by Jeff Olah
“Tobias, I have no real interest in allowing you to live another day.” Mason held the pistol out at arm’s length. “At the moment I have the advantage and all you have is the promise that I will end your life. The only reason I haven’t done so already is because I want you to feel just a small part of what I felt when your uncle did this to me. He’s dead and never coming back, although from the looks of it, he died long before tonight.”
Like a rocket leaving its silo, Tobias charged Mason with everything left in him. He only managed three long strides before Mason put three rounds into his skull.
The next twenty minutes moved at a snail’s pace as Mason used Goodwin’s chair to push both bodies out into the middle of Sixth Street and then fired two rounds into the sky. He waited near the building as the horde located the sound and began their trek out into the rain.
Locating the blue sports car on the first level of the parking structure, Mason slid in behind the wheel, closed the door, and just sat there. He didn’t think about what was next; he didn’t think about the events of past twenty-four hours, he just sat there alone in silence.
Within minutes, the warmth of a good night’s sleep began to pull him down. As much as he wanted and more importantly needed it, he straightened up in his seat and used his right hand to slap at his face. “Wake it up.” Slipping the keys into the ignition, Mason quickly started the vehicle and then lowered the driver’s side window.
Holding his left hand to the light emitted from the dash, he was relieved to find the wound had once again stopped oozing blood. Dropping his hand into his lap, Mason shifted the vehicle into park and noticed his first problem.
Less than a quarter tank of gas meant that he’d have to make the journey to Harbor Crest at least partially on foot. The second issue presented itself moments later as he dropped the magazine out of the nine millimeter.
“Three rounds, this should be interesting.”
She hadn’t spoken since Randy took her hand and guided her through the destroyed police station, although her eyes told him everything. Megan wrapped her arms around his neck and he carried her through what remained of the maze and further on, the final resting place of more than thirty downed Feeders.
Elizabeth was the first to spot him. Jack was moving in and out of the massive hole left by the larger than life SUV, moving the bigger pieces of Plexiglas and clearing a path for their departure. She ran the short distance to him, spread her arms, and melted into his chest.
“Jack,” Randy said. “What happened?”
Still clinging to his wife, Jack eyed the boy. “Sean, he did this.”
Looking around the demolished maze and the dozens of bodies littering the floor, Randy motioned to his friend. “Sean, I’m proud of you.”
Sean only offered a half smile. “Thanks.” The boy then moved to the rear door, helped Eleanor and Savannah into the cramped third row and climbed in himself. “Let’s go.”
Jack and Elizabeth were next. They slowly slid in, adjusted the back seat and spoke quietly to one another.
Standing at the passenger door, Megan pushed it closed and grabbed a handful of Randy’s shirt. She pulled him in close, put her lips to his and then pulled away. “I need something from you.” She kissed him. “I need you to promise me.” She kissed him yet again. “That you will never leave my side again.”
He moved in for another kiss and she pulled back once again. “Promise me.”
“Yes,” he said. “I promise.” He pulled her into him and squeezed just a bit more than was necessary. “I love you and promise to stay by your side, always.”
“Oh my.” She stepped back, gripped his right arm, and held it to her stomach. “Did you feel that?”
“Uh…”
“Wait,” she said, moving his hand a few inches to the left. “Right there.”
He did, he felt his child kicking against his palm. He felt his future wrapped inside the person he cared for more than anything in this world. He spoke the words, although alone they meant nothing. He would be with her for every last minute of every day. She needed him, but he needed her more, much more than even she knew.
“That’s my son,” he said with a crooked smile. “And he’s got quite the leg on him.”
“Or your daughter.”
“That’s fine too, but either way, we need to get moving. I’ve had more than enough of this city. You ready to go?”
“More than you know.”
Helping Megan into the passenger seat, Randy made a complete circle around the vehicle, cleared the remaining debris, and then climbed in behind the wheel.
Sliding into the seat, the conversation now focused on the only remaining member of the group not present. Sean had given them the quick details surrounding the arrival of Cedric and the ensuing destruction of Goodwin and his men.
“Aren’t we going after him?” Savannah asked.
“Mason? He’s going to meet up with us after he handles a few things.”
“Like what?”
“Let’s just say he needed to say goodbye to a few old friends.”
“Where is he?” Eleanor said. “We’re not leaving him.”
“No,” Randy said. “We don’t have time to go back. He’s going to meet us at Harbor Crest; it’s an old shopping—”
“Harbor Crest?” Megan asked.
“Yes, and he’s got a bit of a jump on us. We need to get moving if we want to catch him by morning, we just need to drop Jack and Elizabeth off at—”
Jack shook his head. “We’re coming with you, if that’s okay.”
“You’re family,” Randy said. “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
241
Sixth Street sat silent as what was left of the horde had faded and the day’s first light began to scratch at the horizon. Not yet morning, although with the night sky begging for retirement, Mason looked out over the city from the edge of the parking garage.
Mentally running through his options for leaving the area, his choices were less than optimal. Heading straight up Sixth Street would be the most direct route back to the highway, although also the most troublesome. Given that Randy and Sean tore through the area less than an hour before, the streets would undoubtedly be teeming with Feeders.
His second option had the benefit of avoiding the crowds and not having to fight his way out of the city, although it would take twice as long. Going around the main part of the city and running through the deserted streets to the south meant burning through what remained of his fuel much more quickly and having to traverse the last several miles on foot.
Reluctant to think of anything outside the scarce protection offered by the blue sports car, Mason sat with his eyes closed. He tried to imagine a time where he wasn’t running. Where he wasn’t fighting for his life. His will to push on had been fading since arriving in the city. The easiest thing for him to do would be to step out of the vehicle and walk into the crowd beginning to form near the end of Sixth Street, although he’d made a promise. To them and to himself.
Pulling out into the street, he watched as a pair of red lights appeared in the distance and then quickly faded. He had faith it was his friends leaving the city, although with the growing horde blocking the distance between the two vehicles, it was unlikely he’d catch them.
Opting for the less congested route, Mason turned left at the first intersection. Tapping the fuel gauge he laughed to himself as the needle seemed to drop right before his eyes. “This should be good.”
Running parallel to the few buildings he recognized from the day before, Mason prayed that maintaining a reasonable speed would somehow contribute to the fuel conservation he so desperately needed.
Many times before the world went to hell, he ran up against this same scenario. Those days when he was running too late to stop for gas and drove right at the speed limit, thinking he’d save just enough fuel to reach his destination. Those days usually ended with him finding his way to a gas station at the last minute and arriving late.
Today those same filling stations mocked him from every street corner, and instead of running late, he may never arrive.
Two more blocks and then the highway. As the needle continued its descent, Mason rolled up the on ramp and looked into the distance hoping to find those tail lights once again. No luck, he’d lost more time than he anticipated and although the exact location of the Harbor Crest Mall eluded him, he pushed on.
The odometer indicated that he’d been on the highway for thirty-six miles when the blue sports car finally succumbed to its lack of fuel. Mason’s feet told him he must have been walking for another four or five by the time morning peeked over the horizon. It was near this time that his body told him to stop.
Attempting to remember the last time he’d eaten or gotten more than a few minutes of sleep took the last bit of energy his weary body was willing to give. He moved off the road and sat with his back to a large redwood. His face being warmed by the growing sun, Mason slept.
Randy had been driving alone with only his thoughts for the last twenty minutes. His passengers had drifted off one by one with Sean, the lone holdout, only able to avoid the clutches of sleep until entering the highway. The interior cabin embraced a melody of low rhythmic breath sounds that were complemented by the few whose snoring was sure to tear the sunroof off at some point.
Harbor Crest Mall. The exit came sooner than he remembered and from the highway gave the impression that the area was well traveled. Overgrown foliage halted near the sides of the road and as they proceeded along the short drive, the lack of anything resembling the new world was a bit unnerving.
Pulling the SUV to a stop, Randy spoke softly. “I think we’re here.”
Sean rubbed his eyes, attempting to focus and peered out through the windshield. “Yep, this is it. But why are we stopped?”
“Anything look odd to you.”
Megan, also clearing her eyes, said what Randy was already thinking. “This place doesn’t look right. It’s too clean. And what is that?”
“The gate up ahead?”
“Yeah,” Megan said. “That was never there before.”
“Okay,” Randy said. “Do we try it or get back on the road?”
Their decision was made for them as two men, one very familiar looking, although heavily bearded, stepped out from behind the trees at the side of the road. They were armed although neither man raised a weapon as they quickly approached.
The first moved to Randy’s window and asked him to roll it down while the second circled the vehicle, cataloging each of the individuals.
Randy held his right hand out the window. “My friends and I—”
The familiar looking bearded man interrupted as if on a time schedule. “You people sent here, or are you just extremely lucky?”
“Neither,” Randy said. “A few of my passengers used to own a business here and felt—”
The bearded man peered back into the SUV. “Who?”
“What do you mean?”
“Which of your passengers had a business here? This place was boarded up long before the infection.”
“It wasn’t actually them. It was their father; he and his company owned most of the land in this area.”
The bearded man reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. He looked it over intently and then back at the passengers, his eyes resting on the third row. “Sean?”
Sean sat forward, not knowing whether he was supposed to be frightened or excited. “Yes? I’m Sean Lockwood, how do you know me?”
“I don’t, but there is someone here who’s going to be very excited.”
242
The bearded man called his friend over. They turned and had a brief private conversation and the second man stepped away. The first moved back to the window. “Hello, my name is Tom and my friend here is Bryce. You all look like you need some help. We can offer you that here. If you’d like to drive up to the gates and come inside we’ll get you some food and a place for you to rest your head.”
Sean leaned in again, now nearly pushing into the second row. “How do you know me, who here would be excited to see me?”
“I’ll let them tell you themselves. Bryce already let them know we’re coming in. You all ready?”
Randy looked to Megan and then the others. One by one, they gave their approval, not really knowing what lay beyond the gates, although realizing that at some point they needed to trust. Trust themselves and be willing to trust others. They prayed that this risk would be worth the reward.
Bryce moved to the passenger side and stood atop the running boards, clutching the rooftop racks. Tom did the same on the opposite side as Randy proceeded to the gates and then into the parking lot outside the former shopping mall.
As the group began filing out of the SUV and introducing themselves to the two men, another vehicle approached. From the far side of the lot, a silver sedan motored toward them at a speed much faster than was necessary, and slid to stop just feet from where Sean stood.
Three individuals stepped out of the sedan, the last being a middle-aged woman who covered her face as she sobbed into her hands. She moved to Sean, but also eyed Megan as she opened her arms and stumbled toward him. “Sean!”
“Mom?”
Megan fell back into Randy’s arms as the realization washed over her.
Sean ran to his mother and now standing much taller than the woman he’d last seen many years before, threw his arms around her and pulled her in close. Megan had lost the ability to speak as she rushed to them and joined in the embrace.
While the others traded stories from days and months gone by with their new friends, Sean and Megan discovered the hidden truth behind their fathers plan to reunite the family.
“I’ve been clean since the day of the infection,” their mother said. “Your father had someone come for me and bring me here. He told me he’d come back with the two of you some day, but he knew his time was nearing an end.”
She took the time to explain their father’s condition to Sean, who on some level already knew, and then repeatedly apologized to her children for every wrong turn she’d taken as a mother and as a human being.
They continued to bond with one another as they were invited inside and given the layout of their new home.
The last to step through the doorway and into the former shopping mall, Savannah turned back. “Someone has to go find him. I’m not doing any of this until he’s with us. He should have been here by now”
“Okay,” Randy said “Let’s go find our boy.”
The sun’s position in the sky told him it must be sometime after midday. Attempting to focus on just how he ended up in the thick underbrush, his left hand reminded him of the past thirty-six hours. Across his body and down his right side, new details appeared that he was unable to recall.
Both arms saturated to the elbow in wet blood, Mason fought to remember how he ended up flat on his back and twelve feet from the tree he’d fallen asleep against. Moving into a seated position his back ached. Not the type he’d find after lifting something out of his weight class, the pain shooting across the middle of his back was something else entirely.
Pushing up to his feet, his legs shook and the skin across his back felt as though it was on fire. He pulled off his shirt and in raking it across his skin; he nearly collapsed back to the ground. His brow was drenched with sweat and his forehead warm to the touch. Mason stumbled the short distance to the tree and began to lose himself.
Using the massive redwood for support, he dry heaved until the nausea subsided. The past few hours were slowly filtering through his subconscious, when looking beyond the underbrush it all came rushing back.
Three obliterated Feeders lay near one another. Their heads caved in by the grapefruit sized rock that sat near the largest of the trio. Mason instantly recalled being attacked from behind and dispatching of the three while still only half awake.
What he also came to remember was where the pain running across the middle of his back originat
ed, although the details were sketchy at best. He knew for sure that a large portion of flesh had been ripped away, what he couldn’t ascertain was exactly how.
Was he bitten, or was this something else? At the moment that would be impossible to know, although he assumed he’d soon find out.
Pulling back onto the highway, Randy wasn’t happy. If he had things his way, Megan would have stayed put, although he had made her a promise. And as he expected, every single member of their group piled back into the SUV to go in search of their friend. What he didn’t account for was the support of their new friends.
Tom and Bryce rounded up three more men and followed them back out through the gates and onto the deserted highway.
Within twenty minutes, they spotted their friend. Mason walked out of the trees along the left-hand side of the road and fell head-first onto the unforgiving asphalt.
Out of the SUV and the first to reach their friend, Savannah began to weep. “He’s been attacked. He needs help.”
Randy and Tom moved in quickly and pulled Mason off the blistering roadway, laying him in the back of the SUV. With Savannah and Sean seated on either side of Mason, the group of friends pushed on.
As Mason began to lose consciousness, Savannah spoke to him softly. “Please stay here with us. We need you. We love you.”
Reaching the gates to Harbor Crest, Mason’s heart rate climbed sharply as he began to hyperventilate. Turning to Savannah, Mason said, “I think I’m done fighting.”
243
Six Weeks Later…
Faces. They stared at him with intent as he attempted to find his place.
