Ascent

Out in the distance, beyond the village of Lyndon, the sky was burning. The acrid smell filled the thick smoked air and made it heavy and hard to breathe. Everything was black and orange and burnt. It smelled like putrid dead animals. Human animals.

Lolly walked along the narrow path in the small pasture, yielding only for embered debris that might set her long skirt ablaze. The mask, the ones they had all once worn was almost non-existent and offered no relief to the dark poison that filled the lungs of every living creature. The boy tagged along in silence. She didn’t know his name but guessed his age at about twelve. He looked like he had been well-taken care of. At one time. When they came to a split in the path, she stopped. To continue straight would lead them straight into the fire lit sky. To go right, lead them into the wooded darkness. The choice was clear. She turned to the boy and pointed. She did not know him or where he came from. She only knew she had saved him.

She was grateful for the cover of shadows. She could hear violent, wrenching screams in the distance and knew that they would be easy prey for the monsters that had taken over the world. The stifling coats they wore were for protection against the elements, flesh eating bugs, or unknown animals that might like a young boy and a middle-aged woman to feast on. Lolly silently prayed and asked God for a miracle. She doubted it could come in time to save them.

The moonlight was a gift from the gods. They were confined to the untraveled path along the edge of the forested area outside of town. She knew that if they stayed on this side, their chances of being seen were greatly reduced. They would have to find cover when it got lighter and sleep during the day. She had five nights before the Full Buck moon would disappear, making travel by night considerably more difficult.

As the light of dawn approached, they came upon the remnants of an old dairy farm. The pasture was wide and green – untouched by the char of madness. Random trees and a hearty stream offered cool spots to settle and much needed water. Lolly sat down on a fallen log – eyeing the decayed spots where critters and bugs might live in harmony. The boy took off his shoes and waded into the stream, settling on a rock edge, his feet dangling in the water. She took two precious granola bars from her backpack and walked over, handing one out to the boy who took it from her wordlessly.

“I’m Lolly.” she said as she filled the containers of water from the stream. Curiously, the water was crystal clear and not yet polluted. He was staring at her through glazed amber eyes, cold and steely. He remained silent. He wore ragged blue jeans and a t-shirt with a band logo on it she didn’t recognize. She continued about the task of gathering water and splashed the cool liquid onto her arms and face. She got up and went back to the log, lying down on the soft pasture grass, her backpack behind her head. The early morning breeze was cool and welcome. She slipped into sleep.

Samuel Gonzales watched her every move from behind his bloodshot eyes. He felt nothing. No sadness, no anger, no sense of loss even though he had lost everything but his own existence. He did not know this strange woman with her erratic dark hair, long skirt, and giant red shoes. She looked like a character out of a movie or book, not someone you’d meet on a dirt road, hunted by killing machines. She’d been hiding under a massive bush that looked impenetrable and had pulled him in by his belt, covering his mouth with her hand and hissed to him, quite rudely, to shut up and not make a sound. At that exact moment, he could hear them coming and held his breath. They had seen her and were looking for her.

“Might get fifty dollars for her.” said one raspy voice. “Maybe just use her up and throw her to the dogs.” laughed another. “No.” said a third, clearly in command. “She could be useful. We would keep her.” Samuels’ skin crawled with terror, his heart pounding so loudly he was certain they would hear it. Eventually the men rode on while Lolly and Samuel remained paralyzed with fear as the sun moved over the sky. The men on machines didn’t come back.

While Lolly dozed in a fitful sleep, Samuel watched her. Her eyes and the corners of her mouth had the finest laugh lines. His own mother Rosa had had the same lines. She had never been sick with the virus, but for some reason, they came and took her away anyway. She knew they were coming - had been warned. The morning they came, she took him into her tiny bedroom and sat him down on the bed.

“Samuel, you must be brave. You must be strong. You must run or they will come for you too. If you love mama, you must go.” She reached into her apron pocket and pulled some money from it, then she took off the heart-shaped locket that had belonged to her grandmother and handed them to him. Tears streamed down her cheeks, dropping off her face and onto her weathered hands. Sobbing, she held him close and tight for as long as she could. She let go when she heard them coming. “You must go. This instant. You will be okay. I know it. You will help others. They will need you. The darkest days are ahead of us, not behind. I love you, Samuel, with everything that I am.” With that, she kissed his head and turned, hustling him through the house and out the back door into the alley behind their shattered home. She turned the lock when he was out, and he heard her answer the front door.

“What do you want NOW? I have given you everything you’ve asked for! I do not know why I don’t get sick! Maybe it’s because I’m brunette? Catholic? Mexican? I DO NOT KNOW! Leave us be!” He heard the scuffling and the men yelling at her to come with them. He heard her crying as she left the house. Everyone knew she would never come back. Samuel turned and began to run.

Lolly’s sleep was filled with terror. She could feel bugs crawling on her, eating at her skin, creeping into her ears, filling her hair with eggs of offspring. She woke up screaming. Samuel ran over and covered her mouth with his hand.

“Remember? Shhhhhh.” She remembered and nodded. They waited for sounds of discovery but heard none.

“I found some food.” Samuel whispered. He held out five apples. They ate one each. As the sun began to set, she looked at Samuel.

“Name. I need to know your name. I’m not going to hurt you or sell you. We just can’t continue with you as ‘boy’.”

“Samuel. Samuel Gonzales.”

“Where did you come from Samuel?”

“I was from Magdelena – in New Mexico. That was where my family lived.”

“What happened to you and your family?” She was met with a hard stare and no other words.

“I’m from Michigan,” she began. “For us, it began with the fourth round. That one was so violent. It killed almost everyone in town. And those it didn’t kill, they turned - morphed into something else. Something not human anymore. They slaughtered each other in the streets. Left nothing. I got out right before all that happened. I had had a dream that I should go and look for clean water. So, the next day, I left my home in search of clean water.” She paused. “I lost everything too.” They finished the apples and pitched the cores into the woods for the small critters that might be left.

“We need to get going soon.” He nodded.

They were sad to leave the lovely pasture, so serene and beautiful. But they both knew they would be discovered there.

It was almost night when they heard engines again. They had had to walk around giant prickly shrubs and were out in the open with no place to hide.

“Get as flat as you can on the ground.”

“Why?” he asked.

“It’s what we do in a tornado if we can’t get anywhere else. Make yourself flat and invisible.” The engines continued to come closer, until they were upon them. They had discovered Lolly. Samuel thought it was likely they spotted the red shoes.

“Get up!” a man shouted. Samuel did not move. He heard the rasp of a gun as she got to her feet, leading them away from Samuel while annoying them with questions about who were they, what did they want? He heard them murmuring in close conversation, arguing a bit between them. He heard them put their weapons down onto a metal surface. One of them wanted to take her hostage for safe passage. The other wanted to let her go. They didn’t need more baggage, another mouth to feed. A third voice emerged – a woman’s voice. “She is not our enemy. She will not be our prisoner as we do not want to be imprisoned ourselves. This land is still free.” The first man began to protest. The woman silenced him immediately. Suddenly, Samuel knew exactly what he had to do. He jumped up from his low-lying plot in the ground and spoke out – very loudly. “Please let her go. I can pay for her.”

“What?” said the first man, filthy, short and missing a significant amount of teeth. He looked like he had had the shit kicked out of him very recently. “What can you pay?” he asked.

“This. Samuel held out the heart-shaped locket in his hand. “It was my mothers. It is gold. You could sell it. It’s all I have.”

The woman approached Samuel and took the locket from his hand. “This was your mothers? Where is she?”

“I think she is dead. They came and took her.”

“Was she so very sick?”

“No. She never got any of the viruses. They wanted to know why. We lost our whole family to it. She took care of everyone but never got sick. Neither of us.”

The woman considered this. “Yes. They would want to know why. We lost our families too. I was sick in the beginning, but not after the third round. That’s why we are running too. We have not changed like many others. They hunt us all because they want to know why.”

“They were upon us two nights ago. Over in the flat land outside of Lyndon. Do you know where we are now?” asked Lolly.

“More southeast. We keep our phones off and only look every fifth day. Less than one minute. To check weather mostly. Power is hard to find.” The woman walked away to the truck. She pulled out a gallon jug of water and handed it to Lolly and Samuel. Samuel handed it back empty.

“You are a good boy. I can see that. Who is this woman to you?”

“She saved me. From the men who hunted us. She is Lolly. I am Samuel. Samuel Gonzales.”

“Well, Samuel and Lolly, come with us. We can offer you protection better than the flat lands. You keep the locket, Samuel. We may need it later.” With that, she turned and told the men to make room in the truck for their new passengers. Lolly looked at Samuel. “Thank you.” Samuel nodded. He heard his mother’s voice and knew he had done something good.

He had saved her.