We got hungry waiting for Marilyn and Karl to come out of the rover. Aaimina put together a meal for everyone. I’m sure it’s good, but I can’t really enjoy the taste at the moment. I’m concerned that Karl is inside trying to figure out how to get the rover started. I should have gone back in afterwards and locked it to my wrist comp. We’re eating the last of the food from the hospital, so we’ll either learn to love fast food or we’ll need to be on the lookout for something different. It’s not the worst food ever, but I’m not a fan. I stopped eating fast food years ago. It’s better than the stuff in the 21st century but it’s still a lot less healthy than what can be prepared at home. Still, Aaimina is a great cook; I’d love to see what she could do with fresh ingredients and a real kitchen. We expected Thore and Marshall to make their way to the roof but are surprised to see Karl and Marilyn as well.

Niko can’t stop staring, his mouth agape and Aaimina tries to look away. I’m sure I’m making some kind of disgusted face, but I can’t picture it. Karl takes a seat and prepares a plate. Marilyn sits down, still cradling the body of her daughter’s lifeless corpse. She’s stuffed the fabric from her hand wound into the entrance and exit wound of the bullet that pierced her skull. There’s still dried flecks of blood splattered across the body. I doubt the bandages did much to stop the bleeding before it was already done. She tried to stop the bleeding on a corpse but couldn’t be bothered to wipe away the blood. I should have no say in how a mother grieves her dead child, especially when I played a part.

Marilyn eats then she feeds the corpse a bite. The same way a child would feed a doll, knowing it couldn’t really eat. Karl watches on, undisturbed by the entire thing. Occasionally he shoots a dirty look to each of us, as if we’re making a mockery of his wife. As if she isn’t trying to feed a corpse. We try to hold some normal conversation, but nothing lasts long. Our attention always goes back to Marilyn and it seems most of us have lost our appetite already. I’m having an issue trying to hold my own food down. Corpses, just don’t make for great dinner guests.

“Once everyone finishes, it’s best we get back on the road,” Marshall says, keeping his own eyes off Marilyn.

“Yeah, we can make some pretty good progress if we move now. There’s still plenty of sunlight,” I make awkward contact with Marshall, both of us avoiding looking at anything else.

Marilyn vomits covering the corpse with the food she had just eaten. Everyone backs away in disgust. Marshall and I prepare our guns only increasing the commotion.

“What are you doing,” Aimina screams.

“This is uncalled for,” Karl stands beside his wife, lifting his arms in the air.

“Marilyn is infected. The first sign that our friend Marki was infected is that she would vomit up any food that she ate. Marilyn is going to turn and we need to deal with it now,” my own voice sounds cold.

“But I saw her naked, she wasn’t bitten,” Aaimina tries to defend her.

“You didn’t look hard enough,” Marshall responds.

“It’s her hand. She’d always use it to cover her daughter’s mouth,” I purposely don’t say her name. “She said it was a knife wound, but who covers their daughter’s mouth with an open wound? She was feeding her infected daughter, she knew all along,” I try to reason with Aaimina.

“I promise,” Marilyn starts to speak but stops to choke down vomit. “I’m not infected. It’s just hard to eat right now while I’m mourning my daughter.”

“Let’s make a deal,” Thore speaks up. “You two don’t come with us, and they won’t shoot you. We’ll just go our separate ways.”

“Not with my rover,” Karl shouts.

“It’s a Federation rover,” Marshall responds.

“Take the deal,” I urge him.

“This is insane,” Aaimina pleads.

When Marilyn’s head jerks and she lets out a growl, Aaimina steps behind me. She’s given up on protecting them. It’s undeniable at this point. Marilyn is infected, only Karl is left shouting the denials, but we know we’ve only got two choices.

“Karl, calm down,” Marilyn speaks. “It’s not good for you to be so worked up like this.”

Her calm words are the opposite of her demeanor. She lurches forward towards Marshall who doesn’t hesitate. He fires three shots. The first rips through the corpse at close range, the second stagers Marilyn backwards and the third pierces her skull. Marilyn still gripping the corpse of her daughter falls backwards from the edge of the roof tumbling head first. There’s a sickening thud as Karl rushes to the edge to view the scene.

Nobody tries to comfort Karl as he stares down. I can’t be the only person hoping that he simply jumps and puts an end to all of the trouble he and his family have brought us. The man just mutters about his wife being gone, his daughter being gone. On some level, I finally feel sympathy for a man that has lost everything. The man who spent days looking out for himself at the risk of everyone’s life has finally gotten everything he deserves and I’m not sure it’s a punishment that anyone should face. I consider shooting him in the head now, and ending his pain. He starts to shout, over and over again, no words, just guttural. Not the same guttural sounds that the grubs make but the sounds a man makes when he watches everything he worked for be destroyed. The silence is the only gift we can give to Karl, as none of us move to comfort him. He’s done nothing to gain our sympathy, but we can at least empathize with him in this moment.