by Deb Rotuno
Derek had warned us that it was possible there wasn’t much left. We’d discussed how far we’d go, which wouldn’t be too far off the lake, but there was a log-cabin lodge that everyone wanted us to check out. There would be no driving on this trip, other than the boat, unless we could find a vehicle with enough gas, and my dad had asked that we keep the trip to less than two days.
“Everything happened so damned fast,” Olivia stated. “One minute, they’re talking about the storms in Florida, and the next, the flu had gone crazy. Hell, I remember when the TV stations went off the air and they declared martial law in some places.”
We all nodded in agreement, murmuring that we remembered that as well.
“I was getting ready to leave home,” Lexie said softly, a sad smile on her face. She’d rarely talk about her family or the farm, but when she did, it was with a sadness to her tone. “I had a friend with an apartment in Little Rock. She’d invited me to move in, start school. I hadn’t even told my parents yet.”
“I was just about to quit my job,” Ruby stated with a laugh. “I mean…like one more snide remark from my pig of a boss away from dumping a plate of food on his head.”
Grinning, I looked up at her. “Really? That bad?”
“Oh, God… He was an ass-slapping douchebag who couldn’t speak without innuendo behind every damn word. There were rumors that he was sleeping with the hostess staff—all of them…at the same time…”
We all laughed, which caused Jack to toss a smile over his shoulder, but he continued down a small path in the woods.
“Jack would’ve been discharged by now,” I said out of the blue but pointed toward him.
“Joel too,” Ruby agreed. “He was talking about that a few nights ago. He was saying he and Jack were going to work for Derek.”
“Hmm,” I hummed with a nod. “They were. Derek was really happy about that because it meant he could take on more construction jobs.
“Who knew it would turn out this way.” I sighed, shaking my head. “Almost the other way around, like they’ll forever be soldiers, fighting for safety and survival. And now Derek has to do the same. It’s strange how things got completely changed around.”
Jack came to a stop up ahead, pulling his compound bow around from his back. He set a hand gently on Freddie’s shoulder as he listened intently, his head tilted just a bit. Joel sent a soft whistle from behind us, and Jack held up a single hand and then a single finger for us to wait. We all came to a stop, though the men behind us caught up quickly. Joel, however, kept going until he silently came to Jack’s side.
Abe and Derek took either side of us, but Joel and Jack stayed stock-still for a moment. My gaze stayed locked on Sasha as she darted forward to stand between my husband and son, and that told me we weren’t alone out there.
“Oh, damn,” I muttered to myself, and Ruby heard me, nodding a little.
I spun around in a circle to check behind us. The woods were quiet, and despite the cold air, the only snow on the ground was in small drifts here and there. The day was a touch overcast, which meant we might have snow later, but for now, it was clear, and if zeaks were around, they’d be mobile—not particularly fast but mobile all the same. If the pack was large enough, they could overrun us.
Jack spun around, waving us forward, and we joined him. We were standing at the edge of railroad tracks. They cut through the forest, disappearing in both directions. On either side were more woods, though I could see the steeple of a church in the distance. According to our maps, the log-cabin lodge was not too far from that.
Sasha’s head was low as she seemed to scan the woods on the other side of the train tracks. A cold breeze blew through, rustling the leaves, but the shiver that ran through me wasn’t from the temperature of the air but the smell that came with the wind: death. It was heavy, thick, and foul. Sasha’s deep growl broke the silence until the snap of a twig met our ears from in front of us.
“Boof,” she barely huffed aloud, glancing up to Jack and then back to the tree line.
Jack turned immediately to face us all. “We were aiming for the cabin, which is southeast just on the other side of those woods. But I think we’ll need to aim for the church first, just to catch a break. See it?” he asked, pointing up to the cross that barely peeked over the trees.
A zeak stepped from the woods across the train tracks, as did a few more but from the same side we were on. Our scent was drawing them in from the east. The path we’d just traveled suddenly filled up as well, stumbling, groaning zeaks spilling out into the dirt road behind us. However, the path in front of us leading over the tracks was clear.
“We gotta move, Jack,” Derek warned softly, readying his compound bow.
Joel pulled out his sword, and the rest of us followed their example by arming ourselves, but Jack’s eyes were sharp, dark, glancing around us until his gaze landed on Abe.
“We gotta run, Abe. Can you…”
Abe tsked, holding up a hand. “I’m old, not an invalid. Lead the way, son. We’ll follow you.”
We all murmured in agreement, but Jack pulled Freddie to him. “Don’t you worry about aiming, Freddie. Run first, stay with Mom or me, and let me worry about shooting. Am I clear?” When Freddie nodded, wide-eyed and quiet, Jack barked out, “Sasha…on me!” Jack gripped my shoulder, pulling me forward. “The church, Sara. Nowhere else. Even if we get separated, I’ll meet you there.”
“Jack!” Joel snapped, raising his sword as one of the first three zeaks stumbled from the woods next to us. With three large swings, their heads thumped to the dirt road. “Now!”
All of us ran, though I took Freddie’s hand to keep him with me. We followed Jack across the train tracks, and gunfire popped behind us. Fighting broke out behind us, but I heard Derek tell them to keep moving. Jack opted for his .45 instead of the compound bow but hadn’t fired yet. The path was still clear, and the church steeple could still be seen, though it was now growing closer. The pack was enormous, seeming to rival the size of the one that had come through Clear Lake the night Jack came home. And if that were the case, we were truly outnumbered.
Freddie gasped, “Dad!” coming to a stop, which almost caused me to slip and fall, but I just barely stayed upright.
Jack stopped abruptly, popping off four rounds, as the path in front of us slowly closed in. He turned to us, yelling, “Woods! Cut across!”
He veered to the left, stopping just outside the trees, waiting for Freddie, Abe, and me to pass him by. He fired off two more rounds behind us, yelling for the others to move their asses. Once inside the woods, it was eerily quiet, the sounds of fighting barely making it inside the thick trees. I urged Freddie on, keeping Abe in my peripheral vision, and I could still hear Jack’s instructions to Sasha behind us. She was running full speed to our right, along the side of the path we’d been on, simply to stall the pack that was aiming for us.
White flashed up ahead, breaking through the dense trees, and I wanted to sigh in relief at the sight of the old church. The woods ended just ahead, but just as I thought I’d get Freddie out of there, a hand shot out from behind a thick tree trunk, gripping my jacket. It caused me to stumble, which took down Freddie with me. Covering my son as best I could, I rounded my handgun to my right, firing two shots. Abe fired his rifle as well, taking out another zeak that had been right behind the first one.
“You guys okay?” he asked us, and I spun to Freddie, who was nodding but pushing himself up into a sitting position. His hand was bleeding, and I could see that he’d cut it on a stick when he fell.
Reaching for the scarf around my neck, I wrapped it tightly around his hand. “Just hang in there, baby. We’ll clean it up when we get to the church.”
Freddie’s eyes widened, and he called out, “Mr. Abe!”
I didn’t move quickly enough. My shot met its mark, which was a zeak stumbling up behind Abe, but it was too late. A zeak right behind the first had Abe in her hands before I could fire my shot. Her teeth sank into his ne
ck, and although he could barely speak, he was able to call out to us.
“Go! Run! Leave me!”
I was on my feet, pulling my son up with me and spinning him around to face the church I could still see in the distance. “Go, Freddie.”
“But…Dad! Mr. Abe!” he called out, trying to look behind us, but I wouldn’t let him.
We practically fell out of the woods and into the churchyard. The sound of yells, gunfire, and running met my ears from behind Freddie and me, but they were farther back. The loudest, closest sound was the loud click-click-click of a shotgun engaging.
“Get inside the church!” I heard a woman’s voice say. I spun to see an older woman standing there. Her hair was salt-and-pepper, tied back in a low ponytail, and she had her weapon trained on the woods. “How many of your people are out there?”
“N-Nine…um, no…now eight,” I told her, my heart hurting that we’d lost Abe.
She nodded once, saying, “Get him inside. I’ll watch for them.”
I rushed Freddie up the steps of the old wooden church. The white paint was peeling, there were boards over the windows, and the steps creaked when we flew through the double doors. Inside, there were candles lit everywhere, a makeshift bed off to the side of the pulpit, and the pews had been set up as additional barriers by some of the windows and two doors at the back.
Pulling Freddie to the closest window that faced the woods, I dropped my backpack down, reaching inside for something to help cover his injured hand.
“Wait! Mom, wait!” he argued, shaking his head. “We need to help!”
He lifted his rifle, aiming the barrel awkwardly out the window between two slats nailed up outside. I wanted to argue, but the sounds of yelling and gunfire grew closer. Taking the window next to Freddie’s, I aimed my gun.
Joel, Ruby, and Lexie practically fell out of the trees a little bit farther down than where Freddie and I had emerged. The old woman fired past them, telling them the same thing she’d said to me, to get inside the church. My son fired his rifle to the old woman’s right, taking down two zeaks she hadn’t seen, but I scanned for the rest of our group.
Just as Joel burst through the church doors practically carrying Lexie, I finally caught sight of Jack. He had three zeaks gripping at his jacket, and with a strong yank of his left arm, he pulled himself free but lost his footing just a little. Before he could stand up straight, I fired three rounds, killing the three zeaks to give him enough of a chance to break free. He wasn’t alone; Sasha came from another section of the woods at full speed, only to circle Jack. When my husband raised his .45 into the woods, I knew he could see better than we could.
“Gimme room, Sare,” Joel stated, falling to his knees next to me and aiming his rifle out the window, and I slid over a little. Glancing around him, I could see Ruby had joined Freddie, but Lexie was rubbing her leg as she winced in pain on the pew Joel had set her on.
We all fired out those windows, and my heart ached when I still hadn’t seen Olivia or Derek. Jack was instructing Sasha as he put another clip in, and the old woman was reloading her shotgun.
I heard her yell for him to get inside, but he simply shook his head no, aiming and firing.
He turned to glance toward our windows, yelling, “Who’s missing?”
“Derek and Olivia,” I answered him, taking out two more dead.
Jack merely nodded, taking the chance to load his compound bow as the old woman covered him.
“We’re not gonna have enough ammo for this shit,” Joel grunted, using the scope on the rifle, but he huffed softly, wearing a small smile. “Jack!” he yelled out the window. “One o’clock. Derek and Olivia. You gotta help him. She’s hurt.”
“Roger that!” Jack called back, running along the edge of the woods and telling Sasha to go in.
Jack disappeared into the trees right behind Sasha, and I had no alternative but to trust Joel to keep an eye on them through the scope of his rifle. It seemed to take forever, my heart in my throat once Jack’s tall form left my sight. We covered the old woman, who barely seemed to flinch at the size of the pack she was dealing with. From the look of the church, she was alone, so it was probably not the first large group of them she’d dealt with.
“Talk to me, Joel,” I muttered, glancing over to simply eyeball my son, but he was fiercely firing away.
“Wait for it…wait for it…” he chanted softly, watching through the scope, and then suddenly he was on his feet and through the church doors, aiming from the front steps. “Jack…D, move your asses!” he ordered, popping off four rounds. “And lady! Let’s go!”
Jack and Derek burst through the trees with Olivia between them, an arm around each of their shoulders. They could barely aim their guns while trying to carry her, and the old woman fired one more shot before turning around and walking quickly toward the doors.
“Sasha!” Jack called over his shoulder, and the big dog leaped over a shrub to run at full speed in through the doors.
Everyone came inside, voices raised, Olivia crying out in pain, and Sasha’s nails clicking on the hardwood floors. We stopped firing, and Ruby rushed to help the old woman secure a long, strong board across the front doors. The zeaks kept coming from the woods, their grunts growing closer to the building, but the windows were high enough that they could barely reach the sill, much less get in. The front doors weren’t going anywhere. Jack and Derek set Olivia gently on the floor, but she was in hysterics.
“Jack, you can’t! I need…” Finally, she gripped his jacket. “I’ve been bit!”
The whole room came to a standstill, and I rushed to her, kneeling next to Jack, who was eyeing the wound on her arm. We had seconds before the virus took her.
“Kill me now…kill me now…don’t let me…” she begged him, and Jack dropped his weapons behind him, gripping his hair. Without letting go of his lapel, she started to shake. “Y-You…m-made m-me a-a p-promise, Jack…Sara! You take care of my babies!”
Jack’s face was stone, and I knew him better than anyone. He was fighting every instinct he had. He wanted revenge, though the enemy was unseen. He was heartbroken for her, her children, and didn’t want to end her life, but he started to move stiffly, almost robotic-like, pulling his knife from its sheath around his thigh.
Olivia convulsed, her eyes rolling back in her head, but her skin was already sallow, her eyes glazed over. Her grip on his jacket became more forceful, jerky, less desperate. She wasn’t human anymore, and if he didn’t act swiftly, she’d pull him in.
“Jack…” I said softly, but there was a warning in my tone.
He nodded vehemently, moving so quickly I barely registered the whole thing. He turned her head, slid the knife just behind her ear, and Olivia went still, her hand finally releasing his jacket.
The old woman’s voice started muttering a soft prayer, but Jack ignored her, simply meeting my gaze. He was pain and shock and anger incarnate. He was quiet too, and I reached up to touch his face.
“You okay?” I asked him. “No bites? Scratches?”
“No…fine. You? Freddie?” he asked, spinning to look around the room, and Freddie ran to us. Jack wrapped his son in a hug, though Freddie was favoring that hand. “What happened?”
“I fell. I’m okay, Daddy,” Freddie vowed. “But…but…”
Jack waited, and when his son didn’t finish, I answered for him. “We lost Abe too.”
“Damn it,” Jack sighed, his forehead falling to the side of Freddie’s head. Without lifting it and with his eyes closed, he addressed the room. “Everybody else okay?”
“Lexie twisted her ankle, but she’s fine,” Joel answered him.
I glanced over at the girl in question and saw that Derek was already seeing to her ankle. He wrapped it gently, barely speaking to her aloud, but she nodded at whatever she’d heard.
“We owe you a thank-you,” Jack said, finally looking at the old woman.
“You lost people. I’m sorry,” she whispered, holding her hand out.
“The name’s Pierce. Betsy Pierce.”
“Jack Chambers. My wife and son…Sara and Freddie.”
Betsy shook my hand after everyone else introduced themselves, but she eyed my son. “Freddie, that hand needs to be tended to.”
“C’mere, baby,” I said, standing up from the floor, and I picked him up. I sat down heavily on one of the church benches, keeping Freddie on my lap. Suddenly, my fierce little warrior disappeared and my baby emerged.
“Will it sting?” he asked in a panic, holding his hand to his chest protectively.
Relief and grief hit me at the same time, and tears welled up in my eyes at the overflow of emotion. Grasping either side of his face, I kissed him roughly.
“If it does, I’ll blow on it. Just…humor me, kiddo.”
A few snickers echoed in the old place, and Jack stood up, walked to each window, and then turned to face us all. “We’re surrounded. Our scent has drawn them in, not to mention the noise.”
Derek got up from the bench and did the same window check, but he also assessed the sky. “We got snow comin’ soon, Jack. If we wait it out…”
“They’ll freeze up,” Jack finished with a nod.
“Stay as long as you’d like.” Betsy’s voice was kind, if not a touch sad as her gaze fell on Olivia’s body. “I have a sheet in the back. We can cover her.”
“I got it,” Ruby told us, helping the woman move a bench in order to open one of the doors on the side of the pulpit.
Freddie whimpered when I cleaned his hand, and I blew on his palm to ease the sting. His brown eyes locked on his dad as he took a seat next to us. Jack reached up and tugged Freddie’s wool cap off, only to bring his son’s forehead to his lips. He nuzzled the side of my head next but stayed quiet while I tended to the deep cut. Had Dottie and Rich been there, Freddie might’ve ended up with stitches, but as it was, I could only do so much.