by Maxey, Phil
Despite wanting nothing more, it wasn’t a concept he was ready to accept. Not yet.
Too easy.
The highway returned to being bordered by rows of green-brown trees under an immense white sky, which icy flakes were falling from.
Tracey was the first to see them. The dots on the horizon, just off the side of the four-lane road which rapidly became figures, jumping, waving.
“Do you see us?” said Sam excitedly.
Landon smiled, his heart pounding. “I do… I see you!”
Sam, Josh, Meg and another person he didn’t recognize were standing to the side of the road, just in front of a grass bank. A small boating pond and other buildings beyond.
Tracey and Arlo pulled up, Landon’s door already open before they fully stopped and he ran forward embracing his children with his one good arm. Tears running from all their eyes. Donnie jumping up and down.
“I can’t believe you found us!” said Josh.
“I wish mom was here,” said Sam.
He didn’t want to let go, but Landon pulled back, taking his pack from his shoulder, placing it on the ground and reaching inside for the small box.
“That, what I think it is?” said Meg.
He flicked the lid open, taking out the small bottles and handed one to each of them. They immediately unscrewed the lids and drank. He looked down at the remaining bottle and sighed. A silence falling upon the small group.
Landon looked up at the stranger then stood, as the others got out.
“I’m Rufus. Rufus Powell,” He held out his hand, walking forward, which Landon shook.
“Landon Keller.” He turned to the others standing near the cars. “That’s Arlo, Joan… Lachlan and Tracey, Brad and—”
“I’m Agatha,” said the young girl with pride.
“I’m Toby.”
“I’m Helen.”
Rufus gave a wave to them. Then looked across the group. “Well, isn’t this something. I’ve got food in the pot, in my diner. Please park your vehicles in the small parking lot out front.” As the others got back in their vehicles, Landon walked to Meg with his hand out.
“Thank—” Before he finished his sentence she hugged him.
*****
1: 37 p.m. Outskirts of Rockston.
The large single wiper of the expensive car, swiped away the snowflakes Jess was driving through.
You killed a man…
“He wasn’t a man!”
The change has made you a murderer…
“It was him or me!”
Slow down, Jess… slow…
The world outside was a nightmare come to life… maybe she was the only one alive. Maybe she needed to keep running… from them… from those things that were hunting her…
Slow down…
The LCD displayed a speed of over a hundred and twenty. A comfortable velocity for the car she was in, but that was in perfect conditions, not the increasingly slick surface she was driving on. But what did it matter?
It wasn’t long after she hit the highway, that she saw the damp on the side of her backpack. It was on the passenger’s seat and it was leaking. After an emergency stop, she frantically opened the bag to see a mass of glass fragments. She may have survived the fall from the school window, but the vaccine hadn’t.
And now she was driving. South? She wasn’t sure. Her journey had been for nothing.
Daryl…
She scoffed between tears. She had given him a fraction of the bottles she had. She did have vaccine for her family for days, but now…
But it’s something… he has enough… Slow down…
“I don’t even know where they are!” she screamed, raising one hand then regretting the decision due to the pain flowing down her arm.
Slow—
“Yeah, yeah!”
She lifted her foot slightly, just enough for the car’s speed to drop and for her to catch a sign for Rockston. As she drove onto the exit, a beep came from her dashboard followed by a recorded voice.
“You are low on fuel. Please go to the nearest gas station.”
She sighed, stopping at an intersection and held up the map, trying to see the area on the page which she had put a ring around, hours earlier. That was where she was going to meet Daryl. Roughly in the center of the small city.
A strange idea came to her. She looked at the glowing LCD screen and tapped it, quickly seeing what she hoped, but thought would never still be working. The sat-nav. She looked between both maps, nodding.
Good, only a minute’s drive away.
She had no idea if this city would be like the others, but she didn’t intend hanging around to find out.
As the computerized voice gave her directions she moved through neighborhoods of wooden homes, sat behind well trimmed gardens. Some houses had open front doors which she avoided studying for too long and quickly made her way to a wider road which ran alongside railway tracks. The snow was laying now across the concrete and she kept her speed steady. She was almost at her destination, entering the edge of the hastily penned circle on the paper map.
She slowed at an intersection then took a right. Larger buildings were just ahead, the heart of the city.
“Come on, Daryl… where are you? You must have got here before me…”
As bars and office buildings slid past, she studied each of their lots for his pickup. Each resulting in a sigh on not seeing it.
She stopped at the corner of another intersection. Gas station with an abandoned car on her right, courthouse ahead, and restaurant to her left. She was directly in the center of where they agreed to meet, but there was no sign of him. She swore under her breath just as the car reminded her of her low fuel situation.
She looked across to the gas station and the layer of white ice now covering everything. It was freshly laid but contained no tracks. That was something. She turned and drove on to the forecourt, stopping near the closest pump. With the engine still humming she looked across the glass door and windows, and then to the right at the car wash area and the darkness which resided in the shadows. The snow was falling in heavier clumps, landing and instantly melting on the windshield.
“No weird sounds… They would have attacked by now if they were here…” She flicked her head to the right at the courthouse. Nothing stirred beyond the windows. “Where are you D—”
Something was scratching at the back of her mind, like the beginnings of a migraine. By now she recognized the warning her brain was trying to give her and she knew she didn’t have long. She popped the door, it swinging upwards as snow fell on her and she climbed out and ran to the pump, pulling it off the stand then frantically fumbled across the rear end to locate the fuel cap. As the liquid flowed she looked at the otherwise picturesque wintry scene and listened into the absolute silence, looking for the slightest indication of what her senses were telling her was on its way, but nothing moved in the surrounding streets or buildings.
I know you’re out there… and I know you know I’m—
The strong smelling fuel overflowed from the fuel nozzle, spilling onto the ground. She quickly put it back but hesitated getting back in.
Daryl, where are you!
There was no time to search for him. The occupants of the city were already aware of her existence within their midst, but she also couldn’t leave. He had the only remaining vaccine and she was standing directly in the center of where they agreed to meet.
You got to have got here before—
A screech rang out a few blocks over, the sound bouncing and echoing off the brick built multistory buildings, which otherwise looked empty.
Had he changed? Maybe the vaccine she saw him take wasn’t enough to stop that from happening.
“Hey lady!”
The shout jolted through her, making her crouch and spin around at the same time, but she couldn’t pin down where the man had shouted from.
“Up here!”
She turned again, looking up at the building to the left of w
here she stopped. On its roof, three stories up someone was waving at her.
“They’re coming! You better get out of here!”
She ran forward into the street, feeling the vibrations through the ground.
“Have you seen anyone else here?” she shouted. “A white pickup?”
“No!” He turned away from her, looking deeper into the city to her right then back down. “If you want to live, get out of here!”
She looked back at her car, its door still open, then to the building ten feet ahead. She ran forward to the entrance then saw what she missed when she drove past. Beyond the glass were boards and furniture. A barricade.
“Around the side!” shouted the man again. She vaguely caught him appearing over the ledge above and followed his gloved hand pointing to her left, running along the sidewalk. As she turned the corner she made the mistake of looking back to the intersection and the road which continued on into the city. Things were coming. Some galloping, knocking into the ones that were too awkwardly constructed to walk properly, while others appeared to slide and scurry.
“Up here! Quick!” A rope dropped down from a second floor window, which she ran to and grabbed in one swift movement, instantly being pulled skyward. The grunts of those above being lost to the roars of the oncoming horde. She held the frame of the window, then gloved hands pulled her inside. A middle-aged man with a baseball cap quickly pulled the rope up, then pulled the window down just as noise filled the streets outside.
“Ain’t seen them this angry for a while,” said a younger man standing in the doorway of the office.
The older man looked at Jess. “I’m Karl, this is Royce.”
Glass shattered somewhere on the ground floor.
“Shit, they’re gonna get inside!” said Royce.
“Calm your horses. Don’t matter if they do, they ain’t getting up here. That stairwell is completely blocked off.” They both looked at her, while the fury continued outside.
“I’m Jess.”
A siren wailed, only lasting a few seconds.
“Reckon that’s the end of your fancy car,” said Royce.
She walked across the room and looked out the window to the gas station, confirming what he said. Something brown with four legs was eating into the sports car, ripping it apart, piece by piece as if looking for something. It spun around in her direction, making her pull back.
Footsteps came from the hallway. “You get her?” said a forty-something woman, appearing in the doorway, equally wearing a cap.
“Hi,” said Jess.
“This here is—”
The woman frowned. “I can talk for myself, Karl.” The woman walked forward with her hand out. “I’m Sheryl. Nice to meet you.”
Jess forced a smile and shook the woman’s hand. “Have none of you seen another vehicle here? Within the last few hours?” She looked across all of them for an answer, but they all shook their heads.
Jess let out a sigh and sat on the edge of a desk.
“You expecting to meet someone here?” said Sheryl.
“Yes. Have you been in this building all day?”
“Just got here” said the younger man.
Karl stood near the window, looking down into the street. He shook his head. “They’re behaving real strange. Ain’t never seen them just stand there like this.”
Jess didn’t want to but she crept forward and peered outside.
“Jessssiiicccaaaa…”
“Whoah!” said the man falling back from the window, then from the woman by his side. Jess was aware of the commotion in the room behind her, but this time she wasn’t running from the nightmare just twenty-feet away. She wanted to face the horror. The things looked up at her. Rows of them, each one abhorrent in its own right.
“What… what… that ain’t natural! That ain’t right!” shouted Royce.
“How’d they know your name!” shouted Karl.
“You mind explaining how those things know how to say your name, young lady?” said Sheryl.
Jess turned to her, searching for an explanation that would make any sense. “I…”
“She’s a witch!” said Royce.
The older woman frowned, glancing at him. “Quit it.”
Jess began to speak again but stopped. A sound, one out of tune with the chorus outside was making itself heard. “Can you hear that?”
“Yeah, we hear the weird shit outside!” said Karl.
Jess looked again out of the window. “No, this is different…” She swung around. “How do I get to the roof?”
Sheryl stepped back into the corridor. “Follow me.”
They moved over the carpeted floor, past dying potted plants and framed prints of cars and far away places to a small room, and a metal runged ladder. As Sheryl climbed, Jess could hear what the others could not. The constant chugging rhythm of a truck’s engine. She quickly ascended into the flurry of a snowstorm and ran towards the wall, closest to where the sound was coming from. She looked across brown-red brick buildings and beige roofs, all losing their color to the icy deluge but couldn’t see the streets.
“Here,” Sheryl offered Jess a small pair of binoculars, which she held to her face and scanned across the city in the direction of the engine sound.
“No ones gonna be stupid enough to come near here,” said Karl.
The sound of the vehicle grew in volume.
“Look’s like they ain’t that smart,” said Royce.
Jess tracked the truck sound, being sure she knew what part of the city it was in, even if she couldn’t see the streets that far off.
“They’re moving off!” said the youngest of them. He was looking over the wall.
Just as Jess looked in the same direction, she caught sight of a white pickup enter the road at the far end of it. It immediately skidded to a stop.
Jess waved her hands then stepped up on the wall and continued, manically trying to catch Daryl’s attention.
The pickup’s driver’s door opened and he got out, waving back.
Grunts and screeches accompanied creatures scampering past below, churning through the already few inches of snow.
“That your friend?” said Sheryl.
“Yes,” replied Jess, while plotting a course to him, but the street was already filled with the things and within a few seconds he was going to be swamped. He ran to the sidewalk, then across it, disappearing into an alcove.
“What’s he doing?” said Royce.
“I don’t… know…” said Jess, watching as the wave of misshapen things charged at him. He suddenly reappeared, ran to the pickup, jumped in and started reversing, driving twenty or so yards, then turned in one motion and drove off. They all watched until they couldn’t see him anymore, and then a few moments later, hear him.
“Well, looks like he’s left you. Can’t say I blame him,” said Karl.
Jess looked at the store front which he ran to. “I have to get down there.”
They all turned to her, shocked.
“If you want to die, then yeah,” said Sheryl.
“I… think he left something for me. I have to get it.”
“Ain’t nobody going anywhere until those things leave,” said Karl. “Usually it’s like an hour before they get bored, but I have to admit, I ain’t never heard them speak, let alone say someone’s name before…”
“It’s black magic,” said Royce.
“I said, quit it!”
Jess looked at the street filled with the creatures, most of which were turning around, staggering back towards the building she was in.
Sheryl walked closer to her. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but going down there is suicide. Nothing he left inside that store is worth...”
Jess took several steps back then rotated her arm. Her shoulder wasn’t throbbing as it had been. She knew that had something to do with her change.
“What are you—”
She sprinted forward, jumping up on the wall then leaping off. She had calculated
with enough momentum she could make the next roof, but somewhere halfway across she started to regret that decision and slammed into the edge of the roof, falling instantly, but threw her good arm upwards, her fingers catching the top of the wall. As they began to lose grip on the icy surface, she forced the use of her other hand, and heaved herself up and climbed down onto the snow covered surface. She didn’t bother looking back at the others, she had no doubt they were in shock, but that was a conversation for later. Right now she needed to get to what she hoped Daryl left.
Angry groans came from the street, now only two-stories below. She jogged across the roof and peered over. A scarred, scale-covered head immediately flicked up at her, its angular jaw opening, revealing rotting teeth. It snarled, bringing her to the attention of other things. At this height the stench just twenty-feet away couldn’t be ignored.
She could see the store Daryl stopped in front of clearly, but there was nothing languishing in the door well.
There has to be something there…
To her left was just open space of another intersection. The building on the opposite corner too far for even her to jump to. She was going to have to go down to ground level. A hundred feet behind her they watched not understanding how she jumped the distance she had, or why she was risking everything. Sheryl was beginning to think that maybe Royce was right.
Jess watched more and more of the creatures realize where she was. A particularly ugly thing with multiple legs which belonged on an arachnid, started scuttling towards her building. Its horned appendages dragging its bulk through the snow, nudging a sedan to one side as it passed.
She plotted her route to the storefront.
If I’m doing this, I have to—
Gunshots rang out from behind her. She spun around. Karl and Sheryl had rifles. Bullets pinged off the sidewalk below, making the creatures’ roar in their attacker’s direction.
Jess climbed over the wall and dropped to the ground, sending a shooting pain through her shoulder. She surged forward, weaving around an abandoned police cruiser noticing movement out of the corner of her eyes. She was vaguely aware that the shooting had stopped. Maybe they had run out of ammo. The store was only a few feet away. She sprinted across—
