Glory (Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter 4

It didn't take long for Adam and Shelly to walk down the stairwell. Adam felt much better about it this time too. He wasn't as nervous. Sure, he kept expecting something to pop out and grab at him. And he still wasn't sure where Sam had run off to
.
That man was a threa
t
. But it felt a lot better having company; even if it was an eleven year old girl.

Adam pushed open the door and they came out onto the street. It was bright and he had to cover his eyes. More than that, he had to cover his nose and mouth.

"It smells...sour," he said.

Shelly had covered her nose and mouth as well.

"What is it?" she asked.

Adam looked out in front him. The dead lay everywhere. Most of their limbs had been torn from their bodies and scattered about. Stomachs were pulled open. Necks ripped. Blood was everywhere.

"That," Adam said. He pointed at the mess.

Shelly looked at it. Absorbing it all. Relating it to the death of her own parents.

Adam looked at her. He should have known better than to point out the carnage to her. He just hadn't been thinking.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"I would have seen it anyway. And…I saw my parents."

Adam thought of the bloody room upstairs. He couldn't believe what Shelly had witnessed.

"You know," he said. "The worst thing I saw at your age was a dead cat. It had been run over by a car. It's head was splattered..."

He stopped speaking. Shelly was looking up at him, sadly.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I wasn't thinking again."

She smiled weakly. "Don't worry about it."

They both continued to look out over the dead bodies. Then Shelly grabbed Adam's hand.

"We should go," she said.

"You're right," he said. "Let's get out of here."

*

Adam and Shelly walked along the city streets. They couldn't believe how many bodies were lying around everywhere. All brutally killed.

"What do you think happened?" Shelly asked.

"I don't know," Adam admitted. "Does it matter?"

"I guess not. I was just curious. What do you think it could've been?"

Adam wasn't sure that he wanted to talk about it. He had no idea what could have caused such a thing to happen. Plus, he wanted to keep his mind focused on the street, on any danger that loomed near.

"You have no idea?" Shelly continued.

"It was probably something to do with the government," Adam finally offered.

"Like a gas or something they created?"

"Yeah, like that."

"I saw that in a movie once," Shelly said. "All of these people had changed into these crazy zombies and started killing everyone. They would eat them once they were dead."

Adam turned to look at her.

"You saw that?" he asked. "You're too young to be watching movies like that."

She smirked. "Yeah, I guess so." After a pause she added: "It was a lot less worse than this."

"I guess you're right about that."

Adam put his hand back up to cover his nose and mouth. They were coming upon another bad smelling area. Every so often the smell dissipated, but it always came back.

When they passed through it, he turned to the young girl. "What d
o
yo
u
think it was?" he asked.

"Aliens?" she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Really? You believe in that stuff?"

"Not really," she admitted. "But it might be as good an explanation as any. Or maybe it was something natural."

"What do you mean 'natural'? Something already within us?"

"That's possible, I guess. What I meant was something that came out of the Earth. Like the gas that we were talking about. But not created by the government. Something that just existed and finally came out."

Again, Adam was impressed by Shelly's ideas. They sounded plausible enough.

"Maybe," he said. He was sure that they'd never really know the answer.

Shelly shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, maybe," she agreed.

The two continued to walk.

*

Before they got much further, Adam stopped and put his hand on Shelly's arm. The action startled her, but she didn't pull away. She knew that he had seen something serious. She paused to look at him.

Adam put his finger to his lips. He motioned for them to crouch down by a car.

Once they were there, he whispered, "Don't move."

Shelly looked around. She didn't know what had gotten him so worried.

"What is it?" she asked.

He put his finger back to his lips. "Over there," he whispered. With his other hand, he pointed down the street.

There was a man, stumbling around the dead bodies. From this distance, it was difficult to know if it was one of the creatures or not. But it was always better to be careful.

They watched the man move around. His feet stepped over the bodies. He kicked a few of them as he passed. Then he stopped. His head swivelled from side to side. He seemed to be listening for something.

Adam and Shelly each held their breath and waited.

The man let out a wild howl.

It was one of the creatures, after all.

Adam continued to keep his finger pressed to his lips, even though Shelly didn't have any intention of talking. He motioned for her to stay still. She hadn't even thought of moving, either.

The creature continued to scream. It raised its fists into the air and starting thrashing them about wildly. Then he fell on top of one of the bodies and began beating it. His fists crashed down. Adam and Shelly could hear the thumps against the dead flesh.

Neither Adam or Shelly knew what to do. They were both terrified and wanted to run, but they knew that that would attract the creature. They could probably make it into one of the buildings. Though it would be risky. What if the door was locked? Or if there were some other creatures in there. All of the alternatives seemed bleak.

They decided to sit it out and watch.

The creature continued bashing away on the corpse. When it stopped, it lowered its hands into the corpse and began pulling out its insides. Neither Adam and Shelly had ever seen intestines before, but they knew that that's what was coming out of the dead body.

The creature put it into his mouth and began chewing. Blood ran down his chin and covered his cheeks. His white face was soon completely dark. He continued to eat.

Adam felt like covering Shelly's eyes. She shouldn't be seeing this. Unfortunately, he didn't want to make any motions that would attract the creature. Besides, she had seen worse
-
she had seen her dead parent
s
.

"What should we do?" Shelly asked quietly.

Adam looked around the area. He really didn't know.

"We should wait," he guessed.

Shelly nodded her head and looked back that the creature. It continued to eat, the intestines wrapping themselves over its shoulders.

"It'll be okay," he assured her. They both knew that it was an empty promise. There wasn't much that they would be able to do if the creature were to attack. Sure, they could fight back. But that definitely didn't mean that things would b
e
oka
y
.

Then Adam thought about the gun. It was in his backpack, unloaded. He didn't know much about it and he didn't want to have to use it, but in situations like this he didn't have a choice. The only problem was that he couldn't take it out now
.
How stupid of him
!
He'd make sure to take it out once they got out of this..
.
if they got out of thi
s
.

The creature kept on eating. And, before long, it stopped. It looked around, listening again. It frightened Adam and Shelly because they hadn't heard a thing.

The creature continued to search around before it stood up. It lifted its head back, screamed and started to run. It headed straight toward the car where Adam and Shelly were hiding.

"Damn," Adam breathed.

The two wanted to run, except they still didn't know where they would go. They stuck to their positions and watched the creature as it approached. It didn't seem to be looking at them. But it was still coming on.

"Get ready to run," Adam said.

"Where?"

"I don't know. Just follow me."

"Maybe it'd be best if we split up. It couldn't follow both of us."

"No," Adam said, a little more forcefully than he had meant to. "We stick together." He grabbed Shelly's hand.

The creature came closer, its arms swinging wildly above its head.

Closer...

Closer...

It passed by the car.

The creature continued to yell as it ran off down one of the streets. It hadn't seen Adam and Shelly after all.

They both let loose a sigh of relief. Yet neither of them could move. Adam's hand was clutched tightly around the young girl's. He looked down and noticed it.

"I'm sorry," he said, releasing his grip.

Shelly looked down at her hand. She could see white strips where his fingers had been squeezing her.

"It's okay," she said. "I hadn't noticed."

Finally, they both stood up.

"I think it's okay now," Adam said.

"Maybe not 'okay', but at least tha
t
thin
g
is gone."

Adam nodded. She was right about that.

"Let's get going," he said.

This time, Shelly grabbe
d
hi
s
hand. And the two continued on their way.

Chapter 5

Adam and Shelly walked for a few hours and still hadn't managed to get out of the city. They had a long way to go. And it was going to get dark soon.

"We should find some place to stay the night," Adam said.

Shelly looked around. They had moved into a more residential area. They were no longer surrounded by large buildings, but by old beautiful houses.

"What about over there?" she said. She pointed to a nice red brick house. There was white trimming around all of the windows. Somewhat like a cake.

"Okay," Adam said. "But we'll have to be careful."

It seemed like a pointless thing to say. Of course they had to be careful. They hadn't run into any of the creatures since the afternoon, but they were always looking around, being watchful.

The two walked over to the old house and stopped at the front porch.

"We should check around it, just to make sure everything's okay," Shelly suggested.

Adam nodded his head.

Neither of them liked being outside. It wasn't necessarily any more dangerous than going into a strange house. But there was something about being in the open that didn't feel safe. Now that it was starting to get dark, it felt even worse.

Adam took hold of Shelly's hand.

"Follow me." He led her to the side of the house. There was a tiny alley between the house and the one beside it. They stood looking down it. "Come on."

They started to walk slowly, both keeping watch in every direction. They searched up and down the walls. Their eyes scanned forward and back. They made sure not to talk or make a sound so they could hear everything.

Once they made it to the backyard, they found that it was guarded by a mesh fence. Adam opened the latch and the gate swung open. It screeched loudly. They both paused and took a few deep breaths. When they decided that it was okay to move on, they went into the backyard.

It was large. And gorgeous. There was so much green grass, freshly cut. There was a patio table and chairs. There was even a little bird bath in the middle of the lawn. Two birds were sitting on it.

"It's wonderful," Shelly said, smiling.

Adam nodded his head in agreement. At the same time, he couldn't deny that something didn't feel right. He just could figure out what that something might be. The two continued to walk around to the back.

"None of the windows are broken," Shelly said. She was pointing to the windows at the back of the house. It was a little sunroom.

"They weren't broken out front, either" Adam said.

They kept walking and made it around the whole of the house. They stopped at the front porch again.

"What do you think?" Shelly asked.

"It looks okay," Adam said
.
But there was still something strange about it.

"Should we go in?"

Adam looked at the girl and nodded his head. "I guess so," he said. "But we have to be careful."

Shelly chuckled. "You don't have to keep telling me that, you know."

Adam could feel his face turn red. "I just don't want anything to happen to you," he admitted.

"Thank you." She squeezed his hand.

Adam led Shelly up the front porch. Their feet sounded loud against the wood, even though they tried to remain quiet. They went straight to the front door and Adam put his hand on the door knob. Shelly stopped him before he had a chance to open it.

"Maybe we should look in the windows first," she said.

"In the windows?"

"Yeah, we should look in them. Make sure that there are none of thos
e
thing
s
inside."

Adam let go of the door knob. It was a good idea. One that he probably should have thought of.

He walked to the front window. Shelly followed him. They paused before they looked inside.

Adam peered down at his companion. "Ready?"

"Uh-huh."

They looked in the window. Everything inside was in perfect order. There was a television. A bookcase. A desk. A sofa. A chair. None of it had been disturbed.

"It looks fine," Shelly said. "I don't think there's anyone in there."

Adam agreed.

They went back to the front door. Once more, Adam grabbed the door knob and turned it.

It wouldn't move. He let out a sigh.

"I should have known," he said.

"Known what?"

"It's locked."

"So, what do we do now?"

"We could break the window."

Shelly shook her head. "What? Here? I don't think that's a good idea."

"What else can we do?"

"We can go around back. At least there's a fence back there, it'll give us some cover."

"You're right," Adam said; again, a bit bothered that he hadn't thought of it.

"But we'll have to be careful," Shelly added.

A chuckle came to his lips. "Of course."

The two made their way around to the back of the house. They weren't as nervous doing it the second time. They came up to the sunroom.

"We'll just have to break this small window near the door knob," Adam said.

"Just be quick about it," Shelly said, looking out around the backyard, making sure that there weren't any of the creatures around.

Adam moved closer to the window and picked up a small shovel from the garden. He turned it around so that the wooden handle was facing the window.

"You'll have to stand back."

Shelly did as she was told.

Then, without taking any time to second guess himself, he smashed the window. There was a loud crash and the window fell to the floor, making a soft tinkling sound as it did.

Both Adam and Shelly paused. Every time they made a sound, they expected the worse. They waited to hear the screaming, the rushing of feet, an attack.

Nothing.

Adam reached in and unlocked the door. They quickly made their way into the sunroom and shut the door behind them.

Inside, the room was very quiet. A strange sort of quiet. As though all of the sound had been vacuumed out of it.

Adam and Shelly looked at each other. He couldn't mask his feeling of apprehension any longer. He kept feeling as though something wasn't right. He just didn't know what it was. Maybe he was expecting to be attacked at any moment. Maybe there was someone waiting for him on the other side of the door
.
He just didn't kno
w
. He tried to wish it away.

He walked over to the back door of the house and tried the door knob. As with the others, it was locked.

"I'll have to break this window too," he said.

He raised the small shovel again and smashed it through the window. There was another loud crash and more tinkling as the window broke inward and came down upon the kitchen floor.

Adam had to stand on the tips of his toes this time to reach in through the window. It was difficult for him to make out much on the other side. But he didn't have a choice. He put his hand through the broken window and began to search for the lock. His fingers searched rapidly over the door. All the while, he felt as though something was going to grab him at any moment. He knew that something was going to...

His fingers came upon the lock. He twisted it and heard it click. He quickly pulled back his hand and turned the door handle. The door swung open.

Adam stuck his head inside and took a look around. He couldn't see any of the creatures. He couldn't hear them, either.

"I think it's safe," he said.

Adam and Shelly entered.

Then Adam held his hand up to stop Shelly from moving in any further.

"Wait a minute," he said

"What is it?"

"Just listen."

Aside from the usual hisses and creaks, there was nothing out of the ordinary in the house.

"I think it's okay," Shelly said.

"I don't know," Adam said. He still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.

They went in anyway and closed the door behind them. Adam locked it.

Slowly, they walked into the living room. They could see the big bay window standing before them.

"I really don't think anyone is here," Shelly said. "Maybe the owners were out when everything happened."

Adam shrugged. It was still possible. But there was still that nagging suspicion.

Then it hit him. Adam knew why it felt strange. They were in a house that he knew was safe. And, while that was good, over the past little while Adam had come to expect only bad things. It was a strange feeling to be wrong about that.

*

Adam and Shelly checked the house. They walked up and down the hallways. They looked in all of the rooms. There was no one else around. For the moment, they were safe.

They walked into the kitchen. Both were hungry and needed something to eat. It had been a long day.

Adam opened the refrigerator. It was no longer cold, but he could see that most of the food was still okay.

"Here's some juice," he said. "And some apples."

Shelly looked over. She had been looking through some of the cabinets.

"I've found some cereal and chips," she said. "A few other things too."

Adam pulled out the juice. He checked some of the other cabinets and found two glasses. He filled them.

"Here you go," he said, handing Shelly a glass.

She took it and drank it quickly. It was warm. Which didn't matter. It still tasted good.

Adam watched her drink, amazed at how quickly she finished. He laughed.

"Taste good?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, gasping.

"Want some more?"

"Yeah."

Adam laughed even more at this. He poured her another drink. Then he took a sip from his own glass. I
t
di
d
taste good. He decided to chug his quickly too.

This time, Shelly laughed at him.

"Taste good?" she asked.

Adam nodded his head.

"How about something to eat?" Shelly walked back over to the cabinets and pulled out a bag of pretzels.

Adam went over and took a handful. "We'll need to eat something better than this," he said. "Something with a little bit more nutrition."

Shelly agreed. But she dug her hand into the bag and pulled out a handful anyway.