“You got her, Luis?” Miguel asked.
“Yeah, I’ve got her.”
“Why won’t you help us?”
The wife opened her eyes and snarled. She sat up and reached for her husband. Before she could bite him, I put a bullet in her head.
“What did you do? You killed her!” the hysterical man yelled.
“This is going to be a problem!” Miguel said as I opened the gate and went out.
“We’ll handle it,” Nico replied.
“Have you been bitten?” I yelled, pointing my gun at the man. Having a gun in his face didn’t faze him as he dragged his wife into his lap, sobbing as he rocked her body.
“We came here for your help, and you killed her.”
Nico walked up to the man and slapped him across the face to try and snap him out of it. “Answer the fucking question: Have you been bitten?”
I started to circle the man, looking for any signs that he’d been bitten. Maybe he had escaped infection and could stay with us. We weren’t above bringing people in, as long as they were goodpeople. We had the space. My hopes plummeted when I saw the bite mark on his back. I met Nico’s eyes and shook my head.
Gently, Nico pulled Emery out of the way and shielded her. A move that would likely earn him a lecture later. We’d never stop trying to protect her; that was something she’d have to get used to.
Without saying anything to the man, I shot him in the head. It would be easier for him if he didn’t know it was coming.
“It looks like that last trip to town is canceled,” Miguel said as we looked at the dead bodies at our gate.
“Yep,” Nico agreed with a sigh. “Let’s get rid of the bodies and move the car to the side in case we need it.”
I holstered my gun and moved toward the car when I heard a baby crying in the backseat. We all froze in horror at the sound.
“Tell me that’s the radio,” Miguel whispered.
I approached the back seat and looked in. Sure enough, sitting in a car seat covered in blood was a baby that couldn’t have been more than two or three. “Fuck.”
Emery moved beside me and peeked into the car. “Oh, God, please tell me he hasn’t been bitten.”
She went around to the other side of the car and opened the door. “Hey, Buddy,” she crooned as she unbuckled the car seat and lifted the crying toddler into her arms. “It’s ok. I know it got really loud and scary, and we don’t know each other yet, but it’s going to be ok. You’re safe.”
“Emery, we have to check him,” Nico reminded her.
“I will,” she replied softly. “Inside, while we’re cleaning him up.” She walked away, and I stopped Nico when he went to say something else to her.
“Leave it be, brother. If he’s infected, we’ll deal with it, but let her be.”
We moved the bodies to a pit we’d already dug away from the house for this purpose and then went through the car. They hadsome clothes, diapers, and baby food packed, but not much. We kept what would be helpful to us and tossed the rest.
“Do you see a birth certificate or anything for the kid?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Miguel replied.
“They probably didn’t have time to pack it,” Nico replied.
We carried everything inside and found Emery and Camila on the couch, cooing over the now clean baby. “He wasn’t bitten,” Emery stated without looking up. “He didn’t have a single scratch on him. The blood must have belonged to his mother’s.”
“Poor dear was probably clinging to her babe, knowing it would be her last chance,” Camila murmured.
It looked like we would be going on that supply run after all.
