The Road Home by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 27

Picking up the bags of food, Eli began the walk to the cabin. Glancing back, he looked at Nathan, who still sat on the steps of the store staring at the ground. He felt broken and anticipated the walk back to be much longer without Nathan at his side. He didn’t know much about smallpox, but what he did know frightened him, and it seemed to be spreading like bad news. Crossing the highway, Eli began walking the dirt road that would eventually lead him to the cabin. He thought about how he was going to tell everyone what happened, but couldn’t find the words. Between the walk to Easton and the emotional impact of Nathan’s eventual demise, Eli was exhausted. Sitting on a rock at the side of the road, he took some time to recover enough energy to continue. His intention was to spend as little time there as possible, as the sun was beginning to drift beyond its noontime apex. But as he began to stand, Eli heard the sound of a gunshot coming from the distance.

“Jesus Christ, Nathan.”

In a panic, Eli dropped the bags of food and ran back to the store. Once he arrived, the sight he encountered left him sick of soul and body. As he turned away, he felt his stomach muscles lock while bile filled his mouth. Seconds later, he found himself on his hands and knees, vomiting heavily. He had been a student all his life, and the opportunity to witness something as horrific as suicide had never presented itself.

With his stomach emptied and his muscles screaming, Eli turned back to the last image he would ever see of Nathan. The method he had used to end his life was obvious. He didn’t want to get too close for fear of being exposed, but a dark curiosity had shown its face, and Eli found himself examining what was left of Nathan’s head. He surmised that, out of despair, Nathan had placed the end of the shotgun barrel in his mouth and simply pulled the trigger. His head exploded, appearing like a flower in bloom, sending his intact brain erupting a short distance, landing near the screen doors. With the degree of force necessary to cause the brain to leave the skull, Eli believed that the organ probably bounced off the ceiling of the store’s entryway first. But his curiosity waned as the sight of such carnage brought back the irresistible sickness that had, moments ago, left him on his hands and knees in a painful, vomit-inducing paralysis.

Unable to continue looking at the raw meat that was once Nathan’s head, Eli again turned away and, falling to his knees, began retching. His stomach was empty, but this did not prevent more bile from rising up, and feeling a gurgling in his throat, Eli bent down to the ground and began coughing. With enough force, the green viscous fluid ejected itself from his throat, leaving him spitting out several mouthfuls. Getting back up on his knees, he took a few deep breaths as sweat poured from his face. Although he hoped he would never have to see anything like this again, something inside him sparked to life, telling him there was more to come. It spoke to him as a single thought, and Eli realized that there would, indeed, be more horrors to witness. There was simply no choice. Death would always be present like a lady-in-waiting, ready to serve up trauma whenever circumstances called for it. The awareness that life was quickly going to become difficult overwhelmed him, but even in the face of this new life, Eli had to get back to the cabin. But one thing was certain; Eli would never be the same, as the life of a student transformed itself into a life on the edge of survival.