A new Infected was strapped down to the table. Gray was back, yanking teeth with a satisfied grin. The man on the table writhed and screamed, choking on the blood that spilled from his gums. Surly didn’t know what good it would do to try to stop Gray. He’d just go get another.
She didn’t even know why she cared. She didn’t like when things suffered, but it was how the world worked. Big ate little. Fast beat slow. Strong took weak’s food and mates and home.
But Joe cared. He wanted to change how it worked. And Surly Shirley was realizing she cared about Joe. So Gray had to stop because Joe wanted him to stop. The world had to change.
She hopped under the metal table, unseen by the men. She stood near Gray’s legs, looking for a vulnerable spot. Then she sank her beak into the meaty part of one leg. There was a clatter above her as he dropped the pliers and bent down, his hand swatting blindly. She waited until she saw his face, then pecked as hard as she could before hopping out of reach.
She’d missed his eye. Surly darted in again, grim and silent. She bit his ear and hung on for a second. Gray roared and Surly let go, intending to flutter away for another pass, but she was too late. One of the other men grabbed her right out of the air. She tried to claw his arm, but he just squeezed. It hurt and she went limp, hoping it would make him relent.
“Give me that fucking chicken,” growled Gray. The man handed her over, and Gray flung her against the wall near the trash can. She hit and tumbled, seeing stars. Surly struggled to get upright but couldn’t stand. She lay on the floor next to the can, stunned and in pain.
Gray turned back to the Infected. Surly knew she was powerless to stop him now. The screams resumed. Surly lay on the cold linoleum and listened to them for hours. She thought hearing that constant shrieking would push all the words she knew right out of her brain. All that’d be left would be the unending sound of human screaming.
At last the door opened and the cool, clean air ruffled through Surly’s feathers. She saw Joe’s boots, and then another pair. Bloody and sweating, Gray turned around from his gruesome work.
“Who the hell is this, Joe?” he asked, brandishing the pliers, a bloody tooth still clasped in them.
“I wanted to show you. I knew if you heard it for yourself, you’d help me get the Cure to the herd.”
Gray motioned for the other men to take the Infected out. “You’re from the City?” he asked the stranger.
The other pair of boots shuffled. “Yes, I’m one of the soldiers defending it. We have plenty of room. We can take you all. We just have to go a few miles and we’ll reach the nearest Cure camp—”
“There’s no such thing,” snapped Gray.
“Oh, but there is. I know it seems impossible, but the Cure works. I’ve seen it myself. It takes a few days, but they wake up perfectly sane.”
“See?” said Joe. “And the City has food and electricity, Gray. We could go back to normal there. All of us. No more fighting, no more starving, no more running from guys with more guns. We can be there tonight.”
Gray seemed to consider it as he moved closer to the two men. He dropped the pliers on the table and wiped his hands on his pants, leaving dark brown bloodstains. Surly wanted to call a warning, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know if she was paralyzed from the fall earlier or from fear. Gray was bad. All bad. Deep-down bad. He didn’t want to quit, he wanted to keep hurting forever. It was like a foul odor that came off Gray in waves. How did Joe not see it? Surly tried again to say anything, make any sound. But she couldn’t.
“Oh, Joe,” said Gray when he was standing a few inches from him, “what did you do?” His hand flashed out and he grabbed the soldier by the throat.
“No! Stop!” cried Joe, trying to pull Gray’s hand away. But he was too late. Gray flipped his knife out with his free hand and plunged it into the soldier’s neck. He released the dying man, and the soldier choked to death on his own blood as he slumped to the floor.
“I told you never to question me again, Joe. I told you what I’d do. Now you made me kill an innocent guy, ’cause you couldn’t keep your mouth shut. All you had to do was keep it zipped for two more days. Two days, Joe.”
“But he had the Cure. We can save them all—”
Gray grabbed Joe’s shirt and shook him. “When are you going to get it through your thick skull? I don’t want to save them. Nobody wants to save them. They just don’t want to have to fight ’em anymore. I’m making them useful. Obedient. Safe. Fuckable. Profitable, Joe. I’m turning lemons into lemonade. But you had to interfere. Now this guy’s friends are going to come looking for him. I’m going to have to push up the timeline. We’re going to have to move faster and get out of here tonight. Roll up your sleeves and find a pair of pliers and let’s go.”
“No,” said Joe. “I’m not helping you do this.”
Gray twisted the knife and let it shimmer in the pale light of the camp lantern.
“You want to hurt me for not helping, Gray, you go ahead and try. I think it best we part ways instead. I never joined you for this.”
Gray sneered. “You didn’t join me, Joe. I saved you. You were blind drunk in that bar because you were so scared. Just waiting to die. Just waiting to be eaten alive. I found you. I saved you. You owe me.”
“I don’t owe you this. I’m not going with you, Gray. I’ve gone along with too much. You said we were going to protect people. You said we were going to keep families safe from the Infected. And I believed you. I thought we were going to be like superheroes, fighting the zombies together and making the neighborhood normal again. I never wanted to be a slave trader or a murderer. Or a—or a pervert. I’m done. I’m going to the City. If you want to come with me, then I’ll take you. If you just want to hurt people, then I’m done.”
He took a step toward the fallen soldier, and Gray sprang after him, whistling loudly for his men. Joe turned and his arm slammed like a piston into the center of Gray’s chest. Even as he fell backward with a gasp, Gray slashed wildly at Joe, but he was too far away.
“Don’t make me hurt you, Gray,” Joe growled. But the sadist wasn’t listening. His blood was up. Gray recovered his feet and lunged again, making contact this time. The two men fell to the hard floor, and the entire shop seemed to shake. Surly tried to twitch her wings, her claws, anything to move. To help Joe.
Gray was quick and straddled Joe as they both struggled for the knife. His men were finally responding to the whistle and joined the fight, helping their boss to pin Joe down.
“I told you what would happen if you talked back, Joe. I warned you.” Gray punched Joe’s broken nose and the injured man groaned, unable to shield his face.
Surly finally managed to move one wing. She tried harder, flexing her claws.
“Joe’s betrayed us. He’d rather save those monsters than help his friends,” said Gray, getting up. As Joe moaned on the floor, clutching his face, Gray aimed a savage kick at Joe’s stomach. The other men joined in.
Surly managed to roll onto her stomach and pushed up with her feet. She was upright but dizzy. Her heart raced, and she was panting again. She had to rest for just a second.
“After everything we’ve done, Joe. We shared our food with you. Kept you from being devoured by the Infected. Gave you purpose. Let you tag along even though you were slower than the others. And you betray us?”