What Remains

Den, Callum and the other four members of Callum’s squad leave Haven at first light, as planned. Each of them is armed with a pre-apocalypse assault rifle. None of them know what its official name or designation is. Such things don’t matter now seeing as it’s the only type of assault rifle they have. What matters is that the weapons are clean and loaded, which they are.

They also have a couple hundred rounds of extra ammunition between them in addition to five days worth of supplies. It’s as much as they could feasibly take, both in terms of being able to carry the supplies and what they can spare without causing a negative effect on the patrols that will still protect Haven.

Each of them is also thankful that its late spring, as trying to cross the steep inclines and valleys of the region in autumn or winter would otherwise be almost impossible. Plus there is the added bonus of the temperature being mild at this time of year.

Den leads the way, with Callum close behind him. The other four members of the squad are a little further back, but still move in a single file line with John Campos at the head of them and Tom Hicks at the rear. Tom is the youngest member of the squad along with Sasha Graves. Both are twenty four and have never left Haven before today.

“Isn’t this exciting?” Tom says as his head swings this way and that drinking in all the sights and sounds around him. None of them are alien to the young man, but now that he is beyond the limits of Haven they all seem so much closer and considerably more impressive. He doesn’t know why.

“I guess.” Yelena Ferro says with a shrug.

Yelena is older at twenty eight. She joined the patrols at seventeen. She’s been outside of the confines of Haven, which she would never describe as confining, numerous times. There is no wonder in it for her like there is for Tom.

“We need to keep moving. Forest up ahead.” Callum calls back over his shoulder. He isn’t going to tell his squad to cut the chatter, but they do need to pick up the pace. He doesn’t want to be out here in the open when night falls. That would just be asking for trouble, he is sure as he falls in alongside Den.

“What you thinking?” Callum asks after a few steps.

“That I hope we don’t have to climb any mountains.” Den replies with a chuckle.

“No faith in my team?” Callum replies jokingly.

“No faith in me. I haven’t climbed in years. How about you?” Den says honestly.

“You know the answer Den. So I’m right alongside you on that.” Callum replies before both men burst into raucous laughter. It surprises Callum that Den seems so calm. He’d expected his old friend to be coiled up like a spring, on edge, all business. It’s good to see he’s wrong.

Suddenly they hear a rustling sound off to their left. Both men freeze as they raise their weapons. Neither says anything to the other as a bird appears from behind some shrubs as it climbs higher up into the sky with every beat of its wings. They look at each other both shake their heads and then drop their weapons. Maybe neither of us is as relaxed as we seem, Callum thinks.

We’re on edge, Den thinks as he turns to look back at the rest of the squad. They have caught up now. Den feels like an old man as he casts his eyes over the four of them. He knows he might not be much older than John Campos or even Yelena Ferro, four or five years at most, be it feels like much more. He only hopes this ends as well as he wants it to. It’s been a long time since he’s lost anyone in the field and even that had been outside of his control. Wade Roberts had been his name and he’d been one of the first victims of the cannibals. That was back when everyone still thought the attacks had to be the result of wild animals attacking out of desperation. In fact, if Den recalls correctly, Wade had been the fourth victim. That means he died over three months ago, Den realises suddenly as he shakes his head.

The man had been out drinking and by looks of things had been on his way back to his cabin when he’d been jumped. He’d even managed to make it to within a hundred yards of his cabin when it happened. They’d found evidence that he’d tried to run. If only Wade hadn’t been stubborn and insisted on living out on the very outer edge of Haven’s territory. But if he hadn’t lived out there would the end result really have been any different? If it hadn’t been Wade it would have been someone else. That doesn’t make it any better in Den’s eyes, but it is the truth.

“Jumping at birds now.” Callum says with a chuckle and a shake of his head. He and Den have definitely become jumpier since the cannibal attacks. He really hopes they can find the camp and put a stop to this. He doesn’t know if Den thinks it’ll only end one way, but Callum does. Those cannibals will have to die. It’s either Haven or the cannibals and Callum will pick the cannibals every time as a sacrifice over the people of Haven. None of the citizens have done anything to deserve the brutality that is being inflicted upon them, after all. He knows the people have been living in fear the last few months since these attacks started. He’s seen it in their eyes as he’s passed them on the streets.

“Let’s just keep moving.” Den says as the other four members of the squad pass them. They haven’t made as much progress as he’d hoped they would, mainly because the terrain is much steeper than he’d anticipated. He blames himself for that and rightly so, but it doesn’t change the fact that they have a lot of ground to cover and no idea where the cannibals are. All he knows is that he can’t imagine that they can be too far. Especially as they only ever attack at night, which means unless they are camping near Haven and he knows for a fact that they aren’t. That means that they must cover the distance in half a day or less. The problem is you can get quite a good distance in half a day, especially when you’re used to it, which considering as the attacks have been increasing in frequency they must be. It puts him and his squad, he knows that the squad is Callum’s really but seeing as he is the head of the patrols they are his squad too, at a disadvantage. He just hopes the cannibals have no weapons. He doesn’t recall there ever having been note of them in the reports, but that doesn’t mean they can take that as red.

In fact, there are many things they don’t know about these cannibals other than where they’re from and where they’re based, such as how they became cannibals, their numbers and capabilities.

He knows Enrique thinks he’s being brazen by marching off into these wilds in search of them, but there really isn’t another option. The longer the cannibals are able to attack and kill the people of Haven the more likely it is that those remaining people will take matters into their own hands. Den knows that Haven can’t afford for that to happen. They’re a small community after all and while there are others like Haven scattered about the nearest is some eight days hike, from what they understand.

Yelena takes note of just how tall these trees are and how uneven the ground beneath her feet is as a result. It makes taking even a single step a dance with injury, but she continues forward as she wonders where the cannibals could be. She knows the plan is to cover this wide area all of which is within half a day’s walk, but who’s to say the cannibals even stay in one place. Maybe they keep on the move. Strike, settle, strike, settle. They could be chasing them round and round in circles without any hope of ever finding them. Though, she has to admit that there isn’t really any other option and understands why Den is doing it. She also agrees that it’s better than the elders’ plan of just trying to continue as normal. They’ve tried that for the last few months and it’s gotten them nowhere. Well in truth that isn’t true, it’s gotten more people dead. And that’s why she’s happy someone is doing something about it, even if the plan does seem more than a tad desperate.

Suddenly Yelena gets the feeling that she is being watched. The feeling makes her skin crawl as her head whips round searching. She doesn’t know what she hopes to find. Nothing, a voice in her head screams fearfully and she has to admit that she agrees, but what she does find is a smiling Tom close behind her. But it isn’t him that is making her skin crawl, he’s too busy gazing at all the sights around him. He only looked her way because her head came whipping round.

It’s like he’s never seen the world before, she notes. She doesn’t understand it, but she isn’t about to knock him for it. Everyone is different, she thinks as she looks up realising now that the canopy of the forest is much thicker and has blotted out a lot of the natural light as a result. At this rate we’ll need to use our torches to navigate this, she thinks as she steps over a cluster of entwined roots. It amazes her that Tom hasn’t tripped over as she hears a rustling sound. Her head snaps to her right but there are too many tree trunks for her to get a clear view of what might have caused the sound.

It’s just in your head, Yelena tells herself as she focuses on Sasha and John chatting ahead of her. Yelena is sure Sasha has feelings for the older squad member but she has no idea why. There’s nothing wrong with the guy who has thick black hair and brown eyes, but he certainly wouldn’t be her first pick. Maybe it’s because he’s only a hair taller than her, she doesn’t know. More likely it’s because he’s a member of her squad. She doesn’t know if he has kids, if he does then he never talks about them, so that makes her assume he doesn’t. Men with kids never stay quiet about it forever. At some point they have to brag about how great their kid is. Women do much the same as well she knows. It’s a parent thing. Yelena isn’t a parent. In fact, she’s pretty sure now that she thinks about it that none of the squad members are. It makes her wonder if that is why Callum chose each of them. Not today for his mission explicitly, but when building his squad. Before that he’d been a member in Den’s squad. That was back before Den was head of the patrols. It’s a strange title for what is essentially head of security, but Yelena’s just accepts that sometimes titles are odd. She doesn’t have one of her own and isn’t sure she’d want one anyway. They’re messy and too restrictive, at least in her eyes. But then hasn’t Den proved that to be false, she thinks as she inhales deeply tasting what should be fresh air. Except the air isn’t fresh. There’s a repugnant taste on it that she can feel attacking the back of her throat. It’s a taste that shouldn’t be there and it makes her nose wrinkle with disgust in response.

“Ok. Who didn’t shower before we left?” Yelena asks bluntly. She knows it has to be one of them. Her guess is one of the men, but that isn’t necessarily true.

“What?” John exclaims with what sounds like guilt to Yelena.

“I smell BO. Not cool.” Yelena adds sure that it’s John.

“I don’t smell anything.” Sasha adds as she glances over her shoulder at Yelena.

“What about you Tom?” Yelena asks. Her nose still screwed up. Wow that’s a lot of BO, she thinks as the intensity of the smell starts to threaten to make her gag.

Yelena gets no answer to her question. He’s caught up in his gazing wondrously at everything again, she thinks as she turns round. But he isn’t there.

“He’s gone. Tom’s gone.” Yelena exclaims in shock. The others hear her words, stop and turn. She isn’t wrong they all think. Tom Hicks the five foot ten tall young man with a shaved head and hazel eyes really is gone.

“He was here just a minute ago.” Yelena continues as her head turns left and right attempting to seek him out. The smell of body odour continues to linger in her nostrils. Maybe it was Tom she thinks. Maybe what’s why he’s ducked away? He’s trying to freshen up. But then why has it taken her this long for her to catch the scent, she wonders. And it also doesn’t explain why he hasn’t answered her. She suddenly feels on edge. Something is wrong. This isn’t the result of embarrassment, a voice in her head says as she feels like she is being watched again.

“He can’t have gotten far.” Den offers as he comes to a halt at Yelena’s side.

“Tom. Tom! Where are you?” Den calls. His attempts at calling to the young man however receive to reply.

“Fan out?” Callum asks. It’s like he’s read Den’s mind, which is why he simply nods in the seconds before Callum gestures that Sasha and John fan out. Both make sure to keep their weapons down but ready in their hands. They know they can’t be too careful out here.

Den sniffs several times and catches the odour that Yelena must have been talking about. It sticks to the back of his throat and leaves a disgusting taste in his mouth that makes him sneer reflexively.

“Is that the smell you meant Lena?” Den asks looking to Yelena who simply nods as she slides the assault rifle and its twenty five round magazine off her shoulder.

“Yeah, but there’s something else I feel like…” Yelena begins.

“Over here.” Callum calls with a panicked tone of voice.

Den can hear the panic as he races toward Callum who isn’t far away from them. He leaps root clusters as he goes. John and Sasha do much the same, but are heading toward Callum from the opposing side to Den.

Callum is knelt down cursing to himself when Den arrives. At first he doesn’t realise what he’s looking at and then it dawns on him. His stomach drops as he realises Tom is dead. His throat has been torn out, his face clawed at. His body is soaked in blood. He can just about see a ragged tear beneath the young man’s shirt as he raises his weapon in response.

“He’s gone Den.” Callum advises as Sasha and John arrive. Sasha gags while John simply shakes his head, his eyes are wide. Sasha buries her face into his shoulder, her eyes closed tightly. Sasha has never seen such brutality. Somehow she has thus far managed to avoid being on the scene at any of the killings in Haven. She realises now how thankful for that she should have been.

“Where’s Lena?” Callum then asks after rolling Tom’s eyelids closed.

Den whips round to see Yelena still in the same position he’d left her, but suddenly he sees something in the upper edge of his eye line. Den looks up the barrel of his weapon following his eye line as it rises.

“Lena!” Den screams as a white form drops from the canopy above.

The white form lands right on Yelena. It impact and weight of the form knocks her to the floor. Callum springs back to his feet, John and Sasha raise their weapons too, but as they do more forms drop from above. It’s an ambush, Den thinks as Callum opens fire. The bullets shred the stomach of the cannibal closest to him, but the thing doesn’t go down. Instead, it still tries to rush him, but this time he fires a burst into the cannibals’ chest, left side. The body drops with a deadened thud and never rises again.

Den meanwhile breaks into a run toward Yelena who is busily trying to break free. Suddenly she screams in agony as the cannibal bites into her right leg seconds before Den arrives. He kicks the cannibal in the gut which sends it spiralling in the air. As soon as it lands on its back he fires two bursts into the flesh hungry pale form. One burst he puts into the cannibals’ chest, the other into its head. The cannibal never moves again as its wild eyes stare lifelessly up at the canopy above.

Sasha, John and Callum quickly form a closed ring that allows them to cover all angles. Each of them fire bursts from their weapons as the cannibal come into view. But none of the cannibals go down easily.

If only we had sights, Callum thinks as the three of them continue to press forward toward Den and Yelena.

Den drops into a kneeling position next to Yelena who is spitting and cursing loudly as he fires. She opens fire to but isn’t aiming. Instead, she’s just trying to keep the cannibals at bay even as Callum, John and Sasha arrive and join them.

“Sasha you work on Lena while we cover.” Den orders as he fires another burst which tears into a rushing cannibal’s chest. It goes down and stays down. Callum and John gather on either side of Den so that they are forming a perimeter around Sasha and Yelena, who is no longer firing her weapon.

“Hold still this is going to hurt.” Sasha says as she rolls Yelena onto her stomach so she can get a look at the wound.

“Holy shit!” Sasha exclaims seeing the wound. She has never seen a bite mark, at least not a human one on another human that is.

Sasha gags, this is the first time she’s ever been faced with dressing a wound like this and the sight of the gore is almost overwhelming for her. But she has to do this, she thinks as she quickly bandages Yelena’s leg, below the knee. The wound is ragged and some of her flesh has been torn free leaving the whole area a mess. Sasha had no idea human teeth could cause this kind of damage.

“Fuck!” Yelena keeps spitting over and over again as the pain and Sasha’s bandaging makes her wince.

The firing stops at about the same time as Sasha finishes bandaging the wound on Yelena’s leg. She still feels nauseous and knows that it’ll need proper treatment, but notes that it’ll have to do for now.

“Clear!” Den calls.

His response is copied by Callum and John a couple seconds later to confirm that there are no more cannibals attacking. Den shakes his head as he rises back to his feet. He looks up convinced the attack isn’t over, but finds no cannibals loitering in the canopy above them. He is thankful for that as he exhales sharply.

Callum meanwhile slides a new magazine in place of the old one in his assault rifle and then looks to John before finally shifting his gaze down to Sasha. John takes the hint and drops into a squat before asking Sasha if she’s ok. Callum doesn’t hear the answer as he joins Den.

“Think we found their camp?” Callum asks.

“No. But I think we’re getting close.” Den replies.

“First time I’ve seen one of those things up close before. They’re very pale and those eyes are wrong. Just like that kid Jessica said.”

“Yeah. They were slower though.” Den adds with a nod.

“She might have been wrong about their speed.” Callum offers.

“Doubt it; she was right about everything else.” Den says as he throws the assault rifle over his shoulder and turns to Yelena to offer her his hand.

“I’m ok. What about Tom?” Yelena asks. She isn’t ok and Den can tell seeing as he’s known Yelena, in some fashion or another, since she was nineteen.

“They got him. He didn’t make it.” Den answers with a sombre look. His head bowed.

“Shit!” Yelena spits. She liked the kid. He was too young to die, especially out here like this.

“Can you walk?” John asks. He saw enough of the wound on the back of her leg while Sasha was patching her up to seriously doubt it. But he isn’t about to contradict her if she says she is. She’ll have to find that out on her own. That’s Yelena’s way, he knows.

“Yeah, I think so.” Yelena says as she tries to stand. But as soon as she manages to get to her feet and take a step her leg fails and she drops back toward the uneven ground. John and Den both manage to catch her as she curses loudly.

“Maybe not then.” Yelena concludes after a short time. She hates to admit that she can’t cope but truth is the damage to her leg is bad. She knows it, they all do.

Sasha is still pale, as well as a little green around the edges, though she still isn’t as pale as the things that just attacked them, Yelena notes.

“We should go back.” Sasha says now that John is propping Yelena up. She’s worried about Yelena. That wound looked real bad and out here it isn’t likely to get any better any time soon.

“No, we have to find those things and end this.” Den counters. He knows Yelena is hurt and they’ve lost Tom. Why the youngest? He thinks to himself cursing, but if they don’t follow this through to the end many more will suffer a similar fate to his.

“Den’s right. We’ve come this far. If they’re attacking like that it means they’re scared.” Callum adds trying to reassure the remaining members of his squad. But he, like them, feels the loss of Tom. He’ll deal with the death later, when this is over. Now isn’t the time and he knows that.

“Well I’m in. I want some payback against those bastards.” Yelena says angrily.

“Well I’m her crutch, so I go where Lena goes.” John confirms with a forced half smile. He’s trying to lighten the mood even though he doesn’t feel like it and isn’t sure it’s appropriate.

“Sasha?” Callum asks looking at the one among them who is now the undisputed youngest.

“For Tom.” Sasha answers suddenly. She doesn’t know why. Maybe it’s the great wave of anger that washes over her suddenly. Yeah, it is she think as she realises that she wants revenge. She knows it might be stupid or even reckless, but that is what she wants. No one deserves to die the way he did. She can’t get the images of his corpse, or the wound on Yelena’s leg, out of her head. But she doesn’t feel sick now like she did before. Instead, the images fuel her desire to push on and to stop something like this ever happening to anyone ever again.

“Then let’s move out.” Den orders as he turns in the direction a few of the cannibals fled desperately. He quickly breaks into an awkward stride. His feet hesitating as he carefully scans where to can put each boot down on such uneven terrain.

They’ve suffered enough pain already without him being careless and injuring himself. He might be determined to bring the cannibals attacks to an end but that doesn’t mean he plans on being reckless. Though, he is cursing himself for having lost Tom. He knew loses were a possibility, but he never thought they’d be ambushed. He underestimated the cannibals and it cost someone their life. He knows he has to do better.

Callum covers the rear of his squad with Sasha at his side, while John helps Yelena to continue moving, albeit much slower now. Callum wishes they could take Tom’s body with them instead of leave him out here, but they can’t. Burying him would have been an option if not for the fact that they have been out here for six hours trekking and can’t risk delaying any longer.

Nightfall was always going to be a problem and that was when there were still six of them. Now there are only five and it’s clear, to him at least, that this forest is a normal route through which the cannibals traverse. That means that they can’t camp here. If they do they’ll be picked off, he is sure of that. If only I’d brought some flammable fluid he thinks, but he knows he hasn’t. In fact, Haven is running low on supplies like that. However, they are at this time still able to manufacture bullets. Most are made from reused casings along with some scrap metal that some of the citizens have managed to gather. He isn’t sure where it’s all come from or what it was used for before, but he knows it won’t last forever. Once it’s gone he has no idea what they’ll use to defend themselves, and that is one of the reasons Den wants this cannibal problem dealt with as soon as possible.

His old friend, who he grew up spending all his spare time with, had wanted to nip the issue in the bud as soon as Jessica had informed them that it was people killing the citizens of Haven. Elder Enrique hadn’t allowed it then and that at the very least a couple months ago. It’s why Den had tasked Callum with finding a way for him to go on the offensive against the cannibals without causing a coup. His old friend had been very explicit in his wishes of not wanting this to result in Enrique being replaced or usurped long term. Den was sure that if that happened it would have only led to issues between the citizens, and in Den’s eyes there has been more than enough violence already.