“What was her name?” I pry. The gas canister fills and I place my thumb over the end of the tube and push the can to Ross to take back to the car.
He grabs it and turns away, his response barely reaching my ears. “Kaitlynn.”
We finish filling the tank using gas from a few cars and I don’t ask about Kaitlynn or say anything else to Ross. I may have gotten a bad vibe from him, but I understand the reason behind it. If I were alone all the time, I would not be kind or talkative either. I have lost so much, but most people have lost more.
We regroup in the car and take off, everyone silent once again. The tension in the air would be difficult to cut with a knife, let alone a few simple words, so as we ride down the highway, nobody speaks.
*****
Chapter 25
One of Mary’s silly facts somehow broke the tension in the car, and for that I’m grateful. “Did you know that Chinese water deer don’t have antlers. They have tusks,” she has said. We began talking about hunting with our families and then our families in general once we realized that I was the only hunter in the car.
“This one time,” I begin. “My sister and I were sitting at a Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of our family and decided to start this game. We would each feed the dog something and whoever fed the dog the most on their plate would win. So naturally, we each loaded our plates with way more food than we’d ever eat and gave the dog little bits at a time to hide it from our parents. It was frustrating because Charlie was getting rid of her food the fastest, so I grabbed the entire turkey and dropped it on the floor. The dog was all over it and I got grounded for like a month, but somehow I convinced myself that winning the game was completely worth it.”
Mary snorts and slaps my knee. “You think that’s bad?” She asks. “Janelle and I went to dinner with our family and they went to the bathroom when the waiter came so Janelle and I thought it would be sweet to order for them. We ordered ten steaks for the four of us, every appetizer on the menu and all the deserts. Our waiter wanted to ask our parents, but we said that it was per their request and we always ordered that much.” Mary stops to catch her breath from laughing so hard and I can hardly believe what she’s telling me. “He probably would have checked back in if he weren’t so busy, but instead they brought all the food and the bill was hundreds of dollars. We never went out to eat again after that.”
I can’t even imagine doing that with my parents. Charlie and I would have literally been killed. “My parents used boy names on Charlie and me because they never wanted girls. I was named after my dad. His name was Jo, too. But honestly, I was more like a boy than a girl. I was the kicker for our varsity football team and spent all of my spare time hunting during the winter and fishing in the summer.”
“No way,” Mary says in disbelief. “I was named after my great grandma Mary Edith Thorne. I mean, at least it was a girl’s name. Mary Thorne isn’t so bad.” Mary looks at her lap, a small smile still playing on her lips, but sadness is evident in her eyes. “Janelle was named after my mom’s sister who died from cancer.”
It gets quiet again, but this time it’s in remembrance. “What about you guys?” I ask. “We haven’t heard any embracing family stories from you two.”
Hayden shrugs as he drives down the highway at a constant speed. We’re getting so close to Charlie that I recognize the scenery from my childhood. We are a mere few towns over and I remember coming here as a child. “I didn’t have any siblings,” Hayden says.
“I didn’t have any either. Kaitlynn was the closest thing to a sister I’ve ever had,” Ross explains.
I stop and think for a moment. It must have been hard for him, but we’re talking about our families. “What was she like?”
Ross turns and looks at me for a moment, but my expression of genuine curiosity must sway him to speak. “I met her at the beginning of the apocalypse and we thought we could conquer the world together,” he says with a smile. I find his wording odd, but don’t comment. “We made it pretty far without any complications. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I loved her. A couple of weeks ago, she just disappeared. I woke up to her sleeping bag empty and her bag was gone. So, after that, I was on my own to finish our mission.”
I furrow my brow. “Mission?” I ask.
Ross widens his eyes and worry flickers in his expression so quickly, I convince myself that it was my imagination. “Survival. All we wanted to do was survive, but it feels so much harder without her by my side.”
My heart flutters at his words. Maybe it’s my deep-rooted love for romance, but the way he talks about her is the way I wish someone would have talked about me. “We have each other now,” I smile and place a hand on his shoulder. “We can protect each other and everything will be okay from here on out.”
It takes only a moment for my optimistic words to be crushed. The car jerks and we are jostled around before it comes to a halt. “Hayden?” I question.
“Road spikes,” he says looking in the rearview mirror. “Everyone get out of the car before they find us.”
I tilt my head and don’t move a muscle. “What are you talking about?” I ask.
It seems that everyone is as confused as me. “We’re on top of the last checkpoint, Jo Leigh. Get out of the car.” I stare at Hayden’s terrified and yank the map from his hand. I realize that he is telling the truth and suck in a deep breath. “Do not leave my side for even an instant. Do you understand me?”
I peer into his galaxy eyes and at the ceiling. We’ve had a good couple of days. We’ve stopped for gas a handful of times and stopped to sleep on a few other occasions. I would stare at the stars and try to find the exact pattern of Hayden’s eyes in the sky, but it never worked. Hayden’s eyes were far too unique. Everything was going wonderfully, so what happened?
Mary and I jump from the passenger’s side of the car and stand together. My Glock is in my right hand and my bug out bag is on my back. Mary must have had a similar idea with the bug out bag. Hers is smaller and likely doesn’t contain much, but it’s good that she has one. Hayden and Ross stand right in front of us.
“They’ll know we were here and try to follow us if we run,” Hayden says.
“But if we go in,” I begin, “we all know what will happen.”
Mary wraps her arms around herself. The cannibals have influenced her life more than ours. They took and killed her sister and she couldn’t do anything about it. She surely wants vengeance. “Let’s go and stop them,” she suggests. “Nobody else will face them. We can do it.”
Hayden shakes his head. “Jo Leigh will not go in there.”
“Don’t speak for me. Let’s go and stop them,” I say. I know that it's not a good idea and I don’t want to walk straight into a den of the beasts, but they’ll continue to kill innocent people and chase us to Charlie if we simply leave them.
Hayden grabs both of my arms and turns me to face him fully. I have never felt small, but in his grasp, I am tiny. “You are not going to risk your life for this. We can cover our tracks and they won’t put up an extreme effort to find us if we make it too difficult. Please don’t risk your life again,” Hayden practically begs. My tense muscles relax and I stare into his pleading eyes.
I don’t want to hurt him and I owe him my life, but he can’t control me and I don’t want him to think he has any sort of claim on me. “You haven’t told me anything about yourself. You hide from me and you’ve done nothing but push me away. You have no right to tell me what to do and I don’t have to listen to you. Just leave me alone.”
Hayden releases my arms as if my skin is burning him and he takes a step away. He doesn’t even attempt to conceal the hurt in his expression as he nods. “We can do what you’d like to do and I will keep my distance,” he says.
Something in my heart snaps with his words. He insisted on remaining directly beside me only a moment ago, and now he won’t so much as stand near me. I understand that I said that’s what I wanted, but now that he’s acknowledging my words, I
feel regret and want to apologize, but as Ross begins walking toward the larger town and I follow without looking back at Hayden. Mary doesn’t leave my side and I load my Glock.
We make our way down a deserted street and our footsteps are the only sounds in the air. It’s difficult to make our footsteps nonexistent. The shattered glass and rocks that are scattered around the street cause plenty of unwanted ruckus. The buildings are tall, but many of them are burned. Rubble lines the sidewalks and sides of the street. As we grow closer to what seems to be the center of town, our footsteps are no longer the only noise. I can make out other noises, but I can’t decipher them.
As we come upon the first corner, I jump ahead of Ross and peek around it, keeping my gun ready. What I see nearly brings me to my knees. Near us, three bodies are strung up, thick ropes around their necks. They look recently dead. If I were to feel them, warmth might still be detectable.
Behind them, six more people are strung upside down, but they aren’t yet dead. Ropes are tied tightly around their ankles and it looks as if the single rope holds each of the men a few inches from the ground, close enough for them to lay their palms on the concrete. If they remain in the position for too much longer, they will die. I don’t know much, but I know that hanging upside down is deadly. Each person is a man and a few are struggling more than others. If I were betting, I’d assume that a few of them have been there much longer than others.
Five people are untied and walking around the people. I can only assume that they are the cannibals who captured these people. Judging by the number of individuals they are keeping, I know that there must be many more than five.
I turn and look at Mary and Ross, attempting to ignore Hayden’s gaze. Mary stands closer to me than the other two, light brown hair tangled and hanging to her waist in waves and knots. “Three people are dead. Six are hanging upside down and five cannibals are surveying the area. I’m sure there are more.”
Mary gasps. “Hanging upside down was used as medieval torture. It can cause a brain hemorrhage when the pressure rises too much. Their hearts work too hard to pump blood through their body and it may cause irreversible damage to their hearts, as well. People die from hanging upside down for too long. We have to save them,” Mary pleads, pulling on my arm. Her wide green eyes make her look almost like a child.
“If they catch us, we’ll have a fight on our hands. I only have seven bullets left and I can’t take the last few boxes out of my bag. We have to save those,” I explain.
“Shoot them down,” Hayden breathes. I look at him for a moment and nod. I peek around the corner once again ad survey the rope. It has to be fifty yards away and the rope isn’t thick enough to have a great shot. On top of that, I will have to shoot between two people’s feet to take down the entire rope.
I turn back to Hayden. “I don’t know if I can make that shot. I’ve never shot such a small target. And if I do make the shot, what will we do?”
Ross shrugs. “We run and take out as many of the cannibals as possible. We may give the living people a fighting chance. That’s all we can offer without killing ourselves in the process.”
“Okay,” I whisper, staring at y handy pistol. “Three shots. If I don’t hit it in three shots, we run and figure something else out that won’t get us killed.”
Everyone nods in agreement and I look around the barrier once more. I need a closer shot. Pillars are lining the street and it will take a mere two seconds to reach one of the pillars and take a shot. I take a deep breath and the moment the cannibals are facing away, I rush behind the first pillar and peek around it slowly, making sure not to draw attention to myself.
“I can do this,” I whisper to myself. “I’ve shot guns since I was a kid and I’ve never missed my mark. I can do this.”
I’m about thirty-five yards away and if I rush forward before taking my shot, I’ll be only thirty. Thirty yards gives me better odds than thirty-five. I grip my gun in my sweaty palms and take a deep breath to control my trembling. It’s three shots. I am bound to hit the thick rope with one. “I can do this,” I whisper one last time.
With a deep breath, I jump from behind the pillar and rush forward. I drop to a knee and hold my Glock with two arms, taking aim. I hear a few people shouting, but I concentrate on the task at hand. Find the target, take aim and…. BANG. I look at the rope and take aim once more, compensating for the height of the last fired bullet. I pull the trigger once again and watch as the rope sways. It rocks back and forth for a moment before fraying, but not breaking. With both eyes locked on the target, I pull the trigger for the last time and watch as the rope snaps in two, dropping each of the people to the ground. I can only hope that they are healthy enough to fight.
It takes a moment to realize that I have been spotted and the cannibals are gaining on me quickly. But at least six more people have a fighting chance at survival.
*****
Chapter 26
Before I can get to my feet, I’m thrown backward with a spine bending force. I somehow manage to keep my head from hitting the ground, but I can’t say the same about the rest of my body. My gun flies from my hand and lands a few feet to my right. I scurry backward as the lean man approaches with what looks to be a knife. I lift my leg to kick the knife from his hand, but instead he grabs my ankle and pulls me closer.
I twist my back and attempt to drag myself away, but as he leers over me, there is no hope. “Don’t mess with our food,” he says, falling to his knee and shoving the knife downward.
I fully expect to feel the blade penetrate my chest, but when I close my eyes and lift my hands, my forearm is slashed before all the weight is lifted from me. I open my eyes and find that I’m no longer the only one who is fighting. Hayden is on top of the man who had me cornered and Ross is gaining the upper hand on another man not far from Hayden. But what I find incredibly fascinating is Mary.
She twists and turns with absolute agility, taking people to the ground by simply touching their necks. I wonder if she is using their pressure points against them. She is a goddess of agility and knowledge as she willfully attacks each cannibal. She isn’t too far from me, but I notice a small, ethnic man sneaking up behind her. If I shout, I’ll distract her and everyone else in our group.
I turn to the right and crawl toward my gun as quickly as possible. I reach out my right hand and when it is mere centimeters from the weapon, a foot comes down hard on my wrist. I think I scream, but the sound is lost to my ears. I attempt to pull the wrist away, but the foot won’t budge. I use my other arm to pound on his leg, but still nothing happens.
I find myself glancing at Mary, but regret it immediately. She no longer has the upper hand. The ethnic man has a handful of her unruly hair in his grasp and her neck extended backward, a knife approaching her throat. “No,” I whisper. Despite the pain, I extend my leg and kick the man as hard as I can in his groin. He lifts his foot and I grab my gun with my left hand.
My right wrist bends at an odd angle and I can’t get it to cooperate, so I take aim with my left arm, hold my breath, and fire. It's not as good a shot as I would have hoped. It hits the man in the upper arm, but Mary twirls around and kicks the knife from his hand. Simultaneously, she disables each man with a mere touch.
Instead of using a bullet to take out the man at my side, I throw the butt of my gun into his jaw as hard as possible and he goes limp immediately. “We need to go,” I shout, pain evident in my tone. “Now.”
My little group of four doesn’t hesitate. There are far too many cannibals to be fighting and no matter what we do, we can’t win. The six people whom we freed are holding their own, but we can’t be of assistance anymore. With a quickness, we all run. To no surprise, they are unable to keep up, but we don’t stop running. I grip my wrist as shooting pains sweep through it, but it’s not the primary concern right now.
As we grow farther away, we slow to a walk. “They’re definitely going to be after us now,” Ross spits.
Mary wipes her neck w
ith her sleeve and blood soaks into the fabric. “I think we did some damage,” she says with a wide grin.
I grimace. “I believe that they did some damage, also.” Everyone’s attention turns to me and they immediately look at the arm I’m holding. Their expressions all change from that of relief to shock.
“What happened?” Hayden speaks first, grabbing my arm in his hands carefully. His touch, while it should hurt, is almost soothing.
“Just some guy. It’s nothing, really,” I lie.
“Go find a car,” Hayden shouts at Mary and Ross. I glare at him for his obnoxiousness, but agree that they need to find a car. If we’re going to finish this journey today, a car is necessary. Once they’re gone, Hayden looks at me with sad eyes. “I can fix this,” he says in a deep voice.
“No, you can’t. We can hope that it doesn’t get infected and we can set it so it heals somewhat correctly.” I look at my crushed arm and realize that it’s unlikely that I survive from this. A broken arm with no doctors is nearly impossible to treat. I’ll get sick from internal infection and then I’ll die. I just want to find my sister before then.
“Don’t talk like that. I will fix it,” he says, somewhat tightening his grip on my arm. I wince and jerk backward from his grasp. It didn’t hurt, but the anticipation of pain was nerve wracking. In fact, once he let go, it hurt far worse than when he was touching it. “Jo Leigh, you do not understand.”
I shake my head and release a small smile. “I do,” I say. I don’t know for sure what he’s talking about, but I can assume.
“You do not.” I start to respond, but he cuts me off by taking a step closer. We’re as close as possible at this point, but I can’t complain. “All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be safe, but there are things that I cannot tell you. I will someday, but now is not the time. Jo Leigh, you are brave and beautiful. You are the most stubborn person I have ever met, but when you love someone, you love unconditionally. Please, you don’t have to love me, but at least trust that I have loved you since the moment I laid my eyes on you for reasons that you cannot comprehend.”
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