Rain Must Fall

by Deb Rotuno

  “I can’t leave her. She’s all I have left.”

  I knew the second Joel’s shoulders sagged briefly, only to straighten back up, that we were going in.

  Gripping my hair, I sighed. “This is…really gonna suck,” I muttered but turned toward the Hummers. “Fine! Dad, lock up the rooms.” I dove into the Hummer Joel and I were sharing and grabbed a few clips, two .45s, and a couple of knives.

  Joel loaded up on his own ammo and weapons, and I turned to the girl. “What’s your name?”

  “R-Ruby,” she sniffled.

  “Okay, Ruby. I’m Jack, and that’s Joel, and my parents, Rich and Dottie,” I introduced as we all walked quickly across the street to the mall parking lot. I took the steak knife out of her hand and threw it several yards. “This…” I held up a military-grade knife that was about five inches longer than the crap she’d had. “This will serve you better.”

  She took it with a nod.

  “Next…Can you shoot a gun?”

  “I’m…I have, but…I’m not very good.”

  “You don’t have to be good; just slow them down enough so they can’t get you. A bullet to the leg puts them to the ground. A bullet to the head stops them completely. Chest shots are bullshit. Got me?”

  Ruby nodded, taking the .45 I was handing her.

  “Safety, chamber a round, and you’re good to go,” I instructed, turning to the rest of them. “We do this together.”

  “Ruby, where was your sister?” Mom asked her.

  “B-Bathroom. Back far right corner, but…Tucker wouldn’t wait…”

  The piercing scream we heard made my skin break out into goose bumps and my brow into a cold sweat. That was the sound of pure terror. A kid in terror.

  “Once we’re inside, split up,” I told them. “Ruby, you stay with Joel up the middle. Mom, Dad…take the far left just in case she tried to run. I’ll go up the right to the back. What’s your sister’s name?”

  “Ava.”

  I nodded, leading them all through the busted doors of the store. The stench was what hit me first, decay and rot and blood. But the growling, snarling, and shuffling simply pissed me off.

  “Attention Wal-Mart shoppers, the store is about to fucking close,” Joel muttered, making me grin in spite of the circumstances.

  I stepped quickly inside, the sound of crunching glass under my boots gaining me unwanted attention, and Sasha bounded over it with ease, the click of her nails and her growl gaining even more attention. Three zeaks wandered out from the customer-service desk and two from the registers, and I aimed, taking them out, only to move to the right of the store and up the aisle.

  Gunfire sounded all over the store, along with Sasha’s barks, but I focused my attention to the back of the building. I passed what used to be the frozen-food section, but it had thawed and smelled of sour milk and rotten food. I jumped over spilled shelves, ransacked clothing racks, and took out four more zeaks before I reached the back of the store.

  “C’mon, kid…Where are you?” I muttered to myself, eyeing the long aisle before focusing on the push doors that led to bathrooms and stock. Another scream sounded from that back room, crawling up my spine, and I kicked open the doors. “Ava?”

  “Here!”

  It was much darker back there. I couldn’t see a damn thing, so I shouldered my rifle, pulling out my flashlight and .45. I heard the bastards fumbling around toward the far corner. Shining the light that way, I sighed in relief that the girl was holding her own, but it wouldn’t last long. They’d cornered her on top of the shelves, and the poor thing was holding on to the metal rafter in order not to slip and fall.

  A greenish-colored hand with missing digits shot out from the shelf beside me, grabbing my arm, but I shrugged it off, spinning to pop off a round. That caught the attention of every zeak pushing on the shelf Ava was barely clinging to. They all turned my way, almost in unison. Teeth snapped, hands reached, but I started shooting. Exploding heads and the sickening wet splatter that went with each bullet echoed around me until I barely even heard it. When I finally cleared the aisle, I checked up and down, finally looking up at Ava.

  “Okay, kiddo, come down,” I told her, waving my hand.

  “Where’s Ruby?” she asked, letting go of the metal bar above her, but the shelving unit was weakened by the zeak pushing on it.

  “She’s here. She asked us to help get you outta here. Whoa, careful…”

  The girl reached for the rafter again, but it gave way. The roof opened up, spilling down water and filth, not to mention Ava herself. Rushing forward, I caught her just before her head smacked to the concrete or metal could fall on her.

  “You okay?” I panted, looking up at the sky through the now opened roof.

  “Yeah…”

  “No bites? Nothing?” I asked but set her on her feet when she shook her head no.

  Sasha bounded down the aisle toward us, her hackles up, her teeth bared, glowing bright white in the dark storage room. Ava cowered behind me.

  “She won’t hurt you,” I soothed, and I saw that Sasha wasn’t barking at the girl but at the opening in the roof.

  “Ah, shit,” I said, pushing the girl behind me, because I could hear the shuffling, dragging footsteps just before two, three…four zeaks fell down from above. “How in the blue fuck…” I turned to Ava. “Stay right here, okay? Right behind me.” When she nodded, I traded my .45 for my rifle.

  I felt her hand grip the back of my T-shirt as I noted two more falling from above, smiling when one’s head shattered on the concrete floor, the sound not unlike dropping a melon to the ground. The few that remained intact after their plunge started our way.

  “Sasha, stay,” I commanded, and the dog stood her ground. I didn’t need her to corral them; the tight space would work against her anyway.

  One more fell from the roof, and I took her out, finally seeing most of those from the roof were dressed the same. They’d been employees simply trying to get away.

  The door swung open, and Joel, Ruby, and my parents all came in, but Ava burst into tears again.

  “Ruby!” she wailed, rushing to her sister, and I could see the resemblance.

  Ava was thin, almost lanky, with the same red hair, only lighter. It was obvious that the younger one would grow to be tall and pretty like the older sibling. They were tears and hugs, apologies and smiles. It was damn good to see.

  “You okay?” Dad asked, and I nodded, wiping my face on my shirt sleeve.

  Ava stepped to me, tugging my shirt again, and I gazed down into big hazel eyes. “Thank you…” she said, pausing a bit.

  “Jack,” I said with a smile and a ruffle of her hair. “This is my dad, Rich. That big lug over there is Joel. And my mother, Dottie, is the one over there perusing the shelves.”

  Ava smiled and nodded, waving.

  “Oh, now you’re shy?” I chuckled but looked to Mom. “If we’re stocking up, there’s no better place than this,” I told her. “We’ll need oil for the trucks and any food or water you can find.”

  “I’d like to check the pharmacy, too,” Dad added.

  “Fine, fine. But I want back on the road soon. We’ve got some rain rolling in,” I warned them, starting for the doors back into the store.

  “You’re leaving us?” Ava asked, ignoring her sister’s hissed warning, because there was a panic that I could see starting to build in the kid.

  I looked up to see Joel’s gaze on Ruby, and then I looked to my parents. Again, my mother stepped forward.

  “You’re welcome to come with us for however long you wish.”

  “Where are you headed?”

  “Oregon,” I answered firmly.

  Ruby looked from me, to the rest of us, and finally to her pleading sister’s face.

  “Please, Ruby? I don’t wanna ride with Tucker no more. He’s a jerk. He was mean,” Ava blurted out, making her sister flinch, but she finally nodded in acquiescence.

  “Yeah, well…Tucker is long gone,” Joel dra
wled, rolling his eyes to lighten things, but his face was livid. “C’mon, you’ll need clothes and shit. And maybe one of these cars out here, which reminds me…Gas, Jack. We’ll need to stock up from this parking lot, siphon what we can.”

  “Then let’s get this shit done. We’re looking at a few hours of work,” I told them, walking through the doors and into the store.

  I shook my head at where we were. Freddie loved his trips with me to Wal-Mart. Somehow, he’d end up with some new damn game or toy or whatever every time we’d go, which Sara always gave me shit about but with barely any oomph behind it.

  “Jack! Wait up,” Ava called, and I looked down at her when she caught up to me. “I can help. I can carry stuff.”

  Grinning, I sighed because she was sweet and hyper and an almost painful reminder of my son, who was similar. I eyed her like I did Freddie, with a raised eyebrow and a pursed mouth, like I had to think about it. Her hazel eyes gazed worriedly up at me, and I snorted.

  “Okay, okay. So…go grab a bag or box or something. We’re gonna need it.”

  She nodded, racing away.

  Sasha sat in front of me, tilting her head.

  “Don’t judge me, big girl,” I told her. “You were just as bad. Now, let’s grab you some dog shampoo. You stink. I don’t want to be trapped with your smelly ass in the truck all the way to Mississippi.”

  Clarksdale, Mississippi

  2 Months & 3 Weeks after

  Hurricane Beatrice

  The water tower of Clarksdale shone like a beacon in the setting sun. The damn thing was painted gold, which made it even more noticeable. But the town was dead. Literally. There wasn’t a sign of life whatsoever as I led our small caravan through the main street.

  I continued through town, passing a few beat-up diners, a hardware store, and an old theater that looked like it had fallen into disrepair way before the virus was set loose. The edge of the small town had a motel—the Riverside Motel—and I pulled in, gazing over at Sasha.

  “Well?” I asked her, smirking when she glared out the windshield with her ears perked up, then the passenger side window, finally letting out a soft “boof.”

  “If you say so, big girl.”

  I slipped down from the Hummer, letting Sasha out behind me, and then joined everyone else in the parking lot. The motel overlooked endless fields. The cotton plants were dead, simply withering away. Beyond that was just tall green grass, with trees in the distance.

  Joel was surveying everything around us through binoculars—each way down the empty street, the fields, and finally the farm on the farthest side of the open fields. My parents walked to the motel office, most likely looking for keys.

  “I’ve got two zeaks wandering just on the edge of those trees, but we’re too far away to attract them,” he said, pulling the binoculars away. “We should be clear for now.”

  My gaze landed on Ruby and Ava, both of whom were looking at the motel with fear…and a little disdain. It wasn’t the Ritz, for sure, so I couldn’t blame them.

  The two had been with us since that morning at Wal-Mart. We’d left Florida that same day. Joel had managed to find a halfway decent RV. It wasn’t big, but the inside had been clean, and there was a bed above the van-style cab as well as a foldout sofa. It worked for the two of them, not to mention it made my dad happy to have it. It was extra storage and shelter should we need it, and Joel drove it most of the time.

  I had to give Ruby credit. She was tougher than she looked. At first glance, she came across as a bit weak and closed off, but she was far from it. She held her own, and she’d made damn good use of the knife and gun I’d given her as we’d driven across Mississippi. We’d avoided Pensacola and Mobile just fine, but trying to go around Jackson had been touchy. There had been pileups on just about every highway, which almost trapped us with a swarm of zeaks. They’d taken us by surprise when we’d stopped to siphon gas.

  However, we were about to enter into Arkansas, and we were hoping to stay just far enough away from Little Rock and Memphis, Tennessee, to avoid trouble. We wanted to drive evenly between them. So far, we were continuing on in a northwestern direction. I was hoping to keep that shit up. Aside from Jackson, things had eased up once we’d left Florida. Though, that made sense, considering it was the first hit with not only the virus but the hurricane as well.

  “This place smells funny,” Ava said, her nose wrinkled.

  “Boof,” Sasha piped up softly, starting to wander around sniffing everything.

  “She agrees with you,” I said with a chuckle, glancing over my shoulder when I heard footsteps.

  “No keys.” Dad shrugged, pointing to the line of doors. “We’ll have to bust them open.”

  Sasha made it to the first door and stiffened, her growl turning into a single bark.

  “What you wanna bet there are no keys because every room is full,” Joel surmised grimly.

  “Damn it,” I grumbled, walking to the door and pressing an ear to it. Sasha’s bark had stirred up something inside. The telltale moans and scratches on the door proved it. After checking the next few doors, my head fell back in defeat. “I am in no mood to clear this shit out, and even if we did, there’s no telling what conditions the rooms are in.”

  “Eeew!” Ava scowled, shaking her head.

  Joel sighed because we were just dead on our feet. We needed a day’s rest, or at least one good night’s sleep. He lifted the binoculars again, gazing across to the farm.

  “Well, we could check out that farm,” he suggested. “I mean, worst case, the barn’s probably clean. Hell, farms that size have equipment, which means fuel, so maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “So…farm?” Dad asked, putting it to a vote.

  “Yeah, sure.” I nodded, scratching Sasha’s ear.

  When everyone was in agreement, he led us back out onto the street. The farm’s driveway was dirt that had grown over just a little, but the tire ruts were pretty set in. In fact, it looked like no one had been in or out of the place for days, possibly weeks. As we neared the home, I noted a silo, the typical red barn, and exactly what Joel had been looking for: gas. Two large tanks sat just outside the barn between two yellow tractors—one marked diesel and the other regular.

  However, the closer we got to the house, the more zeaks I could see. They were wandering through the fields, some stumbling out from the trees. If I’d had to guess, I would’ve said they were the field workers, employees of the farm. I saw some in jeans, some in overalls, a few in coveralls. And they all started to shift toward us when they caught our movement.

  Sasha barked lightly at them from the window as we parked under some shade trees. The dog made me smile. She was the hardest worker of all of us.

  “Nah, no herding, big girl. We’ll take them out long-distance, yeah?” I ruffled the top of her head before reaching into the back for my rifle with the silencer. Sniper had never been my job, but I’d gotten good at it since I’d woken up on the base in Florida.

  Using the hood of the Hummer to steady the gun, I aimed, adjusted the sight, and quietly took out the handful of zeaks in the field. Behind me, I heard someone do the same for the other side of the property.

  Trading the rifle for my .45, I let Sasha out of the truck, only to gaze up at the house in front of us, where I saw movement on the second floor.

  “We’ll have to sweep the house,” I told Joel, pointing from my eyes to the curtain that was still fluttering. “You and Dad take the downstairs. Ruby and I will go upstairs. Mom can stay with Ava, catching any stragglers coming out of those trees.”

  “Ten-four,” Joel sang, pulling on a baseball cap backward. “Old MacDonald had a farm…E-I-E-I-Ohhh…” His warbling made Ava giggle, which I was pretty sure was his intention because we’d all grown attached to her, but I was damn sure he was even more attached to Ava’s older sister. And if I was reading Ruby correctly, the feelings were mutual.

  Before Joel could start singing “The Farmer in the Dell,” I smacked his shoulder
to shut him up as we stepped up onto the porch. He pulled open the screen door slowly, wincing at the creaking it did, only to prop it open with his leg. He let out a quick breath when he reached for the doorknob of the front door. I nodded once to indicate I was ready.

  He slowly turned the knob, pushing the door open. It didn’t make a sound, except for the soft thump when it touched the wall. I rushed in to the right, with Ruby behind me. Joel took the left, followed closely by my dad.

  The house smelled stale, unused. But it also smelled sick, as in an illness. The scent reminded me of visits to my grandmother’s house before she’d died. I’d been just a kid, but that smell was almost identical.

  Boots fell heavily to the wooden floor as my dad and Joel cleared each room of the first floor. When they circled back, shaking their heads, I nodded to Ruby to move toward the staircase. It was then that we heard it—heavy breathing, dragging footsteps, and finally the growl from the top of the stairs. The zeak was in little-girl pajamas, though she’d probably been a teen when she’d turned. Dark hair was a tangled mass on her head, her neck had been torn open, and her left arm hung limply at her side. The stench of her filled the tight space of the staircase, but Ruby didn’t even blink. She raised her gun and fired, the bullet meeting its mark right between the eyes.

  The zeak fell, and I pulled Ruby to the side to let it tumble to the first floor.

  “Where there’s one, there’s possibly more,” I told her, leading us up to the landing. There were three doors to the right and two to the left, though the end of the hall was clearly a bathroom. A couple of the doors were closed, while the rest were open. It was one of the closed ones that suddenly slammed open.

  I raised my weapon at the figure that stepped out into the hallway.

  “Don’t shoot!” she cried, holding up her hands.

  “Jesus, she’s alive,” Ruby gasped, frowning at the girl at the end of the hallway. “Damn, girl, you just about got killed!”

  Grinning at Ruby’s temper, I started toward the obviously frightened girl. Though, she wasn’t quite a girl. She was probably in her early twenties but was petite, with long, chocolate-colored hair pulled back into a ponytail.