Page 31 of Fated to the Hunter
What was the point of so many layers? While they were pleasing to look at, they were completely useless at keeping the scourge out. As a result, many of the windows throughout the house had been boarded up, especially those on the ground floor, as they were accessible by scuttlers and lungers. That hadn’t stopped the scourge from getting in.
Kiera went through each room looking for something, though I didn’t know quite what. But when we got to the doors to themess hall, I stopped her. I’d closed the heavily claw-marked wooden doors on purpose.
“You do not want to go in there.”
“Why? What’s in the dining room?”
“Nothing now.”
She frowned. “That’s not very helpful. I want to search the whole house just in case I’m missing something. We still haven’t cracked the riddle yet.”
“What are you looking for? I will search for you.”
“What's wrong with the dining room?” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“The owner and his family were in it when the scourge attacked.”
“Oh. So it’s a bloodbath. Okay.” She put a hand on the back of my arm, the touch sparking a sense of connection between us. “Thank you, Bael’k, for trying to protect me mentally and emotionally. I appreciate it. But I think I can handle it. I’ve seen a lot of shit in the last few years. I can compartmentalize.”
“As you wish.”
I relented, opening the doors for her.
She stepped inside. “Oh. Poor things.”
I knew what she saw. Every surface was stained by blood, especially the once-white tablecloth. Bullet holes and claw marks riddled the walls. The chairs lay toppled and broken, and there were splinters everywhere. The chandelier lay atop the dining table, its crystals flung across the floor, catching stray beams of light that shone in through the broken window.
They’d tried to board up the large west-facing window, and there were large containers of water stacked up against it as fortification.
Every item told of the final moments of the people who’d once lived here, their last fight to stay alive. The weapons had been left on the floor. I recognized the Earth-made rifles and smaller firearms. They must have taken shelter here after boarding up the windows. Not the best idea since it was on the main floor.
Perhaps they’d been desperate. I wondered if the attack had come before or after they had quarantined the city. I knew that many humans had refused to leave their homes. Was this what had happened here?
“If there were clues in here, they were probably destroyed long ago.” Kiera was oddly undisturbed by the macabre scene. “Let’s check back here if I can’t find any more clues around the house.”
We continued through the large estate, going room by room, as the sun tracked a path across the sky above.
“Jackpot!” She held up a few packages of food in her hand triumphantly. “This entire kitchen is still stocked. I guess the looters never got this far and quit after the first two. Look, a whole cabinet of MREs.”
The Meals Ready-To-Eat were the equivalent of our food bars, and originally created as soldier rations for Earth’s many armies. They were not as nutritionally dense as our food bars but much more flavorful. I wouldn’t mind having some today, as long as the medical unit we’d brought along declared them free of the scourge fungus.
“I guess it’s easier to be apocalypse-ready when you’re filthy rich. These guys had three kitchens! Who the hell needs three kitchens?”
“Four,” I corrected. “There is another in the very back.”
“Ridiculous!” she said, shaking her head.
I helped her gather several packages and stuff them into a second bag she’d magically produced from her already full pack. Where had that been hiding? It doubled our carrying capacity. That was one thing I’d had to get used to when working with humans: they liked to bring many tools with them. I’d offered to carry her bag earlier, but she’d refused, saying she preferred to keep it with her.
“I think these people stayed behind to protect their home after they announced the bombs and blocked all the roads. I mean, it makes sense. They bombed downtown L.A., but this is far enough away. And this home is gorgeous. I probably wouldn’t want to leave it either.
“Like I said, they were prepared. There are still tons of food. I’m surprised they met their end in the dining room of all places and not half-starved in a bunker.”
“I did not find any secret passageways to a bunker.”
“Not from here. But we didn’t check the guest house or the shed. I bet if they had a bunker, the entrance is in the shed. Either way, they never made it there.”
She opened a few more cabinets and found one filled with water in glass bottles.
