Rise of the Prepper: A Story of the Coming Collapse (11 page)

"Sure, I accept." Seth said.

And with that, the town leaders wrapped up the meeting and the Frontier Justice was born.

Chapter Fifteen: The Attacker

              Amelia and Liz were on the road. They were traveling east on Highway 20. After they left Church's Chicken, Amelia found an auto repair shop. It was abandoned, like so many of the other establishments these days. Owners must have died. She found a maroon Nissan that looked to be in good condition in the shop. With a bit of tweaking and twisting, she was able to make the car roar to life. Storing some gas and tools in the back, she and Liz drove away. There weren't any deli shops or convenience stores nearby so Amelia decided to just wing it and drive to Virginia as per the original plan. They're bound to come across more shops later on, Amelia was sure.

Amelia kept her eyes on the lookout for any decent stores and didn't notice the bored look on Liz's face.

Thirty minutes more had passed and Liz couldn't handle the silence anymore. Boredom was bad. When you're bored, the mind tends to go to places you don't want to be at. Misery is at its loudest when all is quiet.

Liz fidgeted in her seat. She needed to do something--anything--to distract her from the thoughts pushing their way into her head. She can't handle them right now.

"How were you able to fight against those big guys back there?" Liz suddenly asked.

"What?"

"You're a girl yet you were able to defeat four men even though they were so much bigger and stronger than you. How were you able to do that?" Liz asked.

"Hm, I guess that's because I'm smarter and better at fighting than they were." Amelia answered.             

Liz frowned. "How can you be better at fighting? You don't look strong."                           

Amelia sent her a sideways glance and smirked. "Girl, strength is not measured by how tough you look. You don't win a fight by having dragon tattoos all over your body or having bulging muscles and twelve pack abs. True strength—the kind of strength that makes you win fights—is found here," Amelia pointed at her head. "And here." She finished, pointing at her chest.             

"To be smart enough to read your opponent and strike when it matters and to be courageous enough and not get scared no matter how many people you're facing or how dangerous the situation is. That right there is what will help you win a fight, not how you look."

Liz shot Amelia a doubtful look.

Amelia sighed. “Look, I may not look it but I did go to prison, in case you forgot. I'm not exactly weak, Liz. What brought this up anyway?"

"No reason. I just wanted to make small talk." Liz shrugged.

Liz twisted to her side, staring out of her window. She could see endless open fields filled with grass and the occasional tree. The sun was bright in the sky, and her cheek stung a little from its warmth. It was a beautiful day. She remembered spending days like this traveling with her family. They'd go to the mountains or to some resort. She'd stay at the back seat and watch as her parents smiled at each other and held hands. Liz remembered feeling so happy then.

But her dad died a few days ago. He succumbed to the virus. Not wanting her only daughter to get infected, Liz's mom ordered for her to be brought to Virginia. She thought happiness lasted forever. She knew now how naive she had been.

The car passed through an intersection. There were buildings around and cars littered the streets. They have entered a town.

Liz spotted a car, its Windows were rolled down. Something was moving inside.

She perked up. What if there was still someone there? She rolled down her window, thinking to call out to whoever was in the car.

As their car passed by it, Liz was hit by a sickening smell and in the car, what she thought was a person moving, was in reality a big black bird pecking at the flesh on the corpse's face. The bird gawked at her. Liz felt sick.

Overcome by a wave of nausea, she hurriedly rolled her window back up and turned to Amelia. "I need to use a bathroom."

"Need to pee?"

"Uh, yeah. Please hurry up. I don't think I can hold it in much longer."

"Whoa, there. Okay. Luckily, we're in a town now. I'll stop by someplace with a bathroom real soon so just keep it in for now." Amelia said and stepped on the gas.

Five minutes later, Amelia stopped at a defunct McDonald's.

Liz got out of the car as soon as Amelia had finished parking it. She ran inside the store and headed straight for the bathroom.

Her nausea peaked and she vomited into the sink. She vomited until she could vomit no more and was just dry heaving bile. She turned on the faucet and washed away the taste of vomit. Feeling a little bit better, she looked at the cubicles behind her through the mirror.
Might as well.
She was here already anyway.

Just as soon as Liz entered a cubicle, Amelia burst into the bathroom.

"Whew, I think we just hit up a good town. I saw a convenience store and even a shopping mall a few miles away. Hey, Liz, are you done peeing?" Amelia said.

"No, I just got in and please stop saying ‘peeing’ all the time. It’s gross."

"What do you mean, gross? It’s a normal physiological human function. Everybody pees." Amelia said. Liz made a disgruntled noise of disgust and Amelia grinned.
Ah, she’s too prim and proper.
She looked around the bathroom and figured she should probably also do her business. "Hm. I might as well. Who knows how long 'til we find another bathroom." Amelia murmured to herself.

Amelia got into a cubicle too and emptied her bladder. While there, she started thinking about what things they would need for their travel. She didn't want to spend too much time in this town. They needed to be on the move and reach Virginia as quickly as they could. It would be better for her if she could drop Liz there with her mom so she could plan out her next moves.

Amelia finished and absentmindedly reached for the tissue--except there was none. Snapping out of her thoughts, Amelia discovered that there was no tissue left save for the bar. "Crap." She mumbled. "Liz, can you give me some tissue? Liz?" Amelia called out. But Liz didn't answer back. She probably got too absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear Liz finish up and get out of the bathroom.
Ah, now what?
Amelia thought.

*****

Liz got out of the McDonald’s store and decided to explore the vicinity. She didn’t plan on straying too far, she just wanted to see what kind of buildings or stores were around. She badly wanted to change her dress. The blood that got spilled on it had dried up and no matter how much she washed it away with water, the stains wouldn’t completely go away—and so did the smell. Feeling another of wave of nausea rise up her throat, she shook the thought out of her mind. She rubbed her upset stomach and went to the building next door. It seemed to be a complex. It was two stories high and there were about three different establishments on each floor. Liz briefly wondered if there might be a clothing boutique there.

As she was walking over to the building, a sudden, acute sense of being followed assaulted her. She tried to ignore it at first, thinking that maybe she was just being paranoid but she heard the shuffling of feet behind her and she couldn’t take it any longer, she turned around.

*****

“Liz! Why didn’t you wait for me? I ran out of tissue and seriously questioned my life choices.” Amelia called out as she got out of the bathroom. She looked up and found that Liz was not in the store. Frowning, she stepped out of the store and scanned the vicinity. Holding a hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun, she looked around for Liz. She couldn’t see the girl anywhere however. “Just where did she go?” Amelia said, putting a hand on one hip.

A loud scream caught Amelia’s attention. Her first thought was that maybe Liz was in trouble. There are a lot of dangerous people around nowadays. One of them could have gotten their hands on her.

              Amelia rushed over to where the scream came from. “Liz!” She yelled.

              “Amelia! Hel—mph!” Liz cried but a hand clamped over her mouth.

              “Let go of her right now!” Amelia yelled at the guy.

              He turned to Amelia with bloodshot eyes. “She’s my daughter! I’m taking her home with me!” He said frantically.

              Amelia glared at the man holding Liz. He had one arm locked around her while his other hand covered Liz’s mouth to stop her from screaming. He was a scruffy middle-aged man who obviously did not look related to Liz at all.

              “Look, man, let the girl go or you will regret it. I swear.” Amelia said, bringing out her revolver. She cocked the gun and pointed it at him. “I won’t say it twice.”

              The guy looked at gun fearfully but he was torn between wanting to drag Liz to wherever the hell he came from and self-preservation. Self-preservation won in the end. He let go of Liz and the young girl stumbled on the ground.

              “Lisa, come home with daddy.” He implored, hands outstretched towards the frightened girl.

              Liz cried and ran to Amelia. Amelia hugged Liz to her. “Get out of here, you freaking pedophile.”

              There was no mistaking the threat in Amelia’s glare. The dirty old man scurried away from the place.

              “Are you okay?” Amelia asked Liz. The poor girl was shaking badly. Amelia sighed. “Seriously. What is it with you and old dudes making you hostage?” Liz only sobbed harder. Amelia sighed once more. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.” She said, bringing the girl to her feet and leading her to their car.

              The duo was back on the road. The car was still and quiet. Amelia glanced at Liz who was munching lifelessly on a chocolate bar.

              “How are you feeling?” Amelia asked. Liz appeared to not have heard her. Biting her lip, Amelia decided to try again with something different.

              “Hey, what do you say we find some clothes? I don’t usually wear girly stuff but I’ll let you dress me up, if you want.” Amelia said, smiling. “What do you think?”

              Liz finally responded. She moved her head in a tiny nod.

              Oh, well. That’s good enough.
Amelia drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. Poor kid. She felt sorry for Liz. No girl her age should go through the things she just did in less than twenty-four hours, at that. She just hoped that nothing bad happened anymore.

              Just as she thought that, the car halted to a stop. Amelia tried to turn on the car but it wouldn’t budge anymore. “Oh, c’mon!”

              Amelia rested her head against the steering wheel and huffed in frustration.
Dear God, what is with this day?
It’s just one misfortune after another. Amelia looked over at Liz who looked back at her with a look that says, “Oh, no. Not again.”

             
Shit
, Amelia thought.
Okay, calm down.
She could try to fix the car and if that didn’t work, there might be another car around they could use.

              Amelia got out of the car and went to the trunk to collect the tools she found earlier. She was searching for the tools when she heard a low growl come from somewhere behind her. Amelia turned her head around and saw three huge, hungry,
wild
dogs. They had this crazy look in their eyes and drool hung from their mouths.
Uh-oh.

              Amelia slowly backed away, not taking her eyes off them. The dogs likewise, stalked her, coming closer. As soon as Amelia got hold of the handle a car door, she opened it and swiftly jumped inside the car and shut it firmly close.

              The dogs ran toward the car, barking incessantly. They growled and howled, wildly jumping in through the open windows. Liz screamed and Amelia told her to duck. Liz curved herself into a ball, holding both hands over her ears to block out the menacing growls of the dogs outside.

              Amelia got her revolver out and shot one dog that had managed to reach in through an open window and pawed at Liz. The dog fell away lifeless. The other dogs only got angrier and more aggressive rather than getting scared.

              Amelia felt sorry for the dogs but when the animals got that way, they were no longer the cute, fluffy best friend of man—they were killers who would gladly eat your face off.

              She kicked one dog in the face and opened the door to her side. Taking advantage of the dog’s momentary loss of balance, she shot it in the head.

              The last dog finally seemed to realize that it had absolutely no chance of eating the humans and turned tail. Amelia commended it for its wise decision.

              Putting both hands on her hips, Amelia surveyed the carnage. She was sure she was going to hell for this. But some things are more important right now—her survival, Liz’s survival. The moment she stopped trying, they’ll both end up dead like those dogs and those guys from before.

              Amelia spotted a pickup not too far away.
And so it continues
.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: FOUR CONVICTS DOWN

Seth stayed in Boone as the head of the newly formed Frontier Justice. The group busied itself with patrolling the town and ensuring everyone's safety after the expedition group to Atlanta had left.

It had been a few days since the meeting with the townspeople. There had been a couple of raider sightings. They looted some houses but they were easily dealt with. For some reason, there seemed to be fewer raiders around. Seth wondered if they had left the city. Maybe they realized just how tough the town was and made them think twice about staying and committing evil acts.

Seth and Brodie were out on a walk one night. Seth couldn't sleep so he thought that maybe a walk out in town might help take his mind off the things that were making sleep impossible.