A Dark Evolution (Book 2): Deranged (17 page)

As night fell on their small camp, the temperature began to drop. It was cooler here than in Florida, and the group sat around the small fire, enjoying its warmth. Sophie sat on Kala’s lap with her head leaned back against her shoulder. Across from Kala, Devon was asleep lying across his parents’ laps. Mae and James were cuddled up against each other. The only one missing from this firelight vigil was Dylan. He was still in the SUV. James and Tom walked him out earlier to relieve himself, and after that he had sat on the edge of the car seat and chatted with Sophie for a bit. He was haggard though, and his face was ashen, pale. His forehead dripped sweat. Kala tried to keep the worry from her face, but it was impossible. She hugged him before sending him back to bed. She gave him another shot of the moonshine too.

As she leaned over Dylan in the car seat, draping a blanket over him, she smelled a sweet, yet foul smell. Her heart dropped a little. It was the smell of infection, and before long, it would be the smell of rot.

Dylan touched her arm. “I can smell it,” he said, the hot scent of moonshine on his breath. “It smells sweet, like radiator fluid. But that’s poison too, isn’t it?”

Kala nodded and tried to keep a tear from forming in her eye. She took Dylan’s hand, which was bigger than hers but weak. “Hey, I’ve got a plan, we’re going to get you someplace safe, get you some real medical attention.”

Dylan’s eyes were lolling around in his head. Then he sighed, “Do you really think there’s a safe place out there anymore?”

“Maybe Dylan. I hope so.” Kala had a hard time bullshitting. That’s okay, Dylan probably wouldn’t have believed it anyway.

“Listen Kala, you’re doing so good with Sophie. I - I really appreciate that,” he squeezed her hand a little. “Thank you.”

“Of course, Sophie’s a little doll.”

“Yeah she is, most of the time anyway,” he chuckled. “I remember one time I chased her all over the house while she squirted a ketchup bottle onto the floor. She got into every room but the basement before I finally caught her. Mom and dad were so pissed.” His smiled faded a little. “If I die, you’re going to look after her, right?”

She couldn’t help the tears that fell. She nodded. “Of course I will,” she choked out. She lowered her head to his face and kissed his forehead. It was warm and slick with sweat. The fever was rising.

“Kala, how are you going to get through the border?”

“I don’t know yet. I’m, I’m stalling right now, trying to think. James thinks we should bail, go back into one of the cities and look for help.”

Dylan shook his head, “Terrible idea.”

“I know, I told him so.”

“Remember the last hospital? Back in Jamestown?”

“I remember,” she would never forget that hellish scene.

Two days ago they had pulled to a stop next to a blue rectangular sign that said “Hospital,” with an arrow. They were traveling on a rural highway with very little resistance, just a few dead ones here and there in the road, and two mutilated deer carcasses. Kala cleared her throat.

“They could have valuable supplies, and they might actually have real living people there we could connect with,” she said.

“I’m nervous about the idea of real people Kala, I’m not going to lie,” James piped in from the back seat.

“I agree,” Dylan said.

Kala glanced in the rearview to Tom, who sat silently next to his wife, waiting for any cue she might give.
Silence seems to be an unusual quality in a man,
she thought to herself. His son, Devon, certainly didn’t share his demeanor. Devon was talkative and hyperactive. When the kid wasn’t sleeping, his mouth was running. So much so that Kala actually just tuned him out as part of the background noise of the trip.

“What do you think, Andrea?”

Andrea was quiet for a moment. They were stopped on the side of the road next to the blue hospital sign.

“I think it’s a big risk going into the city,” she began slowly. “But you’re right, they probably have a lot of supplies we could use. Besides medicines, I’m sure they have water and probably some canned goods in their cafeteria. If they haven’t been looted, that is.”

“I want to go to the cafeteria!” Devon shouted from between Andrea and Tom.

“Me too!” Sophie joined in, bouncing around next to Dylan, who just shook his head. Kala turned and focused her gaze on him. They were a team here, but Dylan and Kala had been together the longest. Even though Kala felt like she was the most qualified to lead their group, she didn’t want to just ignore his concerns either. Finally he threw up his hands in defeat.

“All right, fine. I guess there’s probably a filling station where we could siphon more gas as well.” They weren’t low, but would be after another day of driving, so they had to capitalize on any opportunity that presented itself. Kala rolled the window down and smelled the fresh fall air coming in. Out here away from the chaos it was really very pleasant. It reminded her of long walks in the woods with her dad and Lukie. The bittersweet memory brought a faint smile to her face.

“Let’s head for the hospital. We’ll be careful,” Kala said and turned toward the city. Another five miles down the road they came to a set of double stacked K-rails blocking the road.

“What the hell is this? Some kind of make-shift quarantine from the early days?” Dylan asked as they all stared up at the concrete blocks stacked atop one another. They were the same tall barriers used on the highway to separate median from road. Kala exited the car and walked around to the edge, looking out to the road beyond.

“There’s nothing there, it’s all deserted road,” she reported back. She examined the distance from the edges of the barriers to the trees off the side of the road. She could squeeze through it, she was sure. And if she could get through in her big SUV, a smaller car wouldn’t have much of a problem. So what was the point?

“It’s just to slow us down,” James said from beside her, and Kala jumped a little, startled by his silent approach. “Or whomever might come along. That’s the only reason I can see for it, otherwise it’s not effective as a quarantine device at all.” He stared at Kala, waiting to see if she concurred with his assessment.

The autumn breeze blew through her hair again, and Kala felt optimistic for the first time in a long time. “I think this must have been here for a long time. Perhaps they were checking car by car for people who were infected. I don’t know, but there’s nobody guarding it now. I’m going to go around.”

Kala walked back to the SUV and started to climb in before thinking better of it.

“What is it?” James asked.

“Just a thought. Let’s grab the rifles out of the back.”

James nodded and opened the back hatch. They withdrew the Kalashnikov, an AR-15 and the shotgun Dylan had become so fond of. “Are you worried?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but it won’t hurt to be prepared.”

“Okay, everyone,” Kala called in to the car, opening up doors as she went, “We’re going to change seats around a little bit, so everybody hop out and stretch yours legs.”

“Ugh, oh great,” Sophie said. “My butt is so sore!” She jumped out of the car and grabbed her bottom, hopping around to showcase its soreness. Kala chuckled at her and a moment later Devon joined her. Dylan yawned as he climbed out to stand next to the kids.

“New game plan?” he asked Kala.

“Same plan, just doing some rearranging,” she smiled and handed him the shotgun, which he immediately opened to be sure it was loaded.

Devon and Sophie were still hopping around.

“All right you two crazies,” Dylan called out, getting their attention. “I want you to run as fast as you can to that sign over there,” he pointed to a deer crossing sign twenty-five yards away. “Then run back. First one back gets a prize!”

Devon and Sophie took off after one another, racing for the sign. Kala thought it was a wonder they didn’t tumble over and split their heads open. When they were almost to the sign Kala turned and looked over at Andrea, she was watching the kids too. Then suddenly, Andrea’s face contorted and she screamed.

Kala spun around to see Dylan take off sprinting toward the two kids. They saw him and giggled madly, having each touched the sign and now running back.

Dylan didn’t speak, he ran straight toward the kids. He didn’t answer their shouts, or Sophie’s frightened squeal as he raised the shotgun.

Boom, boom, boom!

Three rounds burst from his barrel in a deafening roar. Devon fell to the ground covering his ears, and Sophie kept screaming. Two of the three zombies that were chasing after the kids went down, one missing his head, the other with a basketball sized hole in her chest. They had come out of the woods as soon as the kids were far enough that Kala’s group could not easily reach them.

Dylan leaped over Devon, left Sophie screaming by his side and swung the butt of the shotgun, catching the mangled figure that was still charging them. He struck its face squarely and the creature fell over, but that didn’t stop it. The zombie leapt to its feet and lunged at Dylan, but he had already pumped another round into the chamber, and from his hip, he fired. Just as the creature leapt toward him, the twelve-gauge boomed again and the desperate creature’s face was blown off its body.

Dylan turned with his chest heaving, to see Kala and the others running toward them, their mouths agape in shock. Andrea scooped Sophie off the ground and Tom picked up Devon, rushing them back to the SUV. Kala reached him and took his arm. He was trembling.

“Dylan,” she said, but he was unresponsive. “Dylan,” she shouted, shaking him. His eyes slowly turned to her. “Come on, we need to vacate.” He nodded and let Kala lead him to the truck. “Dylan, that was totally badass man, you were like freaking Rambo.”

She looked up and saw a faint smile form.

“I guess I am pretty badass.”

They didn’t waste any time loading up. The kids went in the far back with Andrea. Mae sat in the center of the middle row, sandwiched between James and Tom, who each had a rifle loaded and ready. Dylan, her right hand man, took his co-pilot’s seat next to Kala and silently loaded four replacement cartridges into the shotgun. She smiled at him and patted his leg. He gave her a look that said,
whew
. She nodded. It had been too damn close.

They came across one more double K-rail barrier before entering the city. There was a small residential area around the center of town that had been ravaged. Doors were busted in, and windows were broken on the ground floors of almost every residence they passed. Kala didn’t know if it was looters, militants, or the zombies.

She steered carefully around the parked cars that lined the road on either side. It was treacherous, there was only a few inches of clearance on either side of her big vehicle. At last she reached the core of the city, where a highway overpass crossed overhead and several abandoned fast food restaurants called out to them longingly.

“Oh what I wouldn’t give for damn cheeseburger right now,” Tom grumbled behind her. Kala chuckled.

“I’d about kill for a big steak from Longhorn’s.”

“Fried alligator,” Dylan interjected, “with spicy ranch sauce.”

They were quiet for a moment then, “I’m hungry!” Devon shouted from the back seat.

“Me too!” chimed Sophie. Dylan rolled his eyes. “We’re all hungry baby, we’ll eat lunch soon.”

“At the cafeteria?” Devon asked.

“Hopefully.”

Kala passed under the highway and a black shadow darted out toward the car. A moment later the half-dead creature dove onto their hood, clawing its way up toward the windshield. Kala didn’t panic, she had played this game more than once. With a quick, “hold on,” she slammed on the brakes, sending the dead one flying to the ground in front of them, then she gassed the engine and the Infinity's twenty-four inch tires crunched through the zombie’s remaining bones. She hurried forward, weaving around cones and cars. She saw more dead ones in between buildings, looking up as they passed. Some of these didn’t even give chase. Their bodies looked too frail to even support the little amount of life they needed for animation. Others did chase them. These were stronger zombies,
fresher ones
, she thought.

“James, incoming for you,” she called over her shoulder.

“I see her,” he responded coolly. Kala didn’t know where James got his calm nerves, but he had them, and she appreciated it. James usually acted on the side of very cautious, but when she called upon him to act…

James rolled down his window and extended the Kalashnikov. He drew a steady bead on the approaching woman. She was a big woman, had to be two hundred pounds and moving fast enough to put a good dent in the car if she hit it, maybe even disable the doors.

“Kids eyes covered?” he asked Andrea.

“Yes.”

The AK-47 shook in his arms as he fired off a four-round burst. They all hit center mass, one lead projectile piercing the big woman’s heart. She tumbled forward onto the ground a few yards away from the SUV.

“Good shooting,” Dylan said.

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.” James shook his head, “It’s a shame, it really is.”

Kala drove on. There was another blue sign advertising “Hospital” and pointing to the right. Only this sign had a big red circle with a line through it over the word hospital.