Eleven

Gathering my courage, I turned toward the side yard and made my way to the front.  The streets were quiet as I slipped behind a camper parked in a driveway.

We took care moving from yard to yard, neighborhood to neighborhood. The quarter moon rose, and Drav moved confidently in its weak light, obviously having an easier time seeing now than he did in the daylight.

The roads became familiar as we moved closer to my neighborhood, and a quiet settling warmth filled me. Home.  Yet, it would not be the home I remembered. The white bedsheets that flapped in the night breeze of a couple of homes we passed made that point clear. I hoped there were still people inside and that there would be a similar sign at my house.

I readied myself to make the next sprint when Drav halted me with a hand on my shoulder. Like last night, he’d kept me from running into any of the infected. He watched everything carefully, and if he spotted something I didn’t, he nudged me in a different direction.

Now, I glanced at him while he alertly searched the streets.

“Drav?”

“Mya, stay.”

He walked off, but didn’t go too far before he stopped. It wasn’t until I heard the quiet rustle of fabric and a spatter of liquid that I gathered he was relieving himself. I turned away, my cheeks still hot as I tried to give him as much privacy as possible.  Had he been relieving himself outside all along?  How had I not noticed?

Drav returned to my side, and I moved to the next area of cover, refusing to acknowledge that he’d just gone to the bathroom in the open street.

My anxiety grew the closer we got to my neighborhood because I had noticed a few houses that were lit up. A living person wouldn’t want to draw attention to themselves; they would have turned off the lights. We crossed the road where my elementary best friend, Amber, lived. I didn’t have the heart to glance at her house to see if there were any signs of life.

We crossed between two more houses with fences, where Drav lifted me over his shoulder and jumped, before we reached my street. Halfway down, the familiar sight of my house greeted me.  Instead of rushing forward to the next tree, I hesitated. I couldn’t shake the worry that once I got to my house, the lights would be on and there would be slow, unnatural movement in the windows or the windows would be dark with no signs of life, and Drav and I would go inside and he would rip off the heads of my family. I shuddered at the thought.

Drav put a hand on my shoulder again when I would have moved.  I stayed by the tree while Drav disappeared for a moment.  Instead of relieving himself, I heard the distinct snap and squelch I’d come to associate with his head ripping.  I tried not to freak out.  He didn’t just kill a member of my family, did he?  No, I had to stay positive that they were safe.  Ryan’s last text warned me about the hounds.  That meant he’d known what was happening.  The thought of his last text had me touching my back pocket to reassure myself my phone was still there.

Drav rejoined me, and I sprinted across the street, ducking behind a large SUV that belonged to our neighbors only two houses away. From my angle, I could see my house. The blinds were drawn, and the lights were off.  Excitement, fear, and emotional exhaustion had my hands shaking.

I ran from my hiding spot, heading straight for my house.  Before I could reach for the doorknob, my hand met unrelenting flesh. I looked up in surprise and found Drav frowning down at me.

“No, Mya.”

“This is my home. My family is in there.”

“No. Drav go.”

“You can’t,” I said in panic. If he went in there, he might kill my family.

“No. They’re fine, safe. I need to go in.” I tried to step around him, but he blocked me.

“No.”

“Yes, Drav.”

In my desperation to get inside I forgot who I was dealing with and pushed on his chest to emphasize my point. I swallowed hard and backed up fearful of how he would react. He didn’t do much more than scowl at me, but he made his stance clear. He wouldn’t let me in.

“What if we go in together?” I asked, attempting to compromise. “But you can’t hurt anyone. Please.”

He didn’t look happy about it, but he could tell I wasn’t going to budge.

“Yes?” I prompted.

“Yes.”

He moved aside, and I set my hand on the knob.  For a moment, I couldn’t bring myself to turn it. I sucked in a breath and twisted. The door caught, locked of course.

“Drav, I need you to open the door, but just open it.”

I moved out of his way.  He grabbed hold of the doorknob, gave it a sharp turn, and put his shoulder to the door. The frame cracked, and the door swung inwards revealing an inky darkness.

Drav touched the edge of my shirt and coiled it in his hold. We entered together. I didn’t hear anything, and I worried what that meant.

Fear bubbled up my chest. I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“Mom? Dad? Ryan?”

My brother’s name came out as a hoarse cry, which Drav smothered with his hand.  His low growl rose around us.

A sick dread twisted in my stomach as I held still and listened.

Please not my family, I thought.

A soft feline growl reached me, and a sob of relief escaped.  I pushed Drav’s hand from my mouth.

“Pots,” I said softly. “Come here, kitty kitty.”

The cat hissed in the darkness before us, and Drav growled in response.

“It's okay, Drav. It's our cat. A pet.”

I tried to step forward but Drav blocked me. Instead of arguing, I stepped back, used the dead bolt to latch the door, and felt for the wall switch.

“I'm turning on the lights,” I warned a moment before I did.

Drav grunted, and I squinted as I looked around the entry and dining room.

“No infected.  Let's keep checking,” I said with relief.

This time when I stepped forward, he moved with me.

Pots shot down the hall when we turned the corner and walked into the kitchen. I barely paid Drav’s growl at my cat any attention because a note on the fridge had caught my eye.

I crossed the room and snatched the paper from the magnet.

 

Mya,

We love you so much.  We've seen the dogs and what they do. We're heading to the cabin and hope you’re already there and never read this.  But, if you do come home first, stay strong.  Stay safe.  Get out of town, and try to get to the cabin.  We’ll be waiting for you there.  If you’re not there in two days, we’ll come find you.

Love, Mom and Dad

 

I sniffled past the tears and focused on the note Ryan had scribbled below my parents’ message.

 

The dogs hate light.  Travel during the day, and hide somewhere bright at night.  Left you a present in my closet.  Get your ass to the cabin.  Love, Ryan.

 

They hadn’t been infected.  At least, not here.  I wiped my eyes, folded the paper, and tucked it in my back pocket.  My fingers brushed my phone and I pulled it out, checking it again.  The low battery and no signal didn’t give me any hope.

“Mya,” Drav said from behind me.  I turned and found his watery gaze on mine.

He, like the dogs, didn’t like the light.  And, since he didn’t seem inclined to leave me that meant I’d be traveling in the dark.  With the hounds.  And the infected.  And, according to Jack and Charles, the other shadow men.

“My family isn’t here.  They headed north.”  I glanced at a clock.  We still had hours of night left.  Plenty of time.

“I’m going to grab some things and then we can get moving again.”

“No lights,” he said, pointing toward the ceiling light.

“I can’t see in the dark like you.  And the infected aren’t attracted to lights.  They’re attracted to noise.  And the hounds are afraid of lights.  I’m turning every light on in the house.  Here,” I said moving to the fridge.  I plucked a pair of my Dad’s sunglasses off the top.  “Put these on and don’t touch the lights or…or I’ll throw the cat at you.”

He frowned at me but took the glasses.  I didn’t wait to see if he’d use them.

Heading down the hall, I started thinking of what it would take to make it to the cabin.  There wouldn’t be as many houses to raid for supplies once we left city limits.  So I’d need basic things.  A water bottle.  Simple food.  Warmer clothes.

In Ryan’s room, I checked the closet and found one of my dad’s burns-your-retinas-like-the-sun flashlights on the shelf. Ryan’s foresight had me grinning.  If any family had a chance at surviving this mess, it would be ours because of Ryan.  I reached under his bed hoping for his hiking bag, but found the space empty.  Having the bag would have made my life easier but there were other options.

I turned around and almost face-planted into Drav’s chest.  The smooth skin of his pec brushed my nose before I backed up a step.

He looked down at me.  Despite the tinted lenses of the sunglasses, I could still see his eyes watering a little bit.

“Can you see better?  With the glasses on?”

“Yes.  No.”

“So, just a little better?”

“Yes.  Mya go outside.”

“Not yet.  I need to grab some more stuff.”

Going to my parents’ room, I looked for the next thing that would make my life easier…something for Drav to wear now and several spares for later.  His head ripping, while it kept me safe, was disgusting and messy.

Dad’s robust figure meant the shirts had a decent amount of girth, but he didn’t even come close to Drav’s height.  As I studied the selection I had to choose from, I wondered if any of them would even reach Drav’s navel.

I tossed a few dark options on my parents’ bed.

“Try those on.  I’m going to grab some clean clothes for myself.”

In my room, I stuffed an old backpack with two clean changes of clothes, the flashlight, and a sweatshirt.  I shouldered the bag and turned to find Drav, still shirtless, standing in my room.  His continued shirtlessness didn’t surprise me.  My reflection in the mirror just behind him did.

Dark spatters and splotches covered my face and shirt.  Stepping closer to the mirror, I cringed at the dot that stuck to my skin dangerously close to my mouth.  Infected blood.  My stomach churned and a hint of panicked paranoia burrowed into my mind.  What did it take to become infected?  A bite from a hound, yes, but were there other ways?  Obviously so, because it was spreading like crazy.  Bites from the infected.  Charles had said that, hadn’t he?  Bites were a form of fluid exchange…like ingesting a drop of blood.  How close had I come to being infected without even knowing it?

A chill chased through me.  I didn’t want to touch the blood but I wanted it off.  Now.

“Are we safe in here?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Long.”

“Ok.  I’m going to clean up. This blood is giving me a mental twitch.”

Without waiting for a response, I paced down the hall to the bathroom I shared with Ryan.  I started closing the door and groaned when Drav stopped it with the flat of his hand.

“Mya, no.”

“Drav, I’m not running away again.  I promise.  I’m cleaning the blood off me and changing my clothes.  You don’t need to see that.  I’ll be out when I’m done.”

“Infected outside.  Hounds outside.”

“Yeah, I know.  That’s why I’m inside with all the lights on.”

He studied me from behind his lenses before grunting and releasing his hold on the door.  He even backed up a step.  But he didn’t walk away.  I closed the door in his face and locked it.

“Mya,” I heard through the door.

“Drav, stay out.”

I pulled off my clothes, started the shower, and stepped in.  I didn’t care that the water still ran cold. I needed the blood off me.

Before I’d wet more than my shins, the door splintered and a bang filled the room.  A startled scream escaped me, followed by another when the curtain and rod were completely ripped from the wall.