Chapter 2
It took a while for Adam, Shelly and Claire to come upon a town. It wasn't all that big, only a few streets. But it looked as though it might have a clothing store in it. They stood on the main street.
"This is horrible," Shelly said.
They were looking at the destruction that had happened. Windows broken. Decomposed bodies. Blood stains underneath them. There was a bad smell that came with it all too.
Adam pinched his nose and turned to face the two girls. "Are you sure you really want to do this?"
Shelly glanced uneasily between him and Claire. Claire didn't look so certain about it anymore, either.
The problem was that they needed something to wear. They couldn't keep walking around in their clothes. They were dirty, ruined. More than that, they were covered with too many bad memories.
That was i
t
, Adam thought. Even his own shirt needed changing. It had the blood of the men he had killed
.
How many was that now? Three
?
Plus, th
e
thing
s
. And the blood from all of the bodies that he had stumbled upon along the way
.
No, he needed to change.
"Okay," he said. "Let's do this. But we have to be careful."
Shelly expression changed immediately and she softly chuckled at his words. He had told her this so many times before. Each time she had thought the same thing
:
of course she was going to be careful.
Adam gave her a disapproving look. Jokingly.
He reached into his bag of guns and pulled out the shotgun
.
For a moment, he thought of giving a gun to Shelly and Claire, but didn't know if now was the time. He'd have to make sure they knew how to use it, how to load it. He decided he'd give them one later. When he could make sure he had the time to show them what to do.
"Let's go," he said.
They walked along the street. Shelly and Claire kept behind him. Adam held the gun out front. Everything was quiet.
They passed store after store, but none of them had been what they were looking for.
Then Shelly saw it. She pulled on Adam's sleeve. "Over there." She pointed down the road toward a small department store.
"Nice job," he said.
They made their way to the store.
By the time they got there there still was no sound coming from anywhere in the town, but Adam was nervous nonetheless. He looked back to the girls and raised his finger to his mouth to tell them to keep quiet. Shelly and Claire had no intention of making any noise.
They walked up to the front. All of the windows were still in good shape. None of them had been broken.
As they approached the door, Adam put his hand on the handle and raised his finger to his lips once more
.
Shhhhhh
h
.
He pulled the door open and the three of them went inside.
Immediately, they looked around, searching for any signs of danger. But, like outside, there were no creatures running around. It was completely barren.
"It looks okay," Shelly said.
"Yeah," Adam agreed. "but let's stick together for now."
Shelly and Claire filed behind Adam as they followed him down an aisle.
They passed clothing on both sides, but didn't bother to look at it too closely. They wanted to make sure that everything was safe first.
When they got to the end of the aisle, they stopped.
Lying down in front of them was a body. A man. And he wasn't dead.
If that hadn't been startling enough, the fact that he was dressed in woman's clothing was. He had on a thin yellow dress and white sun hat that flopped around his ears. He was looking up at them, smiling.
Adam pointed his gun at him.
"Hold on!" the man on the floor shouted. "Don't shoot!"
The man tried to stand, but he couldn't get to his feet. He kept pushing himself up and falling over. Each time, he grabbed onto his sunhat as he fell to stop it from falling off of his head. Finally, he gave up and sat back down onto the ground, breathing heavily.
"I'm sorry I can't greet you properly," he said. "But I seem to have misplaced my balance."
Adam looked at Shelly and Claire. They also didn't know what to make of the man.
Ada
m
di
d
know one thing about him, though. The man in the woman's clothing was drunk.
He reached over and helped him up. Shelly and Claire stayed back as the man got to his feet.
"That's a big gun you've got there," the man slurred.
Adam wondered what the man would say once he noticed the guns sticking out of his backpack.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"
Me
?
What a
mI
doing here? Well, I was having a little drink."
The man pointed at the bottle of vodka behind him. Adam didn't look. He was too busy looking at the man's clothes. He was even wearing a pair of brown leather high heeled shoes.
The man turned back from the bottle and looked at Adam. "I see that you've noticed my apparel. Wonderful, isn't it?"
The man took a step forward. He was going to curtsy. Instead, he nearly fell over.
Adam took one hand off of his shotgun and reached out to catch him. "Easy now. How about we sit back down?"
"Yes, that's a good idea. We should sit. But not here. How about you help me to that chair over there."
Adam looked at were the man was pointing. There was a chair near one of the change rooms. It wasn't too far away.
"Sure." Adam turned to Claire. "Maybe you could help me?"
Claire moved over and took the man's other arm. Adam noticed her cringe a little when he touched her, but she worked her way through it.
Shelly cleared a path for them. There were a few clothes on the ground. And a mannequin. She picked it up and moved it away.
"Here we go," Adam said. He led the man to the chair. The man fell heavily onto it, his legs spread apart. It was then that Adam noticed that the man was wearing sheer panty hose.
"That's better," the man said. "Though it was hard work and I'd like a drink. Like a little celebration. Would you mind, dear?" He was talking to Shelly. She ran over and got him his bottle. Adam didn't want her to give it to him, but he didn't feel as though this was the time to argue.
The man grabbed the bottle and took a deep swig. He held it out for the others. "Anyone like a little?"
Adam and Shelly shook their heads. Claire didn't bother. She was too busy looking around for any other surprises.
"Well, well, well," the man continued. "What brings you along?"
At this, Adam had had enough. Sure, the man was drunk. But he didn't want to play any games. He just wanted answers. He decided to ignore the man's question. "Who are you?" he asked. Straight to the point.
An expression passed across the man's face as though he couldn't believe that he had been so rude. "I'm sorry. I can't believe my manners. I'm Woodsworth Templeton."
Adam rolled his eyes
.
No one could be name
d
tha
t
.
"I can see by that look that you don't believe me," the man continued. "I fully understand. But it's true. Either my parents had a bad sense of humour or they really loved my great-grandfather. Whatever the case, that's my name. You can call me Woody, though. Most people do. And I can tell that you'd be more comfortable with that."
Wood
y
. Ada
m
di
d
feel more comfortable calling him that. Though he still didn't feel all to comfortable with how the man was dressed.
"Why the clothes?" he asked next.
Woody looked down. "Oh, you mean these old things?" It was intended as a joke, but Adam didn't find it all too funny. "Oh, my good man, it's nothing so sinister. Just a little good fun is all."
Adam wasn't so sure.
"I was bored," Woody explained. "I hadn't seen anyone around for ages. I thought that I might be the last one alive. Well, except for those awful creatures running around, killing everything they see. You've seen them, I take it. Well, I needed a little company, so I put on these clothes and pretended that I was on a date. Which, I might add, was going very well until I couldn't stand."
Adam still didn't know what to think. He didn't think that Woody was lying. He probabl
y
di
d
get dressed up because he was bored. But there was somethin
g
of
f
about him. Maybe it was just the alcohol.
"I think you look very beautiful," Shelly said.
Adam turned to look at her. He didn't want her encouraging him. She looked back and smiled. Then she shrugged her shoulders in
a
what did I do wrong
?
manner.
Adam turned back to Woody. "Do you live around here?"
Woody shook his head. "
I
di
d
. But my home is no more."
"What happened to it?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that I can no longer think of it as m
y
hom
e
. I don't want to go back there. I don't want anything to do with it."
Adam really didn't like the sound of this, but he didn't want to get into it much more. He didn't think that he was going to get much out of Woody, anyway. Not with him being drunk.
"Where are your clothes?" he asked next.
"Oh, I don't know. Somewhere about. Maybe over there. Or there."
Adam didn't bother to search. It didn't matter where his clothes were. He could pick any new clothes that he wanted to. He just didn't want Woody sitting there in his dress. For some reason, it bothered him. "How about we get you something to wear?"
Woody looked insulted. "But
I
a
m
wearing something, my good man!" He reached down and pulled at his dress. He flapped it up and down as though he were out in a breeze. "You see?"
"Yes, I see. But maybe we should get you something little more…practical."
Woody nodded his head. "Yes, yes. More practical. I like that. But not until after my date, my good man. Not a second before."
Adam was getting more and more frustrated. Though he didn't really know why. Woody didn't seem to be a threat. Who cared if the man wanted to wear women's clothing? It didn't matter
.
Did it?
Obviously, something about it did.
"When will your date be finished?" Adam asked.
"As soon as this is done." Woody held up the bottle of vodka for Adam to see. There was little less than half a bottle to go.
Adam turned to Shelly. She didn't seem too worried about Woody. Maybe he was over-reacting.
He looked at Claire. She was still looking toward the front window.
"You still want to look for some clothes?" he called to her.
Claire turned around. "Sure."
Shelly let out a little cheer as she ran down the aisles looking for something to wear.
Chapter 3
Adam walked over to the men's section. There were a lot of clothes there. A few dead bodies too. They had knocked over some of the displays. He stepped over them and made his way down the aisles.
As he went, he grabbed at a few shirts. They weren't anything special. But he didn't really feel like wearing anything special. They were simple. Practical.
He made his way over to the pants section next and grabbed a few pairs of jeans. Plus, a few pairs of underwear and socks.
He walked back to the girls, but could only see Claire. Shelly was gone.
He felt a rush of concern run through him.
"Where's Shelly?" he asked.
Claire turned to answer him.
But, before she had a chance, Shelly called out, "I'm in here…changing."
Adam followed the voice. It had come from inside the changing room.
"You're trying them on?" He hadn't thought of doing that. Which was a little strange. He always tried clothes on
.
Why not now?
"Yeah, I want to make sure that they fit."
Adam looked at Claire. She seemed to have been thinking the same thing as Shelly. She had a load of clothes in her arms. And was getting more.
He turned back to the changing room door. "Oh, okay. Come out and show us."
"All right," Shelly called back. She opened the changing room door and stepped out. "What do you think?"
Even though he had believed that they weren't dressing for fashion anymore, he couldn't help but smile. Shelly looked beautiful; young again.
"It looks nice," he said.
"You sure?"
"No...it look
s
grea
t
."
Shelly smiled, then ran back into the changing room. "I'm gonna try on a few more things," she shouted once she had closed the door.
"All right," Adam replied. "Then I'd better look for some backpacks."
Shelly laughed.
It wasn't really a joke. It was a good idea to get a bunch of clothes. And they'd need something to carry them in.
Adam turned and left the change rooms.
*
He walked down more of the aisles, looking for a sports department or somewhere they would have sold backpacks, and saw it down at the far end of the store.
He turned to Shelly and Claire to tell them. Shelly had come back out of the changing room and was showing Claire her new outfit. But decided not to bother. The backpacks weren't too far away. He could shout to them if there was a problem.
He made his way toward the back of the store. The girl's voices started to drift off the farther he moved away. Not enough for him to feel uncomfortable. He could still hear them, knew that they were fine.
He continued walking.
There were a few more dead bodies near the back. Dried blood on the floor. He didn't pay any of it much attention. He had gotten used to these types of things
.
Well…for the most part.
He came to the backpack section. There were several bags hanging on the wall. Purses and briefcases too. Adam had never owned a briefcase before and he didn't think he'd need one now.
He turned to look back at the backpacks and grabbed for one. Though, as his arm stretched out before him, he heard something behind him.
He turned around. Nothing was there.
He was sure that he had heard something.
He grabbed three backpacks and laid them on the ground in front of him. They'd hold a lot more than the one he had on now. And they looked a lot more comfortable. He reached down to pick them up.
And heard the noise again.
Adam stopped moving, unsure of what the sound had been. It wasn't the screaming that he had become so afraid of. It had sounded like a clicking.
Maybe one of the girls had dropped something. Maybe it was just the sound of the hangars.
He heard the noise once more. It wasn't coming from the direction of the girls. It was coming from somewhere in the back.
He pointed his shotgun out in front of him, then took a quick look back at the girls.
Woody was standing with them now, still holding the bottle of vodka. The man started to clap. "You look beautiful," he said to Shelly. The young girl was wearing another set of clothes. "Absolutely beautiful!"
Adam didn't think that Woody was going to cause any harm. At least not at the moment.
The problem now was in the back of the store.
He turned to face it.