A Whisper in the Flame (The Ragers Series Book 1) Read online

  "What's wrong?" Jake asks, concerned.

  "I'm furious. I'm angry at our stupid government, I'm angry at my brother for trying to escape the Army and being killed, I'm mad that I have no idea what happened to my dad and I am infuriated that my mom gave up her life for mine, in hopes that I could do something to stop this when there is nothing. Nothing is going to change."

  Jake stares at me a moment too long as more tears come crashing down. He gets up and moves his chair closer to mine. Before he sits back down, though, he grabs two more blankets. One he throws over me and one he sets in his lap as he takes a seat. I pull the blanket over my lap and feet and then tug the first blanket tighter around my chest.

  Jake reaches out and lays his hand on my leg, locking eyes with me. "Listen, you’re part of our family now; for as long as you’d like to be here. We’re going to be okay." He lifts his hand to my face and wipes a fresh tear from my eye. "Now get some sleep," he says, before turning away.

  Chapter 25

  Jake has us grounded in the bunker for five days before we are finally able to emerge. The first day, he wouldn’t even let us turn on the small generator designed specifically for the bunker. He probably would have kept us locked down there longer if it were not for the protests of Jamie.

  The cold dampness of the bunker alone could have driven us all crazy. We only knew the time because of the clock hanging on the wall. The hours passed slowly and torturously. We ate through a good bit of the canned and dry food supplies. We took turns sleeping on the bed, Jamie and I the first and third nights; Jake and Kye on the second and fourth nights. Thank goodness the bunker had an actual bathroom to use and clean ourselves in.

  We played card games and tic-tac-toe using cans of food, we talked, and argued a good bit. Mainly though, we sat there in silence, taking turns sleeping and listening for the sound of more planes.

  By the fifth day, Jamie had had enough.

  "That's it, Jake! I can't stay down here another minute. They are NOT out there, and they are not coming back! If you do not fork over that damned key and get me out of this God forsaken hell hole, so help me, I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!" Jamie’s lip trembles as if she might burst into tears but also has an expression that says she is not joking at all.

  "I'm trying to protect us..." Jake starts before getting cut off by Jamie.

  "Protect us!? They left, Jake; the bunker sheltered us! It did its job and now they’re gone. Now let us out."

  "Fine," he says, dropping the key into Jamie's outstretched hand. He steps aside and gestures with his hand towards the stairs.

  "Thank you." She glares at him a second longer and then marches past him and up the stairs. She unlocks the hatch, spins the wheel, and pushes it open.

  Jake seems to hold his breath as Jamie pops her head out to check.

  "All clear, like I said. They're not out here." She climbs the rest of the way out with Kye following suit.

  I giggle a little at her ferocity. "Jake, I've got to get some real clothes on," I say before patting his arm and climbing out as well.

  The brightness of the sky around me is a shock to my eyes after days of being confined below ground. The sun feels amazing, heating my numb skin. I walk slowly to the house enjoying the light that daytime brings.

  Jamie comes running out of the house before I can re-enter with clothes and a towel in her hand, and a huge grin on her face. "Your selection is pretty slim. You can wear the pajama bottoms and a tank top for now. We need to go on another run so we might as well try to pick up a few items of clothes while we are out." She tosses the clothes to me before skipping down the porch, throwing her towel out on the ground and laying down to soak up the sunshine.

  I pull the pajamas up under my towel and remove it completely to put on my tank top. Looking around, I catch Jake watching me. As I catch his eye, he turns darts his eyes back to his conversation with Kye.

  Wanting to sunbathe with Jamie, I lay my towel next to her, joining her on the ground. The ground is slightly moist from the dew of the morning but laying here feels so normal, so human, that I don't mind at all. I close my eyes and let my thoughts run away with me.

  After a few minutes, a shadow clouds the intensity from the sun. I open my eyes, worried that rain is on its way, only to find Jake and Kye staring down at us.

  "May we help you?" Jamie asks sarcastically, leaning up onto her forearms.

  "We need to go on a run, as soon as possible," Jake starts, "We ate through most of our food reserves, and we were already low on gasoline to begin with."

  "Yeah, and we need more clothes for me and Emma," Jamie adds.

  "Since we've already raided every store close by, we will need to travel farther out. We should go as quickly as possible so we can be back before nightfall," Kye replies.

  "Let's go then," Jake tells us, already walking away from us.

  ****

  After filling Jake's jeep with gas, grabbing supplies and ammo, snacks and water, we make our trek away from the house, trying to find the nearest town they haven't raided yet. I thought Jamie drove fast, but apparently Jake drives faster. Kye is sitting in the front passenger seat studying their map while Jamie leans from her seat behind him to look at it as well. I stare out the window, trying to calm my nerves, telling myself that it will be okay, we will make it back.

  We drive for what feels like an hour and a half, going the opposite direction of my old town. The drive is uneventful, conversation is mainly filled by Jamie and Kye gabbing and flirting away. As we begin to approach what must be our destination, Jake takes over talking as he begins to formulate a plan for us.

  "Alright, this was a pretty populated town that covered quite a bit of area. The outskirts are mostly neighborhoods so we will drive further into the town center to hit up the stores. Let's look for grocery stores, hardware and supplies stores, gas stations and clothing stores. If the stores are close together, we can split up, otherwise, we stay together."

  "Hey guys, why don't we make a pit stop in one of the neighborhoods and check out some of the houses?" All eyes turn to look at me as if I am crazy when I make this suggestion, except Jake's, who I can feel burning me through the rearview mirror.

  "I'm serious," I continue on, "before Jamie, I was locked up in an apartment that had been abandoned and found a ton of useful things. There was food in the cabinet that got me through five days, a gun, ammo, knives... Look, most of these people either left in a hurry or were infected so they wouldn't have taken their belongings. I'm sure we can at least find some clothes or canned food."

  "You know, that's not a bad idea, could be worth the look," Jamie says, making me feel less of an idiot for opening my mouth.

  "Fine," Jake says, making a sharp turn into a neighborhood entrance. The first few houses on the street look to be the nicest and largest of them all, most likely they were the original show houses when the neighborhood was first built. Jake pulls close to the curb of the street and puts the jeep in park. "Alright, let's check these first two houses out quickly and then head to town."

  We all clamber out of the jeep and walk towards the bigger of the two houses. Its design is that of a miniature brick mansion. This house would have been the envy of the block back when people actually lived here. The yard, like the others around it, is covered in overgrown grass and the plants that were meant to add curb appeal along the front of the house were dead and cursed looking. The huge grand pillars were chipped and cracking, while the front door boasted cobwebs in every corner.

  Kye opened the front door slowly and he and Jake entered first with their guns out, checking to make sure the house was empty of people and Ragers alike. Jamie and I followed suit heading straight for the kitchen to look in the cupboards.

  The house was as beautiful inside as it once would have been on the outside. The only sign of distress here was the dirt and dust that covered every exposed surface.

  "Jackpot!" Jamie shouts as she riffled through the cabinets. The guys enter the kitchen having heard Ja
mie's triumphant holler and begin to help us pile cans of food, boxes of pasta, bags of beans, and unopened boxes of cereal stashed throughout the kitchen into our own bags.

  "Look," Kye says, "they have chips!" He holds two gigantic still sealed bags of barbeque and regular potato chips in the air with a huge grin on his face.

  Laughing at Kye's excitement, I walk across to the other side of the entrance hall to a turned music room. The room has a keyboard in one corner with a music book still opened in its stand, a small set of drums in another corner, and an acoustic guitar in the other.

  I pick up the guitar, feeling it’s beautiful clean build. It has a stunning, thick cherry wood body with a great shine. The thick gold strings only take a little bit of tightening and loosening to get it tuned and Jamie walks in the room as I begin to strum my favorite song.

  "That's a beautiful song," she says watching me. I’ve played my own guitar many times before but none of them was for an audience. I fluster under her bright blue eyes and set the guitar back down sadly. For the brief moment I held it, I felt a fleeting sense of lightness and normality.

  I can feel Jamie watching my downturned head and then she’s next to me, lifting the guitar off its thin black stand.

  "We should take it," she declares in a matter-of-fact tone. "Jake plays too. It would be nice to have some music again." She carries it into the hall setting it next to a box of food. "Let's check upstairs really quick to see if we can find any clothes."

  Unfortunately, young kids must have lived at this house, and their mother was too small for either Jamie or I to fit into.

  "Size 1, seriously, did the woman not eat or something!?" Jamie gripes in prickly irritation.

  After packing all of our findings from the first house into the jeep, we grab a few more cardboard boxes and head into the house next door.

  This house is also huge, but not quite as grand as the other. Still, the garage is large enough to attract the attention of Jake and Kye while Jamie and I continue our search for clothing.

  I'm not sure what it is about this house, but it feels different than the one next door. The hall is dark and has a strong smell of musk hanging in the air. Something bad definitely happened in this house.

  The first room we come upon has the door completely off its frame. Blood is dried around the beaten and broken door frame as if someone tried and succeeded at beating the door down.

  "Ah, this room was undeniably a teenage girl’s room," Jamie says, noting the band posters on the wall and photos still hanging around the mirror over the dresser on the opposite wall, "Maybe we’ll find some clothes here."

  Stepping over the door, Jamie drops her box on the floor and heads straight for the closet while I go for the dresser. Right next to the dresser is an opened window with a bloodied handprint on the side as if someone hurt climbed out of it.

  The room itself is destroyed. A lamp is shattered on the floor, the walls have huge holes in them, the mattress has been pushed off the bed and some dresser drawers are opened with clothes hanging out. Looking at the dresser, I study the pictures hanging around the mirror.

  One girl dominates the photos, a very pretty girl of about 17. She had shoulder length textured brown hair, brown eyes, a beauty mark near her right eye and a beautiful big smile that emanates almost every photo. She seemed to have a core group of friends and a boyfriend.

  The photo that sticks out to me the most is one of her and two adults, her parents. Her dad was an average sized man with graying hair and a distinguished chin while her mom could have been an exact replica of the girl 20 or so years in the future.

  The daughter stands in the middle, her arms draped around both parents' shoulders with laughter dancing across her face. Her mom’s open mouth smile, laughs along with her daughter and her dad grins with a lighthearted nature pouring out through his eyes.

  I'm not even sure why, but I take the photo off her mirror and shove it in my pocket. Looking in her drawers, she has some sports bras, shorts, yoga pants, socks, and t-shirts that will probably fit us. Jamie comes out of the closet with more shirts and three pairs of pants.

  "Size 5's," she says in regard to the pants, "will that work for you?"

  "Yeah, that's perfect."

  "Great, what did you find?"

  "She had some medium sports bras, t-shirts, and shorts I thought we could use. Plus, socks." I reply holding up a pair.

  "Sweet, drop them in and we can take this out to the jeep!" She says happily, depositing her findings into our box.

  "Hey, I'm going to go look around a bit more while you take that out." I say casually. Jamie nods her head and makes her way out of the house. I'm curious now. Imagining and trying to figure out what happened here. Who turned? Was it any of them? Did she try to escape? And if so, did she make it?

  My mind races with a million different scenarios. The one that plays the most though, involves the daughter running away from a Rager after being in an altercation with it. It breaks down the door after she locks herself in her room, but she's already tore to the window, slamming it up and open so she can climb out.

  In this scenario, she escapes, and she is on the run like us. I silently hope she is out there, alive somewhere.

  I walk down the deserted hall to the last room. The room is sizable and open, with tray ceilings and three enormous, beautiful windows on the opposite wall. A king-sized bed is in the center of the back wall, a baseball bat leaning against the nightstand beside it.

  Across from the bed is a grand cherry wood dresser with a huge mirror above. There is also a deep cedar chest at the foot of the bed. However, it is smashed inwards and broken.

  The master bedroom was the other scene of incident in the fight against the Rager. The wall behind the door is cracked as if someone shoved the door too hard against the wall. Another tall dresser is laying on its side, opened with clothes hanging out in front of two doors.

  I go to the dresser, straining to lift it up. I manage to pull it slightly out of the way, giving me access to one of the doors I am assuming is the closet, I reach for the door handle; maybe I'll be able to get a few more items before we head out.

  "Hey, we need to go ahead and get going," Jake's soft voice says. He startles me, causing me to jump backward, pulling the closet door open with me as I do so.

  "God, Jake, don't sneak up on me like... UGH!" A terrible shriek erupts out of my lips as I am shoved onto my back. A heavy mass pins me under its weight. It's a Rager. I hear it's rattling, gurgling sound and smell its musk.

  It only takes a split second for Jake to barrel himself at the Rager, pushing it off of me. He jumps up and drags me across the room towards the bedroom door before turning back, searching the room for something to use as a weapon.

  Spotting the baseball bat, he makes a dash for it as the Rager tries to launch at me once more. My heart drops. The Rager is the mom from the picture.

  Correction, she was the mom from the picture.

  Her head is now large, bubbling and peeling. Her body is grotesque and decrepit looking, no longer holding the beauty she once did. Jake is too quick for her to get to me. He swings the bat with an unrestrained drive. The metal collides with her thick skull, sending blood spatter everywhere across the room.

  I am utterly frozen as Jamie and Kye run into the room, Kye has his gun raised in the air and he fires a round. Everything moves in slow motion as his bullet hits the Rager, stopping her for good.

  "Come on, let's go!" Jake yells, he keeps the baseball bat in one arm and yanks me up with his other, dragging me along behind him as we run for the front door.

  My feet feel heavy as my mind replays the last minute in my head repeatedly, seeing the mom and even the girl, through the mask of a Rager.

  When we get outside, more Ragers are flooding out of surrounding houses. At this moment I come out of my trance, waking to the horror around me.

  We clamber into the jeep, and Jake roars the engine to life. He whips the car around speeding us towards the ent
rance of the neighborhood, toward a chain of Ragers forming. He plows through them, sending heavy bodies over the hood of the car.

  "What the HELL was that, Emma?!" Jake begins shouting at me, turning back onto the main road. "How could you have been so naïve? You should have been paying attention to what you were doing and not going off on your own, again!”

  “I’m so sorry,” I don’t know what else to say. I keep making these foolish mistakes.

  “For Christ's sake, you can't even protect yourself. You could have gotten yourself killed. Or worse, you could have gotten any of us bitten or killed."

  "Ease up, Jake," Jamie says, kicking his seat with her leg.

  "And you," he continues, turning his head for a brief moment to glare at her, "Why did you let her wander off on her own in the first place?!"

  "Alright, Jake, come on, let's just get to town, finish getting what we need, and get back home," Kye says in a calm but stern voice.

  Every inch of my body wants to break down. He's right, I tell myself as my body gives a convulsive shake. This is the second time I put myself in harm’s way. The second time I put their lives in danger to save mine.

  Jamie reaches her hand out, covering mine with hers and giving me a squeeze. When I look up at her, she gives me a reassuring half smile. Instantly, I feel worse; she's my friend. She saved me and now I'm going to get her killed.

  As we come to the center of town, we pull over in front of a little corner market with a gas station beside it. Next to this store is an ice cream shop, then a clothing store and a few stores down on the opposite side of the street is a hardware store, along with a cinema.

  Most people must have either abandoned the town or turned Rager in their own neighborhoods and have never really gotten out. I try to imagine it with people bustling around on a warm sunny day like this one.

  It's beautiful; people walk along, shopping, giggling, holding hands. The warm rays of sun hug the shadows creating cool places for families to stand enjoying their ice cream or conversations with friends. I hope one day it can be like this again.