This Would Be Paradise (Book 1) (23 page)

My body really didn’t like the idea of moving, but I had no choice. An infection wouldn’t just wait for me to get off my ass. Memories of the hospital came flooding back to me, making me even more hesitant. What are the chances the medical center wouldn’t be picked over?
Is it worth it?
That was a selfish question. Of course, I had to go.

Now I had to decide if I should walk again or take a vehicle. I had found the spare key to the Taurus sitting in the drive way and could afford to damage that one. It would attract attention, but I didn’t think my body was in any shape to be running away from hordes now. And I would get there faster. The alleyway behind the house was still littered with infected, so I would have to leave out the front door. This meant taking the longer way to where I needed to go.

Vehicle it was. I just hoped the owners had left enough gas in it. I began packing for my scavenging trip. I emptied out my backpack and straightened up our supplies. There was a fair sized mound of bags and items taking up room in the living area. If I monitored the provisions, we could easily make them last two weeks. But the question was, do we stay here expecting a miracle to drop into our laps or hit the road? I had no clue where to even start looking for this Hargrove place, and the chances of running into it while driving aimlessly were pretty much nil.

Hopelessness began to haunt me once again. It seemed like it was a constant battle. Not just to keep ourselves from the infected, but to keep ourselves from giving up. It was easy to give up once hope was lost. I wasn’t used to making the hard decisions. Before all this shit happened, hard decisions never came up in my old life.

And as much as Ethan was not happy about it, John had made most of our hard decisions. John was a natural leader and the most mature of us, so it was easy to let him steer things. I mean we all had a say in matters, but he had this way about him that made you feel like he knew exactly what he was doing. Maybe I would have been better off right now if we hadn’t let John slide into that role so easily.

Not that any of that mattered now. John wasn’t here to tell me what the right path was; I had to figure that out for myself. And it made me want to pull my hair out. How John had not gone bald was a mystery.

The sound of shuffling upstairs pulled me from my thoughts. It looks like Chloe was awake. I heard the stairs creak, as she descended down them. She was rubbing at her eyes still yawning from sleep, courtesy of the allergy medication. I picked up a water bottle, twisted off the cap and passed it to her. She took it from me and sat down by all the supplies, rooting through for something to eat. Silent the whole time.

I let her get some food down before I started to talk.

“Chloe, I need to redress your arm.”

She froze mid-chew. I glanced away awkwardly, not sure of where I should even be looking.

“It will be quick, I promise.”

She didn’t say anything, instead gave a little nod and remained seated. I went to the kitchen to grab the peroxide and gauze. She eyed me warily, as I kneeled beside her. She held her arm as far away from her body as possible, as if she didn’t want me any closer. I tried to act like it didn’t affect me. I tried to handle this like an adult, but it was difficult. I wanted to plead with her that I did it for her own good and that her wound was treated because of me. I wanted to beg for her forgiveness and to stop hating me, but I didn’t.

I carefully removed the old, soiled bandage. The wound was an angry shade of red, and I could see the hardened superglue on the surface. The veins that ran from the gash where a lot more visible than before, making it look like thin tentacles slithering from the wound. That couldn’t be good. She really did need those antibiotics. I poured some peroxide on the wound, and Chloe hissed in a breath from the contact. Once I cleared off the liquid oozing from the cut, I rewrapped her arm with clean gauze.

“I’m running back into town.”

Her head whipped around to look at me.

“According to the map, there’s a medical center in town, and I need to get you some antibiotics. You’re going to stay here with the doors locked. I shouldn’t be very long since I’m going to take a car this time.”

She didn’t say anything in return; she just stared at the floor and started to pick at a snag in her pants. I could tell she wanted to say something, but she stubbornly remained silent. I passed her a couple of generic painkillers, and she swallowed them in a hurry. 

I went back to my preparation. Sitting on the couch, I refilled the magazines for my gun. There weren’t very many bullets remaining in the box, and since the hardware store was a bust, I didn’t know where else to get ammo from. All I needed were regular 9mm bullets, but even that was asking a lot now. I made sure I had my hunting knife and my axe. I really wished I still had my belt with the holsters to place the gun and my knife on. But it was currently residing back where the cabin was, having left it there in all the commotion.

We could try for a run to John’s gun shop.

That thought honestly hadn’t occurred to me until then, and I felt stupid for taking that long to come to that conclusion. Maybe they all went back there, too. Although, they would have needed to commandeer another vehicle since the truck was more than likely taken by Darren, and we currently had the car. It was the only place besides the cabin that we had all been to before.

I quickly pulled out the larger scale map of Louisiana and started to look for the area outside of New Orleans where John’s shop was located. Taylor had circled it on our old map before and I knew it was just off of a main road that ran outside of the city, through a small suburb area. I scrambled around for a pen and circled roughly where Taylor had before. I had to basically carve into the laminated surface.

If I could just get myself to the outskirts by backtracking from the interstate to the suburbs, I was confident I could locate the store. There was that gas station and grocery store we had stopped at that stood out. If I found that, I could find the store. I finally had a concrete plan and it felt invigorating. My brain had finally kicked into gear. I felt like I should share my plan, since I wasn’t the only one it affected.

“Chloe, I just had an idea.”

She was already looking my way since she’d been watching me as I flew into motion, scanning the map.

“Once I go get some supplies from the medical center, I think we should try to go back to John’s gun shop.”

Chloe still refused to talk, but I could tell from her expression she thought this was a good idea too. Even if they weren’t there, we could grab some much needed ammo and guns. She nodded and continued to pop trail mix into her mouth. Her hands were filthy, reminding me that there was still some water to wash up in.

“So it turns out there is still some water in the tank here. It’ll be freezing, but you should go take a bath. I left soap and shampoo up there.”

Without a word, she stood up and headed upstairs. I heard the groaning of the pipes a few minutes later. I was glad she listened. I would have to redo her wrappings again, but at least she wouldn’t be covered in germs to feed the infection.

Once my weapons were in order, I stuffed a couple of water bottles and some quick food in my backpack, along with a flashlight we had found. I rescanned the local map, trying to memorize the route. I had to take a grand total of two left turns to get to the street I needed. The medical center was off of the main street, but there were residential houses still to one side of it. It almost seemed like someone converted an old house into the center.

Again, I wondered what the chances were that the place hadn’t been picked clean. The rest of the town was still in pretty good shape, as far as buildings went anyways. The Main Street stores still had most of their windows intact and other than the major items like bullets and perishables, the stores were not completely empty.

I looked down at the keys to the house and the Taurus that were lying on the floor beside me. I was not mechanically inclined in any way, shape or form and I kept my fingers crossed that the car started without issue. I didn’t want to potentially damage John’s Mazda; we needed that one to run.

I got up and peeked out the front window, pulling the hideous curtains to the side. The street had a few roamers. One was dressed in a torn jogging suit, and for some reason the image of a zombie speed walking club popped into my head. I really was starting to question my sanity, but at this point, who wouldn’t? After everything I had witnessed, I was surprised I wasn’t rocking myself back and forth in a corner.
One day maybe.
Right now I had a goal to focus on which seemed to keep the lurking insanity at bay.

It took some effort, but my sore body was able to move the couch away from the front door. With my axe in hand, I closed the door behind me. I would need to take out the few infected before I left, for Chloe’s safety. My limbs creaked in harmony with the porch stairs. There was nothing I wanted more at the moment than to soak in a hot tub.

One decayed head turned to me with a hiss and started its trek toward me. Once it got close enough, I brought the axe down, and the infected’s head split open like a tree trunk. I quickly yanked the axe free from the fallen dead weight. The one in the track suit was now coming toward me, ironically a bit faster than the rest. Maybe she was in better shape as a human than the others. I swiped out my foot and the thing landed on the driveway hard. I heard the sound of a bone cracking and her right arm was now bent underneath her at an odd angle.

She reached up, intent on grabbing anything she could get her gnarled left hand on. I placed my foot down on her left arm to hold it down and clubbed her in the head with the flat side of the axe blade, like I was hammering a nail into a coffin. Despite my body’s protest, I took out the remaining two. I looked around at the fallen infected. I sighed, knowing what I had to do next.

I started to drag the bodies to where I had hidden the last one. By the time I was done, there was quite the pile, but the overgrown bushes still managed to hide them. I walked back to the house, my elbow giving off heat it was so sore. I peered up into the bright, blue sky. It gave no indication of the horrors we were faced with, in fact it seemed almost serene. You would think with all that had happened that the sky would be a constant mass of dark clouds to reflect the abysmal form of life we were now forced to live. But no, it instead mocked us with its ocean blue hues; I was almost resentful.

With the keys in hand, I started the Taurus. I had to try a few times as the neglected engine tried to start. It roared to life on the third attempt and I watched the gas needle land on the full line. At least it had gas. When I was done with it, I would need to siphon the gasoline out for the Mazda. I turned on the windshield wipers to clean off the dusty mess. Chemical cleaner and dirt ran down the sides, and I could finally see out of the glass. Leaving it running, I went back inside and found Chloe sitting on the couch. I grabbed my backpack and weapons.

“Lock the door once I leave and keep your head down.”

She didn’t reply, and I shut the front door behind me.

I got into the car and tossed my bag on the seat beside me along with my trusty axe. With one last look, I made sure the area around the house was clear. Nothing moved, so I hit reverse and left the neighborhood behind me. The street that connected to the cul-de-sac had barely any infected on it. Most of them must have been congregating in the alley behind the house we were squatting in.

There were a few wanderers on the road; I made a point to hit them. Pushing down on the gas petal, the Taurus lurched forward with infected in the crosshairs. A feminine-shaped one hit the right corner and spun like a top down to the tarmac. The next one hit the grill and bounced up, cracking the windshield on the passenger side. I watched in the rearview mirror as he landed in a crumpled mass on the hard ground.

A strange face peered back at me through my reflection. Her smirk was cruel and hollow. It scared me. I tore my eyes from the mirror and back to the road; there would be no more of that. This car was disposable to me, but I still needed it to get back. And encouraging crazy behavior could only lead to something worse. I was fully aware that it looked like I was coming unhinged. I wonder if most people who go crazy know they’re insane? A question for the ages, I guess.

So I swerved to avoid the others in my way. I took my last left and found myself on the road that ran behind Main Street. Houses lined the boulevard, and I counted until I hit the fourth one in. That should be the medical center. There was a sign posted above the door that said, “Gibson Medical Center. All are welcome.” No cars were parked outside, which was a good thing. Last thing I needed was to fight someone for the supplies inside. I parked and got out, with my backpack and weapons in tow.

An infected shuffled toward me from the front lawn, his face was…well…missing a part. A baseball sized chunk of the left side was gone. I could see through the cheek and into the mouth. Also the left eye was almost torn out of the socket. I had no idea if his face had been eaten or blown off with a gun. I used my axe to take it out of its misery. Again, I found myself dragging a body, this time disposing of it behind one of the neighboring white picket fences.
You know, there’s a joke in there somewhere.

Maybe that thing was here for some treatment or at least had tried to get some before he turned. This made me wary of what I would find in the medical center. I cautiously walked up to the front steps. Whoever owned this building had renovated it completely. The front door was one of those push open glass ones that you found in all the shops. There was also a metal gate pulled out on the inside for added security. It looked like the front door was a bust.

I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. The gate created a diamond pattern with the light, coating the front lobby in shadows. It had a reception desk and waiting room chairs lining the walls. There was a hallway that I couldn’t see very far down toward the back. I started walking down the side of the building, looking to find another point of entry.

The backyard was like an extension of the waiting room. Instead of grass, the yard was covered in cement and had a bunch of tables and chairs. One of the canary yellow seats was occupied. A rather fat infected man was sitting in one. I tip-toed over to the unmoving mass and poked it with the end of my axe. Its bloodshot eyes snapped open and he lunged for me, moving faster than I thought possible. I scrambled back and tripped over an uneven slab of cement. The thing landed half on top of me and I struggled to push his heavy form off.

He snapped his teeth and gurgled, all while trying to claw at me. I pushed the handle of axe along the things neck, keeping his teeth away from me. My elbow protested the whole way, but I was able to muster enough strength to keep pushing the axe away until my arms were fully extended. Slowly, the infected rolled off of me and with a final shove, I bucked it to the side. I rolled as soon as I was clear and yanked out my hunting knife.

Had this been another time, I would have probably laughed at the fat infected as he struggled to get himself up, his bloated stomach creating an obstacle. I brought the knife down on the top of its head and it sunk down to ground. I wrenched the knife out of the infected’s skull and wiped it off of his ripped dress shirt. It always seemed so insulting in movies when the killer would clean their weapon on the victims’ clothes. Now it seemed more practical than cold.

I sheathed my knife and stretched out my elbow, trying to get rid of the stiffness that was setting in along with the pain. Another door blocked my entry. There was a heavy set padlock on the outside. I raised my axe and brought it down on the hasp staple. One side of metal piece detached from the wooden door frame and hung loosely. I tried the door knob, but I already knew that would be locked too.

I wedged the axe blade in between the door and frame as much as I could and started to pry it open. I was grunting from the exertion, the creaking sound of the frame spurring me on. After a few seconds the door slid open as the piece in the door frame came loose. I grabbed the door and yanked it all the way open. The smell hit me first. The place had been locked up tight and it looked like I was the first one to try to break in, so why would it smell like rotting bodies in here?

The light from the front didn’t reach the back hallway, so I had to pull out my flashlight. The beam of light illuminated the dust motes flying in the air. It looked like I was the first one in here in a while. I closed the door behind me as much as I could. The long hallway was surrounded with doors, some open, some closed. I peered in the opened ones. They were the standard examination room with a chair and patient table in them. I tried the door labeled
Lab
, but it was locked. My elbow was begging me to stop using force, so I went in search of the keys.

Various medical posters lined the walls, stressing the importance of safe sex and getting your prostate checked. I made it all the way back to the front waiting room, which was still empty. The old floor creaked in one spot, the wood beginning to rot. I heard a bang come from below. I froze and swallowed. There was that cloying smell of rot, yet everything up here seemed clear.

Snooping through the receptionist desk, I found various labeled keys in the desk drawer. I scooped up the one that was for the lab and grabbed the basement one as well. The lab door opened with a click and I shone my flashlight in before entering. It was clear of bodies. Shelves lined the room and a locked cabinet at the back caught my attention. It was made of glass and I could see the pill bottles just sitting in there.

Using the end of my axe, I broke the glass doors, looking away as I smashed the glass. I read through all the labels and grabbed the ones that ended in the suffixes -mycin or -cillin. I knew enough that those were antibiotics. After throwing my stash into the backpack, I looked around for more supplies to scavenge. Sterile, stainless steel tools littered the place and gave me the urge to shiver. They always reminded me of horror movies.

A louder bang caught my attention. I shouldered my backpack again, the pills rattling like a child’s toy. The noise had come from downstairs, and I headed back to the door labelled
Stairs
. It opened without a key, and I was faced with a looming set of stairs leading further down. I beamed my light in and saw another door at the bottom of the landing. The smell was tenfold down here.

Morbid curiosity was getting the better of me. I knew I should just leave now that I got what I came for, but part of me wanted to know what the hell was down there. I knew it would be nothing good, just like what we found in the hardware store. Using my axe, I propped open the door at the top of the stairs then started down. There was a rattling sound that was getting louder as my footfalls echoed in the confined space.

I stilled my breathing and put my ear up against the door. The rattling sound was coming from inside somewhere. The key fit in the lock perfectly, but my hand froze. Did I really want to see what was down here?

Then I heard a voice say, “Well, isn’t this a coincidence?”

My heart stopped in my chest.