Day One (Book 2): Choices (9 page)

I took several deep breaths of air, letting them out through my mouth as I saw the world coming up at us. Seconds later I felt the bird touch the earth. I swung the door open, jumped out and shut the door, taking only a few steps before hunkering down as the bird lifted off and quickly flew away.

“What the hell am I doing?” I asked myself as I lie there in silence waiting and watching. The buzz of the helicopter disappeared and I was all alone in the dark, and of course my mind made the best of the situation by forcing me to hear things normal in nature, although I took them as multiple threats closing in on my position, but unable to determine which direction they were coming from. I was at a loss of what to do next.

I couldn’t just wait around for them to find me. I jumped to my feet and hurried across someone’s front yard, slid between two houses and stopped near the rear to take a peek out into the further unknown. From where I was I could see the back of my ex’s house. They had a deck which I had never noticed before, although I did remember the door leading from the deck into the back of the residence. That would probably be my best point of entry, as their living room, dining room, and kitchen where all one large room. It would be easier for me to asses any threats and deal with them, rather than going around to the front and maybe getting shot in the back by a trigger happy, frightened neighbor.

The only problem that remained was the long run over open ground to the rear of the house where my son could be hiding. The NVG’s would help me to see any threats that were out of my normal vision, it would however, not point out those threats I could not see until I was upon them. Point in question, the house I was about to make entry into. I could not see through walls nor could the NVG’s, so I had to take my time and remain quiet. The last thing I needed was a house full of dead folks lining up to get a piece of me for making too much noise.

I crossed the vast openness with great ease, which considering the amount of weight I was carrying was pretty freaking amazing. I took the deck stairs two at a time and quickly found the back door partly cracked. I froze as the emotions began to fill within me. The open door was not a good sign.

Stay positive. You haven’t been inside yet, so we don’t know what has or has not happened.
My mind told me. I used the barrel of the SBR and pushed the door inward, watching it swing away until it hit something and stopped. The dark inside was darker than it was outside. It was like I was looking into a black hole from which nothing could escape, not even light.

I pulled a small flashlight from my pocket and flipped it on, instantly wishing that I hadn’t. Blood, large pools of it, covered the floor. The dining room looked as if there had been a war fought within its confines and both sides had lost.

Go to his room… just go and check.
More instructions from my logical brain. I crossed the dining room, making sure not to slip or step in any of the blood, into the living room where I could now see the front door. It was shut and locked. A chair had been forced under the door handle to add in its strength. I turned left into a hallway, and then left again to where my son’s room was. His door was shut and the light at the end of the tunnel began to grow. The door was locked and I took a step back to kick it open when I decided that it would probably be best to make sure there was no one else in the house before I started knocking doors down and making all kinds of horrific noise. I’d waited this long to get him, a few extra minutes wouldn’t hurt, especially if they would mean the difference between us living or dying.

Back in the dining room, I crossed the kitchen to see the door that led into the garage and a bedroom door to the right. They were both open. No one was in either of them, from what I could see. Both vehicles were in the garage, although I couldn’t see through the closed garage door to know if my ex’s work car was out front or not. “Dammit,” I whispered and turned back toward the dining room.

An uneasy feeling quickly swept over me and I stopped. I let my ears listen for any noises that shouldn’t be, as my enhanced eyes watched the darkness for the slightest hint of movement. I stood there unmoving… waiting. The world seemed to spin by faster than usual and after several long moments of nothing; I blew the feeling off as raw nerves and headed back to my son’s room.

Sometimes the need for us to know things is overwhelming and we struggle with either the lack of answers or manufactured ones. Sometimes it’s better to take what you see and just accept it, rather than trying to find out. That’s how I was with the blood in the dining room. I
had
to know whose it was, although I wasn’t sure what comfort I would gain by knowing, I still
needed
to know. On the other side of the bar, which separated the kitchen from the dining room, I had my answer. My heart sank. My stomach dropped and I wanted to throw up.

There in the kitchen floor was the battered remains of unknown numbers of people. I could tell that there were at least two adults, but I wasn’t sure if any of the other smaller pieces were from my son or his sister.

I had to sit down. There was no question about it, I had to sit down or I wasn’t going to make it any further. I sat at the bar and lit a cigarette, hoping the nicotine would sooth my ravaged emotions. I placed the SBR on the counter in front of me and lowered my head into my free hand; the onslaught of emotions was taking their toll on me. The truth was coming out and I couldn’t deny the obvious anymore.

Two adults had managed and were unsuccessful in surviving the first week of hell, so how would a nine year old fare any better. Here in this house, which I had only visited a handful of times, was now a tomb for my Ex, her husband, and more than likely their two year old daughter, and probably my son. I felt bad for them, as bad as I could considering I hadn’t come for them, yet given a different outcome I would have taken them with me. Her and I had our past of good times as well as bad, but nothing either of us could have done would have led me to senselessly sacrifice or leave them behind. I’m almost certain that she wouldn’t have just let me stroll in and take my son away from her. I’d have to convince them that we had a safer place… if that was even possible.

Raising my head, I saw a family portrait hanging on the wall. Frozen smiles of a happier time stared blankly at me, like vacant buildings rotting away with time. There was nothing left of them anymore… only memories to be remembered by no one.

I suddenly got up, grabbed my weapon and headed through the house to my son’s room again. At the closed door, I forced my right foot forward with all the force I had and kicked the locked door open. I stood there in the doorway, eyes wide as a sense of hope began to pour through me.

I knew it! I wasn’t losing my mind after all… I’d been right.

Something fell somewhere in the house. I turned and quickly took up a firing position, using the wall as partial cover, as I aimed into the darkness of the living room and dining room. The front door to my left was still shut and I saw a smaller room, maybe a study, come into view. The noise had sounded far off, yet having my mind on something different altogether, it could have been closer and I just hadn’t realized it.

I shot out of cover and shoved the barrel of my weapon into the dark study. Nothing. It opened up into the kitchen and I could see the stove from where I was standing, and slowly I inched forward.

In the kitchen, as I entered, I spotted a small board hung on the wall to my right that had several key’s dangling from it, but still no sounds from whatever had made the original noise. I eased around the bar where I had been sitting earlier and headed toward the short hallway that led to the master bedroom and garage door. Still nothing had jumped out at me, nothing more had gone bump in the night. Maybe I had just manifested the noise?

I no more than had gotten that thought in my head when the bump happened once more. It was coming from the master bedroom. I approached with the SBR buried in my shoulder, finger on the trigger and the safety off. I wasn’t in any position to be playing around, nor could I afford a close proximity attack, as I would have no room to defend myself. Whatever was in there was getting shot.

I swung my head into the room to see something hunkered down at the foot of the bed. I whistled lightly and the face of a small girl shot in my direction. Her face was mangled, dried blood covered her entire upper torso and she hissed at me, although I’m certain she couldn’t’ see me in the darkness.

“Hell, no,” I said and grabbed the door and shut it. The little girl lurched up and instantly attacked the door, pounding with all her little might and screaming at the top of her lungs. I knew it was time to go, as the noise she was making would surely travel past the interior walls of the house and alert anymore of the undead who may be nearby.

At a window over the sink, I saw at least a dozen of those things shuffling through the front yard. “Shit! Where do I go now?”

The dozen undead in the front yard suddenly heard the screams and pounding of the little girl inside the house and changed direction. A few of them walked up to the front door and began banging on it, while others walked up to the brick walls and tried to get in that way. Those near the closed garage heard a rumbling sound and began banging on the garage door, scraping their jagged nails down the side of the metal door.

Abruptly a car tore through the garage door, trampling those that had chosen to attack in that location. Their undead misery was quickly ended as I reversed my Ex’s car into the street. I brought the silenced SBR up and shot the remaining undead in front of the house before tearing off into the night. I will admit, that even with all of the hell the world was now facing, I was having the time of my life. For all of those that play video games and have ever wanted to recreate what they do on the screen in real life, you would totally understand how free and alive I felt at that very moment.

I grabbed the radio Johnny had given me earlier. “He’s alive and his room proved that. His bike was missing, so I’m heading to the second location,” I said with glee into the radio and tossed it in the seat beside me.

Static crackled through one of the small speakers followed by Johnny’s voice. “I hear you, man. Heading there now. Becareful though, there’s a shitload of dead down there moving around.”

“They better watch out for me,” I stated to myself flying down the narrow dark road toward the outskirts of the small city. I was able to avoid the undead, who quickly turned and gave slow chase. Those that were in my path, I simply slowed down and gunned them down before running over them. I would have all the time in the world later to feel bad for what I had done to them, as they had been people at one time, but for now I was on a mission and I would let
nothing
stop me, besides, they were probably miserable as undead anyway.

I could hear the faint whoosh of the rotor blades, although with none of its lights on, I was unable to see exactly where it was.

“Which direction are you going at the intersection?” Johnny asked.

“I’m going to turn left and go that way,” I announced into the radio.

“Roger that. I’ll scout ahead and make sure you have a clear path,” he added.

The sound of the roaring rotors quickly faded as he cut off in the direction I would be going in a few seconds. Several businesses and restaurants that lined the road before me where lit with colorful lights, as if none of this had ever happened and they were patiently waiting for customers to come in and order something. I knew that wasn’t the case, as many of them had timers built in to their systems, which turned the lights on and off at predetermined times. It was because of those lights that I was able to catch a glimpse of the MD500 as it shot off to my left.

I pushed my Ex’s Sentra as fast as I could, sliding through the intersection and keep control as it slid. That ladies and gentlemen had taken me weeks to master in video games and it was now paying off. And they say video games are bad for you and promote violence. Horseshit! The end of the world had made me violent. The video games had made me a better driver and better able to handle what I was facing. Fact!

“You make the intersection yet?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah,” I responded. “Maybe forty seconds from the next intersection.”

“Jesus, you might want to slow down before you get pulled over,” Johnny said and chuckled over the radio.

“I get pulled over, speeding is going to be the least of my worries, as I have a highly illegal automatic weapon, a shitload of ammo, and some cool military toys in here with me,” I countered with.

“I hear that,” Johnny stated. “Oh shit!”

“What is it?” I asked, suddenly the concern rushing through me like a tidal wave. The seriousness of my situation came flooding back at break-neck speed.

“There’s got to be a least half the town up here, about ten seconds from where you’re at,” Johnny explained. “I don’t know if you can make it through all of them, and to be honest with you, I wouldn’t even try. You stall in that situation, they’ll overrun you and your dead… guaranteed.”

“Great. Thanks for the confidence,” I related to him.

“There’s got to be another way around, so use that brain of yours and figure one out, quickly!”

I stomped on the brakes and that Sentra slid to a screeching halt. Although I could not see the large pack of undead that Johnny could, I wasn’t going to let them slow me down. My son needed me and I’d be damned if I’d have to stop and reroute now. “How many of them are up there?”