Al moved to stand before the counter, Jim stood beside him as the fingernails moving across the plate glass window bounced over to the front door. Mary Ellen's head snapped back toward the window as the bouncing continued. They tapped out a beat, one she believed she might have heard before, but she couldn't quite place it as their nails continued their relentless melody.
A loud bang rattled off the other side of the building; she assumed it came from the storage area that Jim had pointed out. They were like cockroaches she realized, everywhere at once. Like cockroaches these things didn't like light either, but she didn't think they would scatter if the lights were suddenly turned on. The sun may chase away some of them, but it wouldn't chase away all of them. Even still, they would have a much better chance of escaping this building in the daylight than they had now. They just had to remain hidden and pray that none of the doors or windows gave out.
Another loud bang shook the building, her gaze returned to the ceiling as two new distinct sets of footsteps ran across it. She moved closer to Rochelle, seeking her touch in some way. Rochelle's eyes were troubled as she glanced at her, but her daughter was in control and relatively calm. Nancy had stopped crying, Riley still had her hand on Nancy's arm but her gaze was focused on the scratching at the front window.
The footsteps on the roof stopped, she heard a distant thump of what sounded like feet hitting pavement. The scratching continued for a few more minutes before it suddenly stopped too. The unnerving silence was almost worse than all the movement had been. The burning of her lungs reminded her that she was holding her breath. She inhaled a deep breath as she strained to hear more. The rush of blood in her eardrums and the distinct thud of her heart against her ribs were the only things she detected.
"They've moved on," Jim said. "They normally don't come back twice in the same night."
"They do that often?" Al asked.
"Often enough," Claire answered in an ominous tone.
Mary Ellen couldn't imagine having to endure that every night for weeks on end. How had these people not gone insane?
Mary Ellen shook her head; she had to unclench her hand from the grip of the gun in order to stretch her cramped muscles. She turned back to the others in the room. For a second she had the unsettling impression that they were all dead and she was looking at a room full of ghosts. They all stared at her with nearly identical haunted expressions, from faces as pale as the moon, and eyes made more vivid by their pallor. Peter's body shook; he tugged at his hair and turned away from them.
"Can I look outside now?" Riley asked nervously.
"Don't make too much movement," Jim told her.
Riley nodded and hurried over to the window. Mary Ellen wanted to go with her, to see for herself if the others were still safe, but her feet wouldn't move. Al walked over to join Riley; he rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'll look," he told her.
Riley shook her head. "No, I have to do this."
Al nodded but he kept hold of her shoulder. Riley took a deep breath and reached forward with a trembling hand to pull the curtain back. Rochelle took a step forward and froze. Mary Ellen silently counted the seconds in her head until Riley slid the sliver of curtain she had moved aside back into place. Tears brimmed in her eyes when she turned back to the room.
"They're still there," she breathed.
Mary Ellen's shoulders sagged in relief, she felt so limp and exhausted that she almost slid to the ground. She somehow managed to remain standing. She walked over to join Carl and Jim by the backdoor. Jim pulled out his tin of chew and tapped it between his fingers as he spoke. "You've made it pretty far."
"We have," Carl replied.
"We've lost some of us along the way," Mary Ellen murmured.
"To the sickness?" Jim asked.
"One to the sickness," Carl answered.
Jim leaned his bulky frame against the door. "We lost Claire's sister to the sickness, and her husband. They didn't die, but…"
"What those things become is even worse," Al said when Jim stopped speaking.
"That it is," Jim agreed.
Silence descended over the room. She craved sleep but she doubted she would be getting much of that tonight as she settled onto the floor with Rochelle. Riley and Al stayed close to the front window, while Peter paced restlessly back and forth between the storage room and the main room. Mary Ellen grew tired just watching him but she didn't say anything.
"Is he all there?" Jim asked Carl in a low whisper.
"Not anymore," Carl muttered as he leaned against the wall.
Jim nodded but Mary Ellen noticed that his eyes didn't move away from Peter again.
CHAPTER 9
Riley,
The sun was beginning to peak around the edges of the curtain when her chin hit her chest again. Riley's head shot up, she blinked in confusion as she stared around the small room. She'd been waking up in some pretty strange places lately, but it still took her a minute to figure out where she was. She bolted upright when she recalled the events of the night and grabbed hold of the curtain. Taking a deep breath to brace herself, she pulled the material back a little to peer out at the dawning day.
Her eyes instantly went to the large pickup truck the others had taken shelter under last night. She saw nothing beneath it. Panic clawed at her chest, she gaped at the empty place where Xander, Donald, and John had been less than an hour ago. Her hand clenched around the curtain as she rose to her feet. She scanned the parking lot but saw no sign of them amongst the vehicles in the lot.
"Did you see them?" she demanded, though she was the closest person to the window. She hadn't been able to move away from it throughout the night. A few heads lifted to look at her but the others remained asleep. "Did you see where they went?"
By the backdoor, Carl placed his hand on the floor and pushed himself to his feet. His bones cracked as he strode toward her. Riley focused outside again. Carl stopped on the other side of the window and pulled the curtain back to peer out at the parking lot. "Shit," he hissed. He rose onto his toes to try and search over top of the vehicles.
"I'm sure they just moved," he muttered but the tension in his voice was palpable.
She'd heard Al's approach before he rested his hand on her arm and stepped next to her. Riley's heart hammered in her chest, tears burned her eyes but she refused to shed them as she continued to scan the parking lot. They had to have moved, but where? How could she have fallen asleep? How could she have lost track of them in the night?
Self-hatred and dismay were beginning to swamp her when she spotted the door of the truck inching open. She couldn't see who was opening the door but she leaned forward in search of her friends. John's head popped up for a second and then disappeared again. He reappeared once more when he squirmed onto the bench seat of the truck. She'd never felt so relieved in her life but she saw no sign of the others with him.
She watched as the truck pulled out of the parking spot. Behind it, she spotted the two cars pulling out. The overwhelming urge to cry swamped her but she took a steadying breath and turned away from the window. "They're coming," she told the others. "We have to go."
Mary Ellen shook Rochelle's shoulder to wake her and Jim lifted his head. Carl turned away from the window to survey the family that had given them sanctuary last night. "Do you plan to stay here?" Carl asked them and shot a look to where Peter was sitting against the wall with his chin on his chest. He may be acting like it, but Riley wasn't convinced he was sleeping.
Jim looked toward Peter too and then his family. "Where are you going?" Claire asked.
"To a cabin in the Catskills. We might be able to make a home of it there or at least a stand for a bit," Al informed them. "You don't have to stay there with us, but I don't think staying here is a good idea. Not anymore."
Claire and Jim exchanged a look that Riley couldn't read but they were having some kind of silent conversation. "We have no food here, no supplies, but we might be able to find more, and they haven't found us here." Claire
wrapped her arm around Freddie as she spoke. "We don't know what's out there and we've made a stand here for this long."
"It's not safe in here," Jim said.
Riley heard the truck's engine as it pulled around to the back of the building. "They can't wait out there for us," she told them. "Not without drawing the attention of some of those things."
"I want to go," Freddie said. He twisted to look up at his mother. "I don't want to be alone anymore and I think it's only a matter of time before they find us. What happens if we can't find any more supplies? Or what if they get dad? What do we do then mom?"
Claire stared at Freddie before looking toward her husband again. Riley could see the indecision on Claire's face but she also felt the sway that her son's words had over her. Riley looked toward Nancy as she lifted her head to study the family. She'd had a bit of a breakdown last night but she seemed to be back in control of herself now. Nancy rose unsteadily to her feet and leaned against the door.
A soft knock on the backdoor drew all of their attention to it. Nancy's hand shook as she unlocked the door and pulled it open to reveal Donald standing in the doorway. Riley strained to see past him to Xander, but Donald blocked most of the frame.
"We'll come with you," Claire finally said. "I don't want to be alone anymore either."
Jim gave a brief bow of his head. "Someone is going to have to ride in the back of the truck," Carl said.
"I will," Freddie volunteered eagerly.
"I will too," Josh said and knelt down to shake Peter's shoulder.
The man confirmed Riley's suspicions that he hadn't been sleeping when he immediately lifted his head and focused on Josh. Riley waited to hear what he would say but he remained mute as his eyes drifted past Josh and latched onto her. A shudder rippled through her, there was something about his gaze that made her flesh crawl. The certainty that during the night something inside of him had completely unraveled suffused her. A madness, even worse than the sickness outside, now slithered through his mind.
A part of her that was tempted to lift her gun and destroy that madness before it swallowed them all whole. She didn't bring her gun up, instead she found herself frozen by his stare, unable to look away. She may feel like he wasn't there anymore, but he'd done nothing threatening to any of them, yet.
Peter broke the stare first and focused on where the others had gathered by the back door. Riley found herself finally able to draw a breath but she couldn't shake the memory of that stare or the sensation of ants crawling over her skin. She rubbed her arms but it did nothing to ward off the chill creeping through her.
Trying to shake off her lingering dread, she walked over to join the others. She wanted to speak with Carl or Al but the words were lodged in her throat. She didn't even know what words she would use, or have any idea of what she would say to them about Peter.
Before she could decide what to do, Xander stepped up next to Donald on the stairs. Riley forgot all about Peter as she pushed past Nancy and flung herself into his arms. He grunted from the force of her impact but his arms wrapped around her and his hands pressed firmly into her upper back as he hugged her closer.
"Don't do that again," she ordered. She kissed his mouth, then his cheek and finally buried her face in his neck.
"I'll try not to," he promised her.
She leaned back to look at him and grabbed hold of both of his cheeks. The gold and green flecks in his bloodshot, and swollen hazel eyes, were some of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. "Are you ok?" she demanded.
He nodded and kissed the tip of her nose. "I'm all good, Dumbo."
She glowered at him. "You're an ass."
"I know but I much prefer you angry to worried."
Riley shook her head at him but she kissed him again before releasing him. They had to get on the road and she was itching to get out of this room. "We should go."
He kept hold of her hand as he turned and led her over to the car. "You need some sleep," she told him. She took the keys from him and slid into the driver's seat. Nancy and Al got into the back and she turned to see Josh, Freddie, and Jim climbing into the bed of the truck. Carl closed and locked the doors behind them. Spooky hopped out of Nancy's lap and settled onto the console in the middle of the car. Riley absently scratched behind the cat's ears before starting the car and putting it into drive.
Pulling out of the parking lot, she spotted a group of sick people by the front door of the department store. She could almost feel the hunger radiating from them as they began to move toward the vehicles. Driving down the road, relief filled her when she turned onto the highway again. She didn't see anymore sick people once they got back on the interstate, but she sensed them lurking within the shadows of the woods along the side of the road.
"Please let us get there today."
She hadn't realized she'd spoken the words until Al spoke from the backseat, "It's a good possibility."
A part of her almost shouted with joy but she was scared to get too far ahead of herself. Instead, she focused on the road as they drove around a bend and began to climb higher into the mountains. Xander's head dropped against the window, minutes later he began to snore. Finding comfort in the noise, Riley began to zone out. Without thinking, she leaned over and turned the radio on.
Static squelched through the speakers before she hurriedly turned it back off. The sudden silence was almost more than she could stand but the static had served as a stark reminder that there was little left out there.
Riley slowed the car as they came across a large jumble of vehicles in the road. She drove into the grass of the median and onto the other side of the highway. The car was almost onto the pavement when she spotted the people in the shadows, watching them from the woods. At first she assumed it was the rabid ones, but when they remained unmoving she realized it was The Lost Souls standing within the trees. Her foot eased on the gas pedal so that she could watch, as the people remained unmoving.
She almost pulled over to see if perhaps they could take one of these people for the L-Dopa experiment, but there were too many of them within the shadows. These sick ones had never displayed any hostility before, but she didn't want to take the chance that they might now. There were at least fifty of them gathered within the shadows of the forest, a number that was far higher than she was willing to deal with right now.
Her eyes slid over their bony shoulders and sunken cheeks. Most of them weren't even wearing clothes anymore. The ones that were wearing clothing could almost be considered naked; the scraps still hanging off them barely covered them anymore. They weren't picking at their skin and hair but the absolute stillness of them was even more unnerving as she drove by person after person standing as still as stone. Riley shuddered and tore her eyes away from the tree line.
The going was time-consuming on the highway. A rockslide at one point forced them to double back to the last exit they had passed. Riley's joy over possibly arriving at the cabin today began to dwindle as the sun rose higher into the sky and they were still trying to find their way back to the highway. It was hours later before they finally returned to the interstate after driving through a cluster of small towns and back roads.
"Take this exit," Al told her.
She had no idea what exit it was, she couldn't read the green exit sign lying on the side of the road when she made the turn. She studied the nearly empty parking lot of the large mall on their right as they drove up the ramp, but she had absolutely no interest in getting off of the highway to explore.
"Where are we?" she asked quietly as Xander and Nancy were both soundly sleeping.
"This is Middletown; we're only about thirty miles away now," Al answered.
So close, and yet so far, she realized as the sun steadily dipped lower in the sky. They were about five miles away from Middletown when she pulled to the side of the road to stretch her legs, grab some food, and refill the car. She didn't know if they were going to make it much further before nightfall, but they certainly weren't going to
be able to drive any further if they didn't stop for gas soon.
Riley climbed out of the car and tilted her head back to take in the pink sky. The air felt fresher here, less oppressive as she inhaled a deep breath. Mountain air, she thought and closed the car door, but she knew it was more than that. The air had become clearer, the red was bleeding out of the sky, and she couldn't help but think that the blue would be returning for good soon.
The others were gathering near the back of the truck as she eyed the woods. The pressure in her bladder was more than she could stand anymore. "I'll be right back. Nature calls," she said to Xander as he rubbed at his eyes and yawned.
"You shouldn't go alone," he told her.
"We're not that close Xander."
He gave her a lopsided grin that caused her heart to melt. "Believe me, it's not my idea of a good time with you either. That will come later."
Her mouth dropped when he winked at her. She hated the heat that crept into her cheeks as she turned away from him, but she couldn't stop it. "Jackass," she muttered.
His chuckle did nothing to soothe her irritation with him as she walked into the forest. She heard his feet crunching on the leaves and sticks behind her, but he stopped walking when she ducked behind a tree. She did what she had to do and stepped out from behind the tree. She was about to rejoin Xander when some movement in the trees caught her attention. Her hand went to her gun as she scanned the thick foliage surrounding them.
The sight of a deer head popping up over top of a mountain laurel made her smile. The last thing she wanted was to eat Bambi, but the deer was proof that there was food here; that it would be possible to survive and sustain life in these mountains. She was turning away from the deer when something else caught her attention. Through the swaying trees, she could see a distant house on the horizon.