She quickly moved towards the sound of Sam’s voice. She spotted a classroom on the south wall with the door slightly opened. “I’m here Sam.” Angie called towards the cracked door. She walked to the doorway and pushed the door opened. She spotted Sam sitting in the corner of the room. His legs were tucked up to his body and he cradled his knees with his arms. He was clearly upset. “Sam, what’s wrong? What happened?” She asked him.
“I’m sorry Mommy.” Sam said, sobbing in between each word. “I just wanted to explore.”
“It’s okay honey.” Angie said, trying to comfort him. “I’m here now, everything is alright.”
Sam ran to his mother and wrapped her in a big hug.
“I didn’t mean to go too far Mommy.” Sam told her, apologetically. “I was just walking in the hallway.”
“Did you think this was our room?” Angie asked him.
“No.” Sam replied. “I was hiding.”
“Hiding from what, Son?” She asked him.
“The scary man.” Sam said.
Angie gasped. She immediately thought about the shadowy figure she saw moments before.
“It’s okay Sam.” Angie comforted him. “Mommy’s here now, and I won’t let anything happen to you. She pulled Sam close and then headed off to find Jerry.
CHAPTER 29
John was standing on the roof, looking intently to the roof of the building that housed their friends. He still hadn’t seen any sign of the others. It was the next morning after they were split up. John’s group had spent that entire day watching the roof and the zombies below. The horde had thinned out, but John didn’t want to be too hasty in returning to the other building, at least until they had some confirmation that their friends were alive. He couldn’t help but keep replaying the image of the zombies filtering inside the building as they fled in the opposite direction. He feared the worst, but held out some hope that they had survived the breach. John knew that they couldn’t wait too long. They had no food and were almost out of water, and they were extremely low on ammo. All their supplies were sitting in the trucks on the other side of the gate.
The others were sleeping on the floor of the roof while John continued to look for signs of George and the others. He was lost in his thoughts and was concentrating on the roof of the other building, so he didn’t hear Samir approach from behind.
“John.” Samir called as he approached. He could tell that John hadn’t taken note of him, so he was trying to avoid startling him. John turned a nodded a quick greeting to Samir, then turned back to the other roof.
“I am sorry that I have gotten you all into this mess.” Samir said. “You did not have to come for me.”
“I had no choice.” John replied. “I couldn’t leave you here to die.”
“I thank you again John.” Samir said. “You are a good man.”
“Can you tell me what happened here Samir?” John asked him.
“It was our duty to be here, to operate this checkpoint.” Samir began. “Many of us had families in other parts of Afghanistan. My family is in Herat, at least I hope so, but I refused to abandon my duty in Afghanistan’s time of greatest need. Many of us shared that sentiment, many more did not.” Samir continued. “We tried to help the villagers across from the base. We were doing patrols over there, but too many got sick. There were sick here within the base as well. Soon the village was overrun and we had to fall back inside the walls. The gate was closed and blocked. Those inside that were sick turned into monsters, others were attacked when they turned, some were devoured alive. It didn’t take long for it to spread throughout the base, all hope was lost.” Samir was visibly upset and had to pause for a moment.
“My friend and I, his name was Malik, we retreated inside the building where you found me.” Samir continued. “I don’t know if you noticed the body on the roof of the other building, but that was Malik. The building was our headquarters before the turn, we believed we would be safe there. We were the only ones to make it to that building, and lucky for us, it was empty. We saw other people in other parts of the base from the roof, for a time at least, but after a short period of time, we saw no one, no one alive at least. Malik and I were alone for all we could tell, the last men standing. We had very little food and water, and Malik was wounded. He was bitten by one of the monsters during our retreat. I treated the wound as best I could with the limited supplies we had, but he got worse. He started to get sick with fever. He died in front of my eyes three days after we had fled from the ungodly creatures out there. It was two weeks ago when he perished from his wound.” Samir paused again. John just remained quiet and let Samir collect himself before continuing his tale.
“I wrapped Malik’s body in sheets.” Samir went on. “Not long after, his body started to move. He was my friend, I thought maybe I was wrong, that he was still alive. I started to remove the shroud, but as soon as his head was uncovered, I saw my error. He had turned. His eyes were a cloudy whit, like goat’s milk, but staring right at me. He snapped at me like a trapped animal. I was terrified. He thrashed wildly, I thought he would get free of the wrappings. After I was absolutely certain he was one of those things, I stabbed him in the head with my knife, and ended his torment. After several days, I wanted so badly to throw his body off the roof because of the smell, but I could not dishonor him, so I have suffered it all this time. I ran out of food a week before you came and I drank my last sip of water at least two days ago. Then you showed up and I thought I was saved.” Samir was silent after finishing his story.
“I’m sorry you have been alone all this time, and I’m sorry you lost your friend.” John told him.
“It is horrible when you realize you will die alone.” Samir said.
“Samir, what happened to your arm?” John asked him then.
“Oh this?” Samir pointed to the bandage on his right forearm. “It is nothing. I cut it while searching the building for food and water a couple of days ago.”
John noted that Samir seemed nervous when he explained his wound, but he didn’t press. Just then, Shelly and Ed walked up and joined them.
“Any sign of them?” Shelly asked.
“Not yet.” John answered.
“What are we going to do son?” Ed asked. “We can’t wait too long. We didn’t bring any food with us on this rescue mission, and the water in our canteens will run out soon.”
“I want to give them more time to give us a sign that they are alive.” John said. “If we don’t see them by nightfall, we will leave at first light and get back on the road.”
Ed and Shelly solemnly nodded their consent.
***
Damien hadn’t moved from the rooftop door since the day before when he closed it to keep the zombies away. He kept his back firmly against it until he fell asleep in the same spot later that evening. The pounding from the zombies continued for some time, but had eventually subsided, and then stopped all together. He hadn’t spoken a word to Susan since he made it to the roof, but continuously cursed her existence under his breath. She hadn’t talked to him either. She was either too ashamed of her actions or completely indifferent, he couldn’t tell. The sun had come up now and there was no sound coming from the other side of the door. He wanted desperately to go back into the building and search for George, but he feared it was a lost cause, his friend was likely dead, or worse. He decided to search for him anyway, because he knew that George would do whatever it took to find him, if the roles were reversed.
Damien stood up and stepped away from the door for the first time since the day before. His muscles were sore and his legs were cramping. He had his rifle, but no ammo for it, and he had his pistol. He ejected the clip and counted his rounds. He had 13 rounds left. Damien knew the count before he even looked, because he never got the chance to shoot a single round during the events yesterday, thanks to Susan. He wasn’t prepared, but he had no choice, he was determined to go in and look for George. He walked over to Susan, who was still lying on the floor of the roof and nudged her with hi
s toe.
“Leave me alone.” She said.
“Shut up and listen.” Damien snapped at her. “I’m going back inside that building and I’m going to find George. You can come with me, or you can stay here and wallow in your self-pity. I don’t care either way.”
Susan gave her response by sliding her 9mm pistol across the roof floor towards Damien, then turned her head away.
Damien scooped up the pistol. “Fine.” He said. “After I find George, we might come back for you.” He turned and headed straight for the door. He opened the door slowly and peeked inside. All was quiet. Damien stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
It was dark inside, but Damien took a few minutes to adjust his vision. It wasn’t pitch black, all the offices inside had windows, but there in the stairwell that led from the roof to the third floor, it was still hard to see. He descended the stairs as slowly and quietly as he could, listening intently for any movements, besides his own. He reached the third floor and his visibility increased significantly. There was no sign of any zombies, or of George. Damien moved slowly from office to office, searching for any sign of his friend, with a pistol at the ready in each hand. He reached the last office on the floor and found it empty, then moved immediately to the next stairwell that would take him to the second floor of the building.
As soon as Damien reached the next floor, he spotted a form shuffling away from him in the hallway. He knew it was a zombie, and judging from its dress, he knew it wasn’t George. Damien didn’t want to attract more monsters by firing his weapon, if he didn’t have to, so he holstered his primary weapon and slipped Susan’s gun into his belt. He unsheathed his knife and approached the zombie from behind. When he was almost to the monster, he raised his knife up in the air, intent on stabbing it in the brain from behind. When he was about to bring the blade down, the thing turned on him. He was in the middle of his downward thrust, but because the zombie turned, he missed his mark. The knife stabbed into the monster’s shoulder and he lost his grip on it. It was unbothered by the attack and lunged at Damien, with the knife sticking up out of its shoulder. Damien brought his arms up in defense as the thing tried to bite his face. He backpedaled and lost his balance. The zombie came down on top of him and continued its unyielding attack.
The zombie was snapping at Damien’s face while he desperately tried to hold it back with his arms. He had his right forearm under the monster’s neck and batted its hands away from him with his left hand. He tried to reach his gun, but the thing kept grabbing at him with its arms, keeping him constantly on the defensive. The melee went on for several moments until he heard a loud crack, then the zombie went limp and collapsed on top of him. He looked up and saw a ragged looking George standing over him, holding a metal pipe in both hands.
“You’re alive!” Damien said ecstatically.
“Lucky for you.” George replied. He smiled at Damien, happy to see someone else from the group. He rolled the zombie’s corpse off of Damien with his foot and then reached his hand down to help Damien stand up.
“I thought I lost you.” Damien said. “But I had to try and find you.”
“Thanks.” George said. Then he hugged Damien.
“What happened after I left you at the door?” Damien asked him.
“Well, I tried to hold the door a little longer, give you more time to escape.” George explained. “But there were too many of them pushing against it. They practically pushed me over when they broke through, but I managed to get ahead of them to the stairs. I was about half way up and I twisted my ankle. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but I wasn’t going to get eaten because I turned my ankle, how embarrassing would that be?” He shot Damien a wink and a smile, then continued. “I was limping like a broke dick and realized I couldn’t outdistance them. As soon as I reached this floor, I ducked into this office over here and closed the door. I pushed as much shit as I could in front of the door and just hid out. I was worried for you and Susan, well for you anyway, because I heard the whole damn horde walking past the door and down the hall towards the stairs to the third floor. I was scared they would get to you. I’m damn happy to see you breathing though, brother.”
“I’m glad to see you too George.” Damien said with a big smile.
“Well, those things were walking around out in the hall all day yesterday until I fell asleep.” George continued. “When I woke up this morning I was about to come out and try to get to you, but I heard that one there still roaming around. I was about to just say fuck it and come out here and just take it on, but then you came along and distracted it for me. Thanks for that by the way.”
“That was my plan all along.” Damien said. “I knew you were there, I just didn’t want to deprive you of a little justice.
They both laughed.
“Let’s get back to the roof, before Susan does something else stupid to get us killed.” George said.
Damien pulled George’s arm over his shoulder and helped him walk as they made their way back to the roof. Once on top, they closed the door. Susan looked at them both with a shocked look on her face.
“It’s good to see you too Susan.” George said with sarcasm. “Do me a favor and stop doing shit to get us all killed. For all we know, you already sent the others to their death. Have you ever considered that the people you are putting at risk are the same ones that might get you out of this alive?” He asked her angrily.
“I’m sorry.” Susan said with tears rimming her eyes.
“Don’t ever fucking do something like that again,” George said to her, “or I’ll feed you to the fucking zombies myself.”
Susan lowered her head in shame. George and Damien looked at her with disgust and shook their heads, almost simultaneously.
“Have you seen any sign of the others?” George asked Damien.
“No.” Damien answered. “I spent all day yesterday holding this door closed. I fell asleep after the zombies stopped banging on the door. When I woke up this morning, I came to look for you.”
“I understand.” George said. “Let’s look around below, see if we can see them anywhere.”
George and Damien moved to the edge of the roof and looked below for their friends. The zombies had thinned out considerably, but they saw no sign of John and the others. They looked all around the base, and then to the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. After a moment, Damien spotted the others on a roof two buildings to the southwest.
“There.” He announced. George and Damien started waving their arms in the air, but didn’t yell for them. They didn’t want to attract more zombies to the building and allow them to crowd around them once again.
Almost immediately, John spotted them as well and waved back at them. John gestured at them from the other roof with his hands.
“What is he trying to say?” Damien asked.
“He wants us to wait, I guess they are coming to get us.” George replied.
CHAPTER 30
The school bus was heading north the next morning. Jerry was uneasy about leaving Angie back at the school after she told him about the strange figure she saw, and Sam’s run in with some unknown man, most likely the same person. He had asked her to spend the day around the cafeteria, where she would be surrounded by other people, but he still felt worried. After Angie came to him, Derek, Alex, and Roy joined him, and they searched the school, but there was no sign of any strangers in the building. Patty said it was probably one of the teachers that Sam was unfamiliar with and it was all a misunderstanding, but Jerry wasn’t so sure. The whole episode had Angie very upset and Jerry didn’t like that. He was glad that Derek was still at the school to protect his family though. He was determined to search the school some more, when they returned.
Kyle and Hector had done a good job with the bus. There was plenty of space in the back for any supplies they might find and they had three rows of seats in addition to the driver’s seat. Kyle was driving the bus while the others were looking out of the windows for any threats. Alex
was standing in the opened space in the back, watching their rear out of the emergency exit door window. All the sliding windows in the bus were in the down position, to increase their visibility as they drove, but also to combat the scorching summer heat. The route they were taking was clear and they soon came to an intersection that would either take them further north or west towards their targeted destination. The large grocery store that Roy had pointed out the day before was in sight. It was situated just off the right side of the northbound road. The parking lot had quite a few cars in it, but they were clearly abandoned. They saw a few zombies walking around the lot. Jerry thought that was a good sign. He thought that maybe the creatures deterred any looters from going inside, and he also considered that it had only been about a month since everything went bad, he had hope that they would find food there.
Kyle stopped the bus at the intersection and pointed to the store. “Should we take a look inside there before we continue to the hardware store?” He asked.
“No.” Jerry answered. “We don’t know how bad it is inside, and I want to get what we need from that hardware store today. I don’t want to get caught up inside there and we run out of time before nightfall. Maybe we can scout it out on the way back, if everything goes well at the hardware store.”
Kyle nodded and turned left. They travelled west for about two miles and then they saw the signs for the interstate. They hadn’t seen too many of the dead walking around, up to this point, so Jerry was optimistic. This area was pretty much all commercial businesses with no residential areas nearby. The street they were on continued west and ran over top of the interstate, but the turn they needed to take to get to the hardware store was at least a hundred yards before the overpass.
“That FBI building I told you about yesterday is straight ahead to the west, it is right off the side of this street we are on now.” Roy told Jerry. “It is only about two more miles in, but that was a busy street before the apocalypse, who knows how difficult it will be to get there once we cross over the interstate.”
A World Apart (Part 1): 8,000 Miles Page 19
