The Orphans Series Vol. 1: The Orphans (39 page)

             
Frank did a double take at all the gear Andy had accrued. Andy had made sure they could eat for the summer and winter, and not have to worry about clothes or bullets. He also had enough survival items that Frank said a silent prayer hoping there were still people like Andy in the world to help others in true need. He didn't ask for anything in return and had no type of personal gain to achieve. Frank was happy for his ATV, or he'd spend the next week making trips up the steep hillside. "Andy, I can't begin to thank you for all the supplies. There's enough here to keep the group alive until next spring! We just have one issue here which is I don't have any way to get it home. I had to leave my truck in Des Moines."

             
"Well now, Franky," he began, grinning widely, "sounds like yuh need a different set of wheels. Christ, do yuh need me to maybe load the guns for y'all? Maybe I could wipe yer ass too. How's that sound?"              

             
"Yeah, funny how I never have the right car with me every time a killer virus is unleashed and spreads like wildfire."

             
Andy pulled a set of keys from his overalls and tossed them to Frank. "There's a solid and strong runnin' van. It ain't pretty, but it'll run longer than any of them little import cans-on-wheels will," he laughed with a karate chop to the air, which Frank was pretty sure was meant to be taken as an insult of foreign cars.

             
"Is it in the alley way?"

             
"Yup. Just give 'er a little love as I haven't fired 'er up this week. I usually only take 'er to swap meets and gun shows, but she's reliable."

             
Frank looked at Shaun and Greg. "Boys, can you two get it loaded up? I want to be in the woods before dark if we can."

             
The boys complied without answering, baffled by Andy's amazing generosity, and pushed the carts for the back door. Mike ran up quickly. "Let me help you guys with that!"

             
Greg punched him in the shoulder. "You decided to stick around with us, did you?"

             
Mike shrugged. "At least he seems like he has a plan. Everyone else is going to hide in their houses, and by the time they come out those thing will be everywhere. I'll take my chances with you."

             
Frank secured the rifles in hard plastic gun cases. "Hey, Lucas! We're about done here. You got all your clothes?"

             
Lucas was zipping up a tan coat that would melt him outside right now, but in three short months would be a treasure. "Yes, sir! I got everything I'm going to need to make it up there, I picked everything Andy showed me. Bring on Mother Nature!"

             
Frank smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Good pick, Lucas. Those coats'll keep you warm. They're probably tough as nails and can withstand taking a hell of a bite. Would you mind running out and getting Albert? We are ready to get out of here. I don't want him sitting out there by himself too long."

             
Lucas snapped off a half-ass salute and yelled to Tina that he'd be right back. She smiled and he disappeared out the doors. The bell rang as the steel door hit it.

****

              Lucas walked out looking around warily. He didn't see anyone or anything on the streets. The tornado sirens made sure it was very difficult to hear anything else. All of the motorists driving by were going like a bat out of hell, trying to get home before any tornados hit.

             
He noticed one man driving a white pickup--his door was covered with blood and the man inside looked ill. He was holding a dark red towel to his neck, and his eyes were bleeding already. Lucas looked down at the street, kicked a rock, and was thinking what Shaun's dad had said about not letting anything bite or scratch him. He couldn’t stop thinking of the lady he tripped wishing he had done something differently now. He felt bad, wondering if the stranger driving was infected, if he had a family, and what he'd do to them when he finally got home. He hoped he would crash before he got there.

             
Lucas walked up to the squad car and tapped on the window. "Hey, Albert. We got new wheels. Let's go! Wait until you see all the cool stuff this old guy gave us...."

             
He looked around some more, and was startled when he heard the alley door scraping open. He leaned on the side of the door as he caught his composure. Still waiting for Albert to come out, he thought he could hear the boy whimpering inside the car. "Man," he started as sympathetically as he could manage, "I get it, but we're
all
having a tough time today. Frank said we need to get out of here, so get a move on."

             
Reaching down for the handle, he pulled it up and unlatched the door. He jumped a foot when Albert let out a guttural growl, tripped on the curb and fell on his butt. He screamed, "Help!
Help
!" He looked at the distance between the door and where he was sitting, and knew he wouldn't make it. He jumped up pushing on the car door with his back and trapped one each of Albert's hands and feet in the door.

             
Albert brought back his left hand and sent a hard punch into the frame, sending the door flying open and knocking Lucas back into the air. He landed on his back, cutting the skin on the back of his head, and warm blood flowed freely through his hair. He shook off the feeling of passing out and rolled to his stomach so he could push off of the sidewalk with his arms.

             
The thing that used to be Albert jumped from the broken car door, landing near a shivering Lucas, walking in a low crouch, and letting its hands drag on the ground. One hand scraped through the fresh, dark, sticky blood and it lifted its fingers, sniffing at them, and licked it off. It let out another growl--this one of pure satisfaction.

             
Lucas brought his knee up to his chest, leapt and sent a foot flying into Albert's chest. Albert caught the foot with both hands, dragging him back behind the cruiser, ripping chunks of flesh from his calf and savoring the meal. Lucas cried in pain, screaming for help. He kicked with his other foot and tried sitting up, but Albert caught him by his coat, lifted him up and tore into his neck. The blood poured down Albert's chin and clothes, dripping and collecting into a pool, running into the gutter.

             
Tina opened the door. She was smiling, not realizing the goofy salute of her brother would be the last time she saw him as the boy as she'd always remember. "What's taking you guys so long?" she called, looking towards the car. All of her senses met up at the same moment and she let out a blood curdling scream. "
Lucas
!
No
!"             

             
This fully caught Shaun's undivided attention. He whipped his head around, let go of the cart and ran with everything he had before he could think of what he was doing. Tina had let go of the door, running outside.

             
"Tina! Wait!" Shaun yelled. From his angle, he could better see the mess with Albert eating what was left of Lucas' neck. Pieces of flesh fell from its mouth with blood dripping on its lap. Lucas was convulsing on the ground, shaking with his last human moments. Shaun caught up with Tina who had dropped to her knees.

             
She'd met her limit on emotional heartache for the day, and there was no more she could handle. She grabbed onto Shaun's leg and pulled the pistol from his holster screaming, "Die, damn you!" She fired at Albert, missing with every shot. Shaun tried to stop her but she was out of ammo already and threw the pistol.

             
Albert growled at them. He dropped Lucas, who was on the verge of death and therefore losing his flavor, and came running for the two of them.

             
Shaun waited for Albert to get within a foot of them, and caught the creature off guard with a forearm under its chin. Its head snapped back at an awkward angle, and when he brought it back down, Shaun introduced it to the seven-inch Marine-issue knife Andy had given him. It went through the bottom of his chin, buried up to the handle, and the top came out of its head a quarter of an inch. He let go of the handle and watched as the body collapsed to the ground.

             
Frank, hearing the shots, had kicked through the doors, running out with his AR rifle up to his shoulder and ready to blow away whatever he saw in his sights. He found the scene before him and looked at Albert with the knife through his brain, the bloody eyes and the bite marks in its own arms. He saw Lucas on the ground. He looked at Tina trying to see if she'd been bitten, then watched his son with his hands shaking by his side. "Shaun, are you okay? What were all those shots? What happened out here?"

             
Shaun's adrenaline glands were on overtime and it was making him feel sick. He walked a few staggering steps, resting a hand on the cop car, trying not to lose his lunch. "Albert was infected." He pointed at the neck and Frank could see a small bite mark covered up mostly by his shirt. Frank knelt down to view Albert and thought how much quicker he'd turned compared to where Lennon had been bitten. He put a foot on Albert's shoulder and pulled the knife from his limp body, wiping the shaft of the blade on Albert's shirt.

             
Ellie wasn't far behind Frank and ran to Shaun, pulling him up, examining him and patting him down. "For some reason ... oh my, God! I don't want to even say it out loud! I thought ... I don't know what I thought! I can't lose you, too, Shaun!" She hugged him tight.

             
Frank watched the two teens, and got Tina up off the ground. He picked up the discarded pistol and released the slide. He got an extra magazine from Shaun and replaced it, then put the pistol in the back of his pants. "Shaun, you need to get the girls into the shop. It's not safe out here."

             
"We can't leave Lucas! What about my brother!?" Tina sobbed.

             
"I'm sorry," Frank began, "but he's not the same now. I need you all to go inside." He was watching Lucas twitching on the ground. "We don't have a lot of time."

             
"What are you going to do to him!?" She couldn't come to terms or get it through her mind. If she was going to survive, she was going to have to learn, and learn quickly.

             
"I'm going to make sure he doesn't do ...
this
... to anyone else."

             
Greg got Tina up and ushered her into the shop. Frank waited as they all walked her through the door. He never took his eyes off of Lucas who was already tearing skin off of his arm. Frank pulled the pistol and was glad for the sounds of the tornado sirens in the background.

             
Lucas tried raising his head up, but it was only connected by the bone and half of the skin tissue and ligaments which belonged there. His eyes had the slow trickle of blood. He watched as Frank came closer. With amazing agility for someone missing half his neck, he flipped over and charged at Frank but was barely able to keep his balance with his head hanging to the side. His ankle was barely functional.

             
Frank cocked the pistol as he lifted it, and fired twice into the boy's skull. As the smoke drifted from the end of the barrel, Frank made a sign of the cross, taking a minute to collect himself. The guilt of the day was stacking heavily on his shoulders.

             
He heard noises. He trotted to the shop and waited, hoping it wasn't what it was. To his dismay, a pack of the Turned came around the corner. They were all covered with blood, some worse than others--some had guts hanging and bouncing off their knees with every step. They were starving, and looking for their next meal. Their eyes locked on Frank and they charged for him, all racing to be the first to the feast.

             
Frank wasted no time running for the door. He stared a second at the mob and at the four wheeler thinking how they'd be making trips for days up to the cabin. He opened the door yelling, "It's time to go! They're already here!"

             
Patrick, the only one of the new four kids Frank had acquired who had yet to say anything, asked, "What do you mean they're here? How are they here already?"

             
Frank walked past him. This wasn't the time for questions. It was going to be about actions and the ones people chose which would save their lives. "What difference does it makes, Patrick? They're here."

             
"Well, what are we going to do?"

             
"Leave and head to the cabin." He walked up to Andy and shook his hand. "Are you sure you don't want to come with, old man?"

             
"Hell, no! I'm almost seventy! I wouldn't make it up that hill once--not without breakin' a God damned hip! Besides, I'll lock this place down. I think I got a better'n fair chance of making it. I can get out through the basement, I got a place with enough supplies to put my shop to shame. You get them kids to safety and keep them safe, yuh understand?" He patted Frank on the shoulder and headed for the way out. He yelled over his shoulder, "I'll be around! If you run out of anythin', y'all come find me! If I'm not here and it hasn't been looted, it's yours!"