Chapter 46: Curiosity
EDWARD
People's reactions to moving to the island were mixed. Everyone was relieved that there was a place beyond the reach of the dead and hostile survivors. However, the fact that we'd have to build a community from literally the ground up intimidated them and some doubted that we could do it.
"What if our gardens don't grow?"
"How will we transport everything to the island?"
"What about shelter?"
"Shouldn't we find another gated community?"
I felt my body start to tense in frustration that people seemed to be looking for ways to discourage the move. Didn't they understand that this was our only chance to truly be safe?
"They didn't see the island, Edward," Bella explained when she saw that I was getting angry. "For them, it's all just hearsay. They have to take our word on faith that we can survive on Pendleton."
I tried to see it from their perspective. Would I have my doubts if the shoe were on the other foot? Maybe I would. We were asking them to put a lot of trust in us in a world where misplaced trust could mean life or death. Unlike McManus which had a brochure with pictures of the island, Pendleton was an unknown.
"I get it," I muttered, grudgingly and remained silent.
Patiently, Ben described in painstaking detail the layout of the island and the steps it would take to get us there and set up a colony.
After a few hours of describing the whole process, most people had become cautiously optimistic.
There were nineteen of us at Camden Head that needed to gather the supplies we'd need to survive and then relocate to the island.
I knew we had to take things one step at a time, but I was the most worried about how we were going to move everyone and everything from the mainland to the island.
I talked to Ben about it and he said that once we'd gathered everything some of us would need to go ahead of the group and travel the coast in search of large enough boats. I wondered whether some of us should leave right away, but Ben said that he needed everyone to be out scavenging for supplies first.
"Everyone needs to gather as much gas as they can while they are out searching for other supplies. If we don't have enough, it won't matter if we find the boats," Jasper said, joining us as we asked others to add supplies that we'd need to the list in Bella's notebook.
Up until this point he hadn't said much. Since his leg injury, he'd really stepped back from scavenging missions because he now had a permanent limp that could slow him down. I knew it was hard for him, but he seemed so much happier and at peace staying close to his little girl. Clara was currently yanking on a handful of his hair as he held her gently while talking to us.
After some discussion, the group was divided up into scavenging teams.
Bella, Quil, Claire, and me were to search for reference books describing the flora and fauna and medicinal plants that could be found wild in the area. We were also charged with looking for any seed stores to replenish our garden stockpile that had burned up in Elmherst.
Ben, Seth, Leah, and one of the new girls Jane were to search for medicine. They were going to scavenge pharmacies, convenience stores, malls, doctor offices, anywhere that could possibly have drugs. Jane had grown up in a suburb of Camden so she was somewhat familiar with the area and thought she could find some places that other survivors might not have thought of.
I wanted to go with them because it felt like this was the more dangerous of jobs. Most survivors would see medicine as a priority and would fight to get the limited stock. But Ben said that both he and Seth were good with weapons and the new girl Jane, even though she was only seventeen, seemed to be able to handle a weapon too.
Carlisle was adamant that he should go with Ben's team, but Ben shut him down. Being a doctor, Carlisle was too valuable in this new world to risk on a scavenging run.
Carlisle's reaction to being told no was shocking. I'd never seen Carlisle lose his cool over anything. He maintained a calm demeanor even in the most tense situations. However, he was visibly angry and if Esme hadn't kept a calming hand on him I wondered whether he would have hit Ben.
I watched him carefully trying to figure out what was wrong. There was a hopeful feeling that had permeated the entire group except for Carlisle and Esme.
Peter, Tia, and two of the women from Stefan's group- Gianna and Heidi- were set the task of looking for building supplies that could be used without gas. If there were any supplies that would be too heavy to carry more of the group would go the following day to get them. Medicine and food were the priority first.
Esme, Alice, and Angela were going to work together to come up with a list of things that we'd need to live day to day on the island like cooking supplies, clothing, etc.
Not wanting to waste any time, we set out on our tasks the next day.
My group planned on going to the Camden Regional Library and Barnes and Nobles which were both located in the downtown core of the city. Jane also said that there was a garden center only a ten minute walk from the library that may have some seeds, but the chances were slim. We weren't the only survivors looking to start new lives. Seeds were like gold now.
It was a clear, cold, windy day and overhead there were a few thin clouds moving along swiftly as if they were being drawn across the sky on a string. Bella's hair blew wild about her face, so she was constantly pushing it away from her eyes with one hand while her other held the strap of her backpack.
Walking up behind her, I pulled her hair back for her and re-wrapped the elastic around her hair. With a smile, she looked up at me and kissed the underside of my chin.
"Thanks," she said with a soft smile.
"Any time," I said, tugging on her ponytail gently.
It was strange to feel hopeful when things were so up in the air.
First, we tried the garden center, but beyond a few packets of damp seeds for peas the rest were flowers. For some reason, Bella still decided to take the packets of flower seeds.
I looked at her in surprise, but all she said was "for our cabin."
Next, we went to the library that was closest to Camden Head apartments.
It was a large brownstone building, several stories high. When I went to open the door, the wind caught it and threw it open with such force it nearly yanked me off my feet. I clung to it frantically and managed to stop it from slamming against the wall and alerting every zombie in the area.
"Close call," Quil whispered, clapping me on the shoulder as he and the others walked past me.
With a gust of breath, I followed them, pulling the door closed as quietly as possible.
Immediately past the entrance, the building opened up into a large communal area. The space that used to be full of students, adults, and children reading and doing research was now full of long dusty tables, broken computers, and the ground littered with dirt, glass, and torn paper. Spider webs were woven loosely around books, tables, shelves, and magazine stands, like some kind of haunted house.
Dust floated lazily in the air causing me to have difficulty catching my breath at first, and every step put more of it into the air. However, once I got used to it another scent that was all too familiar took its place. The smell of decay that permeated the building told me that we were not alone.
Quietly, we crept towards the back where the stacks containing books awaited us.
Hazy light shafted in through the thin windows illuminating the stacks, but leaving everything else in gloom.
I hesitated for a moment, suddenly feeling like a little kid entering a maze filled with moldy books and collapsed shelves.
When I took a step forward, I heard a crack as the humped linoleum under my feet warped. I froze, noticing that even that tiny sound seemed loud in the muffled silence back here.
The rancid smell of the dead became stronger, so it wasn't long before we started encountering the dead who were wandering aimlessly between row after row of books. Strangely, the further we went into the library, the more dead we began to see.
We tried to quietly put down only the zombies that wandered too close because we didn't want to have to fight a group of them. The muffled moans told us that there were quite a few dead in the building that would be attracted by any sound.
I couldn't understand at first why there were so many dead here. The only reason that I could finally come up with was that just like us without the internet people looked to books to help them survive. Once inside, they then fell victim to the zombies that had begun to accumulate with every new desperate survivor that got caught by the dead.
My thoughts were confirmed when we got to the reference section. It was a disaster. Books had been ripped off shelves and strewn about, showing the desperation of the people that came here for answers. Above the stack of discarded books on the wall were large block letters that formed "NO HELP" written in what was probably blood.
We divided up at this point, Quil and Claire to the flora and fauna section and Bella and I to the construction section.
It was just as destroyed as the rest, but I hoped that under the discarded and scattered paper I'd find something useful. I dug through the mess for a while, but came up with nothing. However, as I turned to walk away, I saw a book that must have been knocked over and fallen behind a shelf. It was called The Ultimate Guide to Living off the Grid. I flipped through a few pages and saw that it talked about living the way pioneers had done in the old days.
Smiling at my find, I put it in my backpack and stood up only to freeze when I saw between the shelves that a zombie was just on the other side.
I was so close that I could hear the bones in its stiffened neck creak as it turned its head, searching for me. Either it had heard me moving around or it could smell me, but it was clearly looking for me.
I reached down for my knife, knowing that I couldn't use my gun. I wondered for a moment if I could stab it between the gaps in the shelves, but when it fell it would make noise which would attract the other dead.
Suddenly, its jaws snapped at the air as it lurched forward, moving towards the end of the stack. I moved forward as well, planning to meet it at the end.
Looking forward, I saw Bella coming towards me from the opposite stacks, so I raised my hand to stop her and pressed my finger to my lips.
She froze, looking to my left and immediately seeing the zombie.
By this point, I reached the end of the shelf and with a deep breath I spun around in front, coming face to face with the zombie.
It was large, slightly larger than me with a bald pockmarked head and a jaw which hung open too wide displaying a set of rotting broken teeth.
I slammed my blade upwards, aiming for under its jaw. However, my knife glanced off its jaw bone, only stopping its jaws from biting down on me.
With a grunt, I tried again as the dead man groaned hungrily.
This time my blade slid in easily, causing the man to fall limp against me and push me backwards.
I stumbled back, colliding with the shelf behind me and I panicked as a couple of books fell.
However, Bella was quickly at my side easing the dead man to the ground.
Once we stood up again we didn't move, waiting for the tell-tale groans of the dead getting closer, but by some miracle there was nothing.
I looked down at the dead man and saw that he was wearing a backpack. Thinking there might be some supplies, I crouched down and rifled through it. There wasn't much, but I did find a bottle of what looked like homemade bottled corn in a mason jar and a small first aid kit.
Putting my find in my own backpack, I decided to search through the pockets and backpacks of the other zombies we put down. It was worth the risk to see if they had supplies.
As we were leaving the building, we passed by the fiction section. At the end of one of the stacks, I saw books strewn everywhere. Curiosity getting the better of me, I went to investigate what would have drawn people there. What I found was both sad and ironic. This section dealt with science fiction and horror. It didn't take me long to figure out that every single book that dealt with zombies had been taken.
Bella tugged on my arm and drew me towards the door and away from the sad sight.
Next we tried Barnes and Nobles, but it was much the same which made me start to feel pretty hopeless that we'd find what we needed.
Huddled in the entryway to the bookstore, we discussed what to do next.
"We need to think outside the box. It's clear that others have had the same ideas as us, so probably every other bookstore has been ransacked too," I said.
"They might not have gone to the small local bookstores," Claire said quietly, "the ones in the tourist area of the city... or maybe even a museum? I think Quil and I passed one when we were searching for supplies once. It may have books about the wildlife in the area,"
I was surprised by Claire's suggestion. It was not that I thought she was unintelligent. She was just so closed off that she barely spoke to anyone other than Quil. However, everyone seemed to be stepping up to get ready for our move. It was a daunting task, but it seemed to have energized everyone.
"We really need a phone book. Do they even have them anymore?" Quil said.
"Let's check at the front desk," Bella suggested.
As a group, we crept back into the building. While Quil and I kept watch, Claire and Bella dug through the drawers behind the cash registers.
In one of the bottom drawers pushed in the back was a battered copy of a phone book. It was a couple of years out of date, but things couldn't have changed that much, could they?
Bella flipped to the back of the book with the yellow pages that included the numbers and addresses for local businesses and services.
The Book Nook and The Idle Hour were two local book stores that were tucked in amongst the other big chain bookstores like Chapters, Barnes and Nobles, etc. It was possible that people would have overlooked places like these in search of bigger stores that would have a larger variety of books.
Bella grabbed the phone book and stuffed it into her backpack before leading us towards the door.
The two bookstores weren't very far away, only two more blocks so even though we told the others at Camden head that we'd be back in two hours it was worth it to take more time.
It wasn't long before we entered the core of the city's tourist sector.
A wide variety of shops lined the nearby streets: antique and art stalls, jewelry and accessory shops, luxury boutiques, souvenir kiosks and stores selling leather goods, all showcasing an array of local handcrafts. Despite the fact that the streets were empty of people and the shops were torn apart, I could almost imagine what it looked like before with the tourists wandering the shops and buying trinkets that they really didn't need.
The first bookstore was useless because it focused on children's books and arts and crafts.
We almost missed the second one because it was wedged between two taller buildings. It looked squeezed, as if the other two buildings were closing in. The sign was old, some letters had become illegible in the peeling paint and the dust that coated the inside of the windows hid what was inside.
Carefully, I opened the door, reaching up quickly to grab the bell so that it didn't ring and alert the dead of our presence. So far we hadn't attracted their attention even though I could see some wandering a couple of streets down.
It was clear that no one had entered the store in a long time. It wasn't ransacked like most other stores, but there was a thick layer of dust everywhere, making everything a dull grey.
I tapped the wall a few times to see if the sound would attract any dead inside, but after waiting a few minutes I heaved a sigh of relief that we were alone.
Quickly, we began digging under the filth that covered the shelves in search of what we needed.
Bella was the first one to find a useful book.
It was a book called the Pioneer Life of Camden County. She read the description on the back and I was amused to hear that it sounded a lot like us.
As each new area was opened to European settlement, pioneers faced the difficult task of building homes and communities from the ground up. Pioneer life revolved around providing the basic necessities of existence in a northern wilderness — food, shelter, fuel and clothing. This book describes the difficulties these pioneers faced and how they overcame them.
Her find opened a flood of new books on the same topic.
Claire found two other books that looked useful. Pioneer Skills for the Modern Homesteader and The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency Used by the Mormon Pioneers.
In the same section I found a small non-descript book and picked it up. When I read the title, I was shocked into stillness because it was like it was talking directly to us.
Pioneer Homesteading Secrets: How to Survive off the Grid Like a Pioneer When Society Collapses And You Have Only Yourself To Rely On!
I couldn't stop a snort from escaping because of how crazy it was to find a book like this.
"What's so funny?" Bella whispered.
I held up the book, so she could see the cover. Her eyes widened and then a grin spread across her face before going back to searching for other books.
I found another book that seemed useful too. How to Build and Furnish a Log Cabin: The Easy, Natural Way Using Only Hand Tools and the Woods Around You.
"I found them!" Quil practically shouted from the back of the store.
I jolted in surprise and almost dropped the books in my hands at the loudness of his voice.
"Shhh!" I hushed him, quickly looking through the clouded glass of the store windows for any dead that might have heard him.
Ignoring my reprimand, Quil came towards us with three books piled on top of each other.
I let out a sigh of relief when I saw them.
Petersons: A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America
Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods
Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners
"Has anyone found any about herbal medicines?" I asked.
Everyone shook their head and I sighed in frustration.
"Is there any other store in the area that might have something like that?"
Claire and Bella poured over the yellow pages, searching for anything useful.
"What about these?" Claire pointed out in the book. "My mom used to be into all kinds of new age stuff when I was young."
The stores that she was pointing out were called Nature's Energies and the Feel Good store.
"It's worth a shot, but we'll have to do it tomorrow. We're already later than we promised," I said, shaking my head at the hell we were going to get about being almost two hours late. Carlisle and Ben were keeping us on a strict schedule.
"Okay," Bella said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. "Let's go."
That night before the light began to fade, I picked up a couple of the books that we'd piled on the table.
I flipped through the first few pages of Pioneer Secrets. On one page it had a list of skills that pioneers needed to survive.
I looked through the list to see what skills I had.
1. Vegetable Gardening… check.
2. Cooking over an open fire... check.
3. Baking… probably.
4. Herb Gardening… nope.
5. Herbal Medicine… no.
6. First Aid and Emergency Medical Care... We had Carlisle.
7. Animal Husbandry… check.
8. Butchering… check.
It was disgusting, but I could do it if we had any animals to butcher. But all we were going to have was fish, fish, and more fish.
9. Fire-starting and Fire Building… check.
10. Carpentry… nope.
11. Masonry… nope.
12. Plumbing... no.
13. Sewing… no, only if you consider stitching up a wound.
Shit, I thought. I was coming up short in the pioneering skills.
14. Knitting and crochet... check.
I thanked Rosalie in my head. I wasn't sure what crochet was, but I'd learned knitting over a long cold winter. We'd have to get a ton of yarn and more needles.
15. Hunting... check.
16. Fishing… check.
17. Canning and preserving... check.
My thoughts turned to Mrs. Cope. I missed her so much.
18. Gunsmithing… no.
19. Soap Making… no.
I was pretty sure that Angela and Siobhan had learned to make goat's milk soap, but without any goats that wasn't going to happen.
20. Candle Making… nope.
21. Power Generation (Solar and Wind)... no.
It would have been nice to know that. Solar panels would have made a lot of difference in our lives.
22. Blacksmithing… no.
23. Leatherwork… no.
24. Well Building. .. no.
25. Foraging… no.
26. Knife Sharpening... check.
27. Bartering...
I didn't know what that was, so my answer was no.
28. Milking... check.
29. Beekeeping...
I was confused about why I needed to know that, but no.
30. Seed Harvesting… no.
31. Orchard Management... nope.
32. Waste Management… no.
This was going to be an issue. We were going to have to build outhouses.
33. Grinding Wheat and Other Grains… check.
Putting that book down, I picked up another on building a log cabin.
A picture inside the book's front cover showed the inside of a home. It wasn't large, only a little larger than the living room in my parent's home. Most of one end was filled with a stone fireplace. On the opposite wall there were two small windows with what looked like animal hides as curtains and a door to the south. Rough boards were laid across the beams of the ceiling to create a loft and split logs were used for the floor. A few pieces of homemade furniture filled the space. There was a table in the center, shelves for dishes on the wall near the table, some straight chairs and stools, a trunk, a low rocking chair, and a bed in one corner. The picture showed a woman in front of the fireplace, stirring a large cauldron while a man sat at the table cleaning his shotgun. Up in the loft, there were three little children giggling as they looked down on their parents.
The picture ignited a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. I could only describe it as a nervousness born of both excitement and fear. I could practically picture Bella and me living in a place like this. Was it really possible?
I flipped through the rest of the book and saw that there were pretty clear instructions on how to build a cabin using an adze and a broadaxe. I wasn't sure what those tools were, but I was sure we'd be able to find them. It looked like it was going to be a lot of work, but not impossible if I had builders like Embry and Emmett to help me.
"Huh," Bella said, from where she sat at the opposite end of the couch with her feet resting on my thigh.
"What?" I asked, looking up.
She was reading a book that she'd found that talked about the area around Camden.
"Our island belongs to an archipelago of other islands called the Fundy isles. There's more than Whitehead, McManus, and Pendleton in the chain, but the rest are further out to sea."
"I wonder whether other survivors have colonized those islands. We can't be the only ones who have thought of it. I'm actually surprised no one has taken Pendleton," I said, massaging one of Bella's feet with my free hand.
"I think most people probably look at the coast line of our island and think that it is all just rock. If it weren't for Jack telling us about it, we might have passed by it too. It isn't very welcoming looking," Bella said, looking off into space deep in thought.
"That'll be an advantage for us. We won't have to worry as much about other survivors looking to take our island," I responded, my thoughts turning dark.
"We'll probably still need to build a look out. Maybe something like a lighthouse," Bella said, putting her book down and crawling across the couch to burrow in next to me.
With a sigh, I put my book down and pulled her close.
Kissing the top of her head, I sighed in exhaustion. It had been a long day.
The silence lengthened between us as we started to fall asleep.
However, it wasn't long before we were both jolted awake at the sound of knocking on our door.
Bella sat up with a groan and brushed the hair that had fallen loose from her pony tail off her face.
"I'll get it," she said, going over to the door.
"It's Carlisle," she said once she looked through the peephole.
I stood up with a groan and stretched my back making a cracking sound. All I wanted to do was sleep.
No sooner had Bella started opening the door than Carlisle pushed his way inside.
I stood up straighter suddenly all my senses on alert at the tension that was pouring off him in waves.
"What's wrong?" I said, stepping forward so that I was in front of him as he paced back and forth.
"What books did you find? Did you find any about herbal medicines?" he asked, looking at me in panic.
"Not yet," I said, worry making my heart beat fast. "We're going back out tomorrow."
"Carlisle," I said, reaching out to stop him from pacing. "What's going on?"
He shook his head, hand running through his hair in anxiety.
"Carlisle," Bella said, grabbing his arm. "Sit down and talk to us. Let us help."
Finally, Carlisle sat down in a chair at the table with a thump.
Neither Bella nor I spoke as we waited for Carlisle to open up.
Finally, he blurted out. "Esme's pregnant."
My brain went blank at his words.
"What?" I asked, sure that I hadn't heard him correctly.
"She's showing all the symptoms- vomiting, fatigue… I can't believe that I let this happen," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
I looked at Bella who looked just as shocked as I was. Of all the people to have an accidental pregnancy, they would have been dead last on my list.
"Wasn't it you that gave us the safe sex talk and handed out all the condoms?" I asked, only realizing after I'd spoken how blunt I was.
"Edward!" Bella hissed at me with a glare.
Carlisle looked at me sourly.
"I'm well aware of the irony of my situation," he said, shaking his head.
"It'll be okay, Carlisle," Bella said, walking over to him and laying her hand on his shoulder. "Once we're settled on the island, having a baby will be a blessing not a curse."
"I'm worried about our diets, especially for her and Angela. Pregnant women need to have the proper nutrition. They can't just live on fish," he said, standing up and beginning to pace again.
"We just need to plant a variety of food that gives everyone the right nutrition," I said.
"You haven't found a seed store yet. We might not find one," Carlisle said. It was strange hearing him so fatalistic, but I could understand his fear. I'd be a mess if Bella were pregnant. Our future was so uncertain until we were established on the island that he couldn't help but worry about Esme.
Bella walked over to our table where the four of us had piled the books we'd found.
"This book is full of information about the edible plants on the island. I think it describes the nutritional value for each plant too," she said, leafing through the pages.
"I'll have Esme look through it," Carlisle said, taking it from her hands. "She's not feeling well enough to do anything else."
"Tomorrow, we'll focus exclusively on finding the books you need and a seed store," I said, placing my hand on Carlisle's shoulder.
"Here, Carlisle. Write down what kinds the seeds we need to look for," Bella said, offering a pen and her notebook to Carlisle.
"I need to think about it," Carlisle said, clutching the notebook to his chest. "I'll bring it back before you go to sleep."
And with that he left without another word.
I closed the door behind him still sort of in shock.
I turned to Bella and she looked back at me.
"How old is Esme?" I asked.
Bella was silent for a moment.
"42 or 43?"
My heart sank at her words.
"Is it safe to have a baby at her age?"
I didn't know anything about it, but I knew that most of my mom's friends had their children in their thirties, not forties.
"I think its fine. Before birth control, there must have been a lot of babies born to women of all ages," she said thoughtfully.
"And childbirth was a major cause of death for those women too," I said, worry gnawing at my stomach.
"We need to find seeds and books tomorrow," I said. "No matter how long it takes."
That night we went to bed early, wanting to leave as soon as we could.
We left just as the sun came up
We went to Nature's Energies first. The building had seen better days. Ivy gnarled its way through broken windows, tangling its leathery shape throughout the small shop.
My immediate impression was that this was going to be a waste of time. Underneath the scent of dust was the smell of incense and other perfumes. Memories of my mom dragging me to store after store hit me. I remembered whining incessantly as she looked at every necklace, every bar of soap or perfume. It felt like we'd be in there forever.
I quickly bypassed the front of the store that was decorated with ornate carpets on the floor and scarlet paint on the walls. The glass shelves were full of things like semi-precious stones, described as having healing powers. Also, there was jewellery, tons and tons of jewellery. My mom would have loved this place.
"I don't think we're going to find anything here guys," I said, as I looked around.
"Come back here," Bella called out from another room.
I sighed at the waste of time. We needed to keep going. I felt the pressure of time hanging over me.
Strings of beads hung in the doorway separating the room I was in from Bella's and blocking my view, so I pushed past them and entered a room that was full of scented oils, lotions, and perfumes.
"This is all crap," I said. "We need to get going."
"Edward," Bella admonished. "Look at this. I think Carlisle could use this stuff."
That was when I noticed that she was digging through small packets.
"What are you looking at?" I asked, leaning over her shoulder.
"It's dried herbs," she said, picking up a pile of packets and showing them to me. "All of these can be used as herbal remedies. It describes them on the packs."
There were a variety of herbs like turmeric, cinnamon sticks, rosemary, basil, chamomile, echinacea, lavender some of which I knew had medicinal qualities.
I grunted in acknowledgement and opened my backpack.
"Let's take everything. We can look at it when we get home," I said.
Bella piled them into my backpack and then took all of the essential oils too.
"I found some more," Quil said, walking over to us with books in his arms.
Forgotten Skills of Backyard Herbal Healing and Family Health
Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use
Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America,
Herbal Healing for Women.
"This is all crap, huh?" Bella asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
I grunted in response and helped Quil put the books in his bag.
The Feel Good store was another great find.
Even though it looked like a club house for grannies with its painted flowers on the walls and china tea sets, it was basically a store for people looking for hobbies. And one of those hobbies happened to be gardening.
"Asparagus and kale?" Quil groaned with disgust. "I thought I'd escaped foods like that in the zombie apocalypse. My mom used to force me to eat things like that almost every day."
"Well, you'll have to get used to it," Bella said. "They're perennials which mean they grow year after year and they're full of nutrition. We're all going to have to get used to foods we don't like if we want to avoid going back to the mainland for seeds. For example, radishes are wretched."
I looked through the packages. There was a good variety, such as potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, etc. but there wasn't nearly enough for our community.
The store also had a lot of wool and knitting needles, so I opened my bag and starting shoving as much in as possible.
"I want to try the museum before we go back," Claire said once we'd gathered everything we could from the store. "I just have a feeling there's going to be things in there we can use."
It was early afternoon, so I didn't see anything wrong with going there since it was only about a ten minute walk from here and was outside of the downtown core which was filling up with zombies again.
The museum was an impressive looking building with large stairs of ageing concrete covered in hair-line cracks, leading up to a huge set of mahogany double doors. Chalky paint fell in fragments off the outside of the building. However, the large windows from floor to roof that allowed us to look in upon the large skeletons of dinosaurs were unbroken.
Probably no one thought it would be worthwhile to come to a museum when the world had fallen apart.
I cringed as I pushed open the door and it emitted a loud creak, echoing off the cavernous interior.
It was dark inside, but within a few moments our eyes adjusted.
Further into the museum, the signs of abandonment started to make themselves known.
The smell of must and mold immediately assaulted my senses. There was also the smell of death, but not strong, not the smell of rotting flesh still falling off bones.
Beyond that the museum just looked like it had been closed for the night. For some reason, I found that creepier than any of the destroyed buildings we'd passed by.
The dinosaur skeletons towered over us, their black eye sockets giving me the impression that they were staring down at us, wondering who was intruding upon their homes.
"There has to be a gift shop nearby," Claire murmured.
She and Quil wandered to the right side of the lobby while Bella and I headed left near where the cash registers were. Here the old scent of decay got stronger and I knew that there were dead nearby.
I motioned for Bella to follow me as I went past the cash to where I expected to find an office or staff room of some kind. It was here that I saw the first sign that other survivors had been here.
The door that read staff only had been pried open, the hinges having come free of the door and the front panel split in two.
Whoever had done it had propped the wreck of it up against the doorway, only to cover the space a little for it was easy enough to slip past it on one side, so it served no use in keeping anyone in or out.
Carefully, I lifted the door away, motioning for Bella to cover me in case any dead were waiting.
The smell struck me hard, but it was the sight that made me feel sick to my stomach.
They lay like dolls, limbs at awkward angles and heads held in such a way that they couldn't just be sleeping. The bodies were stacked inside, over twenty. Some attempt had been made to cover them with wall hangings that were probably from some ancient civilization, but now were stained with the blood of the dead.
Beside the bodies were broken liquor bottles that looked like they had been thrown at the wall and some half-empty ones, showing the despair of whoever had tried to hide the dead from sight.
I came out of the room and carefully put the door back in place, hiding the grizzly scene once again.
"Let's keep going," I said to Bella who stood silently next to me.
Across the cavernous room, I could see the gift shop and the shadows of Quil and Claire rooting around inside.
However, no sooner had I passed the midpoint of the lobby than Bella pulled me up short with a gasp.
"Edward," she murmured.
I turned to her quickly and saw that she was looking at one of the dinosaur skeletons.
I stepped towards her in curiosity as she pointed down at the ground.
Someone had painted the dinosaur's claws pink and next to it there was a coke can that someone had made into a toy car. I looked around the room and noticed that all the dinosaurs' nails were painted in a multitude of colors.
I shook my head in sadness at the sign of children in this dark and empty building. I wondered whether their bodies were in that room.
"Come on," I said, draping my arm around her shoulder and pulling her against my side as she took a deep breath.
"I want to head back soon," I said, kissing the side of her head. "I don't think we're going to find anything here."
Inside the small store, what was left of the merchandise was strewn on the floor. Quil and Claire were rifling through the books on the back wall.
"Find anything?" I asked, which caused Quil's head to snap up and the safety on his gun to click off.
"Jesus, Edward," Quil said. "Give a guy some warning before you pop up behind him. I could have shot you."
"Sorry," I said. "You found anything useful?"
"We've found a few books that talk about the indigenous people that lived in the area. They were mostly fisherman, so there's a book that talks about how they traded salted fish with the first settlers. There are some pretty good descriptions about how they preserved the fish for transport," Claire said.
Bella had pulled herself out of my arms and was picking something up off the floor.
"What's that?" I asked, stepping over to her.
In her hands, she was holding a couple of small books with cartoon dinosaurs on the front.
The books were wrinkled and ripped, but I could clearly see that they had been colored in by little children who hadn't learned how to color inside the lines yet.
"Put it down, babe," I said, gently taking it from her hands.
The sign that there had been children here was hitting Bella hard.
"I can't-" Bella began, but before she could finish speaking there was a high-pitched shriek in the air that echoed through the building followed by the shrill laughing of children.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up at the eerie sound that seemed to go forever.
"What the fuck is that?" Quil asked, shakily.
"They're still alive!" Bella gasped. "Let's go."
"Wait, Bella," I said, grabbing her arm, but she easily slipped out of my grip and left the store.
Not having a choice we all followed her. At the end of the hall, there was a set of stairs leading down into more darkness. Everything seemed very still and dark down there. I hesitated at the top of the stairs for a few moments as a stab of fear, sudden and deep, like a flash of light travelled through me.
However, I ignored that feeling and took a step forward, and then another, halting at each one, my ears straining for a sound, my eyes for any movement further down the stairs.
As we got closer to the next floor, I began to hear the unmistakable sound of people, one of which was a child.
"Max," I heard a deep male voice say. "How many times do I have to tell you not to wander off. The other floors are off limits. You know that."
"But, Masen," a little boy whined. "There's nothing to do down here. We just wanted to go to the store and find some more stuffies."
"I'll take you up later," the man said. "Come on. You too, Austin. Let's go get your sister, so we can get something to eat."
"Is there any Alphagetti left?" one of the boys asked.
"You know we ran out weeks ago, bud," the man said with a deep sigh. "I wish you would stop asking."
"Yeah," the other little boy spoke. "Shut up, Max. Stop being a baby."
There was the sound of a scuffle, followed by the man snapping, "Hey! Enough! Take it down a notch or you're going to bed without supper."
I looked behind me at the rest of my group.
Quil gestured for us to follow him back up the stairs.
I knew we should leave, but I wanted to learn more about who these people were and how they were surviving in a museum of all places.
I gestured for them to go, but that I was going to stay.
Bella looked concerned, but then I mouthed "I'll be up in a minute."
Bella shook her head and hauled out her gun.
"I'll cover you," she mouthed back.
I nodded, knowing there wasn't any point in arguing.
I inched forward, making as little noise as possible.
As I poked my head around the corner I saw that it was empty.
Quickly, I dashed to the other side of the hallway which was more in shadow and then just stopped to listen.
I could hear the muffled sounds of people talking further down the hallway, so I motioned to Bella that I would be moving on.
Quietly, she slipped across the hallway as well until she joined me.
I knew that I was being stupid, but I had to know how they were living here. They had food and despite the circumstances the children even sounded normal. The fact that they were painting toenails, of dinosaurs, using coloring books, and playing with stuffies meant that the children were well taken care of and somewhat sheltered from the trauma of the outside world. Had they been living here for that long?
Up ahead, I saw the faint light of a lantern glowing in one of the rooms. Slipping from shadow to shadow, Bella and I crept closer until we were across the hall in a shadowed room that gave us a good viewpoint into the occupied one.
I don't know what the room had been before, but it was clear that the people who lived there had made a great effort to turn it into as much of a home as possible.
There were blankets and pillows everywhere along with toys and books. In one corner, there was some kind of gas powered hot plate on a low table surrounded by cans of food.
Seated in the center of the room were two little boys hunched over what looked like a book and standing over the hot plate was a man.
The man who I assumed was Masen was tall with a lean muscular build that probably put him at about my height. He had thick dark brown hair that hung shaggily around his face and olive skin with a light dusting of freckles across his cheeks and nose, giving him a youthful appearance. However, from the frown on his face, and worry lines on his forehead, I knew that he wasn't that young. It was also clear that he wasn't related to the kids in his care who were both blonde.
"Hi!" a voice suddenly piped up from behind me, causing me to spin around.
Standing directly behind us was a little girl, probably no more than three or four with blonde hair.
"I'm Lilly!" she said, too loudly, making me cringe. "Who are you?"
"Lilly!" Masen shouted from behind me.
Spinning back around, I see that Masen had heard the little girl and was now standing in the doorway with a baseball bat in his hands.
Immediately, I raised both my hands in the air, wanting to show this man who was caring for three defenseless children that we meant no harm.
"Whoa…. Whoa…" I said. "We're not here to cause trouble."
"Lilly," Masen said. "Come over here, sweetheart."
The soothing tone of his voice belied the look in his eye of someone who was preparing to sacrifice his life to save the children.
"It's okay," Bella said. "We're not here to hurt you. We were just curious about who you were."
The man's eyes flickered between the two of us, using his body to block the doorway that now contained the three children.
"We don't have anything to steal. You don't need to hurt us. I'll give you the food we have left. It'll last the two of you about two weeks," Masen said.
"That's not why we're here," Bella said at the same time as I tried to.
"We're sorry," I said. "We shouldn't have invaded your space. Just like my wife said, we were just curious."
By this point the three children were clustered around Masen's legs, staring at us in fear.
"Austin, take Max and Lilly to the reading corner," Masen said to the older boy.
Austin looked torn for a moment between wanting to follow Masen's order and not wanting to leave him.
"Do it," Masen said without looking down.
With a whimper, Austin grabbed a hold of both Max and Lilly and dragged them into the room.
"Look," I began to explain, but before I could get the words out Masen lunged at me.
With a crack of his bat, he hit me across the stomach, causing me to fold at the waist, gasping for breath.
Then, he kicked at my legs, knocking them out from under me.
"I won't let you hurt them," Masen growled as he landed on top of me. "They're innocent."
I could do nothing more than grunt as I tried to dodge the punches he was throwing at me.
"Get off of him," Bella screamed, pulling at Masen but he was too big for her to pull off.
When that didn't work, Bella hauled out her gun and pressed it to his temple.
"I said, Get off of him," Bella hissed threateningly.
Masen froze, his face twisting in a grimace as I saw in his eyes that he was weighing his options.
Finally, he slid off of me and to the side.
Gasping for breath, I pulled myself to a sitting position.
"Let's try this again," I said hoarsely. "We're not here to take your stuff or hurt you. We're people just trying to survive like you and I made the mistake of being too curious for my own good."
Masen looked at me skeptically.
"I've heard that before," he snarled. "The last time people told us that they meant us no harm Austin lost his parents and I lost my sister."
I saw Bella flinch at that and her hand holding the gun loosened.
"What do you want then?" Masen asked in defeat. "If it isn't our food, then what?"
"Nothing," I said, not knowing where to go from here. I realized that I'd just scared the shit out of this guy with three children for no reason.
We stared at each other for a moment before I got an idea.
I gestured for Bella to lower the gun, showing Masen that I trusted he wouldn't attack again.
"Are you from the Camden area? We're searching for supplies," I said, but rushed to continue when I saw him tense at the word supplies. "Not yours… not yours… I promise not yours… We're looking for stores that might still have medicine or seeds."
A guarded expression entered Masen's eyes as he looked between us.
"Why?" he asked. "There's nowhere around here to grow food."
I didn't say anything in response because I couldn't give anything away, so we fell into a tense silence.
Suddenly, the little boy Austin appeared in the doorway. "Masen, it's happening again."
Seeming to forget we were there, Masen jumped up and rushed into the room with the children.
Hesitantly, I decided to follow. We couldn't just leave now.
When we stepped past the door-frame, I saw that Masen and the two little boys were leaning over the little girl who was violently shaking on the ground.
"She's having a seizure," Bella gasped.
"I know that," Masen snapped. "We ran out of her medicine."
We watched in horror as the little girl thrashed back and forth before eventually falling still.
Masen used the edge of his shirt to wipe the sweat off the little girl's face and then picked her up so he could place her gently on the pile of blankets and pillows.
Austin glared at us. "It's your fault. She has them when she's scared or stressed. If she's really hurt, I'm going to kill you."
"I'm so sorry," Bella said. "What can we do?"
"Do you have any medicine?" Max asked, looking at us hopefully. "She only needs one pill a day."
"I'm sorry," I said. "We-"
Before I could finish talking, I heard the tell-tale sound of a gun's safety being turned off.
"Quil," I gasped, spinning towards the sound. "Put the gun down."
"What's going on here?" Quil snapped, stepping into the room with his gun raised.
I internally groaned at how this must all look to Masen. No wonder he thought we were going to hurt them.
"Put it down," I said, walking over to him and pressing down on his arm that had the gun.
"I want you to leave!" Masen snapped, pointing at us threateningly. "Stay away from us. If you come back, I'll kill you."
"Okay… okay…" I said. "We're sorry. I was stupid. You'll never see us again."
I motioned for the rest to follow me out of the room, but Bella didn't move.
"We have a doctor. He might be able to help the little girl."
My eyes snapped to hers in alarm, but then I looked back at the little girl.
If Carlisle could help her, shouldn't we bring him here? She was just a little girl and Masen was just a man trying to protect the children in his care. We were the intruders, we were the threat.
Masen's expression went from anger to a cautious hope.
"You have a doctor?"
The next day a small group of us went back to the museum while the others continued scavenging. Carlisle, Jasper, Bella and I promised Ben that we would be back by midday.
Carlisle brought along a few packets of the herbs that Bella had found at the Feel Good store that turned out to be surprisingly useful. That along with the book that we found called Herbal Healing for Women had reduced Carlisle's anxiety , it didn't completely go away.
While reluctant to leave Esme for even a few hours, I knew that leaving the apartments was just what he needed.
We went straight to the museum and this time we didn't hesitate about going in.
I made sure that we made a lot of noise as we moved through the building so as not to scare Masen and the children.
He was waiting for us at the foot of the stairs looking at us warily, especially Jasper who I knew because of his scars looked threatening. However, I hadn't been able to tell Jasper no when he asked to join us. He wanted to feel useful and probably needed just as much as Carlisle to get out of the apartments.
"You came back," Masen said, hesitantly as he looked us over.
"We did," I said. "This is Carlisle and he's our doctor."
Masen gave Carlisle a nod and then reached out a hand to shake his.
"Thank you for coming, sir," he said, respectfully. "Lilly seems okay today, but I worry that the seizures might be causing damage."
"Most seizures are pretty harmless, scary-looking, but harmless unless she hits her head when she falls."
Masen hung off Carlisle's every word as he led him towards the room they were living in.
"Let's look around," Jasper said, staring at our surroundings in curiosity. "I always liked museums."
"I'll stay with Carlisle," Bella said, squeezing my hand before walking away.
"Okay," I said. "We'll be back soon."
With his limp, it took Jasper longer to move around the building, especially when it came to stairs. However, it felt good to stretch his calf muscle which he said was constantly tense because of the scar tissue.
Together we passed by exhibits behind glass that displayed fossils from the many creatures that had lived in the area throughout the centuries, along with ancient relics of the civilizations that had come before.
However, it wasn't until we reached the section that discussed the Camden settlers that I really began to pay attention.
Behind the glass panes, I saw mannequins made to look like the early settlers wearing fur coats. Some of them were made up to look like hunters with muskets slung across their backs while others looked like farmers with hoes and axes clutched in their hands.
"So that's going to be us soon," Jasper said, quietly.
"I guess so. Who would have thought this would be our lives. I wanted to be a music teacher when I grew up," I said.
Jasper chuckled. "All I wanted was to get away from my father, so I guess I got my wish."
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye to see if he was being serious, but his expression remained neutral.
We kept walking until we reached a replica of an old log cabin. In front was another mannequin of a woman leaning over a large tin bucket that had what looked like a gigantic cheese grater inside of it and a pile of clothes on her lap.
"What's that?" I asked, pointing at the bucket.
"It's what people used to use before they had washing machines," Jasper said. "We should take it. We're going to need something to scrub clothes."
For a moment, I felt uncomfortable at the thought. These were artefacts that weren't supposed to be touched, let alone used. That was what had been shoved into every person's head from a young age. It felt sacrilegious to consider taking them.
However, I pushed that thought aside. Survival and building a life, superseded the need to protect the past. People were not going to be visiting museums anymore.
I couldn't bring myself to break the glass, so Jasper broke off the lock on the display case and climbed inside to retrieve it.
A little further through the exhibit we came upon another find. It was a display that showed how the settlers used to make maple syrup by tapping the trees using a spile. This time, I was the one to break into the display case and take the spiles that were in the case.
After completing the circuit of the building, we returned back to Masen's living space only to hear Masen and Bella talking outside of the room.
"I'd only been gone for two days. Just two days. That was all it took for everything to end," Masen said, quietly.
"What do you think happened?" Bella asked, gently.
"I don't know. There was no break-in. Once I put down all the zombies, I didn't find any that I didn't know. So, it had to have happened from within. Lilly said that her grandfather had been coughing a lot before she'd gone to bed, but he'd always coughed a lot. He was a pretty frail guy. That's why I'd gone to look for medicine even though our leader had forbidden me to. I couldn't just sit around. He just kept saying that he was making plans. He said that soon we'd begin to set down roots, but we had to be patient. But I didn't want to be patient. I was an asshole and snuck out before anyone was awake," he said, his voice getting hoarse with emotion.
"I'm sorry, Masen," Bella said, sympathetically.
Noticing me, Masen gave a nod of acknowledgement.
Then, he looked over his shoulder to make sure the kids were still in the room with Carlisle.
"At first when I got back, I didn't notice anything strange. The only thing was that it was quiet, eerily quiet, until I got closer to the third floor and heard the moaning. Thank god, Austin woke up and grabbed Lilly and Max. They hid in a cupboard full of art supplies for the two days I was gone. Once I'd taken care of the dead, they'd come out crying… I put all the bodies in the staff room. I didn't want the kids to see the others that way. Lilly still has nightmares about the monsters."
I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for those kids to have gone through that.
"So what are your plans now?" Jasper asked.
"Plans?" Masen asked with a bitter smile. "What plans? I have two weeks' worth of food left, but then that's it. We'll be out. I should be out scavenging, but I can't leave the kids alone. Austin is too young to care for the others. He's only seven."
"Arthur, our leader, was a moron. He should have spent his time organizing search parties for non-perishable foods and medicine. Instead, he obsessed over creating a civilization. That's all he ever talked about, finding a remote location where we could build a wall and set down roots. He kept sending people out to get building supplies and seeds. People died getting those things, but he just kept at it. He gathered all these fucking seeds, but didn't have the brains to realize that there was nowhere to plant them. He just kept saying that he'd find a place. Now, everyone's dead and I don't even have the medicine to treat Lilly."
I stared at him in amazement, not fully believing what I'd just heard.
"What?" he asked me, hesitantly.
But I was at a loss for words, so I just smiled.