by A. L. White
“Bob would never do that!” Virginia interrupted.
“No, he wouldn’t,” Lori added, “Each spot on this map will probably have much needed supplies with a safe place to hold up, and get some rest for a few days.”
“So you just want us to blindly follow a mapped-out plan made by a guy we never knew?” Al asked.
“I am not here to tell anyone what they should, or should not do. You all should do as you see best for you and your families. We are going to follow Bob’s map and you’re all welcome to come along, if you want.”
“I, for one, am not following two girls into the unknown. We could easily take those maps and everything else,” Roy stated as he headed towards the table. Zeus, hearing the tone in his voice, advanced between Roy and the table, bearing his fangs as he sat down facing Roy. If that didn’t help Roy get the point, Perseus seemed to purposely knock into Roy as he took his place next to Zeus, ready to pounce. Roy eased himself back behind his wife and children.
“Mister, I do believe you just made the best decision of your life,” Al chuckled.
Zoe started to add to it but stopped when she felt Lori gently squeeze her hand. “No one has to come with us. You can stay here or go where ever you want to go. The choice is yours and yours alone. We will split all of the supplies up on a per person basis.”
“If you and the little general are going, we’re going with you,” Al stated, looking at Zoe for confirmation.
She responded with a nod.
Jermaine smiled and said “I believe Taquisha and I will stay with you guys for a while.” Pam quickly echoed that sentiment, then added as she turned to face her husband, “Anyone not agreeing can find their own way!” Roy got the point and smiled as he nodded his head that he was, of course, in.
******
Judging by the sun it was late afternoon, Charlie thought to himself. Sitting there, time had no meaning to him anymore. Had it not been for the noise of a large truck coming from Main Street he probably would have still been sitting there in his own world. Hearing it reminded him that Doc was at the new school, in town, with a few other survivors. Pulling himself off the stoop, Charlie started walking toward Main Street. Growing up Charlie had always wondered if one day Rivers Crossing would turn into a ghost town. The thought kept popping up as he walked through the dead streets. The houses all appeared to be empty. All that was missing was a tumble weed blowing down the street, and a door slamming shut in the breeze.
Reaching Main Street, Charlie could see Doc standing in front of the school watching the dump truck back up to the ramp with a small group of people. He walked towards them, looking forward to being around others.
“Charlie! I was just going to come out and check on you when that pulled up over there,” Doc said pointing towards the truck.
“Do we know who that is?”
“Not a clue, Charlie. I was hoping you would know the truck,’ Doc replied.
“Let’s go see who it is then, Doc. Is that loaded?” Charlie asked pointing at the gun in Doc’s holster.
“Wouldn’t be of much use if it wasn’t, now would it, Charlie?”
The closer they moved towards the old school Charlie thought that the dump truck looked a little familiar, but he still could not match it to an owner yet.
“Where is your gun at, Charlie? The one I gave you this morning when I dropped you off?”
“I dropped it when I had to…” Charlie felt like he was going to start crying; all of his strength drained from his legs. “I just dropped it someplace,” Charlie finished with his voice cracking.
“Sorry, Charlie, I knew it was coming, but didn’t know how to tell you,” Doc replied.
Charlie didn’t want to talk about the subject but forced himself to say, “I guess I knew too, Doc, after your little tour this morning.”
They didn’t say anything more as they walked up the stairs to the school yard.
“Good morning! An elderly man said from next to the dump truck. Charlie recognized him right off as Boo Peterson. His name was Beau Peterson, but all the children in town, including Charlie, grew up knowing him as Boo Peterson. He was a cautionary tale told to bad children that stayed outside too late after dark. Charlie could remember well the tales his mom would tell him. “Better get in here. It’s starting to get dark outside. You don’t want old Boo Peterson to catch you and cut your ears off for his collection do you?”
“I am glad you fellas came over. I was going to stop by you after I got these supplies stowed away,” Boo stated. “Come on inside and let me show you around the old place,”
Once inside the first thing Charlie noticed was how warm and clean it was. The heat took your breath away compared to the dropping temperatures outside.
“I am sure you fellas noticed the heat?” Boo asked. “The old girl has a coal boiler, with plenty of coal to spare, keeping her warm and toasty. Our late mayor thought he might be able to repurpose or sell her; the last thing he wanted was to have the cold weather damage anything. If we run out of coal, there is plenty more to be found on the coal train that runs into Bixby, feeding the electric company. It just happens to be stopped on the south end of my farm. It has been there for about three weeks or so, I would guess. I noticed the other morning that there were survivors and that you were gathering them at the new school over there. It is a nice enough building, with its modern open concept, I guess. If you’re going to gather up what is left of the town I think this old girl is perfect for the task. First, it has heat. Not just a bunch of propane heaters that you know will not last or do the trick come the real cold,” Boo paused, letting it sink in. “The old girl was built as part of the “New Deal” during the depression. Back then there was a thought that Rivers Crossing would grow into a decent sized town with the river traffic and the train depot. They built the school and the library, which was later repurposed as the town hall. The old girl and the library is built seven feet higher than the normal grade. That was because of the yearly river flooding back before they built the dam a few miles upriver. I can tell you that it was a godsend a few springs, when the whole town could take shelter in these two buildings. That extra seven feet makes it a decent place to defend against what is out there.”
Doc looked around at all the supplies that Boo had dumped onto the school yard. “What is all of this for?”
Boo looked Doc in the eye, then Charlie, then back to Doc. “This is to keep the creatures out of this yard. We can close off almost all the entrances by shutting the gates and chaining them. This stuff is to reinforce them.”
“A little overkill, don’t you think?” Doc asked
“Boy, you young fellas haven’t been outside of town have you? Follow me please,” Boo stated.
They followed him down the hallway to the back stairway and started up. At the top of the stairs, off to the left, was a locked door that read, “Employees only.” Boo unlocked the door and motioned the two younger men to follow again. The stairs rose up another flight ending at a door. Beyond the door they found themselves on the flat roof of the school. Boo pointed off to the west, towards the Van Buren farm. “You see that moving around there?”
“It looks like old man Van Buren’s cattle herd?” Charlie asked.
Boo laughed so hard he thought he was going to pee himself. “No sir, that isn’t cattle moving around on that farm. That is what I am aiming to keep off the school yard.”
“Doc, I think you should take this man up on his offer and move everyone over here,” Charlie stated.
“I think I agree with you, Charlie! Mr. Peterson, where do you want everyone at?”
“Look fellas, I am not in charge of anything. I am just the building caretaker, and I want to stay with you guys here. You decide what needs to be done, Charlie,” Boo stated.
Both men looked at Charlie, waiting for him to decide. “Ok, for now, Doc. After everyone is settled in I am leaving town, just so you know.” Charlie paused to see if they both understood then continued, “To start, let’s
move everyone and everything over from the new school into the warmth.”
CHAPTER 7
After a good breakfast and a little light hearted conversation Lori rose and started unlatching the bunker door’s three heavy latches. The lads made their way in front of her as she pulled the heavy door open. Unconsciously, Lori moved to the side and let them exit the bunker first. A few feet from the safety of the bunker Zeus stopped and sniffed the air while Perseus took interest with the area by the trailer. Lori stepped out of the door and began sniffing the air as well. She also noticed the scent coming from the area that Perseus was preoccupied with. Her first thought was to wonder why Zeus hadn’t picked up the scent as well. Oddly, it wasn’t why she could pick up scent and Zeus couldn’t.
Virginia was close behind her and noticed that Lori was sniffing the air much the way that the lads did. Not wanting anyone else to notice this odd behavior, she said, “Zeus and Perseus, go check out the trailer.” With that the lads were both off towards the trailer in an instant. Virginia pushed Lori out from in front of the door where no one could see her. “If you think it is safe enough, maybe we should start loading up supplies.”
Lori shook her head yes, and started toward the trailer as well. She knew that there was a question inside of what Virginia had said to her. She also knew that she didn’t have an answer for it right now. Ever since she was attacked by the zombie, something inside of her had changed. Until she could explain it to herself there wasn’t much sense in trying to explain it to anyone else.
“Come back, lads!” Lori commanded the dogs. “Virginia, you’re right. We need to get started. We don’t have a lot of time.” Lori flipped her the truck keys, “Back the truck up to the door and see if you can find a good spot for you and the lads to watch over us.” Virginia caught the keys and gave Lori a funny look. “Come on Virginia, everyone knew that Bob was teaching you how to drive the truck,” Lori said smiling at her little sister. Virginia smiled back and went to get the truck.
“Something wrong?” Al asked as he came out. Virginia ignored him for a second and asked Jermaine as he was coming out, “You were off to the west, right?”
“Yea, we came from over East Moline,” Jermaine replied.
“Where did you first run into the large herd?”
“I think it was a little town called Frankfort, or Frankfort Square. If you have a map I think I can show you,” Jermaine replied.
“Try to think real hard. What was the herd doing?”
“Besides trying to get into the car and eat us?” Jermaine asked.
“When you first noticed them, what were they doing? Were they on the move?”
“It seemed like they were moving to the east. We drove into them, more or less.”
“We ran into them coming from the Northwest. It would seem like they are going someplace, wouldn’t it?” Lori asked.
“I think you’re giving them more credit for intelligence than they deserve,” Al said.
Jermaine thought for a minute and then agreed with Al, “Yea, from what I have seen, Al is right. They don’t act like they have a lot of smarts.”
“Not all of them, but some seem pretty smart in an animalistic way. Smart like a wolf pack hunting its prey,”
“I’ll give you that. So what are you trying to say? Because I am not following you,” Al asked.
“I think we need to get the supplies loaded, and get on the move. I have a bad feeling that something is coming; we don’t want to be here when it gets here,” Lori stated.
“I don’t know you very well, but from what I have seen I will trust your judgment. I will get Joey and that other fella and get started now,” Al replied.
As they started into the bunker Jermaine laughed and pointed towards Virginia and the lads, “What are they supposed to be doing out there?”
Al stopped and looked, “I don’t really know but I would take her out there with that crossbow and the dogs over just about anyone else.”
It didn’t take long at all for them to fill the bed of the truck with supplies. Zoe came forward and dictated what went on the truck first, and where it should go when they reached the barn. She wanted the bulk of the medicine to be in the bus with a small amount of each in the RV. Once that was done, she wanted ammunition and the firearms to be divided up between the truck, bus, and the RV. That way, she had explained, if they lost any one vehicle they wouldn’t lose all of their supplies. After that came the food, against Al’s protestations. Al didn’t think there was a reason to carry most of the food and waste space that could be used for water; not until Lori had interjected that there was a good chance a lot of the perishable foods would be rotten by now. Lori understood foraging in unknown homes when much of what they might find would be rotten and put them at risk was not the right move. Brining along all they could was far safer. Once that ran out they would form teams to search houses.
After the last of what they could take was loaded, Zoe herded everyone into the RV except Al, Lori, and Virginia. They would ride in the truck and lead the way to the barn, where Jermaine would be waiting with Joey and the bus. Once there the thought was they would have a few minutes to decide who would ride where, and how they would rotate drivers.
******
The move from the new school to the old school was going well, with few difficulties. Charlie noticed that most of the survivors looked like they were a living version of the zombies. They went through the motions of moving around, but their eyes and facial expressions were blank. Many, Charlie thought, probably had to do what he had done this morning just to survive in this hell. He also noticed, when he talked to them, or had even walked by them, they seemed to come to life just a little bit. Probably because he had known most of them his whole life.
Boo Peterson saw Charlie watching the last of the move and walked over to him, extending his hand. Charlie shook his hand not knowing why, other than it was a warm greeting to another human being.
“I think I have a way to secure the yard for the night. It isn’t anything to keep permanent, but it would hold until morning,” Boo said.
“How’s that, Mr. Peterson?”
“Charlie, you can call me Beau or Boo, if you’re more comfortable with that. I used some of that chain link fence that I took from the hardware store and attached it to the bottom of a few of the school buses. All we have to do is drive them in front of the entrances.”
“Do you really think we need that?”
“I don’t rightly know, to be honest with you. Sure wouldn’t hurt having them blocked off, just in case,” Boo replied.
Charlie shook his head not wanting to believe any of this was real. “I guess you’re right, Mr. Peterson--I mean, Beau.”
“There is one other thing that we need to talk about, Charlie. I know you have had a lot placed on your plate today…but this can’t be overlooked.”
“Sure, Beau, let’s have it then,” Charlie replied.
“It’s like this, Charlie. I went over the amount of food and water they moved over here today. Water isn’t a problem, because I can tap us into the river and pump water into the place for as long as we need. We can use the generator, or I can work something up using the wind or a bike.” Boo paused to make sure Charlie was following. “Food, now that’s another matter entirely. You have about thirty survivors so far, counting you, me, the Doctor and the group that came from the new school. You have enough food for about three days; unless we go on strict rations.”
“There has to be more food in the houses,” Charlie said out loud as he was thinking.
“That’s my thinking exactly, Charlie! The whole world out there is just one big super store filled with supplies.”
Charlie shook his head yes. “I will see if Doc has a truck that I can use to go shopping then.”
“I think I will come along for the ride; we don’t need a truck; we can use mine.”
Charlie motioned for Boo to lead the way to his truck. Boo pointed over by the main stairs that rose up from M
ain Street into the school yard. “It’s just down there, Charlie. I will meet you there in about five minutes.” Charlie nodded his head and started off to Boo’s truck.
He wasn’t there very long when Boo appeared with Juan Martinez and his oldest boy in tow. “I thought maybe we should split the search up between two groups,” Boo stated.
Charlie nodded his head in agreement. “Juan, Carlos, good to see you. Thanks for lending a hand,” Charlie greeted them.
“Anything we can do to help you, Charlie. Anything at all,” Juan replied.
“Thank you all the same, guys,” Charlie said again, looking them over. “You look like you’re going hunting for big game instead of canned beans.”
“Charlie, we don’t know what’s in those houses,” Boo stated, handing him a hand gun.
Charlie shook his head no several times as images from this morning flooded his head. Deep down, he knew that Boo was right; the world had moved on beyond the time of humans. Still, deep down inside of him, in a place where no creature or man could ever possibly find, there was his Annie. In that place there was no need for firearms or scrounging for food.
Charlie took the gun, “Let’s get started then, gentlemen. Juan, you and your son start over on Front Street. Boo and I will start on Elm Street and meet you back here in the middle.”
Charlie and Boo watched as Juan and Carlos rode off toward Front Street in the recently commandeered flatbed from the hardware store. Then they headed off toward Elm Street themselves with very little conversation until they reached their destination.
“Where do you want to start? Any preferences?” Boo asked Charlie.
“I think here on the corner is as good a place to start as any,” Charlie replied.
“I will go up this side, Charlie, while you go up the other side. We can meet at the Preacher’s house and do that one together.” Charlie nodded his head and started toward the corner house on the other side of the street. It seemed odd to be going in other people’s houses looking for things to take. He caught himself knocking on the front door and standing there, waiting for someone to answer; even had to stop himself from walking off when no one did.