A faint beeping noise woke me up the following morning. It was my watch. I groaned and sat up, then looked down at my wrist. 9 am. I fell back onto the pillow and put an arm over my eyes, begging for just a few more minutes of sleep. I reached my arm over and felt nothing. My eyes shot open immediately as I jumped out of bed and reached for my gun that sat on the night table to my right.
"Linda?!" I said loudly, scanning over the room with my eyes peeled, searching for her. "Yeah?" I heard her answer in a gentle tone. I relaxed ever so slightly as I peered into the bathroom to find her standing at the mirror brushing her hair, wearing nothing but one of my t shirts, just big enough to cover her bottom. "Relax. I just wanted to do my hair. I was kinda hoping there would be some make-up in here too, but I guess we aren't that lucky." She mumbled, absently.
"Make-up? Jesus. Linda can you just tell me when you're leaving my sight, I freaked out." I said to her in an agitated voice. She smiled at me through the mirror and licked her lips. Only then did I have the sense to look down and realize that I was still completely naked. I looked back up at her and my cheeks flushed. "Mm mm mm" she said as she turned towards me with her bottom lip between her teeth.
I made an attempt to ignore her as I turned towards our bag to get some clothes for myself, but she had already pounced on me from behind. She wrestled me down to the floor, the shag carpet was surprisingly comfortable. "Oh no you don't!" She teased as she finally forced me down onto my back, as she straddled my waist. I gripped her hips tightly and held her as she sat on me, smiling down with her hands on my chest. I smiled up at her as she reached down and kissed me gently. Her pink lips tasted sweet, indicating to me that she must have hit up our candy stash while I was still asleep.
I was opening my mouth to scold her about that, and she was lifting her shirt off when we both heard what sounded like tires screeching on asphalt. We both froze as she let her shirt fall back down over her slender body. I didn't even release my grip on her waist to make sure I didn't make any noise. We both stayed exactly as we were, perfectly still and not make a single noise except for the faint noise of our breathing. I didn't want to risk looking out the window, so I waited for another sound from what must have been a car traveling by. Several minutes had passed, then finally we heard a car door slamming shut, and the soft crunch of boots walking through softly packed snow.
This was the alarm we were waiting for, and Linda was already on it. She quickly got dressed and began to pack whatever supplies we had up here in the room with us. Most of our supplies were still in the car out back, but we weren't sure if we would get the chance to escape to it in time before we met face to face with the person or people that had just gotten out of the car. I got dressed a little slower than she did, but as soon as I finished pulling my boots on, I had my gun holstered and our camping bag over my back.
Finally after the room looked as empty as it had when we first entered it, we chanced a look out the window. Outside the sky was grey as far as the eye could see. A very light grey, indicating that it had snowed, and would continue to snow for the foreseeable future. The tree line in the distance looked magnificent with the tops of ever-green trees sticking out against the pale white of the untouched snow fall from last night. At the moment, only a few snow flakes were making their way towards the earth from the clouds, and that gave us a visibility advantage.
Directly below us, our car seemed in decent condition. Snow was packed over it, but it seemed so light and fluffy that it would be easy to remove it from the windshield. My eyes scanned around the car, and the building around the cars immediate vicinity to be sure that the people we had heard were no where near it. It was quiet again, Linda sensed it too as she drew her gun next to me. I wouldn't have been alarmed but she packed our shoulders in together which was an unconscious move she made whenever she was nervous or felt threatened.
Her shoulder pressed harder against mine, and I put a hand on it to calm her down. I pointed down towards the car, out the window to show her that the area was clear and that we had an opportunity to escape without having to run into anybody who wasn't friendly. It seemed like a good idea to get out the window now and make our getaway, though the thought of another group of survivors was interesting. I wanted to see them, I wondered if they were a friendly group, a group that Linda and I could join. Since we had left our original group back in Colorado, I began to notice that in this world strength was in numbers and team work.
That split second thought caused me to hesitate in opening the back window, and it cost us...
BOOM!
A gun shot rang out, and a huge hole went through the door to the bedroom. The metal folding chair I had put under the door knob for extra support last night was no match as it fell limply to the floor. Linda screamed and I stepped in front of her as the door was kicked in by an abnormally large military style boot.
A man with a short buzz cut and a scruffy beard walked inside. He wore a large brown coat with fur around the hood and green cargo pants. His black boots seemed more menacing now that I saw what they were capable of, as he stepped over the door he had just kicked down. His face was scarred badly. It seemed like every corner of his face had little pink cuts and scars on it, and his dark eyes loomed under dark and bushy eye brows.
Before I even had the chance to put my gun up, He had his aimed right at my chest. At this point Linda was behind me, though I wasn't sure if she had her gun up anymore. "Put it down, hot shot." His voice boomed. It seemed as though the words rumbled out of the deepest part of his chest. His skin was as pale as the snow on the ground outside, which was a complete contrast to the short black hairs on the top of his head. I found myself looking up at him, which meant he had to be at least six and a half feet tall.
My heart was pounding, and the blood rushing through my ears seemed to be the only noise I could hear because I didn't hear any of the three men that came bounding up the stairs and into the small room behind the big man who was apparently their leader.
The three men behind him were all wearing camouflage coats and dark colored pants. They all had fisherman hats on and they were all much shorter than either me or their leader. The three of them began to snicker when they saw Linda behind me. One of them took a step forward with his hands outstretched towards her and I pointed my gun at him angrily. Linda screamed again thinking I would be shot, but instead the leader of their group struck him across the face with the butt of his pistol. He fell to his knees holding his face as the other two scowled at me and dragged their comrade back into their ranks.
After staring the three of his men down, they all quieted down, but never took their eyes off Linda. I could feel her shrinking up behind me, her nails digging into my back as she held onto me. I kept my eyes on their leader, who resumed holding his gun to me. "What's your name, kid?" He asked, his eyes overwhelming mine. I looked down at the ground, trying to think of a way out of this. I looked back up at him, and narrowed my eyes.
"What do you want?" I asked in a defiant tone. The big man across the room pursed his lips. The lines in his forehead tensed. "I don't think you get it, kid. I'm going to kill you and then I'm gonna let these idiots have their way with your girl back there, and then I'm gonna kill her too. I'm gonna take all your stuff and I'm gonna continue on my way."
I clenched my teeth, not really knowing what to do or say. At this point I had no choice but to follow his orders and possibly talk my way out of this. "Bobby." I mumbled in a defeated tone. "This is Linda."
He nodded, his gun never wavered. "How long have y'all been here?"
"We got here yesterday, and stayed the night." I answered blankly.
"Where are y'all heading?"
"No where. Just roaming." I lied.
He blinked twice. "Roaming?"
"Yeah, looking for other survivors. Maybe find a safe place to live at least till this blows over." I said. I actually hoped that what I was saying was true.
"This ain't gonna blow over, you should get that through your head now if you expect to survive for long." He grumbled, seemingly annoyed with my optimism.
"How do you know that?" I asked, wondering where this conversation is going.
"I know things that I shouldn't." He said honestly.
I was puzzled. I tried to process my thoughts quickly when I felt something cold and metallic on my back where Linda's nails were just digging in. I swallowed and held my breath. I scanned the four men across from me to search for what had caused Linda to take such a risk. I couldn't find anything until I saw one of the three men in the back reaching into his coat. He moved his hands casually, as if he was use to sneaking things in and out of those pockets, though the shape of the gun underneath his coat was unmistakable.
I didn't take my eyes off it as he slowly pulled it into plain view. My body wanted to jump behind the bed and take cover, but one wrong move and the big man in front of me would shoot, and I'd be dead anyway. I had to hope against hope that their leader would notice and stop him, unless of course he didn't care anymore. But apparently, Linda had other plans.
She side stepped out from behind me, and in one quick and fluid motion, she fired at the man who had pulled his gun out. The shot hit him square in the chest and he flew backwards out of the room and tumbled down the stairs before anybody else had a chance to react. Linda grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bathroom. Two more shots went off before we slammed into the sink of the bathroom and slammed the door behind us.
Before I even had a chance to think or say anything, Linda fired two more rounds into the door while breaking the bathroom window with her opposite elbow. My mouth was wide open in surprise and horror as she shoved me out the window and exchanged a few more shots with the men outside the bathroom.
I was falling. The cold winter air was refreshing and watching the snow flakes around me gave me a sense of serenity. I began to remember a time in my childhood when my mother would pick up handfuls of snow and throw it up into the air around me. Before I could get to the part where she picked me up and tossed me into a big pile of snow, I hit the ground. I heard a crunch or crack of some kind but I didn't even get the chance to find out because Linda was already down here beside me and dragging me up and towards the car.
She threw me up against the passenger side door and took the keys from my coat pocket. She unlocked the doors and pushed me inside. My head was spinning as she came around the front of the car and got in. The windshield was completely covered in snow as were all the windows except my passenger side window because I had been leaning on it a moment before.
Linda finally got the engine running and slammed on the gas. At this point the men upstairs had realized what we had done because they opened the bedroom window and began shooting down at us. The first few missed wide to the right of the car, but the next connected on my passenger side window. It felt as though everything was happening in slow motion, especially as the window exploded in on me and the cold air rushed into the car as though the car itself needed a breath of it. I closed my eyes and could feel the small shards of glass cutting through the skin of my cheeks.
When the sting in my cheeks was numb from the cold air, I forced myself to open my eyes. The windshield was still covered in snow, and to my surprise not much time had passed because we hadn't really moved anywhere yet. I knew the car was moving, and I could hear Linda grunting and struggling to control the speeding car in the snow. I could also hear the men shooting at us, though they seemed closer, which could only mean that they had jumped down from the window.
I looked out the broken window on my side, and noticed a trail of blood from the bathroom window, through the snow and all the way to where our car had been parked. It didn't register in my head, what had happened, until I finally looked down at myself. I was bleeding out into my hands which were folded and clutched firmly into my stomach. I must have gotten shot upstairs by the big man with the dark eyes. I looked closer at my hands and noticed that the middle finger of my left hand was turned slightly in the wrong direction, which explained the crunch I heard when I hit the ground from falling out the window.
Several moments had passed and Linda got the car moving fast enough that the snow had finally fallen off the windshield and we could actually see where we were going. She pulled out into the gas station out front and we passed what must have been their truck. Linda didn't slow down to get a better look because she bolted the car right back onto the free way where the snow was much thinner and easier to drive on. The shots and screaming of the men behind us became fainter and fainter as we sped down the free way.
I looked down at my hands again. The blood was flowing over them now, though I couldn't feel the pain yet. I just felt cold. I swallowed but my throat was too dry, and I tried to sit up which was a big mistake. All the feeling came rushing back to me, and a terrible piercing and burning sensation raged in my stomach wound. I tried to scream but nothing would come out. I knocked my head back into the head rest and bit down on my lip to try and hold myself together.
The agony was unbearable and I had no idea what to do. I slowly turned my head to the left and looked up at Linda. She was already staring at me, with what seemed to be an ocean's worth of tears streaming down her face. I opened my mouth to say something to her but again, nothing came out.
"Shut the fuck up, you're gonna be okay." She said between sobs. She turned her head back to the road, though with the amount of tears in her eyes I doubt she could see much of anything. The sound of her inconsolable screaming and crying hurt worse than my stomach and hand combined. I felt like crying too, not from the pain but because I couldn't calm her. She continued to sob uncontrollably as she drove, every so often looking over at me, which cause her to cry some more.
"Just shut up." She said angrily "You're gonna be okay." She spat out between a few more sobs. Her hand rested on mine. The blood staining her beautiful, pearly white skin.