Road to Grissom: Part three of the Aftermath series

by Duncan McArdle

  This process was repeated for the remaining seven rooms over the course of the next few minutes, all of them covered quickly but thoroughly, John hoping to minimise the time during which anything that might have heard might come to its senses and form an attack. But such precautions had clearly been unnecessary, a realisation John came to only upon closing the eighth and final door behind him, and then pointing over to the male and female restroom doors, located just a few feet from where Devon remained on guard.

  All too familiar with the process by now, Danny assembled alongside the first door – the male restroom – and, upon John completing the all-important countdown, shoved the door ajar. Surging into the room, John was happy to find that the outside sun – which was still hitting the western side of the building and would continue to do so until it fully set – was just bright enough to make its way through the privacy windows on one side of the room, affording the men just enough visibility to make their sweep.

  The room comprised of two stalls, three urinals and a row of two sinks, as well as a hand dryer and trash can filled with decaying paper towels. The smell of decomposition vastly outweighed any other – a fact John was fairly pleased to discover – but nevertheless presented a reason to leave the room just as soon as possible, so John quickly lowered himself down to the ground to check under each stall, and then tapped each one gently open with the toe of his boot, already confident they were empty.

  Danny meanwhile continued past the stalls to check the urinal area, itself also predictably empty, and then briefly checked the trash can for any evidence of another party’s presence, before turning and heading back out the door, soon to be joined by John. Both men were starting to wonder if they were going to find anything to point them in the direction of the men they sought, and both were fairly confident they weren’t going to find it in the last remaining room.

  Lining up next to the door of the lady’s restroom, Danny leant hard against the wall and rested his palm on the door, awaiting John’s signal. Soon enough it came, and so Danny thrust open the entrance and quickly followed his leader in, immersing themselves in the significantly thicker darkness of a room not still illuminated by the now all but set sun outside, but thankfully still visible due to the light coming in from the waiting area.

  In a similar but obviously adjusted layout, the women’s room consisted of four stalls, the same row of sinks, a dryer and waste basket – which was thankfully empty this time – all of which were flipped to the opposite side of the room. In much the same way as before, John descended to the ground to check for feet in any of the stalls, and then rose back up after seeing none. Danny therefore made his way to the final stall, and the pair each threw open the first set of doors.

  Predictably, they found nothing. Each stall was in surprisingly clean condition other than the obvious amounts of dust and settled dirt, perhaps due to this particular restroom having been cleaned right before the evacuation had taken place – judging by the missing paper towels in the trash can. So each man moved onto the next stall, threw open the door once again, and pointed their weapons inside.

  This time however, things went a little differently. In an incredible example of poor timing, the bathroom door – which had been pushed ajar but not propped open in any way – had decided to swing itself closed right as each stall was thrust open, plunging the entire room into utter darkness. Thankfully, John had managed to catch a glimpse of his stall’s interior – which was once again completely empty – but that didn’t give him much reassurance in a now pitch black room.

  What gave him even less reassurance however, was an unusual sound coming from his right, not coincidentally the same spot in which Danny had just been stood. It was a slight slapping noise, followed by a deep breath and the slightest of scuffs, a series of sounds John had far from expected to hear. Throwing caution to the wind, John yelled an important order to Devon.

  “LIGHT!”, he commanded, before slowly pacing backwards away from the stall he knew to be next to him, preparing for what he was about to find.

  After a few seconds – all of which took place with a continued series of strange noises playing out in the background – the restroom door once more swung ajar, illuminating the insides and greatly aiding John’s already slowly improving vision. He could now once again see the stalls, including the open door where his colleague had once stood, which was now slowly creaking shut. Behind the door, coming into view only as it finally closed, stood Danny, head raised slightly up and pistol pointed off to one side, his left hand raised up in the air to his left in what was clearly a sign of submission, and an attractive, dark haired woman stood behind him, pressing the cold, silver metal of a pistol against the side of his neck.

  “Hello boys”, said the woman with a sickening smile.

  Chapter 15: Confidence

  Before the woman’s words had finished exiting her mouth, John’s had responded using nothing more than muscle memory. The barrel of his pistol had flung upwards quicker than ever, lining up what would have been a perfect headshot – presently obscured by the woman’s clever positioning of Danny – with such immense speed and precision that he himself had barely realised what was happening.

  “Now now old man”, said the brunette, un-phased by the sudden presence of a weapon pointing in her direction, by a man who, judging by his speed and accuracy, was no stranger to using it, “Let’s not go doing anything stupid”.

  “Drop the kid”, John ordered, “Drop him and lower your weapon”.

  “Oh c’mon”, the woman replied, “We both know that’s not something I’m going to do”.

  “Nobody needs to die here”, John insisted, “We’re not looking for a fight”.

  “Well then”, the woman replied, “You really shouldn’t go wandering into the ladies room”.

  From the brief glimpses of the unknown assailant that John had so far had, he had her pegged as a twenty-something brunette, around five foot 10 inches, and of slim build. The girl was wearing green cargo pants, a black t-shirt and a black raincoat over the top, which presently had the hood up, obscuring much, but not all of her face. Her brown hair was mostly kept up inside the hood, other than the bottom of a roughly tied ponytail which trailed out along the right-hand side of her seemingly light skin.

  “What’s your name?”, John asked of the girl, sensing that adding some personality into the mix might be their best chance of resolving the situation without the use of violence.

  “You first”, she replied stubbornly.

  “I’m John”, John said, “John Parker, and that there in front of you is Danny, and the ones outside are Danny, James and Candice”, he lied.

  The girl leant briefly over to one side to show John her face, on which an incredibly sarcastic tone was clearly evident, so much so it all but said the word “Really?” from looks alone.

  “Fine”, John said, “Just Devon”.

  “Not a great way to start things off, but I’ll chalk it up to the stress of the situation”, the woman said, “Nice to meet you John, I’m Jennifer”.

  With that, tensions began to ease off fairly instantaneously. Once names were added into the equation, people became much more human to each other. It was far easier to put a bullet into someone if they meant nothing at all to you, by simply adding a name, the risk was vastly reduced. This was something John was more than familiar with, and was a tactic he’d used multiple times to deescalate various situations both pre and post end of the world, but he sensed it might be something Jennifer too was familiar with.

  “What are you?”, John asked, hoping to continue the process of familiarising both parties. “Army? Rangers?”.

  “What makes you think I’m military?”, Jennifer replied.

  “Well most people that aren’t don’t survive out here this long”, John explained, “Especially if they’re on their own”.

  “Who says I’m on my own?”, Jennifer said, continuing her own round of questioning.

  “No working vehicles ou
tside, no belongings in the whole of this place, except maybe inside that stall you just came out of”, John continued, “And we’ve checked every other room”.

  “Oh you’re good John Parker”, Jennifer admitted, “But what if the rest of my group are just in other parts of the hospital?”.

  With that, John knew he was right. Someone as cool and collected as this girl had so far been would never have referenced an unknown person or persons without presenting evidence to back the claim up, it just wasn’t in their nature. If she really was here with other people, she would have talked about them in a more convincing way, and chances are they would have made themselves known by now.

  Now that he was certain it was a three-on-one situation, John began to relax a little. Untensing his arms – without sacrificing the pistol’s still-perfectly lined up shot – he began analysing Jennifer, as well as the area immediately around her. From the black combat looking boots the girl was wearing, to the sizable but not huge backpack slung over her shoulders, and to the lack of items he could spot in the cubicle she had emerged from, everything was a clue if interpreted the right way.

  But what caught his attention the most – and not for the most obvious reasons – was her pistol. Presently pressed firmly into the neck of her human shield, the silver weapon was most certainly a revolver of some kind, its shape and construction evident to even the simplest of gun nuts, much less an experienced war veteran such as John. He had caught sight of it from the first moment they’d encountered the girl, but the most telling moment had been just a few seconds prior, when Danny’s nervous shifting had caused Jennifer to expose slightly more of the pistol than she might have wanted to. With a cocky level of confidence evident in his movements, John slowly lowered the pistol down and placed it back into his holster.

  “Feeling scared there John?”, Jennifer asked.

  “John what are you doing!?”, Danny exclaimed, “It’s three against one!”.

  “Shut up”, Jennifer snapped, pressing the pistol harder into the younger man’s neck, causing him to wince slightly in discomfort.

  “She’s not going to shoot you Danny”, John declared confidently, “Don’t worry”.

  “What makes you so sure!?”, Danny said nervously, continually trying to catch a glimpse of the girl in his peripheral vision.

  “Go ahead John”, Jennifer said, “I’m curious to hear your reasoning”.

  “Me too”, Devon declared from over by the door, himself still taking sturdy aim at Jennifer, though his attention was intermittently drawn to the area outside the restroom just in case.

  “Well the way I see it, she’s not the type to go killing other humans”, John began, “She’s in this to survive, not to fight”.

  Danny’s face continued to show fear, with John’s latest words doing little to help.

  “She’s not taken a shot yet, and she didn’t take one when we first got in”, he said, “So we know she doesn’t enjoy killing”.

  “Or maybe I’m just smart enough to know better than to come out guns blazing when it’s three on one?”, Jennifer asked, her voice still as confident as ever.

  “Jennifer”, John said in a belittling tone, “Nobody ever won an open firefight with a revolver, it’s just not the right gun”.

  Suddenly Jennifer’s skin went cold, as the reason for John’s newfound confidence became so apparent.

  “Especially not when they’ve got no bullets”, he added.

  With those simple words, the dynamic of the room changed hugely. Devon was first to adjust, shooting a glance over to the girl’s revolver to make his own visual confirmation, before turning and marching back out of the restroom, now knowing there was no real danger. Jennifer meanwhile loosened her grip on the young man in front, knowing her ruse had been discovered, and that her power was quickly diminishing. But Danny stayed as he was, not the kind of person to take such a big risk off of a few measly words.

  “So you saw the sides are empty”, Jennifer said, referring to the slots on the side of the revolver that are exposed to anyone looking at the weapon from head on, “Doesn’t mean there isn’t one up top, hell maybe even one down below”.

  “True”, John admitted, “But even if there is one down below, by the time you’ve taken a shot, we’ll be all over you. There’s no way you’ll make it to the second”.

  “Maybe I’d be satisfied with one kill? One for one and all?”, Jennifer said.

  “Not likely”, John replied, “I can tell you’re pretty damn proud of however long you’ve been out here surviving, so I don’t reckon you’re about to do something quite so stupid”.

  “Why is it that you seem to think you know me so well old man?”, Jennifer asked, now slightly agitated by the seemingly all-knowing wisdom of the hooded figure in front.

  “Because I’m you”, John laughed, “Just a couple decades further on”.

  With that, one final change in dynamic hit the room. John’s all-encompassing confidence had overruled any fake courage Jennifer had been exerting, and had even given Danny the strength he needed to stop whimpering and tense his previously rigid shoulders. Jennifer meanwhile had realised the jig was up – whether or not she really did have one, or possibly two bullets – and so after a few more seconds of contemplation, finally released Danny from her grip.

  “We’ll be outside when you’re ready”, John announced to Jennifer, as he gestured for Danny to accompany him out of the bathroom and back into the main lobby area.

  By this point, Devon had already done a further lap of the building’s innards, and was now on the return leg of his inspection, having reaffirmed that nothing stirred in the immediate area. Looking back towards the bathroom, he saw a figure’s shadow approaching and briefly tensed the grip he held on his pistol, despite knowing that it was more than likely going to be one of his own, and that even if it wasn’t, there remained no real danger anyway.

  “You alright?”, John asked of Danny, the younger man now emerging from the restroom.

  “I’m good”, Danny replied, “Just feel stupid for letting her get me like that”.

  “In a dark room we assumed was empty, it could have happened to anybody”, John reassured him, “I’m just lucky I picked the other door”.

  “We all are”, Danny pointed out, “No way I would have dealt with the situation the same way”.

  “Same here”, Devon concurred, “Now what do we do here?”.

  “What do you mean?”, John asked.

  “Well we need a place for the night”, Devon said, “But I’m not sure how I feel about sharing it with her, not after that stunt she just pulled”.

  “You’d rather send her out and just hope she doesn’t go tell someone we’re here?”, John asked.

  “I thought you said she was alone?”, Devon questioned.

  “I’ve been wrong before”, John pointed out.

  “Well you’re not wrong this time”, confirmed Jennifer’s slightly husky yet still elegant voice, emerging from the bathroom.

  With her hood now dropped back down, the young girl’s face was exposed for everyone to see. Immaculate skin, bright blue eyes and an almost perfectly symmetrical face were just some of the features that now became apparent. The girl could have been an actress, maybe even a model, managing even now to somehow look good despite everything the world had no doubt thrown at her. John had a great deal of admiration for anybody that dealt with the new world in a positive way, but this girl seemed to be taking it to the extreme.

  “I’m alone out here, just the way I like it”, she said, her confidence now returning.

  “Why’s that?”, John asked, knowing that the chances of survival were remarkably higher when in the presence one or two others, or better yet, an entire community.

  “Honestly I haven’t gotten too close to anyone”, Jennifer replied, “But every time I try, I realise pretty quick that they’re either after my supplies, or after me”, she said, in a tone that everyone there was able to translate to mean some fairly grim t
hings.

  “Sorry to hear that”, John said, “The world got a whole lot darker since the end”.

  “It’s always been dark”, she replied, “Just now there’s a lot less brightness”.

  With that, Jennifer dumped her backpack onto the reception desk to her right. Pulling open the drawstrings, she began delving around inside, presumably checking whatever various items she’d accumulated in recent months to make sure they were all there. John imagined that if she’d called this place home for any period of time, their sudden arrival might have prompted her to make a speedy getaway, but at this point, he wasn’t particularly sure of anything.

  “Anyway, I’ll be getting out of your hair”, Jennifer declared, “No offense, but I don’t feel like spending the night in here with a bunch of strangers”.

  “Us neither”, John replied, “Especially not the ones that jump out of bathroom stalls pulling guns on us”, he added.

  “In my defence, you guys came waltzing in here uninvited”, Jennifer smirked.

  John conceded the point with a nod. “Well, we’re not gonna’ be sticking around either”, John said, “We’ll be out at first light”.

  With a further nod of confirmation but no other words spoken, Jennifer grabbed her backpack from the side and threw it back onto her shoulders, and then began heading for the door.

  “You should stay the night too”, John advised, prompting Jennifer to stop in her tracks, “It’s dark out, no place for anybody living to be wandering around, especially not around here”.

  “Thanks for the offer”, Jennifer said, turning to face John to deliver her response, “But like I said, I don’t feel li-“.

  “If we wanted to kill you, we would have done it in the bathroom”, John announced, “It isn’t hard to take someone out when it’s three on one, especially when the one isn’t even armed.

  Jennifer sighed, knowing the point was valid, but still not feeling comfortable with the idea.

  “Take any room you want”, John continued, “Lock it behind you, pick one with a window, whatever you want”.