The Renegades 2 Aftermath (A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Thriller) (2 page)

W
e arrived in Wells
, Nevada, about an hour after midday. Prior to that we constantly had to swerve our way around more abandoned vehicles. It was like a mass exodus had occurred and no one had made it. By the time we arrived the truck must have been coasting on gas fumes as the needle was in the red.

Wells, like many other small towns in Nevada, looked as if someone had built a wide road through the middle. All the buildings and homes were either side. Ralphie looked nervous as we rolled in.

“Keep your eyes peeled,” Dax said.

I checked how much ammo I had left. It wasn’t much.

“Ralphie, are there any gun stores in Wells?” Jess asked.

“One, but there’s nothing left. They took it.”

“Who took it?”

“Never mind.”

He returned to gazing out. Ralphie had crunched down in his seat. The windows were tinted but he still looked worried. I pushed open the back window.

“How you doing back there, Specs?”

“Fucking freezing.”

“We’ll soon get you warmed up.”

As we drove down the main street, we all noticed something peculiar. There were no Z’s or bodies anywhere.

“I thought you said this place was overrun,” Dax piped up.

“It was.”

“Why aren’t there any Z’s?”

“Maybe they wandered off into the desert,” Izzy added.

“And took all the dead with them? No, there should be bodies. At least a few.”

“Take a left here. The gas station is on the right.” Ralphie pointed.

It was beyond strange. We passed by several pristine-looking vans with blacked-out windows as we pulled into the gas station. Not getting out of the truck for a few minutes, we looked around cautiously. Something didn’t feel right about the place. It was quiet but nothing had been damaged. No burnt-out cars, no smashed windows.

“How many live here?”

“About thirteen hundred.”

Dax was the first one out. “Specs, you give me a hand fueling up. Baja, Johnny, go inside and see what you can scavenge for supplies.”

He glanced at Izzy and Jess but they already knew they were to keep an eye on anyone approaching. I stretched my legs and felt my muscles unwind as I got out. I badly needed to take a piss.

Which reminds me. You’re probably wondering. How do folks relieve themselves in an apocalypse? No mystery there. Up until that point we just pulled off to the side of the road and went behind a vehicle. One of us would watch out for Z’s while the other took care of business. There was no toilet paper so we used old newspaper, rags, or whatever we could find. Anything was better than using our bare hands. Which I might add, surprisingly, newspaper is actually softer than that spiky shit they gave us in high school. Anyway, point made.

Dax and Specs began working on retrieving gas. To their surprise the pump worked.

“How is that possible?”

“Backup generator,” Specs said.

“No gas station runs off a generator.”

“These must.”

Dax raised his eyebrows. He swept the empty street and continued filling up the truck.

“
S
omething feels
really off about this,” Baja muttered.

“You’re telling me,” I said before glancing at Baja and then realizing he was referring to a dubious-looking sandwich in his hand. We had picked up a stash of food from some of the vehicles but not all of it was edible. Most of it had gone mushy or turned a shade of green. Baja wasn’t picky. He continued eating what would have made me throw up. I was just hoping we would find some packages of beef jerky inside.

The bell above the door let out a shrill as we stepped inside. The entire store was in pristine condition. No one had looted it. There wasn’t even one item overturned.

“Shit,” Baja tossed the half-eaten excuse for a sandwich on the floor and began dashing around the two aisles snatching up packets of chips, candy bars and… he jammed his head under a slushy mixer that was still whirling around. Power? It had to running on a backup generator. I glanced over at the counter expecting to see someone but there was no one there.

“Hello?” I called out.

With a mouthful of slushy he tried to speak. “Oh you’ve got to try some of this.”

I didn’t reply. I was still waiting for a Z to pop out or someone else.

“Oh my god,” Baja stared wide-eyed at something on the shelf. “Stop the truck, suck me backwards, and call me Krispin,” he uttered before disappearing behind an aisle of shelves and emerging slowly holding a box of Pop-Tarts and some beef jerky in the air like lost treasure.

“I told you. I knew things were on the upswing. This is good, right? It means there’s probably more towns like this. You know, ones where the virus hasn’t hit.” He paused. “Pop-Tarts or jerky?”

“Whatever, I’m gonna take a whiz,” I replied, walking slowly out back. Baja opened a bag of beef jerky and started tossing chunks of meat back as though he wouldn’t be getting any more for some time.

“Yeah, sure thing, take your time.”

I glanced outside the window. Things seemed peaceful. Too peaceful. I hung a left and went down the short corridor. I looked over the photos that hung on the wall. One of them had a certificate and a small picture of a balding man. It read, Tom Knotts, licensed owner.

Where did you go, Tom?

I eased the door that led into the washroom. I peered inside without stepping in. I still had my Glock in hand ready to shoot the first Z that came at me. There had to be some nearby.

It was warm inside. Clean and smelled like bleach as if someone had recently cleaned it up. There were three stalls. Two of them were closed, one was partly open. I readied my gun and kicked the first open. It was empty. I took a deep breath and checked the next. Same again.

“Huh!”

I pushed my handgun back into the holster on my right thigh. I relieved myself, then wandered over to the sink. A quick twist and water gushed out.
Oh, beauty!

I heaped handfuls over my head and rubbed my face clean. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I had dark circles beneath my eyes from a lack of sleep. I thought about what it would be like to return to normality. To no longer be worried about Z’s. To be able to sleep without the risk of being attacked in the night.

As I dried my hands on a sheet of brown paper towel I peered through a small rectangular window covered in condensation. I could see they had finished fueling up. Specs and Dax were laughing about something. Jess was kneeling in the truck bed, slowly sweeping her assault rifle. Izzy was near the front with Caitlin. Those two had come a long way in a short time. I was worried about Caitlin. She hadn’t spoken a word since her sister’s death. I was unsure if she would survive the long haul. Death was hard to cope with, but in time you healed. Trauma? None of us knew how to deal with that.

I scanned the street. It was hard to imagine that Wells hadn’t been touched by the outbreak. Ralphie said Z’s had been here. But where was the evidence? Where was everyone?

I was about to leave the washroom when I caught a glimpse of movement across the street. At first I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me. With little sleep, and constantly looking for the dead, your eyes started to see things that weren’t there. I had already seen my father three times. It was creepy, disturbing, and painful to see.

Of course, it was just my mind replaying events. But it seemed so real.

I came close to the window and looked again. Across the other side of the street was an all-you-could-eat buffet restaurant. The sign above the store read, Black Dragon. I was sure I saw someone beyond the window. Now as I looked there was no one there.

I tossed the crumpled paper towel into the trash and came out. I ducked my head into the small office that was just off to my right. I had hoped to find someone inside. There was no one there either. Nothing had been looted. No drawers overturned. It was if someone had just got up and left. I went in and walked over to the coffee maker. I sniffed it. It was fresh and hot?

Baja was behind the counter scooping boxes of cigarettes into a shopping bag that had on it the words
Thank You For Visiting Wells.

“Dude, you’ve got to see this.”

He reached under the counter and pulled out two handguns. Both had two barrels and two triggers on each of them.

“It fires two bullets at the same time. Have you ever seen anything like this?”

He flipped over one of the handguns. It had two magazines.

“That’s some hefty firepower,” I replied.

“I can’t wait to use this on some Z’s.” He stashed them inside his flak jacket. I looked around the store while he continued filling up. Specs came to the door.

“How we doing, guys?”

“Specs, get your ass in here. There is tons of food.”

“I think Dax wants to get going.”

“Tell him to hold onto his panties. There’s no rush.”

By now Dax was beginning to look nervous. Jess and Izzy were loading up several bottles of water they had found out the front of the store. It almost seemed like a dream. What didn’t make sense was that no one else had taken it. The only one that hadn’t got out of the truck was Ralphie. I could see him peering out of the window as Dax approached the shop.

He spun his finger in the air. “Wrap it up. We need to shift gears.”

“Dax, are you sure? I mean we could hang out here for the night. There seems to be more than enough. What’s the hurry?” Izzy asked.

“There’s something wrong. I don’t like this.”

Just as he said that the truck roared to life.

“Hey!” Dax yelled.

Ralphie shot us a wide-eyed look before slamming into gear and burning rubber out of there. Specs lifted his assault rifle and started firing at the truck. Dax followed suit. The back window exploded but he kept going. All of us raced after him. Now I don’t know what made us think we were going to catch up but regardless, we kept running.

The truck pulled a hard right and disappeared behind a dark, Gothic-looking building.

“Through here,” Dax shouted, spotting a path that cut through the buildings. My chest was burning from running so hard. It didn’t help that I kept seeing figures. Were my eyes playing tricks on me again? I would see movement then nothing. As we burst onto the road that the truck had shot down, we were surprised to see the vehicle had stopped in the middle of the road, a few feet from us. It was idling. Ahead, spread across the road, were eight fully armed men. They had formed a human barrier. I mean, it was nothing that the truck couldn’t have plowed through, but certainly it was disconcerting. All of them held assault rifles towards the truck, except for one. Panting and out of breath we slowed to a jog and stared at them. They saw us but were focused on Ralphie.

Ralphie slammed the truck into reverse and spun it around. Dax and I didn’t wait for him to peel away; we ran at the truck and leapt into the back. Dax had his gun jammed through the back window before Ralphie had a chance to gain speed. Seconds later Dax was holding the keys. Ralphie put his hands in the air.

“You don’t understand. We need to get out of here. Those people are going to kill us.”

“What the hell are you on about?” I asked.

He looked as if he was about to say something when his eyes widened.

I turned back towards the men who were slowly walking towards the vehicle. They weren’t dressed in camo gear or anything that might have made you think that they were militants. They wore ordinary clothes. The only difference was they were carrying firearms. Yet we expected to encounter that everywhere we went. People needed to protect themselves. We would have done the same as them. They formed an arc around the backside of the truck.

“Hey there,” the tallest one of the group greeted us. He had dark hair, wore a red plaid shirt, jeans, and dark shoes. There was not a speck of dirt on him, or the others for that matter. His eyes darted between us and Ralphie who was now even more panicked.

I had my weapon on the ready. Specs and Baja were the same. Jess and Izzy must have stayed with Caitlin back at the gas station as I couldn’t see them.

He raised a hand. “We don’t mean any harm.” The man lowered his gun. “I see you’ve helped yourself to supplies.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Just townsfolk.”

“Where are the Z’s?”

“The what?”

“The infected?”

“There are none left.”

I frowned, trying to make sense of what they were saying

“Don’t believe them,” Ralphie shouted out.

The man looked past me with a grin. “Good to see you again, brother. We wondered where you had gone.”

Brother?

I looked at both of them trying to see a resemblance. I couldn’t see it.

Dax cast a glance at the other men who still had their guns fixed on us. We could feel the tension and expected the worst.

“I’m Isaac,” he said, stepping forward and extending his hand. We just looked at it. We were in no mood for shaking hands. “I understand. I know how this must look.” He told the others to relax. They lowered their weapons but kept a firm grip on them.

“Where are the other people in the town?”

“In city hall.” He turned and pointed to an old-fashioned church with a large steeple. The double wooden doors were open and several others looked on. “We have a meeting at noon each day.”

“And you leave this place wide open? No guards?”

He let out a short laugh. “Oh we don’t have anything to fear.”

“Don’t listen to him.”

“Come on, Ralphie, is that anyway to treat a brother?”

“You are no brother of mine.”

“Listen, we just wanted to get a few things and be on our way,” Dax said.

“By all means. We aren’t going to stop you. However, we would like it if you would join us this evening for a meal.”

“No,” Ralphie yelled.

Dax cleared his throat. “Um. Thanks but we need to get going.”

“Ah, that’s a shame,” Isaac replied.

Baja tapped me on the arm. “Maybe we should. I mean, we have basically robbed them of all their supplies.”

He overheard Baja. “You haven’t robbed us. It’s yours to take.”