Chapter 2: Not My Kind Of Town

"That all have better been worth it," Primera grumbled.

I pulled the map out of my back pocket and opened it for them to see. A slight smile spread across Mersé's face as I opened the map. I also showed them the M1905, rope, compass, and bolt cutters.

"You even found another gun? Looks rather small…" Mimil asked with her face contorted in confusion as she looked at the M1905.

"True, but it's still better than throwing pebbles and hoping for the best." I replied as I knelt down on one knee.

I set my backpack on the ground next to me and pulled out my roll of tape. I pressed the M1905 against my lower leg just above the rim of my boot and taped it tightly to my leg with a few passes of the tape. Once that was done I spread the map out on the ground but was surprised to see russian writing in places. Some places were marked with supply caches and others had 'safe house' written on them. I spied one safe house on the map that was down the road taking the second right close by marked as 'Point Alpha' that looked very promising.

"Well if it isn't just my lucky day." I said with a smirk.

"What'd you find out?" Mersé asked curiously.

"Down the road and take the second right. There's a safe house marked Point Alpha which looks very promising." I answered with a slight chuckle.

"I thought you couldn't read this world's language? You aren't lying to us are you?" Primera asked, raising an eyebrow and adjusting the grip on her bow.

"The writing on the map is in russian which is an unusually lucky find seeing how I can read and speak russian." I retorted.

I folded the map and stuffed it back in my backpack along with my roll of tape before I drew my knife and baton. The street was dead silent aside from our footsteps. Even the wind wispering in between the buildings sounded more alive than the empty town. I always used to wonder what a world without people would be like. Being in the town was like looking into the abyss only to hear the faint echoes of daily life float far out of reach and watch the abyss turn around and tell you how good you had it and ask if you still felt on top of the world now that it's gone. It wasn't long before we came to the second right which turned from asphalt to dirt. The fog made it impossible to see any further than thirty five yards down the road, but the low growl of a creature far off in the distance behind us assured us we were better off going to the safe house.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I heard Primera say with a frustrated sigh as we walked down the road.

"Calm down, Primera. I'm sure there's a way out of this. We just have to put our faith in Joshua for now." Sasha said as she tried to reassure her.

In all honesty I couldn't blame Primera. We were in not a pond, but a lake. We were the little fish and if what the green sedan showed me was true then the big fish only got bigger. None of us had ever seen creatures like these before and who knew if magic was effective against them. Our only saving grace was that the buildings were similar to ones from my world and had similar devices but the written language was nothing more than gibberish minus the points marked in what I hoped was russian. At least it looked similar enough but deep down I wasn't so optimistic. We soon came to our first literal road block. A tall barricade improvised from scrap sheets of metal, wood planks, and canvas sheets stretched wide left and right to the point I couldn't see either end and It was too tall to try and boost someone over.

"Oh, great! what now fearless leader?" Primera asked in an irritated voice.

I began checking the wall for any kind of door and found a loose piece of sheet steel on the bottom I could lift upwards just enough to let them all crawl through. I peeled it upwards and motioned for them to go through but they all looked at me like I was crazy. What sounded like a creature slightly crying out in pain echoed from far behind us and they began nervously crawling under. Once they were all through I began rocking the sheet steel up and down, getting faster each time, until I managed to break it loose and tossed it to the side. I felt a slight sting of pain in my left hand and felt something wet slowly run down my ring finger.

"Great...I'm bleeding again. Hopefully I can find something to take care of this at the safe house." I thought as I looked down at my slightly bloody left hand.

I knelt down as low as I could before army crawling over to the other side. When I started to stand up, Mersé stood right in front of me. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been a little caught off guard by her being in front of me all of a sudden. She was pointing at what looked like the silhouette of an army humvee but it was missing the .50 cal M2 Browning machine gun that was usually mounted to the roof.

"Is that one military?" She asked me as she pointed at it.

I quickly ran over to the driver's side and peered inside through the dusty windows and could see what looked like a first aid kit on the front passenger side seat. The door locks looked to be engaged but I still tried the driver's side door with no luck. I slammed my open left palm against the glass and left a bloody palm print before noticing the roof hatch and set my backpack against the driver side tire before I climbed on top of the humvee. It took a minute to open but once it was, I jumped inside and fumbled for the first aid kit. What I needed was two gauze pads, antibiotic ointment, and an absorbent bandage for the cut on my hand. I found all that I needed as well as a medicine jet injector with a red medicine vial screwed into the top with CENTORA written on the label.

"This looks like one of those health booster jet injectors they gave us at the end of the war to vaccinate us against covid-19...the label says it has limited tissue regeneration, energy boosting effects, and pain-killers as well as other health boosting effects. Good enough for me..." I thought as I looked at the medicine label.

I noticed Sasha staring at the bloody palm print on the window with great concern in her eyes before she looked at me. I shrugged at her before treating my wound ad climbing out through the top with the jet injector in hand. I smiled as I sat on the hood and took my jacket off to inject the CENTORA into my left arm. It was just a little prick and once I was finished I tossed the medicine injector off to the side. They all looked at me with confusion in their eyes as I tossed the injector off into the distance.

"Was that...medicine you just took?" Wilmarina asked me.

"Yep! Should help my cut heal just fine." I replied with a smile as I hopped off the hood of the humvee.

I put my jacket back on then rummaged through my backpack for the map to double-check how close we were to the safe house. The map showed we were only two driveways away so I pulled a pen out of my backpack and marked the location of the fence and humvee on the map. With that settled, I folded the map back up and stuffed it back in my bag, and pointed down the street.

"Two more driveways and we can rest for the next...six hours. I'll make something for us to eat once everybody's up and ready before we continue from there." I said to them with a smile.

"Six hours? We all searched the forest for you and this is what we get? Don't get me wrong, I could care less about you, but do you really think that's fair to everyone else? Primera asked with a disapproving glare.

I ignored her and walked down the street with a smile on my face until I came upon the safe house. The house was two stories with a chain-link fence in the front yard and no cars in the driveway. None of the lights were on inside and the house had a big red X in a red circle painted on the white garage door. The house's white vinyl siding was starting to come off in places. The bottom of the garage door had small claw marks all over it like something had desperately tried to get in. I approached the front door and tried the doorknob which turned easily as the door wasn't even locked. I pulled my EDC light out of my coat pocket and shined it through the open door into the empty home and all seemed normal.

A sense of safety washed over me, but that soon got replaced as I remembered I had to check the building for more of those creatures. A set of stairs on my left led to the second floor and a kitchen was at the far end. I shined my light upstairs as I cautiously approached the stairs hoping it wouldn't attract any trouble. I fumbled through my bottom left jacket pocket for something to toss at the upstairs ceiling and pulled out a nickel. I gave it a good toss and the nickel made two loud clacks as it hit the ceiling and bounced off towards one of the walls, but nothing stirred. I heard Mersé tell Elt to assist me as I began ascending the stairs with my gun drawn and my left hand tightly gripping my flashlight. Elt was right behind me as I reached the top and scanned the hallway.

There were four rooms, two on each side, and I set my backpack down and rummaged around in it for my spare torch. Once I found it I gave it to Elt after turning it on. I motioned for him to check the two rooms on the right while I checked the ones on the left. The first one I checked was an office of some kind. There were three computer monitors sitting on a desk in front of a window and what looked like five small plastic ammo crates under the desk. I checked each one and in the last one, I found a box of twenty-five Hornady critical defense 9x18 hollow point rounds. After putting the boxes back under the desk, I noticed what looked like a CB radio and a small tack board to my left on a small desk against the wall. The radio appeared to be in working order, but I didn't have time to mess with it quite yet. I pocketed the box of ammo before exiting the office to go check the other room on my side. I heard Elt trip and fall over in his first room and when I went to go look, he had fallen over a cardboard box. I checked the wall as I entered for a light switch to see if we actually had any electricity so Elt would have an easier time checking the room and sure enough, the light worked. Elt was surprised that there was immediate light at the flip of a switch. The room had two adult-sized bunk beds making me think the house might have belonged to some college-age adults who decided to save on space. I noticed Elt eyeing the cardboard box curiously before opening it. An even more puzzled look spread across his face as he pulled out an FN1905 magazine loaded with FMJ's.

"That goes to my gun…." I said as I held out my hand.

Elt handed me the magazine before I flicked the light switch and motioned for him to follow me. He stared up at the light fixture for a moment before rejoining me. I stacked up behind my last door and told Elt to do the same for his last door. Once I gave the signal, we both threw our respective doors open. My door opened to a bathroom and Elt's opened into another bedroom with two more sets of bunk beds. I was grateful we hadn't run into anything hostile yet but that just meant the real trouble was probably hiding in the basement. That's when I decided it was best to rejoin the others and bring them inside than leaving them vulnerable. The upstairs had just enough beds for them which was extremely lucky. I trudged back downstairs with Elt in tow to find the others waiting outside by the front door, but Primera was checking the scratch marks on the garage door.

"Any trouble?" Mersé asked us as we appeared in the doorway.

"This place is….weird," Elt replied with a nervous grin.

"Welcome to modern electricity. Just wait till you try the shower and the faucet in the bathroom." I said to him with a smirk.

"…..What?..." He said with a confused face.

"Never you worry, Elt! The upstairs is secure. That means you all get to rest for now. I'll continue checking the garage and lower levels on my own," I replied. "Who knows….maybe I'll find something like a shotgun in the basement."

I then excused myself from the conversation and headed into the kitchen. The kitchen table and countertop were surprisingly clean given the state of the pharmacy. I was left wondering who could have passed through and had time to clean everything. I began checking cupboards and saw even the plates, bowls, and cups were washed. The kitchen sink was spotless and even the floor was mopped and had a lemon scent. If there were survivors they had to have been here a few days ago for everything to be this clean. I turned the sink on to cold and water came pouring out with no problems. The water didn't even smell of sewage or look orange from rust. It all felt too good to be true when I checked the pantry which was full of canned good and other non-perishables.

"This is…too easy. I found a box of 9x18s and Elt found another magazine for the M1905. Now I'm finding enough food to feed everyone once they wake up AND we have electricity and water…." I thought as I realized how lucky I was.

I went and opened the basement and flicked on the light switch. Turning on the lights didn't "anger" the locals, but I still cautiously descended the wooden stairs. The basement was empty except for a toolbox and workbench with some gun cleaning supplies on it, a clothes washer and dryer, and what looked like a bathroom of its own. The bathroom was right next to a guest room that was separated from everything else by unpainted dry-wall. I was relieved I'd be able to take a shower and wash my Jacket, tank-top, and jeans. I still had the clothes Sasha gave me in my backpack so I could change once I was out of the shower. I could also clean my PA-63 and the M1905 while I was here. I walked into the guest room and placed my backpack on the bed just as I heard someone descending the stairs.