“Then we—”
Lorena was suddenly cut off by her own screaming. Her ankles had been violently grabbed by a figure underneath one of the cars, but before she could recoil backwards, she was already on the ground.
Rowan immediately lunged forward and swung his crowbar at their hidden enemy. It had crawled out from underneath the car now, and despite how hard Rowan was swinging at it, it did not stop its voracious rampage. It grabbed hold of Lorena’s legs with its teeth and tore through the fibers of her jeans until it was soaked red with blood.
The boy drew up every last ounce of his energy and smashed the assailant’s skull. He hit it again and again and again, even long after it stopped groaning. In between Lorena’s loud sobs and gasps, Rowan was able to pry the lifeless body away from her.
“Lorena, hold on, okay?”
Blood leaked through the gaps of her fingers. She grasped tightly while Rowan dragged her over to the concrete freeway barrier in the middle of the highway. Fumbling through their belongings, Rowan pulled out a water bottle and a first aid kit from his backpack.
Lorena couldn’t stifle her screeching as Rowan washed the blood off of her leg. The wound looked bad—a small chunk of her flesh had been ripped away from her shin. The boy placed some gauze on the wound and pressed down on it as hard as he could, hoping that the bleeding would soon stop.
“It hurts so much,” cried Lorena.
Rowan needed to think quickly. He couldn’t waste any time analyzing what he did wrong or what he was about to do wrong. All he needed to do was make sure that he could keep Lorena alive. Did the sickness pass through a bite such as this one? Would Lorena actually be okay? He didn’t quite know if this was necessarily a life-threatening situation, but it could easily turn into one if he wasn’t careful. He needed to focus and use his knowledge.
He found a bottle of painkillers in the first aid kit and poured two of the pills out onto his hand. He slipped them into Lorena’s mouth and gave her some water to wash them down, though she had a hard time swallowing them due to her choked cries.
“Lorena, I’m going to stitch you up and I need you to try to be as quiet as you can.” Rowan handed her a sweater from his bag. “Bite into this, because this is gonna hurt.”
He started cleaning her wound with rubbing alcohol, and though she wanted to scream, she managed to turn her yells into soft whimpers.
“You’re doing good.”
Rowan pierced through Lorena’s skin with the stitching needle. Her reaction was no more extreme than what she was already expressing, so Rowan felt confident enough to rush the process and close the wound as much as he could.
After he was done, he tightly wrapped Lorena’s leg with more gauze, keeping the bandages in place with some leftover surgical tape. He then layered on a small rag from Lorena’s backpack and wrapped it around her leg, trying to keep the bitten area as closed off as possible.
Lorena spent the next hour trying to control the pain. The painkillers didn’t seem like they were doing much, but she was no longer compelled to scream every few seconds.
“Am I gonna be okay?” she asked.
“I hope so,” said Rowan quietly.
Lorena winced as she sat herself a little further up on the concrete barrier. “This is gonna slow us down a lot, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry about it.”
“But your family.”
“They’ll wait for me.”
“I’m so useless,” she cried. “I’m sorry, Rowan. I—I should’ve never been caught. This should’ve never happened.”
“There was nothing we could do about that. Something was gonna get us eventually. Something always does.”
“What’s gonna happen to me?”
Rowan wasn’t sure of what to say. He knew that Lorena wasn’t stupid, and she probably knew exactly what he was thinking. He was thinking about the risk of infection—not just for the wound itself, but for the one that would make her lose her mind.
“I’m going to take care of you,” he said. “That’s all we can do.”
“I’m sorry again. I’m really sorry about this. I’m just holding you back.”
Rowan pulled out Lorena’s sweater from her backpack and wrapped it around her. “I can’t get mad at you. Don’t apologize to me. This wasn’t your fault. If I had been more careful, this would’ve never happened in the first place.”
“You’re a good person. Don’t beat yourself up like that.”
“Something always goes wrong when I’m around. You don’t get it.”
“That’s not true.”
Rowan moved on. “Just get some rest right now, okay? You’ve got to keep your body strong. Tell me how you feel when you wake up.”
“Okay, fine. Good night then.”
“Night.”
Lorena curled her knees close to her chest while Rowan emptied out the contents of both of their bags so she could lay on them. He noticed that her eyelids were strained shut, but after a long while, they eventually relaxed, and it seemed that she had finally fallen asleep.
The sight of Lorena’s pale, drained face reminded Rowan of the time he had gone to visit his mother in the hospital after she was admitted for her stroke. It was a school day, and Allie had texted him that their mom had been hospitalized. He rushed out of class as soon as he could, not even bothering to tell anyone where he was going. When he got to the hospital, his mother woke up and asked him what time it was. Around noon, he had said. Shockingly, she didn’t seem to mind that he had skipped class in order to see her. For that brief period in time, they really felt like a family again. They were together. Nothing else in the way, nothing else to worry about. Just them, and nothing more.
11
Rowan watched the sun slowly rise above the buildings in the distance, hoping that it would bring warmth to the chilly highway. He had not slept at all the previous night, as he watched over Lorena to make sure she was okay. Surprisingly, she had not woken up at any point in the last few hours. Rowan secretly hoped that she was suddenly okay now and that she would be able to walk without any assistance, but he knew that this wasn’t going to be the case. Getting home was going to take longer, though he was actually okay with that for once. Someone else needed him right now.
He took Lorena’s knife and opened up a can of chicken noodle soup that they had been saving. The soft goop inside didn’t look very appetizing, but it was better than eating a dead squirrel or something like that. He then took one of the water bottles and set both the can and the bottle next to Lorena, hoping that she would have enough strength to eat.
“Hey,” said Rowan, gently shaking the young girl awake. “I made breakfast.”
She grumbled and slowly opened her eyes. “Rowan—”
“How are you feeling?” he interrupted. He frantically put his palm on her forehead, which did not seem particularly warm at all. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know what you mean by okay, but my leg still really hurts,” she groaned. “But it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Really.”
Rowan unwrapped the bandages on her leg. To his surprise, the wound looked relatively fine, and it didn’t look like it was infected. This gave him some relief, so he cleaned up the area again and redressed the wound.
“Here,” he said, handing Lorena the can of soup. “Try to finish as much of this as possible. You need food in your system.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”
“I don’t believe you, but okay.”
Rowan watched Lorena eat for a while. Even though she wasn’t really complaining about the pain in her leg, he still pulled out some painkillers for her to take. He knew that she was trying her hardest to hide her agony, because every few minutes, she would fail to keep up the illusion, whether it was in her wincing face or in her unsteady voice.
“It’s really cold right now,” she said.
“You’re telling me. You’ve got my sweater.”
“Of course. You just have to lend me yours when I need it.”
“I don’t think you can fit into this.”
“Probably not, but you’d just force it on me regardless.”
“Honestly? Yeah.”
Rowan sifted through their belongings for a moment, but he wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for. “Anyway, sorry the soup is cold. There’s no way we can make a fire—and even if we could, I don’t think I know how. We could really use the warmth right now.”
“It’s fine. Cold soup is delicious.”
“Are you serious?”
“Nope. This is disgusting.”
“Then I’m glad you’re the one enjoying it and not me,” said Rowan with a grin. “Let me know when you’re feeling better, okay? I don’t care how long it takes. Once you’re fine, then we’ll keep going.”
Lorena peered into the can to see how much she had left to eat. She wasn’t even halfway done. “Just let me get through this soup, and then we’ll go.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’ll stop you if I feel weak, okay? I’m not gonna sit here and stop you from getting closer to your family. We can’t waste any time today.”
“Just don’t do more than you can handle.”
“I know. I won’t push myself that hard.”
“Good. You’ve already done that for me for far too long.”
Lorena went back to eating her soup, hoping that she would soon make it to the bottom of the can.
Rowan knelt down and ran his hands through the soft sand beneath him. “We made it.”
The evening sun’s reflection on the ocean waters mesmerized its two observers. There was a bright orange light that followed the gentle waves onto the beach, which Lorena reached out to touch.
“It’s really nice here,” she said.
Rowan took careful steps in the sand and guided Lorena forward. “Come on, let’s rest.”
As the young girl and her keeper made their way down the beach, they stayed quiet in order to listen to the soothing sound of the ocean waves—they were swishing back and forth in a pleasant rhythm, almost as if they were saying that beauty and peace could still be found in the world. Certainly, the waves were wrong, as this place was merely a mirage for desperate people like Rowan and Lorena to fall for. The world was dangerous now—in fact, it always was. Only now, it was much more obvious.
The last time Rowan went to the beach was the summer before his senior year started. It was tradition at Fairfax High School for the graduating class to get together to make a bonfire, as they were meant to toss away any old, non-sentimental school work dating all the way back to their kindergarten days. Even though Rowan had summer homework to finish, Caitlyn really wanted to go, so she dragged him over to the beach where everyone was meeting up in the evening. Once they got there, the fire was already crackling and burning with the embers of essays, worksheets, notes, and doodles from dozens of students. Rowan hadn’t bothered to bring anything. Caitlyn, on the other hand, brought stacks upon stacks of old schoolwork that she had saved just in case they would come in handy one day. In an odd, roundabout way, they did—as each paper that she and Rowan tossed into the fire kept them warm throughout the night.
Rowan and Lorena needed that warmth now. The ocean breeze was frigid, and it was going to get much colder once the sun was finally down. As the children proceeded further along the beach, they spied a pier just a short distance away, but to both Rowan and Lorena’s surprise, they didn’t find much shelter. Instead, they saw a figure sitting down on a bench near the edge.
“Who the hell is that?” asked Rowan.
Lorena propped herself up on his shoulder. “Do you think they’re alive?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t want anything to do with them. Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait. What if they need our help?”
“If they’re sitting down like that, I don’t think they do.”
“We should take the risk.”
“If we do, then I need you to stay as far away as possible.”
“Okay, then. Let’s do that.”
They slowly approached the figure. Rowan was sure that this was a bad idea, and yet he was doing it anyway. Even if this person did need help, was it actually worth the risk to check and see? After everything he had been through—had he not learned his lesson?
“Hey,” said Rowan to the mysterious person. He pushed Lorena backwards a bit. “Are you sick? Do you need any help?”
“Sick?” The person—a man with deep, dark circles under his eyes—turned around and took a long and careful look at Rowan and Lorena. “I’m not sure. Are you two?”
“No,” said Rowan. “I don’t think I am.”
Lorena came closer, despite Rowan motioning her to move back. “Maybe. It’s hard to tell whether or not you’re sick.”
“Yes,” said the man. “Yes it is.”
“What are you doing here?” asked Rowan.
“Thinking. I’ve been thinking a lot. Watching, too.”
“Did something happen to you?”
“Something happens to all of us when the world is as terrible as it is. I’ve been dealt a particularly bad hand this time around.”
Lorena supported herself by latching on to Rowan’s arm. “What happened?”
The man didn’t respond. Instead, he got up from the bench and peered over the railing, where he looked intently at the ocean beneath him. Rowan sat Lorena down at the bench and pulled out his crowbar in anticipation for the man’s unpredictability.
“Are you looking at something?” asked Rowan.
“I’m waiting,” he said.
“For what, exactly?”
“My wife’s body.”
Rowan tightly gripped his crowbar and began to back away. The man, realizing Rowan’s potential misunderstanding, turned from the railing for a moment.
“She jumped in a few days ago and never resurfaced. I’ve been waiting for her body to wash ashore… but I’ve seen nothing. I’ve seen nothing at all.”
“I’m sorry,” said Rowan. “I can’t imagine how that feels.”
The man’s eyes returned to the water. “I’m waiting for her. Then I’ll join her.”
“What? You don’t mean to kill yourself, do you?”
“But I do. What is there left for me? No one needs me, and even if they did, I’m useless to them now. I’m a shell of who I once was.”
“That doesn’t mean you take your life,” said Lorena. She had gotten up from the bench and returned to her place on Rowan’s arm. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t, but I will. There’s nothing in this world that’ll bring me any joy. Take a look around—can you find any joy out there?”
“Just because you’re sad now doesn’t mean you’ll be sad forever,” said Lorena.
“Those are ignorant words. It’s the equivalent of telling me to be happy, but with the absence of anything in my life to make me feel that way.”
Rowan inched forward. He needed to find a way to stop the man. “Then you wait. There’s a lot of things out there that can make you happy if you just wait. Losing your wife—that’s a fresh thing. Even if there’s nothing out there that’ll make you happy, then maybe you’ll at least be okay. You’ll learn to deal with this.”
“Do you actually believe that?” asked the man. He turned around again, this time focusing on Rowan’s crowbar. “You don’t sound like you do.”
“I believe it,” said Lorena. “I lost my father recently. I’m not happy right now, but I’m better. You can get better, too.”
The man twisted back around, but he was staring at the sunset now. “I know that you both mean to stop me, but I’ve been thinking about this for the last few days. You can’t stop me anymore. I don’t want you to stop me.”
He leapt off of the railing before Rowan could grab him. The boy peered over the edg
e to try and find the man, but he saw nothing. Hurriedly, he motioned Lorena to grab a life preserver to toss into the water while he rushed over to the shore. Neither he nor Lorena could swim, but he waded as deeply as he could to reach out for the man. There wasn’t a single sign of struggle in the water.
“Rowan, I don’t see him from up here!” yelled Lorena.
The boy was freezing now. He continued to look in the water as best as he could, but there was nothing he could really do. It was a hopeless endeavor, and yet, he spent much of the next hour looking for a hint of optimism. It never came.
Eventually, Rowan returned to the pier. Lorena gave him a change of clothes and didn’t even bother to say a single word. For the remainder of the evening, they sat in silence and watched the birds fly overhead. They all hovered over the ocean, roaming around in different directions. Were any of them going somewhere? Or, were they all staying here, until their deaths? It was impossible to tell.
12
After a few days, Rowan and Lorena made it to a place called Cambria. As they searched the numerous bed and breakfast establishments in the town, they noticed something quite odd about them: each one had missing sheets on all of the beds. Rowan figured that people had passed by and took the sheets as substitutes for blankets due to the winter cold, though he wasn’t convinced with this idea. Instead, he hoped that there was a military outpost nearby that had needed supplies. But he didn’t believe this either. In reality, this was just another raided town destroyed by those who sought nothing but to plunder.
Rowan wondered what the history of this town was. And he didn’t mean archaic history, like who the first settlers were, or who established the first bar and grill here. He wondered about the history of its everyday people, because nobody knows what a place is really like unless they live in it. This town was only a blip in the radar for passersby like Rowan and Lorena, but to the people who lived here, it was so much more. It was a place where they fell in love, where they learned right from wrong, where they thought about settling down. Rowan and Lorena had passed through so many different cities without paying much mind to any of them, but for once, Rowan was conscious about how there were likely people who lived here that shared the same emotional attachment to their home like he did. He wanted to hear their stories and experiences of their one true home, but there was nobody around to ask.
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