by Megan Duncan
Chapter 9
Of course, a city hall building wasn’t going to have a proper shower. It appeared that they had turned the handicap stall into a makeshift shower. The toilet had been removed, and a hole had been made in the plaster wall to hook a shower head into the water line. We took turns showering, while the other stood guard at the door and I let Taya go first.
“Hey, Abby…” Taya called from the shower. “Why do you think Carter wanted to help with the gardening so bad?”
“I think he wants to question that Norah girl. She seems to have a different view point then everyone else here.” Taya didn’t have a response to that.
“Did you see that door Roger and that other guy were guarding?” She asked.
“Yeah, that I was a little curious about. I can’t image what they could possibly need to guard like that.” During our tour we had walked down a hallway that had a large security door bolted into the frame. The two men who had “greeted” us at the front gate guarded it, and when Max asked what they were doing John wouldn’t answer. John said it was private business and we need not worry ourselves about it, which only made us more concerned.
“Maybe they have supplies they don’t want anyone to steal.”
“No, that can’t be it. Besides, if someone were going to steal, they wouldn’t get very far would they?”
“No, I guess you’re right.”
I thought more about what could be behind that door, while Taya finished her shower; leaving me very little warm water. The water quickly turned cold, but it still felt good to be clean. I ripped the bandage off my shoulder, and tried to gently rub soap on the wound. It looked better than it felt. After getting as clean as I could and wrapping myself in a towel I walked carefully out of the stall across the slippery tile floor, only to find that Taya had left me alone. I should have known, it was getting too quiet.
I cursed her under my breath and quickly got dressed. Rummaging through my bag on the floor I found a brush and got to work on my hair until I was able to put it into a proper ponytail. I stared at my reflection in the mirror for a moment and found that I did look a bit better, not so sleep deprived or zombie-like, even though I still felt like it.
Walking out of the bathroom with bag in tow I ran right into Roger. “Oh, sorry.” He leered at me and I got this sneaking suspicion that he had been lurking around, and worried if he had been in the bathroom with me without me even knowing it. I hurriedly retreated, and found our room, shutting the door firmly before resting my back against it.
“These people are frigging creepy,” I said.
“I’ll agree with you on that,” Max said, startling me.
I considered telling him about Roger hanging around outside the bathroom, but I knew Max would go ape-shit and probably cause a very unwanted scene.
“They’re hiding something, I just don’t know what.”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing. There is just something about this place that makes my hair stand on end.”
Max nodded, and took a seat next to me. Seeing my wound visible under the strap of my tank top, he sighed loudly.
“Abs, you should keep that thing covered. At least until it heals a little more,” Max quickly bandaged up my shoulder and topped it off with a kiss for good measure.
“Max, I don’t wanna stay here for very long.”
“We won’t. We should stay here for the night at the very least and leave first thing in the morning. I know Carter will agree with that. If he wants to get information from that Norah girl, he is going to have to work fast.”
Max and I embraced each other before heading to the dining hall, for what we both were certain would be a very interesting dinner.
Carter had managed to seat himself right next to Norah, and she politely nodded at Max and me as we walked in. Taya on the other hand, sat on the other side of Carter with a scowl firmly affixed to her face.
Max and I took seats across from them and although everyone seemed to be in cheerful moods, I still felt like everyone was watching us. My grip on Max’s hand tightened as John rose from his seat to announce our arrival and welcome us. There were new faces that I had not remembered seeing while on the tour, but they looked friendly enough. I just couldn’t help but notice that no one seemed to want to make eye contact with John. Did they seem to shrink back whenever he spoke to someone, or was I just being paranoid?
“Quiet down everyone. I would like you all to welcome the newcomers to our group, to our family. I know I speak for all of you when I say that we are happy to have you stay with us. These are dark times, and we all must stick together to find the light. We must all be willing to work together to find whatever small bits of peace are left in the world. So let us raise our glasses to this blessing of finding fellow survivors, and new friends.” Everyone raised their cups and spoke quiet amens and praises for our safe arrival to them.
“So, Carter… Taya tells me you saved her from three of those demon birds. Is this true?” John asked.
“Uh… Yeah.” We were all a little confused as to when Taya was able to tell him anything. “We all saved her. We didn’t do anything that anybody else wouldn’t have done.”
“Very true, boy. That is my very point. We must be willing to risk anything to destroy these demons. To save any lasting pieces of humanity we have. That is a very difficult lesson for some people to learn. Even with the state the world is in, not everyone is willing to help those in need.”
A dribble of drool started to roll down John’s chin and he wiped it off with the back of his hand and continued. “I hear you also have yourself a dictionary of some sort? With information about these demons?”
We all shot Taya a penetrating glance, as Carter recovered. “Yes, I have been cataloging information about the demons.”
The room broke out in sudden chatter as people expressed their shock and fear. “Only to discover their weaknesses. To defeat them, we must understand them.”
The people quieted down at this as John raised his hand to calm everyone down. I was quickly discovering that John was the ringleader of this group of survivors, but it seemed so much like people were afraid of him. His voice was kind and welcoming, but there was something crazy in his eyes
“Great minds think alike, then. You must have some very valuable information to have made it so far. Later tonight, you and I will talk. I’m sure we could learn a great deal from each other.”
Carter agreed and everyone went on with their own conversations. John walked from table to table, in what would have looked to be a courteous host, but appeared more to be an act of a watchful guard dog.
“Abby…” Max whispered into my ear as we finished eating, “I’m going to go with Carter tonight, keep an eye on him. Can you watch Taya?”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Taya spat, almost too loudly.
“I didn’t say you did, now ssh! I want you two girls to stick together tonight. This dude is freaking me out, he’s got some cult going on here, or something, and I don’t want us to have any part in it. Some of these people seem genuinely afraid of him and his two goons, and I am not even sure that Judy lady is his wife. Just look at her, she is frozen stiff. She won’t even look at him.”
I looked over at her and he was right. Judy was sitting, sunken into her seat, obviously trying to make herself invisible. Her eyes were red and puffy and as she reached to clean up John’s dishes I noticed something stick out underneath her shirt sleeve.
“Did you see that?” I asked Max and Taya.
“Yea, it looked like a bandage,” Max answered. “They’re around her wrists, you don’t think…?”
“Maybe… a lot of people can’t handle it, or would rather do it themselves than wait for a demon to kill them and do who knows what with their body.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Taya asked, obviously not catching on.
“Judy, she has bandages on her wrists.”
“John says she is depressed. They lost their son durin
g the last attack.”
“How do you know that?” I tried to shout and whisper at her at the same time.
“John told me. I ran into him walking back to our room after showering. He asked me some questions. Look you two, he seems nice,” she pleaded.
“You mean when you ditched me while I was showering? You were supposed to watch the door while I was in there, Taya.”
“Sorry. I wanted to talk to Carter before he got in here for dinner.”
“Thanks a lot, you left me there for sausage neck over there to snoop on.” I almost pointed my finger at Roger, but quickly retracted my hand.
“What?” Max questioned raising his voice.
“Don’t worry. I’m not certain he did anything, he was just creeping me out.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Abs?”
“Cause I didn’t want you to freak out. Look there goes Carter, why don’t you go with him before John catches up with him.”
“Fine. Just promise me you’re going to be careful.”
“I promise.”
Max cupped his hand to my face and then quickly but casually left the room after Carter, heading for the courtyard. I saw Taya’s expression looking at where Carter and Norah had just left the room and sighed loudly at her.
“Taya, snap out of it. Now is not the time to be jealous.”
“What? I’m not jealous. I know he is just using her for information.”
“Whatever, let’s go back to the room.”
Making our way out of the room and into the hallway I saw out of the corner of my eye Judy sitting alone. She was curled up in an armchair holding a steaming cup of something.
“Judy?”
“Oh, yes, hi, dear. Do you need something?” Her eyes were kind and did not hold the faint madness that I found in John’s eyes.
“No, um, I just was wondering if you were okay.”
“Okay as can be expected.” There was awkward silence, but I truly felt sorry for the lady. She had just lost her son and was obviously having great difficulty dealing with her grief.
“See, Abby, she’s okay,” Taya said as she pulled at my hand. I hesitated for a moment, trying to think of something to say but nothing came to mind. Judy just sat there, holding a cup in hand and taking small sips of the steaming liquid.
As we walked back into the hallway, I thought I faintly heard Judy say be careful, but I wasn’t certain. When we made it back to the room, I had to listen to a full account of Carter’s conversation with Norah and how Taya didn’t think Norah was pretty at all.
“I mean she dresses like a total prude. Did you see that shirt she was wearing? It’s the middle of summer!”
I wasn’t really listening, but tried to time my mhm’s and uhuh’s at the correct time until she eventually talked herself to sleep. To pass the time I packed up all of our bags and even stole the bars of soap John had given us for good measure. Then I sat on the floor by my cot and cleaned my shotgun. Realizing that the last time I had done it was before we left home. The familiar procedure was therapeutic and brought back memories of my father teaching me. He taught me how to shoot, how to aim, and even timed me on my speed for assembly.
Even though Taya was in the room with me, sleeping in her cot, I felt utterly alone as hot tears burned my eyes. Every burning drop that I had been holding back, came pouring out and I silently wept while reassembling my shotgun.
When the water works had finally stopped, and I regained control of my emotions, it was pretty much impossible to sleep. I looked at my watch, and it was almost one in the morning, and neither of the guys were back yet. I tried to be patient and decided I would try the small radio that Charlie had given me. I pulled it out of my bag and turned it on only to hear static on every station. Feeling frustrated and afraid for the guys I fought the urge to throw something against the wall.
I was really starting to get worried and wanted to go look for them, but I didn’t want to leave Taya alone, so I decided to wake her. I crossed the room to where she was sleeping, and shook her shoulder, probably a little harder than I had meant to, but I was anxious and worried.
“Taya you gotta wake up.”
“What? Why? What’s going on?” Her lids were still heavy over her eyes and dark streaks ran down her face. I guess I wasn’t the only one, who felt the need to cry that night.
“They aren’t back yet. We need to go find them.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost one. Carter, and Max should have been back ages ago. We need to go.”
At the thought of Carter being missing Taya leaped out of bed and sprang into action. She was ready to go even before I was.
“You got everything?” I asked almost out of breath just from the rush of anxiety that was coursing through me. Taya nodded her head and latched Carter’s bag onto her back. I heaved my duffel bag onto mine, it felt awkward but at least it wasn’t too heavy.
We stepped gingerly out into the dark hallway. It was total darkness except for a faint glow emitting from a room at the end of the hall.
“Wait, Abby.” Taya tugged at my arm and pulled me against a wall. “Isn’t that the room they were guarding? Maybe we shouldn’t go in there, what if they’re just outside talking with Norah still?”
I could tell Taya didn’t really believe what she was saying, that she was just afraid of what we were going to find in that room.
“Taya, look around you. This place is a crypt. There are no lights anywhere else, except that room. If you’re too scared, then take this stuff to the Bronco, and wait for us there. I’m going in there and getting my brother, and Max.”
I tried to stay light on my feet as I made my way down the hall. When I got to the door I could hear muffled voices, but not well enough to make anything out. I swallowed my fear and leaned my face onto the crack of the open door. I was expecting another office or room of some sort, but instead it was a lit stairwell, leading down into what must have been a basement. I looked back as the sliver of light from the door illuminated the hallway. I saw Taya still struggling to decide what she was going to do, and then she silently made a quick jog to my side.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
I thought about it for a moment, and decided we had better leave our bags behind, so we deposited them along the wall just outside the doorway. If we needed to make a quick escape we could grab them on the run. I worried that the door might creak so I opened it just enough so that we could slip in. I took my knife out, even though I favored my shotgun, but I knew we were in close quarters in a basement and I didn’t want to risk hurting the guys.
Taya had pulled out the small handgun Carter had given her and when I noticed she still had the safety on, I switched it off and handed her the knife. Her hands trembled and I could tell that as brave as she was trying to be, she was terrified.
We both held our breath as we walked slowly down the first stairwell; the voices growing slightly louder with each step. At the landing of the second flight of stairs there was another door that was partially ajar. The instant I saw the familiar pattern of Max’s blue plaid shirt I bolted down the steps and flew through the doorway with Taya on my heels.
The scene that lay before us was nothing short of terrifying. The room looked to be a makeshift jail. Max and Carter were up against a wall, their faces bloodied and bruised and Norah was laying on the floor weeping. She had a firm grip on a bloody towel that was wrapped around her forearm. A ripple of fear rolled through me as I watched what they were doing. John’s two goons, Roger and Jerry, were standing over her with smiles on their smug faces. Roger grabbed a small bucket near Norah’s feet and slid it into a locked cell. Something in there forcefully slammed its muzzle into the bucket, drinking up whatever was in it with loud slurping.
“Look what we have here,” John said, as he smiled at Taya and me.
I rapidly shoved the handgun into my pants and pulled my shotgun off my back and cocked it. “Yes, what do we have here?” I asked with complete disgust
in my voice.
“Abby, Taya, get out of here!” Max shouted. I saw Carter look up and realized he hadn’t seen us come in because one of his eyes was swollen shut. Blood was smeared over both their faces and the sight of them made a tidal wave of rage flow through me.
“No, I think they’ll be staying,” John said, as he took two steps toward us and that’s when I saw it. As John walked toward us I could clearly see what was locked behind the bars in the cell behind him. It was a giant demon, much like the one that Taya’s mother had hit with her car.
~