by Weeks, Kris
“Sorry guys.”
Willy and Nate nodded their head accepting his apology, but not the shower of blood they just had. They quickly set the shelf back up and placed it in front of the door. They peered out to see three zombies feeling up the hood of the van and four or five more banging on the back of it.
“Guess we need to take care of those ones.” Andrew stared at the drunks.
The three told the girls to stay put and snuck out of the doors without making a noise. They took out the three in front first and then Andrew and Willy rounded one side and Nate went to the other. They showed themselves at the same time. Two turned towards Nate and two turned towards the other side. Andrew pushed Willy back and raised his sling blade and took out three of them at once. Their heads all hit the ground one after the other. Nate backed up when he had seen Andrew raise the huge sling blade and stepped forward after the three heads rolled to take care of the last one near the van when Andrew swung again and took it out for him.
“Mmmhmmm, that is how you do it right there, mmmhmmm” Andrew muttered in his best Sling Blade movie voice.
Nate laughed that Andrew was joking around. Willy tapped Andrew on the shoulder and pointed at the one zombie that had wandered off away from the van.
“Mmmhmmm, I got that one too!” The gruff voice came again.
Andrew walked over a few feet toward the street and swung his blade.
Willy and Nate shook their head as they laughed at their new sling blade partner, all three headed back into the store and set up their door block once more and continued scavenging.
Chapter 12
BACK AT the safe haven that had been set up for the group, Rue had finally immersed from the room with the children. She made her way into the breakroom and began searching for food and drinks for them all.
Mary wandered in from the chair she had put in the lobby to watch the outside world. Though the world now consisted of zombies, it was still an interesting thing to watch when they could not see you.
“Hey there guys!” Mary spouted to the kids.
Garrett ran to hug Mary, Barker stayed with his mom, Rowena sat on the floor and Rue held Caden in her arms trying to unwrap some things with one hand. Mary walked to her and gently took it from her.
“There is help here, it doesn’t seem like you like to have that, but we are here to help each other.” Mary whispered as she opened the honey bun and handed it to Barker.
“Thank you. I need to make some of the powdered milk for Caden. I think they brought some bottles back last time they were out, I am just not sure where they are.” Rue said in her soft tone.
“I have organized everything in here, I can help. I made a cabinet for just the baby stuff.” Mary walked to the far cabinet and opened it to show all of the baby stuff.
She pulled out a bottle and handed to Rue and pulled out a can of formula as well as the can of powdered milk and set on the counter.
“We have formula?” Rue asked surprised.
“They brought it in from their last run. Guess I thought Eric would have told you.” Mary shrugged.
“Oh my gosh I would die to get Rowy on some normal stuff and off of me.” Rue expressed.
Mary made another bottle and handed it to Rowena. Rue fed Caden his bottle and they both took a seat at one of the small tables.
“Can I ask you something?” Mary hoped she would say yes.
“Depends on the question.” Rue stated without looking up from the baby.
“Why is Eric the way he is?”
“He has been through a lot and then when the apocalypse hit, it was like he took over and had to run things. I think he is mostly right, there has to be a leader of some sort in this situation. He has his reasons for doing things.” Rue half explained.
Mary nodded. “But why does he have to be so mean? We are all human here and the group he has are all willing to do what is needed to survive.”
Rue shrugged and turned to check on Rowena since she was just starting to get steady at sitting.
“I just wish he was not so hateful and physical, there is no need to be that way.” Mary took a drink of the warm juice.
“Do as he says and there won’t be any issues. He is just trying to keep everyone safe.”
“But taking someone’s children is uncalled for.”
“It keeps them safe and gives him more manpower to use.”
Mary shrugged realizing that she was not going to get anywhere with the conversation. She wanted badly to ask Rue about the relationship between her and Eric, but figured that would be too intrusive. It had been talked about that they might be brother and sister or old boyfriend and girlfriend, from what she understood from the conversations with Nate, Willy and Andrew, there had been wondering about if they were husband and wife. But he never introduced her that way according to Andrew, who was the first to be with them.
Mary sat biting her tongue and watching to two boys devour their honeybuns. Rue and Mary sat in silence for a long time.
“Do you want to be here?” Rue asked Mary.
Mary nodded pulling her cup away from her mouth. “I am happy to be somewhere safe and with mostly good people. I wasn’t quite appreciative of the physical violence, but I have been through worse when I was younger. So, yes I guess I am glad that I was helped, not glad to be around such a harsh man like Eric.”
Rue sucked her lips into her mouth and pushed her glasses back in front of her eyes where they belonged instead towards the tip of her nose. “Eric can be harsh, but it is all for a good cause.”
Mary nodded trying not to disagree with Rue, but not agreeing with her either.
Rue took the bottle from Caden and raised him to her shoulder and started patting his back. Rowena crawled over to Rue as soon as she saw her put Caden on her shoulder. She put both hands up and reached for Rue. Mary moved her chair back and went to get Rowena. She picked her up off of the floor and raised her to her hip. She laid her head on Mary’s shoulder. She patted her back knowing that she was jealous of the attention her Mom was giving another little human. Rue patted Caden until he went to sleep and left Barker, Garrett, and Rowena with Mary. Rue came directly back and gathered the other kids.
“You are more than welcome to leave them out here if you would like. I can watch them.” Mary offered.
Rue shook her head. “I better not, Eric has said that they are to stay with me. Thank you though.”
“Is Jennifer going to get to see her kids when she gets back?” Mary wondered to Rue.
Rue shrugged at Mary and took the rest of the kids down the hallway. Mary began cleaning the breakroom from the small mess left by the boys when she heard footsteps coming down the hall.
She continued wiping the table knowing that the footsteps were not that of Rue and never looked up when she could feel someone standing there since she assumed it was Eric.
“Mary, I hear that you are concerned with the way that I treat people.” He voiced.
Mary’s head shot up to him. “Honestly, I think you are pretty harsh when everyone is so willing to help. I feel if you weren’t such an ass, we would all get along much better. Plus, pushing people out to the wolves, if you will, is such a wretched way to treat people when really it was all you.”
Eric walked further into the breakroom and stood very close to Mary. She stood up tall and waited for his response.
“That is not your concern on how I do things. Your concern is you and if you are going to be the next one out on your ass. I don’t put up with shit and you are the last person that I am concerned about keeping in my group to help me survive the apocalypse.”
Mary smirked and nodded her head and went back to wiping down the table. She could feel Eric burning a hole in the back of her head with his eyes.
“Ms. Mary, please know that your smart mouth is going to get you in some major trouble with me. Rue has told you that I run this, if you don’t like it you can leave.”
Mary nodded her head at him and smiled a huge smile and w
ent back to cleaning.
***
The crew had gathered all there was to gather from the shelves.
“I wonder why a lot of these stores haven’t been touched yet?” Willy asked.
“Guess the town is small enough that no one has hit it yet, but soon we are going to have to move on after we clean out the stores and stuff.” Andrew stated.
Everyone understood and gathered the things they had found and hurried out to the van to load it up. Nate carried three large gas cans out to the van and put them to the side for easy access. After everyone had made two trips and loaded the back as well as half of the back seat, they were ready to get back on the road. Willy drove out of the parking lot and back the way they came. A few zombies were scattered through the streets but Willy did a great job of avoiding them.
“Let’s stop back by the parking lot and get some more gas. Those couple of pieces of hose are still in the back.” Nate directed Willy.
Willy nodded and looked down at the gas gage. “We need to top off anyway.”
Willy pulled into the parking lot and up to the last rows of cars this time. “We can start from down here, since we know we got a lot of them from that other end.”
Nate agreed and hopped out before Willy even had the van in park. He popped open the back doors and grabbed the two gas cans and hoses. He ran to an oversized jacked up truck parked in the parking space closest to them and unscrewed the cap. He stuck in the hose and put a little suction on it before throwing it into the gas can and out of his mouth before the gas ran into it. Nate had gone to this truck first because he thought the tank would be big and was hoping that it was full. Sure enough, gas came flowing out of the hose filling the gas can almost halfway before finally coming to a light stream. Nate shook the hose and pulled it out of the can. He put the top back on the can as he walked back over to the van and started pouring it into the tank. He listened for the sound of the gas coming to the top and pulled the nozzle out before it overflowed. His can still had some in it so he went to another vehicle and started the same routine. The rest got out of the van and came to help. Willy took the other huge gas can and started a few cars down, both of them leaving the gas tanks open to let the other know that the gas had already been taken. Adrianna followed Willy in and out through the cars watching and learning how to do what he was doing. Andrew and Jennifer kept a watch out for any undead that may cause an interruption in collecting gas.
Finally with all of the gas cans full to the top, they secured the tops and put them back in the van. Everyone loaded up. They pulled back out on the road and drove slowly around vehicles and pulled back into the parking lot as the sun was just going down. Willy backed up to the door and scanned the parking lot before getting out.
“I think we’re good, let’s get after it while there is still a little light.” Willy told them.
Everyone piled out. Andrew started handing things from the back seat to Jennifer and Adrianna while Nate and Willy cleared out the back. Once the back seat was clear, Mary held open the door and they made an assembly line from the van to the front door. Light was diminishing just as they put the last bit inside and closed it and locked it up tight. All of them were happy to be back safe and sound. The group ravished through the new arrival of needed items putting them away where they belonged. Eric heard the commotion and quickly headed down the hall to the lobby to see everyone separating things into piles of where they needed to go. They all stopped as he entered and looked at him waiting for instruction as they all knew was coming.
“Good job.” Eric stated as he picked up two cans of vegetables. “Do we have a way to open them?”
Jennifer handed him the manual can opener and turned back to sorting. “Can I see my children now?” She requested.
“I see no reason that you can’t, just know that the children are the backbone of our future and that they will all be taught by me. I will be spending a lot of time with all of them from now on teaching them the ways of the new world. But yes, by all means go see them.” He explained before allowing her to enter the hall.
Jennifer sprinted down the hall and stopped just before the door, she knocked lightly and waited impatiently. The door quietly cracked open.
“Yes?” Rue asked.
“My kids, I am here to see my kids.” Jennifer spouted back.
Rue cracked the door a bit more and stuck her head out to see down the hall, Jennifer turned to look to see Eric looking back at them and he nodded his head at Rue. Rue pulled the door open further and allowed Jennifer in. She tiptoed in knowing that some of the kids would be asleep. She scanned the room and saw Caden lying on a blanket next to Rowena. Garett and Blake sat in the corner looking at a book that had been brought back from the first outing. Garrett caught the door opening, sat straight up and once Jennifer entered he jumped to his feet and ran to her. He jumped into Jennifer’s arms and hugged her neck tight. Jennifer wrapped her arms around him.
“Hey there baby, you been watching your brother?”
Garrett pulled back from her. “Yep, he smiles when I tickle him.”
Jennifer smiled at him and pushed his head back to her shoulder.
“Sorry, it is time for them to go to bed.” Rue told her.
Jennifer glared at Rue and put her son on the ground. “Do I get to come with you tonight mommy?”
“I don’t think so son, but we will all be back together soon, mommy has some work to do. Promise it won’t be long.” She told her son as she looked at Rue.
Rue kept a straight face with no empathy at all towards her. “Go get in bed Garrett.” Rue pulled his hair away from his forehead.
Jennifer kissed her son’s cheek and smiled at him. Garrett ran back to the corner and laid on the pallet that was made for him.
“I am not sure what kind of bullshit you and Eric have going on here, but you as a mother should understand what I am going through and how hard this is.”
“What you are going through? What? Keeping your children safe? That is the bullshit we are doing, you and your children can leave, just as Eric has said.” Rue shot back with attitude.
Jennifer nodded at Rue and gave a sarcastic smile and left to the hallway. She closed the door and broke into quiet tears. She pulled her hands to her face, walked down the hall and turned into the room that she had slept in with Karlin, Mary, and Adrianna. She fell to the floor and sobbed.
“Are you okay?” Karlin asked.
Jennifer wiped her face and shook her head no. “They are just trying to keep people safe is what they say.”
Jennifer looked up at the young girl. “Where are your parents?”
Karlin smiled. “Dad was not around before stupid zombies, Mom was killed awhile back at the other land we were at.”
She nodded at the girl and smiled at her. “I’m sorry.”
“Guess it is part of life, which is what Eric says anyway.”
Chapter 13
JENNIFER STAYED and talked to Karlin for a while and was surprised that she was ‘allowed’ to do so. They could hear the rustling outside of everyone putting things up. Jennifer knew that she should be helping, but really did not have the patience to deal with Eric right now.
After a bit, Mary and Adrianna came to the room with some snacks for Karlin and Jennifer.
“Sorry I didn’t help.” Jennifer quickly apologized.
Mary waved her hand at her with a no big deal kind of meaning and walked over to Karlin. “How ya feeling kid?”
Karlin nodded and stuffed the soft granola bar in her mouth. “Actually, I feel pretty good. I think I want to get out of this room.”
Adriana laughed at her. “Well, you can come help us in the morning then.”
Karlin nodded and laid back on her pillow. The girls talked for a while before falling to sleep.
The guys had already piled up in their room and didn’t make any noise.
Eric made his way back to the back office and viewed all of the children lying across the floor in their assigned sp
ots.
“These children will all be raised to survive. This is good. We are building.” Eric voiced.
Rue refused to talk too much to Eric or it would cause argument she had learned quickly when she met him. She would rather pick her battles than argue with anyone, Eric especially. She sat in chair in the far corner feeding Rowena a bottle and listening to Eric.
“These people are going to understand that it is in their best interest to be here and follow my rules.”
“She will kill for her children, she is not the kind of mom that is just going to lie down and take your shit. We need to be careful.” Rue let out what she thought.
Eric pulled his hand to his chin and looked at Garrett and Caden. “Guess I will need to make sure that she does not interfere. She will do what I tell her. These people don’t understand that they are stuck here and have no choice but to follow my rules.”
