Rapture (Apocalypse Gates Author's Cut Book 1)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Giving them a cold smile, Alvin shrugged, “Didn’t realize it was you guys until I saw you just a second ago.” He heard the driver’s door open followed by footsteps as the person came around the ambulance.

  The doctor appeared much as he had at the hospital where Alvin had saved Bill. “Are you going to kill the rest of us now as well?”

  Alvin looked at Bill, “Three nurses and a doctor from the hospital you were at. I saved them after you left. The dead guy was an orderly who threatened to bash my head in by way of thanks. It’s your choice if you want to offer them sanctuary. I’ll be in the nearest house.” Alvin turned away and walked towards the nearest house, kicking open the door in frustration as he went inside. By the time he came out, the nurses, the doctor, and Bill were all moving boxes from the ambulance to the truck.

  Alvin walked over with his trash bag, putting it with the boxes before he got out of their way. “Are they are coming with?” Alvin asked Bill.

  “They said they’re willing to stay at least a night or two,” Bill replied. “Have you found any camping gear in any of the houses?”

  “One of the first houses we looted had a tent and two sleeping bags. I left them there, though. We can go back and grab them.”

  “After we load up this medicine we’ll head back to the cabin,” Bill replied. “Get unloaded, have some lunch, then come back again.”

  “Sounds good,” Alvin said as he glanced down the street. “I’ll help with loading, but they are for you.” Alvin pointed down the road where another crowd of zombies was headed their way.

  Bill picked the Tommy gun off the seat and walked over to the ambulance to stand behind it. He leveled the gun and began to put more rounds downrange at the approaching horde. The nurses began to panic as they saw the approaching horde, as did the doctor. Alvin just calmly grabbed the next box and began to walk back to the truck.

  “We need to go,” one of the nurses said as he got back to the truck. “He said you have the keys. We should go while he holds them off.”

  Alvin shook his head as he put the box into the little space left in the sleeper. “Nope, not leaving Bill. If I did, his daughter would kill us all when we got back to their place. That’s not an exaggeration. So just help grab the last few boxes, then we can go.”

  The doctor got in his way as Alvin turned to go back for another box. “Look, we are leaving. Give me the keys,” the doctor demanded, holding out his hand.

  Alvin gave the doctor a blank look for a second before he snorted, stepping around the man, “If you want to run that badly, start walking. Should be pretty clear back that way.” Alvin jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the streets he and Bill had already cleared.

  Alvin was yanked to a stop as the doctor grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Alvin winced as the doctor’s fist hit him square in the face, then he blinked as he realized he didn’t actually feel any pain. The doctor, though, was holding his arm and grimacing as if he had hit a wall. “That looks like it hurt. If you try attacking me again, I will just kill you,” Alvin stated plainly and went back to the ambulance for another box.

  The three nurses all gathered around the doctor, who was grimacing as he held his hand. One of them started wrapping the damaged wrist while another gave the doctor a few pills along with some water from the cooler that had been in the truck. All three of them looked at Alvin warily as he went past them carrying another box. “Asshole,” one of them muttered as the other two made affirmative noises.

  Alvin turned to see Bill carrying the last box towards them. “All done?”

  “Yeah. What happened to the doctor?” Bill asked as he slid the last box into the back of the truck.

  The doctor interrupted Alvin’s reply, “He sprained my wrist. You should consider carefully who you offer your help to. This man has shown multiple times that he will kill without compunction.”

  Alvin snorted, “He punched me in the face. Hah, the armor of my cap was enough to absorb the strike. I didn’t feel a thing.”

  Bill looked at Alvin for a moment before he turned to the doctor, “You don’t get it, do you? This man saved me and my daughter from the same hospital you came from. He has proven to me that he can be trusted to guard my back. You, on the other hand, haven’t proven shit to me yet, and looks like you damaged your own wrist.” He paused to look at the group, “We can carry the nurses in front, but it means sitting on laps. Doc, you can sit in the back. Don’t worry, we won’t be going fast.”

  “This is bullshit,” the doctor spat. “I am a doctor, imminently more valuable than that hoodlum.”

  Bill turned to face the doctor, his face going hard, “Sit in the back to come with, or stay here. Those are your only choices at this time. If you threaten harm to anyone who is part of my community, I will bury you myself.”

  The doctor took a step back and the nurses all huddled together, “This is insane.”

  Bill opened the passenger door, asking as he did, “Ladies, are you coming to safety or staying here with him?”

  Alvin climbed into the driver’s seat, getting the truck started as he waited. The blonde nurse stepped forward, then darted for the cab and climbed in quickly, sitting in the middle of the bench seat. The second nurse, a redhead, came forward and sat on the blonde’s lap. Bill climbed in next and held out his hand to the last nurse. The last nurse, a mousy looking brunette, looked back at the doctor before she stepped forward. Bill helped her get in and settled onto his lap.

  Shutting the door, Bill looked out the window at the speechless doctor, “You have ten seconds, then we are leaving.”

  Alvin revved the engine as he silently counted to ten then put the truck into gear. He saw the doctor scramble for the back of the truck as he started to roll forward. Alvin kept the truck to about fifteen miles per hour as they crawled back to the bunker, not wanting to go any faster and risk shifting stuff and maybe losing some of it. They paused at the one house so Alvin could go in to get the tent and sleeping bags. He smiled cheerfully at the doctor, who glared back at him as he went by both ways. When they were within a mile of the bunker, Bill grabbed the CB and told his daughter to come open up the gate.

  Alvin let the truck idle by the gate for a few minutes while Susan came out and opened them. He parked next to the door to the bunker, jumping out of the truck as soon as he had it stopped. The nurses climbed out with Susan’s help. The doctor was giving everyone the stink eye as they all started to unload the truck. Susan struck up a conversation with the nurses as they brought all the supplies into the bunker. The doctor pleaded that the injury to his wrist meant he was unable to carry anything.

  Bill handed the doctor the tent, “Set this up over there.” Bill pointed to the other side of the bunker from the firing range. “That’s going to be your home for a while, so you might want to make sure you do it right.”

  The doctor just blinked at Bill with a stunned expression as Bill put the tent in his hands and walked away. Alvin held back his laughter as he carried another box into the bunker. Once they had the truck emptied of things, he found Susan and the nurses all cataloging and separating the stuff to some arcane formula that only she knew. Bill waved Alvin over from the kitchen where he had a couple of sandwiches, along with a pitcher of lemonade.

  Alvin took a seat and gratefully took a bite of peanut butter and jelly, the orange marmalade going okay with the lemonade. The two men ate in silence until they were done, then Bill leaned back. “I haven’t shot that much, in a single day, in donkey’s years. I’m going to ache like hell tomorrow.”

  “I don’t think my body would have survived all the rounds you put through that monster,” Alvin replied.

  “It’s not the best weapon, but I have a bit of history with it. It used to belong to my father, who brought it with him back from the war. So technically you could call it stolen US military property.” Bill grinned as he leaned back in his chair, “He loved that thing, said it saved his life half a dozen times.”

  “It can be u
pgraded another four times,” Alvin said a moment later. “I can see why it would be considered rare, now that I know its history.”

  “What can it be upgraded with?” Bill asked, sitting forward suddenly intensely interested. Alvin listed the upgrades he could remember and Bill sat back again, “Hmm, that could be some tough choices there. I would love to have it made even more durable, but the cost for that is pretty high. Maybe both of the recoil upgrades as well. I wonder about the silver and holy ammo types, though. Something tells me it will be important at some point.”

  “I just hope it’ll be a while,” Alvin replied, then he remembered the rifle and pulled it out of his backpack. “Take a look at this and tell me what I’m seeing, please.”

  Bill took the rifle and examined it, “M14, scoped which means it was meant for someone to use as a marksman.”

  “Well, guess I’ll have to take it back to my cell tonight to see if its anything special or not.”

  “We should head back out and see if we can scrounge anything else today,” Bill said, getting to his feet just as the women came into the room. He nodded to them, “Ladies, I hope Susie is showing you everything. We have enough room for you to bunk out in a room together.”

  “What about Rahim?” one of them asked.

  “That the doc?” Bill asked, getting a nod in reply. “He’ll be using the tent to sleep outside.”

  “What if the zombies get in?” the mousey brunette asked in a scared voice.

  “We’re five miles from town so it’s unlikely, at least in the short term, that they’ll get here. Besides, we,” he pointed to Alvin and himself, “are going back out there to see if anything else can be done. I still hope to find a few people. At the moment, the only thing you should be worried about is yourself. If the doc can get his head out of his ass, we should get along fine. If he keeps on like he has, he will be asked to leave. Any of you can leave at any time, but we won’t be giving you much in the way of supplies if you go.”

  “What about him?” the blonde nurse asked pointing at Alvin, with her lips turning down.

  “Al here has been welcomed into my home. He is very rough and he isn’t pleasant, but he is dependable. I suggest you give him a fair shake, he did save me and my daughter from the hospital. I hear he also made your escape easier as well. So maybe you should give him a chance.” Bill finished, speaking catching their eyes one at a time before he turned and walked off. “Let’s go, Al.”

  Alvin caught up to him a few feet down the hall, “Any of them catch your eye?”

  Bill shook his head, “The blonde isn’t bad, but until they prove they can handle what life is now, I won’t touch them. I have no need for a useless woman.”

  The doctor was still trying to get the tent up as Alvin started the truck. The sudden noise caused the doctor to fall over and the partially erected tent to collapse. Alvin grinned as the doctor glared at him, “See you later, Rahim.” Alvin drove over to the gate which Bill had opened. Once Bill had the gate shut behind them and gotten into the truck, they started back to Green River again.

  As they drove back Bill glanced over at Alvin, “So, which one did you prefer?”

  “I’m partial to redheads, but then, what man doesn’t like a redhead? Considering that all three actively dislike me currently, though, not even going to try. Maybe once my Personability gets up to the average of three I’ll try. Really need to do that, pretty sure it’s one of the main reasons behind people reacting so negatively to me. For instance, you leveled a gun at me and were ready to shoot when we met just down the road here. If I had a four or more in Personability, I’m sure it would have been bro-hugs and high-fives.”

  “Bro-hugs?” Bill said with disdain, “I’d rather shoot myself.”

  Laughing, Alvin shook his head, “High-fives it is, then.”

  When they got back to the town they were just a few streets away from the center of town. They went back to work looting houses and killing the odd zombie here or there. One street away from the center of town they came across a number of bodies lying in the road and a pile of them near one home. Bill grinned, “That’s Frank’s house, he might still be alive. I’m going to go check, while you do the houses on either side.”

  “Stay safe. He might not be real easy to talk to, depending on how he’s dealing with the world turning into zombies.”

  Shaking his head, Bill got out, “He was always a ‘watch the world burn’ kind of guy.”

  Alvin headed for the first home he was going to loot as Bill went the other way. Bill approached the home with caution, but no shots rang out as he approached. Once he was at the door, he knocked revelry on the door, with light taps. Looking up, Bill saw the curtains behind the iron bars on one window twitch slightly and he grinned at them. The door jerked open a minute later, “Bill? You’re alive? How is Susan?”

  Bill shook hands with Frank, “She’s holding the cabin down. How are things here?”

  Frank’s smile vanished, his face going blank, “The wife turned. I had to put her down.” His eyes were dry as his lips firmed up, “I’ve held them off, but I was beginning to wonder if I should.”

  The smile had vanished from Bill’s face as well, “She was a good woman. It’s a damn shame she’s gone. You know as well as I do, though, that she would be cussing a blue streak if she heard you say that. We have room for you at the cabin, you should come with us. Your jeep should run, all the older cars seem to be okay. The newer shit doesn’t even turn over, though.”

  Frank met Bill’s eyes, “I’ll come for now. It’ll be nice to see Susie again for a bit. Anything I should bring with?”

  Nodding, Bill replied, “Everything that’s worth a damn. My new ally will be done looting the Vanderlit’s place in a minute then we can just load up your stuff and head back.”

  “You’re looting the houses?” Frank seemed mildly shocked.

  “They ain’t using them anymore, and the few things we’re taking are worth the time and effort. For instance, the canned food. That will really help out. We already got a few nurses up at the cabin, along with an asshole doc who might be leaving us one way or another.”

  “I don’t think looting is the way to go, but I won’t gainsay you if you’re trying to put together a holdout. I’ll start getting things ready to go,” Frank said, leaving the door open as he went back inside the house.

  Bill watched the older vet go with sad eyes, knowing the loss of Rachel must weigh on him. He turned to see Alvin coming out of the first house and flagged him over. Alvin dropped off the bag at the truck before coming over.

  “What’s up?”

  “Frank is alive, he had to put his wife down, though. He’ll be coming with but we’ll need to help pack everything. Then he’ll make the trip to the cabin.”

  Alvin grimaced, “This is taking longer than I had hoped it would.” He scratched his chin for a moment, the beginnings of a beard prickling his fingers, “How about you leave me the Tommy, and I’ll just stockpile the loot next to houses while you make the trip up and back?”

  “Not the best idea, but if you think you can hold out on your own I’ll do it,” Bill said as Frank came to the door, frowning at Alvin.

  “This the guy?” Frank asked bluntly, his frown not wavering.

  “Low Personability,” Alvin sighed. “I am, I’m sorry to hear about your wife. I’m going to see about clearing more of the zombies out while you and Bill do what you need to here.”

  His eyes sized Alvin up, before Frank spoke again, “I peg you as trouble, boy. Petty, probably a mean streak, and you’ve killed a man for sure. Can I trust you around my friends?”

  “I killed an abuser as a kid, then another few who’ve tried to attack me since this shit started. I do have a mean streak and I won’t argue the petty, but I won’t turn on allies.” He deliberately left off that he hadn’t had many of those.

  Frank snorted, “Actions speak, boy, not words. Bill is vouching for you, so don’t you go proving him wrong.”

 
“I won’t,” Alvin replied as he took the gun Bill offered, walking towards the next house. As he went he heard Frank talking to Bill.

  “He have a death wish, to go hunting these things with just a 1911 and a Tommy with one clip?”

  “Well, Frank, the thing is, the world itself is different now. I’ll explain while we load and I’ll prove it back at the cabin.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  By the time Bill got back, Alvin had looted the rest of the houses on that street and started on the next one. He could see Main street from where he was, along with movement in the distance in the heart of town. Alvin waved to Bill, puzzled by the fact he wasn’t alone, he had Frank and the blonde nurse with him.

  “What’s up?” Alvin asked as he shifted his shoulders, getting used to the leather jacket he’d found.