Cammy sat, Madison pulled up into her lap, a large smear of maroon on her forehead, stroking Madison’s black hair. The birds called. The coldness of the wind seemed to bite at Adam's bones. Nipping. Tasting.
He could not remember why he did it, but later he was glad that he did. He had pushed the button on the rifle butt, dropped the empty clip in to his waiting palm, and slid another up into the rifle where it socketed itself home with a solid click. He had done it perfectly, like he had been doing it all of his life instead of just the last few months since, what-ever-the-fuck it was had happened. She never looked up. The birds didn't stop singing their birdsong. Just in case, he told himself. Just in case.
He stood from the crouch he had found himself in, knees screaming, flexed experimentally and then walked a short distance away, leaning up against the building face. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out his pouch and rolled a cigarette. He felt carefully at his lips, busted up, he decided, but it would heal. He had been in fights in his old life where he had been busted up much worse. He lit the cigarette, held it carefully between his lips, smoking as he watched the clouds slip across the sky. Letting the urgency of the situation float away on the wind like the smoke.
Cammy's voice had fallen to a barely audible whisper as she stroked Madison's hair and held her. Madison's lips, blue tinged, moved, too quiet to hear her words. A private conversation. A private conversation in the wide open, which was now a very private place. No one at all around, alive anyway, and the dead couldn't care less about love, secrets, whispered promises, goodbyes. The dead lay on the trail, still nothing more than a jumble of arms and legs. He told himself to dump them in the river. He promised to do it after he finished the cigarette. The time turned elastic once more and spun out of control for some unknown length. Adam only knew that when he came back to himself the sun had moved across the sky. His thoughts were about darkness, safety, staying alive.
~
When he thought back on it later, he realized a noise had brought him back from where ever he had gone to. Had to be, otherwise there was no reason for him to come back at all, just stay gone. Let the sun go down and the night take him, Cammy, Madison and whatever else it wanted. But it didn't go that way.
A noise, a sliding foot, a pebble falling from above... He really didn't know. He did know that this time he reacted fast. His rifle came up; his mind was clear. He focused; two of them dropping from a window above... like cats... Predators falling from the sky, he fired into them.
He had a choice. He had known immediately that he couldn't get them both. One falling at him, one falling at Cammy where she sat with Madison cradled in her arms, oblivious to everything around her. His reaction chose for him. The rifle came straight up and spat short, little barks of noise and flame. The man started to come apart before he hit him. A shower of blood rained down on him, splattered warmth against his face. The body hit the barrel of the rifle and took him down to the ground, his hands clutching the rifle hard to keep from losing it as the full weight of the man came down on it.
He kept it, but only by sheer determination. The man had impaled himself onto part of the barrel. He shoved him off as quickly as he could, one booted foot kicking against his chest, pulling the barrel back through the soft flesh and hard bone.
He expected to see Cammy done for. He expected to see her dead or dying, but she had somehow ended up about twenty feet from where the second man had fallen. She looked herself as if she had no real idea how that had happened, but when Adam raised his eyes and they took in the whole scene before them, he saw exactly how it had happened.
Madison must have still been awake. Laying there badly injured but not gone, taking the comfort from Cammy that she offered, when the man jumped she saw it. She saw it and managed to push Cammy away from her and take the attack on herself.
The man was no match for her, wounded though she was. She had fired straight up into him with her pistol as he fell. He was probably gone before he hit the ground, but she had straddled him with a rock easily the size of her own head and brought it down hard. Once, twice, Adam lost count.
The silence came back hard. Like a curtain on the last act of a play, just when the audience isn't expecting it. It crashed down.
~
Time did its elastic trick and then snapped back before he was ready for it. His senses were shot. At first he could not connect the dots of memory that he needed to connect to make sense of what his eyes were seeing.
Cammy rose to shaky legs and started toward Madison, sobbing once more. Madison’s eyes swiveled to Adam. A sick look in them, and pain riding there too. She had dropped her pistol and she searched briefly for it. She slumped forward, one wrist flapping uselessly, and lunged instead for the rifle that Cammy had trained on him not so long ago. Time stopped its elastic trickery right around that time for good. He knew exactly what she intended to do before she did it.
Cammy stopped in mid stride and nearly fell backwards at the effort of stopping so quickly. Adam's eyes swiveled to Cammy. For a second she looked as though she thought that Madison intended to shoot her, but that was not the plan, and Adam knew that was not the plan. Because the plan that had resurfaced in her mind was the one they had talked about, half seriously, half jokingly, for as long as they had been traveling together.
Before she followed through on that plan, Adam heard her tell it to him in his mind once again, the way she had a few weeks before, when she had been unmolested... whole... not about to join the ranks of the dead herself.
“If I ever fuckin' have to, I won't hesitate,” Madison had said, “I don't want to suffer. Hang around to die. Make everyone wait for me to die. No way.” She had shuddered and grimaced at the same time.
They had been in the old house over by the Park. Gas lanterns for light. The windows were boarded over. They could hear the gangs outside on the dark streets.
John had died just hours later when he had fallen through floor, and Madison had shot him in the head.
“If they get me? Shoot Me? I'll put a bullet in my own head. I will. I swear I will. If I ever fuckin' have to, I won't hesitate,” Madison had said, “I don't want to suffer. Hang around to die. Make everyone wait for me to die. No way. And I'm not going back to being someones slave, no way.”
And now time stopped its trickery. She jammed the rifle under her chin and squeezed the trigger. Her head exploded in a spray of red and gray. Adam could hear the sounds of small bits of bone and drops of blood pattering down to the ground. And then the silence was roaring again.
He took a breath, another... And then Cammy began to scream once more.
~
For the next three weeks Adam kept moving. On foot when he had to, in a vehicle when he could find one that wasn't hemmed in by the traffic. He had thought Cammy would never talk again. He believed she wouldn't, right up until she did yesterday.
He just kept moving. Different places in the city, not staying in any one place for more than a day. Walking days, seeking refuge at night. The gangs were everywhere, he knew. He knew they could smell the fires, it was how they were tracking people down, so they went without. Huddled in abandoned factories, ramshackle buildings down by the river. Anywhere they could be safe until daylight. He chose strong places, strong places and then hoped like hell that they would be gone in the morning.
He had started carrying a radio two days before, it clipped to his belt. FM. It picked up a lot of talk during the day and he listened as he drove. There was a place that a lot of the people were talking about, down south somewhere. Nobody seemed to know exactly where it was. But some swore they had talked to the people that had founded this place. A city somewhere down south. He had heard of something like that when it was just he and Tosh back in Harlem. The word he kept hearing was that it was a safe place, that it was open to everyone.
Three days ago he had gotten the truck, and he had been thinking about that place. He didn't know who the people were or if they even existed. He only knew the wh
ole world was fucked up. He had come to believe that if he didn't get them as far south as he could, they wouldn't make it long. The world was failing fast. It was on the radio. They all said it.
L.A. and New York, were both barely hanging on. Both! Barely hanging on! They were right here, he saw it every day. The people talking weren't exaggerating at all. If the big cities were truly falling apart, and people couldn't make it banded together, how could the two of them make it alone?
No way that they could do it alone, Adam thought. He was going to head for the place, and he was hoping it turned out to be real.
Today on the radio he had caught a burst of someone talking through static, and it sounded like he was talking about the same place he had heard about. Too far away to be sure. Skip. You can never tell where it's coming from. He hoped that was true and that he wasn't simply throwing belief into it to try to sooth his own mind.
In the meantime he focused on keeping the two of them alive, finding strong places to stay through the nights. There were strong places, places you could find if you gave it some thought. Stairwells in high rises, steel and concrete. They couldn't get through those doors. Deep freezers in grocery stores. Heavy steel doors. The vehicle if they had to, and they had, had to, but there were so many abandoned vehicles all over the places that it was as safe as anywhere else.
Cold canned stuff to eat. Christ, Adam thought, we'll be eating canned shit until we die. Get up the next day and push on. Get moving again. And that is what he had been doing. Kept them moving. Kept them safe. And Cammy had come willingly, although silently, like a big, semi-animated puppet. And then yesterday she had been sitting beside him, silent as she had been since the thing with Madison, and she had spoken.
“I don't like beans, Adam. I just don't. Maybe we could find something different tonight?” She had lifted her voice at the end and made it into a question. He had been winding his way through the middle of an abandoned car and a wrecked, burned out truck, months old. He looked over at her. She smiled, tentative at first, but then it lit up her face. He had to laugh. He had so much pent up inside of him.
“The beans are a bit much then?” He asked.
“A bit,” she agreed.
He brought the truck to a dead stop for a second, not knowing what to say.
“You could say, 'Welcome back',” she said softly.
“Welcome back,” Adam repeated, every bit as quietly. “Welcome back...”
THIRTEEN
The Camp: Billy and Beth
Mid June
Billy sat sipping coffee by the fire talking with Mike Collins, when a truck dropped down off the road and into the far end of the field. Conversation died away as the two of them watched the truck coast to a stop. A few more trucks left the field, passing the truck where it sat. Billy rose to his feet with Mike, poured the dregs of his coffee into the fire and looked down toward the truck.
“I'm on my way,” Mike told him. Behind him Beth and Candace were talking in low tones. A few feet away Ronnie was talking to Mac and Iris. Mike offered his hand and Billy took it.
“Wish you were staying,” Billy told him. Mike, Candace and Ronnie had made up their minds to head south to whatever might be left of Alabama. There were three others going with them.
“Wish us luck instead,” Candace said with a laugh as she walked up.
“I think there is land out there,” Beth said. “Who knows how far though.”
“We will,” Ronnie said. He laughed and Billy walked with them to their truck. The truck behind them held more gear and the other three that had decided to go with them, some newcomers from the city that Billy had not gotten to know well. He waved once at the truck in back and then leaned in the window as Mike closed the door.
“Just stay in touch,” Billy said. “As long as you can.”
“Will do,” Mike said.
Billy and Beth watched them drive away before Billy turned his attention back to the truck at the end of the field. Other tucks pulled out and soon the field was nearly empty. Their trucks were the only trucks left in the field when the driver's door of the truck at the end of the field opened.
“Wonder what this is,” Billy said aloud as Jamie and David walked up.
“Here comes someone,” Beth said as she straightened and turned toward a large man that had stepped down from the truck and was walking slowly down through the field. The man held his shotgun in one hand, pointing at the ground, there if he needed it. He stopped in front of the people gathered around the trucks.
“I have never seen a man as big as you that walked that easy,” a young, dark haired girl leaning against the hood of one of the trucks told him. The young guy at the front of the hood turned and looked at her.
“Easy, Iris,” he told her. He turned back to the big man. “Mac,” he said. He nodded at the young woman that had spoken. “Iris.” He turned and pointed at each of the people standing there in turn.
“Beth, Billy, Winston, David. There are a couple of kids sleeping in the back of the Suburban. You're pulling in?”
The man shrugged. “Adam,” he said. “We're heading out of the city... Saw you and stopped. The lady in the truck is Cammy.” He raised one hand, turned and waved it at the truck. A few seconds later, the truck dropped into drive and drove down the field. The woman stopped the truck, opened the door and stepped out.
Beth made the introductions once more. Mac walked to the back of the truck and Billy moved up to talk to Adam and Cammy.
“We were about to light out.” He turned and nodded at the woods across the field. “We have had some problems around here... Some gangs coming out of the city, maybe a few loners too, are getting braver and braver. The posts and the fires don't seem to keep them at bay any longer. A young woman come up missing the other morning. Not one of ours, just passing through. There at breakfast, gone later in the morning,” Billy shrugged. “We assumed she left... Could have wandered off, and she might have, but someone got her. Tracked the guys. Our guy said there were at least three men, maybe a woman, plus our woman. We found drag marks in the woods on a trail. We went after them. Spent half the day scouring those woods.” he shrugged. “Every time we got close they were gone when we got there.”
“The others left because of that?” Cammy asked him.
“They're not with us,” Billy answered. “We all met here. Started a few months back with just a few of us that came from L.A. and built up from there…” He looked off in the direction the vehicles had left. “They're going west, some south, we're heading back down south ourselves. Beth, me, Jamie, Winston and David... Most of us came out of L.A. together. Met Mac and Iris; they got two kids... parents gone, crossed over from Jersey a few days back - Don Westfall and Ginny,” He pointed back at the third truck and a couple who stood talking to another couple. “Don is the tall guy with the bright red hair. Ginny's the woman next to him with the black hair. The two traveling with them are Danny Best and Rose Evans.” He paused and then looked at Adam. “So, to answer your question, they were going to leave, but we all feel we've been here too long... It's too dangerous, and, not to throw a slam at the two of you, but most of the people we see coming out of the city now are rough. They avoid us, we avoid them, only these guy decided not to avoid us.” He turned back to Adam. He had been looking back at the others as he spoke. “You and your lady heading south?”
Adam looked over at Cammy.
“We were thinking of going across through Pennsylvania, over that way. We keep hearing... Adam keeps hearing, about the middle of the states being dead free,” Cammy said. She didn't correct the misconception Billy had that she and Adam were together. In truth, it really wasn't clear in her mind whether they were or not. They had both lost people they loved. It was probably too soon for both of them. Maybe it always would be, she thought now, as her eyes met Adam's and she saw the pain still riding there.
“I heard some talk, but I don't believe it. L.A. … A lot of the places we saw in between were so bad,” Billy said.
Adam nodded. “The radio, a few weeks back... They were talking about a city that was still safe... still held by people,” he shrugged again. “It's south anyway, maybe Alabama, just over and then down. I figured what the hell,” Adam finished.
Billy nodded. “Alabama is gone,” he said.
“Gone?” Adam's voice raised.
“Gone,” Beth agreed. “Billy and I drove right into the ocean, almost... Maybe two hundred miles in from the border it's just gone. Water's not deep, and I looked through my scope... there is land a long way out,” she shrugged. “So maybe it isn't all gone. A few of our friends just left to see what is still there.”
“Listen, I can't speak for everyone.” Billy said. “We threw in together. It wasn't a vote kind of thing, but we're heading south anyway,” he shrugged.
Beth shrugged. “We can go your way... I can go your way.” Her eyes met his. They were deep brown, liquid, intense.
Billy scrubbed at the growth of beard that covered his jaw. “I'm good with it.”
“So what is this place you heard of?” Iris asked.
“Somewhere south. It was back when this whole thing started. I rigged up a C.B. Just heard talk of a place in Alabama. People were gathering together. I think Alabama, maybe it isn't, but it was south... not on the coast. Really it was just a snatch of conversation. I got nothing better than that, but it sounded real. And I heard it more than once.” Adam scrubbed at his own beard.
“You just Missed Mike and Candace. They met some people that swore there is a place somewhere in Kentucky that is just starting. They are the ones that left to see what is left of Alabama. We might find ourselves looking them up if they find there is something there,” Billy said.
“Wish I had talked to them,” Adam said thoughtfully.
“They knew no more than what Billy just told you. They only met the people for just a few hours somewhere in New York as they were on the way here. Another place that might or might not be real,” Beth added. “But it looks like we're all going in the same general direction.”
Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7] Page 70