by Chesla, Gary
The largest and newest homes were in Westmont.
They had the best schools, the nicest restaurants, the best roads.
The best way to describe Westmont to someone was to show them a picture from Better Homes and Gardens and then add, “Only nicer.”
The last month they had spent at the log cabin home at the summit, a month of mostly peace and quiet, had made it easy for the group to forget the images of what they had last seen in Westmont after Mike rescued Linda and Jamie from the attic where they had been trapped for three days.
It had been easier to forget their days of terror and confusion than they thought possible.
But everything quickly came flooding back into their minds as they got their first look at Westmont in the last month.
They all sat quietly and stared as Tony drove the old Buick slowly into town.
The grass was overgrown, nearly a foot tall in most of the yards. The weeds and dandelions, which were seldom seen in Westmont, had gone wild and now dominated most of the formerly pristine yards.
Large tuffs of grass were growing up through the cracks in the sidewalks and even on many of the streets.
The buildings, with most of their windows broken, looked old and abandoned, like a scene of an Old West ghost town.
The buildings looked dirty and unkept with their doors hanging wide open or lying on the ground, split and shattered.
Cars sat on the sidewalks and across the roads at eerie angles, the doors hanging open, dried blood smeared across the cracked and jagged remains of the car’s windows.
Dead bodies, rotted and decayed beyond recognition, were lying on the streets, sidewalks and hanging from the doors and jagged edges of the broken car windows.
What had happened was no longer just a memory, as Mike, Tony and Linda relived in their minds the horror that they had each endured not all that long ago.
“My God,” Linda exclaimed, “this is worse than I remembered it.”
“I don’t think it was this bad when we left,” Tony replied. “I think a lot of this happened after we were up at the summit. I’m guessing that as the people hiding in their homes began to run out of food, they must have tried to go out and look for food or get out of Westmont. It’s my guess that is when a lot of this happened. By then, it’s obvious with how bad conditions had become that they didn’t have a chance.”
“It’s hard to believe all of this was happening only a few miles from where we’ve been staying,” Mike added.
“Yeah, but help is coming,” Tony said sarcastically.
“Even if help arrived today,” Linda said, “who would they help? It doesn’t look like anyone could have survived this.”
“Unless they managed to get away to someplace safe like we did,” Mike replied.
“And we only saw two people still alive where we were,” Tony said, “and we could have done without those two.”
“So where is everyone else?” Linda asked.
“I think we’re looking at them,” Tony replied. “At least most of them and that is assuming there were a few others that managed to live through this.”
“Do you really think there are others? I don’t think anyone could have survived this,” Linda asked.
“There is Doctor Kennedy,” Tony replied, “but if there are any more, I doubt there would be very many. I beginning to wonder if Doctor Kennedy is still among the living anymore.”
“I keep thinking about what that old man said in Twin Rocks about desperate people,” Mike said. “The two guys we ran into near Outdoor World were either desperate or just plain no good, but anyone that survived this and is still living in this hell, I’d hate to imagine how desperate they are at this point.”
“I can imagine,” Tony replied. “We need to keep our eyes open while we’re around here. What would you do to keep Linda and Jamie safe? If they were starving, what would you do to get them something to eat?”
“Anything,” Mike replied softly.
“You’re a decent guy,” Tony said. “At least most people would probably say you were, but they don’t know you as well as I do.”
Tony smiled briefly then continued, “What I’m trying to say is if there is anyone left, they may have been good people at one time, but if they are fighting for their lives and the lives of their families, who knows what they’re like now.”
“That is if anyone else survived,” Mike said.
“The way things look around here, that would be a big ‘IF’,” Tony added.
“It would be hard to tell whether someone is dangerous or not.” Linda asked.
“Look at this place,” Tony replied. “I doubt we are going to find anyone else alive, but if we do, I don’t know. Things are what they are, as far as I know there isn’t an instruction manual on how to survive the end of the world. We’ll have to wing it and hope for the best.”
Tony continued to drive further into Westmont.
The sights seemed to confirm what Tony had said.
The number of bodies everywhere suggested that after Mike and his group left Westmont a month back, something big had happened.
It looked like the entire population of Westmont was lying dead in the streets.
Mike kept replaying the old man’s words in his mind as he stared at the deserted city around him.
He sat up and studied the area more closely when Tony turned and drove up Drexel Avenue, his street.
Drexel Avenue looked very little like he remembered it.
However, it looked like what he now expected it to be after what he had just seen as they started into Westmont.
The only thing not bloody and trashed was a red Kia Soul sitting on the street as they turned on to Drexel Avenue.
When they arrived at Mike’s house, Mike just sat and stared for a moment, remembering the day he left to go up to the cabin for a weekend of relaxation and to try to forget about how much he hated selling cars.
It was supposed to get him in a better frame of mind before he started his efforts to find a new job.
It was to be a simple weekend with the boys to get his mind off his problems.
It had ended up being the day before the world went to hell and Mike found out what real problems were.
Mike wished he had known then, what he knew now.
The hardest part now as he looked at his house, was to see all the bodies lying in his yard.
“Pull into the yard, Tony,” Mike said.
Tony drove off the street and into Mike’s yard, stopping the Buick six feet from the front door.
For a long moment, they sat and studied the house.
The sight of the house, the symbol of the way things had been, made Mike feel a sadness for what he had lost, what mankind had lost.
He knew that even if he never saw another zombie, life would never be anywhere near what he had before.
But Mike’s thoughts were not on how good life could become again, but more on how bad would things get.
What kind of future did they have to look forward to?
If his house was any indication, they would be trying to survive in an alien world with the ghosts of the past all around to haunt them.
Linda spoke, bringing Mike’s thoughts back to why they were here.
“The entire first floor was packed with zombies before Jamie and I barricaded ourselves upstairs,” Linda whispered.
“I’m not a doctor,” Tony said, “but I would suggest we cover our mouth and nose with a rag or something before we go into the house. With the house full of decomposing infected bodies, the air inside probably isn’t safe to breathe. Except for getting bit, I’m not sure how the virus spreads, but I don’t think we should chance it.”
Mike reached under his seat and pulled out a few rags and tossed one to Tony, then turned and handed two more rags to Linda and Jamie.
“Here, tie these over your mouth, maybe this will help. Tony and I will go in and see what it is like inside,” Mike said looking at Linda, “you keep an eye on Jamie and the car until we c
ome back. If we need help cleaning out the pantry, we’ll come get you.”
“I wanted to go in and get one last look at the house, but maybe it’s best that we wait here,” Linda replied. “Just grab what’s in the pantry and get back out fast. If it looks too bad in there, just stay outside. It would be nice to have the extra food, but it’s not worth the risk of getting infected. Maybe you should hold your breath when you go in if it is too bad.”
Mike nodded. “I just might do that.”
Linda asked, “How do you plan on going inside?”
“I thought we would go in through the front door,” Mike replied.
“When the zombies attacked the house, they broke down the back door. It might be a lot easier to go in that way, besides, the zombies were piled up three high trying to get up the stairway. They’re probably stacked up against the front door and have it blocked,” Linda said.
“Good thinking,” Mike smiled. “We’ll make this fast.”
“Grab the canvas bags,” Mike said to Tony. “The pantry is just inside the back door.”
Tony nodded, grabbed the bags, his bow and got out of the car.
Mike smiled at Linda as he went to join Tony.
They tied the rags over their faces as they walked around the house.
“It looks like a damn war was fought around here after we left and went up to the summit,” Tony said quietly. “I think we were lucky that we got back here to get Linda and Jamie when we did.”
Mike scanned the neighbor’s yards, “I didn’t think this many people lived around here.”
“It could be they came from somewhere else,” Tony replied.
“Maybe,” Mike said. “Either way, I guess it doesn’t matter now. They’re here but at least their dead.”
“Yeah,” Tony replied. “I never thought I would be happy to come into town and find out that everyone was dead.”
Mike held out his hand and stopped as they reached the corner of the house.
After a second, Mike whispered, “OK, the pantry is right inside the door.”
The men walked over to the porch and crept up the back steps quietly.
Mike led the way across the porch and approached the door from the side instead of straight on.
He then took a quick glance through the open doorway.
The door had collapsed into the kitchen and laid on the floor inside the doorway.
The window was smashed out of the door and the glass was scattered across the kitchen floor.
A half-dozen zombies were on the floor on one side of the kitchen.
From where Mike stood, he could see that the hallway that led to the right appeared to be blocked by a stack of bodies three feet high.
Mike turned back to Tony, who was standing with his crossbow ready as he glanced around the yard watching for any kind of movement.
“Linda was right about the bodies being stacked deep in the hallway leading to the stairs,” Mike whispered. “The smell coming out of the house is also worse than anything I’ve ever smelled.”
“Can we get to the pantry?” Tony asked.
“It’s right around the corner to the left, that area looks passable,” Mike replied. “But I think the rest of the house is too bad to go any further.”
Tony handed Mike a canvas bag, “Let’s clean out the pantry and get out of here. Linda had the right idea, try to hold your breath. These rags might help, but with all those bodies in there, I don’t want to breathe in any of that shit in there.”
Mike took the bag from Tony, took a deep breath and slowly walked into the kitchen.
Tony followed quietly.
Mike moved over to the hallway.
He looked down the hallway towards the stairway and the front door.
He motioned to Tony to take a look, then Mike looked left towards the pantry.
Mike stared at the pantry for a few minutes then signaled to Tony, pointing back towards the porch.
Tony followed Mike back outside where both men let out the breath they had been holding.
“What’s up?” Tony asked.
“Someone else has been here,” Mike replied. “The pantry is empty.”
“That makes sense,” Tony replied. “Did you see how the bodies in the kitchen were all on one side of the kitchen? That pile in the hallway too, those things didn’t stack themselves up like that. Someone did that to get to the pantry.”
“If that was the case, it had to be someone that knew where the pantry was,” Mike said. “Probably someone that lived in our plan, these houses all have a similar layout.”
“Hopefully that’s all it was,” Tony replied.
Let’s go check out the garage,” Mike said.
Mike and Tony walked down off the porch and returned to the car.
Linda looked curiously at the empty bags.
“Someone beat us to the pantry,” Mike said when he saw the questioning look on Linda’s face.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Linda said then added, “what’s the house look like inside?”
“It looks like a morgue,” Tony answered.
“We could only make it into the kitchen and the pantry,” Mike added. “Bodies are stacked three feet high in the hallway. You were right about the front door, we would have had a tough time pushing it open. After we saw that the pantry had been cleaned out, we decided to forget about trying to go through anymore of the house, it was just too disgusting.”
“So much for the idea of being able to eventually move back home,” Linda sighed.
“I kind of like our new place,” Mike smiled.
Linda looked back and returned his sad smile.
Mike walked past the car and went over to the garage door.
He bent down, grabbed the handle, but then stopped.
“You want to get your bow ready just in case?” Mike asked as he turned back towards Tony and Linda.
Tony was already standing ready with his bow raised.
“I’m way ahead of you,” Tony grinned.
Mike turned back, grabbed the door handle and raised the garage door, ready to turn and run at the least little sound.
But all was quiet and undisturbed inside the garage.
Mike and Tony quickly went to work carrying out tools and supplies out to the car.
After ten minutes, they all piled back into the car.
They drove down the street and were about to turn right to begin the drive back up over the mountain.
Tony stopped the car and began to look up and down Route 271.
“I don’t think we have to worry about traffic,” Mike said.
Tony continued to look over the neighborhood, studying the yards and side streets.
“What are you looking for?” Linda asked.
“I swear there was a red car parked here when turned to drive up to your house,” Tony said.
Mike turned and looked back down Drexel Avenue.
“Yeah, there was. It was a red Kia Soul,” Mike said. “I remember noticing the car because it was the only thing on the street that wasn’t bloody or trashed. I was going to mention it but I was too anxious to see what we were going to find at the house.”
“So, we aren’t alone,” Linda said.
“It seems that we aren’t,” Tony replied, “but do the people in that car know it and if they do, what do they think about it?”
“Yeah, did it make them happy to know they aren’t alone,” Mike said.
“Or did it piss them off?” Tony added.
“Keep your eyes open for that red car,” Tony added as he put the Buick in gear and started up Route 271.
They all studied the area as they drove, but it was a quiet drive home.
When Tony pulled the car behind the house and turned off the engine, everyone started to climb out of the car.
Tony pulled Mike aside.
“I think I’m going to go down to the road for a while” he said.
“Did you see something?” Mike asked.
“No, but I want
to keep an eye on the road for a while just in case we were followed,” Tony answered. “I’m going to drag some brush over behind the trees near the road and make a blind to keep out of sight. You stay here with Linda and Jamie. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“What if someone comes up the road?” Mike asked. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“No problem,” Tony replied. “Especially if they don’t decide to stop and check out our road and just keep on going. I really don’t expect to see anyone. I’m just making sure.”
“If it’s that red car,” Mike said. “If they saw us down in Westmont, they may be OK. If they were a couple of thugs, they could have attacked us at the house.”
“Maybe,” Tony replied, “or they could have decided to follow us instead, looking for a bigger score.”
“OK, that’s possible too,” Mike said. “But we need to work out a signal of some sort in case there is trouble.”
“Unless they have guns, I should be able to handle it,” Tony replied. “I’ll be fine. Just keep your eyes and ears open around here until I get back. I did a lot of this sort of thing in Iraq. I’ll be fine.”
Tony grabbed his bow and an extra pack of arrows and followed the woods next to the dirt road until he was down at the highway.
He found a few branches in the woods and piled them behind the pines in the high weeds.
Tony then crawled under the branches and made himself comfortable in a position that gave him a view of the highway.
Then he sat and watched the road out in front of him as he listened for the sound of a car’s engine.
Chapter 9
June 30th, Twin Falls, Idaho
Fran began to wake up when she heard a strange sound.
The noise she heard sounded like someone pouring water on to a cardboard box.
She had been in a sound sleep, a combination of being totally exhausted after her visit from Chad and Pete yesterday afternoon and the relief she felt at being able to snuggle up next to a warm body.
The warm body smelled like a dog, because he was a dog, but Fran didn’t mind.