But then she just looked around. Tears in her bloodshot eyes. Jaw shaking.
“They’re not here,” she said.
Part relief washed across Noah. Because at least if she didn’t see her parents, she wouldn’t have to think of them in this state. She wouldn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night knowing what’d happened to them, and visualising their final, clearly painful, moments.
But at the same time, Noah knew the power of the unknown. He knew the hold it could have. He knew how it could keep you awake at night, keep you hoping, keep you focused on one goal. Finding answers.
He knew if Iqrah didn’t find her parents here, she would never stop searching for them. She would keep on going as if they were alive out there. Keep on wondering.
And as much of a positive as hope could be... it could also be a dangerous killer in a world like this.
“Come on,” Noah said. “We need to get out of here.”
But Iqrah looked distant. She looked elsewhere.
“Iqrah?”
“I need to find them,” she said, stomping past him, towards the tram door, over towards the next carriage.
“Iqrah, please—”
“This is where we stayed, okay? This is where we stayed. I need to find them. I can’t just give up on them. I can’t.”
Noah stumbled after her, almost slipping on the metal floor. “Iqrah, don’t do this to yourself. Please. You’ve seen all you need to see. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But we need to leave here.”
“I’m not leaving here until I find them,” she shouted.
She stopped. Stood there in front of him. Tears in her eyes. Body shaking. He’d never seen her like this before. He’d seen her lose her composure, sure. He’d seen the child inside this teenage body several times, a child who had been forced to grow up fast in a dark new world.
But right now, he saw a lost child. A child who had nobody.
And he felt so distant from her.
He reached out. Put his hand on her shoulder. “Iqrah, please,” he said. “Don’t do this to yourself. Don’t put yourself through this.”
She looked up into his eyes. And for a moment, he thought he saw recognition. He thought he saw an acknowledgement in her eyes that he was doing the right thing for her. That he knew what was best for her.
But then she pulled her shoulder away. Went to walk to the next carriage. “I have to. I...”
She stopped.
And for a moment, Noah felt relief.
Because she’d stopped. She’d heard him. He’d got through to her.
But then Bruno looked around and whined.
Somewhere overhead, thunder rumbled.
Lightning flashed.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Something wasn’t right, and he knew Iqrah felt it too.
He looked into her eyes. Went to open his mouth to say something.
That’s when he saw them.
The figures in the distance.
Racing down the promenade.
Gasping.
Growling.
And running their way.
“Infected,” Noah said.
Chapter Seven
Noah saw the infected racing towards him, and every inch of his body froze.
There were so many of them, piling their way down the promenade, worming their way between the houses, through the little alleyways and roads. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It’d been three days since they’d come across a trace of any infected. It’d seemed quiet. Far too quiet.
And now here a whole mass of them were. Fifty at least. Like they’d been following them all this time. Waiting to ambush.
He stood there, stared at them, and tightened his fist. Iqrah looked frozen by his side. Caught between wanting to investigate the other trams for any trace of her parents and do something about these infected.
Bruno just stepped back. Kicked the ground. Growled.
Noah watched them pile through the street towards him and Iqrah. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He didn’t know how they’d found them. Didn’t know where they’d been hiding all this time.
But they were here. And even if he had been expecting to see the Society members before he saw the infected, he had to deal with whatever this bullshit world threw at him.
He grabbed Iqrah’s hand. “Come on. We need to get out of here.”
She pulled back a little. Stood her ground.
“Iqrah. We can’t stay here. There’s no time. We have to go.”
“I’m not leaving without knowing,” she said.
“Iq—”
She looked around. Glared at him. “I’m not leaving without knowing!”
He could see it already. The bloodshot eyes. That dampness around her nostrils. That redness to her face. Signs she was already tapping into that force within her. That force inside them both. The one they didn’t understand. But the one that made them both so valuable, so pursued by the Society, especially together.
The power to control the virus.
The power to turn the infected.
Noah looked into her eyes. Then looked beyond at those figures racing their way. Rain fell heavier now. The grey clouds thicker, more suffocating. The flashes of lightning in this late summer storm growing all the more frequent.
He didn’t want to have to tap into that place inside him, that place within. He’d rather resist that. It was taxing. Exhausting.
And he had a feeling it had the power to do more damage than good, sometimes.
Something inside him felt broken every time he used it. He couldn’t explain it any more than that. It was how he felt.
But he saw the oncoming infected, and he knew they had no choice now.
They were already out of time.
He squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed Iqrah’s hand. Bruno barking away between them. Rain pelting down from above.
And the shrieks and cries of the infected getting closer, closer…
“Now,” he said. “Now!”
He took a deep breath and searched for that place inside. That anger. That void. That space inside to fall into. To sink into.
But all he could focus on was his racing heart.
His fear.
Iqrah.
He had to protect her.
He held her hand tighter and searched for that place again as the footsteps grew closer.
As the shrieks and cries
