He stuck his hand out to Will.
Will lowered his eyes, staring at the hand for a moment. Then he raised his eyes back to Gabriel’s and accepted the handshake. After a moment, he pulled Gabriel in and the two men hugged.
“Sorry, brother,” Will said.
“It’s all good,” Gabriel said. “I wish I’d just gotten in such good licks on you.”
Will smiled and snorted.
He looked down to Dylan. The boy was smiling and he gave Will a thumbs up.
Will winked at him and gave him the same gesture back.
***
Jessica grabbed a towel out of the vehicle and went off by herself on the other side of the parking lot. She wiped her face with the towel and, when she pulled it away, was shocked by how much blood had come from her face. She knew she’d shot the Empty point-blank, but there’d been so much adrenaline that she hadn’t even felt the blood splash onto her face. It was a relief, getting the creature’s gore off of her.
She looked back to the group standing around the vehicle. They stood together, cleaning up and taking turns hugging the children. Jessica turned back toward the wall of the building in front of her and cried.
It was the closest she’d come to dying. Not only since The Fall, but in her whole life. The Empty had managed to get its teeth only inches from her arm before Will kicked it off, giving her the opportunity to shoot it. She looked down to her hands now to see them trembling, and the sensation and realization only made her cry more. She drew in deep breaths and closed her eyes.
“You’re okay,” she mumbled to herself. “Everything is okay. Just breathe, Jessica.”
Her tears had started to dry when she heard footsteps behind her. She peeked over her shoulder to see Holly approaching.
“Crap,” she said under her breath, turning back around and clearing the remaining tears in her eyes.
“Hi,” Holly said.
Jessica, knowing her face was still red, forced a smile and turned around. “Hey.”
“You got a minute?”
“Sure,” Jessica said, secretly wishing she could be left alone.
“Thanks for what you did back there with those two,” Holly said. “Everything you said was right. We aren’t going to make it unless we stay together.”
“I just want them to get along. There’s no need for all that.”
Holly took a deep breath and moved her bangs from in front of her face. “Yeah, I agree.”
There was an awkward moment of silence. Jessica was going to speak, but Holly beat her to it.
“Look, I know I’ve been a bitch to you. And I’m sorry about that. It’s just that I really love Will, and I know all this must be hard for you. You got close to his parents, you lost your own parents, and you’re around him all the time. Then all the stuff at the school... I can’t even imagine how hard that was.”
“No,” Jessica said. “You can’t.”
Holly lowered her eyes. “I know. Believe me.”
“So what do you want?” Jessica asked.
Looking up again, Holly said, “I just want to tell you that I’m sorry for threatening you. It was wrong of me to attack you about Will. For all I know, you might not have a thing for him anyway. So I’m sorry.”
Jessica stared into Holly’s eyes, curious to see if she was telling the truth. When it came to Will, Jessica didn’t trust her. But from what she could tell, Holly seemed sincere.
“It’s all right,” Jessica said. “I understand. And just for the record, you were right about it.”
Holly furrowed her brow. “About what?”
“Will,” Jessica said. “I do love him. Enough to where I respect what the two of you have. So there’s no reason for you to start some kind of catfight with me or hold a grudge. We’re all family, and as I said to them, we all have to be in this together.”
Holly lowered her eyes again, then nodded.
“I’ll see you back at the car,” Holly said.
“All right.”
Jessica turned back around, facing the building again.
She closed her eyes.
“Just breathe, Jessica.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Gabriel looked out the window, gazing into the fields as Will pulled back onto the interstate.
Dylan was back to normal, talking in the back seat with Mary Beth, Holly, and Jessica. Together they laughed, playing the billboard game they used to pass the time.
But Gabriel just continued to look out the window at the familiar scene. He’d been down this road many times. The closer they got to Alexandria, the more his mind raced and the more he nervously trembled. He remembered driving down this same interstate, his smiling wife and laughing daughter in tow. He found himself able to crack his own smile, even as he continued to tremble.
“How far out are we?” Will asked, pulling Gabriel out of his thoughts.
Eyes hazy, Gabriel looked over at Will.
“Sorry, man,” Will said. “I didn’t realize you were sleeping.”
“No, I wasn’t. I was just thinking and I zoned out for a while.” Gabriel looked out the window and tried to use the scenery to judge how far they were from Alexandria. “Not long at all. Probably less than an hour.”
“Been running across way more Empties,” Will said as he slowed and swerved to avoid a small herd. “I figured we had to be getting close. A couple of military vehicles even cruised by on the other side of the median.”
“I can’t even imagine what things in Washington must be like,” Gabriel said. “We’ve just gotta get my family and head South.”
Dead air filled the space, and Gabriel could see Will out of the corner of his eye, looking back and forth between him and the road.
“Look, man,” Will said. “I really am sorry about what I did: making those decisions without coming to you guys first. It was really selfish of me.”
“Let’s just not even talk about it anymore,” Gabriel said. “It’s over. And I was just as dumb as you were.”
There were another few moments of silence before Will said, “I do just need to ask you one question.”
Gabriel looked to him and raised his eyebrows.
“Why did you lay there and let me hit you?”
Gabriel sat for a moment, choosing his words. When he found them, he smiled. “Because it’s what you needed. And I think, in a strange way, it’s what I needed.”
Will raised one eyebrow and laughed. “You’re messed up, man. You’re like Mel Gibson’s character in Lethal Weapon.”
Gabriel laughed, but only for a moment before his face flared up. It burned all over from the beating he’d taken. He held his cheeks and stopped laughing.
“Everything okay up there?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah,” Gabriel said. He grinned at Will. “Everything’s fine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The place looked nothing like Gabriel remembered it. He had driven through the entrance of his neighborhood more times than he could count. He’d pictured this moment ever since waking up after the plane wreck. And now that he was here, it was almost as if he’d led them to the wrong place.
The wrought-iron gate at the front of the community had been knocked down and now lay on the ground. A car was flipped over in a ditch on the side of the road. The grass had overgrown, covering the flowers and well-manicured landscaping that would usually have been seen when entering Bellingham Estates. Bodies lay on the ground and in the grass—a scene he’d become accustomed to, but it had never been scarier now that he was only a couple of blocks away from his own home. The place where he’d hoped to find his family waiting on him.
Will pulled through the entrance, driving over the fallen gate. Everyone looked around in silence. The toxic aroma of smoke was so strong that it bled into the vehicle, and the children covered their faces with the collars of their shirts.
So many houses on fire, Gabriel thought, begging that his wasn’t one of them.
“Where do I go, Gabe?” Will asked.<
br />
His throat dry and his mind wandering, Gabriel almost didn’t hear the question. It might not have been the first time Will had asked it. He slowly rose his arm and pointed ahead.
“Two streets up, you’ll take a right onto Lowry.”
As they moved into the neighborhood, the scene worsened. Doors and windows had been smashed in on several of the houses. Cars were parked in yards. Bodies lay on the grass, sidewalks, and in the road. Will drove carefully, so as not to run over any of the corpses.
He took a right turn onto Lowry, then said, “All right, where next?”
Gabriel swallowed the dry lump in his throat. “You’ll take a left up here on Steeplechase Drive. That’s my street.”
On Lowry, they passed Ben and Rachel Moore’s house, and it was on fire. Their daughter, Chelsea, was one of Sarah’s best friends. He shuddered to think whether they had escaped, or if their corpses lay trapped inside the house.
Across the street were two empty lots where houses had already burned to the ground. One of them belonged to his friend, Don. Gabriel had spent many summer evenings in that backyard, sipping brews and talking about the Redskins, Capitals, and politics.
But none of these thoughts distracted him from the fact that Will was about to make the left turn onto Steeplechase Drive. Once they turned the corner, Gabriel would see his house down on the right. At least, he hoped he’d see it.
He drew in a deep breath as Will made the turn.
“It’s still there,” he mumbled.
“Which one?” Will asked.
Gabriel pointed to the brick home that was four doors from the house on the corner. There were two vehicles in the yard, neither of which belonged to Gabriel. Several houses down was a car on fire in another yard, and Empties loitered in the streets.
Gabriel’s eyes went wide as he saw his house still standing.
Will said, “I’ll pull into the—”
Without waiting, Gabriel unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door.
“Wait, Gabriel,” Jessica said front he back seat.
“Hold up,” Will said to him.
But Gabriel ignored them both. He looked to the concrete, ready to jump out of the moving vehicle.
“Stop the car, Will,” Holly demanded. “He’s gonna jump out.”
Will hit the brakes and Gabriel nearly flew out of the vehicle. He managed to say on his feet as he jumped out and ran for his house. An Empty came from his right, and he drew a knife from his side and buried it into the thing’s skull, quickly pulling the blade back out. He then refocused on the front door of his home, jogging through his yard.
Another Empty came at him and he shoved it down onto the grass.
All he could think of was getting through the front door.
Seeing his wife and his daughter.
He hurried up the patio and turned the knob.
The door opened, and Gabriel was finally home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Katie? Katie, are you here?”
Gabriel hurried into the living room. The sofa had been moved and the television lay on the ground, broken. Statues and ornaments that had long decorated the mantle now lay scattered, some in pieces, in front of the fireplace. Even though his house had been raided, he refused to believe his wife and daughter weren’t there.
Gabriel jogged past the front door again just as Will and Jessica entered. He ignored them, checking the downstairs bedroom and bathroom.
Nothing.
He headed back to the front of the house.
“Gabriel, where do we need to look?” Jessica asked.
Still ignoring them, Gabriel hurried upstairs. Will and Jessica followed behind him.
“Katie? Sarah?”
Gabriel ran to his daughter’s room first, rushing through the door.
“Sarah? Baby, where are you?”
He looked everywhere, even checking under her bed and in the closet. His daughter was nowhere to be seen. He left the room, and both Will and Jessica were standing in the hallway.
“We checked the guest room and the bathroom. No one was in there.”
Gabriel was staring down the long hallway toward his bedroom when he heard a snarl.
“Did you hear that?” Jessica asked.
They were quiet, and the noise came again. Unable to exactly pinpoint where it had originated from, Gabriel crept toward his bedroom door.
When he was halfway to the door, the noise came again, and this time he saw the door to his bedroom move.
“Oh, shit,” Will said. “Gabriel, hold—”
“Shut the fuck up, Will,” Gabriel said without turning around.
He moved closer to the door and the noises continued from the other side. With every step he took, his heartbeat quickened and his breathing became more shallow. Everything around him went black. If Will or Jessica were still trying to speak to him, he didn’t hear them. All he could think about was what he’d find on the other side of the door.
When he reached the room, the unmistakable snarl of an Empty sounded again, and it slammed against the door a second time. It didn’t even startle Gabriel. He looked to the wall next to him, noticing the crimson handprints for the first time.
His breathing was rapid, and his palms sweaty. He balled one hand into a fist as he used the other to grab onto the knob.
Gabriel screamed as he pushed hard through the door, turning the knob at the same time.
The door opened, and he felt the weight of the creature on the other side. The mindless beast couldn’t think to know he was opening the door, and fell backward. The door swung all the way open, and Gabriel looked into the room.
Blood was everywhere. On the walls, the dresser, and the bathroom door. And when he looked to the bed, he saw a corpse surrounded by and covered in blood. Gabriel’s eyes went wide. That was his wife on the bed—he was sure of it.
He looked to the creature on the ground. The Empty he’d pushed off the door was definitely not his wife or daughter; it had been a man when alive, and was still dressed in a pair of jeans and a button-up shirt. Dry blood covered its face. There was no telling how long the creature had been there.
He breathed heavier as he watched the Empty pushing itself off of the ground. He had both a gun and knife on his hip, but at no point did he think to grab either of them. Instead, he simply balled both fists and screamed.
He picked up his leg and drove his foot into the creature’s face, sending it onto its back. He felt its nose crunch under the sole of his shoe. Gabriel yelled out again and fell onto the creature, and began to pummel it in the face.
Gabriel punched the beast so hard he could feel bones break. He crushed what was left of the Empty’s nose. The thing squealed, almost as if it could feel what Gabriel was doing to it. Maybe it could. Perhaps the demon allowed its prisoner to feel the pain. He kept telling himself that it could—he begged that it felt every blow. Blood sprayed with each strike, and Gabriel couldn’t bring himself to stop.
It took him a moment to realize that he was being pulled off of the beast, and he continued to kick his legs.
“Let me go. I’m gonna kill this thing with my bare fucking hands.”
A gunshot rang through the room, and he finally snapped out of his rage. He looked over to see Jessica holding up a handgun, smoke rising from the barrel. He looked back down to the beast to see it no longer moving, a hole now in its face.
Gabriel jerked and Will let him go.
“I’m sorry, man,” Will said. “I was scared that thing was gonna bite you.”
“And so fucking what if it had?”
He scowled at Will for another moment, and the other man sighed. Gabriel then turned back to look at the body on the bed. Again, he started breathing heavily. For the first time since he’d entered the house, he was fighting tears.
There was almost no light from the outside shining on the bed, so he reached out his hand.
“Give me a flashlight.”
“Are you sure you—”
Will reached onto his hip and threw the light over to Gabriel, who caught it.
Gabriel clicked on the light, but hesitated to shine it onto the bed. If that was his wife or his daughter lying there, he wasn’t sure how he’d react. It was the nightmare he’d been dreading since waking up after the plane crash.
He breathed heavy and pointed the light toward the bed.
He shuddered, tears still tickling his cheeks. What was left of the body was hardly human at all. Its face had been completely picked apart, mangled and unrecognizable. The arms were nothing but tissue and bone. Blankets covered the rest of the corpse, and Gabriel couldn’t bring himself to pull them down to look at the rest of the body. The long brown hair was still intact on the body’s skull—it looked like his wife’s.
He let go of the flashlight, dropping it onto the ground. Falling to his knees, he buried his face into his arms on the edge of the bed. Tears now flowed from his eyes.
“I failed you,” Gabriel mumbled. “I did this to you.”
He wished he could hold her hand, running his thumb up and down the edge of hers like he’d always done, but there was nothing there to hold. There was no comforting his grief.
“Gabriel?”
He heard Jessica’s voice, but chose to ignore it. What he really wanted was for her and Will to leave. To jump back in the van with Holly and the kids and get the hell out of there. To leave him alone to die next to his wife.
“Shit, Gabriel, look at this.”
This time it was Will, and Gabriel turned around ready to snap at him.
Will held the flashlight, shining it onto a piece of paper in his hand. Gabriel furrowed his brow, and Will handed him the light and paper.
Gabriel wiped his eyes with his forearm and pointed the light at the note.
Gabriel,
If you are reading this note, it means that you’re still alive. I pray every moment that you are. In my heart I believe that you made it and that you will find this letter.
Empty Bodies 6: Revelation (Empty Bodies Series Book 6) Page 11
