by Lukens, Mark
Luke studied the snow. There were no fresh tracks. That was good, but Luke still suspected that rippers were around, waiting in the buildings across the street. He thought about going out to the van to check it, see if it started. Same thing with the Jeep. But once he started the engines (if they started), that would alert any rippers hiding in the other buildings. They couldn’t start the vehicles until they were ready to go. But they couldn’t be sure the vehicles were going to start until they tested them.
Luke pulled out the small pair of binoculars from his jacket pocket and studied the building across the street, focusing on the busted-out windows and half-open doors. It was too dark for him to see inside. There were abandoned cars and trucks in the parking lot, most of the windows busted out, many of the car doors wide open. Everything lay under a blanket of snow.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” Luke whispered, still watching through his binoculars.
“You see something?” Josh asked.
“No, but I think they’re out there. I think some of them went to those buildings across the street during the storm. But not this building, even though it seemed like they’ve stayed here before.”
“Food ran out,” Josh said. “Maybe they moved on. Like a herd of buffalo grazing the plains, always looking for more food.”
“Maybe. But there was food out there.” Luke nodded toward the dead rippers. “They ate most of them. They knew we were in here. More food. So why leave like they did?”
“Yeah, but they also saw some of their own shot and killed. Maybe the dead bodies were a warning to stay away.”
Luke gave a slight shake of his head, still watching the building through the binoculars. “I don’t think so. I think they’re still around. I think they’re watching and waiting.”
“Like an ambush.”
“Yeah,” Luke breathed out, the word barely audible in the freezing wind. He lowered the binoculars and rubbed at his eyes.
“What do you think, then?”
“If we’re going to go for the vehicles, we need to all be together. We need to have our packs with us. We might only get one shot at this. Once we start those trucks up, the rippers might come running and we need to be ready to go. And if I’m right and they are watching us, waiting for us, then they’ll come running as soon as they see us outside before we even get to the trucks.”
“Wait them out?”
“I don’t know. Let’s get back to Ray. Talk to him. See what we’re going to do. We can’t wait too much longer. If those batteries have any life left, then we need to start those trucks up soon.”
“Okay,” Josh said, already backing up deeper into the store. “Let’s go back.”
CHAPTER 32
Ray
Ray heard the light knocking at the metal door: three taps, then two, then three more. He’d been waiting beside the door the whole time Luke and Josh had been gone, almost twenty minutes now.
Mike had stayed over near the wall with Emma most of the time. He’d come over once, but Ray told him to go back and keep Emma company. Mike had made a slight pouty face, but he’d gone back.
The twenty minutes had crept by while Ray ran different scenarios through his mind. He knew it didn’t help to worry about things, to try to plan, especially when he had no control over many things, but he couldn’t help it—that was the way he was built.
He remembered Kim telling him all the time to relax, to stop taking the world on his shoulders. Sometimes they would argue about it. God, he would love to have an argument with Kim right now, anything to see her again, to hear her voice again, to touch her again.
He’d been thinking about Kim, lost in a memory of her for a moment, when the tapping at the metal door had sounded. He opened the door for Luke and Josh. At least they weren’t screaming and pounding on the door with rippers on their heels. At least that was a good sign, he hoped.
After Luke and Josh slipped in through the doorway, Ray looked down the hall. Common sense told him there was nothing to see out there, no danger, but he couldn’t help looking. He closed the door as quietly as he could, locking the deadbolt and then the lock on the doorknob, testing it to make sure it was locked.
They grouped together with Mike and Emma near the wall, huddled in a circle like they were around an invisible campfire.
“What’s it look like out there?” Ray asked.
“Clear so far,” Luke answered. “No rippers anywhere in the hall. None in the bathrooms, locker room, or the store.”
Ray was surprised to hear that. “None anywhere outside?”
Luke shook his head no. “But they’ve been here before. Probably slept here before.”
“Definitely dined here before,” Josh said.
Ray looked at him.
“There’s a dead body in the locker room,” Josh said. “In the shower. Not really a body anymore. Mostly bones now.”
Ray didn’t need the description. He looked at Luke—he could tell something was troubling him. “What’s wrong?”
“Jeep and van have been ransacked. A lot of our stuff was pulled out into the snow. I’m sure any food and water we had in those bags are gone.”
Ray figured that would happen.
“Windows are busted out and some of the doors are still open. Inside lights have been on all night.”
“Damn.”
“They still might start,” Josh said.
“But we can’t wait too much longer,” Luke added.
Ray nodded.
“I couldn’t test the trucks right now,” Luke said. “Not while we were out there.”
“So you saw some rippers?”
“No. None that I could see, but it was like I could feel them watching. They ate most of the rippers we shot yesterday, and then they tried to get in here through the metal door and the garage doors. They knew we were in here, but then they didn’t stay the night inside the building.”
That bothered Ray, too.
“Same thing happened when I was at Isaac’s house,” Josh said. “We stayed up in the attic. After he saved me, after I wrecked the truck I was driving, we got up to the attic before the rippers caught up to us. They were frustrated because they ran upstairs but couldn’t figure out where we’d gone to. They stayed in the house for a while, and you’d think, just like Luke said, that they’d stay in the house for days and wait us out.”
“Maybe they can’t think that far ahead,” Ray said. “Maybe after a few hours they move on to other things.”
“I don’t know,” Josh said. “It seems like it’s the other way around, like they leave to give us a false sense of security, then they hide and wait, pretending like they’re gone, but really watching for us to come out. That’s what they did at Isaac’s house. They waited across the street in houses. They even used a man as bait, leaving him in the middle of the intersection where we could see and hear him. They cut and bit off pieces of him, trying to lure us out.”
“Okay,” Ray said. He didn’t need Mike to hear the more graphic details of Josh’s story—he got the point of it. He looked at Luke. “And you think they’re doing this now, hiding and waiting for us to come out? Making us think it’s safe?”
Luke shrugged. “Maybe. It’s strange not a single ripper stayed in this building last night. I think we have to consider that they’re watching us. Waiting for us.”
“It’s like they know we need to get to our trucks,” Josh said. “Or what’s inside of them.”
“But if we’re going to go, then I think we need to go soon,” Luke said. “Very soon. All of us together. I think when we get out there, we need to move very quickly. Get into the vehicles as fast as we can. See if they start.”
“And if they don’t start?”
“Then we need to retreat. Back in here. I can cover us while we run back. We’ll need to make different plans. Maybe find a battery in here.”
“We should take a battery from here with us anyway,” Josh said. “We might not have time to charge the trucks now, but we mi
ght need one with us even if we get the Jeep and the van started. We might need one down the road.”
Ray nodded. “Good idea.”
Josh practically beamed with pride.
“I think the Jeep has a better chance of starting,” Josh added. “When we found the van, we had to jump it with a battery. If it wore down through the night, it might be too weak to start. I just think we need to be ready to all pile into the Jeep if we have to.”
“Good thinking,” Ray said.
Josh was still beaming. “I’ll go look for a battery.”
“Can I help him, Dad?” Mike asked.
Ray nodded. “Just be quiet.”
“I will.”
Josh and Mike took off to the other side of the room where the tires were stacked, searching through racks and shelves.
“So we all go out there together,” Ray said.
“Yeah,” Luke answered. “I think we need to go soon. Like now. It’s clear out there right now. So far, anyway. We all go out together, then two of us go out to the trucks to start them, see which one of them starts, or if either of them start. I think Josh is right about the Jeep’s battery being stronger than the van.”
“Yeah,” Ray said with a sigh.
“I mean, we’ll have to play it by ear,” Luke continued. “See how much time we’ve got when we get out there. If the rippers come running, we’ll need to get ready to drive away or retreat back inside here.”
Ray nodded in agreement. “We can’t even put our packs in the trucks until we’re sure they’re going to start. Mike and Emma will wait right inside the store until we’re sure about the trucks.” He looked at Emma.
“Okay,” she said like she knew he was looking at her.
“Josh and I will start the vehicles,” Ray said, looking at Luke again. “That way you and Mike can keep watch for rippers.”
“What do you want me to do?” Emma asked.
Ray just stared at her.
Emma broke into a smile. “Sorry. I was just kidding.” Then she tried to erase the smile, but she wasn’t doing a good job of it. “Probably not the best time for jokes.”
“You’ve been hanging around Josh too long,” Luke told her. “His bad jokes are rubbing off on you.”
“No, wait. There’s something she can do,” Ray said and looked at Emma. “Your hearing is better than ours. You might hear something before Luke and Mike even see something.” Or you might even sense something, he almost added, but didn’t say it.
Josh and Mike came back. Josh carried a car battery.
“Are we all ready to go?” Ray said.
They all nodded—they were as ready as they could be.
“Can I make a suggestion?” Luke asked.
“Of course,” Ray told him.
“I think me and Josh should go out there first, just one quick look around before we bring you, Mike, and Emma out there. Those rippers might have seen me out there by the window. They might have come to the store while we’ve been in here.”
“Okay,” Ray said.
“I’ll stay out there by the windows with my binoculars. I’ll send Josh back for you guys. You and Josh will have the keys for the trucks on you already. When we all get out there, I’ll keep watch with Mike . . .” He looked at Emma. “And Emma. You and Josh get the trucks started.”
“Can I have a gun?” Mike asked.
“No,” Ray answered without hesitation.
“You’ll be helping us enough just by watching,” Josh told Mike. “You point ‘em out and Luke’ll mow ‘em down.”
Mike looked happy about that prospect, but he looked like he’d be happier with a gun.
“Okay,” Ray said. “You two go out there. We’ll be waiting by the door with the packs.”
CHAPTER 33
Josh
Josh followed Luke out the door with his shotgun in his hands. They waited for a moment after Ray eased the metal door shut and locked it. Ray was trying to be quiet as he shut the door, but everything they did seemed so loud in the hallway.
Luke had the M-16 looped over one shoulder, his pistol and flashlight in his hands. He didn’t seem so worried about shining the light around now, like he knew the rippers already knew they’d be coming out soon.
They checked the locker room and the employee restroom again, just a quick shining of the flashlight inside, and then they went right out to the gas station store. Luke waited a few seconds at the doorway into the store, Josh still behind him in the hall. A moment later Luke seemed satisfied that everything was clear. He crept out and across the trash and scattered snow to the busted windows, crouching down in the same spot as before, his body partially hidden from view outside by the wall at the end of the windows.
Josh walked the same path as Luke, hunched forward a little, holding the shotgun tight in his hands. He crouched down behind Luke, who had his binoculars up to his eyes, his gun holstered inside his jacket for the moment.
Josh could tell Luke was still uneasy about this. “You know they’re out there, don’t you?”
“I haven’t seen a sign of them yet. No movement in the windows that I can see. No footprints in the parking lot in front of the building. No screams or yells from them. Everything should tell me that they’re gone.”
“But you still feel like they’re there. In that building.”
“Maybe other places around here too.”
“You can feel them?”
“Can’t you?”
Josh didn’t answer. He wasn’t a psychic like Emma (or the Dragon—let’s not forget about him), not by a longshot, yet it felt like some of Emma’s abilities had rubbed off on him just a little, and now he could sense the threat out there. But then again maybe it was a sixth sense soldiers developed after time on a battlefield, after experiencing the trauma of war over and over again, a sixth sense that signaled an alert when danger was near.
“What do you think?” Josh finally said. “Wait a little longer?”
“Can’t wait too much longer if we want those trucks to start.” He lowered his binoculars for a moment. “I really hope at least one of them fires up, or we’ll all be running back inside here as fast as we can. We need to be ready to do that.”
“We will be.”
“If they won’t start, I don’t think we’re going to have time to change a battery.”
“We’ll figure it out somehow.”
Luke raised the binoculars back up to his eyes, watching the building across the street, then panning as far as he could left and right, staying close to the edge of the window frame so he couldn’t be seen from outside.
Josh wondered if a group of rippers was really in those buildings. He felt it in his guts, in his bones, but it didn’t make logical sense to him. It would be amazing if a group of rippers were disciplined enough to stay hidden and quiet all that time, not one of them breaking ranks. It just proved that Isaac had been right—the rippers were getting smarter; or adapting, as he had put it. It seemed like over the last few weeks that the rippers had learned basic hunting techniques, that they had learned some kind of rudimentary communication skills with each other through grunts and hand gestures, and it seemed like they had learned to use weapons better: their knives, their sticks, their rocks. What was next? Spears? Bows and arrows? Fire?
They’re not that smart, Josh told himself. He also remembered Isaac saying that the rippers only seemed smart, that they were working off animal-like instincts and not logical reasoning.
“You ready?” Luke asked without looking back or lowering the binoculars from his eyes.
“Yeah. You ready?”
“Ready as I’m ever going to be. Let’s try it. Go get them.”
“Be back in a jiffy.”
Josh hurried back to the doorway that led to the hall. He tried to be quiet, and he was, but not as quiet as Luke had been, but quieter than all four of them were going to be on the way back out.
He rushed down the hall, past the employee restroom, past the locker room with its door
still ajar, and then he stopped as he passed the door that led to the customer area, the door with the busted-out window in it.
Had something moved out there?
From where Josh stood he could see the bank of windows beyond the door and the hall that led to the customer waiting area. Beyond the windows was part of the parking lot, another building a few hundred yards away, some kind of field with a line of shrubs in between, layered with snow. But there was nothing else out there.
He was sure something had moved out there, something darting past the windows, near the bottom. Like someone crouching down? A ripper?
Josh remained frozen, watching the windows down the short hall, waiting to see the flash of movement again.
One ripper? More than one? Were they sneaking along the side of the building, moving toward the front? Were they on the other side of the building, waiting to converge from both sides at the front?
Josh didn’t hear anything out there. No footsteps in the snow, no grunts, no calls from the rippers.
Were they being quiet? Again, that didn’t seem right. They were like animals now.
Maybe it had been a bird swooping down low under the bottom of the window, or a piece of paper blowing around in the freezing wind like tumbleweeds down a ghost town street. Or even his imagination.
He needed to do something. Precious seconds were ticking by while he waited in the hallway, only steps away from the metal door to the mechanics’ bay. Luke was right, they couldn’t wait too much longer if they were going to have any hope of getting the Jeep and the van started. With every second, Josh imagined the cold air seeping the power out of the batteries. Either he needed to go back and warn Luke that rippers might be creeping down the side of the building or he needed to get Ray, Mike, and Emma and make a run for it.
Or maybe he could go to the windows and check.
But that was going to waste time. If there were rippers out there, then they were getting ready to attack. If they didn’t get to the vehicles now, then the rippers might wait them out. If the rippers had gotten this smart, adapted this much, were this desperate for food, then the rippers might wait them out for weeks and the vehicles would never start. They would be trapped here. And in that time Josh was sure the rippers would find a way in to the mechanics’ bay.
