The sky tinted a deep purple color as twilight came upon the Circle. Logan had managed to close his eyes for a few hours while the sun was high in the sky, but couldn’t gain any real sleep. Gordon had been the one to walk across the street and roughly shake his shoulder to wake him, then retreat to his Circle. Logan stretched and popped his achy joints, sat on the edge of the street and watched the Circle members get up themselves.
As each person was awoken, they were passed some sort of ration and weapon, placing it in their bags or on their bodies. Even Denise, the healer, had a knife strapped to her outer thigh. Ian wore a variety of weapons including pistols, various sized knives around his body, and even a rifle strapped to his back. Ian must have noticed Logan staring trying to count how many knives were attached to him because one second, he was strapping up his boots, and the next, his eyes bore into Logan’s. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Ian smirked, shook his head, and went back to pulling his boots onto his feet.
“Got something to say, little lamb?” Ian teased.
“Not really.” Logan muttered, his irritation leaking into his voice.
“Well, come out and say it then.”
“I was just wondering; why do you have so many knives on you?”
“Well each of us has a job in this Circle.” Ian explained, tightening a strap under his arm as he spoke. “Mine is the weapons rack. And before you ask, no I don’t know how to use the rifle. I just carry it around ‘cuz Gordon likes it.”
Logan nodded dumbly and resumed his waiting for the group to make their move. When they did, the Circle moved in sync with each other in a way that fascinated Logan, like a pack of wolves. A few of the faster walkers were in the front, Ian and Denise were near the middle, and Gordon lagged behind, sometimes running to the front of the procession to speak to the front runners, to Ian and Denise, and then would lag behind again, granting Logan a short grunt as Logan kept his feet on the ground.
“Where are we going?” Logan asked after a few minutes of walking when Gordon had made his way back to the end of the line.
“Your initiation.”
“Initiation?” Logan’s irritation flared up, something ugly rearing its head. “You mean to tell me that sticking a hot metal around my eye and permanently scarring my face wasn’t enough of an initiation into this life?”
“You are now a Circle, but you are not ours until you complete your initiation.” Gordon spoke calmly. “Every Circle has an initiation. We have all done it and bear the scars it brings. In exchange, we have found a new family on the outside of the Walls.”
Logan froze at the thought of gaining new scars. While he wasn’t opposed to marring his skin, he wasn’t particularly excited about it. Ian called out to Gordon and he left to meet up with the man, leaving Logan to his thoughts as he walked. They continued to walk towards a glittering city in the distance and it was only after 30 minutes of walking did Logan realize they were trying to go back to the Herd.
Logan, not wanting to deal with whatever they were planning nor did he want to see the disappointed looks on Aly’s face, waited until Gordon ran to the front of the procession again to break off from his place in line into the ditch they walked beside and run south.
Unfortunately, the Circle had other plans for him as an arrow zipped past him and imbedded itself into a tree.
“I warned you what would happen if you backed out on us, little sheep!”
Behind him, Ian raced forwards with his knife clutched tightly in his hand. Logan refused to indulge him and kept dashing forward using the ditch as a moat between him and the Circle members now chasing after him. They continued to yell out taunts at him as he ran, sounding closer each time he opened his mouth. Logan cursed his lack of stamina as his lungs burned in his chest, his heart pounded against his shaken ribs, and numbness began crawling up his legs starting at his calves. He could feel a mix of sweat and blood pouring down his face from the exertion and the now probably open wound around his eye. And yet, each time Ian opened his big mouth to taunt him, it pushed Logan another step away from them.
Logan couldn’t tell time very well, but he’d known this was the longest he’d run thus far in his life. Just as he heard another screech coming from behind him, his foot caught on something on the ground and he stumbled into a short hole, his ankle twisting uncomfortably and he allowed himself a shout of pain. His legs refused to listen to him and so with all the arm strength his exhausted body could gather, Logan pushed himself out of the hole. By now, the Circle had finally caught up with him.
“Well, well, little sheep. Looks like we’re eating good tonight.” Ian said as he played with his knife. Logan couldn’t even muster up the energy to look at the other people surrounding him, just glare weakly at Ian.
“If you’re going to kill me, do it quickly.” Logan spat in bursts of breaths. “I’d rather not have to look at you for any longer than I absolutely must.”
“Impudent bitch.”
Ian pulled his arm back with a snarl, but froze when something moved in the distance, his eyes now wide as he displayed an array of emotions: anger, confusion, horror, and finally settling on fear. With a hand gesture to his fellow members, the man ran the opposite direction towards the East. Logan groaned as he maneuvered his body to look behind him and understood why Ian left so suddenly. If he thought the number of Infected that took his home was a lot, this was ridiculous. This was a hoard of them heading directly towards where he lay panting and injured.
With a new burst of energy, Logan forced himself up onto his feet, grunting when he put too much pressure on his injured ankle, and limped as fast as he could, following the road North, and then West, away from the hoard.
As he jogged and tried desperately to ignore the pain shooting up his leg every other step, he could hear the vague groans and mumbles of the Infected behind him, some of the hoard trailing off to follow the lone ranger on the road to nowhere.
Eventually, the pain shooting like lightning up his bones numbed into nothing, but his lungs still fought against him. The Infected continued to chase after him with the hopes of gnawing on his flesh. Logan wondered what it would feel like to be eaten alive, his flesh torn from his bones and his blood pouring from his open wounds.
He let his mind wander for so long he didn’t notice the sudden drop he’d accidentally leapt off until the freezing water of the river surrounded him. His muscles froze with the sudden temperature drop and he began to sink, being drawn out the opposite direction he had been running. When his mind finally caught up with his muscles, Logan pushed himself to the surface and floated along the river, watching the Infected fall and sink into the water. Logan kept his head up for as long as he could, faintly noting the lights of the Herd on his right passing by him, before eventually sinking down below the water’s surface again.
Logan let his breath out and allowed his body to fall slowly to the bottom of the river. He watched calmly as the water rushed above him, blurring the bright white moon shining down on him, growing darker with every second without oxygen. Just before he closed his eyes and was ready to lose himself to the stream, something blocked out the moon and he felt himself rise.
And then he felt nothing.
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