by Rachel Aukes
We continued making our rounds for the next hour until it was time to wake everyone up. Professor Caler and the rest of his group came upstairs soon after. Dr. Gidar stood with the two kids before him, a hand on their shoulders. Everyone had bags, and several carried plastic totes.
“Have you reached a decision?” the professor asked when Clutch had his gear and strolled over to meet them.
“You can come to New Eden. You’ll need to go straight into quarantine until you’re deemed safe. That’s non-negotiable. Can you live with that?”
Professor Caler scanned his people’s faces before beaming a wide grin back at Clutch. “Your terms are acceptable. Thank you.”
Clutch nodded. “We’ll head out when the sun comes up.”
“We’re ready to go whenever you are ready,” the professor said.
As moonlight gave way to twilight, we realized leaving the church would be more challenging than we’d planned.
“Aw, hell,” Clutch said at my side.
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the glass door. When I opened my eyes, nothing had changed. Dogs—hundreds of them—weaved around the trucks, watching us.
“How’d they find us?” Tom asked.
“Dogs have an incredible sense of smell,” Jase said. “And, the food supply is slim around here. They’ve probably been following us since yesterday and finally caught up.”
“We’ll have to sacrifice some of our food to distract them,” I said.
Clutch scowled and motioned everyone to the center of the church. “We’ll send a team at a time. One team per vehicle, except we’ll leave the car behind in case we need it later. That’s six teams. Carry only what you can run with. Leave everything else behind. We may be able to come back for it.”
“The children can’t run,” Dr. Gidar said.
“Then carry them,” Clutch retorted. “Team leads are Griz, Marco, Tom, Nick, Randy, and me. Leads, you have five minutes to pick your vehicle and teams. Let’s move fast before those packs out there multiply. Trust me, they will get bigger.”
“Why don’t we wait them out?” someone asked. “You know, like we did at the store?”
“Because once the dogs knew we were in the store, they stuck around. The packs didn’t start to thin until we’d stayed hidden for a couple days, and even then, there were too many. It could take a week or longer, and we can’t wait.”
“Why not?” the professor asked.
“Two reasons.” Clutch held up a finger. “One, Jack doesn’t have that long. And two,” he held up a second finger. “I don’t want to get snowed into this church for the winter.”
“Snow? What are you talking—”
Clutch cut off the professor’s words by pointing outside.
I moaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Sure enough, large snowflakes were beginning to dot the dogs’ darker fur and the trucks’ windshields. Without a weather forecast, we had no idea if we’d get a dusting or two feet. We hadn’t found anyone with a knack at reading weather patterns yet, so we always had to play it conservatively. Without snowplows, it wouldn’t take much to leave us stranded.
“But, we cannot leave my equipment behind,” Dr. Gidar said. “I can’t continue my research without it.”
“We’ll come back for it later,” Clutch said, before adding, “We’re heading out. Any more questions?”
No one spoke, and Clutch joined Jase and me in organizing everything we needed to evacuate. I wasn’t the least bit surprised that Clutch hadn’t named Jase or me as a lead. I didn’t take it personally. I would’ve done the same thing. After all, we were family. We stayed together. Griz should’ve been with us, too, but Clutch and Griz had a different kind of relationship. I figured it was because they were both Army Rangers and that shared history meant something to them. They were brothers, and both treated Jase and me as though we were theirs to protect.
They had it wrong. We were each other’s to protect.
Clutch took Jack onto his team. Since we had Jase’s truck, four was plenty. Even at four, Clutch was going to take the back of the truck, which would make for a freezing ride back to New Eden. But, when I pointed that out, he didn’t seem to mind one bit.
Each team had a crate of food they would toss out before they ran to their truck. They’d then use their truck to help create a blockade between the next team and the dogs. Griz volunteered his team to go first. Clutch’s team would go last. We were the only ones with any ammo, and it was our job to take out dogs that got too close to any of the teams.
Griz’s team waited at the door. Clutch and Jase stood at each door, ready to fling them open for the team and yank them closed the moment the team was through. Griz’s team consisted of four able-bodied men. Clutch and Griz wanted a team outside to help fight off dogs if things went downhill.
“Ready?” Clutch asked.
“Let’s rock and roll,” Griz answered.
Clutch and Jase threw the doors open, and Griz’s team lobbed out open cans of chicken. Dogs skidded around and dove after the food. Griz led his team as they sprinted out the door, which was closed as soon as they were outside. One dog turned and snapped at Griz, and he hacked at it with his machete. It cried out and fell, but other dogs that couldn’t reach the food switched direction to go after the team. Griz had already made it to his truck—one of New Eden’s supply trucks. He had the door open, and his men jumped in one at a time while Griz and they hacked at dogs.
Animals yelped and growled but kept coming.
I didn’t let out the breath I’d been holding until Griz was in the truck and his door slammed shut. “Thank God,” I said breathlessly. “One down, five to go.”
Randy’s team went next. Then, Nick’s. Each time, the food worked, but more and more dogs showed up. Nick’s squad spent as much time hacking as they did running. Clutch cracked the door open, and I took shots at the dogs coming up behind the team. One of their team may have been bitten, but at least they all made it into their truck.
Marco’s team had the little girl and Tom’s team had the boy since everyone thought having both kids on one team could slow down that team too much. Nathan carried the girl, but he moved clumsily with her. Before Clutch and Jase opened the doors, Marco cussed. “Jesus Christ, give her to me.” He grabbed the girl, slung her over his shoulder as if she were a rag doll.
“Be careful with her,” Dr. Gidar called out, but Marco was already outside.
The other two members of Marco’s team were behind him. They threw food, but the dogs didn’t go for it. Instead, they lunged at Marco’s team. I opened fire at the mobs forming around Marco and his team. I prayed no shots ricocheted off the pavement and hit one of our people. They had nearly reached the truck when my rifle clicked.
“I’m empty!”
Clutch shut the door, but I noticed him gripping his sword. He moved from one foot to the other. A large dog leapt at one of Marco’s men, and the man went down.
Marco tossed the girl inside the truck and shoved Nathan inside. Marco then turned for his other man, his features strained when he saw the dogs tearing into the man who had not once screamed during the attack. Though, that likely just meant a dog had torn out his throat.
Marco climbed inside the truck and started it up. Like the others, he pulled around to create a path for us to reach our truck and Tom’s team to reach the minivan. Dogs ran under and around the trucks to come at us. The sickest of the animals didn’t seem to remember what glass was and ran headfirst into it. Snow flew from their fur with each collision.
“We can’t go,” Tom said in a rush. “The dogs have learned. They prefer us to the canned food. We’ll never make it.”
“It must be something about the virus that even this strain makes them crave blood over food,” Professor Caler said.
“I believe these dogs suffer from an iron deficiency in the same way those infected with zonbistis suffer,” Dr. Gidar replied.
“Write your thesis later,” Clutch said. “We’ve g
ot forty feet between point A and point B with a shit-ton of rabid, pissed off mutts covering every inch. I could use some ideas right about now.”
“I say we wait,” Tom said.
“Then Jack dies,” Clutch said.
“But, he—” Dr. Gidar started, but Clutch’s hard glare stopped him.
“And we could get stuck here,” Clutch added.
“What if we hide and the squadron heads out slowly and draws the packs away?” Jase offered.
Clutch turned. “Now that is an idea.” He picked up his radio and relayed Jase’s plan. After locking the door, we followed Tom down the hallway. Dr. Gidar led the boy. Jase had stuck Boy, their small dog, into his backpack. Clutch and Jase carried an unconscious Jack. Behind us, dogs howled. Trying to ignore the sounds, we headed down to the basement because Gidar thought it would provide us the best chance to not be heard or scented by the dogs outside.
Clutch spoke into his radio. “Church is secure. Bug out.”
“Affirm,” Griz’s voice came through the radio. “Squadron is bugging out. Will report in sixty.”
The boy tried to walk back upstairs, but Gidar directed him back toward us. The boy then let out a howl, the first sound I’d ever heard him make. And it gave me the shivers.
The sounds of dogs outside grew louder.
Clutch scowled. “Christ, Doc. Shut that kid up or else the dogs will never follow the squadron.”
Dr. Gidar bore an agitated expression. “There’s nothing I can do. He gets uncomfortable without his sister. She will be even worse. They are quite dependent on each other.”
“Can you give him something to settle him down?” Professor Caler asked.
Dr. Gidar shook his head. “He has a compromised system. He hasn’t responded well to drugs in the past. I’m afraid it could make things worse.”
“We need to give the squadron sixty minutes to draw the packs away,” Clutch said.
Jack moaned and moved restlessly. I pulled out a tissue and wiped his sweaty brow. “Sh,” I murmured. “Everything will be fine.”
Dr. Gidar held the boy, who slowly returned to his vegetative state.
As we sat and waited, I watched the boy. “What’s his name?” I asked quietly.
Dr. Gidar looked up. “I don’t know. Neither child speaks.”
I frowned. “What do you call him then?”
“I call them ‘child,’” he replied.
“We decided it was impersonal to give them names that weren’t theirs,” Professor Caler said.
My brow rose. “More impersonal than calling them ‘child?’” I thought for a moment. “I think I’d want a name, even if it wasn’t my real one.”
“Forty minutes to go,” Jase whispered.
“I still hear the dogs out there. It doesn’t sound like they’ve left,” Tom said.
“Give the squadron a chance,” Clutch said the instant before the sound of an engine and horn broke through the sounds of animals. “See? My guys know how to make a sales pitch.”
For the next forty minutes, we sat there, the only sounds coming randomly from Jack and the boy. The boy grew more and more agitated, his jaundiced eyes flitting around the room, as though he was searching for something. The time passed interminably slow. I could hear fewer and fewer dogs. The engines disappeared.
When Griz finally called in, the radio startled me.
“We’ve led away what we could,” Griz said. “But, some refused to follow. There are some hardheaded ones out there. I hate to say it, but the snow is really coming down. These trucks don’t have tires for snow.”
Clutch spoke into the radio. “We’ll take it from here. Head to New Eden before you get stranded.”
A pause. “We’ll come back for you.”
“Don’t worry about us. Now, head on home.” Clutch lowered the radio and came to his feet. “We have two options. We wait out these animals and run the risk of being stranded here, potentially for a month or longer. Or, we head out of here before the snow gets deeper and face the dogs that are still out there.”
“I say we wait,” Tom said.
Dr. Gidar shook his head. “No, I need to work on the vaccine. We can’t afford to wait.”
Professor Caler stood and walked toward the stairs. “There is another way. You’re heading home today. The vaccine must be made and distributed.”
“What’s your plan?” Clutch asked, but the professor had already disappeared up the stairs.
Clutch and Jase hurriedly grabbed Jack and we followed the professor. I glanced back to see Tom waiting for Dr. Gidar who was coaxing the boy into his arms.
Professor Caler stood at the front door. When I reached him, I counted over three dozen dogs on the other side of the glass, watching us with glazed eyes. Caler seemed to stare off into nowhere. “Are you ready?”
“What are you planning to do?” I asked.
He kept staring out through the door. “I’ll draw their attention and buy you the time you need.”
“You can’t do this, John,” Dr. Gidar said. “You can’t sacrifice yourself.”
The professor sighed. “The day of the outbreak, I was receiving my first chemo treatment. My doctor had said that even with the treatments, my chances were only twenty percent I’d make it a year.” He turned and faced us. His gaze was tired, showing the type of exhaustion that sleep couldn’t fix. “I’ve had enough of this world. If there’s one thing I can do that helps others one last time, then by God, let me do it.”
I couldn’t speak. Instead, I could only stare at the hard conviction in his eyes.
“We’ll find another way,” Tom said.
“Every minute you spend trying to find an alternative,” the professor started. “More snow and more dogs arrive. Now, I’m stepping out this door in ten seconds. It’s up to you if you let my last moments be in vain.”
“Thank you, sir,” Clutch said.
Professor Caler gave a slight nod and then unzipped his coat.
I pulled out my pistol. It had only one round left in it. I’d always refused to give up that single round in case I needed it for myself, but it felt selfish to hold onto it. I handed it to Clutch. He checked the mag, frowned, and then shoved it into his belt.
Professor Caler pushed open the door and ran with more energy than I’d thought possible. The dogs went after him. I couldn’t watch. I burst out the door and swung my machete like a pendulum as I ran toward the truck. Already at least a couple inches of snow covered the ground, slowing my pace. I knew the others were behind me, and I kept running.
The professor screamed in agony as I opened the truck door. I found myself shoved inside with Jack thrown on me. Jase crawled in behind the wheel, and Clutch jumped into the back. Jase revved the engine and threw the truck into gear. The van moved, and I knew Caler’s sacrifice had saved all our lives.
After I situated Jack in between Jase and me, I looked out the window to see the professor tangled in a rose bush. He writhed and screamed. A shot rang out in the frozen air. The man’s head fell back, and he moved no more.
I looked back to make sure Clutch was safe. He held up a thumb. I leaned back and closed my eyes as Jase slipped and slid out of the parking lot. Jase drove, with the minivan behind us, for about thirty minutes before he stopped, and Clutch squeezed up front with us. It was tight, but he was in no mood to sit in the minivan. I pulled Jack onto Clutch and my laps and checked his temperature every few minutes. “I think his fever may be breaking,” I said after the third or fourth check.
The snow kept coming down, and the winds picked up. We drove at a snail’s pace. Jase recommended we stay at the place where he’d found his truck, but when I mentioned the people we’d seen on horseback, Clutch decided to brave the roads.
I don’t know how many hours passed before Jase pointed. “Home sweet home.”
I smiled at seeing the other trucks parked inside the gates. “We made it,” I said and patted Jack’s chest, only to find it wasn’t moving.
Jack had alread
y died.
FORTITUDE
Chapter XIV
Twenty-four hours later
“It’s perfect,” Deb said as she looked over the baby seat Marco had brought back from the store. Marco beamed with pride as he knelt near her, helping her figure out the new baby seat. “Thank you,” she added as she bent down and gave him a tender kiss. “Did you tell them?”
“No,” Marco replied. “I thought you’d want to be the one to tell them the news.”
Deb looked up at us, her face beaming, and grabbed his hand. “We’re getting married!”
Surprise was quickly washed over with joy. Everyone in the living room cheered.
“’Bout time you manned up the nerve to ask her,” Griz said, grinning.
I hustled over to the couple, and hugged them both. “Congratulations!”
“Way to go. Will you have white cake? It’s my favorite,” Benji said, evidently knowing what weddings were all about. He broke out into the chicken dance, while Diesel and Boy danced around him in mutual excitement.
“We’ll have cake, Benji,” Vicki said, wearing a rare smile.
Deb motioned for the older woman. “Vicki is going to be my maid of honor,” Deb said.
Vicki laughed. “I’m long past being a maid. But I’ll gladly be your matron of honor.”
“Griz is standing in as my best man,” Marco said.
“As long as I don’t have to wear a tux,” Griz said. “Although I would be the finest looking man around here.”
“Justin is going to make it a town event next week. We hope you all can be there,” Deb said.
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I said.
After the celebration simmered down, I headed out to tell Clutch the good news. He’d been with Justin, debriefing him on the last several days’ events while the rest of us had returned to the house as soon as our night in quarantine was over. The Marshall survivors were still in “quarantine,” but really, Justin was keeping them in a separate building until he figured out how to handle them—and the two kids. He hadn’t mentioned the kids to the rest of New Eden yet, and we weren’t talking, though I had no doubt the rumors would quickly spread.