Patrick D'Orazio - Coming the Dark

“Why do you have to be such a coldhearted prick?” Megan inquired.

Jeff swallowed hard. He took a deep breath and let it blow out between his teeth before he spoke.

“I’m not trying to be. I’m just more concerned about the two human beings inside the minivan than I am about those things outside of it.”

Megan didn’t look happy with his answer.

“They’re dead, Megan.” Jeff could feel the anger peeking out again and stuffed it back down inside. He shrugged. “They’re dead, or as good as dead.” Pausing, he lifted his eyes to the roof of the van and searched for something to say. He wasn’t really sure what the infected actually were. Medical science hadn’t offered any plausible explanations when the doctors and scientists were still alive to study the virus. But he didn’t need anyone to tell him what he already knew.

“They’re dead,” he repeated as he looked over at her, his eyes sad. “They just haven’t figured it out yet.”

He saw her grip on the steering wheel loosen. Megan was blinking fast, fighting back tears of rage. Seeing that his words were making things worse, not better, Jeff felt the bile of anger boiling up from his gut once again.

“I’ve mourned enough for a lifetime already. I’ll be damned if I’m going to do it for a bunch of people I didn’t even know.” He crossed his arms and stared out the window.

“Maybe you will be damned for it.”

Jeff stiffened at Megan’s indictment. He looked at her and was unable to think of a response. He saw her emotions shift from anger to regret and then sadness. Tears began to roll freely down her face.

Jeff went back to looking out the window as he thought about what Megan had said. His desire to argue was gone, and all he felt was a cold, hard lump of remorse in the pit of his stomach.

As he watched the trees roll by, he leaned his face against the window and thought about what he had become. He had no idea who he was anymore.

Maybe I am damned…maybe we all are.

They rode in silence, each trapped in private misery. Jeff tried to apologize but clammed up when Megan stiffened at the sound of his voice. So he sat, slump-shouldered, as they moved slowly down the rural road.

Large stretches of the route they took were unpopulated, and a dense canopy of trees stretched to the horizon on both sides of the road. The gaps in the woodlands were filled with modest homes set on large properties, which spread out behind them. They weren’t in farm country yet but were moving farther away from the densely populated suburbs.

Fifteen minutes passed before Megan finally spoke. “Maybe you should drive,” she said in a stilted voice.

Jeff looked over at her, confused.

“I don’t know my way around Gallatin,” she said, her voice losing some of its stiffness.

“Just stop whenever and we can switch,” he replied in an even tone.

Megan looked over at him and nodded, her eyes filled with regret. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Jeff gave her a hesitant smile. When she returned a shy one of her own, he felt the tension drain away. Neither of them had found a way to say they were sorry, but at least there was some kind of understanding between them. Things were going to be okay.

The van slowed to a stop, and the man and woman changed places. As Jeff settled back into the driver’s seat, he spied something glittering in the distance. He looked out the window and squinted in the bright sunshine.

“What the hell?”

Megan was still getting situated when she heard him speak and saw him peering through the windshield when she plopped into her chair. Jeff’s eyes widened, and she squinted to try to catch a glimpse of what he was looking at. After a few moments, she spotted it.

There were human shapes in the distance. Megan blinked and rubbed at her eyes. Despite her best efforts to focus, the figures were not clear. All she could tell was that they were coming up over a hill perhaps a quarter of a mile down the road.

“They must have heard the engine,” Megan said.

Jeff nodded absently as he continued to track the shapes moving closer. Megan noticed something else out of the corner of her eye: more movement. The rearview mirror was angled away from her, so she moved it. There they were, behind them.

“It looks like the gang’s all here.”

Jeff glanced over at Megan and then turned to look out the back window. There were three, possibly four more shapes behind them, and there was no doubt as to what they were. They were closer to them than the others.

He shifted the van into gear, and they began rolling forward. “I’d rather deal with the ones in front of us than the ones behind.”

Pressing down gently on the gas, Jeff elevated their speed to twenty as they moved closer to the people up ahead. The sunlight was directly behind the little group, and it was still hard to tell exactly what they were.

Megan gasped when she saw one waving, its arm swinging back and forth to hail them.

Jeff slowed the van. He had seen the movement as well. Megan squealed in excitement and clapped her hands, obviously assuming the little group before them was uninfected. He wasn’t quite so sure.

As they inched closer, he saw that there were three of them and they were all wearing military uniforms. Jeff’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, noticing one had a rifle slung over his shoulder.

Megan turned to Jeff, her smile widening, and punched him playfully on the arm. He ignored her and kept watch over the trio. Pressing gently on the brakes, he stopped the van in the middle of the road and watched the group’s slow progress.

“Well, don’t stop now!” Megan chastised Jeff. “We’re almost to them.” She giggled. “And to think, we were this close to a military outpost the whole time!” She bounced in her seat in excitement.

When Jeff didn’t move forward again, she gave an exasperated growl and leaned over to open her door. His response was instantaneous. He grabbed her by the arm and pointed at the men.

“What?” Megan shrugged out of Jeff’s grasp and gave him an irritated look. He glared back in response and jabbed his finger out the windshield for emphasis.

“Would you just take another look?” he chastised her.

She ignored the request and gave him her most withering glance. When Jeff didn’t back down, Megan sighed. Rolling her eyes, she slowly looked back out the windshield, making it clear she was only doing so to get him off her back.

The soldiers had gotten much closer. Megan’s jaw quivered, and she felt faint.

They were definitely soldiers. More accurately, they had been soldiers, but now were just another group of plague victims. One was still waving at them, and it looked like he was signaling their van to pull over. Jeff studied him carefully. The private had apparently been attacked with his sidearm in his hand, and there it remained. Swollen fingers were sealed on the weapon, the skin cracked and dripping dark pus as his hand waved back and forth in front of him. He was dragging a mangled leg behind, forcing his arm to rise up to maintain balance. Jeff breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the semiautomatic’s slide was back. The weapon was empty.

The other two soldiers had an assortment of bruises, wounds, and ragged tears to their flesh. One was missing his lower jaw, and the gaping hole down his tattered throat pulsated and bubbled. The other had an M16 hanging limply over an arm that was sliced in half. Rubbery-looking gristle dangled from the wound, the remains of muscle and tissue from his absent forearm.

They began moving again and swerved around the threesome. Megan remained silent. Jeff could see the look of stunned fatigue on her face and searched for something comforting to say to her but could think of nothing. It looked like she had been beaten into submission, and he hated that look. It filled him with despair. Even when she was angry with him, it was better than this.