CHAPTER 2
Finally we were in Eola, Illinois. There was an old haggard sign on the side of the road that clued me in to this fact. I had never been out here in the boonies. This was as podunk as ever. I was a bright lights big city girl. I was born in Chicago and I had a loft apartment downtown. I owned a condo in Los Angeles as well. I was filthy rich for a twenty three year old and I spent my money on loads of materialistic possessions. It’s funny how just a few months ago I wore only designer clothes and shoes, Jean Paul Gaultier dresses, Christian Louboutin pumps and Birkin handbags.
All the couture gowns in my spare bedroom that I converted into a walk-in closet now mean absolutely nothing. If my friends could see me now, in cut offs, t-shirt and Nikes. They would gasp. Who am I kidding? My friends, family, ex-boyfriends, colleagues, my agent and my publicist are all dead.
Nick drove us down a two lane dirt road. There were corn fields to my right and corn fields to my left. A beautiful brown horse galloped beside us. The sight made it seem like the world was normal and the dead hadn’t risen and taken over the world. Before this pandemic the world wasn’t perfect but it was a fairytale compared to the way it is at the present time. In a flash everything can change and there is no remedy or antidote for the horror.
We stopped at a small lone house on the corner of some back road. On second glance it wasn’t a house at all. It was a United States post office. We pulled in front of the post office. We stopped right behind a muddy green Cadillac Escalade. The post office was actually a small Victorian styled two-story house. The windows were boarded up for obvious reasons. It didn’t look much like any postal facility I had seen. The only way you could tell was the plastic sign out in front above the door. Nick pulled a walkie-talkie from under his seat. He turned it on.
“It’s Nick. I’m here. Open up.” He said holding the walkie to his lips.
“You made it back.” A male voice on the other end of the walkie surmised.
“Nine lives.” Nick said to the faceless male.
“It’s all clear,” said the voice.
Nick clipped the walkie to the belt that held up his jeans. “We’re here. Roll up your window.” I did as I was told. Nick grabbed his gun off his lap. “You ready to meet the survivors?”
“Yeah,” I said through nervous teeth.
“By the way, what’s your name?” He grinned and his eyes squinted at the corners.
“Jesse.”
“Jesse, you got a last name?”
“Bordeaux.” I told him my name was Jesse even though my name is Franjessca. I thought about lying about my last name but someone like Nick wouldn’t recognize me. In this world, I’m nothing special. I’m just some girl he picked up on the highway and I want to keep it that way. Now it doesn’t matter anymore. We all are in the same bruised and battered sinking ship.
Nick opened his car door and I did the same. He held his gun down but in a television actor cop position. I followed closely behind him as we creep to the back of the house. When we reached the back yard the garage door automatically opened up into the ceiling. We entered the two car garage. The garage was full of mail. The mail was pushed off to both sides of the garage and in the middle was a mail trunk with a big United States Postal symbol on the side, that odd blue eagle.
As soon as we stepped in the door, it shut behind us. I couldn’t believe how anxious I was to meet real people. I had spent two weeks alone, hiding from deadies. Nick and I walked to the back of the garage and he opened the double doors. A muscular bald man was standing inside the door with a gun strapped to his waist. He was decked out in a tan t-shirt and brown and tan camouflage army pants with brown boots, the desert G.I. Joe. He was a fair skinned man and his nose was red from sunburn.
“Nick, Nick, I see you brought back a stray.” The solider said as he looked me over with his emotionless eyes.
“What up Joe.” Nick nodded as I followed him in. G.I. Joe’s name was actually Joe, lucky guess. Joe the solider, locked the door and we all went into a room at the front of the house slash post office. The room was cleared out of most its furniture. There was a sleeping bag on the floor. There was a woman asleep in an old fashioned couch. I scanned the room trying not to be obvious. I noticed the windows were boarded up from the outside and now I could really see them from the inside. Only a hint of light filtered in from the tips of the windows.
A pale pretty red haired woman of about thirty was sitting at a small card table eating an apple. Across from the woman sat a very good looking man with chiseled Italian features, his hair was dark almost black. He held a walkie-talkie in his hand and sat it down on the table as we entered.
The woman stopped eating carefully and noticeably assessed me. I wished I was wearing better clothes.
“Oh great, one more mouth to feed,” the woman sneered.
Nick walked over to the woman and looked down on her from his six foot one menacing frame. “Michelle, shut your mouth.”
Michelle complied but pouted silently with a big chunk of apple in her mouth. The handsome Italian man stood and reached out to shake my hand. “Hi, I’m Mark. That sleeping teen over there is my daughter Kaitlin.” He pointed to the girl on the couch under the pink Hello Kitty blanket. I couldn’t see her face. Her wavy raven colored hair covered her face.
“I’m Jesse.” I said as I shook his hand.
“Welcome.”
“Mark is a doctor.” Nick added. I wasn’t sure why.
“Plastic surgeon,” Mark gushed and then shrugged his profession off.
“Hang here.” Nick said as he walked off to the back of the house with G.I. Joe.
“Have a seat.” The doctor offered me his chair.
“Thanks.” I took his seat although I didn’t want to sit anywhere near the redhead. Now she had a front row seat to assess me even closer. I had the urge to reach out and slap her. I smiled to myself when the thought came crashing through. This new world can bring out the volatility in anyone and I am not immune.
The doctor took a seat on the couch next to his daughter. He raised his daughter’s legs and placed them in his lap. “So Jesse where did Nick find you?”
“Interstate fifty-five, I was running from deadies, those zombie creatures.”
“Did you get bit?” Michelle asked with a smug condescending scowl.
“No.” I snapped.
“How can we be so sure?” She challenged.
“You can’t.” I gave her a look that could kill or at the least hold her at bay. Michelle stormed out of the room and headed toward the kitchen. Was she going to tell on me?
After infinite minutes of silence, two new guys came down the stairs. I had a seat right beside the staircase and I could see their faces when they noticed me. One was a young black guy but he was very pale. He was short and had light brown hair closely cut to his scalp. Where his hair was closer to brown, my light brown hair was closer to blonde. He was dressed in gray-blue shorts with a stripe down the outseam and a white t-shirt. For a guy he was kind of pretty like a girl. His eyes had permanent natural eyeliner on the lower eyelid. Lagging behind him was a young Indian guy. He was an Indian native of India not Native American. He was sporting a gray t-shirt and long khaki shorts. He was dark with black hair and the beginnings of a five o’clock shadow.
The duo made it down the steps. Both men were short, no more than five foot eight. All the attention was on me. It was not that bad, they were men. It kind of reminded me of my previous good life.
“Hi,” said the black guy. “I’m Ray, this is Naveen.” He tapped the Indian guy on his shoulder.
“Hi, I’m Jesse.” I waved.
“Hey,” Naveen said as he drooled. I tried to ignore it. Like most men they stop staring after they get to know me. I’m a regular person. Don’t judge me by the way I look. Don’t judge me by my nipples in this see-through t-shirt.
“Nick found Jesse and brought her back to our little party.” Doctor Mark announced as his daughter began to wake.
&nbs
p; “Huh, that doesn’t sound like Nick. He’s not really a good samaritan type of guy.” Ray raised one of his perfectly coiffed eyebrows.
“Look at her. Isn’t it obvious? You know why he brought her back.” Naveen gave a universal wink and it was clear the other men agreed with him. I could have told them that it was a life or death situation. I could have told them he saved my life and any partially decent human being would have intervened but I decided against giving out additional information. I’m new here and I just want to fit in and survive to see another day.
Ray pondered. “No matter how you made to here, Jesse we welcome you. Mi casa es su casa.”
“Gracias Ray.” I was truly thankful. I feel good about this group. The last group that took me in were savages. I escaped. I hope I never ran into them again. It is wrong to wish they were eaten by the deadies? I guess so, very unchristian-like. Monsters eaten by monsters, poetic justice, as far as I’m concerned.
“It’s no problem. You seem harmless enough. I’m sure Nick would never bring anyone dangerous back to the house.” Ray added.
“You’re right. I’ve been thoroughly checked for bites.” I explained to help reassure them.
The doctor’s eyes went straight for my boobs. His daughter was awake now. She was groggy but alert enough to see me, the new girl.
“Hey,” she mumbled to me from the couch as she sat up and pushed her hair back off her face. Kaitlin was extremely cute and very Italian looking. She resembled her dad.
“Hey,” I replied back as casually as possible under the weird circumstances.
“Where did you come from?” Kaitlin asked in an inquisitive way, not at all rude.
“Nick picked me up on the side of the road.”
“Okay cool. I knew there were more people out there somewhere.” Kaitlin rubbed her eyes and laid her head on her father’s shoulder.
Naveen left us and ventured back up the stairs. Ray took a seat across from me at the table. “You hungry?”
“No thanks. Nick gave me something a little earlier.”
“Good. So did you meet everyone?” Ray asked.
“I think so.” I wasn’t sure. How many of them were there?
“She didn’t meet Malik.” The doctor said.
Ray grinned and a perfect dimple popped out of his cheek. “Don’t hold your breath if you want to meet Malik. He sleeps during the day. He’s an alright fella, he’s just lazy.”
I automatically believed Malik was a black guy. The name was the dead giveaway, of course. I could be wrong but that was highly unlikely.
I caught Ray staring at me. Oddly it was not in the lustful manner I had grown accustomed to over the years.
Ray’s eyes raised and formed three distinct wrinkle lines in his forehead. “You know you look really familiar.”
“People say that about me quite often.” I blew it off. I really didn’t want to be recognized. I wasn’t any big deal. It’s just my past life. I didn’t want to talk about it or think about it. If I thought about the past I would cry or worse feel sorry for myself.
My terror fueled me. I didn’t want any reason to break down or lose it, not in front of strangers. I was a survivor of this horrific ordeal and I wanted to keep a survivalist attitude.
Nick and G.I. Joe walked in and disrupted Ray’s quizzical gaze.
Nick stood near me and I felt like he was checking up on me, making sure I was alright. “Me and Joe did a quick inventory of our remaining supplies. We are running low on a lot of stuff. So tomorrow we got to make a run.”
“Just you and Joe?” Ray asked.
“Well, at least three of us. Me and Joe plus one more.” Nick clarified. I wondered why Joe barely spoke. Was Nick the leader? Was there a leader? It was too soon to tell.
Michelle sauntered in with one hand on her hip. It was clear she had heard about the run for supplies. “Why you and Joe? I would feel safer if one of you guys with a gun stayed here. It only makes sense.”
From what I could see I didn’t like Michelle but her statement was logical.
Nick crossed his arms on his chest. “Well who’s going to volunteer to take one of our places?” There was silence. “We need two drivers, one for both trucks. Plus we need someone to watch out for freaks and watch the trucks while two people go in and gather up the goods.”
Naveen walked halfway down the stairs and sat in direct view of the group. “I’ll go.” He offered without any expression.
“I know the area so I’ll go. That’s me and Naveen.” Nick’s eyes darted around the room. There was another lapse of silence.
“I’ll go.” I raised my hand, not too sure why. I lowered it and couldn’t believe I had opened my big mouth and volunteered to go on a death mission. What the H.E. double hockey sticks was I thinking?
“Okay it’s settled.” Michelle all too eagerly concluded.
“Wait, wait, wait a goddamn minute.” Nick interrupted the flame throwing redhead. “Jesse, come on. You have already been through a lot.”
Michelle took two steps forward like a real live tough guy mafioso. “Are you kidding me? We have all been through a lot. What makes the beauty queen exempt?”
“Not in the last few hours. Give the girl a chance to breathe.” Nick defended me. I thought it gallant. “You didn’t have twenty--”
“Nick.” I stood and grabbed ahold of his forearm. “Let’s talk in private.” He gave me a curious look. This time he followed me. I lead him to the kitchen. I could see the wonderment in the group’s eyes as we trotted off. I don’t know what possessed me to touch him but it wasn’t weird until I realized what I had done.
We were in the kitchen standing face to face. He was giving me a confused hard face and I tried to give him the ‘you’re not the boss of me face’. “I want to go.” I finally said.
“Why? It’s stupid. Did you hit your head when you fell out the car?”
“Did you?” I barked.
“First you’re a girl and second it’s dangerous. You might not come back.”
My brave heart took control of my frightened mind. “I know but I don’t know this group. I want to go where you go.” I knew I kind of sound like a lovesick schoolgirl. My words came out completely different then I meant them. “Didn’t you promise to keep me safe for the next twenty-four hours?”
“Yeah but--”
“Well let’s make it forty-eight hours.” I flirted by puckering my lips and batting my eyes a few times.
“Baby girl you’re more trouble than the freaks.” Nick half smiled and shook his head. He looked around the room. He was contemplating the things I had said. “Well one things for sure, you can run your ass off. Can you shoot a gun?”
“A paint ball gun,” Nick’s eyes shot up to the ceiling. “I’m a fast learner, really I am?” I stared at him as he thought about it.
“Okay fine just as long as you do everything I say.”
“Yeah okay,” I probably shouldn’t have agreed to that.
“No I mean it. No one dies on my watch.” Nick stressed through a frown.
“Okay sure. Maybe you can also teach me to use that ax.”
“One thing at a time baby girl… You’re going to give me a heart attack. I really want to arm wrestle you but you’re too goddamn pretty.” A compliment from alpha male, I was beaming inside and out. I felt safe with Nick. This time I couldn’t hold in my smile.
“Wipe that fuckin’ smile off your face. They’re going to think we were in here making out.”
“Okay sorry.” I wiped my smile away with my hand.
Nick snickered. “You’re a clown. Let’s give the group the verdict.”
I turned to head toward the common area and Nick playfully shoved me in my back. I turned, looked back at him and grimaced. It was nice to have a playful moment in all this chaos. For a few minutes I had even forgotten that I almost died a few hours earlier.
All eyes were on us when we reached the living room. Michelle had her arms tucked tight under her huge boobs. I won
dered if Michelle and Nick have a thing. She was pretty and curvaceous.
“So?” Michelle was the first to ask what the others dare not.
“So, Jesse is coming. She’ll help me gather up the stuff.”
“How did she convince you?” Michelle growled through gritted teeth.
Nick ignored Michelle. “Everyone write a list. Do not ask for anything stupid.”
“What do you consider stupid?” Michelle was like the Energizer bunny. She just would not stop. She had attitude overload.
“Nail polish,” Nick said. Ray barely withheld his laugh. Kaitlin giggled out loud. Nick purposely turned his back on Michelle. “Ladies if you have personal female items you need, give the list to Jesse. We will try to get as much as we can. Before nightfall somebody please talk to Malik and ask him what he needs.”
“I will.” Ray volunteered.
CHAPTER 3
The day went by quickly although there was little to do. We all ate early per Joe’s strict instruction. It was nearing nine o’clock and that was when Nick took the first three hour nighttime shift as deadie look out. The wee hours of the night seemed to be the time when they were most active and ultimately more deadly.
I had spent most of my time with Kaitlin Ashley Ruffalo. I learned that her birthday was June ninth and she was seventeen years old. June ninth was the day before the deadie came to the front door of my loft apartment in downtown Chicago. Kaitlin did most of the talking and I realized how incredibly difficult this had to be for a kid. Her father stayed away from us. I think he was elated that Kaitlin had someone to talk to. I was that someone that could take her mind away from the dead creatures that incessantly shuffled outside the windows and doors at any time, day and night.
Deadies: Run for Your Life Page 2