Trying to Survive (Part 3) by C.J. Crowley Read Free Book Online

close, so I suggested “Just creep up a little so we can see around to the parking lot in front of the building. We don’t want to wait too long – something could go bad.”
       As soon as I got sight of the third building, I could see the shredders all chasing after the car. They were still somewhat close to the front door of the couple’s apartment, but moving so quickly that we’d only have to wait another ten seconds or so.
       “Go ahead and keep moving. They’re making more than enough noise for us to sneak up.”
       The man and the woman were standing next to each other at the window, waiting for me to direct them to come down stairs. The woman was tightly clutching his arm and I could see them talking. She seemed upset. I couldn’t truly tell, but I felt the way she looked down at us portrayed distrust.
       I stuck my hand out of the window and motioned for them to stay put. Even though the old Volvo was quiet as can be, Walt didn’t dare touch the gas pedal. He just continued to let the car slowly roll toward their front door.
       Once we were close enough, I began waving for them to come down and they both disappeared from the window.
       As they ran to the car, I quickly studied them and came to the conclusion that they were related. The man was noticeably older, most likely in his forties, and the woman looked to be about ten years behind. He was starting to show gray, especially in his stubble, but they both had the same reddish-brown hair, somewhat olive skin tone and small, almost sharp noses.
       Walt said “Get in!” when they approached the car.
       When the woman saw my face, it seemed to frighten her and she became hesitant to enter the car. Without a second thought, the man flung open the door and practically forced her inside.
       I hated to start things off by coming across as threatening, but we couldn’t take the chance. Even though they appeared to be unarmed, as soon as he closed the door and the car was moving again, I turned sideways in my seat and pointed the 9mm at them.
       The man instantly became angry and leaned over to block the woman. He barked “What the hell is this!?”
       I did my best to soften my expression and calm my voice. “Please, just relax. We aren’t going to hurt you. We just can’t trust you.”
       We locked eyes for what seemed like five seconds before I said “We’ve had some… bad experiences with other people. That’s all. We’re just protecting ourselves.”
       “Then why did you help us?” The woman asked with a shaky voice.
       “Because we all need to work together if we want to get through this.”
       The man cut our conversation short. I could understandably see the immense distrust in his dark-brown eyes. “There’s someone else around here.”
       The woman said “Yeah, that’s right! We saw a young guy.” She pointed to Walt. “About his age.”
       “Do you know where he is?” Walt said as he glanced at them in the rear view mirror and backed into a spot so he could turn around and head to the entrance to wait for the others.
       “He passed by in the woods, heading in the direction your friends are going. We saw him about five minutes before we saw you, but we couldn’t get his attention.” The man answered.
       I said “Well, then he’s got to be close by. He’s probably at one of the windows watching right now.”
       Walt still hadn’t pulled out of the spot to head back toward the entrance. “Should we keep going and look for him? If Brian sees us continuing on, I’m sure he’ll put two and two together and keep leading them away.”
       “Let’s do it. I say if we can, let’s try and circle the whole neighborhood. Who knows how many more people we could find?”
       Brian and the others were already out of sight, and they’d managed to lead away every single shredder in the area. Since we were temporarily “safe”, Walt took the time to ask “What are your