Day by Day Armageddon (17 page)

  I wondered which parent she took the attitude from. Using my knife I carved a chess board into the table in the lounge area of the marina. I stole some fishing lures from the marina retail area and John and I are utilizing them (sans the hooks) as chess pieces. So far I have him three games to two.

  I have a strange feeling that William and Jan have made amends for the silly argument, as I can hear no loud voices through the other end of the privacy curtain I put up for them a few days ago.

  
Enemy activity:
Sporadic movement. Last night's full moon brought hundreds of them near us. Using NVGs, I studied them. They seemed to be more active. Could this be because of the full moon? I doubt it.

  I gave my last few sets of foam earplugs to the Grishams. Laura was fascinated at how they returned to their original shape after you "squished" them. John still had his set in his pant pockets.

  I had no earplugs left, so I took two 9mm rounds out of the ammo box and stuffed them in my ear. They were a good fit and really drowned out their moans last night.

  The radio station stopped playing music today. For a brief moment I heard a human voice on the other end. It sounded like I heard the word "fortify" before the microphone cut out. John and I were playing chess again when it happened. Now, 1 can't even pull John away from the CB radio. He keeps trying to broadcast in the hopes that whoever stopped the music will hear and respond. The station is broadcasting out of Corpus, so I know for a fact they are overrun. I also know that the radio John is using won't reach that far. Whatever keeps his spirits up, I suppose.

  William and I spoke about his chemistry skills. I asked him if he could make anything useful, considering our current situation. He said that if he had the ingredients, he could make pretty much anything. With William being a chemist, and John being an engineer, I'm sure they can come up with something to help our current predicament.

  Thought: I wonder what historical sites were destroyed that Laura will never see. I remember visiting the Alamo last year. I wonder if anyone alive was holding their ground in the
true last stand of the Alamo
when the warhead hit.

  Maybe it answered a prayer…

  
Food: (2)
days remaining.

  
Water:
Still have pressure, however starting to taste funny. Will need purification tablets soon. If I develop any symptoms, i.e. diarrhoea, I will have to find some purification tablets, or simply boil it.

  William knows the time to leave is coming. Tomorrow we will have to head out for supplies or starve here. It is raining and the water is getting choppy, causing the marina to wobble just enough to induce discomfort. No signal on the formerly good radio station. I have been studying the map I procured last trip closely. There are other options to scavenging. We could head northeast up the coast line and cherry pick, but run the risk of boat mechanical failure which would put us in a world of shit.

  Another option is to go back to "old faithful" Seadrift.

  Across San Antonio bay, on the western shoreline is another small town called Austwell. I figure we might as well check it out while we are gathering supplies, and food. I need extra batteries for the NVGs and some first aid supplies.

  John is recovering nicely and almost has limited mobility of his arm. The lacerations are healing but without stitches, he will have to take it easy for it while. Jan used duck tape to dress the wounds and keep them closed. Yet another use for it. William promised Laura that he would bring her back something from our trip. I suppose it was customary when William went away on business, to bring his little girl something back. I will do my best to make sure that happens.

  I really dread these outings, and wonder if there will ever be a time when I can walk freely again. I will continue making the shopping list tonight, and then, I will gas up the boat in the dark to avoid attention. I am going to try to be in the sack by midnight.

  Ready to leave. The equipment is loaded onto the boat. It has stopped raining, and the water is not as choppy. Left my Walther P99 with John, and Jan. Not much firepower left behind for them, but I don't think they will need it. Our destination is Austwell, TX (Opposite side of San Antonio bay from Seadrift). Austwell is also a small dot on the map, hopefully indicating a small population of un-dead. This outing serves two purposes. One, to get William more comfortable with being among
them
so we can plan for a bigger picture. Secondly, to gather much needed supplies.

  We now have six souls in our little marina island (including Annabelle), and with two people, I estimate we can only gather maybe a week’s worth of food at a time. This means that we are theoretically forced out into their world once a week, which in my opinion is one time too many. I need to step out of the box with my shopping.

  Yes, the junk food, soup cans, and other things we have been looting are great, but the lack of vitamins and exercise is catching up with me, my metabolism has slowed down from lack of being able to run. Luck be with us.

  After leaving the marina and paddling out to "safe engine distance" we cranked it up and sped toward San Antonio bay. I could see birds in the air, and the smell of the open air was refreshing. Soon the Texas mainland was in plain view in front of us. Entering the bay was exactly like the two times before. After reaching the western shore, a few private docks could be seen. Up a small hill from each of them, stood a large house. I suppose the docks were for the owner's boats, although I could see none tied up.

  We cut the engines and started our two-man rowing toward the shoreline. 1 sat and thought about how silly I would look to an onlooker if this had never happened. I closed my mind and continued to row, imagining that everything was normal.

  It was a complete mess. Windows were shattered, rats, trash, newspapers, everything was blowing around the dock and street. There was large parking lot in the asphalt area beyond the marina ramp. I could see five creatures surrounding a white compact car, and beating their rotting hands on the windows. I could not see inside of the car from this distance and angle. I assumed that there was definitely something in the car that the creatures were after, and an even further assumption would be that it was alive, whatever it was.

  Quietly, we rowed to the tie up point and docked the boat. I slung my empty pack on my back, put the pry bar in my belt, put some heavy plastic zip ties in my pocket and readied my weapon, then stepped into this new world. I didn't look behind me, but I could feel William's presence there. I could almost smell his fear. I was probably more afraid than he was. Scanning the area, we crept across the ramp to the shore, eyes trained on the small white Ford, surrounded by the dead. As soon as I set foot on terra firma, I grabbed a fist sized rock on the shore, threw it as hard as I could, about twenty meters beyond the car into the windshield of a large black truck. It sounded like someone beat a snare drum when the rock hit home. The things instantly stood erect and started walking toward the area beyond the car.

  I told John to stay back and watch for them while I checked things out. I was almost on top of it. The car was an arm’s length away. I reached out to touch the hood, feeling its cold surface. I could see a figure with the seat down, lying in the driver's seat. It was an attractive woman that looked in her early twenties. The car windows were caked with dried rot, and puss from the creature's relentless pounding. Most of the windows were cracked in a spider web pattern.

  I put my face up to the window to get a closer look at the woman. She looked dead. I could see signs of extreme dehydration in her face. Her lips were dry and flaky. The creatures that were gathered here, were now preoccupied elsewhere. I called William over. I asked him how long it took for one to turn (I remember him telling me he had witnessed this before). He said that he had seen a man die in the street, as he watched from the attic of his home, and he turned within the hour.

  Nothing made sense. There was an open bottle of aspirin spilled out onto the passenger seat, and empty plastic water bottles strewn all over the car. She couldn't have been dead longer than a day. I suppose the question I was asking myself was, why didn't she turn like the others?

  In the back seat, I could see numerous fast food beverage cups, filled with what looked like faeces and urine. She had been trapped in this car for what looked like a few days.

  Then there was movement. First her mouth gestured a weak yawn, and then her eyes started to flutter. I trained my weapon on her and told William to watch my back and keep a lookout in the immediate area. Expecting to see the familiar milky death orbs staring at me, I was surprised when she opened her eyes, and I could see the blue in her irises. She looked up at me in shock. To her, I was a strange man, wearing a mask, with a machine gun pointed at her. She looked behind her and around the car and with her lips only, said with no voice, "I'm alive."

  I pulled my balaclava off and went to the door to open it. It was locked. She smiled and looked at me, and unlocked it. I took her arm and helped her out of the car. She stank worse than those things. Maybe it was the car. I had to support her as she walked. She was very weak and sore from being trapped in the car. Looking over my shoulder, I motioned William to follow me back to the boat.

  After reaching the
"Bahama Mama,"
I sat her down, gave her some water, and some canned beef (my lunch). I told her not to eat or drink anything too fast. I didn't have time to stay and chat. William had his instructions. He was to row the boat out twenty meters and drop anchor and wait for me. I was going shopping.

  As I stepped back onto the dock, I could hear William rowing the boat away from me. I reached the parking lot again, and I could see more than five in the area. I stayed low and followed the shoreline toward the town. No sign of life anywhere. No dog, cat, nothing. I didn't even see any birds flying over this town. I was coming up on a group of buildings. I cut inland and walked toward what was the centre of the small town of Austwell, Texas. After a few hundred meters of walking, I stepped through a clearing. I could see a Walgreen's, and a gas station.

  I doubt Walgreen's had any food, but I was certain they had medical supplies. I crept up to the front door, sticking to the wall. This door was different in the way that it actually had chains holding the doors shut from the inside. There would be no way for me to get in without busting the glass, and attracting them. I walked to the back of the store. There was a drive up window for the pharmacy there. That side of the building faced the woods. There could be hundreds of them in there looking at me and I wouldn't know it. I couldn't feel them, but then again, I wonder if that sense still exists when it comes to their kind.

  There was a steel exterior cargo shutter door, probably for new shipments. Tried to lift it up. Locked tight. I really need to get a book on lock picking from the local library. Pulled out the bar from my belt. I placed the bar under the shutter underneath the keyhole. After a few minutes of prying, cursing, and sweating, I finally broke the lock. I checked my surroundings, no un-dead.

  I attached my LED light to my carbine and twisted it on. It was dark in the cargo area, as it was separate from the skylight filled, main retail part of the store. I shined the light into the room. I could only see boxes, steel shelves and various other normal things. I jumped up into the loading bay. Just as I started to slide the shudder door down, two of them rounded the corner and caught sight of me. I slammed the garage door type shudder down and immediately thought of a way to secure it. I held it down with the bottom of my boot as they started beating on it. They would attract more. The plastic zip ties in my pocket would do no good, as I had nothing on the ground to secure the door to. I glanced over to the corner of the room.

  There, I found a mop, and some nylon string. Walking over the corner of the room, I kept my right foot along the lip of the door, and my left for balance. Grabbing the mop, I wedged it between the rollers that made the door slide up smoothly. Using the twine, I secured it in place. There was a heavy box on the shelf, full of bottles of mouthwash. I sat it on the lip of the door where my foot was. This wouldn't work forever, but it would have to work for now.

  After I was satisfied that the door would hold for at least a little while, I stepped into the pharmacy. Numerous pharmaceutical books lined the shelves. Picking up the "Physicians Desk Reference", I scanned it for any possible useful information regarding medication. I would love to take this back to Jan, but it was a rather large book and would take up valuable backpack space.

  There was another book listing numerous antibiotics. Using this book, I grabbed bags of pills left in the "pick-up" bin that would never be claimed. Basically anything with a "biotic" on the end of it found its home in the plastic zip lock bag in my pack. Jumping over the counter, I landed on the main floor and immediately pointed my weapon toward a blind spot of the store.

  Looking up, I noticed that this store had convex observation mirrors, enabling easy view of most of the area. I checked the mirrors, and cleared the store, row by row. The creatures were still steadily banging on the back shudder door. I hated this. I felt rushed. Tylenol, hydrogen peroxide, bandages, band-aids, I stuffed them all in the big zip lock freezer back with the antibiotics. I saw some iodine on the shelf and remembered in Navy survival school that iodine worked as a water purifier. I tossed it in the pack. I was thirsty. I grabbed a warm bottle of water off the shelf and downed it. My pack was half way full. I passed the candy bar section and grabbed a chocolate bar.