by Crist, J. D.
Shawn said, looking at Marley.
“He refused,” Emily replied. “It’s like he knows what we are doing in the morning. I hoped a walk would help him relax.”
“I can’t blame him for being on edge. He did get shot last time.”
“I’m trying not to think about that.” Emily petted Marley as she spoke.
“You know he won’t stay here, right?”
“I know,” Emily breathed. “I don’t know how he learned to be so headstrong.”
“I have no idea,” Shawn laughed.
Emily laughed with him, knowing that he was referring to her.
“I guess we better finish our walk and head home,” Emily said.
“You need some rest. I’ll be going straight home once my shift is over.”
“I’ll see in the morning,” Emily said as she continued walking.
Marley didn’t relax during the walk, and Emily eventually had to give up and head home. After a quick check on Hope, Emily and Marley headed to bed. Once Emily laid down, Marley insisted on laying on top of her. Emily understood that he was scared and decided to let him if it made him feel better. It took her a while to fall asleep, but eventually, she did.
Emily woke early the following day and set to getting ready for the day. Emily had just finished getting Hope ready when Julia walked through the front door. Emily stood with Hope to greet her friend.
“Good morning,” Emily greeted her.
“Good morning,” Julia smiled back. “I’m here to pick up my assistant for the day.”
Emily tried to hand Hope to Julia, but Hope grabbed onto Emily’s shirt and began to fuss.
“I think she knows that you’re leaving,” Julia remarked.
“I’ll be back.” Emily tried to comfort Hope.
Hope continued to fuss and cry as Emily pulled Hope from her shirt and hand Hope Julia. Emily’s heart broke watching Hope be so upset by her leaving. Emily turned and grabbed a book from the shelf.
“This may help,” Emily said as she handed Julia the book. I have been reading her a few chapters every day before bed, and she seems to be enjoying it.”
Julia took the book and looked at it.
“I don’t think I’ve read this since I was a kid,” Julia smiled. “We will be fine. You just make sure to come home.”
“I will.” Emily smiled and took a step forward. “I’ve got to be going,” Emily spoke to Hope. “You be good, and I will see you tonight.”
Hope began to scream after Emily kissed her on the head and went out the door. Emily had a hard time not turning around and grabbing Hope. However, she knew this was something that she had to do. Emily made her way to the armory just as the sun was beginning to wake up the world. Emily saw that everyone had arrived as she walked in.
Today it would be Emily, Shawn, Cole, Sam, and Jose. Emily found her backpack in her locker and grabbed her weapons.
The men all headed towards the gate as Emily headed upstairs to enter the code. Emily couldn’t help but think about how much easier this would be if Sarah could hook up the panel. Emily joined the code and headed down as the doors opened. Everyone was dividing between two cars. Shawn took the pickup, as usual, and Sam was driving the box truck. This would be the first time they were doing a run with the vehicles using moonshine.
Emily walked out the gate and waited as the vehicles drove out. Emily entered the code and watched as Marley jumped into the bed of the truck with Cole. Emily then climbed inside the cab with Shawn. Shawn didn’t say anything but instead started the drive down the logging road. Emily watched out the windshield as they drove. Shawn didn’t speak, and neither did Emily. Shawn began to slow the truck before they reached the end of the road.
“What’s wrong?” Emily asked, trying to see where he was looking.
“There is something by the station,” Shawn said.
As they drove a little closer, Emily saw what he was talking about. There was a zombie chained to the station. Shawn brought the truck to a stop, and they both jumped out. Marley and Cole climbed out of the bed and walked with them towards the station.
Emily walked towards the man and could tell that he wasn’t killed in the flash. He had lived for some time in this world. Emily could see that his throat was cut, and his blood covered the front of his plaid shirt.
“He was killed and chained before he turned,” Shawn explained. Shawn walked past Emily and stabbed the man in the brain.
“Jeff left him for us to find and to keep people away from the stations.”
Emily walked closer and saw that while the small bag of supplies was gone, the walkie remained on the station. However, a note was nailed by the walkie.
I told him all he had to do was grab it, and help would come. I grew tired of waiting and made sure he wouldn’t get lost.
Husband
Emily pulled the note from the station and crumpled it. Emily threw the crumpled paper on the ground.
“How long do you think he’s been here?” Emily asked without turning around.
“Hard to say since they don’t decay,” Shawn replied. “It’s not fresh. The blood is dry on his clothing and almost completely washed away on the ground. Our last rainstorm was a month ago, so that I would say at least a month.”
“Let’s get him off the station and move on to the next.”
“Jeff could be watching us,” Cole spoke.
“I don’t think so,” Emily said. “Otherwise, he would have kept adding fresh bodies for me to find.”
“I agree,” Shawn said. “I’ll get the cutters from the truck.”
Emily stood with Marley and watched as Shawn cut the chain and dragged the corpse into the tree line. Cole followed him with a shovel, and they buried the corpse in a shallow grave. Once they finished, they all loaded back into the truck and continued down the road.
Emily looked towards Shawn, but it was clear that he was still not up for talking. Emily sat in silence and watched as the tree line went by in blur outside the window. Emily couldn’t help but notice the number of dead they passed. They had only seen one when she and Shawn set up the stations, and now there were dozens.
Shawn slowed the truck as they approached the next station. Emily held her breath and didn’t exhale until she saw that the station was untouched. Shawn drove closer, and Emily looked at the station as they went by. The bag of supplies was missing, but the walkie was still in position. Shawn pressed down the gas once more, and they continued on their way. Emily was glad to see that the same sight waited for them at the third station.
However, she couldn’t help but become anxious as they drove towards the last. The last station was in town, the same place where Jeff had been and Marley was shot.
Shawn remained quiet as they drove. Emily tightened her grip on her crowbar as the town came into view. Shawn moved in slowly and stopped the truck in front of some stores. Emily reached for the door handle to jump out.
“Remember,” Shawn spoke. “You don’t go anywhere alone.”
“I know,” Emily replied as she cracked the door open.
“And that doesn’t mean with just Marley,” Shawn looked at her, knowing what her way out of the arrangement would be.
“I understand.”
Emily then climbed out of the truck and shut the door without looking back. Marley jumped out of the truck and stood beside her. Everyone gathered around the front of the pickup and waited for Shawn’s instructions.
“We will check the last station on the way out,” Shawn began. “We are going to break up into two groups to see what we can find. Emily, Marley, and Sam will take the left side. Jose, Cole, and I will take the right. Stack anything you find on the sidewalk, and we load it together when we are done.”
Emily was surprised that Shawn didn’t pair himself with her but didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned and followed Sam to the first store. Emily stood with Marley as Sam walked towards the door and knocked on it a couple of times. She did this process herself when she was on her
own and knew what he was doing. After a few moments of silence, Sam opened the door. Emily and Marley followed Sam inside, shutting the door behind them.
“Let’s split up to see what we can find,” Sam said. “Call out if you get into any trouble.”
Emily nodded and began to make her way through the small store. The shelves were mostly picked clean, but she managed to find a few canned goods. Emily was finished going through her part of the store and met back up with Sam.
“The storeroom is back here, but I thought it best if we do it together,” Sam said barely above a whisper.
“Let’s do it,” Emily replied.
Sam led the way to a door at the back of the store. Once again, Sam knocked on the door and waited. Emily felt herself jump as a thump came from the other side of the door.
“There’s at least one in there,” Emily said as she gripped her crowbar.
“You ready?” Sam asked as he grabbed the handle.
Emily nodded as she raised the crowbar, and Sam opened the door. As the door opened, two men with milky white eyes burst through. Emily backed away slightly, trying to get them to separate enough to give her a window of opportunity. One of the men caught sight of Sam and turned towards him. Emily stepped forward quickly and hit the first zombie, and it fell to the floor. The second had gotten on top of Sam before he had time to act. Sam was struggling to keep the zombie from biting him. Emily ran towards him and stabbed the zombie, and it fell limp in Sam’s grip. Sam threw the corpse to the ground and steadied himself.
“I guess there were two,” he said, slightly out of breath.
“Looks like,” Emily replied. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, the son of a bitch just caught me off guard.”
Emily turned and looked down at the corpses.
“I don’t see any wounds,” Emily remarked.
“Looks like they have been in here from the start.”
“This could be good for us.” Sam looked into the open door. “Shall we?”
Emily nodded, and Sam led the way into the room. Closed boxes lined the walls, and Emily began to look with Sam through them.
“I think we should just take it all,” Emily remarked after looking in several.
“We should probably just take the essentials,” Sam said as he kept looking.
“Finds like this are going to get rarer, and it will take us hours to go through it all.”
“You’re right,” Emily said, looking around.
“We better get to work then.”
Emily went back to the front of the store and grabbed a couple of carts, and returned to Sam. The two of them quickly filled the carts and pushed them to the sidewalk. Marley stuck with Emily as they did these trips several times.
After the last of the boxes were on the sidewalk, Emily looked across the street for the first time. There were several shopping baskets on the opposite side, but she did not see the other group.
“They probably moved on to the next building. We should do the same.”
“You’re right,” Emily said as she turned towards the hardware store next door. Emily knocked on the door and waited. “Looks to be empty.”
“Just keep your eyes open,” Sam said.
Emily opened the door and started to step inside.
“SHIT!” Cole’s voice rang out through the street. Emily turned quickly but couldn’t see him. Sam had grabbed his walkie and was trying to reach Shawn.
“REPORT!” Sam yelled again into the walkie.
“We have to go!” Emily yelled at him.
“We don’t know what we are running into. Shawn specifically said not to.”
Emily knew that Sam was just trying to follow the procedure, but she was not good at being told what she could or could not do.
“We are not losing anyone,” Emily replied.
“Marley, where is he?”
Marley ran across the street, and Emily followed. Emily could hear Sam’s footsteps behind her.
Chapter 15
Emily reached the door of the building across the street and followed Marley more slowly inside. Marley led the way through the building and to the back door. Emily watched as Marley headed out the back door. The rule had been not to leave the stores, no exploring. Sam pushed the door the rest of the way and followed Marley out. Emily looked back at Sam, who looked to be just as surprised as she was. Emily suddenly understood that this was why Shawn did not want to be in her group. He wasn't here for supplies or to check the stations. He had gone rogue and was hunting for Jeff.
Emily followed Marley but already knew that he would be leading her to the dealership. It didn't take long to arrive, and Emily could see that Jeff wasn't here. He had, however, left them a present. The dealership was surrounded by the dead, and based on the cussing being yelled, the second group was trapped inside.
"What the fuck?!" Sam exclaimed behind her.
"Jeff knew that if we were going to hunt him down, we would start here. He left a trap, and those dumbasses walked right into it."
"We can't kill that many," Sam kept staring at the dealership.
"No, we can't, but we have to get them clear enough for the others to get out." Emily began to look at the surrounding area for something that could help.
"There," Emily said as she pointed at a police car.
"There's no way it will start," Sam said, looking at the car.
"We don't need it to," Emily said. "We just need the battery to have enough juice to turn on the siren for at least a few minutes. It should draw enough of the dead from the dealership for them to get out."
"It will also draw all of the dead for miles!" Sam said.
"It's the only choice we have. We will get them out and have to hunker down until the siren stops and the dead lose interest. If you have a better idea, let's hear it."
"Let's do it," Sam said after a couple of minutes.
The three of them began to make their way towards the police car. Sam and Marley stood guard while Emily climbed into the car. Emily was happy to find the keys in the ignition. Emily held her breath as she turned the key to auxiliary. Emily exhaled as the lights on the dash came to life. She began to look and found the switches for lights and siren.
"Ready?" Emily asked Sam.
"As ready as I can be," Sam replied, looking around.
Emily quickly flipped the switches and climbed out of the car, joining Marley and Sam. Emily could see that the dead on the dealership were beginning to turn and head straight for them.
"Get back to the stores!" Emily called to Sam.
"What about them?!" Sam asked.
"We have to hope that's where they will run to."
With that, Emily turned and began to run with Marley and Sam back to the stores. They ran up the street and climbed into the back of the box truck, only a few minutes before Shawn, Jose and Cole climbed inside, shutting the door behind them. Emily stood towards the back of the truck, shaking with anger as she looked at Shawn.
"Something set off a police car," Shawn breathed heavily. "We will be stuck until it stops."
"What took you so long," Emily asked.
"We were in a store a few doors down, and the dead started to fill the street from the sound," Shawn said, still trying to catch his breath.
"So, you are going to lie to me twice in one day?" Emily replied, trying hard not to yell.
"What are you talking about," Shawn asked as he leaned against the wall and looked angerly at her.
"So, you didn't plan to go to the dealership to hunt Jeff and end up getting caught in a trap?"
Emily watched as Shawn's face told her he finally understood that she knew the truth.
"I broke the rules and came looking for you all when Cole yelled," Emily explained.
"The police car didn't go off by accident, did it?" Shawn asked.
"No," Sam answered. "We set it off to save you, idiots."
"Look," Shawn began and took a step towards Emily.
"Don't," Emily said as sh
e took a step farther back from him.
"I was just trying to help. You know he needs to die." Shawn tried to look stern as he spoke.
"I know we came out here for two reasons. We needed to check the stations and look for supplies."
"Those were my reasons as well, but I had one more objective that Cole and Jose agreed to help me with. I thought you would be grateful!" Shawn was yelling now.
"Grateful?!" Emily yelled back. Emily clenched her fists and looked down for a few moments trying to find the words. "You're right, Shawn, thank you. Thank you for risking not only your life but all of your lives! Thank you for getting us trapped in this box and making sure none of us would make it home to our families tonight! Thank you for doing the one thing you said you never would!"
