Out of the Dark: An apocalyptic thriller (30 page)

     Stephanie, who’d become very affixed to the place almost as soon as they’d locked themselves in that first night, was near tears. She didn’t want to be on the run again. She just wanted to be safe.

     “What if we get lots of blankets and space heaters?” Stephanie suggested, and Shane hurt to hear the break in her voice. He was in the middle of unbuckling Leila from her car seat, and hurried the process along so he could stand with the infant in his arms and hug Stephanie.

     “It’s too near people,” he repeated gently as he pulled back from her. Leila rested her face against the curve of his neck sleepily and reached out a chubby hand to pat Stephanie’s cheek. Stephanie’s heart melted into little puddles for the sweet girl. She was an absolute doll and Stephanie had always been a sucker for kids.

     “Where do you suggest we go to get away from people?” Darcy questioned. She’d already begun packing the single bag she’d taken things out of in the night, making sure to keep clean and dirty clothing separated. “I mean, we aren’t exactly a thriving metropolis here, but we’re pretty populous.”

     “I have thought about it,” Shane acknowledged. “And I think the best bet would be to get mobile. Stay on the road. Camp in places we can guarantee are safe during the day, but keep on the move at night.”

     “That’ll be horrible on the kids,” Stephanie said, aghast. “They can’t stay in car seats that long, Shane. It’ll be awful. They’ll become crippled or something.”

     Darcy frowned, considering Stephanie’s protests. They were valid. Being in a car seat too long could damage an infant’s spine.

     “She’s right,” Darcy said. “She’s actually right. We can’t have them being in car seats for hours on end over the course of days, weeks, or longer. They’ll both suffer, possibly badly, from it.”

     Shane sat down in the single chair with Leila on his leg, swiping his hand over his face in blatant frustration.

     “Okay then. A nearby place without a lot of people. We gather supplies first, and then head to a location we intend to stay for an extended period of time.”

     “Which is what we were trying to do here,” Stephanie pointed out.

     “It isn’t good enough,” Shane insisted. “It’s too close to people, most notably the Walkers. We have to figure out a different place, Steph.”

     When she frowned, he reached out a hand in invitation. She took it, and he squeezed hers hard.

     “It isn’t a coincidence that the text got through or that I was able to find you,” he told her. “We have to keep each other safe now and I’m telling you, I
know
that it isn’t safe here.”

     Stephanie hesitated and looked at Darcy. Though they’d only known each other a short time, they had the bond of sisters now, a bond developed by people who survived a tragedy together. The bond was stronger than a person who never experienced such trauma could even imagine. Stephanie looked to Darcy for confirmation, and when Darcy nodded, Stephanie was convinced.

     “All right, then,” Darcy said. “Where do we go?”

     They decided to raid the surrounding area for supplies before resting for the night and then set out early the next morning. Shane wanted to find a map of the nearby cities that would give him some ideas as to the best place they could hole up. He wanted somewhere away from people, but that meant they’d need to have plenty of supplies before they got there. There were two vehicles (a small car, and another ‘soccer mom’ type van with keys inside both of them) in the parking lot that didn’t belong to Shane, Darcy or Stephanie. They agreed it was a good idea to have one adult each drive. They would fill the vehicles to the brims and hope for the best.

     Shane didn’t like it. There were too many ways for that plan to go south, and quickly.

     “A warehouse,” Darcy suggested as they entered their second pharmacy of the day. No one responded to her suggestion, but she felt certain Shane would mull it over for a while and get back to her on it. She continued to search for things they needed.

    Darcy had Dylan strapped in a carrier that affixed to the front of her body and Shane occasionally glanced at the boy and smiled at how cute he was in his floppy hat, snowsuit, and oversized gloves. Stephanie had Leila in a similar set up, though Leila snuggled against Stephanie’s body and did not face outward like Dylan. Shane smiled even wider when he looked at Stephanie and the bitty girl he’d rescued. When she caught him smiling at her, she smiled back. Except for the whole world ending thing, Stephanie felt happier and more in her place than she ever had.

     She followed Darcy through the aisles, each of them pushing a cart with a baby strapped to their fronts. If the mood wasn’t so bleak, and if her heart didn’t trip a little thinking they were about to encounter one horror after another around each corner, she’d make some kind of mom’s club joke. As it was, she simply gripped her knife tighter and grabbed things that Darcy suggested should go into her cart.

     When they reached the personal care aisle, Stephanie added deodorant, tooth and hair care products, condoms (just in case), and hair removal cream. Darcy didn’t comment on the condoms, but she had to say something about the last item.

     “You really need that?” she asked curiously as she tipped her head toward the hair removal cream.

     Stephanie tossed her loose blond mane back in a saucy move that Darcy assumed precipitated every rebuttal she made regarding an issue she considered self-explanatory.

     “There are three things a woman always needs to do. We should always be self-sufficient, clean-shaven, and wearing cute underwear.”

     “Do I want to ask why?” Darcy asked as she added a copious amount of vitamins and bottles of supplements to her own cart.

     “Well, there’s always a chance of a hot, unexpected hookup, rape, being cut out of your clothes by paramedics, or being abducted by aliens.”

     Darcy scoffed at that, but quickly cleared her throat to cover the sound. “And are those listed in order or preference or probability of occurrence?” She tried to keep the sarcasm out of her tone.

     “Likelihood,” Stephanie replied in a nonchalant tone as she observed which bottled supplements Darcy grabbed. She never would have thought about that and decided it was a good idea. “Anyway, it’s what I live by.”

     “It’s an interesting philosophy,” Darcy responded, and softened any hard feelings that could have been generated in the exchange with a wide smile.

     All in all, they gathered all the food, water, baby items, and miscellaneous materials they thought they’d need and have enough space to transport. Shane thought what ended up in his van, Darcy’s car, and the big silver truck Stephanie had managed to commandeer the keys for would last them a year or more. In reality, he knew they had enough for a few weeks or a month at most.

     “The sun goes down so fast,” Stephanie observed anxiously as they stood beside the vehicles, taking stock of what they’d gathered.

     “We’ll stay in the main building tonight,” Shane said as he stroked Leila’s chilly face. Her happy demeanor contrasted against Dylan’s fussy behavior. Shane wanted them both inside and out of the cold. He felt amazed at how quickly overwhelming love and concern for the baby girl had filled him. It was as though she’d always been his own.

     “Top floor might be best,” Darcy said as she locked her vehicle and made soothing sounds to Dylan while stroking his cheek. “We can block off the staircase on top of locking the doors.”

     “Good idea,” Shane agreed. “Let’s get to it. We’re losing daylight.”

     It took them thirty minutes to set up the top floor in a way they all found acceptable.

     Darcy nursed Dylan, and the boy nuzzled up against his mother like he never wanted to be anywhere else. He clutched her shirt and made happy sighing sounds as he suckled.

     “This may be out of line,” Shane began as he piled extra blankets on the bed Stephanie had claimed as hers. They’d pulled three of the four beds on the top floor into the main room and had used the two couches to block off the staircase.

     “What?” Darcy asked, not looking up from her son as she nursed him. She was enraptured by his sweet face, now more than ever, but she still paid attention to Shane as he spoke.

     “Well, could you do that for Leila?” he asked hesitantly, causing Darcy to look up with a start, obviously shocked at the question. “I mean, if her formula ran out,” he continued quickly.

     Darcy instinctively drew Dylan closer to her and the boy made an indignant sound as his nose got pressed into her breast and momentarily cut off his air supply. She stopped squeezing him so tightly almost immediately and a frown drew her pretty features downward.

     “I guess…” she responded. “Like, if it was absolutely necessary. We picked up a lot of formula, though. It should last several months, at least.”

     It had been their first priority, baby food. The van Shane drove was packed full of jars, canisters, pouches, and plastic containers that included organic food for the young children to eat. There was a variety of fruits, veggies, and meats that wouldn’t expire for at least a year.

     The second focus had been child necessities beyond food: diapers, wipes, creams, clothing, blankets, and medicines. They’d stopped at three pharmacies and had specifically lifted a cream Darcy said she needed for Dylan called Silver Sulfadiazine. It was for second and third degree burns and Darcy had explained that Dylan had been diagnosed with a rare kind of rash due to his fair, sensitive skin that was more like a blistering burn. It had taken months to eradicate and Darcy always kept at least one jar on her person in case of flare ups. She now had as much as the pharmacies had been in possession of, and had mentioned that since they probably couldn’t go to a hospital in the event of severe issues like a burn, the cream would come in handy for many more reasons than Dylan’s rash.

     They’d also grabbed infant Motrin, Tylenol, vitamin D drops, nasal saline spray, and other miscellaneous items she thought the babies might need. Shane had given her ultimate say in the supplies needed for the babies, because she was the only mother in the group.

     Their next task had been to get as much food and water as they could, and ways to prepare meals. They’d even gotten clothing and bedding for the kids and adults, plus three air mattresses still in their boxes and a couple of pumps to go with them. Shane thought they appeared set; knew the chances were laughably high that he was completely wrong. The bedding, one of the inflatable air mattresses, and all their miscellaneous items had gone into Stephanie’s vehicle. Shane and Darcy each had a mattress of their own in their vehicles and also carried one machine apiece to help with the inflation. Things needed for the children, as well as medicine for adults and most of the food, had been split between Shane and Darcy to haul.

     If they got separated, each vehicle was packed in order to be able to sustain the driver and his or her dependent until they could find a way to safely procure more supplies. Shane hated to think that way but he didn’t want any of them to be on their own with only the clothing and bedding, or to have someone hauling all the food lose their vehicle or the ability to drive it.

     “Well, I just wanted it out there,” Shane finished lamely as he looked out the window. The dark had swallowed the world. “Turn off the lights and draw the shades,” he suggested to Stephanie as he took Leila from her. “We don’t want to draw attention. Light some candles, but keep them low.”

     There were three windows upstairs, and doors to three bedrooms and a windowless bathroom to close. One of the bedrooms hadn’t had its bed moved, as the other rooms had had between them two twin beds and one queen. The beds all rolled on easily-turning wheels and were kept together–mattress, box spring, and frame–as they were moved into the room the group would share for the night.

     They’d checked the closet of the room they’d left the bed in and found it empty. Confident that they were safe for the night, they shut themselves up in the single room and settled down to sleep. As soon as morning came, they’d be off.

Chapter Twenty-Four

     Darcy slept with both the babies snuggled against her, one propped on either arm. She’d slept with Dylan in her bed when he was sick or feeling lonely, even though she’d heard and read it was a bad habit and would spoil him. She’d figured to hell with that. She liked feeling him breathe. She liked him cuddling up to her and she liked being available for instant soothing if he woke up with nightmares. Plus, it gave her such an ease of access for breastfeeding that she at times worried it was more she than Dylan who had developed the dependence on co-sleeping.

     She drifted in and out of dreams. She was always slightly on alert when Dylan slept with her; now it was more than doubled by the situation and the addition of the second little one.

     She dreamed of her past; of Dylan’s father, of all things. Dylan looked almost nothing like the man who’d donated genetic material to father him, and Darcy was starting to forget his features. That night, though, in her dreams she saw him as clearly as the day they’d met. He was as attractive and funny as he had been; sun in his hair and laughter on his lips. They embraced, they loved and in her dreams, it was deeper and more passionate than it had ever truly been between them. In her dreams, she was blissful in the illusion she’d never even tried to believe.