The Aftermath Trilogy (Book 3): The Aftermath [Ground Zero]

by Daniel Smith

  “Keep going,” he smiled at him supportively then stuck his head out the door for a moment before pulling it closed holding onto the push bar of the door. The noise of the rolling door lowering stopped as Dan finished still holding the chain.

  “Put the chain on that hook,” Manny said.

  The moaning increased in volume from the closed door, Dan did not hesitate with the chain before he looked around the building.

  The building they were in was wide open under the glare of florescent lights. A pile of drywall sheets and metal building studs with some other items sat in one corner near one wall showing off the unfinished metal stud framework of it. The front of the store had brown paper covering the windows.

  “Get me one of those metal studs and a roll of that wire over there,” Manny told Dan in a calm voice as he held the door closed.

  A slight moaning was emanating from behind the closed door. Dan hurried over to the pile of metal studs grabbing one, lifting it experimentally he thought it would have weighed more before he grabbed a large spool of green wire. Rushing the items over to Manny who still had his ear to the door leaning the stud against the wall.

  “Hold the door closed for me,” Manny said laying the shotgun on the floor next to him as he knelt down taking the roll of green wire from him. Dan reached out with his now free hand to grab and hold the push bar for the door. Manny pulled out a small rectangular silver item from his pocket. Slowly he pulled it apart revealing a pair of folding pliers with several other tools hidden in the metal case. He used it to cut several pieces of wire from the spool before setting the tool on the ground as he started to wrap the wire around the push bar of the door.

  “Now give me the stud,” Manny told Dan calmly.

  He handed him the metal stud in puzzlement as he watched on. Manny wrapped the metal beam to the push bar with the wire holding the door closed. Picking up the pliers before he folded the tool and placed it back into his pocket. Retrieving the shotgun from where it lay on the floor he stepped back admiring his handiwork, before looking up at Dan.

  “That should hold I’ll try to secure it better later,” he said looking around the building's wide-open space. It was square with brown paper covering the front windows a few fluorescent light fixtures still working.

  “It is good the building is empty we have more room and not many people look in an empty building,” he said as he surveyed it.

  “Give me a second,” Manny said as he walked over to a small door enclosed in a white unfinished drywall cube. Opening the door and went inside, closing the door after him.

  After what seemed like a few minutes the door opened, Manny came out with a paper towel wiping his hands as he walked over to him. He was looking at him again which made him wonder just who this man was. Dan started to have that unreal feeling again like the day’s events were just a bad nightmare.

  “Okay,” Manny said as he opened the back of the van-to pull out a black bag from it to unfurl a sleeping bag.

  Arranging the sleeping bag on the floor near the van. He watched in silence as Manny went to the passenger side door and opened it squatting down. He began to talk to his mother in low calm tones that roused his mother from her dozing state in the chair. After a few minutes of talking to her, she got out of the van and walked quietly to the door Manny had come out of just a few minutes earlier. Looking over Dan saw a sign on the door for a rest room. Turning back he watched Manny remove a blanket from the van and a small duffle bag placing it near the van with his rifle. Then slowly turned three hundred and sixty degrees looking around the empty building. While he was doing this Trudy came from the rest room and climbed into the sleeping bag going right back to sleep. Dan felt hurt by this only this morning he too had lost his dad and she had not said more than two dozen words to him since then. All she did was sit there quietly saying nothing or crying looking at her he couldn't understand what emotions he was feeling, anger, pity, sadness he was unsure. It of it just turn over repeatedly his mind in turmoil, racing with different thoughts.

  “How are you holding up,” Manny asked.

  Dan looked up from his dark thoughts finally broken by the question.

  “Fine,” he growled at him glaring angrily.

  “I don't think you're doing fine at all,” Manny replied calmly.

  “But you're holding up okay.”

  This caused a massive amount of confusion in him.

  “What's going on,” Dan finally managed to blurt out Manny took a minute to look hard at him making him even more uncomfortable before answering.

  “Events outside are deteriorating fast the plague is breaking out and spreading more rapidly than the government expected. They are reporting more cases by the hour, they say the infected,” Manny paused at the puzzled look on Dan’s face.

  “That is the name the government calls people infected with the plague. Are becoming violent and attacking people without warning. For some reason they only attack people without the plague. However, the point right now is I do not think we will find a safe place to stay in the city. So we stay here for now,” Manny said calmly.

  “Right here in this building,” Dan started to shout as he grew angry.

  “My mother won’t speak to me my dad is,” his voice cut off in a sob. Manny sighed before speaking.

  “Dan I need you to understand something, we are all tired it has been a long bad day for everyone. But you need to put your anger on the side. We handle loss and grief differently and in our own ways and time, he continued in his calm voice staring into Dan’s blue eyes.

  “Your mother’s world collapsed around her and she is not sure what to do or how to do it. She is going to need help from you. Just like you will grieve for your father in time everyone does for their lost loved ones in our own way. But right now she needs to rest she is in shock,” Manny said wearily.

  “And to be honest it's been a long day for me to, so here's what we're going to do,” he said looking down at an unwilling Dan.

  “I am going to lay down and I'm going to get some sleep. I realize,” he said looking at his watch. “It's not even six clock yet you need to stay awake, stay alert, and move around if you have to. Try to stay away from the front window. You will cast a moving shadow on the paper from the lights. That will attract unwanted attention, keep an eye on the door. The door is secure anyone trying to enter will make enough noise to wake us. However, just to be safe keep your eye on it. Wake me up at eleven. I will keep watch from then and not wake you again until tomorrow,” he said sitting onto the blanket on the ground and adjusted the rifle next to him.

  “In the morning we will figure this out,” he finished wearily as he stretched out onto the blanket.

  Manny woke lying still in the gloomy lit building a noise had registered on his conscience. He sat up still feeling tired and sore as he heard the noise again. Standing up next to the door of the van, he listened trying to find the source of the noise. Turning slightly he found the source of the noise. Sitting on the stack of drywall sheets sat Dan his eyes blood red streaks of tears clearly visible on his cheeks. Manny walked over to him startling him as he put a hand on his shoulder. Dan looked up startled as he looked down at him with understanding at him Manny smiled.

  “I understand,” he said quietly as Dan tried to speak,.

  “I told you we grieve at our own time each in our own way try to get some rest and I'll keep watch.”

  Dan opened his eyes for a second, before the hope of waking up in his bed at home vanished. Instead, he felt stiffness in his back as he looked at the rafters and the ceiling of the building from the hard concrete floor. He got up slowly stretching only to see his mother still wrapped up in her sleeping bag not too far from him. Looking around the minivan parked in the middle of the store seemingly out of place. Still looking around the dazed and confused feeling from the events of yesterday still haunted him. Was his dad dead just than his blue eyes caught something moving. Turning to see the man from yesterday still wearing the sam
e clothes moving about, he stopped as he noticed him awake.

  “Good morning I hope you slept well. There still a couple of burritos from yesterday,” he said motioning to a makeshift table consisting of two wood sawhorses with a plywood board on top of them.

  “After breakfast I need your help,” he said calmly as he moved off towards one side of the building.

  Dan stood there a moment looking confused and unsure of what he should do until he felt his stomach rumbled with hunger. He made his way to the table eating one of the burritos and finishing a bottle of water before joining Manny on the other side of the building. As he approached the scene, he saw him, tapping small round holes into the drywall of the building with a hammer. Manny stopped what he was doing to look at him. Before Dan could ask a question.

  “We will make a hole through the wall so we can get into the grocery store next door. I don't know if you looked out the window this morning because there are a few infected out there and I don't want to risk going outside,” he stated.

  Dan just nodded his head agreeing because he was not sure what else he could say to him. Manny gave him a half smile. Dan watched as he inserted the claw end of the hammer into the hole. He had made and started quietly as possible pulling the hammer with a chunk of drywall free with a slight tearing noise before the drywall fell to the floor with a dull thud. Dan looked up over towards his sleeping mother. She seemed not to hear a look of concern crossing his face after a few more pieces of drywall fell. Manny turned to look at him and notice where he was looking.

  “She took a massive shock; her whole world has crashed down around her.”

  Dan looked up angrily at Manny who had a calm look on his face as he continued.

  “Also, this cannot be easy for you but people handle grief in different ways and you are young. While you loved your father you didn't have the emotional investment that your mother did,” Manny was calmly looking at the look of anger still present on his face.

  “Now you need to choose you need to man up to help your mother or not. We need the food and supplies in the store to survive. I know you want to help your mother but the best thing we can do right now. Is give her space so she can deal with what happened,” Manny said calmly before going back to work.

  Dan had mixed feelings as even more drywall fell to the floor. His mind torn between the terrible pains of knowing it was probably true and being unsure of what to do.

  “Okay here's where I need your help,” Manny said calmly. He seemingly had given him all the time he needed to make up his mind. He reached for the short-barreled shotgun leaning against the wall handing it to Dan. Who took it reluctantly unsure of what he needed to do. Manny looked at him reassuringly his brown eyes holding warmth and humor in them.

  “I am going to punch a small hole through the wall to see what is there. I probably will not need the shotgun, but if I do I need you to give it to me in a hurry,” he said smiling.

  Manny then continued to punch a hole in the drywall between two metal studs. Creating a fine dusting of powder as he slowly widened an opening appearing between two metal shelves holding loaves of bread in plastic bags on the them. Manny pulled one package off the shelf threw the hole and examined it for a second.

  “Sourdough bread, not my favorite but it'll do,” he said with a touch of humor as he reached through to secure several more loaves of bread. He continued enlarging the hole until it was large enough to fit through a set of metal shelves blocking them from entering the store. Manny reach through and started pushing, pulling and shaking the metal shelves Different types of bread dropped to the floor before they broke free of their supports to fall noisily to the floor. Dan checked to see if his mother was all right, all she did was roll over in the sleeping bag going back to sleep. He felt the anger rise in him before he noticed Manny motioning with his hand to the shotgun he held.

  Manny stopped and listened at the hole he had created while Manny did this the weight of the silence was unbearable for Dan. He felt like an hour past when in reality only a minute or two. Manny handed the shotgun back to Dan to start working on the next two shelves dropping them to the ground noisily before he stopped motioning for the shotgun and waited.

  “Are you ready,” Manny looked at him making a motion with the shotgun to go through the hole.

  “In there,” Dan said the nervousness showing in his voice. Manny nodded his head before he spoke.

  “I need you to watch my back.”

  Dan thought about this for second and reluctantly nodded his head agreeing. Manny just smiled as he turned to fit sideways between the metal studs into the other building. Taking a deep breath he followed him through. Manny started looking up and down the aisles. Dan looked puzzled at the lights that were still on as a light jazz music was coming over the loudspeakers. Manny turned to look at him.

  “Here is the plan I will go first you follow about six feet behind me keep an eye on what is going on behind us. If I call out you take off running for the opening get through as fast as you can I won't be far behind.”

  Dan just nodded his head at this unsure if he should be doing this. He watched as Manny moved down the aisle shotgun held somewhere between waist and chest level sweeping it back and forth slightly from side to side he moved his body as he walked. Dan waited until he felt that six feet had passed before he started following him as they headed towards the back of the building. Reaching the store’s back aisle, they turn towards the other side of the building. Looking down the rows of side aisles moving toward the center of the store. They saw nothing but abandon shopping carts left full of boxes and cans scattered about the floor. The shoppers abandoning baskets and dropping what they had in their hands to run when the infected came. They continued to the far side of the building. Before Manny motioned them to go back, stopping about the center of the store. Before a heavyset of swinging double doors that lead into the warehouse area. He looked at Dan as he made a motion with the shotgun that he was going to go through the doors. The apprehension Dan was feeling triple as he watched Manny moved up to the door to look through a set of small plastic windows in the doors.

  He watched as Manny slowly pushed the door open scanning the interior he made a motion with his hand for Dan to stay as he went to inside the warehouse. Dan stood in the empty store the light jazz music playing seemed obscene in the silence the time dragging on before Manny’s face appeared in the square plastic window.

  “The warehouse is empty and the backdoors locked. Let us move up towards the front windows to see what the parking lot looks like,” he said quietly.

  Dan’s throat was dry because he just nodded his head and started to follow Manny as he move down the center aisle to the front of the store. The tension rose from the pit in his stomach to his throat. Making their way slowly to the front stopping before the end of the aisle. Manny carefully looked right and left past the rows of cash registers standing unstaffed looking at the glass windows facing out into the parking lot. He watched as Manny nodded his head moving forward to the windows going left for the doors marked with the exit sign. He stop slightly in front of them taking his time to study them before moving forward slightly. Dan felt his heart would jump out of his throat as the doors suddenly opened as Manny trip the sensor. He looked out the window at the milling mass of infected wandering in the parking lot and street. Manny moved away as the doors closed.

  “We got to fix that,” he said. Running his eyes over the door frame he angled his body slightly moving forward at an angle to the door. Dan felt relieved to see the door did not open this time touching a switch on the door frame Manny moved back.

  Before walking up in front of the doors once again, the relieve Dan felt was enormous as he watched the doors fail to open. Manny reach down and turn the knob set at the center of the doorframe Dan let out the breath he was holding as an audible click sounded as the lock shot home. Manny said nothing as he turned heading for the other doors marking the entrance to the store. They were walking down the aisl
e in front of the store window when a bloodied face appeared looking through the window her solid white milky eyes studying them. Dan stopped.

  “Manny,” he stuttered as the woman continued to stare at him.

  Manny stopped a few feet in front of Dan before turning to see what he was looking at before coming over. The woman had pressed her face onto the glass trying to get to them. She smeared blood and other body fluids on the window as she put her hands on the glass a faint moaning sound emitting from her throat threw the glass as she stared at them.

  “What are we going to do,” he asked nervously looking at Manny who had a thoughtful look on his face.

  “Stay here,” he started but stopped as Dan suddenly turned his head with a look of terror on it.

  “Stay here,” he said again calmly nodding slightly towards the entrance doors before he moved just a couple feet away. Manny stopped and was unhappy to see the woman in the window move the same direction he went leaving a bloody smear mixed with yellow on the window. Manny stopped and so did the woman, he stood thinking for a minute before he spoke.

  “Dan move towards the other door,” he said calmly. Dan looked at him as if he was crazy.

  “Don’t worry we locked that door,” he said encouragingly.

  Dan slowly broke his gaze from Manny before he moved a few feet away from the woman. She seemed too fixate on him and started to move with him leaving a grease streak on the window.

  “Okay stay there and keep her attention while I go take care of the other doors,” Manny said, as he started moving again.

  “Is that all I have to do,” Dan thought as he looked at the milky white eyes staring at him unblinking. He stared back at the woman.

  “Keep her distracted,” he thought.

  “How,” was what he was thinking when he suddenly stuck his tongue out at her. Her milky white eyes stared unblinking at him. Dan made another face at her before raising his closed fist at her and started slowly extending his middle finger at her.