The Upheaval Read online

  Mary Ellen stared at him as if he'd just said he could lay eggs. "We left the children and Claire back there with her."

  "She won't hurt them and she won't abandon them. I'm sure of that," Donald assured her.

  "How can you be so sure?" Mary Ellen demanded.

  "I just am."

  "That's not reassuring."

  Al took hold of Mary Ellen's arm when she spun toward the camp. "He's right, it's when Nancy's alone that I would be concerned about her most, but she's not a threat to anyone else and I don't believe she'll abandon them."

  "You don't look surprised by what he's saying," Mary Ellen said.

  "You know you've considered it too, it's just frightening to hear it confirmed," Al told her. "Come on, we have to get a move on if we're going to get back to the cabin before dark."

  "Rochelle…"

  "Will be fine."

  Mary Ellen looked about to protest further. She glanced behind her, but the cabin was no longer in view. With a resigned sigh, she bowed her head. "Are you sure she won't hurt them?"

  "I'm positive," Donald said.

  "Alright, let's get this over with," Mary Ellen relented and started into the woods behind them again. "How do we stop her from doing something to herself?"

  "I'm not sure we can. We don't know what she experienced before meeting us. It could have been ten times worse than anything we've been through," Al said as he stepped over a rotten tree stump. "All we can do is listen if she wants to talk, does she?" he asked Donald.

  "No," Donald admitted.

  Al nodded as he tilted his head back to examine the tops of the trees again. He saw nothing above him except for a bird and a squirrel's nest. A squirrel dashed across one of the tree limbs and let out a little squeal as it leapt from one branch to another. A single blue jay took flight with a displeased screech.

  They'd seen more wildlife since making it into the mountains but there weren't as many birds as there used to be. The quakes had effected them here also, they'd found many of their decomposing skeletons around the cabin, and in the woods. It was a relief to see that not all of the birds had plummeted to their deaths.

  The cabin that Carl, John, Xander and Riley had already searched came into view when he stepped around an outcropping of rocks. Al eyed the cabin for a minute but it appeared just as they'd described, untouched with boards over its windows. He nodded toward the others and slipped back into the woods to edge around the cabin and toward the next one.

  "Do you think Nancy will kill herself?" Mary Ellen inquired.

  "I don't know," Donald admitted. "But I'm going to do my best to make sure she doesn't."

  Al tilted his head back to search the treetops again. Within the thick boughs of an oak he spotted a hunting stand nestled amongst the leaves. The boards leading up to the four foot by four foot stand were all intact. He contemplated climbing up there to take a look but he doubted he would see anything through the leaves of the trees. Keeping his gun down by his side, he walked further through the woods.

  The woods gave way to reveal a home nestled within the center of a clearing. The cabin that had sat on this property had belonged to the McDonald's the last time he'd been here. He didn't know if they had sold it over the years, but the small cabin he remembered standing here had either been remodeled or completely torn down. A second story and a sunporch had been added to it and the outside was now a cheerful yellow instead of red.

  He doubted the property was still owned by Gale McDonald as Gale had used the cabin only as a place to get away, not a place to spend an extended period of time. Gale had also been cheap. He'd stopped by numerous times every year to ask Al if he could borrow ammunition, fishing poles, bait, wood, and numerous other things. At first, Al had assumed that Gale hadn't had the money for those things, but then one year Gale had arrived in a brand new BMW instead of his old pickup. Al had never given him anything again after that.

  Now, he stood at the edge of the woods studying a house that he didn't recognize. None of the windows were boarded over and he could see the hint of curtains beyond the glass. This was no longer someone's hunting cabin but someone's summer home, or perhaps even their year round home.

  "This might be a better place to stay," Mary Ellen suggested. "It's bigger anyway."

  Al continued to study the home before gesturing to the backpack Donald was carrying. "It would probably be better if we dropped that here. At least until we know what we'll find in there."

  Donald nodded and shrugged out of the straps. He placed the bag against the trunk of a tree before following Al around the cabin to the other side. There was a backdoor on this home where none had been before, it was closed and the curtains had been pulled over the window.

  "Front or back?" Al inquired when they made it to the opposite side of the home. From here, he could just barely make out their cabin across the lake, and it was more the cleared area in front of the cabin he saw than the actual building.

  "Front," Donald and Mary Ellen said together.

  Al nodded and clasping his gun before him, stepped out of the shelter of the tree line. He crouched low as he hurried to the farmer's porch that now took up the entire front side of the cabin. Stepping cautiously onto the first step of the porch, the creak beneath his feet caused him to wince but the door remained closed and nothing came flying out at them.

  Mary Ellen's breath tickled his neck as he climbed the three remaining stairs to the porch. Al peered into one of the windows and searched the shadowed interior of the home. He nodded the ok to Donald when he saw no movement within. Donald took a deep breath and turned the knob, the door swung easily open to reveal the stairs directly across the entryway.

  Al followed behind him as Donald entered. His gaze went to the sunken living room on his left, the room that he'd been looking through the window at, and then the kitchen beyond. On his right was another living room and a small hall that Donald was already moving down. Al remained where he was; his gaze on the stairs and living room as Donald disappeared into a room off of the hall. Al listened to the shuffling sounds of Donald's feet and of closet doors opening before Donald reappeared a few minutes later.

  "Just a bedroom," Donald whispered and walked into another room. He quickly reemerged. "Bathroom."

  "Keep watch down here," Al instructed Mary Ellen.

  She nodded and he began to creep up the stairs across from him with Donald on his heels. The hallway above was lined with photos of a family with three daughters. The pictures further confirmed his suspicion that this had become someone's full time home. He opened the first door on his right and peered into a little pink room with two twin beds. Trophies lined the wall above both of the beds and a colorful array of red, orange, green, yellow, and blue ribbons filled another wall. As he moved further into the room, he noted that some of the trophies were for basketball and softball while others were for dance.

  He closed the door again and Donald nudged the partially open door across the way open with his toe. It was another girl's room but this one was painted a deep purple color. Famous quotes that he recognized from Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman were painted in white, yellow, orange, and red on the walls. A set of built in bookshelves took up the entire left hand wall and were filled from top to bottom with books.

  The introvert, Al realized as he knelt to look under the bed.

  He left the room and stepped back into the hall. They moved rapidly through the bathroom and opened the door on the bedroom at the end. The parent's room, he decided as he moved past the dark wood furniture and the California King bed. He and Donald searched the room and the adjoining master bath before retreating to the hallway.

  Mary Ellen still stood by the front door when they returned to the entryway. They took the steps to the sunken living room and moved on to the kitchen. All of the cabinets were already open and most of them were empty. Al inspected the supplies that had been left behind but they were only spices, an open bag of flour, and half a bottle of vanilla. Mar
y Ellen opened the fridge and shook her head.

  "Nothing," she muttered and closed it again.

  "This place has been raided already," Donald said.

  "By the people that lived here or by someone else?" Al walked over to the backdoor and pulled aside the curtain to look out at the empty backyard.

  "You don't think we're alone on this lake?" Mary Ellen asked apprehensively.

  "It's possible we're not," Al told her as he made his way to the front of the house. He stepped onto the porch to study the cabin next door. It was about a half a mile away and almost directly across the lake from where his cabin was located. From here, he could also see the three other cabins that circled the lake. He saw no movement on their distant shores, but he couldn't see any movement at his cabin either, not from this distance.

  "I don't see anyone," Mary Ellen whispered from beside him.

  "I'm not sure we would either," he replied. "Come on let's check the shed."

  He stepped off the porch and made his way to the backyard and the shed. Donald held his gun at the ready as Al pulled the door open and stepped to the side. He poked his head around when Donald gave a brisk nod to signal it was all clear. Most of the stuff within had been picked over, but Al found some rope hanging from a hook and Donald took hold of a hatchet before closing the doors.

  "We can tear the shed apart for the wood, but we'll wait for the others and return for it," Al said.

  Al was turning back to where they'd left the backpack when an explosion of birds burst from the trees about forty feet away and to their right. His mouth went dry as the birds screeched and whirled in a circle into the sky. A chill crept over his skin, a feeling of foreboding slid through him.

  "Run," he whispered.

  "What?" Donald asked and turned to look at him in confusion.

  "Run," he said again.

  He turned on his heel and fled toward where they had left the backpack in the shelter of the woods. Mary Ellen and Donald were close by his side. Maniacal laughter drifted from the woods behind them before they'd even made it to the backpack.

  CHAPTER 18

  Xander,

  Xander stepped out of the Ford in the Walmart parking lot and surveyed the stores in what he assumed was the downtown area. He turned away from the Walmart and stared down the hill toward the back of a fast food restaurant. Across the road were even more stores that would come in handy if they got a chance to explore them today. He didn't think that would be likely as the sun was already descending from its peak.

  He searched for any sign of life along the road, and stores, but since they'd left the camp, he hadn't seen another human, sick or otherwise. They had to be around here somewhere. The gas station hadn't been completely raided but supplies had been taken from it. They'd managed to salvage some more chips from the store, a couple bottles of water, and cigarettes, but for the most part they'd walked away with little. They'd contemplated going to the other gas stations in the area, or the diner and pizza place, but they'd decided to check out what other stores there were in the area that Al had marked first.

  "Dunkin Donuts," John moaned. "If we have time we're going in there to get more coffee."

  "There will be coffee in Walmart," Carl told him.

  "It's not the same," John replied.

  Carl lifted an eyebrow at him. "It's not like they have magic beans."

  "I'd trade you for them," John informed him with a straight face.

  Carl looked as if he was tempted to throttle him but he turned away to look at the building. Xander was trying not to laugh as he shifted his attention from the street to the enormous store. "There's an automotive center in there," Josh said. "We should stock up on tires, oil filters, belts and anything else we can use for the automobiles in the future."

  "Are we really going to go in there?" Riley inquired. "That's a lot of ground to cover."

  "I'm not sure we can pass it up. They probably have everything we need in there," Carl said and pulled the cigarette from his mouth.

  "We don't know what else could be in there," she muttered. "And what if it's just as picked over as the gas station?"

  "There are a lot more supplies inside this store than the gas station. The chances that it's been completely raided are slim," Carl asserted.

  "What about the grocery store across the street," John suggested. "It's smaller; it would be easier to search."

  "And it's not going to have automotive, outdoor supplies, hunting equipment or clothing," Josh said.

  Xander remained silent as he studied the tinted windows at the front of the store. He didn't like the idea of going in there either but Carl and Josh had a point, everything they needed could be inside of this one store. "I think it will be safer to search this store than to go through two, three, four, or maybe even five more places," he said.

  Riley stared at him before turning her attention to the store again. "There are so many places to hide in there," she murmured.

  "For us too at least," Xander said.

  Riley cursed, shook her head and turned away from the building. "Well, let's check it out."

  They approached the front of the store and peered in the windows but it was impossible to see past the first ten feet of vending machines and shopping carts stacked there. Xander walked over to the glass doors and pushed against them. One of them was locked but he was able to pull the other sliding door open.

  "Wait." Carl placed his hand on his arm before he went inside. "We'll check the other doors first."

  They walked around to the other front doors, most of them were locked but a side door and a door to the outdoor gardening section were unlocked. "Let's check the back," he suggested.

  They moved the vehicles behind the store and parked them near the metal exit door. Xander was the first to approach the door, but the knob didn't twist beneath his hand. "Step back," Carl instructed.

  Xander stepped aside. Carl grabbed a rock from beside the dumpster and stepped up to the knob. He lifted the rock and smashed it against the door handle five times before it finally gave way beneath the force of his blows. "Well if there is anyone in there they now know we're coming," John said. "I'm just going to state for the record that I don't like this."

  "Noted," Carl said but he pulled open the broken door and gestured for Xander to go.

  Xander didn't like it either, but he still poked his head cautiously inside. His gaze ran over the shadowed recesses of the vast store. Light from the front windows spilled into the store, offering dim illumination even all the way back here. It took his eyes a minute to adjust but when it did his gaze traveled up and down the aisles in front of him. Before him were rows of boots, and just beyond, he spotted the jewelry counter. He kept his gun in his hand as he guardedly stepped into the building.

  Carl and John moved in behind him, followed by Riley and Josh. Riley's head tilted back as her eyes shot to the rafters and the tops of the shelves. Xander followed her gaze but he didn't see anything amongst the steel beams that ran across the ceiling above them. There was an overwhelming sense of abandonment surrounding the store that he didn't understand but he couldn't shake the feeling. Outside of this store was where the chaos of the sick, and the devastation of the quakes existed, inside this store remained miraculously untouched by the insanity.

  It made absolutely no sense to him but trying to figure it out only made his head throb. He adjusted his hold on his gun as he searched the rafters again, was this going to be another ambush like the grocery store had been? But at least in the grocery store there had been a sense of people having been inside of it before; there was none of that now.

  "Bizarre," Riley murmured as she stepped forward and ran a finger over the toe of one of the boots. Her finger left a clean spot through the trail of dust gathered on the boot. She lifted her finger before her and inspected it before wiping it on her jeans.

  "Do you think this is another trap?" John asked.

  Xander shook his head as his gaze ran over the ceiling again. "I don't know
what this is," he muttered.

  He crept down the aisle with Carl at his side. Arriving at the end of the aisle, he poked his head out to glance up and down the cavernous store. There were numerous hiding places within the shadowed aisles that went in a multitude of different directions. He strained to hear any sound but all he heard were the shallow breaths of those around him.

  "Where do we even start?" Riley whispered.

  "The food," Carl said. Xander focused on the grocery area to his left. "But I don't smell anything rotting and if this store has been untouched…"

  His voice trailed off, there was no reason to finish the sentence, they all knew what he'd been about to say. If this place was as untouched as it appeared, they should be able to smell the rotten food. No matter how big the building was the scent would have been detectable anywhere within it. Xander looked to his right to the electronics, sporting goods, and the tire center beyond but he didn't see anything threatening that way either.

  "Josh, maybe you should stay here," Riley suggested.

  "By myself? Absolutely not," he retorted.

  "Someone should watch the door," John said.

  "There are more doors up front, and more entrance ways in through the automotive center that we didn't check, plus I'm sure there are other doors we don't even know about. Watching this one isn't going to accomplish much. We're better off having more eyes on the lookout as we move," Carl said.

  "Are we going to search to make sure no one is here first?" John asked.

  "I don't see the point of that," Xander said. "If there's something in here they'll be able to stay ahead of us the entire time we're looking for them. They could also set a trap. We're just going to have to stay alert."

  Carl nodded. "I agree."

  Xander took a deep breath, glanced around the store one more time, and stepped out of the aisle. He crept down one of the five or six main aisles that crisscrossed the store toward where the food was shelved. They moved past the shoe department, the infant's department and women's sleepwear.