They Walk (23 page)

I look over to Sam who is trying to support himself on his own feet, but is having a hard time.

His eyes are flickering around the room at the men, and then back to me. He looks even worse than he did just a few moments ago, and I can feel his blood oozing out and onto me too. I glance away from him and find Noah watching me, and the way he nods I know he wants me to do what they say and let Sam go. Beside him, Claire is a sniffling mess and can’t even lift her head to look at me. Then there is Gabe, and it makes me want to run to him crying the way he watches me.

I know that I have to let Sam go.

“
I’m
so
sorry Sam.” I whisper.

Achingly slow, I unhook his arm from around my shoulders.

Then, once sure that he’s steady, I step aside.

As soon as I do, Sam crumbles on the floor and the men close in around him like sharks to bait. I get pushed back by the amount of them and crash into Gabe’s arms. When I feel something wet trailing down my cheeks, I realize I’m crying. I begin shacking and crying in earnest.

I can’t seem to stop.

Gabe tries to sooth and turns me away from the scene before me, but I refuse to look away. So instead I watch as two soldiers lift Sam up and drag him from the room and toward the roped off section all the way to the right. All the while, half of the other men keep their guns trained on Sam. The others take up posts around the lobby and the mains doors to outside.

Just as they are about to disappear from around the corner, Noah comes over to us with Claire in tow.

“
Come on, we should know what they are going to do. It’s our right, but just stay close to me.” Noah says in a rush, and quickly paces after the soldiers.

Gabe lets me go only to take my hand in his, and leads me after Noah.

Still crying and hiccupping great gasps of air, I follow blindly and pray that they don’t do anything to horrible to Sam. I relax a little bit when we go through the roped off area after the men, and the other soldiers don’t try to stop us. I do notice that they are watching us intently though, and it makes me wonder if they have had similar problems before.

We end up in a narrow hallway that seems to go on forever, and there are kerosene lamps on hooks as the hall loses the light from the lobby. I notice that there are closed doors here and there all through the space. The men holding Sam come to a stop at a door at the middle of the mile long hallway, and bang on the door forcefully. The rest of us huddle together a couple paces away from them, but what I really want to do is run to them and Take Sam out of here.

He, who by the way, is hanging so limply in the arms of the men, doesn’t look to be doing so well.

The door opens with a creek.

An older woman wearing hospital scrubs steps out with a stern expression.

“
We got another one for you to test Marge.” Says the man in front of them I thought was the boss.

The woman looks between the men holding Sam before finally resting on him, and then flickers over to us before she turns into the room with a wave. The man in front nods and steps aside, and the men hold Sam haul him into the room. The door swiftly closes behind them, and I feel my stomach plunge into my toes and have to lean on Gabe for support or I’d fall over. There are only three men in the hall with us now, the ‘boss’ included. The two others take up post around the closed door, and the other one walks over to us. Instinctively, Gabe and Noah lean back opposite walls and take Claire and I with them.

The man grins at us, and looks between us but it doesn’t make me feel any better.

“
Don’t worry about your friend yet, the Doc is just running a few tests to see how long it will be before he turns.” He says a little too cheerfully.

He glances between us and takes in our appearances, one that can’t be that great since we are all covered in blood.

“
You sure none of you were bitten, because I have to say, you don’t look so well there kids.” Now his eyes are narrowing at me, and I realize I’m more soaked with blood than the others.

“
None us were bitten Sir, I can a test to that myself.” Noah says as he steps from the wall and faces the man head on.

He turns his glare to Noah and says, “And just who are you my boy?”

“
Corporal Noah Riley Sir, Army National Guard from Lewiston.”

“
Is that right Corporal, and what brings you here away from your post?”

Noah glances to his feet, and I can see him clenching his jaw before he returns his gaze to the smiling man.

“
I’m looking for my sister Sir, and she takes priority over anything else. She is the only family I have left, and I couldn’t just leave her alone without trying.”

The man’s expression turns serious, as he takes a step closer to Noah and places a hand on his shoulder.

“
Don’t be too hard on yourself son, the last week a lot of us have left to search for surviving family. Even a Captain like me thought about it.” Now he steps back and stands up even straighter if that’s at all possible, and locks his hands behind his back.

“
Captain David LeBoeuf, only officer left of high rank here at the Collisee. Your group is welcome here, no worries.”

Noah straightens himself too, and places his outstretched hand at his brow before pulling it away in a salute. The Captain follows suit, and when they both relax they’re pose, the door Sam went through opens and the Doctor Marge steps through. She and the Captain share a look, before she shakes her head at him. Before I can even understand what it can mean, the other two soldiers cart a scared looking Sam out between them again. He has a bandage covering his wound now.

But he doesn’t look any less scared or what could happen to him.

“
Take him to the rink and lock him up before he turns.” Captain LeBoeuf says with authority to the men holding Sam.

His eyes go wide when they practically drag him off further down the hall, but he seems almost weak to even protest now. The Doctor disappears behind her door, and The Captain signals for us to follow him as he goes after the others. Noah takes Claire in his arms and leads her after him, where as I tense and try to hold Gabe back. He tries to give me a reassuring look, but I know he’s just as upset as I am. With his eyes he’s saying if this is the last time we see Sam, then we owe it to him to see what happens.

I know he’s right, and even though I don’t want to know, I let him walk me after the others.

After the Doctors office, the rest of the hallway doesn’t have any doors and I notice that the temperature gets cooler the farther we go. At the end of the hall there are a set of double doors with a chain linking the handles closed with a lock on it. There are small windows on each door, and from the way the Captain said rink, then this must be the Hockey rink Stadium.

The men holding Sam step to the side, so that the Captain can step forward, and I notice that he is pulling a key from his pocket as he steps up to the doors. As Noah and Gabe hold tight to Claire and I, it seems that Sam is getting a little antsy. It could be from the way the mood in the hall has turned gloomy, or maybe he is finally catching on to what is going on, but he seems a little more alert now.

His eyes flicker around all of us, and I force myself to meet his gaze when it lands on me.

It breaks my heart the way he looks at me, like I’m betraying him or something. Maybe I am.

He did save my life when he got bit, and look how I am repaying him. As the Captain is unlocking the chain, I can almost sense the tension that flashes through Sam, and later I wonder if I was the only one to notice. Because in the next moment, Sam with a new strength, pulls his arm free of one of the soldiers and reaches into his holster for him gun.

He flicks the safety off in a blink, raises it to his temple, and pulls the trigger.

Chapter Forty Two

Sam’s body falls to the floor.

Everyone in the hall freezes for half of a second too shocked to do anything else. Then time catches up with us and there is chaos in the hall, as more soldiers come tearing down towards us. Gabe and Noah are forced to press Claire and I closer into the walls as more men approach us. Captain LeBoeuf turns away from the now unlocked door and faces the men that are kneeling over Sam’s body. He holds off the approaching men with a raised hand and shakes his head.

“
Well, that was unfortunate but it does solve us the problem doesn’t it?” He says quietly as he stares down at Sam.

The tears in my eyes suddenly dry up, and I go completely numb.

How callus can these people be, for the waste of a life?

It just doesn’t make any sense to me, and especially now that our numbers are getting smaller.

I lean into Gabe and try to remember how to breathe, but it’s hard when all I can smell is the scent of gun resin and blood. I watch as the Captain steps over Sam and as he walks over to us, the men kneeling over Sam lift him up by his arms and drag him towards the rink Stadium doors. The Captain steps in front of Noah, and I have to peak around him to see one man is holding Sam now, while the other opens the doors.

“
Why don’t I let you and yours get settled down in the sleep courters. If there is anything you need?” Captain LeBoeuf asks, as if nothing is happing behind him.

Once the doors are wide open the first man joins the second, and lifts Sam by the feet so that they are both holding him up. They walk over to the opening of the doors, and swing Sam’s body into the room. When they step back to close the doors, I see that along with Sam’s body are over a dozen more like him. Some of them even have gun shots in their heads too, but is no movement inside and I wonder how they killed them after they turned inside.

Then the doors are closed.

I turn back to the Captain and a white faced Noah, as the men lock the doors once more.

“
Actually Sir there is something we could all use. Do you have a list of the people that are here? We are all looking for someone and could really use the moral.” Noah says hesitantly, but still stares up at the Captain waiting.

In fact I think all four of us are literally holding our breath, waiting to see if we actually went through so much and for good reason. When the Captain nods and signals one of the guard’s at our back, I swear my legs give out and sink back into Gabe. I know I can’t know for sure yet if my parents are here, but just knowing that there is a way to check, it’s such a relief. The Guard that was signaled leaves the hallway, and The Captain follows after him and motions for Noah to go as well. He quickly steps away from the wall and brings Claire with him, and I can almost see the hope in the air between them and know I feel it too. I push myself away from the wall and latch onto Gabe’s arm and we follow close behind and leave the stench of death from the hall.

We near the start of the hallway again.

The Captain and the guard stop at a door and go inside. There are a couple other guards stationed at the start of the hall and I can see the others still out in the lobby. The rest of us wait just outside of the door, until The Captain calls Noah to go inside as well. I peer through the door after Noah and see that The Captain is sitting behind a desk in the large office. There are candles lit inside and a window is at his back letting in the early afternoon sun, as well as the banging of the dead. Though I do notice there are bars on the window and that must make of for the calm of everyone standing by it. The guard is stationed at his back, like a bodyguard or something.

When Noah approaches the desk, the Captain holds out a clipboard with a thick pile of papers attached to it.

“
This is an inventory list of every individual that has entered through the front doors. As you look it over, you’ll find that some of them are highlighted and those are the ones that are no longer with us.” He says as Noah takes the clipboard from him.

It takes every ounce of my control not to run into the room and rip the clipboard from Noah. I have to clench my hands at my sides, and Gabe inches closer to me and I know if he wasn’t beside me I wouldn’t be as calm.

“
One of my men will show you to the sleeping courters, and you may read it over as you go. We run this place in a tight ship, but we would like it if you would join us. Come find me again, when you have settled.” He looks back to his desk and begins going through some files, and dismisses us.

Noah quickly turns back to us and walks out of the room still staring down at the clipboard already flipping through the numerous pages. Before any of us can pounce on him for answers, one of the guards from the lobby approaches us and waves for us to follow him.

“
I’m Sergeant Lewis and if you’ll all follow me, I’ll lead you to where you can make camp for yourselves.” He says as he walks for the second hallway on the right of the one we walk out of.

With no other choice, we all follow him, and keep Noah in a circle of us while we try to read as he does. The second hallway is wider than the other one and has less doors around, and I notice the sound of voices getting louder the farther we go.

“
So how many people are here exactly?” Gabe asks suddenly, as if reading my thoughts.

“
There are less than a thousand, and that includes all the staff that is here as well.” The Sergeant says over his shoulder.