by Jeremy Lock
Sean and Cassidy had gathered up several weapons into 2 piles. One pile contained all the weapons and ammo that were chambered in the same caliber as those they were using, the other pile was the weapons and ammo that were chambered for different rounds. There wasn’t too much ammunition for any of the guns but there were several very nice weapons. In the keep pile were two .308 hunting rifles, two Ar 15’s, another Ruger Mini-14, four 12 gauge shotguns, four quality 9mm pistols and three .45 pistols. They also found a Berretta Storm 9mm carbine rifle. Sean also returned with the crossbow bolt that Mark had used to kill the m60 machine gunner. He hadn’t told anyone about that incident and he was congratulated by everyone. He had shot the man in the lower back and had pierced his spleen. It had not been a quick kill.
In early afternoon Jessica and Mark went off into the woods and returned with the Buck that Mark had shot the night before. They quickly skinned the animal and started butchering. They were only going to take the easy meat, which was not their normal routine, but time was limited. Mark started a large roaring fire in the fire pit outside and cooked up both back-straps over the fire. It would let those outside warm themselves and it was the easiest way to quickly cook up the meat. Everyone gathered for a quick bite to eat and then headed back to work. They knew time was their enemy at the moment.
Jason hooked up the horse trailer to Sean’s pick-up and the Utility Trailer to Jeff’s Jeep after siphoning the rest of the fuel from Jessica’s SUV into the vehicles. Sean and Cassidy brought the extra weapons they found into the house. The guns they didn’t want to bring were brought down into the bunker and locked away, hopefully to never be found by whoever took up residence in the house after they left. Jason moved on to loading up tools from the workshop into the utility trailer. He loaded bow saws, axes, hatchets, hoes, shovels, pick-axes, and a post-hole digger. Then he moved to his woodworking tools, which he had a good collection of. The sun was setting as he finished loading up what he wanted to bring. For dinner they cooked up loads of venison, canned vegetables, and potatoes. They had a fair amount of food they couldn’t bring so they decided to eat like kings. They also indulged on all the wine and beer that they wanted; although Jason cautioned them not to drink too much as they all had loads of work to do tomorrow. And then for the last time they slept in real beds and for Jessica and Jason they made love for what was most likely the last time in their own bed.
Chapter 53
Tim had been walking all day and now he was tired, hungry and cold. The wilderness was not something he’d ever experienced much of but he initially enjoyed the freedom and silence that came with it. As his day continued on he realized there was a dark side to go along with the intense beauty. Hours earlier he had walked into a swamp which was covered with snow and was now soaked from the knees down. The water was freezing but as the day continued on his entire body began to shiver even though it was in the 40’s in the sunlight. Then in the afternoon a light rain started and he was soon completely soaked but trudged on hoping to find civilization once again. As darkness approached, he was freezing and had to find some kind of shelter. He found a fallen tree near a rock ledge which mostly blocked the freezing wind and he gathered wood to start a fire. He had a lighter in his pocket and tried to light some leaves on fire but they were all too wet and none would take the flame. He was now shivering and getting desperate, he tried and tried over and over again but he couldn’t find anything in the woods that would burn. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a good wad of cash that he had gathered during his exploits with Money. He hesitated mentally having a difficult time coming to grips with burning his stash of money. He finally decided that it wouldn’t be worth anything to him dead and pulled off 2 $50 bills, the smallest he had, and set them alight. He tried to get some twigs burning but the money burned out before the twigs caught. Desperation finally fully made up his mind and he crumpled up the rest of his stash of money and lit it. The twigs caught and he built up his fire. Within a few minutes he had a roaring fire and went out to gather firewood and maybe some food. After several armloads of firewood Tim noticed the rain had stopped but now a light snow was falling through the twilight. He went back out with the intention of shooting himself a squirrel for dinner; they were everywhere and seemed like an easy target. It turned out that shooting a large woodland rat with a snub nose pistol was not an easy prospect but on his 4 round he had gotten lucky and brought his squirrel back to his fire. He stoked the fire in order to give himself enough light to work with and began the process of cleaning his kill. The damage the .357 magnum bullet had done was quite impressive and nearly 1/3 of the edible flesh was destroyed. Tim pulled out his small pocket knife and went to work trying to skin the animal. As he cut and pulled the skin away from the meat he gagged several times and nearly threw up. “This is fucking gross.” he thought as he pushed himself through the disgusting process. After he got the skin off he knew he had to pull out the guts. The warm, slimy, stinking guts he pulled out did make him vomit. After he recovered he set what was left of the squirrel over the fire and took the skin and guts and threw them off into the woods. He sat trying to get warm beside the fire and reloaded his pistol with his last 6 rounds. As he waited the snow came down harder and the wind picked up chilling him yet again. He piled the fire high in order to take away his chill and finally felt warm, but he noticed that most of his firewood was gone and he had a long night ahead of him. He grabbed a burning stick and headed off into the woods, using it as a torch. After about 60 ft his “torch” went out and he cursed under his breath. It was pitch black and the only thing he could see was his fire. He started heading back slowly but he was again freezing cold. As he picked up his pace he tripped over a log and fell face first into the snow covered ground.
“Fuck me!” he yelled aloud and pulled himself to his feet.
He brushed the snow from his face but it was slimy and smelled terrible.
“Motherfucker!!” he screamed as he attempted to wipe the squirrel guts off his face.
“My fucking luck.” He grumbled as he returned to his fire and found his squirrel on fire.
He quickly pulled it out and sat with a thump against the fallen tree. He started to eat the half burned half raw squirrel as he thought about his day. “It could be worse.” he thought as he finished the small animal and finally felt warm enough to try and sleep. He stoked the fire and nodded off. He awoke with a start but not knowing why. His fire was out and the darkness was pitch black. He heard a grunt in the woods that he couldn’t identify and sat himself back up. He was cold again. He looked around nervously but he couldn’t see anything. He heard a loud crack from in front of him along with a deep growl. He was scared. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his pistol. He pointed out in front of him sweeping quickly back and forth nervously, his hands shaking. The crunching grew louder, whatever it was coming closer and his fear increased exponentially. He heart was beating so fast he thought his chest was going to explode and suddenly the overwhelming need to run away came over him. He stood and an extremely loud crunch came from right in front of him. He fired his gun and kept firing until all 6 rounds had been fired and his gun clicked on an empty chamber. His fear broken he felt victorious, the adrenaline rush better than any high he had ever had before. But his victory was short lived as he was knocked clear off his feet and rolled 3 to 4 times before coming to rest on the snow covered ground. An overwhelming, gut wrenching growl came from the animal and his brain finally clicked. “A bear” his mind said and before he even thought about it he was on his feet running headlong through the black forest as fast as his feet could take him. And then with a thud everything went black.
Chapter 57
As the sun rose Jason sat on his balcony with Jessica wrapped in a blanket as they peered out over their property. They drank their coffee in silence as they looked at what may be for the last sunrise they would see over the property they had spent their entire lives working for. Misty eyed they both headed inside to start a
long day of packing; they would be on the road by dark, heading to an unknown world and future.
Chapter 58
James awoke in a daze. He looked around his surroundings with confusion. The white walls, drop ceiling and small TV on the wall were completely foreign to him. As the rest of his senses came back he was filled with even more confusion. The smells of smoke and death nearly complete silence, ravenous hunger and thirst and a headache of all headaches just made the entire situation that much more confusing and disconcerting. He sat up in the bed and noticed the plastic tube stuck into his right forearm which he quickly pulled out.
"I must be in a hospital." he muttered to himself as he noticed the completely impractical hospital gown he was wearing.
He got himself to his feet but he was dizzy.
"What the fuck is going on?" he asked himself but didn’t have an answer.
"Hello!" he yelled but he didn’t hear anything.
He looked out the window of his room but a heavy fog made it futile.
"Hello?! Anybody?!" he yelled again.
He saw the open door to the bathroom and headed in to find water. He turned on the sink and a trickle of water came out. He cupped it in his hands and drank for several minutes until his ravenous thirst was satiated. He looked into the mirror and found the reason for his massive headache. A large gash across his forehead from his hairline to just across right eye had been stitched up and was starting to heal.
"What the fuck did I do to myself?" he asked the man in the mirror.
He was feeling better now that he was hydrated and was thinking more clearly. Something was wrong and he needed to get safe. He looked through the closet in his room and found a bag containing his clothes. He found underwear, socks, pants, boots and a light jacket. He got dressed but realized his pants had been cut from the cuffs up to his knees. "It must have been a car accident." he thought to himself. He knew he was quite the fashion statement but he also had a strong sense that something was very wrong and he needed to get safe. He learned long ago to trust his instincts. He opened the door to his room and entered a different world. Smoke wafted through the hallway and the smell of the smoke and of death was pungent in the confined space. He knew for sure he was in a hospital and knew he had to get out. He walked down the hall and found a closed door to his right. He needed food and better clothes and decided to take a look. The instant he opened the door he immediately regretted it. The stench was overwhelming in the confined space and the source was readily apparent. The two unrecognizable bloated bodies in the two beds had been dead for several days. James wretched and was sure he would have vomited had he had anything in his stomach. He closed the door and headed down the hall and found the nurses’ station, here he could start his search for resources. Looking through the drawers he was rewarded by a snickers candy bar which he immediately tore into. It may have been the most delicious thing he had ever placed in his mouth. He found a second candy bar and a full 20 oz bottle of water. He ate the second candy bar and sucked down the bottle of water. Next on his list was clothing. He looked for a locker room or something similar where staff would have clothing. As he walked he found something else that might be even more important, the medication room. He found the door locked but quickly dealt with that by breaking off the handle of the door and disassembled the latch with a set of forceps he found at the nurses’ station. He found some Motrin and took two 600mg tablets to deal with this awful headache. Again he listened to his instincts and gathered himself some essential supplies. He grabbed 4 saline drip bags and several iv's and also grabbed a package of Cipro, several packages of Motrin, some pain medication, several packages of gauze, 2 suture kits and a large package of antibiotic ointment. He placed them all in an empty gauze box and continued on his search. The smoke seemed to be heavier and he decided t fill his water bottle and try to find his way out. Without lit exit signs and limited daylight navigating was fairly difficult but he was able to use a small penlight to assist and found the stairwell. He moved his way slowly down the dark smoky stairwell to the bottom floor. He checked the door with the back of his hand before he opened it, He didn’t know where the fire was but he knew he didn’t want to walk straight into it. The door felt cool so he slowly opened it. The smell down here was even worse than upstairs, which he didn’t believe was possible. As he walked through the darkened hallway he saw light ahead and knew he had to get out, the smoke and smell of death was overwhelming causing his eyes to tear and caused him to gag every few minutes. He saw daylight ahead and quickly moved towards it. As he entered the light filled room he quickly realized that something far more than just a hospital emergency was going on. The room was the emergency room and it was filled with dead rotting bodies. James moved quickly out through the broken glass doors into what he had thought was fog and now realized was smoke from massive fires. A light rain was falling which was clearly why the fires were not continuing their march through the town. James looked out across the landscape in horror. He didn’t know where he was but wherever it was it was not the town it had been. Fires had gutted nearly every structure within his sight and the wafting smoke told him it extended for beyond his sight. He tried to gather his bearings and determine what time it was but that was nearly impossible. The heavy smoke and not knowing where he was made finding his direction difficult but the glow on the horizon made his options pretty clear. It was either sunrise or nearly sunset and since he had daylight over the last few hours he figured the sun must be going down and he needed to find someplace safe to stay for the night. He walked down the street between the abandoned cars looking for a solid structure. He had already tried to start several cars and they were all completely dead and there were several bodies around him on the street and many had been shot. “Were we invaded?” he thought to himself as he continued walking down this road filled with shops, many of which had been burned out. He saw down the street to his left was a large building that showed some sign of fire but appeared mainly intact so he headed towards it. He hadn’t really noticed before but it was cold, fucking cold. Just wearing his waterproof jacket with nothing underneath certainly wasn’t cutting it. He was cold, hungry, and hurt over nearly every square inch of his body. He quickened his pace. He arrived at the front of the half collapsed store and realized that there was no front door left. He worked his way around to the rear of the store and found a locked door and a roll up garage door. The garage was locked as well but he figured he would have better luck with it then the steel door. After a few minutes of looking he found a piece of rebar and a long 2x4. He slid the rebar under the door and made enough room to get the 2x4 under the door although it was no longer straight when he was done. He worked the 2x4 in and pried up until he could get the 2x4 in longwise. Then he started really putting his weight into it until the metal slide locks finally gave way. He was then able to get enough room to roll under the door and into the large storage room. Bringing the piece of rebar with him, he rolled into the dark room. After a moment looking around he pulled out the penlight, slid the door closed and used the rebar to re-secure it. There was still a smell of smoke but it was definitely more subdued. It was also dryer and with no wind, much warmer. James quickly moved to the front of the store where he might have some daylight in which to work with. He found the door to the main store and opened it and was greeted with pitch blackness. Using his penlight he quickly looked around and determined he was in a major outdoor store. His spirits rose with that knowledge. He had been in hundreds of these stores and had a good idea where many items would be. He headed to where the camping section would be and was rewarded with a display of propane lanterns. He located several propane tanks and attached one to a display unit, checked the mantel and then turned on the gas and lit it up. He adjusted the gas to its brightest setting and took in his surroundings. The store had certainly seen better days but was still full of supplies. He found a light sleeping bag and several inflatable sleeping bags and set up a nice bed for himself. He was cold but also hungry. He l
ooked up and down the aisles and found a few dehydrated backpacking meals. He moved them to his sleeping area and then went on a search for water. He went towards the front of the store, near the registers, where he often found water but the entire front of the store had collapsed. His next best option was to try the bathroom or an employee break room. He went back to the camping section and found several water bottles and grabbed two large ones and then looked for the bathroom sign. He tried the faucet and was able to collect about 1/2 a bottle before the flow stopped. It would be enough to eat and drink before bed at least. He setup a small propane camp stove and cooked up 2 large packages of beef stroganoff and dug in. He finished his water, stripped off his wet clothing and climbed into the sleeping bag. Sleep found him quickly.
He awoke an unknown amount of time later and was again hungry. He again fired up the lantern and decided he needed to start gathering supplies. First on his list was water. He went to the employee break room and was rewarded with a large vending machine which he opened with a chair. There were 15 bottles of water and several other sodas. He found a cola and drank deeply hoping the caffeine would help take away part of his headache. He brought several water bottles back and found a couple dehydrated egg breakfasts which he quickly heated and ate. Next he went to the clothing section and found socks, underwear, long johns and camouflage outers in his size which he threw on and warmed up nicely. He looked and found a good LED flashlight and the batteries for it. He tested it and it worked. The flashlight would help speed up his search. Next he wanted portable radio to try to get some news about what was going on. He found several but none would work even with new batteries. He was getting the feeling that something bad, and something widespread had happened. He felt he knew what it was but his brain wouldn’t let him remember. He knew someone had told him something but he couldn’t remember who or what. He now had clothes and decided to see what was going on in the outside world. He opened the steel fire door and used a brick to keep the door propped open. He walked onto the main street and started walking looking at the damaged, burned out stores. He was sipping a bottle of water when he saw movement to his right. He saw a young man enter what appeared to be a deli through a busted out front window. He walked in that direction and arrived just as the man reappeared. The man saw him and started running away.