25
AXL SLOWS THE van, and I lean forward, trying to get a better look out the front window. In the distance, Atlanta looms. Even from this vantage point, I can tell there was a lot of damage to the city. A few buildings look like they’ve been cut in half, their tops jagged against the blue sky. In some places, whole blocks seem to be missing.
“What do you think happened?” I ask, studying the uneven skyline that used to be Atlanta.
“The military, hopefully,” Joshua says.
“You hear anythin’ ‘bout this before you left Maryland?” Axl asks.
Joshua shakes his head. “As far as I knew, everyone on the East Coast had pretty much given up by then. Of course, now we know different. They must have made a stand here.”
“Must’ve,” Axl mutters.
“Look,” Parvarti says, pointing out the window. “You can see the wall.”
I shield my eyes from the sun, and the wall comes into view. It’s massive, dwarfing a lot of the buildings around it and going on for miles. How they managed to do this I don’t know, but it must have been a huge undertaking. I’m even more impressed with what they’ve accomplished than I was before.
But if that’s where we have to go, it’s going to be challenging. We may not make it all the way there in the van. If the roads are blocked, there’s a good chance we’re going to have to get out and walk. Which is scary anywhere, but in a city, it’s terrifying.
“We’re going to have to make our way through the city,” Parv says.
“Yup,” Axl says. “Might as well get movin’.”
He presses down on the gas, and I hold Megan closer as we move forward. She’s been quiet, and even though we’re so close, we very well could be reaching the most dangerous part of our journey.
We move deeper into the city, sticking to I-85. It means we’re out in the open, but at least nothing will be able to sneak up on us. There are more abandoned cars than I expected, considering travel was supposed to be suspended. A few we pass have doors wide open and bodies behind the wheel or in the backseat, but most are empty. Abandoned. Like the owner died behind the wheel, then wandered off after they came back. The car forgotten like everything else from their previous lives.
We reach a roadblock only a mile later, and reality sinks in, feeling a lot like a piano being dropped on my head. We’re going to have to ditch the van. I’m not shocked, but I’m also not happy.
“From here on out, we’re gonna be on foot,” Axl mutters, throwing the van in park. “Get what you need.”
“I’m going to change Megan,” I say as I unwrap the sling.
“Do we want to feed her?” Joshua asks from behind me.
I kneel on the floor, and I lay the baby across my seat so changing her will be easier. She squirms when I lay her down, but barely opens her eyes.
“It’s only been thirty minutes or so. I don’t think she’ll eat.” I look up Joshua. “Do babies eat when they’re not hungry? Adults do, but that’s because food is more than nourishment to us. She doesn’t have that habit yet. Right?”
Joshua shakes his head. “If she isn’t hungry, she won’t take a bottle.”
“Then I’ll just make sure she’s dry before we get moving. Just to keep her from fussing.” Of course, that doesn’t mean she can’t decide to dirty her diaper in the middle of the city. She’s a baby. She can’t exactly hold it the way we can.
It only take a couple minutes to change Megan and get her back in the sling—I’m getting so good at both that it feels almost automatic at this point. Once she’s safely inside, Axl opens his door and hops out. Angus follows his lead, and the rest of us are right behind them. I squint when I step out, the sun bright after the darkness of the van. Thankfully, the roads seem to be clear.
Just past the roadblock in front of us, the buildings are shrouded in shadows, blocking out the sun and making every corner seem like it’s concealing something. A few probably are. There’s no way the people behind that wall have managed to clean out the whole city. If they had, they wouldn’t need the wall.
“We stick close together,” Axl says, pulling a knife.
He steps past the roadblock with Parv at his side, and I hurry to catch up. Joshua and Angus take up the rear, but just like Axl told them to, they stick close. The world around us is quiet but not completely devoid of noise. The wind blows, and trash tumbles down the empty road. What sounds like a flag flaps in the breeze not too far away, and in the distance, the quiet hum of engines can be heard. Probably behind the wall.
“How much further do we have to go?” I ask, looking around as we move. Keeping Megan close to my body and myself close to Axl. A couple guns would be good right about now.
“Looks like we’ll reach the wall if we go this way,” Axl says, turning right and heading down a street that’s littered with debris.
Angus turns his head so he can spit, then says, “We just gotta get to the wall.”
“And find the way in,” Joshua points out. “That wall has to have a fifteen-mile radius. At least. It could take us hours to find the gate.”
Just thinking about hours of walking through this city makes my legs ache, but even more than that, I’m worried about Megan. If she starts crying, we’re going to be in trouble, and stopping to feed her in the middle of the city isn’t going to be easy.
“Just a little farther,” Axl says, and I do my best to believe him.
Each street we turn down seems as empty and destroyed as the last, but it also brings us closer to the city wall. We can make it if we just keep moving. I know we can.
Megan stirs, and a second later, I hear the telltale signs of her filling diaper. Then she lets out a little newborn whimper. It isn’t loud, but it still makes all of us look around as we wait for zombies to come charging. Angus swears, and even though he’s frustrated and exhausted and angry, I know he isn’t mad at the baby. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Angus over the last several months, it’s that he isn’t as heartless as he likes to make himself out to be.
“Shit,” I mutter, patting her back to keep her quiet. “Literally.”
“We can make it,” Joshua says. “It isn’t a good idea to stop. She’ll be fine for a few minutes longer.”
I don’t bother reminding him that he’s the one who said it could take hours to find the gate.
I bounce Megan faster, hoping to keep her calm.
Angus stands up straighter and narrows his eyes like he can look through walls. “This way,” he says, pointing to a road that veers to the left. “That’ll take us right to the wall.”
We move as a group. Out of the alley and down the empty street. I walk practically on the tips of my toes, being careful where I step so I don’t make any noise. Cradling Megan’s head as I go, hoping to keep her quiet and comforted. Praying she doesn’t wake up and start screaming. She can sleep through a dirty diaper. I know she can.
Axl is on my right with Joshua on the other side, but Angus and Parvarti take the lead. We don’t see a single moving thing as we make our way down the street, and the city is so quiet it feels like we’re watching a movie and someone has pushed the mute button. The world has no business being this silent.
The walls of Atlanta get closer with each step we take. We pause at a corner, and Angus searches the area before we start moving again. Then we’re jogging down the street, heading toward the wall. Every step we take makes my heart pound a million beats faster than before, and soon I find it hard to breathe, but I can’t stop. We have to get there.
We’ve been running for close to ten minutes when we turn a corner and come face to face with dozens of zombies. I skid to a halt, backpedaling and praying the mass of dead doesn’t notice us. Around me, the rest of my group does the same, but we don’t make it far before the first zombie catches sight of us and heads our way. Others follow, one after the other after the other until they’re all running. Their feet pounding against the hard pavement like a stampede of elephants behind us. Their moans and growls rising up and filling the air with a song so eerie it makes my skin crawl.
“This way!” Axl calls, pulling me with him as he heads down another street.
Joshua and Parvarti run in front of us as Axl pulls me forward, and Angus takes up the rear, putting himself between the dead and us. We move like we have wings on our shoes. So fast it makes my head spin and causes little Megan to stir. She cries into my chest, and I hold her closer, trying to keep her head from bobbing around. Angus swears every two seconds and Axl won’t let me go and in front of me Joshua looks frantic, while Parvarti seems to be having trouble keeping up. But the bodies behind us keep coming. Running and running and running until I don’t know how they can keep going.
In front of me, Parvarti trips, and I watch in horror as she slams into the pavement.
“Parv!” I scream, trying to slow.
Axl doesn’t ease his grip on my arm, though. If anything he pulls harder. “Run, run, run!”
I stumble over my own feet as I try to decide if I should keep moving or stop. In front of us, Joshua has slowed, but he hasn’t gone back to help Parv, who is struggling to get to her feet, and even though it makes me sick, I know Axl is right. We have to keep moving.
We pass Parv just as she stands, and I glance back as Angus throws his arm around her. They move after us, but Parv is limping, and the right knee of her jeans is torn and bloody. Still, she’s up and on her way. She’s going to be all right. We’re all going to be all right.
We keep going, and before long, my lungs feel like they’re going to explode and my calves ache from running. Little Megan continues to wail no matter how tight I hold her. Then, behind us, Angus lets out a shriek of pain, and Axl is finally forced to slow. Axl and Joshua run back while I stay where I am, feeling utterly useless as Angus fights off two of the dead, putting himself between Parvarti and danger. Even though I want to run to their aid, I can’t. I have Megan, and I can’t put her at risk like that.
Axl slams his knife into the head of one creature while Joshua and Parv help Angus fight to keep the other zombies back. Somehow, they manage to break free of the zombies, taking them out one at a time until all the creatures around them are down. But more are coming. And fast.
“Go, go, go!” Axl screams, pulling Angus with him as he starts moving again.
Joshua and Parv are two steps in front of the brothers when I turn and start running.
We’ve only make it three more blocks before Angus yells, “Turn!”
I do as I’m told, and when I round the corner, the walls of Atlanta loom in front of us. They’re still a good thirty feet away, and so high it makes my head spin, but ready and waiting. All we have to do is get there. I rush forward, my gaze moving over the wall in search of people. Soldiers keeping watch or someone else who can help us escape the horde still charging after us, but as far as I can tell, there’s no one around. And we still have no idea which way the gate is.
I take a gamble and turn right at a street that runs parallel with the wall. The pounding feet behind me echo through my head, but I keep my eyes straight ahead. Telling myself the others are on their way and okay and all we have to do is make it a little bit longer, and then we’ll be safe. We have to be.
I feel like I’ve been running for years when my toe hits something, and I stumble forward. My legs wobble like all the strength has drained from them, and I feel myself falling forward. I let out a scream and turn my body to the side as my arms wrap around Megan. It seems to take forever to hit the ground, and when my shoulder finally slams into the pavement, I know I’m in trouble. White-hot pain shoots through me as a scream rips its way from my mouth, and Megan starts wailing even louder than before.
“Vivian!” Axl screams, stopping at my feet.
I try to stand, but the pain in my shoulder makes everything fade and go black. Megan cries, and I force myself to focus on the present, but it’s so far away and faded that I can’t pull myself out of the fog.
The next thing I register is the screams of Angus and an explosion of gunshots. I blink and force my eyes open, finding Axl in front of me, fighting the zombies back with Parv and Joshua at his side. Angus is trying to put himself in front of his brother at every turn, while somewhere behind me, gunshots rain into the horde.
Footsteps pound against the ground, and someone pulls me up, making my shoulder throb more than ever. Tears pour from my eyes, and I can’t seem to stop them, so I blink and try to focus on my friends. The men who came to our rescue have rushed in and are fighting the dead back. Parv and Joshua are running toward me, perfectly okay, and behind them, Axl supports Angus, who is covered in blood and bites.
The man who pried me from the ground pulls me away from the others, and I find myself fighting him. “Relax,” he says with a grunt. “We’re getting you to safety. All of you.”
“Okay,” I say, allowing him to lead me away. “Okay.”
He drags me to a truck, and then he’s pushing me up. I climb, careful to keep one arm tucked around the baby. It’s my injured arm, and I’m not sure it’s of much use to me right now, anyway. Every move I make causes my shoulder to throb more than before.
Joshua and Parv climb into the truck behind me, and we’re pushed to the back, where we collapse on the floor. More men climb in, then Axl and Angus. Then even more men. Before they’ve even found a seat, the tires below us squeal against the pavement, and the entire truck lurches forward. Axl stays by his brother’s side as the truck shoots through the city, and even though every bump of the tires makes my shoulder hurt like hell, I couldn’t be more relived to be safely in the back of this truck.