All That's Left | Book 1 | The Outbreak

by Gouge, W. B.

  He either didn’t notice the two men standing there or he didn’t care. He simply continued to hold the young woman and rock her slowly whispering and begging for god to save her. David recognized her. Christian Cooper, David was about her age and they had been to school together for years until they graduated though he never knew her that well. The Pharmacist, Wallace Cooper was her father. David suddenly felt a pain in his stomach as he watched this man, holding his daughter, holding his dying child.

  Greg finally spoke after what felt like forever, “What happened to her?”

  Wallace Cooper spoke quietly, “She was attacked by one of those people from the bus crash. After that she became ill, she got worse and worse. I gave her everything I can think of before she went unconscious. Maybe her fever will break, maybe she’ll be okay.”

  Greg and David stood silently, what could they possibly say? Neither of them could think of anything comforting to say. David tried to think of something worthwhile, but he simply stood there with his mouth hanging open, breathing deeply and trying not to cry. Greg walked around the counter and stood in front of a shelf full of pill bottles, “What is the strongest antibiotics you have?” he asked calmly.

  “What kind of infection are you treating?” Wallace asked.

  “My grandma is sick, she has a high fever and she is unconscious too.” David said quietly.

  Wallace looked down at his daughter, tears dripping on her face. “You’ll need two things. Bactericidal and Bacteriostatic medications,” he looked toward a shelf across the room, “Give her the one in the green box, on the top shelf. And the one in the large bottle on the second shelf.”

  David walked to the shelves and began searching for the medications. After several seconds he found one, then the other. He grabbed two boxes of the one in the green box and took the whole bottle of the other and stuffed them into a plastic bag from the counter. He turned around to see Greg staring at Wallace and Christian, he looked as though he was frozen. His eyes unfocused, his body still. David walked over next to him and he came out of his trance, “Are you ready to go?” Greg asked.

  David noticed how tired Greg sounded, like he had been defeated by something. David took a moment to answer, “Yes.”

  David glanced out the front windows of the store. A lone figure walked past the window, its shaky steps were familiar. David wondered how many were out there lurking in the shadows of the square. Any little sound they made could bring down a whole mob of them, just like before. “Well, do we go back the way we came then?” David asked.

  “Yeah, but quietly this time.” Greg warned.

  Greg headed back out the back door, but David remained for a moment. He looked back at Wallace and Christian and felt a swell of pity for them both. Before today he had had a good, almost sheltered life. He had never dealt with anything like this, and now his grandfather was dead after having tried to attack him, and this old man held his dying child in his arms. “Do you want to come with us?” David asked.

  “No, leave us alone, I’m staying here with my daughter.” Wallace said still holding the girl.

  David watched him for a few more seconds, then he hurried out the door with tears in his eyes. Greg was standing in the back room by the window with his back to David, “We couldn’t take them anyway, we would have to carry that girl.” Greg snapped.

  “Okay, but we can at least ask them, maybe he would have come along. They look like they could use our help.” David mumbled when he spoke.

  “You got to help yourself now kid, if you want to live- you better grow up. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions, but that’s how it is.” Greg climbed out the window after that.

  David followed and the two men hurried back out into the breezy night air. The air was noticeably cooler now, and the breeze had picked up. The distant thunder now crackled over their heads as the first few drops of rain patted on the pavement and hoods of the cars. They dipped through the alley watching in front and behind them carefully as they hurried along. David was feeling much better now that they had the medicine his grandmother so desperately needed. The alley was clear the whole way to the street across from where the truck had been parked. David and Greg stood in the entrance of the alley and scanned the area as the rain began to pour down. They didn’t see anyone, and thankfully the sound of the rain would cover their footsteps, it was their first bit of luck of the night. They bolted across the open road and into the shadow of the trees all the way back to the truck. As they opened the doors and jumped in David could barely believe that part was so easy.

  He pushed the plyers forward and the truck roared to life again. David pulled the truck onto the road and as the wipers did their best to clear the water pouring down on the windshield. David could barely make out a dark figure in front of the truck. He hit the brakes and the truck jerked to a halt at the same time the wipers passed revealing the stranger in the rain. The ragged flesh hanging from the arms and face were chillingly familiar. It was the man David had seen stagger past them on their way to the pharmacy. His eyes wide and his mouth hanging open, he let out a growling cry. The he lunged forward and tried to climb onto the hood of the truck to get to them. David’s body tensed as Greg yelled, “Floor it!”

  But David froze up. The horrifying stranger beat his fist against the windshield and cried out again. David caught movement behind him and tried to focus. Dozens of them came running toward the truck from down the street. David slammed the gas pedal to the floor. The truck darted forward and the man disappeared over the side of the truck. The two men felt the truck jump as the tires climbed some unknown object. As the wipers cleared the window again David realized he had run over the stranger.

  David felt shaky again but this time it wasn’t because of the drugs, it was because he had just killed a man. A feeling of dread and guilt washed over him, but he pushed the thought away. That wasn’t a man anymore and he did what he had to do. He looked at Greg, and Greg looked at him. Greg’s gaze was that of satisfaction in a job well done. David accepted the gaze and continued driving, leaving the town behind and headed home to help his grandmother.

  Nine

  David drove through the rain which was intense at times, but he kept his speed low and drove cautiously. Greg didn’t speak for most of the way. Instead he kept his eyes on the road and looked tired. David was also tired, and hungry, this was the first time he had been allowed to notice since everything had started. He hadn’t eaten in some time now and his stomach groaned in dissatisfaction. He tried to keep his mind off of his stomach and on his task. He hoped more than anything that the antibiotics he had would help his grandmother. Greg shuffled in his seat then turned to look out the side window into the wind and rain. “I didn’t mean to sound like that back there.” He said quietly.

  “Like what?” David asked.

  “Like I didn’t care about that man and his daughter. I didn’t mean to sound like I don’t care.”

  David was confused once again by Greg, more than once today he thought he was started to understand this man and once again he was completely wrong. Greg seemed like a wise and experienced soul. Like a man who had lived more than a few lifetimes and knew a little bit about everything.

  After a long silence Greg continued, “It’s just that you may not get away with being so compassionate all the time. I’ve seen good people get chewed up by this world. It seems like it happens more and more nowadays.”

  David didn’t think that Greg was the type to give advice lightly. He listened and tried his best to understand. Greg finished on a soft note, “You seem like you have a good heart. Just don’t want to see you get hurt over something that can’t be helped.”

  As Greg finished his thought, David was watching the road but not really seeing it. He had often caught himself driving on auto pilot and no sooner than he snapped out of his trance he saw something up ahead in the dark. He squinted to see what it was and began to make out a figure in the road which quickly turned into a dozen figures all bunched up
in the middle of the road. He slammed on the brakes bringing the truck to a screeching halt only a few feet from a small group of people in the road.

  The rain instantly tapered off to a drizzle and Greg and David could see the group well in the headlights of the truck. The group was drenched, their pale skin shined in the light as they turned toward the truck. “Go around them…NOW!” Greg yelled as they began charging the truck.

  They swarmed around the hood to the sides of the truck clawing and grasping at the two men through the windows. David punched the gas hoping that anyone in front would move or already be out of the way, but the group was too thick for them to escape. The truck plowed through a few people and David swung the wheel to the right taking the truck off the road and through the corn field. “What are you doing?” Greg yelled at David.

  David knew this area well. The house was just a mile or so away in the general direction they were going. He drove as fast as he thought he could in the dense corn rows hoping the truck didn’t get stuck in the mud. He couldn’t see where he was going, instead he was depending entirely on his sense of direction to guide him to their destination. After a few minutes they finally emerged from the corn and ran into a ditch next to a road. The truck easily jumped the incline of the ditch and landed on the pavement. David swerved to the left and corrected the vehicles path. He recognized the area immediately, they were only a half mile from the house. “Yes!” David cheered.

  He pressed the gas a little harder to make better time. The drizzle that had kept up until now was slowed considerably when David turned into the gravel driveway. David was careful to steer around the corpse of the old man except, the old man wasn’t there anymore. David tried his best to see through the darkness and foggy windows into the yard as he searched for where the corpse might be. “Did someone move him? Did they come back and finish him off completely?” he wondered. He pulled up in the yard and the two men jumped out of the truck, David slung the bag of medicine over his shoulder and scanned the area with his rifle. The coast was clear and they made it back with the medicine. For the first time today things were starting to look up. Liz looked relieved when she met them on the porch, “Hurry David, she’s getting worse.”

  David’s heart sank when he heard that, “What’s wrong?” he shouted and ran past Liz into the house.

  David ran past Owen and straight to his grandma’s bedroom. Sarah was leaning over Edna, patting her with cold towels. David rushed to her side with the antibiotics in hand. Edna was pale and sweaty, and now she had red patches around her mouth and eyes like a rash. “Give me the antibiotics,” Sarah yelled and ripped the packages open, “Get some water, we just have to wake her up long enough to swallow a handful of these.”

  Liz ran into the kitchen and brought back some water. David and Owen sat Edna up on the bed, her clothes were drenched with sweat and she was burning up. She didn’t respond to them at first, she lay still as if she were in a coma. David put his hand under her chin and held the water in the other. Sarah put the pills in front of her mouth. “Come on grandma you just have to take these and you will start to get better…” David pleaded with her.

  She opened her eyes just for a second and smiled at David, “Henry, you came back…I love you Henry…tell David to be a good boy…he’s such a good boy…” she whispered.

  David knew how much they loved him, and he couldn’t bear to watch her die like this. He had to do something, for the woman who had cared for him, who had loved him so much she had given everything she could. His eyes welled up with tears and anger, “Take these grandma please…PLEASE TAKE THEM!” David pushed the pills into her mouth and poured water in.

  She coughed them up and spit the water out all over the bed. Then she lunged forward and gagged until she threw up all over the floor. The vomit was dark red and smelled awful, Owen left the room holding his mouth, Liz and Sarah stood back and looked concerned. David grabbed his grandmother’s shoulders and pulled her back up onto the bed. “Come on grandma please…don’t die…please…” David begged her.

  He had lost his grandfather and now it seemed he would lose his grandmother too. She smiled again and put her hand on his shoulder, ”I love you David…be strong for me and your grandpa.”

  David held the pill in front of her. He offered them to her one last time, “Grandma, please take these. I need you here.”

  David realized there was nothing else to do, she was too far gone. He leaned over and whispered to her, “Thank you, for everything. I love you grandma.”

  That’s when Edna reached over and took two of the pills and put them into her mouth. David couldn’t believe it, he quickly gave her the water. She took a sip and swallowed the pills. Sarah and Liz came to her side. Tears ran down David’s face, “Maybe she will be ok?” he hoped.

  But then he heard a cry from the living room, “We have a huge problem…” Greg shouted and slammed the front door shut.

  David laid his grandmother back and ran into the living room, he looked out the large window into the front yard. Screams and growls filled the cool night air somewhere in the sea of darkness. Then, in the pale blue glow from the barn light dozens of them came charging toward the house. Two things occurred to David. First, that this was the group from the road. They must have led them back here by mistake when they cut through the corn field. And second, that there was no way to fight this many of them. But he couldn’t think that way, his grandma had taken the medicine, he just needed time for it to work, they had to hold them back, no matter what the cost.

  David and Greg pushed the couch in front of the door and Greg pulled his pistol. “Lets put the table in front of the window!” David yelled. But as they went into the dining room they heard a crash in the kitchen. David grabbed his rifle and followed Greg and Owen to the kitchen just as several loud bangs echoed through the house as those outside slammed their fists against the kitchen door. The refrigerator held the door closed but the wood of the door cracked a little more with every hit. “We can’t hold this many of them back!” Greg said with his pistol pointed out the crack in the door.

  He fired a shot, then another. But everyone he killed was replaced instantly by another angry, hungry pair of arms. “Get the girls down to the cellar, we’ll take out as many as we can then we will fall back too.” Greg yelled.

  Owen stood by the cellar door and told the girls to head downstairs, that he and David would get Edna.

  David headed for his grandmother’s bedroom to help Edna, but she wasn’t there. He looked down at the pool of dark red vomit on the ground, several bloody footprints led to the bathroom hallway, then turned into the kitchen. David followed them. Behind him Owen hustled the girls to the cellar door. As David rounded the corner into the kitchen he saw Edna standing on shaky legs behind Greg. Greg was firing out the door every few seconds, he noticed her behind him and his face changed to a look of fear when he saw Edna. Before anyone could react she lunged forward and grabbed Greg’s arm sinking her teeth into the flesh and ripping a large chunk away. David gasped and Greg let out a roar as he slapped Edna in the face with the butt of his pistol. She flew back against the sink, now David could see her face. Her eyes were wild, her teeth clenched on a piece of bloody flesh from Greg’s arm. She looked like… his grandpa had looked when he chased David from the house.

  Greg held his bloody arm close to his body, the pain shooting up his arm made his dizzy and he fell to one knee trying to point the gun at Edna. Edna let out a screeching cry and reached for Greg again, Greg couldn’t pull up his pistol fast enough. Instead he fired a single bullet through her stomach that tore out her back. In spite of her injury, Edna clamped her teeth down on Greg’s neck sending blood spraying on the wall behind him. At the same time the door gave way just a little and the arms were reaching in for Greg were only inches away from him. Before David realized what he was doing, he grabbed his rifle and bashed it into the back of Edna’s head knocking her to the floor. Greg crawled away from the door in a pool of his own blood, David
grabbed his arm and pulled him up. The two men limped toward the cellar door. As they reached the door David turned to close it and saw the crowd push the kitchen door open enough for one of them to slip in as Edna climbed to her feet. She locked eyes on David and screeched horribly as she charged toward him. In the living room the crowd had nearly beaten the barricades down and were going to reach the inside any minute. David slammed the door behind him and lodged a broomstick between the beams on the sides of the door.

  David helped Greg down the narrow steps as the mob pounded the door to the cellar. They reached the bottom of the steps where Owen was waiting for them, “What happened?” Owen asked.

  “My grandma attacked him…” David said.

  Greg winced when Sarah tried to look at his wounds, “He’s bleeding badly, and he’s already lost a lot of blood. We need to get him to a real hospital right now.” Sarah said.

  “NO…it’s too late for me…sit me down…please” Greg was barely able to form the words.

  “What happened to your grandma David?” Liz asked.

  David shot her a sad and desperate look but said nothing. It all made sense now, it was the bites. His grandfather had a bite-mark on him before he attacked him, and so did the rest of the bodies of the people who had tried to break in, and so did his grandmother.

  “You kids need to get out of here,” Greg said, “Climb out the storm doors, make it to the truck and don’t stop driving until you find some help.” Greg broke down into a gurgling cough.

  For several seconds nobody said anything. Owen and David exchanged looks, Liz teared up and Sarah stood silently. “We can’t just leave you here Greg.” David said quietly, but deep down he already knew it was too late for Greg.

  “You have to, you saw it just then, your grandma turned into one of them. She got bitten, then she turned into one of them.” Greg said painfully, blood oozed from his wounds.