A Warm Place 2 - A Post-Apocalyptic Men's Adventure

by Misty Vixen

  I whipped out my pistol and turned around.

  “Stop or I’m gonna put a bullet in you!” I screamed.

  Someone else was on the porch now, also brandishing a pistol.

  Not only did the first guy resume fire, but the second guy joined him!

  Motherfuckers!

  Apparently, they were shit shots. I wasn’t. I aimed and fired. The first guy screamed and dropped as a nine millimeter bullet punched into his leg. I fired again and the second guy let out a cry as I winged his right shoulder.

  Good enough for now.

  I turned and shoved my pistol back into its holster for safety’s sake, (just what I’d need, dropping it and then having to go hunt for it in the snow, losing all the seconds I’d just potentially bought myself), and then booked it as fast as I could through the snow and worsening winds. Maybe fifteen long, long seconds later, I hit the treeline and disappeared into the trees, making my way a few yards in and then breaking for the highway.

  This was going to complicate things.

  ~

  There were no more potshots at me as I hustled through the trees, going as fast as I could. I only fell over once, thankfully.

  I guess they were too busy patching each other up. I heard voices shouting, and I thought I heard more than two, but it quickly became impossible to tell thanks to the way the winds were picking up even more. Goddamnit! This really threw a fucking wrench into an already shitty situation. I could feel my blood boiling and part of me, a part that scares me, to be honest, wanted to march back there and shoot every last one of those motherfuckers in the face.

  By the time I came out of the forest, (which thankfully came right up to the highway), I was a bit more cooled off, telling myself they were probably just scared and that while I was indeed a murderer, I didn’t have to be a fucking psychopath. Despite these thoughts, I did keep my pistol out as I started hurrying back along the highway. I had to get back to the ladies and I fully intended to survive the trip back to the truck stop.

  I hesitated briefly as I began to run out of forest to protect me. There was about a football field and a half of space between the edge of the forest and the truck stop, and that was just big, wide, open, exposed space.

  If they had a rifle, I was probably fucked.

  Then again, if they had a rifle, I thought they would probably have at least tried to use it on me by now. It was hard to hit someone in a forest, but not impossible. Finally, working up my nerve, (which took only one glance skywards), I set off at a jog. It was a pain in the ass to do it on the snowbound highway but I moved it, hustling through the snow and making for the truck stop. Glancing towards the house, I didn’t see any activity on the porch. The door was shut and the windows appeared to be closed.

  Good for me, now it just had to stay that way.

  I kept my eye out for any other movement, careful not to look at the sky, (seriously, it freaked me the fuck out just to look at it, like how I think certain images made people ill), and kept on trucking. I was trying to toss together a plan. The house was obviously out. I was basically convinced that the truck stop was out, but in a pinch, maybe, that strip joint might do. Regardless, next on the list was checking out the three buildings off in the other direction. Wouldn’t it just be great if some wolves or a bear got involved?

  Best not to jinx us.

  Took fucking forever, but I finally hit the parking lot of the gas station, stumbled over something in the snow and went sprawling, picked my ass up and rushed into the gas station interior. I heard distant voices and as I staggered into the restaurant it just barely occurred to me to announce myself, which I should’ve done immediately.

  “It’s me! It’s me! Get out here!” I called. “Now!”

  “What happened? What’s wrong?” I heard Megan ask as she emerged from the strip club. Elizabeth was behind her and Delilah appeared from the garage exit.

  “People in the house,” I said, panting, then groaned and put my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. The air burned cold in my lungs. “They shot at me. At least two of them. Ah...goddamn, my chest hurts.”

  “Were you shot!?” Delilah asked immediately.

  “No, no,” I replied. “Just had to run my ass off, and it’s freezing out there...shit. I’m fine. Just tripped once or twice. Don’t worry.” I paused, shook my head. “I mean, worry, just not about me. I shot them both. Well, I shot one guy in the leg and grazed another. They would not stop shooting at me. Fucking assholes.”

  “I’m surprised we didn’t hear it,” Elizabeth said.

  “The wind,” I replied, then glanced at the pile of stuff they’d gathered in the restaurant. It wasn’t as big of a pile as I’d hoped. There were a few chairs and several fragments of wood. Not a whole lot to work with, unfortunately, but better than nothing.

  I grabbed two of the chairs.

  “Grab and pack whatever you can of that into your packs, fast. Megan, keep your hands free and that rifle out. We’re moving,” I said.

  They all began to comply, thankfully, instead of first asking questions.

  “Where are we going?” Megan asked as she shoved wooden fragments into her pack.

  “The nearest building,” I replied. “It looked decently sturdy, two stories, might be a good place to hide out for now. Once we get down there, I’ll check out the other two buildings while you search that one. Hopefully one of them will be in decent condition.”

  They looked uncertain, and I didn’t blame them, but at least they didn’t question me further. I think they already knew the answers: this plan was about as good as it was going to get, and yes, it relied too much on luck.

  But that was what the world was throwing at us right now.

  Sometimes, all you could do was throw the dice and hope.

  Five minutes later, with two chairs awkwardly grasped in my hands, I led the way out of the truck stop, across the highway, and down the off-ramp towards the nearest structure. Megan reported the all clear and she watched our back as Delilah and Elizabeth followed after me with bundles of broken wood and kindling wrapped up in their arms. Apparently, they’d found next to nothing beyond the wooden scraps during their search of the truck stop, just random scattered items that might be of some use at some point.

  We were going to have to find something great, some cache or store of food and supplies, or our chances of survival were going to drop.

  The winds were picking up and I almost fell once, (seemed to be a lot of that happening to me just lately), but we made it to the bottom of the ramp and made a beeline for the building. As we drew closer to it, I began to make out the sign hung over the front door. All I could see that was still visible was the word GUN, so good chance it was a gun shop. Cool. Although I didn’t like the plate glass in the front, I did like that it was covered by iron bars and still apparently intact. The front door was shut, but I didn’t see anyone moving behind the plate glass windows, nor the pair of more regular-looking windows set into the front of the second story.

  “Okay, lemme clear it out,” I said as we got up to the front.

  I set the chairs down, pulled out my pistol, and headed inside. It was definitely a gun shop. Lots of glass cases that had once been solid but had fallen to the sands of time. Or snowflakes of time at this point, I guess.

  Or, to be totally accurate, people spending enough time trying to bash them in.

  I didn’t see any guns in the cases, around or behind the cash register. Didn’t see much of anything on the first floor. I quickly checked the front area, then got behind the register and peered under the counter, checking in the dark niche there in case someone was hiding in the shadows. I had come into places that someone was already occupying and they’d tried to hide when they heard me coming. Usually they were friendly, or at least not violent.

  But sometimes they were laying a trap.

  I checked in a little storage area that had been kicked in at some point, and then a tiny bathroom, and found no one.

  “C
ome in!” I called. “Looks clear!”

  I still had to check out the second floor, accessed via a simple stairway at the very back of the shop, behind a set of high shelves that went almost to the ceiling, but I didn’t want them waiting outside in the cold any longer than necessary. They walked in after me and Megan took up guard duty by the door, rifle still in hand.

  “Where do you want this?” Delilah asked.

  “Dump it anywhere, in a pile, and bring in the chairs, then get started searching the place over,” I replied.

  Then I headed upstairs. I was really, really hoping that this turned out to be one of those places that had an apartment in the second story…

  I got to the top and opened the door.

  “Oh fuck yes, holy shit,” I whispered.

  There was, indeed, an apartment up there. The bedroom, kitchen, living room, and ‘dining room’, such as it was, were all crammed into the same room, which took up nearly the entire second story. The only other space was a bathroom.

  It had two things that made me very happy: a king-size bed that would comfortably fit all four of us, and a fireplace. A good, solid looking one at that. There were even a few logs left in there. Maybe one of the dickheads from the house had been using this as a base for themselves. Well, now we needed it. It was a do or die kind of situation.

  I finished up my search, checking out the bathroom and looking under the bed, only to discover that the thing the mattress was resting on was a solid piece. No one was hiding in here, which meant it was ours for the taking right now.

  We might just survive this.

  I hurried back downstairs.

  TWENTY

  “We’re in business,” I said as I came back down to the ground floor.

  “What’d you find?” Megan asked. From her tone I could tell she was a lot more worried than she was letting on.

  “There’s an apartment up there with a big bed and a fireplace. Looks decently sealed. Now…” I considered my next action for a moment, staring at the three women. They looked back at me expectantly. “I’m going to go search the other two buildings.”

  “Let me go with you,” Megan said.

  “No,” I replied immediately. “I need you here in case one or two of those shitheads shows up and starts causing problems.”

  “One of us should go with you,” Megan said, not backing down.

  I sighed. She was probably right. It’d go faster with two people. Well, at least the choice was obvious. “All right, Delilah, let’s go. Megan, keep watch. Elizabeth, search this place as quick as you can. Find anything to burn, and any cloth. Blankets, clothes, anything. Preferably blankets. We’re going to want to seal up the apartment as much as we can to keep the heat in.” I shrugged out of my backpack and started emptying it onto the counter. “Here, Delilah, bring me your pack.” I paused. “Wait, scratch that. Megan, give me your pack, Delilah, leave yours here.”

  Megan had the second biggest pack now.

  I emptied my pack of all but the essentials and pulled it back on, then did the same with Megan’s pack and handed it to Delilah. “Get this shit upstairs, we’ll be back as soon as we can. And get a fire going,” I said as I headed for the door.

  “On it,” Elizabeth replied, and I was glad to see she took no issue with me giving out orders.

  I glanced out the plate glass at the sky briefly. We didn’t have time for issues. I thought there was enough left, probably, but that could change in an instant. Even what Delilah and I were doing right now was risking our lives.

  “Chris,” Megan said, and I looked over at her. She looked pale and anxious. “Are we gonna make it?”

  “Yes,” I replied. She looked at me for a moment longer, pursing her lips, then she just nodded tightly and readjusted her grip on her rifle.

  I didn’t know if it was the truth, but I thought it was what she needed to hear.

  “Come on,” I said, and headed out the front door with Delilah.

  ~

  Outside, it was already colder and windier.

  Still no snow, thank God, but these were bad signs. I’d guess it was probably twenty below right now, maybe even thirty.

  Delilah kept up with me as we left the gun shop and worked our way around back. I wanted to get to that building behind it and off a little ways, whatever it was, first. It looked small and I doubted there would be much in it, but you never knew. Right now, we needed more good luck to compound what we’d had so far.

  I kept an eye out on the highway and the off-ramp as we cleared the building and hustled off through the snow. Still no signs of the assholes who’d shot at me, no signs of wolves or bears either. That’d make things just even better, and hey, why not have one of us fall down and break a fucking leg for good measure? I sighed softly and tried not to fall into a pit of frustration and despair as the frozen air burned my lungs and my legs began to ache from all the hurried snow-walking. I reminded myself that the only way to deal with this was to just deal with it, and as quickly as possible too. And soon enough I’d be in a (hopefully) warm bed with three naked women.

  That alone was worth the fight.

  As we drew closer, I realized that the area in front of the building was oddly shaped, and abruptly it occurred to me why: snow was covering a lot of cars. Long rows of them. Fuck, we weren’t going to be able to search them all, there just wasn’t time. I got up to the one closest to the edge and took a moment to wipe off the windshield to look inside. As I did, I revealed a faded yellow sticker that read 600$!

  “Oh,” I murmured, looking around, “it’s a used car lot.”

  Well, that almost certainly meant most of these cars didn’t have anything useful in them. Unless someone had used them for storage or a campsite. But then, why would they use a car when there was a building right there?

  I led Delilah between two rows of snow-covered vehicles and at last came up to the main entrance. The two front doors had been kicked in and broken long ago, and the light that bled into the lobby beyond didn’t reveal a whole hell of a lot.

  “Careful in here,” I said as I got my pistol back out.

  “I’m ready,” she replied.

  We stepped in and got to work, but honestly, there wasn’t much work to be done. The main lobby was cleared out. I didn’t see even a single piece of furniture around, no leftovers, hardly even any trash scattered across the barren floor.

  “Watch my back,” I said, resisting the urge to have her search as well. I had to remember that Delilah wasn’t Megan. I didn’t think she was a pushover exactly, but certainly Megan was more capable of handling a threat than Delilah.

  “Okay,” she replied, lingering in the lobby.

  I hurriedly checked through the other rooms there. Just a bathroom that would have been miserable even back when this place was running, a little break room, two tiny offices, and one last room that held nothing at all. I didn’t find any people lurking and no supplies or burnable stuff jumped out at me, so I rejoined Delilah.

  “Like I thought, nothing here. Come on,” I said.

  She nodded, looking paler than before, and followed me back out into the driving cold. I checked the highway again. Still nothing.

  “You doing okay?” I asked, raising my voice and sticking closer to her to be heard.

  “Not really,” she replied with a grim ‘I’m trying’ smile.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get this sorted out,” I said. “I’ll keep you safe.”

  “I believe you, I just…” She looked up at the sky briefly. “What if it’s too much? What if we can’t manage it?”

  I was silent for just a few seconds. I didn’t want to tell her: Freezing to death probably isn’t that bad. Because that would be an answer that would probably freak her right the fuck out, which was the last thing I wanted.

  “We’ll manage it,” I replied, because sometimes, as hesitant as I was to do so, being in charge meant lying. Or, at the very least, bullshitting. If these were her last hours, I’d rather she spend them fil
led with hope instead of fear.

  And, you know, I could probably manage this, with their help.

  By the time we crossed the distance to the final remaining building, which was opposite the used car lot, a little to the left, and about a quarter mile away, the strange teal light had grown much stronger, and now it cast its curious, chilling glow across the landscape. I didn’t even have to look up to see it any longer.

  As we came up on the building, I caught a look at the faded pink sign that hung over the door and had to laugh.

  “Holy shit,” I said.

  “What?” Delilah replied immediately.

  “It’s an adult store,” I replied.

  She looked up with me and let out a little laugh. How fortuitous. Hopefully. It was called Pink something, I couldn’t make out the rest, but the cleavage between the words was obvious enough. Guns in hand, we went inside and started clearing it out.

  While we worked, Delilah lost her smile. “Chris…”

  “Yeah?” I asked, glancing over at her. The inside of the place had been plundered, to be sure, but there was less taken than you’d think. No porno magazines left, but there were random things left here or there.

  Honestly, I was looking for lube and maybe a present for all three of the women in my life.

  “I’m sorry.” She looked guilty.

  Now I was frowning. “...why?”

  “I haven’t been holding up my end of the bargain. I can tell you’ve been horny recently. I should have done something about it.”

  “Delilah, no,” I replied immediately. “There’s no way we’re having sex if you don’t feel up to it. I’m not mad at you about it. Something fucked up happened to you and honestly, it can be a really bad idea to have sex if you’re in that state of mind. You might end up connecting sex to the fucked up feelings.”

  “Oh...shit, I hadn’t even thought of that,” she muttered. “I guess it’s good neither of us tried.” She regained at least a small smile. “Well...thanks. You’re really nice. Honestly I feel lucky to have found you, you’ve been really good to me. I promise I’m going to be good to you tonight,” she said, and then, before I could respond, raised one hand. “And I promise that I’m ready. I wasn’t horny at all until this morning. I woke up horny as fuck but you really wanted to get a move-on...I think Elizabeth’s ready, too. She was asking a lot of questions about you today...sexual questions. And talking about stuff she wanted to do with you…”