Eschaton (The Scott Pfeiffer Story Book 1)

by Shane Woods

  “No ma’am,” I replied. “Well, Tony here was, but he discharged well before it all went bad.”

  “Ma’am.” Tony nodded.

  “Are they coming?” Frank inquired.

  “Don’t think so,” I explained. “They blew up downtown and we haven’t seen a sign of them since. We’ve got a group of survivors in the north building, and we are constructing a containment wall to make these buildings safe. You’re welcome to join us if you wish. We just expect you to help out when and where needed. No bullshit, no theft, full rationing. Basic respect and honor system.”

  “Oh God, thank you so much!” Clara exclaimed.

  “Not a problem,” I replied. “Go with Henry and his group here. They’ll escort you to the north building and introduce you to the others.” Then, turning to Henry, “Get them set with the others, Jennifer and Shannon will settle them in and help them. Get me a group of five to come start transferring everything usable to our building.”

  “Will do, my friend,” he replied kindly enough, and then departed as we began to empty everything we could find in each apartment into a couple of large rolling laundry carts and transporting them to the end of the hallway.

  In little time, we had a full crew working on clearing out the building, and a line moving between the two, carrying food, toiletries, medicines and everything else we could find a use for. By the end of the day, we had the building emptied, and much of our haul had been moved to the supply floor of the north building, awaiting to be catalogued by Jennifer and Shannon, and stored for rationing.

  Then the shrieks started. That awful coughing bark, and a chorus of shrieks and groans. At first, we couldn’t locate them. Then, in short time, figures began moving with the speed of a crackhead being chased by the police, all in our directions. Heads falling back to shriek, then snapping back to focus full attention on our group.

  “Drop supplies, FALL BACK! MAIN ENTRANCE!!!” Tony bellowed, as he began cracking off shots with his SOCOM.

  The entire group of gatherers began to fall back to the main entrance of the south building, where we started loosing shot after shot into the figures enclosing from all sides.

  “Them fuckers have flanked us!” I exclaimed over the din of gunfire. “They tried surprising us!”

  “I think you’re right!” Dave shouted back, and, as if all signaled at once, our people from the other building made their way onto the balconies across the third floor and opened fire.

  Skulls, necks, and torsos exploded in mists of tainted flesh and bodily fluids. The attacking horde began closing in as we thinned them out, and soon we fell back into the first-floor hallway and pushed back into the gloomy darkness as several creatures spilled from the front entrance and into the hallway. Switching to my shotgun, along with Rich and Dave, we started unloading round after round of full-on buckshot into the forms as they fought to gather their footing.

  Several more crashed through the entrance, striking the wall, some slipping in the growing puddle of blood and brackish vomit expelled from their comrades. They too fought to climb through or over the growing pile of bodies as we pushed further back into the hallway. Several collapsed momentarily as rifle rounds from the outside ripped through their legs, shattering bone and leaving them to drag their way to their prey.

  During one of several reloads, I heard shouting and more gunfire behind us as glass shattered down the hallway. Turning to look, I could swear I felt my balls shrivel up and try to hide. A second mass of infected fucks had found the side door at the end of the hall, and broken through, as the members to the back of our group unleashed a volley of gunfire. The rounds screamed down the length of the space and ripped through flesh, making our attackers look like the front line of Revolutionary War fighters, falling one after the other, only to expose more moving in behind them.

  The sustained fire began leaving the hallway choked with smoke and bodies. We had to move a good ten feet further in at one point as people were starting to slip on spent casings in nearly every caliber imaginable. Sweat poured down my face, stinging my eyes. Tony’s rifle rounds flew past my vision, a couple of hot brass cylinders pelting the side of my head as he fired his gun dry, dropping it to hang on its sling as he drew his Beretta and continued firing.

  I also pulled my pistol; the shotgun and AR-15 both had run dry. The trusty Smith and Wesson jerking in my hand with every expulsion of full metal jacketed bullets that it produced. Running one magazine empty and slamming home another, the mass of death behind us had stopped growing, and the whole group refocused fire on those coming in ahead of us.

  Two magazines worth of time, by my count, and the group ahead had ceased to grow as well.

  We nearly all collapsed back to the ground, all gasping for fresher air at our new lower altitude. So much brass littered the carpet that it’d started to melt the fibers in some spots. You could have practically made a statue out of what was left from the fight.

  “Fucking…fucking…ambush. Bastards...” I said between heavy breaths, as the adrenaline began leaving my system, causing my hands to shake.

  “I think they are smarter than we gave them credit for,” Tony lamented.

  Before I could utter a response, we heard footfalls outside. Running steps.

  “Ah shit,” I said, pulling the magazine from my pistol, seeing six rounds left, and sliding it back in place. I raised my gun-arm to the entrance like a world-weary gunslinger and waited. Tony and Henry followed suit. A moment later, a familiar face appeared. It was James.

  “Hold fire,” I coughed out, and we all lowered our guns.

  “Guys!” James yelled over his shoulder, “They’re all alright! You’re good, right guys? They’re okay!”

  Bri, Shannon, and Frank all followed him in. They helped us to our feet and carried the last load of supplies as we all made our way to the north building. The simple twenty-five yard journey seemingly miles long in our fatigued conditions. Even Chris’ big ass allowed his load to be carried as we went home to recoup and wind down.

  Once in my own apartment, I surrendered myself to my wife’s care and admonishments while Gwen climbed all over my outstretched legs mumbling in the odd way that young toddlers do.

  “It’s not safe out there,” Jennifer scolded.

  “No, and it never will be unless we make it that way,” I countered.

  “We’ve got people, and you still have a family,” Jennifer replied.

  “Most of one,” I shot back angrily, immediately regretting it as I observed her facial expression. I softened my tone, “I’m sorry. Really, I should be easier. I’m just fucked with stress right now. Look, even this building isn’t safe until we make it that way, then we have to keep on living.” I sighed heavily, “I have a feeling this is just the beginning.”

  “I know,” she relented. “I just worry about you, Scott. And me, and I worry for Gwen. Everything’s just gone to shit, and I- ”

  “Yeah, but look,” I picked up where she trailed off, “if the humans that have tried to end me couldn’t, a bunch of mindless fucks won’t, either. Besides, I worked nearly eighty hours a week to keep our house afloat, and now I’ll work to make sure you are all good here. I can’t sit back and just direct everyone else without joining in anyway, it wouldn’t be right at all.”

  “Yeah,” she replied softly. “Just…just be careful. Always come back to me. Promise?”

  “You ain’t been able to get rid of me yet, and you never will,” I replied with a grin.

  With that, we settled in for bed, and were fast asleep.

  SEVENTEEN

  We woke up, again just before first light as per usual, and set about our morning routine. This meant brush teeth, eat a light breakfast, find caffeine, and set out to working on whatever was next.

  This day, we split into two parties of five each. One was on wall duties, the other used my truck and the landscaping trailer to start cleaning up the bodies from the evening before. I joined the wall-building team, and we began making good prog
ress. By noontime, we had half of the compound surrounded with a three-layer wall, sandwiched together and then secured with bolts, chain, wire, and whatever else we could use. One section even had a gallon jug of wood glue poured between two sections to stick them together nice and strong. It was nothing pretty, but the sections that were up were strong. Very strong.

  About the time we settled down for a break, Henry came back with the truck. They had finished cleaning the first floor, and he’d left three people. One cleaning spent casings, in case we ever found reloading equipment, and the other two bleaching and cleaning the gore out of the low pile carpeting.

  “One hundred, and sixty-seven,” Henry said as he and the others disgorged from the truck.

  “Huh?” I asked.

  “That’s how many of them there were between the building and the parking lot.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I muttered.

  “They almost got us,” he noted. “They worked together, I think. Real smart like.”

  “Yeah I noticed,” I stated. “You and your crew got some wind left to you? Another day of this and we’ll have the fence together. Gate should be reinforced before we start losing light today, too.”

  “Yeah we got you brother man,” he said smiling. “You know, you really starting to pull this place together in a hurry. I’m sit my ass right here for a second, then we can get started.”

  “Man,” I started, “not just me, we. We are pulling this together. All of us.”

  I saw grins and agreeing faces on all nine of the people sitting with us as they took drinks of water and ate a light lunch.

  “You know what it is?” Henry replied. “We won’t worry about that mule going blind, just sit right back and hold the line my friend!” He slapped my shoulder, and we all got up and set back to work on the wall. Man, he loves that line. In the eight years we’ve lived next to each other, I’ve heard it more times than I can count, and it still brings a smile to my face.

  We toiled and worked the rest of the day on our first line of defense. The work was long, but not difficult, and we rotated one group from guarding to building, and the other to guarding, so everybody was able to relax and enjoy some relative downtime.

  The rest of the day passed with a fair amount of monotony. By the time the sun swung lower in its journey, we had much of the complex surrounded. Maybe another day of work, and one more testing and fixing obvious issues, and we could have some safety and security.

  We retired to the north building and gathered outside for a breather. All ten of us were tired, sweat-stained, and dirty. Despite our physical conditions, everyone was in high spirits and joked with one another, chatting aimlessly, while Tony and Dave went back and forth like an old married couple. It felt good. Nah, scratch that. It felt great.

  Upon returning to the building we discovered that we weren’t the only ones busting our asses all day. The other twelve people had been busy indoors. The first floor was entirely bare. Nothing but walls and carpet. No doors, no furniture.

  The second floor had also been mostly cleared out, appearing just as empty as the first. The main difference was that the doors were left intact, and there appeared to be a single bed left in the front room of every apartment we passed.

  The third floor was a completely different story. It seemed like everything that required power was on this floor. Apartments were filled with computers, televisions, lamps, even an aquarium. It seemed like this was now chosen as a storage floor.

  Moving up to the fourth floor it had the looks of a living floor. The first few apartments we passed had been laid out nicely. A bit of extra furniture here and there, and the rooms had been cleaned and cleared of anything vital. Now, they had taken on the look of some well cared for living quarters. Near the end of the hallway, coming from one of the last apartments, we heard voices conversing easily, a few laughs here and there. I approached the doorway and found Jennifer and Shannon.

  “Y’all look tired as shit,” I grumbled as I walked through the doorway, easing my weight into the first chair I found.

  “Gee, thanks,” Shannon grinned.

  “We’ve been busting our asses in here!” Jennifer added enthusiastically, then, “everyone has. Even the new people, Clara and…Frank. Sorry.”

  “Yeah no shit you have,” I admired. “Good work! I like the direction you’re going, living spaces up higher.”

  “There’s dinner cooking on the roof,” Jennifer grinned.

  “It should be almost done, we should go!” Shannon added.

  “Nice. Alright guys,” I called to our wall party. “Rooftop in ten minutes. Let’s get some warm food.”

  Everybody departed to go get somewhat cleaned up before we ate. Just the prospect of having hot food again made my mouth water. After maybe two whole months, I think and even a can of warmed green beans sounded like it was fit for a king, I couldn’t wait to see what they had in store for us.

  Having done my best to freshen up with baby wipes, I met the rest of the group on the rooftop. It was a very well thought out idea to dine up here. The sun still hung in the sky, and at the mid-way point in the year, it was warm, but not uncomfortable, as it would be in another month or so. The sky was blue and clear, save for a few lazy cotton balls of cloud watching over the Earth. A very light breeze capped off the cheery mood that mother nature had worn for the day.

  I was very surprised to see a patio grill had been dragged to the rooftop as well, and the smell of dinner finishing up inside of it made my stomach twist and gnaw at the rest of me in anticipation. As it happens, it was James and Parker paired up preparing what was seeming to be a feast for our small community.

  The meal finished cooking right as I was directed to a seat at the head of the table. As it turns out, in a world prior to the end of everything we knew, grilled spam, canned ham, and canned vegetables most certainly would not have been a king’s feast. Today was not that kind of day, and this meal suited us just fine.

  The group was sat at a couple of long folding tables set end-to-end, and a variety of folding chairs were gathered around. It looked for all the world to be a setup for royalty on a budget. Food was plated by a few and passed on to the rest. I was given my plate first, and I passed it along to Rob. I would receive mine last, just in case one plate was scraps and bits, so everyone else could have their fill.

  Once everybody was seated with a plate of food and can of whatever beverage was on hand, they dug in.

  Conversation was nearly muted entirely as everyone shoved fork after fork of food into their mouths, as if we hadn’t eaten in days. Frank, Clara, and their children ate greedily, nodding their thanks to anyone who even looked their way. It kind of made me feel a bit guilty. Guilty that we hadn’t thought to clear that building sooner. Being in a room facing away from the entrances, they had no idea anybody was even around, save for the occasional gunshot.

  The one exception to the light mood was Jennifer. She sat nearby, conversing mutely with Shannon, and despite her new buddy’s best efforts, her mood appeared somber at best. She simply wasn’t great at bottling her emotions, the inverse of myself. She never could accomplish this feat, but that’s not to say she wasn’t putting her best effort forth.

  Conversation picked up as the meal went on, and in short order, it turned into planning.

  “What do you think we should do first?” Bri asked me.

  “Power,” was my quick reply. “We get some lights and basic utilities going first and foremost, as soon as the wall is complete.”

  “You can do that?” Parker questioned.

  “Absolutely,” I replied, more to the group as a whole. “Several homes and businesses, as well as construction and highway signage, all have solar panels. We take them. I doubt anyone will miss them right now. There’s also a house I can see from here that has a few small wind collectors on top of it. We take them all.”

  “How we going to store the power?” asked Henry.

  “Will that be enough?” came another question, then
a few others that got mixed together and lost in the small commotion.

  I held my hands up as a signal to chill out, and everyone did.

  “We find out who’s good at what,” I started, “and then, we begin rerouting the main power lines to a storage bank. We can run series and parallel setups of as many deep cycle batteries as we can find. It’s not difficult. We then grab power inverters from wherever we can find them and run it through those to the building supply. Just ration the power out until we can build it into a robust enough system.”

  “I can set that up and help others along the way,” James offered. “We can make that the next big work party.”

  “Once the wall is done, and we can find all we need,” I explained, and James nodded as he took in his last bite of food.

  “But that’s an awful lot to do,” Clara began. “I mean, I’m sure somebody will come and give us aid, right? Why don’t we just wait?”

  “Lady, where have you been?” Rob shot at her.

  “Nah,” I replied, motioning to Rob to chill out. “Maybe they will, but I doubt it, and I’m not going to put people’s lives in the hands of hope. Makes no sense to act like tomorrow will be better, when it’s smarter survival to plan for next year being worse.”

  Nods and solemn faces all around the table.

  “We gonna have food?” Chris questioned.

  “We’re going to work on it, dude,” Anthony added, since my mouth was full of peas and carrots.

  “Farm lands start maybe five or six miles from here,” I added, swallowing my final bite of food. “I’d like to see sometime if there’s any animals around, pigs and goats and things like that. I’ve got a long-term bag loaded with seeds, it’s too late to plant now, but we could start in the spring.”

  “Too late?” Shannon asked.

  “Won’t have enough time to grow much before the first frost. We’re already well into summer,” James added. “We’ll get by from scavenging for now, maybe hunting, too?” he looked to me, and I nodded, pantomiming drawing back a bowstring and releasing it.