A Glimpse of Decay (Book 3): Lost in Twilight

by Santiago, A. J.

  “Hello there,” the driver said. Trent didn’t know what to do, so he decided to step outside of the car. He slowly opened the door and eased out of the seat, but as he did, he made sure that his pistol stayed concealed in his back under his shirt.

  “You by yourself?” the driver asked. Trent didn’t answer and just looked around at the other people who were forming the circle around them. “Guess not,” the driver said. “I don’t think you would be sitting here for no reason. Got some friends inside the store?”

  “What do you want?” Trent asked with uncertainty.

  “Look, my name is Beau. No need for you to be scared. We’re just like you, trying to make it through this shit. We’re not out to hurt anyone…unless they’re trying to hurt us. The only reason I’m asking about your friends is that we wanna make sure that no one comes out of there blasting. We don’t need or want any unnecessary violence, and we sure as hell don’t need anyone to get killed and then have them come back as one of those things.”

  Trent tried to get a feeling for Beau. He was young, a few years younger than him, and Trent could see a seriousness in the man’s eyes. He wasn’t sure if he trusted him, but something about him seemed genuine. After a few seconds of gauging him, Trent said, “I’ve got two friends in there. They’re trying to find some food and supplies.”

  “Who do we have here?” asked a woman as she walked up to Trent and Beau. She was dressed in the same fashion as the man with the Longhorns cap, and she too had a holster attached to her thigh. She wore her jet black hair in a short bob style with bangs, and her pale complexion gave her the appearance of a Gothic type person. Although she wasn’t wearing any noticeable make-up, Trent could envision her wearing dark black lipstick and dark eye shadow in more normal times.

  “I’m Trent,” he said as he cleared his mind of the erotic image of the woman.

  “This is my wife Stephanie,” Beau said. He looked at her and then pointed to the store. “He has some friends in there looking for food.”

  “Really? So, I guess y’all have been managing alright through all of this?”

  “I wouldn’t say ‘alright,’ but we’ve been hanging in there. We just don’t know what’s going on. We haven’t heard anything on the radio and the cell phones are down. We can’t reach anyone.”

  “Yeah, everything has gone to shit,” Beau said. “From what we can tell, the government has fallen apart. There’s no organized police and no organized military…or at least not that we have seen.”

  Trent sighed. He had hoped to hear better news than what the stranger had just relayed to him. “When this all started, my friends and I met at the North side police station. They were putting out instructions on the radio telling everybody to report to the nearest cop station or fire house so they could take people to safety zones. We were waiting in line there when a whole bunch of those things attacked us—”

  “Yeah, we heard the same bullshit,” Beau interjected. “We didn’t buy into it though.”

  “Uh, maybe we should go check on your friends,” Stephanie suggested. “And maybe we can find what we’re looking for.”

  “Yeah, we should do that.” Beau turned to the group and called out, “Shawn, you and Jose come with us, I want the rest of you guys hold the perimeter.” A thin, lanky black man and a short, portly Hispanic man came trotting up to Beau. Trent immediately noticed that they were both carrying AR style rifles.

  “Man, you guys are ready for World War Three,” Trent commented.

  “Or the end of the world,” Beau chuckled back. “Alright, let’s go in there and find your friends.”

  As the small contingent made their way into the store, Trent decided to call out for his companions. He didn’t want to surprise them or catch them off guard.

  “Hey, you hear that?” Kara asked Randy. “It’s Trent. He’s calling for us.”

  “Yeah, I hear him. I wonder if he’s okay. Let’s go and see what’s up, but be ready for anything. Somebody could have a gun to his head.” The two cautiously made their way towards the sound of Trent’s voice. Kara intentionally left the cart behind in case they were being lured into a trap. She didn’t want to make it easy for someone to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

  As the two made their way down the cereal aisle, they came into view of Trent and his new found compatriots. Randy instinctively raised his shotgun and Kara brought the machete up to her chest. Her eyes danced around as she sized up her opponents.

  “It’s cool,” Trent said to Randy. “This is Beau and this is his wife Stephanie.” Standing between the couple, he pointed to his right and then to his left. “They’re here looking for food, just like us.”

  Beau could see the distrust in Randy’s eyes. “It’s alright, man, we’re not here to hurt you. And don’t worry, we’re not going to take anything away from you. Whatever you found in here belongs to you. Cool?”

  Randy’s eyes ratcheted from Beau to Stephanie. He quickly glanced over at Shawn and Jose and noted their rifles. Knowing that he didn’t stand a chance against the firepower that was facing him, he lowered his shotgun and reached over to Kara, cupping his hand over the machete blade. He looked at her and motioned with his head for her to ease it down.

  Trent walked over to his friends and turned to face Beau. “This is Randy and that’s Kara.”

  “Hi Randy and Kara, nice to meet you.”

  Stephanie stepped up behind Beau and said, “Yeah, nice to meet you. So, you guys been able to survive through all of this I see.”

  “Well, not all of us,” Trent said. He gulped and gritted his teeth. “I lost my wife and son when this all started. In a car crash.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Beau said.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry to hear that,” Stephanie added as she continued to eye the trio.

  “We were trying to get out of town, and like a dumb ass, I stopped at a convenience store, and then some fight broke out and people started shooting. I got scared and I floored it, and then I lost control—”

  “Wait a minute, up by Sontera and Stone Oak?” Beau asked.

  “Uh, yeah, right by there,” Trent said, perplexed.

  “We were right there,” Stephanie said. “In the parking lot next to the store.”

  “Yeah, we were meeting up there trying to figure out what to do,” Shawn said. “I saw your ride, the Beamer S.U.V., rolling over as we were pulling away from the parking lot.”

  “Shit…yeah, that was us…that was me,” Trent solemnly said. “That’s when Diego and Jennifer died.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss, bro,” Shawn said. He stepped up and offered his hand to the grieving man.

  Caught off guard and feeling a little embarrassed, Trent raised his arm and accepted Shawn’s hand. They shook hands, and fighting back his tears, he said, “Thanks, I really appreciate that.”

  “Hey Beau!” yelled a voice from outside. “We got one out here!”

  “Shit, we’re taking too long,” Stephanie said to her husband. “We need to hurry up and get what we need.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” He walked to the front of the store and yelled, “Take him out with the bat. We gotta save our ammo. And we don’t wanna draw any more of them.” Following Beau’s instructions, one of perimeter guards grabbed an aluminum baseball bat from the bed of one of the trucks and ran out to meet the lumbering reanimated corpse. With a swift swing, the white-eyed female was knocked to the ground—a final blow sent her brains pouring out onto the asphalt.

  Looking back at Trent and his friends, he said, “Let’s get your stuff loaded up in your car. If you wanna come with us, that’s fine. We’re gonna get what we need and head out as quickly as we can.”

  “Y’all got a safe place?” Randy asked.

  “As safe as you can be in all of this shit,” Beau said. “But whatever we’re gonna do, it needs to be fast. Jose, can you help them with their stuff?”

  “Sure thing. Come on people, let’s move.” Jose walked over to Randy and Kar
a and in an urgent tone, he said, “Follow me.”

  Seeing that Trent and Randy and Kara were being helped, Beau trotted out to the parking lot and shouted, “Alright, let’s get about five people in here so we can load up. Looks like this place hasn’t been worked over too much.”

  As Trent walked past Beau, he stopped and said, “Hey, we really appreciate what you’re doing for us.” He turned and looked at his partners and asked, “What do you think? You want to go with them?”

  Kara and Randy looked at each other and Randy said to him, “What do we have to lose. At least we’ll be around other people.”

  Kara really didn’t respond either way and simply said, “Whatever you think.”

  Put off at Kara’s cryptic answer, Trent looked at her momentarily. He then turned to Beau and said, “Okay, we’ll go with you, but we’re almost out of gas.”

  Beau looked over at Stephanie and said, “Hey baby, could you grab a fuel jug from one of the trucks and let them get some gas?”

  “Sure thing, but let’s hurry,” she said with urgency.

  As Trent and the others went out to their car, he looked over at Randy and said, “I think we’re going to be okay.”

  “I hope so,” Randy said. “I really hope so.”

  ***

  “So let me get this straight, you guys used to play paintball together?” Trent asked Beau.

  “No, not paintball, although it’s kind of like paintball. It’s called ‘Airsoft.’ The concept is the same, but instead of shooting paintballs at each other, we would shoot small plastic bee-bees at each other. Plus, the guns look like the real things, not like those fake looking paintball guns with their big hoppers.”

  “Wow, now that’s interesting,” Randy commented as he sat in a fold-out lounge chair and sipped from his beer can. “And all of ya’ll are gun nuts too?”

  Feeling slightly offended, Beau giggled and answered, “Well, I wouldn’t call us nuts. But if you’re asking if we’re gun enthusiasts, well then yes, we’re gun nuts.”

  Quickly realizing that he had used the wrong term, Randy said, “Shit man, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry man, I know what you meant. No offense taken. As a matter of fact, we’re proud of who we are and what we’re about. Many people would call us survivalists or preppers, but we just like to think of ourselves as being ready for anything, and I mean anything. Economic failure, terrorist attack, civil disorder, foreign invasion…I mean anything.”

  “Did you plan for the dead coming back to life?” Kara sarcastically asked as she stretched out over an air mattress. She was propping her head up on her hand.

  “Well, that one was kind of hard to see, but we’re trying to handle it the best we can. That’s why we scoped out this spot.”

  “Yeah, you gotta admit, picking out a diesel truck dealership is pretty smart,” Trent said as he glanced around the sales office that they had settled into. The desk had been removed from the room, making the office resemble a small dorm.

  “I figured it would give us the best chance for survival. It’s on a big piece of property, it’s got a large wrought iron fence around the truck yard and an interior fence around the central showroom and service center, it’s got a gas and diesel fueling station, and it’s easily defendable. We spent a lot of time doing reconnaissance on this place. ”

  “So I guess this is all just one big paintball game to you guys?” Kara asked.

  Kara’s antagonistic tone made Randy and Trent look at each other with embarrassment. Completely taken aback at her drastic change in attitude, the men were at a loss when trying to come up with a plausible reason for her negative outlook. Mortified at her rudeness, Randy quickly jumped into the conversation to cut off any more disrespectful jabs from his disgruntled cohort. “Well, you guys did real well by picking this place out. This joint has a working air conditioner, you got food and water, and you got protection…shit, you even got cold beer.” In a gesture of appreciation, he raised his can and tipped it in the direction of Beau.

  Keying on what Randy was attempting to do, Trent followed suit. “Yeah, we owe you a lot for helping us out. If you hadn’t come along when you did, I’m not sure we could have held out much longer.”

  Feeling slighted, Kara said with derision, “Oh, I think we could have done alright. It wasn’t like we were down to our last grain of food.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” Trent said to her as he tried to cut off any misunderstandings. “I just meant that being in a bigger group makes things easier than being alone. Don’t you think?”

  Believing that Trent was trying to appease Beau, Kara decided to refrain from saying anything else, but in a fit of anger and spite, she decided to fire off one final shot. “It’s not like you were all by yourself out there. You had Randy and me by your side.” As the last word left her mouth, she shot an annoyed glare at Trent.

  Beau stood up from his chair and looked down at Kara. He wanted to say something that would maybe reassure her that he and his company weren’t the bad guys, but he also knew that he needed to pick his words carefully. It was obvious that she was upset about something and he didn’t want to make matters worse. “You know, he’s right…about safety in numbers. We’ve got sixteen adults and five kids in our group, and it’s because of those numbers that we can take care of each other and support each other.” Beau sensed that she was feeling resentful towards him and the looks she was giving him confirmed his suspicions, but he couldn’t figure out what was fueling her annoyance.

  Recognizing that he needed to leave the new found group to themselves to allow them to work out any issues that needed addressing, he said, “Well, I’m gonna go check and make sure the watch is set for tonight. You guys just chill out here for a while. Stephanie and the other girls will have dinner made a little later on after they tend to the children. I’ll be back to check on y’all in a bit.” He walked out and disappeared around a corner.

  After Beau was far enough away, Trent stood up from the ice chest which he was sitting on and glared at Kara. “What’s your problem?”

  “What’s my problem!” she fired back angrily. “You made it sound like we were so fucking helpless out there. Like these guys are our saviors or something.”

  “I didn’t mean to make it sound like that, but you gotta admit, things were getting a little scary. Shit, we were almost out of gas. And the last store we went into before we met these guys…well I’m sure you remember having to chop up a bunch of cannibalistic corpses with your machete. Or did you forget that?”

  “He’s right,” Randy said as he tried to defuse the conversation.

  “Don’t try to back him Randy.”

  “I’m not trying to back anybody here, I’m just saying that things were about to get real rough on us out there if we ran out of gas.”

  “That’s bullshit Randy, and you know it. We would have been just fine. With the three of us, we would have been able to make it.”

  Feeling the sting of Kara’s words, Randy now found himself feeling offended. “You know what, I’m just staying out of this!” He stood up and as he walked off, he said, “Y’all just handle your own shit.”

  “What is up with you?” Trent asked Kara. “These guys helped us, and they didn’t have to. Shit, you saw their artillery. They could have simply killed us and taken our stuff, but they didn’t. They offered to help us instead.”

  “Don’t you get it?” Kara fired back at Trent. “To these guys, this is just one big role-playing game. Doesn’t it freak you out how none of them seem to be too bothered about what’s going on? They’ve probably been hoping and praying for something like this to happen so they can play out their war games. It’s like they’re getting off on all of this. And to make matters worse, they have the women cooking and taking care of the kids. How backwards is that?”

  “Wait a minute, are you pissed because these guys aren’t politically correct or some crazy crap like that? You’ve gotta be kidding me, r
ight?”

  “These guys are right-wing extremists. They’re probably one step away from being like the Davidians in Waco. Jesus, they think they’re like the Old West settlers. They only things missing are the bonnets for the women and the prairie schooners. As a matter of fact, do you want me to go fetch you your supper?”

  “I can’t believe you’re actually bringing this up right now. Politics. In the middle of Armageddon or the apocalypse or whatever you want to call this. People are dying out there right now. Our way of life is coming to an end and I’m sorry if things aren’t politically correct for you in the way everything is playing out.”

  Kara rolled over and covered her eyes with her hands. “You know what, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I can see you’re just like them, but you need to know this, don’t expect me to assume my role around here. I can do anything that these fucking guys can do, and I’m not gonna get through this shit by playing a housewife, that’s for sure.”

  Trent found himself in disbelief at what Kara was saying. He was more confused than he was angry, and he couldn’t understand the logic behind her reasoning. He tried to calm himself down and he stepped back from the conversation, deciding that it was best just to leave her alone. “Look, I’ll just leave you be, but whatever it is that you’re feeling, you need to work it out. We don’t need any problems with these people.” Deciding it was best to give Kara her space, he turned to walk away.

  Angry with him for his talking down to her and feeling deeply offended at him, she said, “I know she’s not here, but if she were, I’d feel sorry for your wife.” She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. With a dead tone she said, “It would suck to have a patriarch like you.”

  Trent stopped mid-stride and spun around to face Kara. He could feel a flash of heat coursing up the back of his neck—his jaws tightened as his eyes narrowed on her. His first urge was to unleash a wave of profanity on the young woman, but he kept his composure and nibbled on his bottom lip. The anger in him almost frightened him and he didn’t want it to explode in an uncontrollable outburst.