Infection Runs Deep

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: SHRAPNEL

I let out a long breath, shaking my head. "I have no clue. At least a few days, I guess."

"So before this started?"

"Could be," I admitted. "But then we'd be dealing with people who willingly gave us this house despite the fact that they knew their neighbors were missing, or if you want to be real, dead."

"People suck," Ian declared, moving towards the master bathroom. "Let's check in here."

"Then we have to go report the bodies." I rubbed a hand on my head. "We've already stirred up so much shit and we've been here for only a few hours."

Ian grabbed the door handle, flinging the door open. A shrill scream echoed from the bathroom. I charged in weaponless.

Ian held his hands up in the air. "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you."

I peered closer. It was a child. Maybe seven or eight years old. Half-starved and ratty, but alive. Ian shot me a worried glance. What was this child doing locked in the bathroom? Why was no one looking for her?

She had scrambled into the corner, her eyes frenzied and body shaking. I remained where I was, not wanting to frighten her more. "Hey, my name's Luke and this Ian. We want to help you. Can you tell me your name?"

She started to pant, her chest rising and falling more rapidly than before. I reached out my hand but she started to shake her head aggressively. "No," she cried. "The monsters."

"It's okay. We know about the monsters. We're not going to let them hurt you." I took a very small step towards her. "We want to help you. Can you tell me your name?"

Her eyes were still wary, but her breaths relaxed slightly. "You know about the monsters? You've seen them? Nobody believes me."

I had assumed her monsters were the infected. Now I wasn't so sure. Either way, this little girl needed some help. "Yeah, I've seen them. We can protect you."

She nodded, standing up slowly. I slid off my jacket and extended it out to her. She disregarded it and flung her arms around me.

I froze. I had younger siblings so I knew how to deal with children, just not traumatized ones. She started to sob, soft, huffing breaths. Gently, I tried to console her, murmuring words of encouragement. Ian gestured at me to do something more but I just returned it with a helpless look.

"Can you tell me your name?" I asked again, still waiting on an answer from her.

"Alexandra," she said into my shoulder. Finally, she pulled away from me sniffling, this time accepting my jacket, dirty and bloodstained as it was. "You can call me Alex."

"Okay, Alex. We're going to get you some help and keep you safe. I need to talk to my friend really quickly and then we'll get you out of here."

She nodded, clutching the jacket close. I kept an eye on her as I met with Ian in the doorway to the main bedroom, trying to block the gruesome scene with my body.

My voice was hushed, quiet enough that Alex couldn't hear me. "We need to get her out of here. Then, I'm going to find Sarah. See what she knows about this whole ordeal."

"Do you think that Sarah knew about this?" Ian swallowed hard. "The bodies and Alex?"

"I hope not," I said, surveying the bedroom again. Sure, I was used to gore and death from my time on the battlefield, but this was different. The hometown suburbia facade ripped to pieces by the coverup of these deaths. It made me sick to my stomach. "If she did, there's going to be hell to pay."

"What are we going to do with Alex?" Ian looked at her nervously. "She's just a kid, but it looks like whoever took care of her is dead and no one else here cared enough to look for her."