Aberdeen

by James Bierce

  Grabbing his gear and pushing the desks and chairs away from the entrance of the real estate office, he steps out into the brisk morning air and shivers as the wind blows between the buildings from the harbor to the south. Even on a dry, sunny day like this, the air along Grays Harbor always carries a chilled feeling to it, a dampness that cuts right through to the bone.

  The streets look empty once again, which gives him at least some confidence that the infected here are different than they are in Grayland and Westport. Here, at least as far as he can tell, daywalkers seem to be quite rare. He crosses the road and pushes the door to the bank open, both surprised and relieved that it did so without any resistance — then he looks around at the mess of ripped up papers and turned over chairs and desks that have been thrown around the place. Besides the trash though, the only sign of violence that he can see is a rather fresh trail of blood that leads from somewhere behind the counter to the doorway where he's standing, then down the sidewalk and around the corner. Following the other end of it, he traces it through the back of the bank and to a partially open vault, where he can see scratches on the carpeting in front of the massive door, and more bloodstains on the handle. He pulls the door further open with his foot, and releases a horrible scent of death and decay that's obviously coming from a pile of human innards lying just inside the opening.

  Pushing the door closed again, he turns around and sees an office sitting by itself in the opposite corner of the lobby. As soon as he approaches it, he can tell there's something different about the glass window that overlooks the rest of the lobby — it's far thicker than any normal window, and when he hits the glass, it sounds strange and feels heavy somehow. He looks around the rest of the lobby, making sure that he's actually alone, then locks the entrance and grabs a metal chair from the waiting area. After dragging the chair to the office window, he picks it up and swings it directly at the large pane, feeling the impact in his shoulder and elbow, but the hit does absolutely nothing to the glass. He swings it again, this time letting go of it right at the end in order to protect himself, but after three straight hits to the same place, it barely shows even a scratch — although the chair itself is bent beyond usability.

  He drops the chair, then uses his flashlight to look around the inside of the office, finding some fancy ink pens, some paper, and a variety of dollar bills in the top desk drawer — along with a single key that works on the sealed, reinforced door in front of him. This room was apparently once used as a safe room for the bank manager or owner, but it offered little help to the unfortunate soul that died in the vault — a vault they obviously didn't know was impossible to lock from the inside.

  Curtis looks east toward Cosmopolis as they pass by the intersection before the bridge, seeing wisps of smoke rising from the fires that are still burning on the south side of the river. He hopes that the thick smoke that he can see down the highway might deter some of the infected from coming this way, but he can tell from the look of mayhem on the bridge that they've been making this a regular route in recent days. Newly deceased corpses are lying next to old bones scattered across the pavement, and he can see where people have been clawing at the doors and windows of abandoned cars, leaving deep gouges in the thick layer of ash piled on each vehicle.

  "It stinks here…" Ben says, holding his arm over his mouth and nose to cover the scent.

  "I know, buddy, we'll be past here before you know it," Curtis says, looking down at him in the garden cart, and knowing that he's probably lying to him. "That's the hospital up on the hill — Larry and Beth said that the light on top used to come on at night."

  "After the outbreak?" Rachel asks.

  "Yeah, that's where Beth and Jake became separated."

  "Mom, look at those…" Matt starts to say, looking at Sarah while pointing down at the Chehalis River below, right as it dumps into Grays Harbor.

  "I know, honey," she says calmly and quietly, as she gently pushes his arm down. "There's no reason to make a big deal out of it — is there?" She nods toward Ben, and watches as Matt turns his attention back to the river.

  Debris is being washed downstream, everything from sheets of plastic to building materials and even a few cars that have been lodged against the side of the riverbank. None of those, however, compare to the clusters of dead bodies floating on the surface, dozens of them passing under the bridge in only the few minutes they've been walking over it — and they just keep coming. Sarah looks out toward the harbor itself, which is barely visible from here, and sees the same dark spots on the top of the water stretching as far as her eyes can penetrate.

  "They're all dead, aren't they?" Matt whispers.

  ""Yes, but at least this way they can't hurt anyone."

  "Have you ever been to Olympia, Matt?" Rachel asks, trying to distract him from the river.

  "That's the place with the capital building, right?"

  "Right, it's the state capital — or at least it used to be. It's also warmer and drier than the beach."

  "I don't really mind the rain that much, or the cold. I kinda like it here."

  "Sure, what's not to like…" Rachel says, smiling a little at Sarah as she looks around at the scarred city covered in ashes and bones.

  The smell does improve a great deal as they distance themselves from the river, but there's still a lingering scent of smoke and rot that's permeating the air around them — and the clouds of smoke and ash that's still blowing in from Grayland certainly doesn't help.

  As they walk down the smaller side streets and wind their way through the city in an attempt to stay hidden, Curtis notices footprints and drag marks in the layer of ash on the road — a clear indication to him that Aberdeen wasn't quite as dead as they'd hoped it would be. Throughout much of the city, however, he can see the remains of people, their bodies burned and decayed, and picked apart by animals and the weather. Even now, there's an unusually high number of seagulls, crows, and ravens in the area, taking advantage of the abundance of food that's suddenly become available to them. One thing that they haven't seen though, something that's been plentiful in the other towns they've been to, is domestic animals. Since crossing the bridge, they haven't come across a single dog, cat, rabbit, or livestock animal anywhere — and while it would be more than a bit unusual to find a horse or cow in the middle of a city, Curtis finds it strange that so many people have obviously survived the fire, but none of their pets did.

  "How much further is it?" Sarah asks Curtis, looking at her water bottle that's almost empty.

  "It should be on the next block or so."

  "Why don't you radio Larry and let him know that we're here…"

  "Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Curtis says, as he stops and takes the radio out of his pocket. "Larry are you there?"

  "Yeah, I'm here," Larry says after a moment. "You must be a lot closer, you're coming in clearer."

  "I think we're in the general vicinity."

  "Do you know where the Sullivan Hotel is?"

  "I can see it."

  "Well, I'm kitty-corner from it, on the opposite side of the street."

  Curtis looks up the street, where a brown, crumbling three-story building sits nestled between two modern structures — and across the street he sees Larry standing in front of a bank, waving his arms to catch his attention. "There he is…"

  "Where is the Sullivan Hotel?" Sarah asks.

  "That's the ugly building across from him. It used to be a whorehouse in the old days, but it's been shut down and abandoned for decades."

  "What's a whorehouse?" Ben asks.

  "It's a place where whores live," Curtis says without hesitating.

  "What's a whore?"

  "It's a job that used to exist, but doesn't anymore."

  "Like yours?"

  "Exactly, just like mine."

  Sarah runs up and hugs Larry as soon as they get close, but he nervously motions them inside before Curtis has a chance to shake his hand. Once they all enter the bank, he locks the door and
then quickly retreats back into the manager's office, where the others follow him.

  "Okay, we don't have much time, and I don't want anyone else knowing that you're all here," Larry says, who suddenly notices Rachel for the first time. "I know you…"

  "Hi Larry, my name is Rachel — remember?"

  "Yeah, Rachel, of course. It's good to see you again."

  "Why is it important that nobody knows we're here?" Sarah asks, interrupting them.

  "Because Christine is in trouble, and I don't think it's Mike that's holding her."

  "And you think that it's someone considerably younger…" Sarah says, nodding to Ben.

  "Right…" Larry opens the office door and steps out, then turns to Rachel. "Do you mind if I have a quick word with Curtis and Sarah alone? It'll only take a minute…"

  Without waiting for an answer, only a look of confusion on her face, Curtis and Sarah join Larry in the lobby, closing the door behind them.

  "You think it's Amanda, right?" Curtis asks, as soon as the door shuts.

  "I honestly have no idea — but I know she's in the city."

  "You've seen her?"

  "A few days ago, east of here — she followed one of us here. Look, I really need to get moving, and I don't mind going alone."

  "No, I'm going with you," Curtis answers quickly, drawing a look of surprise from Sarah.

  "Do you have a gun?"

  "Yeah, but it only has a few bullets."

  "You can take one of mine," he offers, handing him a loaded semi-automatic.

  Sarah sees Curtis lean in to give her a kiss, but she pulls back and pushes him away before he gets a chance. "Wait, aren't we going to talk about this?"

  "We'll be back before you know it," Curtis says, placing the gun inside of his coat. "Besides, I'm sick of looking over my shoulder every time I turn around. If she's up there, I need to find her."

  Sarah doesn't say anything else — she's tired of arguing, especially when she knows that it won't do any good anyway. She simply watches as Curtis heads back to the office to talk to the boys, and then sees Larry handing her a key. "Here, this is to the office — I don't think anyone can get inside."

  "Thanks," she says, taking the key from him. "Larry, what happened to Beth?"

  "Jake killed her, back in Grayland."

  "Oh my god… I'm so sorry, Larry," she responds, her voice choking up. "Is he still alive?"

  "No, I shot him."

  Hearing the office door open again, Sarah looks inside and sees both boys crying as Curtis says goodbye to them and leaves the room. "Don't do anything stupid," she tells him, as he hugs her briefly and then joins Larry by the front entrance.

  "I won't, I promise."

  "Oh, and Sarah," Larry says. "Don't open the bank vault."

  Leaving the bank, Curtis looks ahead at the long climb up the hill that leads to the hospital, and at the massive amount of footprints visible on the street in front of them. "Was it quiet here last night?"

  "No, not really. None of them got in though."

  "Does this Christine girl know how to handle herself?"

  "As far as defending herself? Not at all — but she's been through a lot, and I'm hoping she's a lot stronger than I think she is. She made it from Grayland to here on her own though, so I guess that says something about her."

  "And Mike… what about him?"

  "Mike is desperate, so I guess he's dangerous in that regard — but he's also a coward. If he's still alive when we get in there, I'm gonna kill him before we leave."

  "And if it's Amanda up there?"

  "I think she's had more than her fair share of second chances too."

  About halfway up the hill, Curtis looks up at the hospital and realizes that it's virtually impossible to sneak up on anybody with that vantage point, especially when they know you're coming — but this morning all of the rooms appear dark, even on the top floor where Christine is supposedly being held captive. As they reach the top of the hill where they can see the main entrance ahead of them, Larry tries contacting Christine on his radio again, but he hears nothing in response.

  "Was the entrance closed when you left yesterday?" Curtis asks, pointing at the shattered glass front door.

  "It was closed, but it wasn't locked. I didn't have a key."

  "So why did they bust it up?"

  "I don't know, but I think there's still someone moving around in there," Larry says, seeing a shadow pacing against the back wall near the staircase entrance. As out of shape as he is, Larry has been the one pushing them across the city and up the hill this morning, but even he begins to slow down as soon as they step through the missing glass pane and enter the lobby of the hospital, hearing someone thrashing around on the far side of it and screaming obscenities at a closed staircase door. Curtis stops as soon as he catches a glimpse of the man, who's covered in blood from head to toe, and carries an equally bloody ax that he's using to cut his way through to the emergency stairs.

  "Larry, hold up…" Curtis whispers, trying to get Larry's attention before the man spots him. Instead of stopping though, Larry walks calmly up to the information desk and knocks on it. At first the man doesn't do anything, but after knocking yet again, he turns around and looks Larry in the eyes, then lifts his ax up and screams again to intimidate him. Curtis takes a couple of steps forward just as the man swings his ax in Larry's direction — which misses by a mile, but he still continues to get closer. Then Larry takes his pistol from its side holster, aims it carefully at the guy, and fires a single shot into the man's face.

  "Well, I guess everyone knows we're here," Curtis yells, his ears still ringing from the gunshot.

  "I'm sure they already knew," he replies, stepping over the still-twitching body as he tries opening the staircase door.

  "Is it locked?"

  "No," Larry responds, still pushing with all of his strength. "The latch works, but there's something on the other side that's blocking it."

  Careful not to step on anything, Curtis tries shining his flashlight into the space beyond, and sees a stack of gas cylinders, chairs, and other objects filling up the area between the door and the steps behind it. "You're not gonna open it, we're gonna have to find another way up there."

  Holstering his gun again, Larry turns on his flashlight and shines it on an emergency exit map next to the door. "We're being led down a maze like fucking mice."

  "Is there another set of stairs?"

  "Yeah, on the other side, but they only go up to the third floor — we'll have to find this set again when we get up there," Larry answers, ripping the map of the first floor from the wall.

  Walking to the other end of the lobby, they can hear light footsteps on the level above them, and the occasional loud thump as something heavy hits the floor. Behind the information desk, Larry pushes the door marked 'Staff Only', which opens into a long, dark corridor that stretches farther than his flashlight will shine with any clarity. It does illuminate enough, however, to see something moving slowly across the floor, low to the ground.

  "Any idea what that is?" Larry asks.

  "No, but we have to assume that Amanda is probably waiting for us somewhere down here."

  They move carefully down the hallway, Larry's light fixed on whatever is in front of them, and Curtis' light moving around elsewhere just in case this is merely a diversion. When they make it about thirty feet from the door, they hear a loud crash behind them, followed by a click of metal from the door as it locks — but it doesn't slow Larry down. His eyes are focused on the object, hearing a painful whimper coming from it as he finally realizes what it is.

  "I think that's a woman ahead of us — but her back is all twisted up or something."

  Curtis glances inside some of the rooms as they pass by them, seeing stacks of body bags covering the floors of many of them. He only sees a living person in one, but they have their back turned to the door, staring straight ahead at an empty wall. "Does that map of yours show another way out of here?"

  "T
here's an exit if you go all the way down this hallway, then turn to the right," Larry says, as he stops and taps Curtis on the shoulder. "Look at this…"

  Curtis looks ahead and sees the woman lying on the floor, her back obviously horribly broken. She has her face turned away from them, with her arms pinned underneath her body in a completely helpless position — and he can hear her muted cries for help as she tries to lift her head up.

  "Can you speak?" Larry asks her, walking around to get a look at her face.

  "Yes…" she whispers weakly.

  The moment Curtis sees her face, he knows from the coloring around her eyes that she's infected — but that doesn't seem to stop Larry from bending down and opening the small bag that he's carrying. "What're you doing? You can't do anything for her…"

  He fumbles through the bag, then grabs a syringe with a small needle and jabs it into her arm. In only a few moments the woman's eyes start drooping, then go completely blank as the light disappears from them.

  "What the hell is that?" Curtis asks him.

  "Something I picked up at the pharmacy. I grabbed a few of them, just in case I got into trouble." Closing the bag again, he grabs the sign and walks down the hallway another twenty feet, then stops at an open door with a staircase inside. "Whoever is in here with us, they must have another way of getting around — or there's more than one of them. Somebody had to close that door behind us."

  "You feel that cold air coming down the shaft?" Curtis asks.

  "Yeah, there's a door open somewhere up there."

  They start climbing up the steps, with Larry still leading the way, and almost immediately they hear a rumbling noise coming from above them. As soon as they reach the second level landing, Larry sets the map to the first floor down and draws his gun out. Curtis can tell that the sound is coming from this floor, and the noise becomes even louder as they stand in front of the open door and look inside, seeing two office chairs roll across the floor, landing only a few feet away from them.

  "Stay here and guard the door, I'm gonna check it out," Larry tells him.