The Road Home by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 69

Having committed the map to memory, Aurora first made sure that Maya had water but told her she was not to get up unless she absolutely needed it. After a quick kiss on the cheek, she gave Maya one last warning.

“Listen to me,” she said. “If you die on me, I’m going to kick the shit out of you, got it?” Maya gave her a slight smile and quietly asked her to hurry back. As she ran for the door, Maya called out to her again.

“What?” Aurora replied.

“I love you,” she said.

Aurora hesitated at the door while turning the latch.

“I love you, too,” she replied.

Opening the door, she jumped out, closing it behind her, and ran out of the campground and into town. She knew exactly where the hospital was and, running faster than she knew she could, arrived in what seemed like moments. Its façade possessed only a single door but was held in place by a magnetic lock. She supposed it was there for security, but that would soon change. Without snow to blanket the ground, finding a large enough rock was easy, and again, with the pose of a major league pitcher, she hurled it at the center of the plate glass, shattering it into millions of tiny shards. But there was no time for celebration as she haphazardly crawled through the hole left by the rock. However, entering so quickly left elongated cuts down the length of her back. The adrenalin created by the mad run she was forced to make in attempting to save Maya’s life suppressed the pain of these injuries.

Stopping in the lobby, Aurora tried to think of where the pharmacy might be. It was a small hospital, so it could not be too far. Finding the hospital's signs, one in particular stood out, pointing the way to the pharmacy. Throwing herself through the door, she sprinted down the hallway and down a set of stairs, and there, across from the door, was a counter with a sign that read ‘pharmacy’. The anticipation was nearly too much for her as she ran through the door and was suddenly surrounded by rows of drugs, syringes, and other items relevant to all aspects of a working pharmacy.

“How the fuck do I find this?” she wondered. In a moment of inspiration, she thought that if anyone were to find anything, it would have to be placed in alphabetical order, and finding the drug whose name began with ‘A’ Aurora began her search. ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’. There, Dexamethasone. Grabbing a 10-cc vial and a needle and syringe, she raced out of the hospital and back to the RV. Unlocking the door, she bolted inside and, finding Maya in the same position as she left her, tried to rouse her into consciousness. But something was wrong, and looking closely, Aurora noticed a heavy stream of froth had escaped her mouth. Maya had a seizure. Moving her onto her back, she put an ear to her chest and heard nothing. “No!” she screamed.

Placing her shoulders above Maya’s chest, she delivered a pounding blow to her heart and listened again. Still, there was nothing. “God damn it! Come on!”

Cleaning the froth off Maya’s mouth, she began CPR, and counting to a beat of twenty, she listened a third time. Aurora was too late. “I can’t do this without you!” she cried. She struck another blow to her chest, but Maya had been dead far too long.

“You fucking cunt!” she screamed. “You can’t leave me here!”

Her lover, her life, was dead. If she had only known, but how does anyone know of such sensitivity to even the slightest elevation? The elevation of Pinehurst was barely 2300 feet, while Fubar Peak was roughly 2800 feet. Apparently, the difference was enough to trigger the illness that had taken Maya from her.

Collapsing to the floor, Aurora wept as a child, having had its favorite toy taken from them – the pain of loss mixed with the anger of helplessness. She knew what was wrong from the beginning but could do nothing to stave off even the initial symptoms. Now, she was alone—alone to fight off a dead world, to fend for herself in places where shadows ruled the night and the risk of death at the hands of survivors dictating the day. For her, there was nothing left. The virus that had been unleashed upon an innocent world killed nearly everyone, but the only thing that truly mattered was that the two of them were together. Now, that their bond had been destroyed, whatever was left of life, of living, was gone.