“Of course not,” Clay said, realizing he’d marched directly into hot water.
“Cause we had no reason to trust the government,” Connie said angrily. “Why in the world would we follow orders if the rest of our lives have gone to shit, all because of the police? They took our son away three times when he was just a confused juvenile. Three times!” Her eyes lacked emotion, but her voice was haughty, strong. “Why in the world would we trust you?”
“Because I’m all you have,” Clay offered, his voice bursting over hers. “And I’m going to make sure you get out. But I need your help finding the rest of them. The rest of the people who, like you, didn’t take this issue as seriously as they should have. We don’t have to make this a tragedy. But we have to work together.”
“Still don’t have the device,” the doctor whispered from the corner.
Clay made his hands into fists, suddenly feeling that the world was working against him. As he steamed with anger, Willis began to slide down the walk-in freezer door, his eyes closing quickly. Norah knelt down to grasp his shoulder and shake him.
“He’s green, Sheriff,” she whispered. “He’s not looking good.”
Clay rushed toward the man and felt for his pulse, noting that, despite his pale complexion and lack of energy, his heart was beating erratically. His own heart flipped with panic. “Get him some water,” he ordered, jiggling the man’s shoulder, trying to make him regain consciousness. “Come on!”
Connie moved forward with a glass of water, and together they helped the doctor sip it through his dry, cracked lips. His exhaustion prevented him from opening his eyes.
Clay held his position, gazing up at the other survivors as the doctor continued to drink. “All right,” he said. “I understand your frustration. I really do. You all know that it’s my duty to find as many townspeople as possible. And Lieutenant Daniels, I need you with me. We’ll start by going back to Megan’s house first, and then stopping by Alayna’s. But know this: we’re going to keep looking for the left behind.”
“Sure thing,” Daniels affirmed, giving the sheriff a stern salute.
“In the meantime, I need all of you to watch out for Doctor Miller, here.” Clay paused, contemplating how to handle his suspicions about the doctor without overtly alarming everyone. “Most of us have seen what this crazed infection does to a person,” Clay said as his gaze drifted over the doctor. “We all need to remain sharp and prepared for action. Can you do that? Can you protect yourselves, as well as the rest of us?”
Connie looked at Ralph for direction, but before she could respond, Norah spoke.
“You can count on me, Sheriff. I may be old, but I know how to handle my share of cooking utensils,” she said, gripping the cast iron pan she’d just used to make everyone breakfast and hoisting it high above her head. “If he turns, I’ll make sure it goes no further.”
The kitchen remained silent for several moments as Norah’s words sank in.
“One more thing,” Clay said. “Keep your eyes on the door. Alayna and Megan could come back to the hotel at any time. Watch out for them. And stick together.”
He jumped to his feet and headed toward the door, adjusting his holster. He felt Daniels’s presence behind him, and they marched toward the hotel entrance, retreating from the glowing kitchen and the homey scent of breakfast.
Main Street appeared before him, abandoned, a forgotten wasteland. Not a single animal, bug, or human remained in sight. Alayna and her vehicle were gone.
“You ready for this, Sheriff?” Daniels asked him as the hotel door clicked closed, leaving them out in the desolate environment. “Because I think if that was any indication, today is going to be a shit show.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Clay answered, marching from the front porch and past the rocking chairs. He opened the car gruffly, feeling a bit of his right arm lesion begin to break open—a constant reminder that his body was failing him minute by minute, along with his crew. He paused, his mind spinning.
“Sheriff?” Daniels asked, hesitating before opening the passenger side. “Everything all right?”
“I didn’t think this was what it would look like,” Clay murmured, knowing he sounded just as insane as the others. “I didn’t imagine this at all.”
“None of us did,” Daniels said, shrugging his muscled shoulders. “As my grandmother said, moments before she drew her final breath: this wasn’t in the cards.”
Chapter 41
“It wasn’t what you think,” Daniels began the moment Clay punched the gas pedal and raced through town. “With Megan and me. It wasn’t what you think.”
“I don’t know what the hell to think anymore,” Clay said, cutting through a turn. He didn’t bother to stop at signs, to follow any speed limit. He felt overwhelmed, unable to fully comprehend Daniels’s words.
But he continued. “After you left the bar last night, I wasn’t going to hang around long, but I had more drinking to do. When I was with my last unit, that’s all I liked to do, really. Take comfort in a little liquid solace.”
“I see,” Clay said, eyeing the horizon. He thought he glimpsed a figure staggering through the cornfield. One of the crazed or a scarecrow? But he continued to barrel toward their first stop, hopeful he wouldn’t be required to blast a bullet through another homicidal brain.
“Then Megan came to my room. Alayna was chasing after her, telling her to come back to bed. Telling her that they should talk things out. I don’t know what the fuss was all about,” Daniels said, scoffing. “But Megan took one look at me and, with a devilish smile, she came in the room, sat down beside me, poured herself a drink, and just glared up at Alayna.”
“Megan’s been known to be a little too spirited at times,” Clay said. “Alayna seems to understand her well enough to know what’s right or wrong. She’s told me on more than one occasion that they’re soul mates, they belong together.”
“I’m not so sure, Clay,” Daniels continued, scratching at the stubble spreading across his chin. “Because the minute Megan sat down, she began to flirt. I mean, really laying it on heavy. She wanted me, you see.”
Clay forced himself not to roll his eyes. “Don’t you say that about every woman?” he asked, feeling the awkwardness of his words.
Daniels glared. “Megan wanted me. She touched my chest. She leaned toward me with her big, supple lips. Man, she was good. She was hot. She was everything I dreamed of in a woman, there in front of me.”
“I thought you said Alayna was everything you dreamed of in a woman?” Clay mocked.
“Whatever. That was then. This was now,” Daniels said, looking out the side window. “Where we going, anyway? Haven’t we been out here already?”
Clay had the gas pedal floored, and the speedometer clicked just past seventy as he blazed past the high school. “Alayna’s house isn’t too far from here. Maybe she went there first, hoping to find Megan waiting for her.”
“Where’s the logic with that? If we’re looking for the girls first, Megan’s place is where we should start. She left last night, on foot. My money is on her heading home to get her wheels, get gas, and then get out of town.”
Clay usually had better judgement in situations like this, and he was irritated with himself that the big military oaf had outsmarted him.
“Damn it!” Clay spat, then slammed on the brakes and swerved the car to the side of the road before cranking the wheel hard to the left. Moments later, they were speeding back in the direction they had just come, heading for Megan’s.
“Anyway,” Daniels continued, “Megan really opened my eyes last night. She really might be the one.”
Clay sighed heavily. “Whatever. It’s none of my business at all what you do, or what Megan does, or what Alayna thinks. None of it’s my business.”
“Well, Alayna stormed off after that,” Daniels said. “And like I said, I don’t think anything happened.”
Clay couldn’t speak. He was uncomfortable, his stomach straining with wor
ry for Alayna, and for Megan. As he came upon the next intersection, something caught his eye. It happened in a flash, but he was positive what he saw. “Sonofabitch!” he snapped as he slammed on the brakes.
“What is it, Sheriff?” Daniels asked, gripping his gun with one hand and holding the door handle with the other. He was ready.
“Easy, there. I just saw two more stragglers through that picture window right there.” Clay pointed to the house on the corner. Inside, shadows could be seen dancing along the stark wall, cast there by the glow of the television.
“You sure? Could be someone just left the boob tube on,” Daniels remarked.
“Only one way to find out,” Clay said as he flung his car door wide. “Let’s make this quick, though. The longer we waste here, the farther away Megan might get.”
Chapter 42
Alayna sprang from her patrol car and ran up to Megan’s front porch. She clenched her fist and pounded wildly upon the wooden door. “Open up, Megan. It’s me, Al,” she said as she brought her face close to the side window. She saw no movement in the desolate interior.
“Damn it,” she cursed as she leaped from the porch and bound around to the back of the house. There, next to the rear stoop, sat a gallon-sized clay pot with amber colored gardenias growing in it. Alayna kicked the pot over with her booted foot, expecting to find the seldom-used brass key lying on the ground. It was gone. Alayna’s heart sank. “No!”
Alayna gripped the handle of the wooden screen door and yanked it wide. She again pounded on the door, loud enough to wake the dead. “God damn it, Megan! Open the fucking door!”
Silence.
“Don’t make me kick the door in!” Alayna demanded. There was again no reply. She took two steps back and charged the back door, slamming her foot right next to the door latch. In another time, Alayna would’ve been gleeful at her sudden badass abilities, but now was not the time.
The door imploded, leaving splinters of wood scattered along the floor just inside. Alayna crossed the threshold into Megan’s kitchen. She walked through the dining room before turning left into the living room, her eyes shifting wildly about the place, looking for a something, anything, that indicated that Megan was there. It was like no one had ever existed there at all.
Moving into the hallway, she opened all the bedroom doors and the bathroom. It was as if any personal belongings were cleared out long ago. “No!” Alayna yelled. “Where have you gone?”
Angry, Alayna retraced her steps back to the living room and noticed a handwritten note lying on the coffee table. Could she have? Alayna wondered as she slowly picked it up and began to read.
Al-
I’m sorry. I know this is not your fault. Trust me when I tell you that it’s me. It’s not you at all. I’m afraid of what we could have been together and considering the recent happenings in this town, I’m not sure I’m strong enough. I’m going away and I don’t want you to follow. I think it’s better this way. Again, I’m sorry.
Megan
She wiped fleeting tears from her eyes and dropped the paper back to the coffee table. “Why?” she whispered.
Alayna slowly made her way back to her car. Slouching behind the steering wheel, she tried to think of where Megan might’ve gone. There was something about the note that didn’t sit well with her. Why write a note at all? Why not just leave if that’s really what she wanted? She wants me to chase after her. That must be it! But where would she have gone?
Alayna turned over the ignition and revved her way out onto the street. As she began her aimless drive, her mind scrubbed through her and Megan’s past. Maybe she’d go someplace that had meaning for them both. Maybe she’d go and wait for her. But where?
As Alayna came to the next intersection, she looked left and then right, waiting for the nonexistent traffic to give her the go. She finally accelerated, and suddenly it hit her. “The park!” It was a quick drive from where she was, and it was where they’d first met. That had to be it.
Alayna cranked hard on the wheel and sped toward her new destination. With each passing moment, Alayna knew she was right. She had to be. She wouldn’t allow Megan just to walk away from her like that.
A normal five-minute drive turned into less than two minutes. Alayna screeched to a halt at the edge of the park, threw open her door, and began running through the park. She felt so positive that that’s where Megan would be. She had to be. She continued down the trail and through a cluster of aspen trees. She ran past the rock outcropping that had been vandalized many years before with juvenile graffiti. As she crested the hill, the park bench came into view. Alayna’s heart dropped as she saw that it was empty.
The adrenaline flowing through her body continued to drive her forward, all the way up to the bench itself. She stood in front of it, looking down at the painfully vacant seat. Her hands trembled as she lowered herself to the creaky wooden surface. “Damn it, Megan,” she whispered. “Why? Why leave, why now?”
There was no answer.
Alayna sat on their park bench and stared out across the hilly valley. She remembered back to the moment they’d first met. It wasn’t really all that long ago, and at the time, Alayna had been confused about her own sexuality. She’d just been through a breakup with her on-again, off-again boyfriend when she found Megan there, walking her dog. She’d been so friendly and so vibrant that Alayna was instantly attracted to her.
More tears flowed from Alayna’s eyes as her mind drifted from her solitary present and into a fruitful past. She remembered the first trip they’d taken, to a cabin up by Lake Cornwell. It was the first time they’d been intimate with each other, and it was a moment she’d never forget.
Chapter 43
Clay and Daniels burst into the house without the pretense of knocking. Time was of the essence, and the hour for strict procedures had passed.
Clay bound forward to discover two teenagers, a boy and a girl, eating beef jerky and watching a movie on an antiquated VCR, their eyes grey and grim. They glared at the intruders but then swept their eyes back to the screen. “Don’t interrupt,” the boy whispered. “It’s the best part.”
Incredulous, Clay spat, “Hey. Kids. You’re going to have to come with us.”
The boy, who had an Asian-language tattoo traced on his skinny upper bicep, smiled with dingy teeth. “And I suppose you have some kinda plan to make us leave?”
“Don’t you know what’s going on? The town needs to be evac—”
“Yeah, we know,” the boy interrupted. “Our parents were killed on our way out of town. And if we’re going to die too, then we’d just as soon be in our house when our fate arrives.”
Clay swallowed. “Your parents were killed?”
“Those people,” the girl said, her voice barely quivering. “I can’t describe them. We were at the stoplight. Me and Brandon here were in the back seat, eating licorice and talking about our future in Florida. You know, I’ve always wanted to go to Florida, and here was my opportunity. But some asshole just came up and bit my dad’s ear off. And then he ate the rest of his face from his skull, leaving just dripping bones.” She said it matter-of-factly, cracking her gum as she spoke.
“And then, of course, Mom went wild,” the boy said. “Brittany and I got out and just ran back here. We didn’t know where else to go.”
“Well, we made a stop at the grocery and grabbed some things on the way,” Brittany said, tossing a Cheetos toward the sheriff. “And if we die here, we’ll die with dignity. Not running away.”
Clay eyed the Cheetos rolling toward him on the dirty carpet. If he didn’t know better, he’d assumed the kids in front of him were high on some recreational drug that had been running around the teen community. “I’m sorry about your parents,” he said, his voice rasping. “But you don’t have to die, you know? It’s my job to get you out of here. To get you to safety.”
“HA!” Brandon said. “Safety doesn’t exist any longer.” His words drifted into a fit of laughter.
Dan
iels stepped forward and grabbed the boy by his upper arms, lifting him heartily into the air. The boy began to shake, his feet inches from the ground. “Hey! Let go of me!” his laughter turned to cries, panic tingeing his cheeks red. “Get the fuck out of our house!”
But Daniels didn’t let go. He flung the boy over his shoulder, lifted the bag of chips from the coffee table, and then marched outside.
Chapter 44
Alayna rode in the passenger seat of Megan's SUV, fidgeting nervously. “I don't understand, Meg. Why all the hush-hush?”
“Because, silly. It was three weeks ago today that we happened to meet. And I have something special planned.”
Alayna sighed. Being a deputy for so many years, she was not accustomed to being kept in the dark. It did not sit well with her, and perhaps maybe that was why she had never found a lifelong mate. She had trust issues, and now, suddenly being on the verge of dipping her toe in the waters with another woman, she was apprehensive. She didn't want to mess this up. She wanted to take this “ride” for many years, and Megan seemed like the right person to go with. She sat back and accepted her fate.
Twenty minutes later, Megan pulled up next to a rustic mountain cabin that overlooked a modest, glistening pond. “What's this?” Alayna asked.
“This,” Megan said proudly, “is my old family cabin. My granddad built it many years ago, and it's been handed down through the family over the years. After my dad passed away last year, it came to me.”
Alayna considered the rundown appearance of the cabin as they sat in the car. Although she wasn't a girlie girl per se, she still appreciated the comforts of a civil lifestyle. And from what she was seeing from the passenger seat of Megan's car, this was far from it. She smiled politely.
“Oh, don't worry. The outside looks like this for a reason. It keeps the vagrants away. The inside has been fully updated and remodeled. There's even a Jacuzzi tub in the master bath,” Megan said as she stepped out of the car and grabbed her bag from the back seat. Alayna did the same and followed Megan up the steps to a large wraparound deck. The scenery was beautiful, she had to admit. As Megan jostled her keys around and unlocked the door, Alayna could see the edge of the lake around the side of the house. As each moment passed, so did Alayna’s apprehension.
Humanity's Edge- The Complete Trilogy Page 12