Step by Step/Issue 8

This is Issue #8 of Step by Step. This is the third issue of Act Two.

Dead Alive
“Where did you find him?” Joseph asked. The group of five speed walked through the hallway, leaving the crazies to fend for themselves. The more feet they progressed, the less despair and anger they heard from the dead. Without a doubt, the crazies were still there. Behind them.

“He was in the storage room.” Lyle bit his tongue. Brock had dozed off. Lyle didn't blame the bastard. If Lyle had gotten attacked like how Brock was, he would of passed out too. Maybe. “Took me a little less than ten minutes to find'em.”

Joseph swore twice in succession. “He needs medicine or something. Fast.”

“Hey, language,” Caroline blurted, standing extremely close to her cousin.

Lyle smiled. “If he's lucky, we can find a cot for 'im in the main office.”

Eugene snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Lyle paused, shifting Brock onto his other shoulder. “Somethin' funny?”

“Ignore him,” Joseph flashed a stern look to the smirking Eugene.

“I'm not a liar.” Eugene retorted. “They took my uncle away. Caroline you tell them.”

“No, Eugene. It's okay.” Caroline took a step away from her cousin, eying him warily.

As the five made it to the intersection, Eugene started swearing to himself. “You guys don't get it,” Eugene laid a hand on the painted wall. He remembered when the walls were a bare white not a year ago. A year ago when he still had an uncle. “They took my uncle away because he got ill. It's a death sentence, and you guys are signing it for your friend.”

Lyle sighed heavily. “Ain't no reason now to let him die like this.” Lyle nodded a head down the hallway, leading to the main office. The place had cleared up, now with silent refugees and disgruntled military officials. “Especially in my arms.”

Joseph led the way as they passed through a tiny cluster of refugees, tugging at their children. Joseph tipped a look of pity. Behind Joseph, Eugene and Caroline followed in suit. Lyle and an unconscious Brock came in last, much to Lyle's struggle.

Brock's leg started to twitch. Lyle grabbed it, planting his palm over the bite wound. The skin was sweltering hot with fresh blood dripping onto Lyle's jacket. “Ah, come on now.” He put pressure on the calf, trying to hurry up to catch up with the speed of the others.

What if that kid is right? Could all this be for nothing then? Lyle threw the thoughts out of his ears, throwing a leg past the two cousins. Eugene was still yammering on about his uncle. Lyle had seen the kid's uncle get buckled into the army trucks. No doubt, he knew exactly where those army trucks were headed. Exactly.

Caroline glanced to her left, finding a bulletin posted with fliers and posters. She recognized an orange sheet of paper. She smiled, breathing in relief from the air. Caroline felt a glistening feeling spread through herself.

She stopped in her tracks and felt the paper's flapping edge. It had been more than a month since she had stapled the paper to the bulletin with a magnitude of other advertisements for Summercreek's student council.

“Caroline.” She heard her cousin say, but continued to look gleam. She lifted the paper from it's bent position and stared at it as she remembered the memories. Her father had helped her design the pop-up letters on his computer. Before Summercreek transformed into a swamped refugee camp.

“Caroline!” That was when she heard the hammering of an assault rifle. Her eyes instinctively flew up to a soldier in camouflage fatigues wearing a blackened gas mask. A lump formed into her throat, narrowing her eyes to a gun fixed at her position.

Joseph swirled around and noticed the soldier in the gas mask. “Whoa, whoa.”

The silent soldier adjusted his carbine, putting it against his chest. He twisted his head to Joseph. “You're not in your post, soldier.”

He must have seen the uniform, Joseph thought. Joseph slid to Lyle, turning his back to Lyle to cover up the view of Brock. “It was an emergen— “

“No excuses,” the soldier hissed with irritation aligning across his words. “Go, before I unload this magazine into one of you for being one of those things.”

Eugene cackled, taking two steps toward the soldier. “Where do you get off like that?” Eugene raised his voice, standing not a foot ahead of the soldier. So close Eugene could hear the soldier cowering into the depths of his mask. “Answer me!”

The next moment, the soldier sent a powerful blow to Eugene's jaw with the gun's butt. The boy didn't have time to catch himself as he tried grabbing his face with wobbly fingers. Eugene collapsed to the floor, groaning as a burning pain erupted in his neck.

“I warned you guys,” the soldier growled. He erected up his posture, scanning his eyes across Joseph's. He took a step back, letting Caroline rush to her cousin. “Yeah, I know you.”

“You asshole!” Caroline cried out. She lifted her cousin's weightless head and rested it on her arms.

Joseph's face hardened, cursing at the soldier. “I'll beat you into the ground!” Joseph shouted, leaving his spot and walking towards the soldier with growing agility. “You hear m—!” His feet lost motion as the gas masked soldier raised his weapon.

“Take another step my way, I dare you.” The soldier snarled in a malicious tone. “But this time, instead of whacking you down, I'll saute your face and then serve you it after smashing in your balls, Joseph.”

He wasn't lying. Something about the harsh, cruel voice sparked a memory in Joseph. Instead of avenging Eugene, Joseph's face went a distinguishing pale, much like that of a passing cloud. “You can't do that.”

“Are you deaf?” The soldier snickered from underneath his mask. He pointed to the gymnasium on the other side of the tunnel-shaped hallway. “There. Now.”

Joseph said nothing. Not even a noise once he pried Eugene's limp body out of Caroline's restraining hands. Whenever he felt the urge to look up at the soldier, a disgusting force held him back. Joseph gritted his teeth, realizing he left Lyle to tend to Brock. That bloody wound.

He shrugged the thought over. The soldier wasn't worth a dime of his time. His eyes flickered once to the dark lens of the gas mask. He gripped his grasp on Eugene and strolled to the gymnasium with Lyle and Caroline at his sides.

“He shouldn't have done that,” muttered Lyle. “Piece of shit, I tell ya.”

“Language,” Caroline whimpered, wiping tears that streamed down her face. “Even though I agree.”

Joseph smirked smugly. He registered the strong, rowdy noise shooting out from the gymnasium. “Nothing special.” He expected it to be exactly like the cafeteria had been. Once he opened one of the gym's double doors, Joseph's eyes went dim.

The whole gymnasium was a gloomy scene. The lights were blinking off and on in contrast to the cafeteria's bright, lighted sheltering. There were scattered amounts of refugees, much less than before. In the vague scene, the bleachers had been renewed as a resting place with people napping on the metal in the faint light.

“Can we go?” Caroline busted out, “I'm going to find a nurse for Eugene.”

Joseph nodded, looking to the select few of medical aid dressed in their uniforms. “We better hurry, then.” He watched Caroline scurry away with her hands glued to her sorrowful face. Joseph turned to Lyle.

“I'll drop'im off at a nurse.” Lyle assured Joseph, keeping his voice low as he did so. “If you need me, ask 'round.”

“Yeah, sure.” Joseph thanked Lyle and stood there with Eugene his arms, holding the door ajar. As Lyle raced away with the sergeant, Joseph started laughing to himself. It would be just fine. Everyone would be okay. He looked down to see Eugene. He would be okay too.

Except for Gordon.

“Hey, Joseph!” A rough voice shouted from behind Joseph, shattering his thoughts into a wall. Joseph spun around, trying to keep the door open with his leg. There was the gas mask, connected to the head which belonged to the aggressive soldier. In a bitter tone of exclamation, the soldier barked. “Here's a tip; get that bite checked out before ya leave.”

The lightning thrashed outside as rain splattered against the exterior walls of the gymnasium. Gunfire rippled from the outside, blending in with the patter-patter of the raindrops. Joseph listened to them as he swallowed his worry.

He stopped in front of a slim, short woman in EMT drab. She had her paramedic equipment set up when Joseph laid Eugene down on a blue, thin mattress. “From the looks of it, he'll be getting a black eye.”

Her voice left Joseph stunned by its smoothness. It was like sweet honey to his ears. “Yeah, it's the least we needed.” He turned his head to Caroline, who stood next to the nurse. “He got hit I guess during that stampede.”

“People are so unpredictable,” the paramedic scoffed. She planted Eugene's unconscious head of hair on a pillow. “We ran out of ice packs before you got here.” The paramedic twisted her head to Caroline. “Can you fetch me cold water from the, uh, main office? Whatever it's called.”

“No problem, I guess.” Caroline glared at Joseph before she left, rolling her eyes with a look of confusion was smacked across her face. Joseph couldn't tell if it was fear what drove him to lie, or the fact that he didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

Joseph crossed his arms. “So he'll be okay?” He peered down, eying her name tag. “Lilian?

“Does anyone here look okay to you?” She mocked him. “If you didn't see, me and my friends are going to be up to our necks. This? The people we're treating are the early birds.”

“Ouch...” Joseph took a step back, raising his hands in defeat. He started to chuckle to himself, “Sorry for asking then, Lilian.”

Her brow furrowed. “Your friend will be fine,” she replied with an agitated voice. “I'll call you over when he wakes up.”

Joseph nodded, winking comically at the blonde haired paramedic. He twirled around so his back faced her. Joseph could sense her eyes digging into the back of his head. He continued, walking to the bleachers. Lightning continued to thrash in the outside.

He stared down a metal door which lead to the locker room. Rain water had clouded the glass pane, proving useless to Joseph. He wonder if the guards on the post out in the direction he was looking were still there. Probably not.

He heard a loud groan from outside. “No way.” He lifted a leg and sat down on the cold bleachers. Joseph observed the bleachers. There were refugees crumpled together into groups. Family, most likely. Joseph sighed, scratching his arms.

In the dim light, he watched the silhouette of Lilian check over Eugene, who he figured was Eugene due to the flashy white sneakers Eugene had worn when he was still babbling to himself. She had placed a stethoscope on his chest, from what Joseph could see in the murky light.

It bothered Joseph that he could recall the soldier's voice, but not who it was underneath the gas mask. The voice was a jagged one, that had sent Joseph to shudder. Joseph scoffed. That soldier was nothing to him, unless he—

“Ah!” Joseph shot up from his sit down. The scream was a capitalizing shrill from a struggling man. It came from outside; loudly and desperate. Joseph quickly remembered the moan of pain he had heard as he jumped down to the floor.

Once he swerved to where the noise was coming from, the metal door exit near the lockers, the the scream had gotten closer. It continued to pour down outside, but surely there was someone out there. The next moment, a hand smacked the foggy glass pane.

Joseph stood paralyzed, staring in horror as the hand dragged itself down. It smeared a bloody hand print across the glass. Joseph turned, flicking his eyes to Lilian's. Lilian had stayed at Eugene's side, but was still puzzling by the howling agony from outside.

Once Joseph swayed his head back to the door, there was a pounding fist. The door rattled on its hinges. As soon as Joseph laid his eyes on the glass pane again, a wave of guilt swept Joseph and drained him of all feeling. There was a frightening face that belonged to Gordon.

And then lightning struck.