“Well, there’s still the matter of…” I glanced at Huai Li, who was gathering flatware from the table, “our goals.” I watched Kyle drying a glass, and I was struck anew by the fact he still showed no symptoms. “Kyle, I still can’t get over how you never got sick. Could you possibly be naturally immune?”
Huai Li dumped a pile of utensils into the dishwater. “No one can be naturally immune,” she said, casting a glance at Kyle. Something about the way her eyes shifted sent a shiver up my spine. I had no reason to doubt her, other than her history with the depot. My common sense said we should be able to trust her because no one in their right minds could go through what she did and still harbor loyalty toward BioGenetics. For some reason I couldn’t explain, however, the hair on my arms had risen to attention, sending electric waves of warning across my skin.
The sound of footsteps on the staircase signaled that Jack and Blake had finished their discussion. They came into the kitchen, Blake’s eyes red and bloodshot, and Jack looking haggard and tired.
“Can we talk?” Jack asked. “I have a proposal.” Kyle and I exchanged glances. Huai Li, who’d just finished wiping down the table, placed the towel and dishcloth she’d been using on the counter. She turned and focused on Jack. “Please, sit,” he invited.
We all took seats around the table, and Blake brought the coffee percolator from the stove, along with mugs for each of us. “I’d suggest we all get some caffeine,” Jack said. “There’s work to do.” We all accepted the cups as Blake poured and served them and we waited to hear what Jack had to say.
“Blake and I have talked, and we would like to ask for your help, Casey.”
“My help for…?”
“We want to go to Ft. Wayne to see if we can find Derek,” Jack explained.
“But why?” Huai Li asked. “That’s where the worst viral outbreak occurred. It would be a suicide mission. Do you even know if this Derek is alive, or where he might be? It’s a big city, and it’s filled with zombies.”
“Zombies?” Jack asked.
“That’s what they call the people who have the sickness, Dad,” Blake explained.
Jack nodded, arching his brows. “All this time, I’ve wanted Derek home with me where he belongs, and until you came here, Casey, I’d given up hope. Even with the bad things that have happened, I believe God’s providence is upon us. He sent you here, Casey.” Jack paused to sip his coffee. “God sent you here to help me find my son and reunite the family. He chose you specifically because He knows you’ve never had the family you deserved. That’s why you would value mine enough to help us.”
I let Jack's words sink in, and I felt my head tilting sideways as I tried to wrap my mind around what he was saying. I shot a questioning look at Kyle. “What did you tell them about my family?”
Kyle shrugged. “Nothing,” he said.
“He didn’t tell me anything, Casey. God did.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to disappoint you, or question your beliefs, Mr. Spitzer, but I don’t think there’s any way Derek could be alive. I told you about the rescue mission that was sent—.”
“I know,” Jack said. “You told me about one rescue mission by people you didn’t have much confidence in. Tell me, Casey, did you consider that Derek might have been rescued before the mission you spoke of? What if there were others you didn’t know about? Perhaps he somehow made it home.”
“Okay, let’s assume he did, by some chance, make it to our house. Derek just didn’t have the life skills he would need to make it on his own, with his disability, in a normal situation,” I reasoned. “Things are really different here than they were in the city. It was tough for us to survive everything that has happened, and we are physically stronger and faster and can do more for ourselves than he could. The fact that I’m alive today, sitting here talking to you, is in itself a miracle.”
Jack looked at me, and his face glowed with serenity. “Exactly.”
Chapter 12
Casey
By sunrise, we’d gathered up the personal items Jack and Blake wanted to take with us. They decided to leave many of their belongings behind that would be of little use to us on our mission, but might be beneficial for the community. Blake and Kyle retrieved our jeep from the barn, and when they pulled it up to the house, a small trailer had been attached. We filled the trailer with boxes of herbs and tinctures, dehydrated foods, and jugs of water. We also took blankets, a Coleman heater, liquid fuel, solar lantern and radio, and as many gallons of water as we could fit into the trailer. We covered the supplies with a tarp and secured it all with elastic cords.
Kyle gave the jeep’s engine a check while Blake went into the house where Jack was.
“I still think we’re making a mistake,” Huai Li complained to me as we worked to secure the tarp.
My head snapped up, and I looked at her. I bit back an angry retort. “Jack saved my life,” I said simply. “I owe it to him.”
“I saved your life,” she fired back. “Do you owe me?”
“And I’m grateful for everything you’ve done to help us, Huai Li, but I also care about Derek.”
“He’s not your responsibility. He’s just a foster brother, and not your real family,” she said.
“He’s the closest thing I have left to one.”
“You don’t even know if he’s alive,” she countered.
“I don’t know that he’s not alive either.” My patience with Huai Li was growing thin, as she’d been arguing with me about this for the last hour. “You know you don’t have to go with us. In fact, it may be better if you didn’t, better for you and for us. Just about anywhere else you would go would be safer for you.”
Huai Li tugged at the tarp with angry jerks, wedging its edges down between the supplies and the side railing.
“I don’t see why you’re so angry about it. Nobody is making you go. We don’t know how long this is going to take, and we are taking a risk, one I can’t ask you to take with us.” I watched her scowling face as she tightened the cords. “Look, I don’t want to seem unappreciative, but my decision to help Mr. Spitzer find Derek is none of your concern. I’m done talking with you about this,” I said. I went back inside to see if the others were ready to go, leaving Huai Li fuming at the front of the house.
Inside, I found Jack and Blake making a few final checks. Blake found four amber bottles of medicine in a cabinet. “Here’s more of the viral tincture,” he told Jack. “Should we take it or leave it?”
“Let’s take it,” Jack said. “There’s plenty more for the community in the sick house. I’ve also left them instructions on how to make it.”
Blake put the bottles in his pocket. “Are we about ready?” I asked.
“Yes,” Jack answered. “We’ve packed everything we need.”
“All of it’s in the trailer,” Blake informed me.
We loaded into the jeep, and it was a much tighter fit for all of us. I sat in the front with Kyle, Jack, and Blake sat in the middle, and Huai Li moped in the back seat.
As we headed for Ft. Wayne, Jack, Blake, Kyle, and I discussed the best strategy for proceeding. I recounted to them what had transpired that day, with Derek getting in trouble for fighting, and that he’d been kicked off the bus. “I was late getting to school, so they put me in detention,” I explained. “I wasn’t able to find out whether or not Derek had permission to ride home that day, or if they were starting his expulsion from the bus effective immediately.”
“And you never reached your mother?” Blake asked.
“No. I tried throughout the school day, but I never heard from her.”
“So, we don’t know whether he left school on the bus…” Kyle concluded.
“…or if they kept him behind at the end of the day,” Blake finished his sentence.
“Right,” I affirmed. “It’s also possible my mom got my message and picked him up, but didn’t call me.”
“Your mother would do that to you?” Kyle asked, his brow furrowed
as he drove.
“Yeah, she worked a lot, and wasn’t the best at communicating with me.”
We decided the best place to start looking for Derek would be my house. We deduced it was doubtful he would have remained at the school, even if no one had come to pick him up. At some point, if they could reach his mother, it would have been necessary for someone to take him home. On the off chance he’d walked, he would have tried to return to somewhere he knew. He carried identification with him at all times that also had his address, so if anyone had helped him find his way home, they would have come by the house. If he’d gotten on the bus, he would have been dropped off at the corner. As we talked it through, I couldn’t fathom why this never occurred to me before.
The sky had turned to a dark gray when we arrived in Ft. Wayne, and by mid-afternoon, when we reached my house, it was beginning to spit snow. The driveway was empty, so it seemed unlikely my mom was anywhere around. Kyle pulled in beside the house, and we all got out. Kyle offered me a rifle, but I still could barely lift it.
“It’s probably best that I don’t carry one,” I admitted, “not until I’m in better shape, anyway.”
“Stay close to me, babe,” he said.
Kyle handed rifles to Huai Li and Blake. Jack refused.
“You can’t heal them all,” Kyle said. “Trust me, Jack, any of the creatures you will see here won’t have a shred of humanity left in them anymore.”
Jack took the gun, but appeared as if it pained his soul to do so.
I led the group to the back of the house, where we kept a hidden key beneath a paver. I moved the stone, but the key wasn’t there. “Crap!” I hissed.
“Did Derek know the key was there?” Blake asked.
I felt my heartbeat quicken as I considered the question. “Yes,” I recalled. “Derek knew about it and understood how to use it to get inside.”
“What about anyone else?” Kyle asked.
“Nobody outside the family,” I said. “But what if looters found it?”
Kyle shook his head. “Nah, a looter would just break into the place. Even if one had accidentally found the key, they wouldn’t have taken the time to replace the paver. They might have used it to open the door and would have left it because they were in a hurry. Looters get in, get what they want, and get out fast.”
It made sense. “So, should we break the door down?” I asked.
“I’d try it first,” Jack suggested.
I started for the door, and Kyle held me back. “Let me and Blake do it,” he said. “Stand back.”
My initial response to this was indignation. It was my house, after all. Then, I realized Kyle was right. I was in no physical shape to defend myself if a zombie came barreling out. Kyle took aim at the door, and he directed Blake to stand at the side.
Blake reached for the knob, grabbed it, and gave it a turn. The door swung open. “I’ll check it out,” Kyle said. “The rest of you cover us all from behind.” He entered the house, and I found myself holding my breath, waiting for a signal that he was safe, and the house was clear.
At length, he returned to the back door. “All clear,” he said. “Huai Li, can you cover the back while everyone comes in?”
We filed into the house and found everything was a mess. Oddly, nothing appeared to have been taken. It was just messy and dirty with clothes, and Derek’s toys were strung everywhere. My heartbeat was thumping even louder in my ears as I walked toward Derek’s bedroom. There, I found his bed still made, but his favorite blanket, the one we kept folded at the foot, was missing. All over the bed were fragments of dried fuzzy leaves. Mullein!
“Oh, my God!” I cried. “Derek has been here! His room wasn’t like this before. His blanket is missing, and there’s mullein all over the place!” Tears ran down my face like a fountain as I turned and threw myself into Jack’s arms. We both stood and cried, shuddering and shaking until the wave of emotion subsided.
“Casey,” Jack said. “I need you to think. Where would he go if he didn’t feel safe here?”
“I…I don’t know,” I said, feeling a sense of panic.
“Think of his favorite things and his favorite places. Is there any place near here that he would have loved? A park?”
It struck me like a lightning bolt. “Yes! Follow me!”
I led the group out of the house and into the street. The clatter of something falling nearby caused us all to jump, and we instinctively formed a circle facing outward. We stood there for a long moment, waiting to see if someone was there, but nothing else happened. We continued walking and, again, a noise sounded out from behind us. This time, it seemed closer.
“I think we might have someone or something following us,” Kyle said. “Stay vigilant.”
“Come on!” I said. “We’re going to that house. I pointed to a home on a corner lot and led everyone toward the back yard. There, behind the house, was a spacious, unfenced yard strewn with balls, a hockey stick, deflated pool floats, a jump rope, an abandoned doll, and a baseball bat. An empty storage shed stood nearby, with the door hanging open, a rusty padlock hanging unsecured on the latch. Beyond the garden shed was a tall oak with multicolored planks nailed up the side of its trunk that led to a treehouse.
“This has to be it,” I said, looking at Blake. He smiled.
“Derek?” Blake yelled.
Jack and I joined in, yelling Derek’s name in the hope that he might be nearby. I ran to the tree and climbed up the ladder.
“Casey?” Kyle called after me, “What are you doing? You don’t know what’s up there!”
I kept climbing and realized, as I neared the top, that he was right. I supposed there could be a zombie up here, but I doubted they had the sense to know how to climb into a treehouse, well, most of them, anyway. When I reached the top, I rattled the trap door and listened for signs of any lifeform, human or otherwise. When I heard nothing, I flung open the hatch and stuck my head inside the treehouse. There, a few feet from me, I saw Derek’s blanket. “He’s been here!” I called down to the others. “His favorite quilt is inside.”
I climbed back down. We stood, discussing our options, and another clatter arose. This time, two metal garbage cans appeared to have been knocked over at the house next door and were rolling down the driveway.
“Weapons ready, everyone. Don’t panic. Just be ready,” Kyle instructed.
“Hey! Casey!” a familiar voice called out from behind some nearby bushes.
I turned toward the voice, and my breath froze. My heart was pounding so loud that I could barely hear the others talking to me. There, stepping out from behind the shrubbery, was Derek!
He stumbled forward, crying out my name, tears streaming down his cheeks. Jack fell to his knees and held his arms to the sky, thanking God that his son was found safe.
Suddenly Derek stopped coming toward us and pointed. There, near where the garbage cans had toppled, stood one lone zombie that appeared female. It’s sparse strands of strawberry- blonde hair blowing in the wind and catching bits of snow.
Derek took a step toward the zombie. “Derek!” I screamed. “Stay back! Don’t!” Kyle rushed to my side, covering me with the rifle. Another clatter came from the opposite side of the house, and a bicycle fell over.
“Jesus!” Kyle said. “We might be surrounded.”
“Dat my mom!” Derek said.
“No, Derek. That’s not your mom,” I cried. “Come here! Look! There is your dad,” I called out, gesturing toward Jack. “And here’s your brother Blake, too.”
“Blake? Dad?” Derek asked.
“Yes, now come on over here, fast!” I yelled, trying to be careful not to sound mad. I didn’t want to scare him.
“But dat my mom!” Derek said again, taking more steps toward the zombie.
“Oh, for pity’s sake, people!” Huai Li growled, raising her weapon and moving toward the zombie.
The zombie immediately reacted and turned its attention toward Huai Li. It looked at her, its gaze intense. I
t cocked its head to the left and right, pausing to sniff the air. Its head gave a sudden jerk, and an expression of what could only be described as righteous anger crossed its face. “Did you see that, Kyle?” I asked.
“Yeeaahhh,” he said, the word tumbling slowly out of his mouth, letter by letter. “That can’t be the same…”
“The same one we saw in the safe zone that looked at me like it hated me. It looks like it hates Huai Li, too,” I observed. “As crazy as this sounds, I think it’s the same one that bit me at the river. What if it’s been following us?”
“But it doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know!” I glanced back and forth between the zombie and Derek, and suddenly it struck me they had the same color eyes. It was a striking bluish-green color, like moonlight shining through a wave at sea. I reached for Jack and nudged his arm. “Mr. Spitzer. Take a good look at that zombie. Do you think it could be Derek’s mother?”
The man looked at the female zombie. “My God,” he said. “It is my ex-wife. It’s Tamra!”
The zombie took a step toward Huai Li, its face contorted with violent rage. Huai Li lifted her rifle and took aim.
“Wait! Huai Li!” Jack called out. “That’s my wife. I can save her. You know I can! We need to trap her and treat her.”
The zombie continued lumbering forward. Huai Li opened fire, dropping the creature to the ground.
Jack and Blake threw down their weapons and ran to Derek, shielding him from the horror. They scooped him into their arms and held him there in the grass.
“Damn it! Huai Li, you killed that zombie on purpose!” I yelled.
“I had to!” Huai Li claimed. “I was protecting your brother because nobody else was. If I hadn’t done it, he might be dead now.”
“Bull!” I snarled. “That zombie wasn’t going anywhere near him, and think about it. They’ve been living around here for some time. If she were going to kill him, she would have. You probably just killed Derek’s mother for no reason!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Huai Li shot back. “That zombie was so far gone in its infection there’s no way she could have been cured. It wasn’t human, Casey.”
The Viral Series (Book 2): Viral Storm Page 19