Dark Days (Book 4): Refuge

by Lukens, Mark

  “I told you not to stop!” Mike yelled from the back seat. He was crying now. “I told you it was a trap. You never do that. You never break the rules.”

  Ray had no idea what rules Mike was talking about, maybe he was in shock or something and didn’t even realize what he was saying. Mike probably didn’t even realize that they were slowing down because of the flattened tire.

  As they limped along down the winding road, Ray could imagine the rippers rushing through the woods, taking a shortcut that would bring them out into the road around one of the next bends. Or maybe there was another band of rippers waiting. Maybe the first group’s mission had been to slow them down enough so the second group could get them as they were limping along.

  No, they weren’t that smart, no matter what the Book of Isaac said. He had to stop racking his brain with scenarios that weren’t realistic; those thoughts were just clogging up his mind like the flesh had clogged up the axles and tires of their SUV.

  “It’s okay, Mike,” Ray said, glancing into the rearview mirror. “We’re safe now.” His words sounded hollow. They sounded like a lie.

  Emma had her arm around Mike’s shoulders, holding him close. He wiped at his eyes, and it looked like he had stopped crying.

  “You two okay back there?” Ray said. “Either of you hurt?”

  If they were hurt Ray had no idea what he was going to do. It wasn’t like they could call 911.

  “You never stop for someone in the road,” Mike said, sniffling and ignoring Ray’s question. “Those are the rules.”

  Ray glanced over at Josh. He still had his shotgun in his hands like he was bracing himself for another attack. His face was sprayed with blood. His jacket sleeve was damp with the blood from where the old woman had slashed him with the knife. “You okay?”

  Josh looked pasty-white with shock, the whiteness of his flesh such a contrast to the bright red blood. His intense blue eyes were round and bulging, but he swallowed hard and nodded, not meeting Ray’s eyes, still looking around, still watching for rippers.

  “How deep is it?” Ray asked.

  Josh just shrugged. It seemed like he didn’t want to inspect the wound right now. He was still riding high on adrenaline and probably wasn’t feeling the pain right now.

  “What happened?” Emma asked.

  “One of the rippers got Josh’s arm with a knife.”

  Emma inhaled a quick breath of shock. “Is it bad?”

  “It’s bleeding a lot.”

  Emma turned to Mike, pulling her arm off of his shoulders. “Mike, find the first-aid kit in the back.”

  For just a moment Mike stared at Emma like he didn’t understand what she was asking him to do. But then it seemed like his eyes came into focus. He nodded his head, suddenly relieved to be doing something. He crawled up and over the back seat, poking around until he found the first-aid kit.

  “Thanks, buddy,” Josh said. He finally parted with his shotgun, setting it down on the floor. He was holding his right arm with his left now.

  “Get him a shirt,” Emma told Mike.

  “Get one of my T-shirts out of my backpack,” Ray told Mike.

  Mike grabbed a shirt out of Ray’s backpack.

  “We need to tear the shirt into strips,” Emma said. “Is there a pair of scissors in the first-aid kit?”

  Mike opened up the plastic case and found a pair of scissors. “Yeah. I’ve got a pair right here.”

  “Good,” Emma said. “Cut that shirt into a few long strips. Okay?”

  Mike went to work, seemingly back to his old self again now that he had a task to do. He cut the shirt into three strips, cutting just a little and then ripping them after that.

  “Give him the rest of the shirt so he can wipe off his face,” Ray said, keeping his eyes on the road.

  “Pour some water on it first,” Emma instructed Mike.

  Mike opened a bottle of water and dampened the shirt with it, spilling the water down onto the floorboard. He handed the soaked cloth to Ray, who passed it to Josh.

  Josh wiped at his face, getting most of the old woman’s blood off of him. He then set the shirt on his arm right over the bloody sleeve of his hoodie, holding it there.

  “Give him the strips,” Emma told Mike.

  Mike handed the strips of cloth to Josh.

  “Tie the strips of the T-shirt around the cloth,” Emma said. “Make a compression.”

  “It’s not really that bad,” Josh said. “I don’t think it’s that deep.”

  “Have you looked at it yet?” she asked.

  “Uh, no. I will, though. In a few minutes.”

  Ray wondered how dirty the knife blade was that had cut Josh. He wondered if the wound was going to get infected. They had some rudimentary medical supplies, but nothing to fight off an infection. He also wondered if the old woman’s blood was infected with the ripper disease, whatever it was. He wondered if tiny pathogens were crawling all over Josh’s body, getting into the cut in his arm, into his bloodstream. He wondered if Josh was really immune, he wondered if Josh was going to turn into a ripper now.

  He had to stop his mind from running wild again with possibilities. Josh had a compression on his arm—that was the best they could do for him right now. They were rolling along on a flat tire, the flopping sound so loud it was bound to bring rippers as they headed towards the town of Heaven. Right now their top priority was getting another vehicle so they could get back out of this town and into the vast woods, to the area where Doug had built his cabin.

  CHAPTER 23

  Ray

  Heaven, West Virginia

  As they got closer to Heaven, the woods began to thin out, and then Ray saw the edge of the town as they crested over the next hill. They passed a wooden sign that read: Welcome to a little piece of Heaven, West Virginia.

  Their SUV was loud with its flopping tire, and now there was the slight screech of metal on pavement as the rubber strips of the tire frayed away, exposing more and more of the rim to the road. The motor was chugging along, making a loud knocking sound that was getting louder with every mile they drove. Something was wrong with the engine. Ray wasn’t sure what it was, the gauges all seemed fine except for the CHECK ENGINE light that was on. But something had happened to the engine when they had driven through that group of rippers.

  Ray hoped this town wasn’t going to be trouble. He hoped there wasn’t an even bigger group of rippers waiting for them. They weren’t going to be able to get away from the rippers now—this SUV might seize up at any moment. Ray felt a panic building up inside of him, but he was trying to remain calm. Josh was still in a bit of shock after erasing a woman’s head with his shotgun and having his arm sliced open. Mike seemed okay, but he was still traumatized from the attack they’d just gone through. And Emma, she seemed concerned about Josh’s arm.

  But if the SUV stopped working, if the engine cut out, they were going to have to run somewhere, get inside a house or a building. He kept his eyes peeled as they entered the outskirts of town. He saw a few possible vehicles, but he wanted to find something with the keys in it. He wanted to get into the main part of town where they would have more places to hide if they needed to.

  We just need to get past this town, and then Doug’s cabin is only another twenty-five miles or so away. It’s far out in the woods. There won’t be any rippers there.

  Ray and Josh locked eyes for just a second. The shock seemed to be wearing away in Josh’s eyes. “Flat tire,” he said.

  Ray nodded. He glanced into the rearview mirror, catching sight of Mike and Emma. “Everyone okay now?” he asked.

  They nodded. Mike looked right at him. “You can’t stop for anyone else in the road like that, Dad. Those are the rules.”

  “What rules are you talking about?”

  “Horror movie rules,” Mike said. “There are things you don’t do in horror movies. You never walk up to someone sitting with their back facing you. Someone not turning around.”

  Josh chuckled. “
Horror movie rules,” he said. “I’ve seen a million horror movies. I should have known. Don’t go in the basement.”

  “We already broke that one,” Ray mumbled.

  Josh turned around and looked at Mike. “What are some other rules?”

  Ray could tell that Josh was trying to get Mike’s mind on something else, and in that moment he almost liked Josh.

  Mike was stumped for just a moment, then his eyes brightened. “Don’t ever go anywhere alone.”

  “Don’t ever trip while you’re running,” Josh said.

  “Don’t play with Ouija boards,” Mike said.

  “I’m out of rules,” Josh said, smiling, but then he winced as he held his arm.

  They were quiet for a moment as Ray drove, gripping the steering wheel hard, his eyes scanning the woods for any sign of the rippers.

  “Sorry,” Josh said.

  Ray glanced at him.

  “I thought I’d seen that girl in my dreams. I thought she was the same one. I was so sure of it. I just wanted to help her.”

  “I know,” Ray said and left it at that. He felt as responsible as Josh for almost getting them killed. For a moment he had believed it was the same girl he’d seen in his dreams, too. But he’d been as wrong as Josh. No matter how much he tried to prepare for things, no matter how many scenarios he tried to work out in his mind, he always seemed to make the wrong choice lately.

  I’ll get better. I’ll learn from these mistakes; I swear to God I will.

  Ray passed another house nestled in the woods. There was only one old and rusty car in the driveway. He passed a gas station that looked closed down, and then another few houses and a small side road of old trailer homes. He was going to keep pushing on until they were closer to the center of town where they would have more choices for vehicles.

  He hadn’t seen any rippers around the homes and businesses, and he wondered why. Had they all been in the woods, waiting for someone to fall into the trap they had set, the little girl in the road as the bait?

  After a few more twists and turns in the road, it descended to the edge of the town. There was a bank, a corner store, a small building with two businesses in them. The places looked abandoned, trash and papers littering the parking lots, some of the doors to the businesses wide open. There were a few cars and trucks parked in front of the buildings, one of them was an SUV with a big DA symbol painted on the side of it in bright red paint. The paint color reminded Ray a little of the blood that had been splattered all over Josh’s face a few minutes ago.

  “Ray,” Josh said.

  “I see it,” he answered.

  The DA people they’d run into before were here in this town. Or at least they had been here at one time. Maybe that’s why the rippers weren’t around, because the DA gang was here.

  “We need to get out of here,” Josh said.

  “We need to find another vehicle first,” Ray snapped.

  “Up there,” Josh said, pointing. “There are houses up there.”

  Ray drove past the SUV parked in front of the corner store like it was a road sign—and in a way it was. A side road veered off to the left, but the main road kept going past the store towards a town square. Ray drove towards the square of playing fields with some kind of statue right in front of it, the base of the statue surrounded by flowers and small shrubs. The road merged into a circle around the town square with a big church to the left of the fields and a line of houses to the right. Ray went right, following the road around the town square. A pickup truck was smashed into a dump truck in the front yard of the first house on that side of the street. Ray had no idea why a dump truck had been parked in front of a house.

  Even over the sounds of their knocking engine and the flopping and screeching of their shredded tire and rim, Ray heard the sound of a motor roaring behind them. He saw the flash of movement in the rearview mirror. A beige and camouflage military vehicle was following them, catching up to them in a hurry.

  “Dad,” Mike said. He was turned around in the back seat, looking out the shattered back window.

  For just a second hope sprung up in Ray. For just a second he thought that the military was coming to save them. He thought that the National Guard was beginning to take over some of the small towns, turning them into safe havens, a place they could rest and recover as the world slowly turned back to normal.

  But those hopes were torn apart when someone in the Humvee began shooting at them.

  Mike ducked down, pulling Emma down with him.

  Josh grabbed his shotgun from the floorboard.

  Ray sped up, swerving around the corner, the rim screeching on the road. He stomped his foot down on the gas pedal, trying to speed away from the Humvee, but the vehicle was right on their tail. There was no way they were going to be able to outrun it.

  They drove past the houses, then a fire station and a City Hall building with a water tower right behind it. Along the block past the City Hall, there was a line of businesses on both sides of the street. On the left side of the street there were three more military vehicles parked right behind each other, all of them painted beige with camouflage markings, just like the Humvee behind them.

  It was the DA gang, Ray was sure of it now. They had taken these military vehicles or found them abandoned. Who knew how well-armed they were now?

  Ray swerved away from the military vehicles. He was going to try to take a right down the side street, but a bullet blew out their other tire in the back and the whole back end of the truck sank down suddenly. Ray lost control of the vehicle and it ran up onto the sidewalk on the right side of the road in front of a line of stores and businesses.

  This was it. They were either going to be shot or they would be taken prisoner by this gang. Their only hope was to get inside one of those businesses. He spotted a restaurant, a sign over the top of the porch roof: Christine’s Country Kitchen

  “Everyone out!” Ray yelled. “Get inside that restaurant!”

  Josh was already opening the passenger door, the shotgun in his hands.

  The Humvee had skidded to a stop fifteen feet behind them. For just a second, Ray wondered why the Humvee hadn’t driven right up beside them. Maybe they were scared they had weapons and would shoot back.

  But then the answer appeared when a glass door to the restaurant opened up and a man with a crewcut and an M-16 in his hands darted out onto the sidewalk. He shot down the street at the Humvee, then turned and fired at the vehicles across the street, then up at the roof across the street. “Get inside!” the man yelled over the gunfire.

  Shots were fired back from across the street. One bullet hit the front of the Chevy and a blast of steam rose up from the grill.

  Ray crawled across the front seats to get out on the passenger side. Mike was already helping Emma out of the vehicle; he had his backpack on and Emma’s backpack in one hand. He held Emma’s hand in his other hand. Ray hadn’t even seen Josh slip his backpack on, but he had it on his back. He had his shotgun in his hands, but he hadn’t bothered to shoot at the Humvee behind them.

  The man on the sidewalk was still shooting, a blast of bullets from his M-16 held back the men in the Humvee.

  “It’s him!” Mike told Emma as he led her towards the man with the crewcut. “It’s him!”

  And Ray knew exactly what Mike was talking about—the man with the crewcut was the one he’d seen in his dreams, the one all of them had seen.

  CHAPTER 24

  Luke

  Luke moved closer to the front of the SUV that had run right up onto the sidewalk in front of the set of windows of the restaurant. The steam from the engine was providing just a little cover as he blasted another round of bullets at the men in the Humvee. He turned and shot up at the two men on the roof. He didn’t think he’d hit either one of them, but at least he was keeping them from shooting at them again. He had loaded the new magazine into the M-16 when he’d seen the SUV racing away from the Humvee. He knew he was probably going to use the rest of the ammo he ha
d, but he needed to help these people.

  “Get inside!” he yelled at them.

  The boy was helping the blind woman down the sidewalk, their SUV providing a lot of cover on their way to the glass door of the restaurant.

  Luke was at the front corner of the Chevy SUV; he kept his finger on the trigger of the M-16, fanning the weapon back and forth from the Humvee to the buildings and the two military vehicles across the street.

  The boy and the woman were inside first, then the shaggy-haired, bloody guy with the shotgun, and then the driver of the SUV. They were all inside now. Luke backed up towards the door, still keeping his finger pressed on the trigger. And then he was inside. He locked the door and backed away from it.

  “Get away from the windows,” Luke told everyone as he shoved the table and chairs in front of the glass door, creating a less-than-impenetrable barricade. “Get down.”

  Bullets whizzed through the windows and door again, much of the glass was gone now. Bullets tore into the walls and the cashier’s station.

  The four people from the SUV were back by the far wall of the dining area, staying on the same side of the restaurant where their SUV was in front of the windows, using it for cover. They were all crouched down behind two overturned tables.

  Luke hurried over to the window he’d been shooting from before. He aimed at the roof and shot the last of M-16’s bullets at it, hoping like hell that he’d hit one of the men on the roof.

  The M-16 was out of bullets now. He laid it down underneath the window. He still had his two handguns, but he wanted to conserve the ammo he had left.

  Everything was quiet for a moment. The Humvee hadn’t moved into Luke’s field of vision, but the man’s SUV now blocked a good part of the windows and front door on this side of Christine’s Country Kitchen. When Luke had seen the SUV racing towards the restaurant, he’d thought that the vehicle might be a gift, a vehicle he could drive out of here. But this SUV had two flat rear tires and steam drifting up from the grill.