by Ike Hamill
Their old society was doomed. It had been destroyed by forces that were beyond their control and the only thing left to do was to abandon all that nonsense and revert to a natural state. It was all so obvious now that she let herself see it.
Corinna took another step.
She could roam through the woods, heading west to see where the sun might set. When she got hungry, she could pick fruits or eat nuts. When she was thirsty, she could bend down and drink from a cool stream.
Pain was mandatory. All the suffering that she had been doing, for years and years, had been optional. There was no reason why she couldn’t just keep walking and opt out.
A face appeared in her imagination. It was the sad face of Liam. When he finally came to grips with the idea that she wasn’t coming back, he would be sad.
Corinna almost laughed out loud.
Liam was sad regardless of what happened. He had been a troubled, sad child and he had grown up into a troubled, sad man. There was no indication that anything she had done had helped or hindered his ability to be happy. The most she could boast was that she had kept him alive when he had been too young to take care of himself. That might also be the worst thing she had ever done to him. Left alone, he might have died decades before and missed all that pain and suffering. The pain had been mandatory. Liam had opted to endure the suffering.
She took another step. Looking down, she saw that her toe was right on the edge of the grass. She looked across the field as a burst of wind rippled the tall grass. It almost looked like something sinister was slipping through the grass, making it move like that.
The idea of walking across the field was so real and alluring, that she was having a hard time remembering why she had even been on the highway to begin with. There was something about running out of gas, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
An old song occurred to her.
She mumbled it to herself.
“Running low. Running on empty.”
The sound faded from between her lips.
“Wait. What am I doing?” she whispered. “I don’t want to wander off into the wilderness. Where would I sleep? There’s not enough food out there to stay alive. I would have to scrounge around night and day.”
Even as she whispered the words to herself, a different picture was forming in her head. In the mental image, food was practically everywhere. Just walking around, she would be able to pick apples and pears. There were pecans and walnuts. She might even find some squash that she could roast over an open fire. Or maybe she could find…
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” she sang. Her voice was just barely audible to her own ears.
“There aren’t any squash around here, are there? I wouldn’t know what they looked like if there were. Back at home, I’m barely good at drying wheat. What would make me think that I could stroll through the woods supporting myself on what I happened to find?”
A new song occurred to her.
This one, she sang out loud. There was nobody out here to tell her that her singing voice was terrible.
“The feel of the sun on my back, makes me want to burrow into the earth.”
Even as the words left her mouth, she felt herself shaking off the strange hypnosis that had nearly overcome her. She took a step back from the edge of the road and turned uphill again.
“Taste the soft damp dirt, and be alone with the rocks,” she sang.
She walked uphill toward the tanker.
Now that she was aware of it, she could feel the impulse creeping back in whenever she stopped singing. Even between the words, she felt the pull of the woods. A part of her wanted was drawn toward the wilderness—to walk away from all concern and responsibility and live carefree for the rest of her life.
“Short life,” she said to herself between lines. She quickly started singing again to drive away those dangerous thoughts.
Singing out loud, all alone, in the middle of nowhere, she imagined that she must look like a crazy person. It didn’t matter, as long as she survived to be embarrassed by it. She climbed into the tanker and tried to puzzle out how to drive it. Mike had shown her at one point. Lots of people back in Donnelly took turns at keeping the tankers supplied. They were like the gas stations of this broken world. Mike was purifying the fuel that was pumped out of storage tanks and then distributing it with these big trucks. The only problem was that Corinna had forgotten how to drive it.
The worst part was the damn singing. Every time she stopped singing so she could concentrate on remembering how to shift the truck, the urge to walk away came creeping back into her brain.
She was about to give up. The truck was pointed the wrong way, but she thought that she could at least figure out how to get the thing into reverse and back all the way down the hill to her truck. Then, in the side mirror, she spied the cans strapped to the truck.
Corinna smiled as she climbed down from the cab, practically shouting her song. She only knew a couple of verses, so she kept repeating them. It was easier than trying to think of a new song to sing.
“Quiet and safe in the ground, much removed from harm’s way. I’d hear distant footsteps above that lull me into deep sleep.”
Walking around the back of the truck to get one of the cans, it occurred to her that maybe the song was about her current predicament. Somehow, decades before when the world still existed, the songwriter had described this situation. The only place safe from the weird thoughts and insanity was deep below the surface. If she had just stayed in the cave…
“Then I wouldn’t have figured out the singing thing. I don’t know how important it is, but…”
Corinna realized that she had stopped moving and that she was standing there, staring off across the fields. Coughing out the first few words, she started singing again.
The first can she found was already half full. Sniffing at it, it was clearly gas. Corinna swung it as she sang her song and walked back down the hill.
The truck seemed to take forever to suck the gas into the engine. Corinna realized that she probably should have pointed it downhill, but it didn’t matter. It caught before the starter gave out and she was quickly underway. The urge to keep going—to fly right by the tanker at full speed—was almost overwhelming. She was beginning to feel like a prisoner in this little valley. She was imprisoned by the hills around her and the urge to wander off. She was imprisoned by the song that she kept repeating. The idea that she had gone crazy was growing like a fungus in her brain. Its spores had infected every corner of her thoughts. She was most certainly crazy, and it was likely that none of this was actually happening to her. Everything was in her imagination.
With that in mind, she slowed and parked next to the tanker, shutting off the truck before she could think better of the idea. Maybe next time, the truck wouldn’t start. It was too late to worry about now. Corinna reminded herself not to rush. The song was stealing her concentration, so she had to take as much time as needed.
The shadows didn’t help. As she unhooked the hose from the side of the tanker, something darted behind her and disappeared into the tall grass before she could get a good look. This time she was sure that the thing was moving through the brush. The way the branches moved and shook the leaves, it wasn’t the wind.
The hose mounted to the side of the tanker was a little loose. When Corinna turned the valve, fuel leaked onto her hand. The smell of it reminded her of her first motorcycle. For a time, her favorite motorcycle had leaked from the place where the fuel line connected to the tank. Eventually, she had fixed it, but the smell of gas still reminded her of that bike.
“Shit,” Corinna whispered.
She was standing in the grass with no memory of walking there. When she began singing again, she realized what must have happened. The shadow had startled her and she had immediately stopped singing so she wouldn’t make any noise. The wanderlust must have crept back in. Corinna was practically shouting the song as she walked back to the truck. The tank had overfilled and
gas was puddling around the truck.
Corinna sand her song, turned off the valve, and put the hose back.
The cab of the truck reeked of gasoline. Corinna shut her eyes and hummed, singing the song like a prayer, as she turned the key. A few seconds later, she was speeding north again, leaving the little valley behind.
Chapter 95: Lisa
“We’re going to have to make a move,” Lisa said. “We can’t just sit up here until we’re too weak and dehydrated to do anything.”
Ashley leaned back from the tree, stretching her arms and her neck. She snapped off a branch and tossed it at the side of the cart. They saw Tim’s hand come out and drag the stick into the shadow on the other side.
“I think he will get weaker faster than us,” Ashley said.
“What makes you say that? Did you read something about it in those journals? Do the insane people lose their stamina?”
Ashley didn’t meet her gaze and eventually shook her head.
“No. I could have been reading them wrong though.”
“What do you think they said?”
“There might have been a suggestion that the people who went insane had unexplained strength and stamina.”
“Great,” Lisa said. She heard the sound of dirt and gravel cascading down the slope and lifted herself up on her branch in time to see Penny clawing her way back up to the road.
“Run!” Ashley shouted. “Go away!”
The fur went up on Penny’s back and she was crouched low as she approached the front of the cart. Lisa couldn’t see where Tim was on the other side. He had been hiding in the shadows there for an hour or two. The whole time, he had been pretty much silent. Now, as Penny inched closer to the cart, Lisa could hear him growling like a monster.
“Please run,” Ashley whispered. “Please don’t get too close.”
“Look away,” Lisa said. She couldn’t follow her own advice. She could picture a hand shooting out from the shadows, dragging the dog to her doom. Ashley gasped when the fingers emerged into the sunlight.
Fortunately, Penny was just as shocked by what she saw. The dog turned and bolted away.
Ashley sighed with relief.
“Go find water, Penny,” Ashley called. The dog was panting and her hanging tongue was wide with the heat. It was clear that Penny was thirsty after being trapped on the hillside in the sun for so long. Penny just trotted away and parked herself in the shadow of a tree, watching.
“She’ll go if she gets thirsty enough,” Lisa said. “She’s a smart girl.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Back to us—I think it’s clear that we can’t afford to wait. At the moment, we have some distance. He doesn’t like being out in the sun. If we wait until dark, he’s probably going to be right back at the base of the tree again, trying to find a way up here.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“He’s as fast as me, but he’s not nearly as fast as you are,” Lisa said.
“How does that help? He has parked himself at the cart.”
“You jump down and run,” Lisa said. “I think you can make it. All you have to do is stay ahead of him for a while. Assuming he chases you, I’ll get in the cart and follow. All I have to do is get around him and we’ll be on our way.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then I’ll wait.”
Ashley thought about it for a second and then shook her head.
“Nope. I’m not leaving you here.”
“Then don’t,” Lisa said. “Run a hundred yards and wait. If he doesn’t start to follow you, you’ll still be close enough that we can figure something else out.”
Ashley narrowed her eyes and studied Lisa, like she suspected a trick.
“You promise?” Ashley asked.
“Promise what? Do I promise that he’s going to follow you? How should I know? No, I can’t promise that.”
Ashley shook her head and frowned.
“I don’t know,” she said, but she started to swing her leg over the branch anyway. While Lisa kept an eye on the shadow, Ashley lowered herself down and hung from the branch.
“Land carefully,” Lisa said. “Don’t turn your ankle.”
“Thanks. Now that’s all I’m thinking about.”
Ashley let go and dropped to the ground. She landed with barely a sound, touching down with bent knees and easy grace. They both watched the shadow to see if Tim would react. When he didn’t, Ashley sprinted. She veered wide around the cart and jumped over a fallen branch before she really picked up speed. Penny fell in alongside her and the dog matched her pace until they were about fifty yards down the road. The two of them stopped and turned.
Tim hadn’t moved.
Lisa sighed.
“Okay,” she whispered to herself. Then, she raised her voice and yelled, “Hey! Tim!”
He didn’t respond, but she thought she heard something moving behind the cart. The way the road turned, Ashley didn’t have a decent view into the shadows either. Lisa could only guess what he was doing.
From her position down the road. Ashley shouted something. It sounded like a question.
Lisa didn’t bother to ask her to repeat it. She figured she only had a couple of seconds before Ashley decided to do something stupid.
“It’s my turn to do something stupid,” Lisa said. She swung her legs over the side of the branch and tried to reproduce what Ashley had done. Gravity seemed to affect her differently. The moment her weight began to slip over the edge of the branch, things moved very quickly. She barely had time to get her hands around the limb, and then her arms weren’t nearly strong enough to hold her there before she lost her grip and fell. Her stiff legs hit the ground and sent a jolt up through her body.
Lisa ignored the pain and took a step.
Ashley shouted again.
“Hey, Tim,” Lisa said.
She could already hear him growling. She hadn’t needed to say anything. Somehow he sensed that she was coming closer and she imagined that he already knew that she was catchable. The same instinct that had kept him from running after Ashley or Penny was telling him that Lisa wouldn’t be able to get away.
She kept her eyes on the cart and backed up, in the opposite direction that Ashley had gone. She could hear him dragging himself across the road and then saw a twisted hand emerge from the shadow. It was trying to grip her, even though she was already putting distance between herself and the cart.
Lisa forced herself to slow down. She had to lead him far enough away before Ashley returned. Tim’s attention span was greatly diminished. If she pulled more than a few steps away, he seemed confused and unmotivated to follow. It was only when she was nearly within striking distance that he held out his hand to grasp for her and shuffled along behind.
It was easy to confuse him with the revived corpses that they had transported so many years before. That day, they had carried hundreds of exploded-eye dead up to the ball of light and the people had started moving again so they could shuffle and stumble across the ice toward their fate. Lisa reminded herself that Tim wasn’t the same. Those others had been completely uninterested in her. Tim, in his current state, would want to tear her apart. Ashley had read about it in the journals and Lisa could read it in his eyes.
Lisa moved her feet carefully. In the movies that Jim liked to watch, the protagonist would always stumbled before they were overcome by the slow-moving monster. That wasn’t going to happen to Lisa.
“Hey,” she said, getting Tim’s attention back on her. He was looking back toward Ashley for a moment, who was running back toward the cart.
After untying the rope from the bumper, Ashley started the cart and began to follow Tim and Lisa. They were making a slow march back south. Step by step, they were undoing all the progress of the trip north. On her left, bushes and rocks offered no path to escape. Lisa could imagine getting hung up for just a second and then Tim catching her in his grasping hands. To her right, the slope dropped away fast. There was
no doubt that she could slide down that hill, but Tim would simply tumble after her.
Ashley parked the cart and jogged after them.
“Can you get around him?” Ashley called.
“I don’t know. He’s fast in bursts.”
Her heart was still pounding from a minute before when she had failed to keep her distance. For a moment, it had looked like Tim was stumbling and might fall. Then she realized that he had tilted himself forward in order to throw himself at her. It had nearly succeeded.
Ashley was fiddling with the rope.
As she approached Tim from behind, he seemed to sense her and he spun in his tracks.
“Hey!” Lisa shouted. “Focus on me, Tim.” It felt weird to call him by his name. The thing between her and Ashley was definitely not Tim.
He didn’t take the bait. Even though she was farther away, Tim was drawn to Ashley as she worked on tying the end of the rope.
“Hey!” Lisa shouted again. She gathered herself and ran forward, swatting Tim’s shoulder and then backing away fast. It was almost not fast enough. When Tim turned back toward her, it was so quick that he nearly startled her into tripping. Lisa caught her balance and managed to even her pace out just in time.
On the other side of Tim, Ashley threw the rope. The improvised lasso hit his shoulder and he spun again, catching the rope with his arm.
“Oh, shit,” Ashley said. She threw the whole bundle of rope. At first, Lisa thought that she was just trying to get Tim tangled up in the rope, but when it sailed over his head, Lisa understood. It tumbled to the ground on the other side of Tim and uncoiled. As he began to lurch toward Ashley, the rope caught on his other elbow. Lisa bent and quickly gathered it up. Just before she threw it, she gave it a little tug, setting the loop on his arm.
They had one good loop around him when the rope passed to Tim’s left. Ashley darted forward, getting way too close to Tim’s grasping fingers.