Sometimes We Ran (Book 2): Community (2 page)

Claire and I began a search for any usable supplies. With most of the second floor and roof pancaked on the first floor, everything that might have been useful was buried. After a pass of the area, we started the task of searching the dead scattered around.

The mall had a few decomposing bodies lying on the damp floor. There had been a battle among the living, probably over supplies or shelter. Empty shotgun shells and rusty edged weapons lay among the bodies. Many of them were no more than clothes full of bones at this point. It was unpleasant and a little unsettling, but in desperate times like these, we couldn’t pass up any source for supplies.

Claire went off into some of the remaining stores to look around, while I handled the bodies in the mall area. I went about the job like an undertaker. Just turn the body over carefully and search any pockets or bags. Finish with one body and go to the next like an assembly line. Don’t look at the face or any personal items. Don’t get involved with their lives.

I looked at about eight bodies, but didn’t find much. In the pocket of one man, I found a few shotgun shells for my weapon. Some of the bodies were crushed beneath the debris, so they were skipped. I also skipped the kids and the strollers.

Just couldn’t bring myself to rifle through a dead kid’s pocket.

“Claire! Where are you?” I called out. My voice echoed through the piles of mall lying around.

“Over here, Tiger.” Claire emerged from one of the dark holes that had once been a store selling trendy clothing and handbags.

“Find anything?”

“Not much. Lots of moldy clothing and shoes.” She nodded to the store behind her. “Couple of bodies all lying in a circle back in there. Looks like some sort of mass suicide. Found a pistol on the floor.” Claire handed me a small, dirty revolver. The gun was complete, but was too dirty to use. All the chambers were empty.

I handed it back to Claire. “You can keep it, but it needs a lot of cleaning. Looks a little rusty. Needs bullets, too.”

“Nah. I’ll stick with my bat.” Claire threw the gun away, and added it to the debris of the dead mall.

We made our way to a safe and body-free store in the undamaged part of the mall. It was another outlet for shoes and handbags. Most of the stock was full of water and covered in green, fuzzy mold. Amazing how nature took over so fast. Claire and I walked inside, and I pulled down the anti-theft door to prevent any Red-Eyed mall occupants from surprising us in the night.

“I’m a little hungry. Let’s eat something,” I said.

“Okay.” Claire took off her backpack and walked over to the walls of handbags. She began to try some of them out. I guess you can take the girl out of the mall, but you can’t take the mall out of the girl.
“Find anything you like?” I unpacked our meager supplies: two cans of beef stew, one can of soup, and a package of unsalted crackers. We were running on empty.

“This one is kind of nice.” Claire held up a brown handbag with a trendy name. At the same time, she looked kind of sad. “God. Sometimes I really miss shopping.” She tossed the three hundred dollar leather bag into the nearest corner and sat down with a sigh.

I opened the crackers and handed her a few. I sat down beside her, and we ate in silence for a while. We’ll eat a few crackers tonight, and save the canned food for another time. Crackers and water. I guess it was better than nothing.

Claire broke the silence. “Not much food left, huh?”

“We’ll be okay. We just have to find some more. Until then, we’ll ration.” I tried to sound hopeful.

“We’ve been rationing for a few weeks, and haven’t found anything.” Claire turned to face me. “Running out of water, too. We have to face facts, John. We are getting weaker, and we are not finding any food. We’re going to starve to death, aren’t we?”

I was surprised by Claire’s frankness. Usually she was in a better mood. Maybe she was tired of it all.
“Listen. We’ll be okay. We’ve gotten lucky before. Maybe there’s a store, or a truck around with some food and water,” I said, still trying to sound hopeful. Claire was right though. Food and water were getting harder to find, and we were getting weaker. I thought it was just my imagination, but I’d noticed recently that I was getting tired and run-down. Claire, who was a lot smaller than me, must be running on empty by now. If the zombies didn’t get us, starvation or thirst would take us right out.

Claire lay down on the floor, using her backpack as a pillow. It might have been the awful yellow light in the broken mall, but she looked pale, wasted, and very thin. “I think we need to go our separate ways,” she said weakly.

I could not believe what I heard. “No way. We’ll stay together.”

Claire bounced up to a sitting position. ”It makes sense. I’m thinner than you. I’m fading faster. Soon, I’ll be slowing you down. It would be easier to find food for just one person anyway.”

My stomach roiled with rage. I grabbed her shoulders. “How can you even think I could abandon you? Just walk away? After all the crap we’ve been through, you want to go it alone?”

Claire looked at me, her ice-blue eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I think this is it. I don’t see us going on much longer.” She broke down and started to cry. Both of us had been crying more often these days.

I put my arms around her. I silently cursed the virus, parasite, fungus, or terrorist that caused this nightmare. Claire was young. She should be graduating from college, meeting a nice boy, and getting some cool job to pay for her student loans.

She should be shopping in a mall for handbags.

Claire composed herself. “I’m sorry. I guess it’s the starvation talking. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Me neither.” I moved some slightly greasy auburn hair out of her eyes. The tears had made tracks on her dirty face. We both needed a good bath. “I know where there might be some food,” I said.

“Where?”

I looked at the ground, and said softly, “Up on the interstate. There still might be a truck or two left.”

“Wait a minute, Tiger.” Claire looked me in the eyes. “You said the interstate was a bad idea. Too many zombies.”

“Yeah, well…desperate times. I think it’s time I took a look. Tomorrow, I’ll find the nearest on-ramp and raid a few trucks. You stay here and hold down the fort.”

Claire was going to argue. “The hell with that. You out risking your life while I stay in this blasted-out creepy mall? No freaking way. I’m going.”

I let out a long sigh. “I knew you were going to say that. Okay. We’ll go together.”

I pulled out a map of the area, and Claire and I started planning tomorrow’s mission to find food. As we discussed our options, the sun went down. The ruined mall grew darker and scarier. Claire was right. The place was damn creepy.

“Looks pretty clear, Tiger.” Claire handed me the binoculars so that I could take a look at the highway overpass.

Claire and I had hiked a few miles out of town, away from the doomed mall that had been our stop for the night. Now we were crouched in a gas station looking over our objective: a highway overpass. We needed to get to the ramp, get on the overpass, find any supplies, and then get the heck off the highway before anything tried to kill us. The highways were nasty. The undead liked to hang out on the overpasses and hunt down any unfortunate survivors looking for supplies. It was usually a good idea to stay off the interstates, but Claire and I were desperate. We had to find water, at least.

I scanned our objective from one side to another. There had been a bad wreck, and cars and trucks were scattered haphazardly on the road. It was hard to see if anything was moving, but Claire might be right. It looked clear.

“Interstate 20,” I said, reading the signs. “We must be near the Alabama border.” Claire and I switched from our usual westerly direction to traveling south to try and find some warmer temperatures for the winter. “Let’s give it a try. Looks like we found a couple of trucks.” I carefully packed away my binoculars, and we started our walk to the on-ramp. Claire and I went from car to car, trying to stay under cover in case anything was watching from above. Soon we were standing at the beginning of the on-ramp that went up to the highway.

It was the usual apocalypse parking lot. I could see a wreck at the top of the ramp that paralyzed traffic and caused everybody to abandon their cars. There were a few bodies scattered on the ramp. During the worst part of the zombie swarms, highways became feeding grounds.

I looked down at Claire and drew my shotgun. I needed a little more muscle than my handgun for the on-ramp. There could be a swarm of Red-Eyes on the highway. “Ready, kiddo?”

“Yeah.” Claire gripped her bat tightly.

We started up the ramp, with Claire slightly in the lead. The silent, dusty cars were the only witnesses to our passing. We didn’t stop to look. Just quick glances to make sure nothing was waiting inside to reach out and grab us. The cars were time capsules, frozen at the time of the outbreak. Many of the vehicles were packed to the gills with personal items that people grabbed when they tried to escape the undead hordes. Your whole life, packed into a minivan.

As we got closer to the end of the ramp, the accident scene came into view. The pattern of the cars on the ramp began to break up and become more chaotic. I caught a quick scent of death, and my head went on a swivel. Zombies could be near.

Claire stopped. I almost ran over her.

“Oh God,” she whispered under her breath.

We had come upon a feeding ground. In a small clearing surrounded by a circle of wrecked and burned cars, were piles of half-eaten bodies, dried blood, and dead zombies. There were even a few dogs scattered around on the ground. The blood had splattered on the cars and ground had turned a rusty brown with time. The survivors had put up a fight; improvised weapons and a few guns were scattered among the piles of bones and decaying corpses. I felt what little food that was in my stomach jump up and prepare to leave.

Claire turned a little green. ”I think I’m going to throw up.” She dropped her bat and turned away. I stood in horror, unable to turn away. The worst was the children’s bodies in the car. They had locked themselves in while the parents fought for the lives of their families.

They fought and died while their children watched.

I finally found Claire behind me, leaning over a little patch of grass. I picked up her bat, walked over, and put a hopefully reassuring hand on her back. “You okay?” I asked. The question seemed so inadequate sometimes.

Claire stood up, and took her bat. She didn’t throw up, but was still a little pale. “Yeah…just hate finding this kind of crap.” She pointed at the terrible scene with her bat. “You would think we’d be used to stuff like this by now.”

I silently disagreed. I would never get used to all the horror of the road. “We’ll call it off and try another ramp.”

Claire wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “No…no, we need to go on. I’m okay. Let’s go.”

We quickly made our way past the gore and ran onto the highway. Carefully, and as quietly as possible, we made for the nearest truck that looked like it might have something inside. Our steps quickened as we approached the end of the truck. I prayed something inside might keep us alive.

The first truck was empty. Nothing but broken pallets and bubble wrap littered the floor of the trailer.

“Dammit,” Claire said under her breath.

“Let’s try that one.” I said, pointing at the next truck down the road. It had been in an accident, nearly jackknifing on the overpass. The trailer was twisted slightly at an odd angle. We ran at a slight jog to the door. It was closed, which was a good sign. I opened it up and looked inside the dark trailer. The smell of dead body wafted out lightly and enveloped us. Claire and I looked at each other. Something horrible could be curled up inside, waiting for us.

“I’ll check it out,” Claire said. Before I could argue, she hoisted herself up into the trailer and headed inside. She disappeared into the darkness, with bat ready.

After what seemed like an eternity, I called into the blackness of the truck. “What’s going on in there? Did you find anything?”

After a short pause, which caused me to break out into a cold sweat, she finally answered. “I’m all right. The smell was the driver, I guess. His body is at the front. Come on in…I found something.”

I climbed into the trailer and was greeted by a wonderful sight. One pallet of multicolored bottles of thirst-quencher-type drinks, still wrapped in plastic, and a half a pallet of bottled water. Another pallet of canned food had been broken up and mostly raided, but a few spare cans were spilled on the floor of the trailer. Claire stood at the water pallet, smiling from ear to ear. “You were right, Tiger.”

I already had my knife out and was cutting the plastic wrap on the bottled drinks. I grabbed two lemon-lime colored beauties, pulled them out, and tossed one to Claire. We cracked them open and managed to set an all-time record for the least time required to down a twenty-ounce bottle of liquid. Without even a slight pause, we opened two more. Orange, this time. They went down just as fast. I don’t think we realized how dehydrated we were.

After our thirst was satisfied, we sank down to the floor. Claire wiped her mouth, and let out a little belch. “Excuse me, but damn, that’s good.”

“You said it.” I could actually feel my body re-hydrating as it soaked up the liquid. A little energy began to return. “These are pretty powerful drinks.”

“Yeah.” Claire looked a lot better. “I’m probably going to pee for a week, though.” She giggled a little bit. She gathered up a few of the spilled cans of food, and read a few of the labels. “Hmm…mostly fruit cocktail and pears. Wish it was better.”

“That’s okay. Pears and fruit will keep us going for a while.” I crammed a few cans of pears in my backpack. Claire did the same. There was life-giving fluid in the fruit too.

We sat back and relaxed for a minute. I caught sight of two boots jutting out from behind some packing material. “I guess that’s the driver,” I said.

Claire looked at poor devil in the corner. “Yeah. I guess so. Wonder what happened?”

I rubbed my tired eyes. “Probably locked himself in here to escape from the undead. Maybe he killed himself.”

“Tough way to go.” Claire took another swig of her drink. ”Should we check out a few more trucks?”

“Let’s do it. I would like to find some more substantial food than just canned fruit. We’ll check out a few cars, too.” My confidence was slowly returning.

“Sounds good,” Claire said, grabbing her bat.

We took a few more bottles of water and food in our backpacks, and made our way to the door. I made a mental note of the truck’s location if we needed it later. Claire reached the door first, then froze in place. “We’re in trouble.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

I heard a commotion outside the truck. When I joined Claire in the doorway, I knew we had a problem. What I saw made my heart sink to my feet. There were about a dozen Red-Eyes picking their way through the wrecked cars and trucks. They were headed our way from the direction of the on-ramp that we had just used to get into this mess.

We had to run. Claire and I hit the ground at full speed. We were going up the highway away from the zombies, headed west I think. As we ran, another problem cropped up. More Red-Eyes, coming the other way, blocked our escape. We stopped in our tracks. Claire and I were surrounded by undead on two sides, with a long drop off the overpass as an alternative.

“Now what?” Claire yelled over the moaning corpses.

I looked around in a state of panic. We had nowhere to go. Soon the zombies would get through the wreckage and overrun us. Claire and I were trapped on the overpass. All of a sudden, it was a bad situation.

I drew my handgun. “We’ll have to fight our way through,” I said. “We’ll take out the ones ahead of us on the highway, make a hole, and run like hell, okay?” It was a lot of Red-Eyes to fight while running, but we had done it before. Success wasn’t guaranteed, but we had a chance.

She took my hand. “Okay.” A faint smile crossed her lips.

We turned west, toward the zombies that were now making their way trough the wreckage. They stepped over each other to get to us. The dozen or so behind us were also getting close to getting through. They looked hungry. Claire and I may have been the first prey on the highway in weeks.

“Ready?” Claire nodded. We took a few steps with our weapons - my gun and Claire’s trusty bat raised. The battle for our survival had begun yet again.

Then the world exploded.

The ground shook as someone or something started shooting a very large and loud weapon. Claire and I hit the ground and tried to make ourselves as small as possible. My ears rang from all the noise. Claire was yelling directly at me, but her voice was muffled. We both dove for cover behind a nearby silver sedan.

From our hiding place, I took in the destruction. Most of the first group of Red-Eyes coming from behind us was splattered all over the interstate. The remainder had their legs and arms blown off and were now crawling around trying to escape the rain of hot lead. As I began to wonder what happened, the mystery weapon spoke again in its loud voice.

This attack was directed at the other group of Red-Eyes which had been approaching from the other direction - the ones we were all set to run through to freedom. It had been a more complete attack. The Red-Eyes that had been coming through the wreckage were disintegrated. Nothing remained. The zombie threat had been eliminated. My ears began to clear up so Claire’s voice became clearer.

“What the hell happened?” she said, looking around. Small bits of insulation and debris, stirred up in all the gunfire, were settling in her hair like fine gray snow.

Before I could answer, I heard a strange noise behind us on the highway. It was a noise I hadn’t heard in a great while. It sounded like a big diesel engine with turbos winding up. Gears changed, and the sound rose and fell as the vehicle approached. It was a large, rectangular, off-white truck with six big wheels. It had a metal plow-like device attached to the front. Painted on the side was “UN” in big black letters, crossed out in spray paint. As it approached, a mount on the roof, loaded with a very sinister-looking large caliber machine gun, folded itself down and disappeared. The zombie-killer had done a good job.

Instead of stopping at the vehicular carnage on the overpass, it crashed right through. The plow in front cut through cars like they were children’s toys. Claire and I cringed as several Red-Eyes were run over without remorse. The odd-looking vehicle rolled onto the overpass and stopped, air brakes screeching in protest.

Nothing happened at first. “These guys sure know how to make an entrance,” Claire said.

“Yeah. It’s marked for the United Nations,” I said. “Didn’t know they had trucks like these. I wasn’t aware that peacekeepers needed zombie-destroying, roof-mounted guns.”

We stood there for a few more seconds. Our saviors just sat there, diesel engine burbling at idle. Something was about to happen. I could feel it. For a moment, I thought maybe Claire and I should run away.

A door opened from the side, and several uniformed troops poured out. They were in city camo, with American flags, helmets, and gas masks. All carried serious looking rifles. It was an army straight out of the end of the world. They went from car to car, taking positions and eliminating remaining zombies. One of the soldiers had a small radio, and seemed to be talking to headquarters.

Claire and I walked to a clear spot on the overpass to meet the soldiers. One approached me. He looked like the squad leader. His gun was down, but ready. I extended my hand in friendship.

“Thanks, guys. You came -,” I started to say.

“Hands up!” The soldier raised his gun.

We stood dumbfounded at the command. “Hands up! Now!” the soldier said, with a little more anger in his voice. Claire and I obeyed.

“Have you been bitten?” he barked at us. We shook our heads no in unison. He turned and waved two more soldiers in our direction. “Search them. Make it snappy. We’ve got to get outta here.”

The two soldiers started to search us. They took our weapons and went about searching our pockets and bodies for more. After that, they lifted our shirts and checked our stomachs and backs for zombie bites. They also checked our arms and legs. We didn’t resist. I think we were in shock. “All clear, sir!” one of the soldiers said to his superior.

“Get them in the truck.” He turned to his squad. “We are moving out. Let’s go!”

The squad started back to the truck. One of the soldiers nodded his head towards us and said, ”Let’s go.”

Claire and I obeyed. At least we weren’t in handcuffs. Claire looked at me and started to say something, but I put my finger to my lips to tell her to stay quiet. No sense volunteering any information about us. Besides, they had a lot of weapons, including a nasty one attached to the roof of their vehicle.