Age of Decay (Book 1): Contagion

by Brian Lamacraft

  Galen was old school and tough. The woods and lakes around home were his stomping grounds. The forest was his home, and he had many friends, although now many of them were dead, missing, or trapped in the town. He spent most of his life as a fisherman on the Fraser River, and then as a fishing guide in his later years. He spent a lot of time hunting, and when he did go to town, he spent time hanging out and talking to the locals about the good old days when he was young. The sixty-two year old felt damn tired after all that had happened. Lucky for the two men, the remoteness of Galen’s cabin kept the dead out, as well as the new neighbors who now controlled Hope.

  Galen paced in his cabin. He stretched next to the window and rubbed his white beard. He was lean and still in decent shape for sixty-two. Long hours of hunting and tending to his crops allowed him to stay in reasonable shape. His arms were still fairly muscular, although he had lost a lot of the size he had in his youth. His still had a thin layer of hair on his head, but it had receded way past his temples now and was thinning more on top. He sat down in the chair next to Steven, his neighbor and close friend. Since they didn’t venture into the town as often as other people did, they both managed to avoid the plague that swept through Hope and killed most of the residents. He sat down and poured a shot of whiskey “Need to get into town,” said Galen. “We can’t stay out here forever, and those bikers are patrolling all over now. Sooner or later, they’ll find us and the others.”

  Steven scratched the white stubble on his chin and adjusted his cap. “Yeah, I know that. We need a plan to deal with them, but there are not a lot of us.”

  Galen drained another shot. “I don’t know if we have enough ammo to take the town. Shit, it’s going to be risky.”

  Steven leaned back in his chair. The fifty-six year old had put on a little weight over the years, but he was strong. Like Galen, he enjoyed fishing, hunting, and being out in nature. Like many that had suffered through the plague with a loss, Steven had buried his wife Mary and was now alone. “I know, and the outcome probably won’t be good, but we have to do something. People up here need medications and food.” Steven finished cleaning his Mossberg rifle. “What do you suggest we do?”

  “I just don’t know. Need to wait for Billy to get back from scouting,” said Galen. “Got to know how many of them are in the town. We need more bodies, and above all, more firepower.”

  “I guess we need to make a decision soon. The others need our help. We can’t stay up here forever. There are other survivors in the town that need us.” Steven drank down a shot.” I’d rather die helping people, than be a victim to those things out there.”

  Galen stood up. “You hear that?”

  “Yeah, it’s the whistle, Billy is back.”

  They both heard the footsteps up to the door. “Hey, it’s me. Let me in.”

  Galen went over to the door and let Billy in. He was about forty-two and fairly muscular. His face was covered in mud, and he wore a camouflage outfit. In his hand, he carried a hunting rifle with a scope. He sat down in a chair and caught his breath.

  Steven pushed the whiskey bottle his way. “Here have a shot.”

  Billy poured a glass. “Thanks.”

  “So what did you find out?” said Galen.

  Billy threw the alcohol back and slammed the glass back on the table before he wiped his lips. “Damn, needed that. Well, they have the outskirts of the town blocked off with overturned vehicles and other barriers, and there are a couple of guards there. The roads up here are still accessible.”

  “Maybe they don’t see these areas as a threat?” said Steven.

  “Oh, I bet they do. They are probably just going place to place, seeing who is up here.”

  “We know how many there are?”

  Billy scratched his chin. “Well, that’s hard to say. I counted about fifteen in the town, but there could be more of them. It looks like they are using a hotel and restaurant in the town as a main base of operations as I see a lot of bikes outside. People are moving around some.”

  “That’s good. I don’t think they will be too bright with tactics or anything,” said Galen. “They are after women, weapons, and booze.”

  “Well, we’re smarter,” said Steven. “If we start a shooting war—”

  “I’m ready,” said Billy. “We can take them and get back our town.” Billy swallowed. “There’s something else though.”

  “What?” said Galen.

  “You know old man Nielsen, the retired cop?” said Billy.

  “Yeah,” replied Steven. “I talk to him all the time at the hardware store. He’s a nice guy.”

  “I saw him down there. Through my binoculars.”

  “Where?” said Galen.

  “Tied to a tree.”

  “Then we need to rescue him,” said Steven, as he stood up.

  “You don’t understand,” Billy continued. “He’s tied up, and he’s changed.”

  Galen wiped sweat away from his temples. “Damn.”

  “There’s more. I saw others down there, too. They were hung up in trees. All of them had turned. Whoever we are dealing with is a loose cannon, and there’s no telling what he’ll do to us or anyone else he encounters.”

  Steven checked his rifle. “That’s why we can’t wait any longer.”

  “We need more people.” Galen pounded back some more whiskey. “Not many of us up here. I’d hate to lose any of them.”

  “Have to risk it, Galen. No choice,” said Billy.

  “Can’t put if off. We have to gather everyone up and formulate a plan. We need those supplies, the sooner the better,” said Steven.

  Galen sat back in his chair and put his arms out on the table. He put his hands together. “Alright. We owe the people down there. I for one don’t want to leave them to whoever these guys are.”

  Steven went over to the window. “Good, I—”

  Galen stood up. “What is it?”

  “I can hear it. It’s coming down the road. Vehicle.”

  “One of ours?” said Billy. “Told everyone to stay home for now.”

  Steven readied his rifle. “Maybe, but we can’t be too careful.”

  “Got a good view as they come into the yard from this window,” said Galen.

  “Yeah we can ambush them before they even make it to the door,” said Billy.

  “Pipe down.” Galen pointed his rifle to the SUV pulling into the gravel driveway. “Don’t know who they are yet.”

  The SUV moved slowly into the yard then stopped. A man got out clad in black police armor. The passenger side door opened up, too, and a young man got out.

  Galen put his rifle down. “Well shit. How in the hell did he make it all the way up here? Put the guns down boys, our luck has just changed.”

  “Who is it?” said Billy.

  Galen was smiling from ear to ear. “That’s my nephew.”

  Chapter 30

  Jake Rawlings sat back in the hotel room chair. A brunette had her head between his legs going down on him. Her face was covered in grime and her cheek was red where he had hit her. The young woman wore blue jeans and a ripped yellow T-shirt. Jake puffed casually on a cigar and took another swig from a half empty bottle of rum. On the table, he had a pistol nearby.

  “Damn girl,” he said, as he pulled her hair back with force. “You’re not bad at this. I think you’re a keeper. Glad you agreed. Your friend shouldn’t have shot off her mouth like that. I told you people that the constable is hungry. Play by my rules, and everything will be fine.

  He stroked the side of her face. “Boys are gonna like you.”

  The girl didn’t move, but kept her mouth on him. A tear ran down the right side of her cheek, but she quickly brushed it away.

  “Yeah, almost girl. Just a little faster. Give Jake what he wants.” The girl squeezed Jake’s balls and held him in her mouth as he came. Jake pulled his knife from its sheath and brought it to her throat as he held onto her hair. “Now you swallow it. I don’t want any spitting.” He brought t
he blade to her skin. “Understood?”

  The girl nodded and swallowed his semen. She wiped her mouth with her hand and sat back on the floor. She was close to tears.

  “Hey girl, you’re not done yet. Clean off my cock with that tongue, and be quick about it. I got things to do.”

  The girl did as instructed and cleaned him off. As Jake pulled up his jeans there was a knock at the door. “What do you want?”

  “Me, Jake,” said Vance. “Are you done with her yet?”

  “You greedy little bastard,” said Jake. “Come on in, we have things to discuss and then you can have the little whore for yourself.”

  “Alright.”

  “Hey darlin’, leave us for a bit. Go in the bathroom and freshen up, you look like shit. There’s a bucket of water there you can use. I want ya all pretty for Vance and his buddies.”

  The girl got up and went into the bathroom without saying a word.

  “Sit down, man,” said Jake. “Have a drink.” He poured both of them an ample glass of rum. “So how goes the recruitment?”

  Vance sat down. “It’s going good, Jake. I got quite a few able bodies now helping us search through the hills for survivors.”

  “That’s good. Glad to see some cooperation around here.”

  “Well, not everyone is willing to work with us. Some people are holding out. Don’t know what you want to do with them.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame. You give someone a chance to survive in this new world and look at how they repay you.”

  “What do you want me to do with them?”

  “Let’s gather them together and have another demonstration of my authority here. I’m sure the constable is getting a might peckish these days.”

  Vance laughed. “Yeah, he’s a hungry bastard, isn’t he?”

  Jake took a swallow of rum. “That he is, my man.”

  “We found a few of the dead wandering around, too, but we took care of them. I got details working to pick up any corpses we find and clean the place up.”

  “Nice job,” said Jake. He waved his glass around. “We can’t have Rawlings, B.C. a junk heap can we? If people want to live here, it’s got to be tidy. Check the houses. There might be more of ‘em inside. I wouldn’t want one of the boys to run into one and get bit.”

  “So, Jake, what do we do with everyone that won’t work with us, even after the demonstration? We got some pretty stubborn holdouts.”

  “Simple, man.” Jake put his glass down. “Anyone that doesn’t want to help us is going to die.”

  “Just kill them all?”

  “Yeah, Vance. We just kill them all.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Shoot, you want to feed some old lady that is bitchin’ at you or some snot nosed kid? It’s a new age bro. Only the strong are gonna survive this. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to find food for all these people.”

  “It seems drastic,” said Vance.

  “Drastic? Well, suppose we let them all live and our food runs out. You want to deal with a riot?”

  “No.”

  “Good. We’ll pick through ‘em though. I want all the pretty ones for the boys. They need their release. I wouldn’t want ‘em to get out of control or anything.”

  “Sure, Jake.”

  “We’re sitting pretty up here. The city is far away, and we shouldn’t see too many of them up here. What we do run into, we’ll handle just fine.”

  “Alright.” Vance put his rum glass down. “Good stuff.”

  “Yeah it is. We got plenty left, too. Ole B.C liquor stores, gotta love em.”

  “We’re also collecting gas, like you said. We already have a good supply of it now.”

  “Yeah, we need as much as we can get. We’ll have to venture out further once our supply runs low. I don’t want anyone driving unless they have to. Keep the bikes for when we need them. Use trucks or other vehicles for now.”

  “Got it,” said Vance. “That reminds me, I almost forgot. I was talkin’ to a local. He says he may know where there are some people that may still be alive. He told me the location of some remote cabins up in the hills. You know the type, guys that like to live mostly off the grid as much as they can.”

  “I know the type.”

  “He says they are mostly older guys, some are hunters, outdoor enthusiasts, that sort.”

  “We might be able to make use of guys that know this area well,” said Jake. You send out a patrol and locate these guys. If there’s another group out there, I want to know about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “If they find anything, let ‘em know we have food, supplies, whatever else they need. Shit, any survivors up there are probably pissing their pants by now. Send some of the new recruits, too. These guys gotta get their feet wet out there. They need to prove that they want to be a part of our new town.”

  “I’ll get it done.”

  “See that you do.” Jake popped a beer. “Hey girl, come on out now, Vance needs ya.”

  “She good?”

  Jake laughed. “Oh man, you’re gonna have a great time with her. See that the boys don’t rough her up any. I want her fresh for later.”

  Jake turned. “Ah there you are. That face looks much better. Now you go here with my buddy Vance, and make sure his boys have a good time. We clear?”

  The girl nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  He patted her on the behind. “That a girl.”

  “Hey boss?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What do we do if our patrol comes under fire from these guys up there?”

  Jake took a swig of his beer. “Well, that’s gonna be a real problem.” He picked up his pistol and examined it.

  “A real problem indeed.”

  Chapter 31

  The group sat around Galen’s table. He had brought in some lawn chairs from outside so everyone had a seat. Trevor had told his story to Galen and his friends, and he was glad to see his uncle still in one piece. Hope had suffered a lot, but there were survivors still left. Now, they needed to decide how to get into Hope, but that was going to be difficult with the biker gang holding everyone hostage. Trevor knew there would be no reasoning with them, and that was too risky as the gang could turn on them in a minute if they did manage to work something out. It was either the bikers or them that were going to live in Hope. Trevor knew which group it was going to be.

  Galen poured more coffee for everyone, then put the cast iron kettle back on the wood stove. “I guess there’s some good to livin’ a simple life.” Thank God you’re alive, Trevor. I can’t believe you survived.

  “We are glad to be here, Uncle,” said Trevor. “I never thought we would make it out of the city. It’s pretty bad out there, and this is only going to get worse.”

  “It will spread like wildfire,” said Lauren.

  “Well, you folks are welcome here,” said Billy.

  Erica came out of the spare bedroom. “Gail is resting. Not sure how she’ll be in the coming hours. She was muttering some, but other than that there’s, not a lot of activity out of her.”

  “What she got?” asked Steven.

  “It’s a deep depression. The brain just sort of shuts off, and you go into a state like Alzheimer’s or dementia basically. Some people never recover, while others get better over time. I just don’t have any medications to treat her.”

  “That’s why we need to get into town,” said Galen. “Damn it.”

  “We can take those clowns,” said Jason. “A bunch of bikers? Please.”

  “Can’t rush in, Son, you know that. These guys will be armed.”

  “Yeah, but not much training, I suspect,” replied Jason.

  “Have to think it through,” said Erica.

  Trevor stood up to stretch. “How many can you gather up, Uncle?”

  “Probably a dozen in addition to all of you. There are a few kids and women, too, but they can’t fight.”

  “They’ll learn with time,” said Billy. “We need to
train everyone to defend themselves.”

  Trevor looked over at Billy. “Right. You mentioned you have been scouting. Maybe I should go with you, see what we are up against.”

  “You can if you want. I think we have the numbers, but running into town, guns blazing like the old West isn’t going to work. The hotel is where I saw all the bikes, that’s a main staging area.”

  “I wish I knew who was leading these guys,” said Galen.

  Trevor sipped his coffee. “It could be anyone, Uncle. Whoever it is, they’re using fear to run the town. Billy mentioned those people hanged and the other one they have tied up as a terror weapon.”

  Steven paced by the window. “That is what makes this guy very dangerous.”

  Erica folder her hands on the table. “Dangerous or not, we need those supplies in the town. We came this far, and I sure as hell don’t want to go back into the city. I say we fight and take it from him now.”

  “Erica,” said Trevor. “I know you’re anxious to help Gail and anyone else, but we can’t just walk in there. We get in a huge firefight and people are going to die.”

  “We’ll all die, just sitting here, Dad.”

  Billy lit a cigarette. “We can take them. These bikers are taking advantage of the situation. They won’t suspect anyone attacking them. They are ruling with fear, not military tactics or clear thinking. They will be weaker than they realize. They won’t suspect any sort of attack from anyone.”

  “It’s a risk,” said Galen, “but we have to take it for the sake of everyone.”

  “Uncle, get the others together. We’ll formulate a plan and then execute it. I came this far, and I’m not going anywhere else. Hope is ours.”

  The door opened slowly and Ian stepped into the cabin. Trevor looked at him. “What is it?”

  “Trouble, lads. A mess of trouble.”

  Chapter 32

  They fanned out in front of Galen’s cabin and the woods surrounding it. Ian told them that three men were coming up the road in a Jeep. They were stopping and checking each home before moving on. They had a couple more homes to check before they would make their way to Galen’s home.