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The woman turned, and I started making more noises at the sight of her pink insides trailing from her eviscerated middle. Like the girl in the car, the woman had white eyes. Unlike the girl, the woman started moving, shuffling toward our truck.
“Nope.”
Adam gunned the truck and clipped the woman. After that, he didn’t slow down for anything.
It took fifteen minutes of his calmly delivered, “I swear I’ll keep you safe, June,” and the steady presence of his hand on my leg for my breathing to return to normal.
“This isn’t real,” I finally said. “Right?”
“Real or unreal, it doesn’t matter. Okay? All that matters is that we’re together, and I won’t let anything happen to you. Do you understand? Focus on that, June. I’ll keep you safe.”
I nodded and watched the road for signs of trouble.
We made it to his uncle’s farm in the middle of nowhere and stopped in a spray of gravel in the driveway. Adam cut the engine and grabbed the gun from my lap.
“Get the rifle, June. Make sure it’s loaded and ready. Safety off.”
I hated the rifle. I hated the handgun. But I was far more terrified of why we needed either of them.
“We’re going to leave the truck together. Quietly. Stay close and shoot anything that moves. Got it?”
I nodded and reached for the door when he did. Leaving the protection of the truck was the most terrifying thing I’d done in my life. The next most terrifying thing came a second later when Uncle Gary rounded the house.
Like the woman on the road, it looked like something had chewed him up, and his eyes had gone white.
I shivered as he shuffled toward us and jumped at the sharp report of Adam’s gun. A red dot bloomed on his uncle’s forehead before the man fell.
Nothing else moved. From the barn, I heard a faint mooing. Adam motioned toward the big building then pointed at me. The urge to throw up was strong. Swallowing hard, I started for the barn. The gravel crunched under my feet, sounding loud in the otherwise still night. I kept the rifle up and ready even though I knew my shaking would ensure I’d miss anything I aimed at.
Inside the barn, at least thirty cows milled about in their pen.
A few made noise when they saw us. Adam didn’t stop to look at them. We moved farther into the building, and when we reached the end of the aisle, he led us left, through a narrow hall, and down a ramp.
“Watch our backs,” he whispered.
I turned, walking sideways so I could see him as well as the hall behind us. A faint beep distracted me. I glanced at Adam as he opened a door that looked like it belonged to a bank vault. He motioned me into the lit hall beyond, and I hurried to comply.
The door closed with a rasp of air, and Adam turned to me.
“I’m so sorry, Adam.”
He shook his head.
“That wasn’t my uncle. My real uncle would have wanted me to do what I did.”
“What about your parents?”
“If they're alive, they’ll show up. Come on. I’ll take you on a tour. Dad and Gary worked on this place together.”
I turned around and looked down the long concrete hallway of the underground bunker.
“Welcome home, June,” Adam said.
