The pain in my side was slowly becoming unbearable as I forced myself to move even further away from the danger, adrenaline slowly wearing down. I honestly couldn't tell if I had been running for half an hour or half a day, but I knew I would pass if I tried to keep up this pace a minute longer. Slowing down to a walk, I tried to steady my breathing, clutching my side as shivers of pain moved through my entire body. I couldn't fully stop though, not yet. The thought of those men catching up on me was still in my head, just like Jenny's screams of pain, so even though my legs screamed in pain and my lungs were almost bursting with effort, I kept pushing forward.
Shuffling through the forest, I noticed with relief I must have been close enough to some sort of road. The trees were thinning out, and I had a small elevation of the ground in front of me and I could see there were no trees at all a bit further from my current position. Stopping for a moment, I took a few steadying breaths in a weak attempt to make my racing heart slow down —even the slightest bit. I couldn't quite wrap my head on what just happened and how on Earth I was even still alive. In all honesty, if anyone asked me to describe this man, I would say he was wild, dangerous, and unscrupulous. Any form of understanding or compassion didn't seem to be a part of his personality. Yet, here I am, standing a couple of yards from a road, completely fine —minus some scratches, but I honestly couldn't give less shit about them right now.
I shook my head, sighing quietly and moving my hand through my messy hair. The time to mule everything over will come later — possibly hundreds of miles later, if I had any say in it. I pulled out my knife, starting to move towards the road, trying to make as little noise as possible. I couldn't quite tell where I was and which road it was, but again — why would it matter? My only destination, for now, was the opposite side of the continent, as far from those people as possible without the need of crossing the ocean by rowing a boat.
With slight relief, I noticed the road was nearly empty — there were a couple of cars and two biters roaming close to them, but other than that — everything seemed to be peaceful. A small smile crept on my lips —maybe my limit of bad luck for one day was reached?
One of the biters finally noticed my very existence and started shuffling toward me. I made a few quick steps before his friend took notice and stabbed the fucker straight through his forehead. The sickening, crackling sound of broken bones and final groan of the biter caught the attention of the second one. Not hesitating, I pulled my knife back with all strength and allowed the dead body to collapse on the ground with a thud, making sure it didn't touch me in the process.
Similarly treating the other biter, I quietly moved closer to the cars, my hope moving up with every step taken. While the vehicles were covered in dust and a bit battered, they seemed fine as far as I could tell. Holding my breath, I rapped on the window with the tip of my knife, trying to get the attention of the undead creatures, which could have been hidden inside it. I smiled crookedly at the sudden movement inside and, bracing myself, I opened the door and stabbed the biter, who tried to get up from behind the steering wheel, its body lying weirdly spread on both the front seats as if the person it once was tried to hide from the danger.
"Alright," I muttered to myself, licking my chapped lips, "nice and easy."
I fought the urge to close my eyes as I moved closer to the creature and grabbed it, pressing my front to its back and bracing my knees on the driver's seat. I wrapped my arms around the biter and yanked forcefully, feeling the disgusting, rotting smell of the dead body filling my nostrils.
"Shit", I muttered when the damn thing didn't move as much as I would like it to. I mean, how hard can it be to get a dead body out of a goddamn car?! Not like I had a real experience with that, but hell, it's not trying to bite a part of my neck, it should be easier than it appeared to be.
I gave it another try, but still — nothing. Sighing, I decided to check another car, one with an open door. Keeping my knife in front of me, I moved slowly to it, checking the perimeter frantically. To my huge surprise, the car seemed to me empty — perhaps one of the biters I killed outside was the owner. Making a mental note to send him a thank-you card when I would be somewhere safer — on the far end of the continent if I can be picky, I checked the car ignition in search of the keys. I almost cried in relief when I found it safely in place, slightly dirty and covered in something that looked suspiciously like human insides, but it could have been anything for all I cared, as long as the damn thing worked.
With a steadying breath, I cast a quick glance at the car's back. Except for a huge amount of dust, some blood, and a baby car seat, which was turned away from the direction of travel — it was empty. I positioned myself on the driver's seat and slowly turned the key. The car screeched, and I bit my lower lip painfully, waiting for the engine to start. I was about to give up when I heard a roaring sound and the car started. I smiled involuntarily, on the verge of crying from happiness. Hell, that was the nicest sound I've heard in my entire life!
"Just think…", I muttered to myself, trying to focus on the task at hand. Getting away from those guys was one thing, but I couldn't be sure when and where I would be able to get some food or other supplies. Fighting the urge to just put the pedal to the metal and drive as far away as possible with the still unknown amount of fuel, I slowly left the front seat of the car, never turning off the engine. I grabbed everything that seemed more or less usable and edible and got back to the car, not bothering to fasten the seatbelts, as I drove away.
XXX
I should consider myself lucky. I found a gas station, where I tanked the car full, and now I was headed somewhere. I tried to come up with a solid plan, but honestly — what could I possibly plan, not knowing where is safe and which places I should avoid at any cost? The quiet sound of the working engine was soothing enough, and I felt I should find a place to rest for the night pretty soon, or I might fall asleep at the wheel. Rubbing my eyes, I groaned quietly, as my stomach growled, realizing I should probably eat some canned goods as well.
Then, many things happened all at once. My tired eyes closed a second too long, and when I forced myself to fix my gaze on the road, I noticed there was a walker in the middle of the street. I squealed in a mixture of surprise and horror and moved my hands on the steering wheel, trying to avoid it. Not that I had anything against driving over zombies, but I had a vague feeling that the contact of a speeding vehicle with an obstacle would not end well for my car. Somehow, I managed to steer clear, but then I heard it. A noise, which could be only described as one thing and there was no possibility of a mistake: a quiet, slightly muffled cry of a human child. And there was no place for an error in another matter: the noise was coming from the back seat of my car.
Did I just get myself a baby?
XXX
The spoon I was using, rubbing quietly against the bottom of the can and the delicate blowing of the wind, were the only sounds that I could hear, standing next to my car in the warm sun of Georgia. I stared at the now sleeping infant in the fucking baby car seat stored on the back seat of my — ummm, borrowed — car.
Why the hell hadn't I checked the back seat earlier?!
The thought almost made me laugh. Because, what would I do if I knew earlier? Leave the kid to die on that goddamn road? Go away with complete certainty that I have just condemned someone to death? Even though I had absolutely no background in babysitting, it's not like a baby, which is a couple of months old at best, could take care of itself in this crazy world. Or any world, to be precise, even the previous one, without undead corpses wandering around.
Just a couple of minutes back, I fed the little girl with the last of the baby food I found in the car two days ago, when I found out I had company, and changed her diaper, praying to God — or whoever would be listening at this point, as a matter of fact — I did it correctly and the baby poo-poo wouldn't be smeared all over our car when the time comes. To my great relief, the baby must have been starving for at least a couple of days, because when her tummy was filled with "spaghetti over eight months old", as the label informed me, she just fell into a nap right after I hugged her. When I gently placed the girl back in the baby seat, I sighed quietly, starting my own meal: a can of cold, jelly-like soup that may have been out of date, but I decided not to check it for my own sanity.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with you?" I muttered to myself, eating the last of it.
I could barely take care of myself, which was pretty obvious to me right now. A single biter was not a huge problem, and I could take care of it easily with my knife, but seeing what I saw just two days ago, what one man can do to another, I was almost sure I can't protect her from that. Not to mention my knowledge, or the lack thereof, about children and their needs. We somehow survived the last two days, but I was like a blind man walking in a fog on the roof of a skyscraper in a gusty wind. More or less, I did anything that came to my mind to keep us both from dying from various causes: bites, hunger, thirst, or just simple frustration — and oh, it can be a cause of death, especially if you're changing the third diaper in a fucking hour with a squirming toddler on the back of the car, a knife in your mouth and a freaking biter like 10 yards away. Anything is possible in those circumstances.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I muttered, moving a hand over my face. I stared blankly at my reflection in the car window and I snorted, thinking that just a couple of days ago when the goddamn biters were my only problem, I would probably care that my dark hair was a tangled mess, two cute dark bags formed under my eyes and my black Henley was about seven washes and stain removals from cleanliness.
I was so caught up in my thoughts, it took me a couple of seconds to notice a new sound in my quiet environment. The distant, rhythmic sound of a horses' walk couldn't be confused with something else. I shot a careful glance around, but the source of the noise was nowhere to be seen. I closed the door of the car as quietly as possible and shielded it with my own body, knowing very well that horse hooves signified the company of animals at best and people at worst. Until I knew their intentions, I preferred not to risk revealing the kid. No matter how little I knew about children and their wellbeing, I was pretty sure in this world showing a helpless child to potentially dangerous people could have been given a hazard label.
Slowly, two horses moved from behind the corner of the building, which was a drugstore - I knew, because I founddiapers for the baby earlier. On their backs, two raiders were talking to each other in low voices. Before they even noticed me, I could make out two forms: a young, Asian man and a pretty female in riding pants. They seemed harmless, but well, can we be sure of anything in this crazy world? I, for one, wasn't expecting a fucking zombie apocalypse, and yet, it happened.
That's why when they came closer and finally noticed me, I didn't lower my knife and didn't offer any sort of polite greeting. Instead, I stared daggers at them, trying to look as tough as my 5 feet of height and 110 pounds of weight allowed. I could see them exchanging nervous glances and the man jumped off his horse, approaching me carefully with both his hands raised. At the very moment, I couldn't quite decide whether I'm touched or mortified by his carelessness. I took a cautious step back as the guy kept moving towards me slowly, but steadily, and I felt the warm car door behind me, fighting the panic, that started rising in my chest.
"You bit?", he asked and I blinked a couple of times, before the question finally dawned at me. I shook my head quietly, deciding I couldn't trust my voice not to crack with fear. "Are you alone?"
Weighing my options, I stood there, trying to look threatening, when a quiet, terrified cry reached us from behind my back. My eyes widened with horror and I heard the simultaneous intake of air from two riders. Swallowing, I decided biters might be a bigger problem than those two if I let the kid cry and quickly opened the car door, my eyes never leaving the Asian guy, who stood still, his hands were still in the air.
"Shhh," I muttered to the baby and took her out of the seat, hugging her tightly with one hand, the second still gripping my knife.
"Look," the Asian man started, looking at me carefully, "we mean no harm. Please put down the knife before you accidentally hurt the baby."
Before I could make any sort of decision, we heard shuffling footsteps and snarls that could only mean one thing: biters. Suddenly, the man made a quick movement, taking out a gun from behind his belt and started aiming. As I turned around frantically, it was obvious there are too many for the three of us to take them down, even if didn't have the girl in my arms. The baby, probably sensing my fear, started crying even louder and I tried to calm her down with quiet shushing, which wasn't really effective.
The female jumped off her horse and moved to us, addressing her companion, "Glenn, get back on your horse, mine will follow you back to the farm. You," she eyed me, "get back in the car."
"Maggie," he started, but was cut short with her response.
"We don't have time, I will drive with her back to the farm."
"But we don't know if we can take her back!", Glenn started again, shutting his mouth to look at the suddenly crowded street. The biters' noises were becoming louder and I had half a mind to just get into my car and drive the fuck away.
"Seriously? You want to leave a girl with a baby alone in here?", Maggie looked at him as if she had seen him for the first time in her life.
"Rick…", Glenn started again, but stopped himself, when the first biter approached us and the rest of the herd was just a couple yards away. The horses were huffing nervously, stepping from hoof to hoof and I wondered for a second if they won't run away. With a surprisingly swift movement, Glenn drove his gun into the biter's skull, with a sickening noise and the creature fell to the ground, lifeless again.
Not waiting for the male's response, the girl — Maggie - jumped behind the steering wheel and looked at me expectantly, "Get in!"
Deciding this is not the best time to voice my concerns, I just ran around the car with the screaming baby in my arms and jumped inside, closing the door just in time to see another biter hissing furiously outside. As his fingers kept digging into the window from my side I could see Maggie's fingers trembling as she started the car, but luckily, she managed to do it in the first try.
I turned around to check on Glenn just to see him riding away on his horse, guiding the other one behind him, shooting a scared glance our way. Honestly, if I were him, I would be more scared about himself than us — locked in a solid, metal can, but hey, no judgement.
Maggie hit the gas and the Silverado obeyed, tires screeching on the hot asphalt, as the car sped away. I could hear her erratic breathing and decided to wait with the talking until we leave a safe distance from the zombies. The views flashed by the window as the girl kept the car on a high speed, leaving the zombies behind. The kid wasn't crying anymore, only gentle hiccups leaving her mouth occasionally, as she pressed her head into my chest.
"What were you doing out there?", Maggie's voice was so raspy from emotions I barely recognized it and I cleared my throat to make sure I will sound better.
"Got into the town like an hour earlier. We were driving for the last couple of hours and the kid was getting hungry, so I pulled over," I muttered, rocking the girl on my lap in a half-hearted attempt on putting her to sleep, "I just finished my meal when you came."
"She yours?" My companion cast a side glance at the baby and, not waiting for a response, asked: "How old is she?"
"No idea. Not mine found her in the car two days ago and tried to figure out what to do with her this whole time", I sighed and noticed with a bit of relief, that the baby was asleep after all. If Maggie wanted to comment, she stopped herself and remained silent, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I didn't plan on leaving her somewhere to die, but I can't exactly keep her, the biters don't cut me any slack because I have a goddamn baby in my arms."
She snorted with understanding and smiled, as her eyes remained fixed on the road this time. "Name's Maggie, by the way."
"Victoria," I muttered, "but you can just call me Vicky, don't really like the full name."
A short silence fell on us, nothing else to be added at the moment. With relief, I noticed my voice, which had rarely been used recently, worked just fine, even though I had to clear my throat every now and then.
It felt slightly surreal to sit in the car with the young girl — I mean, it definitely wasn't in my plans for today, and I think she shared my thoughts, as we both tried to figure out the next move. Then, suddenly Maggie stopped the car. She did it so violently I had to hold on to the door in order not to fall.
"Fuck, we were supposed to grab some antibiotics," she groaned, resting the back of her head on the driver's seat. I eyed her silently, mulling my options. I mean, I technically COULD help them, but it would reduce my resources. As if sensing the shift in the car's air, Maggie turned her head to me and added: "We have a shot kid and a man with an infected cut on his arm."
I sighed quietly, bending down as far as the infant sleeping on my lap would allow me and took a grocery bag out from under the front seat. I started rummaging through it, murmuring: "You need something systemic for both of them. I'm guessing you don't know how much they weigh? I only have powdered antibiotics, nobody took them, probably no one knew how to use them. If you have a kitchen scale, it should be possible to adjust the doses nicely."
Maggie stared at me for a moment, her eyes moving to the bag in front of me and then back to my face, "You a doctor?"
I snorted humorlessly, "Med student. Or more like a dropout right now, I guess. Never took my finals, not sure how does the status of my university relate to the world after the apocalypse."
Maggie nodded her head, chuckling softly. Against my better judgment, I started feeling a little more at ease with her and before I knew it, I asked: "You?"
"Studied economics before this whole mess started. Then I came back to my dad's farm to be with my family.", another wave of silence fell on us, Maggie's eyes falling on the napping, slightly snoring baby. She sighed, "Lost my stepmother and older brother."
"Sorry about that," I muttered a bit awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say. I mean, I probably lost my family too, but I could never know since I haven't seen them when the virus had spread. I bit my lip and muttered, "We can just go, you know? I mean, it's obvious your father doesn't want us there, your friend was pretty obvious about that."
This time, Maggie bit her lip, looking at the steering wheel, "He didn't mean my father. Rick is, well, sort of the leader of the group we took in a couple of days ago and Glenn is also a part of it. One of ours shot Rick's son by accident and their whole group came to stay with us as my father tended to the boy. Now they are camping outside the house and well, honestly," she stopped, visibly struggling to find the best words to express her thoughts, "I think they might have some sort of leadership issues going on. Don't know a lot, because I mostly spend time inside the house, but it's pretty obvious there is tension between some of them."
"I see," I said quietly, turning the packet of the antibiotics in my hands absentmindedly, "Still, if you think it will be any problem, just let me drive you back home, and we'll be on our way."
"No, it's still my father's decision who he takes in," Maggie smiled, "and honestly, I don't think he will turn away a female with an infant. Plus well, we don't know how to dose these antibiotics. My dad is a vet, but somehow I doubt that human beings are using the same dosages as a cow."
I snorted, "Well, honestly, I have no idea about the animal's dosages, but I guess they are not the same," I chuckled, "Unless you have really small cows."
Maggie smiled again and started the car slowly, "It's settled then. You're coming back with me."