by Josh Vasquez
His voice shattered her thoughts. She looked at the bundle of wood he carried in his arms and then at the half-sized collection she had made.
“A lot of it was wet, tried finding the dry stuff,” she said, trying to mask her annoyance.
“Yeah, me too. Let’s light this junk.”
Tori took a deep breath and followed him back to the road. Josh dumped his pile by the ATV and selected a few branches out of the mess. Tori placed hers in his pile and walked over to him. He knelt down over the wood, trying to get the fire starter to spark off onto the timber. He was attempting to light directly onto the wood.
It’ll never work like that, she thought.
She left him and walked back to the woods. After looking for several seconds, she found what she wanted, picked it up, and took it back to him.
“Here, try this instead,” she said, handing him a handful of Spanish moss.
He looked at her with a confused look.
“The moss will catch easier than the wood. Use it to get the wood going,” she said.
He stuffed the moss underneath the branches and tried the striker again. The spark jumped into the moss and caught flame.
“Blow! Blow on it!” Tori said.
Josh quickly got in close and began to blow on the tiny fire. It grew and soon they were looking at a decent sized campfire. He looked at her, obviously impressed with her knowledge.
“How’d you know that?” He asked.
“Dad used to take me camping when I was little. Can you imagine a little girl going camping with her drill instructor father? It was interesting to say the least, but I wouldn’t have traded that time with him for anything.”
“I don’t know if I’ve ever said it, but I’m sorry you never found him,” Josh said.
His eyes were sympathetic. She nodded, accepting the sentiment. A tear ran down the right side of her face.
“I… I know he’s still alive, I just wish I could see him. To know for sure.”
He put his hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, it’s okay. Don’t cry,” he said.
She wiped away the tear and grimaced.
“Here I am crying, when you just lost your whole family. I’m sorry, Josh.”
“Don’t be. Don’t feel like you have to hide your emotions around me because you don’t think I can handle it. That wouldn’t be fair to you.”
There he goes again. Acting like a prick one minute, and then a saint the next.
She ignored the voice in her head.
“Thanks. So, you wanna sleep first or what?” she asked, changing the subject.
“You go ahead. I’m gonna stay up a little longer.”
“You sure?” She said.
“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”
She nodded and went to sit down by the fire. It was warm and felt good. She laid down on her side on the pavement. It was not very comfortable, but the fire made it bearable. Her eyes grew heavy.
She looked over at Josh, who sat on the opposite side of the fire. His hatchet sat beside him, the blade catching the light of the flames. Their eyes met and he smiled.
“Goodnight, Tori.”
She mumbled something. It sounded like “goodnight” to her.
***
Josh watched as Tori’s eyes fluttered while she slept. He doubted she was sleeping soundly. The road was not the ideal place to sleep, but he knew he did not want to wander into the woods. Not now. Not at night.
Every shadow seemed to play tricks on his eyes. A zombie here, a zombie there. He did his best to calm his nerves, but it wasn’t working.
His nerves had been through the ringer tonight.
He closed his eyes, but then opened them.
Better keep ‘em opened, he thought.
He took a deep breath.
“Father…”
Silence.
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
Again, silence.
“I know that you are good. And that you work together all things for good for those that love you. But… But what are you doing?”
The question lingered in the air.
“I know it is not my place to question you, but I just don’t understand what you’re doing. With everything. With the zombies, with my… with my family…”
Josh started to cry.
“Why Lord? What purpose does this serve? How is this good? How is this loving? Please, please help me understand. Why take them from me?”
He paused again, trying his best to collect himself.
“I know that they are not mine, but they are your’s. It just… it just hurts. It just hurts…”
Josh cried for several minutes. He looked around, checking for any threat. Nothing. Just the silence.
“Father, I feel like the blind man. I believe, help my unbelief.”
Another beat of quiet.
“Father, help me be like your Son. Your will, not mine. That’s what he prayed. I am so lost on what to do next. I need you to show me.”
Josh waited for a response. Again, nothing.
“Okay,” he said. “In Jesus’s name, amen.”
Josh stared at the fire, which began to dim. He reached for another branch and sat it on top, the flames dancing their way onto the new source of fuel. He sighed.
It was not as if he wanted an audible response. He’d been praying long enough, that he knew it didn’t work quite like that. But normally, he would feel a peace afterwards, a knowing that things will be okay.
He felt no peace.
He could hear the taunts in the back of his head.
Where is he?
Where is your God?
Why has he done this to you?
What did you do to deserve this?
Curse God and die.
Josh listened to accusations. With each one, he felt his blood pressure rise.
“Lies,” he said to the darkness.
He knew none of the thoughts in his mind were true.
Where was God?
“He is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases.”
Why has he done this?
“We know that for those who love God all things work together for good.”
What did I do to deserve this?
“Has the potter no right over the clay?”
Curse God and die?
“The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Josh felt the accuser leave. But it was still quiet.
Chapter Twenty Nine
The house was completely gone. Nothing but ashen remains remained. Jeremy stared in disbelief as he drove the truck up to the black spot of earth.
It’s all gone, he thought.
Everything. All their food. All their clothes. Their weapons. Everything was gone.
He parked the truck and everyone got out. Lexx paced back and forth frantically by the smoldering embers.
“They got out. There’s no way they were still in the house. No way,” he rambled on.
“Let’s calm down, Lexx,” Jeremy said.
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Lexx shouted.
Jeremy held his hands up, signaling he was not up for a confrontation.
“All I’m saying is Josh and Tori were both very resourceful. I doubt they were still in the house.”
Lexx looked back at the ash.
“We gotta search it to make sure,” he said.
“If I may interject,” White said. “Why don’t we look for clues that maybe they made it out first? Then, if we don’t come up with anything, we can search the rubble.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Right, Lexx?” Jeremy said.
Lexx nodded and walked off. Jeremy turned to look the two police officers.
“Sorry. He can be a bit gruff.”
“It’s fine. He’s just worried,” White said.
The four of them walked around what was left of the house, looking for any sign that Tori and Josh made it out of there okay. Not much left on the ground except
for the bodies of zombies killed the night before. And the pieces of Abraham Archer Armstrong.
Strangely absent were the bodies of Josh and CJ’s family.
They weren’t bitten, so they wouldn’t have turned. Where could they have gone?
Now that he thought about it, he did not remember seeing Chris or Amy’s bodies on the way in either. Jeremy glanced over to CJ, who was kneeling over by the ash.
Had CJ noticed? Jeremy thought.
He hated the idea that the kid’s family could be walking around somewhere, giving them the possibility of running into each other. Jeremy did not want CJ to have to see that. He had been through enough.
After several minutes of searching, Jeremy and the two officers returned to the truck.
“We didn’t come up with anything, but we don’t really know what we’re looking for. We saw the other vehicles here. Were there any others they could have taken?” Black asked.
The SUV and pick-up truck were still in their spots. They barely moved, except for getting around the grounds.
“No, these were the only three,” Jeremy said.
Black rubbed his chin.
“You think they might have escaped on foot?” He asked.
“No,” Jeremy replied. “The only reason I can think of them leaving would be runners.”
“Runners. You keep saying that. What do you mean?” White asked.
Jeremy looked at the two officers and realized that they had yet to come across the much more terrifying type of zombie.
“You haven’t seen them?” He asked, a little surprised.
Both shook their heads no.
“Runners are what we call the faster zombies. They don’t look as dead as the normal ones and they have superhuman strength and speed. You heard their shrieks last night. They were the reason we left.”
Black looked at his partner, an eyebrow raised.
“So, you’re telling me, there’s some kind of super-zombie out there?”
Jeremy ignored the man’s disbelief.
“Yeah and worse.”
Jeremy started to explain to them what happened to the Lumberjack, but CJ ran up, breathing hard and excited.
“It’s gone!”
“What is?” Jeremy asked.
“My four-wheeler! It’s gone! They must have used it to escape! That’s why the cars are still here!”
CJ led them back to the shed behind the house and showed them the empty spot where the ATV would have sat. Black knelt down and examined the dirt.
“Yeah, these tracks are fresh,” he said.
“Yes! I knew they got out of here!” Jeremy said.
Lexx came running over the four of them.
“What? I heard the yelling. Did you find something?”
“They took CJ’s four-wheeler! The tracks lead that way into the woods!” Jeremy yelled.
Lexx’s face lit up.
“Well, let’s go then!” He said, starting too jog in the direction of the tracks.
“Wait.”
Everyone turned to look at CJ.
“They have the four-wheeler. I bet that my uncle was just waiting for daylight, just like we did, to return. It might be better to wait here for them, rather than go after their tracks in the woods.”
“The boy’s right,” White said, clearing his throat. “The most important part of a missing persons search is having somebody at home waiting for them. Sometimes the lost just need time to find their way home.”
“Well, you guys stay here then, I’ll go,” Lexx said, turning to walk towards the woods again.
“Lexx, c’mon. You don’t have any decent weapons. The zombies are probably scattered all over the property now, what if you run into a large group?”
Lexx shrugged.
“I’ve been in tighter situations.”
Jeremy was at a loss for how stubborn the man was. When he set his mind to something, it took a miracle to change it. It was one his qualities that was a good thing/bad thing.
“I’ll go with him. We’ll look for a little while and try to figure out which direction they went off in. Then we’ll circle back here and wait,” Black said.
White seemed surprised by his partner’s offer.
“You sure, Will?” He asked.
Black nodded and pulled his side arm from its holster. He checked his magazine.
“Yeah, I got a couple of little buddies still in there. I’ll be okay.”
White removed his spare magazine from his belt.
“Here take mine. Just in case.”
“Thanks,” Black said, taking the clip.
“Hey, Starsky and Hutch, can you guys high five and get it over with already?” Lexx asked.
Jeremy shook his head.
Good ol’ Lexx…
“I’m sorry there, Sport. I forgot, was I helping you?” Black shot back.
Lexx gave him the finger.
“Alright then,” Black said with a chuckle.
He held his fist out for White to bump.
“Stay tight, my ninja.”
“Seriously?”
“C’mon, give me knuckles.”
White did not budge.
“C’mon, Michael. Before nancy-boy over here pisses his pants.”
White bumped Black’s fist.
“Get out of here, you moron.”
Black smiled and walked over Lexx, who was tapping on his wrist to an imaginary watch. The two of them walked off into the woods.
“Those two are like two peas in a pod,” White said.
Jeremy laughed.
“Yeah, I didn’t think it was possible, but there is someone as obnoxious as Lexx out there.”
Chapter Thirty
Tori could tell that, even in the daylight, Josh had no idea where they were. He kept looking at the compass, hoping that it would magically tell them where to go. They had been walking east for over an hour, with no sign of civilization anywhere.
“Would it have killed them to put up a sign?” he said.
“Maybe a nice map with a ‘You are here’ arrow?” Tori said playfully, hoping to lighten the mood.
“Yeah, that would be perfect. I’d be happy with anything right now.”
“Even a ‘Deer Crossing’ sign?” she asked.
“Yeah, maybe we could ask the deer for directions.”
Tori laughed lightly to herself. They walked a few more paces before she decided to break the silence again.
“Will you know how to get back if we do ever find something that tells us where we are?”
Josh stopped walking and looked at her. His eyes were dark; he looked exhausted. She knew he did not sleep well when she took over watch. He tossed, turned, and mumbled in his sleep. She tried not to worry, but it couldn’t help but remind her of the night before LJ turned.
“Hopefully I will,” he said.
They began walking again. Tori’s ankle hurt. It had been hurting since they jumped out of the house and now with all the walking, the pain was starting to flare up. She winced and marched through the pain.
I don’t want to slow us up, she thought, as another jolt shot up her leg.
She would have to sit down soon, whether she wanted to or not. Debating on telling Josh of her injury, Tori cleared her throat.
“Hey, you think we could rest for a minute?” she said.
“You’re tired already? We just started.”
“Yeah, well, we haven’t had any water in a while, plus I guess I didn’t sleep too well last night, being on the concrete and whatnot.”
He stared at her.
“Are you hurt?” He asked.
She blew out air through her lips and laughed.
“Hurt? No! Are you hurt?”
He continued his stare.
“Where?” he asked, his eyes not leaving hers.
Tori’s laughing died to a chuckle and then stopped completely.
“It’s my ankle,” she said, crossing her arms on her chest.
“From when we jumped?” He a
sked.
She nodded.
“Let me see,” he said, kneeling down in front of her.
“No!” she said, stepping away.
He looked up at her.
“Tori.”
“No! What are you some sort of weird foot guy? Is that your thing? Mister Nice Guy, but you really have a strange foot fetish? Is this your one chink in your armor?”
“No. But we are dependent on each other right now, and if there’s something wrong with you, I need to know about it. Same goes for me.”
She felt silly for bringing up the foot thing. She nodded and sat down, pushing her right foot in front of him.
“Thank you,” he said, taking her shoe.
She flinched when he took hold of her foot.
“That hurts?” He asked.
“Like hell.”
“Okay, I’m going to try and take your shoe off. I’ll be as easy as I can.”
He proceeded to untie her shoe and began to slip it off gently. Tori still let several expletives slip through her gritted teeth.
“When did you first notice the pain?”
“What are you a doctor now?”
“Tori…”
“Ugh, okay, I first- Fuck! Easy there!”
He had her shoe removed and began to peel off her sock.
“I noticed it last night, but it didn’t really start hurting til this morning,” she said.
He had her sock off.
“Yeah, this looks swollen,” he said, slowing inspecting her foot in his hands.
“Yeah, it feels swollen too,” she quipped.
His hands glided over her foot and to her ankle. It felt big in his hands. She definitely strained her ankle.
She watched as he examined her foot. His hands were soft and he was gentle, like he promised.
I bet they smell, she thought.
He sat her foot down on his knee.
“Yeah, I don’t think you should keep walking on this.”
“Well, Josh, we don’t really have many choices, do we?” She said, reaching for her sock and shoe. “Unless, you want to go back and try peeing in the four-wheeler. Maybe that might work.”
He stood up and walked away into the woods.
“Hey,” she yelled. “I was just kidding! I’m sorry!”
She finished getting her shoe on and tried to stand up.
Shit balls that hurts.
She did her best to hobble over to the woods, but stopped when Josh returned. He carried a large branch, about five feet long. He began snapping off smaller twigs, until it was just a bare pole.