Survivors

Chapter Sixteen: New Friends

The next morning, when we were finally all awake, six of us set out for Sin City. Helayna was left this time to ensure security. The rest of us clambered into the van and drove off.

"Which casino are we going to this time?" Ali inquired.

"Why don't we try Paris?" I suggested. "I've always wanted to go to Paris," I added wistfully. Just imagine going there with Tyler. With Tyler ONLY.

So that was where we went. The six of us brought our packs and our weapons, just in case. I uncovered the van and we set off for Las Vegas again. I checked the gas gauge; perhaps about two or so more of these round-trips and we would run out of gas. I followed the path I had originally cut - passage through the tires - when we first drove through Vegas. I parked just next to Paris and covered the van again.

We quietly shuffled through the broken doors at Paris's entrance. Broken glass crunched beneath our feet. I was worried about stepping on a skull or crushing bones to powder beneath my feet. I always had this sort of superstition about arousing the dead. My brother made me watch too much of the part in Lord of the Rings where the three hunters journeyed down the Paths of the Dead. We halted when we reached a giant leg of the Eiffel Tower, deformed and ominous in the gloom of our apocalypse.

"Alright: we'll split up into groups and just search certain floors. All in groups of two. Group One will be Liora and Gigi; search the first three floors for anything: food, extra supplies, survivors, whatever. Group Two is Tyler and Adrian; same orders, just search floors ten to seventeen. Ali and I will be Group Three; we'll take floors four through nine. Rendezvous here in roughly an hour," I ordered.

We split up. Ali, Tyler, Adrian, and I took the elevator to go up. We stood in silence while the complex pulley tugged us along with great effort. It creaked, moaned, and wailed as it slid up to the fourth floor where Ali and I got out.

"I'm glad we got out of there; it was like ear hell in there," she told me.

Again, there were bodies on the ground and they made me sick. We burst our way into about twelve rooms that were all previously locked to no avail. Las Vegas, even in the dead stage, was horrid. We could see some of the dead in the nude with a bedfellow or two. Some were crushed by some of the ceiling caved in on them while others died of suffocation and or starvation. Floor Four was completely uneventful. So was Five.

It wasn't until Floor Six that I heard a rustling noise come up behind us. In a quick motion, I slipped my blaster out of his holster and aimed at the wind. Nothing was there but something made me uneasy and gave me the sort of feeling like, "Oh shit, I think I'm being followed and I had better be cautious if I still want to be alive in the morning."

Ali had a questioning look on her face. I motioned for her to remove at least one of her twin pistols from its holster. With the weapons in our hands, we continued walking on, pretending that we thought the noise was nothing. We got to Floor Seven by the time I heard a crunching noise behind us. It couldn't have been any of the others. It had to be some Commie footsoldiers.

"Get down!" I shouted at Ali. We ducked and rolled behind an opened door for cover. Sure enough, a Commie had been following us. He shot at us and we fired back. Ali stuck her head out of out cover oh so slightly. I was about to warn her but as she fired her shot, one left the foot soldier's gun. While her bullet hit him straight on in the head, his lightly grazed her cheek. The Communist lay dead when Ali cried out in pain over the place where the bullet touched her. It must've been going 65 miles per hour at least and it was sure to be red hot.

I told her to stop touching the wound and to let me look at it. I rummaged through my bag, took out the First Aid kit, pulled out some anti-infectant, and sprayed her cheek with some. She cried out in pain and this time, I didn't blame her. That stuff stings like hell when it touches your blood. I pulled out a bandaid and covered her wound. Of course there was a light gash but it wasn't anything serious enough for me to rush her down to the van and call everyone back so we could operate on her back at base.

She took out an old Snickers bar and ate it as we continued our search. Normally, good candy like that is reserved for real emergencies but I said nothing about it to her. She could've been killed and her cheek was still hurting so I didn't press the matter. Floor Eight held a real treasure: three whole bottles of untouched wine. Of course we were minors and we weren't supposed to drink but who cared now?

After searching the rest of Floor Eight, we found nothing so we continued to Floor Nine. Everything was silent as we opened one door. It smelled like shit. Blood trailed to the closet. Cautiously, I opened it. Huddled together were these two people who looked half-starved and very, very scared. They were alive. I squatted down next to them.

One of them, the man, had sandy-colored hair. It was unkempt and ran down past his ears. He was muscular and looked like he would really have been attractive if he wasn't so starved-looking, so scared-looking. The other, the woman, had long blonde hair and had the body of a runner. From pure exhaustion, she had bags under her eyes. They both had bloodshot eyes, looked like they hadn't eaten in about a week, hadn't slept in a week, hadn't properly used the bathroom in a week, and hadn't left the closet in even longer.

"It's okay, my friend and I won't harm you; we're going to get you out of here," I told them with care.

The girl buried herself further into the man's shoulders. He spoke up, "Why should we trust you? How do we know you're not Communists, or at least working for them?"

"If we were Commies, we wouldv'e shot you two by now," Ali told them, showing off her wound.

"We can help you; we've got a clean, safe facility about twenty miles north of here," I assured them. "It's okay, just come with us." Still they looked very scared and even weaker than before, if that was possible.

"You need help," Ali tried, "We can give it to you." She reached into her backpack and took out two granola bars. "Here," she handed them to the couple, "eat. You'll feel much better. We have much more food back at base camp." That wasn't entirely true.

The pair took the granola bars and tried to stand. Now I know why the room smelled like shit and why they were so embarrassed to get out of the closet. They had been huddled in there so long, they used the bathroom in there because they were so scared to get out and use the toilet.

"Do you have any extra clothes?" I asked them. I wasn't too keen on bringing two people who shit in their pants into... ahem... my van.

The woman nodded and quietly asked Ali and me to leave while they cleaned themselves up and changed. We gave them moist towelettes and and hand sanitizers. When they came out two minutes later, they still looked tired as hell and and their hair was still disheveled but at least they didn't smell like shit anymore nor did they seem as terrified of us as before.

"What are your names?" Ali asked them.

"I'm Luke," said the man. He pointed toward the woman but before he could tell us her name, she interrupted him.

"My name's Louisa," she said gravely. It was the first time I heard her speak. Her voice was quiet and raspy. She was probably traumatized from the attack and it had done this to her.

"This is Sierra," Ali pointed at me, "and I'm called Ali." They nodded in acknowledgement.

We were nearing the staircase when I heard loud, thumping footsteps behind me. I looked around to see another Commie heading our way. "Ali! Get them downstairs! Now!" I ordered. Even though she knew Luke and Louisa were weak, Ali still urged them to run. They were unarmed and therefore couldn't protect themselves. I heard them clamoring downstairs, trying desperately to make as little noise as possible.

I slipped out my blaster. I shot at him but it missed. I shot again: clean through his neck. Damn fool spent too long trying to load his gun, lucky for me though. I ran down the stairs and caught up with Ali, Louisa, and Luke. We made out way over to the van. Everyone else was waiting for us. We all got into the van and drove off back to base camp in haste.