by Weeks, TJ
I dozed off with the rotter’s moans and banging left in the background.
I felt a foot nudge me what seemed like minutes after I had dozed off and my eyes crept open. When I fully awoke I could see everyone sitting around eating on their last MRE.
“Come on bro, come eat so we can get this show on the road.” Steven suggested.
“I’ll wait, it’s our last MRE and we don’t know how long it’ll be before we get back home.” I replied as he was pulling his out of his bag.
He tapped his thumb on its package a few times before shoving it back into his bag. “You’re right. Well, let’s not waste anymore daylight.”
“Pack it up guys and let’s go.” I stated.
I had Steven boost me up to the trap door, but I couldn’t get through with my bag so he let me back down.
“Fuck!...Okay gentlemen, we’re going to have to leave our gear behind and only take our weapons and things we can pocket.” I informed.
“And you want us to put our food up?” Gizmo questioned.
“No, everyone needs to go ahead and eat what they can and get whatever energy you can, because it may be our last meal before we get back home. I want everyone to save their Ranger Bars and pocket them for emergencies that we don’t find anything else.” I informed further.
“What about me and Rachel? I gave her my MRE yesterday.” Justin asked.
“You can have some of mine, but you’ll have to get some from someone else as well because I don’t have enough for three of us.” I stated.
“Oh, it’s you and Rachel now…Already a thing.” Gizmo stated jokingly as he handed over a pack from his MRE.
“Shut up bro, you’re just jealous.” Justin stated as he grabbed the pack.
“Why the fuck would I be jealous, I’m married. How old are you anyways?” Gizmo responded.
“I’m twenty.” She replied.
We all started laughing.
“Guess you’re trying to rob the cradle aren’t you brother. You want a shot of whiskey? Oh wait, you’re not old enough.” Gizmo joked further.
She put her hands on her hips and glared at Gizmo. “I’ve drank before you know.”
“We’re not referring to the bottle or your momma’s tit.” I smiled as I finished my MRE.
“You guys are so fucking funny.” She stated as she directed her eyes to me.
“Don’t let them get to you.” Justin told her.
“Bitch, no one is trying to get to her because you’ve already got her.” Gizmo stated.
“Hey brother, boost me back up.” I told Steven.
Everyone could see that I was ready to go, so started cramming their mouths a little faster as Steven cupped his hands for me to stand on for the boost.
There was thousands rotters that had made their way to surround our train cars. The high grass was pushed over and looked like game trails to lead to their food source. I looked further down the train and could see that it was fairly clear around the first few cars. After a good look, I laid down on top of the train cart and lured my arm as far as I could stretch it to help others up.
Before I lifted the last person up, I had them start handing the camelbacks up so we could have what was left of the water at least. I pulled Howard up with the help of Steven grabbing his other arm.
“So what’s the plan now?” Donald asked.
“Now we run and don’t stop running until we hit the engine of the train and jump off and get as far as we can down the tracks and leave these bastards as far back as we can.” I replied.
“Whoa bro, I’m scared of heights.” Donald stated.
“Get over it.” I replied before I threw my camelback and rifle over my shoulders, picked up my machete and took off full sprint jumping from car to car.
Justin quickly took the lead as he passed me with no problem. He was looking like an Olympic runner until he tried to slide down the front ladder and caught his foot on the second to last step. The rest of us just jumped instead of waiting for him to clear the ladder.
“Come on!” I hollered back to him.
“My leg!” He hollered back.
Gizmo and I made eye contact and must have thought the same because we both took off running toward him. Gizmo threw Justin’s arm over his shoulder and I lifted his leg up and pulled it free and then threw his other arm over me. Justin almost fell completely down as soon as his weight hit his leg. I couldn’t turn my head far enough around to see how close the rotters were getting, but I could hear the moans getting louder. Justin let out a bloodcurdling scream and placed the palm of his hands on each of our backs and shoved us forward. We turned to see one of the rotters with its mouth already wrapped around Justin’s calf and ripping back flesh.
“RUN! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” Justin screamed at us as other rotters joined in to make a meal of him as blood squirted out from his chewed arteries.
Gizmo and I started tearing up, but we did as he said and started to run. We could barely see the rest of the group, they ran, jumping off the train and never turned back.
“FUCK…GOD DAMNIT…FUCK!” Gizmo continued to scream out as we ran.
“This is no time for mourning, brother.” I told him.
“That was our goddamn brother too.” He replied.
“And he saved us.” I reminded him.
“FUCK…FUUUUCK!” He screamed again.
I could see the train station ahead and I could see the rest of the squad bent over trying to catch their breath. “There they are.”
I turned and looked back and couldn’t see any rotters in sight.
“Here they come!” Steven called out and pointed back toward us.
“Where’s Justin?” Rachel questioned.
“He’s gone…they got him.” I replied.
She started crying. “You let them kill him.”
Gizmo snatched her up by her throat and slammed her into a pole. “Bitch that was my best friend. You think just because you fucked him that your opinion means shit?”
I grabbed Gizmo’s shoulders and pulled him back. “Let her the fuck go. We don’t have time for this.”
“Oh, that’s right…Our great leader. He was your friend too and you can’t take a minute for him.” Gizmo directed at me.
I got up in his face. “Yes, he was my friend too. Yes, I will remember him and yes, I will have a minute for him, but it’s not right now. If you want to sit here and wait for them to catch up with us, then by all means…Take your fucking minute. The rest of you…let’s move.”
I took Rachel by the shoulder and led her forward and away from Gizmo’s grip. We stepped off the tracks and back to the streets since the station was in Terrell.
“Wait!” Gizmo called out.
He caught a slight jog to catch up. “I’m sorry and you’re right.”
“It’s okay.” Rachel stated.
“Bitch, I’m not talking to you.” He let her know.
“Let’s just move, maybe hit up a couple of these houses and we’ll talk about it later.” I answered.
He agreed and took his place back with our squad as we ventured around.
OUT OF TOUCH
WE RAN to the truck and I grabbed my phone and instantly started dialing up my wife.
“I’m sorry, you have reached a number that has been changed or disconnected, if you feel like you’re getting this message by error, please hang up and dial the number again.” A recording stated.
“FUCK!” I shouted as I slammed the truck into reverse and slid it out of the driveway.
“What did you mean, they weren’t my parents anymore?” Gizmo questioned as he calmed down a bit.
“They were already dead.” I explained.
“You mean like zombies?” He questioned further.
“I mean exactly like zombies.” I responded.
“Do you know how fucked up that sounds?” He stated.
“Look around you, there are people eating other people like a fucking buffet and those guys at your house…It all makes se
nse.” I answered.
He sat and thought about it for a moment and then pulled his phone out quickly and started trying to call his wife.
“Don’t bother, the phones are already out.” I told him.
WHILE WE’RE AWAY
WITH ALL of the excitement for the last couple of days. Tina and Kris were ready for the weekend and just letting the kids be kids and maybe sitting and gossiping like old times.
The group was all ready to go to sleep once back in their rooms and planned to do just that, until Karen ran through Kris’s door.
“Headlights are at the gate!” She hollered.
Tina burst through her door at hearing the yelling and peered through the classroom window.
“Martin is out there by himself!” Tina stated.
Kris, Tina and Karen grabbed rifles that had been hung on the wall and instructed the kids to stay down and stay where they were. Tina demanded that Shianne go gather Cloie and Hudson and take them back with her and tell them to do the same.
The three women lined up as Tina and Kris had when they were on the outside with their husbands. Lisa joined in the lineup halfway to the gate with her own gun and all four ready to shoot. Two of the plant crew joined in the line and all of the six readied themselves for whatever was to come.
They rounded the curve and approached with caution as they were unable to see Holsinger standing there.
“MARTIN!” Tina half whispered and half yelled.
The headlights from a vehicle still shown outside the fence line. Martin suddenly appeared from the shadows of the solid wall with a gun of his own and waved the group over.
“It’s not our group. They stopped and now they are back in their truck.” Martin explained.
The group stood quietly along the only thing that separated them from these others that were able to make due in their truck. They were not willing to take on anyone that they did not know without the approval of the rest of the crew that was gone. The truck turned and headed in the other direction and drove away.
“Who the fuck were they?” Lisa asked Martin.
“I don’t know, they drove up, got out, looked through the gate and got back in their truck. I thought it was the guys, the truck looked close to the same.” He stated.
Everyone dropped their guns back to their side and watched as the tail lights faded out.
“We will all stay for a little while to make sure they don’t come back.” Kris stated. “We will not accept anyone in here that may hinder our safety.”
The group agreed and stayed in the shadows up against the walls with hopes that the strangers just chalked the place up to be abandoned and left for good. The seven stood and talked about how they had all come together as they had to protect their place and decided that maybe they needed some more to take guard on other sides of the land to keep an eye out for others that may approach from somewhere else. Lisa expressed her concern with taking any others from the plant as she had no one to spare from the plant and they all knew that there was no one to spare from cafeteria duty or the garden if they wanted things to continue the way they were going.
Kris accepted the responsibility and told everyone to go on back and that she would figure it out. Tina offered to take on the children until Kris figured out the guard situation on other parts of the land.
That night, Kris walked the wall line and listened for any strange noises that were not moans or staggering of the dead. She looked for anywhere that someone may be able to get in and kept an eye on the tops of the walls in case anyone tried to enter by climbing over. With her inspection, everything seemed to be secure. She made her way back to Martin after only walking about half way around the perimeter and advised him that all seemed fine and that they would choose a few guys a night to take a walk around the perimeter to keep checks, instead of only having them do it during the day as they had before. Martin agreed.
Kris made her way back to the school and to her room to lie down since it was almost time for the breakfast crowd and she knew that the children would want to go eat breakfast soon.
She lied there and stared out of the window and looked at the stars in the sky wondering how this mess could now be her life. She wondered where her husband was and if he was okay.
As morning came, the sun slapped her square in the face. Her mind told her to get up, but her body did not want to move. She slowly rolled over and off of her small cot and let her feet hit the floor. She rubbed her eyes and thought that this must be what TJ and Tina felt like with their bad attitudes in the mornings. She almost wondered if coffee was going to be helpful to her today, and then decided that maybe a nice shower would do her wake up time justice.
She gathered her change of clothes and headed that way, but not before stopping by and peeking into Tina’s room to see that they were all already gone. Kris was half thankful as she reached the shower that she might be able to take her time and meet everyone at the cafeteria when she was a bit more awake.
She entered the table filled room to a large amount of people having their breakfast. With it being Saturday, Lisa only required a small amount of people to work so the others could have a normal weekend. She would switch people out that were allowed to be off unless needed. So the cafeteria was more packed than normal. Kris headed to her group looking around for Shianne.
“She is helping.” Tina stated grumpily. “These damn kids knew it was Saturday and thought it would be nice for me to have coffee at six in the morning.”
Kris laughed as she sat next to Sidnie and stole a piece of sausage from her plate.
“Sorry.” Kris stated.
“It wasn’t your kids.” She replied back.
Milissa came to the table to refill glasses and offered a plate to Kris.
She nodded in thanks and took the plate from her.
“I heard you were up pretty late, if you need me to take a shift, just let me know. I can have Chelley and Bobbi pull twelves here if needed.” Milissa offered.
“I’m trying not to take away from anyone’s duties that they already have. Things run smoothly around here and there is no reason the change that. I will figure something out.”
NOT DEAD
ON THE way back I gave a little less shit and hit all the dead that walked out into the road.
“What the fuck, TJ. They’re still people.” Gizmo announced.
“Maybe, but fuck them. That’s less of those assholes I have to worry about trying to eat our family or us later for that matter.” I responded.
You could see an agreeance in his eyes as we continued home as fast as I could drive and swerve around cars without killing us.
Finally making it into Enchanted Lakes, I cut across the field before the driveway just to get there a little faster. My truck shifted side to side in the moon dust kind of dirt and high weeds.
POW! My tire blew as I hit the potholed pavement, but I kept the gas pedal to the floor. The steering wheel was shaking uncontrollably and by the time I reached Gizmo’s house I pretty much had to stand up putting my weight down on the wheel to turn into the driveway.
CHAPTER TEN
AS WE trolled through the town we saw another bar on the main street and decided it was a good place to go after today’s events, but before we walked in, we walked across the street to a gas station and gathered some soft drinks for mixers as well as food we could scavenge. Walking back over to the bar we walked in without a care. It was empty of the dead, but we had no idea. We found a couple unopened boxes of Crown Royal and Jack Daniels.
“Hey Rachel, you any good at bartending?” I asked.
“I’ve never tried, but I guess I’m validated.” She responded.
She pulled out some of the dusty glasses and wiped them down with the inside of her shirt and started mixing. “Anyone have any preferences?”
“Nope.” Gizmo stated.
Of course there was no ice so she served them hot. The first couple went down a little rough, but got easier with each one we shot back. Donal
d sipped his slowly.
“What’s one thing you miss about the real world?” Rachel asked.
“You mean excluding Justin? I miss fishing.” I stated.
“Oh man, I haven’t been fishing in what seems like a century.” Steven followed.
“So why can’t we go fishing? That gas station had fishing equipment on its back wall.” Gizmo stepped in.
“Where would we go?” I questioned.
“Lake Tawokani is only about six or seven miles from here.” He replied.
“We can go in the morning. We need it. Maybe it’ll put our mind at ease.” I stated.
“What about home?” Rachel questioned.
“It’s going to take us a few days to get home, if we keep pushing ourselves, maybe longer.” I responded as I shot another drink back and set my glass back on the bar for a refill.
“You guys are going to get drunk and not be on guard.” Donald suggested.
“And?” Gizmo stated.
“You’re not worried that we’ll fall under attack?” He responded.
“You do know that drinkers get drunk, fuck and fight, so which of those do you think is going to screw us over?” Gizmo added.
“I was just saying.” He followed.
“You say too much.” Howard chimed in.
“Oh, that’s your Sergeant talking, you better stand at ease.” I threw out there as Steven and I started laughing.
He set up a little straighter. “I still don’t get what you have against the military.”
“When did you go through basic, kid?” I asked.
“Two years ago.” He answered with confidence.
“Ah…that’s why I have no respect for you.” I answered.
“I got just as much training as you did.” He stated in a pissed tone while springing up to his feet.
I laughed more. “Sit down boy. You got trained with cell phones, cigarettes, snuff, stress cards and kindness. You think that’s training? In my military days we had live rounds going inches over our heads, Drill Sergeants in your face head butting you with the bill of their hats, doing push-ups in ant mounds with no cigarettes, snuff, stress cards and no time to call momma to cry. In my days they raised men, not pussies.” I stated in a stiff tone.
