Days of Love and Blood

“there’s no way we can carry it all.”
    “ Nope,” agreed Cooper. “But we know where it is. We can make another trip.”
    I ran to the loading bay door to check for padlocks but it opened easily when I lifted the hinge. The canisters of food were labeled and we took several bins of each variety as well as boxes of prepackaged meals and freeze-dried food, stacking as much as we could in the camper and truck. We each took turns at the window as a short reprieve from the heavy lifting and by noon we were finished.
    “Well, that was easier than expected,” said Tasha as we stood in front of the R.V.
    “Maybe most of them are gone - dead,” said Johnson.
    “I think a lot of them are,” I said. “But we can’t let down our guard. We know they move in herds. We don’t know why, we don’t know where. I always see them moving in the same direction. East. They’re always moving east.” It was the first time I verbalized my mental note.
    “East,” repeated Cooper.
    “At least the ones I remember coming across. We might not see any here, but I think every day a lone straggler might join a passing herd. And those herds keep getting bigger and bigger. Some of them could be, anyhow.”
    Cooper furrowed his eyebrows and leaned against the trailer. “Why haven’t you said this until now?”
    “I dunno. I thought it was kind of obvious. I’m sure the herds are probably thinning out. They’re dying. They have to be. But sometimes I worry that some of them aren’t. They just keep going. Getting larger and larger. Stronger.”
    “We sh ould get going,” said Tasha; her smile had faded.
    “We’ll drive until we get there,” said Cooper as he opened the door. “Straight through ‘til dawn.”
    Cooper and I weren’t as silent on our way home. I talked about my homicidal theory and the fear that some of the infected hosts were stronger than the rest. Maybe the virus had mutated. Maybe it found a way to live without killing its host. Maybe they were only fears. I had no reason to suspect it. Only fear it. It was my own personal nightmare vetting itself: never being able to live without fear for my son’s life.
    From there we talked about the people on Ivy’s farm and the new houses that were finished. Marianna and her two boys found a spacious ranch in walking distance to Ivy’s farm. Solomon and Gretchen stayed together in a modern colonial up the street right off the main road. Brigham and two of the elderly were content in an updated bungalow, although it was a little further away. Two more homes were being worked on which were found by the town reservoir closer to my house.
    Maybe it was because I felt more comfortable with him. Maybe it was because I desired him. Maybe it was because every so often I would feel him steal glances in my direction and my body would heat up. Whatever it was, I wanted to know more about him and I broke our silent agreement.
    “Where did you live, before this?”
    “Arab, Alabama.”
    “How did you come across Ivy’s farm?” I prodded. He turned his head to me a nd bit his thumbnail. “You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want.”
    “No, it’s okay,” he sighed. “After I lost Cameron, I drank for a damn week straight, jus’ waitin’ to die. My boy was gone fast. I assumed I’d be next. I waited for it. I wished for it. I wanted to die. I woke up a week later and realized it wasn’t gonna happen. I was alone, on the floor of this abandoned bar by route 65 in Alabama somewheres. Bottles were all around me. I don’t remember none how I got there. I don’t remember much after I lost Cam.” He wiped his eye and turned away.
    “I’m so sorry about your son, Cooper. So sorry.” I traced my fingers along the knuckles of his hand, over his wrist and up his arm. I wasn’t going to trivialize his pain by saying I knew how it felt because I didn’t. I still had Ronan. Losing a husband was different than losing a child. There was nothing I could say that would be substantial enough to ward off that kind of pain.
    “Yeah. Thanks. Anyway, that was when I was first attacked. I never heard nothing on the news about the homicidals. I was long gone in a drunken stupor by then. Some guy came into the bar and attacked me. To make a long story short I killed him and then ran. For a while there I thought I was gonna go to jail but it didn’t take long to realize that no one was on the road but me. I thought I was the only one left except for these