Mile after mile sped by under their bike’s wheels and once again they all fell into the silent concentration of pedaling. It was just after they had been on the road for an hour when Mrs. Moore called them to a stop. She was looking between her map and the many signs that stood above the freeway. Ahead of them was the biggest interchange April had ever seen. The roads split apart and looped around and seemed to go in every direction. She had never seen such a huge mass of concrete in her life. While her teacher figured out which branch to take, she leaned against the concrete barrier on the outer side of the road. It came up to her mid-chest so it let her look up and over it and into the area surrounding them. Being elevated gave her a bird’s eye view and something down below caught her attention.
A small muddy pond was surrounded by thousands of dirty tents and makeshift shelters. The whole camp was filled with garbage and household items. There were no signs of life. Liam came over to stand beside her. She pointed down at the empty camp.
“What do you think they were doing there and where did they all go?”
Liam scanned the area with a frown before his eyes widened in understanding. He pointed out beyond the edge of the camp.
“Look over there. Do you see the small hill with the wooden platform? That whole area was a lake or reservoir. If you follow the line of that hill you can see where its banks used to be. I bet people came and set up camp here when the water stopped flowing. With so many people taking water from it, the levels would’ve slowly dropped and they moved their camp closer and closer until there was nothing left but that muddy pond.”
Once April’s eyes picked out the original banks of the reservoir, it was easy to see how big it had been compared to what was left.
“But, Liam, where did they all go?”
He signed sadly and turned his back on the camp.
“Honestly, most of them probably died. The water was probably contaminated with so many people using it. Every drop would have to have been boiled to keep it safe to drink and many wouldn’t have done that. They also would’ve run out of food. So some of the people would’ve moved on but a lot would’ve been too weak and so they probably died.”
April and Liam leaned against the concrete and thought about the millions of people that had died in the last five months from dehydration, starvation, disease or violence and they both prayed that they wouldn’t end up adding to those numbers.
Mrs. Moore called for them to mount up breaking them out of their grim thoughts. With one last look back at the abandoned camp they pushed off and hoped they would find a better future.
The group stayed close together as they maneuvered through the abandoned cars that clogged the interchange. It was slow going and in a few spots they had to work together to lift the bikes and trailers over smashed car hoods or trunks when they couldn’t find a way through. There was no way to get off the interchange with it being so high off the ground so they had no choice but to lift the bikes over any blockage they came to. By the time they finally made it through the exchange and back on to the more even freeway heading west, they were all exhausted so after half-an-hour, the adults called a break for food and rest.
With the sun beaming straight down on their heads, they started looking for a place that would give them some shade. They were all hot and miserable by the time they rode up to a gas station that had an overhead canopy above the gas pumps. There were two cars and one van abandoned at the pumps with the gas nozzles lying on the pavement beside them. The girls opened all the vehicles doors to air them out so they could sit in comfort while they ate their small lunch of canned tuna on crackers. It wasn’t a very tasty meal but they only had so much food. Liam was banging around inside the gas station. It had been completely looted and all the shelves and glass had been destroyed. He finally came out to join them after ten minutes of searching the rubble with a huge grin on his face.
“I found dessert!” He called out in a singsong voice before bringing his hands out from behind his back and holding up the two bags he’d found. One bag was filled with long red licorice and the other was a party size bag of Skittles.
Everyone cheered at the treats and Liam passed them out to the girls. The little bit of candy they would all get would bump up their calorie intake for the meal and the sugar would help as well. After the candy had been divided, Liam came over and settled down beside April on the dirty concrete and leaned back against one of the useless gas pumps to chew on a rope of licorice.
April studied him from the corner of her eye as she sipped at the lukewarm water in her bottle. He’d taken his hat off and sweat had given him a ring of matted hair from the hat. He looked different from the boy who had jumped balconies with her all those months ago. She tried to figure out what had changed and it finally hit her. His face wasn’t soft anymore. The teenage face he’d started this trip with had been chiselled into that of a man’s. Even his eyes were harder as he constantly scanned the parking area and street for threats. She sighed and looked down at her scuffed running shoes. Liam, like everyone else, had left his childhood behind and turned into a man. She wondered if he felt pressure to be the protector of them all, being the only male in the group. She felt a sense of helpless rage at the people who had destroyed the world and stolen so much life from it. She could only be grateful that he was with them and vowed to help him as much as he’d helped her.
“You should switch bikes with me. I can pull the trailer for the rest of the day,” she told him.
He raised his eyebrows at her and looked at her wounded arm in question.
April shrugged her shoulders.
“It’s not too bad. Still throbs a bit when I move it but I can handle a turn pulling the trailer.”
Liam studied her with a soft smile for a few seconds before answering her.
“I’m okay to finish out the day with it. How about you do it tomorrow? Give your arm one more day to heal a bit more.”
April nodded and achingly climbed to her feet when Mrs. Moore called out for them to get moving. They still had many miles to go before the sun went down and they had to look for another shelter for the night. She bit back a groan as she swung her pack back over her shoulders and daydreamed of a hot soak in a hot tub as she pushed off and followed the others back out onto the road.
They had only traveled for twenty minutes when gasps and cries of delight rang out causing April to raise her head and search for what had caused them. She followed the stares and pointed fingers as they all came to a stop. An overgrown field stretched out into the distance beside the road they were travelling on and calmly grazing in it was three of the most beautiful horses she’d ever seen. They were an amazing sight in the middle of so much destruction and made April’s heart feel lighter. She had no idea where they had come from but they didn’t look anything like the work horses she’d seen on the farms around her town. These animals were sleek and delicate-looking. The group sat and just watched them with smiles for a few minutes until as one; all the horses raised their heads in the group’s direction and froze. For two heartbeats, the magnificent animals stared at them before bolting in the opposite direction. April’s grin spread even wider as they seemed to fly across the field. That grin changed to open-mouthed shock as a roar louder than a freight train sounded at her back and a dark blur sprang past her and crashed into two of girls in front of her.
Chapter 13
April was frozen. She couldn’t seem to move a muscle even as her brain screamed at her to run. What she saw in front of her was beyond impossible. Some sort of huge cat had crashed into Molly and Ashley. They were a heap of limps and handlebars as their bikes tires spun in the air. A massive paw swiped at Ashley’s head and the whole pile shifted a few feet exposing the blank staring eyes of Molly. Her head flopped to the side in a sickening way. Bile surged up April’s throat and filled her mouth. Just as she was turning aside to heave, something grabbed her backpack from behind and dragged her backwards off her bike and down to the ground. She managed to turn h
er head before throwing up so that most of the mess landed on the pavement.
The huge explosion of gunshots rang out and competed with the cat’s furious roars and the other girls’ screams of terror. All April could do was curl into herself and cover her ears as she continued to dry heave. The noise was deafening and she had no idea what was happening but she knew what she’d seen. A lion, a lion had just attacked them and killed Molly and maybe Ashley too. Her body was wracked with sobs. She didn’t understand this new world and squeezed her eyes shut to make it all go away. Her escape from reality was thwarted when strong hands gripped her and yanked her to her feet. Her eyes flew wide as she stared into Liam’s panicked blue ones.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he yelled at her as he looked her body up and down.
April was beyond speech so she just nodded frantically and spun around to check on the rest of the group. What she saw staggered her, and Liam had to hold her up or she would’ve fallen to her knees.
Blood, there was so much blood everywhere. Molly and Ashley were in a heap with their bikes and the lion was draped over top of them. All three figures were bathed in blood and a small lake of it was spreading all around them. April couldn’t tear her eyes away from the carnage until someone blocked her view and gave her a shake.
Mrs. Moore’s grief-filled eyes came into focus and that was all it took for April to break. She threw herself at her teacher and let out a howl of pain that came from the very depths of her soul.
April lost herself in the comfort of the older woman’s arms. She couldn’t handle any more. She was done. There was nothing left inside of her and she didn’t know if she’d ever recover.
Mrs. Moore turned with her student in her arms and watched as Liam dragged the carcass off her former students. She knew that they were dead but said nothing as he checked both girls for a pulse. He took a few steps back and shook his head. His eyes worried the teacher. They were devoid of all emotion and she feared for all her students’ mental health. Glancing away from him, she took in the rest of the girls huddled around Mrs. Hardsky. The woman was doing her best to hold on to Kara who was trying to reach out to her best friend on the ground.
Everyone remained frozen in place as Liam carefully moved the two girls to the side of the road. He walked into the field and kicked at the ground for a few minutes before coming back to join the group. His blank eyes searched out Mrs. Moore and in a bleak voice told her, “I don’t have a shovel. I need to bury them but I don’t have a shovel.”
Mrs. Moore gently lowered April to the ground and pressed a bottle of water that she’d taken from her pack into the girl’s hands before approaching Liam. She put a hand on his shoulder and searched his eyes.
“No, Liam, we don’t have a shovel.” She turned to take in the other girls before addressing them all. “I’m sorry, but we have no way to bury Molly and Ashley.”
The teacher’s eyes welled with tears and she took a bracing breath.
“I’m so sorry that this happened. I…I didn’t even think about this kind of threat. There’s nothing we can do for them now. We can put them in one of these cars but that’s all we can do. I’m sorry but we have to keep moving. There might be more animals out here and they will be attracted by the blood. I’m so sorry that we can’t do more for them.”
As if her words were prophesy, a roar rang out causing the girls to scream in panic. Everyone surged to their feet and prepared to bolt when the sound of a rifle shot boomed causing them all to drop back to the ground.
The roar of another predator had snapped April from her shock and she’d bounced to her feet like the others. The gunshot had caused her to drop into a crouch but had also wiped all fear from her brain. Her eyes had been on Liam so she knew he hadn’t fired his gun so that meant there was someone else out there. All of the fear, sadness and panic had pushed her brain to the limit and she felt like a switch had been thrown inside of her. She felt cold and hard and ready to kill. The rage inside of her didn’t burn, it was sharp like ice. Waving her hand to get Liam’s attention, she hissed at him when he looked her way.
“Where are the other guns?”
Something in her face must have scared him because he flinched back before pointing an unsteady finger at one of the bike trailers.
She glanced at the gun in his trembling hand that was pointed at the ground and spat out, “Be ready!”
She didn’t wait for his reaction but started to duck walk towards the bike trailer he’d indicated. It no longer mattered that she didn’t like guns. She wasn’t going to see any more of her friends die. April would do what she had to do to protect her friends.
She had reached the trailer and was rummaging through its contents when a stranger’s voice called out.
“HOLA!”
Her hands froze as she felt the cold metal hardness of a weapon and her eyes tracked to the direction the voice had come from. A man in his early twenties was walking towards them from across the field and slung over his shoulder was a long barreled rifle. The sight of the gun was all April needed to see. She pulled her own weapon from the trailer and ran over next to Liam.
The man continued to walk towards them but never reached for his weapon. When he came to ten feet from the two dead girls’ bodies he stopped and frowned down at them. Crossing himself, April heard him say,
“Descanse en paz los niños”
He stood quietly with all eyes on him as he said a prayer for the two girls. April’s grip on the gun relaxed slightly. She didn’t think a bad man would say a prayer for their fallen and then try to hurt them but she still kept the gun pointed in his direction.
He finally finished his prayer and looked up. He took in all the cowering girls and his face creased with confusion before his eyes settled on the carcass of the dead lion. He whistled softly and looked at Liam.
“Damn ese, that felino is Swiss cheese! We won’t be able to use its hide for anything!”
The man looked up at the group staring silently at him and sighed.
“Oh well, at least you got her. We’ve been trying to kill these man-eaters for the past two months.” When no one responded, just continued to stare at him, he went on, “I’m sorry about your friends but what’re you guys doing out here so far east? How did you get past our roadblock? We warned you guys about these big cats hunting along this stretch of road!” When no one responded to him he cursed in Spanish and turned back in the direction he’d come and waved over his head before turning back to the group.
Mrs. Moore finally shook herself from her shock and confusion of his words and at the sight of two more men entering the field. They were headed their way and were dragging something behind them. She stepped forwards and addressed the stranger.
“Sir, I believe you have us confused with another group. Who are you?”
The man looked over the group of girls and Liam more closely and pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He lit one up before answering her with a question.
“You’re not from the refugee camp, are you?”
Mrs. Moore’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“There’s a refugee camp near here?”
The man gave a slow nod.
“All of you are clean and healthy. If you didn’t come from the camp, where’ve you been all this time?”
Mrs. Moore gave a soft laugh.
“The happiest place on earth! We came from Disneyland.”
The man’s eye widened in disbelief before he started to laugh. He stepped forward and stretched out his hand to the teacher.
“My name is Juan. I think you all better come with me.”
The two men that joined them mainly stayed silent as they collected the animal carcass and laid it on the cart they had brought beside another dead lion. Juan insisted that they could bring the two fallen girls with them for a proper burial back at their enclave.
“Too many people never got the chance to be put to rest properly. We’ll bury these girls and mark their graves so th
at they will always be remembered.”
Mrs. Moore and Mrs. Hardsky wrapped the two bodies in two of their few blankets and the men placed them gently on top of the cart. Once everyone had collected their packs, they pushed their bikes to keep pace with the men and headed west. Juan explained to them all that had happened in the past six months in the area and the group of survivors listened intently.
“The first month was hell on earth. No one knew what had happened and people acted like animals. There was rioting and fighting everywhere for food and water. Hundreds of thousands of people just started walking out of the cities. It was chaos! People died everywhere and just dropped in place. Our group was very lucky. Our leader was home on leave from the military and she knew exactly what had happened. She organized us right away and led us to where we set up our enclave. It was a gated community around a natural reservoir. So we moved all of our people in behind the walls and set up defenses. By the third day we had started to break ground for gardens and by the end of the first week we had crops planted. Strict rationing kept us all fed and we scavenged everything we could. We had a lot of hard workers in our group and strong leadership as well as a good location otherwise we’d have died like so many others. We did lose people in attacks and from natural causes without modern medicine but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.”
Mrs. Moore walked beside Juan and nodded at his words.
Stranded (Book 4): City Escape Page 10
