“Just take this and load it into the van.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Dylan said. “I’m not going without her.”
The front door of the cabin opened and Jessica emerged. Dylan ran over to her.
“Tell Gabriel that I don’t have to go,” Dylan said. “Please.” He had tears in his eyes now, and Gabriel could feel a new brand of guilt ride up into his gut. This wasn’t the first time he’d had trouble with Dylan over his decisions, and he knew, just like before, that the kid would get over it.
“You can’t make him go with us if he doesn’t want to go, Gabriel,” Jessica said.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “Us?”
Jessica said, “I’m going with you. There’s nothing for me here, and I want to see what we can find in D.C. To see if I can help you find your family. But you can’t make Dylan go. Let him stay here. It’s safe here. Let Will and Holly look after him. Let him stay with his friends and try to somewhat live a normal life.”
Gabriel couldn’t look at Dylan without feeling remorseful. The responsibility for the child had almost literally fallen into his lap, and he’d grown so close to Dylan. The truth was, he wasn’t ready to let Dylan go. More than once, the thought had crossed Gabriel’s mind that he would get to Alexandria and never find Dylan’s parents. And with a gun to his head, Gabriel would have to have told the truth and say that he hoped they wouldn’t find them. Even though it had only been a couple of weeks, he’d taken Dylan in like his own child. Letting him go would just leave another hole in Gabriel’s heart.
But as he looked into the boy’s eyes, he knew what the right decision was.
***
Most everyone at the camp gathered around to see Gabriel and Jessica off. Gabriel had calmed down, though he hadn’t changed his mind about leaving. He had no other option. The simple thought that he’d already wasted too much time and had possibly missed the opportunity to save his own family weighed heavily on him.
Gabriel and Jessica each walked down the line of people, shaking the hands of the survivors from the campground first. All of them were present except for Thomas, who’d remained strangely absent. Jessica thanked each one of them, and Gabriel followed, simply acknowledging each of the individuals without repeating the same pleasantries as Jessica. Holly and Will stood near the end of the line. Once Jessica was done hugging each of them, Gabriel stepped up. Though he and Holly had had it out earlier, she still allowed him to give her a hug, as well as a kiss on the cheek. He then moved in front of Will, and the two men just looked at each other. Gabriel could feel everyone’s eyes on them, as if they were waiting for a fight to break out. He then looked down and saw that Will had his hand extended out. Gabriel waited a moment, then accepted the handshake.
“You sure you wanna do this?” Will asked.
Gabriel responded, “Are you?”
Will nodded.
And that was the extent of their conversation.
Gabriel now drew in a deep breath as he arrived at the three children. He shook Reece’s hand, then looked down to Dylan and Mary Beth. She had her arm around Dylan as he cried. Gabriel leaned down to eye-level with them.
He said to Mary Beth, “You take care of him now, you hear?”
She smiled and nodded, saying, “Yes, sir.”
And when his eyes met Gabriel’s, Dylan let go of Mary Beth and embraced Gabriel, letting out all of his emotion. The small hands gripped the back of Gabriel’s shirt tightly.
“Don’t go,” Dylan pleaded.
“I’ve got to,” Gabriel said. “You know that. I’ve got to find my wife and my little girl. Once I find them, perhaps I will bring them back here if there’s no refuge in Washington.”
Dylan didn’t respond. He just held Gabriel and cried. Gabriel’s gaze shifted to the other, particularly to Will and Holly. He could see in both their faces that they both hated his decision to leave, but also that they understood it. Gabriel just hoped that splitting from the group would turn out better than it had the last time he’d tried to go out on his own.
Gabriel pulled away from Dylan, his hands gripping the boy’s shoulders tight. He jostled Dylan’s hair, choking back his own tears. He wanted to stay strong for the kid, but it was growing more difficult with every passing moment.
A door to one of the cabins slamming drew everyone’s attention. Leaving one hand on Dylan’s shoulder, Gabriel used his other hand as a visor to block out the sun and look toward the commotion. Thomas had emerged from his cabin, lugging a suitcase-on-wheels behind him and carrying his rifle over his shoulder. The silence among the other survivors said it all.
Claire split from the others, walking toward her brother, and said, “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving,” Thomas said, marching toward the van.
“What?” Claire said. She moved from beside him to in front of him, halting in his path so that he would come to a top. “What do you mean you’re leaving?”
“I’m going with them to Virginia,” Thomas said. “I’m tired of sitting around here doing nothing. Someone in Washington has to know something about what’s going on or how to stop this demonic plague.” He looked over to Will. “Claire told me about what you know. About what happened to you. That information is far too important not to try and get it to Washington.”
Will looked on, his arm wrapped around Holly.
Thomas went to throw his bag into the open sliding door of the van, but Claire stopped him. He turned back to her, eyes almost crossed in frustration.
“Claire, let go. You’re not stopping me from leaving.”
Claire said, “No, I’m not. But I’m not letting you leave without me. And if I’m leaving, I’m not leaving my car here.”
***
Gabriel and Jessica transferred their things to Claire’s SUV, while Claire had retreated to her cabin to gather her things. Once she came back outside, ready to load her things and leave, Gabriel left Will with some of the ammunition he’d gathered, now that Thomas had decided to come, bringing with him a small arsenal.
“Thanks,” Will said.
Gabriel nodded and turned around to load into the cockpit of the SUV. He’d be taking the first driving shift.
Will said, “Hey.”
Gabriel looked back.
“Good luck finding Katie and Sarah.”
With a nod, his lips pursed, Gabriel said, “Thanks, brother.”
He shut the door and clicked on his seatbelt. When he looked back out, Dylan stood staring, his eyes mostly dry now. Gabriel waved and gave the boy a thumbs-up, and Dylan waved back.
Before he had any second thoughts about leaving, Gabriel looked away, drawing his attention to the rearview mirror as he backed up. Dirt appeared in the reflection, the tires sending it into the clean, mountain air.
He started down the dirt path of the mountain, and he didn’t look back until they turned around a corner, and he glanced into the rearview mirror again.
All he saw were trees and dust.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
They watched as the headlights to Claire’s SUV disappeared around the corner through the trees. Dylan’s tears flowed freely now, and the boy allowed all his emotion to drain out of him. Holly left Will’s side and hugged Dylan, patting him on the back and assuring him that everything would be fine.
At once, a whole new thought came to Will. Essentially, he’d instantly become a father. Dylan and Mary Beth were his and Holly’s responsibility now. Sure, the others at the campground would help out, but they were by no means required to. Will and Holly had inherited the liability of the two children the moment that he’d informed Gabriel he was staying at the cabins. Still trying to come to grips with losing his own parents, he wasn’t sure how he would handle this new responsibility. Will did want kids, and perhaps even with Holly, but under a different circumstance than this.
Holly looked up to Will and said, “I’m gonna take him to his cabin and start getting his stuff moved over to ours. Is that okay?”
As Holly headed away with Dylan, Mary Beth followed. Will started for his cabin, but was stopped by Charlie.
“You okay?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah,” Will mumbled. “I’m all good. Just tired.”
“Me, too. Let’s both get some rest and catch up in a little while, alright?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Will said.
***
Dylan’s things had already been packed up, as Gabriel had assumed the boy would be leaving with him. This made it fairly simple for Holly to take Dylan back to his cabin to grab his things. Mary Beth had gone to hang out with Reece for a little while, leaving Holly and Dylan alone. While Reece slept each night in the same cabin as Scott, he’d often spend a large part of his day in one of the unoccupied cabins, where they kept some of the board and card games. This particular cabin had become simply known as ‘the game room’.
Holly looked around in the cabinets, seeing if there was anything worth taking. It appeared to have already been cleared out. She saw the cabinet with the hole in it, and Gabriel’s blood still pooled on the counter below it.
“Gabriel took most of that stuff with him,” Dylan said, standing in the middle of the living room with his bag over his shoulder.
Holly shut the cabinet. They had plenty of food among the other cabins, so it wasn’t a big deal. It had started to look as if the only things they’d be able to salvage out of the cabin, aside from the living space itself if they ended up needing it, were blankets, pillows, and some leftover firewood.
“I’m sure he’ll need it,” Holly said.
The pain remained in the boy’s eyes. Holly sighed and walked to the middle of the room, where Dylan stood. She took his hand and led him over to the sofa. Sitting down, she patted the spot next to her and offered him a seat, which he accepted.
Dylan said, “Why did he have to leave? Why couldn’t he have just stayed here with us?”
“You know the answer to that, sweetie,” Holly said. “Gabriel has people he loves back home. He wants to get back to them.” Holly reassured him of this even though she questioned what Gabriel might or might not find when, and if, he made it back home.
“We should be his family. After everything we’ve been through together.” Dylan spoke with a type of aggression that Holly hadn’t heard from him before.
“It’s easy to say that when you consider even just the last few days we’ve had,” Holly said. “And I know it feels like we’ve been together for a long time, but it hasn’t been that long. Gabriel has a daughter around your age, and he’s been with his wife much longer than that. One day, when you’re older and you’re married, you’ll have a better understanding of what kind of burden that kind of responsibility bears on you.”
“I’m never getting married,” Dylan said.
Holly laughed. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that anytime soon.” She stood up and grabbed Dylan’s bag for him. “Now, come on, let’s get you over to Reece’s so you can play for a while.”
***
The season’s first chilled night had come, as lights flashed all around. Large speakers amplified the voices of carnies trying to lure children over, all to steal their parents’ hard-earned money by distracting the kids with large plush dolls that could be bought at the store for half the price it would cost to obtain enough tickets to possibly win one. Luckily for Walt Kessler, his eleven-year-old son, Will, was much more interested in experiences and food than prizes, wanting to do nothing but ride the rides and stuff his face with sugary funnel cakes and nachos covered in anything and everything to clog arteries.
Will walked beside his father, eating his second slice of pizza of the evening. Two slices was nothing to Will normally, but after the two hot dogs, a cup of ice cream, funnel cake, and sharing nachos with his father, he was at the point of bursting. Even still, he wanted to ride anything that would twist him sideways or turn him upside down. His stomach ached, but he wouldn’t let that ruin the rest of his night at the state fair with his father, an annual tradition they’d stayed true to for as long as Will had been tall enough to meet the height requirements of most of the rides.
“What you wanna do next?”
Will looked up to see his father smiling down at him. His eyes then shifted forward, gazing upon ‘Starship 5000’, one of those spaceship rides where you’re inside a round, UFO type structure, and it spins fast enough to make you move up and down on the wall you’re strapped to, almost defying gravity. Will remembered one of his friends telling him that, if you spit while inside there, your flem would fly around the ship at the speed of a NASCAR, but he’d never had the guts to try it.
“That!” Will said, pointing to it. “I wanna ride ‘Starship 5000’.”
Walt Kessler laughed. “Son, if you ride that thing, you’re gonna make a lot of people inside very angry when you plaster the walls with pizza and ice cream.”
“Cool!” Will said.
Walt scanned the lay of the land, and he pointed to their left.
“How about you go inside that? Do something a little more laid-back.”
Will looked over to see his father pointing at a fun house. It was one of those really cheesy ones with a bunch of clowns painted on the side, working to try and scare people who are frightened by weird guys in colorful make-up and green wigs. Will wasn’t one of those people.
“Dad, come on, that’s lame.”
He closed his eyes as his father rustled his hair. His dad nodded toward the fun house, and urged his son to follow him.
“Come on,” Walt said.
Will let out a long sigh and followed his father, chewing his way down to the crust of his pizza — his favorite part, especially when it had a touch of cinnamon added to it like this slice did. He wiped his hands and then disposed of the napkin in a trash can.
Leaning down and handing Will three tickets, Walt patted his son on the back and said, “I’ll be out here, alright?”
“You’re really gonna make me go in there?” Will asked.
“Look, there’s not even a line,” his father said. “Come on, you might have fun. Who knows?”
Of course there’s not a line, Will thought. ‘Cause it’s lame. He let out a deep breath and said, “Fine.”
His father smiled. “I’ll be right here.” He urged Will toward the funhouse, then leaned back against a guard rail, withdrawing a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
Will was the fifth kid in line for ‘Clown Town’, standing behind kids who were all younger than he was. He glanced back to his father, who blew a cloud of smoke in the air, smiling at his son and waving.
When he reached the front of the line, the carney said, “Three tickets, please,” which Will reluctantly handed over to the guy with slicked-back hair, who smelled like a combination of every fried food stand that he’d passed, and the disgusting aftershave that Principal Crossley always wore.
“Go on in,” the carney said.
It was just as lame as Will had known it would be. He had to enter the funhouse on a bridge that quaked in a way that tried to make you think you wouldn’t make it across. In truth, his friend Hunter’s two-legged dog could have made it across. Once on the other side, repeated laughter came from speakers which sounded like they were part of the first stereo system ever made. He could hear every pop and click from the tired audio. Will wanted to get out of the funhouse as fast as possible and go ride something fun. That spaceship, the Tilt-A-Whirl… something, anything, else.
Moments after a cardboard clown jumped out at him, the power inside of the funhouse faltered, and everything went black. Will stood still, waiting for power to be restored. At first, he thought it was part of the experience, but then he noticed through a window in the next room that it was dark outside. He held onto the wall and
moved to the next area, looking out the window. Outside, it was pitch black. Stranger, none of the young brats in front of him were screaming. It was quiet all around him.
“Hello?” Will called out.
No answer.
He used the walls to guide himself out, the lack of power leaving the chance of some prop jumping out at him as nonexistent. Somehow, he made it to the exit of the funhouse without falling down.
When he walked outside, he stopped dead in his path.
Not only was his father gone, but the entire park was vacant.
Will stood, stunned, and said, “Dad?”
No answer.
“Dad!”
His voice echoed off the steel of the dead rides.
Off in the distance, he heard a laugh.
Will followed the sound, hearing the sound of a man laughing every ten seconds or so.
He stopped when he came to a gate. A large sign above it read: Emergency Exit. A banner covered the opposite side of the rod-iron fence, making it impossible to see the other side.
The lock on the gate popped, and it started to swing open, the creak echoing into Will’s ears. He stepped toward the fence with caution, curious as to what lay on the other side. The laugh faded, and now he heard something else.
Growls.
Snarling.
Will’s eyes widened, and he tripped over the untied shoelaces of his Chucks.
A horde of undead monsters lumbered toward him. Their faces were pale, their hair matted and dry. They looked like creatures he’d fought in video games and seen in movies.
He gasped for air as he stumbled back to his feet, and started to run the other way without looking. But he hit something, knocking him back down onto the concrete.
And when he looked up, he saw a familiar face.
“Dad?”
But it wasn’t his dad at all. Not anymore. Walt Kessler had turned into one of the monsters. Using his father’s eyes, the thing looked down at Will, moving its tongue over its dry lips and snarling. Will used his hands to crawl backward, turning around to see the hundreds of others approaching closer. He was trapped.
Empty Bodies (Book 4): Open Roads Page 10
