Alive (Sundown Series Book 3)

by Courtney Konstantin

  Noon rolled around and Rafe decided they needed to go into town. Charlie was reluctant to leave the news watch, but Rafe explained to her they would see more in town than sitting in his living room. She left to get dressed out of her previous day's clothes and Rafe decided to get ready for town. He went to the gun safe that was located in his sister Alex’s room. It was biometric for his hand as well as his sisters’. Once open he grabbed his 9mm. He slid in a full clip and slid it into a belt holster he had that could be hidden under his shirt. He then pulled out his 12 gauge tactical shotgun and loaded it as well, ensuring the sleeve was also loaded with extra ammo.

  Rafe went to his truck and mounted the shotgun in his rack on his back window, just as Charlie came out of the house. She saw the gun and had no reaction. They had decided driving together was no longer a problem. Rafe also didn’t want to be responsible for her if she was in a different vehicle, so Charlie joined him in the truck, wringing her hands as they drove. Rafe saw her watching the side mirror as the metal gate closed behind them, clearly concerned for the stability of the compound she had come to rely on for safety.

  As they drove toward town, cars seemed to pass them leaving town at an incredible rate. Charlie watched each of them as they went by.

  “They are packed to leave. Something is wrong,” she said.

  “Well let’s go find out what it is.”

  At the edge of town, Rafe noted that beyond the cars everything was seemingly quiet. He pulled the truck into a small supermarket parking lot when he noticed what looked like looting of the store. Getting out of the car, he grabbed his shotgun before closing his door. Something wasn’t right here. Charlie jumped from the truck and followed him as they slowly entered the store. The doors had been broken off their hinges, pulled outward by a vehicle possibly.

  Inside the store, lights were on, but everything seemed silent. A smell wafted through the store, Rafe guessed it was food. However, he noted that the power was still on, so he couldn’t imagine why something was spoiling already. He walked slowly, shotgun at his shoulder as he swung from side to side checking all possible hiding places. Now that he had a good view inside, it confirmed his suspicions that the store had been looted.

  “Why are people breaking into the store?” Charlie asked. Rafe shushed her quickly, still not convinced they were alone. She shot him a dirty look at being admonished, but she didn’t speak further.

  The sound of crinkling plastic reached their ears, spurring Rafe into action. He swung the shotgun toward the sound, pushing Charlie behind him with one hand. She complied without question, feeling the safest place was behind the shotgun. Rafe slowly walked down the aisle next to where he thought the noise came from. No additional noises could be heard, but he was sure it wasn’t a natural noise. When they reached the end of the aisle, Rafe did another full circle, checking the direction they had come and found nothing different. He pointed toward the half-looted shelf and pushed Charlie gently toward it. She understood and pushed herself against the shelving.

  Shotgun leading, Rafe moved around the end of the aisle. As he stepped into the next aisle, he was immediately faced with what had caused the noises they had heard. The ground was splattered with blood, a shelf pulled down with products strewn across the walkway. In the middle was a body, the source of the blood, Rafe assumed. He watched in shock as the body, which had to be missing quite a good deal of blood, climbed to its feet.

  It was a woman, who at over six feet tall was almost as tall as Rafe himself. Her black eyes didn’t distract from what was a beautiful face. She was blonde, lean, and almost looked living. He found himself at odds with what he knew to be happening and what he was seeing. She faced Rafe and immediately a growling noise began to come from her mouth. He couldn’t see the bite on her and assumed it was somewhere on the back of her body. Rafe found himself strangely questioning the volleyball uniform she was wearing, including spandex shorts and kneepads. She was someone that was just going about her business, maybe on the way to a volleyball game. But her life was cut short by whatever infected caught her in the supermarket.

  “Rafe,” Charlie whispered from behind him. The growling had pulled her from her hiding place and she stood to watch in shocked fear as the volleyball player slowly made her way toward where she wanted to spread her illness. Rafe swallowed hard. He knew what he had seen in the facility. Now faced directly with one of the dead, he wasn’t sure about pulling the trigger. He stepped back until he was touching Charlie.

  “Is there a cure?” He hissed back to Charlie.

  “I...to cure this? No. I don’t think it can be cured,” she answered.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I can’t be completely positive. I need to review my notes.”

  “If I end this, for this woman, how do I know it’s not murder?” Rafe said, mostly to himself. He pushed Charlie back further as the volleyball player got closer.

  “It’s defending our safety, isn’t it?”

  Rafe nodded, knowing that was true. But somewhere in his mind, he couldn’t accept just killing the woman. Decided, he used the shotgun and aimed at one of her long legs. The shot caused the knee to buckle and the volleyball player collapsed to one side. No normal reaction came, no hand out to break her fall, no pained noise. The infected just fell into the shelf and tried to crawl forward. She was now a single-minded killing zombie. Rafe had seen enough.

  “She’s slowed down. Let’s grab some groceries and get out of here.”

  “You’re going to leave her like that? What if she tries to get someone else?”

  “I’ll deal with it before we leave. Now grab what you can and let’s get the truck loaded.”

  The pair went out to the truck first, backing it as close to the broken windows as possible. Rafe checked the area again, finding everything still. The quiet was eerie. He was waiting for someone to jump out in front of him. Rationally he realized they hadn’t made it very far into town before stopping at the market. People were fleeing and stopping on the outskirts of town wasn’t the plan. Despite that, he knew the area couldn’t possibly stay quiet for long.

  Charlie argued about stealing at first. Rafe moved around the market, bagging perishable groceries that they could eat for the next few days. He ignored Charlie’s arguments at first, but he grew annoyed with her constant barrage of questions and reasons for why they shouldn’t steal. He loaded his third bag into the truck before she had started packing anything. Finally, over her not understanding the situation he whirled on her.

  “Charlie, rules do not apply anymore. Have you noticed the people walking that should be dead? Natural law doesn’t apply. Things are happening here that are not going to fit into the world you seem to want to live in. So, either catch up so we can survive together or figure things out on your own. Either way, stop arguing with me and get out of my way.”

  He left Charlie with her mouth hanging open as he headed back into the supermarket. He felt bad at first for being harsh to her and then leaving her out in the open on her own. Nonetheless, he felt she needed to understand their situation and work with him. When he turned back to look for her again he saw she was moving toward the bakery. Better than nothing, he thought to himself. He decided he would later find the time for why he suddenly needed to make sure Charlie survived.

  He found himself back in the aisle where the volleyball player tried to crawl. When Rafe entered her line of sight her noises intensified as her fingers tried to claw and get purchase on the slippery tile floor. It was her face that made Rafe stop to watch. If it wasn’t for the black orbs where her eyes were and the gray pallor of her skin, he wouldn’t believe anything was wrong with her. She probably stopped traffic on a normal day when she was warm and healthy. He had to shake himself from his thoughts as the dead volleyball player continued to find a way to get closer to where he stood.

  Moving down the aisle, Rafe stepped far to the side to avoid the claws of the infected and started grabbing canned foods as he passed. Once his hands we
re completely full again, he went back to the truck. He arrived just as Charlie did. Her hands were full of bags of bread, sliced, French, bagels and more. He looked over at her and nodded as she loaded the softer items on top of his canned goods. She then produced two containers of soft cookies, with an inch of frosting on top of each. Her smile was sheepish, but she handed the containers to him in a sign of apology he assumed.

  “They’re my favorite,” Charlie said, looking up at him.

  “Well then grab them all. I’m sure we could find time to eat them,” Rafe replied. He was rewarded with a wide smile from Charlie as she went back into the market for the rest of the cookies.

  Standing outside, Rafe stood to survey the parking lot. There was no nearby movement, though he could hear vehicles moving in the distance. He could hear sirens at times and far off gunshots. In his gut, he knew the city was falling into chaos. It was what his father always preached. Faced with a real society ending event, services would break down, people would panic and life as they knew it would be over. Normal people wouldn’t be prepared to handle themselves in a situation like this. Mitch Duncan was more convinced it would be some sort of electromagnetic pulse attack, believing the United States would be the victim of an attack by one of its many enemies. If he ever imagined the dead would walk and be attacking people, he never told his children.

  Once Rafe thought they had stayed long enough at the market, the volleyball player had drug herself almost to the front check stands. He glanced at her for a moment, wondering if Charlie was right and he should end her. However, for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. They climbed back in the truck and Rafe left the shotgun between them for easier access. Charlie looked at him for a long moment, before turning to look out her window.

  “What?” Rafe asked.

  “You’re all heart,” Charlie said.

  “Yeah, that’s not exactly the case,” he replied.

  “Keep telling yourself that,” she said with a small laugh.

  After some discussion, Rafe convinced Charlie they should drive further into town. They needed to see what was really happening, as the news wasn’t discussing the truth. Charlie was worried about their safety, but she conceded after Rafe pointed out his truck was tough, and they wouldn’t get out of the car unless completely necessary. He understood her fear. Rafe didn’t doubt that she was a tough woman, after seeing her stand up to 'The Suit' at the facility. She had a fire in her. But this was different than words. This was a fight for survival.

  Kalispell was a fairly small sized city. Rafe had lived there the majority of his life until his father passed away. He then moved to the compound closer to Flathead Lake. The small town life was what Rafe had always wanted and Kalispell had been his place. Seeing it now, he felt shocked deep in his core. People ran from all directions, from their homes to their cars. There were numerous accidents that he had to maneuver his truck around. They passed a gas station that was overrun with people trying to get gas. When Rafe glanced over he watched as two men came to blows over the pump that they both had tried to pull up to. A gunshot rang out and Rafe stepped on the gas to get away from the station. The last thing they needed was to be next to a station when someone was using a firearm around gasoline.

  A loud noise caused Rafe to pull into a restaurant parking lot and slam on his brakes. He risked putting down his window, so he could look up at the sky, just as a plane took off from Kalispell City Airport. His jaw dropped open as the implications raced through him. Initially, he had thought this could be just be stopped in Kalispell, maybe only reach a few nearby towns. People died so fast from blood loss and the illness, spreading further would be impossible. But somehow, he hadn’t thought about planes. If planes had been taking off all day like they tended to do, sick people could be everywhere.

  He rolled his window up and looked at Charlie. Without saying a word, he could tell her mind was in the same place. Her skin had taken on a pale look, her eyes red with unshed tears.

  “Why are they letting people fly? Don’t they know what’s happening here?” Charlie asked.

  “Maybe people are trying to escape? Or maybe because the news has been limited, not everyone knows what’s happening.”

  As he spoke gunshots sounded again and he watched as a family fought off three infected that tried to attack them. The parents with two children were in a state of panic, searching cars they came to, apparently looking for a ride. Rafe took a moment to evaluate, realizing the father didn’t know how to use the gun he was pointing. Grabbing his shotgun, he told Charlie to stay put and he jumped out of the truck. He racked the slide on the shotgun and stalked toward the infected. He felt his remorse for the beautiful volleyball player disappear as he looked at the bloodstained men that rambled toward children they wanted to feast on.

  His first blast was enough to take the head off of the nearest infected. The body fell into the next infected causing the pair to fall. The noise of his shotgun pulled the attention of the third infected, exactly as Rafe had planned. He racked the slide on his shotgun, as another wild shot went between him and the infected. He looked over at the father that was still holding his pistol toward the infected. The man was terrified, so Rafe swallowed the amount of yelling he wanted to do at the man.

  “I have this handled. Please don’t shoot me,” Rafe called to him. The man focused on him for a moment, before his arm fell and he hugged his children to him.

  Rafe turned back to the infected that was advancing toward him. Without realizing it, he had decided the brain was the only way to stop the dead beings. Without a head, there was no way they could continue to hunt for the living. He switched the safety on the shotgun and slung it on his back before he pulled the six-inch hunting knife that was on his hip. The infected was within attack distance now and the mother that he had just come to the rescue of cried out in warning. That noise was all it took to pull the attention off of Rafe, causing him to pursue the infected instead of waiting for the attack. He sighed before he took three long steps forward, slamming the hunting knife into the skull of the infected. One quarter turn and he yanked it back out.

  As guessed, the infected fell to the ground, now truly lifeless. Rafe found that he felt more powerful having a solution at least to the immediate threat. With that knowledge, he went to the infected that was just fighting back to its feet from under the dead body of his teammate. One swift downward strike and there was one less infected wandering his small town. He leaned down and cleaned the blade on the infected’s clothing, not wanting to carry the disease in his sheath.

  “Thank you,” the father said, as the family approached.

  Rafe just nodded and shrugged. He may not have been a people person, but he would never be the person that stood by while a family was slaughtered.

  “Do you have a vehicle?” Rafe asked the man.

  “We did. But we were in an accident. We were trying to find something else...” the man looked around at the carnage and nearby wrecks as his voice trailed off. Rafe joined him and looked around.

  Rafe immediately located a vehicle that had been abandoned near his truck. He walked toward it with purpose, calling for the family to follow him. He continued to keep his head on a swivel, looking for any additional nearby threats. He could hear the adults murmuring behind him and was pretty sure he heard the wife worry that he was crazy. Rafe almost laughed out loud. For years people thought his father was crazy. But his talents were useful. Thinking he was crazy didn’t stop people from taking advantage of those things.

  At the car, Rafe pulled out his multitool and kneeled so he could reach under the steering wheel and steering column. The older model was a perfect candidate for hot-wiring the car. As he ripped out wires to find the ones he needed the man behind him cleared his throat.

  “We aren’t going to steal someone’s vehicle,” he said.

  “What were you going to do if you found one with keys? Leave a note?” Rafe shot back.

  “Well, no.”

&nbs
p; “I don’t think the person that left this vehicle, if even still alive, had plans to come back,” Rafe explained.

  “So, you’re saying it’s not stealing,” the man said.

  “Right. It’s called salvaging.”

  “Ok. I guess I can live with that.”

  “Well that’s good if you want your family to live you will need this,” Rafe said as he touched wires together and the car turned over and caught.

  The children were loaded into the back of the car. Rafe explained to the father which wires to touch together to start the car and which to not touch together to save himself a nasty shock. Before they drove away, Rafe put together a supply of food from what they had taken from the supermarket. He leaned into the back of the car and handed a container of overly sugared cookies to the kids with a smile. As they drove away, Rafe wasn’t completely confident that they would survive. The smiles on the children’s faces as they looked at the cookies would stay with him for a long time.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Rafe sat in the driver’s seat of his truck, looking at his phone as it restarted. As soon as he realized planes were taking off from the local airport, he knew he needed to call his sisters. They needed to be warned. They needed to come to the compound. He needed to start Sundown. The faces of his nieces and nephew went through his mind. Billie, Henry, and Jack were the next generation in their family. Since their births, his sisters would bring their families to Montana to visit. He loved the children as if they were his own. He couldn’t think of a world without them safe.

  “Why would cell service not be working?” Charlie asked. In the seat next to him, she was fiddling with her phone. She had resorted to taking out the battery and SIM card, hoping that would get a signal. But there were no bars.

  “Why would there be no news about this? Why would there be so little presence of emergency services? Where are the evacuations? Where is the government?” Rafe shot questions out in rapid fire. Then he cursed and slammed his phone into the dashboard when it still came up with no service.