Mad World (Book 2): Sanctuary (2 page)

Mike, the nurse who had been with us since Bakersfield, had decided to stay in Texas; he had family there. Before he left us, he gave us some money and some advice: don’t trust the authorities and keep a low profile. We thanked him, and there were tearful hugs all around; then he was gone.

We left Mike in Texas and moved on to Arkansas, then to Tennessee. We made friends who helped us hide. We never stayed in one place too long. I will admit that, after a couple of years, we kind of relaxed a bit. Stayed in each place maybe longer than we should have. Four to six months at the most.

The plague slowly spread, despite the authorities’ containment efforts. Three years after the initial panic, zombie outbreaks were occurring nearly everywhere. Every state had them. People had taken to arming themselves with shotguns mostly, when they could. Rifles and handguns too. Firearms flew off the shelves as people lost faith in the Army’s ability to protect them and took matters into their own hands. They armed themselves with anything that could take a zombie’s head off. That was the only thing that really stopped them. You had to chop their heads off, or at least shoot them in the head enough to take most of the brain out. Turns out that was still the nerve center. Jacob’s shotgun, which he had taken from his father’s house, was joined by an array of firearms we picked up along the way. I had a sawed-off I had made myself, plus a .33 I kept as backup. Jacob had his shotgun plus a .45 that could blow your brains out the back of your head. DeAndre had a rifle and a newer shotgun, all shiny and pretty. He loved polishing that thing. And even Caitlyn had a large-caliber rifle. Only Risa was without a gun. But she was almost constantly by our side, and she had taken to wearing a small machete on her hip in a holster Jacob had made for her. She looked like a pint-sized Mad Max.

No place was truly safe, zombies were appearing everywhere; there was no pattern. It was people, of course. People who were getting attacked and somehow surviving for a while, and then moving. To another place, another city, another state, driving wherever. But invariably, after either one hour or one day or more, they turned. And then you had a zombie in a place where none had yet been before. They would pop up in crowds of people, at gas stations, city streets, state parks, you name it. You could never know where you’d encounter them. So we stayed close, always venturing out with at least two adults together.

We protected the kids. Risa grew up fast. Although she was only 13, she had street smarts. She had the maturity of someone three times her age and she had the instincts of someone who had been fighting and staying alive in a world infected with zombies for more than half her life. She was tough. She was a fighter. She made me proud.

We passed her off as my little sister, and Luke as my baby. Jacob and I had never formally married, but we were together. We never stopped long enough to make it formal. But we didn’t need to. It was us, all the way. Jacob was Luke’s father in so many ways other than biologically. That little boy looked up to Jacob with something close to hero worship. Risa made a wonderful big sister for
Luke. She loved helping with him, and dressing him up. In fact, for the first three years we let his hair grow out long, it better hid his strange coloring. He was this long, sandy-haired little toddler with big eyes and an infectious laugh. And we all doted on him and protected him.

Caitlyn and DeAndre were a couple as well. They’d tied the knot with a quick ceremony in a friend’s apartment. He’d been a minister for the corner church, and we’d stayed with him and his wife for several months. Caitlyn and DeAndre had been happy to have the short, sweet words spoken and the marriage certificate issued, and they were careful to keep it safe in their belongings. They were never very far from each other, and one always seemed to have a hand touching the other, as if they never wanted to feel apart.

We homeschooled Luke and Risa, and tried to give them as normal a childhood as we could while hiding Luke from the world. We did a good job too, using makeup and clothing to hide his coloration. He would ask why I used a light foundation or powder to cover up the sides of his face and wrists, and I’d tell him, “there are bad people out there. You have to be careful, squirt.” Then I’d ruffle his hair and we’d go play on the playground. Many times he’d get so dirty that it would work better than any makeup job I’d do. His hair grew longer, and I’d make sure it was brushed, but loose. He often looked like Aragorn out of a Lord of the Rings movie, except fairer. The tips of his hair touched his shoulders by the time he was 3, and the sun bleached them almost blond. We hid him well. No one suspected really. We had thought we were going to be okay. Until today.

Chapter One

“Jacob, I need to talk to you, man,” Tim said as he nervously finished his cigarette. Tim brushed back his light brown hair where it had fallen into his face. It reached his shoulders and was almost long enough for a ponytail. His fingers were stained with tobacco. He was our roommate and had actually saved our butts by giving us a place to hide out for the last five months. We had become good friends with just about everyone in the neighborhood since moving here from Georgia. Luke and Risa had been our ambassadors, making friends with everyone, first the kids, and then their parents. We had been out with some of our neighbors that day, a rare picnic that had ended with bad weather.

We all hurried through the front door, out of the driving rain that had overtaken us during a day of hiking. At least we had gotten to eat our picnic before the clouds had decided to dump their water on us. I looked in Tim’s face and then turned to the kids.

“Risa, take Luke upstairs and get him in the bath. You can use the cherry bubble bath,” I said as an incentive, and then watched Luke let out a “Whoop!” of happiness and run up the stairs, sounding like a small herd of baby buffalo. I called after them, “Hey, Risa, go ahead and take a shower, Sweetie.” I turned to Jacob and Tim talking quietly in the kitchen.

“Jake, man. You know I love having you here, and appreciate the help on the rent. But dude, these guys were asking around the neighborhood for you this morning, about an hour after you left. Freaked Paul and Jim out. They came and told me,” Tim was saying. Paul and Jim lived two doors down. They were a couple and attended the local university. They had big dreams, despite the epidemic that was slowly overwhelming our country.

“What? What kind of guys?” Jacob asked. I was instantly on alert. DeAndre and Caitlyn both drew near as well, apparently sensing my anxiety. I leaned in further behind Jacob in the small kitchen, trying not to disturb the conversation but needing to hear what was said.

“Man, some kind of Feds. Looked like undercover cops or something. They were questioning people in the apartment house at the end of the block, where Nick and Shady Al hang out,” said Tim. Nick and Shady Al were the local tough guys. They were our neighborhood’s version of a gang I suppose, except with just the two of them, it wasn’t much of a gang. Nick fancied himself a wannabe gangsta and had an affinity for the latest rap fashions.

Nick was okay, only 19, but Shady Al was bad news. He dealt some, and we tried to avoid him.

“Did they come down this way? Did Al tell them anything?” Jacob asked.

“Nah, man. He was just glad they didn’t take him in. He’s got two on the books ya know,” Tim crushed out his cigarette in the sink and lit another one. His hand was shaking. “Man, I don’t know. They were asking about three guys with two girls, and with two kids. One younger. Man, they sounded like they were describing you guys.”

Jacob turned to look at me. Wordless, I turned and started for the stairs. Jacob went and checked both front and back locks.

“What are you guys gonna do, man? You gonna split, like before?” Tim asked.

I ignored him and took the stairs two at a time, Caitlyn right behind me. In the front room, Jacob and DeAndre were conferring. Then DeAndre went to check the windows and Jacob shrugged into his raincoat and came upstairs.

“I’m going to go talk with Cathy next door, okay?” Jacob said, then left. Cathy was our neighbor, she had a daughter Risa’s age, and they had gotten close in the last four months since we’d moved in. Cathy had become a good friend.

I nodded and then turned into the upstairs bathroom where Luke was playing with an action figure in the bathtub. Risa was in the shower down the hall. I grabbed up another action figure and knelt down to the edge of the tub with it.

“I’m Batman!” declared Luke, a Batman figurine in his hands, held by the legs. He made it walk on the edge of the tub toward my action figure. Mine was Wonder Woman and I made it walk up to Luke’s Batman.

“Well, I’m Wonder Woman and I will fly us to safety in my invisible jet!” I said. Luke giggled.

“Your jet has only one seat, where will I sit?” he asked.

“You can sit in the trunk, Batman,” I said, reaching for a little plane and holding it aloft. We played like that for a few minutes, but then I knew it was time to put him to bed. It had been a long day.

“Luke, baby, I need you to get out now and dry off, okay?” I said, reaching for a towel from the counter.

“Okay,” said Luke reasonably.

I walked down the hall and knocked on the door. “Risa, time to get out and dry off,” I said.

“Okay,” called Risa. I usually let them play in the tub and relax in the shower for at least half an hour. It had been less than half that long. Risa emerged from the shower wrapped in a fluffy towel and had another one in her hands and was drying her hair off. “Anything wrong, Alyssa?” she asked.

“No, Sweetie.” I walked to the bathtub. “Come on, Luke,” I held out a towel with my arms behind it, and Luke ran to me, bubbles slowly running down his legs. I wrapped him up in the big, fluffy towel and picked him up and walked to the bed with him. Risa followed more slowly. She was smart and could tell I was rattled. Looking into my eyes, she opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. I gave a curt shake of my head and then mouthed, “later,” and began toweling off Luke. He giggled as I rubbed at his head, and his long light brown hair fluffed up nicely. Risa nodded slowly and toweled herself off with a thoughtful look on her face. At 13, she was smart enough to know not to discuss serious subjects in front of Luke, who, at 5 still had an air of complete innocence about him. We all got ready for bed, and I tucked them into the bed they shared in the small room at the end of the hall.

“Okay guys, I think we finished our book last night, so which one do you want to start tonight?” I asked.

Risa jumped out of bed to choose one from our small book stack. Luke snuggled farther down into his covers, content to let her choose. I caressed his forehead absentmindedly as Risa selected one and brought it back to the bed. She handed it to me and wiggled back in beside Luke.

“ ‘The Graveyard Book,’ huh?” I looked down at Risa. She nodded solemnly. “You don’t think this might be too scary for your little brother?” I asked.

Risa shook her head slowly from side to side, thinking. “I don’t think so, but I promise to hold his hands for the scary parts,” she said.

“I’m not scared!” said Luke. I reached down and kissed his forehead.

“Well, I guess it will be alright,” I said, smiling. I opened the book and began to read the first chapter about a scary man with an even scarier knife and the baby who manages to elude him. I got to page 12 before Luke nodded off. I closed the book quietly and stood up from the bed, turning to fix the blanket over Luke. Risa looked at me sleepily and snuggled deeper under her covers next to him.

“Will you tell me tomorrow?” she said.

“Yes. Tomorrow. If I can. Now sweet dreams, Sweetie,” I leaned over and kissed her, then moved to Luke, and kissed him gently, whispering, “Sweet dreams, little boy.”

Chapter Two

Downstairs, Jacob had returned from next door. He was drying his hair off with a kitchen towel, and stomping his feet. It was still raining out there apparently. Caitlyn and DeAndre were sitting in the living room with Tim, watching a rerun of “Frasier.” I reached up and helped Jacob out of his raincoat.

“Did you find out anything?” I asked quietly. He nodded, giving me a worried look. We both went into the living room to talk things over with Caitlyn and D.

Apparently, the men had been from some type of government agency, looking for some people who might have matched our descriptions. They wouldn’t say why they were looking for us, only that we were wanted for “questioning.” They also specifically mentioned a little boy, 5 years old by now, who might have looked different.

“Oh my God, how did they find out?” I shuddered.

“We don’t know if they did find out,” Jacob said. “Their questions seem to be pretty vague. They may have tracked us here from Arizona.”

“From five years ago?” Caitlyn asked.

“You never know,” Jacob replied.

“We’ve been through more than a dozen cities since then. Four different states,” said DeAndre.

“Well, I think it’s from Arizona. No one has noticed or asked about just Luke. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. This may have to do with Luke’s mother,” Jacob said.

I looked at the ground for a minute. Luke’s mother had charged me with caring for her son. I had considered it a sacred charge. He was my responsibility. Never mind that I loved him fiercely as I would have my own son. Because he was what he was, he was special. Important. I looked up.

“What do you think they want with Luke?” I asked quietly.

“I don’t know, but… nothing good. Nothing good for Luke anyway,” Jacob answered.

I shook my head.

“They’re not getting my Luke. Absolutely not. I’ll take off on my own if I have to,” I said.

“Now, hold on,” Jacob said, rubbing my back, “no one said anything about anyone going off on their own. We’re a family. We stick together.”

“Yeah, Alyssa. We all love that little boy. No way would his Uncle D let anything happen to him,” said DeAndre.

Caitlyn smiled. “Nor his Auntie Cait,” she said.

“Okay then. Good. It’s decided. We move again. But this time we make extra sure they can’t follow us,” said Jacob.

“Guys, I can get you a bit of dough. For the kids, you know,” Tim said. “And I think Paddy wants to talk to you before you leave. Something about a safe house he may have heard about.” Paddy was the old man who lived above us. He and his wife, Donna, had been married for over forty-seven years. They survived on Social Security and Medicare, and with their old schnauzer, Hawthorne, they lived a quiet, happy life. They had helped us a lot and we’d grown quite close to them in the few months we’d been in the neighborhood. Donna especially had become a grandmother figure for Luke and Risa. Her smiling face and blue-washed hair was a familiar sight in our home. Paddy’s gruff exterior soon gave way to an old soft gentleman’s heart, and he loved performing magic tricks for the kids. Luke never got tired of Paddy pulling coins out from behind his ears, and making handkerchiefs appear out of his fist. They were both wonderful people.

“Well, I think we should leave before dawn. So tell Paddy to come now. Girls, get some sleep. We may have only a few hours. What time is it?” Jacob asked.

“It’s almost nine, Jake,” said Caitlyn, hugging herself.

“Come on, Caitlyn, let’s go to bed. The men will talk to Paddy and make plans. We’re gonna need energy for the long day tomorrow,” I said. We went upstairs, and I quickly brushed my teeth and then lay in bed for half an hour before Jacob joined me. His feet were frozen as he slid into bed next to me. I curled myself around him, trying to warm him and wanting a small bit of comfort before the morning came. I had a bad feeling about this. Closing my eyes, I fell quickly to sleep against his chest.

I awakened to the sound of talking downstairs. Jacob was pulling his jeans on.

“What’s going on?” I said groggily.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” he replied. He pulled on a shirt and padded out of the room in socks. I quickly pulled on one of his sweatshirts and some pajama pants of his and followed him. In the hallway I tiptoed over to the kids’ room and, cracking the door open I peered in at them. They were sound asleep, and the nightlight Cathy had given us the month before threw little stars onto the ceiling. I quietly shut the door and then went downstairs. DeAndre was down there too, I wasn’t sure he had even gone to bed. There was a strange man just inside the door, and Jacob was shutting the door behind him, after looking outside. The man had on a dark grey suit and an overcoat on top of that. His black hair was turning grey and receding from his forehead beneath a dark fedora that fell back behind him as Jacob grabbed his coat front and pulled him inside. His light blue eyes shifted back and forth behind thick glasses. He looked very nervous.

Jake shut the porch light off and then turned to the man. DeAndre already had his shoulders pinned against the wall.

“I’m here to warn you! Let me go!” the man said.

I quietly slid over to stand by Jacob and listen.

“What’s your name?” Jacob asked.

“My name is Stanley Turner. I was assigned to the team that is following you.”

“No one’s following us!” said DeAndre, his muscles bulging as he shoved Stanley harder against the wall.

“Okay, we were the ones asking questions around your neighborhood. Several people told us you lived here, in this apartment. We were going to come at dawn to try and catch you,” he finished.

“Why did you come now? Are there others outside?” Jacob asked.

“No, no. I couldn’t take it anymore, listening to them planning to raid the place. Listening to them talk about what they were going to do to the little kid. I couldn’t take it anymore. I got kids of my own. It ain’t right,” Stanley said.

“What ain’t right?” DeAndre asked.

“You don’t understand. We’re from the federal government, the CDC. We know the kid was born from the zombie woman that cop gunned down back five years ago outside of Phoenix. They want the kid. They think they can maybe find a cure if they study his body,” Stanley finished.

“His body?!” Caitlyn exclaimed. A cold icy trickle ran down my back.

“Yeah. They want the kid, and they’re coming to get him tomorrow morning. They plan on dissecting him at the CDC lab. They’re on orders from the CIA,” Stanley said. He wiped his forehead. “I came to let you know. I came to help you get away. They don’t know I’m here. We gotta leave. Now.”

“Oh, my God …,” I said. DeAndre let the guy go, and straightened his jacket.

“Sorry, pal,” said DeAndre.

“You came to help us?” Jacob asked, incredulous.

“Yeah. It’s not right, what they want to do with that kid. He has rights. You just don’t go seizing people and killing them so you can study them. It’s not right. I have kids too…” Stanley’s voice trailed off.

“We have to get out of here tonight,” Jacob turned to me. “Babe, go pack.” I nodded.

Caitlyn and I went upstairs with DeAndre. We normally traveled very light, so I knew this would go fast. We packed our things in several bags and got the van loaded up in just two trips. Luckily it was in a garage we could access through a door in the kitchen. I felt creeped out and didn’t want to even peek outside the curtains, let alone set one foot out that door. Stanley stayed in the kitchen waiting. Jacob went with Tim and found Paddy again. Ten minutes later he returned, a small stack of bills in his hands.

Paddy’s wife Donna came over and handed us a bag. “Sandwiches, for the ride. Oh, I am going to worry so much about you guys,” she hugged me, tears in her eyes.

“We’ll be okay, Donna,” I said. “Jacob’s a smart man. We’ll be okay.”

“Here, honey,” she put a small wad of bills into my hand. “It’s just something I had saved up. It’s not much, just a little over a hundred dollars, but it might help you.” She curled my fingers over the paper.

I teared up as I took the offered money and gave her a fierce hug. “Thank you. I’ll never forget you,” I whispered, wiping my eyes. Smiling through my tears I said, “Hey, you never know, we might see each other again sometime.”

She smiled and hugged me tightly.

“Alyssa, gather the kids. We have to go,” Jacob said. I nodded and gave Donna’s hand one last squeeze. I went down the hall to the little back bedroom. Caitlyn already had the door open and was gently waking up Risa.

“What is it?” Risa said sleepily.

“Just come on, Sweetie. We have to go. I tell you in the van,” I whispered.

Risa nodded and bent to grab her bag. Caitlyn helped her pack her things.

“Risa, Caitlyn, please gather all of Luke’s things, too. I’m going to try to get him into the van while he’s still asleep,” I said. “Oh, and make sure you gather up all your weapons. Risa, don’t forget your big knife.”

She nodded.

“Of course, Alyssa. We’ll get it all, don’t worry,” said Caitlyn.

I bundled Luke into his blanket and lifted him up. He snuggled against me and stayed asleep. Caitlyn moved to gather blankets and pillows, while Risa grabbed Luke’s bag and began to fill it with his toys.

“Oh! I almost forgot the book,” said Risa, gathering up the book I had started reading to them just a few hours ago.

“I’ll get the rest of the books, too,” said Caitlyn.

“Thank you, guys,” I said as I made my way out of the room and down the hall. Slipping into our bedroom, I met Jacob. He knelt and slid our weapons out from under the bed, handing me my shotgun. One handed, I threaded it through the homemade holster I had made to hang on my hip. Its heavy weight made me feel less vulnerable.

“Is that man coming with us?” I asked Jacob as I took the boxes of shells he handed me and slid them into my pockets.

“I think he wants to. He might be a lot of help. DeAndre and Tim seem to think he’d be a great asset,” Jacob said as he slid his own ammunition into the pockets of his jacket. I had sewn extra pockets into the inside of it, and Jacob was filling every one.

“You seem unsure, though,” I whispered, hiking Luke up higher on my shoulder.

Jacob shook his head slightly, more to himself than to the situation.

“You know how I am. Suspicious of everything,” he finished, smiling and taking hold of my shoulders. Leaning in he kissed me on the forehead, then did the same to Luke sleeping on my shoulders. “Go on, get him into the van and wait for me there.”

“Okay,” I smiled and turned to go downstairs. Jacob went into our bedroom to pack. He had a stash of secret documents and money tucked into the pocket of his pillow that were our lifeline. I continued down the stairs and into the living room. Tim, Paddy and Stanley were all seated and talking in low voices together. Upon seeing me, Stanley stood up, his hat in hand. He stepped forward when he saw me with Luke and reached out to touch his little shoulder.

“So this is the little tyke everyone’s in an uproar about?” he said gently, not wanting to wake Luke.

“This is our Luke,” I said smiling. “He’s just a normal little boy. See?”

“Well,” Stanley said, looking closely at his face, “I wouldn’t call him exactly normal,” he then looked up into my worried eyes and smiled, and went back to talk with Tim and Paddy.

Troubled, I went to the kitchen and loaded up a small sack of snacks for the kids. Turning to go through the door into the garage, I caught a snipped of the quiet conversation Stanley, Tim and Paddy were having.

“So how long have they been staying with you?” Stanley was asking.

“They been here for about five months,” Tim said.

“That’s great, that you were able to help them. They seem like super people. I want to help them, too,” said Stanley.

Something bothered me about the situation, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I turned slowly and went into the garage. After I had gotten Luke into his booster chair, I snapped myself in beside him and waited. In the quiet of the garage I studied Luke’s sleeping face. He looked like an innocent angel. Sandy brown hair framed a sweet, little boy face. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and his delicate eyelashes lay against his cheeks. I held his hand and looked at his fingers. Each one had a little dimple behind it on the knuckle. Looking back at his face, I thought, ‘he’s so young.’ I leaned forward and gently kissed his cheek. My heart swelled with love for my adopted son, and I leaned back in my seat to wait.

Soon, the side door opened and everyone came and piled into the van. DeAndre with Caitlyn, Risa, and that Stanley fellow. He slid into the front right seat as if he owned it. Jacob came last, holding his shotgun. He and DeAndre had made sure all our weapons had been loaded. I patted my sawed-off on my hip. I felt better knowing it was there.

“Don’t you have your own car?” I asked Stanley.

“Uh, no. I left it. They’d just be able to trace the plates anyway,” he said, looking back at me. I could see in the rearview mirror that Jacob was watching our exchange. Our eyes met in the mirror. No expression, but we communicated just the same. Neither of us was 100 percent sure of this Stanley fellow. Looking at my watch, I saw it was about 3:30
a
.
m. Tim, Paddy and Donna stood next to our van in the garage, there to see us off.