by Lucas Coon
"Twenty-eight fifty-one, West Hill Avenue." Mitchell looked it over and was curious about what it was for. That address sounded familiar, like he knew something important was there, but he had no clue what. He folded it back up and put it in his pocket, maybe Darren or Kayla knew what it was. He tossed the bag over to the wall by the door and grabbed his own bag. He took the laptop that he originally intended to swipe and looked at it, there really wasn't a reason for him to take it and the odds of him finding an Internet connection were pretty slim. He tossed it off to the side. He moved his notebooks and writing utensils to the back pocket. He put all of his food and water in the middle and placed his phone charger in the side pocket. He added the extra clip he had to the front most pocket, it would need to be easily accessible. The last thing that he still had in his hand was the science fiction novel that he found on the shelf. It was the only book that was out of place. Everything that Richard was keeping in his office was professional, about professional development, or something involving successful people, but this book was different. This book must have had some sort of meaning to Richard. Mitchell looked at it and considered whether he should take it or not. He opted to put it in the back pocket; when he got home he wanted to read it. If the man that was normally in this office thought the book was good enough to keep here, then Mitchell didn't want to miss out.
He stood and placed the bag on the desk, the anxiety was going to kill him. He was ready to go, not only to get out of this place, but to get to Aria. He grabbed a beef jerky stick, picked up the other back pack and opened his door. He looked out and peered in the direction of the Barber family. He walked over to the cubicle, all three of them were awake. Darren looked over at Mitchell and stood up.
"Hey man." He greeted Mitchell.
"Hey." Mitchell handed them the empty backpack. Darren looked at it confused. "It's the one we got off Kyle. I have my own and I figured that this would make things easier for you guys." Darren grabbed it.
"Thanks. It's a good thing we're leaving. We lost power at some point last night." Darren unzipped the bag and started stuffing as much as he could in it. Mitchell hadn't realized this, but now that Darren had mentioned it, he saw that the lamps were all off and the overhead lights weren't on. He realized that this was an inconvenience but didn't see the big deal.
"Huh. That's odd." He wasn't sure what to say.
"You have no idea why that's a big deal, do you?" Darren looked at Mitchell with a bit of an angry look. Mitchell looked him over and could tell that he was stressed. He had bags under his eyes. Mitchell looked down and noticed that Kayla looked like she was just as freaked out at Darren. What was the big deal?
"Um, no?" He really had no idea. "Because there's no light? I'm sorry I don't understand."
"The door lock is electronic Mitchell. With no power that door has no lock. Basically we were sitting ducks all night." Darren looked away from Mitchell in disappointment.
"Oh! Oh..." Mitchell felt like a moron. This was frightening news. If at any time throughout the night an infected had attempted to push the door open, they probably would've gotten in. At any point in the night they could've been brutally murdered in their sleep. Mitchell let that sink in for a moment. "Um, yeah it's a good thing we're leaving then. I'm guessing you didn't sleep very well then, huh?" Darren shifted his eyes to look up at him. His stare was his response. "I'll assume not."
"I did. It was hot though." Lilly chimed in. Her answer didn't break the tension this time. Mitchell guessed that she had no idea of the severity of the situation. He took a step back to give them some room. Kayla stood up and stretched, she looked like she was tired, but nowhere near as tired as Darren probably was. Mitchell guessed that Darren sat awake most of the night to watch the door.
"Well, Mitchell, are you ready to get out of here? Are you ready to go out there, and risk your life to get to a place that you don't even know is safe to try to find a person that you aren't even sure is alive?" Darren's tone was quite disgruntled. Mitchell didn't expect this sort of attitude, but given the situation, he understood it.
"Darren! What the hell is wrong with you?" Kayla shouted at him. "Ugh, Mitchell, just ignore him.”
"Well, dammit Kayla, you know what could've happened!" He snapped back.
"Yeah, well, it didn't, did it? So why don't you just calm down." She shot him off his platform. He ducked down and rubbed his face.
"I'm sorry Mitchell. Are you ready to go?" He rubbed his forehead inward. Mitchell wasn't going to hold it against him.
"Yeah, pretty much. I just have a couple of things I need to get together then I'm done. Are you guys ready to go?" He wasn't sure exactly what else to say.
"Yeah. Give us a couple of minutes and we'll be ready to go." Mitchell took that as his cue to leave the group. While Darren was harsh, he saw where he was coming from. The next step was them leaving their security. At this point they really had no choice, the door was no longer the barrier that it was prior to that moment. Now it was nothing more than a minor obstacle for infected and it wouldn't take much for them to get past it. Mitchell opened his door and walked in. He looked the room over one last time to make sure he had everything collected. There was nothing on the floor that he wanted to keep.
He took his steps to the desk and took a deep breath in. He exhaled and focused on the task at hand. He grabbed the back pack, put both arms through it and secured the clip across his chest as he stood straight. The bag was heavy, but not heavy enough to cause major issues in travel. He reached his hand out to the gun on the table and picked it up. He pulled the clip and checked his reserve, still eight. He knew how many rounds he had left, but checking it made him feel a little better each time as it was a complete certainty. He locked the clip back in and placed the gun in his right pocket. He made sure that drawing it would be simple, he didn't want to end up struggling if he absolutely needed pull it out.
Mitchell walked over to the large glass wall one last time to look the city over. He wasn't sure which direction he was going in the end, but he knew his destination. He looked over the skyline and examined everything within walking distance. There wasn't a whole lot in the direction he was looking. There were the restaurants that he had already noted. There was a car repair shop, and several dealerships, as well as a number of other office buildings. He examined the streets below. They weren't empty, but they weren't crowded with infected. For the most part they should be safe if they got out and went as quickly as they could.
"You're out there Aria. I know you are. Just hold out dear, I'm coming." He smiled over the skyline. It was still morning so the sun was lighting up everything within view. He turned around and was met with Kayla and Mitchell standing in his door way. He looked them both directly in the eyes and pulled the straps on his backpack playfully. They both had a stern look on their face, neither of them returned any playful gestures. He knew why, so it wasn't a big deal to him.
"Are we all set? We should probably get out there and get as far as we possibly can before too long. Since it's..." He pulled his phone out and looked at it. "...eleven thirty. Huh, I thought it was earlier than that. Anyway, we should have plenty of time to get out there and get as far as possible."
"Agreed. Kayla, you said you know what direction it is right?" Darren turned towards her.
"I know the general direction. It shouldn't be too hard to find, I mean it's not a small building by any means. You are referring to Saint Barron's East, correct?" Kayla turned back towards Mitchell.
"Yeah. Of course. There aren't any others around this area, are there?" He immediately regretted not coming this way often. He tried to remember talking to Aria about the hospital her mother was staying at.
"Well, it's one of two. If it's Barron East, then we're closer. If it's the Woodward West Medical Building, then we may as well give up now, because that's on the other end of town." Mitchell listened close to the names that Kayla gave to the hospitals. The name Woodward West wasn't familiar to him.
"It'
s Barron. It has to be Barron." He closed his eyes. "The main building is a semi-circle. There was a large fountain out front with a horse statue in the center. The east west was the emergency and elderly care center and the east wing was the maternity ward. The walls on the east wing were white with a pink and blue stripe down them, and the west wing had yellow walls." He opened his eyes. "Does that help?"
"That would definitely be Barron." She looked at Mitchell like he was crazy. "I had Lilly there and I don't even remember the colors of the hallways, Mitchell."
"I'm a detail oriented person and I rarely forget things. Well at least the things that don't matter. I barely remember my own birthday." He chuckled at this thought. "Aria hated me for this. I could recall things that she said six months ago in an argument and hold it against her, but I'll be damned if I could remember to get her a card for our anniversary." He shook his head. "Doesn't matter now. We should get going, yes?" They agreed and turned to walk out. They went over to their cubicle. Mitchell could see them gathering their things. "Hopefully we're ready for this." He stared at the happy family. They weren't expressively happy right then, but they were together and, based on the last few days, that's all that mattered to them. That was all that mattered to him as well, they were happy and they were going to be there to help him.
He took the first step out of the office and shut the door behind him. This was it; it was time to get out there and get to where they needed to be. He walked over to the group.
"Well then, let's get going." Darren pulled his backpack over his shoulder. Kayla picked Lilly up and held her on her side. They both stepped out of their formerly protective walls and proceeded towards the door. Mitchell followed closely behind. He looked over the floor one more time and realized how much he appreciated the security that this place had offered him. As he walked he stopped at a cubicle near the end that had a vase of completely wilted flowers, and a small note about a second anniversary. It was a sweet gesture by the person that bought the flowers, it was more than he could ever remember to do for Aria. He never meant to forget their anniversary, he was just never any good with dates. He would mark every calendar for her birthday, their anniversary, even his birthday, but it never changed anything. It always annoyed her to the point of it being an argument, in fact it was what their last argument was about.
It was the day before all hell broke loose, Mitchell was fairly sure that would've been a week from then. He got home from work as he always did and Aria was already home. It wasn't necessarily odd for her to get to the house before he did, but it didn’t happen often. He walked up the stairs and opened the front door. He took his collared shirt off, hung it up and placed his case off to the side by the door. He took is keys and wallet out and placed them on the table by the coat rack. He stopped to look at himself in the mirror. He never smiled when he did this and he wasn't sure why he would make a point to stop and examine his own face, but he did it. After a couple of seconds he stepped past the entrance and into the living room. He fell face first onto the couch and laid as still as he possibly could.
"Mitchell?" His wife's voice rang out from behind him. He rolled over to look at her. She was standing in front of him with an absolutely gorgeous red dress. It was the perfect shade of red for her, and had a back that was a really nice lace pattern. It was fairly conservative and covered her entirely, but, to Mitchell, the sight of her wearing it was exhilarating. He loved the way she looked in it, but the fact that she was wearing it meant only one thing; he had forgot an important event.
"Oh, wow. You look fantastic dear." He looked her over. "Why are you dressed up though? Are we going somewhere?"
"Seriously?" She put her hand on her hip, never a good sign. "Tell me you're kidding. Tell me that you did not forget."
He looked her over again. What day was it? What month was it? 'Oh, hell. Mitchell you screwed up again. OK, think. It's warm outside.' He rubbed his forehead. "Happy... Birthday?" It was a shot in the dark, but he knew it wasn't Valentine's Day, so it was a fifty-fifty shot.
"Really? It's our anniversary Mitchell Grayson! My birthday is in next month!" She stormed off up the stairs and slammed the door behind her.
"Oh, right! Two weeks before mine! Duh!" How could he forget? He stood and walked up the stairs towards their room. He was met with a locked door. "Aria, please let me in. I'm really sorry."
"You know Mitchell, with everything that's been going on lately I was hoping that you would remember just once. Why can't you remember just one time? I really needed this with everything that's going on."
"Everything that's going on? Are you having, uh, pregnancy troubles?" He had no idea how to word it. When he finished his sentence, it clicked why this week was bad. "No, wait, you mean your mother. She's in the hospital. See, I knew that one!" This didn't help the situation. Mitchell pressed his forehead against the door in shame. "Aria, I'm sorry. I know I always screw this up. I know that I'm a horrible husband that can't remember your birthday from Christmas. I try dammit. I try. I write it on every calendar, I add notes in my phone, I remind myself every day, but in the end I always wreck the night. Love, I'm sorry." He turned and sat against the door. "Please Aria."
The door opened behind him and Aria hovered over him. She was obviously crying. She knelt down and hugged him from behind.
"Mitchell, I know you don't mean to do this. It's been... Well it wouldn't be a stretch to say it's been damn near an impossible week for me." She squeezed him tighter. "How about I go ahead and change out of this and we can order pizza or something. We’ll just stay in and do nothing. It'll be nice." She pulled back and looked him in the eyes.
"Can I help you out of it?" He smiled at her playfully. "I mean, if you don't mind?"
She laughed through her stuffed nose and teary eyes. "Sure, why not."
"Aria." He placed his hand on her face. "I'm fine with that tonight, but let me fix this tomorrow night. Please, just let me fix all of this tomorrow. I'll make it the best night of your life."
"Alright. I'll hold you to that." She leaned in and kissed him. "Tomorrow night we'll make it a great one. You promised, so you better keep it!"
Mitchell stared at the note in his hand. "Happy Second Anniversary! Here's to many more." He closed his eyes and shook his head. 'It's pretty damn sad when fate makes your dreams a joke right in front of you. Dreaming of being together forever. Dreaming of having a family. Dreaming of spending every Friday night cuddled on the couch with your daughter passed out on the floor. Dreaming of living out your retirement with your police officer husband, or admitting your faults to your wife and leaving her a large sum of money. Seeing your sons grow up to be strong supportive men. Dreaming of graduating high school. All of it can mean nothing in a matter of seconds. Who knew a single broken promise could hurt so much.' He crumpled the note and tossed it on the desk.
"Hey, Mitch, are you coming or not? It is your wife we're going to search for right?" Darren shouted out with his snarly comments. It was enough to bring Mitchell back to reality.
"Yeah, sorry. I was just, uh, thinking about something. It's not important." He walked towards them. He nodded at both Kayla and Darren. Darren reached out and turned the handle. He stepped out first, followed by Kayla and Lilly, then finally Mitchell. The door shut as they shuffled into the stairwell. The sound of the metal hitting the frame was a sweet one; it was a melodic click that signified the next step in their adventure. At least, that's how Mitchell felt. He appreciated the door shutting behind him as it was now a barrier between them and the past, all that was left was what was ahead of them.
They started their way down the stairs slowly. Darren kept his gun pointed forward, turning stealthily around the corners verifying that they were alone. They got down to the second floor when he stopped and looked at the door to the floor. Mitchell looked at him and hoped that he wouldn't notice the gouge in the door that his bullet to nowhere had created. Kayla looked at him confused and turned towards the door. She saw where the bullet had gone in a
nd realized what it meant.
"Oh wow." Darren turned and looked at them. Mitchell was certain that he had noticed it. He considered how he would defend himself if Darren went crazy on him, as unlikely as it was. Kayla looked back at him and frowned, she knew what was going to happen. "It smells terrible out here. I didn't realize how much the air conditioner was masking that smell. Oh god, it's terrible." He cringed and looked around. "Oh man." Mitchell took a deep breath in relief. As he did, he immediately wished that he hadn't. He realized at that point that Darren was correct, the scent in the hallway was horrendous, something that hadn't been an issue since there was proper ventilation. It seemed with the air conditioner no longer functioning and the lack of power for any ventilation system, the air had time to be mixed with the fragrance of death. It certainly wasn't pleasant.
They kept moving on down the stairs and got the door for the base level. Darren looked back and made a motion to stop. He opened the door slowly and looked around, it was still clear. He opened the door wider and stepped out. He maintained his signal for the group to remain where they were as he stepped out into the open area and stopped at the desk in the middle. He ducked down behind it and looked up to get a full view of the waiting area. He peered over with his barrel pointed towards the unseen area. It was all clear.
Darren stood up and waved the group over. They slowly crept over the where he was.
"Alright, Kayla, which way are we heading?"
"When we exit, we need to go right. If we go the same direction that you guys went when you went out, we'll reach Barron Road. If we take a right from there, it's a few miles to get there. It's not going to be quick, but I figured we'd be best off going straight one way, then the other." She was probably right. Heading in a path that was on main roads may take longer, but they would be more likely to have places to duck out if necessary.