A Safe Place

by Frost, Scott

  We took a right in the alley and headed south. I had hoped that once we hit the next street we would be a safe distance away from them and we could begin searching for supplies. But that wasn’t the case. We emerged from the alley and onto the street only to run into another group of infected. It was a smaller group of infected, standing in front of a house, pounding on the door. Clyde and I looked at each other at the same time. I knew what was on his mind. He wanted to save whoever might be in the house. I figured there was no sense in arguing and hoped that we would at least be able to find supplies in the house.

  “Okay. Let’s see if we can help. I count six infected. We should be able to take them out quickly, before the other group even comes out of the alley.”

  Clyde and I walked toward the house. We leaned against a tree, trying to keep cover. We fired at the same time. Clyde hit an infected in the head. My shot was not that good. I missed all together. My bullet hit the house. I moved closer to the group and took another shot. This shot hit dead on. She fell to the ground and blood splattered against the door. The other four infected slowly came at us. Clyde fired four shots and put three of them down. The fourth kept coming, and came to less than six feet away from us. Neither of us fired. It was to close. We didn’t want to risk getting blood on us.

  She looked to be in her mid thirties and at one point, attractive. She was nearly nude; her breasts were small and still intact. From her waist up to her neck she looked normal. But below her waist was a hideous sight. Most of her stomach and inner thighs were gone. All that remained was loose skin and muscles. I quickly looked away.

  We ran pass her and when we got in front of the door Clyde turned around and fired one shot that hit her left eye. Her eye exploded and she hit the pavement, hard.

  The door was locked. I kicked it, but it didn’t budge.

  “Look out. I’m going to shot the lock.” Clyde said as he pushed me out of the way.

  Clyde fired two shots into the lock. The door wasn’t barricaded. I kicked it open and raised my rifle, ready for another attack, but nothing came. We ran into the house.

  “Alex, check the house. I’ll stand guard and yell when I see them coming. Don’t take too long!”

  The front door opened into a small foyer. To the left was the living room. It was empty. I ran into the kitchen. I opened the cabinets, and checked the closet. No supplies. I ran upstairs.

  “Hello. Is someone up here? I’m here to help. We need…”

  Before I could finish I heard a door open to my left. The hallway was narrow and I readied myself for whatever was behind the door. I could see a pair of eyes watching me. The door had a chain lock and it only opened a few inches.

  “Look I know you’re scared but we need to get out of here. We came to help. We have a safe place to hide. We have some food and water. If you want to come we need to leave.”

  “Are you going to touch me?” She said in a low voice. Initially I didn’t understand what she meant, but then I realized that she had most likely been raped. She looked to be in her twenties, but I wasn’t sure.

  “No. I just want to help. I’m not alone, and we have three girls with us, well not with us right now. They are back where we’re staying. Look I’m sorry if something happened to you, but we don’t have much time.”

  The door shut and I heard her undo the chain lock. The door opened and she stood there with a baseball bat in her hands. She had a small backpack on her back. She backed away from the open door, watching me, waiting for me to attack. She lowered the bat when she caught sight of the rifle.

  “Look I’m not going to hurt you. Are there any supplies in this house that we can take?”

  “I don’t know. I just got here a few hours ago. I was being chased and ran into this house. She started crying but kept her eyes on me.

  “I promise. We just want to help. All I want to do is find supplies, some gas, and get the hell out of here and find my wife. I’m married and have a kid. Clyde is the only other man in our group. Mary is his wife, and she is with my daughter Emma, and a girl we found the other day, her name is Melanie.”

  “Okay. How far away is it?”

  She walked toward me, and lowered the bat. I hadn’t noticed that she had a black eye and a cut lip. Her cheek was a purplish blue color. Her t-shirt had been ripped, and I could see bruises on her stomach. She stopped walking and raised her bat when she saw me looking at her stomach.

  “I’m sorry that you’ve been hurt. I wasn’t looking at you like that. I just wanted to see how badly you’re hurt. That’s all. I promise. We have some medicine back at our place. But we’re not going back right now. If you want to come with us you’ll need to help us find supplies and gas.”

  “Okay.”

  I walked out of the bedroom, and she followed but kept a good distance between us. As we walked downstairs, Clyde was taking aim and fired.

  “We have company. They’re still across the street, but they’re coming straight at us. We need to get the fuck out of here.” Clyde shouted and nodded his head toward our new companion.

  “Okay, let’s go out the back door and we can come out on another street. I think we should just check for gas and wait to find more supplies. Shit! We still need to find a gas can. And then we can try and get to your Jeep and drive back for the rest. I’m going to check the garage for a gas can. When they get to the yard if I’m not back, yell.”

  I turned to the girl.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Katie.”

  “I’m Alex. Why don’t you help me look for a gas can?”

  “Okay.”

  We ran toward the kitchen. The garage door was open. We walked into the garage and started to look. I found an axe and thought about keeping it, but decided against it. I turned around when I heard Katie’s voice.”

  “I found a gas can. It’s full.” She smiled.

  “No shit. Nice job.” I took the gas can from her, and opened the top. I raised the can toward my nose and smelled it. It was a beautiful smell. It was gas.

  We ran back toward Clyde. He fired two shots and dropped two infected. They were in the yard and closing in on the house.

  “Katie found a full can of gas. Let’s get the fuck out of here and haul ass to your Jeep.”

  “Katie, I love you!” Clyde said with sincerity. She looked at him and smiled. Her eyes brightened.

  We made it to the Jeep without any problems. We ran into one small group of infected, but they moved very slowly. Several of them looked as if they were having a hard time walking. We didn’t even slow down when we saw them. We ran two blocks south until we made it to the street where the Jeep was parked. The Jeep was intact. No broken windows. We emptied the can into the Jeep and threw the empty can into the back. We got into the Jeep, Clyde took the driver seat. He turned the key and it hesitated, but only for a couple of seconds. He shifted into drive, and we drove pass a group of infected. Clyde swerved around them and we made it onto Sullivan St.

  “Okay. Now what? We can’t go back to the lake house. If we do they will follow us. We need time to pack everything into the Jeep. And we still need to find more gas.”

  “Clyde, how many miles do you think we can go with the gas we have?”

  He paused and looked at the fuel gauge.

  “I don’t know. I think the gas can had about two gallons in it so maybe 30 miles or so. What are you thinking?”

  “Well, what if we slowly drive away from the lake and let the infected follow us. Once we are on the other side of town we can lose them and hall ass to the lake. That should give us enough time to load the Jeep and then we can find more gas.”

  “Sounds good to me, what do you think Katie?”

  Clyde kept his eyes on the infected. I turned around and saw that she was looking out the window at the infected.

  “Katie we are in this together. What do you think about the plan?

  She looked at me and she looked confused. I assumed it had been a while since anyone asked for her
opinion.

  “I like the idea. I just want to get out of here. Thanks so much for helping me and letting me come with.”

  “Not a problem. We’re glad to have you with us.” Clyde took that as an approval and started driving.

  We drove south swerving around the infected. We slowly drove, going about 5 miles an hour. The infected walked behind us following us. There were too many to count.

  “Okay Clyde. Once we hit the next street take a right and hall ass. You’ll go down two streets and then take another right head back to the lake. We should have at least fifteen minutes. Which I think will be plenty of time.”

  As we approached the next street, Clyde pushed the gas pedal to the floor. We made it back to the lake house in less than five minutes. There was only several infected standing in front of the door. Clyde stopped the Jeep and we jumped out and quickly took out the few infected. Clyde parked less than five feet away from the door. I knocked three times fast, paused, and knocked another three times fast. The door unlocked and opened. Emma was standing right next to Mary and ran into my arms when she saw me. I quickly told everyone what we needed to do. No one questioned me or hesitated. We quickly loaded everything we could find into boxes and loaded the Jeep. Everyone piled into the Jeep and we were ready to go. The Jeep was packed. And just in time. The infected were slowly walking toward the lake’s entrance. Clyde looked at me and then back at the road.

  “I don’t think we can plow through them. There are too many. Now what?”

  “I don’t know. But we didn’t come this far to find gas and just sit here and wait for them to surround us. Just drive. And don’t stop.”

  “Okay. Everyone hold on. This might get bumpy.”

  Chapter Eleven

  We drove into the sea of infected with both fear and a nervous anxiety toward what we would find if we got out of Manteno. We listened as bones crushed beneath the wheels of the Jeep. It sounded like styrofoam being broken into pieces.

  Clyde drove slow and cautiously. Half way through the sea of infected the Jeep stalled and then what we had hoped wouldn’t happen, happened. We came to a dead stop. The infected instantly covered the vehicle. They pounded on the windows. The noise made Emma scream. Katie tried to calm her down, but Emma was terrified, not that I blamed her. Trust me, I wanted to scream and I did in my head.

  Clyde got the Jeep started and shifted it into drive. The amount of weight the infected had against the Jeep made it difficult to move. Clyde hit the gas and the Jeep sputtered, stalled, and slowly inched us toward freedom. I knew what had to be done. There were too many of them and their weight was too dangerous. The pure weight of them had us almost at a complete stop again. I knew it was only a matter of time before the windows shattered.

  Emma was still crying, but had stopped screaming. She clutched her book into her chest, and with her wide eyes looked past Katie and out the window.

  Mary and Melanie were both wide eyed and staring out the windows.. Even though it took us less than five minutes to drive through all the bodies, it felt like a lifetime. Life is funny that way. When you want time to go slow, it goes by fast, and the opposite applies when you want time to go by fast, it goes by slow.

  “Clyde, open the sunroof; I’m going to start shooting them away from us.” I said.

  I didn’t wait for a reply. I grabbed my rifle and started to raise myself through the opening sunroof. Trust me; I did not want to go out of the Jeep, even if it only was half of my body. As I waited for the sunroof to fully open, I mentally prepared myself. I knew that they couldn’t reach me, but I was scared shitless.

  “You sure you want to do that. I think we can drive out of here, it just might take a while.” Clyde said.

  “Just be careful.”

  “Always.”

  Once my head and chest were above the roof, I grabbed the rifle and raised it. I took aim at the infected in front of the Jeep. The first infected I took aim at was a tall infected that caught my eye, not only because of his height but because of his eyes, or lack of eyes. His eye balls were missing. I started to wonder how he could see, but that thought quickly vanished when the Jeep started rocking back and forth even harder than it had been. He looked like someone I knew, perhaps, a loan officer at the bank. Yes, he looked like Andrew something or other. I had done business with him in the past, but I could have been wrong. I shook my head and squeezed the trigger. I aimed for his head, and the bullet landed perfectly in the center of his forehead. After Andrew fell, I took aim and fired, again and again. I kept squeezing the trigger and the infected slowly fell. I wish I could say I was a good shot, but I wasted a lot of ammunition. I was firing in frantic movements. I fired until my clip was empty.

  I killed around thirteen infected and even though in the scope of how many infected still stood, it helped. I had cleared a little path in front of the Jeep. Clyde drove over the dead bodies, and drove into the infected that were still standing. He put the Jeep into four wheel drive and we made it through the group. I turned around and faced them as we left the lake. They were walking toward us. I had put a new clip into my rifle, and as we drove away from the lake, I fired several more shots and nailed two infected in the head. They fell, and caused several others to fall with them. It was a comical sight not that I laughed. But I wanted too. Clyde drove through Manteno, stopping at every car. After about forty five minutes we had siphoned enough gas to give the Jeep half a tank. It was a good start.

  “Well, I think it’s time to leave. We have half a tank. I think that will be enough gas. I just want to leave this town.” Clyde said in a panicked voice that I had not heard before.

  I don’t blame Clyde for wanting to leave. We had several close encounters with infected, but thankfully they moved slow. I can’t imagine how we would’ve survived if they weren’t slow. If they were able to run we would’ve been screwed. Not to mention if they had they had the ability to open doors or plan.

  The other problem we had was maneuvering the Jeep through the streets. The streets were littered with cars, bodies and garbage. It looked like a scene from a judgment day movie. We drove to the grocery store and stopped. We knew it would likely be a waste of time, but we had to check. And we needed supplies. Katie volunteered to go with me. Katie was given Mary’s rifle. Clyde gave her a quick lesson on how to use it. She held the rifle with pride. She looked like a new person, not only because of the rifle. There was something else about her. But I didn’t know what it was.

  Clyde got out of the Jeep and stood guard on the side facing the street, Mary stood guard on the side facing the alley, and Melanie stood guard facing the store. Emma stayed in the Jeep, watching each of them in turn.

  “If there are any problems just hit the horn.” I said.

  “Okay. Be careful we have no idea what is in there. And be quick. Don’t spend too much time in there. We need to get out of this town and quickly. Did you see how many infected were back there?”

  No, I had my eyes closed, was the first response that came to mind, but I refrained from saying that.

  “Okay. We will make it quick.”

  Katie and I walked into the store. The smell of death instantly invaded us. It was one of those smells that you taste in your mouth. I fought back the urge to vomit. Not only did it smell like death, but it also smelled of rotten food. The smell of death made me worry; the smell of rotten food made me nauseous. I pointed toward the right side of the store.

  “Check over there.” I said, as I pointed toward the right side of the store.

  “I will check the other side. Just be careful, and call me if you find anything we can use.”

  “I don’t think we should split up. Why can’t we go together?” Her voice pleaded with me and reluctantly I gave in. Truth was I didn’t want to separate, but wanted to cover the store as fast as possible. We walked toward the right side of the store. The shelves were bare and the food that remained was covered in mold. The smell got worse as we walked toward the deli. We both covered our noses. It d
idn‘t help. The stench was awful. I walked behind the deli and quickly closed my eyes. The floor was covered in dead bodies, ripped apart like rag dolls. The blood looked fresh, which was not a good sign. Part of me wanted to scream like a little girl. But I didn’t. Not that I exactly knew the difference between fresh and old blood. I assumed blood that wasn’t fresh would be crusted, this blood looked bright red. It looked like someone had knocked over a mop bucket, but instead of water the bucket was filled with blood.

  “Katie, we need to get out of here. Let’s just look down a couple of aisles for canned food and water. But to be honest I don’t think we’re going to find anything. Don’t come back…”

  I didn’t have time to finish. She walked behind the deli and caught sight of the bodies. She quickly turned around. She lowered her head and puked. I walked to her side, and pulled her hair out of the way. As we stood there, Katie bent forward puking, and crying, me holding her hair and rubbing her back, I heard the horn. It echoed in the empty store.

  “Katie we need to leave right now. Come on,” I yelled.

  She quickly stood up and reached for my hand. I don’t know why it made my body tense, but it did. It’s as though time slowed down and I enjoyed the comfort of her hand. The way her fingers felt against my fingers. And then the unwelcoming sound of the horn took me out of my peaceful thought and back into the dreaded reality. As we ran around the corner Katie slipped on something wet on the floor and fell pulling me down with her. I fell into an empty shelf, hitting my head. I felt a stream of blood come down my face. It took several second for my eyes to re-adjust. I glanced at Katie. She wasn’t moving. I got to my feet, and my body was sent into a fit of agony. I leaned against the shelf for a minute. And then I quickly went over to Katie. She was out cold. I couldn’t tell if she was really hurt or if she had just hit her head. I didn’t see any blood. As I bent down to pick her up I heard movement behind me. I turned around and was about to ask for help, thinking it was Clyde or Mary, but I was wrong. I was dead wrong. It was a small group of infected.