by Olah, Jeff
“William.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Do you remember where your Dad said it was?”
“I think it is just around the corner, on the left.”
April turned at the stop sign and pulled the car to a stop fifty feet away from Williams’s house. None of the Feeders roaming the area seemed to notice that they were even there.
There was a man sitting in the upstairs window and they figured it must be William.
“Do you think Dad is here?”
“I don’t know, but I sure hope so.”
“Do you think he sees us?”
Justin hadn’t even finished his questions as the man in the window stood and waved. He left the room and disappeared into the house.
“Justin.”
“Uh huh…”
“I’m still shaking about what happened back at the house.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I just…”
April stopped him before he could finish.
“I cannot begin to tell you how careless that was. What on earth was so important that you jumped out of the car and almost got both of us killed?”
Justin reached into the plastic container and tossed a single photo album onto the seat.
“This.”
33
Standing in the center of the room, both men, now completely exhausted, stared at the beautiful young woman before them. Randy looked over his shoulder at the door and back at the woman. He quickly walked over to the couch, sat down and put his arm around her. He pulled her in close and hugged her tight. She continued to cry and used her shirt to wipe away the tears.
She said, “Randy, they’re coming.”
“Who’s coming?” Mason said.
Randy pulled back and looked Savannah in the eyes. He knew she must have gone through hell to get here and couldn’t believe she made it her on her own. She lived over twenty miles away and she hadn’t driven a car in years. Her clothes were ripped and stained. Her hands, arms and face were covered in blood and the tears only made things worse.
Had it not been for the events of the last day, Mason imagined that she would have easily passed for a celebrity. He guessed she was in her mid-twenties and from her build, obviously took care of herself. Mason had never seen her here before and wondered who this stranger could be. From the way Randy looked at her; he guessed they were probably in a relationship.
Randy tried to calm Savannah. He brushed the hair away from her face and held her hands in his.
“Savannah, how did you get here? Why did you come?”
“I’m sorry, I should have come sooner. We don’t have time. We need to go!”
“Yeah, I know those things seem like they can smell us.”
“No, Randy, we need to get out of here right now. Lance and Jason will be here any minute.”
“Lance and Jason, why?”
Savannah wiped her face on her sleeve trying to compose herself, then stood and walked to the bags in the middle of the room. She grabbed the smallest of the three and threw it over her shoulder.
“They know about all these guns and other things you have. Don’t you remember telling them about it last summer?”
“Yeah, kind of, so what? We haven’t talked in months and the last time we did, I almost killed both of them.”
“That’s the point; they are coming here for this stuff and will do anything to get it… I mean anything”
Mason, now confused just as much as he was when he entered the apartment grabbed one of the other bags from the floor, and motioned for Randy to help with the remaining one.
“You two can explain who she is and what’s going on later. Let’s just get the hell out of this building while we still have a chance.”
“Mason, I’m sorry. This is my cousin Savannah. Her bothers and I had a really bad falling out a while back and they’re coming here to take my stuff. I assume they’re armed and won’t be willing to negotiate.”
“Ok, that’s just perfect. We still need to get moving.”
“I agree. Savannah, how much time do we have?”
“They brought me with them when they left the house a couple of hours ago. The freeways were a complete nightmare. There are so many dead people that were left in their cars and those things are everywhere.”
Randy shook his head. “Where are Lance and Jason?”
“They stopped about a half mile away at that huge store on the corner to get supplies and I told them I would stay in the back of the car on the floor. As soon as they got inside, I popped the hood, pulled all the wires off the distributor cap and ran straight here.”
Mason looked surprised. “You made it here without a weapon… all on your own?”
“Getting up to your apartment wasn’t all that bad. Those things were too focused on going after you two. I just slid right in during all the commotion.”
“Why leave your brothers?” asked Randy.
“They will kill you for what’s in these bags and anyone else who stands in their way. I came here to get away from them. I’m afraid of what they have become.”
“They wouldn’t hurt you. You’re their flesh and blood.”
“They have already killed a bunch innocent people. They even killed Gene and Joanne earlier today just to get to their stash of guns.”
“Are you serious? They’re family.”
“Yes, something changed in both of them when this all happened. They’re like a couple of wild animals. We need to leave… like right now.”
Savannah motioned for Randy to stand and turned toward Mason looking him up and down.
“Who might you be?”
“His name is Mason… and he is married!” Randy interrupted.
“I just asked his name. It’s not like I want to date him and he’s too old for me anyway.”
“Thanks,” Mason said.
“Knock it off Savannah, it isn’t funny. We don’t have time for games.”
“Alright, alright I’m just trying to lighten things up. I’ve had a pretty bad day.”
“We all have cousin, we all have. Mason, you ready?”
Picking up the gun, Mason dropped the magazine from the gun into his free hand and confirmed he still had enough rounds left to get them safely out of the building and nodded to Randy. Savannah unzipped the bag hanging from her shoulder and rummaged around until she found a gun of her own. She closed the bag, chambered a round and looked up as both men now stared at her.
“Let’s go boys. Oh yeah, where are we going?”
Randy, still finishing his preparation, looked around puzzled.
“Yeah Mason, where are we going?”
“My wife and son are waiting for me at home. I told them to leave at sunrise if I didn’t return, although I came here on foot.”
“My car isn’t here either. I had to leave it behind yesterday. How far do we need to go?”
“If we run we can be there in less than twenty minutes.”
Savannah looked out the kitchen window and shook her head. “The sun will be up in just a few minutes,” she said.
Mason knew his family wouldn’t leave him behind, although he was concerned about what they might face if they left the house in search of him.
“Let’s go. Once we get to my family, we can all leave the city for a more remote area, maybe the desert and wait this thing out. The more of us that can stay together the better. You know… strength in numbers.”
“We’re with you Mason,” Randy said.
The three walked to the door, bags hanging from their shoulders. They were ready to once again do battle as Randy took the lead. He pulled a second gun out of his bag and readied both weapons.
“Mason… watch and learn.”
34
She knew what it was. She didn’t even need to open the cover to know why Justin did what he did. This photo album was a detailed reminder of their life before things went bad. Way before the infection that strangled the life out of their city yesterday. The photos in this album were a c
onnection to her life with Mason from the time they met until their relationship crossed into dark territory.
Every night for a month, April flipped through the pages as she cried herself to sleep. She would tell herself that the next morning would bring a new day and life would get easier without him. It never did. She prayed every night for the two of them to find a way back together, and if that weren’t possible, then she just wanted to be able to stop missing him.
April knew this behavior wasn’t healthy and finally boxed up the album along with the others in the house and put them in the plastic container her son risked his life to retrieve. He did this for her. He did this for their family. He did this without hesitation. The feeling of disappointment she felt for Justin only minutes ago washed away and all she felt now was guilt.
Tears already running down her cheeks, April unbuckled her seatbelt and silently climbed into the backseat. She kissed Justin on the cheek and explained to him how she regretted losing her temper and not trusting him. She promised never again to take him or the things he did for granted. She finished by telling him she loved him now more than ever.
She grabbed the album from the front seat and set it back in the container amongst the others.
“Thank you.”
. . .
William raced down the stairs, through the hall and into the garage, startling both Karen and Uncle Joe. Rounding the front of the truck and opening the driver’s door, William stood outside not yet ready to hop in. He somehow needed to get the garage door open and without power, he would have to do it manually.
“They’re here!”
“Really?” Karen asked.
“Yes, they are sitting out front.”
“You were right. Your buddy showed up.”
William took a deep breath, reached up and pulled the garage door’s safety release. He ran to the door and quickly pulled up, locking it in the open position. As he moved back to the truck and slid in behind the wheel, Karen handed him the keys. He didn’t know what to expect as they exited the safety of their home. He asked his wife and uncle to keep their heads down as they pulled into the street and he would tell them when they were clear.
“What’s the plan?” Karen asked.
“I need to talk it over with Mason before we head out. I think I’ll drive into that lot across the street. As of a few minutes ago, there weren’t Feeders over there. They all seem to have left that area and come in this direction.”
“Alright, then what?”
“I’ll close the gate behind us. They don’t seem to know how to navigate chain link fences.”
“You’re going to get out?”
“Just for a minute. Once I close that gate behind us, we’ll have some time to decide what to do next.”
“I sure hope you’re right.”
“I’m not really sure of anything, although it’s our best chance.”
William looked into the rearview mirror. “Joe, you ready?”
Joe didn’t say a word. He kept his head down, raised his right arm and gave the thumbs up sign. Joe wasn’t scared. He was just going through the motions and no longer feared death. He only wanted to help his nephew get to safety any way he could.
. . .
Turning their attention back to the house, April and Justin watched as the garage door opened and the truck pulled out. April climbed back into the driver’s seat and put the car into reverse. With everything that had played out in the last twenty minutes, she had almost forgotten why they left the house in the first place. Her husband was out there somewhere and they needed to find him. She hoped he was just stuck in his apartment, unable to get back to them through the mess that had become these city streets.
As the truck emerged, April was surprised to see a how fast it backed out and down the driveway. William took out four Feeders right away and continued to mow them down as the truck reached the street. They skidded to a stop and quickly started forward in the same manner.
William cleared the majority of the crowd and came to a stop along the driver’s side of his friend’s car. William motioned for them to follow him and punched the gas once again. Karen lifted her head and looked out the front, afraid of what she might see. To her relief, it was open road down to the lot they were going to meet in.
“Wow,” April said as she drove forward behind Williams’s truck. “This guy means business.”
Checking his driver’s side mirror and looking back at what followed, William estimated he would have less than a minute after stopping the truck to jump out and close the gate behind them before the entire horde would converge on the area. He knew it would be close and didn’t let off the gas.
April started to worry that she might be following the wrong person. As he accelerated, she thought to herself “What’s this guy doing?” She cursed under her breath and pushed harder on the gas pedal to keep up.
As their truck cleared the entrance to the lot, William slammed on the brakes, skidding sideways to a stop and leaving room to his right for his friend to pull in. Handing the keys back to Karen, he jumped out and within seconds was in a full sprint back towards the gate.
As he flew by April, now entering the lot, she was convinced that this man was crazy. He was running back towards those things and nothing he could have forgotten was worth trying to fight them.
Justin had been watching from the backseat and knew what was happening.
He remembered what his mother told him just a short time ago and knew she would be extremely upset, although he could see that William didn’t have enough time to do this alone. As he kicked open the door he said, “Mom, I know what I’m doing.”
Justin caught up to William at the fence and both pushed the heavy metal gate in unison. William looked over expecting to see Mason and was surprised at how much this boy looked like his father. The two continued to push.
With Feeders only a few feet from them, William managed to lift and then drop the latch closed, locking the gate as Justin let go, narrowly avoiding the grasp of one of those things.
Karen and April had also gotten out and started toward them.
William shook Justin’s hand as the two walked back to their vehicles.
“You must be Mason’s son, my name is William.”
“Yeah, my dad told us about you. Told us about meeting you here.”
“Thanks for your help; I wouldn’t have gotten the gate closed without you. I figured your dad would have jumped out and helped too. Where is he?”
April approached, her eyes starting to well up as she answered.
“We don’t know, he never made it back home.”
35
Going back out into this hell that their city had become was no doubt little more than a gamble. The sheer number of Feeders now searching for human flesh appeared to have multiplied tenfold since the nightmare began the day before. Staying in small groups and watching out for one another was the only hope for staying alive, unless you were willing to lock yourself indoors and hope to wait this whole thing out. Mason wasn’t willing to do that.
They hadn’t really discussed a route back to his home or any sort of a plan for the inevitable conflict they would face if they were to be overrun by a group of Feeders too large for the three of them to handle. Would they split up? Would they run? Where would they meet up afterwards? Thoughts raced through his mind like a freight train on acid as he opened the door, letting Randy and Savannah move into the hallway in front of him.
Their previous battle left a hideous maze of Feeder corpses that proved to be a challenge to navigate. Randy led the way climbing over bodies and pushing aside those he could. The stench that filled the hall was something unimaginable and it took their complete focus not to get sick to their stomachs as they continued toward the east stairwell.
Randy stopped in front of the elevator only halfway down the hall and pushed the call button. As the sound of the bell rang out, Mason looked down the hall and saw two Feeders step out from the last apartment on the
right. He looked up at the indicator and could see the elevator ascending, although there were still two floors to go. Estimating that the two monsters heading their way would reach them before the elevator did, Mason stepped forward with Randy to his left and both men raised their weapons and each squeezed off one round.
Randy hit his intended target just above the eyebrow line, knocking Feeder number one off its feet and backwards into the window. Mason’s shot obliterated the ear of Feeder number two, although it continued forward not missing a step. This thing was at least six feet five inches tall and had to weigh in excess of three hundred pounds. As its ear was blown into fine red dust, it didn’t even flinch. It would be on them in seconds.
As the bell rang indicating the elevator had reached their floor, Randy stepped in front of Mason and fired with both guns at once. The bullet from the gun in his right hand tore through the arm of the Feeder, shattering bone and flesh. It continued forward only another half step as the next round entered through its left eye socket and exited through the rear of its skull with a violent explosion that made the three of them wince in horror.
Savannah checked the elevator and stepped in first, followed by Mason and finally after a few more seconds, Randy.
As the doors closed Mason looked across the spacious elevator and noticed Savannah was shaking and had her head down. Randy asked her to hit the button for ground level and noticed the same thing. Reaching in front of her, he tapped the button with the barrel of his gun and the gears above engaged.
During their decent, Savannah slowly raised her head, blinked a few times and furrowed her brow inquisitively.
“Randy…”
“Yeah?”
“You were in the military for quite a while.”
“Ok.”
“I read online before my computer died yesterday that this was caused by some kind of weird experiment that the government was doing on soldiers. Do you think that’s true?”
“I heard the same thing from one of my old buddies just before my cell lost service last night.”
