Liv ran to the table and dug through the items she had deemed necessary for survival. What she found was a silvery roll of duct tape. She pulled up her sleeve and wrapped the magazine tightly around her arm. The edge of the pages chaffed at her wrist and elbow.
In the kitchen, Liv pulled hand towels from a small drawer by the sink. She used the duct tape to secure the towel around her forearm. As she rewrapped the magazine, it slipped around on the towel. The towel didn’t provide the grip her skin did. As she sat back down at the table, she tore off a long strip of duct tape. Again she wrapped it around her arm, leaving the excess. She laid the magazine against the towel and continued to wrap the duct tape around it.
As she finished, Liv sat back and looked at her work. It wasn’t pretty but the magazine was held firmly in place. Finally, Liv bit down as hard as she could on the papers. Underneath she could feel the pressure her jaw exerted on her arm but the papers didn’t budge.
She had protection. The magazines couldn’t be placed everywhere, but some protection was better than none. With her forearms protected, she could push back the monsters.
Elated, Liv grabbed an armload of towels from the drawer and deposited them on the sofa. The stack of magazines was large and she would have more than enough. She stripped down to her underwear and set to work placing the pieces of her makeshift armor.
As each piece was secured, Liv tested to ensure its placement wouldn’t hinder her movement. Overall, the pieces weren’t entirely comfortable, but the additional security was worth the discomfort. With the added layers, her clothes wouldn’t fit. The clothes that belonged to the home’s owner, though, fit perfectly around her now enlarged size.
The armor would be a permanent addition, at least until she could reach somewhere safe. Her work hadn’t been perfect and usually resulted in having to use extra layers of duct tape to ensure nothing would move or come undone. This meant that removing the armor would take time and more than likely destroy the magazines underneath.
With the armor in place, Liv returned to her supplies. They lay scattered about haphazardly on the dining room table. She had been in the process of organizing and packing them earlier when she had been interrupted. The items had to be packed just right. During rest breaks, she couldn’t afford to remove all the contents to find one item. She had sorted and re-sorted the items into piles as she tried to figure out how to best arrange them in the bag.
Elli’s things were in one pile. Liv looked over the toys in the diaper bag. Most of them made noise. The levers were big and easily movable so that young children could manipulate them. They would be a risk to carry. There were a few small cars in the bottom of the diaper bag, and Liv put them with the things they would take.
The food was in another pile. The medicine and first-aid kit had their own pile as well. The spare change of clothes also lay out on the table, ready to be packed away.
Liv looked over the array of weapons she had amassed: two knives, a screwdriver, the baton, a wrench, and the mallet. On her own, she couldn’t defend herself against more than a few of them, but now she had something to defend herself with. The weapons would do no good, though, if they were packed away in her bag. They had to be easily accessible so she could grab them with only a split second’s notice.
The mallet was a bit of a puzzle. Liv wanted to keep her hands free but keep it easily accessible. It wasn’t something small that she could easily store. As she looked over the spread of valuable resources laid out on the table, a solution dawned on her. She snipped off a short piece of the rope she had found in the garage. With a quick simple knot, she secured the six inches of rope around the belt loop by her right hip. Liv set the mallet in place and wiggled it around to make sure the loop was tight enough that it wouldn’t fall through, but not so tight that it couldn’t be easily pulled free.
It would do for now.
A thump just on the other side of the door sent Liv’s heart racing. Pappy immediately tensed, his lip curling back as a low growl rumbled in his chest.
With the mallet gripped tightly in her hand, Liv stood up and cautiously approached the front of the house. All was quiet, though, as she reached the window.
Tentatively, she stuck her fingers through the blinds and peeked out. One of the infected clamored against the porch railing. He had no features. Instead, his face was a patchwork of charred flesh. Flames engulfed the creature, but he didn’t even seem to notice them. He seemed more perturbed by the railing that blocked his path than the flames that ate away at his flesh.
Liv didn’t think he knew that they were there. His actions were slow and without purpose, not the craze that she had seen when prey was in sight.
She was about to turn away when something caught her eye. From a lower spot in the blinds, she peered out at it again.
She hadn’t realized it at first, but the creature was standing in the piles of dead honeysuckle. The dried vines, acting like kindling, had started the blaze around it once more. The dead vines had produced enough heat to set fire to the live vines, and flames were now steadily working their way up the trellis towards the roof.
Liv threw herself back from the window. She gathered up the knives and threw them into the front pocket of the satchel and secured the top. In large bounding steps, she cleared the stairs two at a time and dove for the bedroom. She snatched up the baby carrier and ran back down the stairs as fast as her feet could carry her.
Elli looked at Liv with wide, scared eyes. She had her fingers crammed into her mouth, sucking on them nervously as she watched Liv. Upon seeing her own fear reflected in Elli’s tiny face, Liv forced herself to slow down a bit. She had to hurry but she forced her movements to be purposeful, not panicked. It wouldn’t do any good to get Elli all worked up before they had to venture out into the world again.
All the items Liv needed to take with her lay on the dining room table. Her fingers trembled as she pulled on the work gloves and zipped the leather jacket over her makeshift armor. The duty belt needed to be adjusted before it would stay in place around her waist.
The straps were stiff as she tugged them into place. She picked up the handful of belt keepers and tried to place them where she remembered removing them as she secured the belt around her waist.
The thought of walking out into the world again made a cold sweat break out over her skin. She didn’t want to go outside. But they couldn’t stay inside as the house burned to the ground around them.
With the duty belt secured so the pistol was within easy reach of her right hand, Liv picked up the satchel and swung it over her shoulder so it sat against her left side. Elli eyed the carrier as Liv approached her. With quick, deft hands, she lifted Elli into the carrier and pulled the straps into place. She set Elli, in the carrier, on the couch and sat down in front of her as she pulled the shoulder straps in place.
As she secured the last few buckles, the smell of smoke reached her nostrils. Pappy paced nervously, his tail tucked between his legs.
Liv grabbed the sled and slipped it over her head. She fumbled a bit to get the last hook in place as she headed for the back door. The mallet leaned against the wall next to the dining room table and she picked it up.
In the few steps to the back door, Liv rolled her shoulders. She didn’t want to go outside. They couldn’t stay here, but to step outside had become a terrifying feat. The everyday dangers of car accidents, falling down the stairs, or the threat of a terrorist attack was nothing compared to the fear elicited by simply walking out the door now.
Her hands were clammy and shaking as Liv gripped the doorknob. She took one last deep breath and prepared herself for what lay beyond it. With that, she pulled open the door. A quick look revealed that the backyard was still empty. The police officer still lay where she had left him.
After one final, furtive glance around, Liv stepped outside. But Pappy didn’t follow. Instead, he pranced nervously in the kitchen.
“Come on,” Liv whispered desperately, patting her thigh. The
dog eyed her uneasily. “Pappy, come on. Let’s go.” Finally, with his head ducked, the dog scurried after her.
Liv pulled the door closed and spun back towards the yard. Her sights were set on a cluster of trees behind the house. They weren’t terribly dense but they would hopefully be enough to keep her hidden.
Once in the tree line, she had to find a direction. To the northwest was a hospital. It was close to the highway; signs were posted everywhere. The hospital would be flooded with the infected. Highway 94 was only sparsely marked with buildings, but it was still highly trafficked. It was a connecting highway. Even though Liv wanted to stick as close to Highway 40 as was safe, she was going to have to go a little bit east to avoid the hospital.
They weren’t more than a hundred feet from the house when Pappy fell behind. Liv stopped, looking for the dog. He stood behind them, staring after them.
“Pappy, come on,” she whispered, looking around nervously for any of the infected. Instead of following, Pappy looked back towards the burning house. “Come on,” Liv whispered urgently.
After another moment of consideration, the dog turned back, heading back to his home. Liv’s heart sank as she watched the animal trot away. She had found comfort in his presence, a sense of peace. Now, as he walked away, a black pit of loneliness opened up inside her.
Where would he go now with no home to return to? No one to care for him.
She wondered what would happen to the sweet animal.
Liv crouched among the tall grass that looked out over Highway 94. Elli had fallen silent in the carrier. She might have been asleep but Liv couldn’t be sure. As she suspected, it was congested on both sides with cars. Cars were even jammed into tangled knots of metal along the shoulder of the road and along the grassy median.
None of them moved, and the usual hum that accompanied a busy road was now silent. Parallel to the highway ran a small service road similarly jammed up with cars. She would have to cross that as well before she could reach any decent cover.
A few figures lay lifelessly on the side of the road. Liv wasn’t sure if they were dead or if they had fallen and never put forth the effort to stand back up. Many of the more active infected stalked between the cars as they looked for their next target.
All of her muscles tensed as she looked over the scene in front of her. She imagined this was what the Boone Bridge looked like now.
The infected moved down every row like horrific sentinels. She would have to move through the cars unseen and unheard. If they noticed her, there were more trees on the other side of the highway that she might be able to lose them in, but she wouldn’t be able to outrun all of them.
Some of them could move very fast, and some of them were likely to be a bit more observant than the others. Liv vividly remembered the police officer. If another like him walked among the cars, she might not even make it to the trees.
With a deep breath, Liv took an uncertain step forward. Up against the first car, her heart began to beat wildly and her hands trembled. Her stomach churned as she pressed herself into the car’s shadow. The grass still concealed her as she worked her way through the patchwork of frozen vehicles. The metal was warm beneath her fingers. She had to be crazy to walk into a maze filled with monsters just waiting to take a bite out of her.
It was all she could do to keep moving forward. As she reached the pavement, the rows of cars straightened out as they silently waited to move along down the highway. The space between them was narrow. The traffic had become gridlocked and each car had crept as far forward as it could in hopes of escaping the horrors that were unraveling around them.
The cars were staggered in their rows. To get between the next set of cars, she couldn’t just dash between the rows. She would have to navigate in a zigzag pattern.
Down the next row of cars, one of the infected stood motionless, three cars to her left, with its back to her. To her right, another one was walking away but began to turn back around.
Liv pulled back between the cars and hoped he hadn’t seen her. After a few seconds, when no footsteps came pounding towards her, Liv peeked out again. The one to her right had turned away again and the one to her left had remained motionless.
Slowly, Liv squeezed from between the cars and moved down the row. She quickly slid in between the next two cars. Before her was the grassy median that separated the westbound and eastbound lanes.
The cars were jumbled together, as people had tried to escape by any means necessary. Some of the cars had collided together, some only barely touching. Others had smashed together as if trying to meld from two separate vehicles into one.
A few of the infected sat strapped into their seats in their cars, too brain dead to unbuckle their seatbelts. Liv would have to be careful to avoid them. If they started making noise, they could attract others.
The median wasn’t more than twenty feet wide. Liv had to shimmy along several cars before she found a space large enough to once again move forward. As she moved around another car, her foot slipped in a puddle.
With little grace, she caught herself on the nearest bumper. Confused, she looked down at the puddle. It hadn’t rained in weeks and the city didn’t waste money watering wild grass. The puddle was black with small rainbows that danced across its rippling surface in the sunlight. Oil. It was hardly surprising that fluids had leaked from the wrecked vehicles. Liv righted herself and continued forward. Elli began to twitch and fidget as she woke up.
“Mama!” The word, which was usually so warming, chilled Liv’s blood as they sat in the middle of a busy highway that had been overrun. Liv jammed her hand into her pocket and fished out a binky to offer Elli in hopes that it would keep her quiet. She could hear the rhythmic slurps as Elli sucked eagerly on the small rubber piece.
Anxiously, Liv peered around the cars. A number of them cast about restlessly, unable to locate the source of the noise. One advanced in their direction.
She hastily moved around a nearby van to stay out of its sight. The infected man stopped just on the other side of the van. Through the windows, Liv watched as his head darted back and forth. His body was tensed as he frantically searched for the source of the noise.
Every muscle in Liv’s body tensed as she watched him, not even daring to breathe. Wordlessly, she willed Elli to be still and quiet.
“Mama!” Elli’s voice was garbled as she tried to speak without removing the binky. The creature’s head whipped around, and through the windows he made eye contact with Liv. They were eerily empty, like looking into the eyes of a mounted deer’s head.
The momentary calm was shattered as he let loose a mind-numbing scream. More screams answered from around them as he began to beat on the van, simply trying to go through it instead of around it.
Down the row, another of the infected sprinted towards her with frightening speed. Liv popped up like a frightened rabbit and bolted down the row of cars. Her eyes darted back and forth as she searched for any opening that would allow her to cross the unending sea of vehicles. At an opening, she darted between two more vehicles and left the median behind.
The eastbound lanes were no less crowded than the westbound lanes. The infected closed in on her as she floundered to find a passable route. Liv dug into the outer pocket of the satchel and retrieved one of the knives. With the cars so close, she wouldn’t be able to freely swing the mallet, and it might become more cumbersome that helpful.
With a few quick turns, she cleared the eastbound lanes. Her heart began to race. She could see the trees. Their cover promised safety and security. Just two more lanes and she might have somewhere to hide, or at least she could lose a few of her pursuers.
When Liv hit the grassy divide between the highway and the service road, she broke into a full sprint. The open space was a chance to try to put some distance between her and them. The tall grass pulled at her pants as she crashed through it, but the open sprint felt good.
As Liv reached the blacktop once again, her feet suddenly slid out from
underneath her as her feet rolled across tiny, loose pebbles. She reached out for the truck in front of her to steady herself, but it was too far away. A blaze of fire blossomed at her temple and she landed hard against the road.
Little flashes of light dotted her vision as blackness crept in from the edges. A rushing sound filled her ears. Desperately, Liv fought to keep the blackness at bay, despite the throb that every small movement induced.
A weight bore down on her back and at first her mind could not comprehend what had fallen upon her. Elli’s terrified wails reached her through the rushing in her head. Liv’s mind instantly became crystal clear again. The darkness that had threatened to engulf her evaporated like fog under the bright rays of the sun.
It was the infected. Her clumsiness had allowed them to catch up to her. To catch her.
With all her might, Liv scrabbled at the pavement as she tried to pull herself underneath the truck. The hands of the infected clawed at the sled and her legs. She kicked and flailed as she tried to throw them off, but as quickly as one lost its grip another took hold.
Teeth clamped painfully down on her calf and she screamed. It was a sound she had never heard herself make, a sound of pure pain. The pressure was relentless, but Liv didn’t feel the liquid warmth that usually meant the free flow of blood. Hopefully, her magazine armor would hold out.
She managed to pull her head underneath the truck before the sled caught against the underside. The vehicle wasn’t tall enough for it to fit underneath.
Liv tried to will herself to flatten like a rat that could squeeze through impossible openings. Despite her best efforts, though, she couldn’t force her skeleton to move against its nature.
The pressure on her continued to grow as more of the infected descended on her with hopes of sinking their teeth into her vulnerable flesh. Elli’s cries only increased with the clamor. The sled dug into the back of her neck as the infected leaned against it. It felt like a vice threatening to pop her head right off her neck. Liv struggled to push her elbows up to take the weight of the infected off of Elli.
Devour: Death & Decay Book 1 Page 10
