Transcription (26 page)

Chloe and Danielle were already moving through the door, carefully looking at every angle before they committed to leaving the apartment.

“Come on,” Bo said.

Instead of following, James turned to the stack nearest his desk. He threw open the lid to the box and began to paw through the contents.

“Come on!” Bo repeated. He was giving up on James, following the women to the landing. James shot a glance and saw the corpse out here. The old man was draped down the stairs, left to stare blankly up towards the heavens. Danielle was stepping over him to see if the way was clear down the staircase.

James found what he was looking for. It was the story for October 8
th
—that night. He also grabbed some paper and a couple of pens. When he left his apartment, James turned and locked the door behind him. It was mostly habit, but also a feeble attempt to keep locked inside the horror that had flowed from his hand. A deadbolt wouldn’t bottle it up, but it was the best he could do.

James stepped over Mr. Dilton and tried not to look into the old man’s eyes. The glassy pupils had lost their spark, but not their wisdom. As he ran down the steps, James folded the papers around the pens and stuffed them into his back pocket. The front of the building was on fire. Through the glass doors, he could feel the heat from the flames. He saw Bo, down the stairs, waving to him. James continued down. Their building sat in the side of a hill. Bo’s apartment was below the front entrance, but still above ground as the hill fell away.

Bo was standing in the doorway when James came down.

“The back exit is blocked. We have to go out through my window,” Bo said.

As James followed Bo through the living room of his apartment, he saw the smoke through the windows. In the back bedroom, Chloe was making her way through the window while Danielle stood in the lawn below. Chloe jumped. It was only a few feet to the ground.
 

Bo leapt out after her. James climbed over the sill.

After he was out, Bo reached up and closed the window behind them.

“Now where?” Danielle asked.

“My car is up in the lot, but those guys…”

“Are in eight,” Bo finished. “I’m not sure we have much of a choice. We could go on foot.”

James poked his head around the corner of the building to see how far the flames had advanced.
 

“We have to get far away from here before my apartment goes up. We don’t want to be anywhere near that smoke,” James said.

“Let’s go for the car,” Chloe said.

Danielle nodded.

The men followed the women up the hill and to the other corner of the building. From there, James saw that his own balcony was engulfed in flames. Soon, the interior of his place would catch.

Chloe turned back to them. “I’ll draw less attention if I go on my own. You guys stay here and I’ll swing through here for you.”

“No,” Bo said. “We should stick together. We’ll have a much better chance if we stick together.”

“Don’t let me slow you down,” James said. “I don’t run fast anymore.”

Chloe nodded. She pulled out her keys and put her finger through the ring, with her finger on the fob that would unlock the doors. She took a deep breath, nodded to everyone, and then turned to sprint. Chloe moved fast. Danielle was right on her heels. Bo couldn’t keep up with the women, and James surprised himself. He was huffing and puffing as they ran, but he had no trouble keeping up with the younger man. Adrenaline coursed through him and made him feel like he was gliding over the ground.

James heard a yell from across the lot and turned to see two men come out from one of the other buildings. They waved to Chloe with their arms over their heads and shouted something that James couldn’t hear. It sounded like they were calling a warning.

Chloe got to the car first as the lights flashed. She ripped open her door and Danielle ran around to the passenger’s side.

One of the men across the lot ducked back into the building. The other started at a trot towards the women. He hadn’t noticed Bo or James yet. The car started and jerked backwards.
 

Chloe angled the nose towards Bo and James. The tires barked as she darted towards them. She was also closing the distance to the man across the lot.
 

James could finally hear what he was shouting.

“… can’t go that way. All the roads are blocked. Y’all should come in here with us,” the man said. Bo was slowing down, waiting for Chloe to pull up.

The other man came out of the building. He held a rifle.

James grabbed Bo and pulled him between two cars.

“Get down,” James said.
 

Just as Bo and James ducked down, they heard a gunshot. Chloe screeched to a stop at the trunk of the car they were hiding behind. Bo and James moved fast, hunched over. Bo opened the door and practically dove inside. James followed. The door was barely shut when Chloe gunned the engine again. James peeked up over the seat and through the rear window. He heard a second shot and saw that the man was pointing up in the air.

“Jesus,” Danielle said. “What the fuck?”

Chloe skidded around a corner and blew through the stop sign at the end of the lot. They were out on the main road.
 

“Be careful,” Bo said. “He said the roads were blocked.”

“I think he was trying to trick us into staying,” James said.

“Still.”

The road was empty. When they passed by a car that was halfway off the road, Chloe moved into the left lane, giving it a wide berth. Danielle practically pressed her face to the side window when they heard sirens in the distance. They couldn’t see the source of the sound.

“Where is everyone?” Chloe asked.

They passed under a traffic signal. The amber light was flashing for nobody but them.

“I imagine they’re all holed up, trying to wait this thing out. It’s too dangerous to be out on the street. Chloe, look out!” Bo yelled.

She had taken her eyes off the road to look at a convenience store. The front window of the place was smashed, and there was movement inside. When Bo yelled, she looked around to see a roadblock up ahead. It was two police cars, sitting nose to nose across the road. With a ditch on one side and a guardrail on the other, there was no way around.
 

Chloe dragged the wheel to the right. The car swayed as she pulled it into a wide turn onto Route 193. They were headed west.

“There was nobody in those cars,” Danielle said. “Why would they set up a roadblock and then abandon it?”

“Maybe they’re trying to contain something,” Bo said.

“They can’t block all the roads,” Chloe said. “There are about a million old dirt roads that go up through these hills. My brother used to use them exclusively before he got his license.”

“It only takes a chainsaw to block a dirt road through the woods,” Bo said.

“Yeah, but first you have to know that the road exists,” Chloe said.
 

She slowed down and crossed over the double-yellow line. Chloe kept her speed for a few seconds while she studied the woods. Without notice, she slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel. Soon, her little car tipped over the side of the road, down a slight bank.
 

“Chloe! What are you doing?” Danielle asked.

The tires spun on the grass for a second before they caught traction. Once she started up the hill, they saw what she already knew about. The low tree branches were masking the entrance to a dirt road. It was only as wide as her car, but it was flat and well-packed. Chloe drove a bit slower through the woods.

“This comes out near the Macomber farm,” Chloe said. “My brother used to pick tobacco, back when Mr. Macomber still grew it.”

“Then what?” Bo asked.

“There’s a country road that heads out towards my parents’ cabin. They’re still out west, so the place will be empty,” Chloe said.

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“Don’t slow down,” Danielle said.

Chloe stole quick glances at the road, but her attention was through her window. She sat up high in her seat as she attempted to see past the bushes to the old farmhouse.

“I just want to…” Chloe said.

She stabbed the brakes, and the car came to a scraping halt on the dirt road. Dust washed past them, kicked up and then carried off by the breeze.

“What?” Bo asked.

The car bonged a warning at Chloe as she took off her seatbelt, put the vehicle in park, and got out.

Looking out his own window, Bo spotted what had drawn Chloe’s attention.

“Oh, shit,” Bo said. He jumped out and followed Chloe.

When James caught up, Chloe and Bo were standing over the figure of a man. His fingers were clawed into the grass. His head was turned with his right ear pressed to the ground, like he was listening to some secret the dirt was whispering.

His eyes were missing, and there was a ragged hole in his cheek. Crusty black blood had dried around his ear.

Chloe hugged one arm close to her chest. Her hand cupped the lower half of her face. Silent tears pumped down her cheeks.

James kneeled and touched the old man’s hand. It was ice cold.
 

“His legs were broken,” Bo said.
 

“It was Torture-cise,” Danielle said, approaching the group. “God, what a stupid name for a horrific attack.”

“Someone got him out that way,” Bo said pointing. “Maybe out in the road. Then he crawled back this far before he died.”

Chloe turned away and then began walking towards the farmhouse. It was a well-kept place. The uneven siding showed its age, but it wore a fresh coat of paint. The rose bushes under the windows were trimmed and perfect. Chloe ignored the big front door and headed for the side entrance. She stepped up on the landing and knocked on the door.

“What should we do with him?” Bo asked. “We can’t leave him here. It looks like the birds have been at him.”

“That poor man,” Danielle said. “I wonder how far he crawled, trying to get back to his house.”

Over at the door, Chloe banged harder. “Hello?” she called. She tented her hands and looked through the glass.

James looked back down. “We could bury him.”

“No,” Bo said. “We can’t just bury him. He has to be autopsied, or whatever. He has to go to the morgue.”

“We can cover him,” Danielle said. “With a sheet.” She started to head towards the door.

Chloe gave up on knocking and tried the handle. She let herself inside just as Danielle arrived.

“Hello? Mrs. Macomber?” Chloe asked. She saw something and suddenly ran inside.

Bo and James exchanged a glance and then left the body to follow the women inside the house.

Chloe stood over another corpse. She peeked through her fingers, as if the sight was too terrible to take in all at once. An older woman was stretched out on the vinyl floor in the kitchen. Flies buzzed and landed in the puddle of blood around her. Danielle hung back. She picked up a small piece of paper from the table and began to read it.

James pushed by Bo and went to Danielle.

“Don’t read that. Are you crazy?” James asked.

“It’s her note,” Danielle said. “Her suicide note.” She turned the paper over and set it back on the table. “She beat her husband with a sledgehammer and then left him out there in the dark. When she found him the next day, he was dead.” Danielle drifted backwards until the counter caught her. She gripped it, like it was the only thing keeping her tethered to the floor. “She must have read my story somewhere.”

“It wasn’t
your
story,” James said. “It was my father’s story. You were a conduit. Don’t blame yourself.”

“How can I not blame myself?” Danielle asked.

“Let’s get out of here,” Bo said. “Get some sheets so we can cover the bodies, or whatever, and let’s get back on the road.”

“He’s right,” James said. “Who knows how far the wind will carry the smoke.” James turned to Bo. “Take them to the car. I’ll cover up the bodies.”

CHAPTER 20: REMOTE

E
ACH
TIME
THEY
PASSED
a house, James eyed it carefully. He never saw anyone clearly, but sometimes he saw a curtain twitch, or a set of eyes flash as they went by. They were being watched. Nobody was anxious to make contact.

The world had become an insulated place.

Danielle tried the radio. Only a couple of stations were broadcasting, and they both gave off the same series of squelching noises. After several seconds of tones, an emergency message came across. It told them to stay indoors, or to head for an emergency shelter if their homes were uninhabitable. When the fire reached those boxes, James feared that a good portion of the state might be uninhabitable. He only hoped that the smoke didn’t reach Chloe’s cabin.

She turned down a twisty road. It became more narrow as it wound through the trees. James didn’t see any houses for a while, and then Chloe turned on an even smaller driveway. At the end of the drive, the cabin sat in the forest. Tall trees shaded the lawn and the sun only reached the face of the cabin in little circles of light.

Chloe slowed and turned off of the drive. She parked behind stacks of cordwood, hiding her vehicle from anyone approaching. Chloe got out and headed for the cabin. She turned around after a few paces and looked back to the vehicle. The others were still sitting inside.

Danielle opened her door and stood next to the car. She looked at the cabin and then back in the direction of the road.

“Maybe we should keep driving,” Danielle said. “It seems pretty isolated here. If something happens, we’ll never be able to get help.”

Bo nodded.

“Help from whom?” James asked. He got out and followed Chloe. “We’re on our own. At least this place is remote.”

Chloe left the door open when she went inside.
 

James stood in the doorway and glanced around. The log siding made the place look rustic from the outside, but inside it was clean and neat. The living room had a braided rug over wide pine floors. Old muskets were crossed over the fireplace mantel. James admired the dried flower arrangement on the table in front of the window.