Candice jumped up and ran over. “Mommy?”
One arm holding Macy, Grace pulled Candice onto her legs.
Eugene slowly stood. “Grace? Grace, I am sorry.”
So was she. No one was sorrier than Grace. Not only was she at a sorrowful loss, she had no clue what to do next. She couldn’t hold Macy forever, even though she wanted to.
In the infancy of her loss, Grace placed the ‘what next’ thoughts aside and absorbed the final moments of holding her daughter.
Caramount Elementary School
Myron never claimed to be an artist and his rough sketch was designed to be more informative than decorative. It was raw at best. It was his plan, the escape and backup plan that Myron thought through all night.
Not that Paul wasn’t a good leader; Myron supposed he was. To Myron, a good leader didn’t need to have the answers, he only needed to project that he was confident he’d find them.
Myron had drawn a picture of the school. On the street parked by it was the fire truck, behind that a school bus. Myron explained his plan to Paul and Stanton.
“There’s the dip, or grade, whatever you want to call it,” Myron said, “on the side of the building near the main street. Cars parked on the lot keep that side safe. If we get overrun with infected, that lot will be like a lake, it dips down enough that they won’t get near the ladder.”
Paul said. “It doesn’t look like you want to pull the truck near the school.”
“Oh, I don’t. Annapolis Avenue runs north to south, perpendicular with the school property.” Myron pulled forth a map. “Greenmont is east and west. It comes out and faces Exit E of the gym. I want to bring Bessie down Greenmont, on to Annapolis and facing the school. The Ragers can’t reach the top of the truck.”
Stanton ran his finger over the drawing. “This is good. You have the school bus behind Bessie, ass end to ass end. Extend the ladder to the roof like a catwalk, we can climb down, cross over to Bessie to get to the bus.”
“Yes.” Myron nodded. “Ceiling to floor in the gym is twenty-four feet. With the distance and the ladder extended it won’t be a steep slope. The scaffolding is inside to get to the roof, should we be trapped in the gym and not able to make the staircase.”
“You expect people to climb twenty-four feet?”
“If they want to live, yes. Everything we need is at Mount Hallow, eight blocks away. Including the bus.”
Paul folded his arms. “This is a very viable plan.”
“I’m confident we need only me and two others to implement it.”
Stanton held up his hand. “I’m game. You may have to piss on me.”
“I can do that.”
“No,” Paul Argued, “this is not needed. Have you looked outside? Half of the infected have dropped dead. They’re just laying there. It’s my guess they’re expiring and in a day or two they’ll all be gone.”
“Do you want to take that chance?” Myron asked. “I sure don’t.”
“Neither do I,” Stanton said.
“It’s dangerous,” Paul remarked.
“Yeah, well,” Stanton tilted his head, “according to you it’s only half as dangerous as it was yesterday.”
“When are you going?” Paul asked.
“I wanted to go now,” Myron replied. “But since Stanton wants my urinary tract protection, give my urine an hour to ferment a bit and then we’ll head out.”
“You’re really going to douse yourself in his urine?” Paul asked.
“Whatever it takes.” Stanton shrugged. “And by the way,” he nudged Myron, “I love it. Urinary Tract Protection.”
“That was pretty good, huh?”
Paul groaned.
Myron was confident in his plan. Once he got Bessie, he was certain, not only he, but the others would not feel quite so cornered or trapped.
Once again, Grace attempted to read Max. She didn’t get him, nor did she think she ever would. Of course, she still wasn’t thinking clearly.
Max got up, looked at Grace, ran his hand over Candice’s head, muttered “Sorry,” and walked away, heading up the stairs.
It took an hour before Grace placed Macy back on the couch. She didn’t want to but she covered her with a blanket, because the sight of her wasn’t pleasant and she didn’t want that to be Candice’s last impression of her sister.
Losing Macy was tough, and walking away, leaving her behind, was going to be just as hard.
Grace had to get herself together, think clearer, for the sake of Candice. She was all she had left.
Max returned and Grace knew as soon as she saw him what he had done. His face was dirty, hands as well, and his blue jeans had mud all over them.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Max said.
“You are a piece of work,” Grace said. “Really, that was your first thought?”
“What are you talking about?” “Your first thought, you see my child and think okay, bury her?”
“Yeah. What are you going to do? Leave her on the couch?”
“Hey, now,” Eugene said. “Easy, both of you.”
Grace ignored Eugene. “What did you expect me to say?” she snapped at Max.
“How about ‘thank you for digging a grave for my daughter’?”
“She died.”
“And that means what?” Max said, throwing up his hands in frustration. “We’re to wait? For how long? Tell me Grace.”
“You can act like this because you don’t know.”
“No. No I don’t,” Max said passionately. “But I do know it isn’t fair to the child you have left. I actually know for a fucking fact how unfair it is for the child left behind. You lost your daughter, I’m sorry. I am. Right now, you have another one who is alive that needs your full focus. Give it to her.”
“How dare y—”
“Stop!” Candice screamed. “Please. Stop.” She stepped back from her mother and looked to Max.
“I’m sorry,” Max nodded at Candice. “I didn’t mean to yell.”
Eugene inched forward. “I know this sounds harsh, Grace, but Max is right. We need to give her a burial, you need that as well. Then we have to move on.”
Grace ran her hand down her face. “You’re right. I’m sorry, too. The shelter isn’t that far from here.”
“Mommy?” Candice peeped out, but no one paid any attention.
Max said, “I think that’s a bad idea.”
Eugene glanced at him. “What do you mean it’s a bad idea?”
“I mean, how many people are there? To me, the more people, the more dangerous it can be.”
“Mommy?” Candice said.
“What about safety in numbers?” Eugene asked.
Max shrugged. “Depends. Are there more immune? Then you have safety in numbers. But if not, you have a calling card.”
Candice tapped on Grace’s leg. “Mommy?”
“Just a minute, sweetie.” Grace faced Max. “What do you propose?”
“Head to the hills, to the country,” Max said. “Hell, another country. Maybe a place with no infected. Away from crowds.”
“Where? We have no information,” Grace said. “I understand your point and reasoning. However, we need to get to that shelter to at least find out what’s going on. It’s run by the government, they have to know.”
“And they may be able to tell us where a better place is,” Eugene said hopefully.
Candice screamed.
Everyone turned at the same time to look. Grace gasped when Macy sat up.
A twinge of excitement hit her. Thinking maybe, just maybe she wasn’t dead, Grace knew better when the blanket slid from Macy and Grace saw her eyes.