Zack placed a hand on Christine’s shoulder and handed her the reins to the stout little horse. “I think we should get going.”
Christine nodded her head in silence, letting her eyes fall to the ground instead of looking at her friend. She was afraid if she looked into his eyes that she’d start crying again.
“I’ll walk next to her to keep her safe and on the horse.”
Christine nodded her head again and took the leather reins in her hand. They felt cool to the touch and slightly wet from the morning mist that had settled in the air. A shiver ran down Christine’s spine and she shook before taking her first step.
“Come on, boy,” she said, giving the reins a gentle tug to get Blue to walk.
He moved forward without hesitation, giving a long exhaling snort as he lowered his nose to Christine’s elbow. It brought a smile to her turned down lips for just a moment. She took her free arm and wrapped it around the horse’s neck and under his head to hug him affectionately. If it wasn’t for him, she had no idea how they would get Gretchen to the research center in Chicago. They still had about ten miles to go until they reached the edge of the city, and more once they got inside. He may be short and fat and speckled with gray, but Blue was her noble steed in that moment.
The two friends, their horse, and the partially-zombified sister walked at a steady pace in silence. The only sounds to fill their ears were the clomping of Blue’s hooves on the pavement, the chirping of birds, the cool morning breeze rustling through the new buds on the trees, and Gretchen’s moans of agony. They tried to ignore that last one best they could. There was nothing they could do about it now except carry on.
“Over there,” Christine said casually as she walked beside Blue’s shoulder, holding his reins loosely in her hand.
Ahead on the road, the putrefied corpse of a large, skinny, decomposing male shambled toward them. Its mouth hung open in a perpetual hiss. A glob of blood caught in its throat and turned the hiss into a gurgle, but it hardly seemed to notice. It continued forward, dragging one foot behind it, its right arm dangling by a few threads of muscle and tissue.
“I got it,” Zack said, stepping away from Blue and Gretchen. He jogged forward as he unsheathed his longsword.
With one effortless swipe, the zombie’s head separated from its neck and rolled across the road and into the ditch. Its body fell to its knees and then forward with a thud. Zack jogged back to the horse’s side and wiped his sword on the saddle pad before sheathing it again. No one said a word about it. They simply carried on.
The sun moved across the sky slowly, bringing with it springtime warmth. Christine turned her face upward as the sun settled into the very center of the cloudless sky.
“How about we stop for a minute and have a quick snack?” Zack asked.
“Okay,” was all Christine said as she diverted from the road to stop next to a grouping of younger trees.
She didn’t dare let go of Blue’s reins to relax for fear something would spook him and he would take off with her sister. Instead, she stood by his side and grabbed a granola bar from Zack’s hand when he gave it to her. She unwrapped it and scarfed it down as Blue lowered his head and chomped on the fresh green grass at his hooves.
The constant noise of Gretchen had fallen into the background as their time on the road dragged on. It wasn’t until Christine stopped that she noticed her sister sounded different from when they left. She no longer groaned in pain, but hissed and screeched, as if trying to free herself. She wasn’t hurt anymore, she was angry. Christine looked at Zack with wide eyes and then at her sister, who was still slung over the back of the horse on her stomach.
Zack walked around to the other side of Blue and stopped at Gretchen’s head. He squatted down and twisted his head to stare up into the young woman’s face. Gretchen lunged forward and tried to take a bite out of his nose with gnashed teeth and wild, glazed over eyes. Zack jumped back and fell to the ground, scrambling away on his hands and feet.
Blue knew something wasn’t right immediately. He pawed at the ground and shifted from side to side, throwing his head up and down through the air, trying to get away from the thing on his back while still listening to the commands of the woman holding his reins. He nickered and hopped his front hooves off the ground ever so slightly in warning. He was ready to bolt and knock the monster off his back.
“She’s turned,” Zack said as he righted himself, face drawn long. “Chris, she’s turned.”
Christine knew it was what would happen. She knew Gretchen wouldn’t make it to the city before she turned into one of those things. Her only hope was that they could keep her safe and that the research lab would be able to inject her with something to make her herself again. It was farfetched, Christine knew, but she couldn’t give up that hope.
“We have to keep going,” she said sternly, stuffing her granola wrapper in the pocket of her jeans.
“If we don’t turn her over, she’s going to take a bite out of this horse’s side,” Zack said, scrambling to his feet and running in front of Christine to stop her from moving on.
They couldn’t lose Blue now, not when they were so close. Only another hour or two of walking and they would be in the heart of the city and on the lab’s doorstep.
“Okay, you flip her onto her back while I hold Blue steady. He’s scared and I’m afraid if I step away he’ll buck her off and run.”
“Okay,” Zack said as he reached out to grab hold of Gretchen.
Christine stroked the side of Blue’s tense, hard neck to try to calm him down. “It’s okay, boy,” she said in a soothing voice. “She won’t hurt you.”
Zack slid his hands under Gretchen and flipped her over like a pancake. Her rigid body strained against the change, not wanting to bed backward to accommodate the new riding position. Her teeth snapped at the air as she struggled to right herself with her hands still tied behind her back. The uncontrollable thrashing made Blue’s eyes bulge and his ears go flat against his head. Christine continued to coo to him in an attempt to dissuade him from bolting.
Zack walked around to the other side of the horse and laid an arm across Gretchen’s tied together legs to pin her down best he could. “That should do it,” he said, giving Christine a thumbs up. He tried to project to Christine the strength he wish he felt. Inside, he could barely bring himself to breathe. His heart physically hurt as it beat rapidly in his chest. He didn’t want to lose Gretchen, but he really couldn’t see a way in which she lived, in which they had a chance to get to know each other better.
Together, and carefully, they all moved forward again.
The minutes seemed to blur as they worked together to steady the horse and the undead it carried. The more Gretchen gnashed her teeth and spit into the air with feral hissing, the more Blue spooked to the side and whinnied in fear. It was a balancing act that hung on Christine’s knowledge of horses and of the creatures that walked the earth in place of people for the last eight months. She could feel the muscles in her neck and shoulders stiffen, causing her to roll her head every so often in an attempt to loosen it. The pain made her head throb. She thought about asking Zack if they could take a short break, but then she saw it…
The Chicago skyline was just ahead.
XII
Zack, Christine, Blue and his undead cargo made their way into the south side of the city of Chicago. A once packed and bustling metropolis was now deserted beyond recognition. Garbage blew across the interstate. Clouds covered the rays of the sun, cutting the traveling friends off from any warmth it briefly provided. Their pace was slow as they maneuvered around the abandoned cars, possessions, and bodies. The larger the skyscrapers grew, towering over them ominously, the more the undead came out of the shadows.
Without calling it out anymore, Zack took care of them all with a quick thrust or swing of his longsword. Each time, Christine’s eyes moved to her sister’s snarling body laid across Blue’s back to make sure she didn’t fall. Aft
er a quick thud of a dismembered head, Zack was back next to the horse’s side in diligence.
“Do you know where the research facility is?” Zack asked again.
“I told you. I have an idea, but we’re going to have to do a little searching.” Christine was sure Zack kept asking because he wasn’t satisfied with that answer. She couldn’t blame him. She wished she knew exactly how to get there on foot too, but she didn’t. She’d never had a reason to seek it out before the downfall of humanity.
“It’s somewhere past Chinatown but before we hit Navy Pier,” she said, trying to sound reassuring. “I know that once we see the museum by the lake in the south loop we turn left onto Roosevelt and it’s down there a ways in the medical district.”
She waited for Zack to make any noise of acknowledgement, but he was silent. Blue gave a long snort as he lowered his head and bumped Christine in the shoulder. They were passing by a large black building familiar to her, from long ago when her dad used to take the family to the Auto Show every February. Her heart gave a small ache at the thought as she wished for those simpler days, for her parents to be alive again. Gretchen’s story of her narrow escape from their own parents’ dead hands was enough to give her endless nightmares for the rest of her life, and so far it proved true. She often saw their bloated, rotting faces, teeth gnashed and blood dripping from their blue lips while she slept.
Time passed slowly as they walked cautiously in silence, only making the occasional stop to clear the way of debris and stray zombies. They had yet to come across more than a handful at a time, which Christine was thankful for. Zack had been able to handle all of them on his own so Christine never had to leave her sister’s side.
“If this research center has the answer, or the cure, or whatever it is you think they have or will have once we give them Liam’s journal, do you think there will ever be another game played here?” Zack asked as he looked up at Soldier’s field where he’d once seen the Bears play.
“It’s possible,” Christine said as she considered his question deeply. “Sure, I think so. I really do.”
“Just maybe not in my lifetime,” Zack said almost under his breath, defeat washing over every word. His eyes glanced at Gretchen’s face. He raised a hand to brush the tangled mess of hair from her, but pulled away suddenly when she snapped at his fingers with her teeth.
Christine bit her lip and stared up at the great stone columns of the stadium. She wanted to retort his comment with one of positivity, but she couldn’t. It was very likely there wouldn’t be another game there in their lifetime. There may never be another one again. This meeting at the disease research facility could go either way for them. There could be no one there for all she knew. But this little tiny mustard seed of hope was all it took to keep her pushing forward. It wasn’t over until she saw for herself that it was over.
“Here’s Roosevelt,” she said, her voice rising in elation. “We’re almost there. Just a few more miles!”
They turned down the large road and made their way around a ghostly traffic jam. Where Roosevelt intersected with Columbus Drive there was a massive fifteen car pileup. The skeletons of the vehicles were charred black, though the fire had died out long ago. Christine tried her best not to look inside the cars and keep her eyes focused on the road ahead. The last thing she wanted to see was the burnt body of some poor person trapped inside, especially if it was hissing and trying to escape still.
Zack groaned. “Starbucks…I could sure go for a hot cup of caffeine right about now.”
Christine almost asked if he wanted to go inside and see if anything was left to salvage, but decided against it, her mouth hanging open and then closing itself again. They were so close to finally getting answers, one way or another. She didn’t want anything distracting her if they could avoid it. It felt a bit selfish to deny her friend a pick-me-up, but then again she was doing it for all of humanity. Surely he could go without if it meant saving the world. They continued on without another word about delicious hot coffee.
As they walked, Blue pinned back his ears, his lips pulling away from his teeth in a ridiculous nervous grin. Christine mused that it looked like he was trying to speak, but couldn’t find the right words…until he did. He whinnied and hopped to the side, turning his body left and right in an attempt to get away from something. Christine tightened her grip on the reins, grabbing onto his bridle with her other hand to steady him. The horse’s large rear end knocked into Zack and threw him off balance.
“Watch it, buddy!” he said as he righted himself and brushed off the dust from his side.
“Look,” Christine said, her voice hauntingly monotone.
Zack looked up and saw why. They were passing an elementary school and inside the fenced-in yard, where so many kids had enjoyed recesses and playing together on the playground, were those same kids, now shuffling around miserably, groaning in their starvation and discomfort. A few smashed themselves against the fence and hissed at the living flesh passing by on the other side. Their little hands reached through the chain-link, tearing at the flesh on their arms.
Christine stared in disbelief. Of course, she knew no one was immune to the horrors of the current world, but the sight in front of her was almost too much for her to bear. In a time not so long ago, her and Liam discussed having kids, whether they wanted a boy or girl or both and what their names would be, where they would go to school, what they thought they would turn out like, if they would look more like him with his ginger hair and glasses, or more like her with her porcelain skin and striking blue eyes. Those kids penned up in that schoolyard belonged to someone, someone who didn’t get the chance to say goodbye.
“Chris,” Zack said, jerking her from her thoughts.
She shook her head and blinked away the terrible images that had clouded her mind. Till the very end, she had been with Liam. She was able to say her goodbyes and see him off to the other side. Gratitude overwhelmed her heart just then for that small fact.
They crossed over the bridge across the river in more heavy silence. The clomping of Blue’s hooves on the pavement, the steady repetition of it, was a great distraction to ease Christine’s mind.
“There’s a Petco,” Christine said as her eyes zeroed in on the store eagerly. “Maybe we should stop in for Blue.”
Zack’s brow furrowed. Though he didn’t say a word of disagreement yet, Christine knew he was thinking it.
“He’s been such a good boy and has come all this way and he can’t survive on our scraps this whole time. He needs real food. Grain. Hay. Grass. Water. Way more water than we’ve been able to give him.”
“And where do you plan to put all this? On the good boy’s back on top of your sister?” Zack hadn’t meant for there to be a sting in his voice, but it came across nonetheless.
Christine took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No,” she said drawn out, concentrating on keeping her cool as she spoke. “I figured we could take him in and let him eat and drink whatever they have left there, then be on our way again.”
Zack sighed. It wasn’t full of bitterness and boiled temperament like Christine thought it would be. It was understanding and maybe even a little self-chastising. “All right. Let’s check it out. Who know? Maybe the employee lounge has some coffee for us two-legged animals.”
XIII
The sliding doors to Petco had been wrenched open. A cool breeze blew through and tossed around the empty bags of food and garbage that strewn the floor. There was just enough room for Christine to lead Blue through the doors and into the abandoned pet supply shop. His shoed hooves echoed loudly off the tiled floor.
All seemed quiet, but Christine knew that was never a good indication of if they were alone or not. She thought back to her first incident in the new world at Zack’s own comic book store with him and Liam. She gave a quick shiver as she remembered how close they had come to being bitten by one of those monsters and how it was entirely her fault. Her pride often made he
r feel more capable than she actually was, and that had almost cost them their lives. That day she was put in her place until she learned to wield a weapon or two, too late to save Liam, though.
Blue’s large nostrils flared as he sniffed the air in the store. His stomach gave a loud gurgle, as horse’s stomach’s constantly do whether they’re hungry or not, but Christine knew this horse was ready to mow down on some grain. Now, all she had to do was find it. Just because it was a pet supply store did not mean they had horse supplies, which seemed the case since they were in the middle of downtown Chicago where there were not too many horses aside from the ones employed to pull fancy carts for tourists. If it came to it, she was sure Blue would eat whatever food she put in front of it, even if it were cat food.
“Let’s just get this guy something to eat and get out of here,” Zack said, a little uneasy.
Christine nodded and pulled Blue over to the first food aisle she came upon. She grabbed a large bag of dog food, one of the last ones left, and tore it open to pour it out onto the tiled, littered floor. The puffed up horse startled at the ripping sound, but quickly decided it was no threat and lowered his head to begin his meal.
“Good enough,” Christine said, brushing her hands together in accomplishment.
She turned to look at Zack who was standing in the center of the store outside the aisle, his face white as fresh milk and his eyes as large as the full moon. His mouth hung open, resembling the many fish in tanks along the far side wall.
“What is it?” Christine asked as she tried to lean over to see outside the aisle without pulling Blue away from his well-deserved lunch.
Zack didn’t say anything, but unsheathed his sword and held it in two hands in front of him, ready to attack. Christine knew what that meant. Immediately, her mind bounced back and forth with the decision at hand; does she let go of Blue to fight and risk losing her sister if the horse takes off? Or does she hold onto the horse and her sister and risk losing Zack because he doesn’t have enough strength to defeat all the undead coming their way?
Dead Soil (Book 2): Dead Road Page 21