The Survivor Chronicles (Book 3): The Forsaken (21 page)

"Good luck in there," Carl told him and moved away from the gate.

"Maybe we should stay," Mary Ellen said.

Carl shook his head and looked back toward the gates. "It's only a matter of time before the sick ones try to overrun them. It's probably better if we get into less populated areas if we can."

"He's right," Peter said. "Besides who do you think those people in there will feed to those things first the next time they break in? Their neighbors or the strangers they took in for the night?"

Mary Ellen shuddered at the thought as Donald turned to stare at Peter in disbelief. "You're very cynical."

"I'm practical," Peter retorted. "It would serve you all better if you were the same way."

Mary Ellen didn't know how to respond to that so she focused on Carl again. "Are we going to keep going?"

Carl tore his gaze away from Peter as he looked back at her. "I don't think we have any other choice. I really think John's right about them trying to herd us somewhere. You didn't see them in that grocery store, they're cunning. More cunning then us I think." That certainly wasn't a comforting realization, Mary Ellen thought. "Or at least we don't know how to think like cannibalistic madmen."

"Let's hope that we never do either," Mary Ellen said before slipping back into the car.

She closed the door as Donald shifted into reverse and pulled out before the truck began to move. Peter sat back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest as he stared out the window. The homes gave way, the bodies became fewer and farther between as warehouses and stores rose up around them. She was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic as she stared at the brick buildings looming over them.

"This is bull, we should have gone back," Peter muttered from the backseat.

"We've managed to stay alive so far, I think we'll be ok," Mary Ellen said but she wasn't sure she believed it even as she said it.

Carl made a right onto another road that led them through more warehouses. She thought she saw some movement in one of the windows but when she turned to look there was nothing there. That didn't mean anything though; she'd seen just how fast those things could move. Her hands fisted on her thighs as they drove across an overpass.

Beneath the overpass railroad tracks crisscrossed the land. When the car made it to the middle of the bridge, she spotted some of
those
people sitting on the tracks, picking at their skin and hair. Most of them didn't acknowledge the presence of the vehicles but a girl, no older than six or seven, turned her head to look up at them. The shadows under her eyes made them appear twice as large as the girl idly pulled at her hair. Watching them, Mary Ellen knew why Al called them The Lost Souls, there seemed to be nothing within them anymore.

Mary Ellen didn't realize she was crying until Donald rested his hand on her arm. "Are you ok?"

She swallowed heavily and wiped at her eyes. "I'm fine."

He nodded and released her arm. Mary Ellen focused on the back of the truck as they passed by a new town sign lying on the side of the road. She couldn't read what it said, but then she doubted it mattered anymore as long as they kept moving forward. She unfolded her hands and wiped them on her jeans as sweat trickled continuously down her back.

Xander pulled into a gas station a few miles down the road and parked the car. Glass from the door lay on the sidewalk and there were a couple of candy bars that had chocolate oozing from their wrappers sitting on top of the ice machine. Mary Ellen stepped out of the car and eyed the building as she leaned against the door.

"Thought we could use a break," Xander said as he stretched.

Her bladder sure could use one she thought as she eyed the building. "I'm not going in there first," John said as he leaned against the truck.

"Absolutely not," Riley agreed.

Mary Ellen moved away from the car and cautiously approached the building close on Carl and Xander's heels. She stepped over a crushed bag of chips as she followed them into the shadowed interior of the store. There was little that remained inside but her eyes found the restroom almost immediately. It took all she had not to bolt for it but she hung back as Carl and Xander went through the store.

Xander pushed the bathroom door open and shone his flashlight inside it. He nodded to her before continuing down another aisle. Mary Ellen hurried toward the bathroom and slipped inside. Her hand fumbled for the flashlight at her side and she turned it on. She hurried about the small, surprisingly clean room.

A small thud brought her head up; she stared at her reflection in the mirror above the sink as she strained to hear anything more. Another thud drew her attention to the left and the concrete wall at the back of the room. The sound of three loud raps on her right caused a small squeak to escape her as she jumped. Her flashlight spun around the white room as she accidentally knocked it from the sink.

She bent, grabbed the light from the floor and hastily retreated to the bathroom door. Rochelle was waiting impatiently on the other side as she danced from one foot to the other. She grabbed her daughter before she could go into the bathroom though. "Wait," she said more harshly then she had intended.

John looked up from where he had been flipping through a magazine. "What is it?" he inquired.

"There's someone behind the building."

The others all turned to her before focusing on the wall behind her.

Riley,

Riley stepped around the back of the garage with her gun raised. She'd been expecting to find some of the sick humans back there and was prepared to start shooting, but what she saw instead stopped her dead in her tracks. Her hand wavered on the gun. She'd gone through a hundred scenarios in her head about what would be waiting for them behind the building; none of them had prepared her for what was actually there.

A single man was hanging from a rope draped over the side of the building. His body was blowing in the breeze, bumping against the side of the building as he swung back and forth. Behind the body the words 'End of Days,' had been sprayed in red paint on the concrete wall. The sight of those words caused a cold sweat to break out on her body. Goose bumps slid over her skin as she took an instinctive step back from the building. A few feet away from the body was a stepladder that had been knocked onto its side and a discarded spray paint can.

Riley lowered her gun as the body spun toward them again. Bits of cheekbone and skull could be seen through the skin that had already peeled away from the bone. The man looked as if he had been dead for a week but it had probably been less time than that. She walked wide of the man and the building, her eyes following the rope as it slid over the top of the wall and onto the roof. The top of the rope disappeared until the she spotted a satellite dish on the roof and noticed the other end of the rope tied to its base.

She cursed under her breath as she ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. Suicide was something she would never understand. "I'll go let the others know it's safe," Bobby said and promptly turned away from the man swaying back and forth like some kind of demented wind chime.

"I can't believe that satellite held up," John said as he turned to survey the landscape.

Riley opened her mouth to respond but John let out a low curse as his breath hissed out of him. She spun to confront whatever threat might be coming at them. Instead, she was faced with a display even more bizarre than the body swaying in the breeze behind the building.

A field spread out behind the gas station. Brown fencing surrounded the field, creating a pasture for animals to graze in. Not entirely sure what she was doing, Riley took a step forward to survey the mound in the corner of the field. "What is that?" she inquired.

"Horses," Carl answered in a gravelly voice.

"Horses?" Xander asked in disbelief.

"Yes. We saw something like this before we met up with you guys."

"What happened to them?" Riley asked.

Carl shook his head as he fished out a cigarette. "I have no idea. I'd thought it was a onetime fluke thing, that maybe the quakes had scared them into running over top of each other." He paused as he lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply. "There were more of them then, it looks like there are only a few of them over there though."

Riley swallowed heavily and rubbed at the back of her neck as she studied the large animals. "They still could have been confused by the quakes. This area may not have been as badly affected but there's still damage and the ground still shook."

"I guess," John said.

The banging against the building increased as a breeze blew her hair forward. She tucked the loose strands behind her ear and tilted her head back to take in the towering black clouds rolling across the sky. Heat lightning zigzagged in a crazy pattern that lit the clouds and turned the red sky pink.

She took an instinctive step back as the hair on her arms stood on end from the electrical current in the air. "There's another storm coming in."

"Wonderful, just what we need." Carl pulled the cigarette from his mouth and stomped it into the ground. "We should check out the house, there may be supplies in there and it will be a more comfortable place to stay than the gas station."

"We also don't know what may be hiding in it," John said.

"True, but do you want to sleep on the floor of a gas station that has busted out windows and doors?"

"I
want
to sleep in my own bed, since that's not going to happen I would definitely prefer someone else's over a store that will be difficult to defend."

"We'll get the others and drive across the field," Carl said as he turned back to the store.

It took only a few minutes to get everyone organized and into the vehicles. Riley forced herself not to look at the mound of dead animals as Bobby drove around the fences toward the red farmhouse just beyond the pasture. The clouds were closing in on them when she pulled up in front of the steps of the farmer's porch.

Riley climbed out of the car and rested her hand holding the gun on top of the roof. A cheerful yellow porch swing creaked as it swung back and forth in the steadily stronger wind that blew across the land. Riley couldn't tear her gaze away from the front door as the screen door rattled and bumped within its frame.

She approached the porch with Xander, John, Carl, and Donald. They had decided at the gas station that the others would stay with the vehicles in case they had to make a fast retreat. Al was now behind the wheel of the truck, he was leaning forward to peer up at the sky as she walked past him. His watery blue eyes met hers and for one surreal moment Riley felt as if the whole world slowed down. It seemed that the air had become like a wet blanket around her and was trying to hinder her progress as she attempted to move forward.

The wind whipping around her broke her free of the strange sensation as a loud bang rent the air. She jumped and swung her gun up as she braced herself for a bullet to hit her before she even had a chance to find her prey. "Easy, it's just the swing," Xander told her.

Feeling like an idiot, she lowered the gun as the swing crashed against the side of the house again. Carl climbed onto the porch and grabbed hold of the swing. "Help me take this down; I'm not going to be distracted by this thing the entire time we're inside."

John stepped forward and held the swing as Carl stood on his tiptoes to pull the chain from the hook set in the roof of the porch. Xander pulled the other side free and the three of them placed the swing onto the porch. Riley tried to peer into the downstairs window but all she could make out was the arm of a sofa and a small table with a lamp on it.

"What do we do if someone is in there?" she had to raise her voice to be heard over the growing wind.

"Try not to get shot," John, replied.

That was one of the least comforting statements she'd ever heard but even still she followed him to the front door. Carl stepped forward and tugged at the screen door but it remained locked. Carl looked toward the windows.

"The inner door is probably locked too. We can break open this screen door but we're going to have to bust down the other one: that will just leave us vulnerable again. Going through the window would be the better option."

"Whoever climbs through it will be vulnerable," Riley said.

Carl nodded. "I'll go through, it will be fine. I think if someone was in there they'd already be shouting at us to get away."

"Like we'd hear anything over this wind," John said.

Carl was already approaching the window. He turned his gun around and used the butt of it to smash out the glass. Riley stepped back from the shards that fell around them as Carl pulled the remaining pieces free of the frame and tossed them aside. He flicked on his flashlight and peered into the home.

"I don't see anything," he said and exchanged the flashlight for his gun.

"Wait, I'll go," John said before Carl could climb inside. "I'm faster than you."

"You'll trip over the sill and shoot yourself," Carl told him. Riley had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. If the look on John's face was any indication, he seemed to be contemplating the idea of shoving Carl through the window. "I'll be fine."

"Hope you fall," John told him as he took a step back.

Carl flipped him the finger before he disappeared into the house. Riley held her breath as she hurried back to the front door and waited for it to open. The seconds seemed to tick by at an excruciatingly slow pace. It seemed like hours, but probably wasn't even a full minute before the inner door swung open. Carl flipped the lock on the screen door and opened it for them.

Riley stepped into the foyer as a bolt of lightning lit the small hallway. Pictures, knickknacks and a coat rack were briefly visible until the white light faded back to black. Carl's beam moved over the walls as Riley pulled her flashlight out too. They passed by the small living room that Carl had broken into and moved down the hall. A photo on the wall showed a man and woman in their early thirties. They were smiling as they stood before a lake in their wedding clothes. Riley felt a pang in her heart as she stared at their smiling faces.

She pushed the door open on a small half bath and closed it again when she saw that it was empty. They passed by another door on their right and when Carl opened it she saw the rickety stairs that disappeared into the cellar below. The scent of mildew was heavy as it washed over her and caused her nose to wrinkle.

Carl closed the door and pushed the lock on the knob in. "We'll search the house before going down there."

She wasn't going to argue with that. The last thing she wanted was to be trapped down there if something, or someone, was in the house with them. She followed John down the hall to the kitchen. Riley flashed her light over the top of the cabinets first to make sure that one of the sick people wasn't up there, but the space above the cabinets was only a three-inch gap. John pulled a few cabinets open and gave a brief nod and thumbs up before closing them again. Riley walked back to the doorway and peered into the hall as Carl disappeared into the pantry. John and Donald explored the back porch while Xander joined her.

Carl emerged from the pantry with cans of vegetables in his hands. He dropped them onto the table before lifting his head to look at them. "These people would have taken food with them if they'd still been in their right minds or if they just packed up and left here. They may have already left home by the time the quakes hit though."

Riley really hoped that was what had happened as her hand tightened on her gun and she looked to the stairs ahead of them. If those people
were
still here, and they were normal, they would have come out already. Using the back of her arm, she wiped the sweat from her brow. "Let's go," Xander said.

She stayed close behind him, her back against the wall as they climbed the stairs to the second floor. She was so focused on straining to see into the hallway above them that she didn't see the photo until her shoulder bumped into it. It crashed to the ground and the glass shattered out of it.

John released a low curse and bent to grab the picture as it landed by his foot. A loud thump from somewhere upstairs froze him in mid-bend though. Riley's heart leapt into her throat, she found it difficult to breathe as she strained to see or hear anything else. Another small thud followed the first as something heavy clattered to the floor and broke.

She counted the seconds as she listened for more but nothing followed the last heavy thump. Her heart was pounding so fast though that she wasn't sure she'd be able to hear anything over the staccato beat of it in her ears anyway. She started to grab hold of Xander when he took another step up the stairs but she knew they had to go up there.

"Be careful," she whispered to him.

He didn't glance back at her as he gave a brief nod and continued onward. The carved muscles in his back and arms flexed with every step he took. Riley grabbed hold of the railing as she followed him up the stairs to the second floor. There were four doors off of the main landing, three of them were closed but the other was open to reveal a small blue bathroom with a seashell shower curtain.

Carl pointed to the door at the end of the hall before pointing at the other two and then at Xander and Riley. He pointed to Donald and then to the spot where Donald was already standing. Riley nodded and followed Xander to the two doors closest to them as Carl and John went in the opposite direction. She glanced over her shoulder as Xander stopped outside of the first door and grabbed hold of the knob. Donald remained in the middle of the hall keeping watch as Carl and John stopped at the other door.

"Ready?" Xander asked.

She nodded and took a step back while he turned the knob and pushed the door open. Riley held her gun out before her with both hands as she stepped through the doorway behind Xander. She was really beginning to feel like a bad version of Charlie's Angels as she pointed her gun around the room. There was a single queen sized mattress with a blue bedspread. The bureau across from the bed had a small TV on top. No pictures decorated the wall and when she pulled open the closet door the only thing tucked inside were old boxes. She tugged the cover off of one to reveal an assortment of pictures, most of which were old Polaroid pictures of a young girl. Riley recognized the girl as the woman from the photos below.

She dropped the lid back over the box and stepped away. Rain began to pelt the windows in a battering assault that made her wonder if the siding was still going to be on the house in the morning. Xander rose from where he had been inspecting under the bed and met her gaze as another bolt of lightning tore across the sky. The brief illumination highlighted the haggardness of his handsome features as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair.