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

by Lara Frater

  “Should I get these clothes to Manny so he can help?”

  “No, the poor guy is freezing. I can take it out.”

  “It’s a young one, harder.” Glad to hear she was learning but that didn’t actually mean doing.

  “Yes, but I took out the young one before. I can do it again. Most of the people bitten by zombies are taken by surprise.” I didn’t know if that was true but most everyone I knew who had died of a zombie bite had been surprised by one.

  “I’ll help.”

  I liked Gwen but was ready to peg her like most of the camp people. She had spent the last two years hiding at Orient Beach. “You sure?”

  Her dark face fell. “No, but what the fuck. We have to get rid of all of them.”

  I put the clean clothes in my pack and pulled out the crowbar. Gwen had a tire iron.

  “They aren’t as deadly as when in packs, but I’m only seeing the one here. They aren’t smart. One of us has to be the bait, attract its attention, while the other has to hit it in the head.”

  Gwen had a look on her face between pondering and fear, finally she said: “Both sound like they suck.”

  “They do.”

  “I’ll try the bait now. Maybe I can move on to hitter later.”

  “If you get scared you can always run away. Come on,” I said, taking her hand. We went down the stairs, out the door and to the back of the house where the zombie wandered. The houses all had connecting backyards, some fenced in, some not and some fences had fallen.

  The rain had turned into a misty drizzle. I saw him looking around the backyard. He probably smelled the living. I studied him before I put the plan into action. He wore a gunbelt but I didn’t see any gun. He was bloodied but everything else looked freshly dead. His glazed over dead eyes looked at nothing. We knew so little about what made them tick. Did any of their senses still work or were they stronger than before? I only knew their moaning brought others and that they only cared about getting to human flesh.

  “What do I do?” Gwen asked.

  “Get him to focus on you as far as possible. Give me time to hit.”

  “Sounds easy.”

  “Most of the time it is. But sometimes they can surprise you.”

  “I hate surprises.” I didn’t either. Even before. Cam loved surprising me but not always with things I wanted. He loved practical jokes and enjoyed pulling them on me. His favorite had been calling me on a throwaway cell he had gotten from a job, breathing heavily then ringing the doorbell and running away. I panicked when I saw no one worried that I was about to become a victim of gay bashing. I almost called the police but Cam called back this time making ghost sounds. We had been dating a year, hadn’t started living together and almost broke up over that. He thought I overreacted but at least he stopped.

  She walked a little ways away from me and gave herself a wide berth before trying to get in the zombie’s line of vision.

  “Hey asshole!” she yelled. She waved her arms and jumped. The thing looked up, seemed excited over a warm body and walked towards her. “Look at me, I’m a delicious human.”

  I tiptoed behind it. It focused solely on Gwen. It was now about two feet away from me and four from her. Gwen moved backwards, trying to keep the thing out of reach.

  I got behind it and whacked him hard on the head. Instead of going down, he spun around, and made a grab for me, but whacked me with his hand instead. I got knocked to the ground and dropped my crowbar to break the fall.

  Now the attention was on me. The zombie didn’t change expressions. His mouth opened allowing black goo to come out as it moaned.

  “Shit,” I said and tried to back up. I reached around for the crowbar but didn’t find it.

  “Jim!” Gwen screamed. She began running towards me, but had no weapon to stop it. It was closing in on me. I tried to shuffle back further. Where the hell was that fucking crowbar?

  A moment later his head exploded. I moved out of the way so it wouldn’t fall on me. It collapsed into a heap inches away.

  I looked up figuring I would see Manny with a gun but instead I saw a white woman with short black hair holding a rifle.

  “Hello,” I said. Gwen looked at her. The woman’s dark eyes widened into saucers. She turned around and ran like a rabbit to the street.

  “Hey!” I repeated. “We aren’t here for trouble.” I stood up and tried to chase her but by the time I got to the street she was gone.

  I told the others what happened as I gave Manny the clothes. He wanted to search for the woman but his teeth were still chattering.

  “Bad idea,” Dave said. “A million hiding spots. She saved Jim but she doesn’t want anything to do with us.” I agreed for now. That woman took off faster than a feral cat. I don’t know if she thought we were someone else or just wanted to do a good deed. I didn’t care about the reason because she had saved me.

  Manny didn’t argue. He looked cold and tired.

  Manny took the clothes and went upstairs, about ten minutes later, he came down dressed. The jeans were a little long but he had rolled them up and the tee was a little big, but he could still move around without a problem and they showed off his muscular arms which I liked.

  “It’s freezing upstairs,” he explained. “There are three bedrooms but only the master one has a fireplace. It does have a king size so three people should be able to sleep comfortably. We should gather some things to burn.”

  The women got the bed not because the men were chauvinistic but because of Felicia’s age and Rose being old fashion and not wanting to sleep in a bed with a man who wasn’t her husband. Although Paul rolled his eyes when she said that indicating she was fibbing.

  The living room had a large sectional including two recliners at each end. Dave took one of the recliners while Paul took the other. Manny and I shared the middle. I took first watch, Paul would take the second. I would call Tanya at dawn and see when they could come get us.

  It felt nice to be next to Manny and I hoped Gwen’s feelings were spot on. I didn’t plan to make any move until we were settled at Harbor and Eric and I had fully moved on. Even though Manny may not even be gay. I heard Manny’s teeth chattering.

  “You still cold?”

  “Yes, a little,” he said. He pulled the blanket closer to his body. “That cold swim didn’t do me any favors.” he looked down. “I wish I got to Millie.”

  “You tried.”

  “It’s probably nice and toasty upstairs with all that body heat and a closed door,” he said, changing the subject.

  The living room opened into other rooms so we couldn’t do much other than keep the fire going. If I had time I might have put up some sheets, but I don’t think it would have mattered for one night.

  “Want me to get you another blanket?”

  “If you think you can find one. That would be great.”

  I grabbed a flashlight, the clean clothes from the other house and headed upstairs.

  It was freezing. I hoped that the girls were okay. I went into the first bedroom and stripped the blanket from the bed. The room had books. I flashed my light on them and grabbed two at random. I didn’t know what time Tanya would be getting us, and I wanted something to do. Also I hoped to start a library and community space. I know I’m moving forward too fast, but the idea of organizing a new town excited me. For a few brief moments took my mind off Cam, my mother, and my sisters. I thought about Lori who was the youngest, the baby. She lived in Seattle with her husband Scott. Dad knew she and Scott had died because they had the flu which had a 100 percent kill rate. I knew two people who never got the zombie virus but never met anyone who survived the flu.

  I was the middle child. Lori was six years younger than me. Ellie was four years older and Mary was two years old than her. Lori had been a surprise since my folks had given up on kids after I was born. I used to call her an obnoxious jerk but she loved and respected me when I came out. She invited Cam and me on the same invitation for her wedding not as my plus one. Despit
e pressure from my parents not to do that. My mom even called me and told me to consider coming alone. I didn’t. At the wedding, my dad politely shook Cam’s hand. My mom said hello but nothing else.

  I wished I had a chance to patch up things with my mother. At least I knew at the end she loved me. Lori and Ellie had come to my wedding. Mary didn’t only due to financial issues but sent me a nice gift. My parents didn’t come or even send me wishes.

  I changed in the light of dusk. I could try reading by the fire.

  After changing I pulled up the blinds to take a look around. I was surprised to see a light barely illuminating the dark sky. I couldn’t see how far away it was. It could be down the block or a mile away. It could be bright or dim because every light looked bright in the pitch black night. I could smell wood burning but I wasn’t sure it was from our fire or out there. I wondered if the woman came from it. I’m glad we’re not the other survivors. I thought tomorrow we could do a quick drive-by before heading to the docks. There was nothing I could do now. I wasn’t about to go out at night.

  I headed to the other room and stripped the blanket. I made my way to the master bedroom and knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” said a female voice I recognized as Gwen.

  I opened the door and flashed my light to the floor. I didn’t appear to wake the others or if I did, they didn’t complain.

  “I was getting a blanket for Manny and I found another. Do you want it?”

  “No, we found a sleeping bag and a bunch of blankets in the closet.”

  “Great.”

  “Do you want me to find out if he’s into you?” she asked. “I’m pretty blunt and to the point.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ll be embarrassed instead of you if I turn out to be wrong.”

  “Thanks.” I thought about Cam and about Eric. “But I’m don’t think this is a good place to make a move.”

  Despite having first watch, at dawn, I was in the kitchen making breakfast when Felicia walked in alone. The others were in the living room getting dressed.

  “Is that coffee?” she asked when she came in.

  “Lukewarm,” I said. I gave her a cup that she sipped.

  “Terrible.”

  “I think Starbucks is closed forever.”

  “Manny is gay,” she said, without changing her tone. “I overheard Gwen and you talking. I thought you’d like to know. Please don’t hurt him if you decide you want a relationship. He’s a good man, stayed with us when Joel came to us with stories of the world getting better.”

  “I’m not looking for a relationship right now but if it happens, I promise I won’t hurt him.”

  Felicia didn’t respond. Dave came in and I was able to avoid continuing the conversation.

  “We should all get ready and go to the marina. I’ve already let everyone know it’s time to go.”

  I didn’t get a chance to respond. I heard the sound of voices. Gwen came into the kitchen with Manny. I heard other voices in the hall and the living room.

  “Is that coffee?” Gwen asked.

  No one responded, but Felicia poured her a cup. Gwen drank it without complaint.

  “I want to check out the lights I saw, first.”

  “What lights?” Manny asked.

  “I saw them last night in the distance. East of us. Maybe even in town.”

  “Maybe it was a fire,” Dave said, grabbing a cup of coffee.

  “It could have been or other people. We should at least look.”

  Dave looked annoyed. “That woman ran. We need to get to Harbor. We’ve already lost two people. We can always come back and checked it out.” Dave actually sounded reasonable, but I wanted to look and I wanted to do it now. Who knew if the people here were permanent residents or moved around?

  “She also saved me. We can be at the docks in 10 minutes. Give me an hour. If I find nothing, no harm done.”

  “Jim—“ Dave paused, his tone condescending. “We should just go to the dock.”

  “We have to start reaching out to other survivors. We have to start rebuilding.”

  “I’ll come with,” Manny said.

  “So will I,” Gwen said, then winked. I was hope she listened to me and hadn’t planned to set me up.

  “You’re outnumbered Dave. I promise we’ll be back in one hour. I need you to get everyone ready to go as soon as we get back.”

  He didn’t say anything. He looked pissed but I knew he would do it.

  I was glad when Paul joined us. Gwen could be stubborn and I wasn’t ready for her to play matchmaker.

  Manny drove and I gave him directions to where I saw the light which had been west of us. I passed collapsed houses that looked like they had been flooded. I thought of all the storms and how no one was here to pump water.

  “Not to agree with Dave,” Manny said as he made a right, but stopped because a tree was in the way. He didn’t say anything. Instead he backed up and made a left instead. “But this is a needle in a haystack. That light could be miles away. That woman could be anywhere.”

  “It’s not a big deal. I just want to take a look around. Give me two miles and then we’ll head back.”

  Manny didn’t respond. He looked out the window, staring at the town. The elements hadn’t been good to it. The air smelled like the sea with a mix of burning and mildew. Not surprising. Not only did I see houses collapsed but also burnt down. No firefighters to put it out. I added another thing to my mental list, two or three people to act as firefighters and a disaster plan.

  The one thing I didn’t see were zombies. It was like that young one had been in only one in all of Greenport. I started to wonder if any people lived here. Zombies were attracted to people. Maybe the young zombie had been the woman’s friend and when she killed him, she left. She could have had a car or some kind of transportation.

  Besides the town didn’t look habitable. Manny went down another road.

  This time it was blocked. Not by a tree but an entire house had collapsed and bricks scattered across the road. If this was a town on the coast, I wondered how Harbor had fared against the elements.

  I looked ahead and saw brownish smoke.

  “Look!” I said and pointed. No one in the car responded, but Manny changed direction to follow it. He went two more blocks until we got to a shopping area filled with antiques and boutiques and the occasional hardware or drug store. No sign of a house where the smoke was coming from, then Manny suddenly hit the brakes.

  “There, Jim,” He said, putting the car into park.

  I looked out of Manny’s window. I didn’t see any people but I got my answer.

  Down the block was a Whole Foods, well it had been once; the smothering remains smoked into the sky. The only thing remaining was a charred sign that had fallen into the parking lot and burnt cars. Because there was a field on one side and a parking lot on the other, the fire hadn’t spread. Last night the burning I smelled hadn’t been from the fireplace but here.

  I didn’t say anything.

  “Sorry Jim, you aren’t going to find her,” Manny said, putting the car back into drive. “Let’s go home.”

  I was never so happy to see the Renewal in the distance, docked at Harbor Island, even with her broken sail. They had made it and now we were going home. I didn’t know what our home would look like but right now I didn’t care. I stood on the docks of Greenport. Harbor Island was so close I could swim on a nice day. I pulled out my radio.

  “Care Bear to Papa Smurf come in?”

  “Jim,” said Tanya’s voice. It surprised me she was up so early. “You all okay?”

  I told her about Harry, about Millie, about Father Vic and the boys and the people who stayed with them.

  “I got only good news. We’re at Harbor.”

  “I can see. We’re at the dock in Greenport. What about the farm?”

  “That’s the best part. Only two people were here and glad to see us. The farm looks like it’s in good condition. This guy Ricky-- he wor
ked here said it ain’t that weeded. A little hard work and the fields should be ready for planting.”

  “No sign of Joel?”

  “Nope. Maybe he didn’t come here, maybe he settled somewhere else. Mean you can’t drive to the island, ain’t no road.”

  That also meant we still didn’t know where Aisha was.

  “Mike and Henry got a speed boat working. They should be out there in an hour. You hold tight. We’ll get you home.”

  It was freezing at the dock, and ice cold wind air ran through my hair. I had a hat and jacket on but it didn’t help.

  After talking to Tanya, we took refuge in a restaurant that smelled like moldy food but not of the dead while we waited for Mike to arrive. I half hoped the woman would show up but when Mike pulled in with the slick six-person speedboat, no one had made an appearance. Not even the living dead.

  I shook Mike’s hand when he arrived. Henry didn’t get out of the boat. I wanted to hug them both. It had only been three days since we left the boat but it felt like a week.

  I sent Dave, Rose, and Paul on the first trip. I helped them on the boat and watched them get smaller and smaller as they headed to Harbor.

  “It will be good to get back to the group,” Manny said, holding his jacket close. He looked at me and smiled. It lightened his face. I wanted to kiss him, but I didn’t think this was the time.

  I was eager to start some town building but I wasn’t so eager to have the final chat with Eric. Although I’m fairly certain he would agree with me wholehearted. I hoped we might stay friends but even that was a long shot. Not as long as he held a grunge against Grace and my friendship with her.

  I watched the speedboat on the horizon, glad to see Harbor in the distance. I was ready to start my new life.

  I was surprised when Manny took my hand, pulled me in, and kissed me gently on the lips.

  I heard Gwen snicker.

  Part 3 Tanya

  Chapter 13

  Harbor Island

  Living on an Island was cool but I didn’t like not havin’ a bridge. They got a docked ferry to take cars across but it was pretty big to get movin’, not to mention a lot of wasted gas. Mike and Henry talked about building some kind of car float to get across, but neither of them knew ‘bout ship building.