Red Hill

Scarlet could clearly take care of herself, and wasn’t the slightest bit fragile, but something about the way her voice broke made me want to pull her into my arms and hold her. She and Joey walked away, and the distance created lessened my urge to comfort her. I shook my head and silently scolded myself. I’d just met her, and she probably didn’t need anyone to make her feel better, anyway, not that there was any way for someone to feel better about being separated from their children in days like these.



I went into the doctor’s bedroom and closed the French doors behind me, sliding quietly under the covers beside Zoe. Even as I thought about the horrors of the last few days, warmth washed over me, comforted by the knowledge that this was the safest place to raise my little girl. At least until someone found a cure for the sickness that had taken so much from everyone under that roof. Knowing we weren’t alone and that we were still waiting for others was the most comforting. That was a hope I would help Scarlet hang on to.



Chapter Nineteen



Miranda



I’d imagined so many times in the last week what it would feel like to finally lie down in my bed, to feel the safety of the walls that my dad’s house provided, but even under a familiar comforter, my head resting on a pillow I’d picked out myself, I didn’t feel at home. I felt sick, displaced, and afraid.



Bryce was lying behind me, his body outlining mine. My body was nearly in a ball, but Bryce made sure to surround me with his warmth and love, as if it would keep reality away.



“I can’t remember the last thing I said to him, but I don’t think it was anything nice,” I whispered.



“He was excited that you were coming. If you weren’t nice to him, he obviously didn’t notice.”



“I wanted to hug him.” I sniffed, turning my head so the sleeve of my zipup hoodie could catch more tears. “Getting here and being safe meant him being here to protect us. I don’t know where my mom is, and my dad is dead. Leah’s dead. I have no one.”



Bryce propped his head up with his hand. “You have Ashley, and you have me.”



Those words should have offered more comfort than they did. I lay there until the rain began to patter on the roof and Bryce’s breathing turned deep, and rhythmic. The lightning cast quick flashes and shadows on the wall, including my own as I quietly snuck to the door and into the living room.



Scarlet was asleep on the couch, a rifle nestled in her arms like a child. She’d always been kind to us, and her little girls were so sweet. Once when Dad made Ashley and I help him burn brush, Jenna and Halle helped, too, entertaining us so much that by the time we were finished, it barely seemed like we’d started.



I crept over to the front door and twisted the knob.



“I wouldn’t,” Scarlet whispered in the dark.



I jumped, and then when my nerves stopped trying to jump out of my skin, I sat on the rocking chair adjacent to the couch Scarlet was resting on.



“That was smart. The cans, I mean. I would have never thought of it.”



She didn’t raise her head, and if she hadn’t spoken to me moments before, I would have thought she was still asleep. Lightning lit up the room for a second, and I caught sight of a tear dripping from her nose.



“They’re probably worried about you, too,” I said. Trying to comfort someone else made me feel better. It kept my mind off the fact that I was practically an orphan.



“Probably,” Scarlet said, sitting up. “I worry about them being outside in this weather. I worry that Andrew was hurt or killed and they’re alone.”



“Worrying won’t help them.”



“I know,” she said quietly. “You shouldn’t go outside. I’ve watched out the window at night. Sometimes I catch glimpses of shufflers in the fields. They’re not that fast, and not that smart. Getting caught off guard is how they get you. That, or getting caught in a big group of them like on the highway.”



“By Shallot?”



Scarlet nodded.



“We’ve been staying there. In Shallot. They were all on the highway, but now they’re in town.”



“You sure about that?”



“Someone ran their car into the gas station. Blew up. Drew them all back in.”



Scarlet’s eyebrows pulled in, and she closed her eyes. “Was it a white Tahoe?”



“Huh?”



“The car that hit the station. Was it a white Tahoe?”



“No. Is that what your ex drives?”



Scarlet opened her eyes and sighed.



“So they’re with him.”



After a short pause, Scarlet rested her elbows on her knees. “I hope so. Andrew picked them up from school. By the time I got off work and everything went to shit, they were in Anderson.”



I waited, watching her eyes search the darkness for something.



“I tried to get to them,” she said. Her breath caught sharply. “I snuck into town. They weren’t home. The town was overrun. I didn’t know what to do.” Her voice broke, and she covered her mouth with a trembling hand. “So I left them a message to come here. I’m not sure it was the right decision . . . to leave. Did I abandon them?”



“I saw you,” I said. Scarlet’s head jerked up to meet my eyes. “In that Jeep. I saw you heading toward Fairview on the highway. How did you get past them?”



“Past who?” Scarlet asked.



“The kids with the guns. On the bridge.”



“Yeah,” she said quietly, looking down. “I got past them.”



“You’re lucky,” I said. “We were stuck under the overpass. They opened fire on everyone.”



Scarlet offered a small, tired smile. “I guess you were lucky, too.”



“Who shot at you?” A deep voice said. I turned to see Joey standing in the dark kitchen.



“Jesus, you scared the shit out of me,” Scarlet said, blowing out a quick breath.



“Men—kids, actually—at the Anderson bridge had guns, shooting at anyone trying to get in,” I said, watching Joey sit on the carpet next to me.



“Good thing we ran out of gas. We were headed to Anderson. Dana’s dad lived there.”



“Small world,” Scarlet said, her smile fading.



Joey sighed. “Even smaller now.”



We sat in silence for a while, listening to the thunder rumble and the lightning crack across the sky. The sky opened up and rain poured down, drenching the farmhouse until it moved slowly toward Shallot and then Fairview. I thought of the dead ones, if they even noticed the storm, and of the small children in Shallot with the milky eyes that just a few days ago might have been terrified of thunder and lightning. They were now ambling outside, impervious to the rain, the wind, and the monsters walking alongside them.



“Dana liked storms,” Joey said. “She would have wanted to go outside and dance in the rain.”



“Dana is your wife?” Scarlet said.



“She was going to be.”



“You lost her,” Scarlet said, more a statement than a question.



“A couple of times.”



Scarlet’s eyebrows pulled together. I thought about explaining, but it wasn’t my story to tell.



“You saw my father?” I asked.



“I saw him at work,” she said. “He was really excited about you girls coming here for the weekend. It was all he talked about.”



Tears burned my eyes again.



Scarlet continued, “We were busy, so I didn’t get to talk to him much. Mostly just that morning . . .” Scarlet seemed to get lost in a thought, and then she looked up. “Joey?”



“Yeah?”



“You said your girlfriend’s name was Dana?” Joey nodded and Scarlet shook her head. “Was she at the hospital Friday?”



Joey nodded.



“I met her!” Scarlet said. She smiled and touched her chest. “I did her exam! She met Miranda’s dad!”



Scarlet’s smile seemed so out of place for the discussion, but I was waiting for Joey’s reaction. At first, he just stared back at her blank-faced, and then a small smile turned up the corners of his mouth. “She was beautiful.”



Scarlet nodded emphatically. “Oh my God, she was. Crazy about you, too. You being there was so comforting to her.”



Joey nodded. Even in the dim light, I could see his eyes fill with tears.



Scarlet yawned. “Wow. Crazy how we all ended up here,” she said. She lied on the couch, and used her bent arm as a pillow.



Joey and I stood; that was our cue. Joey walked a few steps toward the laundry room, and then stopped and turned. “I don’t sleep much. You’re welcome to hang out downstairs with me, if you want.”



I knew I shouldn’t. I looked to Scarlet for judgment or guidance, but her eyes were already closed. “Okay,” I said, following him downstairs. I’d been up and down that stairway so many times since my father had bought that ranch, but this time was different. My blood rose to the surface of my cheeks, and burned hotter with every step. When we walked into the vast space of the finished basement, Joey raised his arms.



“Welcome to my place.”



I smiled. “Technically, it’s my place.”



Joey sat on the floor, and I sat on the loveseat. I glanced to each side of me, amused that Scarlet had to guess if he would fit. His legs from thighs down would have hung off the end.



We spent hours talking about how long my father had owned the ranch, how Ashley and I spent our summers there, and the stupid predicaments we would get into, like the time she lost her shoe in the mud because we snuck out in the middle of the night to meet Bryce and his friends so they could drive us to the Diversion Dam for Matt Painter’s kegger.



It felt good to laugh and remember things that didn’t mean anything at the time. Any good memories were everything now.



Joey’s eyes began to redden and droop, and I was finally feeling the effects of exhaustion myself, so I stood and headed for the stairs. Something stopped me, and I turned.



“Joey?”



“Yeah?”



“Why did it make you so happy to know that Scarlet did Dana’s exam? Wasn’t she really sick then?”



Joey nodded. “Yeah, but . . . I don’t know. Talking to someone else who knew Dana when she was alive makes her real, you know? It’s easy to forget that our lives before weren’t a dream. This isn’t the reality, how we’re meant to live, or who we are. The people we were seven days ago . . . that is who we are, and Scarlet remembering Dana when she was alive makes that true.”



I shook my head. I still didn’t understand.



Joey shrugged. “It feels good to know she lives in someone else’s memory, too.”



I offered a small smile, and shoved my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. “Goodnight.”



Nathan



My eyes peeled open, and it took a moment for me to recall where I was and why. Simultaneously, I remembered that Zoe was supposed to be asleep next to me, and realized that her side of the bed was empty. In a panic, I scrambled over the bed and ran through the French doors to the living room. Zoe was sitting at the head of the dining room table, chomping away on Frosted Mini-Wheats and chatting Scarlet’s ear off.



Scarlet was sitting in the chair next to Zoe, her chin resting in her hand, listening intently to every word my daughter uttered. Zoe and Scarlet mirrored each other’s happiness in that moment, and I got a little choked up at the sight of them. Zoe’s sweet smile had returned, and Scarlet’s fiery red hair glowed in the morning sun that poured through cracks in the wooden slats on the window. I wasn’t sure I’d seen anything more beautiful.



Once Scarlet caught a glimpse of me, she pushed away from the table and went outside. Zoe took another bite, and I winked at her before joining Scarlet on the porch. She was staring down the dirt road, longing for her daughters, I imagined.



“My daughter Halle isn’t much older than Zoe,” she said, covering her mouth with a few of her fingers. Her pink nail polish was nearly completely chipped away, but her fingers were still elegant.



“How old is the other one? You have two, right?”



Scarlet cast a curious glance in my direction.



“The picture on the wall.”



“Just the two,” she said with a guarded smile. “Jenna is thirteen.” I laughed once, and Scarlet nodded. “Boy, is she ever.”



“I can’t imagine.”



“You will,” she said. Her smile faded. “They were supposed to meet me here if something happened. They were with their father when . . . I couldn’t get to them.”



“They know their way?”



She nodded. “Halle made up a song. She makes up a song for everything. It used to drive me crazy. I try to remember some of them, but I can’t,” she whispered the last bit. “Having all of Halle’s artwork from school all over my Suburban was maddening. I remember getting on to her for it so many times. I wish to God I had just one piece of that now. That picture is all I have of them.”



Her blue eyes glistened, and I fought the urge to wrap my arms around her. Before that thought was complete, her soft, red hair was under my chin, and her hands were interlocked at the small of my back. It took me a moment to realize what was happening, but then I rested my cheek against her hair and squeezed her tight. She wept quietly in my arms, and I waited patiently until she stopped shaking.



She let go first, and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. That was probably a weird thing to do.”



“Nothing is weird anymore,” I said with a half-smile.



She laughed, for maybe the first time since this all started. It sounded like music and sunshine. “That’s true.” Her eyes wandered back to the crest of the hill, and we waited in silence for a while until Zoe called for me. I left her alone to tend to my daughter. After an hour, Zoe tugged on my slacks.



“Is she going to stay out there all day?”



“I don’t know,” I said. Scarlet hadn’t moved. She watched the road like she was expecting her children to come over the hill at any moment.