Day 13
Chapter 1
They weren't able to find a place to stay until the next day. A small house, just off of the main road.
"We should stop here," Adam said, smiling at Charles. "Might be able to grab that barbecue after all."
They both knew that they weren't going to have any barbecue. Meat didn't last this long. Not in these temperatures. And not without refrigeration. But there would be food of some there. Canned goods, bags of chips, crackers. There would also be bottles of water, cans of juice and pop. And beer or liquor
…
Woody's favourite.
"It definitely looks like a good place to stop," the old man agreed.
It wasn't until they got closer that they realized that it wasn't actually a home.
"It's a coffee shop," Shelly said. There was a small sign out front that rea
d
Olivia's Cafe
.
Laced curtains hung in the windows. A few decorative plates and figurines stood along the windowsill. The whole front of the house was covered in wood panelling. And there was a
n
ope
n
sign on the front door. "We'll find lots of food!"
"Just no barbecue," Charles added.
Adam walked up to the door, shotgun at the ready. He told the others to stay back. It looked safe enough, but anything could happen, anyone could be around.
He raised his finger to his lips
.
Shhhh
h
. Then he grabbed door knob and opened it.
The door swung open, creaking as it pulled against a spring. The sound was loud enough to startle Adam and the others. He stopped pulling at it and waited to see if something was going to attack them.
Nothing.
He pulled the door open further and took a step into the cafe. He quickly looked around and saw a couple of bodies lying about. Probably customers. Even though their faces were pressed into the ground, he could tell by the curly white hair on the back of their heads that they were elderly. Puddles of blood had dried around them.
He took another step forward and noticed a man sitting in a far chair. His throat had been torn out.
Adam went back to the group. "It's bad in there. I think I should check it out a little bit more."
"I'm coming with you," Jane told him.
Of anyone, he hadn't expected her to volunteer. She never seemed to want to leave the little boy alone. "All right," he said and held the door open for the woman to walk through.
Once inside, she took a glance around and saw the same things that Adam had. He could see that the bodies bothered her. But he also knew that she had seen things like this before. Maybe worse.
"Smells bad," she said. "But we can air it out."
Adam looked at the windows
.
Larg
e
windows
.
Sure, they could air it out.
They went inside, the door slamming shut behind them.
"I think the kitchen is this way," Jane said
Adam followed Jane to the back of the house. She had been right, the kitchen was there.
"It's not bad," he said, looking around. There were a few cabinets, some cupboards, a refrigerator and a freezer.
"There's even a pantry." Jane opened the pantry door. It wasn't all that big, but it was filled with food. "This will last us a while."
"Should we check out the rest of the house?"
"We might as well."
Jane closed the pantry door and followed Adam back out into the main room. They made their way to a staircase that led upstairs. Adam stopped at the bottom step.
"Stay behind me," he said. He held the shotgun out in front of him so that she could see their protection.
"Will do."
The two walked up the stairs. Each creaked loudly underneath their steps.
Adam hated these small sounds the most. They were much worse than a loud bang. They made him most tense.
As he came to the top of the stairs, he looked around. There were two doors. One was opened, the other closed. Other than that, there was nothing else. No dead bodies. No blood.
He stepped up onto the top floor and walked toward the open door. There was a small room on the other side of it. A bed with nothing on it. Not even blankets. A window with no curtains. It looked out onto the main street.
"I don't think anyone lived here," Jane said behind him.
Adam agreed. "It's weird, though," he added. "Having a bed up here." It looked strange to him
.
Eeri
e
.
It was Jane's turn to agree.
He turned around and walked out of the room. Then he made his way over to the closed door. He could feel himself starting to get more and more nervous
.
What was on the other side
?
Was something going to come out and attack him
?
He told Jane to stay back again as he grabbed the door knob and pulled.
Before him was a bathroom with a sink, toilet and bathtub. There was also a medicine cabinet over the sink
.
None of the creatures
.
He walked over to the medicine cabinet and opened it.
"Nothing," he said.
"At least there's a lot of food," Jane reminded him.
He closed the door and they headed back downstairs.
Once outside, Adam told the group that the house was safe. He also mentioned that there were a few dead bodies that needed to be cleared out first.
"I'll help," Claire said.
"Me too," Shelly joined in.
Adam turned to the young girl. He knew that she had already seen similar horrible things. She had even helped him with the bodies back at the farm house. But he wasn't comfortable enough with having her go through it all again.
"No," he said. He made his voice sound soft. He didn't want her to think that he was disagreeing with her or telling her that this was something that sh
e
couldn'
t
do. "I need you to take care of Robert. I don't want him seeing this."
"Oh," she said. She wanted to help, but it was a pretty good reason that he had given her. She looked at the little boy. "Okay."
Charles offered to help next, but Adam refused him as well. He didn't want the old man hurting himself. They had just walked such a long way and this wasn't going to be the easiest job.
"I'd like it if you watched Shelly and Robert," Adam said to him.
Charles knew that it was an excuse. But he also knew that the two youngsters needed to be watched. He nodded his head and grabbed Shelly's hand. "We'll go for a walk around back. See what's around."
"Don't go too far," Adam said, nervously.
"We won't." He led Shelly and Robert around back.
"You think they'll be okay?" Claire asked.
"Yeah," Adam said. He was going to ad
d
I hope s
o
, but he didn't think that that was very positive. He needed to remain calm
.
They'd be fine
.
He walked to the front door and opened it back up. "Ready?"
Chapter 2
Adam and the two women walked back into the cafe. Claire pinched her nose when she got inside.
"It's horrible," she said.
Adam led them into the seating area and pointed out one of the three bodies. "Let's start with her."
They went over to it.
From the look of it, Adam think that she would be too hard to lift. Her shoulders were narrow, her hips not much wider. He moved to front of her and bent down. Jane and Claire moved to the woman's legs and did the same.
"Ready?" he asked.
They nodded.
Adam placed his hands underneath the woman's arms and started to lift.
"Wait," Claire said. "We should turn her over."
"Why?" To Adam, it was a dead body. Face up or down, it didn't matter.
"I don't know. It's just…"
"Okay, let's turn her."
Adam twisted and turned the body onto its back. It was harder than he had imagined. And probably not a good idea after all. Half of the woman's face had stuck to the floor and he had pulled it clean off of her skull.
"I wasn't expectin
g
tha
t
," he said, trying to control the shiver that ran down his spine.
He could see bugs burrowing in and out of her skull. They made their way through her eyes, across her tongue. The worst part for him, though, was the woman's hair. It looked normal. As though nothing had changed. Tiny white curls. An old woman's hairstyle.
He finally looked away and saw Claire staring at the face, just as disgusted by it as he was. Jane, on the other hand, didn't seem as bothered. She stared at it blankly. Her eyes focused on the ripped flesh.
"Let's hurry this up." Adam reached underneath the old woman. "On the count of three."
They lifted.
As they did, the woman's head dropped back at an impossible angle. Adam was sure that he had heard a crack along with it. He shivered again, but didn't drop the body. He took a few steps backward. Then a few steps more.
He made his way to the screen door, leaned into it and it pushed open. They carried the body outside.
"Where should we put her?" Claire asked. Her fingers kept grasping at the corpse's legs, unable to get a good grip.
Adam searched around and saw a little tree in the distance. Far enough away that Shelly and Robert wouldn't easily be able to see it.
"How about over there?" He motioned his head in the direction.
Once they got there, they noticed that here was a little ditch behind it. Just a small one. But big enough to conceal the body.
"On the count of three" Adam said again.
They threw the old woman into the ditch.
One down. Two to go.
*
The second woman wasn't much different than the first. There had been a few bugs on her as well; though nothing too disgusting.
It was the old man in the chair that bothered Adam the most. His throat had been torn out, but his eyes remained opened. To Adam, it looked as though the old man was still waiting for his cup of tea to arrive. And, for all he knew, that was exactly what had been happening when everything had changed.
Adam went behind the corpse and prepared to lift him up. As he did, he stepped in something that made a soft, squishing noise. He stopped and looked at his feet.
"What's this?" he asked.
Below him was a puddle of something. Not blood. It was brown and black. It covered the back of the chair and spread from the man's pants downward.
At that, Adam knew what it was. "Oh, no."
"What is it?" Claire asked.
Adam looked at her. He didn't want to be crude, but he couldn't think of the appropriate word, either. "The man shit himself."
"Oh…"
"Let's just pick up the whole chair," Jane suggested. "We'll throw them both out."
Throw them both out
?
It was a strange way to word things. But that was what they were doing, wasn't it
?
Throwing things ou
t.
Cleaning u
p
.
"Okay," Adam agreed.
He reached underneath the back of the chair and put his hand on something slimy. He tried not to worry about it. He'd find some water and wash it off later.
Jane and Claire each took one of the front legs of the chair.
They lifted.
Adam followed the women out of the cafe. He held the man up in front of him as Claire and Jane walked backward.
On the way, Adam couldn't help but feeling as though they were lifting the man as they would a king on his throne. Marching him through town. In a parade.
Except this man wasn't a king. And it wasn't a parade. If anything, this was a funeral. And not a very nice one at that. They were jus
t
throwing the old man ou
t
.
Adam and the women walked to the tree.
As soon as they arrived, he looked down into the ditch and saw the two old women. They were piled on top of each other in a strange embrace. The woman with half a face was being hugged by the other.
Adam shook his head. He didn't want to think about these things.
"On three," he said and started to count.
They threw the old man onto the pile. The chair went with him and seemed stuck to his body as they flew threw the air.
Adam watched the man rise and fall. When he hit the ground, the chair came out from underneath him. It rolled a little ways away from the three dead bodies.
Adam looked at it. He could see the dark stain running across the seat. Then he looked back at the man. He could see the seat of his pants stained too.
No, he didn't want to think about these things.
He turned to look at Claire and Jane and felt as though he should say something special over the dead bodies. He simply didn't have the words.
"Let's go back," was all that he could manage.
They went back to the cafe and walked into the main room. There were a few stains on the floor. Nothing too bad. Except for half of the woman's face. And the shit.
"We have to clean those up," Claire said, pointing at them.
"Let's look for a broom or something," Jane suggested.
They found a broom and some other cleaning supplies in the back and cleaned up the room. Adam was glad that the others didn't have to see it. Shelly and Robert were too young to have to deal with it. Charles, too old.
When they were finished, Adam grabbed hold of the the dustpan they had used. "I'm gonna throw this stuff away." He went outside and made his way over to the ditch.
He looked down at the bodies once again. The three of them still there, lying on top of each other.
They were probably friend
s
, Adam thought
.
Lived nearby. Came out for a little coffee when it had all happened.
He shook his head once more
.
He had to stop thinking about these things!
He tossed the garbage into the ditch
-
half the woman's face, the pile of shi
t
- glad that he wouldn't have to see it anymore. Then he threw the dust pan. He didn't want to see that anymore, either.