Alex spotted a Walgreens, and she cringed when she saw the parking lot with infected hovering. She decided to drive around the building to get an idea of access, and when she drove by the pharmacy drive thru window, she had an idea. She parked the RV close to the window, lining up the side door. Leaving the RV running for the moment, she opened the door and took aim at the window. The first shot from her 9 mm splintered the glass, the second cracked it wide open.
Listening, Alex waited to see if anything from inside would jump out. She could see the metal barrier pulled down between the store and pharmacy, but she couldn’t tell if it was intact all the way around. Closing the door, Alex turned to the kids. She couldn’t risk leaving them in the RV alone. So she got both of their shoes on, Billie barely keeping her head straight. Alex pocketed the RV keys, just in case someone thought they were going to make off with their salvation.
The infected were drawing closer, so Alex strapped on her weapons, and hoisted herself through the broken window. She pulled the kids through one by one, and slammed the door, just as an infected came into reach. Alex quickly dispatched it with one shot to the head. She was overly relieved to see that the metal gate was intact all the way around. Pulling out a flashlight, she quickly scanned shelves, and began dumping all necessary medications into her pack. Amoxicillin, Cipro, Zithromax and over the counter Sudafed and other cold medications that were housed in the pharmacy, all went into her pack.
As she was grabbing through the pain medications, a scream tore through the Walgreens. Alex froze, as she heard the sounds of a struggle on the other side of the gate. Looking back at the kids, she felt that now familiar tug to only protect her own, and to help others. She could not leave without knowing, so she went to one section of the gate, and pulled the gate up, enough to see under.
A woman was fighting off an infected, with nothing but a shovel. As Alex watched in horror, a second infected appeared behind her. Alex yelled a warning, but the infected sunk its teeth into her shoulder. Without thinking, Alex rolled under the gate, and slammed it down behind her. As she was pulling her knife, a teenage boy came from around the aisle. At the sight in front of him he yelled, a sound that was inhuman and full of pain. He swung a metal bat at the first infected’s head, and connected with a loud thwack, causing the infected to fall.
The teenager turned, fury on his face and swung with all his might at the infected on the ground, its teeth sank into the woman’s shoulder. The head snapped back and away from the woman on the ground, taking a chunk of her flesh with it. The woman screamed on the ground, and the boy continued to hit the infected until it stopped moving.
Alex dropped to the ground next to the wounded woman, and looked at her shoulder. There was a chunk of her flesh missing in a circular bite. Cringing, Alex already knew it was a death sentence, but she grabbed a nearby scarf display and pressed scarves to the wound to staunch the blood. She looked into the woman’s eyes, and there was an understanding in them, mixed with a haunted fear. The woman gripped Alex’s hand hard, and then she nodded to her. Alex heard the heavy breathing of the teenager behind her, and she backed away from the woman that he had showed up to defend.
Noticing the first infected getting up, Alex pulled her gun and shot it, before it got to the boy. The teenage boy swung around with his bat poised for attack. When he saw Alex he dropped the bat and knelt next to the woman who was bleeding on the ground.
“Mom!” the boy exclaimed.
“East,” the woman replied, and then she began coughing violently. “East, where is your sister?”
“Here Momma,” said a young girl that appeared at her side. She had tears in her eyes and she reached for her mother’s hand.
“Easton, take her. Go. Run,” the mother said. She looked over the boy’s shoulder at Alex, standing guard with her 9 mm still out.
“Thank you,” she said to Alex. Putting things together in her mind, she looked from her children to Alex and back.
“Take them?” the woman asked.
“Take them?” Alex repeated. The children looked at Alex, and then with sadness and denial at their mother.
“No Mom, we are staying right here with you. You’ll be ok,” Easton said.
“No she won’t,” Alex said. Both of the children looked stricken so she added, “I’ve seen it before. I’m sorry.”
“No no no, Momma!” The girl hugged her mother and cried.
Behind her Alex heard her own children banging on the gate. Feeling confident that the Walgreens was secured, she went back to the gate and pulled it open. She quickly saw why the kids were yelling, there was an infected man hanging in the window. He didn’t have the coordination to get in, but he was blocking their exit. Alex quickly shoved her knife into his temple, and went back to her kids. She looked around the Walgreens again, and then slowly brought them into the store.
“Is there anything else you two think you need?” Alex asked her kids.
“I want to color Mommy,” Henry said.
“Can we get milk?” Billie asked.
Seeing the children, the mother on the ground called out. “You have babies, you have to understand. Please take my children with you. I know you’ll stay safe with your children.”
Staring into the mother’s eyes, Alex could feel the anguish she was feeling. She did not want to try to imagine what she must be going through, not knowing how her children would survive. Would she hope someone else would take care of Billie and Henry, if she were to die? Of course, but how do you choose who to trust? Alex looked at the teenagers, their grief rolling off them in waves. These children, who were losing their mother, needed someone to provide and protect them. With the RV, she had the chance to do that.
“Ok. They can come with us,” Alex replied quietly. She then took Billie and Henry into the store, to give the family a chance to privately say goodbye. No matter how far they walked away though, Alex could still hear the daughter’s grief stricken wails.
In the end, Alex decided to grab everything she could fit in the bags she found in the Walgreens. The store had been looted already, but it seemed someone had come and boarded the front windows, stopping people and infected for the moment. They did find books and crayons for Henry, and a gallon of milk that was still cold for Billie. Alex also added all of the food she could find on the shelves, which wasn’t much, but with two more mouths to feed, she couldn’t afford to pass things up.
When her arms were weighed down, she circled back to the pharmacy area and found the teenagers waiting for her. Their mother’s eyes were closed, and her breathing was very shallow. Alex looked at them both and tried to give them some sort of reassuring look, but she wasn’t sure how you reassured anyone in the situation.
“I’m Alex. These are my kids, Billie and Henry. We have a RV outside, plenty of room for us all.”
“I’m Easton. This is my sister Candace,” Easton said sadly.
Alex nodded to them, and then handed Easton a few bags. “I’m going to bag up a few more supplies, would you mind holding on to these for the moment?”
Easton took the bags and nodded. Walking back through the store, Alex found additional batteries, soap, shampoo and socks. Thinking of the extra people she had now, she found a brush, toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors and shaving cream. Walgreens had a small selection of leggings and she grabbed all of those that would fit in a bag. She hoped she could make Easton and Candace comfortable. She knew what loss was, and she felt the devastation they were radiating. The mothering instincts in her made her want to care for them in any way possible.
When Alex came back to the teenagers, Candace was sobbing openly and Alex saw that their mother had stopped breathing, her loss of blood too great. She knew they didn’t have long, so she started moving toward the pharmacy. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Easton whispering to his sister, and pushing her along, away from their mother’s corpse. The girl wasn’t keeping it together well, she was gripping a shovel in front of her, as a lifeline.
At t
he broken window again, Alex glanced out carefully and saw two infected near the front of the RV. She motioned to Billie and Henry to wait, and she jumped out the window, surprising the infected. Quickly she pulled the 9 mm and shot them both, clean headshots in the first shot. Alex found herself thankful that she practiced as often as she had. She opened the RV door, and grabbed Henry first, then Billie, placing them both into the RV. Next Easton handed all of the bags to Alex, and she loaded them quickly, noting the number of loud groans that were starting on the other side of the RV.
When it was Easton and Candace’s turns to come through the window, Easton had to lift Candace through. She cried out, not wanting to leave their mother, but Easton reminded her that they didn’t have a choice. Alex helped Candace through the other side of the window, and right into the RV. Easton easily jumped through the window and with a quick glance around, and over his shoulder, climbed into the RV.
Getting everyone settled into spots in the RV, Alex turned the engine on and moved from the filling parking lot. The RV struck infected bodies as they stepped in the way of the moving vehicle. Alex could hear Henry chattering to the new additions, but there wasn’t much in the way of response. Henry wouldn’t understand really why, but that wouldn’t stop him from talking.
Alex turned the RV into a neighborhood and found a relatively quiet area to stop. She turned in her seat to look into the RV. Easton and Candace were on the couch, Henry was sitting on the floor coloring and talking to them. Billie was at the table, with her head on her arms. Alex got her backpack out and began sorting through the medications. She found the Tylenol for Billie’s fever, and the antibiotics. Billie drank down the proper amounts, and laid her head back down.
“Is she sick?” Easton asked from the couch. He looked concerned, and Alex imagined he was thinking she had the same thing the rest of the infected had.
“Strep throat unfortunately,” Alex said.
“Oh, I thought….”
“I know. It’s ok. She has never been near any of the infected. I checked her for marks as well,” Alex said, trying to reassure him.
Alex turned and looked out the windows, trying to decide how to go about the next necessary task, collecting gas. She found her tools for siphoning gas, clear tube and screwdriver. For now, she wanted to fill the gas can she had on the back of the RV, and then she would be on the lookout for more cans. The RV had storage on the outside, and Alex had not wanted to use it for anything they would need while moving. However, gas could easily stay there.
Easton watched her move through the RV, and his eyes roamed over all of the supplies she had stored and stacked throughout the RV. He touched the microwave popcorn bag that was on the couch, where the children had left it. Alex hadn’t found much time for cleaning and getting rid of trash, she mentally added that to the list of things to do. She began to calculate how waste and food intake would change with the additional kids.
“I want to help,” Easton said as he watched Alex pulling her equipment together. Alex looked back at him. Standing next to the couch and the younger children, he looked very tall. But his face still held some young boy softness.
“How old are you?” She asked.
“I’m 16. Candace is 13. I would rather she not go out of the RV unless really necessary…” he trailed off as he looked back at his sister. Candace was sitting on the couch, staring into the middle space, tears still dripping from her eyes. Alex felt such sadness for her, she wanted to embrace her, but knew that wasn’t really appropriate.
“I would rather that as well. I would like both of you to stay in the RV for right now. At some point, I might need your help, and I will give you the instructions needed to help. But I think you both have had it hard enough today,” Alex said. Easton opened his mouth to argue, but Alex motioned him forward. When he was close enough for to whisper Alex motioned to Candace and said, “She needs you right now. I appreciate you wanting to help, and I understand it. But right now, what’s important is you help your sister through this. You don’t owe me anything.”
“You’ve taken us in. You didn’t have to do that,” he said.
“No. I didn’t,” Alex said, and looked at Henry sitting on the floor and back at Billie at the table. She took a deep breath. “No, I didn’t have to bring you. But I have children. And if something were to happen to me, I would hope someone would care enough to protect them when I no longer could.”
Easton thought for a moment and looked back at his sister. He was quite a bit taller than Alex, and she had to look up to see into his face. The boy was still there in his face, but his eyes and expression were fierce and full of fire. Alex waited for a moment, the emotions swept to the side, and he looked like the boy again.
“Thank you. I want to say that if anything happens, I will protect your children as well,” Easton said.
“Thank you Easton. I appreciate that. And I hope it never comes to that,” Alex said.
“Yes let’s hope. By the way, you can call me East. Everyone does,” he paused, “or used to.”
Chapter 11
An hour later, the sun was getting low in the sky, and Alex smelled of gasoline. When she entered the RV, Henry’s nose wrinkled at the smell. Even Easton, who tried to be polite, turned his face away. Alex closed herself in the small bathroom, and quickly washed up and changed her clothes. When she came out she found Easton coloring with Henry, and Henry was in heaven with the attention.
Alex checked on Billie, who was still at the table laying her head down. While Alex was collecting gas, she had checked the area, and didn’t find anything that seemed like an immediate threat, so she decided they would stay in the neighborhood until morning. She tucked Billie into the overhead bed, hoping the Tylenol did its job for a few hours and let her rest. As she stepped back down from the bed, she realized that the kids had not eaten anything but some popcorn. She got to taking out supplies for an early dinner.
She opened a can of spaghettios for Henry and Billie, warming the contents in a pan on the stove. For herself, Easton and Candace she decided on a creamy potato soup. On a separate burner, she started water for boiling. While she waited for the foods to warm up, she sat on the couch behind Henry and watched him interact with Easton for a bit. Easton was very good with her little boy, showing him how to stay within the lines, and shared all the colors Henry wanted to have.
“Can I help cook?” A quiet voice whispered. It took Alex a second to realize that Candace had even spoken. She hadn’t moved from her spot on the couch since they entered the RV. Alex worried the traumatic loss of her mother was going to be too much for the girl.
“I think I can handle this meal, but you can definitely help me later,” Alex said.
“Ok,” Candace replied and looked away.
“Would you like to clean up? I have clothes and toiletries for you,” Alex continued. That seemed to get Candace’s attention. She followed Alex to the front of the RV, where she had stored the bags from Walgreens. She gave her toiletries and a pair of leggings and shirt she had grabbed. Candace then shut herself into the bathroom and Alex heard the water turn on.
“Thank you,” Easton said from the floor of the RV. “I’m not sure how she’s going to handle this.”
“She will. Because we all have to. There’s no escaping it now,” Alex said, as she turned back to the stove.
The table was set with dishes, as much as normal as possible. She served the meals to the kids and then retrieved drinks for each. Candace ate slowly, but Easton tore into the food. Alex had a feeling they hadn’t eaten a warm meal in a few days. When Easton was finished, he politely sat and waited for everyone to eat.
“I have never fed a teenage boy, so I’m sure you would like more?” Alex said with a smile. Easton’s cheeks immediately colored. He was a handsome boy, with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. Candace and he were very similar looking, so much so that if they weren’t so different in height Alex would have mistaken them for twins.
“It’s ok,” Alex con
tinued. “I have more food, and we will look for more on the road. You should eat your fill now.”
“Ok. Then yes, please, I would like a second helping ma’am,” East said.
“Oh please, don’t call me ma’am. I guess you should just call me Alex.”
“I’m not allowed to call you Alex,” Henry said with his mouth full.
“Son, do we talk with our mouths full?”
Henry swallowed his mouthful and continued, “No we don’t Mommy, but we still don’t get to call you Alex.”
“Of course you don’t Henry, she’s your Momma,” East told him. “We weren’t allowed to call our Mom anything other than Mom either.”
“Where’s your mom?” Henry asked.
“Henry, why don’t you finish your food? We don’t need to talk so much at the table,” Alex interjected.
“It’s ok Alex,” East said, then turning to Henry he continued, “Our Mom went to heaven today.”
“Oh,” Henry said looking at his food. “I’m sorry. What was her name?”
“Her name was Marcy,” Candace said. Easton put an arm around his sister and gave her a quick squeeze.
“So now you are in my family?” Henry asked hopefully. That made Easton smile and even Candace looked a little less sad.
“Well not exactly, but your Mom was very kind to bring us with you,” Easton replied.
“Yeah, my Mommy is nice. And she had all this stuff saved so we have food.”
“I was wondering about that,” Easton said to Alex. “Where did you get all of the supplies?”
Alex stepped back to the table, giving Easton a second helping, as well as a portion of a can of fruit she had opened. She sat down next to the table in an armchair with her own helping of soup and blew on the surface.
“I guess you could say I was sort of a prepper before this plague,” Alex said.
“I’ve heard of those. Like Doomsday Preppers, the show?” Candace asked.
Sundown Series (Book 1): Prepared Page 10