Innocence Lost

Copyright ©2014, 2015 T.A. Williams

All rights reserved by the author. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted by any means without the written consent of the author

To My Fans,

Thank you to everyone who took a chance on an unknown series written by an unknown author. Your words of encouragement helped me get through the difficult times. This is for you.

In the cold morning light, Alec stood alone surrounded only by cars, his breath coming out in bone-white plumes. His tattered jeans allowed the cool wind to blow against his skin and his brown shirt, which had once been white, barely stood as a wind block. What had once been stubble on his chin had thickened into the beginnings of a beard, the only thing that kept him warm. It was cold now but Alec knew that soon the sun would rise above them and bring with it the heat of a spring that was on the verge of summer.

All around him were brand new cars, or what had once been brand new cars two years ago before the world went black. Where they had once stood glittering in the sun light as a beacon for would-be buyers, they were now faded, many of them on flat tires, most covered in bird shit. To the side of the road was a fleet of vehicles that were taking Alec, along with the remnants of a town, to a place of safety. That is if they could keep them gassed up and in running condition, which is how they had found themselves in the parking lot of the abandoned dealership.

Trevor made his way through the rows of cars toward him. The man’s face was haggard but his eyes were bright, even hopeful, and when he caught sight of Alec he smiled.

“They found it. Malcolm was right.”             

Malcolm had told them that every major car dealership had tanks of gas they used to fill up their own vehicles or ones they had just sold. It had been their last hope of finding enough gas; otherwise they were going to have to start abandoning vehicles and most were already full of people and supplies.

Trevor came up and rested against a car, and despite the cold air the man had a sheen of sweat across his forehead.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so much gas.” The man shook his head, still smiling, “Should be enough to fill everyone up and get us to your place without a problem.”

Alec felt the tension in his shoulders disappear. He had been mentally preparing himself that they were going to have to leave vehicles behind, which meant leaving supplies behind and they already didn’t have enough of those. His home was a safe place, at least a safer place than where these people had been, but he still wasn’t sure how they were going to have enough food for 30-plus people.

“That’s good to hear,” he said simply.

Trevor smiled as if he expected to hear so little.

The sun broke through the clouds for a second, sending a ray of sunshine onto the parking lot. The glare caused him to squint his eyes slightly but the warmth of it felt good.

“How’s Margie?” Alec asked.

The smile disappeared from Trevor’s face and he took on a blank expression. It was something that Alec had gotten used to seeing anytime Trevor was talking about someone he was treating.

“Physically, she is healing. She has no problem seeing out of both eyes, her nose is as set as it’s going to be, and,” Trevor stopped himself and searched for words, “and the damage she took from the…sexual assault isn’t extensive.”

Alec remembered the feeling he had when he realized he hadn’t been able to save her in time; he also remembered the feeling he had when he first saw her, rage mixed with helplessness. It was something he had felt a lot since the world went dark.

“What about mentally?”

“Those wounds are going to take much longer to heal. Malcolm is with her, he’s hardly left her side to be honest, but he’s watching after her. I know how to treat the physical wounds but I don’t have the foggiest of what to do about the mental and emotional ones.”

“I understand. All we can do is get her somewhere safe and be there for her.”

Trevor nodded. “I’m going to see if any of these trucks might still be in working order, we could use some more space.”

Alec watched Trevor walk off, the spring in his step clearly missing. He went in the opposite direction towards the back of the dealership with no clear destination in mind. He still hadn’t made up his mind on what he was going to do when he got home. Once he was reunited with Ben he needed to help the others get situated and comfortable but after that he wasn’t sure. Part of him still wanted to go back out in search of his sister, no matter how hopeless that seemed to be. He couldn’t leave Ben behind again but wasn’t comfortable bringing him out into the world. Alec had barely survived and he didn’t want to bring Ben into a dangerous situation.

Behind the dealership was a brick ledge about waist high, behind that were weeds that were even higher. Several dumpsters sat against the back of the building with the only other landmarks being the weeds that had managed to find their way out of cracks in the asphalt.

Alec heard rapid footsteps coming from behind but had assumed they were Trevor’s or one of the others’; it wasn’t until the impact that he realized they weren’t. The blow to his back sent pain shooting throughout his shoulder blades and he fell to the ground in a cry of pain. As quickly as he could, he rolled to his back and saw the cause of his pain, a wooden bat.

The man holding the bat was wild-eyed. He stood above him panting heavily; his dark and muddy clothes mixed with the dirt and grime all over his face gave him an almost other-worldly look.

“Why are you here? This is my territory. You can’t just come here. You need to leave.” The man’s voice was frantic, coming out in quick bursts.

Alec raised his hands causing the shooting pain to return to his shoulders. “We didn’t know this place was yours. We’ll leave.”

The man stared at him for a second as if he wasn’t able to comprehend what Alec had just said, and then he smiled showing a broken array of teeth.

“No, no, no, no. If I let you go then you will stay. You and your friends will stay and take my territory. I need you to be a scarecrow. Hang you up so all the other crows will stay away.”

“Listen-“ was all Alec could get out before the man swung the bat back down at him.

He instinctively held his hands out in front to block the blow and the bat struck his right wrist, knocking it to the side. Alec ignored the pain and attempted to roll to his feet when the bat connected with his side, causing the world to darken and for him to fall back to the ground. The man raised the bat again and as it came falling back down towards Alec he saw Trevor’s body slam into the man. The bat fell to one side and the men fell to the other.

Alec took in deep breaths, trying to withstand the pain and get to his feet. Trevor was on top of the man, raining down blows until one of the man’s wild throws connected with Trevor’s jaw. Trevor was stunned for a second and that was all the man needed in order to get on top of him. The man grabbed Trevor by the throat and was trying to slam his head against the ground.

Alec let out a scream in hopes of drowning out the pain and threw himself at the man. He fell on top of him, sending them rolling off of Trevor but also causing the pain in Alec’s ribs to magnify and his breath to disappear. Before he could collect himself, the man was on top of him and he felt the man’s dirty hands across his throat. His body called out for air but the man’s hands refused to let them in. Alec reached out with one hand and grabbed the man’s throat, but the man used his shoulder to knock his hand off. Alec then reached up in an attempt to pry off the man’s hands but he was too strong. The world again began to gradually darken and Alec stopped fighting. Then, just like that, the man’s hands were gone and the air he had so desperately been seeking came flooding in all at once.

Alec rolled over on his side and allowed the world to come back into focus. The pain in his ribs was joined by a sharp pain across his throat, but he was alive. Realizing that he had no idea where the man was, he pushed himself back up against the building ready for a fight. Instead of the man standing above him he saw the man lying on the ground bleeding from the head, Trevor stood to the side with the bat in his hand.

“Are you ok?”

It took Alec a second to realize Trevor was talking to him, he nodded. Already Trevor’s right eye was beginning to swell. From around the corner a number of their group, including Malcolm, came into view.

An older woman named Beverly ran to Alec’s said and helped him up.

“What happened?” Malcolm asked.

Trevor still hadn’t been able to catch his breath; his words came out in gasps. “I heard Alec yell, then saw this guy attacking him with this bat.”

The man moaned and curled up in a ball on the ground. His entire head was covered in blood and a puddle was beginning to pool around him.

“Jesus, that looks bad” Beverly said looking away.

“I….I’ve got to help him.” Trevor said taking a few steps forward.

“What they hell are you doing?” Malcolm yelled. “He just tried to kill both of you, don’t help him.”

“I did this.” Trevor said.

“To protect yourself.” Malcolm said simply. “You defended yourself, you didn’t attack him.”

“Daddy, what happened?” Jamie, Trevor’s daughter, stood there staring at the ever-growing pool of blood around the injured man.

Trevor ran to her and turned her away. He started to lead her away then stopped and turned to Alec. “If we leave him here like this then he will probably die.”

Alec watched as the man curled up even tighter into a ball, his face now nothing but blood. Alec’s shoulder blades ached, his ribs radiated pain, and it still felt as if the man’s hands were across his throat. He thought back to the men who attacked his family, to the men who had attacked him and left him for dead, and lastly the men who had destroyed the town most of these people were from. There would always be people like this, people that attacked and destroyed other people’s lives.

Alec turned to Malcolm and the others. “Get the rest of the gas and let’s get back on the road.”

Trevor stopped again and made eye contact with him. The man’s eyes asked him to reconsider. Alec broke eye contact and walked past him. There was one less person that could hurt his family.

Ben

              He didn’t know what to say.

              They sat in the middle of a giant parking lot. Weeds had broken through most of the asphalt so there was green mixed in with tufts of blackened asphalt as far as the eye could see. In the center was an old shopping center that had all but fallen in on itself. There was no need to even check; Ben knew it had been thoroughly looted. A few cars littered the giant lot. That was why they were there.

              Ben stood to the side as Mason siphoned gas from one of the cars into an old faded gas container. The man said nothing to him, he hadn’t said much to him in a while and Ben knew why. He was upset because Ben had stowed away in his truck. He couldn’t make him understand that he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t sit around in that abandoned house doing nothing.

              The sound of sloshing liquid petered out into a dribble. Ben looked over: barely a gallon. Mason had siphoned every car in the parking lot and they barely had a gallon to show for it.

              “Dammit!” Mason shouted as he tossed the small tube to the side and kicked the tire of the car. The man took a few steps as if he was going to walk away and stopped.

              Once again Ben didn’t know what to say.

              “Mason,” he started, then stopped. The man didn’t move, didn’t say anything. “Is there anything I can do?”

              Mason shook his head. “No, Ben. There isn’t anything you can do.” he said softly.

              He grabbed the gas container and made his way to the old beat up truck. Ben picked up the tube that Mason used to siphon gas and followed quietly. At least Mason didn’t sound mad anymore.

              Ben watched as Mason poured the small amount of gas into the truck followed by a few drops of liquid from a bottle he had in his backpack.

              “What’s that?” Ben asked.

              “It treats the fuel,” Mason said, wiping sweat from his brow. “Gas breaks down over time, most of this gas is probably to the point where it’s barely usable.”

              “So it repairs the gas?”

              “More like it helps the truck use it. Pretty soon most of this gas will be too degraded for vehicles to use.”

              “Then what?” Ben asked.

              “Then we better get used to walking.” Mason said, throwing the container into the back of the truck.

              They both got into the hot truck and just sat there.

              “Ben.” Mason started and stopped, resting his head back on the headrest.

              “I’m sorry.” It was the first time Ben had said that.

              “No, you’re not.”

              He was right.

              “I don’t know if I have enough gas to rendezvous with my squad, let alone take you home and head back here.” Mason looked to Ben; his face was like stone. “You’ve been through some shit in life, especially in the last two years, I’m not denying that. But you heard what came over that radio. We’re at war, and you don’t have any idea what that means.”

              “I kno-“

              Mason raised his hand and stopped him. “This isn’t a movie or a video game. I’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan, I’ve been to war zones, and honestly this is different. This isn’t some far off place, this is our home. I don’t know who we’re fighting, I don’t know where they are at, and I don’t know what they are capable of. This was going to be difficult enough without….a civilian in tow.”

              Ben sat forward not making a sound.

              “You’re going with me to meet up with my squad. Then we are going to the closest base and I’m going to find someone to take you home.”

              Ben looked to Mason to argue but the man’s already hardened features were down right terrifying, so he said nothing.

              Mason’s face softened slightly. “I don’t expect you to understand Ben. You can be mad at me, you can hate me, but this is what’s best for you and your family.” He started up the truck and it lurched forward towards the road.

              Ben watched as the landscape passed by his window. He had been on the verge of speaking but had held himself back. Mason wanted what was best for him, that he understood, but Ben was almost certain he no longer had a family.