“Of course,” Holly replied.
“I can help, too,” Marcus added.
“You sure?” Gabriel asked.
Marcus nodded. “I’m feeling a lot better. I got this.”
“Alright,” Will said. “Just keep these damn things off us. We’re gonna be in and out as quick as we can.”
“I wanna help,” Dylan said from the back of the SUV.
“You can,” Gabriel said. “Keep an eye out for any Empties that Holly and Marcus don’t see, alright?”
“But I wanna shoot them.”
“They need you to watch for others, okay? Can you do that?”
Dylan sighed. “I guess.”
“Good,” Gabriel said, and then he looked over at Will. “You ready?”
“Are you?” Will replied, smiling.
Gabriel was already opening his door and jumping out of the truck.
As Will ran toward the front door of the pawn shop, gunshots behind him halted the snarls that resonated in the air. He looked down and saw an Empty on the ground, which almost looked like it was still twitching from a shot it had just sustained from Gabriel. When Will reached the front door, Gabriel was waiting on him.
“Honors?” Gabriel asked.
Will chuckled and pulled on the door.
Somewhat to his surprise, the door swung open when he pulled the handle. A bell strung to the interior of the door rang once, and Gabriel quickly reached down and muted it with his hand. Will looked back and saw Marcus and Holly with their backs to him, scanning the parking lot with their rifles out the window. Dylan was at the window with his hands pressed against it, looking toward him and Gabriel. Will gave Dylan a thumbs up, then turned around and walked through the door.
The little bit of sunlight remaining in the day was the only thing illuminating the inside of the shop. Gabriel still had his gun raised in front of him, but Will had his down at his side. The shop was fairly small and appeared to be vacant, so he didn’t see the point in trying to look like an action hero. Will assumed that Gabriel’s nerves were calming, because he now lowered his gun as well.
“This is weird,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah,” Will said, looking around the room.
The shop looked like it hadn’t been touched. Aside from the abandoned mechanical garage they stayed in when they escaped from Ellis Metals, everywhere else they’d stopped had been ransacked and beaten to hell. The pawn shop had all its shelves intact, and the items displayed on the floor were still neatly placed.
A glass case spanned the length of the tiny store. The wall behind it still had some items on the shelves, but much of it was conspicuously empty.
Will walked over to the glass case and saw all the jewelry inside still neatly displayed. As he walked down the length of the case, stroking the glass, he noticed that one part of the case had been emptied. There was nothing left except the price tags in front of where the items had been.
Used Sub Compact .380 Auto - $299
Used Compact Single Action .22 - $229
Used Std. 9mm - $329
“Gabriel,” Will said, waving him over.
Gabriel walked over and looked inside of the case where there had presumably once been guns.
“Shit,” Gabriel said, slamming his fist down on the glass.
Will heard a crash and looked up from the case. A door in the back of the shop swung open, its knob banging against the wall, and a large man appeared in the doorway holding a dual-barrel shotgun. He wore an old, faded yellow t-shirt that had the brand of a pilsner silk-screened across the front, tucked into a pair of pants that were held up by a set of suspenders. He also wore a camouflage trucker hat and had a Fu Manchu mustache. The gun was already pointed toward Will and Gabriel when the man pumped it, preparing the slugs for flight.
“What da fuck y’all doin’ in my shop?”
Gabriel had his gun pointed back at the man, and Will’s hands were up.
“Gabriel, put your gun down,” Will said.
“No fuckin’ way, man.”
“Gabriel!” Will yelled, but Gabriel kept the gun drawn on the hillbilly shop owner.
“I suggest you two pricks get da fuck out here, right now, or y’all both go’na end up dead.”
“We don’t want any trouble,” Will told the man. “We were just coming here looking for ammunition. We’re almost out, and the shop looked abandoned.”
“It look abandoned to you? How da fuck y’all get in here anyways?”
“The door was unlocked, dumb ass,” Gabriel said.
“Gabriel, fucking stop!” Will said.
The man aimed his shotgun right at Gabriel’s head. “This dude says some shit like that one more time, I blow both your God damned brains out. Now, I’ll say it one more time, get the fuck out of my store, and I’ll ‘member to lock the God damned door this time.”
“Okay, we’re leaving,” Will said, keeping his hands up and quivering.
“The hell we are!” Gabriel replied.
The bell from the front door rang as it swung open, and the shop owner pointed his gun that way.
Will turned around, his hands still up in the air, and he saw Dylan come walking through the door.
“Dylan!” he cried out. “Get out of here, now!”
But Dylan didn’t listen; he stepped all the way through the door.
Will moved, standing between Dylan and the shop owner so that the shotgun was now focused on him instead of at the boy.
“What da fuck is this? How many of you are there?”
“Don’t tell him, Will,” Gabriel said.
Will ignored him. “The three of us, and there are three more out in our truck.”
The man scanned back and forth between Will and Gabriel, and Will could see him swallow hard.
“How many children?”
“Just the one. We also have an injured man. He was shot.”
“And y’all been outside trying to survive in all this?”
“Yes. We came from Nashville. We’re headed toward Knoxville. My parents are supposed to be there. We’re almost out of ammunition from fighting off hordes of those things outside.”
The man still looked back and forth, but Will could tell he was calming a bit. He and Gabriel still had their weapons drawn.
“Please, can we just lower our weapons? We will get out of here,” Will said.
“Tell your boy here to lower his first.”
Will could see the sweat coming off of Gabriel’s brow.
“Do it, Gabriel.”
Keeping his eyes focused on the man in front of him, Gabriel finally lowered the gun slowly.
“Set it on the glass case next to you,” the shop owner commanded in a firm but polite tone.
“Listen to him, Gabe.”
Gabriel was clearly frustrated, but he slammed the pistol down onto the glass case and took a few steps away from it.
The shop owner then lowered his shotgun and looked at Will. “What’s your name, son?”
“Will.” He pointed over his shoulder. “And this is Dylan.”
Dylan waved at the man, who smiled down at him.
“Well, Will,” the man said, “it’s gettin’ dark out there. You gonna invite the rest of them folks inside, or not?”
Chapter 3
Jessica
The window inside the hospital room provided the perfect view for watching the sunset. Bedridden by orders of the personnel who remained at the hospital, Jessica took much joy in watching the sun fall behind the horizon both nights she’d been here. The first night, she barely had the energy to keep her eyes open, but had basked in the scene last night. Now, for the third consecutive night, she lay in the bed with nothing to do but gaze out the window, think, and wait.
Jessica didn’t look away when a knock came at the door and it swung open.
“Good evening, Ms. Davies,” the nurse said.
Jessica kept her focus outside, watching the orange glow slowly fade, only to summon the night to cast its shadow
over the small hospital room.
“How does your ankle feel?” the nurse asked.
Finally, Jessica pulled her attention away from the natural spectacle and acknowledged the nurse’s presence inside the room. She appeared close to Jessica’s age and wore ceil blue scrubs and tennis shoes, her dark blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.
“It’s better,” Jessica mumbled.
“And the shoulder?”
Jessica tried to move her shoulder and grimaced.
The nurse made a note on the clipboard she was holding after seeing Jessica’s painful reaction. As a result of the van flipping over into the ditch, Jessica had sustained a sprained ankle, some cuts and scratches, and worst of all, had dislocated her right shoulder. Considering how bad the accident had been, she knew her injuries could have been much worse. And given just how bad things were outside, she felt like the luckiest woman in the world to now be receiving care from a registered nurse in a somewhat comfortable hospital bed.
Setting down the clipboard, the nurse walked to the end of the bed. She lifted up the covers and unveiled Jessica’s bare feet. She reached down and gently squeezed Jessica’s injured ankle.
“Does this hurt?”
Jessica shook her head.
“Good. Can you lift your toes toward your head?”
Jessica bent her ankle, pointing her wiggling toes up to her face.
“Perfect,” the nurse responded. She picked up the clipboard, jotted down a few notes, and then approached Jessica’s side.
The nurse reached over and pressed lightly against Jessica’s shoulder, which was in a sling. At the slightest pressure, Jessica grimaced again and reached her opposite hand over to her bad shoulder. The nurse then made a few more notes and crossed her arms.
“Well, the good news is that your ankle seems to be doing a lot better. I think that it’s okay to let you walk around some tonight. How’s that sound?”
“I’d like that,” Jessica said.
“Good. You can come eat with the others. They’d like to meet you. I’ll come back in just a few minutes and I can lead you over there.”
The young nurse started to turn around, but Jessica stopped her.
“Sarah?”
The blonde woman turned around, smiling. “Yes?”
“How is Mrs. Kessler?”
Sarah frowned, then turned all the way around so that she faced Jessica.
“She’s still unconscious, but she’s stable. We are taking good care of her.”
“When do you think she will wake up?”
Sarah sighed and shook her head. “Don’t know. Comas are completely unpredictable. She could wake up tonight, or she could wake up a year from now.”
Jessica swallowed, and finally recited the question she’d been scared to ask.
“Will she wake up?”
Sarah looked down to the ground for just a moment, before looking back up with an obviously forced smile on her face.
“I think so. Now, get ready to come meet everybody. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”
Jessica was standing in front of the window staring down into the street, and didn’t turn around when Sarah re-entered the room. The sun had gone to sleep, and the scene below was all dark with the exception of a section of sidewalk lit by two lights which, by their dimness, were nearing the end of their kindling. A creature was ambling by, slowly making its way down the dimly lit sidewalk and into the vacant street.
Jessica was still in her gown, but managed to put on a pair of jeans. When she finally turned around, Sarah was smiling at her.
“Guessing it was difficult to put a shirt on?” Sarah asked.
Jessica shrugged. “I didn’t even try. Can you help me?”
“Of course.”
Sarah walked over and carefully helped Jessica out of the sling. She then untied the simple knot on the gown and pulled it over Jessica’s arms. Sarah picked up an oversized t-shirt that she had borrowed from one of the other survivors and carefully led the sleeves over Jessica’s arms. Jessica groaned without the support from the sling, but bit down on her lip so to get through it. Once the shirt was over her head and down over her body, Sarah helped her back into the sling and patted her on the back.
“Ready to go eat?” Sarah asked.
Jessica looked into her nurse’s eyes. “I want to go see Mrs. Kessler.”
“You need to eat, Jessica. And Mrs. Kessler ne—“
“Please.”
Sarah sighed and nodded toward the door. “Come on.”
The room was in the same hallway as Jessica’s, five doors down to be exact. The door was closed all the way and, as Sarah opened it, Jessica could hear the heavy breathing and the clicks of the machinery around Melissa, all doing its part to keep her stable.
Sarah stopped just as she opened the door about halfway.
“Are you ready?”
Jessica took a deep breath and then nodded.
Sarah opened the door the rest of the way and stood with her back against it, clearing a path for Jessica to look down at Melissa on the bed.
She lay there on her back, facing the pale ceiling above. There were lights mounted to the wall above the headboard on either side of the bed, both powered on and shining just enough for Jessica to see her. Melissa’s eyes were closed, and an oxygen mask over her face helped keep her breathing steady. A blanket covered her all the way up to just below her neckline, and Jessica could see she was wearing a similar gown to the one she herself had been wearing. Melissa’s chest rose and fell every few seconds, almost in the same rhythm as the machines around her. Her face looked older than it had before, as if the accident had drawn ten years out of her life in one instant.
Jessica moved to the side of the bed and the hurt rose up inside of her. She covered her mouth to muffle the initial sob and started to cry. She’d only known Melissa for a few days, but felt like she’d been through a lifetime with her. Jessica had been saved by the woman’s husband, Walt, and then was there with Melissa when he turned into one of them. Similarly, Melissa had comforted Jessica after she walked into her parents’ bedroom only to see them dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Jessica and Melissa had been through a lot together, and now the older woman was clinging onto her life right before Jessica’s eyes.
Sarah stepped into the room behind Jessica and began to rub her hands over her back.
“She seems strong,” Sarah said. “I think she’ll get better.”
Jessica just continued to cry.
“Here, let’s sit down, sweetie,” Sarah suggested. She led Jessica over to a pair of chairs, and they both took a seat.
“Have you known her a long time?” Sarah asked.
Jessica sniffled and shook her head. “Just a few days.”
“Oh. Did you meet… after?”
Jessica nodded. “I work in…worked in a hotel in the mountains, kinda near Asheville.” She tilted her head toward Melissa. “She and her husband had just checked in that day.” Jessica really wasn’t in the mood to talk about any of this at the moment with this stranger, and realized her mistake right after mentioning Walt, and predicted the question that would follow.
“Husband?” Sarah asked. “Where is he now?”
Jessica looked toward the wall for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking back to the nurse. “He didn’t make it.”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said.
“It’s okay, I just really don’t want to talk about this right now. Can we just go eat?”
Sarah nodded and put her arm around Jessica. “Come on, let’s go.”
They both stood, and Jessica walked over to the side of the bed. She grabbed Melissa’s hand and held onto it for a moment.
“I’ll come back and see you later,” she whispered. “Just rest.”
She gently set Melissa’s hand back down, and then turned around and made her way out of the room with Sarah.
“How’s it feel walking on that ankle?” Sarah asked.
Jessica was
looking down toward her feet as she limped down the hallway. “It’s okay. I think it’ll be better once my lower body wakes up a little bit. Laying in that bed the past couple of days hasn’t done a whole lot for my lower back.”
Sarah smiled. “That’ll all subside, I promise.”
Just past where Jessica’s room was, a door was open to one of the other rooms. As they passed by the door, Sarah stopped and looked inside. There was a man sitting on the bed, and Jessica made eye contact with him for just a moment. He was a good-looking man, a bit older than her, and didn’t look like he had worked at the hospital.
“Everything okay in there, Mr. Ellis?” Sarah asked with a smile.
The man nodded and waved. “Just fine.”
“Will you be joining us for dinner?”
“Maybe in a little while,” Ellis replied. “I’m not really hungry right now.”
“Alright. Well, we’ll be eating in the lounge if you want to join us.”
Jessica made eye contact with him again, and smiled. He curved his mouth slightly, and then looked back down at his hands.
“You mind shutting that door?” he asked politely.
“No problem. Just buzz if you need anything, okay, David?”
“Thank you,” he said, and the two women continued their slow trek to the break room.
As they walked away from the room, Jessica turned to Sarah and asked, “What happened to him?”
Sarah shrugged. “We aren’t really sure yet. He hasn’t said much. Lawrence found him in a ditch on the side of the interstate. We think he may have a concussion, but he has been pretty vague about where he was before here. Not sure if he remembers, to be honest.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Yeah. He’s lucky that Lawrence was there, or he for sure would have been killed by those things outside.”
Jessica thought back to all the creatures they saw during their trip that led them here, and wondered if the nurse had any concept of just how bad it was out there.
Sarah smiled. “Come on, the lounge is just over here.”
Empty Bodies Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 18
