He’d done the best he could to clean himself
off from his battle with the zombies earlier, but there was still
blood staining his wrinkles and drying in his hair.
“You sound like you’re getting a cold.”
“Nah, I’m fine,” he said. “Don’t worry about
me. Get some sleep before the sun comes up.”
I shook my head as I looked out to the east,
across the flat plains that hugged the suburbs behind us. “I won’t
be able to. Once the sun starts to come up, I can never get back to
sleep.”
“You a morning person?”
“I wouldn’t say that, exactly. It’s just like
it flips a switch in my head. Know what I mean?”
“Sure, I guess. I don’t have that problem. I
take my sleep anytime I can get it.”
We sat in silence for a while as the sun
began to paint the sky a dark blue. The horizon had barely started
to glow when Harrison said, “It’s good that you’re going to the new
settlement. You should take Ben with you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“He shouldn’t go and try to fight. I know you
and he both want to, but what good’s it going to do?”
“Someone’s got to fight them, Harry. If not
us, then who?”
“Someone’s always willing to fight, kid.
That’s part of what got us into this mess to begin with. Look, I’m
not trying to argue with you or nothing. I know you want to get
that fucker that killed Kim; I get that. But shoot, kid, look at
you.” He reached over to touch my cheek and then said, “You’ve got
your whole life ahead of you. What’s the point in throwing it away
for a little bit of pointless revenge?”
“I wouldn’t call it pointless, and I wouldn’t
call it revenge. If we don’t stop this piece of shit, then no one
out here will ever be safe.”
“We ain’t been safe in decades,” said
Harrison as he crossed his arms and settled into his seat. “Not
sure we ever were.”
“Besides, do you really think Ben’s ready to
give up on whatever mission he’s on? The only reason he’s stuck
around as long as he has is because he thinks the Rollers can help
him get to Jerald.”
“You’re wrong about that,” said Harrison.
“Why else did he stay with us?” I asked,
certain that he was the one that was wrong.
Harrison grunted, and then sniffled before
wiping his nose again. “Come on, Annie. You’re not as blind as
that, are you?”
I shook my head and said, “What are you
talking about?”
Harrison glanced at Ben in the back seat, and
then said, “I’m not the one you should be asking about why he’s
stuck around as long as he has. Or why he wanted to go on this
scouting mission with you.”
“Harry, if you’ve got something to say, then
say it.”
“Nope,” he said as he crossed his arms again.
“I’m just going to sit here and watch the sun rise on a brand new,
beautiful day.”
“You’re a weird guy, Harry. You know
that?”
He nodded in agreement, and then coughed
before clearing his throat. He winced as he did, clearly suffering
the beginnings of a cold.
Ben Watanabe
Despite my wishes, Annie and Harrison let me
sleep through the night. By the time I got up, the sun had already
cleared the fog, but hadn’t quite melted the frost that covered the
scape. We ate fast, only delving into a fraction of the portions
we’d brought along. The stink of our previous day clung to us, but
there was nowhere to wash off, and we were forced to endure the
grime for the time being.
Annie plotted a new course, and in the
daylight it was easy to admonish ourselves for getting so lost the
night before. Colorado seemed like a never-ending swathe of
open-space when you could spy the horizon, but those clustered
neighborhoods, with their twisting streets, were easy to get lost
in.
We followed a route that kept us hugged up
against the foothills, far from the travails that the big city
offered travelers. By midday, we’d already come within an hour of
the water tower where Harrison was hoping to be dropped off.
However, a growing concern had plagued us
since setting out. Annie and I continued to glance worriedly at one
another as Harrison lay in the back. He was clearly ill, and I
hoped it was just a cold. After listening to another of a long
series of coughing fits, I was forced to ask the difficult question
that I’d hoped to avoid, “Harry, did you get bit?”
He answered without hesitating, “No, man. I
swear.”
“You sound like shit,” said Annie.
“I feel worse,” said Harrison. His condition
had been rapidly deteriorating. In the morning he said he was just
tired, but now he wasn’t debating his illness any longer. “I didn’t
get bit though, I promise.”
“What about all that blood?” asked Annie.
“Did you get any in your mouth or in your eyes?”
“I don’t think so,” said Harrison. “I had
plenty of it on me, but shit, I’ve been splashed with buckets full
of zombie blood before and never had no problems. I think I’m just
sick is all. I’m just sick. I’d better just be fucking sick.” His
voice grew fainter, but the phrase tarried on, as if he were
desperate to convince himself it were true. “I’m just sick.”
Shortly after that he fell asleep, and we
drove on in silence except for his wet, rasping breaths. Annie
pulled off the road and into the parking lot of what had once been
a mall, but was now just a blackened shell, long ago scavenged and
then burned by raiders or traders alike. She parked and then
motioned for me to step out of the Jeep with her. I did, and we met
at the front of the vehicle as the mid-day sun bore down on us.
“What do you think?” She didn’t have to
explain what she was asking about.
“I think we need to keep an eye on him,” I
said, not certain what else I could offer.
She shook her head and sighed, looking weary
and pale. “He got sick so fast. I don’t know, Ben. I’m worried
about him.”
“Me too,” I said as I glanced back at the
Jeep. “But even if he is…” I hesitated even saying it for fear that
might make it true. “You know, infected. Even if he is, it usually
takes a week before…” Again, my hesitation was brought on by a
reluctance to accept what might be happening.
“We might also be looking at a new disease,”
said Annie. “There were always rumors that the military was
experimenting on new diseases. At one point there was a strain of
the disease that would infect unborn babies, and whatever strain
they infected the people of Juniper and Hanger with hit them
awfully fast. It was almost like they never even had the chance to
get out of there. And now we’ve got zombie dogs running
around.”
I knew she was right, but that didn’t make
the situation any easier. “Well then what do you think? Are you
saying we should just dump Harry out here somewhere?” My tone was
accusatory, even though I hadn’t meant for it to be.
“No, of course not,” said Annie,
understandably defensive. “I’m just saying that we need to be
careful.”
“Of course,” I said.
She glanced down at the holster at my side.
“We should both keep a gun handy, just in case.”
I set my palm against the handle of my pistol
and meant to agree with her, but all I did was nod and grunt. She
looked at me as if expecting a more definitive agreement, but I
didn’t have one to give her.
“You drive,” she said. “I’ll keep an eye on
Harry.”
Annie went to the back of the Jeep, opened
the trunk, and searched the bag for a new pistol. I walked over to
the driver’s side, still processing our discussion. The thought of
losing Harrison and Stubs, one after the other in such quick
succession, had sickened me.
My life had been set on a single path for so
long, like a child going through life with the burden of a destiny
carved by prophets. I was to kill my marks. That had been my
mission for so long, and still was. Yet now, with Harry laying ill
in the back of this Jeep, none of that mattered anymore. I just
wanted him to be okay.
When I got back in the Jeep I glanced over at
Annie and saw that she was holding her new pistol, her finger
resting on the outside of the trigger guard, ready to do what might
be necessary should Harrison reveal himself as yet another dead
face lunging at our necks with teeth bared. I heard his shallow
breath, and looked back at his shivering body beneath the thin,
brown blanket he’d fished out of the back.
I started to say something, but the words
were lost before they escaped. I just looked at the beautiful girl
at my side and the gun in her hand, and I hated everything about
the world we lived in. It was hard to find comfort or solace
anywhere now.
Annie looked over at me and asked, “You all
right?”
What other choice did I have? I nodded and
drove out of the parking lot, back onto the road that would lead us
north along the flatirons and eventually near the burned out
wasteland that had once been known as Boulder. Our destination was
somewhere south of there, closer to the trade routes that the
Rollers had once tried to keep safe.
Harrison’s breathing worsened as we went. The
phlegm in his throat caused him to choke, and instead of moving to
help, Annie steadied her grip on the pistol. Finally, Harrison was
beset with a cough strong enough to force him up. He hacked and
wheezed as Annie held her gun tightly and watched.
“Fuck,” said Harrison once he was finally
able to draw a breath. “Fuck me.”
“We’re almost there, big guy,” I said. He’d
marked the location of the water tower on our map, and I knew we
weren’t more than a mile or two away now. “We’ll get you to your
friends. Okay? How you doing?”
Annie looked at me with wide eyes and shook
her head.
I glanced into the rear view and saw that my
friend’s skin had lost nearly all the color that had defined it
earlier. If there was any tint to his skin now, it was a pale
green.
“I’m dying,” said Harrison. “Fuck me, man.
I’m fucking dying.” He coughed again and then nearly vomited.
Annie undid her buckle, causing the Jeep to
chirp an alarm. She turned so that she could get a better angle on
Harry. She was holding the gun with both hands, prepared to do what
was needed.
“Harry, talk to me,” I shouted at him.
“What’s going on?”
He whimpered, his voice revealing his broken
heart, “They got me. I don’t even know how, man. I don’t even know
how.” He panted and I watched through the rearview as he leaned
back helplessly in his seat. “I never got bit, Ben. But the Devil
still got me.”
“Just hold on,” I said. “We’ll get to the
water tower and get you some help. Okay? We don’t know if you’re
infected or just real sick.”
Harrison squirmed in his seat and Annie
started to point the gun at him. I reached over and held her arm
down, preventing her from showing Harry that she was armed. I
didn’t want him to feel like we’d turned on him.
I stopped the Jeep as Harrison started to
lift up his shirt. He pulled his coat and shirt off at the same
time, revealing a midsection dotted with black spots. The boils had
already begun to swell near his armpits, but they’d also spread out
over his chest and stomach. The speed with which the infection had
taken hold was unlike anything I’d seen in the past two
decades.
“Oh shit,” said Annie.
“It ain’t good,” said Harrison before he
pulled his shirt and coat back down. Then he opened his door and,
before I could say anything to stop him, he charged out onto the
street.
Annie and I got out as well to follow him,
but he didn’t walk any further than the side of the road. He looked
up and started to laugh.
I didn’t know what to do, and I took a few
steps closer. Annie had walked around the front of the Jeep to
stand beside me, and she grabbed my arm to keep me back as Harrison
continued to laugh at the heavens.
“Of all the damn dirty tricks,” said
Harrison. He’d started to scream, but then quieted as he looked
over at us. “Sorry, sorry, I won’t yell at him. I won’t yell no
more. I don’t want to get anyone chasing after you. I’ll save all
my yelling for when I get to the gates. Then there won’t be no one
to stop me from giving that shithead a piece of my mind.” He
coughed and wavered where he stood before collapsing into a seated
position on the cracked asphalt.
“Harry, come on,” I said as I walked over to
him, my hand outstretched. “Let’s get you over to see your
friends.”
“Nope,” said Harrison as he shook his head.
“No way. I don’t want those kids to see me like this.” He pointed
at the road between us and said, “Sit down for a second, both of
you.” A tear fell across his dirty cheek and he didn’t bother
wiping it away.
Annie and I complied. We sat beside him on
that old, broken road, as the wind carried notes of spring and the
mountains clung to their snow. With a blue sky above, marred by
only a dusting of white clouds, and the warmth of a blazing sun, we
sat and shared a final talk with the best friend I’d ever had.
“I want to talk with you two,” said Harrison
as he continued to cry. “And I ain’t pulling no punches. All right?
I’ve earned that much.”
“Sure,” said Annie with a smile and a tear of
her own. “You’ve earned a hell of a lot more than that,
Harrison.”
“Annie, you damn well better listen. I know
how bullheaded you can be, but these are my fucking dying words,
kid. All right? You’re obligated to listen to me.”
She nodded and laughed, although it was a
laugh that was burdened with sorrow. “I’m listening.”
“You’ve got a guardian angel watching over
you, kid. And he’s been watching over you ever since you were a
toddler. Now, I’m not sure if it’s your daddy or not, but whoever
the hell it is, that angel worked all sorts of magic to put this
guy into your life.” Harrison pointed at me. “Somehow or another,
that angel spun the world every which way it could to get you two
together, and I just feel goddamned blessed to see it happen.”