“Ricky, we don’t have a tank,” Ian said, leaning over the phone.
“God damn it, do something!”
“Ricky, you need to be quiet; they move to sound. Stay quiet, and don’t move. They should move away, or some of them should, and you can make a run for it,” Lance said as Ricky turned off the video.
“That’s your advice? Be quiet and stay still? Come and get me, motherfucker!”
“What, and die with you? Fuck that! Shut up, and be still. You hear them getting worked up because you’re talking, and that makes more come,” Lance snapped.
“They are shaking the tree! Please come and get me!” Ricky cried.
Lance reached down and thumbed his phone off. “You hung up on him!” Jennifer snapped.
“Yeah I did. I have to save what power I have in case my mom and dad call,” he snapped back as his phone rang. Lance touched the ignore tab and flipped his phone to vibrate. “I can’t help him without dying.”
“You could talk to him,” Jennifer said.
“Like I said, they are attracted to noise. If he talks, he will die because they won’t leave.”
“It just seems wrong,” Jennifer said, lowering her head.
“It is,” Ian said, moving over to her, and Lance took a breath to unload. Be damned if Ian was going to break the first law of the man code: Bros before hos. “Yes, it’s wrong, but we don’t have a choice. If we help Ricky, we will die before we even got near his house. If we use up the batteries on our phones, we can’t talk to our parents or try for help. Even just talking to him puts us at risk, and it does put Ricky at risk. We lose our ability to try for help,” Ian said as his phone rang. Lifting up his phone with Ricky’s picture on the screen, Ian held it out to Jennifer. “Your call. You want to condemn all of us, including your little sister?”
Slowly, Jennifer reached out, and her hand hovered over the phone. Then, she dropped her index finger down, tapping the ignore tab. Dropping her hand, Jennifer turned around, crying. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Ian shrugged, turning off his ringer and blocking Ricky’s calls. “Nothing to be sorry for,” he said, shoving the phone in his pocket. “It’s just shit choices.”
Seeing everyone with tears running down their faces, Lance snapped his fingers. “Hey, if we let this bring us down now, we will die!” he popped off. “We need the curtains closed now. It will be dawn in a few hours, and they will be able to see inside.”
Everyone wiped their faces and looked over at him. “Good. Allie and Carrie, you two stay in here,” he said, pointing over at the couch in front of the flat-screen TV. “Jennifer, you start at the back of the house. I’ll take the right front and Ian the left front. Most of the windows have blinds. If you lower them, do it slow so the movement doesn’t attract attention,” Lance said, and everyone nodded.
Moving over to the alarm, Lance turned it on but turned the outside siren and lights off. If something broke in, the alarm would just call out in an electronic voice inside the house. Because they were closing the blinds and curtains slowly, it took them over an hour, and the three met up at the front door.
“It looks like a rock concert down at my house,” Ian said with a pale face.
Pulling out his cellphone, Lance tried calling his dad and mom. When he heard ringing, he wanted to jump up and down, but the line just kept ringing, and then a voice came over. “Your party is out of the calling area, and the mailbox is full. Please try your call later.”
“Shit,” Lance said, hanging up. Not saying anything more, he left Ian and Jennifer. They looked at each other then took off after him. Lance went to his dad’s office and opened the big gun safe then moved over to open the smaller one.
Seeing Lance pull out his dad’s XDM in a clip-on holster, Ian smiled. “Oh man, now we are talking.”
He stepped over and pulled out another XDM his mom used and the clip-on holster. Lance passed him a clip-on magazine holster. “Glad my mom didn’t tell my dad not to give me the combination to the pistol safe,” he said as Ian took it.
“Mom gets weird about pistols,” Ian said, putting the magazine holster on his left side.
“Can I have a gun?” Jennifer asked behind them.
“Have you shot a gun before?” Lance asked, moving to the other safe, and pulled out his dad’s AR. He put the sling over his head and let it hang in front of his body.
“Yes, I’ve shot a gun before,” Jennifer sighed.
“More than once?” Lance asked, turning around and looking at her. “If you don’t know how to shoot, you could hurt yourself or us.”
“No, I only went shooting with my dad once,” she said, looking down. Lance moved back to the pistol safe and pulled out three Ruger 22/45 pistols. He handed his to Ian and shoved the one his dad used in the small of his back. He held out the one his mom used to Jennifer.
“Ian, show her how to use it. Go over everything ten times, and make her repeat it ten times,” Lance said as Jennifer slowly took the pistol. Moving over to a cabinet, Lance opened it and held out clip-on holsters for the pistols. When they took them, he pulled out one more then grabbed a handful of magazines for the Rugers. “I’m going to fix some food. When you two are done, come and get some food.”
They just looked at each other as Lance left. “Is he mad?” Jennifer asked.
“No,” Ian said, pulling her over to the desk. “That’s how he gets when he’s thinking.”
Lance went in the game room to find both girls asleep on the couch. He grabbed two blankets and covered them up then headed to the kitchen, turned the stove on, and gave a sigh of relief upon seeing the blue flame. Moving to the fridge, he opened the door and quickly pulled out eggs, bacon, and biscuits.
Soon, his stomach started growling as the smell of food filled the kitchen. He opened the freezer and pulled out some orange juice concentrate. When Ian and Jennifer walked in, Lance was putting the pans in the sink. They saw the plates on the counter piled high with food.
“Never would’ve guessed either of you could cook,” Jennifer said, putting her pistol on the counter.
“Merit badge,” they said in unison, grabbing plates.
“How did she do?” Lance asked, sitting down.
“She knows which end is the dangerous end,” Ian said, sitting down. “She’ll be okay.”
“Don’t shoot me because I shoot back,” Lance said, pouring a glass of orange juice.
“Can’t shoot the two that saved us,” Jennifer grinned, sitting down.
The three sat and ate, and suddenly, Lance set down his fork and looked at them. It was several seconds before they realized he was staring at them. “What?” Ian said and grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth.
“I want to make a pact between the three of us,” Lance said with a serious face.
“A pact for what?” Jennifer asked.
“We don’t cry or think of the things we lost until we’re safe,” Lance said, looking from one to the other.
Tears sprang to Jennifer’s eyes. “Why? It hurts. I don’t know where my mom and dad are. I’ve seen my friends attack people.”
“I know, and I’m just as guilty. I’ve been thinking it over, when we’ve felt bad, we always make bad mistakes. If we get down, we will die,” he said, looking at them as he grabbed his glass.
Nodding, Ian mumbled, “Yeah, you’re right. How do we do it though?”
“When we feel bad, start doing something: counting straws, cleaning, hell anything, but not crying,” Lance said, taking a drink.
“I’ll try,” Jennifer said.
“So will I,” Ian said, picking his fork back up.
“That’s all we can do,” Lance said and picked his fork up. “If one of us sees the other breaking down, find something to do.”
They finished eating and moved to the game room. Lance picked up the shotgun, looking at the end of the barrel. “Glad I didn’t try to use this,” he said, holding it up. Ian gave a soft whistle, seeing the chunk of dirt stuck in the barrel. “I’m going to get my go bag and clean this,” Lance said, walking out.
“What is a ‘go bag?’” Jennifer asked when Lance was gone.
“Our parents made us pack a bag we could live out of for three days. It holds extra clothes, food, and other stuff. If something happens, we only have to grab our go bag. Like if the house caught on fire or an earthquake hit, we wouldn’t have to pack anything, staying in danger. We could move away from danger to a safe place,” Ian said, dropping down in a recliner.
“Like those shows on TV?”
“Kind of,” Ian yawned, closing his eyes. “It just made sense. Like the Boy Scout motto: Always be prepared.”
Jennifer pulled out her pistol and went over the controls several times until she heard soft snoring and looked up to see Ian asleep.
“Typical,” she heard Lance behind her. “He goes to sleep when we have stuff to do,” he said, putting the shotgun on the pool table with a backpack.
“Can I use your phone to try and call my parents?” Jennifer asked, putting her pistol in the holster.
“Sure,” Lance said, pulling out his phone. Jennifer tried her parent’s number, and it rang several times then went to voicemail.
Sighing, she thumbed it off and handed it over. “You think you have any clothes I can wear?”
“We can look in my mom’s closet.”
Jennifer snickered. “Lance, your mom is much taller than me and more—” she stopped, holding her hands out in front of her chest.
Smiling, Lance looked at Jennifer’s tiny body and pictured his mother’s five-foot-six clothes on her, and his smile broke into a grin. “You have a point. Come on,” he said, turning around.
She followed him upstairs to his room. “You’ve changed it,” she said, walking in. He turned around, cutting his eyes at her. “Lance, I’ve been in your room before, and if you remember, I’ve spent the night with you and Ian here and at his house.”
“Forgot about that,” Lance mumbled as he nodded.
“Do you two ever, like, sleep at your own house without the other one?”
“Of course,” he chuckled, opening his closet.
Sitting down on Lance’s bed as he dug in his closet, she said, “I never see you two apart.”
“He’s my best friend; why should we not hang out?”
Even though Lance wasn’t looking at her, Jennifer shrugged. “I don’t know, but I was jealous that you two were always together. I really wanted to join in. You two are always doing something fun.”
“Well, you could’ve,” Lance said, pulling out some pants and shirts.
“No, you two are almost like twins,” Jennifer said as he put the clothes on the bed. “Best friends for life.”
“We liked it when you played with us,” Lance said, looking down at her filthy, tiny feet. “Ah, what size shoe do you wear? Please tell me it’s not a toddler size.”
She laughed. “No, I wear a four and a half or five in most girl sizes,” she said, looking at the clothes on the bed.
“Ah, I wear a size nine, and Ian wears a size eight and a half,” Lance said, reaching up and pinching his bottom lip as he thought.
“What about your mom?”
“She can wear my shoes,” Lance said, letting his lip go, and moved back to his closet.
“I feel sorry for Carrie then,” Jennifer said as Lance started digging in his closet and stepped inside, disappearing.
“Mom has a dresser and closet full of clothes for Allie in the guestroom,” Lance called out. “She says Allie is half hers so she can dress up a girl. Carrie can get some of those.”
The
pop, pop, pop
of gunfire sounded off in the subdivision, and Jennifer turned around, noticing it was getting lighter outside. “It’s getting close to dawn.”
“Yeah, it’s five a.m.,” Lance called out from the closet.
“Are you looking for the Holy Grail in there?” Jennifer asked, getting up and moving to the closet.
“No,” Lance huffed. “Found ’em.” He stepped back into the doorway holding a pair of small hiking boots. “Mom bought these for me when I was in Cub Scouts and went on my first hike. She wouldn’t let me throw them away.”
Jennifer took the boots and put them next to her foot. “When did you wear these?”
“When I was seven.”
“Looks like they will fit or close enough,” she said, looking up with a smile.
Walking over to his dresser, he said, “Here’s some socks,” and passed over a pair. “Dig through that, and find what fits the best, and we will make you a go bag. Belts are hanging on the closet door. You remember where the bathroom is?”
“Yes,” she laughed. “We called ‘Bloody Mary’ in there.”
“If you need me, don’t yell but just call,” he said as she picked up the pile of clothes and walked out. “Yeah, she’s hot,” he mumbled and stepped over to the window. From his house, he could see Doug’s house much better and noticed the Escalade wasn’t in the driveway, and all the window shutters were open.
Giving a sigh, Lance’s shoulders slumped as he looked around his room. Feeling his pocket vibrate, Lance jumped. He patted his leg and felt his phone. “Damn, didn’t block Ricky’s number,” he said, pulling out his phone, then saw a picture of his dad on the screen.
Chapter 6
“Dad!” Lance cried out, answering the phone.
“Oh, thank God,” his dad said. “Lance, are you okay?”
“Yes sir, but it’s—”
“God damn it, shut the fuck up so I can talk to him!” Lance realized his dad wasn’t yelling at him. “Lance, are you there?”
“Yes sir—”
“Just listen, son, and answer as short as possible. This connection may not last. Where are you?”
“I’m at our house,” Lance said.
Stunned silence filled the phone for a second before his dad responded. “Okay, go to the main gun safe. On the top shelf, you will find flash drives. Find one that the end is painted yellow. Listen to it, and get to the cabin. If you have to leave, there is another flash drive in the big gun safe at Ian’s house. Do not—and I mean do not—go near the cabin until you listen to my message on that flash drive. Understand?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. Have you been able to talk to Doug?”
“No sir; he hasn’t been home in days.”
“He should’ve been home yesterday from the hospital. Are you sure?”
“Yes sir. We’ve been watching since this happened yesterday. Ian and I took Dino for a walk Tuesday afternoon and made sure his automatic food thing was full.”
“Good boy. Now, you need to listen to that flash drive and get to the cabin as soon as you can. Have you unlocked the gun safe?”
“Yes sir.”
“Very good; you’re using your head. Now, keep an eye out as you get stuff ready to leave for the cabin in case Doug shows up. He may already be at the cabin, but I don’t see him leaving Dino.”
“Dad, the cabin is in Kentucky, over a hundred miles away. I can’t take my bike.”
“Take my truck.”
Lance’s jaw fell open. “Ah, Dad, I’ve driven it like once.”
“It’s your only chance if you don’t hook up with Doug. Wait, let me talk to Jason.”
A lump formed in Lance’s throat. “He’s not here, Dad. He…he got sick and attacked Ms. Patricia and her husband.”
“Dear lord,” his dad moaned. “Okay,” he instantly snapped. “Don’t think about that. Quickly tell me what has happened.” Very fast, Lance gave his dad a cliff notes version.
“Dad, my phone is beeping; the battery is going dead.”
“In my room, the night stand on my side of the bed is a recharging pack, and another is in the right hand desk drawer in my office. Can you get there fast?”
Lance was already running for his parent’s bedroom. “Yes sir.”
“Lance, you pack as much meat from the freezers as you can take. Don’t worry about canned goods or other stuff. Take weapons and enough ammunition to get you there. On that flash drive is the route I want you to take. In my office bottom left hand drawer, you will find an atlas. Mark your route, and have Ian navigate for you as you drive. Understand?”
Ripping his dad’s nightstand open, Lance saw the recharging pack and connected it to his phone, and the beeping stopped. “Yes sir, but Dad, what’s happening?”
“Son, I don’t know, but it’s everywhere. We are trying to get a boat to take us to the mainland so we can get to you kids.”
“Do you have sick people there?”
“Yes, we’ve seen a few, but Oahu isn’t that populated compared to the other islands. It’s a war zone on them. From the news we’ve seen, big cities are very bad off.”
“Dad, you and Mom stay there if there aren’t many sick people.”
“No, son, we are going to get off this island if I have to make a coconut raft.”
“Dad, you and Mom can’t cross the country coming home with this going on. At least wait.”
“Son—” Static hissed over the phone. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes sir,” Lance said.
“Wait for—” static broke in, “—days for Doug then leave—” Static. “—don’t go near cabin until you read the flash drive, understand.”
“Dad, you’re breaking up. How many days do you want me to wait on Doug?”
“Two, no mor—” and Lance’s phone beeped. He lowered it, looking at the screen. “Call Failed” was across the top. Getting an idea, Lance pulled up his IM and started typing. “Waiting two days for Doug then heading to cabin. Read flash drive before going near cabin without Doug. Pack only meat and ammo. Taking your truck. Love U.”
He hit send and watched the message load, trying to send with the hourglass spinning around on his screen. “Were you talking to someone?” he heard behind him.
Letting out a yelp, Lance jumped, spinning around and dropping his hand to his pistol. “Hey, it’s only me,” Jennifer said, holding up her hands.
“My dad called,” Lance smiled.
“What did he say?” she said, running over.
“We have to get to the cabin,” Lance said, looking down at his phone to see “Message Sent.” Closing his eyes as he tilted his head back, Lance said a prayer of thanks.
“Are they coming to get us?”
Dropping his head down to look at Jennifer, he said, “They’re in Hawaii.”
“Oh, I didn’t know. Carrie just said your parents and Ian’s were on vacation.”
“Mom went to look at some property to start a timeshare,” Lance said, looking at his phone, and thumbed it off.
“Well, how are we going to the cabin? Carrie said it was in Kentucky deep in the woods.”
“My dad told me to take his truck.”
All expression left Jennifer’s face. “You can drive?”
“I have before.”
“Your dad’s truck?” she asked, and Lance nodded. “How far?”
“Around the neighborhood and around the parking lot at the hospital.”
“Any other vehicles?”
“Doug’s Hummer.”
She took a step back. “You drove his Hummer?”
“Yep,” Lance said and looked down at her. She had rolled the pants legs up and had to really tighten the belt to make the pants stay up with the pistol clipped on her right side. The t-shirt came down to her thighs, but the boots looked like they fit. “Well, how are the boots?”
“Just a little big, but I put on two pairs of socks and found some yellow suspenders hanging on your closet door,” she said, lifting the shirt to show him. “Now, the pants don’t fall down when I put my gun on.”
“If I knew where Mom put my Cub Scout stuff, I would get that for you,” Lance said as she dropped her shirt. They heard a house alarm go off and moved over to a window, carefully looking out as the sun peeked over the horizon.
“It sounds like it’s two streets over,” Lance said as another alarm sounded.
“That one sounds like it’s at the front of the neighborhood,” Jennifer said, moving beside him.
He glanced over at her damp hair. “You showered?”
“Ah yeah, I had mud caked between my toes.”
“Running barefoot will do that,” Lance laughed, looking back out and noticed the sick people moving off. “The stinkers are moving away.”
“Well, having crazy people breaking in makes one panic, forgetting her shoes,” Jennifer said, watching the exodus. “Stinkers?”
“Well shit, they smell like rotten eggs. Like sulfur gas from a geyser.”
Jennifer shook her head. “There’s so many of them.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem,” Lance sighed, seeing groups between the houses on the next street over behind Doug’s house. “I need to wake Ian and tell him what my dad said.”
“Can’t you tell me?”
“Sure. Come on, and you can listen as I tell Ian,” Lance said, heading for the door.
Sighing, Jennifer followed him downstairs and was shocked to see Lance walk into his dad’s office first. He went to the big safe and pulled out a bag of flash drives then pulled one out with a yellow bottom. Putting the bag back inside, he moved over to the desk and pulled out a recharging pack for a cellphone. Stopping at the cabinet again, he pulled out some stuff and shoved it in his pockets.
Without saying anything, Lance walked past her. Shaking her head, Jennifer spun around and followed. “That’s what I’m talking about. You two only see each other as a buddy,” she mumbled.
Lance shook Ian awake, which took some doing. When Ian sat up, Lance told them what his dad said as he handed the charging pack to Ian. Taking it, Ian hooked it to his phone as he listened. When Lance finished, he looked up, rubbing his eyes. “What is so dangerous about the cabin?”
“Shit, I don’t know. I haven’t listened to the flash drive,” Lance said, holding it up.
Ian stood up, stretching. “Wonder what they would’ve done if we wouldn’t have been able to get here?”
“Your dad had one in his safe,” Lance said, walking over to his backpack and pulled out a bag of flash drives. “I grabbed them because Dad told me he scanned all the important documents and stuff and kept them in the safe. I figured your dad did too.”
“He did, but I forgot to grab them,” Ian said, dejected.
“Hey, brother, we had shit going on,” Lance popped off. “It’s only luck I grabbed them, but I did, so no harm, no foul.”
Walking over, Ian took the bag, “Should we listen to them now?”
“No, Dad said load all the frozen meat up in his truck. We don’t need to worry about canned stuff,” Lance said as Ian put the bag of flash drives in his pack.
“You check on Doug’s?” Ian asked.
“Yeah, he’s not there.”
Nodding, Ian took his AR off and laid it on the table. “Well, let’s get packing in case we have to boogie.” Ian looked over and jumped back. “When did you change?” he asked, looking at Jennifer.
“When you fell asleep. I really didn’t want to run around in my night clothes.” Jennifer said, smiling.
Somewhat dejected, Ian looked her over. “You could only fit in those old Cub Scout boots his mom wouldn’t let him throw away.”
Closing her eyes, Jennifer pulled back her hair, took a rubber band off her wrist, and tied her hair back. “The fact you knew that rests my case: You two are twins.”
Ian looked at Lance, grinning. “That’s a first.”
“Knew we were related but not that close,” Lance laughed, taking off his AR and putting it on the table. He pulled out his Ruger pistol and clipped it to his left side under his belt in a reverse draw.
Seeing that, Ian did the same. “So load up meat and as much ammo as we need to get there. Just one question; how much is that?”
“Let’s just take as much as we can,” Lance said, pulling stuff from his pockets. He moved over to the loaded magazines for the Rugers and dropped some pouches on the pool table. He tossed one to Ian. “Here’s my belt mag pouch. Jennifer, you take my mom’s,” he said, tossing a paddle holster for magazines.
Jennifer watched as they each slid six magazines in their pouches and closed the flaps, clipping them to their belts. She looked down at hers. “Why do I get the one that only holds two?”
“Learn how to shoot, and we’ll give you one that holds more,” Lance said, heading for the kitchen.
Sighing, Jennifer looked at the pouch, trying to figure it out as Ian stepped over and slid two magazines in and clipped it to her left side. “There,” he said, stepping back.
“I’m trying, Ian,” she said, looking down.
“I know, and so does Lance, but he has a plan now, so he’s going to be moving at light speed,” he said, walking around her.
Watching Ian walk off, she followed, mumbling, “Lance is not the only one.”
As she walked into the kitchen, she saw Ian head down to the basement. Following him down, she saw Lance carrying a hundred-and-fifty-quart ice chest, and he put it in front of one of the two freezers against the wall. Ian walked over, putting another ice chest down and opened it then the freezer and just started tossing in white-wrapped packages.
Lance set another big ice chest down and opened the other freezer and started tossing packages in. “Hold it, you two,” Jennifer snapped. They both stopped in mid-toss and looked at her. “You can’t just toss it in.”
“Why?” Lance asked. “It’s not going to break.”
“Do you just toss stuff in your backpack to go camping?” Jennifer said, moving over and pushing Ian out of the way. She knelt down and arranged the packages, packing them tightly.
“Oh, I see what you’re talking about,” Lance said, looking at the ice chest. “I just never applied that to frozen food; I never really had the chance.”
Jennifer looked up. “I’ll do this. Go get the ice chest.”
“We only have two more,” Lance said, amazed at how Jennifer was packing it. “They are the same size; will that be enough?”
Getting up, Jennifer looked in the freezer she was unloading then opened the other one. “No chance in hell,” she said, closing the second freezer, and went back to unloading the first one.
Lance looked up at Ian, who just shrugged. “Let’s get the two from the garage,” Lance said, heading to the stairs. Reaching the kitchen, Lance stopped at the side door going into the garage and looked through the window in the door. He saw his mom’s BMW and his dad’s massive Chevy quad cab 4x4 but nothing else.
He opened the door slowly and eased in and passed the vehicles to the far wall that was lined with shelves. Labeled plastic bins filled the shelves. Lance pulled two ice chests from under the shelves and passed one to Ian. Grabbing it, Ian looked through the shelves. “Hey, get the radios,” he whispered.