This Would Be Paradise (Book 1) (8 page)

If I had to listen to one more word about My Little Pony, I was going to shoot someone. Literally. I had a gun now. I brought Chloe those Scooby-Doo books so I wouldn’t have to put up with something like this for the whole ride, but alas being a nine-year-old took over and the books no longer held her attention. So here we were listening to the epic tale of the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to hook up their teacher and some dude with a magic potion. All I could think while I listened to the story was,
We have something like that in real life, and we call it alcohol.

I grinned out the window at my internal conversation and tried to drown out her rather demanding little voice. We had finally got out of the city using the back roads and horribly designed one-ways. Luckily we didn’t run into any infected, just a couple of other vehicles heading in the opposite direction. They all had junk piled on their roofs, as they sped into the city, no doubt trying to get to the emergency shelters. I knew most of those shelters would fall just like the school had, but the travelers wouldn’t listen. We even flagged down a minivan and tried to tell them about the city being overrun, but they refused to believe us. I guess if you hadn’t seen it yourself, you would have a hard time swallowing the truth.

“Hey look it’s a van!” Chloe exclaimed suddenly.

We all peered out the windshield to see a newer model of a Dodge Caravan barreling down the one-way. Unfortunately, we were going the wrong direction on it, so Ethan slowed and moved over as far as he could with the truck. The van would be able to squeeze through, if they slowed down that was. Just before they reached us, they finally reduced their speed and stopped. The driver got out of the van and started to approach the truck.

“Stay here,” Ethan said firmly to Chloe and she just nodded her head.

We stared at the dark skinned, middle aged man walking calmly toward the truck. Ethan rolled down the window before getting out, no doubt to allow us to hear the conversation.

“Uh, you’re kind of in the way,” the man said to Ethan.

“Sorry ‘bout that, had to use these roads to get out of the city,” Ethan said back.

“Why not the interstate or main arteries?” he asked confused.

Ethan sighed, obviously not liking to be the bearer of bad news. “We just came from one city shelter they had set up, and it was overrun. We figured the safest thing would be to lay low for a bit in the country while we waited for the government and military to organize everythin’.”

“We’re heading to the stadium one, was that the place you guys were coming from?” the man asked.

“No, the high school near downtown.”

“Well, maybe the stadium is fine.”

“I wouldn’t take that chance,” Ethan looked over at the van. “Especially with your family in tow.”

“We don’t know what else to do.” The guy shrugged, helplessly.

Ethan better not ask them to come with us. The last thing we needed were more liabilities, although in all fairness, that’s all we were to Ethan when he offered.

“You should turn back around and stay outside city limits.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I think we will stick with our plan.”

Ethan looked really torn as he almost pleaded with the man.

“Look, I have a huntin’ cabin ‘bout another three or four hours from here. You and your family are welcome to come with us.”

“That’s really kind, but we think an official shelter would be best. I got to look out for my family, you know?” the man gave us a crinkled smile. “Name’s Roy by the way.”

“Ethan.”

“Well, thanks again for the offer, Ethan,” Roy said, as he started back toward his van.

Slowly the van inched past us and Roy waved. I could see the curious faces of his young daughters pressed up against the van windows, watching us as they slid past us. I watched the van go by us and then the Mazda. Soon the van disappeared behind us and I found myself hoping they would find what they were looking for.

The buildings had given way to a two-lane highway surrounded by trees in every direction. It seemed so surreal considering we were just in the city, pretty much blocked in by buildings on all ends. The road was clear. This was kind of creepy in my books; it reminded me of when I would have the unholy 6 AM Saturday shift at my part-time job, and the roads would be empty the entire way. We drove on, speeding with the Mazda still in tow.

There was a car pulled over to the side of the road. We gave it a wide berth as we passed; the driver side window was smeared with blood and the passenger side door was left wide open. The window was so covered in blood that I couldn’t see in, but Ethan didn’t give us much of a chance to gawk as he sped away from the abandoned car. Suddenly no one felt like talking, even Chloe had stopped her tirade.

“So, anyone want to play I-Spy?” Darren quipped.

Zoe smacked him on the arm and he feigned being hurt. Honestly, the joke was in bad taste, but at least it helped to relieve some of the tension. I felt the truck slowing down and Ethan flicked on his right signal light for John and Taylor behind us. The pavement ended with the highway and the sound of gravel crunching under our tires filled the cab. I could barely make out the Mazda behind us through the dust and gravel the truck was throwing up.

“I hope they can see,” Zoe said as she peered out the back window.

“I hope he’s not too attached to that paint job,” I said back.

“So I hate to be
that
guy, but are we close yet?” Zoe asked.

“The gravel road turn-off means about another forty-five minutes or so,” Ethan answered her question, glancing in the rear view mirror.

“Look!” our trusty guide pointed out from the passenger seat.

There was a deer bounding along the tree line.

“Hmm, you weren’t kidding about the game up here,” Darren said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good ‘round this time of year, even though it’s technically not huntin’ season anymore,” Ethan pointed out.

“So what does that mean?” I asked.

“It means were only allowed to hunt for a few months out of the year and generally it’s around October until January, so we’re a little out of the limits,” Ethan answered.

“What happens if you hunt outside of the season?”

“Jail or a fine,” Ethan said. “But I think that’s the least of our worries.”

He wasn’t kidding.

“Once our dad took down a white-tailed buck that was almost four hundred pounds!” Chloe exclaimed proudly.

Ethan chuckled.

“Yeah, I remember that day all right. Took me, dad and Uncle Paul just to lift it onto the back of the truck. Damn near dropped the thing on me as we moved it.”

“We had deer for months,” Chloe giggled. “Mom made dad give the rest away ‘cause she said she’d go crazy if she had to eat any more deer meat.”

“Sounds pretty good right about now,” Darren said. “I could go for some food.”

Great, now I was hungry and we still had forty minutes to go. By the time we pulled up to the heavy iron gate, I was officially starving. Ethan got out of the truck to unlock the gate and swing it open. Darren jumped out and drove the truck through and the Mazda followed. When Ethan relocked the gate, he kicked Darren into the back again.

The immediate property was lined with barbed wire, the only break being the gate. I assumed their land went much further than I could see. Trees lined the area creating the feeling like we were in the middle of a forest, the only trail being the dirt road that led up to the cabin. The cabin itself was actually bigger than I expected. I was imaging a log cabin, but instead it was modernly designed, with dark brown siding. I could see the solar panels lining the roof and a few propped around the cabin on the ground. At the peak was a little window and I assumed that was a loft area.

“Nice,” Darren said, clearly impressed.

Finally, we were able to get out and stretch. I grabbed one of the bags from the back and took out a pack of beef jerky. Everyone grabbed some of the dehydrated meat, and soon we were all busy gnawing on the chewy junk food.

“So do we get the grand tour?” I asked, after taking a drink from my water bottle.

“Sure is a nice place you got here, son,” John said, eyeing the solar panels.

“My dad loves to hunt,” Ethan said proudly. “This place used to belong to my grandfather, but when he passed, my dad redid the cabin. He added the fencin’, all the amenities and hook-ups.”

We followed Ethan around back where there was a little garden with a few plants starting to sprout and a well a few feet from that. There was a small shed with a pile of wood beside it, no doubt for the camp fire which was located a few meters from the side of the cabin. Then he took us inside.

The air was musty from being locked up for so long without even a window cracked. The inside was furnished with very utilitarian type furniture that would last forever. Then I saw something that had me actually excited.

“A bathroom. Thank god!” I exclaimed.

No bathing in a pond somewhere.

“There’s also an outhouse a bit further from the cabin.”

I made a face at that, and Ethan laughed. The kitchen was small, and a mid-sized, black contraption stood about half my height. The fridge was only an apartment-sized one when the spot could have held a full one, so I assumed this thing wasn’t a second fridge.

“Meat smoker,” Ethan said when he saw me eyeing the thing.

“Bailey and I dibs this room,” Zoe said as she flung her bag into the room.

I walked over to the room, which was barely big enough to host the two single beds. I dropped my backpack onto the floor and peeked at the other room, which was just a mirror of ours.

“I dibs the loft,” Chloe said excitedly as she climbed the wooden ladder that lead to a small ledge area.

I guess that window was really for a loft after all.

“Wait, does that mean we’re bunking together?” Darren asked Ethan with a perplexed look on his face.

“Well, it’s that or the couch,” Ethan said as he dropped himself onto the couch in question.

Dust flew up and Ethan started to cough as he waved away the motes surrounding him.

“Not much of a choice,” Darren muttered.

“Guys,” Zoe rolled her eyes. “So touchy about things like that.”

I grinned at the look they shot her. At least they wouldn’t have to share a bed, but to be fair calling those cots a bed seemed like an insult.

“At least you don’t have to put up with Zoe’s snoring,” I joked and she punched me in the arm.

“It’s not that bad,” Zoe said as I rubbed my arm.

“I honestly don’t know how you don’t wake yourself up,” I said. “It’s like a chainsaw.”

Chloe laughed from her perch in the loft and Zoe just rolled her eyes.

“You guys brought sleeping bags right?” Ethan asked John and Taylor.

“Yeah and a couple extras, if you need any,” John nodded.

“Maybe you guys should camp out in the livin’ room until we make sure it’s safe,” Ethan suggested.

“Won’t hear me complainin’,” John said.

“You might when you hear Zoe snore,” I grinned and Zoe lobbed a pillow at my head.

“It isn’t that bad, dammit!” she yelled back.

I slept like the dead that night. Pardon the pun, but it was true. We all did. The lack of sleep from the previous nights and the constant stress really did a number on a person; I even slept through Zoe’s snoring. The others were already up by the time I rolled out of bed, following the very welcome smell of coffee. It was only instant coffee, but I gratefully accepted it from Ethan as he passed me a steaming cup. Chloe was up in the loft keeping an eye out the small window. If anyone saw something, it would be her. John was tinkering with the dented radio he brought, trying to get it to play anything but static.

“How long have you been at that?” I asked after downing about half the cup of coffee.

“Not too long, ‘bout five minutes or so,” John answered.

“And still nothing?”

“A few words here and there, but unless I know the frequency I’m lookin’ for, it’s just a shot in the dark,” John shrugged.

“You got a workin’ radio in here or anythin’?” Taylor asked scanning the room.

“Here,” Chloe announced as she climbed down from her perch.

She placed the plastic, bright pink radio on the counter.

“Better than nothin’,” Taylor shrugged and flipped the on switch.

Immediately the room was filled with more static, but as he scanned down the channels a voice soon caught our attention, but was gone too soon.

“Go back,” Ethan said jumping right next to Taylor.

Carefully, as if he was doing surgery, Taylor turned the knob back and the needle barely moved.

“…indoors as much as possible. Gather all the supplies you can and wait for further instruction. Again, we repeat, under no circumstances are you to engage the infected. The virus is passed through contact and is not airborne. All those with firearm licences are strongly encouraged to obtain a weapon, only to be used in the case of extreme emergencies. We ask that you hold tight until the military is able to make it to your region. We are doing what we can to stabilize the remaining population and restore order. Keep strong and God bless…This is an emergency broadcast. The date and time is February 13th, 8:15 AM, and martial law has been declared. The President has fallen and Vice President, Mr. Biden, has taken the position in this grave time to lead our great country. The virus has gone international and now has been classified as an epidemic. You must avoid infected at all costs and try to stay indoors as much as possible…”

Taylor flicked off the radio when it started to repeat. It was clear the message was on a continual loop.

“That was yesterday,” Zoe said quietly.

“Holy shit, the President’s gone,” Darren said in disbelief, sinking further into the couch.

I was no expert, but I was pretty sure the situation must be dire for them to announce something like that. I noticed how they didn’t tell us to go anywhere like the newscast had a couple of days ago. Either they thought we really were safest in smaller numbers or there was no safe place left standing to go. I looked down into my coffee cup wishing I had something stronger, maybe some tequila.

“I can’t believe they’re encouragin’ folks to get guns,” Ethan said astounded.

“A situation like this is unprecedented… basically they’re sayin’ we’re on our own,” John said placing his cowboy hat on his head. “Well, if we are goin’ to go around armed, we best get some practice.”

“Why do I have the feeling that was aimed at me?” I grinned a little, despite the grim newscast.

“Because it was,” Darren smirked back, pushing himself off the couch.

“We can’t do it here though, we need to move away so that the sound isn’t linked back to the cabin,” John said. “You know of any fields within ten miles or so?” John seemed like a very practical man, never one to not have a plan or not think things through.

Ethan thought about it. “Don’t know, there’re some crop fields back a ways.”

“Guess that’ll have to do,” John said.

“What’ll we use for targets?” Zoe asked.

“Empty water bottles and whatever else we can find along the way,” John suggested.

“Wouldn’t this be a waste of bullets?” Darren asked.

John stared down Darren, “It’s not a waste if you’re learnin’ an important skill that could mean the difference between life and death, son.” That shut Darren up.

Everyone sprang into action while I finished my coffee. I was no good to the world without my coffee. I pulled out my cellphone again, noticing I only had thirty percent of my battery left. I would have to conserve what I could and hope that I would be allowed to recharge using the solar panels. Once again, I dialed my house number except I was met with a no signal tone this time. I peered down at the screen, the red circle with a line through it laughing at my efforts.
Am I ever going to talk to my family again?
I didn’t want to think about it, so I put it out of my mind for now.

I grabbed my Beretta with the silencer still attached and shoved the piece into the holster, making sure I checked that the safety was on, only around seven times. It wouldn’t really help my case that I could manage a gun if I shot myself. And I didn’t think to bring a belt, so Ethan let me borrow one of his. The holster I grabbed was the one with a hole in the bottom, so even though the handgun had a silencer on it, it still fit. Then I looped on my holstered hunting knife on the other side of the belt. Needless to say, I felt pretty badass walking out of my room with all my weapons.

Although the gun and knife kind of looked out of place with my outfit, it felt like it was hot outside so I opted for my shorts and a T-shirt.

John was the only one by the truck when I finally exited the cabin. He nodded at me as I approached the truck. “You ready to go?” he asked.

“Yep,” I said, looking at his outfit. “How are you wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt when it’s this warm out?”

He cracked a grin, “I grew up here, kind of used to the heat by now. Plus this ain’t even that hot. Just wait until it’s summer, that’s when you’ll really be fryin’.”

“Great, something to look forward to.” I squinted up at the intense sun. Again, I fervently hoped that by summer everything would be sorted out and I wouldn’t have to worry about boiling to death in the South, but instead be back home.

“Glad you decided on the shorts because I won’t be dragging you back,” Zoe joked as she approached us.

“Glad to know I have such great friends,” I retorted.

Zoe plunked the bag she had into the back of the truck and then turned to us.

“So, decided which way we should go yet?” Zoe asked John.

He pointed to a section on the map, “According to Ethan, this is an empty field, and it’s fenced almost all the way around. This should be our best bet.”

As the others joined in our little pow-wow, I could hear the tinkling of cans as they shifted around in the plastic bags they were carrying. With the location in mind, we headed off.

Instead of going back the direction we came, we went even further into the rural area. All the roads were gravel this far out and again the Mazda was stuck following in our dust trail. The tall trees helped to shade us from the unrelenting sun, which made the trip slightly more bearable. There wasn’t even a cloud in the sky to filter out some of the rays. From the passenger’s seat, Chloe informed us that it was unusually warm for February, which was just my luck.

We came up to a rotted gate with a
NO TRESPASSING
sign hung at an odd angle. Ethan jumped out of the cab to kick the gate open enough for the truck to pass through. The dirt path eventually ended and all I could see for miles was row after row of grass and crops. As we walked away from the vehicles, we stayed close to the fence line so that we could easily find our way back.

“This looks pretty good,” Ethan said as he scanned the immediate area.

“’Bout as good as any,” John agreed and we started to set up the cans and bottles.

Using some of the well water, we poured a little bit of liquid into the containers so that they would stay put, and upright on the fence. I voluntarily took the targets at the very end.

Chloe had brought a blanket to lounge on while she did some reading, setting up in the tree shade. She said that she didn’t want to shoot, since she already knew what she was doing and that it would just be a waste of bullets. Smart-ass kid.

“All right, so as you may have guessed, I served in the military. The first thing they teach you is gun safety,” John said, standing slightly in front of us, pointing to various spots on his gun. “This is your safety, this is your magazine release, and this is the trigger.”

Darren rolled his eyes at that last one.

“You must keep your trigger finger on the side until you are ready to shoot; otherwise, we will have some trigger happy accidents,” John continued on. “These notches are for aimin’. The one in the front must align in the middle of the two on the back.”

He went on for a while before finally using his own gun to demonstrate taking a shot. He lifted the pistol to eye level and took aim. He looked calm as he slowly squeezed the trigger. One of the bottles flew back off of the fence as the shot rang out. That was one thing movies never got right, just how loud an actual gun shot was. Admittedly, it was less loud than the shots in the grocery store, but that was because we were out in the open.

We all spread out a little bit more to try it ourselves. I flinched at the sound of the others shooting, but once I started myself, the other sounds faded into the background. My first few shots missed by miles, but as I got more comfortable I started to at least hit the fence and even one bottle. I hit the release button and the empty magazine slid out. I fished the other loaded magazine from my bag and reloaded the gun. Everyone else was doing pretty well, but some bottles and cans remained untouched on the fence. It was almost as if they were mocking us.

“You need to slowly squeeze the trigger. You’re jerkin’ it which jolts the gun and ruins your aim,” John offered as he came up beside me.

I took my time in lining up the next shot and slid my finger to the trigger. This time I took a deep breath and released it at the same moment that I slowly squeezed the trigger. The shot landed on the very bottom of one of the bottles, but it still went flying into the grass behind the fence.

“See, there you go,” John grinned, patting me on the shoulder. “Also make sure your gun goes up when you fire, not down or else the shot goes off target.”

“Thanks,” I said before I turned back to my targets. 

With renewed vigor I took my time, and managed to hit the remaining bottles and cans. Had they been moving, that would have been a different story. I’m sure the infected wouldn’t stand still for me, even if I asked politely. I wondered how John planned to train us with moving targets. Dangle a bottle with a string from a tree branch?

“Wow. You hit them,” Darren’s eyebrows shot up when he saw the empty fence in front of me.

“Damn straight,” I grinned proudly back at him.

“Ya’ll did good,” John said, making me feel less special. “But chances are, those
things
ain’t gonna stand nice and still for you.”

Looks like he had been thinking the same thing.

“Well, what would you suggest?” Ethan asked, as he slid his empty magazine out of the gun.

“That’s the question, ain’t it?” John said contemplating what to do.

“We could do real target practice,” Darren suggested.

“Maybe you should elaborate slightly on that,” I said, concerned.

Darren grinned like he had made a joke, “I meant, go find a bunch of the infected in an area and they can be our target practice.”

The idea creeped me out, but Darren had a valid idea. The whole reason we were in this field right now was to practice shooting so we could defend ourselves against those things. But was I or anyone else ready to unload on a bunch of infected?

“Okay, say we did that. Where would we go?” Taylor asked.

“It would start with us having to head back toward the city because there would be more infected than out here,” Darren suggested.

No one said anything; no one seemed too keen on heading back to the place we had just fled from.

“Well, we can’t all just pack up and go. What if somethin’ happened here while we were gone?” Ethan pointed out.

“Like?” Darren prompted.

“Infected wandered in or what if some other people come by and took the cabin?” Ethan listed off.

“We could split into groups I guess, and take turns going,” Darren compromised.

“And we could also pick up some more supplies when we went in,” Zoe pointed out.

“All right, let’s head back to the cabin and plan this out properly,” John said.

Seeing that we were done for the day, Chloe ran to us, her blanket flowing behind her like a cape. No one said anything as we walked back to the vehicles, our minds too preoccupied with thoughts of heading back into that mess. As much as I hated the idea, it was the only way to familiarize ourselves with the infected and learn how to defend ourselves against them. If we just hid out at the cabin for who knows how long and infected showed up, we would be sorely out of practice in dealing with them.