***
Hoot took the lead as we left our home behind. It was still early morning and the air was crisp. Snow surrounded us, but was slushy from the season beginning to change. Hope clung to Gus, who wrapped his free arm around her. Each of us carried a bag or pack filled with supplies. Each of us also held a melee weapon and four of us had firearms. Laura’s fingers were too twisted and painful from arthritis to fire a gun. We agreed that if we were to encounter the dead in numbers too large for comfort, she would take Hope and position herself in the middle of the rest of us. It would give her something to do while the rest of us handled the weapons.
Hope was aware of what the living dead were. Born into a world ruled by them, it’s all she’d ever known. Just how deep that awareness was, well, a guess. She had only encountered three of them in her lifetime.
As we walked away from the place that held so much security over the past year and a half, my head was blissfully clear of signatures of the dead. I could sense Gus’ love for me and for Hope, and I could feel Hope herself deep in my core. She was worried, and sleepy, and wasn’t sure if I had packed her dolly.
Gus, hold up for a minute.
I spoke to him silently, and he quickly stopped and waited for me to catch up. I pulled Hope’s doll out of my sack and tucked it under her arm. She grabbed onto its white yarn hair with her little fist and held it to her nose as she sucked on her thumb. I could feel her anxiety slip away and she closed her eyes and fell asleep. I kissed her cheek before we began walking again.
Laura and Clark were several yards ahead of us, with Hoot immediately in front of them.
Let me know if you need me to carry her.
“Ayup,” he answered verbally as he winked at me. “I will. Don’t plan on it though because she’s keeping me warm.”
I smiled back at him as we continued on. The sun was finally the trees, causing some of the slush-puddles nearby to release tendrils of steam. The air smelled dank and of plant rot. Not particularly unpleasant, but earthy. The snow was thinner amongst the trees, making our descent in elevation easier than it might have been. Water dripped from tree branches, making plopping sounds as they hit the earth. Aside from that and our footfalls, it was eerily quiet. Hope slept on Gus for the next few hours. We stopped at one point to fashion a sling around his shoulder, across his chest and back, and nestled under her bottom to help lessen the strain on his arms.
“Hoot,” called Gus only loud enough to grab the other man’s attention.
Our friend, still in the lead, stopped and turned to face us.
“What’s up?” he asked
“I think we should break for twenty.”
I picked up on Gus’ reasoning, silently. I looked toward Laura, and saw that she was leaning on Clark. She was looking in Gus’ direction and appeared grateful for the suggestion of stopping. The worry lines on her face were a testament to how difficult life had become in the past year and a half.
“Sounds fair,” answered Hoot. “Everyone should grab a small snack and get off their feet.”
I walked closer to Gus and began helping him free Hope from the makeshift sling.
“We’re going to stop for a bit, Sweet Pea,” I whispered to her as she stirred awake.
She nodded sleepily. The fair skin of her face was blotchy from the cold, and I began to second guess our decision to leave the mountain before spring was in full force. Gus sensed my concern and placed one of his large hands on my shoulder.
We’ll be ok once we get lower in elevation.
I smiled uncertainly at him. Hope reached her arms to me and clung to me as I took her from Gus.
“Let’s find a place to go potty,” I whispered to her.
With a lack of disposable diapers and frequent laundering not being practical, we had potty trained her early. Still, she was young enough to need reminding to avoid an accident.
She hesitantly removed her thumb from her mouth and whispered to me. “I wanna go home.”
I gave her a quick hug before setting her down on the ground and simply ran my hand over her bonnet reassuringly. I took her tiny hand in mine and walked with her to a small clearing between evergreen trees. As she finished going to the bathroom, I began to pull her homemade tights up when we felt the ground tremor. It was so slight that at first I thought my legs were just shaky from miles of walking. Within seconds I could hear a low rumble that matched the growing unease beneath our feet. Hope sensed my fear, as clearly evidenced in her eyes. The ground continued to roll, and by then I knew it was an earthquake. Instinctively, I pulled her close and covered her with my own body. She cried as Gus rushed to our side, shielding us both with his larger frame. The tremor stopped before I could count to twenty.
“Are you all ok?” called Hoot from several yards away.
Gus stood up, allowing me to straighten. I took Hope’s hand in mine and looked to the rest of our group.
“I think we’re all ok. Just a bit shaken,” answered Gus. “Pardon the pun. You all ok?”
“Fine,” said Laura with a quiver in her voice.
“I haven’t felt one that strong in years,” said Clark.
“Daddy? Up? Up?” Hope was reaching her hands upward, and Gus lifted her into his arms.
“It’s ok, Buttercup. Every now and then the earth shakes a bit. We’ll be ok.”
“I know,” she said simply before nestling against his chest.
I wondered if she really did know.
“Let’s get out of here,” Hoot’s voice boomed from a few yards away.
Gus and I walked to him, concerned by the alarm in his voice.
“What is it, brother?” asked Gus.
Clark and Laura joined us. No words needed to be said. We all followed Hoot’s gaze to the peak of Mt. Rainier, where a plume of dark gray smoke rose angrily toward the sky. The meaning didn’t set in until I picked up on Gus’ silent worry. Hope’s breathing quickened as she sensed our combined fear.
“Break’s over,” said Gus quietly to our daughter. “Hold on tight, ok?”
Hope stuck her thumb in her mouth and nodded.
“I’ll take her for a spell,” offered Hoot. “Let’s put some distance between us and that bastard.”
Clark looked at Laura, the love in his eyes reflected back by hers. They grasped each other’s hands and we set off at a quick pace. I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder at the growing pillar of gray smoke and ash that drifted upward. The ground tremored again as an aftershock hit. Hope whimpered in Hoot’s arms.
CHAPTER 3
We made fair time descending the mountain, walking at a brisk pace when we could safely do so. Rocks, both large and small, made the going rough. We couldn’t afford a twisted ankle or other injuries. While the venting of the mountain behind us hadn’t worsened, it remained steady and we all feared a full eruption. Putting space between us and the danger of a pyroclastic flow was our biggest priority. Geology had been my favorite subject in high school. I knew full well that if Rainier were to erupt, the resulting river of super-heated rock, ash, and gases would destroy everything in its path.
“Looks like the snow line is ending,” huffed Clark. “Off in the distance the ground is looking bare.”
“We need to be on the watch for Roamers,” I said quietly. “If it’s thawed here, they will be too.”
We kept moving, and I worried about Laura. She looked pale and I could hear a wheeze in her breathing. Hope remained with Hoot and was cuddled up to his chest sleeping soundly, secured by our makeshift sling. A cool breeze blew and the smell of burnt things hit my nose. I looked behind us to see the plume of smoke and ash drifting in our direction. The ground tremored again, knocking me off balance. I landed on my butt; pain tore through my hip. My head quickly filled with the buzzing of the dead. Hope began crying at the same time and I sensed Gus’ worry. I struggled to stand as the putrid stench of the dead reached us. Hope’s crying quickly turned into a high-pitched scream.
“Gus!” I yelled.
&n
bsp; Hoot was instantly alarmed. He had spent more time amongst the dead and with me and Gus than had Clark and Laura and knew how to pick up on our subtle signals that danger was near. He positioned himself next to Gus. As I finally regained my footing, I saw the first of them. I had expected the dead to be skeletal and well decayed by the hand of time. I was sadly wrong. The creatures approaching could have been mistaken for the living. They were still far enough away that fine details were impossible to make out. Hoot clutched Hope to him, trying to calm her. She had stopped screaming but continued to cry into his chest.
“Who are they?” asked Clark.
Laura was too out of breath to say anything.
“The dead,” I answered.
“Are you sure?” asked the older man. “They don’t look like Roamers.”
“I’m sure.”
“Laura, can you take Hope?” asked Hoot quickly. “I need my arms free in order to fight.”
The woman nodded and took Hope from Hoot. There were only three of the dead approaching us, but I knew there were many more not far away. My mind was overwhelmed with their signatures. I could see our small group through the eyes of the creature closest to us. It was similar to tunnel vision, as if something was blocking its peripheral vision. Like a horse with blinders on.
“There’s a lot more coming behind them.” My voice sounded shaky.
Gus looked at me and I knew that he was already counting in his head how many bullets we had. I knew why he was counting. Would he be able to do it? To end our lives before the Roamers could eat us alive? Could Hope possibly know that our lives were about to end, or was it strictly Gus and me who had the displeasure of that knowledge?
“Zoe, how far out are the rest?” asked Gus.
“Maybe a mile. Maybe half.”
One of the Roamers raised an arm as if signaling us.
“What the fuck is it doing?” whispered Hoot.
“I swear that’s a living being,” said Clark. “Look at it.”
“No. It’s dead,” I said adamantly. “The back two are Roamers. The closest one is a Runner. It wants us to think it’s one of us. Alive.”
Gus raised his gun, taking aim. The runner in front dropped to its knees as if surrendering. The two Roamers followed suit, landing awkwardly. They wore fresh human hides, which fell away once they were on the ground. What was underneath was beyond revolting. Their own skin had long ago liquefied and now barely coated bone. What was left behind was a layer of rot that was likely comprised mostly of bacteria and infection. I wasn’t sure how any of it was still being held together. The runner in front still had bright eyes, but not the other two. Their sockets were dark voids. I refused to look into the bright eyes of the Runner, sensing that Gus was already held captive by it. I had seen the ability to mesmerize in zombie children, but not in an adult Runner before. The Runner took a position as if it were about to leap up, and smiled beneath its dead cold mask. Gus’ rifle began to slump downward. No one else was making a move and even Hope’s emotions were dulled within my mind. She was no longer crying.
I reached out to my husband silently and pleadingly.
Gus, you have to look away.
I got no reply. No acknowledgement whatsoever that he had “heard” me. The only thing I could sense was the Runner’s rudimentary thoughts. Its reason for being here was simple: to take Hope. To destroy her. The Roamers behind it would help it kill our group while it took Hope. She was their target. The two roamers stood, and the Runner growled from deep within its core. The Roamers began to move around as if restless. My pistol was already in my hand and I aimed at the Runner. It was the one I had to kill. Not only did its thoughts of taking Hope overwhelm my mind, but so did its knowledge that Hope would have no ill effects on Runners. How the creature knew this, I wasn’t sure We had assumed she could kill any of the dead.
I took aim, still avoiding the Runner’s eyes, and fired. My mark was true, hitting it above the left eye.
Hope began crying again as the runner fell to the ground, finally and truly dead. The two Roamers, now free of the Runner’s rule, moved hurriedly toward the rest of us.
“Shoot them!” I yelled, but was met only by Hope’s cries.
I took aim and fired at the closer of the two, which still wore part of someone else’s skin. Hope’s high pitched screams faded into the background as the shot rang out, the expelled bullet grossly missing my target “Fuck, I missed” I screamed as the Roamer’s head exploded in a mess of black gelatinous rot just. I looked to my left to see who had shot it. Laura was screaming while clutching Hope tightly to her chest. Blood ran down Laura’s right arm. Wind whipped at us suddenly, battering my face with dirt and my own hair. I was so focused on Hope and the Roamer that lay in a heap at Laura’s feet that the whirring thump-thump-thump from above escaped my notice until it was directly overhead. Clark lay beside his wife in two pieces. Loops of bowel stretched from his torso in a bloody trail toward his severed lower half. He was already dead. Gus and Hoot ran haphazardly toward Laura, but I got there first. I tried to pry my daughter from her arms while gunfire sounded around us.
Laura’s been bit! I reached out to Gus silently, knowing he’d never hear me over the sounds of Laura and Hope both wailing and the helicopter that now hovered above.
Hope’s memory of touching the roamer that killed Clark and bit Laura flashed in my own mind. Blood was smeared on the side of Hope’s pale face and pooled at Laura’s feet. Laura dropped to her knees, obviously weak and dying. Part of her throat was missing and her eyes bulged. She continued to clutch Hope tightly despite Gus trying to force her hands from our little girl.
I dared to look beyond our group and saw the vastness of the horde for the first time. There were hundreds of them. Roamers, Runners, Islanders, Children. Laura’s grip on Hope didn’t falter, even when she died and woke as one of the dead. Panic set in as her dead eyes instantly set upon our little girl. Her life as the undead was blessedly brief. Her direct contact with Hope brought her final death, not affording her the opportunity to bite our baby. Laura dropped to her side, still, and Gus was finally able to take Hope into the safety of his embrace. Wind whipped wildly against us and the noise of the helicopter hovering overhead, was deafening.
A man dressed in camo waved us toward him as the chopper landing skids touched down nearby. I looked at Gus and nodded. He approached the stranger, delivering our daughter into the arms of another man. We had no choice. Stay and die, or trust people who had appeared out of thin air.
***
Had it not been for our location being void of trees, and for the chopper that appeared, we all would have died. Hoot, Gus, myself, and Hope were the only ones to make it out. One of the helicopter crew was lost as we lifted off; a Roamer pulled him from the still-open door. It happened so fast, none of us had a chance to try to save him.
A woman pointed to a headset that hung on the bulkhead close to Hoot. He placed the device over his head and was answering the woman as she spoke to him. The sound of the chopper blades was too loud to hear what they were saying. Two men sat across from us, and one gave us a ‘thumbs up’ signal. I kept Hope on my lap, a lap belt tightened around both of us. I could feel my heart beating rapidly, and could sense Gus’ mistrust of these new people mingled with the overwhelming sadness and horror of losing Clark and Laura. Hope rested her head on my shoulder, struggling to catch her breath through her tears. When I realized her dress was covered in Laura’s still-wet blood, I wanted to vomit.
CHAPTER 4
As the pilot flew us away from the danger of the mountain, I forced myself to remain calm for the sake of our little girl. Gus and Hoot both looked absolutely haggard. The overall mood inside the helicopter was grim. Each of us had lost someone, including the crew. My sense of time was distorted by adrenaline, fear, and grief, and relief at our rescue.
I watched the ground as the chopper descended. It didn’t look like much. A large field divided by a two-lane highway, the asphalt jutted and broken. Old
cars dotted the road and a truck and trailer lay overturned in the field to the east of the highway. A large area of stagnant water threatened to swallow the back end of the trailer. I looked at Gus, who was as full of questions as I. Hope looked at me with her pale eyes and frowned. I couldn’t help but wonder if she knew something that we didn’t.
Hoot gave us a nod up as the skids touched down on the broken remains of asphalt, giving us all a bit of a jolt. The two men sitting across from us got into position at the opening on the side of the chopper and jumped down to the ground. An eerie silence fell as the motor was shut off and the blades came slowly to a rest.
“Captain, we’re off to look for them. We’ll check in at 1510 – if we don’t we’ll rendezvous back at base on foot,” said the woman who sat across from Hoot.
“Rodger,” said the man up front. “Setting timer for fifteen. Stay alive out there, Dayton. We can’t afford to lose anyone else today.”
The woman nodded grimly at him before turning to address us. “You four stay here. If we don’t make it back, Harris up front will get you back to base.”
She joined the other two on the ground before we could answer. I watched the group of three run toward the overturned semi.
“Hoot?” asked Gus, hoping he could clarify what was going on.
“She told me they have a secure base. They’re on a survivor run right now, looking for people like us.”
“She’s right,” said Harris from the cockpit threshold. “We’ve built up a fair sized city of sorts. Good people, and the most security I’ve come across since this all began.”
“So they’re going after other people?” I asked.
The pilot nodded. “Our land scouts spotted a couple of people to the east a few weeks ago. We were out trying to locate them again when the mountain started acting up. We didn’t see any signs of the living here so went on to check out the volcano. It’s a bit too close to our base for comfort. Good thing for you all, too. We spotted that horde and it led us to you.”
“Much obliged. How far is your base?” asked Gus.
State of Grace Page 2