Open Roads (5 page)

Susan lumbered toward her sister, a strange wheeze escaping from her mouth.

This time, Mary Beth spoke in a whisper as she recited her sister’s name, once more.

There was no response. The lifeless figure only continued to trudge toward Mary Beth, not seeming to even be aware of where she was or who was speaking to her.

Mary Beth screamed.

***

Two Days Later…

“We simply can’t stay here anymore,” Mary Beth’s father said. “We’ve been lucky that we’re in such an isolated area, but John told me that it’s absolutely chaotic out there.” John was their neighbor from next door.

“But, Charles, we have no idea what we’re getting into out there,” Mary Beth’s mother said.

“Yeah, but if we stay here, it’s only a matter of time before we run out of food. And then what? What if there’s none to be found? Hell, it might already be too late.”

Maria Dawson sighed with stress. “Where would we go?”

“John heard from a friend of his that they were allowing refugees onto campus in Knoxville,” Charles said, speaking of the University of Tennessee. “He said the football stadium is closed off and they’ve got a bunch of survivors housed there.”

“And what about Susan?” Maria asked. “We can’t just leave her here.”

“Honey, we can’t—”

“No, Charles,” Maria said. “I’m not leaving her.”

 
“It’s too dangerous, Maria. We have to. You saw her. She tried to bite Mary Beth. And what if whatever is wrong with her is contagious? Do you want to live out the rest of our days without
either
of our children?”

Mary Beth listened in from the hallway as her mother started crying. For two days now, they had been unable to get medical assistance for her sister. Their aforementioned neighbor, John, had been a doctor before retiring some years ago. Shortly after Susan had become ill, John had arrived back home from errands. He’d urged Maria not to leave, and explained that whatever had happened to Susan seemed to have been widespread, and that everyone on the road was in a panic. Instead, he would do his best to tend to her. He hadn’t been able to help her, and she’d soon transformed into some kind of monster.

With John unable to diagnose and treat the problem, Charles had tried taking his daughter to the hospital. Somehow, they’d managed to get her inside the trunk of the car, as she’d proven too dangerous to ride in the cab. Two miles away from the nearest hospital, he’d hit a road block, where authorities had been turning people away. The police, trying to control the panic of everyone trying to seek help, told Charlie there was no more room in the hospitals, and that they’d have to turn around and go home.

For a short time, they’d tried to keep Susan comfortable in her bedroom. But after she’d escaped one of the times her father had opened the door to check on her, and then tried to bite Mary Beth, they’d had no choice but to move Susan outside, to the shed in the backyard.

“Maria,” her father said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“You’re right,” her mother said. “We can’t put our family at risk like that. We have to try and go without her.”

There was a long awkward silence, and Mary Beth looked around the corner into the living room to see her parents embracing. Her mother’s shoulders rocked up and down as she cried into her father’s chest. Mary Beth’s father caught his daughter’s gaze and pulled away from his wife to acknowledge Mary Beth.

“Mary Beth, how long were you listening?” he asked.

“We can’t leave Susan,” Mary Beth said, ignoring her father’s question. “We just can’t.”

Charles went to his daughter, moving his hand to her shoulder, but she stepped back. He sighed and said, “It’s too dangerous to take her with us. We’ll come back for her. I promise.”

“Let me stay here with her,” Mary Beth said.

Her mother stepped in.

“Look, sweetie. You heard me. I don’t want to leave Susan here either. But, your father is right. It’s the only option we have. John is going to watch her, and make sure that she is okay until we can get back here with help for her. She’s sick, baby. Too sick to travel. Letting your sister out of that shed would only put us all in danger.”

Feeling as if she was being ganged up on, Mary Beth sat down against a nearby wall, bringing her knees up to her chin. She hid her face from both of her parents and started to cry. Part of the reason she was so upset was pure exhaustion. She’d hardly slept over the past two days, replaying in her mind over and over what she’d seen out in the woods. First, her sister lying on the ground, not breathing. Then, seeing Susan transformed into some sort of creature. Deep in the back of her mind, she could look past her denial to see the truth. The truth that whatever was wrong with Susan, there was no coming back. The same truth that she’d fought to ignore over the last couple of days.

When her mother started to cry harder, a kind of guilt poured over Mary Beth. She knew that none of this was easy on her parents, and the decision to leave Susan behind couldn’t have been easy. She came out of her ball, wiped her eyes, and stood.

“I’ll go pack a bag.”

***

The Dawsons lived a few miles away from the main roads. Mary Beth looked out the windows to see the same, ranch-style houses that she’d seen hundreds of times before when heading into town. She sat in the back seat, hugging her duffle bag in her lap. Her father had advised her to pack light and only bring necessities, which ended up just being clothes and toiletries. She’d left room in her bag for Bun-Bun, a purple stuffed bunny her grandmother had given her and that she’d had for as long as she could remember, as well as a small keepsake that Susan had knitted for her which had the letters “MBD” sewn into the corner. Each of her parents had also brought only one bag, and they’d filled up two others with dried and canned foods, as well as various bottles and jars filled with water.

They reached the main road of town. To her right was the grocery store that Mary Beth had been to with her mother more times than she could count. A mile off to the left was highway 129, the road they’d be taking to Knoxville. None of the businesses appeared to be open, even though it was well into the morning. Across the street, the windows of the gas station had been completely shattered. Mary Beth squinted her eyes into focus to see the inside of the convenience store trashed. Cars lined the streets, facing different directions. Other stores lining the street looked similarly vandalized.

“What the hell happened?” her mother asked.

Her father let off the brake, and eased the vehicle out onto Main. He drove at a snail’s pace as they each scanned the area outside, trying to take everything in. To Mary Beth, it was as if a tornado had blown through town, leaving behind nothing but pure devastation.

“Look, honey, a person,” Mary Beth’s mother said, pointing just ahead. “Pull up and ask them if they know anything.”

The person walked in the middle of the road, their back turned to the Dawsons. The figure moved with a limp and bad posture. Mary Beth noticed the tattered clothes. He appeared to be a man.

“I think he needs help,” her mother said.

The man stopped, and her father hit the brakes. He put the gear into park and unfastened his seatbelt.

“I’ll be right back,” her father said.

Mary Beth’s mother grabbed his arm. “Where are you going? Just pull the car beside him.”

“I’m just gonna see if he needs help.”

Her father opened the door and stepped out of the car.

He’d come within a few feet of the man when he stopped and said, “Jesus, are you okay?”

The man turned, let out a spitting snarl, and lunged at Mary Beth’s father. Both her and her mother screamed, watching her father just miss the man’s grasp. The man fell to the ground, and her father bolted back to the car.

Mary Beth looked into the man’s eyes as he worked himself back up to his feet. Pale and empty, just like Susan’s. His skin was further decayed and rotted than hers had been, though. He looked like a monster, not a human.

“Go, go!” her mother shouted.

Mary Beth and her mother simultaneously screamed as her father drove the vehicle right at the man. After a crash, Mary Beth looked up, and saw the windshield wipers clearing blood off the glass.

“I just clipped him. The car’s fine,” her father said.

“Are you okay?” The voice came from her mother, and Mary Beth looked up to see her looking into the back seat.

Mary Beth nodded.

“Put your seatbelt on,” her father said, looking into the rearview mirror.

Mary Beth moved from the middle of the bench seat, and locked herself in behind her mother.

Her father veered onto 129, barely slowing down to make the turn.

***

Somewhere between Maryville and Knoxville was where Mary Beth’s life changed forever.

She looked ahead, the city of Knoxville still far out of sight, and saw a woman and a child standing beside a truck on the side of the road, the woman waving her arms frantically.

“They need help, Charles,” Maria said.

Mary Beth’s father looked straight ahead, his hands tightly gripping the wheel. He failed to acknowledge what her mother had said.

“Are you going to stop? It doesn’t look like any of the sick people are around.” her mother noted.

“No,” her father replied, short and to the point.

As they passed by the woman and the child, the freckled boy locked eyes with Mary Beth. When she looked back, the boy held her gaze, and Mary Beth saw the desperate look in the woman’s face.

“How can you just leave them?” her mother asked. “She had a child, dammit.”

“Yeah, and so do we,” her father said, raising his voice. “Do you want me to get us to safety, or have you already forgotten what happened to Susan?”

Mary Beth’s mouth fell open in surprise, and she noticed the instant regret in her father’s face.

His lips moved, obviously trying to spew out words, and he finally bumbled out, “Honey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Don’t try to backpedal,” her mother said. “You said it.” She drew in a deep breath. “Just keep driving.”

But Mary Beth’s father had already pressed the brake and cut the wheel toward the median. He found a gravel emergency vehicle path and used it to cross over to the southbound side of the highway.

The woman seemed to know that he had turned the vehicle around to come and assist her and her child, and she jumped up and down, yelling.

Mary Beth’s father crossed back over the median and pulled up next to the truck.

“Oh my Lord, thank you,” the woman said. She spoke in a very country accent that reminded Mary Beth of one of her uncles, who lived somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky.

Her mother’s window rolled down and her father leaned over to look out at the woman.

“Truck broke down?”

“Yes, sir,” the woman replied. “Me and my boy here seem to be stuck.”

“Do you need a ride into town?” he asked.

The woman shook her head. “I think it’s an easy fix, I just don’t have no knowledge ‘bout cars. You don’t by chance know somethin’, do ya?”

“A thing or two,” her father replied.

He undid his seatbelt and opened the door.

“Be careful,” her mother said.

Mary Beth’s father looked back to her mother and smiled before stepping out of the vehicle. He moved around the front and stopped at the hood of the woman’s truck. It had already been raised and propped open.

Mary Beth watched her dad duck his head under the hood, and then her eyes were drawn to the boy’s. He looked to be around her age, and something struck her as funny about him. Unlike her, he didn’t appear to be scared. Even his mom had been scared, so how could he look so calm? He smiled at Mary Beth. Not the kind of smile that a boy from school had once given her where his face had turned red before he looked away. This was something scary, something strange.

“Mommy,” Mary Beth said. “Mommy, I’m scared.”

Her mother looked into the back seat and smiled at her daughter. “I know, sweetie. So am I. But everything is going to be fine.”

A loud crash and a scream drew Mary Beth’s attention outside, and her mother turned back, as well.

“Oh my God, Charles!”

Her father lay motionless on the engine. A man towered over him, holding the truck’s hood in his hand. He pushed it all the way up, then slammed it down onto Mary Beth’s father again. A grotesque
crack
sounded through the air, and her father’s limp body slid down the front of the truck, onto the ground. Mary Beth’s scream harmonized with her mother’s.

Panting, her mother jumped over the center console, into the front seat. When she went to shut the door, another man appeared, holding it open.

“No!” Mary Beth’s mother cried.

Laughing, the man reached in and pulled Mary Beth’s mother out of the vehicle. Mary Beth cowered into the corner of the back seat as her mother’s kicking legs disappeared and her scream moved into the open air. Tears flowed down Mary Beth’s face, and she felt a sudden sense of vulnerability; a type of fear that she’d never realized.