Degeneration (36 page)

             
Richard glanced up at him.

             
“I have family there… a brother.”

             
Mathis nodded. It was an understandable request. Even though Mathis didn’t have the slightest fraternal instinct in his career-focused mindset, he knew he how much family mattered to most people.

             
Besides, the man’s brother was in all likelihood dead.

             
“I understand, but we need to stay focused.”

             
“If you’re not going to help me save him, then take these cuffs off of me, let me go, and get out of my way,” Richard said, holding up his zip-tied wrists.

             
“You’re safer in my custody until we get out of the city.”

             
“I don’t want your help, okay?!”

             
Mathis glared at him through the rearview mirror.

             
“Have you looked outside?” Mathis asked. “You wouldn’t last one minute out there by yourself.”

“I managed pretty fucking good so far, didn’t I? You sure as hell didn’t help me get out of that hospital.”

             
Mathis gave an aggravated sigh and shook his head.

             
“Are you done?”

             
“No, as of a matter of fact, I’m not,” Richard said. “Who locked me inside the hospital in the first place, boarded it up, and covered it with plastic? Who sealed me away to die? Who is responsible for
that
?”

             
Mathis didn’t reply for several minutes.

             
“We did what we had to do,” Mathis finally said. “We were trying to keep this from getting out into the rest of the city. Obviously, our best intentions failed.”

             
“So you wrote me and everyone else inside off for dead.”

             
“You were all dead the second you took a breath!” Mathis shouted defensively. “The virus is airborne and once it got loose in the general population all hope of containment was lost. We did what we had to do and I’m not going to justify myself or apologize to you.”

             
“Airborne? What about these bites you were so worried about?”

             
“That mode of transmission just kills you faster. Once you breathe near someone who is infected or is a carrier, you’re infected. It’s as simple as that. I’m done answering your questions. Shut up.”

             
Richard backed away from the grille and slumped down on the metal bench, staring down at his zip-tied wrists solemnly.

             
He’s going to get us both killed. You’ll die from your infection before you can save me.

             
“You think I don’t know that?” Richard muttered.

             
Mathis glanced up at him in the rearview mirror.

             
We were better off traveling alone.

             
“He does have resources, though.”

             
“Who has resources?” Mathis asked.

             
Resources?

             
Andy tittered.

His superiors abandoned him, idiot. You saw how they opened fire on their own men on that hospital roof. You’re his only resource. He hopes that you’re immune so that he can use you as his ticket out of here.

             
“Perhaps you’re right,” Richard said softly.

             
“Who are you talking to?” Mathis asked as he stared at Richard in the mirror.

             
You know I am right. So if you are his lifeline, why are you letting him hold you prisoner?

             
“He has a gun and seems pretty desperate.. That’s never a good combination.”

             
“Who are you talking to?!” Mathis shouted.

             
So what? He won’t shoot his only ticket out of the quarantine. If he doesn’t have you, they won’t let him out! He’d just be another soldier stuck inside the quarantine. He’ll use you to get out and then they will cart you off to some laboratory and you’ll be their little test monkey… if you are indeed immune.

             
Richard’s body tensed.

             
We both know that you’re not immune. We both know that you’ll fall victim to the virus like everyone else. He is delusional and holding onto false hope.

             
“He’s insane… What should I do?”

             
“I’ll ask you
one
last time!”

             
Call the shots. And when the time is right… kill him. Kill him and continue towards Butner to save me before you fall victim to the virus.

             
“Call the shots… I like that plan,” Richard said.

I’m getting weaker, Richie. My body won’t be able to hold out much longer in here.

             
“I haven’t forgotten you, brother. I’ll stick to our plan. I’ll get you out before I get sick.”

             
The van sped through an empty intersection and careened right onto the massive thoroughfare of Glenwood Avenue. The smoke that hazed the air started to clear and visibility slowly returned as the van drove out of the downtown firebombing’s limited radius.

             
“What plan?! What are you talking about?!” Mathis shouted, fogging the clear facemask of his white-suit. He turned his attention away from the road and turned towards Richard, furious. “What’s wrong with you?”

             
“Look out!” Richard yelled, staring out the windshield.

             
Mathis quickly turned his attention back to the road
–

All four lanes of the avenue were clogged with bumper-to-bumper abandoned cars, trucks, and busses headed towards the same direction: out of downtown. The vehicles were pressed against each other and some were badly wrecked but they were all unscathed by the firebombing, narrowly escaping it’s radius. Down the road, past the ocean of cars, rows of lit halogen flood lamps lined the road and created an eerie ambiance.

–
the van was headed right into the rear of a Toyota sedan parked at the rear of the vehicle stalemate.

             
Mathis slammed on the brakes and Richard’s body flung against the grille divider as the wheels locked-up and the van skidded across the pavement, creating a vicious squeal as the rubber burnt along the asphalt.

             
The van finally came to a jolting stop just a few feet away from the rear of the Toyota.

             
Mathis sat frozen in the driver’s seat, hands shaking on the steering wheel.

Richard slowly stood in the back of the van, coughing, and rubbed his bruised face with his zip-tied hands, cursing to himself.

             
Mathis didn’t see any infected wandering ahead amongst the cars, but he knew that horde that had been following the van would catch up to them soon.

When he saw the glow from the halogen flood lamps ahead he felt a twinge of hope rise inside him.

             
“Up ahead is the Glenwood-Five Points checkpoint. It marks the edge of the downtown quarantine border,” Mathis said. He turned the engine off, grabbed his rifle, and stepped outside.

             
Richard abruptly turned towards the rear doors of the van as they swung open.

             
“Come on,” Mathis ordered, gripping the rifle tightly. “The road is impassible by vehicle so it looks like we’re walking ahead to the checkpoint.”

             
Richard shook his head.

             
That’s right, stand up to him. Show me that you have some spine.

             
“I’m not going anywhere until you take these cuffs off of me.”

             
Mathis stared at him a moment, calculating, and then aimed the rifle at him.

             
“Get out of the van right now, or I will shoot you,” he calmly ordered.

             
Richard sat down on the bench, ignoring the small sweat beads that started to form across his forehead.

             
Relax, he’s bluffing, Richie.

             
“I mean it,” Mathis said, sounding slightly off-kilter. He climbed up into the back of the van and pressed the barrel of the rifle against Richard’s forehead. “Let’s move. Now.”

             
Richard looked up at him defiantly and held out his zip-tied hands.

             
“Cut these off,” Richard ordered. “Then I will go.”

             
“I’ll shoot. You mean nothing to me. I was just trying to help you get out of the city alive.”

             
“We both know that’s a lie,” Richard said. “You need me more than I need you.”

             
Mathis gritted his teeth and felt his faux composure evaporate. He kept the rifle steadied a moment longer and then slammed the butt of the rifle against Richard’s face.

             
Richard’s head swerved with the vicious blow and he sunk down against the bench, nose bleeding.

             
“I’m not asking you nicely again,” Mathis said.

             
Richard sat up and spat blood at Mathis’ feet. He looked up at him and slowly held out his zip-tied hands again.

             
“Take them off,” Richard said. “You can hit me again and knock me unconscious if you want, but I don’t think you’ll make it very far carrying me.”

             
Mathis hesitated a moment and slung the rifle over his shoulder, reached into one of the cargo pockets of his white-suit, and brought out a tactical knife. He opened the knife with a flick of his wrist and brought the blade underneath Richard’s chin.

             
Richard tilted his head up as the blade pressed against him.

Mathis leaned close.

Richard felt his skin gooseflesh as Mathis’ cold plastic faceshield pressed against his nose.

             
“If you try to run or cross me, I will kill you, immune or not” Mathis whispered. “And the minute you start to display symptoms, we’re done, you and I.”

             
“I guess… we will have to trust each other,” Richard replied lowly. He held his zip-tied wrists up towards Mathis. “We both want the same thing.” It was a lie, of course, since he still planned on getting to Butner and saving his brother, alone.

             
Mathis swiped the blade down the center of the zip-cuffs and sliced them in half. He snapped the knife shut, slid it into his cargo pocket, and hopped out of the van holding his rifle.

             
Richard stood up and rubbed his wrists, massaging the red marks that the zip-cuffs left on him.

Andy started snickering.

             
That dumb bastard. Bide your time, Richie, you’ll know when it’s the perfect moment to strike.

             
“Hurry,” Mathis said. “We had a crowd following us. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

             
Mathis’ estimate was wrong.

             
It only took three seconds for the first infected to show up.

             
Two men ran out from the corner of the intersection that the van had just turned from. They spotted Mathis and Richard standing at the back of the van and sprinted towards them. A crowd of fifty followed behind them, sprinting down Glenwood Avenue.

             
“What are you waiting for?! You have the weapon!” Richard cried, pointing at the infected.  He jumped out the back of the van and stood next to Mathis. “Shoot them!”

             
Mathis slowly started walking backwards, nearly petrified.

             
“It’s out of ammunition,” Mathis said. “Just run! Follow me!”

             
They both turned and ran through the thick sea of vehicles towards the Glenwood-Five Points checkpoint. Suitcases and bullet-riddled corpses littered the tight narrow passageways between the cars.

The besieging horde followed, bounding over vehicles and sliding across hoods, closing the distance quickly.

             
Richard followed Mathis as they maneuvered between the vehicles, both breathing frantically. Behind them, car alarms wailed as the infected knocked against them recklessly.