The Missing

by Gary Chesla

“Honestly, because no one wants to come down here,” Bill replied. “I guess after we found some of the first bodies that we buried down here digging themselves out, no one wants to come down here anymore.”

  “They are afraid,” I said. “That’s the first thing I’ve heard around here that actually explains what’s going on in this place.”

  Bill just looked at me with a confused look on his face.

  I got up off the ground, cleaned off my knife in the dirt then looked at Bill. I picked up the shovel and tossed it to Bill.

  “I guess you get to use the shovel,” I said.

  Bill frowned, but then he began to dig.

  Burying the little girl brought back more memories that I wish I could forget, but I guess that is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.

  Chapter 2

  I slowly stirred the next morning as the combination of the bright sunlight and the sound of footsteps inside the fort’s courtyard around me woke me up.

  I had slept an uneasy sleep last night.

  The experience of joining Bill on burial duty had been disturbing to say the least. I know I should have expected it to be strange, but I didn’t expect it to be so gruesome, to feel so personal.

  Cutting off the head of an infected corpse in today’s world shouldn’t have disturbed me so much, you could say that it was actually a common occurrence. But I guess the conditions under which it was done here was cruel and morbid. It wasn’t what was being done to the dead that was so disturbing, it was what it did to the living that was the problem. Putting myself in Ed’s place, losing your daughter was devastating enough, but to then to know that someone was going to cut her head off with an axe. The idea of mutilating her little body had filled me with rage.

  I still have nightmares of the day Sandy and Nicole died in my arms, of putting them to rest, then burying their broken bodies. If I would have then known that someone was going to cut off their heads with an axe, it would have been the final straw that would have driven me insane. Desecrating what little was left of my world after watching my family die would have been more than I could have handled. I’m really not sure that I have actually managed to recover from that day and I still often doubt my sanity.

  The more I learned about these people, the more I knew it was about time that I moved on. I didn’t see how I could help people like this, and if I stayed here much longer these people would probably end up getting me killed. The only people here that I halfway liked was Ed and his wife. If it wasn’t for Ed, and with him just losing his daughter, I would have probably left this morning, but I felt sorry for Ed and Cheryl.

  I decided to stick around for a few more days to make sure they were OK before I moved on.

  My morning rush of thoughts was interrupted when I felt Bear nuzzle my ear, he always did that when he wanted my attention.

  Apparently, the sight of these people moving about in the fort around us was making him nervous. He had many quiet ways to get my attention instead of barking, in fact, I can’t remember the last time I had heard him bark. I’ve heard him quietly growl many times, but he never barked. Bear had realized the value of silent communication long before I did, it must have been a survival instinct that he was born with, but I quickly took his cue and adopted his approach. By watching Bear, I learned that being quiet and moving slowly were the two main rules for staying alive.

  As I had learned, I slowly opened my eyes and listened for a few minutes before making any movements. It always was best to know if you had company before doing anything that would draw attention to the fact that you were there or that you were alive.

  I slowly turned my head to look around the courtyard inside the fort and visually confirm what I felt was going on in the courtyard. Bear and I slept under a small brown tarp lean to near the front gate. They had offered me a small building to stay in that had been the display area for the blacksmith exhibit when the fort was a tourist attraction, but I felt safer and more comfortable living as I have lived for the last year, out in the open where I could see what was going on around me. I always liked to know what was going on around me, being inside a building made me feel blind and claustrophobic. After being here with these people for the last two weeks, I feel even more strongly about my decision to set up my lean to where I did.

  The fact that I heard casual talking inside the fort told me that it was probably safe to get up. If there would have been a serious problem, I would have either heard screaming and shouting or it would have been very quiet because everyone would be hiding in their building waiting for the problem to solve itself.

  I slowly sat up.

  The men, all ten of the men left except for Ed, were taking their place around the morning campfire. Each morning the men gathered there to plan their days activities. They would bring up a topic and then vote on it. Democracy was a nice idea, but what these people needed was someone to take charge and tell them what to do.

  Just because everyone voted to do something didn’t mean that was what they should be doing. Like I had said before, I don’t believe any of these people had any ideas about what needed to be done, but whatever they did, it was unanimously agreed on by all the men, so they were all happy.

  Every morning since I’ve been here it has been the same thing.

  They picked someone to be on burial duty, Bill volunteered every morning for that job, which then everyone voted to accept him for burial duty. Two guys named George and Fred always had water duty, Ken and Jim had gathered firewood, Tim and Barry checked to be sure there were no breaches in the fort walls anywhere. They even had two guys volunteer to pick up trash. Today I volunteered to go hunting instead of being the lookout on the wall, which they all voted to have me go hunting today. I needed to have a change of pace and go somewhere where I could be alone with my thoughts so I could think and decide what I was going to do after I left the fort. About every third day I volunteered to go hunting, mainly because I liked to eat. The daily diet of berries they had here at the fort just didn’t do it for me, Bear and I had become used to a diet of roasted meat most every day. Bear would eat berries, but it turned his tongue purple. I also believe that Bear had an ornery streak in him, because he would always try to lick my face when his tongue was purple. It could be that was his way of cleaning off his tongue, but I feel he does it because he likes to see me with purple streaks on my face. Maybe he has a sense of humor after all.

  I’ve never heard any no votes since I’ve been here, I’ve been tempted to vote no on something just to see what they did but decided not to do anything to confuse them anymore than what they were already.

  Charlie, still nursing the arrow wound in his leg from Ed’s errant bow shot, volunteered to supervise the fort activities. Some guy that I couldn’t remember what his name was volunteered to take lookout duty on the wall in my place, but he didn’t seem to be very excited about it. I’m not sure what he would do if any of the dead showed up today, he gave me the impression that he would just run to his building and hide.

  It all seemed a waste of time to me, the only one that did any actual work that helped the fort were the two men that were going to carry water. Like I said, this group needed someone to take charge and tell them what they were going to do instead of everyone voting on useless ideas. If I were in charge, I would assign two men and a lookout to carry water for the fort. After they were done with that job, instead of sitting on their butt for the rest of the day, I would have them carry firewood. I would then assign two men to go hunting so these people could start eating on a regular basis again. I would also assign two men to go fishing, to catch fish to eat and smoke the extra fish for future use. I would also assign two men to stand watch, make arrows for the bows and carry rocks up on the wall to be used as a last means of defense. I would also put everyone to work to build an escape tunnel in the event the fort would ever get overrun. There were a lot of things that needed done at the fort to prepare for the coming winter. These people all seemed happy to just
sit here, blissfully ignorant, waiting for help to arrive.

  If I had any thoughts of staying around here for any amount of time, I should probably suggest that they vote to put me in charge. Since I’ve never heard anyone vote no on anything, it would probably work. However, after making everyone here do something that they have never done before, work, I’m sure I would be voted out at the next meeting. If they couldn’t manage to find the courage to vote me out, they would probably all hide and wait for me to go away. But my plans didn’t include me staying around here for much longer, so it was probably best I didn’t disturb their routine, they might not be able to recover.

  This morning before the group broke up to carry out their duties, Charlie spoke up to inform everyone that there was one additional item on this morning’s agenda.

  “Ed informed me that his wife has disappeared,” Charlie said. “I would like it if everyone would keep an eye out for her or for any clues as to where she could have gone. Ed seemed very upset this morning, so I told him we would all keep an eye out for her.”

  “When did she disappear?” I asked.

  “Ed doesn’t know,” Charlie replied. “He just said she was gone when he woke up this morning. Can your dog track people?”

  “He can track animals, so he might be able to pick up her scent,” I replied. “I could have him try to sniff around the fort and see if he smells anything.”

  “We can cover the inside of the fort,” Charlie said. “When you go out hunting, just keep an eye out for any traces of her. I’m sure she is around here somewhere. She might have just gone down to the cemetery or she probably just wanted to be by herself for a while.”

  “I’ll check down at the cemetery first before I go hunting,” I added.

  “How long do you think you will be out hunting?” Charlie asked.

  “It depends on what I find,” I replied. “Hopefully I will get something within a few hours.”

  “Well, good luck,” Charlie smiled. “Let’s all get to work.”

  I got up and headed back to my lean to, trying to push the frustrations out of my mind. First of all, I would have assigned someone to go look for Cheryl, she had just lost her daughter and had to be feeling like her world was ending. Cheryl shouldn’t be by herself at a time like this. Someone should also make sure she hadn’t gone outside the fort by herself, it was what got her in the situation she was in and it wasn’t safe.

  Then when Charlie said for everyone to get to work, I almost laughed. I know you probably think I’m being too hard on these people and maybe I am, but in today’s world every decision is a matter of life or death. I’ve had a lot of close calls that make you quickly realize that this isn’t a game. In order to survive, you have to take every decision very seriously and these people don’t much of anything seriously. I could be wrong about them, but my instincts tell me otherwise. It has been nice being around people again and I honestly will miss that, but my goal is to survive and I am concerned that future prospects here are not good. Besides, I have never been as lucky as these people seem to be.

  I poured myself a cup of warm pine needle tea, gave Bear a few pieces of dried deer jerky, then Bear and I left the fort to go hunting.

  We went out the back gate and walked back to the cemetery before heading out into the wooded hills behind the fort. I decided that instead of just walking close enough to see if I could see if Cheryl was down there, that I would walk through the graves. I wasn’t sure why I decided to go through the cemetery, but something inside me wanted to go check out the grave of the little girl we buried yesterday. I felt it would only be right that someone should visit the grave of that poor little girl after what had happened to her, after the sad life I believed she had been forced to live with these people. Maybe by doing this it was my way of easing my own conscience since I have not been able to visit the graves of my wife and daughter since I had been forced to leave my home one year ago. Maybe it was a way to help me mourn my own loss until I could return home, but whatever the reason, I felt myself being drawn to the cemetery and the little girl’s grave.

  I was surprised when I reached the fresh grave and I saw a small, old, dirty teddy bear lying at the base of the little wooden cross, in a way it reminded me of the little bear I had left on Nicole’s grave on my last visit. I was overwhelmed with emotion at the sight, it was something I hadn’t anticipated from these people. I looked around to see if I could see anyone, Ed or Cheryl, close by, but there weren’t any signs of life. Bill and I had left plenty of footprints in the dry dirt here yesterday when we buried the girl, so it was impossible to find any clues about who might have left the stuffed toy or which way they went.

  The sight of the bear calmed me down a little, and after not seeing any signs of anyone around the cemetery, Bear and I headed towards the woods to go hunting. I assumed Ed or Cheryl had been down to the grave and had left the stuffed bear on their daughter’s grave. Maybe Cheryl really hadn’t disappeared but had been down at the cemetery leaving the bear when Ed woke up this morning. This wouldn’t have been the first time that Ed had panicked over nothing.

  Feeling it was just another false alarm, any hesitation I had about leaving the fort and going hunting faded from my mind and I began to focus on the job at hand.

  Bear and I hiked up into the hills for half a mile until we came to a well-worn spot next to the creek. A deer trail came down over the hillside and crossed the creek. There were a lot of fresh-looking deer tracks in the mud next to the creek, telling me that this was a frequent stop, a watering hole that the deer visited as they traveled through the woods.

  Bear actively sniffed the air and then looked at me, giving me that silent stare that told me he thought this would be a good place to take a break. Bear followed me up the hillside until I found a large flat rock that had a good view of the watering hole. I sat down on the rock, Bear laid down next to me and began to sniff the air and study the woods.

  Bear and I each knew the routine, we have had plenty of practice at this and we both knew our jobs and what to expect.

  Bear’s job was to let me know when a deer was getting close, my job was to shoot the deer and then give Bear a treat to hold him until we got back to camp where he would get a proper meal. Unfortunately, Bear was usually much better at his job than I was at mine, but I have to admit, I’ve been getting much better at my part over the last few months.

  As I made myself comfortable to wait for a deer to show up, my mind started to drift back to the beginning. It was a memory that I usually tried to push out of my mind whenever it came to me, but I guess burying the little girl yesterday made it creep back into my mind again and I wasn’t able to let it go.

  My wife, Sandy, and I had just bought a new house in the outskirts of Lexington, Kentucky. Our little daughter, Nicole, had just turned six and was going to be starting the first grade in the fall. We needed a larger house now that Nicole was getting older and we also wanted her to attend a good school. The schools were much better outside of town and the new home we had just purchased was also closer to my work. I worked at the east end branch of the Lexington Water Company. Four days a week I arranged for water line installations and residential water connections, on the fifth day the crew and I would do meter readings for the billing department. It was a good job that paid well, and it had enabled me to provide all the necessities along with a few luxuries for my family. We had a good life and were eagerly looking to the future, especially Nicole’s first day of school.

  I can remember the day it all started as if it was yesterday, the thing was we never had any clues about what was going to happen. I’m sure there had to have been something, but there wasn’t anything that had been so unusual that it made us stop and question it. The only unusual thing that had attracted our attention was there had been reports about this year was expected to be a worse than usual flu season. Sandy and I had discussed the possibility of keeping Nicole home from the start of school if the flu was very bad around Lexington when school s
tarted, but that had been about it. There wasn’t anything else that I could think of that could have tipped us off about what was going to happen. There was a short report on TV the day before everything went to hell, but there weren’t any reports of people going insane and attacking each other. It all just happened so fast that when it did happen, there wasn’t any time for special broadcasts. Honestly, after it started, I wouldn’t have been able to listen to any reports, I was too busy fighting for my life.

  I was at a site digging a pipeline to run a water line into a new UPS facility when Sandy called me that day. It had been a normal day up to that point, we had laid about a hundred feet of six-inch water line when I got her call and we were all about ready to take our lunch break. The call scared me, Sandy who was normally calm and thoughtful was so frantic and incoherent when she called me. The sounds in the background of her call were strange, so I told her I was leaving right then and that I was sure everything would be fine. I didn’t want to scare her, but her call had me more concerned than I wanted her to know.

  I started driving home and it was as if the world went to hell all at once, somewhere around 11:30 AM. My drive home was surreal, but the worst of it was when I entered my house.

  The front door had been caved in and the living room windows had all been broken out. The cries of pain and the eerie moaning coming from inside my house scared the hell out of me. When I ran in through the front door, what greeted me was so unbelievable that I froze for a few seconds, unable to believe what I was seeing. Sandy and Nicole were lying on the floor in front of the couch, their bodies pale and bloody, as Sandy tried to cover Nicole’s little body with her own to protect her. Bear was ferociously snarling and attacking the two unbelievably gross bloody figures that were attacking them. Five other bloody bodies were moving around on the floor, unable to reach my family because their arms and legs had been ripped off their bodies, but they were still managing to inch closer to my family with each grotesque movement they made. Bear, covered in blood which I assumed was from tearing apart the bodies of the figures moving around on the floor, was now focusing on one of the two other attackers. The other figure was getting ready to pounce on Sandy when I snapped out of my shock induced trance and grabbed a lamp and smashed it over the head of the attacker. I then used the other matching lamp from the coffee table to finish off the figure that Bear had knocked to the floor and was now in the process of tearing him apart.