by Susan Lowry
“Come and take a look at our new home,” she called through the window.
“What on earth?” Kate staggered to her feet. “Do you expect me to drive that thing?”
“Don't worry, if I can do it, so can you. “It's cool in here,” Sarah cheered. “Really nice air-conditioning. Check it out you two!”
Both of them climbed inside and Travis immediately bounced onto the nicely upholstered passenger seat and swivelled it around to face the back.
“This baby is going to get us to our real home!” Sarah announced, while Kate and Travis went to explore.
“We've got running water, a shower, and a flush toilet,” Kate cheered. “I think I'm going to take a shower. Would you like to go next Travis?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Red Rain
(July 30th, Year One, PA)
Jack carried his longboard from the grove of palm trees down to the shoreline. He paused for a moment in the salty breeze to survey the curling waves further out, determining their size and power. The sea rushed across the sand, surrendering small treasures boiled up from its depths. A few sandpipers skittered along the edge searching for a meal.
He fastened a tether from the tail end of the board to his trailer foot — then headed out into the foaming, briny waves. His arms, having regained their strength, propelled him and the board swiftly and steadily out to sea. Far from the shore Jack floated over the swells, while three gulls circled above him squawking. He peered into the depths with the water slapping against him, and waited.
Within minutes a pod of dolphins surfaced and Jack laughed as they began their usual antics. They leapt out of the dark depths in unison, sailing high above the waves, then nose-diving back into the water ahead of him. Curving around his board they repeated their gymnastics creating a spectacle for his and their amusement. Jack felt almost fulfilled with this daily routine.
When the dolphins tired of this game, and their attraction to something new made them swim away, Jack thrust his board through the water matching the speed of an approaching wave. At the right moment he stood, the muscles taut in his shoulders, stretched-out arms, thighs and calves, as he turned three or four times back and forth along the wave's crest.
Kate was nauseous, still unable to keep much food down, and beside herself with exhaustion. Sitting in the passenger seat while Sarah drove the motorhome, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from obsessing about Jack. His baby was inside her, just beginning to develop. How could she have allowed herself to have conceived a child with such an evil person — a convicted felon?
She tried to focus on the scenery, but the severe lack of colour was nothing to look at, it was actually quite discouraging. The few sparse patches of trees in the area needed a good drenching. Everything was dust and parched soil. The fields that were ploughed, ready to be cultivated with cotton seed, had already begun to grow wild, and eventually the winds and the rains would complete the task.
As the motorhome droned along the half-empty expressway on the outskirts of town, she tried to record the panorama in her head, too tired to retrieve her camera as she'd planned or even to enter the details in her notebook. She looked back at Travis, and smiled, truly relieved to have him safe with them now. That gave her the comfort she needed to get through this.
He was a delightful child. All morning he'd kept his nose buried in a book – fortunately the owners of the RV had kept a small library. But what Jack had done to her had affected her deeply. She felt completely out of commission. What she needed was closure, an explanation as to why a human being would do such terrible things.
If she couldn't speak to Jack telepathically, then she wished she could phone him and demand an explanation for all that he’d done. She wished she could scream in his ear until he was deaf and then strangle him. Thinking about him made her want to punch something. Such pent-up anger was zapping her energy she guessed and she was afraid it was going to affect the baby. She could not even relax enough to fall asleep.
Then, a fine mist began to form on the windshield and coat the hot, wavering pavement, turning it a darker, redder shade. Kate watched the drops grow bigger and denser and she stared at them in disbelief.
“What is that?!”
Thick, red blobs were hitting the windows and splashing down on everything around them. Sarah flicked on the windshield wipers which smeared red streaks across the glass, tinting the world beyond, the shade of blood.
“Look at that!” exclaimed Sarah.
“What is it?”
Red globules began to bounce off the road and clang against the roof and Travis was drawn from of his book.
“It's raining blood!” Sarah said. “Look. It's like a scene from a horror movie!”
Both Sarah and Kate turned to check on Travis. He seemed unscathed and Sarah turned her green eyes back to the road immediately wrinkling her forehead in despair.
“Shit, I can't see in this crap,” she cried, jamming her foot hard on the brake pedal causing the monstrous vehicle to swing sideways, the tires sliding across the glazed asphalt.
“Sarah! Easy on the — jeez, you’re going to roll this thing!!!” Kate screamed.
In what seemed like slow motion the RV’s back end began to swing in the opposite direction, and as Sarah jerked the wheel to try to correct the skid, they continued to skate further along the red slime. Sarah, realizing she was no longer in control, let out a scream and Kate watched in horror as the motorhome finally came to a screeching halt, perpendicular to the highway.
“Oh my God Sarah!” Kate gasped. “What are you trying to do to us? I thought you said you could handle this thing!”
Sarah clasped her palms over her cheeks, closed her eyes and blew the air out her mouth with a loud whooshing sound. Then she rested her head on the wheel. “Fuck! My bad.”
“What on earth do you think you are doing Sarah?” Kate muttered after she’d caught her breath.
Sarah sat up and sighed again. “Sorry,” she said, drumming her long slender fingers on the wheel and glancing over at Kate nervously. “I have no experience driving in blood rain.”
“And would you please watch your language? We have a child on board!”
Sarah glanced behind her. Kate turned as well. The boy’s eyes met Kate’s for a second and then he dove into his book. Everyone kept silent. Sarah pursed her lips and continued rapping on the wheel as the rain began to pound heavily on the roof.
“Blood rain,” she asserted.
“What on earth is that?”
“It's a rare thing I once learned about. Do you want some chips hon? Travis?”
Both declined, shaking their heads.
“How about a drink?”
“Sarah, what are you talking about… blood rain?” Kate snipped.
“Creatures from outer space,” Sarah explained, gathering a handful of salt and vinegar potato chips. She continued speaking with a full mouth. “They enter our planet on meteorites. You know, microbes or something like that. And they come down in the rain just like that.”
She paused, and glanced over at Kate. “They can't hurt you or anything.”
Kate noted the boy’s sober gaze. He was listening intently.
“Well I’m — I don't think they even have any DNA — that wasn't clear in the video I watched. It was a while ago,” Sarah exclaimed.
“Seems utterly absurd. Don't you think Travis?” Kate laughed.
The boy’s eyes appeared to expand as he nodded.
“This was from a reputable scientist.” Sarah's tone revealed hurt feelings. “It is a known fact that seeds can enter our world from space and if the environment is right they grow. That could be how life started on earth in the first place.”
Kate laughed. “Do you honestly believe that's what’s going on right now?”
“I'm just saying it's possible,” Sarah shrugged.
“If you say so.” Kate folded her arms and let her head rest against the window; suddenly, she was too tired to hold it upright, t
oo tired to argue, and definitely too tired to contemplate alien-laced rain. She put her seat back and closed her eyes.
“Well I'm sorry that I can't prove it. I'm not making things up as I go along you know. I wish I had the internet to show you the video. Anyway, it's probably just dust the rain picked up. Obviously there's been a drought.”
“Why not put your seat down and have a rest Sarah,” Kate said with a heavy sigh. “You obviously can’t drive in this.”
Travis went into the fridge, took out some milk and brought it over to Kate.
“Thank you sweetie, are you feeling okay? Sarah gave us a bit of a scare, didn’t she?” Travis indicated yes with a tilt of his head, and returned to his book.
They all remained quiet for a while. For a moment the red rain stopped altogether and a fly could be heard buzzing behind them. Kate attempted to drink her milk but only bubbles entered the straw, which must have had a hole in it. Sarah glanced sideways at her.
Kate didn't want to upset anyone – especially poor Travis who had barely gotten to know them and had probably just been traumatized all over again thanks to Sarah – but a torrent of emotions were finding their way to the surface and she didn't know what to do with them. She folded the straw back and forth in frustration and eyed Sarah, who was in a reclined position now.
“Any more horror stories?” she said sarcastically.
“Just chill Kate.”
“You nearly killed us. As if we needed more excitement in our lives. Poor Travis must be scared to death.” But her words dissolved into a chain of sobs as the rain pounded on the roof.
Sarah reached over and took Kate’s hand. “I know there's a lot more going on than just hormones sweetie. But it’s going to be okay. I’m really sorry I did that. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“I’m sorry too Sarah. I’m trying to pretend I'm on a vacation in this mobile home. But I can’t pretend that soon we won't have any food or medicine or anyone to help us. Oh my God Sarah — now we have children! And we are completely alone!”
***
When Jack crawled out of the ocean, the pain really hit and he howled like a wounded animal – but his cry was swallowed up by the roar of the sea and only the gulls were there to hear him. It was not the gaping wound that made him cry, but the added assault to his pride.
The Universe was going to punish him, no matter what he did. With clenched teeth he slid through the sand fully aware from his medical perspective that time was of the essence.
He glared back at the gloating waters. “God-damned shark. Fuck you, bastard!!!”
His drenched hair brushed his shoulders in dark, wavy strands which hung over his bearded face as he crawled through the sand to his beach towel. He clambered on top and loosened the tourniquet made from the Velcro tether that had kept his surfboard attached to his leg, giving the compressed tissue a moment to breathe.
He poured clean water from an unopened drinking bottle over the bite and examine the damage, careful not to touch the wound — though infection was inevitable. The foul teeth of the shark and the murky sea were filled with contaminants. Then fastening his t-shirt, which was crumpled on the towel, tightly around the calf, he rested for a moment.
The longboard had taken the impact of the shark’s jaws, saving his leg from being severed, and because the bottom teeth had sunk well into the fibreglass, the flesh of his calf was not ripped away; but still they had sunk deep. Jack had kicked the fish in the snout just in time.
Sometimes nuggets of truth surfaced in Jack's head. For instance, at this very moment as blood dripped onto his towel and he regretted not having another pair of hands to help him, he knew exactly why he had chased Kate away. And he'd done an excellent job of convincing her of his unworthiness.
But the truth that could really have saved him flashed like gold for only a brief moment, giving him just a tiny glimpse of it as he stared at his gaping wound – then it dove back into his subconscious, lost in a chaos of suppressed memories.
***
Kate was grateful for the consoling words Sarah was giving her. She was almost grateful for the scare of their near accident, which had started the flood of tears in the first place — she’d desperately needed a release. Now that it was out of her system she felt so much better. To think all those years had passed without her dear, caring Sarah. She had missed out on so much time with her.
Sarah was embracing her chance to provide solace and, even now that Kate had stopped crying, she continued to assure her. “There are others out there Kate; we’ve just been too preoccupied to work on contacting them. Just wait until we’re settled. Hell, all we need is a little stability in our lives — that’s all.”
Kate blew her nose and then glanced back at Travis who’d remained on the rear bunk with his head buried in his book. Her heart sunk. She got up from the passenger seat, went over to the child, and sat beside him. “The Philosopher’s Stone,” she said. “It’s one of my favourites. Do you mind if I read it to you?”
Travis shook his head and handed her the book. Soon after she started, he leaned on her shoulder, staring ahead of him with a far-away gaze. He stayed that way until Sarah decided it was time to eat.
The strange blood rain continued almost non-stop throughout the evening. They prepared dinner on the gas stove, washed up with warm water and spent the night parked sideways in the middle of the highway.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Hotel Parking Lot
(July 31st, Year One, PA)
Late the following morning Sarah fired up the RV and headed for the next gas station which was not far away. She came to a stop and Travis went out to help her fill the tank.
When Kate had finally made it to a hardware store back in her hometown, she had fastened an electric fuel pump to two hoses, one on either side; and wired the pump to a twelve volt battery. In case she couldn’t find an operable gas station all she’d needed to do was insert one hose into the tank of another vehicle, turn on the pump and the gas would quickly squirt out through the other hose into her empty tank.
She didn’t have a problem at most gas stations for a while but the grid was out pretty well everywhere now, and the pumps were useless. Instead of using them, they inserted the hose straight into the hold tank — fortunately the caps were rarely locked.
She sat up on her bunk; watching Travis so eager to learn as Sarah filled the tank, brought a smile to her face. She gazed down at her stomach thankful it was not queasy just yet and remembered how incredibly well she had felt during those weeks with Jack — not frail and ill like now.
“Okay Travis, good job!” Sarah enthused. “Are you ready for our next adventure?” Kate saw her ruffle his hair before they climbed inside.
Travis sat in the passenger seat, pulled a map from the glove compartment, and listened as Sarah showed him the route. They travelled for a while pleasantly serenaded by music from the surrounding speakers, but eventually there were too many of the dreaded corpses on the highway for Travis who quickly made his way back to Kate, his frightened gaze avoiding the outside.
She read to him until he fell asleep on her and then Kate gently guided him down onto the seat, covered him with a blanket, and finally walked forward.
“I don’t mind taking over for a while if you want. I’ve never driven anything like this before, but at least I have my driver’s license,” she teased.
Sarah, who seemed to be absorbed in the music, peered over at her. “Not unless you really want to sweetie,” she smiled. “Haven’t had this much fun for a long time.”
Relieved, Kate plopped into the passenger seat and secured her belt. When the music finished Sarah began to hum and tap on the wheel.
“I hope we’re right about this place,” she said. “But, if not, then, we’ll just move on. We’ve got lots of choices. We could go anywhere at all.”
Eventually they drove up into the hills, where the terrain went from dry and lifeless to a forested area with a refreshing dappling of lakes.
Sarah drove down a steep, winding road from the top of a small mountain, and then along a straight patch with green woodland on both sides of the highway.
They passed a large home that appeared to be mostly windows off in the woods, and then a tangle of crashed vehicles, with bits of metal and glass still spread over the pavement. And then, up ahead on the left, was the tall sign, Welcome to Moonstone Resort.
“There it is,” Sarah said, swinging the RV onto the side-road which took them deep into the woods. They rocked gently as the wheels traversed the furrowed route and the air was filled with earthy fragrances.
The hilly terrain curved and twisted, low-lying branches scraping the roof in places, lacy shadows gyrating as the motorhome disturbed the thick foliage. The route into Moonstone continued through the woods for a way and then gradually flattened as it led them out of the trees into the sunshine.
They drove through a strip bordered by a long line of grandfatherly elms, where on either side, grassy fields spread out towards distant fringes of forest. Glancing back, from her particular viewpoint, Kate could still see a small bit of the highway in the distance.
As they drove out into the brightness she filled her lungs with the reviving air and abruptly let it out. “Just what we need; that’s fertile land out there. Travis, come look ahead of us.”
They had climbed a mildly graded slope where beyond was a shimmering lake lined with cottages on the north shore. Peeking out unobtrusively, slightly back from the other dwellings was the hotel — elegant for such a rustic setting as far as Kate could tell from her viewpoint. Much of it was shrouded among variegated greenery.
“Travis, do you see that?” The boy leaned against Kate’s lap, his dark eyes dazzled as he gazed out attentively.