by Ned Sahin
I remember Miguel’s advice during weapon training. He said the human startle reflex is about twenty pounds per finger. If I get startled while my finger is on the trigger, I will likely pull it without even thinking about it. I’d rather keep my finger there, though, because I know that a whole town of angry elderly is after us.
There are many short trees and bushes. If someone is watching us, he or she wouldn’t be able to hide long.
A teenager stands up behind the bushes.
“Hi,” He says while stifling a giggle. We look funny in our pajamas.
He is probably younger than fifteen years old. Looking at his dirty clothes and hair, I can tell that he’s been having a hard time surviving.
“Hi.” I lower my shotgun. “What is your name?
“Jason.”
“I am Matt. These are my friends, Toshi and Kathleen.”
They both smile. Jason doesn’t say a word. He looks at each of us from head to toe. I am not sure what he is doing here and why he wanted to approach us.
“What are you doing here, Jason?” I ask with a friendly voice, dropping my guard. Both Kathleen and Toshi relax their shoulders.
“Are you infected?” he asks.
“Would we look like this if we were infected?” I point my empty hand to my face. An infected person shows symptoms right away, such as coughing, sneezing, fatigue, and dark spots under the eyes. Red spots on the face appear in the later stage of the infection.
“Are you vaccinated?” he asks again.
I realize why he is asking these questions. “We lost our masks on the way... Don’t worry, we haven’t come across anybody. We are not infected,” I assure him.
“I saw you have food,” he says. He must be hungry.
“We can share a can with you,” I say. I don’t want to leave him starving here.
Two more teenagers stand up behind the bushes a few yards from each other. They have arrows. I remember the things betrayer prepper partner Leyton told me about archery. The bows these kids are using have at least 50 pounds of draw weight. They appear having a hard time keeping it stretched. If they lose it, it would be deadly for us.
“Easy, guys.” I raise my shotgun while Toshi reaches for the hammer attached to his belt. “We can give you guys a few cans so you make it another day, okay? Then we all go our separate ways,” I say. No matter how threatening the situation looks, I still want to help these kids. I hope they don’t force me to use my shotgun. I also don’t want to be the target of those arrows. I see that both kids are starting to shake as they struggle to keep their bows stretched.
“We have two extra advanced masks if you need them,” Jason says.
It sounds like a peaceful exchange offer.
“But you should give us all the food you have,” he adds. The offer is not very favorable for us anymore, but we really need those masks. He is a good negotiator.
“We will keep some for dinner. The rest is yours,” I say. It’s worth giving most of our stock in exchange for masks. There is no way we would make it to San Francisco without them. Food is easier to find compared to advanced masks.
Jason makes a hand gesture to the other guys. They lower their bows. “Follow us,” Jason says with a smile.
They take us to a half-destroyed building. It looks like a factory that was abandoned decades ago. Jason told us that he was preparing for a nuclear attack for years. He found this abandoned place and used it as a bug-out shelter with two of his friends from school. His parents were always against his prepping hobby, and they didn’t participate in his plans, which caused them to be in the first group of people who died from the second wave.
Despite all the books I read and shows I watched about doomsday preppers, I had never seen a prepper kid, until now. He earns my respect.
He did almost everything right by preparing shelter and stocking food. What he didn’t think about is a lengthy apocalyptic event. His food stock dried up within three months. Since he and his friends didn’t have any renewable source of food, they had to start scavenging.
He gives us the only two extra masks he has in exchange for our canned ravioli. He gifts us some clothes as well. We finally could get rid of these pajamas.
I give one of the masks to Kathleen. I extend the other one to Toshi.
“You use it, man. We need your apocalyptic wisdom,” he says with a smile. It’s not fair, but we have to share two masks in one way or another. I accept his offer.
I look at Jason.
“What is your plan? Sticking around here?” I ask. He juts his chin out in the direction we came from.
“We are planning to go to Weldon Springs. I am sure we can find some houses that haven’t been marauded yet,” he says.
“You will only find trouble there,” Kathleen says. She tells them about the elderly group, but their narrowed eyes tell me that they don’t believe her.
“That’s true. Don’t even get close,” Toshi says, supporting Kathleen’s story.
They turn to each other with raised eyebrows. It looks like these young survivors are still confused.
“Best of luck guys. Stay safe,” I say. It’s time to go. We need to find shelter before it gets dark.
“You too,” Jason says.
It feels good to have a friendly chat with strangers, especially after the nightmare in Weldon Springs.
We are on our way again.
After half an hour of walking, we start looking for a farmhouse or cabin to spend the night. I miss the good old days when we checked a mobile app to book a hotel or hostel. It would be still useful to have a phone and travel app to find the addresses of the accommodations on the way. Even though these are extraordinary times, I still don’t want to break into anybody’s property. Borrowing a hotel room would be more humane.
“Check this out!” Toshi points to a white building about a mile away. From the tower-like shape, it looks like a church. We probably won’t find anything to eat there, but it shouldn’t be a problem until the morning. We have three cans for dinner.
We approach the church cautiously. I don’t hear anything except the chirping crickets. Toshi and I walk toward the church from the left and right sides. Kathleen watches us across the front door.
I try to look through the dusty windows. I can barely see the pew, but I can tell that there is nothing moving inside.
We get together in front of the door. It’s that question again. Knock or not? I decide to enter without a warning this time and reach for the doorknob, but Kathleen stops me.
“Let’s try the civilian way first,” she says and knocks on the door.
“Anybody in here?” she asks. There is no response.
“Shall we, now?” I ask with a sarcastic voice while adjusting my mask.
She nods and swings her hand toward the door. I signal Toshi to open it and step back while pointing the shotgun.
Toshi pushes the door wide open. The dust from the top of the door frame falls to the floor and a heavy mildew smell fills our lungs. We wait for a few seconds before I step in. Toshi follows close behind.
As soon as we enter, a man and woman jump on us.
Chapter 21
The man who jumped on me from the left side of the door is twice my size. I didn’t see him coming. My shotgun slipped from my hands when he pushed me against the opposite side of the door.
I hear the woman growling and running toward Toshi and Kathleen.
I try to stand up to fight, but the man pushes me back onto the floor. He sits on my chest and wraps his hands around my throat. I try to throw him on the side, but he is too heavy.
His eyes are dull, and his face resembles a ghost. There are dark spots under his eyes. He is probably infected, but he doesn’t seem to have characteristics like a Rica. There are no red spots on his skin. And why is he this aggressive? I have never heard the virus messing up with someone’s nerves. It’s actually known to make the immune system weaker and the person slower.
He is either a mutated Rica or is a monster whose desire is to kill strangers for fun. I am not sure what the difference is.
His saliva keeps dripping on my face. He wants to strangle me. I dodge the drops while trying to pull his hands off my neck. I struggle to breathe and start to lose consciousness. His face gets blurry.
His head explodes in pieces as I hear the shotgun fired.
His hands lose power right away. He falls to the side. My lungs start to function again. I take several deep breaths before seeing Kathleen with the shotgun.
The woman is in a hand-combat with Toshi. He has locked her arm from behind, making her almost unable to move. He had learned Krav Maga during his self-defense training in the Saviors camp before I joined them. The woman won’t stand a chance against him.
She throws her other arm backward to Toshi’s face suddenly. I didn’t expect her to move this fast. Toshi loses her arm unintentionally while trying to cover his face.
She runs to the church rows and tries to take cover behind one of them. Her face looks the same as the man’s anemic face, but there are no red spots on her skin either. She is probably in her late 30s.
“Please… Please don’t shoot!” she begs. At least she can talk. She is unlikely to be a Rica.
I glance at Kathleen. I’ve never seen her this angry, not even to Bernice at Weldon Springs. I am grateful that she saved my life, but I am also afraid of her going too far.
“Wait, Kathleen!” I stand up while wiping the man’s saliva on my face with my t-shirt’s sleeve. I walk toward the woman.
“Who are you?” I ask her. She is sobbing. I am confused. They have just tried to kill us, but now she is playing a victim.
Her cry is so intense that she can’t breathe to speak even though she looks like she wants to.
I hear another shot. Kathleen fires the shotgun to the ceiling. The noise reflects around the walls and creates an annoying echo.
“Answer the question!” Kathleen yells.
“They… They took every… thing! We thought they came back,” the woman says as she tries to stop her hiccups.
“Who?” I ask.
“Herington… Rebels.”
“Did they bang on the door when they first came?” Kathleen asks. It’s a logical question, but I don’t think the woman is capable of thinking logically. She seems terrified and devastated. I am pretty sure she is infected. If she is, she has only a day or two left.
The tension on her shoulder and neck seems to be loosening up. As her breathing goes back to normal, she faces the reality of it all. I am not sure how close she was to the man, but as soon as she sees his body, her eyes fill with tears again. She gets up and walks toward him.
“It’s not a good idea,” I say and move between her and his body to block her vision. Seeing him headless would make her devastated even more.
“What the hell!” Toshi screams. He is known as a quiet and calm person. It’s the first time I heard him screaming. His nose is bleeding, and he has bruises on his cheeks, but the pain is not what makes him shout. He looks at the door side. I look there as well.
I let out a blood-curdling scream when I see what is approaching us. At least ten elderly are running toward the church. They seem faster than athletes in the Olympics.
I take the shotgun from Kathleen. I count the extra rounds on the shell sling. There are eight extra rounds. It’s not enough for what is coming. I load the gun with two of them. I hope it’s our lucky day.
“Lock the door!” I tell Toshi. He is still in shock. He finally runs to the door while I go to the window on the right and break it. I aim the shotgun and wait for them to get within the shooting range. Toshi picks up the hammer back from the floor. Kathleen and the woman look around to find anything useful in the upcoming fight.
I can see their faces now. I immediately recognize them… Harold, Bernice, Reed, and most of the restaurant-goers in Weldon Springs. After we blew up their antidepressant stock, Oxyrica must have turned them to Ricas in a short time. I don’t know if they found us because they heard the shotgun while they were wandering around or they were tracking us since our escape.
As soon as they are only a few yards away from us, I shoot one round. It hits one of them in the chest. I take another one down with the second shot. I load the weapon and hit two more. Four of them, including Reed, are on the ground. A few of them try to climb over the window. I step back while reloading. I drop one of the rounds in a hurry. I take another one from the sling.
The window on the other side of the door shatters into tiny pieces. Bernice tries to climb over inside with bloody arms cut by glass. Toshi hits her head with the hammer. She briefly loses her balance, but she holds back on to the window frame despite the dent on her head. Kathleen runs to help Toshi with an iron candle holder. She hesitates for a second when she realizes it’s Bernice, but she makes up her mind quickly and strikes her hands with the sharp edge of the holder.
As they try to stop Bernice from getting inside, a side window on the left wall of the church is broken into and two elderly men jump over it. They run toward the first human they see, which is the infected woman. She freezes for a slight second, then screams in terror.
I leave my position to help her. I fire the shotgun and take one of the elderlies down. I shoot again, but I miss it. It’s a big miss from this close distance. The guy leaps on her and punches her face, growling with hate and anger. While I load my shotgun, Harold and three other elderly males climb over the window that I had left unprotected.
I have to decide between the approaching four Ricas and the one on top of the woman. The decision becomes clear as I look at the woman's face. She is gone. Her face is covered by blood coming from her mouth, nose, and eyes. Even though she is not fighting back anymore, the Rica is on top of her still punching her face, neck, and chest.
I turn to the approaching group of savages and shoot twice. Two of them fall to the ground from the bullets that pierced through their arm and chest. Only one round remains on the sling. I place it in the chamber and fire as Harold throws me over the row behind me. The shot hit him on his left arm, but it doesn’t stop him.
I stand up and run through the row to get away from him. He comes after me.
Toshi is struggling with two Ricas on the floor while Kathleen is hitting their heads with the candle holder. There are two more elderly Ricas climbing over the front windows. We are losing it.
I run to the back of the church and step on the stage. Harold catches me and slams his forehead on my nose. His strength is too much for an elderly guy. I fight back but my punches are too weak compared to his superpower from the drug flowing through his blood.
He pushes me down and kicks my stomach several times. His boot feels like a knife ripping my belly apart. My body curves into a fetal position to cover my stomach. He goes for my head this time. My hands form a shield over my head. I see his face between my fingers. I feel like he recognizes me. I always thought Ricas’ rampageous instinct dominates all of their memories and feelings. Harold seems to pass the barrier to remember me.
“You…” he says with a monstrous voice.
Before his next kick reaches my head, I catch his foot and push it. He thrusts back. Right before he tries to kick again, an arrow penetrates his skull from one ear to the other. His eyes bulge out before he plummets to the ground.
I look inside the church and see Jason smiling at me. His friends are shooting arrows toward the Ricas who have cornered Toshi and Kathleen. I pick up my shotgun even though I know there are no rounds left. I can use it like a baseball bat. I step toward the center of the building as I hear the rear window behind me get smashed. It’s another elderly. I know this one too.
The mayor. Mr. Burke. The only elderly we get along well in their town. What happened to him? He was supposed to leave the town with his son and his son’s friends. It doesn’t matter now. He is not the Mr.Burke I know anymore. Those friendly eyes are replaced by glowing fir
es.
“Matt!” Toshi calls out. I turn my head and see the round I dropped earlier flying in the air toward me. I catch it and put it in the chamber. The mayor is two steps in front of me. His arms are wide open, but I know that it’s not for hugging.
I pull the trigger. He pauses on his feet looking right into my soul as blood comes out of his chest. It’s like he is disappointed in me. I am sorry, Mr. Burke.
He stumbles while still staring at me.
A mix of emotions—sadness, tension, and anger—cloud my brain while watching him fall.
“You guys… Thank you!” Kathleen sits on one of the pew chairs and removes her mask while she catches her breath.
“We figured you were in trouble… These Ricas run in your direction. They were following your tracks… It wasn’t hard to find you after those shots,” Jason says. His friends collect the arrows from the Ricas’ bodies.
“We owe you…” I say and walk toward them, clutching my torso as the pain intensifies. “Well, we want to be the first ones to have it once you find the vaccine,” Jason says chuckling.
I nod. “You will… be the first we call!”
We leave the church together. We say goodbye to each other one more time and walk away in opposite directions. Jason was too kind to give one of their bows.
I asked them to join us on our trip. We would be an unbeatable team. However, they wanted to stick with their factory home.
It’s three of us again walking to the West. We are all in shock about what happened in the last hour. The church was a home of peace and hope once upon a time. It’s a bloody place of infected people and Ricas now.
As I think about the infected woman and man back there, a thought hits me hard. I stop walking and stare at Toshi in disbelief. He and Kathleen stop too. They look at me.
“What’s up?” Kathleen says.
I can’t move my eyes away from Toshi. She turns to him to figure out what’s going on. As she realizes he is the only one who doesn’t have a mask, she goes into shock as well.
Toshi shares a look with me and Kathleen.
