by Unknown
After a few seconds of silence, “She liked to party, liked to play hard and was the best friend I ever had.” Amy began.
With that comment, we knew Amy would leave Shelby here, making this her final resting place.
“She provided stability in my life when I needed it the most. She allowed me to lean on her after my mom passed away, providing emotional support I hadn’t had in my life before.” Amy wiped her eyes and started speaking again.
“I'm sorry I couldn't save you from this hell and didn’t keep you safe when you needed it. You were my rock, someone I could always count on, even during the tough times. Goodbye, my lovely friend.”
Amy turned to me and laid her head on my shoulder and cried for another minute. She wiped the tears away and started to head out the door into the hallway walking past Butch.
She led us to the stairway door with the furniture blocking it and told us to wait.
She walked down the hallway to the old lady’s apartment and knocked. We saw her says something through the crack in the door and then she turned and came back to us.
“She’s staying.” It was a statement that any reply would be wasted on. Time to leave. The old lady would die here.
We moved the furniture from the doorway and opened the door with caution in case there was an infected waiting. We moved into the stairwell and started to head down as quietly as we could. We made it to the first floor and could really smell the fire. The stairwell was smoke-free, but the heat was getting more intense and a touch of the first-floor door told us that the fire wasn’t far away.
We continued down to the garage floor, entering the garage through the door. We stopped just as we got in to make sure there were no infected inside the garage. The garage’s gate was still closed, so we assumed no one had left through the gate, which would also mean that no one had gotten into the garage.
I snuck up to the garage gate to look around the alley, finding it empty. That was good to see, at least we wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of infected as we tried to get out of the garage.
I moved back to Butch and Amy and said. “We should see if any of these cars are open, maybe even have keys. Worst case, we could hot wire one.”
“You know how to hotwire a car?” Butch said sarcastically.
“In fact I do. It’s really not that hard, particularly on an older model car.”
“You’re shitting me.” Butch looks at Amy. “Can you believe this guy?”
I go over to an older model ford truck and try the door. “My dad lost his keys to his truck shortly after we moved off the grid up north. We looked for them for over a week, everywhere we had been, but didn’t find them. Since we didn’t have another set and getting a locksmith out to help would cost too much, he hotwired it.”
The door to the Ford truck was locked, of course. I began the search for a hidden key, reaching under the wheel wells and bumpers. “He was very resourceful with those types of things. Where he learned to do that is another story.”
Amy saw what I was doing and headed towards the Jeep Cherokee a couple of spaces down. She began to check for a spare key. Butch just stood there and watched me.
I got to the rear passenger side, inside the wheel well and hit gold. “Found something,” I said as I opened the spare key holder. Inside was the key to the truck. “Sometimes you get lucky,” I said to Butch with a wink.
“Found the keys to the Jeep,” Amy said.
“See how much gas the Jeep has,” I said as I unlocked the door of the truck and jumped in. I put the key in turning it so I could see how much gas was in the gas tank. “The truck is full,” I said.
Amy walked over to the truck. “The jeep is only a quarter full. Let’s take the truck.”
“The truck wins,” Butch said as he placed his bags in the bed of the truck. “Plus, the heat is getting worse, so we need to get out of here now.”
“How are we going to get the gate open,” Amy asked while she too placed her bags into the back of the truck.
“Can’t we left it by hand?” Butch asked.
“No way. That things way to heavy. When it’s broken, the super uses a hand crank to open it and leaves it open till it’s fixed. I don’t have a clue where the hand crank is.” Amy replied.
“Use the Jeep to crash through the gate and then drive the truck out behind it,” I said matter of factly. “That way we don’t risk damaging the truck.”
Without argument, Amy headed to the Jeep and got it started. I started the truck and moved my hand forward at Amy telling her she could take the lead.
Amy punched the gas, cranked the wheel and headed straight to the gate. The Jeep hit the gate and forced its way through causing the gate to come off its hinges and crash to the ground. She cranked the wheel to the right and stopped. Getting out as I pulled up. She quickly got into the truck and I turned left and headed out.
“Crazy women drivers,” Butch said laughing as we headed out of the alley and onto Jackson Street heading east. We had to skirt a few blocks over to avoid the chaos that was happening in front of Amy’s building and it would also take us closer to the bar where we might find some more supplies. Having the truck allowed us an opportunity to grab a bunch of supplies if we came across them.
The drive to 13th street was uneventful except for the occasional infected that we had to maneuver around. “Just hit them and move on,” Butch said.
“No need to risk damage to the truck unless we have to,” I replied as I turned onto 13th street, heading north. I had been thinking of the body armor idea we had discussed and was trying to figure out a good place to find the type of gear that might work.
The bar was just a down the street from a sporting goods store which just might have what I would need. Both of them were on 13th street, so with luck, we could hit both on our way out of the city. Even better would be an empty road and nothing would require us to backtrack or change our plan.
Amy playing with the radio trying to see if she could find any stations still on the air. Some news, any news, about what was going on would be good. Most of the channels were either static or an emergency report from the government stating the same thing they had stated a couple of days ago. She switched the radio to AM and finally found a station that was still broadcasting. She turned it up so we could all hear it and we listened as we drove towards the bar.
“I’m not sure who all is out there, but if there are still people alive, which I pray to God there are, be aware that everyone is should head to Camp Pendleton to seek shelter and safety.” The person on the radio was saying. “I’m planning to continue to dispatch as long as the backup generator holds out. So far, we’ve seen no police or military, but we have seen military helicopters and have been in contact with them. Again, they are asking that every able body person moves to Camp Pendleton. You will find safety, shelter, and food there.”
“They’re just asking for problems by getting everyone into a single location like that. All it takes is a single infected to ruin the party.” I said as we approached the bar.
“Take the alley and park by the back door,” Amy said as she pulled the keys to the bar out of her pocket.
I made my way through the back alley and pulled up to the back door as Amy had requested. I backed in so we could easily get things into the truck bed and make a quick escape if we needed. We didn’t see any infected in the back parking area, but the sound of the engine could have given us away.
We all jumped out of the truck closing the doors and moving to the back door entrance. Amy took the butt of her rifle and hit the back door a few times. Rule number 5, knock first before entering. “Good job remembering the rules,” I said to Amy.
Since we didn’t hear anything, she unlocked the door and pushed it open letting us all move in. The bar was dark, smelled of old liquor and fried foods; the home sweet home I thought since I had spent many nights in this place, it was like a second home to me.
Amy tried the lights, but the electricity was off so we got
out our flashlights and moved through the back room into the kitchen and then out to the main bar area. The place was empty, which was what we had hoped for.
Amy started to place canned items on the bar top while Butch moved to the front and peered out the windows. The bar windows had iron bars across them as a security measure, so chances of something getting in was low. Above the bar was a lawyer’s office, a small entertainment agency office and then apartments above them. There could be people up there and we’d never know it.
“Grab the cans and let’s move to the back,” Amy said to us both as she headed towards the back room.
“Hey, I’m grabbing the Macallan. I’ve always wanted to try it.” Butch said as he grabs the expense bottle and heads to the back room.
“We’re in the middle of an apocalyptic event and all he thinks about is booze,” Amy says moving towards the back room with her arms full of canned fruit and condiments.
I thought, in reality, it’s just Butch coping, in his own way, with this disaster. I guess if this was the end of times, that our lives could end at any moment, it might not be too bad to crack open that bottle and at least enjoy one good thing, one more time before you die.
Plus, who hasn’t wanted to taste an expensive scotch like a Macallan?
I reached around the bar and grabbed some plastic bags to put the canned goods in that Amy had sat on the bar counter. I threw in a couple extra bottles of booze, just because they were there.
Following behind Amy, I made my way to the kitchen where Butch was already cleaning out the canned and dry foods from the storage closet, so I move to the cleaning closet looking for broom handles. I removed the brooms and mops, breaking the ends off and creating a few more spears. After ten minutes of bagging the supplies, we moved to the back door, ready to leave.
Amy opened the door slowly with caution just in case there was a horde of infected waiting for us on the other side. She saw the truck where we had left it but there was a couple infected pawing at it trying to figure out if anything was inside to eat.
Amy closed the door quietly and we moved back into the bar area to regrouped. Whenever possible, it's always good to go through a plan before executing it, so I was happy she just didn’t take off without talking to us first.
“Let’s save the ammo and use the spears. There’s only two of them, so Butch and I will take care of them, you focus on getting the supplies into the truck.” Amy looked at me whispering the instructions. I nodded my confirmation.
“He’s going to have to deal with this fear of his soon,” Butch said looking at me. I nodded my understanding which seemed to appease him.
Amy grabbed her sword and we headed back to the rear entrance. She slowly opened the door again and confirmed that there were still only two fo the infected outside.
Butch and Amy both moved out ahead of me and went after the two infected, Amy taking the one on the driver’s side and Butch taking the one on the passenger side. Neither of the infected had a chance to react.
I moved to the truck bed and placed the first arm full of bags in, going back into the building to get the rest of the supplies. It took me a few trips to get everything we had grabbed.
Amy and Butch waited inside the truck as I did all of the heavy liftings with the whole process taking just a few minutes to get it all loaded. After loading, I opened the driver’s door and pushed Butch to the middle. I liked to drive.
“I think we should head over to the Sports Authority down the street and look for some sports armor we could use. Something we can use to protect our arms and legs, maybe a helmet.” I said to the group.
Neither of them had any objections since it was just down the street. With any luck, the store would be in good shape and we could get in and out without problems.
Chapter 17
As we pulled up to the sporting goods store, we realized that our luck had run out. The place was crawling with infected and a banner hung out of one of one of the second-floor windows that read “Help! We are Alive Inside”.
We drove the truck slowly past the store and turned right onto Madison Street heading east. “What are doing, that’s the wrong way to get to my parent's place,” Butch said as he looked through the back window at the store.
“There are people in the building that need help. If we don’t help, then what kind of people are we?” I said back to him.
I knew deep down it was the right thing to do. Leaving someone behind, that was asking for help would not sit well with me. We had to help those asking for help.
“You don’t even know if they are still there or even alive.” He said back to me. He had turned back around and was looking forward when he wasn’t giving me the evil eye.
“Doesn’t matter at this point, we’ve got to try. I’ve made my choice” I said as I turn down 14th street and head south.
“Then at least tell us the plan,” Amy said.
“I’m going to drive by the store again, this time, slower and see if I can draw the crowd away. If they follow the truck then we can draw them further away, speeding up so we can get back to the store and try to see what is going on before they return.”
“This is crazy.” Butch says as he shakes his head, “Just fucking crazy.”
“I agree with Matt.” Amy piped in. “We have to do everything we can to help others, even when it puts us in danger.”
I turn on Kennedy Avenue heading West and turning north on the 13th street again. Already the infected crowd was smaller than before which meant that my plan had worked. As we got closer, we noticed a couple of women hanging out the second-floor window waving at us.
I slow down enough so that the entire group of infected in front of the building turned and started to follow the truck. I turned on Madison Street again but this time, I headed west. This would break the crowd up on two different routes. After crossing 12th street and Eleventh Street, I turn south on Eleventh Street and waited till they were all around the corner before I punched the truck gas pedal and sped down the street.
I finally turned the corner on 13th street and head north once again. As I approach the building I saw that the crowd was all gone and that the women were climbing out the window using a rope to hang onto. As the second women let’s go of the window seal, an infected reached out of the window and grabbed the second women’s wrist. The women were trying to get out of the building as the infected were trying to get in the room from inside the building.
This meant that the building was compromised and we wouldn’t be able to look for the protective gear I wanted.
I pulled the truck up under the rope stopping so the rope hung over the roof of the truck. The rope was short by a few yards, so the drop was going to be tricky. Amy got out of the truck and climbed into the bed. Butch opened the rear window as Amy said. ‘Pull up a bit more so they can drop on the back of the roof and then into the truck bed.”
I pulled up a little more and held in that spot as the first of the two women dropped onto the roof and then fell into the truck bed. Amy grabbed her and moved her out of the way so the other women didn’t fall on her.
The other woman was struggling with the infected that had a hold of her wrist. The infected was trying to get its head out of the window to bite her hand but was having trouble. The last woman had been smart and closed the window as much as she could so the infected couldn’t just hang out of it, but it also meant that if enough of them were inside and pushing, that the window would give and we could have a problem.
We needed to get this resolved ASAP before the window gave away and the infected tumbled out of the window landing on the truck and us. We also needed to get going before the infected we had drawn away from the store made their way back.
“Shoot the infected in the window,” I said to Butch. He didn’t hesitate. He climbed out of the truck, pulled his rifle around and rested it on the roof of the truck. After a short breath out, he took the shot.
The noise was loud inside the cab of the truck, my ears rang
and hearing what was being said was difficult. It would also attract any infected in the area and we could very soon have a major problem on our hands.
We really needed to leave I thought. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the crowd of infected we had drawn away rounding the corner.
Luckily the rifle shot was right on hitting the infected that had a hold of the woman’s wrist in the head through the glass. The glass shattered falling on the woman hanging on the rope and onto the truck. Even more, noise, just what we needed.
The infected that was shot immediately released the woman who fell from the second-floor window to the bed of the truck, landing in an awkward way. The shock of the shot and the window breaking must have scared her and she let go of the rope.
Amy tapped the top of the truck and yelled to go which I barely heard since my ears were still ringing.
Butch jumped in the truck and I punched the gas pedal speeding away before it started to rain infected or the horde behind us was much closer. Thank God there weren’t any fast ones in the horde. I sped away turning left on Madison Street, heading west.
Amy was in the bed of the truck with the women trying to help the one that had fallen. My ears were clearing up and I could hear Amy talking to them trying to figure out what happened if there were any others in the building and how badly hurt the second woman was.
The women both were talking at once and it was hard to tell what happened, but what I got and what Butch said he got was that they were employees of the store and were just getting the store ready to open when everything seemed to happen all at once.
The store manager, hunting manager, and a stock boy were also at the store, all performing their morning tasks. As they worked, they watched the news on the TV;’s that hung around the store. They started to see that something major was happening and decided to not open and to keep the security gates closed.