by David Peters
“I can’t guess as to why. Sounds kind of weird, but I am really tired. If it gets us closer to actually being able to sleep with both eyes closed, I would pretty much kiss you at this point” said Dave.
“No kissing necessary. Not without buying me a drink first” Dylan smiled as he checked the four out. Aside from the obvious lack of a shower recently they didn’t smell like two week old road kill “ok, follow me in” Dylan said as he took a point in front of the van.
“They’re friends!” Dylan called out. Niccole waved from the wall and Julie waved back.
“Let ‘em in guys, if Dylan says they are ok, they are ok,” said Daniel.
Dylan had them park next to the dilapidated old bus then excitedly hugged everyone as they got out of the van.
“I can’t believe we finally made it. For the most part it’s quiet out there but there are some seriously bad places. The only thing that kept me going was looking back and seeing those kids smiling like the world was still a happy place” said Dave as he hugged Dylan. “You saved my family’s life that day man and I am forever in your debt.” Dave was almost in tears.
“Do we have a place for these guys to stay Daniel? We can work out details later. I’ll take personal responsibility if there are any issues.”
“You know it isn’t an issue,” Daniel looked around, “hey Mayberry!”
Mayberry, one of the night guards, jogged up, “What’s up Boss.”
“People need to stop calling me Boss. Anyway, would you mind letting this family use your back room? You always sleep on the couch anyway, ain’t even there four hours at night,” said Daniel.
“Not a problem at all Boss. I’d sleep better knowing there is someone else there anyway. Living alone doesn’t have the same perks it used to and it honestly gets a little scary sometimes,” Mayberry said with a smile.
Dave and Julie thanked him and they started dragging their hastily packed belongings to his cabin.
“They are good people. We had helped them out on our way here” said Dylan.
“I have a feeling there will be others. We need to make sure we keep track of talents and the likes, make sure we get people where they can do the most good” Daniel thought out loud.
“Agreed, if I remember right Dave framed houses for a living. I would think that could come in handy at some point” Said Dylan. “Although I should talk to him before you put wind up putting him in charge of a work crew somewhere,” Dylan added with a wink.
Niccole laughed with them “Erica and I are going to make sure they get settled in, see if they need anything. I’ll talk with you later.” Niccole kissed Dylan and they started off for Mayberry’s cabin.
Dylan found himself looking around the camp. His eyes kept coming back to the old, gray, rusting school bus. It was at least thirty five years old with more than a few windows gone. Cosmetic damage aside the tires were all solid. He would like to get under the hood and take a look at the engine. He had seen it running a few years ago and it he couldn’t see it declining to un-repairable in that short span of time.
He walked over to the bus and started circling around it slowly, rubbing his chin and nodding. He finally stopped at the front of the bus and said quietly, “Yes, this will actually work well. Some work involved but it will do well.”
“Care to let me in on the secret there little brother?” asked Daniel as he walked up behind Dylan.
“If we can find a way to attach some of those plywood sheets you have to this bad boy, we could make a fairly well armored bus, at least in regard to the Corrupted. Dylan then went into detail about what he was thinking, and how he would do it. Daniel listened, asked questions where appropriate, and in general thought it was an incredibly good idea.
“That will be number two on our priority list,” said Daniel, first we need to clear some woods and open up some fire zones, using your words.”
“I must have read too many war novels in the past” said Dylan as they walked towards the square.
--1--
Niccole and Erica helped the newly arrived family unload their minivan. Both parents looked like the walking dead while Emily and Keegan chased each other around the front of the cabin.
“We had pretty smooth sailing for quite a while after we parted ways” David said, his cracking voice made him sound like he was at the point of collapsing. “At some point we got really turned around and headed a lot further south than we meant to. I think we may have almost hit the California border. Hell, we could have been in Mexico for all I knew. I guess that happens when you spend every waking second looking for something that wants to kill your family. You kind of miss things like road signs.
At some point it occurred to me that I also hadn’t been paying attention to fuel. I wound up taking an exit into some town I don’t even remember the name of. I am trying to get the fuel to siphon out of a car in a grocery store parking lot when I see this Hunter hauling ass down the road at us. I leveled that old ten gauge at the thing and pulled the trigger, nothing but a fizzle and a smelly puff of smoke. Meanwhile this Hunter is close enough now that I can hear him huffing. I rolled the hammer back on that second barrel and pulled the second trigger. The next thing I knew I was looking at the sky wondering if the ringing in my ears would ever stop. The sound was incredible! Kids were crying, wife was screaming, my shoulder was somewhere in Montana and that Hunter looked like it had been dropped from an extremely tall building.”
“Why didn’t you use the rifle we gave you?”
“The bullets were so damn small. I don’t know much about guns. Only thing I ever shot was a 22 at my Grandpa’s house. And the bullets in that gun you gave me didn’t look any bigger.”
“Kind of true I guess, although they come out a little faster than a 22 would.”
“I started using it afterwards. Shot a few times and liked that I didn’t require medical attention after every shot.”
“That tank full got us almost to Sumter. We found what I thought was an abandoned car on the side of the road. I was halfway through taking all the fuel out of it when I heard some crazy ass scream come from out of the forest line a short distance away. I just grabbed the half full can and we bolted. We made it the rest of the way here on fumes. Never did put that can of gas in.”
Niccole could tell Dave was fading fast; Julie was desperately hanging on herself, watching Erica play with her children. She wanted to ask questions. What did Boise look like? Did you see any others? Did you see any military? Did the radio work anywhere? But it would have to wait. They weren’t in any shape for questions at this point.
“I jumped back into the van and we got the hell out of there, drove until I thought the engine would die. At some point we found a few cars in a small town about four hours south of here. I was able to get a few cups of gas but that was it. From that point on we headed here without stopping for anything or anyone.”
“Once I saw the signs for Sumter, I felt energized. If Dylan wouldn’t have told me about the gravel turn off I never would have found it. Seeing him jump down from that wall was like the second coming for me. I’m surprised he didn’t have a halo. As far as we can tell both sides of our families are gone and I couldn’t stand losing those two beautiful and innocent children.”
Niccole had the parents get up “You did well. Your kids are safe here. Erica and I will watch them like they are our own. You two are pushing yourselves too hard.” She escorted them to the back bedroom, the cabin having the exact layout that Daniels did only with a red door.
Dave and Julie dragged their nearly lifeless bodies onto the bed. Neither one even bothered to take their shoes off. Julie looked at Niccole “Thank you again, for everything. Our kids are everything to us.” With that, both were out.
“Erica, it looks like we are putting off the work detail for a while. Emily, Keegan, do you two like horses?”
--2--
Daniel had told several runners to spread the word about an emergency town meeting. Both Dylan and Niccole were surpr
ised by the sheer volume of people in the middle of the square. There were easily over two hundred crowding around the various buildings struggling to get a view of the center stage. The motley crowd was a hodge-podge of young and old, woman and men.
Daniel, Dylan and Niccole all stood on the small center stage and waited for the crowd’s conversation to die down.
Daniel moved to the podium and motioned with his arms for everyone to quiet down. “Alrighty folks, let’s quiet down. I am sorry to haul everyone out here this morning but we have some pretty important business to discuss.”
“First off I would like to introduce everyone to my brother and sister-in-law, Dylan and Niccole.”
There was brief applause from the crowd as Dylan and Niccole waved.
“I’m sure everyone saw their work with the last Corrupted attack. Both of these folks come with a wealth of knowledge and knowhow on handling the current situation.”
“The three of us have been discussing in great length what our best options are moving forward. We need to be thinking about bettering our defenses and where we want to be in the long term.”
“One of our first moves is going to involve removing quite a few trees that surround the majority of our town. Well actually that isn’t quite honest. We will be clear cutting quite a large area around the town.”
There were several murmurs from the crowd as Daniel continued, “I know this goes against the grain of what most of us believe, but it is a necessary evil. I will ask Dylan to explain more in depth. Dylan?”
Dylan stepped forward and cautiously began, “I don’t talk well to large groups, so forgive me. The first thing I really see this town needing is a clear view from all three of our exposed sides. I think the Hunters getting in last night really showed how exposed you are and how much damage could be done if you weren’t ready for it.”
Dylan continued for about twenty minutes as he laid out the plans for the wall system and asked for volunteer work crews.
There was mumbled talk in the crowd as he stepped away but the overall feeling was one of agreement.
Daniel stepped back up to the podium, “We are also going to start sending out feelers for other survivors. Niccole has a fairly vast electronics and radio background. She will be in charge of that project. She will need several volunteers to help with cables, antenna, and trying to revive some of the older equipment we have in camp.”
“William, weren’t you a cable contractor? It would be great if you could give her a hand.”
William was a gruff looking slightly overweight man whose face hadn’t seen a decent shave in months. He was standing away from the crowd with his hands in his pockets.
Daniel motioned to Niccole as he stepped away from the podium.
Niccole stepped and started, “That would be great William. We could really use the assistance. I would also like to find anyone with…” William interrupted her mid sentence.
Niccole paused and shook off a slightly surprised look, “I’m sorry William. I didn’t catch that.”
“Sorry, I thought I used all small words too. I will say it louder lady. I ain’t workin’ for no bitch. You want me to do man’s work, you put a man in charge.”
Dylan was startled by the comment and stepped towards the podium.
Niccole put her hand on his chest to stop him and whispered quietly, “Not this time Cowboy, my fight.”
Niccole sighed, “I think you are kind of missing the point here William. This is about survival. We may be asking for volunteers but you will need to do the work one way or another. You need to put the petty stuff aside.”
“Maybe you didn’t hear me lady, I ain’t working for no bitch, and I sure as hell ain’t working for no pushy bitch.” He laughed out loud. He rocked back and forth with his hands in his pocket as he attempted to stare Niccole down.
Niccole rolled her neck and sighed again. As she stepped away from the podium she gave the brothers a passing look, “If you gentlemen will pardon the interruption, William and I need to have a ‘Come to Jesus’ moment.”
Dylan whispered as she passed, “Don’t hurt him too bad, we still need him to work and Doc is pretty busy already.”
The crowd parted for Niccole like she was a boat plowing through icy water. William stood his ground as she approached him. An ever widening circle of empty ground grew around him.
Niccole stopped a few feet from the unkempt man. “So we appear to have an issue with respect of the opposite sex here sir.” Niccole knew this wasn’t just an issue of having to stand her ground to this sad excuse of a man. She needed to prove something to herself. She had spent the last week feeling borderline helpless. That was going to stop right here, and sadly William was going to pay the price.
“I wouldn’t say that at all. I would say we have a man that hasn’t been pussy-fied and knows who wears the pants and a woman who doesn’t know her place.”
Niccole took another step towards William as he took his hands out of his pockets.
“Lady, you best back off before you go and get that pretty little face all bruised up like.”
Without blinking an eye, Niccole threw her elbow into the side of the man’s head. As he rolled with the blow she brought her left fist into his gut, doubling him over. As he struggled to stand back up she grabbed the back of his head and slammed it into her up rising knee. William fell face first to the ground unsure which way the sky was.
Niccole used her foot to roll him onto his back and pushed her hiking boot onto his neck.
“Let’s get a few things straight here sir. One, you are now officially my bitch. You get out of line again, and I will kick your ass to Portland and back. Two, the misogynistic crap goes away today, there isn’t any room for it here and there never will be. We are equals or you are homeless. Three, when you get your fat ass up off the dirt, the slate is clean as far as I am concerned. You have any issues with that William?”
William shook his head no as best he could. His nose was bleeding profusely and it looked like he would be sporting double shiners for some days to come.
Niccole took her boot off of him and turned back towards the stage with out another word. William still stayed laying down nursing several new tender spots. Few missed the anger welling in those eyes.
There were several murmurs in the crowd. A few of the women patted her shoulder as she passed by.
Daniel stepped back to the podium, “Thanks Niccole, great show, she’s in town all week.” A small laugh rolled through the crowd. “Seriously though, we all know things are different now. The days of not contributing are gone. If you want to stay here, you work. If you have some skill set that we aren’t aware of, by all means come forward.”
As Niccole reached the stage Dylan whispered to her “You ok Coco?”
“I think I damn near broke my elbow on that rock solid melon of his but I’ll be damned if I am going to show it.”
Dylan laughed and put his arm around her whispering, “I think you made some new fans, and at least one new enemy.”
Daniel spent the rest of the impromptu meeting setting up work parties for the various projects they had decided on.
--3--
As the brothers walked along the western portion of the camp the two of them were coming up with rough estimates of how far out they should clear. Although it made sense to Daniel, it was further than he had originally envisioned during the earlier planning.
“Isn’t there any ex-military here? Best I can do is what I learned from touring one of the old Civil War forts down south and that was over fifteen years ago” Dylan said with exasperation. “Even that was just standing out looking over empty two hundred year old battlefields wondering when we were going to have lunch.”
“I think you have the current record for Corrupted killed” said Daniel. “That has to be of some value.”
“Ya, not something I want to brag about. Every one of them was a person at one time and that person had a life and a family.” Dylan kicked a rock as he spoke. �
��Every night when I go to sleep I think about that. Randy’s sister, I killed her man. It was self defense, or at least defense of my wife. But still, I killed her. The guys on the bridge, that incident will be with me forever. Could I have talked to them? Probably not. It still doesn’t change the fact that I shot them like coyotes in a field.”
“You did what you had to do to survive. You can’t blame yourself, you didn’t volunteer yourself for that position but Niccole is still here because of it. As far as that goes so are many others. Hell, half this camp is still alive today because of you. You need to man up little brother. Suck it up and move on. You can’t change the past, but you helped make a better future for a lot of people.”
Dylan sighed. He started to say something and then just stood there quietly. The moment had passed and he had pushed the emotions back under the carpet where he hoped they would remain.
