Sundown Series (Novella): Alone

by Courtney Konstantin

  “Maybe. But, Easton, come on, we are still kids. I realize you are a big, bad sixteen-year-old that can fight off the infected. This isn’t our world. We weren’t raised like Alex, to know how to be prepared in any situation. This world, this is scary. And people aren’t the same as they were before,” Candace lectured, in her older than thirteen voice.

  “Well, I need to be smarter. Sixteen or not,” Easton replied before he flopped down on the double bed. He laid on his back, staring at the ceiling of the storage unit. In all honesty, the storage facility did seem well guarded and safely enclosed. It was the people inside they needed to worry about.

  The early morning, and lack of sleep the night before started to pull at Easton. He felt like he had expended all of his energy earlier fighting the infected. The stress of Declan and Scooter was only zapping more of him away. He faintly heard the rolling of the door and felt the room get darker. Before he could question anything, he was breathing deeply in sleep.

  Chapter 7

  Candace looked down at her brother in the dim light of the storage unit. He was sprawled half on the bed, half off, with his feet planted on the ground. He looked ready to run at any moment. And maybe he was. Maybe in his head he was always running and protecting her.

  Never in her life had she felt so incapable. She had done well in school. Had plenty of friends. Liked to join clubs. All she needed was an apocalypse to prove to her that she didn’t know jack crap about the world. The one thing she could do was cook. She was thankful her mother had kept her in the kitchen for the past few years. It was the one contribution she had been able to make since the world fell apart.

  After pulling the door down slightly, Candace found a corner in the room, and sat down next to the boxes. She could see Easton, and see the door in case there was any reason to worry. The men they had met since arriving at the storage facility had made Candace’s skin crawl. She couldn’t place what bothered her so much, but she didn’t want to let her guard down while Easton slept.

  She missed Billie and Henry Duncan. Through her grief over losing her mother, the children had been a source of light in her days. Now, without them around, she felt grief and fear weighing down on her shoulders. She didn’t want Easton to know how afraid she was. Afraid they wouldn’t make it, or find the Duncans again. She knew, along with how she felt about them, Alex was their best chance at survival.

  Candace opened the box nearest to her. It was full of photo albums. She pulled one out, and flipped through the pages. Happy people lived in those photos. With no fear of the dead trying to eat them. Children, smiling into the camera made Candace smile as well. She could almost hear their laughter as they played with the adults. The next book she pulled out was a wedding album. Her thirteen year old heart felt heavy as she thought about never getting to have a wedding like the one in those photos.

  In the next box Candace found a little comfort. Paperback books filled the cardboard box. It figured that Scooter hadn’t mentioned the books, she doubted he had much use for reading. After sorting through the titles, she found one that would sufficiently take her mind off her current predicament. A story of a knight sweeping his true love off her feet. Candace made herself comfortable and began to read. She leaned against the wall, and before long her eyelids began to feel heavy as well.

  Hours later, two things woke Easton from his deep sleep. His back had started to ache in the position he had fallen asleep in. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but once he had, he hadn’t moved a muscle. The second thing that brought him to the surface was a noise. A metal scraping sound that wasn’t normal to his ears.

  Cracking his tired eyes open, he struggled to see in the dim light of the storage facility emergency lights. For a moment he forgot where he was, panic seizing his stomach. He rolled to one side, grimacing at the pain in his back. He saw the boxes around, and the door to the storage unit he was in. The noise of the door was what he had heard.

  Glancing around the room, he saw a man leaning over behind a stack of boxes. He could see feet on the ground next to the boxes, and he recognized Candace’s shoes. Suddenly aware and wary, Easton quietly got to his feet. He grabbed his sheath where it laid next to him on the bed, and pulled his bat. Stepping over to the man, he realized it was Scooter towering over Candace’s body.

  She was sleeping, a book propped open on her lap. Her sandy blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, but strands had escaped and flowed across her face. Scooter fingered those strands with one large finger, while his other hand rested on her knee. The hand on the knee began to massage and he moved to touch Candace’s thigh. A red haze covered Easton’s vision, Scooter’s intentions with his sister completely clear.

  Easton stepped to the side of Scooter and jabbed the end of his bat into his stomach, pushing him up and away from Candace. The grunt from Scooter was satisfying to Easton, especially since he really wanted to hit him.

  “Candy, wake up,” Easton said, nudging her with his toe. She moaned, her head rolling upright. She gasped, seeing Scooter and Easton standing above her. Scrambling to her feet, her book and nap forgotten, she stepped behind Easton.

  “Calm down, kid. You didn’t show up for dinner, so I came to find you,” Scooter said. His demeanor was forced, a kid caught with his hand almost in the cookie jar.

  “I’m well aware of what you were doing,” Easton bit out, pushing again with his bat, forcing Scooter to step toward the door.

  “I told you, everyone pays up when they come here,” Scooter growled. His attitude swiftly changed. His eyes shifted to Candace again, and Easton shifted to hide her from view.

  “Keep your eyes and dirty hands off my sister,” Easton bellowed. He jabbed at Scooter again, but Scooter slid to the side.

  Candace backed away, running into the wall, a tidal wave of panic hitting her. Easton shifted, keeping himself between Scooter and Candace. Scooter shifted again, moving to Easton’s left, but in the small space, he couldn’t get around Easton.

  “We let you stay, we fed you, you little shits need to pay up,” Scooter said with menace.

  “We have some cans in our bags,” Easton replied.

  “I don’t need cans, kid. I need a girl. And your sister is perfect,” Scooter’s voice dripped with threat.

  Without realizing he was going to do it, Easton stepped back and took a swinging stance. The blow struck Scooter in the knee, buckling him to one side. The scream that came from his mouth was inhuman, full of pain and rage. Easton seemed to realize then what he had done, and stepped around Scooter to grab his pack.

  Slinging it on, he came back around to Candace, picking up her Hello Kitty backpack from the floor. Without taking his eyes from Scooter, he handed her the bag, indicating they were leaving. Scooter’s eyes were full of vengeful fire as he stared at the kids.

  “Boy, if you think you’re getting out of here in one piece, you have another thing fucking coming,” he growled.

  “If you think I won’t take you out, you have underestimated me, old man.” Easton shot back. He pushed Candace toward the door, keeping his front to Scooter. He didn’t put anything past the man to have some sort of weapons on him, though they weren’t visible. Realizing they were leaving the room, he tried to stand, but his knee gave out with a sickening crunch. Easton felt some sort of reward for hurting the man who intended to hurt his sister.

  “HELP!” Scooter started yelling from the ground. The noise echoed through the small room. Easton was sure someone would hear him, and come running. Thinking quickly, Easton couldn’t think of any other way to shut him up. Taking a quick step toward Scooter, Easton kicked out with his booted foot, catching Scooter in the chin. Easton had never tried to knock someone out before, but seeing his eyes roll back, he assumed he had accomplished the task.

  Rushing out of the unit, Easton checked up and down the hallway they were in. No one was around at the moment, though they could hear talking not far away. Quickly, Easton pulled the unit door shut. Scooter had left the padlock on the door,
and he locked that too. Let someone cut it off later to let him out.

  Easton motioned to Candace to stay against the wall, and behind him. Scooter’s intentions may be shared by other men in the facility, and Easton wasn’t risking her. The first hallway was clear, and they crept toward the first turn quietly. Easton wasn’t positive, but he believed he knew which general direction the entrance was.

  Turning down the first hall, they encountered a few storage residents speaking quietly to each other. They didn’t look up at the teens as they walked by, and Easton took Candace’s hand to keep her from running by. The more natural they looked, the easier it would be to exit. He wasn’t sure what Scooter’s schedule was, but wanted to get out before anyone started looking for him.

  As they turned down the next hallway, a scream ripped through the building, echoing against the bare walls and concrete floors. Easton froze, pulling Candace to a stop. The two residents from the previous hallway stepped up behind the teens.

  “What was that?” One of the men asked.

  “Nothing good,” Easton said quietly.

  The two residents went running around them, down another hallway, toward the commotion. Easton looked at Candace, thinking only of how to keep her safe. So they needed to get out of this horrible place, and find Alex. He sighed to himself, realizing they would be leaving one awful place and entering a terrifying one full of the infected walkers.

  “The entrance is that way,” Easton said, pointing toward the direction the two people had disappeared.

  “I thought so too. We better get going before whatever is happening gets worse,” Candace replied.

  Easton dropped Candace’s hand, so he could have two hands for his bat, and pulling his knife if needed. Moving back to the wall, they crept down the hallway, as pandemonium broke out in the facility. More screams echoed through the air, and running feet could be heard slapping down hallways. The kids turned a corner into a larger hallway, the main hallway Scooter mentioned dinner being served in. Tables were set up against one wall, with the remnants of dinner on them. People were scattering all over.

  Red was soaking into the concrete floor. At first Easton thought the food or drinks had been red and spilled. Then he saw the body, and knew it wasn’t either of those things. Grabbing a guy that was running by, Easton stopped him in his tracks by yanking on the neck of his jacket.

  “What the hell, dude?” The guy yelled at Easton.

  “What is going on?” Easton shot back.

  “Declan, he is eating people. Jesus. He was just fine, then started not feeling well. He went to lay down. Next thing I knew everyone was running and he was eating someone,” the guy trembled as he told the story.

  “How do we get out of here?” Easton demanded.

  “Door, that way,” the guy pointed down an adjacent hallway, and took off in the opposite direction. Easton could not figure out why no one was running out of the building. If they had been staying inside all this time, maybe they didn’t know how to handle things any differently. Thanks to Alex, the kids did. And they weren’t staying to find out how the residents were going to fair.

  Pulling Candace along, they followed the hallway the man had pointed to. As they entered, they had to allow their eyes to adjust, as the emergency lights seemed nonexistent in the walkway. Candace tripped behind Easton, and had to grab onto his arm before going down. Looking down, she screamed when she saw it was the leg of a man she had tripped over. The leg was attached to a ripped apart body.

  Aware that they were in a small hallway, with little to no exit, Easton pushed Candace back against the wall behind him. He pulled his knife and quickly plunged into the dead man’s brain. He didn’t need him waking up while they were finding their way out of the facility. As he turned back toward where the door should be, a hissing growl broke the silence around them.

  “Crap, Candace, stay behind me and against the wall,” Easton instructed. His eyesight was improving and he could see a figure standing five yards down the hallway.

  “I think it’s Declan,” Candace whispered behind him.

  “Of course it is,” Easton mumbled, feeling like he was being punished for helping the strangers with the Jeep at that point.

  Easton waited to see how Declan would move, planning the best way to taking out the infected in such a tight space. Swinging his bat would be hard, unless Declan was on the ground and he could swing down. With a plan in place, Easton took a step toward Declan.

  When the dead man was close, Easton used his bat to sweep his legs from under him. The infected body didn’t know how to reach out and catch itself, so Declan fell in an ungraceful heap. Easton stepped near the body, as clawed fingers tried to grip his pants. A swift downward blow from his bat ended Declan’s undead life.

  Looking down at Declan’s body, Easton thought about the fact they were the last with him outside. Was he bit before they met him? Or was the sprained ankle, really a bite he got in the fight. Easton tried to picture when Declan first got out of the Jeep during the fight, and he didn’t remember him limping. He leaned down and yanked up the pants on both legs, and found what he suspected. A round bite mark right above his ankle, black and oozing.

  “He was bit when we were fighting earlier at the Jeep,” Easton whispered to Candace as he stood up. She came closer and looked down at the mark, her eyes wide in surprise.

  “He hid it?” Candace asked.

  “He knew they wouldn’t let him back in if he had been bitten. And he didn’t have anywhere else to go. The people here are cut off from what is happening outside. Maybe he didn’t know just a bite would kill him,” Easton said.

  Reaching the door, Easton was relieved that it wasn’t locked from the inside. Scooter’s paranoid king attitude had Easton worried that he locked his residents in against their will. Easton cracked open the door, and surveyed the parking lot beyond. One of the trucks from the gate was gone and the gate open, someone fleeing the attack Easton guessed. That left a hole for Candace and Easton to sneak out of, but also for infected to enter.

  “Keep an eye out,” Easton whispered.

  They stepped out into moonlight. Falling asleep inside the storage facility had been easy. Both kids were exhausted from the two days on their own. Time inside the storage facility was hard to track, as there had been no windows. Easton was shocked to see how long they had slept. He felt rested now, but walking at night wasn’t going to be the best solution.

  “I don’t want to walk at night, East,” Candace’s fearful voice came from behind him.

  “You read my mind,” Easton replied. “But we have to get away from here, and find somewhere to bunk down.”

  “There were some abandoned cars down the road, do you think it’s safe to be inside those?” Candace asked.

  “It’s better than being outdoors I think. It’s the best bet right now,” Easton replied and started toward the open gate. He wasn’t keeping them near the facility where more dead could be, or if Scooter was found. Easton knew the man wouldn’t take kindly to being beat up and left by a teenage boy.

  Chapter 8

  They found the abandoned cars easily with the moon to light their path. They stayed off the road, but away from the trees. The trees at night were black and ominous. Easton stared into them so often he was making himself believe something was moving between the trunks. But when he would look away and then back, nothing was there. The forest could keep its secrets.

  They decided to bunk in a minivan, because it was long enough to sleep in the back. They could also stay hidden if needed. Looking through the other cars, Easton was thrilled to find a blanket, a case of soda and a flashlight to add to their packs. Moving with the light of the moon they created a small bed with their found blanket and backpacks as pillows.

  Climbing into the van, Easton slid the side door shut, closing them in. Thankfully with the sun down, the vehicle wasn’t stifling hot. He checked all the doors, ensuring they were locked against any possible intruders. At least they would hear t
hem trying to get in if someone did find them.

  Candace peeled back the lid on two cans of beans, handing one with a fork to Easton. He looked at the can trying to decide if he had any appetite. Since kicking Scooter in the head, Easton had a general sick feeling in his stomach. With Alex they had one serious run in with bad people that were still breathing. But that time, Alex held her own, despite Easton wanting to back her up. Now he realized she was protecting him as much as he wanted to protect her.

  “You have to eat, East,” Candace said. To demonstrate, she forked cold beans into her mouth. She also cracked open two soda cans, and handed one to Easton. He couldn’t resist a carbonated caffeinated beverage ever.

  “I know,” Easton replied, taking a sip from the soda can. It was like drinking sand, he couldn’t really taste anything.

  “It’s not your fault,” Candace said. Easton looked up from his can of beans. Her chin was raised in defiance, looking the fear of what almost happened in the face. In the dark of the night, he couldn’t see her eyes, and suspected her anxiety hid there.

  “I shouldn’t have taken you in there. It was a bad call,” Easton replied.

  “Bad calls happen. There was no way to know that the place was full of scumbags,” Candace said defiantly.

  “I need to be a better judge of character. I have to take care of you, Candy. And on top of all of that, we are forty miles from where we lost Alex. Now we have to walk back,” Easton said, leaning back against the wall of the van in defeat. He put a bite of beans in his mouth and chewed on auto pilot. Candace was right. If they were going to walk forty miles, fueling their bodies would be important.

  After their meal, the kids laid awake for a while. Their afternoon nap threw off their sleep schedules. Every so often Easton would prop himself up to peek out of the windows, watching for any movement. When he looked, he half expected a rotten face to be staring into the window at him. But the coast was clear from what he could see in the dark.