The Swamp (19 page)

             
Sam and Rebecca ran, taking what trails they could find, just trying to put as much distance as he could between themselves and the house.

             
They didn’t stop to rest for almost two miles. Sam shoved one of the pistols in to Rebecca’s hands. “Do you know how to use this?” He gasped as he tried to catch his breath.

             
“Yes" she said "my father used to take me shooting on weekends.” She responded and chambered a round to prove her point. “What happened back there, did you find Joseph?”

             
“Yes I did,” was all Sam said.

             
“Did you kill him?” Rebecca pressed. Sam nodded his head and she went one further,              

             
“Did it hurt?” she asked.

             
“Yes.” Sam said and told her of the preacher’s death.

             
She smiled and said “Mike would be proud.”

             
He smiled at that, then frowned and cocked his head, listening. “They are coming.” Sam said as the sound of crashing brush grew louder, “Let’s go.”

             
They ran again, heading in a direction Sam hoped was towards a road. The thick underbrush very noisy and difficult traveling, but the pursuers were in the same boat. Sam could easily keep track of them. They were easily a couple hundred yards behind, but seemed to be tracking them.

             
In another mile, they burst from the trees and onto a road. It was a two lane country road badly in need of resurfacing. Sam looked both ways and took a wild guess and ran. He didn’t know what direction he was going, our where they would end up, but they were making good time. The crashing of brush behind them suddenly stopped and was replaced by feet on pavement. Sam glanced back over his shoulder but couldn’t make them out. By the sound of it, they seemed to be closing the distance.

             
Beside him, Rebecca was slowing and her breath came in pants. Sam felt his own energy waning, but the noises behind them showed no sign of slowing. He would have to think of something quick.

             
Out of the darkness a shadow appeared in the middle of the road, a great hulking shape that Mike recognized immediately. They had lucked out and found the RV. “Follow me.” He said to Rebecca and ran around the front of the huge vehicle. The tree lay across the road and he jumped to the other side and crouched behind it, Rebecca did the same. The approaching feet were less than fifty yards away and coming fast. “Wait for them to come around the RV so the moon silhouettes them against the side, wait for me to shoot and then empty your gun at anything that moves.” His whisper to Rebecca was answered by a soft acknowledgement.

             
Thirty seconds later, the women in pursuit came around the side and slowed up when the saw the tree. Mike had guessed the same five that had brought Mike back would be the ones that came for them, so he waited until a fifth shape came out of the darkness. He aimed for the shape at the back and started firing. His target went down and he moved to the next one and fired. Beside him Rebecca’s pistol barked and he saw another shape go down. They fired again and again. When all the targets were down, they fired shots into the prone shapes. The cacophony of gunfire faded into the distance.

             
They watched the shapes in the moonlight for awhile until they were sure that they were dead. Only then did it occur to Sam to reload and he cursed himself for forgetting. He quickly refilled the clip from bullets in the box in his pocket and stood up. Rebecca stood with him and the moved in, guns ready towards the shapes before them. Sam moved from person to person, putting a single bullet into each one’s head. The last thing they needed was them to come back as zombies.

             
“Sam.”

             
He looked at Rebecca. She stood less than a foot away, the moonlight light lit her face and he could see the longing in her eyes. They stepped together, their lips met, and the world disappeared.               The held that kiss, and each other and nothing else mattered. Her body was alive in his arms, her lips gently yielding to him.

             
Eventually, they pulled apart. They couldn’t stay here, the sound of the gunfire would draw anyone from up to 5 miles, and they knew that the hunting parties were still out there.

             
“Hang out here for a minute.” Sam said and rushed into the RV, only to emerge a second later holding one of the large backpacks they had stored under the bed. The crazies had looted the Fleetwood, but apparently not thought to look in the storage compartment hidden beneath the mattress.

             
The pair moved into the woods, and walked even to the road back the way they had come. Sam figured the crazies wouldn’t expect them to double back.

             
The thick underbrush snagged at their clothing and scratched their skin, but they pressed on. They talked about what they should do in whispered voices. They agreed that walking the road was not an option, at least for now, they would be too vulnerable.

             
“Basically, we need a car or something. We have to get out of this area as fast as we can.” Sam said.

             
Rebecca added, “And I doubt those guys are going to be real happy when they get back either.”

             
“You can say that again,” Sam replied, “And we can’t take on that many of them. We only have about forty rounds left for all three guns.”

             
“At least we got away…” she said, and Sam noticed she was crying.

             
“I miss him too.” Sam said sadly.

             
They walked until they found an ancient tobacco barn hidden in the woods well off the road. The forgotten structure was partially collapsed, but looked like as good a place as any to rest. They went inside to rest for a few minutes and quickly fell asleep in each other’s arms.

             
He found himself in another dream. His wife was there with him in the barn, and the two of them were staring down at Rebecca’s sleeping form.

             
“How could you?” she said angrily. “I have been here waiting on you.”

             
“I didn’t know…” he responded defensively, “So many things have changed.”

             
“Our vows haven’t changed, I gave you children, and you replace me.” She sounded hurt, and it broke his heart.

             
“I’m sorry baby, I still love you.” He reached out and took her hands and was shocked at how cold they were. “Please forgive me!”

             
“It’s too late there is only one way we can be together now…” As he looked into her eyes, they changed.  The pale blue eyes that had drawn him to her started to turn dull and clouded over. Her skin dried and turned gray before his eyes, as her long blonde her fell out in chunks. He tried to pull away from the corpse of his wife, but she held fast to his hands. “Till death do us part”, her drawn lips cracked as they formed the words. She lurched forward and sunk her teeth into his neck and pulled back. He could see the chunk of his flesh as she began to chew.

             
He sat up suddenly, gasping for air. His hand went to his throat, but found no wound. He looked around and at first wasn’t sure where he was. He slowly became aware of where he was and that Rebecca was there, asking him if he was alright.

Chapter 16

              It took him awhile to recover enough to discuss the dream, and even then he was reluctant. He felt very strongly for her, and he didn’t doubt that she felt strongly for him, but the fact remained, he was a married man. His heart was torn, He loved his wife, but he was pretty sure he felt almost the same for Rebecca.

             
“Rebecca, we need to talk.” Sam finally said.

             
“What’s wrong Sam” She said, the concern obvious in her voice, “You woke up gasping.”

             
“It’s about us,” he said, and saw her face fall, “I am a married man, and my wife is still out there.”

             
She sat there, looking at the ground between them, but didn’t say anything.

             
“Talk to me Rebecca…” Sam finally said. “I need to know what you are thinking.”

             
Her face rose, and her eyes met his. “I guess it doesn’t matter, does it. I’m not you fucking wife.”

             
Sam was taken aback by her anger, “Why are you made? I am trying to be honest with you!”

             
“Because I fucking love you and you just threw me away from some dead bitch!” she screamed at him and turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm to stop her.

             
“Wait Rebecca…” he said, but she snatched her arm away and stormed off.

             
He thought of chasing her, concerned that she would go outside and disappear, But was relieved to see her stop at the door and stand there, staring out.

             
They stood there, him watching her, and she pretending he didn’t exist.  He eventually gave up his vigil and dug into the pack for some food. He came out with a can of pineapple and some packages of saltines. He sat these out on the ground in front of him with two of the 5 bottles of water they had.

             
“Rebecca,” he called out, surprised to see her jump at the sound. “Come eat something.”

             
She made no move to come over to him, “Please.” He added, “You don’t have to talk to me, just come sit down.” She turned to look at him and the redness of her eyes and wet face caused his heart to break all over again.

             
She stood there in indecision, and finally hunger won out. She crossed the distance and sat down. She used a cracked to scoop out some of the fruit and slowly chewed. She refused to look up at him.

             
“I am sorry,” Sam said as they finished the meal, “I really am”

             
“You said we weren’t going to talk about this.” She said, but he didn’t see any anger on her face.

             
“I know, but I just had to say at least that.”

             
“So what do we do now?” She eventually asked.

             
“I don’t know, this isn’t a situation I have ever been in,” he said honestly, “I am torn.”

             
“I meant about getting out of here.” Rebecca said coldly, and then her expression softened. “I am sorry too, about calling your wife a bitch, about telling you she was dead… about all of it. This is just a fucked up world, and it’s led to a bunch of fucked up situations.”

             
“You don’t have to be sorry. I know you were angry with me, and I know people say things they don’t mean when they are angry.” He really didn’t blame here for what she had said, but it had stung none the less.

             
“When we were in those cages, all I wanted was to hold you, but I had decided it was just a fantasy, since we were going to die there. Somewhere along the way, it became real. Then we got out, and I knew you were married, but I couldn’t help myself. Then we had our moment by the RV last night… I am sorry for doing things you came to regret.”

             
“That’s the thing Rebecca, I don’t regret them. I love you, Rebecca. I felt bad about loving another woman not knowing about Annie, but I didn’t regret our kiss. Sam confessed, “I know it doesn’t make any sense…”

             
“It makes perfect sense, Sam.” She said

             
He looked up and discovered she had finally met his eyes with hers, and she was smiling at him. “So what do we do?” It was his turn to ask.

             
“We have the now, that’s it. We both know that tomorrow may not come for either of us, or what it will bring. Maybe she is out there, maybe she isn’t anymore. All I know is to take what we have now.” She said as a tear rolled down her face.

             
Sam took a moment to think about her words, and then leaned forward, taking her face in his hand. He drew her forward and kissed her.

             
She didn’t respond to the kiss for a second, but then joined him fully. Emotion coursed through Sam, guilt, fear and love rushed through his heart, but in the end love won out. He pulled her forward and drew her into his lap. They wrapped their arms around each other and held on tightly. She drew back from the kiss and looked into his eyes.

             
“I love you Sam.” She whispered.