by A. L. White
“Stop!” Charlie screamed. “Don’t shoot.”
Virginia moved around the barrel, kicking Walter as she passed. He was cowering out of Lori’s sight. Virginia brought the crossbow up, aiming at Lori’s eye. If she had to shoot, she wanted to make sure that Lori didn’t suffer
“Please, everyone back off.” Charlie asked as calmly as he could.
Lori’s brain took stock of where each threat was located. She assessed which would need to be dealt with first and in what order the others would follow. She would kill the one below her with a swipe of her nails across his throat then move onto the one moving dangerously close by the fire.
“Virginia should I shoot?” Tressa asked, trembling more.
Lori lowered her head down to just an inch from Charlie’s face and took a long drag of his scent. Moving closer, she licked from his chin up to the eyelid and then let out an even louder roar.
“Hold on everyone, wait just a second before you do something we will all be sorry for.” Zoe said from behind Jermaine.
“Lori, we’ve been through so much together. Now I know you’re in there and I know you can hear me.” Jermaine said, pleading.
Lori opened her mouth and let her fangs drag across Charlie’s cheek leaving two trace lines of blood as she growled at Virginia. Zeus moved into position so that he could block any assault on Virginia and snapped wildly at Lori before he settled back, ready to pounce.
“Virginia, please lower the cross bow and take Zeus back away from there.” Charlie asked.
“I told you that if this happened I would put her down.” Virginia replied. Lori snapped at Zeus, causing him to back into Virginia who let the arrow fly wild over the top of everyone. Regaining her balance, Virginia loaded another and leveled it back at Lori’s head.
Jermaine made his way over to Tressa, placing his hand on the pistol and pushing it down toward the floor. Taking the gun Jermaine said, “Tressa, please take Todd and Zoe into the RV and lock it up tight.”
Tressa did as she was told, gathering up Todd and Zoe, they headed into the RV.
“Walter, can you help me here, buddy?” Charlie asked just above a whisper.
Walter had moved further away during the excitement and wasn’t too sure about moving closer. In truth, Walter had wanted to go in the RV with Todd. “The gun shots and the thought that Virginia was in trouble brought her out of it last time I think.”
Virginia lowered the cross bow for an instant. Removing the arrow, she set it on the floor at her feet. “Zeus, Perseus, go protect Todd.” She commanded. Both dogs remained frozen like statues staring at Lori. “Now! Go protect Todd. NOW. Zeus! Perseus!”
Zeus stood up and looked back at her then walked slowly toward the RV waiting for Virginia to change her mind and call him back. Perseus caught up to him and they both sat between the truck and RV where they could still see Virginia.
Scratching her head wondering how she was going to do this, Virginia finally took a step towards Lori. With her fangs showing that she was not to be trifled with, Lori again roared so loud that Charlie thought his ear drums had burst as his head filled with ringing.
Virginia took one step forward and Lori snapped at the air, snarling. Another step brought fiercer snapping meant to scare her. As her foot touched the ground on the third step Virginia felt the breath being knocked out of her as Lori leapt from Charlie onto her. The fangs felt like four needles pressing into her neck as blood trickled from them.
“I am not going to fight you, Lori.” Virginia said calmly as the fangs pressed harder. “If you want to rip my throat out, go ahead. Be done with it already!” Virginia screamed. Lori let loose of her neck and roared into the heavens again. Virginia grabbed the arrow laying just off from her hand on the floor, then released it.
“I can’t kill you. You are my sister. I love and you know that you can’t kill me.” Virginia said. “Do you remember that song that Grandpa used to sing to us in the car?” Lori lowered her head and snarled at Virginia moving her mouth closer. “The stupid one about the doggy in the window?” Lori crooked her head to the left and then to the right looking into Virginia’s eyes. “I never could remember the word but you used to just sing away with him.”
As quick as she had been on top of Virginia, Lori leapt off of her, knocking the barrel over as she shot across the floor. A moment later there was a tremendous boom as Lori ran through the door leading to the office. Virginia grabbed her crossbow and called the lads to her as she started after Lori. Jermaine grabbed her with his arm, nearly falling to the floor from the force as she smacked into him. “Easy now, I think we might be ok for tonight.”
“I know that, Lori isn’t going to hurt anyone for now. The lads and I are going to watch outside the door to make sure it stays that way.” Virginia replied.
“Let her go, Jermaine. She will rest easier and I think everyone else will too.” Charlie said.
“Well, if all the excitement is over, I am going back to the RV. I just cut my arm off earlier you know.” Jermaine said, looking down at the bandaged stump and wavering slightly in his stance.
“You go ahead, my friend. I think I will go sit with Virginia for a while. Hell of a thing she did for me here tonight.” Charlie said.
“Hell of a thing done by one hell of a little lady.” Jermaine replied as he turned back, staggering toward the RV.
Charlie found Virginia sitting on a stool with a dog on either side directly across from the office door. Remnants of the door were scattered everyplace as if it exploded from the force of Lori smashing into it. Charlie threw a few sacks of feed off out of his way, making a seat in the bin on top of the remaining bags.
“Look at what she did to the door.” Virginia said.
“Had to have it pretty hard, don’t you think?” Charlie asked.
“I think if Lori had wanted to, she could have killed us all without even breaking a sweat.” Virginia replied.
“What do you think we should do about that?” Charlie asked. Virginia shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever Lori wants us to do.” Standing up, she handed Charlie the cross bow. “You keep watch. I am going to get some sleep.” As Virginia walked away she stopped and added. “I could have put her down, Charlie. I had the perfect shot.”
“I know.” Charlie said as she walked away.
Chapter 35
The nightmares had returned overnight, more vivid than ever. They starting with being pinned down in the bunker, fighting for her life. Teeth snapping just inches from Lori’s face, a clawed hand scooping out flesh from her shoulder. It ending with the creature feasting on unsuspecting survivors caught in a hellish trap of death. The only thing that changed was the perspective, leading Lori to believe that she was the creature all along.
Lori blinked her eyes several times in an attempt to clear the sleep away. Stretching her arms up, it became obvious that someone was watching her sleep. Sniffing the air eased her worry as she recognized it to be the scent of Zoe.
“It’s not polite to stare at someone.” Lori stated.
“It’s not polite to try and eat someone, either.” Zoe replied with a smile.“I have been watching you and Walter sleep for over an hour.”
Lori wasn’t certain what Zoe meant but some of the haze of yesterday hinted to her she had done something terrible. Sitting up, Lori saw Walter curled up in the far corner still fast asleep. The office looked like a tornado had passed through. Filing cabinets were over turned, pictures thrown from the walls, and everything from the desk she was sleeping on had been swept away. Zoe sat in the desk chair rocking back and forth with her arms folded across her chest.
“What are your plans, child?” Zoe asked.
Lori shook her head no and replied. “I don’t know, Zoe. I don’t know what it is that I should do now.”
“You remember anything from last night?” Zoe asked.
“Bits and pieces, not very much beyond that.” Lori replied, holding her face in her hands.
Zoe stood up and placed her
hand on Lori shoulder and rubbed up and down in a soothing motion. “Do you remember attacking Charlie?”
Dropping her hands to her lap, she looked up at Zoe, stunned at the idea that she would ever harm Charlie. “No, nothing like that at all.”
“You love the boy?” Zoe asked.
“I think I love the man, yes.” Lori replied.
Zoe sat back down in the chair and laughed. When she finished she said, “Lori, when you get to my age, all of you young‘uns are children.”
“I don’t think that Walter and I can stay.” Lori replied, looking for Zoe to convince her that they should stay.
“I would hate to see you go but I think you may be right. How would you know when something like last night was going to happen? How would we know if it was going to happen before one of us were lying underneath you? Looking up at those fangs that seem to come out when needed.”
“I remember Virginia last night. I remember thinking that she was going to end all of this nightmare for me.” Lori said, staring blankly at the floor in front of Zoe’s feet.
“Is that what you want, child? Do you want us to help end this here and now?” Zoe asked.
Ignoring the question Lori continued, “Virginia was going to let me…or the creature kill her. Why did she do that?”
“Your sister knew that you would never knowingly harm her. Virginia saved you and Charlie last night. She is a remarkable young woman, Virginia is.” Zoe replied.
Lori thought about the future she could have had with Charlie. Every way she followed the paths of possibility they ended the same way; always with blood, death, and destruction. There was no way clear that would allow them to have a life together or for her not to end in a battle with Virginia and the lads.
“After we met Old Bob when our brother Jay died. A man named Jack Burrows joined us before we made it to the bunker. Jack was a doctor or scientist, I don’t remember which, working on a cure for all of this. Jack had gone out in the field, he used to say, so that he could see it in real time.” Lori said, “There was a government lab just outside of Chicago that Jack was from. I think I am going to take Walter and see if there is anything left of it.”
“I don’t think you will find anything there.” Zoe replied.
“I agree, but it would give me a starting point. Maybe Walter and I could find something there that would tell us where to try next.”
Zoe felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she listened to Lori. Years of life had taught her that liking something and doing what was right didn’t always work hand in hand together. Digging deep into her pocket she pulled out a key chain with the number “seven” on it that held a single key. Zoe placed it on the desk next to Lori and pointed out the window to a lone white van that said “Tri-Co feed” on the side, in large blue letters. “I checked it out while you were sleeping, has a full tank of gas in it.”
“You have been busy.” Lori said smiling.
“Do you want to wake everyone up and tell them good bye?” Zoe asked.
Lori closed her eyes and shook her head no to the question. The last thing that she wanted was to have to face everyone after what had happened last night. Trying to say good bye would only make leaving that much harder and she knew that Charlie would try to keep her here. At least, part of her hoped he would still try. Lori knew that deep down Charlie saw her as he did his dead wife. Annie had turned and Charlie had to kill her or be killed. No one should have to love and kill two women that have been infected in one life time. “No, I think it’s best for Walter and I to just leave.”
Zoe shoved a piece of paper and a pen onto the desk by Lori and then pointed over to a cluster of small boxes sitting neatly in a corner among the clutter. “Oh, here I thought you might like to take this too.” She handed Lori an old flip phone with a car charger attached to it.
“I don’t think I will be able to call with there being no cell coverage and all.”Lori said, mocking Zoe.
“Don’t you get smart with me, child.” Zoe said, joking back, “I am not so old that I have lost all of my faculties. This was my Albert’s phone, he took a lot of pictures of the group when he could keep it charged and no one was paying him any mind. I thought you would like it so that you had something to remember all of us by.”
She hopped down off the desk and threw her arms around Zoe. “Thank you very much. Yes, I would love to have that and will cherish it for as long as I live.” Zoe hugged her back as best she could and replied. “Those boxes don’t have much in them. I couldn’t carry very much without waking someone up to help me. I put mostly some of yours and Walters personal things, a little bit of food and water.”
“That’s ok, Zoe, we can get supplies as we go.” Lori replied.
Lori spent the next fifteen minutes writing three notes. The shortest one was to Charlie and the longest one was to Virginia while the one in between was to everyone. Holding a pen and writing was odd and somewhat foreign feeling after so long but Lori adjusted quickly. There was no shortage of what there was to say to Virginia. Lori had to cut it off after three pages and move on to the next letter. She said good bye to each person, including Zoe, in a personal way. Charlie’s letter, there were no words to say what she felt inside or what needed to be said. After three failed attempts, she settled on just a few simple words. “I will love you for as long as I live. – Lori”
*****
Virginia was the first to wake up so she quietly made her way out of the RV. Tapping Charlie on the shoulder she chided him, “You didn’t do a very good job keeping watch.”
Charlie shrugged his shoulders looking down at the lads. “What about them? They were sleeping too!”
Virginia smiled back at him as she turned to the office doorway. Noticing that the wood had been swept to the side Virginia turned back toward Charlie. “Has she come out?”
“Not that I know of, and if she did, she sure didn’t wake us up.” Charlie replied.
Entering the office, being careful to step over the filing cabinets, the first person that Virginia saw was Zoe, sitting at the desk. “Where are Lori and Walter?”
Zoe held up a neatly folded letter with Virginia’s name written on the outside. Taking the letter, Virginia leaned against the desk and unfolded it. Reading it over twice she dropped it down to her side and looked at Zoe. “Lori was right. It really was the best thing to do.”
“Are you ok?” Zoe asked
Virginia thought about it for a few moments. “After last night I think I will be. Now I don’t have to worry about her killing me or being forced to kill her.”
“Charlie?” Zoe asked.
“That I am leaving to you older folks. I think Charlie thought there was a way that they could build some kind of family together.” Virginia replied.
“I think you’re right.” Zoe replied.
Chapter 36
It had taken over an hour to convince Charlie that he should stay with the group rather than go off alone chasing Lori. Even then, no one could be certain that he wouldn’t leave in the night until Jermaine had reminded him of his plan. They would take turns driving the RV only stopping when they needed to fill the tanks up. Once on the road, when they could clearly see that the tire tracks left by Lori had turned off heading in the direction of Chicago, did Charlie mention following her again. As soon as they were passed beyond that road he sunk into a quiet phase, cutting himself off from the rest.
*****
Brining the RV to a slow, easy stop, Jermaine turned his head to see where everyone was in back. With the exception of Todd and the dogs, they were all sleeping away the tedium of the drive. He yelled back to the others “Y‘all should see this.” He pointed down the road to the town ahead. “Looks like this place is set up like Rivers Crossing.”
Charlie, riding in the passenger seat, opened his eyes and yawned. An old school bus with sheet metal covering over the windows and lining the bottom blocked the street. With the way the metal was blocking the underside of the bus there was no way to c
rawl under it.
Three men, armed for war, stood in front of it motioning Jermaine to pull forward slow and easy.
“What do you think?” Jermaine asked
Pulling the map out and tracing from the last town that they had found gas at, to where he thought they were at now, Charlie replied. “Well, I guess we need to decide what it is we are looking for. Are we looking for another safe place to stay for a while or a new place to call home. If it is a place to make a home, I think we may have found an option here.”
“Is this what you were expecting?” Tressa asked.
Charlie shook his head no and looked at Jermaine. “You have seen more of Bob’s safe places. This what you were looking for?”
“Nah, Bob’s places are usually out of the way and hidden from anyone that didn’t know they were there.”
Two men, with their guns trained on Jermaine and Charlie, advanced, followed by one that Jermaine thought for sure was in charge. “Exit the camper now with your hands above your head.”
Jermaine raised his hand and stump up so that they could see them clearly. “We’re coming out, just stay calm, mister.” Turning to Charlie he whispered. “I can slam it in reverse but we can’t outrun bullets.”
“Everyone out like the man says, keep your hands up so that nobody gets shot.” Charlie said as he raised his arms up. “Ok, we are coming out. We have four adults, two dogs, one young woman and an oversized grown man that is like a seven-year-old.” Charlie glanced over his shoulder at Tressa as he slowly reached down to open the door. “Sorry for that, but I don’t want them to shoot Todd if he freaks out or anything.”
Before Tressa could say anything Todd pipped up. “Don’t worry, Mister Charlie, I know how to play cops and robber.”
Once they were all outside Virginia had the lads sit on either side of her. One man walked up and took a close look at them all, paying particular attention to their skin color. “They all look fine, but this one here may have been bitten.” Another man came up and lifted Jermaine’s arm up poking and prodding at the bandage. Then in a swift move ripped it off. “What happened here?”