Once the door was open, he stepped out but moved slowly. The building had too many windows for the creatures to take shelter in it, so even if any of them had been in the area the night before, it was highly unlikely they’d decided to rest here. Taking things for granted in this world was too risky, though, and often led to death, so he took his time as he headed out, Naya only a few steps behind him.
Sunlight streamed in through the windows, illuminating the rooms he passed, and just like he’d expected, they were as empty as they’d been the night before. He caught a glimpse of the sky through the windows as he walked. Here and there a shard of glass still jutted up from one of the window frames, defiantly refusing to join the fragments littering the ground even after all these years, but his view was mostly unobstructed since the majority of the glass was missing. The sky was blue and clear and beautiful, but the morning air chilly when they stepped outside. The town they’d taken refuge in was less rundown than most of the ones he’d come across in recent years, but like every other place, it felt like a ghost town. Silence hung over them as they started walking, passing empty buildings that seemed to watch their progress and cars that barely resembled the vehicles they used to be. Glass littered what had once been sidewalks, catching the sun’s rays and glittering up at them from between weeds. Then there were the skeletons.
The empty eye sockets of a skull watched them pass, its detached jaw sitting just below it and giving off the impression it was in the middle of letting out a macabre laugh. Weeds grew between the bones of human ribcages, and the toe of Angus’s boot hit something, sending it skittering across the road, and he only vaguely registered that it was a leg bone.
The remnants of the people who’d once inhabited this country were everywhere, but Angus hardly noticed them anymore. Millions of people had been turned into zombies by the virus, and for more than twenty years the mindless corpses had roamed the Earth. Some had gotten taken out by survivors along the way, but rarely had anyone bothered to bury the dead. People, too, had died. Killed by other survivors or ripped apart by zombies, and their bodies had been left to rot. Even when it had all come to an end—after they’d stormed the CDC and released the failsafe—there hadn’t been time to take care of the bodies. There had been too many of them, and the people still living had too much to do. So, wherever the corpses fell was where they’d stayed, decomposing under the hot sun, being picked apart by animals or eaten by bugs until they were nothing but bones.
Naya and Angus were quiet as they walked, leaving the town and the skeletons behind, and it wasn’t long before the buildings had faded to nothing. They stuck to the old road, moving around any debris they came upon, and talked very little. It was a companionable silence, though, stretching out as the hours wore on. Halfway through the day, they stopped to gather water and boil it, giving their tired feet a break from the miles of walking, and Angus found a patch of wild berries and a walnut tree. They split the food—although not evenly—before resuming their travels, and the uneventful day continued.
This part of the country must have been sparsely inhabited, because they saw few buildings. A handful of houses that were little more than rubble, a fast food restaurant that was only identifiable as a McDonald’s thanks to the yellow arches lying on the ground and just barely visible through the thick bushes and weeds now clogging the parking lot. There was a roofless old gas station, too, the metal shelves still standing in the middle of the room, which was overgrown with moss, the post for the sign still stretching into the air but empty of the logo that had once announced its name to the world. The gas pumps remained even though the shelter that used to tower over them had collapsed. Angus spied one of the handheld pumps sticking up through the weeds, but the hoses were gone, the rubber having long ago rotted to nothing.
“It’s quiet today,” Naya said, her soft voice cutting through the silence but, for some unknown reason, not startling him.
“Sure is.” Angus looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun, which was getting lower in the sky, and frowned. “We only got a few more hours of light left. Gonna hafta think ’bout finding a place.”
“It’s been hours of nothing,” Naya said. “We have to come across a place soon.”
Angus nodded but started walking faster, knowing from experience what she’d said wasn’t true—they could still have miles of nothingness in front of them.
Chapter Seven
More than two hours had passed since he’d said they needed to find a place for the night, but they’d come upon nothing until now. Not that the crumbling shell of a town stretching out before them looked very promising. It was in the middle of nowhere and so rundown Angus found himself wondering if it had been abandoned even before the virus was released. They passed the first few buildings, old houses that were little more than ruins, and moved deeper, but still hadn’t come upon anything promising by the time they reached the middle of town.
Dusk was creeping up on them, and the sky had darkened as the sun moved toward the horizon. It was blocked by trees, making it difficult to know how much time they had left, but it wasn’t much. Fifteen minutes at the most, and that was pushing it.
Angus grabbed Naya’s arm and walked faster. “We gotta find a place.”
The girl’s eyes were huge, making her look vulnerable and a hell of a lot more her age. It awoke something protective in him, and Angus felt suddenly desperate to keep her safe, but still none of the buildings they came upon were in good shape. They were crumbling. Roofs collapsed, windows missing, doors gone, walls barely standing. Not the least bit secure and definitely nothing that would protect them from the creatures.
Angus started running, pulling Naya with him. She tripped over debris littering the streets as she scurried to keep up, but thanks to his firm grip, she couldn’t fall, and she didn’t complain. She understood how serious the situation was. They needed to take cover. Now.
Their footsteps echoed through the town, bouncing off what remained of the buildings they passed and coming back to taunt him. It was the only sound left, because the animals had all burrowed into their various hiding places for the night, knowing the creatures would very soon be on the prowl.
They were running out of time.
Angus stopped when they reached the last building on the street and swore. It was in worse shape than the others, with two entire walls missing and no roof. He released Naya’s arm and spun in a circle, scanning the town as he tried to decide what to do. The girl was staring at him, waiting. Breathless. He couldn’t let her down.
He grabbed her arm again and pulled her through the front door of the house, repeating the words he’d already said, “We gotta find a place.”
The interior was an obstacle course of debris, and he had to drop Naya’s arm so he could climb over what appeared to be part of the roof. Once he had, he turned and held his hand out to help her over, not releasing her even once she’d safely traversed the rubble. He held on to her hand, thinking about other moments in his life when he’d been forced to run for his life. Other hands he’d held as he’d searched for safety. Other people who’d depended on him to keep them safe.
Parv.
Vivian.
Glitter.
Darla.
Axl.
He’d failed them all.
Angus moved down a hall, the blackness growing thicker and making it nearly impossible to see. The door to the first room was a rotten, crumbling mess, so he moved to the next. It was missing the roof and half a wall. The next doorway led to a bathroom and would have worked in a pinch if the door had been intact. Too bad it wasn’t.
He swore again and pulled Naya farther, stopping at the next door—a linen closet, it looked like. The door was open and mercifully still attached, but the space was small, barely big enough for the two of them. It was their only option, though. Darkness had fallen.
A howl broke through the silence, and Naya whimpered. More followed.
Angus pulled the couple remaining shelves out of th
e closet and tossed them aside.
“Get in,” he said, pushing her forward.
She obeyed, getting on her hands and knees and crawling inside. He was right behind her.
Once in, he pulled the door shut, but there was no way to lock it, so he clung to the knob for dear life. His heart was pounding in his ears, so loud he felt like it was audible, and he was drenched in sweat despite the chilly night air. Naya was breathing heavily, but there was no time to ask how she was. They had to be quiet now. Totally silent. It was the only way they’d get out of this alive, because this door opened from the outside. If the creatures found their hiding place, Angus wouldn’t be able to hold on for long.
A bang echoed through the house, and he tightened his grip.
It was close.
The thud of heavy footsteps followed, scraping against the debris he and Naya had just climbed over, and the creature let out another howl, making the hair on the back of Angus’s neck stand on end.
It was on the other side of the door.
He closed his eyes and prayed.
The floor groaned as footsteps scurried past their hiding spot, the sickly-sweet stench of the creature wafting in from under the door, and Angus held his breath. More banging. Another howl from inside the house, with others following from farther away. Suddenly, he found breathing impossible, and he felt as if he might suffocate if the creature didn’t leave soon. His lungs burned. His throat felt raw.
One more howl sounded before the creature ran past the closet again, this time going back the way it came. Silence followed.
Had it left? Angus wasn’t positive, but since no other noises sounded, it seemed likely. Not that it mattered. They wouldn’t leave the closet until morning, and he doubted he’d be able to relax enough to let go of the doorknob, which meant he had a long and sleepless night ahead of him. It wouldn’t be the first one.
They sat in silence, Angus holding on to the doorknob as the minutes ticked away, turning to hours. His shoulders throbbed from his hunched position and he had a cramp in his left leg—which was twisted under him—but he didn’t dare move. Didn’t dare make a sound. He knew what would happen if he did because he’d been in this position before. The night the creatures invaded their settlement in Senoia.
There had been so few of them left. These things—hybrid zombies were what most people had called them—had been on the hunt for twelve years at that point—since shortly after the CDC fell. They’d been known to climb walls and steal people from the streets, and they were fast and violent and not easy to kill. One scratch was all it took to turn a person, and only people like Angus were truly safe. People who were immune to their bites, who wouldn’t turn from a simple scratch of the creature’s claws.
More than an hour had gone by since the sun set, and Angus and Vivian had barricaded the house well before that. Howls had been echoing through the air pretty consistently since darkness set in, but that hadn’t been anything new. Angus had known for a while that the creatures were winning—although it was something he hadn’t yet had the nerve say out loud. Going outside after dark had turned into a death sentence, and the creatures had managed to kill or turn most of the settlement. First stealing people from the streets, then occasionally breaking into homes when they couldn’t find anyone outside. With each person they got, the odds of the human race becoming extinct increased, and there was no sign of them slowing down.
After all his trial and error, it seemed that Star had finally created the perfect killing machine.
Despite the occasional creature breaking into a house, people had been fairly safe indoors, which was the only hope Angus had left. As long as they stayed indoors and kept quiet, he and Vivian just might make it.
“Active night,” Vivian had said in a low voice as they headed for the stairs, ready to lock themselves in their rooms on the second floor until morning.
The house had been dark except for the candle she was carrying, which only illuminated a small circle around them. It had cast shadows on the furniture as they walked, making Angus feel like an army of ghostly figures stood watching their progress. It had sent a shudder through him, which was accompanied by a twist of pain in his heart as he thought about the people they’d lost. Nearly everyone.
Instead of responding to Vivian’s comment, Angus had grunted, not wanting to even acknowledge the creatures.
They’d just reached the stairs when the first scream cut through the silence, and they’d both frozen. Vivian had looked his way, her brown eyes wide. They’d stayed like that for only a second, but in that moment, Angus had seen his own fear reflected in her eyes and realized that, like him, she knew the truth. The creatures were unstoppable.
They’d rushed to the window rather than go upstairs, where they stood side by side, holding the curtains out of the way as they peered outside. At first it had just been one creature streaking down the road, its mouth open as it let out a bloodcurdling howl. Another had followed, then another, and soon there were dozens of the zombie hybrids charging through the settlement. It had made no sense to him, though. Occasionally, they’d seen two or three of the creatures together, but never more. Never like this. That had been one of the only reassuring things about the creatures. They didn’t travel in packs the way the zombies had.
Except now, it seemed they did.
“What’s happening?” Vivian had asked, then covered her mouth to stifle a scream.
Across the street, one of the creatures had thrown itself through the front window of a house, sending glass raining down on the porch, and mere seconds later, a scream broke through the air.
That was when Angus grabbed Vivian’s hand and pulled her away from the window. “We gotta hide. Now.”
She’d nodded, seemingly too terrified to talk, and allowed him to drag her through the house.
Angus had held on to her as he ran, his mind spinning as he tried to decide what to do. They needed a room they could fortify. If they could barricade the door, if they could hold the creatures off, they just might make it to morning. That meant no windows and a door that opened from the inside. An interior bedroom? There weren’t any. A bathroom, then? It was the only way.
He’d run through the house, pulling Vivian with him, his heart pounding in his chest. When they reached the bathroom, he’d shoved her inside and rushed in after her, pushing the door shut behind him and plunging them into darkness. In their haste to get to safety, they’d left the candle burning in the other room.
Angus had flicked the lock and curled his fingers, forming a fist in an attempt to stave off the tremors moving through his body.
“What now?” Vivian had asked.
He’d reached for her through the darkness, finding her arm and running his hand down it so he could find hers. Once he had, he laced their fingers together, knowing he was trying to comfort himself just as much as her.
“We gotta stay quiet. No matter what.”
She hadn’t responded, but he’d been able to imagine her nodding. She was trembling as much as he was, but they’d been through enough, and he knew she’d do whatever she needed to survive. She’d been tough like that. A survivor. Like him.
Angus had lowered himself to the ground, urging Vivian to do the same. Then he’d pressed his back against the door. He didn’t know if his extra weight would help keep them safe, but he’d known he had to try. He’d made a promise to his brother, after all, one he’d already mostly failed, and even if it was the last thing he did on this Earth, Angus had to make sure Vivian got out of this alive.
She’d scooted over until her body was pressed against his, and he released her hand so he could put his arm around her. Vivian had clung to him. She’d been shaking, but so had he. They’d watched the people they loved die one by one over the last two years, starting with Axl, but Angus had never been as scared as he was at that moment. The creatures were hunting in a pack. It was unheard of, unthinkable. Unbeatable.
“Tell me we’re going to make it,” Vivian had said,
her voice so low he could barely hear her.
“We’re gonna make it.”
He’d hoped he wasn’t lying.
She’d scooted closer, clung tighter, and so had he.
Screams and howls were audible from their hiding place in the bathroom, but the sounds were faint and far away. The crash of glass that came after less than fifteen minutes wasn’t, though. It was in the house. In the living room they’d just fled.
Angus had tightened his grip on Vivian, and she’d pressed her face against his chest as footsteps moved their way, their gait strange and scattered. So different from how a human walked. Occasionally, they stopped, and Angus held his breath, praying the creature moved on, but after only a few seconds, the footsteps always started up again. It was like the thing had known they were in the house. Somewhere.
The creature passed them and headed to the kitchen. Seconds later, it had streaked by again, moving the other way as it howled. It ran up the stairs, and the sound of shattering glass had followed. The thud of toppling furniture made them jump, but neither Angus nor Vivian had uttered a sound. Only minutes later, the thing rushed back downstairs. It had stopped somewhere nearby and howled again, and Angus bit back a grunt when Vivian dug her nails into his arm.
Then another crash followed, and the house had gone eerily silent.
Angus was fairly certain the thing had gone, but he’d stayed still anyway, not daring to make a sound. Minutes ticked by. Then hours. There was still a lot of commotion in the settlement. Still the occasional scream or howl and the sound of breaking glass, so he’d known the creatures hadn’t given up, but none had returned to the house.
We’re gonna make it, he’d told himself. We’re gonna be okay.
Time passed, and the night stretched on, and still they hadn’t uttered a word. They never stopped clinging to each other, but eventually Angus’s left ass cheek had gone numb and he was forced to shift. The floor creaked from the movement, and Vivian’s body had jerked. She let out a squeak, and Angus realized she’d dozed off at some point, and his sudden movement had startled her awake.
Broken World | Novel | Angus Page 12