August Burning (Book 1): Outbreak (17 page)

“It is. And
of course, whoever says it first has less power in the relationship going
forward.” Harley said in a mock matter-of-fact tone.

“Sounds like
you already have this whole thing figured out, huh.”

“But in
reality the person who cares less has more power. That wont be me, just so you
know.”

Liam smiled
at her, appreciatively. “So you’ll be generous enough to hand that position of
power over to me.”
   

Harley
shrugged, unable to hide a growing smile any longer. “We’ll see.”

“So what
would I be then? Your seventh love? Eighth?”

She faked
indignation, and rapped him on the shoulder. “You have no faith in me!”

“I don’t know
you all that well, you have to forgive me.”

“Of course
you know me.”

“I don’t.”
Liam struggled to sit up and look Harley in her eyes. “And I can’t figure out
why you care about me as if we do know each other.”

Harley mused
out loud, excessively. “Hmmmm. Because you feel protective and gentle at the
same time. And for some absurd reason, I know if I or anyone else was sick like
you are now, you would be caring for them. You’re like the older brother for
the whole group. Obviously…I’m into it.”

Liam laughed
heartily for the first time in days. “Well. Not quite the answer I was
expecting, but I’ll take it.”

“Why are you
here with me then? Aside from the fact you’d be a fool to deny my tender love
and care? Why do you like me?”

Liam wanted
to smile, but his skin swarmed with the chills. “Back to that hard hitting
question for all middle schoolers. I see. Why don’t you ask me in a few weeks?
Can I get back to you?”

“Psh. Very
well. I won’t forget this though.”

Liam felt
like quitting here on this hilltop, and wanted to puke, but he couldn’t help
but grin.

Later that
night, Bennett rose and reached out to Adira, intending for them to find
another place to have sex, as they had been doing for the past several nights.
Adira remained motionless. She shook her head gently in refusal, and Bennett’s
nostrils flared. In front of the group, he re-seated himself and hung his head.
While the others talked about their dreams, Bennett obsessed over his change in
fortune.

 
9 days after Outbreak. Appalachia

Jaxton breathed deeply,
hoping his next draught of air would not be that sickly stench that had
surrounded them for the previous two days. The comfortable days of spring
turned to hot, humid affairs as their filthy clothing clung to wet frames. The
smell of death came on in waves, unexpectedly. Its pungent strength filled the
nostrils with alarming speed. It was heady, and overpowering.

“I don’t see any movement. None at all,” Jaxton said quietly.
His lightly bearded face pulsed with alarm, stretching into a mask of barely
contained despair. Deep green eyes scanned the small town below, nestled in the
morning Appalachian fog. Its church steeple glinted in the rushing dawn, but
there was that stench again, on the air. He shifted his heavily muscled frame
and dropped his backpack, sighing in frustration. The mad hope that had carried
him to this very rock outcropping far above the forest fled from his heart, and
the vacuum was unsettling.

“I don’t know if I expected anything different.” Bennett looked
to his friend from underneath tussled blond hair, his sturdy form clenching in
anxious anticipation. He shot a glance back over his shoulder, down the rocky
path shouldered by ancient pines. The others were nearing the top, pushing hard
with the confidence their salvation was near at hand. Only one faltered. Jaxton
winced as he saw Liam stumble and nearly fall at the very back of the line. He
doubled over, straining hard to catch his faltering breath as the fever ravaged
his endurance. Harley too stumbled on the treacherous path, and lost her
footing. A heavy hand reached out to support her slender frame at the waist,
and she grinned wildly at the danger that had almost sent her tumbling back
down the dusty track. Liam forced a smile to the girl, but as soon as she
looked away his visage became a grimace of pain.

Jaxton stretched out a callused hand to another, who was
sweating mightily to gain the summit. Adira looked lean and mean, her dark hair
was matted and filthy. The sun had been kissing her skin the entire trek, and
it had responded with vigor, bursting into a coat of bronze that now shimmered
in the summer haze. She looked at Jaxton without smiling. “Do you see
anything?”

 
    
“It looks totally
dead,” Bennett said quietly. The morning sun ascended in the sky with aching
slowness, as the forest came to life around them.

Adira cursed quietly, decidedly out of character, and doubled
over, struggling to collect her breath in the growing summer heat. Jaxton
resisted the sudden urge to comfort her, though he did not shy from staring.
When he lifted his eyes, Bennett was glaring at him.

Jaxton felt the itching sweat beginning to collect in his brow,
his jeans trapping the heat close to his skin. He waited till the other three
crested the peak, and took a deep breath. More than a touch of shame ran amok
inside his breast. This had been his plan. A month ago he had been absolutely
sure pressing for home through the backwoods had been the best course of
action. Doubt now plagued his mind.

Tessa eyed the valley below with a keen glance, seemingly
oblivious to the heat and exhaustion that plagued the rest of them. She moved
well, despite everything. Dismounting a boulder, she strode towards the group
with a strange, easy confidence. “I don’t see any movement down there.”

A noise to their
right revealed a family approaching through the pines. Their gaits were jolly
and energetic, as if they were partaking in a Sunday stroll in the park. The
pasty, slightly overweight father was wearing his best hiking gear, and was
struggling mightily under the weight of an obscenely large pack. He laughed and
forced gaiety on his two young childern, who were equally enthusiastic. A boy
and girl bounded in front of their parents, covered in sun screen, and pointing
at this thing or that. Jaxton stared on in horror, as if he were witnessing
some sick satire. As the group entered the clearing the children bounded up to
them. 

"Hi there! Are
you guys hiking too?!" Their excited eyes ogled for a response. 

Before anyone could
respond, the wheezing father hurried up, wiping a thick glob of white paste off
his nose. He adjusted his sport glasses and grinned. "They certainly are!
Great day for a hike right?!"

Jaxton frowned,
"What the fuc-"

But Adira cut him off- "Its a
beautiful day. Its great to see you guys out here too." 

The mother looked
on without speaking, holding a fixed smile that trembled ever so
slightly. 

"How’s Cold
Spring?" Adira inquired, as casually as possible. 

The father's eyes
grew wide in an instant, but then snapped back to their unnatural friendliness.
"Well, everyone is on a big vacation, it’s a special weekend right? People
are all over the place! Like I told you kids huh?"

"Rrrrright! C’mon
lets keep going!" The boy, no older than 6, cheered and rose a fist in the
air. 

 The wife
laughed out loud, uncomfortably breaking the silence. She crooned over her
children, caressing their hair. "We're already on vacation, aren't
we?" The little girl played shyly with the hem of her mothers' shorts,
staring at Adira. "I think she likes you. Evelyn, don't be shy. Introduce
yourself to the nice lady."

Adira kneeled, and
smiled. The little girl hooted happily and extended a tiny hand for a miniature
handshake. "I like your hair," she said confidently. 

Adira played the
part perfectly as the others looked on. The mood was beginning to turn. They
all needed some normalcy injected back into their lives. The man looked to
Jaxton and held his gaze for a moment. For just an instant there was an
understanding there, a hidden reality that they had chosen to deny. But the man
was no fool. There was deep horror that had infected his bones, being contained
for the sake of his children. His goofy grin returned. 

"Evelyn! Look
at that! Tommy is already beating you!" 

The little girl's
tiny, chubby face turned into a scowl and she yelped. Then she launched herself
after her brother, who was already scampering down the trail in front of them.
The mother chuckled, and with a wave was gone.

Jaxton closed the
distance between him and the man in a rush, and gripped his arm. "What's
it like down there?"

The man exhaled and
sputtered, and then drew in even closer. "Get your hand off me or I'll
break your neck."

Jaxton recoiled,
and the man followed his family as the sun rose even higher in the sky.

"At first I
thought he was a total loony toon," Tessa said. 

"No, he knows
exactly what he's doing," Adira countered grimly.

"I can't wait
any longer. We have to get down there," Jax said, moving towards the
northern edge of the hill.

"Pharmacy
first," Harley demanded, her arms crossed. 

"Pharmacy first,"
Jaxton said, agreeing wholeheartedly with her. Liam looked on with the same
lost, pained eyes. 

"I can't
believe we made it," Bennett said slowly, his face breaking out into a
full grin for the first time since leaving school. He started laughing, and his
mood was infectious. The others joined in, sharing in the feeling of triumph.
Safety was close at hand, and maybe even their families. 

"C’mon, I'll
even carry that god damn duffel."

Jaxton opened his
mouth for a retort when they heard a scream. Its resonance was bone-chilling,
rising and rolling over the top of the hill and fading out over the valley
behind them. It was a little girl’s voice. 

Adira ran to the
southern edge of the hill and strained her eyes, looking for any motion on the
rocky path leading into the pines groves below. "No..no..no..no," she
whispered, a fever growing on her words. 

For a long series
of moments, the group remained motionless, willing themselves to hear nothing
more. 

A savage cry rolled
up the hillside, of a man. It was blood curdling. A tiny haze of dust rose two
hundred feet below them, among the pines. 

The father tore out
of the bushes, gripping a weeping wound on his right arm. His daughter and
another figure were bolting back up the hill in some kind of ferocious pursuit.
The girl’s movements had changed. She tore up the steep shale face, bounding
tirelessly with arms and legs slipping on tumbling rocks. Flecks of blood flew
from the corners of her open mouth and she snarled hungrily like a wild animal.
The second figure was a man, equally possessed, dressed in a paramedic's gear.
The father wailed endlessly as he fled, and the distance was closing
fast. 

Adira felt a strong
hand push her out of the way. Jaxton took a firm footing on the lip of the
vale, his jet-black rifle extending beyond his frame, an effortless affront to
peace and calm. He shook his head, angrily, tears gathering in his eyes. “Not
again, not again,” he whispered.

Her own lip was
trembling. "Wwwait.." The words tumbled out of her mouth, breathlessly.
She felt tears welling in her eyes and limiting her vision. All was now a
mosaic of colors and sounds. 

"Bennett!"
Jaxton roared without taking his eyes off the incoming figures. His friend
snapped out of his frozen reverie and took position with his own instrument of
death. He clutched the heavy pistol from the highway accident a lifetime ago.
"Safety off. Safety off!" 

"Wait! Wait
don’t fucking shoot!" Adira screamed. 

Tears fell onto
Jaxton’s rifle, and he struggled to blink them away. In that moment the girl
caught her father. Her tiny teeth ripped into his lower calf. The man screeched
like a harpy and fell forward. Without hesitation his daughter mounted him like
a predator and attacked his flying arms. The sick paramedic joined the fray.
Teeth flashed like fangs. They watched, from a mere one hundred feet, as they
tore the man to pieces. His stupid white globs of sunscreen were blotted with
his own red essence. The goofy flat brimmed adventure hat he wore was stomped
in the dust. Jaxton felt a wave of shame. The pathetic death the man endured hurt
him to the core. 

Suddenly, the pair
of attackers was silent. The father had stopped struggling. Jaxton felt the
fear rolling through his body. No longer was he a spectator to some twisted
carnage. The infected turned their bloodshot eyes to the summit, and charged.
Before they had made it ten feet, the father rose, his wounds still weeping.
His eyes were different; he charged too. 

“We have to do
this,” Jaxton whispered. Adira approached him from behind and held him gently,
her dark eyes closed. Exhaling forcefully, Jaxton pulled the trigger. Bennett
shook his head and cursed.

The two weapons
discharged loudly, firmly. They cracked and burped hot lead, which tore down
the side of the defile. The three infected ran headlong into the stream of
bullets that whined and snapped in the afternoon haze. Undaunted, they
continued forward. Their possessed bodies were coming straight at them. A round
took the paramedic through the chest, sending him tumbling back down the slope.
The father and daughter closed to within fifty feet. Bennett could feel his
hands trembling, his body screaming defiance. He pulled the trigger anyways,
three more times in rapid succession. Two rounds exploded with kinetic force
through the base of the father's pasty neck, nearly decapitating him. The girl
closed to within twenty feet, her tiny limbs flailing as she gained the summit.
Bennett and Jaxton fired together. Someone hit her, and she didn't rise again.

But they were home.