Open Roads Read Online Free PDF Page B

asked.
    “We can’t leave Susan,” Mary Beth said, ignoring her father’s question. “We just can’t.”
    Charles went to his daughter, moving his hand to her shoulder, but she stepped back. He sighed and said, “It’s too dangerous to take her with us. We’ll come back for her. I promise.”
    “Let me stay here with her,” Mary Beth said.
    Her mother stepped in.
    “Look, sweetie. You heard me. I don’t want to leave Susan here either. But, your father is right. It’s the only option we have. John is going to watch her, and make sure that she is okay until we can get back here with help for her. She’s sick, baby. Too sick to travel. Letting your sister out of that shed would only put us all in danger.”
    Feeling as if she was being ganged up on, Mary Beth sat down against a nearby wall, bringing her knees up to her chin. She hid her face from both of her parents and started to cry. Part of the reason she was so upset was pure exhaustion. She’d hardly slept over the past two days, replaying in her mind over and over what she’d seen out in the woods. First, her sister lying on the ground, not breathing. Then, seeing Susan transformed into some sort of creature. Deep in the back of her mind, she could look past her denial to see the truth. The truth that whatever was wrong with Susan, there was no coming back. The same truth that she’d fought to ignore over the last couple of days.
    When her mother started to cry harder, a kind of guilt poured over Mary Beth. She knew that none of this was easy on her parents, and the decision to leave Susan behind couldn’t have been easy. She came out of her ball, wiped her eyes, and stood.
    “I’ll go pack a bag.”
    ***
    The Dawsons lived a few miles away from the main roads. Mary Beth looked out the windows to see the same, ranch-style houses that she’d seen hundreds of times before when heading into town. She sat in the back seat, hugging her duffle bag in her lap. Her father had advised her to pack light and only bring necessities, which ended up just being clothes and toiletries. She’d left room in her bag for Bun-Bun, a purple stuffed bunny her grandmother had given her and that she’d had for as long as she could remember, as well as a small keepsake that Susan had knitted for her which had the letters “MBD” sewn into the corner. Each of her parents had also brought only one bag, and they’d filled up two others with dried and canned foods, as well as various bottles and jars filled with water.
    They reached the main road of town. To her right was the grocery store that Mary Beth had been to with her mother more times than she could count. A mile off to the left was highway 129, the road they’d be taking to Knoxville. None of the businesses appeared to be open, even though it was well into the morning. Across the street, the windows of the gas station had been completely shattered. Mary Beth squinted her eyes into focus to see the inside of the convenience store trashed. Cars lined the streets, facing different directions. Other stores lining the street looked similarly vandalized.
    “What the hell happened?” her mother asked.
    Her father let off the brake, and eased the vehicle out onto Main. He drove at a snail’s pace as they each scanned the area outside, trying to take everything in. To Mary Beth, it was as if a tornado had blown through town, leaving behind nothing but pure devastation.
    “Look, honey, a person,” Mary Beth’s mother said, pointing just ahead. “Pull up and ask them if they know anything.”
    The person walked in the middle of the road, their back turned to the Dawsons. The figure moved with a limp and bad posture. Mary Beth noticed the tattered clothes. He appeared to be a man.
    “I think he needs help,” her mother said.
    The man stopped, and her father hit the brakes. He put the gear into park and unfastened his seatbelt.
    “I’ll be right back,” her father said.
    Mary Beth’s mother grabbed his arm. “Where