End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle

by Lara Frater

  Manny vanished for a few minutes and returned with flashlights. Gwen was getting people settled in. She looked at me for a moment then went back to helping the couple with the three kids including a scared boy that looked about 8. He had been the one Brian held a gun too. I smiled at him but he still looked terrified. I wondered who took care of the orphans at the camp. I didn’t want to overburden Hannah who was already taking care of Dena, Simon and Brie although she seemed to enjoy it. I knew Mike and she lost a son. I missed Maddie a lot more now. Being a teacher she could have kept these kids focused.

  I followed Manny out of the office and back to the gates. We walked through them with no alarms or full body scanners. Next to it were a series of closed doors. Manny selected the one in the middle and opened it. It looked like a screening room. Hundreds of those gray trays you put your stuff in were stacked to the ceiling. The remaining privacy screens stood in a row in another corner. Two desks with dusty papers were in the middle of the room. Manny pulled out a key on a flashlight keychain and opened one of the desks. He pulled out two handguns.

  “I left these for Felicia. Loaded, but with no extra bullets.” He handed one to me. I reluctantly took it, although Grace had often told me in the nicest way she could that I should never carry a gun because I’m more likely to shoot myself. I made sure the safety was on, and I stuffed it in my jacket.

  I looked over the radios in the room. All I came across were walkie-talkies. I turned them all on to see which ones had working batteries. Most of them were dead, but some of the crackled as if the batteries were near dead. I took the batteries out of the ones that showed some life.

  “Here, Jim,” Manny said handing me a multi-channeled radio. I turned it on but it was dead. I opened the back. Nine corroded double A batteries greeted me. The acid had leaked into the unit giving it a rust color. Instead of touching them, I shook them out over a tray.

  “We need five more working double A’s.” I told Manny. We searched the room, picking up radios and turning them on. I grabbed another tray and started putting good batteries in it. When I had enough I put them in, but when I turned it on, nothing happened.

  “Dammit,” I said. “It’s not working.” He took the radio from me, pulled the back off and looked at the battery case.

  “Some of it corroded. Let me try to scrape it off. You look for batteries that might be fresher. Maybe in the drawers rather than the radios.”

  Manny went to the desk. I searched drawers for any batteries as the sound of scraping filled the air.

  I found seven unopened packs of AA’s in a draw and breathed a sigh of relief and smiled when I saw the Costking label.

  I brought the pack over to Manny.

  “Okay,” he said. “Let’s try it.” He opened the battery pack, and used all fresh ones in the radio. I was never so happy to hear static. I turned to the channel we used. I was sure Tanya was monitoring.

  “Care Bear to Papa Smurf come in,” Manny laughed. I repeated my greeting.

  I heard a lot of static.

  “We’re too far,” Manny said. “We need to get closer.”

  The room had no windows but I could hear the raining pouring against the building.

  Manny drove while I used the radio, calling out for Tanya on our frequency but only getting static. I knew we weren’t close but bad scenarios went through my head of a sinking ship, of Brian coming out from the water like Fatal Attraction. I kept talking into the radio, waiting for a response other than static.

  The heavy rain made me worried about the road. Manny was going slow, avoiding potholes that showed up in the headlights but with the heavy rain and the dimming light, it was hard to see anything in front of us.

  I didn’t want to go that far because I wanted to get back to the airport before it got too dark. The rain made the sky prematurely dark grey.

  “Jim,” It sounded like Tanya, her voice still static. “Are you okay?” Manny continued to drive.

  “Yes it’s me. Did you see what happened? Is everyone okay?”

  “Don’t worry. We’re fine. This boat can take anything. We saw the guy with the gun. Who was that?” Her voice had gotten clearer so Manny pulled to the side of the road. He didn’t look at me but observed the area around us looking for zombies.

  “This guy named Brian flipped. He killed Justin, but everyone else is okay. We’re at the airport.”

  “We can’t get to you. Can you find another dinghy?”

  “Maybe, but it might be better if we drove to a place you could dock.”

  Tanya didn’t respond right away.

  “Tanya?”

  A moment later her voice came back. “Grace thinks we might be able to dock in the ferry slip in Greenport. Why don’t you head there?”

  Greenport was on the other side of the forks. It was a two hour trip without zombies and potholes.

  “It’s going to take all day. If we’re lucky,” I explained.

  “Take it slowly and carefully, but don’t take any risks. You got all the time in the world. It may take us some time to get to Harbor. Call us when you get to Greenport. You keep yourself safe Jim. You’re in charge. You got it?”

  “Yeah. I do.” I knew what we could do tomorrow, I could teach these people to live and to fight.

  “We’re going to head to Harbor first. Drop everyone off then go to you.” I didn’t blame her as I imagined the crowded ship.

  “I hope to see you soon—“

  “Don’t worry,” she said and then she was gone.

  “Let’s head back.”

  Manny put the car into drive and made a U-turn. We were only maybe two miles from the airport. I kept my eye out for zombies but with the sun going down, the world turned into an eerie twilight.

  “Tomorrow, we have to teach your people to fight zombies.”

  Manny didn’t reply. He looked straight ahead, his eyes wide.

  I followed his glaze. It was a zombie, an old one, easy to take on, even though he was in the headlights, he hadn’t noticed us.

  “We have to kill them all,” Manny said. “Right?”

  “If we ever want to live again.”

  It was creepy walking through the dark airport. I didn’t smell the dead or hear zombies. The door hadn’t been bordered up but in our absence someone had put a stack of chairs in front. It would make a racket if anything tried to get in.

  I let Manny lead the way. He knocked on the office door and a woman, who hadn’t come with us, opened it. The room was illuminated with candle light.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “We follow the same routine you do. Go to sleep around dark, wake up at light.” Manny took me over to where I slept the night before. Dave and Gwen were in cots close by. Both were up and eating out of cans. The light wasn’t strong enough to see the label.

  I sat on the cot. The stink of food and body odor filled to the air.

  “You okay?” a voice said by my bed. I knew it was Dave though I could barely see him. I explained my conversation with Tanya.

  “How many people do we have?” he asked, finishing up the can. He put the empty on a table near the bed.

  “Not sure. I’ll count in the morning. You should get some sleep.”

  I didn’t know what time it was. It couldn’t be that late. Maybe a half hour had passed since the sun went down.

  Dave pulled out something from his pack. Without a mirror he put one of those anti-snoring strips over his nose. I don’t think it worked or maybe Dave’s snoring was even louder without it.

  I had some power bars with me and I didn’t feel like opening a can, so I had two as my dinner. My clothes had dried somewhat and I crashed on the cot I used last night.

  Five second later Dave was snoring but I couldn’t sleep. Not because of Dave or because it was early as I usually go to sleep no later than 9. I was worried. The room was filled with snores and the overwhelming smell of body odor. A chill filled to air and I pulled a musty blanket around me. I worried about bed bugs, but I guess
I could always burn my clothes.

  I heard movement. In the faint lamplight, I saw it was Manny. He had changed his clothes to sweat pants. He sat next Felicia who had been lying on her bed. She got up and swung her legs over the side, but didn’t stand up. Secret love affair perhaps? Maybe that’s why he stayed when everyone went with Joel.

  I shifted position so I laid facing away from them, pretending to sleep but could still hear their conversation.

  “What do you want Manny?” she said. For the first time there was some emotion in her voice: annoyance. Maybe not a love affair.

  “You know what I want. You can’t stay here. All the people who aren’t coming with us—they are staying here to die.”

  “Maybe that’s what I want.”

  “Felicia—“

  “I’m bad luck, Manny. You see the way Jim’s people are? Filled with optimism. They have good leadership. They are motivated to thrive not just survive.”

  “They didn’t have what we had, no diseases, no dealing with the elderly and even so they lost half their group to the zombies and suicide--”

  “Stop it,” she said, again no emotion but annoyance. “At least 60 people have died on my watch—I think it’s a good idea that I stop killing them.”

  “Then pull back from leadership and let Jim and Tanya take over. Be a civilian for once.” It was nice that Manny thought I was so important. I wasn’t sure he was right.

  “I already have. I’m sending all my people with you.”

  “Then you’ll come.”

  “Manny—“

  “Please Felicia, you may think your people hate you but they don’t. They don’t know Tanya, hell we only met her once. You could help our people to transition.”

  Felicia didn’t respond. I knew she was mad or maybe she didn’t care. I knew despite her resistance, she would be coming with us.

  By morning, the storm had past except for an overcast sky and a misty light drizzle. Felicia greeted me by the door wearing sweats, sensible shoes, her red hair tied back, and a Prada tote bag that probably cost two grand.

  “Decided to come with you,” she told me. I didn’t act surprised. She didn’t explain why she changed her mind and I didn’t ask. She joined the others lining up to get into the car.

  The party ended up being fifteen, fourteen people from yesterday and Felicia. Three of them were children, the scared kid from last night who was a dark skinned boy with large eyes and two white girls who looked about five and thirteen. I knew Manny talked to other people last night but hadn’t convinced any to come. I heard him talking before I drifted off to sleep.

  I ended up in the car with Dave, with Paul and Rose again.

  “We need to stop at the beach to bury Justin,” I told Dave when he started the car.

  “Jim, we have to get out of here.”

  “There’s no rush,” I said. “And I think we owe it to him and to his friends.” We had all the time in the world today and had to start claiming the land back from the dead.

  Dave didn’t respond, but he drove to the beach where Justin’s body still lay near the water. The bugs had already started on him but I was used to it.

  It wasn’t hard burying him in the loose dirt near the water. Easier then when we buried those decaying bodies on Orient Beach. Gwen and I added some rocks we found. I think she wanted people to know this was a grave, but I don’t think they will realize what it was. Justin might be long decayed before a population came back to this beach. I didn’t see the Renewal. I hoped they got to Harbor Island safely.

  Dave had been strangely less bossy but he had gotten better since we took that road trip last year. He no longer complained about everything just for the sake of it. He also left Olive on the boat. Dave cared more for his dog than any of us. He might miss Tanya too, but I didn’t want to think about that. They both tried to be discreet but the boat had no secrets.

  Ironically I was in the shotgun seat. It’s not like I could shoot anything.

  “I’ll hit any that I see them,” he said. “No reason to go out in the rain.” He drove slowly. The windshield wipers were going back and forth on a slow speed. I saw some clear skies in the distant, and I hoped for better weather.

  Hitting didn’t guarantee a kill. I wanted to make sure the job got done correctly.

  “We need to stop and kill them. I want to make sure they’re dead. I need the camp people to start learning.” I said that even though Paul and Rose were in the back. They hadn’t been on my walk so I didn’t know if they were willing to take on zombies. Neither of them said anything. I knew very little about them. I wasn’t sure how to best bring up learning about their pasts and what skills they could bring to the table.

  “That will take forever.”

  Dave couldn’t shoot either, but I knew that he wasn’t afraid to whack them with a tire iron if he had to.

  I turned around to Paul and Rose. “Great, that will give us time to get to know each other.”

  There was silence for a few seconds. I looked out of the window. So far the highway wasn’t in such bad shape. There were a lot of potholes, rusted cars, and breaks in the road but Dave maneuvered easily around them. The roads looked worse than they did last year. I wondered how much longer they would last. I hoped we could get to Harbor Island in one piece.

  “I’m Rose Harrison and I lost everything—“

  Be careful what you ask for.

  The first zombie we came across was an old one. His clothes were tattered and hanging off him, his skin grey and flaky. He didn’t see us or turned around from the sound of the car. He walked erratically in the road. Probably looking for a scent of food.

  Dave stopped the car about twenty feet behind him, but sat in the driver’s seat with the engine running. About half of the people got out of the cars, including Gwen and Manny, but the rest didn’t move. The kids stayed in the car, along with the two adults who looked after them.

  No one approached the zombie. They stayed close to the cars except for Manny who moved to me.

  I got out and closed the door behind me. The zombie still hadn’t noticed us; still shambled forwards not realizing food was right behind him.

  “What do you want to do, Jim?” Manny asked me. When did I become the zombie hunter?

  Harry who was in the back seat of Manny’s car came out. He pulled out a crowbar out of a backpack and dumped the pack in the car. The crowbar looked unsteady in his hand.

  “You’re right, son. We need to start killing these things. I want to try to kill this one.”

  “Are you sure?” I looked around hoping someone else would volunteer but no one did.

  “Not really, but I have to start somewhere.”

  There was no real training for this. Harry would need to swing, hope for a good hit while making sure his flesh was away from the zombie’s grasp. He wore a ratty rain coat, good to get out of if the zombie grabbed him.

  “What should I do? How should I approach it?” he asked. He put the crowbar in front of him like a sword.

  “Try to hit from behind. Even if it hears you, it might have some trouble turning around. When you get in contact range, hit it in the head as hard as you can and keep hitting until its dead. Manny, why don’t you cover him?”

  “It was a person once—“ Harry said, looking at it, watching the disjointed walk. Then it suddenly stopped.

  “Yes, but that person is dead. They aren’t coming back. You need to kill it right now. It smells us.”

  Manny didn’t say another word. I wondered how many zombies he dealt with.

  I followed Harry who walked to it almost as unsteady as the zombie. He got behind and walked silently towards it. When he was about two feet away, it finally turned around and saw him. Pieces of clothes and skin came off as it turned with a surprisingly high amount of energy. It began the death moan. The eerie guttural sound that signaled being close to a kill.

  Harry froze. Manny aimed but I put my hand up so he wouldn’t fire.

  “Don’t be
scared! Hit it, Harry!” I yelled.

  He took a deep breath and without a sound, hit it with the crowbar hard directly in middle of his head. Because it was old not a lot of gore splashed and it crumbled to the ground face first with a large dent in the head. On the ground it began to use its arms to get up. It knew food was near but couldn’t quite figure out how to get into a standing position.

  “Good shot, Harry, hit it again until it’s dead.”

  Harry whacked it again and again until it stopped moving and the head was completely bashed in. I didn’t blame him for overkill nor did I stop him once I realized the creature was dead. Better to hit it too much than not enough. Manny put his gun down and I went over to Harry.

  “Good job,” I said, patting him on the back. Better than me when I had to kill the first time. He didn’t yell or scream.

  “Thanks,” he said, dropping the crowbar. It fell to the ground with a clang. He rushed off to a grouping of trees and I heard him retching. I walked over him and stood behind waiting for him to finish. Once he was done, I helped him back to the car, grabbed water from my pack and gave him a sip. Manny grabbed the crowbar and washed it off with some wipes.

  “You did great,” I said.

  Harry looked at his pale hands which were shaking. He said nothing.

  “It gets easier, I promise.” I looked at the others. I knew Tanya would be proud of me. “Anyone else want to try?”

  Chapter 11

  After Harry killed the zombie, I got three more volunteers for the next one. Harry didn’t volunteer again. Dave helped Gwen kill one, even though she nearly freaked out when it let out the death moan. The thirteen year old girl Daisy tried to volunteer, but Joan her guardian wouldn’t allow it. The only other volunteer was Rose who whacked an old zombie until long after it was dead.

  We needed to find a place to stay for the night. I tried to think where we could stick fifteen people when I saw the school. I saw candles in the window. I wasn’t sure if they were friendly or not but it looked like a private boarding school which meant dorms and many beds. A big rusted metal sign read “St. Mary’s Catholic Boarding School.”