The trees around the rest stop were thick, causing Max’s eyes to dart from shadow to shadow. She left her flashlight off, using moon light to help her eyes adjust to the darkness. Her senses were heightened in her state of wariness. However, the sounds she picked up were only those of rustling trees in the slight breeze.
Max checked her watch and found she only had twenty minutes left on her watch. She was due to wake Cliff and she yawned thinking about how she was ready for bed. A few moments later a low whistle sounded from behind her and Max pulled her gun and spun on her heel. She found Cliff with his hands up as he came from the SUV. Max dropped her arm and took a deep breath.
“Sorry, didn’t know how else to let you know I was approaching. Didn’t want a tomahawk to the head either,” Cliff whispered.
“I was going to wake you soon,” Max said.
“Don’t sleep much. Figured I’d get up now.”
“Have you talked to Charlie about it, ya know, the sleep and stuff?” Max asked awkwardly.
Cliff smiled tightly at Max’s attempt in checking in on him. “No. Sleeping pills would be dangerous right now.”
“Good point,” Max agreed.
They stood in silence for a moment. Max’s ears seemed to be picking something up, but she held her breath to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. Cliff’s head turned toward the sound and she knew he heard it too.
“Vehicle coming on the freeway,” he whispered.
“Shit,” Max muttered.
“Hopefully, they just go on by.”
“We should get out of sight. Maybe a bunch of vehicles abandoned won’t pique their interest,” Max suggested.
The two crouched near the back bumper of Max’s truck, hiding their bodies, but giving them a clear view of the entrance of the rest area. A small sedan came into view, headlights on as it passed the front of the rest stop. Max watched as it sped by and was just about to feel lucky when red lights lit up the area. She and Cliff watched as the headlights swung back toward the rest stop and come back toward the barricade.
“Damn it,” Max breathed.
“What do you want to do?” Cliff asked.
“Get Alex. No idea how many are in the car,” Max replied.
Cliff took off at a crouch, heading for the RV. Max was sure her sister had already heard the car and seen the headlights. She would be on her way out by the time Cliff got to her. Max watched the car as it squeezed beyond the barricade by driving in the grass and almost going into a ditch. They were really interested in getting into the rest area.
Max pulled her handgun again as the car began to approach their camp. The car slowed and stopped feet away from Max, the inhabitants still not knowing they were being watched. The backdoor opened, but the car remained running. The sound of something hitting the pavement was all Max heard before the door shut and the car took off back toward the freeway.
Alex whistled behind Max, and this time she didn’t turn with her gun aimed. Max was too focused on the bundle that was now laying on the ground near their camp. The car maneuvered around the barricade again and took off down the freeway. Max, Alex, and Cliff didn’t move from their spot until the sound of the sedan was completely gone.
Together they slowly approached the lump on the ground. As they got near, it was clearly the size of a person, so Max pulled her tomahawk, in case someone thought they were funny by throwing an infected at them. Max hadn’t expected to be so close with her guess.
Cliff looked up at Alex and she nodded, giving him the signal to move the bundle. Cliff used his foot to flip it over, only to reveal a white face. Max immediately aimed her flashlight at the face, looking for any indication of attack. Instead, a cough sounded and eyes opened to focus on the three standing around it.
“Help,” the lump croaked.
“Is it a woman?” Max asked.
“What in the world,” Cliff mumbled.
Alex crouched, now clear that it wasn’t an infected, near the woman’s head. She pulled at the rags that seemed to wrap around her. When she got to her legs, Alex stepped back and indicated with her flashlight. One of her legs was white and clean. However, the other one was wrapped in gauze that was soaking through with black gore.
“Were you bitten?” Max demanded.
“Help, please,” she moaned again.
“Cliff, wake Charlie, if she’s not already. Someone dumped this woman here to die. Maybe she can make her comfortable,” Alex said.
Cliff nodded and ran back toward Rafe’s truck. Rafe was already walking toward them, so the whole camp was probably awake at that point.
“What’s your name?” Alex asked softly.
“Gail. Gail Hoak,” the woman said.
“Gail, what happened to you?” Alex asked.
“I… I was with a group. I wanted to go home. My family is in Pittsburgh, I live in Pittsburgh,” she replied.
“You’re a ways from Pennsylvania,” Max remarked.
“I know. The group, it was chaos. Always someone new in charge. Then today, we were trying to find food, and those things were everywhere,” Gail said.
“You didn’t have weapons?” Alex asked.
“Not all of us. I don’t really know how to use any of those things. I was running away, I almost got back to the car, when they drove away.”
“So they left you to be attacked,” Max said.
Gail nodded before coughing. Charlie approached with her medical bag with Rafe. Cliff must have told him the story, because he didn’t bring the dog. Storm would have started barking as soon as he got near Gail.
“So then how did you end up here?” Alex asked.
“Someone must have told them to come back. One of those things got my leg. I had kicked it off and tried to run again. The car came back and they let me in. But once I started getting sick, they decided to get rid of me,” Gail said. Tears began to stream down her face.
“Why did they leave you here?” Max asked. Her eyes scanned the freeway again, making sure they hadn’t missed any sort of threat approaching. Gail could be used as bait.
“They saw the cars. They thought I could find somewhere to hide. I don’t think they thought anyone was here. They just wanted to leave me, so I could die,” Gail replied.
Max grimaced, looking at Alex. Her sister’s face was blank, and Max knew she was hiding her emotions to not upset the woman any further. Charlie sat her bag on the ground, before dropping to her knees near Gail.
“Hi. I’m Charlie. I’m a doctor. What’s your name?”
Gail responded and the two went through a series of questions and finally Gail agreed to let Charlie look at her wounds. With Alex and Max providing light, Charlie carefully unwrapped the soaked bandages with gloved hands. Her face was grim and the answer was as they all assumed. Gail was dying.
“Gail, have you seen what happens when someone is bit?” Charlie asked.
Gail nodded and more tears came down her face.
“I’m sorry. I can make you comfortable. Would you like that?” Charlie asked.
“You have medicine? I used to study herbal medicine. I tried to use that since everything fell apart. But I’m not sure anything I know will make me feel better now,” Gail replied.
“I have some pain meds that will help you relax. How about that?” Charlie asked.
Gail nodded again, and Charlie began to prepare a syringe with what Max assumed was morphine. After the injection, Cliff and Rafe carefully carried Gail to the tailgate of Max’s truck. They wanted her comfortable, but not inside any vehicle with the family. They would have to watch her closely.
Max decided to stay up with Cliff for a while. Her blood buzzed with the unspent adrenaline of the evening. While Cliff circled the perimeter and the rest of the family tucked back in, Max stood at the tailgate.
“Who are you people?” Gail’s quiet voice floated to Max.
“Just a family surviving,” Max replied.
“I have a family too. I miss them so much. I have four grandchildren. I had hoped to see th
em again,” Gail said. Her words were slurred as the morphine did its trick.
“I’m sorry,” Max said, feeling the words were completely inadequate.
“Do you think they are all still alive? My family?”
“Uh… ” Max stammered. She didn’t want to answer that question.
“I don’t think they are. It’s probably wrong, but I’m happy to think I’ll see them again soon,” Gail continued.
“I hope you get to see them too,” Max replied. She meant that.
Gail fell asleep after that, and Max was thankful. She thought about the time before they were all together on the compound. Max could never even consider that her siblings weren’t alive. Now she understood how lucky they really were. Their father had prepared them for the worst, but he couldn’t have guessed this was how things would go. Even the Duncans weren’t really prepared for the dead that walked.
However, they were surviving, together. They weren’t like Gail, across the country from each other, only being able to imagine what was happening to the other. Max watched as the woman’s chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. It may have been morbid, but Max hoped someone in her family was dead. Hopefully not the children. Not even Max could go that far. But maybe someone else that could greet her on the other side.
Cliff came back around during his watch and joined Max for a moment.
“You should sleep,” he said.
“Yeah, I think I’m finally ready,” Max replied.
She patted Cliff’s shoulder in goodnight and turned to go to the driver’s side door. She opened it as quietly as possible and climbed in, closing it just as softly. Rustling from the back told her Griffin was awake. Max first checked Jack, who was sleeping soundly on her reclined seat. She shifted to look in the back and made eye contact with Griffin. His eyes held question as he nodded out the back window.
“I’ll explain later, sleep,” Max whispered. She reached back a hand and Griffin grabbed it to squeeze it for a moment.
It took a bit for Max to get comfortable, but she finally fell asleep. Her dreams were absent and when she woke with the first light of dawn, she was grateful. She got out of the truck to stretch, realizing that even though she slept hard, her body wasn’t happy with its position.
As she twisted and rotated, she walked to the back of the truck. Gail’s body was still there, but now was covered with a blanket. Issac came from the RV with a shovel and found Max staring at the woman sadly.
“She died in the middle of the night. Rafe ended her before she reanimated or whatnot,” Issac said.
Max nodded. She took the shovel Issac was holding, knowing they needed to bury the woman named Gail. Issac didn’t argue as Max walked toward the woods. She looked until she found a tree that was beautiful and moss spread along its foot. She began to dig. Sweat popped out quickly, sliding down her skin.
Some time later, Rafe and Alex joined her, each with a shovel. They worked together in silence. Max wondered as they placed Gail’s body in the hole and began to cover it, if her brother and sister ever had the same thoughts as her. But as Rafe created a crude cross to mark the grave and Alex looked down sadly, Max knew they all were aware of what they had. And how sad it was to not have it at all.
Chapter Twenty-One
“It’s the Pacific Ocean!” Jack exclaimed from the backseat.
The blue expanse was all they could see for miles where the fog hadn’t rolled in. They had pulled into an empty parking lot, just to take in the view. Max had never been to California, though Griffin had been telling them stories about his visits to San Francisco while he was in the military. Of course, they wouldn’t be eating on any piers or visiting any prisons on remote islands.
The salt could be smelled through slightly open windows. The freshness felt good after being in the car for so long. Max loved her family, but after days together in a vehicle, they were all smelling ripe and showers were really needed. They had big things to plan, but she was hoping to settle somewhere they could set up the solar shower.
“Do you think we’ll stay somewhere we can see the water?” Jack asked.
“Don’t know, kiddo. We’ll have to think about what’s safe,” Max replied.
She looked over and saw the adults starting to get out of the vehicles.
“How about I promise to ask your uncle about that when we start looking for a place?” Max asked. Jack nodded in response.
Griffin and Max climbed from their car, leaving Jack to stare at the ocean through the windshield. The cooler wind whipped through Max’s curls, flinging hair into her face. She sputtered for a moment before pulling it back in a hair tie. Griffin crutched over with a smile, telling Max he had seen the whole debacle.
“Need a haircut,” Max muttered.
Griffin’s laugh came from behind her as she walked away. They were both still laughing when they met with the rest of the group. Rafe had the map out on the truck hood, using knives and rocks to weigh it down. Issac stood by with his rifle, eyes sweeping the parking lot. Cliff stood on the opposite side, also looking for any threats. The rest of the adults crowded around the map, trying to block the wind.
“So, we’re here,” Liam said.
He pointed to a small area right near the northern exit of the Golden Gate Bridge. The structure stood tall and looming in the distance. He moved his finger to the west, pointing to the long, curved road that led to the fort and then to The Marine Mammal Center.
“This is the fort, and the bunker is under this area. This area, we should avoid. Last time I was here, there was a large group of survivors settled here. I don’t know anything about them. I figure you aren’t here to make friends,” Liam continued.
He pointed to another area to the north of them. Bending closer, Max saw a historical marker on the map that read Fort Baker. A fort would be a perfect place to set up if you had the numbers to secure it. If the same group was there, that told Max they had the people, which would outnumber the Duncans at least five to one.
“So do you have a suggestion on where we should look?” Rafe asked.
Max’s eyes went from Rafe to Alex, trying to decipher how much real trust they had for Liam. He knew about the area better than any of them. However, Max had to wonder if he was likely to still point them into a trap. Alex met Max’s gaze and she gave her a small nod, telling her to let Liam continue.
“This small town above here, you might find abandoned apartments on the edge. Or even a house. I wouldn’t go much further. Then you’re in an area that was fairly populated,” Liam responded after studying the map for a moment.
“Have you been through there?” Alex asked.
“No. But others had. And there was never a report of large groups of infected being a problem. I never heard of the living being a problem either,” Liam replied.
“We won’t know until we scout it for ourselves,” Max added.
“Right. So we need to decide, do we scout together, or send a smaller team?” Alex asked the group.
“I’m not comfortable leaving anyone behind, in the chance something happens and we aren’t there to help,” Rafe immediately replied.
Max nodded to agree with her brother. They were on unknown ground. It wasn’t the same as leaving a group at the compound or even the theatre, which they had secured. They would be left fairly unprotected and possibly in the open.
“Also, if we find a place, it’s easier to claim it and start working on it immediately. Everyone being with us makes that easier,” Max said.
“Ok, then we all go,” Alex decided.
All the adults around nodded, except Liam. He still behaved like an outsider and just watched critically as they made decisions. With the decision made, Rafe studied the map and traced a few routes with Alex. Liam had no additional input, so they were going in blind. They decided to circle far from Fort Baker, hoping they didn’t alert anyone to their presence in town. They didn’t plan on settling for long and didn’t want problems with local groups.
With
a destination and basic plan in place, everyone went back to their trucks. Just as she was turning away, Max remembered her promise to Jack. She quickly ran to catch up with Rafe and Alex who were walking together still.
“Hey, I forgot. If we have a choice, can we pick something with a view?” Max asked.
Rafe and Alex exchanged a look, and then they laughed.
“Ok, stop it. Jack asked. Your niece. Not me,” Max said, stomping her foot.
That only caused Rafe to laugh harder, but Alex calmed and leveled a smile at Max instead.
“Ok, sister. If we can find a view, we will. For Jack,” Alex replied.
“Yeah, thanks. Jerks,” Max mumbled as she walked away.
“Love you too!” Alex called, the wind not carrying away Max’s last comment.
Back in the truck, Max pulled at her hair, trying to tame it into a semblance of bun. Jack dug out a brush and handed it forward. But the dirty mess was determined to annoy her. Finally, with most of the strands tied back, Max turned on the truck and turned the heat up just slightly. The ocean air was refreshing, but also chilling.
As they wound into the hills, they lost sight of the ocean and Jack huffed sadly. Max felt a little guilty that the only time her daughter had seen the Pacific Ocean was during an apocalypse. It wasn’t like she could go running down the sand alone and play in the waves. Though the water was probably way too cold for that anyway.
It took about an hour of driving, backtracking and trying new roads, before the first livable buildings came into view. Jack’s request had actually given Rafe an idea of having one side protected by a natural barrier, the ocean. He found an oceanfront road and slowly moved down it, looking for signs of life or death. They cruised to a slow stop at the first houses, their garages left open, belongings strewn across the driveways.
The walkie on the dash came to life, and Rafe suggested they check the house on the ocean side. It was agreed that Rafe, Max, and Cliff would check the houses, while the rest would keep watch on the road. Issac climbed into the bed of Rafe’s truck with his rifle, just in case. Griffin rolled his window down, a rifle sitting on the truck dash ready for him to grab.
Sundown Series | Book 5 | Vengeance Page 26