The Dead Divide Us (Book 1) (20 page)

“My daddy made sure to put the safety on!” Shawn said out loud, proudly.

Roy laughed a little.

“That’s a good thing Shawn; you always have to keep the safety on. We don’t need your dad shooting himself in the foot.” Roy said. Shawn was the only one inside the garage who laughed. The cold gray cement inside the Benton’s garage gave off a sterile smell, it made everything seem much more depressing that it already was. Ruth was so very sick to her stomach.

“Come on Paul, we’ll take the Nissan. It’s still parked out front.” Roy said.

“I want to go with!” Shawn said, eagerly.

“No honey you are going to stay here with us.” Ruth said.

Roy looked at Shawn and back up to Paul.

“Wait a minute. Maybe Shawn and Eddie
should
ride along with us.” Roy said.

“Yes!” Shawn exclaimed.

“Why?” Paul had to ask.

“Warren and Glen are still guarding this neighborhood; we’re going to have to tell them we are just going out for supplies to use
here
at our homes. Sheriff Baxter might give us trouble too. If we bring your boys along, it won’t seem to be anything suspicious. They‘re presence would give us an innocent image.”

Roy was fucking smart.

“Yeah Sheriff Baxter and Mayor Schacht don’t want you leaving Roy.” Ruth added.

“True and I bet Stan Hadley will question us too. I think he knows we are up to something. He was looking at our house a little while ago. He’s one weird guy.” Paul said.

“Yeah I never liked him.” Roy said.

“Let’s go guys.” Paul said and then headed out of the garage behind Roy with his two sons.

“We won’t be long at all. Go through our house and make sure we can’t use anything else, do a dummy check.” Roy asked his wife Kirsten. Roy then pulled out his pistol and handed it to her.

“You won’t need to use this, but you know how to in case something happens.” Roy said.

“We’ll be fine. Just be careful, please.” Kirsten said.

“Be back soon. Lock the doors when you go inside.” Roy said.

3

Roy and Paul had no problem giving Warren Blakely the slip. As they slowly drove out of Roy’s driveway, Warren had approached them with his rifle in his hands. Roy told Warren that they were just heading down to the hardware store for extra supplies. He didn’t have to lie about that. But Roy did mislead Warren in suggesting that these “extra supplies” would be used there in Green Falls. Warren took Roy Benton’s word for honesty, like he always had, and noticed Eddie and Shawn sitting in the back seat.

“You two take care of your dads now! Don’t let um’ git in any troubles.” Warren said, leaning into Roy’s SUV.

“We will Mr. Blakely.” Eddie said sharply, which took Paul by surprise.

“Whoa, don’t go calling me Mister now. What did I do to tick you off?” Warren said in a playfully sarcastic tone. He didn’t like being called Mister or Sir or Gentleman. Warren thought those titles were only reserved for wealthy old scum-bags who wore expense dark three-piece suits.

“Take it easy and be on the lookout Warren.” Roy said as he released his foot off of the brake.

“Will do, get back here quick.” Warren said, and then moved away from the SUV.

Roy rolled up his window; the light mist was still continuing to fall. Roy and Paul both shared a distraught look.

“We gotta get those supplies and just leave this place. I can’t stand lying to these people anymore.” Roy said.

“I agree.” Paul confirmed.

The short ride down to the hardware store was filled with ambient sounds of a quiet vehicle. Some of the homes they passed along the way had neighbors joining forces on their front lawns whereas other homes looked either abandoned or the inhabitants were locked away inside fending for themselves. In the front window of one of those homes, Paul thought he saw someone staring out of the crack in the curtains. Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him.

Gus’s Hardware store was packed to the brim. It looked like every household in town had sent a representative to charge full-on at Gus’s little supply store. All ten parking spots to the establishment were taken up; someone in a rusted out Blazer was even illegally parked in the sole handicap spot.

“Oh man, would you look at this?” Paul said.

“We aren’t the only ones stocking up.” Roy said.

Paul surveyed the vehicles in the parking lot, no sign of Sherriff Baxter’s police cruiser. That was a very good thing.

“Gus usually has my package waiting in the back room. Luckily, for this recent order I doubled up on all ammo rounds; this won’t take long at all. Paul do you think we should we lock Eddie and Shawn in the car while we go inside?” Roy said.

Paul thought about it for a second, and then decided against it.

“No I’d feel safer if they were by my side.” Paul said.

“True, true. Come on guys let’s go get our stuff.” Roy said as he parked his vehicle on the far end of Gus’s parking lot, blocking an alleyway and a big green dumpster.

Eddie and Shawn jumped out and Paul went to them immediately.

“Both of you stay by my side at all times. No looking around in there, we aren’t here to browse around.” Paul said to his two boys.

“Ok, Daddy.” Shawn said. Paul hadn’t noticed that Shawn had brought along his smaller version of the John Cena wrestling buddy doll.

“Ok Eddie?” Paul asked.

“Of course Dad.” Eddie said.

Inside the store, a long line of boisterous townspeople started at the register counter in the back of the store and led right up to the front doors. As Paul entered through the glass doors they were immediately standing in line. Most of the shelves in the store were already bare. Only random things remained; ball pein hammers, fly-traps, tiny fishing lures, a few Tiki torches, and packs of mouse traps. All the really useful supplies had been bought up. Duct tape, large hammers, nails, screws. They passed someone in the parking lot that was loading up the back of their truck with large planks of plywood and other wooden blocks. In the window display sat a blue shiny snow blower with a nine hundred dollar price tag on it. No need for that during the apocalypse. Paul also noticed that everyone in line ahead of them had their arms full of things they wanted to buy.

And to make matters even worse, then store was fairly dark. Since the power was out, the only light reaching into the store was from outside. The far end of the hardware store was dim and surprisingly ominous.

“Oh great. This looks bad. We might be waiting a while.” Paul said.

Roy bounced around on his tip-toes to get a better look down the other end of the store; he couldn’t even see Gus at the counter, it was too dark and there were too many people in the way.

“Daddy, it’s loud in here.” Shawn said.

“I know, come on let’s get out of here.” Paul said to his boys.

But then someone in line pointed out the presence of Roy Benton, aka unofficial town leader.

“Hey Roy is here!” the voice shouted.

Everyone standing in front of them, turned around to see Roy and Paul.

“Yo Roy, you missed the clearance sale.” “You’re late to the party!” another voice rang out. That comment got a few chuckles too.

Then Paul heard a familiar voice call out.

“Roy, Jesus mighty get back here and help me out. Would ya?”

It was Gus Frankly, he was hidden back there somewhere behind the large mob of people.

“Yeah Roy, go do your duty. Help ol' Gus work the register!” another random voice called out.

This was actually a golden opportunity for Roy, he’d be able to bypass the line of people and head straight back to grab his ammo package.

“Come on guys.” Roy said to Paul and his boys.

All four of them pushed their way through, down the middle aisle through a sea of paranoid townies. The scene looked like it was cut out of old footage from the great depression; so many people crammed in line awaiting their turn. As they approached the counter Paul was finally able to see Gus; he looked ragged and beat. The gray hairs that were left on his head were turning white, or at least it had seemed that way in the shadows.

“Thank god.” Gus said at the sight of Roy Benton.

Paul also noticed that the current lead customer was none other than the curious Stan Hadley. He was trying to buy…a tooth brush!? That’s it? One solitary toothbrush for the end of the world? Paul couldn’t believe this guy.

“Oh good, our fearless and unappointed local leader is here to save the day.” Stan Hadley said.

“Don’t listen to him Roy. Can you work the counter for a while? I need to use the bathroom something fierce.” Gus pleaded to Roy.

“Gus, I’m sorry but I’m actually just here for my ammo package.”

Gus took off his work apron and put it on top the counter.

“If you let me go to the shitter so I can avoid crapping my pants, I’ll grab your ammunition on the way back.” Gus said.

Roy looked up at the massive group of people and then back to Paul.

“Ok, go ahead.” Roy said to Gus.

Gus took off running into the back of the store where a doorway behind the register counter had a brown cloth hanging down to act as the door. A sign hung above the threshold reading EMPLOYEES ONLY. The line of people pushed forward with some loud talking and grunting noises. They expected to be waited on and they were growing restless.

“Ok, I assume this is cash only. Who’s next?” Roy asked.

“I am, damn it!” Stan Hadley barked out, holding up his tooth brush.

Paul felt a wave of unease wash over him. What on earth were they doing there? He shouldn’t be stuck in a dark musty hardware store while a fast spreading disease was bearing down on his existence; and with his two children by his side no less. Paul felt out of place, outsourced and completely useless. His stomach turned into tight knots and nausea came to him as the shouting complaints of the hardware store’s patrons battered his ears.

“You ok Dad?” Eddie asked, bringing Paul back.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Roy, we have to get out of here. I’m taking the boys back to your car.” Paul said. Roy was fumbling around Gus’s old style cash register, taking various wads of cash from people.

“Go ahead, I shouldn’t be long. I’ll meet you out there…” Roy began, but he was cut off by the sound of the bells on the store’s glass doors. Someone really must have slammed into the door hard to make those old bells ring like that.

“Sheriff Baxter!” a voice yelled out from the front of the store.

Paul could see the Sheriff’s silhouette approaching. He was almost six inches taller than anyone in the store; he simply marched down through the crowd of people. As for the crowd, they were now silent and compliant. They still feared his authority, as Sheriff Baxter had always demanded control. Paul again thought how ridiculous that idea was.

Live your own life, people. Move out from the shadows of the oppressive.

The Sheriff approached the counter and Stan Hadley stepped away, making room for the big bastard.

“What can I do for you Sheriff?” Roy asked, plainly.

“You can shut your fucking mouth and wipe the grin from your face.” The Sheriff said. He looked horrible, his hair was all matted down and his skin was pale. He looked sick with a fever, Paul didn’t like how bad he looked and he really didn’t like the way he was speaking in front of his boys. The Sheriff was a jerk but he wasn’t known for being quite that obscene, especially in front of children.

“Watch your language! I got my kids here.” Paul fired back.

Sheriff Baxter turned his attention to Paul; he stared at him for what felt like a long time. Then the Sheriff started to cough, it was unlike any coughing spell Paul had heard before. Very deep, long coughs sloshing forward from inside the Sheriff’s diaphragm. The people standing around the Sheriff backed away slowly, giving him room.

“You don’t sound too good Sheriff.” Roy said.

The Sheriff stopped coughing and raised up his head, long strands of snot were running from his nose. The Sheriff leaned forward and spit out a horribly large amount of mucus onto the counter. The snot wad hit the counter with a large wet slapping sound. Everyone in the store gasped out loud.

“Oh fucking gross!” Stan Hadley cried out, grasping his tooth brush close.

Paul put his hands on the backs of Eddie and Shawn, making sure they were still standing on both sides of him.

“Come on boys we’re leaving.” Paul said, knowing the Sheriff was sick. He thought this could be the disease, the big one. He needed to get his children to safety.

“Oh no. You fuckers aren’t going anywhere!” Sheriff Baxter yelled and then in a split second pulled out his shiny silver 445 revolver. He aimed it directly at Paul’s head.

“We need to have a little talk, smart ass.” The sick Sheriff said.

“Whoa, Sheriff put that gun away!” Roy strained to keep his voice calm.

Sheriff Baxter then changed his target, pointing the barrel of his gun at Roy Benton.