Riposte (The Redivivus Trilogy Book 2) (40 page)

Sidestepping roots and leaping over brush, the girls were protected on one side by the deadfall and on the other by Lydia. While they managed to lose a significant percentage of the horde, there were still plenty of shambling monsters in the forest around them. Too slow and uncoordinated to keep up, the infected they passed folded in behind them like the leaves left in their wake. Noticing a narrow ravine cut into the land directly ahead, Ava was struck with an idea that she hoped would allow them to lose the rest of their pursuers.

“This way,” Ava said. “Follow me!” She turned toward the ravine, glancing over her shoulder to see if the infected were still following. When she nearly tripped over her own feet, she realized the stupidity of her action.
Of course they’re still following. They always follow.

As the ravine cut deeper into the earth, Lydia began to worry they might have made a grievous mistake.
What if there is no way out at the end?
Forcing her mind to stay calm, she scanned the steep walls as she ran, searching for a means out of what felt increasingly like a death trap. Roughly twenty feet ahead was a rock face pocked with many large holes, above which the remainder of the earthen wall slanted away at a moderate grade. “Head for that wall! I think we can climb out there!” Lydia said breathlessly.

When they reached the wall, they clambered up the rock face despite their mud-slicked shoes. Wanting to ensure that no unseen dangers lurked above, Lydia scaled the remainder of the wall using roots and saplings to help her along the way. She stood on the edge of the ravine, looking down past the girls at the seething mass of infected piling up below. Although she did not know if it was due to the height or the combined sensory experience of so many infected in such a narrow space, Lydia felt woozy.

“Your turn, Ava. I’ll be right behind you. You can do it,” Annalee said. When Ava neared the top, Lydia reached down and pulled her up the rest of the way. Annalee was halfway up the muddy wall when her foot slipped, and she began to slide back to the bottom of the ravine. The moans of the infected intensified in anticipation of the flesh falling toward them like a gift from the heavens.

Panicked, Annalee screamed as she desperately grabbed for anything that might slow her descent. At the last moment, she snagged a woefully small sapling just before plunging over the edge of the rock face. Inches away from the reaching hands of the infected, Annalee pulled her legs up to her chest.

Lydia was elated to see Annalee stop sliding, but her heart sank when she saw what the girl’s hand had found. She doubted the insubstantial twig would support the Annalee’s weight for long. Crestfallen, Lydia stared into the growing sea of reaching arms below, certain she was looking at Annalee’s final resting place. When the small tree managed to keep the girl suspended on the sloped wall, the slightest glimmer of hope reignited within Lydia.
I have to help her!

As the mass of infected scrambled over one another to get to the girl dangling tauntingly out of reach, something akin to a human scaffold began to form. Lydia’s newfound hope was dashed when she saw the reaching hands drawing ever closer, rising like tide waters toward the helpless girl. The damp earth vibrated beneath Annalee with every thud of their outstretched hands. Her strength waning, she felt the sapling slipping from her tenuous grasp. “Lydia! Help me! I’m losing my grip. Please, help me,” she whimpered.

Lydia felt powerless to intervene as she watched the girl slipping closer to the waiting mouths below. She knew Annalee would die without help, and she knew they would likely both die if she tried to help her. Seeing no alternative, Lydia turned to Ava and said, “If I don’t come back up—if we don’t make it—get out of here!”

Ava was scared; she wanted to scream for her not to go even though she knew it was the only chance to save Annalee. Even though she wanted to beg Lydia to stay, no words left her mouth. Instead, tears streamed down her face as she silently nodded.

“Ava, I’m going back down to help Annalee. Do you understand what I just said? If we… Don’t wait—run,” Lydia said.

Face pale, Ava’s head bobbed up and down wordlessly.

Having been stirred up by their climb, the dirt on the steep bank proved to be even slicker as Lydia began her descent. Cautiously, she eased herself down the embankment, but she, too, lost her footing on the muddy surface. She dug her heels in hard and managed to recover before sliding too far. Despite her effort to help the little girl, she now found herself in an equally precarious situation in which any movement threatened to send her sliding into Annalee. If that happened, she had no doubt that her momentum, as well as their combined weight, would push both of them right into the clawing hands of the horde below.

“Lydia, help me! I’m slipping! I can’t hold on much longer! Please, Lydia!” Annalee screamed.

The panic in her voice made Lydia’s heart break, and she struggled to keep the fear out of her own voice. “Hold on just a little longer, honey. You can do it! Keep your legs pulled up! I’m almost there,” Lydia said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. Every movement put her a little closer to losing her footing altogether. Mud caked her boots, covering the tread, and leaving nothing to provide any traction. Feeling helpless, Lydia looked down to where Annalee lay sprawled against the side of the ravine. She could not help thinking that she was going to be the second course, after the girl she had tried—and failed—to protect.

Willing herself not to give up, Lydia glanced around frantically, trying to think of a way to reach Annalee safely. As she did, a faint rumbling sound, like that of a lawn mower, came from somewhere in the forest above. Perplexed, she listened as the sound grew louder and louder, and then suddenly vanished. Her mind shifted to Ava all alone at the top, and she did not think she could bear it if she knew something happened to both of the girls.
Tell me you’ve gone to hide, Ava.

“Ava! Are you okay? What’s going on? What was that sound?” Lydia cried. Panic swelled in her chest when she heard no reply. “Ava! Talk to me! Are you okay?”

Lydia waited for a reply, but again, none came. She lowered her forehead to the mud as the tears began to flow. Although she was powerless to hold back the tears, she fought like hell to hold back her sobs. She knew if Annalee heard her cries they would be contagious, and she did not want the girl to see that her hope was dwindling. Something soft but firm struck Lydia on the back of her head, causing her to wonder if the infected had grown impatient and started hurling things at them in hopes of dislodging the meals that remained stubbornly out of reach.

Despite her despondency, curiosity got the best of her and Lydia raised her head. At first her mind was unable to process what she saw, and she wondered if her tears were affecting her vision.
Is this another cruel trick like ‘Lonnie’?
Blinking several times, she looked again and was relieved to see it was still there.

“Well, grab it already!” an unfamiliar voice called from atop the ravine.

Although Lydia had no idea who was speaking, she wasted no more time as she grabbed the rope. Looking down, she saw that it was not quite long enough to reach Annalee, who remained plastered against the side of the ravine with the closest infected hand a mere six inches away from her unmoving foot. Lydia worried the girl might have passed out, though she imagined she would have plunged into the infected throng below were that the case. She stared in abject horror as the infected continued pressing into the side of the ravine like rioting sports fans, trampling those closest to the wall. Using their fallen brethren like stepladders, the infected tide was still rising, and she could see it would not be long before Annalee was pulled under.

“Annalee! Hold on! I’m coming for you,” Lydia yelled, as she carefully lowered herself farther down the slope. When she reached the end of the rope, she stretched out and tapped Annalee on the head with the toe of her muddy boot.

“Eeeeww! You got mud in my hair!” Annalee cried, as she looked up at Lydia, with a frightened smile on her face.

The terrified girl’s weak smile was like wind in Lydia’s sails. “Grab my boot and climb up! Hurry!” she commanded.

Annalee squashed the fear that had nearly overtaken her mind, and lunged for the boot with both hands. Her right hand closed around its toe but came away with a handful of slimy mud as it slid off. Her left hand fared slightly better, managing to hook two fingers around the laces of the slippery boot. Lydia strained against the additional weight, praying she could muster enough strength to hold on. The young girl kicked and flailed until she managed to bring her right hand back up to the boot.

Slowly, Annalee climbed onto her back, while Lydia thought of nothing but holding on to the rope. As long as she felt her movement, Lydia found all the strength she needed, because it meant Annalee was on her way to safety. She fought through the agonizing burn inside her muscles as well as the intensely painful sensation that her elbow and shoulder joints were uncoupling under the strain. When the movement that had been her source of strength ceased, Lydia panicked and felt both her mind’s grip on the situation, as well as her hand’s grip on the rope, slacken.
Where is Annalee? Where did she go? Did she fall? Oh my God!

“Annalee! Where are you? Annalee!” Lydia screamed. Her arms were so extended that she could barely turn her head to look for her. When Annalee did not reply, Lydia felt like letting go of the rope. If the girl had fallen, then she wanted to join her in the midst of the wretched horde below.

At once, the noise of the lawnmower returned, sounding as though it was right on top of her. Lydia’s exhausted mind could not make sense of it. She was startled and nearly lost her grip when the rope began to pull. Holding on for dear life, her face and belly scraped over the rocks and sticks embedded in the mud as she was slowly dragged up the muddy slope of the ravine. Suddenly, the vector of pull changed and all the tension in the rope dissipated.
Did I fall?
She imagined the painful stinging sensations coming from her face and abdomen were the result of the infected finally getting what they so desperately desired. Hands fell upon her and she wanted to scream and lash out, but she found herself unable to do so. Instead, she merely resigned herself to her fate.
I’m sorry, Annalee. I tried. I tried so hard, and I’m so sorry.

Lydia’s eye remained closed as her body was rolled over roughly. She thought of how strong and brave Lonnie had been when he died, and she hoped she could find that strength for Ava’s sake. After all, Ava had already seen and endured so much. Lydia tried not to think of Annalee at all; the thought that she had failed her was just too painful.

A voice like an angel came from above her. “You did it, Mr. C.J.! You did it!”

“Well, I reckon we
did,” the unfamiliar voice said, sounding anything but angelic.

Feeling no increase in pain, and genuinely intrigued by the voices she heard, Lydia allowed her eyes to flutter open. At once, panic rose in her chest at the sight of the figure hovering above her. He was dirty, wearing a sleeveless flannel shirt and tattered camouflage baseball hat. His eyes were not on her but rather directed toward something down by his legs. Shifting her gaze, Lydia saw the source of the beautiful voice she had heard moments ago—Ava. The sight of the little girl made her heart swell, but it quickly shattered into pieces when thoughts of Annalee flooded into her mind. Through the sobs racking her body, Lydia choked out, “Annalee! Oh, God, no! Why?”

“Why what?”

Upon hearing those words, Lydia felt her entire life come to a screeching halt. Through her blinding tears, she feared she was seeing yet another mirage, called up by an addled brain simply showing her what she wanted to see once again. Lydia glanced between the man and Ava, and then finally back to Annalee. Lydia reached out as though she expected the girl was an apparition. When she touched Annalee’s hand, the overwhelming relief forced her back to the muddy ground.

For the first time since the rescue, the man spoke directly to Lydia, “Ma’am, are you sure you’re okay?”

Staring straight ahead as if speaking to the man, to God, and to the entire universe, she said, “Thank you.”

“We better think about gettin’ a move on. Those Packers down there are pretty well stuck, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s that there are always more of ’em out there. And this mud is damn near asshole deep to a ten-foot Indian so it’s likely to slow us down a bit,” the man said.

* * *

When Lydia’s shock waned, she learned that Ava had seen a man riding through the woods and called for help. Ava knew she was taking a big risk since she did not know the man, but she also knew what would happen if she did nothing to help the two people who had saved her life. Her gamble paid off, as he turned out to be a good and decent person, rather than an immoral sociopath that seemed as rampant as the virus in this new world.

His name was C.J., and he was riding a motorcycle through the woods when Ava spotted him. The motorcycle looked strange even to Ava, who knew nothing of the machines. A chain ran to the wheels of both of its wide, knobby tires, and it crawled over everything in its path. C.J. later informed them that the bike, which indeed sounded like a loud lawnmower, was a Rokon. “This baby is two-wheel drive, and will go places no other bike or ATV could even dream of,” C.J. said beaming with pride.

After Ava solicited his help, he secured a length of rope to the back of the Rokon and tossed the other end down to Lydia. Ava waited for Annalee to climb onto the woman’s back before signaling C.J. to drive forward. Being two-wheel drive, the bike had little trouble pulling them to safety despite the thick mud that made walking atop the ravine difficult.