The Living Dead (Book 1): Contagion (15 page)
“So they fought each other tooth and nail. I have heard of brief madness in some of the victims but nothing like this.”
“Again, it is worse than that. I advise you sirrah, if you come across anyone escaped from one of these sequestered houses and you have not the stomach to destroy the afflicted on the spot, flee for your life. There is much still unknown about this plague.”
I withdrew then and, cutting short my intended perambulations, went home. I later heard the plague house in Shoreditch had burnt to the ground taking out the houses on either side as well. There continued to be stories of sequestered households going mad and slaughtering all inside and my observations attest to the truth of such. Rumor of confined households turning to the eating of flesh were generally scoffed at. I must say that dreams of those severed heads, eyes rolling in their sockets, have awakened me at times.
Although I looked often, I never again saw the delightful young lady with the sword but it is my earnest hope that she did survive.
*“Pits”- dimples
***
“It’s admittedly fiction.”
“True but the entire journal was a fictionalized account based on true events. Makes you wonder if it actually didn‘t occur in some shape, form, or fashion.”
“I’ve never heard anywhere that the bubonic plague turned anyone into the walking dead.”
“Good point, still it makes me wonder.”
Virginia stuffed the envelope in the backpack but images kept playing in her mind. People survived that horrible time in history and we will too. Only now, it’s worldwide. She looked out the window at the sparkling white scenery flashing by.
Charles broke the silence, “Are we going to talk about the eight hundred pound gorilla in the car or just ignore it a while longer?”
“What gorilla?”
“You kissed me Virginia. Not just a friendly peck either but believe me, I’m not complaining. Were you trying to tell me something?”
She had been afraid this would come up. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I was so afraid in that tunnel and then when I got out I was so relieved… You were just there. It was an overreaction. ” Ow, that did not come out as intended. She hoped he believed it.
He didn’t. “Just an overreaction? You mean you would have kissed Carson or Gabriella like that if they ‘were just there?’ “
“Well- obviously not Gabriella and probably not Carson either but-”
“So there’s something there. I hoped so but I didn’t want to push it. I know about the divorce but you‘re still wearing-”
“How did you know about my divorce? I never talked about it.” She was annoyed.
“It’s a small town and you are somewhat noticeable. People talk.”
She wasn’t going to get out of this. They had been through a lot together over the past few days and he had saved her life. She owed him the truth.
“You’re fairly noticeable yourself and I’m not immune. That probably has something to do with why I kissed you. But it was wrong of me.”
He reached over and took her hand in his. She withdrew it gently.
“Don’t make this harder for me. I’ve been alone for a while and you’re very attractive. More than just attractive: brave, smart, and caring too. But I don‘t want to involve anyone else in my messed up life.”
“So you plan to stay alone for the rest of your life?”
“I really don’t know. Maybe. I think I still love my husband.”
“Then why did you throw him out?”
“I didn’t. He left.”
“He abandoned you and you still love him?”
“There were reasons. I made mistakes. We both made mistakes.”
“What sort of mistakes?”
“It was money. We overspent and then we bought more house than we could afford.”
“A couple with two children shouldn‘t divorce over a house. You couldn’t just sell it?”
“We tried but we owe more on it than it’s worth. Neither of us are particularly financially savvy and we listened when our realtor told us what a good idea it was to ’stretch’ and buy the more expensive house in a ‘good‘ neighborhood and sit back and watch the property value go up. The bank guy told us how smart we were to ‘manage’ our debt this way. A year and a half ago the lock went off the teaser interest rate and our payment shot up another fifteen hundred dollars a month just when the bottom fell out of the housing market. We tried to refinance but no bank would talk to us once the value started dropping. We had doctor and hospital bills with the children and you wouldn‘t believe the cost of diapers and daycare. We both thought being in debt was normal. I grew up that way. My parents declared bankruptcy twice before they changed the laws and my dad drove a Jag the whole time. They still live like that. Everything looks good on the outside but if they miss a paycheck- it all could disappear like that.” She snapped her fingers.
“We were so stupid we had even taken out a second mortgage to pay off our student loans. We had doctor and hospital bills with the children- we fell behind on everything. The constant sense of failure from losing so much money and being so close to losing our home was just- a nightmare. We argued all the time. Then I did the most idiotic thing of all.” She leaned her head against the window, staring out at the rhododendrons lining the banks of tumbling hillside streams.
“The government forced the banks to offer that loan modification program to reduce payments. I called them. They told me we qualified in every way but one. We needed to be three months behind in payments. At that point, we were about a month behind so I stopped making payments. A few weeks later I filled out the application papers and paid the fee.”
“Did your husband know?”
“No. I did it on my own. My magnificent plan was to get the payments reduced and surprise him. Well I did surprise him. He opened the mail the day the bank sent us a notice of intent to foreclose. I called them; they had no record of my application or my phone call.”
“Did you get an attorney?”
“Couldn’t afford one. The application fee was thirty five hundred dollars. That was the last of our savings. Chase said they had no record of the application fee payment but would ‘look into it‘ and told me ‘not to worry‘ about the foreclosure notice. I eventually found out they took our thirty five hundred dollars and applied it to some penalty fees no one had told us about, not an application fee. That was it for Ian. He said we lost everything because of me. He‘s right.”
“You know banks are supposed to be accountable for things like this?”
“I know and so do the other people they did the same thing to. But none of us matter. The banks have all the power.”
They were silent for a moment. A road sign indicated a gas station ahead.
“Anyway, that was a lifetime ago. Thanks for listening to my tale of woe. Property values and a good credit score don‘t matter now, do they? We should stop for gas and food if we can find it.”
From the road, the gas station looked perfectly normal, if deserted. A few cars remained parked in front with no one, living or dead, inside. Leaving Daniel asleep in the back seat and locking him in, they opened the front door cautiously, guns ready, turned the pumps on, and then surveyed the shelves.
Rows of brightly packaged candy, snack cakes, jerky, and chips were a beautiful sight. The refrigerated drinks were cold. They found bags behind the counter and started shoplifting with gusto. Virginia grabbed juices for Daniel, along with snack crackers. Charles picked up two cases of bottled water and placed them by the door. The bananas by the register were past eating but the apples looked fine. Band-aids, chapstick, toothbrushes and toothpaste, all went in the bag.
Screams erupted outside. Dropping everything, they ran out to the pump to find an infected teen, clad in a torn, gore drenched Superdrag t-shirt and jeans, on the hood of the Explorer. Black shreds of skin hung from his shoulders and stomach, revealing hollowed out cavities of nothing. He groped and clawed at the windshield, behind which they saw Daniel’s face, mouth open in a howl of terror. Two more infected came around the side of the building, one, a woman, walking on legs that were little more than red streaked bones, clutched a shoulder strap purse tightly as she tottered forward. The other, a middle aged man in pyjamas, moved much more quickly, teeth chomping with malignant intent. Charles ran to intercept it, clubbing it to the ground with the shotgun. The thing was strong and grabbed his legs, pulling him down, mouth open wide.
Virginia shot shoulder strap in the face, completely exploding her head, and tried to knock the teen off the Explorer but couldn’t get close enough. Shooting it so close to Daniel was out of the question. She hesitated and turned to Charles, who still struggled with the fast walker. Trying to knock it off him, she kicked it hard in the head. Her foot sank into the skull, malodorous, black ichors pouring out the cavity. Charles pulled free of the now weakly twitching hands, wiping the foul fluid from his face. He angrily stomped the skull into fragments before climbing onto the SUV and kicking the teen to the ground. Virginia finished it off with the gun.
“I can’t do this anymore. I’ve got to find someplace to get clean and sleep more than three hours at a time.” He looked done in.
Virginia unlocked the Explorer and took Daniel in her arms. “I’m going to pump the gas. We’re only an hour from the pass at Chapel Croft. If we-”
“I understand you want to get there quickly but it’s almost dark. We don‘t want to deal with these things in the dark.” He walked into the gas station.
She finished pumping the gas, one handed; Daniel refused to get down. Charles returned with their retrieved loot. “There’s a bed and breakfast just before you get to the Chapel Croft pass. I don’t think anyone is there this time of year but there should be some canned stuff at least and beds. I’m beat.”
She clenched her teeth in frustration. She would move heaven and earth to get to Springfield and she’d bully Charles into it if she could.
“I don’t know if my children are alive or dead, safe or if they are crying for help right now. I can’t adequately describe that feeling but I can tell you this- every minute away from them is agony.”
“Driving exhausted and making stupid mistakes might mean you never see them again.”
“Please, I’m begging you. My in-laws have food, warm beds and showers, anything you want. I‘ll drive the rest of the way; I‘m not even tired. I swear-”
He interrupted wearily, “Fine, just get in. Let’s go.”
Evening came on rapidly as the road grew steep and winding. Charles appeared to sleep which suited Virginia just fine. She encountered nothing but a downed tree partially blocking the road and saw no other vehicles until they arrived at the Chapel Croft pass. A highway maintenance truck stood abandoned in front of the barrier pole.
The heavy steel pole, chained and padlocked, completely blocked off the road. A towering, sheer cliff on the right and a yawning chasm on the left ensured she couldn’t drive around it. She needed the key to the lock. Searching the state truck yielded nothing useful but a cellophane sleeve of peanuts that she handed to Daniel, telling him to get back in the Explorer. Charles still slumbered in the front passenger seat. Knowing it would wake him but desperate to get through the barrier, she took aim with the shotgun.
The blast echoed off the rock cliff making roosting birds scatter, squawking. She inspected the lock and chain but both were intact. She shot again to no effect. Great. Now what? Remembering Charles’ ax she headed back to the vehicle.
Charles hacked at the lock and chain without success. She felt like screaming at the delay. It was fully dark now and wispy ribbons of cloud floated across a full moon. She kicked the metal pole and turned to Charles.
“How far back is that bed and breakfast?”
“So now you’re ready to listen to me?”