Rotten (10 page)

“Yep, it sure wasn’t looking for heat signatures or we would be dead now,” Highland agreed. 

We piled back in the cars and pulled onto the path, following Mrs. Williams over the rise and onto the two-lane black top.  No one said a word, and we rolled down our windows to listen for more drones.  We all breathed a sigh of relief when she turned on a dirt road that resembled a tunnel.  She slowed, turned on the parking lights, and expertly steered around potholes and avoided rocks. 

“This is it,” Highland said, “just a few more miles and we’ll be there.”  The road was narrow and rutted and was actually more of a trail and occasionally the Escalade scraped along the trunks of trees and bounced sharply over thick roots.  “Uncle Paul never cared too much for what he called ‘newfangled’ things, the cabin doesn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing.  From what I understand my great-great grandfather built the original cabin back in early 1900s, and each generation added on to it, except us.  Mom and I haven’t been out here building anything.  I’m a fan of electricity and wi-fi and you can’t get a signal out here, especially at the cabin.”

“Never much saw you as a hiking, canoeing kind of guy, Highland,” Rotten said.

Princess and I glanced at each other and shrugged, that was the thing about Highland, you just never knew.

“It’s not the most fun thing I’ve ever done, but I can do it.  I’ve been thinking about the next leg of the trip.  We’re going to have to cut down our stuff to what we can carry.  There are two canoes and a two-man Jon boat, but definitely not enough room for everyone and the supplies in them.  I think we should stay along the river and a few of us will take the boats with supplies, and the rest will have to walk along the shore.  And then after we get out of the dead zone, we could probably find a couple more boats.  This river goes through the state park and straight into the national forest and from there we could hit the Appalachian Trail.”

“We should probably move fast when we get to the cabin,” I said, staring at the clock in the dash.  It was almost eight and we had no idea how big of an area would be affected by their solution to the zombie problem.  “How far away is this place from Arlington?” 

“As the crow flies, about three miles, over the roads it’s seven or more.  The river runs just outside of the town line of Arlington, so if we run into soldiers it will probably be there and we have to pass under the bridge.” 

Old oak trees towered over the cabin and blocked out the sky with thick strands of moss and even though my eyes had adjusted pretty well to the darkness, when Highland parked at the cabin and killed the parking lights, I could barely see my hands.  Highland turned on a flashlight, passed us each one, and we climbed out of the car.  The ground was uneven, alternating between thick roots and piles of wet, slick leaves and we regrouped by the porch of the cabin, the individual beams of our flashlights exploring the area. Highland shared his idea of how we’d get out and we agreed without discussion and got busy. 

The guys went to get the boats ready, Sully and Will began unloading and organizing the supplies, and Princess and I followed Mrs. Williams into the cabin.  We moved fast, knowing our time was running out, and in a very short span we were down by the river with the boats loaded and ready to go.

“I’ll take the Jon boat, and Moonshine said he’ll take a canoe, who’s taking the other one?” Highland said. 

              “I can take it.” Will finally volunteered when no one else spoke up.

              “No offense, Will, but you may be too small,” Sully said.

              “I may be, but I learned to kayak when I was six, and my dad and I go fishing a lot.  We have a Jon boat, and a canoe, and I’ve been on this river hundreds of times.” 

              “Okay, then, Will’s in the other canoe.  Now I need someone who is staying on land to carry this pack, I don’t want to risk it getting wet, it’s my computer and we will need it later.”  Highland grabbed a bag out of the Jon boat.

              “I’ll carry it.”  Sully volunteered. 

              Highland looked at him skeptically.

              “I won’t let anything happen to it, Wayne.  I’m in this mess, too.”

              “Okay, lets go.”  Highland gave the pack to Sully, who strapped it on and adjusted it to fit snuggly. 

              Mrs. Williams handed out protein and candy bars, which I stuffed in my pockets, and then she passed out an assortment of backpacks loaded with water and extra food.  Moonshine and Will maneuvered their canoes into the water and we pushed the Jon boat off the shore.  Highland attached a small trolling motor on the rim of boat instead of using the bigger, more powerful, but also louder, motor that was already bolted on. “Hopefully it won’t be too bad.”  He grimaced when he started the spinning blade, and although it wasn’t blaring, it could be heard from a distance, but when he set it in the water it muffled most of the noise.  “It’ll have to do.”

The boats moved up the river, and we followed Mrs. Williams along the shore.  “We’ve got about half a mile before we have to go up in the woods,” she explained, her flashlight pointed down and illuminating just the few feet in front of us.  “We’ll be out of sight of the boats for awhile then, and we’ll have to go up a pretty steep hill, but it’s not far before we can get back down to the river.” 

We walked quietly on the sand and the only sound was the low purr of the Jon boat, and the slight splash of the paddles in the water.  The moon broke through the clouds, lighting the way, and Mrs. Williams turned off the flashlight.

“Thank God for the moon,” Princess whispered. “I never knew the dark could feel so claustrophobic.”

“It’s good and bad, I would think,” Sully said.  “We can see better, but they can too.” 

“Mom,” Highland called softly, his boat close to shore, “the trail is coming up. We’ll wait for you on the other side.”

“Okay, son.  It’ll be about fifteen minutes.”

He nodded and pulled behind the canoes.  The shore ended abruptly at a clay and rock wall, thick with snaking roots, and Mrs. Williams turned and started up a small, well-traveled trail.  “If it’s good enough for deer, it’s good enough for us,” she said. 

The rocks and roots pretty much made a twisting stairway up to the top of the rise, and we climbed quickly and made it to the top a little short of breath, but unharmed.  “These woods open up in a power line field, it’s wide open, and if soldiers are there we’ll be spotted easily,” Mrs. Williams whispered.  “I want you kids to stay here, be as quiet as you can, and Sully and I will go have a look.” 

We sat down, caught our breath, and I pulled a candy bar out of my pocket.  “I wonder how much time we have.”

Rotten shrugged.  “We’re back at the
Langoliers
, so I’m not feeling optimistic.”

“You guys know that power lines had nothing to do with the time eating monsters in the movie, right?”  Princess said, opening a protein bar.

“We know,” Rotten said. 

Mrs. Williams and Sully returned quickly, and she whispered, “We have to go back down, now,” while Sully put his finger to his mouth and then motioned toward the way we had just come. 

I reached the edge first and stopped short, what seemed like an easy climb coming up looked totally different going down.  The clouds had slipped over the moon, and all I saw in front of me was a dark drop into nothing.  Mrs. Williams grabbed my arm, and led me to the first step.  Princess put her hand on my shoulder, and we proceeded slowly down the trail, stepping from rocks to roots to crumbling dirt to hard clay ledges, and somehow we all arrived on the shore in one piece. 

Mrs. Williams trotted down the shore to a bend in the river before calling Highland on the radio.  “There are soldiers in the field.” 

“Okay,” he responded in a whisper.  “Where are you?”

“On the shore where we split up, at the bend.” 

“We’re coming to get you.”

              We moved around the bend and out of the line of sight of the hill, and Mrs. Williams sat down on the sand, releasing a long breath.  “Wow,” she said, breathing in and out deeply and slowly.  “That scared me,” she laughed softly and then sobbed.

              Sully dropped down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Wendy?”

              “I’m okay.”  She took another deep breath and patted his hand.

              “What happened?” Princess sat down on the other side of Mrs. Williams.

              “We heard them before we saw them,” Sully said.  “There were two of them in the field, they were joking around, but they were definitely on guard.  They wore all black so I have no idea what branch they are, but they’re heavily armed.” 

              “How close did you get to them?”  Rotten said, looking over his shoulder.

              “About fifty yards, close enough to be too close.” 

              “What were they saying?”

              “We couldn’t hear much.”  He smiled tightly.  “I think they were talking about a strip club they both like.” 

              “I wonder if they know what they are taking part in, or if they are just following orders.”  Princess said.  “Hanging out at a strip club one night, killing innocent citizens the next.  I hate the world.” 

              “It’s not showing us its best side right now, that’s for sure.” Mrs. Williams stood up and watched the water.

              We waited impatiently, while nervously peeking around the bend to see if any soldiers were heading down the ridge in our direction.  The canoes slid up silently and Will jumped out and dragged the canoe on the sand, and then Moonshine did the same. 

              Moonshine explained that they had unloaded the gear with Highland, and he had gone ahead to the shore on the other side of the ridge.  “It made the most sense at the time, and Will handles a canoe better than I do.”  We quickly discussed who would be in each canoe and it was decided that Sully would be in the back of one with a paddle, simply because he had canoed before, Princess and I would sit on the floor in the middle, and Will would be in front with the other paddle.  In the other canoe, Rotten got the middle seat and Mrs. Williams was in front.  “I’m warning you guys, there is a definite
Deliverance
vibe going through that tunnel,” Moonshine said as we pushed off.  “Stay close to walls, and be as quiet as you can.”

It was a little wobbly at first and I was nervous with how low we sat, and measured in my mind the couple inches between the edge of the canoe and the top of the water.  Thankfully, Sully and Will were working well together when we pulled into the dark trench cut through the hill, and from our position the hill looked more like a mountain.  I stared upward and could see a small slither of sky between the trees that hung over on each side, then the tree line ended abruptly, and the sky opened up.  I knew we were passing the field where the soldiers had been spotted and held my breath unconsciously.  I saw the thick black lines connecting each side of the river and watched for any movement along the edges of the cliffs. 

              I let out my breath when the field above gave way to trees again.  No one spoke, but I did hear others expelling long held breaths.  Those in charge of paddling did it quickly and efficiently and soon the ridge eased down and we left the dark tunnel behind.  Highland stood on the shore waiting for us, and after a quick deliberation we decided to continue traveling on the water, even though it meant risking our supplies and the computer.  We knew that if we were in the blast zone when it happened those things were useless to us anyway.  The water was slow moving and calm and we were making pretty good time following the Jon boat, even though we were paddling upstream, but we felt the click of the clock in our minds and the thud of our hearts in our chests.  We were scared in a way we hadn’t been while running for our lives in Blacksport. 

              Soon the glow of Arlington became obvious and we pulled the boats together to figure out what to do next.  Since Mrs. Williams, Will, and Highland were familiar with the area they did most of the whispering back and forth.  The bridge leading into Arlington was long and covered not just the river, but also the marshland on either side of the water and Will said that there were several tributaries through the marsh, deep enough for the boats.  We hoped that since the bridge was so long the soldiers would be stationed at either end and if they were in the middle, they would be watching the river, and not each small creek snaking through the marsh.