“Fair point, but it makes more sense than anything else.”
It all added up, they first went to Philly because it was so close. But when they were finished destroying the city they began making their way towards New York, and wreaked havoc the whole way there. The only questions were how bad is it in New York, and where do they go after? This was all still speculation, of course.
“So when do you want to leave, Bobby?” Tommy asked as Jordyn’s face dropped.
“You guys are leaving?” she asked.
“Just heading across town to our Aunt and Uncle’s place, see if they and our cousins are around. Matt, you coming?” Bobby said.
“I think I’ll sit this one out, is that alright?”
“Yeah we got it.”
“Alright here you go!” Tommy said as he served liquid eggs and uncooked sausage to the table.
“What is this?” Matt asked.
“I already put the eggs and sausages on the pan before I remembered gas stoves still need electricity.” Tommy said.
“You were at the stove for like 10 minutes, did you think they would magically start cooking?” Bobby asked.
“Yes, kind of. Also I didn’t have the heart to tell you guys. You all seemed really excited about eggs.”
“Dammit, Tommy.”
They played rock, paper, scissors to see who would drive, and took off. Bobby won; he’s unreasonably good when it comes to rock, paper, scissors. He often calls out what he is about to throw, and still wins. Nobody believes he would actually throw what he said he was going to. Because of this random skill, Tommy has taken out the trash A LOT more than Bobby has.
The car pulled into the driveway of a modest two story suburban home, with white brick and charcoal gray shutters. Uncle Ned was watching through the window, the noise of the car drawing his curiosity. They walked up the driveway towards the front door, rifles loaded even though it appeared they were safe.
“Why are you guys wearing camo?” the first thing Uncle Ned said as he opened the door. The boys let out a few laughs.
“Hey Uncle Ned!” Tommy shouted.
“Don’t yell don’t yell!” Ned said in a hard whisper, “Come inside!” They followed Ned into the kitchen, the usual hangout place when at his house.
“Can I make you guys something to eat? Some hot pockets or something?”
“Yeah that’d be great!” Tommy answered.
“So where’s your family Ned?” Bobby asked.
“Oh they are… they are upstate for Ryan and Ben’s football game. They were going to be state champions before this all happened.”
“Where is it? We can go get them.” Tommy said.
“I don’t even know what town they’re in. I couldn’t go because of work. Some father I turned out to be.” He walked over and poured a glass of wine for himself, and that’s when Tommy and Bobby realized the 6 empty wine bottles in the corner of the kitchen. “My boys are about to be state champion football players and I was about to miss it because of some job I hate. And for what? What does my job mean now huh?” He asked, already finishing the glass of wine. Tommy and Bobby didn’t know what to say. A man not knowing if his family is ok or not must really take a toll on his mind. They wondered if their godparents were this concerned.
This toll on the mind would be concerning for most people, but for Uncle Ned it was way, way worse than that. Uncle Ned was committed to a mental hospital when he was 18. He was sent there after he thought he saw a dragon, yes a dragon, on the road and swerved into oncoming traffic. It nearly killed the driver in the other car, a father of three. If it had been a deer, nobody would’ve blinked twice. But the dragon sighting was the last of many strange delusions that teenage Ned was seeing.
One good thing that came out of all of this, Ned met his wife in the mental hospital. She was a staff member who quite literally nursed him back to mental health. Once he started to get better, a romantic relationship ensued, and the delusions stopped. Since the outbreak, it has been the longest the two have been apart since the dragon.
“I’m sorry, Ned.” Tommy said to break the silence.
“No I’m sorry guys, I’ve been… been stressed is all. It’s good to see you guys. Wait but really why are you wearing camo?”
“To blend in.” Bobby said sarcastically. Tommy giggled.
The microwave went off and Ned gave Bobby his hot pocket. “Oldest first.” Then he put Tommy’s in the microwave and started heating it up.
“Hold on.... Ned you have power?” Tommy asked, and Bobby’s face lit up as he finally realized it too. They didn’t even notice during the hot pocket’s two minute cooking time that it was on.
“Huh? Oh yeah, we have a generator. It runs on diesel gas though and I don’t think there’s much left in the tank.”
“It would still work at our house right? If we can bring more diesel gas?” Bobby asked.
“I would have to set it up, but yeah I’m an electrical engineer it’d be child’s play.”
“What about running water? We have a well so it stopped working when the power went.”
“That’s because house wells use an electrical pump to bring it to your house. Do you know if the pump is underground or can I access it?”
“I think it’s in the basement but I’m not 100% sure.”
“Well if it is, then I could hook it up with the generator and you’d have water again.” Tommy and Bobby exchanged a look, and smiled.
“You have to come back to the Fortress with us, Uncle Ned.” said Tommy.
“Yeah, come to the Fortress!” added Bobby.
Chapter 11
****
November 28, 2020
My name is Tommy Nagel, and it has been one week since the northeast United States was attacked by a giant flock horde of zombies.
I’ll start by saying you never know what you have until it’s gone. In this case, I’m referring to electricity and running water. But the addition of Uncle Ned to the Fortress included his generator, that we loaded into his pickup truck and brought over.
Something is off with him, I get that he’s worried about his family and I don’t blame him. But some of his sentences don’t even make sense anymore, almost like he’s hallucinating, but then he snaps back into reality and gets depressed. That depression can stem from a couple tears or up to hours of sitting in silence on the leather couch staring at the picture of his family that my aunt had put up years ago.
But the water and electricity is a godsend! Never has a shower felt so awesome, or watching a DVD, or being able to walk into my room and successfully flip the light switch. This whole experience has definitely giving me a newfound appreciation for the little things that we take for granted. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad experience if I wasn’t fearful of my life at all times.
I’m fairly sure our speculation was right, they were drawn to New York like magnets. I hoped they wouldn’t be quite as powerful as they were against Philly because their group dispersed. Some still in Philly, some in New York, some in between. But it’s still spreading like wildfire. We’re in more danger than ever.
But not all zombies headed north, I’m sure it can’t be that easy. A small fraction of them at least headed west. And the most populated city west of Philly is Pittsburgh. There’s a 300 mile gap between the two cities. I’m not sure how much they will gain steam on their way there, but there’s a constant uneasy feeling in my stomach…
Nick is so adamant about his religious beliefs as if he used to hang out with God on Tuesdays. And that’s great for him he can believe what he wants, but stop trying to jam it down my throat. I do believe in God, but I don’t believe this was an act of God punishing us like he does. I believe a goddamn scientist rushed to clinical trials and accidently wiped out the Northeast United States. Whoops. Shit happens. Or a weird new disease just sprung up out of nowhere. Or mad cow. Who knows? I believe in free will, and that scientist’s free will really screwed the rest of the world over.
Another rea
son Nick is starting to piss me off is that he really wants to get out of the house. It must suck being stuck in a stranger’s home and all, but we’re not risking bringing a guy on our next trip out who’s probably never fired a Nerf gun before. You’d think the kid who was scared to stand up on the basketball court would want to just sit and hide?
He also made some crack about the military’s inability to stop the situation; needless to say Matt didn’t appreciate it. The kid isn’t winning any popularity contests.
His annoyance is still worth having Jordyn around. She really is the sweetest. Somehow she always seems to be in a bright mood. In times like these it’s such a treat to have someone like that with us. Her and my brother are closer than ever. And clearly have the hots for each other. Apparently impending doom isn’t enough reason for him to grow a pair and tell her how he feels.
Tomorrow we ride up north to check on my best friend Keith Hawke. His school is pretty close to the New York zombie trail, and he doesn’t tend to think things through. Knowing him he rounded up his baseball teammates and tried to fight them off with their bats. I’d say the chances of my best friend since middle school being alive are slim, but I still need to go and look, he’d do the same for me.
With that trip, the shore trip for the Abbott’s (we’re waiting for a warm-ish day for that one), and we probably need to re-stock on groceries soon, that makes three trips in the near future. I’m still hoping for a forth…
I will say this, I miss the hell out of my girl. Back during summer vacation we would start to get a little crazy if we went a week without seeing each other. Well it’s been a week. And add to that my fear that I’ll never see her again. My phone is charged, but there’s still no service or internet for us. I haven’t talked to her in a week, and it’s killing me. I’ll end by saying this, you never know what you have until it’s gone.
-T
****
“Nick, I have something very important for you, so you can contribute to the group.” Tommy said.
“Am I going with you guys tomorrow?”
“Not quite. I need you to gather all of the DVD’s in the living room, and there’s some more up in the attic. You’re going stack them up left of the TV, and then snag some post it notes and label the stacks “unwatched.” Then right of the TV is going to be “watched.” We’re going to watch them all eventually.”
“And what do I get from it?”
“You get to live here! My uncle used to say that when I asked for allowance for lawn mowing. It’s good to be on the other end of it!” Tommy said sarcastically with a big smile on his face. “Gentlemen! Lady! Gather!” He yelled through the house.
“What’s up?” Bobby said as he and Jordyn walked down the stairs together.
“Oh, what have we here? What were you two up to?”
“Minding our own business, Tommy!” Jordyn said through her laugh.
“Alright announcement, movie nights are now a thing. Every night we’ll watch a different movie. Sound good? And our first movie will be...” Tommy grabbed one off the stacks, “The Devil Wears Prada, nope.” He said as he threw the case over his shoulder and reached to grab another, “Batman Begins, now we’re talking.”
“Oh I’ve never seen that one!” Jordyn said.
“You’ve never seen Batman Begins?” Bobby asked surprisingly.
“Nope, never have.”
“Well you’re about to watch a classic.”
“Where’s Matt?” Tommy asked.
“I think he was in the shower but he’s been in there for a while.” Bobby answered.
“And Ned?”
“He’s in that chair again.” Nick said.
“Alright, Bobby can you snap Ned out of it? I’ll go check on the Sergeant Major and then we’ll get watching!” Tommy went upstairs and made his way to the bathroom. He approached the door and just as he was about to knock he heard something and his face dropped. It was hard to hear over the shower but it sounded like a soft weeping. He held his knock and slumped down to the floor and sat next to the bathroom door, waiting for the shower to stop. The weeping continued. He debated whether he was going to ask Matt about it, or pretend he didn’t hear it so Matt wouldn’t feel embarrassed. The shower water stopped running, and Tommy stood up. A moment later Matt walked out, he was startled when he saw Tommy. Tommy didn’t know what to do, so he gave Matt a warm embrace. Matt treated it like a casual hug at first, but his emotions set in and he realized Tommy had heard the sobbing.
He led Matt to his bedroom, and sat him down on his bed.
“Wait here for a sec.” Tommy said, and walked out of the room. He came back moments later with a cold beer for Matt. “We only have a few left, we’ll go raid a store soon and that’ll be on the grocery list.” Matt stayed silent. Tommy could see the grief in his face that he had been holding in since arriving at the Nagels. He watched his entire squadron get massacred and there was nothing he could do to help them. He watched his best friend get savagely attacked by one of them, and then spring back to life as one of the demonic bastards that killed him in the first place. After all that he couldn’t even get to his family because nobody was allowed in or out of the infected area. Matt has had one hell of a rough time. And Tommy knew there was nothing to say to make it better. So he sat on the bed next to him and put his arm around him. They sat in silence, the only noise being made was the gulp of the beer bottle as it flowed towards Matt’s mouth, and the slurp he made as it entered. Tommy let out an “I’m sorry” after couple minutes, but then he returned to silence and remained that way for a few more minutes.
“We’re going to watch Batman Begins,” Tommy finally said as he stood up, “Come join.” He held his hand out to help him up, and Matt took it.
Chapter 12
Keith Hawke and his college baseball teammates were a couple of red-blooded Americans who were not going to let a couple zombies come into their town without putting up a fight. So they grabbed their bats and met at a house where a few of the teammates lived, including Keith. They decided they would all gather up and get ferociously drunk the night before the zombies were supposed to arrive on their college campus. A “last hoorah” of sorts, not that they had any doubts of their ability to stop hundreds of zombies by being armed with baseball equipment. Keith hid his nervousness and drowned it in alcohol. The more drinks he had in him the less he worried until he got to a point where he wasn’t nervous at all. He was ready to drunkenly take on every zombie still walking. Unfortunately, they didn’t get there that night and get the ass-whooping of an overconfident, drunk 19 year old and his gang of belligerent ballplayers.
They drank and laughed and played games and drank some more until the last one of them passed out. The next morning, the players who had less of a hangover awoke to distant but clear screaming outside. As the frantic yells grew louder and more imminent, they began to wake each other up. They all woke with pounding headaches and feelings of nausea rising up their stomach. Some began to stand up and stumbled back to a couch or fell to floor. Others got up and ran to the bathroom or a garbage can to vomit. They were a mess.
The team captain, senior center-fielder Jaylen Christiansen, decided to do what he did best: inspire the team with an impromptu speech.
“Gentlemen, it’s no secret that we are not at our sharpest physically today. But my question for you is has that stopped us before? Remember that time Eddie hit that walk off home run after throwing up on his own face the night before? Or how about the time Clayton threw a no-hitter when he was more stoned than Cheech and Chong? Men, one could argue we play better when drugs are involved. Now, we have Advil if you need it, or we have more alcohol if you’re one of those degenerates who need a drink in the morning after a night of drinking to help you. But really if that’s the case then you need to reconsider some of your life choices. But I digress.” The group laughed, as they hung on every word.
“But today, we face a whole new challenge. We march on to the field of battle like our forefat
hers did before us. We face an enemy never before seen by mankind. Which means mankind is currently undefeated against this enemy. And are we going to be the ones who ruin humanity’s perfect record?”
“NO!” The team yelled in unison.
“You’re damn right no!” His voice was rising. “Are we going to allow them to take our campus from us?”
“NO!”
“Gentlemen, I have happily gave the last four years of my life to this team, I love you sons of bitches like my family, and I will gladly give my life defending this team, and this school. But that’s not going to happen, we are going out there, and we are going bash their skulls in. Gentlemen! Yield ye weapons! And follow me!” He grabbed his bat and walked towards the door. Before opening it, he let out a soft “It has been an honor serving with you all.”
They busted out of the door and onto the streets, on their right the sun was just coming up over the horizon created by the peak of a hill. To their left they saw people fleeing towards them, as zombies we’re attacking their campus. Any confidence they had from Jamie’s speech wobbled as they saw the fright on their fellow students’ faces. They weren’t soldiers, just baseball players. They didn’t have guns or explosives, they had 30 ounce baseball bats. And although they were well qualified to use them, an attacker’s head seemed much more daunting of a target than a 95 mph fastball. Keith wasn’t in the military, he was a third baseman.
A few of his teammates joined the mob of fleeing undergraduates. They were looked at as both cowards and geniuses by the ones who stayed. Keith thought about joining them, he thought hard. He was fast, and could run miles. If anyone on the campus were to get away safely why shouldn’t it be him? Then he looked over at his roommate since day one of college, Pablo. His real name was Alan, but the team called him Pablo because of his Mexican heritage and to get under his skin a little. Keith could the see the look in Pablo’s eye. A look that meant he was staying, a look that meant he couldn’t leave his teammates, a look that meant he knew he was going to die. Keith stayed.
The Fortress Page 6