The Withered Series (Book 1): Wither (26 page)

“Hey,
Avery.”  I look up to see Sal twirling atop a wet boulder.
 The spray of a larger waterfall has left the rock face dark and
slick. “Wanna dance?”

“Alex,”
I shout out in warning.  Though he’s hardly spoken a word
to me since this morning, he rushes forward to intercept Sal.

“Hey,
buddy.  Why don’t you come down from there before you get
hurt?”

Sal’s
face scrunches up.  Spittle seeps from the corner of his lips as
he shakes his head.   I pause several feet below, watching
Alex carefully pick his way up to meet Sal.

“What’s
he got that I ain’t got, anyways?” Sal yells and spins
once more. His footing is precarious.  “Sure he’s
kinda good looking, got arms the size of tree but I’ve got
experience that he can’t compete with.  That’s gotta
count for something, right?”

“Sal,”
Alex raises his arms. He’s two rocks below Sal and not nearly
close enough to avoid disaster.  “I think I’ve got a
candy bar in my pack.  I’ll share it with you if you come
down quietly.”

He
seems to contemplate it for a moment, brushing his hand along the
length of what little hair he has left. Victoria was right to try to
get him to chop it off. That greasy mullet is repulsive.

“Listen
to him, Sal.”  I call out.

His
gaze shifts to look at me. “Not till you promise me that dance,
sweetheart.”

Alex
jerks as Sal’s foot slips, but the fool merely laughs and spins
on one foot.  His heavy paunch seems to balance him as he leans
forward and creates the image of a fat, hairy ballerina.

“Cable?”
I say. He stands beside me, his hands tucked deep into his pockets
and once again I wonder if he has a weapon concealed there.

“I
know.  There’s nothing we can do about it.”

I
stare hard at him.  “Yes, there is.”

I
ease past Victoria and approach the base of the rocks. Even from here
I can feel the frigid spray of the water.  A small rainbow
hovers in the air before me, the mists illuminated in the dappled
sunlight.  Clouds have begun to move in.  There is a change
on the air and pray that we find shelter before the next storm.  They
seem to come so fast these days.

“One
dance, Sal, but you have to promise to keep your hands above the
waist.”

“That’s
where all of the good stuff is anyways.”  He spins to face
me, a wide triumphant smile lighting his face.  “I knew I
could convince you.  You’re a smart girl.  You just
need the right leverage—”

His
cry startles birds from the trees.  His arms flail and the
crazed look in his eye shifts as the realization that he’s
going to fall sinks in a moment too late. Alex reaches out for him,
grappling to catch onto his foot as he teeters.  “Sal!”

His
boot slips off the rock and he plummets backward.  Cable
outstrips me as I race to climb the rocks.  

“Oh,
poor, poor Sal.”  I turn to see Victoria wringing her
hands before her.  “All he ever wanted was to be loved.”

“Stay
back,” Cable warns as he inches his way around a boulder
overhead. The ledge is small, barely wide enough to hold the toe of
his boot. Alex approaches from above, both converging on Sal’s
last location.

A
part of me knows that I should ignore his warning and go to Sal’s
aid.  Another part, the more callous realist wonders what’s
the point.  He is turning.  Everyone knows it.  It’s
only a matter of time before he becomes one of
them
.

Cable
disappears from sight.  The top of his back disappears behind
the rock. Alex plants his hands and feet between the two rock faces
and shimmies down.  Several minutes pass without any sound.

“Is
this when the screaming starts?”

I
turn, surprised to find Victoria has managed the initial climb up to
me. She looks lost and frail.  Her face is drawn. Dark circles
line beneath her eyes.  I smile and motion for her to join me,
sucking in my pride as I place my hand around her shoulder.  She
leans her head on me and I’m choked by the overwhelming scent
of perfume.  Where on earth did she uncover that crap?

“They’ll
be fine.  We all will be.”

“You
always did know how to make me feel better.”

I
frown and pull away from her. “Vicky, are you feeling ok?”

Her
brow furrows and her gaze drifts far off.  “Stop fretting
over me, Mom.  You know I hate that.”

Mom?
 
I
stare at her a moment longer and am shocked when I see her stick her
thumb into her mouth.  
She’s
regressing.  Isn’t that one of the symptoms too?

I
press my palm to my head, trying to think. I remember before the news
reporters went off air that there was a long list of symptoms to
watch out for. So many of them mirrored the common cold or flu that
it left everyone sure they were next.  Was this one of them?

“It
will all be fine.”  I squeeze her shoulders and lead her
toward a rock a safe distance away.  “Why don’t you
rest here for a bit while I go help the guys?”

“You’ll
come back right?  You promised.” Her mouth puckers as she
shakes her head.  “You promised you’d come back but
you never did.  I waited for you…”

Shaken
by her words and how closely they hit home with my own father, I step
back and hurry away.  That is all kinds of messed up right
there!

“Cable?”
I shout.  At this point it won't really matter if anyone hears
us.  Either they will help or we’ll fight.  I doubt
things could get much worse.  “Cable?”

“We’re
here.”  The grunt comes from my right and I lean around
the rock and see Alex and Cable struggling toward me.  Sal hangs
limply between them, unconscious.  Blood trails down from his
head.  His skin appears ashen.

I
hurry forward.  “Is he dead?”

“Probably
should be.” Alex winces as he stumbles under Sal’s
weight.  Of the entire group, Sal’s got the largest frame.
 Big boned, as he tried to call it. That gut is all beer and
Twinkies if you ask me!  

They
lower him to the ground a few feet ahead of me. Leaves and dirt stick
to his scalp wound as his head rolls to the side.  There is an
ugly cut along his hairline.  The rest of him looks miraculously
unharmed.  I’d have expected at least a broken bone or
two.

“Found
him wedged between two rocks.  Lucky bastard can’t even
kill himself right.” Alex wipes at his nose. The end is pink,
as are the tips of his fingers. He presses on his lower back and
arches to stretch out his muscles.

“He’s
an idiot.”

Alex
nods in agreement of Cable’s assessment. “In more ways
than one.”  He turns to look at me and his expression
changes.  “Thanks for at least trying to help.  I
know you didn’t want to.”

“It
was the right thing to do.  He would have given away our
location.”

“Yeah,
probably so.”  Alex turns and surveys the woods.  The
dark grey rock face behind us rises nearly fifty feet overhead.  It
curls around us in both directions. It’s not a terrible spot to
be in, but I would have liked to find real shelter for the night.  “I
guess we set up camp here.”

Cable
drops his pack.  He sinks down low and digs through the contents
to find several slightly dented plastic bottles. He holds them out to
me.  “Might as well fill these up while we can.”

“What
are you going to do?”  

He
points back toward the path we left less than half an hour before.
 “I’m going to follow that and see if we can find
shelter.  Judging by the look of those clouds we are in for a
rough night.”

“I’ll
come with you.”  Alex splashes water on his face, rubbing
it through his hair.  He cups his mouth under the trickle of
water and drinks deep before rejoining us.

“You’re
leaving me with them?” The prospect of staying being with a
highly perverted man and an old woman suffering from a bought of
crazy mommy issues doesn’t sound the least bit appealing.

“We’ll
be back before sundown.”  Alex takes an empty bottle from
my hand and tosses another to Cable.  “Fill up before we
leave.”

He
splashes through the water, heading away from us.  Cable stands
beside me, unmoving but I can tell he wants to be nearby.  “We
won’t go far.”

“I
know.”  The flat tone in my voice affects Cable.  He
stiffens and thumbs the edge of the bottle cap in his hand.  

“I
wouldn’t go unless I felt I had to.”

“It’s
fine. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Avery—”
he reaches out for me but I pull back.  

“Just
go.  I’m fine.”

He
sighs and taps the bottle against his leg.  “Why is it
when you say you’re fine, I get the feeling you mean the other
thing?”

A
small smile tugs at my lips, but I don’t turn to let him see
it.  I know he doesn’t want to leave me behind, but he
does, because he should.  It’s times like this I hate
being a woman.  I’m not a caretaker or a nurse, but people
keep trying to make me into both.

The
sun hangs heavy in the western sky.  Its fading rays offer
little light or warmth to the darkening woods.  Victoria rocks
back and forth on the ground beside me.  Her mutterings
incoherent, grating on my nerves.  

Sal
sits with his back against a tree, his hands and feet bound by strips
of towel that I tore apart while he was still unconscious. I don’t
trust him.  He is too erratic.  Too unstable. Too...Sal.

I
know it’s the transformation progressing that causes his
overbearing personality to explode.  Though I’ve only ever
seen it happen once before with Natalia, she hadn’t reacted
anything like this.  That’s the frustrating thing. There’s
no easy way to pin down the symptoms because they seem different for
each person.

“Must
be nice to have three guys hot for you,” Sal says, spitting to
the side.  Blood tints the saliva, darkening the rocky path
nearby.  “Bet you love making us squirm.  Though I
guess Cable can stop squirming now, can’t he?  You already
gave it up to him.  Guess I’ll just have to wait in line
and you’ll eventually get around to me after you mess with
Alex’s head a bit first.”

“Fuck
you.”  I hurl a stick out into the woods, wishing that I
could smash his nose in.  I should have gagged him but I didn’t
want to get close enough for him to bite me.  He’s
infected and I won’t take the risk of any of his bodily fluids
touching me.

His
raspy laugh sounds moist and clogged.  A sudden intake of breath
followed by intense coughing makes me turn back toward him. His face
grows red. If his hands were free I’m sure he’d be
beating on his chest, but he isn’t free. I sit and watch his
struggle, his face shifting through pale pinks to dark purple.  His
lips begin to take on a blue tint, though I guess it could be a trick
of the light.

Sal’s
eyes begin to bulge.  A vein pulses down his forehead.  

“No,
no, no!”  Victoria rocks faster, clutching her hands to
her ears. There is a steady tremor in her fingers.  

Sighing,
I rise and approach him. He looks at me, unseeing.  I crouch
before him and hesitate.  It would be easy to let him go out
like this, suffering, like he deserves
.
 
I
could do it. Just let him choke to death, but as I glance back at
Victoria I know it would unhinge her completely.

“Ain’t
that a bitch.”  I ball my hand into a fist and beat on his
back.  He splutters, gasping for breath.  Three more pounds
on his back and a glob of mucus bursts from his throat.  I turn
my face away, sickened by the sight and potent smell.  “Don’t
say I never did anything for you.”

I
push off on his shoulder and return to my spot, actively ignoring him
as he slowly recovers. The wheezing is new.  I only wish I knew
how many more symptoms he had to go through before the end.

“What
the hell is going on here?”

I
look up to see Alex appear around the bend in the path.  His
light blond hair picks up the final rays of twilight.  Cable
marches behind him, his taller frame lost to the shadows. Alex drops
what looks like a large rolled garbage bag and rushes to Sal’s
side. He places two fingers against his neck.

“His
heart rate is all over the place.” He turns to glare at me.
 “What did you do to him?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar,
liar, liar,” Victoria mutters.  “Kill, kill, kill.”

Alex’s
gaze hardens.  “Did you try to kill him?”

Cable
steps between us as I start forward.  He raises his arms out to
keep me at bay.  “I’m sure Avery didn’t do
anything to harm Sal.”

“Oh
yeah?” Alex doesn’t seem to buy it for a second and my
anger multiples.  Why the heck would he take the word of a crazy
woman over me?  “How do you figure that?”

Cable
turns to look at me over his shoulder and smiles.  “Because
if she wanted him dead...he would be.”

I
nod in silent agreement, thankful that he understands just how close
I came to letting it happen. Alex doesn’t need to know that
though.

“He
started choking. I whacked him on the back a few times and he
recovered.  No big deal,” I shrug and push Cable’s
arms down.  I don’t need to him to protect me from Alex.
He’s not the one I’m worried about.

Alex’s
hands are planted on his hips.  He stares down at the mess
between Sal’s feet then up at Sal.  I detect by the way he
shifts that he’s looking for some sign of bruising around his
neck, probably finger impressions to prove my guilt.  When he
finds none he closes his eyes and sighs.  “Why is he tied
up?”

“I
don’t trust him.” I say simply.  I would have
thought that much would be obvious.

“Did
he try to hurt you?”  I turn and offer Cable a smile
before shaking my head no.  “Good, cause if he did…”
he lets that statement fall away.

Alex
runs his hands through his hair. Stray bits of twigs fall from the
matted strands. There are wide tears in his shirt and for the first
time I notice just how disheveled both he and Cable look. I narrow my
gaze on a cut along Cable’s arm and reach for it.