They Walk (48 page)

I can feel the tension in the room like a bad taste in my mouth, and I know I shouldn’t argue with her, but I can’t lose her again. It’s just not happening. But the way she looks from me to Dan, I know she’s not going to cave and I really know she won’t stop until we are convinced about leaving.

“
Maggie, I don’t want you and your brother to risk it by staying here. You’ve already risked too much by coming for your father and I. Your father and I already agreed that we want what is best for you, and that is for you to have a future.”

I’m practically sobbing now, and when she pulls me and Dan both closer to her, I know we don’t have a choice anymore and that we have to listen to her. Even if I don’t want to listen, I know she is right and so does Dan, but it doesn’t make it any easier though.

Almost an hour later, I still regret my decision to listen to my mom, which has been the case for years I suppose. And even as I lay beside her on the cot while she rests and plays with my hair at the same time, my heart feels like it’s breaking. I could change my mind and refuse to leave, but I know her and my dad both would never forgive me. Plus I think Dan caved sooner than I did, and would do whatever they told him too.

Gabe went to help Maria and Michael with getting their belongings, while Dan and I stay with my parents. Kelli came back in the room shortly after they left, and is now hovering near my mom and checking her stats. She told us when she first came in that Randy is distributing weapons and supplies for those who are leaving. She also told us that more than half are staying.

Everyone is in a hushed sense of despair over it all and is hiding out in their rooms. Everyone knows that life won’t be the same after this, and that the dead were one thing, but bombs can destroy everything on the surface. Who knows what life will be like when all is said and done.

Dan and my dad have been discussing something on the other side of the room, while my mom and I just lay here. I can’t hear what they say, but from the way Dan keeps getting more and grimmer, I know dad is giving him the whole ‘you’re the man of the family now and you have to take care of your sister’, which isn’t very fair. I’ve don’t my own share of protecting haven’t I? I mean sure, I’ve also needed saving a time or two, but I’ve proven that I’m somewhat of a survivor in more ways than one. I know I’m mentally going on a tangent over something ridiculous, but it keeps my mind off of what is coming.

After I was finally convinced to leave with everyone, I couldn’t stop crying and that is when I got into bed with my mom. Since then, we’ve just been quietly lying here, and when she began to play with my hair I almost lost it again. I had to force myself to stay calm though, I wouldn’t be able to stop a second time. There are too many memories in which my mom holds me and plays with my hair to make me calm, and I pray this won’t be the last.

Sighing, I pull away and sit up making her hand fall from me. Now she sighs, and starts to look irritated that I might argue again, so I stop her with a raised hand before she can even utter a word. “After the bombs stop, I want you to know that I am coming back for you. I don’t care how long it takes me, I’m doing it.”

I give her my own resolve face now, and she smiles up at me.

“
I know how stubborn you are Magdalena, and I also know it won’t do me any good to try a counter attack on this, so I won’t.”

I’m speechless suddenly, because she agrees with me? I must look really confused, and she laughs softly and tries to stay as still as she can.

“
I just want you and your brother safe during all this. I know you’ll find us again and everything will be fine. I just don’t want you to worry about me, alright?”

I get interrupted when Dan and our dad come back over to the bed and join us again. Dad takes a seat in a chair on the side of the bed, while Dan sits on her other side on the bed and they both look rather subdued.

“
We’re still going to worry about you guys no matter what mom, we love you too much not too.” Dan says in a small voice.

Kelli had been digging through a drawer looking for something and must have found it when she too joins us now. She has a small vile of liquid in one hand and a syringe in the other. When we look at her in alarm, she tells us it’s just a sedative, and that my mom needs her rest, aka. Get a move on and say your goodbyes. My mom reaches up then with a strength I didn’t think she had right now, and pull Dan and I in for a tight hug.

“
You two take care of each other, do you hear me? And be safe and strong.”

She pulls back with tears in her eyes, and I have to turn away and bite my lip so I didn’t have to see her. I would be so done for. Dan doesn’t have as much luck though, and I can hear him crying, or maybe it’s my dad I hear because he is crying too. I take deep breathes and ignore it all and try to do what she says and be strong.

Where is Gabe when I need him?

Kelli steps close to my mom then, and sticks the now filled syringe into the IV clip already in her hand and releases the liquid into her. By the time Kelli is already backing up looking apologetic, my mom is already drooping her eyes. With a heavy heart, I lean forward and place a soft kiss on my mom’s temple and when I lean back she is sound asleep. Dan and I stand up at the same time, and our dad walks us to the door.

He hugs us both quickly before going back to sit with mom.

With one last look at my parents, I have a moment where my head throbs to the point where I stumble to a stop. Watching my parents together, I can almost see another image over them, like a double image of them. Instead of lying down or sitting, they are standing up and clinging to one another. They seem sad, and are sobbing over something I can’t see or don’t want to see.

Then they look up at me, and their lips move, but I can’t hear what is being said.

I feel myself moving to the double image, when there is a popping sound in my head, and the image is gone. Breathing heavy, I glance away from them, who seem oblivious for my mental moment; not Dan though. He is giving me a strange look that only a brother can give to a sister he cares for, but I shake my head; I have no clue how to explain what I just saw. So, I walk from the room with Dan by my side, and can’t stop the unsettling feeling that this will be the last time I ever see them.

I have to force my legs to move as my entire body goes numb of feeling.

Chapter Eighty Three

It’s almost dawn by the time the groups of us that are leaving are all gathered upstairs in the lobby of the City Hall. Luckily, Dan and I ran into the others while leaving my parents room and Gabe caught me in him arms before I freaked out. He’s a life saver that one. While Gabe held me in reassurance, Maria did the same for my brother. We didn’t have to suffer for long though, because Randy came to get us and to let us know it was time to go. The entire walk upstairs, I regretted my decision to leave and each step felt like lead. I have to believe I am doing the right thing, even though I know deep down that there is a chance no left here will survive. But I can’t start thinking like that, I have to believe that they will all survive and we’ll come back for them.

A quiet voice in the back of my mind keeps screaming ‘liar’ to me and it takes all that I am just to tell it to shut up.

Randy had managed to score quite the arsenal for us to take with us, and that means more than just ammo. Along with my trusty ax, I now have my very own back sheath for it to be strapped into. I almost kissed him when he gave it to me, but he didn’t want thanks, he just told me to stay alive. Now that I have two free hands, my odds just went up so I think I can keep that promise. Gabe has all new ammo for his two handguns and the shotgun. Dan, Maria, and Michael all have guns and knives too, though I notice that Dan has more than the latter. None of us were all that chatty while we loaded up, and it’s not that I minded by no means, this isn’t exactly a search and rescue mission.

Besides us, there are a few couples with children that are all going with us. One of them is a young couple with two small boys, and one of them stands out to me with his short spiky red hair. He must only be about five or six, and even with the tension on the room, he sits quietly by his anxiety ridden parents and brother, as calm as an adult. Another is an older couple maybe in their forties if I had to guess. Then there is a middle aged couple with two girls my age.

We should probably socialize or something, but I just don’t have it in me to do it. When we leave here soon, we’ll all work together, but once we are all in our own cars and heading out, it’s every man for him. Or that is what I keep telling myself. I can’t get attached any more than I have; it’s just going to hurt more when we lose another person.

I’ve had the ax strapped in and have been ready for the last couple of minutes and have been waiting on the others to finish up. I’m currently sitting on top of the big desk that is at the back of the room in the lobby, with Gabe standing in front of me. I wrapped my arms from behind him and linked my hands over his chest, the moment he put away the guns. Maria and Dan are on my right and Michael is on my left and we’re all just waiting, on Randy for now.

He’s been standing at the front door the whole time we all have been getting ready. Brady is beside him, but he too has been pretty stotic. I haven’t looked outside myself yet, and I can only imagine how many of the dead are out there. From the way he’s all tensed up, I have a feeling it’s a lot more than when we first got here. But is that always the case?

I know it’s time to go when Randy finally turns around and faces us with a look, which I can only describe as determination.

“
Alright, here’s the deal. Brady and I are going to have to cover you as you head to your vehicles.”

The other people in the room look worriedly around one another while me and mine just sit there and know why he is doing this. There are too many of the dead, for us to handle alone. Marvelous, sounds like a grand old time. I’m about to have Gabe move aside so that I can get down, but then he moves on his own and steps over to Randy.

“
How many are out there?”

Randy looks down at his feet, and then back up with a sigh. “There are too many for you all to face them alone; which is why we’re helping.”

He indicated himself and Brady, and then looks back to Gabe like he’s an idiot. Gabe just stands there though for a second, and then he glances at me with a smile. When he turns back to Randy, I have to be honest; I think he’s lost his mind. What is he getting at? When he spins the satchel he’s had since the military base, around to his front and reaches inside, I finally know. He means to use another grenade, but here’s hoping we have enough to use. We’ve gone through a lot of them already. But he pulls out one anyway, and I’m already grinning like a moron when he holds it up for Randy to see.

“
Is this good for a head start?” Gabe says in a snarky tone to his voice.

Randy smirks though, and immediately starts to shake his head, like he didn’t really believe we all had a chance of getting out of here.

“
Yeah, that’ll do it.”

“
Alright then, let’s do this.” Gabe says.

Randy turns around then and while pulling out his gun, he walks over to the door and doesn’t wait for Gabe to follow him. I jump down from the desk while everyone gets their weapons ready and quickly head over to Gabe, who is now right beside randy at the door. I’m only just getting to them, when Randy pulls open the door and charges outside firing his gun with Brady right behind him doing the same. Gabe grabs my hand and pulls me after him out the door, and that is when I get a good luck at what we are running into. There are about a hundred of the dead in the street. They are all hungry and ravenously charging towards us. The bullets from the guy’s guns only stop so many of them.

There are more already coming.

My heart almost stops at the sight of them, and I would have turned around if Gabe didn’t have a hold on me. I can feel the others at my back and I can hear the rest shouting over what we are running into. We’re only halfway down the steps when I think it’s a good idea to get my ax in my hands, and then Randy and Brady are both at the bottom of the steps. They flank out to the right and the left and clear a path for Gabe. Or that’s what I’m guessing since he is the man with the grenade. He knows this too, because he pulls me faster and before I know it we are at the bottom with the dead moving fast for us.

It feels like time slows down again, when really I think it’s happening to fast and my brain registers it as mush. But Gabe releases my hand and pulls the clip free of the grenade then he is tossing it into the bodies and grabbing my hand again all in the span of a minute. He pulls me again and we’re running now in the direction of the car to the right with the others close behind when the explosion makes the ground shake. I can feel the head at my back and I swear I can even feel something wet hitting my back, but I don’t stop to think what it is. All around me there is running and the sound of gunfire, all the while the dead are still coming for us.

Gabe now to has his gun out and is firing out in front of us as we move.

Like a beacon of salvation, Gabe and I see Noah’s junker of a car up ahead and it makes us pick up our speed. We reach it at the same time as Dan, and Michael do, with a limping Maria being held between them. We don’t stop and check to make sure anyone else is safe, we just get right into the car with Gabe and I up front and the rest in the back. I’m just sliding in and closing the door, when a dead woman with red hair throws herself at the door. I scream and jump back across the seat, while she thrashes at the window and tries to get to me. Gabe hasn’t gotten completely in yet, so he just stands up and leans over the hood and fires his gun into her head, and knocks her back from the car.