by Marie Lanza
Jason pulled back and looked at Melody, “We need to move fast.” With those words he turned, holding Melody’s hand, and guided her in the opposite direction, away from the infected and the house.
Melody wasn’t quite sure how Jason was staying so quiet as he moved, almost gliding over the leaves, making very little noise with his steps. After about a hundred feet, Jason veered up back towards the neighborhood. Melody could no longer hear the infected and also noticed she hadn’t heard anything from the people who attacked them.
Jason stopped at a fence that led to a backyard.
“Are they dead? Beck and Mike, are they dead?”
“Besides the guy who followed you, no one is dead. Surprisingly, we outgunned them. They had one pistol.” Jason walked down the fence that met another fence, slightly shorter with a woodpile stacked against it. “We’re climbing. You go first, I’ll give you Aubrey.”
Melody didn’t ask questions and hiked up the woodpile, straddled the fence, and swung her legs over to jump to the ground. Jason was already lowering Aubrey when she turned around, then climbed over the fence himself. “What’s the plan?”
“The guys are waiting for us at the truck. We can’t stay in the area. We’ll find somewhere else.”
They walked through the back yard, with Jason staying close to the fence, peeking over it a few times to see the yard next door. When they made it to the house, Jason popped his head over the gate that would get them to the front yard.
“Mel, there’s a lot of infected. Those guys rang a dinner bell. Beck and Mike are waiting for us. They should be ready to go in the truck.”
“Why couldn’t they come get us?”
“We didn’t really have time to plan that far, you sorta disappeared on me.”
“Sorry.”
“Are you ready?
“Not really. Yes. If you say so.”
“OK, let’s go.” Jason opened the gate and they ran.
The neighborhood had infected crawling all over it. Most were headed in the direction the trucks fled, giving Melody and Jason the advantage of running unseen by many, but those who attention was captured, headed their way in a desperate attempt to reach them.
Two yards over, Melody repeated to herself.
Not wanting to waste time, Jason pushed back the infected within reach, sending them crashing to the ground.
Melody didn’t look back, focusing on the house.
The garage door opened, with Mike running out, taking down an infected between himself and Melody. “Let’s go!”
Melody ran for the truck, climbing in with Aubrey. Beck was in the driver seat and backed out of the driveway.
Mike quickly jumped in the front seat and Jason followed shortly after, hopping in the back. “Everyone in? Everyone good?”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s get going.” Jason patted the back of Beck’s seat.
A loud thump and thud hit the truck as Beck hit and rolled over an infected. Beck pulled out of the driveway and rolled down the street without turning on his lights.
“Do we know where those men went?” Melody asked.
“We know they left in the opposite direction. Lucky for us, they made a lot of noise, taking a lot of infected with them,” Mike said as he checked his weapon. “Good thing ‘cause we’re low on ammo.”
At the end of the neighborhood, Beck turned out into a more main road that still held family homes, but storefronts began popping up.
“Beck, your one o’clock,” Jason pointed out. “Looks like a better place.”
Melody looked out to find an old firehouse with one door to the garage open, but no trucks had been left inside.
“It’s a good idea to lock down for the night.” Beck turned into the driveway of the firehouse and pulled inside the garage.
An infected slammed its rotting face against Jason’s window, smearing blood and bodily fluids from its dying skin all over the window. Jason rolled down the window slightly, taking his knife and puncturing the infected through the eye. It disappeared as it collapsed to the ground.
Beck had already put the vehicle in park and made his way to get the door down. Mike and Jason were right behind him to give cover on the infected that were making their way to the firehouse.
The infected roaming the area were too slow to be any bother. Their skin sagged from their bones, limping in that uneven manner that looked as though their bones could snap on any next step. The group wasted no energy to go out behind the firehouse and kill the incoming. It wasn’t worth it.
It took Beck a few short minutes to get the door rolling down. The infected outside banged against the metal doors, pushing their bodies against it with their attempts to get in.
Melody kept Aubrey in the truck until everything was secure. Jason opened the door to let her know it was clear and took Aubrey into his arms. “We’ll sleep here tonight and leave first thing in the morning.”
Melody was feeling the pains of exhaustion. “I think it’ll do everyone some good.”
Mike was checking the doors that would lead him inside the firehouse. Everything was locked down. He pressed his ear against the door, listening if any infected were on the other side. “What do you think? Break in or leave it and sleep in here?”
Jason looked around the large garage which was mostly a cement slab with left over fire hoses hooked into the walls. “I don’t think I’m up for testing our luck. Could be full of those things.”
It was relief to Melody’s ears to hear those words. None of them had the energy to be fighting a group of infected. They risked opening those doors and dead firemen flooding out. The adrenaline that had flooded their bodies, putting them into an energetic overdrive, was wearing off and bringing them to a serious low. Melody could see it in their faces, especially their eyes.
“Looks like we’re sleeping in the truck,” Mike said as he climbed back in the front seat.
The infected eventually slowed their attempts in getting past the garage doors, seeming to lose interest, and eventually bringing quiet to the garage.
The morning arrived as if someone turned the lights on the moment they had a chance to shut their eyes. Each waking slowly and stretching their bodies from being twisted in the Humvee seats.
Jason had Aubrey on his chest, opening her eyes with a small giggle that she was on her daddy, giving everyone a twinkle of simple joy hearing the laughter of the little girl.
“We should get on the road.” Beck turned in his seat to see everyone.
“We’re good to get on the road. I can give Aubrey something to eat while we drive.” Melody looked as Jason for his sign of agreement.
“I’ll get the door,” Mike said as he jumped out. Before he rolled the door up, Mike looked out a small window facing the street to see if the doors were clear of infected.
Outside there were a few roaming the street, but it seemed those that were fighting the door were gone.
A light gloom hung down like a silky sheer curtain over the area, leaving the air with a slight moisture.
Mike readied his weapon in one hand, using the other to pull up the garage door, bringing the echoed clanks from the metal, alerting the infected.
Beck was backing up as soon as he saw the daylight cascading in, stopping for Mike, before backing all the way out into the street and heading for Camp Glen.
They had been driving for what seemed like the better part of two hours, weaving around roadblocks and avoiding infected. The morning overcast slowly evaporated, leaving blue skies. As they left the edge of town, the land flattened out as the buildings disappeared, turning into sprawling fields. There weren’t many sightings of infected here.
They came across a sign that read, WELCOME TO THE CITY OF GLEN.
We’re getting close, Melody thought to herself. A few steps possibly closer to Harmony. Maybe if they hadn’t made it to Summer Springs, they were at this place called Camp Glen. Melody didn’t want to fill her head with hopeful possibilities only to have them all crash down. Beck did sa
y they were bringing survivors here, and although Melody didn’t think Harmony and Dan would let the military string them along, she knew there was always a chance. Butterflies began to give that sensation of a tingle within her stomach at the thoughts of possibly finding her sister.
“The town is just about a half mile past this farm,” Beck said, pointing off to his left.
“How big is this place?” Melody asked as her eyes focused on the farm. It looked like the home had been abandoned long before the outbreak with part of the roof collapsed, and the windows were mostly gone or boarded. The field held three dead yellow oil pumps, rusted from exposure. As they drove past the house, Melody noticed a group of infected gathered around the barn, feeding off something she automatically assumed to be farm animals, but couldn’t tell from the road.
“The town is just a strip of road. A facade the military used for training purposes. If you drove through here, you wouldn’t know any better. Everything was active. Everyone was military, testing skills of undercover work and civilians unknowingly being used for practice. The base is underground, and it can hold thousands.”
“Either of you train here?” Jason asked.
“Never the chance,” Mike responded.
Beck turned off the 59, dipping down into the little fake town of Glen. The town finally came into view and the feeling of dread suddenly hit everyone. White smoke lingered out of several sewer covers and the windows of a building with a sign reading GENERAL STORE. The buildings had old western style storefronts with sidewalks lining each side of the road for pedestrians to stroll. A group of infected jammed against the windows of the building, appearing as though they were trying to get to something.
“Shit,” Beck whispered under his breath and pulled the vehicle to a stop in the center of the road.
The infected turned their attention to the Humvee, snarling and snapping as they staggered.
“The entrance to the base is in the back of that general store,” Mike said with disappointment. “That smoke isn’t a good sign.”
Melody swallowed down her stomach that felt as though it traveled to her throat.
Jason reached over and held her hand. “Is this the only way in?” Jason asked.
“That I know of,” Mike said.
“Yes.” Beck hit the gas and drove through the group of infected that was close to gathering around the Humvee.
The infected thumped against the vehicle and banged on the windows as their bodies were thrown to the cement.
Beck drove down the street, curved around, revealing a long stretch of back road and forest. “There’s another entrance I heard about. It’s a hidden cave…”
“But if the place is on fire, what does this mean for all those people?” Melody’s nerves got the best of her, cracking her voice.
“We have to try,” Beck insisted.
Smoke rose from the drain covers on the road. Beck pulled off into a clearing of overgrown grass that led into the woods. Melody noticed a fence line the brush, simple wire stretched out from metal stakes, downed in several areas. The poles still standing had signs reading, PRIVATE PROPERTY, along with other verbiage that was too tiny to read.
Pulling just past the tree line, Beck stopped and put the vehicle in park. “The cave opening isn’t far from here. But the trees that way get too thick to drive through.”
Jason turned to Melody, but before he was able to say anything, she quickly spoke up.
“You’re crazy if you think I’m staying in this truck. You carry Aubrey.” Melody was firm she wasn’t going to be left behind.
Jason wasn’t going to fight his wife; once she had her mind set to something there was no stopping her, and he was well aware of her eagerness to find her sister. He reached his arms out for Aubrey. Melody wasn’t expecting that to be so easy, hesitating at first waiting for some push back, but when it didn’t come, she handed the baby over.
The group hiked through the woods about a hundred feet, still able to see the Humvee from their spot. Beck approached a covering that looked like nothing more than vines draping over the side of a hill. He moved them to the side. “Shit.”
Everyone was right behind him to see the entrance.
A soldier with his body almost half-gone lay against the entrance with a bullet to his brain. He was being fed on by two infected. The infected were dressed in military uniforms, their bodies caked with blood and guts as their hands shoveled through the dead soldier’s intestines. The two infected soldiers turned to the group, leaving their meal in the attempt to get the fresher meat.
Mike took the leading infected out with his knife, and Beck took out the other. They were fast kills.
It was another dead end for the group. There was a tidal wave of thoughts, so overwhelming that Melody just stood there in disbelief. She was unable to find the words to express herself, as though she’d suddenly lost all ability to communicate.
Camp Glen was gone.
* * *
As the men made their way out of the cave entrance, Melody didn’t move, staring at the dead soldier with the bullet in his brain. She tried to slow down her thoughts, tried to process each thought individually in an attempt to make sense of something she couldn’t possibly.
Jason put his arm around her. “We should keep moving.”
“I just…” Melody gathered her composure, “I had so much hope, you know?”
“Hoping is a bad habit we need to break.” Jason tugged at her to turn her around and start walking.
His words were painful. Melody didn’t want to give up hope, because giving up hope was like a death.
Beck and Mike held up for Melody, Jason, and Aubrey to walk back to the Humvee together. It was a somber walk, a defeated walk through the woods and back to nowhere. There was nothing left and although no one was speaking out loud, they were all thinking the same thing.
As everyone climbed back inside the vehicle, Beck didn’t immediately turn it on. “It’s all gone.”
No one responded.
“How the fuck did this happen so fast?” It was a rhetorical question Beck knew no one would answer.
Melody’s mind tortured her as questions about Harmony and Dan raced through her mind. Were they down there? Did they burn alive, or at best suffocate? Melody’s mind pulled her in different directions. “Harmony and Dan weren’t down there.” Jason placed his hand on Melody’s, pulling her back to the world.
“I wanted to think that. I’m just not sure anymore.”
“We’ll find them, Mel.” Mike turned around in his seat. “We’re all in this together, you remember that.”
Melody needed to put those dark thoughts in the farthest part of her mind. It was something else to file away she never wanted to think about again. She couldn’t give up hope. Giving up hope was giving up on them and that wasn’t an option.
Beck went to pull the Humvee out of the woods, but before he was able to back out, Jason stopped him. “Hold up, Beck. Does anyone else hear that?”
Mike rolled down his window and stuck his head out.
Truck engines.
“We got two trucks headed towards Glen.”
“Are they our guys?” Jason asked as he rolled down the window to see if he could get a visual through the trees.
“Did they see us?” Beck asked.
“Doesn’t look like our guys and no sight on us.” Mike’s voice sounded somewhat uncertain since he couldn’t see much either.
Beck pulled out the map, expanding it for Mike to take the other end. “There’s a fire road around here. It’ll basically take us over these hills just north of here and we may be able to get back on the 59.”
Jason leaned up against the front seats to get a better look. “It’ll hopefully keep us out of sight.”
“Looks like it will connect us right past this small community here,” Mike pointed out. “We can hop on for a few miles then hit the 40. That’ll get us right to Summer Springs.”
“Then we hit Forest Road.” Jason’s fing
er traveled across the map. “To my parents.”
“Sounds like the best chance we got.” Beck folded the map back together and handed it over to Mike.
“It’s the best chance we have,” Melody repeated back to him. The words felt good to say. They were focused, had set a goal, and were going to meet it.
Beck backed out and pulled away from the cave, heading in the opposite direction. “We have to backtrack a little to get through some of this, but hopefully it won’t be too bad.”
The vehicle bobbed up and down as they drove over the uneven earth and pushed past trees and brush that scratched against the paint and metal. It was a mess of a drive which would have left most vehicles stuck in the mud. The Humvee dipped and went down a small hill, where Beck curved right onto a semi-dry creek bed and headed up the embankment to the fire road.
It was a smoother drive, but the fire road was still a bumpy dirt road, wide enough for the one vehicle. Lucky for them, there wasn’t much of a concern with a traffic jam.
The land bent upward and twisted around the side of the hill. The sky opened up as they made it above the canopy of trees. It was another mile when they reached the top and were able to see for miles in all directions.
A group of infected were roaming around an outlook on the side of the fire road, when their heads turned to the oncoming Humvee. More wandered from out of the trees that lined the road at the sound of the engine.
“I’m counting at least thirty,” Beck interrupted his own headcount. “Maybe more.” He pointed to the trees.
“They’re just everywhere,” Melody said with resentment.
“Something brought them up here.” Mike looked around suspiciously.
“Those things just don’t get tired,” Jason sighed. “Relentless.”
The infected jammed the road in no time as they made their way towards the group.
