red hill - jamie mcguire

Miranda
MY EYELIDS WERE HEAVY , EVEN though we were preparing to carry Skeeter’s wife outside amid
dozens of dead just waiting to bite us, time seemed to have stopped. The faucet was leaking, letting
one drop at a time fall into the sink, creating an irritating beat inside the silence.
Bryce and Skeeter were discussing strategy while the reverend and the other men listened intently.
Ashley was busy trying to talk Cooper out of baiting the dead ones away from the church, and the
women were trying to keep the children warm and comfortable on their pallets in the hallway so they
would sleep through it all.
Jill had been rolled in a couple of plastic tablecloths once Skeeter was finally okay with it. It
bothered him at first to see her covered, complaining that she couldn’t breathe. He knew as well as
we did that she was gone, but his mind was still getting used to it. No one blamed him, waiting
patiently until he was ready.
I was sitting in a metal folding chair at the table with my chin resting on the heel of my hand. It was
ridiculous, but the only thing running through my head was how stupid it was that I didn’t get more
sleep the night before the apocalypse. I’d stayed up late cramming for a test that I didn’t even get to
take because the school let out early due to the pandemic. Now I had double and triple integrals
running in my brain. I would never have used them before. Now I definitely wouldn’t need them. The
thought about how much time I’d wasted studying for shit that no longer mattered made me angry.
I could have been backpacking across Europe. Now there was a very real chance I might never see
it.
“Miranda”
I sat up, blinking. “Yeah”
“You ready The sun is coming up. It will be light enough in a couple of minutes for us to move
Jill.”
“Yeah. I’m ready. Just waiting on you.” I stood, watching the reverend fidget and take big enough
breaths that, to him, made him look something other than nervous.
Before I made it the few steps across the room to help Bryce and Skeeter with Jill, a quiet moan
reverberated upstairs. Every pair of eyes in the room slowly moved upward to stare at something they
couldn’t see on the other side of the ceiling. In the next moment there was a loud bang like someone
had fallen.
Gary looked to Skeeter. “I told you. It’s Annabelle.”
Skeeter glanced down at the sheet covering Jill, and then grabbed a gun from his duffle bag. It
looked pretty mean. Something my dad would love. “We need to take care of Jill, first.”
The mother, April, wrapped her arms around her middle. “You’re just going to leave us in here
alone with that thing walking around upstairs What if she gets through the door”
“It’s boarded,” Gary said.
“My husband boarded the windows of our house. Notice he’s not here,” April said, her voice
raising an octave.