“Seems like it, but it looks like they’re following us now,” Doug said.
At least a dozen of the demented people pounded on the windows and siding.
“Boys, they can’t get us in here,” Doug said. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“What about the other guy behind us?” Nikki asked.
“Evan, let’s test your theory,” Doug said.
Doug began to honk and turned on the siren, which got the mob of the undead to become more interested in the SUV instead of Edward’s car. The SUV made it safely through the swarm.
“Ok, that wasn’t at all pleasant,” Doug said with a nervous side-glance.
Evan agreed with a vigorous nod.
Doug turned to get back onto the freeway. He shut off the siren, looked back to make sure Edward was behind him, and saw that the judge was regrettably still there. His instinct said they were making a mistake in bringing the judge along.
Chapter 3: Places to Hide
Sarah’s metallic purple coupe pulled up in front of a quaint two story home on Littlefield Boulevard. The house belonged to Evan and his family. It was a fine house with an enclosed porch and red brick siding. Barrett had bought the house after Evan announced he received the contract from Marvel Comics. On most days, the house was full of life, but today, it had been swathed with death.
“Stay here, baby,” Sarah instructed her young daughter. “I’m going to get Aunt Colleen and the kids.”
“Ok, mommy,” Tracy responded. Sarah popped the trunk and got out of the car. Trying not to attract any of the hideous monsters, she quietly closed her door behind her. The road in both directions was clear and eerily quiet.
She grabbed a tire iron that Mark had left in the trunk in case someone tried to attack her. Sarah stood and studied the house for a minute, wondering why the door was left wide open. She tried calling the house with her cell phone. Hopelessness began to gnaw at her stomach after she failed to reach her sister-in-law.
Sarah slowly moved through the open doorway and gripped the tire iron firmly. Right at the doorway lay a long trail of blood, and dried bloody hand prints covered the doorway. The glass was shattered on the screen door, which itself only hung from its bottom hinge.
The body of an obese man lay on the floor just inside with a large knife lodged deeply into his temple. Within the entrance hall, blood painted just about everything. It was the same in the living room, where Sarah found her four-year-old nephew, Eliot, torn apart on the floor.
Sarah covered her mouth to muffle a scream. Her eyes glistened at the sight of the brutality inflicted on her precious nephew. Sarah was certain she would find the same horror had occurred to Colleen and Emily.
“Be strong, Sarah. Evan needs you to be strong,” she told herself.
Sarah quietly walked up the stairs. The walls and rails were covered with more bloody hand prints and a trail of droplets. She followed the trail of blood to Evan and Colleen's bedroom. She slowly opened the brownish-red streaked door while her heart pounded madly in her ears. Once inside, she saw the most horrifying sight imaginable.
Colleen was kneeling next to an overturned crib and over the body of an infant. She was busily tearing off chunks of the baby’s body and ingesting them. Colleen’s face was covered in a crimson mask. Her normally golden blond hair dripped with blood. Her left arm was savagely crippled. Colleen completely ignored Sarah as she continued to mutilate her own infant daughter. Sarah crept closer to Colleen, who was content to ignore her.
“Oh, Colleen,” Sarah said cautiously. Colleen looked up at Sarah with a blank expression. Her once crystal-blue eyes had turned to a hideous bright yellow. Colleen stood up and reached out toward Sarah, without making a sound.
Sarah drove the tire iron into Colleen’s chest. The wound should have been fatal, but she acted as if she didn’t feel anything. Colleen grabbed Sarah with her good arm. Her grip on Sarah’s arm was strong and painful.
Colleen released a freakish scream. The grainy wail borrowed deep into Sarah’s heart. The thought of Tracy alone motivated Sarah to ram the tire iron into Colleen’s forehead with all of her strength. Colleen’s eyes went wide and her body began to convulse. Sarah let the tire iron go when Colleen’s failing body fell to the ground, or it would have taken her down too. After a few moments, Colleen went still for good.
“Forgive me, Colleen,” Sarah whispered.
She looked down at the butchered infant’s body.
‘Evan, why did this have to happen to your beautiful family?’ Sarah thought.
Not only was Sarah confused, the emotional weight made it impossible for Sarah to remain on her feet. She tried to leave the room, but before she got to the doorway, she fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
Sarah walked out of the blood-soaked house after wrapping the bodies with blankets. She barely held onto the tire iron as she made her way to the trunk. Tracy peered out at Sarah with confusion. There was no sane way of telling her little girl what transpired inside. She had to find a way to tell her daughter that wouldn’t rip the girl’s heart apart.
She wiped off the tire iron, tossed it back into the trunk and slammed it shut. She looked up and down the road to find a few of the monstrosities had begun to filter in. Sarah briefly watched one, an old man, who just stood and looked back at her. He barely moved other than a twitch of an arm or leg. He had no injury that she could see, but he definitely was one of them. He had a gaunt face and his eye sockets were sunken in. He was too far away to see his eyes clearly.
“Mommy, where’s Aunt Colleen? Where are Eliot and Emily?”
“They’re gone, sweetie. They weren’t home,” Sarah answered sullenly. “They won’t be coming with us.”
‘Thank God that was more truth than a lie,’ Sarah thought.
Tracy appeared disappointed, but she believed her mother without asking anything else about them.
“What are you looking at?” Tracy asked.
“That man over there. I’m not sure what he’s doing,” Sarah said. She gestured toward the man with a quick nod of her head.
“He looks like he’s thinking about something,” Tracy replied.
“He does, doesn’t he, Trace.”
Sarah got into the car, and started it. She looked back at the man for a bit longer. She took out her phone and tried calling Evan, with no luck. Sarah slammed her steering wheel with frustration when she heard the message that his voice mail box was full. Tears rolled down Sarah’s face when she reread the most heartbreaking message she would ever write.
It said, ‘I’m sorry, Evan. Colleen and the kids didn’t make it.’
Sarah hit ‘send,’ and she rested her weary head on the steering wheel.
An hour passed before Sarah opened the trunk of her car again and inspected her shameful collection of supplies. There were three bottles of water, some cans of mixed vegetables and other non-perishable food, two bags of clothes for her and Tracy, and lots of room to spare for more. Her eyes also fell on the tire iron that had taken her sister-In-law’s life. She picked it up and attached it to a belt loop.
Sarah had risked going to the Dearborn Walmart, but the drive seemed easier than she anticipated. The store was the closest source of everything she could need. She studied the area in front of the store before she dared to move any closer.
Around her, the popping of gunfire became less frequent, compared to earlier, until there were barely any at all. The realization of what that meant sent a chill down her spine. Humanity was quickly dying.
Her heart pounded as she contemplated how to break into the building. Someone had killed a few of the undead and piled the bodies in the middle of the mostly empty parking lot. In her heart, she hoped the ones responsible were gone.
‘Maybe those people in the pile weren’t even those things. What am I doing?’ she thought to herself.
Sarah knelt down in front of Tracy and gently grabbed both of her arms.
“Hon, we have to go in here and get suppl
ies, like food and water. I need you to help me. We may have to break the law to get this stuff, but if we don’t, we will get hungry and thirsty. We’re also going to get some new clothes and blankets.”
“Where are we going to go, mommy?” Tracy asked.
“I don’t know, baby, but we have to be quiet in here, so pretend that we’re in the library. We don’t know what’s in this place. There could be very bad people or those monsters that will try and hurt us. I need you to stay right by me.”
“I’ll be quiet, mommy,” Tracy promised.
“I know,” Sarah responded. She stood up to take one last look around. Out by the Ford Building, Sarah spotted a few of the monsters were wandering aimlessly. “Alright, sweetie, I think we’re ready.”
She quietly walked to the sliding glass doors and discovered they wouldn’t open.
‘So much for it being a twenty-four hour store,’ she thought.
Sarah peered through the doorway to find the lights were mostly off. She tried to pry open the sliding doors with her fingers, but they refused to move. She then tried with her tire iron, but the door’s lock was soundly set.
“Honey, move back please,” Sarah said.
Tracy backed away from the door, while Sarah took a swing at the second glass pane from the bottom with all of her strength. The glass made a loud pop as it gave in from the impact. Sarah cleared out the glass and helped Tracy through. She climbed in after making sure the area was still clear. Another set of sliding doors stood in front of her, but they slid open when she got close.
“Here, grab a cart, honey,” Sarah pointed to the row of shopping carts right inside.
Sarah rounded a corner when suddenly a man leaped out and slammed Sarah in the stomach with an aluminum baseball bat.
“Craig, No!” another man yelled before the bat had landed.
Sarah groaned when she hit the floor hard and she slid a few feet. She tried desperately to breathe, but it was nearly impossible.
Tracy spread out her arms to shield Sarah with her seven-year-old frame. Standing over the two with an aluminum bat pointed at them was a teenage male wearing a white tank top and khakis.
“Jesus Christ, Craig! What the hell was that?” the other man asked heatedly.
“You said no one comes in,” Craig said emotionlessly with a glare at Sarah.
“I said to threaten them, not kill them. Look! It’s a woman, and she has a kid with her.”
“She looks pretty threatened to me, boss,” yet another man joked as he approached.
“Shut the fuck up, Edgar,” Craig growled at the middle-aged man. “Don’t you have a window to watch?”
“Knock it off, both of you. Edgar, get back to your station,” the second man ordered. He knelt down next to Sarah. “You ok, Ma’am?”
“Are… you his… boss?” Sarah said between gasps.
“I’m afraid so, ma’am,” the manager responded and looked up at Craig with a grimace.
“I’d like… to file a… complaint,” Sarah said with a half-witty, half-pained grin.
“Good to see you have a sense of humor,” the manager said as he stood up and offered her a hand. “The kid means well. Like the rest of us, he’s scared shitless. Can you make it up?”
She nodded, took his hand and allowed him to help her get to her feet while she threw Craig an accusing look.
“You’re fucking lucky… that I’m not pregnant,” she said with her arms wrapped over her stomach.
“Look, lady,” The teen said. “I’m really sorry, but I’m just doing what I am told. How was I supposed to know what you had planned?”
“Craig, you’ve done enough already, let the lady catch her breath. Go see if you can’t find her an ice pack or something,” the manager said.
Craig wandered off, but he looked back at Sarah repeatedly.
“Why did you come here? What did you come for?” the manager asked.
“I need supplies so my daughter and I can make it out there. Water, food, a couple blankets, first aid kits, and a couple flashlights. I could also use a weapon or two,” Sarah said. She pointed to the tire iron in the child seat of her cart. “That’s all I have, other than a weak hand gun in my car, which I don’t even know how to use.”
The manager thought for a second. His decision came easy when he studied Tracy.
“I think we could…” the manager said before a voice came over his radio and cut him off.
“Hey Scott, what should we do about the window that the lady broke?” the voice ask.
“For now just board it up and put the heaviest pallet you can find in front of it. Try some water pallets or system salt,” Scott replied.
“We can use those pallets of salt from lawn and garden,” Edgar replied.
“Good enough!” Scott said before putting his walkie back on his belt.
The manager seemed as if he was at a breaking point. His face appeared exhausted and frustrated.
“As you heard, I’m Scott. What I was going to say was I think we can help you out. But before that, are you two hungry? I don’t know about you two, but my stomach has been growling for a while.”
“I’m Sarah,” Sarah said. “This is my daughter, Tracy.”
A bit later, Sarah, Scott and Tracy sat at a table in the break room finishing the meal Scott had put together for them. Scott had insisted they didn’t talk about the calamity outside until they had finished with their meal.
“Tracy, what do you like to do?” Scott asked.
“I like to draw,” Tracy told him.
“Oh really, me too,” Scott said. “What do you like to draw?”
“I love to draw animals, mostly dogs,” Tracy said enthusiastically.
“That’s wonderful,” Scott said. “Dogs are my favorite kind of pet.”
“Me too,” Tracy said excitedly. “I don’t like cats. They stink up the house when they spray things.”
“Tracy,” Sarah said with a light laugh. “That’s not something we talk about.”
Scott thankfully also laughed, and shrugged off the remark.
“Out of the mouth of babes,” Scott said.
After they were finished, Scott called for Craig to take Tracy to a woman who was willing to watch over the young girl. Stephanie McCauley once worked as a day care provider before she was forced to find a more secure job.
“How old are you, Craig?” Sarah asked.
“Seventeen,” Craig said. “I’m going on eighteen in a couple weeks. I wanted to join the army, but guess I’m not going to now. I’m still going to kill those things when I can. I already killed three of them.”
“Was that you who killed those few in that pile?” Sarah asked.
Craig answered with a vigorous nod and a proud smirk. He took Tracy when Scott gave him a look to leave.
“Sarah, I promise that you and your daughter are safe here,” Scott said, and he then grew a wry smile. “Despite this stores reputation, we’re all pretty good people.”
“Thank you,” Sarah said. “It’s been a really fucked-up day. I had to kill my sister-in-law earlier. She slaughtered my nephew and niece horribly. I can’t get a hold of my husband, my brother-in-law or anyone. I just don’t know what’s going on.”
“She killed…,” Scott started. “I can’t even imagine. Was she one of those things?”
Sarah nodded and her hands began to rattle the table.
“My husband is a police officer, and he’s out there. I haven’t heard from him for a while. My brother-in-law is in Phoenix and I’m sure he’s going nuts with worry about us all up here. I honestly don’t know what to do.”
“I’m not so sure of what to do myself. The whole world really never made sense, but this, and I have a dozen people that don’t know a thing about their families. As I said, they’re scared shitless and at each other’s throats. They don’t want to stay, but they don’t want to leave,” Scott explained, after which he let out a deep breath. “I barely have any living family, so I made the decision to stay here
.”
“You’re their family now, Scott,” Sarah replied.
“So what do we do? Do we stay here? Do we pack it up and find our families or someone to help us? Do we seek out the military?”
“I don’t think the military has the answer,” Sarah pointed out. “Those things are everywhere, and I didn’t see any troops.”
“One fucked up morning,” he muttered. “You don’t have to go back out there alone, you know. This place is built like a fort. Every door has been blocked except the main one. Nothing will get in that we don’t want to. Why don’t you stay with us?”
“That’s truly a kind offer,” Sarah said. “I have to find my husband, or someone who knows where he is.”
“Of course,” Scott said. “Do you know where to look?”
Sarah shook her head.
‘I don’t have a fucking clue where he is,’ Sarah thought. ‘Mark, please call me.’
Sarah saw that Scott was watching her hands, and she realized she had begun wringing them firmly until they were red. She felt the sting suddenly hit her.
“At least let me send someone with you. I’ll let you use my Durango. It’s brand new and one hell of a tough ride. I saved a long time for it.”
“I-I really shouldn’t,” Sarah said.
“Nonsense, Sarah. I insist. Please, for your family,” Scott said with a trusting smile. His look quickly changed to fear. “How could I forget?”
“What’s the matter?”
“If anyone is around Craig, have him find me immediately,” Scott said on his walkie. He then answered Sarah. “He has a little sister at home.”
“She was left alone in this?” Sarah asked with fury in her voice.
“Craig has a baby sitter that watches her,” Scott informed her.
“Someone has to go get her!” Sarah insisted.
“Would you be willing to help with that?” Scott asked. “I have to stay here to keep these people from killing each other.”
“Absolutely, I will,” Sarah said. “I can handle myself. As long as I know my daughter is safe, I can do what I need to do.”
“Craig will be grateful, and I’ll send Robert as well. Rob’s a former marine, so having him get some time out there will give us some experienced people to rely on.”
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