Bloody Sunset

by Gwendolyn Harper

  “Cae,” he said, holding out the revolver for her.

  Taking it, Caitlin tucked the gun into the back waistband of her thermal leggings and hurried to yank her boots on.

  “I still don’t see Scott,” Nicole said, wrapping her arms around her middle. “Booker—”

  “S’alright,” he said, straightening to his full height. “I’ll get him.”

  The millisecond he noticed Caitlin following him, Booker spun on his heel.

  “What in the hell do you think you’re doin’?” He snapped.

  Caitlin blinked up at him. “I’m coming with you.”

  “Like hell,” he retorted.

  “We go together, Jack.”

  “I ain’t lettin’ you die in some tinderbox,” he shouted. “You stay here where it’s safe.”

  “Not without you,” she yelled back, glare sharp.

  Booker opened his mouth to argue when his stare drifted over her shoulder.

  “Desi,” he breathed. “I don’t… Where’s Desi?”

  Caitlin turned to scan the group of children under Sister Agnes’ care.

  Brianna, Matthew, Tyrone, Lindsey…

  She couldn’t find Desi.

  She counted all the children again, but still, she didn’t see the brown curls she knew so well.

  “She must still be inside,” Caitlin said.

  From behind her, she heard a rustling in the duffle bag and turned.

  Grabbing a small handgun, Nicole checked the clip and stood up, tucking it into her belt.

  “If you’re going back in, so am I,” she said plainly, looking at them both.

  Booker raked his fingers through his hair, yanking at the ends. “Since when did y’all get a death wish?”

  Caitlin pegged him with a hard stare. “Together or not at all,” she said, starting back towards the school. “You know that.”

  Exhaling roughly, Booker took up the rear, following as they ran across the lot.

  The horrified look on Nathaniel’s face as they approached said it all.

  “I know, I know,” Booker told him. “But we gotta find Scott and Desi.”

  “I’ll do that,” Nathaniel said. “You should stay—”

  Several windows from the west wing of the school exploded, and they all ducked as glass rained down. Black smoke billowed out and flames licked up the windowsills.

  “That’s the science room,” Nicole gasped. “That’s where the clinic is. Scott was—”

  She didn’t finish.

  Nicole shoved past several people leaving and ducked under Nathaniel’s arm as he tried to stop her, bolting back into the school.

  “Nicole!” Caitlin shouted, pushing her way back inside.

  Booker’s grip on her wrist was like a vice. “Cae!”

  “Find Desi,” she told him. “I have to help Nicole!”

  Yanking free, she took off.

  Run, run, run, as fast as you can…

  As she rounded the corner, she nearly tackled a cluster of people.

  “Caitlin, what are you doing?” Max asked, voice muffled by the cloth he held in front of his face.

  David held Matilda close to his chest, a blanket covering her, and Fancy on her leash with his free hand.

  They were alive. Caitlin wanted to hug them.

  “Head for the front,” she told them, avoiding Max’s question. “Nathaniel’s helping people get out.”

  Taking off again, she heard Max call out, “What about you?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “Scott! Nicole!” Caitlin shouted through the smoke.

  Men’s voices and pounding footsteps gave her some indication of what was ahead.

  “Caitlin!”

  The glow from the blaze cut through the grey and white clouds.

  Several people were chucking buckets of water into the science room, trying to contain the fire. It was keeping the flames at bay but not enough to put them out entirely.

  “Nicole?!”

  “Over here!” Scott shouted, as he flung water across the floor.

  Slipping in a puddle, she caught herself on one of the lockers and kept running.

  “What happened?” She asked, gasping.

  “I don’t know,” Scott yelled over the sounds of the inferno. “When I got here the whole room was engulfed.”

  Rushing over with another bucket of water, Nicole passed it to Scott who immediately dumped it on a blazing desk and chair, barely smothering the fire before more flames took over.

  “We need more than this to put it out,” Scott told them as more men arrived with pitchers and bowls—a pitiful attempt to save their home.

  Caitlin coughed, tears streaking down her face.

  “The sports closet in the girls’ locker room,” Nicole said. “I saw a bunch of fire extinguishers being stored there.”

  Scott nodded. “Go,” he urged. “Hurry.”

  Caitlin didn’t hesitate, turning on a dime to follow Nicole. Sprinting down the hallway, they continued to shout for Desi, calling out for her through the smoke.

  As they turned a corner, she spotted Booker with a rag over his face.

  “There are fire extinguishers in the locker rooms,” she told him. “Scott’s with a few others trying to put it out.”

  “I’ll tell Nate,” Booker said, taking her hand as they passed for the briefest moment before separating again.

  She could hear him still calling for Desi as they ran for the double doors leading to the gymnasium.

  More rapid footfalls and a dark shape of a man ran towards them.

  Seth, with an armful of fire extinguishers, nearly barreled through them.

  “I found these in the cafeteria,” he panted.

  Nicole pointed down the hallway. “Take them to the science room, that’s where the fire is.”

  The closer they got to the gym, the clearer the air was—a momentarily relief.

  Without light, the vast room was eerie and oppressive, like a deep cave Caitlin wanted to escape from.

  She pushed onward, running in the direction of the locker room doors.

  As soon as they entered the cinderblock stairwell, the silence rang in her ears, a complete juxtaposition of the frenzy above them.

  “We gotta stop finding ourselves in creepy basements like this,” Nicole joked, voice barely above a whisper.

  “Hey, Nancy Drew would be proud,” Caitlin said, one hand on the wall to steady her as they descended.

  The locker rooms had been left mostly untouched by their take over, save for a few of the benches being moved to use as barricades and the addition of a couple hoses and curtains to give them extra shower spaces.

  “The closet’s over here,” Nicole said, pointing to the right side of the room.

  Jogging over, she yanked on the handle and yelped.

  “It’s…” She tugged again. “It’s locked.”

  “What?”

  In the dark, Caitlin reached for closet door. A padlock hung from the bottom of the handle, clanging each time they tried to open it.

  “That wasn’t there last time,” Nicole said.

  The narrow windows near the ceiling gave them barely enough moonlight to see the silhouettes of the one row of benches left.

  “Here, we can break the lock,” Caitlin said, rushing to pick up one end of the metal bench.

  With Nicole’s help, they hoisted it up and aimed the steel edge for the padlock.

  “One, two…” Caitlin counted, and they slammed the door on three.

  The lock didn’t budge.

  “Again,” Nicole urged.

  Using the bench as a battering ram, they hit the lock over and over until the hook snapped and pieces fell to the floor.

  Relieved, they set the bench to the side, and Caitlin ran to yank open the door.

  Arms swung out from the dark void of the closet, fingers grasping at her face.

  Caitlin screamed and leapt back, as the undead assailant lurched towards her, groaning.

  Hungry and fre
e, the Geek wasted no time closing the distance.

  The back of her knees hit the bench, and Caitlin fell, toppling over and knocking the air from her lungs.

  “Caitlin!” Nicole screamed.

  The Geek turned, suddenly aware it had two meal choices.

  It was too dark to see but Caitlin reached for her revolver anyway. Struggling to get to her feet, she yelled for Nicole to run.

  She didn’t.

  The Geek shuffled closer, reaching for Nicole as she backed up blindly.

  “Nicole, duck!” Caitlin screamed, lifting her weapon.

  Two shots landed in the Geek’s chest, but they barely slowed it down.

  Caitlin fired again, but she missed, and the bullet ricocheted off one of the lockers and hit the wall. She couldn’t keep shooting—it was too easy to hit Nicole on accident.

  “Run, Nicole!” She shouted again.

  From somewhere in the darkness, heavy footfalls echoed seconds before something metal and heavy swung and struck the Geek in the head.

  An enraged bellow was followed by a second hit. And a third.

  The Geek crumpled to the floor, skull cracked open and oozing.

  Standing over the body, Booker gulped for air and dropped the aluminum baseball bat.

  “Jack?” Caitlin gasped, scrambling over the bench.

  “Y’all alright?” He asked, voice barely more than a growl.

  Blindly, she reached for him, clutching his forearm.

  “Nicole?” Caitlin called, trying to peer through the darkness.

  “I’m okay.”

  Turning towards Booker’s shadowy face, she asked, “How did you…?”

  “Together,” he said hoarsely. “Or not at all.”

  Caitlin’s heart pressed against her ribs in a swell of emotion.

  But the reality of what happened wasn’t lost on her.

  A Geek.

  A Geek had been locked inside that tiny closet.

  Caitlin stared down at the creature, squinting at the mangled profile.

  “Oh God…” She bent over, pushing the thing onto its back. “It’s Donna.”

  Too many questions flooded her mind, rendering her silent and petrified.

  “Caitlin, we still have to help Scott,” Nicole said faintly.

  Nodding, she stood up, numbly moving towards the closet.

  “Y’all hear that?” Booker asked, turning in a small circle.

  Handing Nicole two heavy fire extinguishers, Caitlin frowned.

  “Hear what?”

  “That clangin’…” Booker strode towards the far corner of the locker room.

  “Is that coming from the boiler room?” Nicole asked.

  With their arms loaded with bright red cylinders, they hurried out of the locker room and down the short hall towards the source of the noise.

  Pushing open the heavy door, the clanging got louder.

  A small, frustrated grunt was followed by more metal against metal.

  In the yellow beam of a flashlight, they spotted Desi on top of a ladder, jumping to reach for a pipe.

  “Jesus Christ,” Booker breathed, running after her. “Desi, what are you—”

  “I can fix it,” she cried, arm high above her head, swinging a wrench. “I just have to reach it.”

  Grabbing her around the waist, Booker caught her before she could fall from the top rung.

  “No, wait,” she pleaded. “I can fix it!”

  “Fix what, Des?” Booker asked, scowling.

  “The sprinklers,” she said, twisting in his hold. “They’re not supposed to be turned off! I can fix them, please!”

  Thin lines of smoke snaked under the door, filling the room.

  “Desi, it’s too late,” Booker told her, trying to calm her. “We gotta go, okay?”

  “No, no, no,” she wailed, wrench still in her hand. “Please, Booker, I can do it!”

  “It’s alright, Desi,” he murmured, cupping the back of her head. “You tried. C’mon, we gotta go.”

  With Booker carrying her from the boiler room, they ran up the stairs, coughing as more smoke filled the air.

  There was no fire in the gym, but as they made it out into the hall, crackling flames had taken over the library.

  A whole room with nothing but kindling went up fast.

  “Scott!” Nicole shouted as they ran.

  Through the dark clouds, Scott rushed for them.

  Nicole coughed. “We got them, we—”

  “It’s too late,” Scott told her. “The fire’s too big, it’s spreading. We gotta go.”

  Defeat kicked in Caitlin’s chest like a donkey.

  It was all for nothing.

  Running for the front door, they heard screams coming from the western side of the school.

  Caitlin froze.

  There were still people inside, trapped by the blaze.

  “Cae.” Booker grabbed her by the arm with his free hand. “C’mon.”

  He refused to let her go and deep down she knew why.

  Together.

  I don’t care if you kill a hundred men, you come home.

  We did what we had to to survive.

  Flaming ceiling tiles and drywall fell down around them as they ran.

  Nathaniel ushered them out just as more windows blew, the glass too hot to hold in the frames any longer.

  In a daze, Caitlin followed Nicole and Scott across the parking lot, with Booker and Desi at her shoulder.

  She stood there, in the freezing night air, covered in ash, staring up at their home going up in flames.

  When her arms continued to ache, she finally glanced down, and realized she’d been hugging two fire extinguishers to her chest like a life preserver.

  Caitlin dropped them on the curb with a useless clatter.

  Grief stricken and shattered, the group—what was left of them—watched the flames grow higher until the starry night sky glowed red and gold.

  Chapter Twelve

  The Geeks came soon after.

  Drawn in by the heat and the light, they found their way to the school within the hour.

  They’d seen the herds moving in the faint light, and everyone was forced to abandon their burning home.

  Nathaniel ran to get the bus in hopes it was still in driving condition.

  Passing Desi off to Caitlin, Booker took off for the Jeep.

  It all happened so fast.

  Shoving people and their meager belongings on to the bus, filling it to the brim.

  Getting Scott, Nicole, and Desi into the back of the Jeep.

  Caitlin remembered firing off several shots, clearing a path for the vehicles.

  It all felt like warped déjà vu.

  She’d done it before, her muscles remembered very well.

  She’d done it all before, and she would do it all again.

  And again. And again. Until her last breath probably.

  Dawn broke over the plains of Kansas, blood red streaking across the sky.

  They drove until they couldn’t see the smoke any longer.

  It wasn’t until the land around them was illuminated pink and soft yellow that Caitlin wept silently into the sleeve of her sweatshirt, material reeking of smoke and death.

  Passing a sign on the side of the road, she spotted a familiar mark scrawled on the corner and a fresh sob wracked her body.

  “Stop,” she muttered. “Stop the car.”

  “Y’alright?”

  “Just stop.”

  Booker did so and Caitlin leapt out, rushing for the metal posts.

  With spit and tears, she scrubbed at the red X she’d left a month prior until her fingers were chapped and sore, and all that was left was its ghost.

  * * * * * * *

  Parked behind a dilapidated silo, the traumatized survivors attempted to regroup.

  With Max building a small fire to warm up and possibly cook something for breakfast if they could find anything, Sister Agnes began the heartbreaking task of performing a head count.


  While most had survived, the ones they lost were a sharp, unbearable pain lancing through them all.

  Edward. Francesca. Mark. Trish. Steve. Clark.

  Donna.

  Others Caitlin only knew by face, not name. An oversight she would never forgive herself of now.

  What was left of the elected officials gathered in privacy while the rest of the group huddled together for warmth near the fire.

  Caitlin watched as Luna, Nathaniel, and several others trailed around the back end of the bus, and suddenly she was overcome with rage.

  Bolting up from the stump she’d found herself sitting on, she stormed across the small field.

  “Meadows, where’re you—”

  “Don’t try to stop me, Booker,” she snapped, not even looking at him.

  More footsteps followed her, but Caitlin didn’t care who they were or what they wanted.

  With Nathaniel and Luna only a couple yards from her, she let loose everything boiling in her chest.

  “Who was on watch?” She yelled, interrupting them midsentence. “Which one of these incompetent cowards let this happen?”

  “Caitlin, hold on—” Nathaniel said, holding his hands up.

  “No, I want names,” she shouted. “Where was the patrol detail? Where were these people you said were trained, who could handle responsibility—” She twisted to face Luna. “The ones you made us put all our trust in. What, did they all just fuck off somewhere and leave us to die?”

  “Calm down, Caitlin,” Nathaniel said.

  “Go to hell,” she spat. “Tell me, which upstanding members of your group fell asleep and let our only home get burned to the goddamn ground?”

  Luna wiped under her eyes, tears smearing the ash across her cheeks.

  “We don’t know,” she admitted. “But Edward was on patrol detail tonight. If he’d seen anything, he… he would have done something.”

  “Well he’s not here to ask,” Caitlin said tightly. “And right now, on top of all the adults who barely know how to hold a knife let alone protect themselves, we have twenty-seven children and a baby to take care of, and we don’t even have shelter for them.”

  “We’re going to be okay, Caitlin,” Max said behind her.

  Turning, she stared at him in disbelief.

  “How can you say that?” She asked, suddenly hoarse. “We brought your family out of a protected Ark under the pretense that we had a safe place for them, and now that’s gone.”