Red Hill

Chapter Twenty-Six

Nathan

“NEED MORE WATER?” MIRANDA CALLED.

I poked my head over the edge. “Sure,” I said. It was hard to guess on top of the roof, but I was willing to bet the temperature was easily over a hundred degrees.

Miranda climbed the ladder with another large glass, taking my nearly empty one.

“You know what I miss?” I said. “Ice.”

Miranda smiled. “Oh my God. I do, too. But I’m sure we’ll get some this winter, and then we won’t miss it so much.”

I laughed. “You’re probably right.”

Miranda climbed back down, and I squinted from the glare. Scarlet and the others had been clearing for three days, and I hoped they would be back soon. I’d seen a pillar of smoke earlier that morning in that direction, and I hoped it wasn’t some sort of signal from them that they needed help. I didn’t bother telling Miranda. We couldn’t risk taking the girls, and it was too dangerous for one of us to go alone, anyway.

I ate lunch on the roof, and then climbed down, waiting to make sure Miranda got situated up top before I went inside. Elleny was tidying up after lunch, and Zoe was coloring on the few nubs left of her crayons. I hoped that if Scarlet had time to stop at the store in Shallot, she would think to pick up Zoe some more—if they had any—and then I laughed at how oddly normal that thought was.

“Nathan! I see them!” Miranda yelled. Her voice was muffled, so I wanted to be sure I heard her right.

“You see them?” I said, stepping out onto the porch. She didn’t answer, so I crawled up the ladder. She was looking through her scope, her lip quivering.

“What is it? What do you see?” Miranda looked at me then, her eyes red and threatening to fill with tears.

After they got a little closer, I squinted in their direction. “Don’t panic,” I said, realizing what had her so upset. “It might not be what you think.”

I turned, watching the group cut across the yard. I crawled down the ladder, with Miranda right behind me, and met Scarlet just in front of the porch. It was obvious the news wasn’t good.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking to Miranda. “I’m so sorry.”

Miranda’s hands shook as she covered her mouth. “No.”

“We were pinned down. He was going to lead them away, but he never came back.”

Miranda sucked in a breath. Elleny and Zoe came outside. Elleny hugged Scarlet tightly, and Zoe hugged Skeeter.

“Are you sure? Did you look for him?” I asked.

Skeeter nodded, his eyes sad. “I found him. I put him down.”

Miranda fell on her knees and wailed, covering her face. Ashley came outside wide-eyed, and kneeled beside her sister. “Are you okay?” she asked. She looked up at us. “Where’s Joey?”

Bryce stared down at Miranda, blank-faced. “He didn’t make it.”

Miranda leaned forward and screamed, unable to conceal her pain. Ashley held her, glancing up at Bryce. He was tearing up, watching his girlfriend mourn Joey the way Ashley had mourned Cooper. Finally, it became too much, and he went into the house.

Skeeter looked over to me with a frown. “Am I the only one confused as hell?”

“Yes,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“Maybe it wasn’t him,” Miranda sniffed. Her eyes brightened with hope.

“It was him,” Scarlet said. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault.”

Miranda’s face hardened, and she stood, pushing Ashley away. “You’re goddamn right this is your fault. Everyone here thinks I’m the selfish bitch, but you take the cake, Scarlet! You got him killed! And for what? Your dead kids?”

“Miranda, that’s enough!” I growled. My tone surprised even me.

Miranda sucked air in through her noise. Ashley reached for her again. “Get off me!” she cried, exhaling in tiny sobs. “Get off me.” She climbed the ladder to the roof, crying alone.

Scarlet swallowed and looked up at me from beneath her brow. “Is she right?”

“No,” I said simply, taking her into my arms. I kissed her hair, unsure of what else to say.

Scarlet

NONE OF US WERE IN the mood to eat, so I just made the girls a plate of peanut butter crackers and called it good. I sat on the couch, drinking water, trying to forget the way Joey looked before Skeeter put a bullet in his forehead.

He hadn’t told Miranda the whole truth. Joey did lead the teds away from the safe house, and he didn’t come back, but when we went looking for him at first light, I was the one who had found him. I just couldn’t pull the trigger. Joey was stumbling toward me, his neck and arms chewed in parts to the bone. I knew it was my fault that he was dead, and I couldn’t be the one responsible for his death a second time. Skeeter held me with one arm while he put Joey down.

I took another sip, and then went out to the porch to wait. I could hear Miranda on the roof. Even though I knew I was the last person she wanted to see, I decided to join her.

“Hey,” I said when I reached the top rung.

Miranda didn’t even bother to respond, she just laughed once, incredulous.

I sat down a few feet from her. We didn’t speak; I just wanted to wait where I could see farther down the road. After about ten minutes, the sky turned, marking the beginning of sunset.

“You’re doing this so I can see that you still think they’re alive. So Joey didn’t die for nothing.”

“No, I’m just waiting for my girls.”

“You have two inside.”

I sighed. “I have two more inside, yes.”

“You know what? It doesn’t matter whether you think they’re alive or not. Their lives are no more important than Joey’s, or Bryce’s, or Skeeter’s . . . or Nathan’s.”

“Nathan’s?”

“He will die if something happens to you. Do you see Ashley? Empty and hopeless? That will be Nathan one of these days after you get yourself killed.”

The thought made me sick to my stomach, but didn’t change my mind. “I take total responsibility for Joey. You’re right. It’s my fault. But I can’t apologize for doing whatever I can to help my little girls get to me safely, and I won’t turn down anyone that wants to help.”

Miranda craned her neck at me. “No one else will say it, Scarlet, but I will: You can go fuck yourself and your stupid idea to clear the way for your girls. There are more infected out there than humans. You’re never going to clear them all, and one of these days you’re going to hack into one of their heads with your hatchet, and you’re going to realize too late that it was Jenna or Halle. But it won’t matter, anyway, because they’re fucking dead!” With the last words, Miranda screamed, clenched her eyes shut, and shook her head, her hair sticking to the sweat on her face.

I closed my eyes, trying to stop her screams from forming pictures in my mind. “Miranda . . .”

“Will you admit it, then?” she said, her eyes both angry and desperate.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what will happen to me if I have to admit they’re not coming.”

“They’re. Not. Coming.”

A tear escaped my eye, and I quickly wiped it away. “I don’t believe that.”

“Scarlet!” Nathan screamed from the porch. He climbed the ladder, his eyes wide. “Are you looking?”

“What?”

“Look! Look at the hill!”

I narrowed my eyes to focus, seeing two small figures walking up the red hill. Skeeter was standing in the yard, yelling and waving his arms. The figures began to run, and it was then that I realized it was Halle and Jenna.

A sob exploded from my throat. “Oh my God!” I cried. “It’s them! It’s my babies!”

They were alone. I could barely process what that might mean, or what they’d gone through, but in that moment, the only thing I could do was scramble for the ladder.

Nathan climbed down a few rungs, and then jumped the rest of the way down, knowing I was in a hurry.

“Scarlet? Scarlet!” Miranda screamed.

I looked to her, and then to the field where she was pointing, seeing a herd of about two dozen infected limping and stumbling toward my daughters. “Oh, Jesus! No! No!” I began climbing down the ladder, but Nathan stopped me. “Stay on the roof! You’re the best shot! I’ll go get them!”

Reluctantly, I nodded and climbed back up to my perch on the roof. I knew he was right, and the best thing I could do for my daughters was to pick off the infected from high ground. Nathan, Skeeter, and Bryce, with various weapons in hand, ran off to reach my girls before anything else did.

Jenna and Halle were still running toward the house, but they would be cut off by the herd that was walking through the field toward them. They had no idea what was hiding behind the wheat, but they didn’t stop running, even when I began to shoot into the field.

“Jesus! Jesus, Scarlet!” Miranda said. She scrambled to the ladder and then climbed down, sprinting at full speed toward the road, screaming for the girls to hurry.

Ashley chased after her a few steps before Miranda pointed back at her. “Stay with the kids, Ashley! Stay with the kids!”

Ashley tossed her sister a handgun, and then looked up at me. I pressed my cheek against the rifle, looking through the scope. I pulled the bolt handle, aimed, and pulled the trigger, taking out the first infected. I leaned my face away. “Run, Jenna! Run to the house! They’re in the field! In the field!”

Jenna slowed down and looked around. She couldn’t see them coming.

“Run!” I screamed.

Jenna looked behind her, took Halle’s hand, and took off toward Nathan and Skeeter. I could hear the boys calling to my children, motioning for them to hurry. I could hear Halle’s frightened cry carry across the muggy summer evening air.

I pulled the bolt handle again, aimed, and shot. Grabbing another bullet, I loaded it into the chamber, and then repeated the process. I’d had so much practice over the summer that I barely had to look to load the bullets, but the more shufflers I put down, the more there seemed to be.

The first of the infected emerged from the wheat. Jenna stopped and leaned back so hard she fell backward, taking Halle with her.

I kept shooting, and the boys and Miranda yelled to get the attention of the herd. A wall of bodies was created between my friends and my daughters, with infected fanning out in both directions.

The girls hugged each other and screamed. “Mommy!” Jenna cried. “Mommy!”

I swallowed back my fear and continued shooting, focusing on the walking dead that were reaching for my daughters. I was sure Nathan and the others were killing every undead thing in their path, but the girls were defenseless.

My hands shook as I reloaded, but I forced myself to stay focused, to put down anything that got too close to my kids. Suddenly, Nathan emerged from the opposite field and grabbed the girls. They screamed at first, and then Nathan pushed them behind him. I aimed at the infected closest to him and put it down, but there were three more behind it, and I couldn’t reload fast enough.

Nathan shoved the closest one away, but as I was reloading a gunshot went off. The infected fell. Skeeter reloaded and shot again. Through my scope, I could see Nathan say something to the girls. They nodded, and then they disappeared into the north field.

My heart nearly exploded when I lost sight of them, but I continued to put down anything that tried to follow. A horrible, suffering scream made me search the area frantically through my scope. I settled on Bryce, fighting off shufflers in front of him, but being attacked from behind. From point-blank range, Miranda shot Bryce’s attacker in the temple, and then fell with her boyfriend to the ground. I couldn’t tell where he was wounded, but they were both covered in Bryce’s blood.

I pulled my chin away from my rifle, and then forced myself to reload and search for them again. Miranda was scooting backward, pulling Bryce with one hand, shooting with the other.

“No!” she cried, aiming at the shufflers closing in on her. “Help us!”

I shot one after another. Skeeter did, too, but Miranda only managed to get off two more shots before half a dozen monsters obscured her from view and then began to feed. When her screams of pure anguish filled the air, I closed my eyes tight. Skeeter’s rifle popped. Even after Skeeter ended her suffering, the echoes of her screams lingered in the surrounding wheat fields for a few moments.

I looked up, seeing Nathan, Jenna, and Halle emerge from the field and then run across the road and toward the porch. I watched the girls until Ashley corralled them into the safety of the house, and then I looked through the scope again. Nathan ran toward the herd with my hatchet to help his brother-in-law. As much as I wanted to go inside the house and hug my babies, I knew none of us was safe until the last of the herd was taken down.

In one moment, it was as if they were endless, and in the next there were only a few left. I shot, Skeeter shot, and Nathan hurled the hatchet. Bodies lay all over the road and in the ditches. It looked like a scene out of a horror movie; a massacre. Nathan and Skeeter didn’t return to the house, instead they stood over the bodies of Miranda and Bryce. They were lying together, chewed and bloody. Skeeter pulled out a handgun, and shot Bryce in the head. He’d already made sure Miranda wouldn’t come back. Spending another bullet wasn’t necessary.

I climbed down the ladder, and stood in shock as I watched Jenna and Halle push through the screen door and bury their faces against me. I wasn’t sure if I collapsed, or if they did, but all three of us were sitting in a sobbing mess on the porch.

Ashley stood over us for a moment, and then began running toward the road. Her wails were the background music to my reunion with my children. Elleny and Zoe stood in the doorway in shock, neither of them seeming to be able to make sense of what had just happened, nor of the scene on the porch. It seemed like everyone was crying, both happy and sad tears.

Night was falling, and Skeeter and Nathan guided Ashley back to the house. She was sobbing, fighting to stay with her sister. Skeeter had to force her the rest of the way into the house.

Nathan watched Ashley and Skeeter until they disappeared behind the door, and then looked down at my family, offering a small smile. “You have some incredible kids there.”

“Miranda?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

He sighed. “Bryce was attacked. She tried to save him. I couldn’t get to them in time.”

Halle’s face was buried under my arm, and her dirty fingernails dug into my skin. I kissed her head. “Come on, girls. I’ve got you. Let’s go inside.”

Nathan helped us up, and we walked inside together. The girls were filthy, and I couldn’t be sure, but I thought they were still wearing the same clothes they put on the last morning I saw them.

I couldn’t stop staring or smiling at them. It almost didn’t seem real.

“We saw your message,” Jenna said, trying not to cry.

I shook my head. “Where’s your dad?”

“He was bit,” Halle said in her small voice.

“He made us leave him,” Jenna said, her voice quivering. “He made us.”

“Ssh ssh,” I said, hugging them both. “How long have you been alone?” I didn’t know why I was asking. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, or that it mattered.

“I don’t know,” Jenna said. “A week? I think.”

“Wow,” Skeeter said. “Tough like their mama.”

Jenna smiled and nodded, and leaned her head against my chest. “That’s what Dad said, too, when we left him. He said we could do it because we were tough like you.”

I looked at Nathan, who was holding Zoe and Elleny close. It made me sick to think my sweet little girls had been alone that long, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what they had gone through during that time.

“If you hadn’t cleared the way for them, it would have been tough for them to make it past Shallot alone, if not impossible,” Nathan said. “You were right. It wasn’t for nothing.”

I nodded, and hugged my girls again. “Come on, babies. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Halle whined, but I kissed her hair. “You’re safe now.” I looked to Jenna. “When is the last time you’ve eaten? Or slept?”

Her eyebrows pulled in. “It’s been a while.”

I pulled her into my chest. “Okay. Okay, that’s all over, now. Nathan?”

“I’m on it,” he said, going straight into the kitchen.

I helped the girls wash, and brushed their hair. It was so surreal, doing something so mundane while listening to their terrifying journey. I sat with them at the table and watched them shovel food into their mouths, and once their bellies were full, I walked them into Bryce and Miranda’s bedroom, and tucked them in.

In the other room, I could hear Nathan humming to Zoe and Elleny.

Halle gripped her fingers around my wrist, tight. “Don’t leave, Mommy.”

I shook my head, brought her hand to my mouth, and gave it a kiss. “We’ll never be apart again.”

“You promise?”

“I promise. You are so brave,” I said, kissing Halle’s forehead, and then looking into Jenna’s eyes and touching her cheek. “So brave.”

The girls settled in, and within ten minutes they were both in a deep sleep. Nathan came in and watched them for a moment with a smile. “They’re beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I said, sucking in a sharp breath to hold back the sob in my throat.

“You’re sleeping in here?” he asked.

I nodded. “In the chair. So I can be here when they wake up. They’ll probably forget where they are.”

Nathan kneeled down beside me and kissed the tender skin just below my ear.

I leaned into him. “Where is Ashley?”

“Skeeter is with her. She’s feeling pretty alone.”

“I imagine.” I sighed.

“They’ve both lost the loves of their lives. They have that one awful thing in common, and they can help each other get through it.”

We hugged for a while, watching my babies sleep. Jenna jerked a few times, unable to escape the struggle to survive, even in her sleep. I hoped that as time passed, she could rest easy again—that we all could.

“I can’t stop staring at them,” I whispered. “A part of me is afraid that if I look away or fall asleep that they’ll disappear.”

“Trust me, they’re here. They’re safe, and we’ll keep them that way.”

I looked to him, touched his face, and pressed my lips against his. “I didn’t really understand when you said the end of the world was the best thing to have happened to you, and how it was so close to perfect. But now that everyone in our family is here . . . and safe . . . I get it.”

“Our family, huh?” he smiled.

“They’re finally here,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief. I smirked when a random thought popped into my head. “Four girls. You’re outnumbered.”

“I think I can handle it.”

I laughed once. “I love you.”

His eyebrows pulled in, and he smiled like those words made him so happy that it hurt. “Now it’s perfect.”