by Bell, A. E.
Creed asked, “Don’t you think that gun of yours is so loud they are going to attract more of those disgusting creatures?”
She replied, “Yeah, maybe, but if that horde gets to us we are all going to die. I’m not losing another one of my kids, and I’m not losing you.”
He also started firing into the horde with his rifle. It was over in a matter of minutes. All the infected were lying on the ground without any movement.
Chapter 16
Evie could finally see the other group of people firing into the horde. She saw a familiar face. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Creed recognized him at the same time she did. Then, she scanned the rest of the group and saw two red-headed kids. She didn’t, however, see that devil bitch she left behind. They didn’t recognize who was with Jeremy and his sons. There were six other people in the group.
They cautiously approached the group. They knew that Jeremy and his sons were good people, but they had a healthy distrust towards people they didn’t know. In this day and time, people had changed. This war with this infection had brought out the worst in humanity. All anyone seemed to care about was survival. Evie didn’t notice Cassie, Sylvie, and Cinnamon running towards the group until they were all the way past them. She called out, “What have I told you? You stick with us. Running around without a care in the world is going to get somebody killed.”
Sylvie pleaded, “But mom, it’s Pete and Pat.”
Evie scolded her, “Yea, well I don’t know who the shit those other people are so slow your little asses down.”
Sylvie did as she was told and stayed near her parents. They finally reached the group, and the kids all started hugging each other.
Jeremy walked over and gave Evie a huge hug and shook Creed’s hand. He asked, “I figured you guys would be home by now.”
Evie rolled her eyes, “Yea, we picked up some baggage along the way.”
Jeremy wasn’t sure what she meant, but he knew that he was going to find out before too long. He made introductions to the rest of the group. He pointed at them one at a time, “This is Angel, Tom, Derek, Susan, DeMarcus, and Steven.” He told his friends, “This is the family I was telling you all about. They are good people.”
Evie smiled and nodded at all the people, “It’s nice to meet you.”
Creed shook their hands. As far as he was concerned, if Jeremy was with this group that was good enough for him.
Evie took inventory of the new people, she didn’t care who they were with she wasn’t about to give them the benefit of the doubt. Angel was a light-skinned, pretty Latino girl, she could tell just by her facial expression that she was one of those people that thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. Tom was standing next to her with his arm around her shoulder, so she assumed that meant they were a couple. He was a good-looking man with dark hair and brown eyes. She could tell that he was a bodybuilder by the thickness of his neck. He was very affectionate towards Angel, but she didn’t seem to care one way or the other about him.
Derek and Demarco were tall, dark-skinned African-Americans. They were both lanky and clean shaven. They favored each other enough that Evie assumed they were brothers. She imagined that they had been professionals of some sort before the shit hit the fan.
Steven was a quiet, nerdy looking man. He had brown wavy hair and blue eyes. She got a serial killer vibe off him. She wouldn’t trust him around Cassie or Sylvie that was for sure. Hell, she wasn’t sure if she would even trust him with Cinnamon.
And Susan was the wild card. She looked like a blonde hair, blue-eyed, bimbo. She looked like her occupation before the infection was probably a prostitute. Susan smiled at her and said, “Honey, these kids of yours sure are pretty.”
Evie smiled back, “Thank you very much.” She didn’t offer up to her that Cassie was not her child. By this time, she looked at little Cassie as one of her own anyway.
Jade made her way out the door of the home after she realized that everything was safe. Evie recognized the fact that she was not heroic, but she had at least learned enough not to run out and get herself killed.
Jeremy pointed up towards the house, “Who the hell is that?”
Evie giggled, “That’s our baggage. She’s the reason we ain’t sitting pretty in our cabin right now.”
Jeremy laughed, “I see, so she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed?”
Evie replied, “Oh she’s plenty smart. Just not in any of the ways that’s gonna get us home any faster.”
Jade walked up, and she immediately knew that she was the topic of conversation. Evie said, “Jade this is Jeremy. Jeremy this is Jade.”
Jade quietly spoke, “Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”
Jeremy reciprocated, “It’s nice to meet you too.”
Evie interjected, “So, somebody seems to be missing from your family. What happened to that crazy bitch you called your wife?”
Jade was taken aback by Evie’s forward nature. She couldn’t believe that anybody especially a woman could be so rude.
Jeremy scoffed, “Oh you know as well as I do that bitch needed to die.”
Jade looked confused, and Evie could sense her disapproval at their conversation. She asked again, “No, really what happened to her?”
Jeremy sighed, “Our house got overrun with those things. She was screaming her blasted head off and led those nasty fuckers right to her. I had no way of saving her, so I took that opportunity to get my boys to safety. We ran and never looked back.”
She put her hand on Jeremy’s shoulder, “I’m really sorry to hear that. I may not have liked her, but I damn sure hate to see her become food for the infected.”
Jeremy said, “I appreciate that, but all we can do is look forward. If we start living in our past, we are as good as dead.”
Evie knew he was right, but the death of Oliver still haunted her. Every time she closed her eyes, she would see his face. Some of the dreams were sweet, and others were reliving that night repeatedly. Sometimes Oliver would turn and attack the family. He would chase Evie and try to kill her.
She asked Jeremy away from his group, “So what’s your plan?”
Jeremy answered, “Well, I honestly thought we would come to take you up on your invitation.”
Evie smugly replied, “My invitation was for you and your boys. I didn’t extend it to six others. Our cabin is only one room. There is no way that all of us can stay.”
He cut her off, “I wasn’t planning on living with you. I thought that maybe there would be an abandoned house or two near your cabin. Maybe we could create our own little settlement. We will pull our own weight.”
She pointed to Creed, “I’ll have to run this past him. I’m not making this big of a decision without consulting him. For now, we need to figure out what to do today. Gather your group, and we will see what’s up for right now. We will figure out what resources we have between us.”
She left Jeremy and went to talk to her husband. As soon as he saw her coming, he asked, “What kind of shit are you going to try and talk me into?”
She gave him a keen little smile like the cat that swallowed the canary, “Jeremy wants us to pull our resources and try to make a small settlement once we get home.”
He scoffed, “Oh he does, does he? If it was just him and the boys, I would have no trouble, but we don’t know those other people and to be blunt, some of them look shady as hell.”
She agreed, “You’re absolutely right. I don’t disagree at all. Let’s see what they got going on, and then we can decide from there.”
He nodded, “Alright, but the first sign something is off, and we are ditching them.”
She kissed him on the cheek, “Honey, I agree completely. We watch them like hawks, especially that Steven character. He gives me the creeps. I don’t want the girls anywhere near him.”
Both groups converged inside the small house that they slept in the night before. Evie started off by saying, “Alright, Jeremy, Creed, and I decided that it would be
best if we checked our resources to decide if we would be better off together or apart.”
The group started chattering, with all of them together it sounded like a low roar. Jeremy stood up, “Seriously guys. We have to figure this out. We are losing valuable light. We can’t be running around in the middle of the night outside.”
Creed asked, “So do you all have a vehicle somewhere? All we have is that Humvee, and it’s just about out of fuel.”
Derek replied, “Nah dude. We’ve been hoofin’ it for the last few hours.”
Creed lowered his head, “Shit, who knows how long of a walk it’s going to be before we find another house or more vehicles for that matter.”
Evie spoke up, “Do y’all have any food or water?”
Jeremy answered, “Yea each of us have a little bit of food in our backpacks, but we’re limited on water.”
She grumbled, “Shit, well we have some MRE’s and some water. It’s enough to get us through for a day or two. If we can find a couple of vehicles, we can be in Kentucky before we run out of food. I guess if everybody is agreeable then we need to decide whether to leave today or wait until tomorrow.”
The group decided to wait until the following day. Today was to be used for gathering as many essential items from the storm shelter as possible and mapping out the best possible route. They all laid out the contents of their bags so they could inventory and then divide their resources evenly.
Evie went into the bathroom and emptied the homeowner’s medicine cabinet and brought the useful items into the living room. Susan picked up the mentholated rub, “I think this is the last item we should be worried about taking with us, sugar.”
Evie’s head turned to her, and she looked at her defiantly, “First off, I’m not your sugar. Second off, don’t talk to me like I’m a fuckin idiot. The mentholated rub is for those of you with weak stomachs to put under your nose to get more supplies out of that storm shelter.”
Susan just put her nose up in the air slightly and indignantly turned her head. Evie didn’t care. Susan was the last thing she was concerned about, and she was not going to let this bimbo get the best of her.
Evie passed around the mentholated rub and instructed everybody, “Put this under your nose if really bad odors get to you. I think it best that we make a line up the stairs and then hand up the useful items instead of wasting energy with everyone climbing up and down stairs.”
Steve lifted his arm in the air like a school kid, “Who put you in charge, lady?”
Evie replied in the most civil manner that she could muster at that moment, “Nobody put me in charge. Does anybody have a better way of going about this? If so, please enlighten us.”
She waited a few seconds, and nobody answered, “Okay then we do it my way. If at any point you have anything to offer to the group, Steve, just let us all know.”
Susan and Steve both decided to skip on the mentholated rub. Steve snidely announced, “I don’t need this. I’m not a pussy.”
Jeremy and Creed stood over in the corner observing all that had just taken place. They laughed amongst themselves at the fact that people were underestimating Evie.
Everyone walked outside and proceeded toward the shelter. Susan and Steve both tried to pretend the smell wasn’t getting to them. They both chose to enter the storm shelter first. As they descended further into the storm shelter, it became nearly impossible to hide their disgust. They were trying to hide the fact that their gag reflex was getting the best of them.
Evie chose not to gloat. She just sent the jar down the stairs towards them. They both rubbed some of it under their noses. It took very little time to get all the necessary supplies upstairs and into the house.
They quickly sorted through the items, and everybody filled their backpacks with equal amounts of supplies except for Jeremy, Creed, and Evie. They knew that if they needed to walk for long, the kids would never be able to carry heavy packs. They packed their children’s backpacks light and then placed the additional rations in their own bags.
The group seemed optimistic. They all had food, water, and at least for tonight had a safe roof over their heads. As had become routine at this point, they took turns with night watch. Creed took first watch. He preferred to keep his own family safe. He didn’t know these other people, and therefore he didn’t trust them.
Evie laid sleeping next to the girls. She made sure that the only way anyone could get to those girls was to go through her first. She tossed and turned and then as had become normal she dreamed of Oliver. She dreamed that she was pregnant with Oliver. The infection had already started to spread, and Creed had found a safe place for her to give birth. She walked outside to feel the sun on her face. That’s when she felt it. Someone or something knocked her to the ground. When she turned over and saw it, she cried out in pain and terror. An infected was on top of her quicker than she could react. It started tearing at her womb. It ripped Oliver out of her and then began feeding on him.
Creed heard Evie start screaming in her sleep. He went to her and woke her up, “Evie, wake up baby. You are having another nightmare.” When she awoke, she was sobbing uncontrollably. She placed her head on his lap, and he just ran his fingers through her hair. He just kept repeating, “It’s alright. You are safe with me.”
She finally whispered, “Everything is never going to be alright. My baby boy is dead. I will never see his beautiful face again. The only time I will see him is in these terrible nightmares.”
He continued to calm her. She finally fell back asleep, and he continued the remainder of his watch. He walked over to Jeremy and tapped him on the shoulder, “Do you care to take watch next? Evie has had a bad night’s sleep so far. She can relieve you in a few hours.”
Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, yeah, man. I can do that. No problem. Get some sleep.”
Jeremy sat by the window and watched for hours. There was no sign of trouble. When his watch was over, he knelt next to Evie. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her. She woke up expecting to see Creed. She recoiled when she realized it was not him. Jeremy whispered, “It’s just me. Creed had me take watch after him so that you could get some more rest. Are you okay to take watch now?”
She sat up, “Yes, of course. Thanks for taking the second watch.” She stood up and walked over to the kitchen counter and heated some water on the cookstove. When the water came to a boil, she made herself some instant coffee. She sat at the table sipping the coffee, listening for any unfamiliar noises reflecting on the bad night’s sleep she had just had. It was almost a relief to be awake.
The hours passed by slowly but it eventually it was dusk, and that meant it was time to get ready to leave. Evie woke up everybody, and they all took out one of their meals to eat. They knew they needed the energy to make this trip. They had no idea when they would find some vehicles.
They started their walk down the old country road. Evie admired the beauty, the scenery was identical to home. The temperature was much warmer in Missouri than it was in Wyoming. The leaves had all changed colors and were already falling off the trees. She knew it was only a matter of time before the frigid cold would hit home and they would need to be there before then.
They walked for miles before they found another house. Derek and Demarco knocked on the door to see if anything living or dead was inside the home. They heard rapid footsteps come towards the door. The footsteps were followed by the undeniable sound of the infected, moaning, groaning, and clawing at the door.
Derek continued to knock at the front door trying to keep the attention of the infected. Demarco went over to Jeremy and grabbed his arm, “Come on, we need to sneak up behind these creepers so that we can take them out.”
Jeremy grabbed an iron fireplace poker he had taken from the other house and followed Demarco in through the back door. Demarco signaled towards two infected that were clawing at the front door. They stood side by side behind these creatures. They simultaneously thrust their melee weapons into the back of
the skulls of the infected. Brain matter squished out when they removed their tools. The infected fell lifeless onto the floor.
They turned to leave, and another infected was right behind them. It knocked Demarco on top of the lifeless infected that was already on the floor. Before Jeremy could even react, the infected had Demarco in his clutches and had started a feeding frenzy on his neck. Blood was squirting out his carotid artery. Jeremy started yelling, “Shit, shit, shit.” He plunged his fire poker through the ear of the infected. He could feel the fire poker hit the wood floor beneath them.
Demarco laid in the floor gasping for breath. He couldn’t get any words out, but his brother had heard Jeremy yelling. He came around through the back door to see his brother lying on the floor on top of two infected with an infected on top of him. There was blood everywhere. He ran over to his brother, “No, this can’t be happening. How the fuck did this happen?”
He pushed Jeremy up against the wall, “How did you let this happen? You should’ve paid attention.”
Jeremy pushed back, “Look, brother, I tried. It caught us both by surprise. It was over before I realized it.”
Derek screamed at him, “I’m not your damned brother. My brother is laying on the floor, dead.”
Everyone else heard the yelling coming from inside the house, so they all took off running to try and help. Evie called to Sylvie, “You keep the kids outside. Make sure they do not run off.”
The situation inside the house had become more volatile by the time the rest of the group entered. Derek and Jeremy were rolling around on the ground. It was clear that Derek was trying to kill Jeremy. Tom reached down and lifted Jeremy off the ground. Derek came up at the same time and slugged Jeremy in the face with his fist. Jeremy fought to get loose from Tom’s grasp so that he could defend himself, but he couldn’t muster up the strength. Finally, Creed grabbed Derek’s arm just as he was getting ready to throw another punch. He started to struggle with Creed.
Evie took her pistol out of the holster and shot it up into the ceiling, “What the fuck is wrong with you idiots? You are all acting like a bunch of Neanderthals.”