May 23, 2019 - O2 Remaining: 78.81 Hours / 3.28 Days - 9:00 PM

Eury Morrissey

Boyde was the first through the door. Baton in hand, pistol at his hip. He jangled slightly with every step, the ammo he brought with him clinking together in the pouch strapped to his leg. Alaska followed a few feet behind him, her shotgun hanging from a sling, baton in her hand as well.

The tension was thick. I wished it was something as simple as worry, or stress. But after Alaska accused Kelly, it didn’t seem like she’d be letting that one go. I glanced back at Kelly pulling the cart behind me. I couldn't tell how he was feeling from the balaclava. But, judging by his downcast gaze, and stiff gait, he probably wasn't doing well. Looking forward at Alaska, her shoulders were tight, scrunched in as she walked. Both her and Boyde were scanning the streets around us for any signs of them. Paradoxically, I couldn't help but feel like she didn't have a care in the world. Of course she was worried about the physical dangers, but what she said didn’t seem to bother her. It was bothering me. And I knew it was bothering Kelly. But when I tried to get Alaska to talk back in the station for the first time in our entire friendship she had nothing to say.

Davis rounded out the back of our little caravan, helping out Kelly with the cart while keeping a lookout as well. I was the only person not actively doing something, which made me feel useless like I was the escort. And quite honestly, I was.

I glanced back at Davis, who, signaled to me.

*Is your oxygen good?*

I gave him a thumbs up and turned around.

It was annoying that he cared—especially after his quarantine last night—but it was way worse that he was only just double checking his handiwork.

A few minutes before we left the station, Davis had approached me.

“Can I see your hands?” Davis was holding a flashlight.

“What are you, playing cop now?” I said, letting him shine the light at my fingers.

He flipped my hand over, examining them silently. “No, it’s just when you touched me last night, your fingers were cold.” He looked into my eyes earnestly. “Looking at them now, I know why. What’s your O2 intake set at?”

My charade was up. I had been running my O2 at eighty-percent since Kelly and I left Alaska’s, all in an attempt to outlast all the crazies running around. That being said, Davis didn’t approve of my decision. In fact, he reminded me of Kelly when I first turned my intake of O2 down.

Davis crossed his arms. “Are you trying to get hypoxic?”

“I’m not! And keep your damn voice down.” I pulled him into the same office I had threatened him earlier. “I’m doing it because if you haven’t noticed, I have a very limited supply. So until I get to my parent’s place, I have to ration what I have.”

“Your fingers turning blue isn’t fine. You need this O2, Eury. You’re looking worse for wear. And who knows what kind of long term damage you’re doing to yourself. There’s no way to treat you if you do.”

“And what makes you think I’ll listen to you?”

“If you don’t then I'll say something to Alaska and Kelly. And then, you’ll have three voices saying the same thing.”

That was how the conversation ended. Davis acting like a caring adult while I agreed like a good little doll that needed to be looked after. Gross.

The feeling was compounded by the fact I was only standing in the middle, holding my fire poker, the useless support character.

Can you get a damn grip? Or are you going to always be this fucking hung up?

For the first time in a long time, I actually agreed with my inner-bitch.

What if I led the way? Or maybe make up the plans? I was the one who drew the map right? And I set the course when it was only me and Kelly.

Alaska jogged back to the group, stopping us before we turned onto another street. Instead, she led us into a dark alleyway.

But... that was more to just get us to O’Brian’s then to the clinic. I wasn’t so much making decisions, rather I was forcing us to go chasing after Alaska’s tail.

So that’s out.

As the cart crossed from the sidewalk, onto rough asphalt, a loud pop rang out from it. I stopped. Dead in my tracks. The sound itself was relatively quiet, but in this situation, at this moment, it was anything but stealth. Kelly and I were seemingly the only ones of us to realize that there was even a problem as we both rushed to the cart and crouched down beside it.

“What was that?” I asked him. “Did you run over something?”

“Not that I could tell.”

“Just amazing.” I muttered. “We gotta check the wheel, lift the skirt.” Kelly and I examined the wagon, while Alaska and Boyde returned to loom over us. I looked up as Kelly uncliped the skirt and saw Alaska use hand signals to give out orders to Davis and Boyde.

With an affirmative nod, Boyde was off, jogging to the far end of the alleyway. But Davis, miming something I couldn’t make out, took a few seconds before he slunk off to the close corner.

Alaska rapped the baton against her palm while she stood over us. It was almost unnerving, in a sense. The way she simultaneously emanated safety and impatience. Ready to either defend us at a moment’s notice, or whack us upside the head to speeden things up. I fished out a flashlight from the cart,, and handed it to Kelly as he laid down on the ground to better assess the issue.

It was funny, before all of this, it would’ve been unthinkable for me to lay down or even touch the asphalt of an alleyways. But after this past vomit covered week, this asphalt was more than clean enough for both Kelly and I. And I’m glad it was, because after a few seconds, I laid down beside Kelly to take a look as well.

It wasn’t good. The swiveling axle of front wheel was nearly shorn off. Whether it was from the weight of our supplies, or the crash it took from Chuck, I didn’t know, only that the wheel was not going to last much longer. I looked at Kelly. His eyes were blank and empty. I thought it was from the wheel, but he was staring at the ground.

“Get up.” I pushed myself off the ground. “We don’t have time for this.” I hissed at him.

Alaska peered at me from the corner of her eye.

“The wheel’s broke.” I whispered. I didn’t have the patience to mime it to her.

I raked my hair. The cart was probably out of commission now, and fixing it, even if we could, would be too risky out in the open. But I needed to get my LOX tank, plus the other O2 tanks, and—

It’ll all be that easy, huh? You’ll just carry that LOX tank? And what? Strap the rest of the O2 to your back as well? I mean, lets not forget the food and water just gonna load that all up at the same time?

She had a point. There was no way that I could grab that damn thing.

I had only one option, and I’d rather bash my head against the wall until my yoke spilled out.

Getting to his feet, Kelly looked mournfully at me, then, just as his eyes started to drift to Alaska, Davis suddenly appeared, panting, accompanied by a familiar melodic wail. It was the Banshee.

Following his appearance, Davis did the worst thing that anyone could have possibly done in that moment. He tried to be helpful.

“Come on!” Davis quietly shrieked. And in his panic, he grabbed the cart as he passed by, giving it one hard yank like a ripcord to a lawnmower.

It all happened so fast. I didn’t even have time to freak out. As Davis and the cart slowly rolled down the alley, the end of alleyway he came from was filled with infected.

Seeing the group, Alaska turned towards the opposite end of the alleyway and whistled a single, loud note, before turning to the mob that was quickly approaching us.

“Get that damn cloth out of the way!” Alaska ordered while she jogged backwards, readying her shotgun.

Kelly and I quickly tore the blanket free from the cart.

“What… are… you doing?” Davis asked in between heavy breaths. “Why is this thing so heavy?”

“It’s broken, and we’re unpacking. Keep going.” I said to him, grabbing the small bag of beef jerky and tossing it away. Kelly followed suit. He opened my condenser’s bag and dumped the few remaining granola bars inside. Together, we picked through the cart, leaving only the bigger food items.

In the mob, a man faster than the rest pushed his way through the slow crowd, not quite running though quicker than a shamble. He let out an ear piercing screech that bounced off the walls and dumpsters of the alley making it seem like they were suddenly coming from every direction simultaneously.

BOOM!

Alaska took the frontrunner out with a slug from her shotgun.

Then, Bang!

Davis went down. The front of the cart crashed into the ground. “Grab the tanks!” Kelly yelled out, having finally snapped out of his stupor.

As Davis got to his feet, and Alaska reloaded, I grabbed the E-tank that was closest to me. Alaska quickly grabbed the second after filling her shotgun. Kelly started untying the LOX tank, but it was practically a Gordian knot.

“There’s no time, just leave it!” With my hands full of O2 tank there was no way that I’d be able to stop them, nor would I be of any help by the time the mob got to us. “Leave the damn tank! We got to go!”

“You need this!” Kelly said, still struggling with the knot.

“Screw the tank. I need you, now let’s go!”

Alaska passed the other E-tank to me. “I need two hands.”

BOOM!

Three infected fell from her shot. Without missing a beat, she repeated. Again and again. Breaking only to slide in more shells. Alaska took a second to blow out another clear, loud whistle. This time, there were two responses. The first, a similar whistle from the other end of the alleyway as a response. The second, another high-pitched melodic wail from the Banshee.

BOOM!

“Where are we on that tank!” Alaska’s voice was straight as an arrow, but I couldn’t help but hear a slight waiver also.

There was no time.

“Oh my god. Forget about it!” I shouted, but Davis and Kelly were completely absorbed in getting the tank loose.

To my slight relief, Boyde finally arrived behind us, quickly withdrawing his pistol, he didn’t hesitate to take a few quick shots into the group.

Bang, bang, bang!

Kelly hit the tank. “This fucking rope!” He said, frustratedly looking at the encroaching mob. This was getting ridiculous. If they were going to be as stubborn as a mule, they might as well start acting like one.

I shoved one of the tanks into Davis’ arms. “We’re leaving. Kelly, Alaska, let's go!”

“No!” Kelly said, without looking up from the knot that we had triple tied.

“Kelly we don’t have the time, let's go! They’re almost here.”

Another wail called out for us from behind the shambling mob. She was here. Whenever a mob of them gathered like this, she was there too. I wanted to think about it longer, but another barrage of shots broke my train of thought.

BOOM! Bang, bang!

With it, another few of them fell to the ground, only to be trampled and then no doubt mauled by the others in the pack.

“Hey, Leo.” Alaska said, calling over her shoulder. “We’re out of time. Leave it.”

Hearing that, Kelly kept working on the cart without acknowledging her.

“Leo, it’s time! They’re here!” Alaska repeated with emphasis.

Kelly ripped the E-tank from Davis’ hands, as he got to his feet.

“Grab whatever supplies you can.” He commanded Davis, then Kelly started off towards the opposite end of the alley.

BOOM!

“Boyde, gather whatever supplies you can and go. Keep that end clear, we gotta have a way out of here.”

“I got it.” Boyde said, holstering his pistol. He grabbed a pair of milk jugs we repurposed into water containers, and quickly followed after Kelly. Davis, both arms filled with whatever he could grab, quickly left behind him. Leaving only Alaska and me, staring down the mob of crazies.

“They’re gone, we’re good to go.” I said, turning away from the slowly encroaching crowd.

“You go, I’ve got to do something.”

“Alaska c’mon! They’re right there!” With the closest of the group, a woman curled and weakly advancing towards us, only a few feet away, the looming wall of grasping hands and gnashing teeth felt even closer than before.

“I…” Alaska began to speak but cut herself off, pulling the shotgun up to her shoulder as she did it. “C’mon you bitch, I know you’re… There!”

BOOM!

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck! I think I missed. Eury, get the hell out of here, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Bell! Let’s go!” Boyde had jogged back from where the other two were waiting near the end of the alleyway.

Alaska hadn’t pulled the shotgun away from her shoulder, still searching for whoever she was aiming for.

BOOM!

Another shot. This time, just like last time, I couldn’t see who or what Alaska was aiming for, but the look of pure concentration on her face told me she could.

BOOM!

Suddenly, Boyde appeared beside her, grabbing Alaska by her shooting arm, pulling the shotgun down. “We’re going, move it!” I started moving ahead of them, but my eyes were drawn backwards.

“The walkie-talkies!” Alaska darted for the cart, seconds before the mob reached and surrounded the cart. Clipping the walkie-talkie onto her belt, Alaska ran after me. But, just like me she was stuck looking backwards as well, still searching for her target.

Another melodic wail bounced off the flat walls of the alleyway, causing Alaska and Boyde to turn around. Alaska raised the shotgun to her shoulder again, and Boyde unholstered his pistol.

“Where is she?” Boyde asked.

“Last I saw her she was almost dead center of the mob.” Alaska responded instantly. From this distance, it was difficult to make out anything overly distinguishing about any of them, and yet, Alaska and Boyde, both were scanning the crowd.

I watched as the mass of people engulfed the cart, a few of the dumber—and probably blind—ones were running into it, creating enough of a racket to draw attention to themselves and the cart.

“I’ve got an idea.” Boyde said, changing his aim slightly.

“Don’t,” Alaska spoke, but didn’t look away from the shotgun’s sights. “Boyde, seriously, don’t.” Boyde didn’t say anything as he continued to aim. “Eury, get the hell out of here right now! Lets go!” Suddenly, Alaska dropped her shotgun into its sling, grabbed my arm and started running for the other end of the alleyway. “Boyde! Don’t do it!”

“I’ve got this Bell, don’t worry!” Boyde called back to us, before letting off the first shot.

Bang! Ping!

It only took one shot for me to realize what he was aiming for, and it took me one more shot to realize exactly how dumb of an idea it was.

Bang! WHOOSH!

He hit his target on the second shot. Blowing the cap off the LOX tank, and creating a highly pressurized rocket, driving it first into the ground, then ricocheting off the walls and asphalt. After several quick bounces, it blew through a brick wall between the mob and us. A moment later, a huge fireball came screaming through the hole in the bricks, sounding for a moment like a jet taking off.

Knocking both Alaska, and me to the ground, while throwing Boyde back from where he was standing. The fire ball quickly burnt through the high density of O2 that had been propelling the rocket forward for the last second, setting momentary fire to all the infected and the alleyway itself. After a bright moment the fire nearly instantly burnt through its fuel, all that remained were a scant few infected not blown over by the rocket, nor by the fireball that followed it. Their clothes, all in varying stages of burning.

I looked to Alaska and she was mouthing something, but I couldn’t hear anything over the screaming of the fireball that still hollered in my ears. I slowly got to my feet, trying my best to stand up straight but the screaming in my ears wouldn’t stop. It was loud enough to make me dizzy.

Alaska, more stable than I was, scooped up the O2 tank that I had dropped, and quickly helped Boyde to his feet. As they started for the street beyond the alleyway, Kelly ran over to me, picking me up by my shoulder, carrying me away from the incoming infected.

May 23, 2019 - O2 Remaining: 32.7 Hours / 1.36 Days - 9:38 PM