Meteor

by Brad Knight

  “We need whatever they have, though,” said the other man through his mask. “You stay here if you’re too chicken shit.”

  Brandon and Troy watched the man as he approached the edge of the woods.

  “Now you come on out of there. I saw you go in them woods. Come out and give up what you have and no harm will come to you,” he ordered.

  “No,” Troy answered from the woods. “You get back in that car of yours and we won’t have to fill you full of bullet holes.”

  “Now there’s no need to be that way.” The man pointed his rifle in the direction of Troy’s voice and cocked it.

  The man took a step closer to where they were hiding and Troy fired a warning shot at the tree above the man’s head.

  “That’s close enough,” Troy warned. “The next bullet will be planted in your forehead.”

  The man began to laugh and backed away a few steps. Then, he began to fire several rounds in the direction of Troy’s voice.

  “Duck!” Troy yelled at his son. He didn’t have to tell him twice. The boy was down in the brambles avoiding the shots.

  Once the man was finished, he took another step closer to the two companions. Troy saw his opportunity and he fired a shot at the man’s arm causing him to drop his weapon.

  “AHHHH!” the man yelled.

  “Quickly, grab that weapon!” Troy urged Brandon.

  Brandon ran forward and grabbed up the rifle and pointed it right at the man who was clutching his arm.

  Troy emerged from his hiding spot with his weapon trained on the man.

  “Don’t shoot, you win!” he said.

  “Get back in your car and drive away before I have to take you and your friend out,” Troy said. The man nodded and got back in the car.

  The driver had his weapon pointed at Troy, but both Troy and Brandon had their weapons pointed at the two men.

  “Now, you best be on your way,” Troy told them. “Either you drive off now or we will all be shot full of holes in the next few seconds.”

  The man reluctantly stomped on the gas and the two men sped off into the distance.

  “We need to go another way. I can see now that the road is going to be a dangerous way to go. It’s liable to be full of opportunists willing to kill for whatever they can get their hands on,” Troy said. “ I know of a way through the woods, come on.”

  They took off through the trees and came across a couple of houses on their way to the closest grocery store. They passed a couple of decayed bodies, but didn’t have any more encounters with living people.

  When they emerged from the woods, they saw the grocery store and a gas station. There were a few cars parked here and there, but no sign of anyone moving.

  “Okay, we are going to enter the store. I’ll go first and you cover me from the rear. If you hear or see anyone, immediately drop to the ground and be prepared to fire your weapon,” he said.

  The windows and doors had been smashed. Someone had thrown the waste can that was normally outside right through the front door. Troy stepped carefully through the shattered glass, and Brandon followed closely behind him. Once inside, they saw dust and glass all over the floor, and mostly empty shelves all around them. Towards the back, there were a few items left on the shelf.

  “Come on,” Troy whispered, “let’s make our way towards the back. Then we’ll check the stockroom.” Once they got to the shelf, they were displeased to see that it consisted mostly of cleaning products and detergents. No one is worried about clean houses or clothes in a crisis of that level. Then, Troy heard a noise come from the back room.

  “Quick hide behind this row, someone is back there,” Troy said as they ducked down. “You stay here. I’ll go check it out.”

  Troy held his weapon out in front of him and began to move forward in the dim light. Once inside the entrance of the stock room he began to speak.

  “Whoever is in here, get your hands up!” he said. He looked ahead of him at a man and his teenage daughter who had a large knapsack that they were filling with whatever was left of the canned goods.

  “Don’t shoot!” the man said, as both he and his daughter threw their hands up in the air. Then, Troy realized that he knew the man. It was Dennis Harper who ran the local hardware store.

  “Dennis?” Troy said as he lowered his weapon.

  “Troy, thank god it’s you,” Dennis said in relief.

  “I’m sorry to point my weapon at you, but we have only traveled a short distance from our bunker and we have already been attacked.”

  “I know what you mean, buddy. We got in a shootout at Willow Road with two fellas in a blue Camaro,” he said.

  “That’s the same two that tried to shoot us. I shot him in the arm to make him think better of attacking us,” Troy said.

  “Good for you. Look, I’m willing to share whats left of these goods here.” Dennis gestured at the mostly empty shelves.

  “Only if there’s enough. What do they have left?”

  “Well, there’s some canned vegetables, but no water which is what we really need.”

  “Same here,” said Troy. “I guess we could check the gas station down the road. Have you been there yet?”

  “Not yet, but if you don’t mind, we will go with you.”

  “Sure, we’ll split whatever we find,” Troy said, although he didn’t really like the idea of having to share what they found with another family. All the same, it would be safer to have another person with a weapon traveling with them. They gathered what was left of the canned goods and ventured on down the road to the Exxon station.

  Brandon smiled at Dennis’s daughter, Hannah, and tried to have a conversation with her as they made their way cautiously down the road.

  “Where are you guys holed up?” Brandon asked her.

  “In our basement,” she said. She seemed to want to say only what was necessary. She appeared somewhat shook up by the scene around them.

  “We have a place that my dad built that is state of the art,” Brandon boasted.

  Troy overheard what he was saying and he made a gesture with his hand across his neck to let Brandon know he needed to shut up and not tell too much.

  “Is this your first time venturing out?” Brandon asked her, changing the subject.

  “No, we had to go out for supplies a month or so ago. It was even more dangerous then because there was still some acid rain. If it began to rain, we would have to seek immediate cover. We managed to find a few things, but we came very close to getting burned to death in a storm.”

  “This is our first time venturing out,” Brandon said.

  “Wow you must have really been stocked up,” Hannah said, opening up to him a little bit.

  “For a while. I’m just happy to be out of there for a while, even if we are being shot at and stuff,” Brandon said, making Hannah smile.

  The gas station had cracked open windows and doors as well. A decaying corpse lay right inside the doorway. It looked as if someone had shot this person as they entered the gas station. The main coolers inside the store were completely empty.

  “Let’s check the back room, maybe there’s a stash of bottled water there,” Troy said as Dennis nodded his head.

  Once they got to the back room, they were pleased to see that there was still a case of bottled water sitting by a walk-in cooler. Dennis ran in and stood between he and Troy, then, much to Troy’s surprise, Dennis raised his weapon and pointed it at him before he could get his weapon raised.

  “I’m really sorry about this, Troy, but there ain't enough water here for me to share with you and your boy. We’ll be taking this water and be on our way. We don’t want any trouble,” he said.

  “You do what you think is necessary,” Troy replied calmly. “For the record, I would have shared it with you.”

  “Desperate times call for desperate measures. Don’t get me wrong, I wish you all the best,” Dennis said as he gathered up the precious liquid. “Come on, help me out, Hannah.”

  Han
nah looked at Brandon and Troy with pity in her eyes as she did what her father told her.

  “I’m really sorry about this,” she said to them. Troy and Brandon watched helplessly as they carried the water out of the storeroom. Dennis still had his gun pointed at them as they exited.

  Once Dennis and Hannah were out of the gas station, the blue Camaro was heard coming down the street towards them. As it drove by, the man that had been shot by Troy began to fire at Dennis through the car window. Dennis fired back, but he had already been hit. He fell to the ground clutching his chest.

  “Get the water and run, girl. Get your ass home as quickly as you can,” he said.

  Hannah began to cry as she picked up the water and began to run towards the woods behind the gas station.

  The blue Camaro had come to a stop in the parking lot.

  “After her, she has water!” one of the men said. They both got out of the car and headed into the woods, chasing the teenage girl. Troy and Brandon had come out of the gas station by then, and they saw the men run into the woods.

  “Come on, we have to help her,” Troy said. Brandon nodded his head.

  They ran into the woods just as one of the men grabbed the girl. He was attempting to tear her clothes off as she yelled. The man managed to take off her shirt while the other man laughed.

  “We gonna have us a real good time with you, girl!” the man said, but his fun was soon brought to a close as Troy shot the man right in the back. He fell right to the ground as Hannah gasped in fear. The other man went for his weapon, but Brandon managed to shoot him right in the head. He fell to the ground and did not move again.

  Hannah was crying hysterically. Troy handed her top back, which she promptly put on and sank to the ground beneath a tree. She burst into tears and began to murmur words to herself through her sobs. Brandon came and sat beside, trying to comfort her.

  “Dad,” were the only words she could utter.

  Troy sat down beside her on the side opposite Brandon.

  “I’m so sorry about your father, but you need to come with us now. We can’t stay here for very long,” he said.

  After a few minutes, she gained her composure enough to get to her feet. She followed behind Troy and Brandon as they made their way out of the woods. Hannah began to cry again as they walked past her father’s body. Troy and Brandon carried the water to the Camaro and put it in the back seat. They were pleasantly surprised to find several canned goods and ammunition stored in the back. There were even a few gallon jugs of water in the floorboard.

  “Jackpot!” Brandon said as he got into the passenger side seat. Hannah got in the back.

  “Alright, now we can really cover some ground. We are going further into town. We should try and get as many supplies as we can so we don’t have to do this again for a while,” Troy said.

  “Haven’t we been through enough?” Hannah said as she began to cry again.

  “Hannah, again I am so sorry about your father, but we have to do this. Otherwise, we’ll be out here again trying to scrounge up what’s left of the supplies in just a week or two,” Troy said.

  As they drove along the road, they passed several bodies in various stages of decay. The clouds were still thick and dark above their heads. Once they got into town, they saw more abandoned cars and corpses here and there. Troy pulled up to the Food Rite store and looked at the entrance. Just like the other places, the windows and doors were smashed.

  “Hannah, why don’t you wait here,” Troy said. “I will leave you with a weapon to protect yourself. If someone tries to get in the car, shoot them. If we can’t get to the car because of gunfire, you need to get away, do you understand?” She nodded to indicate that she did.

  “Come on, son,” Troy said as he waved to Brandon. They drew their weapons and entered the darkened grocery store. Much of the shelves had been cleaned out, but they did manage to come across some canned goods that had been left behind. Mostly canned asparagus, artichokes and such. There was even some water left in the back, right next to a rotting corpse that clutched it. A few feet away was another rotting corpse, clutching a gun.

  “Looks like these two got into it over the water supply, but neither party made it out with it,” Troy said. “Come on, let’s load this stuff into the car.”

  Troy and Brandon loaded the items into the trunk of the car until it was as full as it could get.

  Chapter 10

  They closed the doors of the Camaro and prepared to go further into town. Just as Troy was about to pull out of the parking lot, they heard the sound of several cars fast approaching them. Soon, two pick up trucks and one Pontiac Grand Prix pulled up and surrounded the blue Camaro. Troy threw the car in reverse in an attempt to get them out of the situation. He backed right into another car that had been left parked there, jarring all of the passengers inside.

  “Hold on!” Troy threw the Camaro into drive and tried to move through an opening between the vehicles. The other cars pulled right in behind him, and soon they were chasing him down the road.

  “Step on it, dad!” Brandon urged him, as Troy flew down the main road that went through town. The pick up trucks were right on his tail. Soon, one of them caught up to where they were and pulled up beside the blue Camaro. A man in a gas mask began to fire shots.

  “Get down!” Troy shouted. The two children crouched down as low in their seats as they could. Unfortunately, Brandon came up form the floorboards too soon, and one of the shots got him right in the arm.

  “AHH he got me!” Brandon shouted, as Troy came to a dirt track to the left of the main road.

  “Hannah, get this wrapped around his arm!” Troy tore cloth from his own sleeve and handed it to her. She frantically began to wrap his bleeding arm up with the small piece of cloth, while Brandon bit down on his lip to try and take the pain.

  “Hang on!” Troy yelled as the tires of the Camaro began to spin out on the dirt. The trucks were closing in behind. The men were still firing their weapons. Hannah grabbed Brandon’s gun after she finished tying off his arm and began to fire wildly back at them.

  “Go for their tires!”

  She nodded her head at Troy and began to fire at the tire of the truck just behind. The passenger tried to shoot Hannah, but she managed to get back into the window of the car in time. Luckily, one of her shots met its mark and the tire of the truck deflated. The truck came to a stop and the vehicles just behind it rammed into the back.

  Troy laughed in relief as he managed to leave their pursuers behind. The dirt track they were following looped around through the woods, but they managed to follow it back out to another main road.

  “Let’s get back to the bunker. That was close. We need to treat your wound as soon as possible,” Troy said. Brandon was wincing from the pain as Hannah tried her best to comfort him.

  “You’re going to be okay,” she said as she patted him awkwardly on the back. Her touch soothed Brandon as the waves of pain passed through him.

  They managed to get back to the bunker without any further incident. As they approached the entrance, Mary was pleased to see that they were there, but also worried as she saw her son clutching his arm.

  “What happened?” she asked, as the three of them came inside.

  “Who is she?” Cordelia asked, looking at Hannah.

  Troy addressed his wife first. “We ran into some trouble. First, these guys in a blue Camaro came after us. We managed to shoot them in self defense and got inside of their car. Once we did that, more people came after us, and that’s when Brandon got shot in his arm. This is Hannah, it’s Dennis Harper’s daughter. He didn’t make it unfortunately.”

  “Hi Hannah,” Mary said.

  Cordelia smiled at Hannah. “Hi.”

  Hannah was tall and had blonde hair. She was a little older than Cordelia, but only by about a year.

  “Nice to meet you. I’m sorry to be a burden,” Hannah said politely.

  “Oh no, think nothing of it,” Mary replied with a smile. �
�Come on in and make yourself comfortable.”

  “Come on, I’ll show you our room,” Cordelia said, anxious to have a girlfriend to talk to about things. Once the two girls were out of sight, Mary turned to Troy.

  “Why are we taking someone in? I thought you said it would be too much of a drain on our supplies.”

  “I know, honey, but we couldn’t leave her there. She watched her own father get gunned down, and they would have raped her if we hadn’t helped her out. There are so many people out there just trying to get whatever they can without a shred of humanity left,” he said.

  Mary got out the first aid kit and began to dress Brandon’s wound. The shot had entered deep into his arm muscle and he winced again from the pain as she took the blood-soaked shirt off of his arm and put peroxide on the wound.

  “AHHHH!” he screamed out in agony as the liquid bubbled up in the wound. Fresh blood began to seep out.

  “We have to get a bandage on that, quickly,” she said. She cut off some gauze and soon had it wrapped around his arm. Blood quickly soaked the wrap. Mary gave Brandon some pain reliever and he laid down on the couch.

  “You need to get some rest,” she instructed him.

  “What did you get on the supply run?” she asked Troy.

  “We hit the jackpot. We got lots of canned vegetables, water and some ammo as well. Help me get it inside.”

  Mary put on her gas mask and helped her husband carry the supplies into the bunker. Troy pulled the car around to the back so that it would not be seen from the road. The Camaro still had half a tank of gas in it, and he wanted to ensure that they would still have the vehicle for more supply runs in the future.

  “I’m going to have to get more medical supplies for Brandon,” Troy said. “That gunshot is deep, and he is going to need some antibiotics. I hate to say it, but I’m going to have to make a hospital run.”

  “It’s getting dark outside. You should wait and go in the morning,” Mary suggested.

  “I guess you’re right. But I shouldn’t wait any longer than that. We don’t want infection to set in.”

  ***

  That night, Troy slept terribly. A soon as he fell asleep, he dreamed that he and his son were driving down the main road that led through Dickson. As they made their way through, they were astonished to see corpses of people in various stages of decay walking towards them. The numbers of corpses grew and grew until they could no longer drive the car through the city streets.