by Lukens, Mark
God, they had taken Audrey’s fingers. Not because they were injured or because she was being punished, they had taken them to send a message to Jo and the others at the store, demonstrating their power and cruelty. What would the Dragon do next?
Petra needed to get out of this basement whether she was going to get Audrey’s help or not.
CHAPTER 40
Ray
Ray had driven forty miles down the road before it began to snow again. Nothing like the blizzard they’d gone through yesterday, but enough to slow them down even more, making the driving conditions even more dangerous than they already were.
The farther south they drove the less snow there was on the ground. Ray guessed that the snowstorm had been smaller than he thought or that they’d just caught the edge of it at the gas station, or maybe it had moved diagonally and after ten or fifteen miles they had driven out of the path of snow it had dumped onto the world. Ray couldn’t be sure, all were equally good guesses. How could he know without a weather report, without satellite images, or an instant update on his cell phone? None of that was available anymore in this new hellish world. Now he drove blind, driving into another blizzard for all he knew.
But it wasn’t a blizzard so far, and the snowfall wasn’t that heavy, the snow barely sticking to the ground. It was probably warmer farther south, but it sure didn’t feel that much warmer with all the windows in the Jeep busted out and the freezing air rushing in. Ray had the heater blasting, but it wasn’t reaching the back very well. Josh had grabbed a blanket from one of the packs they had managed to save and covered all three of them with it in the back seat.
“We need to find a place to stay the night,” Ray said. “It would be dangerous enough to drive at night, but in this sleet and snow, it will be worse. We could slide off the road into a ditch. We could run over a piece of metal covered by the snow and flatten a tire. We could make a wrong turn and get stuck somewhere.”
“We get it,” Luke said.
They’d been driving down the back country road for miles now, the road twisting and turning through the hills and woods, only the occasional farm or house every mile or so. They had passed by the edge of a small town, but they’d kept far enough away from any rippers there. A few had spotted them and chased the Jeep, throwing rocks and screaming in rage. One of the rocks sailed through the open window and hit Josh in the side of his head, but the wound wasn’t that bad.
After they were past the town, the hills rose up and they were in the woods again, the stands of trees giving way to farms and small groups of trees and brush. Tiny ponds were frozen over. They had traversed two small bridges spanning streams, one of the streams down in a gorge full of boulders. They saw a few abandoned cars, and two abandoned box trucks, but not too many vehicles, and they hadn’t come across any blockages in the road so far. The road was even clearer in these backwoods.
“How’s the gas?” Luke asked.
“We could use some soon,” Ray said. He thought about the two five-gallon cans of gas they’d left behind in the back of the Dodge van at the gas station. The siphoning hose and hand pump were in the van too. Josh hadn’t had time to get to them; he’d barely had enough time to get himself and Emma out of the van and into the gas station store yesterday. They’d left so much behind, but there was no use lamenting over it now—all they could do was carry on.
“We could use a different vehicle,” Josh said.
“A semi-truck,” Mike suggested.
Josh looked across Emma at Mike. “A semi?”
Mike smiled. “Yeah. Then we could just drive right through the rippers. And knock any cars in the road out of our way.”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Josh said. “A big truck. We could carry a lot of stuff in the back too.”
“Do you know how to drive one?” Luke asked Josh.
“No.” Josh looked at Mike. “What about you? Do you know how to drive a semi?”
“No,” Mike answered, still smiling. “But I could learn.”
“That’s the spirit. We could all learn.”
“One of those military vehicles the Dark Angels were driving in that town we were holed up in would be even better,” Luke said. “If we could just get one of those from them.”
Ray tuned their conversation out as he watched the curving road in front of him, glancing down dirt drives as he drove past them, checking out the occasional small farm or abandoned house, any place that looked safe enough to stay the night. The afternoon was turning dark quickly, the shadows lengthening, the air getting colder, the eastern horizon purplish with the coming night.
The woods thinned out and opened up to fields and homes, a few small businesses. If Ray remembered correctly, they were passing the border of another small town. He had mapped out a route that missed most of the towns, but it was impossible not to brush by some of them, and this was one of those instances. But, even though it was more dangerous, it would also give them more opportunities to find somewhere to stay the night.
They passed a gas station and store with abandoned vehicles in the parking area, a few cars parked by the pumps with their car doors open. They drove past a veterinarian’s office, a small diner with the door halfway open. More homes, a few more small farms in the distance dotting the rolling hills.
The buildings and homes were thinning out a little more, the woods getting thicker again. Ray needed to find somewhere to stop soon before they were past the edge of this small town.
“Hey,” Luke said. “Up there on the right. What about that? Might solve both of our problems.”
Ray saw what Luke was talking about, a small used car lot next door to a place that sold wooden sheds that had been “built to suit any needs.” The two entrances to the car lot were blocked with two cars each, parked nose to nose with each other, like the owner of the lot had barricaded his business at the beginning of the Collapse.
Could the owner still be there? Or someone else?
Ray slowed the Jeep down, pulling over onto the shoulder of the road right next to the first driveway that led up to the two vehicles blocking the way onto the small car lot. A row of cars and trucks formed a line between the two driveways, the fronts of them facing the road, a few with signs inside their windshields that read: No Money Down!; First Two Months Free!; Bad Credit, No Problem! A doublewide trailer sat beyond the car lot.
The snow began to fall a little heavier as they parked, the snow sticking to the ground now, collecting on the cars, just a light dusting so far, but it could be blankets of snow by the morning. Snow swirled in the air in front of the windshield in the darkening world.
“What do you think?” Ray asked.
“We haven’t seen that many rippers around here,” Luke said. “Especially with all these buildings around.”
“Doesn’t mean they’re not around,” Josh said.
“I think we should check it out,” Luke said. “We go down the road, we might not find much else for a while.”
Ray turned off the Jeep. With the windows broken out they could hear if any rippers were around. If any of the rippers had heard their Jeep, they would come running from the woods.
Silence. No sounds except for the freezing wind rustling the dead leaves of the trees and the forest floor, tree branches blowing back and forth, snow drifting along the street.
“We should all go in there together and check it out,” Luke said. “Probably won’t be safe leaving Josh, Emma, and Mike by themselves out here in the Jeep.”
Ray didn’t like the idea of them all going together in case someone was waiting inside, but Luke was right—leaving them out in the Jeep and splitting up might be worse. If rippers came at them from the woods Josh was only going to get so many shots off with his shotgun, and the blasts would bring more rippers.
“Okay,” Ray said. “I don’t hear any rippers right now.”
Luke nodded in agreement. “Look at the cars and that trailer. None of the windows are busted out.”
Ray notic
ed it now. The front door of the trailer looked closed, not busted in like so many other front doors they’d seen. “What do you think? The owner might still be in there?”
“Maybe he was during the Collapse,” Josh said. “Then he left. I mean, unless there’s a lot of food and water in that trailer, how long could he have survived here?”
“What about these cars and trucks?” Luke asked, turning around to look at Josh in the back seat.
“Should start,” Josh said. “Batteries shouldn’t be too drained.”
“Okay,” Ray said. “It’s getting dark quick. This is the place for the night.”
“Looks good to me,” Luke said. “I don’t know what other choices we—”
“Listen,” Emma said, cutting off Luke’s words. “You hear that?”
They were silent for a moment, then Ray heard it: a ripper calling. It sounded like it had come from somewhere in the woods across the street. Another scream, then a woman’s scream, an eerie sound echoing from the woods.
“They’re getting pretty close,” Luke whispered. He looked back at Emma.
She nodded like she knew he was looking at her. “Yeah. Close. Coming this way.”
“Maybe we should check out another place,” Josh said. “A trailer might not be the sturdiest place to hole up for the night.”
Ray didn’t really want to drive too much farther in the dusk, but he had no idea how many rippers were out there in the woods or down the street. At least the rippers’ calls and screams hadn’t come from the trailer or anywhere on the car lot or from the shed business next door.
“Maybe he’s right,” Luke told Ray. “Maybe we should check somewhere else.” He didn’t look happy about the idea of driving in the dark any more than Ray did.
Ray twisted the key to start the Jeep. The motor tried to turn, making a weak whirring sound. And then the engine died.
CHAPTER 41
Ray
“No,” Ray whispered, twisting the key again and again. The engine didn’t even try to start—it only made a clicking noise.
“It’s dead,” Josh said impatiently.
Ray twisted the key again, hoping like hell Josh might be wrong.
“We’ve got another battery,” Mike said, panic in his voice.
“Not enough time to change it,” Josh said.
The rippers were getting closer, their yells and screams louder. It sounded like there were quite a few of them in the woods across the street.
“Let’s get inside that trailer,” Luke said. “We need to go now.”
They were all out of the Jeep at the same time, Josh helping Emma out. She had her cane, tapping it in front of her. Josh grabbed the ammo box and his shotgun. Mike grabbed one of the packs and the wadded-up blanket, Ray grabbed another duffel bag, and Luke picked up the M-16 and the smallest of the packs, slinging it over his shoulder. They hurried around the rear of the two cars parked nose to nose, blocking the entrance to the car lot. They ran past the lines of cars to the next line of cars, closer to the trailer.
Almost there, Ray thought. Please let the trailer be unlocked.
Rippers yelled. The woman’s scream from the woods pierced the night, a lonely and gut-wrenching sound. Ray thought it sounded purposeful, not like the woman was in pain, but more like she was belting out some kind of siren or war cry.
Luke turned as he ran, the M-16 tucked close to his side, his finger on the trigger, aiming it toward the woods across the street, ready to shoot if an army of rippers came rushing toward them through the swirling snow.
Ray got to the trailer door first. Mike was right behind him, the blanket balled up under his right arm; he hadn’t let an inch of the blanket touch the wet ground.
Please be unlocked. Let us have at least one break.
He grabbed the doorknob and twisted. It turned easily. As soon as he pulled the door open he thought of their earlier conversation about someone being inside, perhaps the owner of the car lot, or someone else who was staying in the trailer, a gun aimed at the door.
It was too late to worry about that now—the door was all the way open. If anyone was inside and they were going to shoot, they would hit Ray first. And he didn’t bother calling out a hello as he stepped inside.
The trailer smelled stale, but at least there wasn’t the all-too-familiar scent of rot and decay. That was one good thing.
It was darker inside the trailer than it was outside, and it took a moment for Ray’s eyes to adjust, but he was beginning to make out big blocks of objects in the blackness: a desk to the right, another possible desk farther to the left, a lighter rectangle across the room that must be a window with a blind pulled down.
Ray moved to the center of the large room. Mike was right behind him. Luke waited outside while Josh helped Emma up the steps to the door. She mostly navigated her way on her own, Josh only helping a little, a whisper here and a guiding hand there.
After Josh and Emma were inside the trailer, Luke darted up the steps silently. He closed the door softly, locking it. He hurried to the window near the door that looked onto the car lot. He pried the plastic blinds apart, peering through them.
“Did they see us?” Emma asked.
“I don’t know,” Luke answered.
Ray heard the yells and calls of the rippers outside, but he couldn’t tell if they were any closer or if they were moving away. The woman’s scream sounded again—a long, high-pitched cry that seemed to rise higher then lower. It was a strange sound that raised goose pimples on his skin.
It was a little easier to see inside the trailer with the last bit of light from the dying day coming in through the blinds, but in a few minutes it would be pitch-black inside. This was Ray’s chance to look around the trailer and see what they were working with. His mind automatically went to a list. The first order of business was to check the windows and a back door, if there was one. The second order was to find where the car lot owner kept the keys to the vehicles outside. He hoped to God they weren’t in some kind of safe.
“I don’t see our tracks in the snow,” Luke said in a low voice. “It’s not cold enough yet for the snow to really stick to the ground. It will be cold enough soon, though.”
“Maybe they won’t follow us,” Mike said.
Ray was sure the rippers would be drawn to this trailer. They had gotten into most of the buildings Ray had seen so far, why would this trailer be any different?
Ray moved toward the desk that was farther away. A doorway and a tall filing cabinet were at the other end of the room. The doorway led to a short hall with a bathroom off to one side and a closet on the other, and then a back door that led outside. He checked the door; it was still locked, but it didn’t seem that sturdy.
The short hall ended at a bedroom.
Someone used to live here? The owner? A night watchman?
Ray didn’t know, didn’t care. He checked the closet in the bedroom and then the drawers in the small dresser, sifting through contents in the fading light. Maybe the owner had stayed here, had tried to protect his property as the world ended, but in the end he had left. There didn’t seem to be any signs of violence, so maybe the person hadn’t turned into a ripper. Maybe he had just gotten into his car or truck and drove away.
To where?
Who knew? Ray would never know. The main thing was that the doors and windows were locked and secure. Well, as secure as a trailer could be, anyway.
Now to find the keys.
“Bedroom back there,” Ray announced as he went back to the main office area. “Back door too. Door’s locked. Windows are shut and locked.” He looked at Luke still crouched down in front of the window. “Any rippers out there?”
“I don’t see any,” Luke said without looking away from the window. “I still hear them out there, though.”
Ray heard them too. He went to the desk closer to the door, but then stopped when he saw the large metal box attached to the wall. He pulled on the door. It was locked. There was a slot for a key. He rushed over
to the desk, looking through the drawers. He found two keys on a large ring in the top drawer. He tried the key in the metal door and it worked. He pulled the door open and saw the rows of keys hanging from hooks with little white tags attached to them, labeling them.
One good break, but only if those vehicles out there were going to start after sitting in the cold for the last few weeks.
He took a deep breath. They were safe for the moment; they were inside some kind of shelter, even though this wasn’t the most formidable structure. But at least it was a little warmer inside than out there in the cold wind and sleet. They had their packs with them, the meager amount of food and supplies and ammo that they had managed to save from the Jeep and the van.
What next?
They just needed to get through the night. Just make it until morning and they could drive right out of here.
“Shit,” Luke breathed out, still peeking out through the blinds. “Here they come.”
CHAPTER 42
Luke
Luke saw the first rippers come out of the woods across the street from the used car dealership. There were three of them. They all looked like men, all three of them wearing torn and ragged clothing, all of them carrying some kind of weapons: two had sticks or maybe metal pipes (it was hard to tell in the dark) and the other one carried a long knife. They hurried across the road to the Jeep, drawn to it. Two of the rippers (the ones with the sticks) looked through the broken windows while the one with the knife stood in front of the Jeep; he laid a hand on the hood, feeling the warmth from it. Even from the trailer Luke thought he saw an expression of recognition on the ripper’s face, like he was struggling to remember something, a memory just out of his reach. His arm was thin, a few loose strands of his shirt fluttering in the cold wind, his scraggily hair blowing around, his teeth white among his facial hair and the dark stains on his face. He seemed young; all three of the rippers did. Maybe they were part of the larger group in the woods, a smaller recon team for them. The rippers in the woods were still making their noises, including the woman with her long, wailing screams. But none of them were coming this way yet and joining the three-man scout team.