by Michael Blue
"Erlina do you know what could happen to you if you go in there?"
She looked at his lanky body for a moment and looked down at her pigeon toed feet. Looking up at him, she breathed in slightly and exhaled, giving a small nod afterward.
"I could die..."
"Nope."
"No?" she echoed.
"No, you're not going in there, let's go."
Joshua walked to her and began tugging her by her denim jacket. Using her hands, she yanked free.
"Why?" she said, slightly raising her voice.
"It's dangerous. I..." he caught his breath and glanced away for a second, "I could never forgive myself if I let anything happen to you. Okay? Never!" Joshua elaborated.
"We came out here so I could learn how to survive..." she paused as her eyes wondered around for a moment "How do you expect me to learn?" she pointed out.
He glared at her.
"I won't be able to help you in there," He pointed at the garage door, "Besides, there's plenty of other days to learn..."
"You and aunty Pamela said that three weeks ago!" she said, raising her voice again, "And two weeks before that!"
Battle of the cousins, is what it felt like. It was like from those old wild west films where both opponents stood feet away from one another. Joshua just couldn't believe that his eleven year old cousin willing to risk her own safety and humanity for some tools and the probability of finding gas.
Summer
* * *
"Remember what I told you. Stay down at all costs and try not to make too much noise. If anything happens; Be. Quick," Joshua said fixing up her collar and resting his arms on her shoulders. He looked her in the eyes just before pulling her in to give her a hug.
That's right, the older cousin was persuaded by his younger cousin.
"So, how does this sound range thing work again?" Erlina asked just to be sure, "Echo-vacation?"
"Echolocation..." he groaned, "'Echo' plus 'location'."
Joshua sighed and pondered on the best way to explain the way echolocation worked for these monsters. He remembered that she was eleven and there were some explanations she couldn't quite grasp. He looked around and walked a few feet away from her. Looking around he brought up both arms from his sides.
"Okay, so. Imagine I'm a Clicker. My are-um, are how far the sound waves of my clicking travel, right?"
Erlina rested her back on the old, rusted gas dispenser and dug her hand into her bag to chomp on a couple of stale crackers.
"That's pretty wide..." Erlina commented.
Joshua scoffed and slapped his sides as his arms fell,
"Well, I know that, but they aren't really that wide. They're wider," he scratched behind his ear, "We're just pretending they are because I'm trying to figure out how to explain this to you in the simplest way..."
Erlina began snorting by covering her mouth and nose so nothing unfriendly would fly out of it. Her laugh was creepily annoying, as Josh would describe it.
"What?" Joshua questioned.
"I know how it works. It was just funny seeing you do that."
A smirk grew on Joshua's face and he stuck his tongue out at her.
* * *
Erlina took her bow off her shoulder and prepared herself so that her quiver was in an accessible position. Joshua made his way around to the back of the gas station garage and she followed. She glared at the space in the wall and looked at it for a couple of seconds before releasing a large breath. The anxiety was seen all over on both of them. Erlina's hands slightly tingled, and she shook her arms, trying to shake free from the trembling before moving in. She crouched down and got on her knees and slowly crawled through the space. Joshua stood on the outside, feeling his heartbeat accelerate as her body began to disappear through the space. Just as he was about to change his mind and call her back, he paused. A call would gain the Clicker's attention.
Erlina was officially in the premises of a Clicker. She had never been this close to one before, and luckily, there were two automobiles in the garage that could hide her. One was a regular convertible while the other was similar to a minivan. Erlina was closest to the minivan and she crouched, hidden behind it. The Clicker croaked and began to blindly roam the room; therefore Erlina couldn't stay camped in one place. As the clicker neared her she managed to quickly creep away from it without diverting any attention to her little feet. The only thing that startled Erlina was the fact that she could be a goner if this thing got his hands on her. Erlina remembered the first time they encountered one. It was Josh and her aunt. A clicker managed to get a hold of Joshua and he tried kicking it. It did nothing but only make it more aggressive before her aunt put a bullet in its brain. Afterward she began raging on about how he lied on completely reading the manual that the military sent out on those stupid things.
The Clicker, again, walked around the minivan Erlina hid behind. Meanwhile she managed to make her way between the cars, she equipped her her switchblade and walked behind the Clicker to give it deep stab in the neck. Unfortunately, just as she were going to do that, her side knocked a small cart on wheels, causing it to roll and bump into one of the cars. The wrenches and tools fell off the edge of the cart. The numerous bolts and tools clattered all over the floor behind her and she immediately faced the direction of the Clicker and heard its cry. Quickly, she got up and delicately paced to the very corner of the garage on the opposite side.
Joshua, from the outside, heard the noises and began to panic. He was trembling in fear and hyperventilating at this point. Immediately, he placed his stomach on the ground and peaked through the inside. He only saw Erlina's two feet shuffle through the spaces underneath the cars. He knew not to shout because that would only get her into more danger if she happened to answer. Knocking the wall where he laid, the Clickers attention was caught just like he planned.
The best time to attack the creature was now, and it was time to stop hesitating. She pulled out one of her six arrows from her quiver and placed it intact with her bow. Pointing it to the ground, Erlina lifted the bow with her left arm, loaded the arrow with her right and holding the end of it between her index and middle finger. Along with the string, she pulled back the arrow and slightly turned her head to the side, using her right eye as the dominant. Releasing the string, the velocity caused the arrow to quickly twirl and beam through the clicker's cranium within a split second. It yelped just as it fell forward to the ground. After it stopped twitching and croaking, Erlina confirmed to herself that it was dead.
"Killed it," Erlina said gulping after an exhale.
As she normally did, she fixed the glasses upon the bridge of her small nose and walked around, hearing Joshua compliment her through the space in the wall behind her. She turned over to see that the space in the wall had some light shining through Joshua's shadows. She walked over to the Clicker that was on the floor and immediately noticed that she was having an extremely difficult time pulling the arrow out of its head. She went unto one knee and tugged her hardest, eventually getting it out. She reached in her side bag and took out an old hand cloth. Using it, she wiped the blood off the arrow. Erlina could observe that shooting a Clicker with an arrow would make keeping arrows intact a lot harder. She's shot at large birds and other animals, maybe a human was different? But this thing wasn't human.
Placing the arrow back in her quiver, Erlina explored the garage. It looked much larger from the outside. It probably looked small because of all the cluttering. A girl Erlina's age could tell that someone had been camping there, or probably still was. If that was the case, she needed to get out of there quick. She searched all the counter tops that were pretty much dominated by empty plates and mosquitoes. Looking up she found a small red container that was filled with some kind of thick liquid. Erlina didn't know much about cars, but she knew that gas had a thick consistency and there was no time to sit and question it. Just as Erlina took it off the shelf and placed it on the ground, she glanced up for a split second before looking down.
Then she looked back up again. She saw pictures on a thumbtack board with men and families. They looked so happy. Standing up to fully examine the picture she could tell it was before the infection. She couldn't imagine a world where you didn't have to fight for your life each and every day. Continuing back to her task, she managed to lift the gasoline can and walk over to the space she crawled through. She slid it underneath, and immediately, Josh managed to place it in his back pack. It took up enough space, and Josh had to make sure the top was sealed tightly.
After fully zipping his book bag, Erlina safely crawled out, extending her arm and grabbing her quiver and bow from the inside. After placing her quiver back on, and her bow around her shoulder, she was tugged to the ground.
"Stay low..." Joshua said.
Erlina looked up at Josh with the most frightened look.
"I just heard a couple of gunshots. It might be more bandits," he muttered.
"Again? Why have so many been coming here...?" Erlina asked.
"Who knows, but that's why mom, you, and I have to get the hell out of here..."
They were both in the clear for now since they were hidden behind the garage, but they had to slowly creep out and hide along the sidewalks behind the rusted cars. Thankfully, some were still parked along the sidewalks and stacked in the streets, and it made stealth so much easier. Josh had to pick up his speed and he made it across the street that led back to the block where his mother was camping. He checked almost every second to make sure Erlina was planted to his back. Shortly, they stopped to make sure the coast was clear and that they weren't followed. Everything seemed fine; however, going through the front would've been the stupidest idea since you'd practically be in the open. Josh continued to the far right of the houses, which was the furthest side from the entrance. Hopping over the back fence to make his way through the single backyard of the attached houses, he carefully walked behind a large tree and found a ladder that was purposely hidden. Quickly hustling it to the house, he placed it beside the roof top that stood over the back entrance while Erlina kept a look out.
"Come on!" Joshua whispered sharply.
She ran towards him and he placed his hand on her sides to help her climb the ladder quicker. Within a couple of seconds, she was already making her way inside the upstairs window through the small rooftop. Joshua followed after looking out and did the same. Continuously rolling up his sleeves, he used all the strength in his thin, yet built, arms and managed to pull the ladder in through the window with him. Entering the room quite loudly, he let it rest flatly on the floor. Running to the window, he slammed it shut and locked it.
Erlina ran ahead, walked downstairs to glimpse her aunt sleeping in the rocking stair.
"Aunty Pamela!" Erlina called coming down the stairs.
She woke up, slowly regaining focus to what was going on around her and sat up quickly to see what was happening. Joshua ran down quicker, skipping stairs. Once he placed his eyes on her, he examined her face and it wasn't hard to tell that she was asleep.
"Were you sleeping?" he questioned in disbelief.
"No, I wasn't sleeping. I was just-just closing my eyes," she confessed.
"Is there a difference?" He asked quite angered.
She sucked her teeth and stood up, placing her hands in her pockets.
"Did you two get the gas?" she remembered.
"Yeah, but there are some bandits around here..." Joshua added.
"Again?" she said in a fussy tone. She peaked through a space in the planks of wood that boarded up in their window and noticed about four guys coming in their direction.
Immediately, Pamela took her hunting rifle and walked upstairs with it. She was going to kill them if it meant protecting her only family. She learned that over the years of facing this epidemic. She was so religious, and faith was something she always clung unto until that day at the mall. She still kept her bible around though and read it every chance she got.
"Erlina, hide. Joshua, get ready to protect the entrance or fight off anyone who tries to come in."
Joshua nodded, and looked at Erlina. Immediately, she ran into a room that was across the joining room they were standing in. Erlina normally slept in the room, and she stood crouched by the doorway, hidden behind an old pine dresser. She was breathing a little heavy, but not loud enough for something to hear her. Looking through the spaces of the wood nailed to the window, Josh noticed three bandits walking towards the house.
"Stay back!" Joshua shouted.
He slid down with his back facing the wall and he stared at Erlina who looked at him in surprise. Using his hand, he swatted the air, signaling her to stop poking her head out of the doorway before a bullet managed to make it between her eyes. Peaking through the lower space of the window, he saw the first man place his hands up.
"We don't want any trouble!" the first bandit shouted. He was Caucasian with a pretty stocky built. Hell, the two others looked built too. Odds like this frightened Josh. How was a thin young guy like him, along with a young girl and frail woman in her fifties going to hold their own against some extra-large douches?
There was one African American with him, and the other guy was a Caucasian male as well, with a distinctively blond scruff. He was slightly shorter than the first two.
"You know, we were just looking for a place to crash in for the night. We come in peace" the first man spoke, "We have food and clothes in a trunk couple blocks away.
"Well, this place is off limits!" Josh shouted back, "So thanks, but no thanks. Move along!"
The first man continued speaking.
"Look we don't want any tro—" However, he was cut off by the shorter man in the back.
"Gus, stop wasting our damn time! He sounds like a young'n. We could rush in there and shoot that damn kid," he spat.
"You're ruining the plan, T," the Black male spoke.
"Who cares? I bet that little shit was the one that killed our men that was sent a couple weeks ago!" He cussed in an even more vicious tone.
A long pause occurred and Joshua had to peak through the space just to see what they were doing. It was getting dark, and the sun was setting. More of the infected would come out soon, so whatever the situation was between these two, needed to be resolved fast. Unfortunately, that's when they began to take a few steps.
"I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?" Joshua said. Hoping they would stop.
Fortunately, the first man did.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he said standing firmly and crossing his arms.
Joshua paused. Thinking of more ways to stall the trio.
"Are you going to kill me?" Joshua asked.
"You killed my men..."
It was already obvious that this would be a non-negotiable situation.
"They tried to kill u—" He happened to catch himself in time, "They tried to kill me!" Joshua shouted.
Again, the pestering short man of the bunch decided it was his turn to take charge.
"Damn it! Well, were sorry you little punk. We're coming in whether you like it or not! You've given us no choice but to kill you!"
As soon as he took a step forward, a gunshot was heard and his body thumped to the ground just as his blood did. Everyone jumped in surprise...except for Pamela.
* * *
In the bedroom upstairs, Pamela was quickly reloading her hunting rifle by flawlessly placing in a new magazine as her empty bullet shell hit the floor.
"No," she exhaled sharply.
She picked up her rifle after reloading it and placed it back through the small wide space through the window,
"I'm sorry," she said before pulling the trigger.
Summer
* * *
Joshua watched as the two remaining bandits scatter from left to right trying to hide behind the rusted numbers of automobiles. Now they knew he wasn't alone. It was pretty dumb for them to think it in the first place. The more Joshua saw the gun shots; they were missing the men by inches. Shattering car windows or hitti
ng the pavements, they had no place to run.
"This shit is craz-AGH!" the darker man yelled before getting shot right in the side of his head.
His head flew backwards first before the rest of his body flew with him. Before his comrade knew it, the darker man was already drenched in his own blood. The first bandit looked at his partner in complete shock and took a moment or two to remember what dire of a situation he was caught in. He trembled, calling out to him more than once. When he received no response from his friend, he placed his head down to contain him.
Pamela, on the other hand, was keeping a perfect aim. She had a somewhat full magazine and four more magazines to spare and she wasn't going to get all trigger happy for one worthless thief. She made sure that she would've followed him with every move that he made. Strangely, the bandit hadn't moved a muscle yet. Joshua and Pamela couldn't help but wonder why. Did he move without them noticing? Was he shot in the process? With that entering Josh's mind, he quickly took out his handgun from his right side and made sure it was loaded with bullets. There were still some inside, and there wasn't any time to count them. There were about ten that last time he counted, but he couldn't remember if he used any since then. That's when Josh heard more gun shots, and closely placed his gun to his chest to crane his neck upwards through the window.
The bandit made a full, lucky run towards the house. He got shot in the arm by the hunting rifle, but that wasn't going to be enough to stop him. He screamed and roared, charging towards the house with all his might, making it out of Pamela's view. She cursed to herself and slapped her thigh in frustration. The front entrance was too boarded up for it to be an option, but he was heard making his way through the other backyard entrance, climbing over the hood and top of Pamela's car.
