come here" it gruff voice moaned,"M hungrre" it called

I raised the gun. With a calm I have never felt before, I shot once. Right in the skull.

"Goodbye," I whispered.

I limped my way back to Ash, falling heavily when I came to her form, my vision reeling. She pulled me close, and her warmth comforted me.

Maybe if we both just had a nap. Gather our energy a bit.

"We got to get up," She said drowsily, i kissed her lightly on the forehead. I couldn't get up. Not just yet. This was almost nice  - the cold water numbed the cuts, or maybe it was the bloodloss that made me feel numb. I giggled alittle hysterically. I couldn't get up, and Ash already had her eyes closed.

I dreamed of a light, the sound of helicopter blades, of voices. In my delirium i only recognized the warm comforting body of Ash beside me, and of her warm hand in mine. The rain stopped, and the cold was replaced with a something nice and warm, and that's where i fell into a deepening sleep.

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