The World of Myth Magazine

On the Road—Day One

We hadn't been on the road that long—had traveled maybe fifteen, twenty miles and we already hit three road blocks. Each one was the same—a twelve foot high wall made of huge concrete blocks that stretched in both directions, as far as the eye could see. The walls were built when the epidemic was first discovered to be so widespread and so devastating. They had been a futile attempt to contain the sickness, but that was before it had been discovered the disease was air borne, so the walls had merely kept people more tightly packed, making it easier for the disease to spread. I hadn't realized the walls were still standing, or that it was going to be so difficult to reach Airepseh. We didn't have the fuel to be running all over the countryside just to get to the nearest town.

The walls being intact also meant that any of the Unlucky survivors in the area of Airepseh would also have been confined, so if we did find a way into the city, we might well find a great number of the diseased creatures there. With that thought in mind, I pulled the SUV over to the side of the road, an action which obviously frightened the children, for even though they had voiced no concern, they were aware of the danger we faced.

I explained to them that if and when we reached Airepseh, there was a high probability we would run into Unluckys and we therefore needed a bit more protection for the SUV, as well as for ourselves. The kids stared silently as I got out and went to the back of the SUV and removed three of the makeshift spears I had made, as well as several feet of nylon cord. At the front of the vehicle, I secured a spear to either side of the large grill and the third I attached to the underside of the bumper, thus giving us a, hopefully, three cornered wedge of protection.

A few more minutes of driving brought us to Arrow Springs Road, the only other route into Airepseh and of course, it too was blocked by a giant wall. This time, however, the barrier was not made of concrete, but of wood. It must have been one of the first walls built in this area. Before the Feds stepped in, it had been the responsibility of the local governments to construct the barriers and with what little funds were available at the time, they apparently had to make do with wood. I was again surprised to find the wall still standing, but after some fifteen years of weather and neglect, it had become full of dry rot and looked somewhat flimsy.

I turned off the engine and told the kids that this was the only other way into the city and we were going to have to get past the wall, somehow. Michael told me to do whatever I had to do to get to Richard and the others. I considered my options and finally told the kids to hang on and cover their heads—we were going straight through the damn thing! I started the engine and punched the gas and with a squeal of tires, we headed for the wall. With a crash that knocked my teeth together, we punched through the rotted barricade and bouncing over shattered wood, we continued on to Airepseh, unharmed.

Some time later, we crested a final hill and could see Airepseh spread out below us. Looking at it from this vantage point, it looked the same as it did when I had originally moved here, twenty odd years ago. A few more miles brought us into the city proper and from this level, the once bustling metropolis resembled nothing more than a decaying and devastated badlands.

As we slowly cruised down one of the main roads, dodging rusting hulks of long abandoned cars and trucks, Michael suddenly shouted that he had seen what he thought were four Unluckys chasing a woman into an abandoned store in the middle of a large shopping center. At this point, I didn't want to get detoured from our mission, especially by venturing into a situation that might put all of us in jeopardy. I stopped in the middle of the road and looked to where Michael was pointing. I didn't see anything, but he insisted that he had seen a healthy woman being chased by obviously diseased creatures and they had entered an old grocery store, located at the rear of the big shopping center.

I still hesitated to get involved, my concern more for our family than for a stranger, but the pleading expression on Michael's face changed my mind. I drove into the parking lot and pulled up behind a broken down RV, which would hopefully hide the SUV from any other 'people' that might be around. I handed Michael the revolver I kept under the front seat and I also gave him the spare keys to the SUV; just in case something happened to me, at least they could try and reach Richard. I had the kids get down on the floor, then covered them with a blanket, warning them not to move and under no circumstances open the door, for anything! At the rear of the SUV, I opened the back end and pulled out my sawed–off shotgun, then noticed the hilt of one of my medieval swords under a tarp. Figuring a little more protection wouldn't hurt, I took that weapon, as well.

I entered the cavernous building and moved cautiously down a center aisle, being careful to avoid the trash and pieces of useless flotsam left behind by years of scavengers and weather—the many shelves in this place having long since been stripped of anything useful. The empty store now smelled as if it had been used as a den or hiding place for some of the Unlucky survivors and it didn't appear they were too particular about where they relieved themselves.

Hearing a sudden crash from the rear of the store, followed by a howl of anger or pain, I moved slowly in the direction of that sound. I was uncomfortably aware that I might soon have to take another human life—if it came to that—in order to perhaps save the woman my son saw chased in here. True, these creatures were no longer completely 'human', but they had been at one time and to kill one of them, I felt, would be the same as killing any other diseased man or woman. And, while I had never before taken a human life, I realized that in order to protect my children, I would do so without a second thought. I had long ago made up my mind that if we were to survive away from the protection of our home, all of us, especially myself, would have to reevaluate our attitude regarding the sanctity of life and what that might mean to us in the future—if we were to have a future.

As I moved toward the end of the aisle, I heard a slobbering, smacking type of sound that made my skin crawl. When I looked around the corner, I could see two of the Unluckys down at the far end of a wide aisle, crouched over a dark heap, which appeared to be a body. Furious at the thought these diseased creatures had killed an innocent woman, I stepped out into the corridor and shouted at them, without even thinking of my own safety.

They both looked up at me, their feral eyes seemingly aglow with hatred and the need to kill. They were filthy, emaciated looking creatures and after years of living like animals, they just barely resembled the human beings they once were. But what shocked me most was to see the mouths and beards of these 'animals' dripping with the blood of their victim. One of them even had a long, bloodied piece of flesh hanging from its mouth.

Sickened by what I was witness to, I shouted again, hoping to perhaps frighten them away from the body, but I had never before been exposed to any Unluckys and had no conception of the mindless hatred they held for anything that was not like themselves. At first apparently surprised by my presence, the two of them quickly must have decided that I was just another free meal, as they both launched themselves at me, howling their anger as they came.

Moving much more quickly than I would have given them credit for, they were almost upon me before I thought to act. As quickly as my untrained reactions could make it happen, I brought the shotgun up and pointed it at the lead creature's mid section, braced the butt of the gun against my hip and pulled the trigger. The sound of that gun going off in the enclosed confines of the store may have startled me more than my attackers, but the result of the blast was even more shocking. It was fortunate that I had aimed at the thing's chest, as I had forgotten how much of a kick these weapons maintained.

As the gun exploded, sending '00' buckshot screaming toward my adversary, the 'kick' caused the barrel to jump several inches from where I had been aiming, so the spray of shot struck the creature full in the face. To my shock and horror, the ball–bearing sized shot literally exploded the Unlucky's head and the force of the impact lifted the creature from its feet as brains, blood and bone sprayed in a wide arc behind it. The nearly decapitated body slammed to the floor and slid several feet backwards in the gore, even as I was pushed back by the recoil of the blast and had to regain my own balance.

The second Unlucky paused only long enough to lick the fresh blood and flecks of yellow brain matter from its lips and chin and it was charging me, again. I was momentarily stunned by the result of my own violence and by the extent of destruction I had caused, but I had little time to contemplate taking a single life, as the second creature was suddenly on top of me. I had the sense to point the shotgun at it and pull the trigger, but to my dismay, discovered that I had neglected to pump another shell into the chamber.

With its claw–like fingers only inches from my face, I rammed the barrel of the gun into its gut as hard as I could. It gasped fetid breath at me and staggered back a step, so I quickly slammed another shell into the breech and attempted to bring the barrel up to target the creature. It had already recovered, however, and reaching forward, grasped the barrel of the shotgun and tried to pull it from my hands.

I nearly panicked, as its strength was formidable, despite the emaciated look of the thing. Before I could react, it succeeded in jerking the gun forward, but since my finger was still on the trigger, that motion only caused the weapon to discharge; the blast at such close range nearly taking the creature's legs off, just above the knee. The force of the blast threw it backward and the creature landed on its stomach amid a pool of blood and gore that spread out in a widening circle across the floor.

I stood open mouthed, staring at the carnage I had wrought. There was blood and body parts scattered from where I stood, clear back to the far wall. But, again, I had scant time to think about life and death, as the creature whose legs had nearly been removed was still alive! With a spine–tingling cry of rage and pain, the Unlucky began to pull itself across the blood slick floor, straight at me, even as its life—what little there was left of it—poured forth from the shattered stumps as they dragged along behind it.

The pure animal hatred was obvious in its expression as it pulled itself closer and closer to me. I was transfixed—unable to move—by the extent of the horror before me. I almost felt a twinge of regret at having caused such destruction, but that feeling was short lived, as I knew that if I had not acted as I did, it would have been 'my' body lying on the floor in a pool of blood, while these two creatures enjoyed a feast of my flesh.

I was pulled away from that horrible thought when I felt a trembling hand grab hold of my pant leg. I looked down to see the Unlucky reaching up toward me, its bloody mouth wide open, flashing yellow, broken teeth. I shook the grasping hand loose with a disgusted shiver of loathing and stepped back. It kept reaching for me, even as I could see it was growing weaker, the unbelievable hatred it carried for the living forcing it to continue to seek my destruction.

Again disgusted by what I beheld, I kicked the thing in the chest, flipping the carcass over onto its back. It flailed its arms at me, spewing blood and unintelligible curses as it tried to right itself. I raised the shotgun to dispatch this hideous thing, but then thought better of wasting another shell on it. Slinging the gun over my shoulder, I pulled the sword from my belt. It was a reproduction of a medieval hunting sword; short, but with a wide, heavy blade, used to put down hunted animals which had been wounded, but were not yet dead. This seemed a perfect chance to put the sword to its proper use.

I straddled the creature's head and as it tried to claw at my legs, I raised the sword up with both hands and brought it down swiftly, point first, striking the heaving chest just above the heart. Black blood gushed up around the blade as the creature spasmed beneath me, its arms twitching in the air. My hands still around the hilt of the sword, I twisted the blade forcefully to the right and heard ribs crack as the sharpened steel tore through muscle and bone. The creature shuddered and finally lay still, its sightless eyes glaring up at me with undiminished hatred.

Yanking the sword free, I found a scrap of cloth nearby and wiped the foul blood from the blade, then sheathed it. Looking over the bloody scene, I realized that I had now been 'marked'. I had a first kill under my belt and surprisingly, I felt an elation I had certainly not expected from such an act. Perhaps it was merely the rush of adrenalin that caused me to feel this way, but I rather thought not. I had a feeling it was the act of killing another human being—if you could call the Unluckys such—the actual taking of another life that was making me feel so lightheaded. I wasn't at all sure I liked this feeling, but knew it was now a survival mechanism. It was either kill them or they would surely kill me and my family, and without any of the compunction I might have felt about such an act. I realized that I was now going to see to it that 'we' survived this ongoing disaster, not any of them.

Taking the shotgun once again in hand, I moved to the body the two Unlucky's had been worrying over when I first saw them, fearing to find the woman dead. I was immensely relived to discover not the body of a female, but of another Unlucky, who had apparently been 'unlucky' enough to become a victim of his own kind. This one was obviously dead—its neck had been torn out. I looked around, warily, remembering that my son had said he saw 'four' Unluckys chasing the girl into this building. That meant there was still another one, somewhere out there, as well as the woman who still needed to be found and possibly rescued, if she was still alive. Pumping a fresh shell into the chamber, I placed the gun in a shoulder ready position and resumed my search of the store, now with a new found caution and purpose.

I moved slowly through the complex, listening for any sign of life. I was nearly ready to quit my search, when I heard someone, crying weakly. Following the whimpering, I tracked the origin to a corner of the store where I could just see a lady huddled beneath a pile of trash and other clutter. She appeared to be human, although her clothes were in tatters and her body seemed bruised and rather thin. Since I was still unaware of where the other Unlucky might be, I remained concealed and called softly to the woman. When I attracted her attention, I told her to come to me, not wanting both of us to be exposed at the same time. I figured if the other creature was anywhere about, it would go after her, leaving me a, hopefully, clean shot. I hated using this poor woman as bait, but under the circumstances, it seemed the only way to handle the situation.

She was obviously frightened and even more surprised to see me than I was to find her, but she eventually crawled over to me without incident and once she got close, she broke down in tears. As she wept, she snuggled up to me and softly thanked me for saving her life. All I could do was give a feeble smile while I draped my jacket over her thin shoulders. We slowly worked our way back out of the store, which had became an unexpected death trap for those things that had once been a part of the human race.

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