Day One (Book 1): Alive (14 page)

I stopped and looked at her. “Doing what’s right.”

“Seriously?” she asked. “They just threatened to murder your daughter, who did absolutely nothing to them. Now you’re just going to let them live?”

“Wounded or not, if I shoot him now, it’s murder. And that’s not who I am,” I said to her with absolute conviction. “Yes! I am going to let them live, and you want to know why?” I said and started towards her. “Because they’re frightened out of their damn minds right now, injured and know without any doubt that I’m not playing. We won’t see them again… I guarantee it!”

“You’re damn right about that.” The Young Woman said and shot the Male in the face.

I almost jumped out of my skin when she fired. “Why the hell did you do that?” I shouted.

“Take a good look around. Do you see those people right there, the ones that were armed!” she pointed to them. “This is not the world we use to know, and I don’t know how many times I have to remind you of that! There’s no more justice to prevail unless you make it yourself! These fucking people would have killed both of us, including your daughter and stolen everything we have! That’s all they care about – themselves! Life doesn’t mean shit to them unless it’s their own, so don’t forget that. Don’t
ever
forget that!” She walked away from me and went to each of the bodies and ensured they were dead. I watched horrified as she fired into their heads. I held in my hands the power to stop her, although a part of me knew she was right. The part of me that was still trying to make sense of things and remain civilized was the part that I couldn’t let go of. It was the part that was in the way.

I stood there feeling like an accessory to murder and a victim all at the same time. I was scared of her and would have taken Kember and left if it wasn’t for my fear of her retaliating against my actions, or the massive evil world just past the trees that secluded us. She was aggressive and that aided in their safety and survival, although it also made her unstable and if I ever found myself in a full blown argument with her about the slightest thing, I could be sure that murder would be her way of solving the problem. So for the moment I’d coexist with her until something better came along.

I wondered how long that would last though.

Only time would tell.

An hour later we sat around a shabby little table with empty plates. We drank powdered drinks from cleaned carrot cans, neither of us saying a word. The silence was mortally awkward and I kept finding myself looking at the Young Woman, as if she was about to explain her earlier actions. She wouldn’t bring herself to capture my gaze; instead she finished her drink and left the container.

More rain moved in and as I lay upon the couch watching my Daughter sleep soundly, my mind wondered to the Young Woman in the next container. I didn’t even know her name, yet that hadn’t stopped her from saving our lives. She had opened her home to us without any questions – never posting any rules we must abide by in order to stay – allowing us to use her supplies of food and water without any gain or contribution. She had even given up her couch for us and not once could I remember if I had thanked her for what she had done. I felt like a horse’s ass for the way I had reacted, but my morals held me in contempt and no matter how bad I wanted to go against them, I could not bring myself to kill another human being, especially when they were just trying to survive like we were. She on the other hand had no problem doing it. How?

What had she been forced to endure that made her so cold?

How was she able to kill at a moment’s notice and sleep peacefully through the night? I rolled over and watched Kember settle into a comfortable position before loudly snoring again and tried for twenty minutes to put the questions out of my mind and sleep. It didn’t work so I got up and decided to go and speak to her…
if
she was awake?

She wasn’t in the next container and as far as I knew I hadn’t passed her anywhere, as I moved through the abode in silence. I looked everywhere and was unable to locate her. There wasn’t a need to be concerned, as she was more than capable of taking care of herself, yet I was still drawn to find out where she had gone. I had a gut feeling that she was up to something – not bad, just up to something. And in the far container, the one I had awoke to find myself; there was a ladder in the far wall and a hatch above. It would explain how she was able to get outside earlier and deal with those that were a threat without making any noise.

Outside I cautiously moved to a nearby tree and huddled there a few moments, listening to the sounds of the night and trying to get a distinct possible direction to which she might have went. Everything looked the same to me and I could see how easy it must be for someone to get lost in the woods. In that situation, however, there weren’t any monsters looking for you, just utter darkness and the occasional wild animal. No mountain lions or bears, at least I had been told that through the years. Now whether that was true or not, I guess I was about to find out.

Movement sixty feet away pulled my attention from my malingering thoughts of animals and I strained in the moonless night to see who it was. From what I could see, it appeared to be the Young Woman and I hurried quietly in her direction, blindly running into the unknown. Kember was safe and sound, locked behind bulletproof doors, under warm blankets and sound asleep. There was no other place on the earth where she would be safer. Even in the event that she woke up, there’s was nothing she could do to endanger herself, which made me breath easier.

I disappeared into the nearby woods, unarmed and curious – thoughts about my safety blew carelessly with the wind. If anything were to take place, the Young Woman would be armed and could deal with the threat before I even realized one was happening. That could be taken as reckless disregard, and it was on my part. Hey, I never said I was the coldest beer in the refrigerator, now did I?

She was dangerous and there was no doubt in my mind about that, however, there was also a strong connection that drew me to her, persuading me to negate her short comings and moral issues, which made her who she was. Without such traits, we might both be dead already.

Moments later, the Young Woman emerged from the wood line to the right of the containers and calmly surveyed the woods in front of her. She had heard the sound of someone moving through the dense underbrush and she lowered herself toward the ground and continued to scan for the maker of noises. As the minutes seemed to tick by, she was sure that whoever had made the noise was far gone, probably passing through the area and brain-dead to the fact that the containers held anyone alive or would offer up any kind of a meal. She made her way back inside and out of the cool wind.

I skirted through the dark woods slowly, placing each foot with half the pressure before resting my full body weight upon it, making sure than no sound other than what I wanted traveled in any one direction too far. That way I was sure not to be heard on my quest to find out what the Young Woman was up to. The darkness made it hard to define the layout of the ground and a few times I stepped up, thinking the ground was rising, when in fact it was dropping and I had to grab the trunk of a tree to keep from spilling onto the ground and alerting her to my presence, or any of those brain-dead things looking for a midnight snack.

Another storm was brewing in the east. Distant lightning flickered brightly and was followed by the joyous sound of thunder. If I was going to find her then I need to be quick or risk getting stuck in the woods under a pounding storm. That was the last place I wanted to be stranded in a downpour.

A dismal faint sound of footsteps cried out ahead of me and I stopped. I listened intently for their direction. Was she coming at me or going away? I was not a mountain man or anyone that knew anything at all about surviving off the land, tracking someone or evading capture. I was simply playing it all out in my head the best I could and going with what seemed logical. Unfortunately, logic played little to no real part in what I was doing. Knowledge, on the other hand, did. I moved another ten yards and hunkered close to the ground. A small embankment separated me from the growing sound of the footsteps, which I used as cover and crawled parallel to the ridge, giving no signs of my approach to her.

Thirteen feet from where I had gotten onto my stomach the ridge dropped level to the rest of the ground and I peered out at the loud footsteps and froze like a deer looking up to see a hunter’s barrel pointed directly at me and a smile across his face.

There only five feet away, shuffling about with no real direction was three of those things. Although they hadn’t spotted me, one of them turned in my direction and began sniffing the air. She was catching wisps of me somehow and it would only take a few more seconds before they knew exactly where I was. The need to run grabbed me like an unseen hand, it was persistent and strong and the more I tried to fend it off the heavier it weighed upon me. It was suffocating me, forcing the air from my lungs like a vice would do.

I was outnumbered three to one and those odds were not good, and then there was the fact that I wasn’t one hundred percent sure which way I needed to run, if that scenario played out in real life. If I went the wrong way they would eventually run me down, as they were already dead and were no longer bound by lung capacity or stamina. They could run, or walk, all night long and never break a sweat, where I would be lucky to run fifty feet before growing tired.

Stay and die or run and live… maybe.
My mind said quickly. There was no guarantee that I would be killed staying deathly still, as there was no guarantee either that running would save my life. I was at the mercy of chance… nothing more, nothing less.

A crack of several twigs from behind pulled my attention and I looked over my shoulder to see two more things emerge from a small clump of trees, headed straight for me. If they had not already spotted me, which I was certain of, then they would most likely step on me in a matter of seconds and that would be bad. I wouldn’t be dealing with three anymore, but would now be dealing with five. Those were extremely bad odds.

GO! Get up and go now before it’s too late!
My mind screamed and I instantly looked for a possible escape route in the midst of the sea of fear that was weighing me down and threatening to drown me. I had to break free of its grasp or else sink below the surface for the last time. With only seconds to spare before they were on me, I began to formulate a course of action, hoping I hadn’t chosen wrong.

On my feet once again, the two things that were almost on top of me where the first to give chase. They whined and hissed like animals, catching the attention of the other three, which deviated from a southern direction and gave chase also. I moved up and over the embankment, scurried under a few low branches, pushing the tearing limbs away from my face in order to see better. A stumble this early in the game would have dire, if not mortal, effects for me. I had to keep on my feet and as far ahead of them, as humanly possible.

I was thankful that they were not able to run any longer, although I was expecting that at first, but when they failed to move so swiftly, I wondered why they were suddenly so slow. I managed to get far enough ahead of them to lose sight in the limited darkness, yet I couldn’t slow down to see where they were, and continued onward as if the Devil himself were chasing me for my mortal soul.

A shallow clearing erupted from the constant trees and I felt a surge to push myself even harder. If I fell now I’d have more than enough time to recover, pick myself up and get back to running before they would get anywhere close. A feeling of arrogance began to form within me. A feeling that these things were no longer as dangerous and that living in fear of them constantly was a waste of time. I could easily outrun them and as long as I didn’t let myself get surrounded, I was perfectly safe.

Stupid bastards!

In the clearing I slowed to a stop and looked back into the darkness, but mainly to catch my breath. As my lungs pumped up and down, I could neither see nor hear them coming anymore and a smile swept across my face. I took a minute to get my bearings and have a look around, trying to make heads or tails out of the trees and landscape engulfing me; looking for the way I had come. Unfortunately, it had gotten darker since I first left and nothing looked familiar. I kept the smile anyway after losing the things. Seeing how I could outrun them now, being lost in the woods was no longer an idea that frightened me. If they couldn’t catch me, then being lost wasn’t so bad. I’d eventually luck up and find the right way back to the containers, hopefully before morning. So to me it was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. “It’s somewhere around here, I know it is. Just gotta find something that looks familiar.”

A noise called to me from the left and I looked to see a shadow moving in the darkness.

“I’ll outrun your ass as well!” I said confidently and looking ahead with hawk-like eyes, still searching for the elusive way back to the container. At the far end of the clearing, which was merely some ten or so feet away, I saw a deformed tree that somehow jogged my memory.

The smile increased.

I was moving again, as I was certain to be back on the warm couch in no time with all of this far behind me. I slipped on something and went down. The ground rushed up to blanket my fall with rocks and pain shot through my entire body. All time stopped and nothing registered but the pain, which was spreading quickly. The distance I had placed between myself and those things was swiftly closing, yet my thought of the supposed lead wasn’t as vast as I had predicted. As I lay there on the wet ground I could hear the footsteps growing and filling in all around him. Apparently there had been more than five. I couldn’t see any of them, but the sheer volume of their shuffling feet spoke to me without doubt. Their numbers quite possibly could be endless. I was but one person… one unarmed, stupid, risk taking, arrogant coward.