Her head fell back, her gaze ran over the treetops again. Her fingers twitched on the trigger as she waited for them to come back at them. The urge to scream built in her chest and a growing pressure caused her bladder to clench. Those things were out there somewhere but they were outnumbered now and she had a feeling they weren't as reckless as their friends had been, that they were plotting something.
She didn't think she could take much more of the tension. Turning, she searched behind her, but she didn't see anything there. A flash of something drew her attention to the trees. She'd just spotted the two edging toward the cabin roof when a gunshot rang out from behind her, followed quickly by three more. She almost pissed herself as she jumped, a startled shriek escaped Nancy, and the bodies tumbled from the trees to land on the roof. The two bodies rolled down the pitch and fell off in front of the porch.
Mary Ellen kept her gun raised as she spun toward the cabin and the direction the gunshots had come from. She'd been expecting to see that the others had returned, that they'd parked the truck somewhere else and walked in when they'd heard the gunshots. Instead, four people she didn't recognize emerged from around the corner of the cabin. Their guns were raised as they approached the dead lying before the porch.
"We come in peace," one of the women said and the younger man in between the two women snickered.
The older man lifted his head away from the scope of his rifle and frowned. The man lowered his rifle as he stepped forward. "Al?"
All of their heads turned toward Al. Confusion marred Al's brow before it cleared and he began to smile. "Rusty?" he asked in astonishment.
Mary Ellen stared at the man that Al had called Rusty. He appeared to be in his mid to late sixties. His eyebrows and short beard had a reddish hue to them but the hair on his head was completely white. His round face and blue eyes lit up when he grinned at Al. "Yeah." He walked across the clearing and stretched out his hand to take hold of Al's. "It's good to see you."
"You also. Where did you come from?" Al inquired.
He gestured toward the drive. "I still have my cabin down the road. We had to leave our house in the city once everything fell apart. We were trying to escape from the damage of the quakes and tsunami when people started to fall ill. They overran the city so fast." The twinkle left his blue eyes as he gestured at the two dead near his feet and gave a sad shake of his head. "We were hunting in the area when we heard your gunshots. I hadn't realized anyone was here but we don't move out much from my cabin. It's safer that way."
"Understandable," Al said. "Glad you were in the area."
Rusty glanced at all of them before focusing on Al again. "Do you remember my children?" He stepped back and waved the other three forward. "This is Rusty Jr. and my daughters Phoebe and Leah."
"R.J.," Rusty Jr. said and extended his hand to Al. R.J. looked to be in his mid-thirties he had shaggy reddish hair that framed his rugged face. Phoebe had light blond hair and appeared to be in her late twenties while Leah was also a redhead and about twenty-five.
"I remember," Al said and shook R.J.'s hand.
They all introduced themselves but Mary Ellen could feel the hesitance in the people around her. She nudged Rochelle away from the strangers. Al knew who these people were but they didn't, and she wasn't in a very trusting mood lately. She wondered how many bullets were left in her gun as she studied the family across from her.
What was she becoming? She wondered but then her gaze drifted briefly to Rochelle and she knew what she'd become. A woman that would do anything to ensure the safety of her child and the people gathered around her.
"Rusty and I used to hunt together," Al explained. Mary Ellen stared at him before focusing on the strangers across from her again. "We've known each other for twenty five…"
"Thirty," Rusty chimed in.
"Thirty years," Al finished.
Mary Ellen nodded, Donald shifted closer to Nancy. Claire kept her rifle pressed against her shoulder and Freddie pushed behind her. Rusty didn't acknowledge their defensive postures as he looked them all over. "You've made a stand here?"
"We're trying to," Al said. "That's the first time the sick have come through here."
"Nutters, that's what we call them," R.J. said.
"Charming," Mary Ellen murmured as Victor stepped out of the cabin and onto the porch. Mary Ellen waved him over; she preferred him by her side just in case. He climbed down the steps and hurried over to her other side but she pushed him behind her.
R.J. shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. Claire hesitated but she finally lowered her rifle. "Helps to distance us from them, it's easier that way," Rusty explained.
She supposed that was true but it still seemed like such a cruel term for them. Her gaze drifted to the bodies scattered around them and she shuddered. Yes, they were definitely a little nutty, she decided and Nutter really wasn't any worse than creature, it, or thing like they called them.
"I understand," Nancy chimed in.
"They come through every once in awhile," Rusty said. "We've been here for almost two months and this is the third time we've seen them in the area. This is the largest group of them so far."
"If the food is running low in town, they'll start spreading out," Phoebe said with a shudder.
"That is a good possibility." Rusty rubbed at his beard.
"I think they're starting to die," Mary Ellen said. "There was another one, in the woods with them, it was sicker than the rest. They killed it when it became clear it wasn't going to make it."
"Mom," Leah said and then shuddered. Her gaze drifted toward the trees as tears brimmed in her eyes.
Phoebe rested her hand on her sister's shoulder. Mary Ellen stared at them but they didn't elaborate and no one pushed them on it. They all had their horror stories they didn't want to share. "Maybe that means we'll finally be able to get into town," R.J. said.
Mary Ellen's head shot up at those words. "What do you mean?" she inquired sharply.
"It's overrun with Nutters," Rusty said. "We were living next to another group of ten people. They were determined to try to go into town and find supplies. They asked us to go with them but we'd already traveled around the outskirts of town enough to know it was overrun. Nutters are smart and they've been in charge in there for awhile; I'm sure they've set traps by now. We told them that but they believed there were enough of them to make it." Nausea twisted through Mary Ellen's stomach, her eyes lifted to the darkening sky. "We never saw another member of that group again."
"Oh God," she breathed as she stared at the empty drive. The other group had gone out with ten people and never come back. They'd only sent out five, half that number.
"What is it?" Phoebe inquired.
"There are five more of us. They went into town this morning to search for supplies. They should have been back by now," she answered.
Rochelle took hold of her hand and squeezed it. Mary Ellen pulled her closer and held her against her side; she knew her daughter would be devastated if they didn't return. They all would. All of the losses they'd suffered had been heartbreaking, but she wasn't sure they could recover from the loss of five of them.
"I'm sure they're fine," Leah said but Mary Ellen heard the hollowness in her tone.
"Have you seen anyone? Have you heard anything? Do you know how this all started?" Nancy inquired anxiously. Donald rested his hand on her arm as that frantic look came back into her eyes.
Rusty frowned at all of them. "You haven't seen one of them yet?"
"Seen one of what?" Donald inquired.
Rusty ran a hand through his white hair, causing it to stand up in little spikes around his lined face. "We've only seen one, thankfully. We were holed up at a horse farm in Goshen. It came that night."
CHAPTER 27
Riley,
She'd witnessed a lot of things over the past couple of months. She'd watched three of her friends die, one of whom she'd killed herself when he'd tried to eat her. Planes had crashed from the sky, hol
es had opened within the earth, lava had flowed forth, humans had turned into cannibals and mindless beings with only basic functions. The whole world had been turned upside down, inside out, rotated on its axis, and kicked in the ass but none of it compared to what emerged from in between the buildings of what she assumed was the maintenance area. None of it could have prepared her for what she was witnessing now.
Everything within her went cold. It felt as if her bladder emptied out, and she would have thought she'd pissed herself if it hadn't been for the fact that she was as cold as a naked man in Antarctica. At least her pee would have been warm, but then maybe her body had caused it to freeze on its way down. She didn't feel it trickling down her leg, but then she didn't feel much beyond her spinning brain.
For all she knew she was a disembodied head and the rest of her had ceased to exist. She didn't find the idea as implausible as she would have five minutes ago. In fact, if she'd been able to move her hands she actually would have checked to see if her body was still there, but her limbs were a part of the body she no longer controlled.
She couldn't even be sure if the others were around her anymore. For all she knew she now stood in a completely different realm. One that was beyond anything she ever could have imagined and had nothing to do with the world she'd always known. Her eyes were still working as they sent rapid images into her brain but maybe they'd been fried out by the light, or perhaps they had completely malfunctioned.
The horses had run to the fence at the other end of the track, they remained oddly silent as they crowded close together. As one, they turned and ran back toward them. Riley wanted to scream at them to go away, to go back to the other side. They were what the thing that had materialized was looking for as it changed direction and started toward them.
But it wasn't a thing. No matter how much her brain was screaming at her, no, no, no! It also registered everything and knew exactly what it was before her. It was also screaming at her, yes! Every thing that had happened over these past couple of months, that there had been no answer for, and no understanding of finally made sense.
Weeks ago, she'd accepted the fact they would never know what had caused it all, but that was ok because the answers wouldn't do anything for them. They couldn't. No matter what the answers revealed, it was impossible for them to help in any way. The answers wouldn't bring back her family; they wouldn't bring Carol, Lee, Bobby, Josh, and countless others back to life. They wouldn't transport her into her home again and they wouldn't make it all better.
She'd been fine with never knowing, she'd actually begun to realize the answer would probably only make her angrier. The answers would only bring more why's with them; she'd accepted the simple, because it was, explanation. There was nothing anyone could tell her that would make her understand, so what was the point of knowing?
She didn't feel angry now though. She was strangely empty inside and yet filled all at once. They were the oddest sensations to have hit her at the same time, but there they were colliding like atoms inside of her.
The horses piled up against the grassy hill beneath them. John, the first to find his feet again, took a step away from the animals that were beginning to crawl over each other like ants now. With John's movement, Riley felt tears well up in her eyes as she stared in dismay at the distressed animals beneath them. The mounds, she finally understood them now as one animal toppled and another climbed on top of it.
Tears slipped down her cheeks but she didn't understand them. She hadn't cried for the man she'd killed today, she hadn't even cried for Josh, and yet she was openly sobbing for the animals beneath her. Openly sobbing for the world, she realized as the light that glowed brighter than any ray of sun continued to approach the hill. Except unlike the sun, this light didn't burn her flesh or heat her iced skin. It wasn't a cold light emanating from it, not like the moon bouncing off of the snowcaps on a January night would have been, it was simply just a light.
It wasn't a very healthy looking light either as it had a greenish/yellowish hue that reminded her of puss and illuminated a circular area of about thirty feet on each side of it. She would have given anything not to be able to see every excruciating detail the light revealed but it was impossible not to, especially when she couldn't tear her eyes away.
They were pressed as close as sardines and climbing over top of one another but the horses still didn't make a sound. Neither did Riley, unless everyone else could hear the forceful thub-dub of her heart knocking against her ribs. From the infield of the track the thing continued to approach at a relentless yet leisurely pace.
There was no rush here, there was nowhere for the animals to go. Nowhere for any of them to go, not with this light filled creature walking the earth.
"Death rode a pale horse," John whispered from beside her.
Though she'd already known it and her brain had been screaming no even as the knowledge was taking root, his words solidified it in her mind. Yes, it was Death come to take them all.
She would have expected a proud thrust to its shoulders but instead it appeared as indifferent to its surroundings as a fly. Or perhaps they were the flies, or the horses were, or the entire world was, and this thing was the swatter.
It wore no clothes and yet Riley didn't get the impression that it was naked, or at least she didn't see any of the goodies. It was more like a Ken doll, all sexless, but minus the hair. A skull and bones didn't ride the horse like she'd seen in some drawings and paintings, it didn't wear fancy clothes or armor. There was simply a sexless, alien like creature approaching them.
She almost laughed out loud as she recalled the middle-aged man from the restaurant when they'd been in the stadium. Aliens, he had insisted and perhaps in some way it actually was an alien. It certainly hadn't been born of this earth. But then she realized that it had. Death had been as born to this earth as she had. It had been created and been doing its job thousands of years before she'd ever been born. It had been placed here by something far more powerful than she was.
Perhaps the idea of aliens had been created by someone that had seen this being on some distant day, a day so long forgotten that the idea of its actual existence had been laughed off by many over time.
As it came closer, she could make out the bones beneath the pus colored flesh. The flesh may have been murky in color but it appeared as smooth and unblemished as marble. No bruises marred it; no wrinkles lined its face or body. She didn't know why but she got the distinct impression the flesh would be as hard as marble to the touch, and as unyielding as the creature sitting straight on the back of the horse.
Death finally drew close enough that she could actually make out its features and see that it did have bones beneath its skin. Flesh covered its skull, but she clearly saw the skull beneath the flesh that had been molded over it. The contrast was the strangest thing to see. Death had a thin-bridged nose, full white mouth, and cheekbones that Michelangelo would have been jealous of. It was a face that would have made both men and women jealous of its beauty and strength. A face that would have made artists weep and musicians sing. It wasn't the face that belonged on something helping to bring about the destruction of their world.
The horse it rode had seen far better days, months ago. Every one of its ribs stood out, its high shoulder bones were clearly visible, and its jagged hips were harsh points. Its head bowed as if it carried the weight of the world upon its back and she supposed in some ways it actually did. The horse was grayish in color but a sickly yellow swirled throughout its mottled coat. Riley wondered if the horse had been that color the entire time or if the color had been leached from it by Death. Or perhaps Death's presence had leeched into the horse. She wondered how it even held the weight of Death upon its back as its knees buckled briefly, before it continued forward once more.
The horses below them stopped moving; she assumed most of them were already dead as the spectral figure approached them. The silence that descended over the night was as complete as a graveyard at midnight. Nothing mo
ved, even the breeze stopped, as the entire world seemed to hold its collective breath.
The figure slid with fluid grace off of the horse. Riley's breath hitched in as the horse it had been riding crumpled to ash as soon as Death was free of it. One white hand so large it made Shaq's look small, grabbed hold of the mane of the horse on top of the pile.
As soon as the hand clasped hold of the hair, the horse stopped its movements. White began to seep through the horse's dark mane, bleeding out to spread through the deep brown coat. The color spread down the neck, through its front shoulders, and into its back. It continued to turn the once brown horse the same yellowish white as the one that had crumpled before it. Every part of the horse changed shade until the only part with any color left was its black muzzle. Then the horse gave a snort, a white plume of air escaped its nostrils, and the contrasting black muzzle faded away to match the rest of it.
Ice, she thought as the creature pulled the horse down from the top of the pile and climbed elegantly onto its back. Though it was completely white and yellow, the horse still appeared as healthy as it had when it won the climb to the top of the pile. Not only did Death bleed the color from its rides but it also drained the life from them over time.
Of course it would, she realized. It was Death after all; it eventually took the life from everything and everyone.
With its new mount secured, Death's head tipped back. She was certain her heart stopped as eyes the purest blue she'd ever seen landed upon them. This is it, she realized. They'd come this far, survived situations that had taken so many other lives, but no one, no one escaped death.