by Hamrick, R M
“You’re there, Audra!” yelled out Dwyn. “Feel around with your feet!”
It went against her instinct to take her feet off the cable. She lowered them slowly, so slowly, until she felt something solid. Pea gravel. The roof. She dug her heels in and pulled her body farther onto the roof. She didn’t feel safe until she had ass on gravel.
She unbuckled her harness and let Ryder pull it back along its route. Soon Dwyn was hooked up and began his descent. The cable sagged even more with Dwyn’s weight, the heavier of the two, and Audra almost cried for him to stop and turn around, he was so close. The zoms snatched at the air right below his back. They could almost grab him. But Audra knew she had gotten through, and it probably looked scary as well. Ryder didn’t seem to have any fears, so Audra stayed quiet, but murmured small prayers to no one.
With Dwyn’s ass safe on the gravel, Audra jumped onto his body, pressing into a deep kiss.
“It’s not because I almost died just now, is it?” he laughed, nervously.
“No, it’s because you don’t make me weaker. You make me stronger.”
Audra finally knew her reason. Home didn’t have to be a place to run from.
“You in?” she asked.
“Until the cows come home,” he assured her.
Audra glanced down at the mob.
“And after,” he added.
On the single-story building, the zombies pulled even closer. They reached to them. Their eyes wide and their mouths gaping. They were rotting inside and out. They would soon be gone from this world, but not soon enough. Audra picked her favorite non-zombie side of the building. She lowered herself down, and then gently dropped the rest of the way.
Dwyn followed.
“Grab my pack from the train,” Audra directed Dwyn as they landed in Choros.
“Where will you be?”
“In the market,” she yelled over her shoulder as she raced away.
Audra found her destination deserted save a couple of zoms distracted by the same reason she had come. Bags of bones and skin reached into the hog sty. One had fallen in and was slowly shambling around the pen. The animals rested until it got close, then ran off. Run. Rest. Run.
Audra jumped in, dodging both the zom inside the pen and the mouths and arms hanging onto the perimeter. She rushed and dove, trying to grab a hog — hopefully a small one she could carry. She thought of all the zoms swarming and how everyone was going to perish as she ran around chasing pigs. She lunged again, and this time caught the small one. Dwyn had returned with her pack. He jumped in and helped her tie the hog up with the rope from her bag. Knots she had taught him.
Toting the pig, they marched back to the plaza, positioned themselves at the gate. The masses had their backs to them. She pulled two noisemakers from her bag.
Audra dragged her knife through the pig’s body. The pig squealed an awful sound. Organs slipped. Drenched in hot blood, she turned on her noisemaker, sirens blaring. Dwyn did the same. They stood there, waiting, steeled to stay as long as they could to collect as many as possible.
Heads turned, bodies followed. It seemed to only be a small movement at first. As the first approached, Audra and Dwyn took a few steps back, dragging the screaming animal by the rope. They stared down the horde with its slowly turning tide. Audra saw Dwyn shiver. She put a hand on his arm, leaving a smear of blood.
“Oops,” she said.
Dwyn shook his head and smiled before they began their backward jog. Just moments later, they had to turn and sprint. Their following had become less of a crowd and more like an avalanche, threatening to swallow them whole. The narrow drag created a funnel pushing zombie atop zombie and still climbing. They were fast. They were falling. They kept moving.
“You got this group?” she asked.
Dwyn’s eyes widened as he realized why she was asking.
She pulled the pig rope out of his hands and threw it on the ground, abandoning their bait. Now Dwyn could run faster. And Audra peeled off.
They hadn’t pulled off the loop-de-loop maneuver in so long and never with this many zoms, but it also kind of felt like home. Knowing they were partners, she finally allowed him the first wave. She no longer had to do everything herself.
Audra let the dreaded crowd pass as she cut back behind other buildings. She approached the plaza once more. All the zoms that were leaving had left. Those inside were left inside, not getting enough stimulus from the plaza to find their way out.
A smear on the ground indicated what remained of Greenly. Physically, she was gone, but the damage of her reign remained. Audra had imagined killing Greenly often and in so many ways. But now, she only felt a burden on her heart for all the work left to be done. Greenly had dealt them a hand they might not be able to survive.
Crunching sounds above told Audra she wasn’t alone. All her people stood atop Lysent’s headquarters, safe from the zombies inside.
“You all OK?” she asked.
Ryder replied. “Yes, no problem here. Take your time.”
Audra tied her last noisemaker to her bag before stepping deep into the plaza, toward the building’s now-many openings. Picking up an abandoned piece of lumber, she broke all the glass left in the Lysent windows.
Space and noise.
She couldn’t do anything about the desk and filing cabinet that partially blocked the door, but they had found their way in, they could find their way out.
Audra returned to the center of the plaza, not far from the bloody intersection of concrete and remains. She turned on the noisemaker and lit her flare. Sound rang from one ear to the other. Chemical smoke touched her lungs. And the fleshy undead wandered toward her. Her head spun. How long had she been fighting today?
Somehow she realized it would be dark soon.
Audra put her hands on her knees and let herself be sick. She was so tired. She waited the last possible moments, covered in the blood of the undead, of swine, of enemies. Layered in her own vomit and tears. Now, she’d just have to run. After all the hard work, she just had to run.
Or you know, get eaten.
Audra turned, but someone snagged her bag. Faces flashed in her mind. A haggard Greenly rising up, forcing her to take notice. A gaunt Belinda, willing her to see. Audra jerked away and freed herself. She couldn’t play to the visions invading her mind. Even if they were so inviting. It was appropriate that the many faces of the lost would run her from town. She hadn’t been able to save them.
What would be left in the wake of these zombies? Would they survive, find a cure? Or were they slowly dying like their brethren, corralled by their mistakes?
Audra sprinted out onto the road as the sun was setting. She wouldn’t have to answer these questions alone.
And that was a start.
EPILOGUE
It took Audra many weeks to find her small pop-up tent out in the woods. She breathed a small prayer before calling out. Thankfully, it was answered.
A large organized group had pulled apart the community at the grocery store, taking all their food and fuel. From the description, Audra wondered if it was Lysent goons. Everyone had scattered to find their way. Haleigh and Eliza were on the run once again.
But Audra had made a promise.
“Thank you,” said Haleigh for the hundredth time.
Audra acknowledged her and handed Eliza a piece of jerky to walk with. She felt it necessary to warn Haleigh again. “You understand we’ve made good progress, but it’s not done. It might take some time.”
Haleigh giggled. “You understand that we thought he was gone? Gone for years. We’re happy to see him in any state, in any part. If you cure him, wow… fantastic. If you don’t, we’ll still have seen him, been with him. We’ll no longer be alone.”
Audra did understand.
They stopped frequently for blisters and snacks. Audra carried Eliza when she tired. And they camped just off the road for the night. While she tempered Haleigh’s expectations, she had full confidence in her scientists. With th
e original virus retrieved from Lysent’s labs, they had quickly found mutations that needed to be addressed. They were going to get a cure.
Gordon would be cured.
Dwyn.
Lisa.
Late in the next day, Audra paused.
“We have to get off the road now, and go through the woods,” she said to the pair.
“Is that OK, Eliza?” Audra knelt down to ask.
Eliza shook her head. Her eyes wide. “I’m scared. The woods are scary.”
Audra looked into the woods and while she usually saw glittering light, obstacles to dodge, and a chance to move freely, now she saw what Eliza saw. It was dark, gloomy, scratchy, and full of unknowns.
It was what Belinda saw.
“It is scary, but sometimes you have to do scary things. Sometimes they end up not being scary. Sometimes they are. But if you don’t move forward, you’ll never know.”
“Will you be there with me?”
“I will.”
“And mom?”
“Until the cows come home.” Eliza gave her a confused look. “Yes, she will,” Audra clarified.
“That’s enough then. We can do it together.”
Accepting support while moving forward. Audra couldn’t force, but she could help.
Eliza took Audra’s hand as they stepped into the woods.
The End
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you for following Audra and me through the Georgian woods and the zombie apocalypse.
Chasing a Cure started as an idea for National Novel Writing Month and grew into a trilogy with gentle feedback and harsh kicks in the butt from my family, writing group, beta readers, and editor. I can’t thank them enough.
While the suicides in this trilogy are fictional, suicide is a very real and tragic part of our lives. Please know if you need help there are people waiting to talk to you. You can reach free and confidential emotional support by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or texting HOME to 741-741 in the US or calling 116 123 in the UK.
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