The Other Life

by Susanne Winnacker

  Bobby, wanting to play tough again, walked up to Joshua and looked into the freezer with him. Grandma watched everything with a frown, but her hands didn’t stop.

  Click. Click.

  I took a deep breath and forced my legs to carry me over to the freezer too. Don’t look down.

  My eyes darted down. Stupid idea. My stomach twisted and turned, my throat tightening. I looked away. This…thing…didn’t look like Grandpa. Joshua moved closer. “We can wrap the body in a blanket and put it in the trunk of Geoffrey’s car. Then he can take it with them to Safe-haven.”

  I blinked at him. “Are you kidding?”

  His blue eyes were grave. “That, or we leave your grandmother here. It’s your decision. But we need to hurry, or it might be too late for your father.”

  Too late.

  I gave a nod. “Okay.”

  Mom must have listened to everything, because she stared at us with wide eyes. “What do you mean, ‘too late for your father’? It can’t be too late! You said you could rescue him.” Her eyes darted between Joshua and me.

  “It’s fine, Mom. Don’t worry. We’ll bring him back. We just need to hurry and get everyone out of here. Even Grandma.”

  I walked up to Grandma. “We’re taking Grandpa with us.”

  That caught her attention and she put her knitting needles down. Wow, that was a first.

  “Are we?” she asked.

  “Yes.” I stripped one of the beds of its blanket. “Take Mia and Bobby with you, Mom. We’ll be right behind.”

  “I’ll fetch Geoffrey. We’ll need his help.” Joshua rushed past my mother out of the bunker and returned with Geoffrey a moment later.

  My mother greeted him with a brief handshake, before leaving the bunker with Mia in her arms and a protesting Bobby in her wake. If I’d been as pale as him, I wouldn’t have played the tough guy.

  Geoffrey looked around the bunker with a curious expression. His face brightened when his eyes landed on Dad’s radio receiver.

  “Does it work?” He stared at me like a child on Christmas morning.

  I shrugged. “I’m not sure. Until a few months ago we used it to talk to our neighbours, but since then the only sound coming from it has been hissing.”

  Geoffrey nodded. “Do you mind if I take it with me?”

  “Sure. It’s not like anyone’s left who could use it.”

  “Let’s get the body out first,” Joshua interrupted, with a nod towards the freezer.

  Geoffrey and Joshua began trying to lift Grandpa from the freezer. It took them a few minutes. He was stuck to the bottom and finally came free with a ripping sound. I retched. It didn’t help that my stomach seemed to have moved to the back of my throat. Grandma watched everything with a faint smile on her wrinkled face. What the hell was there to smile about?

  As Joshua and Geoffrey wrapped Grandpa in a blanket, they almost dropped him. Joshua made a desperate grab, accidentally wrenching a frozen, white arm out to ninety degrees.

  I put my hand on Grandma’s shoulder and steered her towards the staircase. She kept throwing glances at Joshua and Geoffrey while they carried Grandpa. She looked pleased.

  “Mind the step,” I warned. With some gentle pushing, I got her upstairs. She’d even forgotten her yarn and knitting needles.

  Mom, Bobby and Mia waited in the living room for us, staring at the soot-covered windows. I should have mentioned the bombardment. They would find out soon enough. Joshua and Geoffrey had hidden Grandpa’s arm in the blanket and to my relief you couldn’t tell what they were carrying. Mia would never realize that it was a body. I grabbed the handle of the front door.

  “Gun!”

  I jumped, my heart hammering in my chest. I glared at Joshua. Did he have to shout? I grabbed the gun from my waistband and opened the door a crack, weapon pointed at possible attackers. There was nobody around, except for a crow. It hopped across the sidewalk, its black eyes fearless. It didn’t even bother to fly away.

  “Sunlight.” Grandma’s face brimmed over with amazement. “But tell me, Sherry, where are all the neighbours?”

  “They’re gone, Gran,” I said as I led her to Geoffrey’s car. I made her sit down in the back seat, while Geoffrey and Joshua heaved Grandpa’s body into the trunk and snapped the lid shut. Geoffrey hurried back into the house and returned with the radio receiver in his arms a few minutes later. He checked the wires and buttons as he walked, but managed not to stumble over his feet as he headed our way.

  “It looks intact. Maybe I can get it running in Safe-haven,” he said excitedly.

  Bobby, Mom and Mia stood on the lawn in front of our house. Their eyes were fixed on downtown LA. Or what was left of it.

  Joshua looked at his watch. “We need to hurry.”

  Mom shook herself, then led Mia towards the car, while Bobby trailed behind them. He looked shaken. I was oddly calm. The sight of the destruction didn’t bother me any more, though I knew it should. Perhaps Joshua was right. Maybe soon danger would be routine for me, like school and Izzy had been before.

  1,142 days since the other life had ended.

  “It’s so quiet,” Mom said. Mia slipped into the back seat with Grandma. Bobby crossed his arms in front of his chest and jutted out his chin like he used to do when we battled for the last s’more.

  “I want to come with you. I want to help.”

  “No.” Mom’s voice was firm. Final. She didn’t even look at him. Her eyes were fixed on the remains of our hometown. “You won’t go with them. It’s bad enough that Sherry risks her life…” A sob stopped her.

  “Get into the car, Bobby,” I said, nodding towards the open door. Defiance crossed his face, but with another sob from Mom, it crumbled.

  “Mom needs you,” I whispered.

  He let out a low breath before he got into the car. “Kick some ass, Sherry.”

  I gave him a big smile as I closed the door. That was the Bobby I loved. Mom turned from the Los Angeles skyline and gazed at me, her lips quivering.

  “Sherry.” Her voice broke. She cleared her throat, blinking a few times. “I don’t want to lose you, too.”

  I forced a smile. “You won’t lose me, Mom. Joshua and I will find Dad and bring him back.” I opened the passenger door for her. “Now get in the car. Geoffrey looks impatient.”

  She sank down on the seat. Before she could say any more, I threw the door shut and ran to the other car. Joshua started the engine. Geoffrey’s car headed off in the direction we’d come from. Back to Safe-haven with my family. Well, what was left of it.

  “Tired?” Grandpa turned the wire basket.

  “Hmm.”

  Bobby lay on his stomach, his mouth open, sleeping soundly. Grass and some stray leaves stuck to his hair.

  I turned my head, my eyes searching the night sky. So many stars.

  The soft rustling of the trees and the crackling of the campfire were the only sounds.

  “You sure you don’t want the last one?” Grandpa asked.

  He pulled the stick from the fire. A droplet of chocolate dripped from between the graham crackers and into the flames. The fire sizzled, the flames reaching even higher.

  Grandpa put the s’more on a paper plate and held it out to me. His eyes glimmered. He knew I couldn’t resist.

  The smoky smell of roasted marshmallow filled my nose. I grabbed the plate.

  More s’mores. A motto Bobby and I lived by.

  Our search for Dad could finally begin. But what if we didn’t find him? I swallowed hard. We’d find him. We had to. The alternative was too horrific to contemplate.

  The sun had risen and it was starting to get warmer. The Lincoln’s air conditioning was broken, so we opened the windows. The air was fresh. Without millions of cars driving on the streets, the air quality had improved. No smog. It was the only good thing so far about this situation.

  “Where are we going?” I asked into the silence.

  Joshua reached for the glove compartment. His arm brushed my legs.
I shifted, hoping he wouldn’t notice my heated cheeks. His touch sent tingles through my body. I wasn’t sure if it was from fear or Joshua’s touch, but it felt strange to have feelings like this. He opened the glove compartment and brought out a map.

  “Here.” He put it on my lap, patted it once, and returned his eyes to the street. “I’ve marked places on the map where I’ve found lots of Weepers. I call those places nests.”

  Nests.

  I unfolded the paper and looked at it. It was a map of Los Angeles and its suburbs. My grip on the edges of the map tightened, crumpling the paper. There were a dozen crosses all over the map. So many of them. It would take for ever to search them.

  “We’ll check them all. The nests in Westlake and Jefferson Park are abandoned as far as I know, but we’ll check them too.”

  “Do you think they’ll be there?” I asked.

  “Probably. They tend to sleep during the day as far as I can tell. But some might be on the hunt. They’re all very different. They even look different. Kind of like dogs, I guess. A Chihuahua and a Great Dane don’t look alike, yet they’re both dogs. It’s the same with Weepers. Some look like furry beasts and some look almost like normal people.”

  I tried to picture them. But I’d only seen one Weeper in the dim light of the supermarket. I’d never forget those wild eyes though.

  “Karen said you hunt them.”

  “I’ve been hunting them from the day I came out of that damn bunker.” His tone had hardened.

  “Aren’t you afraid? She told me that you’ve been injured before. They could kill you.”

  Joshua looked at me as if the answer to my question was obvious. But it wasn’t – at least, not to me.

  “Sometimes, when I hunt them at night and feel them lurking in the shadows, waiting to attack, I’m afraid.” He shrugged as if it wasn’t important. “But then I think of everything they’ve done and about the people I might save, and anger wins over fear. They are killers. Sleep, eat, kill – it’s all they do.”

  I took a deep breath. His words were hard to stomach. He seemed to care so little about his own safety, his own life. “Have you saved people before?”

  “I’ve brought a few to Safe-haven. Only Tyler survived though.”

  “They all died?” My hands became clammy and I had to dry them on my jeans. What if Dad died? Would we be risking our lives in vain?

  Joshua nodded. “Some were badly injured and died from their wounds. Others died from the rabies. Some survived the rabies, but they changed.” He clenched his jaw. The only sign of emotion. “They became Weepers.”

  “What happened to them?” I held my breath, my nails digging into the fabric of my jeans. I had a feeling it would be horrible.

  Joshua laughed darkly. “What do you think happened to them? We couldn’t keep them in Safe-haven and we couldn’t let them go.”

  I exhaled, the air leaving my lungs in a rush. My mouth went dry. “You killed them?”

  “Geoffrey or me. It wasn’t as if we had a choice. They knew where Safe-haven was. They’d have returned and tried to kill everyone.”

  I licked my lips but it didn’t help with the dryness. “You did the right thing.”

  “Sometimes I’m not so sure. Killing Weepers that are prowling the street is bearable. But killing someone you’ve known as a person…” He trailed off.

  We sat in silence for a moment. I shifted in my seat. “Karen said Tyler was badly injured.” I started playing with the edges of the map.

  “Yeah, Tyler was a mess. At first he was in some kind of delirium caused by fever. He muttered non-stop, but the moment he came around he stopped talking altogether.”

  “What was he saying while he was unconscious?”

  “He said one thing over and over again. ‘Fence, there’s a fence.’”

  “Fence? What fence?”

  Joshua shrugged. “Don’t know. I don’t think he does either. Tyler’s a nice guy, but he’s gone totally nuts. I was surprised when he made it. I thought he’d die. But Larry wasn’t in much better shape when he and Karen showed up at Safe-haven. She took care of Larry, and then when I brought Tyler, she did the same for him. Without her, they’d both be dead.” His voice had become soft as he spoke about Karen – he liked her. Maybe she’d taken the place of his mother.

  I wondered what had happened to his parents, but didn’t dare ask.

  Joshua slowed the car. I noticed that most of the surrounding houses had been bombed. Some were burned down to the ground, while others were almost intact, with only their windows smashed. Debris littered the streets, forcing Joshua to steer the car around chunks of concrete in a zigzag.

  I retrieved the gun that I’d put next to my feet and held it in my hands.

  Joshua stopped the car at the kerb. There were other cars in front and behind us, so the Lincoln didn’t stand out too much. Huge warehouses towered above the streets, their faded signs naming companies that no longer existed. Once this place had bustled with people doing their jobs in order to provide for their families. Now they were all gone. Jobs, people, families.

  Joshua turned round and grabbed his backpack from behind his seat. He took out a hunting knife in a black leather sheath and handed it to me. “Just in case a close-combat situation arises.”

  Close-combat? The last time I’d fought – and won – had been against Brittany Ferris in junior high. She and her hyenas had laughed at me because I’d stepped on my floor-length skirt and ended up pulling it off in the process. The mortification of standing in my cotton panties in the school yard had given me the motivation to bust her lip. But Brittany Ferris wasn’t a Weeper – or at least, she hadn’t been then. Who knew what had happened to her since the rabies? The chances were she hadn’t survived, and the thought made me feel bad. I shook my head. This wasn’t the moment to get lost in memories. I took the knife and tied the sheath to a belt loop on my jeans. Joshua gave a small nod of approval before handing me another pistol.

  So many weapons – as if we were going to war. I showed him the gun in my right hand. Surely, I didn’t need another.

  “You’ll need another one,” he said, as if reading my thoughts.

  Going to war indeed. What had he called it? The survival of the fittest. I took it from him and slid it into the back of my jeans. He gave me a handful of bullets next. “Put them in your pocket. And Sherry—” He stopped me with his hand on my arm. “Use them wisely. We don’t have any to waste.” Before I could consider what his words meant, he continued. “Do you know how to load a gun?”

  “My dad taught me.” I stuffed the bullets into my pockets, hoping Joshua hadn’t noticed how my voice had cracked. I pasted on a smile.

  His gaze was intense, as if he could see right through me. “Then let’s go.” He got out of the car.

  I followed, scanning our surroundings. The area seemed peaceful. I’d expected Weepers to lurk at every corner, waiting to attack. Weepers that were once people like you, a tiny voice in my head reminded me.

  “Sherry?”

  I jumped and glanced at Joshua, who’d walked a few steps towards one of the intact warehouses.

  I sprinted after him. “Are they in there?” A part of me wanted them to be, so I could save Dad. The other part was scared witless.

  “No, not in that one. But there’s a smaller warehouse right behind it. They should be there. At least, they were the last time I was here.”

  Goosebumps rose on my skin as we crept past the huge building. It cast shadows on us and our surroundings. Despite the shade, the air was stuffy and I began to sweat. I wiped my right hand on my jeans, then my left, trying to dry my palms. Joshua was a few steps ahead, his tall frame obstructing my view. He stopped and I almost bumped into him.

  “What is it?” I asked, looking around for a sign of attackers. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. He shushed me and scanned our surroundings with narrowed eyes. He pointed his revolver at the door of the warehouse, which stood open a crack. It was too dark inside to make o
ut if there was someone in there. I squinted against the sun, raised my own gun and aimed it at the same spot.

  Nothing.

  The wind picked up, giving us some relief from the heat. It also jolted a corrugated sheet roof somewhere, filling the silence with its clattering.

  Joshua relaxed his stance. “I thought I saw something move. Must have been my imagination.”

  I lowered the pistol and took a shaky breath. Bobby and I had loved to play Cowboys and Indians when we were younger. Creeping up on each other had been fun back then. This wasn’t fun at all. One wrong move, one careless moment, and Joshua and I would end up dead. This wasn’t a game. I followed Joshua towards the smaller warehouse.

  Silence. Shouldn’t there be noises if Weepers and their prey were in there? Screams, or maybe roars?

  We reached the entrance to the warehouse, a heavy steel door. The metal sheeting of the building was completely covered in dirt and soot. My gaze lingered on the places where there were claw marks. Huge claw marks. Maybe it was just an animal. Right. I wished.

  Joshua gave the door a small kick with the tip of his sneaker. It swung open with an ear-splitting creak. If anyone – or anything – was in there, they knew about us now. With the bottom of my T-shirt, I wiped the sweat from my forehead. I was sweating too much. Joshua didn’t seem to be as bothered by the heat. 1,141 days in the air-conditioned bunker had really taken their toll. I already felt a hair’s breadth away from heatstroke.

  We entered the warehouse – one cautious step after the other. The heavy smell of burned rubber clogged my nose. It was very dark in the building. The thick layer of soot covering the windows high up in the walls blocked out most of the light. Why couldn’t the bombs have smashed them in? Shelves with buckets and piles of tyres obstructed our view even further, but I was pretty sure we were alone. Or maybe I just hoped we were. Wishful thinking wouldn’t keep us safe.

  Joshua waved me closer when I fell behind, and I hurried towards him. Our arms brushed as we scanned the vast hall.