by David Rogers
But there was no way she’d be willing to do that in a one-story house with windows and doors that couldn’t hold off a determined pack of hungry zombies. Much less more able humans who might set their minds to getting in.
She’d been starting to despair, until coming across this. On the map, it was just a road that snaked its way across what seemed to be the major canal that encircled the lake, and went up a long finger of a peninsula that jutted out into the water. The only reason she was checking it was because she’d figured the road went somewhere; that there had to be something here because of the pavement.
Her suspicion was confirmed by the collection of . . . well, she wasn’t sure what they could be properly called, but as Candice had said, they were houses on poles. Stilts or pilings would be the term she’d use, but regardless it was – she counted quickly – ten houses all raised what looked like to her at least two stories above water level. And that was the defining point; because each house was built right on the shore and had at least half of itself over the lake.
Each had a set of stairs at the front and back, and both sets connected to little docks. The front dock ran a dozen or so yards ‘inland’, while the back was effectively just a little platform that looked like it was only a place to tie up a boat at, or perhaps fish from. Regardless, she recognized both docks as floating ones; the big poles that jutted up from beneath them and went skyward to the level of the house’s first floor were unmistakable in purpose. That was why she’d guessed the area might have flooding issues. There was no other reason to build something like what she was looking at if it didn’t.
What she noticed though was how the area looked deserted. No cars, no people. The houses were all just sitting on their pilings with water lapping at them, and the only sound she heard over the truck’s engine was water fowl honking back and forth out on the lake.
“Alright, let’s take a closer look.” Jessica decided, driving forward slowly. “Help me watch the houses as we go past; say something if you see people or zombies.”
“Okay.” Candice said.
Jessica guided the truck along the pavement right to the end, and saw nothing that changed her initial estimation. Some of the houses were standing open, with doors swaying slightly in the breeze and windows left up to admit that breeze. No one peeked out from within, and nothing showed up from without – either pulseless or breathing – in response to the truck’s arrival. As far as she could tell, none of the houses showed any damage to doors or windows that indicated they’d been ransacked, or served as last-stands against zombies.
At the end of the road, she turned the vehicle around so it was facing back the way they’d come; then shut it off. “Now it’s time to be sure. Can’t just look from the road; gotta check things out on foot.” she sighed to herself.
She hated this part, but there was nothing for it. Not for the first time she lamented the loss of the SUV. The vehicle had been so secure, and made what to do with Candice at times like this easy. That luxury was gone.
“Candice, I think this might be what we’ve come all this way for.” Jessica said, drawing the Taurus and racking the slide back. “But to be sure I’ve got to clear the house.”
“I know.”
“The safest place for you is going to be with me, but you’ve got to be careful.” she continued. “Stay behind me, back some so I don’t bump into you if I have to step back; but not so far back that you’re too far for me to protect. And you have to pay careful attention to everything that’s happening. You have to watch me so you can follow, but you have to watch around you – especially to the sides and back – in case something I miss shows up to cause problems.”
“I know.”
Jessica fixed her daughter with a heavy, serious look. “I’m not kidding. This is dangerous. Anything could be in there. I’m going to go through it as cautiously and slowly as I know how, but it’s just me and you this time. There could be anything in there, no matter how quiet things look out here.”
“Mom, I know.” Candice said for the third time.
“Do you?”
“Yes. Rule One, Rule Two. I’ll be careful.”
Jessica held the girl’s eyes for several seconds, then nodded unwillingly. “Okay. So let’s do this and find out if this is going to be a place we can stay.”
“Together.” Candice nodded back.
She reached for her door, then stopped and made an obvious show of checking around outside the truck; looking from front to back through the window for any sign of trouble. Jessica took a deep breath and checked her own side before getting out and looking the entire area over from the ground. As she did, she remembered her ammunition constraints, and traded the Taurus for the Shield.
Quiet. Everything seemed quiet. That was good. She waited while Candice came around the front of the truck, then led the way over to the dock of the last house on the left side of the road. The boards seemed sturdy beneath her feet, without much in the way of creaking or groaning to indicate bad or old wood. The stairs were similarly reassuring in their stability, but by that point Jessica was hardly paying much attention to her feet.
She rose up to the house’s level, taking the steps one at a time as she held the black nine millimeter pistol clutched before her in both hands. The porch ran the length of the front of the house, with a handful of wooden chairs scattered around for lounging on. Jessica checked the door – locked – then turned to Candice and pointed to a spot at the top of the stairs. The girl nodded and stood there while Jessica roamed the porch from one side to the other, peering through the windows.
Inside, the house looked just as empty and quiet as the exterior. She saw a minimum amount of furniture – all wood with earth-toned fabrics – that gave the space some use as more than just walls, floor, and roof. It also made it easier to get a good look at everything, and it was vacant as far as she could tell.
Jessica considered how to proceed for several seconds, then shrugged mentally. The windows had open storm shutters folded back against the wall that looked quite sturdy. That made sense since South Florida saw regular hurricanes. The shutters gave her an idea though.
“Candice, you’re watching good, right?”
“All quiet.” Candice confirmed.
“Okay. I’m going to break a window and see if I can get in that way.” Jessica said, double checking the pistol’s safety before putting it back in the holster. “You stand right there and keep watching. If anything happens, run back along the road and I’ll get to you.”
“Don’t you want to knock first?”
“What?” she said, momentarily stymied.
“You and Austin always knock and make a lot of noise before you go into a house.” Candice said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Jessica kicked herself mentally; she’d just looked, not knocked yet. “Yes, you’re absolutely right. Thank you for reminding me.” She was tired, but that was no excuse. Mistakes meant death. Stepping over to the door, she used the heel of her hand and pounded on the door several times. She could hear the thumping echoing throughout the house.
Seconds went by, and she counted them off in her head slowly. Patience. Never rush a clear. Nothing happened, and she knocked again even louder. This time she moved so she could see inside one of the windows while she waited. Still nothing.
“Hope that means it’s empty.” Candice finally remarked.
“Let’s hope. Okay, here I go.”
Lifting one of the deck chairs, Jessica hefted it by the back and swung the legs at the window on the left of the front door as she turned her head away. Glass broke with a musical tinkling, shattering and cracking and tumbling. Awkwardly, Jessica used the chair to clear the frame of any lingering shards and triple checked that she hadn’t missed any. The last thing she needed was a nasty cut.
“I’ll open the door from the inside.” Jessica said as she put the chair down.
“I’ll keep watch out here.” Candice nodded, looking around.
Jessica glanc
ed around herself as she drew the Shield again. The little road with its stilt houses was still calm and quiet. If only it could stay that way. Steeling her nerve, she stuck her head inside the broken out window and took a long look around the interior. Nothing emerged, nothing was lurking that she could tell; so she straightened and eased a leg through, being careful about her footing so she didn’t slip on the glass.
Pulling herself through was a little more of a chore than she’d expected, but once she was inside she gripped the pistol in both hands and waited while she stood; looking and listening.
Rustic was the term she’d choose as best suiting the interior. It was a basic wooden house, lumber rather than logs or something, but the feel was just . . . rustic. Like it was built to suit someone from fifty or a hundred years ago. Nothing looked necessarily old or in need of repair; but the feeling was not modern.
She’d call this the living room, and the couch and chairs were all antique styles that looked serviceable more than excessively comfortable. Despite that, however, she saw cables dangling from the wall that looked ready to plug right into a television; and there were the usual electrical outlets spaced regularly around the room.
Peering about slowly as she waited, she saw a dining room visible through an open doorway ahead, with a table and chairs all standing ready for use. On her right was what could be called a second living room, a parlor, or a sitting room depending on one’s proclivities; more simple and old-fashioned wooden furniture. To the left was a hallway, with some doors standing open. It was all clear, quiet, and undisturbed.
Jessica decided she could risk turning her back on the house – nothing seemed to be moving anywhere except her – and she focused her attention on the front door. To her relief she saw a simple pair of locks that both opened from the inside; a button lock on the knob and a twist operated deadbolt above that. They gave her no trouble as she disengaged them and opened the door.
Candice was right where she was supposed to be, at the top of the stairs. Jessica beckoned, and the girl came inside, moving quietly on light feet. Closing the door, Jessica hesitated, then decided to lock it. But only with the knob lock. That one would disengage if the inside knob was turned; but it would slow anyone outside down.
Slowly, methodically, she checked the house with Candice staying with and behind her. The right side had the sitting room, a basic – if roomy – kitchen, and a surprisingly large back deck accessed via a normal door, not the more common glass sliding style she was used to, between the dining room and kitchen.
On the left side, there were two hallway bathrooms right next to each other, and a total of six bedrooms. The furniture throughout remained basic and simple, but by the time she got done checking the last bedroom Jessica was extremely glad the house was only a single story. It might be up on stilts, but it only had the one living level, and a lot of livable space regardless. She wasn’t sure if her nerves would be up to checking another story.
“Okay, I think we’re clear.” Jessica said finally, after she got up from one knee where she’d been peering under the bed in the last bedroom.
“Why is everything so big?” Candice asked immediately.
“Well, the bedroom isn’t that big.” Jessica pointed out. Which was true; it was about the size of a standard bedroom, or even maybe a shade smaller. And the house didn’t seem to have what she’d recognize as a ‘master’ bedroom.
“The regular rooms are big.” Candice objected. “And there are six bedrooms. But it’s empty, like no one’s living here.”
“True.” Jessica said, easing back into the hallway. She was trying to calm down from the adrenaline rush of poking about in the scary unknown, and she felt sure she’d cleared the house properly, but the sun was sinking rapidly and there was still everything in the truck to get inside.
“Why not?”
“I’d guess the zombies.”
“No,” Candice protested, “I mean, even before the zombies, why wasn’t anyone living here?”
“Hmmm.” Jessica mused as she got back to the front door and made sure it was still locked before she opened it. Candice raised a fair question. The house really didn’t have the sense anyone had been living here when the apocalypse started; no pictures, no personal details, no mess, empty cabinets and drawers. Idly, Jessica looked when she stepped out onto the porch, and didn’t see a realtor sign anywhere. None of the houses on the street had one. She considered the lake for a moment, then shrugged. “I’m going with vacation rental house.”
“Vacation rental house?” Candice asked.
“That’s a house people rent for when they go on vacation.”
“People rent houses when they go on vacation?”
“They did. Sometimes.” Jessica said as she stood on the porch, looking around to double check that the area was clear while she thought about her next steps.
“That’s weird.”
“If you have a big family, or a lot of friends who are coming with you, renting a house makes sense.” she told her daughter.
“Still . . .”
“Just be glad they built these, because I think this is where we’re going to stay.”
“Oh good.”
“We’re losing light sweetie, so what say you help me carry our stuff into the house?”
“All of it?”
“All of it.” Jessica confirmed. “We’ll pile it up in the living room for now.”
“Okay.”
Jessica kept Candice close, but with the girl’s help it only took fifteen minutes of effort to get the truck bed unloaded into the house. It went smoothly, without any surprises, but Jessica still found it more than slightly nerve-wracking to be trooping up and down the stairs, carrying things while trying to keep an eye on everything around them. The ammunition cases left her panting, and she saved them for last even though she considered them among the most important things to have.
As she’d expected though, they took a big chunk out of her stamina getting them up the stairs; bullets were heavy. She was ready to sit and rest when they were in, but the work wasn’t done yet. She was glad everything was out of the truck and under cover, but she felt certain if she’d started with the hard stuff it would’ve taken much longer and been more discouraging as the unloading continued.
With everything inside, she moved the truck off the road just because it bugged her to leave it so far from the house, then spent a few minutes taking a fast inventory of what she had. As she’d sort of suspected, the tools and utility items that Austin had mostly been responsible for collecting and sticking in the SUV turned out to have things she wouldn’t have thought to keep; but that were now useful.
There wasn’t a ‘proper’ hammer, but he had put a small sledge-style hammer in to go with the box of nails she found. Those sufficed to allow her to seal shut all the storm shutters on the front of the house. For the front door, she locked it, then used some cord and nails driven into the frame to create a lattice preventing the door from being easily opened even if the locks were defeated. The back door she similarly rigged. The rope wasn’t as good as something more sturdy, like wood, but it was all she had time and energy for with the night already falling thick around her.
She didn’t harbor the illusion her quick modifications made the house impregnable, but she only wanted to get through the night. Breaking through the locked door and sealed shutters would be loud and noisy, and she hoped that would be enough to safeguard her and Candice until morning. For tomorrow, she had some definite thoughts on how she wanted to handle additional security.
Chapter Thirteen – Strange Neighbors
Jessica started awake and reached for the Taurus she’d left on the bedside table. The Shield was under her pillow, but the big forty-five made too much of a lump so she’d put it aside, but in reach. Now she had it in her hand as she sat up, though she wasn’t sure what to point it at.
The bedroom was quiet. She’d left the windows on the lake side of the house alone, and the ones in this bedroom o
pen for ventilation. Coming south had definitely found heat; even in what was obviously early morning it was already in the seventies. Based on yesterday afternoon, she expected to see a lot of upper 70s and lower 80s for at least a while.
That was good, but Jessica furrowed her brow as she looked around the room again. What had awoken her? She got out of bed and padded barefoot over to the door. Listening at it didn’t reveal anything untoward . . . so why was she up? What had awoken her?
Jessica scowled in thought, considered going back to bed, but decided at this point she was awake. It would be a waste of time. She shrugged mentally and went back over to the bed. She’d taken her shoes off, but nothing else. The guns went into their holsters on her belt without incident, but when she sat down on the edge of the mattress to put her shoes back on Candice sat upright.
“What’s wrong?” she demanded, looking around wildly.
“Nothing.” Jessica answered soothingly. “We’re fine. Everything’s fine.”
“It’s morning?”
“It’s morning.”
“Oh.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Good.”
“No dreams?”
Candice hesitated, but when Jessica looked at her she just shrugged. “Nothing I remember.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Just random stuff.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“Why are you up?”
“Because it’s morning.” Jessica said as she finished with her shoes and stood. She thought Candice’s question was meant more as a diversion from her mother’s line of query; but Jessica was willing to play along.
“What are we going to do today?”
“Well, first I thought we’d have a hot meal. Then there are some things I need to find to help secure the house.”
“What things?” Candice asked, scrambling out from beneath the sheet she’d slept beneath and over to Jessica’s side of the bed.
“Well, really one thing to be honest.” Jessica admitted. “I want to find a ladder.”