Dead, We Are

by Jimmy Bird

  Cautiously, half of us looked out of the window while the rest kept an eye on our "guest." I wish I could say that it was all a bluff, but it wasn't. Coming out from around the corner of some of the houses was what looked like a small army of heavily armed rednecks. They were decked head to toe in off color camo and helmets. Their numbers looked to be in the thirties, maybe more. Located in the very center of the group was Kevin and Bruce.

  Elation sprung forth from my heart because this changed everything. It meant that we were no longer in danger, Kevin and Bruce had returned with an army. It meant that we were now protected against the constant zombie infestation. At the mention of Kevin and Bruce's names the remaining Council members rushed to look out the window. Yes, their return changed everything.

  I was the first one to turn around to welcome our honored guest, but he was gone. My mind raced as I randomly spoke out, commenting that the soldier was gone. Everyone turned back in unison as they asked "What did I mean by he was gone?" "Why would he take off like that?"

  Our surprise turned to fear as we glance back toward the window. We were all thinking the same thing. If we were correct it meant that Kevin and Bruce weren't there to "rejoin"us. They were there to invade us.

  We quickly split into three teams to search for the soldier. The only possible explanation for his disappearance was that he was trying to find our armory. One group consisted of Brian, Ruff, and Ken (still limping) went to guard the armory. A second group of Cleo, Bobby, and Artie (his arm didn't fully heal properly because we didn't have the proper medical resources) searched the Warehouse for the soldier. Danny, another survivor (I'm sorry that I didn't know his name either), and I made our way toward the gate to make sure that no one was trying to get in. We were almost too late.

  Somehow the four remaining soldiers by the gate had gotten Lonnie, the survivor, and Logan to lower their guard. To put it plain and simple the soldiers had outwitted them, there was no other way to put it. I mean, how else would you explain someone who willingly hands over their weapons over to a stranger so they could look at them? But in Lonnie, the survivor, and Logan's defense, they didn't know it was a setup when they had handed over their guns.

  Because of their intense training as Marines, Lonnie and Logan quickly picked up on the signs that signaled something was wrong with the soldiers. They had managed to talk the soldiers into giving their guns back without alarming them. The other guy wasn't as lucky.

  When the youngest soldier acted like he was giving the gun back to the other guy, he actually reached around and put the gun to his head. The soldier now had a hostage. The remaining three soldiers picked up their own guns and aimed them at Lonnie and Logan.

  It changed everything. Lonnie and Logan lifted there guns towards the soldiers, telling them to let the hostage go. Danny, another survivor, and I came around the corner just as the young soldier began to stumble backwards with his hostage. When the soldier tried to regain his balance, he accidentally shot his hostage in the head. You could tell by the young soldier's expression that it was an accident, that he didn't mean to do it. It didn't matter if he meant to do it or not though because events were already set in motion.

  I don't know who fired the first shot, but both sides began shooting. We continued to run towards the shooting as we screamed at the top of our lungs to stop firing, but it was already too late. Our two experienced military guys took out the less experienced reservists (I began to have doubts whether they were indeed military reservists) with ease.

  The only injuries that we appeared to have suffered was that Lonnie was shot in the upper part of his left leg while running for cover behind a fridge laying on its side. Logan got shot in the right arm near his shoulder before ducking behind a dryer.

  We arrived to added gunfire coming in from beyond the gate. I could hear the bullets whizzing past my head as I dove for another turned over fridge for cover. I looked around for Danny and the other guy that had been running with us. Danny had successfully found cover behind a washer while the other guy unfortunately did not. I could see the surprised look on the guy's face as he went down from being shot multiple times in the chest. I will be honest with you, it was an image that would haunt me forever.

  The outside firing had stopped just as quickly as it had began. I took the opportunity to yell out loud to see if everyone was alright. Danny responded that he was fine as he sat up with his gun aimed toward the gate. Logan said that he had got shot in the arm, but was otherwise fine. Lonnie however didn't respond.

  I stayed down as low as I could and crawled my way towards the spot where I saw him duck for cover. I managed to get within twenty feet when I noticed that he was on his back in a puddle of dark fluid. The closer I got, the more I realized that the puddle was in fact blood. His blood.

  I made sure that I continued to stay low as I crawled up next to him. I could see him gasp for air as blood steadily spurted out of his mouth. I could see his chest struggling to move. The center of his chest was covered in blood. I realized that I was wrong when I thought that he had been hit in the leg.

  He looked up at me and tried to focus his attention as he fought hard for breath. He whispered something, something that I couldn't quite make out. I leaned down as I asked him to repeat what he had just said. He took on a hard focused look and took an obviously painful breath. He said "Tell Tracie that I love ___."

  With that last breath, his chest stopped moving. He never finished what he was trying to say as his eyes took on a distant glazed look. Trembling, I reached up and closed his eyelids.

  I sat there dumbfounded. How could someone who had survived out on his own for so long die like that? I was beginning to wonder if any of us would survive the attack.

  No! Stop thinking like that. I refused to think like that. I refused to let fear take over my mind just as I refused to shed any tears. I refused to let my emotions get the best of me.

  Frustrated, I stood up. I started to turn toward the fence, but stopped short when I heard Kevin's voice. His voice carried as if everything else had gone silent. He stated that he didn't want to fight us, he just wanted the Warehouse. I finished turning around and asked through clinched teeth "What?" He repeated himself and it was Danny's turn to ask out of shock "What?"

  I turned to see Kevin leaning on the gate and Bruce (like always) standing next to him. I asked what he meant by wanting the Warehouse. It was Bruce who answered me. He smiled as he stated that we knew exactly what they meant.

  As if on cue Kevin smiled and spread his arms wide as he stated that it was useless for us to resist because we were completely surrounded. He illustrated that our resistance would be futile and if we fought them then we would all die, unless we were willing to give up the Warehouse. He then vowed that if we gave him the Warehouse then we could all leave safely, no harm would come to us.

  I frowned at his notion that we would willingly abandon our sanctuary. I asked them why they wanted the Warehouse. I added that it seemed to me that they had survived just fine out on their own. Kevin ignored my comment as he smiled and responded that it was the safest place around. I decided to try a different tactic by pleading with him by stating that there was plenty of room for us all.

  Kevin looked around him and gave a quick nod. Before we knew it, at least another hundred armed people wearing grungy style clothes came out from around the houses. I'm talking armed men, women, and even older children (they looked between ten and fifteen). They each were carrying military style weapons. To make matters worse, I was sure that even more people were still hiding somewhere out there.

  Kevin turned his attention back toward us. By that time Ruff, Ken, Artie, Brian, Bobby, and Cleo came walking around the corner escorting the "leader." Bobby looked like he had the start of a black eye while Cleo looked like he had a busted lip. The soldier had his wrist strapped by industrial size zip ties behind his back. From the look of Bobby and Cleo, I assumed that the soldier had put up a little resistance.

  Upon seeing his co
mpadres dead near the gate, the soldier immediately lost it. He started screaming and fought feverishly to pull his wrists free of the zip ties. He was putting up one hell of a fight and it was fortunate for us that his wrists were still strapped. Unfortunately for him, his resistance was causing the ties to tear into his skin.

  When pulling his hands free failed, he began trying to kick everyone around him. When kicking failed, he began trying to talk everyone around him into fighting him one on one. He even tried telling everyone that he could whoop them even with his hands tied behind his back. He was creating one hell of a scene.

  Kevin spoke up in a commanding and authoritative manner. His voice seemed to carry itself around the Warehouse demanding his attention. It wasn't until Kevin told the soldier to calm down, that he actually stopped resisting.

  With the soldier finally calmed down, the group finished escorting him to where I was standing and stopped. Ken was on one side of the soldier with Bobby on the other. Kevin asked why we had restrained his "guy." Ruff answered by telling him that they found his "guy" trying to break into our armory and when they tried to stop him he fought back.

  Kevin smiled in a sinister way that we had never seen before. He stated that he always knew his younger cousin was bad, but for it to take six people to stop him spoke volumes. Kevin's cousin ignored us and spoke directly to Kevin. With tears in his eyes, he told his older cousin that we had killed his younger brothers. Kevin knew this and told his cousin that it was okay because they had also killed a few of our people.

  His cousin lowered his head in defeat and stated that he wanted revenge for their deaths. Kevin replied that he knew what he wanted, but it wasn't the time. He turned his attention toward us and demanded that we release his younger cousin.

  Ken asked out loud "Why should we?" Kevin stated that if we didn't then things were going to get very messy for us. He smiled as he pointed behind him. He talked as if he was stating an obvious fact that he had more people and weapons then we did.

  I looked at my fellow Council members to see if I could read their faces. They weren't hard to read. We all knew that Kevin's cousin was our bargaining chip. We also knew that we couldn't afford to just hand him over. He was our last chance for a peaceful negotiation.

  I looked back toward the gate, ready to address Kevin and noticed that him and Bruce were already standing there. It was as if they were already waiting for us to hand over his cousin and the Warehouse. When we didn't move right away, Kevin demanded to know what was the hold up. Cleo spoke up by stating that before we handed him over, we needed to know why he wanted the Warehouse. It was a good stalling tactic.

  Kevin looked at us dumbfounded, like we had just asked one of those stupid "you should already know the answer to" type of questions. He didn't respond, it was as if the question offended him. Instead, Bruce spoke up.

  He told us that we already had everything that their group needed. Artie asked Bruce what he meant by that. Bruce smiled wide, he told us that they had been watching us for awhile and knew what we had been doing.

  He stated that they knew all about the supplies and resources we had gathered. They knew all about our escape plans and routes. They even knew the number of people we had. He stated that the only thing they didn't know was what kind of weapons we had and how much ammunition.

  It meant that they had been observing us for some time and we had failed to see them. How long had they been watching us? It was hard to tell. All I did know was Kevin and Bruce were back and it didn't seem like they wanted to be a part of our group anymore.

  Frustrated with their cryptic messages, I finally asked what happened to them? Kevin's facial features softened. He told us that they had suffered loses, but that wasn't what he wanted to talk about. He wanted us to know that since we were too stupid to understand his intention then he would explain it to us.

  He stated that it had always been his and Bruce's intention to take control of the Warehouse. He had hoped to find it empty, but he wasn't really shocked when he found out that we had "survived." He made sure to illustrate that point.

  He and Bruce had stomached our "little weekend survival" training sessions only because he thought that they would eventually come in handy. He made sure to point out that he had been right in that aspect. The weekends we weren't together, him and Bruce would go out with their families and prepped for whatever apocalypse came our way.

  They had secretly gathered their kinfolk and made Doomsday preparations of their own. Over time, they had secretly bought land out in the country somewhere and built fenced in structures. Inside the fence, they made sure that they had enough room so they could farm and other stuff. He didn't elaborate.

  They thought the fence they had put in would hold up against whatever the apocalypse brought and surprisingly, they were right. The problem they faced was that they didn't plan their supplies well enough. Hell, the bare essentials they had gathered had run out months before.

  The closest store was over ten miles away and picked through by the time they got to it. Having to travel far just to get supplies meant that they had to use their stockpile of gas. Like I said, it too had eventually run out. Seeing no other choice, Bruce and Kevin came up with the idea about returning to the Warehouse.

  On their way, they remembered that there was a military Reservist Base on the outskirts of the City of Norman and thought that it was a good idea to check it out. They were right to check it out. They had found ample amount of weapons and ammunition just lying around. The Reservists must have abandoned the base whenever the apocalypse started.

  Bruce wouldn't give us an exact timetable, but they had apparently arrived over a month earlier and noticed that people were staying here. They watched us from a distance and learned how we did things. They notice how we welcomed new people in and came up with the idea about sending a few "Reservists" in. Kevin knew that they had almost succeeded in pulling the Warehouse from us until the shooting started.

  Kevin stopped talking. He had just given us a quick rundown on him and Bruce, but wouldn't give us any other details. He stepped out into full view as he repeated that he just wanted the Warehouse. He once again promised to let us all go free, nobody would get hurt as long as we gave up the Warehouse.

  I looked back at the Council members, trying to figure out our next move. A crowd had gathered. It seemed that word of what was happening had already spread throughout the Warehouse.

  Among those that had gathered was Tracy, Lonnie's girlfriend. Tracy began asking about Lonnie. I looked at her with sadness in my eyes as I told her that he was over here.

  She rushed toward me and when she noticed Lonnie, she began screaming frantically. Besides her granddaughter, Lonnie was all she had left in the world. Everyone on both sides of the fence were silent.

  Upon seeing her beloved lying dead on the ground, she looked up at me with hatred in her eyes as she asked what happened. I stood there silently and watched her. I didn't know what to say. Her intense gaze pierced right through me, causing me to feel like I was a little kid standing in front of my father whenever I got in trouble. How was I going to tell her that it was a mistake, a misunderstanding? I silently searched for the proper words. Her stare was that tense.

  When I finally found my voice, I told her that one of the soldier's accidentally shot one of our guys causing Lonnie and Logan to react. I pointed towards the bodies of the dead soldiers. She stood up as her gaze shifted from me to the soldiers. She slowly walked over to the bodies and knelt down.

  The scene seemed unreal as she pulled a knife from her side holster and started stabbing the closest body. With each swing of her knife she cried out in pain. Blood was spurting everywhere. It looked like she had just reached her breaking point. Everybody watched in stunned silence.

  I called out Tracie's name, but she ignored me. I slowly walked up to her and continued to call out her name. It was only when I was within a few feet that she stopped stabbing the body and stood up. She turned and pointed the knife at
me. She looked like something from a horror movie covered in blood splatter.

  To be honest it was hard to tell if she was pointing the knife at me in a threatening manner or if she even recognized me at all. She had a blank distant look in her eyes. The rest of the Council began speaking to her, to talk her down from whatever she was about to do. It looked to me like it was going to be a failed attempt.

  It was as if she was in some kind of trance as she kept the knife out in front of her and walked towards Lonnie's body. She stopped in front of his body and looked down. I could see tears rolling down her cheeks. She whispered something that no one could hear and lifted her left arm out in front of her. She closed her eyes and turned her wrist up.

  She pressed the knife blade into her skin. She was going to commit suicide. Everyone screamed for her to stop, but it looked like our pleas were falling on deaf ears. She pressed so hard that blood started to seep out next to the blade and down her wrist. She looked determined to take her own life.

  In the end it took one voice to stop her and that one voice belong to her granddaughter. Her little voice carried over everyone else'. It was loud enough that Tracie stopped pressing the knife into her skin and opened her eyes. It was as if a dark veil had been lifted from her eyes as she looked down.

  Walking toward her, holding Becca's hand was her nine year old granddaughter. Even before they got near Tracie, she let go of Becca's hand and rushed to grab her grandmother's hand. She looked disapprovingly at her grandmother and stated that they needed to clean her up. It was like watching a roll reversal of how things were supposed to be. Without waiting for a reply, she turn and pulled Tracie with her. Tracie's hand went limp, causing her to drop the knife.