Cora (Love in the Apocalypse #2)

1. Cora

Chapter one

Cora

17 Years Old

Colorado Mountains

I f a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

I checked my reflection in the mirror one last time and groaned. I hated my hair and how the blond strands just hung straight like spaghetti. Would it hurt to have a little bit of volume once in a while? Everything needed to be perfect. We hadn’t been down the mountain in six months. That had been a long time not to see any of my friends or another living human besides Daddy. I got to talk to them once in a while on the landline when a storm hadn’t knocked the lines out. Daddy didn’t believe in cell phones, not that it would have mattered if he did; we were so off-grid that cell phone service didn’t reach here. We found that out the one time Daddy agreed to let Kelly stay for the weekend. We were lucky we even had a landline all the way up here.

“Cora! If your butt isn’t in that truck in the next five seconds, I’m leaving you home,” Daddy yelled.

I quickly rushed from the bathroom. “I’m coming, Daddy, but you and I both know you’d never leave me at home.”

“And why is that?” he asked as he opened the truck door for me.

“Because you like my chocolate chip cookies far too much to risk me not making them anymore,” I teased.

“You got me, Buttercup. I wouldn’t have any quality of life without your cookies.” Daddy winked at me as he slammed the truck door shut, went around the hood, and climbed behind the wheel. “What do you say we stop at Granny Sue’s for lunch before we shop?”

“Daddy, you know I made plans with my friends,” I reminded him.

“I know, I know. But it’s tradition to get lunch at your favorite restaurant whenever we visit town. You’re telling me you’re willing to skip out on a slice of coconut cream pie?” Daddy asked. “Have lunch with me, and then go see your friends. I promise to do the shopping extra slowly.”

“Fine,” I huffed. I briefly held my fake annoyance before breaking into a blinding smile, which Daddy returned. Even though he was the only human contact I had daily, I would never pass up the opportunity to get lunch and pie with him. Some might find it weird, but Daddy was my best friend.

After Mom left when I was ten for some corporate stooge, Daddy moved us into the mountains and off-grid. He said the problem with the world these days is that with all of the technological advancements, everyone has forgotten what’s important: family. He said he wouldn’t let me grow up in a world without humanity. It was a tough adjustment for both of us, but six years later, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Sure, I missed my friends, but I woke up with the sun and the birds every morning and had the whole mountain to explore. While my friends had to sit in a stuffy classroom, I was learning Algebra in nature with the sun shining down on me.

The drive down the mountain was uneventful, but I perked up when we reached the river and crossed the big bridge. The town below came into view, and my excitement grew as we got closer. I looked at the arcade as we passed through town, where I’d be meeting my friends later, longingly. Now that we were here, I wanted to hurry up with lunch to get to the arcade. We parked in front of Granny Sue’s and went inside.

“There’s my favorite little mountain girl!” Sue yelled when she saw us. The plump elderly woman with the familiar sunflower apron came bustling from behind the counter to hug me. “I thought I’d be seeing you two soon. You’ve grown like a weed since the last time I saw you. I suppose I will have to start calling you my mountain woman soon.”

“Hi, Susie,” I said, returning her hug. “How have you been?”

“Oh, you know how things are around here,” she replied, guiding me to our favorite booth. “Nothing much changes, so everything is just fine.”

“We’ll have the usual, Sue,” Daddy said as we sat. “And it’s good to see you, too,” he teased.

“Clay, you know I’m just as happy to see you as I am this beautiful child of yours,” Sue replied.

“I’m more than happy to live in Cora’s shadow,” Daddy replied.

“Sit tight; food will be out in ten minutes.” Sue went to place our usual order, and our attention drifted to the TV hanging behind the counter. On the screen, we saw footage of what looked like riots.

Daddy shook his head. “I wonder which country that is this time.”

“Ours, friend,” a man eating at the counter replied. “That’s happening right here in the good ole U.S. of A. It’s starting in all the major cities; I barely made it out of Oklahoma City. I’m headed for the mountains, myself.”

The bright red letters “brEAKING NEWS” flashed across the screen as he spoke. More footage of riots and people who looked like they were running for their lives appeared on the screen. The chilling part was the words at the bottom of the screen: Denver, CO.

I looked at Daddy nervously. That was a lot closer than Oklahoma City.

“Don’t worry, Buttercup,” he assured me, “that’s still a ways away, and we’ll be back on our mountain soon enough.”

“Might be too late now,” the man said. “Probably shouldn’t have come to town today.”

“Mister, do you mind keeping your thoughts to yourself?” Daddy asked sternly. “You’re frightening my daughter.”

“She should be frightened,” the stranger replied, standing. “Satan’s—“ he was cut off, doubling over as a cough wracked his body. When he stood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, he smeared blood across his chin. “Satan’s army has passed through the obsidian gates and is here to erase humanity from the surface of the planet.”

Sue returned with our food and overheard him. “It’s time to leave, buddy,” she told him as she set the plates on the table. When she started to shoo him toward the door, he lunged for me and grabbed my arm.

“Get back to your mountain, little mountain girl, before it’s too late,” he warned as Daddy sprung from the table and ripped him away from me.

“Get your hands off my daughter,” he growled as he shoved him toward the door.

“I’m going, I’m going,” the man replied, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Should we go home, Daddy?” I asked nervously when he returned to the table.

Daddy smiled brightly at me. “There’s no need to rush off before we do what we came to do, Buttercup,” he assured me. “But, perhaps we shouldn’t dawdle in town today. Let’s finish eating, and then you can run down to say hi to your friends quickly, and then we’ll go home. When all of this blows over, I’ll make a special trip back down so that you can spend more time with them and make up for today’s short trip.”

I nodded. I was disappointed that I couldn’t spend the rest of the afternoon with my friends, but the stranger had spooked me more than I cared to admit. “Who was that guy?” I asked Sue, who was still standing by our table.

“No one to concern yourself with, dear one. Just a drifter,” she replied, patting my shoulder. “We’ve had an increase in transient traffic since all of this started,” she told Daddy, gesturing to the news.

Daddy nodded and began to eat. “I imagine we’ll start to see more people up in the mountains as well,” he said around his food. “I’ll also have to pick up some extra ammunition. Can never be too careful.”

“No, you can’t,” Sue agreed. She looked down at me and smiled. “Eat up, sweetheart. I’ll go grab you a slice of pie.”

I pushed my salad around on my plate. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so hungry. I wasn’t a little kid anymore. I was practically an adult, and I could tell Daddy and Sue were much more worried than they were trying to let on. Whatever was going on, it was bad.

“Eat up, kiddo,” Daddy urged gently. “The sooner you finish eating, the more time you’ll have to visit with your friends before we have to leave.”

“I don’t have to go see my friends if it isn’t safe, Daddy,” I replied as I stabbed a tomato with my fork and popped it in my mouth.

“It will be fine, Buttercup. Don’t worry so much, that’s my job. All that stuff happening isn’t happening anywhere near here, Cora. I’ll just feel better when we’re back on our mountain.”

We finished eating and went our separate ways.

“Remember, Cora. We meet back here in twenty minutes,” Daddy said as we parted.

“Ok, Daddy.”

I walked the few blocks to the arcade and pushed the doors open. The sound of arcade games filled the poorly lit room. The attendant wasn’t at the counter like usual, and from what I could tell, I was the first one to arrive. Hopefully, my friends got here before I had to leave.

I exchanged some of the dollars I brought for game tokens and stepped up to the Dance Dance Revolution game, which was always my favorite game when I visited. As I was jumping around, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked, I saw what looked like Kelly at the end of the row of games before she moved out of sight.

“Kelly?”

I rolled my eyes at my attempt to get her attention. With all the noise in here, it was difficult to understand someone screaming beside you, let alone across the room. I abandoned my game and walked to the end of the row, expecting to see her at one of the games around the corner. When I rounded it, however, no one was there. Maybe I was seeing things? I wandered further into the arcade and began to hear what sounded faintly like a pack of wolves.

My footsteps faltered as alarm bells started going off in my head. I didn’t understand why, but something about that sound told me to run as fast as I could in the opposite direction. I reached the end of the rows and peeked around the corner. I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from screaming. Halfway down the aisle was Kelly and some of my other friends, kneeling on the floor around... a body. And they were eating it. My friends were making the sounds I had heard.

I needed to get out of there, but like a car accident on the side of the road, I couldn’t make myself look away. That is until Ben’s head slowly rose, and his black eyes met mine. Shit! I turned and ran for the door. I didn’t chance a look behind me to see if I was being followed. I didn’t need to; I could hear them. I bolted from the arcade and ran straight into the man from Granny Sue’s.

“Didn’t I tell you to get back to your mountain, little girl?” he cackled as his hands gripped my arms.

I struggled against him as Kelly and my other friends crashed through the door. “Let me go!” I shrieked.

“The zombie apocalypse is here, girlie! Run home before they get you!”

The crazy old man pushed me toward Sue’s and turned to face the... zombies? This can’t be real. He was still laughing as they tackled him to the ground and dug their fingers into his body to feast. I ran for my life, hoping to see Daddy’s truck pull down the road before I reached Sue’s, but it didn’t. I swung the door open and sighed with relief when I saw Sue.

“Sue! People are attacking each other out there and... and... eating them!” I turned to look outside to make sure I hadn’t been followed and saw Daddy pull up outside. “Daddy!” I yelled as I swung the door open and ran to meet him.

“Cora!” he yelled as he jumped from the truck. The look of relief on his face when he saw me was short-lived when his gaze moved behind me. “Cora!” He lunged for me, grabbing me and pulling me to his chest as he spun us around. “Ahh, fuck!” he yelled. “Get in the driver’s seat, now!” He pushed me toward the truck and then turned around. That’s when I saw Sue holding him, but it wasn’t Sue anymore. She was a monster, too.

Daddy shoved her away from him, pulled his gun, and shot her in the head. He jumped into the bed of the truck and banged on the roof. “Get us home, Cora!”

Tires squealed as I pulled from the curb and raced through the town streets. Daddy shot anyone trying to come after us until we made it out of town limits. He slid open the back window and crawled into the cab.

“Daddy, what’s going on? What’s happening? What do we do? You shot Sue! My friends tried to eat me.” I was on the edge of a full-blown panic attack.

“Cora, breathe,” Daddy ordered. “You know what to do; we’ve prepared for this. What’s the first thing you’ll do when you get home?”

“We’re going to lock down the house and go into the bunker,” I replied.

“That’s right. And how long can you survive in the bunker before you will be out of supplies?”

“We have enough food to last us fifty years.”

“Which means you will be able to survive indefinitely. You can do this, Cora.”

Wait. Unease climbed up my spine. Why does he keep saying you instead of we? “Daddy?” I asked as I pulled onto the bridge.

“Sue bit me, and I’m pretty sure that’s how this disease spreads. I love you so much, Cora,” Daddy replied as he placed his gun on the truck seat. “You are stronger than you know, and you’re going to survive this.”

“We’re going to survive this,” I argued as I slammed on the brakes and turned to look at him. “I can’t do this without you.”

Daddy looked behind us nervously. “Keep driving, and yes, you can,” he replied sternly before his tone softened. “You have to, Buttercup. The only way I can do what needs to be done is because I know you will be ok. Get back to the house and get into the bunker. Remember what I’ve taught you.”

“I’ll take care of you! I’ll make sure you don’t get sick,” I cried as I continued our ascent over the bridge.

Daddy shook his head. “I don’t think it’s something you can stop, Cora. You’re gonna have to make it on your own now.” He leaned over, hugged me tightly, and kissed my forehead. “You are my proudest achievement. I was so lucky to get to be your Dad. I love you more than life itself. Never forget that.”

“I love you too, Daddy,” I sobbed.

“Don’t stop the truck until you get home, Cora. Promise me,” Daddy said softly.

“I promise.”

“That’s a good girl,” he replied. Daddy pushed the door open as we got to the top of the bridge and jumped from the truck. My foot lifted a fraction of an inch off the gas pedal before remembering what I had just promised. Daddy smiled at me one last time in the rearview mirror before jumping over the side of the bridge.

“NOOOO!” I screamed, sobs wracking my body and tears blurring my vision. I wanted to go back. I wanted to save him, but I knew with that fall, there wasn’t anything to save, and his body was on its way downriver by now, so I did as I promised and kept driving. I cried on and off the drive home, the shock of the current events holding most of my grief at bay. All I could do was focus on getting home like Daddy said.

Get home and get in the bunker.

When the house finally came into view, I nearly sobbed with relief. I parked the truck under the carport, hiding the only external entrance to the bunker, grabbed Daddy’s gun and ammunition that he had purchased, and went inside. I quickly gathered everything I didn’t want to be without and brought it to the bunker. Daddy custom-built this house with the bunker and stealth in mind. It had a few unique details, including the hidden doors in the walls that lead to an entire walkable space behind the walls and the internal entrance to the bunker.

Once I had all the perishable food downstairs with my belongings, I locked up the house and slipped behind the walls, closing the wall panel behind me. Reality finally came crashing down around me when I was safely sealed in the bunker. I dropped to my knees on the floor as I screamed and cried for my father. I was all alone now. Anybody who knew me was likely dead or a zombie. No one knew I was here. There wasn’t anyone left in the world that even knew I existed.

If a girl screams in a forest and no one hears her, does she exist?