Out of the Dark: An apocalyptic thriller (32 page)

     Eric pulled himself into a sitting position, pushed the blanket off, and swung his legs over the side of the narrow, uncomfortable bed. He gingerly touched the wound covered by gauze on his neck.

     “I think I can manage, boss,” he said. “You’ve lost me as your heavy lifter for a couple of days, though, I think.”

     Armani grinned and clasped Eric’s shoulder, which made the other man wince. The corrupted had not settled simply to latch onto his neck and try to chew through it; he’d also pummeled every inch of Eric’s body that he’d been able to touch. Armani released his grip and stepped back. He held out his hand as an offering to help Eric get to his feet.

     “Sorry,” Armani said. “I think you’re going to be hurting longer than a couple of days. And I hope we won’t need much heavy lifting anytime soon.”

     Using Armani’s hands for balance, Eric shifted and slid off of the bed. He was on alert, listening to his body’s signals and keeping himself well aware of his injuries before forcing himself to do too much.

     “Just take it slow and easy,” Armani encouraged. Eric leaned on the other man’s arm for the first few moments, but he quickly began to realize that walking wouldn’t be all that taxing. The majority of the abuse the corrupted inflicted had gone to his upper body. The rest of what had happened had left him with a bad burn in his muscles; something similar to what he got in a workout where he didn’t pace himself or went over his limit too early.

     “I can handle it, I think,” Eric said with a smile as he stopped leaning on Armani. The other man kept his hands out, ready to catch Eric if he happened to go down.

     “We need to go talk to the others,” Armani told Eric as he regained his sense of balance. “Are you ready for it?”

     Nodding, Eric started toward the door to the room. Armani opened it, and let the injured man precede him over the threshold.

     When Eric and Armani entered the waiting area, the conversations the other group members had been quietly engaging in silenced for a solemn moment, and then everyone started talking much more loudly and excitedly at once.

     Kim burst into tears and approached her brother. She gasped apologies and held her shaking hands outstretched toward him. Dave, who held Alec so Kim could hug her brother, smiled at the two of them and cuddled the tiny infant closer. He’d been very worried for his brother-in-law after the corrupted attack.

     “My God, I thought you were dead,” Kim sobbed as she tentatively touched her brother. Eric wrapped her in a hug tight enough to hurt him and reassure his inconsolable older sister, who he knew suffered new mother hormones on top of the tremendous guilt she felt for Eric getting hurt.

     “Calm down, you weepy woman,” he teased as they pulled apart. They didn’t know the statuses of their mother, father, brother, step siblings, or other relatives. For all they knew, they were the last family each other had in the world. Eric made light of the matter of her concern, while at the same time trying to assuage her fear that the last tether she had to the world and family they knew had almost been extinguished.

     “Don’t scare the shit out of me again,” she retorted with a laugh as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. Dave approached and handed Alec back to her. Kim squeezed the baby to her, and offered him to Eric, who gladly accepted and gave him a hug, as well.

     “Now that that’s done,” Armani said with a warm smile. “We have things to be discussed. Guys, if you’d sit.” He gestured to the chairs meant for waiting patients. There were enough for all of the group members and the doctor to sit, while leaving several empty. It had been a fairly large clinic, and the waiting area was as good a place as any to hold a group meeting.

     Everyone sat down, and Armani stood in the middle of the room. He hadn’t made a habit in his life before the Onset of addressing large groups in any setting, but it came as naturally to him as some sports came to other people.

     “We need to weigh our options and figure out our plan of action,” Armani began as he folded his hands in front of the waistband of his pants. “We can’t stay here,” he continued, looking specifically at Ken as he spoke. “I know the idea might be appealing to some of you, but we’re in the heart of the city here. It won’t be safe for long.”

     “If it’s even safe now,” Gwen pointed out, to which she received murmurs of agreement from some of the others.

     Armani nodded along with those speaking to show his concurrence. “It’s a good point. Obviously there are corrupted all over town. We learned that at the gas station. I think what would be best is to stay on the move. We can add another vehicle, stop to gather supplies in the daylight, and then drive all night.”

     “And what happens when the gas runs out, or when the power gets cut off and we can’t get it from the pumps?” Kirby asked from his position near the blockaded doorway. He stood with his pistol out; one of two acting guards for the moment. Near one of the windows stood Molly, holding her ax and keeping an eye out on the side lot as she focused on the conversation.

     She added, “Not to mention, it’s winter in Michigan. The snows are coming soon. We’ve been lucky so far, but soon the roads are going to become impassable without crews to take care of it.”

     “Both good points,” Armani said in an encouraging way. He felt like a professor giving a lecture to students who were amply and willingly contributing to the discussion, and for some reason it made him feel ludicrously successful. “So let’s take a vote quickly: who would be for staying on the road?”

     Eric’s hand went up, and it was followed by Dave’s and then a hesitant Ken’s. The doctor looked like he didn’t know if he was allowed to contribute to group decisions, and Armani picked up on the hesitation at once.

     “If you want to, you’re welcome to accompany us, doctor,” Armani told the man. “Your skills will certainly be invaluable, and having more people around is always better, in my opinion.”

    Nodding once, Ken said, “Thank you. Thank you very much. I didn’t want to stay here, but I absolutely did not want to go out there alone. I don’t think it would be prudent to be stationary while those things are out on the prowl. You saw how that one was. They’re quick, ravenous, and deadly. Any place we stay, they’ll get in.”

     “That includes a broken down vehicle when it runs out of gas,” Kirby said in a warning tone.

     “Or gets stuck in a snow drift taller than you, little man,” Molly added, trying to send a smile his way that dampened the insult. It didn’t work, and Ken found himself considerably miffed.

     “Either way,” Armani began in a placating tone. “We have only three votes for staying on the move. I take it that means the rest of you want to find a place to hole up, stock, and defend?”

     Kim raised a hand, holding a sleepy Alec against her side with the other. “Keeping Alec on the road will be miserable. He can’t stay in his car seat for hours at a time; he has to get out to stretch and get changed. We need to be somewhere safe where he can just be a baby, not on the run.”

     “That much is true,” Armani mused.

     “But if we get backed against a wall in a place we’re trying to defend, getting him out and mobile is going to be difficult,” Eric commented. “Chances are, if we hole up, we could get trapped.”

     Kim frowned, not really liking the options either way.

     “All right,” Armani said. “Does anyone have any ideas that would be good for stocking, locking down, and defending? We don’t want to be near the city, we don’t want to be anywhere most people will think to go. Give it a minute, then let’s hear some suggestions.”

     Molly and Kirby mused on their own, neither of them coming up with viable options. Ken, who was as much of a city boy as one could be in small town Michigan, had absolutely no ideas. Kim and Eric, who had family members with farmland out in the more rural areas nearby both wondered if any of their relatives were still alive, uncorrupted, and readily inviting guests onto their land. Thinking of the relatives in question, they doubted it.

     Gwen spoke up. “How about a warehouse or something? I think I know of one that isn’t too close to the cities. It’s pretty far out there, actually.”

     “It’s a good thought,” Armani said with a smile. “Anyone else?”

     “My cousin cleans for this office building and I help her sometimes,” Dave said. His tone was excited. “It’s really great. The only way in or out is a gate that closes automatically every night. The only way to get it to open is with a code or by activating the motion sensors from the inside. The whole building is fenced off and it isn’t close to people. It’s far away from town with just a couple of other businesses nearby.”

     “They have a security system, I bet,” Kirby said.

     Dave nodded. “Yeah. She knew the code, told it to me so I could close up and she could warm her car some of the nights.”

     “When was the last time you helped clean?” Armani asked. Dave shrugged.

     “We can always use extra money. I helped her last month to fatten up the holiday fund a little bit.”

     “Do you think the code to the system has changed since then?”

     Dave grinned before he answered. “It hasn’t in the three years I’ve been helping out.”

     “Be a shit time for them to have changed it now,” Kirby mused.

     “I bet it’s the same,” Dave insisted. “I really bet it is. And who would think of a place like that to hole up?”
     “You did,” Molly pointed out. “What’s to say some of the other employees don’t have thoughts along the same line? If it’s as attractive as you seem to think it is to defend, there might be people barricaded in there already.”

     “I still think it’s worth a shot,” Dave said stubbornly.

     “We’ll add it to the list,” Armani told him. “Any other suggestions in the meantime?”

     Brooke and Ivy, who’d been whispering together like little girls and especially sisters are wont to do, caught Armani’s attention. Ivy remained silent, choosing only to voice her thoughts to her twin, but Brooke spoke up.

     “The bad things come at night. The sun hurts them. They’re evil, right?”

     “Yes, sweetie,” Gwen told the girl with an encouraging nod.

     Brooke continued, saying, “Well, then we should go to a church. Shouldn’t we, Mr. Armani?”

     Armani swiped a hand over his chin, where stubble had begun to bother him, as he considered her proposal. A murmur of conversation swept through the group, each person considering what Brooke had offered.

     “One of the older churches, maybe?” Kirby suggested. “Some of them are big old brick buildings. Pews would be good for blockading. The sermon hall would obviously be the place to make our living area. A church with a parsonage attached to it or one with a kitchen would be good, too.”

     “A fellowship hall, even,” Kim piped up. “That would make two defensible buildings in one location, and fellowship halls tend to be windowless in my experience.”

     “Well, now, this is sounding plausible,” Eric contributed, leaning forward to become more engaged in the conversation. “We could stock the doc’s car with more supplies and find an acceptable one.”

     “Are there any that aren’t close to people, though?” Molly questioned. “We need to avoid people and churches depend on membership. I’m pretty sure most of them are close to population centers, if not right in them.”

     “I know of one,” Armani said musingly. “Out back in the boonies. Big brick monster, like Kirby said a good one would be. There isn’t a parsonage, but it has living quarters upstairs in the back and underneath. A kids’ play room, a kitchen. It even has two fireplaces. There’s a pond out back that’s got a pretty good stock, last I knew. Woods all around, so plenty to burn for warmth. It’s a behemoth. It’d easily fit everyone here and our supplies.”

     A current of excitement infused the room. Not only was the church Armani described exactly what they were looking for in terms of location, size and remoteness, the very thought of a church conjured the essence of goodness and protection.

     “I think we should do it,” Gwen said, voicing what many of them were thinking. “It sounds perfect, guys.”

     “Sounds like it, but let’s throw out some cons,” Armani said in a warning tone. He didn’t want anyone getting too excited over anything. Nothing was perfect or guaranteed, and that had never been truer than at the present moment. “Anyone have an argument?”

     No one said anything, but a few of them shook their heads. Brooke and Ivy looked pleased with how well-received their suggestion had been. Armani frowned. He didn’t want this to be a do-all, end-all for the group. There needed to be other options, other contingencies.

     “We’ll look at the church as our main goal for now,” Armani said carefully, and the small group cheered quietly. “But,” he followed up quickly, “David’s office building is a close second. If the way to the church is impassable, if we come up with reasons why it might not be the best bet, we’ll head there instead. Now, we need to establish rules for what we’re doing, as well. We need to figure out what each of us are in this group, what our roles are, and what everyone thinks and agrees we need to have done. We have a moment of relative security right now. Let’s throw some things out.”

     Having taken a couple of spiral bound journals and several pens to go with them from one of the stores they’d raided, Gwen produced a set for writing down the pertinent points of the conversation that was to follow.