A heavy silence laid on the cab of the truck the rest of the way up the mountain. Miles melted away. With each one Hannah's stomach sank. She wanted to shake the funk. This was to be a happy occasion.
They rounded a curve and the makeshift wall of the town came into view. What was left of it anyways. Pieces of it laid smashed along both sides of the road. Beyond it, the town looked like an open sore on the mountain side.
"Holy hell," Hannah whispered next to him, her breath low.
BROKEN WALLS
Wheels crunched over the little pieces of what was previously the barrier wall. JT hoped they wouldn't puncture any tires. Beyond the wall, more smoke billowed in the background and more debris strewn the road ahead. He decided not to chance what could be their only shelter and parked the truck at the wall entrance.
"JT, I can't...," Hannah trailed off. Her eyes were big and her skin pale. She fumbled for the door handle. It took several attempts for her to get it open.
The two met at the front of the truck, which JT left running... just in case. The two entwined their gloved hands. In their empty hands they each held a weapon.
"There's nothing to do but get out and search around," JT said. Hannah gave him a silent head nod of agreement.
With careful steps they walked into the town. It seemed as if the attackers destroyed everything. The blanket of snow was a chaotic mess of footprints and broken rubble, but so far they had encountered no bodies...and only small amounts of blood.
"Hate to be captain obvious here, but this wasn't zombies," JT said.
Hannah's shocked, sad look transformed and grew into one of anger. "I don't know. Did the dump truck people come back and get their revenge? I assumed we destroyed them!"
"Not sure. It didn't seem like we were following tracks of dump trucks. I have seen nothing around here like those tracks either. Let's keep looking. I'm finding Gus even if I have to search every damn house."
They advanced, their heads on swivels, attempting to consider every nook and cranny. They passed through the downtown area, where every shop door stood open, windows shattered, contents ransacked. The only sounds, the crunch of footsteps, the labor of their breaths. The only smell, wood burning as smoke drifted across their path. Still, they encountered no souls, dead, alive or undead.
When they came to the casino hotel, they let go of each other's hands. JT took the lead, his vigilance leapt to eleven. One door stood open half off its hinges. JT slipped inside, Hannah close behind him. The darkness and gloom inside didn't let them see much past the first few rows of slot machines.
"Should we call out?" Hannah asked.
JT mulled it over. He didn't want to go in further without some light. They had left theirs in the truck, which was a stupid mistake. He wasn't sure if he wanted to give away what element of surprise they had either, with night falling. He chose a different option.
"No, let's come back, if we don't find Gus or anyone else. We need light before continuing in further."
"Good call," Hannah said. "At this point though, I don't expect anyone is around or they would have attacked us by now."
JT's temples throbbed. "You're probably right."
The two headed back outside. Shadows gathered on the street as the sun sank lower behind the peaks. Hannah looked at JT and without another word they moved back to the truck.
The engine made a soft puttering sound. That was a waste of gas, JT thought as he stepped up, reached in, and turned the key. He stuffed the key in his jeans pocket. The fact the truck hadn't been touched gave more weight to Hannah's idea that no one was still around.
Hannah jumped in the back of the truck while JT turned it off. He walked around to the bumper and put one hand on the metal pipe at his hip. After a few minutes of her rummaging she yelled out, "Catch."
A flashlight, followed by a pack of C batteries, sailed towards him. JT caught both, one after the other. Hannah jumped down next to him, puffs of snow drifted up around her impact, with a flashlight of her own. JT stuffed the battery pack in his coat pocket.
"While I searched for the flashlights, I considered the next place we should look," Hannah said.
The sun had set by the time they reached the storage cave. The wind picked up and JT shivered under his coat. He imagined he could hear Hannah's teeth chatter. He was sure she was miserable if he felt the cold, but she didn't complain.
Both stood pointing flashlights into a darkness that swallowed their puny light. Again on the way to the cave they didn't come across a soul. JT felt a sinking in the pit of his stomach that Gus and everyone else were gone. He hoped Gus was still alive, since they had yet to find any bodies. If not- no, JT couldn't even go there.
"Ladies first," JT teased a nervous laugh at the end.
"Not scared of the dark, are you?" Hannah teased back. Her gun came out of her holster.
"No at all. You should know by now, I'm a gentleman." He wrapped his hands around the pipe.
The gentle rush of air from the cave entrance warmed his face. In the distant darkness the only sound was the drip of water. With a steady hand he ducked a slight bit and stepped inside. The first thing to float out of the darkness were tall, skeletal light stands. JT trained his light up and down the two sets on either side of the walkway. He wished he knew how to turn those things on.
Minutes later, the tunnel widened out. JT paused a step to let Hannah come beside him. In the dust filled light they saw plastic shelves, three levels tall, erected around the room. It was a bizarre sight. The shelves stood between and around the stalactites and stalagmites of the cavern. As JT swept his light around, he could see that the shelves were empty. Well, not empty, there were pieces of package or stray bits of food scattered here and there, but ransacked.
JT took a step closer to check things out and stumbled over something. He pointed his light down, thinking it was a stalag whatever he tripped on. When he looked down Hannah must have too. He heard a sharp intake of air as she gasped.
It wasn't part of the cave he had banged his foot on. It was a body. Someone had nailed it to the floor. A big ass spike stuck through the shoulder of the victim. Whoever it was, they laid face down. JT dropped to his haunches and with care reached out to turn the head to the side, afraid of who it might be.
He recognized the person as one of the town folk, but he couldn't conjure a name to go with the face. He rose and swept his light across the ground ahead. It picked out three more bodies, all bolted to the floor with a spike either through their shoulder or arm.
"What in the hell is going on?" Hannah breathed next to him. She sounded on the verge of tears. "Sweet Jesus."
"You stay here," JT advised. "I know you've developed a sensitive stomach this last month."
JT took his time as he examined each body, in case one of them decided it didn't want to be dead. The others were also townspeople he recognized but wasn't friends with.
He returned to Hannah's side. She examined the shelf closer to her, like she was looking for clues. "None of them are Gus, Linda, or anyone else I can name."
Hannah turned to him, her cheeks glistened in the flashlight's glare. "I can understand the raiding, but why the senseless violence? Revenge?"
"You understand better than me, how crazy this world has become."
Hannah wiped her right cheek. "Let me speak over them for a moment. Search around for any clue where Gus, Linda, and the rest are, will you?"
JT stepped in and enveloped her in a hug. He put his hand under her chin to raise her head up to him and gave her a light kiss. He understood she needed this moment alone."Sure thing."
His worry about Gus increased a thousand fold after coming across the grizzly scene. By now this shit, like something from a lunatic in a video game or horror movie, had somehow become his new normal. That shouldn't be and he never imagined in a million years it would be. Neither should flesh eating zombies, but that was the USA they lived in now.
He didn't have a clue what to do, he'd never been a cop or anyt
hing like that. The closest he came to anything like that was as a bouncer or the odd job he had taken that one time as a security guard. He did the only thing he could think of, which was to first inspect each shelf, row by row.
By the time he finished, Hannah had moved off to stand by the entrance to the chamber. Having found nothing of help so far, he checked the bodies. His face scrunched up so tight his forehead hurt. He patted the ground around each dead person and dug in the pockets of their jeans. He found mementos of the life each had lived, but nothing that clued him in to who had done this.
JT joined Hannah. "My search turned up nada. And I'm sure whoever did this is long gone by now."
"I bet they made those tracks we saw on the way. Also, with the fires still burning, this didn't happen that long ago. We've got to find something." Her last words came out like a plea.
"What do you think we should do?" JT shrugged.
"We didn't check the casino or the clinic. I'd expect if we could find anything of use, we'd find it there."
"Okay. First, though, I guess we should check out Gus' house. That old coot could be sly when he wanted to be. We should also get some rest. I'm drained, you've turned pale, and this wasn't at all what we expected to come back to."
"You're being captain obvious again." Hannah gave him a weak smile as she tried to lighten the mood. "Let's get out of this place. It feels like a tomb now."
TRUCKING
Gus bounced up and down in the back of the truck, unable to secure himself. It felt like his ass bone would snap with each bump. The attackers had thrown him in the back of a U-Haul truck, one with a picture of a big ass blue turtle on the side. He'd made a crack about how he didn't want to ride on the turtle bus. As his reward, they pushed him inside so hard he fell on the metal floor. His face took the brunt of the fall, his left cheek still throbbed and his left eye seemed like it was swelling.
When the men pulled the door closed, there were about twenty people in the U haul, none of which were Linda. His yells, about who the hell they thought they were, where was Linda, where were they taking them, were all ignored.
He had a hard time accepting where he was. Shoved into the back of a truck like some cow off to slaughter, slamming into other people or into the walls because they bound his hands behind his back. He wasn't one to anger quick. That was JT in their little group, at least in the past. That said, right now he would've gladly stomped the heads of people who did this to a pulp with the heels of his boots if given the chance.
He didn't know how long he'd been stuck in the dark moving box. Stuck in a cloud of cries, desperation and terror sounding off around him. Stuck with his bladder yelling at him, the smell of piss of the others who could hold it no longer choking him. He had never been the victim of such humiliation in all his life. Or such impotent rage.
The truck swayed to the left and his face met the foam padded wall for the hundredth time. He turned to meet the corner; he was in the back where the little attic area was, as quick as he could. The impact made him lose control. Warm liquid dribbled down his jeans and around his crotch. His cheeks warmed as well.
"That's it! These motherfuckers will pay the piper!," he shouted into the dark.
"Gus, is that you?" a voice came to him. It sounded somewhat familiar.
"Maybe. I'm not sure I'm in a talkin' mood right now."
"Gus, it's me. Josh. I used to hang out with Hannah. We're on the council together," the voice floated to him.
"Hey, sparky. That's nice and all, but what do you want? I ain't in the mood for jawin'. Not unless you got a way out of this."
"No. It was just nice to hear someone I know." There was a pause. "I'm scared."
The statement caused others in the truck to murmur louder. Someone jostled next to Gus, an elbow jabbed him in the side.
"Well, Josh, you'd have to be an idiot not to be scared. We gotta keep it together though, scout. Keep ourselves together and look for an opportunity to get outta this. I've survived this far, I ain't gonna let these punks take me out."
Gus' words seemed to have a calming effect on the crowd. The whispers and the milling about dropped a few decibels. "You've nailed it with a hammer, Gus." Someone else in the darkness said.
Things became more quiet after that, to the relief of Gus. He spent the rest of what felt like forever in a mood as dark as his surroundings. The squeaks of the springs, the bumps of the road, and a whistle of the wind were his companions. In the silence and with every bounce the truck made Gus kept thinking about Linda and hoping she was okay, or even better, had gotten away.
CAVEMAN
"We need to bury the bodies," Hannah said.
She couldn't see JT's face in the dark cab of the truck. His voice however sounded strained. "That will be quite a piece of work. I'll see what tools we can find in the morning."
"They deserve some dignity, JT. Not left to rot in some cave. What if that were Gus or Linda in there?" That came out too harsh. "Sorry, babe."
JT gave her a deadpan chuckle. "I understand. This... I don't know," he said, throwing his hands up. "What a bunch of fucking bullshit." The growl at the end sounded more like old JT.
They pulled up in front of Gus' house. Their headlights illuminated the porch. Someone had left the front door wide open, like most of the houses they'd checked so far. Multiple footprints broke the snowfall all over the porch.
She heard JT take a deep breath and let it out next to her. He killed the engine, but left the lights on. "Let's go check the house, make sure it's clear. Then I'll get a fire going. Gus has a nice stack of wood sitting there on his porch."
The two got out and entered the house, weapons at the ready. The inside of the house looked stark in the white light of the headlights. So did the brown bear.
"Holy shit," JT muttered.
The bear, which to Hannah looked the size of a large dog, like a Mastiff, trundled on all fours towards the kitchen. It turned towards the two of them at the sound of JT's voice. It stood up on two legs, taller than Hannah now. Its ears laid back, and a growl escaped its muzzle.
Hannah brought up her rifle. JT took two steps away from her, while he waved his hands and yelled at the bear. It dropped on all fours and rushed him. Hannah tracked it, surprised at how fast it moved, despite the massive size of its legs. The shot left a ringing in her ears. The bear skidded sideways as if an invisible force pushed it. It laid there attempting to move. With an ease that sickened her, Hannah shot the animal in the head.
"Gus will be pissed about the mess on his carpet," JT said, desperate to make a joke. He skirted around the bear to join Hannah. "Zombies, crazy people, Gus is gone, why not a fucking bear too!? When that son of a bitch came at me, holy shit that was scary. You okay?"
"Yeah," she said, as she let out a puff. She slung her rifle over one shoulder. "It's just sad. What a waste."
JT slid one hand through his hair. "What a crazy day. Listen, you stay here. I'll check the rest of the house I'm sure it's fine. If someone was here, I think what just happened would have brought them out. Then, I'll figure out what to do with the bear. I'm sure that thing is easily three hundred pounds."
Hannah nodded in silent agreement JT patted her on the back as he walked by. Once he left the room, Hannah walked over to the bear. She squatted down, looking at the creature, the blood on the floor. She reached out and ran her hand through its hair. It surprised her. It felt much like a dog, only rougher.
It had only been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She knew what that was like. She too had been close to death at those times. Unlike the bear, she had escaped. Not intact, but she still lived. She continued to stroke the bear's fur. It frightened her, how she could drop into a cool, calm place when it came time to kill. It reassured her, too, that the terror was replaced by total control. She wasn't sure what she had become over the last two years.
"Thinking about making a rug?" JT's question came as a surprise to her. She came close to falling over on top of the dead animal. With one han
d she used its body to push herself back up.
She made herself smile. It felt forced. "No, that wouldn't be right. I...I'd never been close to a bear. The zoo, there was always a safe, thick piece of glass between us."
"I was just kidding, baby." JT stowed his weapon and headed outside.
The light from the truck vanished when JT clicked them off. Hannah turned on the one on her hat. JT came back in with an arm full of wood logs. Hannah shut the door behind him, locked every lock on it, and pulled the little table between the front door and the window over to block it. She checked the windows locks and drew the curtains shut.
Within minutes a fire crackled, its warmth and light filled the little space of the living room area. Hannah switched her light off and joined JT over in front of the fireplace. She sat on the brown leather couch while JT walked out to the garage. He didn't tell her what he was looking for, only that she didn't need to bother herself. She sat her rifle across her lap and enjoyed the natural warmth that washed over her.
Sleep overtook her like a thief in the night. The next moment she knew, JT stood behind her and shook her shoulders as he called her name. She jumped to her feet. Her rifle clattered to the ground. "What's the matter?" In an instant she was alert.
"No, no, sorry." JT said as he backed away. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just needed your help to get this bear out of here."
Hannah blinked three times. She'd scooped her rifle up and slung it in what had become its familiar spot. "Sure, sure. No problem. What do you need?"
"I didn't want to wake you at all. You looked like a sleeping angel. I need you to guide me though. I found some rope and tied up the bear to the truck. You will help make sure I get it dragged outside with minimum damage to the house. Ready?"
She rubbed her eyes, clearing away the remaining drowsiness. "I am."
Hannah listened as the engine of the truck roared like an animal itself in the silent night. Little by little the bear disappeared out the front door.
The Outbreak Series (Book 4): Deadlocked Page 4
