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“Jess?”
The self-made zombie-killer, Jessica Traeger, slowed her tracks and looked over her shoulder at her companion. Like all of them, Magnus’ family had been taken out by the apocalypse’s onset. He had run across the street the moment he found out and sobbed to Jessica that he was sorry. So sorry, I didn’t do anything! I try to be good! What’s happening? His words in the past caught in her head even now, though they had dulled with new traumatic experiences, and she shook them out of her head forcibly every time.
“What is it, Magnus?” she asked.
He stood still, both legs in line stiff as a board, arms the same way at his sides. His blond hair had turned a shade of olive with grease and grime from the streets.
“My head hurts,” he said.
“Mine too.” She offered an empathetic smile, then faced forward again. “Let’s keep going, we’ll find some water soon.” Her heart hung with yet another flimsy promise, as she didn’t know if they would find a safe source of water to drink before sundown and early on they had discovered that travelling in the dark was too much of a risk.
She’d travelled a few feet forward before she realised she was only hearing her own footsteps. She stopped and turned back around.
“Magnus–.”
Magnus was clutching both sides of his head, and his eyes screwed up tight in concentration.
“It really hurts, Jess.”
Circling around, Jessica knelt down in front of Magnus and gently pried one hand away from his temple.
“We have to be strong, Mag. Even when we hurt,” she spoke softly. “Hurting just means we are still alive…and we have to stay alive.”
Jess studied his eyes for a sign of acceptance. After a few seconds, she realised he was frozen. Totally frozen, as in holding his breath.
“Hey, breathe with me, Mag,” Jess coaxed, then modelled an inhale from deep within his lungs. “Breathe,” she said with a long vowel sound and pushed the air back out again. “In and out.”
Magnus copied her example, starting small before working his way up to larger and larger gulps of air.
“Feel better now?” she asked.
“I– I think…”
He still looked confused.
“I don’t know…” He clutched his stomach. “I don’t feel so–...” He doubled over into Jess who caught him on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his small frame and held on, tight.
“Happy thoughts, okay?” she said. “I’ll teach you more about astronomy tonight before bed.”
His head shifted up and down against her shoulder. Something wet dripped into her t-shirt, and a second later, she heard him sniff.
“Do you remember what I talked about last night?” Still soothing, trying to get his mind off the pain.
“I-I don’t,” he said. “I can’t, Jess. I can’t remember my mom, my dad– I keep trying, but…it makes my head hurt.” He fell into another round of cries and sniffles, muffled against her shoulder.
“Shh-shh,” she reassured and held him tighter, but her mind was already reeling. Puzzles had always been a strong suit of hers, and there was nothing more fun or satisfying than putting two and two together. But in this moment, it was a burden that weighed even more heavily than the promise she couldn’t always uphold. She didn’t want to, but she pulled back and felt the back of her hand to his forehead.
Warm. But they had been in the sun all day, so it could just be that.
She picked up his hands and turned them over in her own palms. No cracks, no ashy colour.
…Check the eyes.
In order to learn as early as possible, one had to look at the eyes. The zombie plague first turned the infected’s eyes a faded yellow-orange. The colouration would start at the pupil and slowly seep outward until the entire iris had changed, signifying the uncontainable spread of the virus.
Jess held her breath and forced her gaze to focus on his.
The rich brown that he used to have had, since yesterday, faded. The colour that was seemingly seeping out from his pupils…? It was the shade of straw.
A dreadful yellow-orange.