Sarah felt the aches and pains in her body, but she knew they would be gone soon. She closed her eyes and waited for the end.
There was a long pause. "Sarah?"
She opened her eyes. His face was still shrouded in darkness with his back facing the morning sun, but she could see his outline, and suddenly it looked familiar.
"Sarah, is that you?" the man asked in a familiar Australian accent.
Sarah scrunched her eyes, the pupils spreading like she was looking at a solar eclipse. When they adjusted to his silhouette, it hit her. "Wayne?"
A hand reached down and pulled her up to her feet, and as Wayne twisted his body to hoist her up, the sunlight hit the front of him and his familiar face was a sight for her sore eyes. She appraised him for a moment when she was on her feet and he let a small smile touch his lips. Then she hugged him, long and tight. They both grinned like children, and it took another moment for him to look over and notice the other person he had sent to the floor. He made a soft grumble in acknowledgment of forgetting about her, then he helped Carly up to her feet. As she rose, she kept a poise that was slightly pulled away from him, her eyes unmoving from his, like a dog that was untrusting of its new owner.
"Sorry about that," Wayne said, looking at both of them.
"It's okay, we've had worse," Sarah said.
Carly was still apprehensive, and after a moment she added, "You know him?" She slunk over to Sarah, keeping the front of her body squarely trained on him.
Sarah saw the caution in her eyes and she put a hand on her shoulder. "I do. Don't worry, he's good company."
"Me and her go back a little ways," Wayne said. They looked at each other again and their grins came back.
"What on earth are you doing here?" Sarah asked. "What happened with Noah's Ark?"
"You mean Wayne's Ark," he said with a wink.
"Is that the best you could come up with?" she teased.
"Don't blame me," he said. "The marketing team was out to lunch." He looked around the garage for a moment, his eyes shifting across the timid survivors that were just starting to come out from the hallway. His gaze hardened suddenly. "Are you secure here?" he asked her. His hands tightened around his rifle as he scanned the blood trails on the floor.
"Yeah, as sad as it is to admit it, this is my place," Sarah told him. She looked down at the mess they'd made the night before from dragging the zombies' corpses out to the fire. "We had a bit of an incident last night, but it's taken care of now."
"You could've fooled me," Wayne said, jabbing his thumb back at the ruined fence. You should at least keep the garage door shut."
"So what are you doing here?" Sarah insisted, changing the subject.
"We didn't stay for too long after you left. I came around to the idea that it probably wasn't safe to be there anymore."
"Kenny?" Sarah asked.
Wayne nodded. "I know his stupid pride, and it would just be a matter of time before he came back. I know it's me he wants, so I left. I told everyone else that they should leave too and find a new place to call home, because none of them would've stood up to Kenny and he would just take the place back for himself if he could. So we've been out here now for about two months."
"Who's we?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm forgetting myself." He turned his head and hollered for the others who were waiting outside of the fence. "Just a small group. We kind of argued over where to go, but Barry kept insisting on Raleigh."
"Barry's here?" she asked, becoming excited.
Not a moment after she said it, half a dozen survivors came through the fence toward the garage. And in the middle, his white hair flashing in the sun, was Barry. He walked with a slight limp in his leg and Sarah almost bowled him over in her excitement. At first he thought he was getting attacked, but when he saw a grinning face that suddenly regained all of its vibrancy, his heart settled. "Sarah! Oh Sarah, I can't believe it's you! What on earth are the odds?" He was so beside himself that he became short of breath and had to steady himself on her shoulder.
"Hi Barry," she said simply before lunging forward again and wrapping her arms around him.
"Careful, careful!" he cried. "Do you have any idea how old these bones are?"
"You love it, old man," she teased.
"Well it looks like we've got some introductions to make," Wayne said, looking around at both groups as each of them regarded the other like frightened kittens. "Assuming... that we can stay," he said slowly and carefully to Sarah.
"Of course you can!" she chirped. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so happy and safe, and she felt like a very heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
Introductions were made and Sarah gave all of the newcomers a small tour of the shop. She still hadn't even given a moment's thought to what they were going to do to fix up the place or if it was even worth it; she was just over the moon that two of the most special people she had met in the apocalypse had come back to her.
Carly slunk behind the group as they made their way through and talked. She was the only one who wasn't all smiles, and she wasn't sure she trusted any of these new people, least of all the one who tossed her onto the hard concrete. She wanted to talk to Sarah about Wes, but she had a hard time finding an opening. When it came to her, she made her way up to Sarah and spoke quietly. "Sarah," she started, "about what we were talking about earlier..."
Sarah pulled her head away from a joke that Wayne had just told. "Just a minute, Carly. Me and Wayne are going to catch up a bit." And then she turned away from her and pulled Wayne into her office, shutting the door.
Carly stood there staring at the closed door. She felt awkward and embarrassed in front of everyone else, and she quickly scurried outside to get away from them.
Sarah set herself down in the plump leather chair and Wayne pulled up a much smaller and less comfortable one on the other side of the old desk. "So what's going to happen to Noah's Ark now?" She caught herself. "I mean, Wayne's Ark, or whoever's it is."
"I don't know," Wayne said. "I left Randy in charge, I don't know if you remember him?" When Sarah shook her head he continued. "The vast majority stayed. Only a few of us left, and some of them went on their own. I told them it was stupid, but everyone has to follow their own path. I don't really blame them though; there's a lot of infrastructure there, and it's hard to give up. How long they'll last, I have no idea. I pray for their sake that Kenny leaves them alone. But then again, there's still the bandits..."
"Well I'm glad you're here," Sarah said. "I have to admit that it's been lonely without you."
"I have to be honest with you," he said, "I'm a little surprised you're still alive. When you said you wanted to go out there on your own I figured you for a goner. But here you are."
"I've discovered that I'm not the easiest person to kill," she said.
Wayne leaned back and belted out an unintended laugh.
"It's been a long winter," she added.
"That it has," he agreed. "So what happened here last night?"
Sarah traced her finger along the rough wood of the tarnished desk as she recalled the frightening events. "We got attacked by zombies."
"How many?"
"Five, I think," she said, searching her recollection.
"Five?" Wayne said incredulously. "You can't tell me five zombies did that kind of damage?"
"These ones were... different," she said. "There's something going on out there. I don't know if it's happening to all of them, or if this is something else."
"What do you mean?" Wayne asked, not understanding.
"I was looking over the fence last night," she explained, "and we attracted a few normal zombies that were banging on the other side. No problem, right? But then I saw another one down at the end of the street, and it looked... just different. I don't know how else to describe it. It was acting differently and moving differently. It was faster than the other ones. And stronger. It started running for the fence, but instead of going after me it star
ted biting the other zombies."
"What?"
"It took them apart just like it would a normal human, and it went from one to the next, to the next. Then before long, the first one that was bit started to change. I could see it in every little movement. It was like nothing I've ever seen before in the last nine years. And suddenly all five of them were this new, stronger zombie. They were vicious, and loud. You wouldn't believe how loud they were. I still have the snarls in my ears. It was like it was more than just hunger—like... like they only had one mission in life: to end us."
"But you took care of them?" Wayne asked.
"Just barely. We lost one in the attack, but the rest of us survived."
"Is that where you got that?" he asked, pointing at the scratches on her neck.
"Yeah, but I'm okay."
He leaned forward. "So where did this new zombie come from?"
"I don't know," she admitted, "but there's something else I heard after I left Noah's Ark. I kind of dismissed it at the time, but ever since last night I can't get it off my mind."
"What is it?"
"A few months back I ran into some Navy SEALs. They were on their way to Virginia, they said, but one of them told me something. I asked him if they knew where the zombies came from. You know, originally. And he said all they knew was something about a virus and he heard a rumor that it all started right here in Raleigh in a secret base."
Wayne pressed his fingers to his lips, considering her words.
"I think there's a lot more going on here than we thought," Sarah said. "And I think we're standing right in the middle of it."
Carly drove the shovel into the cold ground. Her back strained as she hoisted up another mound of dirt and tossed it to the side. The grave was almost big enough now to fit Wes's body, and it wasn't a moment too soon. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a short break, leaning on the shovel. Her eyes scanned the woods around her, and everything was peaceful. She tried to calm herself down, but she continually found her anger rise to the surface and get the better of her. She plunged the shovel into the ground again and pulled up another patch of dirt.
"Look at me, I'm from Australia," she muttered under her breath. "I come into people's homes and start tossing them around. Who gives a shit? I have a big swingin' dick and I can do whatever I want."
A noise came from somewhere in the woods and Carly looked up.
There wasn't anything in sight, and as she trained her ear on the subtle sounds behind the breeze, she found nothing. She searched her memory, trying to determine if the sound was more akin to a creature scampering over a couple of twigs, or if it was more like a fat acorn hitting the ground from high up above.
Suddenly the sound of that thick, heavy chain rattling around from the night before played again in her memory. The sight of that helpless cow, restless and baying as she could do nothing to help it. It gave her a powerful shudder, but she shrugged it off.
She continued digging and took half a dozen more mounds of dirt to finish the grave. She dropped the shovel on the ground and wiped the sweat off her forehead again before bending to grab Wes.
Another noise, unmistakable, this time from right behind her.
She jumped up and spun around. Her eyes widened and her body immediately trembled in fear.
4
Cold Trail
"Where did you see it?" Wayne asked.
Sarah pointed. "You see that red awning down there? It was standing right next to it, in the middle of the street."
"And did you see where it came from?"
"No," she said.
Wayne took a few steps down the street, holding his M16 in front of him. "Why don't we go take a little look? Come on."
Sarah motioned to Derek and another man from Wayne's group who were both guarding the fence. They nodded back in acknowledgment and she turned and followed Wayne. She was glad to have extra company and extra help around the place, especially in a trying and confusing time like this. She cradled the M1 Garand in her arms as they headed for the spot where the bizarre zombie had appeared.
Even though the sky was a beautifully cloudless blue and the sun was warm on their cheeks, there was still a strange pall that choked the city, and she could tell Wayne noticed it too; there was a tension in his gait like a compressed spring that was ready to pop off at any moment.
When they made it to the spot they stopped and looked around. The rows of buildings on either side of them stretched on, separated ahead by the occasional alleyway or street, and there was a lone patch of greenery overgrowing a tiny square that pierced the monotonous brown hues surrounding it.
Wayne crouched down and inspected the road, running his fingers over the asphalt. He gave a dissatisfied grunt and then stood. "You said you saw more in the woods, right?"
"Yeah," she said. "Me and Carly entered the woods from back near the shop, but I think we can get to it from over there." She pointed out an alleyway up ahead and the two of them set off.
They passed through old garbage and rusted dumpsters as a loose metal balcony overhead creaked and whined in the breeze. They reached the other side and came to a busted wooden fence that didn't look too different from the one surrounding the shop. They ducked through it and came out onto a grassy hill on the other side. It sloped down in a steep grade and flattened out into the woods below, just like the point at which she and Carly had entered the field. They paused a moment at the top and surveyed the trees ahead. Wayne looked at her, and she saw an uneasiness in his eyes that put her on edge. They both knew there was something in the air, but they didn't talk about it. Holding their rifles with tight and careful hands, they negotiated the slope.
When they arrived at the bottom, Wayne crouched down and began inspecting the ground. Every few moments, he would get up and walk a couple dozen paces in a random direction, threading through the blossoming trees of the woods, before hunching down again. Sarah watched him curiously as he worked, brushing away twigs and dried up bunches of pine needles. Finally, he said, "There," pointing.
Sarah took a few steps forward. At first she didn't see it, but when he pointed at it again, she noticed a footprint very subtly pressed into the dirt.
"And there's another," he said. "It came from this way."
"Are you sure it's him?" she asked.
"Of course," he replied. "You see the way that next step over there is turned to the side and stuck out a bit wider than you or I would walk? And how that next one is shorter than normal, almost touching this print right here?"
Sarah nodded and understood at once what he meant. She was fascinated as she watched him follow the trail of clues, even at times when there didn't appear to be anything there at all.
"My eyes are going to be on the ground," he told her. "Keep a lookout for us, would you?"
"Sure thing," she replied.
Wayne set off, following a snaking trail through the woods. As Sarah followed, she glanced over her shoulder toward where she and Carly had been the night before, though she couldn't figure out exactly which direction that was. She suddenly remembered that Carly had wanted to talk to her that morning, but she couldn't remember what about. She shrugged off the thought and turned her attention forward again.
Then a new set of memories from the morning drifted into her mind, and they still clung to her like nasty little things. All of the insistences and questions from the other survivors, asking what they were going to do—what she was going to do—it had all been too much for her. Sometimes she could weather the storm and lead, but other times she felt it would only take a thin breeze to blow her apart.
"So you said you left Noah's Ark about two months ago, right?" Sarah asked.
Wayne ignored her for a moment, his eyes trained on the ground like a laser. Then he gave a slight nod and an "mhmm".
"Have you ever had trouble with any of the others that came with you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, have you ever had trouble... leading them?"
He considered her words for a moment, then he understood what she was getting at. "Been having a little trouble?"
"Yes," she admitted. "Sometimes I just feel like such a fraud, if that makes sense. Like I'm waiting for them to see through the charade and realize that they shouldn't be following me at all."
"What would happen if someone attacked the shop right now?" Wayne asked, pausing his tracking and turning to her.
"Right now?"
"Yeah," he said. "While you and I are away right now, out in the woods, too far away to hear anything. What would the rest of them do if they were attacked?"
Sarah thought for a moment then answered carefully: "Well, normally if the fence or the garage door were intact we would have everyone hole up inside and lock the doors... guns drawn if someone tries to break through. But since that's not the case right now, Carly would round everyone up and get them into the storage room or the office—that's assuming we still had the element of surprise. Otherwise, she would funnel everyone into the front of the shop and use the hallway as a choke point. They would use the side rooms to cover each other as they get as much supplies out as possible, then they would exit through the front door of the shop and slip down the alley. That alley's connected to a whole host of buildings they could hide in, or if they take it to the end, that leads out to a suburb." She paused, then added, "Why?"
He put a hand on her shoulder. "You doubt yourself too much. You're a good leader, Sarah." And with his answer came a sense of self-realization for her, suddenly understanding that she had done a better job than she thought.
"Thanks," she said, staring down at her shoes. She couldn't help but let out a little smile. "You really think so?"
"It's natural to doubt yourself as a leader," he said. "Sometimes there's a lot of people riding on you, and you always have to get it right, especially in the world we live in. One wrong step and you're dead. I think you know that. But you have to trust your instincts, even if your decisions don't make sense to the others or even to yourself sometimes." He reached out and raised her chin with a knuckle. "Chin up, kid."
Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set, Vol. 2 [Books 4-7] Page 4
