Containment (46 page)

Claire was already heading back up the stairs when Jerry yelled, “Stop! Don’t get separated!” She wasn’t waiting though, her legs acting of their own accord.

Neil was already stepping forward with his bat. Putting the likes of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantel to shame, Neil swung the bat with force and purpose. The metallic knell was still echoing as the beast hit the floor, a deep gash opened on its temple. The wound slowly filled with a dark fluid resembling black jelly. With a gurgling growl spilling from its mouth, it tried to rise back to its feet, but Neil was already bringing his second swing down onto the back of its head.

The only sound in the room afterward was Neil’s breathing. From the top of the stairs, Claire called down, “I think I’m ready to go back now.”

“We gotta finish first. Please come back down here. If we separate, we’re easier to pick off,” Jerry answered.

She came back down the stairs slowly, her eyes as wide as saucers as she tread. When she was back on the basement floor she snapped to Jerry, “Zealot!”

The next door in the basement was in the same room but over toward the back of the house. It was likely a bathroom and its door was locked from the inside. Listening to the door, Neil confirmed what he and Jerry both thought. There was something moving around on the other side and, judging by the sounds it was making, it didn’t sound human...well, not anymore.

“Another one,” Jerry said. “That’s two for two.”

Neil nodded. “Yeah, not a good start at all. What if all these houses have the same?”

Claire added, “Or worse?”

“What should we do?” Jerry asked.

Neil said, “Let’s finish up here and then head back. I think we may have bitten off more than we can chew.”

The rest of the house was largely empty. There were some bloodstains on the carpet upstairs and a broken window in a back bedroom through which it looked like someone had either jumped or been pushed. Aside from that, there wasn’t much else of interest. There were some cans of food and some unopened bottles of juice, but most everything else had spoiled or rotted. They journeyed back to their own refuge to take stock of the situation with the rest of the group.

When all was said and done, they didn’t really feel any safer. They were warm, however, and that was enough to have them take a day or two to reconsider their options. That they were going to be on the go again in just a handful of days was very clear to all of them, though. Was there anywhere left where they could go to be safe? Was there any haven left?

“I don’t want to go back to Anchorage!” demanded Emma.

“Not
to
Anchorage,
through
Anchorage,” corrected Jerry.

“You sound like Bill Clinton. To and through are the same damned thing. Either way, I’m not interested. Are you crazy? We just got outta there and now you wanna go back. Huh-uh. Count me out.”

Neil intervened. “We need to discuss our options. Going through Anchorage is one. It may not be the best, but at the moment, it’s the only option on the table. Emma, what do you suggest? Or anyone else for that matter?”

Emma asked, “Why can’t we just stay here?”

Dr. Caldwell answered, “And live on what? There’s not enough food in this house to feed us all for more than another day. And if we dare forage for anything from the Pendergrass’ or the...from all the neighboring houses, how much could we possibly get? Not enough to keep us going for long. The more time that passes, the harder it’s going to be for us to get away. It’s going to get really cold, really fast and moving in that is not going to be fun for any of us. We’ve got to use the time while we have it.”

Emma looked at Dr. Caldwell, who was still disheveled and appeared possibly hung over, and smiled as she said, “Glad to have you back. You doin’ okay?”

“As compared to what?”

“Okay. Do you really think it’s a good idea to leave? This is your house. This is home for you. Don’t you think we can make it here?”

Dr. Caldwell didn’t hesitate before saying, “We’d probably starve or freeze to death here.”

Emma asked, “But south? Why south?”

Claire surprised everyone when she decided to weigh in. “Because we’ve already seen what the north has to offer and goin’ south can’t be any worse. Besides, Denali Park might already be snowed in. It’s cold here. There’s no tellin’ what’s up north.”

Emma retorted, “You sound like Jerry and Neil. They’ve brainwashed you, sister. You need to hang with me and Meghan more. We’ll help you resist their voodoo charms.”

They all smiled at Emma’s comments as well as her flamboyant body language as she said it. Dr. Caldwell even went so far as to wrap an arm around her shoulder and hug her to his side.

Emma remarked, “South, huh?”

Neil asked, “What do you think? Do you want to try heading north and risk running headlong into winter?”

“No, but...damn. Every time we get somewhere that starts to feel comfortable, we just gotta pack up and move out again. I’d just like to find a little place to put my feet up for an extended time. This house just seems like it could be that place.”

She knew that she was continuing to fight a battle that had already been conceded and decided, but she couldn’t help herself. She had an uncle who used to call people who blindly consented to any new perceived government intrusion into personal liberties “sheeple”. He used the word very liberally despite his being a very conservative person. She was pretty certain he burned a candle every year on the anniversary of William F. Buckley’s death. She hoped that their group wasn’t becoming a herd of “sheeple” being led by the whims of Neil. She didn’t think that was the case, but whenever there was no dissenting opinion it kind of felt like that. Maybe her final gasp of protest was in deference to her uncle and his ideals.

Neil said hopefully, “Maybe we could skirt the far eastern side of the city. We wouldn’t even necessarily have to follow the highway and Muldoon Road. We could move along the undeveloped spaces between the mountains and the city.”

“That place is full of moose and moose-hunting bears. Seems like we’re just trading one problem for another with that option,” answered Meghan. “Isn’t there a better alternative?”

Dr. Caldwell hadn’t really been paying close attention to the discussion, but something just hit him with Meghan’s remark. His smile at everyone brought the debate to a halt. He said, still wearing the same smile, “There is an alternative. The Crow Pass Trail. It heads all the way down to Girdwood. Actually, it’s supposed to be walked from Girdwood to Eagle River, but I think we will be permitted to take it the opposite direction this time. We could totally avoid Anchorage and it shouldn’t take us more than a couple of days; three tops.”

Claire asked, “How tough of a hike is it?”

Dr. Caldwell smiled with a little teasing menace. “You afraid you’re not up to the challenge?”

Claire smiled right back and said, “No. I’m in. How about the kids?”

“Val and I always wanted to take Jacob and Laura on the trail but we never got around to it. There’s some serious hiking and maybe some climbing.” He looked at Jules and Danny and asked them, “We could be climbing up pretty high and walking lots. You guys up for that?”

Danny knew the only answer he could give was yes, so he did so with an enthusiastic nod. The hike did interest him and the climbing excited him. Climbing trees was so much fun and the heights, though sometimes seemingly significant, were not in the least bit intimidating. He couldn’t think of anything that would possibly make him not want to take this adventure. There was no denying or ignoring the caution in Dr. Caldwell’s voice, however. He smiled and added a thumbs up to cement his position. He nudged Jules, who followed suit.

“Good. I think we’ve got some work to do. We should have everything we’ll need for the hike here; thermal underwear, extra gloves, and good socks. You can’t put too high a premium on good socks for hiking. We’ve got some rope in the garage too and some bungees. I guess we can get into the gun safe too. Jerry I think there might be an item or two in there that might interest you. Unfortunately, most of what’s in there isn’t going to do us much good.”

Neil looked at him for clarification. Dr. Caldwell explained further. “I’ve got mostly black powder guns and rifles. Kind of a hobby really, but not a whole lot of good to us. There are a couple of nice old hunting rifles with very nice scopes and an old service revolver my dad carried with him in Korea and Vietnam. There are a few boxes of shells too but not much else.”

“What kind of a hobby was it?”

“My father’s. We used to build them—sorry, smith them—together in his shop when I was younger. I learned all the steps in assembling a black powder firearm. It was quite an art. They’re fun to shoot but I was never much of a hunter.”

Jerry said, “Let’s go check it out.”

As a group, they had gotten very adept at preparing themselves to be on the move. Being on the go had just become a simple fact of life, and a proficiency for readying oneself and knowing what was both essential as well as feasible to carry was of the utmost importance to their survival. It probably helped in that regard that the more they traveled, the less there was to carry.

They were going through supplies at an alarming rate and they weren’t even eating that much per person. The doctor was right in his observation about their prospects if they chose to stay. They’d likely starve to death if they remained at his house. However, simply being on the road didn’t necessarily solve the problem of supply. In fact, their being on the run could exacerbate that particular issue just as much as it could be solved. There was no telling what awaited them around the next bend in the road.

Most of the daylight of the next day was spent on the journey to the trailhead. It sat at the Eagle River Nature Center on the farthest reaches of Eagle River Road. Getting to the hike was proving to be a hike in and of itself.

Much of the first leg to the Nature Center was spent at a trot. They were passing through a largely residential area with rows and rows of homogeneous houses, lawns, and streets, an entire neighborhood propagating a sense of deja vu to the hapless passerby. Each of the streets was luckily devoid of movement or threat.

The pavement under their feet was dark and damp but virtually colorless, as were the houses on either side of the road. Like looking at an aged color photograph reproduced in a book, the color that stubbornly persisted was dulled and muted, its vitality having been sapped by the heavy grey sky. No one spoke; no one dared. The only sound any of them heard was the rhythmic staccato beat of their footsteps and the gasping struggle of their collective breathing.

Danny’s voice gave them all a start. “Jerry? Can you—”

“Hear that?” finished Jerry, interrupting him.

“Yes.”

Jerry admitted, “Yeah. I was getting ready to mention—”

Neil said soberly, “Don’t bother. I can see them. Everyone keep running.”

Emma protested, “But we’re running right at them?”

Neil answered, “There’s only a handful. We can take ‘em. Just keep running. We’re faster than they are now. We gotta use that.” He was out of breath and couldn’t continue.

He slung his shotgun on his back and pulled his bat from its sleeve on his backpack, wielding it like a two-handed sword. Jerry did likewise. Dr. Caldwell was well ahead of both of them. In point of fact, he was sprinting ahead of them. He was at full gallop when he passed between the four ghouls. He swung the bat hard and fast, hitting each of them as he passed.

The beasts struck with his first and third swings were down and didn’t show any sign of rising again. The other two, though toppled from their feet, were back up in an instant and starting towards him. Dr. Caldwell, unfortunately, had spent all his momentum in his first swings, and was now facing the wrong direction to fend off their attacks. He tried his best to turn, but he was utterly defenseless for a second or so.

That certainly would have been the good doctor’s end had it not been for the very timely intervention of Neil’s and Jerry’s bats. The undead were now facing away from the two men, so pummeling them with impunity suddenly presented itself just as they arrived. They took full advantage and dispatched the devils. They hit the beasts so hard that the now lifeless carcasses hit the pavement and slid several feet forward, passing Dr. Caldwell as they went.

At first the doctor smiled at his two friends but almost at once he broke down. His grief hit him so forcefully that he fell to his knees, gripping his stomach as he did. “I’m so sorry, Val,” he moaned. “I should have been there. I might have been able...”

Quietly, Neil finished for him, “Died with her? That’s all that would have happened. As it is, you’ve got a chance to get to your kids and protect them with the knowledge that you’ve got now. But that means we have to keep moving, Doc. You’ve got people here that are counting on you, now more than ever. You know where we’re going and how to get us all there. I need your help. Please.”

The doctor swallowed one final sob and felt the dull pain that squeezed his chest and punched his gut. He stood up and turned away from Neil. At the moment, he was near to hating the man and he knew, in some rational part of his brain that was on momentary hiatus, that Neil didn’t deserve such enmity and that it wasn’t real anyway. He paced a few moments, trying to corral the pain and control his breathing.