The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (18 page)

Then he saw the thing, or the person that had run full force into the side of the truck. He didn't seem the least bit bothered by the impact as he moved over the window and sniffed at the air. "Well that's not normal," Carl remarked.

"Drive," John commanded.

"I think he dented my door," Carl muttered as he eased off the brake and started to drive again. The thing kept pace with the truck as it slapped and crashed against Carl's window. Rochelle pressed closer to John as it grabbed hold of the side mirror. "Hey! Get off!" Carl yelled.

"It's not a dog Carl," John hissed through clenched teeth.

"Hold on," Carl told him.

John pressed his arm against Rochelle's chest and braced himself on the dashboard as Carl slammed on the brakes again. The man clung like a burr as he refused to relinquish his new ride. The man opened his mouth and John could almost smell the putrefaction contained within that blistered mess of what could no longer be considered a human mouth.

Carl, who had been reaching over to roll the window down, jerked his hand back as the blackened tongue flickered out. The man's mouth closed and then opened again before unhinging in a way that John thought only a snake's jaw could. Carl hit the button for the window, stuck his hand out and fired the gun. Rochelle jumped and slammed her hands over her ears as the shot reverberated through the cab of the truck.

Carl hadn't been able to aim very well, but the shot caught the man in the upper chest and shoulder. It squealed as it released the mirror and fell beside the truck. Carl hit the window up button and slammed on the gas. The truck bounced and jounced over ruts and holes as he sped to catch up with the car again.

"What was wrong with its mouth?" Rochelle whispered.

"Whatever's wrong with the whole freaking package," Carl answered.

John tried to pry his shirt from his skin, but it was stuck to him by what felt like gallons of water pouring from his pores. He lifted his arm and wiped it across his brow as his vision began to blur. "I don't think my heart can take much more of this," he said.

For the first time Carl didn't have a witty retort. Rochelle remained mute and immobile as she pressed against his side. It was too hot to be sitting so close to someone but he couldn't bring himself to push her away.

The car drove onto the sidewalk to avoid another large rut and continued down a different side road. Lee had turned around to watch them; his nose was practically touching the back window as he gazed at them. "Maybe we should all ride together," Rochelle suggested.

John would like to have the others with them as much as Rochelle, but he knew it wasn't the best idea. "If something happens to one of the vehicles we'll need the other one. Besides those crazies would be able to concentrate their force on only one vehicle, and there's no point in all of us getting killed if they do manage to overtake one of them."

They turned onto another road and John forced himself to look at the ruined houses and broken yards. The damage was worse in this area, and so were the number of people stalking them. "There are more of them out there."

Rochelle shuddered beside him, Carl's jaw clenched and unclenched. "We can't go any faster."

"Well we better think of something because their numbers are increasing and they're moving just as fast as both of these vehicles right now."

Carl briefly met his gaze as he pressed down on the accelerator. John didn't think it would do them much good though as the numbers of their stalkers began to steadily increase.

CHAPTER 14

Mary Ellen

Plainville, Mass.

Her neck felt like tiny little trolls were stabbing her with their very pointy, very annoying spears as she tried to move it. She hadn't thought she could fall asleep but somewhere through the dark night she had succumbed to the pull of exhaustion. She would have preferred if she hadn't fallen asleep at such an awful angle. She rubbed her hand against the taut muscles that were protesting every one of her movements.

Her butt was cold from the cement floor but that was the least of her problems as she tried to move her sound asleep right leg. Tingles shot up and down her leg and she was half afraid if she put any weight on it she might face plant. She'd fallen asleep next to a workbench with her back against the wall and she had to roll over in order to push herself up. She leaned against the wall in order to steady herself.

Shuffling forward she followed the sound of voices around the skeleton of the car and toward the back of the garage. Xander, Bobby, and Peter were gathered around one of the windows with their heads bent close to each other. The feeling was beginning to come back into her foot as she stopped beside them.

Xander and Bobby glanced back at her but Peter remained focused upon the window. She could clearly see the marks from where one of their hands had wiped the grime off the glass. "Are they out there?" Mary Ellen whispered.

"Some of them appeared about an hour ago," Xander informed her.

Despite the heat a shiver ran down her spine. She took a step closer to the window as a woman emerged from the shadows of the woods. Mary Ellen took an instinctive step back. "They can't see us, it's too dark in here," Peter told her.

Though she knew he was right, she still couldn't bring herself to move closer to the window as another figure emerged. "When are we leaving?" she asked.

"Josh and Molly are still sleeping but it's probably best if we get out of here soon," Xander said.

"There doesn't happen to be a bathroom in this place does there?" she inquired as she tried not to cross her legs.

"No, but there's a corner and some paper towels you could use." Bobby's face flooded with color and he was unable to meet her gaze by the time he was done speaking.

Everything in her screamed out against that suggestion but in the end it was a better option than peeing her pants. She took the towels from Xander and plodded toward the dim corner Bobby had indicated. It wasn't the worst thing she'd ever done in her life, but she would have been willing to pay someone any amount of money for a toothbrush and a bathroom.

She wiped her hands on the paper towels and returned to the others. Peter still hadn't torn his gaze from the window but Xander and Bobby had retreated a few steps toward the workbench. "Anymore of them?" she asked. The haunted look in Peter's eyes was more than answer enough; she didn't stick around to hear his confirmation. "Where are Josh and Molly?"

Xander looked up at her. "Sleeping in the car."

He picked up a metal pipe leaning against the workbench and rested it on his shoulder. Both he and Bobby had red rimmed, shadowed eyes. Peter ran a hand through his disordered hair as he turned away from the window. "We'll wake them up and get out of here," Xander said.

Mary Ellen turned toward the car as Josh emerged from the shadows. His dark hair stood out in spikes around his face as he rubbed at his swollen eyes. "Where's Molly?" he asked around a yawn.

"She was in the car with you," Xander said.

"Not anymore."

Mary Ellen swallowed heavily as she exchanged a look with Xander and Bobby. "Maybe she went to the corner," Bobby suggested.

"She would have had to pass us," Mary Ellen told him.

Xander dropped the pipe down by his side and tapped it against his calf as he stood away from the workbench. "She has to be in here somewhere, we would have known if she'd left."

Mary Ellen's feet felt like concrete blocks as Bobby and Xander wandered down the side of the garage. Peter moved passed her into the shadows. She didn't want to go, but even so she managed to pry her feet from the floor and follow behind them. Josh was close on her heels as they made their way through the shadowed interior, past the skeletal car, toward the back of the building.

Barely any rays of sun pierced back here, but she could see a few dust mites dancing through the air. "Molly?" Xander called but there was no response. "Molly?"

He moved further into the darkness. Bobby seized hold of what appeared to be the metal pole of a carjack but she couldn't quite be sure. Someone kicked something that rattled as it rolled into obscurity. Josh jumped and seized hold of the back of her shirt. Her breath froze in her lungs, her heartbeat sounded in her ears as she waited for something or someone to explode out of the gloom at them.

"Sorry," Josh muttered and released her shirt when everything remained still.

Xander and Bobby moved forward again, Peter grabbed a wrench off the bench and continued after them. Mary Ellen looked around from something to defend herself with but it was Josh that handed her a screwdriver as he grabbed a hammer. "Molly?" Xander called again.

Mary Ellen's palm was sweating as she clutched the handle of the screwdriver. She felt like a ninja as she crept forward, though she was nowhere near as stealthy as a ninja. In fact, she felt about as stealthy as an elephant in a glass museum. She made it to the corner of the hulking car and poked her head cautiously around it.

Where was this girl?

She felt that if everything was ok with Molly she would have answered Xander, she would have found them. No one, not even the craziest hermit living in the mountains would really prefer to be alone right now. She was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe as she moved around the car and into the further recesses of the old building.

"Molly?" Xander's voice came out as barely more than a whisper. Mary Ellen lifted the screwdriver and held it next to her head. She didn't know what she'd do with it, she certainly wasn't prepared to
actually
stab someone with it, but it made her feel a little bit better to at least have it.

The three men fanned out before her. "Molly?" Peter inquired.

Mary Ellen stepped behind Xander and Peter and stood on tiptoe to peer over their shoulders as she tried to decipher the shadows. There was something in the corner; she wasn't sure what it was though. "Molly?" Peter asked again.

Mary Ellen frowned; it couldn't be the girl, could it? Then the shadows shifted as whatever was in the corner moved. She nudged Peter and Xander aside and stepped closer for a better view. Xander held her back as she tried to move even closer to the young girl. She shot him a dark look; if the girl needed help then she was going to help her. Xander shook his head as he continued to hold her back. She hadn't realized Josh wasn't behind her until he reappeared with the work light.

"Don't turn that on," Peter said briskly.

"We're far enough away from any windows. Is it her?" Josh wanted to know.

"Yes, it's her." Peter took the light from him.

"Molly?" Josh asked as he stepped closer.

"Get me a rag, Josh," Peter ordered.

Josh disappeared and reappeared with a rag that smelled like it had been dipped in grease and motor oil. Peter wrapped it around the light before flicking it on. Dim illumination spilled across the floor in a small circle that didn't go three feet beyond them. Peter lifted the light over his head as he took another step forward. "Molly?"

The beam spilled over the girl to reveal her shoes, legs, torso and bowed head that was turned away from them. The young girl still wouldn't look at them as they all took a step closer together. At first Mary Ellen thought the girl was crying, but she realized her shoulders were shaking because she was chewing on something.

A sick feeling began to churn through her stomach. They'd found little food last night and what they had managed to uncover hadn't survived more than ten minutes. The acid in her stomach began to move toward her throat and she couldn't figure out if she wanted to burp, vomit, or pop an antacid more.

"Molly?" Josh croaked.

The girl's shoulders finally stopped moving as she went still. Her head turned forward and then, toward them. Vomit, she definitely wanted to vomit more as Molly's glazed eyes met theirs. Her mouth was smeared with blood; it trickled down her chin to plop onto the cement floor. Her once youthful face looked like someone had thrown a cup of boiling water into it as pustules marred it.

Mary Ellen didn't realize what Molly was eating until she lifted the leggy remains of the mouse to her mouth. Unable to suppress it anymore, Mary Ellen spun away as she gagged and purged what little contents she had from her stomach. Tears burned her eyes and slid down her face as her chest and stomach cramped from the force of her retching.

Josh patted her back awkwardly but she couldn't bring herself to stop heaving as her legs began to shake. "I think we should go," Bobby croaked.

"We can't just leave her here," Josh protested.

"Do you feel like riding with that!?"

"She's not a
that
, she's Molly."

"I don't think so, not anymore," Xander stated.

"We're not just leaving her here," Josh insisted. "Molly I uh… I know you're hungry, we all are, but ah… We can find you something else."

Mary Ellen gagged again but she was regaining control of herself as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and straightened up. She didn't mean to look at the girl again but her gaze was irresistibly drawn back to her. Every motherly instinct she had argued with every one of her survival instincts, but in the end she was on Xander and Bobby's side.

The last thing she wanted was to climb into the car with that girl. There was something intrinsically wrong with her, and it was more than just the fact that she was eating a mouse. Mary Ellen thought she would even stoop to such levels if she was hungry enough, of course she would have preferred it spitted and cooked first, but she would choke it down if necessary.

No it was more than just the mouse and Molly's face, it was her eyes. They didn't look quite as human as they had before. There was a vacancy within them that led her to believe that although Molly still breathed and moved, there was no soul behind those eyes anymore.

"Molly." Xander grabbed hold of Josh's arm as he took a step closer to his friend. "I'm worried about you Moll, please just say something."

The girl dropped the remains of the mouse and rested her hand on the floor as she pushed herself to her feet. Mary Ellen's hand clenched around the screwdriver, she braced herself as she lifted it like a knife. She couldn't believe she was actually contemplating driving the thing through a young girl's head, chest, or whatever she could get that would stop the teen, because she was pretty sure that was what it would take. She was also pretty sure that Molly was eyeing them up like overgrown mice that would make far better treats than the smaller version she had discarded. She had the chilling feeling that she was stuck in a really bad cartoon, on a raft, with only one other person.