Jacob's Odyssey (The Berne Project Book 1) (24 page)

Sarah lay on her back on the ground and tried to lift her head up, but she lacked the strength. Raj sat with his back against the trunk of one of the apple trees, knees up against his chest, his head shying away from them, but he seemed mesmerized at the same time and couldn't take his eyes off the Swimmer and Becky.

As for me, I knew I needed to do something, but I couldn't seem to get myself to move. I was frozen in no-man's land atop the fence using my free hand to keep myself balanced.

Then the Swimmer turned his head in my direction. He stepped quickly toward the fence and let out a fierce trilling howl that had me shrinking back. I toppled backwards off the fence and landed with a thud on my hip and side. I'd dropped the bat as I fell and it lay next to me in the grass. I was stunned and panicky and unsure what to do. Several thoughts raced through my mind. I couldn't attack him with the bat because he had Becky and could use her as a shield. And even if he didn't have Becky, I doubted I could overpower him with the bat. He was too big and strong and I didn't have the element of surprise this time. I could use the gun but it would attract every infected anywhere near the East Bench area. Then I realized I was stalling. I was scared out of my wits and didn't want to have to face him again. A second or two had already passed and I heard the Swimmer moving toward the gate. And then I got up and ran to my backpack, far too ashamed not do anything.

My hands trembled as I unzipped the pouch that held the Glock. I grabbed the gun by the barrel and raced back to the fence. I threw the Glock over the fence and climbed over. The Swimmer was gone and so was Becky. He'd left the gate open. Sarah was struggling to sit up. Her left cheek was rosy red and puffy and a trickle of blood ran from her nose down to her upper lip. Her left eye was pinkish and had a watery sheen to it. She was barely conscious. Raj was huddled in a fetal position with his back against the tree trunk.

I helped Sarah sit up. "I'm going to get Becky," I told her, speaking quickly. "I'm going to bring her back. I promise." There was a glint of awareness in her eyes but not much more. Then she looked up at me and I knew I had her attention. "You have to stay here. I'll bring Becky back here. Understand?"

Sarah nodded weakly and her chin began to quiver. She was going to cry. I stepped over and grabbed Raj by the shoulder. "You have to stay here, and you have to be quiet. You understand?"

Raj looked absolutely miserable. "Yes, Jake," was all he said.

I grabbed the gun off the ground and ran to the gate. I closed it as quietly as I could and then I took off. The Swimmer was running south on Hale which curved left up ahead. He was jogging easily. He had Becky slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and her head and arms flopped up and down as he ran. He was maybe forty yards ahead of me. He didn't know I was coming, but he would in a few seconds. When I got to the intersection, I stopped and let out a scream of my own. It was meant for the infected down on Jupiter. I didn't want them heading for Raj and Sarah. The last thing the infected had likely heard was the Swimmer's howl, and I was hoping my scream would redirect them to the intersection and then to me.

The Swimmer slowed to a stop. He pivoted around and stared. He angled his head curiously and seemed surprised. Then he turned and ran and picked up his pace. I was surprised how fast he could run carrying Becky. She had to weight at least sixty pounds.

It felt strange running after the Swimmer instead of the other way around. I had to push myself to pick up the pace. Thing was, I was still frightened and wasn't sure what I would do when I caught up to them. All I knew was that I had to catch them. I had no other choice.

I carried the gun by the barrel which made it easier to run. And a plan began to formulate in my mind. I was already following the first part of it. I was running at a strong, measured pace, faster than the Swimmer, but not too fast. I had to be patient and make sure I didn't burn myself out. I couldn't catch up with him all at once.

I knew I would need to get within about twenty yards of him before I could get off an accurate shot. The Glock was accurate to fifty yards. When I got close enough, I'd have to stop, set myself, get properly sighted and fire. And as had always been my practice, I would kneel with one knee on the ground to get myself set. I had always been a better shot kneeling rather than standing. I figured it would take up to four seconds to get a shot off once I stopped and readied myself to fire. I estimated the Swimmer could run twenty to twenty-five yards in four seconds. That would put me in the neighborhood of forty yards or so behind him when I fired. I would aim for his left buttock since Becky was draped over his right shoulder.

The street began its gentle swing to the left. I kept my mind focused on my running mechanics. I kept my head still and ran with a short quick stride the way I'd been taught by my track coach in high school. My arms pumped in a compact motion and I kept them tight to my body. I knew I was closing in on them a little at a time, but I was also beginning to feel the midday heat. Driblets of sweat had begun to form just under the brim of my cap and I could feel them edging their way down my forehead and temple as I ran. I had to fight the impulse to wipe the sweat away. I didn't want anything breaking the rhythm of my running.

I focused on breathing and running, nothing else. I estimated I'd cut the distance between us to thirty yards or so. And as I kept my eyes on them, I thought it looked as if the Swimmer's stride was beginning to break down. It had to be difficult even for him to carry someone while running. He had to be getting fatigued. We had run about a block and I still felt relatively strong, though I could feel the concussion from my feet striking the asphalt riding up into my shins.

I went around the curve in the road and it straightened out in front of me. And then I saw movement up ahead. They were less than a block away, ransacking a house on the east side of the street. Several of them were out in the front yard and it looked as if they were feeding. They looked up in unison when they heard us.

I almost slowed down, but I fought against the impulse. And then I realized I needed to speed up. If the Swimmer reached them, there was no way I could get Becky back. I ran as fast as I could out of a feeling of desperation. I had to get to Becky before the Swimmer reached them; I knew what the infected would do to her. And I knew I'd never go back to Sarah and Raj without her. I had less than half a block to cut the distance between us. The muscles in my thighs began to burn as I pushed the pace, but I put it out of my mind and ran as hard and as fast as I could.

Three of the infected stumbled to their feet and began striding toward us. Two males and a female. They moaned excitedly as they staggered in our direction. The other infected in the yard continued to feed while keeping an eye on us. More infected began to exit out the front door.

I was about twenty-five yards behind them. It had to be now. It took me several steps to come to a stop. I knelt down, right knee on the asphalt, body erect. I steadied myself, extended my right arm and pointed the gun at the Swimmer. My left hand hugged the side heel and wrist of my right hand to steady my aim. I aligned the rear aperture sight with the front white dot sight and the Swimmer's left buttock. He was running in a straight line. A drop of sweat slid past the corner of my right eye. Then I took some air in and let it out. And as the last whisper of breath escaped through my lips and the natural pause between breaths came, I squeezed the trigger. The Glock jumped slightly in my hand.

I waited for him to fall, but the Swimmer kept running. I was starting to panic when he suddenly broke to his left toward the gutter. He faltered badly and was about to fall when he grabbed Becky off his shoulder and threw her into the yard. It seemed as if he were trying to protect her. She landed hard on the grass and bounced and rolled. The Swimmer threw his arms out to break his fall and he turned his head sideways, but I could see his head bounce when he slammed into the gutter pavement. He made an attempt to get up but collapsed.

I was already up and running. The three infected were a house away and closing. Three houses behind them, another dozen or so were headed in our direction. Becky was on her hands and knees now, her face immobile, staring at the ground. She moved slowly and appeared to be trying to gather herself. She looked stunned and disoriented.

"Becky," I yelled.

She turned and looked at me with a pained expression on her face. She looked lost and had no idea the infected were coming. Then she must have heard them, because she turned her head in their direction and screamed. They were ten yards away now, lumbering frantically toward her. I didn't have time to kneel, but I was only a few yards from Becky.

The female was out front and she moved with frenetic desperation, arms outstretched. She had likely been a young woman before she'd been infected. Now her face was smoky gray and mapped with dark veins and arteries that stretched up her face like tributaries. Her clothes were filthy and ragged. She was swimming in what had once likely been a pair of tight-fitting jeans. She wore a halter top smeared with dried blood, and there was fresh blood there too. She wore an unbuttoned blouse over the halter top, peeled back over both shoulders and upper arms. I shot her in the face just below her right eye. I shot her without hesitation and she collapsed to the ground. The two infected males trailed several feet behind her and I shot them too.

Becky turned toward me, her face twisted with fear.

I kneeled next to her. "We need to go, Becky. We need to get back to Raj and your mom. Can you walk?"

She was crying softly, but she gave me an affirmative nod. She kept an eye on the group that was coming for us. I wiped a tear off her cheek and helped her up and she took my hand and we started walking.

"Remember, they can't catch us," I told her.

The swimmer was lying in the gutter, his left arm stretched behind him, his fingers splayed, cupping his wounded buttock. A splotch of blood stained his shorts. His face was twisted in pain and there was a nasty abrasion just above his temple.

I had an impulse to kill him, get him out of our lives, but I was torn. I knew he was dangerous despite being wounded. And I might have killed him if Becky hadn't been with me. But I couldn't shoot him right in front of her. I didn't want to traumatize her any more than she already had been. With him lying in the gutter, it would have been like killing him in cold blood right in front of her. I hadn't hesitated with the other infected, but the Swimmer wasn't like the others. At least that's what I told myself.

Becky cowered as we passed by the Swimmer. She leaned close against me and tightened her grip on my hand. But the Swimmer didn't look our way.

"Becky, you let me know when you think you can run. Okay?"

We walked quickly. Becky turned every few seconds to check on the group behind us. We hadn't walked more than twenty yards when she tugged at my arm. "Let's run now, Jake."

"Okay," I said, and we started to jog easily down Hale back toward the intersection and the backyard where Sarah and Raj were. Becky never let go of my hand.

I knew the infected from Jupiter Drive would be getting to the intersection soon. But that was okay. I wanted them to see us. I wanted them headed in our direction. I would pick out a house that looked abandoned and we'd slip into the backyard and head back to Sarah and Raj. The infected coming from both directions would focus on the abandoned house. They might even try to break into the home, but they wouldn't find us there or anyone else either. The infected, save for the Swimmer, weren't all that difficult to fool.

I didn't mention my plan to Becky. I'd wait till the time came for us to make our move.

Becky looked back to the group behind us to make sure we were still a safe distance from them. We were easily outdistancing them. And the further away we got, the more relaxed Becky became.

When we were at most a block from the intersection, the first few of the infected from Jupiter Drive showed up. They looked down the street toward us and began lumbering hurriedly in our direction.

Becky stopped in her tracks and the color drained from her face. I knelt down and got eye to eye with her. "It's all right," I told her. "We're going into the backyard of that house right there." And I pointed at the next house down, a large rambler with the windows mostly uncovered. "They'll come to that house and they'll think we're there. But we won't be there. We'll go through the backyards and get back to your mom and Raj. We'll slip right by them and they'll never know. Do you understand?"

"I'm scared, Jake," she said.

"I promise they won't get us. We're a lot smarter than they are." And I gave her a reassuring smile. "Okay?"

Becky nodded and we cut across the neighboring yard with its tall wheat-colored grass and into the driveway of the rambler. Both groups of infected were over a half block away. For once, I used the wood gate and slammed it loudly behind us. I wanted them to hear us.

We hustled across the backyard to the fence. It was a stained wood fence, well maintained. It felt sturdy when I checked it. I tucked the gun away in the back waistband of my shorts. I whispered to Becky what we'd be doing. I told her I'd be lifting myself up to the top of the fences and making sure the backyards were clear before we'd go over. Then I'd lift her to the top of the fence and she'd sit there till I climbed over the fence and brought her down, and I told her we needed to be as quiet as possible. The air conditioners and swamp coolers were going, so there was some noise to help mask any sounds we might make.