by Poe, S. B.
After they had gathered back together for a lunch of canned chicken and crackers some of them used JW’s truck to haul the water from the creek. Tilly and Evelyn rode in the back with a Gatorade water cooler to carry the day’s water back to camp. The water cooler was Charlie’s contribution. He was driving with his daughter and Lori in the front of the truck. The girls were busy trying to tune the radio.
“Do you think we can go back and look for my parents?” Lori asked.
“I don’t think so. Not yet.” Charlie said.
“They don’t know that I am ok. They should know.” She said.
“Your parents aren’t worried about you.” Jennifer said.
“What?” Lori looked at her.
“They aren’t worried about anything, except braaaaaaiiiiiinnnnnnssss.” Jennifer said, leaning at Lori’s neck as she said it.
As she did, Lori raised her shoulder and accidently hit Jennifer’s chin, causing Jennifer to bite down on her tongue. Hard.
“Ow, you bitch.” Jennifer said. Spitting a little blood.
“Bitch? Really. You deserved that. Sorry not sorry. Bitch.”
“That’s enough. Knock it off. Now.” Charlie said. “Lori we will go as soon as we can. I don’t know when that will be. Jennifer, you should be ashamed.”
She looked at him wide-eyed and started to speak.
“Shut it. Shut it now.” Charlie said as they pulled off to the trail to the creek. It was a short walk.
Evelyn and Tilly had heard the raised voices in the cab of the truck but not the substance; still they grabbed the cooler and started walking ahead of the others, best to avoid the drama. Both of them had been teenage girls before. Tilly had taken to Evelyn from the moment they met. Raj had told her about the uncomfortably funny remark she had made to Bridger about her late husband. She was quick witted and warmhearted, Tilly liked that. Evelyn had liked Tilly too. She was smart and confident, and her red hair and green eyes made her look fresh all the time. Evelyn could only imagine how unfresh she must look by now. She avoided all mirrors. They approached the creek bank.
“I think I am going to visit the bushes for a minute.” Tilly said.
“Ok. I’ll get started filling this” Evelyn said.
Tilly walked further down the creek. Charlie and the girls grabbed the duffle bag full of empty water bottles and headed down the trail. Each of the girls carried a shotgun and Charlie had a pistol on his hip.
“I miss them so much.” Lori said to no one. “I just wish I knew. I mean, I just…”
“I don’t know what to say Lori. I wish there was some way I could tell you I know what will happen, but I can’t. Right now we just need to focus on staying safe and alive.”
“Why? What’s the point? If this is what we do now, why bother?” Lori asked.
“Because we just do.” Jennifer said.
“But, oh never mind. Just never mind.” Lori said as she started crying again. They could see Evelyn ahead.
Evelyn carried her late husbands .357 revolver on her hip. It was what she had retrieved from her bedroom; she also had the pistol Bridger had given her but she kept that in the bus. She was on her knees using an empty can to dip water out of the creek and pour it into the cooler. She had draped part of a sheet over the cooler and secured it with a bungee cord. They still had to boil the water but this helped keep bugs and stuff out.
“Everything ok?” Evelyn asked as she turned to them.
“I guess so.” Charlie said, not sure.
“It’s fine.” Lori said.
“Well let’s get this done. We still have to boil this when we get back. I hope Raj has the fire going.” Evelyn said as she turned back to the creek. The others joined her and started filling the water bottles.
Tilly walked about fifty yards down the creek into a small honeysuckle stand. She put the stand between her and the others so she could have a little privacy to pee. The sun broke up into tiny shards as it passed through the canopy. The trees had turned the bright colors of fall and would rain down leaves when the wind blew. She felt the coolness of the day. The wind brought the smell again to corrupt another moment when she almost forgot about the world outside.
She and Raj had spent the last few days trying to wrap their heads around what was happening. Raj was coming to terms that he may not see his parents or brother again. She missed her mom but she hadn’t seen her since she and Raj got married almost two years ago. Her mom had chosen that day to announce to her she was divorcing Tilly’s father. Tilly had taken it hard. She had said some awful things to her mother and made her mind up that she would start a new life with Raj. For two years she had done just that. She leaned her shotgun against a tree and stepped back. She wore her only pair of jeans. Expensive ones, the kind that hugged her backside and that made them really uncomfortable when you had to live in them for a few days.
She had packed them for her and Raj’s little honeymoon getaway. She had also packed a bunch of really sexy underwear, the kind that has dental floss up the back side and really delicate lace designs. The kind that suck in the apocalypse. What she wouldn’t give for a nice pair of granny panties right now. She unbuttoned her pants and squeezed them down her hips. She bent forward and straightened her knees to slide them down to her ankles. She reached up and grabbed what passed for a waistband in the extremely small and uncomfortable panties she was wearing and pulled them down on top of her jeans. She reached up and grabbed the sapling in front of her and squatted down.
“Hey Ed, come see what I found.” A voice came from behind her as she felt a hand wrap around her mouth.
2
This Dirty Road
He didn’t know the man standing at the head of the trail to his house. The man was armed with at least one weapon that Cameron could see. The fact he was holding the rifle in his hand led Cameron to believe he probably wasn’t infected. He grabbed the coffee cup off the table and stood. He walked to the front door and looked out the glass as the stranger walked up raising his right hand to wave and smiling.
“Good morning.” JW said to the large man opening the door to the cabin. The man stood there with a disbelieving look on his face.
“Good morning to you. Can I help you with something?”
“Well, I don’t know. I am trying to figure out what that smell is and accidently stumbled across your place. I didn’t know this was back here.” JW said slinging his rifle over his shoulder.
“So you’re on a journey of discovery then?”
“What?”
“A journey of discovery. You are trying to discover things and in that search you found something, although it wasn’t what you thought you were looking for.” Cameron said.
“Ok.” JW said, mouth slightly agape.
“Just messing with you. Come on in. I got coffee.”
“No shit?”
“No shit, just coffee.” He smiled as he turned back into the cabin.
JW walked up the few steps onto the porch. The man was standing at the screen door, holding it open. JW stepped through. The room was warm. There was a fireplace with a small kettle warming over it. The walls were unfinished logs, matching the outside. There were a few pictures but not many. There was an old oval area rug on the floor that reminded JW of when he was a little boy. He had set his train track up on a rug like it at his grandparent’s house at Christmas and watched it go round and round. He always thought of toy trains when he saw a rug like that. The man walked by him and turned around.
“Cameron. Cameron Day.” He stuck his hand out.
“JW Toles.” He shook it.
“Toles, you say? You’re not the Toles that bought the old Watson place?” He asked, raising one eyebrow.
“That’s what the realtor called it too.” JW said.
“Well, I grew up here and that’s what it was called when I was a kid and I guess it stuck. There hasn’t been an actual Watson up here since before I was born, as far as I know. And I would know.”
“Yeah, why is tha
t?” JW asked.
“Well, ain’t no Watson ever picked up no mail from me and if they didn’t pick it up from me they didn’t get it. Don’t know too many folks who don’t get some kind of mail.”
“Makes sense.”
“Glad something does, the last couple of weeks nothing else has. Haven’t had many visitors since this all started.” Cameron broached the small talk.
“Yeah I know. We came up to my place almost immediately. You’re the first person outside our group I have seen since this all began. We have been listening to the radio but most of that is either gone or just repeating old government broadcasts.” JW admitted.
“It’s mostly the same everywhere. I do get to listen to a few guys like me giving updates and passing on information.” Cameron said, nodding towards the glowing radio in the corner.
“Does that have power?” JW asked.
“Shit yeah. Solar. And generator. But mostly solar. I can shut everything down and run that thing forever on just my solar panels. As long as they don’t go tits up, I got power.” Cameron said proudly.
“So who do you talk too?”
“Oh I don’t talk. I just listen.”
“Why?”
“Well I got into radio in the Navy. I worked at a listening station. We just listened. We didn’t talk. I guess once you get trained to do it one way, it just gets comfortable. Beside, I ain’t got nothing to say.”
“Fair enough. So what have you heard?”
“Probably would be better to ask what you have heard, so I don’t repeat things.”
“Fair enough. We know about DC of course. We heard the VP statement. We know about Atlanta. We assume Birmingham and Mobile are the same. We haven’t heard anything for two nights.”
“Ok. Well your assumptions are right. Birmingham and Mobile along with New Orleans, Biloxi and just about any place that warrants a dot on the map. It is amazing how quickly things fell apart. I hear folks all over the world. Or did. Some places are gone completely. Whole countries. Nothing. The US and China are holding on by a thread. The only place that is been spared so far is Greenland. There are a few places there that I can pick up and some are trying to figure out how to rescue folks and others are trying to figure out how to keep everyone out. The UK and Europe are iffy. All that is left is just like here. Pockets. Just pockets.”
JW had leaned against a small table and crossed his arms. He was looking down at the rug, absorbing the devastation this stranger was laying out.
“You said you hadn’t seen too many folks since this began. Does that mean you have seen someone?” JW asked.
“Oh yeah. Russell Davis. His family owns some land just a few miles past your place. Old Russell is one of them survivalists. His daddy made a fortune in timber but drank most of it away. Russell got the land and half million dollars when his daddy died. He would brag that he built himself a compound and was getting ready for the fall of the country. He would talk about all kinds of conspiracies and biblical prophecies. He would come in here from time to time to pick up parcels. Mostly ammunition, I know because it had to be signed for. He said he would have it sent here to confuse the government. Like the government gave a shit about Russell Davis. Anyway, he came in here the day of the Surgeon General announcement, you know the one?” nodding at JW.
JW nodded back.
“Well he came in here all smiling and giddy, like a girl getting a pony, and said he’d see me in the new world. He’s squirrely as a pecan tree. You might want to avoid him.”
“Ok. Good to know.” He looked at Cameron and kind of winced. Cameron was looking at JW with the same quizzical expression. They both scrunched their noses and eyebrows. The smell. They could see the shadows passing by the windows.
Tilly tried to scream but as she did the man behind her managed to cover her mouth and all that came out was a short squeak. He wrapped his other arm around her shoulders and pushed her forward into the dirt. Her pants were still down and the dirt and twigs scratched her legs as he shoved her down. She tried to break his grip but he managed to grab her wrist and pin it to the ground. Her other arm was trapped under her body as he put his weight on top of her.
“No, no, no, missy. You just keep quiet. I got plans for you. Big plans.” he said as he leaned his face to hers, this last part delivered in an excited whisper.
Tilly could feel his beard stubble against her face. She could smell his breath, a mixture of scrambled eggs and last night’s whiskey. He forced her flat on her stomach and relaxed his grip on her wrist. Tilly took the chance to deliver an elbow to whatever she could. She hit his stomach and he huffed. The next thing Tilly saw was stars exploding as he punched her in the back of the head.
“Nope, bitch. You don’t get to do that. That is a big no no. You’ll learn. I’ll fucking teach you. Now sit still. You’ll thank old Russell after. I promise.”
Ed wasn’t sure about this guy. He had met him while he was working the sporting goods department at the Collier Wal-Mart. Collier was a small town about twenty miles north and the Wal-Mart had been the second largest employer. This guy had been a customer. He would order guns online and have them delivered to the Wal-Mart. The store would do the background check on him when he came to pick them up. Ed had helped him a few times and they had struck up a conversation. He was one of those folks who liked to prepare for the worst. Ed thought he was mostly talk until the guy came in the day before the rest of the world would realize how bad Marionette was going to be. He had been on the Internet and watched some videos and had come to a pretty quick decision. He was there to buy every round left in the store. He had brought all the cash he could get his hands on, which was considerably more than Ed could have ever imagined and spent $6,450.00 on ammunition and two more rifles from stock. Ed became convinced that this guy was on to something while listening to his take on the videos they had all seen. Ed wasn’t really tied to anyone or anything and asked him if he could join him. The guy just smiled and said, “Sure, it all starts over now anyways.” Ed wasn’t sure what that meant; he had begun to find out.
Ed stepped around the big oak tree and saw Russell on the ground on top of some red haired girl. Her pants were down around he ankles and her face was contorted in a look of shock, anger and fear. Russell was whispering into her ear and had pulled one knee up and raised his hips off of her. He reached with his free hand and started unbuckling his belt.
“What the hell man? What do you think you’re doing?” Ed said. Looking shocked.
“Shut up. I am doing what I said I was going to do. New rules. New world.”
He looked at Ed to make sure he wasn’t going to interfere. He was pretty confident that wuss wouldn’t do a thing. He had been a little bitch this whole time. He’ll take care of that shit next. Now down to business. He managed to get his belt unbuckled and started on the zipper. Tilly tried to elbow him again.
“Oh no no. Just wait. This is gonna be good.” Russell said, leaning down to kiss her cheek.
Tilly could not do anything. He was too heavy and too strong. She tried to roll and he just let his weight down on top of her. She tried to move his hand off her mouth and couldn’t. She tried screaming but no sound that would carry could come out. She smelled him. Not his breath, or his clothes. She smelled him. That musky, sweaty smell that everyone has when you get right against the skin. Past everything else. The pheromones or something. She began to realize that no matter how much she wanted this not to happen, all the want to in world wasn’t going to stop it. She felt weak. She felt ashamed. She felt pissed. She wanted to fight but couldn’t. She hated him. She hated every fucking thing about him. She closed her eyes preparing for the next part. She fucking hated this. She squeezed her eyes so tight the tears streamed like water. He felt her relax as she began to cry.
“Oh yeah, just you wait. You gonna be crying that you waited so long to get you some Russell. Yes you will.” He breathed into her ear, still trying to fish it out of his underwear.
He heard the click a
nd felt a cold steel barrel pressed against the back of his neck.
“I know you ain’t pulled a god damn gun on me Ed.” Russell said.
“Nope. I did. Get your ass up right now.” Evelyn said.
JW and Cameron stood by the kitchen table, completely motionless except for their eyes. They both were looking past the other out the windows. It was a mass of heads and shoulders moving by. JW supposed that if you get a few dozen dead folks together they tend to stink up the joint. Mystery solved. He smiled slightly. Cameron saw it and raised one eyebrow. JW just smiled wider and brought his index finger up to his lip. Cameron didn’t see anything to smile about and he damn sure didn’t need to be told to keep quiet. He was afraid he would piss his pants. The end of the world had been on his radio so far. He hadn’t seen anything to disprove that it was just a “War of the Worlds” media event. He had now. He swallowed hard. They stood and watched. It took about twenty minutes for the crowd to move by. They waited another twenty minutes before they decided to go outside. The infected hadn’t been able to climb the steps to the porch. A few had stood in front of it bumping their shins against the first step but couldn’t quite figure out how to step up. One had fallen over and was stuck trying to drag itself up the steps. The wooden steps had no faces. Its foot had slipped through the hole between the first and second step. It couldn’t get it out. When JW and Cameron stepped out onto the porch they could see the path the crowd had taken. All the small trees and bushes were trampled down. It cut a swath through the underbrush leaving torn clothing and some flesh caught in the briars. The path led towards the post office, they couldn’t see beyond that. There was only one left, it was still hung between the first and second step.
