The Reanimates (Book 2): The Highway

by Rudolph, J.

  "We are done, Jody. We are tired of having our choices made for us by this guy." I nodded in the direction of Brother Michael. "We want the choice to leave. So do a group of others." With that I figured this was as good a time as any to set off our signal. I motioned to Tyreese to pull out the bag with the bottle rockets inside and he handed them to Matt. He took the bag like it was a baton in a relay race and went out the front door to light the bottle rocket to signal the others. I heard the scream of the rockets from outside followed by the sound of footsteps in a light jog, and Matt came back to where the stand-off was happening.

  "Well, I can't do that. God sent you here to me to add your knowledge to the group and to be part of the whole. I prayed for a trained medical person to come and you showed up. God gave you to me. I don't discard gifts from God."

  "Maybe God did send me. I taught your medical staff here how to do stuff so they can carry out consistent good care. Isn't it possible that that was all God wanted? You are not going to hold us here like caged animals anymore."

  A walkie-talkie squawked to life in a burst of static. When the static cleared a voice came over the radio. "Alpha One, alpha one. Do you copy? Residents on the move to the gate."

  Bart fumbled a walkie out of his pants pocket. "This your people acting out?" He asked Matt.

  Matt smiled and said, "Nope. Not acting out. Getting out."

  "Hold them." Bart hissed into the radio, anger dripping off each syllable.

  "I'm not going to open it," Brother Michael said to us, "you are staying. The sooner you get used to that the better you will feel. Maybe if you were to come to Bible study or pray on it you'd be more accepting of everything."

  Matt strode across the room, pulled a gun out from behind his back where it was held in place by the waist band of his jeans, and put the gun to Brother Michael's head, which shocked and scared all the other people in the room. Matt leaned close to Brother Michael's face and whispered, "Remember in the Bible when the Pharaoh kept refusing to let Moses and his people go? There was a whole world of hurt that rained down on them. Come see the amount of people that want out of your Egypt, Mr. Pharaoh man." Matt put his hand on Brother Michael's back and pushed him forward and out the door. With this new development of Brother Michael being under the gun the dynamics of the room changed. Bart was getting more and more irritated and Michael seemed to unravel. His face began to have several twitches and he seemed to be hearing voices that he didn't like. When he was pushed to the end of the street and saw the gate and the line of people in their cars to leave, Michael began to start yelling. He was standing in the yard of the house on the end of the street that had a dirt lot where the front yard had been. He had an excellent view of the gate and the line of cars at the end with our bus planted right in the middle.

  "You ingrates! This is what you go and do?" Brother Michael's voice raised an octave as he began to scream at us. His arms made grand sweeping gestures to indicate that he was talking to everyone else in the line of cars as well. "You betray all that I've done for you? You want to leave? Don't you get that this is the devil that is in you right now? You looters! You ungrateful looting children! You stole!" He slipped out of the grip Matt had on him, picked up a rock and threw it at one of the cars. When it struck the metal panel of a nearby car with a loud bang, one of the guards on the tower was startled and opened fire. We all scuttled around to find some protection, which there was precious little of. I scurried to a tree and hid my head behind it. Bullets hit the dirt around me with a “thunk” sound, with a spray of dirt and dust blooming where the bullet struck. Gunfire was returned from our bus. Pops and whistles rang all around us, like we were inside a popcorn maker.

  While the volley of gunfire really only lasted about 15 seconds, it felt much longer. When it stopped, we took inventory of everyone. We noticed that Will had scuttled off to someplace else, and for a moment, I wondered if he changed teams. There was a yell from near the gate, and that's where we learned where Will went.

  "Michael!” Will yelled to get Brother Michael's attention. “What is your biggest strength here? Your walls of Jericho?" I noticed he dropped the title of Brother. I wondered if that was intentional.

  Brother Michael looked at him in disbelief. "It is a great protection that God suggested we build to keep out the demons. Why?"

  "Well, see, I have my own trumpet. Do you want your walls to come tumbling down?" Will called back. His eyes shone with determination, his jaw was set tight as it tilted up a bit. His shoulders squared and any sign of weakness and fear that he may have had was gone. He held in his hand a box that had several wires coming out of it and several switches built into it. He held it high to show everyone his device.

  "You wouldn't dare. There are demons walking around in the dead. You wouldn't expose the whole place to them." Brother Michael's eyes betrayed his words. If he had been truly secure in his conviction his eyes would be firmly set on Will instead of darting between those he knew to be loyal to him. He was looking for reassurance from the others that wasn't there. They knew that Will was 100% certain of his actions. They knew there was really no defense here. Sure they could shoot him, that would be the easy course of action here. What they didn't know was how redundant the system was, if they killed Will would someone else have their hands on another trigger? I didn't even know that answer.

  "No, I wouldn't. This of course is assuming you open those damned gates. Now." Will retorted. Will smirked at Brother Michael who was getting more agitated with him.

  Brother Michael stared into the eyes of Will with anger. "I will not open anything. You don't have any way to take that wall down. The hand of God helped build it." He nodded his head vigorously, sure that if the hand of God was involved then it was impervious to everything else.

  A deafening boom rang out of the wall, punctuating the end of Brother Michael's defiant speech. Shrapnel from the shipping container rained down in a surprisingly large blast area. My ears were ringing from the sound and I was actually surprised by the lack of sound that should have been happening as variable sizes of metal rained down on the streets and cars. I wondered if my ears would recover from the loud ringing they were doing.

  Will had blown the top container next to the gate. He actually pulled it off. The wall still stood minus a container, like a tooth missing from the top row in a child's mouth. Brother Michael sunk to the ground in shock. The ringing in my ears stopped echoing as loud and I began to hear the people around me again.

  "This is not the only container rigged up. The next one will be a bottom unit. So, Michael, the choice is yours. Do we drive through a gate that you can close after we leave or do we make our own opening that will take time to repair? I told you I had a trumpet, didn't I. Just call me Joshua." Will said with a taunt.

  Brother Michael looked shaken. Roy came out from the gate tower and went to Brother Michael. Bart joined them. They crouched down next to Brother Michael and spoke quietly. They seemed to have a little huddle to discuss their options, which were few. Brother Michael yelled out at them, loud enough to have everyone hear. "They are false prophets! I'm supposed to bend to the false prophets? No!" Roy had to take a few attempts to redirect Brother Michael's attention and began to speak softly to him. As Roy continued to speak to him, Brother Michael seemed to calm down, settling back into the dirt with his head down. He nodded to Roy in defeat.

  "I want to make something very clear," Roy said loudly as he stood, brushing the dirt off his hands on his faded blue jeans. "If you go out the gate you stay out. If you come near here ever again you will be on the shoot-to-kill list. Period. Every one of you that does not report to roll call after the gate is closed is dead." Roy held his head high, daring someone to contradict his offer.

  "Roy? That is exceedingly fair." I called to him. "Everyone will agree to that." Roy fished a set of keys out of his pocket and walked to the gate with long strides.

  Brother Michael stayed on the ground during this exchange, occasionally hitting the side of hi
s head with the heel of his palm. He muttered to himself unintelligible words. He was in the middle of hallucinations that were likely a part of the stress of the moment. Part of me felt bad for him right then. He was having a hard time for sure and we played a very big part in causing that. Even though I really didn't like him, I still had compassion for him. He was a human being who was suffering. Jody walked up to him softly and crouched down with him. Her hand was on Brother Michael's arm and he did not pull away from her. She went from a crouch to sitting on the ground with him. She was quiet and seemed to be calming him down by sitting with him. It didn't look like she was saying anything. Her presence was all he needed right then.

  "Jody," I said softly, "Come on. Your kids are on the bus, we need to get out of here."

  "No." Jody's voice was barely above a whisper and I prayed that I heard her wrong.

  "Jody? Come on." I urged.

  She looked at me in the eyes and spoke with a louder, clear voice. "No, I'm not going with you. Take the kids if they want to go, but I am not going." I'm sure my mouth hung open as I stood there. She was murmuring softly into Michael's ear, reassurances that not everyone was going to leave him. My stomach rolled in waves of nausea. I couldn't wrap my brain around this. Not only was she going to abandon her friends so she could be in this cult, she was going to put her kids in the impossible position where they had to decide what to do. She was going to make them decide between her and this cult, and the rest of their acquired family and freedom. She was going to inflict a very grown up choice on a bunch of minors. I never would have thought she could be so mean to them, she was clearly choosing the cult over them, and she was treating them like incidentals. Jody really was lost and with this latest stunt, I felt like I didn't care anymore about what she chose. I wanted to slap her. The biggest feeling I had in this, all I cared about, was how to tell Erin without breaking her heart. Her mom certainly didn't care if it was broken.

  "Matt? Stay here for a second. I need to talk to Erin." He nodded. He understood that this was not going to be a fun talk since he overheard our exchange.

  I sprinted up to the bus and called Erin out. Trent looked at me with questioning eyes. I shook my head at him. When Erin got out of the bus, I was at a total loss for words. How was I going I tell her that her mom decided she didn't want to stay with the group, and that she didn't care if her children stayed with her or went with us?

  "Erin, here's the deal. Your mom has decided that she wants to stay here. She decided that it is up to you guys to stay or to go." Erin looked at me like she was slapped. The knot in my stomach grew tighter, and I wanted to cry on her behalf. What was I supposed to say? "Erin, you can totally stay with us if you want. Your brothers and sister, too. You will always have a home with us. On the flip side, It's okay if you want to go with her. She is your mom."

  Erin started to cry. "Cali would I be a bad person if I did choose to stay with you guys? If I told the other kids we are going to leave mom behind"

  "No, hon. You are part of my family, too. You would be more than welcome with us. I know it'll be hard to tell your brother and sister that things have changed and she is staying but I think that they are mature enough to handle it. JJ doesn't even seem to totally realize that Jody is his mom, he has always looked to you like you were his mom. You are his attachment person so as long as he is with you he'll be okay."

  "What if she remembers that she was a good mom? She used to be. You remember, right? What if she wakes up one morning and gets that we aren't here anymore?" A few silent tears slid down her cheeks. Her eyes spoke volumes about the hurt she was feeling in this exchange. I felt horrible that I was the one that brought this to her. I thought for a moment on the best way to answer her.

  "Well, the best I can say is I will give her directions to Idaho and if she later changes her mind then she knows where to find us."

  Erin thought about this. "Okay. I want to go with you. I want to keep the kids with me too. She wants to stay? Well then, whatever. Her loss. The cow." She smiled a little at this little defiance through her tears.

  "Alright. I'm going to let her know what your choice was, get Matt and the others, and we are getting the hell away from here."

  Erin trudged up the stairs of the bus and I ran back to Jody. "Jody? Alright. We're out of here. Kids too. If you ever change your mind, remember 84 West. I'll tie some ribbons on street signs, red for right, green for left. I hope you find what you're looking for. I'll miss you. I've been missing you for a while now, so nothing really is changing for me. I'll take care of the kids, I promise, I'll do the best I can. They are beautiful children, I'll be happy to help them grow into good people. I'm not their mom, but I'll do my best." Jody nodded quickly and refocused her attention on Michael, resuming her soft reassurances. I wondered how much she took in. The urge to slap her swept over me again. I shoved my hands into my pockets to restrain them.

  I heard the groan of metal in the gates as they were opened. I turned to my little group. "Come on." I had a sad half smile on my face. We all walked away leaving the scene of the two people sitting together. I resisted turning around to see her. I didn't want to see her watching us walk away and I didn't want to see her ignore us either.

  Matt went to the SUV and climbed in while Tyreese and DaWayne got in the van. I waved at both of them before getting on the bus. I saw Will and Todd near the gate, so I motioned to them to jump on when we got up to them.

  When we finally got to the gate we slowed to let them on. Todd got in first and as Will was just a few steps away from getting in, I heard an angry screech from behind us. I turned to look out the window to see Brother Michael in a rage with his face contorted in anger, his revolver drawn, and screaming about traitors in his camp. He started to run towards us as he pulled the hammer back to fire on us.

  I don't know if he didn't realize that Todd and Will were with us until he saw them get into the bright yellow bus. I think seeing the man that blew up part of his wall and threatened his security getting on the bus with us, the people that he was sure were gifts that God gave him, was more than he could handle. The screech stopped and gunfire began. Will fell to the ground after being hit by one of the bullets as it whistled past the bus and struck him in his head. He was missing part of his skull and blood pooled under his head in a halo. He was dead before he hit the ground. Windows exploded into a rain storm of glass as bullets went through one side and out the other. People outside screamed. Trent hit the gas and drove out as fast as he could.

  Will was the reason that we got out and he was gone. I couldn't believe it. I watched as we drove out the gate as Will's body grew smaller. Brother Michael stared at our bright yellow bus as we left. I was absolutely stunned by this turn of events.

  I shook the shock that I felt off when my hand landed in a pile of glass that nicked up my hand. I had no idea if anyone else got hurt in the spray of bullets. I went around to check on the group, starting with the kids and made sure that everyone was in one piece. Things looked good until I got to Todd. Todd was sitting on the stairs of the bus looking pale as a ghost. I squatted down to talk to him, thinking he was in shock. He lifted his hand off of his stomach and it was covered in blood. I gasped.

  I got behind Todd and hooked my hands under his arms and pulled him into the center aisle. I ripped open his sweatshirt and pulled up his shirt. He had a large hole in his gut and blood poured out of it. He was in a lot of pain. His stomach started to grow large with blood. He was bleeding heavily internally.

  "Lacey! I need the medical kit!" She found it quickly and handed it to me. I turned my focus back on Todd while I tore open the kit. I tried to be calm and reassuring. "Okay, hon. I know what I'm about to do is going to hurt, but I need to put pressure on this.” I put a pile of gauze over the hole and pushed down. Todd groaned in pain. I realized that there was a growing pool of blood under him so I rolled him on his side to see if there was an exit wound. There was, and it was huge.

  I checked on his pulse and even in the
short time I had my fingers on his neck, I felt it grow weaker. He was dying. I couldn't fix this.

  "Jessica." That was the last word Todd said before he closed his eyes and died.

  Todd and Will were heroes. I was crushed that they were not going to be reaping the rewards of their work. My heart broke that there was no way to recover Will's body. I didn't want to think about what they would do with it. Todd was there with us though, and he deserved to be celebrated. They needed all the acknowledgment that existed. We were going to celebrate the life of Todd who engineered this and mourn for those who knew him and loved him. I wished that we knew where to get Jessica and bring her here, even if she had been overtaken by the virus herself, just so they could be together. My brain flooded with images of them as they talked about wanting to leave and find their people and now they couldn't. I couldn't help but to feel like this was my fault. Had I never talked to them, they would still be alive. Grief flooded through me, and the thought that our freedom was purchased in their blood was pervasive.

  We drove along the same stretch of road we had traveled on our way in, back tracking on our path looking for the route that we should have taken in hindsight. We got to where another highway split from the 15 and according to our map, reconnected later on after Heartsvale. There, we stopped to bury Todd. There were a patch of trees and for the moment, the area was zombie free. We all took turns digging the hole despite the deep tears that flowed out of us, rivers of our souls being torn out by his loss. He was gently lowered down, and we added a covering of dirt to blanket his body. We searched for good sized rocks to pile on top of him, channeling some of that hurt into actual physical labor. We laid them over his grave as a memorial. Drew, Liam, and Abigail found a rock in the pile and pulled out their assortment of permanent markers and wrote in large letters: