He still didn't get it. "Want to make a run to a grocery store with me, Dad?"
"Sure, let me tell your mom that we're leaving."
He needed to see what waited. If he understood the severity of the situation, then perhaps he would back off thinking she was being a drama queen. She grabbed the AR and a 30-30 and handed her father a .9mm SIG and the 30-30. "You may need these."
He gave her one of those smiles that said she was being extreme again. The infected at the fence should've been a huge wake up call, but he continued to ignore the sad truth of the world. How could someone as intelligent as Xever Martinez refuse to accept the truth? He'd never been good at facing life, and Raul paid the price.
Randi pointed the truck toward Kerrville. Hills and trees that she used to find beautiful rolled by. Now, they only served to hide danger.
She drove several streets and found a small Mexican grocery store. "We need mostly vegetables, flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar. Anything we can make bread from."
Her father nodded and reached for the door.
"Wait."
"What is it?"
"Take it slow." She held her hands palm up. "Where's the pistol?"
"I stuck it between the seats." He father frowned. "You can't expect me to take it into the store. I don't have my license to carry like you do."
"Dad, the store isn't in operation. We may have to fight for our lives once we're inside. Take the gun."
"I—"
"Take. The. Gun."
He picked up the pistol and stuck it in his waistband. "I hope I don't get arrested."
"Law enforcement ceased a while back. You've been sheltered living at Barker's place. There is no law. Anarchy reigns in this country." Randi hopped out of the truck and made her way to the door. "Society's gone. It's every man for himself."
They walked to the store, and her father reached for the door. She grabbed his arm to stop him. "We have to make sure it's safe."
She motioned him behind her and cracked open the door. A couple of bloated dead bodies were inside but no infecteds that she could see. She stepped over the threshold and scoured the rest of the store. Nothing. The sickly odor of death permeated the store and clung to her. She'd never rid herself of the stench. Karma for all of her killing. Her breathing sped up, but she forced herself to take several slow, deep breaths. "Come in, but be careful." Her voice came out shaky. "Just because I don't see an infected person, doesn't mean there aren't any."
Her father stared at the store. "What happened here, and what is that horrible stench?"
"The zombie apocalypse, and there are a couple of decomposing dead bodies inside."
He audibly gagged but followed her.
Randi grabbed a grocery cart and started up an aisle. "Stay close." She took several bags of flour and found one of sugar. They neared the back of the store. Her father went ahead of her and lifted two bags of masa and a can of baking powder off the shelf. He reached for another can. A hand grasped his arm, and an infected dove for him. Randi leveled her .45 and popped off a round before her father could move. He stared at her and then at the infected person on the ground. She touched his arm. "We need to finish up and get out of here."
They picked the store clean, loaded the supplies, and climbed into her truck. She drove deeper into town to the grocery store where she'd lost Leon. "This is where Leon died. Someone locked a bunch of infecteds inside the cooler. Maybe they thought they'd die in there.
"Anyway, Leon tried to get me to leave him here while he was holding the door shut, but I refused. We got out." She swallowed over the boulder lodged in her throat and gripped the steering wheel to still her shaking hands. "When we came outside, someone took shots at us." She pointed to the hole in the windshield. "I was hit in the arm and leg, but they shot Leon in the chest. By the time I got to him, he was gone. I tried to get his body into the truck to take him home. They kept shooting. I had to drive blocks with his body hanging half out."
She pulled the truck close to the windows and climbed out. After looking inside and seeing many infecteds roaming the store, she motioned for her father to join her. The shooters must've opened the cooler. "Look inside," she whispered.
He leaned forward and placed his hands beside his eyes to shade them as he peered through the window. A gasp escaped his lips.
"Let's head home."
"Mija, I'm sorry." Her father blinked as he stared straight ahead.
"It's okay, Dad. Things are bad. We have to watch out for each other."
"I never dreamed this many people could be infected. How many were in that store? It looked like hundreds."
"No clue. Someone locked them in the cooler, and when Leon opened it, he almost didn't get it closed. The shooters must've let them out."
Her father held his head in his hands. "I'm sorry I thought you were overreacting. It's hard to believe the world has come to this."
"Today's been a good day. We only interacted with one infected person." She looked at him. "Often it's much worse."
"How?"
Randi tugged her bottom lip through her teeth. "Barker hired me to build this compound." She shrugged. "He was a biochemist for the government. What if he was developing a WMD?"
"WMD?"
"Weapon of mass destruction." She chewed on her lip. "Bio-warfare. When I was in the military, there was a lot of chatter about the U.S. and Russia being in a competition to develop the worst bio-weapon ever."
"Bio-warfare? Do you think this guy would develop a rabies virus with no vaccination?"
"Isn't that a better explanation than a rabies virus that randomly mutated?"
Her father bounced his leg up and down. "Yes."
"If he developed this, maybe he can reverse it." Randi hoped that was the case. "I built a lab in the basement of his house."
"What if he doesn't make it back here?"
"I can't think about that."
"We need to pray for the world. This is straight from the devil."
Randi rolled her eyes. "If there is a God, He allowed it. What good will it do to pray?"
"I don't know why this happened, but you have to remember God gave us free will. If this was developed as a weapon, man did it. A man with free will." Her father stared at her. "God didn't do this."
"He sure as heck didn't stop it." Randi scrunched up her mouth. "I've heard all about free will, but He could've killed this guy. Stopped his heart or something."
"What about the next person who decides to develop something like this? Or the next?"
"So you're saying your God has no power? Why pray to Him, then?"
"You're twisting my words, Miranda."
"Whatever. A lot of my comrades in the Marines found Jesus, but when I was in a foxhole with my best friend, He deserted me. I begged Him to save Aaron, but no. He let Aaron, a man who loved Him, die in my arms. Why would I trust a God with that kind of sense of right and wrong?" She wanted to scream at her father and ask him where God was when her father had killed her brother. She clenched her jaw to keep from saying anything. Now was not the time.
"You never told me."
"No, because I'm the drama queen. Remember?" She glared at her father. "No matter how much I changed in the military, my family won't let me live down how I acted as a teenager. A teenager for goodness sakes." Randi let out a short, mirthless laugh. "I loved Aaron. We planned to get married as soon as our tours of duty were up. Then he died. I held him in my arms as he breathed his last, and your God did nothing to stop it. Nothing."
*****
Josh pulled into another small town. They passed a large park with a swimming pool on the left and a grocery store on the right. He hadn't seen a sign indicating which one. Second town in a row that he missed the name. He hoped they were still on the right road. He glanced at his brother. Mark's arm looked better, but he still had a pained look on his face. What if the dislocation had caused a fracture? Were any of the hospitals still functional? "You doing okay, bud?"
"My arm ac
hes a lot but it'll get better."
"Is your movement limited in it?"
"A little." Mark shifted. "It hurts to try to move it."
"I'll try to find you help." Josh whipped into a hospital parking lot. "Let me go in and see if this place is still working. Or if anyone is here."
"Hospitals were overrun first." Mark rubbed his shoulder. "You cannot go in there. Think about it. Bitten people go to the hospital. Then they turn. Once they turn, they bite others in the hospital. It's a cycle that can't end well."
At this, Josh pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "You could lose the use of it. I have to find someone to help you."
"No." Mark frowned. "Life as we know it has changed. Even if you found someone there to help, he couldn't do the imaging, fix the shoulder, or anything else needed. No, I'll make a point of using the arm and lifting the shoulder. I can devise my own therapy schedule."
"You'll need pain meds at the very least."
"I need my brother more." Mark made eye contact with Josh and held it. "If you go in, I'm going with you. Either we both survive, or we both die."
"Fine. Let's find a pharmacy, then."
"Much better idea." Mark smirked. "I'm not against taking a pain pill. Or a shot of bourbon, but I don't want us to die trying to get it."
"When did you become a drinker?"
"I didn't, but if you find a bottle, grab it. I'll do whatever it takes to dull the pain.”
Josh drove around until he found a pharmacy. "Wait here." He reached for the door handle.
"Nope. I told you we're in this together." Mark opened his door. "Besides, I'm right-handed, and it's my left one that hurts."
"Okay. Stay behind me, though." The building had dark, tinted glass encasing the entire front. He couldn’t see anything inside because of the tint. Josh walked up to the glass pharmacy door and reached for the handle. He took several deep breaths, tightened his grip on his weapon, and pushed the door open. A bell over the door tinkled.
"Good morning." A blue-eyed young woman with her blond hair in a long ponytail sat on a stool with a shotgun across her lap. "How may I help you?"
"My brother was injured, and he needs pain medication." The surreal feeling of a pharmacist sitting behind a counter in her white coat in the midst of this pandemonium struck Josh as hilarious, but he held in his laughter. Didn't want them thinking he'd lost his fragile grip on reality.
“I've got pain meds." She smiled. "What do you have to trade?"
"Food?"
"That's good." The leggy blond stood. "Let's see what you've got."
Josh ran back to the car for several cans of soup, a can of beans, and a package of crackers. "What'll this get us?"
She inspected the food. "It'll get you a bottle of hydrocodone. What happened?"
Josh relayed the story of how Mark dislocated his shoulder.
"May I take a look?" she asked Mark.
He grimaced as she grasped his forearm with one hand and placed the other on his shoulder. When she lifted the arm, Mark grimaced again. "How far can you raise it?"
Mark lifted his left arm to a smidge above shoulder height.
The blond shook her head. "No bueno. I think you tore the rotator cuff when you dislocated it."
"How do we fix it?" Josh asked.
"We don't without surgery." She scrunched up her mouth. "If the tear's not too bad, it might heal to a degree. Especially with a little therapy. You don't happen to know any physical therapists, do you?"
"No. You're the only medical person we've met." Josh shook his head.
"I can show you a few exercises, but I'm afraid that's the best I can do. Sorry." She turned her hands palm up. "I only know those because my dad had a tear and did PT after surgery."
"Thanks." Mark smiled. "I'm Mark Barker, and this is my brother Josh."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Jill."
"Are you here alone?" Mark asked.
"Don't get any ideas about cleaning my store out." She shouldered her shotgun. "I'll give you the pain meds, but the stuff in here is my only bargaining chip."
Josh held his hands up. "Mark didn't mean it that way."
"No. We're headed to my uncle's place, and I thought you might want to come with us." Mark rubbed his shoulder. "That is if you've not been bitten or scratched."
She stared at the men for several seconds. "Why offer? You just met me."
"You seem nice and being here all alone is probably scary." Mark raised his eyebrows. "I thought you might need friends."
The woman's eyes glistened as Mark spoke. "I'm clean, and I do wish I could, but no. Thank you, though." She slung the shotgun over her shoulder and headed toward the medicines. "Let me get you something for pain."
"We can't leave her here alone," Mark hissed. "Do something. Convince her to come with us." Josh grinned. Mark wanted Jill to come because the blond was hot and smelled like flowers. He couldn't blame his kid brother for liking her, but could they trust her enough to take her with them?
She returned a few minutes later. "Here's a bottle of hydrocodone. It should help with the pain." Jill gave a half smile. "I'm sorry I can't help you more."
"Why can't you come with us?" Josh asked. "We're going somewhere safe." He motioned to the pharmacy. “I know you don't have any zombies in here, but what about people? What are you going to do when someone discovers you have a fully-stocked pharmacy, and they decide to take what they want?"
She patted her shotgun. "I can take care of myself."
"Against four or five armed assailants?” Josh ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know that I could live with myself if we leave you here alone."
"I don't know." She rapped her nails on the counter. "This is my dad's pharmacy. It's all I have left. When this is over, I have to rebuild. If I leave and it's destroyed, I won't have anything to come back to."
"It's not going to end. Ever." Mark pressed his lips into a tight line. "It's only going to get worse. All we have now is survival."
Chapter Sixteen
Randi and her father headed toward the compound in silence. The hilly landscape blurred as they passed it. She hated being so harsh to the man who loved her more than anything. "Dad, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, mija." He clasped her hand in his. "I should've listened to you. Honey, I'm so sorry about Aaron. Your mother and I had no idea what you went through."
She swallowed. "I'm okay. Thank you for coming with me today."
"Watch out!"
She swerved to keep from plowing into a group of infected people wandering down the road. As she hit the brakes, she uttered an oath under her breath. She’d risk damaging the truck if she ran over them.
"There are so many of them." Her father stared out the window. "The world is very sick, isn't it?"
"Yep." Randi closed her eyes for a few seconds. "We have to figure out a way around them." She backed up a ways and stopped. "I don't know any other route to get to the compound."
"Me either." Her father grabbed the 30-30. "We only have one choice."
Randi lowered her window, stuck her AR outside, and began firing. Her father took a deep breath, and joined her by firing out his window. They thinned the horde out. She turned to her father. "When I get out, slide over here. If anything happens, head back without me."
"I'm not—"
"No." Randi held up a hand to any further protests. "Just cover me the best you can. I've gotta clear the bodies out of the road."
She limped to the first body and began rolling people to the side. Why couldn't she have found a bottle of Vicks or something to cover the stench of sickness and death? Her father eased the truck closer and fired at any infected who came near her while she cleared a section. She reached the last two bodies on the road. She grabbed the first one and began to shove. A shot rang out, and Randi's head jerked up as a body fell over her. She jumped up and tugged the body out of the way. With the road cleared, Randi climbed into the passenger side.
Her father dr
ove toward the compound, and she thought of Raul. She'd kept those memories hidden deep in her heart for so many years, but now he haunted her thoughts. He was so fun and loving, yet he didn't see his sixteenth birthday. Another reason she didn't trust her parents' God. He'd taken her hero leaving her alone with a shrew for a sister and no buffer. Miguel tried, but he wasn't Raul. Her father looked at her as they reached the compound. "We need to have guards day and night. I'll talk to the others, and we'll work out a plan."
"Thanks, Dad."
"I'm so sorry." He clasped her hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "I should have taken you seriously much sooner."
"Once your little girl, always your little girl."
They unloaded everything, and Randi's father called a family meeting.
She found a spot by the fire trying to warm her cold bones while her dad gathered everyone to the circle. As Adriana straggled in to the group, her father squeezed her hand and smiled. "I went out with Randi today. Things are much worse than we ever thought."
"But we're safe in here?" her mother asked.
"For now." He paused for a moment and worked his jaw. "However, life is horrendous outside these gates. We must keep watch night and day. I'm making a schedule, and we'll rotate duty and keep the place covered."
Adriana rolled her eyes. "Why don't we let Ranger Randi take over? She can go all warrior on them. Like she did when Leon was in trouble." She glared at Randi. "If we leave it to her, then we might as well shoot ourselves in the head right now."
"You weren't there." Randi jumped up, fisted her hands, and glared at her sister. Why didn't she watch Leon as they went to the truck?
"Oh, that's right. Little miss soldier can't handle that she might've let someone die, so now it's Leon's fault." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Guess what? Ms. Perfect, if you hadn't asked him to go with you, my husband wouldn't be dead. How dare you take him away from his wife and children? It's your fault I'm a widow and my children are fatherless. You are the most uncaring, unloving, heartless—"
"Adriana! That's enough," Randi's father stepped in front of her sister. "You don't know what it's like." He shook his finger in her face. "None of you understand. Randi, Miguel, and Leon were the only ones to go out to gather supplies."
Dark Days (Book 1): Contagion Page 13