Dead Last (Vol. 1): Dead Last

by Quaranta, Marc

  The truck behind us, Frank's guys, were not so lucky. I don't think they were expecting us to slam on the breaks. It didn't give them time to stop. The drive had to swerve out of the way and then break and it caused the truck to flip over.

  We didn't see it, but the noise of the tires screeching across the asphalt rang in our ears and then it went silent. For a short second, the truck was airborne and there was no noise of it until it came crashing onto the road landing topside down. The glass shattered across the road and the truck itself was broken down into a shell of its former self.

  "Oh my God. Reggie, you stay in the van!" Frank screamed to his son as he jumped out of the van and sprinted back to his man's truck.

  I hopped out of the back and followed him over there. I heard the footsteps of someone behind me, either Emily or Kurt, but I didn't look. When we got to the truck, it didn't look like anyone could survive.

  "Wait! No!" I grabbed Frank who was about to pull the driver from the truck, who had cuts, scrapes, and a lot of blood all over his body. "We don't have the gloves to touch them." We had masks on, but not the gloves because we learned that touching stuff wasn't a problem as long as it wasn't infected. But they had too many open wounds.

  Emily walked over to the other side of the truck, the passenger side, and bent over to look inside. She stood back up and came walking over to us. She put her hand over her mouth and looked at me shaking her head.

  The driver climbed through the open window that had been smashed to a thousand pieces. He moaned and yelled that his legs were broken. The left one was smashed under the seat and barely hanging on by a thread and the right one was bent in the wrong direction at the knee.

  The side of his neck had a piece of glass in it and the blood was pouring like a waterfall onto the ground. Frank could only look on in terror. I don't think they knew each other too well, but spending the time together they had, they bonded. Frank, I could tell, wanted nothing more than to help him, but refrained.

  "What do we do?" Emily asked.

  "We have to leave him," I said.

  "Leave him? No," she wanted to argue, but I glared at her.

  "We can't leave him like this."

  "Frank, come on. He's cut. He's going to get sick...He's already dead."

  "No. I mean like this...give me your gun."

  "Oh my God," Emily said.

  "What?"

  "Your gun, Jack. We can't leave him to suffer."

  I knew he was right. I just didn't think he had it in him to do something like that. I guess when you have a son, you need to do anything possible to keep him safe. I reached behind me and pulled the gun out. I didn't think for a second that he was going to use it on us. I handed it over.

  "You sure you want to see this?" he asked Emily.

  She responded to him by walking away.

  "Make sure Reggie doesn't see this...please," he called back to her as she entered the truck. The doors closed and I made sure Reggie wasn't peeking out the side window.

  I waited for him to pull the trigger, but he hesitated. I didn't think he could do it. A man learns a lot about himself a few seconds before he needs to pull the trigger. Some men realized they don't have what it takes because they don't want to be considered monsters. Some because they know they'll never be able to get the image out of their head. Some do it because they want to. Because they are monsters. But most people who use a gun do it because they realize it's something that needs to be done. They learn how to live with it.

  Frank wasn't hesitating. I could overhear him reciting a prayer to himself. He said amen and then pulled the trigger.

  He turned to me and handed me the gun. Walking off without saying a word. I wanted to make sure the guy was actually dead before I walked off, but there was no doubt about it. Frank put a bullet into the side of his head.

  "Amen," I whispered before walking off.

  On our walk back to the van, we saw Kurt in front of the van looking around.

  "What are you doing?" I asked him.

  "I'm looking for the guy that I almost hit. He just disappeared.

  "Get in the van, Kurt," Frank sternly said.

  "What?"

  "Trust me. Get in the van."

  "Do what he says," I followed up. Frank was confident in that order and I had no intention of arguing with it. That guy was on his own. We had things to do and I just wanted to get back into the station where I knew what was familiar. There would be no guy wandering the road or girl in a hospital hall that vanishes. I wouldn't be tied up and interrogated. I could finally have some peace and quiet in the corner of the building. Finally, I'd get some sleep.

  We got into the van and drove off. Kurt kept his eyes deadlocked on the road at that point. He wasn't going to let what had just happened happen again. Nobody else was going to die while he was behind the wheel. I realized at that point how bad everything was. I had been outside twice. Once to get supplies and the other was the trip to the hospital. Three people had died. Two of them I didn't know, but the other was Nick.

  I didn't know Nick very well, but the rest of the group did. Now that I had gotten to know the group better, I felt worse and worse about Nick with each passing hour. I did what I had to do, but it didn't make me feel better.

  "It's okay, daddy," Reggie said. He was the first to speak after we had gone a couple of miles in silence.

  "What is, son?"

  "You did what you had to do. God knows that."

  "He does, huh? I appreciate that, Reggie. Thank you."

  I watched Frank kiss his son on the top of his head and smile. But when Reggie looked away, I could see how beaten up Frank was. He was putting on a strong showing for his son, but he was burnt out. Tired. Exhausted of being a leader for his people. He was tired of doing what had to be done. There was no longer a right thing to do or a wrong thing to do, but just the thing that needed to be done. That's how it was now.

  I think that is the moment I was actually grateful that Kurt believed himself to be a leader. We disagreed about almost everything up to that point, but I would rather have him carrying a share of the responsibility, or I'd end up like Frank. Having two alpha males in a group was finally beginning to pay off. Kurt was the one guy that was going to keep me from going insane.

  XXXIV

  Scott Daugherty

  I 'd kill them all. And anyone for that matter that didn't belong in here. We were turning soft. That was our problem. We were still acting like we lived in a world of organization and order, but the fact of the matter was that this wasn't our normal world of democratic governments and white weddings. This was a different world. This was hell.

  We had been taking turns watching Cam, Seth, and Pete. It was a boring job, but it was in the best interest of the group. I started watching them and then took a break for a couple of hours to help Haylea and Elyse put together a room for Sam. We built him a nice bed on top of a desk and then cleared out the rest of the room of its drawers and cabinets. We took the computer monitor and cords out of the room, but left the hard drive in there and brought in a couple more to run nonstop to pump some heat into the room. It worked quite nicely.

  I watched them make jokes at another’s expense. I watched Cam sit there with a smug look on his face. Every now and then they would whisper something to each other and then look at me and laugh. I didn't understand it. There was a gun sitting on the counter no more than a few feet away from me. I could end this whole thing in a matter of seconds. Then there would be no more debating what we should do with them. It'd be handled.

  The front of the building was empty. The kitchen was empty. It was just me and them. Nobody would ask any questions. I could just say that the three of them were trying to escape and that would be the end of it. Nobody would know.

  Up to that point, I had been sitting on a stool for almost three hours now and was beginning to grow tired. I stood up and started pacing back and forth. I touched my left ear to my left shoulder to stretch my neck out. After a couple of seconds
, I moved my head over to the right side.

  "Don't fall asleep on us," Cam said.

  I didn't dignify it with a response. I didn't even look at him. The truth was he was right. If I fell asleep, bad things would happen. They'd probably be able to escape. At that moment, I realized it wasn't my legs that were hurting or that I was getting tired. It was that I had to piss. It's funny when it just hits you and you have to go like there is no tomorrow, but it hit me.

  Just then I saw Barry walking through the kitchen to get some warm water. I couldn't wait any longer.

  "Hey, Barry!" I called to him, "Do you think you could watch them for a second while I take a piss?"

  I didn't bother to hear his response. I galloped out of the area and to the first bathroom at the end of the hall. I pushed the door open like I was being chased by someone and was quickly in front of the urinal.

  I peed for about 30 seconds and then flushed. I went to the mirror and began washing my hands. The water felt nice. I had only showered once since I'd been in the building and felt like my entire body was drying up on me. I splashed a little on my face and then began drying off.

  Looking at myself I could only think about one thing. Elyse. I stared into my own eyes, looked at my own body and realized there was no way in hell that she wouldn't want me. It was only a matter of time. I was being patient. I was waiting for my chances. The seeds were being planted and it was only a matter of time.

  Then the lights went out.

  The bathroom was pitch black. I couldn't see two inches in front of my face. I reached out for the walls and felt around for the way to the door. I found it and pushed it open. The entire building was dark.

  Then it hit me.

  I called to Barry to watch the stragglers while I peed. I didn't wait for a response. I didn't even go up there and get his attention. I just called to him...but...Barry's deaf. I forgot.

  "Shit."

  XXXV

  Kurt Elkins April 19th, 2013 9:16 p.m.

  T he sun was completely gone from the horizon on our way back to the station. We were still a couple of miles out and nobody was talking to each other. I think we were all concentrating on our own thing. Frank was still trying to comprehend what he did to a few of his guys; the ones that flipped their truck over. Frank shot them. Killed them. Emily was in deep thought about Sam. We had wasted so much time in getting the medicine and equipment back to WTIX. I think Emily was worried that it was too late.

  I don't know what Jack was thinking about. He was all too quiet, though. Jack wasn't much of a talker. Usually he just filled the silence with a sarcastic comment or a snide remark. He would try to break the tension with something funny, but it usually made things worse because his comments always hurt the feelings of someone or started some kind of an argument.

  I felt like I was taking a thought from each person's head and implanting it into my brain. There were so many things on my mind. I think the first thought that popped into my head was about Nick. When I heard the gunshot go off...I couldn't help but wonder what really happened when Travis and Jack left him to die at the gas station. I hoped that nothing violent happened...beside them leaving one of my good friends to die, that is.

  My thoughts were interrupted by someone's wheezing. I didn't want to turn around and see who was doing it. I didn't want to be rude. I didn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable, but I couldn't hold out. Someone was crying and I wanted to help in any way that I could. I looked up in the rearview mirror and glanced at Emily. Her eyes as were dry as the Arizona dessert and her face was stone cold. So, I glanced at Frank out of the corner of my eye.

  Tears were falling from his eyes. Every couple of seconds he would reach up and wipe them away, but it wasn't helping. Another tear fell. And then another. Each time he sniffed it sounded like his nose was clogging up. I didn't know what else to do. I stopped the van.

  Not more than a second after the van came to a complete stop, Frank popped open the door and jumped outside. He walked around with his hands over his head like he was going to vomit, catching his breath. He stepped in front of the van and the lights shined on him. The glow on his face brought out the tears in his eyes.

  "Stay in the van, Reggie. You hear me? Stay in the van," I said to the little guy next to me.

  "Yes, sir."

  I looked back at Emily and Jack and tried to look as confident in my decision as I could. I don't know if they felt as confident in what I was doing. I didn't even know what I was doing. I was playing it by ear. I had no idea what I was going to say to this man. I didn't know him for more than three hours and I had no idea what he was like. But I figured that I had a guy that had to shoot a couple of people at point blank range...I just had to comfort him. Tell him that it was okay.

  I stepped out of the van, "Frank. Frank, you alright?"

  I didn't get an answer. He continued to pace around, staying in the light, with his hands above his head. I noticed that when he took a step that was too close to the darkness, he was quite aware of it and made sure to stay in the light. I guess he was worried about being jumped or something. The reason we were in the car accident before was because some guy walked in front of my van and I had to swerve to hit him. Maybe there were more stragglers just like that guy.

  "Frank, you got to talk to me. We can't waste much time out here. We've got to go."

  "We're wasting time? I just watched one of my men die, Frank. Then you know what? I shot the other. I stood this far from him and put a bullet into his head. Do you have any idea what that is like?"

  "No, I don't."

  "My son saw that."

  "Reggie didn't see anything, Frank."

  "But he knows what happened. He told me what I did was okay. Do you believe that? An eight-year-old told me that what I did was okay. It was okay to shoot someone in the head."

  "He understands. That's all."

  "Well he shouldn't!" His voice fluctuated. "He shouldn't have to understand what that's like. He should be out playing with his friends. Throwing a damn football around."

  "I know."

  "And now...and now what? He can't even step outside without one of these damn masks on. He's never going to enjoy the outdoors like I was able to. What do we do? What if we survive the next couple of weeks, months. What if we survive the winter? Then what? Stay indoors?"

  At that moment, I did something that I would soon regret. I did something that if given the opportunity ten different times, I wouldn't do it once. I looked at Frank, though, and didn't think there was any other way to convince him that we were going to survive. We may not live a normal life, but we were going to live as normal as possible. We would all work together to build a normal life.

  I pulled my mask off and watched Frank's expression turn. I tossed the mask onto the ground and looked deep into his eyes. When I knew I had his full attention, I took in a deep breath. I sucked in as much air as I could so that if there was a chance that I was going to get infected, he would know that it happened at this moment.

  "What the hell are you doing?"

  I turned to the van and, although I was blinded by the headlights of the van, I could slightly see Jack and Emily look at me like I had just committed murder. Like I was a dead man walking. I nodded to them and took a step toward Frank. He didn't step back like I thought he would.

  "We are going to live as normal a life as possible. I promise you. Your son will live a normal life. By the end of the summer, you will throw a football around with your son."

  I didn't wait for a response from him. I turned away and headed back towards the van. I couldn't reach for the handle, though. I only thought about what I had done and realized that if I was infected, I was about to infect everyone in the van. Jack, Emily, and even that little boy that had so much to live for.

  I opened the door and stepped up on the ledge. I stuck my head inside the van and looked into the back. I wanted some sort of acceptance. I wanted to know that it was still okay if I come inside. First, I looked at Jack. If I
was sick, he was the next leader of this group. If he wanted me to stay outside, I think I would have listened. I would have closed the door and walked out into the woods until I died.

  Jack nodded. When I got his approval, I looked at Emily. She didn't nod or smile. She looked scared. Scared, but was trying to put on a brave face. I respected them for being so courageous at that time. Reggie looked at me with those big brown eyes of his. I could tell he was a little confused. I smiled at him and sat down in my seat closing the door behind me.

  I took a deep breath and then saw that Frank hadn't moved from the spot outside. He put his arms back onto his head and although the light was blinding him in the eyes, he stared right into mine. He stared at me with, what I thought, was a new sign of respect. I had just promised him the entire world for he and his son. I promised that everything was going to be fine. I didn't want to lie to him, but I don't know if I even believed in my own promise.

  He came back to the van and sat back in his seat. He put his arm around Reggie and pulled him closer to his side. The entire time, though, he didn't take his eyes off of me and I didn't take mine away from him. He had the same look the others had. He was scared, but I think he started to see me as the golden boy that the rest did. He understood at that moment why everyone else looked up to me as a leader. Even though I was younger than the rest of them, I had more guts and more courage than most of the people still alive.

  I nodded to him and put the car into drive. I moved the car down the road but I could still feel everyone's eyes on me. Nobody looked away. Whether they were scared, worried, excited, or in awe, they were staring a whole into me. If the worst thing that happened after that was that they were going to stare at me the whole time, it'd be the best thing I could ask form.