THE INFECTED: PART 7

        Hello, let me start this off by saying, this doesn't fit the prompt at all. I have been sitting on this one for a little while hoping I could fit it into one of the prompts but have had no luck so, I have just decided to attach it to a random prompt so that I could get it up on my profile. That being said, enjoy Part 7 of my series!

Thank you!

                                   …ONE YEAR LATER…

We have made the school our home, and we’ve changed the name to simply Salvation. Luis allowed us to stay, he says it’s because he has grown ‘rather fond’ of us all. I think it’s because he has grown an attachment to people after living with undead canines for so long. We’ve all just been pitching in as much as we can, wherever we can. Michael found some old HAM radios and has put them to use, we’ve been attempting contact with other communities to figure out who is still out there. Antonio has been helping Harvey with the healthcare side of things, we have our own Doctors office here in Salvation. We have taken a few more people in, such as Kate who is now our child educator with a side of child wrangler. Vincent is the head of our group that goes on runs, which the group consists of a few of our new people, Cooper, Steven, Abigail, and Jules. You guessed it, Michael also plans the routes for our group to search and if he ever finds any of the other communities that were around Hopes Reach with the radio, he’ll send them that way if they seem like good people and aren’t with Victor, we just haven’t had any luck with reaching anybody yet. As for Victor, we haven’t had any run ins with him, which may mean he’s dead or has just moved on from his whole revenge arc against us.

“Sarah? Do you copy?” Michael chirps over the walkie.

I unhook the walkie off my belt with my new hook for a hand.

“Go ahead, Michael.”

“The group is heading back and they found something that I think you may want to be a part of.”

I wipe the sweat from my brow.

“What is it? Good or bad?” I ask.

“I think it’s just something you need to hear for yourself. They’re heading up to my office in the control tower. I’ll see you when you get up here.” The walkie statics as I hook it back to my belt.

I let out a sigh.

“Well, looks like we’re not going to get any of this done today. Huh?” I ask.

“Nope, probably not. That’s okay, it’s not like we’re moving in together or anything.” Antonio says.

“Oh yeah? Moving in together huh? We’ve only been seeing each other for three months. Slow your roll cowboy.” I kiss Antonio. “You okay handling clean up on your own?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Antonio looks down in disgust as a lurker is caught in the trap pit in front of one of our fences. It’s face peeling off from a spike.

I turn and leave to visit Michael in his office. Whatever it is, it sounded important. I wonder what the group found out there. As I’m lightly jogging up the steps to the watch tower we had constructed for Michael, he opens the door and waves for me to come in.

“Now, I’ve got good news, and bad news.” Michael says as he grabs a box from his desk.

I look around the room and see our scouting group and a new person. An elderly woman, she looks like she has been through absolute hell.

“Good news first, our team found a whole truck full of these and other types of food completely untouched.” Michael hands me a box of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

“That’s….that’s incredible! Run these over to the pantry and have Joan take inventory.” I say. The group leaves, all but Vincent.

“Sarah, this is Roberta. She has been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours. She is going to be staying with us now but she has something to tell you. It’s important.” Vincent says.

“Hi, Roberta, my name is Sarah, though you probably guessed that.” I chuckle. “What can I do for you?”

“He said your name.” Roberta whispers.

“What? Who?” I ask, longing for an answer, though I feel I already know.

“The man that killed my friends. He said your name. That he was looking for you.” She turns her head and looks me in my eyes. “The bitch with one hand and the balls of a mule.” That’s what he said while he was killing my friends.” Roberta sheds a tear.

I look over at Michael.

“Victor.” I say.

Michael nods and folds his arms.

“He’s close and he’s still looking for you. So we need to pull back on the runs and package this place up a little tighter until we know he’s not going to find us.”

“Vincent, would you mind taking Roberta to get something to eat and get washed up? Thank you.” I give Vincent a smile and Roberta a pat on the shoulder as she walks by. “I don’t know if I’m the same person I was when we saw him last year. I haven’t even been on a run in seven months. My priorities are different now, Michael.”

“Your priorities are different? Sarah, your priorities are to keep breathing every day that you can, to keep taking care of every one of us here that is only here because of you. You didn’t choose to be our leader but you are, and there’s a guy out there that’s scarier than the actual monsters we face everyday that is still looking for you. This guy killed my daughter in cold blood right in front of me and took our home.” A tear rolls down Michael’s cheek.

“I know, Michael, I know. I want him dead as much as you do, but I am terrified to lose what we’ve found here.”

“Fine. You don’t want to deal with the problem at hand? Go back to your fence patrol. I’ll let you know if Victor is at the goddamn front gate.” Michael turns his back to me.

“Michael-“

“We’re fine, just go.”

I slip out of Michael’s office just in time for the door to slam in my face. I walk down the stairs holding my box of candy and can’t help but feel guilty. Victor is a huge problem, but I can’t start a war that I’m not sure we can finish. What if he takes this place out with a tank too? We’ve built so much here. I’m passing people as I’m walking home and waving as if the world isn’t a giant shit show right now for god’s sake. I make it to my home which is a classroom that I’m pretty sure used to be a music room and see Antonio sitting on my bed.

“Well, hello my pretty lady.” He says as he pats the spot next to him.

I smile and set the box of candy down on a table and sit next to him.

“I need to tell you something” I say.

“I also, have something to tell you.”

“You first.” I say.

“Well, that lurker that was in the pit. It was different from the rest. Its eyes were almost more, human. It seemed like it was aware of what was happening to it and that I was alive and it was, something else.”

“You think-“

“I think they’re evolving, or at least adapting to the hunt.” Antonio says.

“Oh, Jesus. Okay, one problem at a time. Victor is back.” I grab Antonio’s hand. “He’s back and he’s looking for me. Which means we only have a limited time before he eventually finds us. I’m utterly terrified to lose what we have gained here. I mean, you and I too. I can’t start a war, I don’t want to start a war.”

“Hey, we will always have each other, even if this place falls, which it won’t, but if it does, we will still have each other. I promise.”

I lay down on the bed, still holding Antonio’s hand. I close my eyes and drift off.

“Sarah! Hey! Wake up.” Antonio is shaking me.

“What’s going on?” I jump up.

“Nobody can find Michael. He took a rifle and a car but didn’t check them out. He’s just gone.”

“What? Where would he go? Why would-“

Then it occurred to me, Michael went to do the one thing I wasn’t ready to do just hours ago. He went to confront Victor.

“We need to get a search party up and moving. We need to bring Michael home before he does something stupid. I need my gun and a car. I’ll take Vincent and Abigail with me.”

“Sarah, where do you think he went?” Antonio asks.

“Victor.”