And so we keep going like this for what seems like hours, although I’m sure it has only been thirty minutes or so. Suddenly, I think I see a dark, large shadow underneath me, and my heart beats even harder. So hard, it starts to hurt because all I can think about is Jaws.
What if this is a shark? Should I warn the others? How? I don’t remember us learning a signal for shark. And even if we did, what would we do? I think even Blake and Colin, with their ninja skills, would be useless against a shark, so I keep swimming and hoping the shadow wasn’t what I think it is. And if it is, to please let it leave us alone.
Finally, there is another tug on the rope, and we slowly begin our ascent. It’s almost light when I break through the water, but then I realize it’s still night, and the light is coming from thousands upon thousands of burning buildings. Thankfully, the little breeze blows inland, so the dark smoke I see isn't coming our way.
A slight tug on the back of my oxygen tank reminds me I’m supposed to turn the air supply off for the person in front of me like Blake is doing to mine right now. I swim up to Jason, treading water, waiting for me, and do the same for him.
I can still see the jets and helicopters in the air in and around the city, but thankfully they stopped their constant fire at the now deserted beach. Every now and then, the loud boom of a missile or bomb reaches us, but they stopped sending them nonstop. Once more, I think about the millions of people inside the cities. Are they all dead?
“Angie?” I ask.
“She’s fine. Sleeping.” Jose informs me with a nervous laugh in his voice. I know he was more worried than me, the mother hen.
Chapter 10
“Let’s get going. We still have ways to go, and we need to get there before the sun comes up,” Colin orders.
I stare at him, dumbfounded. Is he really expecting us to swim all night?
After another four hours or so, my entire body screams in pain, but we finally turn back inland. The fires are way back to our right as we keep moving diagonally towards the shore. I’m hopeful that we left the roadblocks on the other side before remembering that Colin probably knows what he is doing, and for the first time, I’m thankful for his presence.
Finally, we reach the shore. I let the waves take me to the sand; my legs give out from under me the second I try to walk to the beach. Strong hands grab hold of me underneath my armpits and knees. I’m way too tired to protest Colin as he carries me away from the beach towards the highway.
A small wall separates the beach from the street where Colin sets me down, with my back against it. Everybody else follows suit. The boys are in much better physical shape than I’m, but they too seem to be walking on wobbly, spaghetti legs. Accept Blake and Colin, that is. Although Blake looks a little unsteady.
Somehow, I thought we would resurface in the middle of a forest or something equally desolate and deserted. Instead, there is a highway up ahead of us and behind that, something akin to a mobile home park.
Strangely, everything seems normal around us. To the east, I can see the faint glow of flames, and if I squint, I can make out something moving fast through the air, but that’s it.
Cars drive east and west on the freeway. Some mobile homes have their lights on, and I realize it must be three or four o’clock in the morning by now. It’s hard to tell without my phone, but I don’t have the energy to dig it out of my waterproof pouch just yet. What’s even stranger is that it has only been like fifteen hours since everything began. It seems longer. A lifetime longer. It seems everything that has happened should fit into a year, a week at the very minimum, not a day.
“How are you holding up?” Colin asks, uncharacteristically civil, offering a water bottle.
I look at him questioningly. I can’t imagine he swam the entire way, carrying water bottles. He points at a long building behind us.
“Vending machine,” he says by way of explanation.
I give him another questioning look because I can’t imagine him carrying a bunch of quarters either.
He smirks. “Got to know-how. Military secret.”
I shrug my shoulders. I don’t care where or how he got it. All I care about is how good the water feels going down my throat.
“Thank you,” I manage.
“Ah, she can be civil,” He laughs. “I would have given you water sooner if I had thought it would make you nicer.”
Aaaand, we are back to squabbling.
“Whatever,” I mumble. I’m way too tired to spar with him right now or come up with a witty retort and way too tired even to care.
He looks at me worriedly. “Are you okay?”
I nod, just before a fat tear slides down my cheek.
“Hey, it’s okay.” He sits down next to me and pulls me into his arms. There is nothing left inside of me to fight him; I let myself go and cling to him while sobs run through my body. He doesn’t say anything; he just holds me for several minutes until somebody clears his throat. It’s Blake, holding up his phone.
“Dad says he’s only about thirty minutes away.”
I push Colin away from me and give him an embarrassed smile. I’m not that girl. I don’t break down like this. Well, at least I didn’t use to. This is what, the fourth, fifth time in fifteen hours? Way to go, Viv. I promise myself this was my last little meltdown. I’m stronger than this.
“Better?” Colin asks.
I nod; I still can’t face him.
He pats me on the shoulder and gets up. He reaches for the large waterproof bag he carried all the way. He opens it and hands out our guns. Greedily, I snatch my Glock.
I feel better having it back. I wiggle the top of my wetsuit off me and put the gun back into the waistband of my leggings.
“Okay, we’ll stay here and rest until my dad gets here.” Colin decides.
“Will he have enough room for all of us?” Ace asks.
I do a quick headcount, to doublecheck, and come up with thirteen of us. Even if Martin -Colin’s and Blake’s dad arrives in a large SUV or minivan, we still won’t fit.
“I don’t think so,” I say thoughtfully. “We should probably go see if we can find something bigger while we wait.”
“We?” Colin lifts an eyebrow questioningly and tilts his head meaningfully at my legs, which were so wobbly a few minutes ago that he had to carry me.
To prove that I can, I stand up with a sigh. They are still a little unsteady, but at this point, I think I could use some exercise to work the kinks out and get them going again.
“Well, let’s go then,” Blake says with a smile. “Who’s coming?”
Cory, Jason, Ace, and Ryan decide to go with Colin, Blake, and me, while the others opt to stay and keep vigil over our few belongings.
While Colin and Blake check over the guns, I pull out my phone. I should text my mom to let her know I’m okay. I feel bad that I haven’t thought about it earlier, but with everything going on, there just hadn’t seemed to be a proper moment.
On second thought, it’s probably better to call her, I think. I press my speed dial number for her and listen to it ring. And ring. My forehead creases; I know my mom; she would have answered on the first ring. The call goes to voicemail. I tab furiously on my screen until I have my text message app open. The last messages are from earlier yesterday when the boys bullied me into hanging up.
MOM: Waiting for your sister. Martin will get you.
And a few hours later:
MOM: Lexy was delayed; I guess there was some rain. Stay safe, sweetie. I love you.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and it’s like somebody sucker punched me in the stomach. I know. I just know. Although with all my being, I hope I’m wrong.
“What is it?” Colin asks me, concerned.
“Can you call your dad and ask him if he has heard from my mom?” Everything inside me recoils at my request, but I need to make sure she is okay, even if I have to ask Martin about my mother.
Colin frowns but does as I ask. A few seconds later, he l
ooks at me funny. “He says he hasn’t heard from her since last night. What’s going on?”
“Probably nothing,” I say evasively, but then I add. “I can’t get a hold of her, and in her last text, she said she was waiting for Lexy and that Lexy was delayed by rain.”
With growing unease, I watch the boys pale at my words.
“It might be nothing,” Ryan tries.
“Where was Lexy at?” Blake, more practical, wants to know.
“At her college, in Eugene. I guess she was coming home because of what was happening in Los Angeles.”
“I heard something about rain in Eugene. Hold on,” Jose says and taps furiously on his screen. “Yeah, I guess they had some rain around noon yesterday.”
“Your mom knows about the rain, right?” Blake asks.
My body starts to shake, and nausea rises in my stomach if I had only looked at her text again yesterday before they shamed me into stopping.
Colin puts an arm around me. “We don’t know anything yet. Her phone could be dead; she could be sleeping, it could be an entirely different kind of rain.”
But the expression on his face belies his words, tells me that he isn’t convinced by his words either, but I give him points for trying. I need to occupy my mind before I start obsessing about this and go crazy.
“Let’s go find another vehicle,” I say with more enthusiasm than I feel and walk up the small embankment.
I don’t wait for the others; I know they are following me. We get up to the highway and watch the cars zip by, going to work, I guess, taking the kids to school. All seems so normal. Don’t they watch the news? Don’t they know what happened only a few miles away? Didn’t they hear the bombs fall last night; I wonder.
But then I notice how most cars are going west, and a lot of them have luggage strapped to their roofs. They aren't going to work or school; they’re leaving. Somehow this realization makes me feel better and worse at the same time.
Ryan points at something on the other side of the highway; I turn my gaze away from the cars to see what he’s pointing at; houses line the other side, mostly mobile homes. My eyes land on a large RV. I grin. That would be awesome! I toy with the thought for a minute, but then realization kicks in.
“Guys, we can’t just steal that. We are not in L.A. anymore; this isn’t a warzone.”
Colin ignores me. “Let’s go check it out.”
We sprint across the highway and get a few honks, but nobody pays us any more attention. Drawing closer, I make out the lettering on the RV. Mobile Vet Rescue Service. I look at the building it’s parked in front of –a vet clinic.
“Guys, we really can’t take that. My aunt has one of those. She rides around the country if there is a disaster anywhere and rescues animals.”
Jason asks, “Like after earthquakes and floods and stuff?”
Ryan smirks at me. “Well, maybe it can rescue us!”
I nod. “Yes, everybody is always out there rescuing people, but animals, pets, they need help too.”
Colin and Blake ignore me completely and check the door on the RV, but it’s locked.
“Let’s try the office,” Blake suggests, and Colin nods.
I follow them just so that I can stop them before they do something illegal, I tell myself. The vet who owns the place most likely lives here as well. Colin tries the door, and when that is locked too, he shrugs and rings the doorbell.
I wonder if he’ll just ask the vet for the RV once he or she opens the door. Whatever his plan, nothing happens, not even after the second and third ring. So, to my horror, he just kicks in the door unceremoniously.
“Colin,” I yell and run up to him. “You can’t just--”
I don’t get to finish my sentence; something hisses and jumps at me. Colin raises his arm to push me aside, and the person who hissed latches onto his arm. Like me and most of the others, Colin has removed the wetsuit from his upper body, and a short-sleeve shirt exposes his arms.
He yelps out in surprise and pain, but his training kicks in. His right arm moves forward, and he pushes the man’s head -which is still biting into his left arm, against the doorframe. It’s a powerful shove, and the man not only let’s go but goes down hard.
“Shit, man. That was one of those zombies,” Jason shrieks.
Blake bends over and feels the man’s pulse. “He’s still alive.”
For a frightening second, I have a vision of my friends stabbing the unconscious man in the head like they do in the zombie movies and ready myself to intervene, but Colin turns to Blake.
“Let’s see if it’s safe in there or if there are more of them. And we need to find some rope or something to tie this guy up.”
“Wait,” I interject and reach for his arm. The wound is not exactly pouring blood, but bleeding nevertheless from where his skin is ripped and torn from the bite.
He shrugs me off. “It’ll have to wait.”
Colin and Blake pull out their guns, ready to check the inside of the house. Before they do, they turn towards Cory, Jason, Ace, and Ryan.
“Watch this guy.” Colin points at the still unconscious man.
“What do you want us to do if he wakes?” Ace asks, with apprehension in his voice.
“Hit him over the head again.” Blake shrugs.
Since they left me out of their plans, I pull out my gun and copy their movements, following the brothers inside the house.
The first room is a large waiting area with a reception desk. A big fish tank dominates the right wall, while the left is filled with chairs. Hundreds of Thank You cards decorate the wall behind it. I smile; this office reminds me of my aunt’s.
Colin positions himself behind Blake, gun held pointed at the floor, while Blake readies himself to open the door -leading into the hallway with the examination rooms. Before he can open it, a hissing sound reaches my ears.
“Wait.” I whisper-scream.
They stop and look at me, questioning. I point at the large reception desk, which is the height of a small bar counter. Behind it is another open door. If this office is like my aunt’s, that door will also lead towards the examination rooms. I point at it.
“Listen.”
The hissing noise comes again, and now the guys hear it too.
“Okay, be prepared.” Colin nudges Blake, who nods.
They count silently to three, and I train my gun as well at the door, waiting for Blake to pull it open. The second he pulls it open, a woman emerges screaming and hissing. She tries to push herself against Blake, but with one well-aimed kick, he catapults her against the wall.
Another hissing sound comes, and a second man jumps out, going straight for Colin, who was about to step into the hallway. Colin pulls his uninjured arm back and decks the man, but this one isn’t subdued as easily as the other two were.
He is larger, probably close to six feet, with a wide frame. He turns and comes again at Colin, who is ready for him. But at the same time, Blake decides to impress his bigger brother and kicks out at the attacker.
Both Colin and Blake are busy with the big dude and are not paying attention to the woman, who slowly gets up. With a loud hiss and her mouth open wide, she is about to throw herself against Blake’s back. I’m worried she is going to bite his neck. I saw the damage the man did to Colin’s arm, and if this woman gets to Blake’s throat, there is a good chance he’ll bleed out. I don’t have a choice; even if I scream and warn Blake, there is not enough time to react. He is holding the attacking man back while Colin is getting a hold of his arms. I lift my gun and pray it didn’t get wet. My shot is true, and I hit the woman square in the chest. The impact catapults her against the fish tank, which is big and heavy enough not to tip over. One look confirms this time she won’t get back up.
The explosion is so loud inside the small room; my ears ring from the loud bang.
“Check around for some rope Viv,” Colin yells at me.
I guess we are assuming there aren’t any more of the infected or crazy people
or whatever we want to call them in here if they order me to search for stuff. I guess, if there were, they would have been attracted by all the ruckus anyway. With my heart hammering away in my throat, threatening to choke me, I hold my gun ready while I carefully open the door to the first examination room.
The room is empty. I search the drawers until I find one filled with leashes and collars. I grab a few of them and run back to where Colin and Blake are. Both are having a hard time keeping the attacking man down. The guy tries to scratch and bite like a rabid animal at them, but they manage to stay away from his hands and jaws.
“Hey, guys!” I hear Ryan yell from outside.
I turn one of the leashes into a loop, and with trembling hands, wind it around the man’s wrists; Colin is holding out to me like an offering. The man’s hissing and growling get louder and more agitated.
“Guys!” Ryan calls again.
“Let’s put him in one of the rooms,” Colin tells Blake. “Go see what the boys want,” he orders me.
I glare at him, that tells him he can’t order me around like this, but in the interest of the group, I’m obliging him without further discussion. Part of me wants acknowledgment for shooting the woman and saving Blake’s life, but another part of me is appalled by my own thoughts. I shot somebody. Again. I will have to deal with that later. First, I need to find out what Ryan and the others want.
When I reach them, I notice how all four of them stare at the sky. The man is still unconscious by the doorway. My eyes go up, and my blood runs cold. The sky is filled with clouds. I have never seen this kind of clouds before; they don’t even appear to be terrestrial. A metallic green tinge dances inside, making them shimmer iridescent, almost as if they have a life of their own. They sway like flowers in the wind, like oil on water.
“Call the others and get them up here. Quick!” I order breathlessly.
I want to stay and stare at the unnatural, frightening beauty of the sky, but it’s time to check on Colin; his wounds need to be dressed.
The Rain | Part 1 | The Beginning Page 10
