Gateway to Chaos (Book 2): Seeking Refuge

by Payne, T. L.

  Brandon licked his fingers and said, “I agree it’s a longshot, but it’s worth trying.”

  “I’ll go too. We need water. If we can’t find bottled water, maybe we can find something to melt some snow in. It’d take a lot of it, but we have to have something to drink or we’ll dehydrate quickly,” Raine said as she got to her feet.

  “All right, we’ll check out the cars and buildings just to the south of us. Let’s stay away from any stores, though. It’s not worth the risk.”

  “You should take the pistol,” Lucy said, reaching into her waistband.

  “No. You keep it here,” Brandon said.

  Raine returned to the room where she’d left her clothes to dry. They were frozen, so it was hard to say how dry they were. But in any case, they’d be warmer than what she had on. She dressed in the frozen clothes, leaving the sweats hanging over the racks for when she returned. She met Brandon and Tom in the foyer.

  Raine clutched the pipe wrench she’d taken from the riding stable as they stepped through the door and descended the steps. She shivered as the wind hit her face. She hoped her body temperature thawed her socks and thermal shirt soon or she’d get hypothermic quickly.

  “Should we split up and cover more ground?” Raine asked.

  “No. We need to have each other’s backs. Keep your eyes and ears open. Any trouble and beat feet back here. We don’t want to attract any attention,” Brandon said.

  Brandon led the way down to the side street running along the south side of the building. They checked all the doors to the cars in a small parking lot behind the businesses. They were all locked. Next, they checked the ones in the parking lot behind a glass repair shop. While Raine and Tom were trying to get into the shop’s cargo van, Brandon tugged on the door to the building.

  “Psst,” Brandon said. Raine looked up. Brandon stood in the open doorway waving them over.

  A knot formed in the pit of her stomach. The memory of what happened when they’d approached the grocery store flashed before her. She didn’t want to enter the building.

  Raine shook her head.

  Brandon waved more insistently, and Tom stepped into view. Before she could catch him, he’d slipped inside with Brandon. She looked around the parking lot. She definitely didn’t want to be out there all alone. Raine hurried inside, whispering their names.

  “Down here,” Brandon called. “It’s clear.”

  The shop appeared empty. From where Raine stood, she could see the reception desk at the end of a short hallway where they likely greeted customers. The door to her right was ajar. She poked her head in. It was a bathroom. Off the lobby was a door that led into the repair shop.

  Brandon opened the door slowly and poked his head through.

  “It’s clear. No one's here.”

  Raine followed him down two steps into the shop area. She rushed over to a tiny refrigerator and tugged it open. It was stocked with bottled water and Gatorade. Just like back at the convenience store where they’d lost Stella and Brice, all the liquid inside was frozen solid. Raine shuddered at the memory of the group swooping in to attack them. She looked down. She could feel Brice’s warm, sticky blood on her hands.

  “Tom, find a bag to carry these in,” Brandon said.

  Raine picked up a blue Gatorade and held it up. “They’re frozen.”

  Brandon took it from her and put it in his pocket. “We’ll have to thaw them somehow. We’ll need a fire.”

  “Fire might attract attention,” Raine said.

  Brandon shook the bottle trying to break up the ice. “Not if we light a small one in that bathroom in the basement,” he said.

  Raine nodded.

  “Keep your eyes open for anything we can use—flashlights or things like that. Especially look for anything we can use for a weapon,” Brandon said.

  She closed the door to the refrigerator and rummaged through a nearby toolbox. There were the typical screwdrivers and wrenches. They were small and wouldn’t be all that useful, in Raine’s opinion. She’d stick with her pipe wrench. She opened a small top drawer and drew in a breath.

  “I found a lighter and flashlight over here.”

  “Awesome,” Tom said. “Now we can thaw these,” he said, holding up two bottles of Gatorade before dropping them into a black gym bag.

  “Anything useful inside?” Raine asked, pointing to the bag.

  Tom held up a package of condoms.

  Raine shook her head. “That’s it?” she asked.

  “There’s a pair of gym socks and deodorant,” Tom said.

  “Those are useful, especially if you plan on using the condoms.” Raine giggled and returned to the task of searching the toolbox.

  Tom laughed as he finished filling the gym bag with the bottles.

  Raine moved to the long bench flanking one wall and began looking for other things that might be useful if the lights stayed out for very long. How many of the items they took for granted would be luxury items in those circumstances? She was sure deodorant was one of them. Condoms too might be a hot commodity in an apocalypse.

  Raine was on her knees searching through a box under the bench when a loud pop startled her. She jerked and hit her head on the workbench.

  “Raine. Stay down,” Brandon whispered.

  She couldn’t see him or Tom. She sucked in a deep breath and held it, listening for the source of the sound. She slowly crawled farther under the bench. Raine’s eyes darted back and forth trying to detect any movement around her. To her left, she caught sight of Tom’s shoe poking out from under a metal table near the door.

  “I know I saw someone come in here,” a husky male voice said from the doorway.

  “If you want to search it, go ahead. I’m getting back to the store. Barb should have breakfast ready by now,” a second man said.

  “We need to know if others are in the area. If we don’t check it out, Sherry will have our asses,” the man in the doorway replied.

  “Check it out then, big boy. I’ll wait here and keep watch,” the second man said.

  A pair of work boots appeared under the table where Tom was hiding. Raine still couldn’t see Brandon. The man walked around the metal table and approached the refrigerator. He stopped at the gym bag full of drinks.

  Raine trembled violently. She struggled to get her breathing under control. She felt like a trapped animal. Images of the group that had killed Stella and Brice back at the convenience store flooded her mind. Fear turned to rage as the man held up the gym bag.

  “Kevin, look at this. I told you someone was—”

  Raine crawled out from under the bench, jumped to her feet, and lifted her pipe wrench over her head. She slammed the wrench against the back of the man’s head. He fell forward and landed on his stomach. His pistol skidded a few feet away. Raine’s hand shot up to cover her mouth. She stared down at the gun as she held in a scream. Raine stepped over the man and turned. His eyes were open. He stared back at her. His mouth moved in a silent plea.

  “John, where are you?” the second man called from the door.

  John didn’t answer. He could no longer speak.

  Raine dropped to the floor beside the man.

  A pair of legs entered her view under the table separating them. Raine gasped and scurried under a nearby bench and pushed her back hard against the wall, trying to make herself smaller. The legs bent and a head came into view.

  “Come on, Raine. Let’s go,” Brandon whispered, pointing toward the back of the shop.

  Raine stared at the man. She was frozen in place. She couldn’t take her eyes off the man’s lifeless gaze. Brandon reached under the table and took her hand.

  “Let’s go. We have to get out of here before that guy brings his friends,” Brandon whispered as he tugged her forward.

  “Is he gone?” she whimpered.

  “Yeah. I think so. We have to leave now, though, Raine.”

  “I had to do it. He had a gun. He’d have…” Raine said.

  Brandon bent
and picked up the gun. “I know,” he said.

  “Where’s Tom?” Raine asked, now staring at the pistol in Brandon’s hand.

  “Right here,” Tom said, appearing behind them.

  Raine followed Brandon out of a side door that led back onto the parking lot. She stared down at the footprints in the snow outside the door they’d entered through.

  “We can’t go back to the bridal shop. They can follow our footprints in the snow,” Raine said.

  Brandon adjusted the strap of the gym bag on his shoulder and looked down.

  “She’s right,” Tom said. He pointed to the alley. “Let’s cut through there and circle back around.”

  Raine and Brandon followed him down the alley to the front of the glass repair shop. They walked west, staying close to the building. They stopped at the corner where they had a view of the bridal shop and waited there listening for the sound of anyone coming to check on their fallen friend.

  It didn’t take long. They must have been staying close by. Raine counted five men and two women in the group as they crossed the empty parking lot near the bridal salon.

  As the last of the man’s group disappeared around the rear of the glass repair shop, Brandon motioned for Tom and Raine to follow him as he took off toward the salon. They hugged the building until they reached the back parking lot. Raine gripped her pipe wrench so tight that the skin on her cold, dry knuckles cracked open. As she dashed toward the street, Raine could see the last of the dead man’s group enter the other building.

  The door to the bridal salon flew open before Brandon even hit the bottom step. Lucy stood with her pistol at her side.

  “We have to go. Now!” Brandon said as he brushed past her. “Everyone. We have to go. Grab your stuff and let’s move.”

  Brandon ran to the backroom where Raine had dressed earlier while she ran to the room where they’d slept and helped Sheena gather up their blankets.

  “What’s going on, Momma?” DeAndre asked, his little brown eyes wide with fear.

  “We’re going to play a little game of hide and seek. Can you be real quiet for Momma?” Sheena asked.

  “Let me help you with that,” Raine said, grabbing a saddle blanket from the floor.

  “You okay?” Sheena asked.

  Raine nodded and continued folding the blanket.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. We gotta go,” Raine said.

  “You’re bleeding, Raine,” DeAndre said.

  Raine looked up.

  “On your cheek,” Sheena said.

  Raine shuddered. It wasn’t her blood. It was his. The man she’d just killed. Guilt and shame showered over her. The weight of it threatened to crush her. She felt as if her soul had been laid bare for the world to see. She’d taken two lives now. There was no denying it now. She was a killer. She felt a wave of nausea hit her as she rubbed her cheek.

  Brandon rushed in and put a finger to his lips. He motioned toward the other room. Raine gathered up the rest of the saddle blankets and followed Sheena and DeAndre through the door and down the short hall. Alicia waited at an open window.

  “Why are we going out the window?” Raine asked.

  “It’s the only exit not visible from the side road where that group is,” Brandon said.

  Raine nodded and motioned for Sheena to climb through.

  “Let me go first and you can hand little man down to me,” Brandon said as he brushed past them.

  Raine looked behind her.

  “Where are the others?”

  “They’re out there already watching that building,” Brandon said, climbing through the window.

  Raine helped Sheena lift DeAndre down to Brandon. Sheena went next, then Raine.

  “This way,” Lucy said, waving them toward a large, yellow, Victorian-style house.

  The group ran around the side of the house to a detached garage painted the same light yellow. They stopped at the back corner. Raine listened. She could hear angry voices on the adjacent street.

  They’re looking for us.

  “We can’t go back until we find them. You heard Sherry. She wants them caught and brought to her alive, if possible,” the male voice from earlier said.

  “They could be in any of these buildings. Are we supposed to search them all?” a second man asked.

  “The sooner we find them, the sooner we can get out of this cold, so quit your whining and start searching. Start with the bridal shop over there,” the first man said.

  Raine and her group continued through the yellow Victorian’s back yard and into a wooded area behind the house. They came out in a parking area behind another store. Raine looked around for any movement. There were footprints all over, leading to and from the building and around to the side.

  “I’m not going in there,” Raine whispered.

  “Me either,” Sheena said.

  “Let’s stay in the wood line then. Our tracks may be less visible.”

  A moment later, they exited the woods into a cemetery. The headstones were barely visible above the snowdrifts. Brandon led them through the graveyard weaving in and out between the grave markers. Across the street was a church. Raine glanced over her shoulder. Antonio was bringing up the rear, walking as fast as his injured leg would allow. He was doing his best not to slow them down. Raine wished they’d been able to grab the sleds. She knew he was in a lot of pain, but he wasn’t complaining.

  They hurried down the street on the south side of the church. Raine could see a raised highway up ahead.

  “That’s Route 141,” Alicia whispered. “I know my way home from there.”

  Raine was anxious to reach the highway and get as far away from there as possible. She turned her head, scanning the road behind her. She didn’t see anyone following them. Raine quickened her steps.

  She heard an engine start. It seemed like such a foreign sound, but in the void of manmade noise, she recognized it immediately. Raine found it hard to judge its distance, though.

  “I thought cars didn’t run anymore,” Alicia said.

  “Some do. I think the older ones still run. At least that’s all I’ve seen running since this went down,” Brandon said.

  “We need to find one of those,” Alicia said.

  “From what I saw, they only make you a target. I saw one family murdered for their old van,” Brandon said.

  Alicia’s mouth dropped open.

  Raine and her group were approaching the outer road that ran alongside the highway. The sound of the vehicle’s engine roared nearby. It was getting closer. A second later, an SUV barreled around the corner to the south, heading up the Manchester Road offramp.

  “This way,” Brandon yelled, and they ran up the offramp and onto the highway. Raine felt so exposed with nowhere to hide. The vehicle accelerated up the ramp. They’d been seen. The SUV would be on them at any moment.

  “Here,” Raine said, climbing over a concrete barrier. “This way. Get down!” She dropped to the ground on the other side of the divider.

  “They’ll just see our tracks,” Lucy said as she climbed over.

  Lucy was right. They couldn’t miss their footprints.

  Raine scanned the highway.

  “This way,” Raine said, running to the opposite side of the road. She could see the vehicle now cresting the top of the offramp and turning toward them.

  Raine climbed over the guardrail and slid down the slope on the other side. Below was the northbound onramp. On the other side of that, a shopping center. She could clearly make out the Best Buy sign ahead. Tom dropped down next to her. A second later, Gage slid down beside them. They waited for the others before continuing south toward Manchester Road along the onramp, trying to lose the vehicle. Raine hoped to still make it back onto Route 141.

  As the vehicle neared, Raine dropped behind the retaining wall along the onramp. She waved for the others to get down. Raine held her breath as they waited for the SUV to pass. When the sound of the engine faded into the distance, Raine let out t
he breath she’d held and stood.

  “Let’s go,” she said, continuing down the onramp.

  She stopped and looked west on Manchester Road, hesitant to cross the street.

  Brandon and Lucy stepped up beside her.

  “You think it’s safe to get back on the highway?” Raine asked.

  “Let’s cross over and head up the ramp. If we hear them turn around, we can run off over behind that building until they pass by,” Brandon said, pointing to a group of buildings.

  Raine looked back at Antonio and Sheena, who had yet to catch up to them. Could they run fast enough to hide from their pursuers? She hoped she wouldn’t have to find out.

  When Antonio caught up, they all crossed over Manchester Road and started up the ramp toward Route 141. It wasn’t ideal. Raine wished she knew another route, but she didn’t, and they couldn’t afford to get lost. The risk of freezing to death loomed large in her mind. The group had just started up the ramp when the SUV sped into view, heading straight for them.

  Chapter 16

  “Run!” Raine yelled as the SUV barreled toward the group. She grabbed hold of Antonio and pulled him onto the shoulder. He tripped, fell on his side, and slid down the hill to the parking lot below. Raine looked over her shoulder then dropped to her butt. She was immediately propelled to the bottom of the hill. The others followed her, sliding to the bottom. Raine grabbed Antonio’s hand and helped him to his feet. He brushed snow from his butt and shook the back of his coat. Raine had snow up her back as well but there wasn’t time to shake out her jacket.

  “We have to get to that building. Can you make it?” Raine asked.

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said, taking off in that direction. He hopped more than ran. Tom ran over and grabbed Antonio under his right arm while Gage slid an arm around his back. They carried him to the side of the one-story, white building.

  The bag full of frozen water and Gatorade crashed to the ground beside her followed closely by Brandon and then Lucy.

  Raine ran over to Sheena, who was pulling DeAndre out of a mound of snow. Raine took DeAndre’s other hand.

  “Hurry, Sheena!” Raine yelled.