Katie finished by sweeping the tiled floor and then headed back upstairs. Following a cold shower, she dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt then went back to her room. After so long lying in bed, the quick burst of activity had depleted her energy, and she decided to lay down and read.
She went to the window first and took another look up and down the street. Apart from leaves blowing in the wind, there was no movement anywhere. Theirs was an established neighborhood and there had been no other families with kids in the cul-de-sac they lived on.
Her gaze travelled to the homes across the way. No kids meant the houses were populated only by the dead now. Well, all except the Dawson’s. She glanced at the neat, brick bungalow. It was just as still and vacant looking as the others. Katie shivered and drew the blinds.
She couldn’t concentrate on her book and just stared up at the ceiling. She let her eyes close, deciding she’d get up when Jack got back with Danny. After a while she fell into a fitful sleep.
✽✽✽
“Hey Mr. Dawson. Really? What do you need help with?” said Jack, thinking that for someone who had recently lost his wife, his neighbor sure was cheerful.
Dawson waved vaguely towards the rear of the house.
“I just need a hand moving a cabinet in the basement. Darn thing is heavier than I thought.”
“I can help you with that for sure…”
Larry smiled. If he could get the kid into the basement with no fuss and then take care of him, it would be much easier, not to mention less mess to clean up in the house.
“…but do you mind if I help you this afternoon? I’m heading over to the northside to try and find my buddy and get some supplies.”
The older man stared right through him for a second before his eyes focused again.
“Oh, you are?” Dawson said.
“Yeah, that’s why I dropped in actually. Katie is staying home so I was going to ask if you’d mind keeping an eye on our place? I’ll only be gone a couple of hours.”
“Well, sure, kiddo.” Larry tried to keep the excitement out of his voice. It appeared the universe was delivering again. “Happy to lend a neighborly hand. So, you’re going now?”
“Yes sir.”
“Okay, not a problem. I’m just working in the basement, but I’ll come up now and then to make sure it’s all good. It’s a bummer, what’s happened and all, but if we all stick together, we should be fine.”
A bummer? Understatement much?
“Sure. Did you want me to get anything for you?” Jack asked, to be polite.
“No, son, unless you trip over a six pack of Coors,” said Larry Dawson, smiling and twisting the handle of his hidden knife absentmindedly. “You be careful, this is the end of the world after all. No way to tell what lunatics are on the loose out there.”
“Sure will.”
Jack got back into the car and pulled away feeling a little unsettled. He had a sneaking suspicion Mr. Dawson might be losing it a little. Couldn’t blame him, but he decided it might be better to avoid their neighbor from now on. He’d talk to Katie about it when he got back.
He wondered briefly if Larry had buried Mrs. Dawson or if she was still in the house somewhere. Hell, maybe he’d stowed her in the cabinet he wanted help to move?
Jack chuckled, more to make himself feel better. The morbid thought was anything but amusing. After he turned onto the main street of their little suburb though, he forgot all about Mr. Dawson… and everything else for a while.
6
Katie dreamed. She was walking on a beach, about thirty feet ahead were her parents, who were walking side by side. The forbidding clouds were low in the sky and a gentle breeze brushed her face. Something was wrong. She called them, but they didn’t answer. Didn’t even turn to look over their shoulders at her.
She began to run but the sand under her feet gave way with each footfall and soon she found herself ankle deep, falling to her knees in the soft sand as her parents walked on, oblivious.
“Mom! Dad! Wait!”
She struggled to lift her feet out of the sand, but its grip tightened. She looked down. There were teeth in the sand…
Katie gasped and sat bolt upright in bed. The pain in her ankles didn’t abate upon waking. In the dim of her room she could see a shape leaning over her. Katie opened her mouth to scream.
A hand fell over her mouth.
She reached up and clawed at the hand, it warm and dry against her mouth and didn’t budge, even as she scratched and dug her fingernails into the skin. She stopped struggling when she felt a cold thin line of steel pressed against her vulnerable throat.
“That’s better,” said a menacing male voice near her ear. “I don’t want to hurt a hair on your pretty head, but if you scratch me again, I’ll gut you like a fish.”
He let that sink in for a moment.
“Nod if you understand.”
With her heart beating fast enough to explode, Katie nodded. She allowed herself to calm down and as the reptilian fight or flight response in her brain subsided, her conscious brain kicked in. She knew exactly who was in her bedroom.
It was Larry Dawson.
“Now I’m going to take my hand away. Remember what I said.”
Katie took several deep breaths when he released her.
“What… are… you… doing?”
“No questions. I need some light.”
The shadowy figure stepped towards the window. Katie took her chance immediately and flung herself off the bed – and promptly fell face first to the floor. Her forehead cracked against the floorboards and she rolled over, squinting in the light that now filled her bedroom. He walked over to her, chuckling.
“I guess tying your ankles was the right thing to do.” He looked over her body appreciatively. “No way I could catch a… fit little thing like you.”
Katie felt a wave of nausea wash over her, whether it was from hitting her head or his disgusting gaze she had no idea.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“You,” he said, as he knelt next to her and reached into a gym bag on the floor next to him. “I’ve wanted you for a long time.”
“Let me go you fucking freak-”
Katie’s words were cut off by the hand again, this time it smoothed something over her mouth and withdrew immediately. It was a square of heavy-duty duct tape and when she reached up to remove it, he slapped her hand away. She tried a second time and he batted it away again. She didn’t try again, just watched him as her brain worked manically to find a way out of her predicament.
“That’s better,” he said. “I’ll have to punish you for your disrespect, but that can wait till later.”
Katie’s eyes blazed with anger and she slapped him hard across the face. It surprised him, but he slapped her right back, twice as hard. Stunned, she crumpled on the floor, the fight knocked out of her.
Wasting no more time, he pulled out a long zip tie, the same as he used to tie her ankles, and secured her hands behind her back. Katie moaned as the nylon cut into her skin.
“No one to blame but yourself,” he admonished, and began putting the things he’d taken out of the gym bag away again.
Katie’s eyes widened when she saw him pick up the long carving knife and tuck it into the bag before zipping it up. He stood up and placed the bag on the bed before bending over and picking up Katie as if she weighed nothing. He slung her over his shoulder before picking up the bag and heading out.
Katie didn’t know what to do. Should she fight and risk more punishment? Or bide her time until the odds were more in her favor?
Come home now please, Jack!
Her captor took her out through the back door he had broken into and closed it before carrying her down the side of the house. She looked around frantically as he carried her through the side gate and into the front yard, but her long hair effectively obscured her view of anything but the ground and a few feet in either direction.
Katie strained to hear the sound of
a car as she giddily watched his booted feet walking her down the driveway. There was no car, no sound of anything for that matter. Where was Jack?
As he stepped off the driveway and onto the road, Katie began to cry. Once she was in that house, she knew she wasn’t coming out.
“Hey Mister, what are you doing?”
Katie’s head jerked up at the strange voice as her captor stopped in his tracks.
7
There was no one around in the center of town, and Main Street was a mess. Broken windows. A burnt-out car. Upturned trash cans. Jack navigated the CX5 around a twisted shopping cart in the middle of the road, its contents were strewn across both lanes and he didn’t want to think about the large, dark stain on the asphalt next to it.
After he was past the shopping cart he peered into the shattered windows of the Costco. It was dark, and he strained to see inside. He touched the brakes and came to a halt.
He thought he saw movement. He had! Figures materialized from the dark as first one, then two, then more kids erupted from the store and began running towards his car screaming and yelling. They ranged in age from about twelve to sixteen. He thought they were running for his help at first.
He was wrong, and he knew it when he spotted the knives, baseball bats and… was that a crossbow? Amazed at what he saw, he didn’t react for a second. Then he heard a sharp pop behind him and turned to find a bullet hole in the window of the rear door.
“Shit!”
Jack ducked as low as he could and planted his foot on the gas as the gang rushed the car. He was away before they reached him but heard several objects strike the Mazda as he sped away. He didn’t relax until he turned the corner a half mile away and even then, his hands were trembling with the adrenaline coursing through his system.
“Holy shit…”
He kept his speed up for the rest of the drive, only slowing when he had to. He didn’t come across any more gangs, or anyone else for that matter, before he turned onto Danny’s street.
The front door to Danny’s house opened as he crossed the front lawn.
“Dude, you’re alive!” called his friend, rushing out to meet him.
Jack immediately spotted the pistol tucked into the belt of his friend’s jeans.
“Yeah, you too! Where did you get that?” he asked as they grasped each other’s hand and shoulder bumped.
“It’s Dad’s,” he said, pulling it out and showing Jack. “It’s a Beretta. There’s only one though, sorry.”
“I didn’t know he had one.”
“I did, I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone though. It was for protection.”
“Okay, fair enough.”
“So, is he – I mean did he-”
“Yeah,” Danny said solemnly. “He died the day after Christmas. What about yours?”
Jack nodded.
“Sorry man,” he said putting his hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Same.”
Danny looked around.
“Come inside, I haven’t seen anyone around but it’s better if we’re not out in the open.”
“You’re telling me.”
Danny gave Jack a bottle of water when they’d settled at the kitchen table and Jack told him what he’d seen in the center of town. His friend was surprised things had deteriorated so quickly.
“So, you still want to join up with me and Katie?” Jack asked.
He knew the answer, they’d pretty much worked it out before the communications went down. The only downside to the whole scenario was the fact that Danny had a major crush on Katie and could get awkward around her.
“Hell yeah,” said Danny. “I don’t have any other plans. I mean, what else are we supposed to do?”
“Survive, I guess. Hide. Wait for help.”
“Yeah, I don’t think help is coming. The last reports I heard were that the Chinese were invading and that they’d threatened immediate retaliation on any country that tried to stop them.”
“Why are they doing it?”
“Who knows? But one thing’s for sure, no one here can stop them. What are a bunch of kids going to do? They can just walk right in and take over everything. Transport, infrastructure, weapons… everything.”
“What about the kids though? Why didn’t they just kill everyone?”
“Dunno, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
“You think they’ll come here?”
“Yeah, I reckon. It’s the capitol of the state, I think they’ll probably make their base in every state capitol and fan out from there.”
“Shit,” said Jack. “That makes sense. Maybe we should get out? Go across the border into Nevada?”
“Nevada? Are you kidding dude? It’s a fucking desert! No, if we were going to do that, north into Oregon would be the way to go.”
“Yeah, it’s a long way though,” said Jack. “Hey, maybe we wouldn’t have to go interstate? Eldorado is only a little over an hour’s drive east on the Lincoln Highway. We could hide out in there easy enough.”
Danny high-fived him.
“Awesome idea! Let’s do it.”
They spent the next thirty minutes loading up the back of the CX5 with non-perishable food, and other supplies from Danny’s.
“Lucky my dad went shopping a few days before… before he got sick.”
Jack could tell his friend was on the verge of tears and moved the conversation along quickly for both their sakes.
“Yeah, it worked out well, we should have a pretty good supply once we add in what we have at home too. Do you think we should take any tools?”
“Good thinking, come on,” said Danny, perking up.
They went out back to his dad’s garden shed and picked up a small axe, a hammer and rope. On the way back out front, Danny ran up onto the back verandah and grabbed his aluminum baseball bat.
“My zombie-whacker.”
Jack laughed. They packed the new additions into the car and he waited while Danny headed inside to grab some clothes. He came back with a duffle bag over his shoulder and a small box under his arm. After tossing the bag in the back, he climbed in and showed Jack the box. It was full of CDs.
“Some music for the road.”
“Cool.”
Jack started the car as Danny pulled out a disc and slid it into the player. A distinctive electric guitar riff began emanating from the speaker. He recognized it immediately. Alive by Pearl Jam.
He laughed and slapped the wheel.
“Very appropriate dude!”
Danny, pleased with himself, began playing air guitar to Eddie Veder’s distinctive voice and Jack soon joined in on vocals. They’d both become fans when Danny’s father had introduced them to ’90s rock the year before.
“There was real rock ‘n’ roll before this stuff, but not much since,” Mr. Cooper had said dryly as he handed them a bunch of CDs. “Give it a listen, it’ll change your world.”
And he was right, it had changed their world… a little at least. They’d become ’90s rock aficionados and spent a lot of their hangout time together listening to The Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden and the Chili Peppers, but Pearl Jam and Nirvana were their favorites. They often argued about whether Nirvana would have been bigger than Pearl Jam if Kurt Cobain hadn’t killed himself, with Jack firmly in the ‘no’ camp.
How could they have dude? Half the reason they’re as famous as they are, is that he DID kill himself, he had opined once.
As for current music, neither of the boys were really into it, although Jack secretly enjoyed Taylor Swift before she went all dark and vengeful.
“We better avoid Main Street,” said Danny, as the next song began playing. “Turn here and I’ll take you another way. Not as quick, but sure better than being shot at again.”
8
Like a dog caught running away with its owner’s favorite slipper, Dawson turned slowly in the direction of the voice. Katie craned her neck to try and see who had spoken. Through the curtain of hair, she saw a pair of sneakers topped by
jeans. From the size of the shoes she figured it was a boy of maybe eleven or twelve.
Katie began wriggling and yelling into the tape over her mouth.
Help me please…
“Well, hey sport,” said Dawson, straining to keep the struggling girl on his shoulder. “Just helping a friend here. Someone broke into her house and tied her up, I was just taking her to see if I had something to cut these ties they put on her.”
“I don’t think she wants to go with you.”
Katie renewed her struggles and muffled yelling as Dawson weighed this up.
“I don’t fucking care what you think,” said Dawson, his pleasant tone changing to something more sinister. “What are you doing here anyway? Fuck off and mind your own business.”
“No. It’s a free country. You better put her down Mister, I can tell she doesn’t want to go with you.”
“Put her down or what?” snapped Dawson, then he paused and sighed deeply. His tone changed again, now it became weary and regretful. “You know what kid? Maybe you’re right. Sorry, I’ve been a bit tense since my wife died.”
He dropped the bag and then eased Katie to the road.
“I guess in times like these we should be co-operating, not fighting about things, right?”
He held up his hands, palm out.
Katie, now on her back, got a good look at the kid. He was Joe average. Sandy colored hair with a spattering of freckles, dressed in jeans and a black hoodie with Chewbacca on the front. He was unarmed but he didn’t look frightened. Just wary.
Upon laying eyes on him, Katie understood two things. The kid wasn’t going to be her savior and he was in grave danger.
She glared at him, shaking her head and trying to warn him with her eyes but his attention was on the man in front of him.
“How about a peace offering? You look hungry,” Dawson said, twisting as he bent over and reached into the bag. “I have some candy bars and a Dr Pepper somewhere in here. You can have a snack then help me untie her…”
Run! Katie tried to scream.
The kid took an uncertain step forward even as the stranger stood upright and turned towards him with cold, steel death in his hands. The shotgun blast to the kid’s chest lifted him off his feet and hurled him back onto the roadway, a fine mist of his own blood settling onto the asphalt around him.
Lone Wolf: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (America Falls - Occupied Territory Book 1) Page 3