Stage 6 (12 page)

He asked her, “You do know you were carrying a loaded and cocked revolver inside your jacket, don’t you? At any time that could have blown a hole in your side, before you’d even know what happened.”

She looked just as horrified as Ian, and replied, “No I had no idea!”

Ian shook his head and said, “Ok its official, this is too dangerous. We can’t have the entire group running around with guns without even knowing basic gun instructions. We have to try and teach them, or take away their guns as they’re probably more of a danger to us then the Infected.” I took the now unloaded revolver from Ian, and turned to hand it to Fred. He looked it over, and seemed satisfied; as well he should have been for only trading some milk for a gun.

He asked, “Do you have any bullets for it?”

I turned to Lucy, and she emptied her pockets of what must have been over thirty assorted bullets. Ian made a motion to slam his face into the wall, while I took them from her and offered them to Fred.

He then said simply, “Ok.” He went inside for a moment, and then reappeared with a jug of milk. He handed it to me, and I set it on the ground and then pretty much dumped a gun and a bunch of bullets into his hands. He disappeared again, no doubt to find a more suitable place for it.

Sally smiled at me and I smiled and then took a look around, and said, “Well I think we’re all about set here. So Sally, just how much is this going to cost us?”

She took a look around, and then shrugged and said, “Eh let’s call it two hundred dollars.”

I counted out the money and handed it to her, thanking her. She called after us as we walked through the house to come back any time. Ian picked up the jug of milk, and we set off feeling very accomplished. Every one of us was carrying a box of some type of food. We walked through the doors of Steve’s motel room with the air of hero’s, and victoriously set our food down on the beds.

My mom immediately set about dividing it into what we would eat tonight and save for later, and Ian brought the jug of milk over to Steve. Steve thanked him very heartedly with a handshake and I thought from the expression on Ian’s face his hand was being broken even as he stood there forcing a smile.

I gathered all of us besides my mom and Steve’s baby outside, and said, “Ian has brought it to my attention,” with a look at Lucy I continued, “that many of us are carrying guns, when in fact we have never received even basic training with them. Steve, you have the most experience with guns of all of us, can you give us a quick class just to make sure we don’t accidentally kill ourselves?”

He grinned and agreed quickly. Ian spoke up, “I’ve been shooting guns since I was eight years old, so how bout I help Steve?”

I agreed that was probably the best way to work this.

Steve took a look around, and then said, “Alright people, since ammunition is low we’re not actually going to shoot the guns, so accuracy class will have to wait until another time. However, I will teach you the basics about guns, which includes some simple tips to shoot straighter.”

He set us up in a line, and we all un-loaded our guns and aimed at a fence nearby, separating the motel from what looked to be a garbage dump. Honestly I didn’t think I had much training to do, considering all I had was a shotgun. But nevertheless eventually Steve made his way through the line over to me. He asked me to shoot, and I pulled it up to my eye, took aim, and yelled BANG! Steve started laughing uncontrollably, and confused I asked him what was so funny.

He replied, “You! If you ever really shot the gun like that you’d blow your eye out of your head! Here’s the best piece of advice I can give someone of your limited experience, don’t aim a shotgun Jack, just point it.”

A bit peeved, while Steve was still chuckling, I held it to my shoulder and simply pointed it at the fence.

Steve nodded, “There you go. Now do you know how to take care of re-loading and all that?”

I replied, “Yep, I remember learning about that stuff a long time ago.”

Satisfied, after an hour of sitting around cleaning and preparing our guns with our newfound skills, my mom called from the motel room saying, “Dinner’s ready!”

Hunter jumped up and barked, and we all whooped and sprinted to the room to see a glorious feast set out in front of us. The fruit had been washed and mixed together in one large box, for a grand fruit salad of sorts. Set around the side were slices of cantaloupe and watermelon, and peach shavings. Then the peppers were all sliced and put out around on a flattened cardboard box, along with the rest of the vegetables. Then for the grand finale, my Mom had cooked all our eggs with a little gas stove Steve had in his pack. We crowded around the bed and laughed and joked, as we ate our eggs and fruit happily. Steve grinned broadly as he fed Victoria some milk he had put in a little sippy cup that had magically appeared out of his never-ending backpack. It was a very happy dinner, and it seemed to me like a glorious sign of peace to come.

Then I looked over at the door and saw George standing there looking a little awkward. I said, “George, how are you buddy? Come on in!”

He smiled and came inside, shutting the door behind him. He joined us around the bed and my mom put together a little cardboard plate for him to make him feel more welcome. After all, without George we probably never would have found any of the food. Soon the feast ended, and we sat back, full and satisfied in silence for a few minutes.

Karen spoke up, “I kind of like it here.”

We burst out laughing, in a contagious fit of enjoyment at our recent good fortune. Then the girls went to their room, and George stood awkwardly not sure where to go.

I took him aside, and asked him, “George, where do you normally sleep since your Dad is away?”

He looked down at his feet and shuffled around, before mumbling, “In my dad’s house, all alone.”

I felt sorry for him, obviously the rest of the town was not treating his predicament with the appropriate amount of stress.

I said, “Well George you aren’t alone anymore, would you like to spend the night with us tonight?” His eyes lit up and he began to speak but I quickly said, “Now, before you just blindly say yes, know that we are out of space as it is. You will have to sleep on the couch over there.”

He shrugged happily and said, “I’m fine with that, thanks! Just let me go get some stuff!”

He disappeared out the door and I had a frantic moment of worry, knowing that somewhere out there in the darkness, however many miles away there were Infected hunting for kids like George. He came back a few minutes later with a blanket and a pillow. I resisted the urge to laugh. I loved this kid, because he was still just that, a kid. Karen was about his age, but she had aged so much these past few days she didn’t seem like one anymore. George was still just a normal little kid at heart, and hadn’t been changed by the horrors of the Infection yet. I would do everything I could to make sure it stayed that way. George jumped on the couch, pulled the blanket over him and seemed to fall asleep almost instantly. I walked around Kevin, who was sleeping on the floor, and shut and bolted the door. Then I closed the window screens. I reached for my shot gun, to habitually make sure it was loaded and ready right by my bedside, but then thought otherwise. After all, this town is great, why would I need it?

“SCREEROWWW” I woke up with a start, and quickly checked the clock. 4:00 AM, very dark and very cold outside.

Ian and Steve were getting up as well and I hissed, “What was that?”

They shook their heads in bewilderment, and I crept to the window and pulled back the blinds a little bit. Suddenly a shape smashed into the window cracking it and leaving blood everywhere, and I shouted and jumped back.

In a span of three seconds Steve had his pistol drawn, loaded, and aimed straight at the window. I just got out of the way, and crouched still, shocked.

Then we heard screams in the distance, and I stood up and said, “That could be the others! We have to get out there!”

I expected Steve to argue but he simply said, “I agree. Take this.”

He tossed me a flashlight and some tape. This guy was like a walking survival armory. I taped the flashlight to my shotgun, stood next to the door and unlocked it. Ian took Victoria from Steve, and Steve stood right behind me, pistol at the ready.

I took a deep breath and suddenly threw open the door to see a terrifying sight. The town was overrun with animals! A bird lay on the ground near the cracked window, some of its feathers stuck in the glass and barely twitching. Cats and dogs and horses and all manner of animals streaked through the roads attacking each other and howling and yelping. It was a truly horrifying experience, because since it was pitch black outside we could only see where my flashlight was pointed. We caught only glimpses of how bad it was out there. I looked to the side, to see the door to the girl’s room still closed and seemingly secure. I closed the door and locked it.

I turned around and said, “We have to get out of here, NOW. There’s animals who I can only assume are Infected running in the streets, probably more birds like yesterday flying in the skies, and all this noise will surely bring more Infected. We have no choice, either we leave immediately, or we will get trapped here just like back in Austin.”

Ian shuddered, and I couldn’t blame him. It was only a short time ago his own mother had trapped him in a small room, trying to eat him.

Kevin spoke up angrily, “Then let’s go now! If we just make a run for it we can get to the car, and ...”

I cut him off, “And then what Kevin? We don’t have enough gas to get anywhere. We’d just get stuck out there somewhere.”

He retorted, “Doesn’t that Alex guy have some gas? Let’s just to take it from him while all this pandemonium is going on. Then we GTFO and we’re all good.”

I was about to reply with a biting comment when I realized he had a point. Alex and his gas were really the only option we had. Either that or stay here and get trapped, and there’s no way I was going to go through that mental torture again.

I made the decision, and said, “Alright, pack everything up as fast as you can. We’re going to go to their room next door, gather them and decide what to do from there.”

Ian and Steve started packing, while George stood looking kind of shocked in the corner. He started to gather his blanket and pillow, and I moved to tell him that wouldn’t be needed when I stopped.
He’s just a kid; let him take his stuff with him.

Kevin approached me and asked, “Jack man, can I have my gun?”

I whistled through my teeth and looked over at Steve to see if he heard. Steve had, and grinned and shook his head a little, taking the coward’s way out and letting me give the explanation.

I replied, “Kevin, if you prove yourself today then maybe we’ll trust you. But we can’t have you going around with a gun after what you’ve done.”

Surprisingly, Kevin nodded and said, “Alright then, I’ll hold you too that.”

I grabbed my shotgun and peered out the window. There was still totally mayhem out there, and I regretted this situation. These poor people had never even heard of the Infection before and now it was on their doorstep with a vengeance. I turned around to see all of us ready, Steve had Victoria in the crook of one of his massive arms, and his pistol in the other while his backpack stuffed full of supplies was slung over his back. Kevin was jumping up and down, preparing himself. George was standing in the back, with his pillow in his hands and blanket wrapped around him.

I looked around at each of them and asked, “You guys ready? Let’s go.”

I opened the door and holstered my shotgun instantly pointing at any threat. I moved quickly and in a few long strides I reached the girls’ door and slammed on it a few times yelling, “It’s Jack, open up!”

There were a few excited noises and I could hear my mom yelling for somebody to unlock the door. It seemed that Lucy’s fingers were shaking so bad she was having trouble unlocking the door.

I heard Steve shout, “Watch out” and I spun to see what slightly resembled a house cat racing towards me at full speed. Knowing there was no way I’d be able to hit it with a shot gun I dove out of the way. It jumped and slashed into the door where I just was, and then hit the ground looking for me. I rolled and got up to see it about to spring towards me when two things happened at the same time: the door opened and Lucy’s face appeared looking flustered, and a bullet from Steve’s pistol slammed into the creature instantly killing it within two feet of Lucy’s feet. Hunter barked ferociously at the creature, and bared his teeth at it. Lucy screamed and hurled herself backwards while we quickly piled into the motel room and shut the door. I could instantly see they had been awake for a while, as everything was organized neat and ready to go.

I looked around and allowed myself a quick smile, “Nice job guys!”

Then I got down to business. I tore a wall paper off the wall, flipped it over to the blank side and grabbed a pen off the coffee table. I drew a big circle and labeled it ‘Town.’ Then I quickly drew a few buildings for the others to get a relative sense of what I was talking about, and then drew the motel and Alex’s house.

I said, “Ok we are here,” gesturing to the crudely drawn motel, “and we need to GET here,” pointing to Alex’s house. I drew a bunch of random things all around the town, roads, and buildings and motioned to them while saying, “Now these are all the things that will be trying to kill us. Here’s what I propose, we have enough gas to get to Alex’s house right?”

Everybody nodded and exclaimed together, “Right!”

I continued, “So let’s all quickly move into the car while those of us with guns watch out for anything dangerous. Also, everybody needs to keep watch from the skies because those birds have gone freaking crazy. So we get into the car, and drive straight to Alex’s house.”

My mom stared straight at me as she asked the group, “And then what?”

I ignored her, and said, “Once we’re there, we’ll get the gas and get the heck out of here ok? I’m not sure where. Maybe we can try and get out of the Texas quarantine? Anywhere is better than here.”