“Nathan’s?”
“He will die if something happens to you. Do you see Ashley? Empty and hopeless? That will be Nathan one of these days after you get yourself killed.”
The thought made me sick to my stomach, but didn’t change my mind. “I take total responsibility for Joey. You’re right. It’s my fault. But I can’t apologize for doing whatever I can to help my little girls get to me safely, and I won’t turn down anyone that wants to help.”
Miranda craned her neck at me. “No one else will say it, Scarlet, but I will: You can go fuck yourself and your stupid idea to clear the way for your girls. There are more infected out there than humans. You’re never going to clear them all, and one of these days you’re going to hack into one of their heads with your hatchet, and you’re going to realize too late that it was Jenna or Halle. But it won’t matter, anyway, because
I closed my eyes, trying to stop her screams from forming pictures in my mind. “Miranda . . .”
“Will you admit it, then?” she said, her eyes both angry and desperate.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what will happen to me if I have to admit they’re not coming.”
“They’re. Not. Coming.”
A tear escaped my eye, and I quickly wiped it away. “I don’t believe that.”
“Scarlet!” Nathan screamed from the porch. He climbed the ladder, his eyes wide. “Are you looking?”
“What?”
“Look! Look at the hill!”
I narrowed my eyes to focus, seeing two small figures walking up the red hill. Skeeter was standing in the yard, yelling and waving his arms. The figures began to run, and it was then that I realized it was Halle and Jenna.
A sob exploded from my throat. “Oh my God!” I cried. “It’s them! It’s my babies!”
They were alone. I could barely process what that might mean, or what they’d gone through, but in that moment, the only thing I could do was scramble for the ladder.
Nathan climbed down a few rungs, and then jumped the rest of the way down, knowing I was in a hurry.
“Scarlet? Scarlet!” Miranda screamed.
I looked to her, and then to the field where she was pointing, seeing a herd of about two dozen infected limping and stumbling toward my daughters. “Oh, Jesus! No! No!” I began climbing down the ladder, but Nathan stopped me. “Stay on the roof! You’re the best shot! I’ll go get them!”
Reluctantly, I nodded and climbed back up to my perch on the roof. I knew he was right, and the best thing I could do for my daughters was to pick off the infected from high ground. Nathan, Skeeter, and Bryce, with various weapons in hand, ran off to reach my girls before anything else did.
Jenna and Halle were still running toward the house, but they would be cut off by the herd that was walking through the field toward them. They had no idea what was hiding behind the wheat, but they didn’t stop running, even when I began to shoot into the field.
“Jesus! Jesus, Scarlet!” Miranda said. She scrambled to the ladder and then climbed down, sprinting at full speed toward the road, screaming for the girls to hurry.
Ashley chased after her a few steps before Miranda pointed back at her. “Stay with the kids, Ashley! Stay with the kids!”
Ashley tossed her sister a handgun, and then looked up at me. I pressed my cheek against the rifle, looking through the scope. I pulled the bolt handle, aimed, and pulled the trigger, taking out the first infected. I leaned my face away. “Run, Jenna! Run to the house! They’re in the field! In the field!”
Jenna slowed down and looked around. She couldn’t see them coming.
“Run!” I screamed.
Jenna looked behind her, took Halle’s hand, and took off toward Nathan and Skeeter. I could hear the boys calling to my children, motioning for them to hurry. I could hear Halle’s frightened cry carry across the muggy summer evening air.
I pulled the bolt handle again, aimed, and shot. Grabbing another bullet, I loaded it into the chamber, and then repeated the process. I’d had so much practice over the summer that I barely had to look to load the bullets, but the more shufflers I put down, the more there seemed to be.
The first of the infected emerged from the wheat. Jenna stopped and leaned back so hard she fell backward, taking Halle with her.
I kept shooting, and the boys and Miranda yelled to get the attention of the herd. A wall of bodies was created between my friends and my daughters, with infected fanning out in both directions.
The girls hugged each other and screamed. “Mommy!” Jenna cried. “Mommy!”
I swallowed back my fear and continued shooting, focusing on the walking dead that were reaching for my daughters. I was sure Nathan and the others were killing every undead thing in their path, but the girls were defenseless.
My hands shook as I reloaded, but I forced myself to stay focused, to put down anything that got too close to my kids. Suddenly, Nathan emerged from the opposite field and grabbed the girls. They screamed at first, and then Nathan pushed them behind him. I aimed at the infected closest to him and put it down, but there were three more behind it, and I couldn’t reload fast enough.
Nathan shoved the closest one away, but as I was reloading a gunshot went off. The infected fell. Skeeter reloaded and shot again. Through my scope, I could see Nathan say something to the girls. They nodded, and then they disappeared into the north field.
My heart nearly exploded when I lost sight of them, but I continued to put down anything that tried to follow. A horrible, suffering scream made me search the area frantically through my scope. I settled on Bryce, fighting off shufflers in front of him, but being attacked from behind. From point-blank range, Miranda shot Bryce’s attacker in the temple, and then fell with her boyfriend to the ground. I couldn’t tell where he was wounded, but they were both covered in Bryce’s blood.
I pulled my chin away from my rifle, and then forced myself to reload and search for them again. Miranda was scooting backward, pulling Bryce with one hand, shooting with the other.
“No!” she cried, aiming at the shufflers closing in on her. “Help us!”
I shot one after another. Skeeter did, too, but Miranda only managed to get off two more shots before half a dozen monsters obscured her from view and then began to feed. When her screams of pure anguish filled the air, I closed my eyes tight. Skeeter’s rifle popped. Even after Skeeter ended her suffering, the echoes of her screams lingered in the surrounding wheat fields for a few moments.
I looked up, seeing Nathan, Jenna, and Halle emerge from the field and then run across the road and toward the porch. I watched the girls until Ashley corralled them into the safety of the house, and then I looked through the scope again. Nathan ran toward the herd with my hatchet to help his brother-in-law. As much as I wanted to go inside the house and hug my babies, I knew none of us was safe until the last of the herd was taken down.
In one moment, it was as if they were endless, and in the next there were only a few left. I shot, Skeeter shot, and Nathan hurled the hatchet. Bodies lay all over the road and in the ditches. It looked like a scene out of a horror movie; a massacre. Nathan and Skeeter didn’t return to the house, instead they stood over the bodies of Miranda and Bryce. They were lying together, chewed and bloody. Skeeter pulled out a handgun, and shot Bryce in the head. He’d already made sure Miranda wouldn’t come back. Spending another bullet wasn’t necessary.
I climbed down the ladder, and stood in shock as I watched Jenna and Halle push through the screen door and bury their faces against me. I wasn’t sure if I collapsed, or if they did, but all three of us were sitting in a sobbing mess on the porch.
Ashley stood over us for a moment, and then began running toward the road. Her wails were the background music to my reunion with my children. Elleny and Zoe stood in the doorway in shock, neither of them seeming to be able to make sense of what had just happened, nor of the scene on the porch. It seemed like everyone was crying, both happy and sad tears.
Night was falling, and Skeeter and Nathan guided Ashley back to the house. She was sobbing, fighting to stay with her sister. Skeeter had to force her the rest of the way into the house.
Nathan watched Ashley and Skeeter until they disappeared behind the door, and then looked down at my
