Chapter 28- Perquisition

"We're here." Tracy's voice woke me and I sat up, looking around. I rubbed my eyes, expecting to see a hospital or clinic, but instead found myself facing a large iron gate. A sign to my left hung over the window where I could see the grumpy face of Lou, the caretaker of SafeT storage. "Hey Lou!" I called out sleepily. I could see his "Harrumph" as he spun away from the window and back to whatever dark hobby captured his cranky attention. I looked over at Tracy, who gestured toward the keypad by her window. "Code's changed..." she said expectantly.  "Yeah, sorry, it's 8712." I replied and watched her punch the numbers into the pad.  We waited as the gate slowly opened. "When did you change it?" She asked casually.  I rubbed my jaw, looking in the mirror affixed to the visor. A dark bruise ran from my chin up to my ear. "When I wasn't sure how you'd lost your memory I figured they could have stolen all your secrets out of your brain, you know?" Tracy laughed out loud. "You make it sound like aliens abducted me!" She poked me in the ribs, "Besides, if they had the power to record my memories, do you think a gate at a local storage facility would have stopped them from getting our stash?"  She smiled and poked me again.  "You're getting paranoid like Jeff, aren't you?" The smile faded from my face as I thought about it. "I'm not sure its paranoia with the stuff I've seen lately..." I looked out the window as Tracy pulled up to the large unit. "It doesn't seem possible, and I certainly don't know what to expect anymore." Tracy nodded and turned off the car. Without getting out, she turned and looked at me. "Your Mom, do you think..." I looked toward the big orange gate with new resolve and pulled out my keys. "I don't know, but we have to find her."

We loaded various supplies and weapons into large duffel bags and began placing them in the car.  "Not exactly the ideal vehicle for what we're doing." Tracy said as she heaved a duffel bag into the trunk. I shrugged indifferently.  "It's great." I replied quietly.  Tracy looked at me, searching my eyes for some glimmer of hope.  "I'm not saying I don't like my car, I just...  I thought your jeep was pretty cool."  I nodded but did not reply. I was thinking about my mother. Where did she go?  Could she really have scratched off Mr. Munn's face?  Something must have given tremendous strength to overpower a grown man. If that was true would we be able to stop her?  Would I even have the heart to do what was necessary?  I looked down at the bag in front of me.  A few pistols, a couple shotguns, and several boxes of ammunition lay inside.  The thought of hurting my mother was almost inconceivable, but was she still my mother?  I remembered the blank look on her face as she stared at the wall, her eyes changing into blank, unrecognizable windows.  What if she was attacking innocent people right now? What if she hurt a child?  The thought terrified me and I steeled my resolve.  "We need to go." I told Tracy authoritatively. "We need to find her." Tracy tossed me the keys and hopped into the passenger seat. She started loading shells into a 12 gauge tactical shotgun as I started the car.

I switched off the lights and cut the engine, letting the car coast slowly up to Mr. Munn's house. The door was open just as we left it, the blood stains now a dark, dry red. We got out of the car and switched on bright LED flashlights.  Pressing the button on the back added an extra set of bulbs, illuminating the ground in front of us even more.  "Costco is awesome." Tracy said with a smile, admiring the flashlight.  Her smile faded when she saw the look on my face.  "So this is Mr. Munn's house?" she asked.  I nodded and looked toward the front door.  "Stay here" I told her.  "Watch the woods." She shone her flashlight toward the trees and I stepped inside the front door.

I was greeted with the horrid smell of dead animal, and followed the dried blood back to the room where my mother had been.  I could see Mr. Munn's boots on the side of the bed, unmoved from the location where I had seen them last.  A new stain of sticky congealed blood was spattered on the wall behind the bed, but I did not go around to see the grisly scene.  Backing up slowly, I closed the door behind me and left the room.

Outside, I heard Tracy's voice.  "I found something." She called to me.  Approaching the spot where she stood I shone my flashlight on the ground. The faintest trail of blood led us across rocks, sticks, and grass. "You any good at tracking?" I asked Tracy. She shrugged her shoulders "I guess we'll find out." We shone our lights left and right, looking for any sign that she passed through. "Here!" Tracy called, a few feet to my right. A bush with a blood smear led us deeper into the woods. As we searched I looked off into the distance- I could see lights of another house not far off. We stepped cautiously in the bracken, looking left and right but proceeding toward the house.  Twigs snapped beneath our feet, echoing out into the night.  Every 20 feet or so we'd see another smear on a leaf or stain on a tree trunk, confirming that we were moving in the right direction.

The forest started to thin and we saw a comfortable looking house nestled in a clearing. It's tall windows gave it a golden glow in the moonlight, and I motioned to Tracy to lower her shotgun down by her side as we approached. We turned off our flashlights and approached the living room window carefully. Standing outside we peered into the house, looking for any sign of disturbance. The TV was on, but the house seemed otherwise empty. I moved to the left towards the front door and froze when I saw the dark shape of a man standing next to a woodpile. His back was to me, and he held a long handled shovel. He wasn't moving. Immediately my mind was drawn to my neighbor, who mindlessly pounded his own car until going crazy and trying to kill us. I put my finger to my lips, telling Tracy to be quiet. She nodded and we moved to the right and left, encircling the man, walking slowly and carefully to reduce the sound our footsteps made on the thick grass. I could feel my adrenaline pumping and my heart racing as we moved to see his face. Stepping sideways, we kept a distance of about 15 feet away, putting enough space between us that we would have time to react if he were to attack.  The lights from the house hid his face in shadow, and I motioned to Tracy to stop.  She raised her gun cautiously and I clicked on my flashlight, concentrating its beam on the ground in front of me. As I slowly raised the beam toward his feet, the man twitched a bit but did not move. The light ran up his legs, revealing wet brown mud caked on his jeans. His shovel was caked with dirt, and I could see dark red stains on the handle. A large gash on his hand was wrapped poorly in some loose gauze that barely covered the wound. As the light reached his face he turned his head to face me. His eyes were filled with sorrow. Tears made paths through the dirt covering his cheeks as he stared at me. He opened his mouth, moving his jaw as though he hadn't spoken in years.  "I had to do it." He said with a sob. He looked down at the ground, and I noticed he was standing over a massive pile of fresh dirt in front of the woodpile.  He held up his injured hand, turning it over as though examining it.  "I'm next." he said with an almost vacant sorrow.  "I can already feel it inside me."