Free Decay (Book 1): Civilization by Linus Locke Page B

training,” he lied, “And a teenage girl are waiting in the news building. I need to go back for them as soon as possible or they’ll come looking for me. Were you the one who fired the gun a few days ago?”
    “That was not me, but I heard it. That is when I realized there may be others out there, so I used the only signal I could think,” Guillermo answered as he climbed the ladder behind Bradley. “I began placing one of my plants on the window hoping that only a living person would be smart enough to notice that it was alive and someone was here.”
    “That is how I found you, so I suppose it worked.”
    Bradley climbed through the window and looked around. He hoped this isn’t really where Guillermo had been living all this time. Most of the inside of this building had been ripped apart, and body parts rotted on the floor.
    “Oh, keep moving. To the other side of the building we go. I don’t clean this area. I figure it may act as a security system to keep devi— fiends and intruders away.” Guillermo motioned for him to follow as they walked through a door into an office. A long plank rested on the desk facing the window. Guillermo slid it out of the window and set the far end down on a window in the building across the alley.
    “I came to this amazing country with dreams of making my family proud. I wanted to go into business, be a big shot in a corner office. Making enough money to move my parents to this great country. Instead my office is in the corner of a two car garage,” Guillermo said with a laugh.
    “You seem to be doing well though. Not many people have their own business, and you’ve been in business for quite a few years if I’m not mistaken. That makes you pretty successful.”
    “After arriving here I got my GED. Then I spent the next 5 years in college to earn a bachelor’s degree in both horticulture and landscaping, with a few business classes thrown in. I’ve worked hard for my business.” Guillermo was obviously very proud, and rightfully so. He turned as he made it through the window on the other side of the alley and motioned for Bradley to follow.
    As Bradley slid to the end of the board, he pulled himself through the window in the second building. Guillermo pulled the plank through the window behind them and placed it along the wall on the floor under the window. “Welcome,” his arms outstretched, “to mi casa.”
    Bradley was stunned as he looked around. Guillermo was living in the apartments above a furniture store, and he was living comfortably. He had turned the top two floors into one large apartment. “This is incredible,” was all he could manage to say, taking a wet towel from Guillermo.
    “The gunshot came from the south east. I was lucky enough, I suppose, to have actually seen the flash. On top of a roof, just over there. Maybe two, three-hundred yards away. I used to care for a couple lawns in that area. Most houses are surrounded by five and even six-foot walls, but I guess they won’t cause much of a problem.” Guillermo nodded in the direction of the shot. “I was on the roof. That is where most of my plants are growing. Whoever it was shot a trash can on the street corner just below us.”
    “So they were aiming at something?” Bradley was finally able to take a good look at the man who saved his life.
    Guillermo was shorter than Bradley, standing just over five and a half feet tall. He was much more muscular then Bradley had first thought also. His nose was flat and wide, and the white around his dark brown eyes had a tint of yellow.
    His clothes, with the exception of the recent addition of blood and flesh, were clean. He wore light brown Wolverine work boots, relaxed fit blue jeans, and a maroon button up shirt with the American Eagle logo on the pocket.
    “Suppose so. Can’t imagine what though. It was one hell of a gunshot, so I assume they may have been protecting themselves from someone.”
    “A tank judging by the sound of the shot,” a