A Small World

by R. S. Merritt

  Chapter 22: Lessons Learned

  Randy and Kelly walked up the stairs leading from the gym to the administrative section of the school. At the top of the stairs a man in a dark blue uniform stood with an assault rifle dangling by a strap from his shoulder. He had a sidearm in a holster attached to a black webbed belt wrapped around his waist. He was wearing a blue baseball cap with the name of the base written across the front of it in gold lettering.

  “You the guy who just got back from the mainland?” He asked Randy.

  “Yes sir. That’s me.” Randy answered as politely as possible. He had no desire to get himself or Kelly shot at again by any of these yahoos.

  “Ok. The commander wants to see you. Why’d you bring her? The commander didn’t ask for her. You trying to bribe him?” The man asked as his eyes looked up and down Kelly. He started grinning. “I wouldn’t mind being bribed.”

  “No. My wife was just coming along in case there were any questions. We weren’t really sure what this was all about.” Randy answered. He was realizing that having Kelly walk up here with him may have been a big mistake. He wasn’t sure what they’d been thinking. This wasn’t the old, civilized world. This was an island in the middle of the apocalypse where the ruling class was the military. Or, at least they were the ones who currently held all the power. They were also the ones who were disproportionately without their own women.

  Since the mainland had gone to hell a few vessels with other military units had made their way to the island. As long as they’d been willing to be absorbed into the commander’s personal militia here on the island, they’d been made welcome. These were young men for the most part and if they had wives or girlfriends they’d been left behind. Given that the military were being treated like prima donnas on the island and the civilians were being treated like dirt this didn’t bode well for the civilians who had their women with them on the island. It was another great reason to be looking at getting the hell off the island as soon as possible.

  “You head up the stairs and turn right. I’ll make sure your wife gets back to the gym nice and safe.” The guard said lecherously as Kelly and Randy gave each other startled looks.

  “That’s ok. I can make it by myself no problem.” Kelly said. She gave Randy a quick kiss and turned around to head for the stairs leading back to the gym.

  “Which office is the commander in?” Randy asked when it looked like the guard might follow Kelly down the stairs. In the lawless environment on the island where the guards seemed able to get away with anything Randy didn’t want this creep following Kelly as she made her way back to the gym.

  The guard turned to answer with an annoyed look in his eyes and Randy saw Kelly break into a brisk jog. The guard must’ve realized why Randy had asked him the question right then. He also realized that his window of time to try and chat up the wife of this civilian loser had passed him by. Plenty of his fellow guards had already been successful at pulling some of the married women over to them. Most of them with promises of a much easier and better life than if they stayed with their husbands.

  The commander had taken the wife a of a man he’d shot as his mistress. The woman was a broken remnant of her former self. His attitude and treatment of the woman had permeated the ranks and now all of them seemed to be trying to emulate him. The military men had always felt they were better than civilians and now, thanks to the apocalypse, it was turning into a man’s world where the strong took what they wanted. No more tip-toeing around the political correctness that had so overcome the world recently. In the space of a few weeks they’d progressed back to cave man sensibilities.

  “I’ll take you to him. Be interesting to see if he shoots you for being such a failure.” The guard walked past Randy, bumping him hard in the shoulder in the process. Randy dutifully fell in behind the guard. He breathed a relieved sigh as he saw the light shine briefly out of the door to the gym as Kelly made it safely back inside. Randy knew he needed to not just survive this meeting but somehow convince the commander that he was worthy to be advanced in the ranks. It was the only way he could think of to keep Kelly safe and have any hope of rejoining their children down in Florida. Especially if they were going to be sending him over to the mainland to collect supplies for any extended period of time.

  Randy was told to wait on a couch in the waiting room outside of what looked to be the principal’s office. An armed guard stood casually by the door leading into the office. The guard opened the door for a people who needed an audience with the commander. Randy kept quiet as people came and went. He contemplated what he should say to the man who now ruled this island and everyone on it. He didn’t know what all the commander wanted to talk to him about or how long it may take. Judging by the quickness people went into and left the office the man wasn’t into wasting time with idle chit chat. Randy knew he’d have to grab the man’s attention and then make his point fast.

  He had his talking points in mind when the guard poked his head into the office to talk to someone then finally looked over and acknowledged Randy.

  “The commander wants to see you now.” The guard opened the door and gave Randy a look that implied he needed to hurry up and get himself on the other side of the door the guard was holding open. Randy quickly obliged.

  The office was small and cramped. There was large wooden desk covered in papers and folders. There was a small table crammed into one corner with a couple of chairs underneath it. The commander was sitting on the other side of the desk in the leather-bound office chair that was there. He was smoking a pipe and had a service pistol sitting on the desk in front of him within easy reach. The threat was clear. Having already seen the commander kill a man in cold blood in front of a room full of civilians Randy knew better than to test him. The commander looked up at him curiously but didn’t say anything.

  “Hello sir. The guard said you wanted to see me. I’m Randy. The guy who went out on the scavenging mission to the mainland.”

  Randy stood there nervously as the commander continued to just sit there. Finally, after a deep smoker’s cough, the commander began to talk.

  “My men told me you managed to get a decent amount of supplies back to the dock but then you got overrun. You lost your partner and all of the supplies. Which means we wasted a lot of diesel waiting around for you unless you gathered some useful intel while you were on the mainland.” The commander gazed at him expectantly.

  “Yes sir. We had all the supplies in the truck but then didn’t have a good way to get the supplies onto the boat before we were overrun. I have some ideas on how to ensure that doesn’t happen again. The mission itself was a series of learning opportunities. I’m thinking with a slightly larger team and a little more time we could gather almost unlimited supplies on the mainland and get them safely back over here.”

  The commander started laughing. He laughed hard enough that it turned into another cough. He grabbed a bottle of water and slugged down a few swallows of it. Once he’d regained control of himself, he focused back on Randy.

  “I was thinking this interview was going to go one of two ways. The basic facts are you managed to get your partner killed within sight of our boat and you didn’t bring any supplies back with you. If you’d offered me lame excuses, I was just going to shoot you and then give your wife to the head of the guards. You went the correct route though. That shows you may have some brains in your head. You’re looking to use what you learned to do better next time. Rather than waste another trip on some other people so they can have their first round of failures I’m leaning towards giving you another crack at it. How’s that sound?”

  Randy nodded his head then barked out that it sounded good when the commander stared at him waiting for an audible answer. Obviously, anything sounded better than being shot and having Kelly turned over to the head of the guards like some kind of cracker jack prize.

  “Excellent. So, I’m going to give you one more chance. I need you to spend some time planning this one out then let the
guard know what you think you need to pull it off. We need weapons, medicine and food. We need them in large quantities brought back to the island. I prefer not to use a ton of diesel getting it. I’ll let you work out the specifics with the chief and then I’ll review and approve the plan. If you’re successful, you’ll be due for a promotion. That would come with a house for you and that attractive wife of yours. If you’re not successful, then I assume you’ll be lying dead on the mainland and my captain of the guards gets your wife to keep him warm this winter. Understood?”

  Randy’s mind was racing. He took a few steps forward to seemingly shake the commander’s hand to seal the deal. It looked like the commander was just going to dismiss him rather than stand up and shake his hand. Randy stood there with a serious look on his face and his hand extended.

  “Sir, I respect how you’ve taken control of this island and are working to keep everyone alive. That’s a lot of responsibility you have on your shoulders. I’m going to do my part to get you those supplies and earn that promotion.”

  Randy stayed still with his hand stuck out until the commander smiled and stood up with his own hand extended. As the commander was extending his hand Randy was diving for the pistol sitting on the desk. The commander realized what he was doing even as Randy got his hand on the pistol and started to roll off the desk and onto the floor. The commander brought his fist down hard on the back of Randy’s head knocking his face into the chair as Randy toppled over the desk onto the floor.

  Randy rolled through hitting the floor and leapt to his feet. The commander was coming at him with both arms extended. When the commander started talking about giving his wife away Randy had realized staying here was not an acceptable course of action. He’d come up with the idea of grabbing the commander and using him as a hostage to get them off the island. He’d just needed a distraction to allow him to go for the pistol. He pointed the pistol at the commander now to tell him he was going to be a hostage. Knocking the pistol to the side with one hand the commander swung his other hand in a roundhouse punch that connected with the side of Randy’s face and almost put him back on the ground.

  Staggering to stay on his feet after his head bounced off the wall Randy tried to bring the pistol into play but caught another punch in the throat. That punch did put him on the ground. He looked up from the floor as the heel of the commander’s boot was going up into the air to stomp down on him. With no other choice Randy yanked the pistol up and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

  The commanders boot slammed into the side of Randy’s head. His head bounced off the floor and a loud ringing suddenly filled the room. He tasted blood in his mouth. He idly wondered if he’d bitten off his tongue. He’d heard that happened sometimes. Fighting the urge to just lie there and pass out he forced himself to worm forward quickly to avoid the next kick to the head. The boot landed in his back instead sending a wave of pain up his body.

  Randy rolled over on his back and fumbled with the pistol until he heard something click. Hoping he’d managed to disengage the safety he pointed the gun at the captain and pulled the trigger three times. Three very satisfying, very loud booms echoed in the small room. The captain crumpled to the ground beside Randy. Ignoring the flailing of the fallen man beside him Randy looked towards the door to the office as it opened. The man guarding the door carefully entered the room with a puzzled expression on his face.

  The guard had been expecting to have to come in after hearing shots and carry Randy’s body down to the cliffs and fling him into the ocean. He hadn’t expected to hear the sounds of a scuffle, so he was curious what had happened. The guard had hesitated a few seconds to make sure he didn’t get his head blown off when he opened the door. Those few seconds of hesitation gave Randy the time to end up on the floor in a position to line up the gun and squeeze off a few shots at the guard. He could have conserved some ammunition since the first shot caught the guard directly in the nose and blew his brains out into the hallway.

  Randy was watching the guard fall to the ground when a new and different painful sensation hit him. The commander had rolled over and grabbed Randy by the testicles. The man was now using his last remaining strength to try to inflict some serious pain. As soon as he had Randy’s attention he lashed out and caught Randy in the face with his foot. It was a weak kick, but it hurt.

  Setting aside the pain Randy sat up and reached down to grab the commander by his hair. He then started smashing the commanders face against the floor in an attempt to get the guy to release his crotch. Realizing he still had the pistol in his hand and that the commander wasn’t trying to be cooperative anyway Randy shot him two more times. The old bastard collapsed in a big puddle of blood and didn’t move again.

  There was blood everywhere. Randy lay on the floor in a puddle of blood for a few minutes trying to get his breathing under control before attempting to stand up. Using the desk to help him to his feet he was careful not to slip in the big pool of blood covering the floor. He was curious at first why the room wasn’t full of guards trying to kill him then realized that the guards had probably been waiting to hear him get shot. Not being considered an important player he’d been held for the last meeting of the day which meant even fewer people had been around.

  Randy felt around the commander’s body and found an extra magazine for the pistol. He groped the warm, blood-soaked pockets and belt of the guard who’d been in the hallway and took an additional pistol and another fully loaded magazine. He found a set of keys that he hoped went to the large white van that was parked directly in front of the main door to the building. Covered in blood, head spinning, fighting back waves of darkness and nausea, Randy began making his way towards the main entrance.

  All he had to do now was grab Kelly and get off this cursed island and somehow go find their kids before anyone figured out that he’d shot the commander. Once they did all that he was certain everything else would fall right into place.

  Chapter 23: Alternative Route

  It was starting to get dark when Eric turned off the small road they’d been driving on and took them down on an even smaller road. This new road quickly changed from asphalt to gravel to dirt to a muddy mess. Eric drove it like the professional he was. They ended up pulling up to a run-down house surrounded by weeds on the shore of a large lake. Brenda had no idea what lake since there seemed to be a new one around every bend in Central Florida. This was a big one though. She made a mental note to keep the kids away from the water’s edge since there were bound to be gators there. Not that gators in the top five things to worry about in Florida any more.

  “It belonged to a friend of my aunts. We came out here one time for a fourth of July party. Or, maybe it was Memorial Day. One of those parties that revolve around hot dogs and explosives.” Eric smiled over at Brenda as he explained how he knew this house was back here in the middle of nowhere. “I think it’s been sitting here empty for a couple of years now, so this should be a safe place for us to rest for a day or so. I think we need to regroup and rethink our approach here.”

  “It’s not like we have an appointment to get to or anything.” Tim said from the back seat. Then all the girls began to announce they had to use the bathroom.

  The logistics of the little girls having to go to the bathroom was something that could frustrate people in the best of times. Throw a Zombie apocalypse into the mix with a bunch of random men in the car with them and it got super awkward. They’d all gotten used to the super awkward utilization of the corner of the supply closet for their digestive tract needs when they’d been at the church but that had been in a very dark space with just one man in the room with them. One man that none of them liked. One man who’d made disgusted noises and complained the entire time any of them had to go in the small space.

  Lack of toilet paper, the fear of bugs, lack of air conditioning, indoor plumbing slowly becoming a thing of the past, and the ever-present threat of a Zombie jumping out at you while you were in a delicate position all lent themse
lves to making basic human acts extremely complicated endeavors. It really sucked that going behind a tree to take a whiz could be the thing that ended up getting you killed in this new world. Then again, pretty much any common act from the old normal could get you killed now.

  The men extracted themselves from the car and fanned out to begin clearing the area. The girls took turns standing guard over each other for a bathroom break. They’d created a buddy system to ensure each of the little kids always had one of the older kids, or Brenda, watching over them. Brenda watched as the men slowly walked the perimeter of the yard with weapons ready to start blasting if they were charged by a Zombie. If that happened then they’d need to go find a new place to spend the night since the gun shot would inevitably attract additional unwanted attention.

  Spending the night in a house with only the one narrow road out as an escape route was already an issue as far as Brenda was concerned. She’d learned that trying to keep multiple escape options open was important when it came to survival. She had to be realistic about it though. Nowhere was really safe anymore. She helped the girls gather their stuff when Eric waved them over to the entrance to the large house.