Chapter 21

Backtrack:

Sammy focused on the road ahead of them. Dust words played in her head like a broken record. She fought against the growing panic inside her. Her gaze moved to Dust who was sitting quietly beside her. Josie had climbed into the back seat and thankfully she and Todd had fallen asleep.

“Why?” She asked in a soft voice. “Why does she want to kill me first?”

Dust turned to look at her. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I think it is because she knows I care about you.”

“What about Todd and Josie?” Sammy asked with a frown. “Is she after them as well?”

“No,” Dust replied quietly.

Sammy gripped the steering wheel and scowled. “You care about them. I just don’t get why I’m on her hit list,” she said in frustration.

Dust was silent for several minutes. Sammy glanced at him. He wasn’t looking at her again. She could feel he was holding something back, she just didn’t know what it was. She was just about to ask him when he started talking again in a barely audible voice.

“She’s jealous of you,” he finally said.

“Jealous? Of me? But… I don’t know how to do anything. I mean, look at me! I can’t do the things you or Josie can do. I’m not saying I want whatever that creature is turning into to come after you and Josie, but still, why me? Why is she jealous of me?”

“Because she knows I care about you in a different way than I care about Todd or Josie. I don’t want to kiss or hold them,” Dust murmured.

Sammy felt the heat rise to her cheeks. She had been fighting her growing feelings for Dust as well. They were both too young to be thinking about things like that.

“How old are you?” She suddenly asked.

Dust gave her a crooked grin. “I’ll be sixteen in a couple of weeks,” he said.

“Oh!” Sammy exclaimed with a frown. “You don’t kiss like a fifteen year old,” she added in a barely audible voice.

Another long silence filled the air. That was one thing about Dust that she liked most of the time and found frustrating at others – his silence. He wasn’t one for idle conversation.

“How old are you?” He suddenly asked.

“I’ll be seventeen in four months,” she replied.

“Oh,” Dust muttered. “You kiss pretty good for a sixteen year old.”

An amused grin curved Sammy’s lips before it faded. She was almost a year older than him, not that it was all that great of an age gap. Her mind returned to their current situation.

“So, what are we going to do?” She asked, glancing at him.

“Run until I can find a safe place to hide you, Todd, and Josie, then...,” he paused and drew in a deep breath. “Then, I’ll find her.”

A shiver ran through Sammy at the quiet determination in his voice. This was a side of Dust she had seen numerous times since she first met him. It was the side that scared her.

“You said she was changing, that she was more powerful. What if she hurts you again? What if she kills you?” Sammy asked, voicing her fears.

“She has to be stopped, Sammy,” Dust replied. “One way or another. I’ve seen what she can do. There is a link between us that I don’t understand. I just know that she has started killing and she isn’t going to stop.”

“Then, we should do it together,” Sammy finally said. “We are stronger together.”

Dust shook his head. “I’d be too worried that she’d get to you. I can’t… Sammy, after what happened at the farm when those men were shooting at you. It drove me crazy. Besides, what about Todd? The creature hasn’t figured out the connection between you and him. If she did, think of what could happen.”

Sammy felt the blood drain from her face. She would never put her little brother in danger. The thought of what could happen to him terrified her.

“At least have Josie with you,” she said. “She can take care of herself. You shouldn’t have to face it alone. We’ll find a place for Todd and me to hide. I can protect us from most things. We need to find more food for you and Josie.”

Dust chuckled. “Like a warehouse full of marshmallows,” he retorted with a grin. “That would help.”

Sammy laughed as well. “Yeah, that would help,” she repeated with a yawn. “I’m getting tired and we are getting low on gas.”

“Pull over at the next place and I’ll fill the tank. We can wake Josie and let her drive for a while,” Dust said. “We both need to get some rest.”

“Okay,” Sammy replied with another yawn. “Thank you again, Dust.”

“For what?” He asked in surprise.

Sammy gave him a small, tentative smile and reached out to squeeze his hand. He really didn’t know why she was thanking him. That was another thing that she liked about him, even with all that he could do, he was still down to earth.

“For being you,” she said, releasing his hand. “I see a shadow of some buildings up ahead. Should I stop?”

“Yeah, we’ll just stop for the night. Josie is sleeping pretty good and we all need our rest. A few hours won’t matter,” he said. “I’ll take a look around and make sure it is safe. Maybe we can find some more food and water.”

“In the morning,” Sammy replied wearily. “I’m beat.”

“In the morning,” Dust promised.

*.*.*

“I found some more,” Todd hollered from inside the small store. “These are strawberry flavored.”

“I call dibs!” Josie hooted with glee.

Sammy laughed as Josie took off at a run across the store. There wasn’t much left in it, but they were finding a few items including a few bags of the prized marshmallows. Dust looked up at her and grinned. He held a small shopping basket in one hand and a can of some kind of vegetable in the other.

“It looks like someone has gone through the place,” he said with a nod at the barren shelves that were standing. “Fortunately, they missed a few things.”

“Including the marshmallow aisle,” Sammy replied with a laugh. “You might have a fight on your hands with Josie. Todd has found different flavored ones.”

Dust reached in the basket he was holding and lifted out a box of hot chocolate mix – with a big marshmallow lovers print on the outside. Sammy rolled her eyes at him. Josie and Dust had been teasing each other all morning about how they were going to have a barter war over who got what. Sammy didn’t take it serious, mostly due to the fact they included her and Todd in it.

“I want another hot meal,” Todd insisted. “Three strawberry marshmallows for it.”

“Four and I’ll throw in a hot dessert of apple pie filling for you,” Josie teased.

Todd frown for a minute like he was seriously thinking about what she was saying. His face finally cleared and he grinned and nodded. It warmed Sammy’s heart to see the laughter in his eyes.

“I’m going to go see what else I can find,” Todd said. “Maybe there are some more of those beanie weenies.”

“I’ll help you,” Josie laughed, handing their goodies to Sammy. “Don’t let Dust get my marshmallows.”

“I won’t,” Sammy replied dryly.

“How much do we have?” Dust asked, placing the items he had down on the conveyor belt.

Sammy glanced over their treasure trove. It was small, but at least it wasn’t all junk food. Still, she would kill for some soft bread and some lunch meat.

“Probably enough for a few days,” she said. “Added to what we have, there is about a week's worth of food if we watch what we eat.”

Dust nodded. “I want to take another look around and see if I can find some more gas,” he said.

“I noticed that the road was partially blocked further down. We’ll have to clear it if we want to make it through town,” Sammy added with a worried frown. “I wonder what happened to the people that were here. Surely not everyone was killed. It looks like there had been others going through the buildings considering the lack of supplies here.”

“I agree,” Dust said with a shrug. “I’ll see if I can find anything. You and Todd stay close to Josie until I get back.”

A flash of irritation swept through Sammy. “You know, we were perfectly fine for over a year before we found you. I think I can watch out for Todd and me,” she muttered, looking away from him.

Dust stopped suddenly and turned back around to her and gripped her arms, pulling her close to him. The strange glitter was back in his eyes again. They glowed with a dark intensity as he stared down into her eyes.

“But you aren’t alone any more,” he said.

Sammy’s eyes widened when he quickly bent and pressed a hard, possessive kiss to her lips before releasing her. She lifted a shaky hand to touch her burning lips and stared at him as he walked away. Shaking her head, she forced her mind back on the task of inventorying their supplies. In the background, she could hear Josie and Todd talking. A slow smile curved her lips at Dust’s reaction to her comment.

“No, we aren’t alone any more,” she whispered, packing the items into a second box.

*.*.*

Dust raised his face to the gray sky and drew in a deep breath. His whole body buzzed. He didn’t understand why he had grabbed Sammy and kissed her that way. When her eyes flashed with irritation and she snapped that she was capable of taking care of herself and Todd, a sense of panic hit him hard.

“Not just panic,” he reluctantly muttered to himself. “Something else, too.”

He just didn’t know what it was. For the first time in months, he wished his dad was still alive. He could really use another guy to talk to about what was going on and help him understand why he felt the way he did toward Sammy. He sure as heck couldn’t ask Josie. She’d have a field day picking on him and Todd was too young.

With a sigh of exasperation, he kicked at a rock in the road. The town was small, just a narrow, two-lane road running through the center with a dozen buildings on each side. There were the remains of houses off the side streets, but almost all of them were in ruins. He seriously doubted that he’d find much in the debris.

He stepped over some fallen bricks, noticing for the first time what Sammy had mentioned back at the store. There was debris from one of the buildings and several abandoned cars blocking the main road. It was possible they might be able to find a way around it, but there was no guarantee. The best bet would probably be to just move the cars and bricks.

Dust stepped closer, noticing where two vehicles were pushed together. He stepped around the side and opened the driver’s door. A soft curse escaped him when an arm fell out; or at least the remains of an arm. A pistol fell to the ground at his feet.

“Aw, shoot,” he groaned in disgust. “Not more dead bodies.”

Swallowing down the nausea that rose in his throat, he stared at the figure slumped in the front seat. The traces of dried blood on the man’s bony temple told him that the gunshot had been self-inflicted. Dust glanced at the car in front of him. He wondered if there was someone else in it. He glanced back at the store where Sammy, Todd, and Josie were.

He took a step toward the vehicle and peered inside. It was empty. He turned when he heard a sound behind him. His gaze swept over the sign above the building: First Union Bank of Mainstreet. His eyes narrowed when he saw a movement in the shadows through the open doorway.

Fading, Dust moved through the doorway. He glanced around, tilting his head and listening. There was a muffled sound coming from the back. He walked through the front desk and down the short hallway. He came around just in time to see the door to the vault start to close. He stood indecisive for a moment, trying to decide if he should reform or stay in his present fazed form. Deciding to remain invisible, he strode down the hallway and paused outside of the vault.

“Hurry,” a soft voice muttered urgently.

“They are still there,” a man’s voice said.

“They won’t last long,” the woman replied. “Just shut the door until they are gone.”

Dust bit his lip before he decided he better reform. Turning, he retreated back to the front desk. Maybe whoever was here would be better than Beau and the others back at the silo.

“Hello?” He called out. “I know you’re here. I saw you.”

"Go away!" A man't voice yelled after a moment of silence.

“Uh, okay,” Dust replied.

He waited. From the back, he could hear the frantic whispers between at least two people. When the voices faded, he shrugged. He had enough to worry about at the moment.

“I’m leaving,” he called out one last time. “Goodbye. Oh, there is a dead guy in the car out front.”

He started to turn when he caught the shadow of a man stepping out from behind the corner leading to the vault. The man held a gun in his shaking hands. Dust grimaced when he saw it pointed firmly at his chest. Raising his hands, he kept them visible above the cashier's desk.

“Who are you?” The man demanded.

“Dust,” Dust replied. “Who are you?”

The man stopped and stared at Dust. “I’m Raymond Atwell. I’m the president of the bank,” Raymond replied.

“Oh,” Dust responded. “Who else is here?”

“Why?” Raymond asked suspiciously.

Dust blinked. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I heard other voices. I was just curious.”

“Who else is with you?” Raymond Wellington demanded, waving the gun in his hand back and forth.

Dust looked warily at the gun. “If I tell you, will you quit pointing that gun at me?” He asked with a nod of his head.

“Lower the gun, Raymond,” a woman ordered. “He’s just a boy.”

“How do you know that?” Raymond demanded, glancing at the older woman.

The woman huffed and stepped around the man. She stared at Dust with a hard expression before her gaze softened. He gave her a small, crooked smile.

“Ma’am,” he replied with a nod of his head.

“How many are with you, boy?” She asked.

“There’s just Todd, Sammy, Josie, and me, ma’am,” Dust replied politely.

The woman raised her hand and settled it on top of the gun Raymond was holding, forcing him to lower it. Dust breathed a sigh of relief not to have it pointing at him. He stared curiously at the two people.

“I’m Martha Brookstone,” the old woman replied. “I was head cashier of the bank.”

“Oh,” Dust replied, moving from one foot to the other. “Is there anyone else? We haven’t met too many survivors.”

“There were close to a dozen of us that survived the initial blast,” Martha replied with a sigh of regret. “There are three of us left now.”

Dust stared uneasily back and forth. “What happened to the others?” He asked.

Martha shook her head and glanced out the open door. Dust turned to glance at where she was staring. He grimaced when he saw the body still visible through the open door.

“Stanley left yesterday evening,” Martha replied. “As you can tell, he didn’t get very far.”

“Yesterday!” Dust repeated in shock, turning to look at the skeletal body again. “But… He’s a skeleton.”

“It didn’t take the bugs long to clean him to the bone,” Raymond muttered. “Come dusk, anything outside will end up the same way.”

Dust opened his mouth to ask why when a loud scream filled the air. His eyes widened when he recognized Sammy’s voice. He turned and darted through the doorway. He ran across the road and down the two store fronts to the grocery store. He saw Sammy coming out from between two buildings.

He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. She was shaking so badly, he was amazed that she could stand. His gaze darted to Josie and Todd as they pushed through the doorway.

“What is it?” Josie demanded, her fists clenched and her eyes glancing wildly around.

“I don’t know,” Dust said. He pulled back and brushed Sammy’s hair back from her face. “What is it?”

“Skeletons,” Sammy choked out, staring up at Dust in terror.”Hundreds of skeletons.”

“Stay here,” he ordered, glancing at where Raymond, Martha, and another young girl stood outside the bank.

He reluctantly released Sammy and stepped around her. Walking over to the narrow cut between two buildings, he walked down the long alley. He stopped at the end and covered his nose with his arm.

Sammy was right. Hundreds of corpses, some human, but most of them from various animals, lay piled up in a large mound. Most were stripped of all their flesh. A few were still partially covered. He staggered backwards several steps before he turned. The world was becoming more and more bizarre. Striding back down the alley, he broke back out onto the street. His gaze locked with Raymond Wellington.

“What happens at dusk?” Dust demanded, striding toward the small group.

“The bugs come out at night,” Martha whispered. “We are running out of food. They don’t want regular food. They want us. We’ve tried to leave, but no one ever makes it out.”

“Why don’t you leave before it gets dark?” Sammy asked in a shaken voice. “We need to leave right now.”

“They ate through all the wires on the cars,” Raymond replied. “Stanley worked on trying to get this one started. They must have been in the seats or something. They swarmed him the minute he started it. They are attracted to the electrical system.”

“We’ve been hiding in the vault every night,” Martha replied. “It is the only place safe from them. The first night they killed half of us. Six of us made it to the bank and hid in the vault.”

“But people kept trying to leave,” Raymond replied. “Denise, Martha and I are the last. Denise hasn’t spoken since that first night.”

“What are we waiting for? We need to get out of here, then,” Josie said with a look of disgust. “I sure as hell don’t want to end up getting eaten alive.”

Dust glanced at Josie and nodded. “Sammy, I want you, Todd, and the others to get what food we’ve collected and put it in the truck. We’ll squeeze into,” he ordered. “Josie, I want you to come with me. Bring a bag of the marshmallows, we’re going to need it.”

Josie’s eyebrow rose, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she disappeared into the store before returning a moment later with a bag of the strawberry marshmallows. Dust nodded to Sammy when she looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes. He could feel her terror.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes. Be prepared to leave,” Dust replied.

“We will,” Sammy whispered. “Come on, Todd. Let’s get the food.”

“What are you going to do?” Raymond asked, stepping forward.

Dust paused, glancing at Josie, before turning his attention to the man. “They deserve a proper burial, or at least not to be left that way. Just help Sammy and Todd. It won’t take us long,” he promised.

Raymond paled, but nodded. “Are you sure we can get out of here?” He asked in a hesitant voice.

“Yes, if we hurry. We’ll have to back track to the south some,” Dust replied, turning away. “We’ve just got to hurry."

Dust didn’t wait. It was already early afternoon and the skies were beginning to grow dark with storm clouds. He didn’t want to take a chance on the bugs coming out. He also hated that they would be heading back the way they came. That meant they would be heading in the same direction as the She Devil that was after them.

“Holy crap,” Josie whispered and blanched when she saw the pile of bones.

“I’m going to open the ground up. I want you to burn them,” Dust ordered, taking the bag of marshmallows and opening it. “Make it hot, Josie.”

Josie swallowed and nodded. She reached into the bag and started stuffing the pink sugary confection into her mouth, all joy gone from the rush of power rushing through her. She didn’t question how he was going to open up the ground. Dust wasn’t sure if he could do it, he just knew it needed to be done.

Focusing, he bent down and touched the ground. He imagined a hole forming around the huge pile of remains. The ground trembled and groaned before a large hole suddenly opened up under the thick mass.

“Now, Josie,” Dust ordered through clenched teeth. “Make it hot!”

Dust watched the mass. Something told him that Josie needed to hurry. Her hands were waving back and forth. At the same time as the flames shot out, a mass of black rose up through the skeletons. The bugs were sleeping under the mass.

“Hotter, Josie! Don’t let them out,” Dust yelled about the high pitch sound of the insects struggling to climb out of the expanding hole. “Hotter!”

Josie’s body glowed with the heat of the flames she was pouring down into the hole. The loud screeching and popping of cooking insects was sickening, but she didn’t waver from her gruesome task. Dust kept his eyes on the hole, making sure that none of the insects escaped. Every time they tried, he would deepen the hole. Only when nothing but ash remained did he stand up, bringing a wave of dirt up and over the hollowed out tomb. It fell like rain, covering the fine ash that remained.

Josie’s hands fell to her sides and she swayed. “I need a soda,” she whispered, staring palely down at the gradually filling hole. “That has to be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had to do.”

Dust didn’t respond. He just focused on filling every inch of the hole until there was no evidence of the horrors that lie beneath the soil. Only when the last bit fell did he whisper a few words for the victims. He suddenly felt older than his fifteen years.

“Let’s go,” he finally said, turning and wrapping his arm around Josie when she swayed again.

With a sigh, he bent and lifted Josie into his arms. She clung weakly to him. He would make sure she had one of those sodas when they got back to the truck.

“You did good, Josie,” he murmured quietly as he carried her down the alley. “You did real good.”

She turned and buried her face in his neck. “Just don’t ask me to do that again,” she ordered in a thick voice.

“I’ll try not to,” Dust said, feeling Josie’s damp, hot tears against his skin.

A short time later, they were heading out of town, going back the same way they had traveled the night before. They would need to find another way around. Raymond, Martha, and Denise sat in the back while he, Sammy, Todd, and Josie squeezed into the front seat. It wasn’t easy. Sammy refused to let Todd ride without his seat belt, so she sat on the center console, while Todd and Josie squeezed into the passenger seat.

“We’ll have to find a different vehicle, or another one that is big enough for all of us,” Dust said quietly.

“When we can,” Sammy replied in a somber voice. “I just want to get away from that place.”