The Wild Ones, page 18
“You going to wait?” Eli replied.
“Exactly.”
“So I say to her, how long is this going to take? She replies, ‘About ten minutes.’”
Ryland cracked up laughing. “Ten minutes.”
“I know.”
“They are told to say that,” Alexa said picking up a box and shining her light on it. “It’s part of getting people to buy stuff in the store. Costco is even worse.”
“Oh don’t even get me started on that crap hole.”
I crouched down and told the others it was probably going to be quicker if we all stuck to one area as Eli was tossing boxes near my feet, and they were getting mixed up with those I hadn’t checked.
“So what happened?”
“What?”
“The antibiotics?” Alexa asked.
“Oh right. Yeah, so she gives me a buzzer and tells me it will go off when it’s ready. I tell her don’t bother as I’m gonna wait nearby. I take a seat and watch her. Sure enough, she pretends she’s doing shit. You know, lifts up a few bags, taps a few keys on the keyboard. All the while she’s eyeing me out the corner of her eye. I had a good mind to tell her to move her fucking ass, but I didn’t. I mean, who the hell was she kidding? Three minutes of me giving her my best death stare and she finally stopped wasting my time and got my antibiotics.”
“What a joke,” Ryland said. “You know in some ways I’m kind of glad this has all happened.”
“How so?”
“Well the way I see it, society needs to be reset once in a while. You see, we humans are impatient bastards. Look at the way life is. Fast this, fast that, heck there was even a drive-through section to this pharmacy. Like really? Are you that desperate that you can’t get your lazy ass out of your vehicle and walk in and pick it up?” He snickered and then began mocking people. “Oh but the weather, Ryland? Or, I hate lines. Seriously? If they phoned ahead and got them to get it ready, they might be waiting a few minutes. Nah. As much as this might seem bad to others, I kind of like it.”
“You might change your tune once you find your parents dead,” Eli muttered.
Ryland opened his mouth to reply but said nothing. That was the real deal. Despite all the pros, there were more cons to the world going to hell. We had only scratched the surface.
“Any luck?” Alexa asked.
“Nothing, but I did find some contraceptive pills. Here you go, love!” Ryland said tossing them over to her. “Might come in handy real soon.”
“Not with you.”
“Oh, you never know. This could lead to a shortage of men.”
“That would require you being one.”
Eli and I cracked up laughing.
“Hey, screw you guys, you bunch of wankers.”
Every now and again we’d hear gunfire coming from the truck. We must have spent the better part of forty minutes working our way through empty bottles, boxes and drugs that we didn’t have a clue what they were. Finally Eli found Cephalexin. He raised it in the air like a miner who’d found gold.
“Here we go, baby!”
Before leaving we gathered up a couple of bags of whatever might come in handy. Alexa crept away to find some sanitary pads while Eli snuck down the food aisle. I kind of expected Ryland to return with several packs of Trojans. Most of what was left in the store was near the back, which made it clear that looters had dashed in, snatched up what they wanted and made a run for it.
Jamal banged on the side of the door.
“Can we get this shit show on the road?” Jamal shouted. We hopped in and went to pull away and I squinted into the darkness as the truck pulled around heading for the exit.
“Stop.”
“What?”
I slammed my hand against the dashboard. “Stop the truck.”
“What did you forget?”
I hopped out and jogged over to the far end of the lot where there were four vehicles side by side. It was the one on the end that caught my eye. It was a Chevy Blazer. The same one my brother had left the camp in. The door was open when I reached it. I’m not sure why I looked inside as it was clear there was no one there but I did. I turned and yelled, “Nick!”
The only sound that returned were the moans of the dead.
Armed And Dangerous
Family. If there was one thing that any of this had taught us, it was the value of our kin. It may have been a cliché but it was true — no one knew what they had until it was gone. The loss of my sister was proof of that, and now the thought of losing Nick was unbearable. I wanted to search the surrounding area but it was too dangerous. The gunfire had alerted every damn thing in the vicinity to our location.
When a surge of the dead appeared, I reluctantly got back into the truck and we left. It pained me to know that we had come close to finding him but had to evade to survive. Being armed didn’t mean we were unstoppable. The truth was, it wouldn’t take much to bring us down and I knew eventually our luck would run out.
We drove in silence to collect Daniels and Lola.
What was going through everyone’s mind?
Contemplating what it meant to still be alive?
Thinking about parents, sisters, brothers and the future?
I didn’t want to admit my brother was gone, but I had to consider it. What were the odds of him having survived? Sure, he had been through the camp four years in a row, and was traveling with Tom Sanders, a man known to have cut his teeth in the wilderness but did any of that count? I tried to stay optimistic but from Alexa’s hand on my shoulder and empty words of reassurance, I could tell it was just a façade.
When we arrived, I hopped out. “I’ll go get them,” I said, heading out with Ryland. As we came around the home, Daniels was on his knees with his arm draped over his daughter’s back. In front of them was a mound of fresh soil with a large round stone placed at one end and a selection of wildflowers. At the sound of our boots he reached for his gun then let it go.
I tapped Ryland for us to head back as it was clear we were intruding on a private moment but Daniels instructed me to wait. They remained there for a minute or two longer before rising. Wind whipped against our cheeks, and the rain plastered my dark hair to my forehead. Lola wiped away her tears before turning towards us. Even as she did, she kept her head low and hurried past us, scooping up a backpack at the corner of the house. Her father sighed and instead of going into some spiel about how Lola’s mother was dead he asked us how it went at the Rite Aid.
“We found it. Thanks,” I said.
“Let’s hope he gets better,” he said reaching for his belongings. He looked back one final time at the mound of dirt and breathed in deeply before telling us he was ready to leave. I wanted to know but didn’t think it was the right time to ask. Heck, we barely knew them.
After getting in, Jamal ran a hand over his face. “So, shall we return to camp? Go deal with that asshole?” And by asshole he was referring to Sean. Oh we hadn’t forgotten him, nor were we going to leave Brooke behind.
“I still think we should check the hospital,” Alexa suggested.
“Why? We got him the antibiotics.”
“Because we’re not doctors. We might know a few things about temporarily stopping the bleeding but he’s lost a lot of blood. Even if his fever comes down, and the leg starts to heal, he’s still going to need some medical attention.”
“Anyone else care to toss in their two cents?” Jamal asked in a sarcastic manner.
When no one else replied, he shifted into gear and pulled away. “Okay but I’m warning you. If you think it’s bad here, I’m pretty damn sure it’s even more dangerous there.”
“We’re armed now.”
“Yeah, I feel so much safer,” he replied before stifling a laugh. He flipped on the radio but no stations were playing. Just the sound of white noise. “Well that is comforting. Which reminds me,” he said as he turned it off. “After this, where are we going? I have a family to check in on.”
“You’ll get a chance to do that,” Alexa said.
“Oh, thank you. I didn’t know I needed your permission.”
“Do you ever let up?” Eli asked.
“Do you ever stop eating?”
Eli looked away and laid his head against the window, closing his eyes.
It might have been considered childish bickering but I didn’t see it as that. It was a group that didn’t know each other. I mean, really know each other. I thought about Nick, and our off-the-cuff banter which might have seemed as if we didn’t like each other, or childish to some but to us it was just that we were comfortable with each other. He knew I was a pain in the ass, and I was familiar with his flaws.
Alexa leaned over and slapped Jamal on the arm.
I had to admit, my view of Jamal had changed a lot since camp. First impressions were everything, and he’d struck me as kind of a chilled individual. I figured if anyone was going to be an asshole it would be Ryland or Tobias. Okay, to be fair Tobias was under the weather so he didn’t have the energy to act up but Jamal, ever since we’d given Daniels a ride, he was acting like a jackass. That was the thing about any group or community; it took time to get to know someone. It took time to get behind the walls that a person put up. Initial perceptions could be deceiving. My eyes washed over our group. How did they view me?
Adirondack Medical Center was a straight shot on NY-3 East. Thirty miles from Tupper Lake, and a forty-minute scenic journey through God’s country. The upside to the trip was there weren’t a lot of homes; those we did see were spread out from each other, some several miles apart. All of which meant fewer Zs clogging up the road. I glanced over at Tobias who had just finished washing back a full dose of Cephalexin. Who knew if it would do the job? One thing was sure; we’d all need to brush up on medicine and how to treat the afflicted if we were going to stay alive.
On the way out we passed L.P. Quinn, a large elementary school; JC Gifts; and a logging business. They along with many other establishments would eventually decay and fall into ruin, lost to a world overrun by the dead. Would we all return to trading? Would small communities form and rebuild? Or would all of it go the way of the dinosaurs?
I leaned my head against the cool window watching the trees fly by in my peripheral vision. Nothing more than dark silhouettes of what looked like upright gnarled fingers. How many of the dead were out there?
“Someone was smart,” Jamal said, his voice cutting into the silence. I leaned forward from the back of the cab and noticed what he was looking at. Coming up on the right-hand side was a low-slung building. It was hard to tell what the establishment was until we got closer but the glow of yellow light was a welcome sight. “Probably has a generator.”
“I’d imagine that would attract them.”
“Way out here?” He shook his head. “I doubt it.”
“Anyone know what that place is?” Jamal said, easing off the gas.
“The Marketplace Pub and Deli,” Daniels said. “Good food, if it hasn’t expired. A buddy of mine in Franklin County took me out there. He knew the owner. Friendly place but tends to get a bit wild on weekends.”
“You want to stop?”
“No, keep going. We can swing by on the way back.”
Jamal pressed the accelerator and was just about to speed past it when I saw a van outside that had a graphic sign on the front that read Terry’s Gun Store.
“Whoa, slow down.”
“I’m only doing forty.”
“That’s Terry’s van.”
“And?” Jamal asked.
Daniels flashed him a look and Jamal exhaled hard. “Fine.”
We shot by and Jamal then veered off onto the hard shoulder.
I turned around and looked out of the rear window. “You think it could be him?” Ryland asked.
“Look, who cares if it is? I don’t know him. You don’t know him.”
“Felix said he didn’t leave his business of his own accord. There are three escaped convicts on the loose. The Alvarez brothers and another one. You heard of them?” I asked Daniels.
“No, but I saw the warrant out for their arrest.”
Jamal groaned and pressed the bridge of his nose. “Seriously, guys. It doesn’t matter now. You’re not a cop anymore. Scott, you don’t even know the guy, so why are we wasting our time on the side of a road when for all we know a surge of the dead could be heading right for us?” He raised his voice for emphasis.
“Put a sock in it, Jamal,” Ryland added. “Dear me.”
We were about fifty yards away from the pub.
“A quick check,” I said.
“Okay, I’ll bite. Why?”
“I might not know the guy but he’s a local, someone my father knew well.”
“And that means?” Jamal asked.
“Just ignore him,” Alexa said.
I reached down into one of the duffel bags and pulled out a new magazine. I tossed out the old and held it tightly. “It’s possible that someone just stole his van, but I gotta check,” I said.
“You ain’t gotta do anything, Scott.”
I went about loading the new magazine into the Glock and I took a couple extra with me, along with a tactical flashlight which Daniels had managed to scoop up.
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re not going to check this place out but ransack it?”
I didn’t respond to Jamal. Whatever good vibes I got from him after I first met him were now gone, he was bordering on annoying. I hopped out and Daniels followed.
“We’re not going in. Just a quick check and then we get out.”
I nodded. Alexa followed along with Eli leaving Jamal, Lola and Tobias behind. I heard him moan something along the lines of if he ended up as a human happy meal while we were gone, he hoped we could handle the guilt.
We jogged back to the lot and quietly approached the one-story clapboard structure. There was no music coming from the place, nor movement in the windows. There was a good chance whoever was inside was already dead. We’d soon find out. There were six windows on the side of the building, and four at the front including two doors. We ran at a crouch until we came along the side. I inched up to a window and took a quick peek inside. I spotted people but ducked before I could count heads. I swept my rifle behind me and kept one hand on it to prevent it from swinging down and striking the wood as I came up for a second look. This time I spotted two men sitting on stools at the bar while a third was behind it. Hugging the side of the building I moved along to get a better look. Daniels grabbed my arm and told me to get behind him. I wasn’t going to argue. He waited at the corner for a second, then disappeared around. I stayed in his shadow, doing my best to not make a sound. I watched my step and cautiously approached another window, this time at the front. Daniels took a look this time. He was fast and when he pulled away, he motioned for us to head back. Hunched over, he hurried past me and though I was keen to know what the deal was, I trusted he knew what he was doing. Back around the corner he spoke in a hushed tone.
He shook his head. “Not a good situation.”
“What?”
“It’s them.”
“Terry?”
“Alvarez brothers, and a third. We should head back.”
“But what about Terry? Is he in there?”
“Yeah, and several others.”
“And you’re going to do nothing?”
“Look, kid. Even if I wanted to do something, these kinds of situations are extremely dangerous. If I was still on duty I wouldn’t engage them, I would call for backup, and probably SWAT and even then we’d have a hostage situation on our hands.”
I stared back at him fully aware of what he was saying but that was then, this was now. There was no SWAT, and if they were as dangerous as the article had said, chances were Terry wasn’t going to last the night.
Daniels let out an exasperated sigh. “Scott, you ever been in a fight?”
“Yeah.”
“You ever lose?” he asked.
“Once.”
“Well, then you know you need to pick your battles.” He stabbed his finger towards the pub. “This isn’t one of them. I hate to admit it but Jamal is right this time.”
“So you’re just going to let him die?”
He chuckled. “Oh my God. How do I get this through to you? This isn’t about whether I want him to die or not. Of course I don’t. But I’m not on duty. The county is not what it was three days ago, this country is not what it was a week ago, and people are already dead. I have a daughter to think about.”
He broke away from the building staying low and jogging across the lot.
Alexa followed Daniels. Call it stupid, heck, I don’t give a rats ass but I wasn’t about to walk away until I’d seen the situation for myself. You see, here’s the thing… as much as I wanted to believe that Daniels had been one of Hamilton County’s finest, a brave and selfless individual who wouldn’t back away from danger but would run into it if his job called for it — in the back of my mind, Jamal’s voice was still feeding me doubts. Now on the other hand it might have come from the fact that we had faced death multiple times since this had kicked off, or it could have been the rifle in my hand giving me a false sense of confidence, but I wouldn’t know until I took a look. “Screw it,” I said, and moved around the corner heading towards the window.
Ryland was right behind me. I looked back, and he smiled. “Well I’m thinking if you’re going to do some brave shit, I can’t exactly look like a bitch in front of Lola and Alexa, now can I?”
I shook my head and didn’t even break a smile. My mind was occupied by staying silent. Beyond Ryland I saw Daniels turn with an expression of shock, perhaps anger?
I crept along the lower half of the building until I was below the window. I inched up until my eyes peered into the brightly lit interior. My eyes washed over the three men, the same ones from the newspaper, and then fell upon a group at the far side of the room. They were clustered together, slightly hidden by the shadows cast from two lamps. Terry. I spotted him first, his hands were bound behind his back and he had a gag cutting into his mouth. One of the men walked over and asked him if he wanted a drink then splashed his face with the contents from a glass. The three of them laughed, and the man tossed the empty glass at the wall behind him. It shattered and in an attempt to avoid the shards raining down another person jerked forward out of the shadows.
