by Kate Morris
She laughed and rose. “I’ll meet you down there.”
An hour later, Tristan, Abraham, and Spencer mounted up in Spencer’s truck and left. They waved to them from the driveway as they drove away. Once she and Kaia had the kitchen cleaned back up, Renee joined them and helped Ephraim and Finn clean out the chicken coop and collect eggs. She was so glad her friend was staying with them.
They gathered in the living room after sending Ephraim and Finn to bring in more firewood. It had snowed about an inch last night, and by the looks of the gray sky, seemed like it was going to again today. Renee hooked her computer up to the large screen of the television that Spencer had brought from his house on the base. He said it was crazy not to have one. Now they could watch the news through the internet feed. Until it eventually failed, too.
The local news was running the same stories on loops as if they couldn’t get new stories. It made Avery wonder if that was because there weren’t enough reporters to go out with a film crew to collect the news or if they were having just as much trouble with the technical aspects like electricity, cell networks, and the internet. Currently, they were displaying maps with safe zones on them. Then it moved on to show the actual safe zones, which were former business warehouses, schools, and pop-up military camps where people could seek refuge if they lost their homes or were asked to evacuate, which had started last week in certain areas.
The national news coverage was even bleaker but just slightly more pulled together. They displayed screenshots of the United States but also other countries with their statistics of death tolls, which were basically rising at a rate that was too high to even comprehend. It also showed charts and probabilities, survival rates, and depressing stats of that nature. A few ‘experts’ debated the possibility of a cure. When they actually switched to video coverage of their country and other ones around the world, the images were horrific. Children were being orphaned every minute of the day and left to fend for themselves on the streets, literally. Even in America. Other film clips showed countries at war, bombing one another, everyone trying to pin blame. That seemed so foolish and actually rather pointless at this stage. Tristan had explained to her about the bodies being burned and it being the only way to ensure the virus died. He also told her not to go to any of the safe zones if they got split up or lost the compound or were separated by something catastrophic. He didn’t think they were going to be safe at all, too many people who were going to become more and more desperate all packed in together. They were bound to be fuses just waiting to get set off by something happening, either food shortages, water demands, or violent crimes like thievery or rape.
Tristan also told her about the sirens for curfews in all the towns now, even in the big cities. She wasn’t sure why anyone would need to be told to stay in after dark. Surely everyone knew the night crawlers came out mostly after dark. If they didn’t, the name should’ve been a clue.
“Avery, come quick!” Ephraim said, rushing into the house from the back-patio door.
“What is it?” she asked, hurrying after him with a pistol. Renee also picked up a shotgun. They were stocked pretty well now with guns and ammunition. She knew how to shoot an airsoft pistol and rifle and found when he took her target shooting that it wasn’t a lot different. It just had a lot stronger recoil. However, she was glad that they all knew how to use guns now, even Finnegan.
“Kaia, stay with Finn!” she shouted toward the front yard where her sister was shooting her bow. She got a curt nod in reply.
They followed him to the fence separating their property from the Stephens farm.
“This way,” he said, taking the lead.
He went into their woods about three hundred yards, which became darker and denser as they walked.
“Ephraim, what were you doing out this far?” she asked.
“Getting the rest of the wood Abraham cut yesterday,” he answered.
“Tristan said he’d come out here later with Spencer and get it. You have to…”
“Here,” he interrupted and squatted. “Look.”
Her little brother pointed to footprints in the mud.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” she asked.
“We followed this,” he explained. “These aren’t from Tristan and Spencer cutting out here yesterday. They lead up to the road and across it.”
She gasped and swung in fright to glance around. People had been in their woods. It wasn’t from Tristan. She was pretty sure of that much. She could see the straight path that Tristan and Spencer had worn to and from the house yesterday. The prints he was showing her had to be from at least three or four people.
“L-let’s go,” she ordered and shanked on her brother’s jacket. “Now.”
They all rushed back to the house, tripping many times, stumbling over roots, nearly falling to get home in their haste. The fear she felt was echoed by her companions.
“Kaia!” she yelled toward the front yard. “Get inside. Right now! Move it!”
When they were safely inside again, she locked the front and back doors again.
“Never go out there that far from the house again, Ephraim! And you took Finnegan with you! Do you know how dangerous that was?” she said, turning on him in anger. He jumped. “Do you understand me, dammit?”
“Y-yes,” he stammered with tears welling in his blue eyes. “Sorry. I was just trying to help.”
She realized she’d lost her temper, scolded him too harshly. Avery was just so stressed out. She yanked him to her and held on for dear life. He wasn’t a little kid anymore. He was six feet tall, although thin as a rail. But he was almost fifteen, would be in a few months. He needed to understand the dangers out there.
“Don’t ever go that far, not without Spencer or Tristan,” she warned and hugged him still. “Please.”
“I won’t,” he said and patted her back trying to soothe her.
Avery had tears streaming down her cheeks, and her breath was short, not from the fast hike back to the house but because she was afraid. “I can’t lose you, too. We have to be careful. We can’t take chances like that. We can’t ever assume anywhere is safe again. Do you understand?”
She pulled back to look up at him. He nodded, his brow knitting together.
“Sorry,” he said and offered her a tissue from his pants pocket. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to help ‘cuz they’re doing so much, and I’m not.”
“But you are. You’re helping me keep Finn safe. I can’t watch him all day. I have a lot of other things I have to do, too. I need your help, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, lowering his eyes, their father’s eyes.
“I’m so proud of everything you’ve been doing around here, Ephraim. I’m sorry I yelled at you. I just can’t bear to think of losing you.”
“I know.”
“I love you,” she said and got a nod, an uncharacteristic move on his part. She didn’t think it was just because he was upset about her scolding him. Over the past few weeks, he seemed more reclusive and quiet. He used to be so open and talkative. Her own grief had taken over her need to be there for the kids, which was a failure on her part. This was her role now. Mother, sister, partner to Tristan, friend to Renee and Spencer. Mostly mother to the kids. She was all they had left. “Hey, tell ya’ what,” she started over, changing the subject, “I know you love homemade mac and cheese with pulled pork sandwiches. Why don’t you go to the pantry and grab me some noodles? I’ve gotta use up the fresh cheese before it goes bad anyway, right?”
“Yeah, guess so,” he said, still deflated.
“And maybe we’ll also have chocolate cake for dessert?”
That got his attention. “Really?”
“Sure, why not? It’s Tristan’s favorite, too.”
He even offered a small grin. “Thanks, Avery.” Ephraim paused for a few moments before asking, “Do you think those footprints could be from those…things? Those things that used to be people? You know, like the k
ind Mom and Dad turned into?”
If someone had punched her as hard they could in the stomach, it wouldn’t have hurt as much as his words. She hadn’t wanted the younger kids to see what they looked like, but Tristan said they needed to stop babying them. They needed to understand and learn about the night crawlers so that they could defend themselves. Thinking of her mother and father that way made her sick.
“No, of course not,” she lied. She had no idea who was on their property. Already she’d planned on telling Tristan as soon as he got home and more importantly also planned on keeping the kids inside until they were. “And, Ephraim, Mom and Dad didn’t turn into anything, okay?” Another lie. That must’ve been what it was like to be a parent. Sometimes in order to protect children from the truth, a lie or two had to be issued. The acidity of it made her throat burn, good intentions or no. “Honey, they were just sick. I had the same thing, and I’m fine now, see? Mom and Dad just didn’t have the immunity to it. A lot of people have died from this sickness. Not just our family members. None of them turned into the people who go crazy. I promise. They just…” she paused, trying to come up with a softer blow, “they just fell asleep and didn’t wake back up, okay?”
“They weren’t in pain?”
“No, not at all. I promise.” Also, a possible lie. The fact that they came easier and easier didn’t make her feel better about herself or what she was becoming. And she and Tristan told the kids that their father died from the sickness like the others. In truth, they had no idea where he was
“Am…am I gonna get it, too?”
She shook her head. “No, sweetheart. That’s why we’re keeping you at the house. Everyone here is safe and healthy. You won’t get it if you don’t go out in the public.”
“When you say ‘we,’ do you mean you and Tristan? Are you guys married now?”
She smiled gently and cupped his cheek. “Sort of. Yeah. We just can’t get married until everything gets better, ya’ know? It’s just too dangerous going out with you guys.” Also, he really hadn’t asked. Avery wasn’t quite sure of her relationship with Tristan other than that he said he loved her and gave her an engagement ring to pass off as his fake fiancée while she was in a coma. Also, the crazy awesome sex.
“Okay, it’s cool. I like Tristan. He’s a good person.”
She smiled again. “Yes, he is.”
“Dad liked him,” he said. His next words made her tear up. “He would’ve approved.”
“Yeah? You think so?”
He nodded and left the room. She turned off the television monitor, cutting the connection to her laptop. It was bad enough having the adults forced to deal with this situation they were all in let alone the children. The news channels had lost all filters when it came to showing violence, murder, burning of bodies, and people killing each other on the streets over food and water and looted items.
Renee was sitting at the dining table when she entered as if she were waiting for her to finish scolding her little brother.
“Is he okay?” she asked.
Avery scowled but nodded. “Yes, he’ll be okay. Maybe. I don’t know, Renee. I’ve never done this before. I don’t know how to be a parent. I’m in way over my head. Why’d they both have to be taken from us?”
Her friend stood and gave her a comforting hug. “It’ll be okay. We’re all together. That’s all that matters.”
She nodded but couldn’t stop doubt from entering her mind as to how long that would last. They sat and sipped hot tea, which Renee must’ve made for them while she was talking to Ephraim.
“Whose footprints do you think those were?” she asked, to which Avery shook her head.
“I’m not sure. I don’t think they were from Tristan and Spencer. But, they seemed fresh. We haven’t been out there a lot lately since everything’s happened. Normally, I’d say they were from us playing around doing airsoft tournaments or something, but there’s no way they’re from us. It’s been too cold out to do much, and Tristan already said he didn’t want any of the kids that far from the house.”
“Yeah,” Renee agreed and shivered.
The house was warm from the fires going in both first-floor fireplaces, but her friend was not shivering from lack of heat. Avery felt the same chill run through her. It was from fear.
They made dinner together and waited for the guys to return, which didn’t happen. After dark, she really began to worry and had to force herself to eat something to put on a show for the kids. Kaia didn’t seem fooled, but she held her tongue just the same. By ten p.m., she was certain something was wrong. Tristan would not stay out that late, not anymore. By midnight, she’d worn a path around the house with anxious worry propelling her. By two a.m., Avery realized they might not be coming home at all, and her cell phone wasn’t sending through a call or message. By four a.m., she finally nodded off on the sofa with her friend on the other one and not in her apartment. They both had a shotgun and pistol on the floor in front of them.
Chapter Thirty-four
“Shh,” he warned Abraham again. “Don’t make a sound. They’re still just people, Abraham.”
They were hunkered down in a warehouse with a truck that had two flat tires that he’d driven on the rims until he couldn’t go any further. They’d run into a group of looters who they ended up shooting it out with. Unfortunately, the lucky bastards had managed to shoot the truck’s back tires as they’d sped away. They still had a full bed of supplies but no way of getting them moved to another vehicle.
“I know,” her brother whispered with nerves.
Tristan palmed his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Easy. Don’t get trigger happy. We go shooting some, it’ll only draw more. And probably more of those assholes, too.”
Abraham nodded, keeping his finger off the trigger, and turned to watch out the window again.
It was cold tonight, but they couldn’t afford to sit in the truck with the heat running because they could run out of gas. He wasn’t sure they were going to find tires to replace Spencer’s, either. Their phones weren’t working for shit, and none of them even knew where the closest tire shop was located. Abraham didn’t know, either, saying that his father always went to a local shop closer to home. They were in Canton tonight, which was nearly an hour drive from home. The success of today’s take was diminished by the run-in hours ago with the asshole looters. They were currently holed up in the downtown district, which Abraham told them wasn’t a good area even before the fall. They’d quickly found a former two-story machine shop and shut the rolling doors at both ends and locked them. It wouldn’t do much good if they were overrun by people, though. Most of the windows were broken out. Getting inside wouldn’t be that hard of a task.
Outside, somewhere in this neighborhood, another one of those crawlers let out a scream. It never failed to send a shiver up his back, no matter how many times he’d heard it since the start of all of this.
“Just stay calm,” he warned Abraham as Spencer walked up to them.
“All quiet over there,” his friend told him, thumbing over his shoulder. “Got the windows and doors locked, what’s left of them.”
“I went up to the roof and tried my phone again. Nothing,” Tristan told him.
“Hey,” Abraham whispered and elbowed Tristan lightly to get his attention.
They all three looked out the window in time to see a group of people running with their flashlights bobbing up and down in front of them.
“What the hell are they doing? Trying to get killed?” Spencer asked.
A few seconds later when they came within a block of the warehouse, something hit one of the people in the front of the group taking the person to the ground. There was screaming and then shooting. A crawler had come out of nowhere at them, out of the dark shadows where they liked to slink. As the people with the injured one were helping him to his feet, two more night crawlers attacked. The group scattered and took off in different directions. None came toward their building, so Tristan was relieved t
hey didn’t have to open the doors and let them in. The crawlers began fighting each other and then also scattered into the night. They didn’t usually pair up and seemed just as certain to attack one another as they would a normal human. Or cat or cow.
Tristan didn’t call out to the people who’d run off in all directions. This wasn’t a hospitable, neighborly kind of time in history. He had responsibilities now, namely Abraham, so he wasn’t about to invite people in who he did not know or trust.
“They’re so friggin’ fast, man,” Spencer commented quietly and stepped back into the shadows. “They said on the news they can hear better than us.”
“I know,” Tristan observed as he contemplated the crawlers. The doctor with the CDC, the one who’d given the first reports on the disease, said that the sickness had opened up certain aspects of human limitations. They weren’t superhuman, but they did seem to have certain enhanced abilities. They were fast. Spencer was right. He almost hadn’t gotten away from one the other night when they were out on a run. Tristan planned on hitting the cardio, maybe even mimicking Kaia and running on that treadmill in the basement. He also ran out of cigarettes, so smoking wasn’t going to slow him down anymore.
They tried not to shoot them when they could avoid it, but sometimes it just didn’t work out that way. The crawlers also seemed to hear better than most people as that doctor had also uncovered in his research. Their sight seemed worse, which he’d explained was from the fevers. He’d also said something about the frontal lobe being permanently damaged which made them like psychopathic serial killers. Tristan knew that part firsthand. Avoidance was the best option when dealing with them.
“We just need to lay low tonight until the sun is up and we can find another vehicle,” he said.
“Abraham,” Spencer started, “why don’t you go sleep in the truck. We’ve got this, bro’. You’ll be fresh in the morning. That’ll be a good thing ‘cuz we’ll be frosty and tired. You’ll be able to keep your eyes on things better than us.”
