Lucy mustered the shreds of her courage together and wrapped it around her like a cloak. In a broken whisper, she said, “Okay.”
“Good. We’ve wasted enough time on your tantrums already.” Eleanor stood up and dragged Lucy toward the exit. At the door, she paused long enough to check that Jared was behind them, then she pushed open the door. “Let’s go.”
After the quiet of the shop, the noise outside assaulted Lucy’s ears. A car alarm blared, and in the distance, shrieks rose into the air. Two people ran past. They never even looked at the stunned trio. She shrank back, but her mother wouldn’t allow her to pull away. Instead, she yanked Lucy across the street, right between two speeding cars.
Her short legs pumped to keep up with the fast pace, and a chill of fear flared through her chest when one car narrowly missed her. Her feet stumbled across the tar and onto the sidewalk. Together, they ran for the pharmacy. The doors were closed, and Lucy’s mother shook the handles with a loud cry. “Let us in!”
Lucy looked around, mouth dry. She spotted a lady running toward them at high speed. Her mouth was agape, and two rows of teeth gnashed at the air. A monster. “Mommy!”
Her mother rattled harder on the door. “Cairns, so help me God, open this damned door!”
A frightened face appeared in the window, followed by the rattle of a key undoing the lock. Lucy hardly noticed, all her attention focused on the monster lady who closed the gap at a frightening pace. She was a fearful sight with chew marks covering her arms. Almost as if giant mice had gotten hold of her.
Right before she could attack, Mr. Burns stepped up and swung his ax with a bellow of anger. The back end connected with the side of her neck. The bones crunched in symphony with the lock and keys. She collapsed to the ground as the door opened. The last thing Lucy saw of her was the dimming brown eyes that held no spark of intelligence before her mother ushered her inside.
The door swung shut behind them, cutting off the terrible sounds from outside. A worried looking Cairns locked it again before turning toward them. “Are you all right?”
Eleanor nodded. “We’re fine. At least, Lucy and I are, but Mr. Burns has been injured. Can you help him?”
“Of course. Come right this way.” Cairns led the way to the back where he rummaged for his medical supplies. Once everyone was seated, he tended to the gaping hole in Jared’s arm. Eleanor positioned herself between Lucy and Cairns, shielding her from the sight.
“Do you know what’s going on?” she asked.
Cairns shook his graying head, but his eyes told a different story. “I heard something about a virus earlier on the radio. It drives people crazy, makes them attack others. People have been advised to remain indoors until the situation is under control.”
“So it’s a virus?” Jared said.
“Seems like it,” Cairns answered. “I don’t know much more than that.”
“Where are your staff?”
“I sent them home earlier, thought it would be best.” Cairns wrapped a clean bandage around Jared’s forearm. Pink patches of Mercurochrome stained the material. “Here, drink this. The sooner you start a course of antibiotics the better.”
“Thanks.”
Eleanor slumped in her seat as she wiped a slender hand across her face. “How far has this spread?”
“It’s countrywide,” Cairns said, ignoring the gasps of horror from Jared and Eleanor.
Inside her chest, Lucy’s heart grew cold. Were the monsters everywhere now? She couldn’t think of anything worse than that. What about her home? Caramel?
Most of all, what about her dad?
Lucy’s Chance - Chapter 4
Outside, the sights and sounds of trouble continued. Police sirens wailed in the distance, and a truck blew hooter before brushing through a crowd of sick people. The tiny town of Bloemhof, usually so quiet, was now a mess of riotous violence. People fled in all directions, leaving their shops wide open and unguarded. Bit by bit, the main street emptied until only a few sick souls wandered its length and a few cars remained parked where they used to be.
After Cairns patched up Mr. Burns, he tried several more times to phone the police. He only got through to them once to be met by a firm refusal of service. They were too busy dealing with farm and other attacks to respond to anyone not in direct physical danger. After that, he phoned his wife who reassured him all was fine, and he should stay in the pharmacy until it was safe to leave.
Mr. Burns was not so lucky. He tried to phone his wife, Sue, but never got more than an empty ringtone. At last, he gave up and sat down in a corner to nurse his injured arm. Despite the antibiotics and painkillers, he seemed no better.
To Lucy’s eyes, he looked sick. His skin had the same gray color the monsters had, and the whites of his eyes were turning yellow. Neither her mother nor the pharmacist, Mr. Cairns appeared to notice, however, and Lucy kept her thoughts to herself.
Instead, she watched her mother pace up and down the aisles with restless energy. Eleanor seemed agitated. Unapproachable. Yet, Lucy knew she needed to ask her mother again to contact her father. She needed to gather the courage to face her.
With her mind made up, she put aside the empty cool drink can and candy wrapper she clutched in her hands. Mr. Cairn’s had given her the items, but today it hardly mattered. She hadn’t even tasted the ordinarily delicious treats.
Lucy got to her feet and walked over on trembling legs to tug at Eleanor’s sleeve. “Mommy?”
Eleanor paused. “What is it, Lucy?”
“Mommy, please.” Her lips quivered as her little courage deserted her.
“Please, what, Lucy? I don’t have time for this.”
“Please, phone Daddy.” Eleanor’s lips compressed, and Lucy rushed ahead to cut off her denials. “I need to know he’s okay.”
Eleanor cast a glance at the watching Cairns and Jared before nodding her assent. “Fine, I’ll call him. But after that, you need to stop pestering me.”
“Okay.” Lucy bobbed her head up and down, too grateful to care about her mother’s apparent displeasure.
Eleanor dug out her phone again and dialed the number with a shrug. “Who knows? Maybe he can be of some use for once.”
The phone rang while Lucy watched anxiously. Her mother’s one court shoe tapped an impatient rhythm on the tile floor. Tap, tap, tap. She bit her lips as the seconds passed until a spurt of blood filled her mouth. When her mother said, “Harold? Harold, is that you?” she almost cried again.
A faint answer on the other side.
“Harold, do you know what’s going on? Have you seen?”
A tinny reply.
“Well, you should turn on the radio. There’s a virus going around turning people crazy. They’re attacking anyone they see.”
An extended murmur.
Eleanor gasped in outrage. “You think I would joke about something like this? That I’d make it up, looking for attention?”
This time the answering buzz was louder, but still too low for Lucy to hear.
“Get your head out of your ass, Harold. This has nothing to do with this morning. I am in danger. Your daughter is in danger. If you care about us at all, you’ll come get us.”
Silence.
“Harold?”
More silence.
Eleanor sighed, her angry expression giving way to something akin to despair. That more than anything made Lucy scared. She’d never before seen her mother show any emotions that could be construed for softness. “Harold, please. We’re inside the pharmacy. The police won’t come get us, and I’m afraid.”
A soft answer.
“Twenty minutes? You’ll be here in twenty minutes?” Eleanor slumped ever so slightly. “All right. We’ll wait.”
Another low buzz.
“Yes, yes, here she is. Hold on.”
Her mother handed her the phone, a gesture so unexpected Lucy nearly dropped the precious gadget in her excitement. “Daddy?”
“Hey, sweetheart. How’s my beauti
ful girl holding up? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay, Daddy. So’s mommy.”
“Good, good. Listen, I’m on my way to fetch you guys, all right? I’ll be there soon, and then we can straighten this whole mess out.”
“Please hurry,” Lucy begged, her heart beating faster at the thought of seeing her father again.
“I will. Love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you too.”
The line died, and Lucy stared at it for several seconds before handing it over with reluctance. Her mother pocketed the cell phone before turning to Cairns and Jared. “Well, it seems we’ll stay here until Harold arrives.”
Cairns nodded. “Good, good. That might be best.”
“What about you, guys?”
“I’ll wait to see you two off, and then I’ll make a run for my truck,” Jared said. “Sue will be worried, and I should get to her as soon as I can. Make sure she and the kids are safe from whatever this thing is.”
Eleanor nodded. “Thank you, Jared. I appreciate it.”
He sighed. “I think we’ll all be grateful when this nightmare is over.”
Eleanor resumed her pacing, waiting with palpable impatience for Harold to arrive. Lucy meanwhile, tried to stay out of her way. It was hard to sit still, though, as excitement caused her legs to bounce up and down on the chair. She kept checking the clock on the wall, her eyes following the minute hand as it crossed the ivory face. One, two, three, four. Time seemed to slow down as she waited, each minute longer than the last.
Finally, twenty minutes had passed. Her eyes jumped from the clock to the door and back again, waiting. Nothing happened.
Twenty minutes became twenty-five.
Then thirty.
Forty.
Fifty.
And at last, an hour.
Eleanor, who had grown increasingly upset as the time passed, now threw her hands in the air. “I knew it. He’s not coming.”
Lucy’s lips opened to utter a denial, but not a single word surfaced. Where’s Daddy?
“I should have known we’re not important enough for him to make an effort. Just once, I’d like to have seen him come through for us.” Eleanor glared at the clock in rage.
“Perhaps, he met with some trouble along the way?” Cairns offered.
“Oh, please. He’s forgotten us again like always. Heaven forbids his wife and child should need him.” She swung toward the door. “No, if I want saving, I’ll have to do it myself.”
“I’ll come with you,” Jared said. “Make sure you get into your car safely.”
“Thank you, that means a lot to me.” Eleanor dug her car keys out of her pocket and gripped her steel pipe with the other hand. “Come on, Lucy. Let’s go.”
Lucy wanted to protest, wanted to say that her father would never forget them, never abandon them. She tried to tell her mother to wait, to be patient. But the seed of doubt had sprouted, planted by her mother’s callous words and the hands on the clock. Her father was late. He wasn’t here, and he hadn’t called.
Without willing them to, Lucy’s legs moved toward the door, toward her mother. She had no one else, after all. No one.
Her mother looked out into the street before letting Cairns undo the lock. “It looks clear. We can make a run for it, I’m sure.”
“Let me go first, then you and Lucy follow. Once you’re in your car, drive home and lock yourselves inside,” Jared said. “I’ll make for my car straight after. Cairns, you lock behind us and sit tight. This should all blow over soon.”
“Will do,” the pharmacist replied with a bob of his head. “You be careful now.”
Jared Burns pushed open the door and jumped through the opening with his ax held at the ready. He looked around then gestured to them to follow. Lucy gulped as she stepped over the threshold, her skin pebbling with fright in the open air. Her eyes swiveled as she looked for the monsters.
Together, they ran across the street, hurrying toward Eleanor’s parked car. They made it without incident, and for a second, Lucy believed they’d be all right. That hope was shattered when a white truck hurtled down the street, zig-zagging across the lanes as if the driver had no control over it.
It almost collided with their car before crashing into a lamp post two parking spots down. The screech of tearing metal and shattering glass ripped through the air, sawing into Lucy’s sensitive ears. Her eyes fixated on the off-white color of the old Nissan’s paint job and the faded red sticker on the back bumper. A label too familiar to be forgotten.
“Daddy,” she screamed.
“Lucy, no!” Her mother’s fingers brushed across her skin but failed to catch hold.
Lucy sprinted toward the crashed car, ignoring her mother and Jared’s calls to return. It was her Daddy, and that was all that mattered. She reached the driver side and reached up to pull on the latch. The door swung wide, and her father fell out. He landed on the asphalt with a heavy thump.
In the passenger seat, slumped over the dashboard, lay the figure of a girl. Her tight brown curls were matted with blood, her caramel skin smeared with more of the stuff. Lucy stared at the girl for a slow second. Who is she?
Then her father stirred, and she forgot all about the girl. She hurried forward to help him up. He struggled on the ground like a fish out of water, his movements awkward. “Daddy, I’m here.”
His head swung up, blood-spattered and grinning. He growled at her, teeth bared in a vicious smile. One arm swiped at her feet, seeking to trip her. Lucy danced back, a shrill scream bubbling from her lips. “Daddy, no!“
But Daddy wasn’t Daddy anymore.
He was a monster.
And he wanted to eat her.
Lucy backed away from the swiping arms of her father. He advanced, closing the distance between them. In his eyes, there was no love. On his lips, no tender words. In his arms, no hugs of solace. Only death.
Jared barreled past her with the ax raised high. Lucy had a brief moment when all went still. A single nugget of time to realize her father was gone and Mr. Burns was about to kill him.
The ax blade sunk into her father’s crown down to the hilt. Blood and brains sprayed from the cut, misting the air. The weapon lodged there and resisted Jared’s efforts to pull it free. Lucy wanted to launch herself at him, wanted to scratch his eyes out for killing Daddy. She didn’t. Instead, she allowed her mother to pull her away from the grizzly sight.
“Come on, sweetie. Don’t look.” Her mother’s voice was surprisingly sweet. Tender even. Filled with sorrow. “Don’t look, baby. I’m so sorry.”
Lucy blinked and looked away.
She almost wished she hadn’t.
The crash had drawn out every monster in the vicinity, all of whom were now running straight for them. Eleanor retreated toward the curb, her feet finding the edge and stepping over. She pulled Lucy with her until their backs hit the wall. Her voice rose to a near screech. “Jared!”
He turned toward them and assessed the situation. Already the sick people had cut them off from their cars and the pharmacy. Cairn’s frightened face watched them through the glass front, too far away to help them.
Jared pointed toward the door of his shop, only a few meters away. “Get inside! Now!”
They sprinted toward it. Lucy’s little legs went as fast as they could. Her breath rasped through her lungs. It’s too far.
They fell through the opening with seconds to spare and slammed it shut behind them. Jared attached the chain before fumbling in his pocket for the key. The sound of the lock sealed them inside as vicious faces pressed against the glass.
They were trapped.
Lucy’s Chance - Chapter 5
Lucy backed away from the front of the shop on legs that had gone numb. They held no feeling in them, just like her heart. Her mother and Mr. Burns hurried to block the door and windows with anything they could grab.
While Lucy understood what they were doing, she didn’t care. Everything that mattered was gone. Caramel, her father…every
thing.
The image of his face swam in front of her eyes. It had looked like him, familiar and comforting, yet not him with the mindless hunger that contorted his features. It even smelled like him, old spice and cigarettes, yet not him with the sweet whiff of sickness that emanated from his skin. What happened to Daddy? Why did he get sick? Why?
She scurried to a corner and huddled between a stack of old cardboard boxes and a display rack with her arms wrapped around her knees. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks to drip onto her already soiled clothing. The once pretty dress she wore was now ruined. Scuffed and dusty, just like her shoes. She plucked at the polka dot material with absent fingers. In the background, her mother and Mr. Burns exchanged comments in hushed tones. She listened even though she didn’t feel like it mattered.
“Do you think they can break through the glass?” Eleanor asked.
“I doubt it. This is safety glass. Cost me a pretty penny back in the day.”
“Where did they all come from? A half hour ago the street was empty.”
“I think…” Mr. Burns paused and scratched his beard with a thick finger.
“Yes?” Eleanor prompted with an impatient tone.
“I think they’re like predators.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means they’re hunting.”
“Hunting?”
“Yes, hunting for food.”
“And we’re it?”
Mr. Burns shrugged before casting a glance at Lucy. She shrank further into her nest, hiding her face in her arms, and he continued. “Yes, we’re the food. That much has become pretty clear.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Eleanor paced away from the shop front, her feet once more wearing invisible grooves in the floor.
Jared followed and placed a restraining hand on her forearm. “It means they’ll go where the prey is. They seem to follow stimuli like loud noises and movement. That’s why they came so fast. The crash drew them.”
Eleanor nodded, her expression thoughtful. “It makes sense.” Then she turned away. “Not that it helps us now. We’re trapped.”
Children of the Apocalypse: Mega Boxed Set Page 100
