The Orphans (Book 4): White Lie

by Evans, Mike

  “But aren’t we going to get in trouble if we leave, we haven’t left in like three months?”

  Greg asked, “Joey, would I get you in trouble?”

  “No, at least not on purpose. I don’t think that you would.”

  Greg said, “Well I wouldn’t and I can promise you that buddy. I already spoke to Aslin and Clary about it and they are just fine with it. I really do want to grab a couple hours nap before we head out though.”

  Joey saw Ellie and Shaun walking across the base and screamed their way to catch their attention. Joey set his tray down, leaving Greg standing there and sprinted to the two and gave them both a big hug. Joey said, “Hey we get to go out on a mission. Greg cleared everything. I can’t wait to get out of here for a while.”

  “Wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about Joey? What do you mean that we get to leave?” Ellie asked.

  Joey pulled the two of them behind him to Greg and said, “Hey tell them the good news Greg.”

  Greg said, “Uh, yup.”

  Shaun asked, “Well do you have any details on this? I mean who is going?”

  Greg shrugged, he said, “We thought that I could take like four or five people and head out somewhere else, more of a recon drive than anything. But you guys probably aren’t interested in going are you?”

  Shaun punched him in the shoulder, he asked, “You gotta be kidding me right? Who would you take if you aren’t taking us?”

  Greg rubbed at his arm and held up his hands. “Christ man, save the arm, Jesus. I’m sure that you knew I was going to extend the Invitation.”

  “Oh my God what if we find some people, what if we find a lot of people, what are we going to do in that case? I mean, did they say that we could bring them back? It isn’t like there isn’t more than enough space here to put them up and feed them right?” asked Ellie.

  Greg said, “Yeah don’t worry about it, we can go hit a couple stores for supplies, and maybe we can cruise down a few streets and see if anyone comes out. I’d have to think the sound of a Humvee rolling down a street, or any noise at this point that isn’t a horde searching the streets for meat, would get someone’s attention pretty easily.”

  Shaun thought of the first six months after and the trips out they had been making to get survivors. By the time they announced that there was no cure and that there would be no rescue, they were finding less and less people each time. He said, “I think that we can definitely do some recon. Johnston isn’t all that big, as long as we stay out of Des Moines.”

  Ellie pushed Shaun, and asked, “Wait, so we are going to be the only ones going? There isn’t going to be Aslin or Clary or one of the other adults going with?”

  Greg said, “Joey tell them, I was talking to both of them this morning, they wanted to see me before I even ate this morning, didn’t they?”

  Joey nodded his head and said, “Yes that is true, Shelman and Phillip tried not to feed him his food, if they did that to me, oh man they’d feel the pain.”

  “So when do we leave, what are we taking with us?” Ellie asked.

  Greg, who had considered these questions already, said, “We take our normal training guns and we just stock heavy with everything we can think of. I was going to take a nap, but if you guys are good to go then I say the earlier we leave the better. Last thing we want to do is drive in the night with snow.”

  Shaun was getting excited about the prospect of leaving. He had been thinking of people for months as well but understood getting things set up on base before inviting everyone they could to come be a part of it. Aslin and Clary had been running those individuals currently on the base through drills day and night until everyone knew their job and place. This was all so that they could be a part of something bigger, which was keeping everyone safe, unturned, and alive. Shaun said, “Wait, I'm gonna go talk to Clary, this seems too damn simple. I just can’t believe they decided to let us leave. I mean-”

  Greg interrupted him and said, “Hey, if you want to talk to them be my guest, but you are going to add on an additional half hour. I’d hate for you to go talk to them and then have them change their minds. I mean, what if you put a thought in their head and then they decide to cancel our getting to leave? Don’t you want to have a day away from this place; it’d almost feel like old times?”

  Ellie, never one short of having sarcasm, said, “Oh yes Greg, because you know how we have such fond memories of cruising around town in our Humvee, armed with machine guns back in the good ol’ days huh?”

  “No, ok I can understand that. I’m just saying that getting some freedom wouldn’t be the worst thing and if this one goes well, maybe we could go out each day as part of our work. Like we could get to explore and start mapping the safe and not safe areas. We could eventually start cleaning things up.”

  Shaun was nodding his head, thinking immediately of the Turned and as usual, feeling like he needed to kill all of them that he could. He knew if this chance presented itself that he would happily take out what he could as long as he didn’t put Ellie or the others in any danger.

  He had been smart enough early on to know that if he didn’t learn how to handle himself, it would be only a matter of time before he either became a meal or one of them. He’d been thankful for the things that he had been learning from Aslin and Clary, knowing they would be invaluable in the coming years.

  Once it was broadcast that there was no cure, they had come to the realization that if they couldn’t be cured then they would educate as much as possible to try and keep themselves from becoming one of them. Shaun felt as confident as ever that they could do this trip as he felt he’d learned more than anyone, not just wanting to learn one thing from Clary or Aslin but learn everything that he could from both of them.

  Shaun said, “You know what, I'm ready to get out of here so if you cleared it with them and it’s just a quick scouting ride, I guess there isn’t anything else that I need to hear from them.”

  Greg smiled, a bit relieved, and said, “Meet me in front of the armory. Shaun you know what I want so stock heavy, remember we got the whole back of a truck that we can fill up.”

  Shaun nodded and said, “I’ll fill up a push cart with as much .223 as I can. We’ll see you in twenty, is that enough time? How does that sound?”

  Greg nodded. “Joey, you going to bring anything with you?”

  Joey held up his bat, and said, “You know I'm not so good with guns. If we are just gonna be in the truck, I'll be ok. I really appreciate you letting me go with you Greg. I think this is gonna be fun. If we go by any stores I think we should stop and get some food. I’d love to have Spaghettios or anything not cooked by Aslin, if you know what I mean.”

  All of them nodded agreeing to this. They’d never wanted a home cooked me so badly in their lives as they did now. Greg put his arm around Joey and said, “Joey why don’t you come with me then and we can pick out a Humvee to take out today. We need to fill it up if it isn’t already. I want to make sure and take a couple extra cans of gas with us too.”

  Shaun looked shocked. “Wow Greg, are you actually thinking ahead? I don’t know if my mind can handle such a thing, it’s so out of character for you.”

  Greg said, “Hey man I'm getting older, what do you want me to say? If I'm going to lead this place one day then I'm going to have to make good choices.”

  Ellie said, “Oh God help us, General Greg, that has a scary tone now doesn’t it?”

  Greg puffed up his chest, he was only kidding about running anything and said, “Now if you aren’t nice you might have issues when my regime finally takes over and we are in charge of everything Ellie. It’s best to get in on the ground floor while my infrastructure is still being built.”

  Ellie didn’t even respond, she could see the daydream growing in his eyes. “Oh, ok Master Greg, well we will see you in twenty.”

  Chapter Six

  Shaun walked ahead of Ellie; he was trying to not run to the armory. Ellie gripped Shaun’s hand, stopping h
im and asked, “Are you sure that we should be doing this with just the four of us? Think about it, Joey doesn’t believe in guns so we are really only looking to have three of us armed. I don’t know, it seems like a bad idea, when have they ever put Greg in charge, not counting him helping out on the range?”

  “But what do you want to do? Do you want to stay here and let someone else go and take our place?”

  “No, I don’t want someone else to take our place, there isn’t anyone that I can think of that we should let take our place,” she replied.

  “What about Patrick and Kya, you don’t think that they could go with?”

  Ellie said, “No, I'm sure that they can handle it, I don’t think they’d have any issues. If they go out and they stay in the truck and don’t have to fire off any shots then what is it going to matter?”

  Shaun said, “I don’t know it just seems like I need to go out there.”

  Ellie grabbed his arm, stopping him feeling like she was saying the same thing that she had so many times. “Hey, you really, I mean you really need to get past it Shaun. You need to figure out some way to try and get over it. You are going to get yourself killed or make yourself sick in the head if you can’t move forward. The world is a crazy place and that is something you are going to have to learn to deal with. I mean it Shaun, think about it.”

  “Easier said than done Ellie.”

  “Seriously Shaun, how the hell would you have known? There is no way that you could have predicted such a thing happening like this. It’s like saying think of the absolute worst thing that could ever happen and that is the result of you helping out a girl, in a small school, in an even smaller town. To top that off, it’s in Iowa for God sakes. I am not going to stand by your side if you can’t get a grip on this, it creeps me out, Shaun.”

  “So what you aren’t going to be my girlfriend anymore?”

  Ellie said, “Well I didn’t say that so much as that I want you to get past it. You can’t seem to handle the idea of me getting hurt, well guess what? I can’t deal with you getting hurt either. The idea of one day in all of this without you makes me freaking sick to my stomach. I’m scared that you are going to go out and screw something up. You are going to try and take them all out but what scares me more than anything is that you will go into some type of situation where you are going to get yourself killed. I mean it, I need you to be here for this and for me, but what are we going to do if you get hurt and you become one of those things? I can’t bare the idea of you chasing after any of us because you were feeling guilty and went into a fight you couldn’t handle.”

  Shaun said, “I get what you are saying, I really do. It’s easy to say that I shouldn’t blame myself, but who else is there to blame? They would have never met. He would have gone on being a workaholic and single and not had any reason to bring hell back to life again. Really think about it. I probably caused more pain in the entire world on one damn day than anyone in the world ever has. Christ, I might as well be effing the Devil.”

  “Shaun, for the love of God, you are being just a little bit over dramatic don’t you think? Your dad’s assistant had bad intentions from the start. Your intentions were pure; you simply wanted to help me. You wanted to take out a couple guys who were messing with me and save the day, nothing more nothing less, right?”

  “Well I may or may not have wanted a date with you. But as we both know, dad and your mom ruined that entire plan. Of course, in his defense, as little as we talked in those final months together dad probably wouldn't have had any idea that you were alive much less my crush.”

  Ellie being Ellie brushed her hair from her face, way over dramatically and asked, “So do you just love me, is that what you are saying Mr. Fox?”

  Shaun pulled her in and gave her a long kiss. “I’d go to hell and back for you Ellie. There isn’t anything that I will let happen to you.”

  She hugged him back tight, whispering in his ear, “Yeah that what makes me so nervous Shaun. I’m not kidding though; think about it, if you are always looking out for me, you might end up not seeing them coming.”

  Shaun said, “I can’t not look out for you. Don’t worry though, I promise that I'll make sure nothing is coming after me or you. I got eyes in the back of my head.”

  Chapter Seven

  They made their way to the armory making quick time and stocking up to the hilt. When Greg pulled up, the two were sitting with one of the bay doors open. They then wheeled in the gear where Joey took it, moving like a man on a mission and leaving little space for anything extra. They pulled out in the Humvee, through the unmanned gate, Greg knew that they were between shifts. The four of them headed the short distance towards Johnston. Shaun asked, “You remember how to get there Greg?”

  Greg said, “Well yeah Shaun we can head out to Eighty- Sixth Street. Then it’s just a straight drive. We could take the interstate there too.”

  Shaun looked out with his rifle ready to go. They watched as they drove down the streets, though there was little to worry about at the moment as there were no Turned to be seen. Ellie said, “It looks better than I thought that it would out here. I mean the highway west doesn’t have cars or anything on it. Do you remember when we went to what we thought was going to be a shelter for survivors and well we know what happened there right?”

  Shaun was focused on what was before him as well and thinking that most likely it was too good to be true. “I don’t know; it seems too easy. Unless someone else has been taking care of all of these Turned.”

  When they pulled on to Eighty- Sixth Street their optimism for the idea that someone else taking care of their problems quickly faded. The cars were piled up along the streets along with intertwined military trucks. Ellie asked, “Ok, so do you think that we ought to turn back around, it looks pretty bad out here?”

  Greg pulled to a stop and they sat there watching a light snow fall. Greg said, “Well if we are going to head back we probably don’t want to pull into town to much further.”

  “Let’s just keep going a bit. They have stores up there; maybe we can get some supplies before we leave. We can let Joey pick out what he has been talking about. Let him stock up on food that he hasn’t had for quite a while now,” Shaun said.

  Joey said, “Oh I agree, you let me pick the food, I'll make everyone real happy!”

  Greg headed further into town without any issues gaining speed as his confidence grew. When he hit the bridge that went across the interstate it gave him a good look at what had taken place in town. The interstate was littered with cars. Thousands of cars stretched out as far as the eye could see.

  The road was covered with frozen bodies sticking out of the snow that had drifted between the cars. These of course were the lucky ones that had not had the chance to Turn. Car doors were ripped from their hinges, windshields were smashed in. Greg was too focused on looking at the bloody aftermath and didn’t see until it was too late. He hit a long patch of black ice on the untreated bridge, he was not prepared for driving in this weather, and the back end spun out sending them into a sideways spin.

  Greg spun the wheel in the opposite direction trying to regain control. Shaun looked back at Ellie making sure that she and Joey had their seat belts on. Greg slammed on the brakes and things only seemed to get worse.

  The cement wall that had been up for summer construction ended the Humvee’s path, stopping it cold. The front end of the truck smashed into the concrete and the truck slid up the barrier, grounding out and breaking the axle among other things. The truck tipped to the side and the four teens let out a breath they’d been holding.

  Ellie asked, “Shaun, Greg, are you guys ok up there?”

  Shaun brushed at his head and pulled his watch cap back and saw that he’d cut his forehead. He looked over at Greg who seemed fine and said, “Yeah I think that we are good to go. Just a little banged up. Are you two ok?”

  Joey said, “Yep I am, I guess Clary knows what he’s talking about when he says how bad of a drive
r Greg is.”

  “Joey it wasn’t my fault there was black ice on the road.”

  “Yeah but we still got into a accident didn’t we?” asked Joey.

  “We need to try and get some help. We need to call back and get someone on their way out here,” Shaun said.

  Ellie said, “Yeah we need to get moving here really.”

  “Where’s the radio Greg?” asked Shaun.

  Greg held it up without a look of confidence showing. “It’s right here but there’s not much point in making the call.”

  Shaun was puffing up his chest and trying to stay calm. “And why is that Greg?”

  “Because there won’t be anyone listening on the other end.”

  Ellie slapped him across the back of the head and yelled, “What did you do Greg? This isn’t a joke. I know we’ve been locked down for a while but come on; did you seem to forget what happens when loud noises go off? The Turned they will be a comin’.”

  Greg set the radio down and rubbed at the back of his head. “So I got a confession to make.”

  Shaun said, “Speed it up Greg, it’s going to take them a while to get here with these road conditions! Did you decide today of all days was the perfect day to put us in a life and death situation?”

  Greg nodded his head ever so slightly. “It wasn’t my intention to do anything stupid. I just thought that we could get out and we could show them what we are capable of. I mean, we did pretty good the first few days without any training you kn-”

  Shaun punched him in the shoulder this time, and he did it hard. Greg bounced in his seat and grasped his arm. He brought up his own fists in defense and Shaun said, “I’m ready to go Greg. If you did something that damn ignorant and you think that you don't have to tell us what it was then you are crazy, so quit dicking around and speak up!”

  Greg lowered his arms, at this point he’d rather of faced an entire horde then deal with the awkwardness of this. “I wanted to get out of there. So I lied, we didn’t have permission to leave the base. Nobody knows that we left. No one knows any of this is going on. We can try and call but you know as well as I do there’s probably not going to be anyone in the control room to hear us.”