by Tim Yingling
“We’ll talk in a minute, Kate,” I said to her. To Damien: “We’ll leave later in the afternoon. That will give us some time to gather a few things.”
Damien couldn’t get a word in. I took Kate gently by the elbow, leading her away from the Oval Office.
As we walked through the White House, I noticed everything seemed to be more of a hustle and bustle. It wasn’t chaotic, per se, but it was almost there. The faithful’s that I could hear turned on Elizabeth even before they were asked to. The ones who didn’t want to change were told that was okay. They would be sent out into the world. Out of the four I heard, only one said fine. Lacey was abruptly escorted out of the White House. I stopped to see what would happen.
It took her escort to lead her to the hole in the wall five minutes. It shouldn’t have, but she struggled the entire way. At the hole, Lacey’s escort shoved her over the rubble. When she tried to come back in, the gun in her face stopped her. The escort waited for Lacey to get out of there before he moved back to the house. I didn’t see Lacey again.
Kate said to me, “Is that why you are trying to get me out of here? So I won’t be subject to these types of actions.”
I shook my head.
“The reason I am trying to get you out of here was to get you back to your family.”
“And yet, two days ago, you were going to leave me at a strangers house.”
I wasn’t ignorant to the fact that Stone had caught up with us. I ignored him for the time being. I needed to talk to Kate.
“I was going to leave you there because you were tired. Just like I was and currently am. But now we can get to your place of residence faster. Are you going to give up the chance to get back to your family?”
She shook her head. I looked to Stone. No question was necessary. He knew what I wanted to ask.
“We’ll let you all go after lunch if that’s okay.”
“That’s fine.”
“I’m sorry this all happened. I wasn’t expecting something like this. I figured that maybe if you…”
I put my hand up to stop him. “Don’t. There is no need. We both made mistakes in the last week. Nothing more needs to be said.” He gave off the impression of being relieved, but I could swear he wasn’t. He must have wanted to say more. But if he did, he may have gone to the point of convincing me to stay. I had to push it off. “Did you find Brad?”
“He got out in the raid. Chances are he jumped into the Chesapeake and tried to swim away from here.”
I nodded, raising my arm to point at the hole in the wall. “You may want to get men on that for the time being. The zombies more than likely heard the explosion, and the chopper, and are on their way here right now.”
It was his turn to nod and raise his arm. It was just his forearm. He was offering his hand to me. I took it. It felt good to not have him as an enemy anymore. In truth, he never saw me as an enemy. If he would have only told us what was going on in the first place then none of this would have happened. At least that’s the way I see it. He probably does as well, but I will never ask him. Mostly because, this time, I don’t plan on ever seeing him again, but also because Kate and I would be leaving in a few hours.
I motioned for Kate to go up the stairs.
“What are we going up there for?”
I walked to the side and behind her. “There is a room I stayed in up there. I want to get a little more sleep before we take off later.”
“Shouldn’t we let the pilot know?”
“Stone will take care of that.”
She looked over my head to him. I don’t know what she saw and didn’t care. I was tired. It was nine in the morning. It didn’t feel like everything that happened in the morning took four hours, but it did. Most of it was flying for me. Then the rest of it was trying to get safely into the White House. It was time for me to get sleep.
I didn’t know what happened to her down in the basement, but Kate looked as if she needed some sleep as well.
I showed her to the Lincoln bedroom, giving her Lacey’s old room seeing as how she won’t be around much longer. I didn’t make it back to the bed I was going to sleep in before I heard Kate’s snores. It didn’t take me much longer to fall asleep.
* * * *
Thursday, 30 June 2016 (Night)
Dixonville, PA
600 Miles to Pilgrim, Indiana (294 Miles to Commerce, WV)
It didn’t take us too long to get to Kate’s hometown. We arrived around 1430. I wanted to take off again in the next hour. That would have given Curtis plenty of time to refuel the chopper with enough fuel to get us to Commerce. We didn’t use that much fuel, but it was better safe than sorry in this situation.
I left Curtis, Glenn, and Drew with the Black Hawk as I escorted Kate back to her parent’s house.
You’re probably wondering what happened with Tom. Well, Tom didn’t want to come with us. I asked, but he said no. I was fine with that. He had Damien there with him. Tom would be fine in D.C.
I had to explain that to Kate as we walked to her house.
The only safe spot we could land was four miles away from her parent’s place. There went the one hour turn around. So, we had plenty of time to discuss it. Mostly, she wished she could have been part of the decision on that. She wanted to keep Tom around. I didn’t push the matter. She felt safe with him, as well as me, but safer with both of us around.
The last thing I explained to her (and I wished I didn’t because of what we found) was that it didn’t matter. Even if Tom came with us, she was still staying in Pennsylvania. Tom would be dropped off in Lexington and I was going to Indiana. We would be separated anyway.
When we got to her house, I felt horrible.
We should have known it was going to be bad when we saw the front door standing open.
The house wasn’t a bad house for the area it was in. It was one of the bigger houses out of the ones I saw. The best way I could describe it was that it looked like the house from the first Night of the Living Dead. It looked like, but not was. It wasn’t a farmhouse, but close. Instead of there being half a porch, the porch extended the entire front of the house and was enclosed. Someone already put up the summer screens to keep the porch cool. The fan on the porch barely moved, only the wind pushed it.
I should’ve warned her before we got closer. I couldn’t explain it, but once we were in sight distance of the house, I could just tell something was off. The house didn’t look like the other houses that looked abandoned. Kate’s house looked like death had come to it. Not just a little, but like the entire evil that surrounded her town had decided her house was the place to be.
The door being open only added to the image.
“Mom! Dad!” Kate screamed from still a hundred yards away.
She took off in a slow run. I had to reach up as fast as I could to stop her. I just barely managed to get my hand on her arm. She tried to pull away until I said something.
“Kate, stop. Something is wrong here.”
She stopped for one second. What I said to her made her want to run even faster. She pulled free of my grip, this time sprinting instead of jogging. I had to sprint myself to beat her to the screen door.
I didn’t.
By the time I made it to the steps, she was already through the screen door and halfway across the porch. I was able to make it onto the porch by the time she entered the house. That was the one good thing about it all.
Kate didn’t make it two steps into the house before she realized what was in there.
She backed out of the house followed by a woman who, if it wasn’t for her hunched over stature and shamble of a walk, had the same height and build as Kate. The features even kind of looked like Kate, just older and paler. Kate herself was pale enough, but the zombie put her to shame. I know for a fact it wasn’t because of her being a zombie. I have seen enough of them over the last couple of weeks to know they don’t get pale just by being a zombie. It had to be because she was in the house for so long.
There was one spot on the zombie’s face that wasn’t pale. That being her chin. A black spot stood out, pronounced. Most would probably think it was bile from its stomach. I knew it for what it was. That was dried blood. It had been awhile since it fed. And it was hungry. You could tell just by looking in its eyes. The thing was going to feed on its former daughter.
I didn’t hesitate. Once it was on the porch I raised my rifle and put one round in its forehead. Of course, the thing didn’t stop moving forward. I momentarily lapsed back into what I had learned from entertainment. The next time I fired I took out its knees. The thing hit the floor, but kept crawling toward Kate.
Kate was out of the way. She moved off down the porch after the first time I fired. I don’t know why the zombie didn’t come after me, but I wasn’t going to let it get to Kate.
It didn’t crawl that fast. Stepping on its back made it stop altogether. I pulled the machete from my back. I was ready to put the machete through the zombie’s neck when Kate finally said something.
“Don’t do it,” she said. Her voice was level. There was no fear, no sorrow, no pain. There was no emotion to her whatsoever. I feared for Kate. Not because I was standing on the back of something that used to be her mother, but because if she had no emotion she was one step closer to being a zombie herself.
There was only one thing I could do. Try to talk her into letting me do it. But I wouldn’t let the zombie crawl around. I kept my foot on its back for good measure.
“Kate, I hope you don’t think this thing is still your mother. I know it looks like her, but it’s not. It is a zombie. And we have to take care of that fact. Let me do this so you don’t have to.”
She stood. Her look was the same as her voice with one added feature. Tears were in her eyes. They didn’t move out or down, they stayed in the sockets. They didn’t even look like sad tears to me. I can’t even explain what they looked like. There was a blackness to them, that’s the best way to say it.
“I know it’s not my mother. Just like the one I saw upstairs for a brief second wasn’t my father. I’m not saying don’t kill them. I’m saying I have to be the one to do it.”
I didn’t want her to. I couldn’t let her. It was one thing to kill an anonymous zombie, but another to kill one you know. I haven’t had to do it personally, but I could only imagine what it would feel like.
It didn’t matter. I was going to let her anyway. She wants to do it herself. Who am I to stand in the way of that?
I handed her the machete. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Will you kill your wife and kids if they are turned?”
I took no time to consider the question. “In a heartbeat. They would already be dead.”
She put a chill through me with the next thing she said. “Then get the fuck out of my way.”
The coldness was what hurt the most. I don’t think she will ever be the same again.
Walking away from her was the hardest part of our journey so far. I wasn’t walking away altogether. She would join me from there on out, but I just had to give her some space. I didn’t see what she did. I didn’t want to. Just like I wouldn’t want her to see me take care of my own family.
I heard the thing let out one of the blood-curdling shrieks I hadn’t heard in eight days. I can’t wait till I never have to hear that noise again.
Kate wasn’t on the porch anymore when I turned around. I thought about going after her, but decided against it. She would have to do it all on her own.
A tree that offered plenty of shade was about two hundred yards from the house. It would be a good place for me to sit while she took care of her business. I also needed to radio Curtis and let him know what the situation was.
It had to be ten degrees cooler under the willow tree. I didn’t even want to waste my water right there. I drank only a little. I know I should have already called Curtis, but I waited an additional five minutes. I figured Kate should be done by then. Then I could let Curtis know on the walk home.
After the first five minutes passed, I pulled the radio from my FLC. Kate emerged from the house as I was about to talk. I didn’t drop the radio, but simply moved it away from my mouth. She saw me under the tree, offering me all of her fingers. Ten minutes is what she wants, then ten minutes is what I will give her. I did notice she didn’t have the machete anymore. I wasn’t going to argue with her logic.
She walked to the back of the house as I radioed Curtis.
“Chicago, this is Pilgrim.”
“Go ahead, Pilgrim.”
I hesitated. I hardly ever do that, but I did. Kate carried two fuel cans back into the house. She was going to do what I did to the house in South Carolina. It was truly the only way to stop them.
“I’m listening, Pilgrim.”
“Sorry. Uh, we’re both coming back. I’m hoping you know the reason why.”
This time it was Curtis’ turn to pause. I waited.
“Take your time. If she wants to stay there the night, that’s fine. We’ll work around it.”
“We probably were. I’ll let you know.”
Curtis didn’t say anything else. He was most likely getting Glenn and Drew into a building to hunker down for the night. Kate and I were probably going to stay in a barn I saw close by on the walk over. It still wasn’t that late. We would be able to make it back to the chopper by nightfall, but I didn’t want her walking in the condition she was in. She needed sleep to clear her head, again.
For the next five minutes, I only thought about ways to console her. In those five long minutes, I could not come up with a single fucking thing. I know how to console soldiers when they lose a friend. But when it came to talking to the family members of said soldiers I don’t talk to them. I always feel that I let the family down if I lost someone. Right now I didn’t feel that I let Kate’s family down, but Kate herself. I wanted to get her to her family before something like this happened. I failed her and I wasn’t going to let her know about it.
She snuck up on me. It’s difficult to do that, but she did.
“I’m ready to go,” she said. The coldness still in her voice.
I looked up. It seemed brighter to me. Sure, the sun still had about an hour left, but the day was now brighter. The fire saw to that. As I stood, it wasn’t that hard to look over her head at the burning building. The top of her head only came up to my mid-chest. She did a good job with getting the blaze going. The roof had already fallen into the house. The good news was I didn’t hear any of the things squealing.
“I saw a barn about half a mile back. We’ll stay there tonight.”
She only nodded and began to walk. I stopped her before we exited the tree.
“Kate, this is not anyone’s fault. I know I don’t have a chance of my family surviving either. But I want to be there to be the one to take care of them. We will stay here as long you want to grieve.”
She didn’t say anything at first. The hurt was probably too great inside her. She needed to let what I said sink into her mind. It was a lot to comprehend. Not just her having to kill her family, but also what happened at the White House.
Finally, she said, “I don’t need to grieve. I just need to keep moving.”
I saw this type of reaction in soldiers before. Luckily, this one I knew how to deal with.
“I’ll let you deal with it until you decide you need help. But we’re staying at the barn tonight.”
“Fine.”
This time I didn’t stop her. It took us ten minutes to get to the barn. The padlock on the outside of the barn wasn’t encouraging. The painted black windows were even more disheartening.
“I don’t think we should stay here,” she said.
“Do you know who this place belongs to?”
“Yes.”
I looked at the house. No light came from there either. That wasn’t too surprising. I kind of figured the power would be out in these parts of the country anyway. It had been almost two months since the start of the outbreak.
I’m surprised at how long the power had been on in the first place.
Kate followed my gaze. “I don’t think we should go in there either. We should just leave and find someplace else to stay.”
“Yeah.”
We walked, but didn’t find any other place to stay. After two miles I decided we should just head back to the helicopter. It was empty as well.
“Chicago, this is Pilgrim.”
“Thought you all were going to stay back there.”
“Decided against it. Where do we go?”
“Turn around.”
I did as instructed. A light flashed in an apartment building. Kate and I walked to it. As we did, something happened that I wish didn’t.
The explosion ricocheted off the foothills. It was hard to tell where it originated. The thing that helped us figure out where it did originate from was the light on the darkening sky. The explosion came from the east, almost four miles from where we were. If I had to guess, I would say it was three miles and three-quarters. That’s right, the barn where Kate and I were going to sleep that night.
At least, that’s what I thought.
We made it into the apartment building. Curtis was at the door to greet us.
“What the shit was that?” he asked as he re-barricaded the door.
I looked at our dark quarters for the night. There was a smell in the building. It smelled almost as bad as the smell at Kate’s place. Not quite there yet. If there were zombies inside the building, Curtis and his crew probably already took care of them.
“We don’t know what it was,” Kate said. She still hadn’t come around from the shock she received at her parent’s place. It would be another couple of days before that happened.
I said, “If I had to guess, it was probably the barn we were going to stay in tonight.”
The white of Kate’s eyes was all I could make out in the dark. They told me her eyes were locked on mine. The question didn’t need to be spoken between the two of us. She wanted to know why I thought that.
I answered only to her, even though Curtis did listen to my reasoning.