The Two Horsemen (Chapter one)

Chapter 1
February 23, 0001

         
         I was dead.
         Or as good as it. There was no escaping this. My fingers convulsed against the solid barrier behind me, searching desperately for an escape. Nothing but a hard, white wall. I was trapped. I could not go out the way I came. It was in the way, and it would surely destroy me.
         I slid down the wall and onto the floor. I had given in to death. I lay in a heap on the cold white floor. There was no way out of here.
         I looked up and saw my conqueror. He sat upon a silk-white horse that stood over eight feet tall, with soot-black nostrils that flared and shot hot air into my face. It clacked its hooves on the ground impatiently, waiting for my demise.
         The figure, too, was completely white. He was covered from head to toe with a flowing robe that blew wildly behind him, even though there was no wind in this place. He had two objects: one was an ivory crown that sat atop his head, with hundreds of sharp spires that reached upward; the other was a bow, finely constructed out of the same ivory as the crown and with a single, spider-web thin string.
         The rider stepped down from his horse and strode towards me. He moved effortlessly, almost a glide, his feet hidden by his long robe. He reached my prostrate body and stood over me for an eternity. He was being gracious enough to let me ponder my impending death. I buried my face in my hands. I could not look at him.
         Finally, I got the courage to glance back at my horseman and noticed something. He carried a bow, yet he didn't have a quiver to carry his arrows in.
         How would he kill me with no weapons?
         I cowered in this frigid, harsh corridor with complete confidence that he would find a way.
                   


                   My eyes ripped open. Bright light flooded my eyes and blinded me. I was alive! I felt myself all over and was relieved to find my appendages still intact. Slowly, my eyes regained focus and I was able to see I was in the same bed I had fallen asleep on I breathed deeply and slowly to calm my heart. I licked my dry lips and tasted salt from the beads of sweat that I had perspired during the dream.
         I turned in my bed and looked at the calm, sleeping face next to me. The way her beautiful brown hair fell over her face and how her body lifted and dropped so calmly with every breath that escaped her lips made me forget about my bad dream and put a smile on my face.
         I rose out of the bed quietly, making sure not to wake her, and walked to the kitchen. I pulled the coffee pot from the maker and poured the black liquid into a gray ceramic coffee cup. I was thankful that I my nightmare had awoken me at my normal time so that I wouldn't have to fix the coffee myself.
         The coffee warmed me up and lifted my spirits even further. I remembered that I had been looking forward to this day. We were shopping today. I grinned I as looked out my kitchen window and into the first glows of the rising sun. Shopping days made my month.
         It would be a long trip and gas in the car was low, so I decided I would go ahead and fill her up now. I grabbed my iPod from beside from beside my computer on the way out. It needed charging.
         I loved to drive. No one quality made it so enjoyable to me; I just loved it. It was such a beautiful morning that I decided to take a detour down a dirt road and up a small mountain. Kind of cold, but mild as most Alabama February's are. I drove until I reached the highest point I could by the road and parked.
         I unhooked my iPod from it's cigarette lighter charger and stepped out of the car. I walked up to the chain-link fence surrounding a cell-phone tower and scaled it, straddled the top pipe, swung my right leg over and landed safely on the other side. I climbed the metal ladder up the tower until I reached a landing about three-fourths of the way up and stepped onto it. I unrolled the headphone from around my iPod and slipped the earbuds in my ears.
         The birth of the day was spectacular from this height. Bright reds, yellows, and oranges lept from the horizon and stretched out, illuminating the sky and clouds. The music in my ears matched its intensity. Soft and rough with a beautiful melody. As the song climaxed with a crescendo of lovely noise. The new sun's rays revealed the vast fields of green trees that ran down the slope of the mountain and on out onto the level ground. The scene was beautiful and I would have loved to stay there longer, but I had to do what I had set out to do; get the gas before they woke up.
         


         I pulled back into the garage with a full tank and was greeted at the door by the girl I had left dormant.
         “Where were you off to so early?” she asked.
         “I went to get gas so we wouldn't have to get it on the way. You know how big of a hassle it can be.” I said.
         “Well, that was nice,” she said as she stood on her tip toes to peck me lightly on the lips.
         “Courtney and Eric up yet?”
         “Not yet, I was just about to go down to the basement and wake 'em up. You know how they like to sleep in.” She said with a smile. Her shining eyes looked up at me.
         


         “Thank God for the battery operated coffee maker,” said Eric as he sipped from a mug. His tall body leaned back against the sink. He had buzzed-short brown hair and a wide smile.
         I despised Eric for a reason I didn't understand. We were friends. Great friends actually. But in my mind his name's been given a negative connotation. Perhaps it was how easily he and Courtney had gotten together after we all started living together. Maybe I was jealous. But I had Kate. But first I had wanted Courtney. It was my fault. I had told him I was fine with it even when I wasn't. And so I loathed my best friend for something I had supported.
         Courtney stood in the doorway of the kitchen, her short blond hair barely reaching her shoulders. What made Courtney so beautiful were her lips. Thick, luscious lips that were permanently a bright, fleshy red.
         “Where are we going today?” flowed the question out of her beautiful mouth.
         I gathered myself. “I was thinking that we should go up into Tennessee. I think Cypress Inn took a toll right after. Not a real big population now, but a pretty big Super Wal-Mart.”
         “That's a good idea,” said Eric. “That last grocery store down in Muscle Shores was just about finished.”
         Kate stepped into the kitchen with her still-wet hair pulled back into a pony tail. She was the shortest of the four by far, just a few inches above five foot.
         “Is Tennessee okay with you Kate?” I asked her.
         “Where, exactly?” she asked. Kate always made direct eye contact with you when she talked and it was way too easy to get lost in her complex hazel eyes.
         “Cypress Inn.” I replied.
         “You think it's sketch?” she asked. She wasn't really as much concerned as she was making sure I was thinking clearly. Everywhere was ok now.
         “Of course not. They went really crazy at first, but they're settled down now, just like everyone else.”
         “Okay, I'm game.”


         
         The drive to Cypress Inn was a short one, only about thirty minutes. The Wal-Mart was just off the highway. A smart location, because there was nothing in the town. In fact, the only conclusion I could come to for why there was a Wal-Mart here was because there wasn't another one anywhere close.
         We parked in the fire lane, right next to the manual doors, locked the door, and got out.
         We stopped at the doors, reached into the backpacks we all carried, and pulled out crank-powered LED flashlights. They made a funny whir when cranked, and it was downright hilarious to see the four of us crank away with the ridiculous buzz filling the air.
         The store was empty, but that wasn't a surprise.
         “Hey!” said Eric in a surprised tone. “Some of the shelves are still stocked.”
         He was right. We were used to empty stores that required us to scrounge around the warehouse in the back for supplies.
         “Huh,” I said as I wondered to myself why most of this store was still in one piece. It wasn't completely intact, however. All of the registers had been forced open and the money removed. I laughed inside at the idea of stealing money. All of the useful medicine was gone as well. Only foot powders and wart removers still had a place on the shelf. Taking meds had been a much smarter idea.
         As I scanned through the dark aisles with my flashlight It occurred to me that everything that had been taken were things that we all thought to loot at the beginning. Plasma screen TVs, digital cameras, alcohol (of course)and other big-money items. But the clothes, canned foods, tents and items needed for a more long-term survival were still present in this store. Medicine was the only exception.  Nobody had looted this store in a while.
         “Hey guys!” I yelled. “Are you noticing the trend I'm noticing?”
         “Yeah! All the survival supplies are still here!” shouted Courtney from across the store. It was hard to pick up exactly where she was with the echo-creating massiveness of the Super Wal-Mart, but I thought she was in sporting goods. I was at the alcohol staring at the empty shelves, trying to will some vodka to appear (yeah I know... hypocrite).
         “There's a real nice big tent here!” said Eric. Yup, Courtney was in sporting goods.
         “Take it then! As long as its not to big to fit in the trunk.” I replied.
         No answer. He was probably to excited with his discovery to talk back.
         I heard a quick patter behind me. I turned around fast and shined my light back towards the center of the store. Nothing. I jogged to the end of the aisle and flashed my light around. Nothing.
         “Kate?” I said warily.
         “Kate?” I asked louder when she didn't answer.
         “Kate?” I asked louder still. The echo filled the store with my scared voice. Nothing. No reply.
         “I just saw her a second ago, man.” Eric said.
         “Where?”
         “Electronics. She said something about a battery-operated mp3 player.”
         Electronics was very close to the entrance to the warehouse in the back. What if there was someone living here. Living off the supplies and... protecting it?
         “Kate?” I yelled even louder this time; my voice breaking.
         “Yeah?” said a timid voice. Kate's.
         “Oh, thank God.” I whispered to myself before I asked, “Where were you?”
         “In the bathroom. I heard you yell, but I couldn't exactly answer.” she said. The tone in her voice made it obvious that she hated me being scared for her.
         “It's fine. I was just scared.” I said. I abandoned my longing for intoxicating beverages.
         An ear shattering clap exploded through the building. I stunned for a second, then realizing what the noise was, I ran as fast as I could to the front of the store turned to the right, then to the left, and flew out the door that we had entered. The blast was so loud and resounding I couldn't make out where the noise had come from. There was no doubt it had been a gunshot. I selfishly hoped it hadn't been near the bathroom.
          Kate was already hiding behind the car.
         “What's going on? Was that a gunshot?” she asked. Her mouth  quivered as she spoke.
         I squatted down beside her and looked into her frantic eyes. “I don't know. It might've just been something heavy hitting the floor,” I said, trying to console her.
         “But it was so loud. And neither one of them have come out yet.”
         I knew she was right.  “Then, I guess I'm going back in there.”
         “No! You can't! It;s not...” she struggled for the word, “...safe.”
         “Well I sure as hell can't leave them in there!” Then I realized too late that it wasn't the time to be yelling at her.
         “You're staying here.” I commanded calmly. I had to be focused now. To save them, if there was still a chance to. It wasn't time for emotions yet.
         She nodded. I thought about saying something assuring to her, like “It's gonna be okay.” or “No matter what, I love you.”, but she already knew that I loved her and the fear of death had been a constant of our lives for the past year.
         But now was different. Never before had the danger been so apparent, so pronounced, and never before did I seriously fear that one of my friends had been dead. We had made it through the widespread lootings, the shortages of food, and the decline of civilized life safely, but did I really think we'd be that lucky forever?
         So I took her face in my hands and pressed my lips against hers firmly. I pulled back slowly and rubbed my thumb across her soft cheek. She looked down, searching for something to say, but we both knew there weren't any.
         So I stood, grabbed a shotgun from the trunk of the car and walked back into the building.