Jacqueline Druga - Immune

There was a problem. Macy had come out of her drug induced slumber and began to freak out. Her breathing was loud and she outstretched her arms, swinging to get free from the car seat.

It wasn’t Max that she wanted, she was trying for Eugene and Candice in the front seat.

“Okay, Okay,” Max reached out to Macy. “Calm. Come on. Calm down.”

The child was loud, and his attempts to appease her failed.

“She’s hurting herself,’ Max said. “The straps are cutting into her.”

“What can I do?” Grace asked.

“I can’t believe you brought her.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Grace snapped.

“Leave her.”

“Hey!” Candice yelled. “That’s my sister! We weren’t leaving her.”

“I wasn’t leaving my child,” Grace argued. “No one told you to come. I stopped for you. Deal with it.”

Eugene turned around and looked at Max. “She’ll wear down, she has to. She’s a child.”

“A dog with rabies doesn’t wear down,” Max said. “That’s what this is like.”

The car slowed and then came to a halt.

Eugene asked. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”

“We’re out of gas.” Grace tossed the car in gear and opened the car door. “If we’re out of gas,” Max said, “why did she stop on a downhill?” He stopped talking when the backdoor opened with a vengeance.

Grace ran her hand over her forehead and tucked her hair behind her ears to keep it from her face. She reached in for her thrashing daughter. “It’s okay, sweetie. ”

Grace fumbled with the child, feeling her face and neck. She pulled on the straps to relieve her and even placed her lips to the top of the little girl’s head. Please. Please, Macy. I love you.”

She reached for the buckle on the car seat straps. Her hand shaking, Grace froze, and after closing her eyes tight, she brought her hand to her mouth, backed up and slammed the door.

Grace was crouched down, back against the door, head to her knees, when Eugene approached her. She was sobbing. Being a father, Eugene could only imagine what she was going through, especially with a child as young as Macy.

It was a lot for anyone to handle.

“Hey,” he said softly, standing before her.

Grace ran her face against her arm and looked up. “What am I doing, Eugene? Huh? She doesn’t know who I am, but I can’t stop being her mother.”

Eugene hiked up his slacks and crouched down next to her. “There is no way you can stop being her mother.’

“I heard her scream, make that sound, and for a second, for the sake of everyone I was… oh my God, I thought of taking her out and leaving her. But I can’t do that. I can’t.”

“No one is asking you to do that, Grace. Don’t confuse Max’s sarcasm and callous snippets for him telling you to leave your child.”

“But I am I wrong? You’re a parent Eugene, am I wrong? She’s so sick, feverish, I mean out of control fevered and her neck… her neck is black now with these lumps. Am I keeping her with us for me or her?”

“Oh, Grace.” He placed his hand on her head. “This is a very young child. You can’t put her out of her misery like some animal. I can’t say I would give up hope either, not while she’s still breathing.” Eugene stood. “I just met you and I’m not ready to give up hope yet. Hell, I give up here at this moment, I’m giving up on all moments ahead of us.” He extended his hand. “Come on, I’ll drive.”

Grace took his hand and pulled herself up. “We’re out of gas,” she reminded him.

“We’re on a pretty big hill and I see a gas station at the bottom. We’ll get Max to give us a push and drift our way down there.”

“Think they’ll have power?”

“We can hope.”

It was an oasis. The big red Shotz sign beckoned them. It was more than a gas station, it was a convenience store and one of those places late night patrons stopped for mediocre made to order sandwiches at three in the morning.

Perched in the ‘V’ of two hills, almost as if it were strategically placed for those who ran out of gas, it was a mini reprieve and salvation. No sign of any infected around.

Candice in her youthful wisdom said, “The infected don’t walk good. The hills are tough. I bet steps are tough too.”

“Unless they’re running,” Grace added. “They run very well.”

“They need a reason though,” Candice said. “If they can’t see a reason they won’t run.”

It was frightening. After the initial push, which Eugene said they actually didn’t need, the car picked up speed. Fortunately, when the car ran out of gas, Grace saw it coming, felt it coming, and stopped before she could use the last little bit of power to the brakes.

To be on the safe side, Grace and Candice sat strapped in the back.

The car turned over once more, shuddered off, Eugene put it in drive, and Max pushed.

They glided, picking up speed, and Grace could see Eugene had a hard time steering. He pumped the last little bit of fuel into the brakes and cut the car wide and hard so the momentum of the moving vehicle made it up the small ramp into the parking lot of the gas station.

It was a hard stop using the emergency brake, and they overshot the gas pumps, nearly careening into the window of the store.

“Everyone all right?” Eugene asked.

“Yes,” Grace answered. She looked out to double check for any infected.

“We can roll the car to a pump.” Eugene peered through the windshield. “No one is in there.”

“Can you see if there is power?”

With a smile, Eugene looked back. “Lights are on above the Slushy machine. Won’t heal the wounds but I bet a Slushy would make you feel better, Candice.”

“I’ll go in first,” Grace said, opening the car door. “Just in case. Candice, sit up front with Eugene.”

“You sure?”

“It’s safer for me or… shit. Max.” Grace ushered Candice into the front seat while looking for Max. With all the excitement of rolling without control down the hill, she’d forgotten about him.

It was conceivable that he fell after the push and was lying on the roadway. He was already injured. Grace rushed to the driver’s door. “Eugene, did you see Max in the rearview mirror?”

“I didn’t look,” Eugene answered.

The parking lot was huge. Eyes focused forward, Grace walked toward the road and stopped when she saw Max hobbling toward her. He lifted his hand in a signal.

Grace waited for him and he arrived out of breath.

“You alright?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he cringed. “Add, uh, banged up knees to my laundry list of injuries.”

“When we get to the hospital we’ll have them check you out.”

“Um… yeah. Looks like you overshot the pumps.”

“Eugene said we can push the car back. Store has power. Doesn’t look on out here, but the Slushy machine light is on.”

“We’ll go in and turn on the pumps.”

“Do you know how?” she asked.

“Yeah, I do. We need to make sure there are no infected inside, once we do, your daughter can wait in there. Maybe you two can load up on supplies. The non-sick daughter I mean.”

Slightly irritated by that, Grace commented, “I figured that’s what you meant. Let’s go check out the store.”

“Do you have your gun?”

“What gun?” Grace asked.

“You brought a gun with you when you left your home, right?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t own a gun.”

“Weapon. What weapon did you bring?”

“I didn’t.”

“You took your kid out in this without a weapon?”

“I don’t need one.”

“Yeah, you do, for her. What do you have in your trunk that can be used?”

“I have a snow brush.”

“Forget it,” Max walked to the store. “We’ll find something in there.”