“Fuck they move fast.”
“It was waiting,” Quinn said, shifting so he could see through the back window. Ty had quit singing and was staring straight ahead, fingers gripping his seat belt.
“Waiting? What did it think it was going to do, rip us out of the car?”
“I don’t know, but that’s very aggressive.”
“You can say that again.”
Quinn shifted his gaze to Ty, took in the boy’s stoic fear.
“It’s okay, Ty. We’re okay.”
Ty nodded once and swallowed as he continued to twist the seatbelt. He didn’t sing another note the rest of the ride to the city.
~
Portland appeared on the edge of the ocean amongst a tangle of overpasses and onramps. Quinn leaned forward as the signs announcing the city’s distance counted down. The stalled cars became more prevalent here, but Alice was able to weave between them without slowing below thirty. A large cove opened up on the right and he surveyed the choppy, shining water. A half dozen boats bobbed there, tethered in place by anchors, and a long sailboat drifted past them, sails furled, its deck empty.
They took an off-ramp that pointed toward the first business district and pulled down a narrow street with dozens of cedar-shaked houses lining its sides. Ahead a small grocery store advertised lobster at eight dollars a pound. The sidewalks were deserted, the only movement a myriad of twisting pinwheels before a tourist shop. Alice took a right and drove down the street, passing dentist offices, a stone-sided restaurant, and a bakery with its front door hanging from broken hinges.
“How far to the facility where your mother lives?” Quinn asked.
“Another two miles.”
Quinn’s head swiveled from side to side, watching not only for the threatening movement of pale flesh but also drinking in the rich colors of the city. The houses, the storefronts, the signs of so many people and life, yet there was none. The city held a voided quality, dreamlike but so vivid he could not look away.
They came upon their first dead body while turning a corner where the street narrowed. Two cars had crashed and one had burned. The body of a partially charred man lay in the center of the street. One of his arms was charcoal-black and his scalp was blistered and purple. He faced mercifully away. Quinn was reaching toward his door handle and anticipating the cold touch of the body in his hands when Alice sped up.
“What are you—” he managed before Alice drove over the corpse.
There was a sickening double thump as the Tahoe’s wheels crushed the man’s skull and legs, and then they were speeding up again. Quinn’s stomach rolled and his mouth opened as Alice glanced at him.
“Listen, were you present back there when that thing came out of the woods? Did you see how fast it moved? I’m sure you wanted me to stop so you could get out and pull that dead guy out of the way, but I will not endanger my child or myself because of some intangible respect for the dead. Understand? The world in which we had that luxury is gone, got me?”
Quinn turned to face the street again and nodded once.
“Mama?” Ty asked in a small voice.
“Yeah, honey.”
“I gotta go potty.”
“Oh for God’s sake. Really?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll have to wait a little bit. Can you do that?”
“I think so.”
“Good.”
They passed an immaculately trimmed park, tall oaks shading a playground, swings swaying without occupants. Another body was sprawled near the slides, long blonde hair ruffling in the breeze, its arms wrapped protectively around something small.