He inched forward.
Another wave break. Water rushed past his head. It filled his mouth and nose and found its way into his stomach. His body rejected it at once. Long strands of saliva stretched from his mouth and nose to the sand.
Turk forced himself to his knees and crawled forward.
Get to the other side of the beach.
He aimed for the dunes. He could crawl behind one and find a patch of overgrown grass and fall asleep there. Just for the afternoon. Maybe the night.
Close. Push forward. Almost there.
But he failed to recognize the hum until it was on top of him. And then it was too late to react.
The engine choked and sputtered a few times before falling silent. Plumes of sand kicked up. The last few clouds fell and coated Turk’s back and neck.
“What’ve we got here?” A man. Deep country accent. “A survivor? Washed up from sea?”
Turk collapsed his right arm so he fell onto his side, facing the guy. Black boots. Cargo shorts. A faded t-shirt. The clouds had parted and the sun shone behind the guy’s head, creating a wash of bright light around his face, leaving it indiscernible.
“Gotta tell you, fella,” the guy said. “Of all the beaches to wash up on—” he yanked back on his rifle’s bolt and shoved it into place,
thunk-thunk,
“—you picked the wrong one.”
Chapter 10
Sean slowed the ATV to a stop and cut the engine. He continued to feel vibrations for a few seconds even though the rumble had gone. The ringing in his ears gave way to the harmony of birds singing and wind rustling the leaves combined with the ticking engine and Barbara’s labored breathing.
The GPS indicated they were in North Carolina, about five miles north of I-40. Greensboro was ten miles to the west. Durham ten to the east. They’d traveled about forty miles without stopping since Sean took over driving.
He’d spent a good portion of the drive looking over his shoulder for one of the pickup trucks. Irrational, he knew, since they often went off road in between stretches on backcountry roads.
Addison and Emma sat up front, with his daughter wedged between. Jenny was in back with Marley and Barbara. They had stopped the bleeding, but the woman remained in serious condition. Shock had set in. She’d turned pale and had become unresponsive. Time might help, but they didn’t have the luxury of waiting around for her to snap out of it.
They had made a dent in their journey. But it was far from over. The section of the trip Sean worried about most drew near. Nearby was one of the more densely populated areas of North Carolina. Even if he kept them out of the urban areas, there were multiple major highways to cross as they meandered through suburbia. It could take hours to scout a deserted stretch for them to cross.
Barbara moaned, which elicited a series of whimpers from Marley.
“Dad,” Emma said. “What are we going to do about her?”
A former PJ, Sean knew what to do to help her. It’d been eight years, but you didn’t just forget how to do the job. He needed supplies. Sure, they could scavenge every place they came across, risk running into a surprise each time. Or they could skate along the southern edge of the Research Triangle until they located a hospital. He could find a secure place for the others to wait while he set off on foot.
“Dad?”
“Sorry, Em,” he said. “Thinking is all.” He glanced over his shoulder, watched Barbara for a moment, then met his daughter’s stare. “I can help her, but I need medical supplies.”
“There’s a first aid kit in—”
Sean cut her off with a wave. “I need more than what’s in there. I need to extract the bullet and check for infection. If one has set in, she needs antibiotics and we’ll need a stack of fresh dressings. I can stitch her after the infection clears.”
Emma’s eyes swelled with brine. “She’s gonna die, isn’t she?”
He felt three sets of eyes on him. Four, if he counted Marley.
“I’m going to do everything I can to help her.” He adjusted the GPS so that everyone could see. He pointed to Chapel Hill. “You see that area? We’re going to find a hospital near there and get what we need. And if not there, we’ll find it near Raleigh.”
Sean didn’t feel that it was an appropriate time to mention leaving the women behind. No point in fighting the objections twice.
The women voiced no objections, and after a few minutes, Addison, Jenny and Emma walked Marley into the woods.
Sean climbed into the backseat. Barbara was hot, her skin coated in a layer of sweat. He peeked at the wound and grimaced at what he saw. The bullet had damaged the muscle and her upper humerus. A surgeon could repair it in a few hours. Which meant under these circumstances, Barbara would never enjoy full use of her arm again.
If she survived the blood loss and possible infection.
Sean reached into the rear storage compartment and grabbed the white case with a red cross stenciled on it. Inside were basic first aid items, none of which was of use to him. He fished through the container until he found a thermometer. It slid between Barbara’s lips with no resistance. Sean waited a minute before extracting it. The thermometer registered a temperature over one hundred and four.
“Shit,” he muttered. The pack didn’t contain anything to help fight fever. Where the hell did they get it, a toy store? He leaned in close. “Hang in there, Barb.”
Do I mean that? Really, do I?
The woman was a hindrance. Even when healthy. But deep down, he didn’t wish for her death. Get rid of her? Yes. But only if that meant placing her with someone competent enough to help Barbara find her place within a group of survivors.
Sean paced around the ATV, stopping to stare off into the woods, until Emma and the women returned with the dog. Marley ran up to Sean, waited for a pat on the head, then hopped into the backseat where he resumed watch next to Barbara.
“Ready?” Sean said with a clap of his hands. He wasn’t keen on staying in one spot for too long. The ATV had alerted anyone within earshot of their presence. And not only anyone—
anything
.
“Can I talk with you for a minute?” Addison asked, stepping away from the ATV.
Sean took note of the nervous look on her face and the way she retreated. He nodded, pointing to a spot away from the group. The M4 strapped around his shoulder tapped his back every couple steps, reassuring him it was there, ready for duty.
What was the younger woman concerned about that she had to speak with him away from the group? Had Emma said something? Revealed something? Was Addison worried one of them was sick?
He turned to her, ready to speak, but was taken aback by the tears in her eyes.
Then fear set in. “Are you sick?”
Her lips parted and her head inched backward as though he’d slapped her. The verbal blow appeared to have taken her breath away.
“Sorry, I just…”
“No,” she said. “It’s okay. I understand. It’s always running through my head, too. What if one of us has it? What if we meet someone who needs help, but looks sick?”
Sean nodded. The thoughts were always in the back of his mind. “Anyway, what is it you wanted to talk about?”
“My grandparents.”
Sean said nothing and waited for her to continue.
“I…they aren’t far from here. By car, it would be a couple hours. I figure we could do it in six or seven with no stops.”
He glanced over at the ATV. There was only so much fuel available. Once it was gone, they had to risk their lives in order to find more by approaching gas stations and abandoned cars.
“They have a big farm, Sean. Lots of acreage. I mean, in the thousands. Hundreds of head of cattle. Chickens, goats, sheep. A massive garden that they live off of. In fact, they always produce so much, they donate it to homeless shelters in Charlotte.”
The swelling of hope that had filled him of having a safe place to leave Barbara and the women deflated at the naming of the western Carolina city.
“Charlotte?” he said.
She nodded, a smile on her face. “They’re a good forty-five minutes from the city in the middle of nowhere.” She added, “To the west. I figure fewer people are going to be traveling through there since it’s so rural.”
“Addison.” His voice trailed off to a whisper. “We don’t have the fuel to get there and then to Charleston.”
“They have fuel. My grandfather gets it delivered for their tractors and harvesters and whatnot. I know he wouldn’t have any trouble giving you enough to complete your journey. Or—,” she looked down while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “you guys could stay. Help run the place. It’s safe there. I know it is.”
She’d built her own vision of utopia. The reality of the world around her couldn’t penetrate the protective bubble surrounding the farm. He imagined Addison had spent a lot of time there as a child, and possibly in her teens. He had to help her face reality.
“And what if they’re dead?”
She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped after drawing in a sharp breath.
“What if the farm’s overrun? The gas looted? The cattle, goats, sheep, and chickens slaughtered? And what if it wasn’t only survivors that did it?”
The swell in her eyes returned, this time cresting past her lower eyelids.
“Look around at what we’ve seen. The scene you escaped from, both in town and at that camp. If your grandparents had a good thing going, chances are someone else knew about it. And even if those people didn’t make it, someone did. And we have to accept the realization that it could have been a group of afflicted that turned up.”
“No,” she said softly. “That didn’t happen.”
“Knowing what we know about the state of the country, chances are it did happen. We’re the outliers here, Addie. If you survived, then most likely your family didn’t.”
“I have to find out. Please, take me there so I can know for sure.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently squeezed. “If we go, and things are as I expect them to be, we’ll never make it to Charleston in the ATV. We won’t get far walking. The longer we’re in an area, the greater the chance those things find us. Once they do, we won’t get away from them on foot.”
Tears rolled off her cheeks. She refused to make eye contact.
Sean said, “Look, I can’t stop you if you decide to go. I’ll give you some gear and that’ll be it. But I think it’s a better idea for us to stick together and complete this journey. Once we reach Charleston, we should be able to refuel the ATV and restock and prepare for another trip. We’ll see about getting you to their farm then.”
“Promise?”
Sean knew a promise in this new world meant nothing. They could all die in an hour, ripped apart by a pack of frenzied afflicted. Back-stabbed and betrayed by their fellow man. He nodded anyway. Her eyes flitted left and right. He embraced the woman, pulling her body tight to his.
“Come on,” he said. They walked to the ATV and both climbed in the front seat. “Why don’t you show me on the GPS where they live? That way I can start thinking about the best way to get there from Charleston.”
He waited while she traced the highway and country roads, then he marked the location, both on the GPS and mentally.
“Now to find a hospital.”
Chapter 11
The square room smelled like left-sock soup. There were enough windows to fill the space with natural light. Phil figured they kept those windows shut to keep the smell in, ‘cause whatever was in those bowls set on every table smelled enough like death that the afflicted would swarm once they caught wind of the aroma.
Phil studied the dozen or so faces staring back at him. He failed to recognize any of them. The guy who’d met them at the gate, Robert he’d said, led them to the center of the compound. Phil was impressed with how well they’d fortified the place in the months since he’d last visited. It might manage to withstand an attack from a small group of those afflicted.
Maybe not from a damn horde of them like his camp had faced earlier that morning.
Ralph tapped nervously on the mission style table. His head jerked left to right, making his distrust a tad too obvious. Phil nudged his friend with his knee a couple times then gestured for him to settle down. He knew Ralph had cause to worry. His wife and kid were supposed to be here, and as of yet, they hadn’t appeared.
“Give it time,” Phil whispered.
He heard Derrick groan from the other room. When they’d entered the house, a plain looking woman who kept her silver hair in a loose bun rose and met them a couple feet from the door. She inspected Derrick’s arm and without so much as a word of explanation led him through the maze of tables to an adjoining room. The door was cracked and Phil saw her standing next to his son one moment, then out of view the next. Every time she returned Derrick made some kind of noise. Most of them indicating pain.
Several minutes went by with no updates. Phil kept his mind occupied by counting the seconds between the beads of sweat that slid down his nose and plunged to the table. He couldn’t help but think of how much time they were wasting. How much further away Sean Ryder traveled every minute they sat idle.
But Ralph needed to see his family.