Page 35 of Demon Shock

Gyrik was next to me a moment later, steadying me.

“More will come. Wait here, then I’ll take you inside.” He paused, looking from the infected to me. “Do you know him?”

I shook my head and watched Gyrik jump off the roof’s edge. The infected just stood there, looking up at me and completely ignoring Gyrik as Gyrik removed his head. Another moan sounded, and Gyrik moved to meet the next infected.

It took several minutes and a body pile between the houses across the street for the infected to stop appearing. Gyrik cleaned himself off, removing his shirt, before returning to help me off the roof.

My stomach churned for a different reason once I was on the ground, facing the door to my childhood home. Gyrik’s hand rubbed the back of my jacket.

“We don’t need to go in.”

But I did need to.

The moment I walked inside, I knew they’d left in a hurry. Pops’ blanket was tossed on his chair instead of neatly folded, the way he liked it. The TV remote sat on the middlecouch cushion instead of the coffee table as if something had interrupted them while watching a show.

Leaving the living room, I checked the kitchen. The dishes were washed and placed on the drying rack. A pot sat on the stove with a lid on it.

I was so busy looking at the signs of what they’d been doing that I almost missed the note on the table.

We’re being evacuated. The soldier said we’re going west. After this, it’s your turn. Love you. Kylie

A laugh escaped with a tear.

“What does it say?” Gyrik asked.

“They were alive and evacuated west. No location. Just west.”

“Molev, our leader, went west. He saw many humans there.”

I tucked the note into my pocket and removed the recent family picture from the wall. After ditching the frame, I added the photo to my pocket.

“Is there anything else we should take from here? Anything the community needs? Pops has a shed outback where he keeps his seed catalogs,” I added, recalling Zach's mention of a greenhouse.

Gyrik waited until I was once more safely on the roof to check the shed. When he returned, he carried three binders full of seed packets and carefully labeled baggies. He gave them to me to hold while he carried me.

I didn’t tuck my face against his chest as he ran back the way we’d come. Rather than taking the same bridge, he followed the trail to the south where the other bridge remained intact as well. Once he crossed over the river, he took the walking trail that edged the water to cut over to a road that led north and successfully avoided all the subdivisions.

It felt like it took a lot longer to return to the trucks than it had to get to the house. But Gyrik didn’t look remotely winded when he finally stopped in front of my truck again.

Bram waved from inside the cab and pointed to Repeat, who was doing his impersonation of a fur stole. I grinned and looked up at Gyrik, who hadn’t yet set me down. He was studying me intently.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

He nodded and set me down in a way that felt a little reluctant.

Bram got out of the cab and joined us, leaving the cats behind.

“How did it go?” he asked, looking at Gyrik.

“The section of the city we moved through didn’t look bombed,” Gyrik said.

“Any power on?”

“No,” Gyrik said.

“That’s too bad. At these temps, the canned goods probably won’t make it, but it might be worthwhile to come back for other supplies. What do you have there?” Bram nodded to the binders I held.

“My grandfather’s seed collection. Since retiring, he spent a lot of his time gardening. Zach mentioned the greenhouses in Unity, and I thought they might be useful.”

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