"You know which ones. So what'll it be?"
Kenny grimaced at him. He knew Wayne always had him beat on tactics, and right now he had the full deck. After a long pause, he shoved his rifle to the floor, then he told his men to do the same. The dozen men cramped outside the office followed suit and dropped their guns.
Wayne observed as Kenny rounded up every man that had participated in the assault on Zed's and Delroy's camps, bringing them to the front gates. Wayne and Sarah watched out the window from Noah's office as Kenny opened them and the group of about two hundred men grudgingly exited.
Kenny was the last to leave, and he turned and faced Wayne. He reached into his ammo pouch and pulled out the C-4. He tossed it gently up and down in his hand, judging the weight of it, then he took a running throw and hurled it at the window.
It sailed through the air and collided with the window to Noah's office, shattering it and letting the cold night air in. Sarah shrieked and jumped out of the way, but Wayne didn't flinch.
"I'll see you again real soon!" Kenny shouted from the ground before turning and leaving.
Two of the very few honest guards that remained pulled the gates closed, and the population of the camp officially went down by almost half.
With that episode over, Wayne and Sarah helped Barry to the infirmary and they got someone to treat his injuries and a couple more to remove Noah's body. Sarah was pretty battered, but what she needed more than anything was sleep.
She thanked Wayne and they shared an odd, but sincere moment together, before they each went off to bed.
Sarah lay behind the privacy of the closed curtain as virtually every thought she had since coming here whizzed through her head. But she didn't want to think about any of it, and instead she closed her eyes and fell asleep, comforted by the fact that she had nothing to worry about.
24
Wayfaring
The sun rose on Noah's Ark the next morning, christening what would be an unseasonably-warm day. All the residents woke up and carried on with their normal routines, but this time it was different. They gossiped about what happened the night before, but nobody was fearful, and an all-encompassing sense of calm fell over the safe haven as they adjusted to a significantly lower population.
Sarah sat in bed, feeling rested, but sore. She had slept well and her fear was gone. The events of last night felt surreal to her. She couldn't believe that so much had happened in such a short period of time, but now the danger that she faced was over and she could finally relax.
Still, something weighed on her mind. She thought heavily on the subject as she sat there with her knees pulled up to her chest. It wasn't an easy decision, but in her heart, she already knew the answer: she still wanted to leave. Everything seemed to be peaceful now, and there shouldn't have been anymore trouble, but that was the same thing she thought when she arrived. She tried living in a community ruled by others, but the folly of men always seemed to climb up the mountain of bodies and ascend to the top. Life in Noah's Ark could be good for a while, but how long would it last?
When she was sure of her decision, she put on some socks and climbed out of bed. She washed up and went down for breakfast, saying hi to a few people, but feeling sad at the same time. The camp seemed like a ghost town to her now and only reinforced her strong feeling that it was time for her to move on. As she sat there chewing on her venison, she thought about where she would go. The world was a blank slate to her; an empty canvas waiting to be painted. But the flipside to that coin was that it was just that: empty. She could travel hundreds of miles—she could travel for years—and would she find anything? What was she even looking for? She blankly stared into the distance as she thought.
After she finished eating, she took a stroll around the camp, taking in all the sights for the last time. She had already savored her last meal, and now she visited every place that held any significance to her. But she saved the best for last and ended her nostalgic trip with a stop at the infirmary.
Barry's eyes lit up when he saw her. "Sarah! You've come to visit little old me?"
"Hey, you're awake! How are you feeling?"
"Like six thousand bucks."
She laughed. "That's more money than I have. How's the leg?"
He patted his cast. "Doc said it's not that bad. I won't be able to walk on it for a while, but it should heal up okay. So... how's your face?"
Sarah smiled and gently rubbed it, feeling the swelling and cuts that Noah inflicted on her. "It'll be fine. I'm just trying to avoid any mirrors, so don't tell me how bad I look!"
"Are you kidding me? You're beautiful as always!"
A wave of tender emotion cradled her heart. "You're so sweet."
"So are you going to sign my cast?" he asked.
"Oh, I get the first honor?" she asked, inspecting it. She walked across the room and found a marker. "You're going to be the popular kid at school, you know."
"Chicks dig scars, right?"
She chuckled. "So I guess this means you won't be leaving for a while."
"Yep, not for a little bit."
"I'm sorry for ruining your plans. You were out the door and everything, too."
He laughed. "It's kind of funny, though, isn't it? Well, at least I could help."
"You did. Thank you for last night. I'm sure everyone else here would thank you too."
"Well, donations are preferred," he joked. Before she signed his cast, he asked, "Have you decided to stay now?"
She thought about it again and the same conclusion revealed itself. "No. I think it's time for me to move on."
"Where will you go?" he asked.
"I don't know."
"You should go to Raleigh!" he said with a salesman's smile.
"I was thinking the Bahamas," she said. "You know, somewhere nice."
"Good luck with that," he said, and they both shared a laugh. As she signed her name on his cast, he added, "Well, if I'm not going to see you again, you better make it good!"
She paused and looked at her name written in black ink, thinking for a moment, then she placed the tip of the marker on the cast again and wrote her message. "There," she said.
He looked down and saw that she had added to her name, saying, "Sarah's gone, but you can always find her in your heart - All my love"
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, tears forming in his eyes. "Thank you, sweetie."
"You bet," she said, squeezing back.
"I guess this is goodbye," he said.
"I guess it is," she said, tearing up, herself. "I'm going to miss you," she said, leaning forward and hugging him.
"I'm going to miss you, too." He kissed her cheek and she kissed his. "You take care of yourself."
"You too."
They said their goodbyes to each other, and with a heavy heart, she left.
Sarah stood on top of the wall with Wayne as they admired the view, both feeling a newfound sense of freedom. It wasn't unlike what she had done with Noah when she first arrived and got out of the infirmary, and she reflected on how everything came full circle.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Wayne asked.
"I'm sure," she said. "I'm done with other people telling me what to do."
"You could help me out around here. Like partners."
She looked at him and gave an appreciative smile. "I think from now on, I need to take this journey alone."
"I can appreciate that," he said. "I am going to miss you around here."
"I'll miss you, too. And I'm sorry I had you pegged wrong. But... if you were going to kill Noah last night from the start, why did you wait so long to help us?"
"Honestly?" he asked. "I thought you could take him."
She laughed. "Really?"
"Yeah, for sure," he said. "I mean, I turned out to be wrong, but you got a couple of good shots in."
"So what made you change your mind about everything?" she asked.
He thought about it. "Noah and I were the ones that sabotaged the zombie
operation, not Delroy."
"Yeah, I figured as much," she said.
"But after we killed Zed, Noah turned his gun on our men. He told me that we needed to make it look convincing, like all sides lost something. He wanted the bodies to be there in case some of Zed's men actually went out and checked. Of course, our men didn't know that was part of the plan."
"So you killed them just like that?" she asked.
"Noah did. I refused to kill my own men, but... standing there and letting it happen doesn't exonerate me. I'm just as guilty as he was.
"But the assault on Zed's camp was the wakeup call for me," he continued. "Killing non-combatants is something you just don't do. But of course, I couldn't go against Kenny and the others that night."
"So why did you rat me out to Noah, then?"
A look of regret came over his face. "I was still wrestling with myself. I've been loyal to Noah for so long, that I never thought about crossing him. I started to see his vision as my own... if there was one thing he was good at, it was being a politician, manipulating everyone to get what he wanted. And politicians are masters at controlling military men; we're trained all our lives to follow orders. It wasn't until I found your bag in the woods and knew you were really serious about this that I decided it was time to follow my conscience."
She scanned the landscape around them. "Do you think Kenny will come back?"
"Someday. But he'll need weapons first. I'm just worried about who he'll align himself with to get them."
"Do you think it was a mistake to let him go?" she asked.
"Maybe."
She thought about Jenny and her kids, and she still felt horrible about what happened to Mark. One of the biggest reasons that made her decide to leave was that she always seemed to cause everyone around her to get hurt. From Mark getting killed, to Barry being in the infirmary, to her son...
She stared at the big boat ride at the edge of the carnival up the hill and a pang of sadness struck her. She started to cry and it hurt just as bad now as it did back then. She didn't think she would ever get over it, and being at Noah's Ark was a constant, slow-burning reminder of that.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, wiping her eyes.
"Where are you going to go?"
"I don't know," she admitted.
"If you want to get out of the city, there are some pretty large gaps in the bandits' perimeter if you head southeast. Raleigh's also in that direction if you're looking for another city."
She chuckled. "Barry would love to hear that."
"Can I at least give you a gun to take?" he asked.
She thought about it, but declined. "No, I'll be okay on my own."
"There are lots of bad people out there," he warned her.
"Tell me about it."
She sat on her bed, holding David's necklace in her hands. She ran her fingers along the length of the cord and spun the beads. She flicked each one until they were lined up correctly and she saw her son's name staring at her.
She started to cry again. Each failure as a mother that she had experienced stung her again, reopening old wounds. When David was killed, she regretted ever coming here, knowing that no paradise was worth losing him over, but after everything that had happened in the past few days with Noah, the cruel, sick joke was truly on her.
Life was a complete mystery. Why did she lose everything? Why did the world end, and yet she was here to linger among its ruins? A single decision between her and David irreversibly changed the course of their lives and extinguished what little flame of hope she had left. The immutable truth was that life traveled on its own funeral march, uncaring of hopes and wishes, sending everyone to their total annihilation. The only thing that continued to march was time.
Sarah put the necklace back in the drawer and shut it. She wasn't ready to carry on his memory. Maybe the day would eventually come. She hoped it would. But for now she had to be truly alone, at least for a time.
She packed a small bag of clothing and a little bit of food, and she said goodbye to Noah's Ark forever, setting off on her own march, leading in whatever direction and outcome that time would allow.
She came to the edge of the woods and saw the thin gravel trail leading in. She followed it and wound her way through the quiet woods. The shack stood in the distance and she took a moment to enjoy the tranquility of the nature around her before she moved on.
She went inside and pulled a hatchet off the rack, weighing it in her hand. She carefully sliced it through the air in the cramped interior, practicing her form. She wedged it through her belt, and it rested snugly on her hip, then she took the bow and quiver of arrows that sat on the shelf and left the shack.
Before moving on from the area, she spotted the hollow log where she had hidden the C-4. She walked over to it and looked in to see the explosives still inside. She paused, doubting that she would ever need it, but something inside her told her to take it. She stuffed it in her coat pocket and got back to the trail.
She moved deeper through the woods without coming across a single creature, but then she stopped suddenly.
Thirty feet away from her was a deer foraging around. It hadn't seen her, and she stood stock-still.
She quietly pulled an arrow out of the quiver and slowly raised the bow. She wedged the nock of the arrow on the bowstring and pulled it back until her fingers were resting against the corner of her mouth.
The deer suddenly looked up before shooting off in a flash.
Sarah was bewildered, sure that she didn't make a sound.
Then she heard leaves crunching and saw the source of the disturbance.
A zombie staggered into view where the deer had been. It slowly walked after the deer, a look of shock on its face that its meal got away. It was oblivious to Sarah's presence as it meandered. It spun around on the spot, unsure of where it wanted to go, and Sarah mused that that was one thing they had in common.
She smiled and aimed the bow at the zombie, carefully lining up its head. She held her breath, trying to remember what Wayne taught her. When everything felt right, she released.
The arrow sailed through the trees and plunged directly into the zombie's skull, killing it immediately. It fell to the ground and lay motionlessly, the arrow sticking straight up into the air.
She walked over to it and admired her shot. She placed her shoe on the zombie's grisly face and yanked the arrow out of its head. The tip of it had broken off and stayed lodged in its skull, but she returned the rest of the arrow to her quiver anyway, thinking that she would try to sharpen the wood to a fine point later.
She made her way back to the trail and continued along, still trying to decide where she would go. She didn't have the answer yet, but for the first time in eight years, she thought that things would be okay.
Ashes in the Mouth
Prologue
A sudden noise startled him out of his sleep. It was familiar—something he hadn't heard in many years. The noise came again, echoing through the mall.
His eyes shot open and were immediately accosted by an alien sensation. His pupils shrunk and his head pounded. He raised an arm to shield himself from the harsh light, wondering how the sun was beaming down on him.
He sat up on his cot and the grimy blanket fell to the floor. He was in the same maintenance room that he fell asleep in, and, looking up, realized the fluorescent tubes attached to the ceiling above him were glowing, filling up the room with an artificial light that he hadn't seen for longer than he could remember.
The strange noise entered the cramped room again, and he swore it sounded like the shutter snapping on an old camera. There were voices too, muffled and far away. One phrase was spoken louder and he didn't know what it meant, but he caught it clear as day: "Noah's Ark!"
He opened the door and it slammed into the plaster wall next to him, denting it, and he shuffled out onto the second floor of the Valley View Mall. He was groggy and the itching in his head was bad today. He could feel
it crawl through his blood and make his craving real bad.
A loud noise echoed from somewhere below him in the mall, like hard wheels bouncing across the floor. There was a quick flash of a red wagon as he reached the railing overlooking the ground floor, then it was gone. Somehow, the mall's power was on and long-forgotten lights shone brightly, highlighting the ruin and decay that had consumed the building years before.
He made his way down to where the wagon had been and saw something on the ground next to a photo booth. He picked it up and inspected it.
It was a photo reel from the booth, and it showed four tiny photographs of a blond woman, maybe late thirties, with what looked like her son—short brown hair, eight or nine.
The boy he didn't care about, but the woman... he liked her; the way her pretty hair flowed; the roundness of her cheeks; the fullness of her lips. He ran his fingers along the thin sheet of photos, tracing it like he was tracing the contours of her face. His fingers came down to the last photo and he looked closer.
In the final portrait, she was holding up a little card with a drawing on it. It was very simple and easy to understand, though he didn't know its meaning. A brown boat sat atop crashing waves of blue water. He studied it carefully, then looked at the entrance to the mall next to him, thinking of the mother and her boy running off, thinking what the pretty features in the photos would look like in-person.
His craving grew intense and he felt every cell in his body light up in anticipation.
"Noah's Ark," one of them had said...
1
The Road
Sarah walked down the highway, thinking of all the people she'd killed. Their faces floated in front of her like solemn apparitions fading in and out of the gray landscape around her, and they all shared the same expressionless countenance as her. She didn't look at them directly and kept her eyes on the road ahead, but she was aware of their presence. They came and went as the days drifted by and she found that she no longer had anything by her side but time, and time and loneliness created strange illusions of the mind. The most vivid faces of all were the people she had indirectly killed—the ones she cared about most. The sounds played along with the images, and she heard the munching coming from the zombies' stuffed and greedy mouths as they fed on her son; she heard the gunshots, the gasps and the screams as Mark was gunned down in the hallway at Noah's Ark while his family watched. She thought about Jenny and the kids being tossed out of the camp by Kenny and wondered where they were. She liked to imagine they were relaxing on the beach of a deserted and tropical island, but she knew the road gave her lots of time to fantasize.
Zombie Apocalypse Series Books 1-3 (Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set) Page 46
