“Here’s us right now.” Jessica tapped one side of the little map. “And here’s where Doctor Morris lives.” Her finger moved to the other side. “His house is in a big neighborhood of other big houses. This is his address here, and here are his phone numbers, and his full name. Doctor Dennis Morris. See?”
“Yes.” Candice said quietly.
“You take this and put it in your pocket. If anything happens, I want you to try and get to Doctor Morris’ house. If he’s there, he’ll help you.”
“He’s a good guy?”
“Yes.” Jessica said, praying everything she’d just explained about how bad people were more likely to not hide didn’t apply to Dennis. Despite what she’d told Candice, she wasn’t one hundred percent sure. She was ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent sure. She’d worked for Dennis for quite a while now, and he’d always been a good and kind man, one of the best bosses she’d ever had.
But . . . anyone could have a dark side waiting to get out. When it came to Candice, she couldn’t honestly say she was totally, completely, sure about anyone. But there wasn’t anywhere else to go, wasn’t something better and safer she could think of to tell Candice to do as a backup plan. And she was more sure about Dennis than she was about anyone else in the world. With mom and dad, Brett, Joey and Sandra all gone . . . Dennis was her last hope.
“Here.” Jessica said, refolding the paper and holding it out to Candice. “Don’t lose it.”
Candice still hesitated. Jessica waited. There was time to be patient, for her to let Candice work through whatever was going on in her head. Finally the girl took the paper, handling it like it was dangerous. She held it for several seconds, then slowly tucked it away in her pocket.
“Having that doesn’t mean something bad’s going to happen to me.” Jessica said quietly.
“It’s just in case.”
Jessica nodded. “Right. It’s just in case.”
“Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay?” Candice said, still whispering.
Jessica blinked in surprise, then reached out and brushed her fingers through Candice’s hair. “Okay. So, any questions before we go?”
Candice started to shake her head, paused, then screwed up her face in thought. After several seconds, she shook her head twice.
“You’re sure? Now’s the best time to ask.
“Well . . . what if the zombies are still at the door downstairs?” Candice asked after a moment.
Jessica shrugged, keeping her voice light. “Then I’ll either use Daddy’s gun, or we can maybe try to climb out one of the windows. But we won’t know until we go check.”
“I know. I’m ready.”
“Alright.” Jessica gave Candice one last squeeze, trying to put an eternity of warmth and love into that single gesture, then gave her a gentle push toward the doorway. “Let’s go then.”
Limping after her, Jessica was pleased to see Candice didn’t open the door to the hallway. She stood clear, waiting, as Jessica went to it and laid her ear against it. Jessica knocked twice on the door, then stood patiently and listened. After nearly a minute of hearing nothing from the other side, Jessica eased it open just enough to look out into the hallway.
The red of the emergency light still glowed from the side corridor, the only illumination in the space. Jessica felt her heart hammering in her chest, but focused on paying attention. She decided the way was clear and stepped out into the hall, then spoke quietly. “Okay Candy Bear, stay right behind me.”
“Okay.”
Jessica limped down the hallway slowly. When she reached the corner she stopped and listened for another few seconds, then looked around it without going past. Empty and silent. She went to the bathroom door and repeated her knocking and listening routine, then again after pushing the door open enough to see through.
It seemed empty. Jessica went through the doorway and slowed her already painfully hindered pace even further; not trusting the metal end of the bat on the tiled floor. She remembered, clearly, how much falling had hurt. That was only one reason she needed to be as careful as she could to avoid a repeat of that incident.
The bathroom was as dark and foreboding as she’d feared. After moving around the wall at the entry, she couldn’t see a thing. Jessica frowned, then, still standing next to the entry, tried one final test.
“Hello?” she called in a voice slightly louder than a normal speaking tone. “Anyone in here?”
She waited, but nothing came from the inky blackness to try and eat her. She told herself that surely meant the room was empty, was safe, but the darkness had her extremely nervous. Jessica spoke again, more quietly this time, without turning.
“Candice, we’re going to move up until we find the stalls. Stay with me but don’t knock me over.”
“Okay.”
Jessica went forward slowly, holding her right hand out in front of her. She didn’t want to fall over, or smack her nose on a wall or anything. Her hand contacted something that felt like a metal wall, and she traced along it to the left. She found she’d guessed right a few moments later when she found a corner that had a moving section of metal wall. It was a stall door.
She felt along it to the next stall, then stopped. “Candice, feel that stall next to you there? Right behind me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Go in there. Use the toilet, and don’t dawdle.” Jessica said.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to use this one here, right next to you.” Jessica said.
“Okay.”
Jessica waited until she heard Candice go into the stall and close the door, then went into the next one. “Candice, stay in there until I’m done and I come out first.”
“Okay.”
She heard clothing rustling as Candice took her jeans down, which prompted Jessica to do the same. She hesitated over the pistol, but decided to leave it in the holster. She didn’t want to chance losing it in the darkness, and while it might take her longer to get to it with her pants down around her ankles, at least she’d know where it was.
When she was done and had her clothing back in place, she opened the stall door and came out. “Candice, are you ready?”
“Yes.”
Jessica moved past the stall, feeling with her fingers until she was right at the corner again. After adjusting her position so she was next to, but not right in front of, the door, she spoke again. “Okay, come on out.”
There was a creaking sound as the door opened, then a few moments later Jessica felt Candice’s fingers touch her back. “Mom.”
“What?”
“Are we going to wash our hands?”
Jessica almost laughed, the question was so normal yet so entirely inane in these circumstances. “We can at least rinse them off I guess, if we can find the sink and if the water’s running.” It occurred to her the bathroom might have those new style faucets, the ones that worked off motion sensors. If that was the case, the water wouldn’t come on.
But when she found the sinks and felt along them, water flowed after she turned a knob that felt fairly standard. Jessica didn’t bother feeling around for soap, she just rinsed her hands off one at a time, then dried them by wiping the water off on her clothes.
“Okay, ready?”
“Yes.”
She did the knock and listen at the door again, then went out into the hallway and did it again on the door to the stairwell. There was no such thing as too much caution as far as Jessica was concerned. One mistake could be one too many. She heard nothing on the other side of the stairwell door, even after she eased it open and knocked and listened again.
The stairwell had the same amount of light as before; lit by the exit signs at each of the doors. It was just enough to see by. Jessica paused at the edge of the railing, eying the stairs with distaste. She already knew her knee wasn’t up to taking them with any sort of speed. And it would put a lot of unnecessary effort on it, not to mention hurting much more, if she had to go down, then
back up.
“Candice.”
“Yes mommy?”
Jessica was hating herself again. She tried to reason it was the best solution, that it was the best way to keep Candice safe; but a voice in her head that sounded a lot like Sharon’s was telling her she was a horrible, terrible person for even thinking of it. Much less to say it.
It wasn’t fair. If there were zombies on the other side of the door, Jessica would have to kill them very quickly or she’d be dead. She wouldn’t be able to flee up the stairs fast enough to avoid them. Then she’d be dead, and Candice would be trapped in the building without anyone to help her. Jessica told herself this was a risk, but it was a small one, a controllable one, and the best one. The one that would lead to safety the quickest and surest over any other risk.
Not for herself. But for Candice. Even though Jessica hated herself to the core for even concluding it.
“Listen carefully.” Jessica said, putting her hand on the holstered pistol. “Here’s what I want to do about any zombies that might be at the door downstairs. I can’t go up and down the stairs very well with my knee hurt like this, but I don’t think the zombies can go up them very fast either.” ‘You hope’ Jessica told herself silently.
“I want you to go down the stairs very slowly. Listen carefully. If you hear anything strange, or if you hear something that sounds like a person, come back up here immediately. When you get to the bottom, I want you to stand there and count to sixty while you listen.
“If you still don’t hear anything, I want you to knock on the door very loudly. Use your fists. Hammer on it, okay? Then put your ear up against it and listen while you count to sixty again. If you still don’t hear anything, I want you to beat on it again, and listen again, and count to sixty again. If it’s still quiet, then I want you to open it, but be ready to run back up here. If you hear anything at anytime, run back up here. Don’t stop to think, don’t stop to look again, just run back to me.”
“Okay.”
Jessica told the voice in her head to shut up, the voice that was berating her. “Whatever you do, you DO NOT go through the door. Any questions?”
“No.”
“Okay. Be very careful. Unless you’re running back up, go very slowly. Do everything very slowly, very carefully. Take your time.”
Candice nodded. Jessica smiled, making herself do it, when what she wanted to do instead was cry at her own weakness. “Alright, you’re up kiddo. Take your time.” She drew the pistol and used her thumb to flick the little lever from ‘safe’ to ‘fire’.
The girl nodded again, then started down the stairs. She moved steadily, stepping down, then bringing her other foot down to the same stair so she could stand there and listen for a few seconds before taking the next step down. Jessica watched her go, holding the gun in both hands as she prayed with all her might for nothing bad to happen.
It was terrifying to simply stand there and watch her youngest, her only, child descend through the demonically shadowed darkness. Jessica gripped the pistol, carefully keeping it pointed away from Candice in case it went off, hardly blinking as she tried to be ready for anything that might materialize to threaten Candice.
When the girl reached the bottom step, the last one before the bottom, she paused for nearly a minute. Jessica could see her peering around over and over, but said nothing. Candice finally took that last step down, and went over to the door. She looked up once at Jessica, who smiled and nodded in an exaggerated motion. Candice nodded back, and looked at the door.
Raising her little hands, she pounded on the door like she was pitching a fit over being denied some privilege. It was very loud, especially in the enclosed confines of the stairwell. She stopped beating her hands against the door after about five seconds, then put her head against it. Jessica waited, feeling the grips on the gun biting into her palms a little as she squeezed on it tightly. When her fingers started to tingle a bit she made herself relax her hands.
After about ninety seconds by the count in Jessica’s head, Candice lifted her head from the door and used her hands to pound on it some more. This time her daughter listened for nearly two minutes, before she stepped back a little and reached for the door handle. Jessica caught her breath, and raised the gun.
‘Please God.’ she prayed. ‘Please watch over my daughter.’ she whispered soundlessly as she raised the gun and aimed down at the door. Candice pushed it open. She seemed to be standing much too close to it as she did so, but Jessica realized with a fresh surge of fear the girl’s strength was too slight to be able to do it without putting a good amount of her body weight into pushing on it. She was only ten-years-old.
Just as Jessica opened her mouth to say something, Candice stepped back from the door. Jessica started to put her index finger on the trigger, but paused when the door swung shut without incident. Candice moved back up after about ten seconds and opened the door again. This time she stood there, holding it open. Jessica waited, gripping the gun anxiously, as seconds dragged past on their way to a full minute.
Finally she felt reasonably confident the hallway beyond was empty. “Candice.” Jessica called down.
At the sound of Jessica’s voice, Candice leapt back from the door with a squeak of fright. She was on the fourth step before the door even began closing, and had made it all the way back up by the time it had. She arrived panting and breathless, clinging to the railing next to Jessica.
“I was just going to say come back up here.” Jessica said gently, suppressing the urge to laugh.
“You said come back up if I heard anything.” Candice said in a loud whisper. “Don’t stop to think, just run.”
“That’s my girl.” Jessica clicked the pistol’s safety back on, then holstered it before giving Candice’s shoulder a squeeze. “Okay, I think it’s clear down there, so let’s go down together.”
Jessica gave Candice the bat to carry, and went down using the left side railing to support herself, taking each step slowly and carefully. Perversely, she though going down was harder than going up had been. Maybe that was just nerves, she didn’t know. But she was sweating by the time she made it to the bottom, and her left hand trembled from the strain she’d placed on it.
“Mommy needs to rest a minute.” Jessica said quietly, deciding to take this moment. Who knew what was going to happen after they went out that door. Here was safe. She waited until her breath was coming evenly, and her arm wasn’t trembling anymore. Then she took the bat back from Candice and limped forward to the door. She did the knock and listen routine before opening it, just in case, but she still heard nothing.
The door opened easily at her touch. Jessica waited, ready to stumble back if something lurched out at her, but nothing did. She leaned her head out after a few moments and studied the hallway beyond. It was lit by the red glow of the exit sign above, and a scattering of moonlight coming through the building’s front door just beyond the end of this corridor. Jessica spoke quietly.
“Candice, hold the door open so I can go out, then stay behind me.”
“Okay.”
“Remember how I had you keep a watch for me yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I want you to do that again. Until I tell you to stop, or until we get somewhere I say is safe, I want you to look around at least every ten seconds, okay? Keep watch behind us and to the sides. I can’t look around very well with my leg like this, not and still keep moving, so you’ll have to be my eyes.”
“I can do that.” Candice said, sounding very certain.
“Good. Okay, hold the door then.”
Candice moved up next to Jessica and took over the door, which left Jessica free to put her right hand down on the holstered pistol and limp out. She stopped almost immediately, looking behind the door, but there was just the end of the corridor. Terrified, but slightly satisfied, she headed for the main hallway.
At the corner she paused and listened, then peered around it in both directions quickly. She saw only empt
y hallway in one direction, and the parking lot outside and Peachtree Industrial beyond that in the other. Well, and two zombies. One was in the parking lot. The other was out on the road. Both looked to be wandering aimlessly. She was sure that would change. She was also sure those weren’t the only two in the area. There had been more earlier, they couldn’t have all just left.
Taking a fresh grip on the bat, Jessica hobbled around the corner and toward the front door. Shards of glass crunched beneath her foot and the bat as she went across them, and crunched louder still when she ducked through the empty doorframe and ground the shards against the concrete. Jessica glanced around quickly, and turned right.
There were about ten zombies in view, but when she reached the end of the building, she saw another ten staggering about in the parking lots deeper within the complex of office buildings. Jessica eyed them all, calculating furiously. Only two had noticed Candice and herself just now, but she knew that would change. Even so, as long as she was able to maintain this speed, she would be able to cut across them before they could turn and close the distance.
She headed for the cross street at the edge of the complex. By the time she was almost to it her knee was throbbing, but Jessica ignored the discomfort. Unless she wanted to flee back into one of the buildings and get treed by the zombies again, they were committed. Her intention had been to try to follow the road, but two things changed her mind as she stepped up onto the landscaped border separating parking lot from the cross street.
First, she knew that was the longer path. Going by road would involve going several blocks down to Highway-120, then following it north-ish. She couldn’t summon the exact route in her head, but she remembered the road meandered a bit, which would add to the trip’s time.
Second, and more important, there were zombies on Peachtree Industrial, which following the roads would require her and Candice to go towards. And as she limped along, she realized it would be that way every step of the journey. She didn’t know if such a thing existed, but she knew that even if it did, she wasn’t an expert on zombie behavior.
Apocalypse Atlanta Page 62
