When We Were Humans | Book I

Chapter 18: Half of What We Used to Be

Viewpoint: Eli

The garage was a big, square building with a cartoony looking eagle giving a thumbs up at the top of the building. The building looked abandoned, which was demonstrated by the dust on the garage door. No one has been here for a long time.

I got out of the RV cautiously. I went over to the garage and tried to think of a way to get in.

"We could just ram it," Owen said.

"Remember what happened last time we broke into something?" I said, as I referred to the Joel-car situation. I was worried about him, but this was more important.

"Well then we have to lift it," Owen said. I sized up the door. It didn't look to heavy, but then again I've never lifted a garage door before.

"Once we lift it, you go under and find a car jack," I said to Dwayne . "Then slide it under so we can get in.

"Wait, what if there's Lurkers inside?" He asked.

I just gave a soft smile. "Good luck," I said as I patted his shoulder.

The three of us crouched down to get a firm grip on the base of the door.

"On three," I started. "One, two, three!" We all lifted upwards. The door creaked and dust flew everywhere. We managed to lift the door just enough to let Dwayne slip under. He let go of the door which dropped an unexpected weight in our hands.

"Go under already!" I grunted. Dwayne went head first into the garage. Once he was inside we dropped the garage door. I sat down on the ground to catch my breath.

"You think he'll be fine?" Owen asked while panting.

"I haven't heard any screams," I said sarcastically. "He's probably fine."

A double knock came from the garage. We bent down and attempted to lift up the door again. We held the door in place and then Dwayne slid a red car jack under the door. I heard the sound of a metal spring as the door rose slightly and held.

"You first," I said as I scanned the surroundings behind us.

Owen got on his stomach and crawled under the door. I followed behind him. The garage was very spacious on the inside. Tools were scattered all over the garage in tool chests. Wires were hanging from the ceilings, probably for pneumatics. The place didn't look like it was looted by anyone. Lucky us. Spare tires, engines, transmission and a bunch of other car parts were strewn about the garage. Multiple windows went around the tops of the walls which allowed natural light to flood in. On the wall was a huge map of the city. Handy. In the center of the garage was a huge, blue car lift that looked like it was still in mint-condition.

I heard the sound of a hand drill turn on behind me.

"This place still has power," Owen stated. "Probably the backup generator. That means that we can open the garage and get the car lift to work," he said, as he went over to the garage button. The door groaned as it started to rise slowly. With the door wide open, we got the RV inside. Owen skillfully maneuvered the RV onto the lift. I turned on the switch and the lift started to rise. There was a slight delay once the lift made contact with the bottom of the RV, but a few seconds later and the RV started to rise. I stopped the RV a few feet off of the ground, which allowed Owen some room to work.

Owen turned off the RV and jumped down. "I can get started on it, just make sure the Lurkers don't get to me. And also, please don't mess with the lift. Today is already a shit day, and I don't want to make it more shitty by getting crushed by this thing, okay?" he said sarcastically. "I need someone here to help me out."