by Sahin, Ned
I go to the left side and look behind the books randomly. I try to push the shelf, but it’s too heavy to move it by myself. I don’t think they hid an exit door behind a shelf since one person is not capable enough to open it.
Kathleen and Toshi are trying to move the other shelves. The sound of shifting wood echoes in the hallway.
“Check this out…” Kathleen says. Unlike the others, the shelf she is trying to move is screwed to the wall. We randomly check some of the books. Most of them are not actual books but are decorative plastics.
We carefully check each side of the shelf.
“Bingo!” I say. One corner is aligned perfectly with the vertical line on the wall. As Toshi pulls the shelf with the right angle, the metal hinges crack before the shelf starts moving easily. Cold air from the darkness on the other side of the door breezes through our faces.
We make sure our knives are still attached to our belts and pick up the bow and shotgun before entering the darkness through the narrow opening.
“Guys…” Toshi whispers in hesitation while looking back to the library door. We turn our heads.
Ben is at the door standing still. His dull face shows no emotions.
“Ben, we are getting out of here. Come with us,” I say. I know he won’t be able to catch up with us if we run from the Ricas, but we can easily carry him.
He continues to stare at us one by one. I realize that I have never heard him talk. He might have speech difficulties, or he might be simply choosing not to talk. One thing I am sure of is that he can hear. That’s how Logan asked to follow him when we first saw Ben.
The boy locks his eyes into mine. Then he lets out a blood-curdling scream. It’s too loud, which I would never have expected a kid at his age to be able to do. I also notice half of his tongue is cut.
“What the heck!” Kathleen yells.
Ben takes a short breath and screams again.
“Go, go!” I tell Kathleen. She enters the door. Toshi follows him. I hear other children coming out of the room and staring at us. Logan runs out of the cafeteria and pulls his gun out from his holster.
Following Toshi, I step into total darkness. We try to close the door, but it’s almost impossible to do it from our side since there’s no handle to pull it.
“Climb up!” Kathleen says. Her voice comes above us. She is already halfway on the ladder.
I can hear Toshi taking steps up on the metal ladder. With the help of the light gliding through the narrow opening at the door, I find the ladder and make my way through the top as well. I hear Logan pulling the door inward.
“It’s locked!” Kathleen says while punching the exit hatch.
“Let me check!” I say. I pass Toshi on my way up and get next to Kathleen who is out of breath.
I push the hatch a few times. It can move just about an inch. I don’t think it’s the lock holding it down. There must be something around the hatch preventing it from being opened.
I slide my knife between the hatch and the iron perimeter. I move it up and down to cut through dense plants. Dirt falls into the tunnel as I continue loosening up the stuff around the hatch.
Toshi is coughing due to the falling dirt.
“Okay, on three…” I turn to Kathleen who nods. “One, two, three!” I say. We both push the hatch upward as hard as we can. It raises halfway. I put my hand above the ground and hit the hatch with my other palm again. It opens wide enough for us to squeeze through.
While Kathleen holds it open, I pull myself out of the hole. Then I grab her hand and yank her up as she climbs the last step. I give a hand to Toshi.
“You, idiots! Come over here!” Logan yells from the bottom of the ladder. He fires his gun. I hear the bullet bouncing on the tunnel’s cylinder perimeter.
The sound of the shot gets the Ricas’ attention. Roaring and snarling, they run from the main entrance toward the noise.
“Quick!” Kathleen says to me. I grab Toshi’s arm and pull him up. Ricas get closer to us like lions racing toward their hunt.
“Run!” Kathleen yells at us. We all run to the bunker’s fence. Some of the Ricas fall to the escape tunnel. I hear Logan shooting at them.
I throw the shotgun to the other side of the fence. Toshi does the same with the bow.
We try to climb the fence, but it’s hard to hold on to it. It’s almost like climbing to a flat wall.
One of the Ricas catches Kathleen’s foot as she is halfway through the fence.
“No!” Kathleen screams.
Toshi and I make it to the top of the fence. Toshi grabs one of her arms while the Rica pulls back from her foot like a tug-of-war. Another one also tries to grab her foot.
I rotate on the top of the fence and drop my legs on the other side. I lean down with my upper body and extend my hand down with the knife as much as possible.
“Let me go!” Kathleen screams again.
I finally reach the Rica’s hands that were holding her foot and stick the knife to the creature’s palm. I pry the knife up and stab his fingers. He releases her foot. I puncture the knife to the other Rica’s head. He stumbles to his death.
Kathleen finally makes it to the top of the fence with Toshi’s help. I hear them landing on the other side. They grab my legs to help me find my balance to get back to their side.
My feet finally touch the ground. Ricas are grunting and biting the fence on the other side. I see the hunger in their bloody eyes and pieces of meat stuck on their blackened teeth.
I look at the opening of the escape tunnel. Several Ricas are leaning down on it. I hope Logan manages to close the library door to stop Ricas entering the bunker.
We grab the shotgun and bow. We run to the forest before the Ricas realize they can get out of the perimeter by using the gate they used to enter the area.
Chapter 31
“Let’s take a break,” I say. We have been walking at a fast pace for hours.
The dawn is breaking. We have a better vision of our surroundings now. There are no Ricas in sight.
We are on a hilltop with the view of a road laying to the horizon. This doesn’t look like the highway we have been following. We must have headed in a different direction during the night.
Looking at where the sun is rising from, we are on our way to the West, at least.
“Thank you, guys...for saving me there.” Kathleen sits on a fallen tree to catch her breath.
“I don’t know what I would do without you,” she says with tears in her eyes. I sit next to her and put my arm on her back.
“We are a team. We survive together,” I say.
Toshi sits on the other side of her. “How long do you think it will take to get to Salt Lake City?” he asks.
“On foot, probably about a week. I hope we find something to ride on,” I say. The sooner we get there, the better, but I don’t feel like I’m in a rush. If Kathleen’s grandparents managed to survive this long, I don’t see a reason why they won’t for the next couple of days.
When I look at Toshi’s face closer, I understand his concern better. He is not worried about arriving quickly to her grandparents’ home. He is worried about how much time he has left. He got thinner and weaker in the last two days. It hurts me seeing him getting worse hour by hour.
“Any pills left?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “None.”
I take a deep breath and try to come up with a plan to find more drugs for him. I don’t know what might happen to him next. Dying from the virus or becoming a Rica? I don’t want either of the endings for my best friend.
“There have to be some towns on the way. We’ll find a pharmacy...” I say. There doesn’t seem to be any structure along the way from our spot, but I am sure we will eventually come across some small population centers if we follow the road.
While I’m looking at Toshi, Kathleen turns her face to me. I see the sadness in her eyes. There is another emotion hidden in her expression. I t
hink it’s fear. She must be considering all scenarios about Toshi’s next few hours.
“I will take a rest.” Toshi lies down near the bushes.
“I’ll take the first watch,” I say.
Kathleen still looks like she wants to tell me something. I stand up and walk a few yards to be in a higher position for having a better view of the surroundings. She follows me.
“Matt, you know what might happen to him…” she says. I know what she means, but I try to avoid thinking about the worst-case scenario. I don’t want to be in a kill or die situation if Toshi turns to a Rica and attacks us. I’d rather focus on finding a solution to keep him alive and keep him a human being.
“I understand if you can’t do it. I can take action when the time comes,” Kathleen says.
I know that she would do it to protect us.
“Let’s wait until we see obvious changes in his behavior. It’s too early to make a decision,” I say. I know that we are running out of time, but I am not ready to decide for him now.
Each of us sleeps only a few hours before we head down the hill. We still have sandwiches in our bags. I tear off a piece of green mold from the edge of my sandwich with cheese and tomatoes. It’s been a long and humid trip since we left Purple Haze.
I remember Sunshine’s warm smile every time we eat the rations she had prepared for us.
We continue to walk to the West. The sun has been right on top of us, speeding up our dehydration. We drank most of the water in our backpacks sooner than we expected. I am saving a little bit for an extreme emergency.
Our steps get slower and more disoriented. I still don’t see anything human-made. The land in this area is not in our favor. As we go farther, we see fewer trees and plants.
Not even a single vehicle has passed by. The few stalled vehicles are nothing but a bulk of plastic and metal. There is nothing to scavenge around. We have to keep walking.
Toshi is walking a few steps in front of me and Kathleen. We walk behind to keep an eye on him at all times.
He starts swinging and loses his balance.
“Hey.” I catch his arm before he falls. Kathleen comes to his help too. We gently lie him on the road.
“A little bit more, buddy,” I say. His eyes are half-open. His lips are dry and pale. The virus must be conquering his body. I give him the rest of my water and offer him the snacks I got from the bunker’s cafeteria. He drinks the water, but he doesn’t have an appetite to eat.
We sit in the middle of the road hopelessly. Toshi’s head is on my leg. His face is turned to the road ahead of us. Kathleen holds his hand. Neither of us knows what to do to help him.
“Look…” Toshi murmurs.
“What?” I lean closer to his face. I hope this isn’t what I’ve been fearing.
Toshi slightly raises his arm and points his index finger somewhere ahead in the road. There is a driveway leading to a two-story building with satellite and antennas on top of it. I would think I am hallucinating if it were only me seeing this, but it looks like Toshi and Kathleen see it as well.
With Kathleen’s help, I help him get back on his feet. We need one last push to get to that structure.
There is a stone perimeter around the building, but it was crumbled. Metal wrecks and plastic containers are randomly spread out in the area. It looks like a war zone.
As we get closer, I see a military Humvee in front of the building. One of its doors is open. The building has only a few small windows. Other than those, it looks like a concrete hangar. There is an iron door near where the Humvee is left.
We help Toshi sit behind the destroyed stone perimeter near the gate.
“Kathleen, watch for him please,” I say, and she nods. I leave the shotgun with them. It’s useless without bullets anyway. I leave my backpack there too.
I walk toward the Humvee and glance through the window. There is nobody inside the truck. There are communication devices and an empty mount for 50 calibers. It looks like a military vehicle with standard equipment, and I am pretty sure it’s out of gas. I don’t see anything that may help our survival.
I walk to the hangar door and try to open it, but it’s locked. I knock on the door.
“Hello! Anyone in here?” I ask. There is a camera at the top corner of the door, but it doesn’t have any signal around it. I am not sure if it’s even functional.
I knock again and wait for a few more seconds. I don’t hear anything from inside. I think about alternative ways of entering the hangar, but this door seems to be the only one. The windows I can see from here are too high to reach. Even if we do reach them, I don’t think they are big enough for any of us to sneak through.
I look back at Kathleen and shake my head. This building created false hope for us.
She comes to the door and pushes the handle too. She looks around to find something useful to hit it with, but we both know that we don’t have a chance of forcing our way in through this thick-looking door.
We share a look of desperation. She leans back to the door and places her hands behind her head. She closes her eyes.
“Next time…” I say while turning back. There must be more buildings on the way. The buildings that can actually help us stay alive and keep going.
An electric buzz startles both of us. It’s the sound of the door being unlocked. We look at each other in surprise and smile. Maybe this day hasn’t been that bad after all.
We both pull out our knives. I grab the doorknob and push it down. Then I pull the door. The lights are on inside. It’s a good sign. Kathleen steps in.
“Drop your knives,” a guy who is a few times bigger than us says. His balding hair and weeks-long beard combined with his rounded belly in a military camouflage confuse me on how to react to his command-like sentence. Weirdly enough, there is upbeat music coming from inside.
Despite his threatening voice, he doesn’t have any kind of weapons in his hands. It doesn’t mean he can’t reach his handgun holster in a flash, though.
I glance at Kathleen. She is staring up at the hulk-shape guy with her lips pressed together.
“Take it easy. Just wanted to ask if you have some water to spare,” I ask loudly. I decide to ignore his bossy introduction and play his own game.
He looks down at me without moving even a bit. Through his dull eyes, I can see that he is dead inside.
“Drop your fucking knives.” He raises his jaw and shrinks his eyes. His hand slowly goes to his holster. I can’t believe how hard it is to come across normal people these days. We came from a bunker where children are abused to a military hangar where who knows what’s going on.
We can still run away from this place. I don’t think he would bother coming after us, but I am not sure how far we can go with our limited supplies and Toshi’s current situation.
I throw my knife on the floor halfway between us. Kathleen does the same.
“Hands in the air. Face toward the wall,” he commands. We do it. If he wanted to kill us, he would have already. I think he is just executing the orders from his commander who is probably very picky about people they allow into the compound.
The 300-pound guy searches my body. He starts with my armpits and goes down to my ankles. He does the same to Kathleen by annoyingly taking more time and touching more. She closes her eyes and grinds her teeth as his hands go over her body.
“Follow me,” he says. I want to object, but I know there is nothing better waiting for us outside. It’s probably a desert for hundreds of miles from here to Salt Lake City.
He closes the main entrance and opens the door on the other side of the room. I can hear the music louder now.
He walks slowly in front of us. He takes stairs down to the basement. We go through some kind of a lounge area where several people are smoking and chatting. One of them is inhaling a white powder through his nose. A couple is making out on a sofa in the corner of the room. Everyone seems high enough not to care about what’s going
on.
We enter a huge room with a glowing disco ball. The music is too loud that it makes me close my ears inadvertently.
People are dancing while sipping their drinks. I am willing to drink whatever they have as long as it hydrates my body and gives me the calories I need.
He takes us to the hallway at the back of the basement. We go through a door that opens to a pantry with a stack of water bottles and leftover food.
“Wait here.” He points to the chairs around a table in the middle of the pantry. He may not be as bad as he seems after all.
He leaves the room and closes the door. Both Kathleen and I drink at least two small bottles of water without even breathing. I hide a bottle in my pocket and cover it with my t-shirt. Kathleen does the same. We eat some noodle mix left on the table with our hands.
“What is this place?” Kathleen asks while getting the last rolls of noodles from the plate.
“An ex-military base that was converted to a tavern for travelers doing cross-country trips?” I say. That’s the only logical explanation I can think of.
“He didn’t lock the door,” Kathleen says. I’ve always admired her observant personality.
“Ready?” I ask, finishing the noodle mix. She blinks her eyes and stands up to get going.
I take a fork from a drawer. I wish there was a knife, but this is the closest thing I can use for self-defense. Kathleen hits a glass on the corner of the counter. It breaks in pieces. She uses a bunch of paper towels to pick up the sharpest looking piece. That should work better than a fork.
I slowly open the door and look at the corridor before stepping out. I see club goers walking around. Nobody seems to be worried about us.
“They are here?” I hear someone loudly speaking. I see his arm before his body shows up in the corridor. I close the door right away. We get back to the chairs and hide our kitchenware weapons. The door opens a few seconds after.
“Welcome to the party!” a tall guy in military uniform says with a wide smile on his face. His name tag on his chest reads “Corell.” He has short hair and a fit body. His face looks freshly shaved. If I had seen him on the street before the outbreak, I wouldn’t have had any doubts about his profession and intentions. However, we are living in a messed up world now. I can’t stop myself from being skeptical.