“Well said,” Alex replied.
Jeremy put a hand on Will’s shoulder. “And you don’t have to go alone.”
“I don’t know how many people should tag along,” Steven said. “There’s safety in numbers, but there’s speed in singles.”
“We can mull it over on the way,” Alex said. He stood up, and helped Hannah up. “In the meantime, we’re getting nowhere.”
Everyone stood, and Steven put the map back in his pocket. The group got moving, with Will bringing up the rear, wondering what he had just gotten himself into. Annie walked slower until she fell in with him.
“So our little Willard is going to play hero again.”
“It just makes sense,” Will said. He was thinking about her slapping him, and he had a hard time looking her in the eyes, so he kept his on the ground.
“It does,” Annie said. “It also makes sense for you to not go alone.”
“Are you volunteering?”
“Maybe. We still have time to think it over.”
“Yeah,” Will said. By then they had caught up with the others, and Will was starting to sweat, so he decided it was best not to do too much talking. The others walked in silence, so he assumed they felt the same.
****
“It’s now or never,” Steven said.
The road forked ahead of them. The sun was nearly gone, and the trees and hills made the day even darker.
“Maybe we should camp here,” Jeremy said. “We can sleep on it.”
“There are a few hours of daylight left,” Rachel replied. “We’d be losing good time.”
“This isn’t a decision to take lightly,” Steven said. “But I don’t know how many hours it’s worth.”
“I’ll go,” Will said. “It’s cool, guys. It’ll be a breeze.”
“You sure about this?” Steven asked. “There’s no point showing off, and you don’t have to prove anything.”
“I know. I think we need this.”
“Okay.” Steven pulled the map from his pocket as he approached Will. “Our road takes us straight to the highway, and the highway takes us straight around town. You’ll need this more than we will. Meet us here, if you can.” He pointed to the intersection Will had seen on the map earlier. “As close to there as possible.”
“There’s no reason for me to get there after you guys,” Will said. He took the map and studied it. “If I’m not there… don’t bother waiting too long.”
“Will,” Kalli said, “we won’t leave without you.”
“Don’t worry.” Will smiled. “I’ll be there. I promise.”
“Anyone going with?” Steven asked.
“I am,” Jeremy replied. “I’m not going to leave you alone.”
“I won’t either,” Annie said.
“Three is enough,” Steven said. “Watch out for each other.”
“You guys too,” Will said.
They divvied up some of the rations, and then the group split up.
“We could reach the outskirts of town by midnight,” Jeremy said. He was studying the map as he walked, taking his eyes from it only to look at the road ahead. “If we come in under the cover of night, nobody should see us. We can find some place to sleep, some empty house. In the morning we’ll have a look around, and if it’s no good we can be at the intersection in a day, maybe two.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Annie said.
“Whatever happens, just don’t make any noise,” Will said. “We need to be as fast and as quiet as possible.”
After a while Jeremy put the map away. It was getting harder to see, and Will wondered if they’d be able to find a place to stay. If they couldn’t see in front of their faces, they wouldn’t be able to risk heading into the city.
As the world continued to darken, shapes along the road proved to be houses. There were no lights and no sounds but the shuffling of their feet.
“Maybe we should stop for the night,” Will said. “It’s getting too dark.”
“That puts us a little behind,” Jeremy said.
“I think if we take three days we’ll still get to the intersection before the others do.”
“Let’s take a vote.”
“What, get some rest or keep fucking walking?” Annie said. “What do you think I’d rather do?”
“All right,” Jeremy said, “point taken. That one is as good as any.”
The three headed across a dirt patch that had to count as a yard and up a few stone steps. Will looked at the windows and the door. “It looks solid. Probably empty. But we should go around and check the other windows.”
Will started toward one side of the house, and Jeremy followed. Annie went the other way, and Will’s heart jumped, but Annie could look out for herself. He took a breath and kept going.
“I’m glad I got to come with you,” Jeremy said. They rounded the corner as Annie was about to do the same on the other side.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Will replied.
“You really like her, don’t you?”
“We’re just friends. Is now really the best time for this?”
“I can’t really talk to you with her around, can I?”
“You can always talk to me,” Will said. “There’s really no such thing as privacy anymore. It’s more important that everyone is there for each other. Is that window broken?”
Jeremy leaned in close, then felt it. “No, just stained.” They kept going.
“Look, Jeremy, if anything happens, try to get yourself and Annie out safely.”
Jeremy laughed, which startled Will. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m pretty sure any of us would say the same thing to the other two,” Jeremy said. “But don’t worry about things like that. We’re all going to meet up with the others, okay?”
“Okay.”
They rounded the corner and met Annie on the back porch. Jeremy nearly tripped on the wooden deck a few inches off the ground.
“Took you guys long enough,” Annie said. “Did you stop to make out? Find anything?”
“No,” Will said. “You?”
“All clear.”
“We should still be careful inside,” Jeremy said. “Especially since it’s so dark.”
Annie pulled a flashlight from her bag. “Didn’t you guys grab anything before you left?”
“I took a knife,” Jeremy said. “It’s your family’s stuff, didn’t feel right.”
Will opened a screen door, and it creaked and then snapped off the hinges. The weight nearly pulled him down, but he let go, and the door clattered onto the wooden deck. Will was cringing, and he looked at his friends’ faces, but couldn’t make anything out.
For a while the three of them stood still. The wind blew, the air was cool, and it rustled the trees.
“Sorry,” Will said. “Must’ve rusted off.” He tried the doorknob, but it was locked.
“Should we break a window?” Jeremy asked.
“We’d be leaving ourselves exposed, but it doesn’t look like there’s anything around here.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Annie said. She set her bag on the ground, turned the flashlight on and put it in her mouth, then rummaged through the bag.
“Did you happen to bring the exact key to this exact door?” Will asked.
Annie took the flashlight from her mouth and handed it to him, which he pointed at her bag so she could see. “No, you little shit. Watch.”
Will was surprised to see her pull a wallet from the bag, and then a credit card from the wallet. “Light,” she said. Will pointed the light where she gestured, keeping it on the door’s handle. Annie took the handle in one hand and slid the card between the door and the jamb with her other. She moved the card up and down and back and forth, wiggling the handle from time to time, and then the door popped open.
“I’m surprised they didn’t have a better lock,” Jeremy said.
“Ladies first,” Annie replied.
Will entered with the flashlight and drew his sword. J
eremy entered beside him, and Annie closed the door behind them. When they saw the kitchen they had entered into was empty, she locked it.
They whispered to each other through the darkness, carefully checking each room. The place looked surprisingly tidy, like it had been evacuated casually and without panic.
The living room was clear, a mostly-empty sitting room was clear, and then they moved upstairs. First there was a bathroom, which had dirty clothes and half-emptied bottles lying around. The toilet was empty, and the sink spouted a second of brown water and then nothing. The trio moved on and found a master bedroom with cluttered shelves and the blankets askew on the twin mattress, but otherwise clean. A smaller bedroom proved to be messier, but empty as well.
“The coast is clear,” Annie said, a little more loudly than before. “Should we see if they have any food or anything?”
“I think we have enough for now,” Jeremy said. “If we carry any more it’ll just slow us down.”
“All right. I’m going to look for batteries. You can never have enough of those.” Annie headed down the stairs.
“Let’s grab some blankets,” Will said. “We can all sleep in that sitting room.”
“It’d be safer if we slept upstairs,” Jeremy replied.
“I don’t feel like cleaning up any of these bedrooms,” Will said. “And we’d have to split up to fit. Besides, this place is safe enough. As long as we block the windows and keep it down, nobody will ever know we’re here. And if anything got in, we’d hear it.”
“All right.”
Will and Jeremy grabbed some blankets and pillows from the master bedroom and carried them to the sitting room in two careful trips, since Annie had taken the flashlight. When they came back with the second set, Annie was already spreading the blankets and pillows out.
“Find anything?” Will asked.
“Yup,” Annie said. “Batteries are heavy, but worth every one.” Will and Jeremy closed all of the blinds and curtains and hung blankets over the closest ones, then Annie lit a candle and set it on a stand next to the couch. “We’re going to have a good old fashioned sleepover! We should have a pillow fight.”
“We definitely should not,” Will said, but he couldn’t help smiling.
“Chicken!”
“I think I’m going to go to bed, actually,” Jeremy said. “I’m pretty tired.”
“We should eat first,” Will replied. “We’re using a lot of energy, and we’ll be using up more tomorrow.”
“Yeah, but I feel like I could fall asleep right now.”
“All right. Make sure you eat in the morning. We’ll try to keep it down.”
Jeremy tucked himself in and was snoring a few minutes later. Will took a box of crackers from his bag and opened it, trying to keep the crinkling at bay. He handed half a stack to Annie.
“My favorite dinner,” Annie said. “When I was little my mom would always make me a big stack of saltines.”
“Really?”
“God you’re dumb,” Annie said. She ruffled Will’s hair. “But I like you all the same.”
When Will had made it through half his stack, he put the bag down. “Thanks for coming with me. When I woke up this morning I was afraid I wouldn’t get to say goodbye.”
“If I wasn’t going to come with you, I never would’ve let you leave without saying goodbye. You know that.”
“Yeah, I think I did. But I was still scared.”
“Because of what happened yesterday?”
“Yeah.”
Annie put the last of the crackers in her mouth and finished them, wiped her hands off on her jeans as she stood up, and walked across the blankets and over Jeremy’s legs to sit next to Will. She looked into his eyes, and he felt the usual urge to look away, but forced himself not to.
“I’d never leave you alone over some stupid fight. You’re my best friend.”
“I know,” Will said.
Annie hugged him, and he hugged her back.
“I do like you, you know,” Annie said. “You’re a great kid, Will. But you are still a kid. And you still have a few years left to figure out who you really are, and what you really want. Hell, I still wonder about myself, sometimes.” Will tried to think of something to say, and Annie must have seen it, because she laughed. “Yesterday, when I got mad… I was so scared of losing you, Will. I just didn’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“I didn’t want anything bad to happen to you either.”
“I know. Thanks. And I’m sorry I hit you.”
“It’s all right.”
“No it isn’t. That’s not cool. And you should tell me that next time. Don’t be so afraid of how I’ll react to everything.”
Will smiled. “‘Next time’? Planning on hitting me again?”
Annie smiled and punched his shoulder. Then she leaned into him and kissed his cheek. Will could feel his heart beating faster and blood rushing to his face, but then it was over.
“I figured I owe you that one. But from now on we’re just friends, okay? We both have some growing up to do.”
“Yeah.” Will thought about what Annie had just told him about being afraid. “Do you think, someday…”
“A lot can happen before ‘someday’,” Annie said. “It’s hard enough to get by right now. Right now you’re my best friend, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
“Yeah,” Will said. He could feel pressure building in his eyes, but he was sick of crying all the time. He made himself breathe and tried to convince his heart to slow down. Annie hugged him again, then whispered into his ear.
“But yeah. I do think someday.”
Annie fell asleep with her arms still around him, and Will fell asleep smiling.
When he woke up in the morning, the house was surrounded by zombies.
Part IV: Through the Wilderness
39
Retracing Footsteps
Bailey doubled back along the roads she was pretty sure she’d taken, and it wasn’t long before she found the sled tracks lined with over a dozen sets of footprints.
She followed them for a few miles, and when the sky started to darken, she found a house to stay the night in. Her supplies were gone, but she found an axe in the garage and chopped a small tree into enough wood to make a fire to last most of the night. She made sure to cover up the windows before lighting it.
Most of the food in the house went rotten long before, but there were enough canned goods to fill her stomach and one pocket of her bag, in case she didn’t catch up to Burke’s men by tomorrow night.
She slept well but not late, and was on the road before the sun could touch it. Whenever she crested a hill, Bailey took her binoculars from her bag and looked ahead, but she saw only the tracks. Finally, as the sun was setting to the side of the road, she crested a hill, took a look, and saw a vague, dark blob moving along the street.
Bailey found a house that had been cleared out, probably by Burke’s men a day or two before, and locked the doors and windows. She pushed a couch and a table against the one they’d broken down. This one had no food of any kind, but she had brought enough with her, and there was some wood already in the fireplace.
She would have to be careful, come morning. Burke probably had people scouting in different directions to make sure they weren’t being followed. Come night they wouldn’t be able to see a thing unless it was right on them, so as long as she was quiet and dark, no one would see her coming.
Bailey woke up early and watched through her binoculars until Burke’s men emerged from a cluster of houses, picked up their sled, and started moving. She waited a half hour and then headed out, keeping close to the trees and in back yards, only touching the road when she had to, and always looking ahead of her through the binoculars.
She came to a steep hill that took almost an hour to crest, and when she did she saw Burke’s entourage only a few hundred yards ahead. Bailey ducked into the trees and waited; it seemed they had a sled malfunction and stopped to repa
ir one of the runners. Soon they were moving again, and Bailey followed as slowly as she could without freezing, hiding from the wind and walking in circles to keep her temperature up.
From a rocky bank near a small creek she watched as the group dispersed and went into separate houses for the night. She made sure to watch which one Burke went into. It wasn’t hard; no one went with him. He had a place to himself.
The sun went down, the stars came out, and smoke pillowed out from the chimneys. None came from Burke’s house. The man was made of ice after all.
Bailey decided now was as good as ever and came out from under her blankets. She left her bag on the river bank, as it would only slow her down and make noise. Her legs were frozen, she couldn’t feel her toes, but moving felt good. The snow crunched below her feet, so she headed farther into the trees, where the sound might get caught in their branches or, if heard, be mistaken for the wind or an animal.
She walked slowly when she got close to Burke’s house. If he had guards out, he probably had them watching his house the best. She saw nothing; clouds hid the moon and everything was black until it was only a few feet away. The snow below thinned out on top of hard ground: The back porch, a cement slab under a low awning.
Bailey tried the doorknob, quietly, but it didn’t turn. She went to the window and tried to lift it, but it didn’t move.
How to get in? She took a few steps into the back yard and looked around. Under the awning was a riding lawnmower. Quietly, Bailey pushed it. It creaked along the snow, and when she had moved it as much as she dared, she listened. Only the wind. Bailey climbed onto the lawn mower, and with the extra height she could reach the top of the awning. She hoisted herself up and crossed it onto the roof, then headed for the nearest window and looked in. Burke hadn’t bothered to cover it up, so maybe he hadn’t bothered to lock it, either.
Bailey put her hands on the sill and pushed, but the window didn’t move. It gave a little, so she tried again, and it creaked loudly and slid upward a few inches. Bailey held her breath and sat still. After a minute, she grabbed her binoculars and looked around, but if anything moved in the darkness inside the house or out, she couldn’t see it.
Zombiemandias (Book 2): In the Year of Our Death Page 23