The Orphans (Book 4): White Lie

by Evans, Mike

Andy said, “You were telling us that you weren’t able to protect us and then you were telling us how we can go about breaking lots of bones on things that are totally able to rip our arms out of our sockets.”

  Clary went to say something but Shaun walked up and said, “Clary, I think you better get this thing going, you aren’t saying the right words that are going to motivate these kids.”

  “Do you think you can do better?”

  Shaun shrugged, “Yeah probably, I mean it’d be hard to do it worse wouldn’t it? The last thing I want to do is stand up on a podium and tell people something that could get them killed. They aren’t soldiers, why don’t you look at them for God sakes? They all look like they are scared; they don’t understand why they need to do this. It has been six months and they are still lost in the hope, regardless of how many times the news has told them that there was no hope coming their way.”

  “Well, how do we fix that?” Clary asked.

  Shaun said, “It is difficult to say. I think that they need to really understand what is going on. We’ve been taking perimeter watch for months since no one can shoot or handle a gun. They know that no good is going to come from the Turned. What they don’t know is that we aren’t alone and there are plenty of them everywhere. They still have hope that there is going to be help.”

  Clary said, “Get up there and talk then. Over time I won’t be surprised if you are helping teach these kids what to do. The more we have helping the faster we are going to get them up to speed.”

  Shaun asked, “Why is it a rush?”

  “Because like you said, there is no help. When the dead run out of food in the city, they are going to move out of the city, or they will migrate. I don’t really know what the fuck they are going to do. But I do know that I want to be prepared for it. The last thing I want to think of are hundreds of those things coming at the fence, hell thousands of them not slowing down for anything and we do not currently have the manpower to deliver the firepower to keep them from coming through. I think we both know what happens if that is what it comes down to.”

  Shaun motioned for him to move aside. He got up on the podium and held up a hand for the whispering that was taking place to cease. “Hey everyone, can I just have a couple minutes of your time please or whatever?”

  When the talking got louder, Greg stepped forward and screamed at the top of his lungs, loud enough to make Clary and Aslin see the kid in a new light. He said, “Everyone shut up and listen to Shaun! He’s way better to listen to than Clary.”

  Clary snapped around shaking his head, scratched the side of his scalp with his middle finger and stared directly at Greg. Greg smiled, and then went back to stand with some of the original orphans, Joey, Ellie, Patrick, and Kya.

  The rest of the kids, to his credit, shut up immediately and turned their eyes to Shaun standing up on the podium who was not yet projecting a good deal of confidence. Shaun cleared his throat and said, “Hey, I'm Shaun, Shaun Fox. I don’t know about any of you but my day one in this didn’t go so great. I lost someone, and I am sure that many of you did to.”

  Heads were nodding slowly, some looking down at the ground and others trying not to let tears form in their eyes. Shaun continued, “We don’t share stories of what happened to us. Why is that? I will tell you, because it doesn’t help anything, it doesn’t do anything to make anyone feel better. There isn’t any reason to try and one up each other in what horrible thing happened to us. We all lost, we all are mad. We’ve waited around for six months until we finally heard from the government that there wasn’t going to be any help. Now that we know, we need to protect ourselves. We aren’t going to wait any longer. You might not be pros with guns, you might not be violent. I wasn’t either; at least, I wasn’t violent. There isn’t anything that you can do now but kill them. It is simple, kill or be killed. You can’t hide forever, and these two can’t protect you forever. Can they kill these things? Yes they can. But when they eventually are outnumbered, what are you going to do? Do you want to hide and pray that after they strip every inch of muscle and edible flesh from these guys that they just leave? Do you really think that they’d leave, have you ever seen one of these things get full, or walk away from a meal that wasn’t going to Turn?”

  The teens shook their heads slowly and Shaun continued, “We need to be able to defend. We can’t be useless, we have a lifetime worth of ammo at our disposal and we won’t run out, at least anytime soon. If you absolutely think that you can’t fight, there’s other work you can do on the base.”

  Andy cut in, raising his hand and said, “Good, because I'm not killing anything, if you guys think you can learn how to be some special warrior be my guest-”

  Shaun snapped and said, “Andy is it? I wasn’t done talking. What I was going to say was that if you aren’t wanting to be one of us, and you still want to stay then keep this in mind, and let my words sink in deep. Just because you stay does not mean that you will have anyone babysitting you. If you have a job to do and you are out doing it without anyone watching you, that is because those of us with guns will have our own work to do. There isn’t any guarantee that anyone will be able to walk around and make sure you are safe. Now if that doesn’t sit well with you then maybe you are going to want to stay with the group today to get a little cardio and gun training in before breakfast. I don’t know about you but when those things come for me, I sure as hell want to know what to do. I might not be able to out power one of them but I sure know I’d rather be able to say I gave it my all instead of standing there waiting for one of them to rip my heart from my chest. If you got any questions, then ask Clary or Aslin, as of now they are the ones in charge.”

  None of the teens said anything and Clary ran past them and said, “Let's see if you kids can keep up with an old man. The longer you can run the better. You never know when a car is going to die, or you are going to end up in a shitty circumstance.”

  Clary took the lead and Aslin ran in the back, screaming at people to keep up the pace and to make sure that they kept it up or that they’d do pushups and then have to sprint after them to catch up. They ran until they were at the top of a hill and Clary had sets of binoculars sitting on the top of the ridge. He pointed to town while taking a look through a pair, and said, “This is why we are running; this is why you need to train.”

  Each of the teens took a look through the single pair of binoculars and when their turn was up they were ghostly white. There was no shortage of the Turned in the nearby town of Johnston. The teens didn’t mistake the fact that they were close, and it was much too close for comfort. The reality of what the men had said began to settle into each of the teens. The thought of the Turned running out of food and beginning to search with a new found hunger didn’t sit well with any of them. Joey looked up at Aslin as he took his eye away and said, “I don’t like guns Aslin. What am I going to do? I don’t want them to eat me, I don’t want them to eat me Aslin, what do I do?”

  Clary put an arm around him pulling him to the side. He whispered into Joey’s ear until the boy looked visibly at ease. When Joey walked back to Shaun and Greg he had a slight smile on his face. Greg patted his shoulder and said, “What’d he say Joey?”

  “Can you keep a secret Greg?” Joey asked.

  He nodded and Joey said, “Well, Clary said that he is going to make me a special weapon. He said, that he was gonna make me something that I could split their heads open with.”

  The two nodded slowly, not really understanding what he could make, and looking back at Clary who saw them and had a smile filled with pure joy at whatever weapon he was thinking of for Joey. Greg asked, “What the hell is he going to make Joey that he could actually use?”

  Shaun shook his head when Joey patted him on the back before running off and almost knocking him over. “I don’t know but if someone has the muscle, I’d think that they can put some serious power behind their hits, don’t you agree?” asked Shaun

  Greg watched as the hefty looking boy ran o
ff, knowing that he was definitely not overweight but that he was ripped underneath that large frame. Greg said, “He wouldn’t do anything that is going to put that kid in harm. You do that and karma gives you a one way first class ticket to hell. Besides, you don’t think that he’d really let him go into battle, since, you know...”

  Shaun shook his head a bit disappointed. “What, because he has special needs? Christ man, you realize that he has outlived his own family and thousands more who don’t have special needs? God knows how many people there are in the world that didn’t make it through day one. If he is lucky then great for him, but you know what, he has continued and continued to survive. No matter what gets thrown at us, he’s just like us, and he’s one of us so just make sure going forward we don’t treat him different. If you hold back, always worried if he’ll come through, that’s when he’s going to run right past you and something's going to rip out your heart and start eating it while you are laying there and dying.”

  Greg started to say something but watched Joey walk over and whisper to the rest of the group and smiled. He realized that regardless of what has kept Joey alive this long, he wasn’t going to underestimate him or anyone going forward. He said, “You got it Shaun.”

  Clary said, “I want everyone to get running now. Even when you are tired and you don’t think that you could possibly run any further, remember that they aren’t tired. I’ve yet to see one of them slow down. They don’t run out of breath, they don’t get fatigued. You might think you stink right now from sweat, but the smell of you is probably enough to make them feel intoxicated. Now I want you to keep those words in mind whenever you think you have to stop and when you can’t go on any further, because that moment of you giving up is exactly what they are waiting for. Everyone run back to the barracks and let’s get some food in you.”

  Over the next three months the teens trained until their muscles and joints hurt and their fingers were raw from firing rifles until they could all be trusted with one. Jobs were given and perimeters were established to keep the grounds safe.

  Chapter Two

  9 months after day 1

  Clary stood in the mess hall of the base with Aslin. Clary looked over and could see Aslin yawning and mumbling under his breath. “Quit complaining Aslin, it isn’t that bad.”

  Aslin looked over with tired eyes. “I’ve been a Navy SEAL for over a decade Clary. I’ve been in shitholes, which of course don’t compare to the streets of this town now, but still bad.”

  “You realize I was already in when you graduated SEAL school right? What’s up your ass? I have more years on you and I'm still making the most out of this place. If we didn’t find this base we would have been out on our asses after Andy’s burned down. I am confident that as good as we are and as helpful as the kids have been, the two of us would not have still been alive nine months later. Do I wish that we could have been stranded in Hawaii without any of the Turned to fight off and all the food we could eat? Hell yes, but we didn’t and this is our new home. It is going to be as shitty or as good as we make it.”

  Aslin said, “Do you realize that when we parachuted down we were hard ass Navy SEALs on a mission to save America? Wait, no fuck that, we were going to find the cure to save the entire world. Since then we’ve been abandoned by the government, which let me just say, I'm still a bit bitter about. Maybe not as bitter about the fact that a certain asshole that I won’t point out, who may or may not be in this room, sent our only bargaining chip to hell in a handbag. When the shit settled and the dust stopped moving, we ended up as wet nurses to a fucking ton of kids, as well as a few rednecks who I'm still not sure why we let stay here.”

  “The amount of people that are old enough to drive competently are limited, so unless they go blind then I'd say they have a reason to be here for now at least,” Clary said.

  Aslin laughed. “You do realize that just because they are old enough to drive doesn’t make me feel a damn bit safer having either one of them behind the wheel. But I would have to say that it is better than Greg behind the wheel.”

  Clary said, “Are you kidding me, anyone but Greg would make me feel better. Besides having Greg do anything but sitting behind a mounted machine gun is a serious waste of his talent. I don’t think I've seen many men catch onto shooting a machine gun like that kid has. It’s actually insanely impressive.

  “He hates the Turned almost as much as Fox does. I don’t think he has gotten over seeing Christy take a steel shard through her chest that day. Greg blames the dead for chasing them, shit he blames them for having to use the bomb in the first place. I still don’t want him behind the wheel unless he’s the last man standing and both my legs are broken.”

  Clary said, “Well yes, he is a freaking maniac behind the wheel. I don’t know what freaks him out so much when he is out driving.”

  “Zombies Clary, zombies. There’s lots of them, like you know, everywhere. Each and every one of them pretty much wants one thing and that is to kill and eat us. So if he doesn’t have a gun in his hands, then well, he gets a little tense. I know a lot of soldiers that felt naked when they got home walking around as just civilians, pre day one of course,” Aslin replied

  Clary nodded, then pointed to Aslin and said, “I’ve got something you should know Aslin, it’s pretty important.”

  “Man it’s early. I’m still waiting for the coffee to finish brewing you are treading in dangerous waters my friend.”

  “Well it’s pretty important...you see right there, you are getting egg shells in the muffin mix, those kids are gonna eat you alive if you mess up their breakfast. You’d better pick that shit out of there,” Clary said.

  Aslin dropped the spatula and walked out of the kitchen. “You cook the damn breakfast. This is ridiculous, are you seriously telling me that no one else on this base can figure out how to cook for everyone?”

  “We are teaching people, but the idea of everyone on the base having food poisoning all at once because kids are cooking the meals half assed doesn’t scream as a good idea to me. Now wipe your tears and get your ass to work.”

  Aslin scooped up the eggshells with a spoon then threw it into the sink and cursed under his breath. “I still say that this is total crap.”

  Clary was rubbing his fingers together while smiling, playing the world’s smallest violin and Aslin refused to ask what it was that he was doing. Clary said, “Oh come on, you gotta ask.”

  Aslin started filling muffin tins, ignoring him. “I don’t have to do shit; don’t you have something better to do?”

  Clary looked at the food cooking and with the exception of it needing a good stir once in a while, his work there was done. “Nope other than going out and having a smoke, I can’t think of anything else I need to do. Giving you a hard time kind of seems like my number one priority until you stop your bitching,” he said.

  Aslin asked, “So you think we got it so great, tell me one thing that I should be pleased about?”

  Clary said, “I don’t know, how about the fact that you are on the inside of the gates. The fact that you aren’t one of them. The fact that everything we want to teach them is something that you already know. Do you want me to continue?”

  “Yeah that is something that doesn’t make it hard to sleep at night, it’s nice having a roof over my head. We aren’t in some shit each and every second of the day, right?” Aslin asked.

  “Well what I meant was that it’s pretty amazing that we survived, you’ve seen how many people haven’t made it. Then on top of all of that we found a fortified base that we should be able to stay at for quite some time. It is almost like we hit the lotto.”

  Aslin joked, not really taking it to heart and said, “Pretty soon we are going to be the minority if we don’t do something, if you know what I mean.”

  Clary stopped smiling and nodded his head. “You know that isn’t really all that farfetched man. Think about how many people we’ve picked up the first six months. Every time that we would go out, there
were less and less survivors to bring back with us. I know at some point that sadly is a good thing because we know the food isn’t going to last forever, but God forbid we need to do some work for what we eat, right? If it means continuing the human race, I'm ok with eating a bit less food for a bit.”

  Aslin said, “It is a shame that it happened in the first place, but you do know the last time I checked, we were SEALs not farmers, right? I mean, where the hell do we go and get more food at this point? I can only imagine that every place we could go to and steal rations would be empty by now.”

  “And why is that?” asked Clary.

  “Because, people get hungry Clary.”

  “Yes, yes they do, but that is only for the living. Most of the people roaming the streets don’t care about the Wheaties and frozen pizzas left. We take a run through town, hit all the different stores that don’t look ransacked, and we are going to be set up for that much longer.”

  Aslin said, “As always, it’s just that easy right? I say we have plenty, and for now we stay. Now if we want to go out on a mission to gather more people like you said, which is kind of what I think that you are secretly wanting to do anyways, then let's just call it that. It wouldn’t be bad to map off places that are hot zones and see where these things are sitting tight at. I don’t know if they get hungry but I gotta think that they are starting to run out of food in the very near future.”

  “Fine, I’d like to get out and stretch my legs. These kids have been hard at it for months and I can’t think there’d be a better job to test what they’ve learned than to let them pull the trigger a few times against the Turned,” Clary replied.

  “And what if we really do run into some of them? We lost so many originally I don’t know that I want to take that chance with them. Why don’t you and I do an initial run? I’m sure that the kids could tell us every grocery store there is and then from there we can simply figure out which ones would be the least risk to go and try to clear out.”