Mana

Storm

Chapter 10

"Fuck, it's getting cold." By what we knew, we'd been here for two months and it was moving into early October.

"We should scavenge for clothes in the nearby town," Chi suggested. I nodded.

"I'll go with Cam, cuz he wanted to clear the town a little bit more today."

"Do you really think we'll be able to move in by the beginning of December?"

"If we work hard at it, then yes, I believe so." I handed Brandon over to Chi. "Go with Unko Chi. You and him can play hide and seek."

"Okay!"

"I'll go find Cam and we can figure out something. Take care of Brandon, send up that signal flare in case something bad happens." Chi nodded, and I kissed Brandon goodbye before descending to the first floor. Cam was outside, guarding the door. I knocked, opened the door, and told him how we'd all be needing winter coats soon. "Also, Brandon's birthday is coming up. I wanna get him something special. So when we go into town, look for like a toy store or something."

"Okay. Meet in an hour?"

"Sure." I went to head back upstairs, but paused when I had a thought. Brandon's gonna be four. And the most I can do for him is get him a toy that he'll grow out of or lose. I felt like a bad sister, but given our circumstances, there was nothing I could do...

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As we drove the mile to town, the sky seemed to grow grayer and grayer.

"Looks like a storm's gonna kick up," I muttered.

"Perfect to check out some of the houses in-town. Maybe occupy one for the night,"

"Only if it's really storming. Alright?"

"Okay." I pulled into the main road and started down towards what looked like a clothing store. Zombies staggered all around us; Cam was able to take them out one by one with his metal pipe. I drove over some, noting that the grill of the truck would need cleaning later.

"Here we are. Get ready." We had our weapons, so we stepped out of the truck. There were only three zombies in our way, and the door was left unlocked. We barred it with a broomstick.

"Down on the ground. Now." Shit. Some other survivors were occupying the place. We dropped out melee weapons and put our hands up in obedience. "Turn around." We did. There were David and Damion.

"Hey, guys. How'd you get here?" David immediately broke down in tears. I'd never seen Cameron be hugged so hard, nor had I ever seen Damion hug anyone before.

David's voice shook as he said, "We thought you guys died. Cam, we went to your house and it was burned down."

"No, we were transported to do slave work in Canada, but we escaped."

"How the hell did you guys get here?"

"We escaped the exodus, but after we saw Cam's house burned down, we started to head for Canada. We've been travelling for, like, six weeks." Damion let go of Cam and turned to me. "Where are you guys staying?"

"Hotel a mile off. Do any of you know what day it is?" David checked his phone. The lucky bastard had a portable charger.

"October 10th." Twelve days until Brandon's birthday.

"Alright. You guys comin' with us?"

"Yes, please. We're running low on food and water."

"Of course. Pack up, put your stuff in the back seat, then come help us get some winter clothes for everyone." As they packed what little belongings they had, I scrounged for little boy clothes.

"Cam, how would these look?" I held up a pair of jeans and a sweater. He nodded, so I threw it in my bag. I also picked out some black boots and a matching beanie for him. For myself, a dark green, fitted long-sleeve and black skinny jeans. "David, hold my bag." He did. I stuffed my stuff in. I went on to get similar clothes for Katie and Chi. We all had similar clothes now, with extra.

After the truck was all packed, I drove around looking for a toy store. The boys in the back took care of zombie extermination.

"There it is." "MONTGOMERY TOYS" was printed in old font above the abandoned building. "None of you come after me. If I'm in trouble, I can bolt." I left the safety of the car, stalked over to the building, and entered. All around me, old-fashioned toys hung from the ceiling and sat against the walls. An old man lay with his brains blown out on the cash register.

"Christ." I knocked him over to keep the gruesomeness out of sight. As soon as he was down, I browsed everything. There were airplanes and dolls and displays of all types. My favorite: the music box display of a boy and a girl dancing, twirling, circling around each other. If I had time, I'd come back for it.

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Brandon was gonna get an old model plane for his birthday. It was blue and green, supposedly only needed one throw to send it flying for 100 feet. I carried it out with the music box.

The toys were put in the back seat. I got into the drivers side.

"No one need anything else from this place? I wanna get out quick so if you do, make it quick." All three boys shook their heads. I turned and started the truck. "That storms rolling in quick. Let's go."

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That night we celebrated the reunion of Damion and David with the rest of us with a hot meal and a small cake that Katie made in the hotel kitchen. The two would get their own rooms across from the rest of us.

¤¤¤

"Good night, Brandon." I laid him down to sleep, then was about to lie down myself when there was a knock at my door. "Who is it?"

"Damion." I went and opened the door.

"What is it?"

"I need to talk to you." I opened the door for him, and we sat on the couch.

"What's up?"

"Okay, so you guys haven't seen any suspicious black cars around the town?"

"No. Why?"

"There's a group in town occupying the North end. Call themselves 'Band of Survivors'. David and I mixed up with them once and now they hate us."

"How the hell'd you manage that?!"

"I flirted back with a girl who was flirting with me. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Get to the point, kid."

"Point is, we need to move. In case they track David and I down."

"Kid..."

"I'm sorry. To be honest she wasn't even that cute, but look it's been about nine weeks since I'd seen another girl. I was desperate." I laid back and exhaled.

"Alright... alright. We'll have a meeting tomorrow. You and David are gonna tell the others what's up, we'll plan where to go from there." He nodded. I rubbed my temples when my head started pounding. "Now get out, I need rest." He left.

I knew this hotel joint was too good to be true.