Just Trying To Stay Alive: A Prepper's Tale

by Michaels, Brian

  “Are there any parts of the country that has escaped the infection?” I asked.

  “None that I am aware of,” the voice replied. “But all of that is not our concern at this time, we are just trying to assist those that have managed to survive here.”

  “If we decide to go with you, what time will you be returning tomorrow?” I asked.

  “We should be returning early tomorrow morning to evaluate our efforts to block the eastward migration of the infected,” the voice replied. “I would offer to take you now, but we are too far out, we are low on fuel and have been ordered to return to our base as soon as possible.”

  “You do know that the dead are being attracted by all the noise you guys have been making,” I said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if entire population of Rapid City is heading this way.”

  “We are aware of that, but if all we had to worry about was the population of Rapid City, it wouldn’t be necessary to try and stop them,” the voice replied. “For some reason there have been mass waves of the infected coming this way from out west for the last few days.”

  The connection began to become weak and every other word was starting to cut out.

  “Make…decision….tomorrow….we …not …out…way….some …time…. Ranger…….out.”

  I looked at Emma.

  It sounds like there is more going on out there than we thought,” I said.

  “What do you think he was saying?” Emma asked.

  “It sounds like the dead from Montana, Wyoming and Denver are all coming this way,” I replied. “And they are trying to find a way to keep them from overrunning their base.”

  “That would be a lot of bodies,” Emma replied.

  Emma looked at me and I could tell she was thinking.

  “Why would they be coming this way?” she asked.

  “I have no idea,” I replied as I raised my hand and felt around the bandage Emma had put on my head.

  “From what I’ve seen, the dead only seem to go somewhere when they are trying to find the living,” Katie said.

  “Maybe there is something out this way attracting them,” I replied. “We only know what is going on around our house, If I knew what it was really like around the country maybe I would have a better answer, but we just don’t know enough.”

  “I think we should go with the helicopter tomorrow,” Emma said. “If there are thousands of the dead, or maybe even more than that, we might never get out of this attic.”

  “We’re safe here,” I replied. “If the dead are moving east, eventually we could find ourselves able to get out of the house.”

  “Then where would we go?” Emma asked. “It looks like the dead are destroying everything in their path, there may not be anything left.”

  “We talked about this before when we were deciding whether to take the car and make a run for it, or to stay here,” I replied. “I’m not sure if leaving now is any better of an idea than what we discussed before.”

  “Before, we were talking about leaving by ourselves,” Emma said. “This time we would be going with other people and we don’t have to worry about the dead bogging down the helicopter and breaking inside.”

  Before I could say another word, the CB suddenly began to slide across the attic floor in front of us.

  It rolled over and bounced once, then disappeared down the opening and landed on top of the car with a loud crash.

  We all had made an effort to grab the CB before it disappeared, but being that we hadn’t expected that to happen, we were all too late.

  “We may not have any choice but to stay here now,” I said as we all looked at each other, stunned by what had just happened.

  Chapter 20

  As the darkness moved in around our neighborhood, we closed the vent door and lit the lantern.

  The moaning outside the house continued, as it had all day, loud and terrifying.

  The scary but pathetic sight of the rotting, mangled corpses moving frantically as they struggled to go somewhere east of the city gave us an eerie desperate feeling.

  We had quietly watched their movements all afternoon hoping to get some clue as to why they were going east, but the sight was mind numbing and hypnotic and we were unable to think.

  All we could think about was what all we had lost as we watched the dead, abominations that were at one time people just like us.

  Was this our future and our destiny?

  Was it only a matter of time before we would be just like those things that we were watching, dead and wandering in search of the living for the rest of eternity?

  If it was, then there would not be a future for any of us.

  The sinking feeling that our life was over, that we were just hiding up here until our time was up and we were going to die, filled the air around us and I could see it in everyone’s eyes.

  “Maybe Emma was right, if we had a chance to be with other people like ourselves, maybe we shouldn’t pass up the opportunity,” I thought.

  I saw the look of hope in her eyes when the voice in the helicopter offered to pick us up and take us to a safe zone with other survivors.

  It was the first time since the infection started that I saw that look on the face of anyone in my family.

  Staying here at the house could possibly work out for us, but it wasn’t like the house was a safe zone or a bomb shelter like my dad had prepared in case of an emergency.

  We were safe for now, but the house was beginning to be destroyed around us. The barricades had given way, the garage door had been caved in by the dead, there were now holes in the roof and the dead were swarming throughout house a few feet below us.

  We were trapped in the attic as the dead slowly chipped away at our defenses.

  As much as I wanted to stay at the house and hoped that the preparations I had made would get us through this, I could also envision that if the dead didn’t somehow go away soon, that this could end very badly for me and my family.

  If my family was in favor of going to the safe zone, maybe I owed them this opportunity to be with other survivors. If this didn’t work out, because there were so many unknowns, at least we would be with other people in the same situation as us for whatever time we had left.

  I promised myself that if we lived through this, I would be better prepared the next time. How would I do that? I’m not sure, but I knew that the place I would start the next time was by reexamining the things my dad had done and talked about. If I would have had a well-supplied and equipped bomb shelter like my dad had, I would be feeling a whole lot different about our chances than I did now here in the attic.

  I looked around at my family, Logan and Katie had moved their blankets and pillows next to Emma and my blankets.

  It was their way to fight the feeling of insecurity that we all were feeling, by moving closer to me and Emma.

  It was a gesture that made me even more determined to protect them, or at least give them a sense of security for as long as I could.

  “I have a question,” I said, finally deciding to discuss my thoughts with my family.

  Emma. Katie and Logan all looked at me.

  “How many would like to go to the safe zone?” I asked.

  “Why are we even talking about this now?” Emma asked. “That chance went out the window with the CB.”

  “Forget the CB for a minute. If we had the opportunity to go with the helicopter to the safe zone, how many of you would vote to go?” I asked.

  “You’re not planning on going down into the garage to get the CB with all those rotting corpses down there?” Emma asked and glared at me. “Because if that’s what you’re planning, just forget it!”

  “No, I’m not planning on doing that,” I smiled. “I may not be too bright at times, but I’m not suicidal either. Just answer the question. If we had the opportunity to go to the safe zone, would you want to go instead of staying here?”

  “What do you think we should do, Dad?” Katie asked.

  “I’ll tell you after e
veryone answers the question,” I replied.

  Emma sighed and looked at me trying to determine what I was up to.

  “If we had a way to go to the safe zone, I’d say we should go,” Emma finally replied. “We would be with others just like us and we could all work together to help and protect each other.”

  “OK,” I smiled then looked at Katie.

  “Katie?” I asked.

  “It would be nice to have other people to help us, maybe there would be some people there that we know too” Katie replied. “But it would be really nice to be someplace where I could walk around again, instead of having to crawl around on my hands and knees. My knees are all black and blue. So if you think it would be a good place for us to go, I’m all for going.”

  “Logan what do you think?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t matter to me,” Logan replied. “But things are getting a little cramped in here. I wouldn’t have a problem giving it a try.”

  “So, what’s your opinion Dad,” Katie asked. “If we had a choice, what would you do?”

  “You all know that I have felt that our best option was to ride it out here at the house,” I replied. “However, with the dead breaking into the house and garage, with how bad things have become outside, I’m starting to worry that the air and everything around us could all be so contaminated that we could end up becoming infected just by breathing the air. I’m also starting to worry about what will be left around us if the dead actually ever do go away.

  But, even without knowing what we would be getting ourselves into if we went to this safe zone, the idea is beginning to become very tempting.”

  “OK, so you are thinking that going to the safe zone might be a good idea,” Emma said. “But isn’t this like closing the barn door after the horse has already escaped? All it is now is just wishful thinking?”

  “I think we might have a possibility,” I said. “But before I tell you what I have in mind, I want to stress something. Remember when we were trying to decide about trying to leave in the car? Remember how we saw how easily the dead stopped and broke into those two cars, killing everyone inside? That was something we had never even considered when we made our decision.”

  Emma and Katie nodded.

  “We don’t know a thing about this safe zone. The words ‘safe zone’ sounds great, but it could be another attic, crowded and little food. We would have no idea about what we are getting ourselves into,” I said. “Considering this, would you still want to go?”

  “I think our options are limited to nonexistent,” Emma replied. “Being that there are armed soldiers there for protection, I say we should give it a try. We don’t know what is going to happen next. This could be our only opportunity to get out of here. Whether it is or not, I don’t know, but I think we should take a chance.”

  Emma smiled, “So what’s your plan? Do we really have a chance to go to the safe zone or are you just thinking out loud again?”

  “Yeah Dad,” Katie grinned. “Don’t keep us in suspense

  any longer.”

  “If we can get the helicopter’s attention tomorrow morning,” I replied. “They said they would be coming back to this area tomorrow morning to evaluate their attempt to slow down the waves of the dead that are going east. We might be able to get their attention tomorrow without the CB and get out of here.”

  “You’re not thinking about hanging Katie out the vent door and having her wave two bright pink things are you?” Logan joked.

  “No,” I smiled, “but that’s not a bad idea.”

  “Dad!” Katie said and rolled her eyes.

  “I was examining where the two bullets came through the roof,” I continued. “There are two three-inch holes in our roof. I was wondering why the holes were so large so I examined the wood around the holes. When our house was built they used particle board instead of solid boards, I guess they did that to save construction costs or something, but the point is that particle board is soft and easy to dig through. We could knock a hole in the roof where the bullets came through without much trouble and climb up on the roof and maybe we could get the helicopters attention.”

  “It could work,” Emma said.

  “I don’t think there should be many houses around with people on the roof, so if they fly over our house again, they should see us,” I added.

  “I’m afraid of heights,” Katie said.

  “You’re afraid of everything,” Logan laughed.

  “So am I,” I replied. “But I’ll help you. Our roof isn’t very steep, it’s not very scary up there.”

  “You better help Logan,” Katie said, “so he doesn’t fall off the roof again.”

  “I was just a kid then,” Logan protested.

  “Yeah, but you’re still clumsy,” Katie smiled sarcastically.

  I knew my family was feeling optimistic again when the Katie and Logan banter started, for a second it felt like life was returning to normal – but just for a second.

  “Logan, bring your rifle and follow me,” I said. “Before we get our hopes up, let’s see if this will be as easy as I think it will be.”

  Logan retrieved his rifle and followed me over to where the two bullets had come through the roof.

  “Are we going to shoot our way through the roof?” Logan asked.

  “I was planning on using the butt of the rifle to break through the roof but shooting more holes in the roof might make it easier,” I replied.

  I pointed to six spots on the roof around the two holes that were already there.

  “Hold your ears,” I said to everyone, then I nodded to Logan.

  I stepped back and held my ears.

  Logan fired six shots into the particleboard in the roof, at close range the rifle made the soft boards start to crumble.

  “Now use the butt of the gun and start pounding at the wood in the center of the holes,” I said. “I would do it, but my head is still killing me.”

  “No problem, Dad,” Logan smiled and started to ram the bottom of the rifle against the roof.

  Two minutes later a large pile of broken particle board laid on the floor near his feet, revealing the roof’s shingles.

  “Emma, get me the knife you brought up to the attic with the kitchen supplies,” I said.

  “It’s not very sharp,” Emma replied.

  “As long as it’s pointy it should work,” I said.

  Emma crawled over a minute later with the knife.

  I used the knife to puncture the shingles, which then became easy to tear and I finished removing the shingles leaving a hole in the roof large enough for us to crawl through.

  I stuck my head up through the hole and looked around.

  The hole was about three feet from the bottom edge of the roof, which should be a comfortable spot to crawl up on the roof without too much anxiety about falling off.

  The pitch of the roof was a low angle, so we should be able to climb up to the peak without much trouble.

  However, as I looked around at the openness, heard the sound of the moaning that felt like it was all around me, saw the waves of the dead moving around the house in the dim evening light, I could feel a cold shiver run down my spine. The sensation was a lot different than looking out the vent door, surrounded by the safety of the attic.

  I pulled my head back down into the attic.

  “The peak of the roof is only about ten feet up from the opening,” I said and looked at Katie, “and the roof is not very steep, so we shouldn’t have any problem getting up to the peak.”

  “So we just have to wait for the helicopter to come back,” Emma said.

  “If I remember, morning to us and morning to the military are two different times,” I replied. “I think we should climb up on the roof as soon as we wake up tomorrow so we are there when the helicopter comes back.”

  “Just so we don’t have to sleep up there,” Katie grinned.

  “I suggest that we get something to eat and go to sleep so we can get up early,” I said.


  Emma opened a few cans of soup and heated them on the small gas camp stove. We each ate a can of soup and turned in for the night.

  It felt good to see my family looking and acting optimistic again. I remember lying under my blanket, with Emma on one side of me and Katie and Logan on my other side. I hoped that we were making the right decision, but I also felt that Emma could be right, this could be our only chance to get away from here and we needed to take that chance while it was still an option.

  I slept lightly during the night, listening for any sounds that could mean the dead were getting closer to our place of refuge in the attic, like I always did.

  I would listen carefully for a few minutes, open my eyes so I could take a quick look to be sure everything was OK, then close my eyes again to try and get some rest.

  The next time I opened my eyes, it was morning, I saw Emma sitting over by the vent door, she was sitting quietly as she looked out into yard as the horizon began to brighten.

  She looked to be in distress as she looked outside, so I quietly got up and moved over next to her to see what was causing that look on her face.

  I began to get concerned as I moved, after all we had been through and all we had seen, I couldn’t imagine what she could be seeing outside now that we haven’t seen before.

  Whatever it was, with the look of anguish on Emma’s face, I was almost afraid to look.

  “Emma?” I said as I moved closer to her.

  She jumped, startled by my voice as she turned her head to look in my direction.

  I could see that tears had been running down her cheeks.

  “Emma, what’s wrong?” I asked as I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

  “Oh, I’m just getting emotional again,” she whispered.

  “About what,” I said as I glanced out the vent. “What’s bothering you?”

  “This has been our home for fifteen years, our neighborhood, this is where we raised Logan and Katie,” Emma sighed. “We’ve spent most of our life together here. It’s so sad to see our home and neighborhood like this. I’m also worried about us going to that safe zone. What if that is the wrong decision?”