Sanctuary

by Blake Brown

  Bryce, Alejandro, and Byark finished off the last few infected, excluding the three that were still desperately trying to gain entry to the farmers market. Randy and Nathan couldn’t get close enough to use the shotguns effectively and Matt and Lauren seemed to be helping a weak looking Greg out of the truck, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

  ​“Byark and I will go take care of those handsome creatures, you guys keep an eye out for anymore infected that might be drawn to the noise.” Bryce informed the others as he waved Byark over with a tilt of his head, loading a fresh magazine into his BAR. Byark put his bow away and grabbed his axe and shield again before following him.

  ​“You got it.” Alejandro said, sliding a fresh magazine into his Beretta.

  ​“I didn’t realize you were in charge.” Randy whispered under his breath, which Bryce chose to ignore.

  ​The two men walked up behind the three infected and Bryce whistled again, trying to draw their attention. They didn’t acknowledge the men, continuing to beat on the door and aggressively pull the push-pull bar attached to the front. Bryce raised his rifle and fired a round through the back of the right most creature’s head, sending it face first into the door and then sprawling out onto the sidewalk. The other two turned around and rushed them with incredible speed that Bryce wasn’t prepared for, causing him to fire a shot that barely clipped the arm of the closest infected. Byark stepped in-between him and the creatures, backhanding the closest across the head with his shield. Bryce could hear its neck and skull snap and crack as it flew to the ground, bouncing off the pavement. Byark then brought his axe down on the head of the second infected, splitting its head in half vertically as the blade sliced all the way down into its neck. The corpse stood there for a second, arterial blood spraying from both, severed halves of its skull and up from its split open throat. Byark followed through, sliding the axe out of the wound and letting the creature crumple to the ground. He then approached the door to the farmers market, and Bryce called out to stop him. “Wait, I think there’s someone in there. I don’t know why else they would be so intent on getting in when all of us are out here ready to be their next meal.”

  ​Byark turned back to face Bryce. “There’s probably some useful food and supplies in there that we can’t afford to pass up if the shop is vacant. I also want to grab any seeds they have. My parents were farmers back in Sweden and I was raised growing crops. I’m sure we not only can but will need to start growing food if we want to survive now. Even if someone’s in there, maybe we could trade for what we need.”

  “I agree man, but let’s just wait until we get everything else and are ready to head out. That way if they aren’t friendly, we can just get the hell out of dodge without a fight.” Bryce responded. The big Swede simply nodded in agreement before walking back towards the others.

  Bryce veered off as Byark made his way to the pickup, heading back to the Corolla. He popped open the driver’s side door to see the two girls in the back playfully petting Grunt and feeding him handfuls of beef jerky. He smiled and said, “Either of you ladies know how to drive?”

  ​“I have my permit!” Sarah said excitedly.

  ​“Pull the car around to the front of the camping store for me and then hop out and come over to the truck.” Bryce said as he tossed her the keys, putting a huge smile on the teenage girl’s face. Bryce walked back over to the truck as the girls pulled the car up to see everyone surrounding Greg. “What’s going on?” He called out.

  ​“Greg’s feeling pretty awful.” Alejandro replied.

  ​“Probably from the chunk that thing took out of his arm.” Randy said.

  ​“Wouldn’t have bit me if you didn’t run away like a fucking coward.” Greg shot back weakly.

  ​He’s been bit, Bryce recalled the note his father had left him.

  ​“I didn’t have a weapon dumbass!” Randy called back, raising his voice.

  ​“Both of you chill out, we’re on the same side.” Alejandro said to diffuse the two men.

  ​“Wait, you were bit by one of those things?” Bryce asked, concerned that he might have some knowledge the others didn’t.

  ​“Yeah... when we were… leaving the mall.” Greg responded, having to take short pauses between his words, either to catch his breath or to hold back the nausea.

  ​“Let me see the bite.” Bryce said as he approached the man and Greg held out his arm. Bryce removed the bloody, makeshift bandage, revealing a horrific looking portion of Greg’s arm that smelled like death. “This just happened this morning?”

  ​“Yeah. I don’t get how… It got infected so fast.” Greg responded. Lauren peeked around at the wound with a look of shock. She then walked to the pickup and grabbed the bottle of antibiotics they had been using on Grunt, two Norco’s, and a bottle of water before returning and giving them to Greg.

  ​I don’t think that’s going to help.

  ​The two girls walked up with Grunt and peeked in at the man’s arm as well. “Ewww.” Tara called out. Bryce could see black and purple tendrils stretching up from the wound that he quickly realized were Greg’s veins.

  ​It’s like the infection is spreading up from the bite wound and towards his heart or brain. Bryce pulled out his knife and cut open the man’s long sleeve t-shirt until the black lines stopped at about his shoulder.

  ​“Looks like a serious blood infection.” Alejandro said.

  ​“Yeah, just keep taking the antibiotics and you should be good.” Bryce responded, not wanting to worry Greg or his son any further. I don’t know for sure if the bites infect people, better play this one safe and not cause a panic. Greg walked over and sat on the tailgate of the pickup, looking down at his damaged arm with a face of worry.

  ​Bryce noticed Randy and Nathan walking away from the group just as he finished examining Greg. “Where are you two going?”

  ​“To get a drink, we could use one.” Nathan called back, pointing to the liquor store.

  ​“Didn’t think to say anything? What if there are infected in there?” Alejandro said, scolding the men.

  ​“We can take care of ourselves buddy.” Randy said, pointing to the shotgun resting on his collarbone.

  ​“Don’t just get liquor, get any water, food, or other beverages you find.” Bryce called to them, getting a little concerned with the two men’s priorities.

  ​“You got it master.” Randy said with a very sarcastic and offensive impression of an African slave, which didn’t seem to bother his black friend in the slightest.

  ​The two men entered the store and Bryce turned back to the group. “Until you feel better Greg, I think you should take it easy. You, the girls, Matt, and Grunt should all stay here and keep an eye out for any infected or people that might come by. Lauren,” Bryce turned to face just her now. “pull the pickup to the front of the camping store so they can have a safer position and then try to find some of the keys to the vehicles around here, especially that one.” Bryce finished, pointing to a brand new, black, heavy duty, GMC truck. Lauren nodded and the others all responded with similar gestures. “Byark and Alejandro, I want you guys to search the camping store with me. We’ll get all the supplies we can and try to open those gates and find some keys to the RV’s and trailers. I’m guessing with a fleet like that they’ll probably have a lot of gas we can store up on too. After we’re done there, we’ll search the other stores and load everything into the vehicles.” He said, explaining his full plan.

  ​“Sounds good.” Alejandro replied.

  ​“I was thinking the same thing.” Byark said with a smile. They heard a gunshot coming from the liquor store and the three men drew their weapons, running towards the sound.

  ​“We’re all good!” They heard Randy call out as they approached the store.

  ​“What happened?” Byark asked as they slowed to a stop.

  ​“One of those fuckers was lurking in here, eating the dead manager. We took care of him, store’s clear now. Just lea
ve us to get a buzz on in peace.” Randy called back. Byark turned to Bryce and Alejandro, shaking his head with a disappointing look.

  ​The three of them left the two men to their devices and made their way to the front of the camping store, finding the door unlocked. They walked in with weapons drawn, scanning the large, open store for any infected or people that may be inside. The building was pitch black, except for the filtered light streaming in from the front, glass pane windows that helped illuminate a little bit of their surroundings.

  ​“Hello!” Bryce yelled at the top of his lungs, trying to draw out anything hiding in wait. They heard two, loud shrieks and two infected, one fat male with a long, black beard and one, young female, both wearing uniforms with the store’s logo on them, sprinted out from the isles in their direction. Bryce downed the man with a single headshot from his rifle and Alejandro took care of the female with two well-placed shots. They waited for a few moments after to see if anymore were coming. “We should be good now, keep your guard up just in case though.” Bryce said as they continued moving through the large store, making their way to the management offices.

  “I’m getting kind of worried about Randy and Nathan, they haven’t really been team players since all of this started and it seems as if they’re getting more selfish by the day.” Alejandro said as they walked through the darkness, scanning around them for any threats.

  “I’d be more worried about Greg.” Bryce said bluntly.

  “What do you mean? I know that bite on his arm’s pretty nasty, but he should be alright once we give him some proper medical care.” Byark said.

  “Look, I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think that when those things bite you, you get infected and start becoming one of them.” Bryce said.

  “Why do you say that?” Alejandro asked.

  “My dad was bitten by… one of those things, and he shot himself. When I found his body, there was a note he had written saying that’s how you get infected.”

  “I’m sorry friend.” Byark acknowledged Bryce’s loss. “Looks like we need to keep a close eye on him then.” The other two nodded in agreement.

  There were a few, torn apart bodies as they continued through the store, as well as a man locked in a small office that seemed to have shot himself in the head while sitting in his rolling chair. In an office that was occupied by the store’s sales manager, there were a few dozen keys hanging from a tack board that seemed to be for the RV’s and trailers as well as another marked master gate key. They took all the keys and found a back exit that led to the vehicle sales lot. The lot contained dozens of trailers and RV’s, as well as three, large gas tankers that were each hooked up to their own, individual pump. Luckily for them, it appeared the pumps were powered by solar panels that were mounted to the ground in one of the back corners of the lot, and they appeared to still be operational.

  ​“So, what are we going to get?” Alejandro asked the others, stunned by just how many options there were.

  ​“The plot of land that the cabin is on isn’t very large. We’ll need room to grow crops and for other things that might come up in the future if it becomes more of a permanent home for us. I’d say the most we could comfortably fit would be three RV’s or trailers.” Bryce responded.

  ​“Well, which should we take? RV’s or trailers?” Byark chimed in.

  ​“The RV’s can travel on their own without another vehicle, which would be convenient, however, the trailers will take up less gas from being towed, and I believe they have a little more maneuverability.” Bryce said, weighing the options.

  ​“One trailer and two RV’s?” Alejandro said with a shrug and tilt of his head.

  ​“Sounds like a plan. Let’s go unlock the gate and bring in the pickup, I think it has a tow kit on it.” Bryce responded.

  ​They made their way to the black bar gate, which seemed to be set up to open electronically. However; there was a locking mechanism where the gate connected to the building and Bryce stuck in the key, turning it and disconnecting the gate from the housing. It took some effort to slide the heavy gate open as it was clearly in need of some WD40, but eventually they managed.

  ​They all walked out into the main lot to see the others, excluding Randy and Nathan, checking out the two, new vehicles that Lauren had acquired. She’d found keys to a Lincoln Navigator from the early 2000’s, and the Brand-new GMC truck. “Good work.” Bryce said as she locked eyes with him, and she smiled in response. Bryce checked out the GMC, noticing that it didn’t have a tow kit, and decided that they would be using the dodge to tow the trailer after all.

  ​Nathan came strolling out of the liquor store just as Bryce grabbed the keys to the Dodge from Lauren, pushing a shopping cart. He was closely followed by Randy, who was pushing a second cart and pulling a third behind him. The first cart was piled to the brim with every liquor, wine, and champagne bottle imaginable, and the bottom rack above the wheels had multiple cases of beer shoved onto it. The second was filled with food; such as beef jerky, candy bars, and other snack items the store sold, as well as packs of cigarettes and cans and bags of chewing tobacco. Again, underneath the cart, were stacks of beer. The third was filled with the most useful items and probably the last that the two men bothered to gather; cases of water and Gatorade with some sodas and non-refrigerated juice on the bottom rack.

  ​“We cleaned ‘em out!” Randy yelled with an excited grin.

  ​Bryce started both of their new vehicles, seeing that the navigator had a full gas tank while the GMC needed topping off. “Start loading all of that stuff into the Lincoln. Matt and Greg, watch their backs while the rest of us go fill up the other cars and pick what mobile homes we’re taking.” Bryce said.

  ​They pulled the other three vehicles up to the pumps and topped them all off, then, picked out two of the nicer RV’s with bigger price tags and after finding the right keys, started them up to see that they both had full tanks. Alejandro and Byark pulled them out to the front and Bryce hooked up the nicest trailer he could find to the back of the pickup. With all the vehicles topped off and ready to go, they pulled them out to the main lot.

  ​They spent over an hour loading up any useful supplies they would need from the camping store, even being able to stock up on ammunition for their guns, as well as ammunition they didn’t currently need, in case they came across more firearms in the future. They hoped to be able to get more guns and maybe even some bows and crossbows for hunting and silent kills, but they found the weapons locked behind a thick, steel door and a metal cage inside of it. The door seemed to be nearly impenetrable, unless of course the power was on and you knew the code to unlock it. Bryce guessed that they hadn’t yet opened for the day when the outbreak started, and that everything was still locked up from the night before. They shot the locking mechanisms with one of the twelve gauges, trying to force the door open, but it only seemed to make the room even more inaccessible.

  ​After searching the camping store and loading up all the supplies inside, they searched the grocery store. The store was clear of infected but appeared to have been previously looted, probably because it was clear of threats unlike the other two buildings. Even though most of the food, beverages, and liquor stocks were already gone, they loaded up what they could take, as well as some other useful supplies that others had overlooked. Which was mostly toiletries, cleaning supplies, and over the counter medicines.

  ​After everything was loaded up, Bryce told the others to get ready to move out while Byark, Alejandro, and himself approached the small farmers market.

  “Ah, the three muskequeers are already sticking together like the butt buddies that they are, how sweet.” Randy called out to the group, earning a small laugh from Nathan and grunts of disgust from everyone else.

  Bryce knocked on the door. “Hello? Is anyone in there?” They waited a few moments, receiving no response. “We’ve taken care of all the infected, it’s safe to come out now.” Again, no response. “Look, we’re not t
hieves and we don’t want any trouble. If you tell us to leave, we will, and we won’t come back. If you don’t say anything though, we’re going to assume the store’s empty and come in to look for supplies.”

  A shot rang out behind them, and they turned back to see that Lauren had killed an infected that was making its way towards the group from the road. “You take one step through that door, and you’re fucking dead!” A raspy, older voice called out from inside the shop.

  The three men looked at each other with faces of worry. Bryce shrugged and called out again. “Look, we were just hoping to get some seeds and maybe some soil and fertilizer to start a garden to feed our group.”

  ​“You ain’t getting shit from us.” The man called out again.

  ​“Look man, we have kids with us, we’re not going to be able to feed them forever with the shit we scavenge. We took care of the infected so it’s safe for you to come out and look for supplies now, plus we have things we could trade.” Bryce pleaded.

  ​There was silence for a few seconds and then, they could hear whispering coming from inside the market. After the quiet conversation was over, the man called out again. “What have you got to trade?”

  ​“What do you need?” Bryce asked.

  ​“More weapons and ammo. And I saw your boys clear out that liquor store, could use a few bottles and some smokes.” He responded quickly.

  ​“We could do that.” Bryce called back.

  ​After a few moments, they heard movement on the other side of the door. The man moved and took down his barricade before unlocking it, ushering them inside. “Step in slowly.” He said.

  ​“I don’t like this, man. What if he decides to fucking kill us?” Alejandro said with a look of unease.

  ​“He knows our people are out here and armed. Unless he’s seriously suicidal, which I doubt given how careful he’s being, I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Byark responded.

  ​Bryce reached out and slowly pushed open the door, stepping in first. “Come in, all three of you.” The man said, the double barrel shotgun in his hands leveled at Bryce’s chest. He was old, with long, gray hair and a matching unkempt beard, wearing a sleeveless, dirt stained T-shirt that showed off his tanned and somewhat muscular arms, earned from a life of working in a field.