by Lukens, Mark
Josh rummaged in the pack and pulled out a can of soda. He tossed it to Ray.
Ray sat down and opened the can. He drank down the soda in a few swallows. With the shot of sugar and caffeine, he felt a little better. “You hear anything out there since you’ve been up?”
Luke and Josh shook their heads.
“I was listening by the door over there for a while earlier,” Luke said. “I haven’t heard a thing from the hallway. It’s weird. It’s like they all just left.”
Ray nodded. He agreed. “Seems like some of them would’ve stayed the night in the store, especially if they still thought we were in here.”
“But it doesn’t mean that they’re not out there,” Emma said.
Ray nodded; he agreed with that too. The rippers could be trying to be quiet to lure them out through the door.
“We’ve been talking about going out there and taking a look around,” Luke said. “We were waiting for you to get up.”
“You should’ve got me up earlier.”
“You needed your rest,” Emma said with just a slight sternness in her voice.
Ray didn’t argue.
“Me and Josh will go out there,” Luke said. “He can cover me with the shotgun. Use it only if he absolutely has to.”
“I can go,” Ray said.
“Your ankle,” Luke reminded him.
“It’s fine. I can walk on it. Run on it if I have to.”
“Might be better if you stay here with Emma and Mike.”
Ray felt like arguing, but he knew Luke was right. The two younger men were making him feel like he was a crippled old man, like he was a weight for them to carry, a burden. He wondered if this was how Emma and Mike felt.
“Okay,” Luke said, like their debate had finally been decided. He got up to walk to the metal door. He had his pistol holstered under his coat and he had the M-16 with him. Josh had his shotgun gripped in one hand.
Emma got up and put an arm around Josh. He hugged her and gave her a kiss.
“Be careful,” Emma whispered.
“You know I will. We’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Whatever the hell that means.” He smiled.
She smiled back at him.
“You coming?” Luke asked Josh in an annoyed whisper.
“My boss is beckoning me,” Josh told them, and then he hurried to catch up with Luke.
CHAPTER 30
Josh
Josh and Luke pulled the boxes and equipment away from the metal door that they had crammed up against it yesterday. They worked as quietly as they could. Ray helped a little, hobbling along, trying to prove to them that his injured ankle wasn’t hurting him that bad. After they were done, Josh and Luke waited while Ray slowly twisted the knob on the deadbolt.
Ray had his gun in his hand as he readied himself to pull the door open for Josh and Luke.
Josh had his shotgun ready. Luke was right beside him with his pistol in his hand.
There was no shrieking wind blowing around outside like yesterday to mask the noise they made in here so they had to be even quieter, even more careful. Even the clicking of the deadbolt sounded so loud; it seemed to echo through the mechanics’ bay, and Josh imagined the sound traveling down the hall to the gas station store where rippers sat bolt-upright from their slumber.
But it was too late now, the noises had sounded; they had to go out there and check things out. Ray opened the door.
Josh and Luke aimed their weapons at the doorway and the murky hall beyond it. A shaft of weak morning light poured in from the right where a door with a glass panel led to an office where customers used to wait for tires to be replaced and oil to be changed. But everything beyond the shaft of light on the floor and wall was hidden in shadows. No movement in those shadows yet, and no sounds coming from the store beyond the hallway.
Luke had his pistol in his right hand and his flashlight in his left hand. He had pasted a few strips of electrical tape to the end of his flashlight to cut down on the light, but there was enough light for him to see. He shined the light down the hall, keeping it aimed down at the floor.
No rippers so far . . . nothing.
Josh let out a breath he’d been holding, but he still listened for sounds of rippers. If they had come in from the storm yesterday, they could be holed up in one of the rooms off the hall or in the gas station store. They could still be waiting for them. In fact, it seemed more probable than possible. What seemed strange was that there didn’t seem to be any rippers in the store right now.
Had they all left during the storm? Could that be possible? Where did they go?
Luke nodded at Ray and he nodded back. Ray knew what to do—they’d gone over the plan a few minutes earlier in whispers: Ray was to close and lock the metal door after they were in the hall, wait by it, ready to unlock and open it if they had to come right back.
Josh knew Emma didn’t like him going with Luke, and Luke had offered to search the gas station store on his own, probably thinking it would be easier if he went alone with his silenced weapon. But Josh had insisted on going. If Ray’s ankle was better, Josh was sure Ray would be going instead of him. Josh wanted to take Ray’s place, wanted to prove to Ray that he was capable and valuable. Even though he felt that his relationship with Ray was a little better now than it was only a few days ago, he still felt that Ray didn’t trust him completely; Josh still felt like he had to constantly prove his worth to Ray.
They were in the hallway. Ray eased the door shut behind them. Josh heard the clicking of the deadbolt as it slid into place. On their mad dash through the building yesterday afternoon, Josh hadn’t really had a chance to look around. Now he saw the door to the right with the window in it, the short hall that led to the customer waiting room and a manager’s office. The employees probably used to write the paperwork up in the waiting/reception area then walk down the hall and enter the mechanics’ bay through the metal door behind them.
Another door farther down on the left had a sign above that read: LOCKER ROOM. And another door farther down was the employee restroom. The customers’ restrooms were probably in the gas station store. They were going to have to check all of these rooms for rippers.
Josh waited in the hall with Luke, both of them standing still and listening. Josh waited to follow Luke’s lead. He glanced at Luke who had his flashlight aimed down at the floor, creating a small, weak circle of light on the concrete floor.
Everything was quiet for now, but they waited another moment longer.
Luke caught Josh’s eye. He nodded at the door to the office and motioned for Josh to step back toward the metal door.
Josh stepped back.
Luke tested the doorknob of the office door with his gloved hand. All of his clothing was black—he looked like a shadow in the darkness. He eased the door open and gestured at Josh to wait where he was.
Josh waited, but he didn’t think it was a good idea to split up. Luke acted a little like Ray did (well, maybe not quite as bad), like Josh was incompetent and undependable. Hadn’t he saved Luke’s life? Not once, but twice, when they were getting the van from that junkyard of a house? Hadn’t he proved his worth by now? Hadn’t he stayed clean from the pills even though they still had some in the pack for emergencies? What was it going to take for these two to believe in him?
But he heeded Luke’s gestures and waited by the door while Luke entered the short hall to the reception area and the bank of glass windows.
Luke moved silently over the ground-in broken glass from the door, then down the short hall into the reception area, just a silhouette against the windows for a moment, then he disappeared around the corner.
Josh waited, listening. Luke didn’t make a sound from the reception area. Maybe he was checking out the windows to see if he could spot any rippers moving around outside. Josh almost expected to hear the spitting of Luke’s suppressed pistol, but there was nothing.
In the quiet, Josh heard his own heartbeat, heard the pulse of blood in his ea
rs. He tried to breathe as shallowly as he could through his open mouth. It was cold but Josh’s body was flushed with heat now, his muscles energized, his palms beginning to sweat a little. He kept glancing from the locker room door to the bathroom door farther down, and then to the opening at the other end of the hall that led to the gas station store.
He had a sudden flashback of being in Marla’s apartment building in Pittsburgh, moving blindly down the pitch-black hallway, his hands feeling along the wall until he came to doorways of apartments, the doors to those apartments kicked open, the wood splintered in the doorjambs.
But at least he could see a little better now, and Luke was with him. He wasn’t alone.
Josh moved closer to the locker room door. The door was ajar . . . barely open. The door to the bathroom was closed. He crept up beside the locker room doorway, flattening himself against the wall with his shotgun in his sweaty hands. He was only inches away from the edge of the doorway, listening for any sounds inside the room. If the rippers would have holed up anywhere last night, it would have been here in one of these rooms; maybe the gas station store would have been too cold because of the busted-out plate glass windows, too exposed to the wind and snow. They would have moved deeper into the building to get away from the cold, and closer to the metal door to the mechanics’ bay—the barrier to their prey.
A hand fell on Josh’s shoulder. He jumped, whirling around, bringing his shotgun up.
Luke’s hand with the flashlight shot out like a cobra, pushing the barrel of Josh’s shotgun back down, aiming it down at the floor instead of at him. Josh could read Luke’s dark eyes: I told you to stay put.
Luke gestured at Josh to wait, and then he crept around him to the locker room door.
But Josh had no intention of waiting behind this time.
CHAPTER 31
Luke
Luke eased the door to the locker room open and shined the flashlight inside. He’d pulled off the strips of tape so he could use the full strength of the beam of light.
The door opened to a long rectangular room with rows of lockers against the far wall. There were two showers at the end of the locker room, one of the curtains pulled back, the other one closed almost all the way. The smell of rot and death was heavy in the room, almost suffocating.
No rippers.
It was strange. Luke had been prepared for rippers, his gun aimed into the room, sure that some of them would have spent the night inside the building, at least a few of them. But maybe they’d already left early this morning, or even last night as soon as the storm had passed by. Maybe they had moved on while the storm was still raging.
It just didn’t make sense to him.
Josh had followed him inside the room, waiting by the doorway. Luke had gestured at Josh to wait in the hall, but Josh wasn’t the best at following directions. Luke wanted him in the hall as a lookout in case rippers came from the store or even from the office and waiting room he’d just checked. With both of them in this room, they could get bottled in.
He moved down the room, passing the row of lockers. There was nowhere to hide in the room except for in the shower with the curtain closed. The smell of rotting meat was stronger the deeper he got into the room. He needed to check those showers.
Some of the locker doors were open, a few of them torn off the hinges, one of those doors in the middle of the floor, almost bent in half, another one leaning against a long wooden bench in front of the lockers. Smears of blood stained the lockers, with more streaks of blood along the floor among the trash and torn clothing. People had been attacked in here. Killed. Maybe eaten.
But that smell . . . it couldn’t just be from the blood. Had to be from something else.
Luke looked at the shower with the open curtain—it looked like something from a murder scene. Blood everywhere, but no bodies, or parts of bodies.
He used his flashlight to push the curtain of the other shower back, his pistol ready in his other hand. This shower was larger and equipped with safety bars on the walls. On the floor were broken pieces of human bones, with teeth marks and bits of meat and gristle stuck to them. He pointed his flashlight down at the bones, dried blood, and pieces of torn cloth on the floor. A family of cockroaches crawled around, some of them scurrying down the cracked drain covering when the light shined on them. Luke turned, aiming his flashlight beam and gun back at the lockers. He’d heard the skittering sound of claws and one squeak. Rats were hiding, waiting for them to leave so they could resume chewing the bits of rotten meat from the bones.
Luke left the showers and checked the lockers. They’d already been ransacked, searched through. Nothing of any value left in them.
At least Josh had waited by the door at the other end of the room.
Luke walked past Josh to the doorway. He turned his flashlight off and peeked out through the doorway, looking up and down the hall.
Clear.
He went into the hall, followed by Josh. He went to the next door, the one that led to the employee restroom. He pushed the door open and turned on the flashlight, shining it inside the small, dark room.
No rippers, just a urinal, a sink, and a stall with a toilet inside. The stall door was wide open. More bloodstains and smears in here, but no bones or body parts.
Luke was back in the hall a few seconds later. He crept down the hall to the corner where the hall turned sharply and led to a door to the gas station store. Luke motioned to Josh that he would go into the store first.
Josh nodded.
“Stay right behind me,” Luke whispered into Josh’s ear. “Don’t shoot unless you have to.”
Again, Josh nodded.
Luke crept down the hall, turning off his flashlight and sticking it back into his jacket pocket. There would be plenty of light from the busted-out windows, but he would need it later to check the customer restrooms and an office, if there was one. He slipped out through the doorway; the door was still stuck open, one of the hinges broken. A blast of freezing wind hit him as soon as he peeked around the corner at the store. It wasn’t nearly as windy as yesterday, but a strong breeze was blowing, and it was still just as cold.
From where he stood, it seemed clear. No rippers anywhere. None sleeping in packs or moving around. No grunts or screeches from outside.
Nothing.
Luke waited another minute longer, scanning the store, beginning at the checkout counter to his right where the coffee station was, a warmer for hotdogs and buns, a soda fountain next to that. He scanned the middle of the store where the shelves had been tipped over into the aisles, a sea of trash on the floor. There were more bloodstains on the floor and walls, more signs of violence. At the other end of the store were lines of standup coolers that used to hold cold drinks and food. But all of those drinks and food were gone now, most of the glass in the doors shattered.
Snow had blown into the store through the busted-out windows and glass doors from yesterday’s blizzard, the snow all the way to the middle of the store. There were drifts of snow against the checkout counter and against some of the fallen shelves.
There were no clear tracks in the fresh snow, so Luke was fairly sure no rippers had come in through that way during the night or this morning. He relaxed, but only a little.
So all of those rippers they’d seen yesterday had to have moved on to other shelters. But why wouldn’t some of them come into the gas station store, especially when they knew prey was holed up inside? It didn’t make sense to him.
He looked back at Josh and nodded, letting him know that everything was okay.
Josh nodded back.
Luke moved across the room toward the counter and soda fountains. A door was open to a small room, a manager’s office. It was wrecked, but no one was inside. Josh waited by the door to the hall while Luke went to the other side of the store and checked the two restrooms, shining his flashlight inside, the beam playing across a pile of clothes and blankets in a corner, like a nest. It looked like rippers had stayed in these restro
oms before, and it definitely smelled like it.
But they weren’t here now.
He left the restrooms and walked toward the wall of windows, his hiking boots crunching on the snow blown into the store. His boots were waterproof, but he wasn’t sure about Josh’s boots or any of the others. Wet and cold feet could become a problem quickly.
He got to the end of the bank of windows. He crouched down and watched the parking lot. Everything was clearer now with the storm gone. He saw the large metal awning beyond their Jeep and van that covered dozens of gas pumps. There were buildings across the street, some kind of plaza. Maybe the rippers were over there in those buildings. Maybe that’s why they weren’t in the gas station—they were over there watching and waiting for them to come out and go for their vehicles.
Josh hurried over and crouched down beside Luke. “See anything?” he whispered.
Luke shook his head and focused on their vehicles. Both the Jeep and van were parked about twenty feet away from the front of the store, the van parked right behind the Jeep. The doors of the vehicles were open, most of the windows busted out; the windshields had spider webs of cracks.
“Shit,” Josh breathed out. “Doors have probably been open all night. Batteries could be dead.”
Luke nodded in agreement, still not saying anything. He watched the vehicles. Layers of snow covered the hoods and roofs. Snow had blown inside the trucks through the night—their packs had been pulled out of the vehicles, trash and food wrappers scattered in the snow: empty plastic bottles, survival gear, clothing that was now soaked. It looked like the rippers had eaten any food and drank any liquids they’d found, maybe even taking some of the extra clothing, shoes, and blankets.
The rippers Luke had shot lay in the snow, partially buried under it, just lumps now. Dark blood was mixed in with the snow. The bodies looked half-eaten, the rest of the meat probably beginning to freeze.
“I don’t see any rippers,” Josh whispered. “Just the dead ones.”
