LOCKDOWN

Chapter 17

PEYTON'S POV

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I crept along the sidewalk quietly, looking left and right for any sounds of passing vehicles or army personnel surveying the area. Braidwood was a small town, and I didn't expect to see many soldiers nearby until I reached the more populated areas of the city. Every time a light flashed, a cat meowed, or a twig snapped, I lowered myself onto the ground behind the nearest thing that would cover me.

After twenty minutes of walking I finally reached the main street of Braidwood. It was eerily creepy in the dark, lacking it's usual bright lights and chatting customers dining outside the local pizzeria and gelato store. Windows and doors were boarded shut with rotting planks of wood, signs were plastered inside store windows saying they are no longer operating due to the virus. I had never seen the street this empty — it was extremely unsettling.

I heard a rumble nearby and just had enough time to duck behind a rubbish bin before a large army tanker drove past, two army personnel sticking out of the top with their rifles drawn. Living in Australia, seeing a gun was a rare occurrence. I'd seen one here and there in the holster of a police officers belt, but that was the extent of my exposure to firearms. The soldiers wore khaki uniforms, not a hazmat suit. The quick research that Zara and I had done before I left showed that only the soldiers with direct contact with civilians wore the suits.

I waited until the rumbling of the vehicle completely disappeared before continuing down the street, sticking to the shadows and steering clear of any light. I crept slowly, occasionally checking my phone to see if I was heading in the right direction.

Gunfire suddenly pierced the silence. It shook my body to its core and my blood ran cold. Someone had most likely just lost their life and that could've just as easily been me. Had they been trying to get medication to a family member? Visit a sick friend? Or had they just been so sick of being trapped inside that they finally snapped?

I knew I was halfway there when I passed by the old playground I used to visit when I was a kid. It looked exactly the same as it did when I was younger, and brought fond memories flooding back. I hadn't been in that playground since I was six years old — that was the age that my parents decided that I was 'too old' to play, and that it was time for them to crack down on me to make sure I succeeded in life.

I couldn't let myself reminisce, I had a job to do. I let my hand trail down to the pocket of my pants and felt the box of medication sitting in my pocket. Faye needed this medication otherwise she would die — die because she had been so busy trying to save her community that she hadn't realised her own health was in jeopardy.

It was nearing midnight by the time the glow of the hospital lights lit up the sky above me. I was mere minutes away, but I couldn't afford to get reckless. If I got caught now, not only would I die, but Faye would too. And that...that would destroy Zara.

Zara. It's crazy to think that twenty four hours ago I was furious at her, letting my past experiences mould my opinion of her and believe that she would use me to experiment. Seeing her face contorted with fear when she burst into my room mere hours earlier broke me and healed me all at once. I knew I had to do this for her. It felt like a lifetime ago that I was sitting in her house, watching her pace back and forth.

An ambulance rushed past me as I stalked through the shadows, and I watched from behind a deserted car as the paramedics donning hazmat suits leapt from the vehicle and ran to open the back doors, pulling out a stretcher carrying a heavily pregnant woman. She was sobbing hysterically, screaming that they had to save her baby.