An Apocalypse Family (Book 1): Family Reunion (21 page)

Josh stood next to the two graves. He’d no tears left to shed and was glad for the cool breeze that blew in from the ocean. He pounded a makeshift cross at the head of each grave and said a prayer over his mom and dad. The gravesite was on a bluff overlooking the surf. He figured his mother would approve. She’d always loved the ocean. He decided on coming to the coast for two reasons: First, it was where he wanted to bury his parents, and second, Highway 101 avoided some of the bigger cities. After finding his parents had passed, he continued to drive north, aimlessly at first. He had a run-in with a group of crazies in a town where he stopped to look for help. They had surrounded the ambulance and almost succeeded in tipping it over. He headed west from there, not knowing where he was, but knowing he would eventually run into the coast. His idea was to drive up the coast, avoiding large populations, and eventually try to find a boat large enough to get him to Whidbey Island.

The ambulance had provided him with some very handy items. There were tools used for extracting victims from vehicles that gave him some hope of survival. He found bolt cutters, a crowbar, a folding shovel, high tensile rope, and much more. He chose a wrecking bar from the inventory to use as a weapon. He only had a limited number of bullets for the pistol he borrowed from the CHP. The wrecking bar was 30 inches long and weighed at least ten pounds; it would definitely do some damage. There was also a good bit of drugs onboard. He didn’t know what many of them were for, but there was a medical book that he figured would clue him in.

His first priority now was to find some food. The ambulance had water, both drinking water and sterile water for medical use, but no food. He set off to scavenge something.

The road stretched out in front of him with nothing but trees in sight. The two-lane highway was empty of any traffic and Josh wondered if he made a bad decision. Where he lived, you couldn’t drive more than five minutes without seeing a Ralph’s, a Vons, or a Kroger supermarket.

The highway expanded to four lanes outside of Coos Bay, and a few businesses appeared. Trucking companies, tire companies, and a sawmill, but nothing that might provide him with food. A tawdry-looking strip club on the right offered a full buffet.
Dine while they Dance,
the sign proclaimed. That would rank right up there with prime rib at the bowling alley; besides, he wanted non-perishable foodstuffs. He kept his eye peeled for any signs of life as well as groceries. He couldn’t believe how deserted the place seemed.

He passed a burned-out 7/11 and a Subway, still no sign of anything good. As he crossed a bridge over a sliver of the bay, he finally saw something: a large, white building. He didn’t recognize the name on the side, but thought it was worth checking out. He pulled off the highway, which had transformed itself into the main street of Coos Bay, and into the parking lot. The main sign proclaimed
FOOD-BAKERY-DELI!

“This is more like it,” he said aloud. He stopped the ambulance right in front of the main entrance and got out. His salivary glands started pumping and his stomach growled just at the thought of food. He retrieved his wrecking bar and flashlight from the ambulance and walked up to the doors. As he approached, the smell became a mixture of rancid meat and ammonia.

God, what is that?
he wondered.

The doorframe was still standing but the glass was completely broken out, and there was garbage all over the place.

“Hmmm, looks like I’m not the first customer,” he said, as he flashed the light into the store.

Something ran through his flashlight beam, but he couldn’t follow it.

“Hey, is somebody in there?” he yelled.

Then he heard it: the shrieking, the same shriek that Dale had made. He took an involuntary step backward. He put down the wrecking bar and pulled the pistol from his belt. He checked to make sure the magazine was loaded and that there was a bullet in the chamber. He ducked under the crossbar on the doorframe and shined the light around slowly. He didn’t see anything, so he moved a little further in and repeated the process.

“Come on, mister boogeyman,” he shouted, trying to instill a little bravado in his voice. It would have been more effective if he hadn’t warbled like a cockatoo on the last couple of words.

He was too hungry to pass on this store; he was craving Oreos, but would settle for anything at this point. He took another step and a shriek sounded right in front of him. He shined his light up just in time to see not one, but several rabid-looking people charging straight at him. He turned and fled for the door—he made it in three long strides and dove back out under the crossbar, landing flat on his face, skinning up his left hand and chin in the bargain.

He rolled onto his back, expecting the attack to continue, expecting to see the horde of pale, terrifying, plague-infested monsters ready to pounce, but they had stopped. He could hear them panting, trying to catch their breath—no, wait, that was him. His heart beat so hard he could feel it in the top of his head.

God, what are these things?
He got to his feet and remained bent over, trying to catch his wind. There was no way in hell he was going back in there. He would have to keep looking. He took the time to clean and bandage his hand and chin, applying antibacterial salve liberally to the wounds—there was no telling what kind of crap was on the ground here.

He got back into the ambulance and drove around the building, looking for a miracle. It presented itself in the form of another store: a Safeway.

He laughed. “I even have my preferred customer card for Safeway.” He winced at the pain in his chin and rebuked himself for the new habit of talking to himself.

“Got to quit talking to myself. Somebody might think I’m crazy.” This only made him laugh again.

He held his hand up to block the glare and looked into the Safeway. It was nowhere near as big as the other store and it had skylights throughout. Much better, at least he would be able to see what was coming at him. The doors were still intact, until he swung the wrecking bar into them. The shattered glass cascaded down, nearly causing him another trip to the back of the ambulance for more bandages. He danced out of the way just in time to avoid cutting himself to ribbons.

He stopped and listened at the door. He whistled loudly, then waited for the shrieking… nothing.

“Okay, let’s take this slow, Josh.” He stepped inside, the glass cracking under his feet. He didn’t look down; he was scanning the store, his head whipping around like he was at Wimbledon. There was a very bad smell, but it wasn’t the same sour smell as in the last place. It reminded him of the smell in his garage when a rat or mouse had been lying in there dead for a while… only about a hundred times worse.

He had to get some food or he wouldn’t last much longer. He kept moving forward, the gun in one hand and the wrecking bar in the other. He got a shopping cart and started looking for the canned goods. He found the store to be well stocked. It was hard to believe there hadn’t been a run on the place, or any looting.

This thing came on suddenly and with a vengeance
, he reminded himself.

He became more comfortable as he shopped. The absence of shrieking and the plentiful light helped him relax. He even shoved the pistol into his belt and put the wrecking bar in the cart. He filled up the cart and took it out to the ambulance, unloaded it, and returned for another load. He bent over to pick up the last can of chili.

“Hey!” someone said. He screamed and jumped straight into the air; his response was met with an equally loud scream. He fumbled for the pistol the whole time, thinking the next thing he would hear was the sound of a shotgun blast tearing him in half.

“Hey, hey, don’t shoot, don’t shoot, okay?” a female voice said. He finally located the source of the voice. It was a beautiful woman, holding her hands out toward him in a way to indicate that she wanted him to stop.

“God lady, you scared the shit outta me! Literally, a little I think, anyhow.”

She was 5´7˝, short blonde hair with beautiful blue eyes; in a word, she was flawless. Red flags popped into Josh’s brain like a fireworks finale. He quickly checked all around the immediate area. He pushed his cart toward the front of the store.

“Hey, where are you going? Hey, hold on.” She chased him down the aisle.

Josh continued to scan every corner of the building, expecting the beefy boyfriend with the gang of thugs to show up at any minute.

“Leave me alone, lady. I don’t want any trouble,” he said as he wheeled his treasure of canned food away.

She looked around mimicking Josh’s wild search.

“Look, I need help. I don’t want any trouble either.”

Josh stopped; he pointed the pistol at her chest.

“Where are the others?” Josh asked.

She started to lie but caught herself.

“I’m alo– look, we need your help.”

Josh smiled.

“Wherever you are, you better stay right there!” he yelled, “or I will shoot her.”

Her eyes widened.

“Oldest trick in the book, lady; send the pretty girl to distract the mark, then jump him while he’s stunned by her beauty.” He kept looking around, sure he was about to be attacked.

“Listen to me!” she stomped her foot. “I am not alone, but the only other person here is my daughter. Stacy, come out!” she called.

Fearing it was the signal to attack, Josh took two strides and had her in a headlock.

“Anybody moves and I blow her brains out!” he screamed.

She flailed about trying to break his hold, but he was too strong. They stood like that for a full minute, both of them breathing hard, hearts pounding.

“Look, just leave. Go. Don’t hurt me.”

Josh eased his muscles a fraction, she slammed her foot down on his arch and bit his arm at the same moment. His immediate reaction was to release her, but as she stepped away, he grabbed for her again. He felt the blow to the back of his head but it didn’t register.

How did she hit me, she’s in front of me,
he thought as he fell to the ground. The dust bunnies under the edge of the shelves came into focus as his world slowly faded to black.

When he came around, he was lying in the same place, but tied up, both hands and feet, and his face was in a pool of his own drool. He pulled his face away from the floor only to have piercing shock waves roll through his head. He felt his stomach roll and its contents spewed out of his nose and mouth.

“Ewwww, gross,” he heard a high-pitched voice offer.

“Mom, he’s awake and he puked all over the place,” he heard the voice call out. She was relaying the scene to someone on the other side of the store.

“Just stay away from him, Stace, I’ll be right there,” the woman’s voice called back.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not getting anywhere near him. Yuck!”

After he quit gagging, he was able to see the girl sitting on a milk crate ten feet down the aisle from where he lay. Her blond hair was in a ponytail and her freckly nose scrunched up in disgust. She looked to be about ten years old. He tried to roll over onto his back, but his bound hands made it impossible. He ended up lying on his side with his ear in puke. Luckily, since it had been so long since he’d eaten, it was nothing more than bile and water.

“Well, mister, I thought maybe you could help us, but given the fact that an eleven-year-old girl knocked you senseless, I don’t know what good you are.” The woman squatted next to her daughter, holding Josh’s pistol in her hand.

“Jeez, lady, I thought it was a setup, figured your gang was gonna jump me. I guess they did, huh?”

This drew a giggle from the girl. “Whopped you right upside the head with a rolling pin,” she said with a laugh.

“Stacy, stop!” her mom scolded.

“So now what?” Josh asked.

“So now you and I are going to talk for a while. Depending on how I feel after that, we might just leave you lying here for the ghouls to eat, or maybe we’ll let you live, that’s what.”

“Can you at least sit me up, and let me have a drink of water?”

“You going to behave?”

“Yes, I’ll behave,” he mumbled.

“What?” she said.

“I said I’ll behave, ma’am,” Josh said clearly.

“Name’s Olivia, and if you want to lie there in your puke for a while longer, just keep calling me ma’am.”

Josh started to say something but began gagging again.

“Oh, for crap’s sake. Stacy, help me get him sitting up before he pukes again.”

They got Josh sitting up and gave him some water. “There, now what’s your name?” Olivia asked.

“My name is Josh, I’m from San Diego.”

“Well, Josh from San Diego, tell me your story.”

Josh figured he didn’t have much to lose, so he told her about his trip so far and how he’d just buried his parents.

“Man, that sucks,” Stacy said when he finished.

“Yeah, listen, I’m sorry for the way I acted here, but you can understand me being freaked out, can’t you?” Josh stared at his feet, not wanting to look them in the eye.