No Time To Bleed

“Okay, put this on.” Alex muttered, throwing a heavy shirt in my direction.

The five of us were in far back and buried closet in the hotel. We’d managed to sneak away from the pool area unnoticed while the others initiated the distraction.

Now it was just Alex, Kyle, Ryant, Clarissa, and I.

“We’re gotta dress to cover up any areas of body people can easily notice. Hats to cover up hair.” Clarissa put a hat onto Ryant’s head and a pair of sunglasses over her own eyes. “Sunglasses for eyes and try to alter your walk as well.”

Alex ended up choosing a red skullcap to cover his hair, but unfortunately Clarissa had been the only one to find glasses.

I on the other hand, layered my top half with three shirts and an extra-large denim jacket. My lower half had been covered by baggy track pants.

Kyle had covered his own hair with a Yankees Baseball cap and wore clothes that made him slightly androgynous.

Ryant obscured himself in a janitor’s uniform and heavy boots that he’d been able to find in the lost and found closet.

Clarissa layered herself with multiple dresses and shuffled her hair to cover her face.

“Remember.” Kyle said. “We need to get through whatever groups of people are out there and to the basement unnoticed. We don’t walk in groups. We take our own routes to the basement.”

We all nodded and I suddenly felt my heart pounding like a siren.

“A-are you sure we’ll be able to pull this off?” I stammered.

Clarissa smiled, eyes gushing warmly. “Jasmine, do you know how much we’ve survived so far? Hell yes we’ll do this. You’ve been amazing.”

Her compliment got my heart to swell and I breathed steadily. Alex held onto my hand as we all left the coverage of the closet. We walked through the hotel’s desolate lobby.

Ryant stood to my left with Alex to my right. Ryant whispered to me.

“So, you and him are dating, right?”

I nodded. “Dating… whatever word you want to use.”

Ryant smiled, nudging me in the side softly. “Well, I’m glad you chose someone who’s been with you. I’ve been one hell of a bad friend if you ask me.”

“Nah. We all had our things to handle. Who even knows where we’d be if you hadn't ran off? I wouldn’t have found out so much about why this virus really hit.”

Then, I felt Alex’s hand hold more firmly into mine. We’d cleared the hotel lobby and was now walking a short stretch of waiting areas outside of airplane gates. We all knew at the end of the short stretch of waiting areas stood the main entrance which was directly near the airport’s eating areas. That’s where many people would be now.

Past the eating areas were the now misused food courts. Then, after that it was a dead sprint to the basement.

“Stay near me as much as you can.” Alex tugged on my hand. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“Alex, that can’t happen. We have to split up. It’ll be too suspicious.”

But, his lack of response told me he wasn’t letting up on his eye on me. I guess my near death experience on the roof was renewing his feelings for me even more.

“Everyone split up.” Clarissa said.

We turned the right corner to the massive crowd of people in the waiting area. Eating had seemed to have faded through the day’s schedule with workers cleaning away used plates. The massive crowd of people stood readily, standing before the guards who seemed to have a message to tell.

Then, time went in slow motion. Our footsteps were only mutters against the floor. Ryant’s figure trotted off the left of me, shoulders shrugging and walks slightly dragging. Clarissa went off the right end of the crowd, hips swaying more than usual and her arms swinging just as much.

Kyle ended up wandering towards the left side of us, not exactly off to the crowd’s edge.

Alex’s hand however caved deeper into its grip into my own and we went into the dead middle of the crowd. I dared not to speak any words as our bodies broke through the back end of the mass of bodies.

I breathed stealthily, eyes pinned ahead. Bodies moved to the sides, eyes turning in our direction with the slightest curiosity lurking behind their irises and all the while Alex’s hand stayed cemented to mine.

People seemed immobile, just standing and staring. Arms shuffled and scraped against mine as we walked. My heart was a continuous drum in my chest. My brain ran off a register of things to do.

Move feet. Swallow lump in throat. Feel Alex’s grip spread numbness into my arms. Keep eyes ahead. Get out.

My gaze tried to scan the crowd, looking for any sign of Ryant or Clarissa above all the heads. I wasn’t even keeping time of when Cece said their masterful plan would take place. We just had to get as much distance as we could to the basement and move.

“Alright people! Calm down! Calm down!”

Alex and I were nearing the front of the crowd, only three or four people behind where the guards stood in a line. Their guns were held at the ready and even today, their usually silent demeanor seemed shaken

“What the hell do you mean we’re meant to calm down?! You tell us there’s crazy people that have escaped and you expect us to stay calm?!” A heavy set man shouted.

The crowd began to burst in hyped agreement.

“We never said they were crazy!” A guard argued. “We said they could be a possible danger to your safety!”

“Then, why didn’t we know these people were being held under our noses! Why lie then?!” A woman screeched. “Are they infected? Is that what you’re really hiding?!”

Energy zapped into my veins at the sense of rebellion moving through the crowd.

“I bet they think we can’t handle the truth!”

“Yeah! That’s why the keep us locked up in here!”

The crowd was growing more rowdy and rowdy by the second. The guards began to hold their guns up at the ready, shouting orders and threats.

“Hey! Hey!” A voice hissed.

I dared the chance to look aside under the heavy scarf that obscured my face. It was Laia standing only a few inches from me, whispering.

“Things have been pretty crazy since you guys left. I did hear something in the hotel though, I thought…” Laia’s voice drifted away as a woman tried to dive at one of the guards.

Then, fear crossed her eyes. “Never mind. Just get the hell out of here. There’s a hallway they aren’t watching. You have to go around the left side of the crowd.”

I turned my head to Alex and he nodded, understanding the information being exchanged.

I began to lead the way as Laia stood in her same spot. More and more shouting went off towards the crowd’s front as my own hand became a stronghold to Alex’s. The fear was reaching me now and I wasn’t sure if a riot was possible to happen at any moment.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” I breathed, skin suddenly slick with sweat.

It was hard enough moving through a dense crowd and trying to avoid glances, but people were becoming rude as well.

“Watch where the hell you’re going, prick!”

“Get the hell out of here!”

None of their obscenities were returned with any of our voices.

Then, a gun shot went out and screams went through the audience. A piece of ceiling had fallen down and the guard must have shot up there to attain order.

“Alright! We’re not letting anyone tell us how to run this place! No one moves from this area or you get a nice taste of metal to go with that breakfast of yours! Understand?”

My clasp onto Alex’s fingers seemed to be slipping now with the clammy adrenaline moving from our pores. I just see the edge of the crowd nearby, begging us to come.

“Hey, you stepped on my foot!” A little boy shrieked and more people turned in our direction.

“Oh sorry.” I muttered.

The little boy turned his fiery head up to me and grinned right away. It was Kevin, the little boy from the highway family.

“We need to move now.” Alex snapped.

Not even a millisecond and Kevin was screaming.

“SHE TRIED TO BITE ME! SHE TRIED TO BITE ME! HE’S ONE OF THEM TOO! MOMMY! MOMMY!”

Horrific shrieks slammed through the crowd and hands shoved around.

My body jolted and Alex’s grip tore from mine.

“Jasmine!” His voice was swallowed from the screams and bedlam taking the air.

Hands tore and ripped at my clothes as I tried to shove the bodies away.

“Get her!”

“They were at the dance!”

“They brought those things here!”

Fingers tangled into the scarf around my neck and I was choked, the fabric gripping around my trachea. I tried to scream, breathe, or do anything, but dizziness was taking me.

“Kill her! You’ve got to kill her!”

More screams were erupting as people fell to the ground. Arms and legs tried to force me down, but I was fighting. Gun shots were stinging the air.

Then, a siren sounded and water began to pour from the sky.

“They’re bombing the place!!”

“I FELT THE GROUND MOVE!”

I elbowed and clawed my way through the panicking bodies, my neck throbbing.

“She’s trying to get away!”

A hand snatched into my hair and I screamed. “Let me go! Let me go!!!” Scratches and nails clawed at my face and I felt a fist sock into my teeth.

“She’s not one of them! Leave her alone!” Someone screamed. It had to be Laia. “Leave her!”

The scarf loosened from around my neck and I broke free instantly. My hands tore through the last of the bodies and I bolted, vaulting over chairs and knocked over tables. The crowd grew wild at my side, hands springing out and grabbing me every few seconds.

My eyes watered with the gallons of liquid pouring from the sky. The guards were shoving the crowd in the opposite direction. I just followed the sprinting figure ahead in the form of a janitor’s costume.

I heaved my body over a last chair and landed.

A hand fell from the sky and grabbed my collar. A guard was its and she was screaming. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?! We’re moving people!”

I tore and fought against her grasp until finally my hand reached into my waist. The gun in my hands pointed it’s barrel to her forehead.

Grimness touched her hazel eyes as her fingers loosened.

“Tell the others and I’ll make sure you end up dead.” I pulled the trigger, springing and loose, but safe shot over her shoulder that ended up hitting a bare wall yards away.

Then, I whirled around and sprinted with the buckling crowd behind.

My shoes squeaked and whined against the soaked carpet and the mountain of clothes on my body dragged me down.

“THEY WENT THIS WAY!” Someone behind screamed.

My head flashed around as I saw Alex bolting from the crowd in my direction as well, his lip busted and bloodied. Time was moving at a snail’s pace as his lips moved, screaming words for me to follow.

I heard none of what he said.

I turned around, speeding towards Ryant’s figure as he ducked down a rightward hallway. My feet connected downhill to stairs that led in an endless chain. I slammed to the bottom with Ryant flinging open the door with a key card he’d produced from his pocket.

The door cut open and I held it open. Alex swished past me with guards just swarming to the top of the stairwell.

It slammed with a resounding bang behind me and we were off running, scaling our way through the skyscrapers of suitcases around us.

“WHERE’S TUNNEL?!” Kyle bellowed, appearing out of nowhere, but he must have rushed in with Alex. His own face sported several nasty bruises and an oozing scratch just under his ear.

Ryant cut a sharp left turn, then bolted into us once he realized it was a dead end. Guards were screaming like madmen, their echoes bouncing off the walls as the maze continued.

“We found it!” Kyle jumped ahead as Clarissa’s body came into view, pulling at the latch that covered the tunnel.

I sprang forward, pulling the slip of paper that Rodney had handed to me hours before at the dance from my pocket and fingers jabbing the code.

“That’s wrong! It’s not opening!” Kyle blared.

“I KNOW THAT!”

Alex was busy behind us firing off gun shots at the approaching guards. My fingers trembled as I punched in the numbers once more and the lid flew open with relief.

We all dove in; Alex following last a he shot the rest of his bullets before disposing the gun.

Clarissa slammed the lid shut with loud smack and we were sealed off, chests heaving with adrenaline. The lights flashed on as our feet connected with the tiled floors.

We’d made it.