American Infection (Book 2) (2 page)

"Hurry up," I whispered to Rob.

I waved to Anne to start walking the hose back just as I heard glass shatter. It sounded as though it was all around us. Rob jumped to his feet with the end of the hose in his hand and grabbed the rifle that was slung over his back, swinging his head from side to side trying to determine the source of the noise. Anne dropped her end of the hose and threw her hands in the air to protect her head, startled by the sound of the exploding glass.

Only when the creature was in the air, leaping over the rail of the wooden deck, did I realize the shattering glass had come from the French doors of the bi‐level. The infected swam through the air and landed on Anne, causing them both to topple over into the grass. Anne pushed and clawed to get out from under its weight. The creature had a knee in Anne's back, pressing down on her kidneys. With blood‐covered hands it ripped open the back of Anne's shirt, exposing her bra strap and pale skin.

I pulled my Beretta up to eye level and fired two shots, one of which struck the infected in the side of its chest, knocking it to the ground beside Anne. The thing jumped to its feet, not even phased by the damage.

Rob had his rifle aimed at the creature as two more emerged from the house onto the deck above. They leapt over the railing and landed hard on the ground below as Anne attempted to scramble away. Rob fired, killing the infected that had first attacked Anne. I fired at the nearest of the two most recent jumpers, but missed.

In the split‐second it took Rob and I to get off two shots, the third infected had reached Anne. Just as she was getting to her knees, still moving forward, the creature tackled her from behind. They rolled together as the infected bit a chunk of flesh off her bicep. She screamed in pain and attempted to strike the creature with her free hand, but landed only glancing blows as the thing bear‐hugged her and continued to gorge on her muscle and tendons.

I tore my eyes away from Anne and back to the infected I had missed earlier. He was crossing the lawn toward Rob and me. From this range I easily place a bullet between his eyes.

Rob fired round after round at the creature pinning Anne face‐down in the grass. The bullets had no effect, until finally Rob placed one at the base of the thing's neck. Its body briefly went limp, before it was thrown through the air as Anne shot to her feet. She stood motionless for a moment, then slowly turned in our direction.

Her eyes were the same color black as Tom's had been. Her face gave no indication that she recognized Rob or me. First her shoulders, then her torso and finally her legs, shifted until her entire body was facing us. Blood continued to seep from the wound in her shoulder, covering her entire right side. She opened her mouth and let out a guttural, primal cry, before digging into the ground with the soles of her feet and charging toward us.

Rob calmly raised his rifle and fired three shots, blowing Anne's head clean off her body. Her scalp flew backwards as her body continued forward, landing chest‐down in the grass.

I cautiously took a few steps toward Anne's body, glancing over at the other three infected to ensure they were still on the ground. I heard Rob vomiting behind me. I retraced Anne's last few moments with my eyes and found her handgun in the grass near where the first infected had landed on her. I picked it up, checked for blood and placed it in my pocket.

"We need to go," I said, walking back to Rob, who had taken a seat in the grass. "Now."

As if to urge us on, we heard a gunshot from deeper into the neighborhood.

Without hesitation, Rob and I began sprinting back to the dock. Past the bi‐level's open garage, into the front yard, toward the sidewalk and into the street. Rob held the end of the hose in his hand as he ran, but the rest of it bounced and flopped behind him.

We were still running full speed as we crossed the parking lot. Matt didn't look very worried, though, and even tightened the grip on the ropes and stepped onto the dock himself. Matt looked like a father as he stood with his hands on his hips. Rob and I slowed down as we reached the boards of the pier, finally glancing back to see that nothing had chased us.

We jogged to the end of the dock. I bent over and puked into the water, finally feeling the gravity of Anne's death.

"Where the hell is Anne?" Matt asked, although the look on his face suggested he already knew the answer.

"She didn't make it," replied Rob. His face was stone as he walked past Matt, climbed into the boat, dropped the hose on the deck and sat in the front staring out over the water. "We should go in case any more of those things heard the gunshots."

I fell to a knee and began to cry as Sarah rushed over and knelt beside me. She helped me to my feet and together we boarded the boat.

Minutes later we were cruising north again, still in need of gas.

Tuesday, 3:15 p.m.

Rob hadn't said much of anything since the morning. When we stopped to siphon fuel, everyone else pitched in, but Rob just stared into the distance. Melissa and Sarah had both tried to speak to him, but he told them he needed time to process.

I had loved Anne, as well. Both Rob and I had slept with her, and at times we had both come close to dating her. It just never worked out. We were more like siblings, all three of us. But I knew someone would die if we saw our plan through. Hell, there was a good chance all of us would die. I remained focused on getting to my parent's place. I was thankful for Anne's sacrifice. I said a silent prayer for Anne and swore to myself I wouldn't give it any more thought.

As the sun began to its descent into the western sky, we approached Baltimore. For the most part we had stayed far enough off shore, where the water was calmer, that we couldn't see much of what was happening on land. But Baltimore was different. Large plumes of smoke rose high above the city, carried toward the bay by an easterly wind. For the first time, we saw signs of a military response. Helicopters and fighter jets occasionally flew by overhead, moving fast toward their mission. Every ten minutes or so, the sound of an explosion would echo over the water and another column of smoke would ascend into the atmosphere.

I had followed the riots of April 2015. I had blasted the looters as savages, but now I feared for their safety. Surely the citizens of Baltimore, regardless of their skin color or occupation, had banded together for protection. Even so, the frequency of military aircraft heading to and from the city indicated that no amount of cooperation had prevented the spread of the infection. The city was burning.

Tuesday, 5:45 p.m.

The smoke hovering over Baltimore had faded from view about an hour ago. Since then, the shoreline had been nothing but a skinny strip of sand where the land met the waves, with a dense forest behind it. Consulting his nautical maps, Matt believed this to be an area just south of Aberdeen Proving Ground, the Army's oldest weapons testing installation. He turned the boat and head toward shore.

"What are you doing?" asked Melissa.

"That beach is completely deserted," Matt replied, pointing at the shore. "It's a strip of land like three hundred yards wide, with a marsh on the other side. No one lives there. If we keep going, we're gonna spend another night sleeping in the boat. I say we stop here for the night and get our legs back."

"How far is the Susquehanna?" I asked, referring to the river that would lead us into Pennsylvania.

"Maybe another two hours," Matt said. "But everything between here and there is pretty populated. And it'll get even worse as we head upstream. This might be our only chance to rest on land for another night or two."

"I vote yes," Sarah said, standing and stretching, staring out at the shore now just a football field away.

"I like that idea too," Rob said, the longest string of words he'd managed since this morning. "Give us a chance to collect our thoughts and figure out what the hell we're doing."

Matt cut the throttle as the Wakesetter neared land, allowing the tide to carry it to shore. Rob and I hopped into the waist‐deep water. We each carried a rope attached to the bow, and pulled the boat up onto the dry sand, above the breaking waves. Holly leaped onto the beach and immediately ran to the tree line and squatted. Matt offered his hand as Sarah and Melissa stepped onto a seat, sat on the edge and slid to the ground below. He handed the grill and fishing gear down to Rob before jumping off himself.

The sand along the bay was rockier than that along the Atlantic shore. Not as granular, it was littered with stones and pebbles of various shapes, sizes and colors. Still, Melissa crawled to her knees, turned over onto her back, and fell asleep within minutes. Holly lay beside her and did the same.

Rob rigged up a fishing pole and waded into the water thirty feet out, just past the small, crashing waves of the bay. Matt tied a hook and some bait onto the other pole, rolled a joint and joined Rob. They shared the smoke in silence, and then went separate directions so as not to tangle their lines.

"I'm gonna start a fire. Wanna help me find some wood?" I asked Sarah, as everyone else went about their business. She nodded.

It took ten minutes before we came to the other side of the thin strip of trees, overlooking a marsh of tall grasses and meandering pools. Herons seemed to glide effortlessly, searching for a meal, while unseen frogs and crickets and critters chirped their evening melodies. Neither Sarah nor I had spoken, though neither of us had picked up any fallen branches either, lost in our own thoughts.

"What do you think happened to my parents?" Sarah asked, still staring straight ahead. She asked the question casually, as though we were discussing dinner plans.

"What do you want me to say, Sarah?" I responded. "This whole thing is fucked."

"Yeah, but what's worse? To be killed by those things or turn into one?" she continued. "Why is this happening? Why them?"

I could hear her throat forcing out the words, fighting not to cry. Sarah couldn't hold back and thrust her face into my chest as the tears erupted like a summer storm. Her sobs echoed like thunder, and all I could do was hold her tightly, and make sure she knew she was safe, if only for this moment. She deserved to cry. I hadn't seen her really let go since she had shown up on my doorstep two days earlier.

After several long minutes, the guttural sobs slowed to occasional twitches and Sarah's eyes ran out of tears. She pushed herself away from me and stared at the ground for a moment, and then she looked directly into my eyes. I met her gaze and shook my head sympathetically, unsure of what to say.

But apparently Sarah was on an emotional roller coaster, and the ride wasn't over yet.

Sarah ripped her tank top over her head, revealing a black bra and a toned tummy. She was still breathing deeply, and her full, round breasts heaved twice before she flung herself at me. She nearly knocked me over as she threw her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to mine, opening her mouth once I settled into the moment.

Sarah quickly unsnapped her bra and pulled my shirt up to my shoulders, where I pulled it the rest of the way. Our bare chests pressed tightly against one another, and so did our groins; there was no way she couldn't feel my hardness. Sarah kicked off her sneakers, slipped out of her shorts, and then fell to her knees in front of me. She fought briefly with my belt, unbuttoned my pants and slid the zipper down, revealing a swollen bulge in my briefs.

Sarah pulled off my shorts and sneakers as I raised one foot at a time. Then she stood, grabbing my manhood with both hands.

"Lay on your back," she whispered.

I quickly complied, ignoring the discomfort of the sandy ground. Sarah straddled me, leaning down for one more brief, passionate kiss. Sitting back up, she took hold of me again and placed me inside of her. She leaned forward and placed her hands on my chest, allowing herself to fall into a rhythm.

Tuesday, 7:15 p.m.

Sarah and I each carried an armload of wood when we returned to the site of the boat. Rob and Matt had caught nearly a dozen fish and were in the process of de‐boning them over a tarp on the beach. Melissa was awake now, tossing a stick with Holly.

"What took so long, man?" Rob shouted to me. "We're waiting on a fire to cook dinner, don't wanna burn through propane if we can avoid it."

"Sorry," I said. "Got a little turned around."

Sarah and I dropped the wood on the beach and I began constructing a fire. Ten minutes later, with the help of a lighter, the flames were roaring. The sun was beginning to set and the breeze off the water ensured the smoke wasn't visible if anyone happened to be nearby, although we couldn't be sure of the smell. We agreed the infected probably wouldn't associate the odor of smoke with people, but we couldn't be certain. Regardless, I assured the group that, based on our trek through the woods, there was no one in the surrounding area.

Following another dinner of grilled fish and canned vegetables, we set up a night watch. Matt volunteered to go first, followed by myself and then Rob. We would try to keep it at two hours each, but agreed we should wake someone else if we began to doze.

Wednesday, 2 a.m.

My eyes snapped open at the sound of Holly barking. She was about twenty feet away, north on the beach. I looked around and saw the rest of the group sleeping. I must have begun dozing off during my watch, I realized. Holly's barks grew louder, interspersed with occasional growls, slowly waking the rest of the group.

"What's wrong?" Matt asked, brushing Melissa's head off his shoulder as he sat up.

"I don't know, she just started barking like this," I replied, not sure how long she'd been barking but also not wanting to let on that I'd fallen asleep.

"We gotta get everyone on the boat," Matt said, hopping to his feet. "Let's go, get up," he repeated as he shook Melissa's shoulder.

I reached over and gave Sarah a shake. She had fallen asleep with her head on my lap, but I had moved away from her at the start of my watch so I could pace the beach to stay awake. By the time Sarah stood up, Rob had woken from the commotion as well.