Running Away - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 4) (7 page)

T
he small town
was in shambles. Some of the houses were still intact but many of them looked as though they were falling apart piece by piece. The destruction had probably been due to the storms since the buildings appeared to have been in this condition for some time. The older buildings probably hadn’t been built to survive the devastating storms.

Then again, the storms that had come through around here must not have been as strong as the ones that had gone through North Dakota. If they had been, there would have been nothing left. The tornadoes would have ripped this little town to shreds.

We went inside the gas station and no one was surprised to see that it had been cleaned out. Even the expired stuff that sometimes remained wasn’t sitting on the shelves.

“Let’s check in the back,” Penn said nodding towards the door that would likely lead towards the offices and storage areas. Dean followed him through a rickety white door with a small window near the top.

I made my way over to the main window and looked out over the area that had once been a parking lot. It seemed like someone should keep watch… just in case.

They returned after a couple minutes. Dean caught my eye and shook his head. I knew they hadn’t found anything. He stood next to me and put his arm around my shoulders.

“We’ll find something here,” he said trying to sound confident.

“Maybe,” I said, feeling far less confident. It wasn’t a very big town.

“Let’s get out of here,” Penn said walking past me and out the front door. He kept his hand on the handle of his gun even though there wasn’t anyone out there.

“I think we’ll have better luck searching the houses,” Dean said nodding down the deserted street.

My clothes were itchy from being wet with the river water and then having dried while I wore them, but I didn’t care about finding new clothes as much as I did finding water. And something to eat that would be better and more filling than wild spinach.

One of the houses had to have something. Anything. And if we couldn’t find food or water, maybe we could find a car with a full tank of gas. Then we could just drive until we found something.

We started walking down the road and carefully went inside the first house on the first block we came upon. It had been completely stripped of anything that might have been useful. There wasn’t anything left inside, those who’d come through had even destroyed the furniture.

“Not even a pot,” I said opening the kitchen cabinets.

“Come on,” Penn said throwing a piece of wood from the counter onto the floor. “There are other houses.”

“What if they are all like this?” Sienna said hugging herself as if she was cold.

We left and continued walking down the block checking houses. With each one we got more and more discouraged. Our feet moved slower as we made our way through the neighborhood having found nothing we could use.

At the very least we’d be able to find a shelter, but we needed food and water. We really needed water. With all the walking we did, it didn’t take long to feel in my mouth and throat how badly we needed the water.

“I’m so tired,” Sienna said hanging her head forward.

“Me too,” Alice mumbled as if she was afraid her opinion wouldn’t matter. I glanced at her at the same time Carter did and I wondered if he noticed that she looked even more pale. He probably noticed every change even before I did, since he knew her far better than I.

Penn nodded and instead of turning towards the next closest house, he pointed to a house down the road. It was a bit separated from the city and surrounded by mostly dead trees and shrubbery.

“That one… over there,” Penn said as he turned to lead the way. He climbed up the steps to the two-story house and looked around the area before he opened the creaky door.

“Why are you picking the haunted one?” I said trying to make a joke, but the house did have a somewhat eerie feeling.

“Because no one else is going to go to the haunted house,” Penn said with a half-smile.

The house was encircled by the trees but they didn’t provide much cover. If they’d been covered in green leaves, it would have been much more isolated. It would have been nicer to find somewhere more hidden because even though we hadn’t seen the road pirates, or resistance, that didn’t mean they weren’t around. We couldn’t afford to let our guard down.

I stepped inside the house after Penn and Dean. At first glance I could tell the house had been gone through, but it wasn’t in quite the same condition the others had been in. Cabinet doors hadn’t been ripped off their hinges and the owner’s personal effects hadn’t been strewn about.

It seemed as though most of the furniture had been taken, although the sofa remained. Whoever took them didn’t want to bother carrying or hauling a large sofa. I wondered how close whoever had taken them was. Maybe they were just down the road in a house we hadn’t gone inside, but maybe they were miles and miles away.

Dean, Penn and I looked upstairs while the others remained on the first floor. They were looking through the kitchen for things we could use while we continued through the house making sure it was empty.

There were two bedrooms upstairs. In the first there was a child’s dresser, each drawer had been opened, and the clothing scattered around. The sheets had been pulled off of the mattress that was hanging halfway off of the box-spring.

In the next room the mattress was laying on the floor near the door. It appeared as though someone had tried to take it, but they gave up when it was either too heavy or they were having too much trouble getting it out of the bedroom door.

“Help me with this,” Penn said, and Dean helped him put the mattress back on top of the box-spring.

“Why bother?” I said shrugging as I looked inside the dresser doors. If there had been clothing in the dresser drawer, they had been emptied. I guess I wasn’t the only one out there looking for clean clothing.

There was probably two hundred dollars in twenty dollar bills scattered about inside the top dresser drawer. I found it somewhat amusing that money was completely useless. Someone would rather have clothing than two hundred dollars.

I opened the closet door and found clothes still hanging inside. Whoever had been in here had forgotten to check the closet, or maybe they had been in a hurry. Whatever the reason, I’d hopefully be able to find a change of clothing.

I moved things around looking to see if anything had been left behind that we could use. There was a large gaudy hat, a few belts with big buckles and a shoe box hidden behind a pile of books.

I slowly removed the lid of the shoe box like I was afraid it might explode if I moved too quickly. I grinned when I realized what I was looking at.

It was a box full with about twenty candy bars packed neatly inside, and every single one of them was calling out to me. My mouth started to water. They most certainly weren’t nutritious, but it was something. It wasn’t just something, it was chocolate.

“You aren’t going to believe this,” I said trying to hide my excitement.

“What is it?” Penn said turning his head sharply as if he was afraid I’d found a poisonous snake.

I turned around and showed them the stockpile of candy bars. Dean smiled and took several quick steps towards me. He looked inside the box and ran his fingers over the slick wrappers. It was like he had to touch them to believe they were real.

“Hopefully, they found other things downstairs,” Penn said as he gestured towards the door.

“What’s better than chocolate?” I joked to Dean when Penn was out of earshot. Or at least I thought he had been.

“Food,” Penn said over his shoulder. “Like actual real food.”

“I don’t remember what that is anymore,” I said holding my candy bar box against my chest.

When we got downstairs, I was hoping to see a big pile of canned or prepackaged goods laid out on the table, but there wasn’t. There was a can of chicken noodle soup and a box of dried noodles. I set down the shoe box without telling Sienna, Alice and Carter what was inside. If I told them I wasn’t sure they’d wait until we figured out how we were going to ration out the few things that had been gathered.

Penn sighed as he opened a small door that led to the garage. I followed him out and crossed my fingers that we’d find a working car, but I wasn’t surprised when there wasn’t one waiting for us. All that was in the garage were molding two-by-fours, a bike with two flat tires and other random garage junk.

“Hey! A grill,” Carter said as he started moving towards it as if he was going to grill us up some steaks. Maybe he was imagining the fish or other wild animals we could cook on top of it, if we had any.

He took about four steps before he tripped over a board and fell. Carter stumbled towards the garage’s side wall. His hand stretched out and he mostly caught himself, but stepped on a tarp which slipped down and revealed a beautiful sight.

Sitting there on the floor were two giant jugs of water. They were huge containers, the kind you put in water dispensers, but that didn’t matter. They were filled with water, that’s what mattered.

Penn smiled, “I think I could kiss you right now.”

“You don’t have to,” Carter said as his lips curled upwards. He knelt down and examined the top of one of the jugs. “Was there one of those things inside to put this on?”

“Hmm… I didn’t see one,” Penn said hovering over Carter’s shoulder. “We don’t need one. Get some cups.”

I ran to the kitchen and looked through the cabinets for something we could drink out of. Everything had been taken except for a single hard water stained plastic cup that had a crack in it. It would have to do.

When I went back inside the garage, they were all staring at me. They didn’t look thrilled when they saw me standing there with a single cup. I shrugged, “It was all that was left.”

I handed it to Penn who held the cup while Dean and Carter tried to carefully fill it with water. They had trouble pouring the water at first. It all spilled out around the cup until they figured out how to manage the large jug. We all looked at the filled cup as if it was sacred.

“Go get Sienna and Alice,” Penn said as he lifted the cup and placed it against his lips. He closed his eyes as he slowly drank the water. His slow sips quickly turned into big gulps and in seconds he had the cup back on the garage floor waiting to be refilled. Dean and Carter worked to fill it, spilling less this time than they had the first time.

I was grinning from ear to ear as I practically danced back inside the house to get Sienna and Alice. They weren’t in the kitchen so I went towards the living room calling out for them.

“We’re in here,” Sienna said as I turned the corner. Alice was laying down on the sofa hugging her knees loosely up towards her chest. Sienna was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed looking down at her fingers. She looked up at me, “I wish we had some medicine for her.”

“Me too, but we did find water,” I said, but my smile faded. Alice started coughing, and I watched her body jerk forward with each one. She didn’t bother to cover her mouth. It seemed as though she didn’t have the energy, or maybe she had just forgotten. “I’ll get her some water.”

I dashed back out to the garage and I could tell by the looks on their faces that they’d all already had taken their turn at the drinking cup. Penn handed me the full cup, and I was about to take it to Alice when I stopped and drank from the uncontaminated cup.

“Alice needs water,” I said taking a small break, “but we can’t share a cup… can we? I mean we shouldn’t, right?”

Penn glanced at Carter as if he might have the answer. Carter shrugged, “I’ve been around her this long and still haven’t caught the cold.”

“Yes,” Dean said, and I knew he was thinking about Sienna’s well-being. “Bring Sienna a drink first, then come back for more. Maybe we can find something in here we can use for Alice.”

The boys started looking around the garage and I left to bring Sienna her water. I told Alice I’d bring hers next. She blinked weakly at me and I was pretty sure she knew why she would be drinking last.

When I went back out to the garage, they had found and cleaned out an old coffee mug. It was filled and ready for me to bring to Alice. I rushed it back inside and helped her drink.

“I just need to catch up on rest, and then I’ll be fine,” she said giving up the fight to keep her eyes open.

“Ok,” I said and set the mug down on the floor next to the sofa. They boys were noisily hauling the water jug inside, but their racket didn’t seem to bother her in the least.

After we each had a drink from the canned soup and a candy bar, we took turns looking through the upstairs closet for anything that we could change into. I exchanged my shirt for a clean one, but there weren’t any pants that would fit me so I had to keep the stiff, itchy pair I’d worn for far too long.

“We should probably all stay upstairs,” Penn said as he walked from window to window scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary. “I think it’ll be safer.”

“But she’s asleep,” Carter said and I could tell he didn’t want to disturb her. She needed her rest.

“Can you carry her? It’ll be safer up there for all of us,” Penn said without looking away from the front window.

Carter didn’t answer but bent down and scooped her up off of the bed and headed upstairs. I followed as Penn and Dean went through the downstairs checking to make sure all the doors and windows were locked. After a few minutes I heard them stomping up the steps. They were working together to bring the water jug upstairs. Sienna followed them carrying the cups.

Carter had lowered Alice onto the smaller bed. He stood in the doorway as if blocking our entrance into the room. She moaned and then rolled over onto her other side.

“Come in here with us… let her rest,” Sienna said lightly tugging on his sleeve. “She’ll be OK in there. If anyone came up inside we’d hear them.”

Carter glanced back at his sister and then followed Sienna into the larger bedroom. It was obvious how much he cared about his sister. Just like Dean and Sienna.