Another shot screamed through the air, rending earth and flesh and atmosphere as it came apart. The shell came entirely too close to the young soldier prone upon the broken dirt, and the intense young woman kneeling over him. Neither of them noticed, though; the soldier because of the pain from the shrapnel peppering his body in a macabre mockery of a dinner roast, and she because at that moment that wounded young man was the entirety of her scope of focus.
Cursing fiercely under breath, the woman grabbed for the large pack dumped unceremoniously on the ground beside her and began ripping through it, discarding harshly what she did not need; and yet, for all the violence of her movements, she did not throw the supplies away. Finding what she sought, the woman tore the items from the leather and canvas satchel and whirled back to the bleeding soldier, setting her long black curls to swirling about her like a midnight nimbus.
“You…sh…sh…should g…go,” the young man gasped out, looking up at her through one dazed eye. The other was sealed shut with a mix of dirt and congealing blood that trickled down from a gash across his forehead.
“Shut up,” the woman replied with a bite to her tone. Her hands moved feverishly, slapping bandages over his torso and abdomen, applying pressure and gauze where needed.
“’El…” the young man began. A spasm of pain stopped his words, choking them off into pained coughing that sounded far too wet for her peace of mind.
“I told you,” she said waspishly, “to shut the fuck up. Now don’t open your mouth again; I’ve only put a temp on you until I can get you back to camp.”
“’Elie…”
“Shut. The fuck. Up.” The words were growled at him, followed by a sharp glare from eyes the same angry gray as thunderclouds streaked by the blue of lightning flashes. “Sergeant,” she added as an afterthought. “I am not leaving you here. Now hold on.” And with that, she levered him into an upright position – gently, though, oh so gently! – and lifted him to a position where she could easily hold him against her as she stood. The pack had already been placed on her back during their brief (and largely one-sided) ‘argument’, and she let out a deep breath before moving as fast as she could with her cargo across the shattered and broken field.
“’Elie,” the soldier in her arms moaned. Because of the extent of his wounds, there was no way to hold him without touching some kind of wound, no matter how careful that touch was. Most likely, though, he was about to try to be ‘noble’ again and tell her to leave him here.
She snorted. To hell with that idea, and to hell with nobility while she was at it!
“Don’t even start, Robert,” she snarled, navigating around a particularly nasty crater, her heart pounding from adrenaline, fatigue, and a hyper-aware survival instinct. After all, she was functioning for two, now. And apparently the blonde soldier carried across her shoulders took the hint, because he remained silent. Or he was unconscious.
Either way worked for her, really. At least he was still and quiet, and that made navigating the screaming, throbbing madness of the battlefield easier. She knew Robert was still alive; the sergeant’s heart was thumping in a reassuringly solid way against her own, the two falling into close beats.
“Don’t even think about dying on me, Robby Boy,” the raven-haired medic panted, even though the person she was talking to probably couldn’t hear her.
Or maybe he could.
“Doctor’s…orders, huh?” came the weak rejoinder with a pathetic attempt at a chuckle and verbal leer. It failed quite miserably, but she smiled anyways.
“Damn straight,” she replied, in a gasp that even so communicated her grin. Avoiding both hostile fire and stray friendly bullets and climbing over broken terrain and other bodies with her medpack and Robert was proving to be a serious workout even with her training and practice regimen.
Maybe I should suggest it to the Training Master, she thought with a wry mental laugh, thinking absently how much the trainees in boot camp would hate her – or the training Master, really. Anyways, it seemed she’d have to step it up a level. But first she had to survive getting Robert back to camp for treatment. Thank God she’d just caught sight of the first markers. Only one more mile to go…
“’Elie, wake up.”
The voice penetrated the numbing fog around her mind, and disregarding the years since her service and the hampering injuries she’d received in that time, Aurelie Derinou snapped awake, completely and instantly ready to deal with anything – enemies, allies, her twin…
“What’s wrong, Kendra?”
The young woman crouching over Aurelie with a concerned expression marring the beauty of her face was one of the few remaining people alive in the world who could inspire that question involuntarily, as well as the genuine hinting of care behind the words. Not only that, but she was also the only person in the world who would not find herself pinned to the ground with a matte black combat knife at her throat for being so close to Aurelie when she woke. Kendra was the only person in existence who could ‘control’ Aurelie with a single word or look.
Then again, Kendra Derinou was the good twin.
Kendra reached out towards her twin’s face, now that she knew the other woman was fully conscious and it was safe to touch her. “You were talking in your sleep,” she whispered, some part of her heart squeezing and breaking all over again as she felt the roughly smooth texture of the scars on Aurelie’s face. Once, it had been nearly impossible to tell the two of them apart. Now even a half-blind person could tell without hesitation. “And shifting. You…you were making faces, too. And cursing.”
Aurelie sighed, and released her grip on the knife holster she kept on her thigh (among other places) on the outside of her pants. Even so, she still did not relax her guard completely. In the hell-pit the world had become, Aurelie knew she wouldn’t last long if she didn’t keep a constant ear tuned for potential trouble. She sat up then, grimacing as other old scars pulled and protested the movement, and moved her loose black curls out of her face from where they’d escaped to during the night. The loose strands made her look unusually feminine and fragile, but only for a moment.
“I think it was a dream, ‘Elie,” Kendra said, almost hesitantly. She knew Aurelie had no memory of much of anything. That was part of why she had been discharged from the Army, after all. Honorably, of course; in fact, with a great deal of honors! And while she had more than earned those honors and the discharge, it was a bittersweet thing.
“A dream?” Aurelie blinked, raising one hand to the side of her head. She stopped halfway through the motion, her fingers curling almost sorrowfully, regretfully. “I don’t remember,” she said in a carefully neutral voice tone that broke Kendra’s heart all over again.
“Oh. Well, it seemed like a pretty…well, intense one,” Kendra finished lamely. Aurelie regarded her twin through the gray darkness of near-dawn within the small cave they’d sheltered in, her stormy eyes uncommonly emotional. For her, at any rate.
“It’s alright, Kendra,” the ex-field medic said softly, taking her twin’s hand and holding it. Aurelie knew, in that odd, unexplainable way twins had, that Kendra somehow felt guilty for Aurelie’s memory loss and her seeming inability to recover much more than basics of her life. She didn’t say anything else, but then, she didn’t have to. Kendra knew exactly what Aurelie meant, even if Aurelie herself didn’t know how to clearly express it.
The moment was broken shortly by the sudden intrusion of rumbling from Kendra’s stomach. Kendra flushed, her freckles disappearing in the rising tide of red, and dropped Aurelie’s hand to clap her own over the noisy organ. The tips of Aurelie’s lips twitched in the smallest of smiles, softening her stormy eyes to an affectionate mix of light, dawning colors. But only for a moment. That was all the time she needed to rise to her feet, her dark curls tumbling about her shoulders and hips and, in the early pre-dawn light, giving her the appearance of some epic heroine. Not in beauty (though one could call her attractive), but in the alert way she held herself, and the rolling, ready fluidity of her movement, even with her crippled hip and leg and the slight canting of her body to the left that those injuries caused. Then the moment passed, and she was merely mortal again.
Aurelie took the few necessary steps to reach her pack and then crouched down, her left leg slightly extended as the hip joint protested, courtesy of a blow to her hip towards the end of her tour that had fractured the joint and never healed properly. Along with her amnesia and other wounds, it had been a large contributor to her discharge from the Armed Services. She flipped open the plasti-leather flap and began to reach for the rations stored within.
And even that moment was broken by the faint sound of gunshot, carried to them on the light morning wind.
“Fuck!”
Gunfire, shots, screaming, shattering, tearing things apart! Fire, flames, plumes of dirt and mud and earth and blood and people. Shells shrieking through the air, near subsonic ripples of the before and after explosion rocking through her brain, the ground unstable beneath her feet. Pain, death, blood, wounded. Soldiers. Faces, blurring, blurring, blending into one, into none, into shadows.
Instantly, Kendra found herself shoved unceremoniously into the small cave they’d found the previous night (if one could really call that rocky hole a ‘cave’), Aurelie at its opening, knife ready and eyes focused with deadly intent. The brief spurt of gunfire had long since passed into memory, or so it seemed to the two women.
They waited there for what seemed an indeterminable amount of time. Neither of them voiced any complaint, however. With the way the world had turned out after the War and the subsequent release of the Pandemic, no one still surviving ever complained about waiting to make sure the coast was clear.
Kendra shuddered inside the stone protection of her ‘cave’ as she thought on the Pandemic. An unknown biological agent, it had been unleashed towards the end of the Final War, a decade long struggle between countries started for God knows what reason. But the Pandemic ended it, and definitively. There simply weren’t enough people to fight with each other when that disease came sweeping around like a scythe through the harvest. There were no warning signs to its appearance in your home; by the time you knew it was there it was already too late. It was an efficient killer, though by no means an invisible or solitary one.
But then Kendra was jolted out of her thoughts as Aurelie made an exasperated noise deep in the back of her throat before shoving the combat knife back into its thigh sheath and straightening from her protective stance in front of the cave opening.
“Robert!” Aurelie’s voice rang out through the cold dawn air, clearly carrying the angry vibrations to the ears of who ever she was speaking to. “You fucking idiot! Leave a goddamn note when you go out so I don’t fucking try and kill you!”
Inside the small cave, Kendra winced at the blatant evidence of her twin’s irritation. Aurelie only really swore when upset in some manner; the rest of the time she was rather well spoken. Then Kendra perked up and crawled toward the entrance, shifting a bit behind the blockaded opening, trying to peer around her twin’s body to catch sight of the young man currently on the receiving end of Aurelie’s notorious temper. The man in question was coming up the side of the small outcropping, a wide grin on his face and a hand sheepishly scratching at the back of his blonde head. Aurelie moved out of the way then, letting Kendra crawl out of the cave completely. Robert’s grin grew when he saw her, and he winked one cornflower blue eye before focusing his attention back on the irritated ex-medic beside Kendra.
“Aww, Aurelie, if I knew you cared that much I’d have done it sooner!” Robert quipped, those same cornflower orbs sparkling up at the woman. Aurelie crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at him.
Wet, hot, sticky blood…everywhere. …A dream?
“Robert,” she began, “what the fucking hell am I supposed to do if you go and get your sorry ass killed because you went off hunting alone and didn’t leave a goddamned note!” Roiling silver eyes stared into deep blue ones. “What the hell am I supposed to do then? Huh?”
Robert had the grace to look sheepish in the face of the woman’s anger. He knew how very dear he and Kendra were to Aurelie. He had been a little shocked to find out that he was even thought of in the same breath as Aurelie’s twin sister, but it left his heart feeling so very warm and full when he did think of it. So he understood very well where this sudden burst of irritation was coming from.
Aurelie cared. So very, very much, though she would swear up and down that she didn’t, vehemently deny any kind of suggestion that she might actually have a heart and be capable of functioning as a normal human being instead of only as a stone-cold fighter. Both Kendra and Robert wished she wouldn’t think like that, that she would see herself through their eyes instead of the dark lenses the world had given her. But even that darkness was a part of her, and they loved her all the more for it.
So it was a much more subdued Robert that clambered over the crest, eyes shadowed. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely, slipping his gun back into its holster. “I… just… I’m sorry.” He was close enough to the women that when he reached out his hand to Aurelie, he was able to lay it on her upper right arm, a mix of several emotions carried with that simple movement. Aurelie tolerated the contact for several moments before dragging her gaze away from Robert’s and shrugging his hand off uncomfortably, as one might to a blanket they wanted very much to just wrap themselves in, but couldn’t.
“Just don’t forget next time, dammit,” she muttered, turning from him. A vaguely embarrassed expression crossed over her face, as if she were a schoolgirl being flirted with for the first time. But the expression was quickly masked by her usual one, though if Robert looked close enough, he could still see the remnants of it in the very backs of her eyes. Kendra smiled softly at her sister’s back, though the expression was tinged with sorrow. Oh, how Kendra wished she could turn back time and change the place where that final blow landed! If Aurelie’s captors had only hit a different place…but then, that different place might have killed her. That’s what the original blow was meant to do in the first place. And it did succeed, after a fashion – it killed the woman Aurelie had once been, but gave birth to this new one. Kendra shoved those thoughts aside in favor of doing what a civilian like her could do, and started towards Robert to check him for injury, but Robert laughed and waved away her concern, ruffling her hair affectionately.
“Ah, I’m okay, K.D. No worries!” He flashed her a bright, happy grin as if he were twelve years old and showing off a brand new toy. Kendra smiled right back, though hers was out of relief. She always worried about her two companions. She’d worried about them when they were in the Army, during the War. She’d worried when they’d come home, Robert with old wounds still healing and Aurelie fighting the pallor of death. She’d worried as they’d healed, when it became painfully obvious that Aurelie had lost more than just blood and bone and flesh, and had worried when the world went to hell in a hand basket. She worried even more now, because she felt so very useless next to Robert and Aurelie with only her paltry civilian medical skills to offer.
“Alright, Robert. What the hell caught your attention this morning?” Aurelie said, derailing Kendra’s train of thought. Aurelie was many things now – lame, crippled, cold and vicious, but what she was not was stupid or blind. She knew that look on Kendra’s face, the way she nibbled on her lower lip and her eyes darkened. While Aurelie might be good only for war and bloodshed now, a necessary evil to return the world to a safer place for angels like her older twin, she knew – and puzzled over – the fact that Kendra somehow managed to find some way to belittle herself and her contribution to their small group.
That, and she really did want to know just what the hell had distracted Robert from his normal morning watch.
“Oh, that,” Robert said, with another grin and a sheepish scratch to the back of his head. “Ah! Oh shit!” he yelped, dropping the hand and scampering back in the direction of where he’d returned from earlier. “You can come out now, it’s safe!” he called to…someone, apparently. Whoever – or whatever – had pulled him away.
Aurelie gave him a flat look, and her voice as she spoke was deceptively – almost frighteningly – calm.
“There’s someone out there – someone healthy – and you forgot about them?”
“Eh heh…” Robert laughed sheepishly.
“Fucking idiot,” Aurelie muttered, glaring at the blonde. “How the hell you survived boot camp is some kind of damn miracle.” Robert only grinned back at her.
“Sorry, sorry,” he said. “But I got distracted by you.” He winked one deep blue orb at Aurelie who returned the flirtatious gesture with a deadpan but slightly flushed expression and undisguised glare. Once again, Robert just laughed it off.
“E-excuse me?” came a small, trembling voice. All three travelers turned to face the speaker, each with a differing expression. Kendra with polite curiosity, Aurelie with indifferent but blatant suspicion, and Robert with a large inviting grin. “I…I…” The speaker, a young man (quite young by the looks of him – he barely had an Adam’s apple) stammered, twisting his hands before him.
He was nervous, that was obvious. Kept twisting his hands and licking his lips, beady little rat eyes flicking to every possible exit, but there were none. Not for him. Not for her. Not for them.
Aurelie blinked. A memory? Triggered by the simple motion of hand wringing. She wasn’t sure she liked that. And the boy’s stammering was starting to get on her nerves.
“What? Get on with it already, dammit!” Aurelie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, giving the boy a heavy stare. He jumped at the barking sound of her voice, flinched, and then wrung his hands even harder as he stumbled over his next words.
“I-I-I heard y-y-you could help us!”
***
The boy led the three down a largely deserted street toward the small, wooded mountain town of Angel’s Camp, Kendra at his side chattering casually and easily with him, trying to draw more information about the town and the problem, and really, about the boy himself. When he’d blurted out that there was a small group of Infected near his home in response to Aurelie’s query on exactly what kind of help he needed, there had been mixed reactions. He already knew the three were Hunters of a sort – after all, Robert had met the boy by shooting one down, and the boy hoped they would be able to get rid of the few nearby. Robert and Aurelie had been all for it, or rather, Robert had been all for it. Aurelie hadn’t really cared one way or the other as long as Kendra was kept safe.
Surprisingly enough, it had been Kendra who voiced the only objections to the idea, though she quickly countered herself and now seemed perfectly fine with the situation. Aurelie kept one eye trained on her though. Just to be safe. The boy might profess gratitude for their help, but it wouldn’t be long before the now natural distrust of Hunters returned to his mind. In fact, Aurelie could already see tiny hints of it, though only around her or Robert. Mostly her. But then, she was used to such reactions, and they never fazed her.
“So your council thinks there are three Infected near Angel’s Camp?” Kendra’s voice cut gently through Aurelie’s dark musings, and since it was worthwhile information, the woman listened in.
The boy nodded enthusiastically, his hair flying with every movement. “Th-that’s what they th-th-think,” he said, gulping. “It…it’s scary.” His voice dropped to a whisper, revealing just how very young he still was in a world that no longer allowed for youth. A long-buried part of Aurelie – a part forgotten – stirred.
“Mama! Mama, where are you?” A cry, sobbing, high but sweet, yet tinged with the bitter, coppery tang of near hysterical fear, rising above the white, static noise of battle. “Mama!”
Aurelie shook her head violently. The flashes came often today, but she didn’t remember any of them. They all looked familiar, felt familiar…and once again, her thoughts were interrupted by voices.
“Ben!”
“Ma!” The boy – Ben – gave Kendra a glance then scampered forward to be engulfed in his mother’s ample embrace. “I-I-It’s okay, Ma, I f-found Hunters!” he stammered out to her after pushing back from her arms. “They s-said they’d h-help us!”
The reaction was the same as it always was. Hope and gratitude and awe mixed with complete and abject fear and distrust. Eventually the fear always won, no matter how grateful the people were to the Hunter. The crowd had drawn closer in the last few moments, and similar expressions crossed their faces. Some had even gasped and quickly covered their mouths; a slight flush of embarrassment coloring their cheeks while others shrank back an instinctive step.
“You’ll really clean them up?” asked a member of the crowd, probably voicing the thoughts of the entire community. Aurelie snorted and crossed her arms over her chest once more.
“Why the hell else would we have traveled all the way over here?” There was almost a biting edge to her question. Robert snickered into his palm, attempting to disguise the amusement as a cough. Kendra shot them both a semi-horrified look.
“Aurelie!” she hissed before turning to face the crowd once more. “Yes, we’re here to quarantine the area.”
“I’m here to quarantine the place. You and the idiot are going to stay here,” Aurelie said, her hard tone daring Kendra to argue. Either Kendra was much feistier this time than usual, or she missed the warning signs because she opened her mouth to do just that. Aurelie cut her off before she could even finish inhaling.
“It’s only three of the damn things, Kendra. Don’t give me any guff about it; I’m quarantining them. You and Robert are going to resupply and rest. Got it?” That flinty gaze was hardly ever leveled at Kendra, and that very fact helped shock her into silence, which was exactly what Aurelie had been angling for. Robert, damn him, had caught on immediately to her thought, and flashed her a grin before laying a hand on Kendra’s shoulder.
“C’mon, K.D.,” he said, tugging gently. “It’s not like the place needs to be completely disinfected. We’ll let Aurelie have her party, and we can pick up some pretty things for her to wear, okay?”
“Like hell you will!” The glare coming from those thunderous orbs could have set a lesser man on fire. Kendra only giggled as Robert sent Aurelie back a grin as wide and innocent as one would presume a saint’s to be. But it relaxed Kendra enough to nod her assent to her twin, and she caught the quick flash of relief that crossed the other woman’s face, followed by an even briefer glimpse of affection. Kendra’s smile grew then, and though she still worried (she always would), she would be okay letting her sister go off alone.
“Be careful,” Kendra whispered, her own affection softening her features. Aurelie gave her a quick, cocksure smirk before turning toward the people of Angel’s camp.
“Direction?” she demanded without preamble. After extracting the general location of the Infected, as well as several more thoughts on how many there were, she set out. Her loose curls swung against the dark fabric of her doctor’s coat, skirting about the rifle slung across her back like a curtain, revealing careful flashes of the weapon. And then she was gone, out of sight, passed behind a copse of trees. Kendra turned back to Robert, looking up at the blonde man who was gazing after her sister in a way she knew so very well. After all, she felt a similar emotion whenever she thought of Aurelie as well. Kendra sent a silent prayer to God that the woman she and Robert loved would return safely to them both, then squared her shoulders and faced the townspeople once more.
***
It had only taken an hour or so for Aurelie to find the small group of Infected that had so worried the people of Angel’s Camp. They weren’t all that far away, but the heavy foresting and steep hillsides of their chosen area compensated for that.
Aurelie peered down through the small pair of field binoculars she kept in one of her spare pouches. There they were, all right; the signs of an Infected’s den were unmistakable. Of course, it helped that they were all out in the open, with one particularly down a good sight line. She gave the area one last slow, sweeping check, this time scanning the area for possible signs of any more. With the Infected, you never really knew what they were thinking, or how many there were in a place. And when a Hunter disinfects, they take as many precautions as they can to keep their chances of contracting the Pandemic as low as possible. And that meant knowing exactly how many Infected were being taken care of.
One, two, three…looks like there might be a fourth, or more, Aurelie thought to herself as she folded the binocs closed and slipped them back into an inside pocket of her old doctor’s coat. Looks like the people back at Angel’s Camp need to learn how to count – or not to fucking lie.
They were all well into the end of the third stage at the very least, seeing as there was the tell-tale tint of blue on their fingers. Aurelie had made sure to check them carefully for the signs, because these days any kind of traveler was regarded as probable Infected just on principle. And as little as she usually cared, the last thing she wanted to do was kill innocent people. She wasn’t that heartless. But if there were blue fingers, suspicious bruises and a mad gleam to their eyes, Aurelie would have no problem ending them.
And every single person (if you could call them people anymore) down there had blue-tinted fingers and dark, spotty bruises. Besides, most people who contracted the Pandemic didn’t steal away until they’d already entered the fourth stage, and then only if they survived the first few weeks of that.
As Aurelie watched her ‘patients’ (there was a kind of morbid humor in using medical terminology in these kinds of situations), she began plotting a strategy. She never just walked down among the enemy, guns blazing. That was the fastest way to get a third eye and a dirt nap, and that was the last thing Aurelie needed. Besides, she needed to finish this quickly and get back to Kendra and Robert. She wasn’t comfortable leaving them alone for very long, though she had said she’d do this herself. Kendra had needed the rest, and they had needed the supplies. And someone had to watch Kendra, and Robert was the only person (other than herself) that she trusted to do that job, and do it well.
Bringing that wandering part of her mind back under control and into the situation, Aurelie was looking back over her strategy when one of the Infected below moved in some small, insignificant way. But the effect of that movement was anything but insignificant.
She was going to die. One part of her was sad about that, about the fact that her life was about to end and no one she loved was nearby. Another part of her was angry, pissed as hell at these people who saw her as nothing more than a specimen in a lab, as some kind of over-large Petri dish that could be easily exchanged for another. And another part, pushed back and held under iron control, was terrified. That part of her screamed and thrashed and wept, wanting to beg for these mad scientists to leave her alone, to let her go, leave her with her life.
But she had too much pride to ever give in to that. So she fueled the fear into more anger, building that fire hotter until it was all that raged within her and warmed her. They wanted to kill her by using her as Patient Zero? Fine. She’d haunt their asses until they couldn’t fucking think anymore, because every thought would be of her.
And even as she made herself this promise, that same small voice that had been gibbering in terror before now whispered in a heart-broken sound. So she modified that promise – she’d haunt these fucking scientists to their graves, but she’d let Kendra and Robert know she still loved them, was still with them.
It was the thought of those two that was going to get her through this if she had any intention of surviving. And as fun as haunting these bastards sounded, she’d much rather just be with her lover, her troop, her family…and her twin. Damn straight she was going to live through this.
Aurelie grabbed at her head, eyes wide and lips parted. Thank God she hadn’t been holding anything in her hands at that moment, as she probably would have given herself a nice shiner right then, if not possibly knocked herself out. It was an undignified prospect for one such as she, but right now she had more important things on her mind.
She remembered. It wasn’t much, and yet it was. She knew that memory, knew it was hers, that she had lived that. It wasn’t a pleasant memory – there was still a bitter taste in her mouth from the fear and the anger – but it was hers. No one had had to tell it to her, no flash had revealed it to her only to leave her unsatisfied with the vague, unsettling feeling of déjà vu. She’d just known.
And directly on the heels of this revelation came a burning desire to just rip apart the things down there. This particular desire, Aurelie was unsure of its origin. And yet, she couldn’t seem to pull it back like she did everything else. It was almost as if the Infected down there, the Pandemic, meant something to her personally. Something terrible – and she wanted revenge for it. The only thing that kept her from going down there and just ripping into them with her knives and one of her revolvers was the thought that she had survived, and that Kendra and Robert were expecting her to come back.
Maybe that hadn’t been the best thought at the moment, because it rekindled to anger. Whatever she’d just remembered had almost taken her away from those two, and somehow, the Pandemic and the Infected were connected to it.
Aurelie stood then, drawing the rifle she’d been issued upon her entry to the Army, and took careful aim. One squeeze of the trigger, and one of the heads below exploded into a rain of bone, brain, and blood. And all the rest now knew there was a guest for supper. Lucky thing Aurelie had brought enough lead and steel for all, because as it turned out, there had been more than three.
Aurelie had stopped using her rifle as a firearm after going through the first magazine. She’d taken her time shooting them, planting three- and five-round bursts in the first six. By then the Infected had figured out where she was shooting them from, and had gotten close enough for that strange, vengeful feeling to rise again – and Aurelie gave into it. Changing her grip on the rifle to hold it like it was a club, she swung it through the last three Infected like she were holding a golf club and they were over-large, moving balls. For crazy, dying people, they sure bled a lot. But then, Aurelie was used to blood.
“Bitch! You can’t stop the cleansing!” One of them gurgled even as the madness and life bled from another’s eyes.
One of the Infected had gotten around behind her, grabbing at the loose end of Aurelie’s ponytail and pulling. Aurelie grunted, smacking the one before her across the face with the butt of her rifle, using it something like a paddle. There was a wet, almost meaty noise like that of a watermelon hitting the ground and her rifle butt came away dark, wetly glistening in a disturbing way, but she was more focused on the one holding her hair.
“Can’t stop it, can’t stop it…All fall, all join or all be cleansed!” The thing’s breath was foul, sickly-sweet like the scent rotting meat and flowers. Even as Aurelie’s stomach roiled at the stench, it seized with the feeling that lead was sitting in it.
Kendra. Aurelie’s eyes widened once more, an unfamiliar feeling grasping at her heart, making her feel short of breath – terror. Kendra was in trouble, Aurelie knew it. She didn’t have time to waste here anymore – Kendra needed her!
Growling, with the extra strength born of desperation she jabbed backwards with the muzzle of the rifle into the thing’s stomach. It worked to loosen his hold upon her hair, giving her enough slack to yank the locks free. She pivoted in place, bringing her right leg up, knee crossed back to her left hip before snapping the kick out, planting a heavy combat boot in his face and pulping his lips into a bloody mess, breaking his nose. Really, she smashed the thing, splintering the nasal bone, though at the same time the very angle of her side kick also shoved those bone splinters up into his brain, killing him almost instantly.
Aurelie didn’t bother to stay around any longer then – she’d done what had been asked to do, and the Pandemic wasn’t able to cross the species barrier, so it was safe to leave the bodies for carrion. Besides, she didn’t have time to waste. Pausing only long enough to pick up her spent casings and deposit them in a pocket, Aurelie set out at a run back through the trees toward Angel’s Camp.
What she saw when she got there both frightened and infuriated her. Two men unconscious on the ground, clearly the losers in whatever had started this altercation. Robert, struggling with one of the townspeople for control of a shovel that was obviously intended to harm both him and Kendra. And while her heart seized for some odd reason when she saw that, Aurelie knew Robert could take care of himself. What truly angered her was the sight of Kendra sprawled on the ground, a man standing over her, one meaty fist raised to strike. Aurelie was having none of that. Eyes hardening and darkening to the angry black of a thundercloud, she strode forward, hands tightening on her rifle.
CRACK!
Kendra’s eyes popped open at the sharp noise, and stared up at the man who still had his fist raised over her. But it looked like there was something sticking out behind his head…her eyes widened as she recognized the familiar shape of that rifle muzzle, and a large grin began to form.
“Aurelie!” cried Kendra, that wide smile spreading across her face. She scrambled to her feet, uncaring as the man toppled over, wide eyes lifeless and blank. Aurelie stood over them, the rifle she’d just used to butt-stroke the man cradled across her body in both hands, eyes flint chips as she stared down at the dead man who had dared to raise his hand against Kendra. He would never do so again. Those same flint chips softened when they flickered over Kendra, fluttering closed in a brief sign of relief before opening once more.
“Aurelie?” Robert whispered, his voice small and tremulous. He paused, still holding the shovel haft away from his body as his head whipped around to stare in the same direction as Kendra. “Aurelie?” he whispered again, the darkness and anger beginning to drain from his eyes to be replaced by joy and love as he saw the woman standing there. The poor man attacking him let the shovel haft slip from nerveless fingers; too busy staring at Aurelie in a mixture of awe and abject terror.
She stood there, tall and proud like some ancient war goddess, a cold expression carved onto her face as if fresh from stone. Bright splashes of crimson streaked her body, her face, her clothing like a macabre mockery of war paint, a silent, screaming testament to the power held within her frame. Flinty eyes never wavered in their focus as she surveyed the huddling mass of humanity about them, her top lip curling into the tiniest of sneers.
Everyone except for Kendra and Robert shrank back as Aurelie thrust out her hand. There was nothing there that looked remotely threatening – unless, of course, you counted the fact that she was more than irritated, held an Army-issue rifle in the other hand, and the one being held in mid-air was clenched into a fist. Another gasp and flinch ran through the small crowd as she slowly opened her fingers.
Clink. Cli-clink. Cli-cli-cling-clink. CLINK. TINKtinktinglnglnglnglngk…
The spent bullet casings tumbled end over glistening end to rattle against the paved street. They spun and rolled a bit as they came to rest, spreading away from Aurelie’s feet like morbid ripples on an asphalt pond.
“Aurelie?” Kendra asked, creeping closer and laying a hand on her sister’s shoulder, her eyes stormier than usual from the concern darkening the orbs. “You got all of them?”
“Yea,” Aurelie began, almost in a whisper, her storm-gray eyes focused only on the spinning bronze casings, her voice eerily level and calm, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.” She slowly raised her head and speared the gathered members of the town with a cold gaze, her voice never changing in pitch, tone, or inflection. “Because I am the meanest son of a bitch in the entire damned valley.”
There was no reply. But then, none was necessary. Aurelie kept her eyes trained on the crowd, still holding her rifle, fingertips twitching as if caressing it. No one in the crowd moved as Robert scooped up the large pack that held the supplies he’d bought with Kendra, and they stayed just as still even when Aurelie took her gaze from them to give Robert and Kendra a thorough scanning. So it was only those two that saw the bright relief in her eyes behind the dark storm of her anger, and neither of them would reveal her secret. Then the three began the long walk back down the mountain.
“I’ll always come for you. You know that?”
Robert and Kendra blinked at the very uncharacteristic question coming from Aurelie. But then Robert smiled.
“Of course, Aurelie. We trust you.”
Aurelie nodded at that, relieved, and silently promised once again to protect them.
END
