Chapter Twenty-eight

The End of Emma?

As the zombie's teeth sank further into my arm, I screamed. The pain was excruciating, and I knew what it meant. I was going to be one of them. I wasn't going to survive. The tears flowed as I focused on Nathan. I couldn't look down. I couldn't think about it. I didn't want to think about it.

"No! No, Emma!" Nathan yelled.

"Emma!" Liz shouted.

A shot rang out and gooey, black blood spattered on my face. The undead's grip on me loosened as it fell, dead again. I reached to my arm and held the wound. I could feel the slimy zombie drool mixed with my own sticky blood.

I was infected.

"Get in here, Emma!"

I shook my head. "I can't. It-it bit me."

"She's infected," someone else shouted.

"Leave her!" someone else yelled.

The words stung, but they were true. I could never be around anyone else again. Of course, in a few short hours I'd be trying to eat their brains.

"We're not leaving her," Nathan said.

"She can't come in here," George retorted.

"Backup. Now!" Taz held his weapon in the man's face. "I swear I will shoot you."

"Shut up, George. We have isolation containment for a reason, you ninny. Now let her in."

"Isolation?" a few asked.

"You must be joking! What do you think happens to those who are bit but before they're turned?"

"We shoot them," Art said.

"Nobody is shooting my daughter," Dad screamed.

I sank to my knees sobbing for the second time in years.

"After they turn. And we do it in isolation containment. You all really don't know anything that goes on around here."

Nathan slipped through the gate and ran to me. Grabbing my hand, he yanked me to my feet.

"Let's go."

"I can't. I was bit."

"Then you'll go in isolation until you turn." He held my arm examining the bit quickly. "You still have at least two hours."

"Then what, Nathan? You'll shoot me between the eyes?" I looked down at my wound as more tears welled in my eyes.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let's get somewhere safe."

"If I'm there it won't be safe," I replied through tears.

"Emma, stop being so fucking emotional! Shit, I think I preferred it when you were an emotionally hardened basket case. At least you were logical then."

"What?" I sniffled.

"You're being ridiculous. Stop it."

I glowered at the man, stunned and embarrassed he was being so careless. I didn't argue anymore. It was pointless. He grabbed my hand and dragged me inside. The men who stood near the gate quickly backed away raising their guns.

"Knock it off, she hasn't turned yet." Nathan smacked a barrel of one of the guns pointed at me.

"Can't be too careful," an older man with a death grip on his shotgun said, pointing it at my head.

Nathan raised his gun and pointed it at the man's head. "How about I point it at you?"

"I'm not the monster."

"Ridiculous." Nathan lowered his gun and dragged me toward the courthouse.

"Will I be locked away with others?"

"No. Infected are kept separated."

"How many others are there?" I tried to keep the sobs from escaping. He was right, even though in a few hours I was going to be a zombie, I had to stay logical for as long as my brain would hold out.

"The last time I was there they had four people in isolation."

"Who?" I asked quietly, hoping it wasn't anyone I was particularly fond of.

"The Johnsons'. The group that was rescued. The isolation was strictly precaution."

"Oh."

"Emma!" I turned and saw Meaghan running toward us. Her cheeks were stained by tears and her eyes bloodshot.

"Hi, Meaghan."

"Please tell me it's not true! You're fine right? That's why Nathan is taking you home."

"It's true. I was bit."

"Wh..." her voice broke as she began sobbing. The poor girl threw her arms around my neck and held me.

"It's going to be okay, Meaghan. Don't worry."

"How can you say it's going to be okay? It's not," she sobbed.

Liz wrapped her arms around the girl, trying to get her to stop crying.

"I'll figure something out."

"I'm sorry, Meaghan, but I need to get Emma into isolation," Nathan said gently.

"Isolation? Like she was just one of them?"

"She's not one of them," Taz grumbled.

"Yes. I know it sucks, but in a few hours she will be one of them."

"Who is going to do it?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"I don't know yet," he said.

My heart sank and my mind spun. They were talking about who would shoot me in the head.

Who was going to put me out of my misery? Nathan? My dad? Meaghan?

I hugged Meaghan one last time and continued along Grant Street with Nathan.

"Why didn't you listen to me?" he asked.

"What?"

"I told you to just leave Meaghan and get to safety. Why didn't you listen?"

"I couldn't leave my best friend to die," I mumbled.

"Yeah? Well now you're going to die. How is that any better? I'm losing you, Emma," he said as a tear slid down his cheek.

"I'm sorry, Nathan." I blinked a few times as tears fell down my cheeks.

"I can't see you turn into one of those. There has to be some way to stop it," he muttered more to himself than talking to me.

"There is no way, Nathan. Once you're bit that's it. You become a zombie. An undead being that doesn't know a loved one from a steak."

"I'm a doctor, I can figure something out." He turned his head from me.

I stopped walking and grabbed his hand. "Nathan, the reality of the situation is that I'm going to turn. I don't have a lot of time so I'm going to tell you this. I love you. I have for years. And I want you to be the one to do it."

"Do it? Do what?"

"Shoot me. I don't want one of those other guys to just shoot me in the face. I want it to be you."

"Why me?" he asked.

"Because there is no one I trust more than you. I know you won't let me suffer once that time comes."

"I-I can't, Emma."

"It's your turn to stop being emotional. We don't have time for emotional. Remember? Logic, Nathan."

"Alright. I'll do it."

"Thank you," I said grabbing his hand. "Are my parents coming to say good-bye?"

"I don't know. You're dad left right before you came back in."

"Oh." I looked up at the large courthouse. Giant statues of Lions stood on either side of the doors, protecting those within.

I hope they can protect me.