* * *
As they neared the house, Shoes began to bark. Riley looked at Alec, wondering if it was his signal.
“He’ll lie down if it is.” Alec had read her look.
Riley nodded, and then faced the house again. Shoes pulled on his rope toward the door. He pawed at the screen door, barking in his low voice. Rifle wandered around and through the group, nervous. He was either set off by Shoes’s barking, or possibly by whatever it was Shoes was barking at.
Riley reached forward and grabbed the handle of the door. The screen door was never locked and opened with a screech. Beyond it was a wooden door, which she also found unlocked. That was more unusual.
Mathias suddenly stepped up beside her. “Let me go first,” he whispered. “What’s your brother’s name?”
“Connor,” Riley whispered back, “Connor Bishop.”
Mathias nodded once, then pushed through the door. Riley and everyone else followed after him. They entered Connor’s pleasant but dirty kitchen. The group waited in it with Riley, while Mathias went to clear the house. They could hear him calling out as he went.
“Connor? Connor Bishop, are you here? My name is Mathias Cole. I’m here with your sister Riley Bishop. If you can hear me, please respond. We’re not infected. Riley wouldn’t lead us here if we were.”
This message was repeated three times as he swept the first floor and then headed up to the second.
Riley waited with baited breath. Perhaps Connor was out on a hike, or even a hunt. Sometimes he hunted the area around his airfield instead of taking his truck somewhere. But then why was the back door unlocked?
Mathias came clopping down the stairs and back into the kitchen. He looked at Riley and shook his head. Riley read his face. He wasn’t shaking his head because Connor wasn’t here, he was shaking it because he was and something was wrong.
“No.” Riley shook her head. “No!”
She dropped both her gun and the dog leash, and tried to run past Mathias to get to the stairs. Mathias grabbed hold of her, bear hugging her to him, not letting her go.
“Let me go!” Riley wailed. “I have to see him!”
“No.” She felt him shake his head again against her shoulder. “No, you don’t.”
Now that Shoes was free, he dashed up the stairs, barking as he went. Riley could hear him continuing to bark upstairs. She could picture him lying down.
“How?” Riley relaxed, and looked at Mathias as tears sprang to her eyes. She never thought she needed to worry about her family’s safety, especially Connor’s. “Was it…?”
“It looks like he did it himself.” Mathias pulled no punches. Still, hearing that was better than learning he had been torn apart. “I found this nearby.”
Mathias put a letter in her hands. He then disappeared upstairs, calling after Shoes.
Riley slumped to the floor, holding the letter. The others quietly left, disappearing into the living room so she could read it in peace.
The letter broke her heart and confirmed what Mathias had said. He did do it himself. He wasn’t even sure he was infected, but a small part of him thought he might be. More so, he couldn’t live knowing what was happening. He couldn’t take the pressure. He couldn’t do as he was trained. Riley remembered the surreal feeling herself. If she hadn’t met up with Mathias and LeBlanc, would that feeling have gotten worse? Would it have just kept growing and growing until she arrived at the same thought her brother had?
Riley didn’t know she was crying until the drops hit the page. She read the letter several times, committing it to memory. She had always thought of Connor as strong. Her strong, big brother who ran his own business and lived alone in the wilderness. She had looked up to him, and he had made living with her parents easier. He would sometimes help her cheat to pass their dad’s tests, like when he stashed some supplies in a cave for her the night she had to spend alone in the woods. He thought of the tests as games. Maybe that was the problem.
“Umm, Riley?” Abby stood sheepishly in the doorway to the living room.
Riley sniffed and wiped clear her eyes. “What is it?”
“There’s another letter.” Abby held out another envelope. “This one was found in the door.”
Riley stood and took the letter. Whereas the last one had been addressed to the family, this one was addressed specifically to her. She followed Abby into the living room, hoping that it wasn’t more bad news.
This new letter was actually from her parents, and Riley read it aloud. They had probably missed each other by only a few hours. The letter told them that Riley’s parents, and her other brother, had already been on the way here for a visit when all hell broke loose. They had found Connor as he was and begged Riley not to go look. They apologized for not being there, but her sister had called them. She needed their help getting out. Riley explained to the others that she lived in Sudbury. Her parents and brother were going, but they told Riley to take the plane. They would meet her at the cabin, and they would bring the dogs if possible.
“Dogs?” Mathias frowned. He had returned from upstairs and was standing with Shoes in his arms.
“My parents run a dog sledding business with my other brother,” Riley told him and everyone else. “They breed and train champions.”
“Wait.” Tobias held up a hand. “Does this mean you’re flying? Again?”
That managed to bring a touch of a smile to Riley’s lips. “It does.”
Tobias groaned loudly.
“Don’t worry, I’ve flown this plane many times,” Riley assured him.
“I’m more worried about the landing, myself.” Cender crutched toward the kitchen and rear door. “Let’s get this show on the road then, shall we?”
Riley nodded, doing her best to shove her worries into the back of her mind. They weren’t at the cabin yet.
* * *
Everybody walked over to the big hanger in which Connor’s DHC-3 Otter plane sat. It was a twelve seater and would be able to fit them all, plus their gear. When Connor used the plane for tours, he would land on lakes and let his passengers do a little fishing off the floats. Riley had taken the key from inside and now opened the door. While Cender helped Danny load the packs into the plane, Mathias, Abby, Misha, and Tobias made trips to and from the house. They gathered up any extra supplies that would also fit into the plane. While they did this, Riley herself walked around the plane, checking everything out and making sure it was good to fly. Alec watched over all of them with his long-range rifle. Once the plane was ready to go, Mathias and Tobias carried Alec up into it. It was a difficult task. The plane’s floats held it a considerable distance off the ground. Eventually, Riley and Abby had to step in and assist a bit. Alec grumbled about all the manhandling, but there was no way he could do it on his own. Cender also needed some assistance getting in.
Getting Rifle to get into the plane was the hardest. Shoes they just passed up the ladder, no problem, but Rifle had learned from the helicopter. He kept away from the plane and anybody near it. Finally though, Misha managed to convince the dog to come close to him by using his skunk toy and a treat from Alec’s pocket as bait. He was able to grab Rifle’s harness, and with Mathias’s help, they hauled the dog up into the plane.
Danny opted not to be co-pilot this time and so Mathias took his place. With all the stuff they had packed in, it was for the best having the largest guy up front. Misha tied Shoes’s collar and Rifle’s harness up between his seat and Alec’s.
“You ever flown a plane before?” Riley asked as she started up the engine and did a systems check. She put her headphones on and handed a pair to Mathias.
“Nope,” Mathias told her. “In fact, I haven’t even flown in them all that often. I drove whenever I could.”
“Then don’t touch anything.” Riley gave him a stern look to make sure he knew she meant it.
Mathias held his hands up in an innocent gesture. He wouldn’t touch a thing.
As Riley was about to direct the large plane ou
t of the hanger, a figure appeared at the other end of the runway.
“Who’s that?” Mathias spotted him first.
Riley looked, squinting, but she couldn’t tell. The distance was too far.
“Alec, hand me your scope!” Mathias called over his shoulder. Shortly enough, the sniper scope was placed in his hand. He held it up to one eye and looked at the figure.
“And?” Riley wondered.
“Missing half a face,” Mathias told her. “I say punch it.”
Riley nodded and got the plane moving. As it inched out of the hanger, another figure appeared beside the first. This one didn’t stop and stare though, it ran straight for them. More kept appearing out of the woods.
Riley did her best to ignore them. As she got the plane up to speed, she looked only at the instruments. She did her best to ignore the thumps and unusual vibrations coming from the floats. It seemed some of the hoard had made it this far after all. She tried not to think about her brother’s defenceless and unburied body.
The plane lifted up into the air, rising faster than it normally should but still within a safe range. Once up, Riley finally looked out the window. Nothing but clear blue sky. There wasn’t even any blood on the windshield like she had feared, although the height of the plane pretty much assured this. She looked over at Mathias who gave her a warm smile and a thumbs up. She actually gave him a smile back.
* * *
The further north they flew, the happier Riley became. She didn’t know why, either. Her brother had killed himself, her sister was in danger, and her parents and other brother were MIA. She was heading into harsh lands with a plane full of nearly complete strangers. Yet she was totally happy with that.
Maybe it was because the thing she had been training for had finally come. There was no longer this pressure to survive hanging over her head. She had done it, she had escaped the zombies. Zombies of all things! She had thought an inland tsunami was more likely, but here they were.
Although she had a compass and map, Riley barely used them. She knew all the aerial markers by heart. Every year they came up here, Riley and her sister took turns being the co-pilot. Usually their brother would get lazy partway and let them be in full command of the plane.
During the trip, everybody ate and drank as much as they wanted. Although rationing was still something that would need to be adhered to, Riley let it slip for now. Whenever she looked back, they all looked as happy as she felt. She kept catching Mathias watching her and he made sure she got food and drink as well. He even offered to take the wheel if she needed her hands, but Riley wasn’t going to let that happen. He would probably send them straight into the ground.
It took a long time. The sun would set in just a few more hours, but finally Riley saw the lake. The bright sunshine glittered off the water; it was a welcome sight. The lake was to be their landing strip with the cabin nestled in the woods next to it. She started to circle the area, going through her head exactly how her brother did it.
“To those who have seat belts I suggest putting them on,” Riley gave fair warning.
Mathias looked at her, frowning, confused.
“Usually my brother makes the water landing,” she admitted, “it’s not an easy one.”
Mathias didn’t say anything; he just looked forward again and double-checked his restraints.
Riley finally decided on her angle of approach and began the descent. The tree line and the water began to rush up to meet them.
“Trees.” Mathias tensed up, looking at the tree line. “Trees. You’re going to hit the trees!”
One of the floats lightly brushed the top of a tall pine, but they, in no way, hit them. The water came up and the floats lightly touched down on it, spraying up plumes on either side.
Mathias relaxed, but Riley did not. She knew that the first tree line was not the only issue. The other issue was the second tree line and the shore of the lake. They were skidding over the water toward it, Riley doing all that she could to slow the plane safely. The lake had always been just a little too short for water landings, but that was one of the reasons her family liked it. It meant no one else was stupid enough to try landing there.
Riley noticed, out of the corner of her eye, as Mathias tensed again. He stayed silent this time, but he involuntarily pressed himself further into his seat. Riley assumed she had lost another fan to her flying skills.
The plane finally slowed to a stop and gently rocked forward a bit. Riley turned and smiled at Mathias. He just looked at her with wide eyes.
Riley turned the plane around and headed toward a sandy shore. Her family hadn’t built a dock because it might draw attention, but they did alter the shore so that the plane could be safely pulled up onto it. The floats crunched into the soft sand and Riley turned off the engine.
“We’re here!” Riley turned and told the cabin enthusiastically.
Tobias was pale again, nearly green, but the others seemed cheery. Even Rifle seemed to pick up on the mood of the people and thumped his tail on the floor. Of course, he might have just been happy that they stopped.
The door was opened and everyone but Cender, Alec, and the dogs got out. They had to walk down one of the floats to get to shore. Once there, they worked together to pull the plane all the way up out of the water and to tie it off to a pair of large trees.
As the others went to help unload everything, Riley turned and looked at the cabin. She could just make out part of the deck and a bit of a wall through the trees. Riley Bishop, Mathias Cole, Danny Cole, Tobias Mackenzie, Alec McGregor, Misha Jovovich, Abby Walker, and Joshua Cender, plus Shoes the Basset Hound, and Rifle the German shepherd. What an interesting group of survivors.
Riley was going over in her head what she would have to teach everyone. There would be a period of mourning, for sure, which was likely to start that night. In fact, Riley had to do some of that herself. There was a lot she needed to figure out, like how the rationing was going to work, but then there was a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Mathias standing with her. Before she could ask what he wanted, he placed one hand on her neck and the other on the side of her face. He leaned in and kissed her hard on the mouth.
His lips were warm, dry, and chapped. They were also wonderful.
When he finally pulled away, Riley felt all the blood rush to her face. She was at a total loss for words. She didn’t even notice Cender in the distance giving Mathias a foul look.
It was going to be one hell of a winter.
The End
Copyright © 2013 by Kristal Stittle
For my mom, Barbara Stittle.
You’re always there for me when I need it, even when I don’t realize it.
I love you.
Read on for a free sample of “The Longest Road” the latest zombie novel from www.severedpress.com
The Feast
November 25, 2008
1013 hours
Steve Brason crept slowly through the forest, careful not to make any unnecessary noise. His older cousin, Collin Jacobs, moved behind him, scanning the perimeter. The slightest snapped twig or broken piece of bark beneath their boots, and it could be all over. The last thing they wanted to do was to give away their position.
The morning sunlight struggled to breach the thick, leaf-filled branches of the blue spruce pines and northern catalpa trees. With every passing minute, the light layer of fog surrounding them slowly burned away.
Suddenly, Steve and Collin halted, hearing the not-too-distant sound of a cracked branch.
“Where did that come from?” Collin whispered.
Steve closed his eyes and diverted all his attention to his ears. He listened carefully as another snapping sound came seconds after the first. He narrowed down the direction and pointed northeast. “Over there,” he said, finally exhaling a long overdue breath.
Collin unscrewed the top of his metal thermos. “What do you want to do, Steve? Go for it, or wait for it to come to us?”
“Let’s go check i
t out. Last thing we want to do is lose it. Then we would for sure be screwed”
Slowly, the two men navigated around fallen trees and the densely-packed, decomposing forest. They stuck as closely as possible to the trees, since the protruding roots offered the most stable ground.
“Watch your step here,” Steve whispered as he pulled himself up and over a fallen tree. One side of the log had been taken over by a large section of slick, green moss.
Collin nodded and followed Steve’s exact footsteps. As the two cousins pressed on, they kept a watchful eye on their footing, careful not to slip on the dew-covered earth. With each step closer, the faint noises grew stronger and greater in number.
Steve pointed to a hill twenty feet away; the location offered the best vantage point. As quietly as they could, Steve and Collin reached the top and lay stomach down. Their camouflage gear mimicked the forest, making them almost invisible. Through their rifles’ scopes, the two cousins scouted the area. Directly across and beneath them sat a partially dried riverbed. A combination of small boulders and medium sized stones filled in the banks. Rain from the previous evening filled the river with ankle-high water moving no faster than five miles per hour.
Steve spotted it as it lingered near the water on the opposite side. “Eleven o’clock,” he said, keeping his eye pressed against the scope.
“Damn, that’s massive. You think there’s more?” Collin asked, staring down at the beast.
Steve rotated a knob on the right side of his lens. “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. Normally they stick together, but we’ve never gone out this far, so who knows.”
“You better make sure you hit it, ’cause if you don’t—”
“Yeah, I know. It’s game over,” Steve said, cutting him off. “Don’t want to warn the others, wherever they are.”
“Whenever you’re ready, Steve-O.”
Steve lined up his shot. He couldn’t help but feel sorry. It wasn’t the beast’s fault; it was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Deep inside, something tugged at Steve; he felt it at a cellular level, at a moral level. He never got used to taking lives. He tolerated it, but never got used to it.
Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel Paperback Page 75
