Free Infection Z (Book 4) by Ryan Casey Page A

Please.”
    “You’re a leader. They follow you.”
    “None of us are leaders,” Miriam said. “We’re just doing our best to get by.”
    Hayden glanced back at the following crowd. There were old men. Children. Babies. Weak people. People that didn’t seem cut out for this world. “What happens now?”
    “What happens now? We walk to the wall. Get to the other side.”
    “And if you don’t like what’s on the other side?”
    Miriam shook her head. “Whatever’s on the other side has to be better than what’s on this side.”
    Hayden thought back to Riversford as he’d first discovered it. “That’s not always true.”
    They walked further. No sign of people. No sign of zombies. The evening chill growing with every step.
    “So what’s your plan?” Miriam asked.
    “My plan?” The question threw Hayden. It wasn’t one he was expecting, wasn’t one he was prepared for.
    Miriam gazed at Hayden with focus. “You didn’t seem all that keen on what’s on the other side of the wall before you got out the prison.”
    Hayden broke his stare away from Miriam’s blue eyes. “Yeah, well. Figured I’d just…”
    A flashback.
    To the boy.
    The boy.
    He thought he saw him in the distance. In the middle of the field.
    He thought he saw him with the face of Clarice.
    Clarice.
    “You okay?”
    Miriam’s voice snapped Hayden out of his trance. He cleared his throat. Nodded. Heart racing. Chest tightening. “Just… I think I’ll go my own way.”
    Miriam groaned theatrically. “Just go your own way? Your own way to where?”
    “To anywhere. The world’s our oyster these days. Might as well make the most of it.”
    “So you’ve got a death wish then.”
    “I just…” He stopped. He wasn’t sure how much he wanted to open up to Miriam right now. It scared him. The thought of opening up to anyone. “I think it’s probably for the best you and your group go your way, and I go mine.”
    “Because…”
    “Because we’re different. We’ve been through different things. Done different things.”
    Miriam’s eyes narrowed. In an instant, Hayden swore he saw the colour drain from her cheeks. “How do you know what I’ve done? What any of us have done?”
    It was a fair question. Who was he to judge? Who was he to jump to conclusions?
    As he looked into Miriam’s sparkling eyes, her greasy hair hanging long down her back, he tried to picture what she’d been through. What she’d lost. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. She’d lost. Everyone had lost. Different stories. Different circumstances, perhaps. But the same result. The same end-game. Always the same.
    Death.
    An attempt to overcome death.
    Maybe even an attempt to be confident in this world. An attempt to lead.
    But ultimately, it wasn’t the heroes or the leaders that won. It wasn’t the fighters who survived.
    It was the people who drifted into the background.
    The people who became invisible.
    They survived.
    They walked further, through longer grass. Passed abandoned farms. Empty cars. The night drew in. They’d need to find somewhere to rest soon. Somewhere to stay.
    “You not a bit curious?”
    “About?”
    “The wall. What’s on the other side of it.”
    Hayden thought about it. He was. Of course he was. “I just don’t know whether it’s for me right now.”
    “Because you’re scared of screwing someone over again?”
    Hayden looked back at Miriam. His cheeks flared up. What was she saying? How did she…
    “Hold up,” Miriam said. She walked back towards the group. Only then did Hayden notice the old man spluttering, coughing. When he turned, he noticed the man spewing up blood. Shaking. Really struggling.
    “Gonna need to stop soon,” Miriam called. “Harold can’t take much more walking. See those cattle stables up ahead? That’s where we stay. Okay. Let’s get moving.”
    Hayden walked with the group, Harold continuing to splutter. When they reached the stables, it was dark. He kept his guard up when he arrived