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The Rest Stop

By Evan Drake

Chapter 1: No Rest for the Wicked

Despite the obvious signs of wear and tear and the unrelenting beat-down time had given it, the wooden door swung soundlessly on its hinges. Olivia thanked her luck. Stealth was her only real advantage over them, and she wasn't going to give that up. Bullets were scarce and the sound of gunfire always drew more. It was better to play things safe. It was always better to play things safe.

That was why she made a point of traveling alone. There was once a time when she welcomed the company, but then she learned the hard way there were enough reasons to sleep with one eye open. Alone was better than wondering when the knife in the back, the abandonment, or the horror of seeing a companion die would come. The thoughts brought up memories of Daryl, the man who taught her everything about surviving, and also the reason why she never intended to trust anyone again. Living alone in the "wild" was dangerous, but it beat lying, murdering, or stealing to survive.

She dragged her forked tongue across her dry lips, raised her rifle, and stepped over the threshold, choking slightly on the dry, musty air. It made her scales itch and reminded her of the attic in her grandmother's house. As a little girl, she spent countless hours rummaging through moth-eaten clothes and ratty, old boxes pretending she was exploring an old ruin, looking for treasure. But her grandmother's house was gone and so was the time of imaginary adventures. This was reality where the ruins weren't just thousands of years old, but also included homes and stores built just a few years before society's downfall. Many homes like this were now museums of what life used to be like when life-or-death struggles weren't the norm and she didn't have to scavenge for food and shelter.

Her grey eyes flitted to the scanner attached to her wrist. The monitor was still--no signs of life--but she knew better. It usually meant the place was deserted, but it could also mean they were just inside, sleeping. The scanner didn't always pick them up when they were sleeping because their heart rates slowed making it harder to detect. And awakening a sleeping nest was suicide, no matter how many bullets she carried.

A thick blanket of dust had settled over everything like freshly fallen snow. The blanket muffled the steps of her heavy boots, and for that Olivia was grateful. She held her thick tail close to her body to avoid accidentally disturbing anything. The thin rays of sunlight shining through the thick boards coating the windows brought enough light to see, but she flicked on the flashlight attached to the side of the rifle anyway. Dust-covered pictures hung on the walls and mini-figures stood like little porcelain guardians on the end tables in every corner of the room. But she was more concerned with checking the walls and floors for bloodstains and claw marks.

Satisfied that the living room was clear, Olivia moved on to the rest of the house. She took a glance down the hall, noting how every door was shut before moving on to the kitchen. Just like the living room, a covering of dust blanketed the entire room, but the room was empty in comparison. Other than under the kitchen table, there was nowhere for them to hide. She was still thorough, checking behind the appliances, inside the cabinets, and even inside the refrigerator and oven. She made a mental note to check the food she saw before returning to the hall.

As Olivia approached the first door in the short hallway, her heart began to race and a thought crossed her mind: What if the doors were shut because the rooms were "occupied"? She had forgotten to circle the house from the outside to ensure there was no structural damage. It wasn't a stretch to think that behind one of those doors was a gaping hole in the wall, and a large group of them had settled inside. Just as she opened the door, they would awake, and before she could realize her fatal error, they would swarm.

She glanced at the monitor on her wrist. It was just as still as it was when she first walked in. The monitor brought her little comfort, especially knowing it wasn't a hundred percent accurate. But it was still better than nothing.

Olivia braced the rifle against her shoulder and carefully pushed the door open with her free hand. It was a bathroom, and it looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in years. The small room was too narrow to contain anything other than a tub, toilet, and sink, but she checked everything in the room anyway.

Olivia made her way to the next room, doing her best to ignore the slight shaking of her hands and tail. The next room was a bedroom. Unlike the bathroom, this room was large enough to hold a bed, a dresser, two end tables, and a closet while still providing space to walk around. Everything in the room was neat and organized, making Olivia wonder why the place was so clean. Most places, even the ones that hadn't been looted, looked as if a bomb had gone off in it.

As Olivia approached the final room, she felt more anxious than ever. Her heart felt like a tribal drum being struck with hard, fast blows. The house showed no signs of hosting occupants in years, but it was clean. Too clean. The monitor was still and silent, but experience taught her not to assume anything until she had checked every inch of the place. She gathered the last of her courage, braced the rifle against her shoulder, and pushed open the final door.

The smell hit her before anything else, the sickening stench of death and rot that made her eyes water and made her want to send her stomach contents northward. Instinctively, Olivia's hand flew to her nose and she stumbled backward into the wall while keeping the rifle trained on the door. She quickly regained her balance and moved to close the door, giving the room a quick once over before doing so. It appeared to be a child's bedroom; dusty toys sat on the shelves and laid scattered on the floor. The walls had been painted pink with little flower decals scattered here as if the designer wanted to depict them flying in the wind. On the far side of the room, beside the bed, sat two corpses leaning against each other as if sleeping. But the bloodstains on the wall behind them suggested otherwise. Based on their size, she assumed the two corpses were the parents of the child this room belonged to. The third corpse, laying on the bed, was half their size.

It took everything Olivia had not to vomit on the spot. She fumbled for the door handle and swung it closed. She then fell back against the wall, gasping for air, whether from holding her breath so long or from seeing the family in the room she didn't know and didn't care. Seeing a corpse was nothing new, but seeing a child always bothered her. It was bad enough knowing what horrible fate awaited people outside District walls, but the idea of a child suffering that fate made her sick.

Olivia caught her breath, wiped her eyes, and stood to leave the tomb. The previous owners were dead--they were in no position to complain about her residency, and it was obvious from the blanket of dust no one else was coming back. But staying just felt...wrong. It would be a chore, but she needed to find another shelter. She checked her wristwatch and swore under her breath. It was close to 5 PM; the sun would be setting soon if it wasn't already. Either way, they would be coming out soon; there was no time to find and inspect another place.

The first thing Olivia did was check all the rooms again, this time for any structural weaknesses. As far as she could tell, the walls were sound. The boards covering the windows, while old, were still solid. Olivia made sure to carefully inspect each window to be sure. Next, she went out to the old Chrysler minivan she left parked outside. There were a few items she needed to bring inside, and it needed to be parked somewhere out of sight. The house had a garage that would do nicely.

Olivia's lungs burned when she stepped outside; she was relieved to be finally breathing fresh air after what felt like days--despite it only being, at best, an hour or two. She watched the empty street and all the windows in view as she approached the Chrysler. As always, the streets were dead silent. Unlike her old neighborhood where she used to sit on the porch on cool days, watching clouds drift across the sky, there were no noisy neighbors were taking their children to school, no stray animals digging through trash cans. The various houses showed no signs of life. Most people preferred the high walls of the districts then living outside.

Districts were nothing more than parts of a city or town bordered by high metal walls, but a district was several square miles in size. Olivia wanted nothing more to do with those places. The high walls of a district afforded protection from the dangers outside, but it didn't mean they were any safer. Everyone had to "earn" their keep and contribute in some way, but they didn't get a say in what their contribution was. Managing food and clothing, scavenging for supplies, or watching the walls were some of the things people had to do to stay which seemed reasonable. It was the dark side of these reasonable requests that Olivia didn't like. She used to scavenge when she lived in a District, searching the surrounding areas for useful supplies from food stores to scrap metal. The best part was no one cared where she and the others got the supplies so long as they came back with something. When she learned exactly what that rule gave her the freedom to do, it became clear district life wasn't for her.

She kept mostly to residential areas. When the military began herding people into Districts, a lot of supplies were left behind. Between the riots, the raids, and time's relentless assault, a great number of homes were destroyed. The few that hadn't been ruined were turned into nests. But it was still better than searching a department store.

Olivia continued to scan the neighboring houses. She seemed to have picked a good neighborhood. The last one she stayed in had only one house that was still standing, and it had been stripped of everything down to the pipes in the basement. The homes she could see had boarded windows and the doors were closed. That was a good sign. Assuming there was no structural damage, the houses were likely safe.

She would most likely have to spread the search out over a few days, but she wanted to check the houses for supplies before moving on. If they were anything like the one she was staying in, there should be something left behind. Most of the other homes looked just as beat up or even worse than the one she was staying in.

The house across the street had been completely burned down, though Olivia had no idea why. It could have happened during the raids, or burnt down intentionally because it had become a nest. Whatever the reason, it didn't matter.

She shook her thoughts from her mind, climbed into the Chrysler and drove it into the unlocked garage.

With the Chrysler hidden away, Olivia went about the process of fortifying the house for the night. First, she went to the parents' bedroom and went through their things for anything useful. Despite the house being locked up, insects and mice managed to find a way in and ruined most of the clothing. Olivia took the ruined clothing and anything she couldn't fit and threw into a "junk" pile to be used for a covering or making a fire. Everything else was kept for her wardrobe or making blankets.

The next thing she did was take a hammer, nails, a board of wood, and a screwdriver out of the Chrysler. She went to each room, closing its door and removing the doorknob. Do they even know how to use doorknobs? She wondered. It was better to play it safe and not take the risk. The wooden board was nailed over the front door and she pushed the sofa in front of it for good measure. The back door she didn't need to worry about; it had been nailed shut. Olivia then took the sheets and pieces of clothing from the "junk" pile and used them to cover the windows.

Finally, she headed into the kitchen and checked for food. What little she did find was rotten; the rest consisted of empty food containers.

Although the cabinets were void of food, Olivia did have a few things in her stash. She decided it was better not to try to start a fire and used a lawn lamp to see by. For dinner, she ate an old pack of beef jerky and washed it down with a bottle of water. She glanced at her watch again. The time read 8:26 PM. By now the sun had set below the horizon and darkness had fallen over the world. It would only be a matter of time before they would come out. Olivia turned off the lamp and dropped down on the sofa. It didn't take long before her eyelids felt heavy and she drifted off to sleep.

****

Olivia bolted upright on the sofa and grabbed the rifle on the floor. The living room was pitch black, but she heard them scratching at the walls, sniffing at the windows, and making clicking noises as they did when they spoke to each other. They were there, just outside, most likely searching the area for a place to stay or something to eat.

She checked the scanner on her wrist. The monitor showed two dots. It meant there were two outside which brought her some comfort. Two she could handle, but if they had friends just outside of the scanner's range, she was in trouble. She pointed the rifle at the door and mentally counted the seconds until they went away. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell she was getting any sleep until they did. She looked at the glow-in-the-dark watch on her other wrist. It read 2:37 AM. At this time of year, there were at least 5 maybe 6 hours before daybreak. She couldn't take the risk to leave now. Driving down the dark streets with headlights on would just be a beacon for them.

Don't do anything stupid, she told herself. They don't know you're here. As long as you don't make a sound, they will eventually move on. The thought did little to comfort her nerves but some hope was better than none.

"Iliana, get behind me!"

Olivia froze. It couldn't be them, they couldn't speak. There were people outside. But why? After all this time, who could possibly be stupid enough to travel at night?

Two gunshots rang in the air, snapping her out of her thoughts. If she wasn't sure before, there was no denying it now. A shriek quickly followed the gunshot, making her cringe.

"Get to that house!" the male shouted. "Hurry! I'll cover you!"

Olivia swallowed and tightened her grip on the rifle. Oh, no. Please not this house. Please mean the house next door or down the street. Please tell me you are not going to this house.

She swore under her breath when she heard someone throw their body against the door.

"It won't open!" a female cried from the other side.

"Iliana, get that door open! We won't last out here!"

Olivia stared at the door in the dark. Iliana threw herself against the door again and again. It wouldn't open, not with the board nailed over it and the sofa braced against it. She ducked behind the sofa and closed her eyes tight as she willed for the woman to give up. Go away, please just go away and lead them away from here. Even if I let you in, those things chasing you won't leave. We'll be lucky to survive the night. But if those people died, they still wouldn't leave. She knew that. There were only two options, fight or die.

Olivia pulled another lawn lamp from the corner, pushed the sofa away from the door, and used her rifle as a crowbar to pry the board off the door. She snatched the door open and a thin doe covered in short, reddish-brown fur fell forward and landed on her face, leaving a large black box on the stoop. Olivia pulled the doe inside by the back of her shirt collar and threw the lawn lamp outside. The lamp landed right in the middle of the walkway, between the house and the sidewalk, illuminating the entire front yard. A tall stag with long, greasy mane stood in the middle of the yard, surrounded by three of them. His brown fur was pale as if bleached.

Olivia took a deep breath to still her nerves. No matter how many times she saw them, their grotesque, insect-like bodies gave her the creeps. Standing at least 7 feet, they resembled a horrific cross between a mantis and some species of beetle. They clicked their mandibles and they circled around the stag, their four long, thin legs side-stepping in perfect sync as they watched with beady eyes. They waved their sickles in the air and twisted their wide heads back and forth as if celebrating their soon-to-be meal. The stag spun around, raised his pistol and fired. But all that happened was the dreaded clicking sound indicating he was out of ammo. The stag's already pale face somehow lost even more color.

Olivia raised her rifle and fired a single shot at each of the creatures. The first two shots were dead on, hitting the reapers in the face, splattering blood all over the dead lawn. Their bodies jerked and stepped in a crazy dance before they crumbled to the ground. The third one, however, moved, causing the shot to miss. It lowered its body to the ground and scuttled forward with surprising speed. Iliana fired several shots from the doorway, but the creature moved in a wild zig-zag pattern. A few shots struck the body, but it didn't slow it down. Olivia watched the creature carefully until it reared up again to strike its aggressor. She then fired two more shots into the creature's face at point-blank range. The force of the shots launched it backward off the front stoop. It landed on its back, curled its legs inward and fell still. Olivia noticed the stag was still standing in the middle of the yard, staring at the bodies in complete shock.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?!" she shouted.

He jerked as if snapping out of a trance. He wasted no more time rushing into the house. Olivia immediately slammed the door shut behind him and locked it. The stag and Iliana pushed the sofa back against the door.

The stag collapsed onto the sofa and let out a long, exhausted sigh. Iliana threw herself on top of him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Olivia gave them a moment and went around to each of the windows, snatching down the sheets she put up. No point in hiding the light anymore; they already knew where to look. She peeked through the gaps in the boards. In the gloom surrounding the lawn lamp, she could already make out half a dozen more approaching the house. The scanner confirmed there were eight of them. She swore again. There would be more the longer they were inside, but leaving in the middle of the night was suicide.

"Thank you for that. I was sure I was gonna wind up bug food. My name is--"

"Yeah, save it," Olivia interjected in a voice that made it clear that even if she did just save their lives, it did not make them friends. "You want to tell me something, how 'bout you tell me why the hell you're running around this late at night and bringing those damn things to my hideout?"

The stag's smile slid off his face. "We didn't do it on purpose. Those things found us where we were hiding and we had to make a run for it."

"How did you survive this long if you don't even have enough sense to make sure your hideout is secure?"

"Well...this is kind of our first night--" Iliana began.

"Iliana!" he threw a nasty glare in the doe's direction.

Olivia rolled her eyes. Great.Here I am locked in a house with two district drop-outs and those things trying to break in. She checked the scanner again. Now 11 dots were scurrying on the screen. "It doesn't matter now anyway. What other weapons do you have?"

"I still have another 12-round clip," the man answered as he reloaded his pistol.

"I have six rounds in my revolver, plus half a box of extra in my pack," Iliana added.

"I'm Carl, by the way," Carl said in an annoyed and confident tone. "Since we'll be spending the night together, don't you think we should at least know each other's names?"

"The less I know about you, the better," Olivia said. "If we survive tonight, then I'll tell you my name."

"Survive the night?" Iliana asked. "Why don't we leave now?"

"Can either of you see in the dark? Cause they can," Olivia said.

Iliana played with her hair and didn't answer.

Satisfied there would be no more interruptions or stupid questions, Olivia continued, "Our only option is to hold out until daybreak; then we can get out of here. The windows are boarded and the doors to the other rooms are shut. All we can do now is pray they give up before we run out of bullets."

Carl and Iliana said nothing, but their faces showed they understood. Olivia ordered them to take a different part of the room and watch the window. "Do not fire until they show their faces. If you fill the boards with bullet holes, they'll break faster. Make each shot count and try for headshots."

Olivia watched the two of them as they stared at the windows like guard dogs. Neither Carl nor Iliana said anything as the sound of rattling windows and wood being chewed filled the room. Given their situation, Olivia didn't want to bring it up now, but the nearest district was not close by. She knew because she made a point of staying away from them. Intruders caught too close to a district were either shot or imprisoned. Since Carl and Iliana didn't even make sure their camp was secure, it meant they wanted to cover as much distance as they could before sundown. Right now, it didn't matter; they all had to fight for their lives, so everything else could be figured out later. She crouched down near the sofa and watched windows, running different theories about her new companions through her mind as she waited.

Part of her questioned if she could trust them. If they survived this, what stopped them from turning on her? Maybe she should just shoot them now and run while they're being eaten. Olivia forced the dark thought out of her mind. One way or another, she was stuck with them until morning, and it was clear they wouldn't last another 24 hours without her.

"I have a question," Iliana said, breaking the semi-silence and Olivia's concentration. "If we stay in here long enough, or kill enough of them, won't they give up on their own?"

Olivia fought the urge to roll her eyes. It wasn't entirely a stupid question, but Iliana would know the answer if she had spent a lot of time outside of a district. "The problem is, when you hurt them, they scream. Something about the sound makes the others go crazy. The bad news is, it'll be a long time before they calm down. The good news is, sometimes they'll get so riled-up they might fight each other. But if we thin their numbers enough, maybe they'll give up."

"Sooo, since we're shooting more of them, we're pretty much fucked until morning."

"Yep."

When the first of them chewed a hole large enough to see through, Olivia immediately fired a shot through the opening. The creature screeched and vanished, but another immediately took its place. As the fight continued, more holes began to appear, and it became increasingly difficult to keep them away.

Carl ran out of bullets first. He instead had to resort to jabbing at them with a makeshift spear he carried. Olivia had no idea how effective the spear really was, but so long as it kept them from getting in, she didn't care. Most of the boards had been chewed. There was more board than window. They threw themselves against the door and walls. She didn't even bother to check her watch to see what time it was. Judging from the light grey sky outside, morning was coming.

"Damn it, how many of you bastards are there?!" Carl shouted.

"Hey, just a little bit longer and we can leave," Olivia said.

"That's assuming we don't kill 'em all first," Carl shouted back.

"Hey, their numbers are thinning out; I think they're giving up," Iliana said. Things started to quiet down and she began smiling. "I think we did it!"

A knot formed in Olivia's stomach. It was rare that they ever gave up--especially when they entered a berserk state. Over the cheering of Iliana and Carl, she heard the creatures speaking to each other. Then there was a dull thud over their heads heavy enough to shake the dust from the ceiling. She also heard banging on the doors down the hall. Olivia checked the scanner and her stomach dropped. She counted at least 20 green dots on the scanner's screen and more dots were joining them.

"Time to go," Olivia said as she grabbed her pack.

"What about waiting until morning?" Iliana said.

"The group in the front was a distraction. They snuck in through the back and are working their way in through the roof. We won't make it until morning. You can take your chances if you want. I'm leaving. Now."

Olivia went straight for the door connecting the kitchen and the garage. She tossed her pack into the back of the Chrysler and started the engine. Iliana climbed into the passenger seat while Carl lifted the garage door. One of the bugs jumped down from the roof and attempted to slash at him with its sickle when Iliana leaned out the window and fired two shots. The creature's sickle exploded and it fell backward screeching in pain. Carl jumped into the Chrysler and Olivia slammed her foot on the gas, the tires screeching as it gained traction. The vehicle shot out of the garage and sped down the semi-dark street. Olivia focused on the road straight ahead. There was no traffic, but the roads hadn't been maintained in years. It was rife with abandoned cars and other debris, potholes, and weeds reaching up through the cracks. If they hit even a single bump in the road, they would be stuck outside with a whole host of angry monsters in tow. She had no idea where she was going, but right now anywhere was fine so long as they got away from that swarm.

It wasn't until Carl said he couldn't see anything behind them that Olivia relaxed her grip on the wheel and slowed down a bit. The roar of the Chrysler's engine died down as if relieved to take things easy for a while. Carl and Iliana cheered at the top of their lungs.

After the noise died down, Carl leaned over his seat and held out his hand. "I believe proper intros are in order. I'm Carl."

Olivia hesitated before removing a hand from the steering wheel and accepting Carl's gesture. "Call me 'Viv'," she said in a simple, flat tone.

"Thank you for saving our lives, Viv," Iliana said.

Olivia nodded in return and clenched her jaw. Lying to them left a twisted feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she didn't know them. One day, _maybe_she would tell them the truth if they lived long enough. For now, she was content remaining a stranger to them.

Besides, there was something about them she couldn't quite put her finger on. As bad as district life had the potential to be, two people didn't just drop everything and decide to take their chances alone. Districts didn't let people come and go as they pleased anyway.

She snorted and turned attention back to the road. It wasn't her business, and it wasn't like they would live long enough for it to matter.

---

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