red hill - jamie mcguire

quickly picked it up, making sure I had a good grip, and then descended the stairs, preparing myself
for whatever might be down there.
If he’s alive, don’t hit him. Don’t just swing. Don’t just react. Those thoughts were on loop,
getting louder with every step, which made it difficult to listen for anything that might signal I might
actually need to swing in reaction.
The door opened, and I bent forward to look inside, immediately seeing a pair of legs lying flat on
the floor. They were Leah’s, and even though I couldn’t see all of her, I could tell she was face down.
After a quick glance to both sides, I stepped in, following the trail. Dr. Hayes was sitting back against
the wall, a large wound in his neck, and a single gunshot hole in his temple. One of his many handguns
was at his side, next to his open, lifeless hand. Leah also had a head wound, similar to Dr. Hayes’s,
but her chin and chest were covered in blood, and the missing piece from Dr. Hayes’s neck was
peeking from her mouth.
Blood was sprayed in several directions: on the open gun safe in the corner, the wall, and floor.
From what I could tell, Dr. Hayes had come to the basement to get a gun for protection, but Leah had
apparently caught him in the act, and attacked him. She must have turned quick. He must have been
running from her. I imagined that he knew he was infected, so after shooting her, he’d killed himself.
It made sense.
Suddenly I felt very alone. It hadn’t crossed my mind that the ranch would be devoid of anybody
else. His daughters weren’t here. Leah was dead. Would the rest of his family try to make it to this
safe haven Miranda and Ashley were supposed to visit this weekend. Maybe they were already on
their way. If not, maybe they would have the same idea I had and come here anyway with their
mother. The ranch was obviously the best place to be, and even though they didn’t visit as often,
Dr. Hayes, like every girl’s father, was their protector. It made sense for them to try to make it here.
That was my hope, anyway.
Dr. Hayes was just smiling about his daughters visiting the morning before. I couldn’t believe he
was sitting in a pool of his own blood just a few feet from me. It was so surreal, I couldn’t find an
emotion to attach to the situation. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the gruesome scene until it finally
dawned on me that if the girls did reach the ranch, they could see their father like this.
“Damnit,” I said. My mind went on an inexplicable memory search for every time I’d seen the
doctor eat a donut. He was a stout man, and I had no idea how I was going to pull him up the stairs.
I walked over to the mess and picked up the pistol off the floor. The safety was off. With my foot, I
nudged Leah’s hip, pointing the gun at the back of her head. A rather large exit wound was visible, but
I didn’t want any surprises. She rocked forward, and then didn’t move again, prompting me to click
on the gun’s safety feature.
Satisfied they weren’t going to attack me, I walked upstairs—gun in hand—through the house to the
front porch. I stood on the wood deck, taking stock of my surroundings, trying to decide what I should
do first.
A sudden wave of exhaustion came over me, and I sat on the steps so hard that I hurt my ass. I’d
made it. We had said this was the place to come if an apocalypse happened. It happened, and I was
here. Without my girls.