Canto Three
He sped down the winding road, taking the sharp curves with reckless abandon. His will alone kept the vehicle on the asphalt. His wife and oldest son sat behind him, trying to subdue his daughter as she fought to hurt them anyway she could. Her nails and teeth tried to tear at their skin as her arms and legs struggled against their grip.
Dan dialed 911 again, but the phone was silent. He tossed it into the floorboard.
“Hold her down!” Dan said, looking at Peter in the rearview mirror.
Peter struggled to keep his sister subdued. “I’m trying!”
“Look out!” Jacob screamed from the cargo area of the SUV.
Dan looked back to the road and saw a woman waving her hands. He hit the brakes hard, skidding to a stop. The middle-aged woman was panicked, looking over her shoulder every few seconds as she approached his window.
“Please, you’ve gotta help me,” she said. “My husband…he’s-”
Dan saw blood on her hands and hit the gas, speeding away.
“She needed help,” Gemma said, her voice strained.
“How’s Ann?” he asked, his voice catching in his throat.
“The towel is soaked through,” Gemma said, yelling over the girl’s screams.
He looked at Ann through the mirror again and choked back tears as he spoke. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be fine. You just hold tight, baby. We’re gonna get you to the hospital. Everything’s gonna be alright.”
He felt that knot of emotion catch in his throat again, but he swallowed it down. “The hospital’s only another mile or so. Stay strong, baby.”
They came over the hill into the small suburban town, and horror struck him. Fires lit the night sky as people ran around with gasoline cans, igniting anything they could. On his left, he saw an immolated man, writhing in flames before falling to the ground in agony. Dan rolled up his window to keep out the stench of burnt flesh and the man’s desperate cries.
People ran, screaming in terror, scrambling for safety. Their insane pursuers were only a few feet behind, howling like rabid animals. They held farm tools and other weapons as they chased the helpless, hungry for blood.
Dan was stunned. “Kids, close your eyes.”
Less than fifty feet away, just outside Tom’s hardware store, two women beat a man to death with a pickaxe and shovel. The man tried to protect his face and head, but the blunt objects crushed his hands. All around them, people screamed out in terror while others laughed and sang like deranged children.
“Jesus loves me, this I know...”
Dan threw the vehicle into reverse and spun it around.
Gemma’s eyes went wide. “What are you doing?”
“You see this shit out there? We’ll never make it. I’m taking her to Billy’s.”
“What? Why?”
“He was a medic in the military. He has to help her because there’s no other choice.”
“But that was years ago…”
He shifted into drive. “It’s not up for discussion!”
The back glass shattered as an axe came through it. A sadistic woman reached in to grab his son. She snarled as she clawed at Jacob, trying to get a good grip on the kicking boy. Dan looked her in the eye as he hit the gas, headed back down the road they’d come. She held on for a moment, but her body was pulled out of the window, dragging her exposed flesh across the sharp glass shards. Blood ran down the inside of the hatch and onto the grey carpeted floor.
In the rearview mirror, Dan watched Jacob. The boy just sat there, staring out the window as the woman chased them. The city disappeared behind them as Dan did his best to leave it behind. He looked at his daughter, still fighting, still crying for help. He hit the rearview mirror with his hand, pushing it out of his sight.
