Surviving The Aftermath (Book 1): The Dead Linger

by Roberts, Liz

  “Gee no. Is that what that dwelling is over there?”

  “Don’t have to be a dick. A simple no, would do.” Jill said. Both Casey and Jill continued to look everywhere but at each other in the now pregnant silence that has befallen them.

  “I’m not sure we have the man power, and not knowing what’s in there seems risky.” Casey said, being the first one to end the long silence.

  “Well I don’t think you should rule it out. You have plenty of people. I think you just have to make sure they can handle themselves.” Jill was saying as she rose from her chair and went to look closer at the surroundings of the apartment building. “If you could fence that in somehow you’d be set.”

  “Yeah that’s the key.” Casey said now standing next to her.

  Finally feeling tired again she turned to Casey.

  “Well I’m going back to bed. You have a good night Casey.” Jill said and limped off to the stairs to take her back down to the ground floor. Casey didn’t reply, just watched her go. I guess she’s not that naïve, maybe one day he would change his opinion of Jill.

  Jeff stood by one of the new made watch towers that had been added to the already existing wall. He was talking to woman whose name he couldn’t remember but hoped to have a good night with anyway. All he wanted was some information and to get laid, but she wouldn’t stop talking about her little pet dog she had to leave behind when she came here. She was practically crying.

  “There there. I’m it sure got out, probably running around the countryside chasing squirrels.” He said.

  “You really think so?” She uttered between sobs.

  “Oh yes honey I know it. I just have this gut instinct.” He slowly put his arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder, when he noticed Jill and Casey up on the roof talking what appeared to be a serious conversation and then her hobbling back down the stairs. He’d eventually get to her, but tonight he already had his pick.

  “So how many guns did you say this place had again?”

  Waking the next morning feeling shockingly refreshed, Jill meandered outside and found Jack helping Beth’s daughter Meghan. They were loading bags of soil and fertilizer for the green house.

  “Hi guys, how’s it going?” Jill asked brightly.

  “Just fine. We are trying to get started on planting for some new veggies, with summer coming tomatoes should be a hot commodity around here.” Meghan said while continuing to load the pickup truck.

  “Well good. Jack can you help me for just a sec.” Jill requested and made her away out of earshot from Meghan.

  “What’s up?” He asked looking back.

  “So are you enjoying babysitting?”

  “Oh shut up. Why didn’t you just tell me she was a cutie my age? You let me think she was 10.” Jack said resting his hands causally on his hips.

  “Now where’s the fun in that? Go finish your work, might I suggest asking her to have lunch with you later.” Jill added.

  “Would you just go please?” Jack clearly a bit embarrassed.

  “Ok I’m going.” Jill put her hands up in surrender and backed away and Jack returned to his task.

  “So you guys aren’t related at all?” Meghan asked Jack when he came back.

  “No. Why would you think that?”

  “Just the way you guys act together.” She stated plainly.

  “I did have a sister once. And a brother, but they didn’t make it. And my dad abandoned me, only a few weeks ago actually. Jill happened to come across me and we’ve been together since.” Jack continued to heft bags in the back of the truck. Meghan started closed the back deciding they were done. They went around and got into the cab of the truck.

  “Ready for the next leg of the trip? Planting.”

  “Oh boy my fav.” Jack replied sarcastically.

  Over the next few days, Jack and Jill both spent time becoming acclimated to the work that was here and the place as whole in general. Both were fast learners and Jack was proving to have decent ideas about building weapons and added traps. Finally with someone backing Casey on some of his ideas and able to give visual drawings to them, people were excited. Jill met two other women during the discussions for improving the place, Lucy and Jane, they were very much into this stuff as well, they were hard, like had seen and done some things that should never be spoken out loud, hard. Lucy, she had lost her baby girl when this all when down, she was out for blood and vowed to kill every walker she saw. And Jane, was actually a Jane Doe, she woke up in the front seat passenger side of a station wagon in the middle of an intersection after obviously having been plowed into by another car. Whoever was the driver of the car she was in, was long gone, she still hadn’t regained any memory of anything before that first day when she woke up. She was always saying to people that she was fortunate not to know the loss that everyone else had. They all worked together pretty closely discussing new ways to improve. A thought early on was to move the barbwire perimeter and fencing farther out. There were other stores on the other side of the parking lot closer to the road, the thought was to expand, get more room. But with supplies being what they were, the expansion plan would probably have to wait. Jill at the moment was helping take inventory. There was talk about a supply run getting ready to happen, and lists had to be made.

  “Hey Cindi.”

  “Hi Jill. So we’ll be working together today on this crap?” Cindi an extremely bubbly 19 yr replied. She had beautifully straight blonde hair that required absolutely no product, because there wasn’t much anyway.

  “Yup, they gave us the boring stuff today.” Jill preferred being on watch, making or cleaning weapons or going over strategy. Counting was not her favorite past time.

  “I’ll count you write?”

  “Sure let’s go.” Jill noticed this seemed to be Cindi’s only jobs, that and working in the kitchen, maybe she just didn’t have the stomach for anything else. Cindi was Tom and Vikki’s eldest daughter of 19, she was once a cheerleader, shocking, a gymnast and a track star. Apparently according to Vikki she was very popular in school and had been accepted to a plethora of colleges all across the U.S.

  “Where’s your tag-a-long buddy?” Cindi was referring to Jack. Everyone had noticed the two of them were together quite a bit.

  “He’s over learning how to work the doors.”

  “So what’s his story? He doesn’t talk much.” Jill was taken aback by this statement. Jack not talk? The kid was a motor mouth, some days you wanted to duct tape his mouth shut. But he meant well and would bend over backwards to help anyone.

  “What do you mean he doesn’t talk? What sort of questions are you asking him?” Jill was now curious.

  “Oh just the usual, how does he like it here, what sort of jobs he’s doing. He just gives one word answers.” While Jill knew Jack had a crush on Meghan, that didn’t mean he had to treat the other girls rudely, maybe she would just mention it to him.

  “I think he likes here just fine, he’s never expressed interest in leaving, or even searching for his dad for that matter.” Jill said.

  “His dad?”

  “Yeah his dad left in find help or answers, who knows, but they had a working car and took off a couple weeks before I found him.” She wasn’t sure if she should be telling all this to Cindi, unsure if Jack wanted his business talked about so she clamped up. After a few more minutes of companionable silence Cindi spoke up again.

  “Have you met that Tyler guy yet?”

  “Yeah and his friend Jeff. Why?” Jill was super interested to hear this answer.

  “I don’t know, just wondered what you thought of him.” Cindi tried to cover up her question with a nonchalant shrug, but she would need much more practice, because she was blushing too. Jill immediately worried where this conversation was heading.

  “I think he’s dangerous and probably not looking for friends. You might want to think about steering clear of him, at least for now.” Hoping she didn’t push Cindi in the wrong direction Jill tried to
keep short but yet on point.

  “I guess, but he’s always nice to me.”

  “He’s still a stranger, just watch yourself around him, at least until he’s been here a while longer. You don’t want to rush into anything right.” Jill was foreseeing a conversation with Vikki in the future. Up walked Tom before Cindi could ask any more questions.

  “Hey princess, how are you guys doing here?” He asked Cindi.

  “Great dad, were just about done. Right Jill?” Yeah they were only half way through, but Jill would rather finish up by herself at the moment.

  “Up pretty much done if you want to take off.”

  “Alright, let’s go see what your mother is up to.” Tom said has he slung his arm around his daughter and they walked off chatting about this and that. Jill wondered what was up with Cindi not finishing her job, in fact why didn’t Cindi ever finish any of her jobs, but she was more intrigued with why Tyler would want anything to do with a young girl like her.

  Over the next several nights Jill would continue to wake up in the middle of the night. She was sleeping past midnight now though and just waking earlier the next day sometimes. She was still getting use to sleeping more than 3 or 4 hours a night. She would usually get up and meander back up to the roof and sit for a while. Casey had been right, the peace and quiet didn’t last long, and her guess was the zombies were thawing out from the winter and start wandering around again, coming down from farther north. Or maybe with the new spring air human scents traveled better and farther. Who knew for sure, it was just getting more crowded around here with them.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey yourself.” She replied. Casey sat down next to her, he obviously had not been to bed yet.

  “What are you doing up?” She asked.

  “Just trying to organize, keep the Zeds numbers down some. We work like this through most the night I guess, it’s when they seem to be pretty active in the area. They get into the barbwire pretty bad and we work to clear ‘em out.”

  They continued to chat and talk, keeping the conversation on bettering the fort, scavenging for food, supplies, weapons and people.

  “When are you guys going out again?”

  “Maybe in a few days, there is a mall we still haven’t checked out, but it has a Cabela’s. So were hopeful.”

  “I think I should go with you.” She stated.

  “Why?” He looked shocked that she would even ask, let alone declare she should go.

  “Because I’ve lived out there and have pretty decent experience.”

  “I think we’ll be ok, we’ve done this numerous times before.” He chuckled.

  “It was just a suggestion. I thought I could help, it’s something I’m good at.” Casey stared at her averted gaze for a minute.

  “You’re pissed.” He accused.

  “Don’t be stupid.” She said while still not looking at him.

  “You are, you ticked I didn’t think you coming with us was a good idea.” He stood and scooted his chair closer to her.

  “Hey. It’s not because I don’t think you can’t handle yourself, I swear, I just thought it would be best if you stayed here with Tom to help keep an eye on things.” He finished. Jill stared at him for a minute before breaking the silence.

  “You never know where each day takes you. I’ve come across two types of people, the ones looking for safety, others looking to exploit. There are towns, for lack of a better word, popping up everywhere in the most random places.” Jill continued. “Full of scared, power hungry people, I sort of expected that here too. But I guess not.” She turned to look at Casey now.

  “Most of these places are not run by the most hospitable, or moral men. Yes all these places have male leaders. Each place is pretty much a survival of the fittest. Oh they had rules, all the same consequence, banishment, death, forced slavery.” Casey was now listening intently. “I was in Montana, or South Dakota, can’t remember for sure, and thankfully came across a trade town. If you want something, you have to trade for it, food, a bed, weapons, sex, everything there is tradable. I only stayed a few hours, just enough to sleep and I left in the middle of the night. A couple of the women there were telling me stories about what they do with females, they are pretty much currency and whores, and they told me not to ask about how they had fresh meat so often. Apparently the penalties for breaking certain rules there are slightly different.” Jill now silent watched Casey absorb all that she had just told him.

  “I guess I hadn’t realized how bad it was out there, I mean I thought we were struggling, but damn. Cannibalism?”

  “That’s not all that’s out there. Roaming squads of bandits too, like your friends Jeff and Tyler. Except they usually travel in much larger packs. This one time, I was with a young couple and we were holed up in a house somewhere in Missouri, I didn’t even know their names. It was dark, no power, we were catching up on some sleep in this old house, when headlights cut across the living room in the darkness and woke us. There had to be at least a dozen motorcycles, and a few cars out in the street, along with a horde of zombies following with all the noise these guys were making, they began breaking into all the other houses there on the block. I warned them. I warned them to stay quiet, keep down. The chick, freaked out, I’ll never know what got into her, but she went right up to the window, smashed her face against it and everything. And of course they could see her. Her guy comes up behind her to pull her down, too late. A bunch of rough looking guys come running at the house, I grabbed my pack and bolted for the back door, always know your exit points I say. I hid out in the overgrown grass in the fenced in backyard, they came in, killed the guy. Didn’t even argue, no words, they shot him and took her with them when they left.” Jill finished.

  “You didn’t do anything?” Casey asked with quiet shock.

  “What should I have done? You tell me.”

  “Well if there were only two maybe you three could have … … “ Casey trailed off without completely his sentence. “You’re crying.” He nodded at her, clearly stunned by her reaction.

  “I didn’t want to leave them. I wish I could have saved them, especially her. I can only imagine the horrible fate that came upon her.” Jill had a few tears on her cheeks, it did bother her that she did nothing, but what could she have done. She had no real weapons at that time, her fate would have been the same as the other girl.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. I just hate to think there are still such bad people out there.” Casey said as he tried to lay a comforting hand on her back.

  “I gotta go, I’m tired.” Jill quickly got up and walked away, seeking the welcome comfort of her bed.

  “Jill I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that!” Casey hollered after her. Jill only acknowledged it with a quick little lift of her hand before going down the stairs back into the store.”

  “What do you think of the new girl, Jill?” Kurt asked.

  “Why, do you like her?” Tom asked casually over his shoulder. Kurt scoffed at that.

  “Yeah right, so not my cup of tea. I just meant, she seems pretty smart, stable. She has some pretty good ideas in regards to this place and in general, to help us expand. I mean if what she says is true, with a bunch of farm land south of here? That could open wide array of possibilities.”

  “How the hell do we patrol a farm?” Tom didn’t really like that idea. He didn’t think they needed to stretch themselves any thinner, but he liked the idea of expanding into the apartments, maybe have some room. With his two daughters sharing a room with him and his wife, alone time was far and few in between.

  “Plus we have no idea what the condition of living is out there, are there still animals alive. We know nothing.”

  “That’s why we send out a scout team, just like she said. Dude give her some credit, she has some good ideas. Plus I think Casey likes her.” Kurt added with a smile.

  “Well he hasn’t been laid in what … . .?”

  “Never. He’s never hooked up with any of
the women here.”

  “How do you know that?” Tom asked not believing Kurt in the least. “You were busy clucking with all the other hens?” Tom tried to get a dig in on Kurt once in a while. He knew about him, it wasn’t obvious, but Tom wasn’t stupid either. Kurt squinted and gave him laser eyes.

  “No Jack ass, he told me, and I believe him.” The men continued sorting through the inventory, making list of what they might need. The trip to get supplies was vastly approaching, and they had to go through everything.

  “So, change of subject, I noticed your daughter and some of the other girls hanging around that Tyler guy quite a bit. Are they becoming an item?” Kurt said.

  “Cindi better stay away from him, that guy is bad news, I don’t like him one bit. That Jeff guy either.” Tom did not like, trust or tolerate those two. He frequently snubbed them and made sure to stick them with bull shit jobs to keep them away from others, including his daughter.

  “What do you think about Jack?” Kurt said shaking Tom out of his day dream.

  “Why do you keep asking me about him? What do you like him or something? Then go talk to him.” Kurt choose to ignore that.

  “Because Andy thinks he should come along on the supply run, and I agree. What do you think?” Tom stood there for a minutes, the kid was young, smart, appeared to be able to handle himself.

  “I guess I would agree with you guys on him going.”

  “Oh look, there goes your buddy now with his new GF’s.” Kurt pointed towards Tyler walking by with three girls, Tom’s daughter included. What was her issue, Kurt didn’t see the appeal, he knew cute and Tyler was not cute.

  “I’m telling you, you need to watch her, or keep a better eye on him, cause that whole thing has “bad news” written all over it.” Kurt said while watching Tom glower at Tyler.

  One night Jill woke from a particularly bad dream, it was of being chased by zombies, her parent’s possible demise and the woman she saw dragged off from that night, by the bandits. She’d had that nightmare a few hundred times, but it switched in her dream, it was always her they took and the other one watching from a far. It was about 2am, guess it was time to wander around, but she didn’t feel like having Casey’s company at the moment. So she turned in the other direction and went outside by the lumber yard to sit and ponder.