Katie stood behind him, giving him cover. Nothing stirred within the store.
“Let's go in,” Travis said to his team. He moved to the front door and slowly unlocked it.
Two members of the team stood guard. One was the new guy, Bob.
The other was Lenore. She stood with her hunting bow at the ready staring at the tied up zombie woman with a somber expression. Lifting the hunting bow, she drew back her arm, then let the arrow fly. It pierced the zombie woman’s eye and silenced her growls.
“No point in leaving her like that,” Lenore shrugged.
Pushing the door open, Travis stood at the ready, waiting to see if anymore of the dead lurked inside. Katie walked past him and into the store, Travis following close behind.
Bob followed, his face sweating profusely. Travis was worried about him. Bob had been rescued in the last few weeks and had yet to really prove himself at the fort. This was his first big chance. Travis hoped that Nerit’s training would pay off.
They made a sweep of the first floor, checking behind every counter and behind tables. Most of the merchandise remaining in the store was littered across the
floor. As Katie passed one pile of canvas bags, she was disgusted to see someone had urinated and defecated on the pile.
“They're animals,” she grunted.
“Let's find the vault. ” Travis tried to ignore the stench and kept moving.
To their relief, the old bank vault was still locked. There were signs that the bandits had tried to get into it, but it had remained impervious to their attempts to open it.
“Okay, this is a good sign,” Travis said with relief. He pulled out a piece of paper and began to twirl the knob, his brow burrowed with concentration.
Katie glanced toward the stairwell that lead up to Nerit and Ralph’s apartment. This place had felt so safe in those first horrible days. Now it was desecrated. It made her angry, sad, and filled her with other emotions she could not quite define. She wished she could walk up those stairs and find Nerit and Ralph in the kitchen, sipping coffee and talking in their strange shorthand version of a conversation.
Something upstairs moved.
Katie looked toward Travis as he grinned and yanked the door open. Inside the vault, she saw weapons and boxes of ammo piled high.
“”We’re in business,” Travis declared. “Let’s get this stuff loaded up. ”
“Travis, I heard a noise upstairs,” Katie informed him.
“Shit,” Travis sighed. “Okay, let’s check it out. Bob, you and Felix get the stuff into the van. Have Lenore and Ken cover the road. ”
Bob nodded. “Gotcha. ”
Moving slowly, cautiously, and as quietly as possible, Katie and Travis moved up the stairs into Nerit and Ralph’s old apartment. The stench of death filled their nostrils when they reached the landing.
They stood in horror at the destruction that had been wrought on the apartment.
The furniture was destroyed and tossed in pieces into corners.
Mementos, photos, and personal possessions were strewn about. Some of the photos were deliberately defaced. Porn magazines were also mixed in with the debris.
“They’re animals,” Katie gasped.
“Yeah,” Travis said, and felt a chill sweep over him. He looked at her and felt fear. If these monsters ever got a hold of Katie…
He couldn’t bear the thought.
Moving down the hall, they entered the dining room and found the source of the noise Katie had heard.
A woman lay on the floor, spread eagle, naked. Her wrists and ankles were shackled and chained to huge spikes driven into the floor.
Her mouth was duct taped shut. The silver tape went around her head so many times, only her eyes were visible.