Devour: Death & Decay Book 1 (19 page)

How many more would die?

“There!” Liv pointed to a gap that opened up as two packs of ferals merged into one horde. She sprinted forward. Even as they moved towards the opening, the ferals closed in around them.

We are screwed.
She swung the mallet as a feral tried to intercept them from the side. But she was slow, her arms were tired. Instead of hitting the man’s head, the heavy head of the mallet smacked into the man’s side and knocked him over.

She wanted to put the heavy weapon away. Using a knife, however, would force her to stop when dealing with the ferals, and they needed to keep moving.

A loud explosion ripped through the air, sending Liv sprawling to the ground. Her ears rang, drowning out the moans of the ferals. Slowly, painfully, Liv pushed herself up. The ground shifted uneasily beneath her.

Smoke rose up from just on the other side of the trees that separated them from the church.

Corey was sprawled out behind her, with Jen unmoving at his side. Panic slammed into Liv like a train. They had to get up. They had to get moving. All around them, the ferals had been thrown to the ground as well, but many were already pulling themselves up again.

As Liv scrambled to her friends, Corey began to push himself up. The sounds started to slowly seep back into Liv’s ears as the ringing slowly subsided. Elli howled on Liv’s back. Though her cries would attract attention, Liv was relieved to hear them. If Elli was crying, then she was alive and conscious.

“What was that?” His voice was faint. Liv just shook her head unknowingly.

Corey’s eyes grew wide as they fell on Jen, motionless on the ground next to him. He shook her shoulder hard. Though her head lulled with each shake, Jen’s eyes slid open, unfocused and hazy.

“We have to go!” Liv grabbed Corey’s shoulder. Some of the ferals were on their feet now, and the rest were getting up. Corey scooped up Jen and they darted off between two houses.

Day 4
12:13 pm

Liv’s arms ached. Her back ached. Her legs ached. Her whole body ached and her lungs burned from exertion. They had covered only two more miles before stopping for Elli’s nap. Corey had carried Jen the entire time. When the tears had stopped, she had slipped into her own quiet world. Liv had cut the path for them. She had lost track of how many ferals she had dispatched. But their progress hadn’t been entirely straightforward. Many times they had to stop and hide as a pack of ferals wandered by.

Finally, as they had neared Highway 364, they had found a house to rest in. Now, Liv cradled Elli in her tired arms as she tried to sleep on yet another unfamiliar couch. Except, sleep wouldn’t come. Just as her mind relaxed and she began to drift off, the screams from the church began to echo through her brain and she jolted awake.

Liv glanced down at Corey. He sat on the floor with his back propped up against the couch. Jen slept with her head cradled in his lap. His fingers trailed gently across her forehead and through her hair as she slept.

“How’s she doing?” Liv said quietly.

Corey let out a long sigh. “I think this is just too much for her.”

Liv nodded, though Corey couldn’t see the gesture with his back to her. “This isn’t easy for anyone. I would bet she isn’t the only one who is struggling to cope with everything.”

Corey shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. Jen can’t cope with bad situations.”

“What do you mean?” Liv prompted when Corey didn’t continue.

For a moment longer, Corey just stared into the dark room. “Jen is the kindest person I’ve ever met. She cares nothing for herself. All she wants in the world is to help everyone else.” He rubbed his face in exasperation. In that moment, Liv could see just how tired he was. The utter exhaustion showed for just a second before the mask of stoicism fell back into place. “Jen has to help everyone. She does everything. Volunteers at homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She coordinates food drives and other fundraisers to get necessities. Jen has even flown to places around the world to help after natural disasters.”

Corey sighed as he looked down at the girl sleeping in his lap. “She thinks everyone can be saved. She thinks it is her personal mission to save everyone.”

“That’s very noble,” Liv said quietly.

Corey shook his head. “No, it’s an obsession. She is destroying herself to do it. She can’t hold down a job because her charity work always takes priority. The sudden changes, all of this”—Corey gestured with a hand to the unfamiliar home—“has only made things worse. Now she has to decide. She wants to save the people, of course, but she still thinks that even the ferals can be saved. And she can’t choose. She has to save everyone.” He sighed heavily. “It’s going to get her killed.”

Liv didn’t know what to say.

“I don’t know what to do.” Corey’s words were halting and strangled. “I can’t convince her that we can’t save everyone. I shouldn’t have to. Her passion was noble three days ago. Yes, we struggled to keep our own heads above water, but who could really blame her for wanting to help those who are the worst off?”

Liv blinked away tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. “And you think it’s your job to take care of her while she takes care of everyone else.”

Corey tensed for a moment, then relaxed and nodded. “If we’re being really honest, I don’t really want to save anyone. Just her.” He sighed and his shoulders slumped as though saying it out loud made him feel better. “I don’t really know how we ended up together.” His words were quiet. “I mean, I’ve never really cared about helping anyone. I didn’t try to hurt anyone. I just didn’t go out of my way to help either. And then along came Jen. She was just so…” He lost himself in the memory.

Finally, he shook his head, bringing himself back to reality. “She is just so optimistic and upbeat. You can’t help but love her.” Liv could see his cheeks rise as a small smile turned the corner of his lips up. “But I’m happy just helping her so she can save everyone else.” He looked back down at Jen as he stroked her hair.

He chewed on his lip for a minute before continuing. “I didn’t want to save you,” he admittedly quietly. “I just want you to know that I’m glad we did. I really am. I thought it was too dangerous. But Jen insisted. We didn’t even know you had a baby. We hadn’t heard her crying. We were getting ready to cross Highway 94 from the opposite side when Jen saw you creeping between the cars. For a minute, we just watched and you were doing pretty well. I had thought we’d just wait for you to pass and then cross ourselves. Then they saw you. Jen was frantic. She just darted away before I could grab ahold of her.”

Liv let his story sink in. The way Jen had acted today was dangerous. It could easily have gotten them all killed or infected if Jen had managed to draw the attention of the ferals when she panicked. But had it not been for one of Jen’s crazy, altruistic meltdowns, Liv and Elli would have never survived.

“Regardless of whose idea it was,” she started slowly, “you both have helped us a lot. We wouldn’t be here without either of you. To be quite honest, it’s just nice having someone to talk to. Not to feel so alone.”

Corey nodded. “It’s been nice having you guys around.” He was silent for a moment before continuing. “I’m just afraid that she’s cracking, like the window at the church. Eventually, she is going to break.”

“I think it’ll be easier for Jen once we reach Slag Stead. There should be other people there and then she can focus all her energy helping there. She won’t have to choose. She can just help people.”

Corey nodded. “We just have to get there first.”

“We’ll get there.” Liv nodded firmly. She had to believe it. If she were to believe anything else, she wouldn’t have any reason to get up again. “Just a few more days. Once we pass by my house, a lot of it should be open until we reach Troy. At that point, we’ll be right around the corner.”

For a long time, Corey was silent. Exhaustion pulled Liv’s eyelids down and she wiggled deeper into the couch as she got comfortable. The soft cushions and cloth were exactly what her tired muscles needed.

“Hey, Liv.” Corey’s voice was soft as she drifted off to sleep.

“Hm.” Her mind struggled to find real words as the darkness of sleep crept in.

“Thanks.”

Liv smiled, or at least she thought she did. “Any time.” The darkness closed in as Liv drifted to sleep.

The street was quiet. The street their home sat on had never been noisy, but without the normal background noise of the city, it was too quiet. Further down the street, Liv could see figures shuffling about and she quickly dashed across the street and through a front lawn.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she gripped the knob of the familiar red door. Her door.

The door was unlocked and she shouldered the stiff, old door open. Everything looked just as she’d left it. Their furniture was nice but not fancy. The rooms didn’t have a coordinated theme. They were decorated with random knickknacks that she and Colin had acquired over the years. Pictures smiled down at her from the walls. Some were just of Elli, some were of their little family, and the rest were larger family photos with grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. A few toys were strewn across the floor where Elli had dropped them before they left what seemed like ages ago instead of days.

Suddenly, Colin rounded the corner. He smiled broadly at her.

“I’ve missed you. What took you so long?” He held out his arms to her and she ran towards him, forgetting everything that she had been through to reach him.

Day 4
3:35 pm

“Mama!” Elli cried excitedly as she wiggled about. Liv nuzzled the wiggly child and opened one eye.

“Hi!” Elli’s big smile was just inches from her face.

“Did you sleep well, baby?” Liv asked sleepily.

“Uh-huh.” Elli scrambled over Liv and let herself down off the couch. Her footsteps trailed off as she ran towards the kitchen. Liv sat up and stretched. She was still tired and her muscles still ached, but it had become more bearable.

“Whoa there, turbo. Whatcha looking for?” Corey asked.

Liv stood up and followed the voices into the dimly lit kitchen. Both Corey and Elli stood with their heads in the refrigerator. Elli stepped back, a frown on her face, then pointed up to the freezer. Corey pulled it open and Elli began to dance and squeal with excitement. In front of the other frozen foods sat a gallon carton of vanilla ice cream.

Corey glanced sideways at Liv, raising his eyebrow. Liv simply shrugged. What could a little ice cream hurt?

“I think you have the right idea, kid.” Corey pulled out the ice cream and began to rummage through the kitchen for some bowls and spoons.

Liv left Elli’s delighted squeals behind and went to search for Jen. She sat on a bed in what looked to be the master bedroom, holding a small frame in her hand. Though her eyes were cast down onto the picture, she seemed to be a million miles away. Gently, Liv sat down beside her.

The photo featured three children. The oldest was a girl who looked to be about thirteen years old, and the youngest was a boy of about eight. They smiled at the camera with the big goofy grins that children wore when they were truly happy underneath identical locks of sandy-blonde hair. All the children wore pajamas as they clustered together for the photo.

Behind them, the lights on a Christmas tree created bright spots on the background and as she looked closer, Liv noticed a thick layer of crumpled paper coating the floor. She smiled at the picture. A treasured family photo from Christmas morning. Her parents had several similar ones of her and her sisters.

The picture looked old. Not terribly old, but at least a decade or so. The children would probably be about Liv’s age by now.

“They look so happy,” Jen murmured. “Where do you think they are now?”

Liv shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe they have found someplace to hole up and try to ride this out.”

A pained expression crossed Jen’s face. While Liv’s words were meant to be comforting, she realized that they were anything but.

“Maybe they were in the church,” Jen said morosely.

Liv nodded slowly. “Maybe.” She wanted to tell Jen that everything would be alright. That they would be alright. That their families would be alright. But she couldn’t. In an instant, the world had become frightening and violent. People were dying all around them. Nothing was guaranteed anymore.

Jen looked back at the picture and the happy children in it. “It’s all gone, isn’t it?”

Liv sighed. “At least for a while, I think.” Jen continued to stare at the photo, as if willing it to become reality. “The world has never been a truly pretty place.” Liv’s mind raced as she tried to latch onto thoughts, praying she wouldn’t talk herself into a depressive corner. “Bad things have always happened. Three days ago these bad things came. For everyone.” She paused a moment, playing with a stray thread on her shirt as she thought about the events of the last few days.

“But that doesn’t make the world a terrible place. It is what it is. What we do with it is up to us.” Jen perked up a bit, turning her attention away from the photo and towards Liv for the first time. She had finally found the thought she needed, and Liv latched onto it with everything she had.

“There are a lot of people that need help right now. The entire world needs help right now. We just can’t help everyone.” Jen slouched again, the weight of the world and its problems bearing down heavily on her shoulders.

“That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t help anyone, though. We can help. We just need to be realistic about what we can do. If we focus our attention on certain aspects, we can do some good, save some people. It won’t end there, though.” Liv took Jen’s hand, desperately trying to pull the sweet girl out of her spiral without leading her on with false hopes and promises. “Perhaps if we save a few people, they will help others. And those people might help a couple more.”

Liv took a deep breath and looked Jen directly in the eyes. “Not everyone can be saved, but if we use what we have and do what we can, we can save some of them.”

Jen seemed to be debating the idea. “Ok,” she said slowly. “We’ll do what we can.” She nodded to herself.

Liv breathed a sigh of relief, though she tried to let it out quietly. “Corey and Elli are having ice cream for lunch. Are you hungry?”

Jen smiled. “I could definitely go for some ice cream.”

They stood up together and walked back to the kitchen. It was empty.

“In here!” called Corey, his words a bit garbled.

“Mama!” Elli exclaimed excitedly.

“Oh my god!” Jen’s eyes brightened and she hid a smile with her hands.

Corey had a spoon, heaped high with a gigantic bite of ice cream, halfway to his mouth. Elli was digging straight into the cardboard tub with her fingers. Ice cream dripped off her face and coated her shirt and arms up to her elbows.

“What?” Corey asked as he swallowed the mouthful of ice cream. “I figured if the world is ending, ya know, what’s the point of bowls? This one”—he gestured to Elli with his spoon—“seems to agree with me.”

“What the hell?” Jen shrugged. She disappeared for a moment and reappeared with two spoons, offering one to Liv. “I don’t mind eating straight from the carton, but I don’t really care to dig in with my fingers like the little miss.”

Jen plopped down onto the floor and dug in with her spoon. Liv sat down across the small coffee table and began to dig in.

“Uh-oh!” Elli looked down at her fingers, slowly closing and opening them. She looked back up at Liv and held out her hands. “Uh-oh!”

“Really?” Corey looked at Elli. “You just now figured out that’s problem?” He laughed as he took another bite of ice cream.

Liv groaned and stood up. “She’s not even two yet. She sees ice cream and thinks, ‘Oh boy, sugar!’ That’s about the extent of her planning.” She found a washcloth underneath the sink in the kitchen and wet it with a small splash of bottled water.

“Corey has the same kind of thought process.” Jen nodded, looking at him mischievously out of the corner of her eye. Corey glared at her, the spoon in his mouth.

Liv knelt down and wiped the washcloth against Elli’s face and arms as she protested. The girl didn’t like to be messy, but she also despised being cleaned. Her shirt was a disaster. Damp and sticky, it would have to be changed before they headed out again.

As Liv plopped back down into her seat and reached for her spoon, Elli’s hand shot out and she snatched the spoon from the ice cream.

“Really?” Liv asked as Elli giggled maniacally and began licking the spoon.

Liv began to rise again, but Jen pushed her back down. “You keep the kids in check, I’ll get another.” She jumped up and returned a few seconds later with another spoon.

“Thanks.” Liv dug in and returned with a heaping spoonful of ice cream. The frozen food was a little slice of heaven. The delightful cold of the ice cream was bliss compared to the sweltering heat and humidity outside, made worse by the layers of protection they had donned.

“So,” Liv said after a few bites, “I thought maybe we could all use a little break after the last few days.” Jen and Corey nodded but waited for her to explain before they said anything. “I think we’re all pretty tired and I know I’m sure as hell not used to this much walking and running.” Liv toyed with her spoon nervously. She wasn’t really sure why she was stalling, but she was nervous to bring up her idea.

Swallowing her fear, she plunged forward. “I was thinking we could wait here until dark to cross the highway. After we cross Three Sixty-Four, it’s two and a half or three miles until we reach Seventy. Elli will be asleep, the ferals will be asleep, and I think that gives us a better chance of crossing both highways without any complications.”

Corey nodded again but it was Jen who responded. “I don’t know how much I like going out in the dark with the ferals out there. We can’t use a flashlight. What if they wake up?”

“The night looks like it should be pretty clear. At least, there aren’t any clouds around right now. The moon isn’t full but with all the stars out we can at least see where we are going once our vision adjusts. I mean, it’s still dark out, but if we take our time, it might even be easier than moving around during the daylight.”

“I think we should give it a try.” Corey set down his spoon and leaned back on the sofa, seemingly satiated. “If things get a little hairy, we can hole up somewhere and figure out where to go from there. Our progress has been pretty slow so far, so it’s not like we’ll actually lose time trying this out.”

“And,” Liv started, “if we push on for about another two and a half miles after we cross Seventy, we can rest for the day at my place. The area has just a few small subdivisions and some pretty small farms. It should be relatively safe. After we leave there, it gets even more sparse, just road and open country.”

Jen nodded. “I guess we could try it.”