Apocalypse Asunder (30 page)

On the left side, there were two hallway bathrooms right next to each other, and a total of
six
bedrooms.  The furniture throughout remained basic and simple, but by the time she got done checking the last bedroom Jessica was extremely glad the house was only a single story.  It might be up on stilts, but it only had the one living level, and a lot of livable space regardless.  She wasn’t sure if her nerves would be up to checking another story.

“Okay, I think we’re clear.” Jessica said finally, after she got up from one knee where she’d been peering under the bed in the last bedroom.

“Why is everything so big?” Candice asked immediately.

“Well, the bedroom isn’t that big.” Jessica pointed out.  Which was true; it was about the size of a standard bedroom, or even maybe a shade smaller.  And the house didn’t seem to have what she’d recognize as a ‘master’ bedroom.

“The regular rooms are big.” Candice objected.  “And there are six bedrooms.  But it’s empty, like no one’s living here.”

“True.” Jessica said, easing back into the hallway.  She was trying to calm down from the adrenaline rush of poking about in the scary unknown, and she felt sure she’d cleared the house properly, but the sun was sinking rapidly and there was still everything in the truck to get inside.

“Why not?”

“I’d guess the zombies.”

“No,” Candice protested, “I mean, even before the zombies, why wasn’t anyone living here?”

“Hmmm.” Jessica mused as she got back to the front door and made sure it was still locked before she opened it.  Candice raised a fair question.  The house really didn’t have the sense anyone had been living here when the apocalypse started; no pictures, no personal details, no mess, empty cabinets and drawers.  Idly, Jessica looked when she stepped out onto the porch, and didn’t see a realtor sign anywhere.  None of the houses on the street had one.  She considered the lake for a moment, then shrugged.  “I’m going with vacation rental house.”

“Vacation rental house?” Candice asked.

“That’s a house people rent for when they go on vacation.”

“People rent houses when they go on vacation?”

“They did.  Sometimes.” Jessica said as she stood on the porch, looking around to double check that the area was clear while she thought about her next steps.

“That’s weird.”

“If you have a big family, or a lot of friends who are coming with you, renting a house makes sense.” she told her daughter.

“Still . . .”

“Just be glad they built these, because I think this is where we’re going to stay.”

“Oh good.”

“We’re losing light sweetie, so what say you help me carry our stuff into the house?”

“All of it?”

“All of it.” Jessica confirmed.  “We’ll pile it up in the living room for now.”

“Okay.”

Jessica kept Candice close, but with the girl’s help it only took fifteen minutes of effort to get the truck bed unloaded into the house.  It went smoothly, without any surprises, but Jessica still found it more than slightly nerve-wracking to be trooping up and down the stairs, carrying things while trying to keep an eye on everything around them.  The ammunition cases left her panting, and she saved them for last even though she considered them among the most important things to have.

As she’d expected though, they took a big chunk out of her stamina getting them up the stairs; bullets were
heavy
.  She was ready to sit and rest when they were in, but the work wasn’t done yet.  She was glad everything was out of the truck and under cover, but she felt certain if she’d started with the hard stuff it would’ve taken much longer and been more discouraging as the unloading continued.

With everything inside, she moved the truck off the road just because it bugged her to leave it so far from the house, then spent a few minutes taking a fast inventory of what she had.  As she’d sort of suspected, the tools and utility items that Austin had mostly been responsible for collecting and sticking in the SUV turned out to have things she wouldn’t have thought to keep; but that were now useful.

There wasn’t a ‘proper’ hammer, but he had put a small sledge-style hammer in to go with the box of nails she found.  Those sufficed to allow her to seal shut all the storm shutters on the front of the house.  For the front door, she locked it, then used some cord and nails driven into the frame to create a lattice preventing the door from being easily opened even if the locks were defeated.  The back door she similarly rigged. The rope wasn’t as good as something more sturdy, like wood, but it was all she had time and energy for with the night already falling thick around her.

She didn’t harbor the illusion her quick modifications made the house impregnable, but she only wanted to get through the night.  Breaking through the locked door and sealed shutters would be loud and noisy, and she hoped that would be enough to safeguard her and Candice until morning.  For tomorrow, she had some definite thoughts on how she wanted to handle additional security.

Jessica started awake and reached for the Taurus she’d left on the bedside table.  The Shield was under her pillow, but the big forty-five made too much of a lump so she’d put it aside, but in reach.  Now she had it in her hand as she sat up, though she wasn’t sure what to point it at.

The bedroom was quiet.  She’d left the windows on the lake side of the house alone, and the ones in this bedroom open for ventilation.  Coming south had definitely found heat; even in what was obviously early morning it was already in the seventies.  Based on yesterday afternoon, she expected to see a lot of upper 70s and lower 80s for at least a while.

That was good, but Jessica furrowed her brow as she looked around the room again.  What had awoken her?  She got out of bed and padded barefoot over to the door.  Listening at it didn’t reveal anything untoward . . . so why was she up?  What had awoken her?

Jessica scowled in thought, considered going back to bed, but decided at this point she was awake.  It would be a waste of time.  She shrugged mentally and went back over to the bed.  She’d taken her shoes off, but nothing else.  The guns went into their holsters on her belt without incident, but when she sat down on the edge of the mattress to put her shoes back on Candice sat upright.

“What’s wrong?” she demanded, looking around wildly.

“Nothing.” Jessica answered soothingly.  “We’re fine.  Everything’s fine.”

“It’s morning?”

“It’s morning.”

“Oh.”

“How’d you sleep?”

“Good.”

“No dreams?”

Candice hesitated, but when Jessica looked at her she just shrugged.  “Nothing I remember.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.  Just random stuff.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“Why are you up?”

“Because it’s morning.” Jessica said as she finished with her shoes and stood.  She thought Candice’s question was meant more as a diversion from her mother’s line of query; but Jessica was willing to play along.

“What are we going to do today?”

“Well, first I thought we’d have a hot meal.  Then there are some things I need to find to help secure the house.”

“What things?” Candice asked, scrambling out from beneath the sheet she’d slept beneath and over to Jessica’s side of the bed.

“Well, really one thing to be honest.” Jessica admitted.  “I want to find a ladder.”

“A ladder?”

“Yeah, a ladder.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to destroy the stairs that lead up here so no one can get up and bother us.”

“Then how are we going to get up when we leave?”

“I’m still working that part out.” Jessica admitted.  The only thing she’d come up with so far was to bring the ladder every time they left; and she wasn’t sure how practical that would be.  Plus it meant she had to keep Candice with her at all times, which was the other thing she was trying to figure out.

“What’s for breakfast?”

Jessica shook herself away from the unanswered questions.  “How about I fry up a can of that hash we’ve been saving?”

“Yummy!” the girl said, clapping her hands excitedly.  Most of the canned goods were vegetables and soups; but there were a few that Jessica had been holding onto for special occasions.  Including three cans of corned beef hash.  She also had two cans of actual corned beef.  They counted as special because meat protein had been thin and infrequent in the absence of power for refrigerators.

“We can have some hash, and some crackers with jelly packets, and what say we open one of the cans of peaches too?”  One of the multitude of problems with no refrigeration was if something got opened, it just about had to always be finished off then and there or it would spoil.  She had several jars of jelly that she
still
wasn’t sure how to eat; even if Austin showed up, she couldn’t figure how two adults and a ten-year-old could manage to consume an entire jar of jelly in one sitting.  But there were some fast food single-serve packets as well, and those were much simpler to use up.

“Double yummy.”

“Good.  Shoes, then you can use the bathroom while I check to make sure the house is still okay.  Then I’ll use the bathroom, then I’ll cook.”

Jessica had some ideas about the bathrooms to, but she wanted to deal with security first.  In fact, she needed to start a list of things that she felt would be good to do.  The house had inspired a number of notions that occurred to her, and she was certain more would follow; but she knew better than to get ahead of herself.  Take it slow, one thing at a time.  Unpleasant bathroom smells weren’t anything new that she and Candice hadn’t gotten used to; so that could hold off at least a little while.  Certainly it didn’t overly interfere with the routine as she and her daughter cycled through their morning toiletry activities.

The house was quiet, and she still couldn’t figure out what had awoken her.  She left the back door secured – using the little propane camp stove again – while she made the breakfast.  As the hash was frying in one of the cast iron skillets she’d collected out of houses back in Georgia, she studied things beyond the lake-side windows she’d opened up for ventilation.  Everything outside all looked normal.

A big expanse of water that she knew was a lake, but couldn’t see across; that was different, but unthreatening.  She didn’t see anything moving on the lake except wind and birds.  The wind was enough to produce ripples; water motion that was enough to count as movement, but not nearly grand enough to qualify as even the tamest of waves.  She didn’t care; it was oddly soothing.  Relaxing.  She made a mental note to put a boat or canoe or something on her list though; just in case.

After breakfast, she wiped out the skillet using a paper towel and left it on the non-functional kitchen stove.  One advantage of the cast iron was she didn’t have to fool around very much with ‘proper’ cleaning.  She brought her purse with the emergency kit, and made sure she had two boxes of ammunition tucked away.  Her supply of forty-five was still low, but there was plenty of nine millimeter.  Enough for her to stand a siege if necessary.

“So, here’s my plan.” Jessica said when she was ready.  Candice, waiting near the front door, gave her attentive eyes that made it clear she was listening.  “I want to take a look around the immediate area for useful things, useful places, that we’ll need.”

“Like what?”

Jessica pulled the map out of her purse and unfolded it to the lake area, bending down so Candice could move closer and see it.  “If I’ve been paying attention and tracking us correctly, we’re about here.” she said, pointing at the peninsula that spiked out into the lake.  Her finger moved south, and then southwest, tapping in turn.  “Here, and here, it looks like there are some little towns.”

“Those aren’t the only ones.” Candice said, pointing at two other places.  One was on the south end of the lake, the other about ten or fifteen miles east of the two closest ones Jessica had indicated.  “And this one looks pretty big.” the girl added, tapping the paper lightly over the inland town. 

“Yes, but they’re also further away.  And this one is big enough that it could easily have a really big zombie problem.” Jessica replied.  “Plus, it’s closer to Fort Myers, which isn’t a place I want to get any nearer than we need to; and right now, we don’t need to.  Let’s just start with the two close, and small, ones.”

“We’re scouting?”

“Exactly.”

“Austin would like that.”

“I’m sure he would.  So, here’s the thing.  We can’t stop being careful.  All the rules are still in effect.  We have to always pay attention, always keep a close eye on what’s going on around us.”

“Because of zombies.”

“Because of a lot of things, but zombies are important.” Jessica confirmed.  “So be careful, stay watchful, stay close to me, got it?”

“Got it.”

“Okay.  Let’s go scouting.” Jessica said, folding the map back up and sticking it in her purse.  She untied the cord on the front door, then disengaged the locks so she could crack it a little and look out carefully.  The porch seemed clear, but she had been taught by Austin to never assume anything.  After that first look she pulled the door open and stepped back as she drew the Taurus.  Nothing jumped in at her, so she angled back and forth to get as good a look at the porch as she could before slowly edging out.

The day was clear and warming, and nothing seemed to be lurking about; either on the porch or on the ground around the house.  After closing the door, Jessica led the way down the stairs, taking her time and stopping halfway down to take a three-sixty look at the entire area; but all was quiet.  The truck was right where she’d left it, and started when she inserted the key.

She wanted to top up her gas cans, but not today.  The truck had enough fuel for a good look around the area, and then some; she’d take care of the cans tomorrow or the next day.  Today she wanted to get a feel for the lay of the land.  If they were going to be staying in the area for a while, hopefully at least through the winter, knowing where to go for scavenging certain things would be critical.  And knowing what areas had people, what areas had zombies, and how many of each . . . that would be important as well.

The first town really was a small one, sitting directly astride US-27 three or four miles from Okeechobee.  A river ran along, and through, the eastern side of the town that her map showed connected into the canal that surrounded the lake.  Her map showed just about the entire lake was bordered by a canal that was several miles inland.  That made the stilt house make even more sense; flooding apparently was a thing around here; or a canal encircling the entire lake wouldn’t have been dug and maintained.

The town itself seemed as quiet and desolate as any of the others she’d seen since the apocalypse.  Jessica stayed on the outskirts, but she saw few zombies and no one who struck her as alive moving about.  A number of little docks dotted the river, and some of them had small boats or canoes tied up to them.  Actually, she was pretty sure most of them were chained, but that was a problem for another day.

Most importantly – other than the lack of any large numbers of hungry zombies – she didn’t see any real signs the town had suffered heavily in the outbreaks.  Few damaged buildings, no blocks ravaged by fire, a number of stores that looked intact – including two small supermarkets – and three gas stations.  If it weren’t for the general lack of any activity, and the trash she saw scattered and occasionally blowing about like tumbleweeds in a western, she would’ve said the scenes looked almost normal.

“Is everyone dead?” Candice asked just as Jessica was about to stop circling around the town’s outskirts and head for the highway where she wanted to leave another note for Austin at.

Jessica shrugged, trying to put as much casual lightness as she felt was reasonable into the gesture.  “I don’t think
everyone’s
dead, no.”

“Then where did they all go?”

“Lots of people left their homes.  You know why we left ours.”

“Zombies.”

“Yes.”
Jessica thought, unable to keep from shuddering at the dark memory of her mother nonchalantly chewing on mouthfuls of her father. 
“And even though it’s true, it’s also fair to say I was running from having to let
you
see your grandparents like that.”
  Aloud though, she just nodded and managed to get her voice to come out more or less level.  “Zombies are a good reason to run.  Fighting them is dangerous.”

“Yes.” Candice said sadly.  “But it’s been a long time since this started.”

“Not that long.”

“It’s Halloween now.” Candice disagreed.  “I mean, isn’t it?”

“Just about.” Jessica admitted.

“Summer to Halloween is a long time Mom.”

Jessica smiled as she remembered time moved differently on kid clocks.  It took the jaded inattentiveness of adulthood to let life start whipping past you too fast to notice.  “Okay, so it’s been a while, yeah.”

“Is it always going to be like this?”

“Oh God.” Jessica said before she could stop herself.  She caught Candice giving her a close stare of appraisal, and forced another light shrug.  “I hope not.”

“But what if it is?”

“We’ll just keep doing what we have been.”

“Hiding?”

“Surviving.” Jessica corrected gently.  “Though hiding isn’t too wrong either.”

“Is everyone hiding?”

“I think a lot of people are.”

“If everyone keeps surviving by hiding, doesn’t that mean the zombies will always be here?”

“I don’t think anyone knows how things are going to work out.”

“But don’t people need to fight the zombies to fix everything?”

Jessica considered.  She’d never been a big horror fan, but she knew the depictions of zombies prior to their changing headings from ‘fiction’ to ‘real’ had run the gamut.  Some zombies got more dangerous with age, others tended to fall apart.  Some needed to have eaten to be at their best, others were just killing machines with only one gear.  She was still quite thankful these zombies hadn’t turned out to be adrenalized sprinters . . . she
knew
she and Candice would be dead if that had been the case.  And she figured the outlook for everything else wouldn’t be very good either.