Ali
My head snapped to Joss, seeing he remained crouched in the weeds. His eyes were wide, the panic threatening to take over. The rifle pressed harder against the back of my head, reminding me again to remove my hand from my knife. I ignored it, debating my options.
Then, from the other side of Joss, a skinny wisp of a girl stepped into my view, and I relented. She may have looked thin and frail but the gun she had trained on Joss was the deciding factor.
“Slowly, now.” Came the raspy voice from behind me again. This time I complied.
I rose to my knees with both hands in the air, Joss doing the same. My captor made a slow circle around me, and when I saw her face, I felt a surge of relief. Her face was a mess of dirt and possibly dried blood, but I recognized her. It took me a moment but finally her name drifted to the surface of my memory.
“Vanessa?” I questioned, hoping she recognized me.
She cocked her head to the side and her face skewed as she scrutinized me. She turned the same glare on Joss before addressing me again. “I remember you two. Why are you back here now?”
Her voice ran thick with suspicion, and she didn’t lower the rifle. The relief I felt was short lived. I swallowed, trying to wet my throat before answering her. “Passing through. We saw the smoke.”
Her eyes were dark, smoldering coals as they bore into me. She was calculating everything I said. “Where you coming from? Where you heading?”
“Lubbock.” I replied, maybe too quickly. My nerves began to fray as my control faltered. I tried to regain my focus before I finished my answer. “Been there a couple months. We’re heading back to Nevada.”
“Why?” She rasped, not missing a beat.
This time I huffed. I was worried about Joss, terrified actually, but that didn’t stop the annoyance from bubbling to the surface. Vanessa noticed my reaction, and she shifted the rifle, a reminder or a threat, letting me know she was still in control. It wasn’t likely I was going to forget it. Struggling to keep my voice level, but answered sharply. “Because we travel. That’s what we do. That’s what we’ve always done.”
The tense silence stretched as Vanessa stared down at me, and I glared back. Finally, unexpectedly, her face cracked into a smirk. “You look like you could spit nails, girl.”
It caught me off guard, and I had no response. I chanced a quick look at Joss and his captor. His face was devoid of emotion, but I recognized that look. That was the same stoic mask he wore while we dealt with Becky. His captor, on the other hand, looked bored.
I turned my gaze back to Vanessa and waited.
“As you can see, Sundown isn’t what it used to be.” Vanessa said, turning slightly to gesture to the billowing smoke with the rifle. When she turned back, she deliberately held the rifle’s tip toward the ground. She continued, “You’re immune. If you’re immune, then you ain’t part of who did this to our town.”
She stepped forward then, one hand extended to help me stand. I looked again to Joss, and saw the girl had lowered her gun as well, taking her cue from the older woman. I let my arms relax, and accepted Vanessa’s offer. As soon as I was on my feet, she tightened her hand on mine and pulled me in close.
“You keep those weapons right where they are or we’ll take them from you.” Her voice was low when she spoke. I stared wide-eyed into the dark pools of her eyes as she delivered the warning. Her nose wasn’t even an inch from mine, and her breath stank of rotted meat. It was all I could do not to choke as I quickly nodded my assent.
She let me go as she backed away. Joss was immediately beside me, grasping my arm. I looked at him and nodded, patting his hand. I wanted to calm him more, but I wasn’t sure everything was going to be okay.
“Alright Marley, keep that gun out.” Vanessa said as she motioned for us to go ahead of them, back the way we came. “I think we got us some new friends here but better safe than sorry. Ain’t that right, Ali?”
Impressed she remembered my name, I glanced at her over my shoulder as we started down the hill. I wanted to make sure they were keeping their word about the guns. So far so good but the smirk on Vanessa’s face was still unsettling.
I scoured my memory, trying to dredge up what I could about the woman. For some reason, other than her name, all I could pull was a vision of rows of knee-high corn stalks. I must have worked a shift or two with her in the fields, but other than that, I was drawing a blank.
Neither Joss nor I had been social the first time we had come through. We had lacked in trade supplies, so we tried to pay for our stay with chores. Our output had been sluggish, and we were on the verge of being asked to move on when I decided to make a supply run. I slipped out early one morning into the depths of Amarillo and was back before lunchtime. That earned us a few more days, and I managed to keep Joss oblivious to the whole thing. He had been unaware of my secret at that time.
Even though Joss had overlooked my seemingly amazing feat, the town Elders did not. Made up of a council of four men and two women, the Elders wanted answers as to how I was able to accomplish the task without backup. Amarillo was infested with roaming freaks. It wasn’t until they threatened expulsion from their town did I come clean, mostly for Joss’s sake.
It took some convincing and even a demonstration that was almost disastrous when one of the Elders, Clive Roberts, inadvertently took it to the next level.
He had been so disbelieving. He actually thought the freak I was using as a demonstration was a friend in disguise. Why anyone would think I would play such a horrible prank is beyond me, but he stepped out in the open, trying to call my bluff. Instead, he ended up with an enraged face-eater charging him down.
I’ll never forget the look on his face. The wide-eyed mix of disbelief, shock, and terror was etched in my mind. Accompanied by the screech of the frenzy call, it was blood curdling.
Clive, a big, lumbering man, had managed to scramble into the bed of an old truck and climb on top of the cab. Freaks could still climb when enraged, so that, in no way, was going to save the man. It bought him enough time for me to get to the freak and kill it before it could do any damage.
Denise and Jerald, the other two Elders that had come with us as witnesses, had wisely remained hidden in the old building. It was a good thing they had stayed put because the frenzy call was answered.
The face-eaters materialized from buildings and alleys, coming for Clive from every direction and seemingly spawning from thin air. Somehow, Clive was quick enough to get from on top of the truck to inside the cab before any managed to make it to us. He screamed for me to get inside with him. I slammed the door on him, breaking his wrist but saving his life. The first face-eater arrived only a heartbeat later, rushing past me to crash into the door.
The freak had rammed the truck so hard the glass cracked where its head collided and it bounced away dazed. It was an easy kill. There had to have been at least a dozen freaks closing in on the truck, and my eyes met Clive’s through the shattered glass. He had all the proof he could ever ask for as he watched the freaks ignore me. Clive became a believer.
I went to work.
Dispatching the raging face-eaters wasn’t difficult. I’d been desensitized to it long ago and it had become methodical. Thrust, twist, and drop them where they stood. I was a bloody, gory mess by the time it was done but Clive was safe.
I hauled him out of the truck, and he followed behind me, stunned and abashed. As soon as he was safe inside the building, Denise rushed him, screaming and crying so uncontrollably that I figured she’d call even more freaks down on top of us if she couldn’t get herself under control.
First she slapped him, twice for good measure, and then collapsed against him, completely overcome by her tears.
I shook my head, wanting to wash it all from my mind. That had been far from what I had expected to happen, and I was glad no one had gotten seriously hurt. Clive’s wrist would heal.
In the end, after what seemed a few days of deliberation between the Elders, I was accepted and they promised to keep my secret. It seemed there was a split vote between them, some having the normal fears that I was infected and a monster, but I also had some Elders in my favor. Clive ended up being my biggest supporter.
They gave me list after list of needed supplies, and I did my best to retrieve everything on those lists. The question of Joss and I being able to stay faded as I proved my worth. The invitation to become a permanent resident arose soon after, and that’s when I decided it was time to move on. I was too uncomfortable with people knowing my secret. Leaving seemed the safest option.
Nowhere in those memories could I place Vanessa or the scrawny little thing she had called Marley. I thought maybe some conversation would help jog my memory, and I could also figure out what was going on here.
“So,” I started, “What caused the fire?”
“Not what.” Vanessa answered readily enough. “Who.”
I tossed her a wry glance over my shoulder before I responded. “Who then.”
She chuckled, and dodged the question. “You were a ghost the first time you came through here. Looks like something put the life back into you.” She addressed Joss then, “What was your name again, boy?”
Joss stuttered when he answered. “Joss, ma’am.”
Vanessa cackled. It was a hoarse, dry laugh but it didn’t sound forced to me. “No one’s called me ma’am in a long time. Ali’s been raising you up proper it seems. Not much place for that left in this world, but good to see it ain’t gone completely.”
I tensed at her assumption, and I was sure Joss could feel it. We both ignored her comment. I was hoping no one found out I had abandoned Joss for months. The shame in my failure was enough with just me knowing about it. I didn’t need the burden of judgmental eyes to weigh me down even more.
“You got room in that truck of yours to get us all back to our camp?” Vanessa’s question surprised me. My emotion was evident by my body language, and I got another hoarse chuckle out of the woman. “You think we didn’t notice a vehicle driving around out here? That is one rare sight indeed.”
She actually managed to drag a chuckle out of me. I had been a fool to think I could be stealthy in that big truck in this new world. “Sure,” I replied. “We can make room.”
“Good.” Vanessa said. “Most of the diseased were attracted to the showdown over there but might still be a few wandering about. Don’t want to take any chances.”
“I understand.” I changed our course to where the Murano was stashed. I took one more glance backwards at our two new companions, wanting to make sure they were keeping their guns down. They followed without comment. Their weary eyes only occasionally flitted over us. With the mention of freaks, they had become more alert to all of our surroundings. Even Joss was staring around at the landscape. It was a common reaction. However, I was more nervous about the people at the camp.
We made it to the truck without incident. As we took to arranging the supplies from the back seat to make room, I noticed Vanessa paying close attention to everything we moved. When she knew she’d been caught, I was surprised to see her blush.
“I’m sorry,” she said and immediately picked up her pace. “It’s just that we’ve lost a lot in the past two days.”
I studied her for a few moments. Marley too, who was watching me warily. Finally I turned back to Vanessa, “Most of what I carry is for trade supplies, and I always meant to pass it on to the Elders in Sundown anyway.”
Vanessa nodded, continuing to pack the items in the back cargo space. It wasn’t until I saw her wipe the tears from her cheeks did I realize she was crying. I frowned but decided it best to keep my questions to myself for the time being. I was getting the feeling whatever happened here had truly been catastrophic for the whole town.
When we were finished shuffling items around, I motioned for Joss to take the back seat with Marley so Vanessa could sit up front with me. By that time, she had regained control of her emotions.
“We’re not far from here. It’s the trailer park past the old Stop-n-Go.” Vanessa instructed, and I nodded. I had been back and forth through this ruined city enough to know the gas station she was talking about. Things really didn’t look that much different from the last time I had been here. “We’re working on clearing out some of the houses, but that’s dangerous work right now. Not safe out there in the open either, but we do what we have to do.”
As I drove us to our destination, I chanced the question. “So what happened here?”
I was met by silence and was starting to think I wasn’t going to get an answer when she finally spoke. “Well, you did.” I gasped, my mindset swiftly shifting from trying to avoid a confrontation to demanding an explanation, but I didn’t have to say anything for Vanessa to continue. She said, “In a roundabout way, that is.”
Vanessa sighed when I put the Murano in park. I wasn’t moving until I knew what was going on. I stated simply, “I need to know what we’re driving into.”
“I know, I know.” Vanessa answered, chewing on her bottom lip with worry as she stared out the window. “It wasn’t you, really. It was just that you were the first immune we ever knew of.”
“The first?” I picked up on her wording quickly. Despite the circumstances, a buzz of excitement started in my belly.
“After you left, I guess the Elders thought it okay to share your secret. Once word got out, Nicolas Wenfry stepped forward. He’d been immune the whole time, just never told anyone. Scared to. Just like you were.” Vanessa turned her dark eyes back to me and shrugged. “Now we know to pay attention to the eyes.”
“He was the soldier?” I said, remembering the name instantly.
“Well, National Guard.” Vanessa corrected. “But that didn’t matter. He didn’t know what was going on any more than anyone else.”
I glanced back at Joss who had leaned forward to listen. Marley, on the other hand, was picking at her nails and ignoring us. I prodded Vanessa to continue, “So, what exactly did Nic do?”
“Let me back up a sec.” She started, clearing her throat. “You did a lot for this town. Just how much was pretty evident after you left. You’d think we would have learned how to live without all the frills after the world went to shit but we didn’t. We’re all a bunch of selfish bastards, do you know that?” Vanessa looked at me and I could see the weariness in her eyes, possibly even disgust. She continued before I could begin to formulate an answer.
“It was the little things you brought in. The toothpaste, the diapers, even the trash bags. When those went away, you’d think the end had come all over again. More than a few of us were demanding the Elders figure out a way to get more. That’s when Nic decided to step up, share his secret and fill our lives with the trivial things again. God bless that man for trying to do the right thing.”
Vanessa gave me a hard look then, leaning towards me to add weight to her words. “I suppose you can guess what happened next, can’t you?”
I cringed and turned to face forward again. As I shifted the truck into drive, I answered. “People didn’t like it.”
“People didn’t like it.” Vanessa reiterated. “It was just a few bellyachers at first but sure didn’t take them long to gain ground. It split our town right down the middle. Some of us hailed him as a hero. Some of us wanted him gone. I just wanted it to all wash away so we could get back to living.”
“Who did it?” I cut her off. I knew I didn’t remember everyone here, but I had to have a name. I let the truck roll at a slow pace, waiting on her answer. If memory served, we weren’t far from the trailer park, and I needed to know before we reached our destination. When she answered me, I wasn’t surprised but that didn’t stop my blood from running cold.
“Jerald.” Vanessa said softly. “A few others backed him but he was their voice, their ringleader.” She paused then to exhale, as if she’d shrugged off a heavy weight. Her voice had taken on a noticeably lighter tone when she continued. “We’re not far now. You better let me out so they can see me coming. Clive can fill you in on all the details.”
As soon as she mentioned Clive, the relief knowing he was still here was enough to remove the sting of Vanessa’s revelation about Jerald. I chewed on that memory while I stopped to let Vanessa out and she led us the rest of the way on foot, the Murano rolling slowly behind her.
I thought back to what had happened with the Elders before I left Sundown. Jerald had reluctantly come over to my side when the Elders discussed my special skill set, but it never set well with him. Prior to him finding out what I was, he had been an incredibly nice man, grandfatherly and trustworthy.
He had turned on a dime as soon as he found out I was different. Jerald wasn’t the only one that turned away from me, but his betrayal had been the most painful. Even knowing that, it was a shock to find out he was the one responsible for what had happened in Sundown.
As soon as we passed the gas station and I laid eyes on the trailer park, I gasped. It was nothing but a string of ramshackle tents. It looked like the Sundown residents had been able to get a barricade of sorts together, made of trailers, cars, trucks, and whatever else they could find to surround the area, but they were fooling themselves if they thought it would be successful in stopping even a small number of freaks on a rampage.
Marley spoke for the first time, her voice soft and lilting, a stark contrast to Vanessa’s gravel. A mournful sadness permeated her words. “Home sweet home.”
~ ~ ~ ~
The first residents of Sundown to come out to meet us were those on guard duty. Then more people started to file out and press against the makeshift barricade; men and women, children and the elderly. Some faces I recognized and some I didn’t.
Eventually, the crowd stopped growing and a sinking realization swept over me. There couldn’t be more than a hundred people standing there, and somehow I knew this was all that was left of Sundown. They had been more than cut in half. I parked the truck along the side of an old, half-collapsed semi-trailer and killed the engine.
Marley rushed out of the truck to quickly disappear in the throng but Joss and I took our time, the apprehension obvious in both of us. I stared into a sea of unwashed and tired faces and had more than a few frowns returned my way. I decided it best to stay by the truck till either Vanessa or Clive came to escort us. We didn’t have to wait long.
The town-folk parted as Clive made his way through. He was loud and abrasive, but he had been the closest thing to a friend that I had here. As soon as he broke through the last line of people, he swept his arms out in a huge arc and beamed a smile at me.
“Ali!” Clive bellowed, loud enough to make me wince. I figured he was pretty confident there were no freaks around. “You’re certainly a sight for sore eyes.”
I summoned a smile, finally gaining the courage to step away from the protection of the Murano. Joss followed, glued to my side. “It’s good to see you, Clive.”
His smile didn’t hide the sadness in his eyes. Our audience made the conversation awkward. Everyone was so intent on the new arrivals to their little town. Clive shifted uncomfortably and glanced over his shoulder at everyone watching. “We’ve been through a rough patch lately.”
I cocked an eyebrow, staring up at him incredulously. His head bowed as he lost his bluster to the weariness and grief. He mumbled almost to himself, “Obviously.”
“Got a place we can talk?” I whispered, finally giving in to my nervousness.
Clive shook his head as if coming out of a trance. “Of course, of course.” He grumbled as he turned back toward the crowd. “Follow me.”
Joss grasped my hand tightly as I followed after Clive. The crowd parted for us, and as we entered the small sea of bodies, my pulse started to race. None of the looks we were getting were reassuring.
Midway through the crowd, a small voice spoke up. “Is she one of them?”
It may have come from a child or young woman, I wasn’t sure. I could only sense curiosity in the voice. There was no malice or hostility. Clive paused to look back at me, and I could tell he was stumbling for words. He shrugged apologetically. “I didn’t know you’d come back.”
I took a deep breath and pulled Joss close to me. Taking a huge risk, I answered the small voice. “Yes, I’m immune.”
A hand reached out to Joss then, old and wrinkled. I turned quickly to block but saw there was no need. The look in the old woman’s eyes was imploring as she stared up at Joss. “You too, boy?”
I wanted to answer for him and say no, but I knew his eyes marked him. He swallowed nervously as he nodded.
The old woman reached out to me then, grasping my arm tight enough to hurt. Tears were welling in her eyes and her voice was shaky when she spoke. “Will you help us then? The fire took everything. They burned it all and left us with nothing. It’s like the end all over again.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks, and I stared at the old woman in astonishment. This was not the reaction I had expected. Again, I looked at the faces that were surrounding me. They were wounded and beaten, struggling to survive in a world that no longer wanted them.
But there was no hostility. No malice. A lump formed in my throat.
I turned back to the old woman just as Marley materialized out of the crowd and pulled her from us. I swallowed the lump down and spoke, hoping it was loud enough to carry. “Yes, we’ll help.”
It was as if everyone exhaled at once, releasing the pent-up breath they had all been holding. It occurred to me then that if they needed me so badly, that this Nic was no longer around.
Clive’s heavy hand patted me on the back, and I looked up into his weak smile. He tilted his head for me to follow, and the crowd began to disperse around us. It seemed they had gotten the answer they wanted.
I was shaking by the time Clive led us into an old travel trailer, one of the few structures that looked to be in use. I would have rather taken on a mob of freaks than deal with a crowd like that again.
Clive’s big body crumbled down onto the built-in couch and he rubbed his face with his big hands. “Thank God you’re here, Ali. You couldn’t have come back at a better time.”
“What the hell happened?” I asked, leaning against the wall as Joss went to peer out the window at the people milling about.
“Jerald.” Clive said simply, unable to meet my gaze. Judging by the evidence around us, his story was going to be a difficult one to tell. Joss came to stand beside me, his fidgety movements giving away how nervous he was. He wasn’t willing to take even a few steps away from me. I could understand that. I offered a small smile, hoping to give him some reassurance. He returned it but was still turning back to the window occasionally to peer at the people beyond.
“I don’t get people, Ali.” Clive finally stated, turning his grey eyes up to meet mine at last. “We had a good thing going with Sundown. A real good thing. We had a shot to make it last for a long time.”
“It’s not over. We can help you rebuild.”
“And that’s appreciated.” Clive cut me off. “But did you see those people out there? They’re broken. In a way, what Jerald did was worse than when the plague hit. Seeing the evil inside someone, to see the dark side of someone’s soul… Witnessing that has stolen their faith and their hope.”
“You have to tell me what happened, Clive. Vanessa filled me in on some of it. I know about Nic. Tell me about him.”
Clive winced, the despair in his voice sinking into his posture and he slumped forward. “Poor Nic. Do you know what Jerald was before the plague?”
I shook my head as Clive briefly glanced up at me. He continued. “He was a preacher. A man of God. Somewhere along the way, the good word got twisted in his mind and you became a demon to him. It’s hard to argue against Revelations right now and he had you pegged as one of the horsemen. Disease. He thought you started it all.”
My eyes widened in shock and my voice escaped me. Clive caught a glimpse of my face and gave a wry chuckle, devoid of mirth.
“Don’t worry. You’re safe. No one was buying into it at first, and he wasn’t pressing the subject. It wasn’t until Nic stepped up did he turn into a zealot, screeching his bullshit to anyone who would listen. He gained a few followers, maybe twenty or so. I thought they were annoying but harmless. I should have paid more attention.
“He was constantly saying we needed to banish the devil from our midst or God would never be with us again. Three days ago, he took matters into his own hands and decided to purify our town. Gabriella, that little engineer graduate, you remember her?”
Still unable to find my voice, I nodded.
“She went over to his side. We didn’t know it then, but she had laced our whole town square with explosives. First thing I heard that morning were the screams. Won’t ever forget walking outside to see Nic crucified in the middle of the square and a bonfire lit beneath him.”
Clive choked up and I felt the lump return to my throat. Joss gave me a horrified look but any ability for me to give him comfort was gone. My heartbeat sped up as the feeling of safety drained away.
“Jerald’s followers had him surrounded, protecting the sacrifice from being saved by us non-believers. We couldn’t even get close. They’d doused him with some old fuel and he was being eaten alive by the flames.
“We don’t have much ammo left to spread around, so what bullets we have left are precious. Everyone knows to only use them in dire emergencies. Sean Porter did the right thing when he put a bullet through Nic’s head. There was no saving him, we all knew that. He just put the poor man out of his misery.” Clive sighed, shaking his head.
Joss had clutched on to me, and I wrapped my arm around him. I wanted to ask Clive what all this meant for us, but he went on before I had the chance to form the words. “I don’t know how they had originally planned to set off those explosives, but I don’t think what happened next was what they had intended. Sean’s next bullet took Jerald in the shoulder. The third hit what was left of the fuel tank they’d used on Nic. That caused the chain reaction.
“It was chaos by that point. Some had run, others were grabbing weapons. We had Jerald’s men circled around the bonfire when I ran inside to grab my shotgun. That’s when the first explosion went off. Best I can tell, the fuel leak from the tank had spread the fire to the fuse, or whatever Gabby had concocted. That blast took out Jerald, his followers and most of the men and women that were keeping them at bay. We lost Sean in that blast. I would have been gone too if I hadn’t went back for my gun.
“The fire just kept spreading, setting off more explosions every now and then. We had no way of knowing what all Gabby had trapped, and we weren’t safe. We evacuated everything we could here. Figured it was the best place for now but we need to find a better solution soon. The nights haven’t gotten below freezing yet but that doesn’t mean another cold snap isn’t on the way.”
“Jesus, Clive,” I groaned, slumping against the wall as he finished his story. “Are we even safe here?” I glanced out the window at the camp. It was obvious the people out there were desperate for help, but I didn’t want to share Nic’s fate.
Clive grunted before he responded. “I never thought we needed to be afraid of our neighbors. I never thought they were capable of doing something like that. The best answer I can give you is that none of those folks out there harbored any ill will against Nic. All of Jerald’s followers are gone. We just need the help now.”
I looked to Joss, seeing fear in his eyes. Outside, I had promised them help but that help could mean dropping off what supplies I had left in my truck and hitting the road. I wouldn’t force Joss to be here against his will.
Then I watched as the fear dissipated from his eyes and was replaced with concern and determination.
“We can help, right?” He asked, and in that moment, his intentions became clear to me. Despite my own hesitation, I smiled at him and nodded.
Turning back to Clive, I asked. “Where do we start?”
~ ~ ~ ~