Waves of Fury (Surviving Earth Chronicles)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Kellen

P anamint Springs is an oasis in our current hell. Well, at least, that’s our hope. Our group stands together, discussing the best way to move forward. What if this town is like the last one we went through? Will it be abandoned or crawling with armed people who want us to move along?

From my vantage point, it’s evident the quaint, aging resort is still intact. It’s dark out now, but I don’t see any lights inside any of the structures. This could mean a safe place to hunker down for the night. We may even find more food and supplies. My stomach grumbles angrily at me. I’d give my left nut for a hot meal right about now.

“Maybe we can find a radio,” Dan says hopefully. “It’d be nice to have a better handle on what’s going on out there.”

“Are we close to the oven place?” Silas asks his dad.

Dan chuckles. “Stovepipe Wells. And we’re close enough. Probably another day of walking and we could be there.”

We’re putting a lot of faith into Stovepipe Wells. If it’s truly a place where we can receive aid and shelter, then perhaps I can also find a way to reach my brother and dad at that point.

“Like at the last hotel, we’ll send a scout team,” I say to our group. “Me and Tyler on one team and Aaron and Dan on the other.”

The rest of our group sits down in a huddle, tired but eager for a place to rest.

When we get closer to the resort, we decide to split up. Dan and Aaron will check the small cabins for people while me and Tyler scope out the restaurant. My stomach growls hungrily again, loud enough I earn a smirk from Tyler.

“Hello?” I call out in a friendly tone, casting the glow of my flashlight along the front of the restaurant building. “Anyone here?”

Like the last hotel, we discover a note on the door.

Resort has been evacuated. Please proceed to the next town, Stovepipe Wells, for lodging and food options. Resort is protected with cameras. Trespassing and theft will be prosecuted by the law.

“I’d love to talk to a cop right about now,” Tyler mutters. “It’s just a warning to scare people off. Five bucks says this place doesn’t have electricity.”

I can think of other more important things I’d like to wager on besides our useless cash but bite my tongue. Tyler is already contemplating how to break into the dinky little restaurant.

The door to the restaurant is made of wood and a fragile-looking knob. All it takes is a hard, well-placed stomp of Tyler’s boot toward the bottom of the door to have it crashing open.

“Subtle,” I say with a chuckle, mimicking his words from the time I broke into the last place.

He grins at me before stepping into the inky darkness of the restaurant. I creep after him, scanning the area with my flashlight. His light joins, illuminating the area a little more. The restaurant is clean and doesn’t appear to have been ransacked by travelers.

Unlike the general store we plowed through recently.

Elise had moral objections about taking from someone else, but at this point, I think we’re all growing immune to those feelings. We need this stuff to survive and no one’s offering to help us. Elise is gone, so no one voiced a differing opinion.

Tyler walks into the kitchen while I rummage around behind the bar. I find a box of saltine crackers and greedily tear one open. I’m chomping on the dry crackers when I hear Tyler hollering.

Tossing the crackers, I rush into the kitchen to see what the fuss is about. He’s standing in front of a small freezer.

“I don’t think it’s been opened since they lost power,” Tyler exclaims, voice filled with glee. “Look, there’s a whole box of frozen hamburger patties.”

Stalking over to him, I peer into the freezer and witness it for myself. “Holy shit. We’re eating good tonight.”

The kitchen isn’t stocked with a lot, but there’s a whole shelf of hamburger buns. They’re not the freshly made kind either. These are regular store-bought kinds that are packed with preservatives, which means they won’t be stale or moldy.

The refrigerator reeks of spoiled food and we quickly close that, considering anything in there a total loss. But we manage to procure hamburger patties, chicken patties, buns, giant cans of green beans, and several bags of chips. It’s a feast.

“The rooms are cleared,” Aaron calls out. “Anything in here?”

“We have food, man,” Tyler calls out. “We just have to figure out how to get the grill started.”

“Hell yeah!” Aaron hollers. “I’ll get Wayne. If anyone can get that shit figured out, it’s him.”

Thirty minutes later, we’re all hovering in the kitchen, watching Wayne cook on the flat grill he managed to get lit. The savory scents of cooking meat have every single one of us practically salivating like starved wolves. Wayne scoops up the first burger and sets it on a bun.

“This is for my sweet little songbird, Judy.”

Judy, who’s sitting in a chair nearby, sings a made-up song about how much she loves Wayne and she’s leaving Dan for him. We all chuckle, desperately needing a little fun in our exhausting day.

Once everyone has their plates piled high, we all migrate into the dining room, splitting up amongst the tables. Tyler smirks at his little brother, who casually has his arm over the back side of the booth, Hailey sitting close. Dan and Judy seem oblivious.

I choose the table where Hope and Aaron are already seated, plopping down next to Hope. They’ve lit one of the battery-powered lamps and have it sitting on the middle of the table. Tyler sits beside Aaron, directly across from me. His foot rests against mine and neither of us moves them.

“This is the best burger I’ve ever eaten in my life,” Hope mumbles through a mouthful of food.

The next few minutes are quiet as everyone digs in. As Hope proclaimed, it’s indeed the best damn burger ever. Nothing like the apocalypse to make you appreciate the little things. Days ago, I was miffed about eating a cold sandwich. Now I’m practically orgasming over a generic frozen burger.

I don’t make it very far through my meal before I’m hurting. Having not eaten much in several days, my stomach’s not enjoying this new diet. Judging from the pained expressions around me, I’d say they all feel the same. I have a sudden panicked thought that maybe the meat wasn’t good, but Tyler winks at me, silently assuring my worries away.

“Eat what you can and we’ll have the rest tomorrow,” Wayne announces as he ambles over to the bar from the kitchen. “I cooked everything and put it back in the freezer. It’ll be easy to reheat in the morning and should be fine despite us having opened up the freezer and let the cold air out.”

We all agree it’s time to hit the hay. Once we’ve gathered our gear, we follow Dan and Aaron outside. They describe the cabins they found. Just like last night, we split up the same way, except this time, we get the cabin with a king-sized bed.

Tyler eagerly heads for the shower but then grunts in frustration several minutes later. “Water’s been shut off.”

“We’ll grab a shower at Stovepipe Wells,” I assure him. “We need rest anyway.”

I barely manage to yank my boots and jacket off before crawling into bed. It’s cold like last night, but soon, with Tyler wrapped in my arms beneath the blanket, we warm up. Unlike last night, we’re not handsy. I think we’re both too exhausted. Luckily, just holding him is nearly as satisfying.

“We’re almost there,” Tyler says sleepily. “I can’t wait.”

As he dozes off, my mind decides to start racing. If Stovepipe Wells is another dead end, what do we do then? Should I try to head toward Texas to look for Knox? What happens to everyone else?

I do know we’re safer as a group. We’ve had to rely on each other to get ourselves out of a few precarious situations. I’m not sure I could have made it all on my own. The thought of not having Tyler by my side makes me queasy.

Or it could be the burgers…

My stomach grumbles, this time in pain. I haven’t taken a proper shit, unlike Gerry, in days. I sure hope my stomach doesn’t decide to unleash its demons while I’m cooped up in a hotel room with the guy I like and no running water.

Another twist of pain has me breaking out in a sweat.

For fuck’s sake.

We’ve been walking all damn day and my legs are shaking. Last night, I indeed got sick to my stomach much to my horror. Tyler, bless him, didn’t mention the rotten stench coming from the bathroom, but he seemed pretty damn eager to get on the road today. Apparently, a few of us got sick last night, including Hailey, Jesse, and Dan. Everyone abstained from the meat this morning and ate the rest of the buns, chips, and green beans.

“You need to drink more water,” Tyler says, handing me another bottle of water. “You’re dehydrated.”

I groan inwardly. “Yeah, thanks.”

Dan thinks some of the burgers had already thawed some past the safe temperatures and we were the lucky ones to have gotten them. I’d give anything right about now for some Immodium.

A shower sounds almost as enticing.

“We’re close,” Aaron says when we come to a stop to rest. “Another mile or two maybe?”

He and Hope look over the map in her hands, both of them nodding in agreement. I’m grateful that our journey is coming to an end. I don’t know that I can take much more walking.

“I think I see a car,” Gerry says, pointing up the road into the muted dark. “Right there.”

I squint, unable to see much with all the cloud cover. The wind has been whipping at us from behind, chilly and unrelenting. I’m damn tired of this cold. It’s summer, for fuck’s sake.

Gerry, clearly convinced he sees a car, sets off walking at a brisk pace. Despite feeling like death warmed over, I trot after him.

“Wait up,” I grunt. “Don’t go alone.”

Gerry gives me a nod of thanks and together, we make our way toward the car. As we get closer, I recognize it.

“It’s those girls’ car,” Gerry grits out. “When I see Kyle, I’m going to kick him in the balls.”

Gerry, a usually jovial man, is about as happy with Kyle as I am. Not that it would’ve mattered. Elise was too far gone anyway. It’s the fact of the matter, though. He abandoned the group the first chance he got. I knew he was a dick, but come on.

As we approach, I get an uneasy feeling. The hairs on my arms stand up on end, this time not from the never-ending biting cold. Thunder rumbles in the distance, making the ground shake mildly.

“Hey,” I call out when we’re about hundred feet away. “Kyle?”

Nothing.

Just the sound of whistling wind and distant thunder.

“Let’s go check it out,” I grunt, cautiously making my way toward the vehicle.

“Someone’s lying on the ground,” Gerry whispers. “You think they’re asleep?”

Outside? Doubtful. I certainly don’t voice that. Shrugging, I creep toward the prone form on the ground.

One of the women—I can’t tell which—lies face down, naked from the ass up. Her pajama pants have been wrenched down to her ankles and she lies in a pool of blood.

Fuck.

This doesn’t look good.

“You think Kyle did this?” Gerry growls, rushing to check the woman’s pulse. “Dammit, she’s dead. Cold and hard, too. This didn’t happen recently.”

I squat near her body and push away her hair. A gash along her neck appears to be the cause of death. I take note of her fingernails. They’re ripped and torn as though she tried clawing her way along the asphalt, away from whoever was doing this to her.

“I think she was, uh, assaulted,” Gerry says, motioning at her bare ass that’s smeared with blood. “This isn’t good, Kellen.”

My stomach twists, this time with a trickle of fear as I rise to my feet. I then notice the other woman, bent over the front of the vehicle. Her pants are completely gone. She too seems to have been brutally raped, murdered, and then left to rot in the elements.

Swallowing down bile, I shine my light into the vehicle, confirming my fear. Kyle sits in the passenger seat, slumped over, a gunshot wound to the head.

“He’s dead too,” I croak out. I scan the area around me, searching for who could have done this. It makes me think of those three guys we first encountered, who wanted to take Hailey. This new world is lawless.

“What do we do now?” Gerry asks, voice shaking.

“We go back to the others and make a plan. There are bad people out here. We have to make sure we don’t run into them.”

Thoughts of Judy or Hailey or Hope meeting the same fate make me want to throw up.

We cannot run into these people.