The Dead in River City (2 page)

3

Driving through Louisville these days was tedious at
best. There were cars abandoned everywhere you went. Some of the vehicles even
had the remains of people who died in the attack. It was less about driving in
your own lane, and more about weaving through the mass labyrinth of cars
everywhere in the city. Rules of the road no longer applied in this city.

 
Alan
and Kendra were the only ones still on the road. The trip to their destination,
that should have taken no more than 30 minutes, took close to an hour to
complete. Alan drove the car into the parking lot of the peddler’s mall, and
turned to Kendra.

“What exactly are we doing here, Kendra?” he
inquired, not fully understanding what she’d been planning.

“You mean, you haven’t put it together?” she replied.
“We need weapons, so we came to a peddler’s mall. Usually there is always at
least 1 booth in these places that has weapons of some sort. Now, these aren’t
guns and things that go boom. Usually it’s a small collection of swords:
katanas, long swords, and other melee weapons. That is why we came here.”
Kendra explained her thinking.

“Correct me if I’m wrong…” Alan began. “But isn’t
close combat with Dead Ones a bad idea? Like a horrendously terrible idea?”

Kendra looked at him and tried to explain. “Yes and
no. It’s a bad idea because if they break the skin, you’re pretty much dead,
and most people aren’t proficient enough with melee weapons to be smart enough
to use them. On the other hand, melee weapons don’t require ammunition. If you
use them intelligently, you’ll never run out of killing potential.” Kendra
seemed quite sure of herself. “Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t use guns when we
can, but it will help to have something to fall back on. Now come on, let’s get
moving.” She motioned him to follow her.

They made their way inside, going up the unpowered
escalator to the peddler’s mall. The lights were out and there was no one
around. Provided that they could see what they were doing, Alan and Kendra
could raid the place for what they needed, and then be on their way.

“It’s dark in here.” Alan observed. “Far too dark.”

“No, really?” Kendra voiced her irritation with
sarcasm dripping from her lips like venom. “Spot on observation, captain
obvious.” Kendra was clearly prickly when it came to foolishness. She was like
a porcupine, covered in sharp quills.

“Do you have a problem with me, Kendra?” Alan asked
with a hint of offense.

“I have a problem with people relying on me for
help. People should learn to take care of themselves.” Kendra elaborated as she
searched for anything she could use.

Alan looked away, continuing his search. “The world
is different now, Kendra. Humanity is barely hanging on. If people stop working
together, then we’ll be lucky to last ‘til the end of the year. We need to
learn to get along, or we’re done for.” Alan pleaded with her.

Kendra gave no response. Perhaps she was angry or
irritated. Perhaps she didn’t want to accept the truth of Alan’s words.
Instead, she simply ignored him, and tried to forget how right he was; tried to
ignore how his wisdom got to her heart. In silence, she walked to a nearby case
that she could see with her now adjusted eyes. Even having a sliver of
low-light vision, she couldn’t find what she needed.

“Do we have anything we can use as a light?” Kendra
inquired.

“I’m already on it.” Alan replied. Reaching into his
pocket, he found the lighter he kept there. Alan was unsure, if he could even
get it to light, as he’d used it to start a fire each night to keep warm and to
keep the area illuminated. “I hope this works.” He said, his voice full of
uncertainty. He clicked the lighter, but no flame produced.

Alan became overtaken by desperation. He clicked the
lighter again, still with no fire. Again and again he clicked it, but to no
avail. After what must have been 7 or 8 clicks, a spark produced, and a small
flame spouted from the lighter. He quickly, yet carefully moved over to Kendra,
being cautious so as not to snuff out the flame he’d worked so desperately to
produce.

“Here.” Alan sighed with a hint of relief. “It isn’t
much, but at least we can see.”

Kendra took the lighter from Alan, muttering a
barely audible “Thank you” as she did so. The light from the flame was dim, and
as Kendra stumbled around in near darkness, she strained her eyes to look for
anything that they might use. Kendra saw what appeared to be a sword case. As
she ventured towards it, she saw that her suspicions were correct. With a roar,
she slammed her arm against the case, shattering the glass, and exposing the
weapons within.

“Didn’t that hurt?” Alan cringed as he spoke.

“Like hell.” Kendra stated, saying nothing more.

Alan and Kendra looked in the case and saw a small
variety of weapons they could use. Just as Kendra said, there were multiple katanas,
and even a long sword like those used by knights in ages long gone. Kendra
grabbed a katana with each hand, and threw a third one to Alan. As for the rest
of the case, there was little left that was considered useful: a couple dozen
throwing knives, and some dull blades. Alan noticed a box in the case. Upon
close inspection of the box, he saw that it was a crossbow pistol. It was no
bigger than a small handgun, but fired crossbow ammunition. Alan took the box,
and his katana, sheathed within its black metal casing, and made his way to the
escalator as best he could in the low light, with Kendra following him.

Leaving the mass hodgepodge of booths upstairs, and
returning to the ground floor, Alan and Kendra could see again. He noticed a
few small cuts on Kendra’s arm from where she shattered the glass case. Alan
was just about to notify Kendra, when his mind caught notice of something else.
Standing outside the door they entered was a group of people. Alan wasn’t
entirely sure how old they were, but they looked young. He reckoned that they
were around 18 years old. Judging them by their looks, he believed them to be a
group of young punks, using this apocalyptic scenario to do as they wished,
with no real authority to bind them.

“Kendra, we might have some trouble.” Alan spoke,
directing her attention to the people just outside.

“That can’t be good.” She said, mostly to herself.
“I don’t trust them. We don’t need anyone else joining us.”

Kendra, being more impulsive than Alan, rushed out
through the doors, and confronted the group. Alan reluctantly followed, fearing
he might lose Kendra as he had lost others before. She took the group by
surprise, causing them to immediately produce weapons. The three boys each held
a handgun aimed at Kendra’s head, and she knew she’d made a grave error.

“Back the hell up!” The supposed leader of the group
shouted, shaking his pistol at Kendra.

Alan hadn’t yet reached the door, as Kendra had a
sizeable lead over him. The group hadn’t noticed his presence yet. Alan stayed inside,
just out of sight, waiting for the moment to strike. He knew he would have to
take them out or, at the very least, disarm them. Outside, Kendra dropped her
weapons to the cold hard concrete, and backed up.

“Nice weapons you got here.” The leader spoke again.
“Thanks for retrieving them for us!” He exclaimed, taking up the weapons for
himself.

“Those aren’t yours!” Kendra screamed in a rage.

“They are now.” He coldly replied. “I think she’s
gonna be a problem, boys.”

“What should we do, boss?” One of the others asked.

“She’s pretty… a little rough, and a few battle
scars…” The leader trailed off.

“I’ll take her...” The leader said, signaling his
cohorts to stand down. “Over and over and over again.” His smile shifted to
something far more demented and sinister.

It took a moment, but his purpose clicked in
Kendra’s mind. As the leader moved towards her, she caught him off guard, and
wrapped her arm around his neck, holding him as a human shield.

Alan saw the others pull their sidearm’s up, and
knew he was out of time. It was now or never, and he was determined that it
would be now. He ran forward, unsheathing his katana and throwing himself
through the glass door, right into the nearest thug.

They both hit the ground hard. Glass shards covered
the ground and the other two were taken by surprise. The impact on the concrete
nearly knocked out the thug that Alan had tackled. Alan forced himself up,
breathing in the cool outside air, and swung his katana at the second thug,
knocking the pistol from his hand. He followed up with a kick to the chest,
staggering him and forcing him to drop to the ground. The two thugs were on the
ground, still awake, but having a hard time of getting up.

The leader threw Kendra off of him, and took up one
of the katanas he had stolen from Kendra, and took a fighting stance.

“Oooh, a tough guy, eh?” The leader mocked him
“Let’s see you take me down!” He rushed at Alan with vigor and rage.

Alan was no sword fighter, but he did his best to
counter the strikes thrown at him. Fighting the Dead was one thing, but to
fight the living required some real skill.
 
Kendra took this opportunity to scramble for one of the
pistols. Jumping towards the closest one, she grabbed the gun and dispatched the
two thugs that Alan had briefly incapacitated, their blood staining the
concrete. Unbeknownst to any of them, the Dead Ones in a nearby lot heard the
shots, and began to shamble over to the source of the noise.

The duel of amateur swordfighters went on, with each
combatant inflicting the other with small cuts and abrasions. Alan was losing
energy trying to fend off the fierce attack, and he knew he wouldn’t last much
longer. Kendra aimed her gun, trying to get a clean shot, but Alan was too
close and kept blocking the path of her bullet. Alan knew he was running out of
time. He ducked, and swept the thug’s leg with his own, knocking the leader to
the ground.

Alan stood over him, holding the blade to the
leader’s throat. “Yield!” He shouted to his defeated opponent.

He did exactly the opposite. He struck back at Alan,
knocking him down, determined to kill him. As he rose up, Kendra leaped at him,
and grabbed his arm. She broke his arm bone and threw him back down on the
ground. She slammed her foot down on his torso, breaking a few ribs and
bruising a few more. She was going to ask him a few questions, but was suddenly
interrupted by the very nervous voice of Alan.

“Kendra! We’ve got incoming!” Alan exclaimed, seeing
the Dead Ones come shambling towards their position.

“Get to the car, I’ll be with you shortly!” She
yelled back.

Kendra began to gather the weapons off the ground.
Taking one of the katanas, she stabbed it through the leg of the gang leader.
She had fiery hatred in her eyes as she looked upon this thug who would’ve
raped her with no remorse.

“A human piece of scum like you deserves to die!”
She proclaimed as she began to run to the car.

She fired shots into the small crowd of Dead Ones as
she ran to the car. Reaching the car, she quickly got inside and Alan floored
the gas pedal. The Dead Ones shambled towards the gang leader, still on the
ground with a katana through his leg. No one heard his screams as they ate him
alive.

4

Kendra was silent as Alan drove away from the Dead
Ones. She was always quiet, but this was different. This is the silence of
someone lost in their own little world. This was silence born of the darkness
of a person’s heart. Kendra was becoming haunted by her actions. If you were to
look at her face, you would see the look of someone drowning in guilt, but also
the look of someone who had done this before.

“You’re awfully quiet.” Alan broke the silence.

“You would be too if you knew my thoughts.” Kendra
replied coldly. She was obviously in no mood to talk.

“Is this about what happened back there?” Alan
queried.

“Yeah.” Kendra said after a few moments of dead
silence.

“Wanna talk about it? It might help.” Alan asked,
trying to convince her to open up.

Kendra only shook her head to reply. She had neither
the energy nor desire to speak any more.

“That’s fine. I won’t badger you about it.” Alan
reassured her. “But if you change your mind, or ever need someone to talk to
about anything, I’ll be right here.”

Kendra smiled at that, even if she hid it deep down.
She liked that about Alan. Sure he wasn’t necessarily bright and didn’t have
the same survival knack that she did, but he was nice. He coaxed a smile out of
her when she didn’t think she
could
smile.
She was still prickly as a porcupine, but where she once barely tolerated Alan,
she now didn’t mind being around him as much. It was actually a nice change.

Alan kept driving down the road. It was only after a
few minutes that he realized that they were so caught up in escaping, that they
hadn’t thought of another destination. Alan was racking his brain, thinking of
where they could go. Before his brain could produce an answer to his mental
query, Kendra spoke up.

“We need to find somewhere to stay.” She said, her
eyes never looking away from the window.

“I agree. Do we know what time it is?” Alan wondered
aloud.

“I can only estimate.” Kendra answered him. “The
car’s clock is broken, and with the sun hiding behind the clouds, afternoon is
no more discernable than evening.”

“Better to find somewhere sooner rather than later.
We won’t want to be out in the dark.” Alan mused.

“True. They seem to be more active in the dark.”
Kendra observed. “We need to find shelter, and then we’ll split up watch
duties.”

“Watch duties?” Alan asked abruptly.

“Yes, watch duties.” Kendra confirmed. “One of us
needs to stay awake to watch over the other. It is too risky to both be asleep
at the same time.”

“I guess I see your point.” Alan conceded. “Any
ideas on where to go?”

“Keep driving down Dixie for now. Once I think of
something, we’ll change course.” Kendra told him.

Kendra sat back in her seat and began to think.
There were many places they could take shelter in Louisville. Hotels were a
possibility, as there was no more business. Most people in the city were either
dead, or zombified. The survivors would be doing the same, looking for shelter
and perhaps even trying to find their way out of the city. Outside of hotels,
the options came down to abandoned apartments and houses, which were much less
safe. Most survivors would have taken shelter in a house, and there’s no
telling how many Dead Ones inhabit the houses they once owned when they were
alive.

“We need a hotel.” Kendra broke the silence, her
eyes still shut.

“Ok.” Alan confirmed, not asking her reasons.
“There’s one I have in mind. It’s close to the fairgrounds. Let’s start there.”

Alan changed his course to go to the hotel. Kendra
leaned her chair back and dozed off, haunted by nightmarish visions of what
happened not even an hour ago. Her whimpering and shuddering worried Alan, but
he opted to leave her alone and continue driving. The sooner they reached the
hotel, the better.

After 20 minutes of weaving through the maddening
maze of abandoned cars, Alan finally parked the car in the parking lot of the
hotel. He shut the car off, hoping he’d be able to hotwire it as easily as he
did when they left the peddler’s mall.

“Kendra. Wake up.” Alan said as he gently shook her
awake.

“Huh? Oh, Alan. Where are we?” She replied in her
dazed state.

“We made it to the hotel. Let’s grab our weapons and
head inside. Let’s see if we can’t find a decent room.” Alan said, motioning
towards the building.

Wordlessly, Kendra followed orders (which was new
for her). She grabbed her remaining katana and the 2 empty pistols she took
from the dead thugs earlier in the day. Alan grabbed the katana, attaching it
to his person, while he carried the still unopened box containing the crossbow
pistol. Together, they walked side by side, across the black pavement, and into
the hotel that sat under the grey skies.

As they entered the building, a powerful smell
overtook them both. They both knew the smell all too well. This was what the
Dead Ones smelled like. This pungent odor was the stench of death itself. By
the looks of things, this hotel was once decent at best, but now, the lobby
smelled of death, and already they had found corpses lying about. As they each
looked around the silent room, they both pondered whether they should look
elsewhere or not. Kendra looked around for any Dead Ones, while Alan walked
towards the reception desk. As he began his approach, a man popped up from
behind the counter.

“Who are you?!” the man shouted, causing both Alan
and Kendra to jump about a foot in the air. Kendra wasted no time drawing her
sword.

“Relax!” Alan shouted. “There are no Dead Ones. It’s
just us.”

The man backed away and Kendra lowered her sword.
Alan stepped towards the frightened man and tried to get some answers.

“Can you tell us what happened here?” Alan asked.

“What do you mean? The bombs fell! That’s what
happened!” the man became hysterical.

“I know that part. I mean what happened in this
building.” Alan rephrased himself.

The man calmed slightly. “I’m the last one alive.
They’re all dead. I’ve been hiding out in this building for weeks now.” He
explained.

“Can you tell us your name?” Alan inquired, hoping
to calm him down.

“Scott.” The man said, trembling from fear. “My name
is Scott.”

“Scott, what are you doing here?” Alan asked him.

“I’ve been hiding here for weeks now. I am… I was
the concierge here before the bombs fell.” Scott began. “Every so often, a few
Dead Ones would get in. I refused to leave, for fear that they were waiting for
me outside.”

Alan took a closer look at Scott as he was speaking.
He noticed the dirty hotel uniform and his apparent lack of hygiene. He was
sweating and looked a bit sickly. His story was undoubtedly true. He hadn’t
left this building for a few weeks. Meanwhile, Kendra examined the corpses of
the Dead Ones in the room. Scott must have killed them as they came in. She
noticed that each had fallen from the same thing: A shotgun wound. Kendra moved
quickly yet calmly towards Alan.

“He’s got a shotgun.” Kendra whispered in passing.

Alan acknowledged her statement, and turned his
attention to Scott again. “Why don’t you come with us?” Alan asked.

Scott seemed uneasy, obviously fiddling with
something just out of view under the desk. “I, uh… I dunno.” He said nervously.

Alan stepped forward, trying to calm him down.
Before he knew what was going on, Alan was staring down the barrel of a
12-gauge shotgun. His eyes widened as he began to realize the situation. In
that moment, he thought he was going to die in the hotel lobby, just like all
the Dead Ones that Scott had blasted through.

“Hey, now! Calm down!” Kendra found herself
shouting. “You don’t need to do this, Scott!”

Scott nervously shifted his look between Alan and
Kendra. He was still sweating profusely, and really was quite unsure if he
would shoot or not. As his trigger finger was deciding whether or not to pull
back, a sharp pain shot through his right arm, causing him to falter.

Kendra wasted no time. Her will to survive kicked in
and she leapt towards him, kicking Scott to the floor as he faltered, making
him lose his grip on the shotgun. Alan swung himself over the counter, and
kneeled, keeping his knee on Scott to keep him down.

“Check his arm.” Kendra instructed.

Alan did so immediately. As he pulled up the right
sleeve of Scott’s shirt, he saw what Kendra suspected. On his upper arm, the
skin was broken, and was obviously the work of a Dead One.

“He’s infected.” Alan confirmed Kendra’s suspicions.

“We can’t risk anything, Alan. We’ll have to do
something about him.” Kendra said

Without a second thought, Alan drew his katana and
drove it through Scott’s heart. He saw the dim light in his eyes die out, and
felt his life disperse. The infection would die out now. His heart couldn’t
pump the infected blood into his brain, and never would Scott become a
full-fledged Dead One.

“It’s done.” Alan said with a cold tone, removing
the katana from Scott’s heart.

Kendra tried to form words, but her shock prevented
her from doing so. Finally, after fighting to construct a sentence, she got the
words out. “Why did you do that?”

Alan stood up and looked at Kendra. “Because
something had to be done.”

“I would have done it. You don’t need to be a killer.”
Kendra said, not wanting Alan to suffer her nightmares.

“You have enough nightmares as it is.” Alan flatly
told her. “I don’t mind taking a few.”

Alan walked away from the corpse, searching for the
keycards for the rooms. As he found them, he threw some to Kendra.

“Check these rooms. Let me know if you find one that
works for us.” Alan instructed her. “I’ll grab the shotgun and whatever ammo I
can find, and I’ll be with you shortly.”

Kendra nodded and walked off to begin searching the
rooms. Alan collected the shotgun, and a few small boxes of ammo that Scott had
stockpiled. He walked out of the lobby, following behind Kendra, pondering the
thought that he had just killed a man, even if it was all for the best. Both
Kendra and Alan committed murder in the same day.

“This world’s gone straight to hell.” Kendra said to
herself.