by A. R. Wise
“He’s been painting all day,” said Arthur.
“Some of Billy’s scavengers brought us the supplies,” said Bonnie with a wide smile. “They’ve been a big hit with the kids.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” I said as I looked out across our new town. For the briefest of moments, I was happy.
Then I felt Zack tap my shoulder and say, “Laura.” His concern was evident. “We’ve got company.”
I spun and stared off in the direction he was pointing. New Vineyard was built upon the slope of a hill, allowing us to see far out into the distance. From this vantage we could see almost all the way to Castle Rock, and we watched as military vehicles headed our way.
Bonnie threw open the lid of a chest nearby and pulled out a pair of binoculars that she passed back to me. I used them to look out at the enemy coming for us, and saw that there were six Humvees, each with mounted and manned guns.
“He found us,” I whispered as the horror set in.
“Oh my God,” said Bonnie.
“Who found us?” asked David.
I turned to Arthur and said, “Get him to safety.”
“We can fight back,” said Bonnie. “Billy left us with plenty of weapons. We can fight.”
“Not if he’s going to bring helicopters like he did last time,” I said as I started to try and figure out our options. “This is going to be Vineyard all over again.”
“I’ll raise the alarm,” said Bonnie.
I grabbed her arm and said, “Wait, I’ve got a plan.” They stopped and waited as I formulated my thoughts. I walked to the edge of the roof and looked down at the street below, my eyes darting back and forth as I put the pieces of my plan together. “Bonnie, have everyone start loading the mannequins into that bus. You have to sit them up in the seats, so that they look like real people. Hurry, go.”
She did as I asked, leaving me alone with Zack.
He gave me a wicked grin, expecting me to unleash some deviously genius plan that would save us all. “What are you cooking up?”
This was going to be a hard sell.
I put my hands on his shoulders and stared into his wide eyes as I tried to figure out how to get him to go along with this. “Zack, you’re not going to like this.”
His smile faded.
“I’m driving that bus out of here.”
“No…”
“I’m driving it straight down at them.”
He shook his head and repeated, “No.”
“I’m going to get them to chase me while you and the others get the rest of the people out of here and someplace safe.”
“No, absolutely not.”
I had to scream, “Listen to me!”
“We can fight back. There’s no goddamn way I’m letting you go out there and…”
This time I screamed even louder, “I’m dying!”
That silenced him and my voice echoed.
“I’m dying, and there’s nothing anyone can do to save me. I don’t know how much time I’ve got left, but however many weeks, or months, or years it is, it’s not worth the lives of everyone else here.”
“I’ll do it,” said Zack, his voice cracking with grief. “Let me do it.”
“Not a chance in hell, big guy. You’ve got to take care of our family.”
“I can’t lose you,” he said defiantly. “I’m not going to let that happen. If I have to march out there and take them on by myself… I’m not letting you do this. Laura, no. Please don’t do this.”
Snowflakes were falling around us as the last throe of winter reared its bitter head. The sky was grey and foreboding as I leaned forward and kissed the last man I would ever love. His tears mixed with mine as we held each other close, and I whispered to him, “If you know me at all, you know that arguing with me isn’t going to change my mind. This is the plan, and we’re sticking to it. I’m depending on you to save the people here; to save the children. Because you and I both know that Jerald’s not going to stop until we’re all dead.”
“Then let’s fight him,” said Zack. “Maybe Bonnie’s right and we can put up a good fight here.”
“And risk the lives of those kids?” I asked. “Not a chance in hell, Zack. Not if I can help it. And who knows? Maybe I can get them to chase me and then outrun them. Don’t count me out just yet.”
He shook his head as he held me close, and I heard him curse. In the distance, I could still hear the children playing, shouting and singing in delight as the snow fell, blissfully unaware of what was coming.
“Listen to that,” I said as I closed my eyes. “Listen to those kids laughing.” I paused and enjoyed the sound for a moment longer. “Sort of makes it all worth it.”
“I’m never going to let you go,” said Zack as he hugged me tighter.
“Yes you are,” I said before pecking his cheek. “I’ve got to get out there and save the day again. It’s in my job description.”
“You’re not the captain anymore, remember?” asked Zack.
“I’m not talking about that job. I’m talking about the job of a mother, or for an old girl like me, the job of a grandmother.”
We stayed up there for another couple minutes, but Jerald was coming, and time was a luxury that had run out for us. I explained my plan to Bonnie, and she was reluctant to go along with it, but I told her that we didn’t have time to argue.
To make things easier, I decided not to tell anyone else what the plan was. As far as they knew, I was only going to park the school bus filled with mannequins down the road and then run back to join the others. Despite the lie, I couldn’t help but hold onto David for as long as I could. I hugged that child so hard that he squeaked, and when he asked why I was crying, I said it was because I didn’t get to see his picture yet. He promised to make me a new one, and I told him that I couldn’t wait to see it.
After another long, tearful hug, I let him go.
Zack was waiting for me beside the school bus door, and it looked as if he planned on getting in. “Step away from that bus, mister,” I said as I walked up to him. “This is my ride.”
“I’m coming with you.” He had a rifle strapped to his shoulder and a pistol at his side. “No arguing. That’s the way this is happening. Now hop on up.”
“You’re not coming,” I said and pushed at his chest to keep him from stepping up. “No.”
“Don’t argue with me,” he said. “I can be just as stubborn as you.”
I pushed him harder. “Don’t you fucking dare get on this bus.”
He was abashed, and was about to argue, but I cut him off.
“You need to protect them.” I pointed back at the others. “There’s not a chance in Hell I’m letting you get on this bus with any weapons that could’ve been used to save my grandson. Understand?”
“But we might be able to fight them off, Laura. Stop trying to get yourself killed and be reasonable.”
“I am the one being reasonable here. You’re the one that’s not facing facts, and you’re the one not doing what’s best for our family.” I jabbed my finger into his chest as I spoke. “I’m dying Zack. Let me go.”
“I can’t just…” His jaw clenched and he looked away to find the strength to finish his thought. “I can’t just let you go.”
“You’re going to have to find a way, Zack. This is a one way trip, and you’re not invited.” I got up on the first step of the bus, which put us nearly face to face.
He kissed me and said, “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“You’re goddamned right I am,” I said with a big grin and then kissed him again. “Now let go.”
* * *
The bus gained a lot of speed as I thundered down the hill, away from New Vineyard and straight at the advancing military. The Humvees were driving up a connecting street to my left, and I’d timed my escape so that I would be rocketing past them before they had a chance to turn in the direction of New Vineyard.
It was a four-lane road, but there were so many
wrecked cars and potholes along it that I struggled to find a safe path. Snow had begun to settle everywhere but on the pavement, where it continued to melt upon touching down. I couldn’t help but smile as I remembered my warning to Annie, although the thought of her suffering in the cold put a quick end to my gloating.
My Annie. With her fiery red hair that was a perfect match to her temperament. And those bright blue eyes! I still don’t know how a girl as perfect as her had come from a woman like me. It stung to know that I would never get a chance to say a final goodbye to either of my girls. Jerald had robbed me of that.
The bus shot past the Humvees, and I knew that my ploy had been a success when bullets began to shatter the windows all around me. The gunner in the first vehicle opened fire, confirming my suspicion that they were here to murder us all. Plastic heads burst behind me as the mannequins were slaughtered, and glass bounced around on the floor as I covered my head with my arm. Luckily, the gunner hadn’t aimed well enough to hit me, but the momentary chaos had caused me to lose focus on the road ahead.
My front right tire fell into a massive pot hole, and the ensuing thud shook me as the bus somehow carried on. Whatever luck I thought I had swiftly ran out. I heard the grating of a rim hitting pavement. I looked out and watched as the tire beneath me was shredded. The black rubber flung out in strips, and then one final chunk rolled away, leaving me struggling to continue moving forward. The bus leaned left and tried to pull me in that direction, which would send me crashing into the grassy side of the road. I pulled right as hard as I could, but the plastic wheel kept jerking back out of my grip.
“Come on, you son of a bitch.” I screamed out as I pressed down hard on the accelerator. I watched in the side mirror as the Humvees behind me followed. All of them were in pursuit. None of the vehicles had turned in the direction of New Vineyard. All I had to do was keep driving to give Zack and the others time to get as far away as possible.
The gunner at the head of the snake fired at me, piercing holes in the rear of the bus and shattering more of the bobbing heads of the mannequins. As the madness blazed around me, I screamed out in an expulsion of pure rage.
“Come and get me! Do your fucking worst you piece of shit! Yeah, that’s right. Keep shooting. You haven’t killed me yet.”
One of the Humvees started to drive up along my left side, and the bus was already going as fast as I could make it. I rammed the Humvee, but it didn’t do much good. I couldn’t get the bus to get enough momentum to shove the sturdy pursuer off the road.
I saw the flash of gunfire, and felt the impact of the bullets as they shredded the side of the bus. Something thudded into my hip, and I wondered if a piece of metal had broken free and struck me. I looked down, and instead of seeing something protruding from the side of the bus, I saw a bullet hole and realized that I’d been shot. I pressed my hand to my left thigh and felt wetness. Hot blood clung to my fingertips, and the fact that I was badly injured occurred to me at about the exact same moment that the bus crashed.
Glass rained down on me as the tortured sound of wrenching steel filled my ears. The bus bounced off the car I’d hit, and rolled a few more yards until it stopped dead in the middle of the road.
I meant to only blink, but when I opened my eyes I knew that a good chunk of time had passed. There was a man standing at the door to the bus, pointing a gun at me and shouting something.
I blinked again, and this time I opened my eyes when I felt a searing pain climb up through my side. Someone was lifting me. I was being carried out of the bus.
A group of soldiers had gathered at the head of the smoking bus, and I was tossed unceremoniously to the ground at their feet. My wound slammed on the pavement, causing me to gasp in pain. I pressed my hands down hard in an attempt to stand, and pieces of glass and pebbles dug into my palm. Then someone kicked me solidly in the ribs, causing me to fall back over and cry out in pain. When I opened my eyes I was staring at the grey sky as snow drifted down all around me.
I heard a man’s voice; the same voice that had tortured my nightmares for months.
“Back up,” said Jerald Scott. His voice was muffled, but I recognized it. I reached for the gun that had been at my side, but found that they’d already taken it. A figure dressed in yellow appeared over me, staring down through a plastic mask. “Look who we have here.” He took off his mask, revealing his pale, sickly face. “Boys, we caught their leader.”
“Jerald?” I asked, shocked by how ill the man appeared.
“The one and only.”
I stared directly into his bloodshot eyes and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” he asked. “Is it funny that I’m about to press a pistol to your head and blow your brains out?”
“You’re sick,” I said with a shit-eating grin. “I’ve been around long enough to know it when someone’s infected. You’re dying.”
“Not before you, bitch,” said Jerald, taking pleasure in his victory. He pointed the pistol down at me and said, “And not before I track down the rest of your friends and family and kill them too. I’ve made it my life’s mission.”
“Sounds like a shitty life,” I said and spat blood out onto the road.
It was finally cold enough for the snow to begin to settle on the road, but my blood melted it all around me.
Jerald looked over at his men and said, “Get the camera. I want to make sure Beatrice and her friends see me shoot this cunt.” Then he turned his attention back to me and said, “Maybe I’ll let your friends watch you die too. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds like you’re a sadistic prick.”
He nodded and said, “I’ve been called worse.”
I suffered there on the road, bleeding from the wound on my hip, and clutching my side where one of the men had kicked me. One of Jerald’s soldiers returned and said, “Okay, I’m ready.”
“All right,” said Jerald as he looked down the sight of his pistol at me. “Ready to die?”
I forced myself up to my knees. The wound on my thigh sent blood flowing down my leg, and I stifled a cry of pain.
“Look at her,” said Jerald as he glanced around at his men. “She’s still got some fight in her.”
I leaned forward.
“What are you doing?” he asked, amused.
I pressed my forehead against the barrel of the gun and said, “Grow a pair and get this over with already, you piece of shit.”
A gunshot cracked through the waning winter air.
33 – Brothers and Wolves
Ben Watanabe
Annie had left to go to New Vineyard, and not long afterward another group of Rollers followed. The news about Jerald’s drones and the attack on the water tower had assured us that we had to bunker down if we were going to survive. However, the bigger threat at our door was the sudden emergence of another virus that affected animals as well as burning faster through humans than anything I’d encountered before.
Clyde had been checking on me, even though I told him that he needed to stay away. He was persistent, and I rolled down the window of the car I was resting in when he tapped his knuckle on it.
“You need to back up,” I said with the window just barely opened.
He obliged, and then said, “We’re clearing out one of the rooms near the front for you.”
“I shouldn’t go in there, Clyde. We don’t know how contagious this is.”
He nodded and said, “I know, I agree with you, but we also can’t leave you out here if you were getting attacked by animals just a mile or so up the road. There’s a side entrance to the building, and we’re going to have you come in through there and then straight into a room. You won’t be near anyone else.”
That seemed like a fair compromise, and I agreed with the plan.
Clyde explained that they would stock the room with supplies for me, and that it shouldn’t take more than half an hour. Unfortunately, the Rollers had planned to abandon this facility entirely, which meant that many of the fortifications
had been pulled down to be sent to New Vineyard. That left us exposed now, and they were working hard to get the facility safe again.
I resolved to get some sleep while I waited, and I leaned my seat back and turned the car off. The heater had been running for a while, but the cold didn’t bother me much in the first place. I enjoyed watching the fat snowflakes as they piled up on the windshield, a thousand different designs to marvel at. My breath brought fog to the glass, shading the spots where the snow was collecting. It felt like I was a corpse already, watching as the dirt was thrown in my grave to bury me. For some reason, that thought comforted me, and I closed my eyes.
I heard the crunch of footsteps in the snow. I sat up, expecting to see Clyde coming to tell me that my room was ready. There was only a sliver of light coming in through the windshield now, and I realized that I’d drifted to sleep long enough to allow the snow to accumulate. I rubbed my arm against the window beside me to clear away the condensation.
The snow was falling faster now than it had been when I fell asleep. The flakes were thick and heavy, and plopped down on the two inches that had already mounted. A trail of footprints wound around a nearby truck, and I followed their odd pattern in search of their maker.
A hunk of snow was leaned up against the wheel of one of the Rollers’ trucks, and I thought I saw it move. Then I was certain, and the man’s true form was revealed, like a mirage lifting when a desert walker drew too near.
The stranger was dressed in white, and was almost hidden except for the tone of his skin as he turned back to look at the entrance to the rehab facility. It was then that I recognized him. His face should be familiar to me, it was mine after all.
I gripped the pistol Annie had left me and set my hand gently on the door’s handle. There was no way to do this quietly.
I threw open the door and yelled out, “Stop.”
The man turned to face me. I should’ve shot him, but I was eager to find out what he knew about our past.
He darted away, between the trucks, and I took a shot that ricocheted off of something metal. I threw open the door and gave chase, trying to ignore the multiple injuries that screamed out at me as I moved. The man was leaving tracks behind, which would make this an easy pursuit, or so I thought.