by Bell, A. E.
Several hours later, Evie woke up. She tapped on Creed’s arm, “It’s morning already. We both slept all night. I’m gonna go let the dog out.”
Creed grabbed her arm, “You sit down. I will take Cinnamon out. If that gang is going to see one of us, I would rather it be me.” He walked the dog outside. As he was walking the dog, he heard car engines and horns blowing. He carefully looked around the corner and saw a red tow truck and a big black 4x4 with a small red car sandwiched between them. They were blowing their horn at the car and yelling out the window. The driver in the tow truck was trying to get the red car to pull over. The black truck was in the lead truck, the driver would slow down, and the red car would try to pass, then the lead truck would move over. Creed opened the door and mouthed to Evie, “Keep him in here and keep him quiet.”
She asked, “What the hell is all that noise out there?”
Nervously Creed muttered, “I’m not quite sure, but keep that dog and the kids hidden and quiet.” He ran outside with his sidearm, a rifle, and a tomahawk. He crept to the corner of the house. He couldn’t see anything but heard people yelling and screaming. He made a run for it and ended up behind the barn. He silently went inside the barn and peeked through the slats of wood. He could only see the tow truck, without a driver inside. He was trying to decide whether to leave well enough alone or to try and save the people in the red car.
Creed decided to try and get a closer look, so he went back outside the barn and hopped the fence between the barn and Dick’s house. He stealthily walked around the berm house, then suddenly he heard a man whispering to him, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He turned with his weapon half-raised. He saw Dick standing in front of him. Dick pointed at his rifle and said, “I keep telling you that I’m not here to hurt you.”
Creed lowered his gun and asked, “Do you have a death wish? You shouldn’t sneak up behind a man with a loaded gun.”
Dick shook his head no, “Nope, but it looks like you do. I know what you are thinking about doing, but don’t do it. If you love that family of yours at all, you will wait for them to take those people and then slip back over to your family. What’s going on over there is none of your business, just like it’s none of mine.”
Creed became infuriated, “How can you say that? Those are human beings. We can’t just let them be hurt or killed or worse.”
“Son, this isn’t your fight. It’s not my fight. Your fight is to keep your wife and children alive. The second you stop remembering what your fight is, all of you are doomed. Now, wait for them to take off, go back over to that farmhouse, and wait for me to find you. We will go look for a part to fix the RV or find you another vehicle to drive.”, Dick instructed.
Creed just stood there, shaking his head, “Those can’t be my only choices. There has to be another way.” There were two gunshots followed by a woman screaming bloody murder. Creed ran and looked around the corner, he saw men forcing the woman into the black truck. A man was laying in a puddle of blood on the side of the road. Creed turned back towards Dick, “Fine, I’ll do it your way.”
He waited until all three vehicles drove off and then he went back over to the farmhouse. Evie was waiting inside the door when Creed came back, she jumped into his arms and held on tight. She whispered in his arm, “What the hell was that all about? You can’t just leave me without telling me what’s going on. What would you do if I had done the same thing?”
A tear rolled out of his eye, “I think I’m losing myself. I just let those men kill a man and kidnap a young woman.” He hugged her as tight as he could, there was something about her hug that could erase the rest of the world. She said nothing. She knew that there were no words that could help the way he was feeling. She did the only thing she knew to do, and that was to hold him for as long as he needed.
A few minutes passed, he slowly released the grip the had around her neck, she looked up at those blue eyes of his and reassured him, “Honey, I love that you want to help other people, but unfortunately you can’t save the entire world. We have to come up with a plan and fast before they realize we are here.”
Creed managed a small smile, “I know I can’t save the world, but all I could think was if that was one of you girls, I would want someone to help you. I saw Dick over there. He was the one that stopped me from helping those people. He told me he would be over later, so we could try to figure out a way out of here.”
“So, what the fuck are we supposed to do in the meantime, twiddle our thumbs?”, Evie was becoming frustrated. She knew if they stayed too long they would find them all. She walked into the living room to check on the kids.
Creed sat at the table, sharpening his tomahawk and buck knife while he waited for Dick. He kept running those moments through his mind where he failed to help those people. Then those thoughts turned to thoughts of Evie and the girls getting kidnapped by those people. He couldn’t bear it, he pounded his fist on the table.
Ollie went running in to check on his dad, “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
His dad took a deep breath, “Yes, son everything is fine. I was acting like an idiot for a minute. I’m just waiting for Dick to come and help us.”
Ollie was confused, “Why does he need to help us? Why can’t we help ourselves?”
Creed turned his head away for a few seconds and then looked back towards his son, “You’re right son. We need to help ourselves. Go get your mom, we are getting out of this place, one way or another.” Ollie did as his father told him.
Evie and Ollie came back to the room. Creed explained, “We need to gather everyone, and together we are going to find another vehicle. We aren’t even going to worry about that stupid RV. It got us this far, but I don’t want anybody to get hurt. We’ll take as much as we can, and then we will have to scavenge from then on.”
They all readied their gear and walked out of the farmhouse. Creed happened upon an ax. He grabbed it and handed his tomahawk to his wife. They walked in a line. Creed was in front, and Evie was behind. Creed led them in the opposite direction of where he had left the vehicle. They tried to stay behind cover as much as possible but occasionally had to walk through the fields. They heard cars coming down the road, so they hid in the weeds. Creed was almost completely on top of Cinnamon to keep him down. The dog was wiggling around trying to get out from under him. Finally, the cars passed by, but before they could stand back up there was a familiar sound. It was the sound of moaning and groaning that the infected made. Evie raised up, and there were four infected coming right towards them. She whispered to Creed, “We are going to have to kill them without guns if at all possible so that gang doesn’t hear us.” Creed nodded.
Creed gave Cinnamon to Sylvie. He and Evie both stood up and brandished their weapons. He ran up to one and took to quick whacks at its neck. Its neck was sliced most of the way through, it was hanging on by a thread. He knocked it over and took one more whack to its head. You could see the brains were greenish-black with black goo all around it. As he was dealing with the first one, Evie managed to get behind one and took a quick swipe at the brain stem. The infected immediately fell to the ground. She turned to the next one and turned the tomahawk around and hit the infected right in the eye socket with the pointy end. She pulled the tomahawk out and the infected kept trying to grab at her. She tripped it and then decided to do the same thing she had done to the previous one, and she cracked it right in the brain stem. It made a gargling sound for a few seconds and then it was dead. Creed looked over at Evie and gave her a smirk and then stepped towards the infected that had turned towards Evie. He wielded his ax like a baseball bat. Creed started quietly singing, “One, Two, Three strikes you’re out.” The infected didn’t stand a chance.
Evie shook her head and rolled her eyes at Creed, “This isn’t a game. If those things get ahold of one of us, it’s over.”
They ran over to the kids, and all headed to the next house. There was a beige Yukon in the drive. Creed knocked on the back do
or. There was no answer. He jimmied the lock and went inside. Evie walked over to the Yukon and tried the door. The car alarm started making a horribly loud sound. Creed came running out, “What the fuck, couldn’t you wait until I saw if there were any keys inside?” He ran back inside to see if he could get the keys, meanwhile, the alarm just kept blaring. Within a minute or two Evie heard a bleep, bleep. She knew Creed must have found the keys. She waited for Creed to come back out. He said, “Okay, I think this thing is big enough to hold us, our gear, and what little bit of food we managed to bring with us. I’m going to go inside to see if they have any more food or water.”
Evie yelled to him as he was walking up the back steps, “Hurry up, that car alarm might have grabbed the attention of infected or that gang.”
He turned and sneered, “Ya think?”
She started loading the kids into the Yukon. She finally got them all situated and tried to find a place to put Cinnamon where he wouldn’t be in the way. She gestured for him to jump into the back. He leaped up and licked her on the face. She pushed the dog back, “Ugh, I hate doggy kisses.” She patted him on the head to make sure he knew that she wasn’t upset with him.
Suddenly, she felt something or someone grab her by the back of the hair. She let out a scream. She was flung backward onto the ground, she looked up and saw a bearded middle-aged man standing directly over her. He kicked her in the side when she tried to reach for her gun. Out of reflex she just reached up and kicked him hard between the legs. He knelt down, and she made her way to her feet. She saw a 2x4 lying on the ground next to the driveway, so she picked it up and clocked him in the head. He fell over. He was holding his balls in his hand. She snarled at him, “You son of a bitch, you picked the wrong bitch to fuck with. I’ll make you eat those fuckin nuts if you come near me or my family.”
Creed had heard her scream and came running out the door, “What the fuck is going on? You piece of shit, are you one of those fuckers that like to kidnap women?”
The man warned, “You just wait when my people find out what you all have done to me, they will torture all of you. We might not even be able to use this cunt wife of yours as a slave, but we will make sure those little girls stay nice and pretty. They are just the right age.” Creed didn’t respond with words, he responded with violence. He dragged the man around the corner so the kids wouldn’t see and he took the 2x4 and just beat him repeatedly until the man wasn’t moving any longer.
His wife came around the corner, “Did you kill him?”
He snapped, “Does it fucking matter? He laid his hands on you, all bets are off after that.”
She leaned over and placed two fingers on his neck, “He’s still alive, but barely. We need to leave now.”
They drove out in their newly acquired Yukon. They made their way to the edge of the county. They saw the county line and thought they were home free until they saw two cars pull out from two side roads and block the county line. Creed yelled, “Fuck, Fuck, Fuck! What are we going to do?”
Evie screamed, “Go through them! Hit right between those cars. Kids hold on!” She grabbed the oh shit bar and prepared herself for the impact.
Creed revved the engine and drove that Yukon as fast as he could. There was a crash, but they managed to break through the vehicles. They heard gunfire as they went past. He was yelling, “Duck down, you have to keep your heads down!” He looked in his rearview mirror and saw three men scrambling to get inside the two vehicles. One of the men was Dick. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked over to Evie, “It’s that lying piece of shit, Dick. I can’t believe that he acted like he wanted to help us. He must’ve gone to get them when he said he was going to help us find a vehicle. When they didn’t find us at the farmhouse, I bet they started searching elsewhere.”
It quickly became a high-speed chase. Everybody felt a bang against the vehicle, it was a gray colored Mustang. Then it banged against the Yukon again. Creed moved the car slightly right and then spun the wheel towards the left. It rammed into the Mustang. Evie looked back and saw the Mustang spin and go off the road and flip into a ditch. The black sedan managed to pass them and then spun sideways. The car was right in their way. Creed went off into the shoulder, but the people were shooting at them the entire way.
He lost control of the vehicle, and it rolled over twice. When the vehicle finally halted, it was upside down. Evie and Creed climbed out of the vehicle. Cinnamon acted unphased by the accident. Creed told Evie, “You start shooting at those bastards, and I’ll try to get the kids out.”
The men were running towards them and shooting the entire way. Evie peeked her head out from around the tire and took two shots. She missed both times. She continued firing until she ran out of rounds. She hit one of the men in the leg, he fell to the ground, but he didn’t stop shooting.
By this time, Creed had finished getting the kids out of the Yukon. They both tried to hide from the bullets flying all around. Creed raised us slowly, he had his shotgun. He shot at the man that was closest to him. He hit the man in the middle of the chest, and the man fell forward. Evie had quickly reloaded her handgun. She rapidly fired again and managed to shoot the man in the chest. The man kept coming so she kept firing. She emptied her magazine right into his chest, and he finally fell into the side of the Yukon. Creed walked around the front of it and saw Dick. He angrily said, “You stupid mother fucker.” He shot him once in the face to make sure he was dead.
He called to his family, “Okay, we gotta go. We are going to have to walk until we get to another house that has a vehicle for us.
Cassie started complaining, “My legs are getting tired. I don’t know how much longer I can pack this backpack. How long do we have to walk.”
Evie answered, “Honey, we don’t know.”
Creed relented, “Give me your backpack. I’ll try to pack it for a bit.”
Chapter 12
After what seemed like forever they got to another house. Creed did as he always did and knocked on the door. No one answered, so he once again broke into the house. He began walking around until he heard people whispering. He called out, “Hello? Is anybody there? We aren’t here to hurt you. We need a little help.”
A man stepped out from the other room, “We don’t want any trouble either so, I suppose you should just leave us and our house alone.”
Creed pleaded, “We have nowhere else to go. We need to find an SUV or truck to use. Can my family stay here until I can find one?”
The man lowered his gun a little, “Why should I trust you. People are starting to act crazy since this virus started turning people.”
Creed understood the man being careful, “Look I get it. I don’t blame you for being scared. I would be leery of everybody right now too, but I’m begging you to let us in. We have no other choice, or we would just leave.”
The man still had his gun in his hand. He responded, “I tell you what. You can come in, but all your weapons have to stay outside.”
Creed conceded, “That’s fair enough. I will do anything to keep my family safe at this point. Tell me where we can store them, and we will put them there. I hope you understand that anytime any members of my family go outside, I want them to have their weapons available.”
The man replied, “Then, I think we have a deal.”
Creed stepped out to tell his family of the arrangement, but he knew Evie was going to be pretty upset by the situation.
He explained, “These people are willing to take us in but no weapons inside their home.”
His wife shrieked, “Are you fucking kidding me? You want me to fucking take my family in there with strangers and no way to protect them or myself.”
Creed attempted to calm her, “I get it, but we don’t have a lot of choices right now. I think we have to take our chances here. I promise if you meet these people and you want to leave. We walk out and never look back but give it a chance. You have to look at it from their side. Would you let a family armed to the max walk into your house
with your kids? I know you wouldn’t. Don’t get me wrong it sucks, but we have to try.”
She looked down at her feet and gave in, “That’s fine but the first sign of trouble we are leaving. No questions asked.” Her voice lowered to a whisper, “And we are both sneaking our buck knives in.” He nodded in agreement to her terms.
The man walked outside and pointed to a shed, “You can keep your weapons in there. There is a table in the middle, if you move the table and chair, you will see a trap door. Put them inside of there in case any people come snooping. Then, your family is welcome to come inside, and we can get to know each other.”
They all walked inside the shed and deposited their weaponry. Evie stuck her purple buck knife deep inside her boot and Creed stuck his bright orange one inside the crotch of his pants. They cautiously walked up the stairs into the home. The man was standing in the kitchen waiting to escort them into the living room area. He gestured with his right hand, “Everybody else is in there. Why don’t we go into the living room and get acquainted?” They followed as he led.
When the living room was in full sight, they saw a woman that seemed a perfect fit for the young man that appeared to be the family’s leader, husband, and father. She was slender with green eyes. Her hair was red without any obvious flecks of gray, there were no wrinkles which led Evie to the conclusion that she was in her late twenties, early thirties at the oldest. The man pointed towards her, “That’s Molly. She’s my wife.”
He then pointed in the corner of the beige “L” shaped couch. There were two boys that besides their age looked like they could be twins. Both had red hair and green eyes. One looked to be Sylvie’s age maybe 13 or 14. The other looked closer to Cassie’s age. Evie was guessing about 5-6 years old. The older boy said, “I’m Pete, this is my brother Pat.”