Adam nodded. "Dude, sometimes you just have to get away from everything. How many credit hours did you take last semester?"
"Twenty."
"You're crazy!"
"You took what, eighteen?" Randy asked.
He laughed. "I guess I did."
"So the pot just called the kettle black, huh?"
He laughed again.
"What did Jillian think about you coming to Mexico for a month to backpack?"
He shrugged. "She was cool with it."
"You guys have been together for what, three months?"
He nodded. "I like her a lot."
"I can tell."
"She took me to meet her folks a few weeks before you and I came to Mexico."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, they're pretty cool. Her dad Roger's a pretty skilled woodworker. He builds furniture and stuff."
"Sounds pretty cool."
"Yeah, man. I don't know. I know it's pretty early, but I think she might be the one."
Randy laughed. "Yeah, it is a little early."
"Hey, wake up. Wake up Adam."
He opened his eyes and saw Jill leaning over him.
"What time is it?" he asked.
"Eight AM," she replied. "On Monday."
"Monday? As in the Second of November?"
She nodded.
"I slept for two days?"
"A day and a half, really."
He sat up.
"You seemed exhausted. Casey was too."
He laughed. "Are we just going to stay here?"
She laughed and punched his arm gently. "No, we're going to head out in a little bit. Do you want some fish?"
"Fish?"
"Yeah, Randy caught some fish in a creek this morning."
"Sure."
She walked out of the back room and Adam laid back down to stretch. He couldn't believe he had slept so long. When she returned he sat back up and took the paper plate she held out. Sure enough, there was a cooked fish on it.
"This is delicious!" he exclaimed as he took a bite of the fish.
She laughed. "Yeah, it did all turn out pretty good."
After he finished eating he stood up and walked out to the sales floor of the feed shop. Everyone was gathered around the counter poring over a map.
"Hey guys!" he called out.
"Hey sleepyhead! Welcome back!" Casey laughed.
"Hey yourself," he said. "How long did you get to sleep?"
Casey chuckled.
"He just got up a few hours ago," Missy said.
"I see you got your beauty sleep too then."
Casey laughed again.
"Where are we headed today?" Adam asked.
"According to this map we are about twenty-five miles south of Springfield. I'm thinking we should try to make it to Chatham, a town just south of Springfield, by nightfall," Randy said.
"Agreed," Casey said. "We can cover that distance in one day."
"It's kind of chilly in here," Adam said.
"Yeah, I mean, I guess the weather is catching up to us," Randy said. "Jillian found some jackets in the closet of an abandoned house for all of us. I hope you guys are all soccer fans."
Adam laughed when Jill handed him a red track jacket. "Viva la futbol!" he exclaimed as he put it on. It had an Italian flag on the back of it.
"You look good in it," she said.
"Thanks Jill, you don't look too bad yourself. You look pretty cute."
Chapter Twelve
Katie Barnes
Day 3
Katie was awakened around eleven by the banging of hammers. She sat up and looked around. A quiet conversation was being held downstairs. She stood and looked out the window as she stretched. The sun was out and the pool of blood on the street appeared to have been mostly washed away by the last bit of rain. Shredded leaves and branches were everywhere. She turned and walked out of the bedroom. She went downstairs and saw the others hard at work cleaning up the wreckage from the night before.
The woman’s corpse was gone and most of the blood had been cleaned up. The house smelled strongly of the pungent aroma of bleach. The broken glass had all been swept up and Katie saw what the hammering had been coming from; the men were outside boarding up the windows.
"Hey girl!" Michelle greeted her as she reached the base of the stairs.
"Hey. How can I help?" Katie replied.
"You've already helped us. We saw you last night. You saved all of our lives," Rachel said. "Thank you."
Katie shrugged. "I just did what needed to be done. What happened to the body?"
"Buried in the backyard. Joel and Anthony did it. Anthony seems pretty sorry about last night," Amber replied.
"Well, it's going to take some time before I'm okay with him. His actions could have gotten us all killed. Thank heavens that I heard the window getting bashed in! If I hadn't woken up and gone downstairs, he would have been a sleeping meal for that lady and we all would've too!" Katie exclaimed.
"I know, just remember, he is human and he made a mistake," Amber said.
"Yeah, but mistakes can be fatal. He's lucky his didn't wind up being fatal,” Katie replied. Then she stepped out to the front porch. "Ignoring the quarantine are we?" she asked Joel.
"Just doing what we can to make sure last night doesn't repeat itself," Anthony replied.
Katie ignored him. "So Joel, what's the plan?"
"Well, we are going to finish boarding up all the windows on the ground floor and then discuss our next steps," he replied.
"Okay," she said and looked down the street. Trees had been blown over on cars and tree limbs were everywhere in yards. It appeared everyone else in the neighborhood was still barricaded inside his or her home.
Joel and Anthony finished boarding up the windows shortly after noon. Everyone then sat down as a group over lunch to discuss what was next.
"Has anyone been able to reach their families?" Rachel asked.
"I spoke to my aunt the night the quarantine started on Skype. She was in Paris and was okay, aside from being confined to her hotel," Katie replied.
"I talked to my mom the night it happened too, I was talking to her on the phone when the quarantine was announced," Anthony said.
"Where is your mom?" Rachel asked.
"She and my sister live in Racine, Wisconsin."
"My dad said he was fine. I texted him the night the quarantine was enacted," Amber said.
"Anyone else?" Rachel asked.
The silence answered the question for her.
"Okay, my dad lives in Pennsylvania," Rachel said.
"Mine are in D.C. and Chicago," said Joel.
"Wyoming," Michelle added.
"Tampa," said Megan.
"Don't despair guys, the National Guard will probably be returning today or tomorrow," Rachel said, moving on.
"I don't think they will be Rachel," Michelle said.
"Why not?"
"Where were they when all hell broke loose on our street yesterday? If that was happening here, it was almost surely happening elsewhere. Where were they?"
"Maybe they were overwhelmed," Rachel said defensively.
"If they were overwhelmed, I don't think they'll be in a position to help us," Katie added. "It might be a long while before we get help. I mean, who knows if our power being out is simply a consequence of the storm or if it's something worse?"
"She's got a good point," Megan said. "But really, I'm pretty scared at this point. I don't know if my family is okay, I do know that this is likely the worst disaster to ever befall mankind!"
"Hey guys, listen!" Joel said urgently. The group grew quiet. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Amber asked.
"Exactly. Shouldn't we hear birds and other wildlife?"
Everyone got up and walked out on the front porch. The neighborhood was still. They couldn't hear any birds, or any vehicles.
"Shouldn't we at least hear military vehicles driving around?" Joel asked.
"Happ
y Halloween!" Katie said sardonically.
That night, Katie, Joel and Rachel went out to the backyard. Joel pulled a ladder out of the shed and set it up against the house. Rachel climbed up first, and then Katie followed. Finally, Joel climbed up last.
"The stars are pretty. You can really see a lot without the city lights," Rachel said.
"Yeah, look toward downtown," Katie replied.
Downtown Buffalo lay several miles to the south. Between here and there, it appeared several buildings were on fire. Downtown itself was shrouded in darkness. All around the horizon was devoid of any city lights. Darkness held them tightly in its autumnal embrace.
The next day it became clear the curfew imposed by the quarantine order was being disregarded. Furthermore, it became increasingly clear the National Guard wasn't coming back.
Neighbors started exiting their homes a little after 9:00pm. Then a huge group of people came walking up the street. They looked disheveled, dirty and thirsty.
One woman wearing a red flannel shirt walked into Katie’s yard. She looked hungry and had two small kids in tow. Katie and Rachel watched from upstairs as the others peered around them.
"We shouldn't let anyone who comes to the door in," Katie said quietly. "They could be sick or they could be looking to steal from us or hurt us."
"Katie's right," Rachel said. "If they have Owasa Disease, they might not be showing symptoms yet."
The lady knocked on the front door. "Hello?" she called out. "Is anyone home?" She knocked a few more times and continued on to the next house with her two children in tow.
"Mommy," a young voice called out. "I'm thirsty."
"Me too mommy!" another child said.
"I know babies, I know," the woman said as they walked away.
"Get off my property!" the neighbor from across the street yelled at a couple of people in his yard. He was peering out a window on the second floor of his house.
"We just need some water man!" a skinny man cried out. "South Buffalo ain't had no running water for two days!"
"I don't care about South Buffalo! Now what did I say? I said get off my property! This is your last warning!"
"Sir, please!"
The man in the window pointed a rifle at the supplicant on his lawn. One of the people in the yard ran out of the yard, but the beggar remained.
Bang!
The beggar collapsed, and people on the street screamed in terror, fleeing away from the neighbor's house. The neighbor disappeared into the shadows of his home.
"Alright guys, it looks like tensions are high out there," Joel said. "Don't let anyone in from outside."
"Not even them?" Michelle asked sarcastically, pointing at a group of four bearded men who kept pointing at different houses and talking amongst themselves.
"Seeing as how they look pretty shady, I'm going to say no," Joel replied, chuckling.
Anthony came up to Katie later. "Katie, I'm really sorry about the other night. I failed you and everyone else pretty terribly."
She looked him in the eye. "I realize that. Still, you endangered us all. I don't know if I'm ready to forgive you yet."
"Fair enough. Hey, did I call you Kathy the other night?" he asked.
She tilted her head. "Yeah, I think you did."
"I'm sorry about that too," he said as he walked away.
"Joel, I'm going out to the backyard for some fresh air," Katie said and walked downstairs.
She inhaled a breath of fresh air as she walked out to the backyard. A sycamore stood tall in the corner of the yard, reaching skyward; somehow the centenarian titan had weathered the fury of the storm. The sun's rays felt invitingly warm upon her skin.
"Katie, I love the way the sunlight makes your hair look divine," Joel said as he walked out on the deck.
"How does it look now?" she asked as she twirled around.
"Resplendent."
"I love you Joel," she said warmly.
"I love you too."
He walked out into the yard and hugged her. They stood there for what seemed like a long time as the sun warmed them. The peaceful moment was snapped by the sound of another gunshot from the street. Anthony ran out on the porch.
"You guys had better come see this."
Katie and Joel walked back inside and went upstairs. They reached the window just in time to behold a group of several dozen infected people attacking some of the beggars on the street. People were screaming and running around in a panic. Several people were shooting at the infected people.
Katie watched in horror as one Infected was shot six times in the chest and simply kept staggering forward. The shooter ran out of ammunition, threw his pistol at the Infected and ran in the opposite direction.
The neighbor across the street fired at several Infected from his window perch, hitting them in the heads. They fell and didn't get back up.
"Head trauma is what kills them," Katie said quietly.
Most of the group sat down on the floor, unwilling to continue watching the carnage. Megan began to weep softly. Katie continued watching with Joel. Eventually the screams died down, the gunfire became sporadic and distant, and the infected people shuffled down the street to the next block.
"So what happens to those people?" Amber asked later. "The ones who were begging for water? Do we just abandon them to those monsters?"
"I hate to be the one who says this," Joel said, "but what other choice do we have? We don't even have enough food to last the seven of us another week!"
"So we just let them get eaten? We just let them get turned into monsters?"
"I'm afraid so Amber, I mean, what do we do? If we let those people shelter with us they could have Owasa Disease themselves, they could have ill motives. They could just be a greater drain on our resources. It's a terrible situation, but I don't think we really have a choice."
She shook her head.
That night Joel kept watch. Rachel and Katie both stayed up for a while talking to him. They all went back up on the roof briefly around nine and looked toward downtown Buffalo. Several of the distant skyscrapers were ablaze and the whole sky had an eerie orange glow.
When they went back inside, Joel pointed out some people who were walking door-to-door trying doorknobs. "Looters," he said quietly.
The looters approached the neighbor across the street's house. He fired one shot, hitting one in the chest. The surviving looters fired back at him, hitting him. He fell out of his window with a strangled cry.
Joel hugged Katie tightly. "Go get some sleep ladies. This night will probably have more horrors you don't need to see."
Everyone was awakened around midnight by unearthly shrieks coming from outside. Megan wept quietly in the corner. She had her fingers in her ears.
Joel whispered, "The people killed earlier are coming back as Infected."
"Okay, we need to get out of here,” Katie said.
"Agreed. My dad has a cabin down in the Alleghenies we can hide out at," Rachel said.
"I'll stay here in Buffalo," Anthony said.
"Me too," Amber said.
"I will also," Megan said as she wiped her eyes, trying to regain her composure.
"Okay. So it will be me, Katie, Rachel and Michelle. You guys sure about that?" Joel asked.
"Yeah, we can make our way back to Amber's house. She has a bunch of food and supplies and she only lives a few blocks from here," Anthony replied.
"Alright, we'll set out early in the morning," Joel said.
"We can take my car," Rachel volunteered.
The next morning, they rose before dawn to pack and say goodbye to one another. As the sun was coming up Katie stood at the top of the stairs stretching as Joel finished zipping his duffle bag up. “So what do you think would have happened if Granger hadn’t died in Game Seven?” she asked.
“I think the Senators would have come back and won it,” Joel said as he walked out to the hallway with his brown duffel bag. “Let’s go load our stuff up. Where are your bags?”
“Katie, I just wanted to clear the air. I know this might be the last time we see each other,” she said.
“Yeah,” Katie replied.
“I’m sorry for the occasionally snide way I’ve acted toward you.”
“It’s alright Amber, really,” Katie said.
Katie realized that Amber had been crying. Makeup was streaked on her cheeks. “I don’t know if I want to go with Anthony.”
Katie looked at her. “Then don’t.”
Amber sighed. “I wish it were that easy.”
“Why isn’t it?”
“Because I love Anthony.”
“Yeah, but you saw how he almost got us killed a few nights ago!”
Amber shrugged. “I know, but I think he means well.”
Katie frowned. “Yeah, but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Sweetie, meaning well doesn’t translate into surviving long in this.”
Amber shrugged again and looked down at her feet. “Yeah, I know. But we do have a lot of food at my place and we can just hunker down there and wait for help.”
“Amber, I don’t think help is coming.”
“Yeah, but if it doesn’t we can always move on when we run out of supplies.”
“I don’t know Amber, what about Megan? What does Megan think?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. She’s just so shaken up by everything, I guess she’s a little shell shocked.”
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"
"What would Megan do?"
"She could come with us too. There’s safety in numbers."
"No, I…I think we'll be fine."
Joel walked up from the yard. “Hey ladies,” he said. “Want to help me start loading our vehicles up?”
“I need to go finish packing, actually,” Amber said. “It was nice talking Katie,” she said as she walked back into the house.
Katie grabbed her two duffle bags and walked down the steps of the porch. Joel followed behind her.
“Sorry if I interrupted your pow wow,” he chuckled.
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