by Karen Carr
Chapter 15
Huck and I ran through the field, hopping over rows of strawberries and avoiding green bean trellis traps. My heart was pounding so hard I thought my chest would explode. I would never forgive myself if Harper was hurt. I hoped and prayed that she had woken up and was frolicking with Mikey somewhere far away from the bomb.
Someone carried a man away from the bomb site. He was bleeding, red blood and not maroon zero blood.
“Have you seen a young girl?” I asked them.
“A girl in a daisy dress,” the man said, catching a sob in his throat.
“What happened to her?” I cried.
The man could only shake his head. Huck grabbed me as my knees wobbled, catching me before I collapsed on the ground. We moved forward through the trees to the second stop on the red-dot line. I held my breath, not wanting to take another gasp of air if Harper wasn’t able to.
When I saw the blanket on the ground, and the body lying on it, all of the air escaped my lungs in a deafening sob, barely recognized as my own voice. I knew it was Harper. I pushed my way passed the people surrounding her and dropped to my knees near her body.
“Harper,” I whispered. My own voice sounding unfamiliar, crushed in pain.
She blinked and her eyes fluttered open. “Hella,” Harper said weakly. She was still breathing, but it was coming in raspy breaths and her dress, her skin, her face, all were covered in seeping red wounds.
Huck knelt by my side and put his arm around my back for support. “She needs a doctor,” Huck said.
“We don’t have a doctor,” I said. “We have to get Sivan. She’s the only one that can help Harper. She helped you when you were injured. We have to get to the ultra-glide and go to Jordan Lake to bring Sivan back here.”
Huck and I raced through the crowd, not stopping for anyone. The ultra-light was in a fenced off area behind the community college. Double checking, I felt the keys to the gate in my pocket. Sivan was a vet who lived in a vacated subdivision by Jordan Lake. It had with large stables where she kept all of her horses. The only problem was that it was on the other side of the river and only a few short miles from Haverlyn Village. The risk was worth trying to save Harper’s life.
We entered the parking lot to the college and ran into Hipslow standing with Broder.
Hipslow stopped us. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“To get to the ultra-glide,” I answered. “We have to help Harper, she’s been hurt. The only one that can help her is Sivan, please let us go.”
“I’m not holding you back, Hella,” Hipslow said. “Relax. Sivan can help, of course. We’ll need her here for the others too, but after that I want you to get out of here, Hella.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I can’t leave now, Mace will bomb the whole town.”
“You can and you will, once you get back,” Hipslow said. “I already have instructed the others to go. I won’t know where you are, and no one else in down will either. You will be safe.”
I looked around quickly for Stan and Saudah, Zora and Boa, and saw them nowhere.
“Hipslow, Mace will send more bombs,” I said. “I can’t have him hurt you because of me.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Hipslow said. “We have a few tricks of our own. You are more important than anyone here, Hella. Now go.”
“I can’t,” I said. My feet were frozen in place. I saw Lily and Trevan making their way toward us.
“Hella, let’s go,” Huck said. He had seen them too.
“Go,” Broder said. Broder seldom spoke, but when he did I knew I should listen. Broder jogged toward Lily and Trevan and stopped them in their tracks.
Huck and I ran behind the college to where the ultra-lights were stationed. I dug in my pocket for the key to the lock and opened it wish shaking hands.
I gave the key to Huck. “Lock up, I’m going to go start the three seater.”
Huck took the key and closed the gate as I ran toward the helicopter. I jumped into the pilot’s seat, thankful that the bomb didn’t hit our rides. Cold sweat ran down my face as I tried to relax. It was crucial that I remembered the start-up procedure and did it in my head first. If I made a mistake, I would risk flooding the engine, knocking out a propeller, running out of gas, so many things depended on my concentration.
“Ready?” I asked Huck as he slid in next to me.
“Ready,” Huck said.
I began the procedure, forcing my hands to move with slow precision. My hands were shaking as I checked the pressure and rechecked all of the gauges.
“Ready for takeoff?” I asked.
“You forgot your manifold pressure again,” Huck said, tapping on the gauge. The worry must have shown in my eyes, because Huck covered my hands with his. “You’re going to do fine. I’d offer to fly it, but you are a much better pilot than I am.”
I took a breath, and raised the helicopter, hovering about ten feet from the ground. “Huck, I don’t know how to get there, where should we go? We have no map.”
“Head to Jordan Lake,” Huck said. “That’ll be easy to spot from the air. We can follow the coast until we see the subdivision. Use your compass.” Huck tapped the compass.
“Jordan Lake is northeast of Pittsboro,” I said. I wanted to go away from the road, so I headed toward the thick forest.
Huck massaged my neck as we flew over the thick forest. When I relaxed, Huck took a pair of binoculars to watch for signs of Mace. The forest was mostly pine, thick and tall, with oaks and sweet gums mixed in between the tall brown trunks. We flew over rivers and streams making our way to the Haw River, the borderline between us and the bad guys.
I couldn’t believe we were crossing the line. I had no idea if Sivan was still there. We had her horses, sneaky and midnight, and Hipslow said she was, but that was days ago. Mace could have invaded her space, but we had to take the risk to save Harper.
“Look down there,” Huck said.
“The tiger rescue,” I said. We were flying over the tiger rescue, which once housed dozens of tigers, lions and other large cats. “You see any?” We had been attacked by a few tigers the last time we drive past the area toward Haverlyn Village.
“Holy crap, yea,” Huck said. “There’s a half a dozen down there, still alive and healthy.”
Hearing that those majestic beasts were surviving in this new world made me thankful. It helped calm the fear I felt in crossing the Haw River. The woods were still thick, but I knew we were getting closer to Mace. Instinctively, I lowered the helo to fly closer to the trees.
“Don’t get so low,” Huck said. “You don’t want to clip one.”
“I don’t want Mace to see us,” I said, moving the helo only inches higher.
Huck gave me a wary look and then put the binoculars back to his eyes. “I see the lake over there.” He pointed and I flew in that direction.
The wide blue lake opened up below us, looking like a cool oasis in the midst of all the green. I paralleled the coast of the lake, watching for houses. My heart soared when I saw the subdivision and the horses running through it. Sivan had used the clubhouse as her feeding post, and she was out there now, with a rifle. She had seen us.
“You better land before she kills us,” Huck said.
I circled around and landed right in front of the club house.
“Nice landing,” Huck said.
“Come on,” I said.
“Shut down procedure, don’t forget,” Huck said.
I sighed and followed the detailed shut down procedure, knowing how important it was to do. By the time I was done, Sivan was on us, only she had lowered her rifle.
“Hella, my darling.” The old woman rushed forward, her gray hair flowing, and greeted me with a hug and a kiss. “What are you doing here? Your face is ashen, who is hurt?”
“Oh Sivan,” I said. Tears started flowing from my eyes.
“There was a bomb,” Huck said. “A girl has been hurt, and several others. The girl is very close to Hella.�
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“Let me get my bag,” Sivan said. “I’ll come with you right away.”
Huck and I waited for Sivan as she jumped on her horse and rode to the stables. He placed a hand on each of my shoulders and drew me into his chest. From there he kissed my ear.
“She’ll be alright, Hella,” Huck whispered, his hot breath sending sparks of warmth through my chilled body. “We made it in time. Sivan’s here. She’ll know what to do.”
I gasped and caught my breath. “I’m so scared, Huck. I don’t want to spend another second on this side of the river. It hurts so much knowing what it was like before, how we had a life here.”
“I know,” Huck said. “I could kill Mace for what he’s done to us.”
“I’m going to kill him, Huck,” I said. “I don’t know when or where, but he has to die. He can’t go on doing this to people, making them scared to go outside. It’s bad enough with the undead, we don’t need creeps like him running around intimidating everyone into servitude.”
Huck held my face in his hands and stared deep into my eyes. I thought he was going to talk me out of it, but I saw something else in his steal blue eyes.
“Let me kill him,” Huck said. “We’ll do it together after we make sure everyone else is safe.”
Sivan returned with her horse in a gallop. She stopped in front of us, and dismounted from her ride.
“Let’s go,” Sivan said.
We piled back in the ultra-light, with Sivan sitting in the narrow seat between us. I took a deep breath and went through the startup procedures with Sivan’s elbow in my ribs. Huck was trying to look over Sivan’s knees, presumably to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
“Hella, manifold,” Huck said.
The impatience in his voice made me tighten my muscles. Did I forget anything? “I checked it,” I said.
I started the engine and raised the helo in the air. She was wobbling, or was I? I took a moment to straighten her out and plan my course. I’d fly left, over the trees, and then along the coast of the lake. I angled the helicopter left and took it slow over the tree tops, making sure not to get too close.
“Hella, your RPMs are low,” Huck said.
What did I forget? The engine needed more gas. Huck helped me correct the issue, but we were headed in the wrong direction, I needed to fly more to the right. I pirouetted right over the thick pines, almost reaching the lake when I felt the ultra-light turn drastically right.
“Straighten her out,” Huck said.
I pushed the controls, feeling the machine shake and heave underneath my body. Sivan pinched my shoulder to steady herself. We flew left, the tail ripping around in a dizzying spiral and coming too close to the pines. I maneuvered the controls again, managed to stabilize the craft, and brought her back up to a safe height.
I mouthed the words, sorry to my passengers and sent us in the right direction again. Suddenly, the engine began to sputter. I looked at my RPMs. Crap, they were too low again. I needed to get the engine working faster. I needed to give it more fuel.
“Hella, look out,” Huck said.
I looked up and saw a tall tree, taller than any of the others around, coming right for us. I swerved to avoid it, but one of the rotors clipped the tree’s branches.
The copter wobbled and shook violently as it headed into the dense woods.
“Pull her up, Hella,” Huck said.
“I’m trying,” I said. I tried to stabilize the controls, tried to remember what the Professor had told me, but it didn’t work. The rotor was bent beyond repair and it affected our balance. “We’re going down.”
I headed toward the lake, thinking it was better to land in the water than in a bunch of trees. We went, spinning and smoking, into the water. The copter landed with a splash, jolting us forward into the dash. It swerved sideways as the cold water from the lake flooded the cockpit.
“It’s sinking,” Huck said.
Huck pulled out a knife and cut his seatbelt, reached over and did the same for Sivan. I couldn’t get my seat belt off. Water filled the ultralight and splashed into my eyes, so I could no longer see Huck. I struggled, trying to grasp the knife in my boot, as the water reached my shoulders. Soon, my head would be under.
The ultralight was taking me down with it as it sank into the lake. I tried the clasp of the seatbelt again, but it wasn’t coming loose. I grabbed, one more time, for my knife in my ankle boot just as I felt someone’s arms around me.
Huck cut through the belt and pulled me from the seat. The belt reached out and tangled around my ankle, not wanting to let me go. Huck ducked under the water and sawed at the fabric twisted around my ankle. Finally I felt it ease and I was able to swim free of the helo.
“Huck,” I called out. He hadn’t surfaced with me.
The helicopter’s body was completely submerged, only the tips of the blades and the tail were above the waves.
“Huck,” I called out again. I treaded water near the sinking beast, wondering what to do.
Huck’s head popped up above the water. “Hella, swim to shore,” he said between sputters.
I turned and swam to shore. When it was shallow enough to stand, I walked through the muddy water to join Sivan on the bank. We were right up against the dense woods with not much room between us and the water. Huck sat down next to me and the three of watched as the rest of the helicopter’s tail went underwater. Soon it stopped, with only the top of the blades stocking out of the water.
“That’s a shame,” Sivan said in a tone that would be more appropriate for a broken nail. “At least I have my medical bag.” She held up her leather bag. “And it’s water proof.”
“Hella look out,” Huck said.
Huck jumped to his feet and raised his knife. I rolled under his step and jumped to my feet as well. A zero had emerged from the woods and almost swiped my hair. Huck kicked it in the chest as it gargle-moaned at us. Its body was wet and bloated like it had been in the water before it made went into the woods.
The thing staggered backwards into the woods and tripped on a root. Huck went after it, grabbed its throat and stabbed it in the head. Easy kill, but it wasn’t over. As if a signal, moaning and groaning broke out all around us and we saw ghostly waterlogged shapes stagger out of the woods.
“Back in the water,” Huck said.
“But that’s where they came from,” I said, never taking my eyes off of the woods.
“They’re not there now,” Huck said.
Sivan and I took a few steps backwards into the water, while Huck sloshed around to make sure it was safe. A half a dozen zeroes were coming at us from the bushes. I had moved so fast, my virus wasn’t caught up to us.
I reached for my gun, but it wasn’t there. It must have fallen off in the water.
“You got a gun in that medical bag?” I asked Sivan.
“Of course,” Sivan said. “But I left it on the bank.” She pointed to the leather bag, now being stepped on by an undead foot.
“I’ll get it,” Huck said.
He stepped out of the water, kicked the zero in the shoulder, and then stabbed it in the head. He then rifled through Sivan’s medical bag as two more zeroes crept dangerously close to him.
“Huck, look out,” I said.
Huck pulled out the gun, snapped the safety off, and shot one of the zeroes in the head. I screamed and grabbed my foot.
“Something’s got me, Huck.” Under the water, I felt something grab my knee. I turned to see two more walkers emerge from the lake right by my side. I was a zombie sandwich.
“Hold still,” Sivan said.
Sivan produced a claw hammer and crushed one of the zeroes immediately. Huck came to my side and pried the next one off. The third one grabbed Huck by the shoulder and sunk his teeth into his arm.
“Huck,” I cried out.
Huck took the gun and shot the zero in the head, and it sunk into the water. We had killed all of them. Sivan and I helped Huck to the bank and she looked at his wound while I grabbed h
er medical bag.
Huck held his arm out and winced in pain as Sivan cleaned out the wound. “You better be right about my immunity,” he said.
I bit my lip and pressed my hand on Huck’s forehead to check for heat. I remember burning up when I was bitten, and so was Huck.
“Do you know who I am?” I asked.
“Yes, Hella,” Huck said. He rolled his eyes. “You are my girlfriend.”
“Really?” I smiled. “Your girlfriend, huh?”
Huck closed his eyes. He was sweating profusely, or soaking wet from the lake, I wasn’t sure which.
“It’s a small bite,” Sivan said. “I’m going to give you a few stitches. I’ve never been this up close before. How long does it usually take to turn?”
“A few minutes,” I said, watching Huck. “How do you feel?”
Huck kept his eyes closed. “It burns like hell. Hella, take this.” Huck put the gun in my hand. “Kill me the minute you know.”
The gun was cold in my hand and felt like a lead weight. I didn’t think I’d be able to kill Huck. I’d wait until my virus did the job for me. I didn’t feel like I could live without Huck. The world felt so big and so small at the same time.
Chapter 16
I put the gun down knowing I couldn’t kill Huck. Instead I grasped his hand and held it to my heart while Sivan got out her medical supplies. She brought out a suture kit, a half-moon needle, scalpel, scissors, pen light, tweezers, and alcohol swabs.
“I’m so sorry Huck, I should have paid attention to the engine,” I said.
“Hella, I’m fine,” Huck said.
“Hold this for me,” Sivan said, handing the pen light.
I took the light and shined it on Huck’s wound. It was swollen and angry, and already turning a few shades of blue where the jaw clamped down.
Sivan took a syringe with a thin needle and filled it with a liquid. “Numbing medicine,” she said as she shot the liquid into Huck’s skin around the wound.
“That is making it burn worse,” Huck said.
Sivan checked her watch and stared at it for a while. She then touched Huck’s wound. “Better?” she asked.
