by Jaime Horio
I don’t slow down, but I turn my head and yell back that we’ve found a survivor.
We’re back at the shed within just a few minutes and Terry is emerging from the shed. I start to ask him what’s inside and he just shakes his head. I can tell from his expression that it’s bad and now is not the time to discuss it.
It takes us a while to get Lani back to the vehicles. Besides the cuts and scrapes, it looks like she might have a broken or sprained ankle. So we take our time carrying her back on the outstretched canvas.
By now it’s mid afternoon, and the addition of Lani means we’re not traveling anymore today. If she were healthy we could go, but her dehydration has her weak, and it will be easier for someone to tend to her if we’re not moving.
It’s going to be a long night. There is a lot of open space around us, but the strange circumstance surrounding our discovery of this woman has us all a bit nervous. So we decide to keep two people on shift all night. Julie volunteers to stay up first so she can keep an eye on Lani. Terry volunteers to stay up with her.
Lani is lying on the floor of the van and Julie is by her side. The front window is open, so Terry can walk around outside but still poke his head in to check in on the situation without making too much noise.
Carrie is stretched out across the front seat of the truck and Greg is propped up in the back seat. Ben and I have cleared most of the supplies out of the back of the pickup and set some of canvas down, but the reality is that we’re not going to be falling sleep. It doesn’t take long before we decide to slide out of the truck and go to talk to Terry. There’s no sense in us laying there, rolling around trying to get comfortable and shaking the truck, keeping the other two awake. And besides, I want to ask Terry about what he saw in the shed.
He’s standing away from the vehicles, near the median of the highway. He has a shotgun strapped to his back and his hands holding onto the strap that is crossing his chest.
I shuffle my feet a little and clear my throat as we walk toward him so we don’t’ surprise him when we come up behind him. Terry’s reflexes are pretty quick, and he’s got a gun ready to go, so I want to be extra cautious.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asks.
“No. The back of that truck is pretty hard, and this whole situation has my brain going too quick still.”
“Well, this isn’t going to help it any. When I went into that shed, I found a guy in there. I’m guessing it was her camera man. He was dead, covered in blood. But he didn’t have that look in his eyes like he had been bitten. And he had been dead for too long to have not come back, if he was going to. The smell was terrible, but something made me stay and I checked out the area where he had all the blood. His clothes had been drenched through with blood, and there was a hole in his shirt at the back. This might seem crazy, but I think the guy was shot.”
My eyes get big and I turn toward the van.
“No, don’t worry. I had Julie check the woman for a gun. She was checking her for wounds anyway, but I told her to make sure and check for weapons. Didn’t find any. And there wasn’t much inside that shed, and I didn’t see a gun there either. It’s weird, I know. No gun, but that guy was shot. And there was too much blood for them to have travelled far after he had been shot. I don’t know what to make of it.”
“Well, hopefully she recovers soon so she can shed some light on this.”
“Yeah. Look. You guys go try to get some sleep. Or at least get off your feet and rest. Today was crazy, and we need to keep moving on tomorrow. And you’re going to be pretty useless if you haven’t slept.”
We head off to sleep, and the night passes without incident. After a few hours, Ben and I have managed to sleep a little, and then Terry comes to get us. Julie tells me that Lani has been resting for the most part and really just needs to have someone keep an eye on her. She tells me to go wake her up if something happens with Lani.
I let Ben stay in the van with Lani. I can see that he’s worried about her, but he seems to be better knowing that he can see her. Strange how he can feel such a connection to someone he has never met before. But I leave him alone when I can and wander around our little area. I’m tempted to take the time to siphon out the last of the gas from the news van, but decide against it. There will always be time in the morning. And besides, I don’t want to end up with a mouthful of gasoline and wake everyone else up with my coughing.
After a few hours, we pass on the last shift to Greg and Carrie. Carrie takes right to watching over Lani, and before I fall asleep in the cab of the truck, I notice that Greg keeps going back to the van to check on Carrie. I suppose it would make sense if he has a little crush on her. He’s only a couple of years older than she is, and they did go to school together at one point.
It makes me smile when I realize that this must be the case. In this world where the dead walk and try to kill you, seeing someone finding something that could make them happy makes me happy.
The next morning comes, and Lani is still sleeping. She has been alone for some time in that shed, and probably never got any decent sleep. Besides having a dead man lying across from her, she was probably too frightened to sleep, just being out alone. So she’s making up for lost time.
The sun has been up for a couple of hours when she starts to stir. I’m glad she’s finally awake. Maybe we can get some answers. And more importantly, maybe everyone will agree that she’s doing well enough to move on.
This area feels strange, but I don’t feel threatened. What does have me worried though is that our water is starting to run low. Julie had to use some to clean Lani’s wounds. This isn’t a major problem, but we do need to find more water soon.
Lani is nibbling on some food when I come around the side of the van to the open door. She probably hasn’t eaten in a few days, but her stomach isn’t able to handle too much food at one time. So she eats slowly. And when she’s done, she finally speaks. She thanks us for coming to save her, and then she starts to tell us her story.
“Well, Julie told me you guys already know who I am. What else do you know?”
Ben is our Lani West expert, so he fills her in on everything we know about her. How she reported on the first infect, how she showed us how to survive.
She seems flattered, and if she wasn’t so covered in scratches, I would think she was blushing.
“Wow, you guys know a lot. I guess that will save a lot of time on this story. You see, I was out here to report on the military check point. The military had been sent in to check everyone trying to leave the area. They were screening to make sure no one infected was leaving the area.” She points south. “The check point is about twenty miles that way.
“But the check point was slow. How can you tell if someone has been bitten without checking their entire body? And people were not exactly quick to strip down for these guys. So they wouldn’t let anyone through. Of course people cracked and gave in. Not all of them, but some of them. Most people just decided to go back home. They talked with one another and convinced themselves they could defend themselves. Yeah, it’s insane, especially knowing what I know, and what you know by now. But they were scared, and somehow they convinced themselves it would be ok.
“But to answer the question I know you’re all wondering, which is how I ended up in that shed. We had been shooting some footage around the check point, and one night we found the area where they were taking the infected. Anyone who they even suspected of being infected was separated from their family and taken to a tent at the edge of the camp. We got close to the tent and my camera man, Joseph, and I managed to find an angle where we could see in. And that was when we saw them execute the first person.
“They weren’t taking the infected to that tent to treat them, they were killing them! I was appalled. From the people I met, I know that not everyone comes back. They were going to die, but maybe they could just spend time with their families until they died, and they’d just be gone then. I don’t know. I know that’s a bad strategy. All it wo
uld have taken were a few of those creatures coming back at one time and things could turn bad really quickly. But I guess I thought that maybe the military had a vaccine or treatment. It was just seeing them take someone in there and put them in a chair, and come up behind them and shot them in the head that got to me.”
She pauses to take a drink and a tear runs down her cheek. She wipes it away and sniffs and carries on.
“Anyway, we must have made too much noise. They turned toward us and we ran. We got back to the van and took off this way. The nice thing about the highway being so clear is that we were able to go fast. It took time, but eventually they overtook us. We knew we didn’t stand a chance in the van, so we pulled over and ran. We were probably halfway from the road to that shed when I heard the first shots. I never looked back, but to my side I saw Joseph go down. He lurched forward awkwardly, and when I saw him going down, I slipped and went flying forward. I hit the ground hard and felt like I was going to pass out. The military guys never came to check on us, I guess they assumed they hit both of us. But I did hear their vehicles leaving, and it sounded like they were in a hurry.
“I laid there for a while. I don’t know how long. And when I finally got up, no one was around. I had twisted my ankle and couldn’t really walk. And then I saw Joseph there next to me. He wasn’t dead yet. It took a long time, but I managed to drag him all the way to the shed. He never did gain consciousness again, and I don’t really know when he died. I’m not really sure how long I was in there. A few days at least. And when I heard you guys pull up your cars, and I got myself over to the door and peeked through. Your cars don’t look like military, so I took the risk and found that glass to flash at you. I’m so thankful you came for me.”
She looks around at each of us, her gratitude showing in her smile.
When I had first heard her mention a military checkpoint, my hopes rose, but by the end of her story, I was petrified. I guess maybe they were just trying to cover up the executions, but maybe it was something else. What kept gnawing at my mind was the fact that the guys who had chased Lani obviously hadn’t taken the time to check and make sure she and her partner were dead. If they had, they would have seen that she clearly hadn’t been shot, and probably would have hit both of them in the head with a shot just to be sure. I’m not sure why this was the part of the story that bothered me so much, but it was.
I don’t know how long we stood around, taking her story in. But at some point Terry piped up.
“Well, what do we do then? If we keep going south, we’re going to hit that check point.”
I take a second before I answer. “Well, no one here is infected. And it sounds like they were chasing after Lani here because she was filming.”
“I doubt they would recognize me. I don’t think they really saw my face, they just saw the van,” she says.
“And I imagine you look a bit more haggard than you did the last time they saw you anyway.” I pause. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend-”
“No, it’s ok. I know what you mean.”
She doesn’t look offended, but I still feel bad for what I said.
Terry takes control of the conversation again. “None of us are bit, so we should be OK. I say we keep going south. If we get through that quarantine line, then we should be in the clear.”
He looks around the group, and everyone nods in agreement.
We prop Lani up and Julie wraps a couple of sweaters around her injured ankle, trying to pad it from any jostling as we drive.
Julie stays in the van just in case Lani needs any help, so Ben decides to go keep Terry some company in the truck.
We decide to take it slow, just to be safe, but it shouldn’t take more than a half hour or so to reach the checkpoint.
On the way, Julie explains that the firearms should be ok. Other people had gone through with guns and weapons, you just have to let the military guys know, so they don’t find something hidden on you and panic.
In the distance, I can see the setup where the checkpoint is. Or was. I can see smoke rising from the area, as though there was a much larger fire that has burned itself out. We have to slow down to weave through the cars that are stopped. Fortunately the area is pretty flat, as we end up having to drive on the side of the road.
The cars we are passing are all empty. Some of them have doors left open, as though people left in a hurry.
“I don’t like the look of this.”
“What? What’s going on?” Lani is still seated on the floor, so she can’t see out the windows.
I pick up the little walkie talkie sitting next to me and give a quick call to Terry and Ben to ask them to stop. Once we’re stopped, Greg and Julie help Lani up into one of the seats. She is grimacing, but appears to be handling the pain well.
“No, this isn’t right. This isn’t how it was when I was here.” Lani is shaking her head and she looks worried. “There were lots of cars in line, yeah, but people were in them, waiting. Or they’d stopped and were sitting on roofs and hoods. But these cars look abandoned.”
By the time she’s done talking, she looks absolutely terrified.
I hop out of the van and walk up to talk to Terry. I relay Lani’s thoughts on what we’re seeing. Both he and Ben are processing what I just told them.
“That’s it!” Ben startles us both. “This is why those guys let Lani and her camera guy go. Something must have been happening here and they got called back.”
His smile from figuring this out quickly disappears.
If something happened here, and no one is around, then it can’t have been something good.
We decide that we need to explore the area closer to the actual checkpoint, but we’ll be able to move more easily if we’re on foot. And Lani can’t go with her ankle the way it is. So we decide that Ben, Terry and I will go.
I can tell that Julie really doesn’t want Terry to go, but she understands the role that he is playing in our group. He’s strong, he’s brave, and he has a good understanding of the creatures we’re facing.
We’re about to go when Carrie speaks up. “I want to go with you guys.” We start to object, but she cuts us off. “No, I can do this. I’ve been around guns all my life, and listened to my dad tell stories about his time in the military. I can do this, and you can always use an extra set of eyes and ears.”
Greg doesn’t stay quiet. “No, you can’t go! What if something happens to you? We, we promise your dad!”
She looks flattered. “Thank you, Greg, but you guys have kept me safe. My dad would understand. Actually, I think he would want me to go. He wouldn’t want me to just sit around, waiting all the time. I know, he didn’t seem like that when you all met us, but he wasn’t the same at that point.”
She was right, I could tell once Don started to help out that he had a personality like she was describing.
“You see...he really was a strong man. He was always taking charge of any situation. But after my mom died, he just sort of lost it. You see, some of those things broke into our house. And my mom had the sense to get their attention. She kept yelling for my dad to get me out of the house. she just wanted to make sure I was safe. He tried to argue, but she kept yelling for him to leave, and yelling to make sure the zombies paid attention to her. Eventually my dad took off with me. I can’t be sure, but I think he saw them attack her. I think he blamed himself, like he couldn’t protect her. Because she had died protecting us, but he felt like it should have been him to sacrifice himself. He just blamed himself, and closed himself off.”
By now she has tears streaming down her face. I can’t read her face. At time she looks like she’s sad, at times she looks like she’s almost happy. I think she’s going back and forth between sadness over losing her parents, and being happy that her mom loved them so much that she would sacrifice herself.
“So you see, I have to go. I have to do it for him.”
Greg has backed down, and no one else is objecting. Greg wants to go too, but we tell him
that he needs to stay with the others. If something happens, then he is strong enough to carry Lani, but Julie probably couldn’t do it on her own.
Carrie goes over to Greg and gives him a soft kiss on the lips. “I’ll be back, I promise.”
He grabs her and hugs her tight. “You better.”
She smiles as he lets her go, and we prepare to leave.
We go to the truck to load up on weapons. Terry, Ben and I each grab a shotgun. Since she’s a little smaller, Carrie grabs one of the uzis and two of the pistols. Ben and Terry each sling their shotgun across their back, and pick up the assault rifles. We each grab another pistol, and I find a large hunting knife and attach the sheath to my belt. I put the shotgun across my back and pick up my favorite, the aluminum baseball bat.
We’ve never been so heavily armed before, but we figure it’s better to be over prepared. Terry grabs the walkie talkie out of his truck and gives it to Greg. I attach mine to my shirt near my collar. I tell him I’m going to keep the volume on low, and I’ll check in every few minutes.
We decide to head farther off the roadway, to put some space between us and the cars. We get about 20 feet away from the road and follow parallel along it.
From this distance, every car looks abandoned. We occasionally creep closer just to peek in and make sure, but all of the cars are clearly empty.
We look back and figure we’ve gone about a mile. We’re almost to the checkpoint, and we still haven’t seen anyone.
But that changes quickly. The smell of rotting flesh hits us, and we tense up. We’re expecting a giant horde of zombies to come for us. But we cross past a point where all the cars are stopped. There are large cement dividers set up in the road, funneling all of the cars from all four lanes into one lane. In each direction At this point, cars are pointed south no matter which side of the highway they are on. Clearly everyone knew that no one was going to want to go the other way.
