Trying to Survive (Part 3)

by Crowley,C. J.

  I shrugged. “Alright, let’s do it.”

  I stood up and put the rifle strap around my shoulder. Jenny followed and scoffed “We need to start making coffee.”

  When I took a step toward the door, Allen stopped me and said “The back seat… If you want, I’ll help Jenny move him.”

  I closed my eye for a few moments… Asshole… I was so distracted I completely forgot…

  “No, I want to.” I looked around the room at everyone. “I’d like to put him somewhere nearby so I can bury him once this is all over.”

  Jenny walked over and put her hand on my shoulder “Of course. I’ll help you, come on.”

  Before we left the restaurant, she directed Allen not to leave the others alone, no matter what happens.

  My feet dragged all the way across the street to the SUV. Jenny was already waiting with the door open when I walked up. Her eyes moved to the ground as I slowly approached. When his shoes came into view I stopped dead in my tracks.

  I took a deep breath. Jenny started to ask if I wanted Allen to help her and I shook my head. “No, I can do it.”

  We both positioned ourselves in front of the open door, and I took hold of his legs. I gently slid him out and then allowed Jenny to reach under his arms. At that moment, I would have given anything to make it so his eyes would close.

  I led Jenny to the closest store and pushed the door open with my foot. It was a dry cleaner. There was another body near the cash register, so I directed Jenny to set him down off to the side by the front windows. I didn’t want him to be near one of those things.

  It was a struggle, but I managed not to look at him. I didn’t want that to be the way I remembered him. I didn’t want to see his dead eyes whenever I pictured him.

  Jenny leaned down and reached out to his face. When I glared at her she stopped and said “I was just going to close his eyes. I’m sorry.”

  “No, it’s okay. Please…”

  As we drove around looking for a store that might have large glass bottles, all the holes in the windshield kept bringing me back to the moment the bullets started hitting the car. I was glad to be distracted by having to figure out what all the stores were and think of whether they might have what we need.

  It wasn’t long before I spotted the “Richmond Hill Farmer’s Market”. “Hey, I bet that place has all kinds of weird shit in big glass jars that people wouldn’t even want at a time like this. Those health food stores always do.”

  Jenny slowed down and veered across the street. “Can’t pass up any place that might have something. We have all day to search.”

  The moment we entered the empty store, Jenny said “They must have so much food stashed away behind those walls… This is crazy. Nothing’s left… Nothing.”

  We split up and walked to the far ends of the store. It wasn’t long before I spotted a massive glass jar on one of the shelves. It had to be close to a foot tall and about eight inches in width… Who the fuck would buy this many artichoke hearts at once?..

  I wrenched open the metal cap and dumped the contents onto the floor, then put it under my arm and continued to walk around. There were more than a few items left behind in glass containers and bottles, but everything else I was seeing seemed far too small.

  When I heard a whistle, I tightly gripped the jar and ran to the other side of the store. Jenny appeared from an aisle holding two glass jars that were only slightly smaller. Her brow raised when she saw I was holding one as well, and she said “Three should be plenty. We probably won’t even have to throw the third one, but we’ll bring it anyway.”

  “We should be able to safely pack all of them in that duffle bag so I can get them up that ladder too.”

  “Did you see any smaller ones? That we could throw at least twenty yards?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Not every building has access to the roof. I had to check more than a few before I found one with a ladder leading up. We might end up farther away than I’m hoping.”

  “We’ll make it work.” I said as I led her over to the aisle where I found the assorted jars and bottles.

  I handed her the one I’d found, and then emptied out four more that were a little larger than tall beer cans. “These should be perfect.”

  “Like I said – if we can hit the table tops, they’ll basically explode right in their faces. They won’t be able to do anything but run away in a panic and try to put themselves out. We’ll have more than enough time to shoot them all if we have to.”

  As we left the market and climbed back in the SUV, I found myself wondering why Walt was straggling behind. The bullet holes in the windshield and the metallic and musty smell of his blood coming from the back seat were an instant reminder of where he really was.

  “I guess we can head back. We have exactly what we need… There’re plenty of cars to siphon gas from outside the restaurant.”

  I didn’t feel like talking, but Jenny understood my silence and knew I heard every word she said. I was wishing it would have taken us hours to hunt down what we needed. Knowing I’d have nothing to do but sit around and wait for nightfall only made my anger levels rise.

  When we pulled up to the restaurant I turned to Jenny and said “Do you mind if I fill all these up by myself? I need something to keep me busy for a while.”

  “You sure?”

  I ignored her question. “So, what do I just cut little holes in the lids? About the size of a quarter or something?”

  “Yeah, that’ll be perfect… Just make sure to listen for cars.”

  As Jenny disappeared into the restaurant, I dug around in the trunk for the hose. I gathered as many jars as I could carry and walked out to the middle of the road. I took a few moments to stare in every direction, focusing on the scattered trails of corpses leading off into the distance.

  It was so quiet I could hear myself breathing. If it wasn’t for the light breezes coming through, there wouldn’t be a single other sound in existence… Is this what the world will be like when they all die off?.. I welcomed it.

  For whatever reason, I wasn’t the least bit worried about those men coming after us. I knew they weren’t going to leave the safety of their walls, but that gave us an edge. Their feeling of safety was a delusion that we were going to capitalize on…

  It wasn’t exactly easy to work my knife through the metal caps for all of the jars, but I was thankful because it kept me busy for another hour after I finished filling them all with gasoline. My only interruption was Jenny periodically opening the door to look outside and check on me.

  By the time I was done, I could feel that it wasn’t even close to noon yet. I walked back inside with the others, and without saying a word I retreated to the kitchen. I still didn’t feel like talking, or listening as they attempted to comfort me, or tell me everything’s going to be “okay”.

  At the moment, the only company I desired was that of the dead shredder lying on the kitchen floor, and the rancid smell emanating from it.

  I switched on the flashlight and placed it standing straight up, pointed at the ceiling. I collapsed, leaned back against the greasy and stained tile wall and straightened my legs out. My heels scraped up flakes of the dried blood on the floor. Suddenly, I found myself feeling exhausted.

  Chapter 23

  The lasting squeal of the door hinges eased me awake. I could hear footsteps echoing in the small room, but I didn’t open my eye until they were almost right next to me.

  Just as Jenny reached down to nudge me awake, I said “What time is it?” and she jerked her hand back.

  “The clock over the bar says we have less than an hour until it starts to get dark. I figured you’d want to be awake for a while before we left.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” I said as I got to my feet. I was ready to walk out, but Jenny blocked my path and just stared at me. Her woeful gaze soon drifted to my scars.

  “You don’t have to say anything, Jenny… I know you feel bad for me, and I know you’re hurting too. You
r eyes say more than enough.”

  “I know, but…”

  “You’re about to help me make them pay for what they did to Walt. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

  I walked past her and pushed open the door. Just as I expected, Allen, Veronica and Clara immediately turned their attention to me. I took a deep breath and approached them. When Allen motioned to speak, I purposely beat him to it. “Allen.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you for offering to help. I know you don’t have to… That you only need to worry about protecting your sister.”

  “Walt risked his life to save us, and did everything he could to help keep us safe. It’s the least I can do.”

  Jenny came up behind me and said “We should leave soon. If we show up too late we could miss our chance to catch them all sitting around together.”

  The small restaurant reminded me of every other “bar and grill” type place I’ve ever been to. The bar, the walls, the floors and every chair or booth looked like they had been purposely aged and tarnished. The owners were obviously going for the forever-popular old Irish theme. It reminded me of a place where Walt and I would hang out on the weekends to catch a good buzz and have some laughs.

  Even though we spent all day at work together, and got in pretty heated arguments all the time, we always managed to keep a close relationship. We could come within seconds of throwing fists at noon, but by 1:00pm be back to laughing and joking around like it never even happened.

  I was always thankful for that, especially after our parents died. I’ve known more than a few siblings that never got along, or even hated each other and refused to speak…

  Clara was sitting on a tall stool right next to me. Her small pink sneakers will still almost a foot away from being able to reach the ground. She looked up at me and said “We can still just leave and go to that island. One of you could die if you do this, James.”

  I was so busy being caught up in my own emotions that I hadn’t even considered Clara’s feelings. She was probably more frightened than ever. Just when we thought everything might turn out alright, we lose someone else. We lose Walt.

  I hated myself for it, but I couldn’t help but spend a few moments wishing it had been one of the others…

  “I’m sorry, Clara, but we don’t know anything about that island… But we do know what’s here, and it’s exactly what we need.”

  “We can do this, Clara. We have every advantage.” Jenny assured her.

  “That doesn’t mean anything…”

  “We have to do this. For Walt and for ourselves... People who have something like that setup and refuse to help others in need don’t deserve to keep it.” I sternly stated.

  Jenny broke from the conversation and said “I have the jars set up and packed in the duffle bag. I found a bunch of towels to pack them with in a storage room, so you don’t have to worry about any of them breaking. All we need is your lighter.”

  “We should just leave now. We’re gonna have to ditch the car at least a quarter mile away so they don’t hear it.”

  “And find an accessible roof that’s close enough.”

  “Maybe tonight should just be a recon thing. Then we can go back tomorrow fully prepared.” Allen suggested.

  “If we can do it tonight, we do it. But we don’t stray from the plan. If everything isn’t perfect, we keep going back until it is.” I looked at Allen. “I promise, I won’t let my emotions make me do something stupid and put us at risk.”

  “Sounds good to me.” He turned and stood his AK47 up against the wall next to Veronica. “Hopefully you won’t even have to touch this… but if you do, don’t be scared. Anyone can shoot somebody. Just aim and pull the trigger.”

  Veronica swallowed and nervously nodded. Allen added “The safety is off, so really, don’t mess with it unless you have to.”

  “I won’t, don’t worry… Though you really do need to teach me how to use one soon. This situation proves it.”

  Jenny said “We will, as soon as we have the time. If we can take that place and they have as much ammo as I think they have, you’ll all be able to practice as much as you want.”

  Allen climbed back to the third row of seats to avoid getting even more of Walt’s blood on him. I just looked straight ahead as Jenny drove, trying not to stare at the holes in the windshield. I was already planning on getting rid of the SUV as soon as possible.

  Jenny turned her head back and said “Allen, since you look like you can lift a ton, you can carry the duffle bag up the ladder. It’s got to be a hundred pounds… I guess you can always take two trips.”

  “Nah, I’ll get it in one shot. I might be a little seasoned, but I’m still pretty strong.”

  We hadn’t gone very far, so it wasn’t long before Jenny pulled off onto a side street and hid the car behind a building. “We’re going to use these back streets for now, but once we go out onto the main strip that truck could come around the corner at any second, so we have to be ready to fly inside a store or down another street.”

  Jenny jumped out and turned back to Allen. “Don’t worry about breaking the bottles. We can always get more. Just make sure to get out of sight in time if it comes to that.”

  I said “Do you know what street it’s on? I don’t have a damn clue.”

  “There’s a coffee shop right on the corner across the street. It has a big purple sign, so we can’t miss it.”

  The sky was starting to turn gray, so Jenny wasted no time and kept us at a jogging pace. I was the one who carried the duffle bag to the car so I already knew it was heavy as hell, but the weight didn’t seem to bother Allen at all.

  Other than some minimal pain, my right calf was performing better than I expected. It felt strange and somewhat awkward, like it would hinder a full sprint, but even after three blocks I was more than ready to keep going.

  If anything, the closer we got to their little fort, the more excited I became. All I could think about was making them suffer. I remembered what I said to Veronica, but I suspected that I wouldn’t be able to stick to my own code of morals. I could feel them all slipping away and being replaced with hatred.

  Jenny suddenly turned left and began heading back toward the main strip. “I think we’re getting close, let’s just make it to the edge of that building so I can peek around.”

  After a quick look down the road, Jenny turned back and said “I can see the coffee shop, but we’ve still got about six blocks to go.”

  We turned around and continued using the backstreets. I kept my rifle partially raised because I was so sure we’d run into some shredders, but the only thing I found myself doing was weaving around the bodies.

  Everything these people accomplished in such a short amount of time continued to perplex me. In my mind, there was no question that there was a lot more to the story of what happened here than we’ll ever know… And just as Walt suggested – I believed a large portion of the bodies in the streets were regular people.

  As we passed building after building, I began to notice the lack of ladders leading up to the rooftops. The chance of the exact building we needed to have a ladder was very slim. I could only hope we’d be close enough to throw the smaller bottles… If we have to retreat and come up with a new plan, I might go insane waiting…

  Once we reached the fifth block, Jenny slowed down and allowed us to catch up. “They could have guys on the rooftops, so from now on we go very slowly and check every inch of our surroundings before we move more than ten feet.”

  I looked past her and noticed another wall. I pointed toward it and said “Look, another one.”

  Allen said “They must really be boxed in.”

  “It’s nowhere near as strong looking as the other ones though. They must have started running out of materials.” Jenny remarked.

  As we made our way closer, I noticed a ladder to the far right. Jenny led us over to the back of car, got down low and said “I see a ladder on the right side of that building, but the all
ey is probably blocked off and I think it’ll be too far away from where they all sit around.”

  After checking the rooftops and all the windows, we quickly made it across the next street and pinned ourselves up against the wall. There were no other small alleys leading around to the backs of the stores, so we had no choice but to head right and check out the one Jenny thought would be too far away.

  We stepped softly and held onto our rifles tightly so the metal buckles on the straps attached to them wouldn’t make any noise. When Jenny tuned down the small alley leading to the only ladder in sight, she came to a stop, dropped her head and whispered “Fuck, another wall.”

  “But it’s not all that high.” Allen said as began looking around. “If we can just find something to climb on we should be able to get over.”

  “Yeah, but we can’t make any noise.”

  Allen smiled and said “Follow me, I have an idea.”

  He led us to an old Ford Explorer that was parked about thirty yards away. Allen tried the handle and the door popped open. Jenny said “I think I know what you’re thinking, but without the keys”

  Allen stopped her. “There’s an old tow truck drivers trick to get a car in neutral without the keys. I think this thing should be old enough for it to work.”

  He dropped to ground, got onto his back and shimmied under the Explorer. “If I can reach the transmission cable and unhook it I should be able to get in neutral. One of you get in the front and one in the back. That’s how I’ll know if I did it right – she’ll start to roll.”

  Jenny pointed out that the slight decline of the street dictated the car would roll backward, so we both wend around, placed our hands on the trunk and got ready.

  Allen’s hand came out from underneath. “Knife, please.”

  I reached around and removed my father’s hunting knife from the leather holster and placed it in his hand. I heard a few metallic clinks and then he said “Okay, get ready for it to roll.”