“The coupe is useless, won’t be able to get’er down without electricity,” he said, shouldering his shotgun. “Saw a couple of the cars out in the lot got gas in their tanks though.”
He looked around again, spotting several more handy things in the garage. “Bunch of batteries back there we should take. Stock up on oil and transmission fluid. Tools would be good too, case we have a breakdown.”
“You know a lot about cars?”
He nodded. “Worked at a shop like this.”
“Well then, I leave it to you to tell me what we should take,” she said, “I’ve never been good with cars.”
“Grab up the batteries that still have their node covers sealed,” he told her while he went to one of the tool chests and started searching the drawers.
“So what did ya do for a livin’?” he asked as he sorted through the tools, taking whatever might be useful.
“High school teacher.”
“No shit.” He shook his head in disbelief, he never would’ve guessed that.
“Why does that surprise you?”
“Just didn’t peg ya as a teacher.”
She turned back to face him, hands on her hips and the corner of her mouth turned up. “What did you peg me as?”
“I figured military, way ya handled yourself comin’ in here. Don’t know many teachers who know how to do that.”
She chuckled as she hefted up two of the batteries and carried them to the door. “My father was a hunter and a survivalist. Clearing a building isn’t much different than tracking an animal. Keep low, move silently, eyes always sweeping your field of vision. The rest of it…well, I saw it in a movie once.”
“Sounds like ya built for this new world.”
She froze at the shelf, hand hovering in the air over one of the batteries for a moment before she slowly turned to face him.
“Do you really think that is what this is? A new world, I mean. Don’t you think there is still a chance that things will go back to normal?”
“We’re as far away from normal as it gets.”
“But we don’t know what’s going on in other places. For all we know, there are places that are safe, where the government is still in control and they’re working on fixing this.” The desperate hopefulness in her voice was near painful for him to hear. Before he could say anything to snuff it out, her eyes lit up and she ploughed ahead. “Maybe it isn’t as bad in other countries. They could be coming to help us.”
“If they’re smart, they'll nuke the hell out of the whole continent.”
“Aren’t you just the optimist,” she replied with a roll of her eyes.
“I ain’t had much happen to me in my life to make me feel very optimistic,” he grumbled, more to himself than her.
“That isn’t mysterious or foreboding at all,” she said, grinning at him over her shoulder. “You care to elaborate on that?”
“Not really,” he said, metal clanging against metal as he shut the tool chest with more force than necessary.
“Fair enough,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders and hefted up a couple more batteries. “These are the last of them.”
“Right, best get to siphoning then,” he said. “Ya should load up this shit and I’ll get the gas.”
The sound of a gunshot tore through the air and both of them dropped what they were doing and sprinted outside. He didn’t even remember pulling the shotgun off his shoulder but he found it in his hands as they burst out into the parking lot.
Audrey was on the ground next to the van, Gran’s pistol in her hand. A dozen or so feet in front of her a woman was sprawled on the ground, blood pooling on the pavement. The woman twitched, her head snapping up to reveal her milky eyes and foam coated lips and she struggled to her feet, her shoulder bleeding from the bullet wound.
He took aim at the freak but before he could squeeze the trigger, Audrey had raised the pistol and fired off another shot. That shot went wild and the noise only served to rile up the freak, who started to run at Audrey. Jackson squeezed his trigger and blood sprayed in the air as the buckshot blew half the freak’s face off and it crumpled to the ground. He scanned the lot for any other threats and found none.
“The hell ya think ya doin’?” he barked at Audrey, stomping over to swipe the pistol from her hands. She looked up at him with scared eyes but his blood was pumping too hot with fear and adrenaline for him to stop himself. “Told ya to hit the horn if there was any trouble. Ya coulda been killed! Ya coulda got ya sister killed! Did ya even fuckin’ think for a second?”
He faintly registered Veronica calling out his name, her tone a warning but he was too focused on what could have happened to the girls to hear her.
“Kickback knocked ya on your ass, made ya a perfect meal for that bitch over there! That whatcha wanted, huh? Let the little one watch one of those freaks eat’cha up just like yer Ma!”
He might as well have backhanded the girl, the way she looked up at him, her face a combination of hatred and hurt. He instantly regretted his words but before he could say anything, Veronica stepped between him and Audrey, gun cocked at her hip as she glared at him.
“Go get the gas and walk your temper off while you’re at it,” she said, her clipped tone leaving no room for argument, “And do it fast, those gunshots will draw other infected.”
He wanted to say something, explain to Audrey he didn’t mean it but he didn’t know where to start and judging by the way the girl was glaring at him, she didn’t want to hear it anyway. He turned on his heel and stomped back to the shop to gather up what he needed and went to work.
As he cranked the pump, he watched Veronica with the girls. Hannah had thrown herself into Audrey’s arms the second the van door was opened and they both sat there, listening to Veronica. He was too far away to hear what she was telling them but he spotted Audrey glancing his way a couple of times, her expression unreadable but she nodded in agreement to whatever Veronica told her. They hugged and the girls climbed into the van, Veronica waiting until the door was shut before walking over to him.
“You can’t speak to her like that,” she told him in a no-nonsense tone. “She’s just a kid. She’s lost her parents and she’s scared. Yelling at her isn’t going to help anything.”
“She coulda gotten herself killed. She coulda got the little one killed too. She needs to learn to think before she does something stupid.”
“Like thinking through the consequences of leaving the safety off on a loaded gun that’s within a child’s reach?” she countered, raising an eyebrow in his direction.
He turned the crank harder, bristling at her accusation. “Ya sayin’ this is my fault?”
“No, I’m just pointing out that we all make mistakes so maybe you can cut her some slack.” She looked back at the van while he pulled out the hose and capped off the jerry can. “Look, you are going to have a rough road ahead of you with her. She’s an orphan in the apocalypse who is also going through puberty. That’s an emotional rollercoaster I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Just try to be understanding if she lashes out at you or doesn’t listen. She’s just trying to figure herself out in a world that’s lost its damn mind.”
He pushed himself to his feet and handed her the full jerry can, moving over to the minivan and popping open the gas cap. “Sounds like ya got some experience in this area, so why don’t I just leave it to ya to deal with that shit in future.”
“That’s the thing…” she said, trailing off as she looked over her shoulder at the van before turning back to him. “I saw the log in the shop, it said the jeep over there is fixed and was just waiting for pick up. It’s got enough gas to get me where I’m going. You and the girls should get back on the road and get far away from here. You’ve already helped me enough, it’s not fair to ask you to keep doing it.”
He was surprised to feel disappointed. She’d been with them for a couple of hours max and he’d only picked her up because the girls guilt tripped him. It didn’t make any sense to care one way or the other if she left. They’d been fine before she showed up and he didn’t really like people all that much so why was he feeling like he didn’t want to see her go?
“If ya feel that’s best, do whatcha gotta do,” he said with a casual shrug of his shoulder.
“I just don’t think it’s fair to drag you into my mess. It could take me days to find Quinton and Claudia and you’ve got your plan for the coast set. I don’t want to keep you.”
“Ain’t really a set plan,” he said, snaking the hose into the tank and crouching down to work the pump. “Just couldn’t think of anythin’ better. Figured havin’ the ocean at our back couldn’t hurt.”
“That sounds better than my plan.” He looked up at her, an eyebrow raised in question. “That park is nearly 200,000 acres and my plan is to start at one end and go to the other. Finding Quinton and Claudia is a total needle and haystack scenario.”
He wasn’t so sure he agreed that his plan was better than hers. Sounded like they were pretty much the same, far as he was concerned. Maybe hers was a bit better if he thought about it. She was heading into the wilderness, far away from people while he was planning on heading across the state, through all sorts of cities and towns that could be filled with freaks and desperate people.
“Look, I was thinkin’ maybe we could--”
“Shit!”
His head whipped around and he saw what had her cursing. Four freaks had appeared from around the corner of the building across the street. He quickly pulled the hose from the tank and capped off the jerry can. “Get this shit in the van and fill up the tank. I’ll take care of ‘em.”
She didn’t argue with him and he left her to it as he jogged towards the street, lifting the shotgun to his shoulder. He squeezed the trigger, dropping the freak in front and setting off the other three into a sprint towards him. He pumped the shotgun and fired again, hitting one of them in the chest and sending him crashing back into the others. They stumbled to the ground in a pile of tangled limbs, snarling and howling as they fought each other in a mad frenzy to get to their feet.
He pumped the shotgun again, taking aim but he didn’t fire, transfixed by the display of wild insanity as they began to bite and claw at each other like the ones at the stadium. Anything that moved was their enemy, like their fight or flight instinct was permanently set to fight.
For the first time, the horror of seeing human beings reduced to these snarling beasts hit him and his stomach turned, wanting to force up what he had eaten that day.
The sound of the van’s engine turning over kicked him out of his daze and he glanced back to see the van coming towards him, Veronica in the driver’s seat. She stopped beside him and he jumped inside, Veronica hitting the gas before he had even closed the door and peeling out of the parking lot. He glanced in the mirror to see the freaks had gotten to their feet and were running after the van but had no hope of keeping up.
“Ya two okay?” he asked the girls and they nodded. He turned back to Veronica. “Sorry ya couldn’t get the jeep.”
“It’s okay,” she replied. “I’m sure I’ll find another vehicle soon enough. You can just drop me off outside the park, I can go in on foot.”
“You can’t leave,” Audrey cried out, her voice higher than normal.
Veronica glanced back at the girl with a sad smile. “I’ve got to find my brother and sister, sweetie.”
“We can help you find them!” Audrey looked to Jackson for support, her eyes silently pleading with him to agree.
“She’s right, we can help ya. ‘Sides, the park is nothin’ but wilderness, not a lot of people. Probably a lot safer there than drivin’ clear across the state.”
“Really Jackson, there will be no hard feelings if you go on your own way,” she said, giving him one last out.
“Ain’t got anythin’ else waitin’ on us,” he said with a shrug of his shoulder. “I say we go campin’.”
Hannah cheered, clapping her hands loudly and Audrey smiled at him, nodding her head in thanks. At least that was a step in the right direction with the girl. Now he just hoped he wouldn’t step in it again.
Subject File # 742
Administrator - Never leave a man behind.
Subject - What’s that supposed to mean?
Administrator - It’s what you say in your sleep.
Subject - She tell you that, huh? Yeah, I still have nightmares about it. I always said I’d never leave a man behind and I broke that promise.
The men were silent as they drove back to town. Quinton and Alan stared out the windows, each man lost in their own thoughts, for which Malcolm was grateful. He was done managing angry outbursts and dick waving.
He had told Alan as much back at camp when they loaded up in the police cruiser. They were going to get in, find Travis and Veronica and get out, simple as that. Alan had surprised him when he got into the car without a word of protest or the sucker punch Malcolm had expected as payback for their earlier fight. Despite his faults, Alan obviously cared for his brother and was willing to swallow his pride to help him.
They flew past the
Welcome to Maryville
sign flew past them and the guys sat up a little straighter in their seats as they entered the north end of the town. Malcolm slowed them to a crawl, making it easier for them to eye the surrounding area. It would also make it easier for Travis or Veronica to spot their siblings in the car if they were watching the road from a hiding spot.