Quarantine and Isolation

I sat up and put my feet on the cold tile floor when I heard Wonka and Chase arguing.

“We have to,” I heard Wonka whisper.

“It’s way too dangerous.”

“They would try and do it for us.”

“And they’d die doing it. Besides it’s been half an hour since we heard it…it’s too late. Even if we got there without being detected and attacked…I’m sorry, but it’s just too late.”

I already knew what they were talking about. One of the other groups had been attacked…I was reluctant to find out whom.  I couldn’t speak.  Not yet. I was tired of waking up like that.  I still am.  It seems every day when I get up the guys have some other bit of bad news. I couldn’t bring myself to ask.  I just walked into the hall to let them know I was awake.

Wonka started when he saw me, but his voice was quiet. It was something we had all started to do over these last two months. “Hey,” he muttered hesitantly.

They didn’t know that I had already heard. I could see Wonka trying to work up the courage to tell me what happened. Chase just stared at the floor.

“Who is it?” I said.

“E304,” was all Wonka had to say.

It was Barbour’s group. 

“Okay, so what do we know?” I asked.

“We can’t see anything from the outside.  We just heard Dennis break through on the walkie. We couldn’t figure out what he was saying…it was scared whispering mostly…the only thing I could really make out was, ‘LG’s gone.’”

I sighed and leaned against the door frame. I had to fight back the lump in my throat.  I knew better than to hope.  I’ve done that too many times over the past two months just to be let down.

Wonka picked the argument back up where he left off before I arrived, “We have to at least get Dennis out of there.”

“If they have LG they have Dennis…and probably Barbour too,” Chase impatiently replied.

“You don’t know that!”

“I know that they haven’t answered the walkie for the past thirty minutes!”

“Shut up.”

I was calm when I said it. The stark contrast of my composure to their agitation was all I needed to get the point across. “We’ve already wasted enough time. You’re both right, they would probably die if they tried to save us, but they would try.  So who’s going to go; because I sure as hell don’t want to?”

There was no point trying to act brave. Everyone knows I panic when I’m anywhere near one of the Z’s.  Wonka and Chase looked at each other. They both looked at me and replied in unison:  “Hinton.”

I couldn’t help but give a morbid chuckle.  Hinton.  He almost didn’t even seem affected when Martin was quarantined and then isolated. I remember the first time we were attacked.  He took down three of the Zeds before picking up a weapon.  I wish I had his strength.  But more than that, I wish I had an ounce of his courage.

I stepped past them into the hallway and walked down to Hinton’s room at the end of the hall.  It’s funny he was always so crazy and didn’t seem well put together.  But now, he’s been our protector, almost like a father. Well maybe more of an eccentric uncle.  He and Chase taught us some self defense that they learned in basic training. These things wouldn’t help much in hand to hand with Zs, but it did help keep us in some kind of shape.  He’s also taught us odd and much more useful skills like lock picking…he’s even been joking about ways to get a Zed in captivity to help me face my fear.  I couldn’t help but smile at the thought.  I guess he’s still got some of that craziness in him.

Chase knocked and the doorknob turned.

“Hey!” Hinton quietly boomed in his normal jovial voice. But his tone soon changed when he looked at our faces. His smile was quickly replaced by worry as he asked, “What’s going on?”

We explained the situation and Hinton began gathering his things. He turned around and handed me his baseball bat, smiled, and said, “Let’s go.”

I looked at him and he looked right back at me.  He wasn’t joking.

“You’re going to have to get over it sometime. You can’t stay inside forever.”

“I know that…”

“Then let’s go!”

Putting his arm around my neck and grinning as he said it.  I looked at Wonka. I could tell from the look his sad brown eyes gave me that he felt somewhat guilty since he was the one that pushed for the rescue.

“I’ll see you fellas in a little while,” Hinton said in the usual optimistic tone he has every time he goes on one of these errands.

“Bye, guys,” was all I could manage before Hinton threw me against the wall.

“Are you coming back?” he asked with the most serious expression I’ve ever seen him wear.

“I hope so?”  I replied confusedly.

“You are.  When will you be back?”

“What?”

“When will you be back!?” He replied again frustrated.

“In a little while,” I said slowly as comprehension was finally dawning on me.

“Yes, exactly,” he took his forearm off my chest.  “Goodbyes are…,” he collected himself for a moment. “Mason said goodbye…”

It was the first time I had seen Hinton lose his cool…but it was also the first time I had heard him talk about Mason. Hinton’s little brother had died early on, before we secured Clement. Hinton never told us what happened and we never asked. But I’m guessing that’s why he’s taken such a protective role towards the other survivors in Clement.

“If ya say goodbye or bye or farewell or anything that indicates that this may be the last time you’ll see each other you’ll believe it.”

“Sorry,” I said.

Hinton smiled again and pulled me off the wall, “Don’t be sorry, just don’t say ‘See ya in bit.”

I looked at Chase and Wonka, gave a weak smile, and said, “I guess I’ll see you guys in a little bit.” Wonka and Chase slipped Hinton and me our Fraternal grip, walked with us down to the stairwell entrance, and watched us as we walked to the door.