In the Lone and Level Sands (48 page)

She closed the bathroom door and set the
flashlight on the counter. She used the somewhat aimless light to
position herself on the toilet. The seat also felt cold.

When Carah opened the bathroom door, Richard
almost crashed into her. A bolt of lightning lit the hallway enough
for Carah to see the horror in his eyes. She pointed the flashlight
toward his face so she could read his lips. Everyone else rushed
past Richard.

“
Carah, there was a crash, sounded
big!
”

Before Carah had time to react, Richard took
her by the hand and led her toward the front room. When they got
there, there was a lot of screaming and crying, all of this silent
to Carah, but even in the dim light she saw enough to
understand.

****

“Ruth!” Al said. “Oh my God!”

He stood a few inches away from her. She was
lying on a couch opposite a gaping hole in the front wall of the
house. There were shards of glass embedded in her face, and a trail
of blood crossed the floor of the room, leading up to her.

Lying on the floor in front of the couch was
the tree, surrounded by leaves, twigs, and shards of glass. Rubble
that used to be the wall lay on the floor near the new opening in
the house, and rain came pouring in.

Al knelt down on the scratched and wet floor
near the couch. He hugged her gently. Her bloodied face pressed
into his shoulder. Ruth didn’t say much; she just trembled from
shock. Her eyes were wide. Al wept.

“Ruthie?”

Ruth looked up at Al, trying to breathe. She
coughed up blood.

“No, Ruthie. No, don’t leave me. You’re
going to be okay! Don’t do this to me!”

Ben and Charlotte were a few feet away.
Charlotte was in Ben’s arms, but she turned to look at her parents.
Al turned and met Charlotte’s gaze. He looked angry, but Charlotte
knew he wasn’t angry at her. Al looked back at Ruth.

“I—”

Ruth was unable to get more than that out.
She looked up at Al and smiled, sighed, and then she was still. Her
eyes stared up at Al, and his squeezed shut as a sob rose from his
throat.

“I’m so sorry, Al,” Fred said.

Charlotte broke from Ben and turned to her
father.

“Oh no,” Sara said.

“I can’t believe it… This isn’t happening,”
Charlotte said. She went to her knees by Al and reached out to hug
him. Al hugged his daughter back.

Angus cried, his head cocked toward the hole
in the wall.

“Quiet, boy,” Fred said. He looked out
through the hole and saw shapes moving in the downfall. Had he
imagined it? He looked closer, more intently, and when lightning
flashed, he knew for sure. There were zombies heading toward the
house.

“I know this isn’t a good time, but we’ve
got company! They must’ve heard the tree fall!”

Al didn’t respond, but Fred understood. He
grimaced and cocked his gun. Most of the others backed away from
the opening.

“We need to block this hole somehow!”
Richard said.

“How many are out there?” Sara asked.

“I don’t know,” Fred replied. “A good
number, as far as I can tell.”

A zombie approached the gaping hole. Fred
fired the gun. Thunder exploded in the sky at nearly the exact
time, and both sounds melded into one. Lightning lit up the world,
revealing the splatter of brains and bits of skull and skin flying
backward. The thud of the body was not heard through the rain. Fred
shot another zombie as it got close. He reloaded his gun and fired
at another zombie, and a fourth a few seconds later. Fred reloaded,
looking for more dark, moving shapes.

“Does anyone see any more?” Fred asked.

“No, none,” Ben said. “Richard’s right,
though. We gotta block this hole off.”

Al got up, grabbed a blanket that had been
draped over the back of the couch, and placed it over Ruth’s body.
A few more tears ran down his face, and he sat back down on the
floor. The others were silent, and then the rain began to die.

“What can we use to do it?” Sara said.

“Anything and everything,” Fred said.
“Tables, chairs, couches. Hell, we ought to just leave.”

“If she had been anywhere else…” Al
said.

“She couldn’t have known,” Ben said. “You
couldn’t have, either.”

“I should have had her move away from that
damn window. I know what these damn storms can do.”

“Dad, please don’t blame yourself,”
Charlotte said. “Things like this just happen.”

“I didn’t get to say goodbye. It was so
sudden.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t go anywhere, Charlotte! You stay by
my side! I can’t afford to lose you, too!”

“I won’t Dad,” Charlotte said. “I
won’t.”

****

“We can’t stay here any longer than this
rain lasts,” Fred said. “We’re still exposed.”

After gathering furniture from the house and
placing it in front of the hole, everyone had regrouped in the
living room. Flames danced in the fireplace. Angus was sprawled out
on his bed, enjoying the heat. The rain had relaxed to a light
shower.

“We’ll be fine until morning, I think,” Ben
said. “If we’re quiet, we shouldn’t attract any of them.”

“I agree,” Richard said. “As soon as the sun
comes up, we should split.”

“When the rain stops, I’m going to give Ruth
a proper burial,” Al said. “Then we can leave.”

“Whatever you want, Al,” Fred said.

“We should do it in the back yard, Dad,”
Charlotte said.

“Of course,” Al replied.

“So, first thing in the morning, we’ll pay
our respects,” Fred said. “And then we’ll head out. That sounds
good.”

****

Everyone woke up early. The rain had long
subsided, and the seven of them headed out to the back yard. Al led
the group, carrying Ruth’s covered body in his arms. He’d cleaned
her of the blood and leaves hours before; he wanted her to be
pristine, the way he’d always seen her.

Their feet squished in the wet grass until
they got to the place where Al wanted to bury Ruth.

“This is the spot,” he said. He looked at
his daughter. “Charlotte, you remember how much she loved her
garden, don’t you? She’ll like this spot, won’t she?”

Charlotte nodded. “This is perfect.”

Richard set a sheet down for Ruth’s body to
rest on, then Al and Ben began to dig. The ground was soft and easy
because of the rain, but it was messy, and they found themselves
slipping from time to time.

After almost an hour, they had dug a hole
Ruth could fit inside. Al bent down and lowered her body into it,
all wrapped and covered in white. After he set her down, everyone
stood around the hole.

“Ruth,” Al said, “was a wonderful woman. She
was kind to everyone who crossed her path. We were married for
almost thirty years, and every single one was better than the last.
She couldn’t have been a more perfect wife.” Al looked down for a
moment, feeling more tears coming. He suppressed them to the best
of his ability. “Not only was she an excellent wife, but she was a
wonderful mother. There was none better. I just hope she can rest
in peace.” Al felt pressure in his throat, and the tears came back.
He made no attempt to stop them. “I love you, Ruth.”

There was silence for a long time as Ben and
Al shoveled mud on top of Ruth’s body.

After the last shovel of muddy grass had
been laid on Ruth’s body, Ben and the others headed inside to
gather everything they wanted to take with them. Al went into the
front room. Ben called after him.

“Dad, what are you doing?”

“I’m getting something of Ruth’s.”

“Oh.” Ben was a little confused. Al saw it
in his eyes.

“To mark her grave. I think this is
appropriate.” He pointed to the rocking chair that sat in front of
the furniture barricade.

Ben nodded.

Al grabbed the rocking chair and flipped it
over, leaning it face-down. He stepped on the chair where the seat
met the back. The old, brown wood snapped easily. Al stepped again,
separating the back from the rest of the chair, and carried it
outside to Ruth’s grave. He planted the piece of the chair in the
ground at the head of it, then stood there for a moment, looking
down. He closed his eyes, not allowing any more tears to fall.

Ben approached from behind Al and put a hand
on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Death is inevitable,” Al said. “I
had a good life with her. All good things gotta end.”

“She
was
good.”

Al nodded with a small smile on his lips. He
looked up at the sky. It had cleared almost entirely of clouds and
was a brilliant blue. The few clouds that remained were snow-white
and skated slowly along. Al finally looked away, met eyes with Ben,
and then the two of them joined the others, who were almost ready
to leave Bangor.

48

On the Other Side of the Stadium

Keely sat on her cot in the crowded stadium.
It was noisy, but the air was a lot cleaner than it had been in her
attic. There was a lot more space, too. Overall, she was glad she
had ventured out when she heard the large trucks with the
megaphones outside her home beckoning survivors, but she was
beginning to wonder what this stadium could possibly offer
everyone. There was enough food, but for how long? And there were
so many people. She couldn’t help but feel the situation outside
the stadium walls would only get worse.

She missed Katie.

Keely looked at the nearby cots. To one side
was an elderly couple who had moved their cots close to each other,
to the other a man who appeared to be her age was lying on his cot.
He had a messenger bag with him, and nothing else. His eyes were
closed.

Down the row, Keely saw a group of four men
walking her way. They all had big, stupid-looking grins on their
faces, like they were enjoying the situation.

“Don’t worry, Midge, it’ll be all
right.”

Keely turned her attention back to the
elderly couple.

“Where’s Johnny?” the woman asked. “Is he
here with us? I can’t get by without him.” The man sighed heavily,
and tears formed in his eyes.

“I told you Midge… Ah, Johnny’s not here,
no.”

“When’s he going to get here?”

“Midge…”

A few minutes went by, and Keely suddenly
felt like she was being watched. She turned to see the four men
from before standing only a few feet away, all staring at her with
those dumb smiles.

“Well, aren’t you a cute little thing?” one
of them said. “I bet you’re awful scared in all this. Maybe you
need someone to, I don’t know, keep you warm.”

The other goons laughed. Keely rolled her
eyes.

“Just leave me alone, okay?” she said. “I’m
not in the mood.” This spurred even more laughter.

“Damn, Kirk, she ain’t in the mood,” one of
the goons said. “They never seem to be in the mood for you, do
they?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Kirk said. He turned his
attention back to Keely. “Look here, little girl. You’re what, five
feet tall? Even if there weren’t four of us, running that pretty
little mouth of yours seems like a check your body can’t cash.”

“I got something her body can cash,” one of
the goons said. They roared with laughter.

“Fuck off,” Keely said. Three of the goons
“oohed” in a dramatic fashion.

“I’m done playing with you, little girl,”
Kirk said. “If you don’t shut your fucking mouth, I’m going to have
to give you something to shut it
with.
”

“Why don’t you get your assclowns to suck
your dick for you?” Keely said. Three of them laughed. Kirk
fumed.

“Maybe you ought to lay off, Kirk,” one of
them said. “She looks awful ferocious!”

“Yeah, Kirk. She ain’t even that hot, I
mean, look at her hair. She’s probably a dyke anyway.”

“She looks real strong, too!” They
laughed.

“Listen to me, you little bitch,” Kirk said.
He no longer appeared to be having fun, despite the playful goading
of his goons. “There’s nobody here who’s going to help you. The
police are all occupied outside.” He pointed to the elderly couple,
and Keely noticed that the man was watching, but he turned away
when she caught his eyes. “Those skeletons over there ain’t going
to say a thing, if they don’t want me to break them over my knee,
that is.”

Keely looked away from the elderly couple.
She thought about calling for help, but that seemed futile. People
were calling for help all over the stadium, God knew what for.

“So here’s what you’re going to do,” Kirk
said. “You’re going to fuck me, and then you’re going to fuck my
boys, here. And you’re going to like it, if you know what’s good
for you.”

Keely stood up. “Don’t fucking touch me,
asshole.”

Kirk laughed. “Looks like this rose has
thorns. Boys, hold her down.”

One of the goons approached her, another
just behind him. The first goon reached out. Keely grabbed his hand
and yanked him forward. He was thrown off guard, and had no time to
react. Keely brought her knee up into his gut as hard as she could.
He made a sick gurgling sound as his teeth bit down hard on his
tongue, and then he began spitting blood and gasping for air. He
fell to the ground.

“You little whore,” another goon said. He
rushed at her, along with the third goon. Keely ducked under the
first one and landed a punch in his stomach, and then another to
his face. The third goon grabbed her by one arm. She punched him in
the eye, and he shouted, but his grip didn’t weaken. She punched
him again, and went for a third time, but he caught her arm and
then kicked her legs out from under her.

Keely fell to the ground and hit her head.
Her glasses fell from her face and landed a few inches away. She
blinked, trying to shake her newfound disorientation. The goon was
on the ground with her, still holding her arms. She tried to stand
up, but the second goon reappeared, and the two of them pinned her
down. She struggled, but couldn’t escape.