by Amy Cross
Melissa is a long way below, flat on her back with rubble all around. Both her legs are broken, snapped at the knees with shards of bone poking out through the bloodied flesh. She's still crying out as she tries to sit up, but it's clear that she won't be able to walk again. For a moment, I stare down at her as she tries over and over again to move, and each time she simply ends up in even more pain. Finally she looks up at me, and for a moment our eyes meet and she falls silent.
And then she screams louder than I've ever heard any human scream before. It's a scream filled with rage and anger and pain, and it seems to be ringing throughout the entire building. She reaches for the gun and aims at me, but all the happens when she pulls the trigger is a series of impotent clicks. Tossing the gun aside, she tries again to get up, which brings even more pain and causes her scream to become even louder. She's sobbing, too, with tears streaming down her face, and the bones protruding from her broken legs are shining in a patch of moonlight that shines down through the building's damaged roof.
“My back,” she sobs. “I can't... Help me...”
Finally I turn and walk away, to find another exit. Melissa's screams are still ringing out, and I swear they're loud enough to make the entire building shudder. She's still screaming as I make my way past the bodies of Thomas and the others, and I can hear her even after I'm out of the building. By the time I've limped all the way to the edge of town, she's must further away but her cries can still be heard, filling the entire empty town.
I don't stop.
I don't look back.
I just keep limping out into the barren countryside, desperate to get as far away from humans as possible. My legs hurt and my flank is bleeding, and there's a child's blood smeared across my face and chin. My ribs are stinging too, and I can barely even remember where I came from or how I ended up like this. One thing's certain, though. I never want to see another human again, not for as long as I live.
PART THREE
Chapter Thirty-Six
I stay low in the long grass.
Watching.
Waiting.
Listening.
Eventually I hear another faint rustling sound. Closer this time.
Still I wait.
My belly is stinging with hunger and I know I have to time this just right.
Ahead, the grass is swaying slightly. There's a breeze this morning, but one patch of grass in particular is moving more than the rest and the air is alive with the scent of my prey.
Saliva dribbles down my chin.
Finally I spot something small and brown scurrying through the grass, and my instincts kick in. I leap forward, snarling as the rabbit squeals and turns to run. Its attempt to escape is a fraction too late, however, and I bite down hard on its flank, crushing its legs and feeling fresh, warm blood bursting into my mouth.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
It takes several hours to eat the rabbit. I don't want to swallow too many bones, but at the same time I can't afford to leave even a scrap of meat behind. Still, the process is somehow calming, and my mind empties as I rest in the meadow and gnaw at the top of the rabbit's skull. It might take several days before I catch another meal, so I have to make this last.
This is right.
This is how I want to live now.
This is how I should be.
And then suddenly I hear something in the distance, something that makes me freeze. Something I haven't heard for many, many years.
Human voices.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Creeping forward, I stay low as I reach the ridge. The voice are much closer now, somewhere down at the foot of the hill. My heart is pounding, but I know I have to see what's happening. Leaning around the ridge, I look down toward the abandoned farmhouse, and that's when I see them.
Five humans.
Two adult males, one adult female, one little boy and one little girl.
The children are playing, but the adults seem to be examining the farmhouse. They clearly have no idea that I'm here, so I remain in place and watch for a few minutes. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw living humans. I've stumbled across corpses occasionally over the years, but many summers have passed since the day I limped away from the town where Melissa lay screaming.
Ten summers at least. Maybe more.
My instinct is to turn and get out of here. This meadow has been a good home for the past few summers, with a fair number of rabbits and mice for me to eat, but I'm sure I can find somewhere else to live and hunt. Still, the humans are a good long way down the valley still, and despite my aching muscles and bones I feel sure I could outrun them even if they suddenly came for me.
I just have to stay alert.
Sniffing the air, I realize I can smell human sweat, but also the scent of food. The humans have brought several wooden carts with them, each loaded down with meat and other items. It has been so long since I ate human food, but suddenly I remember the taste of ham and cheese, and the bacon Jon used to cook in the mornings, and the almost-empty ice cream bowls I was sometimes allowed to lick. For the first time in many years, I allow myself to think back to those days, to a time that had almost slipped from my mind.
I'd love nothing more than to go through those wooden carts, but I don't dare go anywhere near the humans so I get to my feet and turn to walk away. I'll find another meadow. I'll be fine.
“Harry!” a voice calls out suddenly. “Harry! Over here!”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Harry, help your sister! There'll be time to play later. Right now, you have to help your sister bring more boxes inside. Harry? Harry, get over here and help out! Harry!”
“Does that mean we're staying?” the boy asks, heading to one of the wooden carts.
“There's nothing wrong with the place,” the man replies. “The house is sturdy and the land looks good. It's damn near perfect.”
“Says who?”
“Says me, now grab a box and help out. Come on, Harry, we all need to pull together.”
Still keeping low, I watch as the boy takes a box and starts carrying it into the house. There's food in the box, and it's clearly too heavy for him, but he struggles on nonetheless. Ever since I first heard the name Harry called out a few minutes ago, my interest in these people has become much stronger. I haven't heard that name for a long, long time, and I can't deny that it sparked some deep part of my soul that laid dormant during my time here in the meadow. I think deep down, I thought the humans might be calling me.
But now the truth is clear. When they call for Harry, it's the boy they're after.
I feel a flash of sadness as I realize that he has my name now. I guess I didn't use it for so long, it was taken away and given to someone else.
“You're not done yet, Harry!” the man's voice calls out. “Grab another box!”
“Listen to your father, Harry!” the woman calls out from inside the farmhouse. “Don't leave all the heavy ones for Sophie!”
A moment later, the boy comes out and trudges toward the cart. He's clearly tired and, as he grabs another box, he manages to stumble. Falling down into the mud, he covers his face as the box crashes down on top of him.
“Harry dropped one!” the girl shouts, with a hint of amusement in her voice. “I guess he's a weak-ass after all!”
I let out an involuntary whimper at the sound of that name, and somehow in my head I almost hear Jon's voice calling me, and Julie's too. I've tried not to think about them during my years alone in the meadow, because those memories only make me sad, but hearing the name Harry again has stirred thoughts that I'd hoped might be gone forever.
“Oh Harry,” the woman says, coming out from the farmhouse. “You need to remember how to lift properly. Or are they too heavy for you?”
“Of course they're not!” Harry says firmly, although he clearly struggles as he gets to his feet. At the last moment, just before he can reach down to grab the box again, the girl takes it from him and carries it inside. “I had that!�
�� he calls after her. “Sophie! That was mine!”
She laughs.
“Just grab another one,” the woman says, following the girl inside, “and try not to make a fuss.”
“I had that one,” he mutters, turning back to the cart. Suddenly he happens to glance this way, and our eyes meet.
I duck down, out of sight.
“Mom! Dad!” he shouts excitedly. “I saw a dog!”
“Nonsense,” the woman replies. “Come on, there's no time for stupid games.”
“I saw a dog up there!” he yells. “I swear, I saw a little dog! He looked right at me!”
I wait, hoping that they don't come looking for me. After a few minutes, the voices settle and I dare to take another look. The boy must be inside, because only the two men and the girl are carrying things in from the cart now, and they seem totally engrossed in their work. I've been down to that farmhouse a few times, but the smell of long-gone humans always kept me from staying for too long. Now it seems humans are back, which means I have to be extra careful.
Still, the food scents drifting up from the house are impossible to resist, and I've already come up with a plan.
Chapter Forty
“Do you really think we can make this work?” the woman asks later as I sneak closer to the house. “We don't know the first thing about farming.”
It's dark now, and I've waited hours and hours for this opportunity. I no longer remember many details from my time with Jon at the old cabin, but I do remember how he used to put garbage out in a bucket each night. Figuring that these humans might do the same, I've finally come down to take a closer look, and now that I'm right beneath one of the windows I'm able to smell some kind of cooked meat. Still, all the interesting scents so far seem to be coming from inside the house, so it seems that nothing has been thrown out yet. Despite the hunger in my belly, I'll have to be patient.
“We'll manage,” one of the men mutters as I slink along the side of the building.
“How?” the woman continues. “It just looks like grass in all the fields around here.”
“There were those wild sheep near the old train line.”
“And what are you going to do with those?”
The man sighs. “I admit it's a steep learning curve, but what would you rather do? Keep roaming the countryside, hoping to find something better? This place is already a miracle, Carly. We'll just have to buckle down and make it work. Trust me.”
“And what if more of those things show up?”
“No-one's seen one in years. But that's why we decided to stay away from the camps, remember? Out here, away from other people, there's no real risk of us getting sick. And if something does show up, that's what the rifle's for.”
“And what about other people?”
Silence falls among them for a moment.
“What if other people find us here?” she asks, with fear in her voice. “Those gangs that have been roaming the Mid-West are -”
“This isn't the Mid-West.”
“But there are probably others around. We have one rifle, Sam, and how many bullets?”
“We have two boxes of cartridges.”
“It won't be enough if someone attacks us. Some of those gangs are very organized.”
“Let me deal with that,” the man replies. “I have some ideas. Ways we can keep ourselves safe. And no-one's actually seen anything in the area, have they? You're worrying about a threat that's probably hundreds of miles away. That's why we came this far out. There's no-one else here. It's just us.”
“I feel like we've become some kind of old-fashioned pioneer family,” the woman continues. “I grew up in Manhattan, Sam. With cellphones, computers, cars, every kind of tech... I never imagined I'd end up like this. Even when the sickness started, I thought the government would save us. And now look at us, desperately hoping we can make a go at subsistence farming. And cooking meager scraps in a pot.”
As they continue to talk, I sneak around the side of the farmhouse. There's no sign of anyone out here, so I hurry through the shadows until I reach the next corner. The smell of food is driving me crazy and forcing me to take risks I'd otherwise never even consider, but so far it seems as if these people haven't thrown a single scrap outside. Stopping under another window, I look up and see the flickering light of a fire cast against the stone, but I've learned to live without much warmth.
It's food I need. I'm already so weak and -
Suddenly I spot a scrap of meat on the floor, just inside the farmhouse's back door. It's nothing too juicy, just a strip of gristle, but I can't resist.
After checking to make sure that no-one is around, I creep through the doorway and edge closer to the chunk of meat.
“There he is!”
Startled, I turn and see the two children running toward me from the next room. After grabbing the piece of gristle, I set off in the other direction, running around the side of the house, but suddenly the adults come out through the front door and stop as soon as they see me.
“Kill it!” the woman shouts.
I bark at them, momentarily standing my ground before turning and racing out across the grass, away from the house. Too scared to look back, I run as fast as my aching legs can carry me, and I don't stop until I've made it all the way up the hill and over to the edge of the forest, at which point I stop and look back. My heart is pounding and my muscles are aching.
I can hear voices in the distances, but the humans' scents don't seem to be coming any closer. I made it. I chew the piece of gristle for a moment, before swallowing.
Chapter Forty-One
“Dog! Come here, dog! Where are you?”
The boy's voice suddenly interrupts the silence of the meadow, causing the rabbit to turn and run. I leap after it, landing in a patch of mud, and then I freeze as I hear footsteps in the distance.
I would have had that rabbit in my jaws by now, if it hadn't been startled.
“Dog! I want to be your friend! I've got something for you!”
Daring to look above the top of the long grass, I see that the boy is still quite a way off. The scent of meat reaches my nose, and I immediately feel a pang of hunger. A moment later, I'm able to see what looks like a small strip of meat in his left hand, and he's holding it up high as if he wants it to be seen. I know I should run and hide, but the prospect of food – even just a small scrap – keeps me rooted to the spot. I can't think of anything else.
“I saved this for you!” he shouts. “Technically I'm not allowed to give you food, but this is from my plate so no-one'll know! Are you still here?”
I wait.
Silence, followed a moment later by the sound of him heading toward the ridge.
“I won't hurt you!” he calls out. “I want to be your friend!”
I don't dare make a move, in case he spots me. I haven't been near a human since Melissa, Thomas and their friends, and they were mean enough to scare me for life. At the same time, the smell of meat is so strong and so appetizing, and I can't quite bring myself to turn and run. Without even thinking properly, I start edging forward while frantically sniffing the air.
“I'll put it here!” the boys shouts. “I hope you get it before one of the rabbits comes! You looked so thin last night, I don't want you to be hungry!”
I wait, and finally I hear his footsteps hurrying away. After a few more minutes, once his scent is much weaker, I finally dare come out from the long grass, and I immediately spot a small strip of meat resting on the grass. A rabbit is already edging closer, so I run forward and scare it away, before taking the meat and swallowing it whole.
“Dog!” the boy yells, suddenly breaking out from behind a bush. “Wait!”
Turning, I run, and I don't stop until I'm sure I've lost him. Still, the taste of meat was good, and I desperately want more. I just need to find a way to get hold of the meat without letting the humans come too close.
Chapter Forty-Two
The boy comes again the next day, and the n
ext, and each time he brings a little more food. I don't dare approach while there's a chance that he might catch me, so both times I wait in the bushes, fighting the urge to snatch the meat from its spot out there on the grass. I always wait upwind of the food, though, so that my scent will warn rabbits away, and finally I take the meat late in the afternoon.
On the next day, the boy brings his sister, and now there's a little more meat. I don't know why they're doing this, but I figure I might as well stick around for now. So long as they keep feeding me and they don't get too close, I'd be a fool to leave the meadow. I can tolerate their presence if it means that I get some extra scraps.
The older humans are out in the fields every day, shouting at one another as they dig ditches. I don't know what they're doing, but they seem very busy.
Chapter Forty-Three
Finally, on the seventh or eighth day, I decide to be a little braver.
Once the two children have left meat for me, I hurry out and gulp it down whole, and then I keep low as I run past the edge of the forest. Stopping at the ridge, I see that the children are racing across one of the fields, so I set off after them, keen to see where they go each day and whether they've found some hidden food source.
I follow them for a few hours, until they stop when they reach the long metal rails that run across the land. I've seen the rails before, but I've never dared spend too long near them since I have no idea what they are. They're definitely something from the human world, and they spread all the way through the meadow and off to the horizon, and the metal gets warm sometimes in the afternoon sun.
Staying low in the long grass, I edge toward to the spot where the children are hopping and skipping across the rails. Whatever they're doing out here, they don't seem to have noticed that I've followed. Once again, I'm lucky that the human sense of smell is so terrible.
