The old lady and Yue fell right on top of them. The falling bodies propelling all four of them into a painful submersion. The three uninfected popped back to the surface thankful not to have been bitten or had anything broken from being hit that hard. The woman didn’t pop up.
“I guess they can’t swim.” Yue choked out. She’d swallowed a good portion of the lake water. Her head had gone underwater right as her stomach collided with Drew’s shoulder.
“They can jump like crazy though. Swim!” LeBron said grabbing one of the lifejackets and kicking for the middle of the large lake. On the dock more of the infected appeared. They all stopped to take a minute to figure out where the humans were then leapt like they were being shot out of a cannon. Each time one jumped the three of them dove under the water to evade the deadly missiles. Once the surgers went underwater they lost all grip on reality and just sank. It seemed to be a stimulation similar to when the sunlight overwhelmed them.
As happy as they were to find out the infected sucked at swimming it was an even better feeling once they got far enough away that they stopped having to dodge the cannibalistic cannon balls. They swam into the setting sun. Too depressed and miserable to enjoy the sight of the golden fire dancing along the surface of the glimmering water. They swam in silence kicking through the smooth water with their shoes, clothes, backpacks, and weapons weighing them down. If Yue hadn’t had the presence of mind to fling in those life preservers, they wouldn’t have had a chance.
They swam until they couldn’t see the dock anymore. Huddling in a small circle in the water they got as close together as they could to stave off the cold. The water wasn’t cold enough that any of them were worried about instant hypothermia, but it wasn’t super comfortable either. Just in case they weren’t miserable enough clouds moved in and a light misty rain started falling.
“At least now we can talk.” Drew said in a low voice. They were in the middle of a lake with the rain coming down in the middle of the night. If they couldn’t safely have a conversation here, then they were going to all need to learn sign language.
“We can’t just tread water all night.” Yue said. They weren’t technically treading water since the lifejackets were doing most of the work. They were all exhausted from kicking and hanging on to the jackets though.
“Do we go back to the house dad’s in now?” LeBron asked. He was actually glad for all the physical exhaustion and bone chilling terror. It was distracting them all from the real tragedy. They were orphans again. Thinking that thought, swimming in the dark with his brother and sister, LeBron began to cry in earnest. He felt the arms of Yue and Drew wrap around him tightly. These were the last two people he had on this planet. He couldn’t control the great wracking sobs that shuddered through him. He couldn’t tell if it was from his dad passing or his fear that he’d lose his older siblings next. It was a mix of both and everything.
They all cried. It was cathartic and essential that they do so. Their parents had been beautiful people who loved them deeply. Losing them both in such a short amount of time hurt badly. There were holes inside of them that would likely never be filled back up. They’d still all been struggling with the loss of their mom when they’d lost their dad. A man who’d dedicated his life to protecting others as a cop and then as a father. A man who’d put his family before everything else. A man who’d want them to survive now. Bart would’ve pushed them to fight on no matter what.
All of them eventually came to that same thought. Yue, Drew and LeBron may not be related by blood, but they weren’t stepbrother or adopted foster friends or any of that crap. They were brothers and sisters. They were family. They’d live and die to support one another through this dumpster fire of a new normal. Their mom could’ve told them that already. She’d known they belonged together when she started the adoption process for each of them.
“We can’t go back to the house. It’s going to be crawling with crawlerz. They’ll probably cram in there to hide when the sun starts coming up. There’s a ton of surgers already there. Assuming they don’t finish turning today.” Drew said. He was wondering as he said it how come there’d been so many surgers. Why was it taking so long for some to turn fully into crawlerz? He’d have to ask LeBron once the kid was feeling better.
“Well we can’t just tread water all night. Eventually we’ll get hypothermia or cramps or something. Either way my pants are rubbing me raw in some seriously tender places.” Yue announced once everyone had calmed down. She was actively trying to keep her mind from drifting back to the second she’d felt the life leave her dad. He’d never regained consciousness. She hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye.
“It’s completely dark, raining and we have no idea which way shore is. Let’s get this done. Hopefully we wash up on a beach not covered in crawlerz.” Drew said. He picked a direction and started swimming expecting the others to follow. Yue did almost immediately. LeBron looked to the sky first to see if he could see
