"Did you decide where we should go?" Julie asked.
Scooter felt nervous
.
The T-shirt. Th
e
tigh
t
T-shirt.
"I don't know," he said, avoiding eye contact with her. "I'm not sure. I was thinking that we should go back to the airport."
"Back to the airport? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
He turned to face her. He couldn't have a conversation without looking at her. It didn't matter how nervous he felt. He needed to be strong, not think about it. He kept his focus on her face. He could feel his own redden. But it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.
"I was thinking two things," he explained. As he spoke he thought that maybe his ideas weren't all that good after all
.
Stupi
d
even. He continued anyway. "The first is that we could get some food and water. There's a little coffee shop right near the entrance. It's bright. We'd see if any of thos
e
thing
s
were around. We can't leave without getting food and water."
"And the second thing?"
"We could wash up. There must be a few washrooms up there." He looked down at the young girl. "We can't walk around like this."
Julie nodded her head.
Maybe his ideas weren't all that ba
d
, he decided
.
A bit risky. But not bad.
"Okay," Julie said. "We can do that. But we'll have to be careful."
"Of course," Scooter said. He wasn't going to be reckless. Not anymore. And that reminded him…
He rushed past Julie and Emily and headed into the hangar to grab his axe. When he came back, he bent down beside Emily. He looked her in the eyes.
"Now," he said. "I want you to listen to me. I'm going to pick you up and take you to the cart, okay? I want you to keep your eyes closed and don't look around."
Emily nodded her head. She didn't even as
k
wh
y
.
"Good," Scooter said. He picked the little girl up. It wasn't easy with the axe in his hand, but he wanted to make sure that she didn't see the woman he had killed
.
H
e
didn't even want to. But there wasn't much he could do about that. He pressed the wooden handle against her back and his other hand against her head. "Don't look, all right? Just keep your face against my neck."
The little girl did as she was told.
"Let's go."
They made their way to the little electric cart, passing the dead woman as they went. Scooter placed Emily in Julie's lap once she was settled in the passenger seat. Then he got behind the steering wheel.
"Good job," he said. "We're almost out of here."
Scooter pressed the button on the cart and waited for the engine to turn on. Nothing happened.
"What's wrong?" Julie asked.
"Just give me a second."
He tried again.
Nothing.
It was then that he realized that the cart was out of power. "I must've left it on last night," he said. "Shit." He caught himself as he swore and looked at the little girl
.
He had to stop doing that
.
"We'll have to walk."
Julie and Emily got out of the cart. Scooter walked over and picked the little girl up. He wasn't going to make her walk back to the airport. It was too far. She was too young. He kept hold of the axe.
"Come on."
He started to walk. Julie kept beside him.
It really was a beautiful day out
,
he thought. At least, weather-wise. You'd have to forget about all of the dead bodies waiting for them in the airport, on the street, in the cities. But yeah, other than that, it was beautiful.
Chapter 5
As they continued to walk, Scooter couldn't get his mind off of Julie and how good she looked in her new T-shirt
.
The tight curves. Her nice breasts
.
Scooter had always known that Julie was pretty. He had seen her enough times before. But she had usually worn her work uniform. And that hadn't been all that flattering.
But that T-shirt!
He knew that it wasn't a thought that he should be having. After all, the world had gone to shit. There were definitely bigger things to think about. Like survival.
But, again, that shirt...
"I've got an idea," Julie said, turning to look at him.
Scooter tried to keep his eyes focused on hers, though he could feel the urge to look down at her chest. He wondered if she noticed. His face started to redden again. "What is it?" he asked, hoping that she also hadn't notice
d
tha
t
.
"It's about the plane."
"The one we didn't find?" He couldn't keep the pettiness out of his voice.
"Yes…I mean, no. Not about that one. But about the one that I used to fly."
"What about it?"
"I was thinking that we could go to it."
Scooter stopped walking. "What do you mea
n
go to i
t
?"
"There's an airport a little north of the city. My father used to take me there. It's where I learned. I was thinking that we could go there and find a plane to use."
Scooter wasn't all too sure of the idea, but part of him liked the sound of it.
"How far away is it?" he asked.
"Not far. An hour or so by car."
"We don't have a car."
"We can find one. There must be thousands of them out there."
Scooter felt himself starting to get frustrated. He had already explained this to her before. "Ther
e
ar
e
thousands of them. That's the problem. They're all over the road. It's impossible to drive through them."
"We can walk."
"Walk? You said it's an hour by car! That's a long way to walk."
"What else are we going to do?"
At that, Scooter felt himself calm down. Almost deflate. Julie was right. They didn't have any place that they needed to be. Walking to an airport was as good as walking anywhere else.
"Okay," he said, almost apologetically. "Once we get our things from the airport, we can go and look for that plane."
Julie smiled. Then she turned and started walking toward the airport.
Scooter followed her. He still wasn't all that sure about her idea. It might be hard to get to. Especially with a little girl in his arms. But, like she had said
,
what else were they going to d
o
?
Chapter 6
They made it around to the front of the airport without any trouble. They hadn't seen any of the creatures. And the fence that they had needed to get past had been open.
"All right," Scooter said as he approached the entrance. "It's just in here."
He didn't sound as confident as he had hoped. He simply couldn't pretend that he wasn't scared. Ever since he had seen the front doors, he had been having second thoughts. He knew that they had to get the little girl cleaned up. And they needed something to eat and drink
.
But this might not be the best plan.
He looked at Julie. She looked more frightened than he did.
"Nervous?" he asked.
"Yes. You?"
"Yeah." He couldn't lie about it no matter how much he wanted to.
"Maybe we shouldn't do it."
It was exactly what he wanted to hear, but he shook his head at the suggestion. "We have to do it. We'll just have to be quick. And quiet."
Julie reluctantly agreed.
"Now," he said to Emily, "when we get in there you can't make a sound." It was a bit of a useless thing to say since Emily rarely spoke. She also wasn't crying anymore.
Emily looked at him and nodded her head. Then she buried it back into his neck.
"Good," he continued. "Everything's going to be okay."
He felt her nod her head again.
Scooter walked up to the front door, even though he still could have easily walked through the broken windows, and placed his hand on the handle. He took a deep breath and looked at Julie to make sure that she was ready.
"Let's go." He opened the door.
There was a slight hiss as the door swung toward him. It was nothing that took him off guard or that he was worried about. He didn't think that any of the creatures would have heard it.
He walked into the airport and looked around. He listened.
The airport was quiet. It sounded empty.
"I think it's okay," he said.
Julie followed him inside. "It's disgusting in here," she said after a moment. "There's blood everywhere."
Scooter hadn't thought of it, but he should have told the little girl to keep her eyes closed. He looked down and saw that she was staring at it all. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should have told you not to look."
She didn't reply. She also didn't close her eyes. She kept them open and focused on the carnage.
Scooter didn't feel all too comfortable about that. He placed his hand on the back of her head in hopes that she would settle back into the crook of his neck. But he felt the force of her fighting to stay upright. She wanted to see everything. Or maybe she simply couldn't look away.
"It's okay," Julie said beside him. She placed her arm on his arm and squeezed it gently. Scooter liked the feel of it
.
Though he shouldn't have
.
He shouldn't be thinking about these things. He looked at her. "She'll be fine."
Scooter wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to argue about it. They needed to get in and get out. They could deal with it later.
Julie squeezed his arm once more.
"Over there," she said. "There're the bathrooms. Should we go to them first?"
Scooter didn't know. Or maybe he didn't care. It didn't matter which they went to first. The bathroom or the coffee shop. They'd have to go to both eventually.
"Sure," he said.
When they got to the bathrooms, they noticed that there were several bodies in them. At least in the doorways. They couldn't see very far into the bathrooms because the lights were off.
"I should check first," Scooter said. His voice wasn't much more than a whisper. He put the little girl onto the ground. He didn't want her beside him while he looked. Julie took her hand.
"Get ready to run," he warned them. Then he walked into the washroom.
It was quiet inside. Though that didn't mean much. One of thos
e
thing
s
could still be in here. He held the axe tightly in his grip. Just in case.
He took a few steps forward. And another few.
Then he pulled out the flashlight from his back pocket and turned it on. There was a moment of panic when he was sure that he was going to see someone standing in front of him, ready to attack.
There was no one around. Well, no on
e
living
.
There were a few dead bodies. Something he had come to expect.
He turned to face the sinks. He wasn't going to worry about checking each bathroom stall. Once he turned on the water, any creatures around would hear him. They'd be out to try to kill him soon enough.
He walked up to one of the sinks and placed his hand underneath the faucet. He waited for the water to come out. Nothing came.
"Fuck!" he said out loud. He wasn't worried about the little girl hearing him from in here. He waved his hand under it a few times to make sure.
The sinks were automated and only turned on with electricity.
He walked out of the washroom. "The water doesn't work."
"It doesn't?"
"Nope."
"Why? What's wrong?"
He explained.
Julie looked upset. He was too. Just another one of his ideas that didn't work out. He should have known that the faucets would have been automated. He should have known that they weren't going to work. That this was going to be a waste of time.
"Sorry," he said.
"For what?" Julie asked.
"This idea," he said. He wanted to sa
y
stupi
d
idea, but he knew that he'd just sound like a little child if he did.
Julie reached out and touched his arm again. "It was a good idea."
Scooter felt his face redden again and hoped once more that Julie wouldn't notice. "Thanks."
"What now?"
He thought about it. And, again, he didn't know.
Then he saw a small utility closet next to the bathrooms. A place where the janitors would fill their buckets. He didn't think that their sinks would be automated.
"Follow me."
He walked over to the door and pulled it open. He shouldn't have done it so fast. He needed to be careful. He didn't know that it was safe.
Luckily, it was. No one was in there.
And the sin
k
wasn'
t
automated.
"See," Julie said behind him. "A good idea."
Scooter blushed a little more. Fortunately, he knew that it was far too dark in the utility closet for her to see.
He made his way in a little further and turned on the faucet. The water started shooting out of it. He didn't know how long it would last. He had no idea how water pumps worked.
He looked for a plug and pressed it into the drain. He watched the water fill up.
The noise was loud and it set him on alert. He backed away from the sink and looked up and down the corridor. He kept expecting someone to come. Someone to attack. No one did.
Once it was full, Scooter turned off the water. There was more than enough for them to clean themselves with.
"Why don't you two wash up first?" he suggested "I'll go get us something to eat and drink."
He didn't want to be there when Julie and Emily were washing. There was something private about it. He'd feel strange if he stayed. Creepy.
"Are you sure?" Julie asked. "Shouldn't we stick together?"
"I'm not going far. Just over there." He pointed at the coffee stand.
Julie nodded her head, though she was obviously still frightened about them splitting up.
"I won't be long," he added. "You can shout if you need me."
Julie didn't argue.
Scooter set off toward the coffee stand. He was quiet. Or he tried to be. For some reason, a lot of the blood hadn't dried and his boots sloshed on top of it.
Once he got to the coffee stand, he took another look around. He hadn't seen any sign of thos
e
things
.
For all he knew they had killed themselves off. Or maybe they had changed back. He didn't think that was likely, it was probably more of a one way ticket than anything else. But they weren't around. That much he knew.
He walked behind the counter and started to look for some things to eat and drink. There were a few bottles of juice and water. Lots of muffins, cookies, cakes.
He placed several of them into a few paper bags that he found underneath the counter.
This would keep them fed for the next little whil
e
. He was sure of that
.
Maybe it wasn't the most nutritious of things. But, yeah, it would keep them fed.
He turned around. Everything was still quiet.
He looked around. Nothing.
This had worked out better than he had expected.
Scooter felt himself smiling as he walked back to meet Julie and Emily. His feet continued to slosh along the bloodied ground, but he paid it very little attention now.
"You guys finished?" he asked as he came upon them.
"Almost," Julie called back.
He could hear them wetting themselves with the water, hear them splashing in it. It stopped after a short while.
"Okay," Julie said. "We're done."
Julie and Emily came out of the washroom. They were both clean. Not perfectly. But definitely a lot better. Scooter looked down at the little girl. Most of the blood had been washed off of her face and out of her hair. She looked at least a little bit normal now.
He turned to Julie. She looked good too. The blood smears were cleaned from her face. Her hair was wet and dripped onto her T-shirt. She looke
d
reall
y
goo
d
.
Scooter knew his eyes were lingering on her longer than they should have. He felt himself getting excited at the sight too.
What the hell was he thinking? This wasn't the time or place.
Still, she looked good.
Julie smiled. Scooter smiled back.
Then Emily spoke.
"Daddy?" she said.
Scooter looked down at her. He had no idea what she was talking about. "What?"
"Daddy," she said again. "There's my daddy!"
Emily was pointing down the hall. Scooter turned to look. It wasn't her father, though it may have looked like him. Standing there was one of thos
e
thing
s
. It had been wandering around aimlessly. As soon as it saw them it started to scream and charge toward them.
"In there," Scooter shouted. He motioned to the utility room. "Now!"
Julie grabbed Emily's hand and pulled her into the room. The little girl tried to fight back.
"It's my daddy," she said. "Daddy!"
With some trouble, Julie got the little girl into the room. Scooter came up behind them. He held the axe in his hand. He shut the door.
The room was dark so they couldn't make out much. The only light was from the bottom crack of the door. They couldn't see anything else.
Th
e
thin
g
cam
e.
They saw its feet through the crack. They heard its screaming. It started to hit the door. Over and over again, it tried to make it's way into the little room.
There was nowhere for them to go. And if tha
t
thin
g
got in there, they'd have to fight it
.
He'
d
have to fight it. He'd have t
o
kil
l
it.
As they sat there, Emily continued to shout. "It's my daddy! My daddy!"
Scooter wanted to tell her to be quiet. He actually felt the urge to tell her t
o
shut up
!
It wasn't her daddy out there. Whatever it was wanted to get in and kill them. He was sure that the little girl's voice was just getting it all the more excited to do so.
"My daddy…DAADDDYYY!!!"
He opened his mouth to speak, but before any words came out he heard Julie say something.
"It isn't your daddy," she said, soothingly. "I told you before that your daddy's dead. That's not him."
"I saw him," the little girl continued. "I saw him!"
"Yo
u
though
t
you saw him. It wasn't him. He's dead."
He's dead
.
Scooter still couldn't believe that Julie would talk so openly to the little girl. But maybe Julie was right. Maybe it was best to be honest with her.
"My daddy…" Emily's voice trailed off as Julie wrapped her arms around her.