by North, Geoff
Hayden stood, pushing himself up awkwardly with one arm from the chesterfield. The other arm was wrapped in a sling. “We already went back, Angela and me. Tarantan’s totally gone, burned completely to the ground. There’s nothing left, nowhere to look.”
Caitlan felt a rush of cold flood up from her chest and settle in her face. Whatever fight remained washed away at the same moment. She could feel something hot stabbing into her side. She looked down and saw a small red spot at the center of bandages taped against her side. Angela was suddenly next to her, helping her stay on her feet. Fred was there as well. They directed Caitlan to the couch and plopped her down as gently as they could.
“You’re bleeding again,” Fred said. “Quit moving or you’ll never begin to heal properly. I may be a doctor, but what you really need is a hospital, and there aren’t any of those left.”
Caitlan leaned back into the cushions and finally did as she was told. She stared at the open laptop screen in front of her. “I see you’re still receiving the Cuba ad. What I’d give to be lying on a sandy beach right about now.”
Hayden sat back down next to her. “No Beaches. No more travel until the kids are with us again... until Nicholas is with me again.”
She placed a hand on his thigh. “Sorry I yelled at you.” She looked to Angela and Fred. “Sorry I yelled at all of you. I know you did all you could do. This world is good and fucked now, isn’t it? Bad enough we blew ourselves to smithereens, now we’re stealing our own... breaking up and destroying what families are left.”
Angela sat gently on the other side of her. “This family hasn’t been destroyed yet. Hayden will find Nicholas, and I’ll find Amanda and Michael again.”
“That’s going to be tough. Tarantan’s gone, and you don’t know who took the kids or where they took them to.”
“That’s not entirely true.” Angela clicked on the Cuba ad. The strange text message Caitlan had read from her cell phone back at Odin Lake was now displayed on the laptop screen. Angela scrolled down and pointed. “See what it says here? Some major cities in the US weren’t destroyed by the bombs.”
Caitlan nodded. “I remember. Chicago, Kansas City, Memphis, Houston. That’s an awful lot of real estate to start searching for the children, and chances are it isn’t anywhere near where they were actually taken.”
“I got a good look at that van those men were driving. I saw the license plate... It was from Illinois.”
“Illinois?” Caitlan repeated. “Seems like a long way to travel to abduct children.”
“Chicago’s in Illinois,” Hayden said. “And it’s one of the cities mentioned there.”
“It also says it’s one of the cities where that LDV3 disease is at its worst. If that’s the same sickness filling dead people up with bugs, I’m thinking it’s one of the last places we want to go searching.”
Fred shrugged. “It’s all we have to go on.”
“And it is on the way to where we were planning on heading,” Angela added.
“Cuba?” Caitlan said incredulously. “We’re seriously going to try and get to Cuba? There’s more than a hundred miles of ocean between the tip of Florida and Havana, and I doubt there are any boats making the trip back and forth anymore.”
“You liked the idea back at Odin Lake,” Angela said.
“That’s when the children were still with us.”
Hayden closed the laptop. “We’re going to where they took the children. If that takes us to Cuba, so be it.”
Caitlan inspected the bloody bandage wrapped around her. “Well I guess driving down through what was once the United States won’t make this any worse.”
Fred Gill tried slowing them down. “Hold your horses, folks. We’re in no shape for a long trip like that just yet. Two of you have been shot. We need to rest, to plan.”
Angela was helping Caitlan back to her feet. “It’s settled, Fred. Three against one. Go pack your swim trunks.” Are you insane, girl? You’ll never make it that far with these idiots. Stick something sharp into the black woman’s wound—you’ll find her heart past that fat somewhere. “I didn’t ask for your advice.”
Fred looked hurt. “I’m still a doctor, young lady. I’ll give whatever damned advice I need to give.”
Caitlan began to chuckle. “She isn’t talking to you, Doc.”
“Oh... that again.”
See what they really think of you, Angie? You’re crazy to them. Kill them now before they leave you behind. And you know they’ll leave you behind, right? People have been abandoning you your entire life.
Hayden could see the conflict on Angela’s face. Whatever was happening inside her head may have been there her entire life, or perhaps it was more recent. Watching their world burn away before their eyes had affected all of them, some perhaps more than others. When—and if—she decided to talk to them about it, they would be there to listen and help. How bad could it be? “We’re not far from where the army had set up that car compound. I think we should head there right away and commandeer a few more vehicles... if there are any left.”
They helped Fred pack up what there was to take from his home. The property was hidden well in the country down a forested lane. It hadn’t been looted. The old man’s belongings consisted of a decades-old collection of books, fishing rods and tackle, outdated medical equipment, diplomas, and knick knack only a life-long bachelor could acquire. Medicine, extra blankets, and some tools from a garden shed were all they took.
He stood next to the running truck as the others waited, looking over the house he’d lived in most of his life. It had been almost a year since he’d last been here. Fred wished he could’ve had more time to say goodbye to the place.
The passenger window lowered and Caitlan spoke quietly. “Time to go, Doc.”
Fred nodded and climbed into the back seat next to her.
Chapter 16
The grader rumbled to a halt half a mile outside of Rokerton, its fuel finally spent. Grace and Roy climbed out and headed for the burned out remains on foot. It was hard going for Roy with the bullet wound in his leg, but he managed to keep up.
“I’d do it all over again if I could,” he grunted through his mask.
“Do what?”
“Kill Fiona. I’d be slower about it, not so quick. I’d make the pain last as long as I could.”
Grace figured Fiona had felt more than enough pain in her last minutes, but she was hardly surprised to hear him speak the words. “She suffered enough.”
He was no longer bunching her in with the homicidal talk. Grace—for the time being—had been removed from his hit list. They needed each other, and were developing a sick relationship of tolerance. Grace knew how fleeting and dangerous their association was. He would turn on her again sometime in the future. She had betrayed Fiona. Louie had betrayed Grace. It went on and on, and would continue to do so until only one remained from their twisted little quartet. That lone survivor would then have to find more people to latch onto. It would be her if she played her cards right.
They continued on. “I like you a lot more than Louie. You’re a sneaky bitch, but you got more balls than he ever had. You weren’t afraid to fight for your life when it came right down to it. Louie lied his way out of shit. He told you things he knew you wanted to hear, and then he stabbed you in the back to make things easier for himself. Little fuck. I’d go nice and slow on him too if I had the chance.”
“Me too.” Say what you have to say. Do what you have to do.
They began walking past burned out cars and charred corpses covered over in a crust of snow-ice. The long winter was coming to an end and it was beginning to warm. Grace wasn’t at all sure that a normal spring and summer would follow. The sun rarely broke through the diseased cover of greyish-yellow clouds above, but it seemed slightly brighter out during the day. The temperature would rise enough soon to allow these frozen bodies to begin rotting again. The stench would be terrible, and there was a chance the bugs that had been frozen inside the lim
bs, arteries, and brains of the dead would return to life.
Roy kicked a decapitated head out of his path. It rolled across the street like a rock tumbling over ice. “We need to find a car that hasn’t been roasted like a goddamned marshmallow. We got to get as far away from this mess as we can... find some place that wasn’t fried.”
They picked at corpses as they headed deeper into the small town, finding small weapons on some and salvageable clothing on others. By the time they’d reached the only building left standing and relatively unscathed, Roy looked more like some nightmarish vision from a post-apocalyptic video game than ever. He had stripped the dirty green uniform from the biggest corpse he could find and fit them over the even filthier tatters of clothes he was still wearing. The dead soldier’s pants and shirt were a size or more too small on his monstrous frame, but the boots were a perfect fit.
“How do I look?” He asked after securing a big belt around his waist and shoving his handgun into the mismatched holster.
Grace looked him over. There was blood and brain matter frozen into the fabric of the uniform and the boots were encrusted with brown matter that looked worse. And then there was the broken oxygen mask with the one shattered eye plate covering his head. “Like something that just crawled out of hell.”
“Good.”
They arrived at the steps of the old Town Office building. Grace followed Roy inside and the two went through the ground floor of rooms thoroughly but quickly. The smell was unbearable, forcing them back outside without exploring the upper floors and basement. “Someone’s been living in there,” Grace said, gasping in the marginally fresher air. “They’re probably hiding in the ruins right now, watching us.”
Roy was about to respond when they both heard a vehicle approaching from the far end of the street. They ran back into the shadows of the building’s entrance and watched as a white minivan sped past, thumping over corpses along the way.
“One person,” Grace said, emerging out again. “And in a hell of a big hurry to get out of town.”
“Yeah, I just caught a glimpse of him. I think he was wearing one of them stupid Russian hats, the ones that look like dead beavers.”
“You think it could’ve been Louie?”
“I doubt it. That little shit wouldn’t have been strong enough to make it this far on his own, and he couldn’t have found a running vehicle that fast.”
Grace wasn’t that sure. If anything, Louie had proven himself resourceful. He knew better than any of them about self preservation. “I think we should follow. Maybe he’ll run out of gas and we can catch up.”
Roy shrugged. It would be a slow pursuit on foot, especially on his bad leg, but Rokerton had nothing else to offer them. “Sure, whatever.”
They went south. Roy picked through burned out vehicles and dead bodies along the way. The pockets of his stolen military uniform became stuffed with charred guns, knives, and other personal belongings. Grace went ahead and came across something completely unexpected on the outskirts of town. She called back to her scavenging companion. “Forget that crap... come see what I’ve found.”
Roy limped his way to her and whistled with disbelief. It sounded like a hornet buzzing under his mask. “Looks like our transportation worries have come to an end.”
There were hundreds of cars and trucks parked in countless rows on a barren field. “You think any of them still run?” Grace asked.
“They were brought here, so I would imagine.” They went to the closest car—a smoky grey Cadillac CT6—and Roy lifted the door handle. “Locked.” He tried a few more, but couldn’t get inside any of them.
Grace pointed to a small metal shed twelve rows in and about a hundred yards away. “Maybe the keys are in there.”
The storage shed turned out to be locked as well when they got there, but it wasn’t going to stop Roy. He kicked ferociously next to the padlock with his good leg until the hinge snapped away. Hundreds of hooks secured to pegboard covered the interior walls and keys were hanging from most. Grace figured their arrangement out quickly and found the corresponding key fobs to the first two cars Roy had tried opening.
Roy began dumping the junk he’d collected from the dead and filled his pockets with more keys. “Fuck one or two, the whole lot’s ours to choose from.” He began laughing. “We can take whatever we goddamn please.”
“Be quiet,” Grace whispered. “I hear a car coming.”
They peeked through the broken door, expecting to see the white minivan. It was a red extended cab instead, moving slowly in their direction a few rows over. Roy took a hold of his gun and scooped up one of the discarded knives from the floor. “Fucking figures. Soon as I catch a break, the whole world shows up to interfere. Well let ‘em come. They don’t know we’re here. As soon as those doors open, they’re dead.”
Grace pushed him aside. “I have a better idea.”
Fred parked the truck in front of the small storage shed and left it running. “Looks as though someone’s been this way already. The lock’s been broke off.”
“I wouldn’t have expected a place with so many sitting vehicles to have gone untouched all winter,” Hayden said. “I’m surprised there are any left at all.” He reached for the door handle.
“Wait,” Angela stopped him. She handed Hayden a gun. “You can never be too safe.”
He took the weapon and stepped out. A shot fired and blew the passenger side rear-view mirror away. A second bullet ricocheted off the metal frame surrounding the four-by-four’s windshield. Hands grabbed at Hayden’s shirt and pulled him back into the cab before a third shot could find its target. Angela and Fred were both yanking on him. Hayden could hear Caitlan yelling through the gunfire, something about his legs. He looked up and into the backseat where the woman’s terrified gaze was drawn out the back window. Hayden tucked his feet up into the cab moments before another vehicle roared past, taking the truck’s door along with it.
“Go! Go! Go!” Caitlan screamed before Fred could drop the truck into reverse. He began backing up, smashing off the bumper of a small import as another bullet thumped through the center of the windshield. It missed the top of Angela’s skull by less than an inch and blew out the back window.
Fred cranked down hard on the steering wheel when they’d reached that row’s end of cars, the four-by-four rocked hard to the left almost flipping over onto its side. They were no longer in a direct line of fire, but the old doctor wasn’t going to wait around to see how many gunmen were trying to kill them. They sped off down between another row of vehicles, kicking up ice and hard mud.
“We can’t let them scare us off like this,” Hayden shouted. His head was down under Fred’s lower legs, somewhere between the accelerator and brake pedals. His feet were dangling back out through the opening where the passenger door once sat.
Fred looked in his rear-view mirror and saw the grey Cadillac that had swiped them pulling up in front of the shed. Someone big staggered out from the small building and jumped in the passenger side. He was more than just big, Fred thought. It looked like a monster on two legs with some kind of dark head covering. “We’ll find more wheels somewhere else,” he finally answered, stomping down on the gas and screeching out onto the highway.
Roy removed the gas mask and placed it down on the floor mat. He was pink, covered with sweat, and pissed off. “Why did you go and do something stupid like that? This was a nice fucking car until you ran into that truck.”
“We’re both still alive, aren’t we? I’d say that’s worth a scratched bumper and dented fender.”
Roy started grinning after a few more seconds. “Damn, you’re turning into a real hard-ass bitch, aren’t you?”
“Have to be considering the class of men I’ve been hanging around the last year.”
He laughed, and the two watched as the damaged four-by-four sped off down the highway. “Should we follow them, finish the job?”
Grace shrugged. “We can follow. I don’t see why we have to kill them thoug
h.”
“Survival of the fittest, Amazing Grace. Kill or be killed.”
She tossed him a second key fob. “That’s for the Dodge Ram.” She pointed to a big black truck parked a few vehicles away.
“Maybe I want to drive the fucking Cadillac.”
“The truck suits you better. Big and strong.”
“You got that right.” He grabbed his mask and grunted his way out of the car.
He limped off in front of her. I could run him over. He’s too injured and slow to move out of the way in time. She shifted into drive but kept her foot on the brake. He’ll kill me when the time’s right... Finish him now. The Cadillac began to edge forward.
But then I’d be all alone.
Grace stopped again and watched him climb into the big truck with noticeable effort. The Ram fired up with some work and Roy signalled that he would lead the way. She followed him from the compound and out onto the highway.
“Yeah, you can lead the way, asshole.” It appeared as though Grace had lost one boyfriend and found another all in one day. Fiona had hated all men unconditionally, and it had been her undoing in the end. Grace didn’t care for them all that much herself, especially after Louie. But she wouldn’t let that hatred blind her. It was a new world where only the strong like Roy could survive. The strong, and the smart. Smart like Grace.
Chapter 17
The fire surrounded her. Black smoke had chased Amanda and her brother from the tiny back office out into the toy store. She had been holding Michael’s hand only moments before, but he was gone now. They had been separated by flames somewhere down one of the aisles between displays of stuffed animals on one side and the shelves stuffed with action figures on the other. Something hot and alive landed in her hair. She could hear it sizzling and snapping, digging deeper towards the flesh of her skull. Amanda batted it away and saw a chunk of burning ceiling tile land on the floor in a shower of orange sparks. The sparks began to jump and dance, like popcorn in a heated pan. They landed on her bare, dirty feet and bit in. She tried to scream, but the sound of a baby wailing was all that came out.