Page 31 of All Your Days (Mayhem Manuscripts Season One: 1nf3ction #4)

Chapter fourteen

Eli

Dawn breaks on the horizon but the sun is not a welcome sight. Light reflects off the clouds rolling in from the west. Taller than the hills we passed only two days ago, red and angry, I can feel them coming in my blood.

For the first time in more years than I can remember, the red rains are here.

“ Jacob !” I hiss, shaking him violently. We’re plastered together between the emergency sheets, his long black gun still resting on our thighs. He’s not asleep, just… well, he’s not resting either. Neither of us have managed that. I think his body just shut down.

He comes to with a jerk, elbowing me hard in the ribs.

“Shit. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter. Look .” I point to the clouds swallowing up the sky. They seem to be sucking all the light from the sun.

“Oh no. No. No, no, no, no .” Jacob repeats his denial, scrambling to his feet. He runs his hand through the tangled mess of his hair and scrubs furiously up at his brow.

I wish I knew what to do to help. Just like last night I’m completely useless here. Worse than useless—I’m a dead weight that could see him just as dead as the others.

Bile rises in my throat as my panicked thoughts bring up flashes from last night. The world shifts underneath me, like it’s just falling away.

Just as I’m about to lose my shit completely, Jacob squats down, refolding the first blanket into its tiny pouch.

“We need to go back to camp.” He mutters, yanking me back from my panic.

“Is that safe?”

My terror is still right there, threatening to completely undo me, but I know that’s not going to do us any good.

So I follow Jacob’s lead. I couldn’t feel the pain in my legs last night, but I can now.

They protest loudly when I roll to my knees to try and fold the second sheet.

I do a shit job of it, my hands are shaking too much.

“I don’t know. But being out here with no food or water is a death sentence.” He mutters, snatching the blanket out of my hands and efficiently refolding it.

“How do we even get back?”

Without stopping the efficient way he’s packing us up, Jacob points off to the north. The fire from our camp stove still burns in the distance, smoke curling into the sky. It’s a decent walk; we ran further than I realised. I guess in the dark, we had no way of really taking notice.

My mouth is painfully dry, my feet are bleeding in my boots, and my stomach feels like it’s going to eat itself in hunger. I don’t complain, though. Neither of us say a word as we make our way back to whatever is waiting for us, but I know Jacob is suffering, too.

We’re both carriers. The red rains are calling to us both, making the sickness that infests our bodies vibrate.

This is the last fucking thing we need. Last night was too close a call. I’ve been around the zombified before, but I’ve never had one chasing me like that. Never had one after my blood. And Ryan… he… Oh fuck. I can’t even think about what happened to our team.

I slam the mental door shut on last night and refocus on the new shit creek we’ve found ourselves up with the Rains.

Jacob’s jaw is tight, and I don’t know if the frown is ever gonna leave his face after today.

Is he as scared as I am? It’s been so long since I had to suffer through the Red Rain.

Is that why Cale turned? What if Jacob turns?

I could never hurt him, even like that. And I couldn’t survive without him out here. I would die in less than a day.

But what if I turn? What if I hurt him? What if he has to take me out? It would destroy whatever’s left of him, I know it.

Jacob’s face is hard as stone, eyes focused only on the smoke coming from our camp. Lips pursed, his growing beard dances with each flex of his cheek.

My stomach clenches with a different sort of pain.

I would rather die now than hurt him.

We just need to survive the Rains. Together.

Each step closer to our destination only makes my dark thoughts spiral further. The closer we get, the more the mirage of camp becomes clear. Real. The white of our tents, the water tank. Our trailer.

The bodies of Cale and Ryan.

The smell is overwhelming. The close range of the rifle removed all traces of what Cale became. Ryan is draped across him. From the back it is nearly impossible to tell what happened, the tear in his throat barely visible. Their blood pools beneath them, mixed in their final moments.

Turning from the gory sight, bile rises uselessly in my throat. There is nothing to vomit so I just gag and spit into the dirt.

“We need to check on the camp. Come on.” When I’m finally done, Jacob wraps me up in his arms and we walk slowly back to the camp.

Passing our half collapsed tents, it looks like we were hit with a whirly wind.

The destruction is centred mainly around the trio’s tents, on the other side of the fire to ours.

The openings are ripped to shreds and bloodied, belongings scattered to the wind.

The water tank’s been tipped, but thankfully not leaking. The trailer is still secure.

How did we sleep through this? How did so much damage happen? It felt like it began and ended in a moment.

All I know is Jacob’s paranoia kept us alive. I have no doubt about it.

Only two camels are still in the camp, Adeeko and Binty.

The rest must’ve broken free of their ties in the mayhem.

Already too close to breaking down completely, my heart squeezes painfully knowing that they’ll be out there in this, left to defend themselves.

We can’t even soothe usually calm beasts.

They are spooked and more wild than I’ve ever seen, pulling at their tangled ties.

It makes sense, they’re carriers, too. They can feel the Rains coming, adding to their distress.

“Wait here. Knife ready.” Jacob settles me on one of the rocks we used to sit around the camp fire. It’s a strategic spot. I can see a boot, but no more than that.

“No!” I try to stand, but he shoves me straight back down. “I can’t just let you—”

“You will. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, Eli. Just let me do this. Please .”

If I never hear that devastation in his voice again, it’ll be too soon. I do all that I can do. I listen and I sit. To keep myself busy—and to stop myself from thinking—I unzip the emergency bags, planning to rearrange them and see what we need for what’s coming.

Jacob flinches when he checks on Malcolm, loudly gagging at whatever he sees. Covering his mouth, he ducks into one of the tents to retrieve a blanket, covering Malcolm up before checking the other tents.

“Lou’s gone.” He says finally, coming back to sit heavily beside me.

“D’you think…” I let the question hang there.

Jacob sighs heavily, his head resting on his arms crossed over his knees.

“I don’t know. He was prepared…but I don’t know.”

One foot in front of the other, that’s the unspoken agreement to get through this nightmare, but his words stop me in my tracks, packages of bandages in one hand and the emergency torch in the other.

“What do you mean he was prepared?”

Jacob freezes but doesn’t look up.

“We… we suspected. That there was somethin’ more goin’ on with Cale, more ‘an just heat sickness.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because we spoke to Ryan. Well, I did. Ryan told me that if we tried to lock Cale up for the night, or tried to restrain him, then he and Malcolm wouldn’t hesitate to protect their friend. And they were happy to use you against me.”

“Are you—how can—” Rage fills me. More rage than I’ve ever felt before, fueled by the secrecy and the infection.

Dropping the things in my hands, I jump to my feet and pace to expel the energy tingling in my fingers and toes.

I feel like I could levitate with the power of my anger.

It’s an unnatural sort of feeling. Fueled by heightened emotions and the nearing Rains.

“You kept this from me! You didn’t tell me. I could’ve—I don’t know! I could’ve—I could’ve been prepared! Fuck! And those fuckers! Now they’re dead! Because they were too stupid to—”

I can’t finish a thought, let alone a sentence. Fury steals my tongue. I want to go and spit on their mutilated remains. I want to kill them again. I want—I want .

Tears blur my eyes and it makes me angrier. I keep pacing blindly until I smash into a hard body. Jacob’s arms wrap securely around me, sealing me to him. In a blink my anger seeps into the earth, like he’s bleeding it from me.

The soft hairs of his beard tickle the side of my face as he squeezes me tight.

“I’m sorry. So fuckin’ sorry. This’s all my fault. I’m sorry.”

I fight against his hold, that anger sucking right back up into my body again. How dare he blame himself? It’s an outrageous thought, since I was just blaming him, but it makes me more angry all the same.

Jacob doesn’t let me go. He holds tighter against my fighting until my shoves slowly become punches. Only then does he loosen his hold—but only enough for me to tilt my head back and look up into his devastated, bloodshot eyes. Tears fall freely from the deep pools.

“Don’t you dare blame yourself. I only survived ‘cause of you.” Seeing him crack hardens something within me. I steel myself against the fear I feel. Fear that I don’t know what to do, fear that I will get us both killed, fear of what’s to come.

Each second that passes, the clouds come closer. We need to be prepared. I’m determined. Determined to keep him safe like he saved me.

“The Rains’re almost here. What do we need to do?”

I see the wheels turning in Jacob’s mind. In reality, there are too many dangers to fight each one right now.

We’re not the only carriers out here. We need protection from the animals that will seek us out. And while we haven’t seen anyone on the road, it doesn’t mean there is no one else coming. We need to secure ourselves and our animals and our food and our water.

And rain always brings the risk of a flood, one we’d be right in the path of.