I believed in the existence of chaos as an integral part of the fabric of the universe and chaos often made things messy. You could never plan for every possibility. And today had been a perfect example. I hadn't thought of the possibility of an infected man lurking underneath the cars on Wasatch Boulevard. And that unforeseen morsel of chaos set everything that would happen in motion. I never imagined the Swimmer would snatch Becky and take off with her. And I never thought I'd be using the Glock today either.
But somehow in the end, it all worked out.
I believed as long as I planned things out meticulously and considered every possible contingency, things would find a way to work themselves out. I could believe in that and I did. The plan wouldn't be perfect. It never was. But if I was careful and remained alert, the plan would have a good chance of succeeding.
The plan for tomorrow was as simple as could be. We'd get up early and I'd let them know we would be driving rather than traveling through backyards. I doubted they'd have a problem with that. We'd climb into the Tundra and drive to the research facility. Sarah would text the scientists and they'd let us in. It couldn't get any simpler, and maybe that's what worried me.
The biggest wild card in my plan was Raj. I had a good feel for what I could expect from Sarah and Becky, but I couldn't be sure about Raj. Sarah could be emotional, but she could be tough too. I believed I could count on her to remain calm if a difficult situation arose, and I knew she would take care of Becky. And I knew Becky would simply follow her mother's lead. But I didn't know how Raj would react if things got sticky. I didn't know if he would freeze or cower in fear as he had today or if he'd go crazy and start bashing in the heads of the infected with his steel mallet hammer.
I got the iPad out and started going over the route. It was simple and direct. Straight down Fortuna Way to Brockbank, turn right and a few blocks later we'd be there. As long as we didn't run into any trouble, we could be there in three to four minutes easy. I selected alternative backyard routes in case we had to abandon the Tundra.
I checked out CNN and Julia Courtney's blog. The only thing of interest came from CNN. Reportedly, a survivor who had worked for MI6 described documents he'd seen that detailed terrorist plans for a coordinated biological attack against the United States and a handful of European countries. There were similarities to the actual viral strike and they were outlined in the report. But the plans were at least ten years old and the threat level of the possible attack had been reduced over the years and eventually dismissed.
I didn't know what to make of it and no longer cared. The who and why of it were irrelevant as far as I was concerned. All that mattered now was surviving and getting them to the facility.
A little while later, Sarah came into the room. She had the frozen peas and wash cloth pressed against her cheek and eye again. After her nap, I'd put the peas back into the freezer since they'd started to thaw. As she came toward the bed, she widened her lips into a reserved smile.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and placed her free hand on her thigh and sat with her back slightly bowed. She seemed tired again. Her face, at least the half I could see of it, was smooth and passive.
"How are you?" she asked me.
I felt achy all over but kept it to myself. "I'm okay," I said, though I sensed she wasn't there to inquire about my well-being.
Then she got to it. "I'm worried about Raj," she said. "He's not himself."
"Yes," I told her. "I'm worried about him too."
Sarah started playing with the hem of her shorts, smoothing the edges with her fingers. She looked at me with her good eye. "I was thinking maybe you could talk to him," she said. "Raj likes you. He respects you."
And it occurred to me that Sarah didn't understand what Raj was going through. Sarah didn't seem to grasp the role she and Becky played in Raj's inner turmoil. Not only did Raj act the coward today, he did it in front of the woman he loved and her daughter. I could talk to Raj till I was blue in the face, but it wouldn't erase the memory of what had happened, nor would it make him whole again. This was about Raj and his pride and his relationship with Sarah and Becky, and Raj was the only person who could work it out.
I spoke slowly with a measured tone. "Sarah, Raj is upset because he believes he acted like a coward today. Nothing I say to him will change the way he feels. Nothing."
She looked at me with concern in her good eye and kept playing absentmindedly with the hem of her shorts. Then she looked down into her lap.
"Raj doesn't need to be a hero," she said in a subdued voice. "Not for us."
"I understand," I told her. "But that's not what Raj thinks."
For Sarah, it was simple. She wanted Raj to be the same Raj she and Becky had always known. And she wanted me to fix it for them.
She studied her lap wearily but didn't say another word about Raj.
For the life of me, I couldn't understand why Sarah and Raj weren't a couple. It was obvious he adored Sarah and Becky and they seemed incredibly fond of him. They seemed perfect for one another.
Sarah stopped playing with the hem of her shorts and looked up. "Thank you for not being upset about Becky," she said quietly.
She paused before continuing. "It was my fault," she said. "I should have told you. You had a right to know." And she said it breathlessly as if she couldn't wait to get the words out.
Then she watched me, waiting for me to respond.
"It's all right," I told her. But I knew it wasn't. Sarah had come clean about Becky even if it was at Raj's prompting, while I had kept my knowledge of the Swimmer secret from them. And he was in their lives now because of me.
Sarah seemed to relax and gather herself. "Anyway," she said. "I just wanted to thank you." She said it ever so softly and then she got up from the end of the bed and left the room.
Women had always been a bit of a mystery to me and Sarah was no exception. Yesterday, Sarah considered me a thug with a gun, unworthy of her trust. Today I was Becky's savior, a hero. I felt utterly fatigued having to deal with the three of them. Raj was in crisis mode over his failure to protect them, Becky was infected, and somewhere along the way, their problems had become mine. Now Sarah expected me to magically fix Raj. I couldn't believe how complicated my relationship with them had become in less than forty-eight hours.
I'd convinced myself that helping them would be relatively simple. Gather some food for them, then get the hell out and go to the cabin. It should have been easy. But the moment I agreed to take them to the research facility, everything changed. My decision unleashed a whole new string of possibilities. I had no one to blame but myself. I could have said no, even contemplated saying it, but in the end, I agreed to take them, and now I was entangled.
All I wanted to do was get them there safely. And if I could keep Raj from having to confront his fears and his beliefs, all the better.
My inner musings were interrupted by a clunking sound as if the air conditioning had been cut off in midstream. And then everything went quiet.
I walked out into the hallway. Raj was already standing in his doorway with a concerned look on his face. Sarah and Becky emerged from the master bedroom. I walked quietly over to the top of the stairs and listened intently, but I couldn't hear a thing. I should have been able to hear the hum of the fridge, but the house was dead silent.
I put my index finger up to my lips to let them know not to say anything. They followed me quietly as I went back into the bedroom. We crowded around the window and took in the wide sweep of the valley. It was shrouded in darkness. There were a handful of lights on here and there in buildings that must have had backup generators. But that was it. In a few days, even those lights would go out, and the valley would be in total darkness.
I recalled worrying about the inevitability of the electricity going out in the valley, but in the past few weeks, I'd begun to take the electricity for granted. Now, in a matter of a few days, the valley would descend into chaos. With the electricity gone, so too was the
thin veil of safety from the infected. There would be no more air conditioning to mask sounds. Now, even the slightest sound would draw the infected to you.
I needed to focus on getting them to the facility in the morning, nothing else. I closed the blinds and sat on the edge of the bed and retrieved my notepad and pen and the penlight Sarah had given me and wrote them a note. In it, I told them we had to be completely quiet. There could be no talking, only whispering in the ear when necessary. I told them it would be best if we went to bed now and got a good night's rest, got up early in the morning, maybe five o'clock, and took the Tundra to the facility. I told them taking the Tundra was the best option. I told them it would only take a few minutes and that we'd be fine. And I told them the key to staying safe would be for us to be completely silent till morning. Each of them used the penlight to read the note and nodded their approval.
I had Sarah text the people at the research facility and work out an alternative plan in case the cell towers stopped working. The towers had backup battery systems, but for how long?
The people at Jorissen's would expect us anytime between five and six in the morning and they would have someone waiting by the back door to let us in if we couldn't text them. We'd knock and they'd let us in. They told us they had backup power at the facility. They also mentioned something about relocating to a secure location in the coming days.
I was surprised at the mention of relocating to a secure location. Was there really such a place? The thought excited me, but I needed to take one thing at a time. Just get them to the research facility in the morning. The details of a secure location could wait.
After they settled into their rooms, I lay awake and thought about what would happen in the morning. With a little luck we'd be fine. We were ever so close. Beyond the pervasive silence in the house, I could hear the soft murmuring moans of the infected sifting through the bedroom window. I wondered how close they were.
And as I lay there, I realized I hadn't thought much about Alex the past few days. Hadn't dreamed about him either. It could have been because I was so busy with Sarah and Becky and Raj. I wasn't sure.
I rolled onto my side and curled up. I was incredibly tired. My bat was still in my backpack. I was too tired to grab it. My mind and body felt remarkably still. For a time, I listened to my breathing till it blended into the darkness.
Chapter 17
The Diversion
I heard the moans and knew they had to be close. I wasn't dreaming. Not this time. I forced myself to sit up in bed, still a little foggy. I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes and rubbed them lightly. Then I blinked and squinted till I could see clearly in the bluish-black light. I rummaged around in my backpack and found my iPhone and checked the time. It was just past four-thirty in the morning. Sunrise would come after six, but by five-thirty it would be light enough to travel.
The moans were several decibels higher than they'd been last night. Then I heard a throaty moan in the immediate vicinity, clear and distinct. I perked up and listened. It came from the backyard. I was suddenly wide awake. I eased off the bed and went to the window. I lifted a single blind and peeked into the backyard. An infected male was bending down, inspecting a doghouse near the back fence. He wasn't alone. Two more were wandering aimlessly in the filmy predawn light. I glanced into the backyard to my right and saw two of them stumbling about in the neighbor's yard.
I hustled across the hallway to Raj's room. He was sleeping in the teenage girl's bedroom. I went to the window facing the street. The window had white sheer curtains pulled back to the sides. I crouched low and looked out the window's lower corner into the street.
They were loitering in the yards and the street, darkened silhouettes scuffling about in the early morning twilight, waiting and listening. Some were still in hibernation mode, sleeping standing up. In the half block I could see, there had to be a hundred infected. And I wondered how many more there might be waiting for us past the curve on Fortuna Way.
Gates to the backyard fences across the street had been opened too. The Swimmer must have opened the gates to all the homes in the vicinity. It was the only thing that made sense.
And then I knew we were in real trouble. We wouldn't be able to use the Tundra because there were too many of them in the street. Traveling through backyards was out of the question now too. I slunk to the floor with my back against the wall and tried to think. The only thing I could come up with was hiding in the attic. But with the air conditioning gone, the attic would be like an oven. It would be intolerable. Then I thought we could just stay put in the house and only go up into the attic if they tried to get into the house. It was the best option, but I didn't like that idea much either.
The people at Jorissen's would be expecting us. If we were stuck in the attic for several days or a week, they might leave for their secure location and leave us behind. We'd be left with nowhere to go. I knew cell phone service would be dead in a day or so. After that, we wouldn't be able to communicate with the scientists. If we didn't get there today, we'd likely never get there. It had to be today.
I looked over at Raj. He slept soundly, curled up comfortably, sleeping on his side with a pillow covering his head. He hadn't heard them yet. I decided not to wake him. Not yet.
Then I heard the unmistakable sounds of a picture window under siege. It was up the street toward Jupiter Drive. From the angle I had, I couldn't see the house, but I didn't have to. I knew what would happen.
I left Raj's room and stood in the hallway. I felt numb. I didn't feel panicked or afraid, just numb. What concerned me most was the prospect of facing Sarah and Becky and Raj without a clue as to what we should do. I'd led them here and now we were surrounded by the infected. Sarah and Becky's bedroom door was half open, and I thought about checking on them, but I hesitated.
And then I got the seed of an idea. A sudden inspiration. It was hardly brilliant and maybe even a little insane. I went back to my bedroom and inched one of the blinds up. By adjusting my vantage point, I could see three other backyards. Two of the yards had two infected in them and the third yard didn't have any. It confirmed what I was thinking. There weren't a lot of infected in the neighboring backyards, and that made my idea plausible.
I went to Sarah and Becky's room to check on them. I wanted to see if Sarah might be awake. I peeked around the door and saw them lying in bed. Even in the dim light of the room, I could see Sarah's eyes open. I stepped around the door and walked over to the bed. She followed me with her eyes. She lay quietly on her back, Becky's head resting on her stomach. Becky slept soundly. Sarah had lightly covered Becky's ear with her hand, not wanting her daughter to hear them.
Sarah's eye and cheek looked the same except for the discoloration under her eye which had darkened perceptibly. The good news was Sarah's cheek hardly looked swollen. The bag of ice-cold peas had done their job.
Sarah was wide awake. She looked at me the same way she had back at the underpass. There was a steadiness in her dark eyes marked by a quiet determination. And I knew Sarah would do whatever was necessary to protect Becky. Nothing would shake her resolve. Sarah would never flinch when it came to protecting her daughter. In that moment, I knew I would go ahead with the plan. I would go ahead with it because it was their best chance, maybe their only chance.
I leaned down and whispered in her ear. "It's going to be all right," I told her. "I know what to do."
I left them and went to my room. I grabbed my notepad and wrote down the specifics of the plan. Then I got my iPad out of the backpack and went into Google maps to plot the route I'd take. I zoomed in so I could see the outline of the individual homes. I knew exactly where I needed to go. Not much more than a block. That's all I'd need.
*****
After they'd read the plan, they looked at me as if I were crazy. Sarah shook her head in disbelief and silently mouthed the word no. Raj stood there with his mouth open in a kind of quizzical wonderment. Even Becky looked at me queerly.
I quickl
y wrote them a second note and didn't mince words. I told them it was the only plan that had any chance of getting them to the facility this morning. There were no other options. Then I finished the note by reminding them that they had agreed before we ever left to follow my instructions implicitly. There would be no vote.
They sheepishly went along, even Sarah, though she gave me a hard look I couldn't decipher. It wasn't that I'd convinced them of the soundness or efficacy of my plan. There simply wasn't an alternative and they knew it. If we waited around, there was a good chance we'd all die. We might survive in the attic for a while, but what would we do after that? The facility would likely be lost as an option if we waited. And with the gates open and the East Bench crawling with the infected, there was nowhere to go. If we stayed, we'd likely die. I was convinced of that. And I convinced them too.
They went to their rooms and gathered their things.
When we had everything we needed, Raj went into the attic first. He stepped onto the chair and easily pulled himself up. Then I handed him everyone's backpack, including my own. After that, I handed him my bat. There was no way I'd be able to take it with me. Raj handled the bat as if it were made of precious jewels. And then he gave me his own determined look and nodded to me as if we had some sort of understanding or unspoken agreement.
Sarah went next. She stood on the chair and reached up and Raj grabbed her by the wrists and she grabbed his. Then she stepped into my cupped hands and I lifted her up while Raj helped pull her up into the attic. I stepped onto the chair and then lifted Becky up with me and then lifted her up to Raj and Sarah. The chair groaned from our weight as I lifted her.
Apocalypse Journeys (Book 1): Jacob's Odyssey Page 20