This Would Be Paradise (Book 1)

by N. D. Iverson

  “How long have you been at that?” I asked after downing about half the cup of coffee.

  “Not too long, ‘bout five minutes or so,” John answered.

  “And still nothing?”

  “A few words here and there, but unless I know the frequency I’m lookin’ for, it’s just a shot in the dark,” John shrugged.

  “You got a workin’ radio in here or anythin’?” Taylor asked scanning the room.

  “Here,” Chloe announced as she climbed down from her perch.

  She placed the plastic, bright pink radio on the counter.

  “Better than nothin’,” Taylor shrugged and flipped the on switch.

  Immediately the room was filled with more static, but as he scanned down the channels a voice soon caught our attention, but was gone too soon.

  “Go back,” Ethan said jumping right next to Taylor.

  Carefully, as if he was doing surgery, Taylor turned the knob back and the needle barely moved.

  “…indoors as much as possible. Gather all the supplies you can and wait for further instruction. Again, we repeat, under no circumstances are you to engage the infected. The virus is passed through contact and is not airborne. All those with firearm licences are strongly encouraged to obtain a weapon, only to be used in the case of extreme emergencies. We ask that you hold tight until the military is able to make it to your region. We are doing what we can to stabilize the remaining population and restore order. Keep strong and God bless…This is an emergency broadcast. The date and time is February 13th, 8:15 AM, and martial law has been declared. The President has fallen and Vice President, Mr. Biden, has taken the position in this grave time to lead our great country. The virus has gone international and now has been classified as an epidemic. You must avoid infected at all costs and try to stay indoors as much as possible…”

  Taylor flicked off the radio when it started to repeat. It was clear the message was on a continual loop.

  “That was yesterday,” Zoe said quietly.

  “Holy shit, the President’s gone,” Darren said in disbelief, sinking further into the couch.

  I was no expert, but I was pretty sure the situation must be dire for them to announce something like that. I noticed how they didn’t tell us to go anywhere like the newscast had a couple of days ago. Either they thought we really were safest in smaller numbers or there was no safe place left standing to go. I looked down into my coffee cup wishing I had something stronger, maybe some tequila.

  “I can’t believe they’re encouragin’ folks to get guns,” Ethan said astounded.

  “A situation like this is unprecedented… basically they’re sayin’ we’re on our own,” John said placing his cowboy hat on his head. “Well, if we are goin’ to go around armed, we best get some practice.”

  “Why do I have the feeling that was aimed at me?” I grinned a little, despite the grim newscast.

  “Because it was,” Darren smirked back, pushing himself off the couch.

  “We can’t do it here though, we need to move away so that the sound isn’t linked back to the cabin,” John said. “You know of any fields within ten miles or so?” John seemed like a very practical man, never one to not have a plan or not think things through.

  Ethan thought about it. “Don’t know, there’re some crop fields back a ways.”

  “Guess that’ll have to do,” John said.

  “What’ll we use for targets?” Zoe asked.

  “Empty water bottles and whatever else we can find along the way,” John suggested.

  “Wouldn’t this be a waste of bullets?” Darren asked.

  John stared down Darren, “It’s not a waste if you’re learnin’ an important skill that could mean the difference between life and death, son.” That shut Darren up.

  Everyone sprang into action while I finished my coffee. I was no good to the world without my coffee. I pulled out my cellphone again, noticing I only had thirty percent of my battery left. I would have to conserve what I could and hope that I would be allowed to recharge using the solar panels. Once again, I dialed my house number except I was met with a no signal tone this time. I peered down at the screen, the red circle with a line through it laughing at my efforts. Am I ever going to talk to my family again? I didn’t want to think about it, so I put it out of my mind for now.

  I grabbed my Beretta with the silencer still attached and shoved the piece into the holster, making sure I checked that the safety was on, only around seven times. It wouldn’t really help my case that I could manage a gun if I shot myself. And I didn’t think to bring a belt, so Ethan let me borrow one of his. The holster I grabbed was the one with a hole in the bottom, so even though the handgun had a silencer on it, it still fit. Then I looped on my holstered hunting knife on the other side of the belt. Needless to say, I felt pretty badass walking out of my room with all my weapons.

  Although the gun and knife kind of looked out of place with my outfit, it felt like it was hot outside so I opted for my shorts and a T-shirt.

  John was the only one by the truck when I finally exited the cabin. He nodded at me as I approached the truck. “You ready to go?” he asked.

  “Yep,” I said, looking at his outfit. “How are you wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt when it’s this warm out?”

  He cracked a grin, “I grew up here, kind of used to the heat by now. Plus this ain’t even that hot. Just wait until it’s summer, that’s when you’ll really be fryin’.”

  “Great, something to look forward to.” I squinted up at the intense sun. Again, I fervently hoped that by summer everything would be sorted out and I wouldn’t have to worry about boiling to death in the South, but instead be back home.

  “Glad you decided on the shorts because I won’t be dragging you back,” Zoe joked as she approached us.

  “Glad to know I have such great friends,” I retorted.

  Zoe plunked the bag she had into the back of the truck and then turned to us.

  “So, decided which way we should go yet?” Zoe asked John.

  He pointed to a section on the map, “According to Ethan, this is an empty field, and it’s fenced almost all the way around. This should be our best bet.”

  As the others joined in our little pow-wow, I could hear the tinkling of cans as they shifted around in the plastic bags they were carrying. With the location in mind, we headed off.

  Instead of going back the direction we came, we went even further into the rural area. All the roads were gravel this far out and again the Mazda was stuck following in our dust trail. The tall trees helped to shade us from the unrelenting sun, which made the trip slightly more bearable. There wasn’t even a cloud in the sky to filter out some of the rays. From the passenger’s seat, Chloe informed us that it was unusually warm for February, which was just my luck.

  We came up to a rotted gate with a NO TRESPASSING sign hung at an odd angle. Ethan jumped out of the cab to kick the gate open enough for the truck to pass through. The dirt path eventually ended and all I could see for miles was row after row of grass and crops. As we walked away from the vehicles, we stayed close to the fence line so that we could easily find our way back.

  “This looks pretty good,” Ethan said as he scanned the immediate area.

  “’Bout as good as any,” John agreed and we started to set up the cans and bottles.

  Using some of the well water, we poured a little bit of liquid into the containers so that they would stay put, and upright on the fence. I voluntarily took the targets at the very end.

  Chloe had brought a blanket to lounge on while she did some reading, setting up in the tree shade. She said that she didn’t want to shoot, since she already knew what she was doing and that it would just be a waste of bullets. Smart-ass kid.

  “All right, so as you may have guessed, I served in the military. The first thing they teach you is gun safety,” John said, standing slightly in front of us, pointing to various spots on his gun. “This is your safety, this is your magazine release
, and this is the trigger.”

  Darren rolled his eyes at that last one.

  “You must keep your trigger finger on the side until you are ready to shoot; otherwise, we will have some trigger happy accidents,” John continued on. “These notches are for aimin’. The one in the front must align in the middle of the two on the back.”

  He went on for a while before finally using his own gun to demonstrate taking a shot. He lifted the pistol to eye level and took aim. He looked calm as he slowly squeezed the trigger. One of the bottles flew back off of the fence as the shot rang out. That was one thing movies never got right, just how loud an actual gun shot was. Admittedly, it was less loud than the shots in the grocery store, but that was because we were out in the open.

  We all spread out a little bit more to try it ourselves. I flinched at the sound of the others shooting, but once I started myself, the other sounds faded into the background. My first few shots missed by miles, but as I got more comfortable I started to at least hit the fence and even one bottle. I hit the release button and the empty magazine slid out. I fished the other loaded magazine from my bag and reloaded the gun. Everyone else was doing pretty well, but some bottles and cans remained untouched on the fence. It was almost as if they were mocking us.

  “You need to slowly squeeze the trigger. You’re jerkin’ it which jolts the gun and ruins your aim,” John offered as he came up beside me.

  I took my time in lining up the next shot and slid my finger to the trigger. This time I took a deep breath and released it at the same moment that I slowly squeezed the trigger. The shot landed on the very bottom of one of the bottles, but it still went flying into the grass behind the fence.

  “See, there you go,” John grinned, patting me on the shoulder. “Also make sure your gun goes up when you fire, not down or else the shot goes off target.”

  “Thanks,” I said before I turned back to my targets.

  With renewed vigor I took my time, and managed to hit the remaining bottles and cans. Had they been moving, that would have been a different story. I’m sure the infected wouldn’t stand still for me, even if I asked politely. I wondered how John planned to train us with moving targets. Dangle a bottle with a string from a tree branch?

  “Wow. You hit them,” Darren’s eyebrows shot up when he saw the empty fence in front of me.

  “Damn straight,” I grinned proudly back at him.

  “Ya’ll did good,” John said, making me feel less special. “But chances are, those things ain’t gonna stand nice and still for you.”

  Looks like he had been thinking the same thing.

  “Well, what would you suggest?” Ethan asked, as he slid his empty magazine out of the gun.

  “That’s the question, ain’t it?” John said contemplating what to do.

  “We could do real target practice,” Darren suggested.

  “Maybe you should elaborate slightly on that,” I said, concerned.

  Darren grinned like he had made a joke, “I meant, go find a bunch of the infected in an area and they can be our target practice.”

  The idea creeped me out, but Darren had a valid idea. The whole reason we were in this field right now was to practice shooting so we could defend ourselves against those things. But was I or anyone else ready to unload on a bunch of infected?

  “Okay, say we did that. Where would we go?” Taylor asked.

  “It would start with us having to head back toward the city because there would be more infected than out here,” Darren suggested.

  No one said anything; no one seemed too keen on heading back to the place we had just fled from.

  “Well, we can’t all just pack up and go. What if somethin’ happened here while we were gone?” Ethan pointed out.

  “Like?” Darren prompted.

  “Infected wandered in or what if some other people come by and took the cabin?” Ethan listed off.

  “We could split into groups I guess, and take turns going,” Darren compromised.

  “And we could also pick up some more supplies when we went in,” Zoe pointed out.

  “All right, let’s head back to the cabin and plan this out properly,” John said.

  Seeing that we were done for the day, Chloe ran to us, her blanket flowing behind her like a cape. No one said anything as we walked back to the vehicles, our minds too preoccupied with thoughts of heading back into that mess. As much as I hated the idea, it was the only way to familiarize ourselves with the infected and learn how to defend ourselves against them. If we just hid out at the cabin for who knows how long and infected showed up, we would be sorely out of practice in dealing with them.

  “How about we just give it a couple of days?” I suggested. “Let us get more experience with the bottles and stuff first.”

  John nodded. “Probably a good idea.”

  My side was now stinging a bit, but it was getting better everyday. I moved my arm around a bit to stretch the sore muscles. That's another thing they don't show you in the movies – the pain that accompanies the recoil of the gun.

  Chapter 13

  “Okay, how about two Reese’s Pieces for some deer jerky?” Zoe pleaded again.

  “No way, the jerky’s mine!” I stood strong in the face of the chocolaty temptation.

  We were running extremely low on supplies so we resorted to bartering amongst ourselves. We never made that trip a couple of months ago; was it just a couple? Man, it felt like a lifetime ago. All radio stations had quit broadcasting, even the emergency ones. We could no longer see the lights from the city, so the nights were beyond dark with the stars providing our only light.

  In addition to all that, cell signals had also stopped, rendering everyone’s cellphones useless. I wasn’t addicted to my phone like some people, but I still found myself trying to check for new texts or calls from my family every once and a while. So I stowed it away in my backpack to keep it from getting damaged, hoping that one day it’d be usable again.

  We had opted for the safer route, which was to wait here and see if help came instead of running head long into the city we just tried to escape. Well, obviously, since we were stuck here arguing over junk food, it was a wise choice. So now we really did have a decision to make: starve, or chance a run into a nearby town to grab some much needed supplies. On the plus side, with nothing but time on our hands, we had gotten lots of target practice and I had even been on a few hunting trips.

  Not that I was much use on them. Basically it was to show me how to use my rifle. Damn Taylor showed me up every time. But at least he got his comeuppance a few weeks earlier.

  “This is unholy early,” I yawned, as I pulled the rifle strap back up my shoulder.

  The stupid thing slid off repeatedly as I trekked behind Taylor in the rough-terrain of the forest. Well, it was rough to me anyways.

  “Six in the mornin’ is the best time to catch game,” Taylor, once again, pointed out. “Hey, it was you who wanted to learn anyways.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t know it entailed getting up at five o’clock in the morning!”

  Whatever the opposite of a morning person was, that was me. I saw Taylor clench his jaw before he picked up his pace and left me to scramble behind him just to keep up in the face of all the protruding tree roots. They were like the grabbing hands of the dead crawling their way out of the grave. This trek kept up for another hour, and I really regretted my decision to attend this Taylor hosted event. I heard the crunch of leaves off to our right and Taylor held up his closed fist which I assumed meant, “Sit still and shut up,” so I did. Slowly Taylor slid his rifle off of his shoulder, and moved quietly toward the noise.

  I decided to stay still since I would most likely trip and fall, and thus have ruined any chances of us actually catching something. Or worse, I might alert something to our presence. I turned my head and squinted, in an attempt to see what had made the noise. I couldn’t see much, but I spotted a mass of brown fur with a white tail. I may have been a city girl, as Taylor called me,
but I knew that was deer. The grin on Taylor’s face reinforced my guess and he crept silently closer while he brought the rifle up to eye level. What happened next was quite strange.

  One minute Taylor was approaching the deer and the next, he was gone. It was almost like the ground had swallowed him up. I heard him let out a yelp of surprise which made the deer bolt off in the opposite direction. I ran to where Taylor had disappeared and heard him yell, “Stop!” I came to a halt just in front of what looked like a pitfall where Taylor stood at the bottom. This was not a natural formation, which lead me to believe this was a manmade hunting trap. I peered down into the trap at Taylor and I couldn’t help myself.

  “It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.” I burst out laughing.

  Needless to say, Taylor didn’t look amused.

  “That’s real hilarious,” he drawled and I clutched my sides from laughing so hard.

  Roots were stuck out in every direction and dirt was constantly sliding down the sides only to land on Taylor’s cowboy hat and shoulders. The hole must have been seven or eight feet deep, but wasn’t very wide; maybe enough for two people who knew each other pretty well to fit.

  “Gimme your hand,” he demanded, as he held out his own.

  Still chuckling, I leaned down to offer mine as I said, “Give me the ring,” before I burst into side splitting laughter again.

  He rolled his eyes, but I could see a semblance of a smirk on his face. Finally, with much effort on my part, I stopped laughing long enough to help him out of the hole. I strained to lift as he dug his boots into the loose soil while grasping at the gangly roots. It took a couple of tries because he would lose his footing and I had to let his hand go or risk being pulled down with him.

  “We never speak of this again,” he huffed.

  Both of us sat side by side, on the forest floor trying to catch our breath. I started to chuckle again at the bizarre situation, and Taylor shook his head.