by T A Williams
“I didn’t mean to offend. I just don’t want to give away my rifle for nothing.” Alec stood there thinking for a second. “Alright you give me the water bottles, the gas, the bottle of aspirin, the knife, and tell me where the nearest drinkable body of water is and I’ll consider it a deal.”
The woman smiled showing several missing teeth. “Deal.”
Alec packed up his backpack with his new supplies, handed over his rifle and went back into the heart of the market. He continued to ask around for information on a woman and young girl but to no success. The few people who would talk to him didn’t know anything, the woman was right everyone was just trying to keep to themselves.
He got back to his truck, filled it up with gas, and headed to the outskirts of the city where the woman said there was a lake. After a few minutes of traveling down the highway he veered off onto the gravel road, right where the woman said it would be, and continued down for several more minutes until he came to a large lake sitting in the middle of a field. Sitting beside was a large red barn and the ruins of what used to be a house, long since burnt down.
Alec started walking towards the barn as the sun began to dip under the horizon. He stopped and watched as the moon slowly began to appear in the night sky. Somewhere out there underneath that same bright moon was his sister. She was safe, she had to be safe. The woman that took her did so because she thought it was the only way to keep her safe. That same woman wouldn’t then turn around and put her once again in harm’s way, he just had to find them.
“Now where did you come from?”
Alec turned and saw three men slowly approaching him from the barn. Their clothes were worn, scruffy beards covered their faces, and malice shined in their eyes.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know anyone lived here, I was just trying to get some water and shelter for the night.”
“We were just doing the same,” said the one in the middle. “Looking for water, shelter, and hoping to come by some supplies.”
The men began to break up and circle around him. Alec turned to escape and ran right into a fourth man that had snuck up on him. The man’s fist connected with Alec’s face sending him spinning 180 degrees where he landed on his stomach onto the ground. His head felt cloudy and the sounds of the men yelling seemed to be coming from a distance. He got to his knees just in time for a kick to connect directly into his stomach. The wind escaped his lungs and Alec rolled to his side. He felt his backpack being torn from behind him.
“We seem to be in luck, supplies.” Yelled one of the men from above him.
“He’s got transportation too.” Said another.
Alec felt someone searching his pockets for keys. These men were just like the ones that shot his brother, kidnapped his sister, killed his father, and destroyed what was left of his family. He let out a scream of rage and brought his knee up into the jaw of the man standing over him. He heard a loud crack as the man’s teeth slammed together and then a howl of pain as the man fell back.
Alec got back to his feet as the world began to come back into focus and he was able to make out another of the men charging him, before he could move the man slammed into him and sent him back into the ground. The man sat on top of him and began to hit him, over and over again. Alec brought his hands up to protect his face but it didn’t do any good. For every punch he blocked another two connected with his face, soon even the blows he managed to block just caused his hands to come smashing back into his face. Finally he stopped fighting back but that didn’t stop the man from punching him. When the man did stop Alec couldn’t see, he was fairly certain his eyes were open but all that greeted him was darkness.
“Damn Terry,” the voice seemed to float to him from a distance, “you really fucked him up.”
“Little fucking bastard nearly broke Charlie’s jaw.
The other man answered back. “What do you want to do with him?”
“Leave him, coyotes will finish the job.”
Alec could feel the pain on the edge of his consciousness but a feeling of numbness filled his very being and kept it at bay. He didn’t try to move, didn’t try to say anything, he just let the darkness take him over.
Ben
“I could use some help resetting some of the snares out back.”
Ben heard Jack but didn’t respond.
“Or if you don’t feel like resetting the snares you can check the ones in the woods outside my place.”
Again he answered in silence.
The old man let out a deep sigh and came up and sat next to him on the back porch. “I’m going to tell you something son.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” His voice sounded small, like a child’s.
“I didn’t ask if you wanted to hear it,” his voice was firm. “I said I’m going to tell you something.”
Anger flared up in Ben but he continued to sit there.
“I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know what you’re going through. What happened to you in a matter of days is more than what happens to some people in their entire lifetime.”
Ben tried to escape in his head but the man’s voice came bringing him back down.
“Everyone deals with loss in their own way but no one can deal with it on their own. You have a right to be sad, you have a right to struggle with what has happened, but this world has taken away your right to sit in a corner and hide from the world.” Jack waited for Ben to respond but the boy didn’t. “Until your brother returns it’s just the two of us and I’m going to need your help, I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“My brother isn’t coming back.”
Jack stiffened. “What?”
The anger spilled over in Ben. “He ran away, he’s not coming back.” He yelled.
“Of course he’s coming back. He left to find your sister, he didn’t run away.”
Ben clenched his fists. “He ran away because of what happened to Dad and Joseph. He didn’t even like Dad, he was always yelling at him and ignoring him. How is he going to find Ally? How is he going to survive, he doesn’t know how to take care of himself?” Jack sat there listening intently. The man gave off a feeling of calm that pissed Ben off. Ben jumped up and walked out into the backyard. “He ran away to find Ally but she’s gone and he’s going to get killed.”
“Ben,” Jack walked slowly off the porch and stood a few feet away from him. “Your brother was given an impossible choice. Either stay here and mourn the family he lost or head out and attempt to find a sister that could have been taken anywhere. It didn’t matter what choice he made because in both he was effectively leaving behind a person he loved.”
Ben shook his head, it wasn’t that easy. This wasn’t a noble decision; he wasn’t doing what was right he was only doing what was easy. “He could have taken me.”
Jack looked out at the open field. “He knew you were safe here. He was going out to a world in chaos and didn’t want to risk your life.”
Ben wasn’t safe here because this is where Joseph had been killed. Alec didn’t take him because he thought Ben was a child. The realization nearly knocked him off his feet, he was a child. While his father had been learning how to hunt and provide for his family Ben had been running through the woods with his head in the clouds. He had trusted a perfect stranger who had used him and could have stolen their meager supplies. Worst of all was the day when Ally was kidnapped and Joseph was killed. While his father and Alec fought the men he had hidden under the bed, like a scared child.
Maybe Alec was right.
“Alec is doing what he can to find your sister and bring her home, you need to do what you can to make sure they have a home to come back to. “
He was a child.
Jack gave him a gentle pat on the back. “Want to come with me and reset the snares?”
“I can get them.”
“Are you sure? You remember how to set them?”
A child.
“Yeah, I remember.”
Jack gave him another pat.
“I’m here if you need me.”
Ben nodded and walked out alone into the open field, only this time he didn’t try to escape into an imaginary world.
Alec
He had crawled in total darkness for what felt like miles until he had finally felt the cold hard wooden surface of the barn. He then dragged his body around the structure until he found the opening. Alec had no idea how far into the barn he had gotten when the darkness took him again.
When he woke all the pain he had been missing came flooding back. The left side of his body felt like it was on fire, while his entire face felt like it had swollen to the size of a watermelon. Every move he made sent pain shooting through his body and caused the world to tilt to the side. Time bled together and the only thing that woke him up was his throat screaming for water and the hunger pains emanating from his stomach.
Alec slowly sat up and the world jolted violently, if there had been anything in his stomach it would have come out, instead he just dry heaved. He waited a few minutes until the world seemed to steady. His right eye opened slightly and he could just barely seem the world around him. He was laying just a few feet from the wide doors and the rays of the sun cut into the barn to illuminate the rest of the hay filled shelter. Alec took a deep breath and pushed himself up. It felt like he was going at a snail’s pace but he finally managed to get to his knees and after a few more minutes get to his feet. The world seemed to lurch in all directions at once and what little strength he had left fled his body in an instant and he came slamming back into the ground.
He laid there on the cool ground looking outside the barn towards the large lake. So much water, so far away.
Alec laid on his back just outside the barn with his mouth wide open. Every few seconds a drop of rain would fall into his mouth and seemed to evaporate instantly down his parched throat.
The rhythmic beating of the rain against the barn roof had stirred him from his sleep, and the need for water had allowed him to ignore the pain long enough to pull himself outside.
He took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. A sharp pain in his side caused the world to darken just slightly and Alec tensed up. For a few beats he was afraid to breathe again, when he finally did he took short shallow breaths. If he wasn’t so dehydrated he would have cried.
Soon the slow drizzle turned into a heavy downpour. Alec allowed his mouth to fill up with as much water as possible then let the cold water slide down his throat. Even as the rain soaked through his clothes and a cold chill enveloped his body he continued to drink. It wasn’t until his body began to reject the water that he stopped.
It started with his belly feeling solid, like there was a heavy weight in his stomach. Before he could give it much thought the water all came up at once.
Alec rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. He had failed. He couldn’t find his sister. The chances of him finding his sister were slim even when he started but everyday those chances were cut in half. They could have turned down dozens upon dozens of different roads all leading further away from him. His father was gone, his sister lost, his youngest brother dead, and his last remaining brother was sitting at home waiting for him to return. He couldn’t let himself die, he couldn’t abandon Ben.
He opened his eyes and slowly, and painfully, pulled himself across the water logged ground back into the barn. He managed to pull himself into the barn and onto a large mound of hay.
He just needed to get some rest and then tomorrow he would get up, go down to the lake, get some water and find some food. Once that was completed he would decide his best course of action. As his body began to shake uncontrollably Alec once again closed his eyes.
Alec
He couldn’t stop shaking. His clothes had long since dried out yet somehow he felt incredibly cold and hot at the same time. He buried his head into the musky coarse hay trying to dig his way into the middle of it, as if the cure for his affliction was at the bottom of the pile.
Another cough wracked his body and his head began to spin. His stomach no longer ached for food and his tongue felt like sandpaper but he no longer cared. All Alec wanted to do was sleep.
He heard talking in the distance. At first he thought it was only in his head and then the talking got louder. The boy kept his eyes closed, he wasn’t even sure he had the strength to open them if he needed to.
The sound of footsteps crept closer and then he heard a young voice.
“Daddy. Daddy, there is someone in here.”
More rustling and the sound of someone yelling, then silence.
“Jesus,” the voice was a man’s, “honey get back.”
Alec felt hands on his neck, they felt freezing and he began to shiver again.
“His alive, Jamie I need you to pull the truck up here he needs help.”
Alec didn’t move, at least not voluntarily as his body continued to shake, but he felt those same hands lift him in the air, and then he drifted out of consciousness.
Alec
He was aware he was moving and could feel the warm leather of a seat on the left side of his body. His clothing was soaked and it felt like he was still sweating. It didn’t make sense that he was sweating because he felt like he was frozen.
He cracked his eyes open a second and could register that he was in the back seat of a vehicle. A man sat in the front seat driving and he could feel soft hands resting on his arm.
“Daddy, I think he’s awake.” It was the voice of the young girl again.
The man glanced back and met Alec’s eyes. The man’s eyes were kind but he could make out the worry lines alongside them.
“Buddy you’re safe, we’re here to help you. Can you talk?”
Alec couldn’t find the strength to say anything.
“You need to drink something. You’re sick and by the size of the cracks in your lips you’re probably dehydrated too.”
The young girl’s hands appeared before him with a plastic bottle of water, she placed it up next to his lips. Alec opened his mouth a crack and she poured a small amount of water in his mouth.
For the longest time all he had done was lay in that dank barn praying for the strength to pull himself out and get a mouthful of water, but the water she poured in his mouth tasted sour and wrong. He coughed and spit up the water.
“Just a little bit Jamie not too much. You’ve got to drink something. If you don’t you’re not going to get any better.”
Once again the girl poured some water in his mouth and this time he forced it down. He could feel the warm liquid travel down his throat and into his stomach. As soon as it reached his stomach it rumbled and it felt like it began to twist. He let out a moan and pushed himself up against the door.
“That’s good for now Jamie.” The man’s voice was soft to the young girl. When he talked to Alec his voice changed as if he was speaking to someone who spoke a different language. “I want you to take a sip every 15 minutes. Once you’re able to keep that down we have some medicine to help take your fever down.”
Alec didn’t answer; the man didn’t expect him to.
The young boy drifted back out of consciousness but was woken up every 15 minutes just long enough to force down a sip of water.
Jess
They were surrounded by buildings damaged by the end of the world. Each building they drove by had windows that were boarded up, doors that had been knocked down, some riddled with bullet holes, and others that had at one point in time clearly been on fire. She drove through the empty streets and it took everything she had not to step on the gas and speed through as quickly as she could. Yet she couldn’t continue avoiding every sign of civilization or they were going to starve.
“Where is everyone?” Ally asked as she sat up in her seat looking in every which direction.
Before Jess could answer she saw someone run across the street and duck into an alleyway. She managed to bite back a scream, but just barely. Ally was watching her, so if she freaked out then the girl would do the same.
She continued to follow the road moving deeper and deeper into the city, past buildings with giant signs offering 0% financing and limited time offers, things that had no meaning in this new world. A gust of wind blew up a debris devil consisting of trash that twirled across the roadway and died in an alley. A woman in ragged worn out clothing stood outside a car on the side of the road. She eyed them suspiciously as they went by. Jess looked away keeping the woman at the edge of her vision but managing to avoid direct eye contact.
Just as they passed by a small child peeked out of the back seat, its face was covered in grime and Jess wasn’t sure if the child was a boy or a girl. Ally turned to her and raised a single eyebrow and turned back around. Despite the tense situation Jess felt herself smile again.
As they got deeper into the city they ran into more and more roadblocks that kept them on the same road. Just as Jess started to consider turning around they hit another roadblock that ended the road. Sectioned off to the side was a parking lot for what appeared to have once been a strip mall. Run down cars were lined up to separate the parking lot from the rest of the city. The only opening to enter the parking lot had a man with a dark beard in grimy clothing standing in front of it.
There was a tap on her window that caused her heart to jump from chest and a scream to escape from her lips.
The young man that tapped on the window backed up and held his hands up in a gesture of good will. His head was full of scraggly hair that was several months past needing a good cut along with clothing that had needed to be washed several months prior to that. The jeans he wore had begun to fray and were one solid tug away from tearing open to the outside world. On top of the man’s grimy clothes was a police badge, not that it meant much.
“It’s okay I’m not going to hurt you.” He waited for her to calm down. “You need to pull your truck to the side of the road. You can’t park it here.”
