The Feral Children | Book 3 | Nomads

by Simpson, David A.

  Dumpsters, unused shelving units and ratty smoke break chairs lined the back walls of the various businesses. The other side was heavily wooded and bales of cardboard from the compactor were stacked along the curb waiting to be picked up and hauled off to the recycling center.

  A waterlogged undead thing turned at the sound of her voice and jumped the twenty feet between them in two leaps. Analise saw it and reacted but not fast enough. She tried to slam the door closed again but lost her grip on the rain slicked handle. The thing shrieked and crashed into the edge of it in the middle of a leap. She thought she heard a collar bone break but it didn’t slow, it sprang at her as she backpedaled into the store. The bearded man ran back to help but she plunged her dagger into the top of its forehead when the thing jumped for her neck. He reached for the door but its legs blocked the opening and others were sprinting down the rain-soaked alley straight for them. He panicked and started slamming the door against the twitching legs as Analise tried to drag it out of the way. There were keens and crashes behind him as a shelf toppled and he heard the hunger cry of the zombies coming fast. They had bypassed his maze, had plowed right through it.

  “We’ve got to get out!” Analise yelled over the din of screams, booming thunder and the torrential downpour pounding on the roof.

  Steven glanced over his shoulder, saw the horde tearing though the tumbled boxes and shelves and shoved the door wide open. He’d take his chances with the two or three in the alley.

  The door slammed open, bounced off its hinges and into the undead streaming out. They ran, him towards his truck hidden behind one of the industrial buildings, her toward her tribe. They weren’t thinking, the panic was back and in full force. Most of them were coming after her. She couldn’t outrun them, they were too fast. She couldn’t outsmart them, there was nothing clever she could do in the alley. She couldn’t hide, they were only a few feet behind her. She pumped her arms, ran as hard as she could and looked for a ladder up to the roof. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could swing up and out of their reach but she didn’t see one. The rain was coming down harder and she heard the rush of running water through the woods behind the soaking bales of cardboard. She darted up a bale, jumped higher to the next and hoped it would slow them down. One grabbed her backpack and she let it slip from her shoulders. She could smell its rancid stench, hear its clacking teeth as it bit at her. The horde only fought over the pack for a few seconds but that was long enough. She jumped from the top bale, nearly twelve-foot-high, and into the woods. She landed hard and her ankle bent wrong. The tightly buckled boots were the only thing that saved it from breaking.

  She bit back the cry of pain, let her self fall and rolled to her feet. It hurt but she didn’t let it slow her. She dove into the woods, slapped wet branches out of her face and tried to make a big arc towards the end of the strip mall. Back to the where they would be making their escape. Back to the tribe. Together they would get away and if they had to kill them all one by one so they could get back inside to get Daisy, they’d do it. Together they were strong.

  The undead were coming fast, if they broke bones diving off the top of the bales it didn’t seem to slow them down. They reached for her, she didn’t have time to plan anything, any slick moves, and she ran for her life. She ran to stay away from their grasping fingers. She pushed herself harder, ignored the stabbing pain every time her right foot hit the soggy ground. The branches clawed at her wildly flowing hair and the grunts and cries of the undead seemed to surround her. She dodged the trees, ducked under low branches and poured every last ounce of strength she had into a final sprint. She could see a river, swollen and muddy just ahead and knew it was the only way out. Something stinking, cold and slimy grabbed at her arm and she swung the dagger at it. The rain poured off the undead face as she plunged the blade into its eye. It quivered and let go but another slammed into her, drove her into the muddy ground. She was so close, only yards away from the safety of the water and she tried to roll towards it while fighting off the thing gnashing at her. Another one piled on then was just as quickly torn away. The bearded man was back and ripping them off her with his bare, bloody hands. He kicked at one with its filthy mouth clamped on her arm. She heard the jaw bone break and one of its eyes popped from the impact as the side of its head caved in. He snatched her to her feet and pointed at the water. Thunder boomed and lightning danced across the sky. Another one was coming, dragging itself through the underbrush, its broken legs useless. Its black eyes never left her as it crawled through the mud. They heard more, heard their screams of hunger and she grabbed his hand to pull him to the water.

  “I can’t swim!” he yelled over the driving rain.

  “I can!” she yelled back and kept pulling. “I’ll help you!”

  He shook his head and pointed to a wound in his shoulder that was pouring blood. The rain washed it away so fast she hadn’t noticed it against the red of his t-shirt.

  “I only came back to make sure you got away.” He shouted over the thunder. “Tell them it was an accident! Tell them I was a good man and tell them I’m sorry.”

  “Tell who? I don’t know your name!” Analise yelled as he pushed her towards the river. “What’s your name?”

  If he said, she didn’t hear. He shoved her hard then turned to kill as many of the undead as he could before they ripped him apart.

  She plunged into a raging current that threatened to overflow its banks went deep. She swam for the surface as the force of the flooded river gripped her and whisked her downstream. She fought for air and kept getting shoved below the choppy surface. Branches and logs slammed into her, pummeled her from every direction.

  Analise was a strong swimmer but the current was relentless and her new boots were dragging her down. She tried to find bottom and kick off towards shore but there was nothing but turmoil and watery chaos. Something snagged in her hair and pulled her downstream. She didn’t know if it was a grasping hand or an errant tree branch and fought it, tried to bash it with her fists. Something hit her in the head and she saw stars, gasped and sucked half a lungful of water. The coughing came and she fought for the surface. She was going to suck in more water, she had no choice, and she was out of air.

  She broke the surface and instantly felt a stabbing pain in her shoulder as a sharp branch on a massive log impaled her. She couldn’t even cry out from the gash in her skin, she was coughing too hard, trying to clear the water from her lungs. She pushed away from the branch that stabbed her, wrapped her arms around the log and held on. The rains came down harder and she didn’t have a survival plan. She didn’t think about getting back to the tribe or the ache in her arm or the throbbing of her ankle. Her chest hurt from coughing so hard her vision turned black and she was so tired. The shore looked miles away and she didn’t have the strength to swim to it. She held on, tried to keep her head above water and rode the log down the raging river.

  22

  Tobias

  Tobias stared at the river in front of them. The current was chaotic and was filled with branches, garbage and colorful plastic toys snatched from backyards. He watched as it dashed against the submerged rocks and threw up froths of white spray.

  “It’s too swift, Tobias. Don’t do it.” Vanessa cautioned as Ziggy danced around, ever watchful for more of the stinking creatures. It was almost full dark now, a dangerous time to be outside.

  The pale boy ignored her. Daisy let out a sorrowful moan. Her cub was missing and there was no more scent to follow. It ended at the banks of the muddy river.

  They had checked the alley first but there was no sign of her so they spent the next hour clearing the store. Tobias and Harper went back inside to kill as many as they could through the steel gate while Vanessa and Kodiak quietly set up kill boxes with shopping carts. They split the attention of the horde and slowly whittled down their numbers while Donny started searching the store. He didn’t find her and the rest of them looked for her in the crowd of undead as they killed their way through them. The w
ork was exhausting, it was worse than chopping wood because the wood didn’t fight back and try to kill you. They checked the bodies again but there wasn’t a white-haired girl with pale blue eyes and tattoo covered skin. With flashlights they double checked the chaos in the warehouse. They found her machetes at the entrance and zombies they hadn’t killed. The storage area was in shambles. The undead had torn through it, knocked over shelves and the back door was standing open. They found more undead and knew she’d lived to make it this far. Daisy caught the smell of her backpack and they found it in the mud behind a stack of cardboard bales.

  The tribe called her name and spread out to search for any signs of her. She might have climbed a tree. She might be safe and sound but surrounded. The zombies that had chased her through the store and into the woods came screaming for them. Tobias was still in a rage, slid off the back of Popsicle and met them head on. He needed to kill, to spend his fury, to destroy the things that had taken his sister. There were only a handful of them and he dove in, drove his axe in to faces with powerful double-handed swings. The polar bear fought beside him but it was over almost before it started. The rains had tapered off for a while but they were starting up again, streaking the gore and blood that splashed the pale boy’s armor.

  They followed the back trail and came to the edge of the river, already well over its banks and steadily rising. Another undead thing hissed and dragged its way towards them. It hadn’t been dead for long, the skin was barely mottled but it had been chewed up by a horde. It was wearing the tattered remains of a red shirt and its intestines were caught on a tree root. Most of its legs had been chewed away and it struggled towards them on gnawed arms. Its black eyes shone in its bearded face as it bit the air, hungering for their fresh blood. Donny plunged a spear through its head and joined the others at the edge of the river.

  “She went in here.” Tobias said. “She hasn’t been bit; she was still trying to get away from them. She’s a good swimmer, she’s ok, but she may be on the other side.”

  “We’ll find her.” Swan said. “She’s probably downstream a little way.”

  “I’ll search the other shoreline.” Tobias said and swung up into the saddle.

  Before anyone could try to dissuade him, he gigged Popsicle into the river. Daisy followed. The current grabbed the big bears and pushed them down stream. They were powerful swimmers though and quickly crossed over. Tobias held onto the saddle horn and kicked debris away as the bears big webbed feet propelled them across. His face was set in stone and streaked with gore that the rain was slowly washing away. He had to find her.

  Once Popsicle clawed his way up the muddy bank, he turned downriver and waited for the bears to scent her. They found nothing. Undaunted he began picking his way through the greenery and disappeared from sight. He was certain he would be able to feel it if their connection had been severed. She was out there somewhere. Maybe hurt, maybe injured, but still alive. He knew it.

  “Harper, Vanessa, you want to hurry downstream a few miles, find us a place to hole up that’s on the water. We’ll be down as fast as we can but you’ll make good time on the roads.” Kodiak said.

  “Bert and Ziggy won’t bet much use in this thick stuff anyway.” Harper answered and started leading the giraffe out of the woods. “We’ll find someplace dry and gather up some towels and blankets. She might be hurt.”

  Swan wiped the rain out of her eyes and let the wolves smell Analise’s abandoned backpack.

  “Hunt.” She urged them. The wolves began scouring the ground for a trace of the girl.

  Donny was desperate. His emotions were all over the place. He cared for Analise deeply and he knew she had feelings for him too. He had to find her no matter what.

  Donny signed to them. “Yewan and I are faster on our own. We’ll go ahead a few miles and work our way back.”

  “Go”. Kodiak agreed. He was worried for Analise. The river raged uncontrollably and had already risen a few inches during the time they’d been at its banks. It was full dark, the cloud cover was thick and the storm seemed to be gathering strength. He hoped they found her soon.

  They searched for hours along both shorelines deep into the night but were unable to find a scent. Their flashlights danced but visibility was only a few feet.

  Analise was gone.

  She had vanished.

  The tribe met Tobias six miles downstream at a bridge. The water was still rising and already lapping at the bottom of the wooden structure. Lightning crackled across the sky and the tribe was drenched to the skin from the rain that blew in hard.

  “I can’t find her.” Tobias moaned.

  “Zero never picked up her scent.” Swan said. “Maybe she didn’t go in the water after all. Maybe she found another way.”

  Lightning hit a tree a few hundred yards away from where they were gathered. Animal and child alike flinched as it exploded and caught fire.

  “We have to get away from these trees and this water. It’s a magnet for the lightning.” Kodiak yelled into the wind. “The girls found a house nearby. This is useless, we’ll start looking again at first light!”

  “I’m not giving up.” Tobias screamed back, the wind whipping his hair. “I must have missed her, she’s gotta be somewhere!”

  “You won’t find her if you get fried by lightning. We’ll look again in the morning. Come brother, Analise wouldn’t want us to be out here.” Kodiak pleaded.

  “No.” Tobias turned his back and climbed on Popsicle. “You guys get safe. I’ll find her and join you.”

  The boy and the polar bears disappeared into the darkness.

  “He’s a stubborn fool. Analise is no dummy. If she’s not drowned then she’s safe and dry somewhere. We’re not doing her or any of us any good staying out here in this rain. There’s no trail, no scent, I want to find her as much as anyone, but we could walk right past her in the dark and not even realize it.” Swan yelled over the wind and rain.

  Donny disagreed, shook his head and tapped his ring. Yewan followed and they disappeared from sight. He was soaked and chilled to the bone, but he wasn’t ready to give up.

  Kodiak swung into the saddle and looked at Swan. “One more hour. After that, we’ll hole up and start again in the morning.”

  Harper and Vanessa joined them and went back up river as he urged Otis downstream. He didn’t know what else to do. Swan was right, but so was Tobias. He dreaded what would come if she wasn’t found. It would tear Tobias apart. Swan pulled one of Analise’s shirts from her pack and let the wolves smell it again.

  “Find her,” She whispered. “Please."

  23

  Tribe

  One more hour turned into the rest of the night. They slowly picked their way up and down the overflowing riverbanks. Swan urged the wolves to push through the underbrush closest to the water. Their low, sleek bodies glided through the thickets with ease. Each wolf had the scent strong in his or her nose, but there was nothing to find.

  Tobias fared no better on the other side of the river. His hair hung limp and exhaustion threatened to topple him from the saddle. For hours he had gotten excited over every piece of trash caught in the branches, every plastic bag snagged on a root, it might be a sign from her but it never was. It was just garbage. He was spent and felt hollow and worst of all he was starting to doubt she’d survived.

  The lightning had stopped before dawn, but the clouds were still heavy and gray. They continued to sprinkle rain with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

  He’d pushed hard, desperate to reunite with his twin but he was starting to give up hope. He’d been born five minutes sooner than her and that was the only time in his short life that he’d lived without her. Common sense told him that if she’d made it this far, she would have walked or crawled out of the muddy water. The river wound through a residential area of waterfront homes and became wide and lazy a half mile below the bridge. It was in high up in yards, flooding basements and storage sheds and the hunt became easier without the thick bru
sh to fight through. He was at least six or seven miles from where she’d went in the water when he came to another bridge.

  He guided the bears to the middle, dismounted and watched the water roll by below him. Donny appeared from behind a fence and joined him. He held up a hand and signed, nothing. I found nothing.

  Swan and Kodiak came out of the mist a few minutes later, their boots squishing through muddy grass. Tobias noted the exaggerated limp of Otis. The night had been hard on the wounded bear.

  “I don’t know what to do.” Tobias said when they met in the middle. “I haven’t found anything. Not a shred of clothing, not a whiff of her.”

  Kodiak set his jaw. His fears were being realized. He knew that if he didn’t proceed carefully, he’d lose another member of the tribe.

  “Tobias,” Kodiak said.

  Tobias gripped his battle axe tightly. “Don’t. Don’t you say it.”

  “The others have no idea where we are. We need to go back, they may have found something. Analise could be with them for all we know. If she did go in the water, she’s not here now.” Kodiak met the steely gaze of his brother.

  He didn’t mention the possibility of her caught in a tree root, trapped beneath the surface. Or maybe she’d been bit and was wandering aimlessly through the woods. Or maybe the current had carried her body farther downstream and she was floating face down in someone’s yard, gently bobbing against a swing set. He didn’t need to.

  “He’s right.” Swan said. “She could be with Harper and Vanessa. Look, my wolves are better at tracking than those bears. I’ll work that side of the river back to the bridge. Maybe you missed her in the dark. If she’s out there we will find her.”

  “And if we don’t?” Tobias roared back. “We just gonna leave her for the scavengers?”

  “No.” Kodiak replied. “We search back up the river, all the way to the Walmart. We checked every house, we rattled every bush, and we looked up in the trees. You and Donny take this side. Swan and I will work the other. If we don’t find her, then she’s not going to be found. If she’s not with the others, we press on. If she’s out there, she knows where to go. We all do. We planned for this. We all knew something could happen and we could be separated. We’ll take it slow; give her time to catch up. She knows the route by heart. She’s smart and resourceful, she’ll make it, but she’ll never find us if we aren’t where we are supposed to be. It’s all we can do right now.”