Fractured- Part 1

by L. T. Ryan

  There were a couple chuckles, but everyone knew an easy life was a thing of the past.

  Turk took a deep breath, forced a smile, and looked at each person in turn. “We have to make the most of what we have now. And we have to be ready to fight for it. I don’t know what lies ahead, but after talking with each one of you about your experiences, and knowing what my own family went through, there are others out there who want what we have, if for no other reason than to say ‘fuck you’ to us. They might want to take this ship and burn it just to watch us try to swim to shore.”

  Jerry, the Marine, leaned forward.

  “Yeah, Jer?”

  “Seen it happen even before this mess,” Jerry said. “When lawlessness prevails, the worst in humanity comes out.”

  “That’s right,” Turk said. “It does. So let’s all be prepared. We have enough weapons and ammunition for everyone, even the little ones.” He pointed at his daughter and Paige, whom he had taught to shoot on a couple of Ruger 10/22s. “Nothing will stand in our way.”

  His wife nodded, followed by Jenny and Alec, the cop stranded on the lifeboat. Soon, everyone in the room joined in.

  All except Addison.

  Two hours later he stood at the bow, one foot perched on the chrome rail, the other planted on the deck. The sea was calm now. The boat rolled gently. From his position he saw open water to the south and east. He couldn’t care less what was behind them as long as it wasn’t someone coming for him. To the west the setting sun loomed large over the faint outline of Charleston. The sky was painted red and purple. The air smelled of salt. He’d grown accustomed to the smell. So much so that when he went to town, the initial wave of death odor now gagged him.

  So much difference between here and there, he thought while recounting the things he’d been through in Charleston. It got him and his family to this point in time, so there was no reason to regret anything he’d done.

  “I’m leaving.”

  The sound of Addison’s voice sent a jolt down his spine. He straightened, pulled his shoulders back and turned to face the woman.

  “Is that right?” he said.

  “It’s time,” she said, using his own words against him. “I have to get to my grandparents.”

  “You have no idea what you’ll find when you get there.” He wondered if she understood this point. “They could be filleted. Mutilated. Or worse, turned into one of those…things. Are you prepared to deal with that?”

  Addison didn’t blink. “With what I’ve already made it through, I’m ready for anything, Turk. If they’re dead, then they’re dead. If they’re one of those things, I’ll put them to rest. I’d rather it be me than some crazed ex-Special Forces guy with a hatchet.”

  “Hey, I’m one of those crazed ex-Special Forces guys, you know.”

  She nodded and smiled broadly. “I’m just giving you a hard time.”

  “Fair enough,” he said. “I’m giving you one now.”

  “I know, and it’s not going to dissuade me. If I have to dive over the side of the boat and swim to shore, I will.”

  He stretched his arms high, clasped his hands and cradled the back of his head. “Once you’re gone, you’re gone. I can tell you where we’re going, but I can’t leave you with anything to help you get there. No maps or directions. Can’t risk those falling into the wrong hands. You understand that? We’ll likely never see each other again.”

  She crossed her arms and nodded while her eyes misted over. “This is the last time we’ll ever be face-to-face. If I make it to the farm, I’m never leaving it.”

  “If… see, you understand how risky this is.” He took two steps toward her, reached out and wrapped his hands around her shoulders and squeezed gently. “We’re stronger with you, Addy. We need you here. We want you here. Hell, I’ll just say it. I want you here. I know how you feel. I really do. I’ve lost most of my family. I have a daughter out there somewhere, and I’ll never know if she survived.”

  “You want to go on like that?”

  He bit down against her stinging words. “No, I don’t. But I have to because we have no choice. We gotta do what’s right for us right here. See, you’re my family now. Jenny, Paige, Emma, all of you. I do everything for you now.”

  “I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I have to do this.” She pulled free of his grasp and turned away. Her head was surrounded by the deep reds of the setting sun. “I’m sorry.”

  “I can’t force you to stay, and I’m not gonna stop you from leaving. We won’t be hanging around, though. The moment your raft is unhitched, we’re heading south.”

  She looked back at him, eyebrows arched. “The raft?”

  “Can’t expect you to swim two miles to shore in November.”

  “But what if you need it?”

  “We’ll find another along the way. Besides, I’m not counting on any more shore expeditions until we get to the island, and that water will be warm enough for me to swim in.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. I told you, you’re family now. I’m not gonna let you go without giving you a fighting chance. Now come on, let’s get the boat ready.”

  They packed her bag with two weeks worth of provisions, so long as she ate light. No problem there. They had all grown accustomed to a single meal a day. Turk opened a lockbox and gave her a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol, along with an extra magazine and a box of ammunition. He also handed her a knife and a hatchet.

  “Try not to use the pistol unless you have open road in front of you.”

  “I know.” She ejected the magazine, checked the barrel and slid the magazine back in. “It draws them in.”

  “I spotted a horse farm not too far from my old bunker.” He laid a map out in front of them and traced a line southwest. “I guess about ten miles. This was early on, so I have no idea if they survived, or if they’ve already been looted. Worth a look, though. If you can secure one, it’ll cut your travel time to a third of walking, and help you escape any sticky situations.”

  She nodded.

  “Fuel was harder to come by the past two weeks. I imagine that’s the case everywhere. Fewer and fewer cars will be on the road.”

  “Safer, I’d imagine.”

  “In some ways.” He wiped a layer of sweat from his brow and onto his pants. “And like the fuel, the weak are being thinned out. More and more of the people you run into will be the wrong kind. So keep to yourself and don’t go looking for anyone, no matter what you hear. Be wary of anyone you come across, no matter how pathetic they look. I wouldn’t put it past some to create traps by leaving a child in the middle of the road. They’ll shoot you and loot you and not give a single God damn about you.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” She removed the hard plastic cap off the hatchet’s blade and ran her index finger down it. “You should stop stalling. It’s gonna be completely dark soon.”

  He nodded, smiled, extended his hand. “It’s been a pleasure, Addison Bowen.”

  “Likewise, Turk.”

  He escorted her to the stern where the raft waited, hovering a few feet over the water. He helped her into it, then lowered it to the water. The line went slack in his hands. He stared into the remnants of the setting sun, watching the raft drift toward the shoreline until darkness had swallowed it whole.

  “God speed, Addy.” He turned away and headed to the helm. The engines roared to life. He throttled forward and the boat began its journey south. His gaze shifted to the right, toward the faint outline of land. Before long, it had faded.

  “It’s time.”

  Each passing minute brought a sea of memories flooding Turk’s consciousness. He tried to avoid the thoughts, but there was nothing he could do to stop them. Friends and families, now gone, would be impossible to forget. He had to honor them, and the only way he knew how was to survive.

  Help others survive.

  Rebuild.

  Even if he saw no point to it.

  Tur
k’s mind eased after an hour had passed. The cool, steady breeze and gentle sloshing on the rolling waves lulled him into a meditative-like state for the next forty or so minutes.

  “She’s gone.”

  His wife placed her hand on his shoulder and pulled him toward her. Her eyes watered over. The wind? Or something worse.

  “What?”

  “She’s gone, Turk.”

  He glanced away. He’d dreaded this moment. No one else knew Addie was leaving.

  “I know,” he said, holding eye contact for a moment. “I let her go.”

  Elana’s hand slid off Turk’s shoulder and down his chest as she took a step back. A vertical crinkle split her lower forehead as she looked up at him like he was crazy. “Why?”

  “She had to find her grandparents. Who was I to tell her she couldn’t? Think you could’ve stopped me if I decided to go after—”

  “No, not Addy.” Shaking her head, Elana reached out again, one finger raised.

  “Then who?”

  Tears spilled from her eyes and ran down her soft cheeks. The moonlight glinted off them. “Emma.”

  “What?” Turk gripped the wheel so hard he thought it might snap in his hands.

  “Emma’s gone, Turk. We thought she was sleeping. I went to wake her to eat and she wasn’t there.”

  “You’ve looked everywhere?”

  “It’s not that big of a boat.”

  Turk’s chin touched his chest as he stared down at the blank space between him and his wife. Emma had stowed away. She knew Addy was leaving and holed herself up on that raft. Addison was old enough and strong enough and had the right mental fortitude to make the journey. But Emma? He knew Sean had taught the girl well, but could she last for a month in the afflicted world?

  “She’s so young,” Elana said, wiping tears away.

  He lifted his head and his gaze drifted toward the vast darkness behind them. “We’ve gotta—”

  “No,” Elana said. “We don’t. What we need to do is take care of the people on this boat. The ones who want you to protect them. Don’t damn these souls by turning around for someone who didn’t want to be here anymore.”

  He stared into his wife’s wavering eyes for a moment. The look on her face continued to plead for him to take full responsibility for those who wanted to be with them at this moment. And that did not include Emma. He nodded at Elana and turned back to the controls. He kept the wheel steady, and for the rest of the night, they did not divert from their course.

  After Elana had left, Turk looked back at the darkness one more time.

  “I’m sorry, Sean. I truly am.”

  Three

  “How far’s the camp?” Sean restrained his voice the best he could. There were stragglers all around, but so far none had noticed the trio. Perhaps the smell of decayed flesh from the three afflicted Sean had killed was enough to keep them away.

  The man looked up at him. His thick and scraggly beard was a mix of grey and brown. His blue eyes were wide, bloodshot. He had one hand on his sister-in-law’s round stomach, the other behind her back.

  “About five miles,” the guy said.

  Sean wanted to collapse on the nearest stump. Five miles? They’d never make it that far. “You said you came from a house. Said it was a good place to hole up, right?”

  The guy peered over his shoulder at an encroaching dead. “Uh, yeah, we were there for a few weeks. Never bothered.”

  “How far away is that?”

  The guy was too concerned over that afflicted to have heard Sean.

  “Forget about them,” Sean said. “I got your back if they come close. Now tell me, how far away is that house?”

  The guy swung his gaze back to Sean, stared up at him with a hollow expression as though he were still processing the question.

  Sean was close to kicking the guy in the head and taking off with only the woman. Hell, the man had suffered a bite…at least he thought it was a bite. Could’ve come from being thrown against a branch or something.

  “Man, you gotta work with me here. I’m gonna level with you. Five miles, it ain’t happening. Not in her current condition. I’m capable of delivering a child. Done it before. But I don’t see it going over so well out here.” Sean crouched in front of the woman. “She’s not gonna be able to keep quiet. And the baby sure as hell isn’t. So I need you to tell me right now, where the fuck is that house y’all were holed up in?”

  The man blinked Sean back into focus. His head bobbed several times. “Right, yeah, okay. It’s hardly a half-mile from here.”

  “Now you’re talking,” Sean said. “Come on, help me get her on her feet.”

  “I can’t.” The woman stared at her deceased husband. “Just leave me here. If it’s meant to be, I’ll make it until you return with help.”

  “Get up, Beth,” the guy said.

  “I’m sorry, Leo.” Her head dropped until her chin hit her chest. “I just can’t.”

  Sean pulled up his pant leg and knocked on the hunk of wood helping hold his body up. “You see this?”

  Beth shifted her gaze to the side and focused on his makeshift prosthetic.

  “If anyone had an excuse to give up out here, it was me. Sons of bitches took what I had and for weeks I’ve been hobbling along on whatever branch I could find that’d support me. I got no idea when these’ll snap off either. But goddammit, if that happens, I’ll crawl my ass to where I gotta go. So Beth, I need you to get your ass off the ground and move. You hear me? Get up!”

  The three of them were motionless for a few seconds. Beth’s face tightened into a knot, all scrunched toward the middle. She grabbed each man’s hand and gripped and squeezed and grunted as she pulled herself off the ground. Her belly pushed out, her butt lifted, she got her knees under her and completed the transition.

  “A half-mile,” Sean said.

  “A half-mile,” Leo repeated.

  “We proceed cautiously, but we can’t just take our time. We need to get out of this forest.”

  Leo nodded. “Follow my lead, and we’ll be there in no time.”

  They picked their way through the woods, stopping a couple of times for Beth to rest. During these moments, Sean scouted ahead a hundred yards or so with Marley at his side. He dispatched lingering afflicted he found along the way. He noted they were different today. Moving slower, perhaps? Was it the cold? He wasn’t sure how that could have an effect. There wasn’t any blood flow going on, at least not like in himself or other living beings. Maybe muscle stiffness, for those who still had enough muscle to be affected by it. Whatever, he told himself. No point in worrying about it too much. Another data point to file away until he met someone who could use the information.

  After his last jaunt ahead, Sean returned and wiped dank blood off his fingers against the thick bark of an oak. “Path’s clear.”

  Leo rose from a squatting position and took a few steps toward him. He stuck his arm out, his index finger stretched past Sean, bounced up and down.

  “It’s just over that ridge,” he said.

  Sean followed Leo’s outstretched digit and thought he could make out the shape of a house. Just his mind tricking him. It was tough enough to see fifty feet with the falling snow. It had picked up over the last ten minutes. Was it going to continue to do so? Were they in for a record snowfall for the region? The house better be well stocked.

  They helped Beth to her feet and began the slow trudge through the rising snowfall covering the ground. It was at least half a foot now. The flakes coming down were big, fat, and wet. The kind that would keep building off the one that fell before it. There was a time Sean enjoyed it. He knew he never would again.

  A gentle lull fell upon them. The afflicted had settled and their wild calls faded into the sound of the wind through the trees, rustling any remaining leaves that clung to the top of the canopy. The snow made its way, little pellets pounding softly.

  He thought of Emma. Wondered what she was doing at that moment. Had Turk decided
to move on yet? Would they wait for Sean? He knew Turk had a plan. And Turk had to see that plan through. He could not wait for anyone, including Sean. Even if Turk had Sean’s flesh and blood under his protection.

  Sean had almost made peace with the fact he might never see his daughter. But he always phrased it as so: might. He wasn’t ready to throw in the towel completely. He’d made it this far. His house was a few days’ travel. He could rest with these folks. See to it that the baby was okay. Then be on his way again. By now, there’d be little to loot from his property. The most important things there wouldn’t stick out to most. People figured communication equipment was worthless now, at least anything beyond a walkie-talkie or portable radio. And his leg, well, if someone needed it more than he did, then he figured they should help themselves. It was made for him. To fit him. He doubted anyone who came across it would need it. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t take it. Not in this new world. Could be a good bartering chip someday.

  “There it is,” Leo said.

  Sean struggled to see the structure through the whiteout. The other man’s pace quickened and Sean had trouble keeping up with the sudden change. His wooden prosthetic got stuck on a root. He couldn’t pull it free. Both Sean and Beth fell. Sean managed to twist so that he came down on his side. But Beth wasn’t as capable of adjusting. She hit the ground hard on her stomach and let out a loud cry.

  He crawled over to her, helped Leo turn her over. She held her stomach tight with both hands. Her face was red, lips drawn tight, eyes clenched shut. Sean saw why right away. She’d landed on a large, jagged-edge rock.

  Several seconds passed and the tension on Beth’s face eased. Her brother-in-law doted over her, smoothing her hair back, whispering that it was all going to be okay.

  Sean got to his feet, turned in a circle to scout the area. Dark figures hovered off to the right. Six of them, maybe more behind.

  “We gotta get to that house now,” he said.