The early morning sun was glowing softly through the red walls of the tent when Naomi’s eyes snapped open. The sound came again, a rasping swish, a rubbing along the side of the tent. Naomi propped herself up on an elbow, trying to listen past the thunder of her heart. Macy slept on, oblivious to the sound of something investigating the perimeter of their tiny, flimsy shelter, looking for a way in.
At their feet, Hades’ head lifted, and a basso growl rumbled in his chest. Persephone’s head rose as well, though she didn’t growl. The rubbing stopped, and a moment later, a familiar, obnoxious “meow” made Naomi collapse onto her back, breath bursting from her chest in relief.
Macy stirred. “Was that Ares? Is he back?”
Naomi rolled on her side to face her daughter, eyes assessing, voice light. “Sure sounds like it. That was his ‘I want breakfast NOW!’ meow, I’m sure of it.”
Macy giggled and stretched, speaking through a giant yawn. “Gosh, mom, he’s going to be ticked when he finds out you didn’t pack any kitty chow.” Though she’d slept from early evening until well past dawn, her eyes were ringed with black and sunken. She cuddled close. “I’m not ready to get up yet. Let’s pretend I’m a baby.”
Naomi closed her eyes, resting her cheek on Macy’s soft, bright hair, their bodies curled together like halves of a whole. She had played this game with both her girls – it was their way of saying they needed to be held close, to be cuddled and babied, just for a little while. Macy still asked to play at ten. Piper had rejected the game at six. So different, her girls.
As always, thoughts of Piper made her rub the center of her chest; where there had been connection, now there was just slicing pain. She wasn’t gone, like Scott. But something was dangerously wrong.
Macy’s voice was soft. “You’re thinking of Piper, aren’t you?”
Sensitive little soul. “Yes.” Here in the tent, so far from anything resembling the “normal” she had known, it was safe to speak of it. She shifted to look at Macy’s face. “Can you feel her, honey? I’ve tried, but she’s…disconnected. I don’t know what it means.”
Macy’s eyes were distant and peaceful. “She’s locked deep inside,” she said in a voice that didn’t sound like her own. “She’s being forged by the fire. She’ll either burn or be made new.”
The hair on Naomi’s nape rose, but she was finished with avoiding the changes in both of them. It took too much effort, and it didn’t make those changes go away. “I wish I could feel her like you do. I wish I could know things, so I’d know if she’s going to be okay.”
Macy’s eyes shifted to gaze at her steadily. “Nobody can know what will be, not for sure. I think I know what could be, sometimes. But that can change really fast.” She was silent for a moment. “I miss Daddy. I can’t see or feel him as well anymore.”
“Any idea why that is? Do you think he’s moving on, to the next place? How did you say it – stepping through the veil?”
“No. I still feel him with us, but I haven’t seen him since we left home.”
“Does it hurt him, staying here? Is it dangerous?”
“You mean, could he get stuck? Yeah. But I don’t think he will.”
Naomi twirled a strand of Macy’s soft hair around and around her finger. Now that she wasn’t freaked out, this was fascinating. “Why not?”
“Because he’s not like the ones that are stuck.”
“Do you see them a lot? Ghosts?”
“Now I do. Before everybody got sick, I couldn’t see them, but I could feel them. I just didn’t know what it was.”
“Is it scary?” Naomi conjured a combination of Poltergeist and Sixth Sense, and she frowned. “They can’t hurt you, can they?”
“No, they can’t. Sometimes they startle me, but they’re not really scary. Most of them are just moving on – they haven’t stepped through yet. There have been a lot of them lately. I’ve seen a couple that were stuck though, and they’re sad. They don’t really understand what has happened to them.”
“Wow.” Naomi stared at the ceiling of the tent, thinking it all through. “So you’ve changed and I’ve changed, but in different ways. I wonder if other people are different, too? I wonder if Piper is?”
“She is.” Macy looked up at her. “She’s going to be really different when you see her again, Mama. You’ll be different, too.”
“It makes me sad, that you know these things.” Naomi’s throat tightened. “All I ever wanted was to give you a safe, happy, normal childhood. It’s all I ever wanted for both you girls. I can’t give safe or normal to you, not anytime soon.”
“Mama. It’ll be okay. I promise.” Then Macy smiled her sly smile. “But if you want to make it up to me you could use your animal voodoo on a beautiful white Arabian horse and tell her she’s mine forever.”
Naomi laughed and relaxed again, curling around her daughter, closing her eyes, enjoying the warmth and relative comfort of their little tent world. Just a little while longer, and she’d get up and get them underway. Goodness knew, they could both use the rest.
They had been walking for two days. Macy tired so swiftly, even though she tried to hide it. The first day had been the worst. As advertised, the first section of Barr Trail was brutal, especially for a recovering invalid and a plump housewife. By the time they reached No Name Creek, they had been advancing in ten step increments: walk for ten steps, rest for a few minutes, then walk on. Naomi would have stopped right there, but she didn’t want to make camp next to a water source – who knew what animals might visit. They had spent the night in the ruins of the Fremont Experimental Forest, pitching their tent by the concrete foundation of a long-gone building. The manmade structure had comforted Naomi as she laid awake most of that night, starting at every sound and trying not to think about how easily they could die up here.
The second day had been better, thank goodness. The hike through Hurricane Canyon Natural area and behind Mount Manitou was so much easier, she had actually looked up once or twice to appreciate the spectacular beauty of their surroundings. It had been such a wet spring, the ripening summer was lush and full, right on the edge of blossoming into its full beauty. And quiet – Naomi had never known such quiet. Whenever they stopped to rest, the only sound was the soft hush-hush of wind and the trilling call of an occasional bird.
As the day wore on, the trail got faint and harder to follow. When they finally reached the sign marking the way to Heizer Trail, Naomi had used the last of her courage to hike from one faded pink or orange ribbon to the next. A hard scramble up a steep slope, and they were home free: at the top of the trail that would take them down into Cascade. Macy had fallen asleep in a patch of shade and Naomi had pitched the tent right there. Better another night in the wilderness than to press on and risk further weakening Macy. She figured they only had about three miles to go, most of it downhill
Today. They could be in Woodland Park and at the cabin today, if all went as planned. Naomi smiled. It might be a little early to feel triumphant, but she allowed herself the indulgence. Fat and inexperienced she might be, suffering from weeping blisters, raw chafing and a multitude of screaming muscles, but by thee gods, she would get them through this.
They drifted and dozed a while in silence. Every now and then Ares would yowl, but letting him in was out of the question – their little tent wouldn’t survive a brawl between a Rottweiler and an exceptionally large, half-feral tomcat. After a while, Macy stirred and spoke again.
“I wish I could talk to the animals. I could get Hades to eat my vegetables.”
Naomi yawned and tweaked her daughter’s nose. “He’ll eat just about anything – I don’t think you need any special powers to pull that off. And I don’t really talk with them, not in words. I feel what they feel, and sometimes I sense what they can sense.”
“Can you do it on purpose?” Macy snapped her fingers and made a kissing sound, and Persephone left Hades’ side to wriggle up between them, quivering with delight. She cuddled the little dog close, and Persephone licked her chin over and over in an ecstasy of love. “Can you tell what’s she’s sensing right now?”
Naomi titled her head to the side, considering. Why not? Now that she had accepted this as her new reality – if she was nuts, so be it – it could be incredibly useful to connect with the dogs at will. “I’ll try.”
Naomi focused on the little dog, stroking her golden butterfly ears, and immediately felt the shift. Love, such love. That she had been expecting, and protectiveness towards Macy. Persephone’s head lifted, and she gazed into Naomi’s eyes. Anxiety. As Naomi watched, Persephone repositioned herself, curling up against Macy’s midriff. She met Naomi’s eyes again and whined softly.
Anxiety. Separation. Fear.
Naomi frowned, trying to determine what was agitating the little dog. Gradually, she became aware of a scent, something…not right. It wasn’t decay, nor was it dirt or filth of any kind. Naomi groped for a word to describe what she was perceiving. It was… imbalanced… toxic… dysfunctional.
Macy heaved a deep sigh, hugging Persephone closer, and Naomi stared at her in sudden, horrified comprehension. What she was smelling was disease. And it was coming from Macy.
She sucked in a huge breath, her mind scrabbling like a rat in a maze. Could the plague have damaged her body somehow? She had to get her to a doctor, get some tests run. Maybe she should just check her into a hospital until they figured out what was wrong –
The air left her lungs explosively as the reality of their situation kicked her in the chest. No doctors. No hospitals. No help.
“Mama.” Macy’s voice was soft and calm. “Mama, look at me.”
Naomi met her gaze, and there was just no way she could hide her terror. With shaking hands, she caressed her daughter’s hair, her soft face, her shoulder, everything she could reach. She could feel her face twisting as she tried to control her emotions, and pulled Macy close, sandwiching Persephone between them. Macy’s body was warm, but so, so frail, and Naomi thought her heart would burst in an agony of fear.
“Baby girl. You need a doctor. We need to find a doctor. You just need some medicine and some time, and you’ll be right as rain.”
Macy leaned back and looked at her. She didn’t ask “why,” didn’t question her mother’s statements. She knew. She knew. “We’ll be in Woodland Park today.”
Naomi couldn’t stop stroking her, frantic to reassure herself. Her little girl. She was here, and warm, and alive. She had survived the plague, she would survive this, too. Her baby. “Will there be a doctor there? Is that why you wanted to go so much?”
Macy smiled, but her eyes were solemn. “There will be people who can help us. I know that for sure.”
Naomi shut her eyes. It was so hard to keep breathing. She forced herself to move, suddenly desperate to get underway. “Let’s get our breakfast and go. I’ll take care of the dogs while you go to the bathroom.”
She crawled out of the tent, her movements stiff and jerky, a combination of overused muscles and terror. She understood, now, Persephone’s unwillingness to leave Macy. The little dog never let Macy out of her sight. Even now, Persephone trotted on Macy’s heels as she made her way to the area they’d designated “the bathroom.” Naomi tilted her head back and glared up at the rich, blue sky.
“You listen to me,” she hissed. “You listen, God. You will not take her from me. You will not. You will not.”
The mantra ran non-stop through her head as they ate breakfast and packed up, and as they hiked through the morning. She managed what she hoped was some natural-sounding conversation with Macy, who was enchanted with the views – Pikes Peak, huge boulders, and when they reached the top of Cascade Mountain, the North Pole Amusement Park and the city of Cascade, far below.
You will not. You will not. She couldn’t make it stop.
“Look, Mama.” Macy was pointing. “That’s 24, isn’t it?”
“It is.” You will not. She was terribly afraid she would start screaming it soon. She had to hold it together. “Looks like it’s blocked heading down into Colorado Springs, but not going the other way. We’ll know more when we get to Cascade.”
She decided it was a good spot for a snack, a drink of water, and a rest. The dogs settled down in a patch of shade, and Macy curled up with them, feeding them little bites of the granola bar she was supposed to be eating. Naomi sat down heavily on a cool boulder and pretended not to notice, for the time being, that her daughter’s snack disappeared a delicate bite at a time between the two dogs.
Ares had been slinking along with them since they broke camp, ghosting in and out of the woods, and he slid to Naomi’s side now. He hadn’t asked for affection since the night she had inadvertently joined her senses with his, and it pleased her to be back in his good graces. Purring, he brushed back and forth against her leg and stroking hand, a blessed distraction. For the moment, at least, the mantra in her mind quieted.
She didn’t let them linger for long. After just a few days in the wilderness, it was disconcerting to see the road, the cars, the silent and deserted amusement park, the reminders of the plague. It was hard not to hurry down the steep, wide switchbacks, but as on each of the previous days, Macy’s early morning strength had given way to exhaustion, and Naomi slowed their pace to a crawl. Her own strength was faltering; she could feel it in the constant tremor in her legs, the ease with which she stumbled. She knew she couldn’t carry Macy very far, and had to put off that moment, if it came, as long as possible. They stopped twice more to rest, and to eat lunch, before they arrived at the last switchback leading down to the trailhead. From here they could see houses through the trees, but before they stepped out of the cover of the pines, Naomi stopped.
Torn between the urge to hurry, hurry, hurry and reluctance to go on, she hesitated, debating. Just like in Manitou Springs, a subtle menace permeated the air; there were predators here, desperate people, she could feel it. Hades moved to her side, taut and alert, and she didn’t need to join with him to know he sensed it, too. She reached down to undo the straps that held his pack on, and led Macy over to a relatively flat, open spot just off the edge of the trail.
“Macy, I’m going to go down with Hades first. I want you to wait here with Persephone and our pack until I come for you. I’ll find a vehicle and bring it back, but if you hear a car or a truck, stay out of sight. I’ll come get you.” She smoothed her hand over Macy’s hair. “You can rest and get some more to eat and drink, okay? I won’t be long.”
Macy’s face was pinched with exhaustion and anxiety, but she nodded. Even though it was a warm mid-May day, she was shivering here in the cool shade. Naomi spread the sleeping bag out on the thick pine needles which covered the ground, then settled Macy on it, setting up the pack as a backrest. She zipped Macy’s hoodie up to her chin, then took off her own sweatshirt and wrapped it around her daughter. Persephone curled against Macy’s side, and Naomi gave the little dog a stroke along with silent instructions. Keep her safe. Protect her.
She hugged Macy, forcing herself not to cling, then stood. “We’ll be back soon. Eat a little if you can, and try to sleep.”
She picked up the shotgun, and instead of slinging it over her shoulder by the strap, tucked it under her arm. The handgun, she slid into her back pocket. Then she and Hades headed down to the railroad tie steps that marked the trailhead, Ares slipping along beside them.
She could go left, and uphill, or right and downhill. She chose downhill. The first house they came to seemed deserted, but Naomi couldn’t see any vehicles. She started up the driveway, but a low growl from Hades commanded her attention. He was staring at the house, rigid with tension. He broke off his growl, glanced at her, then focused on the house again and resumed his rumbling warning.
Danger. As before, it wasn’t a word but a feeling, and it made Naomi’s heart pound heavily.
“Well. I guess that’s clear enough.” She swiped her sweaty palms on her jeans and repositioned the shotgun. “Let’s go.”
The connection between her and the dog remained strong as they moved on, but wasn’t as overwhelming as what Naomi had experienced in the past. Her hearing and sense of smell were heightened, but it wasn’t the sensory onslaught of before. As they walked, Ares slid up and down the bank on the downhill side of the road, crouched and slinking. Every time he appeared, she felt an echo of Hades’ loathing. Given the chance, the big dog would happily use the nasty kitty as a chew toy.
They passed a couple more houses on the steep uphill side of the road, but didn’t investigate. Naomi was really hoping they would find a vehicle parked alongside the road, preferably with the keys dangling from the ignition. She’d been thinking this over for the past several days, and she realized her best chance of finding what she was looking for probably meant finding a body as well.
Quite a few people had died behind the wheel, she had observed, though she wasn’t sure why. Maybe they hadn’t realized how sick they were when they got behind the wheel. Maybe they’d been trying to find help. Maybe they’d been in denial – it was human nature to pretend the unthinkable wasn’t true. Whatever the case, Naomi just needed to find one who had shut the engine off first.
They slowed as they approached a cluster of houses on the downhill side of the road. Several vehicles were parked in the vicinity, and Naomi looked over at Hades. He was alert, but not growling. Moving as quietly as she could, she side-stepped down the hill until she reached the clearing behind one of the small cottages. Hades stuck close to her side as they moved around to what appeared to be a parking area shared by several houses. Two pick-ups, a mini-van, a tiny subcompact and a brand new hybrid. Bodies in one of the pick-ups and the subcompact that she could see for sure. She moved to the mini-van.
No body, and unlocked. She popped the door open, wincing at the loud metal-on-metal screech of hinges that needed WD-40. No keys. She eyeballed the cottage the vehicle was parked in front of. Did she dare go in, look for a key rack or a purse? She left the door standing open and moved to the passenger side of the occupied pick-up.
The woman had died wearing a soft pink robe and matching fluffy slippers. She was slumped to the side and her face was turned towards the driver’s side window. Her purse sat in the passenger seat. A shopping list lay beside it, written on the back of an envelope: Cough syrup, milk, diapers, animal crackers. Naomi shut her eyes and swallowed hard.
She opened them again and focused on the keys dangling in the ignition. Decision time. The pick-up was just a two-seater; it would be crowded with her, Macy, the dogs, and if they could convince him to join them, Ares. To go looking for the minivan keys, or remove this sad, dead mother and get back to Macy that much faster? Her stomach tightened at the thought of touching the woman, but–
Hades gave a short, sharp bark, and Naomi whirled around. A girl was standing about 20 feet away, staring at Hades with glassy eyes. She was perhaps a few years older than Macy, right on the edge of adolescence, and she was filthy, wearing stained jeans and a discolored Denver Broncos t-shirt. She took a hesitant step forward, then another.
“Your dog is big. Is he nice?”
Naomi had to swallow several times before she could speak. “He is. Are you alone here?”
The girl didn’t answer. She took another step towards Hades, holding her hand out. “Nice doggy. Will you let me pet you? You’re a sweet boy.”
Hades radiated caution and watchfulness, but he wasn’t sensing a threat from the slowly approaching girl. Naomi tried again. “Are your parents still alive? Is someone taking care of you?”
“Nice doggy. That’s a good boy. Do you want a treat? Want a chewie?” The girl didn’t seem to have heard Naomi’s question; she was focused completely on Hades. Naomi had a moment to wonder if she was mentally unstable when Ares came out of nowhere.
With a banshee yowl, he darted between the girl and Hades, every hair on his body bottle-brushed out. He hissed, yowled, and hissed again, his green eyes narrowed to glowing slits as he glared at the girl. Both the girl and Hades started back, then the girl made a short dash at Ares.
“Get out of here! Scat! Go on!”
Ares batted at the air and stood his ground. Hades growled, barked, then his head snapped up and he stiffened. He trotted swiftly to Naomi’s side, and barked sharply at something behind her. Naomi whirled.
The boy stepped around the corner of the nearest cottage holding a baseball bat. “We won’t hurt you. We just want your dog.”
“My dog?” This was getting stranger by the minute. “Why on Earth do you want my dog?”
The boy was maybe 15 or 16 years old, and like the girl, hadn’t taken his eyes off Hades. His grip tightened on the baseball bat, flexing it slightly into the air. “We’re hungry.”
My God. Naomi looked back over her shoulder. Ares was pacing between them and the girl, emitting a low, feline growl. The girl’s eyes were full of angry tears now, and there was a long kitchen knife in her hand. Where it had come from, Naomi didn’t know.
It would be so easy to do. Dogs were conditioned to trust humans, and had been for millennia. You could lure them in with a gentle tone, commonly recognized words of praise, and kill them before they sensed a threat. Lucky for them, Ares was by nature far more suspicious.
Naomi lifted the shotgun to her shoulder, pointed it straight at the boy’s chest and clicked the safety off. She looked over her shoulder at the girl, and then back at the boy. Her legs were trembling violently, but the shotgun was rock-steady.
The boy flexed the bat again and took a step forward. Naomi sighted in, mouth so dry she could scarcely speak. “I will shoot you.” Her voice shook so badly, it sounded like she was crying. Maybe she was crying. “I don’t want to, but I will. I won’t let you have my dog.”
The boy lowered the bat. “It’s just an animal. We’re people. We’re starving. Our parents are dead, and we’ve cleaned out all the houses around here.”
“I’m sorry for that. I am.” God, should she try to take them with her? She couldn’t just leave them here, could she? She glanced behind her at the girl, who hadn’t once taken her hungry eyes off Hades. Then she thought of Macy. She tightened her grip on the shotgun, and her voice came out steadier. “I have to take care of something, but I’ll try to come back for you. Can you hang on for a day, maybe two?”
The boy didn’t answer for several long seconds. Then, sullenly: “I guess.”
“Good. Okay.” Naomi lowered the shotgun slightly and snapped the safety back on. She slid the handgun out of her back pocket and held it so the kids could see it, then slung the shotgun over her shoulder. “I’m going to get this woman out. Then I’m going to leave.” She hesitated, feeling more than a little ridiculous. “If either of you move towards me or my animals, I will shoot you. I’m a crack shot. I almost never miss. I mean, I never miss. Never.”
Babbling, she thought hysterically. Teenagers always made her nervous. She closed her trembling lips firmly, and moved around the pick-up. When she opened the door, the smell of corruption made her eyes water and her nose run. She sucked in a deep breath of air and held it, using her free hand to grasp the collar of the woman’s robe and drag her out.
The corpse thumped wetly to the ground. Naomi dragged the body clear of the truck, leaving a wet trail on the ground, checking the position of the children every few seconds. She let the woman’s body drop, then moved back to the truck, grimacing at the condition of the front seat. She checked the minivan, then the other pickup, keeping her handgun at the ready, looking for something to throw over the ruined seat. She finally found a space blanket in the subcompact.
The boy and the girl watched her every move in silence, not offering to help. Every once in a while, the girl would lift a hand to swipe at the now-flowing tears, but she didn’t seem aware that she was crying. Hades and Ares stood together by the bumper of the pickup, united for the moment by a common threat. Naomi covered the seat with the space blanket, then snapped her fingers at the animals. “Hades. Ares. Come.”
Both animals obeyed at once, leaping into the cab of the pickup at her gesture. Naomi slid the shotgun off her shoulder and tucked it firmly between the top of the seat and the back window, checking to make sure the safety was still on. Then she stood there, feeling as lost as she’d ever felt.
She had no idea what to say to them. A part of her couldn’t believe she was going to just drive away and leave these babies on their own, starving, reduced to hunting pets for food. Another part of her shut that line of thought down cold. What was her guilt, when she weighed it against Macy’s survival?
She ended up not saying anything at all. She climbed into the truck and set her handgun in her lap. It took two tries to start the engine, and when it finally roared to life, she glanced one last time at the children but avoided making eye contact. There was nothing to say. She would either be back for them or she wouldn’t.
Naomi crept out of the parking area, keeping the children in her peripheral vision until they were out of sight. Once she was on the road, she rolled the driver’s side window down, trying to dissipate the smell. She was painfully aware of the amount of noise the truck made – in such a silent world, the sound of an engine would attract trouble from miles away. She drove the short distance back up to the trailhead, then parked the truck, pocketed the keys and shoved the handgun in her back pocket.
Hades was right on her heels as she ran up the path to where she’d left Macy. Her daughter was curled up, sound asleep, but Persephone was wide awake, rigid with tension until she spotted them. She wiggled and pressed close as Naomi first shouldered the pack then scooped up her daughter, sleeping bag and all, and headed back down the hill.
Hurry, hurry, hurry, her mind chanted. The kids might have followed her. Other people might have heard the truck, and already be on their way to investigate. Feet sliding on the scree, she slipped and staggered back to the vehicle, tucked Macy into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt. Persephone jumped in and curled up on Macy’s lap, who slept on. Naomi struggled out of the backpack and threw it in the bed of the pickup.
Hades followed her around to the driver’s side, but didn’t jump in when she asked him to. Instead, he turned to face back down the road, alternately whining and growling. The hair on Naomi’s nape prickled painfully, and she sharpened her tone.
“Hades! Up! Let’s go!”
He obeyed, finally, crowding close to Macy but refusing to sit on the bench seat. It was then Naomi realized Ares had disappeared. “Kitty, kitty, kitty! Ares! Come on, kitty, kitty, kitty!”
She waited an agonizing minute, then two, then three. Then, despairing, she slid in beside Hades and ended up with his rear in her face. She gave his hip a shove, but the normally obedient dog didn’t budge. He stared out the back window, growling louder now. Macy stirred and sat up, blinking in confusion.
“Mama? What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
Naomi’s hand was shaking so hard, she had to steady her wrist with
her left hand to get the keys in the ignition. She had no idea what
was upsetting Hades, but she shared his anxiety completely. “I’m
not sure, honey. Hades is sensing something. Slide down low in the
seat and hang onto Persephone.”
“Where’s Ares?”
“I don’t know. He was here a minute ago.” She turned the key, then put the truck in gear and took off, gaining momentum as they headed downhill, searching the sides of the road for a flash of grey. “He saved us, honey. We ran into some…not-so-nice people, and he figured it out before Hades and I did. He saved Hades’ life, I’m sure of it.”
“No way. Seriously?”
Macy’s look was so filled with disbelief, Naomi found a shaky laugh. “Seriously! I couldn’t believe it! One minute we were – oh my God! Macy, get down!”
Three people, ranged across the road, two holding shotguns, one holding a shovel. Men, women, Naomi didn’t bother to analyze. She crouched behind the wheel, shoved Hades down with all her might, and floored it.
They stepped easily out of the way. One – a woman – raised her shotgun to her shoulder, but didn’t fire. Naomi flew by them, waiting, waiting for the boom of the shotgun, but it didn’t come. She watched the rearview mirror as much as she dared, saw when the other person – a man – waved the woman’s gun down, watched until she nearly missed a curve in the road, the tires squealing wildly as she jammed on the brakes.
Hades thumped heavily into the dashboard and scrambled to regain his footing. Macy had slid right out of her seatbelt and was crouched on the floorboards, clutching Persephone. A terrible sense of déjà vu gripped Naomi: this was just like their desperate flight into Manitou Springs. How many people was she going to have to run down or threaten to shoot before they made it to safety?
She drove on as fast as she dared, trying to remember the way out of the neighborhood, and failing that, just guessing by the sun and the terrain. Hades settled onto the seat beside her, and Macy was still on the floor, head pillowed on her arms, face hidden. When they reached Highway 24, Naomi sobbed aloud in relief.
Macy lifted her head. Her color was terrible – somehow gray and yellow at the same time. “Mama? Are you okay?”
No, she was not okay. She was pretty sure she would never be okay, not ever. Is this what survival was going to be like? Children killing family pets for food? Violent strangers ready to shoot before they’d even talked to her and determined her intent? Shouldn’t people be helping each other? So far, she didn’t have any reason to believe they would ever be safe again.
But she didn’t say these things. Instead, she nodded, and forced her face to smile. “I’m okay, baby girl. I’m just so relieved 24 is open. It’s clear as far as I can see.”
They turned onto the highway, and Naomi accelerated until it felt like they were flying. Wind pounded into the cab through the open window, but she was afraid the smell would overwhelm them if she rolled it up. She reached down and tucked the sleeping bag more securely around Macy.
“If you’re comfortable enough, let’s have you ride right there. It’s safer, and it gives Hades some room. Okay?”
Macy nodded and burrowed into the sleeping bag, covering her head against the wind. Persephone wriggled free and curled up against Hades’ side, but her eyes never left the lump that was Macy. Naomi thought of Ares, alone now and with little chance of finding them, and her eyes welled with tears.
He’d be okay, she was sure of it – he was too savvy and too darn mean to die. But they had lost so much, the thought of never seeing him again teetered on the edge of unbearable. She could feel his ornery presence in her heart, next to the strength that was Hades, the sweetness that was Persephone, the pain that was Piper, the emptiness that had been Scott, and the glowing everything that was Macy. She sent a pulse of love and gratitude through that connection, and prayed it wouldn’t freak him out too much.
The wind had hardly dried the tears on her cheeks when they were pulling into the outskirts of Woodland Park. It was disorienting to say the least, having spent three days walking, to traverse the eight or nine miles between here and Cascade so quickly. Naomi slowed the truck, scanning for threats, feeling her way along. Long before they arrived at the blockade at the intersection at Baldwin Street and Highway 24, she felt it.
She crept along, her eyes moving ceaselessly, then came to a stop well short of the orange sawhorses that had been placed across the road. One man stood in front of the blockade in plain sight, holding a shotgun at the ready. Two more men stood on either side of the road, sheltered behind parked cars but making no effort to fully conceal themselves. She looked over at Hades, who was on his feet again, staring intently out the windshield.
“What do you think, buddy? I’m getting ‘wary but not dangerous.’ And I can’t feel any but these three, not right here. What about you?”
Hades looked over at the sound of her voice, and just like that, his perceptions were hers. He whined softly – she could feel his worry, how badly the encounter with the children had shaken his confidence, but his read on this situation reinforced her own. She put the truck in park but left it running. Then she reached behind her and pulled the shotgun free.
She stepped out of the truck with her shotgun in one hand, holding both arms up high. She wanted them to see that she was armed, but also that she didn’t intend harm. “Hades, come.”
The men shifted nervously when the big dog bounded out of the cab. Naomi left the door of the truck open and walked slowly towards them, Hades prowling beside her so close his body brushed her leg.
“I don’t want any trouble,” she called. “I’m looking for a doctor, or someone with medical training. My daughter needs help.”
All three men shifted their weapons to the ready. Naomi stopped walking, and Hades’ aggressive growl ripped out of his chest so loudly, Naomi jumped.
“Stop right there,” the man in front said. “Is she sick with the plague?”
“No. She survived it.” She saw the men exchange glances, and willed them to believe her. “We’re from Colorado Springs. She got sick April 7th, the day after my husband died. I don’t know what the date is, but that has to have been over a month ago. No one survives that long with the plague. But it did something to her body. She’s…” Naomi’s throat closed, and she had to clear it several times before she could go on. “She needs help. Please. Please.”
The man in front squinted at her for a long moment. Then, he lowered his weapon. “She’s telling the truth.” He spoke over his shoulder to the other men, but didn’t look away from her. “At least, she believes she’s telling the truth.” Then, to Naomi: “We don’t mean to seem uncaring, but the plague has pretty much burned out here, and we need to protect our own.”
“I understand.” Naomi brushed Hades’ head with her fingertips and he stopped growling like she’d flipped a switch. “Can you take us to someone who can help?”
The man smiled. “We can.”