Liam
Thursday, April 28th, 2022 (37 days after the Shutdown)
A pair of eyes were peering into the store, looking around for supplies to loot. Taking refuge in the backroom for the past 30 minutes as the group of scavengers tried to find a way in, one of them belted out a warning and they ran off, chased away by a flock of Medusas — the name Nina gave the monsters.
The monsters’ amorphous bodies barely brushed the street as they swept by, causing dust clouds to rise in their wake.
This was the fourth group that had meandered by, as larger waves of people migrated from the populated city center. Liam hadn’t even known there were still people in the city until a dozen people ran by in the middle of the night, screaming in despair as the slowest amongst them were devoured by the monsters.
Though it was nice to know there were still humans clinging on outside of the mall, Liam suspected the antics he pulled at the bikers’ base had catalyzed the recent change.
Peering through the gaps in the boarded windows, Liam watched them until they ran out of view.
“Pack your stuff up, we’re leaving,” Liam announced, rushing to fill up a bag with spare goods.
Grabbing the tool chest the renovators had left behind, he turned to Nina. She’d grown quiet, refusing to speak to him unless necessary. Her days were spent staring through a corner of the windows at the shop across the street. Her uncle’s shoes could be seen on the sidewalk outside.
“Nina, this place isn’t feasible for the long run. There’s a place nearby with more space. Once we move in, you can avoid me all you want.”
Standing by the door, he grumbled under his breath and walked up to her.
“Go by yourself. Use those powers of yours. Kill more people,” she whispered.
Dropping his supplies, he kneeled next to her.
“Yes, I was here that night. Will hearing that get you to move? But why do you think I didn’t help, princess? It was because I had bullet holes in my abdomen, burn scars across my body, and a fucking fever. And there were six of them with guns. Even if I tried, I couldn’t help you,” he finished, scooping up his supplies. “I-I’ve done enough for you.”
He paused as he opened the door.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
The door shut behind him.
“What do you know about loss?” she hoarsely answered, her voice filled with bitterness.
“...”
Fastening the supplies where he could, he rushed over the wall and onto the street out back. Two streets later, an entire compound hidden behind a 10-foot tall concrete wall rose in front of him. By his time on the K-Mart roof, he’d come to learn that the Medusas could be used to detect large populations within a vicinity.
And there were no howls.
That didn’t eliminate the possibility there were still squatters like him nearby, but that meant no gangs or groups he had to confront. Locating the ornate wrought iron fence the city had installed as a symbol of their industrial heritage, he slipped through a small door to the side.
Trying to remember where he’d seen it, after a few minutes of searching he found it, with its name painted in black letters.
SHEFFIELD STEEL.
It was one of the largest warehouses on the Okanagan Industrial Avenue which his father had taught him was the main line for the Industrial Complex. The warehouse itself belonged to one of the companies his father used to take contracts with and for the past year, they’d gradually been revamping production meaning the warehouse was modernized and renovated from the inside. On the outside, well, it looked like any other weathered box of metal.
Trying to find a way to enter, he froze, hearing the crunching of gravel behind him.
“This is where you wanted to go?” Nina inquired, looking around their location. “It’s… nice.”
“You came,” he plainly said. “Why?”
Shrugging off the bags of supplies Liam left behind for her, she stretched her arms.
“It was… time to move on,” she croaked, loudly clearing her throat when she saw Liam raise an eyebrow. “Do you think I wanted to be there, wasting away?… I-I am the reason he died.”
Liam noticed her fists curl up. “I couldn’t stand it there, in that glorified frat house because of the bikers and I tried to leave. My uncle caught me, tried to stop me… and now he’s dead. It was all my fault. I… I just… I didn’t want to relive that every time I looked outside.”
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Trying to change the topic, she pointed at Liam. “That ring on your finger, I’ve seen you touch it a lot. Did it belong to someone close?”
He’d been touching it without realizing it. “Mmm… my mother’s. Both my parents… uh… yeah.”
“I’m sorry for asking. And sorry for shitting on you… again.”
“... It’s okay.”
As the tension between them lingered, an uncomfortable silence settled in.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a key handy that would open this very nice warehouse, would you?”
Nina cracked him a wry smile.
“No way…”
Grinning, she walked towards the back entrance. A fence wrapper around the perimeter.
“Way. My uncle owned it and he rented it out to various companies. He was also a klutz…”
She lost herself in words, her descriptions becoming more detailed as remembered him, immortalizing the time she spent with him as she spoke. At some point, Liam knew she didn’t see him anymore, just her flipbook of memories when there were still times of bliss.
A breeze of nostalgia swept through him. When was the last time he looked that happy?
Realizing she’d been rambling, she blushed.
“Sorry, I—”
“Don’t be. He sounds like a great man. I’m sure he’d be happy to see you alive.”
“Alive… yeah. Well,” — she said, pulling a key from under a garden gnome beside the back door. “Tada.”
Sweeping into a bow, he smirked, “After you, princess.”
“Why, thank you,” she replied, her smile coming off as a grimace.
She still hadn’t sorted out her feelings and coming back to a place that reminded her of him… Liam could imagine the tug-of-war between her inner-turmoil and her wish to move on. At least when he’d lost his parents, he had the people of Half-Moon Bay helping him get back on his feet. She watched her friends die in front of her, then thrown into a cage where she was ravaged and mistreated. She was doing considerably better than he had.
Opening it, the smell of motor oil wafted out.
Nina was hovering at the doorstep. Shoving her through, he quietly closed the door behind them.
“Hey!”
“You were taking too long,” he shrugged, looking around what was by far the nicest warehouse he’d ever seen.
If only I could see what went on inside her uncle’s mind, Liam wished, realizing there wasn’t so much as a wrapper on the ground. He’s ridiculously organized.
There were two floors to this warehouse. High on the other side of the warehouse, large window panes facing the Industrial Avenue allowed generous amounts of natural light inside. Switching off his flashlight, he marveled at the ground floor stretching out like an open plain. The ceiling soared high above, supported by giant metal pillars and sturdy steel beams that crisscrossed the space overhead. In the center of the warehouse, a clearing had been made, offering an unobstructed view of the surrounding area.
Running to the center, he climbed onto a stack of wooden pallets neatly tucked to the side and took mental notes on the warehouse’s advantages.
Compared to the K-Mart, it was on the cusp of being a fortress.
Stone walls wrapped around the lower floor, providing a solid foundation for the corrugated metal walls that sat on top. There were two doors excluding the hanger doors that opened to loading docks, meaning it was significantly easier to defend or escape. Behind him and adjacent to the large windows was a terrace overlooking the expansive ground floor below, providing a vantage point. It was harder to tell, but there were also rooms up there for management. And that description didn’t even include the best part.
The bounty of the warehouse itself.
Organized in rows there were sheets of corrugated metal, steel rods, coils of wire and steel coils, and strip steel that all could be used in various ways. And tucked at the back, he could see a small kitchen and meeting room.
It didn’t contain every necessity for long-term survival, but if they put work into it, no one aside from them would be able to enter unless they had a bulldozer.
Even then, they probably wouldn’t be able to get in.
“You seem happy,” Nina remarked, looking unimpressed with their new home.
“And you…clearly don’t.”
“I… I’m not sure, that’s all. There’s no place for water here.”
“There is no place for water anywhere. It hasn’t rained in weeks. But that’s beside the point. Just picture it!”
Pointing to the hanger doors, he gushed, “Easy access in or out, and if we use the metal sheets, we can make it so that we control access.”
Shifting to the clearing he was standing in, he continued, “There’s a forest nearby. If we get soil or something from there or one of the warehouses nearby, we can set up a small farm or greenhouse. There’s even a drain on the work floor so we don’t have to worry about moisture building up.”
Twisting to look up at the rooms on the terrace behind him and the kitchen right below that, his emotions were catching up to him now.
“We can scavenge and put it in an actual kitchen and not on the floor for rats to eat through our supply. We don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore! I think I see a couch in there. We can make this place habitable and secure using the metal sheets in this building, Nina. If we have a problem — BAM! — metal it!”
Trying to follow along, Nina pursed her lips. “Liam, that sounds great but the two of us aren’t enough to do all of that.”
Hopping off the pallets, he walked to the center of the clearing imagining a thriving greenhouse producing fresh crops here. The sun shone down on him, creating a natural spotlight.
“Then we’ll start small. We’ll find people like us, who need a place to stay. We’ll grow outwards and take over this entire complex. It’ll be our kingdom, where no one and nothing can hurt us.”
Shivering, he looked over his shoulder.
It was only for a second but hovering in streams of sunlight, he saw his parents’ faces smiling at him.
Dad… Mom…
“Wouldn’t that be nice?”