“Maybe just after dawn, it was dirty light through the windows. Gray. Makes everything look like it's black and white... They came out of nowhere. We heard them coming down the street outside, making noise to scare people away, maybe, who knows. They came right in the front of the school and there was nothing we could do. We were right in the entrance-way, both sets of doors shut. They smashed the glass in seconds.” She looked at Cammy who kissed her cheek lightly and nodded for her to go on. She sucked in a shuddering breath.
“We killed three guys Fast. I got two with that pipe. Just crazy... Just... Crazy. Swinging it for the bleachers, just heads. I don't think they expected that. The fourth guy Rob got with the stake, but the fifth one shot him before he could get him good enough. I landed that pipe a second later, but it was too late.” She looked at Adam. “I couldn't figure where you two got to... I mean we went back to the factory, it was obvious that someone had torched it. I knew it was you. I knew it, but you didn't come back and I got worried... We've been walking it but rob couldn't go any longer.” She held up two flat black, rubber gripped 9 mm guns. Took them from those fuckers back at the school. “ She shook her coat pocket so they could hear the bullets clink together. A few hundred rounds in both pockets. But they would have had us tonight, I can't carry him.”
Adam bent to look Rob over.
“I think he's not long for here. He said he was okay, but then he passed out... Opened his eyes a few times, but he couldn't talk.”
“Think so,” Adam agreed. He looked out the mouth of the alleyway, the shadows were deepening already. Two blocks west he saw a hurried movement, shadows passing behind broken windows. He looked back down at Rob. The bandaging was sections of his shirt, ripped and folded. The blood seeped past it, and occasional bloody bubbles appeared at his lips. A lung shot, Adam knew it. He would die. Maybe soon, maybe later. Moving him would kill him for sure. He sighed.
“Maddy you can travel? I ask because we got to.” Adam shook his head, watching the buildings two blocks down. There were no more movements yet, but he knew there would be, and soon. Maddy followed his eyes as did Cammy.
“Yeah,” she said as she looked back and met his eyes. “Someone.”
“Several someones... May as well go get the truck and get back here fast,” Adam told them. “Don't waste time.” Maddy nodded and a few seconds late she and Cammy were running down the sidewalk and the truck that was parked a few blocks away in hiding.
Adam turned back to Rob. “Rob... Man... I'm sorry,” Adam told him. He pulled his knife from the sheath at his side and with one quick thrust ran it through his temple and into his brain. A little crunch of bone, but it was thin, the blade passed through easily. Too easily. It made Adam sick, but it wasn't the first time he'd done it and it wouldn't be the last, he knew. Rob never moved.
Adam wiped the blade, sheathed it, and then sprinted down the block in the direction Maddy and Cammy had taken. He met them part way up the block. Maddy bought the truck to a rubber burning halt and Adam jumped in. He shook his head as her eyes questioned him. Not about Rob, he knew, but about where they were going now.
“I think it's time to leave New York... Jersey... Head south, maybe,” Adam said. He met each of their eyes looking for dissent, but there was none.
“That factory got us too complacent,” Cammy said. Madison nodded.
“Let's find us a place for a few days then... Get our shit together... Some gear... Maps... And then we'll lite out.” Adam leaned back into the seat.
Madison dropped the gear into drive and the big truck lumbered off down the street searching for ways out of the tangle of streets.
Adam and Cammy
June 10th
They were walking in the daylight, finding places to hole up during the night. There was no way to get out of the city, or at least completely free of the city, with a vehicle. So they were walking out.
Adam thought as they walked along. They had walked past Central Park, but it was a bad place filled with dying and dead. They had gathered and the diseases that follow overcrowding got them. You could smell the park long before you got to it. They had given it a wide berth, but with the park and its crowds so near the shops and small stores for blocks around them were stripped clean. Another reason to get out of the city. It was time. The only unknown was where they would spend the coming winter. How they would stay alive.
He was thinking back to March as he walked. Not really paying attention to the walk, where he was going... March... Just a few months ago, but the world was still the world then. And for the next little while we were ignorant. Ignorant. Stupid. Didn't know a thing. Didn't have a clue.
He had been in Central Park a few days after the first earthquakes hit. He had left Tosh alone and went down on his own to see what the deal was. He had found out nothing. No one knew any more than anyone else. But they had still been living and they were not yet afraid to be seen out in the open. The park was a refuge, not a death trap. No one knew at that point how serious things were. Or if they did they didn't really want to believe it.
There was a lot of speculation, but that was it. There had been earthquakes. It had rained hard for nearly twenty-four hours straight. The really freaky stuff hadn't happened yet. They were just starting down their new path, but what was clear was that thousands of people had died in the city, maybe more than thousands, maybe a million or more. And certainly millions if the damage here was the same across the country... or worldwide.
He shook his head now. His initial estimate turned out to be a kind. In the city alone: collapsed buildings, fires, exposure to the elements because there was no shelter. There were millions of bodies. It was not so bad in those first few days, but a few days later, when the smell of the dead rotting under the rubble began, it was horrible. The diseases started then too. And the diseases took thousands more, but that day in Central Park he did not know about what was ahead; what was before him was bad enough.
At six foot three and nearly two hundred ninety pounds Adam didn't usually fear much. But that day he had. He had realized there are some things you had better fear if you have half a brain in your head. It didn't matter that he could walk through Central Park unmolested. Something was on the wind, something that didn't care who it touched, did not respect physical size.
He had walked through the park. There were hundreds there already. In the coming days those same people began to make the park home, but that day they wandered aimlessly, in shock. The subway system was shut down, the buses. You could not find a cab. The same with the cops. Everything that was the same about the city, the things you could depend on to be the same day after day, were gone. A few short days, and they were gone. No more. And it had a feeling of permanence to it, a feeling of doom. More and more cars would quit and they were abandoned to the streets where they had stopped. It was eerie, more and more the city looked like a battle field. Bodies, abandoned cars, burning buildings and more.
He had sat down on a bench and watched the people shuffle by. No noisy kids. No babies bawling. No Joggers. No dog walkers. Hopeless people shuffling by. The occasional panicked whack job running around crazily. He had seen no one shot that day, but in the coming days, they, the hopeless ones, began to shoot the crazies, chase them down and kill them. But that was later. There was fear on the air that day, it was almost overwhelming, and Adam had been torn between running and needing to know what was happening, because once you start down that path of just reacting to fear, it gets bad fast, so he had sat there, as calm as he could be. He had finally gone back to Tosh. Whatever was happening was beyond him. He had sat and watched the people in the park wander aimlessly. Several had gone to the pond and carried away water in whatever they could find. The utilities were off including water, but even then Adam had known better than to drink from the contaminated water in the park. It had to be bad. He had wondered what had made those people think it could be safe to drink, but he had no answers. People did what they did. They believed that help would come as
long as they could, and then they picked up the pieces and tried to help themselves, or they died. He had already seen both things happen at that point. Maybe drinking the water would see them through, maybe not. He had his answer not long after when the people in the park began to die off. The bodies, the water, maybe even bodies in the water. Whatever it was he could see it from the balcony if he chose to. He didn't choose to, but the odor from the park had told him the story anyway.
Today they were still there. Crazies. Barricaded in, thinking they were somehow protected. He had no doubt they would shoot anyone that came near those barricades they had closed off the park with. He had no intention of finding out whether that was true though. They gave the park a wide berth and continued on their way.
He walked along now thinking his thoughts. He was lost in them - right back in March for a few seconds. But he came back fast.
They Had left the park and were walking behind a long line of buildings that ran just above the river. They were spread out a little. At least he was. It's funny, he thought later on, how you could forget to be careful so goddamn fast. It was somewhere past midday when they came for them.
“Adam! Adam!”
Cammy from a hundred yards down. The panic and fear in her voice made his heart leap into his throat, and because of her fear, and probably some of his own, he did a really stupid thing right then that cost him time. He was so panicked, that he threw his rifle down and sprinted toward the sound of her voice.
Adam ran twenty feet before the realization of what he had done hit him. It would have been comical to see the way he locked his legs up and tried to turn around before he had even come to a stop if it had not been so serious.
Adam had his rifle back in his hands, the safety off, just a fraction of a second later when Cammy and Madison opened up on a group of several men closing in on them from the mouth of the narrow trail that lead up from the river. Adam added his fire to theirs before he had run another fifty feet, and their leader folded up, and then flopped over the side of the trail and down into the river. Adam continued to run as he fired, and he was shocked to realize that he was screaming at the top of his lungs as he closed in. He could move very fast for a big man, and this time was no exception. He covered the distance in just a few seconds.
“Goddamn-son-of-a-bitching-goddamn-bastards!” All strung together. Fear words. He did not hear them at first so he did not know when they started, and he could not shut them down once he did hear them. The panic and fear were just too hot.
He watched as, unseen by Cammy and Madison, a man crouched on a narrow path above them swiveled his head to Adam, seemed to take his measure with a wide grin, and then dropped from the ledge on to Madison's back and rode her to the ground. A second man dropped behind him and then a third.
“No! Goddamn-son-of-a-bitches-bastards-bastards!” He could not say, 'Madison, Look Out!' Or speed up his feet or anything else. Time had slowed, become elastic, strange, too clearly seen. The man hit her hard, and she folded like an accordion, driven into the ground, maybe as much as two hundred pounds on her back riding her down into the dirt.
Adam was still thirty or more yards away. He could not see how that could even be possible. He should have been closer, but he was not. He saw Cammy turn, panicked, take her eyes off the other men who had dropped and then circled around her, and start towards Madison. Unchallenged, the other men closed ground far faster than they should have been able to.
Adam saw the man on Madison take a handful of Madison's shirt and drag her back up to her feet. Cammy's rifle came up and barked, and the man blew apart, raining down on Madison, a storm of blood. Somehow, Adam managed to switch to full auto, get his rifle up, and spray an entire one hundred round clip into the other men where they rushed along the path towards Cammy and Madison. A man's head appeared in a window two stories up. Adam's rifle was rising but the man sprayed the ground below with his rifle before Adam got him. The man flipped out the window and plummeted to the ground. He landed hard, bounced, and then, arms flailing loosely, flipped over the narrow path and down into the river. Adam dragged his eyes away from the river and back to the path.
Madison screamed. Time leapt back into its proper frame, and Adam found himself five feet away as Madison arched her back, screamed, and tried to stand. Blood ran in a perfect river from a gaping wound from her back and through her chest. Blood ran across the white of her T-Shirt and down to the waist of her jeans.
“I think... I think...” Madison tried.
“Baby... Baby,” Cammy sobbed. She dropped to her knees and pulled Madison to her. “Oh, Baby... Baby,” Cammy sobbed.
He looked back up at the buildings, empty. Three or four bodies lay scattered on the path, it was hard to tell with the tangle of legs and arms. The silence lifted. He heard a bird in the trees above calling as if nothing was wrong with the world, Cammy sobbing, Madison crying hysterically, the wind moaning through the empty buildings that were set just back from the cliffs and the river on this side of the city.
He was thinking, 'That wind is colder. Colder even than when we started out this morning. Maybe the weather will turn back to snow and cold. Maybe winter is not done after all... Or coming sooner... It could be. It's all so screwed up. Maybe, if it does get cold, it will kill us. Maybe we will be okay... My, God... They killed Madison... They Killed Madison!!!' Adam sagged to the ground, his mind full of confusion and numbness.
Cammy was sobbing uncontrollably. Madison had lapsed into shock. Adam was sitting cross-legged, wondering where in Hell this would all end up, his rifle fallen from his hands and laying on the ground next to him. Time spun out, dragged, seemed elastic once more, sticking in places and jumping ahead from those places to where it should have been had it continued to run properly.
Cammy sobbing, holding Madison up, kissing her forehead, telling her how much she loved her... how she was her world...
Madison, eyes rolled back in her head... face pale... fine beads of sweat standing out on her forehead... her back a bright slick of red running across Cammy's hands where she held her. Slowing... Slowing... Her t-shirt front a scarlet mess. Cammy mouthing words in such slow motion that Adam could not understand what she said. Madison's body sagging, eyes rolled up to the whites... bright dots of blood speckled across Cammy's cheeks. Then time jumped, staggered, came back to normal, and Cammy was screaming and screaming...
“No! … NO! … Not my... My, love, my Madison, my...” Collapsing to the ground with Madison, crying still... softer, but continuous.
“Cammy,” Adam's voice, but he did not know it at first. He actually stopped speaking and looked around, startled, before he realized it had been him speaking. He turned his attention back to Cammy. “Cammy... Cammy, it'll be okay... It'll be...”
“NO!....NO!” She scrambled backward, pulling Madison's unconscious body with her. She wiped one hand across her eyes trying to stem the flow of tears... “NO! She's... She's okay... Okay... You can't... You...” She broke down into sobs, pulled Madison to her and began dragging her away from him.
“Cammy... Cammy, she's shot bad... Bad... Cammy... Cammy, it's... It's just you and me, Cammy... She's suffering... Think about her...”
She let go of Madison and lunged for her rifle. Adam sat, still cross legged, stupidly, as she grabbed it and leveled it at him.
“Get out,” She said very calmly. Much more calmly than Adam thought she should have been capable of.
“Cammy... What are you doing... Cammy?”
“GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!” She screamed. Adam reared back as the rifle barrel came up and then slashed down across his face. He jumped back, but not fast enough. The steel barrel smashed into his lower lip, through it, and then hit his teeth. He immediately tasted blood and machine oil. His tongue ran across his teeth unconsciously. He had been sure she had smashed them out, but the barrel edge had come up short, or he had moved back far enough. One of those things. His teeth were intact, it was just his lip that was torn.
The pain was delayed, but it came never-the-less. Hard, heavy, fast, down into his lower jaw and then ricocheted back up into the top of his head. He scrambled backwards, tripped over his own rifle, got it into his hands, and then time did that funny slowing, elastic thing again.
The blood dripped from his beard onto the ground. His rifle was pointed squarely at Cammy, safety off and an empty clip, but Cammy didn't know that. The blood dripped slowly. Cammy's eyes swam in and out of focus, but remained on him. Her rifle barrel dipped and then rose again, leveled on Adam once more.
She seemed to take a deep breath that went on forever, and then, once more, time sped up. “I'll kill you,” Cammy told him. “If you touch her, I'll kill you... I will,” She started out strong but ended in a doubtful, whining whisper.
Adam didn't drop his rifle barrel, but held one hand out in front of him in a placating gesture. “Not touching anyone... Not,” he managed through his busted lip and aching jaw. The pain was a live, throbbing thing. His breaths were coming hard and fast.
“You will... But... I know you will... You think... You think...” She seemed all at once to realize that she no longer held Madison in her arms. She took a deep shuddering breath and then dropped her rifle to the ground. She collapsed back down to the ground and crawled to Madison’s body.
Adam stood shocked, not knowing what to do. Time side-slipped again. The bird went back to calling out, if it had ever stopped. The wind came back, blowing cold against his face, pushing the flush of heat that the situation had brought with it away, cooling the sweat on his brow. The bird called. Another picked it up, and soon all the birds were talking as though nothing at all had happened. It became a perfect storm of noise after the deepness of the silence. Time slipped away again, clouds moving across the cold, blue of the sky.
Earth's Survivors Box Set [Books 1-7] Page 69
