by Lukens, Mark
As anxious as he was to get back to the cabin, he made himself wait by the deadfall. He watched the woods, alert for any flashes of movement, listening for any sounds. But everything was quiet and still—nature holding its breath. Luke didn’t bother looking through the scope on his rifle or through the binoculars that hung from a strap around his neck inside his hoodie. He got to his feet, ready to go back to the cabin.
He waited a moment. It felt like he was being watched. He couldn’t spot anyone, but he couldn’t shake the feeling. Maybe it was the forest animals watching him: deer, squirrels, birds; all of them statue-still, waiting to see what he would do, waiting for him to leave.
And then he left, hurrying back through the woods, no longer trying to be so quiet. He followed his own faint tracks, referring to his compass every so often. He stopped only once to drink some water from his canteen.
Moments later he was back at the edge of the woods. He stayed in the tree-line, keeping an eye on the cabin as he made his way through the woods to the dirt drive. He crossed the driveway and entered the woods on the other side. The cabin looked undisturbed, and he took his time getting around the clearing to the metal hatch in the ground hidden among the brush. He waited near the hatch for a few minutes, hoping no one was watching him. He didn’t want to give away one of their escape routes.
Finally, when he felt comfortable enough that no one was around, he opened the hatch and slipped down into the hole, closing the metal door behind him. He locked the door and pulled out the small flashlight from his pants pocket, turning it on, shining the beam down the narrow metal tunnel that led to the bunker under the cabin.
A few minutes later he entered the bunker. He stepped inside and closed the door to the tunnel, lowering the metal bar in place to lock it. He looked down an aisle through the metal shelves of supplies and saw Ray and Mike sitting on pillows, playing a video game.
Ray looked up as Luke approached.
“Dad, watch out,” Mike said, his eyes still on the TV. “The zombies are going to get you.”
Ray ignored Mike, keeping his eyes on Luke. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
“Dad . . .” Then Mike sighed. “Too late. He got you.”
Ray glanced at Mike. “Go ahead, son. You take over. I need to talk to Luke for a minute.”
Mike paused the video game and turned to look at Luke, staring right at him.
“Everything’s okay,” Ray said quickly before Luke could say anything.
Luke figured it would be better to just tell Mike what was going on instead of sneaking around behind his back, but he knew Ray was still so protective of his son.
Ray got up and Luke followed him up the basement stairs to the kitchen. Josh and Emma weren’t in the kitchen or the living room, probably upstairs in Emma’s bedroom again. They thought they were sneaking around and nobody noticed, but it was kind of obvious. Luke wasn’t sure why the need for secrecy; it didn’t bother him one bit if the two of them wanted to hook up. They were both adults, they didn’t need anyone’s permission or blessings.
“What’s wrong?” Ray said.
“I saw tracks in the woods.”
“Tracks?”
“Just one set. A person. Small prints. I think it might have been a woman or even a kid.”
“Just one set,” Ray repeated to himself.
“That’s all I saw.”
“Where in the woods?”
Before Luke could answer, he heard Josh shuffling down the steps in the living room, sounding heavier than he was as he thumped down the stairs. A moment later he strolled up to them, and then he stopped when he saw the expressions on their faces.
“What’s going on?” Josh asked.
Luke could see Ray practically bristle as soon as Josh entered the room. He knew Ray still didn’t like Josh even though Josh hadn’t touched the pain pills or liquor since they’d found the bunker and the antibiotics he needed. Maybe Ray would eventually warm up to Josh, but who knew how long that would take? Luke suspected that Ray didn’t like him much either. But the difference between him and Josh was that he really didn’t care whether Ray liked him or not.
“Luke found some tracks in the woods,” Ray told Josh.
“Where in the woods?” Josh said.
Luke pointed at the front door of the cabin. “That way. Just inside the woods. One set. One person. I think it might have been a woman or maybe a teenager. Looks like the person was wearing sneakers, not boots.”
“So the tracks were only in the woods?” Ray said. “None in the clearing or around the cabin?”
“None that I could see. Looks to me like the person came to the edge of the woods and watched the cabin.”
“And then left?” Josh said.
Luke nodded. “I went deeper into the woods, trying to follow the tracks, but I didn’t want to go in too far in case she was with a group and they came back around from a different direction and attacked the cabin while I wasn’t here. I wanted to get back and let you guys know.”
Ray seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.
“Maybe a ripper?” Josh asked.
“I don’t think so. The tracks looked too . . . too deliberate.”
“But part of a group?” Josh said. “Maybe the Dark Angels.”
“Could be,” Luke agreed. “Or could be another group of survivors.”
“Or another gang like the Dark Angels.”
Luke just shrugged. Nowadays a group of survivors or a gang might be the same thing. A group of survivors turned into a gang soon enough, willing to pillage and kill to protect themselves.
“Let’s go take a look at the tracks,” Ray said. He looked at Josh. “You cover us from the front porch.”
CHAPTER 6
Ray
While Josh waited on the front porch with a rifle, Ray and Luke crossed the field to the edge of the woods, crunching on the thin layer of snow. Ray looked for other tracks as they walked toward the woods, but he didn’t see any. The blue sky was quickly turning gray with the coming clouds, promising more snow.
Luke led the way into the woods. He had his rifle slung over one shoulder, his pistol and silencer holstered under his hoodie. Ray wore his pistol holstered on his side. He’d gotten the holster from the bunker, and he was still using the same gun he’d taken off the Dark Angel in the small town where the three Dark Angels had almost abducted them. The weapon felt strange on his hip at first, like a weight he couldn’t get used to, a weight making his movements cumbersome, but the more he got used to it the more those feelings went away.
On the other side of Ray’s hip he had the small walkie-talkie. Josh had the other one, and they were to only use them in absolute emergencies. There could be others listening on the same channels, others within range that might pick up their signal.
Josh was still on the front porch near the railing with a 30.06 rifle. Ray wasn’t confident that Josh knew how to shoot. He claimed he was a good shot, but Ray didn’t believe much of what Josh said.
Luke made no small talk as they trekked through the woods—Luke wasn’t a small-talk kind of guy. And Ray was fine with that. He glanced around as they walked, a tingling feeling dancing along his skin, a hyper-aware state that he had adapted ever since the world had gone to shit on a Friday morning not too long ago.
It took a moment for Luke to find the tracks again, but then he stopped and pointed down at the ground. The tracks were faint, but Ray could make them out in the snow.
“Looks like she waited by this tree,” Luke said.
Ray noticed Luke was using the word she. “Watching the cabin,” he said. “She could’ve been scouting the place.”
Luke nodded but didn’t seem too convinced of that. “Seems strange Dark Angels would send a woman or a kid as a scout.”
“They might,” Ray said. “Maybe she’s got the most experience in the woods. Maybe they sent someone nonthreatening. Or maybe they drew straws.”
“Or
this person is alone. Maybe lost and scared.”
Could be, he thought. “If that’s true, why didn’t she come to the cabin? Why didn’t she try the cabin door? See if she could get inside, even get to the front porch and under the roof.”
“Like I said, maybe she’s scared.”
“The cabin would look cold and dark, even at night. We don’t keep any lights on. We don’t use the fireplace. The drapes are all closed. No vehicles parked outside. I mean, why come all this way, find a possible refuge, then go back into the woods? She must be with others.”
Luke didn’t respond.
“You didn’t see anything else in the woods?”
Luke gave him a look that said: If I had, I would’ve told you by now.
“Maybe we could set up some kind of alarm system,” Ray said. “In case she comes back around. Or anyone else.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“We just need to stay alert. Maybe sleep in watches for the next night or two.”
“I’ll check the woods again in the morning.” Luke glanced up at the tree branches. “Looks like there might be some more snow coming.”
It sure felt cold enough to snow, Ray thought.
*
After they got back to the porch and told Josh what they’d found, he had an idea for an alarm system.
“What is it?” Ray asked.
But Josh didn’t explain; he was off and running back into the house.
Ray and Luke went back inside the cabin and locked the door. Luke went over to the window next to the door and looked out through the drapes, studying the woods in the distance.
“You heard what Josh said a few days ago,” Luke said to Ray when he looked away from the window. “These doors are made of metal. This place is solid. Even if it’s a group or the Dark Angels, we’ll be safe in here.”
Ray thought about the fortress Luke had told him about near the Ohio River, the compound the Dark Angels had overtaken, bringing two of the men to the town of Heaven to be used as bait. But he decided not to remind him about that.
“Dark Angels?” Emma said.
Ray turned around and saw Emma walking toward them from the stairs on the other side of the room. He hadn’t heard her come down the stairs. She moved like a ghost, slipping up to them silently.
“We don’t know if they’re Dark Angels,” Ray told Emma.
“Who?”
Ray briefly explained to Emma about the tracks Luke had just shown him in the woods.
Josh was back, and of course Mike was tagging along, carrying some metal cans. Josh had more metal cans and spools of string.
“I’m gonna set up these cans under the steps,” Josh said with a proud grin. “They won’t see them until they trip over the string on the steps.”
“You see that in a movie?” Luke asked.
Josh ignored Luke.
“Can I help?” Mike asked, looking right at Ray for permission.
“No,” Ray said a little too quickly. “It’s too dangerous. We don’t know who’s out there in the woods. How many of them there are. What they want.”
Mike pouted a little, but he didn’t argue.
Luke still had his rifle slung over his shoulder. He went outside with Josh to cover him while rigging his tin-can alarm system.
Ray wasn’t sure they would hear the cans rattling from inside the cabin, but it was better than nothing. Ray had already decided that they would sleep in watches, one of them in the living room at all times, waiting.
He looked at Mike, feeling bad for snapping at him a few minutes ago. He’d told Mike that it was too dangerous for him to be out on the front porch with Josh, but he wondered if it had more to do with keeping Mike away from Josh and Luke.
“Come on, Mike,” Ray said. “Let’s go downstairs to the bunker. You can help me with something.”
“What?” His eyes lit up; he was happy to have some responsibility, happy to contribute in some way, happy to be a part of the team.
“Come with me and you’ll see,” Ray said. He could hardly hide his smile. He looked at Emma. “Let me know if you hear anything out there.”
She nodded at him. “Of course.”
“We’ll be right back up in a few minutes.”
She nodded again, waiting on the edge of the couch.
Mike followed Ray down to the basement and then into the bunker. Ray went right to the gun case and opened it. He pulled out two more rifles and a handgun. He handed one of the rifles to Mike.
Mike held the rifle with reverence, like he was finally allowed to touch a priceless artifact. “What are we doing with these?”
“We’re going to take them upstairs and put them in the living room and the kitchen, have them ready in case we need them.”
Ray told himself that he was going to ask Luke to teach them all how to check the weapons for bullets, how to load them, where the safeties were. Even Mike would need to learn these things.
It had been nice to rest for a few days here at the cabin. It had been a nice break from the constant stress since the Collapse. But Ray knew it was never going to last very long. And here it was, danger literally at their front door again.
*
Josh’s alarm system seemed to work pretty well. The jingling of the cans could be heard pretty well from inside the cabin. It wasn’t a terribly loud alarm, and Ray pointed out that a rabbit or some other small animal might stumble across the strings on the steps, but their improvised alarm system would have to do for now.
They ate dinner at the dining room table situated between the kitchen and the living room.
“I’ll take the first watch tonight,” Luke said.
CHAPTER 7
Ray
Ray and Mike went upstairs to bed. Mike was asleep pretty quickly, but Ray lay in the near-total darkness, staring at the ceiling. He was too tense to sleep, wondering if the person from the woods was going to try to get to the cabin, wondering if this person would bring others . . . bring an army.
But eventually he drifted off to sleep.
And he dreamed.
In Ray’s dream he was alone in a vast fog. He stumbled up to a sagging chain-link fence, the gate halfway open. The mist hung all around, clinging to everything, making it hard for Ray to tell where he was.
But he didn’t need to see the building blurred by the fog beyond the chain-link fencing. He already knew what the building would look like, where that building would lead to . . . Avalon.
He’d made it to Avalon. And he should have been thrilled, but he wasn’t.
He was alone.
Where was Mike? Where were Emma, Josh, and Luke? Were they already inside the building, already underground in the bunker? Inside Avalon?
No, that didn’t seem like the right answer.
Were they somewhere else? Had he gone ahead of them, like a scout, like the scout in the woods that had watched their cabin? Was he far ahead of them making sure Avalon was safe?
Were they dead?
Ray waited by the open gate for another moment as tendrils of fog drifted by.
“Daddy!”
Ray froze. A child was calling him. And he knew that voice. It was Vanessa.
She came running from the fog, from the direction of the building, materializing from the grayness, her arms out wide as she ran to him, her eyes round, a big smile on her face.
“Vanessa . . .” he said, too shocked to speak her name any louder than a whisper.
Vanessa slammed into him, hugging him, crying and laughing at the same time. She was squeezing him so tight.
He pulled away from her, holding her back at arm’s length so he could stare at her, so he could make sure it was really her. He stared down at her beaming face, her cheeks wet with tears.
“Vanessa . . . how?” He realized he was crying too. “You’re cured.”
She nodded, still smiling.
“How?”
“Some men came and got me. They drove a white van and they had masks and . . . and some kind of army
clothes. They shot me and I woke up in a helicopter.”
“They shot you?”
“Yeah, with some kind of dart thing. I fell asleep, but I woke up in a helicopter. I got to ride in a helicopter. And then I was here. They gave me some medicine that fixed me. Medicine that made the bad thoughts go away.”
“You remember being a . . . you remember changing?”
She nodded.
“You remember me leaving you?” He had to choke back a sob, barely able to get the words out.
“Yeah,” she said, her smile slipping, turning into a frown.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t know there was a cure. If I’d known . . .”
“It’s okay, Daddy. The important thing is that we’re all back together again.”
“All back together?”
“Yeah. All of us.”
“Who else are you talking about?”
Just then Ray heard a noise coming from the mist in the direction of the building, the same direction Vanessa had just come from. It was a shuffling noise, like someone walking but dragging their feet, shoes scuffing the concrete.
“Ray . . .”
He saw the woman materializing out of the fog just like Vanessa had done moments ago.
“Kim?”
“Ray . . . we can all be together again.”
Kim stumbled toward him, her dark skin an ashy gray, her eyes pure white—the eyeballs completely gone. Vomit crusted her mouth and stained the front of her shirt. She still had strips of the bedsheets tied to her wrists and ankles, hanging down like the loose wrappings of a mummy.
“You killed me, Ray. And you left our daughter with those animals in that intersection. But we forgive you. We can all be together again . . . a family again.”
Ray heard a growling noise. He looked down and saw that the throaty snarl was coming from Vanessa. Her face had changed into a sneer, her eyes wild, teeth bared, her little hands formed into claws.
“Vanessa, no!”
She attacked like a rabid dog.
Ray sat up in the darkness, a scream trapped in his throat. For a moment it felt like he couldn’t breathe, like he couldn’t inhale enough air. For those few seconds he sat in bed, frozen in panic, his body rigid, his skin covered with a film of sweat, his heart pounding.