They found the sound a few seconds later and Jillybean’s morbid train of thought was derailed by the sight of it, or rather the lack of sight. A heavy mist covered the water with visibility at about fifty feet. “I know,” Jillybean said in a whisper to herself. She was staring with big eyes at the grey cloud.
“I guess we don’t have to worry about being seen,” Phil said. “The kayaks are not far, now.” He started to walk down to a gravel beach, but stopped when he realized that neither of the two girls had followed.
Jillybean had hold of Sadie’s left hand and was squeezing down on it. “They’re in there,” she said in a frightened hiss. “Can you hear them?”
“There is nothing in there,” Sadie told her. “It’s just fog. Just water vapor. Hey, you know, I don’t understand fog. How do we have clouds sitting on the ground like that?” Sadie wasn’t the least bit curious about fog, but she had to do something about Jillybean.
“Fog? I-It’s just a cloud, like you said. Sadie? Do you hear them out there? They’re saying your name. I think one of them is Sergeant Steinman.”
“There’s no one out there, sweetie. It’s just in your head, okay? Now, tell me about the fog. How come it doesn’t float away like a cloud?”
“B-Because of the inversion boundary squashes it down,” Jillybean answered, her eyes blinking rapidly. “The air is…is supersaturated and that’s what means it can’t hold any more water drops at all. And that’s what means it real heavy.” She began nodding as she warmed up to the science. She went on for another minute describing the nine different types of fog she had read about in her Earth Sciences book months before.
“Is she okay?” Phil asked.
“She’s fine. She just had a bad experience in the fog once.” It was the only lie Sadie could think of. Jillybean looked to be about to contradict it with the truth, so Sadie pointed ahead where they could just make out the kayaks through the fog. “Hey, why don’t you go pick out our kayak. Quick, get the red one!”
Jillybean ran off with Spot chasing after her. Phil shook his head, whether at the dog-man or at Jillybean, Sadie didn’t know. “You said ‘our’ kayak, just now. I think it’s best if I take you in mine. They can be devilishly tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Sadie felt as though she were being pulled in too many directions just then. “I have to take Jillybean with me. Sorry. Listen, when we get back, I’ll let you take me on a kayak or a walk or whatever. It’ll be a date, okay?”
His cheeks went bright red and stammered, “Th-that’s not necessary. I was just trying to be neighborly.”
“And I’m trying to show my appreciation and I won’t take no for an answer. And I…”
A sudden hulking shadow loomed and staggered towards them. Instinctively Sadie reached for the .38, but before she could get it from the box, she saw that it Todd Karraker. “I’d listen to her, Phil. She’s pretty headstrong.” Phil nodded in a jerky, uncomfortable manner.
“Todd?” Sadie asked, confused and worried. “Are you coming with us? They’re not kicking you off the island, are they?”
He scoffed as if to suggest that there was no one on the island with the balls to try. “No, I just wanted to see you off and to, you know, thank you and Jillybean for helping us out. We were in a tight spot and you guys really helped out. So, thanks.” A heavy fog-laden silence followed as Todd’s hand gripped and ungripped. He wanted to either say more, or knowing how stoic he was, maybe he wanted to do more. Phil’s presence seemed to stymie him and so Sadie stepped up. She held out her hand and when he took it to give it a shake, she pulled him close.
The stubble of his cheek was rough on her lips. He smelled of soap and cologne and leather from the heavy jacket he wore.
“Bye,” she said and then walked away, leaving him with a smile.
“Mister Todd was here,” Jillybean said. She was already in the red kayak wearing a tiny life vest and, strange in Sadie’s eyes, a helmet. “He wanted to say goodbye.”
“Yeah, I got that,” she said. “Oh boy, what now?” There were three kayaks and two other men present, both of whom were doing their best to get Spot into one of the seats. Since he refused to bend his legs in a human way, he was being crammed in. Spot began whining, which had the men muttering curses under their breath.
Sadie hurried over. She was forced to scratch him behind the ears to get him to settled down. The second he was in, the three men from Bainbridge wasted no time in shoving off into the sound, leaving Sadie and Jillybean on the beach. Sadie almost fell into the cold water trying to get them going.
From thirty feet away, Phil was grinning. “I told you it wasn’t easy. Now watch me. Gentle strokes. Gentle strokes.”
“That’s what she said,” one of the other men joked.
“Don’t listen to Reggie,” Phil said, his smile no longer quite so cheery. “There you go. Don’t forget to switch sides or you’ll end up going in circles.” Phil watched Sadie until he saw that she had the hang of paddling the seven foot long plastic boat.
In a way, she had the easiest job. She and Jillybean together weighed less that any of the men and their center of gravity was much lower. It made tipping over that much less likely. Phil had the toughest position. He had Spot in his boat. The dog-man was dead weight and tended to shift unexpectedly.
In time, the two men from Bainbridge found a strong rhythm and pulled ahead, moving north into the heavy mist. Then came Phil and Spot. Phil dug into the water with his single paddle, straining to keep up with the lead boat, perhaps wishing to impress Sadie with his strength and determination.
Sadie lingered twenty yards behind Phil’s boat. She could have caught up and surpassed him, however she wanted to be able to drop back even further if it was needed. Jillybean started off well enough despite the dank fog and the dark waters. It wasn’t until the low-slung clouds obscured the island and they moved off deeper into the early night that she began to get twitchy once more.
It started out simple enough. Jillybean slowly drew her fingers in away from the edges of the kayak. Then her hands stole to her chest and her head began to go side to side. “That wasn’t me,” she said in a desperate voice.
“Jillybean, don’t listen to the voices, okay? They’re not real. You haven’t been taking your pills. Say it. Say: I haven’t been taking my pills and the voices aren’t real.”
“I-I haven’t been taking my p-pills and the voices aren’t real, but what if they are? What if they’re down there waiting for me to fall out of the boat. They say they’re going to drown me on account of all the stuff I done.”
It hurt Sadie’s heart to see her like this. She wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all. Instead, she took a breath and tried to reason with a girl slipping into insanity. “I want you to be brave, Jillybean. I want you to confront these voices. Honestly, would I let anyone hurt you?”
“No.”
“Would I let anyone drown you?”
“No.”
“They’re just talk, but I am action. I’m getting you across the water and I’m going to get you your pills. The only voice you need to listen to is mine. Got it?” Jillybean said that she did, and so for the next hour and a half as they paddled north, Sadie talked and talked and talked.
Her mouth was more tired than her arms when they finally came ashore at Edmonds Point. Spot splashed out of Phil’s kayak and galloped around the beach, excitedly. Phil walked out into the water and dragged Sadie’s kayak the remaining few feet so that they could get out without getting wet, though with the heavy fog, Sadie felt damp straight through to the skin.
“Pine Street runs straight east from here,” Phil said. “Take it to 76th and go north. When you see a golf course on your right, cut though there and you’ll be on the college campus. Got it?” Sadie said that she did. Phil stuck out his hand and politely turned his cheek just the slightest, causing Sadie to snort with laughter.
“I’ll be back,” she told him and kissed him on the cheek as the other t
wo men jostled each other and made immature smooching sounds. “They’re just jealous,” she told Phil. Louder, she said, “Thanks for the ride boys.”
She gave a final wave as they slipped back out into the fog and then looked around for Spot. He was trying to lick collected fog off a broad-bladed fern leaf. She whistled for him and went over to Jillybean who was standing in a hunch, loading her .25 caliber. She was staring out into the fog, her face rigid and strained by stress and fear. It wasn’t like her. “You can find the Camry from here?” she asked Jillybean.
The little girl jumped a little and looked up at Sadie with crazy eyes. “Yeah, I think. Unless they moved it.”
Sadie didn’t need to ask who “they” were—the voices in the fog. She waited until the three men glided away on the kayaks before looking into Jillybean’s face. Sadie didn’t like what she saw there. “Stop it! I am right here. What did I tell you earlier?”
“That you won’t let anything happen to me?”
“That’s right. As long as I’m with you, you’ll be perfectly fine. Really, what’s there to be afraid of? Call one of these voices. Tell them it’s time to settle things between you. Go on.” Jillybean looked shocked at the idea, so Sadie started: “Hey!” she cried in what amounted to something that was more a carrying whisper than an actual yell. “Stupid voices! Come out and fight me.”
She was actually worried that a zombie would hear and that would lead to an actual fight, but thankfully, either none were around or the mists were confusing them. “See? They’re nothing. Now you try, Jillybean.”
Taking a deep breath, the little girl yelled: “Hey!” This carried up the block and Sadie waited with the loaded .38 in hand for the first monster to come out of the night. When none showed, Jillybean yelled: “I’m not afraid of you! You’re not real!”
“There you go,” Sadie said, thinking that they had yelled enough. “The voices are nothing to be afraid of, and why? Because they aren’t real. You just have to be brave enough to see that. Can you be brave? Wait, that’s a silly question. I’ve seen you be brave, like a million times.”
“I-I think I can be brave,” Jillybean said. “It’s easier when you’re around. You’re like a magic ring or something.”
Sadie stood and cracked her back. A long yawn erupted from her in mid-crack; it seemed to go on and on. “Yeah, I wish I was a genie that granted wishes. I’d wish us into the Camry right now. But since I can’t, let’s get moving.” She held her hand and Jillybean took it.
Together they walked deeper into the fog and despite all the talk of bravery, the mist was actually very scary. The zombies were half-seen creatures, moaning like ghosts and looking like wraiths. Some could be heard a long way off, slowly stalking the two girls, while others would suddenly appear as if spawned by the fog.
When one loomed out of the frightful dark, they would run, using the mists to hide themselves. With all the running and their inability to see much beyond their outstretched arms, Sadie worried that they would get lost. “Is that the golf course Phil was talking about?” she asked, Jillybean. “Are we even on Pine Street anymore?”
The road had jogged to the right a few blocks back and although they were still in a residential neighborhood, things just seemed different. “No,” Jillybean said, “We’re not on Pine anymore, but we’re still heading east. And I don’t know what all that is. If it’s a golf course, it’s not the golf course we need. Ours is…”
She was cut off as another zombie materialized almost on top of them. Sadie broke to the left while Jillybean went right, disappearing into the night. There were more zombies in Sadie’s path, huge beasts with long arms that she had to dodge. It wasn’t tough for her. She was quick and elusive, moving like a ghost, herself. Her only fear was for Jillybean…and Spot.
Spot had been running with them in his odd way, keeping up easily because Jillybean was so small, but now he was back behind them, barking like crazy. To make matters worse, Sadie heard Jillybean suddenly yell: “Come here, Spot! Follow my voice. I’m right here. Don’t be afraid.”
“Jeeze,” Sadie hissed, thinking that for one of the few times since she had met Jillybean, the little girl wasn’t using her head. If Spot could follow her voice the zombies could as well. Sadie loped easily to her right, going light on her feet, but when she got to where she had heard Jillybean there was nothing but zombies.
“Crap!” she hissed as one grabbed her arm. She pulled away only to run into another, smacking squarely into its diseased chest. It had been a woman before it was a zombie and Sadie had a clammy, greasy feeling breast the size of her head, press against her cheek. The zombie had to be almost seven feet tall and four feet across the shoulders.
It was strong but slow. She ducked around it, finding a car in her path. Leaping up onto it, she hissed: “Jillybean! Where the hell…” She had been crossing over the car, lengthwise and too late found out that it was a convertible. Her left foot tore through the weather-worn fabric with a shearing sound. Before she knew it, she had fallen into the car and was trapped in a confused mesh of black.
The female zombie lumbered over to stare down at Sadie who froze, hoping that with her black clothes she would blend into the shadows and the zombie would move on. But by ill-luck, the zombie reached in and caught hold of Sadie’s jacket and in one horrifyingly strong move, lifted her straight out of the car. There was no fighting this sort of power and struggling against the grip was useless.
Her .38 was the great equalizer. Sadie shot the beast in the eye at point blank range. The bullet jerked the thing’s head back and just like that she was dropped back into the convertible where she was once again trapped. The gun shot had been fantastically loud in the quiet night and now zombies from all over were flocking right at the car; there would be no running through that size of a crowd.
Hiding was her only choice. It was a difficult one since Jillybean was still out there, unaccounted for. Minutes ticked by and Sadie was getting desperate when suddenly an orange light washed over the convertible. Forgetting all about the gunshot and the car and basically everything else, the zombies turned to the source of the light: Jillybean had set a house on fire.
How it went up as fast as it did, Sadie never found out, but in a minute the entire front of the house was a roaring yellow that fizzled away the fog and entranced the zombies in the area. Sadie popped up out of the convertible and walked away from it as she saw Jillybean and Spot come out from around the side of the house.
“You sure got me ascared when you shotted your gun,” Jillybean said as they met in the middle of the street.
“I was the one who was scared,” Sadie said. “You just ran off and then you started calling for Spot? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Jillybean looked shocked. “I would never suicide myself. Who would take care of you if I did? Not Spot, that’s for certain. What a knuckle-head. He just ran out…into…the…Do you hear that?” There was a light crunching sound that was partially hidden beneath the moans of the zombies and the roar of the fire. It was getting louder, but with the fog and the dark they couldn’t tell exactly what it was. Jillybean’s hand found Sadie’s just as headlights blinded them.
For a full second, they were pinned in place by those lights as an engine roared. The two sisters recovered their wits at the same time, breaking to the right and rushing towards some dark suburban house. Its front door hung askew and they dashed through, knocking it completely off its hinges. Behind them a black SUV ran up on the front lawn of the house.
A second later, someone yelled: “John go around to the back!” By then the three had sped through the dark house and were at the kitchen door. Sadie tried to haul it back, but it only slid about three inches before it abruptly stopped. There was a hunk of wood in the track.
“Shit!” she hissed, pulling it out and ramming back the door. In that short time, Jillybean had been throwing down the kitchen chairs to create obstacles for the men coming after them. Sadie grabbed her and shoved her thr
ough the door. To the left was a rusting swingset and to the right a Ford Fiesta that sat on four flat tires. Its hood was up, gaping as wide as a hippo’s mouth.
The three ran past it, heading for the back fence. Sadie’s heart nearly seized at the sight of it: A flat wall of boards, seven feet in height. Had she been alone, she would have went right over it in a blink. Jillybean would never make it over that fence even if she had all the time in the world.
Neither would Spot.
As they got to the fence, two men burst from the house, while a third was just jumping down from the fence that winged out from the side of the house. Sadie didn’t need to look at their menacing faces to know they were in trouble. “Quick!” she hissed to Jillybean. Sadie had her hands locked and when Jillybean put her foot on them, she heaved the little girl straight up the side of the fence.
Now, all she had to do was get up over the fence, herself—without a running start and three men charging down at her. The chances of her succeeding were slim. She needed help and there was only one person to turn to. “Spot! Sic ‘em!” she yelled.
He didn’t hesitate. With a huge growl, he threw himself into the path of the men. Sadie couldn’t spare a second to watch. She turned and leapt for the top of the fence as Spot roared and growled and barked. The boards bit into her hands, as she hauled her weight upwards, kicking with her feet for leverage. With desperate strength, she cleared the fence, landing lightly on the other side next to Jillybean who was watching what was happening through the slits in the boards.
“Don’t,” Sadie said and pulled her away just as a gun fired. A second later Spot’s mad barking stopped and there was a thud from beyond the fence. Jillybean looked up at Sadie, her face twisted in anguish.
Guilt rocked Sadie. “I had to,” she whispered. There was no time for more of an explanation than that. They had landed in another backyard and there were more fences to climb and already at least one of the men was scaling the one Sadie had just dropped down from.
The Undead World (Book 10): The Apocalypse Sacrifice Page 33