Affliction Z: Abandoned Hope (Post Apocalyptic Thriller) (22 page)

Barbara and Emma slept shoulder to shoulder. They looked
peaceful. That would change when they woke up.

Addison kept quiet. She found it hard to do. It had been
over a week since she had anyone she felt comfortable talking to. So, she
waited while they slept, wondering at what point one of them would be allowed
to leave the cell. She noted that the others down there looked like they hadn’t
bathed in some time. This kept her from getting her hopes up.

The door at the end of the hall thumped open. The low murmur
of voices fell silent. The soft thud of boots grew louder, then stopped somewhere
in the middle.

“Last cell on your right,” a man said. “And don’t let no one
know I let you down here.”

“Thank you,” a woman said.

Addison relaxed at the soft sound of a female voice. The
woman walked toward the cell. Her steps were barely audible. Addison turned her
head to the left and saw Jenny, a hood covering her head, kneel down on the
other side of the bars.

“What are you doing here?” Addison asked.

“Do you want my help?” Jenny said.

“With what?”

“Getting out of here.”

Addison looked up at the faint glow coming from the ceiling.
“What makes you so sure they’ll let me out? And don’t tell me you can convince
Phil to do it. I saw how he talked to you. He barely tolerates you.”

Even in the dim lighting, Addison saw the woman’s eyes water
over.

“I’m sorry,” Addison said.

Jenny wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She glanced
toward Emma and Barbara. “They asleep?”

Addison nodded.

“I’m not talking about going out there to be part of the
community.”

“Then what are you talking about, Jenny?”

“You got away from here. Sure, you made a mistake, but other
than that, you escaped. If you’d have known about the GPS, you’d have never
been found.”

“Thanks for destroying my hope.”

Jenny shook her head. “Quit being a smartass and listen to
me. I know this land, but I’m scared to go alone. There’s a man out there who
owes me a favor and will look the other way for a few seconds.”

“Why would he do this for you?”

“Because I’ve done some things for him.”

“Such as?”

Jenny said nothing.

“You know what?” Addison said. “Don’t tell me. I think I
figured it out.” She paused a beat. Pointing toward Emma and Barbara, she
asked, “What about them?”

Jenny shook her head. “There’s going to be an ATV waiting.
Four will be too many, I think.”

“You think?”

“I don’t know which one he’s going to supply us with.”

“You get him to give us one with four seats. They don’t
belong here, Jenny. Someone stole them, like they did me. They’re being forced
to be here. You know how that feels, right?”

Jenny exhaled. Her hot breath hit Addison on the cheek. If
the woman’s breath stunk, she couldn’t tell over the smell in the cells.

“Be ready to go tonight.”

“All of us,” Addison said.

“I can’t make any promises.”

“I’m not leaving without them.”

“Okay. We’ll make it work somehow. I need to finish making
arrangements to get you out of here after dark, get the ATV placed, and the
guard paid off.”

Addison nodded. She didn’t watch as Jenny rose and walked
away. As far as she was concerned, the woman hadn’t even come to see her. The
chances of Jenny’s plan happening were slim.

“Are we really getting out of here?” Emma asked softly.

Addison scooted across the floor and squeezed in between the
girl and the cell bars. “I don’t know, Emma. She says she can, but I don’t know
if she’s believable.”

“You don’t trust her?”

“I don’t know if I can, which is more than I can say for
most everyone else. I know I can’t trust them. She tried to help me before I
left. What happened after she did was odd, though. She said her dad, the guy
that runs this camp, would listen to her. She said if I were friends with her,
it would give me advantages. He came in and blasted her, though. Told me that I
shouldn’t associate with her, and if I did no one would look at me for the
better.”

“Maybe she needed a friend,” Emma said.

“Maybe,” Addison said.

“Or she thought the two of you could escape together. After
all, that’s why she came down here, right?”

Addison nodded. “I think she’s been working on this since
they came here. I can’t blame her, either. I wouldn’t want to be around her
step-father.”

“So you’ll go then?”

“If she shows up, yeah.”

“What if it’s a trap?”

“What are they going to do to me?” Addison said. “I’m
already locked up down here. They could kill me, I guess, but to be honest, I
think that’d be doing me a favor at this point.”

“Don’t say that.”

Addison glanced at the girl. She reached for her hand and
squeezed it. “I’m just thinking out loud. I didn’t mean it.”

Emma said nothing. The girl stared at the wall, unblinking.

“You’re coming with me,” Addison said.

A smile formed at the corners of the girl’s mouth.

“And whatever happens, happens. But we’ll be together. The
three of us can handle anything.”

Addison hoped her words offered Emma more encouragement than
they did for her. The future felt bleak no matter what they did. She decided
that if she had to go down, she’d do it on her terms.

Her thoughts turned positive the more she thought about the
situation. With four of them, their chances of survival increased. It wouldn’t
be her alone, trying to figure out how to make it. Each of them could take a
job, a specific task, and work it. They could create a camp if necessary. Hunt
and gather food and supplies.

She figured she could navigate to that house again, though
she quickly cast that idea aside. If she could find it, the men could too.
That’d probably be one of the first places they looked. But if that place
existed, other places would too. They could wait out the winter in one of them
and then head south late spring.

By then, things will have changed,
she thought.

The virus would be gone. Most people would be as well. Maybe
even those who had turned into monsters.

And if they weren’t, who cared? Addison would rather take
her chances with those things out there than live in a dirty, disgusting cell
for the rest of her life.

Emma leaned forward and looked away. The girl’s long hair
spilled across her legs. She made a few noises, waited a moment or two, and
then leaned back. Turning to Addison, she said, “I don’t know if Barbara is
strong enough for this.”

“Are any of us?” Addison said.

Emma shrugged. “I’m afraid she’ll do something to mess it
up, though.”

“Listen, Emma, we’ll make her strong. Okay? We all support
one another. There will be times when one of us is down, or hurt, or maybe just
feels like we can’t go on another step. During those moments it’ll be up to the
others in the group to pick that person up, physically, if necessary, and carry
them forward. Once we do this, we are committed to one another forever. Till
death do we part and all that jazz. I won’t give up on you, and you don’t give
up on her. Got it?”

The tension drained from Emma’s face. She nodded and smiled
for a second.

What an odd age, Addison thought. Ready to be independent
and take on the world, yet still a child in some ways.

“Should we tell her?” Emma asked.

Addison leaned her head back, staring up at the hole in the
ceiling again. Just once, she wished a breeze would blow down from it and clear
out the foul stench that lingered. Every time she thought she had adjusted, it
slammed into her like an eighteen-wheeler.

“I think it’ll be best that we don’t,” Addison said. “Your
concern over her tells me that’s the best way to handle it. She’ll probably do
best if it all happens in a moment or two. We’ll whisk her away. Before she
knows it, we’ll be a mile from this place.”

Emma said nothing. She nodded a few times. The girl’s eyes
closed and her breathing deepened.

Good idea, Addison thought. If only she could sleep too.
From that point on, she determined that they wouldn’t say another word about
the plan, even if it didn’t go down tonight.

And if it did, she hoped it wasn’t a trap. No matter what
she said, life was worth living.

“Pull off the road here,” Sean said.

“What?” Derrick said, as if he’d been knocked out of a
trance.

“Pull over.”

“Why?”

Sean took a deep breath to compose himself. Yelling at the
guy wouldn’t do any good. “I’m thinking we should bypass the checkpoint.”

Derrick angled the truck onto the grass shoulder and brought
it to a stop. He wiped the sweat from his brow. “We’d have to walk then. This
truck is too big to get through the woods.”

“We can pull it in, though, can’t we?”

“I guess so.”

Sean grabbed the GPS off the dash and studied it. They were
almost five miles from the camp and hiking through the woods, which meant
roughly two and a half hours, maybe a bit longer if he took into account
corrections to their path. He didn’t trust the GPS. What if someone somewhere
else could monitor it? Surely, a truck heading through the woods would throw up
a few flags.

“How far are we from this checkpoint?” Sean asked.

“‘Bout a mile.”

He pointed at the tangle of streets and cul-de-sacs between
them and the checkpoint. “This is a neighborhood here.”

“Was,” Derrick said.

“What do you mean, ‘was’?”

“We torched it.”

“Why?”

“Infected crawled all over the place, man. Sick people that
wouldn’t die. They took out five of our guys. Rest of us got out, got back to
camp.”

“Then what?”

“Like I said, we torched it.”

Sean had a few ideas of how they went about it. He didn’t
push for more information. What was done was done. Nothing he could do about it
or for the innocent who were unable to make it out of the burning inferno.
Maybe they were better off anyway.

“There used to be trails behind that neighborhood,” Sean
said.

“They still there,” Derrick said.

“Okay, we’re gonna stay off-road until we get to those.
That’ll keep us out of view of your guys. If I remember right, it shouldn’t be
difficult to head from those trails into the woods. We’ll go deep enough to
hide the truck and then take the rest on foot.”

Derrick turned at the waist. He extended his arm along the
back of the seat. “Why do you want to avoid them? They’ll let me pass. Hell, we
put a hat on you and they’ll probably think you’re supposed to be with me. Then
we can just drive the rest of the way. No need to get more ticks on us than we
deserve by hiking through those damn woods.”

Sean ran his hands through his sweat-soaked hair. “I know it
seems that simple, Derrick, but it just isn’t. I don’t want any more bloodshed.
We won’t get through the checkpoint that easily. Someone will die, and it won’t
be me. It might be you. It’ll definitely be your friends. You don’t want that.”

“They ain’t my friends.”

“They’re the men you built this society with, though. You
share a bond. Don’t break that by putting them in a position to die.”

“What makes you think you can take them out? Why’re you such
a badass?”

Sean said nothing. He stared out across the grassy field and
the woods behind it.

“Whatever,” Derrick said. “We’re going to the checkpoint.”

Before the man could shift the transmission into drive, Sean
placed the barrel of his gun against Derrick’s head. “Don’t think I won’t pull
the trigger, man. I know where I need to go now. I’m doing you a favor bringing
you back. Yeah, maybe I’ll use you as a bargaining chip, but don’t for a minute
think that I need to. I’m more than capable of doing this without you. If it
means more people die, so be it. That’ll be on your hands, not mine.”

Derrick lifted his hands in the air. His face turned dark
red from holding his breath. Sean imagined the guy’s bladder was ready to burst
from fear. He’d probably never had a gun held to his head like that. It wasn’t
a calming feeling.

“Now, get off the road and head toward those tracks.”

Five minutes later they bounced along the dirt path behind
the houses. The air smelled of smoke. The smoldering ruins of the homes
reminded Sean of the makeshift graveyard outside of the facility in Nigeria. No
one would rise from these ashes, though.

“We go any further and they might spot us,” Derrick said.

Sean looked toward the road. They’d lose cover in another
quarter-mile. “Pull off here. Drive straight out.” A few minutes later he
instructed Derrick to turn left. They hit the woods shortly afterward.

Derrick slowed down as they passed the first trees. The
bright sunlight turned to flickers through green and red and yellow leaves. The
man operated the truck as if he were on a slow slalom course, weaving around
one tree after another.

“That’s far enough,” Sean said. “We gotta leave some room to
get out.”

“You’re thinking about coming back here?”

Sean shrugged. “I don’t know how things are going to go
down. It’s just one option.” He opened his door and let himself slide off the
seat. Marley hopped down. Sean bent over and scratched the dog on top of the
head.

“You stay with me, but stay quiet.”

The dog let out a slight whimper in response.

Derrick’s door opened. Sean heard the leaves crunch under
the guy’s weight. Derrick looked up at the trees, then over his shoulder.

“You hear something?” Sean said.

Derrick shook his head. “Just looking.”

“We need to head east north east. Got it?”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“I’m gonna ask you one more time, Derrick. There’s no traps
or anything like that I should be aware of, right?”

“None.”

“And outside of the four men around the camp, we aren’t
going to run into anyone else?”

“Four men inside, four outside.”

“Right.” Sean walked past the truck, stopped and turned back
to Derrick. “You walk in front.”

Derrick took the lead. The two men walked in silence. The
air cooled after the first twenty-five yards, and stabilized not much further
than that.

Sean used the compass on the edge of a hunting knife he
found in the glove box of the truck to guide them. He estimated the miles they
walked by the minutes that passed.

Roughly a mile and three quarters in, he said, “Let’s stop
here.”

“Why? We’re almost there.”

“I know. I want to rest for now.”

“How long?”

“Until sundown.”

“Why then?”

“Sit down and shut up, Derrick. Close your eyes and get some
rest if you need to. We’re staying here until I say it’s time to go.”

The man lowered himself to the ground and leaned back
against a tree trunk. Derrick glared at Sean for a few minutes before shutting
his eyes and drifting off.

Sean watched the wavering green canvas in front of him. The
sounds of the woods kept him on edge. Twigs snapped frequently, and leaves
rustled when the breeze picked up. The flickering sunlight paled. He looked up.
Dark clouds moved in. They raced overhead. Precursor to a storm, Sean thought.
Hopefully a quick one.

He fought off the urge to sleep. His body could use it, but
it wouldn’t be a good idea under the present circumstances. If someone walked
up on them, he wouldn’t know. If Derrick rose, he could disarm Sean and lead
him back to the camp as a prisoner. That did no one any good. So Sean kept his
eyes and ears open and played mind games to keep himself going. Marley lay down
next to Sean’s feet and closed his eyes. The blood stain on the bandage had
stopped spreading. Sean wanted to change it before they started moving. He
reached down and scratched the top of Marley’s head. He felt more comfortable
with the dog around.

The clouds that gathered grew darker. He managed to track
the sun through the sky despite them. The temperature dropped to an estimated cool
sixty degrees.

A skittering sound rose from the south. He hadn’t heard
anything like it. The pops and cracks and rustles had become white noise to
him. They were the constant in the woods. This was different. It reminded him
of a distant helicopter.

He remained low, keeping his gaze focused on the spaces
between the trees. The sound grew louder by the moment.

“What’s that?” Derrick whispered.

“Get back here,” Sean replied. “Stay low.”

Derrick crawled on his belly and stopped next to Sean.

Marley’s ears perked, and he growled. Sean patted the dog’s
head to calm him.

“Goddamn,” Sean said, not trusting his eyes. “It can’t be.”

“What?”

“Look.” Sean pointed ahead. A mob of afflicted shuffled and
stomped and staggered and limped through the woods. They headed southeast. Had
the men arrived around this time, they would have intersected paths.

Derrick gasped and started to move backward. He tripped over
his feet and fell on his back. A hollow sound escaped through his mouth.

Sean pounced on the man. He covered Derrick’s mouth with one
hand while holding the index finger of his other hand to his own mouth. He knew
that these beings were sensitive to sound. Derrick’s clumsiness might have
alerted the horde to their presence.

“In through your nose,” Sean whispered. “Out through your
mouth.”

Derrick breathed as instructed. The redness left his face.

Sean got to his feet. “Come on, we need to move away from
them.” He reached out and helped Derrick up. Heading northeast, Sean glanced
back numerous times to make sure they weren’t being followed. If one came
within striking distance, he knew it would be over if they moved as fast as the
afflicted in Nigeria.

As he walked, Sean recalled all he could about the
experience. So much of it had to be reconstructed after having his version of
reality torn to the ground and built back up on a foundation of lies. Some were
fast, others weren’t. Some were more human than others. Their eyes stood out.
From what he’d seen so far, limited as it was, he’d noticed that with Kathy.
They seemed attracted to noise, both loud and abrupt, as well as deep bass-like
sounds.

Where had that mob come from? The neighborhood?

He guessed it was possible. Perhaps the truck had roused
them. That didn’t make sense, though. The angle they walked was off. Then
again, perhaps they had only deviated recently, picking up on another scent. He
realized that group of afflicted may have been after them after all.

“If we continue in this direction, what happens?” Sean
asked.

“Well, I guess we hit the road, or we hit the trail in.”

“It’s visible?”

“To me it’ll be. To most others, not really. Part of the
daily chores is someone keeps it up so it isn’t noticeable.”

“But there’s no one on it?”

“Nobody.”

“All right.” He glanced back. The area behind them was
empty. At least, that’s how it looked. “Let’s stop here. We’ll move at dusk.”