In the Lone and Level Sands

by David Lovato

Carah sat up. She looked at the nearest window as she climbed out of bed, hoping not to disturb Richard. There were a few boards over the window, but she caught a glimpse of rainwater crashing into the glass. It was a silent storm; she missed the sounds of thunder and rainwater striking the roof. She missed a lot of sounds. Most of all, she hated the fact that she was living in a world where she’d always have to watch her back, but she was grateful to have her husband by her side.

  Carah made her way across the room. She grabbed a flashlight from the dresser, switched it on, then headed toward the hall. The bathroom was just a couple doors down. The white beam played calmly along the floor as she walked. The floor felt cold on her bare feet, but it didn’t bother her. She liked the cold, for the most part.

  She closed the bathroom door and set the flashlight on the counter. She used the somewhat aimless light to position herself on the toilet. The seat also felt cold.

  When Carah opened the bathroom door, Richard almost crashed into her. A bolt of lightning lit the hallway enough for Carah to see the horror in his eyes. She pointed the flashlight toward his face so she could read his lips. Everyone else rushed past Richard.

  “Carah, there was a crash, sounded big!”

  Before Carah had time to react, Richard took her by the hand and led her toward the front room. When they got there, there was a lot of screaming and crying, all of this silent to Carah, but even in the dim light she saw enough to understand.

  ****

  “Ruth!” Al said. “Oh my God!”

  He stood a few inches away from her. She was lying on a couch opposite a gaping hole in the front wall of the house. There were shards of glass embedded in her face, and a trail of blood crossed the floor of the room, leading up to her.

  Lying on the floor in front of the couch was the tree, surrounded by leaves, twigs, and shards of glass. Rubble that used to be the wall lay on the floor near the new opening in the house, and rain came pouring in.

  Al knelt down on the scratched and wet floor near the couch. He hugged her gently. Her bloodied face pressed into his shoulder. Ruth didn’t say much; she just trembled from shock. Her eyes were wide. Al wept.

  “Ruthie?”

  Ruth looked up at Al, trying to breathe. She coughed up blood.

  “No, Ruthie. No, don’t leave me. You’re going to be okay! Don’t do this to me!”

  Ben and Charlotte were a few feet away. Charlotte was in Ben’s arms, but she turned to look at her parents. Al turned and met Charlotte’s gaze. He looked angry, but Charlotte knew he wasn’t angry at her. Al looked back at Ruth.

  “I—”

  Ruth was unable to get more than that out. She looked up at Al and smiled, sighed, and then she was still. Her eyes stared up at Al, and his squeezed shut as a sob rose from his throat.

  “I’m so sorry, Al,” Fred said.

  Charlotte broke from Ben and turned to her father.

  “Oh no,” Sara said.

  “I can’t believe it… This isn’t happening,” Charlotte said. She went to her knees by Al and reached out to hug him. Al hugged his daughter back.

  Angus cried, his head cocked toward the hole in the wall.

  “Quiet, boy,” Fred said. He looked out through the hole and saw shapes moving in the downfall. Had he imagined it? He looked closer, more intently, and when lightning flashed, he knew for sure. There were zombies heading toward the house.

  “I know this isn’t a good time, but we’ve got company! They must’ve heard the tree fall!”

  Al didn’t respond, but Fred understood. He grimaced and cocked his gun. Most of the others backed away from the opening.

  “We need to block this hole somehow!” Richard said.

  “How many are out there?” Sara asked.

  “I don’t know,” Fred replied. “A good number, as far as I can tell.”

  A zombie approached the gaping hole. Fred fired the gun. Thunder exploded in the sky at nearly the exact time, and both sounds melded into one. Lightning lit up the world, revealing the splatter of brains and bits of skull and skin flying backward. The thud of the body was not heard through the rain. Fred shot another zombie as it got close. He reloaded his gun and fired at another zombie, and a fourth a few seconds later. Fred reloaded, looking for more dark, moving shapes.

  “Does anyone see any more?” Fred asked.

  “No, none,” Ben said. “Richard’s right, though. We gotta block this hole off.”

  Al got up, grabbed a blanket that had been draped over the back of the couch, and placed it over Ruth’s body. A few more tears ran down his face, and he sat back down on the floor. The others were silent, and then the rain began to die.

  “What can we use to do it?” Sara said.

  “Anything and everything,” Fred said. “Tables, chairs, couches. Hell, we ought to just leave.”

  “If she had been anywhere else…” Al said.

  “She couldn’t have known,” Ben said. “You couldn’t have, either.”

  “I should have had her move away from that damn window. I know what these damn storms can do.”

  “Dad, please don’t blame yourself,” Charlotte said. “Things like this just happen.”

  “I didn’t get to say goodbye. It was so sudden.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t go anywhere, Charlotte! You stay by my side! I can’t afford to lose you, too!”

  “I won’t Dad,” Charlotte said. “I won’t.”

  ****

  “We can’t stay here any longer than this rain lasts,” Fred said. “We’re still exposed.”

  After gathering furniture from the house and placing it in front of the hole, everyone had regrouped in the living room. Flames danced in the fireplace. Angus was sprawled out on his bed, enjoying the heat. The rain had relaxed to a light shower.

  “We’ll be fine until morning, I think,” Ben said. “If we’re quiet, we shouldn’t attract any of them.”

  “I agree,” Richard said. “As soon as the sun comes up, we should split.”

  “When the rain stops, I’m going to give Ruth a proper burial,” Al said. “Then we can leave.”

  “Whatever you want, Al,” Fred said.

  “We should do it in the back yard, Dad,” Charlotte said.

  “Of course,” Al replied.

  “So, first thing in the morning, we’ll pay our respects,” Fred said. “And then we’ll head out. That sounds good.”

  ****

  Everyone woke up early. The rain had long subsided, and the seven of them headed out to the back yard. Al led the group, carrying Ruth’s covered body in his arms. He’d cleaned her of the blood and leaves hours before; he wanted her to be pristine, the way he’d always seen her.

  Their feet squished in the wet grass until they got to the place where Al wanted to bury Ruth.

  “This is the spot,” he said. He looked at his daughter. “Charlotte, you remember how much she loved her garden, don’t you? She’ll like this spot, won’t she?”

  Charlotte nodded. “This is perfect.”

  Richard set a sheet down for Ruth’s body to rest on, then Al and Ben began to dig. The ground was soft and easy because of the rain, but it was messy, and they found themselves slipping from time to time.

  After almost an hour, they had dug a hole Ruth could fit inside. Al bent down and lowered her body into it, all wrapped and covered in white. After he set her down, everyone stood around the hole.

  “Ruth,” Al said, “was a wonderful woman. She was kind to everyone who crossed her path. We were married for almost thirty years, and every single one was better than the last. She couldn’t have been a more perfect wife.” Al looked down for a moment, feeling more tears coming. He suppressed them to the best of his ability. “Not only was she an excellent wife, but she was a wonderful mother. There was none better. I just hope she can rest in peace.” Al felt pressure in his throat, and the tears came back. He made no attempt to stop them. “I love you, Ruth.”

  There was silence fo
r a long time as Ben and Al shoveled mud on top of Ruth’s body.

  After the last shovel of muddy grass had been laid on Ruth’s body, Ben and the others headed inside to gather everything they wanted to take with them. Al went into the front room. Ben called after him.

  “Dad, what are you doing?”

  “I’m getting something of Ruth’s.”

  “Oh.” Ben was a little confused. Al saw it in his eyes.

  “To mark her grave. I think this is appropriate.” He pointed to the rocking chair that sat in front of the furniture barricade.

  Ben nodded.

  Al grabbed the rocking chair and flipped it over, leaning it face-down. He stepped on the chair where the seat met the back. The old, brown wood snapped easily. Al stepped again, separating the back from the rest of the chair, and carried it outside to Ruth’s grave. He planted the piece of the chair in the ground at the head of it, then stood there for a moment, looking down. He closed his eyes, not allowing any more tears to fall.

  Ben approached from behind Al and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. Death is inevitable,” Al said. “I had a good life with her. All good things gotta end.”

  “She was good.”

  Al nodded with a small smile on his lips. He looked up at the sky. It had cleared almost entirely of clouds and was a brilliant blue. The few clouds that remained were snow-white and skated slowly along. Al finally looked away, met eyes with Ben, and then the two of them joined the others, who were almost ready to leave Bangor.

  48

  On the Other Side of the Stadium

  Keely sat on her cot in the crowded stadium. It was noisy, but the air was a lot cleaner than it had been in her attic. There was a lot more space, too. Overall, she was glad she had ventured out when she heard the large trucks with the megaphones outside her home beckoning survivors, but she was beginning to wonder what this stadium could possibly offer everyone. There was enough food, but for how long? And there were so many people. She couldn’t help but feel the situation outside the stadium walls would only get worse.

  She missed Katie.

  Keely looked at the nearby cots. To one side was an elderly couple who had moved their cots close to each other, to the other a man who appeared to be her age was lying on his cot. He had a messenger bag with him, and nothing else. His eyes were closed.

  Down the row, Keely saw a group of four men walking her way. They all had big, stupid-looking grins on their faces, like they were enjoying the situation.

  “Don’t worry, Midge, it’ll be all right.”

  Keely turned her attention back to the elderly couple.

  “Where’s Johnny?” the woman asked. “Is he here with us? I can’t get by without him.” The man sighed heavily, and tears formed in his eyes.

  “I told you Midge… Ah, Johnny’s not here, no.”

  “When’s he going to get here?”

  “Midge…”

  A few minutes went by, and Keely suddenly felt like she was being watched. She turned to see the four men from before standing only a few feet away, all staring at her with those dumb smiles.

  “Well, aren’t you a cute little thing?” one of them said. “I bet you’re awful scared in all this. Maybe you need someone to, I don’t know, keep you warm.”

  The other goons laughed. Keely rolled her eyes.

  “Just leave me alone, okay?” she said. “I’m not in the mood.” This spurred even more laughter.

  “Damn, Kirk, she ain’t in the mood,” one of the goons said. “They never seem to be in the mood for you, do they?”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Kirk said. He turned his attention back to Keely. “Look here, little girl. You’re what, five feet tall? Even if there weren’t four of us, running that pretty little mouth of yours seems like a check your body can’t cash.”

  “I got something her body can cash,” one of the goons said. They roared with laughter.

  “Fuck off,” Keely said. Three of the goons “oohed” in a dramatic fashion.

  “I’m done playing with you, little girl,” Kirk said. “If you don’t shut your fucking mouth, I’m going to have to give you something to shut it with.”

  “Why don’t you get your assclowns to suck your dick for you?” Keely said. Three of them laughed. Kirk fumed.

  “Maybe you ought to lay off, Kirk,” one of them said. “She looks awful ferocious!”

  “Yeah, Kirk. She ain’t even that hot, I mean, look at her hair. She’s probably a dyke anyway.”

  “She looks real strong, too!” They laughed.

  “Listen to me, you little bitch,” Kirk said. He no longer appeared to be having fun, despite the playful goading of his goons. “There’s nobody here who’s going to help you. The police are all occupied outside.” He pointed to the elderly couple, and Keely noticed that the man was watching, but he turned away when she caught his eyes. “Those skeletons over there ain’t going to say a thing, if they don’t want me to break them over my knee, that is.”

  Keely looked away from the elderly couple. She thought about calling for help, but that seemed futile. People were calling for help all over the stadium, God knew what for.

  “So here’s what you’re going to do,” Kirk said. “You’re going to fuck me, and then you’re going to fuck my boys, here. And you’re going to like it, if you know what’s good for you.”

  Keely stood up. “Don’t fucking touch me, asshole.”

  Kirk laughed. “Looks like this rose has thorns. Boys, hold her down.”

  One of the goons approached her, another just behind him. The first goon reached out. Keely grabbed his hand and yanked him forward. He was thrown off guard, and had no time to react. Keely brought her knee up into his gut as hard as she could. He made a sick gurgling sound as his teeth bit down hard on his tongue, and then he began spitting blood and gasping for air. He fell to the ground.

  “You little whore,” another goon said. He rushed at her, along with the third goon. Keely ducked under the first one and landed a punch in his stomach, and then another to his face. The third goon grabbed her by one arm. She punched him in the eye, and he shouted, but his grip didn’t weaken. She punched him again, and went for a third time, but he caught her arm and then kicked her legs out from under her.

  Keely fell to the ground and hit her head. Her glasses fell from her face and landed a few inches away. She blinked, trying to shake her newfound disorientation. The goon was on the ground with her, still holding her arms. She tried to stand up, but the second goon reappeared, and the two of them pinned her down. She struggled, but couldn’t escape.

  Kirk hovered over her, grinning. “It’s time you learned some fucking respect, you stupid little slut.”

  “Show her real good, Kirk,” Goon Number Two said. He put his hand on Keely’s thigh, and she tried to break her leg free.

  “Make her sorry for what she just did to Billie,” Number Three said.

  “Fuck off!” Keely yelled.

  “Oh, she’ll be sorry for a long time,” Kirk said. He unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them down, but then cried out in pain, grabbing the back of his head. The young man from the other cot stood behind him, a thick wooden drawing board in his hands. He struck Kirk with it again. Keely could swear she heard some of Kirk’s fingers break. He screamed and tried to turn around, but tripped on his pants around his ankles. He landed on the ground, chin first.

  “You stupid fuck!” Number Two said. That was all Keely needed; he’d let his grip loosen just enough. She yanked herself away from him as the young man struck Number Three in the face with the drawing board. Before Number Two could size up the situation, Keely got to her feet and gave him a solid kick to his side. He fell down, holding it, and rolled on the ground.

  By then, Number One had gotten up. He tried to say something, but his mouth filled with blood. He gave up and went back to clutching his face.

  “What the fuck did I ever do to you?” Kirk said. He got to his feet, yanking h
is pants up with one hand. Keely could see two of his fingers were contorted and beginning to turn blue.

  “People like you don’t deserve to be in here with people like us,” the young man said.

  Kirk laughed. “You think we’re different people? That’s the damnedest thing I ever heard! Look around you, asshole. We’re all the fucking same. We’re all here just looking for something better than out there.” He pointed to the stadium wall. “Shit, son, I’ll bet the only reason you helped her is because you want to get some hero fuck out of her.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Keely said.

  “We got more in common than you think, pretty boy,” Kirk said. “Every single one of us in here is gonna be dead in a matter of days. Every one! You wait and see, you just fucking wait and see.”

  Kirk and his goons scrambled away and got lost in the crowd of people down the row.

  “Are you okay?” the young man asked. He offered his hand to help Keely up. She took it, and he lifted her with ease.

  “Yeah, for the most part. Assholes.” She picked up her glasses and put them back on, then looked into the distance to see if she could find a police officer, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t find the goons, either. She sat down on her cot, trying not to cry.

  “I’m Brandon.” He offered his hand again. Keely shook it.

  “Keely.”

  “Hey, do you need anything? Maybe a glass of water, or I could find a cop for you?”

  “I’m all right, thanks.” Keely looked away, at the elderly couple.

  “Is Johnny here?” the woman asked.

  The man sighed. “Johnny’s not here, Midge.” He began crying, but he faced away from his wife.

  “When’s he going to get here? I miss Johnny.”

  “He’ll be here soon, Midge. Johnny… He’ll be here soon.” The man buried his face in his hands.

  “How long do you think we’ll be in here?” Brandon said. Keely was almost surprised; she didn’t know he was still standing by her cot. She looked around as more and more people entered the stadium.