The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (25 page)

He crouch walked a little further into the darkness and placed his hand back into the warm puddle of water. Frowning, John glanced back at the offending ice machine but it was ten feet from him and the puddle had stopped a good three feet back. He knew he shouldn't, but even as he was telling himself he didn't want to know, he was lifting his hand before him as he rubbed his fingers together. The substance was thick and sticky…

A shudder rocked through him as he realized that it wasn't water that coated his fingertips, it was blood. He dropped his hand down as his gaze slid to the right. The open eyes of a young man stared back at him unseeingly. John had to slap his hand over his mouth in order to suppress a startled cry. Unfortunately, it was the one he'd just stuck into the man's blood. Bile surged up his throat but he kept it suppressed as he took in the youthful features and the
Kyle
nametag attached to the yellow uniform shirt. In the very center of Kyle's head was a single gunshot wound.

Execution style
, John thought crazily as his stomach continued to roll like a ship in a storm. It didn't seem to have happened that long ago as Kyle didn't stink yet. He didn't know much about the dead but he was fairly certain that in this heat a body would begin to reek shortly after death. Even the people that were still alive smelled like crap, himself included, but Kyle seemed to be in better condition than him. Other than the bullet hole in his head, of course.

John's stomach twisted even more as he realized that they'd never had a chance. The man out there had probably had every intention of killing them from the minute they'd entered this store.

John scuttled away from the body. He'd seen enough. There was nothing back there that could help him and if he didn't do something soon, he and Riley would find themselves joining Kyle. He grabbed hold of the drinks and crept closer to the door as he peered under the shelves. He spotted the man's legs at the far end of the cooler and at the very beginning of the aisle where Riley was hiding beside the ATM. Or at least that's where John thought she still was.

He crab-walked back to the door and was about to rise to his feet when he heard Carl. "Riley? John? You guys ok in there?"

From his angle John couldn't see Carl, but he could see a darker shadow hovering by the front door. John flattened himself against the metal doorframe as he kept one eye on the mad man and one eye on the door. He fought the urge to shout at Carl to get away but he didn't want the man to know where he was exactly. Not yet anyway.

Stay outside
, he pleaded silently.

"John?" Carl called. "Riley?"

John started as the man lifted the revolver and shot at the door. The shadow in the doorway jumped back as the bullet hit the cash register with a loud bang and
ching
that caused the cash drawer to pop open. John slid from the doorway a little and adjusted his hold on the soda can. Carl's shadow fell across the door again, but it wasn't as prevalent as before.

"Look, I don't know what's going on in there but all we want is our friends. Just let them come out and I promise we'll leave. We don't mean you any harm. We didn't know anyone was here, we were just going to use the bathroom!" Carl called into the store.

John had told the guy the same thing but it hadn't mattered then and he doubted it mattered now. John shoved the glass bottle under his arm and began to shake the can of soda in his hand. "Can someone answer me?" Carl demanded.

The guy fired another shot at the front of the store, this one shattered plaster as it hit the wall beside the doorframe. "There's your answer!" the man shouted at him.

There was a moment of silence before Carl responded, "Fair enough." John had worked with Carl long enough to know when he was pissed. Right now he could hear the tone in his voice that usually signaled an impending meltdown and at least a week of silence. Thankfully Carl hadn't had a gun in his hands during
those
times, but John was glad he did now. "I'm not leaving here without them. Dead or alive."

John really hoped they got the alive option on that one. He stopped shaking the can and grabbed hold of the tab as the man took a step closer to Riley. It was now or never.

Popping the top, John heaved the can away from him as soda sprayed out in a brown mist that splattered the walls of the store. The can spun over top of the counter he had been hiding behind as it whipped through the air. The man turned toward it, firing as the shooting stream of soda started to run out of steam.

"Carl!" John shouted as the man turned toward him.

John heaved the glass bottle at him. He wasn't intending to hit the man, simply to distract him even more. The man instinctively jumped back as the glass shattered a foot before him. John threw himself backward, tumbling across the floor as gunshots rent the air. He hadn't realized that the man had spun toward the coolers until the glass fronts exploded around him. The jagged shards rained down in a tinkling wave that cut into the backs of his hands and caused a grunt to escape him. Liquid sprayed around the backroom and he wasn't sure if it was more blood or drinks that coated him now.

Silence followed the cacophony of noise, too much silence. John lifted his head and blinked back the sticky substance coating his lashes. He was certain he was going to come face to face with the muzzle of a gun pointed at his face as his vision cleared. He was met only with the empty front of the broken cases, and bits of ruined bottles, as he stared out at the unnaturally still store.

Gathering his shaky hands beneath him he managed to get his trembling arms to push himself to his knees. He winced as he knelt on a piece of glass and lifted his knee to pull the shard free. It was the least of his worries right now as he realized that he couldn't see the man, or either of his friends.

CHAPTER 20

Mary Ellen

Somewhere in Mass.

The car bottomed out with a loud grating noise that caused her to wince as her hands clenched on the wheel. She glanced around but the noise didn't seem to have attracted the attention of the people aimlessly roaming the streets nearby. The car continued to scrape up the small incline before entering the alleyway in between a mom and pop pharmacy called Carter's, and a Parker and Son's hardware store that she'd never heard of. She felt like she'd taken a step back in time as she stared at two small stores she'd thought long gone with the advent of the massive chain stores. She didn't know what town they were in anymore, but she found it quaint and oddly comforting given the circumstances.

"We should just keep going," Xander muttered.

She glanced over at him. His right hand was digging into the armrest of the door; the other was clenched on the seat. Sweat beaded across his brow and trickled down his face, and even with the summer tan he'd been sporting he could rival a ghost. The tank top he'd wrapped around his leg had soaked through with blood, but the blood was drying out and she didn't see any fresh blood staining it. Peter had removed his shirt and tied it around Xander's thigh as a tourniquet. Mary Ellen prayed that it would be enough to stop the flow of whatever germs might be seeping into Xander's system.

It had only been a half an hour since the attack had occurred, but it seemed more like days. She felt like she hadn't been able to find a pharmacy or medical center or anywhere that sold even an aspirin fast enough.

"We're going to find you something," she told him.

"You're putting us in an alleyway," he retorted. "And I'm fine."

"Yeah, you look it."

Bobby wrapped his hand around her seat as he leaned forward. "We won't be here long and we have to find more supplies anyway. We have to get you some kind of medicine, or at least get that mess cleaned up, maybe we can stop the infection."

"They're not zombies," Xander reminded him.

"Yeah, well, they're not exactly useful, functioning human beings in society right now either. Personally I'd prefer not to have you trying to eat me today. There are certain boundaries within a friendship, and we're close but not
that
close. I prefer my skin on my body thank you."

Xander glowered at him as Mary Ellen struggled to contain her smile. It was an awful thing to say -and unfortunately a possibility- but Bobby had a way of putting things that amused her. She parked the car in the middle of the alley and glanced back and forth as she turned it off.

"Maybe we should leave it running," Josh suggested.

"We need to save gas," Peter said.

Josh glanced around before shaking his head. "I guess. Someone should stay with the car though."

"You and Peter can stay," Xander said. "Keep look out."

"Xander…" Bobby started as Xander threw open his door.

"If you guys insist upon risking your lives then I'm going in there with you." Xander turned in the seat to face Josh. "Can you drive?"

"I'm seventeen, of course I can drive," Josh retorted.

Mary Ellen hadn't been driving at seventeen, she'd failed her test twice that year, but she refrained from telling Josh that. "Good, if you end up driving for some reason and someone tries to take the car, run them over with it." Josh had been eyeing the steering wheel like a lobster dinner but he blanched at Xander's words. "Can you do that?"

"I… uh… yeah, I can do that."

Xander nodded toward him and climbed out of the car. Mary Ellen heard his harsh inhale as his feet hit the ground but he forced himself to stand and closed the door. "Are you going to be ok out here?" Bobby asked Peter.

"We'll be fine, just hurry," Peter told him.

"Don't have to tell me twice, beep the horn if we have to get out of here."

"Will do."

Bobby handed the pipe to Peter. "You should probably keep this." Peter opened his mouth to protest but Bobby continued on. "We have to protect the car; if we end up on foot we're as good as dead. We'll be fine in there."

Mary Ellen exchanged a look with Bobby, took a deep breath, and climbed out of the car. Xander had one hand on the hood as he leaned against it and eyed the backdoor of the pharmacy with a furrowed brow. "Am I imagining it or is that thing open?"

Mary Ellen felt her eyebrows shoot up as she surveyed the door that did, in fact, appear to be open. "That can't be good," Bobby muttered.

"It doesn't look good for us," Mary Ellen agreed.

Xander quickly limped around the car as Bobby approached the door and used the toe of his shoe to pull it open. He pressed against the wall as he craned his head around to stare into the dark interior. Mary Ellen leaned to the side, half convinced that someone was going to come screaming out at her but the interior remained still and calm.

Xander grabbed and held the door as Bobby kicked it further open. They exchanged a look with each other before Bobby crept cautiously into the shadowed interior. Mary Ellen followed behind him. Xander slid the door mostly closed but the bag of candy that had kept it open before kept it from closing completely again.

Sunlight filtered through the front windows, but the back of the store was mostly hidden. Though it was gloomy, she could see debris littering the floor and more than a few shelves and racks had tipped over. She didn't know if the damage was from the quakes, or if the pharmacy had already been raided.

There was a strange smell in the store, one that she couldn't place at first as she hadn't encountered it in a few days and it was fainter beneath the putrid scent of decay. Then, her mind flashed back to the home where they had stolen the Caddy from, with those children, and she knew what awaited them within the gloomy interior.

She longingly glanced back at the door but she didn't take a step toward it. They weren't zombies, there was absolutely no reason to believe that Xander would be affected by the bite, but she was
convinced
that he would be. This may be their only opportunity to do something for him. They'd never left her and she wouldn't leave them. They were all she had left, her makeshift family, and without them she didn't know what she would do right now.

"Well, at least we won't be surprised this time," Bobby's voice was nasally due to the fact that he was pinching his nose closed.

"I don't think there's anything that can surprise me anymore," Xander muttered.

"Don't say that,
every
time I think that it can't get any worse some new thing pops up to try and kill us."

"I just had my leg chewed on like it was a damn rack of ribs, believe me there is nothing that can surprise me anymore." Xander's finger waved up and down as he pointed it toward his bloody leg.

Bobby's mouth pursed before he nodded. "You're right, even if something new pops up I think my ability to be shocked has been stretched to its limits."

Mary Ellen had to agree with that statement. "Let's just get the supplies and get out of here, maybe if we're lucky we won't have to see any goopy bodies." She hoped so anyway.

Bobby led the way down the back of the store toward the area they all associated with the location of the pharmacy. They came across a wishing fountain instead. Mary Ellen peered into the murky depths with the glimmering coins shimmering just beneath the surface. She was half tempted to throw some change in herself but she didn't have any in her pocket. She had lots of wishes right now though.

"Great start," Bobby muttered.

"They have to have drugs somewhere, or at least some bandages," Xander said.

Mary Ellen frowned at the littered floor as she stepped over toppled coloring books, crayons, and other assorted toys. Xander bent and grabbed a whiffle ball bat off the ground. He used it as a makeshift cane as they made their way further down the last aisle. At the end was a soda fountain the likes of which she'd never seen in her lifetime, but she'd seen pictures of them.

"What is this nineteen fifty three?" Bobby said as he shook his head and walked away.

"It's cute," Mary Ellen said, but she would have much preferred to find the drugs. So far there had been no sign of the bodies she knew were within the store, but the further they went, the more likely they were to encounter them.