Beneath the Ashen Veil of Darkness

by Robert Bartlett

  “Awe man” Grant exclaims. “What?” asks Levi from the doorway that lead to the garage. “No ATV” Grant states disappointment evident in his voice. “Damn really. Maybe there’ll be one in the next garage” Levi says, “On a positive note, check out this awesome hatchet I found.” “Heck yeah that’s awesome. Did you see anything else laying around that we can use?” Grant asks. “Um…..no, not really. There’s a gas can in the corner by the lawn mower but that seems to be about it. We should check that, see if there’s anything in it” Levi offers, “I think we’ve already got all the hammers and screwdrivers we need at the compound. Keep your eyes open for anything that we could use as a weapon though.” “Not a problem” Grant says as he begins making his way over to the front corner of the garage where the lawn equipment was stored. “Hey Levi, looks like there is a doggy door over here or something in the bottom…” Grant stops his statement before it is finished as he notices what looks like a pile of blankets and a sleeping bag arranged on the floor just inside the garage. “What’d you say Grant?” Levi calls out from the front of the garage. Grant turns quickly towards Levi shining his flashlight on himself signaling Levi to be quiet as he does then starts pointing to the floor where he had found what appeared to be a bed. Levi instantly crouches and begins quickly and quietly making his way to where Grant is already standing.

  “Oh thank god!” Laura exclaims from where she was bent over searching for supplies underneath the bathroom sink. “What’d you find Laura?” Paige asks from the medicine cabinet she was busy rummaging through. Laura stands and turns showing her bounty like a trophy to her friend, they both begin laughing and celebrating at the box of tampons Laura had found underneath the sink. The second such box they had found since they began searching the houses one by one that surrounded the chiropractor’s office. A dire need in a world where there isn’t a corner pharmacy or supermarket to run to during that time of month. And in a world where general hygiene is hard to come by, it made them a terrible necessity if you were going to try to avoid illnesses and infections. Which was priority number one after staying alive when you lived in a world where getting salmonella, the flu, or even the common cold could be fatal. A world where getting dysentery, dying of dehydration or starvation was an actual possibility. Their momentary victory celebrated the two young women get back to work resuming their search for both essential and non-essential supplies always remembering that luxuries, great and small, were hard to come by in the current state of the world.

  Levi pokes the poorly thrown together bedding with the new hatchet he has just found in an attempt to see if it was empty or occupied. His sigh of relief is audible as he peels back the last layer revealing that the bedding is indeed empty. Grants own sigh echoes Levi’s from where he had been standing beside him. “It’s empty now, but how long has it been this way is the question. Because it definitely looks like it’s been used and used recently” Levi expresses to Grant. “Agreed, but used by whom?” Grant asks raising the other obvious question. “I don’t know but this is a little too close to the dr.’s office for comfort in my opinion” Levi says as he stands, scanning his light around the garage trying to see if they had over looked any clues as to who or what had been using this bed to sleep in. “Let’s go meet up with the girls and move on.” Grant nods his head in agreement as he turns and leads the way out of the garage and back into the main part of the house.

  “Levi, are you sure it was a bed?” Laura and Paige both ask simultaneously. “It couldn’t have just been a pile of blankets or something the owners of this place threw down and forgot on their way out of the house as they tried to get to someplace safer?” It was Paige, the most clearheaded thinker of their young group that asked the question. “No, no way” Grant answers before Levi has a chance to, “This thing looks slept in.” “Yeah I agree with Grant completely. You’d have to see it to understand what we mean. It looked, I don’t know, organized somehow or something” Levi says to them, “We need to get back to the dr.’s office and tell my dad and Ray about this.” “I agree and soon. Should we call the search off for the third house until we find out what they have to say about it?” Laura asks. “If it was a bed, there isn’t anyone in it now so I say we continue the search we had planned out for this trip” it is Paige who speaks up loudly with authority in her voice as she does. “ We didn’t find that much in here. Not as much as we did in the first house anyway and our time for finding supplies and getting back is running out. And I’m sorry Levi but your dad isn’t getting any better. He looked awful this morning when I went in to check on him and give him the only real medicine we have, which is just plain old aspirin. We need to keep searching for supplies and medicine” Paige states to the others. “The group is depending on us to do our jobs and we can’t let them down just because we get a little spooked. Our packs are only half full if you don’t count the gas can we found and most of that are things like toilet paper, a few toothbrushes and toothpaste, some ibuprofen, and a half of a bottle of Nyquil. Oh and two boxes of tampons.” As Paige finishes her statement to the group she ends it by looking directly at Levi, “And we really need to try to find antibiotics for Clay. I think he’s really, really sick.”

  Levi looks down at the ground to avoid Paiges’ gaze. Afraid that even in the dark and the mask she would be able to see the shame in his eyes that she was the one that had to stand up and be the voice for what their responsibilities were to the group here with them out on the sortie and to the group of family members and loved ones that were depending on them back at the compound. But most of all he was ashamed that she actually needed to remind him of the grim situation that was his sick, and getting sicker, father. “OK, we all heard her so let’s get to it. On one condition” Levi says as he is finally able to meet Paige’s gaze, “no more splitting up, we stick together as a group.” The group nods in agreement as an answer to Levi’s half question, half order about how the search of the last house was to proceed. “Good, did you two get a chance to search the kitchen yet for can goods?” Levi asks Paige and Laura. “No we had just finished searching the bathrooms when you guys came in from the garage” Paige answers. “Alright Grant and I will go get the wagon, you two go ahead to the kitchen and begin opening the cabinets and we’ll meet you there in five minutes” Levi says. The air of uncertainty hangs thick about them as they begin to carry out their new specified responsibilities. As Levi and Grant step outside Levi catches movement out of the corner of his eye causing him to focus and to turn quickly towards the dr.’s office. “Are you OK dude?” Grant asks as Levi’s quick movements had momentarily startled him. “Yeah I’m alright” Levi answers. “Are you sure? You seem all jumpy and it’s freakin’ me out” Grant says. “I just thought I saw something out by the street in front of the dr.’s office” Levi admits. “Well do you see anything now?” Grant asks. “No, I don’t think so. It must’ve been a shadow or something, I don’t know” Levi answers. “Well the sun almost seems like a moon today so there actually is just enough light to cast a shadow or two. Let’s just get inside with the wagon” Grant says clearly still bothered by the day’s events. Evidentially the discovery in the garage still had them both shaken up a little more than either of them were willing to admit. Levi continues to cast unsure glances towards the street as they collect the wagon and wheel it inside. Spending the rest of their time outside in silence, neither of them were able to shake off the uneasy feeling that they were being watched.

  Her eyes never leave them as she watches them re-enter the house pulling the wagon in behind them. For a second she thought the big one had seen her even though she thought she was able to quickly get under cover and out of sight. Her group hadn’t been able to search this area of town yet because of all the gashers that still roamed and lived over here so her heart sank as she noticed the can goods that were stacked up in the wagon. Her stomach rumbled and gurgled in protest as she thinks about the food she had come here to find despite the dangers, which now is seemingly even further
out of their reach. The food that they so desperately needed back at her own groups house.

  “Sometimes what you are most afraid of doing is the very thing that will set you free.”

  –Unknown

  Chapter Twenty

  Ally had slipped out of the back door as quiet as possible so that she wouldn’t disturb Mrs. Jackie or her dad, which were both still asleep. Mr. Broderick (or Brick as he constantly asks her to call him) was already awake and checking the houses defenses with his and Mrs. Jackie’s two young sons Benny and Larry. The look on Brick’s face as he had let her out of the back door said everything, full of guilt and shame at letting a sixteen year old girl go out searching for food and medicine alone. But it also showed the desperation at the grimness of their current situation that they all faced. Mrs. Jackie had been growing more and more ill as the days had past with the case of the flu that was almost certainly turning into pneumonia as it settled into her chest and lungs. Her inability to move around, the ashes that covered everything despite their constant cleaning efforts, no available medicine, and the constant cold were all accelerators of the transformation from the flu to pneumonia. “You be careful out there girl” Brick whispered to Ally in his deep baritone voice that always reminded her of the big black man from that movie The Green Mile, as she exited the house. “Yes sir, you know I will. Wish me luck” she whispers back. “Good luck” Ally hears him say as he closes, locks, and then barricades the door behind her.

  It was the bouncing light from the flashlights the group was using as they searched the house that first alerted her to their presence. She couldn’t believe how careless they were being using the lights like they were, uncovered with no use of the red lenses that dampened the brightness of the glaring pure white light that the led bulbs cast. She wondered why they were being so bold without any visible attempt to shield their presence in the house or to protect their night vision. They had to know that the white light made their eyes have to readjust to the dark after it was turned off which would make it very difficult to defend yourself and delay your reaction against something that was already used to the dark in the event of an emergency.

  Ally is lost in her thoughts and concentration at trying to figure out what was going on in the house and who these people were when she notices two figures exit out of the back of the house almost too late to get under cover and avoid being detected. She scolds herself at her foolishness at letting herself become distracted. Telling herself that she needed to stay focused, she begins to maneuver herself into a more strategic surveillance position as the two figures re-enter the house pulling the wagon in behind them as they do.

  Chapter Twenty One

  “We got really lucky here guys, the wagon is almost completely full!” Grant exclaims to his friends. “Yeah this is twice as much as we got from the last house” Paige agrees. “Whoever left here must have been in such a panic that they didn’t think to pack any food for their trip” Laura observes. “Or they were foolish enough to believe that the government was really going to take care of them when they reported to the FEMA camps that were set up to house families and that they wouldn’t need any of this” Levi states. “My dad said that after the government pulled out and left the cities to their own fates that they didn’t even bother unlocking the gates. They just left all those people in there to fend for themselves until they either killed each other or starved to death.” “Or both” Paige says solemnly. “Well anyway, does everyone still think we need to hit the next house today since we were able to gather so much from this place?” Grant asks. “Yes I definitely do. Paige is right we are running out of time out here and we need to find as much as possible to take back with us to the compound” Levi says looking over the group and their gathered supplies as he does. “It seems like a lot now but we’ll go through this pretty quick back home and I don’t know about you guys but I’m not in any hurry to come back out here again anytime soon.” “Amen brother” Grant says in response, “But the wagon is full, should we go back unload, and then go back out?” “No that’s too much back and forth. We should have searched the house farthest away first then it wouldn’t be that bad” Paige says. “A lesson learned for next time” Levi agrees, “What won’t fit in the wagon we’ll just have to put in our packs. Laura let me have your pack, we’ll put everything in your and Paige’s packs that we consider medicinal or for hygiene. That way Grant and I can load our packs down with whatever food we hopefully find in the last house.” “Sounds like a plan” Grant says as he starts taking everything out of his pack that could be put into either Laura or Paige’s packs. “Since we can’t fit anything else in it, we’ll leave the wagon just outside the back door of the house we’re all in now so it’s one less thing we have to carry with us to the next house” Levi orders, “we can pick it back up as we make our way back the dr.’s office.” They all nod in agreement and continue separating out the packs in preparation for what they hopefully might find when they search the next house. Oblivious to the knowing set of eyes that now watched every move they made.

  They are in a straight line with Levi on point followed by Paige and Laura with Grant covering the rear as they move silently toward the final house that they had predetermined would be searched today. As they reach the backdoor Levi is surprised to find it unlocked and standing slightly ajar, the door jamb broken and showing signs that the door was kicked in from the outside. He signals for them to regroup together just outside of the door, “The door has already been kicked in and opened” Levi whispers to the others. “Damn it really?” Paige states more than asks, frustration evident in the tone of her voice. “What does that mean? Is there someone inside?” Laura asks. “I don’t think so but I guess it’s possible” Levi answers. “What it means” Paige begins, “is that most likely we’re not going to find much of anything in there because the house was already broken into and someone has scavenged anything of use.” Paige lets out a sigh that’s audible even through her dust mask. “Well we’re here already so we might as well go inside. There’s no sense sitting out here speculating on what we are or are not going to find inside.” It’s Levi that represents the voice of reason in this instance seeming proud of himself for giving Paige a break from being the backbone of the mission. “Yeah we might as well go see if anything useful is left in there. I mean we’re already here anyways” Grant says as he stands up pushing the door the rest of the way open as he does. The arms that reach out for him from the dark and the crackled, gargled moan that escapes the throat from whatever owned them sent him falling backwards and tumbling over the others that were still squatted down in a semi circle from their discussion over what they were going to do.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  “I don’t think he’s doing very good Ray” Jim says as he sits down, offering Ray his opinion of the condition of Clay as he begins to pour himself a much needed cup of coffee. “I know it. When I checked on him this morning he felt like his skin was on fire and I think he was having a nightmare” Ray says, “damn if know what to do about it though.” “Have you noticed the red bumps that appeared on the right side of his face now?” Jim asks Ray. “Yep I noticed those too. I think we need to get him out of his gear and check him for a spider bite or something” Ray answers. “The only thing I can think of that would cause all of his symptoms is that he’s been poisoned somehow and seeing that we’ve all been drinking the same water and eating the same food, but he’s the only one that’s developed any symptoms, I believe that rules those out as possible causes.” “A spider bite? Are you serious?” Jim asks questionably. “Why not?” Ray begins, “Nothing else makes any sense and none of the rest of us are sick.” “Yeah but when was the last time you even saw a spider, or any other kind of insect for that matter?” Jim asks. “It’s been awhile but that doesn’t mean they don’t still exist” Ray answers, “We have to try and figure out what’s wrong with Clay, the group needs him and well damn it I don’t feel like losing any more of my damn friends out here.” Ray fi
nishes his statement as he slams his right fist into the open palm of his left hand. “Alright alright I agree with you” Jim says then downs the rest of his cup of coffee, “well we might as well get to it. Probably be easier without the kids around.” “Yeah ok you’re probably right, look Jim I didn’t mean” Ray begins before Jim interrupts him. “Stop right there partner, you don’t need to apologize to me. Hell after the Colt incident I should be apologizing to you! Let’s just get up and go see if we can figure out what’s wrong with Clay. I’m tired of losing friends too.”

  “Damn it!” Ray exclaims. “I didn’t think it was possible but he feels even hotter now. His fever has got to be at dangerous levels for him to feel this hot” Ray points out as he and Jim begin unwrapping the blankets that they have Clay wrapped in. “And in this cold to be this hot, it’s just not a good sign Ray. The infection has got to be spread throughout his entire body for him to have a fever like this” Jim says shuddering as he does. “Hey not to be a downer but do you think whatever he has is contagious?” Jim asks Ray. “No” Ray answers, “Infections shouldn’t be contagious and he’s not coughing or sneezing or anything. Help me sit him up so we can get his shirt and body armor off.” “Ronnie…….is…….that…….”Clay says in a dry cracked voice as his friends’ jostling him around momentarily rouses him from his fever induced slumber. “Aliens……the..greys……experimentation….” Clay mumbles to no one in particular. “What in the world is he talking about? Is that like a suppressed memory or something?” Jim asks his eyes wide with wonder. Ray laughs out loud for the first time in what seems like weeks, “No super high fevers can cause hallucinations and deliriousness.” “Oh” Jim says sharing in his friend’s laughter at himself. “Hooooly shit” Ray exclaims as they finally are able to peel off Clay’s shirt. “What Ray?” Jim asks. “His whole right side is covered in dried blood” Ray says taking a half step back to get a better look at Clay’s side. “What? Is it his blood or is it blood from Colt’s accident?” Jim asks. “It looks like his own but I guess it could be Colt’s, he was bleeding an awful lot when we were trying to help him in the waiting room” Ray says. “Let’s get this body armor off of him and find out.” As they undue the Velcro straps that go across Clay’s chest to loosen the bullet proof vest he and the others had worn since they found a few of them in some abandoned police cars, Clay lets out a long groan of pain and discomfort. The dried blood that mixes with the puss from the infection that continues to ooze from the arrow wound doing its own part in gluing the vest to Clay’s body, causing a sound like Velcro for the second time as they peel the vest off of Clay and lift it over his head. “Oh my god” is all Ray can say as he sees the arrow wound in Clay’s side for the first time. Red, swollen, and festering with infection it is obviously the cause of Clay’s sudden and severe illness. “What the hell is that and what the hell caused it?” Jim asks as he also inspects the wound for the first time. Clay coughs and flinches as he does sucking breath in through his teeth from the pain of the cough and removing the body armor cause him as he clears his throat to answer Jim’s question, “I got shot with an arrow.”