The Survivor Chronicles: The Risen (38 page)

"I've already decided that God is a woman,"
Carl informed him.

Riley shot him a look but Xander laughed
loudly and even John gave a little chuckle. "I'd decided that
earlier," John murmured.

"Men," Riley muttered and rolled her eyes.
"Should we be religious now or something?"

Carl snorted and pulled his butts from his
pocket. He shook a cigarette free and lit it. "I don't know what
we're supposed to be now but I'm not going to any church services
or praying. I didn't in the past so I'm not about to start now."
Riley eyed him as if she was half-afraid the earth was going to
open beneath his feet and swallow him whole. "It's gotten me this
far."

Riley released a snort of laughter. "Good
point."

"Aren't there supposed to be dragons or
demons or something pouring forth from the bowels of Hell?" John
asked.

"Not everything that is written or rumored
is true." Xander's gaze traveled to the sky. "No one could have
known what was coming."

"No, they couldn't," Carl agreed.

"What if this is Hell and all the people
that have died were the ones that were accepted into Heaven?" John
inquired.

"No," Carl told him briskly. "There have
been too many children and God fearing folk that started trying to
eat us or have just sat in their own filth for that to be true.
What sins could Victor, Freddie and Rochelle possibly have
committed in their short lives? Besides, I don't think this is
Hell."

They were silent for awhile as they pondered
his words. "How could you
not
think
this is Hell?" John asked.

"Because I'm still alive and I still have
all of you."

He hadn't known what to expect but it
certainly wasn't Riley, who didn't hesitate to unload bullets into
people anymore, to start crying. He also didn't expect her to fling
her arms around his waist and hug him. Carl stood with his hands
out by his sides and the cigarette dangling from his mouth as he
stared down at her dark head. He could feel the wet press of her
tears against his shirt. Before she went to pull away, he wrapped
his arms around her and awkwardly patted her on the back.

She wiped the tears away from her eyes and
gave him a thousand watt smile as she stepped away from him. "That
you do." Her gaze drifted to John before coming back to him. "And
it
is
going to stay that way."

Riley turned away from him, slid her arms
around Xander's waist and held him close. Xander didn't look
anywhere near as awkward as he held her against his chest and
rocked on his heels with her in his embrace. "Well at least we know
for certain that there's an afterlife," Xander said.

"Yeah, that's good to know," John muttered
and took another swig of water.

"Apparently the Supreme Being is a little
touchy. I'm not sure we'd get along," Carl said and stepped on his
cigarette.

"I'm sure it would love your sparkling
personality," John muttered.

"I
really
think it wouldn't like you, especially if it is a woman," Carl
retorted.

"Gee thanks." John unscrewed the top of the
water bottle. "Well I'd like to not meet God anytime soon, but I'd
also like to not eat one of you within the next forty-eight hours
too. Here's to hoping," he said and poured the water over his
head.

"We would appreciate it if you didn't,"
Riley told him.

John lifted his head and gave them a wan
smile before dropping it down again. Carl turned away to look over
the track and was relieved to see a lightening in the sky on the
far horizon. "Morning's coming," he murmured.

"I can't wait to get out of here," Riley
said.

"Help me up," John said.

"Why don't you just stay sitting until we're
ready to go," Carl suggested.

"Help me up," he said more forcefully.

Carl walked over to take hold of the good
hand he extended. The heat of his skin was disconcerting, but his
eyes were still clear when they met Carl's. "I'm going to get that
bite cleaned up again before we leave," Carl told him.

"That's fine. Can you get me a flashlight
first? I'll be right back."

Carl nodded and walked over to the truck to
grab the flashlight; he handed it to John and went to grab his arm
when he wobbled for a second. "I'm fine," John told him and slapped
his hand away. "You're acting like a stage five clinger."

Carl scowled at him and shook his head but
he stepped back to watch as John used the wall of the barn to help
him inside the building. "Let me know if you need help," he called
after him.

He
sounded
like a freaking clinger, he realized. John muttered something from
inside the barn. Carl didn't quite hear what he'd said but he knew
the gist of it had been somewhere along the lines of doing the
impossible. Riley was already pulling the medical supplies from the
front seat of the truck when he turned around to face them. Xander
took them from her and placed them on the hood of the truck.

"If a person gets treated for rabies within
the first twenty-four hours they can be saved," Riley mumbled as
she tore the top off the pack of bandages with her teeth. "It's
only been a little over twelve hours since John was bit. If we can
get him back in time…"

He heard the optimism in her words as her
voice trailed off. "But you don't think it's rabies," he said.

"No, I don't. The medicine given to Xander
wouldn't have been enough to stop rabies. But I do still believe
this is some form of meningoencephalitis or encephalitis, even
after what we saw last night. I don't think this virus was created
out of thin air. I think it's something that's been dormant inside
the earth all of these years and was set free during the quakes, or
from the melting ice caps."

"What makes you think that?" Xander
asked.

"I think you would be dead if it was
something entirely new," she said bluntly. "If this was something
conjured out of thin air we wouldn't have anything to combat it
with, but we know that we do.
You're
proof of that.
Victor
is proof of that. This virus is something
we've never experienced, but we've experienced its crazy cousins
enough over the years that medicines were made to treat them. What
was unleashed upon this earth was meant to crush the survivors of
the initial destruction but we were also given a way to fight it.
Granted it was pure luck you and Mary Ellen stumbled upon a way to
stop it, but I'm sure others have too. I think maybe some of us
were meant to discover it in order to save some of those from
dying, or being trapped like Victor."

Carl contemplated her words as he dug into
his pocket for another butt. The click of the lighter was the only
sound in the hushed night, even the horses had settled in to sleep.
"So you think we should continue to save others like Victor if we
discover them?" Xander asked.

"I doubt there are many left," Riley
answered.

"But if there are?" Xander pressed.

"That's something we can discuss if it
happens again. We're going to fight to save John but it's probably
too late for The Lost Souls by now. There can't be much, if
anything, left to them. We have a way to cure the newly infected,
let's focus on that."

"Maybe she's not such a temperamental
Supreme Being after all," Carl commented.

"Oh God is definitely a man," Riley
retorted. "You guys have PMS worse than a teenage girl
sometimes."

"You
are
a
teenage girl," Xander reminded her.

"So I should know what I'm talking about,"
she replied.

Xander looked helplessly toward him. "How do
I argue with that?"

"You don't," Carl told him.

He glanced toward the barn but John still
hadn't reappeared. He wanted to make sure he was fine but he knew
he'd only be met with scorn. His gaze went to the sun just poking
over the horizon; it was almost time to hit the road and they had
to be ready.

"John!" he shouted into the barn. Silence
met him. Xander stepped up beside him and pushed the barn door
further open to peer inside. He could feel the heat of Riley
against his back as she stood on her toes to peer over his
shoulder. "John!"

Nothing stirred within, not even the mice
probably hidden within the shadows. The hair on his neck stood on
end, a chill slid down his spine as he strained to see into the
shadows. Where was he?

"Here," Riley said and handed him a
flashlight.

Carl clutched it in his hand but he wasn't
above admitting he was terrified of turning it on and discovering
his best friend had become a monster. It had taken more time for
Lee to succumb to the sickness but he hadn't been bitten and they
had no idea what the incubation period was for this illness. For
all he knew it could be anywhere from one hour to one week.

Images of John standing in the shadows and
waiting to pounce on them flooded his mind. He could feel him
watching him with hungry intent; feel the breath of him against his
cheek even though nothing stirred there. Bracing himself, he
flicked on the flashlight. He shone the beam down the dark row of
stalls before him. Relief filled him when he didn't see his friend
standing there, salivating as he waited to attack.

A crunching sound on his right caused him to
spin the flashlight in that direction. John threw his hands up to
block his face as the light hit him in the eyes. "Watch it!" he
snapped.

"Sorry," Carl apologized and directed the
light away from him.

"We were calling for you," Riley said.

"Can't a guy go to the bathroom in peace?"
John muttered.

Carl moved out of the doorway as John
shuffled toward him. "What is that?" he inquired as he spotted the
leash looking thing in John's hand. A red helmet with white chips
in the paint was tucked under his other arm.

"I'm hoping it's a leash of some sort," John
answered.

"For what?" Xander asked.

"A horse," John replied as if Xander were a
little dim but Carl thought it had been a perfectly acceptable
question.

"What are you going to do with it?" Carl
demanded.

"
Catch
a
horse, hopefully," he added the last word as an aside.

"You look worse than Death did. Please go
and chase a horse around. I will actually sit back and laugh as I
watch that."

John gave him the finger and leaned against
the doorway of the barn. "I promised Rochelle a horse," he
muttered. "And I'm going to make sure she gets it. You know, just
in case."

"Oh," Carl said dully. He felt like an ass.
"I'm not so sure it's a good idea to bring back one of the animals
that are a main target for the afterlife."

"I considered that but I don't think one
would be an attraction and even if it is, they want nothing to do
with us when they come for the horses. Besides, it looked like
Death might be going back to whatever heaven or Hell unleashed it
upon this planet."

"It's a lead chain," Riley said as she took
it from John's hands. "And we'll just have to make sure Rochelle
doesn't see what happens if a horseman decides to come and take Sea
Biscuit away. Xander and I will try to catch one while Carl's
taking care of your hand."

John gave her a tired smile. Carl nudged him
toward the truck. "How are we going to catch one?" he heard Xander
ask as they walked away.

"Maybe we can find one that's sleeping,"
Riley answered.

Carl assumed that was probably their only
chance of catching one but he didn't say so. John followed him over
to the truck, set the helmet on the floor and settled into the
front seat. He carefully pulled the bandage away from John's hand
to inspect the bite beneath. He kept his face impassive, but
inwardly he winced when he saw the red, throbbing, and puss filled
bite mark.

"No rubbing alcohol," John told him.

"No alcohol," he promised.

He cleaned the wound carefully and to the
best of his ability. He didn't care what he had to do, he was
getting John to that camp as soon as Xander and Riley returned. "We
have to hook up the trailer," John told him when he finished
wrapping the wound back up.

Carl glanced at the trailer behind the truck
and nodded. "I'll do it."

"I'll help."

"Just sit. I've hooked up a trailer or two
by myself in my lifetime."

Xander and Riley were just coming around the
corner of the barn with a small brown horse between them when he
finished hooking the trailer to the truck. "There's some food for
it inside the barn," John informed them.

"We should get out of here," Carl said
impatiently.

"Another ten minutes isn't going to make
that much of a difference," John replied.

Carl shot him a look but he helped Xander
and Riley load the horse onto the trailer. None of them had any
idea what they were doing but he was pretty sure they'd gotten it
mostly right. At least the gate on the back would stay up. They
pulled bags of oats from a small room they found in the middle of
the barn. They would have taken the hay and sweet feed out of the
room too but it had already begun to mold and he didn't think it
was good for any animal to be eating moldy food.

The sun had just completely risen over the
horizon when he climbed into the truck and started it up. He
glanced over at John but his friend's head was slumped against the
door he'd passed out on.

Al,

Al was completely focused on Rusty as he
spoke. "It came over the ridge. At first I assumed I was dreaming,
I didn't think there was any way it could possibly be real." Rusty
had always been the best one at telling stories around the
campfire, but it took all Al had not to yell at him to get on with
it as he drew out his words and added a spooky tone to them.
Rusty's eyes gleamed, he adjusted his stance to something more
comfortable. "Or that my mind had finally shattered and I was only
imagining it. Perhaps I'd even become one of the Nutters. Maybe
hallucinating was the first step on my road to cannibalism."