Born in the Apocalypse 2: State Of Ruin (4 page)

Chapter 8

As I rode, I thought about the route I needed to take back to my house, and figured I would head straight north from Manhattan, then east once I came across a road I knew led towards home.

I kept a lookout for anything unusual, any sign of Trippers. They were more quiet during the day, but that didn’t mean anything if they decided to attack. The surest sign was any house that looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Chances were that there had been activity and recently.

About a mile from where I had my little run-in with the locals, a house up on a small hill had just that look. As I rode along, the gate door, swinging gently in the morning breeze, swung back sufficiently to let me see that the house had been attacked. The windows were smashed, and the front door looked like it had been beaten in.

I was on the verge of riding on when I heard a cry coming from the house. It was a small sound, like someone was trying to be quiet, but couldn’t help themselves.

“Damn,” I said. I turned Judy towards the gate and dismounted once we were inside. I took my rifle and loosened my Colt in its holster. I didn’t know what I was walking into, but I had a good idea.

In the yard were some rocks so I took one and threw it into the house. I figured if any Trippers were in there they would come out the front door, and I could get them as they came out single file. Inside the house, I’d have to constantly watch my back and that was an easy way to get killed.

The rock caused some kind of uproar because I heard some very loud growling and wheezing.  I made sure there was a round in the chamber and the hammer was cocked back.

The first Tripper came stumbling out of the house, literally dripping blood. Her hands and face were covered with it, and she fixed her deadly gaze on me as she stepped through the door. I lined up the sights on her head and fired. The bullet struck her right in the forehead and her head snapped back from the impact. She dropped down and tumbled out of the way of the second Tripper who was enraged at the noise of the shot. He came out in a hurry, slamming into the doorframe.

The jolt stopped him for a second, and I used that second to shoot him dead. I had learned from past experience that Trippers did not die if you shot them in the chest. Their bodies were altered by the virus and were able to survive penetrating wounds like that. In the early days, as my dad explained it to me, that was why things went bad so quickly. The cops were trained to shoot the body, not the head, and that didn’t work with Trippers. For some reason, though, Trippers died if you shot them through the heart with an arrow. I guess they couldn’t close the wound and they died.

This Tripper was covered in as much blood as the first one, and I could see the scraps of flesh around his face. This was a new thing with the Trippers that we had seen, and it wasn’t pretty. They were not only killing their victims, but were starting to eat them as well. I guess the virus that destroyed their brains had decided it needed a snack to keep going.

I waited for five minutes while Judy pranced around behind me, blowing and stamping. She hated the smell of blood, and was very protective of me.

When no more Trippers came out, I put my rifle back in its scabbard and drew my Colt.

I stepped carefully over the bodies of the two I shot, making sure I didn’t slip in anything they were leaking out of their bodies.

Leading with my gun, I walked into the house, moving around a sofa that had been dragged out of place to try and block the door. On the floor of the living room, in the wreckage that used to be a coffee table, lay what used to be a woman. Her head was a shredded mess, and her clothes were torn and bloody. There was a huge hole in her gut where the Trippers had torn her apart and fed. In the corner was another Tripper, but this one was already dead. He was missing the left side of his head, likely from the result of a shotgun. My gun shot big bullets, but they weren’t in the same class as whatever blew this one across the threshold of death’s door.

In the kitchen, there looked to be some signs of a struggle, as the table and chairs were on their sides. I looked down the hall, and saw two more dead Trippers. Each of them had been shot in the head as well. At the end of the hall, in front of a closed bedroom door, a man lay in a pool of his own blood, his throat torn out. At his feet were two more Trippers, their skulls caved in by the butt of the shotgun that was still in the man’s hands. It seemed to me that the man killed the Trippers that killed him in an attempt to protect whatever was behind this door.

I carefully moved the man over, then tried the door. It was locked, and when I tried the handle, I distinctly heard a couple of sharp intakes of breath. I gently knocked on the door.

“Hello? Is anyone in there? It’s okay, the Trippers are dead now,” I said.

A very small voice came through the door.

“Daddy?”

Aw, hell. “No, my name is Josh. Will you let me in to talk to you?” I asked. While I spoke, I pulled the Trippers and the man over to the side so they would be out of sight if or when the door opened.

There was a moment’s hesitation, then the door clicked. I stepped up close and turned the knob, positioning myself to block the view of the hallway.

The door opened and I moved into the room, closing the door behind me. Two sets of really big, tear-filled eyes looked at me with fear and trepidation. The older child, a girl of about eight years looked at me and then at the door. The other, a small boy around four, held a stuffed rabbit in his arms while he chewed on one of the ears. Both of them took me in at a glance, and I could see the girl’s eyes linger on my gun. I must have looked like something right out of a western novel, with the hat and coat and gun belt. I’d have chuckled at the look on her face but for the question she asked me.

“Did you save my mom and dad?”

My heart broke a little when I answered her. “No, sweetheart. I did not get here in time. But your dad saved you and your brother. And I’m going to take you away from here, to someplace safe, okay?”

The little girl was in shock, trying to understand what I was telling her, and I could see the boy was about to cry again. I patted him on the head, then picked up a backpack that was lying in the corner. I stuffed extra clothes in it, and asked the children if there was any special toys they wanted to bring with. The boy held onto his rabbit while the girl picked up a stuffed cat. The girl also picked up another pack where she put in a few more clothes and shoes.

They started to walk towards the door, but I stopped them.

“Let’s start our adventure the right way,” I said. “Do you like horses?”

The girl nodded, while the boy just looked at me like I was crazy.

I went over to the window, and pushed it open. I whistled loudly, and smiled when my horse came trotting around the corner of the house. I picked up the girl and put her on the ground outside. After the boy was outside, I climbed out myself, not wanting to leave them alone. The girl was already petting Judy’s nose, who was busy smelling these new creatures. The boy smiled a little as Judy’s breath moved his hair.

I put the girl up first, adjusting the stirrups so she could just reach the tops of them. The boy reached his hands up to me, and as I picked him up, he hugged me tight around the neck. I gave him a reassuring pat on his back and then peeled him off to sit him up in front of his sister.

“You keep hold of your brother,” I said. “Don’t let him fall off.” I took the bridle and led Judy away from the house. Walking away from the building, I was struck at how this damn disease made a lot of orphans, myself included.

Chapter 9

We walked out the front gate, a boy not yet a man leading a horse carrying two kids who just lost everything in their world. I had no idea what to do with them outside of getting them to some sort of settlement. I hoped there would be a home found for them there. If no one took them in, I didn’t know what I would do. I guess I’d bring them back to my home. Or Kim’s. I smiled at that thought. I doubt children were what she had in mind when she asked me to bring something back for her.

On the road, I walked with my left hand on the reins, keeping my right hand free. I didn’t think for a minute that the two men who had followed me this morning hadn’t heard the shots I had fired just a little while ago. If they were out here, they’d probably be along shortly.

I hoped I’d reach the town of Manhattan by then, and maybe there would be some law I could report them to. But I figured that wouldn’t be likely.  Not since I could see two figures walking towards me from the west. They were both carrying rifles, and from what I knew about guns, I could see they were not scoped guns. If they had been, I’d probably already be dead.

I stopped Judy and pulled my rifle out of its scabbard. No point in being under-gunned in a fight. If I could end this peacefully I would, but these two seemed determined to force the issue.

When they were about fifty yards away I raised a hand. My other hand held the rifle hip level, pointing in the general direction of the two men.

“That’s close enough,” I said. “You guys have been hunting me all morning. It needs to stop.”

One of the men slapped the other one on the arm.

“Oh, it’ll stop,” he said. “I promise. Get them kids off the horse, put your guns on the ground, and walk away. We’ll let you keep your hat.”

I shook my head. “These kids just lost their parents to Trippers. I’m taking them to Manhattan. Let us by.”

The other man, Don, shouted angrily, “I’m done talkin’! Next thing you hear will be my gun goin’ off! You hear me, boy?”

As my father would have said, the negotiations seemed to be over. I raised the barrel of my rifle slightly, and fired from the hip. I didn’t wait to see if I hit anything, I threw the gun up to my shoulder, and this time, I aimed carefully, firing at the man who was raising his rifle to his shoulder. He suddenly threw his hands up in the air, tossing his rifle behind him as he stumbled backwards and lay flat while his feet kicked at the ground.

I shifted my aim and looked for a target while Judy tossed her head at the noise. The kids screamed at the shots and the sudden shifting of Judy’s back. I apparently had scored a hit with my first shot, as both men were on the ground. I couldn’t believe my luck. I hadn’t practiced much, but I guessed that my practice with the bow had sharpened my aiming skills towards other weapons.

Leaving the kids with Judy, I walked forward slowly, keeping my rifle trained on the two inert forms. I looked left and right at the houses near the road, making sure no other Trippers might be coming out of their caves.

I reached the men, and with a single look, knew I didn’t need the firepower anymore. One man had been shot through the neck, the other had been hit square in the face. After removing a couple more weapons from the men, I dragged the corpses over to the ditch and dumped them in. I doubted they had any family to take care of, since I didn’t think their families would have approved of them hunting down another person. One thing I had learned from this mess of a world I had grown up in was people tended to behave themselves in groups larger than five. Single people were fifty-fifty on whether they were good or bad. Groups of two to four were just bad news.

I picked up the rifles the men were carrying. One was a bolt action of some caliber, while the other was a levergun a little like mine but different. It had a magazine that came out the bottom, and the bullets were much larger than the ones that fed my Winchester. The writing on the gun’s barrel said Savage 99, and it was chambered in .308 Winchester. I liked the look of it, so I figured to keep it.

I went back to Judy and the kids, and both of them stared at me with wide eyes. I’m sure if they were on the ground, they would have run by now. I didn’t have anything reassuring to tell them, and figured if I started telling them about my earlier encounters with the men, they wouldn’t have understood anyway.

We walked easily the rest of the way to the town of Manhattan, and if I had any ideas about what the place was going to be like, they flew out the window the minute I lay eyes on the place.

Chapter 10

Manhattan seemed to have sprung out of the middle of a farm field, with four access points. But I could see this was not a new town; rather, it was one that several people decided to make into a better community than the ones they had left or had fled from.

The defenses of the town seemed to have been well thought out. Surrounding the entire town and several dozen acres of land was a deep trench. The dirt from the trench was piled up on the inside of the trench, creating a tall barrier that Trippers would have a hard time with. On top of the small hill was a flat walking area, and I could see several guards making circuits of the fence. I waited until one was within earshot before asking him how I could get inside. He directed me to a small bridge that led to a tunnel that took me through the hill.

On the inside of the hill, I could see a lot of land being farmed, and I was stunned to see a tractor tilling the soil. I knew what it was and what it was doing, but it was the first time I had ever seen machinery I action. I stared at the tractor until Judy bumped me with her nose.

I followed a narrow trail that led towards another fence, and this one was made of what looked like sheets of metal. When I got closer, I realized the entire fence had been made out of garage doors. I had to admit that was pretty clever.

There was a checkpoint about a hundred yards from another fence, and it was there that I was directed to a small stockyard where I left Judy in her own little corral. She had water and feed, and was more than happy to explore her new place without me.

I left my rifles with her, but took the other one I had confiscated with me. If nothing else, I could trade it for something. I took the kids’ hands and we walked the rest of the way to a large door in the middle of what was an even bigger door.  The door was set in a large wall, roughly fifteen feet high. It looked to be made out of stone, which was impressive as hell. A small guardhouse was by the door and a man was sitting in it, watching me approach.

When I got close enough he smiled and said, “Welcome to Manhattan! What business brings you here?” He was a portly man, probably about forty-five, with a set of fat rolls under his chin that wobbled when he talked. His head was mostly bald, although what little hair he had left was holding on in tight, aggressive curls.

“Came here to see a friend, got these two out a bit of trouble. They will need looking after,” I said.

The man’s tone changed. “I see. Parents…?”

I shook my head. “Dad saved them, but I was about an hour too late to do anything but clean up the leftovers.”

“Understood. We get a lot of orphans, and we have a lot of couples that have lost children who would be happy to provide a home for these two,” he said.

“One thing, though. They need to stay together,” I said.

“Of course. And as for you, who are you here to see?” The man pulled out a small book that looked to have hundreds of names in it. I saw that some of the names had been crossed out, others had check marks next to them.

“Chambers family. Should have arrived here about a year or so ago,” I said.

“Mmm Hmm. Ah! I see! Here they are. Three streets in, take a left. Follow it until you can’t go any further. Take a right, and it will be the fourth house on the left,” he said. “You can bring the children to the medical center. They will be checked out and cared for.”

“Thanks,” I said. I was trying to remember his directions when he opened the door and let us in through the large wall.

The interior was a town the likes of which I had only read about. The homes were all in neat rows, like the ones I had seen and lived around, but these had no fences, no walls. It was open space all around, and nearly every home I looked at appeared to be occupied. There were people walking in the streets and on the sidewalks, just taking in the sun and having conversations. If I had to guess, this was what the world was like before the Tripp Virus came along and screwed everything up.

We walked past the first block of houses and the buildings turned from homes to businesses. But instead of being broken and empty, they had people in them and actual things to buy. I looked at one for a while, so much so that people in the store started to stare back.

I shook myself and we moved on. As we did, I became aware that I was getting a lot of stares. I’ll admit we made a strange sight, but I didn’t think we were all that weird, given the way the world was.

A big white building with a large red cross on it got in my way, and it didn’t take much thought to figure out this was the place I needed to drop the kids off at.

Inside, a matronly woman took one look at the kids and came hurriedly from behind the huge desk she was sitting behind. She called for a couple of teenagers to take the kids away, and then she addressed me.

“Are you the father?” she asked, looking up at me with half-squinting eyes. Her brown hair was pulled back into a bun, making her long face appear even longer.

I took my hat off and shook my head quickly. “Umm, no. I’m only fifteen.”

“Mmm hmm,” she said, looking me up and down. “Well, you’re definitely big enough. Why did you bring the kids in? Where are their parents?”

“I brought the kids in because they were alone in their house. Outside the bedroom where they were hiding was their father. He was dead. Their mother was in the living room providing a meal for the Trippers, who, in case you hadn’t heard yet, are starting to eat their victims,” I said.

Bun lady stared at me and blinked slowly three times. “I see. Okay then. Well, thank you. Is that your gun?” she asked, pointing to the rifle I had on my shoulder. My coat was covering my Colt, and my arm was blocking that as well.

“Yes. I took it off a gentleman who didn’t seem to want it anymore. Is there a place I can sell it or trade it?” I asked, thinking about the stores.

“The place for that is the sheriff’s office. He takes any extra guns. People around here are allowed one gun per household. Visitors are not allowed to carry guns,” she said.

“I see. Where is the sheriff’s office?” I was really feeling out of my depth. I hadn’t had this much interaction in my life. Suddenly, I was surrounded by rules and regulations and it just seemed nearly too much.

“Two buildings down, it’s across the street. Chances are good he’s heard of you by now, and is coming to see you,” she said.

Great. “Well, thanks for your help, and thanks for taking care of the kids,” I said, turning for the door.

“Thank you, for bringing them in. Good day.”

I left quickly, as the place was making me feel closed in. I needed the air and the sky to get my balance back.