Many times, Will contemplated separating from the group. They were only slowing him down from getting to Knoxville and finding his parents. Between hauling a man recovering from a gunshot wound, a child, and dealing with other people who had their own ideas of what the group should do and where they should go, Will was frustrated. But he knew he couldn’t leave Holly and, in the end, he always came back to the same conclusion: I have a better chance of surviving if I stay with the group.
They had many confrontations with Empties, which depleted most of their supply of ammunition, and they were now sidetracked again, trying to find somewhere to obtain more bullets for their guns.
“If we run into another large group, we might not make it out. We can’t just depend on a baseball bat to kill these things. We’ve got to find more ammunition, Will,” Gabriel said.
Will took his hands off the wheel and put them up. “No shit, dude. Wanna point me to the nearest armory?”
“Quit being an asshole,” Gabriel replied.
“Guys!” It was Holly. “Both of you, shut up. Arguing isn’t going to do us any good. Let’s just chill out, and we’ll figure something out. Together.”
Both men sighed.
Will gripped the wheel tight, trying to contain his frustration. Everyone in the group was exhausted. They’d fought through horde after horde, and it was taking its toll on all of them, especially Will, Gabriel, and Holly, who were the ones fighting off all the creatures. Marcus was in no position to help, Dylan was just a child, and Miranda didn’t know how to use a gun; her medical skills were far too critical to the group’s survival for them to put her on the front line anyway.
“Guys, look,” Miranda said, pointing down the road.
Will was focused on maneuvering through yet another group of Empties, and hadn’t looked far enough down the interstate to see they were fast approaching an exit that had a small shopping center just off of it.
“Try this exit?” Gabriel asked.
Will nodded, and a mile down the road, he took the exit.
***
As they approached the shops, Will had his eye on only one of them.
In between a small convenience store and a discount shoe store, there was a pawn shop. These stores were old and run down, which made them fit perfectly into the new world. He wondered if eventually every building would look like these, or worse. There were Empties in the parking lot, but not more than they could handle. The town looked very small, and the simple shopping center they were approaching might have been the only place for the residents to shop.
“There’s no way that place hasn’t already been picked apart,” Gabriel said of the pawn shop.
Will shrugged. “Maybe. But we’ve gotta at least check it out.”
“Okay, so, what’s the plan?”
“It doesn’t look too bad. I think you and I can go alone. We’ll just take a couple of the handguns. And be sure you’ve got a knife.”
“Fine by me,” Gabriel replied. “Pull as close as you can to the door.”
There were only about seven Empties in the parking lot, but they all limped toward the SUV as it approached the front door of the pawn shop.
“Holly, can you cover us?” Will asked.
“Of course,” Holly replied.
“I can help, too,” Marcus added.
“You sure?” Gabriel asked.
Marcus nodded. “I’m feeling a lot better. I got this.”
“Alright,” Will said. “Just keep these damn things off us. We’re gonna be in and out as quick as we can.”
“I wanna help,” Dylan said from the back of the SUV.
“You can,” Gabriel said. “Keep an eye out for any Empties that Holly and Marcus don’t see, alright?”
“But I wanna shoot them.”
“They need you to watch for others, okay? Can you do that?”
Dylan sighed. “I guess.”
“Good,” Gabriel said, and then he looked over at Will. “You ready?”
“Are you?” Will replied, smiling.
Gabriel was already opening his door and jumping out of the truck.
***
As Will ran toward the front door of the pawn shop, gunshots behind him halted the snarls that resonated in the air. He looked down and saw an Empty on the ground, which almost looked like it was still twitching from a shot it had just sustained from Gabriel. When Will reached the front door, Gabriel was waiting on him.
“Honors?” Gabriel asked.
Will chuckled and pulled on the door.
Somewhat to his surprise, the door swung open when he pulled the handle. A bell strung to the interior of the door rang once, and Gabriel quickly reached down and muted it with his hand. Will looked back and saw Marcus and Holly with their backs to him, scanning the parking lot with their rifles out the window. Dylan was at the window with his hands pressed against it, looking toward him and Gabriel. Will gave Dylan a thumbs up, then turned around and walked through the door.
***
The little bit of sunlight remaining in the day was the only thing illuminating the inside of the shop. Gabriel still had his gun raised in front of him, but Will had his down at his side. The shop was fairly small and appeared to be vacant, so he didn’t see the point in trying to look like an action hero. Will assumed that Gabriel’s nerves were calming, because he now lowered his gun as well.
“This is weird,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah,” Will said, looking around the room.
The shop looked like it hadn’t been touched. Aside from the abandoned mechanical garage they stayed in when they escaped from Ellis Metals, everywhere else they’d stopped had been ransacked and beaten to hell. The pawn shop had all its shelves intact, and the items displayed on the floor were still neatly placed.
A glass case spanned the length of the tiny store. The wall behind it still had some items on the shelves, but much of it was conspicuously empty.
Will walked over to the glass case and saw all the jewelry inside still neatly displayed. As he walked down the length of the case, stroking the glass, he noticed that one part of the case had been emptied. There was nothing left except the price tags in front of where the items had been.
Used Sub Compact .380 Auto - $299
Used Compact Single Action .22 - $229
Used Std. 9mm - $329
“Gabriel,” Will said, waving him over.
Gabriel walked over and looked inside of the case where there had presumably once been guns.
“Shit,” Gabriel said, slamming his fist down on the glass.
Will heard a crash and looked up from the case. A door in the back of the shop swung open, its knob banging against the wall, and a large man appeared in the doorway holding a dual-barrel shotgun. He wore an old, faded yellow t-shirt that had the brand of a pilsner silk-screened across the front, tucked into a pair of pants that were held up by a set of suspenders. He also wore a camouflage trucker hat and had a Fu Manchu mustache. The gun was already pointed toward Will and Gabriel when the man pumped it, preparing the slugs for flight.
“What da fuck y’all doin’ in my shop?”
Gabriel had his gun pointed back at the man, and Will’s hands were up.
“Gabriel, put your gun down,” Will said.
“No fuckin’ way, man.”
“Gabriel!” Will yelled, but Gabriel kept the gun drawn on the hillbilly shop owner.
“I suggest you two pricks get da fuck out here, right now, or y’all both go’na end up dead.”
“We don’t want any trouble,” Will told the man. “We were just coming here looking for ammunition. We’re almost out, and the shop looked abandoned.”
“It look abandoned to you? How da fuck y’all get in here anyways?”
“The door was unlocked, dumb ass,” Gabriel said.
“Gabriel, fucking stop!” Will said.
The man aimed his shotgun right at Gabriel’s head. “This dude says some shit like that one more time, I blow both your God damned brains o
ut. Now, I’ll say it one more time, get the fuck out of my store, and I’ll ‘member to lock the God damned door this time.”
“Okay, we’re leaving,” Will said, keeping his hands up and quivering.
“The hell we are!” Gabriel replied.
The bell from the front door rang as it swung open, and the shop owner pointed his gun that way.
Will turned around, his hands still up in the air, and he saw Dylan come walking through the door.
“Dylan!” he cried out. “Get out of here, now!”
But Dylan didn’t listen; he stepped all the way through the door.
Will moved, standing between Dylan and the shop owner so that the shotgun was now focused on him instead of at the boy.
“What da fuck is this? How many of you are there?”
“Don’t tell him, Will,” Gabriel said.
Will ignored him. “The three of us, and there are three more out in our truck.”
The man scanned back and forth between Will and Gabriel, and Will could see him swallow hard.
“How many children?”
“Just the one. We also have an injured man. He was shot.”
“And y’all been outside trying to survive in all this?”
“Yes. We came from Nashville. We’re headed toward Knoxville. My parents are supposed to be there. We’re almost out of ammunition from fighting off hordes of those things outside.”
The man still looked back and forth, but Will could tell he was calming a bit. He and Gabriel still had their weapons drawn.
“Please, can we just lower our weapons? We will get out of here,” Will said.
“Tell your boy here to lower his first.”
Will could see the sweat coming off of Gabriel’s brow.
“Do it, Gabriel.”
Keeping his eyes focused on the man in front of him, Gabriel finally lowered the gun slowly.
“Set it on the glass case next to you,” the shop owner commanded in a firm but polite tone.
“Listen to him, Gabe.”
Gabriel was clearly frustrated, but he slammed the pistol down onto the glass case and took a few steps away from it.
The shop owner then lowered his shotgun and looked at Will. “What’s your name, son?”
“Will.” He pointed over his shoulder. “And this is Dylan.”
Dylan waved at the man, who smiled down at him.
“Well, Will,” the man said, “it’s gettin’ dark out there. You gonna invite the rest of them folks inside, or not?”
CHAPTER THREE
Jessica
The window inside the hospital room provided the perfect view for watching the sunset. Bedridden by orders of the personnel who remained at the hospital, Jessica took much joy in watching the sun fall behind the horizon both nights she’d been here. The first night, she barely had the energy to keep her eyes open, but had basked in the scene last night. Now, for the third consecutive night, she lay in the bed with nothing to do but gaze out the window, think, and wait.
Jessica didn’t look away when a knock came at the door and it swung open.
“Good evening, Ms. Davies,” the nurse said.
Jessica kept her focus outside, watching the orange glow slowly fade, only to summon the night to cast its shadow over the small hospital room.
“How does your ankle feel?” the nurse asked.
Finally, Jessica pulled her attention away from the natural spectacle and acknowledged the nurse’s presence inside the room. She appeared close to Jessica’s age and wore ceil blue scrubs and tennis shoes, her dark blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.
“It’s better,” Jessica mumbled.
“And the shoulder?”
Jessica tried to move her shoulder and grimaced.
The nurse made a note on the clipboard she was holding after seeing Jessica’s painful reaction. As a result of the van flipping over into the ditch, Jessica had sustained a sprained ankle, some cuts and scratches, and worst of all, had dislocated her right shoulder. Considering how bad the accident had been, she knew her injuries could have been much worse. And given just how bad things were outside, she felt like the luckiest woman in the world to now be receiving care from a registered nurse in a somewhat comfortable hospital bed.
Setting down the clipboard, the nurse walked to the end of the bed. She lifted up the covers and unveiled Jessica’s bare feet. She reached down and gently squeezed Jessica’s injured ankle.
“Does this hurt?”
Jessica shook her head.
“Good. Can you lift your toes toward your head?”
Jessica bent her ankle, pointing her wiggling toes up to her face.
“Perfect,” the nurse responded. She picked up the clipboard, jotted down a few notes, and then approached Jessica’s side.
The nurse reached over and pressed lightly against Jessica’s shoulder, which was in a sling. At the slightest pressure, Jessica grimaced again and reached her opposite hand over to her bad shoulder. The nurse then made a few more notes and crossed her arms.
“Well, the good news is that your ankle seems to be doing a lot better. I think that it’s okay to let you walk around some tonight. How’s that sound?”
“I’d like that,” Jessica said.
“Good. You can come eat with the others. They’d like to meet you. I’ll come back in just a few minutes and I can lead you over there.”
The young nurse started to turn around, but Jessica stopped her.
“Sarah?”
The blonde woman turned around, smiling. “Yes?”
“How is Mrs. Kessler?”
Sarah frowned, then turned all the way around so that she faced Jessica.
“She’s still unconscious, but she’s stable. We are taking good care of her.”
“When do you think she will wake up?”
Sarah sighed and shook her head. “Don’t know. Comas are completely unpredictable. She could wake up tonight, or she could wake up a year from now.”
Jessica swallowed, and finally recited the question she’d been scared to ask.
“Will she wake up?”
Sarah looked down to the ground for just a moment, before looking back up with an obviously forced smile on her face.
“I think so. Now, get ready to come meet everybody. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”
***
Jessica was standing in front of the window staring down into the street, and didn’t turn around when Sarah re-entered the room. The sun had gone to sleep, and the scene below was all dark with the exception of a section of sidewalk lit by two lights which, by their dimness, were nearing the end of their kindling. A creature was ambling by, slowly making its way down the dimly lit sidewalk and into the vacant street.
Jessica was still in her gown, but managed to put on a pair of jeans. When she finally turned around, Sarah was smiling at her.
“Guessing it was difficult to put a shirt on?” Sarah asked.
Jessica shrugged. “I didn’t even try. Can you help me?”
“Of course.”
Sarah walked over and carefully helped Jessica out of the sling. She then untied the simple knot on the gown and pulled it over Jessica’s arms. Sarah picked up an oversized t-shirt that she had borrowed from one of the other survivors and carefully led the sleeves over Jessica’s arms. Jessica groaned without the support from the sling, but bit down on her lip so to get through it. Once the shirt was over her head and down over her body, Sarah helped her back into the sling and patted her on the back.
“Ready to go eat?” Sarah asked.
Jessica looked into her nurse’s eyes. “I want to go see Mrs. Kessler.”
“You need to eat, Jessica. And Mrs. Kessler ne—“
“Please.”
Sarah sighed and nodded toward the door. “Come on.”
***
The room was in the same hallway as Jessica’s, five doors down to be exact. The door was closed all the way and, as Sarah opened it, Jessica could hear the heavy breath
ing and the clicks of the machinery around Melissa, all doing its part to keep her stable.
Sarah stopped just as she opened the door about halfway.
“Are you ready?”
Jessica took a deep breath and then nodded.
Sarah opened the door the rest of the way and stood with her back against it, clearing a path for Jessica to look down at Melissa on the bed.
She lay there on her back, facing the pale ceiling above. There were lights mounted to the wall above the headboard on either side of the bed, both powered on and shining just enough for Jessica to see her. Melissa’s eyes were closed, and an oxygen mask over her face helped keep her breathing steady. A blanket covered her all the way up to just below her neckline, and Jessica could see she was wearing a similar gown to the one she herself had been wearing. Melissa’s chest rose and fell every few seconds, almost in the same rhythm as the machines around her. Her face looked older than it had before, as if the accident had drawn ten years out of her life in one instant.
Jessica moved to the side of the bed and the hurt rose up inside of her. She covered her mouth to muffle the initial sob and started to cry. She’d only known Melissa for a few days, but felt like she’d been through a lifetime with her. Jessica had been saved by the woman’s husband, Walt, and then was there with Melissa when he turned into one of them. Similarly, Melissa had comforted Jessica after she walked into her parents’ bedroom only to see them dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Jessica and Melissa had been through a lot together, and now the older woman was clinging onto her life right before Jessica’s eyes.
Sarah stepped into the room behind Jessica and began to rub her hands over her back.
“She seems strong,” Sarah said. “I think she’ll get better.”
Jessica just continued to cry.
“Here, let’s sit down, sweetie,” Sarah suggested. She led Jessica over to a pair of chairs, and they both took a seat.
“Have you known her a long time?” Sarah asked.
Empty Bodies (Book 2): Adaptation Page 2