There was no one out. No cars on the road, no survivors begging for help, chasing after me in some last ditch attempt as saving themselves. There were no dead either, which I had hoped there wouldn’t be. That was the only thing I hoped for the most.
Further into town I slowed at a convenience store to see the windows broken out, a few boards over two of the windows and dried blood and bodies everywhere. One body was in the door blocking it from shutting, but still no signs of any life or moving dead. I pulled in and brought the SBR barrel up to the window, as it slid down. Several of the cooler lights were still on and only one flickered on and off. There were no cars in front or beside the store. I stopped the SUV and got out.
I cautiously moved with the weapon dug into my shoulder, my right eye peered through the red dot sight while my left eye scanned for movement. I entered the store and quickly had to cover my nose from the horrid smell of death and decomposition. Thank God the SBR was light and I could handle it with one hand, so I advanced and quickly saw that most of the shelves had been cleaned out. What drinks remained in the cooler were shot up, apparently when those things came through the barricades the people inside were armed. A shell casing was disturbed by my foot and rolled across the floor. I looked down to see that the floor was littered with them.
Back in the SUV I pulled onto Main Street and headed deeper into town, fighting the urge to look at the street, which lead to my house. I didn’t want to go there, hadn’t planned on it although there was a part of me that
needed
too. I had to have closure with my wife and step-daughter, to know that they had perished and I hadn’t left them to die like a true coward would have.
I veered down seventh street, wondering what I would find when I got there. Two houses on the right were on fire and looked as though they had recently been set. I eyed the street ahead and watched the rear view mirror for signs of those responsible. It wouldn’t be unheard of for strangers from the interstate to find their way to the small town for refuge or for reasons far more sinister. I’d have to keep my eyes and ears open even more.
I stopped at the stop sign, looked to the left and could see my house. A glance in several different directions told me the coast was clear and I headed home and pulled into the driveway moments later. With all of my decisions before, I had left Kember alone in the vehicle, although I had brought her with me once and encountered one of the dead. Had it not been for the car door being shut and it having to open it to get at me, things may have been a lot different. I posed the single question as I sat there looking around.
Do I bring her with me or leave her in the SUV?
There, of course, were pro’s and con’s to either decision. I could move faster without her in my arms, could shoot better as well. Leaving her meant she would be unattended for some time and if one dead could open a car door, then many others could as well. Not to mention the living, which were anything but survivors.
I slid the sling over my head and right shoulder, checked to see that the SBR was still loaded, took another glance all the way around my current location, regretting spraying the windows with paint, which cut my visibility to almost nothing, and slowly got out. The cool air of the day sent a shiver up my spine and I spun thinking that someone was coming at me from behind. There was no one there and I shut the door softly and moved up onto the porch.
The front door was still open, but the screen door was shut as I had left it over a week ago. As I moved closer my mind was already inside clearing the major rooms before moving on to the smaller ones. I decided to do the clearing the way I had pictured it in my mind and opened the screen door. I whistled one good strong time and waited. If there was anyone inside they would come to investigate and make my job a whole hell of a lot easier.
No one showed up to investigate. I looked back at the SUV before entering, still wondering if I was making the right choice by leaving her alone again? My gut didn’t tell me I shouldn’t, but it was slightly knotted and I was cautious of that feeling. It was at that moment that I wished I had gotten out of my procrastination mode and had enclosed the porch when I had the chance, at least that way I could have had another obstacle in front of me for anyone to have to cross, as well as a closer place for Kember to be than out in an obvious vehicle. If anyone had been watching the area for the past week, my SUV would stand out like a sore thumb and definitely bring the curious looking. I rattled the keys in my pocket.
I was assaulted by the foul odor of decomp before I could even get in the door. I knew where it was coming from and as much as I wanted the closure, there was a part of me that knew the truth and suggested I take that on faith.
What can you do for her anyway?
My mind asked. It was a very valid statement and I decided to go to the bedroom, grab some more clothes for both of us and get the hell out of dodge for good. That was my plan.
I cleared the living room, the dining room, which was connected to the previous room and the kitchen. From there I could enter Kember’s room and retrieve the things I needed quickly and quietly. The only hiccup was the long hallway that ran to the opposite end of the house where my step-daughter and son’s rooms were located. That was an easy place for someone to hide and attack me as I swung one way, although I burst forward and spun that way first, cleared the hallway and made it to the bedroom with no problems.
Nothing appeared to be out of place. Nothing seemed to have been molested in any way. There were no signs of someone digging through our things, which made it safe to say that no one had been in the house since I left over a week ago. Just that was enough to make me feel better, even a bit relaxed in the midst of all that was still going on. I wasn’t about to set my SBR down and take my time looking through Kember’s dresser or my own. I knew where her stuff, as well as my own was and went straight for them. Time wasn’t something I had on my side and the more time I spent inside, the more could take place outside and I wouldn’t know it until I was running back to the SUV.
Something somewhere in the house fell to the floor and I instantly stopped. My instincts kicked in and I buried the weapon into my shoulder and moved through my daughter’s room toward the kitchen. At the door I peered around to see what I thought was a shadow disappearing down the hallway. I wasn’t seeing things… someone was
in
the house with me. Maybe they knew I was busy doing something, which pulled them from the safety of their hiding place, or maybe they had thought I’d left and ventured out to see me leave, only to see the SUV still in the driveway.
“I don’t know who’s in here, but you have one chance to come out with your hands up,” I said in a demanding tone. My adrenaline was pumping, as I wasn’t sure what I was about to get myself into. I could have easily have grabbed what I’d gathered so far and left. If they wanted the rest of our things, then they could have them. Why was I suddenly picking a fight?
“I’m not playing around here!” I said and moved a few feet further into the doorway. “I am armed, well-armed, and will shoot you if you try anything… come out, now!”
Another noise followed and I suddenly had a severe case of déjà vu. I could feel my palms get sweaty, feel the already mounting stress increase. I was waiting for a young girl to shoot out of nowhere and attack me, biting my other hand in the process. And as the Young Woman and myself had put together a few days back, a bite by one of those things – left untreated – would turn you into one of those things.
“Last chance!” I shouted.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway followed by a voice. “Don’t shoot, we are coming out.”
We?
My mind asked as I braced myself for what was about to happen. Was I ready to shoot if I needed too, or would I pussy out as I had so many times before? I felt my finger slip on to the trigger. The safety had been flipped off as I got out of the SUV, so there was no need to fiddle for it now.
I held my breath as I watched the form appear like an apparition of someone long dead – a ghost, transparently white with sorrowful eyes and floating a few inches off the ground, returning from some time in my past to haunt me. What materialized was far more shocking.
The sun was high in the afternoon sky. Bubbling clouds floated silently by in a bright blue sky. I remember watching it creep across the kitchen floor, inching its way as a tide would do, majestic forces of the moon acting upon its advance like a humongous magnet. I stared at it for several long unforgettable moments, lost in its timeless motion and unable to turn away. It beckoned me… called my name in some eerie inaudible voice only I could hear.
A dirty Blonde came into view followed by two Men who themselves were dirty and wild eyed, as if they had seen the exact apparition I was expecting, but hadn’t emerged. They were armed with an old model revolver and a hunting shotgun with a long barrel. At first sight, I was more concerned about being hit by the barrel of the shotgun rather than being shot with it. It was longer than I had ever seen.
I could see both of the Blondes hands, although that didn’t mean she wasn’t armed. She could easily have a piece down the back of her pants, readily available to the Man behind her in the event he couldn’t swing the shotgun fast enough to shoot me, he could always surrender the weapon and when I approached, he could grab it and dispatch me like the dead.
“What are you doing in my house?” I asked them.
There was a slight pause, like they had either not understood my question or they were trying their best to come up with the perfect lie to throw me off their true intentions. I tightened my grip on the SBR until my hands began to hurt, luckily for my left hand the rail on the weapon wasn’t the typical quad-rail you find on most AR styled platforms. It was a seamless rail with mounting options on top of the barrel and two inches underneath, extending back from the muzzle break to allow the forward grip. It was a narrow piece of plastic in the shape of a handle that attached to the weapon and allowed the shooters hand to better grip the weapon, allowing for greater control in full auto, as well as not putting the hand in an unrealistic angle. It also kept the shooters fingers away from the direct path of the muzzle if you had to jerk the weapon up quickly.
“We were looking for a safe place to stay… maybe find some supplies,” The Skinny Blonde said. “I see you have a vehicle out there. Is it full of gas, because we could really use a ride if it is?”
The situation closely resembled that of the gas station a little over a week ago when all of this first started. I knew where things were headed, knew what they would say next. They would ask for a ride and when that didn’t work they would turn to threats and possible violence to get what they wanted. The only difference between then and now was I was better prepared and well-armed to keep them from taking anything from me. Oh, and I didn’t have an unknown infection that would come on at the most inopportune time. “Let’s cut through the bullshit and get straight to the point, shall we?” I stated.
“All we want is a ride out of this shithole and you can do whatever you want after that,” The closest Man to the Blonde said. He was as dirty as she was and I quickly noticed the soot on his hands, which you only get if you’re climbing down chimneys or setting fires and making sure that they will continue to burn long after you have left. And this guy was not Santa, the Blonde was not Mrs. Clause and the third Man certainly didn’t have a shiny red nose like Rudolph.
“I should just shoot all three of you right now and save myself the time of having to listen to your politeness, which will quickly spiral out of control when you don’t get what you want. Next will be the threats, because I am outnumbered, and then finally…
“Finally what?” The Man asked intently.
“Then the violence starts,” I said.
Their eyes widened when I replied. I was truly offended that they thought I was that stupid. “Yeah, I’ve been through this once before already… but this time I’m all the wiser and better armed.” I could feel my instincts telling me to just shoot them and get it over with. It was my morals that hindered my trigger finger from cutting them down. “I passed a few houses on fire a few minutes ago. People I used to know, before all this shit happened, used to live there. What’s that black sooty looking stuff on your hands?”
None of them answered. They could see and feel that I wasn’t stupid, nor would I be easily fooled by any of their babblings about looking for safety or supplies. These people were only out for themselves and what they could get. With no laws to follow anymore and no consequences to be imposed upon them in such actions, they were at will to do whatever they liked to whomever they liked… except me.
“I know what that stuff is. You know what that stuff is, so just tell me what you gained out of it. I’m curious, I really am.”
The Blonde was the first to cave and allow her true intentions to be seen. “He’s not going to go for it, Lloyd,” Her voice boomed in an angered tone, as if she were disappointed that I wasn’t so naïve.
“That’s because he isn’t stupid… he’s well prepared,” Lloyd said, smacking the Blonde in the back of her head.
I switched the weapon from semi to full-auto, and even though I had never shot it in this mode, I was sure that with the adrenaline pumping through my veins I would be more than capable of controlling its recoil and keeping the muzzle exactly where it need to be in order to neutralize the threats before me.