The Aging: A Novel

by Jack Hunt

  Still, the detour wasn’t all clear sailing.

  While they didn’t come across a multi-car pile-up, some roads were blocked, though this time it felt as if someone wanted to steer the traffic in a certain direction, for a reason other than construction.

  The problem was, it was either go back or follow the detour signs.

  “How are you feeling, Lily?” Ryan asked.

  Lily grimaced then offered back a brave face. “All right.”

  She’d been given medication and by the time they’d left, the doctor said she should be good in about a week but to keep monitoring her.

  “You sure you know where you’re going?” Josh asked.

  “Worry about your sister, not me.”

  There was a long stretch of silence.

  “Why didn’t you ever call?”

  “What?” The question blindsided him. He was too focused on the road, the signs, some of which didn’t look right. They were normal road signs, the kind that any road construction might use, but too many, too close together. What reason would any city have to lead people into a residential area? Ryan shifted his gaze to the rearview mirror and saw a truck swing out of a road behind them. His muscles tensed and his anxiety elevated. He immediately thought the worst.

  He continued for another few minutes before he pulled into a driveway of a home and watched the black Ford 4 x 4 roar past.

  Josh looked over his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  “Quiet,” he said, focused on the mirror.

  Seconds passed. The truck didn’t return. Ryan didn’t turn the engine off but he got out, rifle in hand, and headed over to the road. In the distance, farther down the road, he saw the black truck come to a halt, then reverse fast. It smashed into a parked van but managed to break away. As it turned and headed back his way, he assumed it was returning for them.

  It wasn’t.

  Vehicles on either side of the road shot out, blocking its path.

  Adults got out and before the occupants of the truck could even respond, rifles were drawn, handguns aimed and an onslaught of rounds lanced the vehicle.

  It was a trap.

  Whether they were doing it to take what the driver had, or killing anyone who might pose a threat to their neighborhood, that was unknown. Ryan wasn’t sticking around to find out. He ran back to the truck, got in, jammed it in reverse, and tore out heading back the way they came.

  “What is it?” Josh asked.

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he swung a hard right and then a left and weaved his way through the streets away from any detour signs until they were in the northern end of Lafayette. When they were in the clear, he explained what happened to Josh.

  As they came out of the suburb, it wasn’t long before he came across a supermarket. They’d eaten their way through their supplies. While he didn’t want to stay in the city any longer than needed, he knew that it was best to stock up because they didn’t know when they would get another chance.

  Ryan veered into the lot and pulled up beside other vehicles. The window in the store was smashed. There were shopping carts toppled over. Bags of groceries split open and rotten fruit everywhere as if someone had dropped bags in a hurry.

  “In and out. Let’s not linger. Get what you need and when I say it’s time to leave…”

  “It’s time to leave,” Josh replied. “Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

  He shut off the engine and the four of them made their way into the store. Inside it was dark. It smelled gross, like sour milk and rotting produce. The chances of finding anything were slim to none but it was worth a look around if only to satisfy Josh’s need to guide the boat, so to speak.

  “Here, you might need this,” Ryan said, pulling a SIG Sauer from the holster and offering it to Ella.

  “I wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

  “You never used one?”

  “Why would I?”

  That was another thing different about her and Elizabeth, who’d grown up around guns. She was familiar with them and comfortable having one on her hip. Ella stared at it like a live bomb. “It’s easy. Look…”

  She lifted a hand. “Thank you, Ryan, but I’ll leave it to you.”

  He nodded as she walked on.

  “I’ll take it,” Lily said.

  “You will not.”

  Josh chuckled as they ventured further in. Glass crunched beneath their boots. There were smears of blood on the checkouts. A few bodies lay in various states of decomposition nearby. Ryan lifted a fist. He stopped walking. As Josh went to walk on, Ryan placed a hand on his chest. He brought a finger up to his lips, thinking he heard something.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Shhh,” Ryan replied. He could have sworn he heard movement.

  They remained frozen for at least a good minute. Convinced that it was safe, they snagged several bags from one of the clean checkouts and began fishing through what was on the ground. Shelves were practically wiped out. Anything that still existed was on the floor. Squashed, dented, or torn open. “Let’s make this quick. Josh, you go with Ella. I’ll take Lily.”

  They split, wading through a sea of debris. Most of the products were of no use.

  Like a bird pecking at the ground, Ryan sifted through the trash looking for gold: packets of noodles, canned goods, anything that would tide them over for a day or two. “How’s that leg of yours, Lily?”

  “Sore but not like before.”

  She was unusually upbeat. He wished he’d been there to see the first ten years. Those were the most impressionable. That’s when it dawned on him. He didn’t even know her birthdate. Elizabeth had kept that from him. “Lily, you said you’re ten, right?” he asked as he rolled a can in his hand only to find a hole in the top. He tossed it and continued.

  “I’ll be eleven next year.”

  “What month?”

  “April 17.”

  “Then I guess we’ll have to throw you a big party.”

  “Really?”

  “Why not?”

  There was a pause.

  “You think I could have ice cream cake?”

  “You can have anything you…” He lifted a hand.

  It was that sound again. It was too light for a human. Paying close attention, he thought it sounded like slurping. The strap of his rifle was slung over his head and around the back of his shoulder to hold it in place. He opted for the handgun.

  Lily, unaware, continued talking. “Mom used to always say that…”

  He placed a hand over her tiny mouth and her eyes bulged. “Shh.”

  The sound shifted. With all the trouble they’d run into so far, he couldn’t help but wonder if it might have been safer staying at his home. Out here, there were just too many variables. Too many things that could go wrong. It wasn’t all about making smart decisions. Like when you were driving a car. It didn’t matter how good you were, if a drunk driver ended up veering into your lane, you were screwed.

  His instinct was to call out to Josh and Ella but he didn’t want to give away their position.

  Then again, if they were close enough to hear whatever was making that sound, surely it could hear them? Backing out was the best option but they were already close to the end of the aisle. Curiosity got the better of him. Ryan scooped up Lily with one arm and threw her over his shoulder as a fireman might. He moved a few more feet, then turned on the light attached to his gun. A wide beam sliced through the darkness as he got close to the corner. He kept the gun low, illuminating the ground before him. As he craned his neck and lifted the gun, the light fell upon a dark mound. It took a second to realize what he was looking at, then a head lifted.

  It was a mangy dog licking blood from a dead body.

  It growled then continued devouring the body.

  Sudden movement off to his right revealed two more dogs.

  They emerged from the darkness, sauntering forward in a threatening manner.

  These were bigger.

  One a bullmastiff
, the other a German shepherd.

  Okay. Okay. He thought as he took a slow step back.

  All three growled, baring gleaming teeth, all drooling blood.

  In the breakdown of society, as people became victims of the virus, or were murdered or took their lives, it would have left open a wide door for pets to turn feral out of a need to feed. And right then he and Lily must have looked like lunch.

  Lily twisted on his shoulder and caught sight of them.

  She screamed.

  He didn’t have much time to run before the dogs leaped over the body, scuttling through blood toward him. They might not have been carriers of the virus but with them licking blood that might be infected, one bite and there was a possibility they could contract it.

  The transference from humans to animals was still a big unknown.

  Ryan squeezed the trigger, taking out the one closest to him.

  One of the three must have seen Josh or Ella as it darted down the next aisle, leaving the mastiff lunging forward in a threatening manner. It barked like a rabid dog. Hackles up. Head low. Its body was half the size it should have been for its breed. It was starving. Desperate. Who knew what the blood had done to it. Unlike the other, it was hesitant to follow suit but that didn’t mean it wasn’t about to attack.

  Although she was only ten, the weight of Lily was beginning to make his shoulder ache.

  Ryan lowered her and told her to slowly make her way down the aisle while he kept an eye on the dog. The mastiff reached its dead friend, and sniffed at the dog, nudging it with its snout before baring teeth.

  “All right, boy. There’s a good dog. We’re going. Okay.”

  He backed up a little and the dog took a few more steps forward before charging.

  With his left arm free, Ryan grabbed the shelving close to him and pulled it down as he backed up. The dog collapsed beneath it, its paws scraping the ground until it managed to slide out from it, pushing forward, eyes locked on him, snarling.

  Finger on the trigger, he gave that dog every chance to back away but it never did.

  As it came at him, he had no other choice.

  He managed to get three rounds into it before it dropped near his feet.

  By now Lily was screaming at the top of her voice but it wasn’t fear from another attack, it was what she was seeing. Piercing screams filled the store. Ryan’s heart leaped in his chest as he rushed down the aisle and burst around the corner just in time to hear a gun go off.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Frozen, Josh still had the gun poised, aimed at the dog.

  Beside the dead animal, crying out in agony, Ella was on the floor clasping a torn pant leg. In the dim lighting, it was impossible to see the full extent of the damage.

  Instantly, Josh sloughed off his backpack, unzipped it, and fished out the first-aid kit, coming to her aid. Before Ryan could intervene, Ella did.

  Abruptly, she lifted a hand to him.

  “No. Stay back!” Ella said in a firm and clear tone.

  Josh looked up at his father, perplexed for a second. Ryan nodded in agreement. Ella knew just as Ryan did what it could mean. If infected blood lapped up by the dog had made its way into her bloodstream, she might be infected.

  Grimacing, tears of pain rolling down her cheeks, Ella used both hands to tear away at the pant leg. Ryan shone his flashlight down and his stomach sank. The leg didn’t just have a bite, the flesh was torn from the bone. She struggled to catch a breath between the pain and the realization. Josh took out some hydrogen peroxide and unscrewed the cap.

  “Maybe it hasn’t made its way in…” Josh said.

  “It has,” she said angrily.

  “But at least try washing the wound,” he offered. “You might not be infected.”

  “Hold on, he’s right. Wash the wound, I’ll be right back.” Ryan hurried up the aisle to check on the dead body. The man whose blood had pooled around his body might have had nothing more than a defensive wound. There was a chance he wasn’t infected. That he… Ryan jogged to a slow pace, as the light before him shone on what was left of the man.

  Damn it!

  She was screwed.

  Regardless of his age, he had bloodshot eyes and dry blood trickling around the nose, eyes, and ears. His open shirt revealed a massive rash, one of the clearest symptoms that carriers of the pathogen would show.

  He turned back, slowly making his way to the front of the store.

  “So?” Josh asked, now with Lily standing beside him, clutching his coat.

  Ryan’s eyes averted down.

  When he met Ella’s gaze, she already knew.

  She sighed, nodding as if accepting a terminal diagnosis given by a medical professional. Ella clenched her hands and released the emotion. Lily began to cry too.

  “There must be something we can do,” Josh said.

  “Josh, take your sister out to the truck.”

  He stared at her.

  “It’s okay, Josh,” Ella said. “Go on.”

  There would be no hugs. No heartfelt goodbyes, just a painful separation.

  Ella grimaced in pain, shuffling back against one of the shelves, blood seeping out.

  Ryan waited until he was out before he dropped down nearby. “We can wait and see.”

  “Ryan. I’ve worked long enough with this virus that I know how it works.”

  He was at a loss for words. His mind churned over the what-ifs, the could-haves, the unknowns. Anything that might give her some hope, but he wasn’t dealing with the average joe, someone gullible or ignorant. She was on the front lines and had witnessed the devastation up close and personal.

  “How old are you?” he asked.

  “Ryan, no.” She shook her head.

  “You’re still young.”

  A strained smile broke through the pain. “I guess I should say thank you.”

  “What I’m saying is it takes time. I mean, they could still find a cure for the—”

  She cut him off, shaking her head. “It won’t be the virus that kills me.” She pulled back the pant leg higher up and revealed more of the wound. She was bleeding profusely, far more than someone might from a regular bite. The dog had torn into an artery and she was bleeding out faster than she could stem it with her hand. He shone the light on her face. It wouldn’t be long before she’d turn a pale gray, her body going cold, and then she’d slip to the other side. Everything in him wanted to reach out and touch her, put on a tourniquet, offer some reassurance but it wouldn’t have done anything and would have only infected him.

  “Damn it!” he bellowed, rising to his feet. “Shit!” He ran a hand around his jaw.

  “It’s okay, Ryan.”

  “No, it’s not. None of this is,” he said, looking around him. “None of this is!”

  “Listen to me,” she said, showing an unusual acceptance in the face of something that would have angered, and scared the hell out of anyone else. “Every day, after I lost my husband, I thought, will this be it? Every day people came into that hospital seeking help and there was always this small voice in the back of my mind telling me this would be my last day.” She paused, looking out the door. “I’ve seen this coming for a long while. All right, I didn’t think it would happen this way but hey, none of us saw it going… this way.”

  “It’s still not fair.”

  “Is anything fair?”

  “I barely got to know you.”

  She smiled. “Probably for the best,” she said. “I would have reminded you of your ex, and you wouldn’t have lived up to my husband.” She grimaced again, her face contorting as the pain squeezed her. Ella gritted her teeth and let another smile seep through.

  “Well, I’ll stay with you,” Ryan said.

  “No. Go. I’m good.”

  “Bullshit. I bought what you said before but not this. I’m staying. And that’s that. Just let me… uh…” He pointed to the door, feeling choked up. “Let me just tell them I’ll be a moment longer.”

  “It won’t
be much longer,” she said. “These things don’t take more than five minutes.”

  He looked at the leg. “I can…”

  She knew he was referring to a tourniquet. “No, you can’t.”

  “Then you do it.”

  “I’m not going to delay it. “

  Ryan sat down across from her, holding in his emotion. He stared at her, sitting on his haunches. “Then tell me about you,” he said.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “What food do you like?”

  She couldn’t hold in a chuckle. “You’re asking me that now?”

  “Well, we are in a grocery store. Who knows, I might be able to find it.”

  She snorted through her pain. “Right. Last meal and all. Well, chef, I’ll take a rib-eye and fries, with a pint of your finest.”

  “Coming right up,” he said in a joking manner though they both knew it was anything but.

  There were no moments of silence. Time was slipping by as fast as the life force leaving her. “You know, Ryan. The one we often find the hardest to forgive is ourself. Ten years is a long time to hold on to the past. If I’ve learned anything in the twenty-plus hours I’ve talked to you, it’s that you love your kids. No one can deny that.”

  “I sometimes wonder if I’m a good father.”

  “You’re a good father.”

  “You don’t know me. You don’t know my past.”

  “Actually I do.”

  He gave her a confused look, then a wave of humiliation came over him. It always did even though the charges had been cleared. But that wasn’t what she was referring to.

  “Josh told me,” she said. “About the separation.”

  “Oh. Right. That.” He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “He seems like a good kid. A little lost but isn’t every sixteen-year-old.”

  “And you would know?”

  “Just because I didn’t have kids, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t around a lot of teens. My sister had three. Besides, a woman has a strong intuition. You mean a lot to him.”