May 24, 2019 - 3:28 PM

Leo Kelly

One of the newly rejuvenated sprinters got to me first. I sliced up high, cutting it in the jugular with a stroke of luck. I was amazed that I could still fight, let alone walk.

I kept an eye on them while I retreated a few more steps. Another one, a woman in board shorts and a tattered tank top, came running for a bite. I swung Sheila as wide and fast as I could without throwing myself off balance. The woman went down, but she almost took me with her after I unplugged her head from her shoulders. I was feeling almost confident when Teddy and another of the happy bunch barreled in. A gunshot took the sprinter down while Teddy whacked the sword out of my precarious grip with the fire poker, and this was getting repetitive.

Bang!

Another gunshot. I didn’t know if it was meant for Teddy or somebody else, but at least she was still there.

Teddy raised his one good arm for another strike. I threw myself into the bastard, knocking him down. I hoped it would’ve disarmed him too, but not everyone had a lousy grip like I did. The heavy sting of the fire poker raked across my back as he fought on the ground. It was like his arm was moving on its own, as his head was like a wild dog rabid at the smell of meat.

Remembering my fight with Curlers and Eury’s advice, I slammed my elbow down into his bloated and disfigured face. With Teddy reeling from the hit, I dove across the asphalt for Sheila.

Bang! Boom! Bang!

More shooting. Probably from Alaska and Boyde covering for Eury as she made her way to me. I couldn’t spare a glance in their direction, not when Sheila was in my hands. Before Teddy could floor me another time like a chump, I sidestepped him, went low, then slashed at the back of his knee. The swing was sloppy. It did the trick though. Teddy buckled down, and he couldn’t get up on the leg.

As he tried and failed to stand, I looked into Teddy’s eyes. And, for the first time in a long time, I saw someone I recognized. It was still Teddy. Still the kid that followed Wren and me around all those years ago. So many good days, so many moments. And alongside all the good memories, all the bad ones came flooding in too. The first time I offered him a drag from my cigarette. The first time I offered him a line. And the first time that I had to take him into the hospital when he OD’ed. His first day at NA. His fourth first day and every time after that that he tried and failed to get sober. All those terrible moments that I was responsible for.

Since that night, I had one thought running through my mind.

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If only I was there.

If only I was there to stop them, to pull them away from whatever it was that got them like this. Maybe they could’ve been saved. Maybe none of this would’ve happened.

But really, that was just wishful thinking. Reality was that it would’ve been better if I had never been there at all. I was the one who put him on this path. I was the corrupting influence. I was the guilty one here.

The pure rage in his eyes told me as much. He wasn’t like the rest of them, mindlessly running around attacking. No, he knew. He knew who I was, that I was the one to blame.

I didn’t know if I could kill him. Not that I couldn’t lift up my sword, I had it pointed at him as he scrambled to me.

“Parasite!”

Eury.

Her voice could practically part the storm clouds. “Don’t just stay there, you idiot! You need to survive!”

But I don’t deserve to.

I couldn’t leave Teddy like that, yet I couldn’t bring myself to kill him either.

“We need you!”

You’ll be better off without me.

“I need you!”

I can’t do it.

“Come on!” Eury’s voice was pain itself. Worse than anything I felt at that moment. “Please!”

Maybe… Maybe I can do it for her.

I allowed Teddy to shamble into the point of the sword. It got lodged in between his ribs and I held him there.

If it’s for her, maybe I can keep going.

More of the infected were coming for me now. I was mere steps away from the mob of mouths looking to turn me into a pile of hamburger meat.

As I backed up, Teddy, bloodied, falling apart, barely alive, stumbled after me.

What would happen to her if I just gave up here? Would she be better off?

All of this gunfire made me tilt-a-world nausea now. I thought about letting Teddy tear my throat out instead. Then I wouldn’t have to suffer through this conveyor belt of physical and emotional beatdown. But that was the easy way out. Still painful, but a relatively quick way out.

I can’t risk that. I can’t risk her getting hurt too. Not because of me.

“I’m sorry, Teddy.”

I took the plunge, pushing Teddy off the point of the sword so I could drive it into his skull. It was the only mercy I could give him in life. My only regret was I hadn’t done more.

I could smell the black blood that coated his mouth.

As he came to a shuttering stop, emptiness, was all I became.

As if sensing the loss of Teddy, Wren belted out a long, drawn-out wail. Her voice reverberated in my skull like a dozen echoes in a cave, judging me for what I had done. I watched as the mob of infected went into a frenzy. Whatever she did, it really poured gas in their tanks. Their blind, weak bodies suddenly became quicker and meaner. This was retribution.

They were coming for me.

Eury’s hand pulled me back down to reality.

“I’m not letting you die here.”

May 24, 2019 - 3:31 PM