Apocalyptic Beginnings Box Set

by M. D. Massey

  “Probably got lost,” he says. “We’ll find her.”

  He takes the flashlight out of my hand and heads toward the back. I follow him, more relaxed now that he’s with me. He’s so capable. There’s nothing to be scared of when he’s here.

  We search a few aisles with no luck, and the ache in my stomach comes back, growing more intense with each passing second. Where could she be? The store is so quiet. If she made even the smallest noise we’d hear it. But there’s only silence.

  We head to the left side of the store, completely opposite from where the bathrooms are. There’s nothing this way, but we’ve checked everywhere else.

  The walls of the store are lined with the heads of dead animals. Deer, bear, wild cats and even a few exotic animals. The small beam from our flashlight makes their shadows long and creepy, and their blank eyes stare down at us. Watching our progress. A chill runs down my spine. I shiver.

  We turn the last corner and I grab Axl’s arm on reflex. Emily is there. She’s standing in the corner with her back to us, facing the wall. Not moving.

  Every hair on my body tingles. “Emily,” I say, taking a tiny step forward.

  Her head jerks up and she slowly turns. Axl is still holding the flashlight and it catches her in the beam, lighting up her face in a spooky way. In this light, her skin is a strange shade of gray. Her eyes look blank and milky. She doesn’t blink or shy away from the light. She just stands there. Staring at us. I take another step forward, but something about the way she’s carrying herself makes me stop. Her arms are slack and she doesn’t seem to register that we’re standing here.

  “Emily?” It comes out strangled and barely sounds like a word.

  Axl grabs my arm and pulls me back, but I jerk away from him. “No.” A half hiccup, half cry escapes my lips. I cover my mouth with my hand, shaking my head and refusing to acknowledge what’s in front of me.

  “Get back,” Axl says.

  “No, no, no…” I can’t say anything else. My insides twist so tight it feels like all my organs are balled together into one giant knot.

  Emily opens her mouth, and I pray for words to come out. It’s only a soft moan. The sound rips my heart in two, shattering me from the inside out.

  “No!” I scream as I run toward her.

  Axl wraps his arms me, pulling me away from her. I can’t stop screaming, and tears stream down my cheeks. Emily slowly moves toward us and the sound of voices fills the store. They echo off the quiet walls and bounce around in my head, mixing with the sound of Emily’s moans and my own sobbing.

  Out of nowhere people are next to us. Angus and Mike, Trey, and Winston. Maybe more. I’m not sure because I can’t focus on anything but the milky eyes and gray skin of my little girl.

  My legs wobble and finally give out. I fall to the ground. Axl is still here. His arms still wrapped around me. Maybe he’s telling me everything is going to be okay, but I’m not sure if his words are real or imagined, because none of this feels real.

  Emily keeps coming toward us, slowly. Her arms are raised and her moans are more deafening. I can’t stop crying. My body shakes and all I want is to pull her close to me, to feel her little hands wrapped around me again.

  Angus steps forward. He swears and raises his a gun. Aiming it at my baby. When he pulls the trigger my entire body jerks. Emily drops to the ground.

  26

  Axl pulls me up and tries to get me to walk. My feet drag. I try to focus on walking. Right foot, left foot, right…they won’t cooperate. Axl sweeps me up into his arms and carries me. I’m dead inside. Empty.

  He sets me down in one of the camp chairs. It reminds me so much of the morning I woke up sick that it brings fresh tears to my eyes. He can be so gentle when he wants to be.

  Axl kneels in front of me. He brushes my hair away from my face and his eyes search mine. “You okay?”

  I shake my head. Will I ever be okay again?

  “I told you,” Mitchell says. “You should have left her behind.”

  I blink and look up. Mitch stands behind Axl and his eyes are so cold. So emotionless.

  Like a flash Axl is up. His knuckles make impact with Mitchell’s jaw, knocking him to the ground. Mitchell grunts and lands on his stomach. He rolls over, but doesn’t get up. He rubs his jaw and stares at Axl, whose hands are still clenched at his sides. Axl’s shoulders heave. Mitchell doesn’t move. I hold my breath and wait. Is Axl going to hit him again? I want him to. I want him to beat the shit out of Mitchell. But Axl doesn’t move. He clenches and unclenches his right hand a few times, then walks away.

  Mitchell doesn’t look at anyone. His jaw is red and he won’t stop rubbing it. I can’t look away from him. I can’t do anything.

  A gunshot breaks the silence and I jump. Another follows, and then another, and another in quick succession. My body shakes and I squeeze my eyes shut, digging my nails into the palms of my hands while I wait for Axl to get it out of his system. By the time the gunshots stop, my nails have drawn blood. I open my hands and flex my fingers. Three little red half-moons stare up at me from my right palm. Four on my left.

  “You’re a real asshole, you know that?” Angus says as he heads back toward the shooting range. He spits on the floor at Mitchell’s feet as he goes by.

  Even Angus—the racist, redneck prick—has more of a heart than Mitchell.

  People start packing things up, but I can’t seem to make my body work. I failed her.

  Sophia walks over and drags me to my feet. She pulls me in for a hug, but I can’t seem to get my arms to move. They lay lifeless at my sides.

  Just like Emily.

  “It will be okay,” Sophia whispers.

  She’s wrong.

  Then it hits me. She and Ava were both asleep in the tent with Emily. I pull back and my hand flies to my mouth. Tears stream down my face and I can barely get enough air to fill my lungs. I’m suffocating.

  “Oh, my God. What if she had turned in the tent?”

  “Shhh,” Sophia whispers. “Nothing happened. We’re okay.”

  Axl storms out of the shooting range. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”

  He starts throws things in boxes and stomps around the room, giving orders. Normally, I don’t think people would take it well, but no one argues.

  I gather my things. When I get to Emily’s stuff, I don’t know what to do. My chest aches where my heart used to be. The emptiness takes my breath away. How do people do this? How do they recover from the loss of a child? I’ve only had her for a short time and the pain is so overwhelming that all I want to do is curl up on the floor and cry.

  Sophia walks over with Emily’s stuffed dog in her hand. She holds it out to me and I start to take it, but then stop. “I can’t. Give it to Ava. Let her enjoy it.”

  She gives me a sad smile and shakes her head. “I’ll just hold onto it for you. You’ll want it one day, but until then I’ll keep it safe.”

  My eyes sting and I stare down at my palms. The little half-moons frown back at me. Maybe she’s right. She knows more about being a mom than I do. I’m not even sure if my short time with Emily qualifies as motherhood.

  I go back to packing, ignoring Emily’s things. Everyone is busy except Mitchell, who sits off to the side, watching us as usual. His jaw is red and swollen, probably sore. I hope it is.

  People glare at him as they walk by. If he wasn’t our ticket to safety we’d be leaving his ass behind. But he’s our only chance for salvation. It’s ironic, like Satan ushering us through the pearly gates of heaven. But he’s an outcast. Not even Arthur, who always has something good to say, wants to be around him.

  The sun is just coming up. We have about eight hours of driving left, so that puts us at the shelter by late afternoon. Then we can relax. All I want to do is take a shower and crawl into bed. Maybe I’ll sleep for a few days.

  The early morning air is chilly, and I shiver. Almost everyone has a gun or a knife in their hands, but I don’t. I’m not even sure where my gu
n is at this point.

  When I climb into the passenger seat of the Nissan, I do my best to avoid looking in the back. I don’t want to see Emily’s booster seat. I wish Axl had thought to get rid of it.

  Axl and Angus load the rest of our stuff, and I stare blindly out the front window. My eyes won’t focus on anything. I have enough clarity to know that I need to snap out of it, if I get attacked like this I’m a goner. How do I do it?

  Axl climbs in next to me and Angus gets in the back. He grabs the booster and tosses it behind him, and I dig my nails deeper into those half-moons. I want to scream at him to just get rid of it. To leave it behind. Like we did with her.

  “What did you do with her?” I whisper. The idea of her being all alone in that store makes me want to throw up.

  Axl exhales and his hands wring the steering wheel. Maybe he’s pretending it’s Mitchell’s neck. “Put her in the break room on the couch. Wanted to bury her, but there weren’t no shovels.”

  Bile rises in my throat and I swallow. She’s covered. Comfortable. Not cold and scared. “Thank you.”

  He grunts and I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. Are those tears?

  “We ready?” Angus snaps from the back.

  Axl blinks a few times. He reaches his hand out to shut his door, but the sound of gunfire makes him freeze. He looks at me, then back at Angus. “Somebody’s in trouble.”

  Angus groans and I look back at him. He shakes his head. “Do we gotta save every prick we run into?”

  Axl slams the door and rolls the window down as he starts the car. He doesn’t answer Angus. He just puts the car in gear and speeds out of the parking lot, burning rubber as he races toward the sound of gunfire. I grip the dashboard while keeping an eye open. A mini mall with mostly abandoned shops comes into view. The horde of dead in front leaves no doubt that we’ve found the right place.

  Axl jerks the wheel to the left and pulls into the parking lot, coming up behind the horde. There are a dozen or more bodies, all crowded around a woman who’s pressed up against the building. She fires a gun over and over while the bodies close in, but she’s surrounded. There’s no way she has enough bullets to kill them all.

  Where did I put my gun? I scan the car, and my eyes land on my knife. It’s hanging out of the cup holder. I grab it and throw the door open almost before Axl has the car in park. I stumble when I jump down, almost falling, but manage to regain my footing as I scramble forward. Axl and Angus are right next to me, and we reach the horde just as the woman runs out of bullets. She lets out a cry of frustration and flips the gun around, using the handle to slam the bodies in the head.

  I drive my knife into the skull of the nearest body. It falls and I jerk the blade out, turning to the next one. Our arrival distracts some of the dead from their current target and they converge on us.

  While I stab at the bodies, the woman steps forward. I catch sight of a tuft of brown hair behind her. She isn’t alone. There’s a boy. The woman has him pressed up against the building with her body securely between him and the dead.

  The knowledge that a child’s life is at stake gives me a renewed sense of urgency. I stab the next body harder, driving my knife right into the eye socket of a dead woman and almost gag. The smell is overpowering, both from the scent of their decaying bodies and the putrid black goo that fills the pitiful creatures.

  Axl reaches the last body just as it wraps its hands around the woman’s throat. He drives his knife right into the base of the skull and up into its brain. It falls to the ground in a mangled pile of decay. We’re all breathing heavily by then.

  “Th-thank you,” the woman says. She reaches behind her and pulls the boy forward, bending down so she can check him over. “Are you okay?”

  He nods and looks over at us. He’s tall and thin, with light brown hair and blue eyes. Cute, maybe seven or eight years old. He’s terrified.

  The woman smiles nervously. “I’m Anne. You’re the first people I’ve seen in days, except for Jake here. I was beginning to think everyone had died except us.”

  Axl introduces us before looking down at the bodies on the ground. “That was close.”

  She nods. “They’re getting more aggressive.”

  I stare at the bodies. “What are you talking about?”

  Anne runs her hand through her hair and lets out a big sigh. “When they’re first turned they’re slower, not as smart. I’ve run into a few newly turned zombies and they don’t do a whole lot. They respond to noise, but it takes them longer to decide to attack.” She tilts her head forward, motioning toward the ground. “These guys were on me before I even made a sound. I thought they’d be like the others, that they wouldn’t bother me if I stayed quiet. But they went after me right away.”

  Angus leans down, studying the bodies while he listens. His lips are pursed. What’s going through his head?

  The other cars pull into the parking lot behind us and Anne’s eyes get big. “There are more of you?”

  “Fifteen of us.” My chest constricts. “I mean, fourteen.”

  She watches the others climb out and head our way. “Where are you from?”

  “All over,” Axl says. “Been pickin’ people up as we go.”

  “Go where? You have some place special? Because as far as I can tell we’re dead no matter where we go.” Anne puts her hand on Jake’s shoulder, like she’s trying to protect him from her words.

  “I don’t think it’s that bad. Most people died in their homes, and if they’re trapped inside we should be okay,” I say.

  Everyone but Mitchell has come over to join us. He stays next to the cars and gives us an evil glare.

  Anne lets out a small laugh. “That’s what I thought at first, too. Then I noticed that every day there seemed to be more and more of them walking around on the streets. I saw a few houses with doors open and thought someone must be going around, searching homes for supplies and letting the zombies out in the process.” She pauses and looks us all over. “Then I saw one open a door.”

  A few people gasp, and all the air whooshes out of my lungs. They can open doors? Anne was right. If Mitchell doesn’t hold up his part of the bargain, we’re dead for sure.

  “Nowhere is safe,” she says.

  “We got a safe place.” Axl tilts his head toward the cars. “You’re welcome to come with us.”

  Anne shakes her head like she doesn’t believe us. “Where?”

  “Fallout shelter for rich folks,” Angus says. “We found us a rich guy who was more than happy to take us along.”

  Mitchell must be able to hear us, because he turns and climbs into the car, slamming the door behind him.

  “He seems happy about it,” Anne says.

  I stand outside Anne’s house with a few people, waiting for her to get her things together. Mitchell stands five feet away from me. His arms are crossed over his chest while he continues to glare at everyone. There is no way in hell this guy intends to let us in that shelter. I’m sure of it.

  “You think the Internet is still up?” Al asks. “It would be nice to get on a computer once we get to the shelter, see how the rest of the world has been affected by this.”

  I shrug. “I honestly don’t know enough about the Internet to even take a guess. I didn’t own a computer and I’ve only been on the Internet a few times.”

  Al looks at me like I’m insane. “Seriously?”

  “My dad was poor and an ass. A computer wasn’t on his list of priorities. When I got a job of my own I saved all my money for these.” I grab my breasts and Al’s eyes get huge. He turns red and looks away, making me laugh a little.

  He clears his throat. “Well, I was on the computer every day for hours. I was the president of the computer club in school. Man, I’m going to miss it.”

  “What did you do in computer club?” Mitchell asks suddenly.

  “Um, well the official answer would have been online games. But really we did a lot more hacking. I’m actually pretty excited to see the
security system at the shelter. From what I read online, it seems pretty amazing.”

  “So you know all about that kind of stuff then?” Mitchell asks. “You could say, run the surveillance if you had to?”

  “I don’t know for sure until I see it, but I’d guess I could.”

  Why the hell is Mitchell suddenly so interested in Al? I’m about to ask when the others come out of the house.

  Anne tosses her bag into the back of the Nissan and nods. “We’re all set.”

  When I turn back, Mitchell has already climbed into the Explorer. I have no idea what he’s thinking, but I’m sure I’m not going to like it.

  Anne and Jake end up in the minivan with Mike, Sophia, and Ava. She seems nice. Guess we’ll have years ahead of us to get to know one another.

  27

  Angus is asleep less than ten minutes into the drive. The silence hanging between Axl and me is unnerving. Does he blame me for Emily or is he just upset? I want things to be okay between us.

  “Thank you, Axl. For taking care of me.” I have to blink back the tears that fill my eyes.

  His hands tighten on the steering wheel. “You snapped out of it mighty fast.”

  He does blame me. Or maybe he’s just disappointed in me. Not that I can blame him, but I don’t want him to think I don’t care. That Emily’s death meant nothing. “I just couldn’t let someone else die. When I saw those things attacking Anne, I knew I couldn’t let my own tragedy take over. It’s not just me anymore. We need to look out for each other if we want to survive this.”

  “Not somethin’ I’m used to.”

  “Me neither, believe me.”

  Axl takes a slow, deep breath. “None of this was your fault. You did the best you could. Not many people woulda thought to go check on her like you did. You tried. All you can do sometimes.”

  He won’t look at me, but his words mean more than he can possibly know. I have no idea exactly when it happened, but Axl’s opinion of me has become almost as important to my survival as air.

  “You know, just yesterday I was thinking about how sad my life was,” I say. “Everyone had lost someone except me, because I didn’t have anyone to lose. Now here I am.”