Day 05: Stowaway

Blood splattered her skin and soaked her clothing. A gash ripped through her thigh. James fired. Josh fired and Katrina jumped for cover. A severed arm fell to the ground beside her. Its rotted fingers twitched as if trying to hold on to what little life remained. Nicole grabbed Katrina and pulled her to her feet as more zombies broke through the tree line behind them.

Together, they made a break toward the vehicles as Sophia and Josh laid down cover fire. “Where are they coming from?” Sophia shouted over the shooting.

“I don’t know but, we can’t stay here much longer. James, get over here!” Josh called as he rounded the front of his vehicle preparing for a getaway.

The groups piled into their trucks and sped from the area. “Are we whole?” James asked, looking over at Nicole. She was staring out of her window looking back at the others.

“Yeah, we’re whole. I still think we should have retrieved our stolen gear,” she groaned.

“And if something would have happened to us? We were already jumped before we even set foot inside the building. It was too dangerous. I made the call. We’ll get reinforcements and go back. End of discussion.” James sighed. He hated sounding like anyone’s dad but sometimes it couldn’t be helped. He was the oldest in the group by almost twenty years and if using his “dad voice” meant he could get Nicole to listen to reason, it was worth a shot.

The drive back to the prison was quiet. They hadn’t accomplished what they’d set out to do and in fact wasted a ton of ammo just to get clear of the area. The others wouldn’t be happy. James hopped out to open the gate before driving his SUV in and parking in the front of the building. They had some stuff at least to unload but it wasn’t the large stash of ammo that was promised.

As James rounded the back of the vehicle, something caught his attention. His hand instantly moved to the gun on his hip and he motioned for Nicole to be quiet. Josh had already driven the others around back to another parking spot and James knew he hadn’t returned that fast. Kneeling down, he slowly reached up and undid the latch of the trunk. When he sprang open he jumped back in surprise.

There, nestled between the bedrolls and crate of hand grenades was a sleeping teenage girl. Her face was dirty and her clothes were stained in dried blood. He didn’t know when she had crawled inside their vehicle or where she could have come from but, he wasn’t taking any chances. Reaching over, he grabbed a roll of duct tape to bind her but the action shook the crate beside her and the girl suddenly sprang up. The moment her eyes met with James’ she lashed out with a knife in her hand.

James reacted fast. Jumping away from the knife as it slashed through the air, barely missing his neck. Grabbing the girl’s wrist, he twisted it sharply making her scream and the knife fell from her hand to the ground. Twisting harder again, he jerked the girl from the truck to the ground as well and held her there until Nicole came around to help. 

“Let’s get her inside.” With her hands sufficiently bound with rope, the two stepped back to inspect the stranger. The girl wheezed harshly, trying to catch her breath as she too took in her environments. She was sitting in a chair in the middle of Cell Block D surrounded by seven people she didn’t know and hadn’t offered up any explanation as to how she ended up inside their truck.

“Who is she?” Theresa asked, and immediately the girl’s eyes moved to her.

“We don’t know. She’s not talking,” Nicole answered.

“Does she even speak English?” Sophia asked. It wasn’t something anyone had considered until now but they were each starting to question that fact. She moved closer to where the teen sat and spoke softly. “My name is Sophia. What’s yours?”

“Fujikawa Sumiko,” she replied in a thick Japanese accent.

“Where did you come from?” 

“Kyoto. On vacation with family.”

“Oh. Kon’nichiwa, Sumiko,” Sophia smiled. (Hello)

“You speak Japanese?” Sumiko asked.

“Three words,” she laughed. “Kon’nichiwa, Hai and Sayōnara.” Sumiko laughed. “Do you speak English?” (Hello, yes, goodbye)

Sumiko nodded. “Did you get separated from your group?” Sophia continued.

“No. No group. Alone.”

“Alone? How long have you been on your own?”

“Since outbreak.”

“You’ve been alone this entire time?”

“Hai.” (Yes)

“She’s lying,” Josh said. “There’s no way a teenager from a foreign country survived a zombie apocalypse for three years by herself. Where has she been hiding this whole time? How did she get in our trucks? She’s a spy for someone I don’t trust her.”

“Josh is right,” Billy agreed. “Something feels off with her story.”

“I hid,” Sumiko replied. “I hid from the dead people.”

“Where did you hide?” Josh pressed. “Can you show us? Take us there?”

“Sorry,” Sumiko said, lowering her head. “I don’t know the area that well.”

“Fine. Until you can figure that out you’re going in a cell. We can’t risk you running free until we know more about you.”

“Josh!” Katrina gasped at her cousin’s overly paranoid behavior. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I’m just trying to keep us all alive,” he said, taking a step forward he grabbed Sumiko by the arm, unintentionally rolling her sleeve slightly up. Instantly, he dropped his hold and stepped back. “Her arm,” Josh said. “Look at her arm!”

Moving closer, Sophia gently lifted the sleeve of Sumiko’s sweater and jumped away. “There’s a bite!” she exclaimed. “Sumiko’s been bitten.”

<----Previous -- Continue---->