Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

A Walk in the Woods

AIDEN

After we leave the mine, we hike directly through the woods for a while. It’s turning into a beautiful day. Sun-dappled leaves create flickering shadows on the ground. Eventually, we meet up with a trail. Zach pauses for a moment, then turns left.

Boy, did I underestimate Zach. When I first met him, all I saw was this weird little guy, all disheveled with ridiculous hair, holed up in his bunker. Even though he’s got this odd exterior, Zach is growing on me. He’s a survivor, and he’s clever. When he asked to come along with me, I thought of him as a liability. I came all the way back to save him, but it turns out he ended up saving me.

But that proves my point. I ended up going back, and it almost killed me. All because I allowed myself to make this connection in the first place. It’s a weakness. He would have been fine without me.

He knows where a working car is, and that’s great. We’ll stick together until then. But once we’re on the road, I’ll search for another car and take the first opportunity to leave. He can make it back to Seattle on his own, and we’ll both be safer away from each other.

“So, where exactly is this car?” I peer at the sun through the trees to get my bearings.

“It’s in a junkyard. The owner is the only other survivor I know. Name’s Ezra. The only guy I’ve talked to in the last year. I used to trade him food for supplies from his junkyard.”

“You used to trade with him?”

Zach looks down at the ground. “Well, I haven’t really heard from him in a few months.”

That doesn’t sound good. It usually means only one thing. An untimely death. Often from a militia or Infected.

Zach continues. “Anyway, he told me if I ever decided to leave town, he’d let me have his car.”

Sounds too good to be true. But as long as we’re still going in the right direction, I’ll go along with it. “Okay, so how do we get there?”

“Just follow this trail north. It’s a three-day hike. I know of a campground we can stop at tonight.”

“Isn’t a campground a little dangerous?”

“This was a popular backpacking area. There’s a maze of trails around here and tons of different campsites. This one is hike-in only and miles off the road. Should be under the radar.”

It’s a little risky, but at least we’re headed in the right direction. Zach’s judgment has been good so far, so I won’t make waves. When we get there, I can always reassess. “Lead on.”

We continue in silence, but it’s clear from Zach’s face that he’s thinking hard about something. I’m sure he’s pissed at me for leaving. It gets worse the longer we go. It’s better to hit it head-on rather than let it fester.

“Zach, about this morning. When I left, I was trying to do you a favor. Those guys back there? They’re the ones after me. I was trying to protect you from them. If I had known for one second that they’d be coming for you, I would have done things differently.”

“Look, you really don’t owe me anything.” Zach averts his gaze. “I mean, we’ve only known each other for a few days. It was foolish to think you’d trust me that soon.”

“Zach, look at me.” I grab his shoulders and wait until he makes eye contact. “Running off without talking to you first was shitty of me. I’m sorry about that.”

Zach nods. “I was so ready to leave that town, and I saw my chance to get out. And I really need to get back to my family and my boyfriend.”

The odds that Zach finds anybody alive at home are slim to none. But I’m not about to break that to him now.

“Well, looks like you’re stuck with me for a while.” I smile.

“Yep. But now that we’re on the road together, we need to promise to have each other’s back. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Zach was right about what he said earlier though. I didn’t owe him anything, and hearing him say it only solidifies my plan. I won’t leave him in the lurch as I did last time. But I still have to break out alone as soon as possible. He’ll be safe from all the dangers following me, and I won’t have to be responsible for him.

As we continue down the path, he clearly has more on his mind. He starts and stops asking questions three times. I’m ready to ask him what’s up when he finally speaks. “So, since we are on the road together, I want to know more about what we’re up against.”

“Okay.” I’m a little worried about where this is going.

“Where are you from? Really. And who’s chasing us?”

Zach has a knack for jumping right to the point. No small talk. I can’t tell him anything that will risk my mission or expose too much about me. But I can keep things vague. Enough to satisfy him.

“I’m called a courier. There are only a few of us. We deliver things. Important things.”

“Deliver for who?”

“The group I told you about. Who I ended up with after the Great Collapse. They’re a group of scientists. There are a few other groups like us too. Scattered around the country and even the world. Sometimes things need to be delivered by hand. That’s where couriers come in.”

“That’s what’s really in those vials? Something important you need to deliver by hand?”

Zach’s too smart for his own good. No use in denying it. But I can’t tell him any more details, so I simply nod.

“And the tall blond guy we saw outside the bank. You know him, right?”

The mention of it sets me on edge. The guy who’s been chasing me is Connor Bishop. Somehow still alive. I haven’t had time to process that. Seeing him outside the bank was like seeing a ghost. I saw him fall hundreds of feet to his death. At least, that’s what I thought. Somehow, Connor survived the fall. And apparently, he’s working against the Collective. He’d hinted about this the night before he fell off the bridge. I even got the impression he was trying to convince me. To recruit me, even. But after his fall, I put it out of my mind. And now he’s back from the dead. After what transpired between us that night, I can’t imagine a worse turn of events.

I’m lost in the past when Zach gives me a little tap on the shoulder.

“Hey, Aiden, you in there?”

I come back, shaking my thoughts off. “Sorry. Just recalling some unpleasant memories. His name is Connor Bishop. He used to be a courier like me. I thought he was dead. I haven’t thought about it in forever. I haven’t wanted to. But now I need to remember each detail. Figure out what I missed.”

Zach nods and watches me, waiting. I have to tell him more. Maybe it will help.

“Connor and I were on a mission together about six months ago. I was excited to go because Connor was my friend and one of the best couriers I knew. I was eager to learn from him.”

I don’t tell Zach how upset Marcus was about me traveling alone with Connor. Marcus was the jealous type, and Connor had been more than a bit flirty on several occasions. Thinking of that dredges up memories I don’t want to revisit.

“Connor was driving, and I was navigating. We were taking the back roads, trying to avoid people. In the middle of nowhere, we came up to a long, narrow bridge spanning a deep ravine. When we were halfway across, a large truck came out of nowhere, blocking the end of the bridge. Another one pulled up behind us. An ambush.”

Zach’s eyes widen. “What did you do?”

I stop walking and close my eyes, trying to recall every detail of the chaos that unfolded. “Connor jumped out of the car and told me to follow behind him. He started running to the truck behind us as a bald guy jumped out. I tried to follow. But by then bullets were flying everywhere, and I froze up.”

As I reflect on the past events, I filter through the details I’m willing to tell Zach, wanting to avoid anything that would reveal too much about my mission. I’d reached into the glove compartment and grabbed the aluminum box we were transporting, but it popped open, and one of the vials fell out and smashed onto the pavement. Connor had kept the contents of the vial secret from me. But now it all made sense. It had to be XT58. Why else would they have paired up the two immune couriers to work together?

“What happened then?” Zach’s quiet voice helps to ground me.

“Connor ran to the bald guy, shooting at him. When they got face to face, they started punching and kicking. It was so damn vicious. Both of them fighting for their lives.

“I finally forced myself to move and started running to help him. Before I got there, Connor kicked the bald guy hard, sending him over the edge of the bridge. But as he went over, his foot smashed into Connor’s jaw.

“Connor was stumbling around like he was drunk. That kick really messed him up. I was about twenty feet away when he fell forward and tumbled over the guardrail. I was just in time to see him disappear into a bank of mist over a hundred feet down.”

I shudder at the memory. Zach puts a gentle hand on my shoulder. My first instinct is to pull away, but the look in his eyes is caring and earnest, so I take a deep breath and finish the story.

“The guys from the other end were running toward me, shooting. They had already passed our car in the middle, so I ran to the other truck. The guy had left the keys in with the engine running. So, basically, I got really fricking lucky and just got the hell outta there.” I let out a long sigh. “I don’t get it. No one could have survived that fall.”

“But somehow Connor did,” Zach says quietly.

“Yeah. Somehow, he did.”