That morning, I took a shower and brushed my hair. If all went according to plan, it might be another several days before I was able to bathe myself again. I only wore makeup because George "insisted" (aka threatened me with the rifle) that I try to cover my black eye.
Gwen helped me pick out an outfit that would cover my arm. It took everything in me not to tell her about her dad, but I couldn't risk it. As much as I was worried about everyone's safety, I didn't trust them enough to tell them about AJ.
The day went on as usual, we all sat around the table waiting for someone to come by. Only 2 men showed up the entire day. Both times, I got up and went to the bathroom when I heard the front door open and hid in there until I could either hear noises from upstairs or footsteps leading up.
We were all given dinner that night early. I was shocked that they were showing some humanity, but I knew it was only because of what was in store at the party. Not exactly out of the goodness of their hearts.
After dinner, a man, whom I assumed to be the day guard, instructed us to line up at the front door like a group of elementary children. We had to put our wrists together in front of us and, once again, out came the zip ties. When we walked out the front door, there was a large white SUV and another man was holding open the door for us to file in.
This time, I was thankful to have my hands tied in front of me because it was much easier to climb in and out of a vehicle with the use of my arms. I was in the far back, sitting by the window next to Emma. I recognized the direction we were going was the same way I had been taken to the house from the sheriff department. I pressed my face against the window as we passed the transformers in the fenced area and could see what looked like the top of a wind turbine on the ground but much smaller and facing upward. I realized that it must be the "wheel" that had been mentioned before.
We pulled into the parking lot of the sheriff's office and I felt sick seeing it. I should have guessed that the party would be here. This is where the "Sheriff" felt like he had the most control. He really was shaping up to be a stereotypical cult leader. I made a mental note not to eat or drink anything at this event, but I also knew we likely wouldn't be allowed to anyway.
Once out of the vehicle, we were taken past the lobby into another door on the opposite side of the room from the door that led to the desk room. It was a break room with several tables piled with different types of potluck style foods. Against the back wall was a countertop with a sink, a coffeepot, and a stack of restaurant style serving trays. A refrigerator was next to the counter and a trash can. It was a very typical break room setup for an office party.
There was a window and door that led into the desk room. All the desks had been stacked and shoved up against walls and there were various chairs against the desks. There were cheap streamers along the ceiling and walls and various colors of balloons and glow sticks all over the floor. A CD player was playing a song I did not recognize but was loud enough to catch a few snippets of lyrics every once and a while. For a "big blow out party" it looked a lot more like a sad middle school dance.
We stood against the wall and about 8 men filed in behind us also zip ties, who stood against the wall opposite us. AJ and I locked eyes and I was glad to see he looked okay and probably hadn't been caught the night before. Next to me, Molly gasped and one of the men who was very tall and covered in tattoos smiled at her. It was her brother and he was alive.
Old and Young Man came around and cut all our zip ties. When Young Man got to me, he leaned down in my ear and whispered, "Tonight, you're gonna get it." I felt my blood both boil and freeze at the same time. It was the creepiest thing that had ever been said to me, but it filled me with rage.
I gritted my teeth to keep from spitting or cursing at him. I promised AJ I would stay out of trouble so I didn't end up receiving another beating or a bullet to thes skull. When he walked away from me, I saw AJ glaring down at him, as well. At least he had my back.
"Alright, listen up," Old Man spoke. I think it was the first time I had actually heard him say anything. "You are going to be serving all the members of The Community. If they ask you to get something you do it. No matter what that request is." I didn't like the way he emphasized "what".
They walked out the door, into the party room and stood outside the window so we could obviously see them, but they faced away from us. Molly ran to her brother and they wrapped each other in a hug. Jane went up to two men and hugged them, as well. They must have been part of her original party that she had been traveling with. Gwen was searching desperately through the group of men with tears in her eyes. Her father was not there.
AJ came up and stood beside me. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I couldn't help but smile at the small act of reassurance.
"I'm assuming that's Gwen," he said gesturing toward her as she stood crying over a pan of pigs in a blanket.
"Yeah. She's probably worried her dad is dead because he's not here." I said. A horrible thought hit me and I had to ask, "Is he?"
"No," AJ said quickly. "He volunteered to stay at the station. I think he didn't want to see what would happen to her here. It would be too much to see his daughter like that and not be able to do anything about it."
I nodded in understanding. "We should tell her," I said, but AJ put his hand on my arm stopping me.
"I will, you go get some of the trays ready and start looking for exits," he said and walked off toward Gwen.
I went to the counter and grabbed a couple of the trays, then over to the tables to start loading up food. I looked back at the window and Young Man was gone and I could see people in the room, sitting in chairs and talking. Old Man turned around and knocked on the window and used his thumb to indicate that we needed to come out.
Gwen began sobbing and had her arms wrapped around AJ as he awkwardly patted her on the back. He looked at me and half smiled. I chuckled and felt my heart swell with fondness. Nate had always been charming, but never had the raw sweetness to him that AJ had. In a situation like this, Nate likely wouldn't have said anything to Gwen at all unless I made him.
I took the trays I was holding and headed out the door into the party. It was propped open now so we wouldn't have to struggle with it. As soon as I came out, I was surrounded. People began grabbing the food and various parts of my body. I first swatted them away, but I remembered the words of Old Man. I had to let them or else I would be in trouble which was the last thing I needed.
Within minutes the tray was empty and I had to go refill. I was in and out 5 times within the first hour of the party. Every once in a while I would bump into one of the prisoners also with a tray, but once all the members of The Community were there, I was constantly surrounded and didn't get a great view.
I went back into the break room and put the tray down. I had to take a deep breath to gather myself. I was getting overwhelmed with the constant people and touching. I had honestly considered the lack of people one of the only positive things about the infection. I no longer had to deal with overwhelming crowds, but I was being proven more and more wrong every second of this party.
I turned to look out the window and saw Gwen. She was holding a tray that was mostly empty, but was surrounded by 3 men. Although I hadn't really met hardly any of the members of The Community, something about these men stuck out. They looked dirty and their hair was matted and greasy unlike the members who all were freshly showered and well groomed.
I gasped as the realization hit me. It was the Gas Men. And they were already leading Gwen away. My heart leapt to my throat as I took off out the door. I had to get it to stop immediately.
I pushed through the crowd not caring who I knocked over in the process. I ran up to her and grabbed her arm, causing the tray to spill to the floor. Luckily the music and noise in the room was loud enough to cover the clatter of it falling. Gwen looked at me with wide eyes and the 3 men looked incredibly disgruntled. I had only planned on getting to her, but hadn't thought much more past that.
"Uh," I stammered thinking. "You need to go get more food. NOW," I shouted and pushed her back toward the break room.
The largest of the men stepped forward. "That can wait until we're done. We have payment that needs to be made," he started reaching for her, but I pushed it away.
I saw the rage flash across his face and his fists start balling up. I was suddenly reminded of a bully in a tween movie when the new kid stood up for the "nerd" character. I then had an absolutely brilliant idea, probably the most brilliant idea I had ever had in my life. I was going to practice some bully behavior myself.
"You don't want to do that. She has gonorrhea," I said. I could practically hear a record scratch. I looked at Gwen whose mouth was gaping open in shock and indignation. "Actually, I do, too. All of us girls have it. Outbreak started this morning."
The three men stared at us, speechless. One of them backed up, disgust painted across his face. I nudged Gwen gently to try to get my point across. Luckily, she was smart and got the message pretty quick.
"Oh, yeah," she said. "Super bad. Itchy, swollen, uh... pus." She said the last part was more like a question, but I nodded along with her.
"Worst part is, we don't have any antibiotics, so we might be stuck with it for a while."
The biggest guy threw his hands up and shouted, "What the hell are we supposed to have for payment now?!"
"Sounds like a question for the 'sheriff'," I said and pulled Gwen with me back to the room.
I pushed our way back through the crowd, dragging her behind me until we were through the door. There were a few others in there with us and gave us a quizzical look when we burst in. I ignored them and went to a table and started grabbing random food to put on mine and Gwen's try.
She was noticeably silent next to me. Her face was red and she looked to be shaking a bit. I thought I crossed a line by telling a lie about her having an STI. I opened my mouth to apologize, but was cut off when she burst out into a fit of giggles.
I couldn't help but laugh, too. We tried to keep as quiet as we could so we didn't get in trouble, but it was hard. Gwen had her hand over her mouth as I ended up sputtering all over the food on the table. It took a few minutes for us to gain our composure.
When we were finally able to wind down, I was wiping tears from my eyes. Gwen embraced me with a hug and said, "Thank you."
"No problem," I said, hugging her back. "I can only hope the word spreads and none of the girls have to worry about it."
She pulled back and nodded. "I wish I had thought of doing something like that when I first got here."
I handed her the tray filled with food I had accidentally spit all over. A small act of vengeance, but satisfying. She took it and went back out into the room. I said a little prayer in my head for her, hoping that the touching and harassment would stop now.
I turned back around to finish loading up my tray when the door leading out to the lobby burst open. I almost dropped the tray as I whipped around to see a dolly stacked with 12 packs of soda being wheeled in by Young Man.
I instantly recognized the soda as a brand that Nate had always liked. It had been a newer soda that had come out only a few months before the infection. It was called SkyLand's Cola and came in a sky blue can with clouds on it. I had never really enjoyed it, but I would always buy it as a surprise for him. I even remembered the days after the infection I had to clean up 2 half empty cans of it left by him and Katie.
Young Man wheeled it to sit right next to the door leading to the party room. I watched out of the corner of my eye as I continued what I was doing. There was no one else in the room with me and I felt very vulnerable at that moment. My heart sped up and I held my breath waiting for something to happen, but, luckily, he grabbed the case on top and took it into the party.
I let out the sigh of relief. I went back into the party, but noticed immediately that I wasn't being touched. People would reach for the tray, but their hands would retreat when they saw me. I walked around for what was probably 15 minutes, but only a few items were taken off my tray. I found Molly, who was also sporting a full tray and all the members giving her a wide berth, as well.
When we made eye contact, she was smiling, but obviously had no idea what was going on. I gave her a thumbs up and moved on. It was nice to see that the elite still liked to gossip, even after the apocalypse. The rumor of us girls all having an STI had spread like wildfire across the party and was keeping them safe, at least for now.
After a bit longer, I gave up with the food and went back to the break room. Most of the food was depleted by this point and we were instructed to start taking sodas around for people. I found out that alcohol was prohibited in The Community by the "Sheriff". It didn't stop members from finding ways to get drunk on the weekends, but at a public event, it wasn't allowed. So to make up for it, SkyLand was being offered in its place.
I wasn't able to pass out many sodas, but it gave me a chance to locate exits since my view wasn't blocked. I found a door that was a fire exit, but I was more concerned that it would sound an alarm if it was opened. There was a bathroom, but it had no windows. The breakroom did have windows, but there was no way to open them. The only viable options I could find were the doors that led to the lobby and the door that led directly into the "sheriff"'s office, where there was a window, but it was likely to be like the ones in the break room.
I ran into AJ at one point and told him my findings. We agreed the best exit was likely through the lobby, but he knew some guards were there to keep us in. I felt like ripping my hair out in frustration. We still had no plan, no distraction, no exits, and it looked more and more like there would be no way to escape.
All the prisoners were instructed to gather in the breakroom after ensuring that all the members had a drink. We watched through the large window facing the party as the "sheriff" stood up on a chair. The music stopped and he began giving a toast.
"I'd like to thank all the members of this fine community for coming out tonight. We have created something great here...," I stopped listening at that point when I heard something hit the floor.
By the door to the party, Young Man was standing and had dropped his can of soda. The can was rolling on the floor, spilling its contents. He did not react or move when it dropped. I half expected him to turn around and yell at us to clean it up. But he just stood there staring into the party. A shiver ran up my spine at the familiar sight. It was exactly how Mr. Nelson had been on infection day.
I grabbed AJ's hand, who was standing next to me. I stared wide eyed at Young Man, but I couldn't find the words. I stepped back and pressed into one of the men who was standing behind me, but I didn't care. I was too full of panic because I had already seen this happen before.
AJ must have realized, too. He said in a voice barely above a whisper, "Everyone, stand back."
He still had his tray and was holding it up like a shield. Everyone in the room began shuffling around trying to find something they could use for defense.
My mind was doing cartwheels. How could this happen? The infection had died out months ago and I hadn't seen or heard of any people with infection in The Community. The "sheriff" had made it clear that all the infected had been "cleansed" from the town long before we got there.
I looked down at the can of soda on the floor. I felt like it was staring back at me. I remembered how when I had buried Nate, he had been naked and covered in blood, but it was all from Katie. I hadn't seen a single scratch or bite mark on him, unlike with Mr. Nelson. Something else had to have caused him to get the infection. I had always assumed it had been Katie that had transferred the infection, but how had she not shown any signs before they had gotten "down to business"? With how quickly it had affected Mr. Nelson, surely she would have already had some symptoms and that would have at the very least been a mood killer. Staring at that can, the answer hit me like a ton of bricks.
"The soda," I mumbled. "Oh God, it's the soda!"
I then remembered another very important detail. I looked out the window to see the crowd of people all shouting, "Cheers" and everyone bringing the soda to their lips. My heart dropped into my stomach.
"We have to get out! NOW," I yelled, desperately looking around the room. The only other option was for us to head into the lobby, where armed gunmen were waiting for us. We couldn't risk running out into the crowd because Young Man was already standing at the door blocking us, but who knows how long it would take for people to start turning.
"The windows," Brittney said from my side. I hadn't even seen her, but she was holding a long fork for a barbeque. "But we have to take care of him first." She gestured toward Young Man who had started swaying.
I was hit with an idea. "We can push him out the door," I whispered. "We push him out and then we can shut the door. We'll use the tables to block off the doors and then break open the windows to get out."
"Good plan," Brittney said. She turned to the people on her other side and said, "Listen up, get ready to knock over the tables and push them against the doors."
They nodded in agreement. I turned to AJ and said, "Find something to break the window and get it open as soon as the doors are barricaded."
AJ immediately went to the area by the refrigerator and grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall. I hadn't seen it there before, but I hadn't been paying much attention either. I took a breath and gestured for Brittney to follow me.
I tried to be as quiet as possible as we made a wide circle around Young Man. We crept forward until we were right behind him. He was breathing hard and I could hear the grunting starting. Brittney held up 3 fingers and began counting down. When she put down the last finger she mouthed, "Go," and we both pushed him as hard as we could from the small of his back.
He lurched forward with a "Raah," and I slammed the door shut. I was happy to see there was a lock and I twisted it.
"Let's go," I yelled and ran over to the other door and sure enough, there was a lock on that one, too. I twisted it and jumped out of the way so the tables could be pushed against it. I heard screams coming from the party room and looked out the window in time to see Young Man jumping onto top of a woman. He sunk his teeth down into her shoulder and ripped off a large chunk of flesh.I felt my dinner making its way back up my throat, but I swallowed it down.
Other members were hunching over as if they had a stomach ache and I knew what was happening. They were all starting to turn because of the soda. They had all drank the tainted drink and soon it was going to be an entire room filled with infected.
I was brought back to reality by the sound of glass shattering. I looked behind me and AJ had busted the window and was breaking away the smaller pieces at the bottom and sides. Another man was handing him dish towels to put on the ledge. There was a thump behind me and I made eye contact with the "sheriff".
His eyes were already bloodshot and he looked scared. The glass muffled his voice, but I heard him say, "Help me."
I felt kind of bad, but I looked around the room at all the men and women behind me who had suffered for months at his hands. They were already filing out the window as fast as they could. We were finally escaping and free. Away from this wannabe Jim Jones. The guilt I felt didn't last very long and I felt the rage I had felt since day one.
I held up both my hands, middle fingers pointed straight up to the sky. "Fuck you," I yelled so I was sure he heard me. I then ran toward the window and jumped out into the night.
____________________________________________________________________________
As soon as we were outside, Jane, Brittney, Emma and some of the men broke off and ran toward the parking lot to steal a vehicle. There had been a short goodbye and some "good luck"s exchanged between us before they took off. Gwen, Molly, Molly's brother, and 2 other men went with us toward the stations to get the other men left behind out.
It took a long time trying to make our way through trees and streets. We kept low, hid behind as many objects as possible, and moved fast. It was freezing cold and we were all shivering. We finally made it to the electric station and we decided to all split off. Gwen and one of the men agreed to break into the electric station and Molly, her brother, and the other man went to the water station.
AJ and I agreed to go off on our own. As much as we wanted to help them, we had a dog to go find and needed to get back on the road as quickly as possible. We said some tearful goodbyes and Gwen hugged so tight I thought I would lose consciousness. I was sad to have to leave all of the girls, but they had their own way to go and we had ours.
Outside of the electric station was a black, 4 door Ford Ranger with a covered back. We jumped in and were lucky enough to find the keys tucked away in the visor. It felt so cliche, but that's a small town mentality for ya. We started it up and it only had about a quarter of a tank of gas, but it was enough to get us down the road a good distance and away from this God awful place.
We drove through the streets, careful to avoid the direction of the sheriff department. We drove with the headlights off so we wouldn't be spotted and the still full moon provided a lot of light for us. We had to do a lot of guessing, but we finally made it to the main road we had walked into town on, and were able to backtrack enough to get back to the Family Dollar.
We were vigilant as we went in. The plan was to grab some supplies and hopefully find Doofus, then get out as fast as possible. After 3 days there was a chance he had run away or had died from dehydration. There was no telling and I was incredibly nervous about what we would find.
As soon as I walked in, I was hit with the smell of dog mess. The whole building reeked of it and it almost made me gag. I looked around the room, but I did not see Doofus. I started to feel dejected when AJ whistled.
"Doofus, come here boy," AJ yelled and his voice echoed around the empty store. A second later there was the sound of claws against the floor and AJ and I were barrelled over by a wall of black and white.
Doofus couldn't control himself or his tail. If I wasn't being smothered with licks, I was being whacked with his tail and its ferocious wagging. He was whining and kept rolling over to get us to scratch his belly, then jumping up and to lick our faces. I hugged him, pet him, scratched him, and kissed his snoot. I had never been so happy to be covered in slobber in my entire life.
After Doofus calmed down a bit, we made our way further into the store to start gathering supplies. We were lucky and although the cart we had been using before to carry the supplies had been knocked over, all of our stuff was still there. I didn't know if it had been either of the men that had kicked it over, it had knocked over during the fight, or if Doofus had knocked it over, but I was glad it had been.
The gallon jugs of water had been crushed and a puddle of water was on the floor. Doofus went up to it and lapped up some as we righted the cart and tossed out the crushed jugs. As AJ took the cart out to the truck to start loading it up. I made my way through the aisles again to gather a few more things.
I grabbed some basic things like band aids and a few more food items. I also found that Doofus had ripped open a bag of cat food that was on the bottom shelf and that's how he had been eating. I smiled realizing how resourceful he had been. I went back to the clothing section one last time. I smirked at the blue dress on the rack. I never wanted to see it again.
I grabbed a pair of leggings, a t- shirt, and a jacket off the rack and changed into it in the back. It was much more suitable for the winter weather than the red party dress I had been wearing the entire day. At least I had been smart enough to only wear my boots the entire time I was captive so I still had good shoes for the rest of our journey.
I went outside and AJ had all our stuff loaded in the truck with Doofus proudly sitting in the back seat of the cab. I tossed in the last few things I had grabbed in with the other stuff and climbed into the passenger seat.
AJ started up the truck and we took off. We kept the headlights off until we were completely out of town and then we just drove. We still knew which way we were headed and just kept going in that general direction. By the time we stopped, the clock read 4:26am and we were about 75 miles away and felt safe to stop for a bit to get some rest.
We had already driven through Texarkana and were in Arkansas. But the truck was pretty much out of fuel and we would have to go on foot after that. We pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store and once the truck was turned off, it looked like any other vehicle in the sea of abandoned cars.
We agreed to sleep for a few hours in the truck with the doors locked. I leaned my chair back all the way and put a blanket over me. The truck was still warm from the heater we had on the entire drive so I was quickly cozy and my eyes heavy. Doofus let out a huff as he settled in on the back seat and AJ looked snug too in a similar position to mine.
Even though we were sleeping in a car in an abandoned parking lot, I finally felt safe again. I had AJ by my side. I had Doofus softly snoring only inches from my chair. And I was finally free from my prison again. All felt right in the world again, even if I had just witnessed an entire town become infected and tear each other apart.