The door to the sedan creaked open and Ethan ducked his head out again.
‘What did I tell you?’ Raine said.
Ethan got back inside.
She then turned to look at Darla and Darla was taken aback by how the woman’s eyes burnt into her. ‘We have a sick child in the other car.’
‘Sick?’ Darla said. ‘She get bit?’
Raine kept her mouth shut.
‘Hey, did you hear what I said? Is she bit or not?’ Darla stepped even closer, until the pistol’s barrel almost touched her head.
‘Yeah. She’s bit.’
‘Then I guess she won’t be needin’ any of the supplies you got. Let’s have that rifle for starters. Slowly now… ‘
Raine unhooked it from her shoulder, making a small loop in the strap with her fingers. In the process of turning, she tightened the loop around Darla’s wrist, yanked her arm towards her, and headbutted the unsuspecting ambusher on the mouth. In the struggle, the pistol went off and the bullet struck the road, ricocheting into a nearby tree.
Darla dropped the gun and fell on her ass, blood streaming from a split in the centre of her bottom lip.
In the time it took for Raine to neutralise the threat, Salty whipped the hatchet from his belt and strode towards their other attacker.
O.B. placed his gun on the ground immediately and held up his hands. ‘Please, I didn’t want any part in this. It’s not even loaded.’
Salty stopped himself from taking a swing at his large head and instead stooped to collect the weapon.
Raine stood over Darla grasping the assault rifle. Darla was too busy wiping the blood from her mouth to pay much attention. She grimaced and gazed into the red mess that had pooled in her palm. ‘You knocked one of my fuckin’ teeth out.’
‘By the look of those teeth, I did you a favour.’
‘Ain’t you the humanitarian?’
‘Coming from someone who was willing to steal from a dying girl, I’ll take that as a compliment. What hole did you two crawl out of?’ Raine said.
‘Stick it up your ass, you black bitch,’ Darla replied.
‘We’ve been down in Coolville for the past couple of days, hiding in some guy’s basement,’ O.B. said, much to his companion’s disgust. ‘Turned out to be a psycho, so we got out of there. We haven’t eaten since.’ The admission caused the hefty teen to feel light-headed. He steadied himself and then sat on the road in case he passed out.
Raine examined every inch of the boy, and then turned back to Darla and her blood-stained scowl. ‘Ethan, bring one of the packs up here,’ she called.
Salty watched curiously as Ethan brought the bag to her. Ethan took a good look at the two would-be-bandits. He seemed at ease with their presence.
‘How’s Emily doing?’ Raine said, unzipping the bag.
‘As expected,’ Ethan said.
Raine pulled two cookies from their wrapper and threw one to each of their captives. ‘Eat. Then move that car out of our way.’
‘And after that?’ O.B. said.
‘You’re coming with us. You can ride in the back of the truck.’ She stepped forward, virtually on top of Darla, her muscular shadow looming over her. ‘If I even smell suspicious on you, I’ll knock the rest of those shitty teeth out.’
Salty frowned and walked over to the gun Darla had dropped. He gathered it up and gave it to Ethan. ‘If the hag moves, put one in her head.’
‘Right.’ Ethan failed to hide his discomfort, but he took a firm grip on the gun and trained it on Darla.
Salty wasted no time in pulling Raine to the side of the road so he could talk to her in private. ‘Have you completely lost your shit?’
‘I’m not offering this up for debate. They’re coming with us,’ Raine said.
‘What the hell for? I’m not sure whether you were paying attention, but Ren and Stimpy just tried to rob us.’
‘We need the numbers.’
‘We’ve been doing pretty well with what we’ve got,’ he said.
‘The Grahams are preoccupied with their daughter, and they’ll be even more so when it comes to the end. Half of you is still back at that nature facility. Ethan has his uses, but he’s no fighter. We need the numbers.’
‘More people mean more mouths to feed.’
‘If the supplies we have don’t last us to the coast, it means we’re never gonna get there,’ Raine said.
‘And if the coast’s a bunch of horseshit, what then?’
‘Then we think of something else.’
2
They continued on the byway and crossed the New Martinsville Bridge, telling themselves that going to the coast wasn’t just some vain attempt to delay the inevitable. What they would become if they were to fail haunted them with every mile on the clock. They needed only to glance out of the window to see their fate lying at the side of the road in pieces, reaching for them as they passed by, or wandering alone in the deep woods of West Virginia.
They hadn’t travelled far on the Dolin Road before coming across another obstacle. The accident must have taken place some time ago and involved four cars. One of them had caught fire and was completely burnt out, the driver frozen to the wheel, covered in ash. The second vehicle had half-eaten remains, now infested with flies, hanging from its windows. The other two cars were empty.
Everyone got out to clear the blockage – except Vincent, who stayed with Emily. Even Darla and O.B. lent a hand, under Salty’s watchful eyes.
Two of the cars were easy to shift and roll down the embankment, but the others were altogether a different challenge. The impact of their collision had been so severe, they were locked in place through their mangled bodywork and both front tyres on one of them had blown out.
In the end, they were impossible to separate, and the group were forced to flip the cars onto their side to create enough space to drive through.
Once they were a few miles from Morgan Town, Raine went to scout ahead, seeing how dangerous it would be to search for supplies and bed down for the night. She returned empty-handed and bearing bad news. She couldn’t even get close to the city. The outskirts were teeming with some of its 30,000 infected residents. The place was nothing more than a feeding ground – no place for a few strung out survivors and a sick child.
After a further hour of searching, they discovered a small cavern in the forest, about 40 feet off the ground. They took the sedan and pickup off-road and used branches to hide them from anyone who could possibly pass by during the night.
They tried to make it as habitable as possible. Vincent and Kristin fashioned a bed with the blankets they had for Emily. Salty started a small fire close to the cavern’s entrance.
Salty sniggered as he watched Darla pull off one of her basketball shoes. She’d clearly stolen them from a broken shop window or a corpse. They were emblazoned with bright neon colours – the kind an NBA pro player would wear.
His smirk soon faded when her dirty socks released their stale odour into the tight confines of their hiding place.
O.B. recoiled at the smell too, but judging by the look on his face, it wasn’t the first time he’d had to tolerate it.
‘Is it really necessary to take those off?’ Salty said. ‘It smells like we’re spending the night in the crack of someone’s ass.’
‘Hurts like a bitch to walk on these corns,’ Darla said. ‘And by the looks of the fuel gauge on that pickup, we’re gonna be doin’ a lot of walkin’ real soon if we don’t find any more gas… I’m just gettin’ prepared.’ She removed one of her socks and curled her toes, revealing circles of hard, irritated skin on the ball of her foot.
Much to Salty’s disgust, she began to peck at them with her grimy fingernails. He shook his head and held his nose. ‘Christ. How did you live like that before?’
‘You mean people always lookin’ at me like I was a piece of shit on their shoe?’
‘I was thinkin’ more about never havin’ to shower unless it rained.’
‘You get used
to it. You get used to a lot of things,’ she said.
‘I’ll never get used to that stink. Hurry up with that and put your shoes back on.’ Salty sat hunched over on a rock, holding his hatchet and Darla’s gun loosely in his hands.
Darla barely acknowledged his comment and continued to pick at the pale yellow skin.
‘What happened to your head?’ O.B. said, staring at his bandage.
‘We ran into some people who were better at stealin’ shit than you two are,’ Salty said.
‘Were?’ Darla said.
Salty sat up so he could look her in the eye. ‘That’s right.’
O.B. took a gulp. ‘Y’know, we could just leave. You can even keep the guns.’
‘You ain’t goin’ anywhere, Stimpy,’ Salty said.
‘He’s right,’ Darla said, much to O.B.’s surprise. ‘We’d be better off hanging with these folks for a while. Obviously know how to handle themselves.’ She gazed over to the Grahams nursing their shivering child on a collection of blankets, using a knitted sweater as a pillow for her. ‘Although that’s gonna be a problem sooner rather than later.’
‘Well, it ain’t your problem,’ Salty said.
‘If she starts gettin’ a taste for blood, it will be.’
Darla’s words sent a shudder through him, one that rattled the revolver in his hand. ‘Don’t talk about the kid. Don’t even look at her.’
‘Fine, but I’m sleepin’ with one eye open tonight.’ Darla finally left her feet alone and pulled on her socks.
‘You do that,’ Salty said. He watched Emily shake in the corner, her parents at her side, scrutinising her every breath like physicians.
‘Is there anything else I can get you, sweetheart?’ Vincent said.
‘My legs hurt,’ Emily whispered.
‘Both of them?’
‘Yes. They hurt more when I move, but I can’t stop shaking. My head hurts too.’
‘When you say hurt, you mean they ache?’
‘Yes.’ Emily gazed up with her big eyes. Her complexion had dulled. Her once-rosy, bubblegum cheeks were white-washed. Vincent knew he would never see the colour return to them.
‘Here.’ Kristin nudged him and showed him the bottle of pills in her hand. ‘The meds Adam gave to us. There’s some left over. They should lower her fever a little.’
He glanced at the bottle. After what happened with Adam – what he’d revealed himself to be – he instinctively worried that they contained some kind of poison or sedative to subdue a child, but he knew it was irrational and took the pills from her.
‘They’ll make you feel better, Emily,’ Kristin said with a smile. As soon as they’d settled in the cave, she’d washed and redressed her daughter’s wound, noticing that the skin around the bite had started to develop a purple hue, and the veins close to it were more pronounced.
She grabbed a bottle of water and moved up next to Vincent.
‘I can manage,’ he said.
‘Let me help you.’
‘I can manage.’ He snatched the bottle of water away from her.
Kristin recoiled in shock as Vincent closed in, forming a protective shield around Emily’s bed. ‘Here, take these.’ He placed a hand behind her head to raise her up, popping one of the tablets onto her discoloured tongue. He then put the water bottle to her lips. ‘Good. Now one more.’ He gave her the second pill and tipped the bottle higher. ‘Take a big drink so they go right down to your tummy.’
Emily gulped hard. He then lowered her head back onto the makeshift pillow and ran his hand through her hair. ‘Once they start to work, you won’t shake so much.’
‘I hope so, daddy.’
Raine stood up, her backside numbed by the cold, hard floor. She’d been watching the family unit fragment further before her eyes. It was not her place to get involved. Instead, she moved away from them, out of the cave entrance to where Ethan was sitting, overlooking Morgan Town. In the failing light, the city was nothing more than a dull outline against the surrounding landscape. Every now and again, there were pockets of movement, but it wasn’t life. Nothing could survive down there.
It was easy for Ethan to hear her approach. He didn’t turn around. He sat with his hood up and his knees tucked into his chest. It reminded Raine of the time she’d first noticed him, back at the refugee camp. She shuddered as the breeze hit her, hugging herself and rubbing her arms. ‘It’s getting colder. Why don’t you go warm yourself by the fire for a while? It’s about time for my shift anyway,’ she said.
‘I’m fine here, thank you,’ Ethan said.
‘You look it. Go inside, get some food in your belly, and sleep if you can. We’re probably gonna have to fight to put gas in those vehicles.’
Ethan chuckled and then frowned, deep in thought. ‘If I didn’t know any better, Miller, I’d say you are more at ease with our situation than you were back at the preserve.’
Raine shrugged. ‘I don’t like being surrounded by fences, no matter how much land there is in between.’
‘You fascinate me.’
‘The feeling’s mutual,’ Raine said.
‘I guess that’s the reason we’re not shuffling around in the dark like the goons down there.’ Ethan again looked towards Morgan Town, the moving shadows in the streets.
‘I don’t know about that. The cards could have fallen differently for us,’ Raine said.
‘What do you make of our new friends?’ Ethan said.
Raine sat down beside him and glanced back to the flickering flames just inside the cavern. ‘The kid’s harmless enough. The woman’s a tweaker, but she’s street-smart, and that’s a valuable skill set right now. If we get her onside, she could be helpful. You get any impressions from them with that thing you do?’
Ethan shook his head and removed his hood. ‘Not gotten close enough yet. You’ll be the first to know if I pick anything up.’
Now his face was exposed to the moonlight, Raine saw how pale he looked. The dark patches beneath his eyes hollowed him out. ‘You should really get some sleep. You look like a Halloween costume.’
‘I always look like a Halloween costume. Why do you think Salty calls me Twilight every five minutes?’
‘Because he’s an asshole. Now do as I tell you and get your ass inside.’
He smiled and turned towards the entrance. Raine noticed his smile fade and a shadow of dread descend over his face. ‘What?’ she said.
‘What do you think?’
‘Emily?’
‘I can’t just sit there and watch her…’
‘There was nothing any of us could have done, Ethan.’
‘Still doesn’t make it feel any better. Seeing them together, as a family, it made things that little bit more bearable, y’know?’
‘Yeah,’ Raine said. ‘I know. Do you think they’ll tell her what’s going to happen?’
‘Sometimes ignorance is better,’ Ethan said.
She stared at him. ‘No, it’s never better,’ she said with piercing conviction.
‘You’re wrong, Miller.’
‘It’s better that she knows,’ Raine said.
Ethan leaned forward so he could run his hands through his greasy locks of hair. When he brought his head up again, his eyes contained a greater clarity, even through his fatigue. ‘Salty did a pretty good job of telling that story about the Thompson case, but there’s a part he missed out. There’s no way he could have known. It wasn’t in any of the newspapers or TV reports. Not even the police knew.
‘The boy – Kenny. He wasn’t dead when his parents committed him to the water. The Thompsons listened for a heartbeat, and they firmly believed their son was gone. His pulse was extremely low, but he was still alive. As deceitful as they were, they would have called the police if they’d realised.’
Raine could sense the pain oozing from him like sweat through his pores.
‘Before he drowned, Kenny regained consciousness.’
‘Why didn’t you tell anyone?’
‘Becau
se there was no proof without the body. No way the accusation would have stood up in court, not even with my track record.’
‘What about the boy’s story? Didn’t it deserve to be told?’
‘No. It certainly did not,’ Ethan said.
‘Why?’
‘Because when I got the impression, I felt everything. I can still taste the minerals – feel the lake water filling his lungs as he slipped away in the dark and the cold.’
Raine felt a chill race through her. It was like she was there, floundering in the water.
‘What good would it have done to have people share that pain? The Thompsons were responsible and they were weak, but would tormenting them with the revelation that their son suffered change a goddamn thing? Would it bring him back?’
‘No,’ Raine said.
‘No. It was between me and Kenny… you too now.’ Ethan pulled his hood back over his head to hide his tears. ‘Like I said, sometimes ignorance is better.’
Raine had nothing to come back with. All she could do was gaze down to the city below, at the shapes staggering through the night.
3
The neon sign of the video arcade was out, just like every light at the truckstop and the rest of Westminster. The pumps of the oval gas station were battered and scratched. They looked like someone had attempted to break into them.
The diner at the other corner of the truckstop had been ransacked for supplies, its windows smashed, but the five rows of trucks in the parking bays were relatively untouched. Each long hauler was filled with the usual modern conveniences that allowed their drivers to spend weeks on the road.
Salty and Kristin silently weaved between the vehicles of the third row. They crouched as low as they could while still being able to jog. Both carried large gas cans. Salty held a rubber tube in his other hand, his hatchet and walkie talkie swinging from his belt. Kristin aimed her Beretta between the gaps in the parking bay, at every turn expecting to come face to face with an enemy.
Salty stopped next to a truck with a red cabin, and extended his arm to signal to Kristin. He grabbed his walkie and whispered into it. ‘Anything?’
Everything Dies [Season One] Page 25