The Survivor Chronicles (Book 3): The Forsaken (4 page)

Movement in her peripheral vision drew her attention back to the doors as Carl reappeared. Relief filled her as the doors swung shut and John and Carl made their way down the aisle toward them. "There are a lot of boxes and supplies back there, but it looks pretty clear. I couldn't get the back door open though."

"Why not?" Riley asked.

"I don't know. This area is in relatively good shape, but it still sustained some shocks. The door could be warped from the quakes or something may be blocking it."

"Would it be faster if we just took the boxes from the back?" John asked.

"I don't know what's in any of them; it would probably take more time to go through them than to just grab stuff," Carl answered.

Riley grabbed one of the carts at the end of the self-checkout aisle and an armload of the cloth bags displayed by the front door. "Good to see you're doing your part to save the environment," John said.

She couldn't help but grin at him. "What's left of it anyway."

He smiled as he turned away. Xander slid his cart over beside hers and grabbed some bags for himself. Without a word they split off and she and Xander went toward the bread aisle on one end well John and Carl headed toward the fruit and deli aisle.

"You've become good friends with them," Xander commented.

Riley nodded as she began to shove loaves of bread into one of her bags. "They're really good guys. The first time we met them was right after the stadium and they were protecting Rochelle from three men that were trying to take her." Riley finished stuffing the bag and turned to put it in the cart. "I was only trying to scare them away, but I shot one of the men. It was the first time I killed someone."

Now wasn't exactly the time to discuss what had happened with Lee, but those words had popped out of her mouth before she could stop them. Xander froze in the act of filling his bag and lifted his head to meet her gaze head on. "I killed a teenage girl when she turned into whatever those people are out there and tried to attack us. Her name was Molly; I helped rescue her from the school with Peter and Josh and then I bashed her head in with a metal pole."

Riley winced and placed another bag in the cart. The words were blunt, but she sensed the anguish behind them in the terseness of his tone, the pinched corners of his mouth, and the abject look in his eyes. "That must have been awful," she whispered.

"It was." Riley couldn't meet his gaze again as she began to pull more rolls from the shelves. "We've all done things Ri, that girl, she was just a child, but it had to be done. What you did to that man
had
to be done. Whatever else you've done..."

"I killed Lee." The words were a whisper so bare that she wasn't even sure she'd said them until she heard his abrupt intake of breath. She shoved another thing of rolls into her bag and dumped it in the cart. "He turned into one of those things, he tried to kill us, and I shot him in the head."

She grabbed her cart and moved down the aisle before she could see the condemnation or hatred in his eyes. There was only so much bread they could eat and it would go bad soon enough anyway. She skipped over the frozen food aisle and the cleaning supplies aisle and was grabbing toilet paper when Xander caught up to her. The calluses on his palm brushed against her skin as he grabbed hold of her arm. Though she tried to look everywhere but at him she finally met his gaze.

She was terrified of what he would say or do, but she was so unbelievably relieved to finally have it out between them that tears burned her eyes. Even if he couldn't forgive her, she knew that she would move on, that she would continue to live and fight and survive. He may hate her, but Lee's death wasn't hanging over her head and there wasn't an invisible wall between them anymore. She could
breathe
again.

She had braced herself for his anger but she was stunned by the love she saw in his eyes instead, and she understood now that it had always been love with him. He didn't ask her what had happened, didn't tell her she'd done what had to be done. He simply cupped her cheeks and kissed her with a tenderness that made her heart swell and her toes curl.

"When you're ready to talk about it, I'll be here," he whispered against her mouth.

She grabbed hold of his hands and pressed them against her cheeks. Emotion swelled through her and it took all she had not to start sobbing. Forgiveness, he wasn't the one that would be able to give it to her. She had to be the one to forgive herself eventually, but he'd given her something almost as good with his acceptance of her and the choices she'd had to make.

"We should get moving," she told him as she heard John and Carl bickering just a few aisles over.

He smiled as he brushed away the single tear that slid free before kissing her nose and releasing her. "Yes ma'am."

Riley wiped at her nose and shoved another bunch of toilet paper into the cart. For a minute she was so happy that she almost forgot where she was and what was going on around them. The next aisle doused any sense of elation she felt as they stepped around the dried puddle in the middle of the chips and dip aisle. A few bags had tumbled onto the floor, but none of them could explain the dark stain.

"Is that blood?" she asked as Xander knelt beside it.

"It is."

A stone settled into the pit of her stomach as she recalled too late her conversation with John,
"I don't want to know what they're thinking, plotting," she'd said.

"You think they're capable of that?" John had asked.

"Don't you?"

She cursed herself as a fool as she tilted her head back to look into the darkened rafters. They were enshrouded in shadows, but she could see enough to make out the fact that there was no one hiding above. She knew though, with absolute certainty that they were in here, somewhere.

"We have to go."

"What?" Xander asked as she seized hold of his arm.

"We have to find Carl and John and get out of here."

She left the carts behind as she pulled him out of the aisle in search of Carl and John.

Carl,

"Don't you think we have enough junk food?" Carl demanded as John began to shove bags of chocolate into the shopping cart.

"There's never enough junk food," John retorted.

"We should focus on trying to find healthier things like canned peas and beans, maybe even broccoli. You know, things that will actually keep our bodies going without giving us diabetes."

"Well you can have your broccoli and beans, but don't come complaining to me when you're craving a Kit Kat and have gas."

"John..."

"Hey I didn't complain when you were stocking up on cowboy killers, let me have my sugar fix, I'm not getting my coffee one."

Carl wanted to argue further, but as much as he hated to admit it, John
did
have a point. "Fine, just hurry up."

He pushed his cart further down the row to grab some cans of peanuts and drop them into the cart. For every can he took he pushed another aside in case someone else finally stumbled across the grocery store. He was grabbing for a bag of pistachios when movement at the front of the aisle caught his attention. Carl brought his gun up to fire before he realized it was Riley skidding around the corner. She didn't even blink when she spotted the gun, but there was a look in her eyes that made him forget all about the nuts. Her nearly black hair was a straggling mess around her face that did little to ease her harried appearance.

"We have to go," she said bluntly.

"What? Why?" John didn't even pause in the act of sweeping more candy into his cart.

"Something is
not
right here," Riley said.

"You're being paranoid," John said as he dropped another bag in and pushed his cart toward them. "We searched every square inch of this store..."

"We didn't search the outside," she inserted.

John frowned; he clamped his mouth shut as he glanced toward the back of the store. Carl followed the direction of his stare but from what he could see it remained clear of any movement. A shudder rippled down his back as his thoughts turned to the swinging black doors that led to the storage room.

"Let's go up front for a minute," he suggested.

"We're perfectly fine; you're just not used to having something go our way, because it's all gone wrong lately, but..." John's voice trailed off as he glanced behind him. "Yeah ok, let's go up front."

John didn't relinquish his cart though as he pushed it forward. One of the wheels made a small clicking noise that made Carl want to grab it and heave it toward the back of the store as a distraction. He pushed his cart to the side and followed Riley toward the front of the building.

He was stepping out of the aisle when he heard the squeak of rubber on tile. His hand went to the gun at his waist as he froze. Riley took an abrupt step back into the aisle and brought her gun up before her. Carl motioned for the three of them to stay back before poking his head warily out from behind the shelf.

He glanced around but saw nothing by the front of the store. Carl nodded toward them before creeping out of the aisle. The others were so close on his heels that he could feel Riley's breath against his back and hear the whistle of John's breath as it coursed out of his nostrils. Another squeak caused Carl to stop as he realized it was coming from the row just in front of them.

The others pressed closer against his back. He was tempted to shoo them away but he found he didn't have the heart to, and he actually liked knowing they were there as he took the next step around the row of shelves. Two young men and a young woman lifted their heads to look at them as they all stepped into the cereal aisle. The men threw their hands in the air and jumped back when they spotted Carl, but the girl continued to shove handfuls of cereal into her mouth.

Carl's hand wavered on the gun as he took them in. They didn't appear to be much older than John, or at least that's what he guessed from what he could see of them beneath the layers of dirt and grime that caked their skin and clothes. The girl's shirt was so torn that she may as well have been wearing only her bra, but the men weren't much better off as their clothes were nothing more than tatters. Carl's eyes ran over them but he saw no cuts on any of them.

"We... we mean you no harm," one of the men stuttered. "We're just so hungry."

Carl could see that as the girl was still stuffing handfuls of cereal into her mouth as she eyed the gun with a look that was part dread and part hope. It was the hope part that scared him most as he recognized the desperate look in her eyes, a look that was partway between wanting to continue on and just wanting it to end. He wasn't about to help her take door number two and moved his gun away from her.

"Where did you come from?" Xander demanded.

"We've been hiding in the hardware store across the street for three days," the other man answered.

"You've been across from the grocery store all this time and you're just coming in here now?" John asked incredulously. "Why?"

"Because we saw you come in." Maybe that answer would have made sense to someone else, but it made absolutely none to him as his gaze ran over them again and he waited for the other shoe to drop. "And we didn't hear you screaming."

There it was; he could almost hear that shoe plopping onto the floor as his hand clenched on the gun and his eyes traveled over the store. Riley was right, they had to get out of here. They never should have come inside in the first place.

"How many people have come in here?" John asked.

"We've seen at least twenty," the other man said. "Most came on foot but a few drove their cars."

"And how many left the store?" Riley asked in a choked voice.

"None."

Carl's breath exploded out of him. "Let's go," he said.

"But the screams usually come within the first five minutes; you've been here for at least twenty." Bits of cereal sprayed from the girl's mouth as she rushed to get the words out.

"That's twenty minutes too long in my book," John informed her.

Carl was turning away when he heard a small swishing sound from the rear of the store. A sound that he instantly associated with the black swinging doors closing again. The exit was blocked back there, he knew that, but he was beginning to realize that it had been blocked to keep them
in
and to allow their enemies to enter when their prey had been lulled into a sense of false security like a Venus fly trap just waiting for its victim.

His heart plummeted as his gaze ran rapidly over the store. The black swinging doors were two aisles ahead of them, in between them and their only exit. Even if they bolted forward and ran as fast as they could, they would be taken down before they ever made it to those doors. To go forward now was suicide, he was certain of it.

"What was that?" one of the men asked.

Xander held his finger to his lips and shook his head. "But what was that?" the other guy demanded.

"Shh," John hissed in a low whisper.

The girl reluctantly released her handfuls of cereal and climbed to her feet. Carl didn't have to see them, he could clearly picture those sick people emerging from the storage room and creeping through aisles around them. Picture those people stalking
them
as they moved throughout the store.

"Is it them?" the girl asked.

Carl's finger twitched on the trigger; didn't they understand the concept of being discreet? They were going to get them all killed before they even had a chance to try and figure out an escape route. Though, he couldn't even begin to figure out an escape plan as his mind ran through the possibilities.

Every primal instinct he'd ever had was surging to the forefront as his body screamed at him to run. He could picture the sick people, just out of view, moving as stealthily as a hawk through the shadows toward its prey. "Was there another way out?" Xander asked in a low whisper.

Carl shook his head. "Only the backdoor," he barely spoke the words.

Xander frowned as he glanced down the aisle toward the back of the store. Carl noticed Riley's attention was focused on the rafters and couldn't help but drop his own head back to search the beams of the ceiling. He wasn't in the mood to deal with people hanging from the rafters like some sort of demented bat again. There was nothing up there, now, but the more time they remained standing here, the more likely he thought it would be that they would take to the beams in an effort to make their move.

Xander frowned as he followed their gazes. "Really?" he mouthed.

Riley nodded in response.

"We need to get out of here; you have to get us out of here," the girl's voice held a tinge of hysteria that troubled Carl almost as much as the people lurking just beyond his sight. Carl lifted his finger to his mouth and shook his head. "Do you know what they do to people?" she demanded.

Xander stepped closer to her. "You're going to get us all killed if you don't shut up," he growled in a low voice.

Her large brown eyes rolled in her head as they spun around the store. One of the men rested his hand on her arm and pulled her back a step. The girl seemed to calm a little, but not much as her chest continued to heave and her eyes rolled. Riley stepped closer to all of them and lowered her head. "They're expecting us to go for the front door, but what if we circle around and go for the backdoor?" she whispered.

"Are you crazy?" John demanded in a low voice as he leaned even closer to them.

"It's a possibility," she admitted.

John was shaking his head as Carl began to ponder her suggestion. "They'll all be up here looking for us. None of them will stay back there. They'll be too eager for our meat," Carl said.

"They're smart Carl," John said. They
were
smart, far smarter than Carl had been willing to give them credit for, but they were also hungry animals that had established a good setup here. One that they didn't think could go wrong. No, he was certain that Riley was right; going for the backdoor was their best chance. "We don't know how many there are, maybe we can fight through them."

"They'll be on us before we can put up much of a fight. We have to go now, before they realize we're not going for the front door and they come for us."

John looked about to protest more but his shoulders sagged as he looked helplessly toward the tempting front doors. The three strangers watched them and for a moment Carl thought they might go for the front door anyway. "It's your choice," Carl told them. "But stay quiet if you follow us."

The girl hesitated but the men were close on his heels as they moved swiftly down the aisle. Carl kept his attention focused forward as Riley continued to study the ceiling and tops of the shelves. Reaching the end of the aisle he stopped and took a deep breath to gather his courage. This was it, if he stuck his head out now and there was someone out there, their cover was blown. There would be no turning back. They'd never make it to the front of the store in time.

Riley's breath exploded from her at the same time Xander and John released muffled curses. He felt the blood turn to ice in his veins as he glanced over his shoulder. There, at the end of the aisle, perched on top of the shelf like some hideous gargoyle was a single human. The dim light from the large front windows illuminated it against the shadows. It was hunched over with both hands resting on the shelf and its chin thrust forward. Though its features were hidden in shadow, he could see the glimmer of its eyes as the orbs focused upon them.

For one fraction of a second he thought his heart ceased to beat as those eyes seemed to latch upon him. It was almost as if a demon from Hell was staring at him, seeing straight into his soul, judging him and finding him lacking. He wasn't about to stand there and be judged by one of those things.

"Run," he breathed.

Carl gave up all attempts at trying to be subtle as he burst into motion. The doors were only fifteen feet away but it seemed more like fifty as he rushed toward them. From the corner of his eye he saw movement amongst the aisles as the gargoyle released a distorted cry and started racing toward them. Gargoyle's new direction alerted his companions to the fact that they weren't trying to escape out the front door.

He chanced a glance down the aisle across from the swinging doors and his heart sank as he took in the spectacle before him. Like owls scenting a mouse, at least ten heads swiveled in their direction and their eyes narrowed with lethal intent. There was another one on top of the shelves moving toward the other side of the grocery store, but it froze when it heard the commotion.

They'd sent out scouts
, he realized in horror. Scouts that most people wouldn't have thought to look for as no normal person would expect them to be
above
them.

He hit the doors at a dead run and shoved them open with his shoulder. He didn't expect any of the sick people to still be back here, but then he hadn't expected them to set such an elaborate trap either. With his gun raised, he searched the shadows as he ran toward the exit.

"They're coming!" Riley cried.

"Please don't let the door be blocked!" John panted as he ran beside Carl. Carl crashed into the bar on the exit door as the swishing sound of the doors swinging open behind them reached him. For a second he didn't think the door was going to open as he shoved his shoulder into it and pushed forcefully against the bar.