Earth's Survivors: box set

by Wendell Sweet

  Watertown NY: Mike

  A few days of rest had made a huge difference in how he felt and his leg had responded as he had hoped it would. It was still stiff, something was wrong in the knee, maybe, but he could walk and the more he walked the better he felt. He sat in a chair on his front porch now, drinking hot coffee, and watching the snow melt and drip from the trees: Once again it was warming.

  He had found a truck in the parking lot, managed to get it started and driven to his own house on Linden Street. His house had seen better days, but it was still standing. The house itself still leaning, but it was no worse than it had been that first morning when he had awakened to... whatever this was, he thought. He had had a hard time getting around the public square. Sometime in the days that had passed the entire downtown section had sunk and then flooded. Probably as Bob had said, the cave system under the city had collapsed. Either all or partial, it hadn't made much difference to the downtown area, it had crumbled and the water now owned it.

  He had taken Massey street to get around the downtown area, and then cut cross streets to get to Linden. He had seen no one. Not even signs of anyone. Nothing. Bodies, smoke, nothing. Winter had returned and the entire town was covered with snow. He had driven to the top of State street hill and looked out over the city. Dead. No footprints in the snow. Nothing, and that seemed all wrong. There should be people. What had happened to all the ones who had stayed behind? Had they left too? Something else?

  There were no clear answers. He had driven back to Linden street, stopping at a few stores on the way, searching out food and medicines and dug in. There was the old wood stove that he had used to heat the basement. A little work and he had got it going. There was a cord of wood that had been stacked outside the back steps that led down into the basement forever. He couldn't remember how many years. He had rarely used the wood stove after the new heating system he had put in. It heated the basement, there was no need for the wood stove. He had promised himself that someday he would yank it out. There were two guys, had been two guys, he reminded himself, at work who had offered to buy it. He was glad he had never gotten around to it.

  The wood stove had heated the house up fine. He had spent a few hours looking over the house after that.

  It was rough. The foundation was cracked and had dropped about eight inches on one side. The house was leaning, but still solid. Maybe a few years of leaning would take its toll. Maybe the next earthquake, if there was one, but for now it was stable, and that was all he cared about.

  He had taken another dose of antibiotics, along with three aspirin, and had fallen asleep in his own bed and slept for... He didn't know how long, but time didn't really matter a great deal anymore. He had slept a long time. He didn't know how long a period and he didn't care. He only cared that he had awakened with the headache gone, the swelling in his leg lessened, and the redness mostly gone when he redressed the two wounds. He had taken another dose of the antibiotics, skipped the aspirin, and restocked the wood stove before he ate a breakfast of canned meat and toast made on the top of the glowing wood stove.

  He had been sitting here trying to figure out what to do. Something, maybe while he had slept, had worked its way into his brain and it would not leave. What if, his thoughts had asked, What if Candace was not dead? What if she had survived? Wouldn't they have wanted to keep the women alive?

  It troubled him because how could he know it? He had been badly injured, he had looked around, but right now, in the clear light of a day removed by several days of rest he couldn't be sure what he had done. What he had looked at. How well he had searched. Whether she was there, gone, dead, alive. There was no way to know, except... Well, except to go back and find out, his mind supplied.

  He sat there sipping at the hot coffee looking for reasons to ignore the thought that had just seemed to drop in on him, but he could not. He had to go back. He had to be sure. And it wasn't just about Candace, maybe she was gone, maybe she wasn't, but what about the others? Could he really have been the only survivor? Had it been their plan to kill them all or were they looking to take the men out so they could get to the women? That seemed more logical. And yes, there were bones, he remembered, blackened and burned by the fire. And body parts. He could see them vaguely in his mind, but he saw no faces. He saw nothing that convinced him they were all dead, in fact the longer he thought it out the clearer it became that they had to be alive. At least some of them. He had most likely survived because he had appeared dead. He must have appeared dead. Hell, he had been halfway to dead.

  He sighed, leaned forward, and the legs of the chair came back down to the floorboards of the porch. There was nothing for it and no reason to put it off. There was nothing here. This town was dead. Dead as dog shit, as they used to say. He had to leave anyway and he had no intention of heading east so west it would be. And Rochester was west anyway.

  It could get him killed.

  “It could get you killed,” he said aloud. And it could, he agreed, but that made no difference either. He stood, drained the cup and set it down empty on the rail. A half hour later he was winding through the stalled traffic of Arsenal street; heading out route 3 for Rochester.

  Somewhere in Kentucky: Billy and Beth

  Beth awoke long before Billy, and now sat outside the small tent, watching the last rays of light fade from the sky. It seemed to seep slowly away, and darken the sky above the pines. The wind kicked up briefly, blowing the dead leaves across the ground. They scratched and rattled as they went, making her think of small skeletons rattling in the wind. She felt afraid, and had since she had awakened earlier. She couldn't explain it to herself. She had been tempted to awaken Billy, but had decided after twice starting to do so, to wait until he awoke on his own.

  She could tell now though, by the change in his breathing, that he would soon awaken, and she walked to the small fire she had built earlier to start some coffee brewing. She placed the small tin pot on the coals next to the fire.

  She was sitting by the fire wondering how to approach the subject of what next, when Billy rolled out of the tent. She turned around to face him, and she saw the sadness etched into his face. He's worried too, she thought, and before she could complete the thought he proved her right.

  They had been undecided for a short time after they had found the highway arcing down into the water somewhere inside what had been the border of Alabama. They would have to go back, but where? They had been heading south, not an absolute place, but south nonetheless.

  South was now out of the question. The water had stretched away as far as they could see to the south, east, and then arced away forming a new coastline to the west. Far out there seemed to be land, but it could have just been an illusion. The water wasn't deep, a few inches, and it looked like it stayed shallow for a vast distance, but neither of them had wanted to see how vast. Billy wasn't sure the truck could drive into the water and not sink into the sandy bottom, and where would they go?

  They had starting backtracking the next day

  Beth poured coffee in the small tin cups for both of them before she spoke. "Where are you thinking?”

  They had backtracked all the way into Kentucky. Stopping last night at what they assumed was the Ohio river, too tired to decide what was next.

  He shrugged his shoulders as he responded. “I think we can start heading for the East coast. What do you think?”

  “I guess so, I... I don't know. It certainly can't hurt, and where else would we go?” she stared into the fire as she spoke. “I think we should be a lot more careful though. I get the feeling that those people we ran into aren't the only ones around who would just as soon kill us, and I'm not kidding myself about it, I think it was pretty clear. They didn't want to talk, or even to just take us prisoner or something, they wanted to outright kill us. No sense pretending about that.” She paused.

  “I mean, I really thought there, for a second, that they were just scared or something, or maybe saw me and... Well, you know, but that w
asn't it.”

  When she finished he nodded silently, and then sipped from the cup before he spoke. “You're right, I just didn't want to think about it. Hell, I couldn't think about much of anything except getting as far away as possible, and I kept thinking about the truck too. Did they do that before they tried to kill us, after, or was it someone else? There's no real way to tell I guess, but even if they were alone I'm not kidding myself that there won't be others just like them. We do have to be careful,” he paused, thinking. “In fact I think we need to get off the main road from now on. These parks, rural areas seem better. No people, fewer people anyway. I never thought I would say fewer people was a good thing, but,” he shrugged, “guess I just did. I don't think it's safe... You agree? I mean, there are lots of other roads that parallel the main highway. I guess it just seems like the smart thing to do, and it feels like the right thing to do. What do you think?” he asked.

  “I think you're right. I've been sitting out here thinking about pretty much the same thing for quite a few hours, and you're right, we have to be careful, and you're also right about the main road... It just doesn't seem safe, or the safest way to get anywhere anymore.”

  “Well,” Billy said, “if we're going to take side roads, we're going to have to get another map, and that means we're going to have to go into the next city to get one. I'm not thrilled about that, but we're also going to need to pick up more ammunition too. Either way, we have to follow the highway into the next town down the line. No way around it,” he almost seemed as though he were hoping that she would come up with some alternative as he spoke.

  “No other way,” she said, “so... I guess we better get moving?” She allowed what she had meant to be a statement to rise at the end and turned it into more of a question.

  “No,” Billy said immediately, “no way. It'll be dark soon, and I really don't think that would be a smart move at all. No... I think we should wait it out here tonight, and get on the road early in the morning. We should be able to make the next town without a map. I don't even know what the next place is, but it can't be too far, can it?” he didn't wait for a response; he had asked more of himself than her. “No, I'm pretty sure it won't be far. We've been running into lots of small towns every twenty, thirty miles or so, and most of them at least have gas stations. We should be able to get a map fairly easily. After we do though, that's it. We get off the main road, and stay off it.”

  As darkness closed in, they had both turned quiet. Beth had begun a small dinner over the coals in the fireplace, they had hastily thrown together earlier that morning when they had arrived, and Billy had walked over to the truck and occupied himself with checking the mechanics, making sure that nothing had been damaged the night before as he had driven.

  Several times he had driven over debris in the road, but in his haste to put miles between them, he had ignored it. He had also become convinced during the night as he drove, that they were being followed. He had kept glancing into the mirrors, sure that he would see glowing headlights closing in on them from behind. It had not happened though; the road behind them had remained empty of headlights all night as he had driven.

  He had another thought as he stood looking over the truck. What if they had done something to this truck, he wondered. He knew the thought was irrational, there had to have been over a hundred trucks on that lot, and... How would they have known to choose this one? And if they had, wouldn't something already have happened?

  In spite of how ridiculous it seemed, he checked the truck over anyway. There was one small gouge in the front passenger fenders paint, probably due to some debris flying up and hitting it, but other than that the truck seemed fine, and none the worse for the hurried trip. He pushed it from his mind as he walked away from the truck, and back to the fire.

  Beth was stirring a stew like mixture, to keep it from burning on the hot coals.

  “I think it's ready,” she said as he approached the fire, and squatted down beside her. “Hungry?” she gave him a small spoonful to taste.

  “Oh yeah,” he responded, and rubbed his stomach with one hand to show her it was true. He sat down close to the fire, and turned his thoughts away from the truck.

  Billy tried a tired smile on his face as he took a bowl of the stew. Beth sat down next to him, and they began to eat as the last traces of light seeped from the sky.

  SEVEN

  March 22nd

  New York: Old Towne

  Conner and Katie

  The morning had dawned gray and overcast. By the time breakfast was finished, fat flakes of snow were falling to the ground outside the factory. Within an hour the snow was nearly horizontal and starting to stick to the ground. Everyone had taken some time off from sifting through the pallets to inventory what they held to check the outside conditions. By the time the faint glow began to fade from the gray, announcing nightfall, they had been through everything in the factory and had new lists of what they needed. Even those lists changed several times throughout the evening as they checked with one another and crossed off or added to the things they needed. They ended up with lists that concentrated on warm clothing, coats, gloves, boots and concentrated foods items, if they could find them.

  “Well, things like beef jerky, peanuts, trail mix, nutrition bars. Things you see in the drug store or up by the counters when you check out,” Janna Adams said. She seemed to have taken the task of the lists to heart, made it her grail.

  “No way are we going back to that store on State Street,” Katie said.

  “Not a chance,” Conner echoed.

  “Ditto,” Amy added.

  “No way. Uh, uh,” Aaron threw in.

  “Bad?” James asked.

  “Bad enough… That was when your thing popped off, so I guess you don’t know about it, but somebody did a bunch of people up down there… In the back of the store… The store room,” Aaron said.

  “A lot,” Conner echoed. “Katie was there when it happened... It’s worth going elsewhere, that’s all.”

  James nodded. “Well, we could go back out Arsenal Street. There are several places we could check out there.”

  “I don’t like it,” Katie said. “Yes, they could be anywhere, but that’s where the whole thing happened. That’s where those two were. I talked to Allison. She said that’s where they hang around… forage, so to speak. Living in some old warehouse down there, or they were, but if that’s where they want to be, are likely to be, let’s leave them to it.”

  “Can’t run forever,” Sandy said.

  “Run?” Katie asked. “It’s not running. First of all; it’s prudence. We don’t know shit about those people except what Allison has told us. And I’ll tell you... What she said, if I had known and been there then I would’ve killed them both. The rest of it, the stuff I suspect and Allison won’t talk about, Jesus… Are you kidding yourself that you don’t know, don’t understand it? I saw the way some of these... These...” She stopped, took a deep breath and massaged her neck.

  “You know as well as I know. I don’t want any of us to go down there for any reason.” She broke off, looked down at the ground and then continued in the silence. “Second: We’re not here to fight. We’re leaving. There isn’t a single possession here worth fighting for… maybe dying for. It’s all free, so I ask myself what sort of person would still feel the need to take? To kill? I don’t think they’ll be stupid this time. I think they’ll try to take us from cover. They’ll be afraid. They’ll believe Allison told us things she couldn’t bring herself to tell us. They’ll know we want to kill them. They’ll believe it. I told you I do. How do we fight that? You don’t. No way to fight it. So, it’s not running. It’s asking myself what’s really important. Being smart.” She looked up at the shadowed ceiling of the factory. “Excuse me,” she said after a second. She got up, pushed aside a hanging jumble of blankets and tarps that closed off the factory entrance from the falling snow and stepped out into the twilight.

  Sandy cleared her throat and look
ed down at the stone floor. “It's not about you,” Conner told her.

  Nell wandered over as Conner tugged up the zipper on a heavy jacket and stepped outside.

  Jake spoke into the silence. “That guy… that Death guy. I was watching him. He wasn’t thinking about giving up; he was weighing the odds, sizing us up, wondering who would or wouldn’t shoot. Maybe even who could or couldn’t shoot. He would’ve killed us all if he’d thought he could and still keep himself alive. Once he knew others were coming, that was it. That’s why he laid the rifle down and ran. I don’t want to go back down there. Let them have that whole place,” he said quietly.

  Sandy seemed more than a little put out, but she said nothing at all. Nell went out through the hanging blankets and tarps, and a few seconds later Conner came back through. He stomped his feet on the stone floor, knocking off the snow.

  “It is really coming down,” Conner said. He tried a smile on his face and walked back over to where Amy, Aaron, Dustin and the others were still standing. Sandy had walked away towards the back of the factory.

  ‘She okay?” Amy asked.

  Conner nodded.

  “She’s a problem,” Amy said. Her eyes followed Sandy.

  Conner shrugged. “For whatever reason, they don’t like each other. They just rub each other the wrong way, but it is a problem. I’ll have to do something about it… I just don’t know what. Nell’s talking to her now.”

  “Yeah, well,” Amy said as she stood and tugged her own jacket on. “It can’t work this way.”

  Conner nodded as Amy bent down, pecked Aaron’s cheek and walked out through the hanging barricade herself.

  The silence held for more than a minute.

  “Washington Street,” Conner said at last. Everyone looked at him.

  “When we went to get the trucks, the first one we got to start was in a parking lot across from the old High school. It used to be houses, most of it anyway, now it’s strip malls. There has to be a lot of the stuff we need there. It’s close by.” He turned the last into a question of sorts and Aaron, Dustin, James and Jake all nodded their heads.