Chapter 15 - Kill or Be Killed

"Keily... are you alright?" I ask while examining him.

"He looks infected." Cory whispers over to Zhaire. "Zhaire should I-"

"Hold your fire." Zhaire says cutting him off.

"Keily can you hear me?" I ask to him.

"E...jay... please... help me." He replies to me.

What's happening? He looks infected but he's conscious. Not only that but he remembers me. Goosebumps crawl down my body as I fail to understand what's happening to him.

"Ejay please." Keily says to me once more. "I don't know what's happening to me." He adds while starting to cry.

Tears leak down his pale face as his body slowly stumbles over to me. The others watch from above in shock, speechless. All of them pointing their weapons at Keily as if they've never seen him before. I hesitate at first but I began to lower my knife.

"Keily, how did you get all the way out here?"

"I only remember pieces of it all." He replies as he tries to wipe the tears away but fails. "Some moments I feel fine, but at other moments I. I-I can't control my own body. Sometimes I can't even fix my mouth to scream. I would black out and wake up in totally different place and I wouldn't know how I get there."

"Keily listen to me your gonna be alright." I respond while taking a step closer.

"Ejay stop." Lj says to me.

"Is the blood on your shirt yours?" I ask to Keily.

"No." He replies shakily. "It's, it's, I... I."

"I don't think we can help you if you don't speak to us."

He pauses for a while, crying and staring at the ground. The sound of the rain hitting the roof outside is the only sound throughout the store.

"I, ate... a dead body." He finally mutters out. "I didn't want to I swear, but I couldn't stop myself." He says while whimpering.

I look up to the rest of the team and it's easy to read the shock that's being emitted by their facial expressions. I'm starting to feel uneasy.

"Please... Ejay... I can't control myself."

"Your gonna be alright." I reassure him. "We can help you."

I think.

"Ejay." He says as he pauses and stares at me. "....Run...."

"What?" I reply confused.

"I could feel myself slipping again.....I....said....RUN!" He yelled as he charged at me.

I was shocked. I took one step back and tripped over a piece of debris, which landed me flat on my back. I raised my knife up to protect myself but right before he went to jump on me, an arrow flew into the side of his head. His body crashes to the floor next to me as I stared, shaking intensely.

"Cory I-" I begin to say as I look up and saw an arrow still drawn into his bow.

I immediately thought it was him but everyone was looking at who actually just saved my life.

"I....I killed him." Dameer said visibly shaking and staring down at Keily's body. "I-I didn't mean, I....my hand slipped...I'm."

"Good shot kid." Zhaire says trying to calm him.

He finally looks away from the body, slowly raising and turning his head to make eye contact with Zhaire.

"He wasn't just....an infected. I-" Dameer started to say before being interrupted by Zhaire.

"You saved your teammate, no. You saved your friend. You did good."

He slowly looks back down at the body as silence fills the room. I'm still in shock at what just transpired. Keily wasn't fully infected. How?

"Ejay come back up here." Zhaire says to me.

I pick myself up slowly and as I do I watch over Keily's body. I knew him for most of my life, and now he's laying in front of me. Dead. I look up and immediately make eye contact with Lj. No surprise, he's shocked too. As I walk over to the staircase a shadow from behind me blocks out some of the light from the hole. I turn around to find Keily standing, facing me and breathing heavily. I freeze again because, what the hell. He grabs the arrow that's sticking out of the side of his head and pulls it out in one motion. Afterwards, he lets off a chilling scream that almost literally shakes the building. I raise my knife again and within a second of me doing so, Keily charged at me again. This time however he's only able to take two steps before a gunshot echoes through the building. Keily eyes turn red as he stops in front of me and slams into the concrete in front of me. This time it's easy to predict who dropped him. A silhouette stood under the hole I fell through aiming the gun at where Keily stood before.

"Thanks Zhaire." I say to him as he walks up to me.

"Don't mention it. Let's get back up to the others."

When we went back to the others the mood was dreary. Dameer was sat against a wall hanging his head and Alyssa was sat next to him trying to provide comfort. Lici was leaning against the wall next to them while Cory and Liam were standing next to the door.

"You alright bro?" Lj asked walking up to me.

"Never better." I replied.

"You guys knew who he was?" Asked Zhaire.

"He came to the city with us several weeks ago." I explained. "We came the day that sandstorm did hit and we haven't seen him since that night."

"Actually... Me and Cory saw him the next day." Dameer added still looking at the ground. "Denny brought him to our party but he left before it started."

"Wait he was there?" Asked Lyssa.

"Yeah, he left right before you and Lici came."

"Where'd he go when he left?" I asked.

"I don't know, he was sitting with Denny and he just left and didn't come back." Dameer responded.

"How did he get out here?" Lj asked under his breath.

"We should immediately get back to the city and report this when we get the chance to leave." Zhaire exclaims.

"The wind is really picking up outside." Says Lici.

I walk up to Dameer and kneel down on the opposite side of him from Alyssa.

"Thanks." I said softly to him.

He finally looks away from the ground to look at me.

"He was your friend. And I killed him."

"Actually Zhaire killed him." Cory says jumping in.

"Boy shut up." Lyssa replies.

"Yes he was my friend, but he was in a state where we probably couldn't help him. If you didn't step in I could've possibly died, so I thank you for that."

"He came to the city with family and friends..." Dameer replies looking back to the ground.

"Alright rookie listen." Zhaire says kneeling in front of him.

"I understand that your gonna want to grieve a fallen friend, but if something like this is bothering you to this extent. Maybe your not cut out to be a searcher."

"I more than cut out for this!" Dameer replied.

"Then let it go."

"How could I?! In his last words he asked for us to help him. He was scared, crying even and instead of trying to restrain him or something. We killed him. There's people in the city who cared about him, people in this room that cared about him and we're probably not even gonna carry his body back to be buried."

"Every infected walking right now once had people that cared about them. They all had family, friends and lives before they became the way they are now. Does that mean your gonna be this way every time you see one of them get killed. They are now in a state where we can't help them. All of them are now threats to the same people who once cared for them. A part of our job is to protect those people who are still able to care for others even if it means former loved ones have to be killed. I'm not saying you have to become numb to these feelings, but they shouldn't interfere with our overall goal. To make this world safer for every living person."

All I could is sit and listen. Both of them make strong points and neither of them are wrong. I don't know what to say.

"Um Zhaire, the rain stopped briefly." Said Lici. "We could start making our way back."

"Yeah let's do that." Zhaire responds as he rises to his feet.

"You did nothing wrong." Lyssa says as she also stands up.

As we exit the store into the cool and breezy atmosphere outside, there's hardly any words being said. Words are heavier than any amount of physical weight. Right now it's looking like Dameer is getting close to how much of that weight he could handle.