What Survives of Us (Colorado Chapters Book 1) (21 page)

She didn’t let them linger for long.  After just a few days in the wilderness, it was disconcerting to see the road, the cars, the silent and deserted amusement park, the reminders of the plague.  It was hard not to hurry down the steep, wide switchbacks, but as on each of the previous days, Macy’s early morning strength had given way to exhaustion, and Naomi slowed their pace to a crawl.  Her own strength was faltering; she could feel it in the constant tremor in her legs, the ease with which she stumbled.  She knew she couldn’t carry Macy very far,
and had to put off that moment, if it came, as long as possible.  They stopped twice more to rest, and to eat lunch, before they arrived at the last switchback leading down to the trailhead.  From here they could see houses through the trees, but before they stepped out of the cover of the pines, Naomi stopped.

Torn between the urge to hurry, hurry, hurry and reluctance to go on, she hesitated, debating.  Just like in Manitou Springs, a subtle menace permeated the air; there were predators here, desperate people, she could feel it.  Hades moved to her side, taut and alert, and she didn’t need to
join
with him to know he sensed it, too.  She reached down to undo the straps that held his pack on, and led Macy over to a relatively flat, open spot just off the edge of the trail.

“Macy, I’m going to go down with Hades first.  I want you to wait here with Persephone and our pack until I come for you.  I’ll find a vehicle and bring it back, but if you hear a car or a truck, stay out of sight.  I’ll come get you.”  She smoothed her hand over Macy’s hair.   “You can rest and get some more to eat and drink, okay?  I won’t be long.”

Macy’s face was pinched with exhaustion and anxiety, but she nodded.  Even though it was a warm mid-May day, she was shivering here in the cool shade.  Naomi spread the sleeping bag out on the thick pine needles which covered the ground, then settled Macy on it, setting up the pack as a backrest.  She zipped Macy’s hoodie up to her chin, then took off her own sweatshirt and wrapped it around her daughter.  Persephone curled against Macy’s side, and Naomi gave the little dog a stroke along with silent instructions. 
Keep her safe.  Protect her.
 

She hugged Macy, forcing herself not to cling, then stood.  “We’ll be back soon.  Eat a little if you can, and try to sleep.”

She picked up the shotgun, and instead of slinging it over her shoulder by the strap, tucked it under her arm.  The handgun, she slid into her back pocket.  Then she and Hades headed down to the railroad tie steps that marked the trailhead, Ares slipping along beside them.

She could go left, and uphill, or right and downhill.  She chose downhill.  The first house they came to seemed deserted, but Naomi couldn’t see any vehicles.  She started up the driveway, but a low growl from Hades commanded her attention.  He was staring at the house, rigid with tension.  He broke off his growl, glanced at her, then focused on the house again and resumed his rumbling warning.

Danger.
  As before, it wasn’t a word but a feeling, and it made Naomi’s heart pound heavily.

“Well.  I guess that’s clear enough.”  She swiped her sweaty palms on her jeans and repositioned the shotgun.  “Let’s go.”

The connection between her and the dog remained strong as they moved on, but wasn’t as overwhelming as what Naomi had experienced in the past.  Her hearing and sense of smell were heightened, but it wasn’t the sensory onslaught of before.  As they walked, Ares slid up and down the bank on the downhill side of the road, crouched and slinking.  Every time he appeared, she felt an echo of Hades’ loathing.  Given the chance, the big dog would happily use the nasty kitty as a chew toy.

They passed a couple more houses on the steep uphill side of the road, but didn’t investigate.  Naomi was really hoping they would find a vehicle parked alongside the road, preferably with the keys dangling from the ignition.  She’d been thinking this over for the past several days, and she realized her best chance of finding what she was looking for probably meant finding a body as well. 

Quite a few people had died behind the wheel, she had observed, though she wasn’t sure why.  Maybe they hadn’t realized how sick they were when they got behind the wheel.  Maybe they’d been trying to find help.  Maybe they’d been in denial – it was human nature to pretend the unthinkable wasn’t true.  Whatever the case, Naomi just needed to find one who had shut the engine off first.

They slowed as they approached a cluster of houses on the downhill side of the road.  Several vehicles were parked in the vicinity, and Naomi looked over at Hades.  He was alert, but not growling.  Moving as quietly as she could, she side-stepped down the hill until she reached the clearing behind one of the small cottages.  Hades stuck close to her side as they moved around to what appeared to be a parking area shared by several houses.  Two pick-ups, a mini-van, a tiny subcompact and a brand new hybrid.  Bodies in one of the pick-ups and the subcompact that she could see for sure.  She moved to the mini-van.

No body, and unlocked.  She popped the door open, wincing at the loud metal-on-metal screech of hinges that needed WD-40.  No keys.  She eyeballed the cottage the vehicle was parked in front of.  Did she dare go in, look for a key rack or a purse?  She left the door standing open and moved to the passenger side of the occupied pick-up.

The woman had died wearing a soft pink robe and matching fluffy slippers.  She was slumped to the side and her face was turned towards the driver’s side window.  Her purse sat in the passenger seat.  A shopping list lay beside it, written on the back of an envelope:  Cough syrup, milk, diapers, animal crackers.  Naomi shut her eyes and swallowed hard.

She opened them again and focused on the keys dangling in the ignition.  Decision time.  The pick-up was just a two-seater; it would be crowded with her, Macy, the dogs, and if they could convince him to join them, Ares.  To go looking for the minivan keys, or remove this sad, dead mother and get back to Macy that much faster?  Her stomach tightened at the thought of touching the woman, but–

Hades gave a short, sharp bark, and Naomi whirled around.  A girl was standing about 20 feet away, staring at Hades with glassy eyes.  She was perhaps a few years older than Macy, right on the edge of adolescence, and she was filthy, wearing stained jeans and a discolored Denver Broncos t-shirt.  She took a hesitant step forward, then another.

“Your dog is big.  Is he nice?”

Naomi had to swallow several times before she could speak.  “He is.  Are you alone here?”

The girl didn’t answer.  She took another step towards Hades, holding her hand out.  “Nice doggy.  Will you let me pet you?  You’re a sweet boy.”

Hades radiated caution and watchfulness, but he wasn’t sensing a threat from the slowly approaching girl.  Naomi tried again.  “Are your parents still alive?  Is someone taking care of you?”

“Nice doggy.  That’s a good boy.  Do you want a treat?  Want a chewie?”  The girl didn’t seem to have heard Naomi’s question; she was focused completely on Hades.  Naomi had a moment to wonder if she was mentally unstable when Ares came out of nowhere.

With a banshee yowl, he darted between the girl and Hades, every hair on his body bottle-brushed out.  He hissed, yowled, and hissed again, his green eyes narrowed to glowing slits as he glared at the girl.  Both the girl and Hades started back, then the girl made a short dash at Ares.

“Get out of here!  Scat!  Go on!”

Ares batted at the air and stood his ground.  Hades growled, barked, then his head snapped up and he stiffened.  He trotted swiftly to Naomi’s side, and barked sharply at something behind her.  Naomi whirled.

The boy stepped around the corner of the nearest cottage holding a baseball bat.  “We won’t hurt you.  We just want your dog.”

“My dog?”  This was getting stranger by the minute.  “Why on Earth do you want my dog?”

The boy was maybe 15 or 16 years old, and like the girl, hadn’t taken his eyes off Hades.  His grip tightened on the baseball bat, flexing it slightly into the air.  “We’re hungry.”

My God.  Naomi looked back over her shoulder.  Ares was pacing between them and the girl, emitting a low, feline growl.  The girl’s eyes were full of angry tears now, and there was a long kitchen knife in her hand.  Where it had come from, Naomi didn’t know.

It would be so easy to do.  Dogs were conditioned to trust humans, and had been for millennia.  You could lure them in with a gentle tone, commonly recognized words of praise, and kill them before they sensed a threat.  Lucky for them, Ares was by nature far more suspicious.

Naomi lifted the shotgun to her shoulder, pointed it straight at the boy’s chest and clicked the safety off.  She looked over her shoulder at the girl, and then back at the boy.  Her legs were trembling violently, but the shotgun was rock-steady.

The boy flexed the bat again and took a step forward.  Naomi sighted in, mouth so dry she could scarcely speak.  “I will shoot you.”  Her voice shook so badly, it sounded like she was crying.  Maybe she was crying.  “I don’t want to, but I will.  I won’t let you have my dog.”

The boy lowered the bat.  “It’s just an animal.  We’re people.  We’re starving.  Our parents are dead, and we’ve cleaned out all the houses around here.”

“I’m sorry for that.  I am.”  God, should she try to take them with her?  She couldn’t just leave them here, could she?  She glanced behind her at the girl, who hadn’t once taken her hungry eyes off Hades.  Then she thought of Macy.  She tightened her grip on the shotgun, and her voice came out steadier.  “I have to take care of something, but I’ll try to come back for you.  Can you hang on for a day, maybe two?”

The boy didn’t answer for several long seconds.  Then, sullenly:  “I guess.”

“Good.  Okay.”  Naomi lowered the shotgun slightly and snapped the safety back on.  She slid the handgun out of her back pocket and held it so the kids could see it, then slung the shotgun over her shoulder.  “I’m going to get this woman out.  Then I’m going to leave.”  She hesitated, feeling more than a little ridiculous.  “If either of you move towards me or my animals, I will shoot you.  I’m a crack shot.  I almost never miss.  I mean, I never miss.  Never.”

Babbling, she thought hysterically.  Teenagers always made her nervous.  She closed her trembling lips firmly, and moved around the pick-up.  When she opened the door, the smell of corruption made her eyes water and her nose run.  She sucked in a deep breath of air and held it, using her free hand to grasp the collar of the woman’s robe and drag her out.

The corpse thumped wetly to the ground.  Naomi dragged the body clear of the truck, leaving a wet trail on the ground, checking the position of the children every few seconds.  She let the woman’s body drop, then moved back to the truck, grimacing at the condition of the front seat.  She checked the minivan, then the other pickup, keeping her handgun at the ready, looking for something to throw over the ruined seat.  She finally found a space blanket in the subcompact.

The boy and the girl watched her every move in silence, not offering to help.  Every once in a while, the girl would lift a hand to swipe at the now-flowing tears, but she didn’t seem aware that she was crying.  Hades and Ares stood together by the bumper of the pickup, united for the moment by a common threat.  Naomi covered the seat with the space blanket, then snapped her fingers at the animals.  “Hades.  Ares.  Come.”

Both animals obeyed at once, leaping into the cab of the pickup at her gesture.  Naomi slid the shotgun off her shoulder and tucked it firmly between the top of the seat and the back window, checking to make sure the safety was still on.  Then she stood there, feeling as lost as she’d ever felt. 

She had no idea what to say to them.  A part of her couldn’t believe she was going to just drive away and leave these babies on their own, starving, reduced to hunting pets for food.  Another part of her shut that line of thought down cold.  What was her guilt, when she weighed it against Macy’s survival?

She ended up not saying anything at all.  She climbed into the truck and set her handgun in her lap.  It took two tries to start the engine, and when it finally roared to life, she glanced one last time at the children but avoided making eye contact.  There was nothing to say.  She would either be back for them or she wouldn’t.

Naomi crept out of the parking area, keeping the children in her peripheral vision until they were out of sight.  Once she was on the road, she rolled the driver’s side window down, trying to dissipate the smell.  She was painfully aware of the amount of noise the truck made – in such a silent world, the sound of an engine would attract trouble from miles away.  She drove the short distance back up to the trailhead, then parked the
truck, pocketed the keys and shoved the handgun in her back pocket.

Hades was right on her heels as she ran up the path to where she’d left Macy.  Her daughter was curled up, sound asleep, but Persephone was wide awake, rigid with tension until she spotted them.  She wiggled and pressed close as Naomi first shouldered the pack then scooped up her daughter, sleeping bag and all, and headed back down the hill.

Hurry, hurry, hurry, her mind chanted.  The kids might have followed her.  Other people might have heard the truck, and already be on their way to investigate.  Feet sliding on the scree, she slipped and staggered back to the vehicle, tucked Macy into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt.  Persephone jumped in and curled up on Macy’s lap, who slept on.  Naomi struggled out of the backpack and threw it in the bed of the pickup.