In the Lone and Level Sands (13 page)

“My baby!” the woman said. She started to
run, but Max grabbed her arm.

“Wait a minute. She might be on one of these
other rockets.”

The rest of the rockets were slowing down.
The crazy man, minus his chainsaw, sat up only to get hit in the
head by one of the rockets. He went down hard, blood gushing from
his skull.

The rockets slowed to a stop. Kids got out,
most began looking for their parents. Many were confused.

“Helen!” the woman said.

“Mommy, what’s going on?” a little girl
asked. The woman ran to meet her.

Max looked for his own family. He didn’t see
them anywhere. He started running, then looked back. The woman was
hugging her child closely, which was thanks enough. The rocket that
had crashed entered his mind, and his moment of happiness
ended.

Max made his way to the front of the
carnival grounds. The aisles were capped by turnstiles and crowded
with people trying to escape. Max wasn’t sure if it was any better
than climbing the fences. People were hopping the bars and counters
and fleeing into the darkness.

Max saw his family off to the side, looking
around. He rushed over to them.

“There you are!” Margaret said.

“I’m okay,” Max said, “let’s go.”

They waited to get out of the carnival,
moving in a hectic line, hoping for their lives and fighting
against the constant pushing from behind. Finally they reached the
gates, climbed over the turnstiles, and made their way to the
parking lot.

Andrew counted to make sure everyone was
present, and Margaret asked if they were all okay. Max turned and
looked at the carnival grounds, still full of people, still full of
madness.

He was not okay.

18

In Fred’s House

Ben opened tired, cloudy eyes. He looked
around the dark room and saw the outline of Fred and Sara lying
side by side. Beyond them was a chair turned away from the desk
beside it, and on the chair sat a basket of dirty laundry with the
clothes spilling out. It reminded Ben of a dream he had in which a
similar basket turned into an old, dead lady. That dream had
haunted him for most of his childhood. Why could he remember that,
but not Charlotte?

She was lying silently on her side with her
hands clasped together underneath a floral pillow. Her side rose up
and down gently. Ben pressed the button marked “Light” on his
watch. It was a quarter to six. He lay back down, closed his eyes,
then opened them again. The sun was up this time, and Fred and
Sara’s bed was empty.

“Ben, come on!” Charlotte said. “Get up!
We’ve gotta leave soon.”

Ben got out of bed and headed to the
bathroom.

When he was finished, he used some of Fred’s
deodorant. He didn’t want to smell bad, but he didn’t have time to
shower, or clean clothes to change into.

“I’m sorry, Charlotte. I didn’t want to
sleep this late.”

“I’m just worried. There are more of
them
out there. But it’s fine, I’m not ready to go,
either.”

“Well, I’m gonna go see if Fred and Sara
need any help with anything,” Ben said.

“Okay. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Ben headed down the hallway. He ran into
Sara, who was carrying Angus’s bed.

“Oops! Pardon me, dear.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Ben said. “Here,
let me take that for you. Where do you want it?”

“You can just put it on the kitchen table
for now. We’re just gathering some supplies. Fred figured it’s
probably best if we stay in one place, so when we get to Bangor, if
it’s not too much trouble, we were hoping to stay there for a bit.
We’ll leave whenever this craziness blows over.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Ben said. He
and Sara went into the kitchen, where Fred was packing a suitcase
with cans, eating utensils, and other items. Angus was at his feet
looking up at him, curious as to why he hadn’t received his second
helping of breakfast.

Fred looked up. The solemn expression on his
face turned cheery. “Mornin’.”

“Good morning,” Ben said. “Can I help you
with that?”

“No, I’ve got it. I could use your help when
we load up, though.”

“I made some toast and eggs,” Sara said. “If
you’re hungry, I’ll fix you some.”

“That’d be great,” Ben said. “I’m
starving!”

Charlotte walked in and smiled nervously at
the three of them.

“Do you want some breakfast, dear?”

“No thanks,” Charlotte said. “I’m not very
hungry.”

“Oh, come on, Charlotte. You need to eat
something,” Ben said.

“Okay, I guess an egg wouldn’t hurt.”

“As soon as you’re both finished, we should
hit the road,” Fred said.

****

Angus followed the four of them into the
garage. He was exploding with energy, bumping Ben and Charlotte and
wagging his tail. He took a seat beside the van.

Ben and Fred lifted Angus’s kennel into the
back of the van.

“Angus! I’ve got a treat for you,” Fred
said. He produced a hefty bone and tossed it into the kennel. It
had Angus’s bed inside to cushion the bottom, which was made of
hard metal bars. Angus jumped in and grabbed the bone. He gnawed on
it happily, holding it propped up between his two massive front
paws. Fred closed the door of the kennel. Ben and Charlotte climbed
into the back seat and put on their seatbelts.

“Fred, could I borrow your cell phone so I
can call my parents?” Charlotte asked.

“You sure can,” Fred said. He took the phone
from his pocket and looked at the screen, and his smile turned to a
frown. “Doesn’t look like it’s got any service. It’s probably just
because we’re in the garage.” Fred handed the phone to Charlotte.
“Wait until we get on the road, then try it.”

“Thank you,” Charlotte said.

Fred climbed into the driver’s seat and
fiddled with a GPS unit under the radio. It looked like an old
model, but it seemed to work just fine.

“What’s the address?” Fred asked.

“8401 North Enslin Avenue.”

“Thank you,” Fred said. He typed it in and
fiddled with the device for a while. He sighed in frustration when
he couldn’t get a signal. He tried again, but fared no better.
“Well, I guess we’ll do it the old fashioned way.”

When they were a mile or two from Fred and
Sara’s, Charlotte said, “I still have no signal.” She checked the
phone again when they had left Blackwater Falls. “Still
nothing!”

“Weird,” Fred said. “Service towers must be
down.”

“Damn it.” Charlotte reached forward to hand
Fred’s phone back.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Thanks for letting me
try.”

“No problem.”

“It’s okay,” Ben said. “They’re all right,
and we’ll be there soon.”

“Thanks,” Charlotte said. She glanced at Ben
with a half-smile on her face.

Once they got onto the highway, there wasn’t
as much to look at. Charlotte gave directions where they were
needed, so it was a smooth drive. They had over seventy miles to
go, northbound on I-95. The traffic was minimal. Ben assumed it was
because most people had already made up their minds; some decided
to set up camp wherever they were when the whole thing began,
others saw fit to cross the country during the late hours to avoid
rushes or jams during the day.

“Do you think it’s okay to open the window?”
Sara asked. “It’s kind of hot in here.”

“Yeah,” Fred said. “We’re going over sixty.
We’ll be fine.”

Angus shifted in his kennel. He walked
around in a couple of circles, arched his back, and then lay back
down.

A car rested on the shoulder a few miles
down the road. A few people stood near the car. As they came
closer, Ben saw one of the people try to get a bite out of
another.

“Wait, those people need help!”

Fred pulled over to the shoulder and got out
of the car, his shotgun in hand.

A woman was waving her arms wildly and
moving her mouth. While Ben didn’t know exactly what she was
saying, he did have a pretty good idea.

Her husband was fighting for his life as a
zombie was getting its mouth closer to warm flesh. The woman tried
to pry the zombie off of her husband, but Fred motioned for her to
back up. The husband pushed the zombie back, and it fell to the
ground, but was quick to get up.

Fred aimed his gun and pulled the trigger.
The zombie’s head splattered all over the side of the Sedan. Ben
opened the door and got out of the van; it seemed as good a time as
any to stretch his legs.

“Are you two okay?” Fred said.

“He got real close to biting me,” the man
said. “I was about to be toast!” He shook his head and wiped his
forehead.

“So neither one of you were bitten?” Ben
asked.

“No, we weren’t. We’re clean.” The man
walked over to his wife, who was still trembling. He hugged her.
“We’re lucky you guys came along. Our car died.”

“If you don’t mind little legroom, you
should come with us,” Fred said. “We can’t just leave you
here.”

“Thank you guys! So much! The name’s
Rich—”

“Introductions can wait until we’re safe at
sixty-five!” Fred pointed down the hill. A pack of zombies was
shambling toward the three couples.

“Oh shit!” the man said. He hurried to his
car. “We have bags!”

He grabbed two suitcases from the car while
his wife got into the van, and he climbed into the back soon after.
Ben got back in and sat next to Charlotte. Fred started the engine.
Once the car was safe at highway speed, the man spoke again.

“Anyway, the name’s Richard. This is my
wife, Carah. Thanks again for your help!”

“Are you all right, Carah?” Charlotte said.
Carah wasn’t looking at her, and she didn’t answer.

“She’s actually deaf,” Richard said while
using sign language to communicate with Carah.
You okay,
Honey?

I’ll be fine
, she replied with her
hands.

“So where were you headed?” Fred asked.

“We were actually heading back from a little
motel in New York. We decided to go home because we couldn’t just
stay there forever.” Richard scratched his head and put his arm
around Carah’s shoulder. “We live in Lincoln.”

“That’s a bit of a drive. We’re headed to
Bangor.”

“The more of us there are, the better chance
we have of surviving this,” Ben said.

“That’s true,” Richard said. He began
signing again.

These people are going to take us to Bangor
with them. We’ll stake out until we can go back home.

That sounds good. Thank you!
Carah
perked up a bit, and smiled.

“She says thanks,” Richard said. “I’m going
to say it again, too. Thanks! Without you guys, we would’ve been
goners!” He leaned in to kiss Carah. Charlotte looked at the new
couple with envy. She couldn’t help it. When she looked at Ben, she
felt sad. But she wasn’t done trying, and she’d go as far as she
had to to get him back.

19

Amid the Wreckage

Layne couldn’t believe how tired he was. Of
course, what he had just gone through had been physically
demanding, but he felt like he could fall asleep at any minute.

He looked around after getting off of the
emergency slide. People were regrouping, Jessi was holding Kara,
and the woman who had been rendered unconscious was being placed
against the slide, her hands tied with a loose piece of cord, in
case she woke up and freaked out again.

It was dark out, and Layne didn’t see any
sign of civilization. He did, however, see a lot of hills and trees
and open areas. He also saw many people looking at him.

“I know we’re probably all tired,” he said,
“but I think some of us should look for the other part of the
plane. There may be other survivors who need our help.”

“
We
need help, dude,” the snarky man
said. Layne looked at him.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Dexter, pops.”

“Dexter—”

“Dex.”

“Dex, everyone, we’re in the middle of
nowhere. It may be a while before anyone shows up to help us. If
nobody saw the crash, help may not be coming at all. We may need to
set up camp for the night. In the meantime, we need to get to the
other part of the plane.”

Two small groups swiftly assembled. Layne,
Dex, and three other men were going to look for the other half of
the plane, while the rest of the survivors gathered wood to make a
campfire. It wasn’t too cold out, and Layne was thankful for
that.

The group headed off, following the pieces
of metal and flaming chunks of things, hoping it would lead them to
the front of the plane. Layne figured once they were close enough,
a high hill would provide them with the location of the
wreckage.

He tried not to pay too much attention to
the heaps they passed. Looking just long enough to find a trail was
enough to notice that some of them were bodies.

They pressed on. Layne saw a bright glow
peaking over a hill. He headed up and on the other side he found
the front of the plane. It was banged up and broken, but didn’t
look much worse off than the rear.

“There it is, guys,” Layne said.

The team headed down to the plane. They
rounded to the back of it, where it was open. Layne could see
shadows moving inside and hear voices and cries over the sound of
the flames.

“Hey! Is anyone alive in there?” Layne
said.

A woman came to the opening. “Yeah! There
are four of us! But the emergency door isn’t working. We can’t get
down!”

Layne looked beneath the opening and saw a
large, fiery cut in the earth.

“Is there any way we can put this out?”

“Yeah, man,” Dex said. “I carry fifty
gallons of water with me at all times.”

“You’re not helping,” Layne said. He looked
around and saw a long scrap of metal. “Maybe we can use that as a
bridge. Help me carry it over here.” The group rushed over to it,
lifted it, and carried it to the opening. “Is anyone badly
injured?” Layne asked the woman, who was patiently waiting.