Virulence Immune

~ Chapter Thirty-Eight ~

Gavin, Norman and Skeet had followed Luke as he led them away from the massacre inside, they now waited by the only door that separated them from the mass of infected outside.

The sounds from the slaughter they'd left behind followed them, echoing up the long, dark passage.

No one else had managed to get out.

"Should we go outside?" Asked Norman.

"No. We should wait here for Perri and Jack." Replied Luke.

"Dad?" Skeet's voice was ignored by the three men.

"We should have gotten our weapons first." Gavin stated, more to himself than the others.

"Dad?"

"There wasn't time." Luke sighed noisily.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now." Norman added.

"You still haven't told us exactly what is going on, mate." Gavin said with a hint of hostility toward Luke.

Luke gave him a dirty look, so Gavin moved closer to get in his face.

Norman stepped in and said, "Alright, that's enough. There's enough death in the world without the two of you killing each other over fuck-all."

"Dad!" Skeet raised his voice.

Finally, he'd drawn their attention and they looked to the boy with questioning expressions on their faces.

Skeet pointed at the door at the other end of the passage.

What they hadn't noticed while they were arguing was the silence.

There was no more screaming, no more shouting.

Nothing.

Luke swallowed and put a hand on the gun holstered at his hip.

Just then, the door began to open slowly.

"Stay behind me." Luke whispered to the others.

A figure shuffled in through the doorway, their hand still holding onto the door handle and with their other hand they seemed to be helping another figure.

"Don't just stare, you fools. Help me." Called the figure.

Gavin sighed with relief. He knew that voice.

It was Perri.

The men ran over to aid her and the rather disheveled and weak looking woman at her side.

Gavin looked at the sickly woman and back at Perri.

"I take it this is your best mate, the person you were searching for?" He asked her.

Perri nodded and replied, "This is Madi. I don't know what Holloway was keeping her for, but she is very weak."

Madi was physically exhausted but managed to give Gavin a curt nod and a brief smile.

Gavin smiled back before sticking his arm around Madi to lift her up in his arms to carry her.

Luke stepped beside Perri stealing her attention as the others made for the exit.

"Jack?" He asked, the concern for his own best friend was clear in his eyes.

It took everything she had not to get teary eyed when she met his gaze and shook her head. Perri didn't know what to tell him. She wondered if she shouldn't go back to doublecheck because now that she thought about it.

Perri hadn't looked at Jack's body properly.

She couldn't honestly give Luke a solid answer about his best friend's fate when she herself didn't know the answer.

Perri had gotten lost in thought for a moment and when she came back to reality, she could tell that Luke was also lost.

She touched his hand to grab his attention and said, "After we get the others out of this Hell-hole, I will take you down to Jack's body."