The Risks

May: Chapter 2

By mid afternoon I knew we needed to stop. We'd been riding on empty for a while, but the map was showing a decent sized town coming up and I knew I had to at least make it there. Our food and water supply had been near nonexistent when we left home and I hoped that the town would be the best option for finding more.

I knew we were getting close when I saw the cars. They were jammed -bumper to bumper- up to a couple miles out of the town. Some vehicles were even in the ditches and medians, but almost all were empty. Only a few were sporting some rotting bodies which I didn't keep my eyes on for long. I didn't have a weak stomach, but rotting corpses were still relatively new to me. I distracted Oakley by pointing out something- anything- in the opposite direction so that she wouldn't have to see them.

Where had they all gone? The owners of the empty cars. Were they so panicked that they just started hightailing it out of here on foot? That didn't seem like a very good option, but it didn't look like they had many others to choose from.

There were far too many crowded cars for us to make it through with our own so after several minutes of questioning my sanity, we packed up our little supplies and headed into the town on foot. We parked our car next to a bright yellow hummer. Good luck forgetting where that is.

We'd barely made it into town before we were both out of breath and exhausted. Oakley dragged her purple school back pack on the street's cement, only holding onto one strap. I told her to wear it normally or it would tear and after a sigh, she listened.

As we walked down the main road through town, we passed several small stores -mostly barren fast food places- but down many other I could see signs for general stores and even a sign for a super market. I made a mental note of the street names and we continued on, further into the town and away from the main road until we came to a residential area. I decided staying in one of the many houses would be the best option.

As we made our way to the back door of a small, yellow two story house, my flight senses kicked in. What if there were some of those things in here?

I pulled George's pistol out from the back of my waistline. I'd never fired it before; I didn't know how it worked. Obviously you pulled the trigger to shoot, but other than that I was helpless. If there was something in this house, I was not prepared to fight it. I wouldn't be able to protect Oakley. We would be walking to our deaths.

I peeked over my shoulder at Oakley who was looking at me with round, patient eyes. Maybe she wasn't expecting anything bad to be behind this door. I wanted to tell her to be cautious, to be prepared to run, to be afraid... but I didn't want her to feel this terror I felt. I'd save that for myself.

You can do this. You have to.

The back door led us into a kitchen with white walls and linoleum floors. Cupboards were open, as was the fridge, and inside them I could see food. Bags of chips, canned veggies, cereal. It wasn't much, but it was some. These people who lived here obviously didn't take everything they could when they left.

My stomach dropped.

Maybe they didn't leave... Maybe their rotting corpses were somewhere in this house. Or maybe they were here, pacing the dusty floors, listening for the faintest of creaks to indicate that prey was near.

Oh god.

I wanted to tear Oakley from that kitchen, run back to our car, drive back to Pennsylvania and hide in our house again, but I couldn't do those things. I had to stay brave for Oakley. I had to stay brave for myself. I needed to accept that this wasn't a coward's world anymore.

I convinced myself that there was nothing alive inside the house. If there was, they would've made themselves known by now. Regardless, I needed to make sure this house was empty before we got settled.