Wings of the Walker - CoraLee June Page 0,67

time in weeks.

“I think you’re far wilder than you give yourself credit for, Agrio ,” Mia replied with a wink.

Before I could respond, a thin man broke through the thick bushes and trees with a moan. Open sores that oozed puss and blood covered his arms and legs. He had sunken eyes and a mysterious appearance that advertised the danger he possessed. He moved like a bundle bones with a faint consciousness controlling them, and wore a frown with rotten teeth that looked like dead flowers in a vacant bed of soil.

An infected Walker.

Before the others could react, Mia grabbed a knife strapped to her thigh and chunked it at his chest. She threw her blade with the practiced speed and precision of a seasoned killer. His hard face softened at the threshold of eternity, and when the walker collapsed on impact, he let out a shrill wheeze that echoed through us. We all stood still as he twitched and groaned until his lifeless body froze, and a sob broke free from my throat.

Maverick trudged up to the lifeless body. He whispered a few words while he poured a foul-smelling brown liquid from a metallic flask over the body. Maverick then nodded his head towards Mia who corralled me away just as he dropped a lit match on the Walker.

“One of the larger neighboring camps to the west became infected three weeks ago,” Mia explained with a shaky voice. The adrenaline from her kill seemed to move with intensity throughout her. “We’ve had 15 walkers in the past two sun cycles wander near our camp, and two of our own committed suicide after coming into contact with them.”

The burning smell invaded my nose even as we walked farther from the body and towards the Scavenger tribal lands. Maverick caught up with us eventually, and I looked towards the sky and watched smoke billow up in puffs. The evidence of what happened coated the air with an ominous hue.

“I extinguished the fire,” Maverick told Mia before walking ahead of us and joining Cyler at the head of our group. The Walker’s arrival brought a solemn mood, and everyone walked in contemplative silence, each of us mourning the various lives of those the disease claimed.

Chapter Four

Once we made it towards the center of their camp, I noticed a pattern of bright-orange tarp tents that stood out amongst the abundance of trees. They were strategically placed in a circle, facing a massive white tent in the middle. Campfires roared around us, causing a smoky haze to fill the area. As we arrived, Scavengers emerged from their dwellings and jogged towards us. Children with white hair and mischievous grins ran up to Huxley and embraced him.

It was generally understood that the deadland’s water supply was toxic—tainted from nuclear war many decades ago. Scavengers were more prone to infection, and the water irritated their skin and discolored their hair. Still, many preferred the dangerous woods and tainted water supply to the restrictive and segregated nature of the Empire.

“My brother will see us soon, he’s meeting with our elders now.” Mia gestured for us to sit around a massive blazing fire that burned a strange shade of green.

I found a vacant log to sit on, and Mia plopped down next to me on my left, while Patrick joined me on my right. Patrick gripped my fumbling hand in quiet reassurance, and Mia eyed our entwined fingers with curiosity.

There was a strange and uncomfortable silence between us, and the painfully awkward situation urged me into making polite conversation with Mia.

“How did you and Huxley meet?” I asked, surprising myself with the boldness of the question. I knew that Patrick and Huxley lost their parents to an Eastern Scavenger attack, and it seemed unusual that, despite that, he would become romantically involved with one of them.

“I like to think it was fate that brought Huxley and me together,” Mia began while settling in to her seat. “I was on patrol duty, and he was hunting in the deadlands for food. It was a notably bad harvest year, which made the fool hunt further into the woods than normal. A hog speared him in his right calf with one of his tusks, and I witnessed it. Once he passed out, I placed him on my hover cart and dragged him back here. It took days to mend him. The gash was at least six inches long. Tallis and the elders took bets on how long he’d last.

"After three days,