This is part five of the Twelve Stories series.
Hakon and Courtney rush to a nearby cave, no longer concerned about the endless black crabs dotting the beach.
They are soaked in seawater and blood. The corpses of the fellow meditators are mixed with those of the infected who fell upon them.
Cowering in a cave, Hakon turns to her, his countenance asks, “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” she responds shakily. “I saw Jerome bite Maryl, and the next thing I remember, you were trying to wash the blood off of me in the water.”
“By the time I dealt with Jerome, they were all dead. But you were still beating them,” Hakon verbalizes.
“Who were they?”
“It is easiest to just think of them as zombies,” Hakon replied after some consideration. “They aren’t ‘undead’ but they aren’t really alive anymore.”
“How do you know?” Courtney asked, stepping away from him.
“I am… something like a therapist. One of my patients does biological research for the military. However, his reality is… different. He went missing, and I began to wonder if the delusions I thought he was suffering from were a reality.”
They crouch in the cave in silence. “I don’t usually talk so much,” Hakon says. “I’m not sure what else to say.”
“What happened with Jerome? What do you mean you ‘dealt’ with him?”
“I took a blood sample. I think it may help develop a vaccine. i just need to find someone with the expertise who will believe me.”
Courtney begins to open her mouth and pauses as she hears the sound of someone approaching the cave.