“Okay.”
Dutifully, Amy lay back and stared at the twinkling sky, hoping that sleep would come. She stared and stared.
Then stared some more.
Finally, out of sheer desperation, she began counting imaginary sheep leaping over an imaginary brown picket fence.
That never worked, even when I was a kid.
And for some morbid reason, all of the plump sheep had Patrick’s frantic expression plastered on their faces.
With a soft groan, she lifted her head and checked the time. It was nearly four in the morning. She’d been staring at the sky and counting humanoid sheep for almost two hours . . .
Loud snores from the front and back rattled the car windows, adding to Amy’s agitation. She’d only recently discovered that dogs were sometimes the worst offenders. When she’d first found out, it had mildly amused her.
But tonight? Not so much.
“Oh, quiet down, the both of you,” she muttered, sitting up in her seat. There was no way to catch a wink, not while Justin and Walter insisted on performing their dramatic duet. She had no choice but to return to the basement.
Silently, she stepped out of the car and shuffled back into the mansion, wincing as she tiptoed down the creaky basement stairs. Daniel and Marie were most likely asleep, and the last thing she wanted was to disturb her friends and wake them up. Carefully, she opened the door and crept in.
To her relief, the glow sticks still provided sufficient lighting, enough for her to see where she was going. She wouldn’t cause unnecessary noise by walking headfirst into the bars, then. Quickening her footsteps, she aimed straight for the blankets strewn across the corridor. Sleep, blessed sleep, was just within her reach . . .
As soon as she lay down and closed her eyes, a soft noise disturbed the still air in the basement. Her eyes flew open. There was that noise again.
Kack.
Like a gagging sound.
Kack. Kaaaack.
Puzzled, she sat up and cocked her head, listening. Was Marie choking on her saliva? Or was her friend having a bad dream?
Worried, Amy clambered to the door and peered intently through the bars. Daniel was slouched against the wall, his head leaning to the side. The poor man had succumbed to his exhaustion. To his left, Marie was struggling to sit up, her back hunched as she continued making those eerie, gagging sounds.
“Marie?” Suddenly afraid, Amy grabbed the bars, pressing her face against them. “Marie,” she whispered again. “Are you okay? Do you need some water?”
The Korean woman didn’t answer.
It was time to wake her husband up. “Daniel!” Amy hissed. “Wake up, damn you. Your wife is choking.”
Slowly, he lifted his head and blinked twice. When his wife continued gagging beside him, his eyes narrowed as he reached for his fire poker.
“What are you doing?” Amy yelled. “Have you gone insane?”
Much like his wife, he didn’t answer.
At the same time Amy ran into the room, Marie fell silent. Daniel and Amy froze on the spot, watching as Marie’s movements stilled, then stopped altogether.
Seconds passed, long and torturous.
Amy decided to try once more. “Marie?” she called softly, her voice quivering. “Are you feeling better now?”
As the Korean woman raised her head, her body made a strange, jerky motion. Her eyes were wide as they settled on Amy, but there were no tears or emotion left in them.
Soulless eyes.
Her beautiful and kind friend was gone.
Chapter 6
The Runner hissed and clawed at the air, fighting the thin blankets tangled around her legs. Seeing that, Daniel grabbed Amy and roughly pushed her forward.
“Leave,” he said, his voice strained. “I will take care of this.”
“No!” Amy struggled against him. “I can’t do that. You’re going to kill her!” She grabbed the bars and held on tight, wincing when Daniel tried to pry her loose. “Justin!” she bawled. “Get down here! NOW!”
During the commotion, the Runner had untangled herself and scrambled to her knees. She let out a long hiss before crawling toward them with the unfettered speed of a cockroach.
With a burst of inhuman strength, Daniel tore Amy away from the bars and threw her out of the room. “Go!” he shouted, locking the door behind her. “Let me do this one last thing for my wife!”
Unable to bear the torment ravaging his features, she stumbled down the corridor and ran up the stairs, a flood of tears pouring down her cheeks. She had to get Justin. It was the only way to stop Daniel from killing his wife.
She’s already dead, you fool.
Shaking the turbulent thoughts away, she reached the top of the stairs and rushed into the living room. But before she could take another step forward, a hand reached out from the shadows and pulled at her elbow.
She fell back, a scream lodged deep in her throat.
“Is it Marie?” Justin murmured in her ear, wrapping his arms around her body like a vise.
“He’s going to kill her!” She was unable to get the words out fast enough. “We have to stop him.”
Justin remained calm, his face expressionless. “We’ll do no such thing. Let the man do what needs to be done, Amy. It’s his call.”
“You don’t understand!”
“I understand perfectly,” he stressed, forcibly ushering her toward the foyer. “I understand that Daniel is suffering right now. I understand that he loves his wife deeply.” He kept pushing her forward, ignoring her struggles. “I understand that he doesn’t want to see his beloved wife in this hellish state. And I know that he feels it’s his duty as a husband to bring peace to his wife. It’s his final gift to her.”
They stepped outside, and Amy saw Walter standing on his hind legs, watching them through the window. He was barking and scratching at the glass; soon, he would be tearing up the leather seats.
Amy furiously swiped at her wet cheeks. “How do you know all this?”
Loosening his tight hold on her, Justin straightened and stared out at the still-dark horizon. “After dinner, I overheard her talking to Daniel. They were talking in Korean, of course, but I caught the gist of it.” His gaze flickered in her direction. “She kept pointing at the fire poker, making Daniel furious. But she wouldn’t let the matter go. In the end, he just nodded at his wife, ashen-faced and deflated. She was adamant that he should end things the second she turned. No ifs, ands, or buts.
“It struck me then how hopeless the whole situation was. So I spoke to her for a bit, and then came up to speak with you.”
Amy didn’t know how to respond to that. Instead, she hugged herself, feeling a strange coldness spreading through her body.
“C’mon,” he said, gently rubbing her shoulders. “We’ll wait for him in the car.”
She allowed herself to be led. “I . . . I can’t face him again. I wouldn’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything.” Justin watched as Amy folded her body into the front seat. “As of today, no amount of words will bring comfort to the poor guy. All we can do is be there for him.”
***
Amy fidgeted in her seat, checking the front door every few minutes. She was worried, horribly so. Where was Daniel? Was he okay? Or was he lying somewhere, bitten and bleeding to death?
In a fit of nervousness, she noisily opened the door when Justin’s arm shot out and slammed it close again.
“Stay inside,” he said quietly. “He’ll be here soon. Just . . . give him some time to say goodbye.” Pausing briefly, he tossed a glance over his shoulder. “In the meantime, we should probably move Walter to the front. The last thing Daniel needs is a mournful dog begging for love and attention.”
He was right, of course. She grabbed Walter and plopped him onto her lap, holding him close. The sad pooch glanced up at her, letting out a long whine. He needed reassurance, too, Amy realized. Rubbing his ears, she planted a gentle kiss on his head, pulling back quickly whe
n the stink of doggy sweat assaulted her senses.
“You’ll miss her, no doubt about it. You may even be confused because she’s no longer around.” She smiled at Walter’s bewildered expression. “But you’ll be okay, you smelly mutt. We’re going to make sure that you’re safely returned to Benson. Because that’s what Marie wanted. It’s what kept her going.”
The thought of Marie not seeing Benson ever again was too much for Amy. Blinking back tears, she hurriedly looked out the window. The hue of pinkish gold stretching across the horizon was warm and welcoming, indicating a brand new day. It was the exact opposite of how they all felt. It was almost . . . taunting.
Minutes later, Daniel emerged from the mansion, painfully making his way to the station wagon. He was still gripping the fire poker in his hand. Justin immediately jumped out of the car and went to speak with him. Amy, however, was a little slower to react.
My friend is gone. She’s really gone.
She had to calm down, at least for Daniel’s sake. When he yanked open the door and slowly slid across the backseat, she shifted around to look at him.
“Daniel, I don’t know what to say. I . . . I’m so, so sorry.”
There was blood all over him – face, arms, and clothes. Drawing in a shaky breath, he leaned back and closed his eyes.
“Thank you, Amy,” he whispered hoarsely. “You were a good friend to my wife. I thank you for that.”
Justin closed the door and walked over to the driver’s seat. After settling in, he turned to the others.
“Are we ready to go?”
Amy didn’t want to leave yet. “Shouldn’t we . . .” She trailed off, uncertain as she peeked at Daniel through her lashes. Nervous, she tried again. “Uh, Marie needs to be buried –”
“No.” Daniel opened his eyes. “I placed her body in one of the second-floor bedrooms. Then I barricaded the door. Nothing can get in.” Silence, then he murmured, “The only way in is through the balcony. But it is quite high.”
“I see.” She did see. And she couldn’t fault him for not wanting to bury his wife in the woods, where Patrick had been crudely buried.
The Korean man suddenly bolted up in his seat. “Where is Walter?”
“He’s right here.”
“Give him to me.”
“Sure.” Taken aback, Amy let the pooch crawl his way to the backseat. A flicker of emotion shone in Daniel’s dark eyes as he gathered Walter into his arms.
Then it was gone as quickly as it had come.
“We will go. Right now.” Daniel ran his bloodied hand across Walter’s fur. “We need plenty of time to finish this. We cannot be delayed by Runners today.”
With a nod of acknowledgment, Justin steered the station wagon down the path and through the gates of Green Hill Clinic.
They were finally on their way to the farm.
But Amy became apprehensive as Daniel’s words reverberated in her mind: We need plenty of time to finish this.
Finish what? What had he been talking about?
Behind them, the clinic’s dilapidated mansion grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared entirely from their sight.
Chapter 7
The drive along the highway was surprisingly quiet and obstacle-free. In the last hour, Amy had seen five, maybe six Runners shambling around the rows of trees. A couple of them had given chase, but their legs had been too ravaged to sustain it. Eventually, they had buckled over in the middle of the highway, dragging their skeletal bodies aimlessly across the tarmac.
Amy felt a strange, prickling sensation along her neck and turned around to find Daniel staring at her. The scant number of Runners wasn’t the only thing she had noticed in the past hour. She had caught the Korean man quietly watching her from the backseat, gently stroking Walter’s fur. At first, she’d just assumed that he was staring into space, and that she had simply been in the way. But it had happened again and again, enough to make her nervous.
So the question remained – why was he staring at her like that?
“Are you all right?” she asked, breaking the silence in the car. It was a dumb question; of course he wasn’t all right. He’d just seen his wife turn into a Runner, and he’d ended her life with his own hands. Under the circumstances, the man was behaving like a gentleman.
Daniel stirred, as if awakening from a deep slumber. “I am fine, Amy. Just thinking.”
Justin studied him through the rearview mirror. “Are you feeling unwell? I can stop if you want.”
“No. Do not stop. Just keep driving.” He looked out the window, his hand caressing the pooch with consistent, almost robotic strokes. Minutes later, his gaze returned to Amy once more.
She decided to ignore his stares and focus on more important matters. “Hey, do you still have that map Garrett gave us?”
Justin nodded. “Yeah, it’s in my pocket somewhere.” Clutching the steering wheel with one hand, he fished around his front pockets with the other until he pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
It was a simple map, with only the barest essentials drawn on it. Above a small dot were the words “Harold’s Diner,” with an arrow going straight and bending to the left. “Farm” had been scrawled at the end of the arrow, along with “2 miles.”
“Have we passed any diners yet?” she asked. “Or anything that even remotely resembles a restaurant?”
“No.” It was Daniel, bringing her reluctant attention back to his stares. “Do not worry, Amy. We will find it soon enough.”
With a sigh, she leaned back and rested her feet on the dashboard, pushing the paper into her front jean pocket for safekeeping.
Silence reigned once more, broken only by Walter’s occasional whine. The Korean man quietly sat there, alternating between staring at Amy and staring out the window. He seemed preoccupied with something.
Amy couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t stand the heavy silence and the intense stares he kept shooting her way. She turned around again, ignoring the small inner voice that warned her to leave him alone.
“Tell me about Marie.” When he didn’t respond, she added carefully, “How did you two meet?”
The continuing silence made her wonder if she had indeed overstepped the line. Justin certainly thought so, judging by his disapproving glance. But the corners of Daniel’s mouth rose slowly as a faraway expression settled in his eyes.
“We grew up in the same neighborhood. She was four years older, and all the boys had a crush on her, including me.”
His eyes brightened briefly as he was transported to happier times. “There was too much competition, too many good-looking boys around her. Then she graduated from high school and went to university, while I remained stuck in high school.” He snorted under his breath, as if recalling an unpleasant memory. “Sometimes, she would come to visit her parents, and whenever she saw me around the apartment complex, she would treat me like a dongsaeng, a little brother. It annoyed me greatly. One time, she even brought her university boyfriend to meet her parents! I was truly hurt by that. So, as soon as I turned eighteen and graduated from high school, I enlisted for my mandatory military service and left. Two years later, I returned as a twenty-year-old man, and she finally noticed me.”
“Was she your first love?”
He nodded, smiling. “Yes, she was. When I came back, I was quite brazen. I did not call her noona, like I had when I was a kid. I called her by name. She told me to stop being rude. I said she was old-fashioned. Then she accused me of being cocky. But I got the last word in. I told her she was beautiful, and that I loved her and wanted to marry her.” He chuckled heartily, startling Walter in the process. “She was so surprised that she could not speak for a few minutes.”
Amy leaned forward, warmed by their story. “Did you two marry right away?”
“No. My parents said I was too young. So I went to university, graduated after four years, found a job, and finally proposed to Marie. To me, that was when my life truly be
gan.”
“What made you and Marie want to come to the States?” Justin asked curiously, glancing at his friend through the rearview mirror.
The question seemed to deflate the Korean man a bit. “My parents wanted a grandchild, but it was difficult for Marie to carry the baby for the full nine months. She would always miscarry. Later, the doctor told us she had an abnormal uterus. We were gently told to consider adoption instead.”
He paused, a look of somber reflection flitting across his face. “My mother was very upset by this. One time, she even asked me if I would consider divorce. Divorce! I was so angry that I could not speak to her for one whole month. I decided that Marie and I needed a break from everyone – my parents, her parents, the pressure our society puts on us . . . all of it. So we applied for a language course and came here.” His expression turned contemplative. “It was a good year; we had peace, and we only had to focus on each other. No one else.”
But instead of graduation to cap off their good year, they had seen the collapse of the city’s infrastructure, had witnessed a mysterious, pandemic virus changing people into mindless cannibals, and worst of all, one had been forced to kill an infected spouse in the end.
Who in their right minds could have predicted any of this?
Daniel’s eyes glittered as they locked with Amy’s own. That “look” was back in his unsettling gaze again. For a moment, he didn’t say anything, but simply stared at Amy.
After several long seconds, he stirred from his trance. “I think I see something in the distance. Is it our diner?”
She tore her gaze away and peered ahead. There was something there, all right. But it was too far away to tell.
“Keep your fingers crossed,” Justin said, excitement in his voice, “because we need to get off this wretched highway, and soon.” And he pressed down on the gas pedal, bringing them closer toward the small, unidentifiable building.
Chapter 8
“I don’t believe it,” Amy said, staring at the prefabricated building. “We’re finally here.”
The station wagon sat idling a few yards from the abandoned diner. Broken windows revealed that the diner had been looted; there were only a couple of chairs strewn across the dusty floor. The only thing that remained untouched was the “Harold’s Diner” sign floating above the flat roof.
The Collapse Omnibus Page 20
