Chapter 5
It didn't take long for John and Scooter to reach them. John was actually surprised at how quickly they had made it. He felt good about it. It made him feel stronger.
They all turned to look at him. Though no one said anything.
John could see that they all wanted to. They were concerned about him. But they wouldn't ask. They didn't want to embarrass him anymore than he had been already.
"It's okay," he said. "I'm all right now."
They continued to look at him.
"Are you sure?" Alice finally asked.
"I'm positive. I was just a bit tired. A bit hungry. That's all."
"You know, I'm a bit hungry too," Scooter said. "Maybe we should stop to have something to eat."
John looked at the young man. He knew that he wasn't hungry. He was only suggesting it so that John could take a rest. But John was feeling better now
.
He really was
.
"How about in a little bit?"
Scooter looked at the old man and nodded. "Okay, we'll stop in a little bit."
Chapter 6
They walked for a while before they sat down at a small park. There was no playground for children. No sandbox or swings. If anything, it was little more than a stretch of grass. But there were park benches. And that was good enough.
John took off his backpack and sat down on one of the benches. Even though he had told everyone that he hadn't been all that tired (he had said it to himself as well), sitting down felt good. He took a deep breath and massaged the tops of his legs.
"Are you okay?" his wife asked him. Concern crossed her face.
"I'm fine," he said.
"I don't want you to push yourself too hard."
"I won't."
"Are you sure? I know how you can be."
John took his one of his hands from his leg and placed it on his wife's. "I'm okay," he said. "Honestly."
His wife smiled, but couldn't leave it at that. "What about your nose?"
John's nose had stopped bleeding a while back. It still hurt; especially when he accidentally touched it. But he didn't think that it was going to be much of a problem.
"It's all right," he said.
"Are you sure?"
John knew that his wife was only looking out for him. "I'm positive. Now stop worrying so much."
Alice looked as though she was about to defend herself. Instead, she simply nodded.
John knew that his wife wasn't going to stop worrying, though. No matter what he said. And he couldn't blame her.
Leaving their house had been difficult. Wandering around with thos
e
thing
s
out here was dangerous. Their age didn't help. But they also didn't have much of a choice. They had to find other survivors. Find protection. Maybe even see if they could make sense of what had happened.
They would simply have to make do with what they had and deal with things as they came.
Chapter 7
Scooter placed the axe down beside him and dug into one of the backpacks. He brought out a few things to eat and drink. Things that they had taken from the house. They hadn't bothered to look for anything more yet. He placed them onto the bench beside him. Then he raised his head to ask if anyone was hungry.
However, before he spoke, he caught sight of the old man. His wife was sitting beside him. They were holding hands. Their conversation appeared to be serious, though Scooter couldn't make out what they were saying. He figured that it was about John's condition.
Scooter thought back to the old man's fall. He knew that John had been embarrassed by it. Though he also knew that there was more to it than that as well.
John was embarrassed about getting old. He didn't have the same control over his body as he once had. He no longer had the stamina.
Those concerns were far from Scooter's own thoughts. He was a long way off from that age. But he supposed that he could understand. It wasn't easy being forced to deal with something that you had no say about.
He only hoped that it wouldn't bother John too much. He liked the old man.
More than once, John had praised Scooter for all he had done. He had also come to his defence several times for the suggestions he had made. Scooter wasn't used to that type of support. And he appreciated it.
Then there was the love the old man had for his wife. It still played on Scooter's mind. His parents had never shown each other affection. He couldn't even recall why they had gotten married. His father hadn't told him, "I met your mother at a school dance and couldn't look at anyone else ever again." His mother hadn't said, "Your father swept me off my feet and never put me back down." If anything, it was probably an accidental birth
.
His accidental birth.
Shit
.
He had never really thought of that before and didn't want to start now.
He brought his mind back to John and Alice and couldn't help but smile.
He heard laughter.
Julie and Emily were sitting on the grass. Buster was in between them. They had gone back to petting him, scratching behind his ear, underneath his chin.
Emily had gotten much better since they had arrived at John's house and met everyone (including the dog). She didn't cry as much as she once had. She no longer looked on the verge of breaking down.
Even Julie seemed to have relaxed. Not that she was ever all that bad. She had led them out of the airport. She had flown the plane. But she had been frightened a lot of the time
.
Nervous.
His thoughts stayed on her. She still had on her tight T-shirt. Plus, she had had a chance at John's to straighten her hair, clean up her face
.
She really was beautiful.
Yet, after seeing John and Alice, he started to wonder if there was more to finding someone than looks.
They laughed again.
Scooter broke his gaze. Too many ideas were drifting through his head. He couldn't make sense of any of them. Most of them were things he had never thought much of before. And cramming them all into his brain at once didn't help.
He pulled out some more food. Then he called to everyone, "Who's hungry?"
Chapter 8
Marianne stood at the edge of the grass and looked around for any sign of the creatures. She didn't think that there were any nearby. They hadn't heard or seen anything since they had left John's house.
She turned to watch Julie and Emily play with her dog
.
Well, it wasn't reall
y
he
r
do
g
. She had only been with him for a few days. But, with all that had happened, it felt like her dog. And that was enough.
She heard them laugh as Buster licked at their hands.
Marianne smiled. It was nice to feel as though they were safe for the time being. Things even fel
t
norma
l
. Somewhat. She had to ignore the few dead bodies scattered on the road and lining the sidewalk, but that was getting easier to do as time went on. Even their smell had started to die down.
She had also found that she wasn't as consumed by her mother's death anymore. She still missed her and wished that it hadn't happened. However, thoughts of her mother attacking her, dying on the bedroom floor, had become less and less.
The image of the pharmacist lying out on the pavement had likewise begun to fade.
Things were definitely getting better.
"Who's hungry?" Scooter asked.
Marianne realized that she was and went over to grab something to eat.
Chapter 9
Julie scratched underneath Buster's ear. The dog licked her as she did. It tickled enough to make her laugh.
She was feeling a lot better now that they had met other people. Except she wasn't so happy to be out in the open. Since they had left the airport, there hadn't been much sign of the creatures. But that didn't mean that they weren't around. She also had no idea of where the ones who had chased them into John's house had gone. They could be somewhere nearby, waiting to…
"He's cute," Emily said.
Julie turned to the little girl. "He is."
"I've never had a dog before."
The little girl rarely spoke about her life at home, before the change. Once or twice she had mentioned her father, but hadn't said any further than that.
Buster licked her again.
"Stop that," Julie said, giggling.
Emily laughed too.
Then Scooter called to them.
Chapter 10
The group came together and had the food that Scooter offered them. There wasn't much left.
"Where are we gonna after this?" Scooter asked. "We have to find food. We have to find a place to stay the night."
Julie sighed. "Do we have to worry about that now? I was just starting to feel comfortable."
Scooter apologized. He hadn't meant to ruin the mood. He had only been curious. "I didn't mean anything by it." He shoved a cracker in his mouth and started to chew.
"No," John said, "It's a good question. It's something we need to think about."
Scooter smiled at the old man, thankful once more for the support.
"And it's one that I've thought a lot about," John continued.
Everyone waited for him to say more.
"We should go to The Regent." John folded his hands and rested them on his lap, as though putting an end to any argument.
"The Regent?" Marianne asked. "What's that?"
"It a hotel. Just a little up the road."
His wife shook her head. "A little up the roa
d
in a ca
r
. It's far away on foot."
"I guess you're right," John admitted. "But not too far. It'll probably only take us a few hours to get there."
"A few hours?" his wife asked, shaking her head again. "You're crazy."
"Crazy for you," John replied. Then he blew his wife a kiss.
She rolled her eyes and laughed. "John, I don't know."
"We'll get a good night's sleep there."
"How do you know that? What happens if thos
e
thing
s
are there?"
John opened his mouth to reply, but closed it again. He shrugged his shoulders
.
That was a definite possibilit
y
.
"No," Scooter said. "It's a good idea. I don't know if those creatures will be there, but
I
d
o
know that there'll be a lot of supplies there, a lot of food. Plus, it'll give us a place to head to. Right now, we're not really sure where we're going."
"He's right," Marianne added.
"I'm still not sure if it's a good idea," Alice persisted, "but I won't argue about it anymore. If it's what everyone wants to do, then I'll go along."
Everyone looked at each other. They all agreed.
"The Regent it is," Scooter said. "We'll leave when we're finished up here."
They got back to their food.
Chapter 11
Everyone finished their food and rested for a little bit longer before they decided to leave.
Scooter was the first to stand up. He grabbed his axe. "Everyone ready?"
They all got to their feet and gathered their things. Then they walked away from the park, leaving their garbage on the ground behind them.
Alice and Marianne had tried to fight them about this. They had said that even though the world had been destroyed, it didn't mean that they should keep contributing to it. But the fact of the matter was that their garbage wasn't going to do much to the world as it was. Even the garbage can had been ruined. It had been knocked over and its trash spilled everywhere. Unless they wanted to clean it all up, it didn't make much sense not to leave everything where it was.
"Come on," John said, holding his wife's hand. "No one will mind."
Day 11
It took them two days to reach The Regent. Not a few hours, like John had thought. There hadn't been any creatures around, but there had been a few steep hills that had taken their toll. Plus, the sun hadn't let up.
John had done his best to keep up with the group. However, sometimes the journey had proven too much and he had had to take a break. His legs pained him. His breathing was shallow.
Emily had had some trouble too. Though she had done a lot better than any of them could have asked. Scooter and Julie carried her a lot of the way. Yet, several times she had asked them to let her walk a lot instead. She'd walk beside Buster, or hold onto Alice's hand. Not once had she cried.
"So this is it?" Scooter asked, standing in front of the hotel.
It wasn't as much a hotel as it was a motel. Spread out before them with two wings, and a lobby in the middle.
Most of the windows had been smashed. Cars in the parking lot had crashed into each other. Once had even slammed into the side of the building.
"It doesn't look very good." Scooter wasn't trying to make John feel bad about his suggestion that they come here, but he couldn't deny that there were a lot of problems. "A lot worse than I had expected."
"It's pretty bad," John agreed.
"So what should we do?"
John didn't know. None of them did. There were bodies spread through out the parking lot. Dried blood splattered on the pavement.
"Should we check it out anyway?" Everyone looked at Scooter as though he had gone mad. "We've come all this way. We might as well see."
"It doesn't look safe," Julie said.
"We should keep moving on past it," Alice added.
"But there have to be some things in there that we could use in there," Scooter pressed. "Food. Water. We might even find some rooms that aren't wrecked."
He stared at the old man, waiting for some support. To his surprise, it came from someone else.
"You're right," Marianne said. "I'll go with you."
Scooter turned to look at her. Her sunglasses were pulled down over her eyes. Her yellow shirt shone brightly. And to add to all of that, she had a purse strapped over her shoulder. She didn't look the type to volunteer to go into a building that could be filled with creatures. On the other hand, she hadn't given him any hint that she was frightened on their walk over the past couple of days.
"You will?" he asked.
"Yes, I will." She spoke without any hesitation.
"And I'm coming too," Julie added. Unlike Marianne, her voice shook as she spoke. Her eyes couldn't keep contact with his, either.
"I don't think so." Scooter didn't know why she had offered. He knew that she didn't want to. "Maybe it's better if I go alone. Marianne, you should stay too."
"No," Marianne said.
"No," Julie repeated.
Scooter looked back and forth between them. "It could be dangerous."
"Which is why we'll come." Marianne's voice conveyed her determination.
Scooter turned to John, unsure of what to do. John stared back at him, unsure of what to say.
As Scooter kept his eyes on the old man, he could see the different emotions pass across his face. It was obvious that John was nervous about the whole thing, worried that the three of them would get hurt. But he also knew that there wasn't much of a choice. If Scooter was going to go into the hotel, he wasn't going to do it alone. Then, behind all of that, was a hint of sadness.
At first, Scooter wasn't sure what it was about. Was John imagining them running into the creatures? Was he picturing their deaths? He didn't think so. There was something else to it.
John wished that he could come.
The idea hit Scooter hard and left him wanting to reach out to the old man. Instead, he decided not to. He didn't want to make John feel any worse than he already did.
He turned back to Marianne and Julie. "Are you two sure you want to do this?"
They nodded.
"All right. It's not like you were going to give me a choice anyway."
They nodded again.
"Let's go."
Scooter started walking toward the hotel, axe in hand. Marianne and Julie followed. They pulled out their knives.
"I don't know," John called out to them. "Maybe you shouldn't. I don't like the look of it."
"I don't either," Scooter admitted. "But we've come this far. We might as well see what we can."
"But…"
"We need to check it out. Who knows what we'll find?"
"That's what I'm worried about."
Scooter was worried too. He kept thinking of his time in the airport. The man who had chased him from the elevator. The old woman who had come out of the shuttle bus and attacked. Th
e
thin
g
that had called out to him in the darkness. He didn't want to have to go through any of that again. But he also didn't think that he had much of a choice. He had to try to find things that would make his group's journey easier. And if that involved going into abandoned buildings and facing thos
e
thing
s
, then that's what he'd do.
"We'll be okay," he said. No more discussion.
Once they got closer to the building, Scooter looked back over his shoulder and saw John and Alice standing there, looking at them. Even Emily and Buster were watching them go.
"You think they'll be okay?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Julie replied.
"Maybe we shouldn't have left them. What if one of thos
e
thing
s
comes by? They won't be able to fight them off."
Julie looked horrified by the suggestion.
"Listen," Marianne said. "If thos
e
thing
s
are around, they'll be in the hotel
.
We'l
l
be the ones who have to worry about them."
That didn't make Scooter feel much better, but he supposed that she was right.
"All right," he said. "Let's do this."