Wanderer (Book 1): Wanderer

the hallway. I didn’t want to head downstairs just yet and the elevator obviously wasn’t going to work so I tried the door.
It was unlocked, but something was blocking it from behind. I used my right arm first to try and push it open and I instantly regretted that decision as I recoiled in pain from the wound. I switched arms and pushed again. If not for my weakened state I would’ve been able to open it easily, but it takes all my strength and the door only opened enough for me to squeeze through.
I could hear muffled shouts creeping under the double doors at the end of the hall. Either the scavenger in the truck was all right and it was just the two of them, or more of them had arrived. I was hoping for the former. Either way I was almost out of time.
I got half way through the crack in the door and I stopped. It felt like something was stopping me from squeezing through. I looked behind me, fully expecting to see some rotting hand holding my ankle, I was relieved to find no such thing. Something must be caught on the door. I reached behind me and I felt my holster. I almost forgot I had it. I wish I had taken a moment to look for the gun, now I’m completely unarmed. I would have to calculate my encounter with them. I angrily ripped the holster off and tossed it back into the hall. I’ll have plenty of time to regret that later.
Without the holster I was able to slip through the door much easier. I passed into the room just as the door opened and the two scavengers entered into the hallway.
The room I was in was completely dark. The only light coming from the space between the door and the jamb and a small sliver of light to the right of the door on the other side of the room. This must be the store room I saw from the classroom, I made it in here anyway.
I was able to watch them from the crack in the door as they moved down the hallway. They were using hand signals to communicate, far more sophisticated than I would’ve expected for scavengers. It was almost as if they were expecting more danger than me. Lastly, I saw that they were carrying automatic rifles with small flashlights mounted on the ends of the barrels. These guys meant business.
They slowly moved down the hallway, their flashlights moving up and down the walls. One of them opened up the door to the classroom took a few seconds to scan it, and then shut the door.
One of the flashlights passed over the holster then quickly did a double take and returned to it. The scavenger walked up to the holster and knelt down next to it. He picked it up and examined it. After he was satisfied with investigating it he put it back on the ground. He raised his head toward me, rather the crack in the door and stood up. He pointed the flashlight at the crack and crept toward it.
I didn’t think he could see me just yet, but the flashlight was pointed directly at me.
I crept backward into the darkness, slowly feeling my way as I did. I didn’t know what I was going to do once he entered the room. I might possibly be able to get the drop on him, but I didn’t know if I would be able to take the other one as well. If I could wrestle his rifle away from him I might just be able to…
I found a large box about four feet high and I almost fell behind it, trying to hide quickly enough before the door opened. Not a moment too soon, just as the box eclipsed my body, the door opened.

Entry 29
I held my breath as I heard the door wrenched open. He was able to push it all the way open. He obviously wasn’t malnourished. If I was going to take this scavenger on I was going to need every bit of my strength.
The flashlight beam swept over the room, then transfixed on the path that I took. It bounced up and down slowly as the scavenger made his way down the path.
The beam lit up the surroundings, but I wasn’t able to make out much, the swatch of light faded fast beyond the beam. He was close enough now that I could hear his breathing through the mask. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it might leap out of my throat.
He was now in front of me and it was time to act. I sprung up into him, firmly placing my right shoulder into his abdomen while moving his rifle away with my left hand, I felt like Jason Bourne, if only I had a book, or a pen. We both went falling into the blackness until he landed on some invisible box with me on top of him.
His rifle went spinning onto the ground and landed with a plastic smack. The light from the flashlight was illuminating us from the ground. I could see into the eye holes of his mask. His eyes seemed filled with genuine fear and something else. Maybe it was sadness.
My vision filled with a blinding white light as his fist collided with my left eye socket. I tumble back again, but I caught myself from falling. I covered my eye with my hand, the flesh was warm where his fist had struck me.
There was a long second where I was waiting for him to attack me again, but nothing happened. Then I remembered the rifle on the floor, he must be trying to reach it. I kicked with my left foot blindly into the darkness and made contact with something hard. I thought I might have hit a box at first, but the object gave way and there was muffled