General

Smoky Mountains
by
Jason Crow

Chapter 25 – Wildlife
Day 6.

During the last stop, I took off my fleece vest. The road was slowly but steadily going uphill, and I was starting to sweat pretty heavily.

“Can we pause for a minute, Joel?” I asked, panting a bit.

“Let’s stop around that corner up ahead,” I hear Joel say from behind me.

After we rounded the corner, we got off and took another sip from our drinking bottles. I looked at Joel and noticed he was sweating too. We didn’t talk too much to get our breaths back, but I felt hungry, and I figured Joel was also hungry. So I reached into the bag fitted around my front wheel and grabbed us both a high-protein energy bar.

As we started munching them down, I noticed the phone was quiet. When I took my phone out of my pocket, I gave a big sigh of relief because I saw we were still connected. They’d probably just muted us for some reason.

“Ellie? Are you still there?” I asked.

Nothing. I glanced at Joel, who looked at me with a puzzled look on his face. The moment I wanted to ask again, Adam’s voice came on the phone.

“One second, Mia. We’re looking into something here. We’ll get back to you as soon as we know more. Can you two start pedaling again? Just in case?”

“Sure thing, Adam. We just finished eating our protein bars,” I responded casually.

I pressed mute on my phone and signaled Joel to do the same. After he did this, I stepped close to him and pretended to fix his shirt.

“Adam sounded worried. Do you think anything’s wrong?” I whispered.

“I noticed that too. But I guess our only option is to trust them and do what they say. They’ve got the bigger picture.”

“Guess you’re right. I just hope it’s not the A.W.A. following us for killing these two assholes,” I trailed off.

“If they are, I’m sure Adam and Ellie will find a solution for it,” Joel said confidently.

We unmuted our phones, climbed back on our bikes, and rode off again. Joel rode beside me, and we were currently at a flat spot of the road, so we decided to step it up a bit and make up for the lost time.

“Ehm… Listen up, guys,” Adam’s voice came on. “We’ve got some bad news and are not going to lie about it.”

“Oh, oh,” was my immediate response.

“Yeah… We’re looking at the satellite feed from Brazil, and uh… I’ll just say it. They’re back.”

These words felt like a punch to the stomach. I looked over at Joel, and all the color had vanished from his face. He stared blankly at the road.

“You mean the bugs, right?” I asked, making sure we were talking about the same thing.

“I’m afraid so,” he softly said.

“Fuck! We should’ve stayed in the store,” Joel said beside me.

“Don’t, Joel. You know that’s not true,” I said, looking at him sternly.

“But there’s also some good news,” Adam said, trying to steer us away from conflict.

“Shoot!” I said, really curious how there could be any good news in this.

“According to SHIVR’s calculations, they won’t be here in another five hours. According to your average speed up until now, we’ve got about thirty minutes to spare. So you’ll make it in time to get down in the shelter with us.”

“Fucking hell…” Joel mumbled.

I couldn’t help but agree. I just didn’t say it out loud. This would mean another four and a half hours of cycling. Without stopping.

“According to our calculations, you’ve got room for two short brakes,” Adam said flatly. “And considering we’ve got thirty minutes to spare, AND considering these thirty minutes are a pretty conservative calculation, we guess that you’ll make it in time.”

“Okay then…” I said. “Well… Nothing to do than to step it up and keep going.”

We pedaled like this for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. I felt the need to take the edge off and wanted to talk. The subject didn’t matter to me, as long as we talked and not thinking about bugs.

“So it was you started calling us on the landline, right?” I asked while pedaling steadily.

“Yeah. We were,” Ellie responded. ”SHIVR pointed out the cellphone masts were going down, and almost at the same time, we saw these two guys approaching the store.”

“Yeah. They told us they did that on purpose. They didn’t know how we did it. Still, they just assumed we were calling someone who initiated the speaker-thing inside the apartment building,” Joel added.

“Adam and I didn’t know what else to do. We figured that simulating an S.O.S. signal by calling the landline three times with pauses in between was the only way to warn you,” Ellie said, a bit embarrassed.

“It worked. We woke up in time, and we… uh… handled it,” I said, glancing over at Joel.

“You can’t imagine how thrilled we were when we eventually heard your voices!” Ellie said in a blatant attempt to avoid talking about how we handled it.

“Listen… We didn’t say it yet. But thank you. Your actions probably saved our lives,” Joel said thoughtfully.

“I’m glad you look at it this way, Joel,” Adam’s voice said, “but as I said earlier, we’re in this together. And I was scared shitless the moment I saw these men go inside with no way for us to reach you. So… You’re welcome, but please! Don’t mention it! We’re so glad we can help you guys this way. And you’re basically doing it on your own. We’re just remote assistance from some call center.”

I heard Joel and Ellie laughing, and I had to laugh too. So, for now, we were more than okay together, and I wouldn’t want to waste any more words on it.

“Just keep going, guys. You’re doing great! We’ll keep the line open and let you know if there’s any news we need to share. You need to focus on getting here as quickly as you can,” Ellie said.

And that’s precisely what we did. We rode for an hour straight, making some occasional small talk. We were making good progress, and the road SHIVR had picked was clear from debris or other nasty stuff. With each corner we rounded and hilltop we reached, my confidence in getting there in time grew. We were exiting a small group of houses when Joel slowed down and stopped.

“Fuck me. We need to ditch some items to make our bikes a bit lighter. We don’t need to haul a fucking tent with us. We’re not going to use it. And if we do need it, we’re screwed anyway.”

“Didn’t think of that. You’re right, Joel!” I said and started untying the sleeping bags and other stuff we didn’t need anymore.

We just kept the food, the drinks, spare clothes, and the guns. We threw all the other stuff at the side of the road. After another sip from the water bottles, we mounted our bikes again for the next stint.

“Damn! Why didn’t we think of this sooner!” I said to no one in particular.

“Adam and I said it to each other hours ago. We were wondering how long it would take before you figured it out. Guess I won the bet,” Ellie chuckled.

“WHAT!?” I said, a bit agitated.

“Hahaha! Just kidding, Mia!” Ellie laughed.

I heard Joel laughing over the phone, and when I looked over, he had a pretty smug face with a big smile on it. I knew she got me, and I’ve always been a good sport with these kinds of jokes, so it didn’t bother me that much.

“Fuck you, Ellie,” I laughed.

The next hour or so was pretty uneventful, and I realized that all the cardio I did before all this started paid off now. I was getting tired, but nowhere near exhausted. I knew I had another three hours of heavy pedaling in me, which boosted my confidence even more.

“We’re going to make it, Joel,” I said, smiling.

“I think so too. Tired?”

“A little. But nothing serious.”

“Same here.”

Joel rode a bit in front of me now because the road was getting narrower. With him bend over on the bike, his ass looked fabulous, even in these pants. Now I knew why Joel kept riding behind me for so long.

“Guys?” Ellie’s voice came on.

“Oh no…” I replied.

“Don’t worry. It’s not that bad. SHIVR spotted a black bear on the road in front of you.”

“Not bad?” Joel asked, surprised.

“Just listen. Turn left the first street you see. After that, it’s an immediate right turn. This road runs parallel to the main road. It’s just through a housing estate. That way, you’ll avoid the bear and can keep going.”

“Copy,” Joel said. “I see some clouds of smoke in the distance. I don’t think it’s anything serious. Can you see what is?”

“Hard to see from the satellite feed. We’ll look into it and let you know,” Ellie said.

“Thanks! Next left, right?” Joel asked.

“Yes. The bear is further up the road, so he won’t see you guys.”

Before we knew it, the street to our left came into view, and we entered it. Ellie was right. There were a couple of houses here. Besides a few toys, some cars, and a few bodies in the street, it was abandoned entirely. We could see some clouds of smoke in the road to the left of us, but it wasn’t much.

“You’re doing great. We got eyes on you via the satellite. It’s the only feed left, but we can see you on it until you’re at our place,” Ellie said.

I felt a bit nervous about the bear, but Ellie’s comforting voice was enough for me to keep focused on riding my bike. About halfway down the street, I saw the source of the smoke. I noticed the house on our left had no windows left, and some small clouds of smoke were coming out of its roof.

“Must’ve been a gas explosion or something,” I thought.

“Look out!” Joel shouted.

The loud hiss coming from my front tire made me feel extremely stupid. Here I was, realizing there was broken glass everywhere, and I didn’t bother to look at the street in an attempt to avoid it.

“Fuck! This is bad,” I heard Joel say. “Ellie?”

“I hear you, Joel. Why have you stopped?” she asked worriedly.

“Mia’s front tire and my rear tire are flat. I don’t think we can ride like this.”

I noticed his voice was remarkably calm, especially considering our dire situation.

“Can you try if you can still ride like this?” Adam asked worriedly.

“I just rode a few yards after I ran flat. That’s not an option,” Joel replied.

“Let alone with a flat front tire,” I said. “I nearly fell after all the air was out of it.”

“Damnit!” Adam and Ellie said at the same time.

“I think we need to find shelter in one of these houses,” Joel said as he looked around.

“Can’t you make one functioning bike?” Ellie said.

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked, clearly not getting what Ellie was aiming at.

“Replace your front wheel with Joel’s. These wheels are easily interchangeable, aren’t they?”

“One sec,” Joel said, and he started fiddling with his front wheel. “I think that will work.”

Joel pulled at some screws near his front wheel, and seconds later, he dropped his bike and held the wheel in his hands.

“Hold it steady,” he said, pointing at my bike.

Joel basically started doing the same thing on my front wheel, and I looked around for a suitable house to stay in, just in case this didn’t work out. I looked down the street to where we were heading, and my blood ran cold.

“Joel?” I softly said.

“What is it?” he said, a bit annoyed, and looked at my face.

He glanced back over his shoulder to check what I was looking at, and he immediately got to his feet. There, a few hundred yards away, the black bear was walking around.

“You take the shotgun from my bike, just in case he gets close. I’ll try and scare him away with the rifle,” Joel whispered.

“Guys? Do you see that big bear too?” I said into the mic.

“We do now,” Ellie said. “We were checking out some options, so we didn’t look at the screen.”

“Don’t worry too much,” Adam said. “He’s probably more scared of you.”

“Probably,” Joel said. “But still aiming the rifle.”

Joel got on one knee and loaded the rifle. He was looking through the scope toward the bear. I had the shotgun pressed to my shoulder and already made sure it was loaded. My heart was beating in my throat, but I wasn’t as scared as I was this morning. Adam was right. This bear was probably just hungry and afraid of us.

That’s when the bear froze and looked our way. For a few seconds, it was almost a Mexican standoff. Neither moved, but we each knew something was about to happen.

“Please let him run away,” I whispered.

“If he doesn’t, I’ve got him in my sight,” Joel whispered back. ”You don’t shoot until I tell you, Mia. Your range is way shorter, and we might need all these bullets.”

“Kay.”

And that’s when it happened. The bear started running, but he didn’t run away. Instead, he ran straight toward us.

“BANG!”

A loud bang from the rifle hit the road right in front of the bear. He slowed down a bit but didn’t stop. Joel was pulling at the bolt to reload a new bullet. He aimed again and…

“BANG!”

I could see a small cloud of blood coming from the bear’s shoulder, which caused him to roar loudly. Joel was pulling at the bolt again, and…

“BANG!”

Another cloud of blood at almost the same spot and another roar.

“Fuck! Scope’s off…” Joel mumbled as he pulled at the bolt. “Get ready, Mia.”

“BANG!”

This one hit the bear in his neck. I could see the blood pouring out, but he still kept running. By now, he was getting close, and I figured I could shoot too, but I had to wait.

“Now, Mia!” Joel shouted, making ready for another shot. “Unload your gun on him!”

I never shot a shotgun before in my life, so I didn’t know what to expect. The moment I pulled the trigger, the punch against my shoulder was firm, and the gun pulled up a bit. But the loud bang and fury it released was nothing I expected. It hit the bear dead-center in his chest, and by now, he stopped running and started standing up. I was so impressed by the sheer size of the standing bear, I hesitated. It was only a millisecond, as I realized it was him or us. I pulled the pump-action below the barrel and saw the empty shell fly out. I aimed again, and…

“BANG!”

Joel and I shot at the same time. I hit him in the chest again, and Joel hit the bear right in the middle of his forehead. The bear was killed instantly by that last shot. He felt down and didn’t move anymore. I just knew we had killed him and felt a vague sense of pride, despite killing such a magnificent animal.

“FUCK YEAH!” Joel shouted. “We got him!”

“Yeah! We did!” I shouted too, giving my brother a high-five.

“That was amazing!” Adam shouted in our ears, “You killed a bear!”

We walked over to the bear, and after I softly kicked it, we were both positive it was dead.

“I don’t want to be a party-pooper,” Ellie said, “But we still need to figure out what to do with the bikes.”

“We’ve got one working bike now,” Joel said, clearly still hyped from the action.

“We could take turns running and riding,” I offered.

“No way. That’ll be way too hard and way too slow,” Adam said, obviously thinking out loud.

“Then we go and build a shelter in one of these houses and sit it out again. Only with less food this time,” I said glumly, not seeing any other option.

“Fuck this,” Adam said.

I didn’t hear him swear before. I didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing yet. I glanced over at Joel, who just shrugged.

“Look,” Adam said. “You go pick out a house and start building a shelter as secure as possible. We’ll work somethi…”

“Adam?” Joel asked.

While Adam and Joel were talking, I was scoping the area for more possible dangerous stuff. A few moments after Adam got cut off, I noticed the lights in the only house that had some lights on go out simultaneously.

“I think the power is out, Joel,” I said, feeling the panic build inside me.

“Adam?” Joel asked again but started looking at his phone.

I took my phone out of my pocket and looked at the screen. No service again. I felt a blanket of fear sweeping over me as I realized we were entirely on our own again.

“FUCK!” Joel screamed and started looking around frantically.

“What do we do? Can’t we just take a car and see how far we get?”

“I was thinking the same,” he said, a little calmer now. ”But we only roughly know where to go. That’s not enough. Especially not now we’ve lost contact with them. And in these houses, we’ll probably find keys for the car that’s inside the garage, but…”

“How do we open the garage without power…” I completed his sentence, knowing a car wasn’t an option.

“Right. Let’s start scoping the houses,” Joel said, obviously in survival mode. “We’ll split up to cover more ground. There are about ten houses in the neighborhood. We do a quick scan if the door is open and if we think we can build a shelter in there.”

“Okay. How about food and water?” I asked.

“During the first run, we just check the kitchen. Our main priority is shelter. But since we’re already inside, a quick food check isn’t a bad idea,” Joel said and looked around.

He started untying the bag on the front of his bike and motioned for me to do the same. After it was undone, he opened it, grabbed his spare clothes, and laid them on the curb.

“You do the same. We’ll grab our clothes later. Use this bag to stuff the food you find. Don’t be picky,” he smiled.

“Okay. Let’s go,” I said. “I’ll work my way through these houses. You take care of the others,” I pointed.

“Okay. Work fast. If a house is locked, move on to the next. If there’s nothing to our liking, we can always kick in a door or window.”

And off we went. I didn’t run because I wanted to preserve my energy. I did scope the houses at a gentle jogging pace because time was becoming an issue. The first house was locked, so I quickly went over to the next one. When I opened the door, I noticed two mummified people lying in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. I ignored them and hurried inside. I checked the first floor, grabbed two bottles of coke from the fridge, and went upstairs. Nothing useful there.

The following two houses were open, and the layout was pretty much the same. The first floor had a big living room, a kitchen, and a hallway. Upstairs four bedrooms, all had large windows with a fancy ventilation system in them. Every house was equipped with a state-of-the-art air refreshing system, which meant every room had a small air vent connected to a central unit placed on top of the roof. These houses were basically a death trap for what was coming our way. I did manage to collect some food and drinks, but that was about the only plus side on my run.

The moment I tried the last house and noticed it was closed, I saw Joel walking over. He saw me looking down and started smiling.

“I think I found something,” He said. “You?”

“Nah. Nothing. All houses have this stupid system with that unit outside. I’m sure the bugs will find their way inside through that. I did get food and drinks, though.”

“At least that’s something. Come on,” he said and started jogging toward a house at the end of the street. He opened the door and entered an entry on our right, halfway down the hallway.

“This is the only house I found with a basement,” he said, going down the stairs in front of me.

As we entered the basement, I noticed it had concrete walls and one small window at the top of the back wall. I also saw it was currently closed, which was a good sign.

“See?” Joel said. “No ventilation system, concrete walls, and only one tiny, securely locked window. We’ll only have to seal off the door.”

“This is good, Joel. Real good! Let’s get stuff down here like a bed, table, and chairs, and some other stuff,” I said as I placed the bag with food in a corner.

We went upstairs and got the stuff down in the basement as quickly as we could. We decided to worry about setting it up later. After we had the necessities downstairs, I looked at Joel.

“I’ll do another food run in the closed houses. I’ll smash a window in with this,” I said, picking up a hammer I found on a shelf in the basement.

“You do that. I’ll start looking for something we can use to seal the door. Back in fifteen?” Joel said, looking at his phone.

“Okay. I set a timer on my phone. according to Ellie’s calculations, we’ve got about forty-five to fifty minutes left before the bugs arrive.”

“Let’s hurry then,” Joel said as he started climbing the stairs.

I emptied the bag, and after just under fifteen minutes, I was back with another supply of food and drinks. I guessed this would last us at least a week, maybe a week and a half if we were careful. I scanned the house for a bucket that could function as our toilet. And since we had a water supply down here, I was getting more and more used to the idea of spending another week down here. What we’d do after that was still Unclear but wasn’t something to worry about now.

As I was scanning for the bucket, I came across a few board games. I took them down with me so we wouldn’t die from boredom. Unfortunately, Risk wasn’t one of them, but Twister, Battleship, and all sorts of other games were. The moment I was downstairs and checking if we were missing something, Joel came down.

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He kept saying. ”I can’t find anything to seal off the door.”

“Can’t we put towels at the bottom and push some paper into the keyhole?” I offered.

“I don’t see any other option either. But the gaps at the side and top of the door are pretty big. I want to seal these off too.”

The moment I wanted to go upstairs to the bathroom to get some towels, I heard a car horn outside. I looked over at Joel and, judging by the confused look on his face, he was just as puzzled as I was. We didn’t hear a car engine. Was this a fluke? Was someone still alive in one of these houses? We started sprinting up the stairs. I was the first to go outside to see the most fantastic thing I could ever imagine.

End of Chapter twenty-five

Copyright 2021 – Jason Crow
All rights reserved

Hic venit servare

Smoky Mountains
by
Jason Crow

Chapter 23 – Busted
Day 6.

I woke up with a shock. Joel and I were still lying the same way as we fell asleep last night. I guessed because we were both so tired from yesterday’s events outside and our long sex session in the evening. I knew something had woke me up, but I didn’t know what it was.

“RINGGG!”

There it was again! The phone downstairs was ringing. Joel moved beside me too and quickly sat up straight.

“RINGGG!”

Again? Joel’s sleepy eyes looked at me, and as he did, I saw the sleep vanish from his eyes.

“What’s that?” he whispered. “The landline?”

“Yeah,” I whispered back, reaching for my phone.

I looked at my phone and noticed the time. It was 6:34 a.m.

“That can only be Ellie and Adam, don’t you think?” Joel whispered as he got up.

That’s when I noticed the ‘No Service’ text in the top right corner. My heart almost stopped when I read it. What was going on? Was the power out? Were we being sabotaged? Who was calling us?

“I don’t have service anymore.”

“RINGGG!”

The ringing had stopped for a minute or so, and here it was again. Joel looked at me wide-eyed and quickly picked up his phone. The look on his face already told me what he was looking at.

“We must get dressed quickly,” he whispered with an urgency in his voice I hadn’t heard before.

“RINGGG!”

“Fuck!” I whispered. “Do we need to get that?”

Joel looked at me as he was pulling up his boxers. I had to look at his dick before he hid it from view and adjusted it in his boxers. The moment he started pulling up his pants, I started with my panties, tearing my eyes away from his crotch.

“RINGGG!”

We didn’t stop this time, and both started dressing as quickly as we could. As I was tying my shoes, I glanced over at Joel, who was tying the knife sheath to his leg. He was still shoeless and shirtless, and the tip of his tongue stuck out of his mouth as he was concentrating on tying the cords. I put on my shirt and hurried over to help Joel. We needed to be dressed comfortably, and this was one of these things that needed to be done correctly.

“The phone stopped ringing,” Joel said softly.

“You’re right. I think it’s ringing three times and then stops for a few moments,” I said, tying the last knot. “There! All set.”

“Thanks,” Joel said and started fiddling with two smaller knives that were supposed to sit parallel on his belt above his butt.

I tried the light switch and noticed we still had power.

“What do we do, Joel?” I asked, feeling the panic sweep over me.

“We stay calm. We’re safe in here, and after we get dressed…”

“RINGGG!”

“After we get dressed, we’ll carefully try and go downstairs.”

“I guess you’re right. We need to get dressed and be completely…”

“RINGGG!”

“Fuck! Completely ready before we get out of this room.”

“It’s an S.O.S. signal…” Joel said as if he was struck by lightning.

“RINGGG!”

“Oh my god… You’re right…”

I started gathering my things and regretted leaving our guns by our bikes. The shotgun and rifle weren’t a problem, but I’d feel a lot safer with my handgun in my hand, despite my aversion for guns. A knife suddenly just didn’t seem enough.

I noticed a loud click downstairs but couldn’t quite place the sound. Joel apparently didn’t hear it, as he was still working on these knives. This was starting to annoy me. He needed to put his shoes and shirt on and worry about these knives later. The moment I wanted to open my mouth, we both froze.

“Told ya that nigger was the owner,” a familiar voice downstairs said.

“Fuck, fuck fuck…” Joel whispered, moving around frantically.

There was no way we could hide from anyone inside this room. We needed to do something, but I couldn’t figure out what to do.

“Good thing we checked these apartments, right?” the voice continued.

“There’s some great shit in here. Don’t we need to call it in?” another voice said.

“Nah. Let’s check for ourselves first…”

Joel reached for his shoes to pick them up. The moment he did this, his shoulder bumped against a stack of staples and paperclips, causing them to fall over. It wasn’t that loud, but it was almost like a pile of glasses fell over and shattered on the floor in our ears.

“First…”

Joel and I didn’t move an inch. We both just stood there, afraid to make any more noise. I was feeling terrified, and my heart was trying to beat out of my chest. The voices had stopped, and everything was quiet now. Maybe they didn’t hear us?

“Did they hear us?” I whispered as softly as I could.

Joel shrugged his shoulders but looked just as petrified as I felt. I slowly stepped over toward the door to put my ear against it. I didn’t hear the voices anymore, but there were still footsteps. I just couldn’t figure out if they were close, downstairs, or somewhere in between that.

“Can you hear them?” Joel whispered just as softly.

“No. I think…”

With a loud bang, the door cracked as it was kicked open. It hit me hard on my head, causing me to fall back. I felt a sting in my head and saw white flashes before my eyes. I saw a familiar face appear in the door opening between these flashes, immediately pointing a gun at Joel, who quickly raised his hands.

“Well, well. What do we have here, Ben?”

“The two fuckers that tricked us!” Ben said as he came into view and pointed his gun toward me.

“You two got a cozy place in here,” Curtis said as he glanced around. “Too bad for you we found the keys to this place on the body of that nigger who owns this place. We just had to take the keys out of his pockets.”

“Yeah… Too bad, fuckers!” Ben added with a sly smile.

“What do you want from us?” Joel asked, still bare-chested and far from being as diplomatic as yesterday.

“What do we want? HAH!” Curtis said. “We want to know how you tricked us and then come with us to City Hall. That’s what we want.”

“What do you mean? Tricked you? We were scared shitless when the shooting inside that building started,” Joel said with a straight face.

“Right… Scared, huh?” Ben said sarcastically.

“Listen up. I know you were behind it one way or the other. That’s why I let my friends shut down the cellphone towers in this region.”

“Why? Did you run out of your prepaid phonecard and didn’t want anyone else to know?” Joel smiled.

Curtis moved quickly and punched Joel in his stomach with the back of his rifle. Joel let out a moan and hunched over, grabbing his stomach.

“Don’t get cocky with me, BOY. We were out all night looking for you two. I didn’t think we’d find you anymore, but yet here we are.”

“I’m sorry,” Joel groaned. “But how on earth could we do what we did? We were just on our way to our Uncle!”

“I don’t know how you did it! But Ben noticed you were both wearing an earbud. I just put two and two together…” Curtis trailed off.

I could only hope Joel would keep his mouth shut and not try to be funny about adding up numbers. So I decided to beat him to it.

“We were just leaving this place to head out to our Uncle. All the stuff in here is yours if you want. We won’t tell,” I said with the friendliest smile I could.

Curtis looked over at me and got a weird look on his face.

“And you know what else?” Curtis continued while he kept looking at me, “That pretty mouth can be used for a whole lot of interesting things…”

The moment he said this, Joel stepped forward angrily. He was pressed back immediately by the barrel of the gun being pressed against his chest.

“Oh yeah! Please! Give me a reason… BOY…” Curtis said.

I could see Joel trying to hold back, but his eyes looked… different. The last time he met Joe, his eyes shot fire. Right now, I could see utter violence in them. Something I never figured I’d see in my brother’s eyes.

“Maybe we should try her out for ourselves first, Curtis,” Ben chipped in and laughed loudly after he said it.

“Yeah… Maybe we should… She’ll need to be doing it a lot anyway. Might as well teach her the ropes,” Curtis smiled. “And you, BOY… You’ll help us hauling in all the stuff our foraging teams bring in. You think you can…”

“RINGGG!”

Curtis and Ben looked back at the door, a bit surprised. It was only a tenth of a second, but enough for my brother to spring into action. Joel quickly grabbed the gun by its barrel and pointed it toward the ceiling. With his other hand, he punched Curtis hard on his nose, causing blood to spurt out all over his face and his clothes. Moments later, Joel grabbed the knife on his belt’s back and moved it quickly toward Curtis’s throat.

This all happened in a split second. I noticed Ben looking wide-eyed at the scene in front of him, not moving a muscle. But after the initial shock went away and Joel grabbed his knife, Ben sprang into action. With the back of his rifle, he punched Joel on his shoulder. He aimed for my brother’s face, but since they were all moving fast, he missed. In the meantime, I tried to get up, but the air mattress slowed me down too much. It only delayed me for seconds, but it was enough to make me unable to help my brother.

Curtis grabbed Joel by his bare shoulders and quickly swung him around. Joel fell backward out of the room onto the balcony. Curtis jumped out too, and was pointing his rifle at Joel. The moment he fired, Joel kicked against the underside of the gun, causing it to miss my brother by mere inches. Curtis lost his grip, and the rifle flew out of his hands and landed in the door opening.

Ben looked at the scene unfolding in front of his eyes, which gave me the opportunity to grab him from behind. I jumped on his back and wrapped my arms around his neck. I could see Joel quickly got on his feet, swinging a punch at Curtis’s bloody face. But despite his bulky build, Curtis was light on his feet and dodged Joel’s swing. The moment Joel’s fist passed Curtis’s face, he took a punch at Joel’s side, causing him to groan loudly.

I was gripping Ben’s neck as tightly as I could, but he threw himself back against the wall, trapping me in between. Ben was a skinny guy, but this blow still punched all the air out of my lungs, which caused me to loosen my grip slightly. This was enough for Ben to wrestle himself free and slap my face hard. The sting of it was incredible. I’d never imagined such a skinny guy being able to punch someone this hard. Maybe him using a flat hand instead of a fist added to the effect and sting of it. Before I could duck, he slapped me again, and I fell down on the air mattress.

The way I was lying now, I could clearly see the fight between Joel and Curtis. Joel’s back was against the railing as he tried punching Curtis again. I wanted to shout at them to stop, but time itself seemed to slow down. Joel missed Curtis by a hair, and Curtis punched against my brother’s chest with a lot of force. Joel’s head flew back, and so did his torso. I could see his feet trying to get a grip on the floor, but gravity was winning. Curtis’s second blow did it. Joel tumbled back over the railing, his arms desperately trying to grab something. Anything. The gravitational pull was relentless. His eyes caught mine, and I’ll never forget the look of desperation in them. And then he went over.

“JOELLLL!!!!” I screamed as time got back to its regular speed.

Curtis stepped against the railing and looked down. In the meantime, Ben had picked me up and grabbed me firmly by my wrist. Curtis turned around and had a big grin on his blood-covered face. I didn’t care, and I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks.

“That’s one coon less,” Curtis said proudly.

“Is he dead?” Ben asked.

“Looks a lot like it,” Curtis chuckled. “He dropped two stories, and I didn’t see him move. He did have a mean right fist, though.”

Curtis took the hem of his shirt to wipe the blood from his face. Dead? Is my brother dead? I didn’t seem to register in my mind. How could Joel be dead? My sweet and strong brother… He had always looked out for me, and now… Why didn’t I help him? What now? Oh no… Joel’s dead. DEAD!

Nothing registered. Only “Joel is dead” was inside my head. Until a big sting took me back to reality. I saw Curtis smiling at me, and his hand raised. Ready to slap me again.

“I said… What will you do now without your precious boyfriend, princess?”

I couldn’t think. I just looked blankly at Curtis through my tears, feeling completely helpless. I wouldn’t care if they threw me down too. Joel was dead.

“On your knees, princess,” Curtis shouted. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Ben kicked me back at my legs, causing me to drop to my knees. He let go of my wrist but pointed his rifle at my head. I didn’t care. It didn’t even hurt me. Joel was the only thought in my head. My eyes were open, but I didn’t see anything. Joel…

“Ever suck a grown man’s cock, princess?” Curtis asked, gripping his dick through his pants.

I didn’t move. I didn’t nod, didn’t talk. I just looked at the ground. This obviously irritated Curtis a lot. So he grabbed me by my chin, forcing me to look up at him. At that moment, my vision returned, and I saw the face of my brother’s murderer. I never felt more intense hate for another person than at that moment.

“You killed him,” I whispered.

“You’re damn right. I killed him. And I’ll do the same to you if you don’t open your mouth and do what we tell you.”

“You killed him,” I whispered again.

SLAP! Another sting on my cheeks, but I practically didn’t feel it. It hardly registered. Curtis started unzipping his trousers, reaching inside. Before he took it out, he looked at Ben.

“What are you doing?” Curtis said.

“Making sure she doesn’t do anything funny,” Ben responded, moving the gun to make his point.

“Get behind me, you fool. Or do you like looking at my dick?”

“Jeez…” Ben said. ”Is it that small?”

“Fuck you! Get over there and stop looking at my dick, or you’ll get jealous.”

Ben moved a bit, so he couldn’t see his brother’s groin. But he still kept pointing his gun at me. I was starting to feel sick in my stomach from the idea of having to suck off the guy that killed my brother. I was trying to think of a way out of this, but my thoughts were too clouded with Joel’s image falling to his death. I couldn’t think of anything.

The moment the hairy little dick came out of the fly of Curtis’s pants, I realized I had to do this. My mind was in survival mode and was witty enough to know I had to get this done. I would seek a way out later when I was able to think straight. Curtis’s dick looked smaller than my brothers. It was still soft-ish but slowly rising. The uncut glans looked pointy, which made it look even smaller. Pubic hairs were peeking out of the sides of his shaft, and as he stepped closer, I could smell the stale stench of someone with bad personal hygiene. I could suppress a gag, but I immediately felt another one coming.

“What’s the matter, princess? Impressed? Just mind the teeth, or you’re leaving here without them. Got that?” Curtis smiled.

“And if you try anything funny, I’ll shoot you. And don’t worry. I won’t kill you, but you’ll wish I did,” Ben said from behind his brother.

Curtis took his dick in his hand and pointed it toward my lips. The moment the tip of his glans hit my lips, I felt something warm spray over me.

“Did he cum already?” I thought.

But when I heard a gurgling sound above me, I looked up and was shocked at what I saw. Curtis’s throat had a big red line over it, and blood poured and spurted out of it. I could see the end of two knives at the sides of his throat disappear from view as Curtis slowly sank to his knees.

“What the…” was all Ben could say before his words were cut off.

It all happened in a flash, and it took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. Joel jumped against Ben with two bloody knives in his hands. The moment Ben tried to speak, both knives landed in his chest. As soon as they were entirely inside his chest and the blades weren’t visible anymore, Joel pulled them back, only long enough to push both of them back in. And again, and again. I didn’t count, but I was sure Joel stabbed Ben over twenty times before he stopped.

Joel sat there panting heavily, and his face and chest were covered in blood. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. Joel was alive! And he saved me! I jumped over to him and hugged him tighter than I ever hugged him before. My forward motion caused both of us to tumble over. Joel groaned the moment we hit the floor.

“Oh, Joel! I thought you were dead! And that evil fucker wanted me to…” I started.

“Shh… It’s okay now. We’re safe,” He moaned.

“But… How?” I couldn’t help but ask. “You fell down. I saw it with my own eyes!”

“I did. But I landed on a stack of boxes containing the new fleece vest collection. It hurt like fuck, and it still does. But the moment I landed, I knew I lived. I figured I’d lay still for a few moments to let these fuckers think I was dead. The moment he disappeared from view and started talking to you, I grabbed two knives from the shelf and crept upstairs to surprise them. ”

“Fuck! You saved us!” I exclaimed and hugged him again, kissing him on his mouth.

“Mpfh!” he groaned again.

“Can you move? Do we need to stay another night? Do I need to find a medkit?” I blabbered.

“No. No, I’m fine. I’ll be sore for a few days, but we can go. We NEED to go. These morons probably bragged about finding the keys to this place over the radio. So the moment they don’t respond, this place will be crowded with more of these fuckers.”

I looked at the dead bodies on the ground, realizing Joel was right. My face burnt from the slaps I received, but other than that, I was fine. And I guess Joel was okay too. He got up and was starting to clean himself with his t-shirt. There would be plenty of time to rest when we reached the shelter.

“Let’s go to the locker room. There’s a sink in there so we can wash off the blood,” I said softly.

We got ourselves cleaned up in no time. Joel was still shirtless, and mine was covered with drops of Curtis’s blood. So I took it off and glanced at Joel, looking at my bra-covered breasts.

“This is a fucked-up world, Joel,” I said seriously. “Thank you for saving me!”

I took his face in my hands and kissed him passionately on his lips. He returned my kiss but pulled back way sooner than I wanted him to.

“We must get going, Mia! I don’t want to waste any more time.”

We grabbed our backpacks, knives, and shoes and went downstairs. Just before we hit the bottom step, the phone rang again. We looked at each other, and I shrugged.

“It’s probably Adam and Ellie. Worst case, it’s someone from the A.W.A. But now we’re out of here in seconds if we need to,” I said, looking at Joel.

He just nodded. I walked over, got behind the counter, and picked up the phone.

“Hello?” I said, not knowing what to expect.

“Thank, god! Mia?” I heard Adam’s voice asking.

The relief in his voice was unmistakable. I nodded at Joel, who started smiling, and it seemed like a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

“Are you two okay? We saw these two guys enter the shop, but we couldn’t reach you. They sabotaged the cell phone towers. At least according to SHIVR.”

“We’re fine,” I said calmly. “And these two guys are… dealt with.”

“Oh… I… I see,” Adam said after a long silence.

“Put them on speaker,” I heard Ellie say in the background.

“Mia?” Ellie’s voice came on after a small beep.

“Hi, Ellie. Yeah. We’re fine. We need to get to you now, though. We want to leave NOW.” I said with great urgency in my voice.

“We already checked everything,” Adam said. “The area is clear, and SHIVR calculated that there will be a cellphone signal the moment you’re leaving town. The road is just one straight line.”

“Which way do we go?” I asked.

Adam explained the first part of the trip. After we went left and right a few times, it was a straight shot toward them. After what Joel did today, I was confident we could make it, but I had to ask Joel. The moment he knew it was Adam, he stepped closer so he could listen in.

“You’re okay with it, Joel?” I asked.

“Of course I am. We need to get the fuck out of here as quickly as we can. If they checked the area, plotted the course, and say it’s safe, then we go.”

“It’s safe, Joel. I promise. The road is clear, and as far as we can see it, every A.W.A. member is either at City hall or at the rendezvous point at the other side of town.”

“Then it’s settled,” Joel said. “We’ll be wearing our earbuds, so you can call us when the signal comes back. Can you watch us on cameras all the way?”

“In the town, we can see you all the way. But the moment you leave town, there are a few gaps. SHIVR is working on another satellite feed, just no promises there. But we’ll be in touch over the phone by the time you leave town. We didn’t see any movement outside the town last night, so we’re assuming the back roads are clear. At least clear from A.W.A. people.”

“They’re not people,” Joel said grimly.

“Well… You know what I mean. If you go now, you probably won’t have to sleep outside, or maybe just one night,” Adam said, carefully avoiding Joel’s comment.

“We’re ready,” I said. “We’ll grab our coats, guns, and bikes, and we’re off. Talk to you later,” I chirped.

“Later. Be careful, alright?” Adam said.

I hung up the phone and smiled at Joel.

“With a bit of luck, we’ll be having a nice, warm shower tonight,” I said.

“Oh yeah… Can’t wait to have a shower. Maybe we need to preserve water and have to shower together,” Joel said and smiled mischievously.
At the idea of showering with my brother, my vagina moistened considerably.

“It’s also better for the environment, so maybe we need to do it anyway,” I smiled back.

After we put in our earbuds, zipped up our new coats, and holstered our guns, we grabbed our bikes.

“Let’s go,” Joel said as he opened the door.

End of Chapter twenty-three

Copyright 2021 – Jason Crow
All rights reserved

quia caritas quae agis

Smoky Mountains
by
Jason Crow

Chapter 19 – Moving
Day 5.

“Okay. We see you on the traffic cam. Head north,” I heard Ellie say to us.

I looked down the road, and the cars were standing there in all directions. It was almost as if keeping right was forgotten, and everybody did as they pleased. Some vehicles had crashed into others. Some were upside down. Doors were open, and in a few cars, the driver was still behind the wheel. It was total chaos. I didn’t see any car on fire, though. Nor were there burned-out cars. Maybe further up the road by the highway where the cars drive faster, it would be different. But what I was looking at now seemed like a scene from the Walking Dead or some show like that. The only difference was no zombies were walking around.
Joel got up and started walking down the street, a little crouched over so we wouldn’t be too obvious. I started following him, and the moment I left our front lawn, I froze. There were dozens of dead bodies scattered around on the ground. Male and female, old and young. No one was spared. And they all looked awful with their mummy-like skin and hairs.

“You’re okay, Mia?” I heard Joel whisper.

I tore my eyes away from the bodies on the ground and looked at my brother’s worried face. I took a deep breath and nodded. I needed to get my head straight and stop looking at these bodies as people. That was the only way I’d make it. It felt like an epiphany to me when I realized it, and it was very liberating to me.

“Yeah. I think I am. These bodies just… Never mind. I’m fine. Honest.”

Joel moved from car to car, making sure we’d be no more in the open than we needed to. I followed him one car behind.

“You’re doing great, guys,” Ellie said. “Just before the green van, there’s an alley to your right. You need to cross the street to get there. But once you’re in that alley, you’re less in the open.”

“Copy,” Joel whispered

I had to suppress a giggle because of this. All of a sudden, he was acting all stealthy and army-like. Ah well, if it works for him. We’ve both been through that alley dozens of times, but now it seemed more like a safe haven instead of a dangerous, dirty alley.

“The road is clear from what we see. According to SHIVR, there might be a car heading your way, but it’ll take at least two or three minutes. By then, you’re way down that alley and can hide from it between two dumpsters.”

Ellie and Adam had talked to us about SHIVR. Joel was very impressed by it and especially liked the autonomous functions it had. I was less impressed. I was mainly worried about getting where we were heading as quickly as possible.

“Three… two… one… Go!” Joel whispered.

We crossed the street quickly and were in the alley before we knew it. The most challenging part about running now was not stepping on a body. As we entered the alley, there were no bodies on the ground. I could see two or three in the distance, but nowhere near as much as on the main road.

“Keep left against the wall,” Ellie said. “That way, you won’t be seen easily, and we can keep watching you on three cameras.”

As we were nearing the end of the alley, we heard the sound of an engine in the distance. There was also another noise, but I couldn’t place it.

“There’s the car. Duck between these dumpsters in front of you.”

We did as Ellie said and waited. We were pressed against the wall but hidden from view by these big containers. I could glance to where we came from through a small gap between the dumpster and the wall.

As the sound of the engine grew louder, so did my heartbeat. In our street, a big army Hummer appeared. On top of it was a large gun with a skinny man holding it. The man was wearing a black coat and an old cap. I couldn’t see his face, but he looked very intimidating, despite his skinny frame. The Hummer just drove over the bodies and banged the cars out of the way. That was the sound I heard.

I had no clue where they were heading but was extremely glad it drove by and didn’t enter the alley. And as quickly as it came into view, it left again.

“Are they on patrol or something?” Joel asked.

“Looks like it,” Ellie responded. “Wait a few moments. We’ll check where they’re heading.”

“That was scary, Joel,” I said, covering my mic with my hand.

Joel just nodded.

“Okay. It’s clear now. You can move on further down the alley and turn left at the end. There’s another main road you’ll have to cross.”

We made good progress, and before we knew it, we were close to Uncle Tyrell’s shop.

“Alright. To your left, there’s a small shed in that garden. The gate and the doors are open. Head in there for a sec,” Ellie instructed.

We entered the shed and closed the door behind us. It was a typical garden shed with gardening tools hanging on the walls and some garden chairs stacked in the corner to be safe for winter.

“Listen, guys,” Adam’s voice came on the phone.

That couldn’t be good. We agreed Ellie would do the talking. And considering we’re about two minutes away from the shop’s personnel entrance, I didn’t want to head back.

“What is it?” Joel asked, clearly worried.

“The big apartment building you need to pass…”

“Yeah… What about it?”

“SHIVR recorded two men entering it about an hour ago. They didn’t come out yet. So there is a slight chance they come out the moment you pass the building.”

“Oh,” was my scared reply. “Isn’t there a way around it?”

“Actually… Not really. Going around it will bring you too close to the highway where the Hummers drive around quite frequently. Or it will take you to a bunch of piled-up cars, which we assume isn’t there because of an accident.”

“You mean people build a barricade?” Joel asked.

“We think so, yeah. So going straight is our best shot. The moment you round the corner, we can’t see you guys. It’s only one block, but you’ll be on your own. After you turn right, when you pass the building, you immediately go left. After a few more yards, we’ll be able to see you again. What do you think? Go on or head back? It’s up to you.”

I looked over at Joel. His face didn’t show too much emotion, but I knew he was scared. So was I. But heading back was also dangerous. We didn’t say anything. We just nodded.

“We’ll move forward. Thanks for the heads-up,” Joel said flatly. “Come on, Mia.”

Joel opened the door, and we walked toward the apartment building. We could stay under the first floor’s balcony, so no one could see us from above. As we reached the entrance, Joel slowed down and looked at me. I gave him another nod, and we softly but swiftly walked past the gate.

We rounded the corner and started crossing the street. Right at the moment, I thought we were safe. But then I heard a voice and froze.

“Hey! Stop, you two!”

We stopped, and Joel glanced worriedly at me. We turned around, and two men walked over to us. Both had a machine gun in front of their chests and tried to look all military. But even to me, it was obvious they were just two wannabes.

“Hello,” Joel said.

“Hello there. It’s nice to see there are more people alive. How are you two?”

“We’re fine, thank you. You?” Joel responded as casually as he could.

I noticed we were slowly crossing the street with these two men following us. We weren’t walking, just taking small steps each time. I knew what Joel wanted to do.

“Stay calm, guys! Keep talking. We’re working on something,” Adam’s voice whispered in our ears.

“All alone out here?” Guy one asked.

He was obviously the brains of these two. The second guy was skinny as hell. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a meth-head. The first guy showed a slight resemblance but was bigger and fatter. He wasn’t fat, just healthier. And older, but didn’t seem too bright either. Both wore camouflage clothing, a white cap with a logo on it with the letters AWA prominently in it.

“Yeah… All alone?” Guy two chipped in.

“No. We’re heading over to our Uncle. He’s waiting for us down the street,” Joel replied, still remarkably calm.

“I think it’s better you guys come with us,” Guy one said, “Don’t you think, Ben?”

“Yeah. I think so too, Curtis,” Ben said.

Well… At least we knew their names now. I was thinking about how we could get out of here. We couldn’t fight them. We probably could handle Ben, but Curtis was too much for the two of us.

“I’m sorry,” Joel said, “But then our Uncle and the people he’s with would be worried. I’m sure you guys have enough troubles as it is without the two of us.”

“Oh no. Not a problem. We’re making sure to gather all survivors in city hall. We’re trying to rebuild some form of a chain of command. We’ve got orders to bring survivors there.”

“Orders? Are you from the army?” I asked innocently.

“Army? You hear that, bro? They think we’re with the army. Ha!” Ben laughed. “No, We’re with the A.W.A. Way better than the army.”

Curtis started laughing, and of course, Ben began to laugh too after that. The resemblance made sense now. They were brothers. I was slowly beginning to panic now as the tension between us grew thicker by the second.

“Well,” Joel said, still annoyingly calm, “I’m afraid we can’t do that. We agreed to meet our Uncle. We’ll come to City Hall with them. How’s that?”
Adam’s soft voice came through the earpiece. “In a few seconds, you’ll hear gunshots. They’re not real, but the moment they start, hide behind the car behind you.”

“Sorry… BOY… Can’t do that. I’m afraid I insist,” Curtis said, gripping his machine gun to emphasize his point.

“Three,” Adam said.

“Sorry, mister,” Joel said, looking straight at him, and I could see the fire in his eyes after Curtis called him boy.

“Two…”

“Listen, you coons!” Curtis shouted with spit flying out of his mouth.

“One!!” Adam said.

What happened next was utterly unexpected. From inside the apartment building, loud gunshots were heard. It was deafening, considering the dead silence outside.

“Help me, Curtis!” a female voice shouted. Weirdly, it sounded very calm and polite, not panicky.

Joel and I didn’t hesitate. We ran behind the car and hid. From under the car, I could see both men step around, obviously not knowing what to do.

“Who is that, Curtis?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know. I think we need to help her. Call for help and follow me! You two! Stay here,” he shouted toward us.

I could see Curtis’s feet running toward the entrance, and Ben followed him. We got up, and I could see Ben fiddling with the radio as he ran behind his brother.

“Eagle’s nest! This is team Echo. We…” was all we heard as he entered the building.

I glanced over at Joel and saw the smile on his face.

“SHIVR found a satellite feed, and we can see you from above now. Now you need to make a run for it. Every hostile in the neighborhood will go toward that building. That gives you two the time to enter the shop. Now GO!!”

We started running, and at each corner or side street, Ellie called the direction we needed to go. We were at the back entrance before we knew it, and Joel already had the keys in his hand.

“Here!” he said, handing me the keys. “Unlock the door, but do not open it yet. I have to double-check the alarm code first.”

I did as Joel said, and he started scrolling through his phone furiously. It took him only seconds, but it felt like hours. I kept looking in all directions, but no one came into view. In the distance, I could still hear the gunshots.

“Go!” Joel said.

I opened the thick, heavy, blast-proof door. Joel ran in and stopped in front of the keypad. I closed the door as softly as I could and locked it behind us. The beeps that were coming from the keypad as Joel disarmed it was like a train going by. This was probably because of the silence around us.

“There!” Joel said and sighed deeply as the beeping had stopped.

“Are they coming after us, Ellie?” I asked.

“No. They are still inside the apartment building. You’re good.”

“Oh my god! That was close! They would’ve never let us go, would they?” I asked no one in particular.

“I don’t think so, no,” Adam said. “We were lucky SHIVR could help us this way.”

“What happened back there?” I asked, really curious about how they saved us.

“SHIVR scanned online and found seven,” Ellie said but was interrupted.

“I’m sorry, Ellie. I used eight,” we heard SHIVR say in the background.

“Sorry. Eight,” Ellie giggled, ”smart speakers. She played gun sounds as loud as possible on them, and on one of them, she let Google Assistant call out for Curtis. We hoped it would lure them away from you guys. And it did, obviously.”

“Oh wow. Thank you, SHIVR,” I said, very impressed.

“You’re welcome, Mia,” was SHIVR’s response.

“Thanks a lot, you guys! You saved our lives,” Joel chipped in, and I could see he was still shaking all over.

“The adrenaline is still shooting through our bodies. That was fucking awesome! Do you think we’re safe here for the night?” I asked.

“The way I see it, you’re better off here than in your home, Mia,” Adam said.

“So we stay here for the night and head toward you guys in the morning, right Adam?” Joel asked.

“That’s the plan, yeah. No rain, mild winds, and no sun tomorrow. I think they’re the ideal circumstances to move around. Just so we’re clear… We can’t see anything inside the shop. The security system your Uncle used is A-grade, so we can’t hack into it. But Ellie and I will keep watch tonight and monitor the surroundings, so you’re still quite safe.”

“So… We’ll hang up and call again in the morning?” I asked, just to make sure we were all on the same page.

“Yeah. That way, your phones can be fully charged again, and you won’t make too much noise by talking to us. We’ll call you if there’s trouble ahead, okay? Maybe one of you can set their phone to auto answer on our number. That way, we can talk and listen, no matter what.”

“Will do. Thanks! So… if nothing bad happens, tomorrow at eight? There’s enough daylight by then, and we’ll have enough time to reach you guys.”

“Tomorrow at eight it is. Good luck and good night,” Ellie said with a bit of a worried voice.

End of Chapter nineteen

Copyright 2021 – Jason Crow
All rights reserved

My deepest apologies for another plot-only chapter! There will be more sex in the next stories. I promise! But the plot needed this, so that’s why I did it this way. I hope you guys will forgive me…

amentibus possit cogitare ipsi rectores orbis terrarum

Smoky Mountains
by
Jason Crow

Chapter 18 – Packing
Day 5.

“Take your time. We’ll be waiting. Bye!” and I pressed the red phone on the screen.

We sat there looking at each other with big smiles across our faces. Joel got up and walked toward my bed, consumed in his thoughts.

“It IS a very tempting offer, isn’t it?” Joel said to me.

I got on my feet too, walked over to him, and hugged him. This put him off balance, and we spun a bit on our feet, falling down on my bed. I started giggling about our clumsiness but also noticed Joel’s soft dick pressed against my naked pussy. The way we were lying now was in the traditional missionary position.

I looked at Joel, who was smiling too, but suddenly swallowed hard and looked all serious. Between my legs, I felt his penis growing rapidly. Joel quickly got up and sat down on the bed, looking all flushed.

“I… Uh… It’s…” he stammered.

“Yeah. I, uhh… I’m…” I stammered too, not knowing what to say or do.

This was all very unexpected. There was an undeniable sexual tension between us that moment, but I wasn’t ready for THAT. At least not yet. It did feel awesome feeling his dick poking against my entrance, even if it was very brief.

“Do you think you’re up for it, Mia?” Joel asked seriously. “I mean… It’s a hell of a walk. But there’s no way we’re going to manage it in just one day. Not now.”

“No. It isn’t. We don’t know what we’ll find outside. Roads blocked, people lying around, fire, you name it. I’ve seen enough of these movies to know it won’t be a party out there. But what’s the alternative? If we’re careful, we’ll last another week with our food. And after that?”

“I know. No doubt we need to do something. But there will be dead people lying around everywhere. You do realize that, do you?”

“I do. And I think I’ll manage. It’ll probably take some getting used to. But I know I can.” I smiled.

“And with our luck, we’ll meet the A.W.A. too. So we’ll have to stay clear from main roads and move through the country once outside of the city,” Joel said mostly to himself.

“But our home will be visited by these guys. That’s just a matter of time, and you know that too. And then what? I think we should take our chance and go to that big underground shelter with a food supply for years. And a shower. And…” I sighed.

“Fuck it! You’re right. We won’t get a better option than this. We just need to figure out how we can do this in two or three days,” Joel said.

“I’ve got my backpack in here. We can stuff our canned food in there. We need some spare clothes and a few bottles of water. These things all fit into two backpacks, and we’ve got two bags,” I chuckled.

“I need to go into my room to get it…”

“Oh,” I replied softly.

“But I need clean clothes and my hiking boots anyway. So it’s just something I need to do. I’ll try not to look at dad…”

“We can sleep in houses along the way. There are probably plenty of houses we can use. Every open house means at least one bed.”

“I don’t know… It’s dangerous. What if the A.W.A. check these houses, and we’re in it?”

“Okay… A tent, maybe? That can be hidden in a lot of places.”

“We don’t have a tent,” Joel said blankly, looking all thoughtful. “We need weapons too. We need to be able to defend ourselves.”

“We don’t have weapons,” I said in the same tone as Joel did about the tent, feeling a bit annoyed.

“Uncle Tyrell,” Joel suddenly blurted.

“Uncle Tyrell?” I asked, not sure what Joel meant by it.

“Uncle Tyrell gave me the keys to the shop and the alarm code. He asked me to open the shop Saturday morning, so I could let the supply guy in,” Joel said with a twinkle in his eyes.

“And do you think the shop is still there and not looted by the A.W.A.?”

“I don’t think so, no. Uncle Tyrell had a very secure place there. He needed to, considering the neighborhood and his license to sell hunting rifles. And it’s close. Less than ten minutes by foot. On a normal day.”

“And you know how to get in?”

“I do. The keys are in my room, and the code is on my phone. While we’re there, we can stock up. Backpacks, shoes, clothes, tent, weapons, anything. Even high-energy protein bars and drinks. There’s a lot of useful stuff in that shop. If we go there today, we can sleep inside the storage room tonight. No windows there, so no one will see us, and easy to defend if necessary. Then we’ll have an early start tomorrow so we can make good use of the daylight. We just have to be careful when we’re… uhm… shopping,” he said excitedly.

I had to admit I liked the idea. They had everything we needed in there for our trip to the woods. It was close enough so we could go back here in case it didn’t work. It was almost like a dry-run for the big journey.

“We can ask Ellie to check if the store is still untouched. And it’s a nice way to test if it works with them talking us through,” I said.

“And if it doesn’t work, we can always head back here. It’s close enough to act as a fallback,” Joel mumbled.

“We go today?” I asked.

“Yes. I don’t see why not. It’s not even noon yet, so we’ve got plenty of time to prepare and head over there. Even enough time to head back if necessary.”

“Fuck. We’re doing it,” I whispered.

“Don’t worry, Mia. We’re together. I’ll never let you out of my sight. Together we can do this!”

“Oh my god, we’re doing this,” I whispered again.

“Mia?”

As if I snapped out of my trance, I looked Joel in his eyes and smiled. I kissed him on his mouth and hugged him tightly.

“I know you’ll protect me. That’s why I’m confident we’ll make it. And I’ve got your back too. We’re getting out of here! Finally!”

“We are,” Joel laughed.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, thinking our own thoughts. I mainly thought about the luxury we’d have over there and worried we overlooked something.

“Don’t we need to sleep a night over this?” I asked eventually. “I mean… Aren’t we forgetting something? Or too excited to get out of here, so our judgment is off?”

“I was thinking that too. But I honestly can’t think of anything. And the stop at Uncle Tyrell’s place is a very sensible thing to do. It’ll give us a good idea of what’s out there. We can stock up on important supplies, get weapons and stuff. But most of all, we can go back here if we don’t like it out there or think we can’t make it. Then we’ll be back in the same situation as we are now, only better supplied. So no. I don’t think we should wait another day.”

I looked at my brother and let everything sink in for a moment. I couldn’t argue with the things he said. We couldn’t stay here forever and needed to go out eventually. By doing it now, we had the most significant chance the shop wasn’t looted yet, the weather was still okay, and the A.W.A. still wasn’t fully organized yet.

“I’ll call Ellie,” I simply said, causing Joel to laugh.

It didn’t take us long to explain our plans to them. By the time we hung up, their system had already checked, and it was safe for us to go there. There had been an attempt to enter the shop through the store’s enforced front window. But all the available footage showed there was only a massive dent in the security fence in front of the store and probably a broken window. They had used a truck to run into the fence that was still in front of the store, but the shop still was secure and untouched besides the big dent.

“It looks bad from the outside,” Ellie said, “but we’re convinced the inside is still untouched. The alarm doesn’t sound anymore either.”

According to Joel, this made sense. If the alarm sounded for more than an hour, the system would shut itself down as a precaution. The alarm was probably still armed on the upper floors, so we needed the code anyways.

We figured it was time for us to trust them and gave our address. The system calculated the best route for us to take now, so we wouldn’t have to climb over some freaky traffic accident or something. This route would take us fifteen minutes tops. The only downside was one small blind spot on the course, but we decided to take that risk. The other routes would take us way longer, or we’d have to go over the main road. We didn’t like either option.

“Right. We’ll gather our stuff and be ready in half an hour. Then we’ll call you the moment we head out, okay?” I asked Ellie.

“Right. Uncle Adam and I will be ready. I’ll do the talking, Uncle Adam the scouting on the monitors. Talk to you soon.”

We stood side by side in front of the sheet by my door. We were both hesitant to open it, but we also knew we needed to. Joel didn’t move, so I started pulling at the sheet, slowly peeling open the duct tape as I did this. I kept pulling, and suddenly, it dropped to the floor.

I closed my eyes and held my breath. I noticed Joel taking my hand and him holding his breath too. It seemed like ages but was probably less than a minute before I opened my eyes again. I glanced at Joel, who glanced back at me.

“We’re still alive,” he said as we both stepped out of my room.

I inhaled deeply but regretted it immediately. The stench from our toilet was pretty thick.

“I’m going into my room alone. I don’t want you to see Dad this way. I’ll quickly gather my things and head back to your room. There we’ll pack our stuff. Okay?”

This wasn’t a question, and I knew this was non-negotiable. I simply nodded and picked up the bucket.

“I’ll get rid of this and go to a proper toilet. Be back in a sec,” I said, walking away so Joel could take his time before entering his room.

After I did my business and cleaned the bucket, I went into my room and picked out the clothing to wear and the spare clothes to take with us. I didn’t want to take too much, but fresh underwear, pants, and a sweater were the least I could take. I also gathered the cans of food that were the most decent.

By the time I was done and started to get dressed, Joel came in. He had a blank expression on his face and didn’t say anything. He dropped his stuff on the bed and started getting dressed too. It was difficult to read his thoughts. But after I was done dressing, I walked over to him and hugged him. At first, he gently pushed me away, but I would have none of that and kept hugging. A moment later, I heard him sniff.

“He’s dead, Mia. He really is dead,” and he started crying his eyes out.

I couldn’t hold back my tears and started crying too. I caressed Joel’s hair and pulled him closer to me. His shoulders were shaking as he was sobbing for all he was worth. I let him cry. I cried too, but he saw our dad. I didn’t. I was still hurt, but he SAW him. That needed some processing.

After a few minutes, the sobbing stopped. He didn’t pull back yet, but it was clear he was trying to get himself back together. I kissed him on his cheek again and pulled my face back to look at him. Through his red eyes, I could see him trying to smile.

“I’m sorry. It’s just…” Joel started.

“Shhh. No need to be sorry,” I interrupted him.

He dried his eyes and looked at his clothes on the bed. I looked at it too, and he basically had the same clothes picked out. A few boxers, socks, fresh pants, three shirts, and a sweater. I realized I needed some spare socks too.

“I think this is the best I’ve got for this,” he said, trying to change the subject.

“I think you’ll manage with it. You’ve got the keys too?” I asked, figuring he’d talk about dad when the time was right.

“I do.”

We packed our stuff and divided it equally over the two backpacks. We made sure we got the food, water, clothes, and phone chargers. We both plugged in one earbud and connected the cord to our phones. We triple-checked everything and made sure we got it all. I looked at my room, feeling a slight sting, knowing this might be the very last time I looked at the place I grew up in, and that kept us safe during these dreadful days.

I checked the time and noticed we took a bit longer than we agreed on. It was a little past one, but still plenty of time to get to Uncle Tyrell’s store. Joel softly unlocked our door, and I started calling Ellie.

“Mia?” I heard with a bit of a worry in her voice.

“Hi. Sorry. But it took a bit longer than expected. But now we’re ready. Let me call Joel and merge the call, so we can both hear you.”

A few moments later, we were standing there in our living room with my heart beating out of my chest.

“We’re watching your street. It’s empty, so you’re good to go. Good luck!” Ellie said.

Joel slowly opened the door and crawled out on his hands and feet, waiting outside for me. I followed him and remained next to him until he closed the door.

We were outside for the first time in five days, and I was scared shitless.

End of Chapter eighteen

Copyright 2021 – Jason Crow
All rights reserved

relinquens salutem