by Lybeck, Kyle
“That works for me,” Will said, taking a swing back and hitting his birdie as hard as he could. Sailing into the yard, it landed next to their statue of a frog.
Ben hit his next, almost reaching his father’s spot. Caroline hit hers past Will’s, landing in the flower garden by their fence. Abby swung at hers and missed.
“Mulligan,” she said, smiling, and took another swing. The birdie only went half as far as Ben’s.
“Okay, so it ended up being boys versus girls anyways, but at least that way was more fun,” Caroline said as the family was walking across the yard to pick their birdie’s back up.
On their respective sides, they played out three long games to ten points each. In the end, the girls won two of the three matches.
“And to the victors, goes extra ice cream on the brownies!” Caroline victoriously exclaimed in front of her brother’s sullen face.
“I want extra ice cream,” Ben said sitting at the outdoor table, pouting, his lower lip drawn down practically to his chin.
“Should have played harder then, little brother,” Caroline was chuckling as she walked inside.
Abby was following behind to check on the brownies that were baking in the oven.
“Just a few more minutes and those will be ready and we can bring everything out to the table,” she said to Caroline.
“Just let me know what to help bring out, I’m going to go upstairs and get my phone in case Cassie texted me back.”
Caroline was walking upstairs as Abby stood in the kitchen, waiting on the last few minutes to finish up on their homemade dessert. Outside, she watched as Will was consoling Ben over the loss.
Caroline was walking back into the kitchen as the timer began ringing on top of the stove.
“Perfect timing!” Abby said, placing an oven mitt on and opening the door to remove the nine-inch pan of warm gooey chocolate goodness.
“Honey, will you get the vanilla ice cream out of the freezer and take it outside to the table? Bring out some bowls and spoons as well, they’re over there on the counter,” she said, pointing across the kitchen.
“Can do!” She said, opening the freezer and pulling out a gallon container of French Vanilla.
The two were walking outside as the ground around them began to softly stir. Placing the items on the table, Abby and Will stood in amazement, watching the ground around them.
“What the hell is going on?” Will said, walking out into the yard.
As he was reaching the center, the ground began to shake even more violently. Beneath this feet, the grass began to tear apart, fingers making their way upwards trying to grab his left ankle. Ben ran forth towards his father, despite his mother’s yelling at him to stop where he was.
As Ben was reaching his father, four other sets of hands had begun protruding from the yard. Just as Ben was arriving to the center of the yard, a hand wrapped around his right ankle, pulling him down to the grass.
Abby and Caroline were standing by the table, still in awe at what was happening in front of them. In the yard, creatures that looked like rotten humans were pulling themselves up from the earth. As they did, they were swarming upon both Will and Ben, tugging and pulling at their arms and legs.
Watching in horror, the women screaming as the bodies in the yard were each ripped in half, their innards splashing onto the green grass, turning it a grotesque reddish-green.
Abby fell to her knees, placing her hands over her face at the nightmare that was occurring around her.
Rocketing to a sitting position, Abby awoke in a streaming mix of tears and sweat on the bed.
---
“Ben, come and join me by the water!” Caroline was yelling to her brother from the water’s edge of the ocean.
“I’m not done with my sandcastle yet though!”
“Okay, fine, but when you’re done, come hang out with me!”
Ben gave his sister a thumbs up before going back to finishing the ten foot long sandcastle he had been constructing in the sand for the past hour.
Behind him, Abby and Will were lounging in beach chairs, each drinking a beer and watching the children play on the beach.
“We have some pretty good kids, don’t ya think?”
Smiling at her husband, Abby was gripping his hand tighter in silent agreement. Taking another sip of her beer, she let go of his hand and stood. Stretching her arms to the sky, she began walking towards where Ben was working on his creation.
“This sandcastle is really extravagant,” she said upon reaching Ben.
“I wanted it to be the best that’s ever been made. What do you think?”
“I think it looks amazing, surely the best that’s ever been made. We’ll make sure and take a picture of it before we leave in a little while.”
Smiling, Ben went back to finishing the sandcastle so he could go and hang out with his sister. Abby continued on down to the water.
“Find anything fun down here?” She asked, reaching her daughter.
“Nothing, really. Some sea glass, a few cool looking shells, but nothing amazing. One of these times I really hope I’ll find a message in a bottle from some far off land.”
“That would be pretty neat,” Abby said, taking another sip of her beer, looking out across the ocean landscape. In the distance in each direction were other families enjoying the summer’s day before the rain was to move back in on the weekend.
“How’s Ben doing on his sandcastle? I wanted him to come down here and help me look for things.”
“He’s almost done. That thing is amazing, I’ll say that much. He’s a creative little guy, that’s for sure.”
Squinting, Caroline was looking back towards her brother to try and see what he had made. She could make out a little bit of it, but not the whole thing.
“I’ll have to make sure and go check it out later once I’m done down here,” she said, as she began to stroll along the water’s edge with her mom.
Reaching down to the sand, Abby worked her hands around, hoping to uncover some sort of buried treasure beneath the surface. Trying this method out in different spots revealed nothing more than what her daughter was already finding.
“There really isn’t much of anything around here, is there?”
“Nope, sure is looking like a bust this time around,” Caroline said, now pushing around sand with her feet to save from bending over time and time again to search.
From down the beach, yelling was heard echoing up the sand towards them. Looking down to the other beachgoers, Abby and Caroline tried to make out what all the fuss was about.
All they could make out was that people were running in all directions, as if being chased. That’s when the stench him them in their faces like a punch from a world class boxer.
“Oh my god, what is that smell?” Caroline said, placing one hand over her mouth and pinching her nose with the other.
Abby’s response was more action than verbal, as she was already leaning towards the ocean’s edge, throwing up the beer and chips that had been residing in her stomach.
Behind them, they could then hear screams from the other members of their family. Turning around in a panic, the two watching as human-like creatures were coming out of, and across, the sand towards Ben and Will.
Abby was the first to start sprinting back, as Caroline was quickly following behind. It was too late though, as they were starting to get close Abby halted so fast her feet dug into the sand. Behind her, Caroline practically colliding into her mother’s back.
In front of their eyes, Ben and Will had already been inundated, the creatures ripping chunks of flesh from their arms and necks, blood spraying in all directions.
Behind Abby, Caroline fell to her knees, crying and screaming out to her father and brother.
Caroline awoke screaming their names, as she was bolting upright in the bed. Looking over to the other bed, her mother was already awake, crying, and now staring back at her with immense grief.
Chapter 23
Boise and Beyond
The hope of a secure sleeping location giving them a semblance of peace for even one night was dashed with the lifelike reincarnations of the deaths of their family members.
Both mother and daughter had finally fallen back to sleep for another two hours, after their realistic nightmares had brought them out of their full slumbers.
Morning brought sunshine filtering through high clouds into the hotel room. Caroline was the first to rise, opening the doors to the outside deck, looking below to the abandoned cars in the streets.
Searching around, she found no movement anywhere, cars or people of any kind. Behind her in the room she could hear the rustling of sheets and squeaking of the mattress.
Not long after, Abby was joining her on the deck, handing her a cup of coffee.
“Anything interesting?”
“So far, so good,” she said, taking a sip of the coffee and grimacing at her mom.
“What?”
“There isn’t even sugar in this?”
“Not that I could find, sorry.”
“I guess I’ll have to start getting used to less and less of the luxuries in life, like sugar and cream,” Caroline said, taking another sip, this time with less of a disgusted face as her taste buds were slowly becoming acclimated.
Abby took a seat in one of the chairs, leaning her head back to feel the soft kiss of the sunshine on her face before the afternoon would become too hot to bear.
“How are you doing after last night?” she asked her daughter, who herself was leaning back in the opposite chair enjoying the sun.
“I just couldn’t get over my dream about Ben and dad dying on a beach at the hands of those things,” she said, shuddering still at the thought. “It was pretty awful, really gruesome.”
“I know what you mean. Mine was about both of them dying too, in the backyard at home, it was bad.
“Do you think we’ll ever get a good night’s sleep again?”
“Oh honey, we will. It’s just going to take time. Those were extremely traumatic events and we haven’t even had time to really process what happened. I think one thing we could do is bring up good memories about the both of them, and over time it will help us relax mentally and accept what happened.”
“Sure, mom. We can try that later, but not right now, okay? I just don’t really want to think about it for a little while.”
“That sounds fair, you just let me know when you’d feel comfortable, or just start talking about them and I’ll join in with you, okay?”
Nodding, Caroline gave her mom a halfhearted smile. She went back to her bitter cup of hotel coffee, taking more sips and watching below for any signs of life, or undead life as was more likely the case anymore.
Abby was leaning back in the chair once again, closing her eyes to the warm sunshine. Intermittently she would reach for her coffee and take a sip, her own palate coming to terms with the bitterness and no cream.
In the far distance, a gunshot echoed towards them through the streets, bringing them both back to reality.
“Well, sounds like at least someone is still kicking out there,” Abby said, taking the final mouthful of her coffee.
Caroline had already been on her phone, searching for the best possible route to continue their journey west.
“I think it’s very feasible for us to get to Bend today, even if we come across some stumbling blocks on the roads.” Caroline said, leaning over to show Abby the route on the phone.
“How far time wise is that?”
“It’s a little over five hours, but at least we gain an hour going across the time zone.”
“Wait, we’re that close to a time zone?” Abby asked. Caroline was showing her the phone again, with the odd time zone break in Oregon they would later cross.
“Okay, that’s just weird, Idaho is split on time zones, and some of Oregon is too?”
Caroline laughed, shrugging her shoulders and nodding agreement, sitting back in her chair.
Another gunshot rang out, closer this time than before.
“Okay, I think we’d better get going before whoever that is gets any closer to us,” Abby said, raising herself from the chair and taking her empty mug inside. Caroline was following behind, then they were packing everything back up and making their way down to the lobby.
Once the elevator doors had opened to the lobby, each cautiously made their way out, Abby with her pistol drawn and taking the lead. Finding no disturbances in their immediate vicinity, they continued walking to and out the front doors of the hotel and towards the Honda.
Once the car was again full with all their belongings, they drove towards I-84, leaving the cart in their wake.
Caroline finished plugging her phone into the charging port, placing it in the phone holder hanging from the air vent. Its map system set for Bend, Oregon, by way of Burns as a good halfway point to stop for a quick gas break.
Following the interstate north, they were reaching Ontario before long, which cut off to US-20 to start their long journey west across Oregon.
Along the way, they were thankfully met with little resistance. A few cars here and there were blocking the highway, but were easily avoided. Intermittently Caroline would see a rager running through the woods. The worst was when they came upon Juntura and a group were feasting on downed cattle on a farm.
“I think this infection has finally surpassed us from the looks of it. Not much in the way of actual people anymore, just those things.”
“It’s creepy, I feel like we can’t run from it now, all we’re doing is catching up to whatever it has laid waste to.” Caroline said, watching more ragers try and cross the North Fork Malheur River to reach the others and the lunch of cattle.
“I’m still a little shocked it made its way into desolate areas like this though. I figured it would really stay in the main cities and peter out. Then again, we really didn’t see much of anything in the way of the ragers in Boise.” Abby said, keeping her eyes ahead just in case any more of the undead began popping up.
“I guess it kinda makes sense though, right? They decimated the bigger cities, and now they’re spreading outwards in search of food to stay alive. Well, alive in their sense of alive. I still don’t understand how that works and it’s really bugging me.”
“I just wish I knew how this whole thing really got its start and why,” Abby said, dodging a broken down car, a rager caught half in, half out of the back window. Blood streaming from its chomping mouth towards their passing car, sensing food was close.
“At this point, I doubt we’ll ever really know.” Caroline said, also watching their surroundings pass by. Seeing so many ragers in one place for the first time in a while was causing her to subconsciously grab ahold of her swords, just in case.
Passing the small town behind them, they set their sights on the city of Burns.
Before long they were reaching the small city, in search of anything they could find for their journey. All the gas stations they found though, were out of power for their pumps. Thankfully the car still hung a little over half a tank.
Driving down Hines Boulevard and onto Oregon Avenue, Caroline saw a Dairy Queen and instantly was begging her mom to pull the car over.
“You really think you’re going to find ice cream that is still frozen in there?”
“Always worth a shot, I haven’t had ice cream for a few weeks now. With all this hot weather, it really sounds good. Who knows, maybe they just lost power recently and they have a good freezer.”
Caroline was already salivating at the thought, as Abby drove the car into the parking lot. Placing it in park, both hesitantly opening their doors as per the usual, making sure they didn’t hear anything alarming around them.
Stepping from the car, the crinkling of their painter’s suits the only noise made as they began walking up to the front doors, peering inside.
“Looks like the coast is clear,” Caroline said, cautiously pulling the door open just in case a rager was insi
de hiding in the back. Waiting another few seconds, they made their way inside.
“Doesn’t really smell in here, nothing worse than any fast food restaurant normally does,” Abby said with a smile.
“Maybe that’s a good sign then, I’m going to the back to see if they have a freezer.”
“It’s not even lunchtime, and you’re craving ice cream.”
“Mom, it’s basically the end of the world out there, all bets are off on what junk food we’re going to have to survive on. Ice cream’s just as good as anything else.” Caroline gave her mom a smirk as she went behind the front counter and into the back cooking and storage area.
Placing her swords securely on her back in their sheaths, Caroline began searching, finally finding a chest freezer. Abby kept watch out front, pistol at the ready in case of any unsavory characters that may appear.
Not long after the disappearance of her daughter, Caroline came walking back out with cartons of ice cream.
“The chest freezer it was in looks to have gone on the fritz not that long ago. It’s just barely starting to become unfrozen,” she said, an ear to ear smile on her face.
“We can’t take all that with us honey, as it is we haven’t been able to find any ice to keep what we have cold.”
“Got that covered too,” she said, a spoonful of ice cream having just entered her mouth. She was pointing to the back room she had just come from.
“What, ice?”
Finishing the mouthful of ice cream and leaving the carton on the counter, Caroline brought her mom to the back. A large ice machine was located next to the chest freezer where she had found the ice cream.
“This should easily fill our coolers, I already checked and only about half of it has melted so far.”
“Pretty much hit the jackpot here, didn’t we,” Abby said, giving her daughter a hug. “Thanks for suggesting we come in here, you’ve earned that ice cream.”
Smiling and walking back out front to her ice cream, Caroline began to dig in again. Abby was walking around the back room, taking a longer look in case there was anything else they could use that her daughter hadn’t thought of to grab.
After taking inventory and not finding anything else she would deem useful, Abby made her way back towards the front. As she was approaching the front counter, she could already tell something was wrong.