“I’m going to need you to help Miller with the garage door and get it back down once the car is out,” Devon told Buck.
“I’m your man.”
Devon moved to grab a pair of leather gloves off the counter, causing the M16 to shift. His already deep frown grew more exaggerated, and he muttered, “This thing is going to get in the way.” He removed the weapon, gnawing on his bottom lip as he looked at it. After a second, he shook his head and turned to Kiaya. “Trade me.”
She lifted her eyebrows but didn’t hesitate to take the M16 when Devon passed it her way. After sliding the strap over her shoulder, she pulled her handgun—I had no clue what it was—from her waistband and handed it over.
Once again on the outskirts of the group, Miller scowled like a child. “Can she even use that thing?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kiaya replied, not looking his way. “I’ll give it back to Devon when we pick him up.”
Implying that had Devon passed the weapon to Miller, he wouldn’t be getting it back.
Buck chuckled and took a sip from his glass.
“Ready?” Lisa asked as she pulled on her own pair of leather gloves.
Devon nodded even as his mouth scrunched up, and together they headed to the back door. I followed just like I had yesterday, even though today I wouldn’t be going with him. Buck and Kiaya came, too, but Miller didn’t move, which was no surprise.
The older man patted Devon on the shoulder. “Be careful out there.”
“I will.” Devon nodded once. “And you be careful in here. Don’t let any of those bastards get close.”
“I ain’t plannin’ on it,” Buck said, his Texas twang suddenly more pronounced.
Devon took a moment to look his new gun over before shoving it in the waistband of his pants, then he turned to Kiaya and me. We were standing side by side, giving him the chance to talk to both of us at the same time. I wasn’t sure if it was better not being singled out or worse.
“We’ll meet you at the stop sign.”
“You better,” I said.
Devon grinned, but the serious expression in his eyes didn’t fade. “Always so bossy.”
I let out a snort, then blinked and looked away when my eyes suddenly filled with tears. It was stupid, but impossible to hold back. I was a crier by nature. When I was sad, happy, angry, and everything in between. The tears came against my will, and most of the time I couldn’t hold them back no matter what I did. I’d always hated it, and now more than ever. I didn’t want Devon to read too much into it, but more than that, I didn’t want to look as weak as I’d been feeling since all this started.
All the more reason to prove you can evolve, I told myself as I stealthily tried to wipe the tears away.
Miller spotted me and rolled his eyes, and I had the sudden urge to kick him in the balls.
Devon and Lisa paused at the door, doing a second check of the yard before pulling it open. They were gone a second later, the door shutting behind them with a soft click.
Kiaya flipped the lock and turned to face us. “Everyone ready?”
Tense nods and murmurs followed, and then she turned to face her sister. Mike was still sitting at her side.
“Don’t make any noise. Don’t open the doors. Don’t let Lexi out of your sight.”
“We won’t,” Mike said firmly.
Zara only nodded.
It was a good thing Buck was staying, because Zara looked ready to crumble, Randall acted like nothing was happening, and the thoughts going through Hank’s head seemed to have nothing to do with zombies.
“Let’s go,” Miller barked as he headed for the garage.
Buck and Kiaya followed, but I stayed where I was a second longer, wanting to take a moment to gather my strength. When I had, I forced myself to move, repeating one thing over and over again in my head.
We’re going to be okay.
The garage was dark, but Miller had a flashlight on before I’d even stepped out of the house, illuminating my mom’s Suburban. The sight of it had my throat tightening all over again, and just like earlier in my room, I found my thoughts centered on her. Wondering if she was on the street right now. Wondering if she was still suffering or if these creatures simply existed without any real state of consciousness. It seemed unlikely, considering they responded to noise, and they clearly had some kind of instincts or they wouldn’t attack people the way they did. I hated thinking of her like that. Hated that she might be stuck in there.
“Rowan.” I snapped back to the present at the sound of my name.
Kiaya stood in the doorway watching me, and Buck and Miller were waiting at the garage door, ready to pull it up whenever she gave the signal. I was supposed to be behind the wheel, so we were ready to leave the second the coast was clear.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I exhaled. “Just thinking.”
“Let’s save the thinking for later,” Miller said.
Kiaya looked away, acting as if she had to bite back a retort, and I just shook my head. Mostly to clear it.
“I’m ready.”
She nodded once before heading back into the house so she could watch the street from the front window, and I moved to the back of the SUV. I had to squeeze my way between it and the garage door and make my way past both Buck and Miller. The older man moved aside for me, but the corporal stood his ground so that I was practically pressed up against him when I squeezed by. Even once I’d gotten past him, I could feel his gaze on my backside, and I had to fight back a shudder of revulsion.
I was more than happy to slide into the driver’s seat.
Now we just needed to wait.
The key was in the ignition, and my hands were wringing the steering wheel as I stared at the garage door in the rearview mirror. It wasn’t much of a view since the flashlight didn’t illuminate a lot of the garage, but occasionally something shifted in the darkness. It was Miller or Buck, but it didn’t stop me from thinking about being in the garage at Zara’s house. Her foster parents had died from the virus, and she’d dragged them from the house before she’d learned about the zombies. By the time we arrived, they’d reanimated, and we’d had to go out to take care of them. It had been creepy and not fun.
Just like what we were about to face.
Time ticked away and I began to tap my fingers on the steering wheel as I waited for Kiaya to reappear. I had no idea how long I’d been sitting there, but it felt like at least fifteen minutes, which was way longer than it was supposed to be.
I tapped my foot along with my fingers, straining to get a glimpse of Buck in the rearview mirror but coming up short of finding him. I wanted to see if he looked at all nervous so I could judge whether I was overreacting. More time passed, and my nerves grew more frayed. Where the hell were they?
I was just about to shove the door open when Kiaya rushed into the garage.
I was in the car, but the passenger window was cracked, allowing me to hear when she said, “They’re gone.”
“All of them?” Buck asked.
“I waited until I was sure they’d all taken the bait. It looks like he set the timer in the yard of the third house we raided yesterday. It should give us plenty of time to get out of here.”
She yanked the passenger door open and slid the M16 inside, but Kiaya was right behind the weapon. Her door slammed shut just as I turned the key and the engine roared to life. We sat in tense silence as behind us the two men worked together. Light flooded the garage as the door moved up, and the street slowly came into view. Kiaya hadn’t exaggerated when she’d said all the zombies had moved away, but already a few were headed back. Drawn by the noise we were making.
“Come on,” I said under my breath.
My foot on the brake, I put the car in reverse and waited.
“Go!” Buck shouted only a few seconds later.
He barely had time to step out of the way when I hit the gas. I slammed on the brake once I’d cleared the door. My focus was split betwe
en the street at my back and what was happening in front of me. The car had drawn the attention of nearly every zombie on the street now, but the closest one was still two houses away—in front of Mr. Ito’s. I wondered what he thought of all this, assuming he was with it enough to notice the commotion.
Miller rushed to the car as Buck worked to get the garage door down. He disappeared from sight a few seconds later, and the door slammed into the ground. Behind me, Miller dove into the backseat.
He didn’t even have the door shut when he shouted, “Go!”
I did as I was told and hit the gas. As soon as I was in the street, I turned the wheel hard to the left, and the tires squealed across the pavement. Then I threw the car in drive and slammed my foot on the gas.
We barreled down the road, headed straight for the horde of undead. There were a couple dozen of them now, a lot, but not so much that we were at risk of getting bogged down the way we had in Amarillo. My mind barely registered the rotting face of one of my neighbors before the car slammed into him. A thud echoed through the car and seemed to vibrate up my arms, and his body went flying. I took my eyes off the road long enough to watch in the rearview mirror as he hit the pavement and rolled a few times. He didn’t get back up.
“Judgmental ass. I never liked him, anyway,” I muttered as I once again focused on the road in front of me, mostly to make myself feel better for plowing him over.
The man had left a big dent in the hood, so after that, I did my best to swerve around or at the most only sideswipe the dead as I drove. I didn’t want to risk any major damage to the car. I also wasn’t sure I would be able to stomach hitting my zombie mother.
We left the dead in our dust, all of them charging after us but not able to catch up, but I was forced to slow when we neared the intersection.
“Do you see them?” I asked as I scanned the surrounding homes.
I was going less than fifteen miles an hour now, and I couldn’t stop looking in the rearview mirror. A total of five houses sat on this side of the street, and Devon and Lisa had set the timer at the middle one. Now that we’d reached the stop sign, only two houses stood between us and the advancing dead. They weren’t very fast, but that didn’t mean looking back at them didn’t fill me with fear. We would be okay if they caught up to us, but Devon and Lisa were still out there somewhere.
I gripped the steering wheel harder as I slowed to a stop.
“What are you doing?” Miller called from the back seat.
“Shut up,” I said through clenched teeth, then under my breath said, “They have to be here somewhere.”
I looked back one more time, trying to gauge how long we had before the dead caught up with us. Two minutes, tops, and I would have to move or risk putting Devon and Lisa in danger when they finally did make it to us.
“There!” Kiaya yelled.
My gaze snapped back to the front, and I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Devon and Lisa running across the street toward us.
“Open the door!” I yelled over my shoulder.
Miller shoved the door open without arguing, thankfully.
When they reached us, Lisa dove in first, but Devon was right behind her.
He pulled the door shut and yelled, “Let’s go!”
I didn’t have to be told twice.
I hit the gas, and we took off, but I forced myself to drive a lot slower than I wanted to. It wasn’t easy. My instinct was to speed off, but I wanted to take advantage of the situation and lead as many of the dead away from the house as I could.
“The timer was a good idea,” Devon said, trying to catch his breath. “We should try to get a few more while we’re out.”
“I’m sure the store will have them,” I replied. “It’s not like people were stocking up on timers when things went to shit.”
Devon snorted in agreement, and I ventured a glance back at him. He gave me a smile, which I returned, and even though our journey for today was just starting, having him with me made everything seem a little less scary than it had before.
6
I lived in an upper-middle class neighborhood that consisted of dozens of single-family homes but was also surrounded by fields. The best of both worlds, as my dad used to say. We had the quiet of the country, but neighbors as well, allowing us to have block parties and holiday cookouts, but also giving us the chance to enjoy nature. Crickets on warm spring evenings, lightning bugs hovering over knee-high corn on a muggy night in July, ducks and geese bringing their newly hatched chicks to swim in our pond every year. I’d always loved my neighborhood, and not just when I was little and rode my bike in circles around the cul-de-sac, but later as well when I had friends over and we could enjoy the quiet evenings in our back yard, lounging by the pool as the sun set, or sitting in the hot tub on cooler evenings. There had always been a peacefulness about it that I’d appreciated yet taken for granted at the same time.
Not anymore.
It was still quiet, even more than before, but the peacefulness had been obliterated. The houses I passed were familiar, yet different, the lawns overgrown and the flowerbeds dotted with weeds. Even worse were the dead. They stumbled across driveways and through shin-high grass, reaching for our car as I drove by. Chomping their mouths, moaning. The sight was so at contrast with the bright day and the cloudless blue sky above that my brain found it difficult to process what I was seeing. I would blink when one appeared, feeling like I was imagining it or maybe even dreaming, and if I could just reset my brain, the creatures would disappear.
They didn’t.
We reached the end of my neighborhood, leaving the houses and dead behind, but it wasn’t a relief. The pillar of smoke in the distance seemed darker than yesterday, and there wasn’t a single living thing in sight. No cars, no people, and not even animals. It was like they’d all gone into hiding. Occasionally, I caught sight of movement, but it was never anything more than a zombie or two.
We passed houses and neighborhoods, but mostly fields. Now all unattended, the sight of them brought new changes to mind. Things I hadn’t thought about until now, but suddenly felt almost as devastating as the virus had.
During summer, acres of corn or soybeans grew here, transforming the miles of dirt into a sea of green. Sometimes we even got wheat in the winter. I wasn’t sure when the farmers usually planted it, but it looked as if the virus had prevented them from doing it this year, because now there was nothing but weeds. Miles and miles of them.
“Corn will never grow here again,” I said as I slowed the car, preparing to turn right.
An empty field sat to my left, and two more to my right, flanking the road I was turning onto. Beyond that were more, and beyond that even more. I’d grown up here, but until now I’d never thought about how much we depended on the farmers. What would we do now? The processed foods lining the grocery store shelves meant we’d be set for a while, but what about when it all ran out? Who was left that knew how to manipulate the earth and make it produce food? I doubted I’d be able to grow even a tomato plant, and the people with me probably weren’t any more useful when it came to that kind of stuff.
Beside me, Devon was frowning, watching out the window as the empty fields flew by. “There have to be a few farmers left.”
“Hopefully,” I said.
In the rearview mirror, I saw a few heads bob in silent agreement, but no one responded. Maybe, like me, they were just now fully absorbing how much the world had changed. I’d known before, but I’d been too focused on getting home to my mom to really let it sink in. Now that we were here and had almost nothing in the way of supplies, though, it was impossible to ignore. Our lives would be forever altered by this virus.
Not for the first time since leaving Vega, my mind wandered to the things Angus James had said. He’d told me to get supplies, and we’d done our best, but there hadn’t been much around. Now we were around more stores, and I needed to take his advice seriously. What had he suggested? Survival stuff and camping gear. And weapons.<
br />
“We should load up on camping gear. Not tents, necessarily, but all the other stuff you might need. Outdoor stoves and fuel.” Again, I slowed as I neared the next stop sign, preparing to turn left. “And fishing stuff. Anyone do a lot of fishing?”
I looked in the rearview mirror as I turned, waiting for a reply. As a consummate rule follower, not stopping at the sign gave me anxiety, but there was really no point since there wasn’t a single car on the road. It was eerie seeing my hometown so deserted, but I was trying my best not to focus on it. I could only take one emotional blow at a time.
“I’ve done plenty of fishing,” Devon said.
“That’s something, at least,” I mumbled.
The store came into view on the left, and I slowed. Beyond it sat a Lowe’s, and across the street and down a little farther was a small shopping center with a Kohl’s and a Walmart. Hopefully, the stores hadn’t already been ransacked and we were able to get everything we needed. I had no idea what things had been like here before the virus got really bad. If the shelves had been restocked or things had begun to get bare as people started hoarding. I’d seen some news stories about that, but it had seemed crazy because I hadn’t really thought the virus was that bad. The news had said the government had it under control. What a joke.
“We should be able to get everything we need here,” I said as I turned into the parking lot.
“Meijer?” Miller said from the back, doubt ringing in his voice. “Never heard of it.”
“It’s like Walmart or Target, but not usually as busy.” I tried to remember if it was true or if I was just repeating something I’d heard. “That was what my mom always said, anyway. She preferred coming here if she needed to grab just one or two things. She said the employees were usually a lot friendlier, too.”
I shrugged to indicate it didn’t matter anymore. There would be no employees to help us now, and if anyone did happen to be in the store, odds were good they would no longer be human. A shudder moved through me at the thought.
The parking lot was nearly deserted, with only a handful of cars scattered around, and I could tell Lowe’s was pretty much the same. Even the dead seemed to be leaving the store alone, although I didn’t have a lot of hope it would stay that way. The sound of our engine would carry pretty well since there were no other noises to compete with it, and soon the zombies would stumble over from wherever they were currently hiding. We’d need to stay alert.
Far Series | Book 2 | Far From Safe Page 13
