CHAPTER 19: TAKE US BACK

September 6

Harlan sunk to the floor, his back against the wall, eyes trained on his sister's brain matter now spilling onto the floor in a lake of blood. Carr pulled her machete from the floorboard and wiped it on Hilda's clothes before reattaching it to her belt.

"I'm sorry, Harlan, but someone had to do it." She held out her hand.

BANG.

Harlan refused, slowly standing up. His eyes flicked between Hilda's corpse and Carr's machete. How hard could it be to snatch it?

"Harlan? Carr? Are you two alright?" Anthony still had no idea what was happening. "We've got company coming!"

Harlan felt his breathing slow. Everything felt far away, like he was sitting in a movie theater watching everything playing out. The popcorn was stale.

He stepped over Hilda's remains and opened the door. Anthony was right there.

"Hey is ev-" He clasped a hand over his mouth once he saw inside. Junior tried to peer inside but was quickly blocked by the adults as they left the room and closed the door.

"Where's mami?"

"She's taking a nap, we'll get her later." Carr answered, quickly grabbing Junior's hand.

"She's dead." Harlan said, pain in his voice.

Glass shattered downstairs.

"What do we do?!" Anthony was panicked.

"I don't fucking know!" Harlan shouted. He didn't want to be like them. He didn't want to be like Hilda. If he was going to die he wanted out on his own terms, but there wasn't anything for him to leap off of.

Without a word he bolted to the bedroom he and Anthony shared the night before. Harlan tore open the curtains and looked outside, a few zombies were approaching the house. He sprinted to the other bedroom, another couple were approaching from the street. Then he jumped into the bathroom. He couldn't see any of them in the backyard. He returned to the hall, everyone looking at him like a madman.

"OUT THE WINDOW!"

With few options beyond being lunch, Anthony peered out the bathroom window.

"There aren't any behind the house!" He announced.

"Are you serious?" Carr asked.

"I'm deadly fucking serious." Harlan answered. Unsteady feet climbed the stairs, queuing their departure. Harlan was first, landing on the soft grass with a dull thud. Anthony next, followed by Junior, and finally Carr. As soon as she hit the ground, shadowy slouched figures crowded into the bathroom. Decaying arms sprouted from the window like a foul bouquet.

Their escape didn't go unnoticed by the undead on the ground. Harlan dispatched one with his axe while Carr took down a couple with her machete. Anthony kept Junior close. More were coming.

"Lose 'em in the trees!" Carr ordered, and the quartet followed.

Leaves and branches flew past, Harlan couldn't see far in the haze but he knew to keep one foot ahead of the other. The group came out on the other side of the trees and into a field after running for what felt like an eternity. There was nothing but grass before them.

Harlan fell to his hands and knees and screamed.

Anthony gingerly stepped up to Harlan and rested a hand on his back, unsure of what to do. Carr held on to Junior.

"We have to keep going Harley." Anthony said softly.

"What's the fucking use!" He cried as he stood up. "First Jenny died, now Hilda, I almost fucking died yesterday, who's next? You?" He shouted, pointing a finger at Anthony. "Or maybe it'll be you!" He pointed to Carr. "Or fucking maybe-" He stopped himself. "Or maybe that's how things are now." Anthony didn't say anything as he rubbed Harlan's back. "We didn't even grab the fucking food."

"We've all lost people, Harlan." Carr began. "But that's no reason to stop trying. There are other survivors out there, we're living proof."

"I almost wasn't because you ran off on me at the church."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want us both to get cornered in there."

"And you left him for bait?" Anthony chimed in. "What if we left you at the house?" He turned to see a few shambling forms coming out of the woods towards them. "Then maybe we wouldn't have to run again."

"Then why didn't you?!" Carr shouted. "Someone had to act, and it worked out. Means to an end."

"Carr," Harlan took a step towards her and Junior, "You literally made us read Kant and he believed in treating people as the end, not the means."

"Where's mami?" Junior asked.

"We don't have the luxury of morals any more." Carr spat as the dead drew near. Anthony counted a dozen or so. "Or the luxury of rest. Come on now."

"Let me walk with Junior." Harlan demanded.

She let the child's hand go, but he stayed by her side.

"Where's mami?" He asked again, louder. The group could hear undead moans approaching from the woods.

"She's in a better place right now, Junior." Harlan said. "But we need to keep moving. You'll-" he choked a little, "You'll see her again."

"When?" Harlan walked over to Junior and grabbed his hand, gently pulling him away from the dead as Anthony readied his bat.

"Hopefully not for as while. We need to keep moving." The two pushed ahead through the field in the hot noon sun. Harlan turned around periodically to watch Carr and Anthony handle the small horde on their trail.

Once they were dispatched, the group continued to trudge through the field until they hit asphalt. In one direction lay Fallas Lake, its iconic black spire of smoke still climbing high into the sky. In the other direction, nothing.

"This way." Harlan brought them away from town.

They followed the road for several hours, coming across small homesteads and farms, but none of them had a working vehicle. Eventually the road came to an end, but the smoke looked as close as ever. Harlan looked up and down the road to town when it hit him.

"We went in a circle." He declared before sitting on the ground, defeated.

"What now?" Anthony asked as he scoped out their surroundings. "I don't see any deadheads."

"I don't see any cars either." Carr stated.

"You're the only one around." Anthony's play on words fell on deaf ears. He sat next to Harlan, Junior sat next to them both. "So, what do you think we should do Harley?"

He sighed and stared at the grass beneath them, picking at some blades and letting them fall back to earth. Anthony turned to Junior.

"What about you, Junior? What should we do?"

"We should eat."

"Good idea, we really should." Anthony turned to Carr, who stood over the three of them. "Do you have anything edible in that bag?"

She slung it off her back and dug around, producing vacuum-sealed bag of beef jerky. She offered a piece to Junior, who stuck his tongue out.

"Well, if he doesn't like it I'll take a piece." Anthony held his hand out as Carr took a bite. "Oh."

She handed him the second piece.

"Thank you." He took a bite.

"I want some." Carr handed a piece of Junior, who bit into it and froze. "It's hard."

"That's the point, kiddo." Carr took another bite and chewed. "It's jerky!"

Junior struggled with it at first but his hunger took precedent. Soon the bag was empty, Carr threw it on the ground.

"Don't be a litterbug." Anthony snatched the bag before the wind could carry it away and shoved it into his pocket.

"Don't blow up gas stations then." Carr said through a mouthful of half-chewed jerky, pointing to the massive smoke spire. "You made the Exxon-Valdez look like Spiffo World."

"Yeah but-" He stopped. "Do you get dust storms in Kentucky?"

"What?" Carr was bemused. Even Harlan turned to shoot him an odd glance.

"What's that?" Anthony pointed to a beige cloud down the road on the way to Fallas Lake. After a moment, the sound of an engine could be heard. "It's a car! It's people!"

He stood up and started waving his hands, Carr grabbed him and pulled him down.

"Stay down, they could be psychos for all we know!"

"Yeah, you'd know." Harlan spat, not moving from his spot next to the road.

Carr hid behind a bush with Junior and Anthony.

"Harley, please." Anthony called, but Harlan didn't budge.

"I'll be the bait again, I'm used to it." He continued picking blades of grass. As the car drew near, he could see it was a late model pickup with two people in the cab. Harlan waved as they flew past. The truck ground to a halt and reversed. A man with a bristly blonde mustache and baseball cap stuck his head out.

"You alright, boy?" He asked with a thick drawl.

"Not quite, just lost my sister up in Fallas Lake." He pointed a thumb at the plume. "I recommend y'all stay away from town."

"Sorry to hear that. Do you know what's going on in town?" The woman riding shotgun asked. Her red hair tied back into a ponytail, revealing a freckled face.

"Fire, brimstone, souls of the damned. There's nothing good left over."

The two in the truck spoke to each other quietly before the mustachioed man asked another question.

"Are you alone?"

"That's a great question." Harlan turned to the fence. "Am I alone?" He shouted.

Nothing happened for a moment, then Anthony stood with his hands in the air.

"Thanks, Harley."

"Harley?" The woman asked. "Like, Harlan? Delgado?" That's when it clicked.

"No shit, Meghan Marche?" Harlan said as he stood up with a smile and took a step towards the truck. The man with the mustache sat back as Meghan leaned over him to shake Harlan's hand.

"Sorry to hear about Gabby. Or Hilda. Sorry."

"It was Hilda." Harlan's smile vanished. "I have no idea where Gabby is right now. Or Carlos."

"It's hard out here. Johnny got bit months back and ran off, and Dale- he-" She pursed her lips. "Either way, I'm sorry for your loss."

"Me too." A brief silence fell over the group as Anthony walked over. "Meghan, this is Anthony. He's uh-"

Anthony stuck his hand in the truck cab, everyone seemingly ignoring the mustachioed man.

"Anthony DelVecchio, field producer with Triple-N. How are you?"

Meghan made a face as she shook his hand. "Doing fine. This here's George."

"Pleasure." He stated. Anthony shook his hand as well.

"HEY!" Meghan shouted, drawing her pistol and aiming behind the two men.

"Hey now, that's now way to treat your elders Miss Marche."

"Mrs. Carr?!"

"I had the same reaction!" Harlan laughed. George took a hard stare at Carr, who returned it with equal intensity.

"And who's this little one?" Meghan asked, peering down at Junior, who glanced at her before staring down the road back towards town.

"That's Harlan Junior, my nephew."

"She... named him after you?"

"It's a long story." Harlan paused. "Where were y'all headed?"

"Well," George began, "We were going to check out the smoke. We spotted it about a month ago but this ol' gal didn't have it in her 'til we made some repairs." He slapped the side of the truck.

"I can tell you it used to be a gas station, not sure how it's still burning after all this time." Harlan looked back towards town. "It's smoky up there, I don't recommend breathing the air for too long."

"These two idiots blew it up." Carr mumbled. Meghan and George's eyes widened.

"I resent being called that." Anthony faux-whined.

"Why?" Meghan asked.

"That's another long story." Harlan said. "Do you two know a safe place we can hole up and chat?"

"We uh-" George began before Meghan cut him off.

"We've got a big place about a half day's drive from here. Hop in the back if y'all don't mind ridin' bitch."

After some debate, including Anthony's concerns about the safety of "riding bitch", as Meghan put it, the group climbed onto the truck's cargo bed and rumbled down the bumpy road. A few minutes into the ride, Meghan opened the cab's rear window and asked Harlan, "So where have you been all these years?"

He sighed.