Dying Time (5 page)

As she and Mattie clung together for warmth, Sarah began to cry.

**

The next day was very bad. Sarah and Mattie walked along the highway in the rain. They were hungry, and tired, and cold, and sore. Sarah’s face hurt, her lips were swollen and bloody.  She kept her head bent as she walked to keep the rain off, the raindrops hurt her bruise.  Mattie held his arm as he walked. It was a deep purple from where Beatrice had grabbed him. Sarah had looked at it earlier but couldn’t do anything to help. 

She wondered what Mom would say when they finally made it to the Cabin. Sarah didn’t feel like a big girl anymore.  She didn’t want Mom to see that she had let Mattie get hurt. Would she ground Sarah for getting into a fight?  Sarah knew she had really hurt Jim, would the police come and get her.  Sarah didn’t want to go to jail. But if it would get them to the Cabin she wouldn’t mind getting grounded. She just wanted to see Mom again.

Matt pulled out his toy communicator. He looked at it for a long time without pressing its button.  “Sarah,” he finally said, “are the bad people zombies?”

Sarah looked at her little brother, “Mom said they weren’t. But Dad said they were. I don’t know anymore.”

Mattie nodded his head, “I think they’re zombies.”

Sarah just held his hand and kept walking.

A little while later Matt turned his toy on. “Mattie calling Commander,” he said, and pressed the button.

“
Commander here,” the communicator said.

“
Commander we need your help. Sarah and I are lost and can’t get to the Cabin. Can you help us.”

“
I have a plan,” the communicator said.

Mattie turned to Sarah a huge smile on his tiny face, “We’re saved the Commander is coming.”

Sarah stopped and looked at Mattie. “The Commander isn’t coming. He's not real. He's just on tv.”

Mattie scrunched up his face trying to make himself look more important. “Zombies aren’t real either, but they’re here. So the Commander must be real too. And he just said he had a plan. So we’re going be safe soon.”

Sarah threw up her hands. “FINE!” she shouted. “The Commander is on the way and everything will be all right. But until they get here we have to keep walking.”

Mattie started crying, but he took Sarah’s hand and started walking again.  He muttered under his breath, “If zombies are real so is the Commander, and he said he has a plan.”

**

They stopped that night, and once again tried to sleep under some bushes. It had finally stopped raining a little while before sunset.  Mattie had kept looking to the sky hoping to see the Commander or one of his warriors.  Sarah just looked for cars.

Before they fell asleep Mattie pulled out the communicator again. “Mattie to Commander, we’re under some bushes by the highway. We saw a sign saying 80mph just down the road. We’re waiting for you.”

He pressed the button, “We’re on our way.”

Sarah tried to smile.  She hugged Mattie and sang to him until he was asleep. She stayed up a lot longer crying.

**

They woke up very hungry to a bright sunny day. After the cold night of sleeping in damp clothes they laid by the side of the road letting the warm sun dry them off and warm their bodies.

They walked in silence, too hungry to bother talking.  Just concentrating on walking. Mattie kept feeling the communicator, making sure it was still there and okay. Occasionally he would turn it on and ask Robin to hurry. They didn’t see anything as they walked, normal people or bad people. 

They came across one car wreck later in the day.  It had gone off the road and hit a tree.  Sarah walked up to it, she didn’t see anyone inside. She and Mattie searched the car looking for food, and anything they could use. They found a chocolate bar, and a jacket. Sarah split the chocolate bar, and they both gobbled it down. Sarah threw the jacket over her shoulder. It would make a good blanket.  Feeling better they headed down to a creek beside the road and drank the cold water. 

Sarah splashed some water at her brother. “Mattie just think of the stories we’ll be able to tell Mom and Dad when we get to the Cabin. They’ll never believe everything we’ve done.”

Mattie laughed and jumped in the creek soaking them both. “I bet they’ll throw a party for us, and give us all the chocolate cake we can eat!”

“
And there will be presents. All the toys you could want, and the finest clothes for me.”

“
And we’ll be able to watch Peter Pan again, and again, and again.”

“
And I bet I’ll get a dog. A great big Labrador Retriever.”

“
Well I’ll get a St. Bernard.”

Forgetting their problems they played in the water until they were exhausted, and fell asleep on the bank.

Sarah woke Mattie up sometime in the afternoon.  Getting a last drink of water, they picked up the coat and began walking down the highway again.

**

That night Sarah and Mattie were hungry, but at least with the coat they were warm. Sarah kept waking up every time she heard a noise, hoping it was a car.  But it was always just her imagination.

The next morning they walked down the highway again.  Sarah tried to figure out how far away the Cabin was. If they walked ten miles yesterday they had to walk thirty more miles. She beat on her head lightly trying to remember how far it had been to the Cabin from Mom’s car. Her stomach kept growling keeping her from remember properly.  She finally got it.

“
Mattie do you think you can walk for two more day?” she asked.

Mattie looked at her his eyes were unfocused from lack of food and tiredness. “I don’t know. I can try.”

“
Well the Cabin is probably only two days away from here. I know its hard but if we can keep walking we’ll make it,” she tried to sound cheerful.

“
I’m going to call the Commander again. I know why he hasn't come yet. The Zombies are all over, so he has his hands full fighting them off. But he’ll have to come get us soon. He's a hero, heroesalways save the day.” He pulled out the communicator again and turned it on. “Commander how is the fighting going?”

The communicator spoke “I have a plan.”

Mattie looked at the communicator, “But when will you show up?”

“
Let's Go!”

Mattie smiled, “See the Commander's on the way.”

Sarah didn’t know what to say, she just hugged him and kept walking.

**

The sun was almost down when Sarah stopped finally. They walked to the woods and saw some soft moss. Sarah’s eyes lit up. “Mattie look! Blackberries! Lots of them,” she squealed.

Mattie ran up to Sarah and fell to his knees to look at the berries. They each grabbed a handful, and bit into them.  The juice was sweet, and ran down their faces as they stuffed themselves. They didn’t talk, they just ate until there were no berries left. Sarah looked at their clothes for the first time in days.

“Mom won’t recognize us with all this dirt and stains,” she laughed.

Mattie smiled and burped. He and Sarah began laughing.  Two days in a row they had found food. They would make it to the Cabin after all.

“
Lets go down to the river I saw by the highway,” Sarah said

Mattie nodded and followed her.  Sarah walked to the road and walked up to the bridge that spanned a small, rocky, brown river. There were some big rocks they had to climb down, but Sarah saw a small path between them. She led the way holding out her hand to Mattie at the more difficult parts. She was almost at the bottom when a rock shifted under her foot.

Sarah screamed and desperately tried to grab hold of something, her fingers scraped against the smooth rocks.  Mattie heard a loud thunk, as she fell and her head bounced off a rock. 

“
SARAH!” Mattie screamed. He ran down to his sister, crying her name. He cradled her head, and felt blood on his fingers.  She didn’t say anything, or even open her eyes.

Mattie did the only thing he could think of. He pulled out his communicator.

“
Commander! Commander! I need your help!” he shrieked.

“
I have a plan,” was the only response.

“
Commander my sister is hurt bad, I need you to get over here now!”

“
Commander here.”

“
NO!  Don’t just say that, I need you.”

“
Team Now!.”

“
HELP ME PLEASE! ANYONE!”

Mattie continued screaming into his one hope. His little voice unheard in the empty wilderness.   

San
ta Vs. The Zombies

“
Now
Dasher
!
Now
Dancer
!
Now
,
Prancer
and
Vixen
!
On
,
Comet
!
On
,
Cupid
!
On
,
Donner
and
Blitzen
!
To
the
top
of
the
porch
!
To
the
top
of
the
wall
! 
Now
dash
away
!
Dash
away
!
Dash
away
all
!
”
Santa
yelled
out
encouragement
to
his
reindeer
as
he
flew
through
the
cold
North
Pole
sky
.

His
favourite
night
of
the
year
lay
before
him
.
After
all
the
hard
work
of
making
toys
,
baking
candies
,
keeping
lists
,
and
preparing
the
sleigh
and
reindeer
,
it
was
almost
over
. 
Even
with
the
last
minute
breakdown
of
the
candy
cane
mixer
,
and
the
dolly
machine
making
all
the
dolls
say
’Eeek
A
Mouse
!
”
,
things
were
on
schedule
.
Only
a
fairly
easy
toy
run
,
lay
between
him
and
his
January
vacation
. 

“
Santa
,
aren’t
you
worried
?
You
didn’t
get
to
read
the
list
over
twice
,
”
Twinkle
Toes
said
holding
a
bright
red
and
white
palm
pilot
up
for
Santa
. 

“
Twinkle
,
I
spent
centuries
delivering
toys
to
all
the
good
little
boys
and
girls
without
a
list
,
or
your
fancy
little
gadgets
,
”
Santa
laughed
.
“If
I
can’t
tell
who’s
naughty
and
nice
by
my
instincts
.
Why
,
why
I
don’t
deserve
to
be
Santa
.
”
He
saw
Twinkle
bite
his
lip
and
fidget
.
“Believe
me
Twinkle
,
if
I
hadn’t
been
forced
to
help
fix
the
candy
can
mixer
,
and
get
the
technician
elves
to
fix
the
dolly
maker
,
we
would
have
looked
it
over
twice
.
But
then
we
wouldn’t
have
all
the
toys
ready
.
We
only
had
one
week
left
,
and
there
simply
wasn’t
time
.
”

Twinkle
sat
down
,
“I
know
Santa
.
Its
just
that
the
system
list
crashed
four
times
in
the
last
week
.
Some
of
the
information
looks
jumbled
.
I’ve
never
seen
anything
like
it
.
”

Santa
patted
the
sad
little
elf
on
the
head
,
“I
know
it
is
worrisome
. 
But
the
backup
disks
will
make
sure
we
reach
all
the
houses
we
need
to
.
After
that
it
will
be
up
to
me
. 
And
when
have
I
ever
failed
?
”

“
Well
,
there
was
1969
when
you
-
”
he
began
.

“
I
thought
I
told
you
we
would
never
,
ever
discuss
that
incident
again
,
”
Santa
said
,
his
narrowed
eyes
looked
down
at
Twinkle
.
“Anyways
it
wasn’t
my
fault
,”
Santa
mumbled
.
“They
left
me
brownies
instead
of
cookies
.
You
know
how
much
I
like
brownies
.
”

They
rode
on
in
silence
.

****

They
came
to
the
first
city
of
the
night
,
nervously
wondering
what
would
greet
them
. 
The
towns
they
had
visited
on
the
way
weren’t
the
quiet
little
places
he
remembered
.
The
first
few
had
been
wide
awake
and
brightly
lit
.
He’d
seen
cars
piled
up
along
the
roads
with
grown
ups
huddled
behind
them
.
He
had
never
seen
anything
like
it
.
In
the
houses
the
children
and
grown
-
ups
were
huddled
together
in
a
single
room
. 

He’d
seen
families
sleeping
together
many
times
in
the
past
,
but
that
was
when
houses
were
small
and
cold
.
Almost
no
one
slept
like
that
now
.
It
was
very
difficult
to
put
candy
canes
into
the
hands
of
little
children
,
when
he
had
to
lean
over
their
much
larger
parents
. 
They
simply
had
no
respect
for
his
work
anymore
. 

In
the
other
towns
the
buildings
were
all
dark
.
So
dark
he
could
barely
make
out
the
houses
from
the
sky
.
When
he’d
finally
found
the
few
houses
with
good
little
children
,
he
had
a
most
difficult
time
getting
in
.
Couches
and
chairs
,
bricks
and
wood
,
filing
cabinets
and
fridges
blocked
all
the
doors
and
windows
.
Just
trying
to
find
the
children
was
putting
him
further
and
further
behind
.
Hiding
in
closets
,
sleeping
under
beds
,
behind
boxes
in
the
attic
,
and
the
furnace
downstairs
.
By
Mistletoe
,
it
looked
like
they
were
hiding
from
him
.