“Hey Michelle,” I said smiling. Her frown deepened, “What’s wrong,”
“You hit Sarah.”
“I did, but it was for a very special reason.”
“Because she beat you.”
I almost laughed and probably would have if she didn’t look so distraught, “No honey. I didn’t hit her because she beat me.”
“Then why?”
“I hit Sarah because she wanted to know what it felt like, just in case she’s every hit by a bad person in the future. It was a very hard thing for me to do. I didn’t want to but Sarah convinced me too.”
Her frown turned into a look of puzzlement, “What?”
I tried to think of an example to help her understand why I had hit Sarah and was about to give up when Sarah chimed in “Shots.” I looked at her with my own puzzled expression until it dawned on me.
“Thanks,” she nodded. “Michelle, do you remember ever getting a shot at the doctors?”
“Yes.”
“Where you ever scared of getting one?”
“Yeah, the first time I remember getting one I was scared that it would hurt.”
“Did it?”
“A little.”
“Did it hurt more or less than you thought it would?”
“Less.”
“How about now, are you scared to get a shot?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Cause they don’t hurt that much.”
“So after you got your first shot and realized that they don’t hurt that much you weren’t scared anymore?”
“Uhuh.”
“Well, this was just like that. Sarah was scared of getting hit, but now that she knows what it feels like she’s not scared anymore. Do you understand?”
She looked at Sarah “You were scared of getting punched?” Sarah nodded “And you’re not scared now?” She shook her head no. “Oh”
“Do you believe me now?”
“Yep.”
And just like that, she was neither confused nor angry, she was just content. To her, no one got hurt because Sarah wasn’t angry or sad and I guess she understood that Sarah was better because of it. “Why was it hard?”
“What?”
“You said it was hard to hit Sarah. Why?” I smiled and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. Her eyes got wide and look at me as I sat back up. “Really?”
I nodded and she giggled. “That’s a secret between us, ok?”
“Ok.”
“You promise?”
“I pinkie promise,” she said offering up her tiny finger.
I looked at Sarah, “I see you’ve been teaching her all kinds of things.”
“Of course.” I linked fingered and we sealed our promise.
Later that night Sarah and I were lying in my bed, or should I call it our bed? She spent most nights here now. Anyways, we were lying the talking about nothing when she says, “You’re really good with Michelle.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the way you explained that little situation to her. Most adults wouldn’t get it but you were able to make a little girl understand why you had to punch me. You were patient and put it in a way she could understand.”
“Not really. You gave me the idea. It was really you who put it in terms she could understand.”
“Yeah but you understood what I was talking about with just one word. That’s means we were on the same page.”
“That’s only because I understand you.”
“That’s what you think,” she grinned and then winced, her jaw still sore.
I smiled sadly, “I guess it’s because I had nephews and nieces. I’m good with little kids in small numbers. More than three and I can lose it.”
“Well, we’ll just have to make sure that there aren’t more than three of them around you at any given time.”
“Whoa, you plan on having more than the one that’s already running around here?”
“You never know,” she said grinning widely before wincing again.
“Oh God,” I groaned. This was not the kind of talk I wanted to hear.
“Hey now, Thomas and Christina might want to start a family.”
“Great,” I said sarcastically.
“Oh, it wouldn’t be that bad.”
“You say that now, just wait till we have to go diaper shopping while looking over our shoulders for Walkers.”
“I think we can handle it.”
“I guess.”
“Plus, I never said that they would do it now. It could be a long time from now.”
“Patience isn’t really what this group is known for,” I said laughing and rubbing my eyes. “I’m ready for bed.”
“I’m not, you should rub my back.”
“I’ll rub your neck, how about that?”
“Fine, if you’re going to be lazy.”
“I’m tired. I’ll owe you one, ok?”
“Ok.”
I started to rub her neck and moved up to the base of her skull and to her scalp. She was asleep in a couple of minutes. She would have never lasted for the whole backrub. I yawned and fell asleep quickly but I didn’t stay that way for long. It was just getting light outside when I was woken by my radio. “James. Wake up.”
“Yeah Matt, what’s up?”
“I need you to get up here.”
“Walkers?” I asked already putting on my jeans.
“Nope.”
“Then what?”
“We’ve got company, a lot of company.”
“I’m on my way,” I clipped the radio to my waist and shook Sarah. “Sarah wake up. Rise and shine beautiful. We’ve got trouble.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked sleepily.
“Matt says we’ve got company.”
She sat up, “Walkers?”
“Not according to him.”
“Then what? No!”
“Yep. There are other survivors.”
CHAPTER 16
Sarah took off to her room to change and I did the same. I pulled on some jeans, boots, a t-shirt and a hoodie. I put on my holsters and headed outside. As soon as I walked out the door I could hear motors in the distance. I climbed up to the roof where Matt stood guard. “Hey.”
“Hey, you hear that?”
“Yeah. How long ago did you hear it?”
“Fifteen minutes or so. I waited to call you just in case I was just hearing things, but when it only got louder I called you.”
“Yeah, it sounds like there are more than a few vehicles.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I don’t really know. Like I told you, more people could be good or bad for us. I just need a minute to think.”
Sarah appeared and stood next to me, “Ok, you’ve had your minute, what are we going to do?”
She was looking to me to come up with a plan. I glanced at Matt, he was also looking to me and I turned back to Sarah, “Go wake everyone. We’re going to go say hello.”
Heading inside I changed again. Instead of jeans, I wore black tactical pants that I tucked into my boots. I wore a black t-shirt, tucked in, and my black motorcycle jacket. It was the closest think I could come up with a uniform. For what I had planned I wanted to look professional and organized. I walked out to the living room where everyone was surprisingly awake. Gone were the days where people took their time to get up. Now you had to be awake and alert for whatever might happen. “Ok guys, we’ve got a new problem. About twenty minutes ago Matt heard what sounds like several vehicles heading our way.” There was clamoring as everyone tried to talk at once. I raised my hands for silence and quickly received it. “Now this could be good or it could be bad for us. We have to approach this carefully. We don’t know what kind of people could show up or what their intentions are. I have a plan to meet with whoever is going to show up without giving away our location. We’ll determine the threat level and try to guess at their intentions. Hopefully, they’re just passing through and aren’t going t
o stay long.”
“How are you going to keep our location hidden?” asked Carrie.
“We’re going to cross over to Washington, travel down the coast and cross back over on the Astoria-Megler Bridge which will put us near the middle of town. That way they’ll think we came from the West. It’ll take us about four hours but I think it’ll be worth it.”
“Why do we have to take all these precautions? What if they’re ok? If they are then this would just be a waste of time,” said Jason.
“And if they’re not then we could be saving everyone’s life. I’m willing to sacrifice a couple hours on the road if it means keeping everyone safe. I want Matt, Jason, Justin and Thomas to change. Dress as similar as you can to me. I want all of us to look professional. We’re about put on a little show for our visitors and I want to look the part.”
“I’m coming too,” said Sarah.
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I…”
“No,” I said cutting her off, “you’re not. We’ll talk about it in a minute. Guys go change.”
I walked into my room and Sarah followed. “I’m going,” she said crossing her arms in a defensive gesture.
“No, Sarah, you’re not. And if you’ll let me explain you’ll see that I have a good reason.” I said, effectively stopping her argument before she even began. “You’re staying here not because I want to keep you safe and not because I don’t think you can’t take care of yourself. You’re more capable than the guys I’m taking. You’re staying here because we need to look strong. We need to look like badasses who’ve survived this apocalypse by killing everything in sight. I don’t know who these people are but it doesn’t matter how well you’ve been trained and it doesn’t matter that I know you can handle most untrained guys. They’ll look at you like a weak link. We can’t afford that. You have to understand that.”
She looked like she wanted to argue like she thought she could convince me to let her come. But ultimately she uncrossed her arms and said, “Ok.”
“You know I’d rather have you right next to,” I smiled, “so I could keep an eye on you.”
“Oh shut up,” she said and tried to slap me.
I caught her hand in mine, “You know,” I said pulling her close to me, “I’m getting really tired of you slapping me.” I stared into her eyes. I smiled and brushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear, “Sarah.”
“Yes?”
“Have I ever told you that I…”
“Hey man we’re… Oh sorry,” said Justin poking his head in.
We separated and I turned to look at him with what I hope was extreme displeasure and said, “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Just wanted to let you know we’re ready.”
“Thanks, I’ll be out in a second.” He left but before I could finish what I was saying my radio went off.
“James, it’s Matt. They sound like they’re really close now.”
“Damn it,” I muttered while Sarah chuckled at me. Picking up the radio I replied, “Thanks, Matt. I’m coming out now.” We walked out to the living room and joined the growing group of people on the front lawn. “Ok everyone, I want Thomas on the roof with a rifle. If they come up the driveway without us then you open fire. I and the rest of the team are going to head down and hide in the woods to get a glimpse of these guys. I want everyone else inside and armed. If you hear shooting you stay in the girls’ room and don’t come out. We’ll give the all clear, if not then be ready to fight.”
“I’m coming down to the road,” said Sarah.
“Fine, but if we have to greet them I want you to stay in the woods and slowly work your way back to warn the others. Agreed?” She nodded. “Good. Let’s move people.” There was a sudden flurry of activity as everyone rushed to follow my directions. We walked down to the strip of trees that bordered the highway and I checked the group’s visibility from the road. “Matt I can still see you. Yeah, that’s better.” I ran and took my own cover. We waited for almost fifteen minutes before they passed our position. Leading the group was two motorcycles traveling close together. Following them were two large full bed trucks, each packed with people. After that, there were two Semis, one a gas tanker and the other a storage unit, flanked by another four motorcycles. Bringing up the rear was another two trucks each packed with people. We watched as they drove by and my mind went to the road block. Would they hit it? As if on cue I heard the semis slow and finally stop. I guess they saw the roadblock. It only took a minute or so for them to clear it, it was designed after all to allow the living easy access while keeping out or slowing down the dead. We waited another minute or so just in case there were any stragglers or rear guards but after none appeared I said in a low voice “Let’s go.” Back up at the house, I asked the four that joined me “Were you guys counting? How many do you think that was?”
“I counted six or so in the back of those trucks, so assuming each vehicle is carrying its capacity, I would have to say around forty or so,” said Matt.
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”
“Forty-two to be exact,” said Sarah.
“Ok. We need to go. Thomas get down here, we’re taking off.”
We loaded up in a car, each armed to the teeth. We were each sporting at least two handguns and a shotgun. I opted to carry my bow instead of a shotgun but I still had my two pistols and a large selection of knives strapped to my waist. Before taking off Sarah made me promise to be safe and to come back. “You know I wouldn’t leave you,” I said and hugged her.
We drove down the driveway and took a right, heading away from town and towards Longview. It would take a less than an hour for us to get there. Normally with traffic, it would take an hour but I was assuming that we could travel around eighty miles per hour for the majority of the trip. It took just over forty-five minutes for us to reach the bridge. We were forced to slow down because of all the cars abandoned on the bridge. Justin, Jason, Matt and I walked ahead of the car to move anything in the way. We finally crossed the bridge and got on the freeway heading west. It took a solid hour to drive all the way to Megler where we could cross back over to Oregon and into Astoria. We talked about how exactly we would meet up with this new group of people and what lies we would tell them. “Remember, we’re staying in Megler, across the bridge. There are dozens of us holed up in a school. We’re well supplied and well-armed. We’re one of the scavenger teams sent out to collect supplies. Now, I’m going in alone first. I want you four to be close by but out of sight. I’ll go in, put them at ease and then signal for you to come to me.”
“What’s the signal?” asked Jason.
I made a circle with my pointed finger like a lasso and pulled down forming a fist. “Come only when I give the signal.”
“Why are you going in alone?” asked Matt.
“Because if they kill me I want you four to be able to kill as many of them as possible,” I looked pointedly at Thomas and his rifle, “and then get back to the others.”
“And if they kill you? What should we do with the others?”
“I don’t know. You guys will just have to use your best judgment, just don’t try and seek revenge. If they capture me you don’t try and save me. Wait here for as long as you want but you need to return the others eventually. Just don’t come after me. You get me?”
“Yeah we get you,” Jason said grudgingly.
We drove slowly searching for where the convoy could have stopped. “Do you think they could have just kept going?” asked Thomas.
“Maybe, but I don’t think so. For that many people, they probably empty each small town they come to, keeping away from big cities because of the Walker threat. I’m sure they’re here.”
“Ok so let’s think. Where could forty some people house themselves in relative safety?” posed Justin.
“Well, it looks like they have the manpower and munitions to clear out wherever they want. A couple places could include the empty Safeway, the hospital, and the main hotel in town. I
would exclude the Safeway, not very much open space. I’d also rule out the hotel because of its location. There are too many Walkers around it and they would have to clear every room and floor if they wanted it to be secure. I guess that leaves the hospital. It makes sense, they could clear it out and gather any supplies they would need from it.”
Survivors Series (Book 1): Heroes Aren't Born Page 23
