Thinking about Montana, and her home, made Max anxious. She wanted to hear from Alex, to know they were on their way and safe. She wanted to talk to Rafe and know that the compound was still secure as they had always planned. None of them had strayed so far from their upbringing that plan Sundown wasn't still in place. They all knew what it meant. If Rafe was safe, the compound would be ready for them when they got there.
"So, you said you're out of gas? Completely? Or did you shut it down?" Max asked. She knew there would be some sort of master switch to stop gas from flowing to the pumps. Ruth fidgeted slightly, giving all the answer Max needed.
"I want to fill up at least three of these ten-gallon cans. Can we do that?" Max coaxed. Ruth nodded and turned back toward the front of the store.
"When they started attacking poor Ernie, I hit the emergency shut off. Those bastards were hurting an unarmed sweet man, all for gas," Ruth said over her shoulder as she went to the control panel near the cash register. She used a key from her pocket to open a keypad and punched in a code. A beeping sound went off and then she hit a green button next to the emergency shut off button.
"The gas should flow again. We still have power. I'll activate pump one for you," Ruth said with a small smile.
Max ran out to pump one with three gas cans. She motioned to Blair to pull the SUV closer and once it was next to the pump, Max directly filled the vehicle first. Keeping her gaze swinging around the parking lot, she kept watching for the infected, but also any living that might get the idea to come and steal what they were pumping.
She had two cans filled when she heard a low growl from the opposite side of the SUV. Max pulled her tomahawk as she walked around the side of the SUV. The infected was making its way toward the gas station open door. Max hadn't heard her, but she assumed Ruth made some sort of noise inside to attract the infected's attention. Without preamble, Max approached and slashed down the infected with a blow to its head. She stooped to wipe off her blade and when she stood Ruth was standing in front of her, white as a ghost.
"You...you carry an ax?" Ruth asked.
"It's a tactical tomahawk," Max replied.
The name of the weapon didn't seem to satisfy Ruth and she continued to eye Max warily. Max shrugged it off and went back to filling gas cans. She wasn't concerned with how Ruth felt about her. The promise of a ride out of town got her the gas she needed. And without siphoning anything. Max could handle some strange looks from a stranger for that.
"Ummm, Momma?" Jack's voice came from the backseat. Max looked up and Jack pointed behind her.
"Crap," mumbled Max. The infected had found them and slowly ambled toward the gas station. Max topped off the third gas can and placed it in the back of the SUV. She ran back to the open window of the SUV. Blair sat in the driver's seat looking at her expectantly.
"Fire the truck up. Keep it running. I left a bag of stuff inside. I'm going to grab it and that woman, and we'll be ready to go," Max said. She took off running. Moments later the engine purred to life and Max felt relief for the reliable transportation.
Entering the store, Max immediately grabbed the bag she had left near the cash register. She ran to the corner where Ruth had been living, but the woman wasn't there. She ran back to the front of the store expecting to find Ruth waiting there. The store was empty.
"Ruth," Max called in a low-pitched hiss. Where in the hell did she go?
Not willing to wait much longer, Max ran the bag out to the SUV and judged by the distance covered by the infected that they would be upon the SUV in less than three minutes. She shoved the bag into the truck and slammed the back closed. She went to Jack's open window again, looking inside.
"Where in the hell did that woman go?" Max exclaimed.
"I didn't see her leave," Blair replied.
"Ruth!" Max yelled. The infected knew they were at the station, her additional noise wasn't going to change that. She didn't owe the woman much more than a twenty-minute drive in exchange for gas. However, she made the agreement and wouldn't just leave without fulfilling her obligation.
"Ruth! Where in the hell did you go?" Max yelled again.
"I'm here, jeez, what's the big..." Ruth's voice came from behind the station store and trailed off when she realized they were being set upon by the infected. A cigarette hung from her lips.
Without hesitation, Ruth ran behind the store. Max could tell some of the infected were splitting off toward Ruth's area and would soon split them apart.
"Ruth! Don't run that way! Shit!" Max yelled. She raced after the woman, tomahawk out of her case. She caught the first infected she ran by in the shoulder, spinning it away from its meal. She ran around the edge of the store, expecting to find Ruth hiding there. But she was gone.
"Damn it, Ruth, where in the hell are you going?" Max cursed to herself.
Max ran along the back of the building, finding the backdoor slight ajar halfway down. Running back inside the store again, she slammed the door shut behind her. Spinning she found herself in a small storeroom. She ran back into the store searching for Ruth. Max suddenly slid to a halt in the middle of the store. She could clearly see through the front windows. Shit, she cursed to herself. While she was trying to chase Ruth down, the infected had split between the front and back of the store. The path to the SUV was now full of infected.
"Ruth, girl you better come the hell out of wherever you are hiding right now!" Max growled.
"I'm here," Ruth called from her corner. She was curled into a ball on the pile of blankets when Max approached.
"What in the living hell are you doing right now?" Max asked, almost laughing at her own choice of words. Living hell. The was what she felt like she was living in right now. Her concern for other people was beginning to be a wholehearted pain in her ass.
"I'm hiding," Ruth replied. Her tone was so calm Max was surprised she didn't add a "duh" at the end. Because apparently hiding in the corner of the gas station store was complete common sense.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen. If you want a ride out of town, we are leaving."
"With those things out there? Nope," Ruth said, shaking her head, and shrinking further into the blankets.
"Well suit yourself. I've seen how these hordes behave. They won't leave until a better meal presents itself. I won't be that meal," Max replied. She pulled her 9mm from her hip and checked the magazine before slapping it back into the gun. Ten rounds were all she had on her and she planned on using them to their best ability.
"You're going to leave me here?" Ruth asked incredulously.
"Ruth, take this as you will, but yeah, I'm leaving you here. Unless you want to get your ass out of the corner and come with us," Max said. Before waiting for an answer she started toward the front of the store. She could hear Ruth scrambling to her feet behind her.
Getting to the front of the store, Max began to make some sort of attack plan in her mind. She looked over her shoulder at Ruth and knew without saying a word the woman would be useless in a fight. Max focused on Blair's face, who she could see peering through the passenger side window at them. Both she and Jack had the brains to duck down where the infected couldn't see them. The SUV was quiet enough while running that the infected weren't overly attracted to it.
"We are going straight to the truck, got it? You need to stay to my left. Do not run or go faster than I do. I can't protect you if you do that, understand?" Max explained. She looked over at Ruth as she finished and found her staring at Max with a mouth that strangely resembled a fish out of water.
"Ruth, close your mouth," Max said dryly. The woman slammed her lips together and continued to stare at her. Max just raised an eyebrow at her and Ruth nodded quickly.
"Ok, here we go. Straight line unless I say otherwise. Stay close," Max said and she swung open the door to her very own living hell.
CHAPTER TEN
Close contact fighting was something Max excelled at. The infected between her and her daughter were uncoordinated and unintelligent.
But as a group they were dangerous. Max spun, keeping Ruth in her peripheral vision as she cut down infected. She only worried about ending the ones closest to them. When she had a moment of a break, she took down two approaching infected with her 9mm, cursing at herself for missing with the first shot.
Ruth couldn't seem to keep quiet, letting out screams and yelps as they moved. Max would jump when her shrill scream would sound, assuming it was because an infected had a hold of her. Instead, it was just the sight of infected close by that was scaring her. It took everything Max had to not scream at the woman to just shut her trap.
As Max fought two infected, Ruth stood off to the side watching the scene unfold. She would glance around at the crowds of infected, but she stayed close the way Max told her. Suddenly Max lost the upper hand with the last infected in her fight. The tall, lanky infected man swiped at Max, catching her on the shoulder. As Max stumbled, she thought about the strength the infected seemed to have.
Tall and lanky was on Max a moment later, looking to sink his teeth into something. She shoved up her tomahawk handle just in time. However, while she struggled with her own threat, she realized Ruth wasn't to her left. Risking a glance, Max could see her backing toward the store a look of panic on her face. Seeing Max at a slight disadvantage was making her panic and she was about to run right into unspeakable horrors.
"Ruth! No!" Max grated out, as the woman spun on her heel to run back to the store. She didn't make it three steps before she ran into an infected that had been heading her way. Max had seen it coming. In Ruth's panic, she saw nothing but the salvation of her pile of blankets.
"No!!!" Max screamed as Ruth was pulled to the ground by the attacking infected. As rage boiled to the surface, Max stepped back from tall and lanky. She pulled her tomahawk from his jaws so roughly his teeth clattered together causing goosebumps to rise on Max's arms. Fueled by anger and the discomfort of feeling like she had failed Ruth, Max's swing of the tomahawk cracked tall and lanky's skull wide open.
By the time Max reached the infected that were on Ruth, a dinner buffet had started. Ruth's screams had been short-lived, but they echoed in Max's ears. Max focused on ending the infected that had their teeth in Ruth's flesh. A lull in the attacking infected came and Max found herself looking down at Ruth's mutilated body. She didn't really know the woman except for the hour they had conversed and Max had collected gas. But Max was weighed down by immense guilt for the woman dying under her watch.
The nearby growling of infected indicated to Max that her time was up. Pulling her knife, Max sliced into Ruth's temple. The best she could do for the woman now is make sure she didn't turn into an undead being. Leaving her on the ground outside her beloved gas station store felt wrong, but there was no choice. The infected were clustering to attack Max and she needed to get to the SUV.
With one last glance at Ruth, Max spun toward the SUV and began making her way to the front seat. She could see Blair switching from the driver's seat to the front passenger seat. Max aimed her path toward that side of the SUV. She again didn't take the time to end every infected that came close to her. Slices to arms and bodies could redirect the infected long enough for her to get past.
Jumping into the SUV, Max stepped down on the gas pedal and the SUV leaped forward. Infected tried to fight their way to the SUV, but it was much bigger and powerful. Max took care in plunging through the thick group of infected that were wandering into the entrance of the parking lot. Once they were clear, she took off quickly, leaving the mess of infected and Ruth's body behind.
"Momma?" Jack said from the backseat sometime later.
"Yeah?"
"You're sort of a mess," Jack whispered.
"Shit," Max muttered. Jack was right. The fighting with the infected had splashed blood and black ooze on Max's clothing. She was thankful she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt even though the day was unseasonably warm and humid.
Pulling over on a rural road Max had picked to avoid any of the interstate congestion, she climbed out of the SUV. Jack opened the back door and handed Max clothes to change into.
"Thanks, hon," Max said.
"I think you should just burn those," Jack said sarcastically, something she definitely inherited from Max. Her comment made Max snort, and then she made a big show of tossing her button up shirt on the side of the road.
"We're going North," Blair said, coming around the SUV.
"Yeah," Max replied simply. She had unconsciously made the choice to find Griffin. Something in her knew he was alive. Looking at her daughter, their daughter, she felt she owed it to Jack to find her father and bring him to the compound. If she left him to die, Jack would know someday, and Max knew she would never forgive her. She wasn't sure yet if Jack would forgive her hiding the truth of his identity for eight years.
"I thought you were going to Montana?" Blair asked. Her voice was high and demanding. Max pulled a clean shirt over her head and looked at Blair with a raised eyebrow. The look had intimidated a many people and it didn't fail to cause Blair to wilt just slightly.
"We are. I have someone to get in North Carolina first. If you aren't ok with that, I can drop you anywhere you'd like on the way," Max replied, a little sting in her words. She didn't have to bring this girl with her anywhere. If she proved to be more trouble than she was worth, Max had half the mind to just leave her.
"No," Blair said, visibly deflating. "I have nowhere else to go." Max felt slightly guilty for making the girl feel dejected. She awkwardly patted her arm.
"It's alright. This is one very stressful situation. I'm sure we'll all have reason to be snippy," Max said. Blair smiled slightly before heading back to her seat.
Sitting back in the SUV, Max pulled out the road atlas and studied the smaller roads that lead from Charleston to Raleigh, North Carolina. A trip she had made before, typically took just over four hours to drive. Max expected it to take at least double that, with avoiding the main freeways. If they had to cut back to the freeway, Max had a good idea they would be packed and it would take time to maneuver around. She showed Blair the next few turns she wanted to make and asked her to co-pilot. The girl seemed satisfied to have a job, a purpose in the group.
The rural area was full of farms and periods of nothing but trees. The air was humid but clean. Windows were rolled down to clear out some of the gas smell that was coming from the gas cans in the back. The smell reminded Max of Ruth, which was odd for her to think. She had a feeling the image of the woman's body, feasted on by the infected, wouldn't leave her for some time.
It was getting close to twilight when they reached the edge of Raleigh city limits. During their drive, they saw very few living people. A few cars sped down the same roads they traveled, but no one signaled or stopped. Everyone had the same feeling of foreboding and finding safety was their first priority. Sitting in the SUV stopped at a blinking stoplight, Max could see infected in the distance. Smoke rose like beacons of the fight between the living and the dead.
"So where does this person live?" Blair asked.
"What person are we looking for, Momma?" Jack asked from the backseat.
"Griffin, his name is Griffin." Max didn't know what else to say about him. She couldn't explain to Jack that he had been the only real love in her life She also couldn't explain how things had ended or why she felt the obligation to come and find him.
"Do we know where this Griffin lives?" Blair asked.
"Not exactly," Max replied. That was a lie. Max had no idea in hell where Griffin lived before the plague, only that he lived in Raleigh. And Raleigh wasn't exactly small. She looked over at Blair, who looked at her in a way that made Max want to slap the sarcasm out of her.
"Ok, I know this isn't well thought out," Max began slowly. "My first guess is he will be where the military is. He served in the Army."
"Didn't you say no one was coming to help?"
"Yeah, but I imagine the military or local law enforcement have something set up. Maybe a communications center?"
"How do we find that?" Blair asked.
Max turned on the car radio. Static filled the SUV. She began to search through the stations, allowing the auto find to just slide through the broadcast signals. She moved the SUV further into town, hoping to catch some sort of emergency signal. As she drove she kept an eye out for somewhere to sleep that night, in the chance she was completely wrong, and they couldn't find Griffin.
Turning into s neighborhood, Max surveyed the homes in the area. There was debris littering a driveway to her left, clothing spilled from a suitcase and the front door stood open. Blood splashed the sidewalk at the end of the driveway, giving a clear picture of what had happened. As they continued to drive similar stories were told. Some of the homes looked to be locked up tight. One was boarded up completely and Max approved of the household being prepared to wait out the apocalypse.
Max pulled the SUV into a driveway. One that seemed to be empty, the garage stood wide open. No vehicles were in the area. Darkness was falling and Max didn't want to travel at night. The infected weren't slowed down by the dark, as they followed their senses of smell and hearing. Max didn't like being at any sort of disadvantage.
Suddenly a piercing sound came from the SUV speakers. Max jumped on the brake to stay right where the signal was catching the antenna.
"This is an emergency broadcast. This is not a test. If you are hearing this, please proceed to the nearest shelter immediately. If you are injured, please proceed to the nearest hospital immediately. Military personnel will be available to assist you. Shelters are at the following locations. This message will repeat..." Addresses were rattled off and Max fished through her pack for paper and pen. By the time the message repeated she was ready to write down the addresses.
"Which one do you think we should try?" Blair asked.
"The nearest to start with. But we're going to wait until first light," Max said, gesturing toward the open garage.
Survive (Sundown Series Book 2) Page 9
