"What's that got to do with anything?"
"There's no Army base here. When we tried to set up a firebase at the intersection where you are staying, we trucked in some crates from a distant Army base and left them at the intersection. We never brought any of those crates here."
"But I checked all those crates. There's nothing in them."
"That's what I'm trying to say. We abandoned the firebase when we had nearly used up all the ammunition. What we are carrying right now is all that we have."
Dave looked over the four army men. He saw two magazines on their vests, so with a magazine in their rifles that was a total twelve magazines. "How many rounds go in a magazine."
Trevor looked confused for a moment before slapping his chest. "These are all empty. The only rounds we have is what is in our rifles, and none of us have full mags. I doubt that we have twenty rounds in total. If there's a hundred of the dead coming this way then a dozen kills won't help. We might as well just save what little we have."
"Shit," said Dave succinctly.
"We can't fight here," said Trevor. "It will be impossible to hold this campsite."
"Then we run," said Dave firmly.
Josh and the Army men looked askance at Dave.
"You said something about a hall?" asked Dave.
Trevor nodded and pointed in the opposite direction. "We walked right by it when we got here."
"I remember it," said Josh.
"Good," said Dave. "Is there a way onto its roof?"
"I'm not sure," said Trevor.
Dave looked to Holden and Jordan who both shrugged their shoulders. Dave turned to Josh and said, "Go right there and check it out. Find a way to get onto the roof. We'll be sending people your way so give them directions when they arrive."
"I'm there," said Josh running off towards the hall.
Dave turned to the Army men. "Spread out through the camp. Tell people to run to the hall. Don't try to fight the dead. It's still daylight so we should be okay if we move quickly."
"There's a lot of people here who aren't in any shape to listen," said Trevor.
"I've seen that type before," said Dave. "But we can't be compassionate right now. Tell people where they can go and if they don't respond then hit them until they do respond."
"Shit," said Holden.
"We need to save lives before we can save feelings."
No one looked too happy, yet they all silently agreed with Dave's plan and promptly scattered about the camp to do what they could. The agonising truth was that that whatever was done would be far too little. A disaster was coming and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Dave was left alone and about him the camp had become chaos as word had spread about the coming walkers.
Dave stumbled as a man ran into him.
"We're going to die," said the man panicking.
"Not if you go to the dance hall," said Dave.
"What?" said the man finally noticing Dave.
"We're retreating to the dance hall."
"What's the point of that?"
"We can defend that place better than this," said Dave gesturing about them.
The man look dubiously at Dave before looking about the camp. The man seemed to make a decision before running off in the direction of the hall. Dave sighed. He didn't want to know what it would mean if it took this long to convince people to move.
Dave spotting an alarmed woman standing near a tent while holding a young child in her arms. He ran over to her and shouted, "We're retreating to the dance hall. Get moving."
Something in Dave's voice froze the area around him.
"This camp is too exposed," yelled Dave. "It's easier to defend the dance hall."
The woman nodded and began walking towards the hall. Dave would have preferred that she at least jogged but at least she was going in the direction that he wanted. Luckily a few people had heard Dave and were looking at him.
One young man looked at Dave. "How will we defend the hall?"
"These dead can't climb. If we get up on the roof then we should be safe."
The young man nodded. "Makes sense."
"I've sent a friend to prepare the place. Could you help him out?"
"Sure," said the young man looking at the others who were listening to this conversation. "Hey guys, looks like there's a plan. Let's get there and help out."
Dave just nodded his thanks towards the young man. After seeing so many minds shattered by recent events it was almost a shock to see people who still seem to display a clarity of mind. As the small, impromptu group ran off towards the dance hall, Dave turned towards the hills where the walkers were coming from. That was the side of the camp that would encounter danger first so Dave decided that is where he should focus his evacuation efforts.
* * *
Dave couldn't believe his eyes when he reached the southern end of the football field. An agitated crowd of about twenty people had gathered and were reenacting a scene from a socialist revolution. Beyond the crowd, he could see a forested hill and from that forest emerged numerous walkers.
"We have long suffered oppression!" screamed a woman standing on a wooden box.
Dave recognised her from the meeting in the tent where he had tried to describe his observations. The nearby crowd looked up at the woman, listening to her as she unleashed her rant. Although some people were looking at the woman with bemusement, Dave was stunned to see that most were looking at the woman with rapture on their faces. Revolutionary socialists are always one fart joke away from being a delusional evangelist for a crazy religious cult.
"Look upon them," said the woman pointing to the first walkers that had exited the forest. "They are just like us. They are people of colour. To hate their grey skin is to be racist. Don't listen to the white, male patriarchy!"
From the crowd, an old man with white hair and a wrinkled face called out, "You tell us, Karen!"
Back at the tent, Dave hadn't been introduced to the woman. Thus he didn't know her name, and yet the way that woman gave the old man a savage glare caused Dave to be completely confused. Maybe there was some significance that Dave failed to understand. There were undertones here that Dave was completely missing, and this made the conversation feel stilted and broken.
"This is a consequence of the destruction of the environment which was caused by white colonisation and rape culture," yelled the woman. "If women were more fairly represented then this could have been avoided.
Listening to this caused Dave to stand still. None of what he heard made any sense. Racism, sexism, representation. He understood these words but not how they were being put together in this situation. Did this woman really have evidence of how the environment had caused the dead to rise? Dave's logical mind struggled at the sequence of random words that he heard.
"We welcome those people of colour," shouted the woman with lunatic eyes as large as saucers. "We welcome them into our safe place. Let's go forth and greet them with open arms."
At this the crowd murmured and appeared unsure. Dave knew that he should speak out against any idea of hugging the dead, but he was so surprised by the stupidity of the idea that he found himself frozen into inactivity. Was she actually suggesting that people hug the dead?
Seeing that she was losing the crowd around her, the woman pointed to one of the men that had been with her in the tent. Obviously this man was a loyal follower of the woman, and one must ask what indecent act had created that bond of loyalty. "Go. Go out as an example to all of us. Show the justice of our cause."
The man in reference went pale and seemed to be about to say something.
"We are on the right side of history," claimed the woman before stabbing a finger towards Dave. "Don't listen to the white supremacist. Listen to us righteous ones who oppose hate speech."
Dave was stumped and couldn't understand how to argue back. From Dave's silence, the woman thought that she had won some sort of battle that Dave wasn't even aware of being a part of, and she turned her attention back to her apostl
e. "It's time to show the justice of our cause. Go out and show people what someone who fights racism looks like."
The old man spoke up again, "I don't see you leading the way."
"Women have traditionally been oppressed by men so it's only right that we send out a man to greet these poor victims."
Dave finally cracked through what had locked him in place and spoke up. "So you admit that there is a danger."
"There isn't a danger."
"By bringing up the historical suffering of woman you expect that this man will experience his own suffering."
"That is a lie. There is no danger."
"Then if you are a leader then show us by leading. After all, you've told us that there's nothing to fear."
The woman confident expression faltered and she looked at the walkers who had emerged from the forest. They were really close and were showing their own form of agitation as they approached the crowd. To Dave those dead appeared to display a hunger that Dave wished to not see being fed.
"Everyone," called out Dave. "There's still time. We're going to shelter in the dance hall at the other side of the field. These dead can only move at walking pace. If you run now then you should be safe."
At first no one moved, but then the larking old man started walking away from the crowd. He momentarily paused, turned and talked to no one in particular. "I'm an old man. You don't get old by being foolish. Those things coming are the dead. They must be the jealous type because they like to make other people dead, and I'm not interested in such a clingy way of thinking."
Dave nodded his appreciation to the old man. "Dumb fucks," said the old man as he turned away and calmly walked off. Dave would have preferred that the old man would at least try jogging but an old body can't do what it once did when it was younger.
"Everyone," said Dave turning to the wavering crowd, "please retreat to the dance hall. We should be able to make that place safe."
"You can't tell me where my safe place is," screamed the woman trying to regain control of the crowd around her. "Leave us alone you privileged, white male."
The crowd seemed stuck in a confused state and Dave saw a chance to help them. "Those are the dead that are coming. I'm sure that you've all seen them in action before. They grab the living and rip the living apart with their teeth. You can only live by running away from them. Get to the dance hall. You'll be safe there."
The woman could see the crowd being swung by Dave's word's and in a fit of jealousy screamed, "Don't listen to his lies. He's trying to control you like all Nazis try to do. Not all grey people are evil. Let's prove this fascist wrong by greeting our fellow people of colour." The woman turned to some of the men in the crowd, who were clearly her nearest followers. "Go forth," she yelled, "Go forth and hug a grey person of colour today. Show your solidarity and support."
The men that the woman had singled out went pale with fear, prompting further cajoling from the woman. "We are the truly right. Nothing we say is wrong. Trust me and go forth. Grey lives matter!"
A few men looked up the woman who gave them a stern stare, and walked reluctantly away from the crowd and towards the nearest walkers. At first their steps were slow with reluctance but soon they seem to find belief in their cause and walk faster towards the incoming walkers with their arms outstretched.
Dave had only a moment to shout, "No don't!" when the first man reached a walker and gave the walker a big hug. The others were only slightly slower at homing in on a walker and reaching out to hug that stumbling member of the dead. In no time the first man to hug a walker found the walker ripping at his throat with gnashing teeth. The other men froze at the screams the first man offered, but soon they were screaming themselves as walkers began to bite and tear at their bodies.
The spread of panic was instant and profound. The crowd that was left near the woman could see the truth for themselves and spontaneously turned and fled back across the field in the direction of the dance hall. Only the woman was left, standing on her little box, and staring at the ripping, screaming carnage in front of her. Her ideology was no defence against rabid truth.
Only at the last moment when she was grabbed by a walker who plucked her from atop of the box on which she had raised herself and sunk his teeth deep in her arm that she turned to Dave. "Help me!" she pleaded with eyes filled with terror.
All the anger had drain from her eyes. Gone was the raving fanatic from a moment ago, leaving a fragile human being. Dave felt a desire to help, to throw himself into the chaos in front of him. Dave felt worn. Hopeless. A darkness gathered in his soul. Was that a hint of a desire to just give it all up? To turn away from being human and become one of the mindless dead. Is the struggle worth it when everything always turns to shit like this?
Josh grabbed Dave by the arm. "What are you waiting for?"
"What?" said Dave as if arising from a daze.
"We need to get back to the hall."
Dave looked back at the woman who's body was now feeding four of the grey dead that she had so praised before.
"There's nothing that you can do for her," said Josh tugging at Dave. "Hurry. The camp is starting to fall to the walkers."
Startled, Dave looked around the camp. The woman and her followers had distracted the nearby walkers, but on the flanks the walkers had entered the camp, and stragglers who had refused to retreat to the hall could now be heard screaming. Dave blinked at how his perception of time had failed him. The camp was lost.
"Yes," he said with conviction in his voice. "Let's go."
Dave and Josh ran through the camp. Around them were mini-dramas of despair and ultimately death. It was a daylight nightmare. A hell which the pair ducked and weaved their way through. When they got within sight of the dance hall they stopped moving. The walkers had reached the hall before them. The doors to the hall had been closed and barricaded. That wasn't the limits of what had been done. The people who had reached the hall hadn't stayed on the ground level but had fled up onto the roof. The dead that shambled about the hall seemed frustrated in the denial of the extension of their murderous feast.
"They've bloody surrounded the place," said Josh.
"We can't get in there," noted Dave with a surprising calm.
"Look," said Josh waving.
On the roof they could see Trevor and the other Army men trying to organise the people. Trevor had seen Dave and Josh and gave them a wave back. It was too far for a conversation so Dave pointed back towards the bridge that lead to Dave's old camp. Trevor nodded in an exaggerated manner before returning to the task of settling people down.
Dave was confident that if the people on the roof lay down and were quiet then the walkers would leave them after a hour or so. Less quiet was the camp on the sport's field. It was a loud reminder that Dave and Josh weren't safe on the ground. Dave tried to blank out the estimate of how many living human beings lost their life in that hell.
"Let's get back home," said Dave.
"You don't need to say that twice," said Josh.
Together they started jogging along the road back to their own camp site on top of the supermarket near the road intersection.
* * *
Dave and Josh slowed their jog and took a moment to catch their breath.
"I can't believe that we just ran all the way to the bridge," said Dave. "I wish that I had brought my bike."
"Yeah. Still, we're nearly home," said Josh.
"I'm not made for all this exercise."
Dave stopped walking and looked back the way they had come. Josh noticed and turned back to Dave, resting a hand on Dave's shoulder. "There's nothing more that you can do."
Together they turned away and began to walk over the bridge and towards their mini-camp on top of the shopping centre. They talked quietly as they walked along.
"So many died," said Dave.
"And so many lived. Think about it. You proposed that everyone shelter on top of the dance hall. They should be safe there. That suggestion will no doubt save a lot
of lives."
"Could we have done more?"
"Probably. But we did what we did and there's no changing the past."
"I'm the half empty guy while you've the half full one."
A grim expression came over Josh's face. "No. Not really."
"What do you mean?" asked Dave.
"I know that this is a bit sudden. It was a sudden thought on my part. But I might leave you for a bit."
"What did I do?"
Josh shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing at all. In fact I'm really impressed by everything that you've done. Not many people have survived this far," Josh noticed and ignored a dark cloud that flittered over Dave's face, "but you've been really thinking outside the box. Out of all the people that we've met you are the only one who is actually trying to understand what's going on."
"Was I wrong? I really can't think of what else I should have done."
"No. You're good. I mean that. I'm impressed that you have actually engaged your mind to such a task. I'm especially impressed when it's clear that everyone else has so clearly given up on trying to engage their minds. Especially when that's something that I also want to do."
"Sorry, but I really am lost."
"Yeah. I'm struggling to put my thoughts into words here, so I'm probably being really confusing. I'm guessing that after this that you'll want to get back into some research topic. You'll probably trap another walker or even a whole bunch of them and start doing some mind-opening series of experiments on them. It's just that right now I don't want my mind opened. I just want to run away for a moment."
"Can I ask why?"
Josh's face softened. "Thanks for trying to understand. I've seen a lot so you'd think that I've toughened up my mind, but what I saw in that camp did me in." Josh's expression hardened. "Fuck. I saw a baby being eaten. A fucking baby! What use is a dead baby?"
Dave stood still and quietly observed Josh.
"That wasn't all that I saw," said Josh. "I've seen all sorts of horrors recently, and somehow I managed to deal with them. Today my mind just reached it's limit. I'm not saying that I never want to see you again. The exact opposite. I think what you're doing is amazing and I want to be a part of it. It's that just right now my mind isn't in a place where I can help you at one hundred percent. I doubt I could even do anything above zero percent."
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