I drove through the night, trying to put as much distance between us and the city as possible. Thankfully, we had a full gas tank.
As I drove, I repeatedly glanced over at the little girl. She fell asleep after a few minutes of driving. She leaned the seat back and curled up into a ball within the seat. I felt sorry for her; she was so young, and yet she’d experienced so much pain within the past few days. It was way too much at her age.
I remembered the gummy bears I had jammed in my pockets. I pulled them out and put them on the floor beside the backpack. I’d offer them to her later to try and take her mind off the loss of her father.
I contemplated all that had happened over the past few days. So much had gone on, and so many lives had been lost. I tried to process all of it while counting up the people I knew that were either dead or an infected by now. As I sat there thinking on that, my thoughts occasionally drifted to my wife. I missed her so much. I touched my chest with my left hand, feeling the piece of my heart that was no longer there. I felt empty, as if someone had stolen the most vital part of what made me who I was and would never give it back. I looked back over at the little girl sleeping in the seat next to me. I thought of the child I’d never know. I felt like a failure.
Everyone I’d met was either dead or a monster trying to kill people. The world was going to hell around me and I was absolutely powerless to stop it. I tried to shake those morbid thoughts as dawn approached. I hoped that I’d think more clearly then.
The sun illuminated the landscape around us, revealing a forest that spread in all directions. I drove on as made our way through the countryside. We passed through small towns that were crawling with infected. I plowed right through them, not even batting an eye as I ran those monsters over.
I began to understand what the captain had told me days earlier. The words reverberated in my mind; “It’s either kill or be killed…He wasn’t my son anymore, he was a monster.”
The little girl slept through it all, occasionally shifting her position to make herself more comfortable. Her shallow, whimpered breathing unsettled me. I spent the ride in silence, trying my best not to wake her. I drove until the gas tank was almost empty. As the sun began to set on the horizon, we reached a local highway leading out of the state. As we wove past aisles of abandoned cars, I heard someone calling out to us. I kept moving in the direction of the voice.
I passed a few more cars and came across a group of six people. Five of them were holding guns. They raised their weapons at us, preparing to fire as we neared them. The woman with them was waving her hands, trying to flag us down. I came to a stop right in front of her. The men remained in their positions while she stepped away from the group and walked to the side of the car. I rolled down the window and took a long look at her.
She was a young woman, probably around twenty years old. She had long red hair that reached her waist. Her eyes were a deep blue that reminded me of a cloudless sky on a perfect day. She had an athletic build that gave her a demanding presence.
She looked at me with a contemptuously as said, “State your business here. This is our turf.” I replied, “I’m just tryin’ to pass through. We came from back that way, not a long ways off, and we just wanna escape all the infected running about.” She said, “If that’s so, then why are you driving a military vehicle? There aren’t very many of those vehicles around here, let alone military bases.”
I turned the engine off and took my hands from the wheel. I grabbed the door handle and attempted to exit the vehicle. When it opened halfway, the woman kicked the door shut, crushing my hand. She pulled out a black pistol and aimed it at the middle of my head. “No sudden moves!” she shouted.
I clenched my hand and growled in her direction. She barked, “You still have some explaining to do. How did you get here and how did you acquire that vehicle? Explain yourself right now!”
The little girl had woken up because of her yelling. She tugged on my sleeve, causing me to turn to face her. She looked up at me with curious eyes and asked, “What’s going on?” I told her not to worry; I just had to talk to these people so we could keep going.
The woman yelled through the open window, “Hey! I’m still over here! Answer me or I’ll shoot!” I turned back to face the red-haired woman and explained myself. I only told her about the army base; I left out everything prior to that. After hearing my tale, she placed the pistol back in her belt and opened the door. I stepped out as she waved the men over to us.
I looked back at the little girl in the passenger’s seat. She had a worried look on her face and was strangely quiet as she sat in the seat. The men came over and stopped pointing their guns in my direction. The woman told me, “Sorry, we just couldn’t be too careful. We’ve had a few run-ins with some shady characters.”
I told her there was no need to worry; I wasn’t a shady character at all. She smiled, and then asked me where I was going and why. I told her all I wanted to do was get as far away from the base as possible. I also wanted to keep the little girl safe because she’d lost her father and had nobody left.
The woman looked at me and said, “Well, you can’t keep goin’ on this highway. About fifty miles up the road is a military blockade that was set up a few days before the outbreak. It was taken over by infected a day or two ago, and now it’s a festering ground for them. It’s not safe at all.” I told her, “Either way, I need to find somewhere to stay. I’m almost out of gas and have few supplies.”
A wry smile spread across the woman’s face as she said, “You can come with us. If you do, just remember that it won’t be for free.” I took a moment to try to understand what she’d said. I looked down at my feet, and then at the little girl in the car. There really wasn’t much of a choice; we had to go with these people.
I turned my attention back to the woman. I nodded at her and thanked her for allowing us on. She walked away as she said, “Okay. Follow me. Boys, keep an eye on this one.”
The men watched carefully as I lifted the little girl from the car. I grabbed the supplies and placed them in the backpack. I put the backpack on my weary shoulders and picked up the little girl in my arms. She whispered in my ear, “Where are we going? I’m scared.” I told her, “I don’t know where we’re going, but we have to trust these people. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you.” The little girl leaned back, giving me an assuring smile. One of the men ushered me into the midst of the others and the group led us into the forest on the side of the highway.
We walked through the dense forest for hours. The last remnants of sunlight crept through the thick trees, elongating the shadows of the forest. The forest took on an eerie feel as we trekked through. All I could hear was the crunching of the leaves underneath our feet and the occasional hoot of an owl nearby. I felt a lot safer in the midst of the armed gunmen. The little girl held onto me tightly, showing her uneasiness in the dense forest.
After a while, the sun went down completely, which filled the forest with thick darkness. The men surrounding us pulled out high powered flashlights that brought some security in the unknown blackness around us. A howl filled the air and sent a chill down my spine. I wanted to get out of the forest as soon as possible.
My mind began to wander. Not only did I think of the animals that could be out there, but I began to think of the possibility of an infected lurking about the woods, searching for a meal.
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, a twig snapped right behind us and its break echoed through the trees. A cold sweat came over me as we stopped. The little girl clutched my neck frantically, almost choking me to death. Fear crept over me as one of the men turned his flashlight on the ground behind us.
A small rabbit was sitting on the ground, next to a nearby tree. The full force of the light hit it square in the face; it to turned tail and ran back into the darkness. The girl loosened her grip on my neck as I let out a deep sigh of relief. One of the men chuckled loudly and said, “What a pussy” underneath his breath
. I gave the man a dirty look when he turned back around. The little girl saw this and let out a small giggle.
We turned our attention forward and continued walking. After some more walking through the darkness, we came to a clearing with a stream. I saw the whole sky filled with bright stars high above the tall grass. It was so clear that I could’ve traced each individual line in the sky, connecting each star and creating a brilliant web in the heavens.
We made our way through the tall grass and stopped at a stream. We turned right at its banks and followed it upstream for another period of time. I continually glanced up at the stars as we walked. I looked in my arms to see the little girl gazing at the stars too. She looked calm and peaceful there in my arms.
The stream led us through another patch of dark forest, which eventually turned into another large clearing. Under the light of the stars I saw our destination.
In the middle of the clearing was a large house that looked like a mansion. It was surrounded by a tall brick wall that contained a set of thick, steel doors. There was only one entrance to get in and out of the fortress.
We came up to the doors and waited for a few moments. A scraping noise filled our ears as the doors began to move. Some large men pushed open the steel doors to let us in, and revealed more of the house. We entered the grounds and came face to face with the red-haired woman again. The light of the stars lit up her face, giving her an angelic glow. I turned around to see the steel doors close behind us, preventing our escape.
The men surrounding the little girl and I separated as the woman walked in our direction. She came right up to me and said, “This is our home base. It used to be a dilapidated house by the wayside, but we’re fixing it up and making it ours. We’re lucky that we found it when we did. We were fighting off a group of infected as we ran through the forest. We made it to this clearing and were able to separate the group. We killed them all, and then decided to become stationary here. The brick wall was already here when we arrived. Now, we’re turning it into an impregnable base that can keep the infected away from us. What do you think?”
The base sure was impressive. With the brick wall surrounding it, it was definitely a safe place from the infected. However, the house was a large body sticking out in the middle of the clearing. Maybe it could attract too much unwanted attention. Still, it looked as if it was well fortified and could withstand any attack that could come its way.
Some men were moving supplies in and out of the house as I scanned it. The woman spoke again, saying, “Construction is still goin’ on and we have plenty supplies. Come on inside. We’ll get you a meal and some rest. We have to wait anyways for the other groups to return.”
Other groups? What other groups? I did calculations in my mind.
There were probably more people that would call this place their home; the size of the house alone looked as if it could hold at least fifty people.
She sent the men with guns away, giving them orders to watch the perimeter until the others returned. Then she turned and waved us towards the entrance of the house.
We entered through two enormous wooden doors that led into a large expanse of space. From our vantage point, I saw a staircase leading up to a second story. To my right I saw a large dining room. It was covered in papers and maps. On the left was what looked like a living room. There were boxes of supplies piled up to the ceiling.
The little girl wiggled out of my arms in excitement and began to walk around, gazing at the enormity of the place. The red haired woman walked over to the nearest wall and turned on a board of switches. A low, dim light filled the rooms, making it somewhat easier to see.
She looked at me and said, “We have to have low-glow bulbs so we don’t attract any outside or unwanted attention.”
She motioned us towards the stairs and led us to the second story. I took another look around the room as we went up the stairs. Flower-patterned wallpaper was peeling from the walls, revealing the dark brown wood underneath. Cobwebs were in every corner of the house, no doubt crawling with spiders.
We came upon the second landing and looked around. Through the dim light filling the halls, I saw long corridors to my left and right. They seemed to stretch along endlessly through the house. The little girl led the way to the left as we followed her. She giggled as she skipped down the hall. She came to a stop at a door that had a large flower painted on it. We caught up to her and watched amusedly as she attempted to turn the rusted doorknob.
After a few moments, she stepped back and looked at us, expecting some sort of assistance. I walked up to the door and twisted the knob. It didn’t turn. I grasped it again tightly and put some extra muscle in it. The doorknob snapped off, but the door still opened on its own. The ladies behind me let out small giggles when I looked back at them and shrugged my shoulders. They followed me as I stepped into the room and looked around.
It was a medium-sized room covered in more flower wallpaper. The wallpaper was peeling from all sides there too. I saw a large bed on the right hand side. There was a large wooden dresser sitting net to it; it looked ancient. There was a window on the far side of the room that let me see beyond the forest and into the starry sky.
The little girl ran in and jumped on the bed, causing it to shake along the floor. I placed the backpack on the floor and sat on the bed next to her. The woman stepped into the room and looked around. As she scanned the room, she said, “We still haven’t explored all of this place.”
She turned her gaze back to me and met my eyes. She paused, and then said, “I’m gonna go back outside and wait for the others to return. You guys get some rest. We’ll have dinner when they get back. Until then, get some rest. You’re gonna need it.”
I looked at the red haired woman peculiarly as she exited the room. The little girl stopped jumping and sat down next to me. She looked up at me and said quietly, “I want to eat now.” I retrieved the backpack and sat back down on the bed. I pulled out a package of the gummy bears and handed them to her.
She excitedly yelled, “Gummies!” and took the package from my hands.
She opened it quickly, but stopped as soon as it was open. She spent a few moments gazing at the package and contemplating something. Her smile faded, and her lips began to quiver. I watched as big tears began to roll down her face, hitting the bed covers and soaking in. We sat in silence for a few moments as I let her cry next to me.
I scooted over to her and put my arm around her shoulder. She leaned into me and began to sob. The gummies fell out of her hands and landed on the floor, spilling everywhere. I sat there silently, staring at the gummy bears spanning the floor.
I could faintly see the little smiles on the bears’ faces. They were mocking the girl, reminding her of the death of her father. I held the little girl close as she continued to cry. She stopped after a while, and looked up at me with tired eyes.
I couldn’t find any words to comfort her. I just stared into her wet eyes and gave a slow nod. The little girl nodded back and rose to her feet, squishing the bears on the floor. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and gave me a weak smile. She told me, “It’s okay. I’m gonna be braver now.”
I gave her a weak smile back, not knowing what to do. We stood in silence until we heard some thudding downstairs. The little girl looked at me and said, “More people are back! Let’s go downstairs!”
At that, she ran out the door in the direction of the thuds. My heart ached for the little girl; she was so brave. I breathed out deeply, rose to my feet, and headed out the door.
Tape #8