She took his hand. It felt cold. She blinked furiously as she nodded. “Okay. Okay.”
“If we’re doing this, we need to be quick,” Beth said. “Swap with me, Dorran. Drive us around a bit while we get our masks on. Clare, get a thicker jacket.”
Dorran pressed Clare’s hand, then he slipped away. The changeover was seamless. Beth jumped out of the driver’s seat, and Dorran took her place within a second. The bus, which had been coasting, picked up speed again
“Be careful.” Beth narrowed her eyes at Dorran as she stepped back from him. “This bus is too valuable for me to let you wreck it.”
“Understood.” He turned a corner, leading them back towards the centre of town.
Clare had already retrieved their masks and gloves from one of the overhead compartments. They pulled them on with quick efficiency, Beth speaking as she worked.
“We’re spreading our luck thin just by being here, so we can’t afford to push it much further. We’ll visit a maximum of four houses. Two minutes in each, tops.” She snapped her fingers at Dorran. “Keep the bus no more than a block away. Keep it moving. The engine has to be loud enough to distract anything in the area. Clare, you search. I’ll cover your back. Understood?”
“Yes,” they both chorused.
Beth tossed Clare an empty backpack. “Search kitchens and bathrooms. Medicine is almost always kept in a high cabinet. If you can’t find anything with a quick look, cut your losses and move on. And when you find some, don’t bother sorting through it. Just dump it all into the bag. We’re measuring our time in seconds. We’ll have a flare, partially for light and partially for repellent. I want to be back in the bus before it runs out.”
Clare pulled her mask down to cover her face. “I’m ready.”
“Let’s hope you are.” Beth lifted her rebar and stood by the doors, squinting through the glass to watch the streets. “This area looks good. Houses are nice and close together. Dorran, I’ll throw the flare into the road when we’re ready for pickup. Will you be able to see it through the fog?”
“Yes. I’ll watch for it.” Dorran looked back at Clare, his face tight. “Be careful.”
“We will.” She approached the door, carrying her crowbar.
Dorran hit the brakes, pulling the bus to a sharp halt. Clare braced herself to stay upright. The bus doors flew open. Beth leapt out first, Clare close behind. She’d barely touched the asphalt when the engine roared and tyres wailed as the bus skidded down the street.
“He’d damn well better not crash my bus,” Beth muttered.
Clare grabbed her arm and yanked her towards the nearest house. The mist was horribly thick. In amongst it, she could see long, thin shapes skittering between the yards. Some of the eyes followed the bus. Some followed her. Damn it.
They ran along the pavers leading to the first house. A large white door with glass décor greeted them, nestled between two massive pots holding dead shrubs. Clare tried the handle. It was locked. Beth pushed her out of the way. She rose onto her toes as she punched a hole in the glass, reached her gloved hand through, and unhooked the lock.
Chattering rose from the yards behind them. Clare tried to watch for movement. She couldn’t see any. Her heart skipped as they pushed the door open and stepped through.
The house’s curtains had all been drawn, and the hallway was aggressively dark. Clare could barely see the edges of the doors ahead. A red glow fizzled around them as Beth lit the flare. Beth pushed it into her hand, and Clare stretched it ahead of herself, using the hellish red light to ward off the shadows. It wasn’t strong, but it was better than darkness.
“Fast,” Beth whispered.
Clare forced herself to move. Their footsteps echoed over the wood floor. It seemed too loud. Beth stepped ahead of her to shove doors open one at a time, rebar held at the ready. They found the bathroom on the third door they tried.
“Go,” Beth whispered. She stepped aside to stand next to the door like a bouncer.
The bathroom window didn’t allow any light in. Clare raised her flare to illuminate the room. The sink had a mirror but no medicine cabinet. She opened the cupboards below it. They held an assortment of children’s bath toys and scrubbing brushes. She snapped the cabinet closed and moved back into the hallway. “Master bedroom.”
Beth shook her head. “Not as likely. Next house.”
Clare ignored her as she moved down the hallway. She couldn’t spare the seconds it would take to explain that the main bathroom had been the children’s domain. The parents would have an en suite.
The master bedroom was at the end of the hall. Clare paused inside the door just long enough to see that the curtains above the window had been wrenched down. The wooden rod was broken, and the fabric lay in a pool on the floor. Clare barely glanced at it as she opened the doors first to the wardrobe then the bathroom.
The en suite was smaller, but when Clare opened the cabinet, her heart rose. They’d found medicine. A lot of it, both bottles and cardboard boxes with pills. She grabbed them by the handful and pushed them into her bag.
Behind her, metal connected with something solid. The thwack rang through the cold air. Clare shivered but stayed focussed. She dumped the last of the boxes into the bag and moved back into the bedroom.
Beth was waiting for her there. Red liquid streaked her mask, and she was wiping the rebar on a corner of the fallen curtains. A grey limb was visible, reaching around from behind the bed. Wordlessly, they turned back to the hallway and jogged for the open front door.
Chapter Thirteen
Cold mist stung Clare’s throat as they exited the house. As far as she could tell, the street was empty. In the distance, the bus’s engine roared, disturbing the silence. Wheels screeched. Clare prayed that Dorran was safe as she followed Beth across the front garden and into the neighbour’s property.
They had found medicine, but there was no guarantee antibiotics were amongst it, and they no time to read each packet to check. Their best chance was to keep moving, keep gathering, and hope to get lucky.
The second house was smaller and unlocked. Like before, Beth swept ahead of Clare, opening doors and standing guard as she searched. She tried the main bathroom, the en suite, and the kitchen cupboards with no success. There were stacks of food in the cupboards—pasta, tinned fish, tinned vegetables, and packets of biscuits. Clare dragged a handful into her bag but had to suppress her instinct to take more. They weren’t close to starving yet, and speed was more important than resupplying.
Back into the yard, the bus sounded more distant. Beth had given Dorran instructions to stay no more than a block away, but Clare thought he’d strayed beyond that. She was afraid of what that might mean. They jogged to the next house along. Its front door was locked. There were no glass panels, and decorative metal bars guarded the closest windows.
“Next one,” Beth hissed. They left the house and continued along the street, cutting across the front yards. Something moved out from behind a row of shrubs. Beth lunged forward, rebar extended. Her aim was good. Clare squinted against the gush of blood that burst out of the creature’s open mouth. It crumpled. Beth wrenched her rebar free and shoved Clare’s shoulder. “Keep moving.”
She was shaking as she neared the next house. Its door already hung open. Inside was chaos. Furniture had been overturned and holes put into the walls. Clare tried not to think about what kind of fate the occupants had met as she ran for the bathroom.
There was a stack of bottles in the cupboard. Most of them seemed to be herbal. Clare didn’t discriminate and used an arm to drag them into the bag, which was starting to grow heavy. She hitched it over her shoulder and nodded to Beth.
They returned to the street once again. As they moved towards the next house, a horn rang out in the distance, followed by the screech of tyres. Clare bit her lip as she stared through the haze of white. The horn sounded again, closer, and Beth pushed Clare away from the houses and towards the road. “I think our time’s up.”
Clare glanc
ed back at the fourth house. They’d found medicine—but the anxious part of her mind was terrified it wouldn’t be enough. The horn sounded again, almost deafening. Then the bus emerged from the mist, its tyres screaming on the asphalt as it scraped to a halt. The doors flew open.
“In!” Dorran barked.
Clare discarded the flare as she leapt up the step. She was faintly aware of a howling noise behind them. Beth jostled her shoulder as she pulled the door closed, then the bus skidded forward, black smoke rising from its wheels.
“What’s happening?” Clare grabbed the nearest seat to hold herself upright.
Dorran leaned over the wheel, his dark eyes thunderous as he strained to see through the fog. “One of them is smart. And it has influence over the others. They’ve been trying to corral the bus. Trap it.”
“Damn,” Beth muttered.
The street met a crossroad ahead. As they drew near, Clare’s heart dropped. The paths to their left and straight ahead were blocked by debris, leaving them no choice except to turn right.
The blockades didn’t look like the previous obstacles Clare had encountered in the silent world. They weren’t simply a fallen tree or a car wreck that had occurred naturally. Vehicles and cast-off furniture had been stacked into walls, and as she peered at them, she saw pallid heads rising above the piles.
They did this, Clare realised as the bus’s headlights glowed across countless eyes. They’re funnelling us. Towards what? A trap? A dead end?
“Brace,” Dorran called. The engine roared as he fed it more energy.
Clare’s mouth turned dry as she realised they were forging straight ahead, towards the barricade. As the headlights pierced through the mist, the creatures’ faces became clear. Their wide eyes watched the bus while unnatural, pale limbs clung to their structure.
The bus’s front had been modified. Metal plates were fastened in a wedge shape, like an improvised snowplough. It served them well then. They crashed into the barrier. Fractured furniture and dented metal exploded away. Hands beat against the windows and walls as hollows latched on to the vehicle. Clare, feet spread wide for balance and one hand pressed to the door, stared upward as fingernails scraped across the roof.
Dorran swerved sharply enough for the bus to rise onto one set of wheels. Clare gasped and clutched the nearest seatback. The bus touched down again, and Clare felt objects bang across the bus’s length as the hollows clinging to it were knocked off.
She leaned close to the window, trying to see around the barriers. Three grey fingers appeared in the gap around the boards, horribly close to her face. Clare pulled away, calling, “On the right.”
Dorran turned the wheel again, teeth bared. The bus jolted as it rose up onto the curb, and Beth gasped as she lost her footing. Trees had been planted along the sidewalk. Dorran aimed for the nearest one, turning aside at the last possible moment. The branches scraped along the bus’s side. The hollow howled. One of pieces of plyboard drilled over the windows splintered. Then they were back on the road, free from the hollow, and Dorran increased their speed as they raced towards the town’s exit.
Houses thinned as they left the suburb, and Clare began to breathe a little more easily. She released her death-grip on the seat as Dorran slowed them to a less reckless speed.
He turned to Beth. “Do you want to take over now?”
“Yes,” she snapped. She’d ended up on the floor, clutching one of the seat’s bases to keep herself from being shaken too much. She clambered back to her feet as Dorran set the wheel straight, then they switched just as efficiently as they had before.
Clare took Dorran’s arm. “That was amazing.”
“Oh.” He looked surprised and faintly pleased. “Not really. I’m sure Beth could have managed it better if she’d been driving.”
“Damn straight I would have,” Beth growled from the driver’s seat.
Clare laughed as she and Dorran moved into their usual spots. “Well, I think it was amazing.”
Houses disappeared from around them as they left the town’s border. Clare waited just long enough to know they were free from its confines, then she dragged her backpack into her lap and unzipped it.
She quickly tossed the long-life food she’d claimed into the racks above them, then she began pulling bottles out. The last house had held mostly herbal complexes. She read their names, but they weren’t familiar, so she put them aside.
Underneath those were the store from the first house. She sorted through several packs of painkillers. Laxatives. An anti-depressant. Clare’s desperation rose as she discarded each half-used box.
Please. There must have been some antibiotics. Please!
Then she found it in the bottom of the bag. A box of high-strength antibiotics. Its seal had been broken, so she opened the cardboard container and shook the little foil cases out. There were only four capsules left. She was just grateful to have any.
“Did you find some?” Beth was watching her through the rearview mirror. Clare nodded. “Good. Follow the instructions on the packet and make sure he takes them on time.”
At her side, Dorran’s lips pulled back in displeasure. “This was all because of me, wasn’t it?”
“Shh, just take this.” Clare’s relief spilled out as a smile. She popped one of the capsules out of its foil case, pushed it into Dorran’s hand, then offered him a bottle of water from the overhead baskets.
“Liar,” he said and begrudgingly swallowed the capsule.
Clare watched him wash it down, then she turned the packet over to read the instructions. It said to take a dose every twelve hours and to finish the entire course. They only had three left. That wouldn’t be enough, but it would buy them time. A day and a half. Long enough to find more.
Chapter Fourteen
That afternoon was the happiest they’d spent together. Dorran seemed more lively than he had before. It was too early for the antibiotic to be helping him, and Clare couldn’t tell whether the adrenaline from escaping the town was lending him more life, or whether he’d realised just how worried Clare was and was putting in more effort to compensate. Either way, she clung to the hope fluttering inside her. Dorran chatted and laughed easily, holding her hand, their fingers laced together.
Beth seemed brighter too. She tried singing an old song she’d been fond of, and Clare joined in. They were both off tune. Neither of them cared.
They stopped twice to refuel the bus from the casks stored in the bus’s back and once to eat. The portable stove’s gas canister fizzled out near the end of lunch. Beth examined it then huffed a sigh as she tossed it aside. “That was my last one. We either need to find more gas, or we’re cooking with fires from now on.”
When they returned to the road after lunch, Dorran slept against the window while Clare pored over the maps. The region was flooded with new waterways, thanks to the recent snows and rain, but their route kept them mostly on high ground. The bus was tall enough and heavy enough to handle the shallow streams that were popping up everywhere, and on the two occasions they had to cross rivers, the bridges were still intact.
Clare was starting to feel as though their luck might hold. They were making good progress. If they could keep it up, they would be at Evandale by the following evening.
The spitting rain cleared, but the clouds remained thick by the time the sun started to fail. Beth stretched, flexing her neck and wriggling the fingers that held the wheel. She had to be sore after days of solid driving. “We’d better stop and get some dinner before it’s dark.”
“Mm.” Clare’s hair had been falling in her face, and she ran her fingers through it to push it back, cringing as she snagged tangles. She needed a shower—a proper one, not just being drenched by the rain. “And it’ll be easier to find a good location to spend the night while we can still see.”
She glanced at Dorran. He’d been sleeping for hours by that point, a spare jacket rolled up against the glass for a cushion. Long eyelashes twitched above pale cheeks as he dreamed. Cl
are hoped whatever was running through his mind wasn’t unpleasant. She slipped her hand around his. The fingers were cold, almost cold enough to belong to a corpse, but they curled at her touch.
The bus was travelling through a region filled with twining rivers and patches of sparse, dead trees. That was a risk. Even thin cover meant hollow ones. Beth scanned the environment, searching for a good campsite, and Clare did her best to trust in her sister’s judgement. The clouds had developed the sickly orange tint of a masked sunset before Beth sighed and said, “This’ll do.”
She pulled off the road and drove through the scrubby bushes and stunted trees. Dead branches scraped at the bus as they trundled down a light slope. Then Beth pulled up sharply as they reached a clearing.
The jolt was enough to disturb Dorran. He took a sharp breath as his eyes opened, and his fingers tightened around Clare’s.
“Hey,” Clare whispered, gently rubbing his hand to make the transition back to wakefulness less jarring. “We think we’re going to stop for the night.”
“Ah. Good.” He blinked, pushing away from the bus’s wall. Despite the sleep, he didn’t seem any better rested, but he still smiled at her. “I’m looking forward to stretching my legs.”
His words were encouraging, but Clare had the sense he was only saying what he thought she wanted to hear. She held a running clock in her head of when his next dose of antibiotics would be due. They would help. He would get better. She had to believe that.
Beth scanned the environment from her perch in the driver’s seat, then she pulled the break on, her face grim. “We’ll light a fire tonight. That’ll make us a bit safer from the hollows, but we’ll be more vulnerable to any humans who see the light and decide to check us out. Don’t take anything out of the bus that we can’t afford to lose. We might need to leave at short notice.”
They’d stopped in a ragged clearing twenty feet wide and thirty feet long. Rings of dead, tangled plants surrounded it. Beth exited the bus first, and as Clare followed in her wake, her sister held up a hand in a wordless request for silence. They held still. Clare couldn’t hear anything except dry branches scratching against each other. Then, in the distance, a bird screeched.
Whispers in the Mist: Black Winter Book Three Page 10