No Man's Land

by Jacqueline Druga

  I tossed the Barbie pack on my shoulder, lifted the jug of water, tossed that in the wagon, grabbed the handle, and moved toward the road.

  That wagon was a lot lighter than it had ever been and I pulled it with ease, hoping to not lose anything out of it. When I hit the end of the dirt road, I was cautious to look and make sure there were no Vee. There weren’t.

  I took one more look back.

  Some Vee were victorious in getting their victims, but for the most part, the Trent Camp was fighting and wouldn’t be wiped out.

  They’d be looking for us and we couldn’t waste any time.

  There was no way we could stop. By first light, they’d be after us.

  I caught up to Hannah and the cart after a mile. I called out when I was close enough and she stopped.

  I tossed everything in the back of the cart, then walked to the horse and spoke in his ear. “I’m sorry to put this strain on you. You’ll rest shortly, okay?” I ran my hand down his mane and climbed to the bench driver’s seat. I stared at Hannah with a sympathetic look, snapped the reins and we moved down the road. It was a short distance to the underpass where we’d stopped previously for the night.

  My heart was filled with fear over what I would find. It pounded louder in my ears every few feet. I was certain that I would see Leah on the ground and was surprised when I only saw Diana.

  She stood in the middle of the road right before the underpass.

  “She one of them?” Hannah asked.

  “Yeah, it appears so.” I moved closer.

  “Stop.”

  I pulled the reins to bring us to a stop.

  Hannah stood and extended the gun.

  “Let me,” I said.

  “No offense, Calvin, but we can’t have you wasting all our ammo hoping for a lucky shot.”

  “You think you can hit her in the dark like…”

  She fired the weapon and Diana fell back.

  “Okay then.”

  Hannah handed me the gun, then stopped me from moving. She laid her hand on mine. “Calvin, what do you think we’ll find with Edward?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll find out in a minute.”

  The horse began to walk and in the few moments, every horrible scenario imaginable ran through my mind. Diana had gotten him or even Leah. Worse, whoever knocked me out just curb stomped Edward. Each thought made my heart hurt.

  Then that ended with a simple whimper. It cut through the night loudly and I gasped out in relief.

  Hannah nearly shrieked with joy.

  I brought the cart to a stop, jumped out and ran. Sure enough, the basket was still nestled up on top of the grade against the overpass, right where I put him.

  They never touched him.

  The basket hadn’t been moved.

  I lifted him out and hugged him close to my chest with such an enormous amount of gratitude. I was fortunate and blessed. “You are one tough kid,” I said to him. “One really special tough boy.”

  It seemed every stop was another lesson, and I was learning from them. Once I finished holding Edward, I brought him to the cart and handed him to Hannah. I knew we had to move, but I had to take care of Hannah first.

  Using the jug of water, I took a shirt and brought it to Hannah. I climbed up on the bench and made her face me.

  “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not.” I wiped her bloody mouth and nose. Her cheek was swollen and brush burned. “I’m sorry this happened to you. I am so sorry.”

  She clutched my hand and for the first time, I watched a tear roll down her check. She released a single sob and her forehead fell to my hand and I brought her into my chest, holding her.

  “Calvin.” She peeped out.

  “Yeah.”

  “You told Mama Mavis you ain’t no hero. Never say that again. You’re the bravest man I know. You’re a hero to me, okay?”

  “Okay.” I kissed the top of her head.

  “Promise you won’t leave me, Calvin. Promise me you’ll stay with me.”

  “I promise I won’t leave you.”

  We had our moment, now it was time to move on. We had to. Hannah held Edward, and with one arm holding her to me, I used the other to control the cart and we left the underpass slowly, but we left it alive and all together.

  24

  September 9

  It started to rain just before the sun came up and it was a blessing more than a curse. There were no signs of the Trent camp people following us. I couldn’t count on that always being that way. I just needed to get us to Sixteen before they got us.

  There was a chance they wouldn’t come. Maybe they suffered so much of their own losses, we were an afterthought. I certainly hoped so.

  I suspected they’d expect us to take the interstate. Instead, with only a tiny lighter size flashlight, I was able to see that Aden Road, would take us to another back road and eventually to Old Highway 60. Only four miles extra out of the way. I felt it was a safe route for us.

  That journey on those roads took hours, Mary wasn’t moving very fast and I didn’t want to push her. The tree-lined road gave us little protection from the rain and fallen leaves made the road slick. The wheels of the cart kept sliding every once in a while.

  By the time we made it to an interchange town called Counts Crossroads, we had enough of a head start to stop. It was on my original itinerary and I was bit leery of stopping, but we had to. Just a couple hours, just enough to rest, and then we’d push forward. I had no plans to stop for the night, not anymore. Even if the sun went down, we’d forge ahead. It was ten in the morning, we’d be there soon enough.

  We were so close. Twenty-one miles. I knew from experience it wasn’t good to push a horse more than fifteen miles on concrete, but knowing that Jason had made the trip in five days, told me he pushed it to the limits.

  It was the most cautious I had ever felt on the journey, looking out, peering around. There were no Vee that I could see and there were no people. There was a vast amount of abandoned cars, doors left open, some off to the side of the road. From Counts Crossroads to Sanctuary Sixteen it was possibly a one day walk for someone with stamina. Hell, people in the military walked that much a lot.

  Our supplies were drenched, and the three places in town that had supplies were wiped clean, I should have expected as much.

  It was cold and I found the ideal place to stop.

  Just outside of town, part of the high school system was a career and technical institute. I remember when I was in high school, even though I excelled in math, I was a poor student, hated school and did afternoon classes at one of those tech schools.

  I had hoped they had a mechanic course, which would mean a garage. It looked like it might. A small administrative-style building with a huge warehouse structure attached to the back. After following the driveway, I found the triple wide sliding garage door.

  It was locked.

  I checked out the exterior of the grounds, saw no Vee, but the front doors were glass. I left the cart behind the building.

  “I’ll be back,” I told Hannah.

  She nodded. She looked tired as if she didn’t feel well. I knew she didn’t.

  I looked around the grounds on my way to the front and found a large stone. I kept thinking how did anyone miss this place? How was it untouched? Maybe people were so focused on the obvious supply places, they didn’t think of a technical school, or they realized how close they were to Sanctuary and didn’t care.

  An easy throw of the rock shattered the glass and I kicked it clean with my foot. The lobby was dusty and smelled of dust, no one had been in the building a while and the air was stale.

  After checking out the fire exit map on the wall, I walked my way through the small classroom building, checking every room to make sure it was safe. I arrived to where the garage would be. It wasn’t mechanical, it was carpentry.

  The smell of wood filled the air, only a small window let in a little light. Sheets of plywood were stacked up against the wal
l and I opened the huge garage door.

  The area was large, and I led the horse and cart inside and closed the door.

  We were hidden and safe. It was more than I could ask for.

  <><><><>

  The technical school was a gold mine. The carpentry area had flashlights and battery operated lanterns. The first thing I did was secure our safety. I grabbed the plywood and I sealed up the front of the building and the broken window. I was confident no one would know we were in there and the building was far enough away that no one would hear Edward.

  By the time I finished securing the front and all the doors, nearly two hours had passed.

  Hannah followed me around even after I advised her not to.

  “I don’t understand, Calvin, you said we were only staying a couple hours.”

  “I think we’ll stay a little longer. You need to rest. I want to clean those bruises, bandage you, and have you lay down on a real bed.”

  She snickered. “Calvin, how you gonna do all that?”

  “This way.” I took her arm and led her to the back. “Here. The medical teaching room.”

  She peeked inside and smiled when she saw the examining bed. “There are people in them.”

  “They’re mannequins.”

  “I knew that.” She looked at me. “Okay. I’m gonna lay down. Wake me if you need me to feed Edward. I mean, I just did, so he should be good until we go.”

  “I appreciate that. Now, let me bandage you up then you sleep. When you feel ready to go, we’ll go.”

  I found what I needed in that teaching hall. I cleaned her bruises, put on ointment, even made her take some ibuprofen. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep and I made the most of my time.

  I went through our supplies to determine what was salvageable and what was not, then I hit the vending machines and took what I could.

  I was most productive in the garage. In fact, I was inventive. Using two by fours, I made four posts around the cart and used a tarp I found to create a cover. Then after finding two sheets of tin in the metal shop, I rigged two of the spotlights to the front posts on the cart to create my own version of headlights. I did the best I could to shield the lights with the tin, to protect from the rain, but I didn’t see that lasting long.

  The final leg of the trip was ahead of us and I just wanted to get there safely, rain or shine, light or dark.

  25

  Sanctuary

  Hannah slept for three hours straight. When she woke up she looked better and felt better. She started rambling and I knew she was getting back to her old self. I was glad.

  I asked her if she wanted to stay, but she was insistent that we leave. So we packed up and would be on the road two hours before sundown. To my surprise and a little relief, Leah was at the bottom of the driveway.

  “She must have a wife GPS on your rear end,” Hannah said. “I can’t believe she found us.”

  “It’s weird.”

  “Yeah, but I saw her back when we left the underpass and then again when you stopped to pee. She was closing in.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

  “Because you didn’t mention her and I thought maybe you were mad that she ate a person.”

  “No, I’m not mad.”

  We started moving and Leah tagged behind. There was a steady slight drizzle, but the tarp kept us dry.

  “We should have stayed at the school,” I said. “Really. We were safe.”

  “They were coming, Calvin. I don’t think they’d go past that town, but they were coming there.”

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “Because you told that woman everything.”

  I nodded in agreement. “True.”

  “I told you not to trust her, but there you went trusting her, and telling her your inner most secrets.”

  “Oh, please, I did not.”

  “You did. Didn’t I tell you Leah was gonna get jealous? Ate her right up. Speaking of Leah…” Hannah looked behind us. “Whatcha gonna do about her? She can’t come into Sanctuary with us.”

  “I know.”

  “She’ll follow us there. She’ll get there after us and they’ll shoot her.”

  “I know.”

  “Think you should do it first?”

  “Hannah, I don’t know if I can. I mean… I know what she is.”

  “It’ll hurt your feelings if someone else does it. I know. I know how I felt when Pastor Jim killed my dad.”

  “You saw it though, maybe it won’t hurt if I don’t.”

  “Maybe.”

  As I thought it over, we lost Leah again. She trailed behind unable to keep up. She was back there and I knew it.

  After it turned dark, we stopped for an hour. Edward was out of control, even Hannah taking him aside, walking him and feeding him didn’t help.

  I felt inside of me he was sick. He had caught pneumonia or something. He didn’t sound right. After all he had been through I was surprised that he was still moving. His crying was a calling card for Leah, a way to find us in the night, and she did.

  I gave the choice to Hannah if she wanted to stay put or move forward. We had less than ten miles to go and Hannah wanted to forge ahead. She managed to calm him down with the pacifier.

  After getting her in the cart, I stood by the side, Edward strapped to my chest, and looked at Leah.

  “This is goodbye you know,” I told her. “I know you don’t understand me, but we’ll lose you before we get there. I just needed to say goodbye.”

  Of course, Leah tilted her head. She stared back, the skin on her face was drawing in giving her an anorexic appearance. I looked once more then got in the cart and drove.

  The homemade headlights worked but we had to slow down the pace. Then just as we saw a sign for Morehead, KY that we had three miles remaining, a massive storm blew in. I felt it coming earlier. The wind picked up and phantom lightning flashed in the sky without the sound of thunder.

  Then it hit. The rain blew sideways and the tarp sailed off. Edward squirmed in the carrier and I tried my hardest to keep that covered.

  There was absolutely nowhere to stop. Those last couple of miles seemed like hundreds. The wind and rain hit us so hard, we were moving against a huge wet current. We inched our way down the road

  The first spotlight went out, then the next.

  “I have to stop!” I shouted, the only way Hannah could hear me.

  “No! Keep going.”

  “It’s not safe. It’s too wet for the baby.”

  “He’s fine. You have him covered. We’re so close, Calvin we’re…” She stopped.

  I pulled the reins, stopping the horse. The sight took my breath away and I finished her sentence. “Here.”

  Not far ahead of us, the brightness cut through the black of the night. Huge amounts of light lit up the horizon. It was Sanctuary. That was the only thing it could be.

  A snap of the reins and we had a guiding light. Then I saw what looked like spotlights ahead. Like the kind you see at night on road construction sites. They were brighter the closer we moved. It clearly was a roadblock. Then we started seeing Vee. More Vee than I had seen the entire day. They moved about on the side of the road, as we approached, some even reached for the cart.

  I moved faster, the rain beating against my face.

  “Calvin, you don’t think they’re overrun, do you?”

  “We’ll find out.”

  We made our approach and a feeling of awe took over me when I saw the entrance ahead. Two giant spotlights lit up the area. A large tunnel on the road was created from a fence with a barbed wire arched ceiling.

  A light swung on us, nearly blinding me, then it moved.

  Two armed guards stood by the barricade and one waved us in.

  The rain pelted down and I swiped the water from my eyes as I stopped the cart.

  A soldier wearing rain gear approached. “I thought you were a man I knew named Jason,” he spoke loudly over the noise of the rain.<
br />
  “Jason passed away,” I told him. ‘He had a heart attack.”

  “Ah man. That’s sad. He was a good guy.”

  “Is this Sanctuary Sixteen?” I asked.

  “It is. Sorry I didn’t shoot those things out there. We’re not allowed. Gun fire attracts at night.”

  “I understand,” I said. “We made it. We just want in.”

  “Absolutely. She okay?” he asked, shining his flashlight on Hannah’s face.

  “Yes. We ran into trouble.”

  The soldier then hit me with the beam of the light. “We’ll check you inside for bites.” Again, he moved his light on Hannah. “Is her arm bandaged?”

  I looked over. Her arm was outside of the blanket. The bandage was wet and stained.

  “It’s not a bite or scratch. She was injured. It opened back up when she was attacked. They can see inside!”

  “Not hiding anyone in the back, are you?” He moved the light. “Just the two of you?”

  “Three!” I said. “Me, her, and the baby. He’s a newborn.” I pointed down and adjusted the carrier.

  He moved his flashlight to the carrier. “Sir, there are no…” He stopped when the light hit Edward’s face as he sucked on the pacifier. The soldier’s eyes went from Edward to me. “Sir…” his voice softened. “You cannot come in here with that.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “He’s a baby.”

  “Calvin,” Hannah reached out and touched my arm. “Let’s just go. We’ll go back to Mama Mavis.”

  “No, we’re here.” I turned to the soldier. “Are babies not allowed?”

  “Babies would be allowed. We don’t allow Formers. The dead can’t get in, no matter what shape or form they are. I’m sorry. You can’t bring…”

  “Calvin, let’s go,” Hannah pleaded.

  “What do you mean dead?” I asked. “He’s just a baby.”

  “There are no babies, sir! There hasn’t been a baby born uninfected in six months.”

  “But…”

  Then my mind slipped back and I heard Mr. Mills that day I met him. “Son, there shouldn’t be a baby in this godforsaken world, you know that.”