by mike Evans
“Shaun, what do you think I am, stupid?”
“Yeah, I think maybe the three of you are. And I think that anyone who hitches a ride to hell without an invitation in the back of my car is absolutely idiotic. You win for moron of the apocalypse, congrats. Your friends get runner up for following you.”
“What I was saying, Shaun, is that I left him a note. I let him know I was going with you and that I was going to learn a skill that would see me through, and that I liked the idea of helping others and getting society back to a state that maybe we could be dominant and in charge again. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, would it?”
“I won’t stop pulling triggers, Ben, until it is that way. They might beat me to death with my own gun, but it won’t have any bullets in it when they do. Can we at least let your dad know what you are doing? I have a great feeling that a note isn’t going to cut it.”
“Can you drive for like a few more hours before you call him? At some point, he’s going to say it is okay if I’m too far away.”
Shaun handed him the radio. “Talk to him, do it now. I guarantee you that he won’t be around for as long as you think he will. I lost my dad in this, and I’d do anything to get him back or have one more talk with him.”
“All right… But he’s going to be pissed.”
“Your dad is going to kill you,” Jay said.
“He wouldn’t if he didn’t care. I sound like an idiot, Ben, would you fucking call him? I want to get back on the road. I won’t lie these crops are giving me the creeps. If there are any more dead, they are going to be running around until they find us. Oh, and Jay, Brady don’t worry the two of you are going to call and talk to your parents.”
Jay shrugged. “Don’t have any parents, won’t be a very long talk. Marshall is the one taking care of me, and he can’t make me go back. I think nowadays if you’re an orphan, you can do just about anything you want as long as you aren’t, like, out killing people for no good reason.”
Ben walked off a little, stopping when the words from Shaun about the dead possibly being in the crops came back to him. It did not take long for him to hear screaming on the other end of the radio, even from a good distance. Ben walked over holding out the radio to Shaun, who very much did not want to have this conversation. “Uh, hey. You want me to bring him back to you, Marshall, I can. I'm probably going to curse him up and down the entire way back though.”
“Yes, you know god damn well that I want you to bring him back, but you aren’t going to.”
“I'm not?” Shaun asked, confused.
“Well, unless you think he’s going to be a pain in the ass or endanger your life in some way, then yes you can sure as hell bring him. You are doing something good or at least your head is in the right place. And God knows there probably aren’t too many people out there worried about others right now. Kill or be killed is probably more the mentality. I like to have faith in people, but it isn’t the easiest.”
Shaun looked to Ben, who had only looked so nervous when they had to walk up on the dead unarmed to show them the finer points of cutting down The Turned. “Well, I'm sure he’s going to be a pain in the ass, but if he is that hell bent on helping and keeping an eye on me, then I’ll keep him around. If we head back that way, we’ll stop by and say hello, sound good? His two friends hitched a ride with him, just a regular band of heroes here. None of them know shit, and now I have three more mouths to feed. I wouldn’t have turned down so many supplies had I known that I was going to be babysitting. Do you want to get Brady’s dad to speak to him?”
“I’ll deal with his dad. Tell him—or both of them—to get back here at some point. I’d really like to see him though, if you do. I'm sure at some point I'm going to miss the pain in the ass.”
“Thanks, Marshall, I know I don’t sound like it now, but there’s been more than one time someone has changed me for the better and helped me out. Who knows, one of these three might be the next one to do that for me.”
“I sure as shit hope so. Just teach him what he needs to know, please,” Marshall tried to say without it sounding like he was begging.
Shaun clipped the radio to his pants, lifting the tarp and folding it, setting it down in the rear of the truck. “What are you doing, Shaun?” Brady questioned.
“Making sure that you three are the only ones who decided to tag along. I don’t need any more help, unless I know who the person is and they can take care of themselves.”
“You can teach us, can’t you?” Ben asked.
“I can do a lot of things, Ben. Hell, you can learn a lot of things. Problem is, that it takes a lot of time to learn them. That isn’t really something we have a shit ton of to waste. I feel we wasted too much of it at the base waiting for answers. Waiting till we thought we were ready. The truth is, you never really are ready. So, you’ll be learning, but you need to do it quick and be on your A game.”
The three started to climb into the back of the Humvee, but Shaun lifted the gate up first. “Christ, don’t make me regret this. You three can ride in the cab. Someone can ride up front. If you are going to be my eyes, then try not to get me killed, and I’ll do the same, okay?”
The three nodded nervously, looking at each other, just barely understanding the implications of their actions, or what hell was in store for them down the road. Ben nodded, looking in the back of the truck at the small armory he had.
“You going to show us how to blow some shit up with any of that?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, I am. But it's going to be a little bit before I trust you with one. We had a guy in my group blow another one’s head almost clean off, firing in the truck as a passenger,” Shaun replied.
Ben thought about what that would look like and his face turned a little green. The three boys climbed into the truck and waited for Shaun to get in to start it up.
Brady said, “Oh, uh… thanks for, like, saving our lives and stuff back there. I don’t think we had a chance of outrunning those things. I mean, like, at all.”
“I saw you guys stick with Ben even when he was going to risk his own life to let the two of you get a head start.” They nodded. “That’s the reason that I saved you three. Besides, there’s too many of them to be wasting perfectly good living people.”
“Thanks,” Jay added. “We really do appreciate it.”
Shaun turned over the Humvee, looking in the rearview mirror at Ben and the others, wondering what in the hell he was doing. He’d traded perfectly good trained and in shape friends he’d known and trusted for three kids he barely knew at all, and was now on his way to only god knew where. “Like I said, just don’t get us all killed.”
Chapter 3
One week after leaving
Shaun drove out of his way to another small town. He already thought that he’d be lucky if they had a success like the last one. He looked at his map, seeing he’d circled around past where the boys were from and were about twenty miles east. He’d found a long time ago on his venture that he’d be smart to stay on gravel. The roads were loose, but at the same time, they didn’t want to take the highways and drive through a steel cemetery of cars.
Shaun looked at the map, trying to gauge where exactly they were and how they could get out of town if it wasn’t what he was expecting.
“What are you doing, Shaun? Are you lost or something?” Ben said.
“No, Ben, I'm not lost. I don’t want to be either, though. I'm looking to see what options we have to get out of this town if it doesn’t go like it should. These things can come out of anywhere; last thing we want to worry about is that. You ever been lost?”
“Sure,” Jay chimed in.
“Now, imagine being lost, and running for your life; throw in a car or truck breaking down, or maybe blowing up a van, and everything seems to go to absolute shit real quick.”
“I’d like to blow up something, even just once,” Brady said.
“It isn’t as cool as it seems. Last thing you want to do is act befor
e you think and get trapped on a roof or in a building somewhere again. Of course, you guys seem to do pretty good hiding out in buildings, or in the back of a guy’s car.”
“Hey, in, like, hopefully a really short time, we are going to be sitting around and laughing our asses off about how we all became our own group. You just wait, it’s going to get funnier every time I bring it up,” Ben said.
“Yeah, well, we'll see. Guess it’ll depend on if I have to worry about you chasing after me, trying to kill me someday because one of them got you.”
“Half empty glass kind of guy, aren’t you, Shaun?” Jay asked.
“I'm all about being Mr. Positive, guys. So much to be happy about. You guys know how to kill these things? Did Ben give you any insight into anything, or are you ignorant to it?”
“Yeah, you shoot them in the head,” Brady responded.
“Right, and do any of you know how to shoot a gun, pistol, rifle, or long gun that can reach out and touch someone?”
“We all had pellet guns,” Ben said confidently.
Shaun pinched at the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache was coming, and it was going to be there fast. “Skipped right over BB guns did you? Really good weapon, a pellet gun. You might break skin with that. Better watch out, you guys are going to take them out.”
Jay turned around, pulling up one of the rifles from the backseat, tripping when he did and falling backwards, with the gun barrel going between Shaun and Ben. The sound in the truck became deafening. The glass exploded everywhere.
Shaun punched the brakes as hard as he could, sending it into a fifty-yard slide and leaving a black trail of smoke from the tires. Jay and Brady both flew forward, neither wearing their seatbelts. They bounced off of the seat. Shaun turned around and any question about his authority vanished. Jay looked up with blood pouring out of each nostril, and tears were running down his face. Shaun looked at his nose and was pretty sure that it was broken.
Shaun took a deep breath trying to control the rage that was boiling through his veins.
“What the fuck, you broke my nose!” Jay screamed.
Shaun put the truck in park, turning around to grab the rifle and exiting the truck. Ben spoke for him, “He’s sorry! He’s sorry! Say you’re sorry, dickhead.”
“What’s he going to do? It was a mistake,” Jay asked, throwing his arms up in the air.
Shaun kicked his door open, exiting the truck and walking to Jay’s door, and pulled the door open to the truck. Jay knew everything about what he’d seen on TV, and nothing about what actually worked or happened in real life.
“What are you gonna do, Shaun? It was an accident, it won’t happen again!” he pleaded.
Shaun didn’t say anything. He reached in, gripping the boy by the shirt and yanked him out, letting him fall to the ground as he got out. He tried to get up, but Shaun put a hand on his back, bringing a knee up into his gut once, making him winded and lose all of his air. He put a hand on Shaun’s wrist but he gripped it, spinning it and sending him back to the ground, landing on his one free hand. Ben and Brady were both confident things had gotten a little out of control. They wanted to do whatever they could to save Jay. They both stumbled out of the truck, both coming around.
Shaun saw them coming and would put up with no insubordination. If they were going to stay with him and learn, then they would not endanger his life or the lives of others. Shaun pulled his pistol pointing it point blank at the two of them. “You take one more fucking step towards me and there will be no time for an education. What the hell is wrong with you? He just shot a gun off in a truck after I spoke about being safe with them. After I said a friend died because of it!”
“I wanted to ask you some questions about it,” Jay whimpered. “Please don’t shoot me, I don’t want to die.”
“Ben go look in the back of the truck, tell me if you see a shovel.”
“No! No, I won’t! Please don’t shoot him, Shaun,” Ben begged.
“You feel your heart right now, guys?”
“Yeah, it’s fucking racing,” Brady stammered.
“Well, you remember that feeling; knowing that you aren’t invincible, you can die, they can catch you, and they can overpower you. If you are going to make it easy for them, then I don’t see much reason in wasting my time and energy on training you, or my food for that matter. Jay, you ever fire off a gun like that—especially without being shown how to do it properly—then I will bury one of these bullets in your skull, no questions asked. If you want to start over and learn, then get off the ground.”
Jay scrambled up and said, “What about my nose?”
“Lucky for you, there aren’t too many chances of a beauty contest coming up anymore. I’m not a doctor but I’ve seen Lou reset some noses a few times. Happy to take a crack at it, but it hurts like hell. It might make the pain go away though if I try to straighten it.”
“It feels like two hot irons were stuck up it. Just do something.”
Shaun thought back to Lou putting his hands to each side of it. “Okay, on the count of five. Are you ready?”
“Just do it.”
“All right, on the count of five. Take a deep breath. One, two…” Shaun whipped his hands to the left the bones crunching and blood soaking his hands.
Jay screamed again, falling back to the ground. Tears would not stop now, and he looked up trying to find a way to hold his head that did not hurt. He held his head up high and the blood rolled back up his forehead. When he came back down, he had a mohawk of bloody red hair.
Ben said, “You look like a freaking lunatic, man.”
Jay had no words yet. He held up his bloodied middle finger, getting up off the ground. “Come on, let's go.”
“Are you sure that you’ll be able to ride in a car?” Brady asked.
“We don’t have a choice but to drive. Shaun already said those things could be on their way here.”
Shaun held a hand out for him, helping him up. “Go, get in, and just to be clear that anything in the back is mine until you learn how to use it. Don’t fucking touch it. There won’t be another conversation on this subject. I mean it. It’s my way, or get the fuck out. I’ve been through too much to just give up and die because of other’s mistakes. Do you three understand?”
“Ben and I haven’t done anything dumb yet,” Brady said.
“No, not yet. Besides hiding in my gear while I drove. I think Jay took all the credit he needed to for stupid shit by pulling a rifle he didn’t know how to use and discharging it a few inches from my fucking face. Other than that, you guys have been a big help with watching my back.”
He put it in gear once they were all back in the truck, driving off, and the four rode in silence for a while. Shaun drove for an hour until he found a field that had no corn around it for miles. Nothing but flat prairie ground with a few cows walking lazily, unafraid of anything.
“Is this a smart idea to stop?” Ben asked.
“Yep, I’d rather stop where I can see for miles instead of hoping there’s nothing coming for us in a field, or a set of woods. Not that it guarantees anything, but there shouldn’t be too much reason for the dead to be out here in the middle of nowhere. We are at least another half hour to even the closest small town. I have plenty of ammo here, but you three are going to get a crash course in learning how to shoot. I don’t have enough rifles for all of you though. I don’t know if we are going to be able to find them either. It’s been a year; if no one has taken them, then there’s a pretty good chance the town has been overrun. We can search through a town, but every time we stop and we have to worry about the dead, it’s another chance for mistakes.”
“I am up for taking that risk if you are, Shaun,” Brady said.
“It’s your guy’s call. I don’t like either option. You three unarmed and following behind me doesn’t do for a lot of peace of mind. The day I left, I had a lot of ammo, and I’ve spent a lot of it leaving a blood trail as I’ve moved across the state. We are going
to need more than I have, and finding somewhere we can restock some of that wouldn’t be so bad. Except if we find it, we might need to get a bigger vehicle. We are going to need more water, more food, all kinds of crap now.”
Shaun walked into the distance carrying one .223 rifle, a blanket, and a sandbag that they’d had from their spot on the roof what seemed a million years ago. He thought of the other two sniper rifles on the roof and wished he’d have gone back to get them. If they could, he would be able to take the streets and hope that the three teens would have his back when the time came for it. They walked into a field until they saw a tree growing where it had no purpose to. Shaun set an ammo can down, one of the few he was willing to waste to give the three some chance at learning. He knew a few hundred rounds would not make them a pro with the gun, but it was better than leaving them fully inexperienced.
