Fair Haven

by Red Lagoe

  "This place is relatively safe. Out there, we don't know."

  "No!" She insisted with a quivering voice and tears welling under her lower lids. "I am not staying alone anymore."

  "I'm just going to-"

  "You're not leaving me!" she demanded.

  "OK!" Marcus agreed with a chuckle, "We stick together for now."

  Relieved that he gave in without too much of a fight, she held Marcus's arm within the blackness of the lab. She dreaded thinking about what was going to happen next, but found some comfort knowing she was in good hands with Dr. Marcus Hill. She sniffed back her snot and wiped her tears.

  A violent boom shook the building. The rumble could be felt through the walls and rattled the door on its hinges.

  "What was that?" Kayla asked, bracing herself.

  They sat upright and alert, waiting for something else to happen, but the rattling was brief.

  "Earthquake?"

  "Sounded like an explosion," Marcus said.

  "Was it in this building?"

  "I don't know..."

  15

  Saving Candace

  Melody and John both had their faces pressed against the glass, looking up at the sky and laughing at each other's jokes, but their brief moment of fun jolted back to reality. They could hear the clicking of Candace's shoes across the tiled floor in the foyer and then the sound of the door unlocking.

  “Damn…That girl!” he said.

  John sprung up and hurried downstairs to the foyer. He ran outside and tried to peer through the darkness toward his house, but he couldn't see her. The clomping of her heels did not come from the direction of his house. It was far down Elpis Court, but she was nowhere in sight.

  "Son of a-," John whispered, staring toward the sound and making out faint shadows of bodies moving in the night.

  He bolted off the porch, furious and confused as to why she would take off. There were at least five infected that he could make out in the darkness, but none of them were coherent enough to see him. He crouched down out of sight at the base of the porch steps and signaled for Melody to stay indoors.

  Surrounded by their groans, Candace had turned away from the infected blocking John's house, and took off straight down Elpis Court, in the only direction that she didn't hear them. She was certain that John would come rescue her, but with every glimpse over her shoulder, he was nowhere in sight.

  She reached the end of Elpis Court and the night began to spin. The alcohol impeded her ability to stay oriented as she saw more and more of their silhouettes approaching from all directions.

  Sickly bodies were staggering out of the darkness and heading toward her. Panicked, she screamed out for help and then turned down Mason Drive to get away.

  Candace kicked off her heels that were twisting and fumbling beneath her, then ran barefoot along the sidewalk and into the bus loop of the elementary school.

  Weakness of body and mind forced her to stop, so she dove into the shadowy corner of the school entrance and sat against the front doors. She sank to the cement, blubbering. The booze kicked in harder. Her head became heavy and her vision pulsed.

  The infected that were following her had lost track of her. She was out of sight and would have been safe if she sat still, but hearing their incoherent moans and their feet shuffling through the tall grass, terrified her to action.

  Candace forced herself up, and ran away from the darkest shadow along the side of the building. While disoriented from the booze, she sought a place to hide, but the infected had spotted her again.

  She shuffled along the wall toward a group of work vehicles that must have been parked at the school for maintenance when the outbreak began.

  A yellow ladder bolted to the side of the school, with the bottom rung hanging a few feet above the ground, flashed at her like a beacon of hope. After a staggering sprint to get to it, she grabbed hold of the bars and hoisted herself up with all of her strength. The infected closed in on her.

  Candace froze inches above them, barely out of reach, crying and screaming as the infected growled and stretched their arms, nicking her soles with their fingers. She thought of her sweet Gavin and whether he was ever going to come back for her. She thought of whether he'd forgive her for flirting with John.

  One of the sick men bit into the arm of an infected woman beside him, and the sight made Candace screech and shut her eyes as tight as she could. The woman snapped back and the two infected ripped into each other like wild dogs. Candace held on tight and prayed for it to be over.

  Melody forced her feet into her already-tied sneakers and grabbed her baseball bat to follow John. She maneuvered over the railing off the side of her porch to avoid the infected nearby, then snuck through the darkest shadows to meet up with John.

  The air was warm and breezy, and the smell of smoke still lingered from the burning bodies earlier. Aside from the odor of burnt flesh, it reminded Melody of summer barbecues when she was a girl. She thought of her dad standing at the grill with a can of beer in his hand, flipping burgers, while her mom lay in a lounge chair under the sun laughing at one of his dumb jokes. Back when laughing, loving, and even living came so easily. The brief memory brought a moment of levity to Melody's heart.

  John hid by the green Volvo as she approached him from behind.

  "I cannot get you to stay put," he whispered.

  "Get used to it." Melody's heart raced as she hustled by him, trying to catch up with Candace.

  Unlike that morning, when she was too petrified to move, Melody allowed the thrill to take over and she charged forward, ready for a challenge with this newfound confidence—or maybe a death-wish.

  They snuck through the shadows of the front yards along Elpis Court, but the clomping of her heels became more distant. The faint moonlight sank below the tree line, barely illuminating a path and making it difficult to see the lingering infected.

  They reached the end of Elpis where it met with Mason and had already passed at least seven infected, all heading in Candace's direction. Melody's heart thumped so wildly, she questioned her decision to run after Candace. She questioned whether the dumb girl was worth the effort.

  The clicking of heels stopped.

  They crouched down near the hedges of a house on the corner of Mason and the bus loop. She looked at John and had no words as she feared Candace may have been attacked, but then they caught sight of her. Barely visible, she ran along the front wall of the elementary school.

  As Melody took a step to run after her, John grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back. In one agile movement, he covered Melody's mouth and pushed her back between the bushes into the mulched landscaping along the porch of the house on the corner as a small group of the infected marched by.

  John pressed his body as tight as possible up against hers, trying to flatten themselves against the lattice of the porch, so as not to be seen. He slid his hand away from her mouth while pinning her to the house, pelvis to pelvis, barely tucked in the blackness of the shadow.

  Melody's chest pressed into his with every panicked breath she took. As the horde of at least thirty infected stumbled along the sidewalk ten feet away, fireflies twinkled in the darkness all around them. The tiny points of light danced around the sickly bodies as the infected trudged forward. Her warm breath brushed against his collarbone, and her heart beat wildly against his ribs.

  The infected continued on, heading toward the school. Some were focused on following Candace, and others were distracted by each other, lashing out as they bumped into each other. Snapping and scratching, they fought in the street, biting and clawing at each other, while John and Melody had a difficult time releasing themselves from the shadow.

  "Do you mind?" Melody said, pushing his pelvis away from her.

  She ducked along the bushes toward the school. As more bodies closed in, they had to pick up their pace. She wasn't sure if these masses of infected had been around the neighborhood all along, or if the fire or shots from earlier had lured them in
, but she knew there were far too many to fight off. They sprinted around the corner of the school as Candace screamed out.

  They spotted her on a ladder, with a half-dozen infected snarling below.

  "You get Candace from that ladder," John said, "I'll lure them that way."

  Melody thought it was a horrible idea, but there was no time to argue. She didn't want John to leave her side, but she nodded and watched him dart toward the work vehicles on that prosthetic leg, while dozens of infected all around spotted him.

  It was like watching Marcus leave her four days ago, unsure if she'd ever see him again. Melody crouched down near the wall of the school.

  She waited for John to draw them out. He leapt into one of the white trucks and started the engine. A miracle there were still keys inside.

  She wondered in that moment how much of Fair Haven was untouched. How many other cars are available for the taking, houses still full of food, and boats on the lake?

  The headlights of the work truck beamed on, then the truck peeled out in the field. Melody focused on her mission—get Candace.

  At once, all of the faces of the infected surrounding Candace at the ladder turned their attention to the truck. Even the two infected that were biting at each other on the ground looked up to see the truck speeding across the field in the darkness.

  Five infected were still close to the ladder, watching the headlights move across the grass. Melody, too petrified to take another step, froze along the wall as her opportunity opened.

  Fear enveloped her. She clenched her jaw and her nostrils flared as she fought with herself to move.

  "Go," she whispered, gave herself an impetuous jolt and sprinted along the wall with her baseball bat up, reluctant, but ready to take them on. As she got closer, the infected had moved at least ten yards away from Candace, distracted by the truck.

  Candace clung to the ladder with her eyes closed tight, unaware that the infected had moved on.

  Melody grabbed for the rung of the ladder and called out with a frantic whisper to Candace, "Let's go!"

  She held tight, refusing to budge. Melody couldn't keep yelling to her, or she would draw the infected back to her, so she dropped her bat and moved up the ladder, hugging her body around Candace from behind.

  "Candace," Melody said, trying to calm her tone, "I know you're scared, but we have to get out of here."

  John's truck came barreling back toward the building, driving parallel with the wall, while the infected lumbered far behind. The truck's pace slowed down, and he flung himself from the truck and rolled across the grass. John's body tumbled to a stop as the vehicle rolled along, losing momentum, and Melody worried that prosthetic blade of his would pop right off, but it didn't.

  "Go!" he yelled to the women as he popped up and ran toward them with surprising speed. There were dozens of infected half a field away, heading in the direction of the moving truck.

  "She can't move," Melody called to him.

  "Just go up!" John told her. "I got her."

  Melody edged around Candace, avoiding having the girl's butt cheeks in her face as she passed her. She scrambled up the ladder as fast as her limbs would carry her.

  John moved up the ladder behind Candace and balanced his weight on the curved prosthetic blade. He wrapped his left arm around her and lowered his voice.

  "Hey. I got you," he said.

  Candace turned and wrapped her arms and legs around him, as he climbed up the ladder, carrying her full weight.

  Melody scrambled onto the roof, but before she could get to her feet, she was met by an infected man wearing a construction hat and coveralls, crawling toward her. She could barely make out his presence in the darkness, but the setting moon pierced through the branches of the trees along the horizon and lit up the edges of his body.

  Melody rolled to the side, spitting out an "oh shit" as she got to her feet and scanned the roof for a weapon. He staggered to his feet, drooling on himself.

  A white name tag, reading "Paul” stood out over his left front pocket. He lunged toward Melody, tripping and falling to his side several times. She managed to duck out of the way, keeping out of his reach. Frantic to find something to defend herself with, she searched the rooftop, but could not find anything. John was nearly to the top with Candace.

  She stood her ground near the edge, planting her feet, and let Paul come at her. The sick man plunged forward with his face distorted and blistered. Saliva strung from his lower lip and attached to his chest.

  Melody’s pulse intensified as he took each step closer to her, but when he dove in to attack, a thunderous sound from across town caused her to stumble.

  An explosion.

  The flash lit up the horizon beyond the trees while Melody flung her body to the side out of the way of the infected man.

  He fell to the edge of the roof and managed to grab hold of Melody's tee shirt sleeve on his way down. She screamed out, too terrified to think for more than a second about how the explosion came from the direction of Blake Pharmaceuticals.

  Melody freed herself from the infected man’s grip as the lower half of his body dangled over the edge of the roof. Still on her backside, she kicked at his forehead, but he continued to hold onto the edge while snapping and clawing at her.

  His face seemed inhuman—teeth chomping, eyes devoid of emotion. Filthy fingers bled as he dug them into the edge of the roof, but he showed no sign of pain. Melody got to her feet and balled up all of her panic and rage in the pit of her gut. She ran forward with a lunging kick to his forehead, sending the man's body plummeting down to the ground with a thwack.

  John pushed himself upward with one arm around Candace, climbing as fast as he could, and his prosthesis kept slipping from beneath him as he worked his way up. When he reached the top, Candace's arms remained locked around him, even after he set her down on the edge of the roof.

  Melody pried the girl's fingers from John and dragged her from the edge of the building out of sight from those below. Melody paced back and forth out of breath with her fists clenched, staring at the fire beyond the trees. She could have killed Candace for putting them all in danger.

  John collapsed to the rooftop on his back, exhausted.

  "This leg ain't for climbing," he said.

  Melody crept to the edge of the roof to steal a glimpse of the mass of mangy people moving below. They were uninterested in the rooftop inhabitants as they pursued the truck that had rolled to a stop against the side of the school.

  The infected man, Paul, laid face down on the ground, still squirming. His arms reached out in front of him, dragging his broken legs behind as he crawled in the direction of the lights on the truck, unconcerned with his injuries.

  Candace curled up in a ball and began to sob in hysteria. "I'm sorry!" she sniveled, "I just wanted you to think I was good enough." Her face quivered as she wiped snot away from her nose.

  A rage filled Melody's heart. She was thankful she left her bat at the base of the ladder, because she was ready to take a crack at Candace's ribs. She wanted her to go away, and for a moment Melody thought about how much better it would have been if they never chased after her. If they let her naturally meet her demise.

  She sat down on the roof with her eyes locked on the site of the explosion, still able to feel the sensation of Paul's head against her foot. The image of the infected man's disgusting face was plastered to the inside of her eyelids. Overwhelmed with anger, trauma, and confusion, Melody sat with her arms around her knees and kept a calm exterior.

  John knelt down before Candace. He tried to look into her eyes as she concealed her face with her hands. His kindness paraded before Melody. She hated that he was being nice to her after what she had done, but she also envied his patience.

  "Candace, you're still married," John said.

  His words were like a smack to Melody's face. Still married. Husband or not, Melody couldn't deny that she was attracted to John. She worried that her attraction to him was more than circ
umstantial arousal, and she tried to rationalize that she had known him for only one day—and he was kind of an asshole.

  She forced herself to picture Marcus, and how happy they used to be, but the memories were dampened by the past two years of disinterest and unhappiness.

  Candace lay down on the hard surface of the roof and cried, while John removed his blue plaid button-down shirt and wadded it up. He stuffed it like a pillow under Candace's face and let her drift to sleep.

  John, in his black tee, joined Melody in the middle of the roof looking toward the explosion.

  "Holy shit," he said, as smoke billowed into the sky and the light from the fire waned.

  "Marcus's building is over there," she said.

  "Could have been anything," John said.

  Melody shrugged, unable to get any other words out. She trapped all of her anger and concerns in an emotional cage and remained silent.

  They both lay on their backs to stare upon the countless stars stretching across the canvas of the night.

  She wished this man didn't love astronomy. She wished he wasn't so damn sexy. She had a promise to keep to Marcus, and having this guy around was not making it easy.

  Promises were important to Melody, but how substantial were promises if they were made to an undeserving person? She allowed the starlight to permeate her eyes, and permitted herself to steal a glimpse of John's arms.

  "I haven't seen this many stars in a long time," John said. "Not since I was in the desert. There's no city glow in any direction."

  Normally, there would be some glow to the west and south from Madison and other towns nearby, but the horizons were dark with the exception of a dwindling fire from the explosion. No artificial lights in the city—not even on the other side of town where the quarantine zone should have been.

  "Do you think it's gone?" Melody asked, "The quarantine zone?"

  "I don't know."

  The moon had set below the trees and they lay under the sky with the Milky Way sprawled out before them. The starlight seemed to dance against the blackness of the night. With nothing but the sound of crickets and distant inhuman groans, Melody tried not to think about the difficult road ahead. Her gut twisted, sickened with worry about making the trek across town. Life was always knocking her off her feet and she didn't know how many more times she could get back up. As her heart began to hurt, her breathing became heavier and she fought back tears, refusing to cry.