Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ellensburg

AIDEN

So many terrible things are unfolding at once, like I’m watching a horror movie on fast-forward. The glint of light on the horizon has become two pickup trucks, the sound of their throaty engines faintly audible.

Then Zach cries out, and I turn to see an Infected man heading toward him. I aim my rifle at the Infected, knowing the gunshot will immediately advertise our presence to the trucks. But it doesn’t matter. I have to protect Zach.

I’ve got the man in the sights of my rifle, but then Zach jumps into an empty SUV. The Infected gets there seconds later and pounds his fists on the window, but Zach is safe.

Zach is safe.

I let out a massive sigh of relief.

“Hey, fucker! Over here!” I wave my hands to get the Infected’s attention. He turns quickly and starts my way.

I sprint to the other end of the semi, then jump off. I land hard on the roof of a nearby car, rolling into the fall and smashing my shoulder on the pavement. The impact makes me shout in pain.

I run down the rows of cars with the Infected in pursuit. The last thing I want is to bring him back to Zach, but Zach opens the door and shouts at me to get in. I try to wave him off, but it’s useless. So I sprint over and jump in, me in the back seat and Zach in the front. The Infected is outside, pounding on the windows.

“Shit. I hope this doesn’t give us away,” I say.

Zach nods, his face wracked with worry.

The sound of engines gets louder as I take in the uncomfortably familiar sight of pickup trucks bearing the FLA flag. They’re driving east on the opposite side of the freeway. One comes to a stop across the median from us. A man sits outside on the edge of the passenger seat window. He has a rifle in his hand.

“Get down,” I hiss under my breath, and we both get low in the car.

Muffled shouts call out from across the freeway. “Look, Wayne. Target practice.”

A bullet strikes the rear window sending an explosion of glass shrapnel throughout the cargo area. I cover my mouth to keep from crying out.

“Wayne, you aim like my grandma. And she’s dead.”

The Infected heads toward the opening in the broken window. Fuck. FUCK.

“We may have to make a run for it,” I whisper to Zach.

The Infected peers in through the window. He puts his hands on either side of the frame and starts crawling in. I shift quickly to the other side of the car, about to open the door, when—BAM!

“Woohoo! Got ’em!”

The Infected slumps halfway inside the car, still alive, but probably not for long. Luckily, the shot was low. If it were a headshot, we’d be covered in blood.

We both sit motionless in stunned silence. The Infected lets out a blood-curdling cry as he writhes, the last bit of life leaving him. I chance a peek over the edge of the window at Wayne holding his gun up and cheering.

Then the truck accelerates with a throaty rumble as it speeds away down the freeway. We both let out a long breath. The good news is we’re alive, and they didn’t spot us. The bad news is this road is being watched.

When the sound of the trucks has long passed, we get out of the SUV. Zach runs into my arms, and we hug tightly. The more I let Zach into my heart, the more painful moments like this become. Up until now, my emotions were dulled and muted. It was much easier to cope. Now, when he’s in danger, I’m overwhelmed with fear.

“We better get going,” I finally whisper into his ear.

“Okay.”

This time, I scan the road east and west with the binoculars, looking for moving cars. Nothing to the west. To the east, the trucks are off in the distance, traveling farther away.

“Okay, I think we’re safe to go.” I wave for Zach to follow me.

“So the FLA is patrolling this road?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“That probably means no cars, huh?” Zach looks visibly anxious.

“It would be risky.”

We return to the trail, out of sight of the freeway. Zach has slowed a bit, visibly limping, and I give us regular breaks. After several more hours, I’m more concerned about Zach’s leg. Without antibiotics, a person can die from a cut if it gets badly infected.

We’re heading to the good-sized town of Ellensburg. Under normal circumstances, I’d go entirely around it to avoid any chance of encounters, but it’s the last town we’ll pass for a long time. So, we need to risk it. We’ll watch for hospitals and drugstores and hope for the best. Assuming looters haven’t taken everything already. And assuming it isn’t crawling with Infected.

As we walk, the occasional building appears alongside the trail. First, it’s only light industrial buildings, like corrugated metal warehouses and junk yards. But soon, we see churches, stores, and homes. The trail leads us directly into the middle of town. I slow our pace, and we stop to listen more often. The rule for cities: avoid anything moving at all costs.

So far, the town is eerily quiet.

The trail ends unceremoniously, butting up to a city street. The map shows the trail picking back up again on the west side of town. We’re on our own, navigating the streets. Cars are everywhere, but most of them are obviously ruined—smashed up, with slashed tires, or burned to a crisp. The few intact ones don’t have any keys and are too modern to hot-wire.

Zach points to a blue sign up ahead with an H and an arrow pointing left. “Look, a hospital. Should we check that out?”

“Yeah, let’s do it. But don’t get your hopes up. Hospitals are usually the first things looted in a town.”

We turn left and continue for a few blocks but soon realize this hospital will be useless to us. The Ellensburg Regional Hospital sign still stands, but behind it are the charred remains of several buildings. The fire even spread to the surrounding neighborhood.

Zach laughs. “So I’m guessing that’s a no.”

I laugh back. “Yeah, that’s a no.” I’m glad he still has a sense of humor, despite obviously being in pain.

We continue down a main arterial. I haven’t seen a single drugstore yet, nothing either way as we pass each cross street. Finally, on our right, several blocks down, a sign with a big red S dominates the view.

“Perfect,” I say, pointing toward it.

“Safeway?”

“Yep. People forget about the drugstores inside supermarkets. And they’re secured from the rest of the store, so there’s a chance of it being untouched.”

The Safeway is in terrible shape. All the windows are smashed, and a car has crashed into it, collapsing the front facade. We carefully step over broken glass and loose bricks and head into the store.

Almost all the shelves are bare, picked over by looters long ago. We go up and down each aisle, grabbing anything we think will be valuable. A few cans of dog food. Some baby formula. Not great, but they have calories. That’s about all that’s left.

When we get to the pharmacy, I’m happy to see the metal security door rolled down. A small keyhole sticks out of the bottom right side. Zach shines his flashlight on it, scrutinizing it.

“Well, looks like somebody already tried to force the lock. But let me give it a go, anyway.”

“Of course you pick locks. Why didn’t I guess that?” I laugh.

“I’ve been known to dabble.”

“You just keep the surprises coming, don’t you?”

Zach shoots a mischievous smile back at me and removes the small set of tools from the pack. “Life on Vashon Island was boring. I had lots of free time.”

“So you became a thief?”

“Hey, picking locks comes in handy. Once people on the island knew about it, they’d call me before they called a locksmith. My currency was chocolate bars.”

I laugh. “Well, I’m fresh out.”

“I’ll take other forms of payment,” Zach says, dripping with innuendo, and I shoot him back a sultry look.

He turns his attention to the lock, inserting two delicate-looking tools into the keyhole. For a moment, I watch him work. I love that look of concentration he gets when he’s got a problem to solve. His face scrunches up, and his lips purse. It’s so adorable. I still have so much to learn about this guy. I keep finding out new things about him all the time.

Giving Zach some space to work undistracted, I search more of the aisles. Around the pharmacy area, some shelves even have a few items left. I find a couple of bottles of children’s ibuprofen and stash them in the bag.

Then I come up to a section I hoped would still be stocked. Family planning. A couple of boxes of condoms and three bottles of lube have yet to be looted. I smile, and my cheeks get a little warm. This is precisely what I was looking for. If Zach and I decide to take things to the next level, I want to be ready.

Some might think during the apocalypse, it’s easy to say screw it and not care about safe sex anymore. But they’d be wrong. Without health care, you have to be more worried about that kind of shit. Not less.

As I reach for my backpack, a strange sensation comes over me. That charged energy when somebody enters a room. I turn to see a small girl down the aisle, staring at me. She can’t be any older than five or six. Honestly, she gives me the creeps as goosebumps cover my arms. It’s like I’m watching The Shining.

She stares at me, unblinking, with a blank expression on her face.

“Hey, little girl.” I speak in soft tones to not startle her. “Are your parents around?”

She turns around and runs.

Shit.

I grab my rifle off my pack and run after her. I don’t know what to do when I catch her, but she can’t be allowed to tell anyone we’re here.

“Zach!” I call out in a hushed yell. But he’s too far to hear me, so I continue after the girl.

She runs out of the front of the Safeway and darts left. When I get to the store entrance, I pause for a second. Standing to my left, about twenty feet away, the girl stares at me like she did earlier.

Down on one knee, I gesture her over. “Come here. I don’t mean any harm.”

She takes a few cautious steps forward. She’s just out of reach.

“I’m lost,” she says. Her face is still blank. No expression.

“When was the last time you saw your parents?”

“My parents are dead.” She frowns.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Come back into the store and tell me about it. I’ll give you a treat.” If I can get her back into the store, maybe I can keep her occupied long enough to warn Zach and get us the hell out of here.

I put my hand out to her, palm upward. The second I do, she takes off running again. She gets to the edge of the Safeway and turns left.

I give up. I’m not going to chase this girl all around town. I have to get Zach and clear out as fast as we can. But when I turn around, a man is behind me, holding a rifle at my head.

“Drop it!” he yells.

He’s made a serious tactical error though. He’s standing too close. He’ll never expect what I’m about to do, so I have the element of surprise. In a flash, I close the distance between us and swat away the barrel of his rifle with the barrel of mine. His gun goes off, but it shoots harmlessly to my left. In the same motion, I smash him in the head with the butt of my rifle, and he crumples to the ground.

Never saw it coming.

But neither did I. A sharp pain stabs in the back of my skull, and a blinding flash of white envelops my vision. I’m only vaguely aware of my body crumpling to the ground.

Then darkness.