by L. T. Ryan
She lunged forward as she drove her left arm up toward his neck. Her fingers found his Adam’s apple and squeezed as she pushed him toward the rear wall. Her grip tightened. She felt his neck crush in her hand. His yells, once audible, were nothing more than a whisper now. She leaned in and tore at his cheek with her mouth. The flesh ripped away from his face like gristle on a steak. His feeble attempts to swat her with the fire poker were brushed off. She leaned back and drove her knee into his stomach.
He went limp.
She leaned in, pinning him with her upper torso. She grabbed his right arm and yanked, separating his elbow and shoulder. She grabbed his hair and pulled his head back. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He was in her grasp and there was nothing he could do about it. Kathy lunged forward and sunk her teeth into his neck, biting and pulling until she tore through his jugular. Warm blood pulsated across her face and hair. The guy dropped to the floor.
Kathy stood over him, panting, ready to find the fourth man.
Only he found her first.
A blast rang out, coinciding with a burning in her upper torso. She flew five feet to the side, smashing into the wall. Somehow she managed to hold herself up until he fired again. This time she fell. She supported upper body with the wall. She looked down and saw that the last shot had blown her leg off at the knee.
How fitting, human Kathy interjected.
She struggled to pull herself toward the guy in the blue shirt.
“Not another inch.” The man fired once again.
Twenty-Eight
Sean left the corpse in the flannel shirt behind and headed toward the staircase. He’d heard the sounds of a struggle up there. Before he got a foot on the first footstep, a rifle blast reverberated throughout the house. He dove to his right, placing him underneath the loft. A second shot rang out. Sean settled himself, wrapped his hands around his MP7 and backed into the opening with his eyes and weapon aimed upstairs.
He saw a man in a blue shirt standing in front of the hallway that led to the bedrooms. The guy held a rifle. Before Sean could say anything, the guy fired a third time.
Sean squeezed his trigger. His aim was off. Two bullets slammed into the wall. The third penetrated the guy’s shoulder. A crimson bloom filled out the man’s shirt, and he stumbled backward, disappearing from sight.
Sean took the stairs a step at a time. He slowed down as his head rose above the second floor. It was silent, except for labored breathing. He got a visual on where the man in the blue shirt was. The guy had rolled over and struggled to get to his hands and knees. Sean exploded up the stairs. The guy spun around on the floor, coming to rest in a sitting position. He’d lost his rifle on his way down to the floor.
“Please don’t shoot,” he said, his hands extended in front of him. “Was just saving my friend from that thing over there.”
Sean cast a quick glance over his shoulder. His wife lay in a heap on the floor. Beyond her, another guy in what used to be a white t-shirt lay on the floor, drenched in blood.
Without a word, Sean squeezed the trigger three times. The first three bullets hit dead center. The next three penetrated the guy’s skull. The final three went into his gut.
Sean’s arms began to tremble. It had been years since he’d fired his weapon at another person. He’d never taken out an unarmed man before.
He shuffled in a semi-circle, taking in the sight of the man he presumed his wife had killed. When he completed his turn, he saw her on the floor. She had moved.
“Kathy,” he said. “You still alive?”
She said nothing. Her chest rose and fell. Blood pooled on the floor by her severed leg and around her torso.
Sean walked over to her. He knelt down and shifted her head in his hands. Protocol didn’t matter at that moment. Kathy’s eyes opened and she looked up at him. She smiled. Though her wounds appeared mortal, he knew that if she was anything like those beings in Nigeria, she wouldn’t die from them. Not quickly, at least.
She also would never be his wife again. This was not Kathy. A monster lay on the floor in front of him.
Sean pulled himself up and took a few steps back. Confusion spread across Kathy’s face. Her smile faded. She turned her head. A grimace washed over her. When she looked back at him, he saw a faint glow in her eyes.
She forced herself into a sitting position. There should have been pain, but she felt none. She continued forward, tucking her legs behind her. Sean took a step back. Kathy reached out with her left arm, dug into the carpet, and dragged herself forward. Her mouth was open. Any recognition of him had passed.
“Stop,” Sean said. “Please, don’t come any closer.”
She groaned, reached out and pulled herself forward again. He took another step back, placing him at the edge of the stairway.
“Just go back to the corner and let it go,” he said.
She groaned louder, and again, she pulled herself toward him.
Sean started down the stairs, backward at first. After five steps, he turned and moved faster. He heard her banging against the railing above as he reached the bottom step. She let out a shriek. He looked up in time to see her pull herself over the railing and drop toward him. Sean dove into the living room. He scrambled forward until he reached the couch, which he used to get himself to his feet. When he turned around, she had already made it halfway to him.
“Don’t,” he whispered.
She ignored him.
Sean reached up and wiped his eyes with the back of his left hand. Then he gripped the MP7, aimed at Kathy’s head, and pulled the trigger twice. Five of the six shots penetrated her skull.
It took a minute for him to compose himself and come to grips with the act he’d committed.
After he did, he walked around her lifeless body and followed the blood trail. He accounted for the two bodies upstairs, and one in the kitchen. He’d seen four on the security feed when the truck arrived. Kathy had been in the garage, and when he entered it, he found the heavy-set man, who appeared to have been flayed alive.
Long slivers of light came in from the bullet holes in the garage door. Bits of dust floated through the rays. Sean walked past the man, unlocked the garage door and pulled it open.
“Fuck!” He saw Barbara’s car, Kathy’s motorcycle on its side in the grass, and his truck, which had four flat tires. The truck the men had pulled up in was gone. There had been a fifth man.
That man knew something had happened, and he got away.
And Sean feared he’d be back.
And who knew how many people he’d bring with him.
Twenty-Nine
Addison rode with no thought of when or where to stop. She’d passed several potential places to camp, but continued on. Her arms, legs, and butt ached. Her clothes were soaked from passing through a creek that was deeper than she had anticipated. The garments felt like they’d been left in the freezer overnight. Her muscles began to cramp.
How much longer until I die from hypothermia?
She spotted what appeared to be an opening under a rock that was covered with dirt and leaves. Sunlight hit the top of the structure and coated it with its warming rays.
She slowed down and came to a stop in front of the cave. Her ears rang. Her body vibrated. Her nose was so numb she couldn’t smell anything. She swung her leg over the seat, put both feet on the ground and steadied herself. Birds sung. Wind rustled through the trees. Aside from that, there was no noise.
She walked up to the narrow opening and peeked inside. The darkness made it near impossible to see anything. Addison entered, stopping a foot or so past the threshold. She opened her eyes wide and waited for them to adjust to the lack of light. A few minutes later, she determined that the space was only about five feet deep and maybe ten feet across. It angled off to the side, making it hard to be sure.
The air was warm and the floor was dry. It didn’t matter how big it was. It’d work for her.
She exited the cave and went to the ATV. It would be best to hide it ra
ther than leave it out in the open. She pushed it around the mound and then scavenged for a few leaf-covered branches, which she used to cover the vehicle. In the end, it wasn’t pretty. If someone got too close, it wouldn’t fool them. But for what she needed, it did the trick.
Next, she stripped out of her clothes and placed them on the side of the mound where the sun shined brightest. Again, they’d easily be spotted if someone passed close by, but other than that, they blended in well enough. She climbed down to the ground. The cool air coated her naked body. To her surprise, it felt warmer than her clothes had.
She hurried to the front and slipped inside the cave. Her body began to warm, muscles relaxed and her teeth stopped chattering.
Addison crawled to the back of the space and lay down. Thirty minutes inside the warm, dry space transformed her. She began to think rationally for the first time since escaping. She decided it had been a bad idea to leave the ATV and her clothes outside, but could not muster the energy to go out and move them. Besides, if she did, she’d have to travel that much further out in the open while naked.
Caring less about her possessions, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Despite being exhausted, she managed to nap for only a few minutes at a time. When she heard footsteps outside the cave, she sat up. They seemed to stop in front of the opening. She rocked forward to her hands and knees and started to crawl. The entrance came into view, but there was no one there.
She waited, alert and tuned into the environment. She heard the steps again, moving away from the cave.
The ATV, she thought.
She could not let someone get away with the machine, or her clothes.
She rose, pressed her back against the wall, and sidestepped toward the opening. She caught the edge of the passing breeze. The mustiness nearly caused her to sneeze. The footsteps approached. She shuffled backward. Whoever was out there stopped. Addison had to do something.
“Who’s out there?” she shouted.
No one responded.
“I’m just passing through. I mean you no harm.” She waited. Again, there was no response. She took a few steps, stopped and leaned forward, letting her head protrude from the opening. She saw no one.
“Hello?”
Her words were met with complete silence.
She stepped out the cave, looked left and then turned right. Leaves crinkled, twigs snapped and a blur raced toward her. She fell backward into the rock. At once, her hip and upper thigh ached. Addison hit the ground. She managed to scramble to her knees in time to see a deer run away.
She fell forward, letting her elbows and forearms hit the ground. How foolish! She wrapped her hands around the back of her head. That had been too close. Her heart raced faster than if she’d been sprinting.
“Get it together, girl,” she said.
The sounds of the forest filled the space surrounding her. Addison hurried to where she had left her clothes. They were still a bit damp, but nothing like they had been. Her skin cooled as she slipped them over her body. The wind wouldn’t cut as badly as it had. It would help to dry her garments once she got moving.
She climbed onto the ATV and glanced around. The spot was pretty well hidden. Perhaps worth coming back to should she need a place to stay long term. The cave felt safe. After five hours of riding, she figured she had made it far enough away from lunatics who tried to enslave her.
Still, she wanted more. And she wanted it to be even further away.
Addison grabbed the key in the ignition. She heard the sound of a chainsaw in the distance. It was too faint to tell which direction it came from. She decided that the cave might not be that safe a spot after all.
She turned the key and drove away, heading south. The sun shone directly above. Thin beams of light slipped through the web of leaves overhead. She estimated she had six hours of sunlight left. She had that much time to find the highway, although she’d settle for a road. The danger here was in turning back or deviating from her path. She knew she had to stay true, otherwise she’d waste precious time.
Addison snaked her way around trees, being careful to stay on course. Sooner or later she’d end up somewhere. That was inevitable. Highway 58 cut across southern Virginia like a barrier. Keep heading south and she’d get there. Gas and supplies would be plenty along the road. The trip to her grandparents would only be a matter of following I-85 south. It didn’t matter how long it took, as long as she was on the correct path.
She wondered if cell service still existed, or if any areas still had power. A week in the little camp had left her clueless as to what the rest of the world faced.
Were there more of those things crawling around city streets, feeding on others? Had most people become sick and died?
She had trouble figuring out how so many had been healthy at the camp. Based on the early reports she’d heard, ninety percent of them should have been sick or dead. Perhaps there was a part of the camp she hadn’t seen. A quarantine area where they stuck their dying. Perhaps they had been out there for a while, waiting for the event to happen. If so, they were too close to town as far as she was concerned.
Of course, where they were did her little good now, as she was, for all intents and purposes, lost in the woods.
The trees began to thin. Addison slowed the ATV to a crawl. There was a clearing ahead. She cut the engine and hopped off. Better to investigate on foot than head in full throttle, she figured. She walked toward the field. It appeared to have been mowed recently. The other clearings she had come across had been wild and unkempt. Not this one. Someone cared for this land.
Addison walked along the edge of the tree line. She studied the clearing for any movement. There was none. She stepped out from the cover the woods provided her. The area sloped upward. Not much, a small hill was all. She trekked to the crest, hunching over as she neared the top. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the two-story house about a hundred yards in the distance. There were two trucks in the driveway. Behind the house she saw three cows standing close together. She shielded her eyes and scanned for additional signs of life. Five minutes passed without her detecting any movement aside from the cows swatting their tails and reaching down for more grass.
She crawled down the hill, rose and ran to the ATV. She swung her leg over the seat while turning the key in the ignition. The ATV roared to life.
She wasn’t sure if a quiet approach would be better or not. She preferred to make herself known in case someone was there. The ATV would allow her to escape easier if the inhabitants of the home turned out to be less than friendly. Likewise, if they were accommodating people, they’d take note of the engine and perhaps come outside to see who their visitor was. Addison hardly considered herself appearing as a threat. Although, no one could afford to guess when it came to that these days.
She drove the vehicle up the hill, braking as she rode over the top. Again, she lifted her hand to her brow and studied the front of the house. Her idea had panned out. She saw two figures emerge from behind the house. They must have been out back working.
Addison lifted both arms in the air and waved them back and forth. The people at the house stopped. The trucks shielded them, though she could still see their heads. They appeared to be watching her. She started driving forward, slowly and cautiously.
Fifty yards in, she reached to the fence. Looking left, she spotted the open gate. One of the people at the house stepped out from behind the truck. It was a man, wearing a wide brimmed hat. He waved his arms in the air as she had done. She took this as a sign that he wanted her to approach.
“I’m coming in,” she shouted. She wasn’t sure whether or not he responded. The hum of the engine made it impossible to hear her own thoughts at times.
She drove toward the gate, looped around and stopped in front of the opening. She stopped there and waited.
The second person, a woman, had joined the man out in the open. They stood close to their vehicle. The man leaned against the front fender wi
th his arms crossed over his chest. The woman stood a few feet away from him. Her head was angled toward the ground. Her hands were folded over one another, resting on the small of her belly.
Was she trying to signal that she was pregnant?
As Addison expected, no one trusted anyone in this new world. She cut the engine and waited for the ringing in her ears to dissipate. She stood, remaining on the bike, her hands in the air.
“I need help,” she shouted.
Neither the man nor the woman responded.
“A group of people took me prisoner. I escaped and managed to get one of their ATVs. I’ve been on the run all day. Can I rest here for a day or so? I don’t need much, and I mean you no harm. I just want to rest and catch up with what’s happened in the world.”
The woman turned around and headed toward the front door. The man straightened up, lifted both hands in the air and waved them.
Addison lowered herself onto the seat and reached for the key. She heard the faint hum of a vehicle in the distance. Was she close to the highway? She wasn’t sure if she had traveled far enough to be close to I-64. She questioned whether it would even be possible for any cars to be traveling on a major road at this point. They’d be littered with abandoned automobiles, dead bodies, and roving bands of thugs and those things.
She started forward. Dust kicked up around her. Gravel shot into the air, slapping against her lower leg. She stopped halfway between the gate and the house. Despite the passive nature of the people, she still didn’t know their intentions. She cut the engine and got off the ATV.
“Thanks for allowing me to come in,” she said, walking toward the man. The wind blew into her face. She almost gagged on the rotten smell. Raw sewage? “Do you have power? TV? Can you tell me what’s going on in the world?”
The guy dropped his hands to his side and looked up. For the first time, she got a glimpse of his face. It looked ashen, drawn. Addison stopped. The woman stepped off the front porch and began walking toward her. As she neared, Addison saw that she looked worse than the man. The skin around her eyes and her mouth had turned dark purple.
