“Yeah,” Myron choked. “Let’s go.” He snatched the keys from Paul and bolted out the door. He didn’t stop until he hit the sidewalk.
“You sick?” Paul asked.
“No. That... that just got to me.”
“I’m sorry. Do you have a kid?”
“No.” Myron shook his head. “You don’t need to be a parent to see how horrible that was. How really screwed up this is.”
“You’re gonna see that a lot. You’ll get used to it.”
“No I won’t. I won’t let myself.”
Paul followed Myron to the car. “How do you propose to do that?”
“By remembering they aren’t just bodies, they’re kids. People are dying, they have died, but we can’t die inside, dude, we can’t.” He opened the car door and got inside. The moment he did, he looked in the rearview mirror and saw the two car seats in the back. Immediately he opened the car door.
“What are you doing?” Paul asked.
Without answering, Myron opened up the back door and undid the car seats, removing them one at a time and placing them by the back gate.
“You alright?” Paul asked him when he got back in the car.
“Yeah,” Myron stared the ignition and pulled out.
He wasn’t.
Something had changed in Myron. Before that, Myron was confident, felt lucky to be alive and invincible. His focus was purely on survival. Everything that was happening was like a fleeting moment in a video game. Until he stepped into that end unit and looked at that sofa and all of a sudden a different reality hit him.
Seeing the children was heartbreaking and the sight of the car seats only sealed the deal in the devastating reality department.
Life as he knew it was done. It would never be the same. It wasn’t a video game. In the end, no matter how he viewed it, there wasn’t a positive outcome. There were no winners, no victories, and everyone lost.
Seven – Snack Cakes
No one had a working phone and Grace wanted to kick herself for not listening to her father all those years ago when he said, ‘No matter how high tech things get always have a paper map’.
One of those would had come in handy.
The mob of infected didn’t follow them far and Grace was able to pull off the highway and navigate to a main road. Though she was familiar with the area, Grace knew she was far from Canonsburg Hospital. There was another around somewhere, she was certain.
There was a problem. Macy had come out of her drug induced slumber and began to freak out. Her breathing was loud and she outstretched her arms, swinging to get free from the car seat.
It wasn’t Max that she wanted, she was trying for Eugene and Candice in the front seat.
“Okay, Okay,” Max reached out to Macy. “Calm. Come on. Calm down.”
The child was loud, and his attempts to appease her failed.
“She’s hurting herself,’ Max said. “The straps are cutting into her.”
“What can I do?” Grace asked.
“I can’t believe you brought her.”
“What was I supposed to do?” Grace snapped.
“Leave her.”
“Hey!” Candice yelled. “That’s my sister! We weren’t leaving her.”
“I wasn’t leaving my child,” Grace argued. “No one told you to come. I stopped for you. Deal with it.”
Eugene turned around and looked at Max. “She’ll wear down, she has to. She’s a child.”
“A dog with rabies doesn’t wear down,” Max said. “That’s what this is like.”
The car slowed and then came to a halt.
Eugene asked. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”
“We’re out of gas.” Grace tossed the car in gear and opened the car door. “If we’re out of gas,” Max said, “why did she stop on a downhill?” He stopped talking when the backdoor opened with a vengeance.
Grace ran her hand over her forehead and tucked her hair behind her ears to keep it from her face. She reached in for her thrashing daughter. “It’s okay, sweetie. ”
Grace fumbled with the child, feeling her face and neck. She pulled on the straps to relieve her and even placed her lips to the top of the little girl’s head. Please. Please, Macy. I love you.”
She reached for the buckle on the car seat straps. Her hand shaking, Grace froze, and after closing her eyes tight, she brought her hand to her mouth, backed up and slammed the door.
Grace was crouched down, back against the door, head to her knees, when Eugene approached her. She was sobbing. Being a father, Eugene could only imagine what she was going through, especially with a child as young as Macy.
It was a lot for anyone to handle.
“Hey,” he said softly, standing before her.
Grace ran her face against her arm and looked up. “What am I doing, Eugene? Huh? She doesn’t know who I am, but I can’t stop being her mother.”
Eugene hiked up his slacks and crouched down next to her. “There is no way you can stop being her mother.’
“I heard her scream, make that sound, and for a second, for the sake of everyone I was … oh my God, I thought of taking her out and leaving her. But I can’t do that. I can’t.”
“No one is asking you to do that, Grace. Don’t confuse Max’s sarcasm and callous snippets for him telling you to leave your child.”
“But I am I wrong? You’re a parent Eugene, am I wrong? She’s so sick, feverish, I mean out of control fevered and her neck… her neck is black now with these lumps. Am I keeping her with us for me or her?”
“Oh, Grace.” He placed his hand on her head. “This is a very young child. You can’t put her out of her misery like some animal. I can’t say I would give up hope either, not while she’s still breathing.” Eugene stood. “I just met you and I’m not ready to give up hope yet. Hell, I give up here at this moment, I’m giving up on all moments ahead of us.” He extended his hand. “Come on, I’ll drive.”
Grace took his hand and pulled herself up. “We’re out of gas,” she reminded him.
“We’re on a pretty big hill and I see a gas station at the bottom. We’ll get Max to give us a push and drift our way down there.”
“Think they’ll have power?”
“We can hope.”
It was an oasis. The big red Shotz sign beckoned them. It was more than a gas station, it was a convenience store and one of those places late night patrons stopped for mediocre made to order sandwiches at three in the morning.
Perched in the ‘V’ of two hills, almost as if it were strategically placed for those who ran out of gas, it was a mini reprieve and salvation. No sign of any infected around.
Candice in her youthful wisdom said, “The infected don’t walk good. The hills are tough. I bet steps are tough too.”
“Unless they’re running,” Grace added. “They run very well.”
“They need a reason though,” Candice said. “If they can’t see a reason they won’t run.”
It was frightening. After the initial push, which Eugene said they actually didn’t need, the car picked up speed. Fortunately, when the car ran out of gas, Grace saw it coming, felt it coming, and stopped before she could use the last little bit of power to the brakes.
To be on the safe side, Grace and Candice sat strapped in the back.
The car turned over once more, shuddered off, Eugene put it in drive, and Max pushed.
They glided, picking up speed, and Grace could see Eugene had a hard time steering. He pumped the last little bit of fuel into the brakes and cut the car wide and hard so the momentum of the moving vehicle made it up the small ramp into the parking lot of the gas station.
It was a hard stop using the emergency brake, and they overshot the gas pumps, nearly careening into the window of the store.
“Everyone all right?” Eugene asked.
“Yes,” Grace answered. She looked out to double check for any infected.
“We can roll the car to a pump.” Eugene peered through the windshield.
“No one is in there.”
“Can you see if there is power?”
With a smile, Eugene looked back. “Lights are on above the Slushy machine. Won’t heal the wounds but I bet a Slushy would make you feel better, Candice.”
“I’ll go in first,” Grace said, opening the car door. “Just in case. Candice, sit up front with Eugene.”
“You sure?”
“It’s safer for me or… shit. Max.” Grace ushered Candice into the front seat while looking for Max. With all the excitement of rolling without control down the hill, she’d forgotten about him.
It was conceivable that he fell after the push and was lying on the roadway. He was already injured. Grace rushed to the driver’s door. “Eugene, did you see Max in the rearview mirror?”
“I didn’t look,” Eugene answered.
The parking lot was huge. Eyes focused forward, Grace walked toward the road and stopped when she saw Max hobbling toward her. He lifted his hand in a signal.
Grace waited for him and he arrived out of breath.
“You alright?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he cringed. “Add, uh, banged up knees to my laundry list of injuries.”
“When we get to the hospital we’ll have them check you out.”
“Um… yeah. Looks like you overshot the pumps.”
“Eugene said we can push the car back. Store has power. Doesn’t look on out here, but the Slushy machine light is on.”
“We’ll go in and turn on the pumps.”
“Do you know how?” she asked.
“Yeah, I do. We need to make sure there are no infected inside, once we do, your daughter can wait in there. Maybe you two can load up on supplies. The non-sick daughter I mean.”
Slightly irritated by that, Grace commented, “I figured that’s what you meant. Let’s go check out the store.”
“Do you have your gun?”
“What gun?” Grace asked.
“You brought a gun with you when you left your home, right?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t own a gun.”
“Weapon. What weapon did you bring?”
“I didn’t.”
“You took your kid out in this without a weapon?”
“I don’t need one.”
“Yeah, you do, for her. What do you have in your trunk that can be used?”
“I have a snow brush.”
“Forget it,” Max walked to the store. “We’ll find something in there.”
Before opening the door, he looked into the windows. “It looks clear.” He pulled on the door. “Locked.” He grabbed the garbage can and aimed it at the far window instead of the door.
“Wait, if you break that, won’t the alarms go off? We don’t want to ring the dinner bell for every infected in the area.”
“No, they’ll ring silent to the alarm station. I worked at a Shotz when they first opened up. “Step back.”
Max awkwardly hurled the can into the window. Grace ducked when the glass shattered.
Telling her to hang back, Max climbed through. Grace watched as he fiddled with something behind the register and then walked to the door, reaching up to the arch. When he did, she saw the blood on his hands.
He opened the door.
“Add lacerations to your injury list?”
“Yep.” He wiped the blood on his pant leg. “I’ll check the back.”
It took a few moments. Grace stayed in the main part of the darkened store watching her daughter in the car. Soon the lights all came on and Max returned. He told her it was clear and instructed her to get Candice while he authorized a pump. She went out to get her daughter and brought her into the store.
“Get what food and drinks you can,” Grace said, reaching for bags on the counter. When she did she noticed the rack of phone chargers and she grabbed a few then handed Candice the bags. Candice was literally like a kid in a candy store, she took off down the aisle.
Max and Eugene moved the car to a pump while Grace stayed inside. She wasn’t as diligent in grabbing items as Candice was, her focus still on the car and thinking of Macy inside.
Max came in first while Eugene pumped.
“I’m gonna try to wash up. The refrigerators are still working if you want to grab some premade food from the cooking area.” He walked away, telling Candice not to grab only junk.
Grace acknowledged what he said but when she saw Eugene replacing the pump nozzle, she walked outside and to the car.
“I was coming in,” Eugene said. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. I’m gonna wait out here with Macy. Do you mind?”
“No. Do you need anything specific?”
“Not really, I grabbed these.” She lifted the chargers.
“Excellent. Maybe once we stop I’ll charge mine.” Eugene walked off toward the store.
Grace thought about his words. Once they stopped. Stopped where? She knew they were going to try to find a medical center or hospital in the area, but after that, they were still a short distance from the one shelter.
Without anyone in the car, Macy calmed down. Grace could see the bloodstained clothes of the baby from where the straps cut into her body. She opened the car door, reached for the center console, and pulled out the travel pack of wipes.
After climbing in the back seat, Grace pulled out a wipe, raised the strap, and wiped under Macy’s shirt. The child didn’t react to pain or her touch.
Grace wiped off her fevered face, the moist wipe seemed to dry instantaneously. She stared into her daughter’s eyes, trying to make a connection with her. It was useless. Grace trembled with emotions and at a loss, stepped back out of the car.
She stayed close, standing right next to the window so Macy could see her if she wanted. Not that Macy cared.
The others were in the store a while and Grace had her moments of panic. She didn’t have a clue who those men were. It was only a little over an hour since she’d met the two strangers running for their lives. Yet, she’d not only entrusted her life with them, worse, she’d entrusted her daughters’ lives. A part of her felt insane, then a wave of neurosis hit her. They were taking a while.
All of a sudden worry for Macy turned to worry for Candice. Her nine-year-old daughter was alone in the store with two strange men. What if they were hurting her? Her heart beat out of control. Convinced they were doing something vile to her child, Grace ran for the store.
When she was not even ten feet from the car, they all emerged, all loaded up.
Candice was holding bags in her tiny hands along with a Slushy cup that looked as big as she was.
“Look at all we got, Mommy.”
“Something wrong?” Eugene asked when he got a look at Grace’s face.
“Um, no.” Grace bit her lip.
“You were running. Did you have to use the bathroom?”
“I wanted to make sure you guys got paper towels. Candice, get in the car. Can… can you drive?” she asked Eugene. “I’m not thinking clearly.”
“Sure.” He walked to the driver’s side.
Max toted not only bags, but a drink carrier as well. Grace was ready to get in the back of the car when he stopped her and showed her the carrier with coffee. “I waited until it was brewed.”
“You made me coffee.”
“And a burrito. Heated. I’ll give it to you in the car. I figured you were hungry.”
“That was nice. Thank you.”
Max nodded. The front passenger door was open and he reached in, setting things down and giving them to Candice. “Before we go, you might want to do your thing.” He handed Grace a bag.
Looking at him questioningly, Grace glanced into the bag. She reached in, pulling out a bottle of Benadryl.
“And there’s children’s fever reducer, too. Eugene said that’s all they had.” Without saying more, Max got in the car.
No sooner were the others in the car than Macy began to get agitated. When that happened, Max, Eugene, and Candice quickly exited, waited fo
r Macy to calm down, and then Grace was able to medicate her with ease.
After she had done so, she clutched the bottle of medicine and looked at the three of them. Grace was thankful, and felt a twinge of guilt for thinking the worst of the two strangers.
They all got back in the car, slightly reinvigorated and ready to go.
“Do we know where the hospital is?” Max asked.
“No. I grabbed that atlas in there though. Didn’t even think they made them anymore,” Eugene said. “Why don’t one of you take a peek? I’m sure there’s an index in the back.”
“I’ll look,” Grace said softly, reaching for the atlas.
Max handed it to her then rested his arm on the seat he shared with Candice. “Find that hospital, I’m pretty sure I need stitches. What do you think?” he showed his hand to Candice.
“Oh, gross,” she muttered.
Eugene pulled the car from the gas station. Grace didn’t say much. She had reached a point where she was too emotional, tired, and confused to speak. She sat in the back, hand on her daughter’s leg waiting for the medication to kick in.
They were on their way to find help. God willing, there would be help to find.
Seven – Seek and Find
They took what they needed and could carry, but they didn’t empty the store. Myron made it a point to show Paul every time he saw someone in a window. Someone not infected. They were waiting it out, finding a sense of safety on a higher floor.
When Paul and Myron returned, they were shocked at the number of infected that had congregated around the school. In only a little under two hours, the numbers had doubled.
Getting close to the school was difficult and they had to plow through the infected to get to the back area, where they pulled the car into the playground, then backed it against the fence.
Their behavior had changed. The infected grew agitated when Paul and Myron invaded their space. While they still didn’t attack or rage after them, they swung out defensively.
“This isn’t good,” Paul told Myron. “We have no means to get out of this building. We have to think of something.”
“You saw that woman,” Myron replied. “Honestly, you’re a medical professional. How long will she last?”
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