by Ned Sahin
Kathleen and I don’t say anything, but we try to smile.
“Are you a local or visiting?” he asks. That’s the question I miss hearing. It reminds me of my travels across the country. It fits in the context, but I am not sure where he is getting at.
“We are on our way to Salt Lake City,” I say. When I am in doubt, I either stay quiet or tell the truth. I choose the latter as there is a question pending for an answer.
“Almost there!” He says and laughs. He is clearly making fun of us but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“What is this place?” Kathleen asks.
“A place where we forget about this fricking world!” He is laughing again. I think I can see every single tooth in his mouth when he laughs.
Right after he finishes his sentence, we hear a scream coming from the dance floor.
“Ah, these crazy fo—”
Another scream cuts off his sentence. We hear glasses shattering and tables falling. Then two gunshots, followed by heavy footsteps from people running around. One of them gets closer to us—the bulky guy who let us in.
“We got a problem, boss,” he says while trying to catch his breath. Blood is splattered all over his uniform. They both storm out of the room, leaving the door open.
I don’t know what’s going on out there. It was full of people who were drunk and drugged a minute ago. It doesn’t sound very chill now. I look at Kathleen. She looks confused.
“Let’s go,” I say. Anything we do is better than staying in this room with no windows and no backup exit.
We leave the room and go to the opposite side of the corridor. There are restrooms and a janitor closet. Somebody runs toward us from the other side of the corridor. He roars as blood trickles from his mouth and hands. I see a woman a few feet behind him. She is neither in good shape. I think this is the couple who were making out in the lounge area.
We keep running the opposite direction and finally find the door for the exit stairs at the end of the corridor. I push it with both hands. It’s locked. Ricas are getting closer. I kick the door near the doorknob, but it doesn’t move. I kick it again. We may be able to open it from the other side. I try to break the small rectangle window to reach the handle on the other side. The window doesn’t even crack. It seems to be military-grade.
I hear Kathleen’s scream.
She tries to push the Rica while finding a way to pierce the shard of glass she is holding into his head. The paper towel tears apart, and the glass cuts her hand. Blood seeps from a thin line of cut on her hand.
“Hold him!” I yell.
Kathleen tries to keep him still. I shove my fork right into his forehead. I try again but this time faster and more targeted. The fork sticks to his right eye, and he roars in pain. Kathleen pushes him with both hands and adjusts her mask as he falls on the woman behind him. The woman loses her balance with his weight.
I take off my t-shirt and use it to hold the piece of glass Kathleen dropped. I jump on the woman before she stands up. She fights back to get up. I push one knee on her chest, locking her on the ground. Kathleen tries to stop her arms from moving. I wait for an opening and then stick the glass right in her temporal. She spreads her eyes open before they are closed forever.
My heart is racing. We pause a moment in our positions to catch our breath. Kathleen gets closer to the dead woman’s face and points to the bite on her neck. I turn to the guy’s body. He has bites on him as well.
“They were… fine… Something turned them to Ricas,” Kathleen says. Her chest keeps moving forward and backward as she tries to get in more air and pump enough blood to catch up with the action.
“They can…turn others now?” I ask. We look at each other. This is the last thing we needed.
Music continues. People are still screaming and running around. We hear several shots. This place is nowhere near the military discipline as it was in the past.
Kathleen stands up to get ready to run back to the other side of the corridor.
“Hold on. Let me check your hand,” I say. It looks like she lost a lot of blood. I use my t-shirt to stop the bleeding. This should buy us some time until we get out of this place.
We go back to the dance floor. A soldier is lying on the floor in a pool of his blood. I can’t find his handgun. I check his pockets. They are all empty. I check the magazine holder on his belt and find a bunch of keys attached to a chain.
Two Ricas are beating and biting somebody on the floor. Another one is punching a woman in the corner. Several people are trying to run away from the Ricas chasing them. I see a soldier hitting a Rica’s head with the back of his rifle.
I hold Kathleen's hands. I don’t want to lose her in this dark room. We run through the dance floor while stumbling upon others. I hear Ricas snarling and grunting around. None of them picks us as a target yet.
We go to the lounge area where it’s lit up better. That’s where I see him.
Toshi.
He is on somebody’s torso. His hands are on the victim’s bloody face. Glancing toward me, he bares his teeth and swings a piece of the victim’s skin from his mouth. Red spots are all over his face.
I freeze. I can’t breathe. I can’t stand. Kathleen grabs my arm and tries to help me keep my balance.
Toshi, or whatever he is now, continues to stare at me. It’s like he wants to say something, but he has no control of his mouth. His eyes look dull, but I can still see my friend’s smiling eyes behind a smoky curtain.
Kathleen takes a step forward and pulls me with her. I push myself to walk, but I can’t take my eyes off him. It’s not because I am afraid of him even though I should be. It’s because I can’t accept the reality of it all.
Toshi keeps watching us as we take another step. Then he turns his head back to the victim and sticks his teeth on their neck. I can’t look at him anymore. I close my eyes and follow Kathleen’s lead to the front door.
As she opens the door, bright sunlight goes through my eyelids. I take a second to wait for my eyes to adjust to the daylight. The fresh air gives me the strength to absorb everything happening at the moment.
I look around. The Humvee is still there.
“Give me the keys,” Kathleen says. I hand the keychain to her. She helps me get to the passenger seat, then gets behind the wheel.
She tries to fit one of the keys in the ignition. It doesn’t fit. She tries another one.
A Rica comes out of the building. He scans the area before seeing us. Another Rica shows up behind him. This is the bald guy who opened the front door. Blood drips from his beard to his belly while he opens his hands and shakes his fingers to prepare for his attack.
“Fast!” I say.
Kathleen tries for the third time. This one gets into the switch. She rotates it. The engine revs up loudly. Both Ricas roar before running toward us, but another one gets in front of them to block their way. It’s Toshi. He extends his arms on both sides with palms facing backward to keep other Ricas behind.
He stares at me like he remembers me. I look at him one more time before Kathleen speeds up backward and turns the Humvee to the gate.
I close my eyes as she accelerates on the road toward the sun going down on the horizon.
Chapter 32
WELCOME TO UTAH
LIFE ELEVATED
After seeing more deaths today, my only wish is life to continue even if it’s not elevated.
We pass by the Utah state border. It’s a straight road surrounded by sparse bushes in brown and yellowish. Mountains on the horizon complete the final touches of the postcard-like view of this deserted area.
Kathleen is still driving. She only slows down when we see stalled vehicles in our way. She gets around the vehicles and speeds back up to 100 mph.
“I always wanted to drive recklessly,” she says and chuckles. The excitement shines in her eyes. She has been looking forward to straight asphalt without any sort of radars to catch her.
<
br /> “Well, with this speed, we’ll be knocking on your grandparents’ apartment by midnight,” I say sarcastically.
She chuckles again. I know that she is trying to distract me from the pain I feel deeply after losing Toshi. I try to stay in the moment and revisit memories later.
“I think we better take a break and continue in the morning though. Getting into downtown at dark would be risky,” I say.
“Totally.” Kathleen checks both sides of the road for a good place to pull the Humvee over. It’s a flat ground all around. There is nowhere to hide. We will have to be in plain sight. At least the truck is light brown. It should blend in with the environment well.
She slows down and goes off-road a few yards into the bushes before stopping the truck. We get on the ground to stretch our legs. It’s a warm summer evening with a clear sky. A light wind whistles through the open land. I wish we were standing here for a photoshoot instead of taking a break during a survival trip.
I wore a dark green military t-shirt I found in the truck. Otherwise, it was going to be hard to make a good first impression on her grandparents at Salt Lake City.
A shower following a warm cup of soup with a side salad and garlic bread would feel a lot better right now. Instead, we sip water from the bottles we took from the compound and eat the last sandwiches in our backpacks.
I can’t forget Toshi’s face. I remember the hate on his bloody eyes mixed with sympathy for his old friends. At least, that’s what I tell myself. I want to think that there is still humanity and kindness of my best friend left in that body.
Maybe that state of the soul is reversible. Somebody may find a drug to bring Ricas back to normal. If it happens, I know where to find him.
We lie down on the ground a few feet away from the truck. I close my eyes to rewind everything that happened today.
“I know, you are thinking about him... Please don’t forget, I am still here for you,” Kathleen says. We didn’t talk about Toshi on the way. I am not sure if I want to open up right now. I have never been good at talking about my emotions. I have avoided situations like these all my life. I decide to do the same. I will sweep my feelings back in my mind and focus on our survival.
I remember the bites on the compound residents who turned to Ricas.
“Do you think he is the only person who could turn others to Ricas?” I ask. There might be something about his DNA that caused the virus in his body to mutate. I haven’t seen or heard any Rica turning others before.
“Could be. I mean… I hope it’s the only case. The virus has been deadly enough.”
“We will find it out once we get to Salt Lake City, I guess,” I say.
I am afraid of going downtown, not only because of the Ricas, but also because of the virus itself. I am not sure how much longer my mask will stay effective, but I can’t talk Kathleen out of this. I know how much she wants to see her grandparents. They are the only ones left in her family.
“Tell me about where your grandparents live? Is it a big apartment complex like the one we lived in?” I ask. I remember our time as neighbors in Charlotte. We have come a long way since we first met. Everything we went through during this trip built a bond between us. I trust her like she is my family.
The last time she visited her grandparents was about two years ago. She told me everything she could remember about the city and their apartment building. It’s not a big city compared to the major metropolitan areas we went through, but there must still be a lot of sick or dead people around.
I wonder if there is some kind of gang or militia controlling the city like Saviors controlled most of the East Coast. If there is one, and if they are as cruel as Saviors, we may need to pass the city to save our own lives. However, if they are like Herington Rebels who are open to making deals, then we can find a way to get to her grandparents.
Another possibility is the Ricas roaming around the entire city. That would be the worst scenario we could run into. We don’t have any kind of firearms to fight with them. Our Humvee can provide some level of safety, but we may still get stuck in the narrow streets if we run into an influx of Ricas.
We start making a plan about how to get to her grandparents’ building. We draw a simple version of the street map of the city with stones and pieces from the meadow.
The building’s central location is not making our job easier, but we can quickly get to the place and take her grandparents with us if the city roads are open.
“Let’s get some rest.” I stand up to go back to the truck. We will find out answers to all of our questions tomorrow.
Chapter 33
We hit the road with the first sign of light in the morning. We will be in the city around noon. If everything goes as planned, we should be able to leave it before it gets dark.
Despite the frightful day we had yesterday, Kathleen seems to be in a good mood. It’s probably because she is very excited to see her grandparents today. She even croons a Justin Timberlake song, “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”
It reminds me of the day we ran away from Saviors and began our cross-country trip. We were overly energetic and hopeful. It felt like a road trip with friends in the summertime. I glance at Kathleen while my hands are on the wheel. She is definitely feeling the same vibes.
She stops singing all of a sudden. She straightens up on her seat and leans forward to see better.
When I turn my head back to the road ahead of us, I see the reason behind her reaction. An elderly man is walking toward us. He is actually trying to walk. His legs are so thin that he looks like he may fall anytime soon even though he is getting support from a walking stick. His long hair and beard signals he has been on the road for a long time.
I slow down the truck and make a complete stop next to him. He is on the driver side of the truck. I can barely see his eyes as his neck is leaned forward so much that he can’t really turn his head anymore. He stops walking to talk to us.
He doesn’t seem to be a threat. I roll down my window.
“Are you okay?” I ask. He doesn’t respond. His eyes are half-open. He doesn’t move a single inch. It’s like he froze right there in that pose.
He might be too weak to say or do anything.
“Do you want some water?” Kathleen asks. We share a look with each other. His chances of surviving alone in this desert are very low. Especially thinking about the Rica compound that he is headed to.
“We are going to Salt Lake City. Would you like to join us?” I ask. I don’t want to leave this man on his own here.
He turns his body toward us a little bit more. He tries to find the energy to say something.
“There is…nothing there,” he says, gulping his spittle. He rolls his eyes down like he remembers some events in the past. He tilts his head back. “Only death,” he adds. The way he says this scares the hell out of me. I can feel the tension in my skin. Whatever he saw there is probably nothing we should look forward to seeing.
“What happened to the city? What did you see?” Kathleen asks.
The man turns his head back to the road. “Leave me alone…” he says before moving his walking stick forward to take another step.
I look at Kathleen. She is still watching him as he walks away slowly. She leans her head forward and rests her chin on her fist. Her cheerful vibe is completely gone. She looks concerned now, but we can’t go back. We have to drive and see the city for ourselves.
I roll up my window and push the gas. This was an unpleasant human interaction, but it was a timely warning. We should be extra cautious. If the worst-case scenario happens, we will get back to the highway to drive West as fast as we can. We can get away from every kind of creature until we run out of gas.
The city skyline appears on the horizon. With the snow-capped mountains surrounding the city in a green perimeter, it would be a good travel destination before the pandemic.
The only few tall buildings we can see from here are undamaged. I don�
�t think this city was bombed or it caught fire. It looks like a pre-outbreak city—at least from distance.
The road gets wider as we get closer to the city. I see more abandoned vehicles on the road, but there are no living beings around.
“It’s time. Ready?” I ask Kathleen after seeing the sign that reads DOWNTOWN.
Kathleen nods. “Ready for everything.” She sounds determined to do everything to get to her grandparents.
I take the exit, but I have to stop the truck right away. The exit ramp is blocked by cars. I can see barriers down the road before the intersection that connects the ramp to the main street of downtown.
We stay in the truck and scan the area. There is no movement in the cars on the ramp. They seem empty. Some of them have broken windows and open doors. I see blood on their hoods surrounded by overgrown grass.
“I will have a better look,” I say. I open the sunroof and pull myself on the roof of the truck. I stand up and use my hand to cover my eyes from the sun.
I can see two police cars behind the barrier. Several bodies are lying around them. I try to see farther on the main street. It looks like a mess with cars crashed against each other, construction signs and cones spread out, and a tramway went off the rail. I can see military vehicles and fire trucks in the jammed street. I get back into the Humvee.
I look at her and shake my head. “It’s not looking good. The city is dead.”
“Anything moving?” She squints to see farther into the main street.
“No… I didn’t see any humans or Ricas… or animals,” I say. We keep scanning the area to make sure nobody is aware of our arrival.
“What do you think?” Kathleen asks. I am hesitant. It looks like a suicide mission, but I can’t just say no to her. I know how much she cares about them.
