Everyone except Harley thought that was a little far-fetched. The self-professed conspiracy nut Harley siding with her didn’t do a lot to convince the rest of them. They’d all politely listened when Harley had explained how Weathertop was the place they took the aliens from Area 51 to visit with world leaders. That’s why there was such a huge top-secret base so close to DC. The fact that it might be convenient to have a massive nuclear bomb shelter close to where all the leaders of the US hung out didn’t deter his belief one bit.
No one gave Harley too much grief over his conspiracy theories. Considering they were living through a zombie apocalypse the idea of aliens being shuttled around for meetings at different secret bases didn’t seem all that farfetched. Plus, those conspiracy theories were why Harley knew where Weathertop was while no one else had ever even heard of it. That wasn’t going to stop any of them from working on a tin foil hat for Harley the first time they found a roll of aluminum foil. The best part of that running gag was they all thought he might actually wear it.
None of them wanted anything to do with a repeat of the night before. The plan for today was to find a secure spot well before sundown. They could look forward to an hour or two of truck driving school if they found a place early enough. They all had some ideas on how to improve their chances of finding a solid place to stay. They needed to access a place the crawlerz couldn’t easily reach. Once accessed they needed to secure the hell out of it.
Finding a ladder truck to use to access roofs had been the winning idea for about five minutes. That’s how long it took to determine none of them knew how to drive a ladder truck. Even if they could drive it, they wouldn’t know how to deploy the ladder. Not to be deterred from his roof top fortress idea LeBron said they should find a building supply store like Home Depot. They could grab what they’d need to access the roof and seal off doors there. Which is why they found themselves parked in the large deserted lot of a Lowes Home Improvement store after a quick drive around the medium sized town they’d randomly selected to exit at.
“In through the garden section?” Drew asked. He was scoping out the chained-up building. It looked to still have some of its windows which was rare. Most of the building supply stores they’d seen had been ripped apart by people looking to turn their houses into castles. Drew fondly remembered working with his dad on getting the plywood nailed down over the windows in their house back in Florida. At the end of the day the wood hadn’t been enough to keep the monsters away.
“Something wrong?” Lisa asked. She’d registered her boyfriend’s emotional shift from his normally cavalier self to a more somber demeanor.
“I was just thinking if we’d known back then what we know now we could’ve saved a lot of people.” Drew replied. Yue and LeBron instantly got where Drew was coming from. They’d been there for the construction of the doomed plywood fortress. They’d also been there when the fortress came tumbling down. A moment of reflection and everyone got moving out of the truck towards the store. Daylight was a precious commodity. They didn’t have time to waste a drop of it.
The garden section door was broken open. The small group tightened their grip on their weapons and went in anyway. Light filtered down through the opaque roof in this section. Not to mention the walls on one side were made almost entirely out of chain link fencing. Unfortunately, they weren’t there for mulch or bird feeders. Everything they needed was going to be inside the store proper. With their luck the supplies they needed were going to be in the very back. Even before the apocalypse it’d been almost impossible to find what you needed in these places.
The door leading into the main part of the store from the garden section was also broken. This wasn’t a huge cause for concern. If the doors hadn’t been broken that would’ve been weirder. Pretty much every store they’d been in since this all started had already been thoroughly looted. There were exceptions of course. Places where the local law enforcement had attempted to keep the peace until the very end. Stores that were locked up and didn’t have anything that seemed super useful were likely to be ok as well. On the way out of Florida Drew and LeBron had actually made a game out of counting how many pool stores still looked like they had a full inventory.
Flashlights on they surveyed the inside of the store from the relative safety of the broken doorway. Somewhere in the store something fell over making a loud noise that echoed in the cavernous space.
“I’ll be in the truck.” Lisa said turning around to leave. She saw no reason they should carry on with this foolishness. Not when they’d just been given proof that the super-creepy warehouse had stuff running around inside it. How dumb would it be to die while trying to get stuff to secure a different place to safely spend the night?
“We’re on the wrong side anyway. I think the power tools are in the middle. All the lumbers over the other way too. Same with the screws and stuff.” Drew said backing up to join Lisa. It didn’t take a whole lot of convincing for everyone else to follow them out of the garden section back out into the parking lot.
They tried looking through the grimy glass doors at the front of the store, but they couldn’t really see anything. Using a couple of crowbars Harley and Drew took care of shattering every bit of the dirt covered glass. It was loud and messy but when they were done a whole lot of light was streaming into the store. The more light the better. Any crawlerz who may have been snoozing before were absolutely now pacing around out there in the darkness just waiting for the tasty treats outside to come in.
“You feel that?” Yue asked the others. The hair on her arms was standing straight up. She had not doubt there was at least a dozen crawlerz back in the shadows stalking them.
“All we need is a couple of drills, a couple boxes of screws and some wood. We could probably make it.” Drew said eyeballing the distance he’d have to run. The light didn’t hit all the sections directly, but it was still lit up. Even if it was a little dim. Drew took a couple of tentative steps into the store.
“Nope.” Lisa and Yue both grabbed the moron and marched him back to the truck. They’d just have to find what they needed some other way.
“Rentals?” LeBron asked tentatively. He was thinking of the little section on the side of the store where you could rent different tools. For those super serious DIY people who thought it’d be cheaper to mix their own cement instead of just letting people who actually knew what they were doing build them a sidewalk.
Harley shrugged and told them to walk down to the end. He’d pull the truck around and meet them there. The motley group walked towards the opposite side of the store. Yue thinking once again that they really needed to find somewhere to steal some clean clothes. They were all looking pretty homeless at this point. The complete randomness of what each person was wearing mixed in with the discoloration from unknown stains was horrendous. They were dressed like a bunch of meth heads dressed up for a spin around a low budget catwalk showing off the latest in hunting accessories.
The outside door leading into the rental office was locked. LeBron vaguely remembered the rental office had another door to the main store that was normally closed on the inside. That kept people out when the rentals section wasn’t open. Of course, he was remembering that setup from a Home Depot in Florida and this was a Lowes in North Carolina.
The doorframe was no match for the power of the tractor trailer pulling on it. LeBron stood well back from all that. He didn’t want to risk anything that may hurt his arm again. He couldn’t take another poking and prodding session with Drs. Yue and Lisa. Their bedside manner sucked.
By the time Harley had parked and gotten out of the truck Drew and Lisa were dragging out all kinds of tools. Yue came out after them. She’d been watching the door connecting them to the rest of the store. It was one of those heavy-duty doors with the thick glass square at the top of it. She’d watched as multiple sets of hands wildly beat on the door trying to gain access. She’d also been able to feel their thoughts. Based on the tense looks on Lisa and Drew’s
faces they’d felt it too.
She’d felt their anger. The hunger they had for human flesh. She’d seen themselves through the eyes of their would-be assailants. There was a hatred that transcended all rationality. It was ethereal. It was guttural and old. Whatever genetic key the infection turned unlocked something primordial in its hosts. They weren’t human anymore. Their thoughts were those of wild animals driven mad by hunger. It was too much.
Out in the parking lot they climbed back into the truck breathing hard. Harley started to ask why then just let them in. Even from the parking lot he could feel something that made him uneasy. Drew hooked the drill battery to the outlet. The discussion started around where else they might be able to find screws and wood. A quick lap around the store and they’d located a stack of weather resistant two by fours. Those would work nicely.
Hoping for a Home Depot Drew clapped his hands together happily when he recognized an Ace Hardware up ahead in a plaza they were passing. Embarrassed at the exuberance he’d shown he pointed out where the store was to everyone. Yue and Lisa collapsed into giggles trying to imitate his happy clapping reaction. LeBron thought the performance was dead on in addition to being completely hysterical. Everyone was a little loopy with relief from having survived the rental section at Lowes. Those psychic vibes thrown off by the crawlerz on the other side of the door had been unbearable.
The Ace Hardware turned out to be completely monster free and chock full of everything they needed. It’d been looted but there was still plenty left for their purposes. They snagged some more rope and a couple of those long extension ladders to add to the pile. Supplies in hand for their envisioned renovation project they drove around town looking for a roof that’d work for them. That turned out to be fairly straightforward. There was a medical park right off the road they were already on. The complex had multiple three-story buildings deployed around a central courtyard.
They parked and immediately dismounted the truck to scout out the best building to use. They were looking for one that didn’t look like it’d been broken into recently. The less damage to windows and doors the more likely there weren’t any crawlerz lurking inside. They’d been looking for an office park like this since it would’ve been shut down when the world started going to hell. Since it was a medical park, they were concerned there may be a lot of damage to the buildings from people looking for pills and supplies.
Pleasantly surprised at the limited damage they were seeing they picked a building that looked pretty pristine and decided to try the same trick they’d used to get into Lowes. Using the rope that they’d snagged at the hardware store they attached the door handle to the truck and had Harley back up. At first it looked like trying that trick with this door was just going to result in the rope snapping. The rope managed to hold together long enough for the handle to come flying off. The handle hit a handicapped parking sign about three inches from where LeBron was standing hard enough to bend it in half.
“You owe me a new pair of boxers.” LeBron stammered out. A pale faced Drew was apologizing while Yue asked him if he was ok over and over again. Up in the truck Harley sat frozen with his mouth wide open trying to figure out what’d just happened. He was asking himself why he kept letting these idiots talk him into stupid crap like that.
They took a minute to recover from the near death by door handle before heading up the stairs. At the top of the stairs Drew kicked the bar across the door to open it. The small group automatically fell into position and cleared the roof. Once the roof was clear they let their guard down and went to have a quick look off the edge.
“Pro tip. Try checking the windows before you rip the doors apart.” A man stepped out from behind the wall where the roof access door was. Three more people filed out behind him. All of them were carrying long guns.
“I did.” LeBron said from behind the sights of his own rifle.
“You only checked the first floor.” The man responded. LeBron shrugged. That was true but he wasn’t about to admit it.
“Here’s a pro tip for you. If you got four guys and five people come out on a roof with better weapons than you have then shoot them before they turn around. Once they point those better weapons at you it’s too late.” Harley said.
“We’re not trying to kill you.” The guy said.
“Then don’t point your gun at me. I’m seriously close to an accidental discharge.” Harley said. He ignored Drew’s immature giggle at his choice of words.
“Yeah. So, with that we’re going to put our guns down if you guys think you can do the same. I mean we were up on this roof first so…” The man speaking for the other group dipped his rifle barrel down and the others followed suit. Drew and crew echoed the gesture and stared across at the other party.
Now what?
Chapter 30: Awkward…
“You guys come here often?” Yue asked to break the ice. The two groups had been staring at one another for way too long.
“Only when we’re running for our lives from a bunch of B-Movie monsters. I’m Shaun.” The leader of the small group answered back. He looked like he was going to step forward and stick out his hand but then just didn’t.
“That’s a fun name to have in an apocalypse.” Drew piped up referring to the Shaun of zombie movie fame.
“Yeah. It’s great. Did you seal that bottom door back up or do we have to go climb onto another roof now?” Shaun asked. He didn’t look overly hopeful that they’d remembered. This was the group who didn’t check windows first to see if there was an easy way in. It was doubtful to him that they would’ve remembered to lock a door behind them.
“We have a bunch of stuff in the truck to seal up the doors.” Drew answered defensively. It wasn’t like they were total noobs. They were out on the open road and still breathing which should say something. Drew wasn’t a big fan of Shaun’s vaguely patronizing tone either.
“Yes. We were about to get to work on this one up here when we heard you all pull in. Are you headed to Fayetteville?” Shaun asked. Fayetteville was the closest refugee station to here according to the radio broadcast.
Drew looked around at everyone. He wasn’t sure he should be spilling the beans about where they were headed. He was trying to come up with a good lie when Yue jumped in to save him.
“We can catch up later. Right now, we need to get working on the door down below and carry some of our gear up here for the night. Before we lug all of that crap up here are you good with sharing the roof? In the interest of fairness, you all were up here first. If you want us to leave, we still have time, but we’d need you to tell us right now.” Yue stared expectantly at Shaun waiting for an answer.
“The more the merrier. As long as you guys are quieter at night than you are during the day its fine with me.” Shaun looked around his group to make sure they were all good with it. They all nodded. One of the girls even actually smiled. Up until then they’d been staring at Drew and Harley like they recognized them from an episode of America’s Most Wanted. It didn’t help that the expressions on Harley and Drew’s faces were pretty clearly those of men who’d much rather fling them all off the roof rather than have to break into another building with the sun sinking lower.
“The more the scarier is what Shaun meant.” Drew said to Yue as they were unloading camping gear to take up to the roof. Lisa nodded from where she was pulling out the ammunition boxes. She watched Drew pulling out big fluffy sleeping bags and made a face at him. Smiling he switched places with her to pull out the heavy ammo boxes while she stacked up pillows.
Once they had everything on the roof, they opened a window on the first floor and used a couple of two by fours to secure the door they’d busted down. Shaun’s foursome waited impatiently for them to get all their gear up. Once everybody was ready Shaun wrapped a heavy chain through the handle on the rooftop access door multiple times before securing the chain with a D-Ring.
There was still a little daylight left so they found themselves once again staring at one ano
ther. LeBron was particularly interested in how this other group seemed to have the rooftop sanctuary down pat. They had a large tarp spread out over multiple sleeping bags resting on top of inflatable beds. They even had a little battery powered heater and a few iPads to play games on. Their weapon situation consisted mostly of civilian style rifles and sidearms. Although since this was the good old USA the civilian assortment of weapons was on par with the military grade weapons Drew and crew were all sporting.
“You guys been doing the roof thing for long?” Drew asked curiously.
“How about we all just focus on living through the night. You can ask all the idiotic questions you want to in the morning.” The woman sitting on the sleeping bag next to Shaun said.
“Absolutely. See you in the morning over a nice big bowl of bitch flakes!” Lisa hissed stepping forward to smack some sense into the woman. In the dying light of day Lisa’s facial expression clearly showed she was about to kick the crap out of this roof dwelling freak. She let Yue call Drew an idiot because Yue was his sister. She wasn’t going to stand by while this annoying skank did it.
Crawlerz: Book 3: The Mountains Are Calling Page 26