Amy nodded. “I still don’t like it, but I guess I’ve got no choice.”
Dylan sighed. “None of us do, sweetie. Life doesn’t work like that.”
“Make sure you keep your promise, or I’ll never trust you again,” Amy said, lifting her chin and setting her shoulders with determined pride. “Come sit. You have to eat before you go. I packed your lunch as well.”
“Thanks,” Dylan said, her throat tightening as she swallowed back her tears. It wouldn’t do to break down. She was stronger than that.
The next hour passed in a blur as Dylan ate, drank her coffee, loaded her backpack, and said her goodbyes. At last, there was nothing more to do, and they clambered into the Humvee.
As Saul pulled out of the driveway, Dylan waved at Alex and Amy, their figures dwindling in the rearview mirror until she couldn’t see them anymore. Her heart felt like a frozen lump in her chest, and it took everything she had not to scream at Saul to take her back.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she thought. “Dear God, I hope this isn’t the biggest mistake of my life.”
Worst of all, she would never know if it was a mistake until it was too late. Life was neither kind nor forgiving, and the apocalypse even less so.
Chapter 10 - Tara
“Where to first?” Tara asked, shifting around in her seat to get comfortable. The interior of the Humvee was spartan, but not all that bad considering it was army issue and an older model. The most surprising factor was its relatively smooth ride now that they weren’t bouncing over an open field at full speed. The only problem was the lack of heat, and she was glad she’d dressed warmly.
“We’re heading to Radcliff,” Saul said, pointing at the horizon ahead.
“Why? We’ve got everything we need, don’t we?” Tara said.
“Not everything. We are short on medical supplies,” Saul replied. “Anything could happen on the road, and we’d better be prepared.”
“Oh, right. I forgot about that.” Tara glanced at Dylan, who had rolled herself up in a thick blanket on the backseat. “You okay with that, Dylan?”
“Yeah, whatever,” came the muffled reply.
“Are you cold?” Tara asked with a tinge of amusement.
“Freezing.”
“I’m sorry. It should warm up soon,” Tara said.
“Tell that to my fingers and toes,” Dylan said, only her eyes and nose showing.
Tara smothered a grin and looked ahead. The city of Radcliff loomed on the skyline. It was bigger than she expected, and for a second, worry set in. “What about zombies?”
“Most of them were drawn to Fort Knox,” Saul said. “We have a small window of opportunity here.”
“I see.”
“But, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be careful. Infected aren’t the only danger out there. People are just as dangerous, if not more so. You should know that.”
Tara paled as Saul’s words stirred up an old memory from the Congo. There she’d learned firsthand just how barbaric people could be. If she’d been innocent and trusting before, that experience had cured her.
She sat in quiet contemplation as Saul entered the city limits. He drove through the deserted streets, and she reflected that this must be what the term ghost town truly meant. Broken glass glittered on the pavement, and the numerous shop fronts gaped open to the elements. Rubbish littered the sidewalks, piled into mounds where the wind had pushed it up against barriers, and swept it into corners — nature’s broom. Abandoned cars and wrecks were everywhere, many of them covered with smears of dried blood.
The worst was the bodies. Dead people lay strewn about at random intervals. In the streets, sprawled across car hoods, slumped over the wheel of their vehicle, or hanging out of windows. Most had been infected, their heads blown away by soldiers or other survivors. But some had been human when they died, killed in a car crash or thrown from a second-story window. Jumped, maybe?
Flies buzzed around the decaying corpses, crawling over sightless eyes while rats chewed on anything they could reach. Tara even spotted wild dogs roaming the streets in packs and tugging on the flesh of lifeless limbs to fill their starving bellies. Feral cats prowled the gutters, and maggots wriggled through it all, the true scavengers of decay.
Tara closed her eyes with one hand pressed to her lips. She’d seen a lot of death in her life and examined many a diseased cadaver, but this was…she couldn’t find the words to describe it. Neither Saul nor Dylan said anything either. For what was there to say?
She was grateful when Saul left the city center behind and headed into less crowded areas. He knew where he was going: A small private clinic he’d circled on a map he carried in his inner pocket. He’d deliberately ignored the hospital and medical centers. They’d be too dangerous, and the army had probably raided them already.
When they reached the clinic, he parked in the front and switched the engine off. “This is it.”
Tara nodded. “Are we going in together?”
“I’ll go in first and scope it out,” Saul said. “I’ve got more experience at clearing buildings of possible hostiles.”
“Fair enough. We’ll wait here, then?”
“I’ll be right back,” Saul said, grabbing his gear and jumping out.
She watched him do a quick recon of the area before he entered the clinic, her chest tight with worry and anticipation. “I hope he’s okay.”
“He seems to know what he’s doing,” Dylan said, leaning forward until her head was level with Tara’s. She’d discarded her blanket, ignoring the cold for the moment.
“He’s a professional. I’ve seen him do pretty amazing things,” Tara agreed. “I think he used to be special forces of some kind, though he never talks about it.”
“Hm, I wouldn’t be surprised. Do you think he’d be willing to teach me a thing or two?” Dylan asked.
“I don’t see why not. He taught me how to use this,” Tara said, indicating her sawn-off double-barrel shotgun. “But he wasn’t so successful at showing me other methods of combat. It seems I’m not the fighting
