by A. Rosaria
“You need your rest.”
She didn‘t argue, only looked lost, exhausted, and defeated. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “You take care of yourself. Okay?”
Brenda gave him a weak nod.
He left her behind in the tent and went on his way to join Clem. She stood outside, waiting for him. Drawing closer, she waved for him to follow her. They went outside the wooden palisade and went straight through the forest on an invisible path only Clem seemed to be able to see. About two minutes later, they came upon a clearing where two pickups, five sedans, three station wagons, and a black van stood parked. The others had gathered near the van, everyone armed with a rifle, a gun tucked in their belts, and their pockets bulged with the ammo they where carrying.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Clem yelled at them. “Get in already. Don, you get behind the wheel.”
They all got in. Clem sat next to Don and patted the space next to her for Ralph to sit. The others silently got into the back. Clem nestled between Don and Ralph.
“Let‘s go,” she said. And Ralph couldn‘t agree more, time for talking was over; it was time to finally do something. They left the forest for the road, heading toward an unknown destiny.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Sarah had been walking, trotting, jogging, and downright running, with no idea if she would make it in time or stay undetected. She expected them to have reached the RV by now and they were probably staking it out, setting whatever traps they had in store for her and Ralph. Once they got to the RV, they would find the body and would know something was wrong. She should have buried Richard, but at that time, she felt they could not spare the time to do so. She left him on the road for everyone to see. And now, thanks to that, the enemy wouldn‘t be taken by surprise, nor would they take prisoners when they set upon her or Ralph. It would be shoot to kill from now on, and it probably would be the soldiers doing all the shooting.
Out of breath, lungs burning, she forced herself to walk faster. Her body screamed for her to rest, to just throw herself to the ground and give in and allow exhaustion to pull her into a long sleep. She clenched her teeth, pressed so hard it hurt, chasing away any thought of giving up. There was no way she would let him down, for doing so would mean Ralph would die, and that was not an option. She was not sure what she felt for him, though it was enough to know she wouldn‘t be able to live with it if something happened to him because of her failure.
Knowing that the body could take more than the mind would allow, she pushed on, casting any thoughts of giving up away and only focusing on what she had to do. Convince Ralph to forget about her stupid plan and get as far away possible. The little bit she saw made it clear they were too well prepared to be just a research facility. There was much more to it than it seemed, and they probably were thick into what had happened to the world. Yes, the answers they wanted certainly were there, but no way would whatever ragtag group Ralph brought along with him be enough to do anything against these people with their tall, thick walls, and their militaristic guards. They had the same black-clad military men guarding them as those who had attacked her and Ralph in their hometown. They were the same people responsible for nuking her hometown. People capable of that were not to be messed with.
She walked a little ways off the road. It was the most she could do to stay hidden, the sparse vegetation giving little cover, but still it was better than walking on the road where she would have stuck out. Walking off road, between dry bushes and low grass, she would at least have a second or two more to hit the dirt if she heard or saw someone approaching. Pressing on, she covered the distance she needed, ignoring the pain or her ever-faster and shallow breathing. She kept on until she arrived near the RV.
Sarah lowered herself into the ditch. Sitting, she rested her back against the wall of dirt. She panted heavily, trying to keep the noise down but failing. She hoped the sound of her heavy breathing didn‘t reach the men guarding the place.
She felt lightheaded now that she went from fast walking to a complete stop. Her heart bounced against her chest cavity, beat her lungs up with its frantic beating, and hurt her chest with every breath. Slowly, she started to see more and more white. Sarah struggled to keep consciousness, and then she made the mistake of standing up. As soon as she did, she passed out into a black sleep.
Her eyes opened to the dirt she lay on. She spat out dry grass that had gotten into her mouth. She got to her knees. Her pounding head almost sent her back down. She gritted her teeth against the pain as she got up. The sun was much lower now. She had lost hours. This was bad; she might be too late now.
From where she stood, she couldn‘t see the RV. She had no way of knowing if Ralph was there or had been captured or worse, killed. It was quiet, and this didn‘t help ease her apprehension. Before she collapsed, she was relatively sure she would get to Ralph in time. Now, she also had to deal with time running out.
She got down on her knees, out of sight. After waiting for a full minute to make sure no one had seen her, she ran, keeping a low profile and using the ditch for cover. Her unwanted rest gave her body renewed energy. However, it didn‘t help her head, which pounded with every step she took. She would give one of her arms right now for some painkillers. Pop one and feel the pain go away. It used to be just a stroll to the store, but now you had to fight a horde of zombies and other humans first. There was no more internet to order anything from the safety of your home and have it delivered to you the next day. The only thing freely delivered nowadays were bullets, and there were plenty of those going around and people willing to send them to you, like those men staking out the RV. If she was not careful, they would eagerly stick her with as many bullets as possible.
She had no choice; she had to run and risk alerting them, or else she wouldn‘t even stand the remotest chance of getting to Ralph in time before he reached the RV. What had made her think they could take over the facility? Belief it would be like any other research center—a place full of scientist, nerds who knew nothing about defending themselves? How stupid of her. Such a place would not survive in a zombie-infested world. She should have known this. She was so blinded by a sense of winning, that she had fooled herself into wanting to vanquish anyone opposing her. It was the same blindness that made her kill Anton in cold blood.
No, she shouldn‘t be thinking about stuff like that. She had to move forward, let the past stay in the past, and focus on the present. No one had to know what she had done to Anton, especially not Ralph. After this was over, there would be no need to remember. It would just be a memory that would wither with time. But first she had to get out of this mess, get Ralph safe, away from here, the both of them, and go back to their original plan. No need for large groups. Those were too easily detected by those who engineered the downfall of mankind, and those with the big guns, military training, and research centers. It was best to lie low until this madness passed over.
She stopped running. This should be far enough. She inched closer to the ditch edge and peeked over. Two men were smoking near the wreck of the van, their assault rifles casually slung on their backs. Their humvee was nowhere to be seen—parked some distance out of sight. These men were watching the road; any vehicle would be heard from a mile away, giving them ample time to get in position. They didn‘t look alert. They probably knew they had the upper hand, and didn‘t need too, overconfident in their abilities.
She might pass them quickly without being noticed, being their attention was on the road and they expected a vehicle and not someone trying to sneak past them. She continued running along the ditch, staying as low as possible and hoping none of them came near or looked in her direction. She ran for five minutes and then some more. She crawled out of the ditch and went prone on the ground. She stayed that way for a long while, observing her surroundings for anything out of the ordinarily. Far away she heard the purr of an engine. It must be Ralph. She smiled. She made it in time; finally everything would turn out okay.
Sarah w
asn‘t sure what she felt for him. It was too early for love, but when reunited, she wanted to make it clear she wanted to stay with him from now on. No more splitting apart. From now on, everywhere he went, she would follow. She liked him and there was nothing wrong with that, not anymore. Her boyfriend was dead, society was no more, and he was a downright good guy, and hot.
She stood up and ran up the road, hoping to make the distance between them and the soldiers larger, making it less likely for the engine sound to reach those guarding the RV. She didn‘t want to be chased and shot at when they turned back. It was best the soldiers never knew they were there. If detected, there was no way they could get away unscathed. They didn‘t have the home court advantage as they had in their hometown. It was lucky they got away the first time. It had been a narrow brush with dead. She would make sure this time there would be no need for that and leave them waiting at the trap they had set.
A black van came into view. As it drew closer, she started waving. It slowed down to a stop a hundred feet away. The side door slid open and three men and one woman came out, rifles pointed at her. The driver stepped out, a tall, handsome man, with short black hair. He was smiling. He said something and the people carrying the rifles lowered them. The passenger door opened. Ralph came out. Seeing him alive and well made her heart skip a beat. She smiled and ran to him, calling out his name. She stopped when she saw a tall blond woman step out after Ralph. An athletic woman, clothes snug on her body, showing way more than Sarah cared for. She had pretty, large eyes, and full lips, and the expression she had was a commanding one. Sarah inherently felt this was not a woman to be messed with. She disliked how she put a hand on Ralph‘s shoulder and smirked at her.
Sarah‘s smile faltered, but Ralph‘s didn‘t. He broke away from the woman, ran up to her, and closed her in a hug. She felt elated by his touch and the intensity he looked at her. There was something brewing in him, something she liked.
“I‘m so sorry,” he said. “I should never have let you to go by yourself.”
“No, it‘s my fault. This plan was bad from the start. We need to leave this place fast.”
The group had gathered around them.
“What do you mean, leave?” Clem asked Sarah.
Sarah didn‘t like the tone of the woman or the way that she looked down on her as if she were a nuisance. She chose not to answer her. Instead, she said to Ralph, “The place is more a stronghold than a research center. Thick, tall walls with armed guards patrolling. Some of them are watching the RV right now. We need to leave.”
Ralph nodded, grabbed her hand, and led her to the van. The tall woman stayed behind, as did her group.
“How many are there?”
“Clem,” Ralph said. “You heard her. It‘s a trap. We better get the hell away from here.”
“These are the same people that killed ours. The heck we are just going to leave them be.”
The men standing behind her nodded. The tall handsome man was still smiling, though it wasn‘t a pleasant one—his eyes told Sarah enough. They were not here to get answers; this was about revenge. Only the stocky woman with black hair looked down and seemed disturbed. The others seemed eager, ready to break skulls.
“Don, seriously, it‘s best we just leave, and Clem, wasn‘t it you who taught me to think things through?”
“Do you see me barging in? I‘m thinking; that‘s why I need to know how many people your girlfriend over there saw.” She spat the words out and nudged with her head in Sarah‘s direction. There was no love between them; the woman must have taken an immediate dislike to her as she did to her. Though the way she talked and looked at Ralph showed she liked him. Sarah hoped that Ralph would see her for what she really was and agreed to leave as soon as possible.
“So, little girl, are you going to tell us how many are out there?”
“There are four; two are guarding the RV, the other two I didn‘t see. There could be more out there. The base was crawling with them. We can‘t go back. They will kill us all.”
“Four against the eight of us? The odds are stacked in our favor, and we even have the element of surprise.”
Sarah turned to Ralph. “Tell them this is madness. They wear the same black uniforms as the soldiers who chased us out of town. We barely made it out then.”
“Just four?” Ralph asked.
What was this? Why was everybody so pent up on doing this? They had not seen what she saw; they had not experience what she went through. Why not accept her word that this was not the smart thing to do? Were they equally blind as she had been? What point was there in attacking those four, as if they could go for the base after? They were too few and none were trained for combat like these men were. She had seen them in action, dropping from helicopters, immediately advancing, not flinching under fire, and shooting at the drop of a hat. They were no match for them; an attack would lead to casualties on both sides for nothing.
“Ralph, please, not you too. Don‘t do this.”
He wavered and doubt appeared in his eyes. She might have won him over at last. She relaxed, though the respite was short lived. Clem‘s voice waltzed over that peace. “Everybody get in. We‘re move out.”
The men and woman moved back to the van.
“Tell your girlfriend to join them in the back.”
“She‘s not my girlfriend and you can tell her yourself. She is standing right here.”
“Move,” Clem said to her, smiling. “Get in the back or be left behind.”
He had stood up for her, but it hurt to hear him say she was not his girlfriend. It was the truth, but what hurt was the resolute way he said it.
Dazed, hurt, and not sure if they would be leaving or attacking, she climbed into the back of the van. One of the men slid the door shut. The van drove off, but not in the direction she wanted. It kept heading the same way, toward the RV. A window between the cabin and the back slid open. Clem stared at her.
“We are going in hard and fast.” She broke her eyes from Sarah to the short man with black hair sitting next to a woman who looked like him. “Paul, I hate to admit it, but you are our best shot. We‘ll drop you off just before we go in. As we drive past the RV, we hope they‘ll jump out of cover, expecting us to stop. We‘ll just barge through and you start shooting, drawing their attention away from us. We get out and finish them off.”
Paul grimaced. “What about my sister?”
“She‘s coming with us.”
“But—”
“You think I‘m stupid?” Clem snapped at the man. “That I would trust you? She‘s coming with us; end of discussion.”
Ignoring Paul and Sarah, Clem looked at the others. “You better get ready. We are going in hot.”
She slid the windowpane shut, blocking their view of the outside. Sarah felt like cattle being driven to the slaughterhouse, because that was what it could turn out to be.
The van slowed down and stopped. Paul got out, rifle in hand and curses on his lip. They were almost to the top of the hill now. Anytime now they would be visible to those waiting at the RV, expecting them, having heard them approach a mile away. They were going in hot indeed. Sarah hoped Ralph was okay and stayed okay. And again she wished none of this had ever happened. It was too late now. The van sped up.
It swerved, hit something, and sent it tumbling over the roof. Shots were fired. Bullets drilled holes in the side of the van and exited through the roof. Luckily no one was hit. Shots were fired from behind them—a powerful rifle that had to have been Paul. Alarmed curses came from the outside when the van skidded to a stop. A man slid the door open and jumped out, followed by the other guy and the woman, Paul‘s sister. Bullets shredded the van, hitting the spot right next to her. She jumped out and froze at the sight of the battle.
A mangled body of one of the soldiers lay on the road in a pool of his blood. Another lay slumped against the wreck. The remaining two were inside the RV, firing their automatic rifles and pinning down those taking cover behind the wreck. Cl
em was flanking the RV, Don closely behind her. She was creeping close to the window from which one of the soldiers was firing from. Don was covering her. The man at the window saw Sarah standing. He swung his rifle toward her. Ralph grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her down. The bullets ripped the air where moments ago she was standing. Clem grabbed the shooter‘s arm and pulled him down, and at the same time, she pressed her gun under his chin and shot. His friend at the door got out to shoot Clem and got hit by three quick shots to the chest. Don stepped up and shot him once more in the head.
“Everyone okay?” Clem yelled.
One by one they answered, except for one. Paul‘s sister lay on the ground bleeding, clutching her throat. She had come out of cover when Clem approached the RV and was shot by the guy Don had killed.
“Linda,” Paul yelled as he came running. “Oh God, she got hit.”
Paul knelt next to his sister, applying pressure to her throat, trying to stop the bleeding.
“Check the dead,” Clem yelled.
A broad shouldered, middle-aged, balding man—who Sarah thought had been named Ethan—ran to the mangled soldier and shot him through the head. Don walked over to where Paul‘s sister lay on the ground with Paul kneeling beside her. He ignored them and shot the soldier slumped against the wreck, blowing his head off. Paul flinched at the sound of the gun going off. He looked up, glaring at Don and back at Clem. His eyes were red, tears streaming down his cheek.
“We should have listened to her. We should have fled. None of this would have happened if we had. I was wrong to leave her behind with you, wrong in going with you in the first place. We would have been better off if we never met any of you.”
His sister started convulsing violently, spitting out blood, and suddenly she stopped, exhaled one last time, and lay motionless, staring at nowhere. Her eyes glazed over. Clem drew closer, gun in hand.