This Land of Monsters
Page 22
All around them were burned or torn down homes, many of them having X’s painted on the doors. Nash knew without asking that those were the houses that had already been searched, which gave Fletcher’s group no reason to return. They walked through the streets, littered with bodies and broken down cars. The occasional slowpoke scowled or smiled at them as they passed, a few of them even slowly followed them through the street. They wove their way through the broken down subdivision, finally making a stop in front of a two level home surrounded by a white picket fence.
“It’s pretty basic,” said Emma as she pulled out her knife and opened the gate of the fence. “We go in, we take anything of value, and then we leave. Keep your knives out and your guns ready.”
“Do you find a lot of howlers inside the houses?” asked Melissa as she looked at the row of untouched homes.
“Howlers…I like that,” said Emma as she continued up the walkway. “Most of them are drawn to the Mansion but you’ll find one every so often.”
Overgrown grass nipped at their legs like the fingers of the dead as they made their way up the walkway. They each surveyed the windows of the home, remarkably untouched by time, and tried to find any hint of movement inside. The front porch was sturdy and didn’t creak at all as they walked up the hardwood steps and made their way to the door, which hung open halfway. Emma placed her hand on the door, ready to push it open, but stopped and turned toward them.
“I’ve always called the slow ones smileys. What do you call them?”
“Slowpokes,” said Melissa with a smile. “I like smileys too.”
Emma smiled again and nodded her head before she pushed the door open and stepped inside. It creaked angrily as it swung open and revealed a house completely torn apart by a long gone howler. They walked silently from room to room, checking for the dead, before they looked for anything to salvage. The three of them entered the dining room and saw two slowpokes sitting at the kitchen table as if expecting a meal to be served to them. Their skin was pulled back harshly against their bones as the two of them sat together, hand in hand slowly fading away. Pictures on the walls around them showed the couple in their days before the fall, smiling down at the empty shells of their former selves.
“It’s almost romantic,” said Emma as she regarded the couple together at the table.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Melissa, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
Nash and Emma both walked forward and drew their knives as they positioned themselves behind the couple. They both silently slid their knives into the back of each slowpoke’s skull as the couple lurched forward and fell dead onto the table.
The rest of the homes were completely void of any howlers or slowpokes. Nash understood why the Mansion had done so well for so long, seeing how they each walked away with their duffle bags completely full. They worked meticulously, moving from one house to next, marking the ones they’d looted so no one repeated the same job twice.
The last home of the day had looked as typical as the other ones on the street. The picket fence opened easily, just like every other house, as did the front door. There were no signs of the dead, but unlike the rest of the homes, it had been completely looted and emptied.
“Why just this house?” whispered Nash as they stood quietly in the empty kitchen.
“Spread out, eyes open — first sign of danger make a bee line for the front door,” Emma ordered. It was like following Sullivan on one of their rounds, and Nash felt a pang of loss clench his heart.
They covered the main floor quickly, finding it just as empty as the kitchen. Other than the sound of their footsteps the house seemed eerily quiet. Emma nodded toward the stairs and they slowly made their way to the upper level.
As they crested the stairs, they were hit with the putrid stench of death. “Someone died,” Melissa whispered. Emma held a finger to her lips and she and Nash took each side of the hallway.
Two doors hung open on either side of the hallway. Facing them from the end of the hallway was a closed door with a pool of dried blood seeping out from underneath.
Nash stepped in front of Melissa and Emma took the lead, un-holstering her gun. The smell got worse the closer they got to the closed door. Melissa hid her nose in her shirt, eyes watering.
Emma reached her hand toward the doorknob but stopped as the sound of soft sobbing registered from behind the door.
The three of them stood frozen and watched the door as they listened to the sobbing continue. Emma stepped back and drew her gun and gestured for Nash to open the door as she readied herself. Nash turned the knob and opened the door slowly to reveal a dead body hunched over on the tiled bathroom floor. The floor was covered in garbage, piled all around the body. Beyond the corpse, hiding in a clear but mildew-stained shower curtain, was the silhouette of two huddled figures. The sobbing continued as Emma moved toward the shower, her gun now holstered as she held her knife at the ready.
“Please…” said one of the voices, weak and tired from behind the curtain.
Emma froze with wide eyes and stared at the murky curtain as the silhouettes nervously continued sobbing. Nash moved past her and flung open the curtain and revealed two girls in their early twenties, dirty and frightened, who flinched at the site of their knives.
“It’s okay,” said Nash as he put his knife away, motioning Emma to do the same. “You’re safe.”
The two girls wiped their tired eyes and quieted as best they could as Melissa rushed in to join them, her face shocked by their condition. Their faces were sunken with hunger as their dirty clothes hung from their frail bodies, making it obvious they’d been on their own for a while.
Nash and Melissa helped the girls out of the bathtub, the smell of body odor and filth stirring through the air as they stepped out of the tub. One of the girls began to sob louder at the site of the dead body.
“Just close your eyes,” said Melissa as she helped her around the corpse.
Nash and Melissa guided them to the biggest bedroom and sat them on the bed as Emma did a final sweep of the other rooms. Behind the dirt and fear, they could tell the two girls were twins. Their hair was long and stringy, having stopped caring for it long ago.
“My name is Nash, and this is Melissa and Emma.”
The girl sitting on the right was much more visibly shaken by the experience. Her gaze remained on the floor the entire time.
“I’m Jessica,” said the girl on the left, wiping the tears from her eyes as she spoke. “This is my sister, Courtney.”
“How long have you been here?” Emma asked.
“I have no idea,” Jessica said. “A month, maybe? We were traveling with our mom through the area and ended up in a chase with some of the fast ones. We ended up here and haven’t left since.” Courtney sobbed again and the thick tears fell onto her lap. “My mom injured herself pretty bad during the chase. That’s her in the bathroom.”
“I’m so sorry,” said Emma as she reached out and took Jessica’s hand.
“Are you from that group inside the wall?” asked Jessica, with hope in her voice as she spoke. Emma looked at Nash, not knowing quite what to say. “We’ve wanted to make it there for a while, but it’s too dangerous around the wall.”
“It’s not much safer inside the walls,” said Melissa, who stood behind them in the doorway.
“Anything has to be safer than what we’re doing now,” said Jessica, looking past Emma and Nash at Melissa.
“No, she’s right,” said Emma. “It’s not safe inside the walls.”
“If you’re not going to take us there, you can just leave,” said Courtney, her sobs having been replaced with sharp anger. Jessica placed her arm around her sister in an effort to comfort her.
“It’s going to be safe soon,” said Emma as she took her bag off her back and dumping the contents onto the ground against the wall. “The place inside the wall is being run by a very bad man. Bringing the two of you in there would be certain death for you both.”
“What do you suppose we do then?” Jessica snapped, looking at the food and water bottles now sitting in a pile.
“Just be patient a while longer,” said Emma. “Eat, drink, and stay safe. Once things are different inside the wall, we’ll come back for you.”
“You cannot leave this house though,” said Nash. “We’re not the only patrol that’s out here so you have to stay hidden. We’re going to mark the outside of the house so that everyone knows it’s been checked, but you can’t be seen, under any circumstances.”
“And how do we know we can trust you,” Courtney asked when she finally looked up to meet Nash’s gaze.
“They gave us all their supplies, Court,” said Jessica. “Plus, we don’t have much of a choice.”
“I’m outside the wall twice a week,” said Emma. “I’ll check in on you as much as I can. I’ll knock five times on the wall at the bottom of the stairs so you’ll know it’s me.”
“Just stay hidden and you’ll be fine,” said Nash. He lifted up his pant leg to reveal the knife from the Treefort. Jessica inhaled sharply, and leaned away, shielding Courtney with her body. “It’s okay,” Nash said, holding a finger to his lips. “This is my favorite knife; it’s light and sharp. Here,” he held it out to Jessica. “Keep it for now, just in case. When we bring you back to camp you can give it back to me.”
“Thank you,” said Jessica, a glimmer of hope starting to return to her eyes. She cradled the knife in her hands and sat up a bit straighter.
“Most of the dead are going to be attracted to the wall, so you shouldn’t have to worry too much about them. Just stay hidden and we’ll see you soon,” said Emma.
The two girls smiled slightly as the three of them left the room. Emma pulled Nash aside to the bathroom and waved for Melissa to join them.
“We can’t leave her here,” she said, grabbing an oversized towel from the towel rack.
Emma laid the towel on the ground beside the dead woman and rolled her onto it. Her skin was stuck to the bathroom tile in a pool of dried blood, which created a wet, tearing sound as her body fell limp on the outstretched towel. Melissa turned away, disgusted by the decomposing woman as Jessica and Courtney came into the hallway.
“Don’t look girls, we’re just taking her outside,” said Melissa. “We can’t bury her because a grave would arouse suspicion, but we’ll find somewhere peaceful for her. I promise.”
Courtney tucked her tearstained face into her sister’s shoulder. Jessica wrapped her bony arms around her and the two cried softly as Nash and Emma passed them with their mother.
Melissa walked ahead of Nash, opening the front door. Beside the house, they found an old garden, overgrown with weeds and yellow flowers. Nash and Emma gently placed the dead woman on top of the tall grasses and the flowers and greenery enveloped her.
“We’ll bury her one day, if we can,” said Emma as she left the woman behind as she returned to the front door. She shook a can of orange spray paint wildly before spraying a large X on the front of the closed door. “That should do it.”
“Should we expect this kind of thing every day?” asked Nash with a smile.
“Don’t count on it,” Emma laughed.
The street was void of howlers, but a few slowpokes dotted the scene as they made their way back to the wall. Allan stood atop an old van and waved at them once they came into view.
“Hello again,” he said with a smile and climbed down the ladder on the back of the old camper van as he noticed the concerned look on Emma’s face. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “At least I hope so. Found two girls out there—pretty shaken up.” Allan climbed back onto the roof and looked back toward where they had come, using his binoculars to search the area for the house Emma described.
“I think they’ll be okay,” he said. “I can’t see the house you were talking about. As long as it’s tagged, they’ll be fine.”
“Hopefully they can join us, sooner than later,” said Emma as Allan climbed down from the van again and kissed her once more.
He opened the manhole for them, Emma dropping down first to catch the duffels Nash tossed down to her. When they got down in the manhole, they secured the bags to their backs before heading back toward camp.
Emma again took the lead, and climbed the ladder leading to the Mansion first. She rapped five times on the metal before the cover was lifted. She handed her bag up through the hole to a waiting hand, and then pulled herself up and out of the ground. Nash and Melissa followed suit.
“Have a good time out there, Buddy Boy?” asked Duncan as Nash climbed into the street.
“Where’s Brad?” asked Emma as Duncan replaced the manhole cover.
“Why?’ he asked as he took his seat again on the bench. “Feeling a tad horny, are we?”
“You’re a pig,” Melissa snapped as they walked away. Emma chuckled her agreement.
“You have no idea, sweetie,” said Duncan.
“Please don’t engage him,” said Nash as they moved toward the road back to their house. “It’ll never end well.”
“I know. I couldn’t help it, it just came out,” she said as she looked up to see Fletcher standing on the steps of the church. He motioned for them to join him before he disappeared inside.
“I don’t want you checking on the twins,” said Emma. “You’re too new and I don’t want anyone watching you and catch you going there. I go on a run by myself once a week and I can check on them then. You both did great today.”
“Thank you,” said Nash as she took their duffle bags to deposit in the storage area.
They walked hand in hand to the church, moving up the steps to the open doors that awaited their entry. Fletcher was just sitting down on his throne and nursed a bottle of soda as they walked up the aisle.
“I love this stuff,” he said as he held up the bottle of purple liquid. “It’s one of life’s greatest little gifts.”
“I’d have to agree with you on that,” Nash said with a smile when they came to a stop in front of him. Sitting in a pew midway up the aisle was a couple they both recognized from the Fort. They sat, still and silent, their facial expressions changing sporadically.
“Don’t worry about them, my dear,” he said as Melissa cocked her head to look at them. “They’re both very much alive. They’ve simply taken communion today. Once they come back down, they’ll be part of the church’s cleaning crew. I like to keep a clean home.”
“I can see that,” said Nash as he looked around at the immaculate church. He scanned the rows of dead women and saw many more empty spots compared to the last time he was there.
“So tell me, how was the first night with Samantha?” he asked as he leaned forward while still holding on to his bottle of soda. Melissa smiled and blushed while she looked down at the floor.
“She’s something else,” said Nash, smiling as well.
“Well I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself so far. How’d today go?”
“It went well. I find going through the homes exciting. Makes the time fly by,” said Nash. Melissa stood next to him, still bashfully not making eye contact with Fletcher.
“Dietrich told me you’d be perfect for that detail and I have a feeling he was correct. Emma typically goes out every other day, plus once by herself throughout the week. She and that Sam have a romp in the streets on her solo days, but that’s not my business.”
Nash and Melissa looked back at the couple sitting in the pews as a soft moan came out of the girl’s mouth. They were starting to come back to reality, blinking their eyes as they fidgeted in their seats.
“It’s about time!” Fletcher said and clapped his hands together once, jolting the couple slightly. “Nash, Melissa...go enjoy your day! I saw the bags you came in with and I’m very impressed with
your first haul.”
“Thank you,” Nash said as he turned to leave with Melissa. She smiled at Fletcher hoping her sweet and dumb routine was working. It must have been, because Fletcher’s eyes never left her body as she and Nash walked together down the aisle.
Chapter 25
Nash and Melissa made their way from the church as Melissa grappled with the show she’d just put on for Fletcher.
“That’s not easy,” she said. She still felt Fletcher’s searing gaze on her.
“I know. Trust me, I know too well,” said Nash as he thought back to the night before when he brought home Samantha.
Melissa stopped him in the middle of the street and looked down the line of houses to where Dianna had barricaded herself. Dietrich was sitting on a park bench outside her house, with his legs crossed while he read a book.
“We should check on her,” said Melissa as she walked down the street and pulled Nash behind her.
As usual, the streets were bare, save for a man and a woman from the Treefort who sat together on a porch swing, each holding a bottle of whiskey.
“Is there anyone from our group that didn’t take his communion?” asked Nash as they joined Dietrich at the bench.
“Doesn’t appear that way,” he said as he closed his book. “I’m assuming you’re here to check on Dianna.”
“We were thinking about it,” said Melissa as she sat on the bench next to him.
“She’s been blacked out for a while. I’ve been checking on her periodically, just to make sure she’s okay. Duncan’s been skulking around the street all afternoon.”
“For what purpose exactly?” asked Nash as he looked down the street and saw Duncan walking away.
“Your guess is as good as mine, but I imagine it isn’t good. For whatever reason, he minds his manners more when I’m around, so me just sitting here has kept him away.”
“Have you actually talked with her at all since she came here?” asked Melissa.