He helps her load up, and then they’re following her radar deeper into the park, past a boulder and a cliff and more rocks forming towering clusters until he begins to hear it, too.
“Shit, that’s definitely crying,” he agrees.
“I can’t tell where it’s coming from.”
They spin a few times trying to follow the sound, make a couple wrong turns, and have to double back, but the third try is a home run. Those cries become overridden by the unmistakable groan of rotters. Once they round a corner, they’re faced with at least a dozen of them clawing and grabbing for a child on a rock.
She’s squished into the boulders with barely enough room to keep dead fingers from reaching her toes peeking over the edge. Before he can process what’s happened, Kara’s trying to bolt past him toward the girl, ignoring the dead in her path.
“Stop,” he hisses, reflexively grabbing her hard around the arm and spinning her to face him while fighting a vision of her being torn apart in his mind’s eye.
She simply stares at him like she’s not all here yet. Some part of her is still running into the fray.
“We’ll get her,” he continues, softer this time. “I promise we’ll get her, but we gotta do it smart.”
She focuses with a few quick blinks. “You’re right, I just saw her and…”
“I know.”
It’s not simple to clear the rotters, but it’s not exactly a horde either. They get some distance and pick off the fast ones before dropping the few left over with their knives. Soon, there’s a pile of the dead at their feet and a scared little girl sobbing on a ledge, afraid to come down.
Wade ain’t the best one to try. His voice is too rough. Kara is easier to warm up to, so she takes the lead in trying to coax their rescue to safety.
“I’m not supposed to go with strangers,” the girl cries, fat tears flooding her cheeks.
“That’s good advice, but we just want to help. We can take you back to your parents. Can you tell us your name?”
She hesitates, can’t be more than eight or nine, already properly suspicious of anyone new. “Carrie.”
“That’s a pretty name. I’m Kara and this is Wade. Now we’re not strangers anymore. We know each other and look, we’ve got muffins.”
Kara holds out the food like she’s baiting a wild animal. It works. The girl nearly scrambles down the rocks, about to land face first below if he doesn’t step in. He’s worried she’ll shy away, but the muffin is a good motivator to let him lift her safely to the ground.
“How did you get lost out here?” Kara asks while they watch the snack get demolished in record time.
Carrie frowns, as if they insulted her. “I’m not lost. I know how to get back. I just couldn’t because of the bad ones.”
“Okay. Good. Then you can tell us how to get you back home?”
“It’s across the valley, but I’m not supposed to say exactly where. Never bring anyone home. Not ever. Not safe.”
“How’d you end up out here alone?”
“It’s hunting day with my dad, but then the bad ones showed up.” Her lower lip wobbles. She does a solid job of being stoic,considering what comes next, though most of that could be due to shock. “There aren’t many out here anymore. They surprised us. He put me on the rock before they got him.”
Fuck, they didn’t see a fresh body, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing, especially with that many rotters capable of eating the evidence.
“It’s been maybe half a day,” she continues. “Momma wouldn’t come looking until tomorrow because we always stay overnight when he’s teaching me, but she would have come. She would have.”
“Of course she would have,” Kara says, gently. “Let us help you get back to her so she doesn’t worry.”
“Not supposed to take anyone home.”
“We can’t just leave you out here. Not how this works. Why don’t we head that way for now and worry about the rest when we get closer?”
“The house with the smoke,” he whispers when Carrie walks ahead, agreeing to Kara’s compromise.
She nods, turning her attention back to the child leading the way. “You have a compass in your head. You knew exactly which way to go to get back down the trail.”
