The Road Trip At The End (Book 2): Border

by Wood, J N

  ‘Excellent,’ Charles said. ‘So we’ll wait here until it gets darker. Then if it still looks okay, I’ll kick you out over by the dock over there.’ He was pointing to our left, where the water fed into the dock area.

  The sun had been nearing the horizon when we started moving again. Birch Bay had been quiet the entire time we’d been waiting. We hadn’t spotted any movement at all.

  As we entered the mouth of the dock, Andruis offered me the binoculars. ‘Here, may come in handy.’

  ‘Thank you very much,’ I said, gladly taking them from him.

  I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with all this generosity.

  ‘We have another on the yacht,’ he told me. ‘So no big deal.’

  While Andruis was tying us up to the dock, Charles walked up to the deck from the cabin. He was carrying one of the boxes of water and food. Theo followed him, carrying the other.

  I took the one Charles was holding. ‘We really do appreciate this,’ I said to him.

  ‘Honestly, don’t worry about it. We have more than enough. You’ll have to find some bags to carry it all. You don’t want to be walking around carrying boxes.’

  ‘We have flashlights as well,’ Andruis said, handing one to Ali, Jack, and then Sandra. ‘Sorry, that’s all we have.’

  We said our farewells to Charles and Andruis, thanking them again for everything they’d given us, and for the vast amount of beer we’d drunk.

  We briefly stopped to watch them sailing back out towards Birch Bay’s cove.

  ‘We need to get going before it gets too dark,’ Ali said. ‘Me, Jack, Chris and Beth try to find two vehicles. The rest stay here, and keep hidden.’

  Beth raised her hand into the air. ‘I can’t drive.’

  ‘Okay, you stay here,’ Ali said. ‘Roy can take your place.’

  Ali and Roy went left, Jack and I went right.

  There were a few vehicles in the car park adjacent to the dock. We checked every one. They were all locked. There were a lot of houses close by, so we rushed over to them to check for cars.

  Jack stepped alongside me. ‘We knocked up a little plan while we were in the cabin on the yacht. Do you want to hear it?’

  ‘Yep, can do.’

  ‘Get two vehicles. Drive to an outdoorsy shop. Pick up clothes and everything we’ll need to break into another country. Drive along the border until we find a part we can cross, but stay far enough away from the border to avoid getting killed by zombies.’

  I stopped outside a house with a car on the drive. ‘Sounds like a good plan. Car?’

  Jack paused to look at the sports car, and simply said, ‘No.’

  We continued down the street, looking for something more suitable, eventually stopping outside a large house with two identical looking Fords parked in front of it.

  ‘Yep, these look perfect,’ Jack said.

  ‘What are they?’ I asked him.

  ‘Fords.’

  ‘Yeah thanks twat,’ I said.

  Jack started walking up the drive towards them. ‘I don’t know what they are, they’re cars.’

  As expected, they were both locked. Now we just had to break into the house to find the keys. Jack walked up to the front door and lifted his axe. He was all set to swing it into one of the six glass panels that ran up the side of the door.

  ‘Wait,’ I quickly said. ‘Try the door, it might not be locked. We don’t want to set off an alarm.’

  ‘They don’t have electricity around here,’ Jack said.

  ‘Oh yeah. Try the door anyway.’

  Jack grasped the handle and twisted, it didn’t budge.

  ‘Okay, smash the glass quietly,’ I told him.

  He used the handle of his axe, easily putting it through the glass. It shattered and some of it fell to the floor by his feet. It was much louder than I’d hoped it would be. We both stood still, listening for the sound of hissing. I held my breath and counted to thirty.

  ‘Nope, nothing,’ I said. ‘Knock the rest of the glass out so you don’t cut yourself.’

  Jack managed to push the rest of the glass through into the house, so it made less noise. He then reached in and tried to unlock the door.

  ‘Right, got it,’ he said. He pulled his hand back out and tried the handle again. The bottom of the door moved inwards slightly, but the top wouldn’t move.

  ‘Fucking hell,’ Jack said. ‘There is a lock at the top. I can’t reach that. I’ll break another window.’ He started to raise his axe above his head.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ I said, thinking I could use his axe as a battering ram. ‘Can I borrow your axe for two seconds?’

  ‘Why, what are you going to do?’

  ‘Just give me it. We’d already be in there and have the keys in the time it’d take us to argue over it.’

  ‘I’m definitely not going to give it to you now. Why would we have to argue over whatever you want to do?’

  ‘Just give me the fucking axe.’ I reached out for it, Jack instantly pulling it away. ‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ I said.

  ‘Just tell me what you want to do, and I’ll see if it’s a good idea.’

  I pointed to the two Fords behind us. ‘We’d be sat in those two cars by now if you’d have just given me the axe.’

  ‘I’d have broken the window and unlocked it by now it if you hadn’t stopped me.’

  The sound of engines made us both snap our heads around. We walked down to the end of the drive as two SUVs turned the corner, and started moving down the street towards us.

  The first SUV, a maroon coloured Chevrolet, pulled up next to us. The driver’s side window rolled down, revealing a smiling Roy.

  ‘Hello,’ he said.

  Beth appeared from behind him, after she’d bent forwards in the passenger seat. ‘You’re in with us. Get in the back.’

  Jack looked at the Chevrolet, and then down to the grey Honda behind. ‘Ours would have been better,’ he said to me. ‘Ours matched.’

  I opened the back door. Theo was sat in the middle. ‘Hi Theo,’ I said, climbing in to sit next to him. Jack sat on the other side.

  ‘Where we headed?’ I asked. ‘The town centre?’

  ‘Yep,’ Roy replied. ‘We think it’s just down here.’

  Birch Bay didn’t have any of the kind of shops we required. It was more of a seaside tourist place.

  Both of our vehicles were parked up on the main road, side by side, and with the windows down.

  Ali was in the driver’s seat of the other car, leaning out of her window. ‘On the way to Blaine, we passed an outdoor mall. I can’t remember what stores it had, but there might be something there.’

  ‘There isn’t anything around here so we might as well,’ Beth said.

  ‘What about guns?’ I asked. ‘Search through houses or wait until we see a gun shop?’

  ‘Houses would be sensible I suppose,’ Ali said. ‘We might need guns before we drive by a store.’

  Sandra popped her head out of the back window. ‘It might take us a while to find guns. They’ll be locked away in people’s homes. There will be a gun store in or around the mall.’

  ‘I think that’s risking it,’ Ali said.

  ‘I don’t like it around here,’ Sandra said. ‘It’s too quiet with all these houses.’

  ‘I’m easy,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah whatever, you decide,’ Jack added.

  ‘Beth,’ Ali said. ‘You have the deciding vote.’

  Beth laughed. ‘Oh thanks guys.’

  ‘Wait for a shop, or search houses,’ I said ‘What’s it to be Beth?’

  ‘Shop,’ Beth said.

  ‘What a surprise,’ Jack called out.

  Beth twisted around in her seat to scowl at her husband. ‘Why is that a surprise?’

  ‘It’s a joke isn’t it? Women and shopping,’ Jack said. ‘I thought it was quite funny.’ He leaned around Theo to look at me. ‘Chris. That was funny, wasn’t it?’

  I smiled back at him. ‘I think you’re a
disgusting, sexist pig.’

  Beth had turned back to face forward. ‘Thank you Chris.’

  ‘Fuck off,’ Jack exclaimed. ‘He’s taking the piss.’

  ‘Stop showing off in front of your friends Jack,’ Beth said.

  ‘What? I’m not showing off. How am I showing off?’

  ‘Show off,’ I said.

  ‘Hey,’ Sandra called out. ‘What are you doing? Shall we go?’

  Jack opened his mouth to speak, but then thought better of it, sitting back in his seat.

  ‘We’ll follow you,’ Roy said. ‘Ali, do you remember where the mall is?’

  She nodded. ‘Kind of.’

  ‘That will have to be good enough.’ Roy pointed in front of him. ‘Lead the way.’

  ‘Wouldn’t have had this problem if we’d have gone to the bus,’ I said under my breath.

  The windows in the grey Honda started to rise, as it moved ahead of us. Roy put the Chevrolet into drive, and followed them as they led us out of Birch Bay.

  ‘It’s very quiet,’ Theo said, staring out of the window.

  I followed his gaze to see the empty streets rolling past. ‘Thank fuck,’ I said to him.

  ‘This is what it was like when we drove through this area on the way up,’ Jack said. ‘All the zombies must be outside the camp, or further along at the border wall.’

  ‘Hopefully they stay there and leave us alone,’ Beth said.

  ‘Some parts of the border being free of the dead would be helpful,’ I said.

  We drove down a long straight road, the rear lights of the Honda guiding us.

  ‘How much fuel do we have?’ Jack asked.

  I looked to my right and saw the petrol station that must have prompted Jack’s question.

  ‘Three quarters full,’ Roy replied. ‘The other car had about the same.’

  Jack pointed at the petrol station up ahead. ‘Should we get some more?’

  ‘No electricity means no gas,’ Theo said. ‘Only way is to syphon it now.’

  ‘They’re indicating left,’ Roy said. ‘I think it’s the mall.’

  We followed closely behind the Honda, heading towards the back of some large buildings. There was a gap up ahead. Our lights picked up vehicles on the other side. We drove along the road that ran through the gap in the buildings. It opened up to a large car park beyond. Once through, we took a left turn and drove the entire length of the row of shops, before turning around and driving back. We eventually parked up alongside the other car. Roy started to lower his window, Jack did the same. Our combined headlights illuminated a sign on the building in front of us. It read, W.A. CAMPING STORE LTD, in large letters.

  ‘This will do,’ I said.

  ‘The doors have been smashed in, people have already been here,’ Beth said.

  ‘It doesn’t mean it’s empty,’ Jack said. ‘It looks pretty big.’

  ‘Guys,’ Ali said from the other vehicle. ‘Sandra and Pete are going to stay here with the kids. Who is coming with me from the Chevy?’

  ‘How many torches do we have?’ Roy asked.

  ‘I’ve got a flashlight,’ Ali said with a smile.

  Sandra waved hers out of the back window of the Honda. ‘Me too.’

  ‘I’ve got one as well,’ Jack replied.

  I reached down to the floor and picked up my baseball bat. ‘I’ll take yours Sandra. If you want?’

  Jack and I got out of our car, as Ali left the Honda. Sandra passed me her torch through the open window.

  ‘If you see or hear anything,’ Jack said. ‘Just flash the lights.’

  Chapter 24: Barricade

  Jack, Ali and I slowly walked side by side over to the front of the camping shop. The glass that had once been in the doors was now shattered into tiny pieces. They covered the paving separating the shops and the car park, glinting in the light of the headlights. The light shone past us, illuminating our path, and casting our shadows across the glass fronted building. Jack’s axe, my baseball bat, and Ali’s large knife were five times their size as they stretched across the front of the shop.

  The crunching under our feet was far too loud.

  Beth’s initial fears appeared to have been correct. It looked as though the shop had been ransacked. Empty clothes racks were broken and lying on the floor. Shelves just inside the doors were hanging askew on the wall. There wasn’t any camping gear in sight.

  Jack flicked his torch on and panned it side to side just inside the broken doorway.

  He turned back to us. ‘Looks empty. I’m just going to make some noise. Okay?’

  Ali and I both nodded.

  He slammed the head of his axe down into the ground three times in quick succession. We waited to see if anything stirred.

  Nothing.

  Jack looked back to us again. ‘Nobody here.’

  Ali nodded and I shrugged. We crept into the shop, slowly sweeping our torches in front of us.

  The rest of the shop looked like a swarm had sprinted through and collided with everything, nothing was left standing upright.

  ‘Well, this was a waste of time,’ I whispered. ‘I didn’t see any gun shops either. Should have gone back to the bus.’

  Ali was directing her torch light at the back wall of the shop. ‘Stockroom,’ she whispered.

  Jack and I combined our torch light with Ali’s, and a door became visible on the back wall.

  We headed towards the door, being careful to step over, or walk around the fallen racking.

  A loud clattering noise rang out around the empty shop. I immediately swept my torch to the right, following the noise. The light fell upon Jack, lying on the floor. He was tangled up in an overturned clothes rack, coat hangers scattered around him.

  ‘Alright?’ I asked him.

  ‘Yeah I’m fine,’ he said, trying to escape from the metal poles restraining him.

  Again, we waited for any unwanted sounds.

  Still nothing.

  The door at the back marked Employees only, was locked.

  ‘Break it open with your axe,’ I said to Jack. ‘It can’t be any louder than you fighting with a clothes rack.’

  Jack stared at the door for about ten seconds. I’d been very close to asking him if he was alright again, when he stepped forward and swung his axe from his hip. The axe head hit the door just to the left of the handle. Bits of wood splintered and the door swung open into the stockroom. We shone our lights into the pitch black room. I leaned in through the doorway, quickly looking left and then right. It was only about fifteen feet deep, but it ran along the entire length of the shop. It was filled with rows upon rows of metal racking.

  I raised my bat and took one step back, waiting for whatever was trapped in there to emerge.

  Luckily for us, nothing had been trapped.

  We entered the room and started searching the many free standing racks. The first box I looked in was full of maps of Mount Baker and the surrounding area, so I grabbed a few of them. There were some plastic wrapped backpacks on one shelf. After unwrapping one, I stuffed three others into it and put it on my back.

  ‘I’ve found clothes,’ Ali said. ‘And more flashlights.’

  ‘I’ve got batteries,’ Jack called out.

  The sound of metal scraping across something made me stop. It lasted for less than a second. I tried to listen for it again, but all I could hear was Jack and Ali rummaging through shelves. A huge plastic bag, tied in a knot at the top, slid along the ground, stopping when it hit the wall by the door.

  ‘Enough warm clothes for us all in there,’ Ali said.

  ‘Just be quiet for a bit,’ I told them.

  We waited in absolute silence. My breathing was all that broke it, until Jack asked, ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘Thought I heard something. Must have been us.’

  I found a carton of energy bars and squeezed it into my new backpack.

  Jack walked towards me, holding a large cardboard box in front of him. ‘I’ve got some walking boots,
in various sizes. I don’t know what size everyone is.’

  ‘Good idea,’ I told him. ‘Have you seen any wire cutters, or wire snips, or whatever the things you use to cut wire are called?’

  ‘Not seen any,’ he said. ‘Not sure if they’ll have them here.’

  ‘There’s a tool box down here Chris,’ Ali said. ‘I’ll have a look for some.’

  Thirty seconds later, Ali appeared from the darkness, also carrying a large cardboard box. ‘Found some, they’re pliers with the cutting bit, so they should cut through wire.’ She put the box down and picked up a crowbar from within it. ‘This is my new toy.’ She swung it two handed across her body.

  ‘Are you okay with that box Ali,’ Jack asked.

  She nodded and placed her crowbar back in it, before picking the box up.

  ‘Chris, you get the bag of clothes,’ Jack instructed.

  I picked the bag up, surprised at how heavy it was, and awkwardly opened the door with my hand holding the Smasher. My torch was pointing up towards the ceiling as I walked back into the shop. I paused briefly when I noticed it was a much darker shop than when we had left it. The headlights from the cars seemed to be flickering, only occasionally shining into the shop, and the Chevy on the right looked like it was moving sideways, towards the Honda alongside it.

  I carried on, and was only three or four steps in, when the hissing started. I quickly angled my torch down from the ceiling. The shop floor was full of dead eyes staring back me. Wide open, decaying mouths hissed that all too familiar noise.

  I instinctively stepped backwards as they all seemed to move towards me at the same time. Some of them fell over the overturned clothes racks and tried to crawl along the floor. I felt a hand grab the back of my jacket and drag me backwards. My torch illuminated a flash of something, just a split second before a heavy weight slammed into the bag in front of me. It forced me into whoever was trying to drag me, and we tumbled backwards into the stockroom.

  I was on my back, lying on something uncomfortable. The backpacks were digging into me. Hands were clawing at my face and my shoulders, trying to reach around the bag of clothes. I felt legs and hard boots being dragged out from under my back. Ali grunted, before I heard a loud cracking noise. The hands trying to get to me stopped moving. I raised my torch up to see Ali standing over me, her crowbar hanging at her side. A giant of a zombie was slowly forcing the compressed air out of the plastic bag full of clothes on my chest.