by Candis Vargo
Javier caught Ev staring at him out of the corner of his eyes. He liked her equally as much but he tried to deny it. That was the last thing he wanted on his mind so he hastily changed the subject. “Who’s phone was that?” he asked.
Everyone began looking at one another. After a few moments of silence Lance spoke up. “Sorry. I forgot I even had it on me.”
“Shit, Lance. You’re trained better than that shit! What the hell is wrong with you?” Ryan said.
“I know. Fuck man it’s not like I did it on purpose.”
“Who was it?” Javier asked.
Lance looked at his phone as he said “Fuck. We need to all Bryson with the CDC and update them. They can’t go in there.”
“Get to it,” Javier said.
Lance made his phone call and I decided to turn on the radio. I thought there had to be some news on about the world, but there wasn’t. There was nothing on but static. When I turned it back off Lance told us that he wasn’t able to get through to the CDC. To anyone. There wasn’t anyone picking up their phone, and Evelyn could only assume the worst.
As they pulled onto the old highway they sat in silence. No one wanted to say anything, because they were all thinking the same thing. The world was going to hell and they hoped they would make it to their destination in time…and alive.
Chapter 7
The First Night
You can only drive for so many hours before your eyes play tricks on you. And when the world was going to hell, they liked to make you think you were seeing the dead everywhere. They needed to find a place to stop and rest for the night. They would make it farther in the daylight, when they were actually able to see what was in front of them.
“You said there’s a tent in the bag?” Javier asked Ev.
“Yeah. If we’re going to stop for the night we should find someplace secluded in the open. Preferably in a field somewhere,” Ev replied.
“Alright.” Javier drove for three more miles before he found a dirt road on the side of the old highway. He followed the dirt road until he came to a large opening. It would be perfect to set up camp and keep watch easy enough.
When he came to a stop, everyone was relieved to get out of the vehicle and stretch their legs. All four of the men took off in different directions so they could use relieve themselves. “Just marking our territory,” Jase joked. Evelyn waited patiently for them to come back so she could do the same. As she waited she began to set up camp. After pulling out some of the bags she turned on the lantern and pulled out the tent. By the time she was putting the poles together the men came back. “Here, let us help,” Ryan said.
“Thanks. Mind taking over so I can pee?”
“Nah, go ahead. But you shouldn’t go alone.”
Evelyn pulled out her machete and said, “I’m sure I can handle it.”
With a smirk Ryan said, “I like a girl with spunk Ev and I’m sure you can handle it. But how are you going to swing that thing while you’re squatting down and trying not to piss on your pants.”
With a sigh Ev gave in. Ryan had a point and she knew it. “Jase, will you walk with me so I can pee?”
“Aw hell Ev. That’s sick. I don’t want to see that shit.”
“God Jase it’s not like you’re going to be looking at me.”
“Fine. But you go behind a tree or something,” Jase said.
Javier watched as Ev and Jase walked into the darkness and noticed she had her machete in her hand. God, how he admired that woman. He would never admit it to anyone, but he thought her ass looked pretty damn nice in those loose cargo pants. He found it attractive when a woman didn’t feel the need to wear revealing or skin tight clothing to try and be sexy. She was a sight to be seen with her khaki cargo’s, fitted blue tank top, and her pink timberland boots with a machete in hand.
“Hey, stop drooling and give me a hand,” Lance snapped him back to reality.
“I was observing and if I felt like we were still on an assignment here I would have your ass. Now what do you need?”
Javier and Lance pulled out food and water that Ev had packed and loaded blankets in the tent. Javier moved on to a different bag as Lance said, “What no pillows?”
Javier looked like he was about to slap his head as Ev said, “I prefer to stay healthy and warm. Comfort isn’t a necessity.”
“To me it is.”
“If you want you can try your luck five miles up at the Comfort Inn. But I won’t go save your ass.”
“Lady’s got a point,” Ryan said.
“Shit Ev, what kind of weapons did you pack?” Jase said.
Jase had joined Javier to look through the weapons bag. She couldn’t tell if they were amazed or disgusted.
“Everything we could need, for now. I have my handy pistol just in case I ever need it. The spade is a perfect weapon. It’s light and the tip of the shovel can be used to stab, but it can also be used to hit them like you would with a baseball bat. Plus, it folds up for easy carrying. I managed to get my hands on a Famas, but that’s a last resort. The rest is just your basic weapons. Hunting Knives, Ammo...the necessities.”
Javier had officially decided he loved this girl. Well, not really, but damn…she really was prepared for everything.
“Let’s take watch two at a time,” Javier said. He knew he needed to stop thinking so foolishly.
“Okay. I’m still running on my coffee from earlier so I can take first with someone,” Ev said.
“I’ll take it with you,” Javier said. “I can tell you’re prepared for this kind of stuff but I’d like to talk about your hand to hand combat skills. See if I can maybe give you a few pointers. God forbid we end up getting close enough, we’re all going to need them.”
The other three men lay down in the tent and attempted to sleep while Javier and Ev stood watch. Ev informed Javier that she had plenty hand to hand training. Her parents wanted her to take dance class and she had only one stipulation to that, which was she get to take Karate also. From the age of five she had been in both dance and Karate and excelled at both. They opted out of the combat training and instead began to talk quietly.
“Are you worried about your parents?” Javier asked.
“No, not really,” Ev said. After he gave her a questioning look she continued. “I like to believe in the bible as much as I can. It’s hard since it’s been translated several times and written by man, but I still hold some of it to the truth. I like to believe that what it says in the Revelations is true. That God will take those who truly give him all of their faith and take them away before the apocalypse.”
“You think this is the apocalypse?”
“Sort of. I don’t believe the entire human race will be wiped out, but for as long as it takes the Reanimated to starve it would be like we weren’t even on the earth. We’re being forced into hiding. There’s far too many of those things to fight.”
“I think you’re right. And as much as your brother would like to believe it was the government who was behind this, we weren’t,” Javier said with a smile. “The craziest thing happened the day the people disappeared. Someone saw this, but they saw it too late.” Javier went into explaining his encounter with the psychic that had shot himself and began to realize how right that man was. Everything he had said made sense; he only didn’t see it then.
“I’m not sure it would have helped if what he said was public knowledge. The riots probably would have happened a lot sooner and I’m sure more people would have killed themselves. It’s not easy to understand the end of the world, but I don’t think we’re meant to. I think we’re meant to learn by it. And I just hope I live long enough so I’m able to,” Ev said.
“I won’t let you die,” Javier said, abruptly.
“Time to switch up,” Lance said as he and Ryan came out of the tent.
Javier and Ev made their way into the tent and as they laid down Ev said, “Guess I should have packed pillows.”
Javier laughed and said, “Here,” as he rolled on
his back and laid an arm out for Ev to rest her head on. Ev didn’t trust herself laying so close to him but she didn’t want to refuse…and it’s not like his uniform helped any. There was always something extra appealing about a man in uniform. Ev gave in and soon sleep slowly overcame them.
“Rise and shine love birds,” Jase said as he shook the tent. The sun had come up and everyone else was awake. It took a moment for them both to realize why he had called them love birds. Although they were under separate blankets, Javier had managed to wrap his extra arm around Ev during the night. Evelyn had also managed to entwine her legs with his as they were sleeping. Neither one dared to say anything.
As they came out of the tent they realized that everything was already packed up and ready to go except the tent and blankets. After the tent was packed and they got in the Jeep to move out and find a vehicle, Ryan started the chant. It took two words before Jase and Lance joined in. “Javier and Evelyn, sitting in a tree…”
Neither Javier or Ev said anything as they drove back on the road and headed toward the old highway.
Chapter 8
He could sense them. Every sense in his body urged him to go as far away from them as he could but his determination told him to get closer.
That’s what he needed.
He needed to get closer so he could observe them. He needed to find their weakness…find their flaw that He had created. The old bastard always overlooked something, and he was determined to find it.
He would get close enough to watch but never be seen. They huddled in numbers but they were weak, especially weak compared to him. The older ones wouldn’t stand a chance…but the younger ones—it was them. They were the ones. They looked to be so frail and tender but he knew they weren’t.
They were what he needed to destroy.
But how many, he thought, how many could there be. He needed to find their weakness before he could make his move. He couldn’t carelessly jump in…no, that’s something they would do. Those animals are the ones who move in without any thought.
He was better than them. He always has been. He’s been around for years and no one ever noticed.
Carelessness.
They’re driven by only one thing, and that is themselves. Not him. No. He was driven by passion and meaning. A meaning far superior to any of their selfish minds and a passion which was something they knew nothing about unless it was self-fulfillment.
He needed to wait and observe the destruction His creation could cause. He needed to see them with others, to find out what they could do. He had to understand them.
He observed them like a scientist would study a disease. Close enough to bear witness but far enough away to not become infected.
So he would watch and wait in the shadows of their every step, their every movement as hunter waited for the right opportunity to spring.
Chapter 9
The Child
Javier shifted into third gear.
Ev didn’t have her machete on her. As the corpse lifted its head to chew the baseball size of meat and flesh it had taken off of her brother, she lifted her leg and kicked it in the face. It fell backwards out of the moving truck and she reached around to close the doors. Before the door was closed she noticed that it didn’t roll down the road like a normal person would if they fell out of a moving truck like that.
It simply regained its composure and sprang on its feet, with one hand planted on the ground in front of it. Ev swung the door shut and tried to drown out the hissing sound that escaped its throat as it looked straight into the back of the truck. The dead were falling even further behind and Ev realized that Javier had to be going at least 50 in third gear.
Javier skipped fourth gear and went straight to fifth.
“Javier, do you know how to get back on the old highway?” Ev asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“I need to fix them up,” she said as she dug through her bags. “Here.” Ev threw Lance two rulers, a roll of duct tape, and some paper towels. “Wrap him up. Make sure the bone is placed properly and wrap it, splint it, and tape it.”
Lance was military so she figured he should know how to do some of the basic stuff. She made her way back to her brother after gathering some supplies for him. Fuck. That thing had taken a damn good bite out of him. Ev took off her belt so she could use it to stop the blood flow. Once the flow slowed down she dug through her first aid kit to clean it up and bandage it. The scratches looked to be nearly a half an inch deep. She was glad she had packed antibiotics, because she doubted the thing was anything close to sanitary.
As Ev bandaged her brother up he let out another scream. “Pussy,” Ryan said. He hadn’t let out as much as a whimper since Lance was working on him.
“Fuck you man. You didn’t get eaten. You’ve got a broken bone. Let me tear out a chunk of your flesh and see how you feel then.” The two laughed at each other and began bickering about who was more of a man and who could handle pain better.
After Ryan and Jase were bandaged, Ev had them sit up and rest their legs on a folded blanket. The two looked like twins sitting there, still bickering about who was more of a man.
“Alright, I need to get changed now. Please, everyone keep your eyes forward. If I see anyone looking I won’t hesitate on having you join the gimps, and you gimps, we’ll I’ll make it hurt more. Remember, I hold the medicine,” Ev said as she tossed them each an antibiotic and painkiller.
“Damn. Feisty bitch. Fine, no one look,” Ryan said.
Ev dug her spare clothes out of her bag and began to strip down. She figured she would do her bra and shirt first. Ev turned her back toward the boys and began removing her shirt. When she was removing her bra she had the sense that someone was watching her. She knew they couldn’t see anything so she continued to put her clean bra on, followed by a lose tee shirt. She then began removing her pants and turned around to grab her clean underwear. As she bent down and slid her underwear off of her she glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Javier glancing at her. She didn’t let it bother her as she continued to change. She just made eye contact as she told herself it wasn’t anything serious.
Javier had to look away and think of something else before Ev came back up front to sit down. Watching her get changed made him erect, even if he didn’t see anything. If she went up there and saw the tent he was packing, well he didn’t think it would go over too well. Her making eye contact didn’t help matter either. It made him think she felt the same for him as he did her. How could they possibly have an attraction to each other in a situation like this?
Then again, wouldn’t that be holding on to ones humanity? Ev had said that in apocalypse scenarios people lose all sense of their morals…their humanity. Isn’t it human nature to be so attracted to the other sex? So isn’t this what they’re supposed to do. Isn’t it…humanity?
Ev was equally attracted to Javier, but she didn’t dare let him know that. Waking up in his arms was nice…more than nice, but she wasn’t the type for a quick lay. She wasn’t sure exactly how he felt for her, but how could two people possible build a relationship in a situation like the one they were in. Getting attached to another so deeply could put everyone in danger.
Ev was silent as she climbed into the seat next to Javier, she didn’t trust herself to speak. When Javier finally spoke, she was glad it wasn’t about anything that was on her mind.
“You’re not completely fearless, are you?”
“What?” she asked.
“The way you froze up back there. You didn’t expect it. That’s what gets you, isn’t it. The unexpected.”
“Yes. And believe it or not, I’m also terrified of spiders.”
He laughed and said, “I would have never guessed that.”
After a moment passed between them Javier spoke underneath his breath. “He was bitten,” he said.
“I know.”
“Do you think?”
“We can’t be sure. I know that’s the myth behind them but…we will ha
ve to wait and see. Keep an eye on him.”
“Okay.”
“Did you see them? The way they just passed right by the bobcat. You’d think they would eat whatever they could, but they just passed right over it.”
“Yeah, I saw it. I’m not too sure what it means, but it obviously means they weren’t interested in eating it. Either because it was an animal or because it was one of them. Where to?” he asked.
“We’re going to want to go into Ohio. If we keep our speed up we should be able to make it through the little bit of Ohio we need to go through, Kentucky, and Indiana. We are going to need to make one more stop in daylight to refuel and fill the gas cans again.”
“Alright.”
“If you get tired, I can drive. I grew up on standard so you don’t need to worry,” Ev said, grinning.
“When we get to Indiana, can we make a detour to Dexter? It’s were my family is,” Lance said. “Last week Sheryl flew out there with Ambyre to see her mom.”
“Yeah, but…you do know that Ambyre might be…” Javier said, sympathetically.
“Yeah I know. I heard all of the children were among the missing. I’ve tried to call them but I just get damn beeping.”
“Keep trying. We should be out there near dusk. We could all camp there for the night.”
With a nod Lance took out his cell phone and tried to call his wife. When he was unable to get through I told him to take another Hydrocodone and get his rest. I never had children, but I still couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have one and be in this situation. I guess I would prefer them to be among the missing as opposed to living through this.
After nearly five hours of driving, Javier finally let Ev drive. He was a little turned on watching a woman as petite as her drive a stick. The more time he spent with her, the more he wanted her to be his. He watched the way she would move her hair out of her face in admiration. Just by looking at her he could see she was as determined and fierce as she was sincere.
