Then it hit. The rain blew sideways and the tarp sailed off. Edward squirmed in the carrier and I tried my hardest to keep that covered.
There was absolutely nowhere to stop. Those last couple of miles seemed like hundreds. The wind and rain hit us so hard, we were moving against a huge wet current. We inched our way down the road
The first spotlight went out, then the next.
“I have to stop!” I shouted, the only way Hannah could hear me.
“No! Keep going.”
“It’s not safe. It’s too wet for the baby.”
“He’s fine. You have him covered. We’re so close, Calvin we’re…” She stopped.
I pulled the reins, stopping the horse. The sight took my breath away and I finished her sentence. “Here.”
Not far ahead of us, the brightness cut through the black of the night. Huge amounts of light lit up the horizon. It was Sanctuary. That was the only thing it could be.
A snap of the reins and we had a guiding light. Then I saw what looked like spotlights ahead. Like the kind you see at night on road construction sites. They were brighter the closer we moved. It clearly was a roadblock. Then we started seeing Vee. More Vee than I had seen the entire day. They moved about on the side of the road, as we approached, some even reached for the cart.
I moved faster, the rain beating against my face.
“Calvin, you don’t think they’re overrun, do you?”
“We’ll find out.”
We made our approach and a feeling of awe took over me when I saw the entrance ahead. Two giant spotlights lit up the area. A large tunnel on the road was created from a fence with a barbed wire arched ceiling.
A light swung on us, nearly blinding me, then it moved.
Two armed guards stood by the barricade and one waved us in.
The rain pelted down and I swiped the water from my eyes as I stopped the cart.
A soldier wearing rain gear approached. “I thought you were a man I knew named Jason,” he spoke loudly over the noise of the rain.
“Jason passed away,” I told him. ‘He had a heart attack.”
“Ah man. That’s sad. He was a good guy.”
“Is this Sanctuary Sixteen?” I asked.
“It is. Sorry I didn’t shoot those things out there. We’re not allowed. Gun fire attracts at night.”
“I understand,” I said. “We made it. We just want in.”
“Absolutely. She okay?” he asked, shining his flashlight on Hannah’s face.
“Yes. We ran into trouble.”
The soldier then hit me with the beam of the light. “We’ll check you inside for bites.” Again, he moved his light on Hannah. “Is her arm bandaged?”
I looked over. Her arm was outside of the blanket. The bandage was wet and stained.
“It’s not a bite or scratch. She was injured. It opened back up when she was attacked. They can see inside!”
“Not hiding anyone in the back, are you?” He moved the light. “Just the two of you?”
“Three!” I said. “Me, her, and the baby. He’s a newborn.” I pointed down and adjusted the carrier.
He moved his flashlight to the carrier. “Sir, there are no…” He stopped when the light hit Edward’s face as he sucked on the pacifier. The soldier’s eyes went from Edward to me. “Sir…” his voice softened. “You cannot come in here with that.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “He’s a baby.”
“Calvin,” Hannah reached out and touched my arm. “Let’s just go. We’ll go back to Mama Mavis.”
“No, we’re here.” I turned to the soldier. “Are babies not allowed?”
“Babies would be allowed. We don’t allow Formers. The dead can’t get in, no matter what shape or form they are. I’m sorry. You can’t bring…”
“Calvin, let’s go,” Hannah pleaded.
“What do you mean dead?” I asked. “He’s just a baby.”
“There are no babies, sir! There hasn’t been a baby born uninfected in six months.”
“But…”
Then my mind slipped back and I heard Mr. Mills that day I met him. “Son, there shouldn’t be a baby in this godforsaken world, you know that.”
“Even to healthy mothers,” the soldier said. “They’re coming out that way.”
“No.” I shook my head. The soldier was wrong. He had to be mistaken.
“Man, I heard that thing crying all night.” Was what the man in Marshal said when he tried to rob me.
Then when Trent told me, “Diana told me about your dead tag along,” surely, he was talking about Leah. Or was he?
No, was I blinded? Was I missing it?
“Sir, you can come in. But you can’t bring that in here.”
“Calvin,” Hannah said my name with a whimper. “We don’t need to stay. You love Edward.”
“Sir, move it to the side and go through or—”
“He don’t know!” Hannah shouted. “He doesn’t see. Leave him be a second!”
“What do you mean I don’t know?” I asked. “See what? Hannah, you have been…” Every ounce of breath left me. She calmed him down… always. She made Edward quiet.
“I… fed him for you.”
“Boy, I have to tell you, Hannah, you have the magic touch with him.”
“I know what I’m doing. Mom said it takes patience to feed a baby right and know what it wants.”
I finally finished my own sentence, “…feeding him.” My eyes shifted to her bloody bandage and then to Edward. The pacifier dropped from his mouth; it was blood stained as was his mouth.
“He didn’t touch the cut,” Hannah cried. “I just dripped some in his bottle. His pacifier…”
“No.” The rain beat down, the lightning flashed and in that instance the fog was lifted. He hadn’t turned into it, he hadn’t died on the trip. Edward like every other baby, was born a Vee.
His eyes shifted about, they were gray and lifeless. His skin was leathery and split in some places. His hand had rotted and several of his fingers were gone. “No. No.” I shook my head. “How… why didn’t I know?”
“You weren’t ready to know,” Hannah said. “You lost your wife, you didn’t want to know. He’s all you had.”
A deep ache filled my chest, I wanted to scream, to cry out, but all that emerged was a sob. I would have broken down had another soldier not approached.
“What’s going on?” the second soldier asked.
“We have a bit of a problem.”
The second that other soldier saw Edward he pulled out his pistol.
“No!” I shouted. “No! I’ll take him away. No.” I stepped from the cart, my feet splashed in the puddle when I touched the road.
“Calvin, where are you going?” Hannah shouted.
I began to sob as I cradled Edward in my arms and headed away from Sanctuary. My heart was broken. I had carried him, cared for him and worried about Edward the entire journey. I loved and needed him so badly. I was blinded by what he truly was.
“Calvin, you can’t leave me!” Hannah yelled. “You promised! You promised me!”
Her voice faded as I moved further down the road, the rain was loud as it fell around me drowning out the sound of everything. I knew where I was going and what I had to do. I knew she had to be there.
She was.
Leah stood in the middle of the road. Everything was clear. I wondered why she followed me so fervently. Maybe I was wrong, or still delusional, but it wasn’t me that she was following.
I moved close to Leah and pressed my lips to Edward’s head. “Goodbye, I love you, little one.” Then I extended the baby to Leah.
“Take him,” I said. “Take the baby.”
I didn’t know what she would do, she stared at me for the longest time, hesitating before she grabbed Edward and brought the baby to her chest.
When she did that, I knew it was time to leave. A searing pain radiated through my chest, it hurt to breathe and I took a few steps back.