"Do you think it's safe to go out there?" I asked, knowing she knew the area much better than I ever could. Her eyes were trained on the ridge line, half squinting, focused and exact. She studied each tree, each rock, watching for any sign of movement, looking for something that wasn't there before. "Not yet," she whispered, not taking her eyes off the hill.
It had been at least an hour if not more and we hadn't heard anything since the initial shots that claimed the heads of the Zombies in the garden. Whoever was out there must be used to waiting. Probably a hunter decked out in a Realtree jumpsuit complete with blaze orange hat. "It doesn't make sense." I said, picking at a blade of grass poking through a small crack in a rock. "Why bother saving us if you're just going to hide?" Tracy's eyes didn't leave the ridge but she smiled. "How do you know they weren't planning on taking us out next?" I mulled it over in my head for a moment. "Those shots were too accurate. If they wanted us dead we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." Tracy cocked her head to the side as if acquiescing my point. "Could be..." she trailed off. "But this world has few samaritans left." I nodded and thought of the biblical story from my childhood. I didn't realize how much of an effect that story had on me, but it had been a guiding force in my life. I was always stopping to help people stranded on the side of the road, carrying grocery bags for expectant mothers and striking up conversations with elderly gentlemen who looked as though they could use a friend.
I shifted to my side. The rocks under me were digging into my thighs and could feel my muscles tightening uncontrollably. "My legs are starting to cramp up." I admitted. "I'm gonna stand in this hole for a minute and stretch." I climbed down the stone opening and stood on the ground below. Standing on my tip-toes I stretched my calves and thighs. Raising my arms to their full length I reached toward the sky and could feel my muscles relax and my back straighten out. I examined the hole as I climbed back out. "How long did it take you guys to build this? It totally looks handmade." Tracy shrugged. "Not sure. My dad said that my grandfather built it with his father when he was a teenager. Claimed there was another tunnel with a treasure at the end of it somewhere on the property, but I've never found it."
"Let's go." I said confidently. "Its been hours and if he's still out there he can't know where we are. Even if he saw us go into the cellar he would assume we're still in there, or in the house. We could easily pop out of the cellar and run around to the front door." Tracy considered it for a moment. "If he's waiting for us he won't have a problem picking us off, then everything we own will be his." I shrugged and started down the damp hallway. "Hey, if he kills us both I won't care what he does with our stuff."
I could hear Tracy's feet stepping down into the tunnel and I turned to wait for her. "You should keep a flashlight in here or something." I stared at my feet, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness surrounding me. "Cause I'm gonna be blind as soon as I step out of that cellar door at the end of this tunnel." Tracy didn't say anything. Perhaps she was listening. Maybe she just didn't have anything to say.
The light grew brighter as we reached the end and I was greeted with a few musty shelves covered in jarred pickles, jellies, and beets. To the right the rickety stairs rose to the doorway, and light streamed through the dusty crack, illuminating the dirt floor below. "Here goes nothing" I said, looking back at Tracy. She nodded and I threw the door wide open, bolting to the right toward the front of the house. I could hear Tracy's feet close behind me, but still no gunshots. So far so good. I rounded the second corner and reached for the front door handle, putting my shoulder into the door as I turned. The door burst open easily and I collided face first into a large body dressed in all black. I felt a stinging sensation on the top of my head and the entire world went dark.
You know how it ends. Now read how it begins...
