The Beginning of the End (13 page)

October 11th 11:46pm

The Humvee passed
through center city and began to pick up speed as it traveled up
Route 3. The girls on the back used this road every day, but never
tied to the back of a truck. The blonde looked over at her fellow
prisoner with the long straight brown hair. She was so afraid that
she was covered with goose bumps, her teeth chattered when she spoke,
“Are you okay? My name is Kate Evans. I remember you from high
school. You were a few years behind me. It’s Sage, right?” The
brunette looked over at Kate. Blood had run down the side of her
mouth and chin, already beginning to dry a dark brown, a gift from
the cowboy’s flying boot. “It’s Sage, Sage Castaneda.” she
whimpered, “Where are they taking us?”

Kate tried to look over
her shoulder, but couldn’t see anything, “I’m not sure where
we’re going, but we just passed the mall, and we’re heading out
of town. Are you okay, your face is covered in blood?” Sage lifted
her chin trying to wipe the blood away with her suspended arm, “I
remember you too. You go to Plattsburgh State. I go there now too.
I’m a freshman.” Sage explained as she looked up, her hands
giving the chain a shake, hoping to break free from her bonds, “It’s
no use. I’ve already tried that!” Kate said hopelessly.

The vehicle slowed down
and made a sharp left turn onto a rough road. The force of the
vehicle turning, pulled on the zip ties forcing Sage to release a
whimper of pain, “Ouch! Where are we, Kate?”

Kate looked around,
lost herself, until they passed through the white ticket booth gate.
“We’re at the fairgrounds!” Sage studied the area as the Humvee
turned into the collage of buildings, “What are we doing here?”
Sage asked.

“I said to shut up
down there, or do you want another boot across the beak?” The
cowboy hollered from the roof of the Humvee. The two girls continued
to watch in silence as they weaved in and out of the fair buildings.
The Humvee pulled up to a long building and stopped in front of a
large garage door. Someone inside of the Humvee yelled, “Open up,”
and the metal door hummed and squeaked as it opened.

Two men with rifles
stood just inside the building ready to attack any unwanted
intruders. The garage door was quick to close behind them. The two
men with the rifles slid crowbars through the door’s wheel track
for added protection. The vehicle’s engine stopped and Wife Beater
who had been manning the fifty-caliber climbed down and walked toward
another man who had been controlling the garage door, “What’s up
Kane?” Wife Beater called out as he walked over to the male giving
him a high five. Kate and Sage examined Kane as he walked over to
them. He was muscular and handsome, with his strong jaw and dirty
blonde hair. Both girls thought he seemed like the kind of guy they
would have dated before everything happened. Kane climbed up on the
Humvee bumper, grabbed an anchor leaning back and studied the girls
for a moment. A smile stretched across his face as he reached behind
him, pulling a twenty-inch cane knife from his belt. Kane moved over
to Sage and dragged the knife across her cheek hard, but not enough
to break the skin, “Oh honey, it looks like you’ve been bleeding.
Was your mouth running a little too much on the ride here?” Kane
moved in close and smelled Sage’s hair. He moved back sliding his
cheek against hers. The stubble on his face was irritating. He
whispered something in Sage’s ear and licked some of the dry blood
away from her chin. Sage began to flail.

“Leave her alone you
bastard!” Kate screamed.

Kane snapped a look at
Kate and slid over on the bumper, straddling her legs, “Oh, I’m
sorry honey. Would you like my attention?” He pushed the flat side
of the cane knife against Kate’s cheek. She instinctively turned
her head away from the danger. The cold blade against her skin gave
her a chill that ran down her spine. He slid the knife around her
cheek to her lips. The metallic, coppery smell of blood enveloped her
senses. Kate’s stomach came up into her throat, and she felt like
she needed to vomit. Kane flipped the cane knife over, using the hook
blade on the knife’s backbone, dragging it along her skin, down her
neck and chest. Drips of blood seeped from the almost invisible cut.

“Oh, pretty. Pretty.
Pretty. Wouldn’t you look just beautiful with your head bashed in?”
Kane taunted, as he leaned in and kissed Kate on the lips. “Get off
me, you bastard!” Kate screamed and shook her head from side to
side. When he was done playing, he jumped down from the bumper and
motioned for Wife Beater to come over, “Cut ‘em down and chain
‘em up in my office!”

Kate glanced at Sage,
who was flushed with fear. In a moment of strength she screamed,
“Fuck You!” Kane stopped walking and looked back at Kate over his
shoulder, “All in good time my love.” Kate felt a wave of
revulsion come over her.

Wife Beater climbed up
on the Humvee and used the key on his belt to unlock the chain from
the anchor. He pulled it away, and the girls were able to drop their
hands for the first time in hours. The pain slowly diminished as the
blood circulated back into their fingers. Wife Beater cut the cords
binding their feet together and dragged the girls over to a work
bench by the zip ties that still bound their hands. Sage watched as
he grabbed an eight-foot piece of a chain off the bench. He pulled
Kate close and wrapped the end of the chain around her neck and
secured it with a pad lock. He took the other end of the chain and
bound Sage in the same manner.

Sage felt the cold
chain constrain her neck as he pulled it too tight. He snapped the
padlock closed as Sage yelped, “I can’t breathe!” Wife Beater
said nothing as he gave the chain a yank. He dragged the girls
through the building occasionally heckling them as they followed,
“Get along little doggies.” he sassed.

They were led to a
small office that had the name Kane spray-painted on the door. Wife
Beater opened the door and motioned for the women to go in, while he
took a chivalrous bow. “After you little doggies.” He followed
them in the office and told them to take a seat on the floor. He
reached up and grabbed a chain hanging from the ceiling rafter. Wife
Beater reached in his pocket and pulled out another lock, securing
the middle of the women’s chain to the hanging chain. Sage eyed the
office, already looking for an escape.

“I’ll be back in a
few hours to check on you.” Wife Beater said as he was closing the
door behind him. He stopped when he heard Sage scream, “Hey! Before
we’re done here. I’m gonna take your boss’s knife and sink it
in the top of your skull!” Wife Beater smiled at Sage, flipped off
the office lights and closed the door behind him. As he walked away
the women heard him say, “That will be hard to do considering
you’ll be dead in a few hours.”

October 11th 11:45pm

No matter what Chevy
and I talked about, I could not get the thought of those two girls
out of my head. I couldn’t understand why those guys would do that
to the living with all the Dead walking around trying to eat
everything.

“We’re not far now
Chev!” I said as my pace quickened. A few blocks away from their
house, I felt my fast walk turn into a slow jog. We turned the corner
and there it was. I'd never been so happy to see my parent’s house.
I chuckled to myself when I noticed the grass seriously needed a cut.
Mowing the lawn had always been my job. Now that I was gone, my dad
tried to get away with doing it every two weeks.

I dashed up the front
steps and latched onto the door handle. It was locked, so I entered
the four-digit code on the deadbolt’s keypad. The pad turned green
with an accepting beep, and I turned the lock. Chevy grabbed my arm
to slow me down, “Whoa! We can’t just go charging through the
front door. I’m sure your dad is aware of what’s going on, and he
might be sitting on the other side with a loaded rifle in his hand or
worse, a dead.” Chevy said with a concerned look on his face.
“Yeah! That’s a good point, we had better take this slow.” I
was going to go in first, so Chevy handed me his spear, and he took
over control of the door. I held the spear like I had seen Roman
soldiers do in old movies. I took it with both hands and held level
at my belt line. I gave Chevy a quick nod to let him know I was
ready. He gingerly opened the door that gave way to darkness. I
reached for the light switch and with a flip, they popped on. I
inspected the kitchen, and everything seemed in order. The dishes
were done, and the house was clean. There was even a faint smell of a
Pumpkin Spice candle in the air. Chevy came in and locked the
deadbolt behind him, “Hey, it looks okay.” he said with a big
smile on his face. We left the kitchen, passed through the dining
room and into the living room. I flipped on the overhead light, and
the ceiling fan came to life sending out a steady breeze. I looked
around the room and spotted my mom’s phone plugged in, sitting on
the stand next to her chair. If she was home that’s where you’d
always find her phone. I picked it up and hit the home button. The
display read: 10 New Voice Messages. “Holy shit, Chevy. Look at
this.” showing the screen to Chevy. “Let’s finish checking the
house first, then we’ll listen to the messages. If she’s not
here, maybe she’s been leaving messages hoping you’d come here
and see them.” He was probably right, checking the entire house
first was a good idea, so I shoved the phone in my back pocket. We
passed the empty downstairs bathroom where we’d found an open
window, and headed up the stairs to the bedrooms. Half-way up the
stairs, I thought I heard something thump. I looked back a Chevy and
whispered, “This spear is too long for this tight space, hand me
your hatchet.” I crept up the remaining stairs, trying to remember
which ones squeaked. Memories of sneaking out of the house in high
school days served me well. With the loud steps behind me, I edged my
way down the hall stopping at my parent’s bedroom door. The door
wasn’t latched, and I could see light shining through. I listened
and heard something on the other side of the door. I was about to
give the door a push when I heard a moan followed by a squeak of the
bed.

The last thing I wanted
to do was walk in on my parents having sex, the thought disgusted me.

I was about to call out
to my mom when I heard a louder moan followed by snapping. I looked
back at Chevy while my mind processed the sound, “Snapping!” is
all that came out. I kicked the door open and saw my mom’s legs
hanging off the bed. There was a dead sitting on her hips eating her
face and chest, “Nooooo!” I screamed as I ran in. I went crazy
swinging the hatchet wildly as hard as I could, striking the dead man
on the bottom of his jaw completely ripping it off. I swung again,
this time downward striking his nose with such force it buried the
entire blade into his skull. I yanked the weapon from his skull, and
he fell to the floor. I stood over him, out of control, hitting him
again, and again, and again! So many times that his head was nothing
but black puddle of crushed skin and bone. I began to tire and my
swing slowed. Someone was yelling, and I hadn’t heard them.

“Ty!...... It’s not
your mom!” Tears of joy flushed my eyes.

“Did you hear me, Ty?
It’s not your mom!”

I did, and it felt like
some hope had returned. Chevy helped me stand, and I examined the
bloodied corpse laying on my parent’s bed, “Who is that?” Chevy
asked. I studied the corpse but couldn’t give him an answer, “I
don’t know, I’ve never seen her before.” She must have come in
through that open window looking for refuge. I left the room and
walked around the house screaming for my mom and dad to come out. By
the time I got downstairs to the kitchen, I couldn’t take it
anymore. I fell to my knees, screaming and crying. Chevy followed me
to the floor and took me in his arms, “Ty, don’t cry! We’ll
figure this out! I love you brother!” I hugged Chevy back and
buried my face on his shoulder. For the next two minutes, he let me
hug him and cry.

With no more tears, I
was able to control my emotions a little better. Chevy went through
the house turning off all the lights. He came back into the kitchen,
closed the door leading to the dining room and wedged a chair under
it, “We’ll be safe in here. There’re no windows in this room,
so it will look dark and empty from the outside. We need to eat some
food and get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a
long day.” Chevy and I searched the cupboards and went with a
couple of hotdogs smothered in canned chili. We washed it all down
with soda my mom had stuffed in the bottom of the fridge.

With our bellies full,
we decided it was time to check out my dad’s “Man Room,” in the
basement. We headed down the stairs and went to the spare room behind
the TV, a little area my dad liked to call, “The Arm’s Room.”

He had grown up hunting
and fishing with his father and in turn taught me all the same
skills. My dad educated me on the proper use of every weapon he had
in his arsenal. After becoming a Police Officer, he had become even
more infatuated with weapons and became a serious collector. Most
weapons were state of the art while some went back as far as the 5th
century. The Arm’s Room was protected by a solid two inch thick
steel door that my dad had paid five bucks for at an auction. It was
from a secure building that was on the old Air Force base that closed
down in the Eighty’s. They’d spent twenty years tearing
everything apart and selling it at auction.

Chevy reached for the
door handle and twisted. The door didn’t budge. The deadbolt above
the handle was locked. “How the hell are we supposed to get in
there?” Chevy asked.

“Try the
combination!”

Chevy looked at me for
a few seconds, and I stood there quietly.

“Well, are you going
to give me the combination for the keypad?” he finally asked.