by Pete Thorsen
Though I know he was attacking me and I had no choice in the matter I still have a hard time even believing that I actually killed a man today, self-defense or not it is still unbelievable and just plain wrong. I hope I wake up alive in the morning and can go all day without killing any more people.
Chapter Eight
Well it was a carpeted floor but I can tell you it was not very comfortable at all. I think tonight I will look for a mattress factory to sleep in! Before I leave here this morning I am going to do a more thorough search of this place and look at my map to try to make a good decision about where to walk today. Breakfast will be the last of that sports drink, not quite a feast fit for kings.
The workshop area is full of different tools some of which might come in handy in the future but I will not take any. I am already carrying quite a big load and tools are very heavy. I found the water heater here and filled all my water bottles so my pack is plenty heavy already. I found a couple more cigarette lighters and three books of matches which I did take with me. I also found a box of give-away hats with a company name on them and I took one of those. I was wishing I had a hat yesterday when I was walking and now I have one.
Looking at my map I have decided to continue south on this Highway One to Interstate 287 and then take that west. Of course this plan could change very quickly if I run into any trouble. I left my house-for-the-night and walked the block back to the highway and headed south again.
There were now people walking in both the north and south directions on the highway and I don’t think that any one of them know where to go. Like me they all hoped that they would find someplace safer with food and water I think. I walked on and about mid-morning I stopped, sat at the edge of the highway, and ate one of my candy bars that I washed down with water. I needed the boost that the candy gave me and I still have several of those bars.
Getting back up I continued walking on to the south. Just ahead of me now was a slim young woman with jogging shorts and a small fully stuffed backpack. She was walking about the same speed as me and I stayed behind her for some time. I admit I rather liked the view of her walking ahead of me.
Occasionally she would glance behind her but never stopped, slowed, or sped up any so we stayed about the same distance apart. Awhile later she stopped and spoke to me.
“Are you following me?”
“Yes you could certainly say that. But only because I am going south and so are you, along with about five hundred other people.”
“Could you stop following me please?”
“While I freely admit that I rather like following you because of the view, if you were to stop here for a bit I will keep going and you can follow me if that makes you feel better.”
“Why don’t you walk somewhere else?”
“Because I am walking to highway 287 and when I get there I will be walking somewhere else.”
“I can defend myself you know.”
“I certainly hope you can because it is very dangerous everywhere now and I have no doubt that especially pretty young women will be forced to defend themselves.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I believe you just threatened me.”
“I mean it I will defend myself.”
“That’s nice lady but you already said that. You stay here and defend yourself and I will keep walking. Is that OK with you?”
“Just keep your distance from me.”
“Not a problem. I liked you much better when you weren’t doing any talking.”
I moved to the side and started walking again without a backward glance. The day wore on and again in the afternoon at the entrance ramp for Interstate 287 west, I stopped and moved well to the side to get a modest amount of free room around me before I again ate another candy bar and had more to drink. I sat there for a few minutes just relishing the weight now off my feet before pushing up and moving on again, now traveling west.
After a few more miles I decided to get off the Interstate and get on a regular street so I could be in a place where I could start looking for nice place to sleep for the night. I was just about to leave the highway and go down a ramp when I heard a commotion and a woman’s scream directly behind me and turned around.
“I’m gonna have me some skinny white meat.”
“Leave me alone. I will defend myself if I have to.”
Oh no what is she doing here after all those miles I thought. When I looked sure enough it was the woman with the jogging shorts and bulging backpack. There was a black guy that was standing in front of her and did not look impressed by her declaration of self defense.
“I like ‘em with mo meat on them bones but the time is right and so you skinny white ho will have to do.”
I wanted to walk away down the ramp and put this behind me because it was none of my business and I assumed that it was a scene that was being played out very often across the whole nation right now. But my feet would not go down the ramp and instead they moved me towards the pair.
Closer I saw that the black guy had a knife and he was making sure the woman saw the knife too.
“It’s OK you can fight some ‘cause I like ‘em when they fight me some.”
When I got close the guy heard me and turned in my direction.
“Get otta here Cracker boy iffen you don’t want me to open you up with this knife.”
“Why don’t we save a bunch of trouble and you go pick a different white woman.”
“I done picked this one, Cracker boy. And that stupid knife on a stick don’t worry me none.”
I saw no reason for anymore talk at all. The woman was directly behind him now and thinking for just a second I moved my eyes from the man to look at the woman and then I let a small smile appear and just slightly nodded my head to her (she was not even looking at me). It had the desired effect and the black man spun around to see what the woman was about to do to him and as soon as he started his turn I thrust forward with my spear into his side just below his rib cage about where I thought his kidney ought to be. I yanked the spear out as quickly as I could and immediately thrust back into him again and again.
The man realized too late with the first prick of the knife blade into his body that he had been played for a fool but though he tried to turn again and face me his momentum was wrong and the turn was way too slow. By the time he again faced me I had stabbed him three times and his legs were already starting to get wobbly it looked like to me. I waited just another few seconds and then jabbed one last time into his neck and just stepped back to wait for him to fall.
He stood there for just a moment with a surprised look on his face before he fell to the ground with blood pouring out, mostly from the neck wound. I then looked up at the woman to see her standing there white as a ghost.
“You killed him!”
“Well technically not quite yet but in another moment or two that will likely be a correct statement.”
“You’re an animal. You just killed him.”
“Feel free to call the police ma’am. A minute ago you were the one saying that you would not hesitate to defend yourself.”
“I would never kill anyone. You are an animal.”
“Well I have some breaking news for you ma’am. It is a new and completely different world we now live in. It is kill or be killed and if you choose not to kill I doubt that you will last very long. Whatever. And yes maybe I am more like an animal now but only because that is what it takes to survive in this new world I find myself in.
You can think about why an animal like me came over here and killed this man rather than just walking away and leaving you to your fate at his hands. You have good day and I will be on my way.”
I turned my attention again to the guy on the ground and he did now appear to be dead as no more blood was pumping out like it was just a moment ago. So I knelt down and went through his pockets to see if I would find anything useful. I took another wad of cash and his knife but there was nothing else and I turned to leave.
“Then you robbed him!”
“Trust me; he had no further use for this stuff. Good day ma’am.”
Chapter Nine
Without another thought I started walking down the ramp to the street below. On the street I turned toward where it looked like there were some businesses and continued on my way. Soon there was a strip mall on both sides of street but I kept walking so I could get a little farther from the main highway.
I did not know if that was a better idea or not but I did not think it would hurt anything to get away from the Interstate that was still being used by the horde of people walking. After a couple blocks I really started looking for something that would fill my needs for a place to stop for the night but definitely no sleeping on a floor tonight.
There were businesses all along here and when I saw a Holiday Inn I turned right to it. I went in through the now very familiar smashed door (why was it smashed when they are always unlocked anyway?) and then I went behind the reception counter. I was pulling open every drawer (most were already pulled out from previous looters) when I looked up at a noise and was less than surprised to see the same woman standing there.
“Now who is following whom, ma’am?”
“Can I travel with you?”
“Looks like you have been all day. Why would you want to travel with an animal like me?”
“Maybe I was a little harsh because I was so upset after seeing you kill that man.”
“I assumed you would not like what he had in store for you if I would not have stopped him.”
“Thank you for saving me. I have been terrified everyday but I had to leave my apartment and just started walking away from the City. Do you have any food and water?”
“Just because I helped you once does not mean that I am your keeper. I could maybe help you find some drinking water but for food you’re on your own.”
“I do need water.”
“Yes we all do. You may as well help me try to find some master keys around here. I would think there might be some someplace.”
“Don’t the rooms use card keys?”
“Yes but they must have regular pass keys that will get them in also. Less talk more looking.”
She took the hint and actually started to help me look through drawers and cabinets. One drawer had many of the card keys inside but we both knew they had to be programmed for each room so we left them for now. After just a couple minutes it was plain our search was producing no results.
I moved on looking for a maintenance or employee area. I found a door that said employees only that was not locked and we went inside. At least we went inside after I got out the flashlight that I found last night as the room with no windows was in total darkness.
Inside was obviously an employee lounge/locker room and the lockers were all locked so that was no help to me. We left that room and went into several more and when I found a room that had a bunch of tools I picked out a couple and went back to attack the lockers.
I was able to easily open the lockers and the fifth one had a big key ring with keys on it. Now I tried the keys on a couple of doors that we had found locked and after some trial and error got inside each one.
One was the mechanical room with all the heating and cooling and stuff inside. It also contained the big water heaters. I opened one of the drain valves to show the woman the water.
“This is clean water from the water heaters. It is safe to drink. Fill your water bottles here.”
“My water bottles were empty so I threw them away.”
“Well that was not too smart was it? Come on maybe we can find some bottles and maybe even some food around here.”
I noticed on one wall there was an outlet with a flashlight plugged into it. When I pulled it from the outlet and checked it, it worked so I gave it to the woman.
“Don’t wave this around so it can ever be seen from outside. It would only attract people who we don’t want to visit us.”
She nodded her head and we left the room. A sign in the hallway directed us to the free continental breakfast though I feared we were too late we had to check it out. Now that we each had a flashlight we both opened what cabinet doors were closed looking for food or whatever.
“When searching open your mind to what might now be useful to us. Remember something that had very little value in the past might be a life saver now.”
She again nodded her head and we each pulled a few things out and set on top of the counter. There was a smaller size refrigerator there and I looked in that also. There was a container of orange juice there I thought would likely still be good and she could use the re-sealable container for water either way whether the contents were still good or not.
Together we did find several containers of dry cereal and the questionable orange juice along with things like salt, pepper, and sugar packets and two containers of maple syrup along with those small individual jelly containers. There were also some bowls and some cups and plastic knives, forks, and spoons. I poured a little of the orange juice in a cup and tried it. It tasted fine and I poured some more before handing it to the woman.
I then poured some of the cold cereal into a bowl and commenced eating it dry and washing it down with the orange juice. Seeing this the woman did the same. After we had both ate our fill of the dry cold cereal we each took a container of cereal with us as we continued our searching.
We went up to the second floor and I opened two rooms that were across the hall from each other. I went in one and searched for items of value. There were the small size soaps and such that I would take with (something I had forgotten to bring from my apartment). There was a compact refrigerator and inside were four bottles of water which I set on the counter. I left my packs in the room and let the door lock behind me.
We went and opened two more rooms to get the four bottles of water in each which we put in the first rooms I had opened. Going back down stairs I went into the breakfast room again and grabbed an empty low plastic container and then I opened a couple more ground floor rooms. I found two big plastic pails and took them with and went to the room with the water heaters.
The pails were too high to get under the valve on the water heater but the low container I had brought worked fine. I filled one pail and then handed the extra pail and the low container to the woman.
“I am going to take a sponge bath with this.”
She got a big smile and filled the other pail for herself. While it was still light we explored some more but found very little else that either of us thought we could use. By the time we were done the sun was down and it was getting dark. We carried our pails of water up to our rooms though we could have just used the swimming pool for a big bath tub instead I realized once I saw it.
I took my sponge bath and I had plenty of clean towels to dry off with. I brushed my teeth almost like normal times (I had to use water from one of my water bottles). The bath water was maybe not real clean but I washed my clothes in it anyway and after wringing all the water that I could out of them I hung them on the shower rod to hopefully dry over night. Then I got into bed and I thought to myself that this must be what heaven is like. Lying in that comfortable bed with clean linens and the door securely locked I slept like a baby through the night.
Chapter Ten
In the morning my clothes were dry enough and I put the same ones back on. I had a big breakfast of dry cold cereal and washed it down with water. Then I brushed my teeth again because I could and opened the door and knocked on the woman’s door. She answered the door and said she was just about ready to move out. I told her not to pack her stuff just yet.
“I think I will go to a couple of the nearby stores and see if I can gather any supplies that have not all been looted yet. And it would likely be safer if we appeared to have nothing with us to steal. I think our gear should be safe here with the doors locked.”
“Maybe you’re right. I would like to get a few things if I could from the store.”
So we left al
l of our stuff in the separate rooms and made sure the doors were securely locked before we left. I had seen a Walmart store a block or two away and thought we might as well start there even though it was certainly looted there might be a few things left we could still use. We did take our flashlights with and my spear of course.
“My name is Lee. We might as well know each others name if we are going to travel together.”
“My name is Amy. Can I ask where we are traveling to?”
“I don’t have a clue. I just want to find someplace safe with food and water. But that is a pretty tall order in this new world I think.”
“So what direction would you be headed?”
“I think west. At least at first and then maybe south but I know I want to get farther away from the City first thing. I would always be open for travel suggestions.”
“West sounds fine to me. I have no where to go and no one to find.”
“I’m sure the food is all gone from the stores but there is always a chance we could find something that others have missed.”
There was a hardware store on the way and I turned in and walked through the busted door. I did not know what I was looking for in here but saw no reason not to check it out. There was a few skylights so light was pouring in and the store almost looked like it was open, other than all the stuff lying on the floor everywhere.
When I saw the kid’s wagon up on a high shelf I knew right away that was what I wanted. I managed to get it down and saw that it said it was a Radio Flyer. It had big fat tires and wood sides on the steel wagon bed. This would be so much easier than carrying a heavy pack on my back.
