The Phoenix Curse (Book 1): After

by D. R. Johnson

  "Alright Missy," Walt said as he started into the house. "Let's get ya some of that squirrel stew."

  * * *

  Walter didn't keep me much longer. I think he could feel I wasn't comfortable there, and he wasn't going to invite me inside with the Misses still around.

  I wished I could have told him it had nothing to do with him. There was a part of me that did want to stay and talk longer, but a bigger part of me needed to get away from his pain. I had enough pain in my own life that I couldn't take on his as well.

  He did manage to give me a container of squirrel soup. It sat in the passenger seat beside me, sloshing around as I drove and I really wasn't sure if it was going to get eaten or dumped along the side of the road. I gave him some packages of noodles and some spices. I'm sure he had enough food stored away, but he thanked me greatly for them.

  Sharing food that would spoil was one thing, but passing on the things that would keep was something completely different. Those were precious commodities you tried to hang on to for as long as possible. Some days you never knew when you were going to eat again, but if what Walt said about our diminished need for food was true, then that should relieve some of the stress.

  Inevitably, as I was driving, my mind wandered to Walter's stories about his wife and Michael. Everyone still alive on this wasted earth had lost someone. There was no escaping it. I didn't even want to try to count all the people I'd lost, but I couldn't help but think of Joss.

  Did I really do the right thing for him? That old farm house seemed like a much better home than traveling around with me. Their growing community looked stable and safe. Guilt rattled around in the pit of my stomach though, and I couldn't pinpoint why.

  I let my mind continue to drift in memory, going back to when I met Joss and Seth. I was passing through El Paso and saw a grocery store with the lights still on. Normally I would avoid something like that, or at least approach with more caution, but the tide of freaks that were banging on the doors and windows told me someone in there was desperate for help. I couldn't let it be.

  I was driving an old red truck at the time, and decided I could use it as a battering ram to take out a handful on the outside. It left me room enough to get into the store through a broken window so I could find what had caused the frenzy.

  There were waves of them inside the store, rushing up and down the aisles. That was a good sign they hadn't found what they were looking for yet. Someone in here was still alive.

  "Hello!" I called out, going against my cautious nature. I found myself hoping it wasn't too late.

  I started killing the freaks I could corner. Although they were totally ignoring me, they were still fast and hard to pin down while they were frenzied. Wanting to save bullets, I had resorted to my knife, but death by knife was extremely messy. It was best to get a killing blow in one swing because it contained the mess to where they fell. If I missed, then I had freaks running up and down the store, raining blood on everything until they collapsed.

  No one had answered my calls, and I already had more than a few down when I noticed a group of freaks starting to converge in one aisle. They were crowding in, all of them trying to get into one spot, jostling each other around, biting and snapping as they were shoved. I couldn't see what was drawing them there. Finally, I spotted a broken ceiling tile being trampled under their feet. I looked up.

  The ceiling in this section was low. It looked like they were going for a homey feel. Someone standing on the top shelf would easily reach the low ceiling. I was looking past the ceiling into the blackness beyond and someone moved up there.

  "Are you okay?" I shouted, assuming they were still uninfected. The freaks were moaning and growling quite loudly, but I heard a muffled reply over the din.

  "You should run!" A child's voice. I pulled my revolver without a second thought. Even the loss of the precious bullets didn't cause a moment of hesitation. I was a crack shot, my dad had taught me extremely well, but I took two steps forward before I started firing. There was no reason I needed to take any chances.

  Six shots later, there were six freaks on the floor. Only three were left standing. In their frenzy, they hadn't taken their focus off the child in the ceiling so I brought out my knife. With their heads thrown back and looking up, they were all giving me a great target to shove the long blade of my bowie knife into the soft flesh of their neck and twist it up into their brain. I dropped the final three, one by one.

  "How you doing up there?" I called up, my eyes trying to penetrate the darkness.

  A boy with dark shaggy hair and clear blue eyes poked his head down to look at me, his eyes wide with shock and fear. "Where's Seth?"

  I shook my head at him, "I just got here. Haven't seen anyone else. You okay up there for a few minutes still? There's more freaks running around down here."

  He nodded vigorously, "Seth was leading them off. Please find him!"

  "Just stay there." I warned as more freaks started to make their way over to us, the noise attracting them. I backed the opposite way down the aisle and pulled my spare cylinder out of my belt pouch.

  I knew they'd stop under the kid and not go for me, but he didn't know that. He tried to scream a warning to me when I saw an adjacent tile to him crack and break, a worn Nike shoe pushing through. His scream of warning turned to fright as he slipped down to the top shelf, inches away from the grasping hands of the freaks. Whatever had been supporting him in the ceiling was starting to give way.

  Again, I wasted no time and used more bullets to dispatch the four freaks that were raging to kill the boy, and I tallied the body count quickly.

  "Thirteen here, at least seven outside." I looked up into his frightened little face. "I haven't got them all yet. Stay up there."

  "No, don't leave me!" His pleading whine stopped me, and I groaned against my instinct. I couldn't leave him there.

  I glared at him, calculating the best course of action to make sure this kid stayed safe. "What's your name?"

  "Joss."

  "Joss, I'm Ali. Can you see any from up there?" He quickly looked around, stretching back up to the ceiling, then ducked back down.

  "There are some up by the front doors. I can't see Seth."

  "How many?" I replied, and was hoping this Seth guy was still alive. I couldn't take a child under my wing now.

  "Five or six, they're stuck in a checkout lane." He gave me a nervous smirk and a shrug, but the frightened look immediately returned to his features a split second later.

  "Okay Joss, this is what's going to happen." I started as I reloaded my gun and my extra cylinder. "You are going to stay up there, but you can follow behind me and keep a look out. Can you get back up in the ceiling if we get surrounded again?"

  He nodded vigorously and I continued.

  "You tell me if you see anything, and stay down. Make sure they don't spot you."

  "Okay." He said weakly. I nodded back at him and started to move towards the front of the aisle. As soon as I could get a clear shot, I was going to take them all out, and then worry about the ones who still hadn't figured out how to get inside.

  Then all hell broke loose.

  Before I even made it to the end of the aisle, my truck...

  MY TRUCK!

  My old red Dodge truck came crashing through the sliding glass doors, sending shattered glass flying everywhere. It barreled into the checkout lane, and I watched splintered wood and plastic rain down. The fact that the five freaks ended up underneath it was no consolation to me at all.

  "Seth!" Joss yelled out with an enthusiasm that I was not feeling. I was ready to make this jackass wish the freaks had eaten him.

  "You son of a bitch!" I yelled in a rage as I withdrew from the cover of the aisle. The crash had caused the driver's side door to jam, and I could see the man inside kicking at it to get it open. Joss was on the ground now and running forward in his excitement, but he didn't realize the danger wasn't completely over.

  As he was running past me, I gr
abbed him by the back of the shirt and jerked him behind me as I saw two more freaks coming in through the newly made opening.

  "SETH!" Joss screamed again as he saw the freaks, his voice taking on a desperate tone. Seth had managed to kick the door open as I leveled my gun but I had to readjust to get a clear shot.

  "GET DOWN!" I yelled at the man as he staggered out of my truck, but I knew he didn't hear me through his daze. His head was bleeding, and I figured he must have taken a pretty hard hit against the steering wheel during the collision. Joss was screaming frantically behind me, and one of the freaks was just five feet away from Seth, already in a frenzy to get at him. I had to take the shot.

  The freak crashed into Seth, causing him to stumble forward against one of the remaining check out tables and he shook himself free of its tangled arms in a surge of panic. He was safe though. The freak was already dead. I didn't miss.

  I took the last one out easily, and Joss tried to rush past me again but I held him fast.

  "Are you bitten, you truck stealing son-of-a-bitch?" I yelled at him, letting Joss lead us at a slow approach.

  "What?" Seth mumbled as he stood up, spitting out a mouth full of blood.

  "Are. You. Bit." I ground out through clenched teeth. If he wasn't bitten, I was going to kill him myself.

  "No." His blue eyes were finally able to focus on me. The same clear blue eyes as Joss's. The same hair, the same long face, he was just an older version of Joss. Brothers. "Who the hell are you?"

  I let Joss go then and he barreled into Seth, wrapping his arms tightly around his mid-section. I saw Seth groan inwardly, but, to his credit, he didn't make a sound and even managed to pat Joss on the back.

  "That's Ali, and she's fucking awesome!" Joss exclaimed as he backed away from Seth.

  My eyebrow rose in surprise and amusement for the briefest of seconds before Seth snapped, "Watch your mouth."

  Seth glared at me and I glared back. He couldn't have been much older than me, and the two of them looked like they had been eating decently. They weren't the skin and bones some of the survivors I ran across were.

  One quick look at my poor old truck, and I knew it wasn't going anywhere ever again. That glance renewed my anger that I directed at Seth.

  "Alright asshole, you better have a vehicle. Since you destroyed my truck, you're stuck with me until we're out of here." I grumbled as I went to grab my packs out of the cab of the truck.

  "I don't think so." Seth grumbled, but Joss came to my defense.

  "She saved my life, come look." He was pulling Seth's hand to lead him to aisle three. I finished collecting my bags before I followed them to find Seth and Joss just standing over the bodies of the thirteen freaks I killed.

  "She saved your life too, Seth." Joss said quietly.

  Seth glanced back at me, his brow furrowed. Then he just turned and walked down the aisle, stepping over the freaks and pools of blood. He motioned me to follow.

  I remember Joss's ecstatic expression as he ran back to me, grabbed my hand and led me behind Seth.

  Pulling my mind back into the present and wiping tears from my cheeks, I took a right in Sweetwater, heading north. Wherever this guilt was coming from, I knew I had made a mistake leaving Joss there.

  Ten minutes later I was rolling up the driveway to the old ranch, my stomach doing flip-flops with anticipation. When I saw Jeremy coming around the back of the house holding a rifle, I rolled down my window to call out a greeting. I saw him relax, and he stood with the rifle propped against his leg, waiting on me.

  I knew something was wrong before I even got out of the truck. I didn't see any of the kids, and the look on Jeremy's face was grim. So grim it made me want to turn around and not look back.

  With a knot growing in the pit of my stomach, I approached him. When he wouldn't even meet my eyes, I knew what he was going to say before he even started.

  "Ali, good to see you're doing well." His voice didn't even have its usual gruffness. It was flat and lifeless.

  "Where's Joss." I demanded immediately. I was surprised to find a lump already growing in my throat.

  "A day ago, we went up for a haul to Romy." He started, but fell silent. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. I didn't want him to tell me. When he spoke again, it was barely a whisper. "Jake and I, we forgot to check the ladies room. Becky..." His voice cracked.

  My eyes opened wide at that, and I saw the tears glistening on his cheeks. He choked back sobs as he continued. "He tried to save her. Bravest kid I ever saw. Killed two of those bastards."

  I wanted to collapse. I wanted to scream. I stumbled away from Jeremy, back to my truck, and in a rage I punched my fist into the hot metal. I felt my knuckles crack under the pressure and pain reverberated up my arm. I let the physical pain course through me and I grasped on to it like a lifeline. I couldn't break down in front of Jeremy.

  "Are they dead?" I had to know.

  "Turned." Jeremy choked out. I turned back to face him and saw he was openly crying. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and snot was dripping from his nose. The sight of Kevin standing on the porch watching us caught my attention for a brief second. Their only child now.

  "Ali." Jeremy continued. "I couldn't do it. I tried, but I couldn't do it."

  My thoughts drifted to Walt and his Misses. I knew I had to see him again. I couldn't let him go. The ache in me for leaving Seth wouldn't allow me to let Joss live like this. I didn't want to cry while I was in front of Jeremy, but my eyes welled up with tears.

  "Where's this Romy." I managed to say through gritted teeth.

  "Just north up 70. You can't miss it."

  I turned without another word. In that moment, I hated him. His carelessness had gotten Joss and his own daughter killed. I didn't care about his pain. My rage at this injustice was too strong. I knew I shouldn't have left Joss here. They didn't take this new world seriously.

  By the time I was back in the truck, I had myself convinced it was my fault. I never should have left him. I could have stayed and protected him. He should have been with me.

  I turned the truck north, heading to Romy.

  CHAPTER 4

  JOSS

  Becky wasn't doing so well. Things had been really rough when we were first bitten, but the fever seemed to have leveled off some. I had never watched someone turn and I had no idea how long it would take.

  So many thoughts had crossed my mind since yesterday morning. I thought about trying to find a way to end Becky's pain and not let her become one of those things out there. I didn't want to think about her turning into a dead-brain. Focusing all my thoughts on her made it easy for me to not think about what I was going through. I could forget that I was turning also.

  I wasn't able to find anything suitable enough for the task, and instead I bandaged up her arm as best I could. I wished Jeremy would have ended it for both of us. The only thing left for me to do was make sure she was as comfortable as possible while her mind died.

  After pulling out a table from one of the private dining nooks, I was able to rig a nice bed for us both to lie down in comfortably. The booth cushions came out easily enough, and I wrapped tablecloths around them to hold them together. I had even found some actual blankets in the kitchen that I covered her up with.

  Throughout the afternoon, she mostly just lie there sobbing while I made what preparations I could before the fever left me too ill to continue.

  We had plenty of water near us, buckets to throw up in if we needed them, and some uncooked spaghetti noodles. I figured that was still safe to eat and, if it wasn't safe, it didn't matter anymore anyway.

  By that evening, I was too exhausted to go on. I lay down on my pallet beside hers and the hours slipped by.

  At one point, her muffled sobs stopped and I panicked, thinking she had turned. After a quick inspection, I concluded she had just fallen asleep. I lay back down, feeling the fever moving through my body. Somehow I relaxed enough to drift into an uneasy sleep myself, not knowing if I
would wake up in the morning.

  The restaurant was dark when a shriek woke me. I sat up frightened, wondering why I wasn't in my bed at the Powell's when the memories seeped in through my fevered haze.

  Becky was sitting up, hunched over her blankets. I could see the whites of her eyes in the dark restaurant and could tell she was panicked. She still hadn't turned.

  I grabbed one of the empty bowls as quickly as I could and got it underneath her bowed head before I collapsed. The sounds of her retching filled the silence and I tried not to let my own groan escape. I wasn't successful.

  "Joss?" Her voice was weak, and I did my best to sit up and guide her back down to her pallet.

  "How are you feeling?" I asked, trying to get us both rearranged.

  She groaned and I could barely hear her. "I don't feel so good."

  I reached out a hand to her and she found mine in the darkness. "Me neither." I replied. "Are you cold?"

  "A little. I'm okay." She whispered back. "Are you sure we're dying? Maybe we're just sick."

  I sighed, wishing that were the truth.

  There was silence again, and I listened to her wheezing. I really had only seen a few people get bitten and they had all turned. I decided it wouldn't hurt giving her that hope, though. If it would ease her last few hours and days of conscious thought, I would do it.

  "Maybe we are just sick. I haven't seen that many people get bitten." I finally said.

  "I haven't seen anyone get bitten." She said, "But I helped take care of Julie when she got the flu. We didn't have any antibiotics though, and she never was very strong. Mama had her too early." She paused at that, drifting back into painful memory. "Mama was head-sick for a while too after Julie died.

  I sighed again, partially from the weight of it all and partially just to get my breath. I wondered what this would do to Mary. She was so adamant about not letting Becky come with us, and the horrible thing she feared would happen had actually happened.