End of the Line

by Frater, Lara

  “We’re here,” I told them. “But I got a woman with a gun guarding the door. She wants to see you Aisha. Come to the gate slowly with your hands up.”

  “I’ll come with,” Tanya said.

  “I’m worried she might shoot if she sees too many people. I’m not seeing any zombs.” I remembered what Rachel said, that I didn’t have to look after the girl, but I was wrong. I had to look after everyone.

  I helped her off the truck. We slowly walked to the gate. Tanya and Jim came off the truck but stayed by it. Annemarie stayed in the cab with Olive.

  “Here!” I yelled. “Here’s the girl.”

  “Girl,” the woman said. “What’s your name?”

  “Aisha Long.”

  “And your mother’s name?”

  “Lynne Johnson.”

  “Why do you have two different last names?”

  “My parents are divorced. Johnson’s her maiden name.”

  “Okay,” she said, “All of you. Come to the gate slowly.”

  We were watched like hawks when we came inside. The woman didn’t meet us, she stayed by a guardhouse. Instead three heavily armed men met us at the gate. One black guy, one white guy and a Spanish guy whose name tag read Hernandez. I didn’t care what color they were only that they were wearing National Guard uniforms. I felt happy for the first time in a while. Finally soldiers, our boys, they would put a stop to this. “You need to leave your weapons at the gate,” the white soldier said.

  “Don’t think so,” Tanya said.

  “We don’t know who you are. We’ve had problems in the past. If you want to come in, leave your weapons here.”

  “What’s to stop you from stealin them?”

  “Nothing. You’ll have to trust us.”

  “Trust you, and you can’t trust me—“

  “Tanya,” I said, looking at the soldier. “We can trust them.”

  She looked mad, but she put her hand gun on the table near the gate. “Hand in your weapons and go to that house on the right,” he said. “They’ll take your names.”

  “What for?” Annemarie said.

  “We’re establishing a database of survivors. If someone came looking for you, we could let them know you’re alive.”

  “What about the dead?” Annemarie asked. “Are you doing the same?”

  “Yes, go to the house and they’ll explain. Follow Hernandez.”

  The smell of burning rubber became stronger. I’m surprised there wasn’t zombs all over.

  As if he was reading my mind, Hernandez said. “The stench is bad but you’ll get used to it. We burn different things to try to cover the smell of humans. It seems to work. We get our share of zombies but we aren’t overrun.”

  He was right. I didn’t see anything outside. “How many live here?”

  “About 150.”

  “And the government’s in charge? Are there other camps?”

  Hernandez started laughing almost to the point of choking.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked as we entered the house.

  “There’s no government anymore.”

  Chapter 20

  The camp was run by remnants of the Red-Cross, some Suffolk officials and a handful of national guardsmen which was what Hernandez told me before he sat us in front of a middle aged red haired woman. They picked the sleepaway camp because it was on the Sound and so it had one part cut off from the zombs. The main office of the camp used to be a house and the woman sat in a living room at a plastic desk that had a computer and piles of paper.

  “I’m Felicia Ray. I was formerly a deputy assistant commissioner of Suffolk county health services. All of my colleagues died of the flu or killed by zombies,” she explained, stoically. “I need your name and the name of anyone you know alive or dead.”

  “What about my mom?” Aisha said. “Is she here?”

  “First I need to find out about you folks. If she’s here, we’ll locate her.”

  “What do you want first?” Tanya said.

  “Why don’t you start with all of your names?”

  The others gave their names, but I couldn’t say anything. I had to let it sink in.

  There wasn’t a government anymore. No cavalry coming to save us. I always complained about those asshats from Washington, those tax and spend liberals, those useless jerks.

  Now they were gone. And with it, the world that I knew was gone. Sure some time in the future we could rebuild society, but it would be different. Nothing that I would recognized.

  “You okay,” Jim asked. He touched my shoulder. In my old world, I would have thought he was hitting on me.

  “Yeah,” I looked at the woman. “My name is David John Carr, everyone calls me Dave. My wife—my ex-wife is Angela Carr—I mean Henderson. I don’t know if she’s alive or dead. I have a daughter Barbara Ann Carr. She was alive last June and heading north to Vermont. We live in a store. We’ve lost a number of people. Mindy, Eli, Abe—“

  I couldn’t go on.

  “Don’t worry, Dave,” Jim said, “I’ll take care of it.” He looked at Felicia. “Is there any place they can go to relax? I have notes on all our people alive and dead.”

  “There’s a kitchen,” Felicia said, deadpan. “Why don’t you all go relax there and have some coffee? I can talk to Jim about your people.”

  The idea of coffee sounded heavenly. Back at CostKing, we brewed by pouring hot water into a coffee filter.

  When we got in the kitchen, they had a real coffee machine, next to it was a glass pitcher filled with what looked like milk. This place must have electricity. Hernandez followed us, I guess to make sure we didn’t steal anything.

  “You have electricity?” I asked.

  “Yep, a couple of generators and two biodiesel ones. We are hoping to do more with solar power and maybe wind. What about you?”

  “We live mostly without electricity,” Annemarie explained. “We have a generator and some solar panels. It’s not much but it helps us get by.”

  “I can give you some tips.”

  Normally I would be boasting about my electrical accomplishments and get excited over real milk in my coffee instead of condensed, powdered or creamer. I felt dejected like I was hit with a ton of bricks. My world was never coming back.

  “Jim’s good at taking notes,” I said. “I’ll get him.”

  I grabbed my coffee and went back to Jim.

  Hernandez didn’t stop me.

  When I got back to the room, I was met with a peculiar sight. Jim held a vial of blood and handed it to Felicia.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Jim looked surprised. He dropped the vial on the table but it didn’t break. Felicia picked it up. I moved closer to the desk and put my cup down on it to get a closer look at the vial.

  “Jim, I asked a question.”

  “Nothing,” he said and sweet Jim’s tone was defensive.

  “That’s not nothing, whose blood is that?” I raised my voice a little.

  “It’s a private matter.”

  “Oh shit, Jim, do you have AIDS?”

  Jim looked pissed off, a rarity for him. “Jesus, Dave, your ignorance is showing.”

  “What’s going on here?” I heard Tanya’s voice. I turned around. The others came back into the living room followed by Hernandez.

  “Jim was giving some kind of blood vial to the county lady.”

  “It’s nothing,” Jim said and he was still defensive. The woman didn’t say anything. She sat there with no expression on her face.

  “Didn’t look like nothing,” Tanya said. “Are you sick—“

  “I’m not sick,” he said moving from defensive to peeved but I didn’t care. I wanted to know what was going on. “This isn’t my blood.”

  “Then whose is it?”

  “Jim—“ Tanya said, her voice stern. “Tell us, now.”

  “It’s Rachel’s,” he admitted.

  “Is she sick?” I asked.

  Jim didn’t respond. He did not look happy,
in fact he looked afraid.

  “What’s wrong with Rachel?” Tanya asked, her voice got louder. “What the fuck is wrong with her, Jim?”

  “Rachel is immune from the zombie virus,” he finally admitted.

  Twice in a row I was floored.

  “How?” Tanya asked.

  Jim shook his head and said. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m giving them the blood sample. I’m hoping someone can use it. There are doctors here—scientists.”

  “How do you know she’s immune?” Annemarie asked.

  “She was bit by a zombie, a big deep bite. She didn’t change.”

  “I never saw a bite,” I said.

  “It’s hidden under her clothes,” he explained.

  “When did this happen?” Annemarie asked, then she said. “Before.”

  “She wanted it to be a secret.”

  “Except to you,” I said, I was pissed.

  “Everyone likes to confide in me,” he explained. “And judging by how pissed off you are Dave, she’s right.”

  “I’m kinda pissed too,” Tanya said.

  “See what I mean.”

  “I’m pissed because she didn’t trust us.”

  “Tanya— this is personal to her. She’s going to be upset you found out.”

  Today I found out my world ended and that Rachel our leader can’t be killed by them.

  “Can she pass the virus on?” Annemarie asked. I hadn’t thought of that. Could we get it from Rachel?

  “Has anyone gotten it?” Felicia asked. She didn’t wait for an answer. “Use universal precautions.”

  “Jesus,” Jake said. “Now I know why she didn’t want to sleep with me.”

  Annemarie rolled her eyes.

  “She’s probably not even a carrier,” Felicia said with no emotion in her voice, no fear or sadness, just deadpan. “She might be naturally immune.”

  “You don’t seem so thrilled about it,” I said. The anger faded slightly as I thought of a new thing to be optimistic about. “I mean maybe her blood can cure.”

  “Rachel isn’t the only person who’s immune,” she explained. “The blood sample will help, but we don’t have the equipment to deal with it. We wouldn’t even know where to start. No genetics or disease control labs with almost no scientists, no electricity or doctors to run them. I’m not even a doctor. I have a Masters in Public Health.”

  “You’ve meet others who are immune?”

  “Just one person. A teenaged boy. He had bite marks, but was fine. No sign of the virus. We took blood too. It could be immunity, he could be a carrier, or just lucky.”

  “Is he here?” Jim asked.

  “No,” she said. “He left a long time ago.”

  “I think Rachel was scared,” this came from the girl.

  That ended the conversation but I was still mad. I didn’t know why. I probably wouldn’t have told the others if I was bit and survived.

  “We are done,” Felicia said. She reminded me of Rachel by how cold she came across. “We cross checked your names. No one is looking for you but Aisha, your mom and sister are here.”

  The girl’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Manny, please escort our guests to cabin six.”

  Hernandez smiled. He went to the door and opened it. I took my coffee with me, didn’t ask if I could take it out of the house, but no one stopped me. I savored the flavor and tried to not to think about Rachel’s immunity. Honestly I think I was jealous.

  We followed him outside and up a hill.

  On the other side we could see the full camp.

  It didn’t look great.

  The place looked worse than CostKing. There was garbage everywhere. Kids ran around without shoes, there were several pigs and chickens walking around and two pens filled with goats and three cows. The smell of animal shit was horrific.

  “Jesus,” I said.

  “I know it doesn’t look good,” Hernandez said. “But we get by and you get used to the smell. It keeps them away.”

  I don’t think I could ever get used to the smell and I didn’t want to leave the kid here. Hernandez began to lead us to the cabin. When Chinakitty started crying in her carrier, some of the kids stopped playing and came over to us.

  “Is that a kitty?” one of the kids said, a white boy who looked about eight and stunk worse than the animals.

  “Yes,” Aisha said. “Her name is Chinakitty.”

  “Are you coming to live here?” he asked.

  “Maybe,” she said.

  “Can I play with the kitty if you do?”

  “Sure,” Then she stopped. A black woman was standing at cabin 6 with a girl about eleven standing next to her. I knew from the pictures that was her mother. The girl dropped the carrier and ran to her mother.

  “Momma!” she screamed.

  The woman put her arms out and Aisha nearly jumped into them. She didn’t seem to want to let go of her mom.

  They must have been hugging for five minutes before they released each other. Jim picked up the cat carrier, went over and the rest of us followed.

  “Jim,” Aisha yelled out. “Mom, this is Jim. We all lived at the CostKing with Maddie, and Rachel and a bunch of people.”

  “Thank you,” Aisha’s mother said. “Thank you for looking after my daughter. Are you all staying here now?”

  Jim shook his head. “We came looking for you.”

  “Dad never came home,” she explained. “I tried to get to you but ended up at CostKing.”

  “At least come in,” she said, motioning to the bunkhouse.

  The house was big and had four separate bunks beds. Two were made up, one was empty and the third was filled with stuff. Unlike the outside, it was squeaky clean with no sign of dirt or dust. However the animal smell still filled the air.

  Aisha’s mom went to a corner bunk. Next to it was a table with four chairs. There weren’t enough seats, so I grabbed one before anyone could. Jim, Aisha’s mom, and Aisha ended at the table with Tanya, Jake and Annemarie behind us. Aisha’s sister sat on her bed. Her eyes wide but I couldn’t tell what emotion.

  “I don’t think I introduced myself properly. I’m Lynne, this is my daughter Ariel.”

  “I’m Jim, this is Dave, Tanya, Annemarie and Jake.”

  “You took care of my little girl?” Lynne said.

  “We all did,” Jim said and smiled at Aisha. “And she’s not really a little girl anymore.”

  Lynne smiled. “You’re right. Thank you for looking after her—“ she paused. “I thought she was gone— I shouldn’t have let her stay with Victor.”

  “Is dad dead?” Ariel finally said.

  “I don’t know,” Aisha said. “Dad left me and went to work, he never came home.” She didn’t add that he was sick.

  “Typical,” Lynne said, under her breath. I heard her because she was sitting next to me.

  “This place is pretty bad,” Jim said. “You can come back with us to CostKing. We got a ton of food and a few good shooters--” he paused. “And it’s a lot cleaner.”

  “That’s awfully sweet. This place might look bad but I think it’s safer. We have soldiers to protect us, we’ve been here a year and because of the smell, there hasn’t been any major attacks. We have our own bunk. This camp was expecting a thousand kids, there’s tons of food. We got chickens and eggs, goats, cows, even a couple of pigs and we’re growing our own food. And all of us, we’re good to each other. We all pitch in. This feels almost like being in a community again.”

  It sounded ideal but I didn’t think it would be as secure in the open and I hated the smell.

  “Can Chinakitty stay?” Aisha asked.

  “Yes, but she has to live outside for the most part and catch rodents.”

  “She always did,”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Jim asked.

  “I’m sure, but bless you all for bringing my baby back.”

  Chapter 21

  The sun started going down when we cam
e to Annemarie’s parent’s house. We had said our goodbyes to Aisha. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of leaving her there, but I wasn’t her parent.

  Tomorrow we would head back to Westbury and let them know nothing is left. Marauding zombies, groups of people hiding and no government.

  Her parents seemed pretty well–to-do with a large house on a tree-line street, except the one house at the corner on fire and several zombies in the street. This wasn’t going to be good.

  When we drove past them they began to move in our direction. It was getting dark so we had to stay here or at least close by. Annemarie’s parents had a large attached garage with a door that went up instead of out.

  “I’m going to back up into the driveway,” I told Tanya. “Can you handle getting the garage door open?”

  “No problem.” She had no fear in her face.

  “Then I’ll pull in as far as I can. You get our people in, then come for me.”

  Tanya relayed the message through the radio. I made a k-turn in the street and backed up to the driveway. Tanya got out, one of Mike’s rifles in her hands. One zombie by the house she dispatched quickly. Didn’t get a head shot but knocked it down. The others were on the way. I watched then shamble to us almost like they were dancing. A newer zombie led the way. A young woman, her arm missing, but her face intact and pale. I couldn’t see Tanya because of the angle, but I heard the garage door open. I backed up the truck until I felt the tip hit the edge of the garage, then waited. My heart was beating when I saw the fresh zombie walk to the front of the truck. It almost looked like she was staring at me with her dead glazed over eyes. She opened her mouth and some kind of dark liquid came out. The cab was silent except for my breathing as I stared at her.

  I heard the back of the truck opening and Tanya yelling. I put Olive’s leash on. Olive seemed confused by the situation and barked.

  The zombie in front began moving forward. I don’t know if it was the sounds of the truck, Tanya yelling or Olive’s bark. I prayed Tanya would return soon and I wouldn’t suffer a massive coronary.

  The door opened and I nearly screamed but it was Tanya, she slid into the passenger seat and slammed the door hard.

  The woman zombie moved to the sound of the noise. Tanya gave it the middle finger.