A Thousand Nights with You - 31. Olympia

We left Sandpoint at the crack of dawn, feeling like criminals fleeing from the crime scene. Peter escorted us to the barricade while the sky was still a deep shade of blue. We couldn’t risk a torch or people would see us moving. It was dark enough to hide our faces, but bright enough to keep on the narrow mountain road. From afar, we could see a gathering of torches and spears gathered around outside our home, blocked by a few soldiers.

“What are the soldiers holding them off?” Mark said.

“So that they would think the two of you are still inside.” Peter said.

So they were buying time for us to escape. But other than that short exchange, he was distant and silent through our journey. I didn’t know if he was angry at us or he wanted to stay low. Eventually, I couldn’t help it and said softly, “It was an accident.”

“Does it matter? Claudio didn’t make it.” I heard Peter said. It was a good thing I couldn’t see his face properly because I was struggling to hold back my tears as well.

Peter may have heard the soft whimper I tried to snuff out when he said to me, “What’s done is done. None of us had wanted this.”

By the time we reached the barricade, the sky is bright enough for our faces to be seen. Fortunately for us, only a handful of people knew us by face. As long as we kept our eyes averted, no one would know who we were. There weren’t any soldiers guarding the barricade. The walls were built so high that you couldn’t see the pile of bodies beyond it. For a time, we forgot that there was a world out there waiting to devour us. We had fooled ourselves into thinking this safe haven was impenetrable. The barricade was the only safe way for us to get out of Sandpoint. No one would ever come here.

A million thoughts raced through my head at that moment. Did we really infect those people at the council hall? A cough or a sneeze wouldn’t have done the trick. We had hugged our family and friends without passing it on to them. And if for some reason we could infect others by mere proximity, how are we going to live among people again?

Before we climb down the ladder, Peter suddenly jumped when a rat bit him on the ankle. He crushed it with a loud crunch under his boots.

“FUCK!” He cursed. Blood was soaking through his pants. That little bastard had a vicious bite. There were quite a few scurrying about the dead infected bodies outside the wall.

At that moment, Grey caught up with us with two large duffel bags. Grace wasn’t with him, and neither was my brother. They thought it was best to keep it from Tristan until we leave this place safely. Grace, on the other hand, was racing against time to find out how those people got infected. Neither of us carried the virus, but there were strains of HRN in their blood stream - strains that even she had never seen before. It was similar to the old HRN strain when the turning took days to happen. But the molecular structure was completely different. On one hand, I felt vindicated. But on the other hand, the idea of a spontaneous outbreak was more frightening than anything else.

“We’ll get you back once this shit blew over. I promise.” Grey said. “People someone to blame right now. It makes them feel safe.”

“You really think we could come back here?” I asked.

“We would miss you when our Marlboros and Chardonnays run out. You’re our ace scavenger.” Peter said. We broke into a weak smile.

“Stay out of trouble in Olympia, okay?” Grey said.

“Can’t we just hang around here?” I said, hoping to find an excuse to stay near my brother. I had an uneasy feeling about this mysterious outbreak.

“You need medications, Dan. Olympia could provide you shelter and treatment. Provided that both of you stay out of trouble.”

Mark and I looked at each other. We thought that they were throwing us out and leaving us to our own devices. We didn’t know that our friends still cared. Somehow, the winter didn’t feel so cold after all.

“Besides, I have a mission for both of you.” Grey smiled.

Olympia was a strategic green zone for Atlantis, despite their distance from the coastal settlements. They were one of the few settlements that continued receiving supplies from our government. It was a few hundred miles south from Sandpoint, situated below the snow line and right in the middle of a militarized industrial estate. Many of their weapons, bullets and heavy machineries were still being manufactured there. Our job was to convince Olympia to join our federation of independent settlements. With our help, they don’t need Atlantis for their supplies.

“Why do we need them?” Mark asked.

“Olympia was one of the few Atlantis settlements who were sympathetic to us. They didn’t think it was right for the government to set us up to be human baits. But more importantly, they had the factories to manufacture missiles, fighter jets and tanks. And we don’t want Atlantis to use those against us.”

“Why would they attack us?” I asked.

“If we had those weapons to keep the horde away, the infected would turn their attention to the coastal settlements. That’s where Atlantis based their crucial supply lines.” He said, looking at the eastern horizon before turning back to us. “Both sides are racing against time to fortify their defenses. The ones that held out the longest would survive.”

There were a few hundred millions infected in this continent and all of them were clustered around the settlements. Given enough numbers, they could break down any walls. They don’t feel pain, and they need very little to survive. This is no ordinary war. Our enemies had no hierarchy, no will to break, no supply lines to cut. And they would keep banging your walls until the bricks or your will breaks. But we had one advantage. They don’t reproduce. And if we could hold out for a generation or two, mankind could still reclaim the Earth.

Grey took out the map and a compass from the duffel bags and showed us the location. Normally it would take one or two day’s drive to get there, shorter if we fly. But it’s hard to start an engine in winter, and most of the highways were bombed or choked with abandoned cars. We would need to make many detours to get us there. And there is no way we can fly in this weather. Grey gave us the bags, which was fully packed with our medications.

“I’m afraid you would have to scavenge food and other supplies on your own. We figured you needed these above anything else.” Grey said.

I could almost see Mark giving him a grateful smile. Neither of us could imagine living through the old hell again.

Peter winced and pulled up his pants. The rat bite looked pretty ugly and his face was turning pale.

“You better get that wound cleaned.” Grey said, kicking off a rat that tried to sneak up on him.

Rats don’t normally attack people. We peered over the wall and saw a whole army of rats scurrying all over the infected corpses. These ones must have gotten used to feasting on the carcasses outside. They’re not afraid of people any more.

“Look for Jacob Philman once you’re there.” Grey handed us a sealed envelope addressed to him. He sent both of us on our way before more rats come at them.

We climbed down the barricade and landed on the pile of bodies. Most were dead, but some infected were just hibernating. The impact sent the rats scurrying all over. For some reason, the rats left both of us alone.

A few hibernating infected stared at us as we made our way down the mountain road, as if to say welcome back. Mark held my hands while we climbed over the rubbles. I didn’t really need help, but I liked the warmth of his large, callused hand. It made me feel safe somehow.

We stuck to the open road in the hope of finding a working vehicle. As we had expected, none of the engines would start. We didn’t have a lot of time to check every single car because the dark ones could sense us if they were nearby. Besides, I wanted to seek shelter from the cold as soon as possible.

We spent a few days heading to the mall which used to be our old hideout. It was a small detour but well worth the trip. There was an automobile showroom. If any cars could work, it would be there. Mark guesstimated that we had about four days to cross the snow line before the snowing gets really bad. But it’s hard to predict the weather these days.

The first thing we did was to head towards the pharmacy, hoping to find extra supplies for our medicines. But Mark clearly had something else in mind. I found him on the third aisle, squeezing stuff into his bloated duffel bag. The pharmacy counter was on the other side of the store.

“What are you getting?” I asked him.

“Just daily essentials.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

When I walked over and peeked into his bag, I was surprised to find all kinds of nonsense in it.

“Daily essentials huh?” I raised an eye, taking a bottle of lube out from his bag. He grinned and shrugged. Other than lube, he had boxes of ribbed condoms, flavored condoms and boxes of… contraceptive pills?! What the fuck? He said he must have dumped it in by mistake. Apparently, we had very different ideas about daily essentials. The ones I had in my bags were toothbrushes, not-so-fresh mints, baby wipes, tooth pastes that were on the verge of turning grey.

Even though he was six years older than me, I had to act as the responsible adult and tell him we could use the space in our bags more wisely. He agreed and locked the door behind us.

“Let’s use them up before we leave.” He leered, unzipping his pants.

Before I knew it, I was being pinned down on the floor, my pants tossed aside and both legs thrown over his shoulders.

“Wait…” I gasped. “I sensed a dark one coming.”

“Then we better hurry.”

Before I knew it, he was pumping harder than the banging on our doors and my pounding heart. The infected was moaning outside, as if eager to join in our frenzied fucking. I was moaning. Such adrenaline rush, racing to see we could cum before the door breaks down.

I didn’t know if I was laughing or crying when we jumped out of the window with our pants still down, spunk dripping all over the place. Mark was definitely laughing when we barricaded ourselves in the store room, back against the door. We were so close to death, yet we felt incredibly alive. I wanted to throw something at him, for being so stupid, for making such a mess out of me. My shorts and my butt were still sticky from our semen. I wanted to hit him. But he grabbed my hand and held it instead. Then he leaned over to kiss me gently.

“Great. Now we’re stuck here for another few hours.” I said.

He looked at me and grinned, “Well, what should we do in the meantime?”

I stared at him. He can’t be serious.

People cope with stress differently. Mark gets horny from an adrenaline rush. I get hungry. A few hours later, we got tired of playing hide and seek with the dark one and its posse of infected. We sneaked out to look for food.

The mall supermarket at the basement smelled worse than a garbage dump. Most of the food inside was rotten. We practically had to hold our breath as we braved through the fresh produce section. The canned foods were crawling with maggots when we opened them. The only edible stuff left were the preservative-laced jerkies that tasted more like rubber than meat. We decided to keep the stale cereals and nuts for later.

Finally, we came to the automobile showroom. We had a hard time choosing between the cars and the motorbikes. Cars could keep us sheltered at night, but bikes would get us there with fewer detours. In the end, we decided on a large Harley. We figured that the sooner we cross the snow line, the fewer nights we would have to freeze our asses.

The seats were comfortable but really wide. I had to spread my legs a little wider than decent to sit on it. He laughed when I struggled to get on. My butt was still sore from all that abuse.

The trunk was big enough to hold all of our newly acquired booties, but small enough to drive between cars and rugged terrains. I picked up a few leather jackets for him, just to complete the look. I sat behind him on the bike, hugging him from behind as we drove out from the mall drive way. I leaned my face on his broad, hard back, looking at the infected reaching out for us with their arms stretched out, feeling that this had got to be the most romantic and fucked-up honeymoon ever.

Day 470

Fucking hell.

All those months in Sandpoint really made us soft and complacent. We couldn’t even take a dump in peace! For days, a handful of dark ones were hot on our trail. We should’ve killed the first one while we had the chance. Apparently he had found a few friends to join his hunt.

We didn’t actually sense or see them for the first few days, but you could always tell when a horde was heading your way. The normal infected usually leave us alone. We took turns to lower the dosage of our meds so that at least one of us could sense them coming. It was pretty nasty, feeling all that pain over again. But at least we won’t be caught with our pants down. Literally.

But by the third day or so, there were at least a dozen of them hunting us. Where the hell did they came from? There weren’t so many dark ones last year. In the past if we were unlucky, we would bump into one every other day. But now we’re running into one every day. The moment we shake one off our trail another two joined in. What if the dark ones were evolved from the infected? I shuddered at the thought if all of them became agile and cunning.

We ran around in circles, hiding from our predators, making little detours to confuse them. A few times, we were close enough to spot one visually. It was only through sheer dumb luck and our trusty Harley that we could avoid an open fight. The snow made the road slippery and by the fourth day, it was impossible to drive without skidding off every few yards. We had to leave the Harley behind.

We stumbled upon a small suburban estate with plenty of empty houses inside. It would be easier to keep our scent in check behind walls. Meanwhile, we played hide and seek with them, moving from house to house every time they closed in. It turned out to be a bad idea because the dark ones were slowly closing in to our location, circling around the block like sharks. They brought a posse of infected horde with them, breaking down doors and windows to smoke us out. There were a few times they actually hit the right house. But we holed up in the attic with the ladder drawn. Those poor bastards couldn’t figure out where we were hiding.

Eventually, we found a house stocked with anti-fungal powder - the ones we got from the army. The scent was so repugnant that it threw the dark ones off our trail. But it also made us really sick. We threw up almost everything we ate. Not even the sugary cereals we found in the cellar could whet my appetite. Then when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, the snow turned into a blizzard. Without heating and warm clothes, Mark and I spent most of the day huddled up to keep warm.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it made the horde go into hibernation. Without their hounds on our trail, the dark ones gave up searching for us and sought shelter from the cold. The snow was knee deep by then, and we could tell where they headed from the trail they left behind. We took the chance to make a break for it, running away from them as far as we can.

For two days, we had to go by foot with duffel bags almost twice our size and half of our weight. The snow slowed us down even further. Every step was an ordeal. We were cold, hungry and extremely exhausted. In the end, we had to dump the bedroll, the tent, the cooking utensils and all other luxury comforts that we don’t really need. On the bright side, at least we weren’t thirsty.

It felt like we were walking on forever. I didn’t realize when the road started to turn dry. Our legs were heavy like we were still walking through snow. It wasn’t until I found myself sweating under the afternoon sun, leaning on to Mark to catch my breath that I realized we had finally crossed the snow line.

Day 475

We were tired of eating stale cereals. That was all we could find in the gas station. Mark and I wanted to snare some ferret or rabbits for dinner. I almost forgot how a decent hot meal tastes like. Despite being in the warmer region, we didn’t see any animals around. Usually you’ll hear crickets, toads and all kinds of insects at night but it was completely silent. It’s like all the animals went into hiding. We were craving for some fresh meat. Even rodent stew sounds tantalizing to us. But not even a single rat was in sight.

This morning, we thought we struck the jackpot when we spotted a mangy looking dog hobbling across the street. It looked like an easy prey until a rat sprang out from nowhere towards the dog. We were so excited, thinking that we would have both dog meat and rodent stew for dinner. And we didn’t realize the dog was actually running away from the rat. At first I thought the hunger was playing tricks on us. It wasn’t long before a swarm of rats poured from the sewers and went at the mongrel like a school of piranhas. That was fucking creepy. If we stayed any longer, we could’ve added ourselves to their dinner menu.

Wild animals were getting way too brazen these days. We saw mountain lions strolling along the streets, bears ransacking abandoned homes, packs of wild dogs attacking each other like rival gangs. That’s when we know humans were no longer at the top of the food chain. At some point, you can’t tell apart between the hunters and the hunted. In the end, we settled for some moldy potato chips from the mini-mart instead.

Our luck turned for the better after we were closer to the interstate highway. We’re thirsty and the stench of the smoldering tarred road made us feel sick. We wiped our sweat, stabbing at the map, tilting the compass, cursing like lost tourist while watching our backs for any dark ones lurking around. Eventually, we came across this little town with a health shop that wasn’t looted. Most of the stuff weren’t things we could consider a meal – vitamin pills, health capsules, supplement powders – but they’ll fill up your tummy once you pop enough of them. We felt like throwing up after downing half a tub of soured protein powder that was supposed to be vanilla flavored.

Both of us brightened up when we found a full barrel of distilled water at the back office. The barrel was dusty but the water inside was clean. We drank a quite a good bit to wash down our disgusting dinner. Then spend the rest of the evening rubbing our tummy and trying to figure out how to bring the water along with us. Mark said he could strap it on to his duffel bag with a nylon rope. I said he was crazy. That thing must have at least add twenty pounds to our burden.

“It would get lighter.” He reasoned.

“And it would also slow us down. Just fill up our bottles and go.” I said.

Unless we want to drink from the toilet bowls, we had to make another detour and travel by the river. Otherwise, we would die from dehydration. Just as we were arguing over which way to go, we found a SUV in a nearby garage. It was fully tanked, rugged enough to travel on any terrain. Best of all, there’s a battery operated GPS that was still working. That means we can go on the main road and bring the water barrel with us. But first, we had to clean the car. The leather seats were stained with blood that wouldn’t come off. And the remains of the family inside were crawling with maggots. Finally, we could hit the road on wheels again.

I don’t know why Mark thought that this was a good time to teach me how to drive. I almost got us killed three times. The first time I made a sharp turn to avoid ramming ourselves into a horde. We were pretty sure there were dark ones among that group because the infected were all reaching for us. The second time I swerved into the mud when a maggot crawled from the steering wheel onto my hand and I shrieked like a little girl. Mark glared at me when we’re stuck for five minutes trying to free ourselves from the air bags. The third time I rammed into a car bumper when Mark slid his hand under my shirt and pinched my nipple. That was entirely his fault.

Finally, he gave up and took over the driving. And by the end of that evening, we finally saw Olympia.

Day 476

We stationed ourselves in an abandoned factory a few hundred yards away from our destination. On the map, Olympia looked like a small town in an island. It was a mega stadium, supposedly built for the Olympics, but one look you know it’s a fortress built to withstand the apocalypse. The gargantuan stadium complex was cut off from the nearby industrial estates with a man-made island. Water surrounded its vast perimeter like a medieval moat. We saw wind turbines, solar panels and wired cables on every corner. This place was seriously built like a bunker. From where we are, we could see people working inside a large greenhouse across the stadium island. The government must have planned this all in advance.

You can only get into the stadium complex by crossing one of the three drawbridges that must have been at least fifty yards long. The infected can’t get inside unless they can fly or swim. From afar, we could see machines dredging out the infected corpses out from the water. Across the other side of the river, swarms of infected moaning at the people. But they didn’t throw themselves into the water.

“Dark ones are here.” I muttered.

“You can sense them?” Mark asked. I shook my head.

“It’s the only thing that would keep the horde from drowning themselves.” I said.

Olympia was connected to the nearby factories through the southeast bridge. It was the only bridge that was drawn down. The sides of the road were lined by tall fences and barbed wires, with a few straggling infected tugging at it and chasing the trucks beyond the fence. They were spread, otherwise the wired fences wouldn’t hold off their weight.

I wondered how we’re supposed to get into Olympia in one piece. There must be a lot of the dark ones to keep a horde from throwing themselves into the river. They kept themselves well concealed and for good reason. From our binoculars, we could see snipers stationed at every roof top corner. That means we couldn’t climb over the fence without getting shot.

“We could try the sewers.” Mark suggested.

It wasn’t the best idea but it was the only idea we had. If we get our directions right, we could pop out from a manhole behind the fences. But I thought about the rats and how aggressive they had become. Or worse, what if the dark ones were hiding underground? We had a few more days of food and water, so we decided to plan our entry carefully. And when we’re about to fall asleep, we heard a loud explosion. We dashed to the window and saw the night lit up by a great fireball. One of the factories had gone up in flames.