by L. T. Ryan
Were there more of those things crawling around city streets, feeding on others? Had most people become sick and died?
She had trouble figuring out how so many had been healthy at the camp. Based on the early reports she’d heard, ninety percent of them should have been sick or dead. Perhaps there was a part of the camp she hadn’t seen. A quarantine area where they stuck their dying. Perhaps they had been out there for a while, waiting for the event to happen. If so, they were too close to town as far as she was concerned.
Of course, where they were did her little good now, as she was, for all intents and purposes, lost in the woods.
The trees began to thin. Addison slowed the ATV to a crawl. There was a clearing ahead. She cut the engine and hopped off. Better to investigate on foot than head in full throttle, she figured. She walked toward the field. It appeared to have been mowed recently. The other clearings she had come across had been wild and unkempt. Not this one. Someone cared for this land.
Addison walked along the edge of the tree line. She studied the clearing for any movement. There was none. She stepped out from the cover the woods provided her. The area sloped upward. Not much, a small hill was all. She trekked to the crest, hunching over as she neared the top. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the two-story house about a hundred yards in the distance. There were two trucks in the driveway. Behind the house she saw three cows standing close together. She shielded her eyes and scanned for additional signs of life. Five minutes passed without her detecting any movement aside from the cows swatting their tails and reaching down for more grass.
She crawled down the hill, rose and ran to the ATV. She swung her leg over the seat while turning the key in the ignition. The ATV roared to life.
She wasn’t sure if a quiet approach would be better or not. She preferred to make herself known in case someone was there. The ATV would allow her to escape easier if the inhabitants of the home turned out to be less than friendly. Likewise, if they were accommodating people, they’d take note of the engine and perhaps come outside to see who their visitor was. Addison hardly considered herself appearing as a threat. Although, no one could afford to guess when it came to that these days.
She drove the vehicle up the hill, braking as she rode over the top. Again, she lifted her hand to her brow and studied the front of the house. Her idea had panned out. She saw two figures emerge from behind the house. They must have been out back working.
Addison lifted both arms in the air and waved them back and forth. The people at the house stopped. The trucks shielded them, though she could still see their heads. They appeared to be watching her. She started driving forward, slowly and cautiously.
Fifty yards in, she reached to the fence. Looking left, she spotted the open gate. One of the people at the house stepped out from behind the truck. It was a man, wearing a wide brimmed hat. He waved his arms in the air as she had done. She took this as a sign that he wanted her to approach.
“I’m coming in,” she shouted. She wasn’t sure whether or not he responded. The hum of the engine made it impossible to hear her own thoughts at times.
She drove toward the gate, looped around and stopped in front of the opening. She stopped there and waited.
The second person, a woman, had joined the man out in the open. They stood close to their vehicle. The man leaned against the front fender with his arms crossed over his chest. The woman stood a few feet away from him. Her head was angled toward the ground. Her hands were folded over one another, resting on the small of her belly.
Was she trying to signal that she was pregnant?
As Addison expected, no one trusted anyone in this new world. She cut the engine and waited for the ringing in her ears to dissipate. She stood, remaining on the bike, her hands in the air.
“I need help,” she shouted.
Neither the man nor the woman responded.
“A group of people took me prisoner. I escaped and managed to get one of their ATVs. I’ve been on the run all day. Can I rest here for a day or so? I don’t need much, and I mean you no harm. I just want to rest and catch up with what’s happened in the world.”
The woman turned around and headed toward the front door. The man straightened up, lifted both hands in the air and waved them.
Addison lowered herself onto the seat and reached for the key. She heard the faint hum of a vehicle in the distance. Was she close to the highway? She wasn’t sure if she had traveled far enough to be close to I-64. She questioned whether it would even be possible for any cars to be traveling on a major road at this point. They’d be littered with abandoned automobiles, dead bodies, and roving bands of thugs and those things.
She started forward. Dust kicked up around her. Gravel shot into the air, slapping against her lower leg. She stopped halfway between the gate and the house. Despite the passive nature of the people, she still didn’t know their intentions. She cut the engine and got off the ATV.
“Thanks for allowing me to come in,” she said, walking toward the man. The wind blew into her face. She almost gagged on the rotten smell. Raw sewage? “Do you have power? TV? Can you tell me what’s going on in the world?”
The guy dropped his hands to his side and looked up. For the first time, she got a glimpse of his face. It looked ashen, drawn. Addison stopped. The woman stepped off the front porch and began walking toward her. As she neared, Addison saw that she looked worse than the man. The skin around her eyes and her mouth had turned dark purple.
“I…I’m sorry,” Addison said. “I shouldn’t bother you folks.”
The guy groaned and started toward her. He moved slowly. It seemed as if he had trouble lifting his feet off the ground. The woman did not have the same problem. She walked at a moderate clip in Addison’s direction. From this distance, it was clear she was, or had been, pregnant.
Addison shuffled backward, hoping her retreat would calm the man and woman. They persisted forward, with the woman altering her course to join the man by his side. She wrapped her arm through his and pulled him forward. He stumbled and fell, bringing her to a knee. The woman screamed. In anger, perhaps. Annoyance, maybe. Addison saw a flash in her eyes.
It was at that point that Addison turned and began to run. She looked back at the couple as they rose, the woman first, then the man.
Addison felt pain shoot through her lower right leg. She fell forward, hitting the ground hard. Her shoulder exploded and rocks cut at the side of her face. Behind her, both the man and woman started screaming. It sounded unlike anything Addison had ever heard. She dug into the dirt and gravel driveway with her fingertips and pulled herself forward, managing to bring her knees up. Every time she moved it felt like a knife penetrated her ankle. She looked back. The man and woman gained on her.
“Stop, please.” Tears began to slide down her cheeks. She ignored the pain in her leg and continued to crawl forward.
The engine that had sounded so faint earlier, now roared just behind her field of view. Were there more of them?
The ATV stood fifteen feet away. Such a short distance had never felt so untraversable to her. She forced herself to her feet. The move nearly did her in. The first step she took on her right foot sent her careening forward. She reached out and caught herself. From that point, she hopped toward the vehicle.
Past the fence, headlights and a dark blue truck appeared. She glanced back. The man seemed entranced by the approaching vehicle. He stopped in place. The woman tugged at his arm, groaning loudly.
Addison fell onto the ATV. She lifted her left leg over the seat while holding the grips on the end of the handlebars. The other gave out. She cried out and fell to her knee. Her left leg remained atop the seat.
This seemed to get the woman’s attention. She let go of the man and started toward Addison, who could see the hate on the woman’s face.
The truck’s horn blared. This distracted the woman for a brief moment, which was enough time for Addison to pull herself up. She reached down and grabbed the ignit
ion key. Before she could turn it, the woman lunged at her, knocking her from the seat. Addison landed hard on her side. Unable to breathe, she clawed forward. Then it felt as though a rock had been hurled at her back. She squirmed to her side. The woman had jumped on her, perhaps knee first, and now straddled Addison’s torso.
“Get off me,” Addison shouted.
The woman leaned forward, mouth wide open. Addison reached up and wrapped her hands around the lady’s neck. No matter how hard she squeezed, it did little to deter the woman. It was as if the lady didn’t care that Addison strangled her.
The woman placed her hands on Addison’s arms near her elbows. Pain tore through her arms and her hands went limp. The woman smiled, leaned back, then lunged forward. Addison closed her eyes in preparation of her death.
Then, seemingly at once, a shot rang out, the woman went limp, and warm fluid coated Addison’s face. She heard another shot a few seconds later.
Addison struggled to free herself from the lifeless body that pinned her down. She saw a figure approach and stop a few feet away.
“Well, look what we got here,” he said.
Addison shook her head at the man with bandages wrapped around his head. “Please, don’t bring me back there.”
“Oh, you’ll be lucky if we do that. We’re only here for our ATV.” He walked up to her and placed the end of his rifle near her head. She felt the heat coming off the barrel. “We’re done with you.”
“Cut it out, Ralph.” Addison knew the voice. It was Phil. “She’s coming back with us.”
Ralph looked to the side, then back at her. He spit, hitting the ground near her face. He touched the scorching hot barrel of his rifle to her cheek and then walked away.
Chapter 30
Sean moved the workbench in front of the tunnel entrance. He grabbed the tarp lying next to the dead man and draped it over the bench. He scanned the garage. He saw nothing that gave his secret away. Unless you counted the dead guy in the middle of the room.
He closed the garage door and secured it with a chain and padlock. A tug on the door verified it was secure. He headed into the house. The kitchen was a bloody mess.
Hell, fifty percent of the house was.
He continued into the living room. Kathy’s corpse remained where he’d left it. He grabbed a broom and poked her with it. She didn’t respond. He didn’t expect her to. Still, he had to make sure.
Sean went to the window and checked the front of the property. It looked empty. He walked back to his wife’s body and knelt before it. She looked peaceful, much like the beings outside of the facility in Nigeria. Sean had never been much of a church-going man, but today he bowed his head and said a quick prayer asking for his wife to be allowed to move on. He considered taking her body out back, to the woods. By this point, he had enough of her blood on him that a bit more wouldn’t make a difference.
In the end, he left her. He had to get moving, and carrying her across the back would take too long.
He rose and walked toward the kitchen, stopping to take one last look at his wife. After a silent moment, he proceeded through the kitchen and out the back door.
It felt cooler out, probably due to the fact he was coated in sweat and fluid. Sean moved quickly, straight out from the house. He looked at the patch of woods. Again, he thought about placing Kathy’s body within it. He didn’t need to give her a burial. Nature could have her way with the corpse.
The woods rustled in front of him. He reached for his weapon. It wasn’t there. In his haste to leave the house, he’d left his HK MP7 inside. The weapon was instrumental to his survival. There was no way he’d leave it behind and let someone else gain control of it.
He operated under the assumption that time was short. Whoever had gotten away had likely seen enough that a witch hunt would ensue. Sean couldn’t blame them if they did come back. That didn’t mean he’d welcome them with open arms, either. He didn’t trust anyone. He couldn’t. They faced a situation unlike any other in history. He couldn’t count on people to act humanely. They’d come for Kathy, and stay for the house. And the longer they hung around, the more risk they posed.
He hurried through the house, grabbed his MP7, took one last look around, avoiding Kathy’s corpse, and headed toward the garage. He stopped at the door. Taking the tunnel from there would be safest. However, it would also prevent him from knowing whether or not someone had arrived. He turned and exited his home through the back door.
While crossing the field to the barn was dangerous, Sean knew he had an advantage. He could hear them coming before they would be able to see him. He hustled to the field. With no one around, he slowed his pace. The urge to hurry was present within him, but the need to make it to the barn safely was greater. One false step and he could find himself stuck, halfway to nowhere.
Sean felt calm, collected, and confident as he moved through the grass.
So it came as a surprise when the shot rang out behind him.
He dove forward, landing on a hard stretch of ground. He grimaced at the pain in his ribs. Hopefully nothing was broken. Men called out in the distance. Multiple truck engines revved. Even from this distance, he could hear gravel kicking up and bouncing off their undercarriages.
Another shot was fired. It hit the dirt nearby.
Sean began to crawl to his left, away from the barn and parallel with the house. There was only so much cover in the direction he traveled, but it would lead anyone who followed away from his daughter.
Once at the edge, he had two choices. Run for the house, or run for the woods. The woods would provide cover, if he could reach them. The house was even more of a long shot. In addition to that, he’d have to face the men.
Voices approached, maybe twenty yards away. Sean wished he’d equipped his weapon with a suppressor. Any shot he fired would draw the entire group to his position. He might be able to pick off a few of them, but eventually one of them would get lucky and take him down. He couldn’t risk that.
The voices stopped. He listened for footsteps and rustling grass. The only sound was the hum of a diesel engine and the wind through the field.
“He musta headed to the woods,” a man said.
“You sure you saw someone?” another man said.
“Yeah, I’m sure. What the hell? You think I’m seeing things?”
“I don’t know, man. You ran out guns blazing, but you’re the only one that says he saw anything.”
“Maybe he ran off to the woods when I turned to get you. Let’s get a couple more guys then regroup.”
“All right.”
Sean waited a few moments. He rose up far enough to see the two men heading around the side of the house. They’d come too close. He would have had the jump on them, but then what?
In the distance, the hum of engines fell silent. The low murmur of men talking filled the void. Distance prevented him from deciphering what they said.
Sean got to his feet and headed straight toward the woods. The men would search the house, find nothing but dead bodies, and then decide to leave. He could wait them out as long as necessary.
Every ten or so feet, he glanced back. So far, no one had spotted him. The trees and the cover they provided were so close, yet seemed miles away. Sean’s ribs ached with every step. Breathing had become difficult. Still, he pushed on.
He heard a shout and dove to the ground. The pain in his chest intensified. He started to feel lightheaded and his pulse pounded at an estimated one hundred beats per minute. What was going on? He feared heart attack. He took a quick look toward the house and determined that no one had spotted him. A few deep breaths later, the feelings subsided. Just panic, he told himself. Relax.
With the trees mere feet way, Sean rose and jogged the final distance, nearly losing his balance as he passed the first strand. He took cover behind the thickest trunk he could find, resting for a few minutes.
The expanse between the house and barn teemed with activity. At least five men combed it. Two headed toward
the barn, two toward him, and one in the opposite direction. These men were hunters. They wouldn’t have to get much closer to spot him. And what if there were already a few in the woods? Someone could have entered by the road and be heading toward him right then.
Sean turned and headed deeper in to the forest. He went far enough that he could not be seen from the field. He turned left and headed toward the road. Now he could intercept anyone who was prowling. If he had to shoot, so be it. In the time that it took for the rest of the group to figure out where their fallen partner was, Sean could be a quarter mile away. No one knew these woods better than he did.
He worked his way toward the road, stopping often to listen. Diesel engines hummed on and off. Men barked orders. Their voices echoed around him. He saw no one along the way. Perhaps these guys weren’t as organized as he thought.
A stiff breeze passed through the woods, blowing leaves around and carrying with it the smell of something burning. He initially wondered who was burning yard waste. It didn’t take long for his mind to make the next leap. The men were burning the bodies of their fallen comrades.
Despite a desire to get to the barn and back underground, Sean pushed on toward the road. He couldn’t shake the thought that one or two of the men would stay behind, hidden in the cover of the trees. If so, he wanted to spot them. He could wait or return in the middle of the night to dispose of them.
As he approached the road, Sean heard a rising rumble to his right. He dropped to his belly and crawled forward, pushing leaves ahead of him. The pile grew. He burrowed into it.
The noise grew louder.
The sight that came next caused the panic to hit him full force.
Five pickup trucks rolled past him. Three stopped on the street in front of his property. Two turned onto his driveway. Each truck seemed to carry a minimum of four men. A couple had extra guys riding in the bed.