by Maira Dawn
Reaching the bottom of her brief list of ideas, she would have given up all hope—except for the fact that Mark turned onto an interstate—one she recognized.
She knew where they were!
Yes, they were driving South—away from the mountain.
They were still locked in this car. But it was something—a very big something.
This road had a direct exit to Colton. She knew the way home.
The way home to Dylan.
Skye squeezed Kelsey, and the girl looked up at her and returned Skye’s smile with a small, watery one of her own.
Skye wished she could tell Kelsey, but one wrong whisper could set Jack off again. She glanced at his rigid posture. He was still agitated.
Jack wasn’t as comfortable with his post-Agflu job as he would like others to think.
Skye smoothed Kelsey’s hair, hoping that would suffice for now.
Skye had been on this highway before. The last time, streams of cars zipped up and down it, taking passengers to their daily destinations—work, home, shopping.
It was different now.
A strange mix of scenes went by. For long stretches, the road would be free of debris or vehicles, allowing them to travel without hindrance.
However, in other areas, Mark needed to wind the car through littered roads with care.
Once, clothing and other small items covered the street, looking as if an over-packed suitcase had exploded. Toys rolled across the pavement, and nightwear fluttered in the wind.
Had a family run from the Sick and Infected? And in their search for safety left these sad little bits of their lives behind?
She winced as Mark crunched over a toy robot lying sideways on the road.
But the hardest to view was the massive group of abandoned cars.
Skye had once been to a ghost town out west. This had the same feel.
She studied the cars as Mark struggled through a narrow path someone made through the clogged area.
Most of the vehicle doors remained open. As if everyone had walked away from their vehicles.
But where did they go? This was the middle of nowhere.
Skye’s gaze lingered on the things left behind. A water bottle on the seat of one car. An open children’s book on the floor of a truck, its pages fluttering in the slight wind.
Hunched rotting bodies sat in a few vehicles.
Exposure to the elements had given their skin a leathery quality. Mouths hung open as if they screamed in terror as their lives ended.
Perhaps they had.
Skye averted her eyes, staring at her feet.
So much death. So much horror.
She glanced at Kelsey. The girl stared at the back of Jack’s head. She seemed less afraid of these husks than she was of the men in the front seat.
That was as it should be.
The living could hurt others in ways the dead never would.
When the car screeched to a halt, Skye sailed forward until her seatbelt caught her shoulder and yanked her back.
Out of the front windshield, a large horde of Sick milled on the road in front of them. There may be fewer of them, but there were still enough to cause trouble.
Most in the horde looked as if they had been in the elements for weeks, if not longer. Their ragged clothes covered little more than skin and bones. Many, in the end stages of the disease, seemed ready to fall over any minute.
Mark cursed and looked at Jack. “So, now what?”
“You’re going to have to go through them,” Jack replied with a wave of his hand.
Mark scoffed. “What? There’s at least forty of them. If we get stuck in the middle, we don’t have many options.”
“Much as I’d hate to do it, we’ll throw the women out to distract them and make a break for it, if necessary.”
Skye sat back in her seat, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible as she bit her lips closed.
The man became more evil with every passing minute.
Mark’s eyes widened as he stared at Jack as if trying to gauge his seriousness. When Jack just glared back, Mark let up on the break. “All right, then.”
Skye swallowed and grabbed Kelsey’s shaking hand as Mark nosed the car into the crowd of Sick.
The sound of the engine disturbed the horde, and they began groaning and growling.
Mark alternated between the brake and the gas as he tried to push through them. The front of the car gently bumped against a few of the Sick.
This horde had fallen into their walking pattern long ago and was reluctant to change it.
Skye had often wondered about this aspect of the disease. Was the walking pattern because this was the last actual decision they made? Or was fear something still living in them, and it somehow convinced their beleaguered minds that this route was safe?
Mark continued to push through the horde.
Gas, brake, gas, brake
Skye’s head bobbed forward each time.
Most of the Sick lumbered to the vehicle’s side except for two men and a small bunch further ahead. The men let the car push at them until it seemed as if they leaned on it.
The two Sick men turned their dull eyes to the windshield. Sweat dripped from their brow even on this chilly day. Their mouths worked, encouraging the ribbons of bloody saliva dripping from their mouths to thicken as it ran onto their chests.
Mark tapped the gas again but made no headway. The tallest of the two Sick pushed back with his hip and growled.
“Just run him over!” Jack said.
“Splendid idea,” Mark replied with a sarcastic tone. “And what about the ones ahead of him, and the ones after them? We can’t run over all of them. That’s not how a car works.”
“Well, you gotta do something. We can’t sit here all day. We have a schedule to maintain.” Jack crossed his arms and stared out the window with a worried expression.
“I know. Just give him a minute—maybe he’ll move.”
Skye stared at the Sick and bit the inside of her cheek as she willed them to move along.
How long did they have before Jack threw her and Kelsey out of the car as he’d threatened?
Three
Horde
The tall Sick man gave the car a final shove and lurched away, following a tattered woman who passed by.
After a moment, the second man trailed after them.
Skye let out a sigh of relief, only to suck her breath back in as Mark moved the car toward what had seemed like a small horde.
As the car drove deeper into the middle of the group, it was clear there were more here than Mark thought.
Skye’s stomach tightened as she scanned the car’s side windows. Every one framed with pale, sickly faces and slack blue lips with foamy drool.
She put a hand to her nose. The smell of their dirty bodies seeped into the car.
Stirred by the intrusion, the Sick banged against the car, using discolored fingers to swipe at the window as they tried to reach the passengers inside. Dirt, blood, and who knew what else now smeared the glass.
The tattered, broken people groaned as they shuffled along. The sound swirled around the car, echoing against the metal so loudly Skye wouldn’t have been surprised to find one sitting beside her.
She scooted toward the middle of the seat when one bright-eyed woman bent to peer through the window, working her tongue against her mouth.
The woman wasn’t as far gone as some others, but she still looked wild. A long, tangled mess of curls sprang from her scalp and fell well past her shoulders. Sticks, and small debris lodged in her once blond strands.
Dirt emphasized every line on her face and neck. Scratches and bruising covered her skin.
The woman widened her eyes as she pressed her nose against the glass.
A chill ran up Skye’s spine at the bizarre scene. She drew further back against the sleeping Kelsey, waking her.
The startled girl’s eyes opened wide at the sight of the nightmarish woman at the car window.
Kelsey screamed.
The shrill cry swirled through the car, piercing Skye’s ears.
Everyone, inside the car and out, stilled.
Kelsey locked eyes with the woman and pulled in another huge breath.
Jack whirled around to face the back seat. “Shut her up!”
Skye put her hand to Kelsey’s mouth and tried to rouse her from the waking terror.
“It’s okay, Kelsey. It’s okay. We’ll make our way through them, but we have to be quiet. We have to be quiet now.”
Despite Skye’s attempt to comfort her, Kelsey hauled in another breath.
Jack pushed Skye away and slapped Kelsey. The sharp sound resounded through the car.
Kelsey fell back in her seat—her eyes squeezed shut and a hand over her reddening cheek.
The car was instantly quiet.
Skye narrowed her eyes at Jack and hissed, “Don’t touch her!”
“She screams again, and I’ll push her out that door. Doesn’t matter how valuable she is—nothing is worth dying here with these things.”
Kelsey bit her lip and scowled at Jack.
Outside the car, the grumbling and groaning became louder, and the Sick resumed banging on the vehicle as they wished the car and its disruptions gone.
Mark pushed on the gas, but his start stop method was less effective now. The mob crowded against the vehicle.
Skye scanned the way ahead, searching for a way through the horde. Her nerves stretched to their limits.
Something tapped Skye’s foot.
She ignored it at first, but it bumped her each time Mark slapped on the gas.
Skye looked down at the car’s carpeted floor to find a small cylinder about a foot and a half long.
A fountain firework display.
Skye snatched it up and shoved it toward Jack. “Look!”
Jack grabbed it from her. “Mark! There’s one left!”
He pulled a lighter from his pocket and rolled down his window.
An arm pushed into the car and tried to get a hand on him.
Jack yelped and hurried to push it away. He handed the firework and lighter to Skye. “Here, you do it!”
Skye grabbed the items from him.
So he was only a big, strong man when he was abusing women. If only there were some way to use this on him. But getting out of this horde was the more immediate problem.
When the Sick beat on the windows, Skye said to Mark, “Blare the horn. Perhaps the distraction will startle them enough to move away from the windows for a moment, and I’ll be able to throw this further.”
Skye positioned herself in the middle of the back seat, hoping it was far enough away from any grasping hands that made it into the car.
Kelsey sat behind her, ready to push arms out of the way.
Mark laid on the horn, giving one long, loud honk.
The mob stirred and moved away from the car, giving Skye the gap she needed.
She held the end of the Roman candle out of the window, lighting it as quick as possible, then threw it up and over the crowd with all her might.
It went wide, but not as far as she hoped, falling on its side and skittering along the road.
After a moment, it began popping and snapping. Sparks spit as it bounced along the street and spun into the air.
Skye felt a stir beside the car and yanked her hands back through the window.
An arm covered in a dirty once-white long-sleeved business shirt snaked through her window, searching.
She pushed the button for the automatic window, hoping to close it on the Sick’s arm. “Come on, come on!” she murmured as the whir of the window seemed to mock her with the way it crept toward the top.
The grasping fingers brushed Skye’s hair.
She gasped and jerked back before his hand could wind itself in it.
Thankful that her hands were tied in front of her and not behind, Skye pushed at the arm.
It moved away from her and toward the driver.
“Get it out of here!” Mark yelled as he jumped forward in his seat.
Skye pushed at it again, and Kelsey gave it a few whacks.
The owner of the arm bent to stare into the car. His bloodshot eyes seemed to stare without seeing.
The Sick managed to run a hand down Skye’s arm, catching on the rope at her wrist. He pulled, jerking her hands up against the window.
Skye pulled back, and a tug of war started until she made a sharp downward move, which bent the Sick’s arm beyond its normal range of motion.
He wailed and let go.
Kelsey pushed his arm out of the vehicle, holding it as Skye raised the window and letting it go at the last moment.
Huffing, the two women flopped against the back of the seat, catching their breath.
Outside, the ear-piercing whistles of the Roman candle stirred up the horde. The firework’s light drew some Sick but repelled those deep into the disease with oversensitive sight and hearing, and many moved off the road.
As soon as Mark had a sliver of empty road, he floored the gas and took off through it.
Skye and Kelsey fumbled with their seatbelts and turned to the rear window to watch the horde disappear.
Four
The Containment Center
Skye smelled the place long before she saw it. The Containment Center sat on a hillside. Everything about it screamed that it was a quick build.
Two by fours shored up the massive fence where it sagged. Behind the enclosure sat a large white building.
A forest surrounded the area. Dozens of trees inside the pen had been sheared to stumps and served as rough chairs for the imprisoned Infected and Sick. On each stump sat some beleaguered human bent in misery.
A cheap roof covered the fenced area. Over time, the inferior materials had given way and opened large gaps now covered with large blue tarps that lazily flapped in the wind.
There was no mistaking what this was.
It’s where the Infected and Sick went to die.
Skye’s heart sank. She pitied these poor people.
Mark made a noise low in his throat. “I hate this place.”
“Yeah,” Jack said, “but it’s a necessary evil.”
“I don’t know why these guys like to meet here.”
“They drop off Sick before picking up these.” Jack jabbed a thumb to the back seat.
Mark pulled up alongside the fence and turned off the car.
Jack glanced at Skye." Now we wait."
About ten minutes later, a large box truck lumbered down the pot-holed dirt driveway. A dark sedan followed it.
Skye’s stomach clenched, and she felt sick. As bad as these guys were, the new ones could be worse. She watched the white truck pull up to their car and stop. Two men jumped out. Four exited the car behind it.
“No!” The word escaped Skye’s lips before she could stop it.
From the look of these men, they had been rough long before the outbreak started. Everything about them spoke of danger—from their tattooed skin to their short, stubbled hair and dark, ripped clothing—not to mention the weapons crisscrossing their bodies.
Skye reminded herself that her own fiancé caused fear in others, but it didn’t calm her.
She knew Dylan’s heart. These men were strangers.
One of the men came to Mark’s window and tapped it with his gun.
“Welp, here we go,” Jack said, reaching for his door handle.
Skye had to try one last time. “Please, Jack, please don’t hand us over to them—at least not Kelsey. I’m begging you!”
“Don’t make me hit you again when we were getting along so well.” He stared at Skye. “And I wouldn’t try any of this on them if I were you. I don’t think it would go over well.” He eyed the men before glancing back at her.
Jack and Mark got out of the car and pulled a resistant Skye and Kelsey out of the backseat.
The new group looked them over. One tall man stepped forward, a hard look in his
dark eyes. “This all you got?”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “It’s been a slow month.”
“I’d say. Better pick up the pace. Unless you think this area is picked over already.”
Jack scraped the ground with his foot and grunted.
The man strode over to Skye and grabbed her chin to inspect her bruised cheek.
She pushed his hand away.
He slapped her arms down and grabbed her face tighter.
“How have they been?” he asked as he eyed her.
“Not too bad. Had a bit of trouble with that one.” Jack pointed at first Skye, then Kelsey.
“But this one’s been quiet. But you know how it is. Once I got tough with the troublemaker, she settled down all right.”
The man’s gaze scraped over Skye. “You give him trouble?”
Skye trembled. “Sir. We have been kidnapped—taken away from our family.”
“Shut up.” The man’s eyes narrowed. “Of course, you gave him trouble.”
Skye looked at the ground.
“Do you know what happens if you cause me trouble?”
Skye shook her head.
“Let me show you.”
Skye yelped when the tall man grabbed her arm and dragged her along to the fence. He jabbed a finger at the Sick inside it.
“See them?”
Skye glanced and nodded.
“I come round here every week. I’ll bring you back and shove you in. I know what you’re thinking. You don’t get sick. But have you ever seen them go after a person when they’re all—Well, let’s just see, why don’t we?”
His hand became iron as it tightened on Skye’s arm, forcing her closer and closer to the wire.
The man shoved her cheek against the fence with a hand that boasted a tattoo of a screaming woman.
Skye fought back, frantically pushing at him and the fence. Anything to get her away from it.
The tall man snapped at her. “Stop, or I’ll put you in there right now.”
Skye stared up at his face. His eyes were bright with excitement.
She stopped fighting. He was in control now, and there was nothing she could do about it.
A few of the Sick moved nearer to them, showing aggression.