“Nothing is going to happen to you,” Jessica said to Mary Beth. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
Crying, the young girl nodded.
Jessica opened the door and stepped out.
“Remember, lock this behind me.”
She shut the door and watched as Dylan locked the vehicle. She gave him a thumbs up and then hurried around the back of the cabin and raced through the open door.
When she entered the cabin, she found herself in the kitchen. She looked to the far corner to see Gabriel holding a little girl as he sobbed. She ran over and kneeled next to them.
“Gabriel, are you guys all right?”
A groan from another room drew her attention. She turned and looked into the living room to see Will lying on his side, an Empty next to him.
She shot up and ran to him.
There was so much blood. Noticing the bullet wound on his shoulder, she put pressure on it with her bare hand and he groaned.
When he flipped over and looked into her eyes, though, she saw his hand pressing against his stomach. She looked at the blood coming out, and then at the creature lying next to him. There was a bullet in the Empty’s forehead. Her eyes then looked back over to Will’s. He looked down at his body, lifting his hand from his mid-section.
With it removed, Jessica saw the bite mark on his side. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back tears.
“She was going to get the girl,” Will said, short on breath. “I had no choice.”
Jessica ran her free hand through his hair, continuing to press against the wound on his shoulder in hopes of stopping the bleeding. She was crying harder now, coming to the realization of what had happened. Of what was coming.
“Damnit, Will.”
Outside, the kids screamed. Jessica looked up, then back down at Will.
“Go,” Will demanded.
She got up and made it into the kitchen just in time to watch Dylan and Mary Beth race into the cabin. Dylan slammed the door and locked it behind him.
“What’s the matter?” Jessica asked.
“They’re coming!” Mary Beth cried.
“Who?” Jessica asked.
“The Empties,” Dylan said.
Jessica raced into the living room and looked out the windows at the front of the cabin. A pack of Empties as large as forty strong were making their way toward the cabin, coming from the woods.
“There’s more coming from this way,” Dylan said, looking out the window in the kitchen.
“The gunshots must’ve drawn them here,” Jessica said.
“You have to leave,” Will said.
“What do you mean ‘you’? You actually think I’m leaving here without you?”
“You don’t have a choice,” Will said. “You guys have to get out of here before they completely surround the place. There’s no point in taking me. I’m as good as—”
“No,” Jessica said, cutting him off. “I’m not leaving you. We’ll stay here until they run away.”
Jessica stood and went into the nearby hallway, going into the bathroom and grabbing a few hand towels. She tied off Will’s arm where he’d been shot, and used another to apply pressure to the bite wound.
As she held the towel on his wound, she looked over to the Empty body lying on the ground.
“Is that his wife?” she asked Will.
“It was,” he replied.
She looked over to Gabriel. He continued to hold his daughter, crying through bloodshot eyes. He shot one look to Jessica before closing his eyes and pressing his head back against his daughter’s body.
Jessica startled when the monsters began banging on the outside of the cabin. It came in one large wave, as if the horde had timed their first strike on the side of the home. In the kitchen, Gabriel’s daughter pressed her head into her father’s chest and screamed. The other two children ran over to him then, and he held them as well.
Jessica raced to the window at the front of the cabin to see Empties shoulder to shoulder, banging on it. Through the windows in the kitchen, she saw much the same. Then the pounding started on the sides of the cabin.
“We’re trapped,” Jessica said, standing back in the middle of the living room. “Surrounded.”
“I told you to go when you could,” Will moaned, clearly in pain and frustrated.
“We can’t leave you here,” she said. “Right now, I just want to stop the bleeding. We can wait them out.”
She doubted whether the creatures would ever actually leave, but refused to believe otherwise, telling herself they eventually would.
Dylan pulled away from Gabriel and approached Will. He was skittish, hesitantly observing Will’s wounds as he approached.
“Hey, buddy,” Will said as best he could.
Tears came to Dylan’s eyes as he looked at his friend and realized there was no coming back. Not like before when the preacher had been there to save him.
“Are you going to be all right?” Dylan asked anyway.
Will smiled and slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so, buddy.”
Dylan looked at Jessica, then over at Gabriel. “There’s gotta be something we can do. Anything.”
Mary Beth clutched at Jessica now, and Jessica wrapped her arm around the girl. She cried as she looked into Dylan’s pleading eyes.
Will grabbed Dylan’s arm to get his attention. The boy turned to him.
“Everything’s going to be all right. Gabriel and Jessica are going to take good care of you. And I know you’ve been doing a good job keeping Mary Beth safe, and now you’re gonna have to help out with Sarah, too. All right?”
Jessica cried harder as she watched the boy nod, unable to keep the tears from coming from his eyes.
Outside, the creatures pounded on the house.
“Those things have got to leave eventually,” Jessica said. “We can wait them out here and make you as comfortable as we can.”
“No,” Will said.
He slowly sat up, groaning as he moved. Jessica tried to stop him but he waved her off.
“You’re sitting ducks in here,” Will said. “Who’s to say those things won’t come crashing in here, maybe through a window or even through the door.” He shook his head. “You can’t wait here. Especially with all of our ammunition and guns out in the car. It’s too risky.”
Jessica swallowed the lump in her throat, scared to ask the question lingering on everyone’s mind. She ended up not having to because Mary Beth asked first.
“So what are we gonna do? Please don’t make me go out there. Please.” The girl hugged Jessica even tighter.
“You’re not going out there,” Will said. “At least not until I draw those creatures away from the cabin.”
“No,” Gabriel said, finally standing. He went over to Will. “This is my fault. I shot you. I’m the one who got selfish and couldn’t put that thing down when we first walked in here. My hesitation did this to you. I’ll draw them away from the cabin.”
Will smiled, spitting out a shallow laugh as he coughed. “Are you nuts? Look at me, Gabe. I’m already dead.”
Those three words sent a chill through the room. Jessica knew it was the eventual outcome of all this, and she assumed the kids did, as well. But hearing him own up to his eventual fate only made the reality of the situation stronger.
“I can’t let you do it,” Gabriel said.
Shaking his head, Will said, “You don’t have a choice.” He looked past Gabriel to the little girl shaking against the wall. “You’ve got a child to look out for. Three, now. You’re not gonna risk your daughter losing both her parents just ‘cause you want to be the hero.”
Gabriel bowed his head, still crying.
“I’m so sorry, man,” he coughed out, “I messed up.”
Will leaned in and hugged Gabriel, groaning from the injuries.
“It’s all right,” Will said. “You just promise me that you’re gonna take care of Dylan, Mary Beth, and your little girl, all right? Promise me.”
Gabriel pulled away and looked Will in the eyes as he nodded. “I promise.”
Dylan and Mary Beth ran together over to Will and wrapped their arms around him. It pained Jessica to see how destroyed the kids looked. Their faces were flush, and they cried harder than Jessica had ever seen.
“I don’t want you to go,” Dylan said. “Please don’t go.”
“I have to,” Will said.
“No,” Mary Beth cried, taking a tighter hold onto his leg.
Will looked to the ceiling, pinching his eyes shut, trying to hold in his emotion and stay strong for the kids. But his shoulders began to shudder, and he was unable to hold back. He let his tears go.
“I love you guys so much,” he said. “Gabriel and Jessica are going to take good care of you, okay? Don’t give them a hard time just because I’m not around and you like me more.”
This made Jessica laugh, if only slightly. She covered her mouth, eyes flooded as Will looked at her.
Dylan and Mary Beth pulled away, but Jessica couldn’t find the strength in her weak legs to go to Will. She couldn’t tell him goodbye. She’d seen so many others leave the world in the weeks since The Fall, but she couldn’t say goodbye to him. Not Will.
He stopped in front of her and cracked a smile.
“Hey,” he said.
The simplicity of the unnecessary greeting made her smile.
“Hi.”
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he said.
Unable to look at him any longer, Jessica looked to the ground and said, “It’s not. You keep saying that, but it’s not going to be okay.”
Will put his hand on her chin and lifted her head, looking again into her bright eyes. “Yes, it is. You guys are going to live on. Take the kids to Florida before it gets too cold here, just like we promised them we’d do.”
With nothing else to say, she threw her arms around him.
“I’m going to miss you so much.”
“I’m gonna miss you, too.”
He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes. He brought his hand to her face and used his thumb to wipe the tears away from her cheek. Then he ran the back of his hand down her face and stepped past her to go to Gabriel.
“Once I’m out that back door, you guys be on the look-out in the front to make sure I’m drawing those creatures away. I’ll make sure that I get them, and when they get away, I’ll yell ‘Go’. Then you guys run like hell.”
Gabriel sniffled and nodded.
Will went to the kitchen and picked the Glock up off the floor. Sarah was still in the corner, curled up and crying.
“You might never know just how much your daddy loves you,” Will said to her. “Cherish him for the rest of your life. All he wanted was to get to you.”
Jessica had to turn away. She couldn’t take anymore. When she finally turned around again, Will was at the back door.
“Wait,” Jessica said.
Will turned back to face her.
Jessica shuffled into the kitchen, cutting the distance between the two of them in half.
“I have to tell you something,” Jessica said.
Shaking his head, Will said, “No, you don’t.”
“Please,” Jessica said. “I need to tell you that I—”
Will put his finger to his lip, urging her to be quiet.
“I already know.”
He turned back to the door and put his hand on the handle. Then he looked back to Jessica.
“My mom and dad say ‘hi’, by the way.” He smiled at her and then turned back toward the door.
When he opened it, the sound of angry and hungry Empties poured into the cabin.
He shut the door behind him before any of the creatures could get in.
And with that, Will was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“Everyone just stay together,” Jessica said.
She held Mary Beth and Dylan close as she looked out the window and watched Will run up the slight hill near the side of the cabin. He was waving his arms and shouting at the Empties.
Through the windows at the front of the cabin, she saw the creatures turn their heads toward Will’s commotion. They remained in front of the window for another few moments before turning and heading his way.
“It’s working,” Dylan said.
“Just stay right here and wait for his signal,” Jessica said. “Then we’re going to race out through that front door and make a run for the car. Everyone understand?”
Dylan and Mary Beth nodded and Jessica turned around to Gabriel and Sarah. They were still hugging each other tightly.
“Gabriel,” Jessica said.
He looked up.
“You understand?”
He nodded. “I got it.”
“Stay focused,” she said. “There’ll be plenty of time to continue your reunion once we’re on the road.”
Later, Jessica would look back on this moment as a flag in the sand, hinting to where her life truly changed. In mere weeks, she’d transformed—from a quiet, introverted hotel desk clerk who’d mostly avoided people when she wasn’t handing them room keys and swiping their credit cards, into an independent woman with the strength to lead others through an unthinkable situation. She’d become a sort of mother to two beautiful children who’d been lost and abandoned in the cruel new world. In the days and months to come, she would smile about her change when she thought of it, taking pride in herself and her ability to adapt. But for now, her only focus was to get herself, Gabriel, and the children out of the cabin alive.
“Go!” Will’s yell came from outside. “Go now!” His voice stood out from amongst the snarling horde, and the following gunshot reaffirmed the command.
“Follow me,” Jessica said. And holding on to Dylan and Mary Beth’s hands, she ran for the door.
As she opened it, she said to the two children, “Stay behind me.”
“I’ll be watching from the back,” Gabriel said.
Jessica opened the door, but it only swung halfway before hitting something. Knowing it had to be an Empty, she pushed harder, swinging the door all the way around on its hinges and knocking the creature into the cabin wall. Its snarl confirmed it was Empty, but she didn’t turn back to look at the creature.
“Come on,” she told the children as she ran for the vehicle.
All three children cried out as they ran. Out of her peripheral vision, Jessica saw that a few of the creatures had turned back to watch them, but she just kept running.
When they reached the SUV, she opened the rear passenger side door and urged Dylan and Mary Beth inside. Gabriel followed, leading his daughter into the back seat, and then he ran around to the driver’s side.
Jessica looked to the front of the cabin to see three Empties making their way toward the SUV. Then she panned toward the side of the cabin, watching the horde of two dozen making their way toward the trees. And beyond the pack, she could see her friend—the man she loved—waving his good arm and screaming at the creatures to come and get him.
For a brief moment, she caught a peek between the members of the pack and saw Will clearly. She fought to ignore the blood rushing from his stomach and look into his eyes.
And when he saw her looking at him, he stopped waving his arm and smiled.
A tear rolled down Jessica’s cheek.
The smile on his face quickly vanished and he began waving again as he shouted, “Go now!” He shot the gun again, dropping an Empty and keeping the attention of the pack on him.
The creatures from the cabin were halfway to the vehicle now. The engine roared to life as Jessica looked at Will.
“Jessica.”
She turned her attention to Gabriel in the driver’s seat.
“Come on.”
She glanced at the snarling Empties heading her way, then loaded into the passenger seat. Before she’d even shut the door, Gabriel had punched the gas. The tail end of the SUV spun around in the gravel, taking out at least one of the creatures coming up from t
he cabin.
But Jessica ignored all that. She instead kept her eyes glued to the horde near the trees. On Will’s waving.
She watched until the vehicle had sped down the driveway and the horde went out of sight.
Then she closed her eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Empties had reached for Will as he’d stepped out the back door. He’d shoved one aside with his good arm and kicked a creature on his other side before running out into the yard, creating distance between himself and the monsters, and then he’d run around the side of the house to where he could see the horde at the front.
“Hey!” he yelled, waving at them.
The creatures from the rear of the cabin were already chasing him, and the pack up front looked over to him. One by one, most of them began to make their way toward him. He continued waving and shouting.
“Come on, you ugly fuckers!”
He drew the Glock and popped out the magazine, checking to see how many rounds he had. There were four bullets left. He popped the magazine back into the gun, pointed it into the air, and fired. Any of the creatures at the front and side of the cabin who hadn’t already been coming at him focused their attention on him now.
The front line of the horde was closing in, and Will ran toward the rear of the cabin again. While running, he pointed the gun into the air and fired another shot, hoping to keep the creatures’ attention. He turned and saw no less than thirty Empties heading his way. More than enough to have created a safe passage.
“Go!” he yelled to the group inside. “Go now!”
He looked past the oncoming storm of beasts and could see the group running to the SUV. When he squinted his eyes to see Gabriel standing next to the open driver’s side door, and Jessica next to the open passenger side door, tears came to his eyes. Through a gap in the crowd, the two of them made eye contact. For just a moment, he forgot about all of the horrors around him. About the undead horde and about everyone he’d lost. He was able, if only for a brief second, to take pride in the fact that he’d done something to allow the best friends he’d ever had and three innocent children to live. He smiled at Jessica, a woman whom he knew loved him. He only hoped that she knew he felt the same way.
Empty Bodies 6: Revelation (Empty Bodies Series Book 6) Page 16
