A World Apart (Part 1): 8,000 Miles

by Sean P. Thomas

  “Yeah,” Jerry said, “we’ll make a go of it in a few days, we may have to travel on foot some of the way, if we can’t get the bus through there, or even come back in some smaller vehicles.”

  Roy nodded. “Turn right here.” He told Kyle.

  Kyle turned as directed and they headed north on a road that led to the bigger stores in the area. They could see the hardware store ahead and to the right. Neighboring it, directly on their right, was a large department store, one of those super stores that sold pretty much everything, even a fair bit of food.

  “If we get done in here quickly, maybe we should scout out that department store.” Jerry suggested. “We can save the other grocery store for another run.”

  “Sounds good.” Roy said.

  A few moments later, the large bus was turning into the parking lot of the hardware store. There were much less cars in this lot, but more zombies walking around, than what they saw at the grocery store a few miles back. Jerry assumed that most of the undead they saw now, had wandered over from the interstate. It was unlikely that too many people thought to loot a hardware store, so he was confident they would find the supplies they needed. As the bus made its way around the parking lot to pull to the front of the store, the zombies in the area started to move towards them.

  “Should we start taking them down?” Roy asked.

  “Not yet.” Alex said. He had joined them at the front of the bus as soon as they pulled into the parking lot. “Gunshots may draw more of these things, there aren’t that many of them.”

  “Well, what should we do?” Roy asked. “I’m sure we could avoid them enough to get inside, but I sure as hell don’t want to load up this bus while having to worry about those things.”

  “Why don’t you run them over?” Hector chimed in.

  “That’s not a bad idea son.” Jerry said and patted Hector on the back. “We have enough room in this parking lot to take laps around until we get them all. Let’s give it a go.”

  The first few zombies were already getting close to the front of the bus when Kyle put it in drive and rolled right over them. The bus had no problem with the fleshy obstacles. Kyle pulled the bus around the parking lot and took down several more of the creatures when they came back around to the front of the store. It took about three laps to get them all, and Kyle even backed up over a couple that were still struggling to crawl, to finish them off. Once the group was satisfied with their work, Kyle pulled the bus adjacent to the front door of the hardware store. Jerry exited the bus first. He had John’s baseball bat in his hands, but was also armed with a pistol on his belt and a rifle slung over his shoulder. Alex was the only other member of the small group who was armed with any sort of melee weapon, his knife, but the others had pistols and rifles, except for Hector. Jerry didn’t want him to carry a gun just yet, since he hadn’t had the chance to attend any training with Derek. He really brought him along to get him out of the school for a bit, for one, and to get his feet wet.

  The outside of the bus was a bloody mess. There were corpses strewn all around the area where Kyle had used the bus to kill the zombies. Jerry approached the front of the building and peered inside. He could see the rows of large shelves inside the dimly lit building. He didn’t see any zombies yet. The sliding glass doors were shut. These doors would slide open when a person approached the sensor under normal circumstances, but since there was no power and they were likely locked, they would have to pry them open manually. Jerry inspected the door. He put his fingers in between the two doors and tried to pull them apart, the doors wouldn’t budge.

  “Alex,” Jerry called, “try to pry these doors open with your knife.” Alex moved up and replaced Jerry in front of the doors. He slid the blade of his knife in between the two doors and began to pry and twist. The doors gave a little, but only about an inch. Jerry got in there to help and got his fingers inside the small opening. He pulled with all his strength, but he still couldn’t open the doors. He wanted to avoid breaking the glass. He didn’t want to commit destruction of property, but after considering this, he realized his reservations were ridiculous, they were there with the intent of appropriating thousands of dollars’ worth of goods, which under the normal laws of society, would be grand larceny. He laughed at himself then motioned for Alex to stand back.

  Once Alex was out of the way, Jerry stepped back and swung the baseball bat. He hit one of the glass doors right in the middle of the pane. The impact cracked the glass, but didn’t break it all the way. It created a pattern across the glass that resembled a spider’s web. Jerry took another swing and this time the glass shattered completely. The impact of the bat and the shattering of the glass was pretty loud, so the group waited there a moment to see if any zombies were attracted by the commotion. After a few minutes, there was still no sign of any additional monsters. Jerry stepped through the door.

  Jerry’s footsteps crunched as he walked on the shards of broken glass. He took a moment to scan the store. He still didn’t see any zombies, but he did see that the shelves were fully stocked. He gestured to the others to come inside.

  “Let’s make sure this place is clear before we start shopping.” He said.

  The group stayed together and methodically moved from aisle to aisle. It took them a while to get through the whole store. It was completely clear of any zombies. They moved back to the front of the store.

  “Alex, take hector and you guys hit all the cash registers.” Jerry told them. “Get as much candy, chips, drinks, batteries, or anything else useful you can find.” He pushed a shopping cart over to Alex. “The rest of us will start working on the list that Chris put together.”

  Alex and Hector headed towards the registers with their shopping cart. Jerry and Roy both grabbed large utility carts and followed Chris deeper into the store.

  ***

  Angie was sitting with Sam and Patty at a table in the cafeteria. Patty had made a coffee for them both.

  “I haven’t had coffee in weeks.” Angie said with a satisfied expression on her face. “It is wonderful.”

  “It’s from my private stash in my office.” Patty said. “Don’t tell anyone.” She winked.

  “Your secret is safe with me.” Angie replied with a smile.

  “Well you enjoy it, I have to go check the food stores.” Patty said. “The cook said there was some sort of problem.”

  “I hope it is nothing too serious.” Angie told her.

  “I’m sure it is nothing.” Patty said, then walked away towards the kitchen.

  A few minutes after Patty left, Derek came in and sat down across from Angie.

  “Hey Derek.” Angie greeted him.

  “Hello Angie.” He returned the greeting. “Hey big guy.” He said to Sam.

  “Hi Derek.” Sam said with a smile.

  “How did the weapons class go?” Angie asked him. He had taken several of the students and a few of the adults out to the baseball field and gave them some lessons in firearms safety.

  “It was good.” Derek said. “None of them seemed to be complete strangers to guns. We did a bit of target practice too, but not much, I didn’t want to waste too much ammo. I spent a while on the roof with the guards too. It’s all clear out there. This place is pretty great, being so far from the city.”

  “Yeah, it’s not a bad place to wait this out, especially if Jerry and the others come through with these supply runs.” Angie said. “I’m worried about him though.”

  “He’ll be fine.” Derek tried to put her fears at ease. “He has some good guys with him.”

  Just then, Patty came back from the kitchen and stood in front of Angie and Derek.

  “Someone has been sneaking into the food stores at night.” Patty stated in an aggressive tone.

  “Oh my!” Angie said. “I wonder who would do that.”

  “I can set up a guard for the food at night.” Derek told her.

  “No.” Patty said flatly. “I’ll handle it. I don’t know who to trust, and we didn’t h
ave this problem before your group showed up.”

  “Hold on a second.” Angie said angrily. “No one from our group would do that. Jerry, Alex, and Kyle are out there right now, risking their lives, to get supplies for this place. You might want to check some of your own people.”

  “Like I said, I’ll handle it.” Patty said with finality, then stormed off and out of the cafeteria.

  “I don’t like where this is going.” Angie told Derek.

  “I’ll look into it, ask around.” Derek said.

  ***

  Jerry and the others had found everything on Chris’ list. Alex and Hector had gotten almost a shopping cart full of snacks and drinks. The small group was at the back of the bus loading up the last of the supplies. It had taken them several trips to cart everything out. The load consisted of two large generators, an electric water pump, a well point system with 40 feet of galvanized metal pipe, another hundred feet of PVC pipe, a large tank for water storage, several solar panels with components, a hand pump for fuel, shovels, picks, hammers, and other supplies that Chris said he needed. It took a while to get everything loaded up, but it looked like it would fit with no problem. They had loaded everything up except for the large water tank, which they were pushing up into the back now.

  Jerry and Hector were on the ground, pushing the large tank up to the other three in the back of the bus. Once Jerry and Hector saw that the guys in the back had a good hold on it, they let go and stepped to the side. Hector bent over and put his hands on his knees, taking a moment to catch his breath. This was probably the hardest he had ever worked. As they were loading the tank into the bus, it was banging around and making a lot of noise, so neither Jerry nor Hector could hear the scuffling from under the bus. As Hector was catching his breath, a hand grasped onto his leg and pulled. Hector didn’t go down with the pull, instead the zombie dragged itself forward to Hector and latched onto his left calve with its teeth. The thing tore into his leg and ripped a large chunk of flesh and muscle free. Hector howled in pain and in shock. Jerry reacted immediately. He pulled Hector away from the bus, trying to get him away from the monster, but the zombie was just dragged, still holding onto Hector’s leg.

  Jerry gasped when he recognized that the lower half of the zombie was gone. It had been ripped in half, presumably when Kyle ran the thing over. Intestines poured from its torso as the zombie was pulled from under the bus. Hector continue to scream in agony. Jerry drew his pistol and took aim at the things head. He didn’t want to hit Hector by accident, but he had to get the boy free from the attack. He shot the thing in the head and its grasp on Hector relented. Jerry grabbed the thing by the shoulders, pulled it free of Hector, and tossed it to the side. He wrapped his hands around Hectors bleeding calve and called for help. The others didn’t need the summons, because as soon as Hector screamed, they were moving out of the bus. Alex ran inside the hardware store to look for anything they could use to stop his bleeding. He came out a few moments later with a linen drop cloth and some wooden stirring sticks, normally used for mixing paint.

  Alex used his knife to cut strips of the drop cloth. He wrapped one long strip around Hector’s leg, just below the knee. He put a stirring stick inside the strip and twisted it until the blood flow in his lower leg was cut off. He used another strip to tie one end of the stick to his leg, so that it couldn’t untwist. Alex wadded up some of the cloth and placed it directly over the gruesome bite, then wrapped it with another strip. Satisfied that he had treated the wound as best he could, he called to the others to help him load Hector into the bus. Hector lost consciousness. Kyle ran to the driver’s seat and started up the bus, while the other men quickly loaded the injured boy inside. As soon as they were all inside, Kyle put the bus in gear and sped away to get back to the high school. Jerry put his face into the palms of his hands and cried. He felt shamefully guilty. He had promised to keep Hector safe, he had failed.

  CHAPTER 31

  John had initiated his plan to get his friends out of the building shortly after he spotted George and Damien waving from the other roof. Before leaving their own building, John had gestured to the others to get to the bottom floor and wait. He did this by simply pointing down with his finger then holding his palm up towards them. After he saw them moving away from the edge of the roof, he led his own group down and out of the building they were in. The zombies had spread back out, so they avoided them as best they could until they reached the other building. There were a few of them wandering around, so John ran to the wall on the right side of the opened door. He and the others made some noise by shouting and banging on the wall to attract the zombies nearby. Then they simply ran around the building, with the monsters slowly giving chase, and came back to the door from the other side. John ran inside and found their three friends waiting.

  John motioned for them to follow, but noticed that George was limping and being assisted by Damien. He moved to the opposite side of George and pulled his other arm over his own shoulder. Shelly and Ed took up the lead back towards the gate while John and Damien helped George keep up. They knocked over a few of the monsters on the way and had to clear a few from around the gate with some well-aimed shots, but in short order, they were all through the small opening in the gate and back in their trucks. After two days of hell, they escaped FOB Delaram. No one was hurt, except for a sprained ankle and they added a new member to their group.

  It was almost nightfall when they finally drove away from the base in their vehicles. They drove northwest on Highway-1 for about two hours before John pulled his truck off the highway to make camp for the night. It was totally dark by the time they stopped, but again, they were in the middle of nowhere, so it was pretty safe, even in the dark. They situated the trucks in the same pattern as the last time they camped out in the open. The route they had planned, back at their own base almost a week before, would take them all the way to Herat, and then west into Iran, but there was one stop they had planned for that was on the way. There was an airbase south of Herat called Shindand Airbase. It was a large airfield that was co-used by the Afghans and the United States Air Force. The group figured it was a long-shot, but wanted to go there and see if it was still unaffected by the apocalypse, because if it was, they might be able to get a flight from there, back to the states. It was only about three miles off of Highway-1. Susan had told them, back when they planned this trip, that the base was allegedly used by the CIA to fly drones over Iran. Perhaps they might be able to get some intel on the status of things in the rest of the world.

  Once the camp was setup, Ed was pulling guard in the turret of the MaxxPro while the rest of the group were preparing to get some sleep. They chose not to light a fire this time, not for fear of it being spotted or anything, but simply because they were too tired to deal with it. They were all famished, they hadn’t eaten since they left the camp the morning before entering Delaram. Samir was especially hungry and very appreciative when John handed him an MRE. They ate their meals in mostly silence, especially Susan. She could barely look at the others, ashamed of her actions back at the Afghan base. Shelly wanted to confront her, but John urged her to let it go. After finishing their meals, most of the group laid down on their cots and went to sleep. Samir was sitting up on his cot, staring off towards the north, lost in thought. John walked over to him and sat next to him on the cot.

  “You said your family is in Herat?” John asked him.

  “Yes.” Samir answered him quietly. “I pray that they are okay. I pray I get to see my son again, Inshallah.” Inshallah meant god willing in Arabic, but Pashtun Muslims used the phrase as well.

  “We are heading towards Herat.” John told him. “We can get you there, or close. Our plan takes us through Herat and on into Iran. We are going to try to get to Europe eventually and find a boat on the coast and sail it to the United States.”

  Samir looked at John like he was insane, but said nothing.

  “I know that this plan sounds impossible, but we all have families we hope
to see again too.” John told him. “Inshallah.”

  Samir smiled.

  “We are going to stop at Shindand Airbase first though. Are you familiar with it?”

  “Yes.” Samir said.

  “Our hope is that we can avoid the seemingly impossible trek across multiple continents all together.” John told him. “If that airbase is still operational, then perhaps we can still get a flight back home. If not, we will attempt the other plan. I tell you all this to simply say, you are welcome to join us as far as you want to go. If we get lucky in Shindand, well, you will be a lot closer to Herat. If not, we will take you right to your home city.”

  “You have been more generous than I could have ever expected.” Samir said to John. “I admire your ambitious plan and I hope that it is a successful journey. I would be honored to travel with you as far as you care to take me. Thank you, John.” Samir placed his hand over his heart and bowed his head. This was a common sign of respect in Pashtun culture.

  “Get some rest, Samir.” John said then. “We have a long road ahead.”

  Samir nodded as John stood up. John moved over to his cot and laid down. He said a silent prayer for Angie and Sam, then drifted off to sleep.

  ***

  The group hit the road early the next morning. George was riding in the gunner’s hatch and Samir was sitting in the passenger seat next to John. It took them almost four hours before they saw the signs for Shindand Airbase. It was a desolate wasteland between Delaram and Shindand, so the trip so far had been uneventful. There was a road that headed off to the west ahead that would lead them right to the airbase. John made the turn and pushed onward towards their next destination, and hopefully a way to get home. They had traveled for about two miles when the airbase came into view. John could see inside because the base was surrounded by a large chain link fence. The road they were traveling on veered to the left ahead. There was a small village just off the road on the left side.