Hollowland
Page 29

I didn’t really know where they went so I had to think like Lia and Lazlo, since they were probably leading the way. Knowing them, they would take the easiest, quickest way, thinking the faster and farther they could get away would be best. That was probably true, so I took the paths of least resistance.
After traversing a few dilapidated yards and junk filled alleys, my side screamed in pain and my lungs burned for oxygen. I kept trying to push my legs, but I couldn’t anymore. I stopped, gasping for breath, when I made it to a deserted street.
Based on the older brick buildings lining the street, I guessed this was the Main Street. Quaint, with lampposts and destroyed flowerpots lining the streets.
At one time, there had been banners, proclaiming this “The Best Little Town in the West,” but they were torn and stained with thick, greenish blood. Windows were broken out, all the stores had been looted, and the occasional limb or body part lay discarded about. A crow cawed, flapping its wings as it settled more comfortably on the back of a wooden bench.
I walked slowly, a hand pressed to the stitch in my side as I tried to catch my breath.
“Remy!” Harlow shouted, her small voice echoing off the buildings downtown.
She clamored out of a broken store window down the street, waving her arms to get my attention. The sign above the door had once advertised a barbecue place with a folksy name, but someone had written “kill all the piggies” in goopy red letters. The same writing Blue and I had seen in the house outside of town.
“Remy!” Harlow hurried towards me. “Are you okay?”
“Harlow, go back inside,” I said.
Just because nobody had tried to kill us yet didn’t mean they weren’t around, and I would feel better with her safely waiting inside a building. I should have sped up to chase in her inside, but my legs felt like rubber.
“Harlow, stay here!” Lia leaned her head out the window.
They were all yelling when they should be quiet. When Harlow kept coming towards me, refusing to listen to either of us, Lia climbed out of the window to get her. Maybe she sensed that there was still something dangerous in the air.
The crow flapped its wings again, and I looked over at it. I heard a clicking, sounding oddly loud thanks to the buildings, and some part of me knew what it was but couldn’t place it.
Suddenly, the crow exploded in a burst of black feathers. I never heard the gun go off, but the sniper had thought to use a silencer.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the light glinting off the top of the building on the corner. Harlow jumped back, startled by the bird, but she didn’t move. Then I heard the clicking sound again.
“Run!” I shouted and sprang into action.
I ran towards Harlow as fast as I could, the adrenaline reviving my legs. She stared at me in blank terror, too confused by the exploding crow to understand what happened.
I threw an arm around her waist, dragging her around the corner. I dove around the side of the building, slamming her down onto the sidewalk, with me on top of her to shield her.
We were out of the range of fire, hidden beside the building. I sat up and looked behind me to where Lia stood in the intersection.
“Something happened…” Lia was saying, her voice barely audible, and she turned to look at me. She had her hand on her stomach, but I could already see the blood seeping around it.
“Lia!” Harlow yelled.
I kept my arms around Harlow to stop her from rushing out into the street. Lia stood in the middle of it, completely exposed to another shot, but they weren’t shooting her again.
I had a feeling that was their plan. When I ran, Lia stayed frozen, so they took the easy shot. They left her wounded, like bait to lure us back out into the open.
Lia held out her hand, staring at the blood in total confusion. It was as if she couldn’t understand what it was or how it got there. Then she looked up at me, her eyes swimming with frightened tears.
“Lia, come here.” I held my hand out to her, but I couldn’t walk out to her. I had to stay where I was, holding Harlow back.
“I’m sorry.” Lia just stared at me.
She tried to step forward, but her knees buckled, and she fell back on the road. Her open eyes stared blankly up at the sky above her. Harlow sobbed, bucking at my arms, but I refused to let go.
“Remy!” Lazlo shouted. “Harlow!”
He peered around the corner of the building behind us. It was behind the barbecue restaurant that Harlow and Lia had come from, so I suspected that he’d snuck out the backdoor into the alley.
Harlow stopped fighting and cried limply against me. I put my hands on her shoulders, holding her away from me so I could look her in the eye.
“Go. Hurry,” I said, and thankfully, she nodded once and ran back to Lazlo.
Lia lay dead only a few feet in front of me, but I couldn’t get her. I didn’t want to leave her there like that, just a discarded body amongst so many other bodies, but I didn’t want to risk my life to move her.
I stood alone in the middle of the empty street, and I couldn’t move. I just couldn’t think of a single reason to keep going.
All I ever did was think about surviving. Getting from one moment to the next without letting myself dwell on anything that came before it. But suddenly, I couldn’t see the point in surviving.
This is what it was like to survive. To kill people, to kill infected humans, to watch innocent people die for no reason. This is the world I was fighting to stay in.
“Remy!” Lazlo hissed and grabbed my arm roughly.
I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to leave Lia alone, and I didn’t see any reason to go. But he was pulling me, literally dragging me away, and somewhere along the way, my feet started moving again too.
When we rounded the corner, Harlow stood there crying, and Blue had his arm around her. Vega looked completely unruffled, standing next to another guy. He wore a dirty flannel shirt, his hair was cropped close, and he was armed to the teeth. He wasn’t wearing camouflage, so I assumed we considered him an ally.
“Where’s Lia?” Vega asked. Apparently, they hadn’t seen what happened.
“She’s not coming with,” Lazlo replied, brushing past it. He had to have seen her body when he grabbed me, and we didn’t have time for more meltdowns. Everyone was quiet for a moment, letting it sink in.
“What’s going on?” I asked. My mouth felt dry and stiff, and I had to force it to speak. I felt completely disconnected from my body, as if my movements were something I did from remote.