Free Quarantined in Chaos (Nova Nocte) by Melissa Gibbo

drive.
                  The truck lurched forward and wove between obstacles on the paved river. No one spoke. All I could hear was the air rushing past and the screaming in my mind.
                  How could he do that? And for me?
                  ###
                  We stopped for the day at a Sleep Inn in Hardeeville. I’m not sure when we entered South Carolina, but I was thankful for the distance covered. The trio of Undead cleared a good path for us after their hearty dinner of gunmen and wounded; the excess of blood seemed to push their strength and endurance much further than I’d thought possible.
                  They must’ve been feeding barely enough to function all this time.
                  We unloaded and walked to meet them at the entrance for a quick meeting before clearing the hotel. Reggie smirked with amusement while Daemon glowered and tossed pebbles at the unlit sign. I addressed the Roman between them.
                  “This is a good enough place to crash. Should we sweep the whole building or just do the ground floor and keep the stairwells blockaded?”
                  Don’t glance at Daemon; just focus on the task at hand and breathe normal.
                  “Yes, that is a fine plan. But first we must discuss the earlier events.”
                  “No we don’t.”
                  The clack of the pebbles on the sign stopped.
                  “Squirrel, we need to communicate these issues before they become a problem.”
                  “No, Cal, we really don’t. There’s no issue.” I felt my fists clench as I raised my voice. “I made the call to save that guy instead of leaving him to bleed out on the side of the highway; Daemon disagreed and sucked him dry. Can’t be undone, so let’s do what we’ve got to do and stretch out before tomorrow’s drive.”
                  Pushing past the elder Undead, I drew my sword and marched to the lobby door. The thumping of shoes and the ring of other blades being drawn told me I wasn’t alone in my undertaking. I pounded on the door to draw out any Dead. Echoes of dry moans came out but that was all.
                  So there’s fleshies inside, but they are either trapped in the rooms or ridiculously slow.
                  I grabbed the handle to pull; a chilly hand covered mine.  I looked into those radiant eyes as I done so many times before.              “I’ll go first. I can take care of this and then we can talk, okay?”
                  I think I nodded because Daemon slid inside with a bowie knife and a forced smile. We waited and made small talk over the repeated thwack of skulls being split. Twenty minutes later a whistle carried down the hallway and reached us. A couple of people grinned and did the rest of the tune. I struggled for a second to place it.
                  From the Andy Griffith Show?
                  “All clear. Just got to drag out the remains and dust a bit and we’re good. Saw a couple of cans of food in a couple of rooms, too.”
                  He rubbed his hands on his jeans and held the door open for me. I led the group in and we went to work. As soon as we began to settle in, Daemon and Cal knocked on my door.
                  “Yeah, c’mon in guys. I was just starting next week’s donation schedule; not that we’ve needed one that often this trip.”
                  Cal took a seat next to me on the bed while his protégé plopped into the chair across from us. I peeked up at Daemons hands as he stroked his fingers.
                  He has such a light touch sometimes.
                  Pushing the thought from my mind, I met Cal’s gaze.
                  “Squirrel, what Daemon did