by Bell, A. E.
Sylvie whined, “But dad, we wanna go. We feel trapped in this RV. Please let us go.”
Evie answered, “It’s fine. The gas station seems quiet. It’ll be good for them to get out. I’m sure they feel trapped.” Creed just let out a sigh and nodded his head. It wasn’t the first time that he had to give in to Evie and it wouldn’t be the last. He wasn’t afraid of her, but he saved the actual arguing for when he thought it was important enough and he thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell of him winning.
She ran in to do the shopping. It only took her a few minutes and then she came out with two gas cans in one arm and two bags of food in the other. When she was almost back to the RV, Creed saw a figure running towards her. When the figure hit her, she fell to the ground. As she hit the ground, the groceries went everywhere. The figure came into view, it was an infected. He was trying to bite her, and the entire time she was struggling to get her gun out. Creed ran over to her and kicked the creature. It had soulless eyes, its face was half torn off, with ashy skin, and black streaks where veins used to be. No sooner than Creed kicked it off, the creature was growling, moaning, and clawing at her.
Creed took out his gun and shot it in the side of the head. The infected creature went limp and fell right on top of Evie. Evie started freaking out. “Get this fucker off me. Oh my God, get it off.” She managed to squirm her way out from under it, stood up, and just began trembling uncontrollably. The kids came running out of the RV to check on their mom. Evie yelled out, “I’m fine! Please, get back in the fucking RV right now.” They just stood there staring at her. I said, “Get back in the fucking RV.’ They finally did as they were told.
Creed and Evie both checked her for bite marks. Luckily, she didn’t have any. They gathered all the groceries and gas cans. He started to get into the driver’s side of the RV and Evie hollered, “What are you doing? I didn’t go through all of that to not get the gas. Besides, I can drive!”
Creed rarely yelled at Evie, but he could hold her in no longer. “Woman, I will drive. There is no way that you need to be driving this thing as shaken as you are. Now, for once do what the fuck I tell you. I’m driving. End of fucking story. Don’t say another word, get in the passenger seat now. I will pump more gas if it makes you fuckin’ happy, okay!”
She stood there for a minute stunned, “Okay, fine but you don’t have to be such a prick about it. I’m going to take a shower. I need to get this zombie juice off me. It’s making me want to puke. I mean look at me, I have his disgusting saliva in my hair, and God knows what this stuff on my clothes is. For all I know, it might be bits and pieces of the people he ate.” She climbed up into the RV and went straight for the shower.
Creed finished getting the gas and took his spot in the driver’s seat. Evie eventually emerged from the shower. There was obvious tension in the air. She could make you feel her anger without ever saying a word. He sat there in silence waiting for her to signal that she was ready to talk about it.
It was nearly an hour and a half before she spoke. When she did start talking again, she acted as though she had never been upset with Creed. She said, “That scared the shit out of me. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been that scared in my entire life. By the time he was on top of me, I couldn’t do anything but try to keep him from biting me. I swear his breath smelled like an old rotting corpse. I hope the kids are alright. I know that had to have fucked them up. They’ll never get that image out of their minds. No kid should ever witness anything so terrible.”
Ollie yelled up front, “Mom we’re alright, we are just worried about you.”
She answered, “I’m fine. Just a little shook up, but it’ll be okay.” Truthfully, Evie wasn’t alright. She was freaked the fuck out. All the scary shit that Evie had been through in the past paled in compresence to what just happened. This entire situation reminded her that vigilance was the only way her family would remain safe.
Evie started to reconsider their decision to drive across the country to their cabin in Kentucky. She decided to discuss her concerns with Creed, “Maybe we should hunker down here. After all, Montana is one of the least densely populated states there is. We could find a place in the middle of nowhere and park the RV, live in seclusion until this all goes away. How long can those dead things possibly live? Well not live, but whatever it is they’re doing.”
Creed was quick to respond, “I agree that it might be easier to do, but we are away from all we know. How could we be safer here than at home? I honestly think we all need to be at the cabin, where we have an emergency stock of food, guns, and ammo. We only have enough to make it a week or two tops. We have enough to make it at least six months at home.”
Frustrated she conceded, “Maybe you are right, it’s just that we have so far to drive, and it’s so unsafe out on the road. What happens when the living start turning on each other? What will we do then?”
He proclaimed, “We will defend ourselves at whatever cost. It’s not gonna be easy, but we don’t have a choice. It’s fight or die.”
She sat silent for a moment, then decided to listen to the radio. She turned it on, but only heard static. She frantically turned the channel, again and again. There was nothing but static. “What the fuck? I know even in Montana they have fucking radio stations. Why the fuck can’t I pick up anything?” She tried her phone but was unable to get a signal on it either. She hoped that they were just out of range, but somewhere deep inside herself she knew that it wasn’t true. There was still chatter on the CB, but even that was not as much as before. There was a total disconnect from civilization. She feared the idea of having not knowing what would come next. Information is power, and right now they had none.
Creed looked at her, consolingly, “It’s going to be alright. We gotta stay on our toes. We don’t need the reporters to tell us that the world has gone to shit.”
Evie felt defeated, “I know, but I am a control freak and not having control is gonna drive me insane. If you think staying the course is the right thing to do, then that’s what we will do. I trust your judgment.”
Evie went back with kids and asked Ollie if he wanted to go up front and ride with his dad. Ollie gladly accepted, “I’m so tired of being back here. I’d love to ride up front with dad.”
He crawled up into the front seat, “Hey dad, I’m your co-pilot now.”
His dad jokingly replied, “Good your momma is driving me nuts. You know how she gets. You make sure you keep your eye on the road. If you see anything, like we saw at the gas station, let me know.”
Ollie said, “Don’t worry, I got your back.” The two smiled at each other, and then fist bumped each other.
Chapter 6
Ollie put in his favorite Stapleton cd. It also happened to be Creed’s favorite too. They sat up there singing and acting foolish. Evie was relieved to see Ollie carrying on. He was the kind of person that worried about everything and everyone else. He needed to feel like a normal kid even though it might only be for a few minutes.
Suddenly, Ollie shrieked, “Dad, stop the car!” Creed slammed on the brakes and saw why Ollie was yelling. A little girl was running towards the road.
Creed jumped out and went to the girl. He asked her, “Where’s your mom and dad?” She didn’t even answer she just turned and pointed behind her. When Creed looked there was a tree line about fifty yards away, and two of the infected were running towards them.
Evie looked out to see what all the commotion was about and saw the infected running towards the RV, so she grabbed her pink camo Mossberg shotgun and ran outside. She fired two shots towards the infected, but they kept running towards them. Creed picked the little girl up and made a mad dash towards the RV. He yelled back to Evie, “Come on!” She took two more shots at the creatures and this time shot them in the head. They both fell face first towards the ground.
Excitedly Evie yelled, “Creed, I killed them. Headshots, that’s the way to take them down.”
Sarcastically he replied, “
That’s great, can you get in the fuckin RV now?”
Evie hollered back, “You damn party pooper. I killed two of those fuckers. You should be glad, that we at least know for sure how to take them down.”
She walked over to the little girl and asked, “Honey, what is your name?”
The little girl shyly said, “Cassie.”
Evie prodded, “Where are your parents?”
Cassie tearfully responded, “Those things you just killed were my mom and dad.”
Evie burst into tears and apologetically said, “I am so sorry, baby. Do you know where any more of your family live?” Cassie shook her head no. Evie hugged Cassie, “I’m truly sorry. Please know that those people weren’t your mom and dad anymore. They had gotten sick. It was the kind of sick that made them hurt people. You can come with us, and we’ll do everything we can to keep you safe.”
Creed was irritated, “Umm, I need to talk to you outside.” He tugged on her arm and said, “How the fuck are you going to decide this without talking to me first? I hope you realize that we will be responsible for another person. She’s another mouth to feed. She doesn’t even have any extra clothes to wear. We don’t know if she takes any medicine. I don’t think that you have thought this, all the way through.”
Evie bit back infuriated, “You are right! I’m a fucking moron. I never gave a second’s thought as to what this all means to take in another child. I have no idea how to take care of a child or their healthcare needs. I mean I am just the mother of two, and I have only been a nurse for fifteen fucking God damned years.”
He was still annoyed and disgusted, but he knew Evie, and once she dug her heels in, there would be no changing her mind. He turned to her, “You do whatever the fuck you want to do. When all this turns to shit, you remember who the fuck decided it.” He shook his head in disgust and got back in the RV.
Evie approached Cassie and asked, “Honey, does your mommy have to give you medicine every day or almost every day?”
The little girl answered, “Yes, I take a medicine called Sinclair, and I use a puffer.”
Evie took a deep breath. Evie knew Sinclair must be Singulair. She asked, “Do you know how to get to your house?”
Cassie unsurely said, “I think so.”
Evie patted her on the head, “Okay good. You come up front with me, and we’ll show Creed how to get to your house to get you some clothes and medicine.”
Cassie sounded almost scared, “I don’t wanna go up there. That man doesn’t like me.”
Evie sympathized with Cassie, “Honey, it’s not that he doesn’t like you. He’s just upset with me. Creed is a good man, sweetie. He’ll like you just fine. Now, let’s go up front and do what we need to do.”
Creed overheard their exchange, and his heart sank. He was still annoyed at the fact that his wife had a habit of making major decisions without consulting him, but never in a million years would he want an innocent child to feel like he didn’t like her. When the two of them made it up front, he looked at Evie with a scowl on his face. He wasn’t sure if he was more upset with her because she made the decision on her own or that she made him look like a dick in the process.
He turned to the little girl, took her tiny hand into his, and apologized, “I’m sorry. I like you just fine. I am just a little worried and scared.” He scruffed up her hair on her head and said, “Okay then, show me where you live.”
Cassie gave him directions, and luckily, she only lived around the corner. There wasn’t another house in sight, and at this point Creed was relieved. The fewer houses, the less chance of infected roaming around. He whispered to her, “Does anyone else live with you and your mom and dad?”
She replied softly, “Just my dog Cinnamon.”
Creed smiled, “Alright Evie, how do you think we should do this? I think we should all go inside. I don’t want to leave the kids by themselves.”
Evie said, “I think you should wait at the front door. Cassie and I will go inside and gather what she needs. That way you can hear me if I yell for help and you can still see the kids if they need you. I don’t think we should ever leave the RV completely unguarded. Someone could steal it or take all our shit.”
Creed laughed, “Maybe for once your plan is better than mine.”
The house was locked, so Creed decided to break down the door. He could hear a dog growling on the inside. Creed nervously told Evie, “Great, I am gonna get eaten by a dog. I guess it’s better than an infected.”. He rammed against it with all his weight. The door didn’t budge. Then, he did a karate style kick. It still didn’t open. Cassie walked over to a rock in the flower bed and got out a key. She walked up to the door and unlocked it. He laughed and said, “You could have told me that first.”
He carefully opened the door, expecting to get bit. A big brown boxer came charging out the door. It knocked him to the ground and started licking him all over. Sylvie and Ollie came running outside to see the dog. He screamed, “Oh my God, I love you. Your such a big boy. Evie, you get to take the kid, I’m taking the puppy.” Creed and the kids found an old ball and started playing fetch with the dog. He was relieved to see how well behaved the dog acted. They actually looked like a family that wasn’t in the middle of a zombie-like outbreak.
Evie giggled and walked inside with Cassie. Evie instructed her, “Cassie, I need you to take me to where your mom keeps the medicine.” The little girl took her to the kitchen and pointed to a cabinet. Evie opened the cabinet and saw different medicine bottles. She found the one that had Cassie’s name on it and Singulair was written on it in bold letters. Evie said, “Now this is important, where are your puffers?” The little girl pointed to her mom’s purse. Evie opened the purse, and sure enough, there were two inhalers with Albuterol written on them. Evie looked at the date on the pills and saw that at most there was only a 21-day supply on this medicine. They would have to figure that out later.
Evie asked Cassie, “Can you take me to your room?” The little girl took her hand and lead her to her room. Evie gathered a few outfits, pajamas, and underwear. She told Cassie, “Pick out your favorite toy, or whatever you sleep with at night.” Cassie went over to the bed and picked up a tattered blue bear and held it like a baby.
Evie found a tote in Cassie’s closet and dumped out everything inside it. She put Cassie’s clothes in the tote along with her medicine. She went to the pantry and cleared out as much stuff as would fit inside the tote then, carried it out to Creed. Evie said, “I guess I better get your new friend some dog food.” She ran back inside and grabbed a big bag of Happy Pup dog food.
Chapter 7
They all piled up into the RV. Evie declared, “It’s gonna be a tight squeeze, but we’ll make it work.”
Sylvie told Cassie, “Come back here. We need to get to know you since you are going to be living with us now.” Evie could hear the three of them back there talking amongst themselves. As kids normally do, they quickly adjusted to the change. Cinnamon took his seat at Cassie’s feet. Anyone could tell that he was loyal, nobody was going to come between him and his baby girl. It didn’t take long for her to drift off to sleep, the poor thing had a very traumatizing day. Sylvie heard Cassie start crying in her sleep, so she went over and woke her up, “It’s alright. I’m right here. My parents are going to protect you.” She laid down next to her. Cassie fell back to sleep and rested for another hour or two.
Creed felt exhausted, he looked over to Evie and asked, “Do you think you could take the driver’s seat for a bit? I’m about to fall asleep.” She smiled at him and nodded. He pulled over at a pawn shop in a tiny, one stop light town. There was nothing open, not even a gas station. He whispered, “You know what a pawn shop always has? They always have guns and ammo.”
She was shocked, “Are you thinking of robbing the fuckin place? What the hell? When did we start doing that?”
He snapped back, “We started doing that when the world started ending. If we don’t have enough ammunition and guns, how the fu
ck are we going to fight off those things. Jesus woman, have you never watched a zombie movie? First, half the world turns into zombies and then, the other half turns into assholes that would kill you for a pack of cigarettes.”
He rushed to the door and started looking to see if they had an alarm. He walked around back, with his gun out to see if there was a backdoor. It had a weak looking door lock. He went around to Evie and instructed her, “Go find me one of our credit cards. While you’re at it, find one of Sylvie’s hairpins and a headlamp.”
When she got back, he told her, “You stand out here and keep watch. If you see someone coming, jump in the RV, and blow the horn.” She rolled her eyes and gave him the thumbs up signal.
He went around back again and tried fiddling with the hairpin. He started talking to himself, “Well, this shit ain’t working. What the fuck? It always works in the movies. Guess, I’ll try the credit card trick.” He fumbled with it and eventually opened the door. He looked around a bit before he went inside and didn’t see anybody. “Well, the alarm didn’t sound, so that’s a good thing. He cautiously walked backward until he fell over a guitar on display in the floor. It went banging to the floor, but Creed was able to catch himself before he fell. “God damned I’m glad Evie didn’t see that shit, I would never live it down. Here I’m trying to be in stealth mode, and I fall over a fucking guitar.”
He started hearing some rustling come from a closet behind the front desk. He walked over to the door and pulled it open. Someone came charging through the doorway and was on top of him before Creed was able to see the man. He just shot into the abdomen of the stranger several times, but no matter what he did, the man continued his relentless attack. Creed realized that he wasn’t shooting at a person, but an infected. He knew he needed to get further away from the thing so that he could get a head shot. Creed struggled to scurry away from it, but it just kept clawing at him. He could feel its nails through his pant legs and could hear its teeth chomping together while trying to bite him.