“Maybe try knocking first? Maybe they’re home...” Sophie suggested.
Dean nodded and winked at Sophie in acknowledgement. He raised his hand, hesitated for a moment, then rapidly knocked on the door.
Immediately, they heard movement inside the building. It sounded like somebody scrambling to their feet and rapidly approached the door. Sophie instinctively took a step backward, and almost lost her balance as she had nearly stepped off the landing.
They heard a bang as an object got knocked onto the floor, then a small impact against the door itself. They backed off, down the steps. There was definitely something on the other side of the door now. They could hear muffled sounds and scratching.
“Dean...” Sophie started. Dean put up his hand to silence his girlfriend. His eyebrow rose as he stepped back up the steps and to the door. He put his ear to the door and listened intently for a few seconds. Sophie watched in nervous anticipation.
Dean surprised Sophie when he turned to her and smiled. “Nuggets.” He said, proudly.
Sophie shot him a confused look.
“It’s Nuggets – their dog.” I can hear him whining.
Sophie breathed a sigh of relief. The Wilsons did not have any kids – but they did have a yellow Labrador dog named Nuggets. That dog was their baby, and they spoiled it rotten.
The dog continued scratching at the door, but there were no other sounds indicating anybody else moving around in the store or upstairs.
Sophie was about to ask Dean what they should do, when Dean took a half step back and raised his size 12 boot. He kicked the door right beside the keyhole, driving his heel into the door with all his might. The loud bang shattered the silence.
But not the door.
The door didn’t budge. Nuggets barked in surprise on the other side of the door, as Dean danced on one foot with a grimace of pain.
“Oh. Damn.” Dean exclaimed. Looking to the side of the door he saw the hinges. “The fucking door swings outward!”
Just then another bang could be heard, followed by several others. Sophie could picture the silent screamers moving around, searching for the source of the noise.
“They’re coming.” Was all Dean said. He quickly looked around and saw a window about seven feet up, near the corner of the building.
He jumped past Sophie and looked around on the ground until with a triumphant guffaw he found what he was looking for. With a couple of kicks, he dislodged a brick, formerly used to line the edge of the grass.
Without hesitation, he picked up the brick, walked up to the window, and launched the missile through the glass. The crash of the shattering glass was thunderous.
Dean used his table leg club to smash and rub away the glass along the bottom of the window, then looked around again.
Noises were coming from all around them now, including inside the house. Nuggets was going crazy inside. Much to Sophie’s consternation, Dean did not rush himself though. He dropped his club and walked towards the shed at the back end of the yard. Within seconds he found what he was looking for.
Dean brandished a neatly folded up tarp with a great grin on his face.
“Here. Watch this.” He said as he unfolded the tarp a couple of times. With a deft toss, he draped the tarp over the bottom of the window frame. Then he reached up, got his hands on the window frame and did a pull-up so he could have a quick look inside.
“Ooof! Stinky!” He grunted, as he lowered himself back to the ground.
“Ok, come on over here.” He told Sophie, who cautiously came closer.
“I didn’t see anything moving around so it should be safe.” He turned Sophie to face the window and put his hands on her waist.
“What are you d–” Before she could say anything, the big man had lifted her up to the window ledge.
“Crawl inside, babe! Be careful of all the glass!” Dean said as he thrust her body through the window.
Sophie balanced for half a second on the window ledge before falling through into the dark interior.
With a crash she hit the floor. She barely had a chance to put her hands up to catch her fall. Sophie was lucky that the tarp had slid inside with her, as it protected her from most of the glass.
However, before any of this could register, she was bowled into by a whining ball of fur.
Nuggets was all over her, trying to lick her face while emanating sounds somewhere between a whine and a moan.
“Easy, Nuggets. Get off!” She said as she pushed the dog away from her so she could get to her feet. The dog kept whining and crowding her, his tail like a whip.
Sophie stood up and forgot about the dog for a minute. First, she was overcome with fear. The inside of the store was pitch-black. The only light coming in from the window she had just climbed through. The second thing to overwhelm her the smell. It was the stench of feces and urine, mixed with the smell of rotting meat.
It was more than Sophie could take, and she gagged once before vomiting on the floor.
“I’m coming, babe!” She barely registered Dean’s voice as she continued to retch. From the corner of her eyes she saw Dean push his club through the window before lifting himself up. Sophie vomited again, emptying out her stomach.
Dean had swung himself into the building by that point, and it was his turn to be assaulted by the dog’s attention and the awful stench.
“Whoa. Take it easy Nuggets.” He pushed the dog away and straightened up.
“Breathe through your mouth, babe.” He told the still heaving Sophie as he took a couple of steps into the store. Nuggets was practically glued to him as he moved. The dog was clearly in desperate need for human contact.
“Yeah. You’re ok.” Dean gave the dog a quick pat. “Some guard dog you are.” Sophie was grateful that Nuggets was no guard dog, He had been taught not to bark, as customers wouldn’t be comfortable in the store otherwise. Instead, the dog only made small whining noises. It wouldn’t give their location away to the silent screamers.
Dean felt around in his jacket pocket for a few seconds before pulling something out with a small whoop of success. With a small click, he turned on the flashlight on his phone.
Sophie had regained her composure a bit, wiping the last couple of ropes of spittle from her mouth and chin. The episode had stuffed her nose, which thankfully inhibited her sense of smell. She could still taste the smell in her mouth though. Oddly, it tasted sweet.
Just then there was a crashing sound outside. Nugget whined at the noise, obviously distressed. Dean quickly came back to the window and looked out. He couldn’t see anything but guessed that one of the silent screamers had reached the yard fence.
“Let’s get away from this window...” He took Sophie’s hand, and with his impromptu flashlight led the way into the darkened interior of the store.
It didn’t take long to discover the source of the smell. Samantha Wilson lay in the center aisle. Dean approached from the direction of her feet and noticed that Sam was not wearing shoes or socks. As he exposed more of the body, he could see that she was in her pyjamas. She had been placed here, that became obvious when Dean saw that Sam’s hands were crossed, resting on her belly.
She had died violently.
That became apparent when Dean’s flashlight lit up her face. Above her half-open mouth, a small towel had been laid to cover her face. It had come partially away, likely pulled aside by Nuggets. One eye was wide open, but there was a gaping hole where the other eye should have been. She had been shot at close range.
“Oh, Sam...” Dean muttered as he stood over the body. Sophie came up behind him and whimpered when she saw the horrific injury, so Dean quickly placed the towel back over Sam’s face.
A quick scan of the rest of the store revealed nothing out of place. Nuggets had been locked inside and had resorted to doing his business along the far wall. A closer look revealed that the dog had been suffering. Large tufts of hair were missing from his side, and the dog was clearly dehydrated and hungry.
&nb
sp; Sophie couldn’t keep the morbid thought from crossing her mind, wondering why Nuggets hadn’t eaten his former owner. But just as quickly another thought crossed her mind.
“Where’s Jamie?”
Dean quickly hustled back to the window and grabbed his club before making his way to the counter in the store. They knew that the door behind the counter led to a stairwell, which in turn led to Sam and Jamie’s private residence.
DEAN CAUTIOUSLY OPENED the door.
Another sickly-sweet smell wafted down from upstairs. Before he could stop Nuggets, the dog squeezed by his legs and up the stairs, emitting a high-pitched whine.
Full of trepidation, the couple crept up the stairs. The hallway window lighted up the area so Dean turned off his flashlight.
The smell became stronger at the top landing. The only open door was at the far end, and they could hear Nuggets moving around in that room, continuing to whine.
Dean and Sophie entered the bedroom in silence. The figure in the bed, while hard to make out as the curtains were drawn, was clearly deceased. Dean walked around the bed and opened the curtains slightly, exposing the wasted body of Jamie Wilson. Mercifully, his eyes were closed. His arm was hanging off the side of the bed. Nuggets nuzzled the unmoving hand. It looked like Jamie had died in his sleep.
The bottle beside the bed proved otherwise, though.
Dean picked it up and held it up to the light – but the writing was all in Chinese.
“Did he...?” Sophie started, edging closer from the doorway.
Dean nodded. “Yeah, I think he poisoned himself.” Nuggets continued to whine and paw at Jamie’s arm.
That’s when Dean noticed the notebook on the nightstand. He picked it up and opened it up.
“Hey, it looks like Jamie kept a diary.” He glanced up at Sophie, who held out her hand with a nod of assent.
“Let me get the dog some water and food.” He said as he handed her the diary. They reverently closed the bedroom door behind them.
Dean opened the next door down the hall. It was a bathroom.
“Ok, let’s get you some water. Nuggets! Here boy!” He said as he coaxed the dog into the bathroom.
Sophie opened the next door. It was a bedroom that had been converted into an office. The shades were up, and the room bright. She sat down at the desk and flipped the diary open to the last page with writing on it.
This will be my last entry. I can already feel it coursing through my body. Wow those chinks really know their poison. Ha. Chinks. Guess that’s racist. If anybody reads this, know that I am not racist! Some of my best friends are and have been oriental. Great respect for them. I’m just too old to care about words. Ah, damn. I wanted this last entry to be all meaningful. I’m just not the most elo–
Sophie had to laugh at Jamie’s attempt at writing ‘eloquent’. She read on.
Ah. My mind is wandering, and it is hard to concentrate. I miss you, Sam. I’ll see you soon. I keep replaying what happened. Maybe I shouldn’t have resisted you. Or maybe I did the right thing and put you out of your misery. I know you’ll hate me for this, but I am taking the coward’s way out. I know you’ll hate me even more for this, but I poisoned the dog too. I can hear our baby puppy barfing downstairs. I just hope he doesn’t barf it all up. But I can hardly move anymore. Can’t write much more.
Sophie had to figure out a lot of the words now, as the writing started getting sloppy and jumbled.
Poison sucks. It hurts! Sam I’m sorry. I love you.
There was only one last line that she could make out, and despite feeling sad, she had to laugh.
Goodbye cruel world!
Dean knew him better, but Sophie knew that Jamie had a flair for the dramatic and the comedic.
Sophie could hear Dean rummaging around somewhere inside the building. She stuck her head out the office door and saw Dean bringing up a bag of dog food and a bowl.
“Oh, hey babe.” He said when he saw her. He flashed her a smile. “I Found these by the little kitchen at the back door. Also, I listened at the window and it’s all quiet again.” He saw the diary in her hands. “Did you find anything interesting?”
“Jamie poisoned himself. I think he poisoned the dog too, but it looks like Nuggets threw up the poison before it could take effect.”
“Ah.” Dean stopped. For a moment, his usually cheerful countenance looked troubled and sad. He looked up and met Sophie’s eyes. He hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Ok. Keep looking through that diary. Maybe there is something in there that will help us.” His hopes had been stacked on the Wilsons’ having found some tincture or elixir that would cure the syndrome.
“Ok.” Sophie turned around and re-entered the office. She sat down and flipped back a few pages. The writing was a lot neater. This was Sam’s writing.
The world is going crazy out there! They are firing nukes at each other. I hope cooler heads prevail. We’ve decided to lock ourselves in. We lowered the roll shutters and closed most of the curtains. Of course, we don’t have any electricity because of the damn dog.
Puzzled, Sophie stopped reading and flipped back until she found a passage regarding Nuggets. The page was dated October 20th.
Wow that dog really did it this time. Jamie saved its life, almost at the expense of his own! I told him so many times to curb the dog’s incessant habit of gnawing on things he shouldn’t be.
Ok I need to describe this properly to do it justice. Just so that the older me can read this and be entertained.
Sam had put a smiley face after that statement. It stirred up a feeling of sadness for Sophie.
Sorry Sam. You won’t get a chance to read this... I’ll read it for you though.
It happened right around lunch time. The dog was outside, digging where it shouldn’t be. I told Jamie a million times to get that damn dog away from my flower bed. Well, Nuggets sure found something this time!
I was in the kitchen, when suddenly two things happened at the same time. One: There was this huge “KAI!” sound from the dog outside, and two: All the power went out in the kitchen – or actually the entire house.
I had barely opened the back door when Jamie flew past me and out the door. Jamie loves that dog a little too much. He even yelled out “My baby!”. I followed him out the door to see Nuggets’ back end sticking out of the latest hole he’d dug. It didn’t look right though. He was all twitchy. Jamie immediately ran over and grabbed the dog – and then he just froze, with this weird grimace on his face. He slowly toppled to the side, still clutching the dog. And that’s how he saved the dog. You see that damn dog – that’s right Jamie it’s a damn dog and not a ‘baby puppy’! – it had dug up an underground power cable and proceeded to chew through the conduit. It got the shock of its life when it got through that conduit though. Jamie got a shock himself when he grabbed the dog, and was only saved when he fell over, pulling the dog with him and breaking contact with the cable.
Ok, I wasn’t so cool and collected at the time. I was freaking out! But I’ve had a chance to gather myself since it happened (a few hours ago).
The dog was unconscious for a few seconds before coming to. Nuggets was very disoriented for the rest of the day, and he got burn marks on his sides – never mind that mouth! But amazingly, he seems fine now. Jamie has small burn marks on his fingers, and he says all his joints hurt. They’re going to be fine. Ah damn! I didn’t do the story any justice. And it is dark so I can’t see the page too well anymore. Because our power is out. We called the power company and all they did was completely shut off power to our house, with some empty promise to send somebody over tomorrow. Damn dog.
Sophie smiled. Sam had always been a strong personality. She acted like a cranky old woman but was really a kind-hearted person. Jamie used to call her his ‘old trout’.
Sophie flipped a couple of pages forward. The entries were shorter.
Power is still out. It’s been three days now. You’d think they would send somebody out here to fix it! Jamie says
we should take advantage of it. He’s closed up the store and wants us to go do some fun stuff. He’s calling it a mini vacation.
Ah I shouldn’t be mad at him. I’m just cranky. Maybe if this gut ache subsides, we can go enjoy ourselves.
The next page was ominous.
Jamie brought back a newspaper when he came back from his walk with the dog this morning. What the heck is going on in the world? Crops failing, rioting all over... And this HAPS thing. Jamie wants to take me to the hospital. I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t have the heart to tell him, but my stomach-ache is getting a lot worse.
The next page was a combination. Sam had written the first part and Jamie the second. Sam’s part was about forbidding Jamie to go outside anymore as he almost got himself mugged on that morning’s walk. Jamie’s portion was a listing of the different medicines he’d tried out on Sam.
Just then Dean popped his head into the office.
“So?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Nothing.” She flipped another page. More medicine trials. “Looks like Jamie tried all kinds of cures on Sam, but nothing worked...”
The next page confirmed the worst. Sophie read it out loud for Dean.
Sam. My loving wife of so many years. You died this morning. You died twice.
I’m sorry. I shot you.
I left you down there. I’m afraid to go down and see you like that. Maybe I will be brave enough to face you later.
Sophie put the diary down and blinked a few tears out of her eyes.
“Dean... I don’t want to turn into one of those things!” She broke down and wept.
Dean started to argue, then stopped. His watched his girlfriend crying with her hands covering her face. Dean’s usually cheerful face grew troubled.
He took a step closer, so he stood behind her and rested his hand on Sophie’s head.
“I’m sorry baby. I don’t know what to do...”
Sensing the weakness in her boyfriend, Sophie stopped crying. She turned in her seat and looked over her shoulder at Dean. She smiled weakly but sweetly and got up from the office chair.
Apocalypsis Immortuos | Book 1 | Syndrome Page 15