by Lee, Raymond
“We could run into a lot of company anywhere at any time,” Cruz said. “Raven’s right. We’re dragging ass right now. If we keep walking and find a town there’s a good chance there will be zombies there because they’d stay closer to a food source. They’d be on us in seconds and we’re too whooped to do much. We need to rest here so we’ll be better able to defend ourselves once we do reach a town. We’ll do this alarm thing the girls are talking about.”
“Fine,” Damian said, too tired to put up much fight. “Where are we setting up camp?”
They left the road and entered the woods. It didn’t take long before they found a clearing big enough to set up the tent. Damian and Cruz set the tent up as Raven and Jeremy collected twigs and logs for a fire.
“Anyone know how to start a fire?” Raven asked as she took two sticks from the collection and tried to figure out how exactly she was supposed to rub them together to form a spark.
Damian took a break from setting up the tent to remove a matchbook from his fanny pack and toss it to Raven.
“Smartass.”
He laughed. “Be glad this smartass planned ahead for such moments.”
“Believe me, I am.”
Raven got the fire going and used the can opener Damian had also been smart enough to grab to open up cans of beef stew.
Jeremy gave her the pot they’d stored in her backpack and she set to work cooking dinner.
“We don’t have bowls,” Jeremy said.
“We have the ladle. We’ll all eat out straight out of the pot. I think everyone’s too hungry to care about sharing germs. Get started on our alarm system while I make sure this doesn’t burn.”
Finished with the tent, Damian kept watch while Cruz helped Jeremy string the empty cans on the cord, then the three of them partitioned off an area of the woods circling their campsite with it.
“Alarm’s in place,” Cruz announced as they returned. “I never thought beef stew from a can would smell so damn good.”
“Me neither.” Raven removed the pot from the fire. “That should cool a bit before we start passing the ladle around or we might burn our tongues off. Hard to adjust heat on a campfire and I’ve never been much of a cook anyway. Jeremy, let’s look at your feet.”
She took the girl into the tent and they searched through the packs that had been placed inside, finding the first aid kit inside of Damian’s pack.
“I’m sorry if I slowed everyone down,” Jeremy apologized, her voice small. “I tried to keep up.”
“Honey, we were all struggling. We walked all day. Hell, if our lives didn’t depend on it, we wouldn’t have made half the distance we made today. We’re not used to traveling on foot. I’d say you did pretty damn well.”
She removed the flat from Jeremy’s foot and gasped. “How the hell can you even walk at all?”
The girl’s feet were covered in blisters, some broken and bleeding.
“I wish I’d been wearing tennis shoes when this happened. I’d kill for some soft socks right now.”
“I bet.”
Raven set to work treating and bandaging Jeremy’s wounds. “Keep these horrible shoes off until morning. I think we can all eat in the tent so you don’t have to move.”
“No, I think someone needs to stay outside so we don’t get snuck up on. I’ve never cared much for stew anyway.” She grabbed a couple of protein bars out of her pack. “I’d rather eat these and just go to sleep, if that’s ok. I’m really tired.”
“Alright, but drink some water too. We need to stay hydrated.”
“I will.”
Raven stepped out of the tent with a jug of water to find the men sitting by the fire, the pot between them. They stared at it with doggy eyes, drool starting to puddle in the corners of their mouths. The sun had set, the sky dark, and if not for the aches and pains in her body and lingering fear that had become almost normal, it almost seemed like they were just old friends enjoying a campout.
“You guys actually waited for me.”
“Of course,” Cruz said, seeming a little offended. “Where’s Jeremy?”
“She’s going to skip the stew and eat some protein bars. She’s tired and her feet look like a butcher had some fun with them.” She shuddered as she sat between the two. “We need to find her some better shoes before her feet are torn apart.”
“We’ll see what’s available in the first town we reach,” Damian advised. “Can we eat now? I don’t know if you can hear it but there’s a bear clawing its way out my stomach.”
“Sure. We have to pass the ladle and share. Who’s first?”
“Ladies first,” Cruz said, earning an eye roll from Damian.
Raven had never liked beef stew but at that moment it was better than a Texas Roadhouse steak. It didn’t take very long before the three licked the bowl clean and drank enough water to quench their thirst.
“Who’s on first watch?” Damian asked, yawning.
“Me,” Raven and Cruz both said, then looked at each other.
“Get some rest, Raven. I’m not tired.”
“Neither am I. You should rest. You carried a lot more than I did, plus you packed Jeremy for a while.”
“I’m fine. You rest.”
“Maybe both of you should keep watch,” Damian suggested, giving Raven a pointed look. “Two sets of eyes are better than one. I, however, can barely keep mine open so I’m going to grab some sleep. Wake me if you feel yourself dozing and I’ll take over.”
“What was that about?” Cruz asked as Damian slipped inside the tent, zipping the door behind him.
“What?”
“That look. He thinks I’m crazy, doesn’t he?”
“No.” Raven busied herself, using a little water to clean out the pot and ladle so she had an excuse not to look Cruz in the eye.
“He doesn’t trust me.”
“I don’t think he really trusts anyone completely. Don’t take it personally.”
“Do you trust me?”
“I trust that you wouldn’t ever hurt us on purpose, and will do your best to keep us safe,” she answered honestly.
“You think I’m dangerous.”
“I think we’re all dangerous.” This time she did look him in the eye. “Even me.”
“I’d never hurt you, Raven.” He looked at her shoulder. “Not intentionally.”
“I know.”
“How’s your shoulder?”
“Better.” She rotated her arm to show him. “It was never seriously hurt, just really sore. It was hard to swing my katana this morning but I’d do alright now. After some rest, anyway. I’ve never walked so much at one time in my life.”
“None of us have, I don’t think. Even while training for the Action X movies, I didn’t exercise that much.” He grinned before looking over at the katana she’d propped against a tree. “Where’d you get that thing at anyway?”
“A pawn shop, earlier the same day we met you and Damian.”
“Seriously?” His eyes widened in disbelief.
“Seriously. I’d just saved Jeremy from getting eaten. She was upset over killing someone. They were infected, had already turned.” She didn’t mention Jeremy’s suspicion that she’d killed Miley Cyrus. “We broke into a pawn shop to look for weapons and there it was.”
“You swing it like you’ve had years of practice.”
“Nope, just good survival instincts, I guess.” She thought back to the hotel she’d been staying at with Sky and wondered if having the katana then would have saved her little sister’s life. She fingered the pointed end of the cross she still wore around her neck and inhaled deeply, willing the tears not to form.
“Wicked cross.”
“Yeah. It was a gift from my sister.”
“Is she—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Alright.”
Cruz collected more sticks to keep the fire burning and sat back down next to her. “We have some more miles to go in the morning, Raven. Why don’
t you get some rest? I have this. I promise.”
She shook her head, remembering the dreams she’d had the last time she slept. Sky’s sweet face covered in blood. “I don’t want to dream just yet.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“Are we alone now?” She looked at him, eyebrow raised. “Just us two out here?”
“You’re asking if I see anyone?”
“Or hear someone. I know you did on the road.”
He nodded. “They come and go. It’s just you and I right now.”
“How often are you visited?”
He laughed, blushing a little. “You make it sound like I’m getting visited by aliens.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not sure how else to phrase it.”
“It’s fine.” He stared at the fire for a long moment. “I can be perfectly fine for hours, sometimes days or even weeks, but if I don’t have my medicine, they always find a way to come back.”
“Do they make you do things?”
His eyes turned cold. “I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“No, but would you hurt yourself?”
He looked away. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
And there was the answer she’d feared. It would be hard enough protecting her new motley little family from zombies, but she’d also have to protect Cruz from himself and his invisible harassers. Knowing better than to keep pressing, she squeezed his arm, letting him know she was there, and would stay there, for him.
She didn’t go to bed until light colors started to fill the sky. Cruz stayed awake to watch over them all.
Janjai watched from the window as two figures appeared at the end of the street. One large, one small, both carrying bags and both armed. She smiled, always relieved when Hal and whichever partner he’d taken for the daily scavenger hunt returned safely. He’d never taken her and that was fine by her. She wasn’t much of a scavenger, or a fighter. She preferred to stay back at the house and take care of things there.
She cooked for them, even though Maura had made more than a few jokes about how if they ate any more rice they’d all wake up one morning as Asian as her. Janjai hadn’t taken offense to it, but Hal didn’t think it was funny. The tension between those two grew by the day, but Hal still took Maura out on hunts with him. She got the feeling he did it because he didn’t trust her and would rather keep her under his own watchful eye than leave her around Angela.
Angela could take care of herself. Janjai knew this for a fact. She’d never told Hal or Maura what had really happened the day Angela killed Hank, how she’d smiled while doing it, had seemed to enjoy it. It still made her shiver when she remembered that moment the young girl pulled the trigger, the absolute delight in her eyes as Hank’s body flung backward from the force of the bullet.
Hank was a horrible man, and he’d deserved such a fate, but the look of pride on Angela’s face when she’d pulled the trigger would haunt Janjai until the day she died. The girl had reveled in the act. It was unnatural.
There was something unnatural about all three of her companions.
Maura steadily grew more agitated. She was preoccupied with Angela’s safety, constantly questioning if they were safe with Hal, if it was natural for a strange man to care for the daughter of a friend. She’d questioned Janjai if she thought Hal had ever taken advantage of the young girl. This had shocked her as Hal had never been anything but nice to her, and actually seemed indifferent toward the women.
From the moment Janjai had set foot on American soil, she’d been the object of many a man’s curiosity. They stared at her in stores, on the street, wherever she went. Hank kept her under close watchful eye, usually with his hand clamped tight enough around her arm to leave a mark, but he couldn’t stop the men around them from ogling her.
She knew she was considered exotic in the small town she and Hank had lived in. The other women there were homely, to say it nicely, and much thicker in the waist. Janjai had a small frame with curves where they counted and no more. But Hal didn’t seem to notice her beauty at all. She supposed he could be more worldly than Hank, which was entirely possible, but he also seemed to carry himself to a higher standard than any other men she’d met.
He read from the bible every single day. Even in the midst of the chaos the world had become, he still made sure to read from its pages every day and prayed often. This seemed to irritate Maura, who made comments to her about men putting on airs of being Godly while hiding their sins behind closed doors.
Janjai didn’t know what to think about him, but of the three, he seemed the closest to being safe. Angela was just a girl and she’d killed without remorse. And Maura? Maura was slipping off the deep end, often muttering to herself when she thought no one was close enough to hear her.
If she thought she’d have half a chance by herself, she would have left them, but she knew she’d never make it alone. She had to find Colorado, find Pimjai, and she couldn’t do it without help.
Halfway to the house, a group of zombies lumbered out of between two houses, immediately joined by a small group on the other side of the street. Hal and Maura dropped their bags to the ground and gripped their knives.
Hal had trained them to always use blades. Guns were only used when necessary for two reasons. The first reason was obvious. Once you used a bullet, it was gone. A gun with no bullets was useless. The second reason was something they’d learned after the outbreak. Zombies were attracted to noise. It was still unknown to them if they could smell or not and they didn’t seem to see well through the cataract-like film over their eyes, but they could definitely hear. Shooting a gun meant announcing where you were and attracting zombies as far as the sound of that gunshot could reach.
It was with this in mind that Janjai aimed the gun Hal had taught her to shoot, standing at the open window on the second floor of the house they’d claimed as their own.
She aimed the gun on the zombie closest to Hal and Maura, keeping her finger off the trigger. She wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary. Sweat trickled down her temple as she watched the scene play out, hoping she wouldn’t have to do anything. She hadn’t had any practice on hitting a moving target and feared she’d miss the mark and kill one of her own group instead.
As the zombies approached them, Hal and Maura methodically started taking them out. They went straight for the brain whenever possible, an instant killing blow. They were outnumbered and the zombies were closing in, making it harder for them to take them out one by one. Janjai watched as Hal kicked out with his leg, his foot connecting with the midsection of a zombie who’d gotten too close before he could pull his blade out of another one’s head.
He sent that zombie tumbling into the ones behind it, knocking them down like dominoes. More zombies filled the space those had emptied. A quick count showed twenty still bearing down on her friends.
Janjai took a deep breath, aimed the gun on one of the zombies, and pulled the trigger. She missed, but the noise attracted some of the attackers’ attention. Their heads turned toward the direction the shot had come from, buying Hal and Maura a little more time.
The pair quickly lashed out, swinging with all the energy they had as Angela ran into the room and looked out the window, also drawn by the sound of the gunshot.
“Why didn’t you tell me they needed help?” she asked before running out of the room. Janjai heard her barrel down the stairs.
The girl was out of the house before Janjai could line up another shot, knife in hand and gun on her hip. The zombies who’d been distracted by the gunshot had returned their attention to Hal and Maura. Angela quickly started dispatching them from the outer edge of the crowd, swiping out a leg to knock them down before stabbing her blade into their heads.
The trio worked together, leaving a total of thirty bodies scattered in the street. Hal raised a hand, thanking Janjai for her help, but said nothing. They would want to make as little noise as possible as they picked up their bags and made their way back to the house.
Janjai propped the shot gun against the wall and closed the window, her first attempt at helping her group an utter failure. She’d never make it on her own.
“Where’s Maura?” Angela asked as they gathered around the kitchen table.
“I saw her carrying a bag into your bedroom,” Janjai answered, referring to the bedroom Maura and Angela shared. It was the girls’ room, with two twin beds covered in lacy pink comforters. Hal had taken the master bedroom that Hank had declared they should have, being the only married couple. Janjai didn’t want the big bed, or the reminder she’d been married to a man she couldn’t even scrounge up enough emotion to mourn. She’d taken the other bedroom, a blue one with posters of monster trucks. The twin bed suited her fine. Hal was the unspoken leader of their group. It seemed only natural for him to have the master bedroom.
“Probably more cat litter.” Angela scrunched up her nose. “Has anyone seen what she does with that stuff?”
Hal shrugged his shoulders, situating himself at the table. “She said it has lots of uses.”
“That is what she told me,” Janjai agreed. “I have not seen her use it for anything yet.”
“Well, she keeps a bag in our room and I can tell it’s been used. Kind of weird if you ask me.”
“Maybe she uses the bathroom in it,” Hal suggested.
“Gross!” Angela let the disgust show on her face as she sat down. She sighed. “Rice again?”
“No.” Janjai smiled as she lifted the lid off the pot of green beans on the table, and gestured toward several cans of Spam and another pot with peas and carrots. “You will be happy to know we are out of rice so I have started fixing the other foods available.”
“Spam! I never thought I’d be so happy to see that stuff,” Angela said, grabbing one of the cans and peeling back the tab. “We finally get to eat some meat. Well, it’s kind of meat.”
“Somebody say meat?” Maura joined them at the table.
“What do you do with all that cat litter?” Angela asked her. “You don’t use it as a toilet, do you?”
“Disgusting, Angela, and we’re at the dinner table.” Maura looked at the food. “No rice?”
