Tears clogged Chalice’s throat. She sprinted for the rooftop. Up there, she would see him coming down the road. She knew she would. He was safe, only held up.
Colton would never leave her. Never.
5
The American flag snapped in the afternoon breeze. Colton held down the button to lower his window and listened to the pop of silk as he stared at the farm house. He couldn’t tell whether non-breathers were inside, but the yard was clear. A red barn, dotted with woodpecker holes sat behind and to the right of the house.
One thing he did know…someone living walked this area. He’d seen the woman dart behind the house. Now, Colton sat, engine idling, and waited. Knowing a survivor was out there, he couldn’t go back to the school without making sure they were okay and at least offering them the choice of coming with him.
Slinging his rifle scabbard around his shoulder and grabbing his axe, Colton slid from the Hummer, then pocketed the keys. It wouldn’t be good for someone to steal the vehicle and leave him stranded.
He jogged to the side of the house, plastering his back against the white wood before peering around the corner. He caught a glimpse of blue jeans and a red T-shirt before the woman ducked into a cellar.
Why did he feel compelled to follow someone who obviously didn’t want to talk to him? If he hadn’t spotted her running down the road, he’d be home, gazing into Chalice’s eyes over the supper table.
“Well, crap.” He pounded on the cellar door with his booted foot. “Ma’am, I’m not going to hurt you. We have a small group of survivors not far from here. You’re welcome to join us.”
Several minutes passed before the doors opened and Colton stared down the barrel of a rifle. “How do I know you’re not one of them guys out to harm people?” The woman asked, staying to the cellar shadows.
“You don’t.” Colton kept his hands in plain sight. “But, if I wanted you dead, I would’ve shot you when you ran down the road. I have people who are going to be worried about me because I’m late. Do you want to come or not?”
“I’ve things in here that are useful: blankets, food, weapons, ammo.” She stepped where he could see her. “A lot of folks seemed to have prepared when they heard about the meteor.”
“Where’re the owners of the house?” He studied her face, one side in profile, dark blonde hair pulled up by a barrette.
“Turned, I guess. Why else would someone leave all this. Come see.” She stepped back.
Colton stepped into the cellar and the woman lit a kerosene lamp in the middle of a folding card table. She kept turned away from him, but he could tell she’d been burned. Scars covered her arms and part of her neck, peeking up through the V in the shirt. She clutched a pistol in her right hand.
“I’m Colton.”
“Marianne.” She pointed to a shelf piled high with cans of freeze dried foods and powdered milk. “And in this chest is a couple of assault rifles and ammo.” She shook her head. “Nobody would willingly leave all this.”
They might have to. Colton didn’t think it would all fit in the Hummer, but he’d try his best to leave nothing behind. He turned. “Are you coming with me?”
She nodded. “I’m tired of being alone. You’re right. If you wanted to kill me, you would have already.”
“Let me pull my vehicle as close to the cellar as I can so we can load this stuff up. I don’t like being caught out after dark.”
She nodded. “Night time is the loneliest. What else do you want me to grab?”
“Blankets? Clothes?” He moved to the top cellar step and studied the area. With dusk approaching, the shadows darkened, making perfect places for people to hide. At least zombies weren’t known for stealth. They wouldn’t be sneaking up on him.
He sprinted for the Hummer, and a few minutes later pulled closer to the house. Marianne had already started a pile of useable clothes, blankets, and had started on the food.
Colton joined her, sliding the trunk of ammo in first. While he knew everything she had would be useful, they needed to load highest priority first. “Is there any baby things inside?”
“You have an infant?” Marianne put a hand to her chest. “There’s a ton of diapers inside and a few cans of formula. Heaven help that child. This is no world for children.” She rushed away, her feet thundering on wooden floors above Colton’s head.
He raised his eyebrows. What would Marianne say when she got a load of the group of children they had at the school? Children were the future. Hope and promise that things would go on. That maybe the world would be a good place to live in again.
Marianne returned, her arms loaded with diapers. “There’s more.” She dropped them on the ground and left.
The space inside the Hummer filled up quickly. Colton had folded the seat down and shoved things under them. Anything he could think of to make room. He eyed the luggage rack on top of the Hummer and went to grab some rope. Night had fallen, and with it some non-breathers groaned from the other side of the split-rail fence. If they broke through, Colton and Marianne would have to leave the rest of the things behind.
“That’s it. I even threw in a few baby clothes of assorted sizes.” Marianne rubbed her hands down her thighs and eyed the growing crowd of zombies. “I think we’ve outstayed our welcome, unless we go back into the cellar for the night. They always disperse by morning.”
“No, I want to go home. People are waiting for me.” Colton shut the back of the Hummer and ran for the driver side door. Marianne dashed for the passenger side.
Once inside, she clicked her seatbelt. “Thank you, Colton.”
“Anytime, ma’am.” He turned the ignition and drove them away.
Someday, they’d run out of places to scout for food. He’d worry about things then. There were a few seeds back at the school, not enough for long term though, and hopefully the zombies wouldn’t clear the woods of wild game any time soon. But, the school was a temporary home. He knew it for a fact and it made his heart sink.
They’d survive. At least a handful of humans always did no matter what horrors were visited upon the earth.
*
Chalice stood on top of the building and stared through the dark in the direction of the road. No lights pierced the darkness.
Something had happened. Otherwise, Colton would have come. Nothing would have kept him away from her and the others. Unless, he was dead, or worse—bitten.
“Come on down from there, Chalice,” Bill called. “You’re doing nobody any good.”
“I’ll be down later.”
“No, I want you to come with me to visit the woman in the shack. It’s time to decide what we’re going to do. Amos is leaving it up to us.”
“You don’t need me.” She stared back at the road.
“Watching for him won’t make him get here any faster.” Bill rattled the ladder. “You have people depending on you. What about your brother and sister?”
“They’re fine.” Why couldn’t he leave her alone? Nothing mattered if Colton didn’t return. If he could succumb to the evil waiting out there, then none of them had a chance.
“I want you to come with me to visit the woman.” Bill’s head appeared over the edge of the roof. “I’ll carry you down if I have to. We also need to decide if we take in all survivors or only the ones who can benefit our small community.”
“Fine. I’m coming.” After one last glance toward the road, Chalice followed Bill down the ladder. “I think we should take anyone in that is healthy and doesn’t make us uncomfortable. If our instinct says to send them on their way, then we send them away.”
The others sat at the picnic tables, enjoying the brisk fall evening. Chalice ignored them and marched past. She couldn’t indulge in small talk, and if someone else asked her to make a decision, she’d scream.
Bill led her to the shack and unlocked the padlock. “Let me go in first. But I want your opinion when I question her.”
Chalice shrugged. He didn’t need her: he only wanted her off the r
oof. She followed Bill inside the shack.
A woman leaped to her feet. Chalice had expected the woman to be horribly disfigured after Amos’s description of her being badly burned. If she was, she hid the scars under the faded scrubs she wore. Her coffee-colored skin appeared unmarked. Dark brown eyes warily studied Chalice and Bill.
“I saw more people arrive,” she said. “I’d hoped you come and let me out. I tried to get that man to see I wasn’t infected, but he wouldn’t listen.”
Chalice motioned for the woman to sit. At least Amos had supplied her with a cot, small table, and a lantern. “Who are you?”
“Kendra Watts.” The woman sat on the cot. “I’m the school nurse here, but took a leave of absence to care for my mother.” She hung her head. “She didn’t make it, and I returned here, because I knew the kitchen was well stocked with food. Then, Amos locked me up. He know me! But, my leg was burned in the meteor shower, then I cut myself running from those monsters, and he said he couldn’t tell if I was bitten or not.”
Chalice glanced at Bill. The woman could definitely be a help to the group. Her nursing skills could be invaluable. “Welcome to the group.” She stuck out her hand. “This is Bill, and he’ll take you to the main building so you can choose your sleeping arrangements. I’m Chalice.”
Tears sprang to Kendra’s eyes. “Thank you.” She grabbed an armload of stuff from the corner of the shack and brushed past Chalice, practically running out of the room. No doubt, she wanted more fresh air than she’d been able to get through the window of the shack.
Chalice watched her enter the main building before she moved to the main gate. She’d stay out all night, hoping for Colton’s safe return. If he wasn’t home by morning, she’d accept the fact he was gone, but not before.
“I’ll bring you some supper.” Bill clapped her on the shoulder before following Kendra.
Despite her resolve not to, Chalice had let herself fall in love with Colton. To love someone in a world of walking dead, when every moment could be their last, was an invitation to heart break. Now, she stared into the night, her heart in her throat, and prayed to a God she believed had deserted mankind.
On each side of her, Mychal and Eddy took turns patrolling. The older men would take over in an hour or so. Sarah had gone to the kitchen to help Grandma prepare supper. Chalice felt unneeded. Other than walking the perimeter a few times a day, and fighting when the need arose, what else did she actually offer to the others?
At times, it seemed as if sanity was deserting her, leaving her to wander as aimlessly as the poor undead on the other side of the fence. The only thing keeping her from stepping over the edge of madness was Colton.
“He’s fine,” Mychal said, coming up on her right. “He found someone to help or maybe an opportunity to scavenge for supplies. We’d have heard gunfire if he’d run into trouble.”
“That’s true.” Chalice was worrying about nothing. The appearance of automobile lights coming over the hill proved that. She reached down and scratched behind Lady’s ear. The dog never left her side. Chalice was grateful, knowing there was no better warning system in the world than her dog.
As the Hummer approached the fence, Chalice opened the gate and stepped out, thrusting her knife through the eye socket of the zombie trying to shuffle inside. Lady darted out and made short work of another zombie unfortunate to get too close.
Colton grinned through the window as he passed her, pointing at the Hummer’s roof where supplies were piled high. Chalice returned his grin, then slid the gate closed and locked it. He had gone on a run. They needed more walkie-talkies, so everyone could have one. Then, no one was ever left unaccounted for.
“Chalice?” A woman stepped out of the Hummer. “Is that you?” The woman’s voice broke.
Chalice turned. “Mom?”
6
Chalice closed her eyes, then opened them again. Dirty, dressed differently, her hair longer, but the woman rushing toward her was definitely Chalice’s mother. “I saw you burn.”
“Oh, Darling.” Mom wrapped her arms around her. “You saw me catch fire. I slammed the door and rolled. Yes, I was very ill for a while, but the medications stashed in the house took care of me.”
“Why didn’t you come with us when we left?” Chalice stood stiffly, her arms hanging at her sides.
“You were already driving away.” Mom stepped back, cupping Chalice’s face. “You would have never heard me call. I’ve been searching for you ever since.”
“We left you.” Chalice’s knees failed her, and she slumped to the ground. “I saw you through the rearview mirror, but I thought you were a figment of my imagination. I thought I saw you because I so badly wanted to.” She stared at her mother’s face. “Why didn’t you knock on the cellar door?”
“Please.” Mom ran her hands down Chalice’s shoulders. “Can we go inside? I desperately want to see your brother and sister. Then, I only need to explain things once.”
Chalice wanted answers, and she wanted them right that minute. But, she saw the sense in what her mother requested. “Mychal is patrolling, and Hanna is having supper.”
“Why don’t you take your mother to the shack?” Colton motioned his head in that direction. “Since the door is open, I’m assuming it’s no longer occupied. I’ll send Mychal and Hanna over there.”
With tears blurring her vision, Chalice nodded. She hadn’t even had the chance to welcome Colton back. But…she never would have guessed in a million years the gift he’d be bringing. He must have a hundred questions about this woman he’d found. She pulled him to the side. “Thank you so much.”
He shook his head. “I just found her. I had no idea who she was, but she was sitting on a gold mine of supplies in some farm house.” Wrapping his arms around Chalice, he pulled her close. She breathed deep of him, laying her head on his chest.
“I thought you’d left me.” She drew in a shuddery breath.
“Never.” He kissed her, his lips lingering on hers before he pulled away. “Now, go and spend time with your mother. I’ll see you later.”
She nodded. He turned and headed toward the opposite side of the compound.
“He’s a wonderful young man,” Mom said, putting an arm around Chalice’s shoulders.
“Yes. He’s saved our lives many times.” She took a deep breath, then grabbed her mom’s hand. “Let’s go inside and wait for the other two.”
She still couldn’t believe her mother sat across from her. Even staring at her face, seeing the burn scars on her arms and neck, Chalice felt as if she were dreaming. As if she existed in a surreal world. She reached over and touched her mother’s face. “I can’t believe it.”
“Neither can I.” Mom grinned. “You’re beautiful.” She eyed the knife at Chalice’s waist and the rifle slung over her shoulder. “A warrior and no longer a child. You’ve had to grow up fast.”
“You taught me well.” Chalice straightened. “We had more than enough food and water until the sky cleared. Having the last image in my mind before closing the door be the one of you on fire…that haunted me for months.”
“I’m so sorry.” She reached for Chalice’s hand.
Chalice pulled away. As glad as she was to see her mother, relieved to know her mother lived, she couldn’t help but experience a wave of anger. For months she’d believed her mother dead, yet she’d lived. Chalice rubbed her wrist.
“I carry the scars from your touch.” She pulled up her sleeve, showing the burn marks from her mother’s fingers.
“I’m so sorry.” Mom covered her face with hands that wore too tight skin, pulled tight from the fire’s fury. “You have no idea what that first six months was like. I couldn’t subject you children to that horror.” She raised her tear-streaked face to Chalice. “I promise to tell you everything when your brother and sister get here. Really, I can’t do it twice.”
Throat clogging with tears, Chalice stared out the open door. Her mother’s return was a miracle of biblical proportions, an
d Chalice didn’t want to seem unhappy about her return, but the fact that almost a year had passed with no word, left her with a hollow feeling in her gut. She’d watched her mother disappear through the station wagon rearview mirror, and her mother hadn’t stopped her.
“Mom?” Mychal halted in the doorway, Hanna by his side. Eyes wide, they stared, before running and throwing their arms around her neck. Chalice stepped back and let them have their reunion.
Hanna buried her face in Mom’s neck and sobbed. The sound ripped at Chalice’s heart. They could have been spared all this grief.
“We’re all here. Now, you can explain why you didn’t join us in the cellar.” Chalice crossed her arms. “Why you didn’t come with us when we drove away.”
Mom patted the bed for Mychal and Hanna to sit beside her. “When the meteors came, I was badly burned. So badly that I wondered whether I would survive. My arms and upper body got the brunt of it. Every breath was agony.” She took a deep breath. “It was almost more than I could do to care for myself, keep the burns clean, and take the antibiotics I had stored in the house.
“You know I didn’t put all of our supplies in the cellar, just in case.”
Chalice nodded, imagining the pain her mother must have gone through.
“After a couple of months, I healed enough to leave the house. I thought of knocking on the cellar door.” She rubbed the gnarled scars on her hands. “But every time I looked out the window of the house, armed people were scouring the vicinity. I couldn’t alert them to where you were. Instead, I covered the cellar door with branches.”
“That must have been after I shot at the Baker brothers,” Chalice said.
“They were the primary reason I left y’all be.” Mom shook her head. “You were safe there, and I was healing. I was no good to anyone.”
“You could have let us know.” Chalice kicked the door. “We could have taken care of you.”
“I was out of my mind with pain and fever. If you had cared for me, and I died, I figured you’d be worse off than believing I was already dead. When I saw you drive away, I swore to find you someday. I’ve been living in vacant houses ever since. That young man, Colton, is the first person I’ve spoken to. There’s something trustworthy about him.”
The Zombie Awakening (Complete 6 Volume Series, plus prologue) Page 18
