Melanie had been waiting and with a quick squeeze, the rifle's action cycled. The bullet hit home and the man fell to his knees, then face down on top of Clay.
"Clay! Clay? Are you alright?" Melanie said as she approached him, still maintaining the crosshairs on the door way should additional undead amble through.
Clay rolled the dead man off of him and sat up.
"I'm good" he said, as he wiped his bloodied face with his forearm.
Melanie reached down to him, offering her hand in assistance. Clay looked up at her and laughed to himself.
"What's funny about this?" Melanie asked incredulously, while helping Clay to his feet.
"Nothing. I'm just really glad you had it in you!" he said.
Mel punched him in the arm.
"I told you that was a bad idea." she said scoldingly.
"In retrospect, I would say that it wasn't a good idea. But I wouldn't say that it was a bad one..." he replied sarcastically.
"So now what?" he asked. "I'm covered in that one's blood. Am I going to end up like one of them?"
"No. It doesn't work like that. It started kinda like a flu outbreak... That's how it spread so quickly and to so many people. You can't catch it from them anymore." Melanie explained.
Clay bent over, reaching down to his tomahawk while releasing a groan indicating how sore he was from his fall.
"Good. I don't want you to shoot me in the head." Clay jested, as he tore his tomahawk free from the dead infected's skull.
"Can we get some sleep now?" Melanie asked.
"Yep... Sleep is definitely what I need right now. Clay replied, stretching slightly in an attempt to relieve his aching back.
CHAPTER THREE
Day 3, 31 Days Post Infection
Clay had awoken before having opened his eyes. He remained still, attempting to appear as if he was still asleep. Clay had an odd feeling. A feeling as if someone were standing over him. He silently wondered if it could be Melanie, searching through their packs which had been leant against the bed the night before. There was however, another possibility. Which was that there had been a remaining infected whom they had not found last night. Clay felt like a fool. After the beating he took while participating in their previous encounter, he had agreed to end the night's search of the building in favour of getting some rest. He and Mel should have finished clearing the remainder of the building before they had settled in for the day.
It had been a grievous mistake whose consequences may prove to be fatal. With the world in its current state of disarray, there was no room for foolishness. Clay knew that given their environment, making a first mistake would likely end up being a last. Briefly, he contemplated whether or not this was where his story would end, while considering his next move.
Melanie stirred in the bed as she laid next to him. Clay felt her foot brush against his, and was now certain that whoever was standing over him wasn't Mel.
All of his weapons were on the floor at the foot of the bed, draped across his pack. The only exception being his shotgun, which he had leant against the bed directly beside him. Regardless of his armament, Clay knew that he had to make the first move. Reaching for his shotgun would leave him vulnerable, if only for a second and his attacker could capitalize on that moment before he could mount his gun. His best chance was to attack first and attempt to take his opponent to the ground. Hopefully, during the struggle Melanie would wake quickly and in realizing what was transpiring, would come to his aide. He hoped for both his and Melanie's sake, that there was only a single individual now standing over them.
Clay mentally prepared himself as best he could. The muscles in his back burned from his awkward fall last night during their previous fight. Laying as still as he could, Clay filled his lungs with a single deep breath and threw himself over the edge of the bed. After locating a man to his front, Clay lunged towards him, driving his shoulder into the figure's midsection. Wrapping his arms around the man's thighs, he lifted his opponent into the air as he crashed into him. With momentum on his side, Clay managed a few steps before slamming him down on the floor.
"ALIVE! ALIVE! I'M ALIVE!" the infected choked, his breath having given out when he hit the floor.
Clay immediately ceased his attempt to gain the dominant position over his opponent so as to beat him senseless, instead pinning him to the ground.
"Yup. He's definitely alive..." Mel said, from outside of Clay's vision.
Clay looked over his shoulder toward where Melanie's voice had projected from, to see her standing overtop of them with her rifle in hand. She was pointing it directly at the unknown man's head. Clay couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride in Melanie as he stood to his feet.
"How the hell did you get in here?" he asked, looking down at his would be attacker.
The man's hands were positioned in front of his face as if he were about to defend himself from an incoming blow.
"I've been here for weeks! I work here!" he said in a panic stricken voice. "... Or... Formerly worked here."
Clay looked over to Melanie and gave her a slight wave of his hand. His intention was obvious to her and she lowered her rifle. The man was terrified enough and there was no need to induce any further fear.
Clay released an audible sigh and began to rub his forehead.
"What's your name?" he asked, extending his arm down to the man.
"Kevin." he replied, while allowing Clay to assist him in getting to his feet.
"Kevin, I'm Clay. She's Melanie." Clay said, while nodding in Mel's direction as he spoke.
Kevin stunk. It was clear to Clay based on that olfactory indicator alone, that he was likely telling the truth. His clothes were filthy, obviously having not been changed since the outbreak. What was once a white collared short sleeved shirt, had been stained beige with sweat and filth. At some point he likely wore a tie and name tag, but were both long gone now.
"By the look of you, I'd guess that you've been here a while..." Clay said after making his mental observations.
"Ever since my co-workers turned..." Kevin replied tiredly.
"I thought they had you two last night, for sure. Nice shooting Melanie." he added.
"You were watching us? From where?" Melanie asked.
"From the security office. There are cameras all over the building. I would have come out to say hello, but my ex-coworkers had become intent on effecting my demise." he answered.
"Security cameras? This place have a generator or something?" Clay interjected.
"Generator? No... Wait... You guys don't know, do you?" asked Kevin, coyly.
"Know what?" Melanie replied.
Kevin laughed.
"Well... This is the first time since the outbreak that I've actually been able to deliver good news. There is still power." Kevin said with a smile.
"Bullshit. We didn't have power at the last place I was staying." Melanie argued.
"It's not everywhere. Wow, where have you guys been living during the last month?" Kevin said sarcastically.
Clay and Melanie looked at one another and smiled.
"The military has control of the power plants. They needed to keep the reactors operating, or we would not only have infected wandering the streets but also radioactive fall out." Kevin explained.
"Key buildings, such as factories, or any place that could store supplies, all still have power. The power plants aren't running at full capacity though and something had to go. Residential was of low priority. They figured that most people would congregate around large defensible structures." Kevin continued.
"The military... Or what's left of it, is still fighting. They've been trying to keep everyone up to date. They don't have the man power to relocate everyone to safe zones though. Mainly because there are no safe zones anywhere to be found, and they're focused primarily on the need to defend some of the key installations they've routed hydro to." he finished.
"They're keeping everyone up to date? How? Do you have a radio or something here
?" Clay asked.
"No, no. I haven't actually seen any military personnel since the outbreak. They're using email. They sent out a mass email to every known address they could get their hands on. Everyone who replied, essentially got added to the 'survivors of the end of the world' mailing list." Kevin replied, apparently having a good sense of humour, given his situation.
"Email?" Mel asked, looking to Clay. "Is this even possible?"
"Very possible. Not all the satellites are working though. Where we are right now, we only get about a five minute window to send and receive messages and the signal is very weak. The messages have to be short. Like a text message." Kevin answered.
Clay was silent and staring off into the distance. It was obvious to Mel that he was deep in thought about something in particular. She stood quietly and waited for his response to Kevin's explanation.
"Have you heard from anyone in the big city?" Clay asked distantly.
"The big city? No way, man. That place is a dead zone. They estimated that over ninety-nine percent of the population was infected. Like... Survivors numbering in the decimals. The local military here is going nuts about the potential horde that could come crawling out of there." Kevin answered.
The trio fell silent again. Clay couldn't avoid thinking about home and about Brooke. He was still in no position to reach her, but the new hope of opening a line of communication with her provided some solace. Clay still felt largely disappointed in himself for not making an attempt to reach her sooner.
"Clay? What's the matter?" Melanie asked.
She could tell by the look on his face that whatever he had been thinking about was deeply troubling to him. The possibilities were too numerous for her to guess at what might be occupying the mind of Clay.
"Nothing... It's fine." Clay replied.
It wasn't fine. It wasn't even close to being fine. He knew that the chances of Brooke surviving were slim, if at all. Up until now he had just simply been trying to get a handle on his situation. However, the time was fast approaching when he would need to see for himself if she lived. If she had, then he needed to get her the hell out of there. Clay felt an anguishing amount of guilt for not making an attempt to reach her earlier. But circumstances had not allowed for it and if had he of tried, he certainly would have failed. Clay was not equipped to make an attempt to locate Brooke. At least, until now.
"There's still people in town you know." Kevin said, his voice drawing Clay back to reality.
"The farm house burned to the ground a few days ago. No one survived." Melanie answered.
"Farm house? There was a second group? Shit..." Kevin said, sounding apologetic.
"But they aren't who I'm talking about. There's a whole bunch of people trapped in a three story walk up, about two blocks from here." Kevin continued.
"How do you know?" Mel asked.
"Email... My wife and son are stuck in the building. There are infected crowding the exits and they're trapped..." Kevin's voice turned somber.
The three remained quiet for a moment, contemplating the revelation in silence. What would be the point of planning and attempting the rescue of Brooke, if there was no where for them to return should he find success, Clay wondered. Where would they go? According to Kevin, the big city was no where near inhabitable, and the odds of long term survival would only increase with the strength of their numbers.
"We're going to get them out of there and bring them back here. They can't wait for the military." he said.
"What? Clay... I get it. I'm not trying to sound like a total bitch here, but how the hell are the three of us going to rescue an entire apartment building?" Mel asked. She was incredulous at the suggestion.
"Kevin, have they given you even a slight indication as to how many infected are there?" Clay asked.
"Yah. My wife guessed about seventy-five at the front door and around ten at the back. But the number has been increasing daily." he answered.
"Mel, I know this sounds crazy... But we need people if we're going to survive. We can't run like we have been, for the rest of our lives. The military is working to take back their areas of operation and our best chance of survival hinges on us doing the same." Clay explained.
"This department store is secure, easily defendable, has supplies and by using the railroad tracks we can conceal our movements through town." Clay continued.
Mel didn't know what to say at first. She was happy that she was alive, but wasn't entirely thrilled with the concept of endangering that. On one hand, they could choose to stay out of trouble and leave those people to sort their situation out themselves. On the other hand they could give this rescue their best shot. Had Clay ignored her pleas only a few days ago, she would have certainly been horribly killed by the infected. Instead, Clay had chosen to help her and as a result, she is alive and learning to adjust to their new situation. Why should she not pay forward that which Clay had done for her?
"Okay, Clay." is all that Mel said.
For the first time since he had spoken with his wife post-outbreak, Kevin began to feel a glimmer of hope that he may someday see his family again. Up until this moment, his circumstance had felt to him like it were a cruel joke. Although his wife and son had survived the outbreak and subsequent onslaught, they were unable to reach one another. Only through messages, which were far too short to communicate anything of worth to one another, would they know if the other had lasted the night. Every passing day was a torturous experience, hoping to hear from one another. Now however, a man stood before him whom Kevin had just met only a few minutes prior, and was intent on prying his family from what would likely become their tomb.
"Okay... So... What's the plan?" Kevin asked hesitantly, attempting to subdue his excitement.
"Well, I doubt that they're armed..." Clay started, but was quickly cut off by Kevin.
"Oh no... They're armed to the teeth. A guy that used to live in the building was a real paranoid nut. It's like the guy was preparing for just this occasion. Unfortunately, he was infected and never lived to see it." Kevin said.
"So what's stopping them from just shooting their way out and making a break for our location? You said that there are only ten or so infected barring the back door. It should be easy." Melanie inquired.
"The problem isn't a lack of arms. It's a lack of able bodied users. Most of the survivors in that building are women, children and a few elderly folks. There are only a few who are capable of fighting and no where near enough to assist the others in getting here. I suggested your plan to them a few days ago and they all agreed that no one was being left behind for the undead." Kevin answered.
"And the back door leads to a stair well that has been pretty substantially barricaded. An able bodied person would find it difficult to climb those stairs with all the debris they've piled down them." he continued.
"Email them. Tell them to pack up everything of value. Stress to them, that the entire contents of those gun lockers are top priority. Search that man's apartment and anything that even remotely looks like it has anything to do with a firearm gets packed up. Tell them that tomorrow morning, we're coming to get them out and that they need to be ready." Clay instructed to Kevin.
Better Lucky than Good (Records of the Resistance) Page 7
