by Howard, Bill
We picked up our packs and quickly made our way along the passage. I really didn’t like the idea of being down here, not knowing if there was a way out or if there was trigger-happy military on the other end. But it wasn’t like I had a choice either. We trekked down the corridor until we heard the sound of Max’s barking up ahead. We proceeded with guns drawn, at the ready for anything that awaited us. Around the next bend, Max was in the middle of a small clearing in the caves, a small column of light pouring out of a hole in the ceiling above him. He was sitting on the rock floor beside Stephen, who was lying on his side, unmoving. Clive rushed to Stephen and turned him over gently. His throat was gone completely, just a head on a thin spine attached to his body. All the meat of his neck was cleaned off in its entirety. Max whined, then turned towards the back of the clearing and barked. Our guns went back up and Thom approached the area, Ellie behind him with her flashlight showing the way. Hunched over in the darkness of the furthest corner of the clearing was a young man of about twenty years old. He was all curled up in the corner wearing jeans, but no shirt or shoes. He was acting like a small child, in a ball with his back turned towards us. He was making little grunting noises, and kept looking out at Thom and Isabel. Thom got a little closer and it barked out, warning him to keep his distance. When he did this, we could see the pulpy chunks of flesh in his hands and his gore-soaked mouth. My stomach turned. Thom took another step towards the thing, keeping Isabel off to his right side. As he did, the thing raised its head, turned it slightly, and gazed at Thom. Its arms lowered and it let out the slightest whimper. Thom raised his arm and in one swift movement, put the barrel of his gun to its head and fired. The skull erupted out the back and the body slid to the ground. Isabel gave out a low howl, and then returned to her newfound position as Thom's passive captive. Thom holstered the pistol and turned back to all of us.
“Can we get the fuck out of here please?”
CHAPTER 34: GOD BLESS THE CHILDREN AND THE BEASTS
The cave was small and did not go on much further. It came out, to my estimation, about a half-kilometer later at the side of a grassy hill in a field. We all pulled each other out of the small exit hole, having to haul our packs separately to fit. Thom seemed pissed off now for some reason, his brow furrowed, and his overall demeanor darkened. He had a hard time coaxing Isabel out of the dark and into the sunlight, but he managed to wrestle her up through the hold and onto the grass. The rest of were just wet and drained. I stood for a moment and got my bearings, figuring we should be somewhere in Ajax by now. The hill we had come out on was fairly high and gave us a good vantage point of the horizon. I could make out a grouping of four large apartment buildings in the distance, and was pretty sure it was the White Oaks apartments on the Whitby/Ajax border. That was good; we were making some progress. We hiked uninterrupted in the late afternoon sun for a few hours, our clothes drying in the sunlight, but our moods still dampened. No one spoke; we just walked and kept to ourselves. Stephen had not been with us for long, but his death was a personal tragedy for all of us. We all felt for his wife, who was now alone with their infected children, left to wonder if her husband was ever coming home. I vowed to myself to get back to her at some point and help her if I could. After Diane and Jordan were safe, and this outbreak was under control, I would go back and bring help. I felt I somehow owed that to Stephen now.
We reached a main road cutting through the woods and farmland; I was guessing from the time we had spent walking that it was probably Salem Road. There were a few farmhouses and barns along the way, but we had enough supplies so we tried to avoid them, giving them a wide berth on our path. The sun was riding low in the sky now, the clouds turning a warm orange color with blue halos. We were getting to the point that we would have to stop for the night again, and with the time we made today, it looked like there was a good chance we would make it to my house by late the next day. That filled me with a restrained joy. We angled south to try to reach a neighborhood before dark.
We came across the first row of houses about thirty minutes after sundown; this was the longest we had ever stayed moving after dark. We tried to keep Clive’s flashlight on for guidance, as he was leading us at that point, but the rest of us kept ours off. No need to attract any undue attention, it was bad enough we were walking almost blind. We reached the house closest to us and split up, Ellie and I keeping watch on the front lawn and taking care of Isabel, and Clive and Thom checking the house. Ellie and I stood back to back on the lawn and waited for word from the others that the house was secure. Except for the sound of Isabel's labored breathing--a soft, quiet gurgling--the night was quiet as a church funeral, and it was the first time it occurred to me how creepy the night could be without the sound of insects. Where did they all go? While I was pondering the intricacies of the animal kingdom during a viral outbreak, Ellie turned and put her hand on my shoulder.
“Denny. We’ll reach Jeremy’s house first. After I see that the kids are all right, I’m going to have to stay with them at Jeremy’s until this thing is over. I can’t go with you the rest of the way.”
I smiled.
“Of course Ellie." I took her hand in mine. “I’ll be fine, thanks to you helping me get this far. We’ll get you to your kids, and then I’ll get to Diane and Jordan. We’ll all be fine. ”
I wasn’t sure I believed my own words at this point, but it seemed to make Ellie feel better. She put her arms around me and hugged me tight, which was awkward since I was holding Isabel's leash. I kissed her forehead and stepped back into position when something cracked under my foot. I looked down, as did Ellie when she heard the noise. My foot was on a plank of wood lying in the grass. I reached down and lifted it up; it was a wooden sign hanging from a fallen metal pole. I flipped the sign over and read the brightly painted words. Lil Tots Daycare. I dropped the sign, handed Isabel's pole to Ellie and told her to stay and keep watch on the lawn. I ran into the house, my pistol drawn, and despite calling attention to us with my racket, I screamed for Clive and Thom. As I entered the house, I shot a glance up the stairs, Thom was standing there looking down, a puzzled look on his face. I ran to the side of the staircase, looking into the various rooms for Clive. I ran into the kitchen, and around to the side door, where I saw Clive standing in front of the basement door with his hand on the doorknob.
“Clive, no!" I shouted.
Clive physically jumped at my outcry, and I noticed the latch was undone and the door already open a crack. A split second later, the door burst open and a sea of small bodies flooded out of it, pouring over Clive like a swarm of locusts, knocking him to the linoleum floor. The children’s clothes were all colors of the rainbow, blue overalls, pink flowery shirts, green dresses. There were blonde heads, brown heads, and heads with jet-black hair. All shapes and sizes with one grotesque thing in common: those hellfire yellow eyes. A few of them lingered on top of Clive, snapping at his face as he tried to hold them at bay. But most of them ran right over him and spilled into the kitchen, coming straight for me. I not only found it hard to shoot for fear of hitting Clive, but also--regardless of what these soulless beasts were—because these were once adorable little children. I kicked up the 50s style kitchen table and ran into the hallway, hoping the table would slow the kids enough for me to get ahead of them. I tore up the stairs to where I had seen Thom standing, but he was no longer there. I grabbed the banister and swung myself into the upstairs hallway, looking into rooms for Thom. I slipped on a small runner on the hardwood floor and slid on my ass into a room at the end of the hallway, flinging my hand over my head to slam the door behind me. I skidded to a halt on the soles of my shoes and got up, pushing a nearby dresser in front of the door. I almost collapsed against the bureau trying to catch my breath, and surveyed the room. It was a little girls room, for sure, with a four poster canopy bed, and posters of Zach Efron and Justin Bieber on the wall. Thom was here as well, standing in front of the lace-draped window, looking out.
“Thom, Jesus, this place
is a daycare, they are all over Clive, we have to get down there and…. ”
I stopped. Thom hadn’t turned to me when I came into the room, and he still hadn’t as I was talking to him. I got up and slowly approached him, unsure that I wanted to see whatever was capturing his attention outside. I walked up beside him and looked out the second-story window. The front yard below was absolutely teeming with infected people. I couldn’t even make out any patches of grass, every inch was covered. Worse still, I didn't see Ellie.
“Jesus Christ on a cross." I muttered.
I turned my head to look at Thom. He wasn’t staring down at the conglomeration of infected souls, he we was just staring ahead, out the window into the horizon, into nothing. I set my hand on his shoulder.
“Thom? Are you okay?”
Thom turned his head slightly; he had been crying again, his cheeks slick with tears. He moved his hand to his pack and pulled loose the chainsaw, handing it to me.
“No Denny. I’m not okay.” He said quietly.
He raised his eyes to meet mine, and the sudden shock of his red-ringed yellow iris’s made me recoil.
“Go Denny, get the others and go. They came for the kids, Isabel, and me. I’ll keep them away from you as long as I can, but you have to go now.”
I was in shock; I just stood there like a mannequin. Then I heard a noise from out back, it sounded like Max, but it was a high-pitched squeal.
“GOOOO!” screamed Thom.
Reddish yellow foam dripped from his mouth, bits of it dotting the air. I looked at those wild eyes.
“I’m so sorry Thom.”
I took off running to the door, pushed the dresser aside, and bounded down the stairs with the chainsaw, pulling the cord as I ran. The motor burst to life, and I came around back to the kitchen. The kids who had come after me were not there anymore, and I rounded the corner to the basement door. Clive was laying on the floor still, his clothes bloodied and two small bodies lying on either side of him. He wasn’t moving. There was no sign of any of the other kids. I rushed to him and set the running chainsaw on the floor. I looked into his face for a sign of life, his chest was moving slightly and he had a pulse. I called his name a few times and gave him light slaps across his cheeks. His eyelids fluttered and eventually opened. He turned his head and looked at me, his face a bloody mess. I grabbed his hand to help him up; he still seemed able to move, anyway. Once standing, Clive looked at me, then his eyes moved slightly to my right and over my shoulder and widened. I spun around with the chainsaw in front to see Thom standing there, chin stained with foam and florescent yellow eyes. Isabel stood beside him; the contraption Thom had made was lying on the floor. Neither one made a move towards us; they just stood there like some bizarre wedding cake couple.
“There isn’t much more time. Get out now.” He stated matter of factly.
Clive walked with a slight limp to the back door and opened it; I followed him with the chainsaw, keeping my eyes on Thom and Isabel. I walked out the door backwards, and Thom just watched me go.
“God Almighty!" Clive screamed.
I turned quickly and looked at the place in the backyard that Clive had lit up with his flashlight. Eight or nine children were huddled in a bunch on the lawn, looking like ants crawling all over an anthill. It took a moment to register, but I realized that the anthill was in fact Ellie. I ran out into the yard half yelling, half crying. I brought the chainsaw down hard into the pile of feeding infected children. The sound of the chain lowered as it tore quickly through flesh, and I moved the blade back and forth, like I was trimming a hedge. The blade skipped and cut into a few of the things, shooting pieces into the lawn, and the group of beasts jumped off Ellie in all directions, running off into the darkness with shrieking wails. Two kids I had hit ran off with large gashes, one was less an arm. Two others were motionless in the grass, soaking the earth with their lifeblood. Ellie was ripped apart. I turned my head away, unable to look at the flayed corpse the monsters had left behind. The thought that Ellie would never get to see her kids again killed something inside me and I dropped to my knees. I could just barely hear the whisper of Clive’s prayers as he stood and watched in horror. A loud unearthly howl came from inside the house, louder than an air raid siren, emanating from the kitchen. Clive turned fast and I looked past him to see Thom and Isabel both standing in the middle of the kitchen with their heads raised to the ceiling, their mouths wide open and bellowing out their indescribable cries like otherworldly wolves. In the darkness around me, I could hear scurrying, small feet running in the crisp summer grass. I held up the chainsaw, unable to figure out which direction they were coming from. Then, out of nowhere, they appeared, probably about fifteen to twenty infected kids, all running through the darkness towards the house. They ran right past me, and Clive stepped out of the way as they ran blindly past him as well and into the house. Then there was a loud crack and bang from the front of the house. I got to my feet and motioned for Clive to come with me and we ran into the woods, flashlights on, caution be damned. We ran into the woods until we couldn’t see the houses anymore. We stopped and fell to the ground, both of us gasping for air. Something rustled in the bushes behind us, and we snapped to attention, Clive with his gun drawn and me with the now humming chainsaw in front of me. Another rustle was followed by a whine. Max stepped slowly out of the brush. We both lowered our weapons and let out a collective sigh of relief. I switched off the chainsaw and got to one knee, calling Max over to me. The dog came over slowly, with its head down, defeated. I patted his back and scratched his head.
“Its okay boy. We’ll take care of you." Somehow, the words made me feel better; I wasn’t sure if they helped Max. We heard a distant poof sound, like a quiet thunderclap. I looked up and through the woods, and could make out some sort of light coming from the neighborhood. Clive shone his flashlight around and found a worn path in the woods; we went over to it and started following it. After a short while, the path wound through trees and up a hill, coming out into a clearing in a grassy field. We walked to the center of the field and looked back where we had come from. The bright light of the blaze was visible from our vantage point, but we could barely make out the house under the flames that engulfed it. It raged in the night like a beacon for all to see, and it was followed shortly thereafter by the tormented cries of the infected being consumed with it. Thom had performed his final act of sacrifice for us. For me. In some strange sort of way, I was at least glad he got to end it all with Isabel by his side. He didn’t have to be alone.
Any positive thoughts I had were waning now. Everyone was being eaten alive by this infection, whether they had it or not. I was starting to lose hope and I was starting to doubt if I would ever see Diane and Jordan again. Survival itself was now in question. Not just for my family or for me, but for everyone.
We slept that night in the woods. We wrapped ourselves in two thin blankets that Clive had packed and slept under a large tree. We moved two fallen logs onto either side of us to mask our presence. We were far too exhausted to keep going that night, and it was far too dangerous to be roaming around in the dark, not knowing what was ten feet ahead of us. I slept lightly, but with vivid dreams of home and Diane and Jordan. The dreams kept me warm while I lay on the cold ground, the images of my loved ones keeping my mind alert despite the fact that my heart had been drained of hope.
