by A. R. Wise
A flake of snow drifted down right in front of my eyes, and I watched as it fell into my open palm to melt away in an instant. “Mom’s going to have fun telling me she was right.”
“Why’s that?” asked Ben. The left side of his face was bandaged up with tape and gauze that we’d found at the apartment.
“It’s snowing. Remember how she told us it might snow again when we were headed out. She always loves pointing out how she was right and I was wrong about something.”
“She tends to be right more often than not,” said Ben as he retrieved our bags of loot from the back of the Range Rover. We’d taken everything we could find of any value from the apartment, and loaded it into gym bags to take back with us.
“Uh-oh,” I said with a roll of my eyes and a playful smirk. “She hasn’t cast her spell on you too, has she?”
Ben slung the bag over his shoulder as we set off in the direction of the rehab center. “What spell would that be?”
“I don’t know, whatever spell it is she weaves on you men. I don’t know how she does it, but she gets you guys to follow her around like puppy dogs.”
“She’s a good leader,” said Ben. “I see the same qualities in you.”
I chortled and then said, “Yeah right. I don’t have the patience to do what she does.”
“That might be, but you can learn to be patient. I don’t think people can be taught to be leaders. That’s just something that’s in your DNA.”
“Is that why you were so eager to get into my pants?” I asked playfully. “To get some of this sweet DNA?”
“No, I just always heard redheads were dynamite in the sack.”
I guffawed and then punched him in the arm. “That’s another thing she’s going to harp on me about.”
“What, us having sex?” asked Ben. “You’re planning on telling her about that?”
“No, I was talking about my hair.” I twirled my shorter locks. I’d cut it all to match the length I’d been forced to chop off in the Jeep the day before. Now my formerly long, curly hair could almost be entirely hidden under a cap. I couldn’t remember the last time it had been this short. “She always used to talk about how much she loved my hair. It reminded her of my grandma.”
“Gotcha,” said Ben. “For a second there I thought you were going to go and blab about what we got up to at the farmhouse.”
I shrugged and said, “I probably will, eventually. Mom and I aren’t bashful about sharing that sort of thing. We’ve always been pretty honest with each other about it.”
He made a comment, but I didn’t hear it. Instead, I stopped and listened intently to the woods around us.
Ben saw that I was concerned and asked, “What’s wrong?”
The path we were taking back to the rehab center wound through a thicket of conifers that dominated the space. This was the path that the Rollers had taken back after leaving the trucks behind, and we’d kept it cleared through the past three months. It had been a hiking trail once, long ago, and had managed to avoid being overtaken by nature because of the deep gravel that had been laid here. It had been part of a state funded park, and the educational signposts still sat beside the trail, although their message had long ago eroded.
“Something’s out there,” I said, although I didn’t know what direction to look in. It wasn’t simply the crack of a twig or the rustle of leaves that had spooked me; I’d heard the hungry gasp and smack of lips that a dog might make while tearing into a fresh kill.
The forest around us shuddered as if on cue, and we were beset upon by the hounds that had been hiding in the brush. They were coyotes, or had been before they died. The canines had light brown fur, white in some spots, but grey skin that made them look as if they’d pulled themselves up from a muddy pool. Their eyes were all black, but their bared teeth gleamed a white as pure as the snowflakes that drifted down between us.
Ben reacted before I did, and shot the first of the pack, but there were plenty more. The creatures didn’t cower like their living brethren, but instead charged full force, and all at once. My experience with hounds in the past had shown me that they attacked in a coordinated fashion, with the most daring of them lunging in first as the others circled to wait their turn or for the target to fall. The undead coyotes followed no such rhythm, and attacked all at once, each of them eager for a taste of blood.
I felt the pain before I saw the source. It was in my left thigh, and it started with an impact that caused me to stumble to the side. I looked down and saw that one of the beasts had clamped onto me, its teeth buried deep in my double layer of pants and sweats. Then the pain came, surging through me as if with electric force as the creature shook its head to try and tear my flesh away.
Ben was still shooting, but there were too many and they were moving too fast to dispatch them all. I heard him curse, but was too focused on the animal attached to my hip to see what had happened to him.
The rifle was hanging from my shoulder by its strap, making it impossible for me to shoot the creature beside me. If I’d had a pistol, I could’ve used that, but our accident on the highway had stripped me of all my weapons other than the M-16 and a knife.
I fell to my knees, dragged down by the tenacious beast ripping at my waist, and I saw a flash of white as another coyote leapt for me, turning his head to the side so that he could bite down on my throat. I pulled the trigger, and caught the beast in the chest. The blast was powerful enough to throw the animal off course, but not strong enough to stop its forward momentum. The animal slammed against me, and its jaws still snapped up at me despite its injury. I knocked it to the ground, pressed my knee to its throat, and then started to aim at the rest of its pack.
Ben had been swarmed, and I saw him flailing beneath the mass of grey flesh and brown fur. He threw one of the creatures off of his back, and I shot it dead. There was another biting at his left arm, and I would’ve tried to take a shot at it as well if not for the creature still at my waist, ripping and tearing at my thigh and causing my entire body to shake.
The hound under my knee was gurgling and snapping its jaws, but the shot it had suffered was weakening it now, so I focused on the creature biting at my hip. I let my rifle dangle from its strap as I drew my knife. I put my hand on the back of the creature’s head and pushed it so that it sunk its teeth in deeper to my skin, giving me more control and preventing it from shaking back and forth so much. Then I set the tip of my knife against the side of its eye and shoved it in, spearing its brain and sending the knife pushing through the back of its skull, an inch higher than where my hand was anchored.
I stayed where I was, with my knee planted on the gasping coyote beneath me, and took aim at the creatures that had taken Ben down. One by one, with speed and precision, I took the dogs out. When I was finished, I ripped the knife out of my first victim’s head and used it to still the creature beneath me.
“Ben, are you okay?” I asked as I stood.
Ben pushed himself up and groaned forth a less than intelligible answer. I could see that he was in bad shape, and I started to run over to him, but my own injury sent a wave of agony up through my side. I cursed, and then pressed my hand against my waist to see how bad the coyote had gotten me. There wasn’t as much blood as I’d feared, but I could feel the wetness running down my leg and I knew that the animal had torn a sizeable gash in me. The baggy jeans and sweats had provided a good amount of padding, but not enough to prevent injury.
“I’m up,” said Ben, and I looked over to see that he’d managed to stand, although the severity of his injuries was glaringly apparent. His face was mopped with fresh, red blood, and his left sleeve had been nearly torn away to reveal a long cut that stretched at least four inches. The cut on his arm looked to be his most grievous wound, and was pumping blood as I watched.
“Come on,” I said. “Get to the car. We’ll drive back.”
He nodded in agreement, and we stumbled back together. I put his arm over my shoulder and supported him, although he
was proving just how tough he was by ignoring the pain he must’ve been in.
We got to the Range Rover, and I helped him into the passenger’s seat before walking around to the other side. As I went, I heard an odd, loud thumping in the distance. It wasn’t until I opened my door that I saw where the sound was coming from. Ahead of us, not more than thirty yards away, was a black bear charging our way.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said as I got in and searched for the keys.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ben.
“There’s a bear coming!” I jammed the keys into the ignition and put the Range Rover into reverse before slamming on the gas. Gravel jetted out in front of us just as the bear collided with the front end, its massive paws immediately denting the hood. It roared, and strands of blood and saliva flung out onto our windshield as the creature tried to cling to us. Its claws raked gashes in the hood, but I pulled out and then spun the wheel to send us tearing back out onto the highway.
“Get us out of here,” said Ben as he watched the bear running up the path after us.
“Gladly,” I said as we sped away. “How’s your arm?” I asked as I dared a glance over at him.
Ben had taken off his shirt to wrap his wound, revealing even more gashes decorating his muscular upper body. Blood was quickly pooling on his seat, and soaking his pants. I knew that he was in bad shape, and I drove as fast as I could back to the rehab center.
The Rollers were in the parking lot, and they waved excitedly as I pulled in. They looked happy, but I would change all that.
I threw open my door and heard some of them cheer my name. I yelled out, “We need help.” The Rollers immediately responded, and rushed to my side. That’s when a sudden realization struck me.
“Stop!” I screamed, and then looked back in at Ben as he sat bleeding in his seat. “Don’t come any closer. Back up. Back up!”
“What’s the matter, Annie?” asked one of them.
“Is Clyde still here?”
“Yes, he’s inside.”
“Go in and get him, and tell him to bring medical supplies. Ben’s hurt.”
“We can carry him in.”
I screamed out at them, “No! Stay back.”
“What’s the matter?”
Coming here was a bad idea. “You might get infected. You all might get infected if you come near us.” I knew that both Ben and I were immune to the Grey virus, but I wasn’t sure about whatever virus had infected the coyotes.
I’d watched Harrison succumb to a new version of the infection in less than a day’s time. It had happened after coming in contact with a disease that had infected animals, and now Ben and I had encountered the same thing out here. We might be carrying an infection that could kill everyone I’d ever cared about.
They did as I asked, and soon Clyde was running out to help. He was determined to come straight to our vehicle, but I stopped him before he could get too close.
“Slide me the kit,” I said.
He set the plastic tackle box down and slid it across the pavement to me. “Annie, I can help.”
“No, no. You have to stay back. I need some fresh clothes for Ben.”
One of the Rollers ran back into the facility just as Billy came limping out. I heard him ask, “What’s going on.” The Rollers explained the situation to him as I took the medical kit over to Ben to try and help him as best I could.
Being a scout for the High Rollers meant that you had to have some medical training, so I was able to clean Ben off and assess the extent of his injury. His skin was turning pale fast, and the amount of blood seeping from his wounds hinted at a lacerated vein. I started with his arm and talked him through what I was doing.
“Ben, I’m going to tie this band around your arm to stop the blood loss. It’s going to pinch a little.”
“Knock yourself out,” he said as I climbed up over him to get a better position. He laughed and set his hand on my hip. “This is a nice position.”
“Yeah, you like that?” I asked. “Let’s get you better and we’ll give it a try. Okay?”
“Sounds good.” He was fading. His voice was growing weak, but he kept a smile on his face.
“Ben, Ben, stay awake for me. Ben.”
“Yeah.” His head was drifting to the side.
“Ben!” I tied the strip of rubber around his upper arm and pulled it tight. “Ben, you’ve got to keep talking to me. Ben!”
“Why are you screaming at me?” he asked, but kept his eyes closed.
I made a nervous attempt at a laugh and then said, “You’d better get used to that, buddy. I’m a screamer if ever there was one.”
That got a chuckle out of him, and he said, “Tell me about it.”
I used my teeth to pop off the sealed top of a super glue container, and then filled the wound on his arm with the pungent fluid before wrapping it tightly with a long roll of gauze. We continued to talk about what he was going to do to me when he was feeling better. By the time I was finished, I was certain he was going to be okay. His momentary daze was probably a symptom of shock as opposed to blood loss.
The Rollers brought a change of clothes, a sponge, and a bucket of water. I made everyone else turn away and then forced Ben to get out of the vehicle and strip. He shivered as I quickly sponged off the blood as best I could, and he complained about the snow as it fell down on him.
“Annie, what can we do to help?” asked Clyde, who was still standing ten yards away like I’d forced him to.
“We’re going to need to get everyone inside. Everyone except Ben and me.”
“Why?”
“There’s a new virus, and it’s affecting animals.”
The Rollers responded with a collective gasp, and then several of them asked at once, “Animals?”
“Yes. While we were out, we were attacked by dogs, coyotes, and even a bear. All of them were infected.”
“It crossed the species barrier,” said Clyde.
“What does that mean?” asked Billy.
“It means you all need to get back into the rehab center and stay put. We were attacked out where the trucks used to be parked. That’s not more than three miles from here.”
“Did you ever make it out to the airport?” asked Billy.
“No, but we did find out that Jerald has been using drones to try and find us. We were coming back to warn you about that when we found out that a huge caravan with plenty of ammunition had moved through the area. We were afraid they were headed here.”
The murmur from the Rollers grew as they discussed what I’d revealed. There was one other thing I needed to tell them, but decided to tell only Billy instead of announcing it. “Billy, come here. I need to talk to you.”
I walked away from the Range Rover and towards the trucks that were parked along the side of the lot. I waved Billy over, but stopped him before he got too close.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I don’t know if it’s true or not, but we found someone that said he heard Jerald’s men talking about how they’d captured Hero.”
Billy’s eyes widened.
“Like I said, I don’t know if it’s true or not.”
“Why didn’t you want to tell everyone that?” asked Billy, sensing there was a reason.
“Because I think there’s a chance that Jerald and his men might be headed out to New Vineyard, and you’re going to need to send the Rollers there first. I know you want to attack the airport, but we have to make sure the new settlement is safe first.”
“We’re also going to have to leave people here to guard this place,” said Billy.
“Why? Just send everyone out to New Vineyard.”
He shook his head. “Can’t. We just got done delivering Jill’s baby.”
My jaw dropped in pleasant shock. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope. It’s a little boy, just like she said it would be. There’s no way I’m sending her and that baby out to New Vineyard if you think Jerald’s headed there
.”
“For all I know, he might be headed here, or he might be off somewhere else. I was worried he would’ve been here already. They passed through Denver yesterday, and they left a lot of carnage in their wake. They’re heavily armed.”
“Shit,” said Billy as he ruminated on the new information.
“I’m going to go to New Vineyard,” I said.
“No, Annie. You should stay here and rest. It looks like you’ve been through the ringer.”
“You’re not going to change my mind on this, Billy. There’s a chance that Ben and I have the new disease, and I’m not going to put you or anyone here at risk. And we need to get a warning out to New Vineyard as soon as possible. You’re going to need time to get everything set, so let me be the one to go and let Mom and the others know what’s going on.”
“You sure Ben’s in good enough shape to travel?”
“Do you have any other ideas?” I asked.
“Leave him with us,” said Billy. “We’ll put him in a car out here and keep him safe. Give him a chance to rest up. It’d be good to have him somewhere close to Clyde, just in case.”
“You have to tell Clyde to keep his distance though,” I said with insistence. “We watched this new disease kill Harrison, and it happens fast. You have to be careful.”
“We will be.”
“And what about Hero?” I asked, uncertain how Billy would deal with the vague news of our old friend’s possible capture.
Billy winked at me and said, “You let me worry about that.”
31 – An Open Door
Celeste
I heard the distinct click of the door to my room pop open. I hadn’t been expecting a visit from Elise, but got excited none-the-less. I stood up from my desk and walked over to the shower door, expecting to see Elise walk in. I could see through the glass shower door to the ready room beyond, but the door to the main hall stayed shut.