Running Away - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 4) (14 page)

P
enn continued driving
through the night just as I knew he would. He switched with Dean once when he couldn’t keep his eyes open. We continued with only one stop to check an abandoned car on the side of the highway. After a few hours of Penn shifting around in the passenger seat trying to get sleep, he switched back to driving.

We had stopped at various locations along the way while the sun had been up. Everything along the highway had pretty much been cleared out. The only thing we found that was useful was a lighter, and it worked maybe one time out of ten.

Every so often we’d get a little gas from a car, but it would only give us a few miles before we’d need to find more. But we’d found enough to drive through the whole night and a good portion of the day.

We’d look for food, medicine, bandages, anything and everything we thought might be useful, but everything we checked was empty. And Penn was too anxious to wander into places that had once been towns or cities, afraid they had been taken over by HOME, the resistance, or some other crazy group of people.

We still had our supplies that we’d taken from the hotel and from the military base but it wasn’t enough. The snacks were running low, and we still hadn’t come across a source of water.

Alice seemed to get sicker with every mile, but there wasn’t much we could do for her other than let her rest and try to find food, water and medicine. We’d driven for several hours and we hadn’t found any gas to fill up with, so when the car slowly rolled to a stop, I knew why.

“Out of gas,” Penn announced, but no one seemed the least bit surprised. During the night we had passed through the mountains and now everything around was flatland. The grasses and trees around were mostly dull green and brown. Without having seen a sign, I knew one thing was true, we weren’t in Michigan.

With how flat everything was I could see for miles, and there wasn’t a building in sight. Wherever we were had probably been hit by the tornadoes too, but something told me it hadn’t been well populated before the storms either.

“Is she going to be OK to walk?” Penn asked Carter.

“I’ll be fine,” Alice said narrowing her eyes at Penn. “I’m just thirsty… and hungry, like everyone else.”

“Sure, yeah,” Penn mumbled as he got out of the car and went around back to look at our supplies. I watched as he coiled the hose around his shoulder. If we found a car, it would come in handy. Dean and Carter joined him at the back, each grabbing something to help out. Penn pulled out his gun and started leading us away from the road.

I was pretty sure it wasn’t a good idea to abandon the road completely, but it was also probably a good idea to stay off of it, so we wouldn’t easily be spotted. There wasn’t much of anything to hide behind out here if someone approached.

Dean carried the trash can with the water bottles, condiments and kettle packed inside. Carter had it a little easier, he had his new rifle over one shoulder and the supplies in the garbage bag from the hotel over the other. My muscles were still sore or I would have offered to help them.

As we walked, we ate our snacks and sucked on sugar. We were too hungry to worry about rationing what was left of our snacks.

We had walked for what I guessed had been a few hours. It was hard to keep track of days or time because each day seemed to bleed into the next. The erratic sleep schedules really messed with our body clocks.

“Water!” Penn shouted over his shoulder. He was about twenty feet ahead of us scouting the area as we walked. He was already gathering up supplies to start a fire by the time I caught up to him.

It was a small creek that was barely even there, but the water was gently flowing. I didn’t know how long it would take to gather up enough to boil, but at least we’d found water.

We probably should have followed the creek for a while to see if the amount of water would increase, but we didn’t bother. Maybe Penn was worried about getting too far off course.

For now we had a few snacks, our condiments and maybe I’d be able to find some of that wild spinach again. Or maybe Carter and Alice knew of some other wild plants we could eat.

“Alice and Ros, you guys are going to sit this one out,” Penn said as he handed Sienna the pitcher from the hotel supply bag and Dean the kettle.

“I’m fine. I want to help,” I said, planting my hands on my hips. For the most part I was fine, although maybe I hadn’t full recovered mentally yet.

“Me too,” Alice said, unable to hide the coughing fit that started.

Penn smirked and shook his head, “Just rest up… both of you.”

He whispered instructions to Sienna as if he was afraid we might overhear and take over her job. I heard him tell her exactly how he wanted her to gather the water using the pitcher. Once they collected enough, Dean would boil it in the fire using the kettle we’d taken from the military base. Carter paced back and forth watching one side while Penn stood up and paced the other, even though they would have seen someone coming for miles.

I watched Dean as he poured the water Sienna had given him into the kettle and set it on a big rock in the middle of the fire. Before anyone else could do it, I reached forward and pulled out the plastic bag that was filled with Styrofoam cups.

Dean noticed and pulled them towards his leg. He opened the bag and took out one of the cups and started etching something into the side of one of the cups carefully. Without having seen it, I was pretty sure he was marking which cup would be Alice’s.

A blanket of clouds covered the sky, and it was starting to get dark by the time Dean finished boiling enough water for all of us to each have a full cup. Sienna dropped the empty pitcher on the ground near the fire and sat down next to Carter. She leaned her body into his with a big sigh.

“Well that was exhausting,” she groaned.

Dean wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. His hair was damp with sweat from sitting so close to the fire for as long as he had, “Tell me about it.”

Penn crouched down between Dean and I, but kept his eyes out towards the horizon. His voice was hoarse, “We’ll stay here for the night.”

He organized the sleeping plan, checked the guns and started walking the perimeter. We had an additional gun, and although I didn’t know how many bullets were in it, I knew there weren’t many.

Dean put his arm around me and pulled my body against his. He hugged me hard, and he didn’t care in the least who was watching. Sienna and Carter were off in their own little world and didn’t even seem to notice. Alice turned over on her other side and tucked her arm under her head for a pillow.

“I was so worried,” he whispered into my ear before he kissed my neck and ran his hand lightly down my side. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You’d keep fighting,” I said, pursing my lips so tightly they felt like they could crack. “We are going to keep fighting and keep going no matter what. Right?”

He eased away feeling the tension in my tone and in my body. I was frustrated with everything. We’d fought so hard every day to get to where we were, I wanted to make it clear that if anything ever happened to either of us, the other had to keep going.

Sienna must have heard the end of our conversation. Maybe I had been louder than I had intended. She stared at us, “Agreed. If anything happens, we keep going. If any one of us ever gives up, we’ll all lose.”

I nodded in complete agreement. Dean looked back and forth and then pulled me back against him as if he understood. It would be hard, but we’d have to keep moving forward. Always keep moving forward.

* * *

W
hen I woke
up the sun was breaking over the horizon. I had taken my turn during the night but it had gone by without a hitch. No one was out wandering around in the middle of the night out where we were.

Sienna and Penn were at the creek working together to gather up more water. Carter, Alice and Dean were still asleep, but my moving around was causing Dean to stir.

I looked down at him as he slowly opened his eyes. His lips curled up on one side forming an irresistible and super sexy smile, “Well, what a beautiful sight to wake up to.”

I could feel the pinkness filling my cheeks. It felt good to hear that, even though I probably looked like I’d been to hell and back.

“Come here,” he said as he pulled me down on top of him. Dean curled his fingers around my neck and I shivered at his touch. His eyes were filled with a fiery intensity that was almost too much to look at. It was like looking at the sun, so bright I had to look away.

When our lips touched, I felt his desire. He kissed me as if no one was there. And it was filled with so much passion and need that I forgot where we were. I kissed him back and pressed my palm into his chest, slowly dragging it down his body.

Someone coughed and Dean clamped his hand down on top of mine. He had to stop things now, or maybe he wouldn’t be able to stop them at all. We had to put a lot of things in our relationship on hold as we struggled to survive this cruel world. But I wanted him in every way possible and I could both see and feel he felt the same way.

We looked into each other’s eyes and it was strange how I could see both the love he had for me, and a sadness. I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek before I got up to find something to eat.

We finished off the snacks and drank the water that had been gathered. Penn packed up our supplies, putting everything in the garbage bag. Since the trash can was awkward to carry without handles, we decided to just leave it behind.

“Ready?” Penn said as he yanked the bag over his shoulder.

“Let me carry that,” I said thinking about how if one of us should have access to their gun at any given time, it should probably be Penn. Although, Carter had done just fine with one back at the military base.

Penn shook his head and kept moving forward. I don’t know if he thought I was still too injured from what happened, but I was fine. My burn hurt more than the little cuts around my wrists, although my muscles were still a little sore.

It wasn’t worth arguing about. The terrain was so flat that we’d see someone approaching from a mile away. He could just set the bag down and do whatever needed to be done.

Penn led the way staying about twenty feet ahead of us at all times, but he’d frequently look back. Dean and I walked together and Sienna, Carter and Alice brought up the rear.

Alice coughed, “Is there any of that medicine left?”

It was just some generic headache medicine so I couldn’t imagine it helped much with her cough. Her illness seemed to get worse every day instead of getting better. It was most likely due to the fact we never stopped moving. I hoped we’d find a house soon. Take a few days off before we start up towards Michigan again.

“Penn!” I shouted as I started running towards him. When I was about five feet away he stopped moving to look at me. “Any of that medicine left? Alice is asking for it.”

Penn started going through the bag, and then his pockets. Either we’d lost it or it was gone. He shook his head and shouted, “Sorry, Alice… it’s gone.”

“She’s getting worse,” I whispered, and he nodded.

“Yeah, I know.”

“If we can find somewhere to stay for a few days… she just needs to rest up,” I said looking around the horizon hoping to spot something in the distance.

“Let’s keep moving,” Penn said and jogged to get back ahead of me.

I stood there waiting for Dean and the others to catch up. When she coughed again, I wanted to help her, but there wasn’t anything I could do.

“Sorry,” I said looking back at her.

“Well that sucks!” she said and then cleared her throat. She looked at me as though she thought maybe I had done something with the medicine, or that I was keeping it all for myself.

I ignored her, “Let’s keep moving.” I turned my back to her, and she started coughing again, only this time she wasn’t alone.

Sienna started coughing too. And it sounded like the same barking cough that Alice had.

“
I
’m fine
… it’s just, well, I was clearing my throat is all,” Sienna said quickly trying to hide another cough. I pressed my lips together and sighed. There was no doubt in my mind Sienna had caught the cold.

We were all probably going to get the damn thing before long. It was even more imperative we find somewhere we can stay. If we all got sick, we wouldn’t want to be out traveling about, we’d want to stay somewhere and get healthy before we made our way to Michigan.

“Do you feel OK?” Dean said looking at her with concern in his eyes. “You look pale. Doesn’t she look pale?”

“I feel fine,” she said putting her hands on her hips. “It’s just a little tickle in the back of my throat. Probably just a dry throat from thirst.”

Dean turned to Alice and lightly put his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes looked over at his hand and then back up at him. I could have been wrong, but I thought I saw all the sickness exit her body as her eyes filled up with pink hearts.

“What are your symptoms?” Dean asked.

“Well, there’s this cough you may have noticed,” she said, raising her eyebrow. But then she exhaled and I could tell she was trying to shake off her attitude. “Cough, sore throat, occasional chills, my chest feels tight and sometimes it feels like my heart is racing, even when I’m not doing anything. Oh, really bad headaches too. Not all the time but sometimes. I think it’s related.”

“Sounds like a bad head cold,” Dean said looking at me as he shrugged.

I shrugged back, “A head cold with a really, really unusually bad cough. How long did you say you’ve had it for? A couple weeks?”

“Look!” Carter said pointing ahead. I shot him a quick glance. He shifted his eyes towards me for only a split-second. It felt as though he was intentionally trying to distract me… I was almost sure of it. Maybe she had been sick longer or maybe it had been worse than they let on. “Penn found a house.”

Dean and I ran to catch up to Penn who was walking slowly as he approached the house. He adjusted his grip on his gun, and the look on his face was one of concern. Who knew what we were walking into? For all we knew there was someone inside and they could start shooting at us.

It looked like an abandoned ranch. There were a couple barns and a large farmhouse all surrounded by a wooden fence. From where we were the whole property looked to be in fairly good condition, which probably only worried Penn more. That maybe someone was taking care of it.

I glanced back feeling excited and optimistic until I heard the coughs behind me. My smile turned into a frown knowing it wasn’t Alice. Carter was holding Sienna while she coughed. He was trying to block her from our view. Even Alice looked concerned, or maybe she was feeling bad that she had spread her cold.

“Shit,” I whispered. Penn looked at me, his eyebrows pressed inward. “Sienna.”

Penn and Dean both looked back and likely saw the same thing I had seen. Dean didn’t say anything, but I could see he looked beyond worried.

I didn’t think for one second that whatever Alice had was just a simple cold. She’d had it for a long time with no improvement. In fact, it seemed to have gotten worse in the short time she’d been with us. And Carter didn’t seem surprised. It didn’t take a doctor to figure out it was worse than the common cold. I wondered if Carter had seen others in their resistance camp get sick too. I wondered what happened to them.

“Let’s hope this place is empty,” Penn said taking a deep breath and moving forward towards the fence. He took a few running steps and launch himself over it as he moved quickly towards the house. Dean and I maneuvered over the fence in a much less graceful fashion.

The others caught up and Carter helped both Sienna and Alice over before he put his palm down and kicked his legs over like a gymnast. We followed Penn right up to the porch of the farmhouse.

I was surprised that bullets hadn’t flown through the air at us while we approached. Penn didn’t bother to knock. His fingers gripped the metal doorknob and tried to twist, but it barely moved. It was locked.

Carter stepped forward and looked down at the doorknob. He looked as though he knew what he was doing, but instead of doing something to the doorknob he lifted the potted plant to the side of the door and revealed a shiny key.

He opened the door and pocketed the key. Inside the house it was completely silent except for a distant squeaking that sounded like something swing back and forth, like a door or a gate.

Carter shut the door once we were all inside. I heard the small click of him locking the door. Sienna clapped her hand over her mouth and I knew she was trying to stifle a cough.

Penn waved his hand at us to indicate we should stay in the living room as he crept forward with his gun stretched out in front of him. This house was bigger than others we’d stayed in. If he intended to check the whole thing himself, it would take forever. There was a second story and probably a basement too, not to mention the buildings outside.

He turned a corner but after a few seconds he came back. His face was all scrunched up, “A body near the kitchen.”

I heard the squeaking noise again and worried it wasn’t a door or a gate after all, but maybe someone creeping around. I pulled out my gun nervously.

“Help me move it outside,” Penn said looking at Dean and then back at Carter. Penn turned around and stopped abruptly, “Shit!”

I peered around him and at the same time I heard the familiar growl of a dog-beast. The dog started slinking out of the kitchen slowly but stopped to stare at us.

This dog-beast was twice the size of the others I’d seen. Not only heavier, but also it seemed taller. I swallowed hard at the red-tinged saliva that dripped down out of its mouth.

A second one, more normal sized, stepped out and bared its teeth. Penn put a bullet into the big dog and then one into the smaller one. The shots were perfect, and both dogs collapsed to the ground about a second apart. Then I heard the squeaking noise again.

“Is there a door open in there?” I asked looking around to see another dog had entered.

“Cover me,” Penn said as he maneuvered over the dead dog-beasts, and I heard another shot, follow by another squeak. “Help me!”

Dean and I carefully stepped over the dog-beasts with our guns drawn. We entered the kitchen and saw the dead body of a man on the floor and a third dog-beast standing just outside of the back door.

Through the window I looked across the farmland. Approximately a hundred yards away were dozens of dog-beasts. They were just standing there and it felt like they were all waiting for something.

“What are we going to do?” I asked stepping behind the long curtain at the side of the back door so the dog-beasts outside couldn’t see me.

“We have to get the body, and the dead dogs outside,” Penn said.

There were three dogs huddled around something thirty yards from the back porch. The dogs stopped what they were doing to look up, and I saw they were feasting on another human body.

It seemed as though people had been living here until it was taken over by the dog-beasts. Somehow they must have gotten inside the fence and there wasn’t anything the people could do about it. They must have been running for the house and didn’t make it.

“The guy first,” Penn said and grabbed the man’s boots. He started dragging the body towards the door as Dean covered him.

“I’m not sure about this,” I said ready to pull the door open. We hadn’t even discussed the plan. It was as if we just somehow knew what to do after being together as long as we had been. “What if they attack?”

“It’ll be fine. It’s just a couple feet,” Penn said rubbed his palms against his pants. “I think this will be the quickest way to get them out. I can do it without drawing their attention.”

Penn counted and on three I opened the door. He pulled the body out fast and left it on the porch as he jumped over it to get back inside. I slammed the door shut, which seemed to alert the dogs. They charged towards the corpse.

“Lock it,” Dean said, and I flipped the lock into place as I watched about twenty of the dog-beasts leap up onto the back porch and tear at the body. I stepped back behind the curtain so I couldn’t see what they were doing.

“Are you sure these two are dead?” Carter said as he climbed over them and joined us in the kitchen.

“Pretty sure,” Penn said barely glancing at them. “But I don’t know what we are going to do with them. We can’t leave them if we are going to stay here.”

“You don’t know what we are going to do with the dead dogs here, or all of those out there?” Carter said nodding towards the window. I could hear their loud gnawing and growls as they fought over every remaining morsel. Even though there was a wall between us I was still frightened.

“Both,” Penn said, shaking his head. “I can’t open that back door, and if we leave them in here they’ll be stinking up the place in no time.”

Carter nodded at the same time he let out a strange sputtering noise follow by a gulp. Then as if he couldn’t hold it in any longer he let out a cough similar to that same hacking cough both Alice and Sienna had.

“Crap. Not you too?” I said, my hand reaching up towards his forehead like a reflex, but I froze in place when I heard the
creak-creak
of what sounded like someone moving around upstairs. “Another dog-beast?”

“I don’t think so,” Penn said, silently making his way to the stairs. He turned to Carter, “Stay with them. Dean… Ros… come with me.”

It was nearly impossible to climb the stairs without them creaking and cracking with each step. Whoever, or whatever was up there would most definitely know we were coming.

At the top of the stairs was a gate about six feet tall with lock on the outside. I could see through the evenly spaced bars, but I wouldn’t have been able to fit an arm through them. It looked as though it was some kind of homemade device to keep the upstairs and the downstairs divided.

Penn tilted his head and lifted a small lever type lock. It hadn’t been there to keep something out… it was there to keep something inside.

Once through the gate there was a long hallway with three closed doors and two open doors. Penn opened the first door and moved his gun around, but it was just a linen closet, stacked with clean, precisely folded linens. The smell that wafted out was fresh and perfumey. It seemed so bizarre to smell these sweet, flowery fragrances in our dirty, stinky world.

He closed the door and moved to the next one, which was an open door. Penn stepped inside with his gun drawn. I followed him into the room holding my gun in the same way, except my safety was in place. Dean stayed by the door looking up and down the hallway, ready to use his gun should he need to.

It was a bedroom painted in whites and blues with a matching striped bedspread. The room was clean, and the bed was neatly made. Penn walked over to check the closet but it was empty.

“Under the bed,” I whispered and Penn ducked down to check, but there wasn’t anything under there. I nodded towards his gun, “How many do you have left?”

He didn’t answer but instead lifted up one finger. If he needed more than one bullet for whatever was up here, Dean or I would have to assist. I would have just as well given him the bullets from my gun, but I knew he wasn’t about to take the time to do that.

Dean stepped aside and covered us as we went into the next door. This room was made up just as neatly, and it was also empty.

There was a small squeak of a floorboard and Dean nodded towards the next room. We passed a door on our right. The door was open and we could see that it was a completely empty bathroom. No one could be hiding in there because there wasn’t anything to hide behind, not even a shower curtain.

Penn slowly entered the next room, staying close to the wall. I followed, pointing my gun wildly as I pressed myself back, following his lead. It was as if I expected one of those dog-beasts to jump out at me. Although I didn’t know how it would ever have gotten through that gate at the top of the stairs. My palms felt sweaty, and I was afraid I might drop my gun.

Then we heard another noise, and I knew without a doubt that it came from inside the closet. I pointed, but Penn had already figured it out. Probably before I had. He directed me to stand on one side of the door and with two fingers indicated he would pull it open.

First, he held up one finger, and then a second, and I knew when he reached down he was opening it on three. He pulled it open and stepped back waiting for something to leap out at him, but nothing happened.

We locked eyes, but he just shrugged. He looked around the door to peek in and shook his head side-to-side.

“We know you are in there… come out with your hands up!” Penn shouted in a deep voice.

“Yeah! Or we’ll shoot!” I said. Penn looked at me with a raised eyebrow. The floorboards started to creak as whatever was inside of the closet started to move.

“Please don’t kill me!” a soft voice whispered. She started sniffing, “Oh dear God, please don’t kill me!”

Penn gripped his gun tighter and stared into the darkness of the closet. He lowered his voice again, “Are you armed?”

“Armed? Like with a gun?” she said as if she was offended by the question. “Of course I don’t have a gun!”

“A knife? Anything that would be considered a weapon?”

“No,” she answered with a sob.

Penn shook his head. He and I both knew better than to trust anyone, but for some reason I believed this girl. Even still, I wasn’t about to lower my gun or let down my guard.

“Just come out slowly, with your hands up… we won’t shoot,” he said glancing at Dean. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was still in the hallway. If he would have left the area the floorboards would have given him away.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” she mumbled, and I saw the clothing inside the closet shift to the side. I couldn’t see much from my position but I could hear her slow, scared movements.

First, I saw her arm, and then a shoe emerged. And then her other arm… she wasn’t carrying a weapon. Her hands were shaking as she looked at Penn, not even noticing I was there. I took a step back, and she quickly looked over her shoulder at me. She screamed and stumbled forward as if I had startled her.