Empty Bodies (Book 5): Damnation

by Zach Bohannon

  “Please be careful,” Claire said.

  Jessica went to her knees and touched the two glasses together. With extra care, she tilted the full glass over the lip of the empty one. The liquid poured over, and she allowed it to do so until the glasses felt of equal weight.

  “This is all there is,” Jessica said. “So be sure to conserve it.”

  Claire accepted the glass, and then Jessica raised her own to her mouth, taking the smallest of sips. The water refreshed her dry, chapped lips.

  Jessica grabbed one of the plates and handed it to Claire. It took a moment for Claire to find the plate and grab it without dropping it. Jessica then took the other plate and sat Indian style on the floor.

  “Do you know what it is?” Jessica asked.

  “I’m so starving that I don’t really care,” Claire said.

  Jessica pulled the plate up to her nose and sniffed. The food had almost no smell. Even with it right in front of her face, she couldn’t identify it in the darkness.

  “Beans,” Claire said.

  Claire shoveled the food into her mouth, the silverware smacking against the plate.

  It was a mix of black beans and green beans. Also on the plate was a piece of bread and a slice of American cheese. Jessica ate the food so fast that her once empty stomach now ached. She didn’t care. As soon as the plate was clear, she put it down and grabbed the glass of water. She went against her own advice that she had given Claire and downed the glass in seconds. The canned beans had been too salty, leaving her throat with a type of dryness she had never felt.

  Moments later, Claire set her plate on the ground. Jessica was somewhat surprised that she had finished her meal before Claire had.

  With her stomach hurting and with nothing to do in the darkness, Jessica found herself suddenly tired. She scooted a few feet away from the door, and then laid down on her side.

  “Let’s try to get some rest,” Jessica said.

  Within minutes, she was sleeping.

  ***

  Jessica’s eyes opened when she heard the door click. Her back was to it, but she didn’t move when she heard it start to open. She remained still, steadily controlling her breathing.

  Then she heard that perverted, yet familiar moan.

  Bruce.

  A low beam of light flashed onto the wall that she was facing. It was just bright enough that he could see, but not so bright that it would have woken Jessica or Claire. Only, Jessica was already awake. But he didn’t know that.

  He moaned again before he finally spoke.

  “I’ve got you now,” he whispered. “And ain’t no one gonna be able to stop me. Not you, not Ambrose, and not your friends. Especially the crippled one.”

  Crippled one? Jessica thought.

  But before she could investigate the thought any further, she felt Bruce’s warm, stank breath hit the back of her neck. She shuddered. Jessica sensed his tongue was just inches away from her. She remembered what it had felt like when he’d touched her with it before, and feared she might never forget.

  Just as she felt that he was about to touch her, Jessica received a lifeline.

  “Who’s there?” Claire asked.

  Bruce’s heavy breathing stopped, and he flashed the light towards Claire. When he did this, she screamed.

  With no reason to any longer pretend that she was sleeping, Jessica sat up just in time to see Bruce lunge at Claire. He wrapped his hands around her neck, muting her scream. Jessica reached out to pry him away from her, and Bruce backhanded Jessica in the face.

  Footsteps raced down the hall as Jessica lay on her belly, her palms flat on the concrete.

  “You stupid bitch,” Bruce said to Claire. “You lucky fucking bitch. I’m gonna kill you for that.”

  But before he could hurt her, two armed guards entered the room.

  “What the hell are you doing in here, Bruce?” one of the men demanded. Jessica couldn’t see the men’s faces, as the flashlights they held were much too bright.

  Bruce stood. “I was, uh, walking down the hall. I thought I heard one of the girls in here call for help, so I came inside.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Claire said. “He—”

  “I wasn’t fucking talking to you,” the man said, flashing the light into Claire’s eyes. He looked back to Bruce. “Is that true?”

  “Of course it’s not true,” Bruce said. “Don’t listen to her.”

  The other man spoke now. “Just get your ass out here. Everything seems fine.”

  The two men left the room and Bruce followed. He turned around to close the door, but before he did, he stood there and stared. Even though Jessica was only looking at his silhouette, she could still feel his eyes raping her.

  “Sleep tight,” Bruce said.

  Neither of the girls did.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The door to Maureen’s house swung open and Will was the first to rush inside. He stopped when he’d made it just a few feet into the living room.

  Dylan lay on the table, completely still. The lights above the table had been shut off, and with the sun going down, the room hadn’t enough light for Will to see if the boy was breathing or not. The others collected behind him just as Timothy entered the room, drying his hands off with a towel.

  “How is he?” Will asked, a tremble in his voice.

  “He’s going to be fine,” Timothy assured him. “He’s still out from the anesthetics.”

  Will felt a hand squeeze his and turned to see Mary Beth looking up at him. He put his other hand out toward Holly and she took it, and then he moved toward the table.

  Closer now, Will could see Dylan’s stomach moving up and down. He could almost hear the boy’s shallow breaths echo through the silent house. What was left of his wounded arm had been wrapped up in a thick bandage reaching almost all the way up to his shoulder. Will imagined what it looked like underneath.

  “There was still enough flesh and tissue left for me to close the wound,” Timothy said. “It wasn’t easy, but he should heal up fine.”

  “And you didn’t find any kind of infection?” Will asked.

  “Honestly, it’s impossible for me to truly know with the tools I have available here. But Doug and I did our best to clean the wound before I closed it.” Nevertheless, Timothy told Will some signs to look for to spot infection, including checking for fever and making sure the wound didn’t begin to smell.

  Will sighed in relief as he felt Holly squeeze his hand.

  “He’s very lucky,” Timothy said. “Clearly, someone is watching over him.”

  “When will he wake up?” Mary Beth asked, mumbling.

  “Hopefully within the next hour or two,” Timothy said. “It’s hard to know for sure.”

  “You should all go rest,” Doug said. “We just wanted you to see that he was all right.”

  Mary Beth let go of Will’s hand and moved in next to Dylan. She grabbed onto his hand. “I’m not leaving him again.”

  Doug said, “But, young lady, you should—”

  “I’ll stay with her,” Will said.

  Smiling, Doug nodded.

  “I’m staying, too,” Holly said. “I’m with Mary Beth: I can’t leave him again.”

  Charlie shrugged. “Guess we’re all staying.”

  “Very well,” Timothy said. “Maureen, why don’t you see if you can gather some blankets for them?”

  “Of course,” Maureen said, and she headed to another room.

  “Is he going to be in pain when he wakes?” Holly asked.

  “Some,” Timothy said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle. He shook it, and the tiny pills inside clanked back and forth in the plastic container. “This will be better than the over-the-counter pain medication you had for him. It should help make him at least somewhat comfortable. He can have two of these shortly after he wakes up. He’ll need to eat something with them, so I’ll be sure that Maureen has something ready for him.”

  “Thank you for doing this,�
�� Will said. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate it.”

  “It’s no problem,” Timothy said. He signaled to the sofa. “Come on, how about we sit down for a little bit?”

  “I need to get some fresh air,” Charlie said. He looked to Mary Beth. “You wanna go outside with me?”

  Frowning, the girl said, “I wanna stay with Dylan.”

  “Why don’t you go outside and play, sweetie?” Holly suggested. “We can let you know if he wakes up.”

  “All right,” Mary Beth said, her eyes glued to the floor.

  Charlie took Mary Beth by the hand and they went to the back door. At the same time, Maureen re-entered the room holding blankets and pillows. She set them down on an empty spot on the sofa.

  “Thank you,” Will said. He’d sat down on the sofa next to Holly, while Timothy had plopped down into the recliner in the corner of the room.

  “Anything else I can get y’all?” Maureen asked.

  “I think we’re good for now,” Holly said. “Thank you, again, for your hospitality.”

  “It’s no problem,” Maureen said. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go upstairs to my room for a while. You folks just feel free to make yourselves at home.”

  After Maureen climbed the last step of the staircase, Will looked over to Timothy.

  “She alone here?”

  Taking a sip of water, the doctor said, “Yeah.” He wiped his mouth and then sighed. “Her husband died a few years back in Iraq. She had two children. One of them, her son, was taken by the plague. He bit his baby sister.”

  Holly put her face in her hands. Will said, “Jesus.”

  “I live two houses over. Her children were the first two that I saw. I tried to help them, but as you know, it was impossible.”

  “What happened to them?” Holly asked.

  Timothy swallowed and took a deep breath. “They’re gone.” He said it short and flat, signaling he wanted to end the conversation.

  “Did everyone who lives here now always live around here?” Will asked.

  “Most, yes. We’ve let in a few stragglers, but for the most part, everyone you’ll meet already lived around here. There aren’t many of us left, but anyone that is now lives in this cul-de-sac. A few people still live in other parts of the neighborhood, but they don’t want anything to do with us. I’m not even sure if they’re all still alive. We offered to have them join us early on, but they refused. We keep this cul-de-sac guarded, and we keep to ourselves.”

  “How far out have you guys gone to explore?” Will asked.

  “Not far,” Timothy replied.

  “But eventually you’re going to run out of food,” Holly said.

  Timothy furrowed his brow. “Let me ask you, how long have you people been out there? How far have you come?”

  “We traveled here from Nashville,” Will said. “Well, the two of us have.”

  “Nashville? You made it all the way here from Tennessee, alive?”

  Holly frowned. “We’ve had our fair share of loss.” She reached over and grabbed Will’s hand.

  Will bit his lip, thinking of his parents, of Marcus, and of his own near death.

  “Yes,” Timothy said. “I suppose we all have.”

  The front door of the house opened, cutting off the conversation. Samantha, Timothy’s wife, entered first. Behind her was Karl. Timothy stood, and Will and Holly followed.

  “Please,” Timothy said to his wife, “have my seat.”

  She waved him off. “It’s fine. I’d rather stand, really.”

  Karl rocked his head toward Dylan. “How is he?”

  “Good,” Will responded. “The doc here says he’s going to be fine.”

  “That’s good,” Karl said.

  Samantha looked to her husband. “Did you ask them yet?”

  Puzzled, Will said, “Ask us what?”

  “Damn, Samantha,” Timothy said. “The boy hasn’t even woken up yet.”

  “What is she talking about?” Holly asked.

  Timothy sunk back down into the chair, sighed, and then spoke.

  “I said we have plenty of supplies, but there are a few things we are running low on. A few important things.”

  Will knew where this was going.

  “As I said,” Timothy continued, “We don’t have a lot of experience out there.”

  “So, in return for you helping Dylan, you want us to go for you?” Will asked.

  Timothy nodded. “We won’t send you out alone. Karl here will go with you. He’s our best scavenger, and he’s got the most experience being outside these walls. And we’ll send one other person.”

  Will turned away from Timothy and walked toward the window at the front of the house. Outside, the sun was almost totally hidden. The clouds had cleared out enough to show the moon, which appeared to be only a few days away from being full. He put his hands on his hips and waited to reply.

  While Will was tired of being pulled away from their journey in order to help others, the people here had saved Dylan. Without Timothy and Doug, there was a good chance that they’d still be looking for help. That Dylan would be in agonizing pain. Instead, Dylan was safely sleeping, his wound closed. Will glanced back to look at him. While he stared at Dylan, Holly moved to his other side. She grabbed his hand.

  “You know what the right thing to do is,” she said.

  Will looked at her and chuckled as he smiled.

  “All right,” Will said. He turned around to face Timothy. “Where are we going?”

  ***

  Will had thought he might never drink a cup of coffee ever again. But that wasn’t the case.

  Maureen had heated up a pot of water and used a French press to provide everyone with a mug. Even young Mary Beth, who’d claimed she’d never had coffee before, took a small cup.

  And as the girl took her first sip and scrunched her face, the adults in the group laughed. Regardless, she choked back the drink.

  After another couple of sips, Mary Beth said, “It’s really not that bad.”

  “It grows on you,” Charlie said, smiling.

  “I’m going to head upstairs,” Maureen said. “Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Thank you, darlin’,” Timothy said.

  “All right,” Will said. “So, tell me about where you want us to go.”

  Timothy cleared his throat and took another sip from his coffee. “Karl, why don’t you tell them?”

  His palms flat on the table, Karl said, “On one of my first runs, this would have been a couple of weeks ago, I met someone from another group. They were very cordial and didn’t come off as threatening. We only spoke for a few minutes, but they trusted us enough to tell us where they live. Said that if we ever needed anything to come to them, and we could see about making some trades.”

  Charlie shrugged his shoulders. “But what is it you would need from them?” He looked around. “You guys seem to have just about everything you need here right now.”

  “They claimed to have a surplus of medical supplies,” Samantha said.

  “We were already running low on things before you guys showed up on our doorstep needing us to help your child,” Timothy said. He said it matter of factly, not out of spite. “We were already planning a run there to see what they’ve got.”

  “I would have to think medical supplies would be an awful expensive barter at this point,” Will said. “What do you guys have that you can offer them?”

  “You’ll be taking with you lots of food,” Timothy said. “We figure that we’re lucky enough here that we have enough good soil in these yards to grow our own. You’re also taking a generator and a few weapons.”

  “You’re willing to give up a generator?” Holly asked.

  “If they have the right items, yes,” Samantha said.

  “I’ve prepared a list,” Timothy said. “I would also recommend that you folks be thinking of things that you can trade. If they have pain medications and broad spectrum antibiotics, especially, I’d
suggest you be ready to make an offer. The boy is going to need continued attention in order to fully and properly heal. I’d be glad to make you your own list of things to look for.”

  Holly smiled. “We’d very much appreciate that, thanks.”

  “It’s no problem,” Timothy said. “We have a place for you all to stay tonight. I would assume at least one or two of you might want to stay here with Dylan. But if any of you want a bed to sleep in, we have somewhere for you.”

  “I think I might have to take you up on that,” Charlie said. “Not sure when I’ll get to sleep in a real bed again.”

  “I don’t want to go,” Mary Beth said. “I want to stay with Dylan.”

  “I’ll stay here with Holly and Mary Beth,” Will said. Holly looked at him and smiled.

  “Very well,” Timothy said. He signaled to his wife. “Samantha can show you where you can—”

  In the living room, Dylan stirred. He groaned, and moved around on the table. Already on his feet, Will pushed off the wall and went to the boy’s side.

  Will ran his hand through Dylan’s hair. The boy was moving, but had yet to open his eyes.

  And when he did, Will cried.

  ***

  For the first few minutes after Dylan woke up, he worked to clear his head of all the fogginess caused by the drugs that had put him under. He tried sitting up a few times, but Timothy urged the boy to remain lying down while he regained his bearings.

  Then the boy spoke his first words since coming out of the surgery.

  “Am I going to be okay?”

  Running his hands through Dylan’s hair, Will said, “Yes. Everything’s going to be fine. The doctor here took good care of you.”

  Dylan looked down at the bandage on his arm. “It hurts.”

  “You are going to experience some pain,” Timothy said. “Unfortunately, it’s just part of the process. But from what your friends here have told me, you’re one strong little boy. I think you’re going to be just fine, and you should feel much better in no time.”

  Will ran his hands through Dylan’s hair, and the child couldn’t help but continue to look at what was left of his arm. Will felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Timothy.