Plentiful Poison

by Lybeck, Kyle

  “Okay, now I think we’re set.”

  They each took one last survey of the pile, then Will took a step forward to open the front door. As he did, he listened and looked outside for any signs of the ragers. Hearing nothing, he walked outside with the guns, while the family brought out suitcases.

  It took four trips from everyone to pack the car almost full. As they stood in the entryway for what they assumed would be the last time, holding the last of the items to take out to the Ford, Will offered a small speech.

  “This house, it brought us all together. Your mom and I when we were first married, then when both of you kids were born. We’ve been through a lot in this house, and I’m sad to see us leave it.

  “I know we’re going to find another place just as nice when we finally get to where we’re going, but it might be rough along the way. Maybe, some day, we’ll make it back here, and make this our home again.”

  They all embraced in a hug, Abby’s tears flowing down her cheeks at her husband’s words.

  “Okay you guys, let’s get out of here. We have a long trip ahead of us.” Will said with an encouraging smile.

  Will let go of his family and turned to the front door, walking outside with a bag of chips in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other.

  Crossing into the sunshine outside, a slight breeze in the air, a rager suddenly tackled Will into the driveway. The rest of the family ran back to the house, screaming at the sight of him being attacked.

  Abby cautiously took a step forward and peaked around the corner. Standing in the driveway was their neighbor, standing over a motionless Will. Blood dripped from his fingertips onto the concrete, but she couldn’t see any injuries to Will.

  The man released a cacophonous growl into the air before bending down to bite Will in the shoulder. Instantly he screamed and thrashed beneath the rager’s grip.

  Abby flew from the doorway, carrying the baseball bat she retrieved from behind their front door.

  “You stay right here,” Caroline said to Ben, closing the front door in his face as he stood, shaking in fear.

  Rushing to the back of the SUV, Caroline passed her mother who was smashing in the head of their neighbor, its brain matter leaking onto the driveway. She was careful not to splash any blood on herself.

  Caroline reached into the back of the car, retrieving the 9mm her father had trained her to use over the past year. As she did, Will began to stir on the ground, pushing himself upwards from the bloody driveway with a low growl.

  Sternly walking over to her father, a tear in her eye, her mother watching from the seat she had taken on the front lawn. Holding the gun steady with both hands, she placed the barrel of the pistol to his left temple and pulled the trigger.

  Spraying against the side of the vehicle, blood and gray matter streaked downwards to the concrete. Caroline slowly dropped to her knees as the ringing in her ears overtook the outside world.

  Abby ran to her daughter’s side, making sure no blood had gotten on her. Then she was yelling hysterically, the muffled words trying to make their way into Caroline’s cochlea.

  “…brother. Caroline! Where. Is. Ben!”

  Caroline was pointing to the front door. Rushing over, Abby threw open the door to find Ben sitting, now crying. Picking him up in her arms, she rushed him out to the SUV.

  “Don’t look, honey. Just keep your head nestled in my shoulder.”

  Pulling open the door, she placed him in the back seat. She ran back to Caroline, who was still kneeling next to her dead father.

  “We have to go! There could be more!” Abby screamed, shoving her daughter into the passenger seat. Throwing the door closed once Caroline was seated, she ran to the driver’s seat, pushing the start button. The engine roared to life, Abby once again pushing the pedal to the floor.

  As the now single mother drove down north 6th avenue towards west Abbott Street, she looked back in the side mirror, as did Caroline. Behind them, multiple other ragers were trying to unsuccessfully follow. Gray smoke began to rise into the air from the neighborhood.

  Watching the mayhem behind them as they turned the corner, each realizing that was it. They knew they would never again return to their happy home. They were officially on the run.

  Chapter 12

  Goodbye, Casper

  Abby managed to navigate the SUV through the neighborhoods that were descending into chaos. Driving on the curb, over lawns, through parking lots, nothing was taboo any longer.

  Passing many waving their arms for help, the vehicle did not slow for a second. Keeping it on a path towards I-25 was the end goal, which she achieved despite all obstacles.

  Managing to accomplish this through tear filled eyes, one child scared out of their wits, and the other in a shell from shooting her own father, was no easy feat.

  Reaching the interstate after a half hour of trying, Abby was able to relax her hands on the steering wheel. The blood began to flow back to her bone white fingers, the indentation on the steering wheel cover pushing out.

  “How you doing, sweetie?”

  Caroline sat unresponsive, legs curled on the seat, head against the window.

  “How about you, Benster. You okay?” Abby asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

  Sniffling and wiping his nose with a paper towel, his mile-long stare met hers in the mirror.

  “Mom, what happened to dad?”

  Abby turned her eyes back to the road, swerving to avoid a car partially stopped in the lane. Passing the car, a rager jumped up from the victim he was gnawing on and began to run after the SUV, but gave up moments later.

  “Mom, why won’t you tell me?”

  “He’s dead, okay?” Caroline said, voice cracking.

  Ben’s eyes began to tear up once again.

  “But. How?” He spoke, between sniffles and quick breaths of tropical beach scented air. Abby had turned on the air conditioning, the car having become overly stuffy.

  “He was attacked by our neighbor. He was one of those things that we saw at the school. Dad kept calling it a ‘rager’.” Caroline said as she continued to watch the trees fly by outside the window, offering up the explanation.

  “He heard it from the radio,” Abby offered.

  “What happened though?”

  “It attacked dad and bit him in the shoulder. Mom smashed in his head so he didn’t kill us too.”

  Stopping herself, Caroline took a breath, her voice was wrought with emotion.

  “I had to grab dad’s gun. He was turning into one of the ragers. I shot and killed him. I had to, I couldn’t see him like that. I couldn’t let him hurt us. He wasn’t… dad anymore.”

  Ben sat in silence at hearing the full story.

  “Mom. Mom stop the car!” Caroline said, waving her left arm while she rolled down the window with her right hand.

  Abby hit the brakes, throwing them all against their seat belts. At the full stop, Caroline pushed herself partly out of the window, vomiting yellow bile onto the ground. She coughed and spat, making sure it was all out of her mouth before pulling herself back inside the vehicle.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah mom, sorry. Just having to remember all of that again.” She sat back, a long sigh escaping her shaking lips.

  “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry that you had to go through that. You saved us though, you did what you had to do. I promise you, we will have time to mourn your father, but we need to make sure that we reach someplace safe by nightfall.”

  “I’ll try and take a nap. I think I’m okay now, you can start going again.”

  Curling herself back up on the seat, she used her jacket as a pillow against the window.

  Pulling the vehicle back out onto the interstate, Abby gave her daughter a gentle rub on the shoulder. Pushing a pinch of mussed hair behind her ear, she then left her to sleep. Looking into the rearview mirror, she saw Ben finally calming down, his eyes becoming droopy from the emotional toll the morning had taken. Putting her eyes back to the ro
ad, Abby gave her full concentration to dodging stopped cars, and the occasional stranded passenger. It was all up to her now.

  Chapter 13

  Buffalo, Wyoming

  Once past the Antelope Hills region, the interstate opened up to Abby’s exhausted eyes.

  Caroline was fast asleep against the window, while Ben had toppled over sideways onto the seat, snoring away. The scene almost brought a smile to her face, if it weren’t for the situation they were in.

  The miles crawling by, tunnel vision beginning to take hold as they passed a sign.

  Buffalo – 5 miles

  It had taken nearly two hours to reach their first stop on the way to Cody, where Abby was expecting them to stay the night. It was still early afternoon, they would easily make it there well before nightfall.

  “Hey kids, you need to wake up.”

  Neither moved a muscle.

  “Caroline, you need to wake up sweetie,” she said, giving her a nudge in the shoulder. Jerking herself awake and reflexively slapping her mother’s hand away, Caroline looking around, at first not remembering where she was.

  “Shit mom, I’m sorry.”

  “Language.”

  “Sorry. I was dreaming, I didn’t mean to hit you.”

  “That’s okay, I’m glad you’re keeping your guard up. Might have to be that way for a while now. Can you wake your brother up, we’re almost in Buffalo. I want to stop and fuel the car up, see what it’s like in the area.”

  Caroline reached around her seat to poke her snoring brother in the leg.

  “Wake up buddy, we’re going to stop soon.”

  Ben stirred, groaning and pushing her hand away.

  “He’s awake, I’ll get him up more when we get there,” she said, turning back around in her seat.

  Ahead of their SUV, they could see the town of Buffalo. From first impressions, nothing seemed unusual or out of control. No people running around hectically, no smoke from fires.

  Slowly passing houses, continuing onto south Main Street, they encountered a town in quiet panic. Shop owners were boarding up their windows, screwing in boards of plywood and locking the doors to their businesses.

  Abby found a parking spot, turning off the engine and exiting the Ford. Walking up to the nearest shop owner to gather information, she dodged other walkers on the sidewalk.

  “Ma’am, have you heard any news about the infection making its way near here?”

  The woman looked around to see who was talking to her, as most were trying to board up windows or get out of town. Looking down from her stepladder to Abby’s smiling face, she answered while continuing to screw in plywood.

  “It hasn’t reached here yet, thankfully. We have just heard what happened down in Casper, and the local police drove around telling everyone to evacuate over their megaphones. There were reports that the infection was spreading north faster than they anticipated.”

  “Who is ‘they’?”

  “The army. That’s what one of the policemen said at least. He was on the phone with someone down there while he was walking around telling us all to finish what we were doing and get the hell out of town.”

  “We just came from down there. It was insanity. There weren’t any members of the army there yet though. They must have moved in after we escaped.”

  “Damn, you made it out of there? You’re lucky as hell, lady. From everything I’ve heard, that town is burning to the ground.”

  Abby sighed, nodding her head.

  “Could you tell me where to find the nearest gas station? We’re on our way out to Cody.”

  The woman pointed down the road.

  “Keep following the road that way. It will turn into north Main Street, and two gas stations will be on your right. Then you can just hop on US-16 and that will take you back out of town towards Cody.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  “Before you go, do you think you could help me for just a moment?”

  “Sure, I suppose I could,” Abby said, as the woman pointed to a piece of plywood for her to pick up and hold over the last window as she screwed it into place at the top.”

  “I wish you the best of luck with your travels,” the woman said, as Abby walked back to the SUV.

  “Thank you. I hope nothing bad happens to your shop and that you make it out of town safely.”

  The woman gave her a thumbs up as she went back to the shop window. Abby climbed into the seat of the vehicle and started the engine, pulling out of the parking spot and driving down Main Street towards the gas stations.

  Upon reaching the stations, Abby now knew where most people in town were. The line for each of the pumps at both the Sinclair and Kum & Go stations was spilling out onto north Main Street as well as down Benteen Street. The police, having intervened to direct traffic, didn’t seem to have mattered, as she pulled the Ford into a line at the Sinclair along with a dozen others awaiting their turn.

  Abby shut off the engine and they waited. Thirty minutes of waiting in the heat of the summer’s day, they finally pulled into a spot at the pump. Standing as the tank filled, she watched the others around her. All that had happened that day made her weary and nervous around anyone else but her own family.

  The handle clicking back to alert her the tank was full, Abby replaced the handle back at the pump. Back in the car, pulling back onto north Main Street in the direction of the officer, she then took an immediate right on Fort Street.

  Still seeing no ill effects on the town to what they encountered that morning, she drove the SUV onwards towards Cody. The three hour drive would be an inviting break for the kids, giving them time to take an even longer nap.

  Abby pressed the pre-set numbers on the radio, going through the local stations to find anything with some music. Finding only news, which she’d had enough of for the day, she turned on the satellite radio, playing jazz for the rest of the day’s drive across northern Wyoming.

  Chapter 14

  Cody, Wyoming

  Abby was thankful when she saw the sign for Cody saying it was coming up in two miles.

  The dull drive took them through some towns, but a lot of deserted land as well. Spacing out was becoming quite the problem, and the last thing Abby wanted to do was veer off the road with two sleeping children next to her.

  Following US-14 into town, she drove until she reached the first place to stay the night that they came upon. Taking a right, she pulled into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn.

  Waking up the kids, she told them she’d be right back as she exited the Ford, walking towards the reception desk.

  The warm air hit her upon leaving the vehicle, the sunlight beginning to fall lower towards the horizon. Not long after leaving them, Abby returned with a key card from the front desk clerk for a room and welcomed the kids out into the heat with her.

  Around the back, they each grabbed their belongings for the night, leaving non-essentials behind. Abby made sure to bring along the weapons just in case, leaving nothing in life to chance any longer.

  Walking up the stairs to the second floor, they entered room 208. Inside were two queen beds, a large TV, mini-fridge, microwave, and a balcony looking back down on the parking lot. Basic, but just what they needed for a night’s stay. The balcony made Abby happy, being able to see their vehicle down below.

  “Mom I’m hungry,” Ben said, having taken a seat on the first bed upon entering the room.

  “You know what, I kind of am too,” she replied. “Why don’t you open up the cooler and see what we can have for dinner.

  “Can’t we go out to eat?” Caroline asked.

  “I’d rather not honey. Honestly, I’d rather be in our room, safe. That and we have all of this food we brought with us, I’d rather not have it go bad.

  Each of the children sighed, but knew their mother was right. Searching in the cooler, they found makings for a sandwich.

  “Do you have the bread?”

  “Oh shoot, I forgot. I’ll be right back.” Abby left the
room, making sure to close the door tightly behind her. Walking back down the stairs, she felt safe for the first time since first arriving for work that morning. Looking around her, everyone was going about their normal business, and nothing in the air turned her protective senses on.

  Grabbing the bread, she returned to the room and proceeded in helping make dinner for the family. Turkey, cheese, mustard, and whole wheat bread. After a long day, it was a welcoming bite to take.

  “Mom, do you think everything will be okay?” Ben asked, pushing the bite of sandwich to one cheek as he did so.

  “I don’t know, sweetheart. I sure hope so. It sounded like this infection was spreading pretty fast when I was listening to the radio earlier. But we can hold faith in our government and medical doctors to try and find a solution to end all of this.”

  “Do you though, mom? Do you still have faith?” Her daughter asked, a hopefulness in her eyes.

  “I’m trying, Caroline. I really am, and I think that’s the best I can do.”

  The three members of the Baker family sat in silence for the rest of their meal. Outside the sun began to slowly go behind the nearby mountains, painting the town into darkness.

  After watching sitcom reruns on the TV for a while to take their minds off of everything, Abby announced that each of the kids needed to take a shower and get ready for bed. Some daily rituals still needed to continue, despite the world around them.

  With both kids showered, she tucked them each into a queen bed.

  “Mom, where are you going to sleep?” Ben asked.

  “I’m just going to sleep on the couch tonight,” she said, pointing to the couch by the window.

  “You can always sleep in the bed with me,” he said, pointing both index fingers towards the bed.

  “I appreciate it honey, but you and your sister can relax and have the beds for tonight. I’m more than fine on the couch. You go ahead and get some sleep, okay?” She said, patting him on the shoulder.