When more than half of the contents were gone, Dylan looked to Gabriel, who was watching him.
“Drink up,” Gabriel said.
Dylan looked at the bottle and then extended his arm, offering the water to Gabriel.
Gabriel shook his head. “You drink it.”
“I’m fine. You need to have some, too,” Dylan replied.
A smile wore on Gabriel’s face. He accepted the water, pressing the mouth of the bottle to his lips, and feeling the water wet his tongue and slide down his throat, which had a slight sting in it from the shock of hydration. He gasped as he took the last drop of water from the bottle and looked to Dylan.
“Thank you,” he said.
Dylan smiled. He turned the cab light on above them, and reached for the bags.
“What’s in here?” The boy asked.
Gabriel reached back between the front seats and grabbed Dylan’s arm.
“Whoa, whoa. Hold on there, champ.”
Ducking his head, Gabriel crawled between the front seats and joined Dylan in the backseat. He opened the bags and pulled out the clothes he’d gotten for Dylan.
“Hope these fit.”
Dylan’s eyes lit up like he’d woken up on Christmas morning and seen the bike he had been asking Santa about for months. The clothes on his back were sticking to him, and he was beyond thankful for the new digs. He gave Gabriel a hug.
“Thank you.”
Gabriel smiled. He was happy to see at least a little joy in Dylan’s face, imagining that the boy had to be missing his parents dearly. It made him think of Sarah. She was likely missing him just as much as he missed her. He wanted to think that his wife and daughter were alive, so, in his mind, he knew they were.
“We should try the radio,” Dylan said.
It was a great idea; one that Gabriel should have thought of sooner, but his mind had been so focused on getting the boy away from danger.
Gabriel leaned into the front seat and pushed the volume knob, feeling the click on the tip of his finger as the radio powered on.
Static rang through the speakers as Gabriel reached for the Seek button, pressing it.
The radio found a signal and stopped on 94.7.
“Turn it up,” Dylan said.
Gabriel turned the knob.
This is the Emergency Broadcast System with an urgent message. The state of Tennessee has issued a house arrest for all residents until further notice. Please be advised that no one is allowed outside until the ban is lifted. Failure to abide by these laws will result in instant prosecution. Again, do not leave your home.
This is the Emergency Broadcast…
Gabriel shut off the radio.
“What are we gonna do?” Dylan asked. “I’ve never been arrested.”
The innocence made Gabriel smile, an emotion he needed to feel after hearing the warning from the radio.
“Well, I haven’t seen any police, have you?”
Dylan shook his head.
Gabriel wedged back into the front seat and reclined the chair, resting the back of his head against it.
“Let’s get some rest,” Gabriel said. “We’ll have to wait and find food in the morning when there’s light.”
***
The following morning, Gabriel was awoken by a noise so distant that he was surprised it woke him. He slowly sat up in the front seat, which he had leaned back for comfort, and saw the oncoming car speeding down the road.
His eyes widened.
People.
Gabriel hurried to open the door and stepped out of the truck. He stood next to the hood, waving his arms frantically in the air.
In the back seat, Dylan began to wake and rose his head to see the oncoming car. He was too tired to be as interested in it, his tender mind not able to process what this could mean so soon after waking.
The car wasn’t slowing down.
“Hey! Hey!” Gabriel screamed, jumping up and down now while continuing to flail his hands.
When the car came within fifty yards, Gabriel realized the driver wasn’t going to slow down. He dived into the driver’s seat of the SUV, pulling the door shut just before the speeding car would have taken it off its hinges.
“Why didn’t they stop?” Dylan asked.
Gabriel just leaned down and ran the two wires together, starting the truck.
“Put on your seatbelt,” he told Dylan. “Now.”
The engine turned over and Gabriel turned the wheel all the way to the left, and punched the gas flush against the floorboard, the tail of the white car a small blurb in the distance.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
WILL
“Are you able to pinpoint your exact location in this building?” Will asked Marcus over the radio. He and Holly were still standing in the office at the front part of the facility.
“The lights went out before we got back to this part of the building,” Marcus began. “All I know is that I was struggling with a couple of these things, I felt a door, and I opened it. The room is solid concrete and there are no windows. It’s some kind of storage vault or something. There is no way these things are gonna get in, but I hear them outside. Luckily, the roof of the room isn’t concrete, so I can actually get a radio signal through.”
Will rolled his eyes, not particularly caring for the extra information. He just wanted to know where Marcus was so that they could extract him and get out of here.
“Do you know how many of them are back there?” Will asked.
“At least fifteen,” Marcus said. “Enough to make me about go crazy back here.”
Will and Holly could hear the hissing and scratching through the radio while Marcus talked.
“Alright. We are going to try and come get you. Do not radio us again unless it’s an emergency. We don’t want them to hear us. If we get to a safe spot, we will call you and check in,” Will told him.
“Alright. Please hurry.”
Will rolled his eyes again and looked over to Holly.
“You ready for this?”
Holly nodded. “I’m ready. I won’t freeze again, I promise.”
Will took a few steps toward the door that led to the warehouse. He took the flashlight in his hand and stuck it under his arm that held the gun, putting his now free hand on the door knob.
“Let’s do this.”
***
The door swung open into the pitch black warehouse. Like the facility Will had spent the last two days in, the warehouse was in pitch black darkness, only this building didn’t have a crack in the roof to bring in at least some sunlight, not like Element had.
Will stepped through the door first, the little bit of light peeking through the door from the office windows allowing him to see to his immediate left and right that it was clear. He looked back to Holly and cocked his head, signaling her to follow him.
They could see the outlines of the large metal racking in the warehouse. In the distance, the baying of the hounds, but no Empties seemed to be near them. Will pulled out the flashlight and clicked it on.
There were boxes all over the ground. If he hadn’t turned on the flashlight, one of them would have fallen for sure, likely attracting Empties.
“It sounds like they might all be in the back,” Will whispered. “Near the room he’s trapped in. We need to figure out the best way to get back there.”
Holly licked her lips, the smack cutting through the silent air, and said, “Maybe if we go to the last aisle, and then walk to the back from there, we can sneak around and they won’t see us. I know the layout of this place a little bit. We should have a straight shot back there.”
Will nodded his head, agreeing.
They began their walk to the last aisle of the warehouse, stepping slowly so as not to make a lot of noise and attract any of the Empties. Will moved the flashlight from side to side in front of them, giving bits of hope in the utter darkness.
Holly tripped, barely keeping herself upright and somehow holding in a scream. She let out a small y
elp, but nothing loud enough to attract any of the horde.
But when Will turned around and flashed the light on the ground where she had stumbled, it was much harder for Holly to hold in her emotion.
He quickly shuffled over and covered her mouth, as the light moved away from the decaying body on the floor. Even though he had grown immune to seeing it, a body showing up in the beam of his flashlight had startled him.
Holly turned away, burying her head into his shoulders. Will took the flashlight and pointed it down at the body. The head was completely detached, sitting next to the shoulder, placed flat on one of the cheeks. The face was battered and torn, and the flesh from the upper body had been skinned and eaten. From the hairstyle, he assumed that it was a man. There wasn’t much evidence left to prove otherwise.
“We gotta keep moving,” Will told Holly.
She moved away from him and they continued making their way to the last aisle.
When they reached a wall, Will instinctively turned to the right and saw four Empties on the ground, gathered around something. The flashlight grabbed their attention, and they snarled as they began toward Will and Holly.
Holly turned to run but Will stopped her, grabbing her shoulder.
“There’s nowhere to go. We have to take them out,” he said.
“But it will attract the others! And we aren’t even sure how many there are yet,” she replied.
Will shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. We gotta hold our ground.”
He handed her the flashlight.
“Shine this on them so I can see them. Just give me light and cover me.”
Holly stood behind Will, aiming the light at the first of the four. He turned and put the rifle to his shoulder, taking aim at the Empty directly in front of him.
The shot rang off the walls and the solid floors, sending an echo through the 40,000 square foot concrete warehouse. The Empty body dropped to the ground, and they heard the howls coming from the back of the warehouse. They couldn’t be sure how many, but it sounded like a large group.
Holly froze and the light didn’t move.
Will turned to her.
“Holly, I need light,” he yelled.
She shook her head and snapped out of her trance, moving the light to the next, and then the next.
Only missing twice, Will finished taking out the small group.
Holly flashed the light to where the Empties had stood and saw what she thought were the remains of a stray cat, torn to pieces by the dead.
She turned and threw up on the concrete floor. Will grabbed the flashlight from her hand and shined it down the end of the aisle, hearing the growls get closer.
The light shined on the eyes of at least eight Empties, coming at them with outstretched arms and open jaws.
Their noises sounded as if they were surrounding them, and he turned the light to his right to see another group coming at them from their right.
“Shit,” Will said.
He grabbed Holly under the arm, turned, and ran down the other end of the aisle toward the front of the warehouse.
It was a dead end.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JESSICA
It was a frail shriek. One that echoed through the house and represented the crumbling heart of a broken woman. A young woman burdened with seeing what lay in front of her.
Melissa turned from the front door and ran up the stairs. She took the right at the top and saw Jessica on her knees, weeping at the head of her parents’ bed.
Her parents.
Matt and Alexandra “Alex” Davies lay motionless on the bed. From where she stood, Melissa couldn’t see why, but she did see the matching red stains that flowed up the headboard and onto the wall. Above their bed was a black and white painting of a forest, and the dried blood added a dark element to the piece.
Melissa moved closer before having to cover her mouth and turn away.
The Davies’ each held a pistol in their hands, Matt Davies’ pointing at his wife and hers at him. Their other hands remained clasped together.
The couple had killed each other, lying together in their most intimate and vulnerable place.
Jessica wept, crying on the floor and utterly confused. Why had her parents taken each other’s lives? There were no sick people in front of the house threatening them. The house itself was untouched. Had they just given up?
The thought angered Jessica. How could her parents just give up? She stood up and began to scream, pulling her hair and shaking her head. Jessica looked at the dresser to her left and ran her hands down it, throwing all the photographs, jewelry, and miscellaneous stuff onto the floor. She turned the dresser over, watching the mirror fall to the ground and shatter. A flat screen television was mounted to the wall behind her and Jessica tore it off its mount, watching it suffer the same fate as the mirror, only with electronic pieces scattering everywhere.
Melissa looked away from the couple on the bed, her hands covering her mouth as she cried.
When Jessica stopped wrecking the room, she went back down to her knees and lay her head on the edge of the bed, gripping the sheets and pulling them to her, biting down on the edge of them.
Melissa heard a crash and ran to the top of the stairs. She looked down and saw a hand coming through the door. She ran back into the room and put her hands on Jessica’s shoulders.
“Sweetie, we gotta go.”
“No,” Jessica yelled.
Sweat began to trickle off Melissa’s brow.
“We can’t stay here. That thing is almost in the house.” More banging. “And it may not be alone.”
Jessica kept her face on the bed.
“Just leave me here. Let me just give up and die here like them.”
A stern look came across Melissa’s face. She put her hands on Jessica’s chin and forced her to look at her.
“You’re not gonna do that to me, you hear me? You didn’t give up on me when I lost the love of my life and I am damn sure not going to give up on you. There’s still a life for us out there. And my son is out there. I need you, Jessica.”
Jessica looked at her parents. The intrusion downstairs continued.
“Please,” Melissa said.
Two beasts fought their way into the house.
While they were lucky that Ross Street had been mostly void of the dead, Jessica and Melissa knew that attention would be drawn to the home now.
The creatures stared up the stairs at the two women and howled. Jessica waited for the first one to make it halfway up the stairs before drawing the pistol and taking two shots to hit it in the head. The beast, a man in its previous life, fell back and sent its formally woman companion tumbling down the stairs. Jessica and Melissa hurried down to the bottom level, Jessica stopping to put a bullet through the head of the woman, pinned under the male creature and flailing her arms everywhere. The gun sang and the arms fell.
Before running to the door, Jessica ran into the living room and grabbed a family photo sitting on the coffee table, as well as the picture of her and her mom off the wall, the one that Melissa had seen earlier.
“They are coming,” Melissa called.
Jessica ran to the door and took one last look back into her childhood house. It wouldn’t set in with her until later that she would never be back here. But she wiped her eyes and ran to the van.
***
Melissa sat in the driver’s seat, waving Jessica into the van. The sliding side door was open and Jessica jumped in. The van was moving before she was able to slide the door shut or put her seat belt on, and the sharp turn out of the yard that Melissa made almost threw Jessica out of the vehicle. She held on and managed to shut the door, securing herself with the seatbelt once the van straightened.
More beasts had gathered on Ross Street and the two women knew that they were lucky to get out of the house when they did. The undead were walking over from the main street of the neighborhood, and blocked the entire side of the street that they had arrived from.
J
essica pointed to her right. “Go that way. There’s a back entrance out of the neighborhood.”
Melissa nodded and followed Jessica’s direction, moving away from the horde of the undead. They reached the back of the neighborhood with little resistance and Melissa headed left down a back road.
“About a quarter mile ahead, you can take a left and you’ll see signs for the interstate.”
Melissa tapped the brakes as they approached the turn and moved the wheel counterclockwise. She saw the sign for the interstate and veered to the right to take the ramp.
Jessica put her head back against the seat. Like Melissa with Walt, she was allowed no time to mourn. The two women had experienced loss in similar but different form; both extreme.
Melissa turned around and looked at Jessica.
“Are you okay, honey?”
As she was turned around, a deer ran in front of the van.
“Look out,” Jessica screamed, pointing to the deer.
Eyes wide, Melissa swerved hard to the right. The van lost control and began to roll. Jessica tensed and tried to hold on to the seat in front of her, but it was useless. The van flipped three times before coming to a stop right side up.
Jessica shook her head as the van ceased to roll. Instantly, her head hurt and her neck felt like a piece of gum. She put her head into her palm and felt the warm blood before the scent of iron hit her nose.
Her vision came back and she saw Melissa slumped over, her face in the air bag; she wasn’t moving.
When Jessica tried to free herself to help her, the pain hit like a fire in her shoulder. Her collarbone was broken.
Behind her, she heard a rumbling coming toward them. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw through the cracked window a white vehicle approaching them.
“Oh shit,” she said. If her only experience with the living, since everything had changed, was any sign of things to come, they were in trouble.
“Melissa,” she yelled out to no response.
The engine stopped next to their van as Jessica stirred, trying to come up with an idea of how to get out.
Multiple gunshots rang through the air. Jessica jumped, feeling the pain in her shoulder as her body jolted.
Empty Bodies: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale of Dystopian Survival (Book 1) Page 12