Chapter 16
The snarls coming from the backseat unnerved him. Bill kept glancing in the mirror at Benjamin. Seeing his baby boy strapped into the seat with blood caked on his puffed up face, wiggling against his restraints, broke his heart. He was having a hard time dealing with the reality of what was happening. This really couldn’t be happening, could it? Bill swallowed, forcing down the large lump that was forming in his throat. Everything seemed so surreal, as if he was trapped in some sort of crazy, messed up nightmare. Maybe he’d wake up. Oh God, what he’d give to wake up. To wake up with his wife snuggled up next to him in bed. His son eating Pop Tarts and watching cartoons on TV in the living room. That’s what he wanted to wake up to. He wouldn’t even complain about the television being up too loud. He’d welcome being awoken by the sound of cartoons blaring.
“Damn it!” Bill barked, slamming on the brakes. His car came to an abrupt halt, throwing him forward with a firm jerk. Benjamin groaned loudly. Bill glanced at him in the rearview mirror to make sure he was okay. He looked as okay as expected. This was the second time they’d come to a standstill. It was as if every freakin’ person in the neighborhood had crashed into one another and abandoned their cars in the middle of the streets. “What the hell?” He couldn’t even get out of their neighborhood. He wondered what was wrong with people. He looked around, studying the houses around him. Everything was eerily quiet and dark. The only lights on were either solar powered or running on a generator. The night was strangely still.
Throwing his car into reverse, he backed up, went forward and completed his three-point turn. He backtracked down the street and tore past their house, again. This time, when he reached the end of the street, his tires squealed as he made a sharp right. He’d already tried left. He drove two more blocks, when he came to a stop sign.
So far, so good, he thought. The street was open. Benjamin groaned. Bill glanced in his rearview mirror. Benjamin was no longer struggling to break free. His head was tilted to the side, his eyes squeezed shut. “It’s okay, son. We’ll be at the hospital shortly, okay? Hang in there.”
Bill’s sedan picked up speed. Benjamin’s not struggling against his restraints, and his sudden quiet, worried him more than the growling and fighting to break free. Bill was going to try to bypass the emergency room downtown and bring him to the hospital in the suburbs. He figured the one in the suburbs would have less people, even though it was a few miles further in distance. He was rethinking his initial plans. He hated driving into the city, but from where he lived, it was a straight shot down the freeway. Besides, he told himself that they probably offered better care and were better equipped for dealing with this sort of thing.
He remembered watching the news, earlier in the day, and the constant warning for people to stay indoors. He remembered seeing the hospitals filled to the brim with sick people. They were warning people not to go to the hospital unless you knew for a fact, you were already infected. They advised that uninfected loved ones not accompany the sick. Obviously, even though Bill himself wasn’t infected, Benjamin certainly was. Accompanying his son to the hospital was a chance he’d have to take. It was a chance any parent would take. Hell, Joanna, gave her life to try to save Benjamin. He’d do the same.
“What the…!” Bill slammed on the brakes. A streak of white had darted out in front of him. Unfortunately, Bill hadn’t been able to stop his car fast enough. Something thumped beneath his tires. His car swerved to the right, skidding. When the vehicle finally came to a halt, Bill glanced in his rearview mirror. Benjamin’s eyes were still closed.
Bill flung open his door to take a look at what he’d hit, when a man came barreling around the corner of the house nearest him. “Shit!” Bill groaned, noticing the dog in the street. The man running toward him was probably the owner. “I, um, is this your dog? I didn’t see him.”
The little hairs on the back of Bill’s neck stood on end as he watched the man, in the glow of his headlights leap over a white picket fence. Bill had seen enough footage on television of infected people being able to do crazy ass things, to know this man was infected. The poor dog had probably been running away from him. Without thinking twice, he lunged back into his car and slammed the door shut, locking it. The man flung himself against the door, wildly pawing at it. His frenzied growls and pounding seemed to arouse Benjamin who began to growl in the backseat. Bill glanced at his son’s reflection. As creeped out as he was by the guttural sounds his son was making, he was happy to see him awake and moving. That meant there was still hope. He was alive.
Flustered, Bill turned the key in the ignition, and then realized the car was still on. He’d put it in park after hitting the dog and had not switched it off. He was having a hard time thinking straight.
The man continued to pound on the window. Bill flung the car into reverse, feeling the tires roll over the dog. He cringed at the thought, but knew the poor animal was dead, he then turned the wheel, shifted the car into drive, and raced forward as the man leapt at the car, bouncing off the side and landing on the pavement. The sickening thud had caused Bill’s stomach to leap up into his chest. In his side mirror, he could see the man lying in the road, trying to get up and falling back down.
Should he stop? Should he check on the man? What the hell should he do? Call an ambulance? Then he remembered that the phone lines were down. There was no one to call. He couldn’t even call for help for his own son, not alone a stranger. His conscience was telling him to go back. He needed to help that man. And the poor dog… the dog, thank God, was dead and not suffering. He’d died instantly on impact.
Benjamin uttered a sickening groan that made Bill’s mind up for him. He watched as his son’s head slumped again to the side and his eyes closed. He needed to get Benjamin to a hospital, fast! He hated the decision he was about to make, but he couldn’t stop to help that man. He’d have to leave him.
Racing down the street, Bill was happy to finally make it to the freeway. As much as he detested the thought of going into the city that was the route he’d decided to take. With as much trouble as he had getting out of his own neighborhood, he couldn’t imagine trying to get to the hospital in the suburbs. He raced down Interstate 5 when he noticed a fire to his right, just off the freeway. There was a large shopping center off a road running parallel to the Interstate. People were running amuck and smoke was filling the freeway. Bill couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It looked as if a Walmart was being looted. He shook his head and then coughed, gagging on the thick smoke. Even though he’d only taken his eyes off the road for a second, the smoke had masked a huge pile up directly in front of him. Bill slammed on his brakes. The car skidded out of control, brakes squealing. The last thing Bill saw before hearing the sickening sound of metal crunching loudly around him was Benjamin’s favorite teddy bear hitting the windshield.
***
With an arm around her shoulders, Mike guided Ellie from the motel room. They stepped outside into the dark. Ellie shivered. The only light was coming from the moon. Even the security lights were off.
“Must be a power failure,” Mike said, thinking out loud. He looked in the direction of his car. Or where he’d parked his car anyway. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” His arm dropped from Ellie’s shoulder. He patted his pockets for his keys as he marched toward the office.
“What the hell!” He couldn’t believe his friggin’ car was gone. He’d been in such a hurry, and with the crazy turn of events, he hadn’t been thinking straight and must’ve let the keys in the ignition. “God damn it! Fuck!” he swore. “That asshole! I knew I shouldn’t have let him go! I should’ve shot his ass!”
“What is it?” Ellie ran up behind him, not wanting to be standing there alone. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t believe this!” He threw his hands up in the air as if to ask, What more are you going to do to me? “My car! It’s gone! How the fuck am I gonna explain this?”
“Oh,” Ellie said. She crossed her arms over her che
st, not because she was feeling cold, but because she was feeling insecure.
“Shit, shit, shit!” he cussed. “I can’t freaking believe this!” Mike glared at the front office. A soft glow of emergency lighting, probably being run by a generator, spilled out onto the pavement through the front glass door. Mike stormed up to the door and yanked it open.
“Wait!” Ellie warned. “The manager! He’s infected!”
Mike stopped and stared at her for a moment before stepping inside.
Not wanting to go inside, yet not wanting to stand outside alone, Ellie followed him. She stood by the counter as Mike went around the back. He grabbed the phone on the desk, listened for a moment and then frowned. Ellie gnawed nervously on her swollen lower lip which was stinging like hell, as he slammed the phone down.
“Lines are down,” he muttered.
Not surprised, Ellie nodded. She glanced over her shoulder at the empty parking lot. She kept expecting to see someone or something jump out of the shadows. “He’s in the backroom,” she said, not taking her eyes off the lot.
“The manager?”
“Yeah…”
Mike stared in the direction of the dark hallway. “You sure he’s infected?”
Ellie turned and nodded. “Um, yeah.”
“Down there?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. Gun drawn, Mike carefully stepped into the hall. This time Ellie didn’t follow. She stood there, arms still protectively crossed over her chest and shivered. She could hear his footsteps. Her teeth clenched in anticipation. She looked again over her shoulder in the direction of the parking lot. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone or something would sneak up behind her.
The sound of a door creaked open from somewhere down the hall. Ellie felt her muscles tighten. The first thought she had was that Mike must’ve opened the door to the break room, but after waiting a moment, and not hearing any commotion, Ellie remembered the other door. The one she thought belonged to maybe a storage closet or a maintenance room.
Something made a loud crashing sound. Ellie’s heart raced. She glanced again behind her. Then there was a horrible clanging sound followed by a crash. “Mike?” she called softly. Gathering her courage, she crept to the opening of the hallway and stood there, waiting for a reply. She worried for Mike’s safety. “Mike…?”
“Yeah, I’m okay…” he said.
Ellie forced herself to saunter down the dark hallway and came up beside him. It was hard to see him. The door to the other room, obviously a maintenance closet, was open. She could just make out a bunch of stuff on the floor. She figured, Mike must’ve knocked over a shelf of what looked like cleaning supplies. An aerosol can was next to her foot. She bumped it with her shoe and it noisily rolled across the tile hall.
She then turned and eyed the other door. The door to the room the infected man was in. “The manager was in there,” she whispered. There was still light seeping out from beneath the door. It just wasn’t as bright as it had been before the electricity went out. She wondered how long the generator would last. She worried about being plunged into darkness.
Mike didn’t say anything. He walked over to the door. Ellie didn’t follow. She stayed where she was, too frightened to move. She listened as Mike turned the doorknob and opened it a crack. Sucking in a sharp breath, Ellie cringed, waiting for the infected man to crash into the door, but nothing happened. Light spilled out into the hall as Mike opened the door all the way and then stepped inside the room. Ellie waited a moment, still too freaked out to move.
“He’s dead,” she heard Mike say.
Ellie let out her breath with a sigh and stepped into the room. A silver haired man lay on the floor next to a small round table. The fluorescent bulbs of the overhead lighting flickered. Mike was kneeling down next to the body, with his fingers pushed to the side of the man’s neck, feeling for a pulse. Ellie walked over towards the body. She stared at the man’s distorted face. She shook her head. “It’s like they’re having some sort of allergic reaction,” she said. “Reminds me of when I had hives from penicillin… well, except of course, my eyes didn’t change color and I didn’t go around attacking people… It’s as if the fever drives them insane.”
Mike stared up at her. “He’s still warm.”
Ellie frowned. She felt bad for the man. Dying all alone. Suffering. “You’re sure he’s dead?”
Mike nodded. “No pulse,” he said, getting to his feet.
Ellie gnawed on her bottom lip and glanced around the room. She noticed the fridge and suddenly realized how thirsty she was. She walked over to it and was relieved to see bottles of spring water. Mike joined her. She pulled out one for each of them. “Now what do we do?” She twisted off the cap and took a sip.
Mike set the bottle down on the table and pulled out his cell phone. Still no service. “Well, we have a choice,” he said. “We can stay the night here and wait ‘til morning or we can hightail it outta here.”
“How?” Ellie asked. “We have no car and the phone lines are down.”
Mike eyed the body on the ground. “We look for the manager’s keys and borrow his car.”
“And go where?”
“To the station,” he said.
Ellie thought this over. No matter how exhausted she was, she really didn’t want to stay there overnight. She wanted to go home in the worst way. The sheriff station was probably their best bet. She’d at least feel safe there until she could figure out how to get home. “Okay,” she said. “Where do we begin looking?”
Mike looked again at the body. Ellie watched as he nudged it with his boot, waited for a second, and then frisked the man’s body. He extracted a wallet and tossed it onto the table. He reached back into the man’s pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “Bingo,” he said.
Ellie picked up the man’s wallet and stared at his driver’s license. He looked so different. So normal. She would’ve never recognized him. She thumbed through the few family photos he carried with him. They were photos of whom she believed were his children and grandchildren. “Thank you, Peter MacArthur, for letting us borrow your car. Rest in peace.” She set the wallet back down on the table feeling sympathy for the man and his family. “Do we just leave him here?”
Mike nodded. “We’ll make sure to report it. Hold on. I’ll be right back.”
Ellie took another sip of water. Mike left the room. She heard him doing something in the hall. She recognized the sound of the aerosol cans rolling on the floor. He returned with a white sheet. “This was in the storage room.” He shook open the folded sheet and gently laid it over the body. “Come on, let’s look for his car.”
***
Searing pain shot through his neck into his head like a bolt of electricity. Bill forced his eyes open. He blinked hard. He tried his hardest to remember what’d happened. Within seconds, his memory returned. Blinking, trying to focus, his eyes spied Benjamin’s stuffed bear on the dash. The windshield was a spider web of cracks. An accident. Benjamin.
“Benjamin,” his voice cracked. “Benji.” Bill felt around for the clasp on his seatbelt. Finally, his fingers came in contact with the release. He fumbled with it until the seatbelt sprung loose. He turned in his seat trying to get a look at Benjamin. He screamed as another hot bolt of pain shot through his head. Whiplash? he wondered. How long had he been unconscious?
He could barely make out Benjamin’s form in the backseat. It was so dark. The only light filtering in the windows was from the moon and the flickering of fire from the buildings alongside the freeway. “Benji? You okay son?”
There was no sound or movement coming from the backseat. Bill reached for him. He wanted to touch him. He stretched his arm, pushing past his pain, in the direction of the small boy. His fingertips brushed Benjamin’s cheek. He was hot to the touch. “I’m going to get you to the hospital, son. Everything’s gonna be okay. I promise.” Even as he said the words, he didn’t believe them. He just didn’t know what else to say.
Bill grimaced as he se
ttled back down into his seat. He pulled at the door handle and tried to open his door. It wouldn’t budge. He tried again and leaned into it with all of his weight. Still no movement. Something was blocking the door. Either that or the impact of the crash bent the frame. He reached for the passenger side door, grunting with the effort. After a couple of tries, his fingers grasped the handle, but he didn’t have enough strength to push the door open. Clenching his teeth against the hurt radiating down his right arm from his neck, he crawled over the center console into the passenger seat. Bill tugged on the door handle and pushed. To his surprise, the door opened easily.
“We’re gonna be okay, son,” he said. “I got the door open.” Bill grabbed Benjamin’s stuffed bear and then reached over the seat to manually unlock Benji’s door before sliding out of the car. He grasped the side of the car to steady himself. His legs felt weak and his head was spinning. Bill closed his eyes against the combination of pain, weakness, and dizziness. The coolness of the metal felt good pressed against his cheek. Benjamin, he thought, gathering his strength. Benjamin needs me. Bill tugged on the handle of the backdoor, opening it. Benjamin didn’t move. His little body was motionless, head leaning to the side, still strapped in with his seatbelt.
“Benji, buddy,” Bill said, softly, unlatching the seatbelt. He set Benji’s favorite bear next to him on the seat. He put his hand on his son’s forehead. He was still hot to the touch. His skin also felt clammy. Benjamin didn’t move. Bill gently shook the small boys shoulder, trying to wake him. “Sport?”
Not knowing what he should do next, Bill stood next to his car and looked around, taking in his surroundings for the first time. The freeway was abnormally dark. The streetlamps were out. There was a pile up of cars in front of him. He couldn’t tell how many. The freeway heading the opposite direction was eerily empty. He looked towards the buildings on fire.
Before the accident, it was just the Walmart he remembered seeing on fire. The fire had been spreading to other nearby shopping centers along the side of the freeway. There were no fire trucks or sirens. Bill frowned. He looked again at the pile up of cars he’d crashed into. There was no highway patrol. No firemen. No ambulances. Where were all the people? Who was going to help them?
Fatal Reaction, The Beginning Page 11