Ward Z: Revelation (14 page)

Glancing over at a nearby tree, Lizzie watched for a moment as one of the creatures fed on the back of a downed girl. With each intake of blood, the black tumor on the girl's back could be seen getting a little bigger. Before she could say anything, however, Lizzie felt the tip of one of Beth's tendrils brushing against her face, and she scrambled back to get out of the way.

“This is how things should be,” Beth told her. “When a strong new species emerges, it wipes away its predecessors. This evolution at its finest.”

“It's a trick,” Lizzie said firmly, forcing herself to stand her ground as Beth edged closer. “I'm on TV. There's no way this is really happening!”

Beth smiled as a third tendril poked out through her shoulder and began to reach toward Lizzie through the rain.

“Just a trick,” Lizzie muttered, shaking with fear. “I'm not going to be fooled.”

“I bet you taste good,” Beth said, with a grin that exposed another tendril emerging from her mouth. “Much better than all those squirrels.”

“Fuck!” Lizzie shouted finally, turning and racing through the dark forest. She had no idea which way she was going, but she began to run uphill, figuring that eventually she'd get to the edge of the treeline and that being near the cabins would be better than being down by the lake. She had no idea if Beth was close behind, but she didn't have time to check as she darted between the trees, almost running head-first into several of them until suddenly she emerged, breathless and shivering, at the edge of a large field.

Barely able to see a thing, she stopped for a moment and squinted, and finally she was able to make out not only the silhouettes of several other campers running into the distance, but also the roofs of the cabins.

“Hey!” she screamed, running forward. “Wait for me!”

Racing through the rain, she stumbled several times but managed to catch up to the dozen or so other campers just as they reached the cabins. Chaos reigned, with terrified voices ringing out as people rushed into the cabins and bolted the doors shut. Almost knocked down in the panic, Lizzie made her way over to her cabin and then hurried through the door, immediately turning and bolting it shut. Terrified and barely able to believe what was happening, she took a step back, listening to the sound of the rain outside mixed with panicked screams coming from the other cabins nearby.

“What the fuck?” Laura asked suddenly.

Turning, Lizzie saw to her shock that Laura was kneeling by one of the beds, applying some kind of bandage to a horrific-looking wound on Kirsty's foot.

“Did you see them?” Kirsty asked, her face white with fear. “You saw them, didn't you?”

“The blobs?” Lizzie replied.

Kirsty nodded.

“The little black blobby things,” Lizzie continued, holding her hands up to indicate a flattened sphere, “with lots of black tentacles running out of them.”

Again Kirsty nodded, as tears ran down her cheeks.

“Yeah,” Lizzie replied, “I saw them. Everyone saw them. They're in the forest and...” She paused, spotting a section of bone poking out of Kirsty's foot. “What happened to you?”

“They're in the water,” Kirsty told her. “The same water where we went swimming, they're in there and they attacked me, I almost didn't get away. Have you seen Dean?”

Lizzie shook her head.

“Oh fuck,” Kirsty continued, closing her eyes for a moment. “Oh fuck oh fuck oh – Crap!” she yelled suddenly, pulling her foot away from Laura.

“It's a disinfectant,” Laura replied, grabbing the good part of Kirsty's right leg and pulling it closer. “You might end up with an infection if I don't put this stuff on.”

“I think I want to believe in God now,” Kirsty said, turning to Lizzie. “Yeah, I definitely want to believe in God. Do you know any prayers?”

“Sorry, no.”

“Our father,” Kirsty continued, looking up at the ceiling, “who art in... Something... something else... Damn it, why didn't I listen at school?”

“Fuck,” Lizzie whispered, heading to the window and peering out through the rain-spattered glass. For a moment she was unable to see anything in the darkness, but finally she was able to make out another face looking out from the opposite cabin; she briefly made eye contact with a terrified-looking girl, but when she turned to look along the path that ran between the cabins, Lizzie realized that she couldn't see anyone else out there.

“What's going on?” Laura asked after a moment.

“People died,” Lizzie whispered. “I don't know how many, maybe... half?”

“You're kidding, right?”

“I have to see,” Lizzie continued, heading over to the door and reaching up to the bolt.

“Don't let them in,” Kirsty snapped.

“I won't!”

“Keep the door locked!”

“I just need to see,” Lizzie replied, sliding the bolt across. “We need to know if they're out there. We need to know what we're dealing with.” Grabbing the handle, she paused for a moment before slowly easing the door open and looking out into the rain.

There was no sign of anyone nearby.

With rain still falling hard, she stepped outside and shut the door again. Looking at the other cabins, she saw terrified faces peering out through several of the windows, but although she knew that hiding would be safer, she figured she had to know what was happening. Making her way across the grass, she kept looking in every direction, terrified in case something moved in the shadows. By the time she reached the last cabin, her heart was pounding and she felt as if she was about to be attacked at any moment. Looking out toward the treeline, she squinted and tried to see if anything was moving in the darkness.

She held her breath.

Just as she began to feel relief that there was nothing out there, she realized she could see a hint of movement. A moment later, she felt her blood start to run cold as she realized a human figure was walking out of the forest, followed a few seconds later by another, with the latter stumbling and barely able to remain upright. Seconds after that, two more figures appeared, and together they began to walk slowly and awkwardly toward the cabins.

Taking a step forward, Lizzie watched in horror for a moment. She could tell from the silhouette that the first figure was Beth, but the others seemed to be barely able to keep going. Finally, she saw that several others were also emerging from the forest, and although she didn't want to believe the worst, she felt a cold shiver pass through her body as she realized that the gait of the figures was wrong somehow, as if they were struggling to control their bodies.

“No,” Lizzie whispered, “please, no...”

“Oh my God!” Crystal shouted, suddenly lunging at Lizzie from the shadows and pinning her against the side of the cabin. “What's happening?”

“Did you see them?” Lizzie asked.

“I dropped my torch! I saw... something!”

Lizzie turned and looked toward the trees, and she saw that the figures were slowly getting closer.

“What are they?” Crystal asked, with fear in her voice.

“I have no idea,” Lizzie replied, unable to stop watching the approaching figures, “but I don't think we should go near them.”

“Lizzie!” a voice called out suddenly.

Looking back over at one of the cabins, Lizzie saw that Laura had cautiously opened the door.

“I've got to get out of here!” Crystal shouted, racing over to the cabin and pushing Laura out of the way before hurrying inside and slamming the door.

“Hey!” Lizzie called out, running to the door and trying to get it open, only to hear the bolt sliding across. “Let me in!”

“You might be infected!” Crystal shouted at her through the door. “We can't let you in if you're infected!”

“Bullshit!” Lizzie replied. “What the hell are you talking about? Let me into the goddamn cabin!”

“We can't risk charity,” Crystal replied. “There's no room in here for anyone else.”

“Let her in!” Laura shouted from inside the cabin.

“I'm in charge here!” Crystal told her.

“Hey!” Lizzie yelled, banging on the door again. “You can't leave me out here!” Looking over her shoulder, she saw that the advancing figures had almost reached the first cabin.

“Lizzie!” Beth called out through the rain. “Don't be scared! This is how the world works!”

Staring at her, Lizzie suddenly realized that she could see something glistening in the grass. Looking down, she saw that as well as the handful of figures stumbling toward the cabins, several of the black creatures were writhing through the grass.

“Oh God,” she whispered, backing against the door. “No no no...” Glancing at the cabin opposite, she saw that another girl was staring out, watching what was happening but making no move to help.

“Everything's going to be wonderful,” Beth continued as she got closer. “The strong replace the weak. It's funny, humans never had a problem with that idea before. Your species dominated the planet, but that was unnatural. The order is being redressed.”

Looking down, Lizzie saw that one of the creatures had already reached the steps leading to the cabin, and a long black tendril was reaching up toward her.

“No!” she shouted, stamping on the tendril and crushing it into the wood.

“Stop that!” Beth called out. “Don't you dare hurt us!”

A moment later, Lizzie heard the bolt being slid back across, and Laura opened the door.

“Get in!”

Hurrying inside, Lizzie turned to watch as Laura bolted the door again.

“Give us this day our daily bread,” Kirsty was whimpering on the bed, with her eyes tight shut, “and, er, forgive us when we trespass...”

“Are you insane?” Lizzie shouted, turning to Crystal.

“What are those things?”

“They're goddamn monsters,” Lizzie yelled, stepping toward her, “and you were going to leave me out there to get killed!”

“Hey,” Laura said, stepping between them, “there's no need to fight! Crystal, you're a total bitch and you're lucky we don't throw you out there right now so they can chew on your bones as a distraction.”

“I'm in charge here -”

“No!” Lizzie and Laura both said at the same time, before Lizzie continued: “Right now, you're not in charge of anything. Those creatures came spilling out of the hospital waste bags
you
told us to move, so why don't you start by telling us what was really in there?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“For ours is the father,” Kirsty continued, “the power and the glory, and something about a kingdom... forever... Amen?” She opened her eyes and turned to the others. “Did I get it right? Do you think it worked?”

“Did you know what was going to happen?” Lizzie asked, staring at Crystal.

“No! I swear!”

“But you
did
bring those bags of waste here.”

“To make money! For the camp!”

“And you didn't really bother to find out what was in them, did you?”

“I was told it was medical-grade waste,” Crystal stammered, “but that most of it was just bandages and syringes, things like that.”

“And you got paid to let it get dumped here.”

“No-one was supposed to get hurt! I just thought it was a way to supplement the income of the camp and help keep things running. I mean, if I hadn't done it, the camp would have had to close down a few years ago!”

“Oh no!” Laura shouted, with obvious anger in her voice. “That would have been awful! If that had happened, we wouldn't be here right now!”

“I was doing my best!” Crystal shrieked. “I wanted to offer some hope for all your poor cancer-ridden teenagers! The same hope that was denied to me when I was your age! I wanted to give you a chance to have fun, to forget about all the hospitals and doctors, and to just act like normal kids for once!” Pausing, she seemed to be on the verge of breaking down. “I only ever tried to do the right thing,” she continued finally, struggling to catch her breath. “If it's a crime to be a kind, compassionate woman who only thinks of others, then fine, I'm guilty. If it's a crime to selflessly -”

Before she could finish, someone knocked three times on the door.

“Fuck,” Laura whispered.

“I know who it is,” Lizzie replied. “It's Beth.”

“Should we let her in?”

“No.”

“But -”

“She's one of them,” Lizzie continued. “I talked to her. She admitted it.” Making her way over to the door, she listened to the sound of rain falling outside. “These creatures get inside people,” she explained, “and somehow they seem to take over. It's almost like they get into our brains, push us out of the driver's seat, and start controlling our bodies.”

“Like zombies?” Kirsty asked.

“Maybe a little,” Lizzie replied, stopping at the door, “but not really. These things are smart. They can think and talk, and plan ahead, and I think they can communicate with each other. They can learn, too, and I think they have some kind of plan.”

“You're making them sound like something from a sci-fi movie,” Laura pointed out.

“They're worse than that,” Lizzie whispered, “because they're real.”