The Zombie Virus (Book 2): The Children of the Damned (39 page)

“We roll up dere deep. They’s there, we ghost
it n come back later. If’n they ain’t, we hide the rides and go in
strapped n wait. They come in won’t be spectin’ shit. We pick our
time n come out n bus-caps n all ‘em, no half-steppin’, we fade all
dey punk-asses.” It sounded like a simple no-lose plan to him, they
could even lead those two cracker-whores out first to add to the
confusion. “Maybe we even gets some Army trucks for our
wheels.”

“You one hardcore crazy niggah,” Roshawna
said to him, although she was smiling this time. She had decided
weeks back that she really liked killing, and his plan sounded like
a straight-up chance to fuck up some people.

Lamar started the Escalade and pulled back
onto the highway, heading south toward the exit where the paper
said they would find the compound with all its supplies and an
opportunity for his crew to become Army strong.

It was slow going since they had left the
house earlier that morning. Kera’s knee was still painfully swollen
and useless for her to walk on. After splinting it and using the
last of the melting snow to control the swelling they had swapped
ideas on how to move her. Kera had only wanted a couple of
makeshift crutches that she said could be thrown together from
items in the house but Steven explained to her that using a set of
poorly fitted and constructed crutches would cause her more
problems than it would solve. The group finally decided to use a
wheelbarrow they had located in a shed behind the house. They lined
it with bed pillows and a blanket and put Kera, who was protesting
the entire time, into it. They had also liberated a shopping cart
from the Target parking lot the evening before they were to carry
on with their journey and planned to use it to pile their myriad
supplies in, abandoning the now useless toboggan in the
backyard.

Steven pushed the wheelbarrow while Dontela
drove the cart ahead of her. Katherine and Angela walked hand in
hand quietly behind them. Katy now carried the short-barreled
carbine that had once belonged to Holly. After the attack at the
house by the Loonies, she would not be parted from it. The last
traces of the liberal in her had been quashed by the massacre at
the house and she would never view guns as anything except a tool
of necessity again. Angela had retreated into some safe area of her
mind after the attacks and barely spoke to any of them, usually
answering questions with a shrug of her shoulders or a nod or shake
of her head. The tears also came more readily. In the end they
would have to wait and see if the experience would make or break
the little girl.

Kera lay in the wheelbarrow facing back
toward Steven, her bad leg resting on the left handle. She tried to
make light of Steven having to push her in the wheelbarrow by
cracking jokes about his old age while he huffed and puffed up the
rolling hills fighting the weight of it and its load. He didn’t
laugh and she could tell that the overwhelming responsibility of
keeping them all safe along with the loss of another of his charges
weighed heavily on his mind. She lounged back in the cart, trying
to ignore her throbbing knee and stared at his handsome face which
was again clean-shaven. God, she loved this man. She had never
experienced the feeling so strongly as right this moment with him
struggling to balance her on the one wheel up the gentle slope of
the hill. Too bad the snow had melted. The toboggan would have been
much easier on him than this. She leaned her head forward and
smiled longingly at him. He smiled back at her, sweat dripping from
his chin in the cool, early November afternoon. They had made the
most of their last night in their private bedroom, staying up
almost half the night exploring each other’s bodies and making love
multiple times, although he had had to do most of the work due to
her knee. Just the thought of him inside of her made her tingle and
squeeze her thighs together.

Fuck
,
I’m
ready
for
him
again
right
here
and
now
, she smiled to herself. Then her frown faded.
How
do
I
tell
him
I’m
carrying
his
child
?
What
will
he
do
? she thought for the umpteenth time since she
had missed her period, forcing her to confront the realization that
she was pregnant. She wanted more than anything to have his baby,
and to have many more with him over the coming years. However, he
had not talked about their future with her at all. Hell, he
couldn’t even tell her he loved her. She understood that the wound
of losing Holly was still raw in his heart. However, his wife was
gone forever and he needed to face that fact.

I’m
not
Holly
!
I
can’t
compete
against
a
ghost
that
has
such
an
unyielding
grip
on
his
heart
!
How
do
I
break
that
grip
,
how
do
I
get
him
to
see
me
here
in
front
of
him
without
throwing
a
baby
in
his
face
?

She was the one that was here for him now,
with him and loving him unconditionally. Maybe once they found
Jeremy his healing could truly begin, maybe he could finally let go
of that ghost and live for the future. Maybe then he would finally
admit to himself, and to her, that he loved her. Not solely with
his body, but with his heart. Then she could break the news about
the child and he would hopefully welcome it with open arms. For
now, she would settle for having what she could of him, with the
hopes of having all of him in time. She could be patient, they both
had time.

She felt the wheelbarrow stop and Steven set
the legs down gently onto the asphalt. She glanced back at him
thinking that he needed another break to rest his shoulders, but he
stood with his hands on the handles staring ahead. She pushed
herself up onto her elbows and twisting her body, peered down the
highway following his gaze. Someone had constructed a large plywood
sign and hand-painted a message onto it.
READ
IF
YOU
NEED
HELP
. What was that supposed to mean?
Then she spotted something white hanging on the bottom of the sign.
Steven walked past her without saying a word and approached the
sign. Dontela caught up to him and together they approached the 4x4
sheet of old plywood. They stopped in front of it and Steven bent
down and removed what appeared to be a sheet of white paper from a
clear packet.

Katy and Angela came up beside Kera and stood
with her at the wheelbarrow.

“Who made that sign?” Angela asked, then let
go of Katy’s hand and ran to Steven and Dontela, who were reading
the paper together. She squeezed between them and read the letters
on the big sign. The two adults conversed quietly for a moment
before walking back to the waiting women.

Steven handed the paper to Kera and waited
for her to read it. When she was finished she looked up into his
euphoric face as she absently handed the paper to Katy.

“We found him,” he exclaimed
triumphantly.

“Found who?” Katy asked after hurriedly
scanning the handwritten letter.

“My son! Jeremy!” Steven grinned excitedly.
“If it’s an Army unit, even Army National Guard, Jeremy will be
there. He knows I’ll go there too.”

“Oh thank God.” Kera sighed and collapsed
back onto her cushions. Although she would never even admit it to
herself, she had been beginning to doubt that they were ever going
to find the boy again. If he was alive, he would be there. She too
had no doubt. Steven reached down and wrapped his arms around her
and bodily lifted her from the wheelbarrow and spun her around as
he laughed joyously. She laughed with him and wrapped her arms
tightly around his neck, pulling his lips down to hers. He stopped
moving as the electricity of their kiss overwhelmed him and he
kissed her back hungrily. Katy and Dontela pretended to be
interested at something in the dirt that was invading the road
surface while Angela glared at the two kissing adults with a look
of disgust.

Steven broke the kiss and smiled lovingly at
Kera. “Things are going to be better now,” he promised her. She
nodded back, however, a nagging thought in the back of her mind
asked if that was true. If they found Jeremy how was he going to
handle the knowledge that his mother was dead and the fact that
Kera was trying to step in and fill that void in his father’s
heart. Things were far from being better yet; she kept the mask of
a smile still on her face.

The Humvee motored down the steep gravel road
that led to the expansive meadows and fields that surrounded the
farmhouse on the McQuinn property. They had had to use a set of
bolt-cutters from the vehicle to cut the lock on the gate before
proceeding down the half-mile driveway that opened up on the wide
hollow where the farm sat, a thousand feet below a 3500 foot
mountain peak. When they turned a corner the boy spotted the
farmhouse and one of the barns nestled along a flat stretch between
rolling slopes. He expected his momma and papa to come running from
the house at any moment, then they rumbled over the loose blue-chip
to pull to a stop before the old white clapboard two-story building
and his hopes fell to pieces at his feet.

Nothing looked out of place or changed since
the last time he had been here earlier this past summer. The door
remained firmly closed. Before the wheels of the Humvee could stop
turning he shot from the vehicle and rushed to the front door. It
was locked tight. He rushed around to the back and tried that door
also, it too was locked. He pounded loudly while calling for his
parents. Only silence greeted his calls. He felt tears well up and
overflow his eyes and wiped at them angrily with the backs of his
hands.

Where
are
you
? he
screamed in his mind.

Jeremy walked dejectedly back around to the
front where his two companions were out of the vehicle and leaning
against it casually, waiting for him. He walked up to Sarah and
threw his arms around her, trying to stifle the sobs that were
threatening to burst from his chest. He buried his face between her
breasts and silently wept while she stroked the back of his
head.

When he got control of his tears he pushed
himself away from her and savagely wiped away his tears. “They’re
not here,” he said harshly, anger welling up inside him.

Where
are
you
? his mind
screamed again.
You
were
supposed
to
be
here
,
now
I
don’t
know
what
to
do
!

He looked up at Sarah, who smiled kindly at
him. She looked awful, her swollen neck a mass of welts that had
turned ugly shades of purple and black. She had lost the use of her
voice completely.

Sergeant Heinlich walked around to their side
and put his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, Jeremy, I’m
sure your parents are okay. They’re probably taking their time
looking for you along the way and haven’t made it this far
yet.”

Jeremy looked at the ground and nodded, not
quite convinced that that was true. He would have to start
entertaining the thought that he would never see his parents
again.

“Come on, buck up, kid,” the Sergeant told
him, putting a finger under the boy’s chin and lifting it so he
could look him in the eyes. “We put those signs up on the highway
to catch anyone comin’ or goin’. I’ll bet your parents are back at
the armory right this minute eating some hot chow and anticipatin’
seeing you.”

Jeremy grimaced. “Thanks, Sergeant, but I’m
not sure I’m ever going to see my parents again.”

Sarah tried to scold him although it only
came out as a hoarse croak. She wagged her finger at him instead,
then bent down and kissed him on a cheek. That, he admitted to
himself, helped a lot.

Using the spare key hidden under the porch,
they opened up the house and made it ready to spend the night, and
soon had a blazing fire roaring in the woodstove to push back the
chill of the night air that was descending upon them. They would
leave out at first light and head back onto the road for the long
return trip to Staunton.

Reese peered through the binoculars toward
the clump of evergreen bushes between the kiddy railroad tracks and
the park pool east of the armory. There was definitely something
moving behind them. He walked along the roof of the building to try
to get a better angle of view. There was something alive down
there; something watching them. He felt the hackles on the back of
his neck rise, a feeling that had always been accurate before.

It
can’t
be
the
Goddamn
crazies
.
They
only
have
two
modes
,
off
and
full
-
on
-
retard
.

He stepped to the northeast corner of the
roof and again glassed the area. There they were. Two of them, and
they were staring at him right through the lenses of the
binoculars. Startled, he dropped the glasses from his eyes and
gazed across the open expanse with his own aging eyes. Two more of
them appeared from behind the line of bushes, all looking right at
him. He steeled himself and put the glasses back to his eyes. Yes,
they were indeed looking right at him, merely standing there with
hunched shoulders like wolves contemplating their prey.