By now, I was sure that someone must have heard us. A concerned camper, the police, or even the woman I was supposed to be protecting had to have been on their way to our location. I had to end it quick.
Even with Chris trying to hold him, the kid was thrashing around too much for me to cut his throat. I might not do it right and It wouldn’t have been quick for him the way it was for the other. I didn’t care how sick and twisted the boys were, I wasn’t going to make them suffer if I could avoid it. Not because of who they were, but because of who I was.
I decided that if I made it out of the situation alive and free, I’d live a life of integrity. If I had to work in a grocery store for the rest of my days, I’d be the best checkout boy that ever scanned a green pepper.
Then, I plunged the knife down. The boy squealed because I hit a rib and didn’t penetrate his heart.
“Fuck,” I murmured. “Hold him as still as you can.” Chris nodded at me but turned his head away. He didn’t want to watch. I didn’t blame him.
I brought the knife down again, and this time my blade hit the mark. I felt the metal sink into the flesh and then the gore underneath. It was at the same time a satisfying and horrifying feeling as the boy’s body seemed to suck the blade in.
He twitched and gasped, but the boy had stopped fighting. I watched his skin turn ghastly pale as shock and blood loss took him. There was nothing left to do but pull out the knife. I couldn’t leave it behind for the cops to find as evidence.
The body doesn’t give up what it takes so easily. I met with resistance as I tugged at the blade. I gagged when the edge of the knife caught on a rib that I’d barely missed.
“That was fucking horrible,” Chris said in a little boy’s soft voice.
“Yeah,” I said as I took deep breaths to keep the darkness from closing around me.
“Now what?”
Chapter Thirty-One
Liv heard someone scream in the distance, but she didn’t want to leave Kyle until she was sure he was dead. Her ex-boyfriend was on the ground convulsing as a frothy mix of blood and bile leaked from one corner of his mouth.
A small wail escaped her lips as she imagined eighty percent of the earth’s population going out the same way. “Just die already,” she whispered under her breath.
Her humanity was still in place just enough to keep her from leaving him to die alone, but she needed to get to the lab before...
A man covered in blood and a young, skinny black kid emerged from one of the hiking trails. It didn’t even occur to Liv that the blood on the man was from someone else. She assumed right away that he was in the last stages of the new sickness.
“Stay back or I’ll shoot,” Liv yelled without thinking.
“With what?” the man called back, but the kid did stop.
“Are you sick?” Liv called back.
“I think I might be coming down with a cold.”
“What about all the blood?”
“It’s not mine. We ran into a bit of trouble out here.”
Liv felt more relieved that she should. The man was most likely infected, but he wasn’t in the end stages. It never occurred to her that her blood might join the other staining his clothes.
A loud rasping breath issued forth from Kyle’s chest, and then he went completely still. Liv felt a slight tug at her heart, but she kept her head together. The only thing she could do at that point was try to keep more people from losing loved ones. She wished she could take back the mean things she said, but Liv knew that was impossible.
“I need to get back to my lab,” Liv said.
“I’ll take you,” the man in the bloody clothes said. “I’m Will and this kid is Chris. We’re here to help.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got my own car,” Liv said.
“Ma’am, I don’t think that car is going to take you anywhere,” Will said.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I could only guess that the little shits that wanted to murder her had snuck over to her cabin sometime during the day or night before and slashed her tires. Her car wasn’t going anywhere, and after everything I’d just done to protect her, I would’ve preferred to make sure she got where she was going anyway.
“My name is Olivia,” she said without really reacting to the sight of her vandalized vehicle. “I’ll grab my things.”
The entire time it took us to walk around the lake and get to my car, I expected the police or an angry mob to show up. When that didn’t happen, I wondered how long it would take for someone to find those kids’ bodies. Maybe nobody would until Chris went home and told someone what he’d seen. But surely someone had accompanied him to the woods, I thought. That person would eventually start looking for the boys. If they weren’t found right away, I’d have wagered that a search party would be combing the woods by nightfall. Amber alert and all.
Liv, Chris,Trixie, and I were long gone before that, though. It took us a while to get out of the heavily forested area and back to civilization. The problem was, civilization was not the way we’d left it.
“Where is everyone?” Chris asked from the backseat.
“Maybe people are just having lunch or something,” I offered, but I didn’t believe it. I had an inkling that Olivia knew what was going on. “What do you think, Olivia?”
“It’s a virus.”
“That’s what killed the man back at the cabin?” I asked.
“It’s what’s going to kill all of us unless I get back to my lab before it takes me.”
I understood then why I’d been tasked with killing the boys. They’d been on their way to hurt Olivia, and she was a scientist who would stop a plague. Only it didn’t look like she had time left to stop anything. The world appeared to already be slipping away.
The sickness was inside of me, and judging by the amount of times Chris sneezed before passing out cold, I could tell he was beginning to get sick as well. Trixie put her head on his lap and fell asleep stretched out across the back seat.
It gave me some comfort to know that the boys I’d killed would have died anyway. I’d thought that Kevin was a demon, but was it possible that he was an angel? Could things that seemed to be evil really be for the greater good?
It was possible if we all didn’t die anyway.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Hour One
The five hours it took Will to get Liv back to her lab were the longest of her life. “You’ll need to stay out of towns,” Liv said after they’d driven through one small city.
Looting had already begun. So many people had called in sick to work or left that stores were practically unattended. They had to pull over to get gas. Will cursed himself for not filling up before he arrived at the cabin.
Liv watched in horror as a man walked into the gas station and shot the lone attendant with a shotgun. He didn’t even give the guy a chance to give him the money. As soon as the register drawer popped open, the guy pulled the trigger.
At point-blank range.
She was used to seeing gore. The splatter of brains and skull against the window barely made Liv flinch. Or perhaps it was the fever that dulled her mind.
The man with the shotgun began to walk in their direction. Liv was glad that Chris was asleep. She hoped that the man would shoot him first and spare the kid the pain of watching the two adults get killed first. A low growl erupted from the dog as she lifted her head to look out the window, but Live shushed her. “No.” Live said, and Trixie let out a little whine before settling back down onto Chris’s lap.
What if he takes the kid?
The thought wasn’t entirely her own, but it wasn’t a hallucination either. She guessed that in the world that was to come, there would be people who would do unspeakable things to kids. Who would stop them?
Before she got the chance to find out, Will hopped back into the car and they sped off. She heard a shotgun blast behind them, but it wasn’t a ranged weapon. The guy had wasted his ammo.
There were only a few blocks between
them and the edge of town, but every single block showed Liv that the very worst of humanity bubbled right under the surface, waiting for an excuse to explode into the light.
Once they were past the shops and restaurants, the residential areas weren’t any better. Liv could forgive people for panicking and stealing supplies from the stores, but neighbors had already turned on one another.
At least two houses were on fire, and charred remains of both adults and children were sprawled across the lawns of both houses. Someone had set them ablaze while the people were still inside, and no one had made it out alive.
Other houses showed obvious signs of being broken into or vandalized. Liv couldn’t believe how few had remained untouched. It had all happened much too quickly. Society had broken down so fast that the police and the military couldn’t keep up. It was frightening, and that’s when Liv began to wonder if they deserved what was happening. Human beings were a stain on the planet. She thought she might have a solution to the virus, but perhaps she should just let it burn.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Stop!” Liv screamed as we passed the last street out of town.
I’d seen what she’d seen, but there was no way I was going to stop. I couldn’t save that old woman, but perhaps I could get Olivia back to the lab and she could save millions more.
“Stop,” she said again. “Please.” And then the stoic doctor broke down into tears. “I thought maybe we all deserved to die. I thought I could just let it all go, but not everyone deserves this,” she blurted out through sobs.
I’d never be able to forget the scene that had reduced Olivia to tears. Hell, I’m pretty sure I shed a tear or two as well. Two men had dragged a little old woman out of her house by the hair. Her pink bathrobe turned dingy and brown as they pulled her through the dirt and into the middle of the street.
I slammed on my brakes and threw the car into reverse. At first I’d said there was no way I’d stop, but that wasn’t who I was. If I could do anything, I figured I had to at least try.
Before I could even get out of the car, one of the men pulled out a knife and slashed her throat. The blood ran down her neck and chest to stain the white nightgown she wore under the robe.
I didn’t turn away in time and saw him plunge the same knife into her belly and yank it down. I almost pissed my pants as both of their heads swiveled around to look at us.
“Hey look; they got a kid,” the one with the knife yelled and pointed his weapon at the car.
Both men dropped the old woman and started to run toward the car. I’d been sitting halfway in and half out of the car, so I pulled my legs the rest of the way in and slammed the door. I hadn’t turned off the engine, so I threw it into gear and slammed on the gas.
“No more stopping to help people,” I mumbled, but I could tell by the look on Liv’s face that she agreed.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Hour Three
The drive was quiet for the next couple of hours. There wasn’t much on the highway between the town we’d just left and the next. Thanks to the gas I’d risked getting my head splattered for, we had enough that we didn’t even have to think about slowing down when anything hinky went on outside of the car.
The closer we got to the next town, the more I began to worry. Heading into town wasn’t a problem, but on the way out, the road had begun to be more and more cluttered with abandoned vehicles and cars where people had either died in them or while getting out.
Liv’s lab was back in the city, and if things were that bad outside of small towns, I knew we’d end up running into issues. “We might have to walk when we get back to town,” I mused.
“Do you have anything that could pass as a weapon in this piece of shit?” Liv asked. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m so... I don’t actually know what I am.”
“It’s okay. I get it.”
“Where am I going to go?” Chris asked, but it was obvious he didn’t expect an answer. “You know, that Kevin-Spacey-looking motherfucker must have been an angel.”
“What is he talking about?” Liv asked as she pulled out her cell phone.
“I’ll explain it if we make it through this, okay?” I asked and she nodded. “Chris, why do you say he was an angel?”
“Because only God would do something like this. Only God would start a mess like this and then walk away. You haven’t seen him, have you?”
“Nope,” I said.
“Well, from what I’ve learned in life, the devil finishes his shit.”
The conversation was fascinating, but I noticed that Liv was dialing her phone. Her hand shook, though, so it took her a couple of tries to put the number in.
“Who are you calling?”
“My lab. I’ll try to get an escort once we reach the city limits. I doubt they’ll come farther than that during this shit storm. Shhh.”
I listened as Liv would pause and then say another phrase or series of numbers. I assumed that she was verifying her identity.
Moments later a very animated male voice came on the other end of the phone. I couldn’t tell what he was saying to Liv, but I could tell that he was frantic.
“Yes, sir. I’m fine for now. Kyle Blankenship came out to my cabin. He died there, and now I regret to inform you that I am infected as well.” She paused. “Yes, sir. I think I do have the answer. I’m on my way back to the lab now. A man was staying at a cabin across the lake from me. He and a juvenile male are giving me a ride.” Liv paused again. “Yes sir, I would appreciate an escort. We just passed mile marker 87. We should be about two hours from the outskirts of the city.”
A few minutes later, after listening to the man intently, she hung up the phone. I wanted to believe that there was relief in her expression, but all II could focus on was how grey her skin looked. My eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror, and much to my horror, I’d begun to look ashen as well.
After everything I’d gone through to save this woman, the idea of dying anyway was appalling. Or perhaps that wasn’t indignation I felt. My heart had begun to race at some point, but at the same time, I was bitterly cold.
“You need to take deep breaths,” Liv said. She put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “It’s a high fever. I know it’s uncomfortable, but I don’t think your temperature is high enough yet to be dangerous. Let’s roll down the windows. We need to get some fresh air in here.”
“Are you fucking kidding? It’s freezing already.”
“That’s the chills, Will. It’s caused by the fever. If you bring your body temperature down, you’ll stop feeling cold. Do you have any ibuprofen or aspirin?”
“I’ve got both in the glove box. I get migraines. I can’t take that shit on an empty stomach, though. It tears my insides up.”
“We should stop to get something to eat,” she said absentmindedly.
“Are you kidding, Liv? Do you remember what happened in the last town?” I snapped. “I’m sorry. I really don’t feel good.”
“That’s why we need to get your fever down, or you need to let me drive,” Liv said.
“You don’t look much better.”
“Thanks, asshole,” she said, but Liv did chuckle. That sound brought me back a little.
“There’s an emergency kit and get home bag in my trunk. I’d almost forgotten it. I have it hidden with the spare tire.”
“Get home bag?” Liv asked with one eyebrow raised.
“My grandfather gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago. He was a prepper; one of those people who is always getting ready for the end of the world. Anyway, the get home bag has emergency supplies and such. One thing that’s in there is a three-day food ration thingy. They are lemon crème bars with like a thousand calories each in them. Don’t taste too bad actually. I ate one once. Curiosity.”
“Do you feel safe pulling over so we can get the bag?” she asked.
I looked around. There were huge spaces between the cars that were off the side of the road where we were. Even if there were people waiting insi
de the cars or hiding behind them, I could grab the bag and jump back in the car.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Hour Four
After some food, water, and a handful of ibuprofen, I felt better. I hadn’t even realized how foggy my mind had grown until it began to lift.
When we were about an hour from where the escort was supposed to meet Liv, we ran into trouble. At first, I’d thought the two cars blocking the highway were there by accident, but as we approached, it became clear that they had been placed there on purpose.
“Go around,” Liv whispered, as if she were afraid someone hiding behind the vehicle blockade could hear her.
“I should back up and cross over to the other side of the highway back at that U-turn spot,” I said and began to slow.
“No,” Liv said and grabbed my arm. “If it is intentional, someone is waiting behind the cars or in the tree line. We can’t let them know we know or they’ll attack. Play dumb and go around the cars using the grassy area in the middle. Just keep driving toward them and don’t stop. They want us to stop.”
I thought that sounded like a phenomenally bad idea, but I didn’t have any time to make the decision. Hesitating would give whoever was waiting to ambush us an advantage. And there was always the chance that I was being silly. Sure, I’d seen some shit that day, but had society really broken down to the point where bands of marauders were lying in wait on the highway? It hadn’t been that long.
My grandfather had always warned people that when the shit hit the fan, there would be no time to prepare. He said it would happen like that and he’d snap his fingers. We all thought he was crazy. Even my grandmother just humored him. A good portion of my misspent youth had been wasted on zombie movies and post-apocalyptic fiction, but never had I thought it would happen so fast. I thought we’d have days, at the least. One day and we were on the verge of total societal failure. It had me wondering what the hell was wrong with human beings. Even if Liv could save us, there had already been so much damage done.
Dark Ends: A Horror Collection Page 16