Chapter 10 – Haley
It was nice to have a little girl time. Ashley decided to bunk with me tonight and we couldn’t have had more fun. Basically we had the normal girl’s slumber party in the master bedroom; Pillow fights, makeovers, girl talk, our strategies on surviving the apocalypse, etcetera. I felt bad for the girl; she’s had such a rough childhood, even before the outbreak. I can relate to her, my life wasn’t exactly glamorous either. Divorced parents, hatred towards my father and brother, kind of what Ashley went through.
“Haley” she asked me “what does love feel like?” She must have seen myself and Ryan around and pieced together that we were together. It hadn’t occurred to me that she had never felt love before. She didn’t know how to love a man, because of what her family did to her.
“Well, Ashley” I started to respond, “you just feel it. Trust me, you’ll know when it happens.” A smile appeared on Ashley’s face. I assumed she knew something that i didn’t know, but I decided not to press the matter. A knock then came at the door. Zach walked in,
“Hey girls, can you give me a hand? Everyone else is asleep.” He asked. We nodded and followed him out of the room. Out of the RV windows we could see storage units, we were probably at a storage facility center. “If we can get into one of these units, we could probably find something useful” Zach explained. We walked out of the RV and strolled down the rows of storage units. We finally found one that’s door was cracked down the middle. Probably form someone who had wanted to get their things out after the outbreak. Or maybe it was just from someone who had wanted to escape the herd. “I’ll grab the shovel from the RV.” Zach said. “you girls just keep watch OK?” Ashley and I nodded as Zach returned to the RV. I stepped up to the door of the storage unit and tried to look into the crack. It wasn’t that big, so I didn’t really expect to see much. All I saw was darkness and slight shimmers of glowing concrete and various materials in the glow of the light seeping into the crack. I could’ve swore I saw something move, but it was too dark to really see much and I had gotten more paranoid since Jeremy’s incident. Zach promptly returned with a shovel, and tried to pry open the crack further. I heard the sound of metal creaking, but I could hear something else as well.
“stop” I hissed at Zach, who was slowly but surely getting the door open. The crack was about double its size now, to which I could probably peep inside. I walked up and looked inside again. It seemed as if something were waiting for me, because as soon as my right eye touched the door, something came up and hit it. I recoiled back and started to fall, but Ashley caught me. At this point, I couldn’t see out of my right eye, but my left caught the site of Zach smashing the object that blinded me with the shovel. As Zach smashed, more blood spewed from the thing and it eventually retreated back into the unit. The object that attacked me didn’t exactly look like a zombie hand, it looked more like a tentacle more than anything else.
“What the hell was that thing?” Ashley yelled.
“I have no idea, should we check it out Haley?” Zach asked. I hadn’t realized I was still in Ashley’s arms, so I regained my composure and thought about it. We had no idea what we were up against, and my sight was still pretty bad. We had no idea of Ashley’s combat skills, come to think of it we hadn’t really actually found a place for her yet. We had no idea what her expertise was, I wasn’t even sure she knew. I made the decision that we would pry open the door some more and see if that was the only creature lurking inside the unit. Zach then stepped up to the door and started to pry some more. The crack was now as wide as Zach’s spade was long, whatever was in there could now easily jump out and take us by surprise. I held the gun in one hand and the flashlight in the other as I stepped closer to the hole in the door. I got about a foot away from the door when the tentacle jumped. I sidestepped it just in time and it barely grazed my hair. Out of instinct, Zach slashed it with the shovel and I fired a shot. It looked like a clean shot and slash, there was a giant hole in the middle of the tentacle and a little bit was chopped off from the shovel. As quick as it happened, it started to unhappen. As soon as the little piece of tentacle that was chopped off hit the ground, the rest of it disappeared back into the unit. I shone the flashlight into the unit and immediately wished I hadn’t, what was inside was both terrifying and disgusting. It looked as if 10-15 zombies and husks had conjoined somehow and started to sprout tentacles. Not only that, but they had 16 eyes so far out of their heads that they were almost falling out, their noses were only half of what they should have been, their ears were missing, their mouths had only one lip and their teeth were super-sized, all the while it looked as if there were spiders crawling underneath the skin. It was so disgusting, I nearly vomited. It looked as if Zach and Ashley were going to as well.
“It’s a sprouter.” Zach said, dubbing the zombie abomination with a clever name. At this, I wondered whether there were more of them, or if this was just a one-time freak of nature. Either way, it had to die. Ashley and I raised our guns toward the monster and started to shoot. As each shot hit, the monster let out a bloodcurdling scream, each one louder and more terrifying than the last. After about half a clip each from me and Ashley, the ‘sprouter’ as Zach had called it, finally went down.
“We had to pick the one unit out of like 150 that had a mutated freak of nature inside. We must be pretty damn unlucky.” Said Zach. Ashley and I stepped closer to the door and shone our flashlights inside. There didn’t appear to be anything else inside, so I signaled for Zach to come over and help me check it out while Ashley stood watch. Zach and I entered the unit and searched around, trying as much as possible to avoid the dead sprouter in the middle of the unit and trying to overcome the ungodly stench. At first the unit seemed useless, nothing but a bunch of beakers, glassware, and science books, as well as just a waste of ammo, however, as soon as the thought entered my mind, I heard Zach gasp. I turned around and saw him hunched over an open drawer.
“Find something?” I asked.
“Not just anything, this is probably the reason someone was trying to break into this place.” He replied. I walked over to him, curious at what this item could possibly be. As I got behind him, he turned to show me. I shone my flashlight on the item in his hands, or in this case, items. There were tiny gems in his hands, unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
“What is that?” I asked.
“My mom used to be a jeweler. She taught me what certain jewels looked like. These specific gems look as if they are each a mix of Oxblood Coral, Citrine, Hessanite Garnet, and Crysoberyl.” He responded in amazement.
“What’s so special about these gems Zach? Why would someone store them here?” I questioned.
“Separate, these gems have no real use other than decoration. But with all of their chemical properties mixed………it may be a long shot but I think we have found an antidote!” Zach said with glee. An antidote? This easily? It seemed a little far-fetched to me, but it was at least worth a look considering it was the only lead we had.
“Look around for any sort of identification on who this unit belonged to, maybe we can see if this is credible.” I told Zach. Zach nodded and started searching around. I feared we would have to search that disgusting sprouter, if so, it would definitely be a last resort. I searched every shelf, drawer, and cubby in the unit, but no names, information or anything relating to the unit’s previous owner, which seemed a little odd to me. The only thing I found that remotely gave us any clue were beakers and science-related things. After about 15 minutes of searching, we decided that we had to search the sprouter. We approached it and saw that it’s skin was still crawling with whatever it had under its skin. I swear this thing looked like a sweaty fat guy painted dark blue with huge beetles crawling under his skin. I stuck my hand into Its left pocket, and Zach stuck his hand into the right. The pocket felt as hot as an oven and as squishy and lumpy as tapioca pu
dding. As I fished around in the pocket, it felt as if the pocket were eating my hand and lower arm. I finally got a grip on something, so I tried to pull out, but my arm wouldn’t budge. The suction from the tapioca-like body substance seemed to keep me in.
“Zach I need help!” I exclaimed. He came over to me and saw my hand stuck in the sprouter. He wrapped his arms around my waist, as I tried to keep my grip on the object in its pocket.
“On three” Zach told me “one………..two…………three!” At that, Zach started to pull and I did my best to pull my entire body weight backwards. I felt my arm starting to slip away. It felt disgusting, it smelled disgusting, and now it sounded disgusting. The sound of it was somewhere of a mix between a whoopee cushion, silly putty, flarp, and water sloshing in a boot. Zach and I kept bulling until my arm was completely free. We fell backwards and Zach nearly hit his head on the door. I looked at the object in my hand that I had managed to retrieve from the dead sprouter, and it looked like a wallet. The wallet looked torn and ragged, almost worn out. As I opened it, I could swear I saw some webs in the seams. I looked at the Driver’s License and it read ‘Richard Morgan’. It also read that he lived in Colorado Springs, which was not too far from here. With his address, we could track this guy down, provided he wasn’t involved in the sprouter. I compared the ID picture to the many faces on the sprouter, none of which looked like the Richard Morgan in the picture, but then again, none of the faces in the sprouter really looked human. Zach and I stepped out of the unit to find Jeremy and Ashley talking; both of them were smiling and giggling.
“Hey Haley” he said to me “I heard shots; just making sure everyone was alright.” Jeremy was always the protective one, especially when it came to me.
“We’re fine Jeremy, but I think there is something you’d find interesting in this storage unit.” I responded. Jeremy looked puzzled, and so I grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the storage unit. I pulled him within eyesight of the abomination and Jeremy’s face immediately turned green. “Zach calls it a sprouter.” I said happily and with a sarcastic smile. “Can we keep him please Jeremy?” He stared at me almost wide-eyed.
“you must be out of your frikkin’ mind.” He told me. I smiled, becoming amused by Jeremy’s shock. “Oh yeah, and Zach found something that might be able to help us.” I continued. “What is it Zach?” Jeremy asked. Zach then held out his hands and showed Jeremy the gems that he and I had found in the unit. Jeremy stared at the gems intently “They’re a brilliant shade of orange, but other than that, what am I looking at?” he asked. I should’ve known he was going to make a remark about the color, orange was his favorite color and his guilty obsession.
“This gem is a mix of 4 different gems that, if put together, are chemically unstable and unpredictable, however, most likely not dangerous. The way the gem behaves is similar to the behavior of penicillin was described of having back in the day. It’s a long shot, but there is a chance that this gem may contribute to finding a cure. What’s more is we found this in a scientist’s storage unit. There’s enough evidence to support it.” Zach explained. Jeremy had a mixed expression, it was an expression I have never seen on him before. It seemed to be a mix of hope, skepticism, intrigue, and confusion.
“How do you know this Zach?” he finally asked.
“My mom told me about 3 gem combinations that have never been done before due to their unpredictability when she was teaching me about the chemical properties of gems. This one is Oxblood coral, Citrine, Hessonite Garnet, and Chrysoberyl. The other two combinations are Onyx, Amethyst, Spinel, and Snowflake Obsidian, as well as the mix of Tourmaline, Aquamarine, Goshenite, and Adulara.” Zach explained.
“This scientist must’ve known what he was doing in order to create such a specific gem combination.” Jeremy stared at the gems again, almost unsure of what to think. “What do you think Haley?” He asked as he turned to me.
“I think it’s the closest shot we have to finding a cure, I say we should go for it.” I responded. What I said was true, but I feared it would be a giant waste of time, effort, and resources.
“Then well done Zach, never thought you’re skills as a jeweler would come in handy someday.” Jeremy said winking at Zach. Zach proceeded to punch Jeremy in the arm, and put the gems in his pocket. We decided to go back to the RV and try to get some sleep; it had been a long night. Zach and I walked next to each other behind Jeremy and Ashley. We walked far enough behind them that we were out of earshot.
“I think Jeremy has a little crush.” Zach remarked. I smiled, not being able to get the thought out of my head. I had never considered it, but Jeremy seems to act a little bit differently around Ashley.
“Now that you mention it Zach, I think you’re right.” I remembered how much love I was in with Ryan the first day we spent together, I wondered if Jeremy and Ashley were having that same feeling for one another. That was when I really started to think about it. Was Jeremy the one she was referencing when she asked me about love? It was too random to just be a curious question. We finally got back to the RV, and Zach immediately crashed on the couch. Jeremy told Ashley and I goodnight and crashed in the passenger seat of the cockpit. Ashley and I returned to the master bedroom and started talking.
“Hey Ashley, can I ask you something?” I asked.
“Sure”
“Do you like Jeremy?” As soon as the words escaped my mouth, Ashley started to blush.
“Is it that obvious?’ she asked.
“To the outside, yes, but don’t worry, Jeremy can be pretty dumb and oblivious sometimes.” I told her as I smiled. This could be good for Jeremy, Ashley is a nice girl. Jeremy’s had some pretty crappy girlfriends in the past, the worst of which cheated on him twice and left him multiple times, but he was still hypnotized by her and thought she was the one. However, with my help he was slapped out of her trance and left her, for good.
“I hope that if we do get together, we are as happy as you and Ryan are.” She said.
“I know you will be, you two seem great for each other.” I replied in excitement. At that I saw her let out a huge yawn. “Why don’t we get to be? It’s been a long night and we’re both exhausted.” I suggested. Ashley nodded her head and laid her head on the pillow on the right side of the bed.
“Goodnight Haley.” She whispered.
“Goodnight Ash.” I replied.