“During the initial stages of HBRS conversion, the ventral stream sustains heavy cellular damage, even as the dorsal stream remains largely intact.
“This means that hollows aren’t capable of recognizing other than sources of nutrition. They can’t even “see” each other, let alone themselves.
“An unfortunate and isolated existence.”
–Mother, “Notes on HBRS-15.21”. 6 Years After.
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What a sordid affair this had become.
Liam warmed his hands by the fire, though that was a generous term for what he’d produced. The damned thing could barely qualify as such, given its small size and shape to keep the flames from being seen more than a few paces away. Oh, how Liam would’ve loved nothing more than to shower himself in the heat of a bonfire right now.
But he couldn’t. Not with so little to keep them safe.
He rubbed his hands to capture as much heat as possible and inched back over to his daughter. Leah let out another cough as he pressed his palms against her chest.
“I know, I know,” Liam said. “Not quite the same as that luxury hotel, but we’re making it work out here, yeah?”
She stared at the smokeless fire and drooled. Hungry beamed by her side where he’d been left..
“I don’t think I’ve ever told you about this magic trick, have I?” He looked to the campfire and cleared his throat, remembering fonder days. “Fire might have been the first invention of man, but it is also one of his most uncontrollable. The heat it produces can burn as much as warm, and no shortage of travelers have lost their lives over millennia against its untamed fury.
“But there are some who have mastered its use. The Green Berets employed a similar technique when trapped behind enemy lines. The secret is to only use dry wood and control fuel intake to ensure that it burns at maximum efficiency. A tall order for us, given last night’s squall, but there are still enough options out there if you know where to search. In a situation as difficult as our own, it might just be the difference between life and death.”
Leah looked into his eyes and grinned.
“Liked that one, didn’t you?” He chuckled. “I must say, I quite enjoy having a sentient viewer for a change. Daddy used to be quite the showman, I’ll have you know!”
She let out another cough.
Liam grimaced. “Let’s have another check, shall we?” He pressed his palm against her scalp. An unnatural heat pushed back. He let out a deep breath, his vision blurring. “Seems your fever is still unchanged, Leah. I suppose there are worse alternatives to fear, though it would be nice if your temperature could go down a little. Maybe you’ll do that for me tomorrow, yeah?”
Leah smiled wide, her soft, innocent eyes free from the truth of this living nightmare.
Liam studied the land beside him. By his count, they were well within Oregon by now, with smaller pines replacing the tall sequoias they were used to seeing down south, along with maples and oaks scattered throughout. The grass lay more green here, and the sky shifted into a more cerulean bent with the difference in altitude. Coupled with the more frequent storms and chiller air, this evasion was becoming quite the struggle.
But there was no way out of it. Ezekiel had managed to chase them out of Pandemonium, and though the tonnage of the truck they’d stolen couldn’t keep pace with Liam’s hybrid, such a race was not the kind he wished to indulge in. Even if they lacked the fuel to clear this long a distance behind wheels, rezzers could cover hundreds of miles on foot, and the constant rain did them no favors in keeping their tracks hidden. A cursory glance of the road was all one needed to spot their tire tracks. Dust and debris were too frequent to avoid in a world without maintenance.
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Then they had fuel considerations. Of the starting tank in their truck and gallons of backup biofuel, they were down to a meager liter and a half. Liam had since taken to propping up the built-in solar panel to charge the battery over time while giving the two a chance to rest up before they put in some more distance from their enemies.
Leah’s health had become the greatest complication. Though she had started to take a turn for the better back in Pandemonium, the extra movement, stress, and temperature reversed her progress. With each passing day, she grew slightly sicker than the one before. For all Liam’s knowledge of the natural kingdom and the bounties it provided, he still had no idea what caused this sickness and dared not attempt some homebrew cure, lest it only complicate matters. As difficult as it was to accept, there was very little that Liam could do to help his daughter.
Yet here this baby girl sat, smiling back without a care in the world. She’d even taken a liking to her stuffed bear friend in these trying days. “Life is good,” Hungry’s chest declared, a sentiment that Leah had come to believe.
It took everything to keep Liam from bawling. “Did I ever tell you about your half-sister, Lilith?” He needed a distraction.
She stared blankly, her plump lips forming an O.
“Me and Auntie Nelly were camping with Lilith in a place just like this. Big roaring campfire, nice tent by the lake, crickets chirping in the air. You name it. It was a picturesque view, free from the difficulties we’d experienced in LA.”
He looked into the distance and tried to will the memory to the front of his mind. “Little did we know that this trip would only create further problems for us. You see, your older sister was a real crawler, unlike you. If we ever turned our heads for a second, she’d be gone in a flash. ‘Lively Lilith.’ That’s what one of my producers used to call her.
“Anyway, there came a day like this one. I was out fishing while Nelly watched Lilith, but then she made the mistake of dosing off for a minute… Mind you, Leah, Nelly never dropped her guard around your sister, so she was a complete wreck when she realized what’d happened. I returned when I heard the screaming, but we were both too late. Lively Lilith had found a fun bed of leaves to roll through in the seconds she’d been left alone.”
He sighed. “What she didn’t know was what type of leaves she’d found. Poison oak. Always have to be careful around these parts, Leah. Even a small amount of contact will swell your skin and fill you with regrets.
“Oh, did she bubble up something fierce after that. Her face was like a balloon, with cheeks like this.” He puffed out his own to exemplify it. Leah giggled. “And damn, did me and Nelly fear for our lives. Our beautiful Lilith, blowing up so big we thought she might burst!
“Thankfully, a quick hop in the car down to the emergency room, some good scrubbing with anti-itch medication, and a couple days of rest, and your sister was better than ever. It was quite the humbling lesson for us. Children are more resilient than we give them credit. Why, they are almost indestructible, aren’t they?”
Leah coughed again, her cheeks scrunching.
Liam kissed her forehead again. “That’s right, Leah, you don’t have anything to fear. Just like your sister, you’ll bounce through this just fine. Meanwhile, we’ll get to keep enjoying our little father-daughter time. Nothing more than that. We keep moving together, and it will all work out.” His voice cracked against the futility of it all. “It’s going to be okay.”
A distant hiss echoed into their copse, and Liam jerked to attention. His Remington shook in hand as he pierced through the mess of thick brush and tall, empty trees. Once again, he regretted choosing this locale as their temporary hideout. The terrain was flat and visibility could not have been worse, and with a town not too far back, hollows no doubt were wandering this way, drawn out by the vehicle that’d passed through their territory.
Liam shifted the bolt action of his rifle into place. Five rounds. That was all the bastard could hold at once, with little more than a dozen extra rounds in his pocket. Coupled with the Glock he had taken in haste, they hardly had enough ammunition to survive the tiniest herd.
So long as it’s just them, we’ll be okay. Though the polyethylene shell of his hazmat suit had torn from all the movement, the leather hardsuit beneath still held strong. Another invention of Mother’s. Leather wrapped around plastic and cloth created a chassis strong enough to tilt a hollow’s jaw without letting the saliva leak through. The damned thing might’ve weighed an extra twenty pounds and had plenty of gaps around the joints, but Liam and Evelyn had learned long ago not to travel anywhere near the surface without it. Protected by this shell, he could even chance killing hollows with melee, should the risk require it.
He gave Leah another kiss and dragged her back to the truck. With his daughter safe inside, he quickly tossed another mound of debris to act as further camouflage, slipped a suppressor onto his rifle and pistol, and went to work.
Even if Liam could do nothing to cure her sickness, he could still destroy anything that would do Leah harm.