“I watched my husband die right in front of me.” Every word was punctuated by a poke of her tiny finger to George’s chest. “We’ve all lost people we love!” Rolling her eyes, she laughed bitterly. “Hell, we’ve all lost EVERYTHING!”
Jeff watched in amazement as George seemed at a loss as to how to deal with this miniscule whirlwind that had slammed on top of him like a ton of bricks.
“We’re all dealing with this shit, okay? I don’t know if your family is alive or dead, but I do know one thing.” She paused for effect. “I’m still alive, and so are you. All four of us are still alive!”
Megan’s anger dissipated, and her entire demeanor changed. George looked stunned, as if someone had landed a solid right cross to his jaw. Megan slowly moved her hand toward his face. Her eyes had softened and seemed to be holding the big man hypnotized. He was too astonished to resist as her fingers gently touched his cheek. She moved her other hand up to his face as well.
A single tear tried to force its way out between his lids, but George blinked it away. He shifted uncomfortably as Megan spoke again.
“George…” It was a whisper. The gentleness of it gave him pause. “You don’t know how much I hope your family is alive. How much I hope anyone is alive. We want to help you, but we need to help ourselves first. Please understand.”
He stared back at Megan, his face rigid as if carved from stone. Suddenly, it began to crumble. When he reached up to take her tiny hands into his own, tears rolled down his face. She stood in front of him, dwarfed by his bulk, and slid her spindly arms around his neck. She leaned in close, and George’s arms wrapped around her. He hugged her tightly, wracked with sobs that had no sound but shook his entire body.
Jeff watched until he was sure things were under control and then slid into the driver’s seat. He snapped on his seatbelt and flipped the gearshift back into drive.
When he felt like things had settled down enough, he decided to speak. “Okay, guys. For now, let’s just head east. We can talk about where we want to go after we get the heck away from this hellhole.” No one responded, and he turned the van onto the road and through one of the gaps in the razor wire that had failed to keep the infected at bay.
They were heading out into the country. Several of the ghouls that had gotten close while the van was stationary moaned and swiped at it as it drove away, angry at being cheated of their prey.
Chapter 20
The quartet drove east, seeing fewer buildings, fewer houses, and more wide stretches of farmland the further they drove. There was plenty of damage off in the distance; it looked like the area had been hit by a tidal wave. They only saw a few shadowy figures skulking around, but they weren’t fooled. Plenty of ghouls were still out there, hiding behind barns and in the shadows, waiting for the survivors to stop and step out of the minivan.
After a while, they were able to settle back and pretend everything was normal as the scenery rolled by. There were split-rail fences that ran great distances, and while there were few businesses, several large propane tank parks broke the monotony of the farmland.
They passed a sign indicating that the speed limit was now fifty-five. Jeff smiled when he saw it. There was the occasional abandoned vehicle in the road but not much else to worry about. He could do a hundred and it probably wouldn’t cause any issues. Still, he kept the van at around thirty miles an hour. He was in no hurry to get to the next town and its heavy population just yet.
“Hey! Look over there!”
Megan and George whipped around, startled at Jason’s outburst. He was pointing at one of the fields on the side of the road. Jeff shifted in his seat and slowed the van slightly so he could see what had the kid so excited.
There was another split-rail fence running alongside the road, unbroken, for at least a mile. A large building set back at least a hundred feet served as the backdrop. It was nearly as long as the fence, a huge barn made of sheet metal. It was too far away for anyone to tell if it had been attacked. Not that the building was drawing their attention. They were more interested in the horse grazing in the pasture in front of the barn.
The brown swayback gently nuzzled the overgrown grass. It did not bother raising its head as they slowly passed. Instead, it continued to munch contentedly. There was nothing special about the beast. It was like any other horse they had seen before. Old and grizzled, its back dipped precariously toward the ground. All in all, it was nothing special.
Except that it was still alive.
They watched the animal with a sad intensity that would have seemed odd just a few weeks back. But that was before the plague had come. The four survivors could only guess at what the virus did to animals with which it came in contact. They had no idea if it simply killed them or caused the same sort of psychosis evident in infected human beings. Only one thing was certain: someone who turned into one of those monsters would attack any living creature it could get its hands on. Most domesticated animals hadn’t stood a chance against them.
Jeff turned back around, but his three passengers continued to stare at the horse until it was out of sight. Jason smiled briefly, proud of his discovery, but his stony countenance returned as they went over a rise and the field faded from view.
A few minutes later, Jeff glanced at a sign telling him they were leaving Clermont County. They were out of the metropolitan area now, although there were still plenty of smaller population centers to contend with down the road. But Jeff knew if they could avoid backtracking or heading north, where George’s family and a thousand others just like them were, they might live to see another day.
Jeff was still thinking about where they should go when something caught his eye.
“There ya go!”
“What?”
Megan had been relaxing when Jeff’s excited statement broke the silence. She jumped up and looked out the window, fearful of what she might see. After no boiling mass of stiff bodies appeared in front of the van, she let her heart rate slow a bit. Scanning the horizon, she saw no obvious dangers and pursed her lips, trying to figure out what had gotten Jeff so worked up.
There was a large field off to their left that ran parallel to their route for about three quarters of a mile and stretched about the same distance back from the road. A dirt path led to two squat structures in the middle of the barren field that appeared as little more than tiny dots from where they sat.
Jeff stopped the minivan. “That’s the ticket, lady and gents.” He turned to face the others. “We can park our butts there for the night.”
George slid over and shared a window view with Jason. “It certainly looks abandoned.” He was already scanning the area for anything that might give them trouble. The flat field stretched away from the homestead on the three sides they could see, and it looked like the tree line behind the buildings was far back from it as well. The vantage would allow them to detect anything that tried to get close long before it became a viable threat.
“Guys, I don’t know…” Megan hesitated.
“Megan, we have to find a place to stay,” Jeff insisted. “I’m not all that interested in staying in the van tonight. I’d rather find a comfortable bed, or even a dirt floor, and just spread out and relax for a while. I’m sure George and Jason would agree.”
“You’ve got my vote,” Jason piped up.
Jeff nodded and then looked at George. The blond man shrugged, seemingly indifferent to the idea. Jeff turned back to Megan.
“I’m all for it too, but I just think there might be a better place to stay than this.” Megan waved her hand at the shacks dismissively. “They don’t look like much.”
“Well it’s not the Hilton, that’s for sure,” Jeff agreed. “But if we set up a watch, we can make sure none of those bastards sneak up on us. We can probably see for a couple of miles in all directions from those windows. That’ll give us plenty of time to take off if things go wrong.”