FIVE

Jake

            Groaning tiredly, Jake sat up in the back seat and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair vaguely resembled a haystack. Scrambling around inside the cab of the truck she pulled out the hair brush she grabbed in the convenience store and ran it through her hair. Since The First, she had not cut her hair and it had already been fairly long. Before it had just barely brushed the top of her shoulders; now it hit the middle of her back. When she knew she would be out for a long time she would tie it up in a high ponytail. Only to keep it from being used against her by anybody and not as a fashion statement. Once smooth and soft, her long mahogany hair was now oily and rough. She knew that running water was a lot to ask for, so she didn’t even try. Streams and rivers where her best bet for water.

            “Hielo? Hielo up.” She said. Like a good dog, Hielo had stayed curled up where he had first hidden. Hielo jumped up and planted himself on the passenger seat. “I could really use coffee right now, you know that boy?” she laughed to the dog. Barking in agreement, Hielo leaned over and gave a quick lick across Jake’s cheek. Giggling, she wiped the dog slobber off her cheek and started the car.

Pulling out of the parking garage she stayed off the main road she had been taking. She was sure those two strangers were following her. Somehow she had to get to Vancouver without running into them again. She stayed off main roads until she was out of Seattle.

As she got farther and farther outside the city limits she realized that she forgot to leave a letter. Maybe that was how they found her again. Stupid. Unstables could read too. Jake didn’t know if that was what those two were but it was what made the most sense right now. Who else would shoot at a human, especially when you can tell that the person is alive! Jake shook her head, sometimes she didn’t understand. She shot a smirk at Hielo. She honestly wished that he could understand her and vice versa. Long trips like these would be so much more interesting then.

They drove for hours without a word. Occasionally Jake would take sips from Vitamin water she opened. Hielo would change from lying down curled up on the seat to shoving his face against the window. The road to Vancouver seemed endless, stretching on forever in front of her.

~

ADRIAN

 

“Wake up bonehead,” said Richelle, roughly shoving against his shoulder. Jerking his head up, Adrian lifted his beanie and peered around. Harsh sunlight was beating against his eyes.

“Why? What’s going on?” he asked. Tired it came out more like “Wha? Wha go’an ohn?”

“I think I took a wrong turn. We’re not headed towards Vancouver anymore.” She moaned. Jerked upright in his seat he searched out the window. A sign announcing their arrival in Abbotsford whipped past.

“Abbotsford? How the hell did we end up in Abbotsford? You took us in a giant U. How long have we been driving this way?” he asked.

“I-I don’t know. A while I guess. I’m sorry. I th-think I misread a sign or something. Don’t yell at me.” She stuttered. Her words were shaky as she stopped the car. Adrian took a deep breath and stared at his sister.

“Okay. Get out. Switch spots with me. I’m driving now.” He said calmly. They each checked the surrounding area for any returned. When the coast was clear, they jumped out and switched spots. Adrian slid behind the wheel, shutting and locking the door. When he was sure that Richelle was in, he hit the gas and spun the car around. They headed in the opposite direction, again in silence. He could feel Richelle’s nervous stares at him. She maybe his older sister but she looked up to him for what to do. It was something she got from being around their father too long.

“No. I’m not mad at you,” he said as she opened her mouth to say something.

“They why aren’t you talking to me.”

“I just woke up. And since when do we talk on these trips?” he pointed out.

“I don’t know. I just wish I knew what you were thinking sometimes. When you blew up, it was like seeing Dad yell at mom all over again. I felt like I did when they would fight back home.” She admitted.

“I’m sorry Aura. I didn’t mean to blow up at you. I just,” he stopped, searching for the right words. “I don’t want to get caught out here. We made a mistake and we can fix it this time. I’m just not ready for the time that we can’t. I know how much seeing this Jack person is to you. Seeing another living person again will be great. Personally I’ve had enough of shooting every moving thing I see.” He said, staring hard at the road.

“I know. I should have just kept on the same road. For some reason I didn’t. I don’t even remember anymore.” She said.

“I know Aura. I know.” He said quietly. The conversation subsided but not for very long.

“You miss them, too. Don’t you?” she asked after a few moments of silence. A solid lump formed in his throat. Breathing deeply through his nose he glanced over at her. Her wide innocent blue eyes were watery. Strands of her thick blonde hair hung in her face. She was 28 but she seemed like she was only 14. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, she was afraid. Pursing his lips, Adrian nodded slowly.

“I think about them every day.” And it was the truth. Adrian thought about their parents every day. Just not in the way that Richelle meant. Adrian thought about being away from their parents and how much better it was now that they were gone. He knew that Richelle missed them. She missed them because father treated her like a princess. She became deaf to the arguing and fights their parents had. She was never hit or thrown down the stairs because she was father’s little princess.

Adrian was another story. He could never do right in his father’s eyes. He would do his best to stay under the radar, to keep out of the way and not be noticed. But that meant that he was hiding and he would be hit. The one time that he had tried to do something nice and cook breakfast, he ended up accidentally spilling syrup in his father’s lap. This got him sent to his room and locked in for several hours. When he had come out he was ‘accidentally’ thrown down the stairs. It ended with long bruises across his back. They had soon disappeared. When his father realized that nobody would see anything on his back, it became his target. Adrian quit the football team and started skipping classes because of the pain. There was nobody he could ever talk to because Richelle never saw any of it. He’d had enough. The outbreak was almost a blessing. Two weeks before The First, his father had flown into a drunken rage and took a knife to him. Three long slices down his back and a deep one down his chest and stomach. He’d had to hide that from his sister too. He’d wondered if he wasn’t there would he start taking this out on Richelle. Had he been taking this out on their mom? Is that the real reason why she left? The scars were there, well the one on his chest was. He couldn’t see to know whether the ones on his back were still there or not. He was pretty sure they were.

“We should be there in an hour or so Aura, okay? Don’t worry.” He said. Richelle gave a nod and took her turn to sleep. Within minutes she was breathing deeper and passed into unconsciousness.

~Jake~

“Half an hour Hielo. I promise.” She cooed. Hielo responded by shaking his short stump of a tail. Jake smiled and turned back to the road. The time seemed to go by faster than usual. They rolled up to a high stone wall surrounding the town of Vancouver.

Her heart dropped into her stomach. The main entrance was intact but the entire surrounding wall was destroyed, crumbled nearly to the ground. Ash littered the more recent rubble. Buildings were collapsed, windows broken. Shadows, like ghosts, seemed to loom from every angle. The Sanctuary had failed. Returned had broken in, the disease had spread and survivors had burned the town with the returned inside. Leaving her car outside the destroyed Sanctuary, Jake slid out of the car and walked towards one of the buildings. On the outside of the building in spray painted letters was ‘Sacrifyce.’ Never did she feel that their last name was more ironic than that moment. Walking in side she searched for any remaining sign of life, subconsciously knowing she wouldn’t find any. Anybody still inside the Sanctuary when it was burned was killed. Burning the town was smarter than people originally thought. The smell of burnt infected flesh, kept away other returned. It had something to do with burning the Voc virus that was so distasteful. Living humans couldn’t smell it but it was there.

Photographs were taped to the cold stone wall. Their edges crinkled from the fire. Pictures from their multiple trips. Rio de Janeiro, France, England, Germany, Italy, and the Bahamas. There were pictures of Jake smiling, sitting on a hill in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and on a boat in front of the Statue of Liberty. Her parents together on their wedding day in vineyard in California.

Jake wandered around the one story house. A tiny bathroom with charred wallpaper. A large king size bed, its covers disintegrated.  Sitting in the middle of the floor was a partially burned stuffed unicorn. Her dad had won it for her at a carnival. Picking it up in one hand she staggered out of the house and pulled her gun out of her boot. She stumbled forward towards the fragmented wall. She collapsed against the large chunks of stone, her chest heaving.