“How much farther?” asked Robert.
“Not much, we’re going to beat the rain and—” suddenly, Kyle stopped walking and quickly turned to look around.
“What is it?”
“I think we’re being followed.”
Robert gripped the rifle tightly. “Are you sure? I don’t see anyone.”
“Maybe I’m being paranoid. Do you want to jog the rest of the way? It’s about a mile. If we are being followed, that would make it harder for them to keep up.”
“Good idea. Let’s get out of here.”
The men soon arrived at the apartment building. It was a tall brick building. The double glass doors on the front of the building were shattered and the front lobby was dark inside. The men stopped at the entrance and looked back down the road to see if they had been followed.
“See anything?” asked Robert.
“No, but I still have the feeling that I’m being watched. Let’s get inside. The apartment is on the second floor, number 210, at the end of the hallway. We can see this road from up there.”
The men stepped across the broken glass and into the dark lobby. The stainless steel doors to an elevator were directly in front of them and the stairwell was next to the elevator. As they stepped into the building, there was a horrible stench in the air.
“Shall we take the elevator?” Robert asked, with an invisible smile in the darkness.
“That’s funny, old man. Let’s take the stairs. You need the exercise,” Kyle replied, facetiously. Kyle opened the door to the dark stairway and tripped, falling completely to the ground, as he stepped inside. The stench of death was overwhelming in the enclosed space.
“What happened!” exclaimed Robert.
As Kyle got up, he realized that it had been a dead body that he had fallen over.
“Hold it. There’s a body here. Prop the door open to let the odor out,” said Kyle.
Robert propped the door open and carefully stepped over the body. It was very dark in the stairwell and they were lucky to only have to go to the next level up. Exiting the stairwell onto the second floor provided no relief from the smell. It was on that floor, too.
“What is that smell? Is it everywhere in this building?” asked Robert, as he held his nose. After he spoke, Robert immediately noticed a small single hung window at the end of the hall. He immediately went to the window and opened it, hoping the wind could blow in some fresh air.
Kyle followed him down the hall and stared at the door to the apartment they were next to. It was apartment 210.
“You made it.”
“I’ve thought about this moment every day since we left Montana. It has kept me going. I wondered what I’d do when I got here. Maybe I would run to the door and pound on it, or scream at the window from the street.” With a quick laugh he said, “I guess I kept it simple. Here we go.”
Kyle knocked on the door.
“Why don’t you just open the door? It’s your apartment.”
Kyle replied, embarrassed, “I lost the key.”
Robert rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead. He then turned to the window for fresh air as Kyle continued to knock.
“Honey, it’s me, Kyle. I’m back. Open the door.”
“Where else could she be, Kyle?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not leaving without her. You don’t have to stick around. If you want to leave that’s fine, but she’s my wife and I am not leaving without her.”
“I’m not leaving, either. Let’s find your wife. What do we do now? Where would she go?”
“Let’s go out back and look around,” said Kyle.
“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to avoid walking through that stench again. Go have a look and come back. I’ll wait here.”
Kyle scrambled down the hallway to the stairwell, and was gone. Robert stepped out of the main hall, around the corner, and sat on the floor with his back to the wall, watching the rain come through the window. The raindrops were reflecting the small bit of golden light left from the setting sun. The hallway was dark and quiet. The sound of the raindrops was hypnotic. Robert closed his eyes and listened. He began to fade away into sleep as he sat on the floor. In his dream, he heard gentle footsteps. They got gradually louder, and then he heard a metallic noise. It was the sound of a turning doorknob and squeaky hinges. The sounds were real and not from a dream, he realized. Robert jumped up. He grabbed his rifle, turned around the corner, and was staring at a thin woman with long black hair standing in the open doorway to apartment 210. When she saw Robert jump around the corner with the rifle, the woman began to scream hysterically in fear.
“Please don’t kill me! Please, please don’t kill me! I’m begging you!” pleaded the woman, as she collapsed to her knees and begged for mercy.
“No, no, this isn’t what you think!” said Robert, as he dropped the rifle and held up his hands. Robert took a step toward the woman and she screamed even louder.
Kyle heard the screams through the open window and ran back inside. He leaped through the stairwell doors, darted up the steps, and started down the hall toward the apartment. He stopped halfway down the hall when he saw his wife; she was wearing a loose fitting sundress. He immediately recognized his Alexis.
Robert looked down the hall where Kyle was and saw the dark figure that Alexis was looking at. As Kyle began to slowly walk toward them, he realized her terror. She saw an unrecognizable man with long hair, a beard, and a pistol walking toward her, and both of the men were wearing red bandanas on their arms.
“Alexis, it’s Kyle!” Robert gently explained, as he pointed to the slowly advancing figure in the dark hallway. Robert quickly removed his red armband, wadded it up, and threw it on the hallway floor. “We’re not a part of that. Those armbands aren’t ours.”
When Alexis heard her name, she was shocked into silence. She stared at Robert’s face in the dark of twilight, but did not recognize him.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?” As Alexis demanded an answer from Robert, her fear and panic was transitioning into anger.
“My name is Robert ; you don’t know me. I am your husband’s friend.” Robert extended his arm and pointed to Kyle’s shadowy figure slowly moving toward them.
Alexis was still on the floor and on her knees. She straightened her torso, and with clenched fists at her side, yelled at Robert. “My husband is dead! Everyone I know is dead! Damn you to hell!”
At Alexis’s exclamation, Kyle’s shocked silence disappeared. He took a step forward to stand next to his kneeling wife in the dark hallway. “Alexis, it’s me. I made it back. I came back for you and the baby.” She recognized his voice. Kyle dropped to his knees to look directly into his wife’s face. Lightning from the storm flashed, shining through the little window and illuminating the hallway. In that brief instant, Alexis could see him clearly. The sun had burnt Kyle’s face, and he had a beard now. His hair was long and as ragged as his clothes. She thought to herself that his eyes were the same. She had fallen in love with those same kind blue eyes. This was her husband, and he was alive! She grabbed him, holding tightly, and began to cry.
Robert stepped softly around the embracing couple and went into the dark apartment to give them privacy. Inside the apartment, he stood next to a window overlooking the road outside and stared cautiously through it. He remembered Kyle’s earlier suspicion of being followed. He believed Kyle, and was worried.