The 13th Witch Complete Trilogy (21 page)

When I got to the top of the building, I stopped and glanced to the alley. One lone Zombie met my eyes. He smiled a perverse smile and started down the alley. I reached down and pulled the other survivor over the edge and pulled at the ladder. It slid up easily, but one zombie at least knew we were here. The others would follow shortly.

“
What do we do now?” The man snapped at me. I glanced back to him and then the wailing Zombie at the street level.

_“
I don’t know. Find another way out of here, I guess,” I snapped back. When I glanced around, I saw a door towards the middle of the roof area. It was steel and closed, but I did have some hope the survivor I’d met know how to get it open.
_“
How do you normally get out of here?” I asked, eying that door. “Do you use that door?” He glanced in that direction and back to me.

_“
Sometimes, but we usually can jump to the next building too.” He looked across the roof and then back to me. “But I’ve never been to this one.”

I sighed and looked around us. We had to get off this roof. “I’ll try the door,” I said and made my way, carefully to the door. When my hand hit the cold metal, I froze.
What if there are more dead people behind this door waiting to naw us down?
The thought came faster than I could stop it, but it had to be done.

I turned the knob and was surprised when it opened right up and allowed me to see down the staircase. The staircase was empty and open. It reeked of concrete and mold, but there were no dead things waiting to eat me. I turned back to the other man, but he was already behind me.

“
Well, I’ll be damned, it’s open.” He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder. “Who are you anyway. I haven’t even asked.”

_“
We really didn’t have time.” I smiled and continued. “I’m Leah, you?”

_“
Brandon. I think we should get the hell out of here, don’t you, Leah?” He said with a half smile on his face. I couldn’t help but smirk as well. We never thought we had a chance of making it, but here we were, making our way down a set of old metal stairs.

When we got to the basement level, I watched Brandon slowly open the door. He pointed the shotgun in the door and took a slow step in. I didn’t see anything through the darkness behind him, but that meant nothing in this world. Brandon glanced back to me. He seemed to be sure there was nothing to worry about in the dark.

_“
Are we good?” I whispered through the dark. He nodded and I followed in behind him. “There might be a door at the other side of the building that’s clear.” I kept a hand on his shoulder to make sure I knew right where he was. I didn’t want to lose him in the dark. We were the only people in the area alive and I wanted to keep it that way.

We crept through the bottom floor, missing the clothing racks with some things left on them. I glanced at them in passing to see if they might fit me, but they were to small for my frame.

Brandon stopped and turned back to me. “It doesn’t seem like there are any of those things in here.”

_“
Do you think there’s a back door we could use to get out of here?” I asked, hoping I was right. Logically there would have to be a back door of some kind. Hopefully we could find it before it got dark and slip out of this place. I wasn’t about to lose my life over items I might be able to find in a place that’s less covered with these things.

He picked up his shotgun and we made our way through the store. After a bit of searching, we found an area that was more than a little darker than the rest of the place. Brandon pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and flicked it on.

The wall was lined with dock doors that were closed and locked. The locks were simple and opened from the inside, so there wouldn’t be any problems with that. The problem was, once they went up, there was a possibility that a whole lot of Zombies were waiting and ready to pounce on us the minute we opened the doors. I glanced at Brandon and then back at the doors.

_“
What if there are Zombies on the other side of the doors?” I asked, not sure what to do.

_“
Then I guess we get eaten alive,” he said, working with the door. The idea was to crack it first if we could and see what was on the other side before we through open the door.

Brandon slid the door up just a little and looked my way. I could see the strain on his face as he held it.

_“
Can you find something to hold this thing up?” He asked, his voice filled with strain. I glanced around the room, looking for something, anything that would hold it. I finally spotted a concrete block sitting in the corner. I walked to it and grabbed it. One side felt wet and sticky. I didn’t want to look at it and find out what was on the block. I just wanted to ignore it.

I slid the block to the door and worked it under the lip. Brandon let go of the door and rubbed his hands on his jeans. We both looked at each other like we wanted the other to tell us what to do. I glanced at my hands, now that I could see them. They were spotted with the red of the blood on the concrete I’d just moved. A part of me shook inside and I started trying to rub the half dried blood onto my jeans. I could feel Brandon’s eyes watching me in my slight panic, but it didn’t stop me from wanting it off.

_“
I’ll look under the door first,” he said with a slight quiver in his voice. I understood what the fear was all about. It kept us alive, but it also was something that ate away at you. It threatened to take you over and make you crazy, but the world we lived in seemed on the verge of crazy.

Brandon knelt down and stuck his head out of the door. I held my breath, hoping it was clear and we could get out of here alive. When he pulled himself back in, I let out the breath I was holding and waited.

_“
It looks clear, but we’ll have to be fast.” He grabbed his gun and pulled the bag from his back. “We’ll go at the same time.”
I nodded and slid my legs under the door and then the rest of my body. Once I was through, I grabbed my bag and pulled it through. I glanced to Brandon as he was still trying to maneuver himself through the opening. He dropped his shotgun on the ground and let his feet hit the concrete under him. I took a breath and watched, but something was wrong.

A blood covered hand suddenly reached through the opening and grabbed at Brandon’s arm. He flailed at the new revelation of something trying to pull him back into the building we had just nearly escaped. My mind froze for a moment as I tried to take in what was happening.

_“
Shoot it!” Rang through my head and I realized it was coming from Brandon. I glanced at the ground and the gun laying at his feet. I took two steps and grabbed it. I could feel my heart beat in my chest. My breathing seemed slow as I raised the gun to fire. Brandon’s fingers gripped at the door, trying to keep himself from being pulled back through.

I cocked the gun and fired at the bloody hand of Brandon’s grabber and held the gun in place. Everything seemed to get quite. There was no sound, but the blast of the gun and my breathing. I didn’t even see Brandon pull himself from the door and grab my arm.
_“
They will all come running now. We have to go.” He pulled at my arm until I met his eyes. “Come on!” He yelled.

I turned and started running behind him. We turned a corner heading towards the interstate. I had no idea if it would be safe or not, but one thing was for sure, it wasn’t safe to stay here. I glanced behind us as we ran, my heart beating wildly and my chest hurting from the strain. The dead were following, but they were a little slower behind. My mouth went dry. There would be no way we could keep up this pace.

When I turned back to Brandon, he was standing still beside a black Kawasaki Ninja. The only reason I even knew what a crotch rocket was, was because my brother drove one around our old home. Brandon glanced at me and then swung one leg over the seat.

_“
Get on.” He turned the key and the bike fired up. I didn’t hesitate and slid onto the seat behind him.

“
Do you even know how to drive this?” I asked, but before the sentence was even past my lips, he took off. I held on to him as best I could as he weaved the bike through the empty cars on the road. This was a much better way to get around than walking.

Soon we were far enough out of St. Louis and he slowed down. We were still heading towards the East, but the sun was starting to set on us. We’d have to find a place to stop and rest. It wasn’t safe to be out in the night. Not now.

I almost started to say something about stopping when I felt the motorcycle slowing. Ahead of us was an old farmhouse that looked to be pretty empty. The windows were still intact, but the wood siding showed a lot of age.

One the bike stopped, I pushed myself back from Brandon and jumped off. The yard was full of dead grass and oddly bent trees. The whole place looked slightly off, but it was someplace off the road and out of the way for the night.

_“
We should check it out before we get too comfortable,” Brandon said, pulling the shotgun from the bag he had thrown over his shoulder. He held it tight and in a ready to use position before starting for the closed front door.

I followed with my own knife pulled from my side. There was no point in using the gun I carried. It was for a different purpose all together. He slid his hand over the doorknob and opened the door. It banged hard on the wall before slowing stopping. He stepped in first. I followed.

The house looked as though it hadn’t been lived in for a long time. The floor had a layer of dust on it and the old torn furniture was pushed up against the far wall. I stepped to the side of Brandon to take in the rest of the house. He decided it was probably okay since it seemed to have been abandoned long before the end of the world happened. I still listened, hoping there were no walking dead holding up in the place. That was the last thing I wanted to deal with right now.

_“
I think we’re okay here,” he said, lowering his gun. He glanced at me and I raised my eyebrows. “I’ll check for food. We won’t get far without that.”

_“
I guess, but we shouldn’t get too comfortable.” I knew from past experiences that just when you thought you were safe, something always happened. “Might be alright for a day or two, but not much longer.” I’d learned that if you wanted to stay alive, you kept moving. Plus, I had a goal. Even if I really didn’t think it was possible.

I pulled the thin blanket up over my shoulders. Both Brandon and I thought it was smart to stay together. We choose a room with a rickety bed and agreed to take turns sleeping on it, but I was having a hard time letting myself sleep. When I dreamed, it was of the past I’d never return to. I was tired of thinking of what was already over. I wanted to know about what was going to be.

I stared at the ceiling and thought about my mom and my brother. Did they get out? Were they safe? I’d asked myself these questions a lot since the beginning. None were answered and a part of me didn’t know if they ever would be. This was the end of the world and with that people died. That was just the way it was.

Sometimes I wished I would just die too. It was easy to give up when all you saw around you was death and wastelands of broken lives.

I pulled the blanket around me. It was a cold night and the air was just going to get colder. I had to get as close to New York as I could and hope my family was somehow still alive. It was the only thing I had to keep me sane.

I glanced out of the window in the little room to the rising sun in the east. It was nice to see something beautiful compared to the terror I was used to looking at. I sat up and rubbed my eyes before standing and grabbing my stuff.

When I looked to where Brandon had slept, it was empty. I wondered if he was still checking out the place or what was going on with him. I didn’t know him well and far from trusted him, but he was one of the first people I’d run into since all this started.
I slowly got up and started for the door to the little room. When I got there, I slowly opened it and glanced out. There was no one there. I pulled my knife from my side and held it close. One thing I’d learned in all my time out here on my own was ammo ran out. A knife was good for a long time as long as you knew how to use it.

I glanced down the stairs before I took them. They seemed safe enough so I continued down them. When my foot hit the third step, I heard a board creak not far from the stairs. I held my breath hoping it was nothing, but Brandon moving around. There was only one way to find out.

I took the rest of the stairs at a steady pace and readied myself for a fight. My heart was pounding in my chest and my ears were burning. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I didn’t see anything. I let out the breath I was holding until I felt the cold of a barrel on the back of my head.

_“
Don’t move,” the voice said. I’d already heard this song and dance from Brandon and didn’t really want to go through it again, but I also wanted to keep my head. I decide to play along.

_“
I don’t have anything,” I said and turned the knife so it was along my arm instead of sticking out in plain view, hoping he hadn’t seen it.
_“
That’s not what I’m worried about,” he said to the back of my head. “Turn around, slowly.” I held my hands up and started to turn. I kept the pace slow and was slightly revealed when the barrel of the gun wasn’t pressed on my head.

When I got turned around, I could finally see who it was that had me held up in the house in the middle of nowhere. He had dark hair that fell slightly into his light green eyes. He was dressed in some kind of camo gear that came from a military supply store, but there was no way I was going to believe at this point, he was military.

He didn’t lower his gun, but kept his eyes on me. I knew what he was doing, he was deciding if I was a threat. I slipped the knife into my sleeve and kept my hands up to show I wasn’t a threat to him. I was just like him, a person trying to make it out alive. He lowered his gun, but kept an eye on me.

“
What’s your name?” He asked it out of nowhere. One minute he didn’t know if I was someone that was trustworthy and the next, he was asking my name.