The Dead Years (Volumes 4-6) Page 7

  “Ok,” April said.

  Randy continued, “Mason, drive us out to the gate we came through on the way here and stop.”

  “Sounds good, we need to go.”

  As the growing number of those wretched beasts headed toward them, Savannah kept a close watch on another group that followed from the rear. Not wanting to worry the others by prematurely firing into the crowd, she would wait until the last minute before doing what was necessary.

  With Randy out in front, they moved as one unit, rushing to get a seemingly dehydrated Justin into the RV and on the road away from this place. Mason continued to check for any immediate danger while also looking at his son’s limp body as they made their way through the lot. Justin’s lips were chalky and his arms cool to the touch.

  Reaching the RV unscathed, they now negotiated between the time it would take to get in and the number of Feeders within feet of devouring them. Randy moved to the back of the pack and grabbed the second weapon from Savannah, urging her to follow the others. April slid the key into the lock and swung the door open as Randy fired off the first round, the sound making everyone’s heart skip a beat. He unloaded every round from the first weapon, taking out most of the first wave bearing down on his friends. Tossing the empty pistol into the RV once Savannah and Mason cleared the doorway, he barked orders yet again, “Get her started, go… go… go..” He then slammed the door and finished draining the second weapon into the overwhelming horde.

  Sliding the key into the ignition, April turned the key. The only sound came from the Feeders who had gathered on the driver’s side of the RV and were now rocking it back and forth. She turned the key yet again with no luck. “Maybe it’s flooded, or the battery’s dead? It’s been sitting here for two weeks.”

  The last four Feeders Randy dislodged by simply pushing them into one another. He rushed back to the RV and hopped in. “I think it’s dead.” April said.

  “Try it again,” Mason said as he came forward to trade places with his wife. “Justin’s burning up; can you go back and see if you can help him?”

  “Ok,” April said, moving from behind the driver’s seat as a lone creature sidled up to the door and started to scratch and claw at the window.

  Looking back at Randy standing at the door and holding it shut, Mason closed his eyes and turned the ignition over once more. The engine roared to life. Mason guided the gear shift into drive, punched the gas and they quickly pulled away from the massive crowd.

  Kissing Savannah on the forehead as she sank into the makeshift breakfast table, Randy slid into the passenger seat next to Mason and reminded him to stop once they got through the gate.

  “How we gonna get through? It’s locked isn’t it?” Mason asked.

  “Yeah, just drive through it. That gate isn’t any match for this thing.”

  “You sure?”

  “No, but we don’t have time for anything else.”

  Picking up speed and heading away from their attackers, they braced for impact. Mason rammed the gate and the lock exploded under the force of the RV. Tiny metal fragments were sent into the surrounding greenery and off the windshield. “Ok… Stop!” Randy said.

  The two halves of the gate slid to the side and Randy exited through the passenger door. Moving around the left side of the gate, he rummaged through the waist-tall bushes and emerged carrying three black duffle bags.

  Entering the RV once again, he handed the bags in one at a time.

  “These have been out there the entire time?” Mason asked.

  “I knew these people were trouble since we pulled up to the gates.”

  “Adam died for these weapons… you know that, right?”

  “Yes,” Randy said. And as the words left his mouth, he turned to Savannah and watched her lower her head to her hands and again begin to cry. Watching the kid being executed reminded Randy of the poor choices he made when he was young and why he was always an outcast, why no one ever befriended him, why he was useless as a human being. He was done. His basic instinct for survival had disappeared. He would get these people to safety and then just leave quietly. He wasn’t going to cause this group any more grief.

  Releasing the brake and continuing down the drive they climbed only a few short weeks ago in hopes of a sanctuary, Mason stared out the windshield. “Shall we try the beach house?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Randy said, without completely acknowledging the question.

  Pulling to a stop at the crosswalk, Mason looked down each side of the street trying to remember which way to turn, when he heard April’s voice coming from the rear of the RV. “Mason, I need you.” Even with the failed attempt to hide it, the panic in her voice was evident.

  Mason put the RV into park and asked Randy to drive as he hurried to meet April. She stopped him at the door to the bedroom and he looked in to see his son lying motionless on the bed.

  “Mason… he’s been bitten.”

  Volume 5

  15

  Rain began to steadily fall out of the night sky, pulsing against the RV as it raced down the open highway at seventy-five miles per hour. With only the headlights to guide the way, desperation hung in the air like the thin layer of fog that stood between the group and their next destination. There was no movement coming from inside the RV as Mason sat on the edge of bed watching his son die.

  Or worse…

  He hadn’t shown any signs of consciousness in just over thirty minutes and the white noise coming from the exterior muted the two separate conversations. Completely inconsolable, April laid on the bed next to Justin with her head placed firmly against his chest and listened as he continued to breathe in and out. Other than a slight hissing sound he emitted on exhalation, the boy simply appeared to be sleeping. The group all wondered how long this would last and at what point one of them may have to do the unthinkable.

  How much longer did they have to wait for the inevitable to happen? What would it look like? How would they react? No one in the RV had an answer. Savannah moved into the passenger seat and stared out into the darkness, not wanting to make eye contact with Randy as he pushed the RV down the road. They were both grieving, each in their own way. Savannah wanted to talk, although she only managed to get a few words out of him at a time.

  “What are we gonna do?” Savannah said.

  “I don’t know.”

  “We can’t keep driving like this, sooner or later he’ll wake up.”

  “Yep.”

  “Well, when he does, it’s not gonna be pretty.”

  “Uh-huh…”

  “Randy, we have to do something!”

  “That’s not my call.”

  . . .

  The swing set in their backyard hadn’t been used in almost eight years. The last time Mason and his son were back there was the only other day in his life that he felt this helpless. Friday afternoons were always a special time for him and his boy. Justin flew forward on the seat and back into Mason’s arms numerous times as they waited for April to arrive home from work. At six years old, Justin was already beginning to test his limits and Mason constantly encouraged him to challenge himself.

  In the hour they played, Justin had not only learned to rocket himself from the swing and into the air, but also how to push off and fly farther with each leap. As his son landed and rolled to a stop, Mason would grab the measuring tape, hurry over and stretch it out. Together they would count out the number of feet and inches he covered with each consecutive jump, marking it with one of Justin’s tennis shoes. “Higher,” he begged to be pushed as Mason obliged before the countdown to launch.

  “Five… Four… Three… Two…One…”

  Giving an extra bit of force with the last push, Mason yelled, “Go,” just as April appeared at the back door causing Justin to release both hands prematurely and wave to his mother. The forward motion sent Justin head over heels into the air, while both Mason and April watched in horror. Their little boy cartwheeled in the air and landed in the planter to the left of
the swing set, smashing the back of his head on the brick edging.

  The blood rushed out of the wound like a dam that had been breached. They both hurried to him as April pulled her cell phone from her purse and started to dial 911. Mason knelt next to their son, pulled off his shirt and pressed it against the wound. “Hang up the phone,” he said. “We’re driving him ourselves,” knowing there was no time to wait for an ambulance.

  April didn’t think; she only reacted. Her mind couldn’t comprehend what had happened in the span of the last five minutes. She opened the car’s back door for Mason and jumped into the driver’s seat. Mason talked to their son, keeping him conscious as April drove like his life depended on it—and for all she knew it did. With the hospital only two miles away, the doctors told them they did the right thing. Justin went limp and lost consciousness the instant they entered emergency room.

  “HELP, PLEASE HELP!” April screamed as she ran ahead of Mason through the exceedingly crowded waiting room. Upon seeing the look of terror on their faces and the boy’s lifeless body, hospital staff whisked him away to a private room and found a quiet place for Mason and April to wait for the prognosis.

  The news wasn’t any easier to hear than it was for the Emergency Room Doctor to give. “Your son has suffered a major head trauma and has a fairly significant intracranial hemorrhage. We need to get him into surgery as soon as possible.” The decision was easy, what came next wasn’t.

  Within minutes of completing the surgery, they were notified once again by the doctor of even worse news. “Your son did well and we were able to stop the bleeding, although he is unresponsive to even the most basic stimuli. We believe it is due to the amount of pressure put on the brain over the last hour.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Mason asked.

  “Justin is recovering, although slower than we’d like. He may suffer long-term damage if we don’t take precautions soon.”

  “I’m sorry,” April said, “exactly what does that mean?”

  “We would like to put him in a medically induced coma until his brain has had time to properly heal. At that point, we can bring him back slowly and avoid any unnecessary strain, although we need to act now.”

  The forms were signed and they waited by their son’s side for three solid days. Neither even left for a meal. Staff brought by food when they could, although not much was eaten between the two grief-stricken parents. Many meals left the room the same way they entered, with only a few bites taken. April’s father even came by on the day after the accident. He spoke privately at length with the hospital administrator before walking into the room, kissing Justin on the head and heading back to the airport for God knows where.

  Seventy-seven hours later, almost to the minute, Justin began to open his eyes after slowly being brought back to this world. With his mother and father at his side, he smiled and blinked through the confusion. He had no recollection of any of the events that occurred after he saw April walk through the back door of the house. The doctor indicated that his recovery was “Remarkable” and that no one had come back so quickly from the type of injury Justin suffered.

  As if missing only one week of school wasn’t impressive enough, once he returned, Justin continued to excel at everything he did and scored off the charts in academics every year going forward. Mason and April were amazed, as were every one of his teachers, as he led most every class in every subject. The specialist they saw didn’t have an answer for what was happening and simply told them that he had no signs of any further problems and to just be grateful for his new “Gift.”

  They were grateful, although that was many years ago. Today they both silently hoped for the same luck.

  . . .

  “Mason, I think I found it.” Randy shouted from the driver’s seat.

  “Found what?” Mason said.

  “Look…”

  16

  Navigating through three lanes of stalled cars and decomposing bodies, Randy shifted to a lower gear and headed down the off ramp as the rain now pummeled everything in sight, angry at what the world had become. Exiting the highway, he turned the headlights off and came to stop at the bottom of the ramp. The streets were drenched and the gutters overflowing as Feeders roamed around outside the RV, now curious at sight of the giant rectangle on wheels. Before they had a chance to start toward them, Randy turned right and headed for the outdoor mall.

  Realizing they had changed course and were now off the highway, Mason stood and looked out the side window. He didn’t think anything good could come from them changing plans at this point. They needed to get to the beach house and somehow figure out a plan for helping their son. He leaned back into the room and whispered to April. “I’m gonna see what he’s doing. Stay with him and let me know if anything changes.”

  “OK,” she replied.

  Moving toward the front of the RV, trying to get a grasp as to where they were or why they were there, Mason stepped into the front cabin. “What’s going on? Where are we?”

  “Is he still burning up?” Randy asked.

  “Yeah, but we need to…”

  “Mason, we need to get him something to bring his fever down. His body can’t stay at that temperature too long without suffering serious damage.”

  “Randy… thanks, although I don’t know that ibuprofen is going to help him. You know that.”

  “Yes I know, but we still have to do something for the fever. Like right now! We can figure out the rest later.” Randy wasn’t completely convinced of this, although he needed Savannah to at least hear that there might be some sort of solution to their situation. She couldn’t take much more.

  The parking lot was empty, except for five lonely cars nearest the storefront. Each looked out of place as most stores were not yet complete. The pizza joint, along with the drug store four doors to the right, appeared to be the only ones finished and open for business at this end of the mall. Not wanting to take any chances, Randy pulled into the lot and parked nearest the exit as the rain continued to come down through the darkness, only broken by the full moon.

  “What’s your plan?” Mason asked.

  “I’m going in and get what we need. You stay here and make sure I get back across the lot. I don’t see any Feeders, although you never know.”

  Randy shifted the RV into park and checked their fuel. With less than a quarter tank left he turned the key, shutting down the engine. “Mason, how much farther to the beach house? I don’t think we’re getting gas anytime soon.”

  “Probably another five miles, we’ll make it there just fine.”

  “Good, take this,” he said, giving Mason one of two guns and sliding the other into his waistband along with two additional clips.

  As Randy slid out of the driver’s seat and moved around Mason, he had one final thought before stepping through the doorway. “If it comes down to it, you will need to do whatever’s necessary to keep the women and yourself safe. Don’t hesitate… not for one second. It’s not him anymore, remember that. He’s gone.”

  The pounding rain made it impossible for Randy to hear anything as he jumped out and began cautiously running toward the buildings. Not quite halfway there, he was grabbed from behind and instinctively swung around, pulling out his weapon and chambering a round. Index finger firmly against the trigger and ready to obliterate his target, he realized just short of killing his friend that Mason had followed him out of the RV.

  “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Randy shouted above the torrential downpour.

  “I’M NOT DOING THAT TO MY SON… HE IS STILL MY SON! I CAN’T, I WON’T. I NEED YOU TO…”

  “GET BACK TO THE RV, MASON! WE’RE NOT HAVING THIS CONVERSATION. NOT NOW, NOT EVER!”

  “RANDY, YOU KNOW WHAT COMES NEXT AND I CAN’T DO IT. WE NEED YOU.”

  “NO MASON, THIS IS NOT MY PROBLEM! I’LL HELP WHERE I CAN, BUT NOT WITH THIS… I’M SORRY. GO BACK; YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER LEFT THE WOMEN ALONE WITH HIM!”

  The two
men stood in silence in the middle of the dark lot as the night fell around them. Randy shook with anger for what he was asked to do. Mason originally brought him along only for protection. This was different, the dynamics had changed. The group now needed him for the dirty deeds the rest were uncomfortable doing. He knew staring at his former neighbor that things changed when Adam was shot in front of them and he didn’t react the same way the others did. If he would have, their group would have even less members than it did now.

  “GO BACK MASON, WE’RE NOT GOING TO FIGURE THIS OUT NOW AND THEY NEED YOU.”

  “I TOLD SAVANNAH WHAT TO DO IF…”

  Randy cursed and shook his head turning back toward the store, tucking the gun away once again. “WAIT!” Mason shouted. “THERE’S SOMEONE IN THERE.”

  “WHERE?”

  “IN THE DRUG STORE. GET DOWN!”