//------------------------------// // Dead Rising Style // Story: Roadtrip // by enamis //------------------------------// Next morning found me on my way again. The weather was nice, sun beaming down on me, only occasionally blocked by a stray cloud that drifted across the vast expanse of blue above. I had always been a heavy sleeper. That is to say, if I got the chance I tended to sleep to like two in the afternoon. On my trip so far it hadn’t served me that well since by the time I finally got my ass in gear the sun had already been up for hours. Well, at least it gave the weather a chance to warm up a bit before I got walking. One could probably insert some joke about ‘sleeping through the apocalypse’ but right now I wasn’t laughing. After Rāmkalni I had made decent pace. The terrain evened out after the bridges that merged the two main highways of this side of the county so it wasn’t the best for cart-racing. Still, I managed to get a few nice slopes along the way that sped up my progress significantly so there was that. Really, the strangest thing about traveling through the same roads I had crossed again and again for literally my entire life was the stillness. There were no cars racing past our banged up old Mazda, no jerks going two hundred kilometers an hour on a ninety highway, no dogs sticking their faces out windows. Well... unless you counted Bella whenever we rode downhill. The roadwork that always seemed to be happening didn’t slow us down much and besides singing a bit as we passed the container-box-house things I didn’t even bother slowing down or checking any of them. I did however check the three roadside shops/inns that I passed, but was met only with disappointment. At this point I doubted I’d ever even find a single living soul again. Don’t you dare let me down, Riga. Time passed, sun went down, shit got dark, but I was in the home stretch so I wasn’t about to give up so close. At some point I scotch taped one of my flashlights to the side of my harness-thing as a sort of pseudo-headlight and another one to the side of my cart. As good as my night vision had become I didn’t entirely trust it. The entire way the wind kept howling in my ears, making both myself and Bella shiver. I took pity on the poor thing and wrapped her up in one of the bed sheets I had with me before continuing on. There was nothing more I wanted than to just bundle up in a blanket and pillows and sleep but I had chosen the stupid route and I was going to stick with it. After about five kilometers of a straight road hugged by a forest on one side and old post-WW2 abandoned (or possibly still working) factories on the other, a vast parking lot opened up to my left. Bathed in moonlight the monolithic mall stood against the night sky. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I sped up through the car-filled lots and to the main entrance I knew oh-so well. I unhitched myself and lowered Bella out of the shopping cart before walking to the huge glass doors marking the entrance to my own personal Bed & Breakfast for the near future. I wormed my claws between the rubbers of the sliding doors and pried both sets open enough for me to push my cart through. The darkness that shrouded every inch of this once bright and people-filled pace made me as uneasy as ever so me being the absolute smartass that I was, I taped my flashlight to my shoulder. Genius. Once I had a bit of light and both Bella and I weren’t shivering from the icy wind anymore the exploration could begin. My first stop whenever I came all the way out here had always been the electronics store just up the escalator (now stairs) and a few paces right around the bend. The second I saw my light glint off all those wonderful, untouched boxes of Xbox and DS and PC and PS4 games I swear to god I got the biggest griffon-lady-boner ever. When all those heavenly things were back safely with the rest of my stuff I mostly just walked around a bit. Occasionally the stench of rot would waft up to me but I ignored it. Without light there wasn’t really much to see especially since most of the stuff here were just clothes shops and I didn’t feel like going to the A or B wings and most likely getting lost in the dark along the way. Eventually I looped back around near the entrance on the first floor and I stopped by the huge Jysk that was there. Just thinking about all that furniture and garden accessories and beds and mattresses and pillows and blankets called out to me like a whale song or something as poetic as that. With a loud yawn I made my way into the store's furthest corner where I knew the display beds sat. I picked out the nicest one and began hauling stacks and stacks of bedding to it until I had a literal mountain atop it. On a rather childish whim I grabbed some ropes and whatnots around the store and strung them up above the display mattress before throwing a bed sheet over them making myself a nice little tent. Smiling from a job well done I took off my jacket and laid it down on the foot of the bed with the flashlight close and pointing outwards. Finally I could settle in. I bundled myself up in the blankets, scooting deeper into my ‘tent’ until I was sure the Dark couldn’t get me and I could finally relax. Pulling the pillows closer I sunk into their fluffiness and closed my eyes, letting the exhaustion of the day melt off me. I faintly felt Bella snuggle closer to me, her breath the only indication of the passage of time as I drifted my way into nothingness. When I awoke the next (presumably) morning I felt more refreshed than I had once on my entire trip. That was a real, fancy mattress’d bed for ya’. Tangled in my mountain of pillows and blankets I stretched and shifted until I freed the front half of my body. My fumbling around must’ve woken Bella because I was suddenly met with a face full of fur and eyeful of tongue. When I finally managed to get her off of me, with about as much swearing as usual, I could start the final leg of my journey. After some morning shopping, of course. With the flashlight still scotch taped to my shoulder I made my way back to the front of the mall. I checked to see if my cart was still there and it was as undisturbed as ever. Really, I didn’t know which of the two possibilities would have been worse. (And pants-shittingly-terrifying (although that analogy didn’t work as well anymore since I didn’t have pants)) Protruding from the side of the main mall complex lay one of the biggest superstores on this side of the city. Huge windows letting the pale daylight pour through stretched three stories high and at least a block out. Shrouded in darkness, the depths that even the light couldn’t reach lay a world full of everything any living soul could ever want. Basically it was a Baltics equivalent of Wal-Mart. And I was gonna’ raid it. I grabbed one of the shopping carts left to the wayside by the entrance and with me on my back legs and my front claws wrapped around the bar I entered a shoplifter’s paradise. I honestly don’t know how long I spent there just running down the aisles picking out random assortments of stuff. If it hadn’t been for the ‘End of the World’ this would have been the best day of my life. Fancy headphones and a variety of toys went into my cart like there was no tomorrow. By the time got to the rotting fruit and spoiled dairy and pungent meat aisles I had long since gotten used to the stench. Cereals and hard cheeses were thrown into cardboard boxes I had been smart enough to grab by the entrance as I rode the cart past the long expired sushis’ and cooked chicken legs. When I made into the bread and cake corner I nabbed every box of chocolate cookies I could (after testing and tasting one to make sure of course) before riding down towards the grains. Rice, spaghetti and hot sauce went into the cart next and I giggled with glee as I slid to a stop by the candy aisle. From all the endless variety of chocolate I could pick I went with the Milka’s while also loading up with sour Skittles and Haribo Jellies. I was about to head out when my eye caught the alcohol aisle in the faint gleam of my flashlight. Stopping my cart I walked my way to the shelves stacked with fancy amber liquids and a mischievous part of me almost choked on glee. I couldn’t help but grin as I browsed my way through this forbidden fruit, picking out any alcohol that seemed familiar or sounded at least vaguely interesting. I dint find any Jack Daniel’s, which was a shame but I nabbed three whole bottles of Captain Morgan’s rum along with a minimum of twelve different flavors and kinds of beer. Eventually my cart was loaded up to the brim and I was getting tired just by pushing it so I figured I’d call it quits. As I was about to maneuver my way out past the long since melted ice cream freezers and through checkout lines I saw something shift in the corner of my greatly improved field of view. I’ll admit, I screeched like a little bitch and the only thing that kept me from bolting was a familiar yap and Bella slunk out of the shadows, a rawhide bone the size of her leg in her mouth. Of course I cursed her out for scaring me and afterwards grabbed a few boxes of dog treats from the pet corner before finally leaving. A quick check outside and I came to the conclusion that it was already midday and if I was going to get somewhere I should get my ass in gear, pronto. Properly packing my newest haul and attaching the second shopping cart to the first one I set off, Bella by my side and caravan rattling behind me on my way home. The trip towards the center of the city was a pretty easy one, so easy in fact I had my lunch while walking which wasn’t actually as pleasant as it sounded when one was a quadruped. The terrain was level and the red bike lane I traveled was pretty decently maintained so I didn't have much problems. The entire way there I kept blasting any and all road songs I had on my Walkman and singing along as loud as I could. Part of me justified it as ‘maybe someone will hear me’ and the other part went ‘fuck it, I just really feel like shouting right now’. So I did. By the time I made it to the railroad bridge so close to home I could almost smell the stale air of my room, the sun was mercilessly beating down on me. I had given up my jacket all together and just thrown it into my cart. The wind breezing past my face and through my wings sent an entire array of strange sensations through my brain. Most of them were pleasant. Down the small side road I trudged, past the cemetery-turned-park that was my childhood playground, yet I grew more and more uneasy. My legs trembled ever so slightly and my wings twitched in the breeze. Finally, past the trees the very corner of our apartment complex came into view. I swallowed a lump in my throat before switching off my music. Standing at the t-intersection, tall homes lining the side of the road, I had to bring myself to move. There was just something about going home like… this… Maybe it was just a part of me that still hadn’t given up on this being… not real. That the only way this fate of mine, this insane journey and god knows what else to come would be sealed forever in reality, was going home. Passing through those doors, seeing that familiar hardwood floor and those white and salmon colored walls would make all of this so much more real… What was I to do? . Don’t think about it. . So I didn’t. Since the power was out there was no point in me even trying any of the brand new metal doors with fancy, glowing keypad locks the Apartment Ownership Society my mom was a part of had installed this spring so I went around back to the lot where we all parked our cars. The asphalt was a mess, but then again it had been like that since I was a kid. Finding my keys was the hard part but after fishing out my laptop/shoulder bag out of the mountain of stuff I had getting in was trivial. “Bella, stay.” I commanded and I think the mutt might’ve actually listened, at least judging by the way she thumped her butt on the little patch of overgrown grass by one of my neighbors windows when she sat down. The door itself, heavy, brown, a bastard, was a little hard to push open with my tiny stature but I eventually stepped inside the concrete lined strainwell. Six steps up and I was on the first floor landing right at a simple wood door with a fancy little 9 at the topmost center. My guts gave a little lurch but nevertheless I pushed my keys into the lock and after undoing the two separate doors I stepped back home. It was surreal. Despite the dust and the heavy, stale air it was like this pace had frozen in time. Gently dropping my bag on the carpet in the foyer I almost drunkenly stumbled the five steps needed to the right and into my bedroom. Just as I had left it, my bed was a mess I never intended to clean up. Clothes on the floor, papers and brushes and oil paints scattered amongst my desk, money and lip balms and old checks I needed to throw out were on my bedside table. Nothing had changed. I was home. . It wasn’t supposed to be like this… I breathed hard, dust going down my throat but I didn’t care. It wasn’t supposed to be like this… This was the part where I was supposed to wake up. A lesson learned. I was supposed to tell Mom I loved her, I was supposed to start helping around the house again, study better, act nicer… I WAS SUPPOSED TO WAKE UP! My leathery knuckle connected with the door making the glass in its frames loudly rattle. I let out a shaky breath, biting back tears as they threatened to push out from my once gray eyes. Dust stirred around me and through this tomb of a life I once had. Posters still covered the walls and books filled my shelves. Boxes of toys I was too old to play with sat atop the closets. But this wasn’t home anymore. This wasn’t right anymore. A sharp inhale and I opened my bright red eyes again. The sun filtering through the closed curtains gave me enough light to see all the treasures that lay here. The graphics tablet and it’s accessories I grabbed off the desk wasn’t the same one I had spent half my savings on. The survival book I had loved and adored so much I knew it from heart wasn’t the one I had spent countless nights reading with a flashlight. The Nintendo DS and all its games on the bottom shelf of the cupboard had never been the one I had gotten all the way from America instead of a PSP. The three binders full of four years’ worth of pencil drawings sitting in the corner were never made by my hand. Photo albums I had never gotten for my birthdays and didn’t show the smiling faces of my tiny family went with the rest. The guitar we’d gotten for cheap, sitting atop the closet I could barely reach as human wasn’t the one I had spent my summer trying to learn. The snacks and soft drinks in a hiding place between the bed and the wall that I had not once in my life used went into the same pile as all the things that were never mine. The pillow I buried my face and beak into and screamed for the life I could never have back wasn’t the best pillow I had ever slept on since getting it at age eight. . . When I stumbled back out into the parking space, shrouded from all sides by six-story-tall homes, the small lot filled with dead cars, could I finally breathe. Bella looked at me with wary eyes, not even wagging her tail. What was her problem? All I’d done was find some keys that were never mine with an address attached and had simply liberated that ownerless apartment of some rather nice books and tech that I had… And a wonderful, massive, fluffy pillow that was nearly the size of me, which was abso-fucking-lutely amazing. I made sure I carefully packed my laptop (and now with an added graphics tablet) bag between some stuff that would cushion it as best as possible and tried stuffing the things I’d nabbed into the carts. Eventually I was satisfied and slipped the harness around my neck before setting off. Bella’s behavior was a little worrying but I made sure to remember to give her some doggie treats when we made it to the Old City; aka my main goal this entire goddamn trip. What was I even doing in this part of town anyway? Meh, doesn’t matter. UP, UP AND AWAY! … Or at least forward in a rather slow and grueling pace… that works too… I traveled far and long down all my old trails really wishing for a bike right about now. Eventually, after stopping by the Laima chocolate factory’s store a few tram stops from home and doing you can probably guess what, I found myself by the Dailes Theater house. I paused to look at the poster advertising some play I could never bother myself about before finally looking back at Bella who had been trailing me (and not walking beside me as she had most of the trip). She seemed a bit calmer now which was good, though I really had to figure out what had spooked her. Probably me leaving her behind a locked door had something to do with that, but she would eventually have to learn I wasn’t going to take her absolutely everywhere with me. Geez… I resumed my rattling down the main road leading to the once thriving heart of Riga. It was a fair few blocks away but I still had plenty of daylight to burn so I was at ease with the world. About a third of the way there I had to stop and look around because I could have sworn I kept hearing something. It wasn’t the wind whipping through the empty streets, that sound I had gotten used to. It wasn’t my MP4 either since I turned it off to save battery. With an involuntary shiver, making me give in and put my jacket back on I continued. As the heart of the city grew closer and closer so did that strange noise. At this point I was getting seriously worried. That is, until halfway to the Old Town and my goal, something in my head clicked. . Music. . I was hearing music. .