This Would Be Paradise (Book 1)

by N. D. Iverson

  I wasn’t sure how convinced I was of Zoe’s words, but I nodded and bent down to gather up the supplies I had dropped. Maybe I was immune or maybe a scratch didn’t work the same as a bite. If that was the case, then at least we wouldn’t have to worry about being scratched in the future. The fact that my wound was healing like a normal cut would made me feel relieved, but how would other people react? The last thing we needed was for people to go around killing each other because they thought others were going to turn when they might not.

  Once Zoe and I had finished stuffing all the supplies back into the overflowing baskets, we headed back to the front doors. As we walked out I gave one last look to the fallen infected on the floor, content with the fact that he was no longer moving. At the entrance Darren was handing out plastic grocery bags and we started to stuff our looted supplies into them. Taylor propped a mesh bag against the wall.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “A tent. I’m assumin’ we all can’t fit into a huntin’ cabin,” Taylor grunted as he added the other camping gear and sleeping bags to the pile that he had found in the small supermarket.

  “We’re goin’ to need more supplies like gas stoves, but time isn’t somethin’ we have right now,” John added.

  “Once we get settled, we can make a run back into town,” Darren said, hauling all his bags out the doors.

  We divvied up the bags between the Mazda’s trunk and the back of the truck.

  “We need some bungee cables or something to hold all this down,” Zoe said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

  The sun was right above us, glaring down on the parking lot pavement. The temperature was perfect this time of year, but the closer it got to the summer months, the closer we got to experiencing that Southern heat. Zoe and I were too Canadian to deal with that much heat. Hopefully, this would all be resolved before that time came.

  “All right, I saw some in the back of the store with the campin’ gear,” Taylor said. “I’ll head back in and get some.”

  He took off back into the store before anyone could answer and John followed in after him.

  “Where are they goin’?” Chloe asked, as she stepped out of the truck behind Ethan.

  “Just ran to grab some ties for the back of the truck,” Ethan answered, as he gave the area another once-over.

  “Did ya get anythin’ good?” Chloe asked.

  Darren smirked, “Define good.”

  I snaked my arm over the truck side and rummaged through my bags looking for the items I had grabbed on impulse. Once my fingers found what I was looking for, I pulled them out and handed the pieces to Chloe, not realizing everyone was staring at me. Her eyes lit up when I handed her the Scooby-Doo mystery books I had spotted in the pharmacy waiting area.

  “Thank you!” she squealed and launched herself at me.

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome,” I muttered, slightly embarrassed.

  She took the books and skipped over to the passenger seat to flip through them.

  “Awww,” Zoe smirked at me and I flipped her the bird.

  “Thanks for that,” Ethan said, flashing me an appreciative smile.

  “Yeah well, it wasn’t completely unselfish. I just didn’t want to listen to ‘are we there yet?’ the whole way,” I waved it off.

  “Fair enough.”

  We had just finished tossing in the last bag when Taylor and John re-emerged from the grocery store with the bungee cables in hand. John had empty red gas canisters in both hands and tossed them into the back of their car.

  “So, are the gas pumps even working?” Zoe asked as we climbed back into the truck.

  “Only one-way to find out,” Ethan said.

  The truck pulled up to pump number one while the Mazda took pump number three. We all jumped back out of the truck, except for Chloe who was engrossed in her books. Ethan lifted up the nozzle and the machine sprung to life. He grinned triumphantly as he placed the nozzle in the gas cap opening of the truck. Three canisters later, we had a good amount of gas that would hopefully last a while.

  “Good thing we don’t have to pay for this. It would have been more than the guns,” Darren remarked.

  “So now do we just head out to your cabin and wait?” I asked, propping myself up against the side of the truck.

  “Wait for what exactly?” Ethan asked.

  “I don’t know. Order to be restored. The infected to be cured,” I listed off. “What I meant is: what’s the plan?”

  Ethan raked his fingers through his hair and glanced briefly at Chloe before answering,

  “There is no plan. Gettin’ to the cabin was the plan.”

  “Maybe the military will start taking over,” Zoe said hopefully.

  “That’s not necessarily a good thing,” Darren muttered.

  “It’s better than chaos,” Ethan said.

  Darren didn’t answer, but I could tell he was not one to be easily convinced.

  “Why isn’t the military here yet anyways?” I asked.

  “Too much ground to cover,” John answered me as they approached the truck.

  “There’s got to be safe zones set up or something,” Zoe said.

  “Probably somewhere, just not here,” Ethan sighed.

  “Although, it would probably end up just like the school did,” I said.

  “Not necessarily. The military have trainin’ and fire power, plus they would be more organized than a bunch of volunteers trying to run an emergency shelter,” Ethan said back.

  “I have an old radio I grabbed on the way out,” John said. “When we get to your cabin, we can fire it up and see if we hear anythin’.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Ethan nodded relaxing at bit at John’s words.

  “How far is your cabin from here?” Taylor asked.

  Ethan reached into the truck cab and pulled out the map. We followed him to the hood of the truck and he spread it out.

  “The cabin is here,” Ethan said pointing to the circled spot on the map. “And we’re here.”

  “Hmm, looks about three or four hours, dependin’ if we run into anythin’ or not,” John said eyeing the trail Ethan made with his finger.

  How he could tell that from looking at a map is beyond me. I needed Google Maps for that.

  Chapter 11

  If I had to listen to one more word about My Little Pony, I was going to shoot someone. Literally. I had a gun now. I brought Chloe those Scooby-Doo books so I wouldn’t have to put up with something like this for the whole ride, but alas being a nine-year-old took over and the books no longer held her attention. So here we were listening to the epic tale of the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to hook up their teacher and some dude with a magic potion. All I could think while I listened to the story was, We have something like that in real life, and we call it alcohol.

  I grinned out the window at my internal conversation and tried to drown out her rather demanding little voice. We had finally got out of the city using the back roads and horribly designed one-ways. Luckily we didn’t run into any infected, just a couple of other vehicles heading in the opposite direction. They all had junk piled on their roofs, as they sped into the city, no doubt trying to get to the emergency shelters. I knew most of those shelters would fall just like the school had, but the travelers wouldn’t listen. We even flagged down a minivan and tried to tell them about the city being overrun, but they refused to believe us. I guess if you hadn’t seen it yourself, you would have a hard time swallowing the truth.

  “Hey look it’s a van!” Chloe exclaimed suddenly.

  We all peered out the windshield to see a newer model of a Dodge Caravan barreling down the one-way. Unfortunately, we were going the wrong direction on it, so Ethan slowed and moved over as far as he could with the truck. The van would be able to squeeze through, if they slowed down that was. Just before they reached us, they finally reduced their speed and stopped. The driver got out of the van and started to approach the truck.

  “Stay here,” Ethan said
firmly to Chloe and she just nodded her head.

  We stared at the dark skinned, middle aged man walking calmly toward the truck. Ethan rolled down the window before getting out, no doubt to allow us to hear the conversation.

  “Uh, you’re kind of in the way,” the man said to Ethan.

  “Sorry ‘bout that, had to use these roads to get out of the city,” Ethan said back.

  “Why not the interstate or main arteries?” he asked confused.

  Ethan sighed, obviously not liking to be the bearer of bad news. “We just came from one city shelter they had set up, and it was overrun. We figured the safest thing would be to lay low for a bit in the country while we waited for the government and military to organize everythin’.”

  “We’re heading to the stadium one, was that the place you guys were coming from?” the man asked.

  “No, the high school near downtown.”

  “Well, maybe the stadium is fine.”

  “I wouldn’t take that chance,” Ethan looked over at the van. “Especially with your family in tow.”

  “We don’t know what else to do.” The guy shrugged, helplessly.

  Ethan better not ask them to come with us. The last thing we needed were more liabilities, although in all fairness, that’s all we were to Ethan when he offered.

  “You should turn back around and stay outside city limits.”

  “Thanks for the advice, but I think we will stick with our plan.”

  Ethan looked really torn as he almost pleaded with the man.

  “Look, I have a huntin’ cabin ‘bout another three or four hours from here. You and your family are welcome to come with us.”

  “That’s really kind, but we think an official shelter would be best. I got to look out for my family, you know?” the man gave us a crinkled smile. “Name’s Roy by the way.”

  “Ethan.”

  “Well, thanks again for the offer, Ethan,” Roy said, as he started back toward his van.

  Slowly the van inched past us and Roy waved. I could see the curious faces of his young daughters pressed up against the van windows, watching us as they slid past us. I watched the van go by us and then the Mazda. Soon the van disappeared behind us and I found myself hoping they would find what they were looking for.

  The buildings had given way to a two-lane highway surrounded by trees in every direction. It seemed so surreal considering we were just in the city, pretty much blocked in by buildings on all ends. The road was clear. This was kind of creepy in my books; it reminded me of when I would have the unholy 6 AM Saturday shift at my part-time job, and the roads would be empty the entire way. We drove on, speeding with the Mazda still in tow.

  There was a car pulled over to the side of the road. We gave it a wide berth as we passed; the driver side window was smeared with blood and the passenger side door was left wide open. The window was so covered in blood that I couldn’t see in, but Ethan didn’t give us much of a chance to gawk as he sped away from the abandoned car. Suddenly no one felt like talking, even Chloe had stopped her tirade.

  “So, anyone want to play I-Spy?” Darren quipped.

  Zoe smacked him on the arm and he feigned being hurt. Honestly, the joke was in bad taste, but at least it helped to relieve some of the tension. I felt the truck slowing down and Ethan flicked on his right signal light for John and Taylor behind us. The pavement ended with the highway and the sound of gravel crunching under our tires filled the cab. I could barely make out the Mazda behind us through the dust and gravel the truck was throwing up.

  “I hope they can see,” Zoe said as she peered out the back window.

  “I hope he’s not too attached to that paint job,” I said back.

  “So I hate to be that guy, but are we close yet?” Zoe asked.

  “The gravel road turn-off means about another forty-five minutes or so,” Ethan answered her question, glancing in the rear view mirror.

  “Look!” our trusty guide pointed out from the passenger seat.

  There was a deer bounding along the tree line.

  “Hmm, you weren’t kidding about the game up here,” Darren said.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty good ‘round this time of year, even though it’s technically not huntin’ season anymore,” Ethan pointed out.

  “So what does that mean?” I asked.

  “It means were only allowed to hunt for a few months out of the year and generally it’s around October until January, so we’re a little out of the limits,” Ethan answered.

  “What happens if you hunt outside of the season?”

  “Jail or a fine,” Ethan said. “But I think that’s the least of our worries.”

  He wasn’t kidding.

  “Once our dad took down a white-tailed buck that was almost four hundred pounds!” Chloe exclaimed proudly.

  Ethan chuckled.

  “Yeah, I remember that day all right. Took me, dad and Uncle Paul just to lift it onto the back of the truck. Damn near dropped the thing on me as we moved it.”

  “We had deer for months,” Chloe giggled. “Mom made dad give the rest away ‘cause she said she’d go crazy if she had to eat any more deer meat.”

  “Sounds pretty good right about now,” Darren said. “I could go for some food.”

  Great, now I was hungry and we still had forty minutes to go. By the time we pulled up to the heavy iron gate, I was officially starving. Ethan got out of the truck to unlock the gate and swing it open. Darren jumped out and drove the truck through and the Mazda followed. When Ethan relocked the gate, he kicked Darren into the back again.

  The immediate property was lined with barbed wire, the only break being the gate. I assumed their land went much further than I could see. Trees lined the area creating the feeling like we were in the middle of a forest, the only trail being the dirt road that led up to the cabin. The cabin itself was actually bigger than I expected. I was imaging a log cabin, but instead it was modernly designed, with dark brown siding. I could see the solar panels lining the roof and a few propped around the cabin on the ground. At the peak was a little window and I assumed that was a loft area.

  “Nice,” Darren said, clearly impressed.

  Finally, we were able to get out and stretch. I grabbed one of the bags from the back and took out a pack of beef jerky. Everyone grabbed some of the dehydrated meat, and soon we were all busy gnawing on the chewy junk food.

  “So do we get the grand tour?” I asked, after taking a drink from my water bottle.

  “Sure is a nice place you got here, son,” John said, eyeing the solar panels.

  “My dad loves to hunt,” Ethan said proudly. “This place used to belong to my grandfather, but when he passed, my dad redid the cabin. He added the fencin’, all the amenities and hook-ups.”

  We followed Ethan around back where there was a little garden with a few plants starting to sprout and a well a few feet from that. There was a small shed with a pile of wood beside it, no doubt for the camp fire which was located a few meters from the side of the cabin. Then he took us inside.

  The air was musty from being locked up for so long without even a window cracked. The inside was furnished with very utilitarian type furniture that would last forever. Then I saw something that had me actually excited.

  “A bathroom. Thank god!” I exclaimed.

  No bathing in a pond somewhere.

  “There’s also an outhouse a bit further from the cabin.”

  I made a face at that, and Ethan laughed. The kitchen was small, and a mid-sized, black contraption stood about half my height. The fridge was only an apartment-sized one when the spot could have held a full one, so I assumed this thing wasn’t a second fridge.

  “Meat smoker,” Ethan said when he saw me eyeing the thing.

  “Bailey and I dibs this room,” Zoe said as she flung her bag into the room.

  I walked over to the room, which was barely big enough to host the two single beds. I dropped my backpack onto the floor and peeked at the other room, which was just
a mirror of ours.

  “I dibs the loft,” Chloe said excitedly as she climbed the wooden ladder that lead to a small ledge area.

  I guess that window was really for a loft after all.

  “Wait, does that mean we’re bunking together?” Darren asked Ethan with a perplexed look on his face.

  “Well, it’s that or the couch,” Ethan said as he dropped himself onto the couch in question.

  Dust flew up and Ethan started to cough as he waved away the motes surrounding him.

  “Not much of a choice,” Darren muttered.

  “Guys,” Zoe rolled her eyes. “So touchy about things like that.”

  I grinned at the look they shot her. At least they wouldn’t have to share a bed, but to be fair calling those cots a bed seemed like an insult.

  “At least you don’t have to put up with Zoe’s snoring,” I joked and she punched me in the arm.

  “It’s not that bad,” Zoe said as I rubbed my arm.

  “I honestly don’t know how you don’t wake yourself up,” I said. “It’s like a chainsaw.”

  Chloe laughed from her perch in the loft and Zoe just rolled her eyes.

  “You guys brought sleeping bags right?” Ethan asked John and Taylor.

  “Yeah and a couple extras, if you need any,” John nodded.

  “Maybe you guys should camp out in the livin’ room until we make sure it’s safe,” Ethan suggested.

  “Won’t hear me complainin’,” John said.

  “You might when you hear Zoe snore,” I grinned and Zoe lobbed a pillow at my head.

  “It isn’t that bad, dammit!” she yelled back.

  Chapter 12

  I slept like the dead that night. Pardon the pun, but it was true. We all did. The lack of sleep from the previous nights and the constant stress really did a number on a person; I even slept through Zoe’s snoring. The others were already up by the time I rolled out of bed, following the very welcome smell of coffee. It was only instant coffee, but I gratefully accepted it from Ethan as he passed me a steaming cup. Chloe was up in the loft keeping an eye out the small window. If anyone saw something, it would be her. John was tinkering with the dented radio he brought, trying to get it to play anything but static.