The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (29 page)

"We can't… I can't just leave him here.
I
did that to him."

"No, something else did that to him," Al inserted forcefully. "Not you."

"He deserves to be buried," she whispered.

"He does," Carl agreed. "Unfortunately we can't do it."

It was the closest she'd come to looking like she was going to fall apart but another mournful call sounded across the open expanse of the parking lot. Though Carl didn't know how she could tell it wasn't a real bird, he sensed that she was right, and that they were getting closer. Riley glanced around and thrust back her shoulders.

"Just act like we don't know the difference," Carl said.

"I
don't
know the difference," John muttered.

"Walk calmly." He shifted the box on his hip and held his hand out to Riley. "Give me the keys." She dug into her pocket and pulled the keys free. "John, I don't care who they are or what they're intentions are, but if they try to stop you, you run them over."

"No problem."

That was easier said than done but Carl didn't tell him that. "Do you have anything breakable in that box?"

"There are a few bottles of water that could break."

"Nothing then. We'll toss them over the side; I don't want to open the back doors."

"If it's people why aren't they coming out?" Rochelle asked tremulously.

"They must have heard the gunshots. They were drawn here by them, but they're also wary of them," Al answered.

A call from their right sounded. "They should probably figure out something other than a bird," Riley muttered. "I'm pretty sure most of them are dead."

"Is that how you knew?" Carl asked. The vehicles were only ten feet away but he kept expecting a bullet in his back at any second.

"No," she whispered. "If you listen carefully you can hear a faint whistle at the end of one of the calls. Mourning Doves don't make that sound, but a person would. I was never able to lose the whistle from my call."

"How long were you a girl scout for?" Five feet away… He was almost flinching now as his shoulders became taut and he kept waiting for the first shot to be fired.

"Not long. It wasn't exactly my thing, but I learned a few interesting things while I was in it."

Riley branched off and walked toward the car with seemingly no concern for an incoming bullet. He wondered if it was because she'd already had too much to deal with today, or if she had come to believe that she deserved to die.

He nodded to John and tossed his box over top of the sideboards. John's box was heavier and it took the two of them to push it over. Something broke on the other side; he didn't know if it was something within John's box or some other supply. Either way it didn't matter, he couldn't do anything about it.

"Stay close to the car," he briskly said to John.

"I know."

Carl took his first easy breath as he slid into the car and turned it on. Riley's right fingers were against her mouth; her left hand rested upon the open passenger window. Tears slid down her face but she blinked them back and turned to face forward as Carl pulled out of the parking lot.

"They may have just been alerting each other to the presence of the store," Riley said.

From the corner of his eye he saw movement amongst the trees. He could sense them there, hiding, waiting, but it wasn't the vehicles they were after. It was simply the store and the possibility of food and water. He suspected they had no weapons to defend themselves with, yet.

When he looked at Riley again her eyes were closed and her head bent forward so that her damp hair hid her features. He knew she didn't want his words, but he had to say something, she had to know that he understood; that they
all
did. "I would have killed him you know, if you hadn't. If I had been able to get free I would have shot him."

"I know."

"This world, it's not…"

She turned abruptly to him. "I
know
what this world is now. I just shot my friend; I just killed a person that I've known most of my life. I just killed the best friend of two men I care for deeply, and one of them I think…" Her voice trailed off as she shook her head. "I killed him because he was going to split me open and eat me. A boy that I once played tag with was going to
eat
me. I
know
what this world is now. I get it Carl, and so do you."

Carl became silent as he focused on the road again. "John thinks you might be like a werewolf or something now."

Her eyes widened, her mouth parted as she stared at him. "Seriously?"

"Well not a werewolf, but he thinks that perhaps Lee's scratches could do the same thing as a werewolf scratch would do to a person."

"And what do you believe?"

"I believe that whatever is making people sick is something we would have caught already, or would already be showing signs of. I also believe that if he's right…"

"Then I have about eight to twelve hours before I start trying to eat someone, or wandering around aimlessly too."

"Yes."

She nodded as she sat back in the seat. Her eyes were distant as she focused on the woods slipping passed. "I hope he's wrong."

"I've known John for two years now; it's rare that he's right."

"It would be my luck that this would be his first time."

"You should probably take some of those antibiotics."

"They didn't help Lee," she murmured.

"We didn't get them to Lee until he was already ill, and no matter what you should take something for those wounds. You don't want to survive only to die from gangrene or something because they got infected."

Riley nodded and dug out the antibiotics they had stashed for Lee. She took two pills and placed them back in the glove box. Carl turned his attention to the road as Al began to signal from the passenger side window of the truck. Carl's hands clenched on the wheel as they entered another town.

CHAPTER 23

Xander

Somewhere in Mass.

Mary Ellen threw the car into reverse and stomped on the gas. Xander's breath hitched as the back end of the car careened perilously toward the brick pharmacy. Mary Ellen eased on the pedal and quickly righted it as they plunged out of the alley with a squeal of tires that was sure to attract even more attention. A loud thud jolted him forward as the car collided with a metal dumpster. The dumpster rolled backward and crashed into the front window of the hardware store.

Xander bounced off the dashboard but he didn't grab for his seatbelt as he braced his hand. He wanted to be able to move quickly if it became necessary. The car made a grinding noise that caused him to flinch as Mary Ellen shifted into drive too soon. More heads turned in their direction as she plunged down the road, but they didn't seem overly concerned with the vehicle bulleting past them.

Mary Ellen squealed around another turn and onto a side road that was blessedly devoid of the people that had tried to turn his leg into their breakfast. He glanced down at the bandage now covering his leg, but he knew what was under it. He knew what may be creeping through his system right now. He really wished he hadn't watched so many zombie movies over the years.

Leaning back in the seat he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples in an attempt to soothe the dull throb pulsating there. Was the throb the beginning of the end or was it simply the heat and stress of the day?

Until he got a craving for flesh he was going to blame it on the heat and stress of the day. He wasn't ready for this to be the end.

When he opened his eyes again it wasn't the broken road, toppled trees, bird bodies, and other animal carcasses he saw. Instead he saw what his life had been just days ago with his parents and Carol. Saw what his life could have been if things had just stayed the same, or perhaps been a little different.

Though his parents and college advisors had been pressuring him to do so, he hadn't chosen a major yet. He honestly hadn't known what he would like to do with his life. He'd been leaning toward sports therapy but it was a lot of schooling and he wasn't sure he wanted to commit that much of his time to college. His father had wanted him to follow in his footsteps and go into law, but he'd already decided that being a lawyer just wasn't for him. His mother hadn't pressured him one way or another, she simply wanted him to choose
something
. The only problem was that he'd never found anything he loved to do. He kept waiting for something to click but there wasn't anything out there that he thought he could do for the rest of his life.

It had been easier for Carol. Ever since they were children she had loved to bake and had always known what she wanted to do. After culinary training she planned to own a bakery and be the talk of the town. Xander had been chowing down on her treats since he was ten years old. They were like crack, as there had been no stopping at just one cookie or cupcake. She could have hooked anyone on her sugary creations and her bakery would have had them lining up out the door.

He'd often heard Carol and Riley prattling on about their future plans together. They would both attend the same college, and after college they would move back to town where Carol would set up her business. Riley would help her with the marketing and bookkeeping while working as an elementary school teacher. They'd find husbands, have children and homes, and still see each other every day.

It had been such a simple, sweet dream filled with lemonade and lazy summers spent on their front porches. Listening to the two of them, he'd often pictured himself amongst their dreams, joining them on Sundays with his own wife. He had tried to picture what that wife would look like, who she would be, but even when he'd dated other girls in high school and college, she'd always been Riley. He kept telling himself that one day he would approach Riley, that one day he would tell her how he felt before someone else scooped her up. He realized now that he'd enjoyed that dream so much that he couldn't stand the thought of it possibly being ruined by her rejection of him.

Now it had been ruined by something else entirely.

Were her and Lee even still alive
? He wondered. Lee would keep her safe, he knew that, but there was so much out there that he had to keep her safe from.

Xander's eyes drifted closed again. It was a bounce in the road that jolted him awake. He blinked as he tried to bring the world into focus but his eyes were bleary. He rubbed at them and blinked again. A shadowy haze shrouded the day as he finally got his eyes to focus once more. He hadn't planned to fall asleep but it seemed he'd missed most of the day.

"How long was I out for?" he asked.

"A couple of hours," Mary Ellen answered.

"That's it?" He glanced at the darkening sky.

"The clouds covered the sun a half an hour ago, I think."

"You think?"

She nodded her head toward the back window. "It almost looked like an eclipse again. Like it did when this all started, but I think it was just some clouds, or something. I don't know… I don't know much anymore," she added with a shake of her head.

Neither did he. He glanced in the backseat; Josh was curled up against the window, his mouth open as he drooled on the door. Peter and Bobby were squished together, their eyes were bloodshot but they both focused on him.

"I'm going to have to stop soon. I can barely see straight anymore," Mary Ellen said.

"I'll drive." She shot him a look and then glanced at the two in the backseat. "I'll be fine," he assured her. "I feel better now."

There was still a nagging headache behind his eyes and he would have killed for some cold water, but the sleep seemed to have rejuvenated him at least a little bit. He rubbed at his stiff neck and twisted it as he tried to loosen some of the knots in his muscles. "Besides you all look like death warmed over."

Bobby gave him the finger but he appeared too tired to protest as his arm dropped back to his side. "Where are we?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Mary Ellen told him. "We crossed into Rhode Island awhile back but we're in Mass again now."

They were making better time than he had expected. Though he knew it was pointless, knew he was getting ahead of himself, he felt his heartbeat pick up as they entered a small town.

The town appeared to have taken the brunt force of the earthquakes. There was little left to the buildings and homes that had once lined the street. In the distance smoke drifted into the air as Mary Ellen stopped the car and backed away from a canyon in the middle of the road.

He hadn't seen any lava since the stadium, but there was a reddish glow coming from within the pit that the devil would have appreciated. On the next road they passed a grocery store that had all the windows busted out of it. He thought perhaps the glass had shattered during the quakes, and then two heads popped up over the windowsill. The arms or the man and woman were loaded with supplies as they watched the car drive by like a hawk studied a field mouse.

"This is a friendly town." Xander hadn't realized that Josh had woken up until he spoke.

"There is now way I'm stopping in this town," Mary Ellen muttered.

Xander watched the heads until they were out of sight. He turned back around as the first fat raindrop hit the windshield. "Wonderful," Peter muttered as he ran a hand through his hair.

Steam began to rise up from what was left of the asphalt. The hazy wave the steam created would have reminded him of childhood summers spent walking the roads with Lee and Bobby, if it hadn't been so disconcerting. He was so focused on the steam that it took him a minute to realize that the rain wasn't black, nor was it even a dark gray, but it most certainly wasn't clear.

"What the hell?" Bobby muttered.

"The sky is washing itself clear," Peter breathed.

"Clear of what? And if you tell me aliens or some other crap I might just push you out of the car."

Peter released a low chuckle. "No I definitely don't think it was aliens. I do think there may have been a massive volcanic eruption somewhere, probably nowhere near here though. We'd probably all be dead if it was."