I hear leaves rustling outside. It was probably just the neighbor’s dog – he always got out of their fence and ran around in our yard. Whatever it is, it could wait another few minutes. It’ll probably go away soon, anyway. But it doesn’t, it persists.
Opening my eyes, I immediately reach for the glove compartment of this abandoned car, where I kept my pistol. It doesn’t matter who it is – I don’t like being snuck up on, let alone have someone watch me while I’m asleep. I retrieve the Colt M1911, load in a mag and slide out the trunk of the car. I pop around the side and look – no one. I do the same around the whole car, and the trees surrounding it, but find no one. It must have been the wind playing tricks on me again. I slide the pistol into my belt and grab my backpack out of the car. I open it, taking inventory of my supplies, what little I have left. For food, I have four packs of saltine crackers, a tin of tuna fish, and the star of the lot: a whole can of frank and beans. I have two canteens, one of which is full, the other halfway, a can of Pepsi, and a half full bottle of energy drink, but the label is so faded I can’t even tell what type it is. I have the Colt, which always has a magazine loaded, and I have three extra ones in my backpack. I look up from my pack at the car, and sigh. It’s a good shelter, but I haven’t seen any game around here and I’m going to have to move on soon, because this place is miles from any towns I could attempt scavenging from. I thought about trying to fix it, but realized how ridiculous that is; if I could find all the parts, I’d have a hell of a time figuring out how to put them on, and even more of one trying to find gas for the thing. Even if I did, I’d get about two miles before everyone in the area came charging out to steal it from me. I’m better off moving on foot, I wouldn’t be able to get this thing through any towns anyway. I don the backpack, take one last look at the car, and start walking out of the woods.
After about a fifteen minute walk, I come back to the interstate. I follow it, still in the woods a little bit, until I come to what appeared to have once been a small shopping center. There was a pharmacy, a fast food joint, clothes store – the usual. Better to start with the pharmacy, since it’s probably the only thing that would yield something of use. I try the front door, which is surprisingly still locked. I cup my hand over my elbow and smash a window in, cleaning the jagged shards off the edge with my pistol and stepped inside. The place is practically untouched! I immediately rush to the back, and hop the counter. I open my backpack – the only medicines I have is a small travel bottle of ibuprofen. I grab some more of that, some antibiotics, some stuff I don’t even know what it does, and put it in my pack. Better to be prepared. I climb back over the counter and walk over to the food aisle, which is still nearly full. I don’t know how this place hasn’t get raided to hell like everywhere else, but it’s only about a half hour from where that car was. Since food and drink were really my only problem, I could go back and live out of that thing and just come here for supplies. I open my pack and grab some cans of baked beans, chicken noodle soup, green beans, corn, anything I can get my hands on. I don’t wanna take too much at first, in case someone comes here – hopefully they would just take a few things and go if they don’t think they have any competition. I even grab a bag of chips and a candy bar to go with the practical foods, and also some bottles of water and Gatorade. I close the backpack and start to head back to the front where I broke in, when I hear two car doors slam.
“Was that window broken the last time we came?” A voice asks from outside.
“How am I supposed to know?” Another answers. “It’s not like there’s anyone else here, it was probably just the wind or something.”
“How would the wind break a window? I think someone else found this place,” The first voice replies.
“And so what if they did? Then we take them out.” The second one says. “Let’s just grab some food and get outta here.”
“Yeah.” The first one, who sounds smarter, says.
I drop to a crouch and start moving to the back of the store. I can’t break another window without them knowing I’m here – but how do they get in if the front door is still locked? I didn’t see any other broken windows. There has to be another way out, though… a back door! I see it and start running over, still in my crouch, when the knob on it starts moving. Damn! These guys must come in through the back so people think this place is untouched! I dive and try to roll behind a shelf to hide, but they see me as they come in.
“Hey! You! Show yourself!” The first one, who I now can see is shorter and obviously not as strong as his buddy, says. His friend, however, wastes no time and lunges at me with his baseball bat. I grab the bat as he swings it and knee him in the stomach, kick him back, and run back down the aisle. While he’s still recovering and grabbing his bat, I turn, pull my pistol out from my belt and aim it at him.
“Drop the bat or you die,” I say through gritted teeth. His friend also has a bat, but I’m not too worried about him overpowering me. I start to back up but realize my backpack is behind the big guy. “I said drop it!” I say, and he complies, putting his hands on his head.
“Now, man, don’t do anything you’re gonna regret,” He says.
“I won’t,” I reply. “Now back up!” I step forward as I say this, and cock the pistol. He stumbles back, tripping over my pack, and I start speedwalking down the aisle with my gun still up. The other guy, the small one, pulls a revolver from some sort of hidden holster and aims it at me.
“Who’s giving the orders now, huh?” He asks. “Now you back up, and hand over the gun. And that bag,” He says, noticing my pack on the ground.
“Looks like we’re at an impasse,” I say, eyeing the two. “How about you just let me pick up my things, I leave, and we never have to see each other again. I don’t see a need for any blood to be spilled here.”
The small guy pulls back the hammer on his revolver. “I said drop the gun!” He shouts, stepping forward, which gives me a good view of his revolver.
“That thing’s empty – you don’t have any bullets!” I realize. The color drains from his face and I move my gun from the big guy onto the small one. “Now, you back up, you let me get my bag, and then we all leave here. Clear?” I kneel down to grab my bag – never taking my gun off either of them – and swing it onto my back.
“How ‘bout this!” The big one shouts and throws himself down the aisle at me. I move my gun onto him and let off a shot, but I can’t see where it lands because he topples into me. He pins my arm with the gun to the ground by landing on it. I try to push him off of me, but he gets onto his knees and pins my arms to the ground. “Don’t act so ballsy when you aren’t gonna act on it, buddy,” he says. I can see now that my shot landed in his shoulder – does he just not notice? Did it pass through and he just hasn’t realized yet? He’s probably just trying to act tough.
I headbutt the guy on top of me, and his grip on my arms loosens. I grab the pistol off the floor and put it against the guy’s head, but hesitate. “Damn it,” I mutter, and turn the gun around like a club and hit him in the head with it a few times. I stand up and aim at the guy with the empty revolver. “Take your buddy and get out of here,” I say. “And if I see you back here again, I will kill you next time. Scram!” I say, and back up as the guy runs over and helps his friend up. I knock the revolver out of his hand for good measure, then turn and run from the drugstore, heading back for the highway.
It only takes about fifteen minutes to get back to where my car-shelter is, but I sprint out of the shopping center. My hands are shaking after the encounter with those other two guys and I just want to get out of there as fast as I could. After I sprint for awhile, I find an entrance into the woods that looks familiar and dash into it. I wander around for a good half an hour before I sigh and realize I’m lost. If I go back to the highway, I could probably find the car – but it’s getting dark, and if I get caught out there during the night, I don’t stand a chance. I keep pushing through the leaves until I come to a clearing I recognize. I’m close to the car now; if I just keep looking carefully, I should be able to find it before dark. Sure enough, I trek through trees for a few more minutes and there it is. I toss my backpack into the car and pull a few logs from my firewood supply under the car. I pull my matchbook out and light one, tossing it on the mound of wood and leaves I assemble.
I sit down by the fire, pulling one of the Gatorades I grabbed from the drug store out and taking a long drink. It’s been awhile since I’ve had one of these. As I’m drinking, a gust of dry wind comes through, nearly putting out my campfire. It’s been really dry lately; there might be some more dust storms soon. It won’t be that big of a deal, since I can just sit in the van all day with all these drinks and food I found. I might work on making a lean-to coming out of the back, so I can still keep a fire going if it starts to rain or something. Maybe make some rain catchers, I’m not really sure. I take another sip of the Gatorade and lean back against the wall of the van as another dry wind blows through. I pull my bandana out of my back pocket and fasten it over my mouth, just in case I doze off and a dust storm comes through.
Indeed, I do doze off. When I come too, I swear I hear talking in the trees around me – a girl’s voice, maybe two. I dart up and pull my 1911, but no one is there. I must be going crazy, but what can you expect when I spend almost all of my time in the woods? After I saw everything I love taken away from me? I shiver at that last thought – I told myself I would stop thinking about that, I would only think about surviving. I look over at the tree by the car, with a single tally mark in it. I told myself I would carve a mark in this tree for every human life I took after it happened – and so far there’s only one. It was my buddy. We both managed to survive the initial events, and we wandered around for a while. Our campsite was attacked one night, and while we fled, we ended up out on the road, in the pitch black of night.
The eeriest part was the screams, the screeches. They must have been loud enough to break glass! We stood back to back, I had the Colt out and he had his knife out. We didn’t know what to expect, whether the screams were human or not. Before we knew it, gunfire erupted out of the forest, and I dived behind a rock. My partner was hit before I managed to drag him behind it with me. He was groaning in pain, and I could see where the shot had landed – it would be an easy incision. I had basic medical training, so I didn’t hesitate to grab his knife and start digging the bullet out. That’s when the wolves came. They leapt over the rocks, and I crawled back, keeping one off me with the knife. By the time I incapacitated it, they were gnawing on almost every part of my friend. He looked up with me, and I saw a human being in the most pain I have ever seen – I knew that all he wanted was to die.
I hesitated, leveling the revolver. “Please,” He barely managed to say, and I pulled the hammer back. I closed my eyes and looked away as I pulled the trigger, and I felt a warm, gooey liquid spray on my legs. I didn’t look at his body as I turned and ran. I could hear our pursuers crossing the road. I ran down the road, I ran and ran until I knew I lost them. That’s when I found this van.
If things had gone differently at the drug store today, there could be one or two more marks on this tree. I’m glad there’s still only one – I want it to stay that way. Another dry wind blows, kicking leaves up, and I can see the little pieces of dust begin to blow around. I sigh and pull the back doors of the van closed, hoping to get some sleep between the dust.