Santiago Rising

chapter 11

I immediately grab Casey's hand and ran into the wood line that our four-legged friend came out of. Why is it that I'm always running? I mean I understand why but I wasn't alone anymore. I had a kid and a baby and now a dog. When I didn't hear any more gunfire I grab Casey's hand and move along the brush line. We were moving as fast as we can. I just needed us to get to the best and move north up the coastline. I know it was an open area the beach but we can move a lot faster up north and away from the city. If it means getting Casey and Carmen out of the harm's way, then I would pick the fastest route. Then after they were safe then what would I do then? Do I keep looking after them until I can't anymore or do we move until we are completely safe? Not to mention this dog won't stop following us. She seems to be well train and looks to be about three years old. She had a tag that read Artemis and if I'm not mistaken that was the goddess of chastity, virginity, the hunt, the moon, and the natural environment. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo. So, I had a Greek goddess dog here to help with the hunt and to look over us.

Here I was in hell with two kids and a dog. I don't think my life can get anymore wilder if I try but then again, I don't have to. It had been a week and a half since the bombings and everything I knew was gone in a blink of an eye. Part of me was still hoping this was a dream until I heard Carmen's small cries. "hey little dude don't cry if you do the dead will find us" I coo to her. I took her from the chest harness and the Dog Artemis came to her and just licked her. "Hey, stop that," I said and she stops but because her Carmen calm down a bit. "ok now time to eat and change you alright little one," I said and look towards Casey. "Hey, eat up while we ate resting ok," I said to her. She nodded her head and sat down new to me. As we ate and change Carmen with Casey laughing at me we pack up and started to move again. Carmen was sleeping we move along some of the side roads until we came across Sunset Blvd. it was a busy street but now it was dead and some cars were set ablaze. It was a good idea to move along Sunset Blvd. For the best. It was fast and easy then we came to move north away from the city on the beach.

We move slow and hid whenever we heard a noise that sounded like yelling, gunfire or clicks of teeth. Every once and awhile Artemis would growl and get low to the ground and when she did we would stop and look at our surroundings. Having Artemis around was a good thing, maybe when it's not so crazy I could train her to be a guard dog. We were about twenty minutes away from the beach. I could smell the salt in the air and the cool breeze rolling off the waves. I couldn't wait to get there. Then we could head north and maybe find an isolated building from all this and hold up there until I form a plan to keep the girls safe. But for now, I just needed to keep these two safes. Soon I could hear the waves hitting the beach and see the ocean. But what I saw didn't prepare me for anything live even know. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought this was a dream, some form of heat stroke dream but it wasn't. as we got closer to the beach I saw something gray. "Haley, what's that?" Casey ask me. I couldn't answer her because I was trying to understand it myself. "it's a wall" I said to her. "why is there a wall?" she asks. "To keep the dead from getting out and trapping the living" was all I told her.

I was mad to all hell. They built a wall! Just like what Jackie said. She told me that the wall was built around Manhattan but this was I couldn't see the ending to it. maybe the virus and the dead speared to all of California and they built a wall around the whole state. I wanted to yell but couldn't. we weren't alone. I saw the dead on the beach and some cars in the sand. Maybe others had the same idea as I did but now I was out of a plan. I saw a horde of growlers. Damnit. There were too many of them for us to sneak past. And I didn't want to put the girls or the dog in harm's way. Also, I didn't want to catch in the line of fire by some crazy people. We couldn't say here. "Casey, I know we just left the inner city but we need to go back," I told her. "I understand, to many dead and the living is batshit crazy," she said. "Casey watch your mouth," I said to here. "but you curse all the time," she said to me. "yeah well I can" was all I said.