Among Monsters (Page 17)

My mood didn’t last long. I held the binoculars up to my eyes and located my dad. “He’s picking a round bale. They’re still a ways from him.”

“It’s stucky,” Tobin said, trying to wipe the hay off his hands.

“It’s just for a bit,” Tavia said, pulling him onto her lap and brushing the hay from his clothes.

“He’s getting into position.” I watched Dad lay onto his stomach before he pulled the pin on his rifle. “I hope he remembered to keep his ammo handy.”

Tavia hummed in disapproval. “You sure don’t trust your dad, do ya?”

I lowered the binoculars and looked at her. “He…yeah, he’s smart. But my mom loves this stuff. I just wish she were here. She thinks ahead. Dad thinks about…girls.”

“I bet she doesn’t love it now, and I bet the only girls your dad is thinking about are his own.”

I made a face, embarrassed, and then I put the binoculars back up to my eyes just as Dad took the first shot. “He got one!”

He shot again, and his body jerked with the recoil.

“He got another one!” I let the binoculars fall to my lap. “It’s really loud. It’s going to draw more.”

“We’ll just have to skedaddle before then, won’t we?” Tavia said.

Dad shot several more times. He didn’t even have to fall back. He took down most of them and then hollered at us to climb down.

“C’mon, Halle!” I said after I hopped down. “Jump!”

She leaned over, her hands reaching out for me, and then she fell forward. I barely caught her. I set her feet on the ground and then held out my hands while Tavia lowered Tobin to me.

“Hurry!” I said to Tavia.

She climbed down fairly quickly, and we jogged to the hay bale Dad had shot from, but he was on the other side of the road, diverting the few infected that he couldn’t bring himself to shoot.

“Look away, Halle,” I said.

Tavia shielded Tobin’s eyes as we hurried past, a tiny sob escaping from her throat.

Dad danced around the infected children with various wounds, all three of them younger than me. I only looked long enough to make sure they weren’t following. When I heard three cracks, my shoulders shot up to my ears.

“Did you…” I began.

Dad shook his head, having a hard time with concealing his emotions. “Just made sure they couldn’t keep up. Walk faster.”

He picked up the pace, and we did the same, desperately wanting to create distance between us and the mess of bodies we’d left behind.

In the distance was a field full of scrap metal, old cars, and a few rusted tractors.

“Daddy! Cars!” Halle said.

“We won’t be going anywhere in any of those, Pop Can. They’re just there for parts.”

“Oh,” she said, deflated.

“Cars, Mama!” Tobin said, pointing.

Tavia touched her fingers to his dark hair. “That’s right! You are so smart!”

He hugged his train.

If we had to travel with a toddler, I’d pick Tobin any day. He was quiet, and he minded his mother. Tavia could keep him calm when necessary. We had been so lucky so far. I wondered how long that would hold out.

“Cars, Mama!” Tobin said again.

An engine sounded in the distance, and Dad herded us off the road. The sun hit the vehicle just right, so it took a minute for me to see that it was a silver minivan. They were going so fast that I wondered if someone was chasing them, but the moment they saw us, the tires slowed.

A man about Dad’s age rolled down the window. A dark beard surrounded his hesitant but polite smile. “Going to the next town?”

His wife sat in the passenger seat, looking behind her and whispering, comforting whoever was in the backseat.

“For now,” Dad said. “We ran out of gas a ways back.”

The man looked to his wife, and she gave her permission.

“Listen,” he said, looking to Dad, “it’s too dangerous to walk. We’re headed to Shallot. My in-laws live there. We’ve been driving all night from Midland.”

“You made it here all the way from Midland?” Dad asked.

“It wasn’t easy,” the man said, holding up a pistol.

His wife held up one, too, looking sheepish.

Dad glanced down the road. “We would appreciate you taking us as far as you can. I have some money—”

The man held up his hand and shook his head. “It’ll be a tight fit with the kids back there, but you’re welcome to ride along.”

Dad turned to Tavia, and she let out a breath of relief.

“Thank you, Jesus,” she said. “C’mon, Tobin. You found us a car!”

The man hit a button on the ceiling, and the side door slid open, revealing a girl a little older than Halle, maybe ten or eleven, and a boy Tobin’s age.

“Well, hello there!” Tavia made her way to the third row, past the two captain’s chairs the children were seated in.

She sat next to the wall and situated Tobin on her lap, leaving plenty of room for Halle and me, but I wondered where Dad would fit.

“Just, uh…your littlest can fit nicely on the floor between our kids, if you don’t mind,” the man said.

Dad climbed in and sat near the other wall, and I sat in the middle. Halle sat on the floor in front of my feet, scooting back against my legs.

The door glided closed, and then the man pressed on the gas. A wave of relief washed over me.

“I’m Brad,” he said, looking into the rearview mirror for a moment. “My wife, Darla,” he said.

She turned around and flashed a sweet smile.

“Our daughter is Madelyn, and our son is Logan.”

Dad pointed to himself. “Andrew.” He pointed to the rest of us. “Tavia, Tobin, Jenna. And Halle is on the floor.”

Everyone traded the customary nice-to-meet-yous.

For the first time in hours, I felt my body slowly relaxing from being on alert since I’d opened my eyes that morning. It didn’t take long to realize that none of us smelled very good.

“Dad,” I whispered, “we are stinking up their car.”

“Sorry,” Dad said to the adults in front. “We’ve been walking all day. We don’t mean to offend.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re not at our best either,” Brad said. “Her parents were supposed to head down to visit later today, but when we heard the reports, we knew they wouldn’t chance it, and Shallot is tiny. We’ll have a better chance there than in Midland Her parents would worry if we didn’t come.”

“I’m taking the girls to their mom. She’s not far from there.”

“If we can, maybe we could run you up there in the morning? Depending on the gas situation, of course. We just used our last can an hour ago.”

“That would be …” Dad laughed once, his shoulders relaxing as relief washed over him. “That would be extremely kind of you.” He hooked his arm around my neck and pulled my temple to his lips. “We’re going to be okay, kiddo. You’ll be with your mom this time tomorrow.”

“Don’t jinx it,” I said. “We’re not there yet.”

Chapter Ten

“WHAT THE HELL?” Brad said, stomping on the brakes.

Just as I reached for and missed Halle, Darla whipped around and caught her before she hit face-first into the console.