by Megan Duncan
Chapter 8
We quickly settled in for a long day of driving and Taya insisted we play twenty questions to help pass the time. I was certain it was just a ploy for her to get to know more about my brother. However, Carter was easily able to manipulate it into a game of recalling significant details about the demons we had seen. He had not had a chance to detail much about the small gremlin-like demons we had seen at the camp and he was chomping at the bit, so he enlisted Taya to write the information down. As always she was eager to do so, and I noticed that what used to annoy me about her, was sort of endearing. I could tell she really liked Carter, maybe she had a soft spot for brainiacs. Who was I to judge?
“No, their blood was a weird dark green color wasn’t it?” Taya corrected Carter on the fact.
“Yeah, you’re right. It looked like a thick sludge. Write that down Taya, oh, and don’t forget that they did start to retreat, so that shows signs of fear.”
“Got it.”
“They were about two feet tall, covered in that nasty scaly skin… hmm what else?”
Taya sat scribbling away before sticking the pencil in her mouth while she tried to remember other details.
They went back and forth like that for what seemed like hours. Max and I sat silently in the back seat, each of us slowly inching closer together until our thighs were touching intimately and I was resting my head on his shoulder staring out the window.
“Hey look! It’s Salt Lake.” I pointed out the window to the wide expanse of still blue water. “We’re almost half way now, right?”
“Uh… Yeah. You two got the map back there? I think we’re going to have to change interstates here at some point.”
Max and I deciphered the map while Carter steadily made his way through the streets. We had to get off the interstate as it was taking too long to weave through the overabundance of abandoned and wrecked vehicles.
As we drove along, I couldn’t help but notice how the city still retained a small morsel of its beauty even after such a cataclysmic event. I admired the architecture in the buildings of the once bustling downtown metropolis and wondered if the city would ever be the same again. Would any city ever be the same again? Would we be able to do everything that Carter said we would? Could we really help give the answer to stop what could very well be the end of humanity? Questions continued to rattle through my head as we drove down the tree-lined city streets.
We stopped for lunch and to refuel after having made it farther south into Utah. This time Max had to siphon the gas, and as I watched him fight the urge to vomit, I quietly prayed he would brush his teeth before trying to kiss me again. And then I wondered if we even had any toothpaste.
“I vote that getting the gas remains the guy’s job,” Taya said as she watched Max leaning over the side of the road with his hands on his knees. His face had contorted into the oddest expressions as he fought his body’s revulsion to the taste of gasoline in his mouth. I started to wonder if he had accidently swallowed any.
I placed a hand on his back in a small effort to give comfort and I nodded my head at Taya, “You have a point. I second that.”
“Nice try, you two,” Max said, as regained his composure.
Taya stuck her tongue out and leaned against the back of the Bronco next to Carter who was rummaging through the bags.
“Hey dude, can you get me a shirt?” Max asked as he pulled his off and used it to wipe his face.
I couldn’t help but stare as his hard stomach was revealed when he tugged at his shirt, and tried not to look too disappointed when he kept his undershirt on. He gave me a side long glance and covered himself in mock embarrassment as Carter chucked a clean - well cleaner - shirt at him, hitting him square in the face. Taya and Carter laughed as they walked to the front of the car.
“Those two are getting awfully chummy,” Max said.
“Yeah…they are kind of an odd match, but they sort of even each other out don’t you think?”
Max just shrugged and shut the back of the Bronco as he took his turn in the front seat to drive the next leg. “Okay, everyone, I want you to keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times. Please remain seated and refrain from using flash photography. Seat belts must be latched securely.”
We all laughed and said, “Shut up Max” in unison. He smiled over at me with an extra large grin as I clicked my seat belt closed.
“How is your leg feeling?” I asked him as he started driving.
“It’s a lot better, a little sore but I hardly notice it anymore. What about your shoulder?”
“About the same. I almost can’t believe we are half way, I feel like I need to pinch myself. This is all almost over. Well, this part of it at least,” I said, with a relaxing exhalation.
“I’ll pinch you if you’d like.” Max gave me a crooked smile and all I could do was blush back at him. His strong hands gripped the steering wheel as he drove and I admired them. It was an odd feeling to find a pair of hands to be so beautiful but it was who they belonged to that mattered to me.
When I broke myself away from staring at Max, I could see Carter’s reflection in the side view mirror as he gazed out the window. He looked hopeful, but darkness remained hidden just under the surface. It was an uncertainty that would remain until we made it to New Mexico and know for sure if we had made the biggest mistake of our lives. I knew my brother well and he wouldn’t be completely happy until we made it to New Mexico. As happy as it had made us all to hear that transmission, I knew Carter was still not one hundred percent convinced.
“Honestly...” Taya broke the silence as she loudly flipped through the pages of Carter’s book, “we have some really good information in this thing. I’ve read it front to back now, a few times, and its slowly building and building. Just think of this combined with what the U.S. Military has. They must already know tons of things about them. That’s probably why they’re doing so well down there. They’re building a strong resistance and soon we will be able to kill all the demons and this will be finally over.”
Carter looked to her and smiled as she handed him the book. “Thanks. Sometimes I want so badly to have so much knowledge to put into this thing, but other times I want the opposite, because the more we have in it, the more evil there is out there to fill it.”
“Well, we won’t have to worry about that much longer, man. We will be in New Mexico soon,” Max added.
We had such bad luck at the beginning of our journey through what was left of civilization, and light was finally starting to show on the horizon, but I couldn’t help wondering if there were still unforeseen dangers ahead of us. Always the pessimist I tried to quickly remove those thoughts from my mind as I did not want them entering the universe. If I were able to find some wood to knock on at that moment I would have done it for good measure.
The sky seemed to quickly fade to a warm crimson as the sun set on us. To pass the time and keep our minds off of things, Max and I debated over high school politics. He seemed to think our high school football team would have made it to the state championships and I didn’t think they had a chance. Not because I really believed it, but just because it was the opposite of what Max thought and we loved harassing each other.
Taya would chime in commenting that her school always won state, Carter on the other hand didn’t like football and tried to convince us all, that track and field was a man’s true test of endurance and athleticism. Which only fueled Max to demand Carter name one track and field star that was as famous as any football player. When Taya blurted out the name of Bruce Jenner, we all rolled with laughter to her dismay.
“What’s so funny? I saw it on that show, The Kardashians. He was a track star. He was in the Olympics, too!”
As we wiped tears of laughter from our eyes, Taya folded her arms in a pout as she stared out the window.
“Hey! Look at that!” she said as she tapped her fingernail on the glass of the window. “Does that flag say something?”
Max slowed t
he Bronco down to a crawl as we all squinted trying to read the flag as it rippled in the windy sky.
“I think it says safe,” Carter said almost as a question. “Stop for a minute, Max. Geez, it does say safe.”
“What do you think it means?” Taya asked.
For an instant I had thought it was an incredibly dumb question, but then I caught on. Was it a trap? I watched Max as he put the Bronco in park. He slowly stepped out, but left the keys in the ignition. The wind tugged at his flannel shirt and sent his dark hair flying around on his head as he walked away from the Bronco.
“What do you see?” I shouted out to him as he stood holding his hand up to his brow shading his eyes from the last of the setting sun.
“We’re not going to go check it out are we?” Taya asked her voice sounding weary. We all stared at each other in silence for a good long moment. “You’re all nuts!” Taya shouted. “We’re halfway there, let’s just keep going.”
Carter put his hand on her shoulder. “Taya, you know we have to at least check it out. What if there are people there who need help or people who can help us? Can you live with just driving by, knowing you never even tried? Think of us just driving by you, as you were trapped in that van?”
Taya sighed and stared at her fingers as she knotted the strings hanging from a hole in her frayed jeans. “Fine, but for the record I think this is a really dumb idea.”
I watched Taya slide out of the Bronco and stand next to Max at the edge of the road. “Are you sure about this?” I asked Carter.
“Yeah, I’ve realized that I have been so consumed with either getting information into this book or just getting to New Mexico, I haven’t been thinking about what it is going to take to do those things. I meant what I said to her. I don’t think I could live with myself either, knowing that I may have left someone behind. I know you all think I don’t care, but I do. This is just a lot to deal with, and as childish as it sounds, I wish dad was here.”
I blinked away the urge to cry and reached over to the back seat to hug my brother. “We don’t think you don’t care, Carter. I know you have a lot of responsibility to bear, and I miss dad too. You’re not alone though, you’ve got me and Max, and Taya, too. We will always stand with you, even when you act like a crazed dictator.”
A small laughed escaped him. “You’re such a brat,” he teased.
“Yeah, I know. But you love me anyway.”
I jumped out of the Bronco and headed straight to the one other thing that would give me comfort, my shotgun. The familiar weight of it felt right as I placed it over my shoulder. My wound was still tender, but bearable. Strapping the knife to my leg, I walked over to Max’s side and surveyed the white flag billowing in the distance with the words “SAFE” written in red letters on it.
We all hopped back into the Bronco and got off the highway, heading into the town. It was a small town with unique “Mom and Pop” stores lining the trash filled streets. Display windows were smashed everywhere making the sidewalks look like they sparkled in the evening suns soft rays.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen those words look not so safe, ever before in my whole life,” Taya whined as we made our way at a snail’s pace toward the building.
It appeared to be the town’s City Hall building, with a newly, yet haphazardly, built chain link fence lining the property.
“Well… demons wouldn’t put up a fence, so there has to be people inside, right?” Carter asked trying to sound hopeful.
As we came to a stop about fifty feet from the fence, we all slowly crept out of the Bronco, securing our weapons and preparing for anything to leap out at us. I could see Max sniffing the air as he made his way to the front of the Bronco.
“I can’t smell anything. Can you?” Max asked.
“No. That’s a good sign, so we know at least that there are no hounds nearby.” Carter made his way to an entrance of the fence and looked out toward the front of the building.
“How do you suppose we get in?” I asked as I grabbed the links of the fence with my fingers, giving it a tug. The metal felt cold under my fingers and I quickly let go.
“Well, now we know it’s not an electric fence,” Max added as he approached, and I rolled my eyes at him.
The four of us stood along the border of the fence and stared at the imposing building. Its windows had been boarded up and the red brick gave it an ominous look in comparison to the four pale white pillars that stood towering over the entrance.
The wooden front doors suddenly swung open and three men appeared, one taking long strides toward us. He was quickly followed by another man, who stood protectively near the first man. We all stood frozen in place, watching each other until the first man handed his shotgun to the other and walked briskly to the fence.
“What should we do?” Max asked in a quick whisper to Carter as the man approached.
“I’ll talk,” Carter said quickly and we all steadied ourselves as the man crossed his arms and glowered at us from the other side of the fence. He was wearing camo pants, but not the kind used by the military. They looked like something a hunter would wear. I stared at his boots that looked to be covered in some dried dark substance. Mud perhaps, or dirt. I immediately didn’t like this man even before he spoke; there was just something about him that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
His voice was nasally and cocky and I didn’t like it. “It’s just a bunch of kids, Jerry.” He shouted back at the man behind him and I leaned to have a better look. He didn’t look like a Jerry to me. “Where you kids from?”
“Washington,” Carter answered firmly and I was proud to hear the steadiness in his voice.
“Wow! I’m impressed. That’s quite a long way to be traveling.” His eyes seemed to be inspecting us, giving me the urge to cover myself and Taya, even though I knew he didn’t have x-ray vision. “And you seem to have made it all that way no problem at all.”
“We’ve had our share of obstacles,” Max added with a bit of irritation in his voice.
“Jerry! Roger! Let those poor kids in already!”
An older man stood just outside the doorway waving his hand in the air. The man closest to us, apparently Roger, gave a heavy sigh and started to pull keys out of his pocket to open the gate.
“Damn it, John, I haven’t even questioned them yet. We can’t let just anybody in here.”
We all hesitated after Roger opened the gate and swept his arm across as an invitation to enter. “Ya’ll gonna come in or what? I don’t want to stand here all damn day.”
Carter and Max took the lead as I walked closely behind with Taya in tow. The sound of Roger slamming the gate shut behind us and locking it made us all stop and look back.
“Come on then,” John called from the entry way. “Come inside.” His voice was so friendly I almost felt that we were in a trance, being lured in by him. The main doors of the building led into a giant foyer that had once greeted important city officials but was now home to, who knew what. John led us quickly down to the end of the hall into a large conference room that had been turned into a dining hall/armory.
“Have a seat, you kids sure look tired.” John pulled a chair for himself and sat down with a thud. The sounds of Roger and Jerry placing their weapons back onto a shelf made it a lot easier to relax, so we each took a seat. I looked over to Max and Carter, noting that both of them looked ready to pounce at any second. The edge in the air gave me the urge to pull my shotgun off my back and hold it at the ready.
“Dang, you kids sure are skittish,” he commented as he eyed us. “My name is John. You’ve met Roger and Jerry. Welcome to City Hall. Aren’t you going to tell me your names?”
“I’m Carter and he’s Max.” Taya and I didn’t say anything. John looked at us for a moment and then went on.
“Alright then, I don’t know what those two meat heads did to freak you kids out, but don’t worry about them. They’re all ba
rk and no bite.” The two cursed under their breath as they left the room and John just waved them off. “I take it you kids saw that flag?”
“Yeah. So, what’s the deal here?” Carter asked.
“Well, Carter...” John said the name as if checking that he remembered it correctly, “we have ourselves a little safe house, or more like safe building I guess. We’ve been here going on a few months now. We’ve got food, water and weapons, obviously. You kids are welcome to stay of course, but we all pitch in around here so don’t think this is a free ride.”
“Is it just the three of you?” Taya blurted out.
John chuckled. “No, I think there are about twelve of us now. My wife actually does all the cooking. We’ve also got a couple kids around your age I think. It’s tough, but we get by. Those damn monsters don’t dare come around here anymore. Just a few nights ago we gave them a good ass kicking.”
“They’re demons,” Carter said matter-of-factly, like he needed to correct the guy.
“Hell, I know that. Everybody knows that, but monsters just sounds less, well, less damning to me. You sound like that damn Norah lady, all her preaching and what not.” It was obvious he was getting worked up about it, but he took a deep breath trying to calm himself. I caught the expression on Carter’s face and could tell he very much wanted to talk to this Norah lady.
“Alright, well, I guess I will show you around. Uh, you kids can put those weapons away, ain’t nobody here gonna hurt you.” None of us made an attempt to remove our weapons, so John just shrugged and started to walk. There was no way any of us were going to leave our weapons, not yet at least. John was right we were skittish.
We followed John around as he showed us the living areas. People had taken over former offices and turned them into decent sleeping areas. We met John’s wife in the kitchen. She was preparing a large pot of soup with a few other people who were washing clothes in large metal buckets. The aroma was intoxicating and I had almost forgotten what a real home-cooked meal smelled like. The last time I remember eating something that smelled that good was when my dad was still alive. The thought of him quickly removed the hint of a smile that had crept on my face.
“Nice to meet you all,” John’s wife, Judy, said while stirring the contents of a large stock pot. She quickly wiped her hands on a towel and held out a hand in greeting. She was a tall frail looking lady. She had a friendly demeanor, but there was an air of melancholy about her; which would probably be a common characteristic of anyone we would meet from now on. I thought for a moment that we probably appeared the same way.
Our tour then led us to a small courtyard area where young teenaged kids played hacky sack under the watchful eye of a girl that looked to be about my age. She was pinning clothes up on a line to dry. John introduced her as Norah and she kindly tilted her head at us. She had long red hair that was wrapped up into a frizzy braid. Her freckled face hinted at a former beauty, but the obvious lack of food made her cheek bones stand out. I wondered what she looked like before everything happened and imagined how much prettier she must have been with a full round face.
“This is, Norah. She helps maintain this garden here, I’m sure she could use some extra hands if one of you four is willing,” John said rather quickly, obviously not wanting the introduction with Norah to last for very long.
“Hello, everyone. I’d always accept some extra help.”
It was apparent how exhausted she was as she propped the empty laundry basket onto her boney hip and called out for the kids to follow her inside. They obediently followed her orders, and just before Norah slipped into the kitchen Carter announced that he would help her. I felt Taya stir next to me and was sure she didn’t much like the idea of the two of them spending time together.
Norah nodded with a slight smile, which I would later discover irritated Taya immensely.
“That’s nice of you, Carter, but that’s mainly a woman’s job around here,” John commented.
I wasn’t sure if that statement offended Carter or not.
“I don’t mind. I’ve been known for having a green thumb,” Carter said. I then realized that he really wanted to an opportunity to talk to Norah and get her opinion on what was going on. It usually was the case that the person that seemed to not fit in with the crowd was the one who knew the most.
“He could probably do wonders for your zucchini plants over there,” I added to make Carter’s claim more convincing.
John eyed us suspiciously for a moment and then directed us back into the building, leading us to our room. A woman quickly retreated upon our entry after having added an extra cot for us to sleep on.
“Alright, this can be your room. We don’t have much, but we have plenty of blankets and… looks like Sherry brought you some towels and soap, so you could clean yourselves up.”
“Oh, my gosh, a shower!” Taya squealed as she ran to snatch the bar of soap off a nearby table.
John smiled at her childlike antics and then continued. “I believe dinner will be in about thirty minutes, so there is time for you all to get cleaned up. Alright then, I’ll let you get to it.” He left the room closing the door behind him.
“Do you guys remember where the bathrooms were?” Taya asked already with soap and towels in tow.
“Just hold on, Taya, I don’t think any of us should be going anywhere alone,” Carter said.
“I am just going to shower, what’s the big deal?”
“We don’t know these people very well, yet. Listen, I’ll go with you, okay?” I said.
Carter silently mouthed the words thank you as we left the room. I had to admit to myself I was rather excited about the idea of a shower. I was sweaty and tired from the long day of driving and I wanted to wash away the stresses of the day. However, what awaited us in the bathroom was far from what we had expected.
~