by Deb Rotuno
“Fuck, have you been trapped in there?” I asked her, but before the girl could take two steps toward me, a gnarled, twisted gray hand shot out of the closest dark room, grabbing her by that long-ass ponytail.
Ruby and I jumped into action at the same time. She pulled her knife, and I aimed blindly into the dark, popping off three rounds at the same time Ruby’s knife came down swiftly. I couldn’t be sure if she was aiming for the hand itself or the hair, but she caught the latter, and the ponytail fell to the floor still gripped in that greenish-gray hand as the zeak dropped from my shots.
The girl fell forward on her knees, scrambling quickly away, but I kicked the door to the room open, still hearing the low, hissing growl. One more bullet shut the zeak up.
I let out a deep breath, turning to the sobbing girl on the floor. “That it? Any more in here?”
She shook her head, her hands going to her head, but she gazed up at me. “No, just my mom and my sister.”
“That’s not your family anymore,” Ruby stated almost harshly.
“I know,” she said, sniffling and nodding at the same time. “They turned yesterday morning. They’d tried to get some firewood but got caught by surprise in the barn. I should’ve…I’d been asleep. They’d both been bitten.”
The guilt was written all over her face as she looked up at me. There wasn’t much to say. It was a shitty new era. Everyone was losing everyone. That thought made my eyes close, had me pushing my fears and worry down deep. To panic now about my family—my wife and son—wouldn’t get me anywhere.
Ruby moved me out of the way, kneeling in front of the girl. “I’m Ruby. That’s Jack.”
“Lexie. Lexie Russell.” She tried to smile, but she was still in a touch of shock.
“Sorry about the hair, Lexie,” Ruby stated, smacking me when I snorted.
Lexie cracked a small smile, pulling the band out of it. It fell around her face just below her jaw. “It’ll grow back, I guess.”
“Listen, we were merely looking for a place to camp for the night,” I started, but Lexie stood in front of me, already nodding.
“No, I should thank you, so…make yourselves at home,” she said, starting for the stairs, but she stopped and faced us again. “But…when you go?” she started, and I nodded for her to continue. “Please, please…” She glanced between us. “Please, take me with you. I gotta get out of here. You can have all the food and supplies my dad stored up before he…you know. Just…take me with you.”
I looked down the stairs to see Joel and my parents watching us, most likely on alert from all the gunshots. My dad shrugged, my mother smiled, and Joel nodded.
Turning back to Lexie, I nodded. “Okay, but be ready to roll out when the sun comes up.”
She sagged in relief and nodded. “No problem. C’mon. I’ll get you guys something to eat.”
Lexie rushed down the stairs, and Ruby chuckled next to me. “Not exactly Rambo, but she’s plenty stocked up.”
I sighed, smirking over at her. “There’s safety in numbers, I guess. Besides, I couldn’t stay here either…not with…” I waved toward what had once been Lexie’s mother. “Let’s clean these up for her, yeah?”
Ruby’s face was calm as she nodded, but she reached for my left hand. She tapped my wedding band. “Is this the reason we’re heading to Oregon?” she asked. “I’ve wanted to ask, but…”
I turned my ring once, twice, three times. “Yes,” I whispered, looking down at the glinting gold. “I have to…I promised her and my boy, and even if…I need to know,” I urged, wrinkling my nose. “She’s smart, and I hope I gave her fair warning, but…”
Ruby smiled, patting my shoulder before reaching for the dead woman. “Then I hope we make it. You and Joel…even your parents…you saved my sister, so I owe you. I’ll do my best to help you.”
Smiling gratefully, I helped her lift the body. “Thanks, Ruby.”
Chapter 6
JACK
Clarksdale, Mississippi
3 Months after Hurricane Beatrice
“FUCK ME, I MISS GOOGLE,” Joel groaned, joining me at the picnic table as he eyed the roadmap I had spread out with hatred and disdain. “And GPS…and oh, hell…McDonald’s…”
Snorting, I nodded. “And electricity and phones and refrigeration and…”
“Okay, asshole. I get it. I’m whining.”
“Yes. Yes, you are,” I agreed without looking up from the route I was trying to plan, though I did shoot a wink to Ava when she giggled.
“I miss microwave popcorn,” she piped up, and I grinned her way.
“You can still have popcorn, you know,” I told her, and she looked at me like I had three heads. “I’ll show you. The next store we stop for supplies, I’ll get you popcorn. My son actually likes it better from the stove. I taught him how to make it on the last camping trip we went on.”
“No butter,” Joel said with a pout.
“Would you shut the hell up?” I snapped almost playfully, rolling my eyes. “I got this. You’ll have popcorn. Trust me. It may take a few days, but I’ll get it done.”
“Sweet,” he sang, sharing a fist bump with Ava.
I shook my head, but it was actually nice to have a small moment of normal. Everyone had taken a few days at Lexie’s farmhouse to rest. She’d had more than enough supplies, and the area was relatively safe, so we’d opted to stay an extra couple of nights. In all honesty, it was nice to have a roof over our heads, beds or couches to sleep on, and real showers, not to mention Lexie’s family were farm owners, which meant they grew, canned, and stocked plenty of their own food. And most of it was already loaded in Ruby’s RV.
We’d emptied the regular gas tank on the side of the barn and taken some of the diesel, simply as a lighter fluid. It wouldn’t work in the lamps or any of the vehicles, but it did help set dead zeaks on fire, which was how we’d disposed of Lexie’s mother and sister.
However, with every night there, my urge to get back on the road made me anxious. It felt wrong to be comfortable when I had no idea about Sara or my son. My eyes studied the map again, but my knee started to bounce. The shit I’d seen since I’d woken up on the base made my imagination, my fears, skyrocket into something I couldn’t control. I couldn’t shake the thoughts that even if we made it to Clear Lake, they wouldn’t be there. Or if they were there, they were no longer…
Crack.
The pencil in my hand snapped in two, and I glared at it for a moment.
“Jack?” Joel called softly. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I just…We need to leave tomorrow. We’ve stalled long enough.” I tossed down the pieces, standing up from the table. “I’ve marked a route, and I think we’ll have enough supplies to get us well into Oklahoma, maybe even Kansas. I’m gonna go check the traps Dad and I put down yesterday.”
“Mmm, bunny stew,” he hummed, grinning up at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Do what you do, Jacky.”
“Can I come?” Ava asked.
I nodded, looking to Sasha, who was instantly on her feet. “No, big girl. Stay and watch the house.” She plopped down on her haunches, narrowing her eyes at me, but I needed her to guard the ones left behind.
Just as Ava and I passed by the porch, my dad called my name. In his hand was something that made me smirk, reminded me of old times.
“You hoping to give that to Derek?” I asked, smirking at his grin.
“He was always better with this thing than the rest of us,” he stated with a nod. “It’s Lexie’s father’s compound bow. Thought maybe you’d want it. The arrows are reusable, at least. We can probably find more along the way.”
My eyebrows raised up high because he had a point. “Not to mention silent,” I added, taking the weapon from him and turning it over in my hands.
“And silent,” my dad echoed, smiling at Ava. “Where’re you two headed?”
“Checking traps.” She looked rather proud to be going.
“Ah, yes. I’ll come with you.”
Once he’d grabbed his gun, we stepped out of the yard and into the woods. The trees near the home weren’t all that old, but as we stepped farther inside, the canopy above us thickened, almost blocking out the sun. Cicadas droned on and on as the soft, warm breeze rustled through the leaves, and off in the distance, a dog barked, which had me pausing to make sure it wasn’t Sasha, although Joel knew to fire his gun should he need us.
When the woods stayed quiet, I kept going, but Ava started chattering, much to my father’s amusement.
“Who’s Derek?”
“My cousin, but he came to live with us when he was seventeen and I was twelve. He’s more like my brother.”
“Was he in the Army too?”
“No, he’s…was in construction, but he was built for the outdoors—hunting, fishing, camping.”
“Where is…Where was…”
Chuckling a little, I helped her out. “He lives in Oregon. Where we’re from.”
“And that’s where we’re going?”
“Yes.”
“Is he with your wife and son?” she asked, and I flinched. “I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be,” I muttered, glancing over at my father, who was watching me carefully. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “If anyone on this planet can survive this whole thing, it’s Derek. And I’m not sure I trust anyone more to take care of my family. Maybe my father-in-law.”
We were quiet for the next few yards, and two out of the three traps had caught rabbits. However, the third trap had caught something we hadn’t expected—a zeak.
“Aw, hell,” I sighed, pushing Ava back. “Don’t go near it.”
The zeak was skinny, pulling and pulling at a trap that was attached to the tree next to it. The flesh was literally stripping from his calf. The smell of decay was overwhelming as he saw us and lunged again and again. His death was obvious, with his throat torn open and his jaw hanging slack, but still, he kept reaching for us.
“Not bright, are they?” my dad asked, looking up at me.
Shaking my head, I brought up the compound bow. I took in the empty, feral, lifeless thing. The eyes were muddy, with a hazy glaze over the color, and its skin looked splotchy and sallow, though at some point it could have been olive tone. Lastly, I saw his clothes—coveralls, blue ones. My guess was auto mechanic. But the name on the chest was a slap to the face that, at one point, he’d been someone, a person. He’d been a man with friends, family, responsibilities.
Tom.
Poor Tom had gotten up to go to work one morning. He’d left his family, maybe even kissed his wife and kids good-bye for the day. And then everything went to hell.
“Sorry, Tom,” I muttered, setting the arrow loose. It hit the middle of his forehead with a dull thunk. He fell to the forest floor in a heap, and I reached down to pull the arrow free. Holding it up, I looked to Dad. “Good idea.”
He nodded but then studied me for a moment. If he thought to say something, he let it go. Finally, he spoke up. “Well, Lexie has potatoes and onions. We should be able to make something with these.” He held up our two rabbits.
“Good.” I spun on my heel, heading back to the house, and I stayed quiet the whole way back, grateful that we didn’t run into any more zeaks along the way.
My mother and Ruby were manning the fire when we walked up, but Ruby’s fierce gaze landed on her sister.
“What the hell, Ava? You scared me to death. You don’t go anywhere without telling me!”
“I was with Rich and Jack,” she argued, pointing to Joel. “Joel knew! I’m not stupid, Ruby! I’m not just gonna run off.”
Ruby’s gaze landed on me, but I raised my hands. “My bad. Shoulda told you.”
“You’re damn right.”
“Hey!” I snapped. “Relax. We’re all on the same side here. She’s safe with me, us…all of us.”
Ruby sighed, her eyes closing. “I know. I know!” She rubbed her face roughly. “Sorry…I just…”
“Panicked. Yeah, I get that. If it had been my kid, I’d have lost my shit too,” I told her, leaning the compound bow against the picnic table. “At least you can see that she’s okay, right?”
“Jack, I’m…” Ruby started, grimacing a little.
“Don’t. Just…don’t.” I walked away, stepping up onto the porch and into the house. It was time to get ready to pull out in the morning, so aside from a change of clothes, I packed up my gear in the room I’d been sleeping in the last two nights.
“You okay?” I heard behind me, and I turned to see Lexie standing in the doorway. I could see that my mother had trimmed her hair up into something not so choppy. Nodding, I turned back to my duffel. “Fine. We’re pulling out in the morning, so you might want to get ready. We’ll lock this place up as best we can, so you can…”
“I’m ready. I’ve been ready for like two years,” she said with a humorless laugh. “I doubt I’ll ever come back here. I didn’t exactly fit in with the farm life, ya know?”
Smirking, I nodded again, zipping the bag up and dropping it to the floor.
“I overheard…outside,” she said softly, her gaze shifting around to everywhere but me. “You have a kid?”
“Yeah, a son. Freddie.”
“Married?” she asked, and my eyes narrowed in on the light blush that bloomed on her cheeks as her gaze fell to my left hand.
“Yes. We’ve been married for eight years, together two before that. My son turned seven just before all this…” I waved a hand around, but she nodded in understanding.
“What’s her name?”
“Sara.”
She smiled, though it didn’t last long. “Pretty.”
I snorted a little. “Yes, she is.”
“Do you think…”
“I try very hard not to think about what they’re going through, Lexie.” My voice was firm, almost blunt, but I meant it. It was the blatant fucking truth. “When I think, I let my guard down. When I think, my imagination shows me a world that I honestly don’t want to live in. I’m thirty-three, but I have no desire to start over should something happen to them, especially with the way shit is now.”
“That’s a sad outlook.”
“But it’s my outlook.”
“Did you know? Like the second you saw her?”
Laughing a little at the question that seemed to come from nowhere, I shook my head. “No. We were in school the first time I saw her. It was well after I’d left school and joined the Army that I saw her again. Then I knew.”
“Why the two years?”
Frowning, I shrugged. “I did a tour overseas. Afghanistan. We were married before I was sent back over. That time, Iraq.”
“You were lucky to have come home twice,” she stated.
“I was. I’d promised her. And I promised her this time, too. I plan on keeping that promise.”
Lexie’s face fell a little, and I chose to ignore it. I could see where the line of questioning had been going. I could see it in her body language, hear it in her tone, and feel it in the way she looked at me.
Sara used to tease me all the fucking time about breaking hearts around the world, which I always said was bullshit. Hell, we’d had that conversation the night I asked her to marry me, which had been spur of the moment and slightly panicked but perfect all the same. She used to laugh at me when I couldn’t see the women she’d point out, the ones she claimed were “eye-fucking” me, but I saw it. I’d always seen it. It just didn’t matter. It hadn’t mattered since the day she’d poured me that first beer in Shelly’s Bar.
Rubbing my face roughly with my hands, I sighed wearily. God, I just fucking missed my girl. I missed her laugh, her sweet kisses, her arms around me. I missed Sunday mornings when she’d make pancakes for Freddie and me. I missed nights when all three of us were cuddled on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket as we watched whatever cartoon Freddie was obsessed with that week. I missed messy bathrooms, stepping on toys, and hugs when I’d leave for base. I missed tucking my
son in at night and making love to my wife when he’d finally crash. I’d give anything to hear her yell about muddy boots or dishes left in the sink or hear Freddie whine when he didn’t want broccoli.
“I need some air,” I finally said to her, breezing by her in the hallway and rumbling down the stairs.
As pretty as Lexie was and as nice as she seemed to be, I only had eyes for one girl, and I wasn’t the type of guy to exploit shit. Again, I was reminded of the night I’d begged Sara to be my wife.
I found my mother sitting at the picnic table. The map was folded, and she was cleaning a few guns. Sitting across from her and cracking my knuckles, I reached to my waistband and pulled out my .45 to do the same, simply to have something to do.
“You have a problem,” she stated quietly out of the damn blue, but when I looked at her, her gaze was locked on Lexie, who was coming out of the house.
“No, I really don’t.”
Mom laughed lightly. “You’re so like your father. Blind and stubborn.”
“Oh, I know what’s up, but I don’t consider it a problem.”
Mom smirked, shot me a wink, but stayed quiet. We were a lot alike. She knew when silence was better than talking shit out.
As we stayed busy, I gave myself a few minutes to just…think, to remember. My heart ached to revel in my family, but it hurt at the same time. But for just a moment, I wanted to relive the good stuff.
Sandy, Oregon
8 Years Prior
My heart was in my throat as I ran up the steps of Hank Stokes’s home. I knocked with one hand and gripped my hair in the other. I grimaced at the fact that I hadn’t even changed out of my T-shirt and cargos when I’d left Fort Warner. We’d been running drills all day until we’d been called to a meeting. Though, it was still damn early in the morning.
The door swung open to reveal Sara’s dad, who’d given his daughter just about all his features—dark-red hair, deep-blue eyes, and a calm confidence.
“Hank, sir,” I greeted with a smile.
