Free The Lingering Outbreak At Hope Cove by Ben Brown Page B

back, and pinned it to the dirt. He then stared at it for a long time and desperately tried to burn its image into his brain. He needed to remember its face. He needed to remember the thing had once been human. It was then he realized he could not tell if it was a girl or a boy. Its hair was gone, and its skin had taken on a gray hue that seemed to remove all its remaining humanity.
    It snarled at him, and chomped helplessly at the thin air. Before, he had felt no pity. Now, all he felt was pity and disgust. Pity for not only the child, but for his own soul. What he was about to do disgusted him to his very core, but that disgust would not sway him. The child deserved better than to crawl through the dirt like an animal, and he would free it of its lowly existence. Silently, he drew his knife and placed its tip against the tiny creature’s skull. Then, with tears in his eyes and a silent prayer on his lips, he released the child from its torment.
    Jon rose to his feet and staggered slightly. He felt light-headed and nauseated. His head swam, and he began to stumble over the dead bodies that surrounded him. Hands latched to his foot, then he felt teeth gnashing against the tough leather of his boot. He lurched backwards and fell in a heap. His face landed mere inches from the child he had just dispatched. With a soul wrenching horror, he stared directly into the child’s cold dead eyes.  Like a crab, he began to scramble backwards on his hands and feet. A scream—so loud and heart destroying that even Callum and Sally heard it back in the mill—burst forth from his lips. Alfred ran to his side, dropped to his knees, and scooped him up in his arms. The men embraced one another and wept openly.
    From the window of the mill, Callum and Sally watched on. Even from their great distance, they could see and feel the two men’s pain. Callum’s hand went silently to Sally’s. She took it and squeezed it tightly.
    “I think we should go to them,” she said in little more than a whisper. “They’ve killed nearly all the creatures now, so we should be safe.”
    Callum looked at her, and he saw not only great beauty, but great strength. She was stronger than any girl he had ever known, and in that moment, he knew he loved her. He embraced her clumsily, and then kissed her cheek.
    “Let’s go,” he croaked in a voice thick with emotion.
    The two ran from the mill and headed for the men knelt some fifty yards away. On reaching them, the two youngsters helped them to their feet, and then guided them back to the mill. As they reached the door, Callum took his father’s tomahawk, and Sally took Alfred’s pitchfork.
    “You’ve both done enough,” Sally said with a kindly smile. “Me and Callum will take care of what’s left.”
    Jonathan moved to protest, but his son stopped him with a slow shake of the head. “No, Pa, leave the rest to us. You and old man Marsh get some rest.”
    Without further debate, the two youngsters headed out into the field to finish what their elders had begun.
     
    ***
     
    A little over two hours later, Callum and Sally walked wearily back to the mill. The toll on their spirits had been immeasurable, but both felt at least a little glad that they had lifted some of the burden from the shoulders of their elders. The killing at such close quarters had been hard, both physically and mentally, but at least it was over … for now.
      Callum lifted his nose to the wind, and over the odor of rotting flesh, he could faintly detect the smell of baking bread.
    “Do you smell that?” he asked as his pace quickened.
    Sally nodded. “Sure do. Smells like Alfred has fired up his oven.”
    Much to Callum’s surprise, he suddenly felt very hungry. A growl from Sally’s stomach confirmed she felt the same. Suddenly, the two were running, and all they could think of was food. The greater part of the day was now behind them, and none had as of yet eaten. Hunger washed all images of the past few hours from