The Omega Virus

Chapter 5

-CHAPTER 5-

            The scenery of the mountains of North Carolina deceived us.  It lulled us with its vibrantly blanketed hills and mountains and perfectly blue skies.  Even West Jefferson still had its charms, it was a town seemingly frozen in time.  The safest place to rest appeared to be the ice cream shop on one of the street corners.  It was higher up, with a few steep steps leading up to it, with a clear view of the rest of the town.  Ironically, it was called ‘Good Old Days’, the name accentuating the point that the good old days were gone forever.  Even so, pictures still decorated the walls of the shop of former customers.  Even though the photos were aged and coated with dust, the smiles on the faces of the adults and children were vibrant and bespoke of better times.  I had to remind myself that now they were only ghosts—or worse—corpses, dead and hungry—and this time not craving the sweet temptation of mocha ice cream.

            We had driven straight through town, looking right and left for a gun shop—hoping to find ammunition and guns…or any sort of weapon for that matter.  What we found instead was a sporting goods store—which was void of weapons, though we found clothes in reasonably good shape, along with plenty of fishing equipment.  At least we wouldn’t die of hunger, I thought.

            Exhausted after the long drive and scavenging hunt, we retreated into the quaint ice cream shop.  The few steps leading up to the shattered glass double doors drained us of our last reserves of energy.  We had hoped to be rewarded with at least a little bit of edible food.  On this at least we lucked out, for the pantry area was full of unopened bag of chips.  Everything else was rotting and flies had taken dominion over most of the place.

            The Dead appeared to be absent for now, giving us a much needed respite.  The living seemed to be just as non-existent.

            “It was stupid.” Alexa stated weakly, yet matter-of-factly.  Leave it to her to state the obvious, I thought.

            “Maybe.”  I said, dropping into the narrow two-person booth.

            “Not maybe.”

            “Whatever, we had to try.”

            “Well, what next then?  Take a fishing trip?”

            “Not a bad idea.” I snapped, in no mood for her constant sarcasm.

            “The houses.  We’re in the ‘right to bare arms’ country, we might luck out.”  Callum interjected.

            “Ha!  Like we lucked out with this?”  She growled.

            “The houses were always our best bet, though this would have been the closest and easiest way.” He replied in an amazingly calm voice.

            “Maybe,” said Alexa doubtfully, “but what wouldn’t I give for a coconut-coffee flavored ice cream cone.” She said, suddenly dreamy.

            “Me too.”  I agreed almost smiling.

            “When we find Nova, she’ll make it for sure.”  She promised.

            Glass shattered somewhere in the distance, snapping us out of our brief reverie. 

            “And there goes our hope of a Dead-free zone.”  I said taking out my gun.

            Callum handed his hunting knife to the still weaponless Alexa.  She took it but turned it in her hands doubtfully.

            “Please don’t tell me you don’t know how to use it.” Said Callum exasperated as Alexa continued staring blankly up at him.