This Would Be Paradise (Book 1) (20 page)

We had been on the abandoned interstate for over an hour with no sign of anyone from our group. I was quickly running out of options as the gas gauge continued to count down like an executioner before he pulled the electric chair switch. The sun would eventually set, and I couldn’t have us out here in the open, sleeping in the car. We needed to find a house or some place that we could temporarily secure.

Chloe spoke up. “Where we goin’?”

I took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

She shot me a look like she couldn’t contemplate my level of stupidity, “Well that’s helpful.”

You can’t hit a child. You can’t hit a child.
“Then what does the all mighty Chloe suggest?” I retorted and realized I was arguing with a kid.

“Dunno, but just drivin’ is stupid.”

I clenched my jaw. “Okay, well how about we take the next exit?”

“And then do what?”

“Well we need to find a place to sleep and some food. We should keep the stuff I brought as emergency rations.”

“And then what?”

I breathed through my nose. “I don’t know.”

“You say that a lot.”

This was not going anywhere.

“Can you look in the glove box and see if John has a map in there?”

Chloe unlatched the box and started to rummage through the contents. “I don’t see nothin’.”

I propped open the center console. “See if there’s anything in here.”

“Nope.”

“Crap.”

I needed a map or something as a rough guide. John, and to a lesser extent Taylor, had attempted to teach me the ways of the map reader. I wasn’t absolutely hopeless at it now.

“That sign says Gibson, 20 miles,” Chloe pointed out.

“So I guess that’s our first stop.”

There were no signs of life on the interstate, which could be taken both ways. There were no signs of Ethan’s truck either. I recognized the stretch of road from our recent supply run, and I prayed that we didn’t run into the psychos from the police station. Duson was still a good two hours down the road, but they may be on the move. Thinking about them made me itch to turn off of the interstate.

After a bit, we went down the turnoff, a small town greeting us. The streets were as lifeless as the interstate and a measly few cars lined the road leading into town. The store fronts were closed up, a few windows smashed in along the avenue.

Nothing moved, except for the few roaming infected. All towns had become ghost towns. It was hard to believe almost three months ago this place would have been busy with life. I turned down a residential area, side-swiping an infected in a torn apron with a cat print. None of the houses we passed looked severely damaged, but it was hard to tell.

“What are we doin’?”

“We’re going to find a house to secure for the night. Gather some supplies and find me a map.”

“Then what?”

I hated when kids asked questions all the time. Especially when I didn’t have an answer for them.

“Try to see what this Hargrove place is. Maybe it’s a town or a building. It’s kind of the only lead we have right now.”

“Then we should get another radio, too.”

“Good idea.” Chloe smiled at my praise.

I had no idea how to go about this. Should I secure a house and leave her there while I went to find what we needed? Or should I bring her with me, in case something happened to her while I was gone? Neither choice was ideal.

We found ourselves in an older residential area. I pulled up to a house that was somewhere in the middle of the round cul-de-sac. There was an old Ford Taurus parked in the driveway. Judging from the grime that coated it, the vehicle had been there for a while. The house looked intact; no busted windows or boarding up. I turned off the engine and peered around us.

A straggling infected was slowly shuffling toward us. Chloe stared at me wide-eyed as the decayed thing got closer. I reached into the back for my bag and pulled out my new hunting knife.

“Stay here.”

I took a deep breath to steel my nerves, and then exited the car. The door clicked softly behind me. I could hear the gurgling sound the infected was making; she was maybe twenty feet away. The knife was gripped tight in my stressed fist and once again I found myself missing my Berettas with the silencers attached.

The late afternoon sun was illuminating the infected from behind, so I had to squint to keep a steady eye on it. I cast my eyes downward, and they landed on the rake that was left abandoned on the neighbour’s front yard. I jogged over to retrieve it, and the infected followed my movement. With the claw end held up, I started toward the oncoming infected. It reached for me at the exact moment I raised the rake like a bat and let it swing. The thing made a low, squealing sound as the metal pegs connected with its face. My arm shook with the force, but the infected was still flung to the ground.

The rake broke in two from the contact. Wood splinters flew all around me like confetti and I was left with a short spear.
Waste not, want not.
I twirled the broken handle so that the sharp edge was facing the ground. I stepped over the female infected and brought it down with all the strength I could muster. The broken end landed roughly where her right eye was, taking up the socket completely.

Her limbs stopped moving, and murky blood dribbled from the wound. I placed the back of my hand against my mouth, trying to block out the smell and keep myself from hurling.
Do I do something with the body?
I wasn’t sure if it would attract other people or not. I grabbed the things’ legs and dragged her toward the opposite houses. They had some bushes that lined property that were now badly overgrown. They would do for hiding a body.

Dear God, what has my life come to?

A freshly killed corpse would signal to other survivors that there were living people nearby and I didn’t want that. I was huffing from the exertion when I returned to the car. 

Chloe made a face as I opened the car door. “That was gross.”

“You shouldn’t have watched that.” I was doing a terrible job babysitting.

“You never said to close my eyes.”

“It was implied.”

“What’s that mean?”

I sighed. “Never mind. Just stay here while I scope out the house.”

“Should I close my eyes?”

I shot her a look, “No, you need to keep an eye out. If anything comes, I want you to duck down and keep quiet.”

She gulped and nodded.

“Pass me that bag, please.”

Chloe rooted in the back seat and passed me the plastic bag with the ammo in it. I quickly reloaded my empty magazine and slipped out the one currently in my gun to top up.
I should have kept that rake.
I didn’t want to have to use the gun because it would draw in the unwanted attention.

“I wasn’t kidding. Stay here. And lock it after I close the door.” I pointed at Chloe, ironically the way my mother used to do to me, so she knew I was serious.

“I will.”

I closed the car door and heard the lock mechanism spring into place. I had the gun in my hand, as I tentatively approached the house. There was no movement inside; the curtains were left wide open. The porch stairs creaked under my feet as I approached the house. I peered in the big living room window. There was still no movement inside, so I tested the door and of course it was locked.

Going back down the stairs, I decided to try the back entrance. The grass was overgrown, and weeds had taken over the yard from the lack of maintenance. I unlatched the lock on the gate and stepped into the backyard. It was just as overgrown as the front. Children’s toys were lying all over, and I had to step over a bike on the pathway.

I glanced around the fenced backyard before I stepped in any further. There were no infected, just a rusty swing set stood toward the back. The swings were moving slightly from the breeze. The house had sliding doors, so I tried them out. When they slid open, I let out a breath in relief; I didn’t want to have to smash any windows.

The inside was musty and hot from being locked up for so long and not even having a window cracked. I stood still for a few moments to see if I heard anything rustling. Silence. I entered the kitchen and moved toward the front door with my gun still gripped in my hands. I flipped the deadbolt in case I needed to make a quick escape out front.

The main floor wrapped around the whole house, so I started there with my inspection. It was clear; next was upstairs. The old staircase groaned, as I walked up to the landing. I started with the rooms on the left and worked my way down. Sweat was running down my temples from the oppressive heat. We would have to open up some windows if we were going to stay the night.

There was no rotting smell, which was always a good sign. A body stuck in this heat would have stunk up the entire house. All the rooms were clear; I even made sure to check the closets. The main bedroom was in disarray, as if they had left in a hurry and there was a boy’s room that was a complete pig sty.

I ran back down the stairs to grab Chloe from the car. “Come on,” I said when I opened the back door to the car.

Together we lugged in the few bags we had, which wasn’t much. I locked the door behind us and closed the curtains throughout the house. I decided to open some windows upstairs to let the breeze in. We plunked down the bags in the middle of the living room.

“Are we goin’ to sleep here?” Chloe looked up at me.

“Yeah. Later I’ll drag the couch in front of the door and push the table up against the back doors. Maybe we can drag a mattress down here so we can stay on the main floor.”

“Are we goin’ into town?”

“I think I should go by myself.”

Chloe ran to me and grabbed my arm. “You can’t leave me here by myself!” She looked like she was on the verge of tears again.

“Chloe, I can’t be worrying about watching you when I need to watch for the infected,” I tried to reason in the calmest voice I could muster.

“No!” Now she was crying.

I kneeled down to her level. “You will be safer here. I will make sure you’re secure before I leave.”

She shook her head defiantly. “Please don’t.”

My head was swimming with turmoil. Both choices were less than ideal. Chloe was scared, and what if something happened to me? Then she would be stuck here by herself. But then again if I brought her, something could happen to her. She sniffed and launched herself at me. I patted her head awkwardly as she clung to me.

“Okay, fine. But you have to stay right beside me and do whatever I say without hesitation. You think you can manage that?”

She nodded eagerly as she unlatched from me. This was going to be a long day.

I rooted through the decorative bowl by the front door and found a set of keys that opened both the front and back doors and a spare key for the Taurus. During our exploration of the house, we found a decent amount of supplies. When the owners had left, they had only packed like they were going on a trip. Bad for them, good for us. Even the medical cabinet was still full, so I emptied the contents into one of our bags.

Chloe grimaced when she saw that the child living here was a boy. “Do I have to wear boy clothes?”

“Would you rather wear what you have on for who knows how long?”

I had it much worse. The lady of the house was very…old-fashioned. Her wardrobe reflected the closet of an old lady, not the thirty-something mother smiling in the family photos lining the walls. Looks like mom jeans must have been too risqué around these parts.

“You think you have it bad?” I turned to Chloe showing her the hideous floral dress with ruffles and all.

“That looks like somethin’ my grandma would wear,” she cracked a smile.

After some digging, I managed to find a couple of shirts that would have to do, but I refused to wear the long, ankle skirts she seemed to have an abundance of. They were a tripping hazard. The only thing of use I found in the boy’s room was a sleek, aluminum bat.

I had spotted a general store on the main drag when we had entered the town, guessing it was about a five-minute drive from our hideout. It would be longer on foot and limit what we could get, but it would attract less unwanted attention than having the sound of an engine roaring through town. As long as I got a map, I didn’t care how long it took.

We could use some more food to add to the dried and canned goods we had found in the house. There was a full flat of water bottles in the pantry, which was probably the best find so far, but I still wanted to get as much as I could get my hands on. There was no guarantee for food anymore, so we had to become hoarders. Also I wanted to see if there was a hardware store on the main drag so that I could see about some more guns and ammo.

“I miss Ethan,” Chloe sniffed, bringing me out of planning mode.

“I miss him, too, and all the others.”

Every other time I had lost Zoe, whether it was at the bar or on campus, I would just text her, and she’d immediately respond. Now, we no longer had that luxury. Even if the cell towers miraculously started working again, I’d be screwed since my cellphone had been in the backpack I’d lost at the police station.

I hoped Zoe was okay, safe with the others. This wasn’t like when she would take off with a guy from the bar, and I’d worry about her becoming another body stuffed in a freezer; this time I really had no idea where to start looking. She was my last lifeline to my old world.
Please be alive. Please let them all be alive.

“Do you think we’ll find ‘em?”

“I hope so.”

“I told Ethan about the recordin’ too, you know.”

I perked up. That was the best news I had heard in a while.

“When did you tell him about it?” More importantly, why had he not mentioned it to me?
Was I the only one who didn’t get any information told to them?
This irked me to no end.

“A few days ago when I remembered it. He said Darren was probably right about it bein’ a recordin’ and all.”

“This is very good news.”

“You think he’ll go there?”

“I hope so. It’s the only lead we all have. I just need to figure out what this Hargrove place is.”

Chloe hopped up. “I saw a radio in the kitchen.”

I listened to her run across the living room and pad around in the kitchen. Chloe returned with an old fashioned radio that had a bent, silver antenna sticking up.

“It runs on batteries,” she announced. “See, no cord.”

She held the thing up proudly then plunked it down on the coffee table. We gathered around as the room was filled with the hissing of the radio frequency. Slowly, she turned the channel dial. After a few minutes, it became apparent that no miracle recording would pop up and say, “Hey you, go to this address. Here are the directions.”

Chloe scowled at the radio once the knob had reached its last channel. I sighed. Nothing was ever that easy.

“Looks like we’re on our own. But do you remember what channel it was on when you heard it?”

“No. But I scanned through ‘em like this last time.”

That means it wasn’t a recording, which meant someone was making the announcement, and you had to be alive to do that. Maybe there were lots of people there. Maybe there would be finally some order and even answers. I had to stop from getting too ahead of myself. Hope was a powerful thing, especially when it was crushed.

I wondered how far a radio signal could carry. Too bad I didn’t have Google to ask. The chances are that whatever this Hargrove place was, it wasn’t too far. I guess we shouldn’t go barreling down the interstate too far away after all. I stood up suddenly.

“All right, let’s get this trip over with.”

Chloe nodded sternly and flicked off the radio. Stale silence filled the room once again. I made sure we had eaten and drank some water before we left, so we had the energy we needed. I was nervous putting my gun in the back of my waistband, like they always do in the movies, but I saw no other option. The safety was on. I made sure of that. Chloe had put on the Transformers backpack she found, and I had on the faded denim one I found in the closet by the front door. With my new aluminum bat in hand, we left the house through the backyard.

There was no gate leading to the back alley behind the house, so I placed a patio chair by the dark brown, solid fence to use to hop over. Then I tossed another chair on the other side, so we could get back up again. I helped Chloe over and down, then jumped myself. The ground was hard and unforgiving, making my ankles sting from the impact.

“You okay?” Chloe asked, concerned that I had already injured myself.

“I think I’ll live. Now keep an eye out and stay right beside me.”

I righted the plastic chair I had tossed over and pushed it up against the back of the fence. We started our walk down the dirt path that doubled as a back alley. If we kept going west, we would get back to the avenue that leads to Main Street. The breeze was rolling around stray garbage, making me tense from the noise of the rustling. Chloe was practically glued to my side, both of her hands knotted around the straps of her backpack.

I already regretted bringing her out with me.

I gripped my unused bat tight in my hand; the gun would have to be a last resort. Our feet scraped along the dirtied path, our breathing deep. Being out in the open like this made me feel naked and scared. I didn’t like it.

I heard the rasping before I saw it. Chloe gasped and grabbed onto me. An infected was reaching toward us, a mixture of bodily fluids running down its face. The thing’s ratty coat was snagged on a board that had dislodged from a fence. I led Chloe as far away from the grabbing hands as the alley would manage.

“Do we just leave it there?” Chloe asked, just barely above a whisper.

“It’s stuck, no point in wasting time.”

Finally, I spotted the paved road at the end of the alley. I peered out. There were two infected stumbling in the middle, aimlessly wandering.

“Stay right beside me,” I said again for emphasis.

We took a right and jogged down the sidewalk; old habits die hard I guess. Both heads turned toward us and started in on our direction.

“They’re comin’!” Chloe latched her hand onto my shirt, gripping the fabric.

“You have to let go, Chloe.”

I had to pry her stiff fingers from my clothing. I couldn’t have her weight holding me back if I had to take out those two in a hurry. She reluctantly let go, and the fabric was wrinkled from where she had held on. I grabbed her hand with my free one and dragged her along. There was no way I should waste time in dealing with those two.

We kept up a good pace and soon the two infected were just a figure on the horizon. They would undoubtedly catch up to us, but I would have to deal with that later. One more right turn and we would come to the street we needed. I pushed us up against the corner of the first building and peeked around it. The road was lined with shops on both sides; the angled parking in front was empty except for an old Chevy and a newer Buick.

I did a rough count and came up with eight visible infected. I’m sure there was more hiding all over. The general store was housed right in the middle on the left side of the street; the building was bigger than all the rest. It’s pointed front sign stood up above the rest of the roofs. A hardware store was further down from us on the right side, luckily the side we were currently on. I turned back to Chloe.

“Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go to the hardware store first, then hit up the general store on our way back. We’re going to follow this sidewalk and you’re going to stay to my right.”

All the infected seemed to be congregating to the left, leaving the right side clear for now. As soon as they heard us, that would change. So the route to the hardware store was the best opinion. Chloe nodded at my directions.

I took a deep breath, “All right, let’s go.”

We turned the corner, Chloe to my right so that I was on one side of her and the buildings were to her other side. Walking briskly, I had us hunch down so that we attracted as little attention as possible. Along our path there was an infected slumped up against one of the buildings, his legs blocking the side walk. I put out a hand to stop Chloe.

“Hold up.”

I handed her the bat and unsheathed the hunting knife I had stuck in my pocket. The thing looked like it wasn’t moving, as I approached it with caution. I glanced around, and it appeared that the other infected still hadn’t clued into our presence, yet. Using the tip of my sheathed hunting knife, I poked the thing in its temple. The head slouched to the side, away from me. It was truly dead.

I motioned for Chloe to come to me, and she hurried over. I held her hand as she stepped over the unmoving legs and then I climbed over myself. She stared wide-eyed at the dead infected the whole time; I had to tug on her hand to get her moving again. We hurried along and reached the hardware store. I pulled on the silver handle and the door opened. I held it ajar and peered inside. The only light was coming in from the giant display windows, but it was enough to illuminate the small store.

I ushered Chloe in and closed it gingerly behind us.

“What’s that smell?” Chloe grimaced as she covered her nose.

I scrunched up my own nose as the odor reached me. That could only be one thing. There was a dead body in here and it had been in here for a while.

“Stay right here,” I pointed to the spot she was standing on.

I took back the bat from her and moved to the far left. I quickly peered down the four aisles made from metal grate shelves; it really was not a big store. It looked clear, so I had Chloe come over to me. The glass and wood sales counter lined the back wall and behind it was empty gun racks.
Shit
. The shelf that held the boxed ammo was almost picked clean as well.

There was a white door behind there labeled
Employees Only
. I lifted up the countertop that doubled as a door so we could get behind the counter. Various shells littered the floor; I could feel them under the sole of my shoes. The decaying smell was getting even stronger, and I had to lift the collar of my shirt over my nose. Chloe’s eyes were watering from the smell. I held up my hand for her to stop.

“Stay behind the counter and yell if you see anything.”

Judging from the intense smell, I had a hunch that something nasty was waiting for us behind that door. There was no way Chloe should see that. Once I made sure she was out of eye-shot, I went to turn the handle. The smell hit me like a physical thing. I turned to the side, unable to stop the contents of my stomach from coming up. Once I was done heaving, I straightened back up, desperately wanting mouthwash. Chloe was as far away as she could get while still behind the counter.

I breathed through my mouth, as I opened the door further, allowing in as much light as I could. Death was all that greeted me.