The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (33 page)

Something banged loudly against the roof at the same time the dull thud he associated with the doors sounded. Rochelle shot up like a jack in the box as she blinked rapidly at them. Al pressed his finger against his mouth as he hurried toward her. "Wha's goin' on?" she inquired, her voice thicker and slightly slurred.

"There are some ah… people here," Al hesitatingly told her.

The color drained from her face but she took hold of Al's hand and he helped her to her feet. Another thud sounded from the front of the building but the roof remained silent. "Maybe we should get in the cars," Rochelle suggested.

"We'll be trapped in the vehicles," Carl told her. "Less able to defend ourselves."

"But if they get the front door open we can drive out," John said. "Run them right over."

"If they don't open the front door we can't drive through it. The car wouldn't take it and we can't take the risk of damaging the truck. I don't think there's any more than three or four of them out there. So far they've had no luck with the front door and the rest of this building is pretty solid. We'll be fine," Carl said.

"Maybe Rochelle should get in the truck, just to be on the safe side," Al said.

Carl nodded and stepped back as Riley opened the passenger door of the truck. "It will be ok kid," John assured her when she hesitated.

Rochelle glanced over them before nodding and climbing into the truck. "Lock the doors," Riley told her before closing the door.

The reassuring click of the lock reached him at the same time the thudding at the front door became more incessant. John hurried toward the vehicles. Al grabbed hold of his arm and held him in place. "Wait."

"Wait? For what?" he demanded.

Al glanced at the roof and then the shadows surrounding them. "They're planning something," he breathed.

"How do you know that?"

"Because they're trying to draw us toward the front door, trying to distract us," Carl whispered.

John's pulse began to race; there was an odd taste in his mouth, one that he couldn't identify. It wasn't the taste that he associated as the predecessor to vomit, but something more primitive and instinctive. A part of him already knew what Carl had meant by that, the other part refused to believe it. "So?"

"So, they're already inside," Riley said.

CHAPTER 26

Mary Ellen

Sturbridge, Mass.

Xander stopped the car in front of a house that had seen far better days, probably just three days ago Mary Ellen realized. However, it was still standing which was more than she could say for about half the houses on the street. "Is this your grandmother's?" she asked.

Xander was silent before he shook his head. "No." He leaned over her to point at the crumpled remains of what she thought had been a Cape house. "
That
was my grandmother's."

Mary Ellen winced and shook her head. "She could have gotten out."

"She could have," he agreed. "And if she did, she would be here, at the McDougal's. They've been friends for the forty years my grandparents have lived on this street."

Mary Ellen stared at the drooping building. It had fared better than Xander's grandmother's house and she supposed that was something. Bobby leaned forward and rested his hand on the shoulder of Mary Ellen's seat. "Mrs. McDougal made the best shortbread cookies," Xander murmured.

Bobby's stomach rumbled in response. "Are we all going in?" Bobby asked.

"I doubt there's any shortbread now," Xander told him.

"What about the car?" Mary Ellen asked.

They all became silent as they stared around the car and then at the house. There had been a garage, but it hadn't fared as well as the rest of the home. "We'll lock the door and take the keys but we can't keep driving it around. We're going to attract attention in the dark and we can't stay in it all night…"

Xander's voice trailed off as he looked questioningly at all of them. She would sleep in it, if it became necessary, but she wanted out of this car so badly that she could practically taste it. She felt like a dog begging for a scrap as she gazed back at the house longingly.

"All we can do is hope that someone isn't a professional car thief in the neighborhood and decides to steal it over night," Xander said.

"Or it isn't swarming with a horde of hungry humans," Bobby added.

"
Are
they humans?" Josh asked.

"More or less," Peter said. "Let's get out of here before we can't see anymore."

Mary Ellen gathered the medical supplies and climbed out as Xander pulled the keys from the ignition and threw his door open. She winced at the light that flooded the vehicle and quickly closed her door as silently as she could. It did little good though as the others still had their doors open.

The first star was just appearing as she made her way up the fractured walkway to the askew front door. She half expected a hobbit or elf to emerge from the crooked door. Shaking her head, she took a step back as she tried to gather her scattered and exhausted wits.

Xander glanced up and down the street before knocking on the door. The sound set her teeth on edge as it reverberated through the home and seemed as loud as a gunshot on the still street. A gust of wind tickled the hair on the back of her neck and caused her apprehension to notch up as she glanced up and down the street. She half expected tumbleweeds to roll across the road but nothing stirred within the night.

She wondered if the sick people slept, if they would also be trying to find a place to bed down, or if they went on and on and on like the Energizer Bunny. She really hoped they didn't decide to try and sleep here for the night if they
did
need some time to recharge their batteries.

She shuddered as she realized that was what she thought of them as now, machines. She'd once heard a Great White shark described as a mindless eating machine. She thought perhaps that's what these people were now, mindless eating machines with the soul of a shark.

She certainly couldn't think of them as having rational thoughts and emotions, as having
souls
. If she did, well then she would have to feel pity for them and she simply couldn't bring herself to pity something that looked at her like she was Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings.

Xander knocked again and pushed at the door. It remained where it was and he shoved harder against it with his shoulder. He tottered for a second, hopping on his one good leg as he nearly lost his balance. "Easy," Bobby said as he rested his hand on Xander's shoulder.

They both grasped hold of the knob and threw their shoulders into it. The door finally gave way with the wrenching groan of bent hinges. Mary Ellen leaned to the side but she couldn't see past the two men before her as they peered into the lightless house. Xander and Bobby exchanged a look but it was Xander that limped into the house first.

"Mrs. McDougal, Mr. McDougal?" he called as he stepped further into the hallway. "Grandma?"

Mary Ellen followed Bobby into the home as Xander moved further down the hall toward what she could only hope was the kitchen, and she could only pray held some food. Right now she would even eat cauliflower if it was handed to her.

Xander branched off into another room and Mary Ellen felt a surge of hope as she spotted the old green fridge covered with pictures of smiling children. She didn't dare open it, that was a smell she wasn't willing to encounter, but she eyed the cabinets with keen interest.

She didn't go for them immediately though as Xander opened the backdoor and peered out. He closed the door again, pulled the curtain over the window and locked it. He pushed the curtain aside again briefly before turning away from the door. "Let's check upstairs before we see what's in the cabinets," he suggested.

"I don't think anyone is here," Josh said.

"Those things don't exactly give a warning, or speak, before they come after us," Xander reminded him. "I'd prefer to
know
there's no one up there."

Josh glanced at the cabinets and his shoulders slumped as he nodded. Peter pulled a block of knives closer to him and began to extract a wicked looking assortment of weapons from it. Mary Ellen placed the bag of supplies on the counter and grabbed hold of a knife. She felt a little safer with the butcher knife in hand as she held it against her side.

She wished for a flashlight as she felt her way along behind the others. Something skittered into the shadows with a dull thud as her foot sent what she assumed was a stand for keys or a hat rack back a few feet. She hopped up and down as she fought back a groan. She was tempted to kick whatever it was again out of sheer spite as her offended toes throbbed.

Bobby bit his lip as he glanced at her over his shoulder and tried not to laugh. She scowled back at him. Xander pulled the curtains in the living room closed before heading up the stairs. "Did they own a gun?" Bobby asked after their search for the McDougal's on the second floor came up with nothing.

"Not that I know of, but I doubt it. I don't think we'd find it tonight even if they did," Xander answered.

Mary Ellen agreed as she felt her way back downstairs. She found a bathroom tucked under the stairs and ducked into it. She closed the door and then realized she couldn't see a thing. Peter was standing on the other side with a candle and lighter when she poked her head back out. She took them and eagerly disappeared again. The shower was the most enticing looking thing she'd ever seen but she resisted temptation as she washed her hands and arms. If they stayed here for any length of time she would take a shower, but she didn't think it was a good idea to climb in there until they were better established.

When she reemerged the others were emptying the contents of the cabinets onto the counter. Xander pulled the lid off a cookie jar and smiled as he pulled a handful of shortbread cookies from the jar. Bobby snagged one from him and bit into it.

"Stale, but delicious," Bobby said around a mouthful of crumbs.

Xander shook his head and placed the lid back on. "I found some more candles," Peter said and placed them on the counter. "If we keep them in the bathroom it will brighten the place but shouldn't draw any extra attention."

Mary Ellen nodded as Josh broke out a can opener and dropped an armload of soup cans on the counter. They gathered around to eat the cold meal that was one of the most delicious things she'd ever tasted.

"We made it," she murmured as she sipped some chicken noodle soup and stared at the apples decorating the curtains over the kitchen sink. It was all so homey and inviting, so strangely familiar in this entirely unfamiliar world where the lines of reality seemed to blur. She had the unsettling feeling that none of this was real before the world snapped back into place.

The wind rattled the glass pane as it blew over the earth. Josh crept to the back door and pulled the curtain aside. "Where do you think these people went that they abandoned all their food?" he asked.

"Their daughter lives close by, they probably went to her house," Xander said.

"They could have been evacuated," Peter suggested. "We don't know how each town reacted to this, or how badly their emergency staff was affected. Everyone could be gathered at the local high school for all we know."

Mary Ellen didn't think that was the case but she really didn't want to give it too much thought either. Not when her belly was full and there was the possibility of being able to curl up on something soft for a few hours. Though, she wasn't overly thrilled with the idea of being on the second floor if someone managed to get inside. Leaping out a window wasn't exactly her idea of a good time and her ankles hurt just thinking about it.

"We should drag the mattresses down here," she muttered.

"We should probably see if there is something we can use as a weapon first and check the basement," Xander said.

He pushed away from the counter and winced as he made his way to another door off the kitchen. Mary Ellen followed Peter and Xander down the rickety cellar stairs as Josh and Bobby remained above to keep watch. She flinched at every clunking step that Xander took but he refused to remain above as he was the one that had been down here before.

Peter lit a candle when the door was closed and handed it to Xander. He lit another one and gave it to Mary Ellen before keeping the third for himself. Xander climbed the rest of the way down the stairs and turned to the right. Shadows flickered over the rock walls as the small flames of the candles danced on their wicks.

There was no threat lurking amongst the cobwebs and boxes but even still a chill crept down her spine, a chill that cooled her despite the humid air that caused the hair to stick to the nape of her neck. Xander lifted the candle to explore the further recesses of the cellar but it only revealed more boxes, most of which were marked Xmas or knick knacks.

Even with a full belly and the prospect of a mattress, Mary Ellen was annoyed by the lack of help the boxes offered them. She supposed they could block the door with fake Christmas trees and glass ornaments, but she didn't think they would do much good against a mob of hungry humans.

"Let's try the other side," Xander suggested and limped his way back passed the stairs.

There were more boxes on the other side, but these ones were heftier and labeled as artifacts and souvenirs. "What did these people do for a living?" Peter asked.

"The McDougal's traveled a lot. My grandparents went with them on a few trips and after my grandfather died my grandmother went to Ireland with them," Xander answered.

Peter knelt beside one of the bigger boxes and placed the candle down. He tugged the tape back and pulled one of the flaps open. Mary Ellen peered in at the assortment of glasses, mugs, picture frames, and snow globes. Peter dug through the box but only came up with some woodwork and postcards.

"There's nothing for us down here," he said as he rose.

Xander was already standing by the stairs, leaning against the banister as he watched them. The flame flickered over the contours of his face. His face appeared thinner and more hollow as his skull seemed to show through the skin drawn over it. Beads of sweat dotted his brow as his hazel eyes met hers. She couldn't tear her gaze away from his as she saw for the first time what he'd been so valiantly hiding, until now.