by Kate Morris
Movement in her peripheral vision caused her to jerk to her right in time to see one coming toward her. She squeezed off a round and missed. She aimed more carefully, tried to control her rapid breathing that bordered on hyperventilation, and squeezed again. This round hit, striking the man in the chest. He hit the window beside him so hard it exploded in a million pieces and shards. Then he went through it, falling to the ground two stories below them outside. She spun back to Elijah still wrestling the beast.
He punched it to no avail. It only cried out in anger, made a horrible screeching sound, and applied more pressure to Elijah’s throat. Elijah punched it again. This time, its head twisted sharply to the right facing her. She saw why. Elijah had palmed a five-pound metal weight and was striking it in the side of the head. It still didn’t fall over or release his throat. It cried out like a wounded dog. Then it growled and began choking him almost instantly again. Elijah clubbed it two more times until it released his neck and fell over.
Below them in the courts, Wren could hear the shuffling of feet. She dared to peek and saw a person running away with Elijah’s shotgun. The way the person ran, though, it didn’t seem like a crawler. They ran with intention and coordination. The monsters didn’t seem to keep hold of all their motor skills once the virus took over. They were fast, but there was still something about the way they moved that didn’t seem quite…right.
She looked back to see Elijah getting to his feet. She ran over to help him, putting her hand under his arm.
“Come on, Elijah!” she whispered fervently. “We gotta go.”
“My gun…”
“It’s gone. Someone took it already,” she told him, getting a shocked look. “Let’s go! There are people down there, too.”
He nodded, stumbled once over the discarded weight, and followed after her. A person screamed on the first floor, a normal scream of fear and maybe even pain mixed in.
Before they even made it to the exit door, another one of the crawlers came running around the end of the track right towards them. Wren remembered her training with Jamie. She stopped, planted her feet, drew the pistol up with two hands, and took careful aim. Every shot had to count. She trained the pistol center mass, waited for the thing to get close, and squeezed. It hit her mark perfectly. The person went down and didn’t attempt to get back up.
“Good job,” Elijah praised and pushed the exit door lever.
Then they were out. The recreation center that had been so fun last night had turned into a horror house of terrors and bloodshed.
The sun was just starting to ascend as they went down the emergency staircase to the parking lot below. Elijah kept moving, though. He led them away from the building, dashing across the parking lot to the street and up over a hill. Somewhere nearby, a dog was barking, which made Wren worried for it. If it drew attention to itself, it could alert the crazy ones. She saw what they did to a dog last night. She’d almost thrown up.
“This way,” he said quietly and jogged down a hill toward a neighborhood.
Behind them, something cried out. It was definitely a human voice, the sound from human vocal cords, but not making sounds a human could make. It was much more uninhibited and rageful than a normal person would allow themselves to behave.
“Keep moving,” he ordered and picked up the pace when their feet were back on pavement.
“Elijah!” she cried out and tugged his jacket when she spotted people running to their right.
He grabbed her and ducked behind some bushes. The people ran past them, but she could hear their conversation. They weren’t infected.
“Run faster, goddammit!” a guy was yelling, a teenager by the timbre in his voice.
“I can’t,” someone in their group called as if he were falling behind. “Wait for me, man! They’re gonna get me.”
Elijah popped his head up as the people ran past. “Wr-Wren, let’s go! Now!”
She didn’t even have a chance to stand, Elijah was yanking her by the collar and moving. Once on her feet, she swung in the direction those young men just came from and saw what they meant. There was a group of night crawlers coming after them. The men were running at a fast pace, probably faster than what she could. She knew why, as they joined the hoard running away, the boy in the back, who was, indeed lagging behind said for them to wait up.
Fortunately, Elijah broke away from the group and said, “This way. C’mon. Hurry.”
She kept up, her lungs beginning to burn from not getting in her regular runs for the last week. This was no time to become out of shape.
“Here. Come this way,” he said, darting between two nice homes in a neighborhood. “Jeremy’s is this way. Two more streets. C’mon.”
“But Alex said not to go there,” she reminded him.
“Does it look like we have a choice?”
To accentuate his point, someone behind them, probably that boy screamed in terror. There was shouting next. Gunfire popped off, then more screaming. It gave her a little extra boost in her step as she stayed pace for pace with the football star. They made a left and continued down a street.
“Here, this is his house,” he said and stopped in front of a red brick Colonial two-story with black shutters. Elijah knocked but didn’t get an answer. The screaming grew quieter, and for some reason, it must’ve spurred him on to try the door, which was unlocked.
“Elijah?” someone behind them called out.
They both turned in unison to see Jeremy coming up the same sidewalk as them carrying a cardboard box. He sent out a wave and sped up. Behind him, Wren spotted one of those night crawlers about thirty yards away.
“Jeremy, run!” she screamed.
It caused him to spin, take a fast look, and sprint toward them with his box. Items in it were bouncing into the air but didn’t fall all the way out. They ushered him into his own house and quickly slammed the door and locked it. A few seconds later, the former person banged against it. Elijah was right. They were very fast. She was going to have to get faster if she was to stay alive.
Chapter Thirty-one
“Elijah, man am I glad to see you,” Jeremy said a few minutes later after they were sure the infected person had run off to find someone else to terrorize.
Elijah hugged his friend, the box between them. Wren tugged his sleeve gently and shook her head.
“I’m not sick,” he told them, picking up on her fears. “I promise. I’m not.”
“It’s cool, man,” Elijah said and hoped he was right. “I know you aren’t.”
“Hey, you’re that new girl,” he commented.
“Wren,” she introduced herself with a shy nod.
His gaze jumped to Elijah with suspicion. He shook his head subtly so his friend wouldn’t ask about her right now in front of her. He’d tell him later why they were together.
Jeremy turned to him again and explained, “I disinfected the whole house, too. Just like the hospital people told me to. It’s clean. I promise.”
He must’ve noticed the way Wren was eyeing up the place.
“What’s all this?” Elijah asked his best friend of the box.
“Oh, just some food I got from my neighbor’s place. They both died,” he said. “Mr. Crenshaw next door told me to go over there. He said they both got taken to the drop-off site a few days ago by ambulance. They died according to him. I was running out of food.”
“Good. That’s good, Jer,” he told him, looking at the bags of chips and packages of lunchmeat. Supplies like that wouldn’t last long, though, and Elijah worried he’d be out of food again in two or three days. “I wanted to check on you last night. Wren and I got stuck in the rec center all night. Woke up this morning and the place was full of those…people.”
“And looters,” she added.
“Yeah, we’ve seen them going through the neighborhood. Mr. Crenshaw has a shotgun. He’s been shooting them when he can. We’ve called the cops like a dozen times. Sometimes they come. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes we just si
t on hold for like a half hour.”
“Do you have a gun?”
“Nah, man,” he said, shaking his head. “You got your dad’s shotgun or hunting rifle, don’t ya’?”
“Not anymore,” Wren answered. “We-we lost it. A looter took it.”
Elijah nodded to confirm her story.
“Hey, maybe in a few days once you’re sure you aren’t infected, you could live with us,” Elijah offered.
“My uncle’s comin’ to get me, bro’,” he said. “But thanks.”
“Wait,” Elijah said with worry. “Where are you going?”
“He’s got a hunting cabin in Pennsylvania,” he explained. “Said he thinks it’s a good idea to get outta’ the cities for a while. Too many people. He’s single. Got a girlfriend, but it’ll just be the three of us.”
“Oh, shit,” Elijah swore softly, hating to see his friend leave like that. “When will you come back, man?”
He shrugged. “When this is all over, I guess.”
“When’s he coming?”
“Tonight,” he answered. “Tomorrow morning at the latest. He lives in Dayton. Coming with his girlfriend to get me. Mr. Crenshaw said I should go. He thinks it’s a good idea, too. He said if things don’t quiet down soon, he’s gonna leave, too.”
“And go where?”
“He said he’s heading south, into the hills of Carroll or Harrison county. Either one. Said there ain’t much for people around there, what with all that fracking they did years ago. He said it drove out people. Farms were all bought up. The big oil companies took it all over. He said the less populated areas like that are better than the cities, even ours.”
Elijah nodded, giving this fair consideration. Just thinking about leaving his home, the home his parents had worked so hard on, made him feel like he was dishonoring their memory.
They chatted with Jeremy until the sun was fully up, ate breakfast with him, strawberry Pop Tarts, and waited another half hour until the neighborhood dogs quieted down again. Then he hugged his friend for what felt like could be the last time and said goodbye. Jeremy was a shell of the person he once was, and Elijah felt the weight of his depression over his family’s death as he embraced him. They left, and Elijah sent one final wave in Jeremy’s direction before taking her hand, to which she didn’t pull away like she normally did.
They were quiet as they walked home toward his house. It was cold but sunny- no clouds, no snow, and thankfully, no rain. And no more night crawlers. But after everything they’d been through already before dawn, Elijah felt melancholy.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked a few blocks out from his house.
“Nothing,” he deflected, preferring to fall back into morose silence.
“Tell me,” she pushed.
Wren didn’t seem like the kind of person who would quit until he answered, so Elijah did his best to explain what he was feeling.
“Just that the last six years of my life were a waste,” he answered honestly.
“Why would you say that?” she asked, pulling her hand free.
“All the practices I went to, bus trips to out of town games, time I could’ve spent with my parents instead, time wasted. It just pisses me off.”
“It wasn’t a waste, Elijah,” she said and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
He scoffed. “Feels like it. What the hell good is a football scholarship to me now? There’s no college now, Wren. Not for either of us.”
She nodded and chewed thoughtfully at the inside of her cheek. “I know. I don’t think so, either.”
“So, we wasted our time. You could’ve relaxed and not moved around so much and pushed so hard in your studies. I could’ve spent more time with my family, and now it’s too late because they’re dead. My whole life was consumed by football. Training, summer camps, winter training, games, traveling to games, building up my stats. All of it. Waste.”
She stopped on the sidewalk and turned to look up at him.
“What?”
Wren shook her head. “I don’t think that’s true, Elijah.”
“Yeah?” he asked rhetorically, not wanting her to cheer him up. He wanted to wallow a little in self-pity and anger for a moment. His life had just officially gone to shit. His outlook on it was depressing as he thought of all the time lost on a useless sport that would now get him nowhere.
“Yeah. I think you’re wrong,” she said again. “Look at it like this. You did do a lot of training. You worked out. You lifted weights and probably ran a lot, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” he agreed with a grim eye roll.
“Well? Don’t you see? You…you killed that night crawler this morning with a barbell.”
“Dumbbell,” he corrected with a grin at her lack of gym equipment knowledge.
“Whatever. But don’t you see? If you didn’t have the stamina, you would’ve been killed many times by now. Your speed. Your training. Your strength. That’s kept you alive. And…more than once, it’s kept me alive, too. It’s not about scores and stats and winning games anymore, Elijah. This is about our survival. And maybe everything you’ve done up until now wasn’t for a football scholarship. Maybe it was to prepare you for this instead. Maybe what I went through, the training Jamie’s put me through, maybe that’s the same. To get us both ready for all this.”
His anger dissipated slowly at her words, and he held onto her hand again. Maybe she was right, and that’s what God’s plan was in all of this, to train his body for the fight, not the game, to shape his mind with enough determination and dedication to get the job done no matter what he had to do to win. It wasn’t winning points and games anymore, but it was winning in a way. This time, the prize wasn’t a scholarship or winning a game. Maybe it was his own life and Wren’s safety, which meant a hell of a lot more to him than a trophy and stats and even that scholarship anyway.
“I feel so…scared something’s going to happen to you,” she said as if confessing some great secret and refused to meet his eyes. Then she gave him a hug.
“I know. I feel the same way about you, Wren,” he said without embarrassment or shame and returned her hug, squeezing her tight against his chest.
Her phone buzzed, and she pulled free and stepped back. “Crap. It’s Jamie. He’s at the house. He’s gonna lose his shit.”
“We’re only a few blocks from home.”
She answered the call and told him as much. Elijah could hear him through the phone. When they arrived, they both got lectured on staying out overnight together at the rec center. He was angry they didn’t call him to pick them up, but Wren reminded him that the last time they’d talked, he was on his way south to meet up with his team. Elijah wasn’t really sure what that meant, but he assumed they were government people, maybe the FBI.
“We’re gonna need medical supplies,” Jamie explained to everyone once the mood calmed in the room.
Alex and Lila had joined them in the dining room while Hope played in the den with her toys. She didn’t understand much other than it was a sleep-over at Alex’s house.
“Why?” Lila asked, sweeping a hand through her black ponytail.
Jamie explained, “Because from what my contacts are telling me, they think this is gonna go six months to a year…”
“A year?” Wren interrupted loudly. “We’ll never make it.”
Elijah wanted to hold her hand or squeeze her shoulder to give her comfort, but he also wasn’t too sure what her fake uncle would think of that. Jamie was her protector. He was the boss, her parent for all intents and purposes. Plus, Elijah wasn’t confident the guy even liked him. And there was always the issue of being too touchy with his new friend. Friends didn’t touch each other all the time. That was girlfriend territory, and she wasn’t his girlfriend, although, he was beginning to question whether or not he wanted her to be.
“Wren, calm down,” Jamie said in a commanding tone, which settled her. “Starting today, we run missions every day. We’ll go in groups. Never alone. We collect,
we forage, we steal, loot, whatever you want to call it that helps you sleep at night. Got me?”
His brother nodded. “Yeah. Absolutely.”
“Empty houses, businesses, anywhere and everywhere you can think. Nothing is off-limits now. We need food and medical supplies to last for a year if it comes to that. We’re in the start of winter, so we’re not going to be putting in a garden. But, we can gather seeds and the supplies we’d need to start them indoors in the spring just in case. We are drastically unprepared for this, and starting today, that needs to change. This is it, people. It’s not going to get any better than this.”
“Okay. Got it,” Alex agreed with a firm nod.
“Until Alex is stronger,” Elijah broke in to say, “I’ll go in his place for a while.”
Jamie nodded. “Good. That’ll work. First thing we’re doing is getting you out to a shooting range somewhere to get some practice. How many boxes of shells do you have for that shotgun?”
He looked at his feet for a second. “Yeah, about that…I lost it.”
“What? Elijah!” Alex yelled. “Goddammit.”
Wren jumped in to defend him and instantly diffused their anger. By the time she was done, Elijah felt like she’d overpainted the situation and had turned him into some sort of knight in shining armor. He certainly wasn’t. A knight would’ve known to watch around the corner of that alcove. Elijah wondered if Alex had books he could borrow on close-quarters warfare. He was definitely going to talk to him about that tonight.
Jamie rubbed hard at the scruff of his chin before saying, “Okay, so we’re down one weapon. We acquire more. As soon as possible, too. Can’t have people going out trying to gather food and medical supplies without a weapon.”
“Where are we going to get guns?” Elijah asked.
“We have our two pistols, and I’ve got a long-range rifle. I’ve also got three ammo crates full of ammo for our weapons,” he told them. “I’m sure any gun shops have already been looted.”
Alex nodded. “Same as the big places. They’ll be gone from there, too. Damn. Too bad I was in a coma when this started kicking up. I could’ve been a little more prepared.”