‘Christ! What is that?’ Kristin moved to his side, pinching the end of her nose.
‘You’re doing it wrong. Breathe through your nose. Close your mouth. Trust me, it’s better.’
‘Sounds more like you want me to shut up.’
‘That’s just an added bonus.’ Salty pushed on through the corridor to another door on the left. He gave it a kick to reveal the animal holding area. There were eight cages, four stacked upon four. Six were empty, but the other two contained rotten carcasses. Salty approached the first one and peered inside. It was obvious from its pointed, but now rather shrivelled tail and the streamlined shape of its skeletal body that it was the remains of a fox.
‘How terrible,’ Kristin said. ‘They would have starved to death in there.’
‘Nah, they didn’t suffer. Take a look.’
She edged closer to the bars. ‘What am I supposed to be looking at?’
‘See how clean the insides of the cage are? No way they wouldn’t be scratched up if this critter was still alive.’ Salty stood straight, confidently waving his hand. ‘These guys were euthanised. They were probably too sick to be released like the others, so it was the kindest thing.’ He coughed a little and moved into the next room. This one had a sign on the door that said ‘Supply Room’.
He flipped the switch on the wall and the blue neon bulb flickered for the first few seconds. He tapped the glass of each cabinet standing along the back wall. Kristin noticed his lips moving as he muttered something under his breath. At the end of the row, he knelt down next to a set of metal drawers and pulled out the one at the bottom. He lifted a black case from it, flipped the latches, and opened it up.
‘We’ve been rolling together for a couple of days now, but just one glance at y’all and I knew I was gonna be doin’ all the huntin’ once we got here. I thought this might be more to your likin’.’ Salty held up the largest object in the padded case and showed it to Kristin.
The scoped rifle’s slender stock and barrel looked almost futuristic to her.
‘We can use it for tagging, and for killing for food – all silently so we don’t attract unwanted attention at the fences every time we bag a deer.’
Kristin stared uneasily at the weapon.
‘Don’t worry. You’ll just have to knock em’ out. I’ll do the dirty work,’ Salty said. ‘We got more than a year’s worth of sedatives. By then, I reckon we might be pretty handy with a bow.’ He placed the rifle carefully back in its case and smiled.
Kristin hadn’t seen him this relaxed since their intense first encounter. The calmness seemed to take the edge off his sharp, angular features.
He took a step back to admire the cabinets full of barbiturates, antibiotics, and anti-venoms. ‘I thought for sure one of them would ransack this place.’
‘Perhaps they did plan on coming back,’ Kristin said.
‘Maybe… it’s ours now though.’
Kristin was more than thankful to be outside again and to have the smell of dead animals blown away by the clean air of their natural surroundings, but the sickly odour seemed to cling to her clothes. She bent over and tried to spit the taste of it out of her mouth. When she lifted her head, Salty was already well on his way towards the second lake of the facility, ignoring the picturesque log cabin to the north. She examined his destination and realised what had caused him to make haste.
One of the sailboats had broken free of its mooring and floated clear of the jetty. It was now grounded on the bank of the lake – one side held firm by the wet dirt and the boat bobbing on the water’s edge. Its sails were up too and the wind caught them sporadically, threatening to drag the vessel onto dry land.
Kristin did her best to jog over to catch him up, but her injured ankle remained weak, forcing her to move with more of a limp.
Salty reached the boat and looked inside, then immediately took a step back, placing his hands on his bony hips and staring up at the pale blue sky. He walked over to Kristin before she could get to the bank, holding up his hands.
‘What is it?’ she said.
‘You don’t wanna see it.’
She pushed passed him and put one foot on the deck. A body lay sprawled over the cockpit, half-covered by the main sail. Flies were swirling around the bloodied corpse. Judging by the tone and tightness of its grey skin, it hadn’t been dead long. She could tell by the polo shirt and shorts that it was the body of a male, but his sex certainly could not have been identified from his face. His features and brain matter were scattered across the deck like macabre jigsaw puzzle pieces. A pistol rested in the grip of the man’s right hand. Kristin covered her mouth, fearing she might throw up. At least they were out in the open; it would be easier to escape the smell than it would have been the animal clinic.
‘Did you know him?’
‘Yeah,’ Salty said with a sense of resignation. He climbed into the boat and stood over the body, first checking the pockets of his shorts, then starting to prise his rigid fingers from the gun handle. ‘His name was Stephen Schneider. A herpetologist – studied reptiles and such.’ He retrieved the pistol from his former colleague and opened the chamber to check if it was worth the trouble. Five bullets remained. ‘Makes sense he’d take himself out on the water. We should go. We’ll come back and bury him once we’ve checked the fences.’
Salty turned his back on the suicide and jumped off the deck onto land, expecting Kristin to follow. Kristin lingered, staring at what was left of the scientist, his hopes and dreams spilled over the cured wooden panels. As she was about to leave, she spied something poking from the clenched fist of his left hand. She stooped and carefully pinched the end of it between her finger and thumb so she could pull it free. It was a note, no bigger than a match book.
‘Come on, Mrs. Graham,’ Salty urged from the bank.
‘One second.’ She unfolded the lined piece of note paper and read the eight words scribbled across the middle. ‘I’m sorry. I could not endure without you’.
7
Vincent froze when he heard the rustling sound, and reached for the gun tucked in his pants. A shape skipped through the leaves and fallen branch wood just ahead of him. Something small – no bigger than a woodchuck. He relaxed his stance and took a breath.
Behind him, Ethan bent over on his haunches, struggling to breathe. Sweat glistened on his face as the sun peeked through the trees. ‘You alright?’
Ethan smiled. ‘Exercise was never really my thing.’
Vincent noticed how pale he looked. He couldn’t resist the temptation of asking the question, hoping that, in his desperation, the young man would just come clean that he needed a fix of some sort. ‘Is… is there anything you need?’
Ethan paused to consider Vincent’s awkward delivery and nodded, indicating he’d expected Vincent to imply something of that nature. ‘No, Vincent. Nothing rest won’t cure.’
‘We’ll rest for a while then.’ Vincent removed his pack and threw it down, then sat himself against the nearest red maple trunk.
Ethan was only too happy to hit the dirt directly opposite. He adopted his usual position, drawing his knees up to his chest so he could lock his arms around them and then rest his head on top.
Vincent leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. Suddenly, his ears were filled by the background noise of the occasional screeching bird and little snaps and shuffles within the undergrowth. Once Ethan had started to calm down and had wiped the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his hoodie, Vincent felt obliged to break the silence between them.
‘So, how did you find yourself here in the States?’
‘I guess you could say it was a work commitment.’
It then became clear to Vincent that he seemed to carefully consider every response whenever he was asked about his personal life. He’d been doing it ever since they’d encountered him, in fact. ‘What kind of work did you do?’
Ethan looked directly at him and smiled again. ‘She envies you, y’know.’
‘What?’
‘Your wife – the way you are with Emily.’
‘You seem to take a lot of interest in us.’
‘It’s prudent to know who you’re dealing with,’ Ethan said.
‘I agree.’
Ethan relaxed his shoulders and sighed. ‘What I said to your daughter before…’
‘It doesn’t matter. We cleared that up, didn’t we?’ Vincent said.
‘I was only trying to help her. She’s going to have to grow up faster than you’d like, the way things are.’
‘And that’s for me to handle,’ Vincent said.
‘Of course. Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t know the first thing about bringing up a child. I couldn’t even take care of myself before this. Hence why I’m still trying to catch my breath.’
‘Didn’t you have family? A girlfriend?’
‘I was estranged from my parents. I hadn’t spoken to them for about three years. I tried to call them when things got bad, but so many people were doing the same thing. It jammed the whole network. As for girlfriends, I’ve never had the pleasure.’
‘Never?’ Vincent felt guilty that he’d imagined some junkie hanging on to Ethan’s every word – a girl who used to be pretty before the drugs had washed her out.
‘Not really. A few pretend ones, but they weren’t interested in me.’
‘After your money, huh?’
‘Yeah… something like that.’ Ethan’s eyes rolled back, as if he was drowsy. He ran his hands through his hair and licked the dry surface of his lips.
‘Take some water,’ Vincent said.
‘I’m fine.’
Vincent stretched to kick the backpack towards him. ‘Quit playing the martyr and drink.’
Ethan disentangled his limbs and grabbed the pack. He dragged it over and reached inside to locate the bottle. As quickly as he’d started, he stopped rummaging and stared up at Vincent, his expression grim.
‘You find it?’
He didn’t answer. Instead, Ethan threw himself to the ground. His body rigid, he shook wildly like he was in the middle of some sort of seizure.
‘Ethan?’ Vincent crawled to where he writhed about. The young man was unresponsive. His eyes were open, but vacant. He was unaware of Vincent leaning over him, trying to snap him out of it. ‘Ethan? What can I do?’ He thought about shaking him, then suddenly remembered that you are supposed to leave the sufferer of a fit to just go through it.
His body began to shake even more violently. His mouth opened and he let out a groan, as if he was in pain. Vincent saw something clenched in his right hand. It appeared to be a piece of fabric of some kind. Ethan held it so tightly that he couldn’t be sure what it was.
There were no signs of the affliction abating. If anything, it was getting worse. Vincent fumbled around on his belt for the walkie. He would call Salty. Since he seemed so well-equipped for dealing with everything else, perhaps he’d received first aid training as well. Before he got chance to hit the talk button, Ethan stopped shaking and he became completely still, eyes open.
Vincent leaned over him again, placing his cheek close to his mouth. He couldn’t feel any breath against his skin and he knew time was too short for his new redneck friend to help him out with this one. He would have to attempt CPR and hope for the best.
As he placed his hands on Ethan’s chest, he took a sharp breath in and jolted upright. Vincent jumped in fright, but Ethan held on to him, grabbing the front of his shirt like his life depended on it. The look in his eyes suggested he’d emerged from the darkest nightmare imaginable.
‘Jesus, you scared me. You were out for a moment. You were—’
‘We have to find her,’ Ethan whispered. ‘We have to find Emily.’
8
Adam picked the last of the mushrooms in the patch and placed it into the cradle he’d made with the bottom half of his sweatshirt. He glanced over at Emily, who was about to pick a large one from the bank of the lake side.
‘Not that one!’ he said, shuffling towards her, careful not to spill the mushrooms he’d collected. He moved his hand underneath the cap of the fungus in question and peeled it back, running his fingers through its ribbed gills. ‘See how white they are?’
‘Yes,’ Emily said.
‘That tells us this one is probably poisonous.’
Emily pressed her finger against its spongy surface. ‘It would give me a belly ache if I ate it?’
‘Yep. Maybe worse than that. Some of them can make folks really sick.’
‘Gosh. You know an awful lot about mushrooms.’
Adam laughed. ‘Not so much. Just the basics. My dad taught me. We don’t want you getting sick, not after your abscess.’
‘No. That was horrible, and I still have to take these tablets. They taste nasty.’
‘Usually, the nastier they taste, the better they are for you,’ Adam said.
‘That’s what my dad says.’
‘We were awful worried about you. I was awful worried about you.’
‘Really?’
‘Of course. Y’know, that day in the medical tent, that wasn’t the first time I saw you. The first time, you were with your mom. She was collecting you up from the school-house. I remember the wind had picked up that day, and I was standing pretty close. So close, I even caught the scent of the shampoo on your hair. It smelled of fresh apples.’ Adam closed his eyes to savour the memory. When he opened them, Emily noticed they looked different. There was something else behind them. A type of hunger that she didn’t understand, but one that instinctively raised the fear within her.
‘I know your dad probably tells you this all the time, but you’re a very beautiful girl, Emily.’
‘Erm, I am?’
‘The fact you don’t realise how much, is what makes you beautiful.’ He reached out with the back of his hand and brushed his fingers over the trembling skin of her knees. ‘Your skin is so soft.’ His words began to trail off into more of a whisper. He touched her leg again – this time closing his fingers around the puppy fat of her calf.
Emily tried to pull away, but Adam’s grip tightened. ‘I think I’d like to go back and wait for my mom and dad now.’
‘But you said you wanted to come to the lake with me. You said it like you meant it. I knew you were flirting – you’ve been doing it ever since we got out of the camp.’
‘I don’t know what you mean, Adam. I want to go back.’ She again attempted to free her leg, but the fit young man was far stronger than her. ‘I thought you were my friend.’
‘I am your friend. I could be so much more if you’d let me.’
‘Please, I don’t understand.’
‘Then let me help you.’ Adam released her and reached up to her face. ‘Look around you. This place we’ve found is paradise, and we can keep the monsters out so they can never hurt us again. This could be the start of something special for you and me. I know I might seem old to you, but I’m not all that old. I still remember when I was in third grade. It wasn’t so long ago.’ He smiled, tracing his fingers along her neck.
Emily dug her chin into her chest bone. She didn’t like the tingling sensation created by his touch. It made her body hurt.
‘What’s ten years, Emily? What’s ten years? I bet that’s about the same gap between your mom and dad.’
‘My mom and dad are grown-ups.’
Adam shook his head. ‘Don’t you see? None of that matters anymore. We don’t have to do what we’re told. There’s no one around to make us. We’re free, Emily.’ He touched her leg again, sliding his hand up to her inner thigh.
‘No!’ Her statement was as firm as it was loud. She wedged the flat of her foot into his chest and scrambled backwards over the bank of grass and dirt.
Adam raised his hands and bowed. ‘OK, OK. I’m sorry. I was moving way too fast. I understand how this can be scary and overwhelming at first.’
‘I want to go back to wait for the others,’ she said.
‘Sure. Whatever you wan
t, but you gotta promise me you won’t say anything about this to your parents. It’s complicated stuff. They wouldn’t see things the way we do.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Of course you do. You’re just confused.’
‘No, I’m not. I thought you were being nice to me because you were my friend, but now I don’t think you are. I think you tricked me and you touched me in places you shouldn’t. That’s why you don’t want me to tell ‘cause you know you’ll get into trouble.’
Every one of her words seemed to stick into him like the point of a knife. His smile evaporated and tears welled in his eyes.
‘I don’t want to be your friend anymore, Adam.’ As Emily turned to stand up, he pounced on her, grabbing her wrists and pushing her into the ground. She began to scream, thrashing her head back and forth because it was the only part of her body she could move.
He sat on her legs and squeezed down hard on her wrists, cutting off most of the blood supply to her hands. ‘Please be quiet,’ he said.
‘Let me go!’
‘I can’t let you up until you promise not to tell.’
‘I promise. I promise,’ Emily wept.
‘Why don’t I believe you?’
She saw it again. Only for a brief moment, but she recognised it as the hunger – the darkness behind his eyes. Another shadow loomed overhead, rising up behind Adam. The haggard waif descended, its sunken eyes fixed on him. It latched onto the boy’s back and opened its receding jaws, biting deep into the side of his neck. The bite severed his jugular and the flesh tore away like rice paper. Adam tried to scream, but blood instantly filled his throat and all he could do was gargle and choke on it. The red torrent poured out of the wound and onto Emily. She screamed and received a mouthful of blood in return.
The creature took a second bite from the same place, snapping a tendon and removing another chunk of flesh. Adam was still able to somehow hold himself up, and his blood soaked the little girl underneath him. It completely coated her neck and face, drowning her hair, turning it jet-black. She felt pressure at the tops of her arms. Something else had hold of her. It pulled her out from beneath the carnage and she found her voice once more.
Everything Dies [Season One] Page 14
