Darkness Falls (Book 1): Rise of the Fallen (6 page)
The letter was signed and dated four days ago according to Dan. It didn’t take any discussion for the brothers to rush to the van with Jessie following right behind them. Dan started up the engine quickly backing out of the driveway. The tires spun smoking on the road leaving black marks before gripping the pavement to propel forward. Around thirty minutes later a ticket booth flew past for admission to Mustang Pass. Apparently Dan recalled which campsite to head to as he made a tight left turn at a fork in the road. Three
Fallen
stood in the direct path of the oncoming vehicle getting plowed down before they had a moment to react. Further ahead they found Amy’s car off the side of the road. It appeared that she had quickly veered off the road to avoid something as the front end was wrapped around a tree. A hasty inspection showed that the air bags had deployed and the driver’s side window was shattered from the inside out. A few bullet casings lay around a
Fallen
near the driver’s side of the car. Footprint indentations on the somewhat muddy surface appeared to be a female headed off in the direction of the campsite. Luckily the snow had finally melted few days ago. She would be a lot harder to track otherwise. The group followed the footprints through a wooded area which led to a large black tent.
“That’s Paw’s tent! Amy! Are you here?” Kurt yelled out having to be quieted by his other brothers so that he did not attract
Fallen
.
Sam quickly thrust his head inside the tent momentarily before whispering that she wasn’t here. A quiet sound almost sounding like a voice came from the East woods. Jessie silenced the others listening intently. An exasperated low voice barely audible whispered the word ‘help’ carrying to Jessie’s ears alone. Jessie took off into the woods leaving the men confused for a moment before heading after her. Jessie stopped a few minutes later bending down to examine drops of blood which led over to a tree. There were large male footprints that circled around the tree then headed back off in the direction they had originally come from. Jessie immediately made the connection looking up into the tree. Among the branches lay a woman with one of her arms dangling loosely. The brother finally caught up winded from running.
“She’s in the tree. Doesn’t look like she has the strength to make her way down. One of us is going to have to go up and get her.”
The other looked up in surprise at finding Amy. They were elated yet stood around pondering what she was doing in the tree. It was obvious they were not accustomed to the art of tree climbing likely do to their large builds.
“Okay I’ll do it. One of you give me a lift to reach that branch below her.”
Sam gripped his hands together lifting once Jessie had her foot between them. She pulled herself up into a sitting position on the branch then carefully stood while bracing herself against the trunk. She was barely able to get her reach high enough to get her arms under Amy. She lifted her pivoting while leaning her back against the tree. She called down to the other below that they were going to have to catch Amy so she wouldn’t get injured from the fall. They lined up directly below with their arms slightly lifted.
“Seriously guys be ready to catch her. On the count of three. One. Two. Three.” Jessie kneeled down as much as possible before letting her drop over the side of the branch precisely aiming towards their outstretched arms as best she could. Kurt and Dan caught her in their arms. Apparently years of playing football finally paid off. “Sam give me a hand down from here.” Jessie let herself hang from the branch gently resting her feet on Sam’s shoulders who was now standing under her. He reached up gripping her waist easing her to the ground.
“Don’t talk Amy. Let’s get you back to the van so I can look you over,” Dan said.
Amy’s eyes were open and she smiled at the sight of her brothers. Kurt repositioned Amy in his arms to carry her. “Jessie. Sam. Watch our backs. I’ll take the lead.” Dan slung Kurt’s gun that had fallen to the ground over his shoulder as he moved to the front. Jessie and Sam took up position at the rear.
Just passing the tent noise came from different directions. They all stopped taking up a defensive circle around Kurt who was holding Amy. A moment later eight
Fallen
came out of nowhere. Bullets flew as the three fired off in a relentless effort to keep them from getting too close. The group exhaled relief as the guns became silent. They quickly picked up the pace in case more
Fallen
might be drawn to the sound of the gun fire. Traversing the last part of the short walk was uneventful. Sam laid down a few of the seats in the vans to make room for Dan to give Amy a fast look over.
“I’m no doctor but know enough to say she is only suffering from dehydration and maybe a cold. There are no bite marks but she cut her arm up a little bit climbing up the tree probably. I’ll have her right as rain in a couple days.”
I cleared the rest of the cabins in that neighborhood the following day. Ended up killing another five
Fallen
in the process. I still had plenty of ammo but noticeably less. There was also the fact that if the other came with the intention of staying here indefinitely that we were going to need more ammunition to protect ourselves. Eventually we would run short even if I could find more with so many
Fallen
out there but we would handle that situation when the time came. I searched the phone book for gun stores finding three that were nearby. They would be my first destinations in the morning. I ate stew straight from the can being too hungry to attempt to heat it up. Exhausted I easily fell asleep without an issue.
After a long nights rest I headed off to explore the gun shops. The first two were a bust being broken into and cleaned out. The last one called Roberts’s Hunting Emporium astonished me on arrival. I was bewildered to find steel bars incasing all the windows and a solid metal overhead door completely covering the entrance to the front of the store. Breaking in was going to be a feat that would require a lot of work and the right tools. Parking the RV I glanced in the driver’s side mirror noticing there was an automotive shop across the street. The main door to the business was wide open. As I speculated the possibility of there being a torch handy at the shop I saw two
Fallen
wearing mechanic uniforms streak out of the open doorway. I dropped the key to the ignition into the floorboard. Within seconds they came up on the RV. One attempted to break into the rear side door which was laughable since I had reinforced it with a steel bar and multiple locks years ago being paranoid someone would break in while I was soundly sleeping. The other
Fallen
pulled himself up onto the hood intently gawking inside at what it assumed would be its next meal. It banged on the glass extremely hard making small cracks that were rapidly spreading. A gun shot was fired off from somewhere outside. The creature on the hood slumped over falling off after losing a large chunk of its skull. A second shot rang out dropping the other
Fallen
a second later. Not positive they were completely dead I waited a minute before opening my door.
“Hello? Not sure who just saved my bacon, but it is much appreciated.”
“Up here son. You are more than welcome. The names Jerod Wilkins. I’m Robert’s father, proprietor of this here shop.”
Looking up I saw an elderly black gentleman with white hair staring down at me. He held a sniper rifle at the ready and was obviously a damn fine shot with it.
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance Jerod. You can call me Rye, short for Ryan. Is Robert around? Have some business I would like to discuss with the both of you.”
“Sad to say I had to put him down a few days ago.” The jubilant smile he had been expressing quickly faded away.” What kind of business you have in mind? I take it that you came to a gun shop because you need a gun or some ammunition right?”
“Well, yes and no. You think we might talk in person. It’s kind of awkward talking up to you. Plus I don’t completely feel safe from whatever may still be lurking around down here even with you being a crack shot. I promise not to have any weapons present or cause any trouble.”
His smile found its way back “Sounds like you’re pretty good at negotiating. Better put on my bargaining hat before you come up.” He stepped out of sight for a moment. When he returned he was wearing a dark brown cowboy hat with what appeared to be a gold Texas Ranger’s badge on the front. He tossed down a rope ladder for me to climb up.
At the top of the ladder he gave reached out his hand. He grasped my outstretched hand with a tight grip pulling me the rest of the way up. I was now the one smiling. “Quite the bargaining hat if I ever saw one. How many years did you serve?”
“Twenty years with the Rangers. Not much I haven’t seen. Well, that is until this plague came along anyway. Would you like some tea while we discuss business?”
“Tea would be wonderful! Don’t suppose you have any sugar?”
“Of course, it’s not tea without sugar unless you’re diabetic of course.” Jerod pulled out two cups and a box of sugar cubes which he dumped the entire contents into the pitcher of nearby tea. He stirred it thoroughly before pouring each of us a cup which we both gulped down enthusiastically. “So what did you mean earlier by yes and no? Usually it’s one or the other.”
“Truth be told I currently have plenty of guns and ammunition to get by for a while. However it is always best to be prepared for the worst. Although I could probably eventually find another gun shop that hasn’t been completely looted finding supplies for free, I would prefer to deal with another human when the chance allows. It is after all a rare thing these days. Plus it honestly still feels like stealing to me even though no one else is around to assert claim to nearly anything.”
“You kind of make it hard to bargain when I can’t match free prices. I’m sure we can come to some kind of fair arrangement by bartering perhaps. Getting supplies without having to deal with those things up close would be a definite plus for me.”
“Actually sir I have another idea.”
“Sounds like you’re the one wearing the hat,” he laughed momentarily. “Go on I’m listening.”
“I own a cabin not far from here. Last couple days I cleared and somewhat secured a neighborhood about a quarter mile from my place. I’m sure you likely have your own dwelling somewhere about town. However, I am proposing that you transfer yourself and things to one of the eight cabins in the neighborhood I cleared. They are prime real estate which you would have first pick from. Let’s just say I have a feeling it is going to be a lively neighborhood.”
“That does sound like an equivalent exchange of goods, but like you say I do have my own place. Of course it might be nice to have a friendly neighbor. I have been truthfully considering relocating. It’s a little difficult seeing all the reminders of my son at home since I moved in with him a couple years ago. I have actually been sleeping here on a sofa in the office since he passed away.”
“Sorry about your son Jerod. We’ve all lost loved ones recently. As far as friendly neighbors I’m hoping that a few people I ran across will be joining up soon. If you would like we can go check out the cabins just to see what you think. Might get your mind off things for a while.”
“Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt. Providing your friends show up I suppose the massive collection of guns, knives, crossbows, and other weapons would definitely make preparations a little easier for a group of people. Glad to hear that there are still others out there. Are they here in Ruidoso also?”
“Not sure if there are others survivors here but hope to find more. The individuals I met were back in Texas where my main residence is. I decided this would be a perfect place to settle in even before my wife came down with the Black Death.”
“Now it’s my turn to say sorry. That had to be harder to deal with than I can imagine. Perhaps we were meant to cross paths in this screwed up world since I was finding it difficult to go on living thinking I might be the last person on Earth not among the
Fallen
.”
I nodded my head not quite sure what to say in response. “There were three brothers who I became pretty close to even though we only spent an entire day together if you can imagine that. They helped me get meds for my wife. They lost a fourth brother from a serial killer while we were getting supplies at a hardware store. Both my wife and their brother are buried near each other on my property. Anyway, they had to make a trip to Colorado to see if any of their other family made it or not. I feel really bad about not doing the same for my siblings who all live in different states but to be honest I lost contact with most of them after it all began and I presumed the worst. Dan and his brothers sounded pretty sincere about coming this way after they made the trip to Colorado. Their good folks who hopefully should be here within a week I’m guessing if they didn’t run across any problems.”
“You know what? I think you alleviated any uncertainties I may have had. You realize that it is going to be a lot of work loading up the entire shop and a few things at my son’s house right? Between your RV and my old pickup we might still have to make a few trips.”
We talked a little more up on the rooftop. Afterwards we descended down an access hatch into the store. Unlocking the overhead door to the entrance we began loading up t
he RV with everything we could.
