by Candis Vargo
“Get your rest,” Ev said, looking over at Javier. “In a few hours we’ll make a pit stop and Lance can drive from there to his in-laws. I have a feeling Jase and Ryan are out for the count.” She inclined her head toward the back of the truck where they were both snoring.
After entering Indiana they pulled off the side of the road so everyone could use the restroom. Javier had to go and keep an eye out while Ev went, which couldn’t have been any more awkward. He had waited until she was done to do the same. Javier and Lance had to wake Ryan and Jase up so they didn’t piss themselves. One thing Ev didn’t pack—was Depends.
“Man what? Are you going to hold it for me?” Ryan asked Lance.
“Fuck you then.” Lance let go of Ryan who nearly tumbled over.
After everyone was back in the vehicle Lance began to drive to his mother-in-laws house and Ev managed to get some much needed rest. With two of them down, that was double the duty of standing watch.
Lance wasn’t sure what they would find when they made it to his in-laws. He knew his wife was a smart woman and hoped she was alive. More than anything he wanted to hold both her and his daughter in his arms again. The chances of that was slim, even slimmer chance of holding his daughter. Even though she was only eight, she still needed a lot of help. He hated himself for thinking so, but he hoped that she was one of the missing. He didn’t want to worry about her becoming like the others and having to try to find the strength to kill her.
The sun had set by the time they made it to the house. It was a small house made out of stone on a back country road. As they pulled up in the drive they didn’t notice any lights on and Lance felt his heart drop. His legs felt weak as he feared the worst. He could handle the dead, but he couldn’t handle it if his family was part of it.
Lance and Javier exited the truck and made their way to the house. When they got closer they realized that all of the windows were boarded up. They walked up to the door and tried to turn the handle. It was locked. They didn’t want to knock because they weren’t sure if there were dead nearby. Javier continued to try to turn the knob as Lance pulled a small notepad and pen out of his pants and wrote ‘IT’S LANCE. IF ANYONE IS IN THERE PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR’ and slid it under the door. After a few more seconds of jiggiling the door knob they stopped and waited. Lance leaned on the door and lost it.
He wanted to find a way to break the door down and search the house. He couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t believe his family could be gone. His muscles shook as he fought the urge to scream and go on a rampage, breaking anything he could. But he couldn’t. He didn’t care if he’d attract the attention of whatever dead were near and they killed him. For all he cared they could rip his flesh apart as long as he got to be with his family. But he knew that would put the others in danger. He was better than that. He held on to his humanity.
He tried to fight his tears, but they swelled up in his eyes. In all the years Javier had known Lance, he’s never seen him cry. Lance had been broken. His hand gently smacked palm down against the door as he pleaded. “Please…please,” he said under his breath as he shook his head. Javier placed his hand on Lance’s back as Lance rested his forehead against the door.
Their hearts stopped when they heard the sound of locks on the inside. Someone was unlocking the door. Within a second Lance’s heart raced as the door slowly cracked open. Javier had Ev’s machete ready, just in case. The door opened and Lance’s sobs grew even deeper. He saw his mother-in-law. Relief swept over her face as she opened the door to let them in. The moment Lance was inside he fell to his knees. There she was.
Chapter 10
The Bitten
The first priority of the day was to get a better vehicle. The old highway was nearly deserted so they had to drive toward the main highway if they were to find anything they could use. They drove for a few miles and only managed to see a few compact cars off the side of the road and motorcycles lying on their sides on the pavement. The closer they came to the border of West Virginia, the more vehicles they saw. Soon it became as packed as New York City during rush hour. They had to come to a stop and begin to search by foot.
Naturally Javier felt protective over Evelyn so he made sure to stay near her. Jase picked up on what was happening between the two of them and kept his distance as he joined Ryan and Lance. Finding a new SUV to use was the easy part, getting to it wasn’t.
Javier followed Ev as she looked for any survivors and supplies in the stranded vehicles as the other three men began putting vehicles in neutral and pushing them out of the way.
“Hey, clear them out more this way. I found something better,” Ev said.
They all looked over in her direction to see what she was talking about and smiled when they did. In front of a tanker that was tipped over was a black and red, armored Dunbar Truck. Perfect. Not only did if offer adequate room for the five of them and their supplies, but it would also hold up better if they had to go bowling with the dead again. Everyone was excited over the truck and began moving vehicles out of the way even faster. Javier and Ev took it upon themselves to move their supplies into the truck. Once there was enough room to move the Jeep to the Dunbar truck they poured in some fuel and gave it a jump.
There wasn’t any point in wasting gas so they used a hose that Ev had in one of her supplies bags and began to siphon the gas out of the Jeep and into the truck.
The thick silence that hovered over them disappeared and was replaced with a hungry grown escaping from the depths of a throat. It was nearly the same as the ones they heard in Evelyn’s house but there was something much more animalistic about this one. They all slowly drew out their knives and machetes as they backed up toward the truck. It was hard for them to find whatever was coming at them because of all of the vehicles scattered along the highway and the grass. They had cleared a path large enough for them to back the truck up and head back in the direction they came, but it wasn’t enough to see where their attacker might come from.
Ryan and Ev climbed on top of the truck for a better view. That’s when they saw it.
“There,” Ev whispered as she pointed into the trees that lined the left side of the highway.
Instinctively, the men on the ground turned and readied for attack. “It looks like a bobcat,” Ev said.
“Is it-“ Javier began to ask.
“I’m not sure. But it either way, it looks like it fed recently and like it’s still hungry” Ev noticed blood down the front of the bobcat. Whatever it had recently fed on, it didn’t stand a chance.
With a snarl the bobcat ran at the group. “It’s coming!” Ryan warned. Within five seconds the bobcat was upon them. It was snarling and swiping a paw at them as it tried to single one of them out. When it tried to attack them, they began swinging their weapons, trying to get a hit. Jase wasn’t used to using a machete and swung too hard, losing his footing and dropping it. The bobcat didn’t let that go unnoticed and made an advance on Jase. Javier watched with fury as the bobcat began to jump toward Jase. With the flick of his wrist, Javier threw his military knife at the bobcat and stuck it in the side of its chest. There was no doubt that it had slid in between its ribs and should have slowed it down. It merely acted as though it was hit with a pebble and was annoyed.
The bobcat snarled at Javier and acted like it was going to retreat. It turned around and ran a few feet before it jumped on top of a nearby van. From the van it jumped onto the tractor trailer that was over turned and then straight for Evelyn and Ryan. As the bobcat was in midair, Ryan stumbled backwards and fell off of the truck. Evelyn didn’t hear a sound as the bobcat landed on top of her and knocked her on her back. Dead.
Javier had no other choice than to fire his gun at the cat. It could have killed her. He promised he wouldn’t let her die and he was damned determined to keep his promise. “Lance, get Ryan,” Javier ordered. “Jase, get your ass up.” Javier took the same path as the bobcat, and looked nearly as natural with the movements.
Ev let out a de
ep breath when she realized the bobcat was dead. One single shot, straight through the head. She rolled the cat off of her and onto the ground, nearly dropping it on Ryan. Serves him right, she thought. When Javier made it to her he made her lay still as he examined her body. He wanted to make sure none of the blood was hers. Her shirt and pants were soaked in a thick black liquid, much similar to tar. God, if he was examining her body like this under any other circumstances she would have been aroused. When Javier was satisfied that she wasn’t wounded at all he helped her up. The smell of decaying flesh swept over them. In that moment they realized that the bobcat was in deed one of the Reanimated.
Forcing herself not to get sick, Ev said, “I need to change.” Javier and Ev made their way to the ground so she could get cleaned up when they heard the sound of thunder in front of them. It didn’t take a scientist to realize what the noise was. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. “They heard the gun,” Javier said. Ev realized the only reason she didn’t hear the gun go off was because she was looking death in the eyes the moment it had. “Fuck!” they yelled as the caught the sight of heads in the distance.
“Get in!” Javier yelled.
Jase ran to the back of the truck and opened it up. Javier jumped in the driver’s seat and Ev sat next to him. “Jase! Help me get Ryan!” Lance yelled. When Ryan fell off of the truck he broke his leg. His Fibula was nearly sticking out of his leg.
Jase ran out and grabbed the upper half of Ryan’s body and helped Lance set him in the back of the truck. “Hold on!” Javier yelled. He couldn’t wait any longer to get the vehicle moving. He threw the truck in reverse and wasted no time backing up. Jase was trying to close the back door as Javier slammed on the brakes to shift into first gear. Nearly falling out of the back of the truck, Jase screamed. As Jase caught his footing he began to close the door. Before he could close it, they were there. The first few made it to the back of the truck as Javier shifted into first and began driving off. More came. Soon there were hundreds of the dead behind them. And some were still too close.
As Jase tried to close the door the Reanimated were reaching in. Jase began kicking as hard as he could; trying everything he could to get the arms out so he could close the door. Lance was holding onto Ryan to try and keep him from getting hurt any further. Ev looked back and saw the trouble her brother was going through and jumped over the seat to go back there and help him.
Javier shifted into second.
Jase screamed out in pain as one of the dead scratched the leg he was using to kick them with. The fingernails were sharp like steel razors as they sliced right through his jeans and punctured his skin. Jase let go of the door and fell down, trying to keep himself from bleeding out too much. As Ev made it upon her screaming brother one of the dead jumped on the back bumper and squatted over Jase. Evelyn was only two feet away as the dead sank it’s teeth into her brothers leg.
Chapter 11
The Hunted
“How is this possible? I thought every child was one of the missing?” Javier said under his breath to Ev.
“I did too. But it’s obviously not like that. The children are the innocent. If it was God’s doing, he should have taken them all,” Ev said.
“Maybe she’s different,” Ryan said.
“What? Like she’s a child of Satan?” Jase spat.
“No, she’s still a child for Christ’s sake! But there has to be a reason she’s here,” Ryan said in defense.
Ev didn’t want to believe it. But she had to. The child was right in front of her. There had to be a reason she was left. She noticed that little Ambyre didn’t talk much and stayed close to her parents. She had strawberry blond hair that fell in waves down her shoulders and beautiful golden brown eyes. She was just an innocent child stuck in a world of Hell. Ev needed to know if Sheryl had seen or knows of any more children that are left.
“Excuse me, Sheryl? May I talk to you for a minute?” Ev looked at Ambyre and added, “Privately?”
Sheryl stood up and told Ambyre to stay by her daddy, and she did without as much as a fuss. Ev noticed for an eight-year-old child, she still was uncomfortable without her parents. She looked just like her mother with her wavy strawberry-blonde hair and bright hazel eyes. Ev followed Sheryl into the dining room and Javier looked on with curiosity. Once Ev and Sheryl were out of the sight of Ambyre, Ev said, “Forgive me if I’m being rude, but I thought all of the children were part of the missing?”
“That’s what the rumors were, but obviously it’s not true. Ambyre is still here but God, sometimes I wish she wasn’t. I just couldn’t imagine her living through a world like this. Shit, if anything happened to her…”
Ev cut her off before she could give it too much thought. “Do you know of any other children? Have you heard anything about more?”
Sheryl nodded and said, “The program Ambyre goes to. The Educational Exercise Program for the Developmentally Impaired. When the disappearances started happening I went and picked her up. Some of the children…some of their parents were gone. They vanished. The care center had to keep some of the children there. God if I was able to I would have taken them all here with me. But I couldn’t. I hope they are all okay. I’ve tried calling but some of the towers in the city were knocked over during the riots and power lines are down all over.”
“You said there was a whole group of kids?”
“Yes,” Sheryl began to cry. Just thinking about those children tore her heart apart. As a mother she knew she had to take care of her own child, but that motherly instinct reached out to every child in the world.
“I’m sorry, but…you said Developmentally Impaired?”
Sheryl sniffled and wiped her cheeks clear of tears and nodded. “Yes. That’s where we send our children with Down Syndrome and Autism. That way they can interact with others like them and be helped with their gifts.”
“And Ambyre?”
“Autism. When she turned two and realized she’d rather stack blocks than interact with us we took her to be tested. She’s autistic. People with children like Ambyre like to say God gave them an extra touch but all children are touched by God.”
“Do you know of any other children?”
“My friend back home, Lillian. Her son Thomas. The day after it all started she called me. God I hope they’re okay.”
“And is Thomas…”
“Autistic. Yes.”
Ev wasn’t sure if it was just a coincidence or if it was something more. Then again, Ev never really believed in coincidences.
“Thank you, Sheryl. Go…go back to Ambyre,” Ev said with a smile.
Ev relayed the information to the others, and they were just as intrigued as she was. After everything that happened, nothing was a coincidence. They knew it had to hold some meaning, but what?
Javier watched Ambyre as she sat by the fireplace. She giggled quietly as she watched Planet 51 with headphones on. Every once in a while she would repeat entire scenes from the movie. He couldn’t believe that as long as he’s known Lance, he’s never mentioned that his daughter was autistic. He talked about his daughter all the time, but never once. Maybe he didn’t think Javier would understand or maybe he just didn’t find it necessary. Lance treated his daughter like she was any normal child. But Javier knew she wasn’t.
One thing Javier had learned while working in the Special Forces, was that Autistic children were one of the smartest children there were. They may not be able to be like every other kid, but once you found that one thing at that they excelled at…that was it. If they knew computers, that would be their life long skill. If it was construction, that would be it. While other people grew up and had to decide what their career would be, Autistic children knew it from birth.
The group knew they weren’t going to get any answers. There was no point in trying to figure it out. They just had to go with it and make sure this little girl stayed safe. Plans changed. Now it was to make sure they did everything they could to get Ambyre to Mount Rushmore alive.
Javier and Lance decided they would be the only ones to take watch tonight. As Lance tucked his daughter in bed she asked, “Daddy, are we going to the horse now?”
Lance looked confused but said, “Yes dear. We can go to the horse.” He kissed her on her forehead and covered her up.
When morning came they woke to the smell of fresh coffee. Beth, Sheryl’s mom, had heated water over the fire and brewed coffee the old fashioned way. She had sugar, but no creamer. No one was going to complain, they were thankful to have coffee again.
Before they headed out on the road they packed up more food and a few extra supplies for Ambyre. A portable DVD player and Lego's were all she really wanted to take with her. They made sure Ambyre was the first one in the truck, and she wouldn’t stay in there without her mom so Sheryl and Beth followed. Ryan and Jase were the next to be moved in, even though they were determined to try to outdo each other by limping their way to it. As Ryan and Jase made their way into the back of the truck, we heard that all too familiar hunger sound of the Reanimated. Lance and Javier readied themselves as Ev closed the back door to the truck and ran around to the front so she could jump in the driver’s seat. She watched the boys in the mirror after she started the truck.
There was only one. She didn’t understand how only one Reanimated would manage to find them, but she wasn’t about to complain.
Javier watched as the dead lunged like it was going to go for the back of the truck but stopped. Lance and Javier stood on opposite sides of the zombie as they readied to kill. The zombie lifted up its head like it was smelling the air, and jerked its head toward Lance. Within one second it ran at Lance, who was grateful he had Ev’s spade on him. Lance thrust the spade underneath the zombie’s chin, which stopped it right in its tracks. Lance pulled the spade out and kicked the zombie. It fell down on its back and Lance advanced. He began bashing it in the head with the side of the spade. It’s black; tar like blood was splattering all over Lance.
