by Evans, Mike
Hammond pointed at one of the corvettes and said, “What, you don’t think a supercharged sports car is going to do anything to help us out? I think they’d never be able to catch up to us in one of those things.”
Patrick said, “Well one thing to think about Hammond is that we didn’t go over twenty miles an hour the entire way here. You know why right? Yes, because there was a ton of snow to drive through on the way here.”
Hammond pointed to the car and said, “I know, but it’s a corvette, I've never ridden in one of these.”
Aslin sighed while looking at it and rubbing his good hand along the edge of the car. He said, “I have, when we were down in Florida for a few days before leaving for a mission. We had a weekend pass and me and Clary had rented one. We drove down the coast in it and pushed the car to its limits. I will happily make you a deal Hammond. If we survive this and come out of it ok, then I promise you I will bring you back here when the snow is gone and we will break this thing before we let off of the throttle, that I can guarantee you. God it would be fun taking it out on the open roads.”
Hammond clapped him on the shoulder, excited at the prospect and not thinking of the injury. Aslin reached for him with his good hand ready to grip him with nothing but pain in mind, but Hammond ducked away and out of reach. Hammond held up his hands in worry and said, “Maybe we should look for that truck to take us the rest of the way before we head out to the snowy tundra.”
Aslin couldn’t stop thinking of the throbbing in his arm and walked away ripping desk drawers open until he found a bottle of painkillers then eating a small handful no water to chase it with. They made their way into the back of the shop and saw that most of the cars in the service bay were sitting with hoods up and engines out of them. He looked in a large circle and said, “I hate to say this but we are going to have to try and start a few of these cars. Let’s hope that the owner had his employees keep plenty of gas in his vehicles or we are going to be shit out of luck.”
Patrick said, “You know we could always call Clary and have him come to get us.”
“Yeah we could do that but at the same time think about it. If he comes then no one is going to be left to take care of anyone. We won’t have any way of them being protected and if something happens to both of us there will not be many people left on the base to train anyone. If there is an attack then I hate to think of what could happen,” replied Aslin.
“Okay whatever you think we should do is fine. But are you sure you don’t want to at least let him know that we are a man down and well…..things aren't going so damn hot right now?” asked McQuaig.
Aslin took the radio and headed into the back of one of the offices of what looked like the manager for sales. He hit the radio and Kya answered, “Hey this is Kya, what is going on? Were you able to make radio contact with them? We’ve been trying to contact them as well but haven’t had any luck yet. I am pretty sure Clary is going to kill Greg when he gets back.”
Aslin thought of Shelman and was thinking that he was feeling the exact same way about the tongue lashing he was going to give him when he found him-if he found him. Aslin said, “No we haven’t had much luck. Go out and grab Clary will you, I need to give him an update.”
“Is everything ok?”
Aslin opened his mouth to say something but stopped, knowing that it wasn’t going to benefit a God damned thing to tell someone what happened with Shelman. When Clary came on Aslin said, “We lost the truck, we are working on getting something else here. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem though.”
Clary clicked back over and asked, “Wait, so you crashed the truck?”
“I didn’t crash the truck it was - well it isn’t important who crashed it. I don’t think that they are in Ankeny though. We are going to start heading back that way. We found a car dealership and we’re going to find a way to get back. I think they’ll know that they are up shit creek so if you hear from them let us know. We’ll keep one radio set to channel four.”
Clary had spent more time with Aslin than family over the last decade and he knew when something wasn’t straight. “You sure everything’s alright brother?” he asked.
Aslin said, “It isn’t anything that can be fixed, we can talk about it when we get back.”
“Keep your eyes open out there. Make sure that you get back and go find those damn kids. I have a very large boot ready for Greg’s ass when they get back here.”
“Gotcha, you’ll be second in line. Since I am out in it, I get the first kick.”
Aslin set the radio down and took a breath then pulled out the drawers hoping for the kind of salesman he was assuming he’d find. He looked in the deep drawer and saw a glass and an amber filled bottle and said a silent prayer. Aslin took the bottle out, ignoring the glass and threw back two quick pulls on it helping to numb the pain running through his shoulder, it didn’t take long for it to take effect. They’d not been drinking at all the last nine months. The thought of staying alive seemed more pertinent to them. He tucked the bottle back away into the man’s drawer and made his way back out. The teens that had been walking around dangled a pair of keys out in front. Aslin looked around for them and said, “What are those for, I already told you that we aren’t taking the corvette.”
Hammond said, “Don't worry sir, I already got those keys in my pocket. I don’t want any looters coming and taking this thing away from me. Who knows how many chances are going to come up to get out and enjoy ourselves.”
Aslin just stared and Patrick said, “We aren’t taking the vette, don’t worry. There’s a second showroom, and they’ve got a truck over there like the one we had originally when we picked you guys up on day two, except it’s a heavy duty one. There shouldn’t be any issues with the weather going forward as long as we can stay off of the ice.”
Aslin walked in the direction of their pointing, thinking that the truck they had found might be four wheel drive at best. He had forgotten almost all of these kids had grown up in Iowa and when they said heavy duty they were not kidding. He saw a brand new, dust covered dual rear tire truck with a diesel engine to boot. Aslin smiled ever so slightly, nodding his head in massive approval. “Christ you guys can pick out a truck just fine now can’t you?”
Patrick said, “Yeah this is what all the big time farmers in our town use. The ones who needed to get their cattle over to the auction house on their own.”
Aslin didn’t have to ask the animals fate at the auction house; he’d been to enough of them growing up with his own father and his grandfather to know exactly what happened to them once that lucky animal had fetched a hefty enough price. Aslin climbed in slowly, using the running boards under the truck’s doors to help himself practically fall into the truck. He tried moving his shoulder and was beginning to get a little bit of motion in it.
“Hey don’t you want to get your stuff before we get going out of here?” asked Patrick.
Aslin said, “Well I'm assuming that none of you checked that there was any gas in the tank right?” The group nodded as a whole and Aslin turned the key over, happily seeing that there was three fourths of a tank available, which with the size of the engine that the massive truck had, there wouldn’t be any issue getting anywhere in the near vicinity if the lucky call that they were very much hoping came through, did. Aslin put his head out and said, “Patrick since you aren’t all banged up why don't you go ahead and get the supplies I brought. Hammond you seem like you deserve to get to help at this point. Why don’t you tag along and help him get the gear. Maryann and McQuaig, why don’t you look at the front. There’s got to be a place to automatically get the door to send it up and down easily.”
The teens, now tasked with a job, went in opposite directions looking around and doing what had been requested. There was no pounding on the smoky tinted windows but there was also no shortage of shadows casting themselves on the front of the showroom from the late day sun.
Patrick asked, “You think they are still alive right?”<
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Hammond replied by asking, “You are pretty close to them right?”
Patrick nodded, “Yeah if it wasn’t for them I'm sure that I would have been dead a few times over again, why?”
“Well, I guess I was just contemplating how much of what I think is going to happen actually did. No, I don’t think that they are all alive. I think if they went off on their own and that they probably didn’t survive. If any are alive, I can see Shaun and Ellie or Greg and Shaun maybe making it out of there. I only say this because well, Joey can’t shoot and I don’t see him making it too far, if you know what I mean.”
Patrick picked up the gear that he was supposed to grab. Hammond tried taking some of it and Patrick pulled it from his grasp and said, “Don’t worry about it ok. I can handle a lot of weight.”
Hammond actually was a bit surprised at how much the thin teen could handle. He said, “Yeah I sure would say that you can. I didn’t mean to underestimate you man.”
Patrick looked him dead in the eyes and said, “Maybe there are other people that you shouldn't underestimate also. Joey is a hell of a lot tougher, and for that matter, braver than you are giving him credit for. Did you know out of his family he was the only one that made it? His brother and sister both got taken out. But out of all that he is the one who survived. There was a zombie in a parking lot and everyone was frozen, knowing they couldn't get their guns up as fast as the thing was coming out. Joey fell backwards still took the thing out. He snapped its head back and then literally stomped on its head until the damn thing was dead. Now do you still want to try and not give him the credit that he deserves?”
Hammond said, “Man, I….I didn’t know that was him. I can’t believe that, that was like one of the cooler Turned stories that I’ve heard. I’m sorry; if I'd have known that was him I would have -”
Patrick cut him off by shoving the pack into his arms. He said, “You missed the point and that is too damn bad. What I was trying to get across to you is the fact that regardless of what someone looks like, or what you assume they are capable of, because of it you shouldn’t judge. You never know, there is a good chance that they could quite possibly be the one and the only one around to save your ass. Now did I get my point across to you?”
He nodded his head slowly, thinking about the boy who was probably a bit shorter than himself but had every bit, if not more, the muscle that he did. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to change the way he thought over night but was aware at the least that he needed to start making a bit more effort towards it.
The two took the gear back and there was plenty of room now for them to put all of it into the rear of the truck.
“Do you want me to sit in the back? I have my full auto on me; we can take care of anything that tries to take us by surprise if you want to Aslin?” Patrick asked.
Aslin nodded and said, “I know how damn cold it is so the second that we get out of town I think that we need to stop and get you back in here. If I let you stay back there you are going to end up getting a mean case of frostbite. I don’t think that you want that, regardless of what Kya might do to get you back to good health.”
Patrick’s face, which was already red from the cold, went to new limits of turning fifty shades of red. He said, “Christ man, be cool alright, just because there weren't any old woman that made it doesn’t mean you need to give me a hard time.”
Aslin said, “You know I'm not that old right?”
Hammond said, “Well you sure wouldn’t know that by looking at you.”
Aslin gave up. Turning his head and looking at Patrick, who was judging him with every second at how old he thought he was. He yelled at the girls instead of the boys.
“Hey did you two find the remote switch so we can get in and out of here?”
The girls nodded and Aslin tossed off two grenades down to Patrick who just stared at them. He went to pull the pins and hold down the handles but Aslin screamed, “Christ, what are you stupid! Don’t pull those now, take them to the door we came in at and throw them as far down as you can, try and take out cars that we aren’t going to want. Leave the sport utilities and heavy duty trucks alone, will ya?”
“So what are we trying to do, send these things to hell or just to the other end of the parking lot?” asked Patrick.
“Both actually would be nice. We just don’t need to worry anymore about casualties than we need to. If we just go slow and use our heads, there’s no reason that anyone else needs to lose their life today. I sure as hell don’t want any of you all getting bit. I want the rest of us to be relaxing at home and taking it easy later, not having to worry about anything except our normal worries that come up day to day.”
Patrick disappeared and when the boom went off in the distance, Aslin revved the truck and yelled orders left and right. Maryann hit the door to go up while Hammond took shotgun with his machine gun hanging out the passenger window. He peered down the sights and was ready to go.
McQuaig climbed up on the back wheel and into the bed of the pickup. When the door came up, Maryann slid into the backseat with her gun out and ready as well. They pulled out slowly, thanking God himself that the Turned had followed the blast and when Patrick came around the corner they didn’t waste any time once he dived into the bed of the truck.
Aslin pulled out into the parking lot, driving for the exit. He slammed on the brakes when he saw exit blocking their way out. When the truck stopped it sent Patrick and McQuaig into the rear window and doing so hard. Patrick punched the window and Maryann slid it open. She said, “What?
Patrick wiping at the blood coming from his forehead yelled, “I’m sorry, what the fuck do you think I want. Why the hell did he slam on the brakes?”
Patrick didn’t get a useful answer, instead he got a string of curse words coming from Aslin followed by him beating the hell out of the truck’s steering wheel at the same time as using every variation of curse words he knew. Patrick ignored Maryann and helped McQuaig to gain her balance. He pushed himself up and looked at the surroundings with the snow just barely falling. He saw that all exits to the street were blocked by cars or by columns that rose out of the ground. Patrick yelled, “Why the hell do they have such fancy security here? It is just a car lot isn’t it?”
Aslin swung around in his seat still looking pissed off. He yelled, “Yeah it’s just a car lot but it has like a thousand fucking cars on it, and I’d assume the owner, if he was still alive, would like to keep them on his lot for if and when this thing ends. Most likely though he had these in place long before the zombies came.”
“Well we don’t have any other choice but taking this one. What the hell are we going to do?” Patrick asked.
Aslin looked at the row of the small compact cars that were up against the ditch that led back to the road and he yelled, “Why don’t you two get your asses inside the truck, we don’t need any blood in the air. All it’s going to do is cause more havoc and trouble for us.”
The two teens, both bleeding from the first stop, didn’t need to be told a second time to get inside. They hoped out of the truck’s bed and into the front. When they gave him a thumbs up, Aslin pulled the truck around giving a good fifty yards and floored it, spinning all six tires at once until they caught their grip and when they did, they catapulted forward with a fury.
The teens clenched at the seats and Aslin screamed while holding the steering wheel with only one good arm. When he got up to the small cars he hit two of them dead center, catapulting them down into the ditch below. The large truck didn’t slow down, it bucked up over the parking bumps in the drive. Before he went headfirst into the ditch, he swung the wheel turning the truck and riding along the side of the ditch. He made it to the driveway on the opposite side of the beams that came out of the ground and corrected the truck heading south and back towards the base. When he looked into the back of the truck he saw that unlike him, there had been a definite lack of blinking for quite a while. “Is everyone ok? Or at least ok based on today's sta
ndards?” he asked.
The teens just stared, unsure what they should say or how they should answer. Maryann said, “I don’t think that I'm ok, but I'm not sure what, if anything, you could do about it. Today’s going to be pretty difficult to forget.”
Aslin said, “Don’t try and forget it, just don’t let it take over your life. One day we can hope to have a place so secure or so far away that the Turned won’t be a threat.”
Patrick asked, “Do you really think that there is somewhere like that out there? Where could we go that we could have something like that?”
Aslin said, “Really, we haven’t had time to think about it. Our number one job has been getting you ready so that when we had you trained we could try and find somewhere. Maybe Hawaii would be good or any island really if it hasn’t been infected by those damn things. There has to be somewhere right? Unless it’s airborne. But if it is, I wouldn’t think that you and I would even be worried about them because I think that we would be one of them. As long as we keep our eyes open and stay safe, we should be able to handle these things.”
“Well why do you think that so confidently?” asked Hammond.
“Because the alternative of being one of the Turned isn’t a pleasant one Hammond and surviving this and living out my days on a warm beach with a cold drink and good cigar is much better for an alternative. If you want to fight these things your entire life, you be my guest.”
Hammond sat back in his seat, thinking of his family and seeing them taken from him and said, “No, I think that I would rather be able to put the gun down and just live a life. I don’t care what it is as long as it isn’t looking over my shoulder my entire life. I’d say we could put a gate up somewhere, but you know those things would just tear it down.”
Aslin didn't say anything; he knew there wasn’t anything left to say. Their future would be a bloody one until it was time to move on. He thought of the others in the group and knew that Shaun and Greg would be hard to get to follow in a path of safety. He knew that the two of them had plans to take out the Turned eventually and for sure knew that Shaun would not part from the mission. When it came time for them to finally go their separate ways, he prayed that everyone knew enough to survive and get by from day to day.