State of Panic: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (10 page)

“You don’t think they can get in here?”

“If they want to, anything is possible. But it’s not going to be easy. No one would be stupid enough to try and force their way in without giving thought to being shot.”

“How are we going to do this?” Corey asked. “I mean, I’m so friggin’ tired.”

“My daughter is out there, I’m not sleeping until I know where she is.”

McCabe took a hold of Murphy’s arm. “So is my family but we aren’t going to be any good out there if we are tired. I know you think you are still one of the elite, Murphy but it’s been three years since you got out. Even the best get tired.”

Murphy sighed.

“We will rotate in shifts. Shaw and myself will take the first one. The rest of you should get some shut-eye.”

I found a water tap on the far side of the building. I twisted the top and it gushed out clear. I cupped some of it in my hands and tossed it over my head and around my neck. The cold awakened my senses that were beginning to tire. As I took a drink, Brett came up behind me and placed his hand on my back.

“You okay, son?”

I didn’t think I would ever get used to hearing that word — son. It was foreign to me. Though I had heard it many times over the course of seventeen, almost eighteen years it still didn’t sit right with me.

I shrugged. “You?”

He sighed. “I will be when I find Jodi and this is over.”

“You think it will ever be over?”

“There are a lot of military offshore and other countries will try to help.”

“But with the fallout, the grid down and not knowing how many cities they hit. I can’t see anyone risking his or her life to help. Besides, it could be weeks, maybe months before we see anyone up this way.”

“Possibly.”

Brett took a few gulps of water and then took a seat.

As we sat there I turned to him and watched him pull out a photo of Jodi and myself. The people at Children’s Aid had taken it the day they brought me home. I was fifteen at the time. I didn’t realize that he carried it around in his wallet.

“You kept that?”

He nodded. “I hope you know we didn’t send you with Murphy because we didn’t want you around. It’s because we want this to work.”

I nodded.

“Try to get some shut-eye.”

As we tried to get comfortable, it was hard to fall asleep when outside I could hear gunfire. Was it Ally and her mother? Was Jodi still alive? I only hoped they were safe. I pushed the negative thoughts from my mind, if only for a few minutes.

M
orning didn’t arrive
the way I imagined it would. We didn’t enjoy a full night of rest. I was up before light broke. We maybe got four hours between us all. Several times over the course of the night the skinheads had tried to breach the inside of the station. They had managed to knock over the steel-shelving unit that we had shifted across the front of the door but none of them entered. It was scare tactics. Several times we had to go back out into the office and return fire.

In the early hours, just after five according to my watch, we decided to head out. Our aim was to find the others and then figure out a plan of action from there. Hauling two bags of ammo, we knew it was going to slow us up.

Outside Murphy told us to grab as much as we could carry without it weighing us down and then the rest would be stored in a dumpster down one of the alleys. All of us were wearing bulletproof vests that we had taken from the station. Chances of us surviving were slim at best, but at least this would offer us some form of protection.

Murphy waved us forward and we shuffled in the dark as a deep orange sun began to peek over the horizon. In the town the sound of gunfire had become less frequent. It wouldn’t stay that way. To the north of us was I-90, and to the south residential homes. Unsure of which way they might have gone we separated into two groups. Murphy took myself, Corey and Billy with him while Luke went north with Shaw, Brett and McCabe.

“McCabe, come in,” Murphy spoke into the comms unit.

“We’re here.”

“When this is over, you owe me a beer.”

He chuckled on the other end. “Murphy, I’ll buy you a case.”

We moved quietly as one unit through the streets, only communicating with hand signals or whispers. Our group went down Residence Street and then over to Pearl looking for any signs of life. We entered some of the homes and checked. Some contained the dead bodies of those who had put up a fight and had been shot or hacked to death. Some homes had their front doors sealed shut and we saw mattresses on the other side. We assumed scared survivors barricaded themselves in.

Murphy knocked and moved out of the way expecting the occupants to shoot as there were a few bullet holes in the wood and the glass was shattered.

“Sara,” he hollered through the open glass. When there was no answer we moved on. We worked our way from house to house by climbing over the yard fences and avoiding the main streets.

“You still got that knife on you?”

“No.”

“I’m nearly out of ammo on this handgun.”

I reached into my pocket and handed Billy fifteen bullets. We reached a house where the back door was open. It was dark inside but not nearly as bad as it was at night. The light from the morning sun was beginning to reveal what acts of violence had been committed. I was about to step inside when Murphy pulled me back. In a hushed voice he told me to wait. He crouched down and lifted up what I would have stepped on. Below a layer of towels was a huge slab of wood with nails protruding upwards like upright fingers.

“The owner?”

“That’s my guess.” He looked around nervously. “Let’s leave this one.”

“You think they’re still inside?”

“If they are, they are probably twitchy and liable to shoot first.”

Our town was known for having a few preppers. Like most towns in rural places, we had our fair share of hunting stores. One was owned by Kip Thorne, a grumpy old-timer who always managed to make local news for some new contraption that he’d built in preparation for World War Three. I had to wonder if he was still alive. His store was on the west side of town and to reach it, it would have meant wading our way through a shitload of skinheads. More than likely they had already cleaned the store out of supplies.

“No way, Kip will still be alive. That old bastard would have sealed himself in that vault of his,” Billy said. “My old man took me in there to get some fishing lures this one time. He showed it to us.”

“Oh yeah, what did it look like?”

He screwed up his face as though I was an idiot. “Like a vault. It was down in his basement. At first I thought he was taking us into a safe. You know, one of those big ass vaults you see in banks. It was like that. I think it was a panic room. Inside it had all these monitors and shit, a room connected to it with more canned food and another with an arsenal of guns. If anyone is going to survive this, it will be that fucker.”

Murphy wasn’t paying any attention; he moved with precision keeping his weapon shouldered like he was about to clear a house with a platoon of men.

“So what do you think, Murphy, how are we doing? I bet you didn’t expect us delinquents to survive this far.”

“Stay quiet or this might be your last day alive.”

Billy snorted and we pressed on checking out the next house. This one we entered. Every step we took was made with caution. Our eyes scanned for potential booby traps or an attack by someone who thought we were skinheads. The chances of us being killed by skinheads were high. But realistically it was more likely that a homeowner would shoot us. Everyone in the town would have been living in fear.

Murphy opened the French doors on the next house and we filed in behind him. He would signal for one of us to check one room while he checked another. As we entered the living room he threw up his hand. He mouthed the word
wait
. I couldn’t see who was in there but he didn’t want us to enter. I peered around the doorframe just in time to see him place the barrel of the M4 against the forehead of a skinhead who was asleep. Two more were sitting in chairs.

“Don’t even breathe,” Murphy said in a hushed voice. It was enough to wake the guy. His eyes opened real wide. Billy filed past me even though I had told him to wait. That guy didn’t listen to anyone. He aimed his gun at the other two.

“Slowly, slide onto the floor with your face down.”

While he was instructing them I had my eyes on the stairs. If they were sleeping in the living room, were the bedrooms full?

“You are fucked,” the skinhead said. I motioned to Corey that I was going to check upstairs. He followed. Now stairs at the best of times were creaky, even in new houses. I don’t know what it was about stairs and me but I always found the one that was faulty. I hugged the wall with my back as I took one step at a time. As I kept my AR-15 raised and steady we ascended the steps. Now there was a strong possibility that we might have reached the top without any issue if it wasn’t for one of the skinheads shouting in the living room. What followed next was a gun going off. I could only assume it was Billy’s as Murphy would have wanted to keep everything quiet.

The next thing heard were multiple boots hitting the floor. I stepped back readying myself for them to come around the corner when Corey just opened fire straight through the ceiling above him. I heard a body thud, and then I found myself engaged as a skinhead rounded the corner with an AK45 in his hand. I unleashed a flurry of rounds while moving backwards. Cory was shooting upwards in a random pattern hoping to take out whoever else was trying to get to the stairwell. I was so focused on firing and trying not to be hit that I missed a step and fell backwards crashing into Corey and toppling down the four steps we had climbed. We landed hard but there was no time to get off Corey, I just kept my finger on the trigger until the skinhead collapsed.

Then there was silence.

“You want to get off me?” Corey muttered. For once I was glad that he was large. Had that been Billy I would have probably snapped his small frame. I rolled off and clambered to my feet. Murphy came out of the room forcing Billy forward.

“Hey, if I hadn’t shot him he would have put a bullet in the back of your head. You can thank me later.”

Murphy didn’t reply; he just slid by him to make sure we were okay. He glanced up the stairs and saw the one skinhead hanging over the banister. Blood dripped from his mouth to the ground below.

“Any of you hurt?”

I shook my head.

“Just a little shaken up.”

“This is one hell of a gun,” Corey said admiring it with awe.

“You guys need to listen to me.” He stared at Billy.

“Oh right, blame me.”

“Billy, I’m not dicking around here. You make one mistake and all of us could end up dead.”

Billy’s chin dropped and he cast a glance back into the room where the dead skinheads lay bleeding out.

“Let’s get out of here now. We have probably woken up half the town.”

Corey nudged Billy on the way out the door and chuckled. Billy scowled at him. These two were always looking for a way to one-up the other. Idiots, but they were idiots that I was going to have to rely on if we wanted to survive this.

We pressed out into the warmth of the sun expecting that the day ahead of us would be filled with more surprises and horror.

“
N
ow what
?” Corey said. “This place is going to be crawling with skinheads.” Murphy got on the radio to check in with McCabe.

“Any sign of them?”

The radio crackled.

“Not so far. You?”

“Just a few.”

We kept moving through the neighborhood going house to house. Though now we were even more cautious than before. We had cleared eight and found several dead bodies. The violent nature of those that murdered was becoming even more evident. They weren’t just into shooting people but inflicting pain and at times humiliating them. Some of the dead were covered in feces, and the smell of urine was strong. Others had their hands tied, and their faces mutilated before being stabbed to death. Old, young, it didn’t matter to them. It was a pack mentality and like savage wolves who were starving, they tore their victims apart while leaving a bloody trail behind them.

“You think we should pair off? We could cover more ground.”

“No, it’s too dangerous,” Murphy said. “We stick together.”

“I’m starving.”

“The next house we enter, see what you can find, but make it quick.”

The door was slightly ajar on the next home. As with the previous houses Murphy went in first. Once clear we entered the kitchen and began rooting around the cupboards for anything to eat. Corey grabbed up a box of cereal and scooped handfuls into his mouth then washed it down with water. Billy found five cans of peaches. He tore the tops open and devoured them while I searched inside the fridge. It smelled a little. It wouldn’t take long before all the food in the stores would expire, then what? We hadn’t even had a chance to think about the basics. We lived from moment to moment fully expecting to be attacked.

“Do you think they’ll eventually move on once they see their group dwindling?” Billy asked.

“No,” Murphy said. “Being as they went to great lengths to kill a shitload of people, I expect they are ready to die if need be. They are in this for the long haul.”

Billy scooped a few fingers into a can. Peach juice dripped down the side of his mouth.

“So are we going to have to kill them all?”

Murphy scoffed. “I hope not.”

I slammed the fridge closed feeling frustration at the entire situation. We were nothing but puppets being led around by the nose. For the first time since this had started I was beginning to see how war could change a person. The lack of sleep, the hunger, the moments of terror and the images of horror could send a person over the edge. And we had just begun.

“A month, I don’t think I could handle another week,” I said.

Murphy kept an eye on the corridor. “You’ll adjust. Right now you’re not used to this. Your mind is telling you one thing. It will soon settle down.”

“You make it sound like an addiction.”

He chewed off a piece of bread that had been sitting on the counter. It was stale and there was even some funky purple fur growing on the side of it, however, it didn’t seem to faze him.

“That’s because it is an addiction. You have spent the last seventeen years of your life on a diet of ease. Warm beds, hot showers, an abundance of food, more technology than you know what to do with it. Pull away from all of that and your mind doesn’t know what to do.”

“Are you telling me you didn’t have a cellphone?”

“No, I did but I wasn’t attached to it the way some folks are. It’s all about balance. People don’t know what to do with themselves if you take away their gadgets and toys. That’s because their identity is intrinsically wrapped up in that next email, that next post, that next… fill in the blanks.”

Suddenly, Murphy tossed the bread on the ground and got a real serious look on his face.

“Get down and stay quiet.”

We didn’t argue with him. We dropped down and listened intently. What had he seen or heard? He signaled for us to back away from the kitchen opening. There was a moment of silence then we heard a door creak open and glass crunch beneath shoes. Whoever it was, there was more than one of them. All four of us had our weapons aimed at the doorway to the kitchen. The footsteps got closer. The moment I saw a leg come into view I pushed Billy’s gun down.

“Sara?”

“Murphy.”

We all got up and Sara hugged Murphy. Behind her were two of the older women that I’d seen from City Hall.

“Where’s Ally?”

“I don’t know. It all happened so fast. We heard three knocks at the back door of City Hall and thought it was you guys, when we opened all chaos broke out. There were three skinheads. We managed to kill one of them but the other two ran off. We assumed they would come back with others so we ventured out hoping to find you guys or another place to hide. Then we ran into more of them and somehow we got separated.”

She had tears in her eyes when she was recalling what had taken place.

“Where did you last see her?”

“In the west end over on King Street.” Sara looked around. “Where are the others?”

“They are north of here.”

Murphy got on the radio. “McCabe.”

He came on the line. “Go ahead.”

“We have found Sara and a couple of others. Seems the rest are in the west end. You might as well work your way back down. We’ll meet up at the Stardust Motel.” When he got off the radio he motioned for us to get going.

“What about your daughter?”

“I’m going down there, I want you guys to keep an eye on Sara.”

“No, let us do this. Take Sara back.”

“Are you joking?” Murphy said to me.

“I get it, Murphy. Trust me. I’ll take Corey and Billy. We’ll be there and back before you know it. Besides,” I glanced over to the older women, “they’ll just slow us down.”

“Let them do it,” Sara said. It was clear that she was terrified.

He cast a glance at them, looked at us for a minute or two and then handed us the radio. “Be sure to stay in contact. You understand?”

“We’re not dumb,” Billy said.

Corey chuckled and Billy jabbed him in the side with his elbow

With that said, Murphy led Sara and the two women out the door. Murphy handed Sara a Glock and she just released the magazine, checked it and slapped it back in as though she had been around guns all her life.

We waited until they were gone before we ventured out. Threading our way through backyards, we decided to head into the forest that surrounded the town. It would make it easier to get across to the west side without being spotted. I focused on the trail ahead of us while Corey kept his eyes on the left and Billy focused on the right.

“What do you think they will do to her if they already have her?”

“Shut up, Billy,” I said.

“Just saying.”

“Yeah, for once keep your mouth closed.”

“Whatever.”

The forest floor was thick with vegetation. It was like wading through a green river. All that could be seen for miles were pine trees. In the local museum there were photos that dated way back to the time of silver mining. Mount Pleasant just looked like a speck among the surrounding greenery. If a plane went down it would take people weeks to find it, and that was if they were lucky. The forest was as dense as it was vast.

King Street ran south away from the town, then merged with Placer Creek Road. When we reached the edge of the trees and could see the homes, all three of us had our game faces on. It was quiet, we weren’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

I dashed across the street and took cover behind an RV. I kept my hand raised and then motioned for the other two to join me once the coast was clear. King Street had homes on either side along with small apartment blocks. We began at the corner of High Street and worked our way down.

“I say we split up. There’s too many. At least we stand a better chance of finding her and the others.”

“There’s only three of us.”

“So I’ll go alone,” Billy said acting all confident.

I shook my head. “No, we need to stick together. Like Murphy said.”

“Murphy ain’t here.”

“More reason to stick together,” I said.

Billy scowled. “Who put you in charge?”

“I’m older than you, dick.”

“What, by a year? Big deal.”

“Well, five years if we take your mental age,” Corey said.

I chuckled.

“I’m out of here.” With that Billy double-timed it across the road.

“Go with him.”

“No, if he wants to go by himself and get shot, let him.”

“Corey.”

He sighed and dashed across the road. When they were out of view I entered an apartment block. It wasn’t big. There were two apartments on the second floor that could only be reached by stairs on the outside of the building. Inside there were five apartments. There was no doubt about it, I was taking a big risk going in there by myself. For all I knew it could have been full of skinheads still asleep. I slung the AR-15 around my back and took out the Glock. I went to the first door and turned the handle ever so slightly. It was locked. I repeated the same with the next. The third door opened. It made a slight creak. Inside it was dark, humid and smelled musty. The curtains were drawn. The smell was atrocious. I placed a hand over my mouth and kept my gun close to the side of my body. All I could make out was the silhouette of furniture. It was a single bachelor pad with one bedroom, a washroom and a kitchen that joined the living room. I could vaguely make out the shape of two people on the couch. I shuffled over to the curtain and eased it back, just enough to get a better view.

I wished I hadn’t.

Hunched over on the couch were two adults in their early forties. The man had both of his eyes removed and his throat slit. The woman’s clothes had been torn from her body and she was slumped over the end of the couch with her naked rear end facing upward. I didn’t even want to dwell on what they had done to her. Both weren’t moving.

Horrified, I exited there quickly, trying to push the images of depravity from my mind. Outside the sun cast its warm light down. I went house to house checking for survivors. By the looks of things people had fled as most of the homes were abandoned.

The sixth property had people inside. If the teenage son hadn’t recognized me, I was sure my brains would have been all over the floor. I had entered and silence permeated the house. I was in the middle of checking the fridge when I felt the cold gun barrel pressed against the back of my head.

“Put the gun on the ground and don’t look around.”

“Okay, okay. Don’t shoot. I’m not here to start trouble.”

“Yeah, that’s why you have been killing people in our neighborhood.”

“You’ve got it wrong. That wasn’t me.”

“Don’t bullshit me, boy.”

“I swear.”

I went to turn my head and he smacked me hard with the butt of his gun. I fell to the floor.

“I told you. Don’t look around.”

“Dad, I know him.”

I looked up and saw a kid by the name of Tom Barrington. He was a jock in the school. One of those kids who spent all his time on the football field and talking about the latest game.

“Tom?”

He crouched down and helped me up.

“I don’t care whether you know him. Look at him. He’s one of them.”

“Sir, I swear. I know how this looks but…”

“Dad, he got sent away to Murphy’s camp.”

“Murphy? Do you know where he is?”

“He was the one that sent me to find his daughter.”

They helped me to a seat and got a cloth for the cut on the side of my face. I brought them up to speed on what occurred.

“Bastards took my wife. I haven’t seen her. She wasn’t with your group, was she?”

“She might be there. There were a number of people at City Hall. I don’t know all of them.”

Despite it being a small town, I didn’t know everyone in it. I’d only been there two years. But in that time it seemed as if my reputation preceded itself but for all the wrong reasons. Tom’s father didn’t trust me. He kept his gun on me while I downed a glass of water.

“Look, all I can say is it’s probably best to hang tight where you are. There are others in the town fighting back. We’ve heard them but who knows how many have died.”

“Do you know how this happened?”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean? You are one of them.”

Tom’s father grabbed my wrist that had the tattoo of the swastika.

“It was a mistake.” I yanked my wrist away.

“Really? Funny how you say that now that you have a gun pointed at your head.”

“Oh, Dad, give it a rest. He’s not going to do shit.” Tom looked at me. “Are you?”

“I need to go. I have to find Ally.”

“We saw her.”

“You did?”

“Last night. She was among a whole group that were being chased by them.”

“And you didn’t think to help?”

“There was nothing we could do. They’ve been killing people in the middle of the streets. I watched my neighbor get his head stomped. I’ve already lost my mother.”

“She might still be alive, just hiding. Which way did you see them go?”

Tom pointed.

I got up and Tom’s father reluctantly handed my guns back. As I made my way to the back door, Tom’s father spoke. “Hey, kid, I’m sorry about your head.”

With my head throbbing I started heading south. I was about to head into a residence when I heard a whistle. I turned to see Billy on the other side of the road. He gestured as if to say they hadn’t found them. I had cleared two houses before I came to the old people’s residence. A one-story red brick building with the doors covered in spray paint. Some of the wire-meshed windows had been busted out. I hesitated wondering whether to go in or not.

As I got closer to the door I saw dry blood covering the handle. I pulled it back and noticed even more blood covering the ground. It looked as though someone had been dragged inside. Cautiously I stepped in and made sure to not let the door bang behind me. It was dark inside, except for the areas where daylight seeped in. In the lobby was a front desk, a basement elevator off to the right and a waiting area. The floors were tiled and the carpets were flowery.

I tucked the Glock inside my waistband and pulled the rifle around. I had a bad feeling about this. I glanced back at the main entrance contemplating joining Corey and Billy across the street. I blew out my cheeks and pressed on. On the wall was an outline map indicating where the apartments, the laundry area and game room were. The whole place smelled like rotten cabbage and bedpans. I moved quickly down the corridor in a sideways motion so I could keep an eye on both ends of the corridor. Every time I opened a new door, I had this sinking feeling in my stomach that the next one would have someone with a gun behind it.