Dead Last, Vol. 3

by Quaranta, Marc

  He was still in bed, though. Going on 21 days now. He was bandaged and surgically repaired and barely has been able to move. Haylea was bringing him his meals in bed, Emily was checking on him several times throughout the day and changing his bandages. He had a pretty strong support system over there.

  He didn’t have me. I hadn’t checked on him once. In fact, I moved out of the house and down the street. I was living with Frank and Reggie. I couldn’t stand to be in the same house with him. I hadn’t even spoken to him yet. Haylea and Emily were telling me too, but how do you speak to a friend you’ve shot twice in the chest?

  “That’s the one thing Anheuser Busch never did.” Glen walked up to my house. I hadn’t even noticed him until he spoke. “They never were able to perfect the breakfast beer.”

  “I never understood the idea of foods that could only be eaten at certain meals, or drinks that only fly during certain times of the day. I eat corndogs for breakfast, dessert for lunch, and drink beer during the sunrise.” I took a long drink, almost finishing the bottle.

  “You know, Jack, that sentence may sum you up perfectly. Not too bad.”

  Glen sat down on the chair next to me and for a few minutes, we didn’t say anything. He watched the sunrise and I watched the blank yard in front of me. Watching grass grow was probably worse than waiting for a pot to boil, but the breakfast beer helped pass the time.

  “Jack,” Glen said.

  “Glen, come on, man. You own the place, right? Then you know this isn’t the same house I was in. Heather doesn’t live here. She’s down the block.”

  “You’re trying to be polite. Just tell me how you feel,” he said.

  “Get the fuck off my porch,” I said coldly.

  “I don’t have to do that. I own the place.” He smiled.

  Actually, I smiled, too. He wasn’t the worst guy in the place. I’d met worse.

  “And I’m not here to see Heather, Jack. I came looking for you. I know that you’re not comfortable here. I know that out of everyone that came over from WTIX, you’re the wild one. You’re the wild animal that needs to learn to be tamed all over again.”

  “The wild animal? Are you trying to win me over?” I asked him. My beer was gone at this point.

  “Yes, I am. Excuse me if my bedside manner is a little rough, but everyone has bought in, Jack. Everyone has been welcomed into the community, but more importantly, everyone has bought into District 7-1.”

  “I’m not really in the mood to listen to the ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor’ talk right now, Mr. Rogers.”

  Glen nodded, stood up, and walked into my house. No knock or permission was needed. After a few nice quiet moments, he came back out with two beers in his hand. They were much colder than the one I’d just finished. He handed me one, took the other, clinked them together, and then sat down.

  “Hopefully, you’ll listen now.”

  “Nice touch,” I said.

  We sipped, Glen looked around the neighborhood, but I made no mistake that we would drink in silence.

  “Everybody has bought in but you, Jack. Scott and Zach are working for my security team, Haylea is working in our surveillance hub, Emily is the pediatrician, the girls are getting some schooling, and Heather is working in the food garden. Everyone is helping out except you.”

  “Why should I help out? We’re not staying here.”

  “I think you’re the only one that feels that way. Everyone else seems pretty comfortable. Why fight it?”

  “Why push me? Why do you need me? Just kick me out of this place.”

  “I’m not going to do that, Jack. And I need you to buy in because you’re the strongest one of them all. You’re the strongest one of your group, and quite honestly, you might be the strongest one in all of District 7-1. I don’t know what kind of obstacles we’ll run in to or who may one day come knocking on our door, but if Kurt and Zach and Scott and Frank and Haylea and Emily are all on board, good. But if you are on board and you are helping this place thrive, then great. I’ll never have to worry again.”

  “Right. We’re a great bunch of guys, huh? I’m supposed to just trust you no questions asked after you put a guy like Scott on your security team after knowing him for less than a day? No way. You have no idea what kind of guy he is.”

  “Actually, I do. Jack, it is my job to know what kind of people are living and working in this community.”

  “He raped a teenage girl, Glen. He’s a damn lunatic and you having him protecting your people.”

  “What have you done, Jack?”

  “What?” I drank the beer slower than I thought I would be. He didn’t leave me much time for quiet drinking.

  “What kinds of things have you done? How many people have you killed? How many people have you hurt? Because I know a couple of things about you and I know that nobody seems to be afraid of you. Nobody is scared of you. People will panic in their own ways. Nothing that we have had to do since the outbreak has been good, but it is all forgivable. Shouldn’t all of it be forgivable?”

  “No, it shouldn’t be,” I said.

  “Only the strongest are able to forgive. Remember that.”

  He took one more drink and set the glass down still about three-fourths full. He nodded to me, patted me on the back, and finally, walked off the porch.

  “Jack,” he said turning around. “Go see Kurt. He’s fine. Kurt is going to be fine. Throw the bottle away and forgive yourself.”

  I wanted to believe what Glen was telling me, and quite frankly I didn’t have any evidence to prove that he wasn’t an honest to God good guy who was just telling me the truth. He was upfront with me about everything. My group had bought in. That was true. Kurt was fine. That was true, too. I set the bottle down and took a long deep breath.

  27

  Kurt Elkins

  I ’m a complainer. It was one of the first things Haylea noticed about me. I didn’t openly complain about every little thing in life. I wasn’t a picky person either. I didn’t refuse to go to restaurants because the service was bad or refuse to hang out with her friends because one of their laughs was annoying or anything like that. I guess, more accurately, I was a baby.

  When I got sick or was feeling ill, I milked it. If I had the sniffles or an upset stomach, I would call in sick and lay on the couch and watch TV all day. Haylea was different. She would have to be run over by a car to take time off. She was tough. I hated being sick.

  I exaggerated. All the time. I could promise one thing, though. I was never going to use the expression “I feel like I just got shot.” No breakup, sickness, sore muscle, injury or surgery truly felt like being shot. I knew what being shot felt like. I knew what it felt like to be shot twice.

  Now, I don’t know if being shot in the foot or in the arm or shoulder would feel the same as being shot in the chest, again, twice, but I know getting shot in the chest hurt pretty badly, so not only did I know what it was like to get shot, twice, but I knew what it was like to get shot in the chest, twice.

  It was a horrible feeling. At first, it felt sudden. Just two quick pops right to my chest. It felt like someone rested their fist on my chest and then suddenly lifted it and drove it down. Then there was a warmth. As I felt the warm sensation, the rest of my body started to feel cool as if all the blood was rushing to the middle of my chest and then out the wound.

  I don’t remember anything after that. I was told Jack and Zach pulled me from the car and helped me to the ground. I don’t remember that. I don’t remember being pulled or tugged or having hands on me at all. Haylea ran up to me and screamed for me. I don’t remember hearing her voice. I don’t remember seeing her face. I couldn’t imagine what she must have felt. I bet it felt like getting shot in the chest.

  A few knocks at the door abruptly ended my train of thoughts. Those that had been knocking on my door the last couple of weeks knew to knock and then walk in. I wasn’t able to shout for them to come in and there was no possible way they’d be walking in on anything inapp
ropriate or embarrassing. I could hardly breathe let alone actually get up and move.

  “Hey. I just wanted to check your bandages. This a good time?” asked my doctor, but we had a pretty unofficial relationship. I just called her Emily.

  “I actually have plans to run out really quick.”

  “You would have had me believing you if you didn’t use the word run. How’re you feeling?” She walked over to my side and pulled the blanket back. She was a pretty great doctor. I knew that she was good back at WTIX and when she was taking care of the others, especially her husband, Sam. But seeing it first hand was like watching Beethoven play a song.

  “A lot of us would be dead without you,” I said to her.

  “I wish I was able to do more.”

  “Seriously,” I said. I stopped her so she’d understand how much I meant it. “I mean it. We wouldn’t be alive without you.

  I closed my eyes and laid patiently as Emily pulled at the tape. They’d shaved my chest and stitched me up and I tried to be tough and act like tugging at the bandages and the tape on my skin didn’t hurt, I used to call in sick when I had a stomach ache, so…

  “Nobody is talking about what happened out there,” Emily said. I kept my eyes closed. “I tried to talk to Zach and see if he had any injuries. He ignored me. I asked about Bryce and he ignored me. Frank isn’t talking much, either.”

  “I guess there just isn’t much to say,” I said.

  “Kurt, where’s Bryce?” Emily asked.

  I opened my eyes and didn’t know what to tell her. No matter what I said, she was only going to want to hear the truth. Just like the others, I didn’t want to tell her the truth.

  There was another knock from the doorway. This time it was Glen. I had seen him a couple of times, but never had a conversation with him. He stopped by to assure me that everything was okay and that he would be back later to really welcome me to the community. I guess now was that later.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt. I was hoping to have a conversation with Kurt.”

  “We’re almost done,” Emily said. “Although he needs to rest, Glen.”

  “No, it’s Okay,” I said. “Give me a couple of minutes.”

  “Sure. I’ll be downstairs. Take your time.”

  Glen walked away and left Emily and me alone once more. She began tightening up the second bandage now.

  “What is this place like? Are we safe here?” I asked. “You haven’t told me much.”

  “You needed your rest. You still do. We can talk about this when you’re up and going.”

  “Emily.”

  Was it fair of me to ask her to talk to me even though just seconds before I refused to talk about what happened to me? I didn’t care. I was shot twice.

  “This place is really good. I think we could stay here.”

  “For good?” I asked.

  “Honestly, yeah, I think so. The people are nice, everyone is staying busy. It isn’t a constant fight for survival anymore. There is some normalcy to our lives again.”

  “And everyone is okay with that? Everyone is adjusting? Living normal doesn’t feel so right anymore.”

  “Well,” she started.

  “It’s Jack, isn’t it?

  “He’s a mess, Kurt. I know, I know he shot you, but he didn’t know it was you.”

  “Emily, I’m not mad at Jack! At all! He was protecting all of you. These people attacked us and he thought they were doing it again. I get it. I’m not mad at Jack.”

  “Then you need to talk to him. He’s a mess. He isn’t sleeping, he moved down the street to Frank’s place. He’s drinking.”

  “He won’t come see me,” I said.

  “When you’re feeling better, you need to go see him. Please.”

  “You know I will, Emily. I’ll talk to him.”

  “I’m just worried about him, Kurt. That’s all.”

  “He’ll be fine.” She patched the bandage back down and threw the old bandages in the trash. There wasn’t any more blood soaked through them like last weeks. The healing was going quite nicely.

  “I don’t know. Kurt, you can’t tell anyone, but Jack used to have a drug problem.” That was news to me and something I wouldn’t have guessed. “It was never life-or-death out of control, but it got bad there for a while. He can’t fall back into that.”

  “Just like a doctor to worry about all her patients,” I joked.

  “Jack and I are sort of an item,” she said.

  “Shut the hell up!” It was the loudest I’d spoke since being shot. Laughter followed, but it hurt too much to keep going.

  “What? Stop!”

  “That is unethical, doctor,” I joked. I could see she quickly didn’t appreciate it. “Emily, stop. I’m kidding. I’m glad. That’s great. You and Jack could work.”

  “Well, we were working. Then you had to go and get shot and I don’t know what we are anymore.”

  “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll agree to talk to Jack once I’m up and moving if you agree to go talk to him right now and make sure you know where you both stands.”

  She didn’t need long to think about it before agreeing. We shook on it.

  “I can come back later if you need me to,” she said walking to the door.

  “No, it’s okay. Haylea’s shift should be ending within the next hour or two. I’ll be okay.”

  “Sounds good.” She waved.

  “Hey, Emily,” I said.

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “What’s he like?” I nodded toward the hallway and she knew I was referring to Glen.

  “He’s nice. He’s smart. Seems like he has good intentions for everyone, for all of us.”

  “Anything important I need to know?”

  “Well, he’s dating Heather,” she said.

  “Shut the hell up!” I shouted again. She left the room before I could say anything else. The laughter hurt more the second time than it did the first time. I go away for less than 72 hours and everyone was dating somebody else.

  I better make sure that Haylea and I are still engaged and that there isn’t somebody else.

  28

  Scott Daugherty

  I didn’t work too long at WTIX before I was named the Building Manager. I just wanted to be close to my daughter and things fell right in to place. Is there any real difference between falling into the job of Building Manager and lucking into a job with District 7-1 security? I was in the right place at the right time.

  I can’t even pretend that it was me saying all the right things. I said all the wrong things. I told Glen that I was sick in the head and messed up and told him what I did to Elyse and he still offered me the job. He should have rescinded his offer right then in the golf cart. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he drove the cart to the gate and kicked me out of District 7-1.

  I wasn’t handed a glorious job, though. I wasn’t given anything. I wasn’t given Kendrick’s old job. I was going to have to earn it. I was glad that I was going to have to earn my way to the top. The others from my old group weren’t too fond of the idea that I was working in security, but I was going to earn their trust back. They didn’t have to like me, and I knew that getting them to like me was impossible. But earning back their trust and respect was still possible.

  I’d been doing some of the unwanted jobs of the security detail. Over the last 20 days of being on the team, I worked twelve of the overnights. Nothing happened during the middle of the night. Nobody in this place was interested in stealing, killer, vandalizing, or any type of troubling behavior. This place operated like a perfect machine. So, I’d walk around with my flashlight in the pitch-black surveying the grounds.

  When I wasn’t working the overnight, I was sitting in the jailhouse. Nobody wanted that job. It wasn’t like the emergency 9-1-1 calls came through to the jailhouse. We all had radios. It wasn’t like people were thrown in the slammer on a daily basis. There was only one guy locked up, and the cell was down the hall in another room so I didn’t even see h
im. No, I just sat at the front desk, played solitaire and spider solitaire on the computer and waited for my shift to be over. Doing the jobs nobody wanted and doing them well was the only way I was going to get Kendrick’s job.

  Zach was also recently hired on by Glen and was already getting better jobs and more responsibility than I was. I understood. He used to be a cop. He understood this life, so it made sense. But I wasn’t happy about it.

  “Hey,” he said as he entered the jailhouse.

  “Hey, Zach. What do you need?”

  He held up a brown bag.

  “What is that?” I stood up and was going to grab it out of his hand if he didn’t tell me. I was prepared to be the better employee.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? What are you doing? Relax.” He was not somebody I should be messing with. “I’m bringing Kendrick his breakfast. Did I need to ask your permission?”

  “No. Of course not. I didn’t mean it like that,” I said retracting my aggressive steps.

  “Yeah,” he said. He waved without looking back to me and walked down the hall toward the cell. There were two monitors off to the side of my desk. There was one camera on each of the two cells we had. There was no sound, but I didn’t need to hear anything. Like I said, nothing exciting happened in the jail cell.

  The other days that I’d worked in the jailhouse, I didn’t have visitors. Zach came by to deliver his food to Kendrick, sure, but nobody else ever did. Sarah never came by. She said she didn’t want to run the risk of bumping into Glen or anybody else that she wasn’t interested in seeing.

  So, seeing Zach come in today was normal. Seeing Elyse come in a few minutes later was not normal. And it was not okay. I hadn’t talked to her since our last discussion back in my apartment. I’d seen her from time to time from a distance, but never close enough to talk to. I didn’t want to talk to her.

  “Hey, stranger,” she said. I tried to show no emotion. She was like a baby. If I showed a reaction, it would encourage her to continue. “Long time no see.”