The Break Free Trilogy (Book 3): Through The Frozen Dawn

by Fitch, E. M.

  "In the buses!"

  "Everyone, move!"

  She stood, her eyes raking over the borders of the Circle. Disembodied arms were pressing between the vehicles, flesh caked under dirty fingernails.

  "Is this you?" Patricia screamed, rounding on Michael. Her eyes were bloodshot, wielding around the circle and the press of the infected bodies. "Did you do this?"

  Her cries rose above the moans. Someone was tugging on Kaylee's arm and she spun, her fingers wrapping around the etched handle of her gun. Anna's eye were wide and fearful. "Help me," she mouthed. Her words were swallowed in a burst of noise from a backfiring engine.

  Kaylee stooped and pulled one of Andrew's arms over her shoulder. Anna took his other side. The tube that hung from his chest swung freely. There was no time to secure it. Anna put the mouth of the bottle between her teeth and bit, keeping it from sloshing as she and Kaylee dragged Andrew to the nearest vehicle.

  Kaylee almost dropped Andrew as she reached out to bang on the closed doors. The school bus wasn't full, only a few bodies were perched inside, staring at Kaylee and Anna. They weren't moving to help.

  "Open the doors!" Anna shouted, hefting Andrew up on her shoulder. Her words were lost in the noise of the infected. No one inside the bus moved.

  "Get out of my way," someone hissed, pushing the group to the side. Patricia moved in front of them and the doors slid open. Kaylee grabbed them after Patricia had gone through. She held it open, glaring at the people inside, daring them to force her to leave.

  No one left their seats.

  Kaylee and Anna struggled to get Andrew on board. He was awake now, groaning and coughing. Anna dropped him as soon as they were up the steps, rolling him to his back and getting the tubing back in the water bottle. Moments later the bus jerked to a move, the driver falling in line behind the other vehicles that had comprised the Circle, leaving the infected behind.

  Murmurs began low and then grew in volume, finally breaking over the noise of the engine, the bumps of the shocks along the road.

  "What happened?" Kaylee whispered, looking to Anna. She shook her head.

  "It was so fast," Anna answered. "There were look outs and everything but it was so fast."

  Kaylee sat back, her hand resting reflexively on Andrew's chest, counting the breaths as they passed through his lungs. She counted a dozen before someone spoke.

  "Where's James?"

  Patricia kept her eyes forward, through the windshield and to the road. The rest of the group was behind her, but Kaylee and Anna looked up into her face. Her teeth were grit, her jaw tight. "He's gone."

  "Bit? Or-"

  "Gone. Dead," she answered. "Doesn't matter how."

  "I say it damn well does matter!"

  Kaylee looked passed Patricia to the man now standing in the bus aisle. He kept his fists clenched at his sides and Kaylee got the impression he was ready to jump Patricia.

  "Michael says bit," Patricia said, turning for the first time and staring down the man in the aisle. "He was my cousin. Sit your ass down, Tony."

  Tony looked like he was chewing his words with distaste; but he did sit, fuming.

  "Where are we going?" Andrew whispered. Kaylee hadn't realized he was awake. She bent low to his ear.

  "We got overrun. It's okay, we're safe."

  "My dad," he said, turning to look at her. She caught his gaze and held.

  "I'll help you look. We will," Kaylee promised. "But you have to heal first. We need you safe."

  Andrew let his head roll to the other side, his eyes clenched tightly shut.

  They drove for two hours, stopping inside a gated area that had once been a impound lot. The fencing was in good repair and the back part of the lot was bordered by a cinder block wall. The vehicles pulled into a wide circle, leaving a couple strategic gaps between bumpers. As soon as the wheels stopped, the people were out. A fire was started in a steel drum, already in place in the center of the Circle. Women pulled pots and pans out of the back seats of rusted cars. Some grabbed other bags, all wrapped in plastic sheeting. It must have been a well used position. They seemed to have several of them, wandering nomads with seasonal homes.

  Kaylee helped ease Andrew out of the bus. His breathing was coming easier and he insisted on being propped up. Anna seemed to think this was a good idea. The rest of the people ignored them. Kaylee looked around, quickly assessing the group and trying to find Rebecca, the only friendly person so far. At first glance, she didn't see her. But many of the people had left the Circle, out hunting for whatever belongings they had stashed the last time they were camped here.

  Kaylee checked the chamber of her handgun and after a quick nod to Anna, slipped out behind the bus. She had a feeling this was a fend-for-yourself kind of group and there was no guarantee anyone would offer them food or supplies again. They would be grieving tonight. James was lost, others as well. Kaylee didn't know them. But she knew the effect of massive loss on group morale. The images of her loved ones; her parents, Quinton, friends she had seen bitten, friends who had tried to bite her; they flashed in her thoughts and she uttered a quick, all encompassing prayer before shutting that part of her mind down. For the first time in a long time, she felt her fingers drifting subconsciously to her pocket, to the hard, oval imprint of her mother's St. Jude medal that resided there.

  St. Jude, protect us all.

  The patron saint of impossible causes, it seemed fitting that it was he who would land in her pocket.

  The impound lot was locked up, chains slung loosely through the sliding fence at the entrance. A man stood there, propped against the chainlink fence, a gun leaning against the links next to him.

  "Can I get out?" she asked, nodding towards the locked gate. He looked her up and down, taking his time, and then spit on the ground at her feet.

  "Once it's locked, it's locked," he said, grunting. "I don't make the rules."

  Kaylee didn't bother arguing. She turned and headed for the back of the lot. People watched her suspiciously as she wove through the abandoned cars. One woman shielded the trunk she was rooting through from view, as though Kaylee might reach over and snatch whatever she wanted. Kaylee didn't make eye contact. She headed for the cinderblock wall. She was tired and grungy. She knew she shouldn't be so hungry, not after the venison she had breakfast, but still her stomach felt hollow. Anna would need food too, and Andrew. There was a pile up of rusted cars pushed back against the wall. She climbed to the hood of one, then onto the roof. She reached for the top of the wall and hoisted herself up, not bothering to ask anyone's permission.

  Whatever was stored in the lot would already be claimed. She would take her chances in the streets.

  She had no idea where they were, possible South Dakota, maybe even Wyoming. She hadn't been paying attention to how far they had traveled. She only knew the goal was Alaska. Or, that had been the goal. The wind gusted around her, her hair flying back from her face. It was cold. Snow would be falling soon and what then? How would she find her sister and Jack?

  The streets around her were abandoned and the the stores looked looted. Window were broken out, leaves and debris had drifted into the aisles. Kaylee didn't bother with those. She saw a side street ahead, lined with small homes. She took off on a jog, grimacing into the slight wind. Her muscles warmed as she ran, aching in that familiar way. She was sore from chasing those men through the woods, her body still healing from the exertion and terror of that night. But still, it felt good to stretch, to move free of prying eyes. She kept her breathing even and soft, jogging to a stop at the front step of the first home. The screen door hung off its hinges but the door behind it was locked when Kaylee pressed on it. She figured that was a good thing, maybe nothing was wandering inside. She snuck to the back, her footsteps light on the dry grass. All the windows were intact, the back door still shut.

  Kaylee picked a rock out of an overgrown flower garden. It had once been artistically placed, now it was nearly covered with overgrown weeds and out of con
trol grass. She hurled it through the back door window. She waited, ears pricked for the telltale shuffling, the moans that rose when the infected sensed food was near. There was nothing. The door swung open on creaking hinges as soon as she unbolted it. Her nose wrinkled as she moved into the dusty home, something smelled strongly of rot. She blinked, momentarily blinded by the water that rose in her eyes at the smell. She let the door hang open, hoping to clear whatever odor it was that hung around the house.

  Her muscles locked when she heard the groans. She was poised to run, gun in her hand. But she couldn't pinpoint the source of the moans. Outside the wind rustled through dead branches, leaves kicked over the brown lawn. There was a soft cry of birdsong before that fell quiet, too. No, the creature was inside.

  But it wasn't coming closer.

  Kaylee moved cautiously towards the kitchen cupboards, gritting her teeth as they slid open on creaky hinges. There were two cans of peaches, several cans of baked beans, and a jar of tomato paste. In the next, she found a large box of unopened granola bars and she forgot the moaning for a moment as she ripped one open, shoving the entire thing in her mouth. The groaning shifted, now accompanied by a loud scraping. Kaylee swallowed roughly and pressed forward. If the creature got any louder, she was afraid it might attract others. There was a short, narrow hall off the kitchen, a door on either side. She pressed her ear to each door, pausing for a moment, but the sounds were coming from deeper in the house.

  She stepped into a small living room next, saw a gingham couch and matching curtains that were faded badly and now hung limp in the dirty windows. The smell of rot was intensifying, growing with each step she took and she gagged, not willing to throw up the food she just ate. She took a shallow breath through her mouth and moved forward.

  She didn't need to open the next door, it already hung ajar, the body inside moving in restless agitation.

  It had been a boy's room and he had been young. Younger than she when the infection hit. He had liked astronomy, one wall was painted a dark blue and had constellations stenciled in neat lines, faded glow-in-the-dark stars glued between them. In one corner, a busted solar system model made of painted styrofoam balls hung limply from the ceiling. Mars had fallen off and had rolled towards the bed.

  He was strapped down, his arms pinned to his sides with leather straps, his torso and feet secured to the bed frame. He snarled at her when she drew closer. She could still see the pattern of the Buzz Lightyear pajamas someone had put him in. Next to his bed, on a nightstand; a glass, a plate with food left to disintegrate, a bottle of children's Tylenol all sat covered in dust.

  "Who left you here?" she found herself whispering, staring down at the yellow-eyed boy. At her voice, he thrashed on the bed, snarling and snapping his teeth in her direction. His guttural moans were feverish with hunger, desire. And yet pity stirred her. Her eyes cast around the room, landing on a baseball bat. Kaylee's gut clenched. She grit her teeth.

  No.

  She backed out, moving quickly towards the kitchen. She pulled the drawers out so forcefully that they flung out from the cabinets, landing with a crash on the linoleum floor. A long, metal skewer landed at her feet. She bent over and picked it out of the scattered utensils.

  It was quick and easy. He was thrashing and keeling one moment, still and gone the next. She pulled the skewer from his eye socket and let it fall to the dusty carpet at her feet.

  For the first time, she was thankful that Jack had shot her mother.

  ~

  The Squatters stayed camped in the impound lot for the next week. Kaylee spent her days in the surrounding area. Most of the other people didn't leave the encampment. A few ventured out in groups, scouting along the roadways for anything useful. There had been a celebration the night someone brought home a case of whiskey and offered to share, everyone cheering.

  The fire roared loudly that night, built up to bonfire height. Everyone sat around it, passing a bottle through the circle. When it got to Kaylee, she sipped at it. The liquor curled in her gut and she passed on the next go around. Andrew didn't shy away.

  His side was much better. Anna had taken the tubing out of him after three days. She spent every morning and evening listening to his chest, pushing him to hydrate. Kaylee could see how much the mothering was annoying him. He was restless and agitated, wanting to be on the move.

  "It'd be safer if we had a base camp," Kaylee had said to him one night. His face was healing, a smattering of purple and yellow painted his skin, like a bizarre stage actor. Anna had drifted off to sit with Rebecca. She had made it during the last escape and had sought them out after that first night. She camped near them, sharing cooking utensils with their group.

  Andrew had nodded, his eyes casting about the small space. The thirty or so people seemed less of a group and more of a wandering side show, each with their own agenda and none with a plan. They all came together at night, slept in the relative safety of numbers, but during the day they scavenged. Not collectively, but for their own selves. While Kaylee had been outside the compound she had come across men from the Circle twice, watching her guardedly, waiting for her to move on so they could access their hiding spots.

  To their credit, none of them had tried to steal from Kaylee, Anna, or Andrew. One of the men had admired Kaylee's gun. She had thanked him and he moved on. They didn't share what they had, expect for Rebecca, but they didn't try to take what wasn't theirs either.

  Though Kaylee was a little worried about her new acquisition. It had taken her all day to get it. She had thought she saw a handlebar poking from beneath the rubbish of a trampled shed and had spent a good part of the day digging out what turned out to be a motorcycle in decent condition. The roof of the shed it had been stored in had collapsed completely on top of it and kept the body sheltered from the weather.

  It had kept it hidden as well. Kaylee didn't see anyone else while she had been digging it free of the rotted boards and collapsed siding of the shed, but she hadn't been sure. It was outside the Circle now, laid on its side behind some bushes one street over. It wouldn't do much good getting all of them out of there. But, as Kaylee said, a base group could be useful. Andrew needed to start searching for his father. And, if they could get far enough, Kaylee needed to look for her sister and Jack.

  Patricia's voice rang in Kaylee's head each night as she went to sleep.

  Back there? There's nothing there.

  They had to be wrong. Jack had been on his own before, forced into the woods and living off the land as best he could. He was a survivor, he could do it again.

  But he was hurt, unable to run. Just as Emma was.

  A thrill of fear coursed through her whenever she thought about it, twisting in her chest. What if they were caught unaware? Overrun? Could the infected have found their way into that attic and cornered them? Climbed over their own broken bodies to break through into that tight space?

  And if they survived the initial run of infected, they couldn't have stayed there, where would they have gone?

  Even with the motorcycle, it was a risk going after any of them. They could make it back to the Walmart in a night. Back to the town they had stayed in? Probably not. Still, they had to try.

  "I promised Anna one more day," Andrew said, taking another slug of whiskey. "Tomorrow night, we go."

  Kaylee nodded, her eyes focused on the leaping flame that warmed the night air in front of her.

  ~

  It took Andrew a couple times to get the motorcycle going. Kaylee noticed he was breathing heavily after his attempts but he gestured at her impatiently. She got on behind him. He had left his leather jacket behind so Kaylee had found him a replacement, a warmer ski jacket. He would need it soon anyway.

  "Be back by dawn, please," Anna said. She passed the backpack she was holding over to Kaylee. Andrew nodded. Kaylee had a sudden, flaring desire for a car. She didn't want to leave Anna behind, didn't want to split the group further than they already had. But she had tried every car within wal
king distance, they had all been stripped for parts.

  They had a plan, at least. If Anna had to leave, if the Circle got overrun, or attacked in some way and they needed to leave, Anna wouldn't go with them. She'd break back, circle around, and find a way to get to the Wal-mart. They had a rendezvous point. It was something.

  The motorcycle jerked underneath them and then started forward. Kaylee let her hands rest at her hips, gripping the seat. She didn't want to grab Andrew, hurt his healing chest in some way. He took it slow, weaving around the parked cars and debris that littered the road. The encampment fell behind them and there was nothing but dark, open road and the occasional bit of rotting limb that reached forward when the headlights swept over them.

  Chapter 9

  Emma's distraction had worked, the road was cleared for several miles. Even when the bodies appeared again, Jack was able to weave through. Emma still didn't understand it, how before there had been almost no infected, and now they were literally overrun.

  The bodies were everywhere, but the road stayed mercifully empty. They took turns driving.

  "You do know how to drive, don't you?" Jack had asked, yawning as he switched places with her. She screwed up her face.

  "What, you mean conceptually?"

  He chuckled lowly before resting his head back.

  It didn't seem to surprise Jack when they drove up to a fence. It was chain-link in places, cement blocks in other places, stretching out over the road and disappearing into the trees on either side.

  "Did we pass a fence getting into this town?" Emma asked, staring up at the tall, imposing structure. Jack shook his head.

  "No, but after The Mill we were coming from that marsh. No need to fence a barricade like that one. I figured it had to be something like this," he said, opening his car door and stepping out to get a better look. The overhead light from the car came on and cast a soft glow on the surrounding asphalt. Emma heard the snap of nearby teeth but the light wasn't bright enough to really wake them.