by Jack Hunt
If the GPS was anything to go by, they had just under four hundred miles ahead of them. It would have been a steady six and a half hour journey if they didn’t stop and the roads were clear, but they weren’t and now with a detour, realistically they were looking at another two days, factoring in sleeping at night, finding gas, avoiding the sick, and lynch mobs.
In one sense it was good to be away from the crowds. The roads were better and the odds of contracting the aging were less, but even in isolated towns danger wasn’t absent.
Lawlessness was rampant.
That only became clearer when they stopped in the city of Wiggins, Mississippi.
Food wasn’t the issue. They could go days without that. It was water. In this heat, thirst could make a man go mad. Each time they stopped, they would fill up one five-gallon jug from abandoned homes or businesses while one of them searched for extra gasoline.
His old clunker wasn’t getting the best miles to the gallon so it was burning through what they had faster than they could find it. He’d seriously considered dumping it and stealing another vehicle as it wasn’t like the cops were checking license and registration, but that meant finding one, or carjacking someone and he wasn’t ready yet to cross that line.
Since their arrival, Ryan had felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility to set an example, to lead and prove to his kids, specifically Josh, that he was more than a recovering alcoholic stained by a false accusation. That was behind him. The past. He’d done better things since. He held down a regular job, paid his bills on time, and even volunteered at a local shelter. Not that any of that mattered anymore.
While they collected water from a restaurant where the front windows had been shattered, Ren said she wanted to do her part and find some gas.
It was quiet in the downtown near the crossroads of East Pine Avenue and First Street North. The few people they’d seen as they rolled through town were quick to scurry away. They figured the stop would amount to no more than ten minutes. What they didn’t bank on was what would come next.
A horn honked.
It sounded like the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard.
Ryan stepped out onto the street, Josh, and Lily behind him, only to find the street empty. That changed as two people with children burst into view to the right of them, they wheeled around the corner near the crossroads if they were being chased by a bull.
There was no time to duck back into the store.
Instantly they dropped behind a station wagon, taking cover.
Following close behind, a 1991 red Chevrolet Silverado 4 x 4 swerved into view and tore down the street after them.
In the back three men were standing up, holding on to the roll bars and bearing hunting rifles. Ryan watched as one of them opened fire, dropping the male who was carrying a young girl.
The two of them hit the ground hard.
The girl let out a scream.
Still alive, the guy gestured for his wife to keep running but she slowed to help.
A young boy waited nearby as she tried to get the guy up but another round to the back of the leg dropped him.
The truck swerved diagonally, stopping a few feet away.
“Who are they?” Josh asked as the ruthless group pursued its prey, hooting, and hollering.
Two growling ATVS came barreling down the street from the east. Even if the family had managed to elude the truck, they would have been cut off by the rest of the mob.
The three men jumped out of the back.
All of them looked like your typical small-town residents. Nothing jumped out to him as a hate group, militant, or having any affiliations.
There were no symbols. No patches on their clothes. They bore no signs with messages.
In fact, their lack of protection was the only thing that set them apart. They wore muscle shirts, jeans, plaid shirts, no gloves, no masks, no eyewear. It was as if they were toying with fate, unafraid to die or immune.
Was anyone immune to this? To date, there had been no reports of such people. All those who came in contact with the aging were dealt a death sentence unless they could transfer it to others.
“Please. Leave us be,” the woman said.
“Put the young one in the back of the truck.”
“No!” the mother howled as they scooped up the boy. The child screamed bloody murder as he was taken to the truck and his mother had a rifle butt thrust into the back of her head.
The father couldn’t help. He was in agony from his gunshot wounds. He was bleeding out and only able to claw forward enough to grasp his wife’s hand.
The men didn’t take the girl who couldn’t have been more than eight years old.
He couldn’t hear what the men were saying but they forced the three at gunpoint onto their knees. The two parents began praying, hands clasped together, eyes to the sky.
The look of anguish was unlike anything he’d seen.
Were they being given a chance to make peace with their maker?
Were they begging for their child’s life?
In an instant, the men executed all three of them in cold blood with one round to the head.
Why had they killed the one child but taken the other?
“String them up.”
A heavyset man with a bald head and a goatee seemed to be in charge. Nooses were brought out and wrapped around the deceased’s necks and the other end slung over the top of street lamps. A placard was placed over the head of one of them. Two men pulled on the other end and lifted them high. Ryan squinted trying to make out what it said.
As the rope was tied off and the bodies twisted in the air, the bald man surveyed the road, his eyes washing over the buildings. He turned away then for a second looked back as if he’d seen something. Ryan froze. Was it their reflection in the window? All that stood between them and these men was a line of parked cars at the edge of the road.
“What is he staring at?” Josh said, his hand wrapped tightly over Lily’s mouth as if expecting her to give away their position.
Sweat beaded on Ryan’s face, rolling down his cheek.
No. He wasn’t looking at them.
He tapped one of the men and pointed to their truck that was parked on the other side of the road farther down. Ryan had made a point to never park outside the building they went in. It gave them a way out, it would serve as a distraction. He didn’t expect someone to recognize the difference on the road but that told him they were locals. Familiar with the area. Folks who had been down this road enough times to know what was out of place.
“Shit, he’s seen it.”
All they could do was watch as one of the guys made his way down. He figured they would check inside, see it was empty, maybe explore a few of the stores in front of where it was parked before returning and leaving.
The sound of the engine made his stomach drop.
“Did you leave the keys inside?” he asked Josh.
Josh nodded. He replied in a low voice, “There was no one on the road. We didn’t see anyone passing through.”
“Josh.”
“I thought we were getting water and going.”
He closed his eyes, pushing down the urge to argue. It wouldn’t serve them now.
His truck rumbled up the road to meet the others.
There were a few tense moments as Baldy eyed the stores. Would they search for them? All it would take was for them to cross over to the other side of the street and they’d be exposed.
The wait was killing him.
Instead, the bald guy twirled his finger in the air and the rest got back on the ATVs and hopped into the other truck, and peeled out of there.
They remained where they were for what felt like an hour but was probably only five minutes before they emerged. Ryan listened intently for the sound of vehicle engines as he crossed the street to read the placard.
He grimaced at the sight of the young child. No mercy was shown. She was just a kid. The body of the woman twisted. The rope making a crea
king sound.
And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents.
“What do you make of that?” Josh asked.
He noticed that all three of them were showing signs of infection, and yet the group had got close to them. Were they even aware of the danger? A month into this and those they’d met so far knew how it spread.
“I think we should find Ren and leave immediately.”
Easier said than done now they were without wheels.
He turned away from the macabre sight. “Check the vehicles. See if any of them are open, or have… keys,” Ryan said emphasizing the last word to make it clear that he was not impressed or expecting them to have keys.
“I’m sorry. Okay.”
“Just search while I check on Ren.”
Ryan jogged to the corner of the block and looked up the street to see if she was returning from the Marathon station on the corner of College Avenue.
She should have been back by now.
There was no sign of her.
He regretted agreeing to have her come with them. Even though she was traveling in the back of the truck. It was just one more person that he had to think about. One more reason they couldn’t just up and leave. Besides, gasoline without a vehicle wouldn’t be much use now.
He looked back and saw Josh and Lily going down the line of parked cars, peering in, checking handles. The two of them locked eyes. If he was hard on him, it was because he was trying to keep them alive. But on the road, not everything would go right. A decision here, a mistake there, a lack of judgment, no one was immune to oversight.
“Come on, Ren,” he muttered, holding his rifle and expecting any minute now the same bizarre group to circle back.
In the distance, he could see movement through the trees. He was too far away to see the station. Ryan jogged a little further up the road, darting from one vehicle to the next.
The downtown was run-down.
By the looks of it, many of the stores were empty long before the event had hit.
Ryan pulled out his compact high-power binoculars and crouched behind a minivan. As he adjusted the focus and tried to get a bead on the gas station, he spotted the two trucks and ATVs. Locked on to them, he observed them swerve into the gas station. Outside were large signs that read: GAS FOR TRADE.
That was a first. The gas stations were one of the first to be hit after the pathogen got out of control. The price per gallon had skyrocketed as long lines of vehicles bled them dry. Ren hadn’t said where she’d go for the gas, only that she’d be back soon. The Marathon was the closest, and with a sign like that, he imagined she would have approached it versus siphoning from vehicles. Siphoning wasn’t as easy on new models. Many of them had anti-siphon valves. They commonly used a mesh screen.
Ryan watched the men stop their vehicles, and climb out. They disappeared out of view as they entered the station. He shifted the binoculars to the back of the truck. The young boy was in tears. Not only had he been torn away from his family but he had to watch their execution. Who were these men? And did they control the town?
A moment later, they re-emerged though now with another captive. Thrashing in their grasp was Ren.
She elbowed one of them in the stomach, and stomped on the other guy’s foot, and tried to make a break for it. She didn’t get far. A swift jab to the side of her face from Baldy’s rifle and she hit the ground. Limp.
They dragged her to the truck and loaded the new cargo.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lily stared wide-eyed at the bodies while they waited in a rumbling Jeep Cherokee.
“Stop looking at them, Bean,” Josh said. The vehicle had just over a quarter tank of gas. He’d waited until his father was gone before he shattered the driver’s side window and hotwired it — a trick that could have landed him in juvie. He’d once taken a neighborhood car on a joyride with a group of friends. One of them had shown him how to do it.
Conversation soon shifted to the family. Lily had questions. She wanted to know why those men had killed them, if they were bad, and what would happen if they caught her.
“They won’t get you.”
“But how do you know?”
He shifted in his seat, looking into the back. “You’re alive, aren’t you?”
She nodded and stared ahead but he caught her eyes darting over to the victims. Josh twisted in his seat. “They had the virus.” He just came out with it. It was the only justifiable way of explaining what they had done. He didn’t want her to think that they’d killed in cold blood without a reason.
“Does that happen to everyone?”
“No. Just them.”
“That’s a lie.”
“How is it?”
“I saw the others. Along the highway.”
He sighed. “Look, people do bad things to others when they are scared. Don’t worry, because we’ll be long gone before they come back. Okay?” He reached over and shifted her face away from it. It was everywhere and only getting worse by the day. Eventually, she’d understand the full scope of it, if she didn’t already.
But like him, she wasn’t one to let things go until she got an answer. “So are they bad people?”
“No. I mean, yes but…” As the words came out of his mouth, Ryan burst around the corner, running at full sprint down the strip of stores. Josh honked the horn and put his hand out. Ryan’s eyes widened as he approached and got in the passenger side. His eyes went to the ignition, probably expecting to see a set of keys. Instead, wires were hanging down, a tangled mess connected to get the engine started.
“Should I even ask?”
Josh looked puzzled. “Where is she?”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone? What? Where?”
“It doesn’t matter. Put it in drive, and let’s go.”
“Does she need picking up?”
“Josh. I told you. Drive. We’re leaving the town now before we can’t.”
“Where is Ren, Dad?”
There was a pause.
“All right. I’ll drive.” Ryan got out. As he made his way around, Josh reached down and unattached the wires, shutting the engine and pocketing the small clip that was used to connect the wires. Ryan opened the driver’s side.
“That’s not cool. Start it up.”
“No. I’m not leaving without her.”
“You don’t even know her!”
“I know enough. I know she wouldn’t do this to us.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about so start the engine and go around. We’re leaving.”
“You want to start it. Go ahead. I’m not doing it.”
He got out and Ryan grabbed him and pushed him up against the vehicle. “Do you think this is a game? Look over there. Did you see what they did to them? Do you want that to happen to us?”
Josh stared back defiantly but said nothing.
Lily began crying.
As if coming to his senses, Ryan released him, turned, and ran a hand over his head.
“It’s okay, Lily,” Josh said. “It’s all right.”
Ryan looked back at him and then up the road. He could see real fear in his eyes, unlike anything he’d seen before. He was scared. Scared of them. Scared of what would happen to the two of them. “The same men. Took her. Okay? So when I say she’s gone. She’s gone.”
“Took her where?”
“I don’t know, Josh. I didn’t go and ask them. Look, you knew this could happen. This is why I didn’t want her to come with us. Now, I appreciate what she did for you back there but we are dealing with something that is over our head. We don’t have long to reach Florida. Every hour we waste here could mean not getting on a boat. Now I promised your mother I would get you on that boat.”
“You never promised her anything. She’s dead.”
“That changes nothing.”
“It changes everything,” Josh snapped bac
k. “She’s not the one facing this now. We are. And I’m not driving away from someone who helped us. Who knows what they’ll do to her. Even if we make it to Florida, there’s no guarantee we’ll find safety any more than here.”
“Josh. Josh.”
“Stop speaking to me like I don’t know any better. For the past sixteen years, I’ve had to grow up fast. I’ve had to deal with things without your help. At times even without mom’s.”
“Think about Lily.”
“I haven’t stopped thinking about her since this kicked off.”
“Then you know trying to find Ren is madness. We don’t know where they’ve taken her. For all we know, they could be from out of town, out of state even.”
“And yet they recognized a single vehicle on this street that shouldn’t have been here?” Josh replied. “They are locals. Someone must know who they are and where they are.”
Ryan shook his head, pacing. Josh could see he was losing his patience. His hand clenched and then he ran it over the front of his mouth. “You are killing me here, Josh.” He looked up the road again. “Even if we found her. Do you honestly think they’re just going to let us waltz in there, la-de-dah, and take her out? I won’t risk losing you two for a stranger.”
“Well she’s not a stranger, is she? She’s a friend.”
“For a friend then. You mean far too much to me.”
“If that was so, you would have fought harder years ago,” Josh snapped back.
“Josh, I would like nothing more than to right the wrongs of the past and give you the answers to where it all went wrong but I can’t. I can’t undo the past. I can’t roll back time. All I can do is move forward. And right now that’s what we need to do. So get in the Jeep. Please. And let’s go.”
“Sure. I’ll start it.”
Ryan clapped his hands together, relief appearing. “All right. Good. Finally.”
As he made his way around to the passenger side, Josh added, “But I’m not going. Not until I find her. I owe her that.”
“You have got to be kidding me. You are as stubborn as your mother!”
Josh shrugged. He waited. It took a minute or two for him to chew it over before he gestured for Josh to get in. “All right. You win. We’ll go see. But if things get hot. I’m driving us out. Even If I have to throw you in the vehicle. You hear me?”
