Alive

Chapter 10: The Warehouse

Barry unlocked the door to the front seat as I got in, making sure Haley and Dane get in the back of the car with me and they didn't run off. 

"Thank you, Haley," I said softly.

I didn't care for the pretense, it felt forced, but she and Dane both deserved something for the trouble we were giving them, at least a thank you for an explanation of what happened that day. I decided that if we got out of this I would do everything in my power to make up for this brutality. I had sat next to Haley and Dane while Ann took the passenger seat. Barry and Ann both looked at the rearview mirror at us periodically as we drove, worried for my safety in such close proximity to our captives.

I was admittedly distracted with thoughts of Doug. It was a relief that my lifelong best friend was okay, at least he was okay the last time Haley and Dane had seen him, but I didn't have any doubt. I now felt completely ridiculous for having expected the worst. Doug had predicted that something strange was happening before all of us did. He was probably lighting up another cigarette with his fresh new pair of lungs at that very minute, the bastard.

Haley caught my wry smile.

"Turn here," Ann instructed.

Barry spun the wheel and we headed right on a narrow road. It sloped in a steep descent, giving us a clear view of the field with sparse plots here and there. I went up in my head during car trips and no one spoke except for Ann to Barry, so before I knew it we were free from the city's death grip. However, that was only the beginning of our troubles. We slowed to a stop outside of a row of garage doors that sat squat under a large, seemingly vacant building.

It was white but worn and old, grey patches showing its age and unkemptness in spots. Figures ran out of the forest and surrounded us before I had time to observe any more. I drew a knife as one had gotten too close for me to react and jammed it right above the girl's forehead. Pieces of flesh hung off of the hairy scalp, violently cut so that you could see the brain inside the skull. She fell to the ground, twitching and already preparing to stand again when Barry shot her with the syringe gun and she dissolved into a puddle of ooze.

Haley and Dane had their hands full with about a dozen of them, but they managed to ward them off long enough before we took care of them permanently. Before they could rip apart our new friends, they were taken down like animals at the end of our guns that were too silent for it all. The only sound was their bodies thudding and fizzing as they fell collectively into a unified blue-green mush.

The warehouse stood tall. The light of the moon cast an eerie virescent hue on the white painted brick and the lights shot red from the windows inside. The red lights were used for growing our plants. The buds responded well to it. You see I, before becoming successful in my writing, used to help my friend Doug with some unsavory deals. The warehouse was our main base, to supply drugs.

I had a feeling that he had gotten our gang back together before I even got out of the car and knocked on the door. However, no one answered.

"Alex, more are coming," Ann said worriedly.

They approached quickly, another mob. One had a flame thrower and the other a chainsaw, revving it up. The next thing happened so fast I couldn't even recollect it clearly now. As they crossed the parking lot toward us, a fire engine barreled into them at blinding speed. They crunched and sprayed blood onto the pavement, and the man we had all been looking for hopped out of the driver's seat.

He appeared much bigger in the driver's seat of the bright red vehicle, but as soon as he jumped down he was the same 5'1 as his sister. However, deceitful appearances could kill. He dug the long knife out of his pocket and stabbed a woman through her chest as she ran toward him, impaling herself on the blade. He twisted it as he drove in and out, smiling as she fell to the ground and drowning in her blood.