Devastated Lands: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure by Bruce W. Perry

Author:Bruce W. Perry
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Web Dispatches Publishing
Published: 2017-08-28T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 29

They reached the ground, after about 30 feet of a careful climb down over jumbled debris. The lawn was scorched grass and bare dirt. They faced the back of the house; a plastic child's tricycle, a fallen-down fence, a tipped-over grill. They all gathered at the bottom of the lahar, Cooper extending his hand for Mikaela and Beatrice. Turk began to walk to the front of the house, his thirsty tongue lolling out.

Cooper really wasn't feeling good; something foreign and viral coursed through his system. He began to feel irritated; he tended to get mad at himself when he fell ill. It was another thing that felt like failure, as in allowing himself to be seized by Gladys.

"Reek…reek" he heard in the wind, picturing an old twisted weather vane.

Then Mikaela called out.

"It's Millie!" She ran to a spot on the lawn and seized the doll off it. She embraced it, clutching the doll to her chest like Amy would have. "My God!" Then she ran full tilt, and they all followed to the front of the house.

When Cooper turned the corner, he saw the old swing-set, with two swings attached by metallic chains, and the little girl sitting on one of the swings, kicking her legs up around the tattered dress, her blond hair blowing in the wind.

"Oh Amy!" Mikaela said, suddenly angry, and taking long strides.

Amy acted as if they weren't there at first. Then she began talking in between kicking her legs out, with the slim dirty sneakers she wore aimed toward blotches of blue sky.

"You…didn't…come…back…like…you…said…."

"So…I…went…"

Mikaela had reached her now. She couldn't stay mad. She was crying. She caught Amy on the back swing, stopped her swinging, and held on.

"Why did you leave me like that? Why? I told you to stay. Oh Amy, we thought we lost you!" Tears soaked her cheeks, which she tried to wipe away with the sleeves around her wrists. She hugged her tight and Cooper couldn't hear what she was saying anymore, murmurs into Amy's hair, with the little girl submitting passively to the embraces.

A salty wetness rose in his own eyes; he always got emotional when he got sick.

Then Amy said, out of the blue, "There's food in the kitchen. Inside…you should see it. I had some…" Cooper noticed that Beatrice had sat down on the grass. She hugged her knees and smiled beatifically. Her experiences, of existing on the edge of survival, and not seeing, seemed to have distilled in her an internal grace.

Turk wandered over to Amy and Mikaela, lazily wagging his tail, then when either of them leaned into his range, he'd give them a lick.

"It was you Turk. You found Amy. And Amy, I can't believe you just wandered off like that. Do me a favor, a big one," Cooper said. "Don't do that again. Ever."

Then, as he walked over to pet Turk, the sandy ground around the swing-set began to whirl. Moments later, he was groveling in the dirt, soaked in sweat, and he could

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