Red Hill

by kindle@abovethetreeline. com

  “I’ll go,” he said. He pushed open the passenger door and slowly walked up to the side of the house.

  I glanced around. There were no vehicles, but there was a barn. Maybe they had parked there, and it only appeared deserted. Two cars traveling west on Highway 11 caught my eye: a silver car and a black, four-door Jeep Wrangler. For half a second, I focused on the child in a car seat. She was passing by in slow motion, holding up a teddy bear, oblivious that the world had gone to shit around her.

  “Oh my God,” I said, turning to watch them drive past. “Oh my God!”

  “What?” Ashley cried, instantly panicked.

  “They’re headed straight for Anderson. They’re going to be killed by those crazies on the bridge!” I opened my door and stepped out.

  “Bryce, let’s go! We have to stop them!”

  “We can’t save everyone that heads that way,” Ashley said, gripping my headrest.

  “But there’s a . . . there’s a baby in the car! Bryce!”

  Bryce turned to me with a frown, holding his finger to his mouth.

  “But . . . ,” I said, watching them drive out of sight. And then they were gone. I sat back in the Bug and shut my door. “That’s on us,” I said, my eyes meeting Ashley’s in the rearview mirror.

  “Hurry up, Bryce,” Cooper whispered, mostly to himself.

  Bryce took one look inside and turned on his heels, jumped off the small, concrete porch, and sprinted to the Bug. He slammed the door and pointed to the road. “Go,” he said, out of breath.

  “What did you see?”

  “Go! Go!” he yelled, pointing.

  I stomped on the gas and pulled back onto the highway. “What?” I said, safely back on the road. “What did you see?”

  Bryce shook his head.

  “We should turn around.”

  “No.”

  “Try to warn that family about the bridge.”

  “No.”

  “Didn’t you hear me, Bryce? There was a baby in the car! We should turn around!”

  “There was a baby inside that house, too!” he yelled. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, and then spoke again. “Trust me. If they’re killed on that bridge, they’re better off.”

  I watched Bryce for a moment, and then returned my focus to the road. All color had left his face, and sweat had formed along his hairline.

  “What did you see?” I said quietly.

  He looked out the window. “You don’t want to know. I wish I could unsee it.”

  The next miles were quiet as we made our way to Fairview, but it wasn’t hard to tell when we’d reached the city limit. More infected roamed the streets than I had anticipated, alone and in groups. We were almost through town when I slammed on my brakes.

  “What?” Bryce said loudly, slamming his palm against the dash.

  A woman was running down the street barefoot, carrying a little girl in one arm, and pulling along a boy, maybe nine or ten, with the other. She wore a red dress with white polka dots, and her hair had mostly fallen from her low, dark ponytail.

  “Bryce,” I said.

  “I see them.”

  The woman stopped at the corner church, and helped the boy climb up on top of the air-conditioning unit, bravely passing a large group of infected. She heaved the boy onto her shoulders, and then pushed him up, allowing him to climb onto the roof, and then held up the little girl. He pulled her up safely, but she was reaching for the woman, crying and drawing the attention of the mob of bloody horrors pounding against the front of the church. Several of the dead ones broke away and ambled in the woman’s direction. She was struggling to climb, but the boy waited, bent over and holding his knees, encouraging her.

  It was then that I saw a trail of blood running up the side of the white wood of the church. Someone else had already gone in that way. Someone that was probably infected.

  “We’ve got to help them,” I said, determined this time.

  “Look,” Cooper said, his hand stretching between my and Bryce’s seats. He pointed to the church. “The windows are boarded! There’s people in there!”

  Bryce looked to me. “It seems like a good place to wait out the night.”

  I watched as the woman barely made it to the roof before the dead reached the unit she’d been standing on.

  I breathed out the breath I’d unconsciously been holding. “Okay, but how do we get in? How do we get them to let us in?”

  “They’re not very fast,” Cooper said, gesturing to the woman on the roof. “She ran right past them.”

  “I’m not going out there with those things walking around!” Ashley wailed. “No way!”

  I looked around the Bug, making sure we’d have no surprises, and then noted the position of the sun. “We can’t make it to the ranch before dark. There are already people inside there. They probably have guns, and water—”

  “And a bathroom,” Cooper muttered.

  Bryce nodded. “We have none of those. We’re going in there. We just have to find a way to distract them long enough to get inside.”

  “You guys get out here. I’ll drive past them and lure them away, ditch the Bug, hide, and then double back.”

  Bryce shook his head. “I’ll do it.”

  “Look!” Ashley said.

  The woman was trying to open the window, but was having trouble. Suddenly it opened, and she held back her children, shielding them for a moment until she recognized whoever was standing on the other side. A tall, scruffy man ducked through the window, and helped the mother and children inside. He walked over to the edge and took a look at the frantic pack below. They were clamoring over each other, trying to get at the people on the roof.

  “Look at them. They can’t climb,” I said, surprised.

  Bryce stepped out of the Bug and waved his arms. “Hey!” he yelled.

  “What the hell are you doing? What if he shoots at us?” Cooper said.

  “Help us!” Bryce said, ignoring Cooper.

  The man on the roof signaled for us to come around to the backside of the church, and then pointed at his gun.

  “He’s going to cover us. Let’s go. Let’s go!” Bryce said, getting back in.

  Without hesitation, I slammed my foot against the accelerator, and the Bug surged forward. Within moments, we were bouncing across the street and into the church lawn. The man held up his hand, palm out, and then turned to point, directing us.

  I parked the Bug in the back of the church, and then jumped out, pulling up my seat for Ashley. “Go. Go!” I said, watching every undead thing on the side of the church turn in our direction and begin their approach.

  The back door of the church opened, revealing the man from the roof. He turned the bolt lock as soon the last of us was inside. The room was full of scared people, the mother and her children, another woman, two other little boys, and five men: the man that saved us, two middle-aged men, and two older men.

  “Thank you so much,” I said to the man who let us in. “We needed a place to stay for the night.”

  “Skeeter McGee,” he said, holding out his hand. I shook it, and he nodded to Cooper, Bryce, and Ashley, and then turned to one of the middle-aged men. “Gary, we’re going to have to nail the boards back up on the door upstairs. Just one board this time.”

  Gary nodded, and then turned, disappearing down a dark hall. His footsteps echoed back into the kitchen, and then the hammering started.

  Everyone in the room traded glances, and then Skeeter tended to a woman on the floor. She looked near death, and a white, foamlike drool was dripping from the side of her mouth to the blanket she was lying on.

  “Was Annabelle . . . ?” the older woman said.

  “Not yet,” Skeeter answered.

  “That’s good news. Maybe Jill won’t come back as one of those things. Or maybe she’ll get better. We just don’t know, Skeeter. Please don’t do anything rash.”

  “You don’t have to bullshit me, Doris,” he told her. He ran his large fingers through Jil
l’s damp, blond hair, and whispered something in her ear.

  Doris looked at us. “Bless your hearts. You from Anderson?”

  “We go to the university in Greenville. My father has a ranch northwest of here. We didn’t really want to travel after dark.”

  Doris nodded with understanding. “Can’t say I blame you. You kids want some water?” she asked, already making her way to the refrigerator. She handed us all bottles of water, and we wasted no time tipping our bottles back.

  “Your father has a ranch close to here?” Skeeter asked.

  Ashley smiled. “Red Hill Ranch.”

  Skeeter nodded. “I’ve hunted over there. That’ll be a good place for you.”

  Gary returned from the hallway, hammer in hand.

  Everyone settled in as best they could. Doris comforted the mother and her children, Skeeter alternated between checking on his wife and checking the windows in the other room. They all gasped and traded glances when a new person was seen ambling around outside with the rest. Fairview was a tiny town. It made sense that they all knew each other. I wondered who the woman on the floor was to Skeeter, and what her life was like before she was bitten. Even with her sweaty, bluish skin, and the dark around her eyes, it was obvious that she was beautiful.

  The man they called Bob pointed to the next room. “The sanctuary is in there. Plenty of places to sit.”

  “Thank you,” I said, accepting his invitation.

  Two more women, quite a bit older, were seated in pews. I chose one in the front and sat nearest the center aisle, farthest away from the broken windows. Even if they were boarded, hearing the dead ones trying to get in was unnerving.

  Bryce sat on one side of me, Ashley on the other. Cooper sat beside my sister, and took her hand in his. We all let out a collective sigh of relief.

  I let my head rest against Bryce’s shoulder, and he rested his head against mine. After everything we’d seen, and everything we’d been through, I didn’t think I would be able to sleep, but the longer I sat on the hard, cold, wooden pew, the more comfortable I became—and the harder it was to keep my eyes open. I shifted, prompting Bryce to turn his head slightly to kiss my temple.

  “It’s okay. Go to sleep. We’re safe now.”

  “It’s never going to be safe again,” I whispered, trying not to let the words trigger more tears.

  “Safe enough to get some rest,” he whispered back. “Now close your eyes, Miranda. We’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

  “Once we get to Red Hill, we’ll be all right, right?”

  “Your dad is probably there now, scared to death, wondering where you are. He’s going to be so happy to see you and your sister. We’ll be far away from everything, with a stocked pantry and your dad’s crazy gun collection. We’re going to be just fine.”

  With his words, I let my eyes close, and the heaviness of sleep engulf me.

  Chapter Eleven

  Scarlet

  The houses surrounding Andrew’s were dark and abandoned like the others. I walked across the street, devoid of cars and people. The incline of Andrew’s driveway made me feel like I was trudging up a steep mountain face after the stretch I’d just sprinted. Careful not to let my shoes crunch too loudly against the gravel beneath them, I took gentle steps and paused at the gate. It whined as I pushed through it, and I slowly walked the ten steps or so to Andrew’s back door. I’d only walked this patch of earth a handful of times since Andrew had moved in.

  After the divorce, he could no longer afford the two-story fixer-upper we’d purchased in the next town over and moved to the converted two-bedroom, former duplex. It was literally on the wrong side of the tracks, nestled deep in the west side of Anderson, where a meth-lab raid was not uncommon.

  Andrew was humbled by the move and the divorce, and he surprised us all during his visitation weekends. Slowly the yelling stopped. The bullying was replaced with short bursts of mild annoyance or long sighs. I wasn’t sure if being away from the girls for most of the month helped to quell his rages, or if it was my absence that offered him peace.

  I climbed the two steps to Andrew’s back door, and tapped on the Plexiglas on the top half of the door. A curtain hid the inside from view. I tapped again, then tried to turn the knob. It was locked.

  My heart pounded so hard in anticipation that I could feel it in my throat.

  The windows on each side of the house and the one beside the front door were locked, too. I slapped the dining room window with my hand. “Andrew! Jenna! Halle? It’s Mommy! Are you here?”

  Nothing.

  I pressed my ear to the glass and listened. The silence triggered tears, and my bottom lip quivered. I leaned in harder, the coldness of the window offsetting the burning sensation the pressure ignited throughout my ear. My eyes clenched shut as I silently begged someone inside to relieve my fears.

  Finally, I pulled away from the window, looking down the street. A tear welled up and broke free, sliding down my cheek. I wiped it, and as I did, my elbow bumped into the glass. Without a second thought, I reared back and let my elbow make contact with the glass a second time, the corner of my bones an extension of all of the frustration and fear pulsing through my body. The window shattered. It wasn’t as loud as I thought it would be. Large chunks broke off, some falling inside the dining room, and some at my feet.

  “Andrew?” I whispered loudly.

  After pulling myself inside, I searched every room, every closet, every corner of the house. Something wasn’t right, though. The girls’ jackets weren’t crumpled on the floor, their drawers weren’t cracked open, and none of Halle’s drawings were scattered on the table. They had never come home. They must have been at the town meeting with the governor when the outbreak happened. They could be trapped inside a shelter with the governor, or Andrew could have run with them. They could be anywhere.

  “Goddamnit,” I said, louder than I’d spoken in hours. “Goddamnit!” I screamed. I picked up Andrew’s dining room chair and launched it across the room, and then lost my balance, falling to my knees. “No,” I cried, crumpling into a ball on the floor. I saw their little faces, innocent and frightened, wondering where I was and if I was safe, just as I was wondering about them. I couldn’t do this if I wasn’t with them. I needed to see Jenna roll her eyes at me again, and for Halle to interrupt me. They needed me to tell them that everything would be okay. We couldn’t survive the end of the world without each other. I didn’t want to. Sobs built up and released with such ferocity that my entire body shook. Certainly someone would hear me, my screaming and bawling was probably the only sound that could be heard in the entire godforsaken town.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, letting the guilt and despair wash over me. I leaned over and let my forehead and arms rest against the carpet; my hands clasped together above my head. Before long, extreme exhaustion pulled and tugged on my consciousness like I’d never felt before. The sobbing quieted, and within moments, I fell into a vast sea of darkness. The depths surrounded me on all sides, and eventually I was swallowed up by it, warm and calm.

  Tornado sirens. Odd. I didn’t remember the meteorologist mentioning a storm that morning. It wasn’t a test. They tested at noon every Thursday, and today was . . . I wasn’t sure what day it was.

  The first thing I noticed when my eyes peeled open was baseboard, and the way the carpet was newer closer to the wall than farther out where people walked. I used to notice those things when I was a child, when I spent more time on the floor: playing, watching television, being bored. I spent so much of my childhood on the floor. As an adult, I couldn’t remember the last time I had this view. But the carpet between my fingers wasn’t mine.

  My eyes burned. Tears had washed all of my mascara in and out of my eyes, leaving them dry and on fire. The second I remembered why I’d been crying, my head popped up, and I took a quick glance around the dark room. The tornado sirens were blaring. They could be malfunctioning, or there had been a breach.

  On my hands and knees,
I quickly made my way to Andrew’s front door. The streets were still empty, but the sirens continued to wail. The church in Fairview crossed my mind, and I prayed the sirens would stop. The noise would draw every shuffler for miles.

  I pulled open the wooden door, and pressed the side of my face against the glass of the storm door. My breath blew moist, visible air in quickly disappearing puffs, clouding my view. When I saw the first person running down the street, intermittently exposed by the street lamps, the breaths became a single gasp.

  She was older, maybe in her fifties, but she was alive. Even from a block away, I could see the horror in her eyes. A few seconds later two men—one holding a child—and a woman appeared before they slipped into darkness again. Then five more, and then a dozen. Men, women, and children. At least fifty had passed before I spotted the first shuffler. I could only make him out because he happened to take someone down just under the street lamp. Not long after, several more shufflers became part of the crowd. The screaming slowly built from one or two intermittent cries to full-blown panic. The crowd seemed to spread out, but they were all coming from the same place; from wherever they were held with the governor, maybe. It seemed like the entire town was in the street, running for their lives. My eyes squinted, desperately searching for Andrew and the girls, hoping they would turn down his street from the main road any minute, but as the river of people thinned out, I began to lose hope.

  Tears threatened to moisten my eyes once again, but instead I let anger take control. The helplessness I felt at not being able to get to my children sent me into a rage. I ran to Andrew’s bedroom and searched his closet. He kept a hunting rifle and a 9mm. Just in case he happened to come back here, I left the rifle and grabbed a backpack from the back, filling it with ammo. My movements were clumsy, both from the adrenaline pumping through my body, and because I hadn’t held a gun since before my divorce. I took a few cans of food. The can opener was in the silverware drawer, but I left it, hopeful that Andrew would remember to pack it if he wasn’t already on the road. I also took a plastic reusable water bottle.