The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (12 page)

Now she didn't think about the stains, didn't wonder about the last time it had been cleaned as she drew her legs to her chest. She cried for her parents, and Carol, she cried for all the people out there that had been lost today, for all the babies and children, and people that would never get to breathe or eat or shower again. She threw the pity party she had longed to throw in the woods, the only difference was that she hadn't intended to throw this party and she felt selfish for doing so.

So many people had been lost today, and she was huddled in a twenty year old shower stall sobbing instead of facing the world like the adult she'd been insisting she was ever since she'd hit fifteen. She didn't feel much like an adult now, and she would have given anything to have her parents show up and take over control of her again. That wasn't going to happen though, and if she didn't get her ass off the ground, she'd soon be joining Carol.

Taking a shuddering breath, she managed to get her feet underneath her again and push herself up the wall. She wiped the tears from her eyes but though she was standing, and somewhat in control again, she couldn't stop the water works. There were five people outside the door and yet she'd never felt more alone in her life.

"Get over it," she muttered to herself. "Suck it up, put on your big girl pants and get over it. You're alive, you still have loved ones."

She swallowed heavily and stuck her head under the pitiful stream of water. Black flowed from her and streaked toward the drain in a murky current.
You have more than most people now
, she reminded herself though she couldn't stop the annoying flow leaking from her eyes. Jesus she was a wreck, and she didn't even know why. Before she'd stepped into this bathroom, she'd had a goal, she'd had a mission; she'd been determined and strong. Now she felt weak and broken and all she'd done was close the door and turn on the shower.

She wondered what Xander was doing now, if he was closer to Sturbridge than they were, if he'd run into any of the strange people. If he was even still alive. She shuddered at the thought and fresh tears slid down her face. Propping her hands against the shower wall, she ducked her head under the spray and simply stood and cried as she grieved for her parents, her best friend, and for a world that had ceased to exist.

Then, she wiped her eyes, straightened her shoulders and vowed it would be the last time she lost control. There were things to do, she could cry again when they were somewhere safe, if they ever found somewhere safe. She was grabbing for the shampoo when a loud banging caused her to jump and nearly fall over in the shower.

"Get out!" Carl shouted at her. "Riley shut the water off and get out
now
!"

She didn't have to be told twice, not after the events of today, and not with the urgency she heard in Carl's voice. She turned the water off and attempted to leap out of the tub, but her foot got caught up on the edge. She crashed haphazardly into the chipped toilet, and almost smashed her head into the mirror on the back of the door. The flashlight clattered to the floor and spun around the room in a dizzying circle that caused her stomach to lurch. She cursed loudly as she snatched the towel off the back of the door.

"You ok?" Carl demanded.

"Fine," she muttered. "What's going on?"

"There's a storm out there."

"There was a storm out there before," she retorted, hoping she hadn't just almost broken her neck and run out of here with only a towel on because it was
raining
.

"Not like this one."

She grabbed the clothes off of where she'd left them on the floor. They were a little damp thanks to her extremely inelegant exit from the tub, but so was she, as she didn't take the time to towel off completely. She threw the black t-shirt on and jerked on the jeans. They were a little too long on her but she didn't bother to roll them up as she turned off the flashlight and threw open the door.

Carl turned from his position by the sink; she was opening her mouth to speak with him when a brilliant flash lit up the room. She jumped and spun toward the window.
Was there someone here? Were those headlights?
Another strobe lit the room and she realized that everyone had moved away from the window. They were standing either against the wall or leaning against the bureau.

Light flashed around the room again, illuminating it for what seemed like a good ten minutes, but was perhaps only thirty seconds. Visions of UFO's danced through her head, she had a flashback to the alien theory she'd laughed at while at the restaurant in the stadium. A clap of thunder so loud shook the room that she threw her hands over her ears as she recoiled from the noise. Rochelle let out a small shriek that was barely audible over the rumbling and rattling of the window.

Riley's hands fell limply back to her sides as the rumbling died away and the room lit up with rapid flashes again. "See why I told you to get out of the shower," Carl said as he stepped beside her.

"Thanks for that. Being electrocuted while taking a shower is not the way I want to go," she informed him.

"It's not the way any of us want to go."

"Is it just lightning?"

"What else would it be?" John inquired.

Little green men looking to invade
. Riley bit those words back as the ground began to rumble and lightning slammed into what she was almost certain was the parking lot. She was certain that if one of those lightning bolts hit the motel it would demolish the whole thing. She took a step back but there was nowhere to go, not anymore.

Carl remained motionless beside her as the eerie lightning lit the room in stroboscopic flashes that reminded her briefly of Halloween and her childhood. She had the ridiculous urge to shout trick-or-treat and thrust out a pillowcase, and she could almost convince herself this was just some kind of prank. For a brief moment she could almost feel the press of Xander's hand taking hold of hers as it had once when they were younger, and she'd been frightened.

"I keep expecting aliens to rise from the ground," she muttered.

"Please don't say that." Carl stepped further in front of her as the sky was rocked with an endless clap of thunder that shook the ground beneath her feet.

She reached up, but due to the fact that her hair was wet, it wasn't beginning to stand on end like everyone else's in the room. Riley couldn't take the tension growing within her anymore; she simply couldn't stand here and do nothing. She
had
to know. She had to see if there were gigantic monsters roaming the earth, or perhaps even ships zipping through the air.

She brushed past Carl and climbed onto one of the double beds. Rising up, she had to remain slightly crouched as she walked across the top of one bed to the other. She hesitated before stepping down before the window. She expected to have a bolt of lightning go zapping through her, but she didn't think being by the window increased that risk. There was no hiding from those bolts if one of them was going to hit her.

Taking a deep breath, Riley pulled the mattress away from the window a bit. It had grown dark while she was in the shower; she wasn't sure if it was a natural nightfall though, or if the clouds had obliterated any sense of daylight. Though she didn't see any colossal creatures climbing out of the earth, her mouth still dropped as she stared at the lightning illuminating the thick clouds of oozing black that seeped endlessly onward. As she watched, bolts slammed into the ground with enough force to kick up the earth around them and obliterate the asphalt.

She'd never seen anything like it, had never imagined such a storm could ravish the earth. Her hand clenched around the curtain, would anything be left when it was done?

One thing was for sure, they weren't going to make it out to the truck. Another loud clap of thunder shook the ground and vibrated the glass of the window so forcefully she was certain it would shatter. She felt the presence at her side before Lee rested his hand on her shoulder.

She stepped back to allow him access as another vibrant strobe pulsed through the room. "Good thing we're not epileptic," John muttered.

Lee shook his head and mumbled a curse. "There are people out there."

"Where?" Riley demanded as she pushed him aside. She hadn't seen anyone out there, but she hadn't expected anyone to be crazy enough to be out in this storm either. Lee backed away so she could resume her spot. Though she strained to see through the night, she didn't see any one. "Where?"

"Behind the truck."

She strained to see through the flashes to the truck. Her eyes finally focused upon the people moving about it. Like a swarm of locusts they were moving about the vehicle, unfazed by the lightning and rain that pounded down around them. She didn't realize that she was panting until Lee placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Easy," he murmured.

Riley swallowed heavily and nodded. The people started to spread out from behind the truck as Carl and John arrived at the window. Lightning pulsated through the sky, something in the distance exploded as sparks shot into the air. The people in the parking lot didn't pay it any attention as they moved toward the motel.

"Get the guns, John," Carl muttered. "John…"

Carl broke off as John remained immobile with his mouth agape. Carl spun away from the window and scrambled over the bed. There was a coldness creeping into her lower body that made Riley fear she might just collapse. Empty, those people were so unbelievably empty. It seemed as if they saw nothing, felt nothing, and had no idea what was going on around them. The rain, the lightning,
nothing
bothered them.

"How many?" Al inquired.

"Too many," Carl told him as he thrust a rifle at the older man. He glanced at Al's bandaged hand and pulled the rifle back to give him a handgun. "Are you going to be able to do this?"

"I'll do whatever's necessary," Al assured him.

"Lee give me a hand with the bureau." Lee scampered over the beds to grab the other end of the large piece of furniture. "Close the door Rochelle."

The girl was as white as a sheet but she still hurried to close the door to the other room. Carl nodded his head to Lee as the people in the parking lot made it to the manager's office. Some of them slipped inside the office while others continued down the walkway.

"Don't place it against the door," Carl said as Lee maneuvered the bureau to block the middle door.

"Why not?" Lee whispered.

"If they get in here, we're going to have to go through there. I just want to make sure that this is ready in case we do have to block the door."

"They're getting closer," Riley breathed.

Al pushed Rochelle behind him as she began to cry silent tears that slid down her cheeks to drip off of her chin. Riley's heart hammered, a tingling in her chest was making it difficult for her to breathe as her fingers curled into the worn mattress pressing against the window. The people weren't trying the doors at they moved, weren't attempting to get into the rooms and away from the treacherous weather conditions. She was beginning to think the only reason they'd roamed into the manager's office was because the door had been left open.

She didn't know Carl had approached her until she felt something pressing against her arm. She looked down at the gun and stretched her numbed fingers out to take it. She barely felt it within her grasp as her hand wrapped around the grip. "Are you going to be ok to shoot them?"

No, she absolutely would not be ok with shooting them. At least that's what she believed she should say; that's what the Riley of yesterday would have said. But right now she knew she wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on whatever it was that was rambling down the walkway out there. "Only if they're dangerous."

"We'll make sure they are before we put a bullet in them, but if they are…"

"I have no problem with firing," she assured him.

He nodded as he handed Lee a gun and walked over to join John on the other side of the window. Riley kept the gun pressed against her leg. Her hand was sweating as the people crept closer. She frowned as one young man stopped to try the knob on a room four doors down. It was the first person that had shown any sign of reasonable thought outside of the flock.

She wasn't fond of the whole,
the lights are on but nobody's home,
look that most of them seemed to have going on. She was even less fond of the fact that at least one of them seemed to be showing some logic still. Riley swallowed nervously as they steadily drew closer to the room. They were only five feet away when Riley stepped back from the window and headed over to the door. Taking a deep breath she rose on her toes to press her eye to the peephole.

Behind her, Rochelle made a small whimper. Riley briefly looked away as Al quickly shushed Rochelle and moved her toward the bathroom. He gestured for her to go inside and close the door. Riley turned her attention back to the hole. She couldn't see much through the crappy thing, but she saw enough to know that there were even more of them filtering through the parking lot.

Riley jumped back and nearly screamed as a bolt of lightning slammed into the parking lot no more than twenty feet away from them. People were thrown back by the blow and though two of them remained down, one of them rose back to their feet and continued on as if nothing had happened. She'd be amazed if they weren't eaten, didn't catch on fire, or still had two vehicles by morning.

John had leapt away from the window at the impact and was staring at it like it might just bite him. Carl gestured for them to move away from the glass. Lee reluctantly stepped back from the window as Carl stepped beside Riley and nodded toward the peephole. She took a deep breath and pressed her eye to it again as the first member of the group stepped in front of their room.

Riley held her breath as she silently counted away the seconds in her mind as the woman briefly looked around before continuing onward. A man and woman walked by next and continued on. She stared at the mindless horde as she tried to puzzle together what was wrong with them. Some of them had burns on them, others were filthy, broken, beaten and bloody like many of the people she'd seen over the course of this day.