They both started jumping up and down, waving their hands, and yelling. As the car came closer they almost fell over in joy. They wouldn’t have to walk anymore, and they wouldn’t have to worry about the bad people running after them. The car came closer and moved to the other side of the road. They saw the driver look at them, and then he was past them, driving into the distance.
Mattie dropped to his knees, and wailed. He tried to say something, but Sarah couldn’t understand him. She sat down and pulled him onto her lap. They both sat there crying, not understanding how the driver could have missed them.
They slowly stopped crying, simply sitting there sobbing and heaving, wishing someone anyone was there to tell them everything was all right, and to take them away from the road, or even just to hold them.
**
It began getting dark Sarah stood up and brushed the gravel off her pants and skirt. She picked Mattie up and brushed the dust off of him. She used a tissue to wipe his face, just like Mom used to. “Come on Mattie lets go into the woods a little ways and have supper. We can have some chocolate covered granola bars for dessert.”
Mattie just nodded, following her into the woods. He didn’t talk or do anything as Sarah handed him a sandwich. She had to hold the sandwich to his mouth and tell him to eat it. Sarah thought this must have been what Mom felt like when Mattie was a baby. She remembered how Mom had to hold the spoon and constantly talk to Mattie to get him to eat his food. No she thought, this wasn’t like that at all. Mattie had wanted to eat back then, as long as it was fruit or chocolate. Anything else and he kept his mouth closed. Now Mattie just didn’t want to do anything. It was like when she had a real life size doll. It did things if you put plastic food to its lips, or placed something in its hands. But it didn’t do anything by itself. When she had asked Dad about it he had said it was because the doll wasn’t alive. Did that mean Mattie wasn’t alive right now? Had he become a doll?
Sarah kept her thoughts to herself. She spread the blanket out on the ground and put Mattie on it. She laid down behind him, folding the blanket over top of them. Wrapping her arms around him she kissed his head and started singing. She tried to remember all the words from the lullabies Mom sang when Sarah was sick. She felt Mattie shudder as he started to cry again, and he gripped her hand tightly. Sarah kept singing, when she couldn’t remember the words she started humming until she remembered them. At some point she fell asleep, clutching Mattie’s body as tightly as he held her hand.
**
They woke up the next morning still holding each other tightly with the sun just coming over the horizon. Sarah pulled out two sandwiches and water bottles for her and Mattie. As Mattie went to the bathroom she put away the blanket. They walked back to the road stopping by a small puddle to wash their hands and faces.
Neither said anything as they walked down the road. Mattie whimpered occasionally, and looked back frequently. Sarah did as well wishing that a car would come by. They were sore from sleeping on the hard ground, and stopped frequently trying to regain feeling in their feet.
Sometime around noon, Sarah looked backwards in hope of seeing a car. She yelped when she saw two people off in the distance. Grabbing Mattie’s hand she ran off the road. They remember Mom’s instructions they didn’t let go of each other even as they tripped and fell on the rough ground. They didn’t say a word, concentrating on staying up and getting as far away from the bad people as possible.
They stopped when they finally ran out of breath. Mattie just wanted to drop, but Sarah dragged him a little farther so they could hide under a thick bush. They waited scared and shivering, not knowing if they had been seen. They both jumped as they heard a shot coming from the road. It was quickly followed by a second shot. Sarah heard some cheering.
“Mattie we’ve got to get back to the road now,” Sarah said excitedly.
“But the bad men are there.”
“Don’t you hear the shouting, they’re talking that means they’re normal people. And since they have guns that means they’re the police,” Sarah said with child logic. “They can take us to see Mom or maybe the Cabin. But we have to go now or we won’t catch them before they drive away.”
Grabbing Mattie’s hand she charged off back to the road yelling for the people to wait.
When they came to the edge of the woods they saw a woman standing beside a small camper. A bald man was looking through the two bad peoples clothing. A small pile was beside him, holding wallets, a knife, and some change. The woman pointed her rifle at the children. Sarah and Mattie stopped gasping for breath, and scared at seeing the gun pointed at them.
“Were you children bitten?” asked the woman. She was old, and her voice reminded Sarah of her kindergarten teacher who had retired at the end of school.
“No, Ma’am,” Sarah said quickly. She didn’t know why it was important, but she had seen enough movies. If someone is pointing a gun at you, you should always do what they say.
“Are these zombies your parents?” she asked.
“No, Ma’am.”
“Come up here and we’ll look you over,” the woman said with a smile.
Sarah and Mattie walked up the bank to the road. The woman watched them closely, and then holding their shoulders turned them around.
“What are you doing?” Sarah demanded spinning back to face the woman.
“I have to make sure you’re not bitten. If your bitten you’ll turn into a zombie,” the woman said, as if she were talking to a very dumb person.
“Zombies aren’t real. Our Mom said they were bad people not zombies. Zombies only exist on tv,” Sarah tried to say this in her Mom’s command voice.
The woman laughed at her, “Listen kid, I’ve just seen people running around without their throats. That means they’re dead. That means they’re ZOMBIES.”
The man walked over and placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Come on honey she’s just a scared little kid, cut her some slack.” He turned to the children. “Now I’m sorry about my wife, she’s had a very tough day. My names Jim, and my wife’s name is Beatrice. What are your names?”
Sarah looked at them both. She didn’t like Beatrice, but Jim sounded nice he reminded her of her uncle. “I’m Sarah, and this is Mattie. We’re trying to get to our Dad’s Cabin.”
Jim looked concerned, “You’re going to your cabin all by yourselves?”
“Well we were going with our parents. But Dad got attacked by the Bad People,” she emphasized the words to get back at Beatrice. “And then we ran out of gas. Mom’s leg was really hurt so she told us to walk to the Cabin, and she’d go to a hospital. We’re going to meet the Petersons’ there.” Sarah felt glad to get it all out. These people would probably help them. Even if they only drove to the dirt road that finally led to the Cabin she’d be very grateful.
Jim thought for a moment, “How far back did you start walking?”
Sarah turned on the GPS. “We’ve walked ten miles since yesterday,” she said proudly.
“That far. Wow you two are quick.”
Mattie and Sarah beamed at the praise. This was how things were suppose to work. Be polite, and forthright as Dad said, and you’ll get along fine.
Beatrice spoke up, “Jim didn’t we pass a car just a little ways down the road?”
“Why yes we did.”
“And we saw an ambulance driving back to town about twenty miles before that. You very lucky children. I’m sure that the ambulance we saw had your mother in it. Don’t you agree Jim?”
Jim broke into a grin, “You know what Beatrice I’m sure you’re right. Sarah, Mattie I’m sure your mother is at the hospital right now getting looked after by the fine doctors there.”
Sarah and Mattie looked at them in shock. Mattie smiled for the first time all day, “Do, do you really think so?”
Jim picked him up in a huge hug, “I’m sure of it.”
Sarah spoke hopefully, “Do you think you could drive us to the hospital?”
Jim’
s face fell, and he put Mattie back down. “I’m sorry little lady, but things are still kind of bad in town. All those bad people running around. Its not safe for children right now. But if you come with us, we’ll drive you to the cabin, and make sure everything is nice and safe. How does that sound?”
Sarah and Mattie looked at each other. They had really wanted to go to the hospital. But they couldn’t make it all the way back to town, especially if the bad people were still around.
“Okay,” Sarah said. “We’ll go to the Cabin with you.”
Beatrice smiled which made her wrinkled face look really friendly, “That’s wonderful. Come into the camper and I’ll get you chocolate milk, and some roast beef sandwiches.”
Jim smiled even more broadly then his wife and leaned down giving Mattie and Sarah a kiss on the forehead. He then picked each of them up and put them into the camper.
**
As they ate lunch, Jim and Beatrice told the children all about themselves. They were traveling all around the country after Jim had retired from a power plant down south. Sarah and Mattie listened amazed at all the things the old couple had seen. They’d never been out of the state, but Jim and Beatrice had swam in both oceans, and even traveled to Europe. Jim showed them his collection of coral from Florida, he gave Sarah and Mattie two of the prettiest pieces.
Sarah showed them the map to the cabin and told them about how pretty the lake was and how nice the Petersons were. Once they got there they could start a fire and cook hotdogs, and marshmallows. By that time everyone had eaten and been cleaned up.
Jim got into the drivers seat and Beatrice made sure they were buckled in safely. They didn’t have a booster seat for Mattie, but Beatrice promised them that he would be fine.
They put in some old country music to listen to as they drove. Sarah didn’t like it, but Mom listened to worse stuff, so she ignored it and looked out the window. They were driving slowly. She didn’t realize how tired she was and fell quickly fell asleep
**
Sarah woke up later and looked at her watch, it was four o’clock. They should be at the Cabin by now. She pulled out the GPS and looked at the map.
“WAIT!” she screamed. “We’ve gone too far! The Cabin is back that way,” she yelled at Jim and Beatrice, pointing back the way they came.
Beatrice turned around, “We’re not going to the cabin, so quit screaming.”
Mattie began shrieking about stopping, and Sarah screamed about the Cabin. The camper came to a hard stop. Jim and Beatrice both undid their seatbelts and walked to the back. Sarah undid her seatbelt and scurried over to Mattie to undo his.
“QUIT YOUR SCREAMING!” Jim roared and backhanded Sarah.
Sarah fell to the ground and saw stars. She tried to get up. She had to get Mattie out of here. These were bad people, they had to get away. But as she tried to stand she got dizzy and fell down again.
Beatrice grabbed a hold of Mattie who was squirming and yelling his head off. “Jim,” she shouted over the racket, “take the girl.”
Jim smiled. Sarah could just make it out through the stars that still filled her eyes. She started screaming. Jim picked her small body up easily and carried her to the bedroom. Throwing her on the bed he started talking about how bad little girls needed to be taught a lesson. Sarah could barely hear him, her ears rang, and his voice seemed far away. She crawled to the far side of the bed as he began removing his clothes.
Sarah’s mind cleared as the terror washed over her. Her back hit the wall, and she felt something cold against her back. The knife. She reached behind her and tried to undo the catch.
Jim laughed as she seemed to be fumbling with her clothes, “You’re that eager to be punished its my lucky day.”
He came forward, his leering face made Sarah want to curl up and hide. The knife came out. She remembered how Mom had told her to hit anyone bad with it, just like she did to the bad woman. Sarah brought the knife down trying to slam it into his skull.
Jim screamed as the knife caught him on the head. Sarah didn’t have the muscle to go through the skull, but the knife was sharp. It pierced the skin, and went down. Sarah screamed with Jim as the knife slid under skin and kept going cutting the ear, and finally stopping at Jims cheek.
Jim dropped, howling in agony. Sarah’s arms were covered in his blood. She stood up, and ran from the room screaming like a banshee. She dodged around Beatrice, as the old woman ran into the small bedroom to see what had happened to her husband. Mattie was running right behind Beatrice, intent on protecting his sister. Sarah grabbed his hand and rushed to the door. Opening it they both ran as fast as they could into the woods to escape.
**
“Sarah were are we?” Mattie asked.
“We’re on the road to the Cabin,” Sarah answered.
It was several hours since they had run from Jim and Beatrice. Sarah didn’t know how long exactly. Her beautiful amethyst watch had hit something as they ran. It had stopped at 4:10. The GPS was still in the camper, and so were their book bags. Sarah wished she had remembered to grab at least one of the bags. But she had just wanted to run away. She hadn’t been thinking, she had only thought of getting Mattie and escaping. So they were now huddled under a bush with no food, no blanket, and only her memory about how to get to the Cabin.
Sarah tried to remember the GPS map. It had said they were forty miles from the Cabin. If they kept walking down the road they would probably reach it. But they didn’t have any food or anything. And the bad people were still around. Why did Jim and Beatrice have to be so bad? It wasn’t fair. How would Mom and Dad find them now? They would have to get a ride if they wanted to make it to the Cabin. But what if they were picked up by another bad person. She had lost the knife.
As she and Mattie clung together for warmth, Sarah began to cry.
**
The next day was very bad. Sarah and Mattie walked along the highway in the rain. They were hungry, and tired, and cold, and sore. Sarah’s face hurt, her lips were swollen and bloody. She kept her head bent as she walked to keep the rain off, the raindrops hurt her bruise. Mattie held his arm as he walked. It was a deep purple from where Beatrice had grabbed him. Sarah had looked at it earlier but couldn’t do anything to help.
She wondered what Mom would say when they finally made it to the Cabin. Sarah didn’t feel like a big girl anymore. She didn’t want Mom to see that she had let Mattie get hurt. Would she ground Sarah for getting into a fight? Sarah knew she had really hurt Jim, would the police come and get her. Sarah didn’t want to go to jail. But if it would get them to the Cabin she wouldn’t mind getting grounded. She just wanted to see Mom again.
Matt pulled out his toy communicator. He looked at it for a long time without pressing its button. “Sarah,” he finally said, “are the bad people zombies?”
Sarah looked at her little brother, “Mom said they weren’t. But Dad said they were. I don’t know anymore.”
Mattie nodded his head, “I think they’re zombies.”
Sarah just held his hand and kept walking.
A little while later Matt turned his toy on. “Mattie calling Commander,” he said, and pressed the button.
“Commander here,” the communicator said.
“Commander we need your help. Sarah and I are lost and can’t get to the Cabin. Can you help us.”
“I have a plan,” the communicator said.
Mattie turned to Sarah a huge smile on his tiny face, “We’re saved the Commander is coming.”
Sarah stopped and looked at Mattie. “The Commander isn’t coming. He's not real. He's just on tv.”
Mattie scrunched up his face trying to make himself look more important. “Zombies aren’t real either, but they’re here. So the Commander must be real too. And he just said he had a plan. So we’re going be safe soon.”
Sarah threw up her hands. “FINE!” she shouted. “The Commander is on the way and everything will be all right. But until they get here we have to keep walking.”
<
br /> Mattie started crying, but he took Sarah’s hand and started walking again. He muttered under his breath, “If zombies are real so is the Commander, and he said he has a plan.”
**
They stopped that night, and once again tried to sleep under some bushes. It had finally stopped raining a little while before sunset. Mattie had kept looking to the sky hoping to see the Commander or one of his warriors. Sarah just looked for cars.
Before they fell asleep Mattie pulled out the communicator again. “Mattie to Commander, we’re under some bushes by the highway. We saw a sign saying 80mph just down the road. We’re waiting for you.”
He pressed the button, “We’re on our way.”
Sarah tried to smile. She hugged Mattie and sang to him until he was asleep. She stayed up a lot longer crying.
**
They woke up very hungry to a bright sunny day. After the cold night of sleeping in damp clothes they laid by the side of the road letting the warm sun dry them off and warm their bodies.
Dying Time Page 4
