Virulence Immune

~ Chapter Seven ~

A cure? Could that even be possible? Perri thought to herself.

The sun had started to rise, and the group was gathering their belongings. They would head out soon.

Carter had explained the situation that he was in and that they'd waited long enough for their lost scouts to return. It was time to move on.

When Gavin had woken up from his nap, Perri relayed the information to him.

Doctor Ian Holloway.

He could put an end to this way of life. No more hiding. No more suffering. No more infection. They would finally be safe and could start to rebuild their lives.

But, first, Holloway had to get back to his outpost. To his laboratory.

After the survivors had found him, they were all instantly on board to get him there. And now, so were Perri and Gavin.

It was just the hope they all needed to keep on surviving. To know that there'd be an end.

Having searched the city on multiple occasions, Holloway knew the best way through the city. He also knew which buildings were infested. The nests.

It would certainly be Perri's most preferable chance to navigate the city safely. She'd even asked if they could detour by the apartment building she needed to search.

Holloway said it would be risky, but they could take a short cut through the subway tunnels. Though, he'd never actually ventured down there himself. He saw no reason that the infected would nest there.

The apartment building, she wanted to reach, was halfway between the building they were in the middle of departing, and the outpost on the other side of the city. Max had suggested that, if they were to clear it out, it might make a good place to make camp if it got late by the time they arrived.

~~~

Shuffling out the front door, the group stayed as silent as possible.

Until, Skeet, the boy with the sapphire eyes refused to leave without his father.

"Come on kid. We gotta go." A man growled as he tugged on the boy's arm.

Most of the group hurried away from the commotion, following Carter who led them toward the city.

Perri touched Gavin's arm. "You go ahead."

"What?"

But, she was already headed over to the man and boy.

The man was getting aggressive. Trying to yank Skeet by his wrist.

"Hey." Perri spat sharply trying to keep her voice low.

The man frowned at her. His wide eyes told her to mind her own business.

She would not.

"Leave him alone." She said through gritted teeth.

He opened his mouth to curse at her, but a glance over her shoulder at Gavin—who now stood behind her—was enough to shut him up.

Skeet shrugged off the man's grip and stepped away.

"Fine." The man seethed and shoved past to catch up to the others.

Perri's face softened when she met Skeet's gaze. "You okay?" She asked him.

"I'm not leaving without my dad." Was his response.

Perri looked over at the group quietly trekking toward the city. She needed to hurry.

She crouched by Skeet so that she was looking up at his face. "I know you want to wait for your dad. I understand. I really do. But, it's not safe to stay here by yourself."

Tears began to well up in his eyes. "He's alive. What if I'm not here when he gets back?"

"We can leave him a note." Perri's eyes lit up; an idea. "I'll leave my map here for him. I can make sure he knows where we're going and that you're safe with me. How's that sound?"

Skeet wiped his nose on his sleeve and nodded.

She removed her knapsack to find the map and her red Sharpie.

"Perri?" Gavin was fidgeting. The group was getting further and further away.

"Hold on a sec." She replied as she marked the map and scribbled down a few notes.

Skeet stood close, watching her write.

"What's your dad's name?" Perri asked him.

"Norman."

"Okay." Then, she offered Skeet the permanent marker and the map. "Do you want to write something? Just so your dad knows it's from you."

He took the map and pen to write a note to his father before handing it back to Perri.

She moved to wedge the map between the door of the building, where Norman would—hopefully—see it sticking out of the doorframe.

"Perri!" Gavin warned.

"All right. Come on, lets go." She extended a hand to Skeet and he took it without hesitation.

~~~

The three of them caught up to the group and fell into position at the rear of the queue.

It was deathly quiet as they entered the city.

No infected had been sighted yet.

Yet.

They still had to navigate the roads to reach the nearest subway entry. And that was several blocks away.

Holloway now led the group, and everyone copied his movements. When he stayed low, so did they. When he ran across an alleyway, one after the other, they did too.

The streets were still littered with abandoned vehicles and trash.

Many of the corpses were nothing more than bones, dust and rags now.

Without people to take care of the city, it had been invaded by plant life. Grass had grown through the cracks in the pavement, as well as the road, and now stood several feet tall. Ivy had crept up the buildings—inside and out.

Dirt and dust encompassed most surfaces but failed to hide many of the brown bloodstains that decorated nearly everything.

The group came to a stop behind some vehicles.

"What is it, what's going on?" Someone whispered.

Perri risked a peek over the hood of a car and inhaled sharply. She quickly ducked back down.

The others all muttered amongst themselves and were shushed by Carter.

"What did you see?" Gavin asked her.

She turned to Holloway. "Is that the way we need to go?"

He nodded grimly.

Perri looked back to Gavin and Skeet. "There are at least twenty infected over there."

"Oh, shit."

'Oh shit' was right.

The sun was getting higher and soon more infected would come into the streets in search of prey.

They had to get to the subway tunnels. And they had to get there now.