Chapter 14

Lena recoiled in horror, gasping audibly. Jazun quickly reached around her head and covered her mouth with his hand before she had a chance to scream. He held her tight, waiting for her to process what she had just seen. She breathed deep through her nose a few times. He gently let her go.

The remains of a forgotten soul ravaged by the Contagion. Hideous sores plagued every inch of its turgid flesh. The body was bloated and discolored. She suppressed the urge to vomit by holding her breath. Moja moved on, leading Lena away by hand.

Lena then saw the true obstacle ahead; the source of the voices. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. The tunnel opened into a cistern. Water came from five directions, collecting into a circular pool. It held an uncountable number of incoherent shambling individuals. They looked miserable as they rolled about, braindead in the grimy filth of the sewer. Some lay on piles of trash, moaning in carnal pain. Others stumbled in clumsy delirium, spouting nonsense in wretched voices.

Moja turned around towards Lena before going further. She pulled a fearful Lena into an embrace and held her for a moment. In the dark of this hell, Moja was her only consolation. Moja pulled back and held Lena’s shaking head between her hands. Moja mouthed the words, “You can do this.”

Moja held a single vertical finger to her lips.

Through silent sobs, Lena nodded in understanding.

Moja took Lena’s glasses from her head. Absolute blackness overtook the pestilence around them. Moja placed Lena’s hands on the back of her cloak. Lena grasped the cloth tight and followed Moja into the horde.

Lena pressed in, and courageously forced one step at a time. Jazun kept his hand on her shoulder. Lena could sense the rambling

infected on either side of her, but had no idea how close she was to brushing against the sloughed skin of the infected.

Moja stopped. She pried Lena’s deathgrip from her cloak. Lena held her hand tight, pleading silently not to let go. She felt Jazun’s hand slide from her shoulder to replace Moja’s. She held his fingers in a clammy, interlocking vice grip. He then gently pressed the back of her thigh with his other hand, encouraging her to take a high and long stride. Over what, only the terror in her mind could imagine.

Lena extended her foot high and leaned forward. Moja guided her foot to the ground then grabbed her free hand. Lena drew her other foot over. Carefully. Cautiously. Fear of the unseen obstacle’s height caused her to waver. She lost her balance momentarily and her foot came down early, pressing into something which yielded beneath her body weight.

An animalistic groan exploded directly beneath Lena. Moja grabbed her by the arm and now led her with urgency. The sound of shuffling feet increased all around her, becoming more erratic. She remained blind to all of it. The groans and high-pitched babbling increased in volume. Moja wound her path in strange directions, sometimes stopping and other times doubling back the direction they came. Jazun kept a firm hand on Lena’s shoulder, steering or aligning her body to fit between the warm pillars of rotting flesh.

Moja walked hurriedly straight for a distance. She then turned and quickly handed Lena the Night-Eyes. With shaking hands, she put them back on, afraid of what she might see. She reluctantly opened her eyes once they were on.

They had exited the large circular room, but at least a dozen of the afflicted were shambling towards them, searching for the intruders. Lena looked ahead. The tunnel narrowed back to its original width. More of the mindless clumsily advanced on them from ahead as well.

Moja broke away in haste, dodging them by only hairs. Lena followed close behind.

A discolored hand grabbed Lena’s jacket. She tugged, but a white-eyed husk of a man held firm.

A feral groan fell weak from its decaying mouth.

Jazun broke the hold with a swift swing of his forearm to the wrist. The infected cried in agonizing pain. Jazun nudged Lena ahead. She looked back. More of them were pooling in from hidden side passages. They were endless.

Lena and Jazun sprinted, dodging and pushing their way through sore-ridden grasping hands.

Lena was almost certain the tunnel was getting lighter. Her hopes doubled as Moja rounded the next junction turn without hesitation.

A beam of blinding light flooded the next passage. She winced at the brightness, aggravating a dull headache. The tunnel opened onto a concrete basin. Thick, warm air greeted them. Lena threw off her glasses and sprinted past Moja.