Managing the Apocalypse

by C. J. Boyle

  "Kera? You okay?" Wallace put a hand on her shoulder.

  "Where did this come from?" She ran her fingers across it, almost feeling instead of reading the name: Joey Carpenter. The photo was of the injured boy she tried to rescue. She could finally put a name to the face that was seared into her head.

  "Kera that picture has been up there for the last three months." He looked at the photo in her hand. He found it hard to forget the boy too.

  "But who put it here? Is one of his parents here?" A tear ran down her face.

  "You were unconscious in my infirmary for nearly three days. I told Brody about the kid. He found someone from the bus who was willing to take him back out to where you found him. He searched the car and found the mom's purse." Just like that, the broken women was back but this time it was different.

  "Brody did that for me?" She asked it so softly it was almost a whisper.

  He nodded, "Not just that."

  She finally looked at him. "What?"

  "Joey's sister and mother were in the car too." He leaned over and plucked another photo off the wall. It showed Joey and his family. He turned it over and their names appeared on the back. "Brody brought their bodies back here and buried them out in the forest with Joey."

  Kera suddenly smiled and looked up, presumably to God, and laughed softly. She brought the photos to her heart as tears streamed down her face. "I can't believe he did that."

  When someone came down the hall she turned toward the wall to hide her face as they passed. Seeing her so upset broke his heart. He was still very afraid that she would eventually kill herself. He needed to change the subject. "Listen, Kera, when you go on your shopping spree tomorrow...there's a few things I need. Would you mind coming to see me before you leave?" She nodded and took off down the hall. The doctor suddenly wished that Brody was around. He headed back to the infirmary to check on one of his patients.

  He passed a woman in the hallway that had pink and purple hair. She turned to him and walked backward for a moment. "Hey, you're getting kinda scruffy there, Doc. Ya need to come visit me in the salon."

  He smiled at her, "I will, Cindy. I will."

  As he entered his clinic, he saw a man in a wheelchair. "JoJo, where did you get that wheelchair?"

  JoJo looked up at the doctor. "A Herculean man named Brody brought it in about fifteen minutes ago."

  Dr. Wallace looked down at JoJo's bandaged stump of a leg. He had to put wheelchairs on his wish list because of poor JoJo. The prison had six of them, but between the elderly and the injured, they were all in use. "It must feel good to get out of that bed and move around a bit." The doctor sat on his stool and rolled it closer to JoJo. "I know it is kind of soon to be talking about this, but how would you feel about a prosthetic leg? You'll have more freedom. Feel more normal again."

  "I don't know, Doc." JoJo looked down at his hands. He looked like he was searching for something to say.

  Dr. Wallace nodded. Losing a limb was a traumatic experience. It would be a long road ahead for him. His mental health was just as important as his physical health. It was a massive move in the right direction just getting JoJo into a wheelchair. "I heard they made barbecued ribs and potato salad. I'm going to go get you some, okay?"

  "Yeah, sounds good, Doc. Thanks." JoJo wheeled himself over to a bookshelf that was filled with paperbacks.

  Dr. Wallace saw that as a good sign. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, he's looking for a book to read. He headed outside to the barbecue pit. He used to get concerned that a barbecue would bring the Links running to them, but in the three months since The Turn, they hadn't seen any Links at New Hope at all. Martha suspected it was because of all the farmland around the prison. The Links were busying themselves with cows and chickens. She told him that they were also very intelligent and could learn a behavior after just one incident. So, if something was unpleasant, such as an electric fence, they would stay away from it. She wanted him to leave New Hope and go stay with her at the CMC, but he couldn't leave all of the people at New Hope with no doctor. Of course, she said she'd send a new doctor to take his place and then they had that same old argument about Kera and how he had promised her father he'd take care of her. He felt like he was in an impossible situation. He loved Martha but he loved Kera too. Her father was his best friend, so when Kera was born, the doctor was more than happy to take on the role of godfather to the girl.

  He walked through a door that had been propped open to the outside. It was early December, so it was quite cold. That didn't stop the people from barbecuing and blasting music. The barbecue was set up in an exercise area for the inmates. There were several picnic tables where people sat around in the cold drinking beer. The doctor shook his head and frowned when he spotted Kera with her head tilted up finishing off a bottle then laughing with a group of people at one of the tables. The man next to her was turned toward her with his hand around her shoulders. He looked to be barely twenty and had one of those awful pencil-thin beards that outlined his jaw.

  "Looks like she's having fun."

  The doctor looked to his right. There was Brody with the same look of disappointment on his face. "You know, Brody, there comes a time in a person's life when they realize that they can't stop a train wreck."

  "What are you saying? That I should stop looking out for her?" Brody raised an eyebrow at him.

  "No, I'm saying that the conductor has to want the speeding out of control train to stop." Dr. Wallace looked at Brody. Clearly, he was a little confused.

  "Can we stop talking about trains?" Brody shook his head and looked back at Kera. She looked like she was intensely listening to some story the man next to her was telling.

  "Kera needs to decide her fate. We can't police her forever."

  Brody nodded slightly, "I knew what you were getting at, Doc. But it's a little weird hearing it come out of your mouth." He took a long sip of his beer. "Aren't you the one who falsified documents in order to get hired on at a prison, just to be near Kera?"

  Doctor Wallace looked in Kera's direction. He gestured toward her, "Kera's whole damn life has been a train wreck. The girl either has the worst judgment in the world or the worst luck. Maybe a little of both. I'm getting to the point where I don't think anything we do will help. We can tell her we love her. We can tell her we will always be there for her. We can hold her when she cries..." He shrugged, "Nothing changes."

  Brody looked at him sideways, "I don't know about that, Doc. You can't just give up on her."

  Wallace sighed. He knew Brody was right. He felt incredibly guilty just bringing up the subject. "Look, Brody, I'm not telling you to give up on her. I'm telling you that you can't put your life on hold trying to fix her."

  "Is that what you did?" Brody looked him in the eye for a moment. When the doctor didn't answer, he looked back in Kera's direction.

  The words stung him hard. He knew Brody was right. He gave up his marriage to protect Kera. He needed to make sure she would make it through her prison term alive. Now the entire world has gone to shit and the woman he loved was locked in a mountain with a trigger-happy Colonel. He decided to get JoJo his food and return to the infirmary before he said something to Brody that he couldn't take back. He pulled his white lab coat shut and walked down the stairs to the courtyard.

  * * *

  As the night progressed the people started to move inside because of the cold. Brody passed the time talking to a pretty young lady who looked at him like he was a god. She smiled, "So, are you married? Or, ya know, have a girlfriend?"

  Brody looked at her. He'd seen that look before. He could basically do anything, say anything, and it wouldn't matter. She'd still sleep with him. "No. Not really." He took a sip of his beer and then briefly looked past her in Kera's direction to see what she was doing. She was sitting on a man's lap kissing him. If he could have lit someone on fire with only his thoughts, both of their heads would have been engulfed in flames.

  "Not really? Does that mean I have a shot?" She s
tepped toward him and put her hand on his bicep.

  He cleared his throat, "Look, you're gorgeous. Really. But I'm going to call it a night." He leaned over and set his beer on the table. Her mouth dropped open as he marched past her. He walked up to Kera. She was still kissing the man. He felt like grabbing her by the back of the neck and just lifting her off the guy, but his peaceful side prevailed for the moment. He patted Kera on the shoulder, "Kera."

  Kera stopped kissing the man and squinted up at him. Either the light was too bright for her or she saw more than one of him. Either way, she was clearly drunk off her ass. She smiled broadly, "Hi, Brody! How ya doin'?"

  The man with the douche beard looked up at him and smiled smugly. He wiped the corner of his mouth, "What up, Brody?"

  Brody ignored the man. He smiled at Kera and held out his hand. "Come on. We have an early morning tomorrow. It's time to go to bed." He spoke to her as if she was a cute five-year-old.

  She blinked her heavy lids a few times and looked at his hand. "Wait, where we going?"

  "To bed." He took her hand and helped her to her feet. "Come on."

  The man protested, "Whoa, Bro, what the hell?"

  Brody gave him a stern look, "Only my friends call me that." He turned back to Kera and smiled broadly as if nothing happened, "Ready?"

  "Yeah," she stumbled and Brody caught her. "Where are we going again?"

  Brody didn't know exactly how drunk she was until that moment. He knew he was saving her from being taken advantage of. But actually, he was saving the douchebag, because if he had found out later, he probably would have killed him. "To bed," he said as he put his arm around her waist to steady her.

  "Together?" She lost her balance entirely and almost collapsed to the floor. Brody scooped her legs up and held her close to him as he walked through the crowd of people. He was going to bring her to her own room, but he wouldn't just be able to just leave her there and go. She might get up and go find trouble again. He decided to bring her to his apartment. He shared it with Carl and both of his brothers. Brody had one room, Carl's brothers had the other, and poor Carl slept on the sofa out in the living room kitchen duo. He had a little trouble trying to open the door. He tried to maneuver her a little while bending down to twist the knob. Mostly he just made a lot of noise. The door suddenly swung open and Carl stood there looking at him with his hand on the door.

  "Do you know what time it is, young man?" He looked at Kera who drunkenly waved at him. "Is she wasted?"

  Brody practically pushed Carl over bringing Kera into the apartment. "Yeah, she's a little drunk." It was then that he noticed a woman sitting on the couch. She smiled awkwardly and waved at him. Brody looked back at Carl, then nodded at her and returned the awkward smile. He shot Carl a look. "We'll exchange introductions some other time." He headed down the hall to his room. He had planned on sleeping on the floor in the living room but he wouldn't be able to do that now. He brought her into his room and placed her gently on the bed. She laid down on her side and snuggled into the pillow. She hummed softly and took a deep breath. Brody leaned over the bed and took her shoes off. It looked like she was already asleep. He sat down on the chair next to his bed and took his own shoes off. He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't know why he was so stuck on this woman but he was. This certainly wasn't the way he imagined her first visit to his apartment let alone his room. He leaned back in the chair and put his feet up on the bed.

  Kera lifted her head and looked at Brody, "Hey, I thought you said we were going to bed."

  Brody was stumped. "I guess I misspoke. We're going to sleep. You're going to sleep there. I'm going to sleep here."

  Kera shook her head and smiled, "This bed is big enough for both of us."

  "No way," he held up his hand, "you're drunk. I'm not getting into bed with you."

  "Come on, Brody!" She yelled, "Get in bed!"

  "Kera," he glanced at the wall. He would have been looking directly at Carl if he could see through them. He spoke softly, "It's not gonna happen."

  "Then I'm gonna go," she moved to get up.

  "That's not gonna happen either." He put his feet down and leaned over to her.

  Kera challenged him. "What? Are you going to hold me here against my will?"

  "Of course not."

  "Then get in this bed."

  Carl suddenly yelled through the wall. "WILL YOU GET IN THE GOD DAMN BED?!"

  Kera laughed. Brody furrowed his brow and looked at the wall. "Carl! Jesus Christ!"

  Carl yelled back, "Y'all need to keep it down, man!"

  Brody shook his head. He looked at Kera who was waiting for his response. He pointed his finger at her, "I'll get in bed, but you best stay on your side."

  She exaggerated a nod and scooted back a little bit. She watched Brody crawl into the bed next to her and lie down on his back. She smiled and promptly ignored what he told her and snuggled up next to him.

  "Hey!" He whispered. He turned to look her in the face. She was out cold. He relaxed a little and closed his eyes too. He knew sleep wasn't likely to come soon. She smelled like a pina colada that was heavy on the alcohol. He leaned over and pressed his lips lightly against her forehead for a moment. Her hand was resting on his chest. He reached over and held it, rubbing his thumb back and forth softly over the top of her hand. He whispered, "I love you. You stupid, stupid woman."

  The next morning Brody woke up alone. He wasn't sure how she managed to get out of the bed without him noticing, but she did. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. It was just past sunrise. It was time for the shopping spree. He didn't feel like going anywhere. All he really wanted to do was melt back into the bed and sleep all day. But he knew that Kera was going to go on the shopping spree with or without him. He got up and went to the bathroom and then washed his face. He looked at himself in the mirror wondering what the rest of his life might be like. He was never the one looking at the cloud instead of the silver lining, but it was hard to have a good attitude when there were so few people left. People were now fighting each other for whatever was left. He changed his shirt and walked out into the living room. Carl was asleep on the couch. "Carl! Hey, buddy, time to get up!" Brody picked up one of the couch cushions and beamed it at his head.

  * * *

  Kera walked into the infirmary. Her head was pounding and if she bent over, even just a little bit, she got dizzy. She made a beeline for a small cabinet on the counter. She knew she'd find some over-the-counter headache meds in there. She grabbed a bottle without really reading it and worked at opening it.

  "Hi."

  Startled, Kera launched the pills and the pill bottle in the air. They rained down on top of her and all over the floor. She turned toward whoever spoke to her. A young, chubby man in his twenties sat behind her in a wheelchair. He had his sandy blonde hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. He looked at her apologetically. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He leaned over and tried to pick up some of the pills she dropped.

  "No." Kera kneeled down but it made her instantly dizzy. She lost her balance and fell against the man and he caught her. She bumped his leg and he groaned in pain.

  The man grabbed her by the upper arms and helped her up. "Are you okay?" He watched her stand up and rub her face. The silence was long and uncomfortable. "My name is JoJo."

  Kera sat down on the stool next to him. "Kera." She looked at his leg, "How'd that happen?"

  JoJo looked down at his hands, "Links attacked me and some guys I was with. I got knocked out. The next thing I knew, I woke up with some kind of acid on my leg and a Link sucking my leg goo with some freaking straw thing that came out of his mouth."

  Kera pictured the scene in her head. It made her want to vomit. "Jesus Christ. I'm sorry."

  "Yeah. Me too," he shrugged. "Mostly I just wish I had died. You know, instead of...this."

  "I know." Kera looked him in the face.

  He shook his head, "No. You don't."

  She wasn't insulted. If it c
ame down to a competition on whose life sucked the most, he was the clear winner. She scooted the stool over to him and put her hand on his. "When they Turned," she cleared her throat, "When my son turned, he ate my sister and her husband."

  "Oh, man."

  "I tried to kill myself that night." She felt her whole head beating with her heartbeat. She silently scolded herself for drinking so damn much the night before. "And then I started to go on the shopping sprees thinking, I'd eventually get killed. You know, kamikaze missions?"