Plentiful Poison

by Lybeck, Kyle

  Caroline looked back on her phone.

  “I guess at this point we might as well head straight up I-5 into Portland. That’s less than two hours. If we were really wanting to make it a long driving day, we could go from there up to Seattle and find a way to either stay for the night, or make our way out to an island before nightfall. We could be there by later afternoon if we tried hard enough.”

  “What do you say, Trish?” Abby asked.

  “Might as well go for it at this point, one long day, less worrying overnight about how to get up there.”

  “It’s settled then, let’s get up to Seattle and not waste any more daylight,” Abby said, climbing back in the Honda.

  Caroline reset the map to take them north to Portland, and sat back.

  “You think we’ll be able to do this all today, mom?”

  “We can sure try. I think we can do it, we just have to hope that there aren’t any big hurdles along the way, especially in Portland and up the interstate.”

  “I sure hope so, I’d really like to finally get a permanent spot for us to be rather than traveling all over.”

  “Me too, sweetheart, me too.”

  Driving north up I-5 in mostly silence, the radio in their cup holder made them jump at the sound of Trish’s voice.

  “Hey you two, I’m going to need to get some gas for this thing. I’ve got about an eighth of a tank left.”

  “Okay, hold on a second,” Caroline said, looking at the map for a gas station. “There’s one off the exit for Multnomah, it’s not that much farther.”

  “Perfect, I’ll follow along.”

  Placing the radio back, she told her mom which direction to go into the small suburb of Portland. Not far off the freeway, they found a Chevron.

  “Won’t the pumps not work if the power is off?”

  “Oh, crud, that’s true,” Abby said.

  Trish was pulling her truck into the lane at the pump. Exiting the truck, she looked at the pump, realizing what mother and daughter also had in their own car.

  “Shit,” Trish said, hitting the pump.

  “We have a little left in our backup canister,” Abby said as she left the car, reaching the trunk to open it.

  “No, that’s fine, I have a hose and can siphon gas out of one of these cars that are just sitting around.”

  “If you say so, we don’t mind sharing.”

  “It’ll be easier this way, we can keep yours as an emergency supply just in case. In fact here, hand it over, I’ll fill it up while I’m getting gas for my truck.” She took the canister from Abby.

  Trish went into the Chevron, returning with an empty five gallon gas container for herself. She walked to a nearby car, proceeding to siphon the gas out, getting a small amount in her mouth during the process, spitting gas and saliva onto the concrete, trying not to vomit.

  Once both canisters were full she went back over to the truck, filling it with all five gallons. Repeating the process with two more cars, the tank was finally full. In the meantime, Caroline had noticed a large Mexican restaurant across the street.

  “Hey mom, since we’re here, maybe we could check that place out? I bet they’d have a chest freezer, maybe some things would still be good. Meat, sides for tacos, things like that. Probably have some dry goods too, like tortillas and cans of beans.”

  “Not a bad idea. Maybe if we fill up with food and supplies now, we won’t have to worry about anything as we get to Seattle. We could just take everything out with us to the island in the boat if we find one, and be set for a while. We can have Trish stock up on things from inside the Chevron while we go look.”

  “Okay you guys, I’m finally done.”

  “We had a thought. Do you want to raid the Chevron convenience store for things, while Caroline and I head over to the Mexican restaurant across the street to search for some dry goods and other food? That work for you?”

  “Sure, why not. Might as well stock up as much as we can now before hitting bigger cities and downtown areas.”

  “Our thoughts exactly.”

  “Hey, for fun, wear the helmets. Just in case. Might as well, we have them. Plus the sight of you in those suits with the helmets is bound to amuse me.”

  “Want a painter’s suit?”

  “Shit, no,” Trish said, walking into the store after laughing at the sight of Abby and Caroline with their helmets on, walking across the street.

  “It’s really hard to see out of these things,” Abby said, raising the visor on the helmet.

  “Not too bad for me,” Caroline’s muffled voice could be heard behind the padding.

  The two went about walking inside, finding no one around to bother them. Even so, Abby held her pistol at the ready, Caroline with one sword out. Walking to the back room, they found a large walk-in freezer.

  Opening the door, they were greeted with a plethora of meats, produce, cheese, and salsas. They could tell the power had been off for a little while, but it was still cold enough to know that the food was nowhere near the spoiling stage.

  “Power must not have been out for too long,” Abby said.

  “Lucky for-”

  Cutting off Caroline’s words, was the smashing of the front windows. Growling and screams bouncing off the walls.

  “Oh no,” Abby said, bringing the pistol into her sightline.

  Gunshots could be heard from outside the restaurant.

  “You guys! I’m coming in, help me fight them off!” Trish was yelling from beyond their vision.

  Carefully aiming the pistol, Abby let off three shots, hitting two targets in their heads.

  Coming into their field of vision was Trish, frantically reloading the .357 as she was sidestepping towards them. Ahead of them, a dozen ragers rushing forth, working together as a group to cut off all points of exit in front of the women.

  Caroline then came into frame, now holding both Butterfly Swords. She was able to decapitate two, before being thrown to the side in a heap. Another ran at Abby as she was continually firing, it raising a fist and punching the gun out of her hand.

  Now how the hell did it manage to do that? She barely thought, before having to quickly find another means of defense against the thing in front of her. To her right, a pipe lay on the ground. Picking it up, she was shoved backwards by the rager, directly into the chest freezer.

  Falling onto her back, the rager on top of her, she held the pipe against its neck. She knew she couldn’t die, she couldn’t give up. Her daughter was still outside somewhere, hopefully still alive. Outside, more gunshots rang true, giving her hope that Trish was still alive and kicking.

  Above her, the rager was slowly dripping bloody spittle towards her face, towards the open visor of the helmet. It was pinning her to the ground at the neck. She couldn’t move back and forth, the helmet kept knocking into the things’ degrading arms.

  Above her, the lights went out in the freezer, bathing her in almost pure darkness, giving her no indication of how much longer she had until death became her from the dripping hitting her face.

  Then, seemingly from a dream, the weight was lifting off her. Caroline had apparently come rushing in, kicking the rager to the side, raising her sword and slicing it directly in the forehead. Abby was slowly raising herself to a sitting position. Outside the freezer, she could see many more ragers had entered the fray, Trish still fighting them off.

  Turning towards the freezer, Trish began to run. At the same time, Caroline was rushing to the door, pulling it closed, just as Trish and numerous ragers were about to enter. The last vision either had of her, was being drug backwards into the group. Audibly, Trish could still be heard over the groaning and through the walls of the freezer, as the ragers began their meal.

  Chapter 27

  The Waiting Game/Escape

  “Caroline, I can’t believe you closed the door on her.” Abby said, after calming down a little from the events having taken place. The screaming had finally stopped, but low chewing noises could still be heard
.

  “Mom, I’m sorry, I had no choice. If I kept it open for her, a bunch of the ragers would have gotten in and we’d all be dead. There was nothing I could do.”

  Sighing, tears were falling off Abby’s cheeks in the dark. She was trying to hide it from her daughter as to still show a strong persona even though Caroline couldn’t see.

  “How long do you think we’ll have to stay in here?”

  “I have no idea, honey. I hope not too long, but who knows. We just have to stay as quiet as we can so they think we’re gone, maybe they’ll leave at that point.”

  “I want to believe you’re right. The way they were acting out there though, I feel like they’re getting smarter. They literally blocked our escape. These things are supposed to be dead, yet they managed to do that? That’s crazy.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, all of this is just crazy still. Every next step we deal with, just seems more unbelievable.”

  At that, the two tried remaining silent. For almost two hours, they sat until they heard absolutely no groans, screams, or other noises coming from outside the door that would indicate the ragers were still around.

  While waiting, Caroline had used her phone flashlight to illuminate the freezer. They were able to make themselves semi-cold meatless burritos of cheese, lettuce, and salsa, which kept their strength up through the waiting.

  Feeling the time was right, Caroline slowly made her way to the door, pushing on the handle ever so gently to open it. Barely breaking the seal, both then pointing their ears at the crack to listen. Still hearing nothing, Caroline opened the door further, still holding both swords.

  Out of nowhere in the silence, a rager brought himself around the door, grabbing onto Caroline’s wrist. Instantly, Abby was raising her pistol and shooting it in the head, dropping it to the ground. Caroline quickly brought the door back to being closed, falling backwards onto the floor in a huffing heap of shaking fright.

  “Are you okay?” Abby asked, rushing over to her daughter to console her. “It didn’t break through the suit did it?”

  “Here, take my phone to check.” Abby took the phone, finding the flashlight app and turning it back on. Looking her daughter over, she found no punctures to the suit, or otherwise any signs that the rager was able to pass fluids on to Caroline.

  “You’re free and clear, everything looks good,” she said to her daughter, placing her in a large hug.

  “That was scary, mom. Too close, that was just too close.”

  “I have no idea how in the world that thing was able to stay silent for so long,” she said, handing the phone back to Caroline.

  “I have no idea either, but that lends to the fact that we both thought they were seemingly getting smarter. Now it’s more of a fact, they really are. They’re getting better at hunting, at adapting.” Caroline sat back against the wall of the freezer, taking longer, deeper breaths to calm herself down to a manageable level of scared.

  The two sat for another hour, this time imagining that if more ragers were out there, they would have shown up at the sound of the gunshot. Hearing nothing, they tried their routine from before, but being even more cautious.

  Finally fully exiting the freezer, they found what remnants were left of Trish’s body, amidst bloody clothing. Abby began searching around for a moment, finding her pistol next to a wash bucket in the corner.

  “Should we even bother taking anything from the freezer?” Caroline asked.

  “At this point, I think we should just get out of this place before any of them come back.”

  The two cautiously and quietly left through the front of the restaurant and then ran across the street to their car. Quickly opening the doors and rushing inside, Abby brought the engine to life, pulling out of the parking lot, tires squealing in their wake.

  Caroline once again was guiding them out of town, back to I-5. Heading through downtown Portland was surprisingly easier than they had thought it would be. Barely any cars were blocking the road, but a lot of bicycles could be seen strewn about, both on the sides of the interstate, and on the city streets below.

  “Must have been a pretty bike oriented town from the looks of it.”

  “Must have been,” Abby said, watching the road for any blockings.

  Exiting the central Portland area, Abby drove north, taking them all the way to the border before she was stopping below an overhanging sign on the I-5 Bridge.

  Welcome to Washington

  Chapter 28

  End Game

  “Looking at your phone, what do you think is our best bet for an island to get to?” Abby asked, as Centralia was just passing in their rearview.

  “There is a little place I found called Blake Island. It’s actually a State Park. I think that might be a pretty good spot for us to go to, we could set up some tents if there aren’t any buildings. It’s remote, can only get to it by boat, but still close enough that we could get back and forth easily to the mainland to search for food or supplies.”

  “That sounds perfect, honey. Great job. You’ve been amazing at finding just the perfect spots for us this whole time,” Abby said with a smile. “I just wish your dad and brother could have made it all the way up here with us.”

  “I know mom, me too. I wish I could just see their faces one more time, tell them how much I love them.”

  Both began to tear up as the miles were passing them by. Before long, they were reaching the cutoff for WA-16 West in Tacoma. The state route then took them up through Gig Harbor, and into South Colby on the waterfront.

  As the two were exiting the Honda for what they hoped was almost the last time, Caroline was pointing out across the water.

  “See, it’s just right over there, not that far away.”

  Following her daughter’s finger, Abby saw a spot of land out in the water.

  “Oh wow, that really is close, that won’t be bad at all to get back over here and search for things we may need.”

  “Now we just have to find a boat to get out there,” Caroline said.

  Driving down SE Southworth Drive, they came upon Harper Pier, giving them just the luck they needed. Sitting around were a multitude of different rowboats and canoes they could pick from to get them out to the island.

  Parking the car, the two left the Honda behind, walking over to the pier, looking out across the water to their destination.

  “Okay, let’s go ahead and pick one out, load it up, and be on our way!” Abby said, almost at tears of how exciting the situation was, and for them to be rid of the ragers and the death on the island.

  Walking over to some boats along the beachfront, they chose a twelve-foot canoe, which would easily hold at least half of their possessions.

  “Too bad there isn’t a larger motor boat we could use. The canoe is going to require a few trips. I guess we can take the most pertinent items for the night, and come back tomorrow to get the rest.” Abby said, surveying the situation.

  “Probably going to be the best thing we can do at this point. It’s going to take too long to paddle out there to make two trips tonight, that’s for sure.”

  Setting the canoe at the water’s edge, they began to fill it with the items they would need the most. Tent, clothes, and some of the food. After each took three trips back and forth to the canoe, they were close to having it full up for their first trip across the water.

  Caroline was placing her final items in the canoe when she caught a whiff of death in the air. She couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but she knew the smell better than anything else in the world now.

  As she was raising her head to look around, she saw a group of ragers running across the road from the tree line towards her unsuspecting mom.

  “Mom! Look out!” she was screaming at the top of her lungs, placing herself in a full sprint back to the road.

  Abby was instantly turning to face multiple smiling, blood covered, groaning faces. Her hand made it to her hip lightning fast for the 9mm, but before she could raise it
to a viable height, two ragers were gripping one arm each, pulling until each was ripping from their sockets.

  Abby’s screams were louder than any of the groans coming from the ragers, reaching her daughters ears like a supersonic jet. The pistol in her dismembered arm falling to the ground a few feet away.

  Reaching the road, swords drawn, Caroline began attacking the creatures from hell. Slicing into skulls, fully decapitating others, she took care of all that had attacked her mom. As she was finishing with the first batch, three more began emerging from the woods. Quickly, she recovered the pistol, picking it up and taking three quick shots, ending the dead lives of the oncoming ragers.

  Still gripping the 9mm in her right hand, one Butterfly Sword in the other, she was screaming in rage at the sky.

  “Mom!” her screams continuing, mixing in tears to her cries, and the emotional wreck she had become. Dropping to her knees, her chin sunk into her chest. As she knelt, she heard a growling begin again, this time next to her.

  The armless torso of her mother began to shudder, groans coming from her mouth. Her eyes had changed to black, her teeth snapping like a hungry wolf at Caroline.

  Through tear-blurry eyes, Caroline strengthening her grip on the pistol, then placing the barrel against her mom’s left temple.

  “I’ll always love you mom. Now you can be with dad and Ben again.”

  The pistol lost one more bullet, spraying blood across the blacktop. Dropping it to the ground, Caroline was completely drained and crushed from the emotional wreckage.

  Minutes later, a clear wakeup call came through her eardrums, as howls could be heard in the distance.

  Picking the pistol up, placing her swords on her back, and carrying a few last minute items down to the canoe as there would now be more room for such things, she threw them in. Jumping into the middle and using the paddle to push herself off the shore, she guided the canoe into the water.

  Caroline began to paddle towards Blake Island, alone and into her own unknown.