Purgatory (3)

The stray continued to give me its penetrating gaze, but this time I resisted.

Deciding that enough time had passed, I set out to find Ben. Turning at the intersection, I walked ahead on the street, and the dog followed along. When I passed by a small shop, my four-legged friend stopped next to the entrance and started barking. Instead of simply walking past, I decided to see what had caught the stray's attention. I suspected that the marauders had thoroughly looted the ruined city, taking anything of value with them, so I expected to see empty shelves. Contrary to my expectations, the shelves were not empty.

Numerous comics, both black-and-white and colored, lay on the shelves and under untouched display cases. However, the cash register was turned inside out and emptied. Approaching the nearest shelf, I picked up the first magazine I found and quickly flipped through it. As I did so, some old man emerged from behind the shelves, brandishing a blood-stained knife. Startled, I dropped the magazine.

"Hello. I'm just..." I began to mumble.

Not bothering to listen to my mumbling, the old man lunged at me. I narrowly avoided getting stabbed in the chest and quickly vaulted over the counter with the cash register, pulling out my revolver. Seeing the gun in my hands, the old man sneered maliciously.

"Just try it again, and you'll get a bullet in your head!" I threatened, aiming the gun at the deranged old man.

"I don't care anymore!" he snarled and lifted his shirt, showing a fresh bite mark on his right side.

Seeing the bite, I was momentarily stunned, recalling that I had nearly turned into a ghoul myself not long ago. Apparently, the old man noticed that I hesitated and hurried to take advantage of it. However, his attempt was thwarted by a bullet I fired into his leg. The old man collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain.

"Got it all figured out, huh? Scared to end it yourself and looking for someone else to do it for you. Keep searching. I won't be your accomplice in this!" I declared and walked towards the exit.

I felt sorry for the doomed lunatic, but there was nothing I could do to help him. He showered me with a barrage of curses, but I paid no attention to the dead man's ranting and left the building, slamming the door behind me. The shaggy provocateur, who nearly got me killed, was nowhere to be seen, but I spotted Ben on the other side of the street, coming out of an alley between the buildings.

"I told you not to go anywhere and wait for me to come back!" he grumbled irritably.

"You were gone for a long time," I said, the first thing that came to my mind.

"And you went looking for adventures on your own. Were you hoping to shoot someone or get shot at?" he retorted.

"I... Some poor guy, bitten by a ghoul..."

"I don't care. If you disobey me again, I'll take all your supplies and clothes. Let's see how far you get wandering around the Wasteland naked."

"Better tell me what you managed to achieve. Or did you lose the soldiers?" I hurried to change the subject.

"I didn't lose them. Those five are just a small part of their unit. The rest have dug in at an abandoned supermarket on the next street. They're scouring the whole city, trying to find the same thing we're after."

"How do you know?"

"From Jack. He is the guy they intercepted." Ben explained.

"Did you manage to sneak into the supermarket unnoticed?" I asked skeptically.

"I just got lucky. Jack is one of Bob's men. He's the last survivor of the team sent after the suitcase. The military is interrogating him, but so far, without any results. However, he told me the exact area where the soldiers ambushed them."

"Really? So he just told you like that?"

Ben smiled.

"Not right away, only after I promised to come back with reinforcements and take him back from the military. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Then what stopped you from rescuing him from the supermarket? You managed to get in and out unnoticed."

"Jack and his stupidity got in my way. He was so eager to prove to the soldiers how tough and unyielding he is that they got fed up and broke his leg. He brought it on himself, the idiot. No need to show off like that."

"When I had problems with my leg, you helped me," I reminded him.

"Consider that the first and last time. I won't risk myself to save you from trouble, so take care of your legs and what's between them. I have big plans for that spot."

Enraged by his last remark, I attempted to slap the jerk, but Ben easily intercepted my hand.

"Calm down, redhead. Until we find the suitcase and return to my den, nothing will threaten your charms," he said, then pushed me away and walked down the road, expecting me to follow him like an obedient puppy.

Promising myself that someday Ben would pay for every rude word he said to me, I hurried after him. Even before he returned from tracking the soldiers, I wondered how much time it would take to find the suitcase. It could take weeks, even months, to search the entire city. When I mentioned this to Ben, he replied that Jack had made our task considerably easier by narrowing down the search area. We only needed to search two streets that were almost on the other side of the city.

Getting there, however, turned out to be not so simple, as Purgatory was not as desolate as I had thought before. In addition to the squad of soldiers holed up in the supermarket, we encountered two more groups. To bypass the first group, which had blocked the street, we had to go through an alley first and then climb into a multi-story building and come out the other side using a fire escape. The second group was more difficult to deal with.

The soldiers were engaged in a battle with a small gang holed up in some bar. When they spotted us, the soldiers didn't bother to figure out the situation and opened fire without warning. We had to flee for our lives. Four soldiers chased us, and we managed to elude them only by descending into the sewer. The stench in the sewer was so strong that my eyes watered, and my head started spinning. However, Ben seemed unfazed.

Using the sewers to our advantage, we eventually made it to the surface in a safe spot. The stroll through the filth had completely ruined my boots, and I had to bid farewell to them. The remaining part of the journey surprisingly went smoothly. Once we reached the right street, we began the long and tedious search. Ben took on the task of inspecting residential buildings, while he assigned me to check the street and the shops.

Thoroughly searching took us the whole day, but it turned out to be in vain. When it got dark, we called off the search, had dinner, and set out to find a place to spend the night. I suggested staying in a utility store, but Ben didn't like the idea. He explained that he noticed a certain multi-story building on a nearby street and that we should settle in and make ourselves at home there as soon as possible.

By the time we reached the building and climbed to the fourth floor, it was already quite dark outside. After briefly inspecting one of the apartments with a broken door, we entered a room where one wall was missing, creating a large hole leading outside.

"This is perfect," Ben said contentedly.

In the same room, there was a small wardrobe. Together, we toppled the wardrobe on its side and dragged it to the door, using it as a barricade. Now, anyone trying to open the door from the other side would have to try very hard.

"I'll keep watch first. You'll relieve me in a few hours," Ben ordered, approaching the hole.

"What's the point? We've blocked the door."

"The point is that besides the door, there are also walls here. Very flimsy walls. Ghouls are too dumb to try to break through them, but it's a piece of cake for humans."

To prove his point, Ben kicked the wall with all his strength, creating a hole in it.

"In addition, from here, the street is visible as clear as day. This is one of those rare cases when three walls are better than four. The street can be easily observed from here, so approaching the house unnoticed won't be so simple. And I mean not only ghouls but also tourists. When you stay in places like this, extra caution is never a bad idea."

"Understood," I said, sitting down on the floor.

After sitting for a couple of minutes with my eyes closed, I lay down on the floor, putting my hands under my head. Trying to sleep, knowing that carnivorous creatures have taken over the streets at night, proved to be difficult. Even a child knew that large packs of ghouls (their numbers exceeding a hundred) preferred to dwell in dead cities. During the day, they remained inactive, but after dusk, they came out to hunt, turning the city and its surroundings into a deadly trap. When I was almost falling asleep, something exploded outside.

"Don't move. Just a false alarm," Ben said calmly without even bothering to turn around.

Unsatisfied with that answer, I approached the hole and witnessed the following scene. Two men were firing at a pack of ghouls, unaware that another dozen bloodthirsty creatures were closing in from behind. Apparently, the poor guys had exhausted their last grenade and were now shooting at the ghouls with their rifles.

"We need to help them!" I firmly declared, aiming at a ghoul from the second pack that was running ahead of the others.

Ben swiftly grabbed my hand and pulled it away.

"If our hiding spot gets exposed because of you, you'll be the first one thrown down!" he threatened.

The expression on Ben's face made it clear that he wasn't joking.

"But they'll be killed!" I protested.

"It's their own fault. If you venture into Purgatory after dark, the first thing you should do is find a secure shelter, not roam the streets. Even if you start shooting now and hit someone, you won't help those idiots. You'll only harm us."

During Ben's speech, the already bad situation for the poor men on the street deteriorated further. Realizing they were surrounded from two sides, one of the men managed to shoot down two ghoul, but the third one pounced on him like an angry Rottweiler and pinned him to the ground. Not wanting to watch the outcome, I quickly moved away from the hole and returned to my previous spot. There were no more gunshots.

Ben silently observed the scene without commenting. Only when it was over, he said that the satiated creatures had moved away without even glancing towards the house where we were hiding. After what happened on the street, falling asleep was even more challenging.