“They’re all gone,” Eggo said softly, barely audible over the sound of the truck’s engine and the wind whipping by. “Every fucking one of ‘em is gone.”
The nightmare was over. At least Nitsy was fairly certain it was. This couldn’t have been taking place outside of the Stonewall Forge campus, right? This was a bad dream they were finally driving away from.
“At least y’all got your families to go back to,” the caretaker’s son said, his eyes looking glossy as he stared at the fire.
Nitsy didn’t know the boy, but she sensed his pain, and she wished she could hold him. His bravery had saved them all.
“They got Pa… and Ma… I ain’t got nobody no more.”
“You were very brave back there,” Nitsy said. “That was a really heroic thing you did.”
He turned his head toward her and was silent for a moment before he said, “I saw you the other day. But… but you had hair.”
Nitsy wasn’t expecting to laugh, but the statement caught her off guard and caused her to. It felt good, so she laughed some more. Soon, Robbie was laughing too.
“What… what is it?” the boy asked.
“What’s your name?” she replied.
“Thomas,” he said.
“Thank you, Thomas. I’m Nitsy. I needed that laugh.”
“I didn’t mean to be funny,” he said.
“I know. And it wasn’t you. You see, that was a wig. It’s a long story, but that wasn’t my real hair.”
“Thank God,” Thomas replied, “Because I was gonna ask you what happened to it. Thought maybe you’d lost it in the fire.”
The way the boy said the word fire made her laugh again. He pronounced it far.
“I lost my hair before the fire,” she informed him, “but it’ll grow back.”
Robbie pulled her to him and squeezed her tight.
“So, what happens now?” Eggo asked.
Nitsy looked up at the moon shining its bluish glow down over them. “I hope we can go home.”
The truck, which had been bumbling its way over the uneven dirt road, swerved sharply, throwing them all off balance. Nitsy’s head bounced off Robbie’s and they both cried out in pain.
“What’s happening—” Eggo began, when a loud snarl filled the air, cutting him off.
To their right, a large dog dove at them, but the truck was moving too quickly, and its snout hit the side panel. It yowled and for a moment, only for a second, Nitsy felt bad for it. It was infected right now, but yesterday it might have been someone’s pet.
“Ah hell!” Andre yelled from the driver’s seat.
Nitsy peered through the truck’s back window and saw a giant buck standing in the center of the road. Its antlers were tall and wide. It was an impressive creature. Any hunter would dream of seeing one like it out in the woods, but standing in the middle of the road, with its chest puffed out the way it was, it seemed to be daring Andre to hit it.
“There’s a deer in the road,” Nitsy informed the others.
“An infected one?” Eggo asked.
Thomas looked through the window. “It’s hard to tell. Sometimes they’re just dumb like that.”
Andre slowed the truck down, and as he did, other animals came out of the forest, behind the truck, and moved toward them. This flock of random beasts walked slowly toward the bed of the truck.
“Andre,” Eggo called out. “Look behind us, man.”
To Nitsy, the animals looked possessed, like it wasn’t only some kind of worm or bug inside them, but more like a demon had crawled inside their souls. Their eyes glowed in the moonlight, but there was no life there. A bear’s head hung to the side like it was broken. A wolf’s pelt was soaked with its own blood and it walked forward weakly. A gash at its side opened and closed with each step like a red, dripping mouth gasping for air each time its paw touched the earth.
A woman moved out of the trees, walking slowly like she’d been given new legs. Her hair was pulled up from the scalp. Chunks of flesh clung to it and kept it glued to the skull, but it was clear she’d tried to pull her hair out in one big handful.
“Grace,” Thomas whispered.
“What?” Robbie asked.
“Grace Connor,” Thomas said. “She leads the choir at my church.”
The woman trampling through the grass and following the animals didn’t seem like the churchgoing type. Her shirt was ripped, and one boob hung freely. Every part of her was doused in blood except that boob.
“She don’t have her tittie out like that in church,” Thomas said, his eyes still glued on the woman.
“Brace yourselves,” Andre yelled. “If this motherfucker don’t wanna move outta my way, I’m fixin’ to move him.”
With that, he stepped on the gas and the truck leaped forward. As it did, the animals took off at a sprint, chasing after their trail of dust. Eyes glowed through the dirt cloud and they were coming fast. Nitsy closed her eyes, clutched Robbie’s hand, and prayed they’d blow right past that deer. If they didn’t, if the truck slowed down even a smidgen, the wolves nipping at their heels would leap right over the tailgate and it would all be over.
Andre didn’t slow down.
He drove faster.
Nitsy didn’t have to look to know they were about to hit the buck.
“Come on, you fucker!” Andre yelled.
That was the signal.
“Hold on!” she yelled.
Nitsy leaned forward and tucked her head between her knees, covering her head with her hands the way she’d been taught to do in kindergarten whenever their teacher made them practice for a tornado drill. It was the only thing that came to mind.
The moment of impact felt like they’d hit a brick wall. The truck slammed into the weight of the animal, bashed through its meaty hide, and must have knocked it to the side because only the left tires seemed to hobble over it.
Eggo was nearly thrown out of the truck bed as it bounced over it. “Holy shit!” he yelled. “We nailed that sucker!”
He leaned over the side of the truck to get a closer look at the deer, and it happened in a split second.
Eggo was in mid-sentence with, “Damn, we fucked that thing—” when he switched to, “Wha… ah… no…”
His hands went to his face and he thrashed around, scratching at his eyebrows, and swatting at his head and cheeks. Robbie and Nitsy threw themselves to the opposite side of the truck, closer to Thomas, and watched as their friend panicked. Eggo’s eyes went wide as he realized what was happening to him.
Their theory earlier about shaving their heads was wrong. The lice had latched onto Eggo’s eyebrows. The young man screamed in pain and scratched so hard at his face that his forehead and cheeks began to bleed.
“Eggo, no,” Nitsy whimpered with her hand over her mouth. “No. Don’t do that to yourself.”
“It hurts so bad!” Eggo yelled.
His fingernails had made their way beneath his eyebrows, and he pulled, peeling his upper brow off his face. Blood ran down over his eyes, across his cheeks, and into his mouth where it bubbled with each gasp and grunt the boy made.
“He’s infected!” Robbie yelled. “Stay back!”
“Fuck this,” Thomas announced as he slid a little closer and kicked Eggo hard in his chest. The thump was loud, and the force was enough to knock Eggo over the side of the truck.
Inside the cab, Phyllis screamed.
Andre slowed the truck down to see what was happening and the animals grew dangerously close.