The Fortress

by Michael Scattergood

  Tommy and Bobby left on a chilly but sunny morning to head towards the beach. Now that they were actually going to see the Abbotts, they hoped more and more that they would still be there. It would be nice to see another familiar face. Today they dropped the usual camo look for the occasion. Tommy wore his navy blue bathing suit with a white tank top. Bobby wore his red suit and a light blue shirt. Both wore flip flops. Their assault rifles hung on their chest with the shoulder strap. They weren’t the most practical outfits in case of an attack, but they didn’t expect to see many zombies this far east.

  They pulled into the tiny neighborhood that ended with three houses on the beach, the Abbott’s owned the light blue beach house on the right. They walked up with eager faces to see their friends, believing more and more that they would be there since there haven’t been any attacks in this area. But nobody answered the knock at the door. Sheer disappointment loomed over their faces, when they heard a voice behind them.

  “They left when it happened, fled south.” a small, elderly woman said from the yard behind them.

  “You knew them?” Bobby asked.

  “Well we’re neighbors of course I knew them,” she replied in a slow, word-dragging voice, “You boys friends with the young ones?”

  “Yeah, we are.”

  “Well I’m sorry ya missed them, boys. You can come inside my house if you’d like.”

  “That’s ok I think we’re going to hang on the beach for a bit.”

  “Well alright, don’t freeze out there.”

  “We’ll be fine.” Bobby said as they laughed.

  “Well alright, you take care now.” The elderly woman said as she went back inside.

  The Nagels walked down the beach and sat down right before the wet sand from the tide. They weren’t used to seeing their own breath at the beach, but their happiness clouded any thoughts of being cold.

  “This feels right.” Tommy said.

  “We should get a beach house someday.”

  “We should definitely get a beach house someday.”

  “It might not be a bad idea to move the Fortress here, further away from the cities, got a pretty sweet backyard, a neighbor.” Bobby considered.

  “Interesting, we’ll think on that.” A silence ensued, as a light snow began to fall.

  “Is it flurrying?” Tommy asked.

  “But it’s sunny out? That’s awesome.”

  “Barely, but we can check snowy beach day off the bucket list.”

  “So, have you been thinking about Pittsburgh?” Bobby said suddenly. Tommy was caught off guard by the question, and didn’t know what to say.

  “Yeah I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

  “And?” He asked, Tommy paused for a moment, debating whether to lie to save his brother, or to come clean about his plans. He knew Bobby would read right through him, he probably already knew.

  “And… I’m going tomorrow.”

  “Wait what?”

  “I’m going tomorrow. It’s just something I have to do.”

  “Were you going to tell me?”

  “No, I didn’t want you to come with me, Bobby. After everything you’ve done for me how could I ask you to do that?” Tommy said, followed by a long moment of nothing but ocean waves reaching their ears.

  “Well I’m going with you anyway.” Bobby said.

  “Bobby-“

  “You’re my brother and I’m not letting you go alone. We’ll go together and we’ll make it home, with Melanie. I’ve been thinking about it, and I would’ve wanted to go anywhere for Jordyn, and I know you wouldn’t have let me go alone. I was actually going to say that I think we should go to Pitt.”

  “That’s because you love Jordyn.”

  “… Yeah, I do.” Bobby said softly.

  Tommy looked at him in shock, “You’re actually admitting it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Say it.”

  “Say what?”

  “Say ‘I love Jordyn.’”

  “I love Jordyn.”

  “Wow. This is crazy. So why don’t you do something about it?”

  “We’ve been friends forever, Tommy. She’s my best friend, if she doesn’t feel the same way where-”

  “She does feel the same way.”

  “What if she doesn’t?”

  “She does.”

  “How do you know?”

  “She just does.”

  “She might just love me like a brother, how do you know?”

  “Because I see the way she looks at you. She looks at me like a brother, she loves me like a brother. But the way she looks at you… She loves you, dude.” Another long pause ensued. “If there was ever a time to say screw it and tell her, it would be now Bobby. Who knows what’s going to happen, and you don’t want to look back with any regrets.”

  “Think we got off topic here, Pittsburgh?” Bobby said, Tommy grunted at the conversation changer.

  “Yeah Pittsburgh, leave early tomorrow morning?”

  “How prepared are you?”

  “Got all the guns and ammo I have packed in a bag. I know how to change a flat tire, how to hotwire a car, and some first aid related things. Just have to fill up the gas on the Humvee.”

  “Sure we want to take the Humvee? Dad’s Mercedes is faster and gets better gas mileage.”

  “Yeah but the Humvee is safer, I feel like the zombies can just fly right through the window on the Mercedes.”

  “Good point, you know where she is?”

  “I’m pretty sure.”

  “Pretty sure?”

  “I went to her brother’s place once but I don’t know the address. But I looked around our uncle’s maps and went off my memory and I’m almost positive it’s where the condo is.”

  “Almost positive scares me a little, Tommy.”

  “Well it’s all I got.”

  “Damn… this is going to be crazy, man.”

  “I told you, you don’t have to come, I’d understand.”

  “No I mean that in a good way. We’re going to kick some infected ass, Tommy.” Tommy smiled at that.

  “Damn right we are.”

  “We should’ve brought beers”

  “Beers in the snowy sand would’ve been awesome.”

  “Next time?”

  “Next time.” Tommy said, as they clinked the imaginary bottles in their hands.

  “Put your hands up now.” A growling voice behind them said. Tommy and Bobby looked at each other, as Tommy put his finger on the trigger of his assault rifle. They nodded. They turned with their weapons raised and aimed, ready to fire on two men in their thirties with pistols aimed back at them. The one on the left remarkably resembled the elderly woman.

  “Put your guns down, NOW!” The man on the left yelled.

  “That’s not going to happen.” Bobby said, calmly.

  “You boys trying to get shot today?”

  “You have pistols, we have automatic rifles,” Tommy said, with more fire in his voice than Bobby had. “You each fire once and we return with 10 bullets each, if your bullet goes anywhere but my head, you’re both dead. I like our odds.”

  “Well I like my aim, you sure you boys want to play it this way?” The men were pretty far away, but it was definitely possible for them to put a bullet in each of their heads. But Tommy and Bobby stood, unwavering. What did the men want? Their guns? The Humvee? Food? Money? What good is money anymore?

  The Nagels didn’t answer him, they held their aim intensely. They stood, fingers on the trigger, sights pointed at their chests, waiting to unload bullets into these men who had the audacity to try and mess with them. The snow began to fall a bit more, but it didn’t affect their vision, or their focus. The men waited for a moment of weakness from the Nagels, a shifted gaze, a shaky hand, but they didn’t move an inch. They may not have even blinked as far as the men could see. Tommy and Bobby grew more and more furious, how dare these guys point a gun at them and threaten not only their own life but their brother’s life
as well. They wanted them to shoot; they wanted to pump rounds into them. But they didn’t.

  “Alright,” the man on the left said, “we’ll go.” They started to back away, guns still raised. Tommy and Bobby didn’t flinch.

  “If you do anything to our car I will burn your house to the GODDAMN ground. Do you hear me?” Bobby said furiously.

  “We won’t touch your car.” The man said. They continued back away with their guns raised, Tommy and Bobby continued aiming back until they were behind the hill next to the Abbott house and out of sight. They lowered their guns but kept their eyes in that direction in case they tried anything. They started to walk back to their Humvee, with ready guns and vigilant eyes. When they got around the Abbott house, they saw the two men standing in the elderly woman’s lawn. They didn’t have guns in their hands. Tommy and Bobby kept their guns aimed at them anyway, not taking any chances. The two men just stared at them as they walked back to the car. The Nagels got in the Humvee and felt a sense of security in the bulletproof machine. They took off, never to see the two men again.

  Chapter 17

  “Life is a real bitch, you know?” Tommy said on the ride home from the Abbotts.

  “Oh boy here we go.” Bobby replied.

  “There’s just always stress, no matter what. I’m at school, I’m stressed about my grades, exams, papers, staying healthy, because college is as disease infested as a doctor’s waiting room, and countless other things I can’t think of right now. Then I come home for the summer, work full time doing mindless work for a business I don’t care about just so I can get enough money for a year’s worth of food, textbooks-“

  “Alcohol.”

  “Fair, then there’s a zombie apocalypse in our area, and we stress about how many of our friends are alive or dead. Obviously that’s a unique circumstance. Hopefully this ends and we’re safe so one day I can have a real job and be working full time again to make money to support my family, even if it’s a pretty good gig it’s still a job. Nobody likes work they do it ‘cause they have to. I know that’s the real world and I should just suck it up but I don’t want to. I know that sounds childish. I guess what I’m saying is, when does it end? When can you just sit back, relax, and say ‘I’m done.’?”

  “Retirement?”

  “So not until we’re like, 65?”

  “You’re looking at this all wrong, Tommy. Yeah there are stressful things most days but there are also great things that happen every day. You’re focusing on the negative. I’m sure you’re happy for at least part of your day every day of your life. School is stressful but college is the best time of your life, man. I’d love to go back to those years if I could. You’ll find a job you like, or at least tolerate. You’ll settle down with Melanie and have a family and… You’re worried about her aren’t you? That’s what this little rant is about you’re just a bit more stressed than usual, right?”

  “A bit is an understatement.”

  “We’ll get her tomorrow, Tommy. She’ll be there.” Bobby said. Tommy didn’t say anything, he wanted to say how nervous he was, that if she wasn’t there he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to take it. But he held his tongue.

  “She’ll be there, I’m sure of it.” Bobby reiterated.

  Tommy and Bobby arrived home after their stressful day, and called for a Fortress meeting in one hour. They decided it was best not to tell them about the standoff with the men at the beach. But they did however feel that they needed to tell them about the Pittsburgh trip, especially since they would most likely be spending the night there to avoid driving back in the dark. It was by far their most dangerous trip yet, and they would have to make it without Matt.

  “The reason we called this meeting,” Bobby led off, “was to tell you all that Tommy and I will be heading to Pittsburgh tomorrow to get Melanie Kendall, Tommy’s girlfriend. And we will be staying the night in Pittsburgh.”

  “You guys are going across Philly?” Casey asked.

  “Mostly around it, to the North of Philly.”

  “But you’ll go right through the zombies migrating to New York!” Nick said.

  “We know, but if we go around the South side we’ll be close to the quarantine wall of military and run the risk of being stopped.”

  The group was pretty distraught; they all instantly knew how dangerous this was. Jordyn felt a tear roll down to her cheek, and left the room. Nick and Casey kept trying to talk them out of it, but the Nagels weren’t going to budge. Tommy sat behind Bobby, who stood, and stayed silent through the meeting, feeling as if this stress was his fault.

  “If something happens to you guys where will that leave us?” Casey asked, “You’re just going to leave us here to die?”

  “Nothing is going to happen to us, we’ll be fine, and we’ll be home before you know it with Melanie.” Bobby replied.

  “And you said you’re staying the night out there?” Nick asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What if zombies come here, are you taking all the guns?”

  “We’ll leave you some.”

  “Who’s going to shoot them me and Ned?” As Ned sat criss-cross in front a blank TV.

  “Or Jordyn, Tracey, and Casey… little sexist there bud. But no zombies come here, Nick! You’ll be fine for one night!”

  Bobby and Tommy had one last thing to do to prepare for the rescue. Something they feared they’d never have to use, as strange as that sounds, hand-to-hand combat training. They went up to Bobby’s room and Bobby dug out an old, flimsy rubber sword that was once used in moments of extreme sibling rivalry.

  “Ok, take this,” Bobby started, “When I say go, pretend I’m a zombie and try to stab me in the head.”

  “Ok.” Tommy said preceding to whack Bobby in the face with it.

  “I didn’t say go-“ another whack interrupted him mid-sentence. “Ok, I get it, I technically said go in that-“ Bam, whacked again, “I hate you, Tommy.”

  “I’m pretty good at this, huh?”

  “Ok I’m the zombie, I’m going to charge at you aggressively, you have to stab me in the brain, ready?”

  “Ready.” And he was, Bobby lunged toward him, Tommy grabbed him by the back of his neck, kneed him in the stomach, rubber-knifed him in the forehead as he bent over, and finished him off by placing his foot on his stomach and propelling him into the dresser. Bobbleheads and books fell to ground and shook the ground.

  “Holy hell,” Bobby said as he fell to his knees.

  “Yeah I should have told, I’ve been taking, like, mixed martial arts classes at school. They’re free for students.”

  “I hate you so much.” Bobby let out still struggling for breath.

  “Alright your turn, but go easy on me, I am the little brother after all.” Tommy said with a smirk.

  “Oh, I’m going to drop you, zombie boy.” Bobby snatched the knife away from Tommy. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  Tommy braced to charge at him like one of the cannibals that had attacked him. It felt weird, pretending to be on the other side of this war. He lunged towards Bobby, expecting him to wait for an opportunity to “stab” him with the rubber knife. Instead, Bobby charged back, tackling Tommy onto his bed, and swatting him in the head with the knife.

  “I see you went with the brute force method.” Tommy said. They laughed, and for a moment it felt like the old days, where they would fight each other for fun, neither side wanting to actually hurt the other. It felt like it did before zombies were trying to rip their bodies apart.

  After the “training,” Bobby went up to Jordyn’s room to see if she was in there. He knocked on her door, and when she came to open it he could see that she had been crying. With everything that has been happening, it seemed normal for her to be crying. But this was different, he knew. The way she looked at him when she realized it was him at the door. He could see in her eyes how the prospect of losing him had made her distraught. He knew right there that she loved him. All doubts and nerves were gone. Bobby grabbed her fac
e with both hands and kissed her. He held it for a few seconds then let go, scanning her for her thoughts. Her eyes glistened with excitement and leftover tears. She then threw her arms around his neck, and pulled him in to her lips. The words ‘I love you’ didn’t need to be said by either of them, it was clear. They just held each other in the moment that both of them had been waiting as long as they can remember for. They wrapped their arms around each other, Jordyn’s face buried in Bobby’s chest. The incomparable happiness was interrupted by a deadweight anchor dropping in Jordyn’s stomach, when she remembered he was leaving tomorrow.

  “Do you really have to go tomorrow?” She asked. That anchor was now in Bobby’s stomach. He didn’t want to leave her, but the way he saw it he didn’t have a choice.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Please be safe, Bobby.”

  “I will.”

  Chapter 18

  “Nick!” Tommy yelled.

  “What?”

  “Where the hell did Ned get this rock?”

  “What rock?”

  “The one on his lap!”

  “Diego no barking!... Good boy.” Ned said.

  “Dammit, Ned.” Tommy sighed, as Nick looked at him with pure confusion. “Diego was his dog who died like 6 years ago. Nick, where did he get the rock?”

  “I don’t know, in the yard?”

  “We don’t have any huge, dark grey rocks in our yard, Nick.”

  “Well I don’t know I was asleep what do you want from me?”

  “You sleep in the same room you didn’t hear anything?”

  “No!”

  “He can’t be outside wandering around, especially when we are all asleep he’s going to get himself killed. Ned, listen to me, you can’t go outside, okay?” No response. “Ned? Do you hear me?” Ned continued petting Diego.