White Noise

Of course it was fucking raining. Any time we had anything we absolutely had to do, it was fucking raining. Any time we had a decision we needed to make, it would fucking rain.

When I awoke to the heavy rain patting against the window, I groaned inwardly. It was still dark, but I knew I’d slept at least six hours. My bones knew it too, creaking as I tried to sit up.

My eyes could barely make out the shapes of Lila and Ryan, snuggled close together. I caught a chill on my skin as lightning sped across the sky. The rumbling of the thunder resonated deep in my bones.

I rose from my place on the sofa, taking soft steps to the bedroom door. I cautiously walked down the hall to the living room, feeling with my hands for the door to the kitchen. When my fingers gripped the doorknob, I pushed it open. My eyes had finally adjusted to the dark.

I grabbed a bottle of water off the counter and headed to the back porch. Under one of the overturned flower pots, I kept my stash of cigarettes – packs that I’ve picked up from The General’s convenience store closer to town. Thankfully the porch was covered, and I had an abundance of matches.

I could see where light was trying to break through the storm on the horizon. It would probably be a rainy day regardless, which didn’t help my pessimism, but watching the light creep up over the hill gave me something to focus on while I took drag after drag of my cigarette.

It wasn’t unusual for me to sneak out to the back porch, hide away and watch daylight creep on us. It was unusual for the stinkbags to be around, but since our encounter with the one at the door, we haven’t seen or heard any others…which was also weird. It wasn’t the rain, that didn’t bother them. There must have been something drawing them closer to the neighborhoods, or the city itself.

“Hey, Holland.”

I jumped, turning to face the voice. I knew it was Lila, she was always the one to find me out here, waiting for the sun to rise. “Lila, hey, you scared me.”

We spoke in hushed tones, not wanting to bring too much attention to ourselves.

“Can I sit?” she motioned to the spot next to me on the step, where I’d decided to perch for the moment.

I nodded.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about music a lot.” She laughed. “It’s almost strange, how much you miss it after not hearing it in so long.”

I flicked the ashes from the end of my cigarette into a puddle growing on the porch. “Yeah, I wish I could charge my fucking iPod.”

“I was just thinking about that Taylor Swift song.”

“Be more specific, Lila,” I grinned at her, though I doubt she could see it. “There’s a lot of those.”

“Ha ha, asshole. You’re so funny. I’m talking about Safe and Sound. It was on The Hunger Games soundtrack? I guess you don’t know what I’m talking about,” she slightly smiled, looking at her lap. “I wonder what happened to her.”

“Taylor Swift?”

“Yeah, I mean, is she safe, you reckon?”

I took a drag off of my cigarette before handing it to her. She gladly accepted. “I don’t know, man. It’s hard to think about celebrities…what happened to John Cena? Brad Pitt? I mean, it’s hard to know for sure.”

She handed the cancer stick back to me, and I could see her frown in the glow. “Where are we going to go, when we leave?”

I shrugged, and then realized she couldn’t see that. “I’m not sure, I think it’d be a good idea to relocate into Cab’s Creek. It’s close enough that it won’t take us long to get there, we’d be able to salvage what’s left from the other houses, and also still be far enough away from the city…”

Cab’s Creek was a subdivision we could see from our spot on top of the hill. It was a neighborhood that was by itself; there were maybe fifteen houses there, but the main highway that went into the city passed right by it. That’s also where The General’s store was. Since it was in such a secluded place, a lot of people forget that the store was there.

“Do we have to be so close to the city, though? It makes me really nervous.”

“I mean, it’s not really something I just absolutely wanna do,” I sighed. “At the same time, though, those houses were built to withstand anything. It’s a well fortified gated community.”

“So the chances of dealing with the dead are slim?”

I shrugged again. “I dunno, maybe? I mean I’ve noticed that the gate has stayed completely closed the whole time we’ve been here. If there are any dead in there, it’s just the ones that were left there.”

“That’s so sad,” she whispered, looking at her lap. The rain still fell heavily, and I could see droplets of mist falling against her hair. She started to shiver.

“Go inside,” I ordered. “Put on a dry shirt, get back in bed, sleep for a few more hours.”

“Don’t you need help?”

I shook my head. “I already know what we’re taking.”

I didn’t get Ryan or Lila up until after I’d had most of the supplies packed. Four big plastic storage boxes full of food and water later, and I knew what I could leave to them to take care of.

“Grab blankets, clean clothes, socks, whatever you think you need,” I said, then turned to Lila. “Maybe we can find you some clean bras and stuff down in the Creek.”

“We’re going to Cab’s Creek?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Strong and fortified houses, man. Gated community.”

He nodded, grabbing a blue suitcase and walking back to the bedroom. Lila agreed to pack up blankets in hers, since there weren’t any clothes there that would do her any good.

I grabbed a black suitcase, and walked back past the bedroom, to the hall closet. That’s where I’d stored the clothes I kept for myself. Sweatpants, clean boxers, and long sleeve shirts. No socks, but a sturdy pair of work boots that could do some damage when the shoes I wore decided to wear out.

After grabbing a few hunting toboggans from the top shelf of the closet, I closed the door. “Two camo and a black!” I yelled down the hall.

“Camo!” Lila and Ryan yelled at the same time.

I headed into the bedroom where Lila had managed to fit four throw blankets and a comforter into the bag. Ryan had his suitcase almost full, too. I handed them their “new” hats, and smiled when I finally had mine in place. It felt so normal.

Ryan ran outside to check on the van in the shed, loading gas cans into the places where I hadn’t put food. There were supplies squeezed in between the front seats and the bucket seats in the back.

I pulled new toothbrushes and toothpaste from a hidden place under the couch, and shoved them into my suitcase. I’d pass those out when we got to our next destination.

Getting into Cab’s Creek wasn’t hard. It was easy to manually unlock and open the gate, and it closed and locked back silently as well. No, the hard part was deciding on what freakin’ house we wanted to stay in.

“That one is too big,” Lila argued from the passenger seat. “I’d be so freaked out.”

“Oh, come on, we could use the space.” Ryan countered.

I rolled my eyes, until I saw one I thought would work. “What about this one, here on the corner?” I scanned it, and it looked abandoned. “It’s got that tower up there, and we could see everything.”

Ryan pulled into the driveway, and I got out to scout the house and make sure it was safe. The door opened easily, and I left it open for the light. I had a baseball bat in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

After checking every room, (including a room with female bedding and clothing, which looked to fit Lila fairly well), I began my ascent up the stairs into the “tower”.

It was actually a room with an octagonal shape, lined with window seats all the way around. You could see the city, Marine Tim’s house, and everything in between.

Once outside again, I jogged to Ryan’s window. “We’re good,” I fist-bumped him.

“Good,” he smiled. “Let’s get this shit unloaded. I need a fucking nap.”