Daniel and Kenji both aimed their rifles at the woman, at the first survivor we had seen in weeks.

“Who are you?” Kenji asked. “What are you doing here?”

Daniel stepped forward and to the side so he was standing in front of Maria.

The woman ignored the questions. She simply moved over to the bank of the creek and sat down against it.

“Are you infected?” Kenji asked.

She was breathing hard. She took out a canteen and had a drink of water, spilling most of it down her chin.

“Answer me!”

She dropped the canteen. “Yeah. I’m infected. I lost the others. We got separated. I panicked. Got my stupid ass surrounded.”

She held her hand up to her eyes so she could inspect her wound. She’d been bitten on the wrist. Her hand was a red mess. And as she held it up, blood dripped back down the length of her forearm. On her wrist, just below the bite wound was a tattoo of a barcode.

“Why do you have a barcode tattooed on your wrist?” Daniel asked.

The woman ignored the question as she continued to inspect her wound.

I couldn’t believe it. This was the first person we’d seen in weeks, the first survivor. And she had been bitten. This meant she did not have long.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” Kenji asked. “Are you alone?”

“I was in a scavenger team,” the woman answered. “We operate in teams of four.”

“Scavenger team?”

“Yeah. Our job is to raid towns, farms, houses. Gather supplies. Food. Water. Whatever we can use. The smaller towns are empty. Picked clean already. People leaving took most of everything anyways. The bigger towns are a different story.”

“Where’s the rest of your team?”

“We split up. We got separated. We’re usually so careful. You have to be. It’s a dangerous job. Practically a suicide mission each time we set foot outside. But everyone’s gotta do it. Everyone’s gotta pay their dues.”

“Pay their dues? What are you talking about?”

“The Fortress. If you want in, you gotta earn your keep. It’s mandatory. Everyone has to do it. It’s the law.”

“Fortress?” Maria asked. “Is that like, some sort of military compound?”

“Something like that.”

“And they’re taking in civilian survivors?” I asked.

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean, ‘sort of’?”

“Like I said, you gotta earn your keep, you gotta pay your dues.”

“Where is this place?” Daniel asked.

“Can’t tell you that. Not supposed to tell outsiders.”

“What? Why the hell not?”

“Population control. We’ve only got limited resources.”

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“Population control?” Jack said. “Where have you been? There is no population left!”

“There’s more than you think. And when they hear about a place like the Fortress, believe me, they want in. We got people from all over. I personally think the scavenger missions are a form of population control as well. If you want in, if you want asylum, you gotta do it. Of course, no one tells the newbies just how goddamn dangerous it is. But you find out pretty quick.”

“You can’t just turn your back on us!” Maria said. “Look, we need water. We need food.”

“I’m just telling you the rules. And you should keep your voices down.”

“Why?”

“There’s a town close by. It’s crawling with sick people. It’s completely overrun.”

We were quiet for a while after the woman told us that. We had come all this way, used up precious energy and water. For nothing. There’s no way we could risk going in.

The woman coughed and spit up a mouthful of blood.

“We can help,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure that we could.

The woman looked at me doubtfully, wiping red saliva off her lips. “Oh yeah, how you gonna do that?”

I didn’t know whether or not to tell her Maria was immune. She probably wouldn’t even believe us. Daniel shook his head at me as if he was saying, now was not the right time.

“We can help find your friends,” I continued. “We could help get you back to the Fortress or whatever; help with a search party or something. We’re armed. We can offer protection.”

She shook her head. “I’m not gonna be around for much longer. There’s no way I’m making it back to the Fortress. And there’s no way you’re going to find it without me.”

“Hey, we’ve got a U.S. Marine here and a goddamn Special Forces soldier,” Jack said. “I think we’ll be just fine. And besides, I’m sure a place like that can use our help.”

The woman closed her eyes. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. But you still won’t find it.”

She was so certain that we wouldn’t be able to find it.

Kenji lowered his rifle. “You’re infected. Do you want our help or not?”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry. We each get one of these,” she said as she produced an old cowboy style revolver.

We all took a step back and I actually put my hands in the air.

Daniel kept his rifle pointed directly at her head.

“Relax,” she said. “It’s not loaded. And I’ve only got one bullet. We were told to save the last one.”

We suddenly caught on as to what it was for.

“Like I said,” she continued. “We each got one. All of the scavengers. Just in case. I suppose I should’ve realized how messed up the job was when they gave us this.”

“Who gave you the gun?” Daniel asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “The people in charge. The authority. The man.”

“US military? Australian Army? Who?”

“They might’ve been military. They had guns. But what do I know? I’m a farmer’s wife. I don’t know anything about soldiers or military forces. All I know is they have the guns. And in a world like this, whoever has the guns, is in charge.”

She started coughing again, spitting up more blood. “We live in a lawless place now,” she mumbled. “The people at the Fortress, they have the guns. They have the keys to the kingdom. A safe haven. A refuge from the infected.”

“But for a price,” I said.

“Yeah. That’s right. Their word is the law. That’s why we were forced to go out on scavenger hunts. At first, I didn’t mind. I wanted to help, you know? I wanted to pull my own weight. Contribute. Plus I knew the area. I figured I’d be smart enough to stay out of trouble.” She shook her head. “I was wrong. Such a shame too. We were a good team.”

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small bottle of whiskey. “Won’t get to enjoy this either.”

“What’s your name?” Maria asked.

“You don’t wanna know my name.”

“Why not?”

“Look, I’m about to blow my brains out. Trust me; you don’t want to know my name.”

“So what now?” Kenji asked.

She lifted her head slightly and looked at the gun in her hand. “I’ve always wanted to play Russian roulette.”

She spun the chamber of the revolver and put the barrel to her temple.

Pulled the trigger.

Click.

Nothing happened.

“Jesus!” Jack said. “What the hell are you doing?”

And the woman actually laughed. “Relax, it’s not loaded, remember?”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a single bullet. Loaded it.

“Ah, now it’s loaded,” Jack said.

She held up her wrist. “I’ve been bitten. It has to be this way.”

She spun the chamber again. Pulled the trigger.

Click.

We all took another step back and the woman laughed again.

If I had to take a guess, I’d say that the woman had lost her mind. Pushed over the edge by everything that she had been through. But then again maybe she had just come to terms with how messed up this whole situation was. A bullet to the head would be a quick, painless option. A lot less painful than starving to death, I thought. Or turning into an infected undead monster.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said.

“Yeah, I do,” she answered. “I want to. I owe it to myself.”

We pleaded with her one more time to tell us where the Fortress was. She said even if she told us, even if she drew us a map, we’d never find it. We’d never make it.

The last thing she told us was to be careful. Avoid this town. Best go around. Way around.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have a choice.