About an hour later the storm had completely moved to the west of us. We got back on the road traveling until we neared Phoenix. We had absolutely no plans whatsoever of entering a large city with likely massive numbers of Fallen. Finding an R.V. park we pulled over to get some rest. We carefully opened the doors leaving the tape as best we could in case another storm should arise. Everyone got out to stretch for a couple minutes from the long drive.
“I just saw someone use a lighter over in that bus!” Starlette pointed over towards a school bus the rest of us hadn’t really noticed about thirty feet away.
“Are you certain,” Jessie asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“She’s right. Look close someone is smoking. Star and David back inside. Amy and Sam keep an eye on them please. Everyone else lets go pay a visit. Might not be friendly so keep your guard up.” I slowly started walking towards the bus. The others all did as I requested. There were times when I knew someone had to lead. This was one such occasion.
To the right of the bus were laying two men who had been shot in the head. Resting my hand on the grip of my pistol ready to be drawn in an instant if necessary I lightly knocked on the main door near the front of the bus. There were several whispers from inside. I motioned for the others to fan out at the ready. They took up positions to not be all taken out easily without a fight. With the firepower we were holding we could keep a large mob of Fallen at bay for a little while.
A thin framed white man wearing glasses that appeared to be in his early thirties with dirty blonde hair and grayish eyes slowly opened the doors. He stepped outside with his hands in the air.
“We don’t’ want any trouble. We already have enough as it is. I’m Kyle. What is it that you want?”
I eased my hand away from my gun so he would know I hadn’t come as a threat. “Nice to meet you Kyle. I’m Rye. We are actually out looking for other survivors. You would be the first we have come across in a long while. We are not here to pose a threat of any kind. The individuals you see with me are armed only for our own protection. You said you have troubles. What kind of trouble?”
He showed a small relief in his gesture easing himself down into a sitting position on the bottom stair of the bus entrance. He lowered his hands looking up at me trying to decide if I was actually being serious.
“I’m not even sure where to start. A few months back we ran across a small group that robbed us of everything we had. They took a few of the women that were in our group captive. A few men tried to stop them, getting shot dead for their trouble. A couple of our group were infected from the storm somehow earlier this evening before getting safely inside the bus. They turned into Fallen shortly after. One of them actually bit one of the girls before we put him down. She has a bad fever and looks really pale. We of course have no medicine to help with the fever.”
“You’ve been through a lot Kyle and I’m sorry. I need you to listen carefully and trust me. I know it’s asking a lot. You need to get everyone away from the girl that was bitten right now. She is going to turn like the others did earlier.”
“What? How do you know?”
“The symptoms you described are the same as my deceased wife had before she turned. I have also seen others turn after being bitten. Please, it sounds like you don’t have much time. At least let me have a look at her. I can tell for certain if I see her. There will be a pale blue glow in her eyes that is barely noticeable.”
He stood up glancing back into the bus. “I don’t know the others are kind of frightened after seeing all the guns.”
I briskly walked up to him grabbing him by the arm. Yanking him away from the door I went inside the bus. He tried to run back into the bus after me. Kurt was quick to grab hold of him with a vise grip on his shoulder.
“He’s trying to help. He knows more about the infected than most of us have even heard until now. Let him do what needs to be done.” Jerod stood near Kurt trying to reason with Kyle so things didn’t get out of hand.
Inside I found a light skinned female in her late twenties with wavy red hair and dark sullen green eyes holding a sickly young girl’s head in her lap. A Hispanic male in his early twenties with brown hair and eyes aimed a pistol in my general direction. A white male with black hair and blue eyes sat at the very back of the bus looking a bit frightened. He appeared to be a little younger than the others. I held my hands out in front of myself palms first as a gesture that I was not here as a threat.
“Kyle told me that the girl was bitten by a Fallen. The reason she is ill is because she was infected by the bite. She is going to turn very soon. I’ve seen it happen before.”
“Her name is Sasha and I don’t believe you. What do you really want?” The two guys glanced at the woman as she spoke. They both appeared unsure which of us to believe was right.
“I can prove it to you. All you have to do is look for yourself. Sasha will have a slight pale blue glow in her eyes like most of the Fallen do if you look really close. It is the main indication that a person has been infected soon to change into one of them.”
I slowly walked closer while the man holding the gun had focused his sights more intently on the injured girl. Only a couple feet were now between us. He had lowered the gun a little until looking back my way.
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll pull the trigger”
“Thomas I think he might be right. She does have an odd glow in her eyes.”
“I’m out of here!”
The young one at the very back jumped up running down the aisle. I turned sideways to let him by while also moving forward a little more.
“Scott where are you going?”
“Let him go Thomas. I think she is infected. If this man is right then she is going to turn.” The female slid out of the bench seat laying Sasha’s head down gently. She stood up walking the few between us. “Sorry I doubted your sincerity. It’s been a while since we met anyone that had our best interest at heart. I’m April McGuinness”
She was holding out her hand for me to shake of all things like we were new best friends. For some reason though her name sounded oddly familiar.
“Nice to meet you April. Think you might be able to convince Thomas to not point his gun at the two of us?”
Quickly turning around she noticed that Thomas was still holding the gun aimed at her back while staring over at Sasha.
“Thomas! Put that away before you shoot me.” Momentarily woken from distraction he lowered the gun towards the floor of the bus.
All of a sudden Sasha started convulsing and then stopped. Thomas dropped his gun to the floor the instant that her eyes popped open. He jumped up quickly leaping over the seats towards the front of the bus. What had been Sasha sat up watching Thomas play leap frog briefly before averting its attention to April who was now the closest. Springing from the chair it ran towards open baring teeth. With one hand I drew my gun. The other I grabbed April by the waist pulling her around me. Inches away from me I pulled the trigger shooting the newly Fallen directly between its eyes.
April rested a hand on mine that still held her by the waist. “Thanks.”
I lowered my hand feeling slightly awkward. “Sorry about your friend.”
Holstering my gun, I bent down picking up the gun Thomas had dropped before hightailing it out of the bus. I tried handing it to April, but she simply shook her head that she didn’t want it. She continued to stand there mildly in shock. I rest my hand gently against her back while motioning that we should leave the bus. She shook herself out of the trance.
“Right. Let’s get out of here. Thanks again.” She stood up on her tiptoes being a bit shorter than me planting a kiss on my cheek.
-2-
A short while after burying Sasha and the other bodies we sat around a campfire swapping stories letting everyone getting to know each other. During the time Jessie gently pried information from them what seemed menial questions carefully gauging their responses. She eventually nodded to me that they wer
e acceptable. I brought up the topic of our community describing it with the constant helpful contributions of others in my group. When they showed interest I invited them to become part of our community explaining the real purpose of our trip was to look for other survivors that we believed would be helpful in making the community stronger. It did not take much convincing for them to agree. I let everyone know that I still wished to search for more survivors before we returned back to Ruidoso. After having dinner we invited them inside the R.V. to get some rest. Jessie and I took the first watch of the night. Around two in the morning Jessie went off prowl about the area in the dark. I sat by the campfire feeding it wood to keep it alive. April came out of the R.V. sitting down beside me with large doe eyes.
“Couldn’t sleep much. To be honest I kind of feel safer out here near you.”
“You should really try to get more rest. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow”
“I know. I just haven’t felt you know really secure in a long time with everything that has happened in the last year. I didn’t think there were any good people left out there. Then out of nowhere you show up at the right moment to save my life. I just…” April leaned in close trying to kiss me.
I jumped up backing away. ‘Listen, it’s not that I don’t find you attractive because you really are. I’m in a relationship and don’t want to compromise that in any way. I haven’t been this happy in a long time. I hope you understand.”
She gave a reluctant pouty face before responding. “Sorry, I didn’t know. Whoever she is I hope she continues to make you happy. She is a very lucky woman. Think I’ll try to get more rest like you suggested. Night Rye.” She stood up walking slowly back towards the R.V.
“Night April.”
I sat back down picking up a stick poking at the fire. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“Geez, Jessie! You trying to give me a heart attack? You move to quietly when sneaking around. Say something next time”
“That would defeat the purpose of sneaking around.”
“What?”
“Just be quiet and kiss me Rye.” Jessie had overheard the conversation with April evidently. I didn’t argue with obliging her request.
The following morning we syphoned what fuel we could find into the tank on the trailer we pulled behind the R.V. While searching for gas a Fallen that had once been an elderly gentleman sprang out of a parked camper knocking Sam down to the ground. It struggled on top of him gnashing its teeth. Sam had instantly gotten a tight grip with one of his large hands around its throat before falling backwards not letting go for any reason. Dan was quick to grab a nearby shovel bashing its head until it fell over. He continued until there was only a mass where its head had once been.
“Not losing another brother today.”
After filling the tank best we could everyone comfortably crammed themselves inside the R.V. Although moving about freely had become not quite so easy as before because of the belongings the new members of the group brought on board. We drove for a couple hours before stopping at a small restaurant with a few cars outside. Everyone got out for a quick stretch of their legs before loading back up. Bypassing Phoenix and other major cities we eventually made our way to Nevada.
“I don’t want to spend too much time in this state. Not many places here that I would consider safe to stop with all the infected I have seen roaming about. Definitely don’t want to go anywhere near Vegas even if gambling or grand hotels sound pleasant. We have a few casinos back in Ruidoso with huge numbers Fallen in the vicinity.”
Jerod slowed down a pace giving me the opportunity to look over a map I held. I plotted a course through a few small towns before we would have to completely turn around. Further paths would transverse into the mountains that led towards Vegas. The day went by slowly without spotting any new survivors. Along the way we stopped at several houses that we thought might be worth bothering to look for supplies. We entered one that we found completely unlocked finding a stock pile of canned food and bottled water covering the counters in the kitchen. It appeared that a decent size family must have prepared for the worst. For some reason there was no sign of anyone living or not in the house. There was no clue to why an entire family left all these supplies laying around. There were also bags packed with clothes and other items. It was like they had simply vanished into thin air.
“I don’t like this, but we will wait a couple hours. If no one shows up to claim this stuff by then we will load it all up into the R.V.”
A couple hours turned into a couple more. By then it was already getting dark outside. We decided that it would be best to stay the night hitting the road as soon as the sun was up. Around midnight Amy woke me up to tell me that Dan had seen headlights coming down the street. I immediately got out of the comfortable bed I fallen asleep in next to Jessie. She was already up and moving towards the living room. Standing out of sight we saw headlights from a vehicle pulling into the driveway. If they lived here they were likely wondering why the large R.V. they didn’t recall was parked across the street.
After shutting off their truck two men exited obviously intoxicated. They did not in the slightest notice our R.V. They stumbled forward helping each other stay upright to the front door. One of them was half dragging a shotgun in his hand. They tried opening the door finding it was locked. Looking through the peephole I saw them standing there befuddled why they could not freely enter. The one holding the shotgun began ranting about a woman vulgarly. He was describing how if they caught her all the ways he planned to rape and kill her. The other man dropped the car keys he had been holding after trying to fit it in the door with failure. In that instant I unlocked and swung the door wide open. The man with the shotgun had just started laughing. His expression went dead right before I smashed the butt of an assault rifle in his face knocking him out cold. The other one that was bending down went scrambling for the shotgun. I kicked him in the groin just as he grabbed hold of the gun. It went off firing a round towards a house across the street shattering a bay window. He dropped the gun for a minute rolling around in pain. When he attempted to reach for it again I stepped on his hand crushing several of his fingers. I handed Dan my rifle grabbing him by the collar of his shirt with both hands dragging him inside the house. Jessie stepped between us putting him in a strangle hold until he passed out.
“Someone tie them up with whatever you can find. Make it quick.”
Kurt who had awakened during all the commotion made fast work of restraining the two incapacitated men. The rest of the household was soon awake after one of the men came around wailing his head off. I started to worry the sound would attract Fallen from the neighborhood. Jessie slapped him across the face silencing him.
“Why the hell did you attack us? It’s not enough that you break into our house probably stealing our food? Just untie us and leave. We’ll forget that we ever saw you.”
While he was talking he was looking around the room taking special attention to the women in the party.
“You are a complete idiot if you think I’m remorseful for smashing you in your face. I don’t really give a damn what you want us to do either. I heard the discussion about the woman dumbass. I also have my doubts that this house or the belongings are yours. Tell me what happened to the family that actually lived here? Did you kill them?”
He couldn’t help himself from making a half-assed smile. “You’re crazy man. This is our house. I’ve lived here for over five years. Lost my wife and kids after the Black Death starting spreading in these parts. Whatever you heard about a woman was simply the alcohol talking. This has all just been a misunderstanding.”
“So you’re saying the whole laugh fest was some imaginary bullshit you concocted in your head?”
“Yeah, seriously. Glad that you are starting to get what I’m saying. Both of us talk a lot of crap when we’re drunk. Look I get that we deserved a good beating for what you thought. Forget about leaving. We don’t mind sharing
things we have. Nothing wrong with making new friends right?”
While he talked he continuously glanced in Amy’s direction admiring her figure.
“New friends huh? Tell me what’s your name? Friend.” His partner came to quietly listening to our conversation.
“I’m Todd and he’s Nicholas. Nice to meet you.”
“I have bad news for you Todd. I haven’t believed a word that has come out of your mouth. The two of you are going to sit right there tied up until the sun comes up. At that time we will be leaving with the supplies I believe you forcefully took. You can figure out how to free yourselves once we are long gone. One more thing, friend. If you so much as glance at another woman in my group before we leave I will put an end to you. Are we clear?”
They both immediately averted their sights to the floor without responding.
“I said are we clear?”
“Crystal. I mean yes understood.”
I stayed awake for the first watch with a lantern burning on a coffee table keeping a close eye on both of them. Jessie and Amy fell asleep on the floor near the chair I sat in to keep an eye on our prisoners. Everyone else settled back in for more sleep completely exhausted from the long day we had. I switched out with Sam two hours later. I was startled awake by Jessie covering my mouth. She motioned with her eyes over to a dark corner of the room. I had to focus really hard as the lantern had gone dim for some reason. The man called Nicholas was straddling someone holding what appeared to be a knife to their throat. Looking around I saw Scott was lying in a pool of blood. Todd was still tied to his chair whispering for Nicholas to set him free. All the sudden I realized Amy was missing. She had been curled up with Jessie when I crashed on the floor next to them. I grabbed my gun quietly rolling over on my stomach. I gestured for Jessie to keep Todd silent while I took care of Nicholas. She stealthily crawled off in Todd’s direction. I lifted myself creeping slowly towards Nicholas from behind. For a moment it sounded like Todd was about to yell something but his voice was muffled before going completely silent. As I neared the dark corner I saw Nicholas was groping Amy’s breast with one hand under her shirt. He was intently describing to her in a whisper all the ways he planned to screw her brains out. Up really close I saw Amy had tears in her eyes. I carefully aimed pulling the trigger. Nicholas dropped over onto his side blood pooling all around him. Amy struggled to free herself from his limp arm and leg that hung over her. Throwing herself into my arms covered in blood she cried loudly. My gun hadn’t woke anyone up because of the silencer. Her crying however brought several people running. Jessie was there a moment later helping to comfort Amy.
Darkness Falls (Book 1): Rise of the Fallen Page 9