They Walk

Chapter Sixty Two

She takes me in her arms as soon as we are close enough to touch. And as I cling to her, I’m at a loss as what to tell her. Luckily for me, Gabe and Noah both are not. As Noah leans into the open door of his car, he tells the others inside to go for the other car and that we are splitting up. My father looks even more alarmed than my mother now, and grabs Gabe’s arm as he makes for the driver’s side.

“Where is everyone going Gabriel?” He asks.

“There isn’t enough time to explain, Sir. But, there are going to be bombs air dropped in less than 48 hours and we need to get out of here before that happens.”

Gabe jerks his arm out of my father’s grip and ignores his shocked expression and makes his way to the driver’s side door again. My parents share a look, and I can see them thinking about what I did just a little while ago.

“What about Daniel, we can leave him.” My mother says in my hair and she now clings to me.

Pulling away from her, I face both of my parents and try to think when I became the parent and them the child. Somewhere between all the killing and rushing into the rescue, our roles have been reversed.

Feeling older than I am suddenly, I tell them what is going to happen.

“That’s why we are splitting up Mom, Gabe and I have already decided to go back for Dan and the rest. You should hurry to catch up to the others, or they’ll leave without you.”

Hearing my mother’s gasp of surprise and feeling like a bully, I try to side step my parents and head for the passenger side door, but my father now grabs ahold of me and pulls me to a stop.

“Maggie, the two of you shouldn’t go alone.”

I open my mouth to tell him we’ll be fine, when my mother beats me to it.

“Your father is right, and we’ll go with you. It shouldn’t be left to you to find your brother. We are a family after all, and we left you alone once and look how that turned out.”

My father releases me and nods his head agreeably as he says, “That’s right we’re not losing you or your brother.”

Stepping back, I stare at the both of them and think that maybe I was wrong and that I can rely on them. Maybe it’s the headache talking, but I feel tears in my eyes as I realize they really are the best parents ever. And even more so, when they both walk up to me and take me in their arms. Over their shoulders, I find Gabe watching me on the other side of the car.

Smiling sadly at me, he taps the hood of the car and slides inside away from my view.

“Thanks you guys, really. But we should go, now.” I say.

Pulling myself free from the clutches of my parents, I urge them to get into the car and wiping their eyes they both climb in the backseat together and join Gabe inside. Before I force myself to climb inside with them, I take hold of the car door and lean on it while I search out for Claire. First though, I see that the former occupants of Noah’s car are already safe inside the car we took from Bates. They are already following the other cars that are leaving, and I notice there is a long line of them. That’s a comforting sight, knowing a lot of the people are making it out of here. The same can’t be said for the soldiers.

They are all back to back still shooting into the never ending mass of the dead.

All the activity our here must be drawing them in, and I’m grateful that most of the dead seem to be taken out on the ground. If only the men doing the shooting were able to leave with us, but I can tell they have their work cut out for them, and who knows if they will make it. Across from their station and a ways on the other side of the parking lot, I finally catch a glimpse of Noah. He is just opening the door of a large blue ford pickup, that I deduct must be Logan’s.

As he climbs inside, a double image of him forms before my eyes and this one is cleaner and running straight back to me. He has more urgency than he did earlier, as if he is afraid of something worse than the dead around us. He is almost in front of me now, and strangely he skids to a kneeling stop in slow motion; like he sees something on the ground that I do not. I turn away to call to anyone to see if they can see him to, but in a blink the image of Noah is gone.

Feeling shaky and confused, I lift my hands and rub at my throbbing temple.

I glance back over to the real Noah. He is closing the truck door after getting inside; I realize that Claire and her mother are already safe inside. Glad that they are alright still, I can’t help feeling sad as I watch the truck pulling out of the parking lot. I’ll never get to see her again, and I feel a deep loss of losing my best friend.

From inside the car, I can hear my parents and Gabe calling to me, but it is quiet over the sounds of feet running and guns going off simultaneously. Only when I feel Gabe brush his fingertips across my back, do I pull myself away from the chaos that is now the Collisee. I’m just sliding down into the seat, when something catches my attention from the corner of my eye. My mind does that funny thing again, where it feels like time slows down when I know it really doesn’t. But I have just seconds to turn myself around and see what is coming straight for me.

It’s a dead girl.

Getting to my feet with the others yelling in alarm, I take in her state of appearance. She is a small girl, maybe around four or five and I know she must have died a horrible death. There are large bites taken out of her all over, and she is covered in dried old blood. As she runs to me, her arms are outstretched and I can see that her fingers are all broken at unnatural angles. Even as she snaps her teeth at me when she is almost within reach, I feel guilty for what I’m about to do.

Gripping the ax in my arms, I pull it back like you would a baseball bat before a swing.

She about a yard from me I swing the ax at her.

I have to aim low because of how short she is, and I manage to catch the side of her neck easily. She must have been dead a lot longer than I thought, because the ax slides through her skin with no resistance. Her head comes free from her body with a spray of cold blood and I have to close my eyes and turn my head away to avoid it, it does manage to catch my arms and clothes though.

But what is one more drop to join the many others already littering me?

I can hear my parents disgusted reactions, and I open my eyes again just in time to watch the girls now dead body fall to the ground in a heap. Ignoring the fact that her head is at my feet, I shake dipping blood off the ax and resume getting inside the car.

As soon as I’m seated and my legs are safe inside, I quickly slam the door behind me. It’s quieter in here than outside, and I glace to my left and find Gabe watching me with a smirk on his face.

“What is it?” I ask him.

He whistles and says, “Looks like I’m not the only cowboy at this rodeo.”

Snorting out a laugh, I shake my head.

“Damn straight, hot stuff. Let’s get out of here now, huh?”

“You got it boss.” He says as he starts up the car.

My parents are quiet in the backseat and I can only imagine what they are thinking.

Who is this girl that used to be their daughter?

To be honest I don’t even know who she is. But really, I love her. I lay my head back on the rest of the seat, and as the adrenaline fades from my body, I start to feel awful again. My body is shaky and my head feels fuzzy, and when the throbbing pounding returns like an old friend, I can’t wait to take some pain pills. If only I had water.

Here’s hoping they haven’t run out of it at the apartments, and that I don’t keel over before I get it.