by White, A. L.
Having felt Walter’s presence behind her, the creature stood erect too. “If Homer says you can stay, then you can stay, only if Homer says so.” The creature bolted past Walter down the stairs.
The emergency key was still hidden under the large rock in the flower bed by the front porch. After the wayward guest, Lori wanted to ensure that when she returned later today there would be no further surprises. Finding another car was easy; the streets and driveways were cluttered with them. Keys weren’t a problem either. Lori would just search the house of the car she wanted to use. Down the street sat a shiny red Camaro in a garage that, before all this, she had dreamed of driving. A quick search of the house revealed keys sitting on a cabinet in a ceramic bowl. She pulled the quick release on the electric garage door, and they were on their way. Lori would have liked to have opened it up and let the engine run wild, but the roads were still clogged with abandoned cars, more so than when she had first driven the RV to the old youth prison. That had been the closest place where she thought answers could be found. It had been used as a lab for the CDC at one point.
Entering the parking lot, Lori was surprised at how little the building had changed. Decaying corpses littered the grounds, and the glass doors were shattered, but those were the only differences so far. She parked the car, and they entered the building to search for the lab. Lori thought she knew where the hospital medical section had been, so that was the logical place to start.
Her beast pushed and forced itself to the surface while Lori did her best to keep it contained. The corridors emitted an odor unlike anything she had ever smelled before. It pulled her beast forward down empty hallways she didn’t remember. Lori was along for the ride as her beast grabbed control and dug in its heals. Outward, it was still Lori, because she had a hold of herself by the fingertips; inward, a battle for control was raging like a forest fire spreading throughout her veins.
Lori stopped in front of a wooden door with a window in the upper section and slammed her fist into the glass, vibrating it but not breaking it. Again, she smashed a fist into it with the same results.
A pair of eyes behind black-rimmed glasses peeked around a corner on the far side of the room. He looked older than Lori, but she didn’t think by very much. His cut-short hair went in every which way, as if it hadn’t seen a comb in some time. Staring blankly at her and Walter, the man moved cautiously toward the door.
“Go away,” he said, but, to Lori and Walter, it looked like he was just mouthing the words. The room was soundproofed. Unless he opened the door, they would never hear his voice.
Lori shrugged and mouthed back, I’m Lori, and this is Walter. We have come to find answers.
The man just looked blank as he stared at them through the window. Deciding to trust that they were not sent to kill him, he unlocked the door, scurried backward and stopped behind a counter at the back of the room.
Lori opened the door and entered slow and calm. She had caged her beast for the moment, and Lori needed to take advantage of the time she had bought.
“I’m Lori, and this is Walter. We have come in search of answers.”
The man regarded them with a blank stare while his brain tried to figure out the truth. “I am Tomas. I live here.”
“It’s good to meet you, Tomas. Have you been here long?”
“I don’t really know how long I’ve been here. I came here the same as you. I wanted to find the answer to what has happened to …”
“What has happened to you?” Lori asked.
Tomas eyed the worn tile floor, and a tear streaked his cheek. “I’m infected. It might not be safe for you to stay here very long.”
“We’re infected too.”
“When? Was it recently?”
Lori saw a stool by the counter and sat. “Recently? No, it’s been a year or more now. Walter probably just as long.” Lori watched Tomas’ face go blank again and thought he must be calculating something to do with how long it has been.
“Then you’re like me. Well, some variation of like me. So many different strains and variations exist now. What they thought was a disease has been mutating as it moves to new hosts.”
“Do you have food and water here?”
“Sadly, not enough for the three of us. You’re both welcome to stay and share what I do have,” Tomas replied, glad to have someone to talk to. He couldn’t remember the last time he had heard a live voice. Hours of viewing and listening to tapes the long-dead researches had created wasn’t quite the same as a live voice interacting with him.
“We have plenty of food and water at our house. You could come back with us if you wanted.”
Tomas grew agitated again and fidgeted. “I’m close to finding a cure. Rather, I should say, I have found the way to cure all of us, just not a way to do it successfully.”
“That’s wonderful!”
Tomas pushed his glasses up his nose. “I know the cause of the disease. It’s not really a disease, you know. It’s more of a parasite—a well-hidden parasite. It is easy to see how it was missed.”
“All of the experts missed it, but you found it?”
Tomas smiled wide. “Maybe they were looking for something grand, and it caused them to miss the simple thing right in front of them.”
Lori shook her head. “You found the simple thing?”
Tomas shrugged. “Not that hard when all the research has been done. You could say that I stood on their shoulders and put all the pieces together.”
“Then we’ll celebrate your success tonight.” Lori smiled at Tomas then winked at Walter.
The excitement drained from Tomas’s face. “Do you mind holding on for a second? If I don’t finish the batch I’m working on, it will spoil.”
“Sure. We aren’t in a hurry.”
“Great! Let me get you both something to drink while you wait. The heat is horrible in here.”
Tomas left the room and returned with two glasses filled with blue liquid, condensation running down the sides.
Before Lori could say anything, Walter sucked his down in one long drink capped off with a loud gulp and gasp for air. Lori laughed then sniffed the contents of the glass, smiled and drank. It tasted like blueberry but not quite. It seemed harmless, so Lori took another longer drink. Her legs felt heavy, and the room spun. A layer of fog passed over her eyes, clouding her sight. Before the bottom fell out and caused her body to feel weightless, Lori saw the shadow that had been Walter crumple to the floor in a heap.
Lori’s creature screamed and roared inside her head. It fought to be unleashed, pounding at her unconscious body. Then it too fell silent as the blueberry drink permeated throughout the body.
Tomas never doubted the sedative would work. It was his own concoction, after all. The amazing thing was just how quickly it had rendered them incapacitated. Working quick, he ran to the cabinet that held the handcuffs and chains. Starting with Walter, he ran a chain around his waist, fastened the handcuffs then fastened another chain that would keep Walter’s hand at waist level, leaving just enough to reach the leg irons that Stu had fabricated for him.
Stepping back, he marveled at his work. He startled when Lori moved, bringing him from his momentary self-appreciation. Tomas worked even quicker, repeating the steps on her.
Chapter 3
Virginia had awakened early, not quite early enough to beat Zoe getting up but still early for most. She liked to watch the sun come up whenever she could; it made it everything feel new. Not that she could really say she had slept when she was here. The town felt like it was closing in around Virginia. She knew what the dangers were out there; something more dangerous lay beyond those walls. Humans could turn on those who trusted them and end their life without one ever thinking they were in danger.
“What was so important that you felt compelled to go to a place like that and drag out Charlie?” Zoe asked. “I don’t think that’s the sort of place where a young lady should be.”
“Charlie is letting go and giving up.”
“Child, he has lost everything he loved to this. You might want to let him be.”
“We’ve all lost our family and friends. You lost both of your nephews, and you keep going. Jermaine lost his family and an arm. He keeps going. Why is Charlie different? Why does he get to wallow in self-pity while the rest of us fight to live?”
“He just doesn’t see what he has left, is all.”
“Maybe it’s time we point out what he isn’t seeing then. Lori isn’t dead, as far as we know, and there is no proof she went all the way hybrid either.”
“Jermaine thinks the same way you do. He says we’ve been here too long and need to move on.”
“I think Jermaine is right.”
“I know you do, child. If you all leave, then you need to know I can’t come with you this time.”
“We could find another RV.”
“Folks from the outside say usable gas is becoming harder to find. What good would an RV be without gas?”
“You’d still have Todd and Tressa here.”
“I know that, Virginia. Don’t you worry about old Zoe. You go on and do what you need to. Come back and see me when you can.”
Charlie and Jermaine entered the kitchen and sat at the table. Jermaine laughed as he set a coffee cup on the table hard, making a loud bang.
Charlie winced as it echoed through his head, bouncing off the inside of his skull. “I think it’s time for us to move on.”
“You do?” Virginia asked, caught off guard.
Charlie studied the others. “Salvation is a nice, safe place. I don’t think it’s home though. We need to find home, and wherever that is will be where Lori is.”
“If only we had an idea of which direction she went,” Jermaine said.
“I think we have a clue,” Virginia said. “She took Jack’s laptop. I think she’s looking for a cure in Illinois.”
“Who’s Jack?” Jermaine asked.
Virginia smiled. “Jack was a really odd guy we met soon after Old Bob. He didn’t make it. Remember the legs we found under the trailer the night I met you guys?”
“Why would she want his laptop?” Charlie asked.
“Jack was a doctor or something. He’d been working on breaking the secret of the disease,” Virginia replied. “He felt he needed to be on the road, outside the lab to find it. He had everything in that laptop, including where he had been.”
Charlie pulled old Bob’s map from his back pocket and opened it on the table. He knew every inch of the map by heart, knew it better than he knew the lines on his own face. Every day, he studied the map, hoping some place would jump out at him, some clue to where Lori had gone or a direction. Every day, it was the same; nothing leapt out.
Charlie pointed to Salvation. “If we go from Salvation and ignore the other stops, work our way northeast until we are where you started from …”
“That would save us a lot of extra miles,” Jermaine added.
“We’ll be on foot, unless we can find something with gas and places to refill,” Charlie said, shaking his head at the thought.
“It’ll be next to impossible for us to walk through the main gate with enough supplies to make it,” Jermaine stated.
Virginia smirked. “I think I got us covered for supplies.”
“You have supplies some place?” Jermaine asked.
“What do you think I do out there when I explore? I have two caches we can reach within a day by foot.”
“How you did you fare with making weapons?” Charlie asked Jermaine.
“I have a machete I can strap to what’s left of my arm and a sawed-off shotgun I can rest on it when firing. Plus a few pistols I don’t need two hands to use.”
“We should set off first thing tomorrow morning,” Charlie said.
“Then you three need to get busy,” Zoe said. “Mind you, all say goodbye to Todd. He’ll be heartbroken without you three and the dogs.”
“I’ll take the lads there this morning,” Virginia replied. It felt good knowing they were leaving Salvation. The only things she would miss would be Zoe, Tressa, and Todd. Virginia knew it worked for them here. Todd had others he could play with, and Tressa had become important in the food allocation for the townsfolk. Zoe was everyone here’s mother or grandmother.
***
The sun was just rising when they passed through the gate. Virginia didn’t know the guard, but he knew of her.
He started to ask where they were going and then decided against.
She took them west toward a farm Virginia considered her jumping-off point when she would explore. It was wide open in every direction, and it helped keep people from Salvation from following her. For an instant, she had thought about just going east before she led them westward. She saw the funny looks Jermaine and Charlie gave her while they tried to figure out why. Seeing the lads go that way without Virginia saying a word to them stopped any questions.
It took an hour to reach the farm where Virginia turned northeast, careful to watch for anyone following them the whole time. When she felt comfortable that Johnson didn’t send anyone behind them, she swung the group east to the first supply cache.
“Sure would be nice to have some shade,” Charlie said.
“Too many things can hide in the shadows of shade,” Virginia replied.
“Whole lot of things can see us out here in the open.”
“We can see them too, takes away their advantage.”
“That works fine until someone sitting in the nice, cool shade with a high-powered rifle and scope pick us off.”
“Better that than a hybrid eating you,” Virginia replied. “Besides, it hasn’t happened to me yet.”
A small town came into view that had three or four streets, from what Charlie could see.
Virginia stopped and sat, motioning the others to sit as she retrieved a bottle of water. “We can avoid the town all together and get to the cache a mile out on the other side. Or we can go through town and look for transportation.”
“I say a ride would be nice,” Charlie said.
“I’m with Charlie. Let’s get a ride and stop walking through fields with no shade for a while,” Jermaine added.
“The last trip out, the lads and I had a run in with hybrids,” Virginia replied. “Stay alert, because I don’t know if there are more or how many.”
“We need to work on your communication skills. Help me get this hooked onto my arm,” Jermaine said, unsheathing the machete.
Virginia took the machete and worked the cover over the nub and wrapped around the straps. “I promise not to keep anything from you guys.”
The lads led the way into the town with Virginia following, Jermaine in the middle, and Charlie bringing up the rear. Virginia wanted to go behind though, because she wasn’t positive that the lack of alcohol wasn’t dulling Charlies senses. If he was having withdrawals and missed something, it would be bad for all of them.
They made it into town with no surprises. Stopping at the main intersection that afforded a view in all directions, Charlie started checking the abandoned cars, looking for anything with keys and gas.
“You ever run into anything out here? Besides the hybrids yesterday, that is?” Jermaine asked.
Virginia snapped and pointed at Charlie, sending Zeus to follow. “Not much. Now and then, a zombie, but it’s usually on its last legs.”
“Maybe all this is finally ending,” Jermaine said, sitting on the curb.
“Not sure about the hybrids and the two-point-ohs.”
An engine sputtered to life then backfired, sending Jermaine and Virginia seeking shelter. They both laughed when they saw the old, beat-up Ford pickup coming up the street—Charlie driving and Zeus riding shotgun.
“Almost a full tank of gas,” Charlie said smiling as he pulled up.
“I knew you would come back with something old and beat up, and it would be a truck,” Jermain said.
“I’m partial to pickups. It doesn’t seem too bad, and besides, it h
as nearly a full tank.”
Virginia smiled and pointed down the road. “Is that a DeLorean??? And you didn’t grab that instead? Follow this street out of town until you see an old, decrepit barn. That’s where the supplies are.” She called the lads to the rear and lowered the tailgate so they could follow her into the bed.
The truck jostled Virginia and the lads as it pulled off the main road and headed toward what remained of the barn.
Charlie brought it to a stop near the first pile of wood from what looked like a collapse some time ago.
Virginia hopped from the bed with the lads and led Charlie and Jermaine to the other side where more old lumber was stacked. It didn’t look different than the pile in the front, but somehow, it seemed neater, more organized. Virginia moved planks off the heap, being careful to set them out of the way in a neat pile, force of habit from when she would have to put each piece back in the same spot it had been removed from.
When Charlie and Jermaine started to help, she almost told them to just let her do it. Then she realized she wouldn’t be returning here again and let them throw the planks wherever they fell. When they reached the bottom layer, the planks were organized neatly into a cover. Removing them revealed the hole she had dug and the supplies for safe keeping. On one side was weapons and ammunition stacked and covered with clear plastic. Water and canned goods were scattered across from there next to a section with miscellaneous tools and other things she thought might be useful. On the far end, a deeper-dug section in the wall was filled with what Charlie thought had to be, at the very least, fifty gas cans of various sizes.
“How did you ever do this?” Charlie asked.
“I found things on every trip.”
“No one knows about this?” Jermaine asked.
“Look around you. What do you see?” Virginia asked. “Nothing. That’s what you see. People are more worried about getting into a place like Salvation than they are about finding what they need to live on their own.”
Jermaine shook his head. “I don’t see how they haven’t figured out this much stuff was still out there.”