All That's Left | Book 2 | Out In The Open

by Gouge, W. B.

  All That’s Left: Out in the Open

  By W. B. Gouge

  Copyright © 2020 W. B. Gouge

  All rights reserved.

  For my Mom, Cathy, Katie and Ashley…

  One

  David felt numb all over his body. The world around him moved in slow motion and appeared as though he was looking through a lens that warped his view. Black smoke billowed out of the farm house windows, dozens of infected swarmed the front yard and front porch. A blurry shape moved down the driveway toward him. As she came into focus David recognized his grandmother. But then it wasn’t her anymore, it was the monster that had replaced her. Suddenly David was holding his grandfather’s rifle. He lifted it to his shoulder and steadied it carefully. As he watched her charge him he counted and exhaled slowly. He didn’t feel the recoil as the high-pitched blast of the rifle cracked the muted air. Edna’s head snapped back and she collapsed in the gravel. “And that was it, the woman who had cared for me and raised me my whole life was dead. And I… I had killed her!”

  David awoke in the cabin of Owen’s pickup truck. It was warm and muggy, the windows were covered in condensation. His back hurt and his neck was stiff, he decided that there was no good way to sleep in a truck. He started to readjust himself but realized Liz was sleeping on his shoulder so he decided to tough it out for now. He leaned back and stared blankly at the window as the dawn sun shone in orange and bright yellow. So much had happened in such a short time.

  David had barely been able to process the events of the past few days. He had returned from school to tell his grandparents he had flunked out and wasted their money on drugs, some kind of virus had broken out all over the country that caused people to become maniac cannibals, his grandfather was dead after having tried to kill him, his grandmother was dead after she had turned and also tried to kill him and David and his friends were on their own with seemingly no safe place to go until the authorities sorted the whole thing out. His family was gone and David felt terribly alone. He had felt the same way when he left for school and wondered if that may have been the reason he first started taking the cold medicine, it had been so long ago now he wasn’t sure why he had started in the first place so maybe that was it.

  David sighed and Liz began to move a bit. She cracked one eye open and looked around, “Is everything ok?” She asked him.

  “Yeah, just can’t sleep very well in a truck.” He answered with a yawn.

  Liz stretched and nodded, “They seem to be okay with it.” She motioned toward Owen and Sarah, both of them passed out on the other end of the trucks bench seat.

  Liz snuggled up to David’s chest and placed her head on his shoulder, “Let’s get a few more minutes of sleep if we can.”

  David was surprised and happy to have her so close. She leaned up and looked at him, “David, your heart is pounding, are you ok?”

  He stared back into her green eyes and suddenly he didn’t feel so alone. She cared for him, at least cared for his safety and that made him feel better than he had in a long time. “Yes, I’m fine now.” He answered.

  She laid her head back down on his chest and David felt calm and relaxed. He had carried the weight for too long now, he had to drop it. “When I was away at school, everything was so fast paced. It was so lonely, not like home ya know? I wasn’t doing well and… my grades suffered. The real reason I came home was because I had flunked out of school.”

  It felt good to come clean. To finally push it out in the open, he hadn’t told her about the drugs but this was at least a good start. “We all missed you, I’m glad you’re back David.” She whispered.

  “I’m glad to be back.” He whispered back.

  “David?” Liz lowered her voice even more, “Did you have a girlfriend there?”

  He was surprised by the question, he had asked her the same thing before. It had just slipped out, he was so embarrassed. But now she was asking him and he wasn’t sure what that meant if it meant anything at all. “No, I didn’t.”

  A raspy voice chimed in from the other end of the truck, “That’s cause you’re such a loser.”

  David and Liz both snapped back for Owen to shut up but Owen just laughed it off. “You two love birds are making me sick over here!” Owen chuckled.

  Sarah leaned up looking as though she had had a rough night, “Ugh, what’s going on?”

  David and Liz spoke up at the same time, “Nothing!”

  Owen stretched and got out of the truck, the cooler air outside the truck was fresh and crisp which caused everyone else to climb out as well. The early morning sun casts long shadows of the trees on the ground stretching across the creek next to where they were parked. The old dirt road they had followed the day before had ended here where Owen and David had spent a lot of their free time when they were younger. It was a wooded trench that ran between two large farms separated by the creek. Besides David, Owen and a few of their old friends nobody ever came out here and they thought it was a good place to hide. And so it was David thought, but with no food and only a single bottle of water they could not stay here for long.

  Sarah said she had to pee and asked Liz to go with her when Owen spoke up, “Could be dangerous, I better go with you.”

  “Ugh, no thanks perv!” Liz snapped back.

  “Not you bone head!” he replied but the girls were already on their way.

  David stared at Owen for a moment, he admired his endurance even in the face of constant rejection and the national disaster he still would hit on any woman. “You never give up do you?” David asked.

  “Course not, I follow the one out of ten rule,” Owen held up ten fingers and continued, “You ask a girl out ten times, and if she agrees to only once, you win!”

  David shook his head, it was a sound perspective though. He opened his backpack looking for water and found the cold medicine. Five boxes, enough to get high for a week. David felt tense suddenly, he felt like he needed them. “I can’t take them now though, maybe later tonight when everyone is asleep?” he thought. Owen asked how much water they had left and he snapped back to reality. “I can’t do these anymore!” He decided. But he couldn’t get rid of them either. He pushed the thought away but couldn’t ignore the fact that his hands had begun to shake. David grabbed the water bottle out of his backpack and was disappointed to find that there were only a few sips left. “We are going to need some water.” David sighed.

  “There is a creek right in front of you, grab something and boil some water in it.” Owen said and began to search the small junk pile in the bed of the truck.

  Owen produced an old soda can and held it out in front of David. David shook his head, “Do you have any that don’t have crud all over the opening?”

  “Sure thing your majesty, hop in and find one yourself.” Owen said.

  David reluctantly climbed into the bed of the truck to find a somewhat cleaner can, “Check the radio would you?” he asked Owen.

  Owen started the truck and turned the volume up on the radio so they could both hear. The group had tuned in periodically since they had escaped David’s grandparents’ house yesterday morning. The reports had been grim. Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Phoenix, Miami and Washington D.C had all suffered from large scale outbreaks of the mystery illness and small pockets had popped up throughout the nation. While police and military groups tried desperately to contain the outbreak and violence in those cities, the infected numbers grew and violent rioters had spread out beyond the barricades. Worst of all was that none of the authorities seemed to be aware that the illness was spread through bites by the infected, or that the infected eventually turned
into maniacs. The reports stated that “in the midst of the illness, violence followed” but that wasn’t the case. The violence that followed was the direct result of infection. David and the others knew, but everyone else didn’t seem to realize that.

  As they listened to the radio the girls came back to the truck. There were two men talking on the radio, one was apparently a reporter and the other was some kind of analyst. He was talking about how social inequality had caused this eruption of violence and the real solution was to meet with the leaders of this uprising and negotiate a settlement. Owen shook his head, “Where did they find this idiot?”

  Then Liz spoke up, “What!? Don’t they see what’s going on around them? It’s the infection that is causing all this trouble! How is it that nobody else has seen it?”

  But before anyone else could comment the report was interrupted by an emergency broadcast. Another voice came over the air waves, this time it was a woman who seemed exhausted as she spoke. “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you the latest news of the outbreak gripping the nation. Just a few moments ago the Press Secretary and the Director of the CDC has confirmed that similar cases of the outbreak here in the U.S. have been reported in the following countries around the world.”

  The group traded worried expressions as the reporter continued. “Earlier today our sources gave us reports of illness and wide spread violence in China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Germany, England, France, and Russia.”

  David felt sick to his stomach, “This can’t be happening” he thought.

  Soon the whole world may soon be affected by this disaster. His hopes that a resolution was coming soon faded away with each passing second, replaced by the idea that this could go on for weeks, or even months. David rubbed his temples as the possibilities raced through his mind. “This could be the end of the whole world.”

  They all kept quiet and listened as the report ended and yet another reported started. This time it was news from the U.S. and it was much better than anything they had heard since the beginning of this nightmare. The reporter came on the radio, and thanked the previous reporter for her contribution, then continued, “U.S. military forces have fallen back to bases all across the country and are requesting that civilians who show no signs of infection make their way to these bases so they can be protected while forward units work to pacify the violence in and around the major cities.”

  Liz smiled and nodded at Sarah, David felt the first bit of relief he had felt in the last several days. Owen looked uninterested in the good news as they continued to listen. The report included a military base called Fort Union, which was by far the closest to their location, in Kentucky. David was already sold on the idea, besides they didn’t have any other real plan, but he needed consensus from the others, “Well, do we head for Fort Union?” he asked.

  “I think we should, what else are we going to do? Stay here by the creek and hope this whole thing blows over?” Liz said.

  Owen shook his head, “We should stay here because it’s safe! There isn’t anyone else around, we should just lay low and hide out here until the cops or army straighten this out.”

  David could see the logic in both plans, “But what if they don’t straighten this out? You heard the radio, there are reports all over the world now. This could get a lot worse before it gets any better Owen.”

  Sarah was last to speak her mind, “Either way guys, I have to go where I can be the most help. I have medical training and the people showing up to those safe zones will need medical help. It’s my responsibility to go where I’m needed.”

  Sarah’s decision was made, David was very inspired by her dedication and he noticed that Owen’s attitude was suddenly changed by her words. “Well, I guess I’ll go too then, someone has to keep you idiots safe.” Owen said.

  “I’m in too,” Liz said, “Does anybody know where Fort Union is?”

  Everyone shook their heads, it was a huge hole in the plan. David looked down at the nearly empty bottle of water, “And we’ll need supplies to get there, especially if it takes a few days.”

  “Yeah I’m hungry.” Liz said.

  “I could use a beer…” Owen started when David had an idea.

  “We could check out the Country Store.” David said.

  Liz stepped back and made a sour face, “I don’t want to go back there, not after what happened.”

  David understood how she felt, he didn’t want to return to that awful scene either. But they needed some food and water and gas, and he was pretty sure no one else would be there. Then he remembered the man and woman who had attacked them. “What if THEY are still there?” he asked.

  Owen climbed in the truck and pulled out his baseball bat, “Well, we know how to handle that don’t we?”

  Two

  The group sped down the road toward the Country Store under the early morning sun. David watched the tall green cornstalks and telephone poles pass by the window and remembered the last time they were headed for the Country Store. “At least this time we know what we’re up against,” David thought. There had only been two of the infected there when they drove away last time, David hoped they had gone by now and that they would be able to gather supplies without a fight. As they neared the tiny store Owen stopped in the middle of the road and as David stared in the direction of the store his hope faded.

  He couldn’t see their faces that well, but he recognized the way they walked. The drunken swagger as the man and woman from the blue sedan roamed through the small concrete lot of the Country Store was all too familiar now. “That’s them alright. Well, how do you want to do this?” Owen asked.

  “No matter how we do this I don’t want any of us getting hurt.” David said.

  “We could just speed up there and run them over!” Owen offered looking somewhat excited.

  “Jeez Owen, they’re still people.” Liz said.

  “No, actually they aren’t people anymore, might as well do it the easy way.” Owen explained.

  David shook his head, “Wouldn’t it be safer and easier to just shoot them from way back here?” David asked.

  Owen sighed, “I guess. I get first shot though.”

  The two boys left the truck running and climbed up into the bed. David handed the rifle to Owen and told him to be careful with it. Owen rested the rifle of the top of the cabin and insisted he knew what he was doing. Then he looked through the scope and steadied the rifle for several seconds. David jumped when the high-powered rifle went off. They both watched as the pair of infected ignored the shot and continued their aimless wandering. “I think you completely missed.” David said.

  “Well, it’s really far dude.” Owen explained.

  He peered through the scope again and lined up the crosshairs on the man. Then he fired again and was rewarded with a clean hit. The man staggered backwards on landed on the concrete hard. Owen let out a cheer as David watched the woman closely. She didn’t seem to notice that the man had been shot, she looked around for a moment then she simply went back to her steady walk. “Good shot.” David said.

  “Hell yeah it was.” Owen said smiling, but as he stared toward the store his smile faded.

  David turned to see what was the matter and was surprised to see the man climb to his feet. He leaned back and forth and then continued his lumbering walk past the woman and into the tall grass surrounding the lot. “Are you kidding me? Why didn’t he stay down?” Owen asked.

  David took the rifle and peered through the scope. He could just make out the dark red bullet wound in the center of the man’s chest. “You hit him in the chest.” David explained.

  “You have to hit them in the brain to kill them.” David said as he carefully aimed the rifle at the man’s head.

  He remembered his grandmother and hesitated for a moment. His heart began to beat faster and his hands shook. He had to relax, his grandfather had taught him how to shoot well. David exhaled and slowly squeezed the trigger until there was a deafening pop and the bulle
t screamed toward its target. Less than a second later the left side of the man’s head exploded onto the ground behind him and he dropped to the pavement as if he were a puppet and someone cut his strings. David worked the bolt and took aim at the woman, seconds later he fired again, and the woman fell backwards in the middle of the road. The solid weight of the gun in his hands made him feel different. Like he had a new level of control, he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  “Did you get them in the head?” Owen asked.

  “I think so, we will give it a minute or so before we go over there.” David answered.

  David reached into his pocket and pulled out the last three bullets he had for the rifle, then he carefully loaded them into the magazine and snapped it into the gun. He wished he had more than three rounds left, but it was better than nothing he thought. After a few minutes Owen drove the truck over to the entrance to the lot, David stood in the back of the truck with the rifle slung over his shoulder. First they passed the woman’s body in the road. David didn’t really want to look at it but he felt like he had a responsibility to. She was laying on her back, arms stretched upward giving him an idea of how powerful the rifle was, a single large bullet hole where her nose had been. Owen pulled the truck into the concrete lot and David got a look at the man’s corpse too. It was much more gruesome than the woman. He was lying on his side, the entire top rear portion of his head was blown off and scattered around his body in red, meaty chunks. David swallowed hard and looked away to keep from vomiting.

  Owen pulled the truck up to the gas pump and waited for a few seconds before he turned off the engine. Nothing moved except the tall grass in the wind, David hoped that meant that the coast was clear but he wasn’t taking any chances. “Hello?” he called out.

  After a minute they all climbed out of the truck and negotiated their next move. They adopted a simple plan. Sarah and Liz would wait outside while David and Owen made sure it was safe in the store. Then they would load up on supplies and head for Fort Union. The two boys stood in front of the door, it all seemed very familiar. Then David and Owen opened the entrance to the Country store, a rotten stench was thick in the small shop and it hit them like a wave causing their eyes to water. Owen went in first with his bat ready, David followed him with his rifle on his shoulder.