Haven Chapter 2

Book 2: Haven

Chapter 2

Things began moving pretty fast after Connor showed us his gun supply, it gave everyone a new sense of purpose and hope. Brooke and Daniel worked with Connor to record how many weapons we had, both melee and ranged. Most of the weapons there were handguns, the military having taken any larger ordinance but guns were guns and they were a happy addition. Only Nicole and Will seemed put off by this, worried that a sudden increase in the availability of guns would cause more harm than good. I walked over to them as Connor was in the middle of trying to quell their worries. ‘Look,’ Connor began, ‘in any other situation I would be agreeing with you: militarization of an untrained group can only lead to chaos, but this isn't any situation, we need to be able to protect ourselves’

‘I agree,’ Will replied, ‘it just worries me that’s all,’ he sighed, ‘maybe it’s just me trying to hold on to our innocence, there’s still a part of me that says “isn't there someone else who can do this?”’

‘I know what you mean,’ I told him, trying to sound reassuring and confident, ‘but we have to arm ourselves otherwise we will be helpless against the dead or any other force-like those marauders-that are more heavily armed than us.’

Will and Nicole agreed eventually, but they didn't seem happy about it and Nicole refused to carry a gun. I was fine with that though, I was more than happy to have an excuse to keep her away from front-line danger. I would have been even happier if Wendy was the same but she was dead set on getting a gun and learning how to use it. It’s not surprising when I think about what she’s been through: getting attacked by that zombie at our place, coming to the hospital, losing Caleb. Wendy had to toughen up, Nicole had to but her moral code was apparently stricter than Wendy’s, but maybe more dangerous.

Connor showed us around the station and one thing that did interest me was a generator, powerful enough to power the lights among other things. The ability to refrigerate our food stores was an exciting prospect. Connor didn't know how it worked though, but Daniel said he might know, after a while of fiddle with it he stood up and turned to us saying, ‘it works, but there’s no fuel, it was probably thought that when it would need to be used they could use some from the cars’

‘We don’t have enough to spread it out,’ I said, ‘in fact I was starting to think we should ditch one of the cars to save fuel’

‘Is there anywhere we could get some more?’ Brooke asked. Connor thought for a moment before turning, walking into one of the offices and pulling out a map. ‘In a case we were working on recently we investigated a warehouse near here,’ he explained, ‘it supplies some local automotive stores, among other places, maybe we can find some fuel there’

We decided it would be best if we left quickly, the sooner we leave the less chance there is of some other group raiding the warehouse. Brooke, Will, Connor, Steven, Daniel and I were going to take the Ute, now empty, and Connor’s car. Steven and Daniel were the only ones without gun experience apart from the little bits Brooke had taught Daniel so Connor gave them a crash course. I hadn't had much chance to speak to Steven since we arrived at the station, I decided if I was going to be the de facto leader of this team I should try to get to know him better.

On the way to the warehouse it was Will, Connor and Daniel in the small car and me and Steven in the Ute with Brooke riding in the back. ‘So,’ I began, trying to start a conversation, ‘how long have you known Will?’ seemed like a good place to start

‘A few years now,’ he replied stoically, ‘you?’

‘I know him from high school, actually I think we've met a few times’

‘Yeah maybe.’ There were some long moments of silence after that, there wasn't much else to say, it seems inappropriate to ask about trivialities like TV and video games now that the world has ended. Or at least the world as we know it. I figured I’d had to leave it at that, Will seems to trust him at least and I he’s judgment hasn't been wrong yet. We spent the rest of the ride in silence.

After a while of driving we came to a stop, we had made it to the ware house. It was deadly quiet, but there were no signs of the dead or the living. There were, however, several trucks outside that looked familiar but with our confidence bolstered by our new arsenal we kept moving, entering the warehouse. The all-to-familiar smell of dead flesh greeted us as soon as we entered and we saw a corpse on the floor, reaching for the exit, it looked like it was one of the ware house workers, except his head had been blown apart. ‘Someone’s already been here,’ I said

‘Ya think?’ Connor replied. Hesitantly Will crouched down near the body, his arm wrapped around his mouth and nose against the stench. He stood up again, quickly moving away ‘that body has been there for a while, ‘he said, ‘the blood on the floor has dried’

‘It was those marauders,’ I said, sure of my deduction

‘How can you be sure?’ Steven asked

‘Those cars outside looked familiar, I remember seeing them outside the clinic’

‘But…’ Brooke began, looking at the warehouse, ‘if they've been here why is all this stuff still here? Wouldn't they have taken it all’

‘Maybe they didn't need it?’ Daniel suggested

‘No,’ Connor shook his head, ‘what’s more likely is that they came here, found that,’ he nodded towards the corpse, ‘and probably more and fled before they could empty it out’

‘Over here,’ Will called out from further into the warehouse. He ran off in the direction of his voice, leaving Daniel there to guard our exit. When I saw what he had found my stomach almost seized and I was lucky I didn't throw up, in front of us were three corpses of the marauders.