He’s not moving. I killed him. Oh my god, it was never my intention to take his life, but I had no choice. I did the right thing. I know I did. I won’t feel bad about this. He was going to rape her, and I had to stop him. Still shaken by what I’ve done, I drop the plaque and take a few steps back.
“Grab the key,” the woman demands.
She has the black bruising on her left ear. Dark veins starting from the infected area are on her cheek and neck.
“Hey, the key! Grab the key!”
Getting my bearings, I look around, hoping to spot the key.
“It’s in his pocket,” she says. “Look there. You’ll find it. Hurry.”
Shit. I have to touch him. I slowly kneel at his side. I search his back pockets. I find it first try.
“QUIN!” a voice calls from downstairs.
I toss her the handcuff key and pick up the pistol. I ensure that it’s loaded, and the safety is off.
“Quin, where are you?” It’s the woman who robbed Michael and me. Her voice is clear. I recognize it anywhere.
“What’s your name?” I whisper to the lady as she frantically unlocks the cuffs.
“Erika.”
“Okay, Erika, what’s behind that door?”
“The bathroom.”
“Get in there and do not come out until I tell you.”
“Quin, we got to go!” It sounds like the woman is in the kitchen. I swear I heard the refrigerator door close.
Erika sneaks into the bathroom. I shut the bedroom door and hide behind the side of the bed.
With a rhythmic thud, the woman comes up the steps. She finally reaches the top floor. Her shadow extends under the crack of the door.
“Quin, you better not be in there doing crap. We have to go.”
Seeing him dead on the floor freezes her in place.
I stand with my brother’s gun. She has her rifle. I shoot her in the shoulder before she can swing the rifle up to aim. She screams and falls back into the hallway. I run to her, meaning to grab the rifle she dropped. I get it and toss it behind me onto the bed and out of her reach. She clutches her bloody shoulder, screaming her head off. The noise is too much.
“SHUT UP!”
She has no right to yell or cry, considering what she’s done to my brother and me. This woman took our things, she shot at Michael, and more than likely, she probably killed him. And I won’t get into the fact that her friend or brother has raped that woman before. I hate her for allowing such a heartless act. Even as the aliens take lives and destroy buildings, I consider her worse than them.
“SHUT THE HELL UP!”
Her cries turn to silent sobbing.
“Where is my brother?
“I don’t know,” she mumbles.
I kick the bottom of her shoe. “Where is he? He better be a…”
A gunshot goes off. At the same time, a hole appears in the woman’s forehead. I look behind me. Erika has the rifle. The barrel is smoking. Tears are in her eyes. I’m about to ask why she killed the woman, but then I see the reason in her face. Tears tell of her unspeakable pain at the hands of her captors.
But unfortunately for me, she has done me a disservice. The fate of my brother has died along with the woman, and I will never know what happened to him.
Erika stares at me with the rifle still in her hands. It’s time for me to leave. I’ve done what I can, and I must move on.
I back out of the room, rush down the steps, and out the front door. The shining sun blinds me. My head throbs from the sudden glare. My stomach churns. I bend over into the flower bed and heave my guts. After composing myself, I wipe my mouth with the bottom of my shirt and hold still until I can move without getting sick.
At the end of the sidewalk, I look to my left and right, and then back. The house I was held in is brick and has two garages. It used to be a home. Now, it’s nothing but an empty, soulless building with dead bodies in it.
Erika appears in the doorway. She holds the rifle in her hands. I begin to wonder if she’ll shoot me too. I clutch my gun, ready to do whatever it takes to stay alive.
“I can help you,” she yells from the entrance.
“I’m good,” I remark, not trusting her.
“You asked about your brother. I’m pretty sure I know where he is.”
She has my attention. “Okay,” I reply.
“He’s in the house over there, three driveways up, where the red convertible is parked.”
“How do you know?” I ask.
“I heard Diane tell Quin. She mentioned that she was going to keep your brother in that house.”
At first, I walk with hesitation, glancing at every house along the way. Every door is open. I imagine everyone on this street is either dead or has left the area. By the time I get to the sidewalk, I’m at a full sprint. When I reach the door, I burst through the entrance. The inside is trashed. Food boxes and wrappers are everywhere. It stinks of sweat and spoiled milk.
“MICHAEL!”
“KRIS!”
Happy to hear his voice, I run upstairs. He’s in an empty room strapped to an inversion therapy table. His wrists are cuffed together behind it, and he’s upside down. I slowly shift the table upright, so as not to make him dizzy.
“You found me. I can’t believe it.”
“A woman down the street told me where you were,” I reply as I pull at the cuffs. I need a key. Erika has it. “I’ll be right back.”
“Wait! Where are you going?”
I run out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and out the front door. I find Erika in the kitchen at the other house. She’s ransacking the cupboards for food.
“I need the handcuff key,” I tell her breathlessly.
She says its upstairs on the bed. I rush back up there, ignoring the two dead bodies. The key is exactly where she said it was.
As I’m running back up the street, I see a different spaceship. It’s an elongated rectangular rod. Tiny black specks are falling out of an opening at the bottom. I’m too far away to see what those things look like, and I don’t know their purpose. But I have enough knowledge to know it’s not good. We’re running out of time. I run back to the house. Michael is thrashing, trying to unhook himself from the inversion therapy table.
“Stop it,” I yell at him. “You can’t get out on your own, and you know it.” I unhook the cuffs and undo the straps around his ankles. Then I unlock the single cuff from my wrist as well. No way am I going to have that piece of jewelry hanging off of me.
“I thought you left me behind,” he says with relief.
“Why would you think that?”
“You took off.”
“I said I would be right back. Anyway, we have to go. There’s a new spaceship out there, and I don’t know what it does.”
“I have to get our backpacks.”
He takes us to the kitchen, where our things are unpacked and bestrewed all over the counters. We make quick work of putting what we can back inside our bags, and we raid the cupboards, not finding anything. Michael is agitated that he can’t find the water pouches or the shotgun. I tell him they’re not important. We have drinks, and we have to get going.
We haul tail outside. Erika stands on the sidewalk in front of the house we were held captive. She sees the rod-like spaceship.
“Come on,” I yell for her.
She goes back inside the house. I stop, not understanding why she would do that.
“We can’t wait!” Michael says.
“ERIKA! ERIKA!”
She runs out of the house with a bag and her rifle. She catches up with us, but then I see something out of the corner of my eyes. A swarm of some kind is crawling on the house at the end of the cul-de-sac. The foundation is completely covered. The house rumbles and shifts. Glass shatters. The roof collapses, and the tiny creatures, whatever they are, covers the rest of the building. When the structure is completely decimated, the swarm spreads out along the ground in a collective body. The first residence, a two-story bric
k home, probably a four-bedroom house, is reduced to dust.
“Jesus,” Michael comments.
The creatures are now taking down two houses at the same time. As a collective swarm, I can’t make out their individual shapes, and I don’t plan on sticking around to check.
“Let’s go,” I reply, pulling at Michael. “Let’s go.”
C H A P T E R
26
The dust rises in the distant horizon behind us. The first rod we saw is gone, but another is to our right, spilling out the swarm. I can hear the hissing sound of destruction. The only consolation I have is that we’re far enough away to be safe. At least for now.
“What are your names?” Erika asks. She’s concerned with our present company. Considering she survived dire circumstances with Quin, she has a right to be.
“This is Michael,” I remark. “My name is Kris.”
“Erika Herriot.”
“Nice to meet you,” Michael says.
Erika nods at us both, but she keeps her distance from Michael, using me as a human buffer.
“He was in the Army.” I hope that bit of information settles her uncertainty, but I’m not sure how it would.
“Thank you for your service.”
“You’re welcome,” Michael replies with a nod.
“What did you do for a living?” I want to ease Erika’s mind, get her to relax more around us.
“Worked at a video game company, different departments, wherever I was needed.”
“I worked in Richmond for a credit card company, and Michael drove a tow truck.”
“Thought you said he was in the Army.”
“That was before the tow truck,” he adds. “I’m retired now.”
“Oh,” she says with a nod. “Gotcha. So, where are you two headed?”
“Ashburn,” I answer.
“Okay. Well, I’m not headed that way.”
“Where are you going?” Michael asks.
I’m surprised he’s interested, especially with his known policy of traveling with strangers.
“Woodbridge. Have you ever heard of that place?”
“Yeah, it’s south of Washington DC, off of Interstate 95.”
“That’s the place. That’s where we were headed.”
“Who’s we?” Michael asks.
“My husband. Quin killed…” she clears her throat. “Jared is gone now, and I have to keep going. Have you heard of Jared? He was famous.”
“No, never heard of him,” Michael answers. “Are you going to Woodbridge by yourself?”
“Looks like it. You two are going in the opposite direction, so.”
“What’s in Woodbridge?” I asks.
“My sister and her family.”
“How did you get involved with Quin and Diane?”
Confused, I ask Michael, “Who is Diane?”
“She’s the woman that robbed us and held us against our will.” Michael turns to Erika. “How did you run into them?”
“My husband and I met them last night when we camped out not too far from here. They came along, holding huge bags of groceries. They gave us some food and told us where we could find more. My husband and I weren’t exactly prepared for the trip to Woodbridge. We didn’t pack enough, and we were hungry. Quin was a little odd, but I figured that’s how he was. Everyone has their weird quirks, you know. Diane was overly nice, and she was funny, very charming. She won our trust immediately, and we followed them back to that neighborhood.” Erika sighs and wipes her cheeks before continuing. “At first, I thought it was bizarre that every front door at every house on that street was wide open. Every single one of them. Jared noticed, and he asked about it. Diane had explained that all the people that lived there were gone. They abandoned those houses. I found it odd that every single family had left their homes, but Jared accepted her explanation. Factor in that we were starving and desperate, she could have told us anything. The house you found me in, that’s where we gathered. We all ate together at the dining room table. It was nice to have a sit down meal with other human beings, considering the world wasn’t the same. After Jared finished eating, he went upstairs to use the bathroom. Diane and I talked in the kitchen. Quin left the room. Moments later, that’s when I heard my husband get shot. I ran up the stairs. He wasn’t dead, but he was badly hurt. Quin locked me up in a separate room from Jared. That’s where I was all morning.”
“We left him behind,” I reply, shaken by this realization.
“He died of his wounds. I saw him after you left for your brother.”
“I’m sorry,” I remark.
Erika nods sadly. “You understand why I have to go to Woodbridge. My sister and her family are all I have left, but I want to thank you, Kris, for saving my life.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Erika,” Michael speaks calmly, “I get that you want to be with your family but consider coming with us. It’s a long walk to Woodbridge. You’ll be by yourself. Anything could happen. There’s safety in numbers, and I have a way to ensure you survive, that we all survive.”
Michael’s offer to her comes as a shock. If we all make it to the bunker, along with his mother and Gabe, how is he going to convince his friends to let us all in? And what happened to not making new friends on this trip?
“I trusted those people back there, and I lost my husband.”
“We’re not them.”
Erika isn’t willing to trust us completely, but she’s giving serious consideration to Michael’s proposal.
“What will you do if you don’t find your family?” Michael asks. “What if they’re gone? Where will you go next?”
“I don’t know.”
“Here we are, Erika. A sure thing, flesh and blood.”
“You make valid points,” she says. “But honestly and really, you’re strangers. I haven’t been so lucky putting my faith in people that I don’t know. My family is where I belong. My family is everything to me.”
“Then we wish you well on your journey.”
“Thank you.” She looks at the cloud of dust in the distance, an ominous sign of destruction. It’s thick and rising, creating what seems to be an impenetrable wall.
“If you see a crowd of people, stay away from them,” Michael suggests. “It’s best to keep to yourself.”
“That’s a great idea. You’re right. I will do that.”
I get the impression Erika doesn’t want to be separated from us, and Michael doesn’t want her to leave. He likes her, I think, or he feels sorry for her.
“Don’t be afraid to use your rifle,” he replies. “How much ammunition do you have?”
“I don’t have any, and the rifle isn’t loaded. Do you have some I can use?”
“Unfortunately, we don’t. I wasn’t able to find everything I had in my backpack before we left.”
“Oh, well, I guess this is useless.”
“If you find a gun shop, you might be able to break in and get what you need.”
“Oh, right,” she says. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
These two are wasting time. It’s like they’re waiting for each other to make the first move. Well, I’m going to make it for them. I can’t stand out here when there’s a risk the swarm could catch up with us.
“Erika, it was nice meeting you. Be careful.” I start walking up the street.
Michael lags. She hasn’t moved from where she stands.
“Kris, hold up!” He goes back to her.
I can’t hear what they’re saying, but Michael must be trying to convince her to come with us. She’s tortured, not knowing if her family is dead or alive. If she decides to go with us, she’ll never know for sure, and that’s the hard part. Erika is also fighting with the possibility that if she goes to Woodbridge, and her family is dead, she won’t have anyone. She’ll be alone. That’s if she makes it to Woodbridge. Her choices are hard to make. Michael kind offering versus an uncertain future. I wouldn’t dare want to be in their conversation right now.
Erika has finally made up her mind. She walks beside Michael. I can’t believe he’s letting her come along. He smiles at me as they walk by. I stare at him like he’s lost his mind.
He’s going to have his work cut out for him trying to convince his friends to let not only Gabe into the bunker but Erika too. I don’t like our odds. Michael and I will have to talk about this later.
C H A P T E R
27
Sterling, Virginia
I already miss having a bicycle. We could be at Gabe’s house by now if Michael hadn’t gotten a wild hair up his butt and went after those two lunatics. We could have taken Centreville Road, the very street we’re on right now, instead of Highway 28, altogether avoiding the crowd he was so eager to duck. I forgot there’s always more than one way to any destination.
And now, he has an acquaintance. This is the same man who did not want to make friends, who tried to only look out for himself. And still, he went out of his way to convince her to stay. What will that mean for our entry into the bunker?
I’m ashamed and annoyed by how I’m thinking. I saved Erika from an attack, and here I am willing to sacrifice her on the same day to ensure my survivability in the long run. What kind of person am I? Damn it. I have to be a better human being. In the end, I have to believe that we will make it, and everyone will have access to the bunker.
To get my mind off my worries, I decide to give my attention to the scenery. Trees and grassy areas are more abundant. It’s quiet, and the buildings we do see don’t have any broken windows. We’ve found an area seemingly untouched by the invasion. Still, it’s not far away from the devastation. I imagine we can go a mile back in the other direction, and we’ll see the symptoms.
I listen to the distant hissing of the swarm. Cracks of lightning. Sounds of thunder. The sky lights up to the far east frequently. It could be DC. The aliens could be tearing that place down to the bowels of the earth, making it so our government will never recover from the attack.
After a long while, we reach the Dulles Toll Road. The green information sign at the intersection gives directional arrows. One labeled for east, and the other for the west. The header reads 267 TOLL.
Dust to Dust: An Apocalyptic Thriller Page 11
