John O'Brien - Sanctuary

“You really don’t know that or what it’s like out there do you?” Gonzalez says. “I’m not comfortable with taking her and she’ll be safer here. She stays. And I’m not a “miss” as you so eloquently put it. You may call me Corporal or Gonzalez, your choice.”

“I don’t really care one way or the other. Can we just go?” Kelly states.

With everyone on board, Henderson starts the Humvee. Lynn walks across the lot and to the open window. “I want you all back here by 1900. That gives you three hours.”

“Yes, First Sergeant,” Gonzalez responds from the passenger seat.

“That’s back here, not starting back or taking off on some sight-seeing adventure.”

“Hooah, First Sergeant.”

“Okay, good luck,” Lynn says.

“How’s Jack?” McCafferty asks.

“Finally sleeping. Now off with you.”

They head off and make their way through town taking several turns with Kelly’s guidance. They motor through the quiet and empty streets but the pervasive smell of rot fills the air. The houses seem to shrink back from the streets as if knowing their usefulness to humanity has come to an end and they’re receding into the background. To the team, they seem to grow dimmer in the light of the sun as if the harboring of so much dead or night runners has changed their personality or charm; as if the dead are somehow changing the very essence of what were once called homes.

“Is this what it’s like everywhere?” Kelly asks at one point, looking at the quiet and still environment.

“Yes, ma’am. At least as far as we’ve seen,” Gonzalez answers.

“It doesn’t seem that bad,” Brian says from the back seat next to Kelly.

“Fuckin’ noob,” Henderson chuckles under his breath so only Gonzalez can hear.

Gonzalez chuckles at his comment before answering, “Wait until night or go waltz into one of those buildings and you’ll change your mind.”

“Yeah, we really didn’t know until last night,” Brian says and relates the story at the apartment as they make their way to where Kelly thinks Carrie might be.

The team members shake their heads after hearing the story, although told from Brian’s point of view, and sorry that Jack had to return to such a tragedy after going through a night like that. They pull into a neighborhood tract and up to a light blue house as directed by Kelly. They park and exit noticing the front door open on the two-story house built closely to its neighboring houses. The house is one of those tract houses that are thrown up quickly and pretty basic in its shape and nature. Curtains are drawn across the front windows facing a small porch and on the two upstairs windows as well. The open door isn’t evidence of anything in particular but the fact that it’s open leads Gonzalez to believe that it happened after the disaster or it would have been closed.

“Carrie?” Kelly’s scream beside Gonzalez startles her.

“Ma’am, please don’t do that,” she tells Kelly, not really wanting to give notice to anything that may be inside that they’re here.

There is no answer or appearance at the door of anyone responding to Kelly’s scream. The houses stare back in silence.

“Are you sure she’s here?” Gonzalez asks.

“It’s her dad’s house. I don’t know where else she’d be,” Kelly answers.

“What can you tell us about the place?”

Kelly gives a rundown of the interior with a living room opening up to the right leading to a dining room and kitchen in the rear. Stairs head up just inside the doorway leading to two bedrooms upstairs. A hallway branches off to the left past the stairs leading to two more bedrooms. A basement door exits off the kitchen to a half basement below.

“Okay folks, you’ve heard the layout. Let’s take a peek inside and we’ll formulate a plan based on what we see. Keep on your toes. Check your radios and lock and load,” Gonzalez says.

The metallic clicks of charging handles being released resonates off the walls of the houses close by. They walk up to the doorway in a staggered formation, ready for anything to emerge but cautious with the trigger fingers as Kelly’s daughter could show at the door. They know a night runner won’t come out of the front door but they also know not to assume anything. They remember the marauders back east and so exude caution.

Gonzalez peeks in the open door. The odor emanating from the interior isn’t any better or worse than the smell already emanating from the area. Stairs take off just inside the door as promised and the house opens up to the living room on the right.

“Denton, you cover those stairs. The rest of us to the right. We’ll clear the first floor first,” Gonzalez says eyeing the dark interior. “NVG’s on.”

“You got it,” Denton says. He steps inside and kneels on the first steps with his M-4 pointed to the landing above. The light from the open door stretches most of the way up the stairs so he doesn’t lower his goggles.

Small clicks sound in the still interior as the others lower their goggles. The dark house becomes a bright green as they are turned on. The stillness of the house remains even though the once dark corners are revealed. The team members feel the stillness as if it has weight to it. It settles on their shoulders and feels like it compresses inward as if trying to smother them.

“Okay everyone, remember there may be a little girl in here so don’t have itchy trigger fingers,” Gonzalez says stepping into the living room.

She sees the hall stretching away to her left with the dining room ahead and the kitchen opening past to the left. The house seems to breathe on its own as she stops to listen. She knows it’s only her own chest rising and falling with her heart pounding like a bass drum inside, but it’s the feeling the house and atmosphere gives off. Nothing comes to her ears that seem out of place. A glance down the hallway shows two open doors to the right and one open at the back of the hall.

“Henderson, cover the hall while we check out the kitchen,” Gonzalez says in whisper.

Henderson kneels, turns on his aiming light, and aims his weapon down the hall; the thin beam of light streaks down the hall and enters the room in the back. Gonzalez and McCafferty quickly enter the dining room and focus their beams in the kitchen. A closed door is against the wall to the left in the back but all else remains empty. Another door leads to the outside on the right. A few dishes are stacked in the sink but all seems to be in order. A small stream of light from outside sneaks past a slight opening in the curtains pulled across the windows over the sink.

“Henderson, move up and cover this door and kitchen,” Gonzalez says. A rustle of clothing and gear sounds as Henderson shifts position to the dining room.

“We’ll head down the hall and clear each room as we come to it. I’ll cover the hall while you check out the room,” Gonzalez whispers to McCafferty.

“Hooah,” McCafferty whispers back.

“We’re heading down the hall,” Gonzalez whispers into her throat mic. Double clicks in her ear piece signify the others heard and understand.

With Gonzalez in the lead and on the left, the two head cautiously and slowly down the hall coming to the first door to the right. McCafferty quickly peeks her head around the corner of the door. “Bathroom. All clear,” she says in whisper.

“Do you hear that?” Gonzalez asks just as quietly.

“What?” McCafferty says.

“Sounds like breathing. Ahead,” she answers nodding in the direction of the back room. “Or panting.”

“I don’t hear anything,” McCafferty replies.

“There’s something there. I can barely hear it but it’s definitely something.” McCafferty shakes her head indicating she still can’t hear anything.