“But where do we go?” he questioned me, then looked down at his hand like he was waiting for the inevitable.
“Enough of that shit, Jake. Let me check you for the boils again if you don’t believe me. That scratch didn’t come from an infected. You’ve hurt it in some other way. If not, you’d be showing symptoms by now. Use your head, Doctor.”
The look that crossed his face told me I’d hit a nerve. I didn’t know if what I was saying was true, but it was the only thing I had to go on. I needed him to function. I needed him present in all this. I just needed him, one way or the other. He was the only thing I knew in the crazy world we were stuck in and I wasn’t going to let go of that easily.
“Fine,” he agreed. “But we need a plan. A solid plan. I can’t just take you out there with no idea where we are going.”
This would work. He was using his head. If I kept him thinking, Jake would be fine. That’s where he’d always been his best. “I’m not sure. Do you think the CDC is an option? I know they didn’t answer your call, but does that mean they’re gone?”
“Most likely. At least at the one nearest us. They have bigger facilities where others may be working. We could call around to hospitals and things in the area.”
“The National Guard?”
I watched as his eyes widened and a smile lit his face. “Cammy, that’s it. You’re brilliant. There’s a National Guard Armory at the edge of town. If anyone is still around, I’m sure they would’ve gone there. It’s honestly their best option.”
“Great, now we have the plan you say we need. Let’s pack this shit up and move.”
“Not yet.” His words stopped me dead in my tracks and I turned to look at him. I could see his big brain was still working. “We can load up, but I think we should wait until nightfall to move out. If we go in the daylight, people like him,” he said glancing toward the other closed room in the house, “will see us easier. We could put a target on our backs. I think we should wait.”
That was the downside of making Jake think too much. He came up with good points you really didn’t want to face. The idea of more infected out there sent shivers down my spine. They could try to take the car, all our supplies, or even take their hunger out on us. It wasn’t something either of us wanted. “Fine, but as soon as it’s dark out, we go. I thought this place would be good for us, so far, it’s not been.”
“Agreed. We go ASAP and see what we can find out there.”
The new confidence in him was a great thing to see. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the same thoughts. No, the only things that floated around in my mind were the bad things we could see. I knew a girl up the road a bit named Izzy. What if I saw her eating that dick of a boyfriend of hers named Logan? A random person Jake has treated at the hospital could be wandering around in the middle of the road chewing on their own arm. We had no idea what was out there, but we needed to face it. I could pretend I didn’t know what we were about to face to keep him motivated. I owed him that much.
“I’m going to start packing up,” I announced, knowing I needed to do something to keep myself busy. I couldn’t wait around for dark or keep looking at his hands and arms to see if there were boils forming on him.
He didn’t have anything else to add, so I made my way out of the living room then stopped at the basement door. We’d brought a lot of stuff up, but there was so much more down there. I felt like a pig or something, wanting to take everything with us. What if someone else came here looking for help? Then again, what if they didn’t? That would mean everything down there would sit and go to waste. It wasn’t logical. It also wasn’t completely safe down there.
“Here, I have some boxes.”
I turned to see Jake hurrying toward me carrying two totes. “Those aren’t boxes,” I smirked.
“Close enough. Boxes, totes, whatever. We can carry a lot in them.”
I nodded in agreement then looked back at the door. “Maybe we should take the gun down with us this time.”
“To be honest, we shouldn’t both be down there. It leaves us vulnerable up here. Someone should stay up here and keep watch.”
Again, he and his overthinking wasn’t sitting well with me. I didn’t want to be in either place alone. “How do you want to do it?”
“I can carry more up. Why don’t I go down and you stay up here? You can keep the guns up here. I can’t use them down there with my hands full anyway.”
“Hurry,” I told him. “Load up one tote, fast. Then you can run down for the second one and that’s enough. If we don’t get it all, fuck it.”
He didn’t say anything else; instead, he walked over to the door and grabbed the knob with his gloved hand. I watched as he hesitated, then reached down and touched the hammer hanging from his side to make sure he still had it with him. When he felt reassured enough, he yanked the door open and descended into the darkness below.
The minute Jake was out of my sight, I hurried back into the living room and grabbed the shotgun I’d used earlier. Remembering what my dad had taught me growing up, I loaded it, cocked it, and flipped off the safety. If I heard anything moving in the house, my plan had been to take it out, no question. If I thought Jake was in trouble, I would need to vacate our original plan and high tail it down the stairs. Either way, I needed to stay ready.
I held the shotgun tight to my chest as I walked around in circles in the house. I felt a slight bit of relief when I saw Jake rush into the living room, carrying one of the totes full of food. “You alright?” he asked breathing a little heavy from carrying the load.
“Yep. You?”
“I’m going to get another load, but there’s too much to take all of it. I’ll carry it all out to the car when I get back,” he finished before turning and rushing back down the stairs.
Something inside me didn’t want to wait. I couldn’t put my finger on why. So, instead of waiting on Jake to come back, I set the shotgun down then lifted the tote. I immediately wondered how the hell Jake got it up the stairs. It was heavy as hell. I started lugging it toward the garage door, setting it down long enough to open the door, then turned to pick it back up when something grabbed my foot and dragged me down the couple of stairs leading into the garage.
I jerked around in time to see a woman standing there, boils covering her entire face. She reached toward me, her hands dripping pus onto the garage floor. “I’m hungry,” she moaned as she snatched at my hair, pulling me closer toward her. “Please, help me.”
I tried to struggle without getting any of the pus or ooze on me. I could see bits of something in her teeth. She’d already snacked on something or someone, I just had no idea who or what. Glad I had the gloves on my hands, I reached up and took hold of her hand, trying to pull it out of my hair. She wouldn’t let go, so I had no real choice. I jerked my hair, feeling it pull free from the roots, then kicked her back away from me. When she hit the ground, I could see the flesh on her leg had been eaten away from the virus and the pink sundress she wore was covered with blood and gore from it.
I turned to try and get back in the house, when I fell over the tote of food I’d carried to the door. I felt my shin tear open and let out a squeal. Pulling myself up, I didn’t take the chance of looking back. I had no idea how the woman ended up in the garage or if there was anyone else out there with her, but I had to stop her before she got her hands on me again. With the pain I was feeling in my leg I knew I couldn’t fight her off. I stumbled my way toward the kitchen, where I’d left the gun. Before I reached it, the bleeding and the pain in my leg became too much and I fell face first onto the floor again.
“Please, I’m just hungry.”