Human Extinction Level Loss (Book 3): Liberation by Philip A. McClimon

looked away from his scope and watched the two go.
    Beverly was afraid that Tommy had run into the woods, would keep running and become lost in the trees. She came up short as she saw him. He leaned against the side of the Cherokee, his face buried in the crook of his arm, the wailing and tears flowing freely. Beverly raced up to her son and grabbed him. She spun him around and clutched him to her. Sensing his mother, Tommy threw his arms around his mother’s neck and buried his face in her shoulder. Beverly stroked her son’s hair and rocked him.
    “Tell me what you saw, baby. What was in the valley below, please…”
    Tommy’s breaths came in gasps. He raised his head and through tear filled eyes gave witness to the truth he wanted desperately to deny.
    “Daddy wasn’t lucky, mom! My daddy wasn’t lucky!”

 
    Fourteen
     
    Night settled upon them and no one spoke. Each moved in the solitude of their own mind. Beverly kept an eye on Tommy, but he would not look at her. When Jacob presented their cans of stew, he did not eat. Beverly too found that she had no appetite. Only Jacob ate, off to the side, by himself. When the time came for the nightly broadcast, Beverly had hoped it would be a brief respite from Tommy’s emotional exile. It was not to be. Knowing that there was no chance his father would hear it, left Tommy disinterested in the prospect of a future that the messages offered. When it was too dark to do anything else they tried to sleep, but sleep did not come. Tommy lay in his blanket, his back to his mother. Beverly caressed his hair and tried to comfort him. Tommy had tried to close his eyes, but when he did, he only saw his father, so he kept them open, staring into the black void of the night.
     
    The next morning Beverly was on a mission. She had resolved she would do what she must to get Jacob to take them to Colorado. When she woke and saw that Tommy had not moved, only continued to stare out into nothing, she knew that they must get off the road, away from the endless pursuit of death. If Tommy was going to have any chance at all it would have to be in a place where there was some hope for the future, not out here trying to silence the past. To that end she was willing to beg.
    “Please… I know that what you are doing… that your work is important to you, but I must get my son to Colorado. He can’t be out here… surrounded by all… all of this…”
    Jacob, who had his back to Beverly and was checking his gear in the Cherokee, turned and faced her. His face showed the struggle between stoic resolve and compassion. He opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by the soft insistent voice of Tommy.
    “We can’t go to Colorado. Not until we free my Dad.”
    Jacob looked up and Beverly turned, both fixing their gaze on the small figure standing before them.
    “That’s what you are doing, isn’t it Sheriff Miller? Freeing them? Making it so they aren’t zombies anymore?” Tommy said.
    Beverly’s heart was breaking. She had to get Tommy somewhere stable. It wasn’t only the road, it was Jacob. He was a man trapped in his own hellish misery. He felt compelled to cling to the Dead, to devote himself to them, maybe out of guilt, she wasn’t sure. What she was sure of was that she could not allow her son to sink into that morass, but as she stood looking into the pleading eyes of her son, she knew that the decision was taken out of her hands. Jacob’s words only highlighted her futility.
    “The next vantage point is four hours. We leave in ten minutes.”
    Beverly sighed and her shoulders slumped. Tommy turned and began to roll his sleeping bag.
     
    It was Jacob’s least favorite vantage point. The window of opportunity was small on account of the town. Perched on a spot high above in the hills, Jacob set up and settled in. The spot overlooked a two lane road that led into Centerville Township. The horde was funneled into the road which ran between a series of hills. Between the