by Paul Hetzer
We must have crawled at least a block to the next intersection. I could see across the road to the same pharmacy we had been behind yesterday.
“I can hear them!” Kera squealed in terror. She unwound herself and picked up the shotgun, backing away from the pipe we had escaped from.
“Don’t shoot yet!” I warned her when she pointed the shotgun at the drain’s opening. “If there are any of the Loonies up on the street we don’t want to let them know we’re here.”
“We gotta get out of here!” Panic was building again in her voice. Her soaked sweatpants were nearly falling off her hips.
I could hear the scratching of the approaching creatures in the pipe getting closer.
“Come on, you go first. I’ll help you out.”
She slid next to me in the tight quarters and pushed her shotgun and pack through the opening which stood at about her eye level. She grabbed the edge, I lifted her by the waist, and she wiggled through and into the hot sun. I unslung my rifles and pack and handed them through the tight rectangular opening and then pushed my arms through into the comforting daylight and started clawing my way out.
Kera grabbed me by my armpits and tried to help pull me up and out of the small mouth of the storm drain. I was almost there, my butt scraping against the top of the rim as I inched my way onto the hot asphalt. Without warning I felt a powerful hand close around my left calf and snatch me backwards into the dark mouth of the drain.
“Pull, Kera!” I screamed in terror, kicking with my free leg. Clawed hands were digging into the flesh of my legs as they brutally tried to jerk me backwards. I rolled onto my side and jammed my arms against the opening and tried pushing away, fighting with all my strength against the pull of their iron grip.
Kera let go of one arm and a fraction of a second later the sound of the shotgun ripped through the quiet street. She had shoved the barrel in the hole past me and pulled the trigger. It gave me the momentary reprieve I needed to push myself up and out of the confining drain. I scrambled away from the opening as straining hands reached out for me.
“There’s more coming!” Kera cried.
I looked up and saw at least a dozen racing toward us from several directions. I picked up my pack and guns and sprinted across the intersection, dragging Kera by the hand behind me. Halfway across she released my hand.
I looked back over my shoulder in time to see Kera’s legs get tangled up in her wet, drooping sweatpants and she tumbled to the pavement. A Loony threw itself over the trunk of a stalled car and fell onto her back with a loud snarl. Before she could even attempt to fight it off it grabbed a handful of her dark hair and savagely rammed her head into the concrete. Her headlamp took most of the blow and exploded into pieces. She kicked feebly trying to free herself from his greater weight. I rushed back to her, dropping the pack and a rifle.
He pulled up her head and again slammed it down viciously onto the hard pavement. Blood erupted from her nose and mouth. I ran up and used the short rifle as a club and batted it across the temple. It rolled sideways then instantly bounded to its feet, snarling at me. I turned the rifle around and shot it through the forehead.
I glanced down at Kera, who lay unmoving in an expanding puddle of bright red blood. I looked back up at the closing swarm and shouldered my rifle. I sighted in on two more Loonies who were only yards away and closing fast and shot them both. I let the gun fall to my side and knelt down to the girl. A light pain-filled moan escaped her torn lips, she was still alive!
I gathered her up in my arms and ran as fast as I could manage across the intersection, leaving behind our packs, her shotgun and Holly’s rifle. Blood continued to pour from her ravaged face and busted forehead, leaving a clear trail as I ran to escape the pursuing Loonies.
Like déjà vu I found myself heading to the same expanse of woods that we had been in last night. I was at the end of my rope, I didn’t know what else to do or where else to go. I didn’t want this girl to die on me.
I ran through the parking lot of the pharmacy for the woods on the other side. At the last moment I changed my mind and veered off toward the building. If Kera needed medical attention, at least I might be able to find something to help her in there. I prayed that the store would be free of Loonies during the day.
I glanced back over my shoulder as I ran through the broken doors; less than a dozen Loonies were chasing us. I laid Kera down on the trash strewn floor and leaped to a large magazine rack against the side wall by the entrance. I muscled it over across the store’s threshold until it blocked the doors. I spied a heavy looking open-topped case filled with Fourth of July clearance items, and with considerable effort skidded it across the linoleum floor to help block the entryway.
Hopeful that my handiwork would slow, if not stop, the creatures from gaining easy access to the interior, I grabbed Kera by the arms and dragged her deeper into the store, leaving a bright smear of blood trailing after her.
Behind me, fists started banging on the metal rack that blocked the entrance. I dragged Kera to the rear of the store and hefted her over the pharmaceutical counter onto the carpeted floor beyond. I laid her between the rows of shelves that held the prescription medication. Her head and face looked swollen with angry red and purple bruising. The skin of her forehead had broken open in a long bloody gash and her nose and lips were split and puffy. I was thankful she hadn’t lost any teeth.
I pulled off her wet, tangled pants and tossed them aside, leaving her wearing her stained white shorts. The sound of banging from the front of the store was growing louder. I threw a lab coat that was hanging on a rack over her prone body and raced down to the retail floor to gather supplies to treat her.
I didn’t have the skills or knowledge that my wife had, although I had enough first aid experience and knowledge to be dangerous. I began throwing supplies in a hand-basket until I had what I thought I needed. Someone was violently shaking the metal shelving unit blocking the door and I chanced a peek around a display case, however, I could only see shadowed movement on the other side. So far the blockade was holding. I prayed that they would just give up and go away if I kept quiet. My hopes weren’t high.
I ran back to the pharmacy and bolted over the counter with my basket of first aid supplies. I rinsed her wounds with a bottle of sterile saline solution and applied butterfly bandages to hold closed the cut and followed it with a taped covering of sterile gauze. The bleeding had mostly subsided. Her nose was broken, although it didn’t look too badly out of place. I cleaned the blood from around it and put a bandage on the cut across the bridge of it. Her swollen split lip I treated with some topical antibiotic salve and a butterfly bandage. It was the best I could do.
The infected were still trying to get through my improvised barrier up front. Experience had taught me that eventually they would muscle through the blocked door. We were on borrowed time.
As I was pocketing two large bottles of cephalexin and hydrocodone from one of the pharmaceutical shelves Kera weakly called my name. I ran around to where she lay on the ground. Her eyes were open and she was propped up on her elbows.
I knelt down beside her and helped her sit up. She leaned heavily against my chest. “How do you feel?” I asked, pretty sure she was concussed from such a savage blow to the head.
“My head hurts bad.” It came out as ‘My ead urts ba’ due to her busted nose and mouth. She looked around at our surroundings, trying to get her bearings and determine where we were. “I feel a little dizzy.”
“You took a couple of good blows to the head,” I told her. “You’re not going to be winning beauty contests any time soon.”
She tried to smile, but only managed a painful grimace. I was amazed at her fortitude. Most women— and many men— would be crying and screaming in pain with those type of injuries. My estimation of her instantly went up several notches.
She looked around again. “Where are we?”
“Inside that pharmacy we saw. I brought you in here after you were attacke
d. You gave me quite the scare.”
“Is that them banging?”
“Yeah. I put some stuff across the doorway. I don’t know how long it will keep them out.”
I took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes, relieved to see that both pupils were the same size and tracking together.
“We should probably get out of here. Do you think you can manage?”
She nodded stiffly. “I think so. Where’s my gun?”
“I had to leave it out on the street along with one of the rifles and the packs.”
She gingerly touched the bandage on her forehead. “How bad does it look?”
“It looks ugly, but you’ll live,” I said, praying that I was correct. “I found some painkillers and antibiotics in case infection sets in later.” I looked over at the basket that I had dumped everything into. I would need to find something better to carry that all in.
“Can we get our stuff from the street?” Kera asked weakly.
“No. Maybe later.” I laid her back against one of the shelving units. “Wait here for a minute.” She closed her eyes. The heavy swelling around her bruised face looked extremely painful.
I ran down to the main aisles and found a section for school supplies. I grabbed the largest backpack they had and threw some snacks and bottled water into it. A lot of the food from the store had been plundered by the Loonies, thankfully not all of it.
In a metal rack containing a variety of maps and atlases I found a map of Virginia and stuffed it in a back pocket of the pack. Closer to the storefront I peeked out the windows that bordered the doors. There were Loonies out there, but not more than maybe twenty. The ones who had been banging on the metal shelving unit had ceased their efforts to bust through, at least temporarily.
I wondered to myself why they had been so persistent the last place we were holed up and not here. I looked out the window again. The group of infected were gathered under the shade trees that lined the sidewalk, trying to escape the heat of the blazing noon sun. More and more they seemed to be in varying degrees of undress. All were filthy. All were definitely a few fries short of a happy meal.
I walked back to where Kera was propped against the shelving unit. Her eyes were still closed. She opened them and looked up at me when I set the backpack down next to her. I started shoving supplies from the basket into the interior and various pockets.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Not so good.”
I opened up a bottle of Tylenol and gave her three capsules along with a sip from a bottle of water. She washed down the medication, sucking down the entire bottle of water. She didn’t seem to be nauseous, that had to be a good sign.
“That should help your headache. I’ll give you some stronger stuff later. I think you’ll need it.”
She nodded her thanks and laid her head back again.
“What’s the plan, Steve?” she asked wearily.
“Those things are still out front, but there aren’t a lot of them, and they’re not trying to break in at the moment.” I looked back over my shoulder toward the front of the store, then back to the battered girl. “We may as well rest here for a bit until you get some of your strength back.”
The heat was already building in the store. That alone would force our hand. I tore open a bag of peanut butter crackers and offered some to Kera. She shook her head.
“My stomach’s not right yet,” she murmured. Her ‘r’s’ were sounding like ‘w’s’ and I nearly laughed. I managed to keep my composure and instead munched on some of the snacks. “They’ll be here for you later if you want them.”
Her long, dark hair was disheveled and matted with blood and grime. She swiped the mess from her eyes and looked up at me. “Thank you for saving me again.”
“You would have done the same.” I smiled at her. “Just relax for now. Let me know when you feel up to hitting the road.”
I decided to try to find an alternative exit point while she rested. At the back wall was a drive-up window for people to pick up their prescriptions. The small window folded open like those that many burger joints had for picking up food. A mechanical lever opened and closed it. I looked out the open window along the drive-up lane. I couldn’t see any signs of the creatures from my limited view. If we had to, we could squeeze out this window to escape. We’d been doing our fair share of squeezing through tight spaces today.
The place also had a set of stockroom doors set into a corner near the pharmacy. The doors were slightly ajar. I switched on my headlamp and cautiously pushed open the heavy door. The stockroom was dark except for where my light beam chased away blackness. It was a small room compared to the one at the Dicks, and I immediately spotted a loading door that I assumed exited to the rear of the store on the opposite end. I strode over to it and tried it. It was solidly locked and would not offer an opportunity for us to escape through. Our choices were limited to the front entrance or the drive-up window.
Kera was sleeping when I got back. Her face was grotesquely swollen and was a kaleidoscope of black and blue patches. I knew it had to hurt. At least the bleeding had stopped. I sat down beside her and pulled her head onto my lap. She curled up beside me in a deep, peaceful sleep.
The banging started again after about an hour. It went on for about fifteen minutes before stopping. Kera slept fitfully through it. She whimpered occasionally in her sleep from the pain of her wounds.
I laid her head gently on the carpet and walked down to the floor of the store. After a few minutes I found what I was looking for, packages of instant cold packs. I grabbed all that they had plus some of the instant heat pads. They may prove useful at a later time.
I opened a cold pack and activated it, holding the rapidly cooling pack to her battered face. Hopefully it would help with the swelling.
Sometime later my bladder and bowels let me know it was time to visit the little boy’s room. I had seen the small unisex bathroom door up on a side wall of the store by the photo-development section. I slid over the counter to the main floor and walked toward the door, gathering some extra supplies for Kera and me on my way.
After finishing my business (thank God there was still water pressure) I washed up at the small sink with a bar of soap and used a cloth diaper as a washrag. After applying some deodorant I lathered my face with shaving cream from a container that resembled a droid from that old Star Wars flick and shaved my face clean of several days’ worth of growth. That alone made me feel one hundred percent better, but the icing on the cake was brushing my teeth. Oh, the glory of a clean mouth. I felt like I could conquer the world now, or at least not kill it with my breath.
I knew I still stank to high heaven and that Kera was probably as rank as I was, but at least I was able to mitigate the prodigious odors wafting from my body to some extent. Hopefully we would be able to find someplace to bathe and wash our clothes before too long. Deodorant and perfume would only cover up so much before the rancid smells won out.
When I felt that I had restored something of my humanity and was as clean as I could possibly hope to be, I went back to the pharmacy and lay down next to Kera.
I lay there with my eyes open watching her for a while. She was a very attractive girl when her face wasn’t ravaged by raging Loonies. She was exotic looking with her midnight black hair and alert crystalline blue eyes. Here we were, probably some of the last humans on the planet, and I had no interest in her. The hole in my heart from losing Holly was just too big and ragged. I didn’t know if I could ever love another woman again.
My mind turned to the disease that was quickly destroying the human race. Those already infected were beyond saving, their minds so savaged by the virus that they were worse than savage animals. Although for us survivors, there were chances. I knew for certain now that we were not immune to the disease and that the infected remained ‘hot’ well after other diseases would burn themselves out.
I thought about how I might be able to set up a rudimentary lab at the farm and
obtain a horse or two to use to develop a vaccine for the virus, something that would inoculate us against this infection. I think, given time, I could do it. We humans had a long way to go again, but I think we could do it if I could just survive long enough. I wanted my boy to be a part of that possible future.
I closed my eyes and relaxed. My mind drifted to thoughts of my family and the sharp pain of loss that came with it.
I don’t know when I fell asleep, but it was early evening when my eyes cracked open again. I know I had dreamed and that my dreams had been vivid and terrible, involving Holly. Thankfully, they had not embedded themselves within my memory. I shook off the melancholy that tried to insert itself with the waking realization that many of my nightmares were in truth, reality.
Kera was balled up on her side next to me, the oversize shirt making her look like a small child. The cold pack lay on the floor beside her bruised face. I shook her gently awake and was relieved to see her eyes open. She sat up and looked around. The bruising looked like it was subsiding some. Oh, the power of youth!
My clothes felt mostly dry from this morning’s foray into the town’s underground expressway, although it wouldn’t take me long to get them soaked with sweat in this hot, humid air. The air in the store was swelteringly hot.
“How do you feel?” I asked for the third time that day and probably not the last.
“It hurts, but not as bad, kind of just a dull throbbing.”
“Can you stand up?”
She grabbed a shelf and tried to get to her feet. Instead she wobbled sideways like a drunken sailor and I caught her before she fell. It didn’t look like my search for Jeremy would be continuing this evening.
“Okay, okay. Sit down. Don’t try and overexert yourself. Your head will tell you when it’s ready for you to move.”
She looked up with a solemn expression on her bruised face. “I’m sorry, Steve, I know you need to find Jeremy. I don’t want to be holding you back. Maybe you can go find him and leave me here for now?”
