Threnody (Book 1) (29 page)

Chapter 32

October 20, 2015

John and Reams always made it a point to travel during the day, if possible, due to the sensory impairment caused by the darkness.  They had not noticed any correlation between the time of day and the activity level of the revs, offering further confirmation to the fact that the infected did not seem to need rest.  Now, traveling at night amidst a massive thunderstorm, they felt exceptionally vulnerable.  The heavy rain compounded the visual impairment caused by the darkness.  Additionally, they could no longer rely on the telltale sounds of the infected for warning as the rain and thunder drowned out many noises.  While John was not certain, he worried that the rain might also alter their ability to smell the infected.  “I sure hope this damn rain is causing the revs as much trouble as it’s causing us,” remarked John as he wiped the rain from his eyes.

John estimated that his house on Hood Street was a little less than six miles from Hermitage Estates, along a route that would take them through town, and past the area where Trenton reported seeing the young girl.  John tried to recall how long ago that had been but was unsure. 
A week perhaps?  Is it even worth checking out now?
 

“I don’t like this, I can’t see shit!” said John loud enough for the others to hear over the din of the storm.  He imagined a rev would have to be less than six feet in front of him before he would be able to see it in the current conditions.  “Since we’re in the clear for now, I vote we find a place to hole up and let the storm move through.”

Exhausted and freezing in the cold rain, Reams and Kate both nodded their heads in silent agreement.  If
Ethan
heard his words he gave no indication of it as he stared into the dark, rainy distance behind them.

After a moment
Ethan
spoke hesitantly, without shifting his eyes from the direction in which they had come, “I’m not sure this is the best time to stop.  I think I heard something other than the storm.  You guys head over there for now. I’m going to take a quick look around.”

Before anyone could protest,
Ethan
slipped off into the darkness.  The group had travelled a little more than a mile away from Hermitage Estates following a rural county road bordered by the Tombigbee River on their left.  While they could see no buildings or other such manmade structures in the vicinity, Kate spotted a rock outcropping in the direction
Ethan
had indicated.  “There!  Looks like we could shelter under those rock formations,” said Kate, amazed at the apparent ease with which
Ethan
spotted the nearly indiscernible location.

Clambering over several small boulders, John, Reams, and Kate ascended to the natural shelter of the sandstone formation.  The overhanging rock created an alcove large enough for a group twice their size to rest comfortably.  In addition to the earthen smell of the dusty floor that permeated the stagnant air, a campfire scent emanated from the charred remains of a log long ago burnt in a makeshift stone fire ring.  Several rocks and cut logs, presumably used for seating, lay scattered around the centrally located fire pit.  Were it not for a few empty beer cans and the typical graffiti stating such things as, ‘Rodney + April 4Ever,’ and, ‘Class of ’96 Rawks!,’ Kate imagined the set up might have been created by one of the Native American tribes long since departed from the area.  She noticed Reams staring quizzically at the scattered white patches adorning the stone walls and roof.

“It’s chalk.  Climbers dust holds with it to improve the friction,” said Kate matter-of-factly.  As the roof was approximately eight feet off the ground at the highest point, Reams couldn’t imagine why anyone would bother to climb the structure when they could simply walk around to the top.

“I’m going to the front to keep an eye out for
Ethan
,” said John before moving to the mouth of the cave.  Taking a knee, he peered out into the foggy darkness that seemed dense enough to swim in.  Although
Ethan
had been gone only fifteen minutes, an unsettling feeling overcame John, leaving him nervous that whatever the man heard was more than his mind playing tricks on him.

During a slight lull in the storm that fortuitously coincided with a break in the fog, John thought he caught a glimpse of
Ethan
moving up the road toward the cave.  Despite his best effort, however, he was unable to keep the shadowy figure in view as it melded back into the dark miasma of the pluvial night air.  With eyes straining and mind concentrating intensely, he did not immediately register the scratching sound that preceded several small rocks trundling down the steep slope above and to his left. Another faint impression of movement in the distance made John wonder what
Ethan
was doing just as the last echoes of the sound triggered the alarms in his brain. 
If
Ethan
is out there then what the hell made that noise?

Jumping to his feet and bracing for the worst, John shouldered his rifle to face down whatever horror approached.  With a blur the thing responsible for the sound dropped from the roof and landed on the packed dirt floor with a hollow thud.  John brought his rifle up from the low ready position and began to line up his target in the dim light.  As his sights came into alignment and he began to apply pressure to the trigger, two things occurred simultaneously.  The target, which remained unknown to John in the darkness of the cave, rolled to the right out of his line of fire, and an unsettled feeling in his stomach caused his trigger finger to hesitate for a fraction of a second.

“Holy shit,
Ethan
! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” exclaimed John as he finally recognized the figure that came up on one knee behind a nearby rock.  His heart thudded so hard John thought it might actually bruise his ribs.

“Sorry, brother, but we need to move.  I think the horde from Hermitage managed to get through somehow, and they’re not too far behind,” said
Ethan
with an urgent tone that immediately refocused John’s frenzied mind.

“But I just saw you down…” John’s voice trailed off as the realization of what he had seen – specifically how close it had been – clicked into place with bone-chilling detail.

“Oh, hell!” exclaimed John as he found his voice again.  He wasted no time shaking off the cobwebs of confusion and was already moving to get Reams and Kate. 
Ethan
took John’s position at the mouth of the cave, keeping a watchful eye on the road in the direction of the approaching horde.

“Reams! Kate! We need to move! 
Ethan
says the horde from Hermitage managed to get out and aren’t far behind,” declared John bluntly.

Both of them leapt to their feet instantly, displaying very little emotion to the news, almost like they had been expecting it.  Given everything they endured, both individually and collectively, since the beginning of the plague, John understood their paucity of emotion on some levels.  Still, the discrepancy between his reaction and theirs bothered him.
Maybe they assume the worst so they can be prepared for it should it come?  Perhaps he was simply being naïve to think they had escaped to relative safety?

Again, John’s thoughts drifted back to loved ones taken by the plague—Rebecca, Al, and Sylvia—and he again wondered if it was only a matter of time for the rest of them. 
Are we merely postponing the inevitable?  I’m far too tired to fight if that’s the case!
  Before his mind could drag him any further away from the present situation, he took a long, deep, steadying breath and muttered the one word that still brought him hope: Ava.

Scrambling down the rain-slick, moss covered rocks, the group hurriedly moved back onto the road.  The waning storm offered some improvement in visibility as the moon periodically peered out from behind the thinning cloud cover.  John was thankful that the storm seemed to be dying down but reconsidered this as he heard the faint, but unmistakable, rasping groan of the infected mass on the wind.  Subconsciously, they quickened their pace – the sound serving as a riding crop.

Having travelled at a fast walking pace for over thirty minutes, John was relieved that he could no longer hear the guttural calls of the pursuing revs.  Before he could share this with the others, however,
Ethan
came to an abrupt stop with one fist held aloft to signal the others to do the same.  He appeared to be focusing intensely on something ahead of them, though none of them could see what it was he found so interesting.  After a moment, John thought the horde might be closing in again as he heard their ominous sound in the distance. 
Impossible!  The infected can’t move that fast!

Gazing ahead at the highway stretching up the slight hill in the distance, the asphalt appeared to wriggle and shimmy ever so slightly, much the same as when the heat of a hot summer day radiates off the pavement.  As it was neither hot nor daytime, John found this rather disconcerting.  For the second time in less than an hour, the pieces of information swirling around in his mind clicked together to show him the terrifying reality of their situation: a second horde approached their position from the front, effectively sandwiching them on the highway. The wide-eyed look of sheer terror he saw adorning Reams’ face and the sharp, clipped inhalation he heard from Kate told John that they, too, had figured out what
Ethan
saw ahead in the distance.

“Dammit!  What the hell are we going to do now?” asked Reams with no small amount of panic evident in his voice.  With the river running parallel to the highway’s left side, John realized that their best option was to head into the wooded area to their right.  “It’s too damn dark to go through the forest.  We can barely see out in the open, so there’s no way we’ll be able to see in there!  Maybe we should try to swim across the river?” said Reams.

Though
Ethan
understood his point about being unable to see in the woods, he shook his head dismissively at the idea of trying to swim across the river.  “Even if we could swim across the river, I’m not sure we would survive the temperature.  It doesn’t have to be freezing to give you hypothermia with enough exposure time.  Besides, we don’t know how wide the river is here or anything about the current,” said
Ethan
to back up his rejection of the idea.  “The group ahead is about three quarters of a mile away.  We can follow the road a bit farther to see if any better avenue of escape presents itself,” added
Ethan
.

After walking nearly a quarter mile, John began to get a little antsy about how close the approaching horde was getting.  He was not keen on the idea of playing chicken with the infected mass bearing down upon them.  At this distance, their collective moans could be heard with ease, and he could almost make out some of the individual revs comprising the horde even in the dark.  John looked to
Ethan
who shared his concerned expression.  “Reams, there appears to be a break in the woods just ahead on the right.  We’ve got to get off the highway.  They’re getting too close.  With any luck, we can get out of their path before they catch our trail,” said John, hoping the big man would accept his words without protest.

As they neared the clearing, a gravel parking lot in front of a small building came into view.  There were at least a dozen cars in the lot as well as a large passenger van.  Even though there were no lights on inside, the building’s white walls seemed to gleam in the scant moonlight.  The darkly contrasting cross on the white sign near the edge of the road made it clear the building was a church.  As they grew nearer, they could read the fading text painted on the rustic, wooden sign:  ‘Enoch Hill Baptist Church, Est. 1824.’

“Quick! Head this way,” said
Ethan
as he jogged toward the gravel parking lot about fifty feet ahead.  He saw a glint of light reflecting off a chain link fence behind the building.  “We’ll climb over the fence to the right of the building.  It won’t be enough to stop them if they follow, but it will slow them down,” he added.

While the majority of the cars in the church’s small parking lot appeared to be parked in an orderly fashion, a dark colored Lincoln Town Car was smashed into the side of two parked cars near the door of the church. 
Ethan
slowed as he reached the gravel, both to minimize the sound of his footsteps and to scan the immediate area for any sign of the infected.  The burgeoning drone of the infected mass ahead could be heard clearly in the distance, punctuating the urgency in their situation.  Finding no threat in the parking lot, the four survivors slowly advanced toward the right side of the church while remaining ever vigilant to their surroundings.
Ethan
and Reams passed the wrecked Town Car and could see no apparent reason for the crash.  Most wrecks the group had seen were on open roads or at least in parking lots large enough to allow drivers to gain enough speed to lead to an accident.  Reams considered this as he passed the cars with Kate and John trailing behind him.  The side doors of the parked cars were smashed in such a way that Reams surmised the Town Car would have had to hit them, reverse, and hit them again.  Envisioning the tire tracks in the loose gravel, he realized they would go along with that as well. 
Why would someone smash into those cars not once, but twice?