The good weather didn't hold out long. The wind blowing now didn't just tug at the Ian's heavy jacket, it tore at it like a wild animal. His knuckles were white from gripping so hard at the collar of his coat, vainly trying to keep the biting air from reaching his body. Leaves, dirt, and even small rocks were swept up and slung aggravatingly against his face. "Maybe we should have waited to make this trip." Ian nearly shouted trying to be heard over the wail of the wind through the trees.
Rayne shook her head. "It wasn't this bad when we left, and there is no turning back now." Peering over the ridge they stood on, she was able to see the massive warehouse they were after, only a mile in the distance. "We are close, lets hurry we can wait out the wind inside while we gather supplies." Ian nodded, pushing through the violent blasts, they picked their way down the hill.
The two of them burst in through a truck entrance, Ian breaking off a heavy pad lock by hammering it several times with his sword. The heavy rings of metal on metal were blunted against the sound of wind beating against the aluminum siding. Ian slammed down the metal door behind them and suddenly they were alone in the quiet darkness.
Ian and Rayne switched on a pair of flashlights from their packs, they were cheap plastic things looted from one of the houses early on, no batteries had been found that fit them so Ian prayed they would hold up. The wimpy light cut small swaths through the darkness revealing the harsh cement and metal shelving that constituted the inside of the warehouse. The shelves were packed, wall to wall the building looked untouched. "JACKPOT!" Ian shouted, the sound echoing in the cavernous space.
The pair filled their packs in a second. "We have to find a truck or something. We need to get as much of this stuff back to the cabin as we can this trip who knows how long we will have access before something happens." Rayne said, eyes still wide as she viewed their impossible luck.
"Sounds good." Ian replied barely able to contain his glee. "But I think I should probably drive. I saw you behind the wheel last time." he added with a playful smile. Rayne jabbed him in the ribs rolling her eyes. They both laughed, basking in their momentary victory.
It would be short lived.
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Bzzzzzz........Bzzzzzzzz........Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. A small fly buzzed around Liv's head with no end. Each time it landed she swatted not so much with the intent to kill it but rather trying to persuade the dumb insect that her face was not a good place to rest.
It wasn't getting the message.
Liv sniffed at her armpit and crinkled her nose, her smell probably didn't help. That one dip in the stream a few weeks ago may have gotten the dirt off, but it wasn't quite the same as a real bath. Whatever scents drifted off her now, it seemed the bugs enjoyed them.
Liv didn't really care though. She watched the alien creature closely as it landed on a blade of grass. It scrubbed its forelegs together over and over again almost as if it was washing its hands. Liv blew out a long sigh the air from her breath washing over the fly and spurring it to take flight again. "I am SOOOO bored." the small girl huffed.
It had been hours since Ian and Rayne had left, and Liv knew not to expect them back any time soon. The wind storm had blown over about half an hour ago. The trees had nearly been bent in half during the storm and even now the ground was littered with fallen branches and debris. Liv hoped the others were alright, the awful howling she had heard from inside the cabin cellar had been frightening enough. She couldn't imagine what it had been like to be out in it, but she had faith that her brother could handle anything.
Ian had told her not to leave the small grassy area immediately in front of the cabin, but Liv dearly wanted to go explore. She had loved running around the woods with her friend Elise before all this mess. They used to climb trees and chase rabbits in the small wooded area in back of Elise's grandparents' farm. Liv frowned when she thought about Elise, she didn't know what had happened to her friend, but at this point even Liv knew it was not likely she would ever see her again.
She knew she probably wouldn't see any of her friends again. Her eyes teared up a little as she went over the list in her head. Sarah, a funny little tom boy, who had taught Liv all about skateboarding. It was fun, but the helmet she had to wear when she rode pulled at her hair. Then there was Melanie, who was always wearing new brand name clothing. She always talked about the stuff her parents bought her, it was annoying, but she usually gave Liv the things she didn't want anymore, and that was fun. Liv had even gotten her favorite notebook from her... though she hadn't been able to pack that when they were rushed from their home.
She thought of Ashley, a nice new girl, who had just joined Liv's class a few weeks before the disasters. Her dad was in the army so she moved around a lot. Liv prided herself on being the first one to make friends with her. She had been a real loner it had been hard to get her to talk, but when Liv finally got her to open up she found out Ashley was a really good artist. She had given Liv a drawing of the two of them sitting on a park bench that looked just like a photograph. You could even see the little hello kitty symbols on her socks, it was incredible! The two of them probably would have become really good friends if they had had more time.
Liv had even had a boyfriend, Jonah. She wasn't really allowed to have a boyfriend. She had mentioned it to her dad one day and he had gotten really mad and told her she was too young for that stuff. It wasn't like they were kissing! Liv had decided she would stay boyfriend and girlfriend, but keep it a secret, she hadn't even told her brother. Jonah was really cool. Liv smiled, "I bet he is still ok." she said aloud. Jonah was the fastest boy in her class. Whenever they went out for recess he always won the races. Those dumb monsters wouldn't be able to catch him!
Finally there was Brittany, her best friend in the whole world. They had been best friends as long as Liv could remember. Their dads both worked in the same office, and the two girls had both been put in the company daycare program together. Her earliest memory of Brittany was a weekday, as the daycare was closing. Liv's dad had to work over and there was no one to care for her, Brittany had convinced her dad to let Liv spend the night. They had stayed up all night even after Brittany's mom had told them to go to sleep. They had used flashlights and snuck, downstairs. They ate ice cream and watched a silly cooking show where a Japanese man in a tall hat shouted strange things. "Fukui-san!" they would shout each time they added a new topping to their sundaes and then burst into a fit of giggles. Of course all the noise had woken up Brittany's dad. It was a while before she was allowed to spend the night again after that, but it didn't matter, after that night the two girls were best friends forever... well maybe not forever.
When the disease first showed up Brittany's mom got sick. It was way early, back before all the hospitals shut down. She had gone with Brittany to see her mom in the ICU. Brittany had sat in the corner of the hospital room not talking, the small girl just stared at her father as he cried holding his dying wife's hand. Brittany hadn't even looked up when Liv's dad came and got her to bring her home. Three days later an earthquake leveled the hospital. Liv never heard from Brittany again.
Tears flowed freely from the small girls eyes now. Sitting alone on the grass by the cabin, she sobbed, the loss of all those people close to her. Not to mention her own dad. She only had Ian now in the whole world. Well Ian and Rayne now. Rayne was nice, she had been really quiet at first, always staring off into the distance sitting away from them, but over time something had changed. She smiled now. Liv liked Rayne's smile, it was pretty. Liv hoped she was pretty like Rayne when she got older.
Sniffling a bit Liv rubbed the wetness from her eyes. She was a big girl now, and crying was for babies. Wiping her nose on the sleeve of her fleece jacket, she finally stood.
A shuffling noise pricked the hair up on the back of her neck and made her legs go all wobbly like Jell-O. She could tell the noise was coming from behind her, but she couldn't bring herself to turn around. It was close maybe a few feet away, lost in thought she hadn't noticed it before. Gritting her teeth she scolded herself internally Oliva you just said you were a big girl, well big girls don't let little noises scare them either. Slowly she forced herself to face the mysterious intruder.
RUFF! the sharp bark made her jump even as she saw what it was, a dog. It was massive, well higher than her waist standing on all fours. The big canine looked more like a wolf, but when she saw its long tongue lolled out of its mouth and a lazy smile on its panting mug as it stared up at her, the small girl's fear melted away into shear delight.
"Where did you come from Mr. Doggie?" Liv asked cautiously scratching the animal under his chin. The dog melted, plopping instantly to the ground and rolling over to expose its belly, begging for a stomach rub. Liv chuckled and gave it a good scratch smiling deeply as she watch the dog's leg twitch with delight.
"Pluto! Here boy!" A gruff voice echoed from the woods, its owner not yet within sight of the cabin. "Where is that damned mutt?! PLUTO COME!" The dog popped up in an instant letting out a loud happy bark and bounding off into the woods.
Liv panicked. Ian had told her not to talk to anyone. She knew she was suppose to stay hidden if anything showed up while he was gone. Jumping to her feet she sprinted into the cabin locking the door and hiding just under the window peeking up just enough to spy out without being seen.
Five burly men emerged from the woods, each one carrying a shotgun. They were a dirty bunch, long greasy hair matted around their necks, blending into long unshaven beards. The dog sat at attention by the side of one of the larger guys, the man wore the shredded remains of a camo-jacket and was biting down hard at the end of a cigarette. Drawing in a deep hit, the man blew out a cloud of smoke, yellow teeth barely visible behind the mustache that hung over his upper lip. Liv stuck out her tongue, smoking was gross!
"Nice cabin." the dogs owner said flatly, to no one in particular. "Might have some decent rations inside, maybe even some hunting gear. I say we turn it over."
"Bullshit!" a skinny one next to him retorted. "We just got done running from one of those creepers. Who knows when it will show up, ain't like we lost it far back."
The tallest one of the five stepped up between the first two, eyeing the cabin warily. He was younger than the other two, probably mid thirties, a large tattoo covered his whole right arm, the image of a busty blond in pigtails hugging the shaft of a hunting rifle like it was a stripper pole. "Jobs a job." he grunted with a frown, "Shit picking so far, and that fucker blew most of the morning. We gotta hit every dump we find." signaling to three of the others, he added, "Jimmy, Flip, and Tony stay out here and watch, if that dog of yours so much as growls at a squirrel I want an alert so we can get out. Grey, come on lets get this done fast."
Liv darted from the window as she saw the men make their way to the cabin door. The cot in the corner wasn't much, but it was big enough for a little thing like Liv. Diving beneath the puny bed she managed to hide herself, seconds before the cabin door swung open.
"We need food, medicine, and weapons, anything else is a waste of our time." The tattooed intruder ordered, ripping open the closet door. "Nice stack... this could feed a guy or two for a couple of days." His eyes tightened a moment as he looked around the room again. Picking up one of the cups on the fold out table he added. "I think this cabin's been occupied recently. This stuff looks like it was looted from somewhere and this cup is still wet." snatching up Liv's group's hard earned stash of goods, in a single sweep, he barked at his companion. "We are gone, these dumb bastards could be back any second, and I don't want them to catch us with our pants down."
"No shit." the other man grunted sticking some bottled waters into his pack. A lone bottle dropped to the floor rolling under the cot... right next to Liv. "Dammit" stooping down he reached blindly under the bed. Liv tapped the bottle rolling it into his hands. Grime encrusted fingernails taped the bottle and then closed around it, jerking it away. Liv breathed a silent sigh of relief.
The two men headed for the door successfully taking everything Liv's group had worked so hard for. When the tattooed man stopped. "Ya check under the cot?"
"No"
"Well fuck, Grey, That is where everyone hides their guns. Go look and hurry."
Ice ran through the young girls veins as she pushed herself as far into the corner as humanly possible. The black combat boots appeared first, mud tracking all over the floors they had worked so hard to keep clean. Liv had spent the better part of an hour sweeping those filthy wood planks in an effort to make the ground Ian had to sleep on more comfortable. Some part of her resented this stranger for ruining her clean floors, but that resentment was buried under fear.
Kneeling on the floor the older man's long greasy hair touched the floor as he peered under the cot. Cold grey eyes opened wide filling with sudden shock as they connected with the scared 7 seven year old's. "Holy shit! Brad you better see this!"
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"Ian you better see this." Rayne whispered placing a hand softly on Ian's shoulder. Ian put down the box he was carrying. They had searched the entire warehouse, nothing significant had been touched. The management must have sealed the building up early on, thinking things would blow over eventually. The refrigerated goods stank to high heavens, there must have been a couple hundred pounds of it rotting in the back corner. At first Rayne had thought something had died back there.
Everything else was perfect though. They had their pick of clothing, Rayne had even slipped into a long black dress to admire in a mirror. She had even considered showing it to Ian. Maybe that would light a fire under him. In the end though, she had opted for some slightly more practical garb. A fluffed up white parka, lined in foe fur, and some black knee high leather boots. They were warm and sturdy, but cute too... well cuter than any of the other functional options. Best of all they were clean. Not just washed in the stream till they didn't have dirt on them clean, but honest to goodness no stink clean. That almost made her as happy as the food... almost.
Ian cocked an eyebrow back at Rayne as she led him to a side window. "What is it?"
Grabbing a hand hold on the nearest shelving she hoisted herself up to peer out. "That." she stated matter-o-factly with a huge grin.
Ian climbed up next to her, a stupid grin spreading uncontrollably over his face as he saw what Rayne was showing him. "There is no way we can be this lucky." A dozen trucks sat pristinely in the back lot, trailers ranging from simple closed bed 4 by 4s to full 16 wheelers.
Ten minutes later Ian was shoving a crowbar into the door frame of a little hut next to the truck lot, prying his way into what they both hoped held the keys to some of those vehicles. As the door sprang open Rayne smiled, "Wow Dudley, if I didn't know better I would think you had done that before."
"Maybe I have a shady past" Ian replied slyly.
"Oh I have to hear this."
"I used to break into abandoned houses around our neighborhood, when I was a kid."
"Really?" Rayne's eyebrows raised in actual surprise.
Ian laughed. "Of course, I was helping my dad salvage the copper piping, and the police had given us the okay because they were about to bulldoze them."
Rayne rolled her eyes. "I should have known. Dudley do-right, have you ever gotten into trouble. Even once?"
Ian stopped ruffling through the drawers and scratched the back of his head for a moment thinking. "I got arrested once." Rayne sat down on a stool and crossed her legs leaning forward to listen, an expectant look on her face with just a hint of mocking. Ian chuckled softly, "Fine, I guess I'll tell you."
A low creak whined as Ian leaned up against the rusty metal cabinet he had been searching, he stared up probing his memory for the details. "I was about 19, and Liv was just starting kindergarten. Our mom had just died the year before, and my dad was working two jobs by this point, so I had to pick her up from school. My dad drove the only car so I used the bus to get her." Ian paused taking a breath. "Well, this asshole sits down in front of us. He was wearing a nice suit and talking obnoxiously loud on his phone, swearing like a sailor." Ian sneered at the memory. "There weren't any other seats for us to move to, I sat and tried to ignore it for a bit, asking Liv about her day, but the guy was too loud. Finally, I asked him to quiet down. I tried to be nice about it, but of course the guy decided to just be that much more of a jerk. He flipped me off and turned back around. Then he told whoever he was on the phone with that some son of a bitch had told him to be quiet and laughed like it was some sort of great joke.."
Rayne's eyes narrowed. "and then what? You socked him?"
Ian shook his head. "Worse... the guy lost four teeth, and got a black eye." the young man grimaced. "I just kept laying into him. Over and over again. Something just snapped. It wasn't just that he was being an ass, or even that he was doing it in front of my little sister. It was when he called me a son of a bitch..."
Rayne nodded slowly. "It was like he was insulting your mom."
"yea"
Rayne stood up and leaned against the cabinet next to Ian. "Well, sounds like that bastard got what he deserved." She leaned in close to Ian bringing her hand up. Ian flushed for a moment as her hand slide past his face almost touching him, and snatched something from behind his head. A flirtatious smile spread across Rayne's face as she pulled away, jingling a ring of keys. "Looks like I am driving after all."
It didn't take long for them to fill a truck with supplies. They loaded it with canned goods mainly, enough to keep them fed for months if they used it smart, but Ian couldn't help but snag some chips and candy. Rayne smiled as he stowed a box of M&Ms. "Only packing the necessities eh? Didn't know Liv had such a sweet tooth."
Ian shrugged. "I figure green beans will get old pretty fast. Even in this mess we deserve something to treat ourselves with."
Rayne laughed. "In that case maybe I should go pick up a case of vodka, and show you how to really party."
Ian rolled his eyes, "I don't know if that would be the best..." BANG BANG BANG. Three sharp blasts echoed through the parking lot, killing the conversation.
"Those were gunshots." Rayne shrieked hurling her last box into the truck and slamming the door. "We need to be gone now!" She jumped into the cab and started the ignition.
Ian hesitated, grabbing the drivers side door before Rayne could shut it. "Unless the Demons suddenly decided eating people was not sporting enough, those gunshots must have come from other people."
"So?!"
"So, I think we should check out who is shooting and at what. It could be someone who needs help."
Rayne threw up her hands in exasperation. "You must be joking! We have the first decent luck in over a month and you want to risk everything on some moron who is stupid enough to fire a gun in a city. For all you know those gunshots were from one person shooting another person. Despite what you might think people did a fine job of killing each other before the demons took over that role."
Ian scowled. "We can just look, I didn't say we had to jump down and announce ourselves. If there are other people around I want to find them. We can't just hide out alone in that cabin forever. We need a group. There is strength in numbers."
Rayne rolled her eyes. "God you are naive."
"Five minutes, they won't see us unless we think they look safe."
This is going no where. Rayne pouted internally. With a sigh the red head shut off the car and hopped out, slamming the door in frustration, she mumbled "Right! because somehow we will know they are dangerous before they stab us in the back and take all our stuff."
"There is a whole warehouse full of supplies behind us, They would have to be morons to betray people trying to help when they don't need to."
"And you assume they won't be morons because?"
"Its been over a month, any morons like that would be dead by now." Ian growled.
Shuffling along behind him Rayne glared a hole in the back of Ian's head, "I don't know about that, I'm pretty sure I'm looking at a moron right now."
Ian ignored the jab, taking off at a jog in the direction he guessed the gunshots came from, Rayne right behind him, cursing under her breath.
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