by Daniel Smith
“So it's hide-and-seek,” he said with a smile.
Dan was unsure if he slept or for how long before opening his eyes violently as he thought a withered hand with broken fingernails like claws was reaching towards him. Only to sit up and shake his head.
“That damn dream again,” he mumbled as he stood.
The rain continued for the next two days with Dan and Manny moving further away from the center of town closer to the edge back to the main highway. Having to stop twice seeing small groups of two or three people moving around as if looking for something.
“Something” Dan thought they were looking for them so the macabre game of hide-and-seek went on until the third day when they were getting ready to leave the house they been staying in. He was just getting ready to wake Manny from his sleep to go when he heard movement in the other room. Dan froze listening before picking up his recurve bow from the ground near him notching an arrow to it, moving off quietly to one side of the room. He took aim at the doorway and waited. He did not wait long a dark shadow moved in the hallway making for the open door.
Dan held his breath before he let the arrow fly with a twang rewarded with a screech of pain. Dan jumped forward quickly closing on the figure drawing another arrow to make sure no one else was in the hall in the dim light of dawn filtering in through the broken window. He could see a woman in her mid-twenty’s dirty brown hair sitting about her shoulders dirty green tank top with unidentifiable stains over an equally dirty blue jeans and running shoes. She half-knelt half crouched near the wall with her leg pinned to the wall with the arrow blood trickling down onto the floor. She looked up at him with defiant eyes as Dan pointed the new arrow straight at her.
At the cry of pain, Dan saw Manny roll out of his sleeping bag coming up with the black pistol grip shotgun ready. He took in the scene quickly holding his fingers to his lips to signal silence. As he moved off past Dan making sure he did not cross in front of or between him and the woman to move out into the building. He came back after a second.
“She is alone,” he said calmly as he lowered the shotgun. The woman looked at both of them defiantly before she spoke,
“So what happens now,” she said rather angrily. Manny looked at the woman and calmly asked her.
“Why have you been hunting us.” The woman looked at him defiantly.
“You killed two of us and you are trying to take what's ours,” the woman started angrily but stopped at the look Manny was giving her. Manny shook his head as if in disbelief.
“No, we killed one of you that was shooting at us, you could have try talking. The other the infected killed because your own people left her,” Manny said calmly before looking at Dan.
“Get our bikes ready rain are not we are leaving this town,” Manny said, looking back at the woman.
Dan took only a couple minutes to finish his task putting the rest of their possessions in the trailer when he returned to Manny. Manny reached into his pocket, pulled out a red bandanna before looking at Dan, and motioned to the woman. The woman looked startled as Dan quickly reached down, pinning her leg with the arrow in it to the wall with his foot as he yanked the dart tipped arrow out in one fluid motion. The woman whimpered in pain at this, but said nothing. Manny tossed her the red bandanna.
“Use that to bind your wound and if you come after us,” Manny said as he raised the Ruger stainless steel rifle on to his shoulder. “You won't live.”
They managed to get back on Natchez Trail Parkway making good time even with the rain as they rode down the highway. Until midmorning when Dan turned to look at Manny.
“I don't understand what her problem was,” Dan said looking up at the partially cloudy sky. Manny looked at him then back to the road sighing.
“Just like animals. Some people get territorial that's not always bad,” Manny said thoughtfully. “But when you fight first and talk later,” he paused. “If they talked first they would've lost anyone.” Dan was silent for a moment before Manny spoke again.
“I guess I'm trying to say it is knowing when to fight and when to talk,” Manny continued. Dan looked up at him.
“Don't get all philosophical on me,” Dan said with a slight grin looking back over to see Manny shaking his head with a smile.
They could tell they were approaching Memphis as the roadway started showing signs of more abandoned and wrecked cars and trucks. With a backup of traffic behind them as they made their way into deserted and trash covered streets of the residential areas. Some homes showing signs of ransacking, they made their camp, setting up some fallback locations before they separated starting their search. After a couple days, they moved near a small commercial Plaza near an apartment building complex. When Manny noticed a red and white U-Haul truck in one parking lot, parked near the front of one store.
“Let's check that out but carefully,” Manny told Dan as he motioned for them to head towards the truck.
The twenty-four foot truck sat with the driver door open the keys still in the ignition several piles of trash on the floorboards. Manny looked at the store it sat parked in front of with a broken display window leading into the store Manny made a motion for Dan to check the back of the truck. Making his way to the back of the truck only to find the latch to the rollup door had no lock. Taking the metal handle, he released it to start the rollup door moving upwards with a rattle to see what the cargo space held. He started jumping back immediately but was too slow as the zombie half fell half jumped from the truck grappling for him.
Dan hit the ground hard and managed to push the withered zombie off him pulling the forty-five autoloader from his shoulder holster jamming it towards the face of the undead man. The zombie’s mouth opening biting the barrel of the gun trying for his hand. In one smooth motion he thumbed the hammer back and pull the trigger sending the back of the zombie’s head exploding in a shower of yellowish gore out onto the parking lot. He had just managed to pick himself off the ground as he stuffed the forty-five back into the shoulder holster when Manny appeared holding the short barrel shotgun ready for use.
“You all right,” Manny asked looking at the now brainless zombie on the ground.
“Yes, I opened the truck. And that zombie was in their waiting to jump at me,” Dan said roughly. Manny shrugged his shoulders, before adding.
“Well, that's one interesting car alarm,” he said turning to see what was in the back of the truck.
Dan joined him looking surprised seeing several large drums of gasoline strapped to the wall some boxes of food and a few weapons and ammunition.
“Let's close this and check inside the store. If we don't find anyone and no one shows up in a couple minutes from your pistol shot I say the truck is ours,” Manny said calmly as he moved towards the broken window.
Dan followed and noticed the store had been part, convenience store part pharmacy. He separated from Manny as he went about looking for any useful medicines. The safe like machine holding the painkillers sat tore open. Searching a shelf he managed to find some industrial-strength ibuprofen, penicillin and a few others he recognized. Moving back into the store he grabbed a couple of boxes of plastic bags. Going back he took time to write the medicine and dosage size on the bags. Also finding a good supply of over-the-counter medicines in boxes in a small storeroom. Filling a shopping basket with a couple of cases of bottled water and any unspoiled food that was still good. When they returned outside all they saw were a couple of shambling figures slowly making their way towards them.
“Let's put the bikes in the back of the truck and move on,” Manny said calmly as he started tossing the items they had taken from the store in the truck.
He went to go get the bikes. Racing the undead to load the bikes and supplies into the truck before the undead reached them. Closing their doors and were driving down the road before the first zombie reached for them.
“We will find a place to hide the truck and we will scout on bike. If we find something good we go back and get the truck,” Manny sa
id as he made a turn heading for an apartment complex.
Dan shook his head it made sense as usual it just made sense. He thought. They made their camp and the old apartment complex. Most of the apartment doors broken open and all the apartments looking thoroughly ransacked making him uneasy, that meant people had been here or might still be here. They took time to make the truck look more unusable than it was before finding and securing an apartment for tonight. They spent the next few days scouring the area for useful items loading up, the empty bike trailers before riding back and placing the items in the truck. They had just moved into a small commercial area surrounded by residential apartment buildings.
Manny had gone off to check the gas station nearby to see if it had any usable fuel left. Dan left Manny as he moved slightly down the street towards the intersection heading for a hardware store they had seen. He had been staying close near the corner of the building as he approached the intersection, looking around, studying it carefully. He could see a four-car pileup in it with their doors hanging open long abandoned while he saw nothing, something of a bad feeling about the intersection was sitting in the pit of his stomach. He was not going to take any chances. Dan got off his bike and started walking it into the intersection that way if he needed to drop it and run or fight would waste no time getting off it.
He just about reached the wrecks in the middle of the intersection; when he saw a large black man rise from behind them. Dan stopped immediately his right hand shooting for the butt of the autoloader. He studied the man who wore a pair of blue jeans and a white T-shirt that look two sizes too small on him. The man scared him for some reason it was not because he stood about six foot three with bulging muscles. Massive tattoos crisscrossing his arms or the large curly black beard that covered most of his face and baldhead. The man just had a presence of danger about him. The man said nothing and had no weapon visible. He stood studying Dan.
“You're in the wrong area,” the dark man said in a deep voice as he studied Dan for a reaction.
Dan tightened his grip on the autoloader for a second as Manny's lessons on when to speak, when to be silent ran to his head quickly.
“What area should I be in I'm new around here,” Dan said calmly looking the man directly in his brown eyes.
A wide white smile broke through the curly beard covering the man's face.
“New around here, you say,” he started in a sarcastic voice. Before he continue Dan nodded his head slightly, his eyes darting from the man searching the area behind him.
“Yes came up from Vicksburg on a scouting trip to see if there's any supplies the town can use,” he replied calmly. Dan's eyes locked on a slight movement in a doorway on one side of the street a little ways down.
“So he is not alone,” he thought as he locked his eyes back onto the massive man. His face held a slightly puzzled look before the smile returned.
“Are you alone here,” the man's deep voice asked. Dan's eyes darted to the doorway again. Waiting for movement for a second before responding.
“No, just like your friend back there in the doorway.”
The dark man's eyes darted to one side as if to look before he looked back at Dan, before he chuckled slightly. Without breaking eye contact, He raised his hand and made a motion, as if to come forward after a couple of seconds. Dan saw a person walk from the doorway. She was a black woman standing about five foot two with a dark coat on. Close-cropped black hair sat on her head. She was wearing blue jeans and a gray flannel shirt and studied Dan as she approached.
“What's he doing here. This is not his area,” she stated to the man stopping next to him.
“He's new here up from the town of Vicksburg looking for supplies like us,” the deep voice responded to her. Dan watch the woman looked at the man in surprise.
“Samuel you say too much at times,” she replied tersely.
“He talks too much. You just gave me his name,” Dan thought. Samuel just look back to him.
“Yes, were looking for some supplies too Memphis is a divided city and you need to be careful where you go,” Samuel's deep voice boomed. The woman looked slightly agitated as she spoke.
“Samuel, we don't have time for this you can't be playing tour guide. We need to find medicine. And it's not like where he came from would help us,” she said rather angrily. Dan saw Samuel look at her for a second.
“And why would you say something like that,” Dan asked calmly. He swore he saw Samuel wince slightly as the woman turned her full attention to him.
“Oh like you have people like us running around where you're from,” she started angry, but Dan cut her off.
“If you mean because your black you would be wrong. The town I come from has white, black, Asian and the mayor is Hispanic. We work together to survive,” he stated calmly. Whatever else she was going to say died in her throat as Samuel turned toward her chuckling slightly.
“You see Margaret not all people and places are like this,” his deep voice stated. Margaret looked angrily at Samuel before turning her angry gaze back to Dan.
“Are we over this Hallmark moment,” she started. “We need medicine the influenza cases we have are not going to get better and we will start losing people,” she said tersely while still scowling at him.
“Are you a doctor,” Dan asked curiously watching her brown eyes locked on to him hard for a moment before responding.
“No, paramedic,” her angry tone still prevalent as she looked at him. Dan looked at her then to Samuel.
“Well, if your scavenging for medicine. I have some if you're interested in a trade,” Dan said casually watching Samuel turned to look at him and Margaret look on with suspicion but it was Margaret who spoke.
“What do you have,” she said a little too eagerly.
Dan watched as Samuel grimaced slightly he did his best to keep his face neutral. Remembering what Manny had said about not letting people know how badly you want something or how badly you needed or what you are willing to do to get it. Dan motioned to the front saddlebag on his bike. Looking at Samuel who nodded slightly he slowly reached for the bag. All the while keeping the two of them in eyesight as he unzipped it and grabbed three extra-large Ziploc bags stuffed with medicines they found in the store. Putting them down on the hood of the car sitting between them. Dan motioned for Margaret to examine the bags, she open the bags looking at several smaller Ziploc bags with written medicine and dosage size on them before putting them down.
“How do I know this stuff is real,” she said accusatorially. Dan looked around before he looked at her. A strange thought forming in his head.
“You’re a paramedic you should know the real stuff from the fake go ahead, try one,” Dan said offhandedly.
Noticing a smile crossing Samuel's face as he looked around again for some strange reason. He felt the police would swoop in any second telling him to put his hands up and arrest him in the middle of this abandoned street for dealing drugs. Margaret looked at him ruefully for before picking up the bag marked ibuprofen. Opening it taking a tablet out in her hand she used a clean fingernail to scratch the surface before tasting the residue that was on her finger. She made a puckered look with her face, put the tablet back in the bag, and sealed it before doing the same for the ones marked penicillin.
“These are real,” she said, looking at Samuel.
Dan was trying to understand the strange feeling he got from the man. He seemed calm but also dangerous just like Manny doing his best to push this out of his mind. No time for distraction now as Samuel took over he motioned at a satchel that was at his feet. Doing the same movement Dan did he slowly bent down to pick it up keeping an eye on him. He placed the bag on the car near the pile of medicine. Unzipping the bag he put his hand in and started removing a box of 30.06 ammunition. A half dozen shotgun shells a large package of dehydrated beef stroganoff and an unopened 1.75 liter bottle of fireball whiskey he place on the roof. Dan looked at the items on the hood. He knew the trade items would only cov
er a small fraction of the medicine. Dan kept his face blank. Letting the negotiations began.
“All of this,” Samuel said, sweeping his hand over the items. “For a quarter of the medicine,” he started. Margaret looked up from the medicine surprised.
“We are going to need all of it,” she said to Samuel as he grimaced at what she said. Dan quickly looked around as if expecting trouble but watched as Samuel opened his hand for calm.
“Margaret over here please so we can talk.”
Dan watched them back off several feet as they talked Margaret in agitated animated tones, making gestures with her hands Samuel with his arms folded over his chest looking calmly and replying. Then it hit Dan what the strange feeling he had about Samuel. He reminded him of Manny quiet and calm but dangerous. Their conversation ended with Dan overhearing Margaret exclaimed.
“We need all of it,” to Samuel before they started walking back.
Dan tensed the look on Margaret's face told him everything he needed to know. She was not leaving without the medicine Samuel looking calm, had a grim determination on his face. He stopped letting out a deep breath.
“We need at least a quarter of the medicine we have many sick people,” Samuel started, receiving a hiss from Margaret.
“Samuel,” she started urgently, Samuel turned his eyes from Dan to look at her.
“Margaret if you don't quiet down and let me negotiate we are not going to get anything,” he said calmly. Margaret looked at him, stunned and confused for a moment before Samuel tilted his head slightly.
“Behind him down the street on the left near that broken window,” he said turning back to face Dan.
Margaret turned to move slightly to one side to look past Dan. Then recoil in horror slightly.
“There's a man with a rifle,” she exclaimed.
Dan smiled slightly he knew Manny would have his back for him to show himself he must have felt there might be trouble.
