The Reawakening (The Living Dead Trilogy, Book 1) (33 page)

“That’s my grandchild you’re talking about.”

“And I’m going to teach your grandchild the proper way to take care of itself. Forget boarding schools, piano lessons, psychiatrists and all that other bullshit you tortured me with. I’ve discovered my true self during this crisis. For the first time in my life, I know who I am and what needs to be done.”

I stood over the cab, clutching the M16. The cold air rushed up to my face and caused my lips to become numb. Dar kept her gaze trained ahead like a soldier, alert and ready. I realized that she had become totally detached from civilized behavior and had finally gone off the grid, living by her own terms, playing by her own set of rules. I felt both in awe and afraid of her. Not afraid for my own life, which I could care less about at this point, but afraid for her soul, afraid for her future on this earth as well as the future of her unborn child.

We drove endlessly through the night. I leaned down and peeked into the cabin and noticed that Kate and the children were asleep. Thorn’s eyes were locked on the darkened road ahead. Dar remained awake, the barrel of the assault rifle resting atop the roof. The darkness was complete, and I could barely make out any of the surrounding landscape. I had no idea whether we were traveling through thick woods or open countryside.

Then the first hint of sunlight began to rise over the hills. Small streaks of creamy orange light began to radiate on the horizon. For the first time, I noticed that we were in open country: rolling hills, farms and dairy pastures. I saw no livestock anywhere, no sign of human activity, no cars driving along the road. There were no birds in the air, nor could I hear any chirping or signs of life. We reached the top of a large hill and glided down the opposite side, where I half expected to see army troops waiting for us at the bottom. But fortunately, the valley appeared empty.

At the top of yet another steep rise, I noticed a large farmhouse sitting off in the distance. It was set back maybe a quarter mile from the road. Acres of barren fields surrounded it. A few broken down chassis sat rusting alongside the house. Dar banged the rifle on the top of the cabin and signaled for Thorn to head over to it. We cruised down the hill. Upon reaching the driveway, he turned the truck onto the gravel and headed straight toward the house. It looked very similar to Rick’s farmhouse, with a large barn at the end of the driveway and the entryway parallel to the driveway. Thorn hit the brakes and stopped in front of the door. Dar jumped out and directed Thorn to park behind the house so that the truck couldn’t be seen from the road. Kate and the kids jumped out next. I sprawled over the side and then watched as Thorn parked the truck behind the house. A few seconds later, he came sprinting back to join up with us.

We entered through the unlocked door and walked into the kitchen and then the living room. A large potbelly stove sat up against the back corner. Dated wallpaper hung everywhere. No one appeared home.

“Go downstairs, Thorn, and check it out.” Dar turned to me. “Go look around the main floor, see what you can find. Martha Stewart, you and the kids stay put. I’m going upstairs to see what’s there. Holler if you come across anything.”

We split up. I went around, unlocking all the doors and checking inside the rooms. Nothing seemed out of place. I tossed the curtains aside but saw nothing but farmland and rolling hills. The fields had obviously not been tilled since last year. I wandered around, opening every door I could find, looking for any evidence of life.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of Dar screaming.

I ran upstairs and found her kicking a tiny blackened figure sprawled out in front of the fireplace. It didn’t look like one of the dead creatures. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was a kid, and he was covered from head to toe in soot. He looked to be about twelve. Dar kept thrashing the poor boy until he toppled over onto the tiles beneath the fireplace, bleeding. Howling in agony, Dar took out her knife and moved in for the kill. Without thinking, I ran over and shielded the boy from her wrath and enveloped him in my arms.

“He’s just a boy, Dar. Take it easy on him.”

“Little bastard bit me! He was hiding in the chimney when he chomped down on my hand.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know who you were,” the poor kid said, cowering in my arms.

“The name’s Dar! And you better not have any diseases, kid.”

“I ain’t got no diseases.”

“Shut your mouth, punk,” Thorn said, pointing a finger at him.

The boy’s face was bloodied and bruised by the pounding Dar had given him. Red gashes streaked across his cheek from her razor-sharp nails. His left eye was nearly closed from the pummeling, and his two front teeth were missing. Dar stood in front of him, flashing the knife. He backed up into me, frightened and staring up at her as if she were the devil. A chunk of flesh had been chewed off between Dar’s forefinger and thumb, and blood was dripping onto the floor.

“I should kill you right now, you little prick!” Dar screamed, pointing the knife in his face. “Do you know who I am?”

The kid trembled in my arms.

“Want me to waste him for you, babe? Be no problem.”

“Jesus, show some mercy. He’s just a little kid, and he’s scared out of his mind,” I said.

“I say we blow his brains out. The punk took a bite out of you, Dar. Who knows? You might even turn into one of those fuckers.”

I stared at Dar, my arms wrapped around the kid’s head, and waited for her decision. She looked the kid up and down, rage filling her.

She walked over and stood in front of him. The poor kid backed up against me, terrified. I could feel him shaking like a leaf. Despite being pregnant, Dar’s muscular physique had the sinuous appearance of a gargoyle.

“What’s my name?”

“Dar,” the kid answered.

“That’s right, and you better not forget it.” She glared at him. “You sure you don’t got any diseases?”

“No, ma’am, I’m as healthy as an ox.”

“Why were you hiding in the chimney, then?” I asked.

“They came and took my family away. They took my dad out back when he complained, and they shot him in the head.”

Dar put the blade up against his throat. “Who did?”

“Those army guys. I’m a skinny little kid, so I was able to climb up the chimney and hide. Thought you were one of them army guys. That’s why I bit you.”

Dar took back the knife and stashed it in her waistband, and then stepped off.

“They came back a couple of times already. I don’t know what they were looking for, but I didn’t want to die.” Tears fell from his blackened cheek.

“What happened to your dad’s body?”

“They put it in one of those trucks and drove away.” He sniffed back tears. “I miss my family, all my brothers and sisters, but I know they’re not coming back. I just know they’re all dead.”

“You’re right about that, kid. They’re all gone, so you might as well deal with it. You need to take care of yourself from now on.”

I pulled him in to me. “What’s your name, boy?” I asked.

“Devin. Devin Willoughby.”

“You’re okay now, Devin. We won’t hurt you.” I knelt down and stared in his eyes. “How long ago did they take your family away?”

“I got a calendar I keep in the other room. They came about four weeks ago and took them all away. And that was after we made it through the winter, which was a bad one. One day the power went out, and all the radios stopped. We didn’t know nothing about what was going on. All our cattle suddenly got sick and died. Dad kept a whole bunch of meat stored down in the basement freezer, which we ate throughout the winter.”

“This is going to sound crazy,” I said, “but did any of those cattle come back to life after they died?”

“Back to life? No, mister, they just got sick and died. Couldn’t eat ’em, so we dragged them out back and buried them in a big ditch my dad dug with his tractor.”

I turned back to Dar and stared at her. “We need to take him with us.”

Dar walked over to the boy and put her hands on her hips. “You ever bite me again, kid, and I’ll cut your damn head off.”

“I’m real sorry.”

“I’m your worst nightmare as well as your only salvation.” She put her face next to his. “We’re going to crash here today. Then tonight we’re heading south. You staying here or coming with us?”

“Nothing here for me anymore. Might as well go with you guys, if that’s okay.”

“No skin off my ass. Know how to shoot?”

“Sure. Me and my pops used to shoot trap every week. Second in Maine last year in my age group.”

“Expecting a medal or something?”

“Nah, but I’ll get better, I promise.”

“You better get better if you want to survive in this sick world. You make one mistake now, and you’re going to end up like one of them fuckers,” Dar said.

Thorn and Dar turned and walked out of the room.

“What’s a fucker, mister?” Devin asked me.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” I ran my hand through his soot-filled hair. “My name’s Thom.”

“That lady scares me, Thom.”

“Me too. What town are we in, Devin?”

“Bakersville.”

I remembered from the maps that Bakersville was about eighty miles north of Portland.

“Come on, let’s go downstairs, and I’ll introduce you to the others. Just do me a favor and stay out of Dar’s way.”

“No problem. She reminds me of the devil.”

“True, but she’ll also save your life if you do what she says.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because she’s my daughter.”

After introducing Devin to Kate and the kids, we decided to sleep in shifts. Kate and the kids went upstairs and slept on one of the beds. Devin and I took up in the living room while Dar and Thorn played cards and smoked cigarettes in the kitchen. Thorn discovered a half-filled bottle of whiskey in one of the cabinets and helped himself to it.

Devin and I killed time playing checkers. He was very good at the game and beat me more times than I beat him. After an hour of playing, Devin pulled out his book of the Grimm fairy tales and started to read. I pulled out my journal and scribbled furiously.

Thorn crashed next after Kate and the kids came down. Devin found some toys and stuffed bears for the children to play with. When it was my turn to rest, I took a short nap upstairs in one of the beds. I didn’t sleep well, tossing and turning the entire time. After three fitful hours, I returned downstairs to relieve Dar, but she was too keyed up to go to sleep.

“You’re going to need some rest,” I said.

“Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself,” she said, sharpening her ax. “Look at you, you look like one of those homeless dudes begging in Harvard Square.”

Darkness was now descending over the land. At Dar’s directions, Thorn and I carried as much water out to the truck as we could fit. The entire bed was now weighed down with supplies. We siphoned off some gas from the barrel and filled up the tank. Thorn checked the engine oil and water level in the radiator. When the vehicle appeared road-ready, we went back inside with some food and passed it around. Breakfast consisted of peanut butter, stale crackers and cans of green beans.

Once we’d finished eating, Dar declared that it was time to go. We exited through the back door and positioned ourselves in the truck. Dar tossed Devin a rifle, and the kid caught it and did a once-over of the weapon, declaring it fit to shoot. Then he positioned himself between Dar and myself in the bed of the truck, his chin barely above the metallic roof of the cabin. Thorn turned the ignition, and the engine roared to life. He backed out of the spot behind the house and then drove down the long gravel driveway. When he reached the main road, he dimmed the headlights and proceeded south.

“Where we going, Thom?” Devin asked.

“To Boston.”

“Why Boston?”

“To find my wife and son.”

“How old is your son?”

“About your age, maybe a little older.”

“Now I understand why you want to go to Boston. Me, I always wanted to go there and see Fenway Park.”

I remembered the words coming out of that static.
Get out of there!
The potential nuclear threat scared the shit out of me. And Rick had known about the threat the entire time and never said a word about it to anyone. But why? Did he want all of us to die? And who was that person on the other end of the line? Military? A government official? It appeared as if Rick had been communicating with someone higher up for quite some time. I prayed that we might make it out of here before such a catastrophic event happened.

Chapter 24

N
OT TEN MINUTES INTO THE JOURNEY,
we heard a tremendous noise. It sounded like a million wings flapping in the air, and it was accompanied by the sound of a low, undulating cooing. Thorn stopped the truck, jumped out onto the road, and looked up. We all stared skyward. A crescent moon hung in the star-studded sky, although we could barely see it now because of the procession of birds blocking everything out. Millions of them flew southward in a massive formation. I couldn’t tell what species of bird they were on account of the darkness, but it must have been quite a few. Suddenly the sound of animal hooves began to pound on the pavement behind us. “What the hell is that?” Thorn shouted, clambering back into the truck and slamming the door shut behind him. Kate clutched the girls to her as the ground beneath us began to tremble and shake. We remained perfectly still, hoping not to be stampeded to death. To my left, I made out the silhouettes of deer, horses and moose, and some smaller four-legged creatures in between. The stampede lasted for several minutes.