Apocalypse Journeys (Book 1): Jacob's Odyssey

by Melrose, Russ

  There were two more side streets before the underpass. Both t-boned into Upland and both were clear of the infected. When we arrived at the underpass, Raj made a u-turn and parked the car on the left side of the underpass facing the way we'd come. I thought it prudent in case we had to leave in a hurry.

  I got out first. It felt good to get out of the compressed heat of the car and into the shade of the underpass. Sarah handed me their backpacks and I set them down next to the car. Becky climbed into the back with the help of her mother and they both got out. Sarah snuck a subtle glance down the street to see if they were coming, but they'd yet to show up on Upland. Raj displayed nice agility maneuvering his long body into the back seat.

  Raj got out of the car smiling as if we were on some kind of fun outing. He looked ridiculous in his new getup, but no one was laughing or giggling today. Raj had spindly legs and the shorts swamped his skinny thighs. He had used the braided belt to tighten his new shorts and the belt's tongue hung halfway down his thigh. He was wearing the Def Leppard t-shirt and the Jazz cap and seemed pleased with his new ensemble.

  Sarah was quiet and serious. She wore the same shorts and tie-dye shirt as yesterday. She had a yellow baseball cap with St. Mark's stenciled on it in midnight blue. Becky hovered near her mother and kept looking all around her as if she were on a foreign planet. Her eyes were big and she nervously scratched her upper arm. I couldn't quite tell if she was frightened or excited or both.

  They all seemed to become aware of the sounds of the infected at the same time. They stiffened and their eyes grew wide. The ever-persistent moans wafted through the air like the low whining drone of a distant airplane's motor. I suppose I'd become used to it. The sounds bounced off the walls of the underpass. The moans were louder than normal, but I attributed it to the sound chamber effect of the underpass.

  Sarah and Raj looked around in every direction trying to determine where the sounds might be coming from, but it was a fool's errand. I'd learned that lesson early on. The sounds of the infected came from virtually every direction and they never seemed to stop.

  Sarah and Raj turned their attention to the jumble of cars that packed the freeway entrance and the Wasatch Boulevard intersection. Even though I'd told them about it, it must have been eerie for them to see it firsthand. As luck would have it, there was little stench here. It seemed most of the motorists had escaped. The cars weren't as tightly packed here as they had been at the 39th South underpass. While they were mostly bumper to bumper, there appeared to be space between the lanes of cars. A number of car doors had been left wide open as people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot.

  They seemed mesmerized by the scene. I had to wave my hand in front of them to get their attention. I pointed to the backpacks. They silently slipped them on and looked to me. Even Sarah seemed to be looking to me for guidance. They may have been disoriented by what they were hearing and seeing, but they knew what to expect. I'd told them we'd use the stranded cars as camouflage as we made our way to Wasatch Boulevard and beyond into the neighborhoods.

  I motioned for them to stay put while I scouted things out. I left my backpack but took the binoculars.

  The moment I stepped outside the cement canopy, I could hear a thunderous murmuring. The sounds came from the shopping mall area. I ignored the panicky feeling rising within me. I needed to stay focused and not let the sounds get to me. As long as they didn't hear us or see us, we'd be fine.

  I studied the on-ramp for a minute. It was clear of the infected. As had happened at the 39th underpass, cars already on the freeway had tried to use the freeway entrance as an exit. Two-thirds of the way up, several cars had met head-on and were wedged together.

  At the foot of the on-ramp, three lines of vehicles had tried to cram their way into the single lane ramp. The three lines had funneled into two lanes till they ran into the cars trying to use the ramp as an exit. At that point there was nowhere to go.

  In the nearest lane, a black Honda Civic had both front doors opened. Boxes of food were packed on the back seat along with a large cooler. A stale smell of rotted food emanated from the boxes.

  I crawled through the front seats and got out on the passenger side. There was a clear path between the two lanes of cars. There were a few opened doors I had to work my way around. I needed to get close to the intersection to have a clear view of the Olympus Hills Shopping Center.

  I moved quickly and made sure to keep below the window level of the cars.

  All the cars coming from the intersection were headed toward the freeway entrance as if Upland were a one-way street. Cars were crammed together in the intersection and several had smashed into one another. It was a mess. Cars were backed up a block or more in each direction from the intersection, all trying to funnel onto Upland Drive and the freeway.

  Going through the intersection wasn't an option. The cars were wedged too tight. The easiest route would be to walk around the backed up cars, then come back on the other side of the street.

  I stopped two cars from the intersection. I lifted the binoculars and raised myself just above the level of the door to get a view of the intersection at 39th and Wasatch. On the other side of the intersection, Wasatch Boulevard was teeming with the infected. They stumbled awkwardly around the tangle of cars and bumped into one another. There were hundreds of them, and maybe a lot more since I couldn't see the main parking lot that served Dan's Foods and the other businesses at the mall. My view was blocked by the buildings on the corner. For all I knew, there could be a thousand or more infected in the main parking lot.

  I couldn't help but wonder what I'd gotten them into. I'd never seen this many infected in one place at the same time. I thought it might be best if we turned back. We could go back to Sarah's and I could find them enough food to last a while.

  Then something out of place caught my eye—a slight incongruity. Amidst the crush of smashed up cars and the flurry of movements at the mall, an angular figure stood perfectly still in the middle of the intersection. He stared up 39th South as it rose up the mountainside and snaked to the right. He was taller than most of them. And while the other infected milled about mindlessly, the Swimmer appeared to be lost in his thoughts.

  He must have thought the gunshots at the shopping center the other night had come from me. It made the most sense. Since he'd heard the gunshots at the Josephsons' home earlier that evening, he probably tied the two shootings together and linked them to me. I had no doubt the Swimmer had cognitive abilities—to what degree I wasn't sure.

  Whatever he was thinking, he seemed to make up his mind, and he headed up through the intersection toward the neighborhoods. He maneuvered around the cars, his movements smooth and athletic. Once he was clear of the cars and had reached the side of the street, he began to lengthen his strides and move with a purpose. A handful of infected followed him up the hill.

  I hustled back to the underpass. They were kneeling down, huddled near the back bumper of Raj's car waiting for me. The infected from the side street had made their way onto Upland Drive. Maybe twenty of them. One was a half block in front of the others. A runner. He ran like an old man whose balance and coordination had left him long ago. Still, he was two blocks away and closing. More of them were spilling onto Upland Drive from the side street. Going back to Sarah's was no longer an option.

  Everything was happening at an accelerated pace, and even though we were out in the open, I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. My mouth was dry and I could feel the blood fleeing my face. It wasn't from the infected closing in on us or the Swimmer heading up into the East Bench neighborhoods that rattled my nerves. What unnerved me was knowing I was responsible for them, and now we were cut off from a possible return to Sarah's.

  I was afraid of making the wrong call and getting them killed. I looked back at the intersection as if I were mulling over our options.

  I grabbed my backpack and slipped into it. I could feel the heft of the gun in my backpack and it gave me some comfort
. The realization struck me that I'd put them in harm's way out of a selfish notion that helping them might alleviate the guilt I felt over Alex.

  It was no accident Sarah had gathered them by the back of the car where Raj and Becky couldn't see the infected coming. She knew they were coming. Raj and Becky had their backs to the trunk of the car with Sarah facing them. They had no clue what was happening. Sarah looked up at me with dark, steady eyes.

  Then it dawned on me there was no real decision to be made, going forward was the only option. I steadied myself and knelt next to Sarah. The one thing I knew for sure was that if we could get up into the neighborhoods, we'd be in good shape. We could disappear into someone's backyard. I reminded myself that neither the infected coming up from Upland Drive nor the infected at the Olympus Hills Mall could catch us. We could run if we had to. As for the Swimmer, if he found us, I would use the gun.

  I motioned the three of them to come closer. Our faces were inches apart. I knew I had to break my no talking rule. Raj's face was intense and focused, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Becky was still wide-eyed as if she were witnessing something surreal and spooky. Sarah was steely and focused, and she kept her attention on Becky, reassuring her with the same steady look she'd given me.

  "We have to move quickly and quietly," I told them quietly. I spoke in a gossamer-thin whisper. "We have to be quiet because there's a group of them at the shopping mall. And we can't let them see us, so we have to make sure to bend down below the window level of the cars. We have to stay low. Okay?"

  I waited for each of them to signal me that they understood. They all nodded. "Good. We'll crawl through the front seats of the black Honda over there." I turned and pointed the car out to them. "Once we're through the car, there'll be a couple more cars we'll have to crawl through. Then we'll walk north on Wasatch about a block and cross the street there. Then we'll come back to Upland on the other side of the intersection. Do not look toward the mall." I paused for a moment and gave Raj and Becky a stern look. "If you look at them, they'll have a chance to see you. The most important thing is to follow me and move quickly. And keep your eyes to the front at all times."

  I opened the small pouch of my backpack and took out a baggie with two nose clips. I handed one to Becky and she gave me a strange look. I smiled. "The car over there is a little smelly, Becky," I told her, making a face. "And we'll be crawling through a couple other cars. So, use the nose clips till we get through the cars. Then you can take them off."

  She shrugged and put them on. I offered the other pair to Sarah and Raj, but they declined.

  "Raj, you follow me. Stay close and make sure to keep down. Becky, you'll follow Raj. Your mom will be right behind you. Everyone clear?" They all nodded again. "All right," I told them. "Let's go."

  They followed me to the Honda. I went through first. Raj moved through easily, Becky too. Sarah eased her way through and then we headed up the two lanes of cars as quickly as possible. I kept looking back to make sure everyone was low enough to avoid being seen. Raj's eyes were wide as could be.

  Halfway to the intersection, we crawled through a dusty Ford Focus. We needed to get through one more car in the next lane to get to the side of the road. From there, it would be easy.

  The cars were more tightly packed together between the last two lanes. There were only twenty inches between the cars, barely enough room to squeeze by. Raj was skinny but had wide shoulders and had to angle his shoulders to get by the cars. We took the first car that had open doors, a blue pearl Subaru Impreza. It was filthy and dusty. We each scraped by the nearly-closed door. When we were past it, Sarah opened the door and went through first. We passed the backpacks to her. Then she helped Becky get through and Raj and I followed.

  Everyone seemed happy to be through the last car. I hustled toward the intersection and waved my hand for them to follow. I turned to make sure they were staying low. Raj nodded. I glanced past him but couldn't see the runner. Upland rose sharply once we'd gone past the underpass and my view was blocked. But I wasn't too worried. I knew he'd likely have trouble maneuvering his way past all the cars, and we'd been making good time.

  We made our way to the intersection and turned left on Wasatch. Becky took the nose clips off and slipped them in her pocket. We walked up the side of the road, keeping low and keeping close to the cars for cover.

  The sun baked my arms and I knew the others would be feeling it too. As per my instructions, they all wore caps and sun block. I checked my watch and it was ten to eleven. The air conditioning units would likely be switching on soon if they hadn't already come on.

  We crossed Wasatch after we passed the last of the backed up cars, then headed back toward the intersection. We kept our heads down and walked quickly. I was feeling confident everything would work out okay. When I looked back to check on them, Raj flashed his trademark smile and nodded. He was adjusting nicely. Sarah and Becky seemed to be doing well too.

  Halfway to the intersection, I heard a thin rasping sound. I knew it wasn't the runner from Upland. I stopped and listened. It could have been my imagination. I glanced in every direction but saw nothing. I reached for the bat.

  I heard a frightened groan behind me. I turned and drew the bat from my backpack. A slender dirty-gray arm had emerged from under a car. It had blackish cord-like veins and its bony hand had found Raj's ankle. Becky screamed and her high-pitched wail split the air. Sarah grabbed Becky and pulled her back. Raj groaned hysterically, and he leaned back, desperately trying to pull his foot from the hand's grasp, but he fell backwards instead. A second thin arm and a man's scraggly head emerged from under the vehicle. He made a liquidy rasping sound like a death rattle. He dragged himself toward Raj, ignoring the rest of us. I brought the bat down as hard as I could with an ax-like swing on the infected man's wrist. The bone cracked with a clear distinct sound, but he didn't let go. He moved with a fierce urgency toward Raj's leg, dragging himself forward with his free forearm. He was no more than a foot away, his eyes wild with excitement. Raj wailed and tried to shake his foot free. I hesitated, then brought the bat down with everything I had on the infected man's head. He stopped and it was over.

  Raj was in shock, murmuring incoherently to himself, staring at the infected man's hand and fingers that were still wrapped around his new mini-crew socks. He meekly tried to tug his foot away from the infected man's grip but to no avail. The mumbling moans from the mall area had turned into a crescendo of excitement in the few seconds it took for everything to unfold. I took a breath and tried to think. Sarah held Becky tight against her body.

  I took my backpack off and dug around for the cleaning gloves I'd brought from the condo. I knew I wouldn't likely get infected from touching the infected man, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I put the gloves on and pried the fingers from Raj's ankle. Once free, Raj pulled his legs up into his chest, still murmuring to himself.

  I grabbed one of the towels I used to wrap my stuff with and meticulously wiped off a few drops of blood from the bat. The blood was a dark muddy color and the splatter from the blow was minimal. Neither Raj nor I had any blood on us. I tossed the towel and the gloves away and put everything else back in the backpack.

  The infected man's right leg was shattered below the knee and twisted at a nasty angle. He must have been hit by a car at some point.

  Raj and Sarah and Becky were each off in their own world, but I needed to get their attention. We had to get moving. "Hey!" I yelled at them. "We have to go. Right now." Sarah gave me a cold look, but she bent down to Becky's eye level and gently stroked her daughter's head and told her we had to go.

  I looked down toward the Olympus Hills Shopping Center and saw them moving toward us like a slow-moving herd. They were bunched up on the other side of the intersection and getting through the mass of cars at the intersection would take time. I wasn't worried as much about them as I was the Swimmer. He had to have heard Becky's scream.

  I told Raj he was all right and helped him get t
o his feet. I told him we had to get going. I gripped his upper arm and pulled him along. I made sure to keep him away from the cars.

  Then I looked over at Sarah and Becky. "We need to run," I told them. "Not too fast. Just a little jog. Remember, they can't catch us. They're too slow."

  Becky was visibly shaken and her eyes were red and teared up. Sarah took her by the hand and they started to move, slowly at first. Raj was staring wide eyed at the horde of infected down at the mall. I started to jog and kept my hand on his arm to pull him along. "C'mon," I barked at him. I dragged him a few steps before he began to run on his own.

  I glanced over to where I thought the infected man from Upland Drive would be and saw him scrambling over a car. His eyes bulged with excitement when he saw us and he reached an arm out as if he were reaching for us. He stumbled on the hood of the car and fell head first down to the pavement.

  It only took us a few minutes to get to the intersection. I looked up the street as it rose gently up the hillside. Upland was now East Millcreek Canyon Road, and it was the road that led into Millcreek Canyon. I had a sudden feeling of nostalgia. Millcreek Canyon had been my imagined route out of the valley.

  Chapter 14

  The Reunion

  The infected were agitated and buzzing with excitement. They crawled and clambered across the hoods of cars to get across the intersection. Some of them slid off the hoods and disappeared. A few had already made it through the dense clutter of cars and were now lumbering eagerly in our direction.

  I ducked down so they couldn't see me, and Raj and Sarah and Becky mimicked me. We needed to go two blocks to get to Parkview Drive.

  "We need to keep down so they won't see us when we head up the hill," I told them, speaking quietly. "We need to be very quiet. We don't want them to know we've gone up this street. We want them to be focused on this intersection. Nothing else. Okay?"

  Raj looked distressed. "Jake, maybe we should go back. There are very many of them coming now." His eyes were alive with fear. "I think there are too many. Maybe going back would be best."