by Maxey, Phil
Anna looked at him and frowned. “I was talking to her, she would have let us in.”
“Like hell I would!” the girl said, rubbing her arm. Her red shirt was pulled up to her elbows and her gray pants were torn in a number of places. She looked down at the tiled floor. “I guess you gonna kill me now.”
Joel crouched in front of her. “No one’s killing anyone. We’re the good guys.”
Hardin pushed past both of them, walked along the hallway, then disappeared into the room at the end.
The girl followed him with her eyes. “I don’t have much! Just a few bottles of water.” She looked up at Joel and Anna. “I was planning on going into town and finding more in an hour or so, once the sun had fully come up.”
“Where’re your parents?” said Anna.
“Gone.”
Joel offered the shotgun back to the girl. She looked up surprised, but took it. “What’s your name?” he said.
She stood. “Shannon.”
“Well if you don’t mind the company, we’re going into the town as well. Maybe you know some good places to check out?”
Hardin appeared back in the hallway, with an open small bottle of water in his hand, heartily drinking from it. “You got any food, girl?”
A stern look washed over the young girl’s face. She turned away from Hardin, ignoring his request, and looked out into the road. Some of those outside were looking back at her. “Any of you infected? I ain’t spending any time around those with the scourge.”
Anna glanced at Joel, then looked back at Shannon. “No… we’re all fine… I’m a doctor.” She looked at the tears in Shannon’s clothing. “Are you okay? Any run-in with vamps?”
She looked away. “I’m fine.”
Hardin walked back into the kitchen area.
“What about the other homes around here? Any more alive?” said Joel.
“I’ve not seen anyone who wasn’t a vamp for a few weeks.”
“What about vamps?” said Anna. “How many around here?”
“Most are up in Collinsdale. It’s the next town along from Boothe, and where I was heading to. There’s maybe twenty to thirty that come out in the daylight. I dunno if there’s more at night. I don’t go there at night.”
“There’s no places to find supplies in the town we’re in now? Maybe in the houses?”
“I stay away from houses, and there’s only a few stores in Boothe. They were looted during the first days when folks saw what was happening in the cities.”
“Right…” said Joel. “You got a vehicle?”
She nodded.
“How you feel about some of us staying here, while myself and a few others go with you to Collinsdale?”
Shannon looked back to the kitchen and the noise of Hardin looking for food. “Sure.”
CHAPTER TWO
Joel rubbed his arm while looking at the empty parking lots and deserted roads of the small town that would have looked the same, even before the scourge hit.
The sound of Shannon’s pickup was the only noise as they drove through Main street, and Joel and Hardin couldn’t help but feel they were being watched from the dark windows of long forgotten buildings. Flint sat next to Hardin, who kept frowning at the animal next to him.
“Have you always been in Boothe?” said Joel.
“Yeah. Ma and Pa moved here when I was a baby. They had jobs in the city, but wanted to live where there were less people.”
“Well they certainly got that by moving here,” said Hardin. “I’m… well used to be the mayor of a former mining town in Arizona. Maybe you heard of it. Bellweather?”
“Nope.”
“Well it’s gone the same as this place. There’s no escaping the scourge.”
Shannon glanced across at Joel. “Where you start out from? You got city in your eyes.”
Joel smiled. “That obvious, eh? Yeah, I used to live and work in LA”
Single- and double-story homes, surrounded by green and beige farmland slid by. Joel noticed a number of the residences had RVs sitting in their driveways. “You said you stayed away from these homes?”
Shannon’s eyes flicked towards the houses passing by. “I weren’t going to take any chances coming across vamps.”
“That was wise,” said Joel. “But I want to see if we can get any of the RVs running when we pass back this way.”
Churches and gas stations went by, intermingled with trees and more single-story homes.
The road then widened to four lanes and a rail track ran alongside it for a few miles.
“How many times you done this trip?” said Joel.
“Used to travel with Ma once a week before the scourge hit, since then a few times more.”
“And you ain’t seen any people?” said Hardin.
“I saw some vehicles drive through two weeks back. They didn’t stop. Don’t know where they are now. But apart from that, the towns are empty of… normal people.”
“What happened to the local law enforcement?” said Joel.
“Saw them once about a month back. They drove through telling everyone to stay in their homes and stay away from ‘strange looking folks.’ Of course, no one knew what they meant.”
“How did, umm, your folks die?” It was a direct question, but one Joel felt comfortable enough to ask.
“Pa went into Collinsdale about a month back to get supplies. He never came back. Ma took off after him after a few days. That was the last I saw of her.”
“I’m sorry that happened.” Joel could feel the emotions rising in the young driver next to him, and then her anger beat them away.
“Happened to everyone. Nothing special about me.”
“How old are you girl?” said Hardin.
“What’s that got to do with anything.”
“Well whatever your age, your ma and pa would be proud. You are coping well.”
It was the first kind thing Joel had heard Hardin say to anyone, and it took him by surprise.
“I’m twenty.”
Joel knew it was a lie, but didn’t see any point arguing with her.
After thirty minutes of driving, which was broken up only by the occasional church, modern buildings started appearing on both sides of the wide road.
“This is Collinsdale.”
Shannon slowed the truck then weaved around a few abandoned cars.
Multiple rows of modern trucks and cars passed by out front of a showroom, along with motels and restaurants, which advertised their business by loud and bright billboards that lined the road.
Shannon took a right turn into a large and mostly empty parking lot and drove directly across it, ignoring the lines indicating where she should have driven. Ahead, was a large block-like building with ‘Collinsdale super center’ emblazoned across the side of it, in ten-foot-high lettering. “Been coming here for years. It’s still got a lot of good stuff.”
“It wasn’t looted?” said Joel.
“Had better security than most stores around here, so the looters kept away—” Joel heard her heart rate increase then settle before she continued. “—By the time the scourge had swept through, there were no more people to try to loot anyway.”
She drove past the tall closed glass doors and kept on going around the side of the building, eventually stopping near a door which was the only opening in a large wall of red brick.
“Ain’t that locked?”
Shannon pushed her driver’s door open, slinging a backpack over her shoulder, and picked up her shotgun. “I got the key.”
“How’d you get that?” said Joel, getting out.
She walked towards the door. “Boyfriend used to work security here.”
Hardin and Joel, together with Flint, caught up to her just as she turned the key in the lock, and pulled the door back. She immediately flicked on a small flashlight, but Joel could already see the bland bare walls of the corridor they walked into. Shannon pulled the door closed behind them and locked it again.
“You sure th
ere’s no vamps in here?” said Hardin.
“You’re safe, don’t sweat it,” she said, pushing past him and strode down the corridor.
They walked past one closed door with ‘staff room’ printed on a sliver of plastic, until they reached the only other door at the end. Without stopping, she pushed it open and stepped out into seemingly infinite darkness.
“This is the main warehouse, where they keep all the shit.” She waved her flashlight around, revealing a cathedral-sized interior. Columns of shelves twenty feet high expanded to their left and right, most packed with cardboard boxes, some sealed in clear plastic. She pointed the flashlight to the end of one of the aisles. “It says on the signs what’s on the shelves. I’m going to be back here in thirty minutes. If you’re not back I’m leaving. We all straight?”
“Yup,” said Joel.
“You got a light?” she enquired.
He didn’t, but he nodded anyway.
“Right then. Thirty minutes.” She walked away taking the source of light with her, seemingly knowing exactly what she was looking for.
Joel nodded towards a nearby shopping trolley, which was laying on its side. “Let’s grab that.”
They both picked up the trolley. Hardin watched as Shannon’s flashlight became just a twinkle in the distance.
“If you hadn’t realized, I can’t see shit in this dark, unlike you!” A few seconds passed with no response. “Joel? You there?”
A burst of light from a flashlight illuminated Joel’s face.
Hardin jumped back then bent over. “Hell boy, you looking to kill me?”
“Water, food, camping supplies, guns and ammo. In that order,” said Joel, pushing the trolley and looking up at the signs.
Flint ran off into the gloom. Hardin couldn’t help but notice the slight glow that came from the dog’s eyes. “You sure that dog of yours won’t vamp out and eat one of us?”
Joel pushed the trolley into an aisle and started placing large gallon bottles of water into it. “Well, he hasn’t yet. But that’s a good point. I need to get some doggie biscuits.”
Hardin shook his head, and snatched the flashlight from Joel’s hand. “You don’t need it. I’m going to see what else we need.”
Joel shrugged his shoulders and continued pushing the trolley along the aisle. About halfway along, he heard another door open and close in the distance. A human wouldn't have picked up the faint sound of the handle being pulled down and the edge of the wooden door sliding against the frame, but Joel knew that Shannon had left the cavernous space and had gone somewhere else. He took a few more steps forward then stopped. Curiosity was scratching at his mind. He spread his senses further into the darkness and could hear Flint lapping at something not far off and Hardin struggling with something heavy.
Safe.
He turned and sprinted to the end of the aisle, then the hundred yards past the other towering shelving units, until he reached the door he was sure was the one Shannon had passed through. He put his ear to it, but heard nothing on the other side.
He pulled it open.
Stairwell.
In the confined space was a set of stairs that went down under the super structure. Even though he was moving through almost complete blackness, he was able to quickly descend until he reached another door. From the change in temperature, and the dank smell that rose up from the floor, he could tell this was some form of basement. Probably where all the generators and plumbing for the building above were located.
He went to open the door but stopped when he heard talking. Pressing his ear to the cool metal of the door he was able to pick up the tiny vibrations of the sound waves hitting the other side. Shannon was talking to someone, but Joel couldn't hear any response.
“There's seven of them… but… they're too strong, I don't think I can get them down here. And if it goes wrong… What is it?”
Then Joel smelt it, the unmistakable odor of blood seeping through the gaps around the door.
There’s a vamp in there.
He pulled the door open and was presented with a low ceiling and large pipes. It took him a few seconds to navigate between them until he came out to a wider area and Shannon standing in front of him. Against the wall to her right was a vamp, dressed in a security officers uniform.
Shannon swung her shotgun towards Joel, while the vamp growled, pulling against the chains holding him to the nearby pipe.
Joel held his hands up. “This used to be your boyfriend?”
“He still is!”
Joel couldn’t hide his sigh. The distorted serpentine face and black eyes twitched and shifted its gaze between both of them.
“It’s not the person you knew…”
“He’s fine. I get him the blood and he stays here. There’s no problem unless you make one!” Joel was acutely aware of the double barrels waving in his direction.
“He’s dangerous! Given the chance, he will—”
The growling from the restrained creature gradually changed to a cackling laugh. Even Shannon looked at it in surprise.
“He… like… me… but… not…” said the vamp who lifted its head and grinned.
Shannon looked confused. “What you mean, he’s like you?”
“Vamp…” The word squeezed out between the things large canine teeth. All the time he pulled forward against the metal links that kept him from moving any further.
Shannon looked between the thing she still thought of as her boyfriend and Joel. “He’s infected?”
“No!” screeched the vamp to Shannon. “He vamp!”
Shannon’s head whipped back to Joel and she raised the gun to his head. “You a vamp too?”
Various options ran through Joel’s brain, none of them he wanted to speak out loud. “Yeah, but I’m not like him, or any of the others. I’m different.”
More witchlike laughter came from the chained vamp. “Yessss… valuable… coveted…”
Joel looked at the former security guard, his blue shirt now covered in black patches. “What you mean valuable?” Joel was beginning to expect strange conversations with vamps, but this time he wanted answers. He stepped towards the vamp, but Shannon’s shotgun waved and he stopped. “Talk! What the hell do you mean?”
The vamp strained forward, his shoulder and joints cracking. “You are the key… he will find you—” The vamps head fell to one side. “—And make you his.”
Joel moved forward once again to grab the creature, when a deafening clatter of gunfire filled the small space and flickers and sparks of light bounced off the wall. Shannon’s boyfriend’s chest exploded in a spray of blood and he fell backwards against the wall.
“No!” shouted Shannon. She took one step towards the dead vamp, then rage covered her face and her finger began to tighten on the trigger, but it was too late. In a blur, Joel grabbed the barrels and wrenched the gun from her hand. A flash of hate washed past her eyes, then she ran forward and tried plugging the holes that covered the vamps chest.
Joel looked behind at Hardin holding a semi-automatic rifle in his hand.
Shannon fell to her knees and sobbed.
*****
Bill stood in the dining area of Shannon’s home with a number of electrical cables in his hands. “Will these do?” he said to Anna.
She walked to him, took a thick white lead, gripped it in both hands and pulled, it immediately began to stretch then snapped.
“Wow, you’re really strong…” said Evan, sitting in a wooden kitchen chair.
Bill frowned at him. “This is not a joke!”
Evan looked down and sighed. “I know.”
Anna took the rest of the cables from Bill. “I’ll start with these, but see if you can find any chains. And be quick, we’ve only got maybe an hour or more before they return, and we need to get this done before the girl comes back.” He went to walk away when she started talking again. “What about the other thing?”
He shook his head.
“We’ll take care of it afte
rwards.”
He left the way he came in.
“You sure it’s a good idea doing both of us at the same time?” said Marina seated in a similar chair next to Evan. Jess was knelt at her feet, her arm wrapped around her mother’s leg.
Anna started to tie Evan’s feet together. “The sooner we do it the better—”
Evan grimaced as Anna pulled the lead tight. “Oww.”
Ignoring his pain she continued. “—As long as we can securely bind both of you, then it should be fine. You’ll just need a few minutes to adjust to the urges, then it should be okay.”
Marina stroked her daughter’s hair. “It’ll be okay, Jess. This is the right thing to do.”
Jess looked up at her mother. “Will you become a vampire?”
Marina wasn’t sure how to respond. “Umm… I will always be your mother. Nothing will change that, Jess. But I have to do this, so I can protect you. Okay?”
Jess nodded and hugged Marina’s leg tighter.
Evan’s limbs were now a mass of bound plastic cables.
“How’s that feel?” said Anna to him.
He tried struggling, but hardly moved in his seat. “They’re pretty tight. We’re going to change as soon as you inject us with the blood?”
“I think so, that’s what happened to me. Joel’s blood appears to trigger the change.”
Bill reappeared, this time from the external doors which led to a large backyard. In his hand were long rusty chains, and more electrical cables.
“Good going, Bill. We’ll bind Marina’s legs and arms with the cables first, then use the chains.”
Marina looked across the room to Mary who had been seated in silence on a stool near the kitchen counter. “Can you take Jess—”
Jess threw both arms around her mother’s leg. “No…”
Marina’s face grew stern. “Jess! Stop being a baby! I’ll be fine. Now go with Mary into the other room.” She hated herself for the words and tone which came from her mouth. She nodded to Mary, who got to her feet and walked across to her.
Tears ran down Jess’s face as Mary gently pulled her away.
Marina forced a smile. “I’ll be okay. You’ll see me soon, I promise.”
