Chapter 1
Somewhere in America
A gust of wind blows a chunk of charred tattered remains, through a land that has lost almost all civilization. Ashes, that were once considered life, blow around a dusty, dissolute, disheveled and deserted city. Newspaper and other detritus whirl past mangled, empty metal tombs. These empty vessels were used to transport its riders around on daily frivolities. Buildings, once paragons of civilization, stand warped and transformed, like half melted butter left to cool. Their inner workings exposed to the world: beams and post jut out twisted as if running from the weight it once carried. The acrid scent of decay, feces and death, assault the senses of any visitor upon their entrance to the city.
A newspaper twirls through the wind, it’s headline “First users of pandemic cure show strange side effects!” can be quickly read before the page is snatched on the wind and taken out of view. A shard of glass wavers in the frame of a wall that has seen better days. Ransacked and picked over like those of stores that open their doors the day after Thanksgiving, the shelves in this destroyed store from a recent time passed look like they were used for wrestling.
Warped and bent, the shelves are sprinkled around the floor of the pharmacy. Desiccated corpses lay splayed throughout the store, many in progressive stages of decomposition. There is nothing left on the shelves of interest because these aisles were picked clean years earlier but there’s always hope.
With that spurring her forward, Maggie, a black twenty-two-year-old nurses’ aid, aimlessly searches the skeletal rows praying to find a travel size bottle of alcohol or some other form of antiseptic. She’s dressed for the cold wearing jeans that are ripped at the knee through which the off white of long johns can be seen. The jeans are fed into a pair of scuffed, brown timberland boots. A brown parka, with a black backpack and a skullcap with a skull threaded into it, complete her look. Maggie moves quietly through the store, afraid of what may happen if she makes too much noise.
The mewling sound of an injured person can be heard from somewhere deep within the building. Maggie checks the refuse of the last aisle before she vaults over the pharmacy counter. She rifles through several empty drawers then spots a prayer, a full bottle of vinegar, left discarded under the counter.
Maggie scans the label on the back of the brown bottle before stuffing it in her backpack. She searches the area for more supplies, stuffing some in her bag, before jumping back over the counter and returning to the injured person in the back room. Lying in a pool of blood on the floor of what was once a bathroom, a black man in his mid-forties, futility attempts to stem the bright flow of red oozing from his hip. Kneeling close to the man is a crimson haired white woman in her early thirties. She eyes a sewing needle as Maggie rushes back into the room.
“I got some Vinegar. Will that work?” Maggie asks tossing the bottle to the woman. She takes off her backpack and begins to rummage through it, placing all of her discoveries on the floor next to the bleeding man. “I also found a half empty box of gauze, some tape, a bag of needles and this.”
Maggie holds out a full bottle of Vodka, a large smile of triumph on her face. The red head shakes her head, a smile creeping slowly on her face as the man grabs the bottle. “Thank God. Where the hell did you find this?” The man asks before he takes a deep swig. “Damnit Danny, hold the fucking wound.” The red head says snatching the bottle away. She takes a large gulp herself before handing the bottle back to Maggie. “Mags hold him down. I’m going to try closing this wound.” The red head says.
She picks up a sharp knife from the set of tools that were fanned out next to her and splashes it with the mouth wash. “Good job on the Vinegar. It’s not as good as alcohol but it will do.” The red head moves closer to the wounded man and places one hand on his chest. “Ok, now listen to me you two.” She says looking at Danny then Maggie. “I’m going to try to cut away the infected skin.” Danny, upon hearing this, grabs the bottle of alcohol and takes a deep gulp. More than a little nervous, Julie, the red head, tries to ignore this and continues. “Once that is complete, we’re going to try to sew the gashes, then…” Julie wipes sweat off of her head. “Then if all that works, we can bandage you up.” She looks at both of them again before moving closer to the wound then spots a small tremble in the hand holding her tool. She steadies herself then holds the knife at the ready.
“Everybody got it?” She asks. Danny and Maggie both nod. Julie hovers the blade over the wound. “Ok, here we go.” Danny’s screams are immediate. Maggie grabs the towel that Julie’d given her earlier and shoves it into Danny’s mouth. Julie, seeing none of this, continues to maneuver her blade through the wound with one hand while trying to restrain Danny with the forearm of the other. The three gashes weren’t placed in particularly dangerous places but Julie, an RN, had never been trained to do such procedures. Hoping that everything she’d learned would guide her now, she sliced through more of the largest wound. Danny moaned through the towel while writhing from the pain as Maggie tried her hardest to keep his body still.
Julie pulled the skin away slowly, gently trying to raise the infected area with the knife. She cut away the last pieces of the first wound when the sound of something falling in the next room caused her to pause. She’d hoped the towel was enough to dampen the sounds that she knew Danny would make but it was now clear that something had heard him. She stared into Maggie’s frightened green eyes, her answer clear, but didn’t want to consider it. Julie shook her head, her movement a silent statement of resistance: ‘No! I won’t leave Danny. I can’t leave him.’ The negative motion said.
Maggie takes a look at them both, then silently begins to repack all of the things she’d taken out of her bag. “Jules, come with me.” Maggie whispers. She moves over to the bathroom window; opens it a crack then turns to the others. Crying, Julie shakes her head again. “I can’t.” Maggie looks down at her hands, spares a final glance at Danny and Julie before jumping out of the window, tears streaming down her face.
Grateful that she was the only thing currently in the area behind their location. Maggie quickly reaches the end of the alley. After verifying the area was free of danger, Maggie takes one furtive look back at the window she’d just exited, before turning to plot her route out of the area. By the time she makes it out of the parking lot, the sound of Julie screaming can be heard coming from the pharmacy. Maggie begins to run, thoughts of looking back replaced by her minds’ focus on the next safe area.
