Ravaged Land - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (10 page)

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Authors: Kellee L. Greene

Tags: #post apocalyptic - science fiction

BOOK: Ravaged Land - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel
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So we went back into Target, staying together this time. They had enough backpacks and some over the shoulder bags. We stuffed anything we could carry with food, water, toilet paper, toothbrushes, clothing and anything we walked past and thought we might need. Owen packed some over-the-counter medicines like pain relievers and vitamins. I saw him consider for a minute going behind the counter for the real stuff but he changed his mind.

We were in and out in less than fifteen minutes and heading towards the next town. The sun was setting, we were going to have to find somewhere to stay the night quicker than we had originally planned. The heat had only lessened a few degrees and we were all still dripping sweat from every pore. At least we no longer had to seek out shade every so often because the unbearable sun was beating down on us. It was only barely tolerable.

“How about that place?” Seth asked indicating a quaint house in the distance. It was far enough off the main road that maybe it would be safe enough for the night. “We can find something bigger and better tomorrow.”

“Let’s check it out,” Ryan said turning the group towards the little home. The heat had made us all too exhausted to argue, even if anyone had wanted to.

The house was dark and quiet. We could see that there wasn’t any movement inside because the curtains were open. We still called out asking if anyone was home when we opened the front door. Silence. The best part of this home was that the tornadoes had missed it almost completely. One window had been blown out, and the garage was missing its roof but the house itself seemed solid. It was made out of bricks which helped, but I figured it was mostly luck that it was still standing and with most of the roof still intact.

We slipped inside one by one. Sienna started lining up candles we’d taken from Target and lighting them. What we realized quickly was that the amount of candles we took was not sufficient even for this small home, but it would have to do.

“I’m going to look for a hammer and some wood to try to board up that window. Check the doors and windows, lock whatever you can, and anything we can’t lock hopefully we can nail it shut,” Ryan said walking out of the side door that led to the garage.

“I’ll help you,” Owen shouted as he stomped after him.

Seth had dropped down on the recliner and was sipping from a water bottle. He didn’t look well. I wondered if he was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration or maybe it was heat stroke. I didn’t know what to do for him except worry, and that didn’t help anyone.

“We’ll check the windows and doors, just take it easy Seth,” I told him as I touched his shoulder briefly.

“OK, thanks,” he said shifting the recliner back and putting his feet up with more effort than it should have taken.

I motioned for Sienna and Dean to get started while I stayed behind to look for a wash cloth. The bathroom was stocked with clean towels. I poured some water on it hoping it would be cool enough, but I feared it would be too warm after having been in the heat all day. “It’s the best I can do Seth. I’m sorry,” I said as I applied the cloth to his forehead. After a few seconds I removed it and lightly blew on the dampness it left behind.

He forced a weak smile, “It’s great, I think my body temperature just dropped ten degrees.”

“I’ll get you another for your neck,” I said walking off to get another wash cloth. I met Dean and Sienna in the small hallway and they informed me that everything was locked.

“But that won’t stop anyone from breaking the glass should they want to,” Dean said reminding us we couldn’t drop our guard even when things seemed safe. We would probably never be as safe as we had been in our underground shelter.

“Breaking glass should be loud enough to wake us I’d think?” I said trying to offer some reassurance, even though it wasn’t much.

“Most likely, but all we have is a couple knives.”

I shrugged not knowing what else we could really do about it. Until it occurred to me that whoever owned this house maybe had things we could use, “Check around for a gun, or something else we could use. Check the cabinets, the basement if there is one, anywhere you can think of.”

Dean nodded and took Sienna with him to search the house for weapons. Unfortunately, the house was getting dark rather quickly. I was putting the cloth around the back of Seth’s neck when Ryan and Owen came in with several pieces of wood and started to loudly board up the broken window.

“Everything locked up?” Ryan asked.

“According to Dean everything is locked.”

“What’s wrong with Seth?” he asked when he finished pounding in a nail. I opened my mouth to answer, but he bashed the hammer into the next nail before I had a chance. As he reached for the next nail I told him I thought Seth had just overheated and was exhausted. They finished boarding up the window, went back out to the garage, and after about twenty minutes, they returned and pounded several pieces of wood over each door.

“Close the curtains,” Ryan ordered, “Someone might see the candles.” I closed them as Dean and Sienna returned from their search.

“No guns,” Dean announced, “but I found these.” He dropped two wooden baseball bats in the middle of the floor.

“Well, it’s something,” I said.

Owen and Ryan finished their pounding just as I was about to ask Owen for one of those pain pills he grabbed. “Let’s eat,” Owen said, adding the hammer to the pile of baseball bats.

Everyone searched their packs for something to eat. I helped Seth with his and propped him up with pillows from the couch so he could eat more comfortably. I opened a can of cold baked beans and a small bag of potato chips and dipped the chips into the beans. Sienna stuck her tongue out and looked at me like I was crazy as she took a large bite from her chocolate toaster pastry.

Thankfully I had stuffed a novel into my backpack, so I had something to read as the night dragged by. The night passed by drama free. I found that reading by the candlelight helped me forget for a short time that I was holed up in a stranger’s house, the world as we knew it was gone and that I was stuck in this miserable heat for the unforeseeable future.

Where were we supposed to go? Where were the relief services helping people like us? Where were all the other people?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter eight.

 

 

The next day we headed out early before the sun was at its hottest. It felt hotter than it had the day before. If each day continued to increase at this rate we’d be in serious trouble especially without a permanent shelter. The look on Ryan’s face said he had the same thought. I wondered if any of the others had regretted leaving the cool shelter behind for this hell.

Our first goal of the day was to find a suitable shelter and secure it. We wanted something big, so we didn’t start feeling claustrophobic again. It had to be something with a good amount of shade, which would be hard considering so few trees remained. And those that were still standing were mostly bare, with shredded, broken branches. The shelter would also need to be close enough to the city so we could walk there but far enough away that we didn’t get outsiders poking around. I hoped we’d know the right place when we saw it, but I wasn’t sure if we even knew everything we’d need a shelter to be.

When we got close to the city we took the first country road we saw and walked out several more miles away from the city limits. It was sweltering, and we were moving slower because of Seth. I’d doused myself with our precious water at least twice already in an attempt to keep cool but it was so hot and sunny my hair was dry within minutes. Seth dragged his feet more and more with each rejected house. And then we saw it. It was like some sort of miracle. There was a two story house that had functioned as a farm, and it had been mostly untouched by the storms. I worried that it might be a mirage.

As we got closer we got excited because it was in exceptional condition, definitely livable and probably as secluded as we would get without a lot more searching. And we were all tired of searching.

The house was made mostly of dirty brown brick and it had some minor roof damage, but it was still intact. The garage was undamaged, and a large, like-new storage shed still stood in the back. A washed out dark gray wooden porch stretched around most of the house, and it was covered with caked on mud. We walked right up to the front door and turned the handle. It was locked. Ryan took out his knife, hid it from view, and knocked hard. I pressed my knife against my leg still tucked inside its colorful sheath. Owen and Dean had each taken a baseball bat from the last house and hid them behind their backs. We didn’t want to look intimidating, we just wanted to be prepared if someone not so nice greeted us.

No answer.

He knocked again even harder, “Anyone in there?” he shouted.

There were several large oak trees surrounding the home, even though they didn’t have leaves they still provided a fair amount of shade from their thick entwined branches. They were brown and looked like they were dying but at least they were there and hadn’t been uprooted like most of the other trees had been. It wasn’t cool by any stretch of the imagination, not even in the shade, but it was cooler than being in the direct sunlight. Seth picked up one of the porch chairs that had blown over and sat down. His skin was a painful shade of red considering he was the palest skinned of us all. I hadn’t known if he was sunburned or just running hot from the heat, heck, maybe it was both. We locked eyes, and I saw the pain in his.

I pushed past Ryan and knocked as hard as I could. “Ding dong!” I yelled and kicked the door as hard as I could by the doorknob. The door shook but didn’t pop open. I kicked again, fueled by my desire to get Seth inside, but this kick was far less powerful since I had used all my energy on the first blow.

“Let me try.” Owen lightly moved me aside and with what appeared to be barely any effort, kicked the door in on his first try. He smiled as it popped open cleanly. The doorknob appeared to be a little wobbly, but he hadn’t kicked a hole in the door or broken anything. I hoped the lock would still work.

“Secure the house, stay alert,” Ryan instructed, “groups of two. Dean and Sienna upstairs and Seth and Owen take this floor. Ros and I will check the basement, garage and anything else. Lock all the doors and windows as you go through.” He pushed the solid wood coffee table against the front door for added security.

After a opening a couple closet doors first, we found the door to the basement. I followed closely behind Ryan. It was one of those cool, dank and dreary horror movie basements, not a fun family room basement. The windows let in enough light so that we could see, and the cooler temperature felt nice, it was at least ten degrees cooler than it had been upstairs. There was no one down there, just boxes, storage and a wash machine. There was a pile of wood for a fireplace which certainly we wouldn’t need, but there were also stray strips of wood that could be used for boarding up windows and doors.

“Let’s check the garage,” Ryan said heading towards the stairs. I followed him quickly, afraid something would jump out at me, even though I knew there wasn’t really anything down there. Apparently I was following too closely and bumped into him. He turned to look at me, “Are you scared or something?” he teased, letting a hint of that super cute Ryan that I had only seen a handful of times before show.

“Umm no?” I said unconvincingly.

He laughed and put his hand on my back and gestured for me to go ahead of him. It was almost enough to turn me into absolute goo. He had that smile on, the one that makes me get all melty-goofy-stupid and he was acting protective which only added extra pizazz to the mix. It was either him, or the disgusting wave of heat I felt as I ascended the stairs that was turning me into taffy.

The garage was your average everyday garage. It had tools, a classic car under a tarp, gardening equipment, lawn chairs, bikes, all the things normal garages have. Ryan walked over to the large garage door and yanked upwards. It glided up a few inches, “Too easy to open.” There was a window at the back that faced the shed, “Follow,” he demanded.

I wondered if I obeyed him way too easily, but in this unfamiliar place I didn’t really have the will or the desire to put my foot down. It was by far easier for me to just have him tell me what to do. By nature I was a follower, not a leader. It was just how I’d always been. The shed had a snow blower, riding lawn mower, rakes and some gas cans. The farm hadn’t been used as a farm in a long time, or the storms had blown the barn away because there hadn’t been one where you’d expect there to be one. It hadn’t looked like they had grown crops either. But really there was no way to know for sure if they had or not, since everything had been flooded, frozen and then caked in mud. Any signs of things that once had been could now have easily been washed away.

“Ah! A generator!” Ryan said pointing at the back of the house. He lifted the gas can to find it only had a few drops left. “Of course,” he said closing the shed and making his way over to the generator with me following behind. He tried to start it, but it was stubborn, it sounded like it wanted to go, which I decided was a good sign but it just wouldn’t. “Needs gas,” Ryan said communicating with me using as few words as he could and still conveying his message, “Might be too loud.”

We walked around the house, checking it from every possible angle. We appeared to be well hidden… as much as one can hide a house that is. If someone came up the street they’d see it but it would look like every other abandoned house that was still standing. Of the people that were left how many of them would wander out this way?

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