The Living Saga (Book 2): Enduring

by McFall, Jaron

  “I’ll say something. You’ll get your gas.” Cedric said as he started to stand up. Before he could, Karli grabbed his arm.

  “Not right now,” she pleaded. “Breakfast is about to start. Just wait until after the elections. If Ben manages to secure a position, then you can fight it. If he doesn’t, dad will get his supplies anyway.”

  “Fine,” Cedric said glaring at the back of Ben’s head as he sat back down. Charlie, who was sitting across from Ben, saw Cedric’s look and knew an argument had just been avoided.

  Just as Cedric’s bottom hit the seat again, he heard the bell ring from the kitchen.

  “See,” Karli said, “breakfast time. And I think they actually managed something good today. It smells greasy.”

  Cedric already knew Karli had guessed correctly. On their last run two days ago, the Nighthawks had found an overweight pig on an abandoned farm. Most everything else was gone. They found some flour and home canned-goods in the root cellar, along with some molded root vegetables, but there was plenty now for them to eat.

  Someone else had taken care of cleaning the pig, but Cedric knew that meant this breakfast was tenderloin, bacon, and biscuits. The kitchen crew had even managed to use the drippings from the meat to make a big pot of gravy.

  “Now this,” Charlie said through a mouthful of food, “is good southern comfort food. It’s exactly what we need on a day like today.”

  Cedric noticed most of the people who were up for election today looked uneasy. He felt the same way, so he could empathize with them. He couldn’t sympathize with them, however. They all wanted the job, and they were nervous that they might not get it. More than half won’t get the job, Cedric thought to himself. I hope that I’m in that number.

  After Cedric was done eating, he glanced at the clock on the wall. “I’m going to do a perimeter check,” he told the others. “I’ve got an hour before I have to be back.”

  If I come back, he added in his head.

  “That’s not your job,” Ross said glancing up from his papers. He had contented himself with biscuits and homemade jam from the cellar before returning to his work.

  “Technically,” Cedric said, “So long as I’m outside of the gate when I do it, it could be.”

  Ron laughed. He was the type of person who loved technicalities. Karli, on the other hand, groaned. She was the type of person to worry about Cedric being outside of the fence.

  “I’ll be careful,” Cedric said to her.

  “Take backup,” she warned. Her voice was commanding, not pleading.

  “Don’t worry,” a girl said from the next table over. “I’ll watch him.” She was short and extremely fit. Cedric knew she was maybe a year or two older than him, but she looked like she could have been a lot younger. She was wearing olive drab cargo pants and a plain grey t-shirt. Overtop of this, she had a set of armor similar to that of Cedric’s.

  “See,” Cedric said, “Steph’s got my back.”

  “Great,” Karli said begrudgingly.

  After another ten minutes of gearing up from their backpacks, Cedric and Steph were fully armored and walking out of the main gate. Over the winter, the crew had noticed a lack of infected. They had been warned by another group that they were in a form of hibernation. But once the springtime weather had begun to roll in, the infected began to return.

  “It’s a warm day,” Steph said. “They’ll be active.” Her voice was slightly muffled from the airsoft mask she wore. Cedric noticed her long blonde ponytail hung down her back and swayed as she walked. “What are we doing anyway?”

  “There’s a spot right up the road I want to check out,” Cedric responded. His voice, like hers, was muffled. “I noticed it the other day. It wasn’t here a few days ago. I’ve had patrol keep an eye on it.”

  For the next twenty minutes, the pair walked in silence. When they neared the sight of the explosion from November, they stopped. The rubble from the bridge could be found a quarter mile away.

  Cedric held his hand up, fist closed. Steph took her position in the middle of the road, scanning the surroundings. She tapped the bottom of her pistol on the palm of her hand to make a sound, signaling Cedric. Over the past few months, the crew had gotten good at nonverbal communication in the field.

  Cedric walked to a car that used to not be there. It was an old, beat up Dodge—the kind with two doors and a huge interior. A year ago, this car would have been worth a fortune. Cedric guessed it was from the ‘40s or ‘50s. Cedric had personally marked every abandoned car in the area. This one was not on the list, did not have the spray-painted smiley-face, and he could not remember it being there when they blew the bridge up.

  Cedric dropped to the ground near the car looking for anything underneath it. Seeing nothing, he backed up and threw a rock through the window. The glass shattered, but nothing else happened.

  Cedric was just about to take a look inside when a flash of light caught his attention in the side mirror of the car.

  Just as he turned, he heard Steph’s voice, “Two, east side.”

  As Cedric finished his turn, he saw two infected, one with a camping light strapped to his head, coming for him. Steph was far enough back that she couldn’t get to him in time.

  From their skin tones, Cedric knew one of the men had been infected within the past month. The other, he decided, had been infected at least three months ago—if not longer. The infected, no matter their skin tone in life, took on a green tint to their skin after a few months.

  This posed a problem for him. The newer the infected, the weaker they were. Cedric couldn’t figure out why, but for some reason, these creatures gained physical strength the longer they were infected.

  Cedric decided to take out the soft target first. He grabbed a pipe from each hip. The infected on his left was the older one, so he swung his right pipe at the younger one and bashed it directly on the temple.

  Cedric felt the skull break under pressure. The infected man collapsed. Cedric continued to back up, waiting for the infected to charge, but for some reason, it stayed slow. He quickly scanned and assessed the situation. There was a bullet hole in the kneecap of the infected man.

  Cedric gauged the infected man’s speed, determined his plan was good, then turned to run. He hated turning his back on the infected, but he knew with the speed of the man, he was fine. He ran back to Steph’s side and quickly relayed instructions.

  He didn’t speak, but rather tapped his forehead with two fingers.

  Steph knew exactly what he meant.

  They weren’t supposed to use their firearms this close to base, but Steph had a small pistol with a homemade suppressor. It wasn’t the best weapon in the world, but it was fine enough for this.

  She shot two rounds directly in his head. The gun made a small ‘pew pew’ noise. The infected collapsed.

  “Why?” Steph mouthed as she shrugged.

  Cedric just pointed to the car. It was standard operating procedure that they talked as little as possible when outside of the gates, but Cedric and Steph could usually communicate really well anyway. He knew that Steph was asking why they hadn’t just run from the infected instead of wasting two bullets. He was communicating that he needed to check this car out.

  Cedric ran toward the car and popped the door open.

  “Hurry,” Steph whispered. “There’s probably more.”

  Cedric just exhaled to show his annoyance at her persistence.

  He was digging around in the inside of the car when he heard a small thud come from the trunk. They both froze.

  Cedric and Steph had run this exact drill multiple times. They knew what to do.

  Steph ran around to the driver’s side door and climbed inside. Cedric, on the other hand, climbed to the roof of the car. Once on top, he raised his pipe in his hand and tapped lightly on the roof with his shoe.

  Steph yanked the trunk release and the lid opened with a small pop.

  Cedric waited silently. When nothing happened for a few seconds, he cro
uched down to see if he could see anything in the space between the lid and the back windshield. He couldn’t.

  After what felt like a half hour, though it had only been a minute or so, Cedric climbed down. He heard the door open and Steph climb out. He could hear the rustle of her cargo pants as she walked. At the same time, they emerged from either side of the trunk and gasped.

  “Crap,” Cedric said as he dropped his pipes in their holsters. He quickly reached in and checked the pulse of a small child laying down. It was faint, but there. Steph checked the pulse of the woman.

  “She’s alive,” Steph whispered.

  “The kid too,” Cedric said.

  He saw the woman had the same kind of camping light on her head as the man did and he assumed what must have happened.

  “See if this beater starts,” Cedric said.

  Steph didn’t respond, she just went to work. Cedric reached to his belt and pulled a small canteen from the back of his left hip area. He wasn’t sure if he should try to pour water in their mouths or not. He wasn’t even sure if he should move them. He unscrewed the cap and was about to pour when he heard Steph break protocol.

  “Four, west,” she shouted.

  Cedric turned to see four more coming at him. “No, no, no…” he muttered. He twisted the cap on the canteen and pushed it back onto his belt.

  “Start the car!” he shouted.

  “Won’t even click,” Steph said back.

  Cedric noticed the skin tones of these four. All green.

  He grabbed the woman and picked her up.

  “C’mon,” he said.

  Steph joined him and picked up the child. She couldn’t immediately tell if it was a boy or girl. She just scooped the kid up and began to run.

  Cedric and Steph continued to run as fast as they could. Their months of cardio and strength training were put to the test. They knew that the increased strength of the older infected also meant increased speed. They had learned that the hard way a few months back.

  After five minutes of running, they could see the compound in sight. Cedric turned his head over his shoulder but couldn’t see the infected anymore.

  “I think we lost them,” he choked out. Cedric slowed down a bit as he repositioned the woman and pulled a CB from his belt. Cedric said into the small box, “I need a full check on sixty-six with an arrival team. Two noobs down. Over.”

  He felt relief when, three minutes later, they were greeted by a small welcome wagon. Cedric and Steph sat their two unconscious passengers down on the caddy seats of the golf cart. Steph collapsed into the passenger seat and groaned. Cedric stretched and continued to walk.

  “Your legs are going to cramp,” he said.

  “Let them,” Steph responded as she leaned back.

  Cedric chuckled as he walked back across the yard to the vocational building. As the golf cart drove past him, Steph jumped off and began to walk next to him.

  “Alright, let’s talk about this election,” she said as she caught up with Cedric.

  He pulled his canteen back out and took a swig of water. “No thanks,” Cedric said.

  “So, you don’t want it, right?” Steph asked taking his canteen from him for a drink.

  “Bingo,” Cedric answered.

  “But listen,” Steph said handing the bottle back. “You’d be the best one for the job.”

  “No,” Cedric said, “I wouldn’t. You have a year of armed service, plus four years of ROTC. Eric has ten years of service. Collins has been trained to fight in multiple martial arts, and he has experience leading people. Anderson… well, I don’t know what Anderson did. Maybe he’s not qualified. And Squirrel definitely doesn’t need it. So, there’s three people who should get it before me.”

  “Maybe,” Steph said as they rounded the corner to go toward the door of the building. She paused and grabbed Cedric’s arm. Cedric noticed her fingers were cold. “But not a dang one of them, or me, has one ounce of your ability.”

  Cedric started to pull his arm away and argue with her, but Steph grabbed his other arm too. “You,” she said in a tone that defied argument, “are the one who pulled this together. You fight them without training. You’re a freakin’ natural at this. And at leading.”

  Cedric was about to respond when he heard Karli’s voice from near the door, “Ced, what’s going on?”

  Steph dropped Cedric’s arms and walked toward the door.

  Cedric followed behind but stopped at Karli’s side. “She’s trying to convince me to actually try for the election,” he explained.

  “Yeah,” Karli said icily, “and what is she using to convince you?”

  Cedric was exhausted. The election was in just a few minutes. He knew he didn’t even have time to remove the excess armor. He also knew he didn’t have time to argue. “Karli…” he said.

  But he never got a chance to say what he was going to. The door burst open right at that moment and Squirrel came out.

  “My job to find you, boss,” he said. “Eric said you have to be there.”

  Squirrel was a lean and wiry kid, right about Cedric’s age. He was somehow related to Eric, but Cedric didn’t know how. They looked and acted nothing alike—except the fact they both fought like animals. But where Eric fought like an old, wise gorilla, Squirrel fought like a rodent. This is why Cedric, then the rest of the compound, began calling him Squirrel.

  He was quick, nimble, and would sooner climb a tree than swing a weapon. Once he was in one, he liked to swing his machete down at the infected while he stayed out of reach. The only reason he was able to join the group was because of his speed. He had gone to a different school than Cedric, but Squirrel had run track and cross-country. He could run a mile in under four and a half minutes. And, he could run the distance too. Just before the outbreak happened, Squirrel had run a marathon in under three hours. He was their fail-safe return.

  As Squirrel motioned for Cedric and Karli to come back in, Cedric noticed the bandage wrapped on his arm.

  “When?” Cedric asked.

  “While you and Steph were out,” he answered.

  Karli looked confused at the conversation since she didn’t know the context. Then she saw the bandage on Squirrel’s arm and pieced it together.

  “You’re next,” Squirrel said with a chuckle.

  “No thanks,” Cedric said back. “I really don’t want one.”

  While Cedric was talking to Squirrel, Karli reached down and grabbed his hand, snaking her fingers between his. Cedric felt a jolt go up his arm at her touch and smiled. He squeezed gently.

  Cedric was just about to explain his aversion, but for what felt like the millionth time that day, he was interrupted again. A small horn blew in the mess hall.

  “They’re starting,” Squirrel said before turning and walking away.

  “I guess we’d better join them,” Karli said.

  They walked together, hand-in-hand, to the mess hall.

  Chapter Two:

  THE ELECTION

  “Some people,” Ben said before the crowd, “think that children should lead us. I think we need grown men to lead us and show us what to do. Not little boys.”

  “That,” Sue shouted back, “is a bit sexist. Besides, I don’t see anyone acting like a little boy except the man that is standing on a chair just to be seen.”

  Sue was an older woman who had the fiery soul of a honey badger—she didn’t care who she took on in a fight, she knew she would win. Most days, she spent her time taking on Ben in arguments. They couldn’t have been more at odds. They were both running in the election for the Department Head of Logistics. The group had decided not to use previous government titles and to try something new. They had worked out a system of multiple departments: Logistics, Offense, Defense, Medical, Infrastructure, Labor, and Agriculture.

  Logistics was the biggest department and dealt with everything from day-to-day operations to supplies and inventory. The only major thing it didn’t deal with was anything food related. That was Agric
ulture—everything from farm to plate. The different departments would work together, and the department heads would cooperate with each other to deal with the minor problems. All major problems still required a vote from the adults at headquarters.

  After Sue called out Ben for acting like a child and being sexist, he climbed down from his chair and began arguing again. Everyone had heard their arguments more than enough, so when Eric yelled, “Can it!” above it all to silence them, they listened.

  “Listen up everyone!” Eric continued to yell, “Ben, Sue, and Nelson are all running for Logistics. Write down your vote and drop it in!”

  Jeb Nelson was a squat little man who was, as far as Cedric could tell, a remarkable bookkeeper.

  After the voting was done and everyone had dropped their vote into the Mason Jar, Eric twisted the lid on and went to the next one. “Agriculture! Jack or Sherry!”

  The process continued for each category: “Labor! Charlie, James, or Dominic!” “Infrastructure! Ron. Unopposed.” “Medical. Dr. Moore, unopposed.” “Defense! Hank, Jerry, or Garcia.”

  Cedric had gone through each vote dreading what was coming next, until Eric finally said, “Offense! Me or Cedric. I don’t want it. Vote Cedric.”

  Cedric was speechless. He had thought that Eric had been trying to be polite this entire time. He didn’t think that Eric would do something like this. When it was his chance to protest, to say something, he couldn’t. He could only stop and stare.

  It took Karli elbowing him in the ribs to get Cedric to even cast his vote. His ballot was the last in.

  “Well,” Eric said above the crowd while everyone was settling in. “Let’s count.”

  And so, the long process began. In front of everyone who wanted to stay and watch, Ross counted the votes as Eric yelled out the winners.

  The very first announcement caused outrage. Ross was made to recount the ballots three times because Eric had announced the winner as, “Sue! The one who actually deserves to win!”

  After the third time, Ben left the mess hall in a fury.

  Eric continued, “Labor! Charlie!” Cedric patted him on the shoulder.