Authors: Ryan Casey
“
S
hoot
, Holly. Just—just shoot.”
Hayden didn’t know what else to say. What else to suggest to Holly as the lioness approached her, crept up to her.
Behind him, at the bottom of the hill, the lion whimpered as the infected tore it apart.
And the lioness watched every bit of it.
But Holly’s eyes were filling up. Hayden could see it from this far away, the partly conscious Sarah by his side. He could see the guilt in her eyes as she held onto the gun. As her hands shook.
He could see her love for this lioness.
That killing it was the last thing she wanted to do.
“I know it’s hard,” Hayden called, the sound of zombies ripping open the lion’s belly splitting through the air. The stench of death strong, pertinent. “I know it’s hard but you’ve just gotta—”
“I can’t. I—”
“You have to,” Hayden shouted. “You just … you just have to.”
He watched the lioness step closer to Holly.
Watched it move closer, closer, all the while the zombies behind chewed up the poor lion, their attention destined to shift to Hayden, to Sarah in no time …
“You have to—”
“I’m sorry,” Holly said.
She lifted the gun.
Pointed it at the lioness.
And she pulled the trigger.
There was no explosion of blood from the lioness. No pained scream. No sudden anguished thud as its beautiful body fell to the ground.
Instead, the lion jumped aside.
Jumped away from Holly, fear in its eyes. Backing off. Stepping away.
“That’s it,” Hayden said, attempting to lift Sarah up, move towards Holly. “That’s—that’s it. Keep on—”
Holly fired again.
A bullet rattled into the grass, just in front of the dirt track.
The lioness moaned. Curled up its face and growled.
But still, as Holly pointed her gun at it, it backed away.
Backed away from Holly.
Backed away from the group.
Backed away from …
It was then that Hayden heard the gasps behind him. That he heard the footsteps sloshing up the mud.
That he smelled the eye-watering stench of decay edging closer.
He turned. Didn’t have to, but did anyway, just to see, just to know for certain.
“Shit,” he said.
The crowd of zombies were rushing away from the emaciated corpse of the lion.
Staggering up the muddy hill.
Surging towards Hayden, Sarah, Holly.
“Better get the hell back on the dirt track,” Holly said. “Grab—grab a gun. Grab whatever you can then …”
She turned back to the lioness. Lifted her gun. Tilted her head forward in a sudden movement; a movement that made the lioness cower back, frightful of another blast. Under control.
For now.
Hayden rushed over to the weapons bag beside him. Grabbed two pistols, handed one to Sarah.
“You okay?”
She clung to her dislocated shoulder. Bit down on her lip. Nodded sharply—a nod that told Hayden in no uncertain terms that no, she wasn’t okay. She was far from okay.
But she grabbed hold of the gun.
Stepped to her feet, slowly.
Bloodstains above her top lip. Clotting around her nostrils.
Sarah wasn’t okay.
But for now, she was alive.
She was alive, and that was all that counted.
The pair of them moved up to the side of the dirt track, up the slippery mud and to Holly. Holly was still walking towards the lioness, gun raised. Still standing tall. Finger on the trigger. Ready to shoot at any given moment.
The lioness was backing away.
Looking at all of them—at Hayden, Sarah, Holly—and backing away.
Behind, the gasps of the zombies grew louder.
“Need to find a way out of here somehow,” Hayden said.
“Up the dirt track,” Holly said. “On the left.”
She didn’t turn. Didn’t point.
Just kept her aim on the lioness.
Kept on stepping towards it.
Staring into its eyes.
Hayden frowned. Looked down the road. “What’s—”
“There’s a building down there. Through the trees. You see it?”
Hayden didn’t want to look away from the lioness. Managed to chance a glance—just the briefest of glances.
Then he saw it.
Saw the building.
The grey brick designed to look like some unearthed rock.
Reptile’s Domain.
His stomach turned. “Not sure I like the sound of that.”
“Not sure I like the sound of those infected coming our way,” Holly said. “Or this lioness’ growling.”
“How’re—how’re we supposed to make it there?” Sarah said.
Holly kept her gun pointed at the lioness.
Kept on looking it, staring it in the eye.
Then, “You run,” she said. “I’ll … I’ll hold off what I can.”
Hayden’s muscles tightened. “You—you can’t just—”
“One of us has to.”
“But you’ve been bitten. You’ve … you’ve been bitten and you’re alive. Which means we need you. Which means we—”
Hayden didn’t get to finish.
He didn’t get to finish because the lioness suddenly stopped.
Lifted its head.
Leaped at Holly.
Hayden watched it move through the air in slow motion. Watched its gorgeous fur contrast with the greying sky. Watched it move by in front of him, the sounds of the zombies drifting away, the smells of decay disappearing, nothing else mattering but the lioness, nothing else mattering but its beautiful form flying through the air at Holly.
Hayden started to lift his gun.
Started to aim.
Started to squeeze his trigger.
But he didn’t have to.
Blood spurted out of the head of the lioness.
Its paws flailed in the air, its jump losing shape, its progression losing momentum.
Holly rolled out the way as the lioness landed in the mud, splattered down on the soft ground.
As its still, silent, peaceful body slid down the muddy hill towards the oncoming zombies.
The eternally hungry zombies.
Holly wiped her eyes. The pistol in her hand shook. She looked back at the lioness. Looked back at it as the zombies surrounded it. As they kneeled beside it. As they stuck their sharp fingers into its fur and ripped it open, just like they had the lion, just like they would with everything living—once living—on this earth.
Hayden and Sarah walked up to Holly.
Walked up to her as she stood there, tears rolling down her cheeks, staring back at the poor lioness as the rain started to fall.
“You did what you had to do,” Hayden said.
He put a hand on her back.
Patted her.
“You saved us.”
Then he walked past Holly. Walked up onto the dirt track. Walked with Sarah, back onto the road. The road they had to get off. The place they had to get out of.
For they had to push on to Holyhead.
They had to keep on moving.
“Come on,” Hayden said. “We’d better move.”
Holly stood there a few more seconds.
Stood there and stared at the feast. Stared at the mangled, bony hands stuffed inside the lioness’ innards. At the lion in the distance, its mane covered in rich, red blood.
She stared at it and she didn’t say a word, transfixed, grief-stricken.
Then, she turned.
Turned around and followed Hayden, followed Sarah.
And when she glanced into Hayden’s eyes, Hayden wanted her to see the way he looked at her.
With belief.
With trust.
Because she’d put her life on the line.
She’d put her life on the line and done the only thing she could do to keep the group alive.
She stepped onto the dirt track.
Stood beside Sarah.
Looked back at Hayden.
She’d earned her place.
Earned a right to walk with them.
Earned their trust.
“You ready?” Hayden asked.
Sarah nodded.
Holly didn’t do a thing. Not at first. Not right away.
Then she glanced at Hayden again.
Glanced, and nodded.
Together, the three of them walked.
Together, the three of them pushed on to Holyhead. Pushed on to whatever awaited.
Together, the three of them trusted.
B
ut trust could be
the greatest deception.
Y
ou saved us
.
Those three words echoed around Holly’s mind as she walked with Hayden and Sarah. As they walked down the dirt track. As they snapped the necks of stray zombies that rushed at them, that launched themselves up the muddy hill at the side of the track desperate for a bite, eager to sink their teeth right in.
You saved us.
And maybe Hayden was right. Maybe Holly had saved him. Saved Sarah. Maybe she’d done a good deed. Gone against her morals killing the lioness. Stood against it, stood for the good of the group—for the survival of the group—and pulled the trigger to make sure the three of them survived.
You saved us.
Maybe she had.
But she had her reasons.
She had her motives.
She gripped the gun tightly in her hand as they made their way to the front gates of the safari park. On her left, Holly saw a rhino. Standing there, cutting a solitary figure, all alone with nobody to help it, nobody to feed it.
It stared back at her like it knew. Like it knew it was just like her.
Like it understood her secret.
Understood the truth.
She felt the wound on her left forearm twinge. The site of the bandage. The site of the bite.
She thought back to the dark cabin. How she’d sat inside there all alone, terrified to leave.
How she’d curled up in a ball as the world went to shit all around her.
As zombies marched through the streets.
As bombs fell from the sky.
She’d curled up in a ball and wished she was with Andy. Wished he was here with her to hold her hand. To tell her everything was going to be okay. To tell her they’d pull through this hell; both of them were strong and they’d pull through this hell.
She wished he was there with her, right then, and she wished he was here with her, right now.
But he wasn’t.
He was in Holyhead.
And that’s why Holly had to get to Holyhead.
That’s why someone had to take her there.
Someone stronger than her.
Someone to protect her.
She looked at the bandage on her arm and remembered what she’d done. The gamble she’d took.
Sinking her teeth into her own skin.
Pressing down and fighting against the first barrier of pain. Fighting as the skin split, as the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
Fighting against the second barrier of pain as she reached the muscle. The raw muscle, rubbery like uncooked meat.
Fighting against the third barrier of pain as she kept a vice grip on her flesh. As she kept on pressing down, harder, firmer.
A risk.
A fake bite wound.
No. Not fake. Totally real. For it was a bite wound. She told everyone the truth about that. She had been bitten. She had survived. Made it this far.
She just didn’t tell anyone who’d bitten her.
The source of the bite wound.
She just didn’t tell anyone she’d done it to herself.
“You okay?”
Holly turned. Saw Hayden looking at her. Observing her closely as she walked with the group. Gun in her hand. Tight in her sweaty palms.
“Just … just feel bad. For what I had to do.”
She played the animal rights activist card.
Masked the truth.
The truth that she’d weighed up leaving Hayden and Sarah to be butchered by the lion.
That she’d turned. Tried to run. And if it weren’t for the lioness, she’d be out of here.
But then the other sides of the scales weighed back down on her. Reminded her she was alone. She was without a vehicle. Her odds of making it all the way to Holyhead alone were slim at best, suicide at worst.
“We’ll push on,” Hayden said, specks of rain falling from the dark grey clouds. “Then we’ll find somewhere. Somewhere to stay for a while. To take a break.”
Holly feigned an exhausted smile.
Nodded.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Hayden or Sarah. Wasn’t that she had anything against them—anything against anyone she’d travelled this far with.
She just couldn’t tell them the truth.
Because if she told them the truth, no one would walk with her. No one would travel to Holyhead with her. No one would protect her.
She’d made it this far.
So many people had died because of her, but she’d made it this far.
She turned and saw Sarah looking at her. Looking at her with that furrowed brow. That obvious suspicion all over her face.
If only she knew what she’d do to her.
She’d do anything.
If it meant getting to Andy.
Her Andy.
No one else’s Andy.
They reached the gates of the safari park. Stood underneath the opening. Looked back at the vast expanse of grass, trees, land.
“Hopefully someone’ll keep an eye on them,” Hayden said, nodding at the gazelles. Gazelles chewing the grass—what little grass they hadn’t already chewed. Oblivious to the truth. The truth that this was the end. That this was over. For them, for everyone, this was it.
But not for Holly.
Not for Andy.
She turned.
Walked out of the gates.
Walked onto the road, Sarah by her side, Hayden by her side.
You saved us.
Yes, she had saved them. They’d seen her save them. Seen her fight for them.
And that was perfect.
That was ideal.
That was what she needed.
But she knew what she had to do when she reached Holyhead.
Knew what she had to do if they made it that far—if somehow she didn’t lose them just before she got there.
She tightened her grip on the gun.
Walked along the road.
She’d do what she had to do.
Do what she had to do to stop them punishing her.
Do what she had to do to stop them chastising her for her lie.
For the truth.
She looked at Hayden, looked at Sarah, and she thought about doing it. Thought about lifting her gun and killing them right here.
But then she saw the movement up ahead.
The movement of zombies.
More infected spilling out of the woods. Stepping onto the road.
So she lifted her gun.
Turned it at the infected.
Fired.
She’d kill Hayden and Sarah if she had to.
She didn’t want to, but if she had to, she would.
Just not yet.
Not while there was still a journey ahead.
Not while Andy was still so, so far away.
She’d kill them.
She’d kill them when she had to.
Without hesitation.
She’d kill them.
Just not yet.