Breaking into the store was easy, after a quick search we barricaded the doors, nothing is coming in unless we want it to. There weren’t as many supplies as I was expecting. In fact, the place has been almost completely cleared out. Still we had enough food for a decent meal and some equipment to cook it. We’ve also got enough space that we can spread out and get a break from each other. Marki seems like she’s just resting, taking a chance to think it all over. Marshall seems to be keeping vigilant; he’s certain we’ll be attacked soon. If not by the mutants, then by other survivors. I’m not so sure of that. The creatures seem to wander aimlessly. They’re attracted to sounds, but only loud sounds. Most sounds don’t cause them to come flocking. It’s obvious to me, they’re essentially brainless. They make most of their moves off pure instinct, no they’ve got an insatiable hunger. I wonder if the transformation process causes them to burn through excess energy and fat reserves. I haven’t seen a single fat mutant yet, it could be a metabolism thing. I’ve reviewed the video of my examination a few different times, trying to spot anything I didn’t catch the first time around, but I was in a hurry and while I got a good view of the body I didn’t have the opportunity to learn much. I don’t see why Marshall couldn’t just wait a few minutes for me to finish. I was in full control of the situation.

I’ve spent most of my time this evening trying to dial in on the local airwaves, hoping to contact someone. There’s been some local chatter but nothing that I’ve been able to focus in on. Everything seems to be warped and filled with static or feedback. Maybe I won’t be able to reach out to anyone, and even if I can hear them, they may not be able to hear me. I just find comfort knowing there is someone else out there going through the same madness we are. Other survivors means I can figure out what happened here, and possibly how to reverse it. There’s no hope for those that have already died, but the rest of us don’t have to spend the rest of our lives running and hiding until we’re devoured at the hands of those that used to be the same as us. Every so often I make eye contact with Marshall as he works to stay vigilant and make sure nothing attacks us. It would probably be best if he went to sleep. We agreed to sleep and keep watch in shifts. I suppose he didn’t trust me to do my job because I’ve got first watch and he’s been stalking the entire time. If the mutants don’t kill us, he’ll take me out for sure. Marki might get to live, but there’s no hope for me. I’m coming to terms with the idea that I’ll need to shoot and kill something soon, and it might be Marshall.

I hone in on a single radio signal that seems to be giving off more frequent broadcast than the others. If I can manage to get a strong enough connection, I can track it’s origin point. I’m sure there are other survivors. It doesn’t make sense for all the broken windows and raided stores we passed by making it here. Even in this huge department store just about everything is cleared out. We had to eat vegetables nobody wanted. The niche kind from the past. I never had a carrot before, it grills well, but it’s bland, hard and I’d rather not have one. If anything, hopefully other survivors have better food.

The signal seems to come in intervals, every fifteen minutes. The hard part is everything here is using Revrell technology, and Federation tech isn’t linking up with it as easy as I would hope. But, I’m prepared for the signal this time. A few transitions and I’m able to lock in on the signal. It’s not a person, it’s a recording.

“If you’re hearing this, we’ve barricaded ourselves at the center of the colony. We’ve isolated the cause of the infection but we have not been able to stop it. Outside there are simply too many of the grubs for us to flee. We will remain here, working on a cure as long as we can.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The message continues by giving off the coordinates and names of the scientist working on a cure. He probably won’t want to hear it, but I need to inform Marshall. I wait for him to make his next round, and grab his attention.

“Marshall, I found other people. There’s a radio signal.”

He just stares at me, “We could go, but you won’t make it. You’re a coward. I get it, you’re a scientist, not a soldier, but scientist die out here. You don’t care how dangerous this is. You don’t care how many people died so you can film your little videos with the mutants. You keep thinking someone is going to come in and save us all. You’re acting like this is an experiment and not the end of the world as we know it.”

“That’s uncalled for,” I interrupt his tirade.

“Do you have your sidearm Mr. Benjamin,” he asks.

“Yeah, do you want a duel or something? I’m not going to do that.”

“No, I want you to use it to do me a huge favor.”

“Let me guess,” he gestures for me to go on, “you want me to spread my brains all over the floor.”

“That’s exactly what I want,” he smiles a devious smile at me.

“Well, how about we track these people down, try to form a bigger group and when that doesn’t work, you just kill me yourself.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“I don’t think I need to tempt you. I think you’ve wanted to do it sine I got pulled out of that wreckage.”

“I wanted to kill you when you abandoned us and ran to hide on the ship.”

“Would that have changed anything? We still would have ended up in the same shitty situation.”

The two of us stare at each other pausing, waiting for the other to speak. Marki scrams out drawing attention from both of us. I snatch up my gun and rush towards her.

“You don’t need to come,” Marshall shouts as we run.

“Screw you!”

We arrive watching as Marki lies on her back trying to keep one of the mutants away with her bare hands. It’s clear from the debris that it came from the ceiling somehow. Marshall draws his gun to shoot and I smack it away.

“What the hell is wrong with you,” he shouts before throwing another punch at me.

I manage to dodge this one, “we don’t know if the blood is contagious or not.”

“It’s less contagious than a bite,” he shouts.

I rush towards Marki, drawing my knife, hoping to stab the creature in the brain. If I sever the brain stem it should kill it. If not, I can at least get it away from Marki. The sound of metal scraping together causes me to drop realizing Marshall had grazed my armor with a bullet. I wash as blood burst from the crown of the mutant’s head, raining down on Marki. She tosses the creature aside and wipes the blood from her face, spitting on the ground. Marshall makes his way over to her. I rub the new scratch on my armor, it’s not deep, but I can feel the ribbed ridges where the bullet grazed me.

I rush up Marshall and shove him, he doesn’t move much, “you shot me you asshole,” I shout.

“You got in the way of my shot.”

“I was trying to make sure she didn’t get infected and you just shot first without thinking.”

“She would have died by the time you got here,” Marshall shouts.

“It was ten feet you trigger happy idiot,” I shout back.

“Stop,” Marki raises her own voice. “I appreciate you both caring for me but I do not need you taking care of me.”

“We need to get to a hospital so I can make sure you’re not infected,” I break the silence.

“Duane, thank you, but it’s just some blood. I’ll be okay.”

“We don’t know how this stuff is transmitted,” I argue.

“She said she was fine,” Marshall argues.

“Calm down,” Marki tries to keep control of the situation. “I’m fine Duane, really. Let’s just get some rest and figure out what we’re going to do in the morning.”

“I found a distress message from some survivors.”

“Great, I think we should check it out,” Marki nods and gives me a smile.

“It’s a waste of time,” Marshall argues.

“You’re outvoted,” I say before walking away.

Marki gives me another smile as I look back. It’s not a genuine smile, it’s one of those smiles you give a child to let them know you’re okay, when you’re not.