The Survivor Chronicles: Book 1, The Upheaval (16 page)

“I don’t know. I’m not a scientist, I was never a religious man, and Nostradamus wasn’t someone I followed. All I know is that it is happening, and it’s going to take everything we have to survive it.”

The two men retreated back to the woman and settled on either side of her. “You don’t trust them,” Mary Ellen's words were a bare whisper.

“I don’t trust anyone anymore. Except maybe you.”

Her smile was wan. “Thanks for the vote.”

“Humans are perilous when they’re threatened and scared,” he said honestly.

“And we are most certainly both right now.”

“Yes.”

“Where did you get the guns?” she inquired.

“I used to hunt.”

“I never would have pictured you as a hunter.”

“I wasn’t much of one,” he admitted.

She became silent as she fiddled with the edges of the medical kit. Time ticked by at a crawl as he marked the passage of it on his watch. The woman fell asleep, the two men remained silent but appeared agitated as they would rise and pace restlessly for awhile before returning to their places on the roof, and then repeating the same action again only minutes later. Al's stomach rumbled but he was still hesitant to dig into their meager supply. He didn’t realize that Mary Ellen had fallen asleep too, until she started awake. She stared blearily around before her shoulders slumped and she began to twist her hands together.

She rose to her feet and walked over to the edge of the roof before returning. “I think it might be receding.”

His muscles ached as he pushed himself to his feet. It appeared she was right as the higher water mark was clearly visible on the bark of the trees across the way. The water was still a good four feet high, but even if it didn’t retreat further, they might be able to make their way through it. For the first time he felt a spurt of hope. He desired off of this roof as badly as Mary Ellen did.

The men joined them. “Thank God,” one of them breathed.

Al seconded that. “Should we go now?” Mary Ellen inquired. “What if something more happens and we don’t get another chance?”

A young man’s body was caught up in the doorway of a house to the left; it kept bouncing off the frame with a dull thud that made his skin crawl. Al eyed the water warily. There was no way to know what the water hid, what hazards or obstacles were swirling within its dark depths. He was frightened this might be their only chance, but if they couldn’t see the ground, there was no way to know what was beneath them, where they would be putting their feet. It would be near certain death.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he told her. “Not with all those pits, craters, and possible canyons out there now.”

She bit her lip, her hands twisting anxiously as she began to bounce on her toes. “Damn,” she hissed.

“It won’t be much longer,” Al assured her.

“Yeah,” she muttered.

Tilting his head back, Al realized that the sun was beginning to peek out again. His breath caught in his chest, his mouth parted as a small sliver of the sun was revealed through the shadows enshrouding it. He was forced to look away when the glare became too much. “The sun's coming back out.”

“I’ll be,” Paul muttered.

“That has to be a good sign, right?” Mary Ellen asked eagerly.

Al was silent as he looked away from the sun again. He’d longed to see it again so that at least one thing could return to normal in this messed up world, but he didn’t feel anywhere near as elated as he had thought he would. Instead, it felt as if the cool hand of death was caressing the back of his neck. He began to question his decision to remain here as he was seized with the certainty that they had to move, that they had to get off this roof, and out of this town.

Mary Ellen was smiling at him as he met her gaze. He didn’t want to ruin that smile, it was so rare, but he couldn’t shake the apprehension clenching at him. He'd never been one to ignore his instincts and they'd gotten him this far in life. The return of the sun wasn't the beginning of something better, but something worse. He knew it.

“We have to go. Now.”

Mary Ellen’s smile slipped away as she looked back at the sky. She opened her mouth to protest but closed it again as she nodded her agreement.

CHAPTER 12

Xander

Foxboro, Mass.

“They’re breaking into that house.”

Xander grabbed Riley’s arm, propelling her onward as she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “They are,” he confirmed. “The rules don’t exactly apply anymore.”

Her eyebrows drew sharply together as her mouth pursed. “Going to hell in a handbasket,” she muttered.

“Fast. Now come on, we have to move Riley.”

He didn’t look back as he hurried her forward. Carol, Lee, and Bobby were about twenty feet ahead of them. They waited for them to catch up in the middle of the sidewalk. “Everything okay?” Carol inquired.

“Yeah.”

Most of the herd in the street was pushing closer together, but a few were breaking off, going their separate ways as they slid through yards and even into the woods. Bobby was watching the stragglers intently; Lee was so focused on trying to get to the stadium that he hadn’t seemed to realize there weren’t as many people with them anymore. This area of the town seemed to be in better shape. The houses weren’t on fire, or falling into the earth, and though there were some steaming holes, there were nowhere near as many as there had been near the state hospital.

Bobby fell back to walk beside him as Riley split away with Carol. Riley and Carol walked closely together, their hands entwined as their bent heads pressed close to each other. He’d seen that sight many times over the years, but their closeness still amazed him. “I think we should start thinking about finding some kind of weapon.”

Xander’s attention was pulled from Carol and Riley as he glanced at Bobby out of the corner of his eye. “What kind of weapon?”

“A gun or something.”

“And you would know how to use a gun?”

Bobby frowned as he shook back disheveled brown hair that he'd let grow almost to his shoulders now. He had lost a few pounds since high school and grown an inch, but he was still only up to Xander's shoulders. “Well, no, but I’ve seen enough movies to figure it out.”

Xander let out a harsh laugh. “Awesome Bobby, I’m sure that’s all it’ll take.”

Bobby glared at him. “We have to do something Xander. We’re defenseless now.”

“We’re surrounded by hundreds of people.”

“That’s what scares me.”

Xander’s gaze slid over the crowd again. “It’s what scares me too,” he admitted.

“Maybe some knives would help? At least they would be something.”

Xander shuddered at the thought. Were they actually talking about using knives against people? He was having an easier time trying to assimilate the catastrophe surrounding them than the thought of having to stab someone. It made his empty stomach twist with nausea and acid. “Do you really think you could stab someone?”

“Two hours ago? No way. Now…?” Bobby shrugged as he tugged nervously on his hair. “Soon it’s going to start becoming every man for themselves. This man would like something to defend himself – and the girls – with.”

Xander studied his friend; Bobby had always been the calmest and easiest going out of the three of them. There was a gleam in his eyes now that made Xander realize there was a lot more to Bobby than he had ever realized. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You better do more than guess. It’s going to get ugly, Xander. Real ugly.”

“When did you start losing faith in the human race?”

“About two hours ago.”

Xander nodded. “Fair enough.”

Bobby became silent as they continued down the road. Like a flock of geese, people flowed out of the street and seamlessly around another mammoth gorge that had opened in the middle of the asphalt. They moved through several backyards before returning to the street. Xander felt as mindless as the people around him seemed, and he found that he welcomed it. He didn’t want to think right now, and wasn’t entirely sure he still could. His brain was on overload; he just couldn’t process any new information right now.

Glass shattered somewhere. Riley and Carol stopped walking as they searched for the source of the sound. A gunshot, or more like an explosion, tore through the air. For a second everyone remained frozen, staggered by the new threat. Then, as another shot was fired, someone started screaming. It echoed loudly in the stillness that had enshrouded the town since the last earthquake.

The peaceful herd turned into a maniacal stampede as people began to push and shove in the chaos that erupted. Riley and Carol were jostled back as a small group broke off and began to flee into the yards. Some of the people, the ones who had thrown themselves to the ground after the last shot, were stomped beneath the feet of those trying to escape. Others were knocked down and trampled by the crush. Lee grabbed hold of the girl’s arms and started running back toward him and Bobby.

Another shot erupted. More screams pierced the air. Suddenly a man lurched awkwardly forward from the crowd. The man’s face was twisted in astonishment; a groan escaped him as blood appeared on the front of his shirt. People stared at the man in astonishment before they began to run away from him. The man fell on the curb, his body sprawled half in the street and half out of it; his arms spread wide as he remained unmoving. Xander didn’t know much about guns, but if the substantial hole in the man’s back was any indication, it appeared that this had been a big one.

Was someone shooting at them on purpose? Had the stress of everything finally caused someone to lose it, had it unleashed the inner monster inside someone who had been twisted and vicious to begin with? What was left of laws, and civilization, was rapidly unraveling. It was a perfect opportunity for someone to let their inner psycho out. Or was someone simply trying to defend their home?

Another shot rang out. “Holy shit!” Bobby shouted as the two of them ducked, covering their heads, but no one else fell into the street.

Hopefully if the shooter was a crazy murderer he was a piss poor shot, but Xander wasn’t sticking around to find out. He snagged hold of Carol’s hand and started running. They fled from the sidewalk and into backyards that bordered the edge of the woods. He ran heedlessly forward as he tried to avoid the crush of people also escaping.

“Wait! Stop!” Riley jerked Carol’s hand, pulling them both back with her as she came to an abrupt halt. She released Carol’s hand and ran up the steps of someone’s back porch.

“Riley!” Carol yelled at her.

Riley pounded on the door and frantically rang the bell. Shading her eyes, she bent to peer into the gap that the curtains revealed. Before he knew what she had in mind, she lifted her arm and crashed her elbow into the pane of glass. Unlike the movies, the glass didn’t break. She frowned and rubbed her elbow as she glared at the intact windowpane.

“Damn it!” Xander hissed. He released Carol’s hand and dashed up the steps after her. “Riley, what are you doing?”

“This is Sue Bradford’s house.”

“So?”

“So, her stepdad’s a cop.”

He stared at her blankly. “What? Look, I don’t give a rat’s ass if her stepdad is the freaking President. We have to keep moving, Riley.”