by Evans, Mike
“If you can make it back, we’d really appreciate it.”
Joe, who was still looking at the magnetic doors, had to ask, “So, you guys use those on all the different doors to keep things closed?”
“I’m an engineering major. I rigged it up just as soon as this happened. So long as no one raided it, that science building should have what you need,” Pete explained.
Joe leaned over next to Ellie and asked, “I don’t know what you got going on at that base but is he something we might want to have around?”
Ellie shrugged, “Can you really have too many smart people around you?”
Joe said, “You feel like a change of location?”
“Sure, I mean is it safe?”
“Safer than Chicago.”
“I don’t know what that really means.”
Ellie cut in, “Yeah, it's probably safer than you’d be here. The problem is we still haven’t gotten what we need, and I’m sure that having the Turned pounding on the door isn’t doing anything but making this place more dangerous by the moment.”
“Can you fit all of us in your car?” Pete asked already pretty sure that, short of a bus, would not be capable of getting them anywhere all at once anyways.
Ellie looked at the number of people and said, “We could take you, but you’d have to come with us while we collect stuff. If you can stay alive, then we can be back at our base in less than a few hours, I bet.”
“I’d very much like to not die. You aren’t filling me with a lot of confidence.”
“That isn’t really my strong suit. But I am a survivor and you could be too if you come with us. We can always come back later for the others. If they aren’t literally starving and have food, then they just need to keep this place buttoned up.”
Bethany said, “Christ, go. If this could give us the hope to end this then why wouldn’t we want you to go? We’ve already got your nerd magnets and that’s going to keep those things outside, just where we want them to be.”
“You’re sure about that? I mean once I’m gone it isn’t like I’ll have my moped to ride back to you guys.”
“You really are a nerd, Pete. Just be careful and don’t forget how to get back here.”
“I can handle that, Bethany.”
Pete looked at the group. Minus Joey, everyone was packing heavy. He optimistically asked, “It looks like you guys have plenty of guns at the base. Can I use one of those while we are out collecting? I’d like to be able to protect myself.”
“This isn't on the job training, and I don’t want you making any mistakes with a gun you don’t know how to use,” Kya said.
“I’m not going to shoot myself. I’m pretty sure I’m older than you and you have one.”
“I could care less if you shoot yourself. What I’m worried about is you shooting one of us. I get to carry one because people who have more experience than you could ever have taught me how to use it. On the job training isn’t going to be happening today,” Kya said, not giving any more info nor did it seem she was open for debate. She walked towards the stairs sign, disappearing around the corner.
Pete looked at the rest of the group, trying to keep some hope that there was someone there that would be on the same page thinking everyone needed a gun. Not a single face gave any sense to the fact that they were going to hand over anything to him. Pete said, “Well, thanks everyone, I feel like I’ve made some really strong friends here today.”
Joey put his arm around him, pulling him forward. “Don’t worry about it, Pete, you got me as a friend. I won’t hold you not knowing how to survive as something against you. I mean you probably should learn though, because otherwise one of them zombies is gonna pull your head off, and I don’t think you’d like that.”
Pete stopped walking, not sure what to say. He watched as his new group walked up the stairs, leaving him feeling like a naked kid up in front of everyone during a school speech. Bethany yelled, “Don’t get left behind. Don’t forget to come back for us. You don’t forget that and don’t die.”
Pete was going to say something intelligent, something to try and make them feel better, but he didn’t think there was anything he could say, could do, to make people feel confident. He wasn’t the type to make speeches; he was a thinker and a worker and falling further behind by the second. He started running up the stairs, catching up to them eventually and slowing down, trying to think on the fly what, if anything, that he could do to try and help but decided right now just guiding them to the chemicals which they needed would be more than enough.
When they got out to the roof, the group looked around, trying to see if the ladders mentioned were still intact. Pete pointed, not wanting to say it but knew he was making himself half sick thinking about falling. While he was rushing up the flights of steps, he was confident they had to be four or five different floors up. Pete said, “Guys, the building we want is three over. If we can get in there then we can see how bad it looks. I’ll even let you go first...since none of you seem to have the mindset of letting me carry something that can kill one of those things.”
Pete walked over to the ladder; he was doing calculations in his head as he looked at Joe and Joey, thinking they were most likely the heaviest out of the group. Pete put a little bit of pressure on the ladder. The idea that there wasn’t a lot of extra ladder on each side did little to make his heart happy. Ellie, who was not the biggest fan of heights, felt some vertigo when she peered over. She, like Pete, had already figured out the end game here if the ladder didn’t hold, if the ladder broke, if it slipped if she choked.
Joe said, “The responsible thing to do here would be for me or Yassa here to go first.”
Pete, who really wished he could just not have to speak, said, “I’d like to volunteer, please.”
“Trying to earn your keep already, Pete?” Joe asked.
“No, I don’t really want to explain myself; I don’t think you’ll like the answer.”
“Well now I’d really like to know it, Petey boy,” Joe replied.
His shoulders began to slump and he finally gave in. Pete slowly said, “I don’t know if the ladder is going to hold you. It might, I’m sure it is a great ladder. I know Drake doesn’t skimp when it comes to buying anything, but it's been outside for a year, not moving. We didn’t have a very easy winter, and well it just makes me nervous what condition it is in.”
Joe looked over the edge, unsure exactly how he felt about going down this many floors. There’d be no salvation for him if he fell, and if by some chance lived, the further outcome of that would be him in a lot of pain and paralyzed down on the ground waiting for one of the Turned to come out and make him a meal. On a positive note, maybe he would get lucky enough to just snap his neck and put him out of this nightmare of a world.
“If you or any of the lighter people would like to go first, that’s probably a good idea.”
Pete didn’t wait for someone else to say anything or to attempt to go first. He shook his hands out, realizing they were shivering like it was February in Iowa. He knelt down and began crawling, one rung at a time, on the ladder. The metal dug into his skinny shins and knees as he started making his way across. Pete looked down; the Turned were beneath him now, not knowing what tasty treat was above them. Pete slipped, his hands were covered with sweat and he hit hard. He immediately clung onto the ladder, and once he had a good grip on it, made damn sure that his glasses were well in place. The last thing he would want to do would be to lose those. There were not many eye doctors open right now, he thought, and his vision was shit without it. A pen fell out of his pocket, landing conveniently on one of the Turned. It did not appreciate that and looked up at what was above.
Pete cursed under his breath as the dead looked up, slowly seeing him on top of the ladder looking like he was going to shit his pants. The living and the dead locked eyes and only one of them was happy to see the other, if the Turned still knew happiness, which he didn’t think they did.
When
they realized that there was a fresh meal dangling like a shish kabob above them, they raced into the building right next to them. Pete was thankful that it wasn’t the building where Bethany and all the others were. But the building standing across from it was just going to lead them to himself. He froze on the ladder, thinking that going back was maybe a good idea. He felt like if he could rethink his earlier decisions about accepting an offer that he might decide it wasn’t quite as good of an idea coming with these, at best, strangers. For all he knew, they were crazy and were lying, and would eat him when they got back to this magical base with a cure. God damn, how stupid could he be? Pete screamed, “God damn it, I don’t understand what is happening. I don’t know what is going on. I can’t deal with this. How am I supposed to trust you guys, why am I on a fucking ladder?!”
Yassa yelled, “You volunteered to be, dipshit. Now get moving, so we can get through and across.”
“You saw those things running into the building, where do you think they are going?”
“Probably coming for you,” Yassa replied.
Pete thought head diving off this ladder might be an easier solution. But he figured if he got someone else over here with a gun, that might be a good thing to have. Pete took one step on his knees at a time until he got across the ladder to the roof. When he made it near the end of the ladder, he had mixed feelings if this was a good thing. He felt a warm feeling in his pants when the door to the roof busted open. Pete realized they’d had extreme motivation because they’d gotten to the top in seconds.
The Turned saw the small meal on the ladder and they raced towards him. Pete started going back as quickly as he could. He felt the rungs digging into his knees. He didn’t care though, and wanted to make sure that he didn’t feel their teeth digging into his flesh. He went back as quick as he could until his knees slipped off the side and his one thing holding him up disappeared. He slid down, clinging onto the side of the ladder, his feet dangling with nothing to save him, including the people on the other side of the roof.
Ellie didn’t need to be told what to do. She yelled, “Come on, let’s not lose him in the first five minutes we’ve had him.”
Jon, Kya, and Ellie walked up to the side of the roof with rifles shouldered. They began firing off just as quickly as they could, making brass rain down on the roof below their feet. The Turned began falling, one by one, but they were coming too fast and too hard. They were using each other unintentionally as shields. Yassa screamed as he raced out onto the ladder crouching, “If you guys could not shoot me in the head, that’d be great.”
No one responded, it seemed like common sense was going to be the answer. Don’t shoot anyone that isn’t trying to eat you. Ellie screamed as she was picking them off one at a time, “Just get moving, try and get him, please. He doesn’t look like he’s got a lot of upper body strength going for him right now, if you know what I mean.”
Yassa didn’t waste any time getting across the ladder. He wasn’t crazy, but him and fear were absolutely not friends with one another. Yassa raced across the ladder, not copying the guinea pig that had gone first. The ladder was shaking wildly, and Pete lost grip with his left hand and was just barely able to hang on with the other. He couldn’t keep a hold of it as the ladder was shaking. Pete watched as the long-haired, weirdly dressed man sprinted like a wild man across and towards him. He thought he was going to have a chance when his right hand gave way and he felt the absolute worst feeling he had ever had in his entire life. The dreams he’d had since childhood of falling and being so thankful that he’d woken up covered in sweat, and his heart pounding in his chest would not be the same outcome now. He closed his eyes; he didn’t need to see any more of what was going to happen next. Yassa dived the last three feet, hand outstretched.
Chapter 12
The group had been walking for a half hour. No one was feeling amazing about their current circumstances. Earl was on Clary’s last nerve and Shaun was getting a bit nervous for him. Shaun did think that anything stupid that Greg could do to annoy Clary was currently unmatched by Earl. Earl said, “I know you’ve mentioned this for each time I’ve said it but seeing as I don’t really believe that ya’ll have got a staple gun so I feel like maybe you won’t be able to staple my mouth done shut. I just gotta ask one more time, if you really thought about it. I mean if one of them there things comes up here with a radar lock on your ass, wouldn’t you feel better about me being stocked, locked, and cocked, ready to kick ass and take names?”
Clary looked to Shaun and said, “Other than his fucking gun that didn’t do a helluva a lot for us currently, is there a reason that I can’t just shoot him? I’m sure something would be happy for the meal whether it be alive or dead.”
“I don’t think that’s going to create a ton of trust between the newbies and you guys. But I’m not 100% sure that they like Earl all that much.”
Earl, who somehow had impeccable hearing, regardless of the fact that his past times were loud country and even louder guns, said, “Uh, I heard that. People love my ass, all kinds of people too, not just random strangers. I’m probably one of the most popular guys alive.”
Scott ignored Earl, he knew very well that the man could drive someone to the brink of insanity and had, many times, while they were stuck inside of the CDC building. Scott asked, “How far do you think we are from the base?”
Clary never stopped walking, thinking it’d get him no closer. He replied, “I don’t know for sure, probably a half hour by car. So, we’re going to be walking for a while.”
Earl said, “Glad you remembered the guns and all but if you would have brought the radios, that would have been fantastic. I mean, I know it isn’t easy to tell by lookin’ at me, but this cardio isn’t my foreplay if you know what I mean. I’m more of a heavy lifter, you know.”
Everyone knew that he meant forte but correcting him would do nothing for him. When they made it up over a hill which Iowa had no shortage of, Clary saw a farmhouse. If they had any sort of car which they could borrow, it would be a godsend. Clary prayed that there’d be something, even if there was a CB or long-distance radio, it would be better than nothing.
Earl said, “Hey, why don’t you get your ass moving. There’s a house just standing there waiting for us. I mean come on, there could be cars, there could be food, like good food, I’ve eaten enough chow to choke on in my life. If there’s some good food in that freezer, then I say we take it. I bet you can’t guess how long it's been since I’ve had a steak.”
Clary looked to Shaun who set his gear down. Clary said, “I can’t, not that I care, Earl.”
Shaun kept the cover on his scope closed until he did a quick pass over it. Greg knew that Clary didn’t enjoy going into things blind, and the more issues he could deal with ahead of time, the better. With one eye left, the last thing he wanted to do was go into it with the odds stacked any more against him than he needed to. Shaun slowly walked the scope across the bag. He knew, for the most part, outside of a stupid long shot, that if he could see the target that he could lay his cross hairs on it and put it down without any issues. Earl asked, “Hey, do you see something, what do you see?”
Shaun didn’t answer and squeezed the trigger ever so lightly. The suppression and silencer that Clary had designed had never lost any of its impressiveness. The bullet raced across the field. One of the Turned was neck deep into the intestines of one of the cows that a farmer at one time must have had as a prize cow from the size of it. The bullet missed his head but tore across his spine. It looked like a zipper had been undone across his back. Shaun scanned what was left to look at, trying to see what was coming, pulling the bolt-action back, not worrying about his brass for the moment.
Clary loved when someone was proficient with their weapon. He always felt like a proud papa when one of his students excelled. Clary surveyed the area with a spotting scope but wasn’t going to tell someone their business when they weren’t doing anything wrong. Shaun checked three times before click
ing his safety back on. Earl said, “You’re pretty good with that thing. You know I could tweak that for you, maybe make a few adjustments on it. You give ol’ Earl an hour or so and we could get you…”
“You touch that gun, Earl, and I will make sure you don’t have any hands left to mess with other people’s things.”
“I mean if you want to keep messing with something that isn’t a hundred percent that’s fine with me. But it doesn’t make too much sense, I mean since I thought that you guys liked each other. I mean…”
Clary felt like his head was going to explode. He knew if he didn’t do something to either shut him up or get to the point that he was going to lose his mind. Clary had supreme confidence, but didn’t really know Earl which he was fine with but also didn’t know any real details. Clary asked confidently, “So how do you fix something that isn’t broken, Earl?”
To which Earl replied, “Well isn’t that a little cocky? I mean, the Model T was pretty good, but if they didn’t keep movin’ forward you wouldn’t have the 1969 Boss 429 Ford mother fucking Mustang. Can you imagine trying to outrun these things if we were still rolling around in one of those?”
