Rising to his six foot three inch height, the man towered over Ashley. “I’m gonna kill you first!” He reached down, grabbing the teenager by her sweater with his left hand, easily lifting her up so he could stare at her, face to face.
Ashley felt a cold pit in her stomach as she looked into the man’s eyes.
His eyes narrowed as he brought his right hand up, grasping her windpipe. His grin widened as he began to squeeze.
Ashley’s feet kicked furiously as she tried to get away from him.
The man laughed at her futile attempt, an evil laugh that echoed throughout the house.
Thwack.
As she watched, the man’s eyes went wide in shock. He dropped her, no longer concerned with her existence. Hitting the floor, she scurried away from him, watching as he fell to his knees again. The man reached up instinctively, afraid to touch, but knowing its presence was a problem, the cleaver that was embedded in the side of his neck. Blood flowed around the blade, spilling down the side of his neck, soaking the blue polo shirt he wore. The man seemingly knew that removing it would only increase the flow of blood, so he gritted his teeth and tried to fight through the pain as he brought his hand up to his neck in an effort to stem the flow of blood. The effort wasn’t enough though. His eyes fluttered as his consciousness faded.
The man fell forward, crashing to the floor, knocking the blade free. The life fled from his body quickly covering the floor in a flowing river of blood. The man’s body slumped as the last bit of life left him.
Looking down at her, Serafina reached out her hand, shaking. “Let’s get you away from all that blood.”
Ashley took her stepmother’s hand and got to her feet, grabbing the wall to steady herself. She saw her sister’s legs from where she laid in the dining room. “Brenna!” She took a quick step forward before she had to stop from the dizziness she felt. Serafina stepped over to Brenna and quickly knelt down, brushing the girl’s hair from her face. The girl’s eyes were closed, her breathing shallow. There was a large bump on the side of her head where it had collided with the table.
Serafina asked Ashley to get a wet cloth and an ice pack from the kitchen, which she did. Gently wiping the young girl’s forehead with the cloth while holding the ice pack against the lump, she spoke to her softly, eventually waking her. Looking up at her stepmother, tears in her eyes, Brenna asked, “Is he gone?”
Glancing towards where the man’s body laid on the floor, Serafina answered, “He can’t hurt us.”
Tears streamed down Brenna’s face as she wept, openly. She slowly worked her way up into a sitting position, reaching for her stepmother. “I was so scared.”
Serafina wrapped her arms around the girl, holding her close. “Me, too.”
Ashley materialized next to them, handing Serafina a towel with ice cubes in it. “Here, Auntie. For your head.”
“Thank you.” She handed Brenna off to her older sister, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Gingerly pressing the ice pack against the side of her head, she closed her eyes, trying to collect her thoughts. Her head still felt fuzzy from the blows she’d taken, but it was starting to clear.
Colossus slowly walked around the corner, sniffing the air. He growled in his throat, looking at the man’s body. Looking back and forth between the man and the girls, the cat slowly made its way over to them, rubbing against the girls.
Serafina rose to her feet slowly. Her head was pounding, but she wanted to get things moving. “I’m going to grab us some tylenol, then we need to clean things up, okay?” She pointed at Ashley’s neck. “My turn to get you an ice pack, too.”
Ashley smiled slightly, clearly still in pain. “Thank you.” She helped her sister up, keeping an arm around her. Brenna finally saw the man’s body on the floor and recoiled, stepping backwards, her eyes wide with fear. Her sister held onto her, calming her down. “It’s okay, it’s okay. He can’t hurt us.”
A look of resolve came over Brenna’s face, and she glared at the man’s prone form before she and her sister made their way into the kitchen, followed by Colossus. Serafina went to the bedroom to get the small bottle of tylenol she kept in her purse, knowing that the other bottles had already been packed away in the boxes that were in the garage.
Gathering in the breakfast nook, they each took a pair of Tylenol capsules for their aches and pains, chasing it with a glass of water. When they finished, they knew it was time to get to work.
Over the next hour, the three of them worked to put things back to normal, anxious to get rid of everything associated with the man’s appearance and subsequent attack.
Making sure things were clear, the three of them combined their strength to drag the man’s heavy body outside, struggling with his dead weight. Straining, they pulled him, little by little towards the far corner of the backyard, taking frequent breaks to catch their breath. It was exhausting, but they were unwilling to accept the sight of him when they looked out from the house, so they dragged him, inch by inch, across the yard, leaving a trail of blood behind them.
Finally done, the three of them walked back towards the house, where they collapsed into the patio chairs, trying to regain their strength.
After a few minutes, Serafina remarked out loud, “You know what? Fuck it.” She walked back across the yard to the shed, which she and Daniel had converted into a small bar, leaving the girls staring after her in curiosity. When she emerged, she had a cold beer in her hand.
Sitting down with the girls, she took a long drink, then passed it to Ashley.
“You deserve it.” Looking over at Brenna, she added. “You, too.”
Ashley considered the cold beverage before bringing it to her lips. The taste was slightly refreshing, but mostly bitter. She swallowed the small sip before passing it to her sister.
Brenna was tentative, looking back at her stepmother. “Are you sure?”
Serafina nodded, gazing off into the distance. “After that? Yeah.” She tilted her head back, closing her eyes. “It’ll calm your nerves a bit, too. I know I need it.”
Brenna took a small drink, grimacing at the taste. “Blech.” She passed the bottle back to Serafina, but it was intercepted by her sister, who took another drink, this time with more enthusiasm, before passing it to her stepmother.
Serafina accepted the bottle from her, bringing it to her lips and taking another long drink. Setting the bottle down on the table next to her, she leaned forward, putting her head into her hands. ‘Don’t cry. Be strong,’ she told herself, knowing the girls needed her strength. She gave herself until the count of twenty, then raised her head, took another drink, and passed the bottle around again. When it returned to her, she drained what was left, then rose to her feet.
“Alright. We’ve got a lot of work to do still.”
Ashley was in charge of washing away the trail of blood from the back of the house to where the man’s body was. Using the hose, she sprayed everything down, pushing the blood/water mixture towards the various drains in the yard with the spray. She went over it multiple times, using the strongest setting on the nozzle, blasting away until the water ran clear.
Together, Serafina and Brenna used old towels to soak up the blood, dumping them into the trash can when they were finished. The towels weren’t enough, though, so Serafina grabbed some of Daniel’s old white t-shirts, one’s which she’d been bugging him to get rid of, and used those, wiping and wiping until every drop had been wiped up.
With the blood mostly gone, she turned over cleaning duties to Brenna, who used cleaning solutions, followed by bleach, to remove any residual stains from the floor and walls.
While the girls worked the clean up duties, Serafina looked for ways to close the broken window in the guest room. Looking at the 36” X 48” opening, she struggled to come up with a way to cover it securely. There wasn’t much wood laying around the yard or in the garage, and she didn’t have the time to pull planks from the wooden fence that surrounded the yard, nor did she want gaps in the fence.
Frustrated, she walked to the garage, looking around. She saw nothing that she could use, only tools, a Christmas tree, beach stuff, camping gear, and above her, empty luggage stashed in the overhead rack. With the door closed, she realized she was finally alone for a second. Sliding down to the floor, she felt the tears come and began softly crying. They’d been so close, so very close, to being at the man’s mercy. As she’d laid there on the floor, she’d been so groggy, her body so weak, she’d nearly given in and let herself drift off into the gray fog that had beckoned her so intensely.
She’d nearly given up.
How could she protect these girls when she’d nearly given up?
How?
‘But you didn’t.’ She thought, the thought resonating in her mind.
‘You never gave up.’
Her inner voice filled her with strength. She rose to her feet. This time she spoke out loud.
“I will do what I have to, whatever it takes. I will survive, and I will protect this family.”
Looking up again, she realized the answer was right in front of her. Grabbing a step ladder, she pulled down the luggage, then looked at how the racks were secured to the arms which descended from the rafters. It was a simple bracket that used nuts and bolts for securing. She walked around the Jeep and opened the tool chest, withdrawing a socket wrench and crescent wrench, then returned to the overhead storage rack. Little by little, she loosened each and every bolt without removing them. When they were all nothing more than finger tight, she removed the bracket on one end, then slowly lowered it into a vertical position.
The door to the garage opened. It was Ashley. “Do you need some help?”
Serafina sighed. “Perfect timing. Grab that end, will you?”
“You okay? You look like you’ve been crying.”
“Just worried about your Dad, that’s all.”
Pulling the ladder around, she undid the brackets on the opposite end, then lowered it, stepping off the ladder as she did so. Together, the two of them carried the rack down the hallway and into the guest room.
Returning to the garage, she grabbed the cordless drill, the box of drill bits, and a box of two inch wood screws. Using the technique Daniel had taught her, she pre-drilled holes around the frame of the window, finding wood with each hole. When that was done, she had Ashley get her sister, then had the two of them hold the rack in place while she secured the metal barrier over the window opening. It was hideous, but it would undoubtedly serve its purpose.
With the cleanup complete, the three of them returned to the breakfast nook, where they each enjoyed a cold soda. Ashley rose from her chair and went to the cabinet where she and her sister kept their snacks. Reaching in, she found what she was looking for: an open bag of Doritos.
Returning to the table, she shrugged. “I didn’t think it would be worth taking up space for.” She grabbed a handful, then set the bag in front Serafina, who did the same before sliding it over to Brenna.
After eating the first chip, Serafina stopped and held one up, looking at it. “I don’t remember these things ever tasting so good.”
Ashely and Brenna smiled at her. “Why do you think I’m always sneaking them into my room?” Brenna asked.
Serafina held up a finger. “Don’t let your dad find out!”
The three of them laughed a bit, feeling good to relax for a few seconds in the middle of all that was happening.
They’d successfully defended the house, and they'd done it together.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
As they left the parking lot, Daniel decided to play it safe. He kept the speed low, cruising along at 15-20 miles an hour. After the encounters they’d had with other survivors - none of which had gone well - he was a little worried about dead ends or possible ambushes. The low speeds helped keep noise to a minimum, so that was a plus as well.
Turning left onto Pacific Coast Highway, he made his way north, towards the bay. Once he reached Sea World Drive, he’d have to make a decision: merge onto the freeway, continue on towards the bay, or cross over the freeway and take side streets to get home. The south-bound freeway was in bad shape, and he had no reason to think the north-bound would be any better. If anything, people would have been trying to leave the city. That left Mission Bay Drive or the side streets. He’d have to look and see what he could before making that decision.
In the passenger seat, Paul looked shell-shocked. For the most part, he helped keep an eye out for trouble, but every so often, Daniel would catch him zoning out, staring off into space. The kid had probably been through more in the last five hours than most people experienced in their lifetimes. Unfortunately, Daniel didn’t see things get better or easier any time soon.
Driving along the short section of the PCH, he was again struck by how quiet things were. Passing by the parking lot for the trolley stop, he saw a good number of cars parked there, but most appeared abandoned. Looking to his left, he saw a homeless man with a shopping cart full of miscellaneous junk stopped on the sidewalk, looking at their vehicle as the slowly drove by. Clothed in old, well-worn clothes, the man was thin, dirty, and in desperate need of a haircut. With everything going on, Daniel thought the man had much bigger concerns, namely, a way to defend himself.
“Someone’s there.”
Daniel looked over to Paul’s side and glanced out the window. He didn’t see anything. “Where?”
“Behind the minivan. Looks like a family. A couple and two young kids.”
Daniel wished he could help, but he needed to get home to his family. “Hopefully, they’ll find somewhere safe to hide out.”
Approaching the intersection, Daniel slowed to a stop. A bus was overturned in the middle of the intersection, empty and foreboding. The majority of the windows had broken during the crash, those intact were covered in streaks of blood.
To the right, the street was partially blocked by vehicles that must have braked suddenly to avoid the bus. A large pickup truck had swerved, jumping the curb and crashing into a single story building, where it remained. Near the middle of the road, a car had spun out, coming to rest on top of the center median, its rear tires suspended a foot above the street.
Further down the street, the city trolley fully blocked the road, having stopped at its designated pickup/drop-off location. The trolley’s windows had been broken in several places. Bodies, broken and twisted, hung from the windows and littered the ground beneath them.
The way left was mostly clear, save a handful of cars that had collided on the left side of the road, but that would take them away from where they were headed, so Daniel disregarded the option.
There appeared to be enough room to work around the bus by crossing over to the wrong side of the road, but Daniel felt wary. So far nothing had been easy. He swung the car wide to the right, then slowly came back to the left, inching forward to check for any cars or people waiting on the other side of the bus. No one waited, but there were close to a dozen bodies on the street, left to rot where they’d fallen. Crows picked at the bodies busily, oblivious to the fact that they were possibly consuming the evidence of the end of the world.
Two cars had crashed on the far side of the bus. The first vehicle, an old model van, had not been able to stop in time and collided with the top of the bus, punching through. It remained wedged in the roof of the bus, its driver’s form slumped against the steering wheel. Apparently the vehicle didn’t have airbags.
The second car, a small Honda Civic which had been modified for street racing, had plowed into the van from behind, the impact pushing it under the van’s rear bumper. Both doors to the vehicle stood open, but Daniel so no sign of the driver or any passengers.
Off to the left, a Mercedes-Benz sports coupe had run off the road, crashing into the pole that held the signal light. It’s front end had wrapped around the pole, embedding it deep into the engine compartment. The door on the driver side remained shut, clearly jammed, but the window had broken in the crash. A man in a business suit
hung upside down from the window, having been partly pulled from the car. The man’s left arm had been torn off at the elbow, his forearm and hand laying on the ground nearby in a wet sheen of partially dried blood. His eyes stared forward, lifeless, forever seeing the world inverted.
Seeing room to pass, Daniel accelerated, weaving around the bodies, car parts, and broken glass. As they began to leave the bus behind, the way began to clear, but the road was still littered with trash, discarded belongings, broken glass, and pools of blood. It took every bit of his concentration to avoid the numerous obstacles in the road as he maneuvered the car.
In the seat next to him, Paul leaned forward, looking in the passenger side mirror, then twisting in his seat to look out the back window. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”
“What is it?” Focused on his efforts to keep the car away from the debris, he was unable to look back to see what had Paul concerned.
“One, no, two of those things!”
“Fuck!” Daniel risked a glance in his rearview mirror. A pair of what had been normal women raced after their vehicle, one a tall dark haired woman in a jog bra, track shorts and running shoes, the other a black woman in a tattered gray pant suit, running unevenly with one high heel on. With Daniel’s efforts to avoid the many things in the way, he’d had to slow considerably, and as a result, the women were closing the gap quickly.
“Drive faster!” Paul’s voice had taken on a hysterical sound as he watched the women approach, his knuckles white as he gripped the seat.
“Stay calm. You freaking out will only make it harder for me to concentrate.” Daniel swung the car to the left hard, avoiding a trash can in the road, then back to the right, narrowly avoiding a pair of bodies and their discarded suitcases. Taking another quick look in the mirror, he saw the women were only about two car lengths behind. He pressed down on the gas momentarily, but had to ease off almost immediately due to an abandoned SUV in the middle of the road, near a pair of bicycles. He’d have to slow to make it between the big vehicle and the bikes or he’d risk having one of the bikes get stuck under the car or worse, damage something.
Surviving Rage | Book 1 Page 18