by Paul Hetzer
Nothing moved in either direction on the road that we could see. I set off at a jog heading east, keeping to the fringe of the forest paralleling the road. Kera fell in behind me, her steps light on the dewy grass.
I’m coming Jeremy, Papa’s coming!
We approached the crossroads of State Route 1 after about a half a mile and stopped amid some ornamental shrubbery planted along the manicured lawn that ran adjacent to the road. We knelt down out of view while I scouted the dark, boxy shapes of what had until just recently been a mark of our civilization.
Directly before us at the corner of the intersection was a chain pharmacy, its doors broken open. A large strip mall sat up on the hill across from us and other shops and buildings were scattered around the road.
I guessed we were about a half a mile to a mile south of the road where we had had to leave the truck. There were groups of infected meandering about the storefronts. Some had lain down to sleep on the warmth of the concrete parking areas and roads. Many had gathered together in small, compact groups.
There were abandoned cars scattered here and there with more bunched up at intersections acting as de facto roadblocks. It would have been tough navigating past them in a vehicle.
We sat crouched down behind the bushes while I tried to decide our next move. My mind was still wrapped in a dazed shock of grief which made it hard for me to concentrate on anything else except the fact that Holly was not there beside me helping me decide what to do next. I knew I had to push the realization of her loss back into some dark compartment of my mind and close that door tightly if I was going to survive long enough to find my son and get him to safety.
A small group of infected pushed out of the broken doors of the pharmacy carrying food items in their hands. They were tearing into the plastic coverings with their teeth to get to the snacks within. It would seem that there was enough base intelligence left in their disease-ridden brains to know where to obtain food and recognize that they couldn’t survive on uncooked meat alone.
The Loonies were mostly quiet except for an occasional growl or string of gibberish that erupted from their mouths. Several that were sleeping were snoring loudly. It was like we were listening to the sounds from some nightmarish human zoo.
I wish I knew how those things could tell us apart from their infected brethren. It had to be more than just the sweet scent that they emitted. I assumed that their different wails and growls were used to alert each other to prey but how did they know who was infected and who wasn’t from a distance? Would they come running to any out-of-the-ordinary disturbance that they saw or heard? I racked these thoughts in my mind as I tried to keep Holly’s memories at bay. I had to think clearly. It would be the only way that I would find my son!
“What are we going to do?” Kera whispered in my ear. I could hear the fear in her voice as she looked out at the infested area.
“How do you think they can tell us from others like them?” I asked instead of answering her.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno, I thought you said they smell us.”
“Maybe up close,” I whispered back. “But at a distance...” I thought back through our encounters. “We are disruptions out of their ordinary, whether by driving a car or shooting a gun, and when they flock to the commotion we always run from them. We may look the same, even though we are as different as chimpanzees are to humans. Maybe they can read our body language, our reactions – sense our fear, so to speak.” I wondered if it was just that they simply congregated to disturbances and when they saw us they sensed we were different, and when we ran, their brains’ base predatory instinct kicked in.
“Maybe we could try just walking up the road slowly and avoid getting too close to any of them. Maybe we wouldn’t rouse them,” I suggested, thinking out loud.
“You’re crazy!” she said a little too loudly. I shushed her and we melted into the bushes even deeper. None of the Loonies seemed to have heard her.
“Get real, Steve!” she whispered loudly, her eyes wide with fear. “If you want to go walking out among them crazy people, you go right ahead. I’ll just stay here and watch them tear you apart. I ain’t suicidal!”
“No, I don’t really want to test that hypothesis here and now, although maybe it’s something we should keep in the back of our mind if we ever find ourselves in a situation where there is no other choice.”
Kera stared at me like I was one of the walking insane.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, we have to get to the truck and resupply at least, and try to meet up with Jeremy and Frank.”
“You lead the way, I’ll follow.” She shrugged, swiping the hair back from her face, then added as an afterthought, “As long as it’s not through them.” She pointed her chin toward the Loonies.
“Kera,” I said looking her in the eyes. “I’m sorry for blaming you. You did what you had to do.”
She managed a smile. “Thank you.”
I stood up and moved in a crouching run along the wood line behind the pharmacy. I looked back to make sure Kera was following. The moon, which had been our ally earlier, now bathed us brightly in its glow, causing us to stand out in stark relief to the darkened woods beside us.
We crept along as fast as we dared, crossing over a large cleared area, which left us feeling very exposed. We skirted around a raised plateau that held a small strip mall and found ourselves looking up an access road past the intersection where we had left the truck.
It was gone.
I was relieved and frightened at the same time. Relieved that Jeremy had probably made it out of here and frightened that I may never find him.
“He wouldn’t have left without leaving me a message,” I stated, scanning the area around the intersection. There were still a lot of Loonies in the area, although most were now asleep.
“What kind of message?” Kera asked
I didn’t answer but motioned her to follow me. We scrambled across a small parking area and dropped down behind a car. I cautiously looked up over its hood. None of the infected had spotted us.
“We have to get over there and look around.” I nodded toward the other side of the intersection past the jumble of stalled cars. “I have to find out where my son is.”
“What if they didn’t have time to leave any message?” She was no longer trying to hold her torn blouse together, and the material still covered her breasts, but just barely. I thought about giving her my tee shirt, except it wasn’t in much better shape.
“Then he wouldn’t have gone far, he would be waiting for us somewhere.”
“We need some ammo,” Kera said. “Would that place have any?” She was pointing up the hill past the highway where a dark sign advertised a large chain sporting goods store.
Good catch, girl, I thought. “Yeah. They would have what we need.”
I sat down with my back against the car, sliding my rifle to my side, and taking Holly’s rifle off altogether to relieve the weight from my aching shoulder.
“Let’s hang out here for a little while until there’s no more of those things walking around. Once they’re all asleep, we’ll try and cross the road.”
She shrugged her shoulders, “Okay.” She sat down beside me, laying the Saiga across her lap.
Her red tennis shoes were stained brown with mud from our trek through the forest, as were her legs from the calves down. I looked at my own pant legs. They were muddy and torn and one of my bootlaces had come undone at some point.
The grief welled up in my stomach again. I missed my wife terribly. I reached down and tied the bootlace tightly, my eyes blurred with tears. I choked back a sob and wiped the tears from my eyes. Now was not the time.
Kera gently gripped my forearm, trying to offer comfort. I forced a smile. “I’m okay,” I whispered hoarsely.
A northwesterly breeze was blowing, bringing with it cooler, drier air. I saw wisps of clouds moving in, forming a hazy shroud around the moon. Soon, darker clouds were crowding in
and the breeze died down. A flash of lightning sparked the sky far off to the west, too far away for us to hear the grumbling thunder. Rain would be welcome. Maybe it could wash me clean in so many ways.
Clouds obscured the moon, and soon raindrops began to patter down around us. I stood and looked over the car. There was no movement among the sleeping groups of Loonies. I slung the spare rifle back over my shoulder.
“We better go now,” I said to Kera. “When the rain starts coming down harder it may wake them up.” Lightning flashed closer now, followed seconds later by the rumbling roll of thunder.
“Are you ready?” Kera nodded her head, the fear back in her eyes.
“Stick close,” I cautioned. I edged around the car and out into the dark intersection, trying to keep abandoned cars in between us and the sleeping creatures.
Lightning lit us up brightly and a peal of thunder echoed down the road, followed by a deluge of cold rain. Several of the Loonies stirred, some scooting closer to others in their group. I picked up my pace, scrambling past the vehicles to get to the other side of the road.
Rain was falling in sheets, soaking me in its chilly embrace. I chanced a quick glance back at Kera. Her dark hair was matted around her face and neck, and she constantly had to pull it back and tuck it behind her ears to keep it out of her eyes. The remains of her blouse were soaked and the swell of her breasts were pushing through the thin material, leaving nothing to the imagination.
Lightning exploded around us, followed instantly by drumrolls of thunder. Streamlets of runoff were racing off the streets into the overflowing gutters. I could see movement all around me as the Loonies woke to the storm. I grabbed Kera’s arm and raced the rest of the way across the street and up the sidewalk to where the truck had left its metallic scratches and paint streaks on the brick wall. Bodies of the infected lay around the perimeter, some bloated with decomposition, others looking freshly killed.
I frantically looked around for any note or sign from my boy, hoping that the storm hadn’t washed away any message.
“See anything?” I called to Kera over the raging clamor of the storm. Lightning flashed and thunder detonated over our heads and her reply was drowned out. Lightning flashed again and I saw the enraged face of an infected man briefly illuminated over her shoulder through the thick rain. I violently shoved her to the sidewalk as I slid the Sig from its holster.
I was blind in the sudden darkness following the flash. I waited with the gun raised to where the Loony had been. Lightning ripped across the sky again, flooding us in its blinding light. We saw each other at the same time. It reached for my weapon, drawing it in to bite my hand. I pulled the trigger and the gun fired right when thunder rumbled around us, masking the gunshot. In the ensuing darkness I felt the Loony drop away.
Kera tugged urgently on my pant leg. “Here!” she cried, pointing down to the sidewalk. When lightning again illuminated the concrete I saw scrawled in my son’s hand with a small jagged chunk of concrete that lay next to it, the barely visible words I was searching for:
‘Gone west. Wait at 4 miles for 2 days. Then meet at farm. ILYB’
A weight lifted off of my shoulders. Good boy! My son was alive. He had been right here were I am standing only a short while ago. I pulled Kera up off the sidewalk and kissed her on her forehead through her wet, matted hair.
“Thank you,” I told her. “Come on, before more of them find us.”
The rain slackened a bit, settling into a steady downpour, and the thunder lagged further behind the pulses of lightning. We walked at a brisk pace up into the parking area of the large strip mall that stretched away at least a half mile in front of us.
Flashes of lightning enabled us to see where we had to go. There were maybe fifty vehicles in the entire expanse of the lot. I was hoping that we would be able to find keys to at least one of them later. The sporting goods store was near the opposite end of the complex. In between, there was what looked like several hundred Loonies, most of them now awake and on their feet due to the storm. The nearest building, a large department store, had its glass doors shattered. I imagined the building was teeming with infected.
We stood at the edge of the lot hiding behind a small tree watching groups of Loonies making their way to the entrance of the store and into the dark, cavernous interior.
Kera sidled up closer to me and I put my arm around her and drew her in, combining our body heat to keep her warm. The entire breadth of the parking lot was clearing of the Loonies as they sought shelter from the rain. We were watching them disappear with each flash of lightning as if with some sort of time stop photography.
“Let’s move,” I said, keeping my arm around Kera. I stepped out onto the wet asphalt and headed in the direction of the sporting goods store, looking around me for any straggling Loonies and feeling the water squishing in my boots with each step.
The rain moderated even more until only a light drizzle was falling. Lightning flashed to the east and west of us, signaling the approach of another heavy storm cell on the heels of the first. The temperature had fallen further with the rain and a slight wind was blowing, chilling our wet bodies even more.
Only a few of the small shops and mid-sized stores that we passed had their doorways breached. We kept a good distance out from them, feeling safer in the wide open area of the parking lot that was still smothered in near total darkness. Only the frequent flashes of lightning illuminated our way.
CHAPTER 14
We cautiously approached the sporting goods store. Its glass front windows were intact, but the entryway door was shattered and open. Blackness as thick as molasses hung like a curtain beyond the doorways, even the lightning offered little illumination into the interior. I took my arm from around Kera and pulled out my handgun, releasing the magazine into my other hand. Three rounds left and one in the chamber.
Not good odds if there were a shitload of them in there. I kept the pistol in my hand and pulled out my flashlight. I looked down at Kera and put my finger to my lips, telling her to keep quiet. We approached the shattered doors. The glass crunching under our feet was loud in the relative quiet between storms. I crossed the threshold and briefly turned on the flashlight. In the fleeting moment that my light sent its beam into the interior, I glimpsed the masses of bodies lying about the floor. Many were using clothes pulled down from the display racks as makeshift bedding. Several stirred restlessly before I flipped the light back off.
I hesitated a moment. Would it be better to forgo the ammo and not enter this death trap? No, we had to have ammo and Kera needed clothing, we wouldn’t survive long with only four rounds left.
I stepped gingerly into the interior of the store, Kera holding the back of my t-shirt as we entered the dark, foreboding space packed with the homicidally insane. The smell was overpowering, like some den of demented souls. The odor was of a sweet, stale sweat mixed with the shit and piss that stained the inside of their clothes or ran down their legs.
We tried to be quiet, even though the soles of our footwear squeaked with every step on the linoleum floor, adding to the squishing noise of my feet in the soaked boots. The snoring of the sleeping Loonies easily drowned out the noise we were making while our steps still sounded loud and out of place to my ears.
I kept flashing my light on to glimpse which route to take through the maze of merchandise. Loonies were sleeping everywhere, in clumps and individually.
Chills coursed through me when we slid by and between them. I breathed a silent sigh of relief when we reached the carpeted aisles, silencing the loud squeaks of our shoes. Kera was breathing heavily behind me, clinging desperately to my shirt in the pitch darkness of the store.
I knew the guns and ammo departments usually occupied the farthest corners of these types of stores and just split the difference and headed for the center of the rear.
The infected thinned out as we stealthily shuffled further back into the darkness until the way seemed clear of them completely. Outside, a new storm ce
ll beat the roof with torrents of rain and thunder rumbled deeply overhead. There was some low growling and rustling behind us as the noise disturbed some of the sleeping Loonies.
I stopped abruptly, causing Kera to nearly push me over with her outstretched hand and arm. I reached out to catch my balance, gun still in my hand, and grabbed for the metal arm of a clothing rack in the darkness. The handgun hit it with a twang and it twisted effortlessly away from me. I fell forward, knocking it noisily to the ground, followed by the thump of my body and Kera’s when we both fell into a pile of clothing. We collectively held our breath, listening for any movement. Some of the snoring paused momentarily, then continued again, joining in with the din of noise filling the large store from the storm outside.
Kera silently rolled off my legs and stood up. I flicked the flashlight on briefly. I was tangled in a jumble of BDU-style camo shirts. I slid one off of its hanger and stood up, shoving the shirt into Kera’s arms and pulling her up beside me. I pocketed my flashlight and took her hand in mine. My eyes were gradually adjusting to the blackness and I was able to make out more and more detail, enough to move without falling over anything, although not enough to determine what exactly we were seeing. I led Kera to the back of the store where gun safes loomed out of the thick darkness. I knew we were in the right department.
We worked our way cautiously over to the right side of the store. I removed my flashlight and turned it on briefly. There against the side wall was a long display case filled with handguns and behind it lining the wall were racks of long guns. I could see boxes of ammunition stacked beneath them.
Steel double doors stood at the terminus of the aisle. Pointing the light to the floor to illuminate us both for a moment I looked back at Kera. She had removed her torn blouse and had donned the hunting shirt. It was several sizes too big for her, reaching down below her shorts like a nightshirt. I nodded to her to make sure she was ready after she finished rolling up her sleeves and she nodded back. I turned off the light and headed toward the gun counter.
