Eleni felt groggy. She didn't know which way was up or where she was. Consciousness hit her like a bag of rocks, but it was the searing pain across her abdomen that woke her with a shriek. Smoke filled her nostrils, and she coughed and hacked violently, suppressing the urge to retch. Blisters and gashes decorated her arms, and she felt nauseated having to look at her marred skin. The second thing to register other than the distress she was in was Neri. With a gasp, she turned to her side.
She was still unconscious. The airbag had crushed her face, and her nose was bleeding profusely. The seat belt had made a deep cut in her neck, and Eleni figured that with one more flip, Neri would've been decapitated. The dashboard had nearly shattered into bits and was pinning Eleni to her seat, like Neri.
Eleni groaned as she punched open the door next to her, and realized their position. The Honda Civic was on its side, so the passenger door was pinned shut. Eleni's door was a climb straight up, and then she would have to hop down and push the car over to get to Neri. The moonroof had been shattered as well, and deformed in such a way that it loomed over Neri's head, and right next to the pavement of the road.
Eleni's eyes watered, both from the smoke and the possibility that her friend was dead. She undid her seat belt, and managed to pull her leg out from under the dashboard. When she finally got that far, she sat atop the vehicle and quickly hopped down after sensing the heat from the flames consuming the back of the car.
Oh my God, Eleni thought worriedly. The fire is going to draw Restless, Neri isn't awake, she's trapped, and the car's on fire! Tears started to flow for real this time, and she limped to the other side of the vehicle to attempt to push it over. The ground spun under her feet, and dizziness almost knocked her to the ground.
As her hands gripped the roof of the car, she heard a groan.
"Neri?!" Eleni looked through the moonroof at Neri, to see her bleary grey eyes blink open. "Hang on, Neri! I'm going to help you, okay?"
"El...eni..." Neri moaned, before her eyes snapped open from the blaze that was beginning to travel from the back of the car to the front.
She couldn't crawl through the moonroof because it was bent irregularly, making it big enough to pull out Neri halfway, but her legs would be stuck after that.
Another growl was heard, and Eleni gasped as she whipped around. Restless on the edge of the highway began walking forward, drawn to the light of the fire and the smell of fresh meat.
"NERI!" Eleni called, trying to get her to crawl out.
"My legs are stuck underneath!" Neri cried, desperately trying to claw her way out. "Kill the Restless first!"
Eleni nodded despite her sniffles, and grabbed for her gun. The first Restless suffered a shot to the head, and the second was right in the chest cavity. Another shot from Eleni hit it in its right eye socket, pushing it down for good. They came from all angles, and were beginning to sneak up behind the car as well. More than twenty were already drawn to the area.
She held her arms out straight, firing bullet after bullet, until only a hollow click was heard. The AK-47 on her back was the next best option, so she grabbed for it and aimed. They grew closer yet, and one even got within three feet of Eleni. She backed closer to the car, continuing her onslaught even though flames were beginning to slowly burn Neri to death.
The constant bangs began to make Eleni's ears ring, until she lost track of time. One after another after another filed onto the highway, but she wasn't aware of the ones approaching from the other direction.
An empty click was heard, and Eleni's heart leapt to her throat. All the remaining ammo was in the gym bags they'd brought, and were trapped in the back of the Honda if they hadn't already burned.
An ear-piercing scream echoed through the air, and Eleni turned abruptly. "Neri!"
When she looked about, she saw half of Neri's body sticking out of the moonroof; her legs still pinned under the dashboard. Neri held the shoulder of a Restless, keeping the woman from biting her neck. She hissed and squirmed, and had one of her hands gripping Neri's other arm.
"Here!" Neri threw her arm out, causing the Restless to fall dangerously close to her. A handgun skidded across the pavement to Eleni. "Kill the rest!"
Eleni gave a brief nod, then bent down to retrieve the gun that Neri threw her. She began shooting again, but threw continuous worried glances to the fire that was beginning to crawl onto the rear seats, less than a foot from Neri. The Restless continued its brawl against Neri, and Eleni hoped that it would turn out. Her heart pounded in her chest, and felt like it was breaking through her ribs. Even though it was was brisk, a cold sweat covered Eleni's forehead and her hands, causing them to steadily have less and less grip on her weapon. She peered over her shoulder again to see the Restless gradually getting closer to Neri's exposed neck.
Eleni turned back around to shoot two more Restless that dare to come closer, but a louder, more terrified, even more desperate shriek echoed through the air.
Blood covered the mouth of the Restless, and Eleni saw a smear of blood on Neri's neck, most likely from the woman trying to grab her. Her jaws were an inch from her neck, until Neri's hand finally came up with a knife in her hand, launching the blade into her scalp. The woman fell limp, hitting the pavement.
"I'm fine!" Neri called, still struggling to pull herself from under the dash as the flames grew steadily closer.
Fire began to lick the seat Neri was partially in, and she screamed as her ankles were scalded. Eleni gave a final desperate look to Neri, before shouldering her rifle and running over to Neri, jumping over the dead body of the Restless.
Neri's eyes watered and she gave out forlorn cry as blisters raised on her legs.
Eleni grabbed both of Neri's arms, and wrapped her fingers around her elbows. Neri did the same, and Eleni pulled with all her might. The growls behind them grew closer. She pulled again with clenched teeth, throwing her head back as she yanked and yanked. With one final pull, something in Neri's left ankle snapped, and with a shriek, she was pulled free. She crawled out from the moonroof, and regardless of her pain, Neri grabbed the straps of the singed gym bags.
Eleni pulled Neri to her feet, who had both bags on her back, and slung an arm around her shoulder. A Restless grabbed Eleni's sleeve, and with an enraged kick to the stomach, flew back against the ground.
"Let's go!" Eleni said, and pulled Neri.
Eleni ran and limped along the road, until a large distance was put between them and the fireball of a car. When they were farther down the highway, all they saw was a speck of light and numerous silhouettes standing around it as their car burned. They turned without the slightest bit of pity, and began walking north once again until daylight came.
The walk they had ahead of them was almost entirely uphill, and stranded from the road. Eleni and Neri rested next to some fallen trees when they walked into the forest, so they would be shielded from passersby. The first aid kit from the glovebox of their car had been shoved into their gym bags the previous day, so they took care of each other's burns. One water bottle of the remaining three was used for cleaning.
Neri put some bandages over the deep cuts Eleni had on her arms, and a patch over the deep one that ran along her cheekbone to her chin. Eleni also suffered from two black eyes and a bruised nose, with a cut in her lip. A deep incision was just below her eyebrow, and would've taken out her vision in her right eye if it went any lower. Fortunately, nothing was broken in Neri's leg. Her ankle had been twisted while she was being pulled from the wreckage, but over the night the tenderness had mostly faded. She could walk with a moderate limp, but running was still a step too far. The burns on her ankles weren't severe, but enough to be bandaged and thoroughly disinfected. The bloody nose she'd had was dry now, and she'd scraped away most of it with her fingernails. Finally, Eleni wrapped gauze around her neck from where the seat belt almost decapitated her.
"I'm sorry you have to do this," Neri muttered while Eleni tightened the gauze on her neck.
"Don't be. It was my fault, and now you're hurt."
"Don't say that. This wasn't your fault. This was the fault of whatever lab let the DED virus loose."
Neri swallowed as the bandages were tightened around her neck.
"Tight enough?" Eleni asked.
"Yes."
Another few minutes passed, where they nestled against the scratchy branches of the dead trees. The leaves below them were dead and moist, and were a blanket to cover the chilling soil. Calls of birds resounded through the air above them, and they watched some fly overhead to their nests.
"Eleni, listen to me for a moment." Neri closed her eyes for a moment, then reopened them.
She looked up to meet Neri's cold grey stare.
"If something happens, and I can't run..."
Ice ran through Eleni's veins. "Stop right there."
"No, listen to me Eleni." Neri raised her voice. "We both know I'm weak now. I can't run. If something should happen and I can't get away, I want you to grab my bag and run."
"But Neri, that's--"
"That's how it is."
Eleni's fingers dug into her palms. "I'm not leaving you behind for myself!"
"I'm not debating this," Neri said. "I'm not risking your life. We will make it to Ottawa, it's just that this is a precaution, and something that had to be said."
Eleni sighed. "I don't want to do that."
"Promise me you will," Neri retorted.
She stayed silent.
"Promise me," Neri repeated. "Eleni," she said more gently, "you have to understand that--"
"Fine. I will." Eleni directed her gaze to the ground. "Until that happens, let's get going again."
They got up and brushed themselves off, and Neri pulled herself over the log, then her friend. The hill Eleni guided them up began to steepen, and the girls almost had to press themselves against the ground to prevent falling back. By grabbing the thin trunks of the trees around them, they finally managed to make it to the top of the mountainous hill.
As Eleni pulled Neri up, their gaze fell upon the gigantic lake below them. From the steep descent down, was a huge lake. To the left was another hill-like ridge, and then another gargantuan body of water.
"Where are we?" Eleni asked, and Neri pulled out the map. By staring at it for a few moments and tracing her finger along rivers, she smiled and pointed to the lake in front of them.
"That's Lake Ontario." Neri pointed to the left. "And that's Lake Erie. And that over there..."
In the distance was the pale silhouette of buildings, a cityscape in the far distance. "Is Ottawa."
Eleni's jaw dropped. "No way, no way! We're in Canada now?!"
Neri grinned. "If we keep walking, we can make it there just before the sun sets."
Eleni grabbed Neri's hand, and pulled her forward. "Let's hurry, now I'm excited! I told you we'd make it!"
It was another straight twelve hours of wandering through the brush, tracing along the side of Lake Ontario to the cyclopean capital.
Every half hour, Neri would have to stop because of pains she was experiencing. She'd start coughing, and began violently hacking when she got into a fit. Eleni tried to comfort her, and rubbed her back as Neri coughed. Whenever she had an episode every hour or so, it got increasingly worse.
As Neri finished up another violent coughing fit that left her shuddering, Eleni pulled her to her feet. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Neri nodded and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "It's just a cold. After all, we're in Canada!" Neri joked, and gave a smile.
"Yeah..." Eleni trailed off, giving another glance to Neri.
She'd been out of breath more often than usual, and it wasn't from the car crash. Neri said it was just her ankle getting sore, but it was more complicated than that. Eleni saw past whatever Neri was trying to sell her, and knew there was something worse that she wasn't being told.
The sun began to lower, but it wasn't dark yet. Ottawa was just another few hour's walk, and then they'd be safe. To imagine that this hell would come to an end as soon as they got around this lake was what kept their sore and blistered feet moving.
Just as Eleni was about to ask Neri what she thought inside Ottawa would be like, Neri fell to the ground with another violent hacking fit.
She coughed into her arm, and bent forward as her body shook with every convulsion following her coughs. Eleni began rubbing her back again, knowing it wasn't much but was all she could do.
A minute or two passed, and Neri's chest heaved for air as the oxygen escaped them. It finally ceased, and as Neri shakily tried to stand up, Eleni saw her wipe something onto her dark sleeve as she pushed herself from the ground.
"Neri?" she asked cautiously.
"Mmhm?"
Eleni pointed to her jacket. "Was that...blood?"
Neri laughed slightly, but it sounded like a choked cry. "Haha, 'course not. It's just phlegm or whatever it's called."
"Oh... Okay."
"Don't worry, I'm fine. As soon as we cross that hill in half an hour, Ottawa is a walk straight downhill!"
Eleni grinned. "You're right."
They resumed their pace from earlier, hopping from log to log with a few breaks whenever Neri started to shake or broke into a fit. The sparkling of the field of water to their left began to fade as the sun started to set behind the city, offering a perfect silhouette of Ottawa. They grew closer yet, until helicopters piloting the metal walls surrounding the metropolis began to appear. There were tons of military personnel around without a doubt, and people's entry was most likely prohibited without a full-body check.
As Eleni and Neri climbed the final hill away from Lake Ottawa, the brush became thicker and thicker. Branches and stray twigs scratched their cheeks and arms, and caused them to mumble profanities when they dug into the burns from last night. Most of the trees turned to poplars and other conifers, making their hands sticky with sap and they pulled themselves up the incline. The cheerful chirps of the birds faded as they made it to the peak of the hill, and the clouds became dark. Neri knew that it would snow soon, and was joyful for Eleni, who had never seen it it person. She was bound to be excited when she touched snow for the first time.
"Wow," Eleni whispered, as she stood at the peak of the slope. "It's beautiful."
Just downhill was the city, approximately a mile or two away. Then again, that was nothing compared to how much they'd walked before. Blisters covered their heels and pinky toes from the days they had spent walking.
Neri nodded. "This is my home. Canada."
Eleni looked up. "Will it snow soon?"
"Possibly. It should sometime."
"We'll make it there tonight!" Eleni cheered quietly, bouncing on her heels. "Hurry!"
She began to carefully decline the hill, emphatic with the proposition of safety. Neri stayed in her spot, smiling.
Eleni turned around. "C'mon, Neri. What're you waiting for?"
Neri smiled, and closed her eyes. "You go on ahead."
She laughed half-heartedly. "Come with me!"
Neri shook her head.
Eleni frowned. "Seriously Neri, move your butt."
Neri's faint smile melted. "I... I can't."
Eleni's hand planted themselves on her hips. "What do you mean, 'I can't'?"
Neri bit her lip and looked down, then let her hand unzip her jacket. She sighed, and shut her eyes as she pulled back her collar.
Along the left side of her neck was a bite, surrounded with blood and puckered flesh. A Restless bite.