Without Even Knowing

The bell tolled and the girls looked at each other, silent desperation in their eyes. They listened. One chime. Two chimes. Three chimes. Then stillness. Three AM. June raised her finger slowly to cover her pursed lips. Their eyes darted around the abandoned parking lot as the pair drifted into the shadows of the strip mall.

Looking around, it seemed like they stumbled upon the remains of a looted grocery store. Margo opened her mouth to speak but June, sensing a shift in the air, reached out and covered Margo’s mouth entirely. Someone was close. Close enough to hear their staggered breath. June backed them both into a corner shrouded in darkness. 

June’s back hit the cool wall, Margo clutched firmly in her grasp in front of her. They strained their ears, trying to gather as much intel from the strangers without being noticed. 

“Nobody here,” one voice grunted. 

“What about next door?” a second voice hissed. June felt the sweat drip down from the crown of her head. The sound of their boot steps were heavy in her ears. She knew they were Ultras. Silence was imperative. 

Some more unintelligible comments were uttered before the voices drifted and soon after, June heard the unmistakable sound of a distant door closing. She felt Margo push gently against her grasp but June had not dared let go yet. She wasn’t about to make another mistake. Not with Margo’s life. The two waited a full four minutes in silence before June eased up her hold on Margo. 

“You think they’re gone?” Margo whispered.

“From here, yes. But not from the area. We better stay hidden tonight.” 

June had already devised the plan in her head. She would search the rows for any leftover protein or supplies that could prove useful. Nothing too heavy or too big for them to run with. She and Margo would stay the rest of the night in the store, sleeping in the shadows under the tattered blanket Margo kept in her backpack. It was the lightest item they carried and Margo was much smaller than June, both in age and stature. 

In the morning, they would leave before sunrise and continue their journey to The C1VIC Center. The worn map that June kept close to her side had told her that they were less than one hundred miles away. 

. . . . . . . . . . . .

“This protein bar tastes like ass,” Margo’s face contorted in distaste. 

“Language.” June replied, not taking her eyes from the road as they walked along the forest lined highway. Abandoned cars were littered across the lanes showing obvious signs of struggle. 

“Sorry. This protein bar tastes like butt.” Margo amended. She didn’t know why she needed to be so polite all the time. It was the end of the damn world for Christ’s sake. But she didn’t want to upset June. 

“We can get there in two days if we keep walking at this pace,” June said, ignoring the ache in the back of her legs where the too-small shoes she found cut into her ankles. 

Margo had gotten used to walking. The pair had been doing it for months now. Logging close to fifty miles a day without a break. June never let them take breaks. Breaks meant more time spent traveling to The C1VIC Center. Margo knew, the sooner they got to The C1VIC Center, the better. 

“Help...me…” A weak voice cried out from beneath a nearby car. The man was frail, covered in signs of disease. June noticed it must have been a miracle for him to have lasted even this long. Still, her resolve did not waver.

“Should we...” Margo started, although she knew what June would say before she even opened her mouth.

“It’s too late.” Unblinking, June moved along, pulling a reluctant Margo in tow.

The reaction had been different for everyone. Some bodies shut down under the stress, their blood boiling through their veins, eyes bursting from the immense pressure. Others grew stronger from it, almost supernaturally so. They used their radiating body temperature and superhuman strength to overtake cities, towns, whole states if they were organized enough. The wayfarers called them “Ultras”. Ultras couldn’t feel pain, their bodies had transformed beyond that state.

Then there were people like June and Margo. The lone survivors, the unaffected, the immune. June’s younger brother Leo had been unaffected, too. But her parents hadn’t been. They suffered loudly, endless begging June to end their anguish. It wasn’t until one night, when a band of Ultras burst into their home looking for anything to steal, that her parents finally got their wish. Then, June watched from the slotted doors of her bedroom closet as they took her brother from his bed, snapping his neck instantly. June left town alone, terrified and on the run for the next two years. She spent much of that time by herself, existing only in her selfishness. 

June found Margo, or rather Margo attached herself to June, around the fourteenth month of June’s solitude. She was alone too and after June spent a meticulously long time checking Margo’s condition, she decided they could travel together. June had long since found a map leading to The C1VIC Center and could use the company along the way. It helped that Margo’s eyes were blue, like Leo’s.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

“How much longer?” Margo whined. Sometimes June forgot that Margo was barely just a teenager, only four years younger than herself. June reached out to rub her back, reassuringly.

“We’ll get there by nighttime if we keep going.” The discarded Chicago Bears baseball caps that they had found along the way did little to protect their skin from the sweltering sun. Margo’s brittle, dry hair was held in a knot at the base of her cab. She kept pushing it off the sweaty skin of her neck.

The C1VIC Center was less than twenty miles away. Her body repelled itself forward as if on autopilot. June knew if she just pushed Margo a little bit longer, they could make it without having to rest. Out of the corner of her eye, June spotted what looked like a bottle of fresh water left behind in someone’s open trunk. Clean water was hard to come by these days.

“Hold on, Margo.” June made her way toward the car to examine the trunk, momentarily leaving Margo on the side of the highway.

“I thought I smelled blood.” Stepping out from the shadows, an Ultra stood at an impressive height. June ducked behind the car instantly as he made his way toward Margo. He appeared to be alone, upon June’s quick inspection of his background. Ultras don’t usually travel alone. 

Margo caught her breath, paralyzed by fear and sudden aloneness. Where had June gone? Had she left her alone?

“Are you scared, little girl?” He bent down to connect his bloodshot eyes to her frightened ones. Margo’s hands formed shaky fists as she tried to remain calm. His breath was as close to death as Margo could ever imagine. Some Ultras were quick, snapping necks and ripping out throats just as easily as one would check the time on a watch. Others liked to bask in the glow of their prey, toyed with them, got high off of their fear.

Margo watched with frozen expression while the man closed his eyes, deeply breathing in her scent as if burning it into his memory. It was then that the bullets pierced his body. One by one, they shot into him as June screamed bloody murder from her position above the hood of the unforgotten vehicle. His body smacked onto the concrete with a sickening thud.

Jumping out of the way of the blood, Margo reached out just as June grabbed her hand. Together they ran until their bodies couldn’t move another inch.

“Where did you even get a gun?” Margo asked breathlessly after June allowed them a quick rest by a freshwater pond.

“I’ve always had it.” June responded. “Just hoped I’d never have to use it.” She stared down at the empty killing machine in her hand. She had taken it from her father’s “hidden” collection in their attic. She only wished she had had the strength to use it back then, to save her brother.

Suddenly, a blinding spotlight appeared down on them. June dropped the weapon in surprise. Could it be...

“REVEAL YOUR ARMS.”

Margo and June shared a fleeting glance before rapidly tearing the ratty sweaters from their limbs, revealing clean, purple-vein-free arms. 

“STEP FORWARD AND PLACE YOUR FOREHEAD ON THE SCANNER.”

Again, the girls complied, placing their bare skin against the cold, glass box attached to the front wall. 

“LOOK INTO THE SCANNER.” 

The pair obeyed, Margo opening her eyes just slightly too eagerly. After a moment of deliberation, the frame around the glass turned a positively radiant green color.

“YOU MAY ENTER.”

A door appeared in between them, sliding open slowly. June could hardly contain her glee. They had finally made it to The C1VIC Center. Reaching for Margo’s hand, she gripped it tightly, pulling her in to walk in tandem, finally, to safety. As they paraded through the doorway, the spotlight reflected off the glistening sign above the doorway: COVID-19 VACCINE IMMUNITY CONNECTION CENTER.