The Last Legacy (Season 1): Episodes 1-10 (21 page)

The eater grabbed my ankle, but I flipped over just as fast as him. I sat on my butt and pulled my knees up and away. The eater crawled towards me. I lifted the gun, aimed it at its mouth, and pulled the trigger. But he lunged towards me, dodging it by accident. I pressed my gun to his fractured forehead and shot.
 

“Get up, Lana. We’re not safe yet.” Scarlet reached for me and helped me stand. My hands throbbed, blood dripped down my wrists. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, making my heart speed up and my body fill with energy. My hands were in so much pain it was difficult to hold the gun up, but this was life or death.
 

Scarlet and I ran beside each other until the noises from the eaters faded to nothing. I grabbed her arm and slowed us down to a swift walk. My chest rose and fell in fast beats, and I breathed deeply, using our break to compose myself.
 

Jim and Kev still hadn’t caught up. I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from crying. It was all too much to handle. I wasn’t quite sure my brain knew how to process everything that happened to us over and over. The attacks were never-ending, the loss continual.

My entire body ached. I guessed my psyche chose that moment to completely fall apart. The pain in my head returned. With the faint blue from the morning sky, I saw my jeans completely tattered. Two big holes formed where my knees were outlined in blood. My body was wrecked.
 

“Lana, take a breath,” Scarlet said as she stopped in front of me. I dropped my head in my hands and focused on breathing, not crying. I had to relax myself because I didn’t want to let Jim see me like this. I had to be a tough girl, strong enough to keep around.

“This is so fucked up, you know?” I said through my contrived breaths. I shook my head and waved my arms as I stood. “I mean, fucking infected people attacking us and trying to eat us. This isn’t real.”

“It’s real,” Scarlet said with conviction. She wrapped her arms around my neck and tugged me against her. I remained still, trying to sort through all the conflicting thoughts running through my head.

“Let’s go,” I said and sniffed. I wiped my face with the underside of my dirty tee-shirt and lifted my gun back up. There was an eater a few yards down the highway shuffling alone. She was my prey. She held my answers.

Scarlet raised her gun as we walked towards her, but I stepped in front. I had to do this myself. I needed some fucking answers to why this was happening. If that eater saw me, really
saw
me, then I’d know there were possibilities. I’d believe in fixing society.

I jogged up to the eater and shoved it to the ground. It was a woman and for some reason, that made this feel worse. She groaned as her fingers grazed my calf, trying to bite a chunk out of me. I pulled my leg back, just barely out of her grasp.

I pressed my heel against her neck and pushed down. She didn’t look human anymore. With crimson eyes she stared up at me, but her eyes were blank, like she didn’t really see me, like I was just another piece of meat to an eater like her. I pressed harder, cutting off all air to her lungs, but she didn’t even react to the lack of oxygen.
 

I released my hold on her. She moved as fast as she could, which really wasn’t too fast. She rolled onto her side and shuffled until she sat up. She reached for me, falling forward. I stepped backwards, putting a few feet of distance between us. I wanted to see how long it would take her to get to me. She crawled, but with failing limbs and broken skin, she moved slower than I would ever let myself be.
 

“What are you doing?” Scarlet gasped from beside me. She stared at me in shock with a hand over her mouth. Her brown eyes went wide as her eyebrows pinched. She pressed against a car behind us, trying to back away from me like she was scared of
me,
not the eater.

“Don’t you wonder what makes them work?” I asked with a tilt of my head.

“Now isn’t the time,” Scarlet said.

“When is the time then?” I questioned back.

“I don’t know. Lana, you’re scaring me.”

“How am I scaring you?” I laughed to myself. “I just want to see how fast they can be. Or whether it’s our sound or smell or blood they crave.”

“It’s all of it! Trust me. Please, just kill her!” Scarlet’s voice teetered on the edge of madness. She glared at me like she’d kill me. So, I pulled out my gun and shot the eater woman right between the eyes.
 

Scarlet gasped as the eater’s blood spilled out her cracked skull onto the pavement. A puddle crept towards my shoes. When the blood was an inch from my feet, I stepped back.
 

Scarlet stomped over to me, and I saw the flash of anger in her eyes. She was going to slap me, and I wasn’t going to take it. She couldn’t understand that I just wanted to understand the eater. She wound her arm back, but I caught her wrist before her hand connected with my face.

“It won’t be Jim killing you if you touch me again.”

A bright blue sign off the shoulder signaled that a hospital was off the next exit. It would be game changing if we could find some medical supplies. I figured the place was overrun or full of eaters, but it’d be worth a check. Other survivors probably looted it, too, having the same notion as me. But I was sure we could find something to help us, even if it was a box of Band Aids.
 

“Do you want to wait for the guys at this exit so we can check out the hospital?” I asked Scarlet. She walked beside me, her arms folded around her mid-section like she might puke. She didn’t answer me. Just nodded.
 

I could tell from her lack-of-speech that she was pissed. But that was going to be the second time she slapped me. And I wasn’t going to let her get away with it. It wasn’t fair to me. Not to mention, I’d done nothing wrong this time. But I’d swallow my pride and make things right.

“Listen, I’m sorry about before. I was emotional and just wanted to understand what was happening to us. I’m sorry if I scared you.” I grabbed her shoulder to stop her from walking, and she flinched. “I would never kill you,” I promised her, holding her in a stare.

“I’m just worried,” she muttered under her breath, turning her back to me. She stood alone, holding herself. She didn’t want me to touch her so I sat on the hood of a Corolla and laid against the windshield. A soft wind explored my body, and my arms lit up with goose bumps. I’d need to find a jacket soon or else I would freeze.

“Are you worried about Kev?” I asked her, although I couldn’t see where she was. I figured small talk was a good way to understand how she was feeling.

“And Jim. They should have caught up to us by now, right?”

“Unless they started walking like we did.”

“That’s true.” The car sank, dipping down as Scarlet hopped up beside me. “It’s moments like this that make me feel like the world could come back.”

“Moments of worry?” I questioned, turning my head so I could see her. Her face was inches from mine, staring up at the sky.

“No.” She turned to face me, shaking her head. “Moments of peace and quiet. Listen,” she said.

Birds chirped from the woods beside us. It was very early in the morning, so there wasn’t much action going on. A squirrel darted around the ground, leaves crinkling under its small feet. A branch broke in the distance, startling the squirrel. The little guy ran up the base of a tree, spiraling on his ascent. I lost him where the leaves grew dense. The light wind made the tree limbs rustle as leaves fluttered to the ground like rain.
 

“It’s pretty nice,” I agreed, closing my eyes.
 

“Do you think it’s weird that there’s no military out here?” Scarlet asked. I peeked open an eye. She readjusted herself, pulling her knees up and placing her hands over her belly.

“Kind of. It’s only been like two weeks. I saw them before I left my house. There was a whole line of tanks. They were heading into Hartford to fight back. I never saw them again, but maybe they are fighting and we just don’t know.”

“Yeah. That’s true,” she mumbled. Loud boots clonked in the distance. A missed step and a shuffle. The sound was like a beacon of hope calling out just for me to hear.

I darted up on the car, my feet banging way too loudly, and turned around. Jim’s navy eyes found me, quickly looking me up and down, and then he smiled, but it never reached his eyes. I hopped off the car and ran to him. I didn’t care how tired I was; I just wanted to feel him around me.
 

I jumped into his arms. He easily caught me and held me up, my feet dangling as he buried his nose in my neck and inhaled. I squeezed my eyes shut as I clutched him like he might disappear at any moment. Relief flooded my veins, my entire body releasing a tension I didn’t know it held.

“Are you okay?”
 

He placed me on the ground and ran his hand down the side of my face. His calloused pads scratched my skin, but I welcomed the feel.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I’m fine.”

From near the car, Scarlet screamed. I jumped at the loud noise and turned. She bent down in front of Kev and toyed with his leg. Jim frowned at me and grabbed my hand. We ran over to them to see what was going on.
 

We stopped in front of Scarlet. Kev leaned against the car, his entire demeanor broken and defeated. His arms held him up, while his one leg limply stood out in front of Scarlet’s bent-over form.

“He’s been bitten!” she yelled again, pointing at the limp leg.
 

“Oh my God…” My legs gave out from under me. Jim caught me from falling. Scarlet pulled up the torn fabric. I covered my mouth to hide my shock as his wound was revealed. It looked like a shark bite, a little piece of his shin missing.
 

Jim let go of me and bent down, ripping at Kev’s tattered jeans. He pulled the fabric around where the knee ended. Using the torn off piece of pant, Jim tied it at the top of Kev’s calf, slowing the blood flow.
 

My stomach churned. What did this mean? We didn’t know much of anything about the eaters. The only person we even saw get bit was soon devoured whole. Could Kev live? Would he turn into an eater now? Hundreds of questions flooded my brain. But I worried for Kev. I masked my emotions, trying to portray acceptance so Kev wouldn’t freak out.

“I feel fine,” Kev said, shrugging his shoulders. A sheen of sweat covered his forehead, so I knew that was a lie. His chest panted, moving erratically. He suffered.
 

Scarlet stood and wrapped her arms around him, crying against his shoulder. I glanced down, my eyes colliding with the wound again. Stitches wouldn’t work, and we didn’t have anything sterile enough to cover it with.
 

I grabbed Jim’s arm and pulled him back a few feet, both to give them a moment and to figure out a plan.

“What are we supposed to do?” I asked Jim in a hushed whisper. My heart beat a mile a minute, fueling my already panicked psyche. But I had to think rationally or else we’d all be screwed.

“I don’t know, Lana…” The way his voice trailed made me think his mind headed down a bad path.
 

“We’re not leaving him or killing him. So don’t you dare think it.”
 

Jim ran his hand through his hair and put his other hand on his hip. He looked over at Kev and then back at me. “What if he turns into an Infected?”

“What if he doesn’t?” I countered with a raise of my brow. I crossed my arms over my chest in anger. How dare he jump to the worse case scenario? The disease was still young. A cure could be around any corner.

“There’s a hospital off this exit,” I said as I pointed behind me at the blue sign. “Maybe if we clean his wound and make sure he’s feeling okay he won’t turn into an eater.”

“The chance that the hospital will have anything left is minimal, though.”

“We don’t have another option, Jim. He’s going to die from blood loss if we don’t do something. That first aid kit doesn’t have anything for this size wound.” I scrubbed my hand down my jaw, my head spinning. I let out a long sigh, trying to control myself.

“Are you okay?” Jim asked as I wobbled.

“I just gotta eat something,” I muttered as my head fuzzed. My stomach hurt so bad I felt I might faint. Something was wrong with me.
 

Jim slammed his fist against the closest car and paced away from me, up and down the white lines. I stood frozen, unsure what set him off. He turned around and faced me. His eyes were so dark that I could hardly tell the difference between his pupil and the iris. He wiped drips of sweat off his forehead and then walked towards me. He didn’t stop.
 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry?” he whispered with a clipped tone.

“What are you going to do about it? We have no food,” I said back.
 

“I could’ve given you my last meal.”

“And then you’d be hungry.”

“You look like you’re going to pass out, Lana.” His nostrils flared. His lips formed a straight line as his eyes flashed with fury. I shook my head, not knowing how to respond.
 

Yeah. I was fucking hungry. But we all were. I wouldn’t have accepted his breakfast of nuts anyway. He was delusional to think he could save us all. We were all in the same boat, sailing towards the same goal of safety, a place where we could be together.