CHILDREN OF THE GONE SERIES
Episode #1 “No Entry”
INTRODUCTION
This first episode of the “Children of the Gone” series is called “No Entry.”
PROLOGUE
In the year 2019, a mysterious disease swept over the world. In a matter of weeks all humans over the age of puberty died. Only the young children remain.
Episode 1, No Entry, follows a small group of children trying to figure out what to do now.
You can find Episode 1 / Part 1 here: https://steemit.com/story/@ethosunlimited/no-entry-children-of-the-gone-episode-1-part-1
Part 2
“Sam, I’m hungry,” said Lillyan. “I’m really hungry.”
“Okay Lill, I’ll get you some food,” said Sam.
“We’re all getting pretty hungry,” said Maddie.
“I know. I’m going to have to go into some houses,” said Sam.
“I’ll come with,” said Heidi.
“No, it’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll come,” said Dylan.
“Fine,” said Sam.
“Why does he get to go with you, but I don’t? Is it because I’m a girl?” said Heidi.
“Because I’m older,” said Dylan.
“Only by 5 minutes.”
“So, I’m still older,” said Dylan.
“I’m taller than you,” yelled Heidi.
“Alright. Alright,” said Sam. “You can come too, but you guys know there could be people in there? Right?”
“Yeah,” said Heidi. “Gone people. I’m not afraid.”
“Not me,” said Greg. “Nope, I’m not going in there.”
“You don’t have to,” said Sam. “The three of us should be able to find enough food to feed all of us.”
“Get back soon,” said Maddie. “It’s almost dark.”
“We will,” said Sam.
“Sam,” said Maddie. “Do you think you could find some more blankets and pillows? If they don’t have any gone people on them. I don’t want that kind.”
“Yeah, we can try,” said Sam.
The bottom of the sun was just touching the treetops in the distance. They knew it would be getting dark soon. There had been flashlights, but the kids who left on the bus took all of them. A flashlight with batteries was about the most valuable possession a kid could have. They were only used when needed because even the younger kids knew that batteries didn’t last long.
Sam had a flashlight at one point, but he traded it for two cans of beans and a half a dried up pizza that didn’t look too bad. Dylan and Heidi wouldn’t leave his side, and neither of them would go into a house to get food, until now. So he had been forced to barter, or make the trek all the way to the one little grocery store on the outside of town that was pretty much empty now.
Sam was not the oldest kid in town, but it was from the beginning decided that he was a good leader. He helped organize all the remaining kids in town and helped them set up sleeping arrangements in the school. There were 87 kids between the ages of 2 and 12 in the school after everyone who had been found was accounted for. Everyone knew many more kids, but no one knew where they were. None of the young kids had gotten sick. Many kids had friends who weren’t sick, but refused to leave their parents’ side. The kids that made it to the school wondered if there were still kids in houses in town, living on whatever food their parents had in their houses.
There was a tan house with brown trim across the street from the library. The garage door was still open and there was a tan minivan parked inside. It looked sad, but not as scary as some houses.
Many of the older kids had gone into houses for food already. They had stories of the gone. Most people, it was reported by the kids who had seen them, died in their beds. Sometimes, however, they had found them at the kitchen table, on the couch, or even on the toilet.
This was the first time Sam, Dylan, and Heidi had entered a house since the sickness had started. The last actual house they had been in was their own. The first few days after the sickness, they stayed in their house with their parents. Sam understood how some of the other kids who didn’t make it to the school could have stayed. It was hard to leave the parents’ side.
It had to be done though. After they were gone they didn’t seem like they were there anymore. They were just gone. They were gone, and the more days that passed after they were gone the more gone they looked. Then there was the smell.
“I’ll go first,” said Dylan.
“No,” said Sam. “I will go first.”
The kids stood looking at the front of the house. There was a little wooden porch on the house leading to the front door. Sam walked up the stairs and slowly opened the door.
“Hello,” Sam tried to yell into the door, but his voice cracked and he barely pushed out any words. He tried again. “Hello,” he said again, this time more clearly.
“Is there anybody in there?” said Heidi.
“SSHHhhhh… I’m listening. I don’t hear anything,” said Sam, pushing the door open a little farther.
“Can we go in?” said Dylan.
“SSShhhh… be quiet,” said Sam.
“Why do we have to be quiet? There’s nobody in there,” said Dylan.
They opened the door and slowly walked into the house. The front door opened into the living room and there was no one in there. The kitchen was directly through the living room and there was an open loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter on the table. The bread was hard and stale, but Sam grabbed the jar of peanut butter.
Heidi opened the refrigerator and a horrible smell came flooding out, filling the room. “I think someone died in here,” said Heidi. “Oh man, it stinks.”
“Shut the fucking door,” said Dylan.
“Stop swearing,” said Sam.
“You’re not my dad,” said Dylan. “I’ll swear if I want. There ain’t no adults around to tell me not to. And you ain’t no adult.”
“Let’s just get some food and get out of here,” said Sam.
“Look, there is a case of soda next to the fridge,” said Dylan.
They opened the cupboards and found shelves stacked high with canned goods. There was a blanket on the recliner in the living room and they spread it on the floor and filled it with the cans. Sam looked through the drawers and found a can opener and some silverware and threw them on the blanket too.
“Sam, look,” said Heidi. “On top of the fridge. Is that a flash light?”
Sam grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and pushed it over to the refrigerator. It was a long black metal flash light. He clicked the rubber button on the handle and it turned on and off. Right next to it was a full box of batteries.
“Let’s hurry up,” said Heidi. “I’m scared.”
Sam clicked on the flashlight and the room lit up where the beam hit, but the areas where the beam didn’t hit seemed darker than ever.
“Maddie wanted us to get some more blankets and pillows,” said Sam.
“Why can’t she get her own?” said Dylan.
“We need new blankets and pillows too,” said Sam. “The kids who left took all the blankets and pillows that were in the school.”
“But what if there are gone people in the bedrooms where the blankets are?” said Heidi.
“We have to get used to it,” said Sam. “We need to be able to see them without getting scared.”
“But I don’t want to see them,” said Heidi.
“Me either,” said Dylan. “They’re super creepy.”
“Fine,” said Sam. “I’ll go. You guys stay here.”
“In the dark?” said Heidi.
“I want to leave,” said Dylan. “I want to go back to the library. It’s right across the street. I’m going back.”
“Me too,” said Heidi.
“Fine, you guys go back. Wrap the food up in the blanket and carry it together. I’ll stay here and try to find more blankets.”
The twins pulled up the edges of the blanket and hurried to the door. The screen door snapped closed behind them, and Sam could hear the canned goods bounce across the little wooden deck in the front of the house as they dragged the blanket of groceries back to the library. Darkness was almost upon them, and they hurried to be with the other children.
Sam found himself very alone in the dark little house. The flashlight was nice, but it wasn’t as good as the daylight. He really wanted to just turn and leave. They were counting on him, though. He was the man of the group now. He had to do this.
He crept into the hallway off the kitchen. To the left was a bathroom and to the right was a door that he thought might be a closet. He eased open the door to find a set of stairs. He forced himself to walk up them.
At the top of the stairs was another hallway with two doors. He went to the door on the right first. It was open. He shone his flashlight in the door and there was an empty bed. There were blankets and two pillows. He wrapped them up as fast as he could and dragged them out of the room.
The other door in the hallway was closed. He decided to go in. The door opened with a long creak. There was another empty bed in this room, neatly made with clean blankets. The musty room smelled like no one had been there for a long time.
In a closet, he found a lone suit hung on a bar that ran the length of the inside. In the corner of the closet Sam found what he was secretly looking for—three rifles leaning in the corner. He opened the top drawer of a filing cabinet in the closet and found a smallish handgun in a holster with a clip for attaching it to your belt. He pulled out the handgun and set it on top of the cabinet. In the bottom drawer of the cabinet he found bullets for the guns.
He quickly grabbed all the blankets from the bed and spread them on the floor with the blankets from the other room. He placed the three rifles in the center. He grabbed all the bullets and put them in the center with the guns. He wanted to put the handgun on his belt, but he didn’t have a belt to put it on. He clipped it on the top of his pants and the weight wanted to pull his pants down. He tried to stuff it in his pocket, but it didn’t fit quite right. He shoved it down the back of his pants, like he had seen in a movie, but it didn’t feel right there either. He threw it onto the pile with the others and pulled up the edges of the blankets. He lifted the awkward bundle over his shoulder and made his way to the stairs.
The house was pitch black inside now. He stopped halfway down the stairs and listened. Silence. He felt suddenly alone. This, he realized, was the first time he had truly been alone since the sickness had started. He crept the rest of the way down the stairs.
As he walked through the kitchen and into the living room, he saw one more door off of the living room that he hadn’t noticed before. It looked like a bedroom door. He needed a belt.
He set down his bundle and walked towards the door. The door was half open. Several feet from the door, he noticed the smell. It hit him and stopped him in his tracks. It made his guts turn. He gagged as the fear and the smell suddenly combined, and almost made him throw up. It was too much.
He ran back and grabbed his bundle as fast as he could – drug it out the door and bolted for the street. He knew he shouldn’t bang the guns on the ground, but he half carried, half dragged his bundle as fast as he could across the street to the library.
“What took you so long?” said Maddie. “We were worried sick about you.”
“I, I found some things,” said Sam, still shaken.
“Are you okay? Come inside,” said Maddie.
“I found some stuff,” said Sam.
“What is it?” said Dylan.
“I got a few blankets and pillows, and some guns.”
“Cool,” said Greg.
“What? Why would you get guns?” said Maddie.
“We need to protect ourselves,” said Sam.
“From what?” said Maddie.
“I don’t know,” said Sam. “We could hunt for food too.”
“All the grownups are gone,” said Maddie. “Do you think we need to protect ourselves from other kids? Who’s going to hurt us?”
“I don’t know,” said Sam. “I know we need protection though. I know that if I found these guns other people have guns, too. Some of the other kids had guns before they left.”
“Yeah, and I was afraid they were going to shoot someone every day. That’s part of the reason I stayed with you,” said Maddie.
“You don’t need to protect me,” said Dylan. “I can protect myself.”
“I want a gun,” said Heidi.
“We can talk about it in the morning,” said Sam.
“I’m hungry,” said Lill.
“Did you guys eat any of the food Heidi and Dylan brought back yet?” said Sam.
“We had some. Lill’s a picky eater. She’s hungry, but she hasn’t liked anything we’ve opened so far. We can’t open it all. Here, have some beans, Sam,” said Maddie. “If she’s really hungry, she’ll eat.”
They spread the blankets on the middle of the floor in the library. They had almost enough pillows for all six of them. Sam hid the guns behind a bookshelf and shut off his flashlight to conserve the batteries.
“We need more water in the morning,” said Sam.
“I’ll help,” said Dylan.
“Me too,” said Heidi.
“Good night everyone,” said Maddie.
“I need to go poo poo,” said Lillyan.
To Be Continued...
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-Doug