by Chesla, Gary
Megan was next.
Shaun took a deep breath as sweat poured off his face.
He closed the door to the closet. Now the only light was the low light that came from the small vents on each side of the attic. Shaun stood on the chair and locked his feet in the back rungs of the chair back.
“Pull me up Doug.” Shaun said. “I’m going to try and drag the chair up with me. I don’t want to give the dead any help to come after us.”
“OK. Reach up as far as you can.” Doug said.
Shaun reached up and gripped Doug’s hands. Doug pulled him half way up before he began to struggle. Megan came over and grabbed Shaun’s arm and started to pull. Shaun slowly rose into the attic. He sat on the edge of the opening and reached down and grabbed the back of the chair. He pulled the chair up and sat it quietly to the side.
He pulled up his legs and collapsed back against the floor.
“Hey Doug. Could you put the trap door back over the opening?”
Doug dropped the door into its slot over the opening.
They all laid back on the attic floor and stared at the rafters as they listened to the dead wreck what was left in the Inn below.
Chapter 9
“Just stay quiet. Hopefully they will forget why they are here and just go away.” Shaun whispered.
“Everything in my back pack is soaked.” Megan complained. “All the food and my blanket are wet. I’m pretty soggy too.”
“I’m soggy too.” Shaun said. He turned to Doug and Lisa. “I think we are going to be up here for a while. Why don’t we empty out our back packs and spread out our food and blankets so they can dry out. Just be careful. Stay in the areas where they have flooring. They usually put down patches of flooring to make a walk way in these old attics. Use the flooring or stay on the beams. Don’t walk in between the beams. It won’t support your weight and you could fall through and end up on a pile of zombies.” Shaun instructed.
“It sounds like there are so many of those dead things down there.” Lisa said. “Are we going to be safe up here?”
“I think so Shaun said. “I’ve never seen a zombie in an attic before. They don’t climb very well.”
Doug and Lisa started to unpack their packs and set the contents out around the trap door to dry. They seemed to jump with every noise that came from below.
“You guys can relax. We are a lot safer up here than we were sleeping in the woods last night. Our only real problem is how long we are going to be stuck up here.” Shaun smiled. “At least we have enough food for a couple of days.”
“Do you think all the dead that were chasing us are going to come down here?” Doug asked.
“I don’t think so. They are probably going to be wondering around up in the woods for a day or so. Once they start moving, they tend to keep going in that direction until they get distracted by something else. But who knows where they’ll end up.” Shaun replied.
“That was close today.” Doug said.
“We were lucky I had to get up to go to the bathroom this morning. Another twenty minutes and we would have had the dead all over us.” Shaun said looking at Doug.
“I’m sorry I fell asleep.” Doug said. “I thought I could stay awake. I don’t know what happened.”
“If you felt yourself falling asleep, you should have woken me up.” Shaun said.
“But you had just spent half the night on watch?” Doug replied. “You needed to get some sleep.”
“I wouldn’t have been thrilled about getting back up so soon, but look what almost happened. If you couldn’t stay awake, you couldn’t do it. That’s OK. Just be honest about it. You can only do what you can do. But we have to be able to trust each other. Our lives depend on it.” Shaun added.
“OK.” Doug said hanging his head.
“Why don’t you try to get some rest?” Shaun said. “Meg and I are going to go over the outer side of the attic and get out of our wet clothes and try to sleep for a while. We’re safe up here. Take advantage of the time. When we leave here, who knows when we’ll have the chance again to get some rest and not worry about things?”
“Thanks.” Doug said.
“Just keep Lisa away from stepping in between the floor beams.” Shaun smiled.
He went to the other side of the attic. Megan had her wet clothes spread out over the floor beams, along with the contents of their pack. She was lying on her back on the three foot wide walkway that led to the vent on the outside wall. She stared up at the rafters and shifted her gaze to Shaun as he stood above her.
“This floor is hard as hell and I haven’t slept in wet underwear since I was a baby.” Megan complained.
Shaun laughed as he laid his shirt and jeans across the beams to dry. He laid next to her and she lifted her head and rested it on his chest.
“Did I hear you and Doug talking about him falling asleep last night?”
“Yea, when I got up to go to the bathroom this morning, he and Lisa were sound asleep.” Shaun whispered. “We need to keep a close watch on those two.”
“I was almost ready to knock Lisa out back at the house yesterday when we were hiding in the supply room. I told her we needed to be quiet, but she kept sobbing and talking. I finally held my hand over her mouth so those damn bikers wouldn’t hear her.” Megan said.
“Luckily Doug was able to bring home all that food from work when the plague hit. If those two would have had to go out looking for food, they wouldn’t have lasted very long.” Shaun said. “They mean well, they just don’t know what they are doing yet. We just need to help them out. After all, there’s not too many decent people left anymore. Next time we stand watch, I’ll stay up with Doug and you pair up with Lisa. That way we can make sure they are doing what they should be doing.”
“Great!” Megan sighed.
“Try to get some rest.” Shaun laughed. “As long as Lisa doesn’t fall through the ceiling, I plan on getting some sleep.”
“If she falls through the ceiling, can we just pretend we were sleeping and didn’t hear anything?” Megan chuckled.
Shaun and Megan closed their eyes to relax and quickly fell asleep.
“Shaun, wake up buddy.” Doug whispered as he shook Shaun’s shoulder.
Shaun started to stir. He finally slid Megan’s head off of his chest and gently guided her onto the floor. He sat up.
“Is everything OK?”
“Everything is fine. I just thought you would want me to wake you.” Doug replied.
Shaun looked around. Dim light was coming in the vents casting a low glow around the attic. He also noticed it was quiet.
“It sounds like the dead have finally moved on.” Shaun said as he yawned.
“They have been gone for a while. It sounds like we might be able to get out of here. I thought I should wake you and let you know.” Doug whispered.
Shaun looked up at the dim light coming in through the vents. “Maybe we should just spend the night and get as much rest as we can. The next few days could be rough. We can leave in the morning. We should be able to make it to the fort in a few hours. That way we would have most of the afternoon to watch what is going on at the fort.”
“Ah, it is morning.” Doug whispered back.
“It’s morning?” Shaun asked sounding surprised. “Wow. I don’t remember waking up at all last night. I must have been beat.”
“You and Meg were both dead to the world last night.” Doug said then laughed. “Excuse my terminology.”
“Did you and Lisa sleep all night too?”
“We were up a few times, but yea, we both slept most of the night too.” Doug answered.
“Do you know how long it’s been quiet out there?” Shaun asked.
“It started to quiet down a little after dark last night, about the time I finally fell asleep. It was quiet when I woke up a few hours later. I didn’t bother to wake you. I figured we wouldn’t be going anywhere until this morning.” Doug answered.
Shaun stretched his arms. “Thanks.
I’ll wake Meg. We’ll get dressed and be over in a few minutes.”
Doug stood and walked back to the other side of the attic where Lisa was waiting.
Shaun leaned down and kissed Megan on the ear. “It’s time to wake up sleeping beauty.”
Megan opened her eyes a little and saw the dim light coming into the attic. “Can’t we stay until morning? I haven’t slept this well for a long time.”
She closed her eyes and rolled onto her side.
“It is morning.” Shaun whispered.
“No it’s not.” She said as she laid there not making any effort to move.
“Feel your panties, they’re dry. If it was still last night they would still be wet. And before you make any smart comments, I noticed they were dry when I moved you away from me so I could get up.” Shaun laughed.
Megan rolled over. “Really?”
“Doug said the dead seemed to leave a few hours after dark last night. Hopefully we will have an easy trip to the fort today.” Shaun said as he stood up and reached down to take Megan’s hands.
She reached up and Shaun pulled her to her feet. She stood and looked around.
“Over there.” Shaun pointed to the back corner of the attic where the large stone chimney from the dining room fireplace rose up into the attic and through the roof. “Behind the chimney.”
Megan smiled. ”You reading my mind?”
“I try not to. It’s too crazy in there!” Shaun smiled. “But I’ve seen your ‘I have to go to the bathroom look’ many times.”
Megan smiled and started off while Shaun got dressed. He had the back packs almost packed by the time she returned. “Most of our things dried out last night. The blankets are dry too. But I’m afraid the half box of oatmeal we had is still soggy.”
“Leave it out, maybe we can add a little more water and have cold oatmeal for breakfast.” Megan said as she slid into her jeans.
Shaun set the oatmeal off to the side as he finished with the back packs.
They picked up the packs and walked on the narrow walkway back over to where Doug and Lisa were sitting.
“Good morning!” Lisa smiled.
“Hi Lisa! You look good this morning.” Megan smiled.
“It was nice staying here last night. It was a lot nicer than staying in the woods.” Lisa smiled.
“It was nice having a roof over our heads again.” Doug laughed. “It felt more like home.”
“What should we eat for breakfast?” Lisa asked.
“You can eat anything in your pack. Shaun and I are going to finish the oatmeal that was in our pack and got wet. You should have some oatmeal in your pack too, if that sounds good to you this morning.” Megan answered.
They all finished their breakfast and had their packs sitting by the trap door, waiting for Shaun to give them the signal when to leave.
When Shaun looked up and saw everyone looking at him, he spoke. “I guess we should get started.”
“After the last few days, I’m not sure I really want to go back out there.” Doug said.
Everyone laughed.
“I know how you feel.” Shaun laughed.
He stood, picked up a molding strip that was lying between the floor beams and walked back over to the corner where he and Megan had slept. He knelt down and began to push at the plasterboard. He wiggled and twisted the stick until he had managed to push it completely through to the other side.
The others had walked over to watch what he was doing.
After Shaun had enlarged the hole until it was the size of his fist, he bent down and looked through the hole.
After a few seconds he sat up. “It looks clear downstairs.”
“Why didn’t you just look down the trap door?” Lisa asked.
“Because if there were any of the dead still down there, I wanted them to focus on the hole over on this side of the room and not at our trap door.” Shaun said. “I don’t think they can crawl up the trap door, but I know for sure they can’t get up through this little hole. Besides, if they would be over here staring at this hole, we could still get out the trap door if we had to.”
“But it looks like we can leave?” Megan asked.
“Let’s go.” Shaun smiled.
He walked over and removed the trap door and looked down into the closet. He hung down from the opening and had Doug hand him down the chair.
After Shaun opened the door and made sure it was OK, he had the girls hang down from the opening and he helped them drop down to the floor.
“Doug, slide the trap door over the opening as you come down. If we have to come back this way, we would have a safe place to go if we needed it.” Shaun instructed.
“Good idea.” Doug replied as he slide the lid over the hole and dropped down on the chair to guide it in place.
Doug and Shaun finished up in the closet, closed the door and sat the chair away from the door, so not to draw any attention to the closet.
When they were done, they turned and were surprised they didn’t see the girls. Shaun and Doug walked down the stairs to the dining room on the main floor.
“Meg?” Shaun whispered loudly.
“Over here!” Megan replied softly.
They walked around the corner and saw Megan and Lisa on their knees in front of an old vending machine.
Megan turned as Shaun came in the bar area. “There’s still candy bars in this machine.” She smiled.
“Ouch!” Lisa said as she pulled her arm out of the slot where the candy would drop after you had inserted coins and made your selection. “I almost got stuck in there.”
Shaun looked around, then went over near the bar and picked up a leg that had been part of the broken chair that was spread out on the floor.
“Let me try?” He said. He walked up to the vending machine and inserted the leg in through a small hole in the cracked glass that had made up the front of the machine. He started pulling on the leg until a large piece of the glass started to come loose. He removed the glass and reached in under the trays and started to shake it. After a dozen shakes, eight candy bars fell into the slot in the front of the case.
He picked out a Milky Way bar. “Help yourselves.” He smiled as he tore off the wrapper. The chocolate had turned a light brown color and was cracked from age. He bit into the candy bar and smiled. “Not bad!” he said as he chewed the dry hard candy bar.
Megan grabbed a Three Musketeers, Lisa a Hershey’s chocolate bar and Doug an Almond Joy bar. They enjoyed their treats, even if they were well past their prime.
Shaun put the remaining bars in his pack. “We can eat these later today when we get hungry.”
“I haven’t had chocolate for six months.” Megan smiled.
Shaun laughed. “Now I have to deal with a hyper active girl all afternoon. Doug, I hope Lisa doesn’t get hyper like Meg does when you give her chocolate. Meg won’t shut up for the rest of the day.”
Doug chuckled. “Lisa never shuts up even without chocolate. Maybe we should leave the girls here and go check out the fort without them.”
Lisa started to protest.
“Very funny! Don’t say anything Lisa. It’s just a guy thing. For some reason they feel they always have to tease us. ” Megan smiled. “Are you guys going to leave, or do you plan on standing around here all day and abuse me and Lisa.”
Shaun laughed. He started walking to the front entrance of the Inn. The door and windows were in pieces, lying in the parking lot out in front of the building.
He started to think about what had happened here at the Inn. Had the dead been here at the beginning, breaking through the doors and windows to get at the living that had tried to take refuge in the Inn? Or was it the gangs that had formed a few months after the dead had taken over the world? They were much more creative in the ways they hunted the living. The barriers that held off the dead seldom held off the gangs for long.
The Inn didn’t appear to ever have been capable of keeping either out for very long.
Shaun could
ask himself these questions all day long.
He shifted his gaze to look out at Route 30 that passed by within fifty feet of the front door of the Inn.
The telltale signs that the dead had been here yesterday were scattered all over the road, parking lot and throughout the Inn. Fortunately now nothing was moving except for the branches that gracefully swayed in the light breeze. The breeze that helped make the smell bearable.
“The highway looks good. Let’s get across to the other side. We can follow the highway from up in the woods.” Shaun instructed then began to run across the highway, pulling Megan along beside him.
They started to walk, protected be the branches and shadows of the trees.
They had no reason to feel like this, but they all felt better about traveling in the woods near Route 30. Maybe it had been the long overdue rest they had all gotten last night.
But today they just felt optimistic.
Maybe it was all the normal cheerful sounds coming from the woods around them. There seemed to be a lot more animal activity around them then they had seen the past two days when they had started their journey.
The birds and animals were a good barometer to use when trying to decide if the dead were nearby. Today the sounds of nature were loud and upbeat.
Shaun wondered if maybe this would be a good day. He didn’t dare to hope too hard. The last time he was hopeful his house was burnt to the ground.
“What’s that up ahead?” Doug called out quietly.
Shaun looked. “I think that is the bridge that crosses over the Loyalhanna Creek.”
“Do we have to cross that bridge?” Doug asked.
“It will be a lot easier than staying off to the side of the road. We would have to crawl down the hillside, cross the creek and climb back up the other side. We’ll check it out when we get closer.” Shaun answered.
Five minutes later they were in the woods off the edge of the bridge.
From their spot in the woods they could see straight across the bride and up the hill beyond for a half mile. Behind them they could see back down Route 30 for a few hundred yards until the highway rolled to the left, hidden by the base of a large hillside.