Parish (20 page)

              Wren sat huddled in the farthest corner of the walk in closet she was shoved into.  Her eyes were glued on the door.  Slowing her breathing she listened with intent fear to what was going on outside the door.  She feared the doors opening, she feared seeing that man standing there or worse barging in and grabbing her.

              Suddenly her heart cried out for her parents to come and save her.  Never once in her life had she ever wanted them so badly.  Hot tears streamed from the corners of her eyes and formed streams running over her cheeks.  Their deaths left a void deep within her.   Biting her lip she wondered what her mother would do if she were in the position she was now in.  Her mom was strong, stronger than her even, but she took her own life.  Wren steeled herself.  She would fight back.  If the doors opened and that man came in she would fight as hard as she could against him. 

              “If I have to die so be it, but he won’t lay a hand on me.” She whispered to herself to fortify her courage.  She pushed herself up from the floor and poised herself to fight.  Arms in front of her with her fingers slightly bent ready to scratch or punch, whatever she had to do. Suddenly she heard a loud thud, followed by a second thud. The door opened, and she lunged.

              “Hey, stop! Stop!” Jose commanded with a hushed voice as he grabbed her wrists.  She paused. “Come on, we’re getting out of here.”

              “Why are you helping me?” Wren shook her head.

              “Artemis is waiting for us, I still have to get your brother.  Come on, we have to move fast, I don’t have time to detail everything.  Come on!” Jose pulled her from the closet and they stepped over the bodies of the two guards, their blood pooling out onto the carpet.  Wren swallowed as she saw it but continued following him.  They ran down a set of windowless stairs, and pushed open a heavy metal door, stepping out into the sun.

              “Wren!” Artemis cried out as Wren ran over and threw her arms around him.  “Are you okay?”

              “I’m okay.  I’m fine.  I didn’t know he was helping us.” Wren looked over and saw Jose running down the alley.

              “He’s going to get Wade and keys to a vehicle.  After that we’re out of here.” Artemis replied.  “Wren, I’m so sorry.  He didn’t tell you all the whole truth.  I thought I was sent to protect your mom because she was a doctor.  I didn’t know they wanted her for the reason he said.”

              “I know.  I trust you.” Wren replied.  “Can we really trust him?”

              “Yeah.  We’re gonna get out of here, all of us.  I don’t know where we’ll go but we’re not staying here.” Artemis looked in the direction Jose had run.

              Wade sat locked in a meat locker that had the cold air turned off.  There were four cots in there, he was the only occupant.  Pacing he tried to think of something he could offer Sarge that would keep Wren safe from him.  He didn’t care if he had to die to protect his sister, he had already come to terms with the idea of sacrificing his life for hers, and the only thing that stood in his way was the how.  He knew what Sarge wanted with her, and he would have to offer something huge, something he didn’t have and couldn’t get.  He threw his weight down onto his cot, his head in his hands.  Everything was futile, he couldn’t offer anything to anyone.  He heard the door to his cell open.

              “Hey, you, come on.” Jose whispered.  Wade sat up and looked hesitantly at the man.

              “Why?  What’s going on?” Wade asked.

              “I already got your sister free, she’s with Artemis, now hurry we have to go now!” Jose moved is hand quickly motioning for Wade to follow him.  Wade didn’t need told twice, he jumped up and ran out the cooler.  Jose held a set of keys in his hands.

              “Where are they?” Wade asked, keeping his voice low.

              “They’re waiting for us in the alley.” Jose replied as he took Wade down a darkened hallway and out through a service entrance.  Sticking close to the buildings they made their way back through the alley to where Artemis and Wren were waiting.  Wade and Wren embraced.

              “You did it!” Artemis held his hand out and quickly shook his friend’s hand.

              “Did you ever have any doubt?” Jose lightly chuckled.

              “None whatsoever.” Artemis shook his head.  “Alright, we got the kids, and the keys, now where are the vehicles kept?”

              “They’re all parked in the front, closest to the barricade.” Jose replied as he brushed past Artemis to lead the way.  “Follow me, and stay quiet.”

              They all trailed behind Jose who led them all the way to the front street closest to the barricade.  As they came up to the cars they noticed a few of the soldiers on patrol, all armed.  They paused, ducking down beside a yellow hummer.  Jose held a finger to his lips, and they all nodded their understanding.  Hunched over they waddled along, using the vehicles as cover.  They came up to a black range rover.  Jose held his hand up to tell them to stop.

              “Get in fast, stay down.” Jose whispered.  The twins moved to get to the rear passenger doors.  Jose held up one finger, then two and finally three and they reached up and opened the doors, moving as fast as they could.  Jose jumped over into the driver’s seat and thrust the keys into the ignition and turned it, causing the engine to roar to life.  The soldiers on patrol all turned towards them, their rifles pulled and aimed at the vehicle. 

              Throwing it into drive he took off, ramming the bumper of the car directly in front of them.  Shots rang out.  Wade ducked himself over his sister, using his body to protect her as Jose took a hard right.

              “We have to get to the weakest part of the barricade or we’ll never make it out!” Jose cried out.

              “Where’s that?” Artemis asked.

              “The front gate.  Hold on!” Jose took another hard right.  “Look, there it is!  We have about a hundred yards to go!”  They saw a group of soldiers running to use themselves as shields.  They all had weapons pointed at them.  The soldiers were obviously betting that if their shots didn’t stop them their bodies would.  Not everyone could just plow through a group of people.  Jose pushed the gas pedal down until it touched the carpet.

              “Brace yourselves!” Artemis cried out to the twins, who grabbed hold of each other with one hand and used their other hands to grab hold of the seat.  More shots rang out in their direction right before they felt the vehicle jar slightly, followed by a large crash.  Wren and Wade looked up long enough to see pieces of wood go flying through the air.

              Jose didn’t slow down, he kept going as fast as he could down the streets of Baton Rouge.  Wren and Wade sat up slowly, unsure of the safety of the situation.

              “You did it!” Artemis cried out.

              “We did it.” Jose corrected him.

              “No, you got us out of there.  Thank you for saving us.” Wren leaned up towards the driver’s seat.

              “I wouldn’t thank me just yet.  They’re probably right behind us.  We’re gonna have to ditch this ride soon, find another car and keep going.  Pray they stop chasing us.” Jose spoke as he continued to look in the rear view mirror in case they had already been caught up to.

              “Take the car as far as you can.  We’ll stop when we have to.” Artemis was also looking behind them.  “They won’t chase us forever.  Sarge is more of an instant gratification kind of man.  He’ll give up at some point.”

              “Where are we going to go now?” Wade asked.  “We don’t have any of our stuff.  We left everything back there.”

              “First, we’re gonna find a ride.  After that we will stop and look for food and supplies, most importantly weapons.  But first we need to figure out a road to take that Sarge is gonna think we didn’t take.” Jose shook his head.

              “Well, which way seems crazy to go?” Wren asked, looking to Artemis for answers.

              “I don’t know.  Texas seems logical, so does going east.  I say we try to head towards somewhere like Kansas.” He replied.

              “Kansas?  Why the hell would we go to there?” Jose looked over at his friend like he was insane.

              “It’s flat country. You can see for miles.” Artemis turned and looked to the twins.  “But we have to vote on it, we’re a team, right?”

              “Right.” Wade and Wren replied in unison.

              “A team?  Alright, I can be down with that.  So what do you two think?  Kansas?” Jose asked, looking at their faces in the mirror.  Wren and Wade exchanged looks for a moment, before turning to give their response.

              “We trust Artemis, if he says Kansas is the best place to go, then I guess that’s we’re going.” Wren replied.

              “Yeah, turns out Oz is a bit jacked up.” Wade interjected.  Artemis laughed out loud, a strong and deep belly laugh.

              “You’re alright kid.” Jose stated as he smirked.  He pointed out in front of himself.  “Look, city limits!”

              “We’re getting the hell out of Baton Rouge!” Artemis looked behind them, out through the back window.  “I don’t see anyone following us, I think we’re safe.”

              “I think we should try to find a place to bed down before the sun goes down.” Wren reached down to retie her bootlace.

              “I think that sounds like a good idea.  We’ll ditch the car though, far away from where we land.  If they are following us, the last thing we want to do is to park this bad boy right in front of where we are sleeping.” Jose sighed.

              “Agreed.  No point in inviting trouble if we can avoid it, that’s for sure.” Wade nodded.

Chapter Sixteen

“I parked the rover about four blocks south of here.” Jose said as he came in through the door.  They had once again found themselves in a small mom and pop grocery store.  They had pushed the shelves over against the windows, just as they had before.  The situation made Wren uncomfortable, all she could see were things that reminded her of her Dad and brother.  Artemis blocked the front door before joining them.

              “I wish we had that little camping stove.” Wade sighed as once again he was shoveling cold beans into his mouth directly out of a can.

              “You’re preaching to the choir.” Artemis smiled.  “That sure was nice.”

              “Once we get the hell out of Louisiana we’ll scope out another retail store.  With any luck we can restock everything we lost.” Wren fidgeted.

              “I think that sounds like a good plan.  I don’t want to stop too much.  I’m really afraid that Sarge sent men out after us.” Jose chewed is lip nervously.

              “He’s probably busy fixing that hole in his fence.” Wade suggested.

              “That would be the smart thing to do, if not that’s really just inviting trouble in.” Artemis nodded.

              “Maybe we got lucky and he got his face ripped off by zombies.” Wren flourished her fork.

              “Oh man, could we get so lucky?” Artemis chuckled.  “It sure would be a nice change of pace, to have a bit of good luck.”

              “Didn’t you guys say that the zombies were dropping dead?  I’d say that’s a nice change of pace.” Wade shrugged.

              “Aww, yeah about that.  Before I found you on that fire escape, we had some news come through.” Jose scrunched his face. “It looks like anyone who was infected with the shot are just dying, but anyone they turned isn’t.  They think that the virus mutated, but no one is really sure what’s happening.”

              “So, there are still zombies?” Wren asked, her voice heavy with disappointment.

              “It looks like it.” Jose nodded.

              “None of it matters, it is what it is.  We just need to keep go” Artemis interjected.  “I’ll take first shift so the rest of y’all can get some sleep.  Jose you take second.”

              “No problem.” Jose nodded.

              Night fell fast, as the two soldiers took turn amongst themselves to keep watch.  Wren and Wade slept fitfully on the hard concrete floor of the grocery store.  When they were gently shaken awake early the next morning they were shocked they had not been awoken to take shifts on watch.

              “Why didn’t you wake us up?” Wren asked.  Her feelings slightly hurt that now that they had Jose, Artemis was less inclined to rely on them.