After Everything Else (Book 3): Creeper Revelation

by Brett D. Houser

  “Not yet. Not that I can tell. Do you mind if I read through it by myself first? He wrote it to me, and I want to read it alone first. Then I’ll show it to you, all the stuff that might help us find him and figure out what happened.” A strange look crossed Chase’s face, but it was quickly gone.

  “No, that’s okay,” he said. “I’m going to grab a little something to eat. When you’re ready, I’ll be in my room.”

  When she finished, she wiped the tears from her face. She felt the absence of her dad strongly, and she felt his love for her in the pages, in what he had written. Why hadn’t she insisted they come down sooner? Why had she let them mess around with the Chief and the reverend and the kids at camp? The last entry had been just three weeks ago. They had been at the church then. If she had come straight down, if she hadn’t met Chase and Marilyn, she would have been with him. But that was just one way of looking at it. She might not have made it this far without them. She pulled herself together and went to knock on Chase’s door.

  “I’m done,” she called, standing in the narrow hallway. He opened the door and looked down at her. He must have seen her red eyes because he put his arms around her and hugged her. She hugged him back, apologizing without saying anything for considering that she would be better off not ever having met him. They stood like that for a while, and then she pulled away from him. “Let’s go look at it.”

  The entries in the beginning talked about the sickness. On his way down the east coast he had noted how few trucks were on the road and how full the truck-stops were, but he had a job to do. Then there had been things on the news that disturbed him. There had been reports about a flu going around and advisories against travel. Despite the reports, not delivering his load wasn’t an option for him. Sonya told Chase that even though driving a truck wasn’t what he really wanted to do, he took great pride in how well he did it.

  He wrote about arriving at the truck stop in Florida where they had found the truck. His delivery wasn’t until the following day, but he had chosen not to go inside and eat. He wrote about calling Sonya and her telling him she was sick but not to worry. He had called his dispatcher and told him he was coming back from Florida empty. His regular dispatcher wasn’t in, she had called in sick, and the back-up dispatcher had sounded exhausted. The company wasn’t a real big one, and over half the office people and some of the drivers had called in sick. Many of the drivers hadn’t checked in at all. The back-up dispatcher had told him to come on. Sonya’s dad had thought that strange. Florida freight didn’t really pay anything, but at least it helped cover the fuel. He wrote that he had known then that something was bad wrong. After a date over a month and a half ago he had written:

  Dear Sonya,

  Went to deliver load at 0400 appointment time, distribution center closed. Tried to call dispatch, no answer. The streets are empty, even more than usual at 0400. Something bad happening. Dropped trailer outside gate with note on it, ready to bobtail to Omaha. On the interstate, two highway patrol cars pulled me over. Thought seriously about not stopping. The officers came up and asked where I was going. Told them just to the truckstop. They said they’d follow me. Tried to call you on the way, but cell phone no longer working at all. Had bars, but when I dialed, only got a message that all phone service suspended until further notice. There was a National Guard convoy lined up and down the access road at the truck stop and soldiers all carrying their weapons, all wearing surgical masks or dust masks or something. Pulled in, two young soldiers waved me through. They were trying to look tough, but I saw how scared they were. One of them looked sick, too. Guess the masks weren’t working that good. The parking lot I’d just left a couple of hours before jammed with bobtail trucks. No idea where the trailers were. One of the trucks from the convoy blocked the access road and highway patrol pulled to either side of it. The two highway patrolmen got out of their cars and stood at the roadblock holding M16 rifles talking to the soldiers already there. Nobody looks too happy. I’m not happy either and some of the drivers are talking about doing something. Probably just talk.

  Chase looked at Sonya. “Quarantine?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know. Sounds like quarantine, but sounds kind of confused, too.” They read on.

  Sonya reread where her dad wrote to her that he began making plans to slip away in the night. Over the course of the day, the truck drivers had all settled down. Most had gone inside, but a few were still in their trucks. He had tried to sleep to get ready for nightfall, but by then, things had changed. The dying had begun. A truck driver came out of the restaurant, yelling in the parking lot, asking for help for his friend, for a doctor or someone. The friend was unconscious and wouldn’t wake up, and maybe was dead. Sonya wasn’t surprised that her dad hadn’t been able to ignore the plea for help.

  He had gone in the restaurant, and drivers were scattered everywhere: lying on the floor, in booths, across chairs. Everyone seemed to be sick except the man who had come outside looking for help. Her dad wrote that he had gone to the man’s friend, but when he got there the friend was cool to the touch and his eyes were half-open, beginning to cloud over, and staring at nothing. He wrote that when he had looked around, and it looked like almost everyone in there was dying or dead.

  The man who had watched his friend die had panicked. Sonya’s dad had grabbed him, tried to calm him down, but the man had fought him off and ran out the door yelling that he wasn’t staying here and dying. Her dad had followed him, but by the time he got to the door the man had been halfway to the blockade, running toward the soldiers. Several had opened fire and the panicked man had fallen to the ground and lain still. Sonya pictured her dad standing at the plate glass door looking out in shock, waiting to see what would happen next. He wrote that what had happened next was as messed up as anything he had seen so far.

  The soldiers had just left the man lying there on the pavement, the blood pooling around him. There was no outcry from the truck drivers in the restaurant. Those not already dead were too sick to say or do much.

  Grabbed every bit of food I could carry. Nobody stopped me. Filled up a bag of snack foods from the store and grabbed a case of water. Soldiers looked up when I came out, but I just walked across that parking lot like I knew what I was doing. Sonya, remember I told you that? If you act like you’re doing what you’re supposed to, nobody bothers you usually. Learned that when I was in the army. Got in my truck and now I’m just watching. The traffic on the interstate is down to nothing. Once in a while a military vehicle goes by, or the highway patrol. Soldiers keep dropping out. A truck just stopped by and a bunch of new soldiers got out. They loaded up all the sick ones. The new ones are wearing full MOPP gear, MOPP level 4, gas masks and everything. I think everybody is sick except me. Watching the new soldiers. Wonder if they know I’m here. They must be baking in the heat in all that gear.

  It’s getting dark now. The soldiers aren’t going anywhere. Looks like I’m here for another day.

  The entry for the next day said the soldiers had still been on duty. As far as Sonya’s dad had been able to tell, he was the only one alive in the parking lot. The other drivers had all gone inside or were dead in their trucks. The tinted windows of the restaurant had reflected the light. He wrote about how much he wanted to idle his truck, let the air conditioner blow and keep him cool, but he didn’t want them to know he was still there, still alive. The soldiers stayed in the shade as much as they could. Trucks came and went, soldiers came and went. The interstate stayed quiet. The next day was the same, and the next. These entries were short, but at the end he had written notes to Sonya, telling her he loved her and he was coming as soon as he could. Reading these with Chase, Sonya tried hard to control herself, but she still teared up again. Then, on the morning of the fourth day, the soldiers loaded up and left. All of them. Sonya’s father had been alone.

  Can’t get my truck out. Blocked in by other trucks. Soldiers left the road block at the en
d, too. Highway patrol cars still there. Didn’t notice they left, but when they left they must have been sick. Left their cars. All I can think about is you, honey. Getting home to you, I swear. I love you.

  The next date in the notebook had been a week later, and the entry below it was two pages long. It was the last entry in the book.

  Reread some of what I wrote. Didn’t make it far, did I? Things sure did get complicated. Dead people up walking around. I don’t know if this is just happening here in Florida or if it’s going on everywhere. If it’s going on where you are, I guess you know about it. If it is, I doubt you’ll ever read this, but I got to put it down on paper. Somebody needs to know what happened down here. I stole a car, drove for a while, but there were just too many soldiers around and they were looking for people. I did a car chase, honey, just like in the movies, and I lost them. I ditched the car and hid out in an abandoned warehouse for a while. Tried to sneak out when it got dark, but the dead people were moving around too much. Between the soldiers in the daytime and the dead people at night, I just couldn’t get anywhere. When I finally got out of the warehouse I ran across some other people like me. Just four of them. A man and his son, a woman they had run into, and another guy. We talked about giving ourselves up to the soldiers. The next day we were walking on a backroad and we heard a vehicle coming. Me and the other guy his name was Joey jumped into a ditch in some brush real quick. The man and his son and the woman just stood there, hands in the air. The soldiers pulled up on them and jumped out. I thought about coming out of the ditch, but the soldiers were acting weird. Not like they were there to save them. Treated them like prisoners. Called them “immunes.” Soldiers were wearing some kind of biohazard suits or something. Ordered them into the truck they had pulled up in, into the back, kind of like they were animals. The boy was six. Cody couldn’t climb up by himself. They were yelling at them to hurry, and when Luke was slow picking Cody up, they threatened to shoot him. Lisa started crying and wouldn’t climb in. They didn’t seem to want to touch her much so they stood there yelling at her, threatening her until she did climb in. Couple of the soldiers walked over close to where we were hiding, but they couldn’t see us. We were down deep in the brush and the grass. I heard them talking about how happy Dr. Honeydew was going to be they had found two more immunes for him to play with. They laughed, and then one of them called in on a radio. He identified himself as Collector Group Three. I knew there must be at least two other collector groups, whatever that might be. Then the person on the other end of the radio told them that Subject Control Group Two had found an immune hiding out in a building surrounded by “subjects” in Frostproof and to go meet up with them, get the immune, and return to base. I think that’s what they’re calling the dead people. Subjects.

  Sonya’s dad went on to describe how he and Joey had lain in the ditch until the sound of the truck was completely gone and then found a place to hide out for the rest of the day and through the night. They had tried to travel on foot, but then the creepers had started moving around in the day, making it pretty much impossible to get anywhere. They were afraid to take a vehicle, afraid they would be seen by the helicopter that passed overhead now and then. They saw more and more army patrols. Sonya’s dad had wondered if Luke or Cody or Lisa had talked.

  Just a couple of days like that and Joey had broken down. He wanted them to give themselves up to the Collectors. Whatever they were doing couldn’t be worse than dodging corpses all the time and scrabbling for food. Sonya’s dad argued against it. Joey had said okay, but later that day when they were supposed to be hunting for food separately, Joey disappeared. Sonya’s dad had looked for him for a little while, but he had known Joey was gone.

  Wasn’t but a day later they surrounded me. Joey gave me up. Three groups of them. Each group had a truck and a couple of Hummers, armed to the teeth. I ducked out on them that time, but they’re going to get me. Probably have infrared or something. Been carrying my pistol, but I can’t use it. A gunshot would bring subjects or soldiers or both. I figure I don’t have much longer. Came back to the truckstop. Played hell trying to get to my truck through the subjects, but I did it. Surrounded now. Don’t know exactly why. I’m leaving this notebook here. Maybe you’ll find it. Probably not. Maybe someone will find it anyway. Sonya, if you do read this, I want you to know I tried. I love you more than anyone. Anyone else reading this, please get it to my daughter. I hear them coming now. Could go down shooting, but I’m holding out for the chance that I’ll see my baby again.

  Below that was written his name and their address in the duplex. Sonya looked at Chase, and she felt the tears running down her face again. “There’s a chance, right? We can find him?”

  Chase nodded. “There’s a chance. The Collectors got him, I’d bet anything. And I think between what he said and what Audrey said, they want immunes alive. But I don’t know what’s going to happen if we try to get to him.”

  They sat in silence, Sonya thinking about her dad and how tough he was, and then the sound of approaching hoof beats pulled her back to the present. When Marilyn threw open the door, Sonya knew it was more than just creepers. The sound of the helicopter only confirmed it for her.

  Chapter 16 – Chase

  Chase stepped to the door, pushed past Marilyn, and looked to the sky. The helicopter was approaching low enough to spot the Hummer pretty easily. He wished he had parked it inside a building. His heart was pounding. He had wanted to find one of these patrols, see them for himself, but he didn’t think that was going to be an option. They were going to come for him, for them. Things were going to quickly move beyond his control unless he moved just as fast.

  Marilyn and Sonya crowded into the doorway around him. The chopper came closer, and Chase didn’t know much about helicopters, but this was obviously military, and big. It circled out and around them, low enough that he felt vibrations in his chest. Then it left.

  “Did they see us?” Sonya asked.

  “Pretty sure they did,” Chase answered. “They’ll be sending Collectors on the ground soon, I bet. Question is, do we run or do we wait for them?”

  “We run, obviously!” Sonya said. “If they catch us, it’s all over.”

  “We don’t know that. We don’t know what they are doing.” Chase walked to the sofa and collapsed into it. “Let’s think this through. We came down here to find your dad. We’re pretty sure they have your dad. There’s no way we can fight them. They have guns, training, helicopters. We’ve gotten pretty good at taking care of creepers, but creepers don’t shoot back. If we run, they’ll probably catch us eventually. They caught your dad. Even if we ran all the way back to camp, they’d probably just follow us. We don’t want that.”

  Marilyn appeared thoughtful. “So what do we do? Let them catch us?”

  “How are we going to get my dad if they catch us?” Sonya protested.

  “How are we going to get your dad if we don’t?” Chase countered. “We’re just three kids. We don’t know what they have, but based on what your dad said, they’ve got a lot of people and a lot of equipment. We stay out here, we’re dodging them and the creepers. We go with them, all we have to worry about is them. Maybe we can get away. And maybe they’re not really the bad guys.”

  “Not the bad guys?” Sonya said. “Like the Chief and the reverend. They take people, Chase. And they don’t let them go. If they let my dad go, he would have tried to find me. He wouldn’t have left the notebook like that.”

  Chase picked up his feet and half-turned, stretched out on the couch, and put his arm over his eyes. He felt the responsibility now. Before, when it was easy, when he could see a way out, he had enjoyed it. He liked having them come to him looking for answers. But he didn’t have any answers now. He needed to think.

  He sat up suddenly. “Okay. Okay. Here’s the thing: I don’t know what to do next. I don’t even really know if there is anything we can do.” He looked from Marilyn to Sonya. They were both looking back at him, faces full of expec
tation. “I do know this: I need more time to figure stuff out. I need more information. So I say we run, even if only for a little while. I’ll figure something out…or I won’t.” He stopped, put his head down and stared at the floor. “I’ll do the best I can. But I don’t know.”

  Sonya walked over to the sofa and sat beside him. She put her arm around him. Marilyn came and sat on the other side and leaned into him. No one said anything for a few seconds, and then Marilyn spoke. “This is right.” Chase, surprised both at what she said and by the flare of hope he felt, looked at her. She went on, “It shouldn’t be easy. It hasn’t been easy so far. I know how you feel about what I think, but there is something. Something more than us, something more than the creepers and something more than what happened. You can call it what you want, but I call it God. And this feels right. We’ll run. You’ll figure something out. We’ll be captured. I don’t see how that can not happen, and neither do you. We’ll go in and we’ll do our best. We might fail. I don’t know. But when we go in, I’ll be praying. And what will happen, will happen. God’s will.”

  Chase was stunned. Marilyn never pushed what she thought off on anyone. His first reaction, one he wouldn’t have shared with her because he liked Marilyn, was to scoff. Inside, he knew they were on their own. But there was something, something they needed, something he needed. He looked to Sonya, and she was looking to him. He saw it on her face. Hope. He knew they had to have that if nothing else, and that’s what Marilyn brought. Sonya was the mission, he was the planner, and Marilyn was hope. She was still strong. Sonya’s will was still strong. He had to be strong for them. “Okay,” he said. “First, we get out of here. They’ll be coming. I want to get back to the other farmhouse. But we can’t take the Hummer and we can’t take the roads because that’s where they will be.” He turned to Marilyn again. “I think it’s up to you. We need to cowboy up.”