They Walk

Chapter Sixty Six

Gabe and I share a look, as my father pulls the door open with no resistance, and I know we both think it’s not a good at all. How can it be, if anyone was still here, the doors wouldn’t have been locked. But neither of us says anything though, and we follow in behind after my parents. Once we are all are inside, Gabe pushes the door closed behind us and I immediately wish he hadn’t.

The stairwell that we walked into is plunged into darkness, that makes my parents and I gasp in alarm.

Not Gabe though, and while I ponder his braveness, he shifts me to the side and uses his arm to dig into the pack on his opposite shoulder. He pulls something out, but it’s too dark for me to see clearly, and with a quick scratching sound the hall is filled with light.

Blinking against the bright light, I find that Gabe has one of the flares we found at the army base so long ago. I completely forgot about those, and thank the stars that Gabe did not. The flickering light now allows us to see in the small space we are in, and as Gabe lifts the flare up higher we can see up the through the three flights of stairs. Straight ahead of us is an open door that leads to the first floor apartments, and the way it’s so quiet in here, I have to wonder if we really are alone.

“I thought you said they had a working generator?” My dad asks me, as he takes hold of the stair railing and starts to pull himself up.

He and my mother both are watching me, and I’m grateful for the harsh light, since they probably can’t see the blush that is forming on my cheeks. I glance at Gabe, pretty much asking him if we should be straight with them. Of course my subtle look doesn’t go unnoticed, and my father is glaring at me when I turn back to him.

“Maggie, what is going on here?”

Gabe’s arm around me gives me a gentle squeeze, and I sigh into him.

“They did have a generator, yes. With it not being on, and the lack of cars outside, I’m guessing they might have moved on.”

“What?” My mother screeches as she lifts her hands to her mouth.

My father and I hold an intense look, and I know he’s angry at me for not telling him right away. But when his face softens, he shares a haunted look with my mother who is still pretty upset. He pulls her into his arms, and her body quivers in unshed tears and I hate myself for saying anything. I know I would have only put off the inevitable, because we would know as soon as we go upstairs, but it doesn’t hurt any less.

“It doesn’t mean that there is no one here though. Someone might have stayed behind or something and we won’t know unless we check things out.” Gabe says, breaking the silence.

My parents give Gabe a hopeful look, and I really hope we do find someone still here, and we could really use the moral boost. Besides, the clock is still ticking and we’re running out of time to just be scouring the city for the others.

“If anyone is here, where do you think they would be hiding out?” My dad asks Gabe.

“My guess would be Randy and Kelli’s apartment. It’s on the third floor and at the end of the hall.”

Nodding, my dad releases his hold on my mother so that he can take her hand in his and he turns to go up the stairs without a second look behind him. Readjusting his hold on me, Gabe passes the ax to my free hand so that he can just hold out the flare. And when he starts for the stairs, I force him to come to a stop instead. He turns to me questioningly, and I fix him with what I hope is a stern look.

“I can walk on my own Gabe you don’t have to help me anymore.”

Now he is the one to fix ME with a stern look, but I hold my ground.

“Maggie, you almost passed out again outside, and we have two flights of stairs to climb. You’re lucky I’m not throwing you over my shoulders.”

“Even so, I have to do it myself, and I can’t be weak like this.”

His face softens then, and he gently touches my cheek with his fingertips.

“It’s not being weak to accept help, it’s called being smart. Let me help you please, it would make me feel better.”

Sighing, I glance up to where my parents have paused on the stairs right before the light fades from the flare and are watching me. Knowing we don’t have time for me to argue here over something stupid, I look back to Gabe with a reserved look.

“Fine you win, but only because I don’t want you to break your back over lugging my fat butt up the stairs. We might still need you to fight.”

Smirking at me, Gabe takes hold of my left arm again and positions it over his shoulder, while wrapping his right arm around my waist. Lifting up the flare in his left hand, he guides us up the stairs so that we are right behind me parents now. From the first step we climbed, I’m ever so glad I decided to let Gabe help me, because my head throbs at all the movement.

I try not to let it show how moving hurts, and when we are nearing the first landing, Gabe glances at me.

“You don’t have a fat butt it’s more scrawny than anything, and I should know.” He says under his breath, so that I would be the only one to hear him.

I snort out a laugh, which I try to turn into a cough but it doesn’t work as my parents glare at us, when we finally step up onto the small landing. Gabe is chuckling now two, and I can feel my cheeks flaming. Leave it to him to break an uncomfortable silence with a crude comment. Well, maybe not crude, but certainly embarrassing, for me anyways. And for the record, my butt isn’t scrawny it’s more of a bubble butt in my opinion.

On this landing there is a door to the right and stairs still going up to the third floor on our left. The door is pushed opened just like the one downstairs, and this floor is equally as quiet as the first one. We quickly make our way up the set of stairs until we are at the third floor landing, and find that this door is wide open like the others. My parents step aside and let Gabe and I with the flare walk through the doorway first. The flickering light shines through the hallway, and again I’m filled with despair as I see that it really is empty up here.

When we are fully inside, my parents come in behind us and together we start down the hall and towards the open door at the end of it. I have the sense of that really long never ending hallway from the shinning, and I’m almost expecting those creepy twin girls to come riding down the hall with bloody tricycles. Thankfully they do not, and before we know it, we’re standing in front of Randy and Kelli’s apartment.

“Are you steady enough to stand on your own?” Gabe asks me while staring into the dark apartment.

Nodding, I remove my arm from around his shoulder and take a slightly shaky step away from him. Not looking at me, Gabe uses his free hand and pulls out his hand gun, and clicks the safety off. Without waiting any further, he raises the gun and the flare both, and takes a step into the apartment. I walk in right behind him on unsteady legs, and hear my parents follow behind me.

From the light of the flare, I see that Gabe has stopped walking and is standing in the middle of the room that was once the living room. Now though, I see that the place is in shambles and the supplies that littered the floor before are all gone. There is an echoing silence as I take in the emptiness of the apartment, and I can’t help to notice that no one jumps out and says ‘surprise we’re still here’.





I have to finally be honest with myself, with the fact that we might not ever find my brother in time, and it’s my entire fault. As the others spread out in the room and search for what isn’t there, I walk backwards until I hit the back wall. I can feel my back shudder from the hit.

I’ll probably have a bruise, but I don’t care. Not about anything anymore. Feeling numb all over, I slid down the wall until I sit in a heap on the floor. I hear the ax bang against the carpet. I distantly realize that I’m still holding it, but oddly enough my fingers don’t relinquish it.