Apocalypse | Week One

by Harris , Octavia

  I stare at the work he’s done so far. I'm mildly impressed and slightly concerned. I asked him, “Why didn’t you wake me up?” Queso took off the helmet wiping the sweat from his brow. He looked over at me and said, “There was no need to. You seemed really drained after yesterday so we let you sleep.” I thanked him for being concerned about me but then I stated, “You guys could’ve used my help with the bus and stuff.” Queso scoffed at me, “You wrote very detailed notes in your book.” He went further and explained, “We didn’t want to bother you plus you’re no grease monkey.” I felt a little slighted. I could have pretended like I understood the intricacies of automotive technology. But he was right, cars are not my thing. He was the gear head of the family, always taking engines apart and putting them back together again. I used to find it fascinating watching him repair different vehicles. I let him work his magic but before I left I asked, “Where are Nugs and Raye?” Queso had placed the helmet back on his head and responded, “I think they're cleaning out the inside of the bus.” He flipped the visor down and went back to welding. I walked to the door and climbed up the stairs and saw Raye and Nugs cleaning out the seats. I made my way over to them to see if I could offer any assistance. I remarked, "Let me give you guys a hand." Nugs stared up at me and said, "Help me unscrew this seat." I grabbed a wrench and went to the side of her and went to work on detaching the seat from the floor. After some time we had detached about eight seats and started to move them off the bus. We unloaded them off the bus one by one onto the platform. When we finished I stopped and noticed Queso had finished welding bars to the right side windows. He put away the torch then climbed down the ladder. He took off his helmet pushing his hair out of his face. He came up to me and inquired, "What do you think?" I studied the work he had done so far and stated, "It's coming along nicely, good work." I saw his face light up. He was beaming with pride. We talked for a bit before he walked off to the store room. I walked over and saw Nugs and Raye working on something. I got closer and discovered that they were building a shelf. I walk up behind Raye and ask, "Whatcha doing?" I saw her get a little spooked and she jumped and yelled, "Don’t do that!" I laughed silently to myself at her expense. Nugs said, "We're working on a surprise." She had a mischievous smile on her face. The two of them were planning something devious. I couldn't stand being left out even worse. I hated surprises. But I tried not to dwell on it too much. While everyone was busy working I walked back over to my blanket and sat on the floor. I went through my pack and took out my map and started to chart our next course. I studied the map and there are several different ways we can go. The question is what’s more of a priority for us right now. We definitely need to stock up on food and more weapons couldn’t hurt as well as clothing we could modify into protection if needed. After debating with myself I circle multiple points on the map. I'll just put it up to a vote and let us decide as a group what ourl route should be. I sat there for a while jotting down notes and rambling to myself. Raye and Nugs literally pulled me away from my thoughts. They grabbed me by the shoulders and said, "Follow us." As if I had any other choice. They dragged me along like I was a convict in a penitentiary. I turned my head and looked at Raye. She had the biggest dumbest smile on her face. Then I turned my head and stared at Nugs. She had a blank expression on her face. I couldn't get any information from it. I sighed and figured whatever they were about to show me it was gonna be stupid. We approached the bus and Queso stood there grinning like an evil gremlin. We turn the corner and stand at the door of the bus. Nugs goes up the steps and yells, "Okay bring her in!" Raye shoves me up the steps and makes me stumble. I catch myself on one of the seats and look up to see Nugs standing at the back of the bus arms extended towards the wall she shouts, "Tada!!!" I walk over to her and face the wall she's pointing at. My jaw drops and I excitedly squeal, "You guys built a weapons rack!" Raye and Nugs nodded saying, "You damn straight." They started to give me the grand tour. Nugs explained that they built the rack for both firearms and close-range weapons. As well as some shelves for gear and clothes and other equipment. Raye pointed to the opposite side of the bus stating they built a pantry for us to store our food. I was honestly really impressed with what they showed me. Queso hopped on the bus and showed me how they also converted some of the seats into beds for us to sleep on. He walked behind us and said, "This is the best part of the whole bus." He pulled a small door open and revealed a bathroom. Raye blurted out, "No more pissing in the woods for us." I was extremely ecstatic about this addition to the bus. I looked at everyone and asked, "So what should we name the bus?" Raye and Nugs shrugged their shoulders. They had no idea Queso on the other hand looked like he was about to explode if I didn't acknowledge him. I looked his way and he exploded out, "Zombodie to love!" I didn't hate that honestly it had a nice ring to it. Raye and Nugs looked at each other and nodded, "Yeah that works actually." So we were all in agreement Queso was so elated he flew off the bus. We all hopped off the bus and saw Queso painting the name on the side. He looked like a big ass kid with a shiny new toy. Once he was done painting I asked him, "How much longer will it take you to finish the outside?" Queso stood up admiring his work and replied, "I need to add bars to the windows on the other side and I want to add spikes on the tires." I gave him an exasperated sigh, "Look Picasso we don't have time for you to create a masterpiece." He looked at me and said, "Fine, I should be done in a few more hours if I put my mind to it." I gave him a pat on the shoulder and remarked, "I believe in you little brother." We fist bumped and I let him work his magic. I went to find Raye and Nugs. I saw them in a utility closet scavenging for useful stuff to take with us. I called out to them, "Hey guys Queso said it'll take him a few more hours to finish the bus." Nugs walked over to me carrying some of the things she found saying, "Really so soon?" I basically tell her that Queso is the Dalai Lama of all things automotive. Nugs didn't appear to be very impressed even with all my words of praise. She did however seem very pleased with herself. I looked at her and inquired, "What’s got you in such a good mood?" She eyes me and says, "I found some goodies." I don't say anything but could tell from her vague description she was able to dig up something of value. I took a moment just to soak in everything so far everything was going as planned and we hadn’t faced any major hiccups. But as soon as I said that I immediately started to look for a piece of wood to knock on. So far it seemed like the three of them have everything under control. I guess the least I could do was get some lunch going. They were probably starving and who knows how long they've been up working on all of this. Especially Queso he's probably been at it since the crack of dawn messing around with that bus. I head over to our makeshift kitchen and see what options I have to work with. I stared at the different varieties of rice a roni and made the call cheddar and broccoli for lunch. I took the pot and went to feel it up with some water. I come back and get the campers stove fired up. I placed the pot on top of the burner and let it come to a boil. I pour in the rice then after a few minutes add the flavor packet and stir it together. I yell out to everyone, "It's time to eat!" I see Queso put down the torch, climb down the ladder and take off his helmet then remove his work gloves and make his way over with Nugs following behind him. Nugs and Queso gathered around the stove and sat down as they settled in. I handed them both a plate. I gave the food one final stir and scooped a hearty portion on Queso’s plate and then gave Nugs some too. As I was in the middle of fixing my plate I asked, "Where is Raye?" Queso glanced at me and with a mouth full of food said, "Mmm….she went to the bathroom I think the rice a roni fucked with her stomach." I sat my plate on the ground and went to check on her. I got to the door and knocked firmly. Raye didn't respond. I tried knocking again. I heard her groan on the other side of the door. She grumbles, "What do you want?" I let her know that I was just checking on her to see if she was all right. She told me, "I appreciate it but I'll be out in a bit. My stomach is a little upset." I told her that if she needed anything to let us know she didn't reply, just went back to
her grunts and moans. I returned to Queso and Nugs who seemed like they were engaged in a lively conversation. I sat back down in my spot and right away Nugs inquired, "Is Raye okay?" I held my chin in my palm and responded, "She said she'll be okay but her stomach is upset." Queso stared at us as he picked food out of his teeth and rebutted, "She just needs to shit it all out and she'll be right as rain." Some time passes and we see Raye stumble her way out of the bathroom looking completely depleted. She takes her time and plants herself on the floor sighing in relief. Queso looks at Raye and says, "You good?" She opens her eyes half way and shoots him a thumbs up. He returns the gesture shooting one right back at her. But before long he gets up and goes back to his work area. I shouted at him, "Don’t over do it!" He doesn't pay me any attention and keeps walking. It didn't take long before I saw blue sparks flying off the side of the bus. Nugs, Raye and I sat huddled around talking and discussing random topics when Raye asked, "Where are we heading from here?" The mood had completely shifted. I looked at both Nugs and Raye with a level of scrutiny before I spoke. I replied, "That's actually what I wanted to discuss with you guys." Raye and Nugs both leaned in with eagerness at what I was about to say. I took it upon myself to gather my thoughts and stated, "I've been thinking about this for a bit, the second half of my plan has us heading on a long journey." Raye responded sarcastically, "No shit Sherlock." Nugs sat quietly and then asked, "How far are we talking?" I was very blunt and forthcoming in my response, "Almost halfway across the country." They both stared at me dumbfounded as if I was speaking in tongues. I explained that in all of the research I've compiled on zombies, the majority of the time survivors end up dying when they're in areas that are too overly populated. Because the threat is no longer the zombies but other people. We end up turning on each other and fighting over authority, resources and weaponry. That's something I want to avoid if possible. Raye and Nugs expressions had softened a little bit and they were looking less apprehensive. I'm suggesting we go somewhere remote with as few people as possible and settle ourselves there. Raye peered at me and stated, "But what happens once some people start to take notice of us. They'll more than likely want to join us." She dug me into a corner. I really had to take my time and think on this one. I scratched my head and remarked, "We do a screening process to assess the people who want to enter." Before Raye could challenge my idea I elaborated a bit more. At this point the four of us are the one's in charge of this settlement we plan to create. We have to be responsible for selecting individuals who would be a benefit to the settlement. I thought of some questions I think would be beneficial to ask potential settlers. I stated, "The first question is have you had to kill anyone if so what was the reason?" I felt this was an important question to ask because we need to know the motivations behind what would drive a person to commit an act of violence. Raye stared at me still critical of this concept but Nugs on the other hand I couldn't tell what she was thinking. I continued on, "The second question, what job/occupation did you have before the zombie outbreak?" We need people with the skills for building homes, growing food, and raising animals, etc. My third question is, "How have you handled interactions with others?" We need to be on the lookout for people that can handle working with others and being on a team. There's no place for any lone wolf types. Raye squinted her eyes and heaved a huge sigh, "These questions make me feel like I'm at a shitty job interview." I know she was hesitant and honestly I wasn't a hundred percent sure what we would do when the time came myself. But we just needed some building blocks to work from to head us in the right direction. Nugs leaned back to rest on her hands saying, "I get the point of the questions but there's no way to guarantee that they'll answer honestly." I don't expect people to be honest. I know most of them will probably just tell us what we want to hear. But the only thing we can do is reserve our judgment and actually take our time to observe people in certain scenarios and moments. Watch and listen to their reactions. Listen to how they talk, laugh, complain, and voice their anger. This is not foolproof by any means. It's going to be a lot of trial by fire but it's a start. Nugs seemed happy with my answer and her face softened. Raye held her fingers to her temples, rubbing them in agitation. She left her head and said, "I don't know if this is a good idea but I got your back." I felt relieved that we had finally come to an understanding that it was a weight off my mind. We all got up from our little powwow to go check on Queso and see what progress he made. When we got over the bus I inspected the metal bars on both sides of the bus and the metal grating on the lower half. He actually put big ass metal spikes on the tires. We hear clanking coming from the front of the bus. We walk to the source of the noise and see Queso waist deep under the hood with the engine. I called out to him, "Yo Queso!" He banged around as he scrambled to lift his head from the hood. He turned around to look at me. His face was covered with grime and black smudges of oil with rust stains decorating his shirt. He yelled at me, "What the hell do you want!?" I folded my arms against my chest and replied, "We came to check on you and see how much progress you made on the bus." Queso dropped his wrench and put both his hands behind his head and took a deep breath. He looked completely run down and weary. I feared that he was pushing himself too hard. He said, "I've been working on trying to get the engine going. So far I've had to swap out a few parts from the other buses." I was worried about my brother. I asked, "Is there anything we can do to help?" Queso lowered his head and brought his hands to the back of his neck. He looked straight up at the ceiling and responded, "Just let me figure this out." Without a second thought he bends down to pick up his wrench. Then turns back to resume tinkering under the hood. The three of us walked away and let him work. We keep a watchful eye on him from a distance, occasionally reminding him to take a break every now and again. Though there were moments where he would vehemently refuse others where he would curse up a storm. More often than not there were times where he just stood silently looking defeated. But he continued to push through. I don't know how long I sat for while watching Queso work before I nodded off to sleep. I just know I was awakened by the sound of the engine turning and Queso's boisterous cries of victory and relief. I hurry to my feet and see Raye and Nugs hugging Queso while congratulating him on his success. I ran up to him with the biggest grin on my face as I pulled him into my embrace. I whispered, "I'm so proud of you, Queso." I could hear him sniffing and as snot and tears ran from his nose and eyes. He didn’t say anything, he just hugged me tighter after a few seconds he moved away wiping his face on his shirt. For a moment there was nothing but silence between us. Raye burst out, "So can we get the hell out of here already!?" I told everyone to gather up their belongings and anything else of importance we need. Everyone took off and went to gather last minute supplies. I stayed behind and started loading some items on the bus. While I was putting some jugs of water under the shelves. I heard arguing coming from outside. I look out the window and see Queso and Raye fighting over a set of keys. I stand by the door and ask, "What are you two bitching about?" Raye looked at me and screamed, "Your brother won't give me the keys to drive the bus." Queso, still staring at Raye, rebutted, "Why does she get to drive when I was the one who fixed it." I felt like I was in the middle of two children fighting over a toy. I told them, "How about you both take turns driving?" Raye and Queso stared each other down, nodded and shook and shook hands as if they had found the terms agreeable. Suddenly Queso pushes Raye yelling, "I get to drive first!" While jangling the keys in the air and running onto the bus Raye yelled back, "I can't stand you!" As she chased after him all the while Nugs and I just stared at each other. We followed them after taking one final look back. We hopped on the bus. Raye was sitting in one of the remaining passenger seats, legs folded and arms crossed. She was pissed that Queso got to drive first. Queso sat in the driver’s seat completely looking smug. We took one more final inventory to make sure we weren't leaving anything behind. Once I gave the all clear Queso closed the door proceeded to start up the bus. He drove up to the garage exit
and hit a button located on the dashboard the doors slowly opened up. At first we were expecting to be bombarded by a sea of shufflers but that wasn't the case. While it wasn't a sea of them there were definitely enough to make you sweat a little bit. But Queso didn't look the least bit concerned. Once the garage door was fully opened he pressed hard on the gas Nugs and I almost fell on our asses. Queso started running over zombies in the parking lot watching as they got torn to pieces on the spikes he installed on the tires. Once he was done having his fun he made his way to a pay booth in the parking lot. The arms were down Queso sped through breaking the arm and knocking over part of the booth in the process. Queso drove up the road and stopped the bus abruptly. He looked at me and said, "Where are we heading?" I pulled out my map and showed him our next destination. He studied how far we had to go and the route I wanted him to take he slowly started to pull off. I go find a seat and slump against the window looking as the bus depot grows smaller in the distance. I was looking out the window studying the landscape. When I heard Nugs giggling in the back of the bus I sit up in my seat and gaze back at her seeing the look of amusement on her face. I hop out of my seat and make my way to the back. I exclaimed, “What’s got you so excited?” Nugs looks up at me with a grin on her face as she holds up one of the jackets I took from the souvenir shop at the bus depot. She stated, “I took the liberty of making some upgrades to it.” I look at the seat to the left of her and see a huge variety of materials she stashed away. If she wanted to she could open her own arts and crafts shop with all the stuff she managed to find. I kept analyzing all the modifications she added to this one simple jacket and it was mind-blowing. She added padding to the outside for extra protection against being bitten with additional mesh wiring along the forearms and woven into the collar. Two inside left and right gun and ammo pockets made with a durable mesh lining. She even added padding to the back just as another safety precaution. As I marveled at the craftsmanship in Nugs’ work I asked her, “Can you do this for the rest of the jackets?” She gave me an enthusiastic nod and said, “Sure no problem.” She happily returned to her sewing as I made my way back to my seat. As I plopped into my seat I glanced over and saw Raye knocked out in her seat with a waterfall of drool dripping down her face, mouth wide open snoring like a bear. But at least she was comfortable and was able to relax so far the apocalypse didn’t seem so bad at least for the moment. I expected shit to be more fucked up but maybe we haven’t traveled far enough to see the full impact of what has happened. This whole thing was just so difficult to wrap my head around. I hollered up front, “Yo Queso how are you holding up foo?” He shuddered and yelled, “I really need to piss but I’m scared to pull over cause Raye might steal my spot.” I got up and walked over to the side of him. I peered at like he was a mad man. I could see his foot tapping rapidly. I told him, “Bro pull over and go piss! You sound dumb as hell right now.” He pulled the bus over to the side and declared, “Watch my spot.” He opened the doors and brushed past me flying off the bus. He runs to the nearest bushes while he relieves himself. I sat in the driver’s seat waiting for him to get back. I looked over at Raye to see if she was pretending to be asleep. But she didn’t budge a bit she shifted in her sleep. After a few minutes Queso ran back on the bus looking quite pleased. I stood up and gave him back his throne. He happily takes his back seat and starts up the bus and pulls off. I went back to my seat and took out my map again and checked the route. I saw a landmark sign pass us as we drove by. I told Queso we were coming up to our first destination in about ten miles. He gave me a thumbs up. I figured I’d use the rest of the time to take a little nap until we get to our destination. I slid down stretching my legs out onto the seat getting more comfortable. I rolled over and rested my head on my arm. I took several deep breaths, closed my eyes and just laid silently. I felt the bus come to a slow stop then someone nudged me whispering, “Hey we’re here.” they kept poking me until I opened my eyes and I shot straight up in my seat ready to knock the shit out of someone. I glared at Queso furious that my sleep had been interrupted. I rub my eyes and crack my back. I stand up and have one big stretch while Queso hops off the bus and stands outside with Raye. I look back and see Nugs sitting in the same position from earlier hunched over still sewing. I walked outside and saw Raye and Queso looking a bit disgruntled as I poked my head out the door. I asked, “Why did we stop right here?” Queso didn’t speak, he just pointed off into the distance. I stepped all the way off the bus and looked out into the horizon. We see a slew of barricades blocking the road. Nugs hopped off the bus yelling, "I finished sewing the jackets!" She was taken aback by the view in front of us. Slowly walking over to me she whispered, "The hell happened here!?" I looked over at her and shrugged my shoulders, "We don't know. But whatever this is, the bus can't go any further." Queso put his hands in his pocket and said, "What’s the move here captain?" I stared down at the ground, shuffling my feet thinking of a proper course of action. I looked up and scanned everyone's eyes and said, "We have to continue the rest of the way on foot." Raye groans, visibly upset at my decision, Nugs looks completely indifferent and Queso just looks dopey as usual. Only that this time he seemed a bit more agitated than usual he asked, "What do we do about the bus?" I stared at it trying to think we can't leave it out here alone. Any survivors could come and make off with it. And that was the last thing we needed to happen. I stood silently still pondering until the light bulb went off, "Queso you stay with the bus and try to find another way around. While the three of us go through on foot. Raye fuming exclaimed, "Why can't we just drive straight through! This is some bullshit! And what if Queso gets lost or we run into some fucked up shit then what!" I sighed, not sure which question to answer first as I got ready to gear up. Nugs handed me a jacket and I started to put it on. I peered at Raye and responded, "We can’t drive straight through because we can't risk damaging the bus." But once I thought about it I didn't have a solution for how we would contact each other in a jam. Nugs had already suited up when she ran back on the bus. Seconds later she came back with her arms full she exclaimed, "I found these at the bus depot." She walks over to each of us and hands us a walkie talkie. I was completely caught off guard and Raye was looking completely confused. I tossed Raye one the jackets to put on as she was suiting up Queso and I were discussing where we could rendezvous. We both examined the map until we came to a unanimous decision. I circled our meet up point on my map then on his. We all turned our walkie talkies to the same channel and each took a turn speaking to make sure the work and that we could hear each other. Queso glanced over at Nugs asking, "What’s the range on these radios?" Nugs was hooking her hatchet to her belt when she replied, "I think it's twenty-five miles." Queso nodded and whispered, "Not bad." I hooked my gun into my mesh holster while Raye awkwardly fumbled with her Bowie knife. We were all ready to head out. Queso hopped onto the bus and got into the driver’s seat. He waved at us one final time before closing the door and driving off. The three of us stood silently watching Queso leave. We each exchanged looks with the other and started walking towards town. The road was mostly abandoned; there was not a single car in sight. Thick white smoke wafts down the graffiti-strewn road as it poured from sinkholes and huge craters in the ground. The road looked like the scene out of a war movie like they had dropped bombs on the area. We approached the barricades cautiously examining the area. We took our time searching the road in sections avoiding falling into these big ass craters. As the town started to appear closer in our view we saw the most disturbing sight. A sea of wooden stakes shot up proudly from the ground piled high the corpses of shufflers. Some of them were still moving while others had started to fall apart because of severe decay. The smell was terrible. I saw Nugs gag a few times as she tried to cover her face with a scarf. It seems that someone had been stockpiling corpses with the intention to create this brutal display. I guess they were warning us not to go any farther but unfortunately I’m hard-headed as hell. I pressed forward and Nugs followed a little way
s behind. But Raye did not move; she hissed at me, “You’re not seriously about to walk through this shit!” Without stopping I replied back, “Yes.” in a dry tone. She stomped her foot to the ground to proclaim her objection. Raye screamed at the top of her lungs, “I thought one of your rules was to not needlessly put yourself in danger! Or was that just some bullshit too.” I stopped a few feet away from her and I said, “You’re right that is one of my rules. But I’m doing this for a reason, Raye. We need better weapons and supplies if we’re going to make it.” Raye shook her head so hard I thought it was going to fly off. She stressed, “Why here!? You don’t see these motherfuckers on spikes!” as she pointed her arm gesturing to the zombie skewers in front of us. I yell back at her, “I fucking see them Raye! I’m just as freaked out as you. I didn’t think we’d see shit like this either!” Nugs interrupted our shouting match and sternly asked, “Why are we here?” I turned to her and responded, “There is a small military stockpile located in this town. An old coworker told me about it some years ago when he used to serve in the army reserves. But after doing my own digging I was able to confirm it’s actually here. So I told Queso to find another way in town and we’ll meet up with him over there.” Nugs looked satisfied with my answer but Raye was still not completely onboard with the plan. She walked forward towards me and stated, “If I die I’m coming back to haunt your ass.” Now that the moment had passed we all continued heading towards town. We walked along silently for a while when I heard some static and buzz coming from my pocket. I reached in my pants and pulled out my radio. I faintly hear Queso’s voice, “Have you guys made it to town yet?” I turned up the volume slightly and replied, “We’re coming up on the town now.” Queso buzzed back in and said, “I had to take the long way around. I should be at the meeting point in about an hour.” Raye placed her hand on my shoulder she exclaimed, “A fucking hour!” she screeched in my ear. I responded, “An hour will be fine, it'll probably take us that long to make our way to you.” We both ended the transmission and I put the radio back in my pocket. I started back walking and making my way through the forest of zombies with Nugs a few feet in front of me and Raye a little ways behind me. We finally put the sea of rotting flesh behind us and proceeded into town looking around and observing the buildings. The town appeared to be abandoned and the ground the buildings stood on was scorched and devastated. This place was once a thriving community filled with people; now it’s a smoldering wasteland of desolate streets, broken pavement and burnt trees. The air was filled with the noxious fumes from the burnt bodies. It was disgusting. We couldn't even go a few feet without seeing a charred corpse. The bodies were so blackened you couldn’t tell what gender they were or if they had been normal people or shufflers. It was a horrible sight to witness. After venturing around for a few minutes I took out my compass and map to check the direction. Occasionally we saw shufflers either impaled to the wall of buildings or stuck to a spike coming out of the ground. Some tried to move when we would walk past them. Nugs ran over to one and took a selfie with it. Raye looked at quizzically, “What are you doing?” she asked. Nugs snapped a few pictures before answering, “Documenting our zombie road trip!” she said with a large smile. I peered at her sneering, “You better not fuck around and get bitten.” She fanned her hand at me paying me no mind. We kept going for a while. Nugs was taking pictures left and right like she was in an art museum. Raye was off to herself sighing and grunting like usual. I hear the faint sounds of screaming off in the distance. I immediately stopped in my tracks. Nugs and Raye stared at me with concerned looks on their faces. Raye was about to speak when I shushed her softly. The screaming rang out louder than before and sounded a lot closer than earlier. Nugs ran past me and scouted out the area ahead of us. Then I feel the radio start to go off in my pocket. I grabbed reach for it and pulled it close to my face. Nugs buzzed in, "Make your way over to the white building a few feet in front of you." The radio went silent and Raye and I took off towards the building. We got to the building Nugs specified and crouched down carefully against the wall peeking over the corner. I glanced around and locked eyes with Nugs. She was in a building across the street from us. She waved at me then pointed to her radio. She brought it to her face and started speaking. The radio beeped Nugs said, "Look directly over the side to your left." I took out my binoculars and peered further over the side and saw a woman standing on top of a car fighting off a pack of shufflers. From what I could make out she was jabbing at them with some kind of makeshift spear. She was carrying a rather large bag on her back she yelled and shrieked at the top of her lungs, "Just fucking die already!" I lifted up my radio and chimed in, "I guess we know who was doing all that screaming earlier." Nugs laughed and replied, "She's got a set of pipes on her that's for sure." I put down my binoculars and said, "I think we should lift a helping hand. She might know a shortcut to get to the reserve." Just as I said that Raye spun me around to face her and said, "I don't think we should be sticking our necks out for someone we don't know." As she stared at me clearly feeling uneasy about this whole situation. I knew this went against the rules I set in place but if this person turned out to be worth my efforts then they would have to return the favor. And I like having people owe me as fucked up as that sounds. I looked at Raye and responded, "Look I'll take full responsibility if she fucks us over. But right now she could be useful to us." Raye, looking displeased, sighed while shaking her head. But was willing to help me with my plan. Nugs buzzed in on the radio exclaiming, "Now that you guys have settled that, bring your asses over here!" The rest of us scanned for a way across the street without attracting any attention from the shufflers. But we couldn't see one we just had to scramble our way across. I stayed in cover and told Raye to make her way across and I would stay back to provide cover fire. Raye stood up from cover and slowly walked across the street carefully trying to avoid stepping on the glass laid out on the ground. She constantly gazes down at her feet while also looking up to make sure the shufflers don't notice her. After a few minutes Nugs helps her into the building pulling her through one of the broken windows. Once she was safely inside they signaled to me to head over. I ran across I didn't care about being subtle or discrete. I just wanted to get to Raye and Nugs as quickly as possible. I looked to my left and saw the zombies were still fixated on the woman on top of the car. I ran up to the window with Nugs and Raye helping me through. Once inside I sat on the floor. I looked up at Nugs and asked, "Is there a way to get to the roof of this building?" Nugs nodded and led us to the back of the building. There was a tall ladder leading up to a hatch door that opened up to the roof. Nugs climbed up the ladder first opening the hatch stepping out onto the roof. I followed up after her then Raye came up after me. I noticed that all the builds on this side are connected and they share the same roof top. Maybe they used to be one large building at some point in time. We walked along the rooftop scanning down below. Trying to see if there was a way down. We got to the end of the last building and saw a fire escape leading down to an alley literally right across from our damsel in distress. But she was completely surrounded by shufflers. We needed a way to draw their attention. Nugs immediately stooped down and started going through her bag. She pulled out some bottles with pieces of torn rags sticking out. I stood there looking at her with my mouth agape in complete surprise. I commented, "Looks like you've been busy." Nugs smiles at me and says, "I guess you can say that." I told Nugs to stand by the edge and throw Molotov cocktails over the edge to grab the shuffler's attention. While also dispatching a few of them I instructed Raye to provide me with some cover fire while I climbed down the fire escape to lower the ladder to help our new friend up. Everyone got into place and I made my dissent down the fire escape. Nugs checked to see how far down I've gotten and once I reached the second landing. She threw the first cocktail over the side. It landed in the middle of the street. The sound of the glass shattering alerted the shufflers and they started to walk over to it. Heading directly into the fire, Nugs threw a
nother one. While she was busy handling that I quickly lowered the ladder down. I yelled out to the stranger on top of the car, "Hey you can climb up over here!" She looked in my direction perplexed but she didn't hesitate as the last of the shufflers was making their way to the sound of the noise. She cautiously climbed down from the top of the car but she lost her footing and slammed into it coming down. She fell but it didn’t seem like she hurt herself. She quickly got up but was taken by surprise when the car alarm started to go off. She froze in place seeing the shufflers turn around heading back towards her. She ran to the ladder at top speed as the shufflers began to swarm the car in pursuit. She got to the ladder and started to climb with shufflers at her back. Raye fired on the zombies that tried to grab at the woman. Raye's aim was really good, making excellent headshots most of the time. The woman continued to climb and I reached down offering her my hand. She grabbed it and I pulled her up. Once she was on the landing she helped me pull the ladder back up and secure it. We both made our way up to the roof. She fell forward onto her knees gasping for air. We all noticed her bag start to move. Raye readies her gun but then the woman clutches the bag to chest and says, "No don't shoot, it's just my dog!" She quickly opens the bag to reveal a cute little fluffy doggie. It hops out of the bag and rushes over to Raye wanting head pats. Raye is immediately won over; she puts away her gun and plays with the dog. Meanwhile Nugs and I begin our interrogation. Nugs pulled out her hatchet and asked, "So what's your name stranger?" The woman nervously answered, "My friends used to call me J- Nice." She fumbles her words for a second but manages to squeak out, "What are your names?" We don't answer and ignore her question. I asked, "How'd you end up stuck on top of the car?" She glares over at the dog who quickly hides behind Raye. J-Nice explained, "I was out scavenging with Canella over there she saw some shufflers got spooked and started barking. The noise attracted other shufflers and before I knew it I was on top of the car poking at them with my stick." We had no reason to distrust her so we accepted her explanation. But then Raye blurted out, "Did you put up all those stakes we saw throughout town?" Nugs and I watched intently to see what she would say. J-Nice was quiet for a moment then said, "No that wasn't me. It was some of the older folks that did it when shit first started to go crazy. It was some crazy old drifter who persuaded the townspeople to defend themselves." The three of us stared at one another half certain about what she had said. But with that I asked one final question, "Do you know if there are any survivors still alive?" J-Nice stood up dusting herself off. She stated, "I haven't seen anyone that wasn't turned or had a stick up their ass." Nugs started to laugh and snort at her statement. I carefully observed J-Nice she was of average build and slightly muscular she looked like she worked out often. She had a couple of tattoos on her right forearm and one on her ankle. She had on this oversized baseball jersey and she donned a baseball cap that she wore with the bill of the cap turned around. She even followed it up by wearing a pair of baseball gloves. This woman was clearly a hardcore baseball fan. J-Nice looked at all of us and exclaimed, "So are you guys going to tell me your names or what? I said, "That over there is Nugs and the person playing with your dog is Raye. There's one more member of the group who isn’t here. His name is Queso. And I am the leader of this band of misfits." J-Nice smiled and replied, "Nice to meet you all." As we got more acquainted with each other my radio started to beep in my pocket. I grabbed it and held it to my face. Queso buzzed in, "Yo I'm about 20 minutes out. Where are you guys right now?" He stopped speaking and waited for a response. I said, "We had to make a slight detour but should be there soon." Queso sounded slightly irritated and stated, "Alright but hurry up it's fucked up out here." After that we cut communication. I glanced over at J-Nice and explained that I didn't save for no reason. I told her that we were trying to find a small military reserve located in town and that Queso would be meeting up with us there. I asked her if she knew a shortcut to help us get there quickly. J-Nice stared at me and asked, "What do I get for helping you?" I peered back at her and said, "We'll give you and the dog safe passage out of here." She stared at me in disbelief like I was making some fucked up joke. But I assured her I was telling the truth. I offered to shake her hand as a show of trust. She was uncertain about my intentions but gripped my hand tightly. Now that we had an agreement J-nice told us that there was a way to get to the reserve through a series of alleyways on the west side of town. They used to be where homeless people and prostitutes used to set up shop for a while until more white people started moving into the area and turned it into a huge shopping district. I took out my map from my pack and asked to show me the route she was talking about. She traced the path with her finger on the paper. It didn't look too bad. I asked her, "How far are we from these alleys?" She scanned around our current location looking for a landmark she recognized to help her judge the distance. She squinted her eyes and pointed, "You guys see where the waffle house is?" We all looked in the direction where she pointed, then she spoke once more, "The alley next to the waffle house is where we have to go." We all nodded at each other and got ready to move out. Canella ran over to J-nice and she picked her up and put her back in her bag. Raye looked a little disappointed wishing she had more time to play with the dog. Once everybody was good to go we ran back to the hatch we used to climb up to the roof. One by one we all climbed down the ladder and headed for the back door as quickly as possible. Nugs pushed the door open slowly trying not to make too much noise. The door swung open Raye and I jumped out, securing our flanks checking for shufflers. The alley was all clear. Nugs and J-Nice made their way through the back door. J-Nice took point and had us follow behind her. We ran through several back streets and a few vacant shops trying to avoid unnecessary scuffles with shufflers along the way. We saw the waffle house in sight from across the street. For the moment we took refuge inside a decrepit lingerie boutique to catch our breath. Raye and Nugs ate some beef jerky we had scored a while back. Nugs stood up, walked over and offered some to J-Nice as a sign of goodwill. She reached into the bag pulling out a piece for her and Canella to enjoy. Once everyone regained their strength we looked out onto the street and there were a lot of shufflers blocking our way. Raye said, "It doesn't look like a lot I think we could fight our way through." Nugs looked skeptical and replied, "We'd be too exposed out there they'd overtake in a heartbeat." Nugs and Raye went back and forth for a bit before I chimed in. I stated, "I think I have a way we can get through them virtually undetected." J-Nice folded her arms and said, "How are we going to do that?" I walked to the back door and told her to follow me asking Raye and nugs to stay put. As the two of us walked to the backdoor I explained, "So for many years I've been collecting information on zombies just in case shit like this ever happened." J-Nice stared at me like I was crazy but I kept speaking, "So with all the research I've found I put together a guide to help me and my friends navigate through the zombie apocalypse so to speak." J-Nice had a blank expression but I could tell she was listening intently and hanging on to my every word. I went further and said, "The general consensus is that zombies smell the difference between a living human and one of their own kind and that is exactly what I plan to test out." I took out my knife and told her, "I'm going to cut myself in the palm to attract a shuffler I need to kill it and then help me drag it back inside." J-Nice was clearly confused by what I had just said but she didn't question me even though I could tell how much she wanted to. All she did was look at me and say, "That doesn’t sound too difficult." She had a calm smile on her face and it was very soothing. I pushed the back door and it flung open tapping against the wall. I slowly walk through the door with J-Nice behind me watching my back. I kept walking until I saw a shuffler standing alone in the alley. I whispered to J-Nice, "I see one in front of me." She looked over my shoulder and replied, "Gotcha." I walked a little further, took out my knife and ran the blade through my palm. The blood started to flow from my hand and dripped to the ground. The shuffler stopped a few feet from me. I could see his eye
s lock on me. It's nostrils flared, taking in my scent it stumbled forward, mouth open teeth gnashing. It's hands were stretched out in front of him trying to grab at his prey. I stuck my hand out further enticing it even more. It became more ravenous and bestial than before flailing its arms wildly. It got closer bridging the gap between us. Before it could smack in the face J-Nice appeared from behind me with her big ads spear and stabbed it in the head. She yanked the spear back and the body fell forward. I reached into my jacket and pulled out some gloves. I tossed a pair to J-nice and we started dragging the shuffler back to the boutique. Once we got inside, immediately locked the door and went to disinfect and wrap my hand. As I walked off J-Nice continued to drag the body to the center of the shop before dropping him on the ground. Nugs looked at us and exclaimed, "What the fuck are you going to do with that?" I finished wrapping my hand and walked over to them saying, "We're going to cover ourselves in it's blood to mask our scent." Raye looked at me, "Can you explain that shit again except without all the nature Channel bullshit." I rubbed my palm and explained that as far I understand that zombies don’t attack other zombies because they don't smell alive. But when they smell one of us it sends them into a frenzy. So if we cover our clothes in their blood it'll hide our smell so we can pass through and get to the fucking reserve so we can get out of here. I put on some more gloves and grabbed my knife. I stooped over the body and made an incision in the abdomen. The odor was terrible like a body that's been left out in the sun too long. As I continued to slice into its gut this black viscous liquid poured out from the cut. Everyone was covering their nose trying desperately to protect themselves from the stench. After making my final cut I clean off my knife before putting it back in my bag. I took my hand and plunged it into the shufflers’ stomach, smearing the contents on my jacket. I glanced over to gesturing for them to do the same. Everyone was hesitant initially until J-Nice came forward. She put on a pair of workers’ gloves and stuck her hand into the zombie’s belly rubbing the foul ooze onto her baseball jersey. Nugs stepped up then Raye who looked like she was about to faint. Once everyone had covered themselves we walked to the front door and we each stared at each other anxiously not sure what would happen. Nugs stated, “Well there’s no time like the present.” She opened the front door and ran outside. We followed after her. We all stood outside silent and vulnerable looking around wildly waiting for the shufflers to notice us. But nothing happened, the shufflers paid us no attention for the moment our camouflage was working perfectly. We pressed forward through the scattered crowd inching closer and closer to our destination. Nugs was farther ahead of us. She stood by the opening of the alley waiting for the rest of us to catch up. J-Nice was to the left of me and Raye was to my right slightly behind me. We were literally almost half way there when I heard a soft thud to my right. I look over and see Raye standing frozen like a deer in headlights. There was a shuffler directly in front of her. I turned in J-Nice’s direction trying to grab her attention. She locked eyes with me and I immediately pointed to Raye. J-Nice mouthed, "Holy shit! What do we do?" I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't have a clue the shuffler just stood in front of Raye sniffing at the air around her trying to discern a difference. The shuffler was definitely confused but still persistent. Raye tried to move away but she was scared any sudden sounds would set it off. We were all stuck in place too frightened to move. I kept looking for a way to create some kind of diversion to draw the shufflers attention. We look over at Nugs and see her rummaging through one of the dumpsters in the alley. She comes back to the opening standing there with three large glass bottles. Two in her hand and one tucked under her arm. She looked at me telling me to get Raye’s attention. I kept signaling at Raye feverishly until she noticed me. She peered at me with large eyes. I gestured towards Nugs and she glanced at her. Nugs held up the bottles and Raye nodded her head. I looked over at J-Nice and whispered, "When she throws the bottle we run like hell." She gave me a thumbs up. We all look at Nugs. I give her the signal to throw the first bottle. She winds up and throws the glass with all her might. The glass hit the fire hydrant a few feet away shattering into pieces. All the zombies completely stopped moving looking up in the air. We started to run as fast as possible. Raye shoved the zombie that was in front of her to the ground. She ran to catch up with us. The shufflers were alerted to our presence. They tried to swarm us and box us in as they were closing in. I see Nugs lift her arm up and throw another bottle, this time it landed on the curb. The shufflers were extremely confused; they didn't know what sound to go after we kept running. We were a few feet away from Nugs at the entrance. We were trying our hardest not to look back. But the zombies snapped themselves out of their stupor and tried to pin us down. Nugs threw the final bottle and it hit a light post. We cleared the alleyway with Nugs coming up the rear running at full sprint. None of us slowed our pace for a second. I was trying to conserve my breath but I yelled at J-Nice, "What direction do we go in now?" She tried her best to look around without tripping over. She shouted mid breath, "When we get to that building make a hard left." We kept running with all the energy we could muster. The building came up quickly to our right and we hit the corner to the left. The shufflers were following close behind. We needed a way to get rid of them. J-Nice kept shouting directions as we ran through the alley. I started looking around for some way to slow down the zombies. We hit another corner running past a huge gate. I slowed down and headed to the gate trying to push it closed. Nugs ran over to the other side and started pushing the gate. We both struggled trying to move this huge gate. The shufflers were approaching quickly. J-Nice and Raye ran over to give us some extra muscle. The gate moved smoothly and swiftly without scraping against the ground. We continued to push and hear the gate slam shut. Nugs took out a long piece of fabric and used it to secure the gate. Once the gate was closed we moved away to examine our work. The shufflers crashed into the gate, their faces were squished against the chain link fence with their fingers poking through trying to grab at us from the opposite side. It was like looking at ravenous animals in cages at the zoo. We took a moment to breathe and just assess the situation. Raye was bent over hugging her knees trying to catch her breath. Nugs walked over to her patting her on the back. J-Nice took Canella out from her bag to let her stretch her legs for a bit. Canella ran up to Raye and started to lick her fingers. I took out my radio and tried to get a hold of Queso. For a few minutes there was nothing but unnerving silence. I was getting anxious that something had happened to him. He finally spoke into the radio, "H-Hey what's happening on your end?" He sounded kind of frazzled and surprised. I replied, "You don’t sound too hot, you good?" I hear Queso grunt and sight into the radio before responding, "Oh shit my bad I was taking a nap before you hit me up." I roll my eyes while J-Nice just laughs under her breath. I chimed back in saying, "Where are you right now?" Queso took a few seconds before he started speaking again stating, "Shit!!! I'm already here. I was waiting for y'all." I told Queso to stay put. We were about ten minutes out from his location. He didn't complain or make a fuss. We ended the transmission and I think he went back to his nap. I looked around at everyone and told them to get ready to continue on. J-Nice rounded up Canella and put her back in her puppy pouch. Raye got her second and was ready to head out and Nugs was good to go. J-Nice directed us through the last leg of this convoluted series of alleyways. We neared an opening J-Nice pointed telling us that was our way out. We all ran for the exit with the wind at our backs. We couldn't contain our joy of being rid of those zombie infested alleys. It was nice to smell something other than the scent of rotten garbage and piss coming out of dumpsters. Everyone was elated until J-Nice interrupts asking, "So where's this bus of yours?" Immediately I am brought back to reality and reminded that we have to go look for Queso. I rally everyone together and we begin our search. We walk for a while and I can feel J-Nice's eyes pierce the back of my head with an intense radiating heat as if she were trying to burn a hole through my head. I glanced back at her briefly. I
t was clear she didn't fully believe us and would cut and run at any moment. I was about to address her when Raye shouted out, "I think I see the bus over there." It was parked near an old construction site behind an unfinished series of condominiums. J-Nice peered over at the bus as if it were Noah's Ark here to take us on a holy journey. The three of us looked in her direction and sneered, "Do you believe us now?" She ignored us and continued walking but we could see how excited she was. We stood a few feet away J-Nice looked so hesitant to move like she thought the bus would disappear if she got closer. I went to the door and banged on it as hard as possible. I heard Queso stumble to the driver's seat to open the door. The door flew open and Queso came scrambling down the steps. He came at me arms wide open giving me a huge hug. I hug him back and he looks around. He slowly let me go and said, "Who is this new person?" Queso pushed me aside and strode over to her. I explained to him how we came across J-Nice and her adorable doggie Canella and how she led us here. Queso listened to my story and responded, "So what does she want in return for being a good samaritan?" I looked at Queso and told him, "I told her she could ride with us." Queso looked at me in utter shock and pulled me to the side. He whispered, "How do we know she won't slit our throats in our sleep?" I sighed while grabbing the bridge of my nose. It felt like the same argument I had with Raye earlier. I stared at Queso and replied, "I honestly don't know what she will do but she hasn't done anything for us to doubt her yet. We'll just have to keep an eye on her." The idea of letting a stranger on the bus was unsettling for Queso but he agreed as long as we all kept watch over her. We joined back up with the group who was busy giving Canella belly rubs. Queso exclaimed, "Well J-Nice how about I give you the grand tour?" She nodded head and the two of them walked onto the bus with Canella following behind. The rest of us stood outside pondering our next course of action. Nugs looked at me and asked, "Where is this big ass stash of weapons?" I gestured over yonder to a small hill. Our goal was just up there within grasp and soon we'd be out of here back on the road. I told everyone to load up on the bus we all filed on and saw Queso sitting in his favorite spot behind the wheel and J-Nice and Canella had strapped themselves in ready to go. Queso yells at me, "So y'all ready to head out?" The four of us glance at each other and shout, "Let's go!" Queso started up the bus and we all took our seats. It felt nice to relax and get off our feet for a little while. Raye was sitting by the window with her face all twisted up. I asked her, "What's wrong?" She looked at me like she was about to spontaneously combust. She mumbled, "I got the bubble guts really bad. I need to use the toilet." She shot straight up and flew to the bathroom in the back. Nugs looked like she was busy catching up on some sleep. J-Nice and Canella cuddled up against one another enjoying a nice peaceful rest. I got nestled into the corner of my seat and just glanced out the window as Queso drove us up the hill. Queso stopped the bus in front of this large fence with barbed wire at the top. I walked over to him and he had his forearms resting on the steering wheel. As I approached him he asked, "Do you want to try to find another way around?" I examined the fence and it looked kinda flimsy and poorly made. We could probably just run through it without the bus taking too much damage. I told him, "Ram the gate." He sat up in his seat and with a big stupid grin on his face and started up the bus again. I went back to my seat and buckled up my seat belt. He revved up the engine and drove straight at the gate like a bat out of hell. The sudden shift in speed made Canella start barking, waking up J-Nice and Nugs. Both of them gripped their seats and positioned themselves trying not to fly out of them. He crashed into the gate and ripped through it like tissue paper. I looked out the window and saw the mangled gate laying on the ground. It reminded me of a piece of origami. Queso drove up to the front and stopped the bus. We all adjusted in our seats and slowly stood up. Raye came out of the bathroom completely disheveled yelling, "What the hell was that?" We all looked at her as she walked toward us covered in toilet paper. I put my hands over my mouth trying to hold in my laughter. I couldn't look at her directly cause I knew I would lose it. Queso stood up and looked over his shoulder and screamed, "Damn, what the fuck happened to you!" Raye was pissed off as she peeled the toilet paper off her jacket and pants. She shrieked, "Can a person not use the toilet in peace!?" Queso stood with his hands on his hips and said, "My bad homie." I interrupted and replied, "It's my fault I told him to ram the gate. I forgot you were still on the toilet." Raye huffed and puffed while walking to the back of the bus with a train of toilet paper following behind her. J-Nice stood up and took a deep stretch she hopped down the stairs stepping off the bus with Canella right at her side. Queso and I followed after her as she stood in front of a thick metal door she rubbed her hand against the door feeling the cold roughness on her fingers. The two of us walked up to her and studied the door. I banged on it to see how sturdy it was and that shit was thick as hell. I didn't know how we would get it open. I kept tapping the door looking for a weak spot. Nugs and Raye came off the bus and walked over to us observing what we were doing. Nugs looked up at the top of the door and said, "I see an opening at the top." She came up to the door gazing upwards and we all tilted our heads upward scanning the opening. It looked really narrow. I looked around at everyone studying their bodies trying to figure out which one of us would fit through the opening. I eyed Nugs and she looked like the perfect size to fit through the top of the door. I asked her, "Hey Nugs, do you think you can make it through that opening?" She eyeballs it and squinted her eyes saying, "I think I can fit through there. But I need someone to lift me up there." Queso and I stood near the door, slightly bent over, Nugs slowly climbed up on our backs and pulled herself up. She took out her flashlight and shined her light through to see on the other side. Nugs couldn’t see anything discernable that stood out to her. But she started to squeeze herself through the opening. We heard her making noises as she climbed through to the other side. But then it grew silent and I yelled, "Nugs you okay?" But she didn't reply back. I started banging on the door, "Nugs say something!" I kept pounding on the door until I overheard a low creaking sound and the door started to move in place. I tell everyone to back away from the door. It started to shift again and slowly push forward. The door scratched the ground making this loud screech it was like nails grating on a chalkboard. Then the door stopped moving and in the doorway we saw a silhouette. I took out my knife thinking it was a shuffler. But what walked out of the shadows was Nugs' short frame. She was out of breath and panting heavily as she stepped toward us. She was covered in some excess black sludge that dripped from her jacket. We all approached her slowly and in a low tone asked, "What the hell happened in there?" She placed her hands around her waist tilting her head back to take a breath. She said, "A shuffler caught me by surprise when I climbed down the other side." Clearly that shuffler didn't make it as remnants of it were splattered on Nugs' jacket. She plopped on the ground to rest. I inquired, "Did the shuffler bite or scratch you?" She shook her head but airing on the side of caution I examined her anyway. I didn't find any marks on her so I was relieved about that but I wanted to see what was inside our treasure trove. So I left Nugs and asked Raye to stay with her while the rest of us took a look inside. I walked up to the entrance and pulled out my flashlight with Queso and J-Nice behind. We all scanned out looking around for any useful items. J-Nice's voice rang out in the dark, "Hey I think I found some fun toys." Queso and I head in her direction and shine our lights on the massive rows of shelves lined with a variety of different weapons, some ranging from firearms to different types of explosives. From the look on J-Nice's face she looked excited. I told her to get Raye and Nugs to help start loading some of these on the bus. I expressed to her that, "You need to grab weapons to use at close range and far away and explosives we can use for crowd control. Also as much ammo as you guys can carry." J-Nice nodded and ran outside to get Raye and Nugs. Queso and I kept exploring and we happened upon a food depository. There were different types of grains and seeds we could use to cultivate or own crops. I t
ell Queso to start piling the sacks by the door and I'll help him load them onto the bus. J-Nice returns with Raye and Nugs with Canella playfully lagging behind them. They took a few weapons out of their racks and carefully started to carry them to the bus. It took us a lot of trips to get everything we needed on the bus but there were some things we just couldn't bring with us. Queso and I both really wanted to bring the gatling gun with us and mount it to the front of the bus. But it was too freaking heavy even with all of us attempting to lift it. So we had to leave it behind. It was unfortunate because it would have come in handy. Nevertheless I tried not to dwell on it too much. We even managed to find some gas we could use to fuel up the bus so we wouldn't have to worry about that for a while. We made out pretty well for ourselves but it was clear everyone was tired and in need of some rest. Everyone was sitting down with their backs resting against the bus. I took another look around the cache to see if I could find anything to use as kindling for a fire. I found some old empty wooden crates we could use. I broke pieces of wood off from the sides of the crate until I felt that I had enough to use. I gathered what I had in my arms and walked outside trying to avoid getting any splinters. I dropped the wood on the ground and said, "Let's get a fire going so we can eat." Raye reached into her bag looking for the fire starter kit. While she was busy digging through her pack. Nugs ran onto the bus to grab some stuff. Queso and J-Nice decided to go look for stones to place around the fire. I decided to start digging a small pit in the ground with my knife. After some time had passed Queso and J-Nice returned with a decent amount of stones to surround the pit I dug. The two of them started to lay the stones. Raye found her fire starter and Nugs hopped off the bus carrying various cookware she managed to salvage. Once Queso and J-Nice were finished stacking the stones I gathered up some kindling I thought we could use to get the fire going and toss it in the center. Raye came over to the pit and crouched near the center. She tore open her kit and pulled out the magnesium bar and the small knife attached to it. She quickly skimmed over the instructions and said, "Cool I got it." She held the magnesium bar over the kindling and started scraping the knife against it so the sparks would ignite the kindling. She kept scraping for a few minutes until some started to take hold and begin to smolder, making smoke. She tried one last time the sparks flew and a tiny flame erupted. She yelled, "Holy shit! I made fire!" She stood up and started jumping and dancing around the pit I ran and grabbed the larger pieces of wood I found and used them to feed the fire. Once the flame was at a good height and manageable size Nugs walked over and began to whip something up. She used some of the water we had gathered and poured it into the pot and let it rest in the fire. It started to boil quickly and she dumped some rice and a small can of beans. She stirred the pot occasionally so the rice wouldn't stick to the sides. Once the water had evaporated she added a few seasonings and gave it one final stir. Queso looked in the pot and vented, "That's it!?" Clearly unsatisfied he stormed off to the bus and was looking around for something. He came back and said, "Serve this with the rice and beans." I looked at the clear plastic container and asked, "What the hell is that Queso?" He started to open the container and replied, "It's dehydrated fish. I figured we could use the protein." As he opened the packaging the smell was terrible I immediately thought it must have expired. But Queso checked the expiration date and it wasn't set to go bad until a few months from now. He ate a piece and looked pretty satisfied with the taste. He offered me some and took the tiniest little morsel. I placed it on my tongue and was surprised by the sweet and salty flavor of the fish. The texture wasn't too tough and stringy. I nodded my head and remarked, "That's not bad." And with that we each got a portion of fish and a side of rice and beans. It was one of the best meals we had since being out here. While we ate around the campfire we all started swapping stories trying to make J-Nice feel more comfortable. Canella seemed like she had already accepted us because she ran up to Raye whining for a piece of fish and some belly rubs. J-Nice whispered, "Spoiled dog." We all chuckled while teasing the cute pooch. J-Nice was opening up a bit more telling us about her family and her life before the apocalypse. She was a sports column writer so that explained her love of baseball she even had a baseball podcast she did sometimes talking about the games and player highlights and stats. It was like having an encyclopedia of random baseball knowledge. She asked us what we all used to do before this. Nugs had been this really amazing tattoo artist and was always booked with clients. Raye worked with kids and she couldn't stand it mostly because the parents drove her crazy all the time. Queso was an IT guy turned mechanic who enjoyed being around cars and engines more than helping people realize their WiFi isn't turned on. As for me I was kind of a jack of all trades. I enjoyed doing whatever I felt like doing at the moment. J-Nice laughed and said, "The way you act I would’ve thought you were a zombie killer before this. You seem really prepared." Everyone starts teasing me and calling me, "Big head" and , "The brain" I ignored them and explained to J-Nice how I got to be so prepared. She listened attentively, hanging on every word I even showed her the notebook where I stored all my ideas and research I've found. She responded, "Wow, that's impressive. I don't think I'd be able to come up with something like that. How long did it take you to gather up all the information?" I sighed and stated, "It took me some years to gather all this stuff up." She stared at me blankly, slowly blinking her eyes. She exclaimed, "Years!" I slowly nodded my head saying, "Yep." J-Nice was honestly at a loss for words. But she looked at me and said, "Well I appreciate you helping me and Canella." She stood up and walked over to me. I stood to my feet and J-Nice pulled me into a hug. I patted her on the back, returning the hug. Then moving away slightly Canella pranced her way in between us looking for some more affection. I bent down and scrunched her face in my hands and scratched her head. After Canella had her feel of attention she went back over to Raye and laid down beside her. We all ate our fill and told our share of jokes as the fire began to slowly die down to a smolder. Nugs poured some water over the pit to extinguish the fire completely. Once it was out I got up and kicked some dirt over on the pit just to make sure it was out. I stretched my arms over my head and started making my way over to the bus. I hop up the stairs and walk to the back of the bus. I sat down on one of the seats. I kicked off my shoes and grabbed my blanket out of my bag. I threw it over myself and snuggled into the seat trying to get comfortable. As I laid there everyone started to clamor onto the bus scuffing their feet across the floor. Nugs saw me laying all cozied up and told everyone to keep it down. But I couldn’t fall right to sleep so I sat up for a bit. Nugs showed J-Nice a seat she could use as a bed for her and Canella. Queso grabbed a blanket and made a nest for himself in the driver’s seat. Raye went to use the bathroom and Nugs found her a spot and settled into it she pulled something out of her bag and started sewing something together. I looked over at J-Nice and she was out like a light and so was Canella. With everyone getting ready for bed I laid back down and nestled back into my comfortable spot. As my head rests on the seat. I stared up at the ceiling counting the rivets bolted into the top to help me fall asleep. Once I started my counting I felt my breathing become more relaxed and my muscles loosened up to the point I could feel my body contour to the shape of the seat. I continued to count and my eyes grew heavy and my words came out slow and slurred until they were just unintelligible mumbling. I closed my eyes and a still calm washed over me. I felt Raye brush past me as she came out of the bathroom but I didn’t stir. I just rolled to my side pulling the blanket over my shoulder. I sense myself shift position a few times during the course of the night. When I finally woke up I opened my eyes to see a tiny fuzzy face staring directly at me. I flinched, completely scared shitless. I rub my eyes and see it’s Canella resting her head on my seat. I glanced over and saw J-nice still fast asleep. Canella must have managed to wiggle away. I swing my legs over the seat and plant them on the ground. I stretch and force myself out of my seat. I looked around to see if anyone else was awake. I
saw Nugs chilling in her seat working on another one of her sewing projects. I waved and said, “Good Morning.” she looked up from her work and yelled, “Good Morning!” with a huge smile on her face. I walk over to the next seat and peer down at J-Nice and scream at the top of my lungs, “Time to get up!” She jerked herself awake gasping uncontrollably and she glared at me with the most sinister look I’ve ever seen. I shot her an innocent smile and said, “Canella told me to do it.” J-nice picked up one of her shoes about to throw it at us but Canella and I scampered off to see what Queso and Raye are up to. I observed the two of them standing by the driver’s seat. It looked like they were arguing. I got a little closer so I could listen to what they were saying. From what I could hear they were going back and forth about who was going to drive. I interrupt them asking, “Why don’t you guys play rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to drive? Cause you guys are acting like children.” Queso and Raye squared up and started eyeing each other; they lifted their arms and began to throw the signs down. Queso threw out scissors and Raye threw out paper, losing the first round. She rolled up her sleeves and started to take this little competition a bit more seriously. They kicked off the second round both threw down their signs Queso threw out scissors again and Raye threw out rock completely crushing Queso and winning the second round. He looked devastated but this gave him even more resolve to win. It was the final round and neither of them were determined to lose this final round. They squared up again, staring each other down with sweat pouring from their brows. They threw their hands out one final time Queso threw down paper; he looked extremely confident in his decision. Raye held out her arm and to our amazement she held out scissors Queso’s eyes grew wide and he crumpled to the ground screaming in defeat. Raye jumped up and down and started dancing, celebrating her victory while laughing at his pain. She held out her hand waiting for Queso to fork over the keys to the bus. He stuck his hand in his pocket rummaging for the keys; he gripped them and tossed them to Raye in disdain. She caught them and plopped her ass into the driver’s seat. After Queso was done being a sore loser he picked himself off the floor and went to show Raye how to operate the bus. While he did that I went to my seat and sat down and started to study my map and tried to figure out what our next destination should be. I crossed off the places we had been while thinking about what was left that still needed to be done. The idea is to get somewhere that's cold it would slow down the zombies significantly making them easier to deal with. But on our end it would make producing food more difficult though not impossible with the right tools. As I stared at the map I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked to my right and saw J-Nice standing next to me observing what I was doing. She asked, "So what have you got planned for us next?" I chuckled, saying, "Something that will probably make you hate me." She gazed at me and laughed, making me laugh in return. While we chatted Queso yelled at me, "Hey what's our next destination?" I got up from my seat and showed Queso and Raye the map and told them a little bit of what I was thinking. But as usual Queso had nothing but smart-ass remarks to make and Raye just looked skeptical as all hell. After a few minutes of back and forth between the three of us Raye said, "All right let's get the hell out of here already." Queso stayed by Raye’s side helping her get comfortable with the feel of the bus but also helping her navigate cause she didn't know how to read a map to save her life. They started up the bus and slowly pulled off. Queso peered back at me saying, "We didn't leave anything behind, did we boss?" I looked in his direction and sarcastically replied, "If we did it's too late to go back for it now." He turned back around to look out the window and give Raye directions. I leaned back and rested my head against the seat. I turned my head and saw J-nice looking out the window with her hand resting on Canella's head. Nugs was still sewing her little heart out. It doesn't look like she's moved from her seat since this morning. At least she had something to keep her occupied and to help her take the edge off. I moved my head back to the center of the seat I nestled into place and cracked my neck and lower my shoulders getting comfortable. Instead of looking out of the window I kept looking at Queso and Raye. Queso was a control freak and if you didn't do things a certain way it would give him anxiety and he wouldn't be able to let it go. So he isn't the greatest teacher in the world; he was really trying his hardest not to flip out on Raye. She wasn't any better. You kinda had to almost threaten Raye to get her to do things the right way. She could be really thick headed to the point you kinda wanted to fight her. It was just funny trying to see these two cooperate with each other and not bite the other's head off. For a while the two of them just bickered like children while Queso was trying to explain things to Raye but I guess she had enough of him she screeched, "Will you please go sit your annoying ass down?" Queso scoffed at her and turned around and sat in the seat behind me. He leaned on the side of my seat and whispered, "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get there." In a hushed voice I replied, "If she doesn't kill us all before then." Queso chuckled silently to himself and laid on the seats. While he was catching up on sleep I called up to Raye, "Do you where we're going?" She stared back at me with an annoyed look on her face and responded, "Yes I do, Queso drew the route on a map I have up here." That was quick thinking on his part and it made it a bit easier for Raye to see where we were going. I didn't want to keep heckling her so I decided to remain quiet. J-Nice had moved to a seat closer to me and was leaning over the armrest. She asked, "So what have you got cooked up in that big head of yours?" I looked at her slightly offended and sarcastically replied, "You'll just have to wait and see." She wasn't satisfied with my answer and tried prodding me to get more information but I just decided to keep feeding her indirect responses. I could tell from the look on her face she was getting tired of my little games and lost interest in continuing any further. She moved away from the armrest and sat up in her seat J-Nice went back to petting Canella. I turned my head to gaze out of the window. I just wasn't in the mood to talk or explain myself right now. I needed to shut my brain off for just a few minutes. I wanted to drift through space and not have to worry about everyone’s well being right now. So I kept staring out the window observing the flurry of trees that we drove past. The leaves were a blur of different tones of green that just seemed to blend together like mixing paint together to get the perfect shade. It was settling. I could feel the wrinkles in my brain start to iron out. I sat quietly and my breathing slowed down before I realized I had closed my eyes and could hear myself snoring. But I couldn’t force myself to wake up. I was completely out of it. For a while it was a smooth ride. I could faintly make out the voices of Nugs and J-Nice. I could hear Queso’s loud ass snoring coming from behind me. I guess we both needed some quality rest. After some time passed it was silent. I didn't hear any talking or laughter. I was slowly starting to rouse. When I began to feel the bus shake and rattle so hard that I almost fell out of my seat. I finally came to and glanced around. I ran up to the front of the bus and Raye looked like she was struggling to steer the bus. J-Nice and Nugs were fighting just to stay in their seats. Queso lifted up his head shouting, "What the fuck is happening?" None of us responded to him. He tried to walk to the front of the bus and faltered with every step he took trying not to fall on his ass. He came in between me and Raye, placing his hands on the steering wheel and he told her to ease off the gas. Raye sat back and let Queso take over. She lifted her foot off the gas pedal and shifted her foot over to the brake. The road was filled with cracks and potholes Queso was trying to pull the bus over while avoiding some of the larger holes in the road. He was able to pull us over into the grass off to the side. We ran over a few bushes and small trees but it didn’t seem like we took any major damage. Once the bus had come to a stop we all started to move about the bus. Everyone gathered at the front by the driver’s seat with the same burning curiosity. Nugs was just a little bit quicker on the trigger and she asked, "Raye what happened?" At first she didn't say anything, she just took a deep breath and placed her hand over her face. I
placed my hand on her shoulder and softly whispered, "Tell us what happened homie?" She stood up and leaned over the headrest and said, "I was speeding coming off a curve in the road. And I see this big ass pothole I swerve to avoid it. But once I got around the pothole the road was so uneven and destroyed that I had a hard time keeping the bus steady." After listening to her explanation we all kind of just stared at each other and before we figured out how to proceed. I wasn’t going to lie. I was feeling a bit annoyed. I asked Raye, “Do you know how far we were from our destination before we crashed?” She shook her head and said, “No I don’t really remember.” I paced back and forth cursing under my breath. I told her to open the doors and I took a step off the bus. Queso followed behind me as I stepped off the bus and started looking around for any signs or landmarks to help me figure out where the hell we were. Queso was staring at me while I wandered around until finally he spoke, “You not out here trippin 'are you?” I shot him a dirty look and barked, “I trying to figure out where the fuck we are!” Queso walked over to me trying to calm me down he whispered, “Don’t worry we’ll figure it out.” He patted me on the back and led me back to the bus but I wasn’t ready to get back on yet. I stayed outside for a few more minutes as Queso went back inside. I could hear everyone talking; it sounded like Queso was trying to rally everyone together to get back on track. I wasn’t satisfied though it was starting to get dark so before I lost the last of the light I wanted to look around one last time. I took out my flashlight from my back pocket. I ventured off but tried to stay as close to the bus as possible. I didn’t want to find myself coming across any unwelcome surprises. I scanned my light back and forth through the grass searching for anything I could use to help me pinpoint where we are in reference to the map. I wasn’t seeing any road signs or markers but I did stumble upon something interesting. I came across a statue for a war veterans memorial a few miles away. I had a renewed sense of hope. I ran back to the bus as fast as I could. I hopped back up the steps of the bus and saw everyone was standing together still talking. I was hunched over trying to catch my breath. In between gasps I demanded, “Bring me the map.” Nugs glanced at me wondering if I was doing alright and she said, “Are you feeling well?” I brushed off her question by giving a quick head Queso handed me the map and backed away. I studied it relentlessly trying to locate the veterans memorial on the map. When I finally found it I was ecstatic. I compared the distance from the memorial to where we had to go and they weren’t that far from each other. Queso interrupted my thoughts by exclaiming, “You gonna tell us what the hell is going on?” I gazed up at him and then slowly stood up. I held up the map and started to explain, “I decided to look around the area trying to find something to help me figure out where we were. While I was out there I managed to find a statue for a veterans memorial not too far from us. I figured if I could reference it to the map it’ll help me figure out how far we have to go.” Queso took the map from me looking it over and stated, “So we’re still about ten miles out.” He walked over to the driver’s seat and just fell into the seat. He looked over at Raye expecting her to complain but she didn't say anything; she just walked over to her seat and sat down. Queso started up the bus but it took the engine some time to kick in but once it got going he shifted into drive and pulled off. I was standing behind Queso telling him which route to take to get us back on track. He gave me a thumbs up and I went to the back of the bus to look through the pantry. I wanted something to snack on because I wasn’t feeling too hungry, just a little peckish. I looked through all the shelves and grabbed a pack of trail mix. I checked the expiration date on it and saw that it was still good. I took my snack back to my seat when Nugs called out to me, “Hey take a look at this!” I stopped in my tracks and looked at her as she held up a cute fluffy pillow. I let out a high pitched squeal, “Aww...that’s so cute!” She handed me a cute black knitted pillow. I squeezed it super hard. It was so soft like a marshmallow. I asked her, “Is this what you’ve been spending so much time on?” She smiled and said, “Yeah, I started making them because laying on the seats gets super uncomfortable.” I was super impressed at the quality I told her, “Thank you.” and bounced off to my seat like a happy little kid. I placed my pillow in my seat laid out and continued to eat my trail-mix staring up at the ceiling. I was trying to collect my thoughts when I felt someone grab my foot. I pulled my foot away and looked down and saw J-Nice waving at me. I sat up in my seat and she remarked, “I think I’ve figured out where we’re going.” she had a smug smile on her face. I responded, “Oh…...really? Then tell me where we are going?” She sat up and folded her arms and replied, “Are we going to a factory or warehouse of sorts?” I blinked rapidly, looking perplexed. She leaned in closer and whispered, “I’m right aren’t I?” I surveyed her face and she had a wide confident grin that stretched from ear to ear. I answered, “Yes.” in a dry subdued tone. She looked extremely happy with herself and I was feeling a little violated trying to understand how she figured it out. J-Nice noticed me eyeing her and stated, “Hey calm down I just took a guess. There’s nothing out this way except for large ass warehouses. Most of the people who lived in town worked out here.” That made me feel a little less critical of her when Raye chimed in, “Girl you just don’t know. You were about to get kicked off this bus.” J-Nice stared back and forth between me and Raye in a confused manner and she asked, “What do you mean?” Raye told her, “Our leader over here gets real suspicious when people know more than she does, especially when it comes to her plans.” J-Nice looked back at me and remarked, “No it’s not anything like that I was just fucking with you.” Raye didn’t say anything and went back to doing her own thing and I laid back down in my seat with my head resting on my new pillow. I finished off the rest of my trail mix and just chilled out for the rest of the ride. I saw Nugs getting up from time to time handing everyone one of the pillows she spent so much time working on. Queso took his pillow and used it to support his back while he was driving. J-Nice laid on her pillow while Canella rested on her. And Raye had her pillow resting under her knees because they hurt from time to time. Everyone was comfortable and it felt like one those moments from before the apocalypse kicked off. Just being able to hang out with my friends and enjoy their company gave me a sense of being at home surrounded by warmth. After spending enough time with my thoughts I got up and walked to the bathroom. I looked out the windows as I was walking through the aisles. It was pitched black outside. I couldn’t even see anything discernible from the landscape. It looked like we were driving through a void in space. My eyes traveled from the windows to the seats. I saw Raye knocked out in her seat with drool streaming down both sides of her face. Nugs laid stretched out in her seat covered in yarn and thread. I think this is the first time I’ve seen her sleep in a while since she’s been working on those pillows. I got to the bathroom and took care of my business. When I came out I walked up to the driver's seat to check up on Queso to see if he wanted to take a break. I stood over by his side and asked, “How are you holding up, need anything?” He looked over and blinked at me, mouth wide open saying, “No unless you can make coffee appear out of thin air.” I jokingly waved my hands in the air trying to make coffee appear. I shrugged my shoulders in failure. He laughed at me and my dorky display and nudged me with his elbow. I told him, “Well, I can’t give you coffee but is there anything else you want? Like a snack or something?” Queso tilted his head as if he had to think about it then stated, “Nah I’m good I just really want some fucking coffee.” I remember every morning watching him walk to Dunkin Donuts before he would head off to work. Queso was the type of person who couldn’t function without caffeine in his system. I was surprised that he had made it this far but I guess his withdrawals are starting to catch up with him. I just stood by watching how groggy and irritable he was. He kept rubbing his eyes and tapping his foot uncontrollably. It kinda made me feel worried to see him so out of sorts I urged him to go lay down and that I would drive the rest of the way.
Queso usually would try to fight me on this but as I studied his expression he had these huge dark bags under his eyes. He looked like an old man I couldn’t help but notice he had wrinkles and lines in places where they’ve never been before. My brother was exhausted and needed a moment to pause and collect himself. Queso had stopped the bus, got up from his seat and let me sit down. The only thing he said was, “You know what to do right?” I looked at the different buttons and levers. I glimpse back at him and remark, “I’ll figure it out.” He shot me a skeptical look but then waved me off and ran off to lay his ass down. I saw that the keys were still in the ignition. I had my foot on the brake. I turned the key and started the bus. I ease off the brake and carefully pulled off. I drove for a bit at a slow speed then when I felt more comfortable I sped up a bit. I studied the map Queso was using and inspected the notes he wrote on the side. He had marked off how far we still had left to go. We were five miles away so it wasn’t too outrageous I could do that. I drove for a while. The seat was uncomfortable, my back was killing me and my eyes were so dry from staring at the road. I don’t see how Queso can sit here for as long as he does. I see the sun come up over to my left at least I didn’t have to drive around in the dark anymore cause my vision was terrible. I kept looking out on the road and saw something poking up from the horizon. I squinted trying to get a better look at it but I couldn’t see anything notable that made it stand out. As I drove closer I saw a neon sign saying, “ULINE” I start fucking wailing and beating on the steering wheel. My sounds wake up everyone and I see Nugs jump up from her seat with her hatchet in hand yelling, “Die fuckers!” I let out a loud and gut busting laugh. I kept chuckling to the point I started crying and my stomach hurt. Raye got up and groaned, “What the hell is wrong with you?” I looked back and told her, “We’re here!” Queso stood up and said, “Where the fuck is here?” I detected a little bit of sarcasm in his voice and I replied, “At the ULINE warehouse.” While pointing at the sign through the windshield Queso walked closer to the driver’s seat to get a better look. J-nice scratched her head and got up from her seat and asked, “What are we getting here?” I sneered at her and declared, “We are here to get winter wear.” Everyone looked at me like I had lost my mind. Nugs who was still half asleep mumbled, “Why do we need winter coats?” So at this point I figured it was time to catch everyone up on my grand little scheme. I told everyone to gather around me and I calmly said, “I had us come here because I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I think the best way for us to thrive in this new world of ours is to move to an area with a colder climate.” J-Nice looked like she wanted to object. She asserted, “How would we survive against shufflers out in the cold? How would we grow food? What makes you feel so certain about this?” So lock eyes with J-Nice and calmly provide her with the evidence that supports my reasoning. I asked Queso to hand me my notebook from my bag. He handed it to me and I started flipping through the pages. I finally found the notes I was looking for and stated, “So assuming this infection follows normal rules it’s only reanimating the tissues and not all the body’s systems, specifically the circulatory system. The cold would be effective at slowing them down. Some theories would even go as far to suggest that zombies would freeze and that the solidification of bodily fluids would cause rapid tissue decay.” J-Nice didn’t have a comment or remark to make, she just stood silently internalizing my words. A few minutes had passed when she asked, “So what about growing food? How do we deal with that?” Nugs actually chimed in on that, “It’s funny that you mention that because I was looking at the seeds we picked up from that military cache and a lot of them can withstand cold weather as long as we till the land and make coverings to protect the vegetables from frost.” After listening to Nugs I look back at J-Nice put her hands on the back of her hand and shifted from side to side. She didn’t say anything for a few minutes and then let out a large sigh then threw her arms down and exclaimed, “Fine I’ll go along with it. Let’s go get these coats.” Everyone seemed like they were ready to go but I got back in the driver’s seat and drove us a little bit closer so we wouldn’t have to walk too much. I pulled up as close I could get and parked the bus. I got up and went to my seat and got suited up to depart. Everyone else was gearing up but Queso walked over to me and said, “Hey, I want to stay behind and do some maintenance on the bus. I’ve been a little worried ever since the bus didn’t start up right away after we got out of the grass.” I understood his concern but then I replied, “But the bus didn’t give me any trouble when I was behind the wheel.” Queso wasn’t fully convinced just because I didn’t experience any problems. He asserted, “I understand that nothing happened with you but I just want to make sure this isn’t a bigger issue so I’m staying behind.” I didn’t want to argue anymore and just told him, “Fine stay behind but have someone stay back with you.” Raye had overheard our conversation and volunteered to stay back and hang with Queso. He unwillingly accepted her offer to stay but honestly didn’t want to be bothered with her. I shot a quick look at Raye and Queso and in a joking tone said, “You two better play nice.” Queso shot me a dirty look like he was going to pop me in the mouth. Raye tried to hit me upside the head but she missed so before she could get a second hit I ran for the door and hopped off the bus. I stood outside surveying the surrounding area. Everything looked completely untouched like the zombie’s just overlooked this place. It was creepy. I didn't like how perfect everything seemed and how everything was still in its place. This uneasy feeling started to grow in the pit of my stomach. I was scared of what might be lingering inside. While I stood brooding in front of the bus J-Nice and Nugs stepped off and walked over to me. I saw Canella hop her cute furry self off the bus and stand next to J-Nice. She was happily wagging her tail and looked super excited. J-Nice kneeled down and rubbed her head and said, "I know you want to go with me but I need you to stay here and look after things for me." Canella started to whine and got into her whole sad dog routine. But J-Nice firmly replied, "I said no Canella." Her whining got louder and less tolerable until Raye came to pet Canella on the head and said, "Don't be sad girl, we're going to have plenty of fun." Canella started to perk up and J-Nice mouthed to Raye, "Thank you." She shot J-Nice a thumbs up and walked back on the bus with Canella. Once they were gone Nugs inquired, “Have you seen anything out of the ordinary?” I turned to face her and said, “No, nothing so far and that’s making me a little nervous.” Nugs and J-nice didn’t say anything and just looked around and observed how eerily quiet it was considering how many shufflers we encountered back at town. Nugs placed her hands on her hips and said, “Maybe this is a good sign.” J-Nice and I stared at her like she was on drugs. Nugs sometimes had a tendency to be a little too optimistic especially in moments like this. It would be foolish to go in with no expectation of things going wrong. But once we were done talking we mentally prepared ourselves and got ready to venture inside. We studied a few of the entrances trying to gauge the best approach. We walked along the side of the warehouse checking all the entrances while J-Nice and I were trying to pry our way through one of the entrances. Nugs had wandered off towards some shipping containers that were sitting outside. While J-Nice and I were still struggling with the door, Nugs called out to us, “Hey I’ve found a way in.” The both of us looked up from our toiling and stood up. She came running up to us and urged us to follow her. We ran behind her past a tower of shipping containers as we turned the corner of the building. There were even more containers stacked everywhere I started to get a little freaked out that something was hiding behind them laying in wait. But while I was indulging my paranoid thoughts Nugs stopped walking and I accidentally bumped into her. I said, “What did you stop for?” She playfully shoved me and said, “Look over there." She pointed to one of the loading areas we walked closer to the opening and saw that the door had not been lowered all the way. It was lowered just enough that we could each crawl through the only issue was we didn't know what was waiting for us on the other side. I v
olunteered to crawl through first and be the lookout while J-Nice and Nugs crawl through. I dug out my flashlight and lowered onto my stomach and cautiously started to crawl under the door. I shined my light around not seeing anything too out of sorts. Just various containers and machinery covered in grime and rust. Dust was heavy in the air carried by the smell of mildew. J-Nice whispered under the door, "What do you see?" I resumed crawling and relayed to her what I saw and exclaimed, "This shit isn't a pretty view." She replied back sarcastically, "Yeah I bet." Once I was on the other side of the door and called out to them to make their way over. While waiting for them I dusted off my pants and patted dirt off my shoulders. I scanned around looking for any sign of shufflers and also checking for exits in case we have to make a quick getaway. I saw Nugs come from under the door. I reach out and helped her stand to her feet. She turned her light on and started looking around for stuff to salvage. We just had to wait for J-Nice to crawl under and we could get our expedition under way. J-Nice finally made it over and Nugs offered to help her up. Once we were all together in the loading dock Nugs asked, "So where do we begin?" As I pondered J-Nice proposed, "Why don’t we look around this area first. Since they probably stored the products they put on the trucks close by." I couldn’t argue with her logic so we separated to go look through the boxes that were nearby. I tell them not to stray too far and make sure to stay alert. Nugs walked over to the left to search some wooden crates sitting in the corner. J-Nice went to the right to look through some boxes and I just stayed in the middle checking the carts spread out and about on the floor. As we scrounged around the only thing I was able to find was a few pairs of gloves and some beanies. I walk over to Nugs and ask if she's had any luck finding anything. She pulled her head out of a crate and remarked, "I found some light jackets not seeing any of the heavy duty stuff yet." I gritted my teeth and said, "Damn, well at least it's better than nothing. Let's keep looking." Nugs went back to diving into crates. I walked off to see if J-Nice had discovered anything. When I approached her I saw a pile of coats laying on the floor next to her. She was standing on her tiptoes trying to reach a box stacked up high. I cheerfully said, "Looks like you've hit the mother-load." She shot me a playfully glance and replied, "You know it." I gathered up the coats and started counting them to see how many J-Nice had collected. And to my surprise it was enough for all of us and then some. I called Nugs over and she was dragging some extra bags behind her. She explained, "I found these while looking through those crates. We can use them to carry more stuff." This was perfect timing. I put the coats in one the bags Nugs handed me and she put the jackets in another. While we were busy with that J-Nice finally grabbed that box she wanted but she lost her balance causing the box to fall and mechanical equipment erupts from it. Parts clank and clatter against the floor creating a symphony of noise. None of us move, we all just look at one another a few seconds go by and it's still quiet. Nugs and I swing the bags on our backs as we prepare to leave. Suddenly we heard a loud thumping coming from the main doors. It whatever was making the noise sounded big and like it would fuck us up. I tell J-Nice to get to the dock door and crawl the hell out of here. There was a loud slam coming from the door. It shook and scared the hell out of J-Nice and I. Nugs was already by the door pushing her bag under. She screamed at us, "Come on!!" We snap to our senses and make our way over. Nugs was half way on the other side when J-Nice started to make her way under the door. When Nugs was out she told me to push my bag under. I threw it off my back and dumped it on the floor and pushed it through. I heard Nugs and J-Nice yanking it with all their might. The door kept shaking and rattling so much it made me freeze up. Nugs yelled, "The bag is through!" I started to kneel down and crawl through when the door just completely busts off the hinges. They fell to the ground. I was terrified and I didn't want to see what was capable of doing that. I shimmied my ass through that gap as quickly as I could all the while I could hear whatever was behind me get closer and closer. Nugs and J-Nice grabbed my arms and pulled me the rest of the way through. I quickly caught myself and got to my feet. I grabbed my bag and said, "We got to get the fuck out here." Nugs didn't waste any time. She threw her back and started hauling ass back to the bus. I quickly followed suit and trailed right behind her with J-Nice sticking close to my side. As we ran I was clutching my radio and I buzzed in, "Queso start up the bus we need to get out of here ASAP!" But there was nothing but silence. I kept yelling and screaming into the radio desperately for a response. I was just about to give up until I heard static coming from the radio. Queso said, "Hey, I couldn't hear shit at first Canella was barking like crazy!" I interrupted his little spiel and yelled, "Just fucking listen to me! We need you to have the bus ready to go now! There's something on our asses!" As I yelled hysterically at Queso there was a harsh metallic screeching coming from behind us. It was like hearing nails on a chalkboard. I shuddered at the sound. I turned my head and looked back. I could see something trying to punch it's way through the dock door. Each blow getting louder and louder. I got back on the radio with Queso, "How long do you need to get the bus ready?" Queso in an uncertain tone responded, "I don't like seven minutes." We could see the bus was a bit of a ways away. I looked behind me and saw huge holes torn in the door. I could faintly see something looking back at me. I harshly told Queso, "You have four fucking minutes to get that shit up and running." I ended the transmission while I was tucking my radio away. I noticed that Nugs had slowed down and she was beginning to lose steam. J-Nice was running like she did this shit for a living I felt like I was watching Usain Bolt at the fucking Olympics. I tried to encourage Nugs to keep going and that she would eventually get that second wind. At this point I didn't bother to keep checking behind me as long as I was still alive and breathing I didn't have to face my own mortality. I rubbed the sweat from my eyes and saw the bus clear as day a few feet from my reach. We all saw Raye standing by the entrance with Canella who was barking frantically. We could hear Raye screaming, "Hurry the hell up!" She kept jumping around and waving her arms. J-Nice was the first to get to the bus; she threw her bag onboard and raced up the steps with Canella right behind her. Nugs and I got to the bus around the same time Raye helped us get our bags loaded up and we scrambled up the steps. Queso sat in the driver’s seat and was getting ready to pull off when we finally got a good look at what was tailing us from the warehouse. In the middle of the loading zone stood a massive blob of a creature. Its skin was thin and it had a sickly yellow hue to it. The skin had these gross purple bruise-like patches forming on it. They looked almost like large sacs. It was oozing some kind of secretion. It looked like it was in pain when it walked every time it moved it made the most horrifying wailing noise it sounded like a banshee. For a few minutes it had stopped moving like it was trying to catch its breath. Queso had started up the bus and suddenly the zombie started to move and shake erratically; it looked like it was gearing up to charge at us. I yelled at Queso, "Backup! Backup!" Queso immediately put the bus in reverse and looked behind him as he steered. The creature came at us as fast as it possibly could. It moved so fast despite its size I shouted at Queso to speed up and he was trying his best to steer out of the way of obstacles. The monstrosity showed no signs of stopping. I told Queso, "Get us the hell out of here." He responded, "What the fuck do you think I'm trying to do." Queso turned the wheel really hard to the left and I almost fell over because it caught me off guard. He looked forward through the windshield and yelled, "Hang on tight!" There was a huge fence in front of us and the only thing I could think was, "Holy shit!" Queso floor it and an we went flying we narrowly escape being hit by that large fucking blob and go hurtling into the fence. As we rammed our way through I could make out the sounds of Raye and Nugs screaming for dear life. We slid down a steep slope Queso was trying to keep us level so we wouldn't flip over. Dirt and small rocks flew everywhere Queso was trying to slow us down but it didn’t look like it was doing any good. At this moment I had closed my eyes and thought, "Well we gave it a good
try." Then unexpectedly I feel the bus stop moving. My eyes were still closed and I said, "I guess I must be dead." Queso barked, "Open your eyes stupid!" I slowly opened my eyes expecting to see Heaven's white pearly gates. But instead I see Queso’s ugly mug in my face. In a snarky tone of voice I replied, "This must be Hell." He got mad and shoved me out of the way as he walked to the door. I looked around to see how bad the damage was but nothing looked too out of place. I yelled, "Is everyone else alive?" I heard some weak muttering coming from the back of the bus. I saw Nugs and Raye slowly poke their heads up from behind the seats. I heard Canella barking and went to take a look to see what had her all riled up. I walked through the aisle and saw J-nice laid out on the floor. I pushed Canella out of my way and loudly spoke, "Hey J-Nice can you hear me?" I kept repeating myself and gently shaking her. After a few minutes I stopped because she wasn't responding. I was about to get up when I heard her mumbling to herself. Her eyes were moving rapidly and she started turning her head back and forth. Until she shot straight up her breathing was short and shallow. I had her take deep breaths while I was trying to calm her down. I noticed some blood coming from the side of her head. I had Nugs bring me the first aid kit so we could get her patched up. I wiped the blood from her head. It looked like it was coming from a shallow cut. I took out the alcohol and cleaned it thoroughly and bandaged it. Once I got her all cleaned up I asked, "How are you feeling?" She looked at me as if she were in a daze and said, "My head feels a little foggy." She must have banged her head pretty hard. But I couldn’t tell if she had a concussion or not. I asked Nugs to watch over her for a few hours and that we'd take shifts watching her through the night. Nugs helped J-Nice to get more comfortable and I left to go see what Queso was up to. I stepped off the bus and saw him messing around with the engine. I walked over to him and asked, " How are we looking?" Queso lifted his head and wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "We're in better shape than I thought." A look of relief appeared on my face. I was happy to hear the bus hadn't been completely destroyed. Queso still looked a little shaken up but before I could even address him he turned to me and said flatly, "You don’t have to worry about me, I'm fine." I knew he was trying to put on a brave front for my sake but to be honest I was still freaked out by what happened back there. Queso exclaimed, "Just what the fuck was that thing?" His voice trembled and cracked as he spoke. I could hear the fear clearly throughout our conversation. He looked at me frantically like I had all the answers. But I just flat out told him, "In truth I'm not a hundred percent sure about where that thing came from. I can only assume it's either some sort of mutation or new evolution in the virus."Queso shook his and yelled, "How the fuck do kill that thing?" I stared at him grimly and just said, "If we ever come face to face with that thing again. Forget trying to kill it we run the fuck away and take that L." Queso had no qualms about running from a fight he knew he couldn't win. I just didn't like the idea of wasting resources. It's better to just cut our losses and live to fight another day. But I wanted to change the topic of the conversation. I leaned against the bus to rest for the moment. I asked him, "So when will we be ready to get back on the road?" He looked at the bus and rubbed his head and replied, "Give a couple hours to do a thorough inspection." That was fine, we needed to keep an eye on J-Nice anyway since we don't know if she has a concussion. I waved at him and got my tired ass back on the bus. As I walked up the stairs I saw J-nice resting on the seat and Nugs was talking to her trying to keep her awake. I told Nugs I'd take over for a little bit and let her rest for a while. I sat down next to her trying to gauge how she was feeling. She said she felt a little better and that things weren't as hazy. I asked if she was feeling hungry and if she wanted something to keep her strength up. She turned down my offer because she didn't have an appetite. I leaned back and rested in the seat and just started rambling just saying random shit trying to get J-Nice to engage with me and keep her talking. We told stupid jokes and laughed for a while. She told me about my childhood and the pets she had as a kid I opened up a little bit about myself but not in as much detail as she did. Before I realized it a good amount of time had passed between us. I looked around and it had started to get dark outside. Raye walked over to me and said, "Time to switch." I stood up and told J-Nice, "I'll see you later." She gave me a smile and a thumbs up. I went through the aisle and expected to see Nugs sewing away in her hobby corner but she wasn't in her usual seat. I walked off the bus to see if she was outside and I saw her and Queso working on the bus together. I ventured over to them and said, "What are you two working on?" Nugs poked her head up and waved at me saying, "Hey! Is J-Nice feeling any better?" I folded my arms and responded, "She said her head doesn't as much anymore. But we just have to wait and see." Nugs gave me a concerned look when suddenly Queso yelled, "We're all set!" As he slammed the hood of the bus down with all his might. He was ready to get back into the driver’s seat and get the hell out of here. All three of us ran up the steps onto the bus Nugs and I got settled into our seats. And Queso, situated in the driver's seat, strapped himself and got the bus started. We pulled off into the woods and hoped they would lead back to the road. Queso drove cautiously to avoid hitting any trees or running over bushes; he didn't want them getting caught on the tires. We drove along this path for a while before we came to an opening where the trees parted. Queso continued through the clearing and as he pressed forward we saw that the path led out onto the road. He steered us onto the road and stopped the bus. He looked in the rearview mirror and asked, "So where to now?" I stared back at him and furrowed my brow. I didn't really have any other stops planned. We got most of the main stuff taken care of for the most part. The only thing left to do was head to our final destination and set up shop there permanently. So I left the choice up to Queso. I told him, “I don’t have any other places in mind unless there’s somewhere you want to go.” Once I had given him free rein to set our course he started the bus and sped down the road. I didn’t bother to ask where he was heading I just figured it was probably somewhere important otherwise I don’t think he would bother. Queso was good at many things but he didn’t like to put too much effort into doing things sometimes. I sat back in my seat and enjoyed the ride. I just took the time to stare out the window and look at the scenery. My mind drifted in and out for a while looking at the trees going past in the distance was tranquil for me. But after a while I noticed we had stopped moving. Queso came over to me and said, “Hey we’re here. I need you to help me for a second.” Without a second thought I followed him off the bus but saw that everyone else was asleep. As we stepped off the bus I looked around and I couldn’t tell where we were. I stared at the building and studied the sign. I glared at Queso and yelled, “I know damn well you didn’t bring me to a fucking liquor store!” Queso looked around trying to avoid my gaze. He replied back in a snarky tone of voice, “You said I could go wherever I wanted.” I didn’t fucking he would bring us to a damn liquor store. I put my frustration behind me and asked, “Why did you bring us here?” Queso was trying to break into the front door with a crowbar and he said, “I figured we could use some more alcohol to make some more Molotov cocktails. Plus since you want us farting around in the cold we’re gonna need plenty of liquor to drink.” He wasn’t being entirely unreasonable but his second point I feel that was just an excuse for him to drink. Queso got the door open and it immediately triggered the alarm. I rushed inside and he followed right behind me. We grabbed what we could off the shelves and once we both had more than we could carry headed back to the bus. I ran up the steps and sat the bottles on the floor. Queso ran up after me and sat his haul down too. We both headed back inside the store to grab another batch of bottles we loaded ourselves up with whatever we could get our hands on. We sprinted back to the bus placing more bottles on the floor. He looked at me and asked, “Think we can make one last trip?” I didn’t want to press our luck. We had gotten a large amount of alcohol, not to mention the alarm was still going. Shufflers are probably on their way as we
speak. The last thing we need to do is be overrun. He agreed with me and was content with what we had managed to get. I helped him store the bottles away in the pantry and whatever wouldn’t fit on the shelves we found room for them in the chest where we stored the can goods. Queso and I walked back to the front of the bus and he fell into the driver’s seat and remarked, “So you ready to head-out one last time?” I nodded at him with full confidence. He started up the bus as usual and pulled off. Queso turned his head and handed me his map. He said, “Mark the location for me.” I scribbled down where we would be creating our new little settlement. He studied the map and chuckled, “Out in the old mountains huh? Should be a decent trip.” He told me to hop into my seat and get some rest because it would be awhile before we got there. I wasn’t about to argue with him about that. I needed all the energy I could muster. We were gonna have to hit the ground running as soon as we arrived. I told Queso to wake me up if he needed to take a break from driving. I didn't need him falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into a ditch somewhere. He nodded and gave me a thumbs up. I plopped into my seat and rubbed my shoulders. My neck was feeling tight too bad zombies can’t give massages cause that would be fucking fantastic. But no sense in complaining about it. I did a couple of stretches to try to loosen things up for the time being. But once we get back to the thick of things again I’m sure my aches and pains will be back. I feel like ever since we’ve been out on the road I’ve added about ten years to my life. I feel older and less spritely. But I feel like if there are any over survivors they probably might feel the same way. This is definitely a battle for survival. Who will win will it be us or the zombies I wonder? I took out my notebook from my bag and started jotting down some ideas. I had some thoughts about how to get everything up and going for when we arrive and get settled. I doodled some ideas for housing and safety measures. Everyone was still sleeping but for whatever reason sleep wouldn’t come. I was just too full of ideas. But I knew I would have to force myself to rest at some point but I just needed to make sure I was prepared for whatever would come our way. I just wanted to have a plan for everything but I know that certain things will happen that I can never be fully prepared for. After I had exhausted all my mental capacity I felt some fatigue start to set in. I felt sluggish and couldn’t stop yawning to save my life. I guess this was my sign to take my ass to bed. I put my notebook away and nestled into my seat trying to get comfortable. I rested my head on my pillow and drifted off to sleep. I could hear everyone else talking. I heard Queso tell Raye to take over the driving for a while cause he needed a break. He snarky replied, “Please don’t kill us all if you can help it.” From what I could tell Raye didn’t respond to his sarcastic statement and just sat in the driver’s seat and got us back on the road. I felt Queso brush past my seat to the back of the bus. I don’t know how long I was out but I had moments where I would open my eyes occasionally but fall right back to sleep. At some point I managed to drag myself from my almost drunk like state and make my way to the bathroom. I walked through the aisle and saw J-Nice playing with Canella. I guess her head was feeling a little better. It was good to see her moving around a little bit. She still looked a little green around the gills. Nugs was in her favorite spot stitching up something new. She didn’t even notice me as I waved at her. Nugs had this childlike sense of wonder about her whenever she was sewing. It was almost like nothing else existed at that moment. I looked to the other side and saw Queso sprawled out in his seat. His feet were laying on top of the arm rest the smell coming from his toes was absolutely horrific. I turned my head and covered my nose as quickly as possible. I whispered, “Goddamn his feet stink!” I ran to the bathroom trying to flee the stench. I locked the door behind me and let go of my nose taking a deep breath. Once I was done I stepped out of the bathroom and went to see how Raye was holding up. I don't know how long it had been since she and Queso switched out. But I didn’t want her getting sleepy behind the wheel. I approached the driver’s seat and asked, “Hey, how long have you been at the wheel?” Raye turned her head to look at me and said, “I’ve only been up here for about three hours give or take.” She started yawning and rubbing her eyes. I inquired, “Do you want to switch out?” She didn’t reply right away. I noticed her looking up in the air, taking her time to think of a response. She finally spoke and said, “Sure if you don’t mind taking over.” I shook my head and said, “It’s not a problem at all.” Raye stopped the bus and pulled us over. Raye jumped up from the seat and stood to the side of me. She stretched her arms over her head twisting back and forth trying to crack her back. Raye patted me on the shoulder and went to sit next to J-nice and play with Canella. Raye loved dogs even more than people. Sometimes I think having Canella along for the ride provides her with a little bit of comfort. I took my place at the helm and started up the bus again. I pulled off and got back on the road. While I was driving I noticed some subtle changes in landscape. There weren’t as many trees as before, everything just looked kinda gray and dull like everything was devoid of life. It was a dreary sight to see. I also saw a few shufflers wandering about but they weren’t in large groups like I thought they would be. It was becoming clear to me that while certain things were true about these creatures there was still a lot I needed to learn about them but that would take an extensive amount of time. Honestly there have been moments where I thought about the possibility of finding a cure. But I wouldn’t even know where to start with something like that none of us came from a medical background. Not to mention we would need extensive medical equipment and facilities. If I decided to go this route then this would completely alter the plan. It would change from survival on a small scale to a full on race to save humanity. But I didn’t want that kind of pressure looming over me right now. I still had other things on my plate that I needed to get situated first. But maybe it could be a nice side project to focus on when I get some time. I’ll keep the thought in the back of my mind. I kept staring blankly ahead for a while. I reached over to the side and grabbed Queso’s map. I just wanted to make sure I was going the right way. I glanced over the map briefly while trying to watch over the road. I checked the route and put Queso’s map away. I wasn’t behind the wheel for very long but it felt like forever I don’t understand how Queso can find just sitting here enjoyable. My legs were starting to fall asleep and even though I had the pillow to support my back it was starting to hurt. I twisted and turned in the seat trying to find some relief but I couldn’t get comfortable. But I just endured it for the time being. I didn't want to pull over and take a break, I wanted to keep us on schedule. I continued to stare out at the open road. It was like I was in a daze. I felt myself become hypnotized by the road. I shook my head trying to come back to my senses. I could hear footsteps approaching from behind me. I quickly turned my head and saw Queso shuffling his way over to me. He was rubbing his eyes like he had just woken up from a good sleep. He yawned and said, “How’s everything going? Anything happen?” I turned my head back toward the windshield and replied in a bored tone, “Nope, let’s hope it stays that way.” We both nodded in agreement and laughed a little bit. I started to complain, “I don’t understand how you can find sitting here enjoyable? My fucking back hurts.” Queso flicked me on the back of my head and responded, “Because cars and driving is my thing just like being a brain is yours.” I took my right hand off the wheel and punched him in the thigh. He winced and grabbed his leg and sarcastically said, “That’s what’s wrong with smart people they can’t take a joke.” I stuck my tongue out at him while scrunching up my face. He shot me the same face back but he stood back up and told me to let him know when I was ready to swap out. He looked like he was itching to be back behind the wheel again. I waved him off and he went back to get some more sleep. I drove for a few more miles but my ass started to feel numb so I ended up giving control back over to Queso. He eagerly took his place in the driver’s seat and got us back on the road. I slowly walked back to my seat rubbing my lower back and stretching out m
y legs with each step I took. I lowered down into my seat cautiously. I squirmed in my seat because sitting was kind of uncomfortable for me. I hopped back up and tried to walk off the intense pain I was feeling in my lower back. I went over to Raye and J-Nice and started to pet Canella on the head. When I moved my hand away she licked my fingers excitedly. Raye looked in my direction and said, “You got tired of driving?” I hunched over clutching my back and yelled, “My back hurts like hell! That seat is so uncomfortable.” Raye got up and remarked, “I think we got some Icy-hot patches in the first aid kit.” She walked to the back of the bus and rummaged through the cabinets. She pulled out a huge box and walked back to the front. She sat the first aid kit down in the seat she just got up from. She unlatched the top and flipped it back and grabbed one of the patches. Raye eyed me and said, “Lift up your shirt so I can slap the patch on.” I turned around and lifted up my shirt. I heard her rip the package and pull out the patch. She peeled off the adhesive paper she poked me in the back asking what part of my back I wanted her to stick it to. I took my hand and pointed to where I wanted her to put the patch and without warning she slapped it on my back and I yelped really loud because it was so cold on my skin. She smoothed out the patch to make sure it lays flat on my back. When she was done I lowered my shirt and walked back to my seat and sat down resting my back. Canella came over to me and jumped into the seat next to me. She wanted me to rub her head again. I happily gave her head scratches until J-Nice came over and ordered Canella out the seat. J-Nice sat a bowl on the floor and Canella immediately started to lap it up. J-Nice took Canella’s spot and said, “It was time for her to eat.” I didn’t say anything but I gave her a look to show I acknowledged what she said. J-Nice also mentioned it was a blessing we found her because now she didn’t have to worry about where her and Canella’s next meal would come from. Before we stumbled on them she explained that they would eat whatever they could manage to find but there were times when J-Nice wouldn’t eat because she wanted to make sure Canella had enough food. I was sad to hear that they had to struggle so much back then. I looked down at Canella who was happily eating her fill and I glanced back over to J-Nice and I responded, “As long as we have enough you both will always have something to eat.” She looked at me and we fist bumped one another she whispered, “Thank you” under her breath. I told her it wasn’t a big deal but nevertheless she appreciated the generosity. J-Nice saw that Canella had emptied her bowl and was laying on the floor looking satisfied. J-Nice got up and grabbed her bowl taking to the back Canella looked too full to follow after her. Raye glanced in my direction and asked, “Hey, you hungry?” I had to think about it for a minute but it had been a while since I last ate something and I was feeling a little peckish. I looked back in her direction and cried, “Yeah I could eat!” She got up and went to the back. She stopped by Nugs’ seat and asked her the same question. Nugs shot up from her seat and stretched her arms behind her. She was covered in thread and various fabric clippings. I couldn’t believe she had been sewing all this time. She dusted herself off and followed Raye to the back. I guess they were gonna get some food going. I looked forward and saw that Canella had fallen asleep. I quietly stood up and tiptoed around her to go and harass Queso. He heard me approaching and said, “Don’t come up here trying to fuck with me.” I was about to stomp my foot when I remembered Canella was sleeping nearby. I spoke in a low tone of voice, “I just came to tell you Raye and Nugs were making something to eat.” Queso shot me a dirty look and said, “You know damn well Raye can’t cook. You mean she’s trying to poison us.” Raye heard Queso’s slanderous comment and yelled, “Shut the hell up!” Queso gave her the middle finger as soon as she turned around. I looked at the map he had folded up next to him. I asked, “How much farther until we get there?” Queso looked at me and said, “You got us going quite the distance. It’ll probably take a day and a half to get there.” I don’t know why I was so on edge I wanted to get there as soon as possible and get the ball rolling. And I knew I had given Queso a difficult task. I just had to accept that this would take as long as it needed to take. I was silent for a while as I processed the situation. Queso gently spoke, “Hey, you okay?” I looked at him and gave a faint smile. I placed my hand on his shoulder and said, “I’m good. I’ll let you know when the food is done.” He gave me a nod and I went to the back to see what Raye and Nugs had concocted. I get to the back and see the fire from the camping stove blazing brightly. As I approached I yelled, “What are y’all burning back here?!” Nugs turned around to look at me and she appeared very displeased. I asked her, “What’s with that look?” Nugs pointed over at the skillet. I looked past her and saw two black charred nuggets sizzling in the pan. I could feel my face start to contort in disgust and bite, “What the hell are those?” Nugs leant over and whispered in my ear, “They were supposed to be salmon croquettes.” I stared at Nugs and then looked back into the skillet completely confused. I asked Nugs, “What did you do?” Nugs shook her head vehemently and exclaimed, “I didn’t do shit!” She slowly turned her head glaring at Raye who continued to stare blankly at the skillet. Nugs had finally had enough and yanked the skillet out of her hand. Raye looked at Nugs and was taken off guard. Raye said, “Why did you take the pan away?” I interjected, “Cause that shit was burnt! You couldn’t smell that shit!?” Raye snorted and replied, “I haven’t been able to smell anything lately. My nose has been stuffed up.” Nugs pushed her away from the rest of the food and told her to go have a seat. Raye brushed past me trying to get to the pantry. She opened it and grabbed the first aid kit. She took it back to her seat and started going through it. She took out a packet of cold medicine. Raye ripped the packet open and put the pills in her palm and swallowed them. She closed the first aid kit and laid it on the floor. Raye stretched out in the seats and rested her head on the pillow Nugs’ had made her. She threw a blanket over herself and nuzzled into the seat to get comfortable. I looked at Nugs who was throwing out the food they had cooked up to that point. I yelled up to Queso and asked him to open one of the windows back here so we could toss it out. We dumped the food out and Queso closed the window. Nugs got a new pan on the fire and looked at me and said, “I’m sorry that we wasted food. I didn’t even know that she was sick.” I could hear her frustration start to swell up in her voice like she was going to cry. I wasn’t upset or anything but Raye should have let us know that she wasn’t feeling well. Then we wouldn’t have wasted that first batch of food. But there are moments when Raye acts like she doesn’t give a damn about people sometimes and it gets frustrating. Nugs opened a new can of salmon and drained some of the juices out of the can. She prepared a new batch of patties and placed some in the skillet to fry up. After a few minutes she flipped each patty onto the opposite side to let it cook. The top side was crispy and had a beautiful golden brown crust around the edges. I looked over and saw Nugs drooling over her own cooking. I faintly said, “I think you should wipe your mouth, bro.” Nugs took her shirt sleeve and used it to wipe the drool from her face. She whispered, “I’m ready to eat.” She flipped the patties one more time making sure they cooked all the way through. Once she was finished shook them out onto a plate and cooked a second batch. When she was done I helped her clean off everything and fix everyone's plate. I walked through the aisle carrying warm plates of food. I made my way over to Raye and gently nudged her until she got up. Her hair stood up on her head and some strands were stuck to her mouth. She looked like she was in a hurricane. I gingerly sat the plate down in the seat next to her. Raye leaned over and studied the plate sniffing at the plate. In a raspy voice she responded, “Thank you.” I told her it was no problem and I kept walking. I handed J-Nice a plate and she reached out and grabbed it with both hands. She brought the plate closer to her face and took a whiff of the food. She excitedly sat down and drew her fork ready to enjoy her meal. I got to the front of the bus and said, “Yo the food is ready.” Queso looked back at me and shouted, “Finally!” I handed him the plate
and he snatched it from my hands. I stared at him as he shoveled the food into his mouth, “Do you want to pull over and eat?” Queso glanced up at me mid-bite and attempted to speak. I stopped him and told him to chew his food first before he spoke. He hurriedly chewed what was in his mouth then said, “I’m good I can eat while driving.” I glared at him with a disapproving look across my face. I remarked, “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?” in a skeptical tone. Queso had stopped listening to me and was fanning me away with his hand. He was busy concentrating on the road and trying not to spill his food. I turned back around to go help Nugs finish cleaning up. When I get to the back I see she had finished up without me. She handed me a plate and we sat together on the floor just eating and talking for a while. The salmon patties were so good they were crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. Not to mention they were seasoned perfectly with a good amount of heat to them. Nugs asked, “Does the food taste alright?” I was about to say something until I realized I had food in my mouth. I swallowed what was in my mouth and blurted out, “This is delicious!” She looked happy about my response and a huge smile stretched across her face. But I was curious about what she had been working on lately so I asked, “Hey Nugs, what have you been sewing lately?” she stared at me in a confused manner and then almost as if she had been struck by lightning her face lit up. Nugs exclaimed, “I haven’t been working on anything specific, just patching up holes in my shirt and stuff.” I looked at my clothes and noticed how beat up they were. Nugs saw me fiddling with my shirt and said, “If you have anything that needs fixing up just give it to me and I’ll sew it up for you.” I appreciated the offer and would have to take her up on that at some point. My shirt was beginning to fall apart at the seams. We finished eating our meal, not quite ready to go to sleep yet. We talked for a while longer. I wanted to know how she got into sewing. “Hey Nugs who taught you how to sew and stitch up stuff?” she had a nostalgic look on her face that kinda changed the mood in the air. She looked at me and I could see her eyes start to water up. Her voice cracked as she spoke to me “My mom taught me how to sew before she passed away. She also gave me some of her recipes too.” She used the sleeve of her hoodie to rub the tears from her eyes. She took a deep breath and fanned her eyes trying to dry her tears. I asked, “Are you going to be okay bro?” She took a few more deep breaths and said, “I’m okay dude I just haven’t thought about my mom in a while.” I apologized for making her bring up painful memories. But when we got tired of sitting on the floor we both stood up with our plates and stretched for a minute. We cleaned our plates and walked to our seats and said goodnight. She took out her thread and needle and started sewing some pieces of fabric together. I jotted down some ideas in my notebook before I went to sleep. I don’t remember sleeping for very long before I awoke and started gazing around. I saw that J-nice and Canella were still asleep and Raye was snoring her ass off. I was surprised to see Nugs sleeping. She was up sewing last night but she probably got tired and decided to get some rest. I looked to the front of the bus and saw Queso stretch his arms above his head before letting out a loud yawn. I walked up to the driver’s seat and asked, “Are you doing all right?” He looked over his shoulder at me and said, “Never been better.” I could hear the sarcasm in his voice become more and more prevalent as we kept talking. As we talked I noticed how foggy it was outside. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife as I spoke, Queso replied, “It’s a sign that we’re getting closer to the mountains.” I teased him a little bit “Okay Mr. Encyclopedia!” Queso gave me the blankest stare and then tried to punch me in the arm. I dodged his punch and then flicked him in the ear. He took both hands off the wheel trying to hit me and I yelled, “Put your hands back on the damn wheel.” Queso gripped the wheel and mumbled, “Scary ass.” under his breath. I heard him and flicked him again in the head. He shouted at me, “Stop playing so much!” I laughed at him for getting so irritated but he told me to take a look at his map. He had been marking off how far we had to go. I studied the map for a few minutes. After I finished glancing over it I folded it back up and laid it down. So I asked, “How far away are we?” Queso took a minute before he said anything. I guess he had to do the math in his head. After a few moments of silence he remarked, “We still have eight more miles to go. So we should be there in a few hours.” A large part of me was excited but also anxious. Finally our little journey was about to come to an end. But there would still be some challenges we would have to face. Also I’m ready to get the fuck the off this bus I feel like I’m going crazy. Queso told me, “You might as well go chill, we will be there before you know it.” We talked for a while before I went back to my seat and he said, “See you later.” As he let out another loud yawn as he set his eyes back on the road. I sat back down in my seat and took out my notebook and started going over some of my plans for when we arrive. I flipped the pages back and forth scanning through the information. After a while my head started to hurt and I had to put the notebook down and rest my eyes. I looked around to see if anyone else was awake and I saw Nugs was up and she was back to sewing her little heart out. But I didn’t want to bother her; she seemed to be enjoying herself. I turned back around in my seat and looked out the window for a while. It was silent on the bus for a while. Until I looked over and saw Canella scratch at the floor as she stretched. She started to whine really loudly as she tried to wake J-Nice up. I guess she was hungry. She jumped up in the seat and licked J-Nice’s face trying to wake her up. J-Nice flopped around twisting and turning trying to avoid Canella’s tongue. J-Nice finally sat up and looked at Canella and said, “Okay, I’m up girl damn.” Canella’s tail was up and wagging happily now that J-Nice was up. She sat at the edge of her seat rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She petted Canella on the head and said, “You ready to eat girl.” Canella jumped around eagerly and let out a hearty bark. J-Nice dragged herself from her seat and stood up to stretch. J-Nice saw me staring and waved at me. I returned the gesture although a bit awkwardly. I placed my hand down onto the seat the sound drew Canella over and she greeted me with a large abundance of affection. J-Nice asked, “You mind playing with her while I get her food ready?” I fanned her away with my hand and played with the energetic pooch. Canella could do a few of the basic tricks that you would expect from a dog. She knew how to sit, lay down, rollover, and shake hands. But I think her greatest trick is the disappearing act she does. J-Nice came back with her food bowl and placed it on the floor. Canella stared at the bowl intently waiting to eat her fill J-Nice said, “Come on and eat.” Canella flew from my side over to J-Nice and without any hesitation she shoved her head into the bowl. Her famous disappearing act in the flesh her whole head is just smashed into the bowl she doesn’t even come up for air she just chows down. But while Canella enjoys her meal J-Nice wanders over to my side and we talk for a little bit. She asked, “So are we getting close to our destination?” I take a brief look out the window before I answer, “According to Queso it should only be a few more hours.” J-Nice looked excited about the news. She whispered, “Finally I can let Canella run around and stretch her legs.” I think we were all a bit tired of being cooped up on this bus and could use a bit of fresh air. J-Nice leaned over and said, “Do you think when things settle down that there will be baseball games again?” I looked at her confoundedly, unable to give her a real answer. Until Queso spoke out, “I don’t think games will be as fancy as what we’re used to but I could see them making a comeback.” He must have been listening in on the conversation and felt the need to chime in. So I add, “I think it would be fun to create our own baseball team.” J-Nice’s eyes lit up and you could see how much the idea enticed her. She then remarked, “If we make our own team I want to be team captain.” I had no objections to the idea. I didn't know the first thing about baseball. But I figured this could be a fun way for us to take our minds off our problems and build up our spirits. Plus I think we all were starting to get a little pudgy from Nugs’ cooking and could use
some exercise. As the conversation continued J-Nice asked, “So what’s going to be the plan once we get to our location?” I pulled out my notebook and flipped through the pages. I stopped on a page that had a diagram on it. I handed the notebook to J-Nice to show her what I had written. I could tell she didn’t understand my notes so I elaborated a little bit. I told her we are on our way to a small township near the mountains. I found out about this place from examining and cross referencing a lot of different maps and travel guides. The population of this place is fifty people so it’s not a lot. And if the entire town has been turned into shufflers it would take some time but we clear it out no problem. J-Nice was with me so far but I could tell the idea of clearing out that many shufflers made her a bit nervous. But nevertheless I kept explaining so after we’ve cleared the town I want to gather up the bodies of the shufflers and use them as part of our defenses. J-Nice looked stunned and asked, “What do you mean?” I pointed to her jacket and said, “Remember how we smeared that gunk on us from the shuffler we killed so we could pass through that large crowd of shufflers unnoticed?” J-Nice nodded, “Yeah.” I told her, “I want to do the same thing on a larger scale. I want to use the shufflers to help us hide in plain sight.”J-Nice’s eyes grew wide as she finally understood what I was proposing.