by Kris Weeks
“I haven’t smoked in years, but man this tastes good.” Alex blew out what he had inhaled.
“I smoked when I was younger, but haven’t since.” Willy continued the conversation.
“I wouldn’t have to worry about zombies right now if my wife were here, she would take care of killing me; we agreed when we married that we would both quit.” Alex laughed. “I’m not really sure why I even grabbed them at the store. I figured someone smoked. I just didn’t figure it would be me.”
Bryan, Nate and Thomas all stepped out a moment later. Alex and Willy snickered a bit when Thomas walked out without the ball cap he had on yesterday.
“Thanks guys, yes, bald as a baby’s ass.” Thomas took a sip of coffee. “Sorry man, just didn’t expect it.” Willy stated.
“Isn’t anything wrong with bald!” Bryan rubbed his own head. “Nope, not at all. We should be able to see drunks coming from miles in the reflections on those heads.” Nate joked.
They were all hysterically laughing at this point, trying not to spit coffee on the two bald twins that stood in front of them.
“It is like the toughness just escapes through your heads, just lookin like a couple of old guys.” Willy picked up a long stick by the old fire pit, “cane?” He held it out to them.
“The oreo twins!” Nate put in some more of his jokes.
“Big, bald, black and white
beautiful boys!” Alex actually smiled. “Alright alright, so are we goin g to make bald jokes all day or work?” Bryan thought he would stop the jokes.
“Guess that depends, do y’all have some sun screen?” Willy snickered. Bryan and Thomas both turned to walk inside. “Okay okay, sorry. We are done.” Nate grabbed Bryan. “Just fucking with you.”
“Anyways! Have we gotten any instruction from God yet?” Bryan asked.
“Nope, he may need to have his morning king’s feast first before his brain starts functioning” Willy made another joke.
“What is the deal with him and Rue anyway?” Nate shot out of
randomness. “Now we aren’t allowed to cook, or think or breathe, but she can do whatever the hell she wants along with her kids?”
“I don’t know, my understanding is that they were all together when they got here.” Alex stated.
“It was Rue, Eric, the kids,
Andrew, and Atora when they picked me up. Atora was in her own car though and the rest were in the van. That is how we have the extra car. She was following them.” Willy explained. “I jumped in with Atora when they found me at the rest stop they stopped at. I was actually in the bathroom since it seemed the only safe place to be at night and heard Andrew come in and groan as he took a piss and almost took him for a “stiff” as Thomas says.”
“Wha t happened to all of the others that they talk about that were with them?” Bryan asked.
“Supposedly, they were left behind since they would not listen to Eric’s ruling.” Alex told him.
“Wow, guess I would try and make good with a team of folks. The more the safer!” Bryan shot back
The four men nodded, taking in more of their daily caffeine.
“Any more of them cigarettes?” Thomas asked Alex. Alex pulled out the pack and offered him one and his lighter. “Long time ago bad habit, but seemed like a good time to have one.” Alex smiled.
“I agree, especially if we are dealing with this shit today. I heard you lost your son recently. Sorry about that man.” Thomas apologized.
Alex nodded as Eric stepped out of the door and let the screen door slam. The four of them turned around.
“Yes master, we are here to serve!” Nate bowed towards him.
Everyone giggled a bit, except for Eric of course. “We have lots to get done.” Finally taking his eyes off Nate. ”I think we are going to build a watch house. I want it right by the front fence. I want it built high enough to see over the fence, and enough room to move around a bit. Y’all can figure out who is going to take what shift, but
someone needs to be in it at all times. Rue has already taken inventory of all of the food, Bryan, I want you to count all of the materials and tools, so we know if we need to get out and get some more. We are going out here in the next couple of days to see if we can gather more things to bring back. Gas being one of them. We need to make sure and keep stock in it as well as food. If this is going to be our new place, we need to take care of it and make sure we have an emergency plan, just in case. Ladies, you go where you are needed with the men.”
Nate bowed again to Eric and they all turned to go about their way and follow orders until they could figure out what to do about the situation of being treated like children.
Nate took Thomas and Atora to the garden and checked on it before going to help Willy and Alex start building.
“So didn’t we say this is what we wanted to do yesterday and he
stopped us from building?” Willy asked Alex.
“Yep, because it wasn’t his idea.” Alex hauled a board over and laid out a foundation of where it would be.
“We could have had this shit done yesterday.” Willy shot back a little pissed off about having to do it now.
Alex went on about his way of hammering and instruction everyone what to bring him. With the four men working together, they had it built in a few hours. A sturdy ladder to climb as well as a deer blind like box, open on all four sides to be able to watch out. It was mostly enclosed to try and keep some heat inside, but open enough to keep air flow going through. There was a small corner table and a bench built around the rest of the inside wall. It was tall enough that Thomas would not have to duck down when he was inside and wide enough that Bryan would be comfortable. Both being fairly big guys, Alex wanted to make sure no matter who was in it, they were not inconvenienced by not being able to move around. Alex put a small balcony on the outside to be able to walk all the way around if anyone needed to get outside to see better along with a railing for stability to shoot if necessary.
“I love this, my big ass fits up here great.” Bryan stuck his head into the opening of the box from the balcony.
“Well, seeing as how I made you sit in between the seats after you pushed me out of mine. I kind of knew how much room you needed and how tall to make it with Thomas being here. Trying to accommodate everyone big guy.” Alex admired his work. “Good job guys!”
Ashley and Karlin showed up with armfuls of water bottles. “Water guys?”
They all climbed down grabbing bottles from them and went to advise Eric that all had been accomplished. Eric sat at the dining room table taking his last bite of what looked to be a once plate full of food and a glass of tea.
“Ice would be great, we will hav e to figure that out.” He carried on a conversation with Rue, who was making other plates for her kids while holding Rowena in her other arm nestled to her breast.
“Want me to take her?” Ashley asked. Rue glared at her and shook her head and nestled her even closer to her. Ashley could feel the tension between them since their conversation and walked away. Atora downed the rest of her water and patted Ashley on the back on her way by.
“Ms. Karlin, guess what time it is for you?” Eric asked her. Karlin peered over to him, along with the rest of everyone else waiting for his instruction.
“You will be keeping watch in the new tower for a few hours tonight.” He told her.
“No, she will not!” Ashley shouted. “She most certainly will. She will take watch for about three hours and if anything is seen, we will have her give some sort of sign to us to let us know and we will go take care of it. First, I will be going to make sure the tower is what I wanted.” He told them all.
Eric rose from the table, and made his way quietly out of the front door. Everyone watched him and then looked at each other waiting for someone to say something. No one said a word, including Karlin.
Willy and Alex made their way out to their creation to see what
ridiculousness Eric would come up with. Eric was already u
p in the tower. He held his hand up to his forehead, shielding the sun from his eyes as he walked around the balcony. He disappeared inside and came out within seconds.
“I guess at least it is something.” Eric stated as he climbed down. “There are some cars out there that are fairly close that we need to hit up to get the gas out of them before we take a trip to go collect more gas. Gather a team to go with, you two take care of it.”
Willy and Alex did as they were instructed. They were going to need gas no matter what happened here. They made their way back to the house and quickly assembled a small group and the tools needed to go out.
Willy, Alex, Andrew and Bryan made their way to Atora ‘s car she had brought with her. Karlin got up to the tower and sat inside, she gave a thumbs up to the foursome pulling up to the gate. Willy jumped out and opened the gate, allowed the car to pull through and closed it back and fell ass first into the open trunk pulling in his feet getting into a squatting position with the numerous gas cans they had loaded up. He hit the side of the car letting them know he was ready to go.
Alex pulled out onto the road and pulled only about a half of a mile down to the first car. Willy jumped out with a couple of hoses and couple of the gas cans, Andrew met him at the tank.
“Okay, watch.” Andrew told Willy. He placed the hose into the tank and the other end, he stuck in his mouth and sucked and quickly set the end of the hose into the can. The gas flowed and filled almost half of the can. They moved on to the next car a few feet away. Willy stuck in the hose and sucked like Andrew. He quickly began coughing and spitting out a mouthful of gasoline.
Andrew laughed and grabbed the hose and put in the can that was half filled. “Yeah, you can’t drink that shit.”
Willy had his tongue stuck out wiping it with his shirt. Andrew moved on to the next car as Alex pulled the car around closer to them. They moved from car to car
syphoning gas out. Bryan kept watch as did Karlin.
*** Thomas, Nate and Atora sat with Ashley in her room as she worried about Karlin out by herself. Ashley cried sobs as they tried to calm her.
“She is only thirteen, she cannot survive out with these things on her own!” She cried.
The three patted her on the back and assured her that she would be safe up in the tower. Nate would walk out of the room and look through the kitchen window to check to make sure that Karlin was still in the tower and then report it back to Ashley.
“GET OUT!” Eric swung open the door. “Everyone except for Ashley.” The three friends glared at Eric and looked back to Ashley. “I’ll be fine, maybe we need to talk this out.”
Everyone moved to the kitchen to see if they could help Rue with dinner; she quickly shooed them out so that she could prepare plates.
Thomas decided a fire would be a good idea for the evening; hoping that it would calm the nerves of everyone. Nate and Atora followed him outside to gather wood and start building it up in the fire pit.
“Ashley, what is the problem, don’t you trust me?” He asked her. “Here is the deal Ashley, you all listen to me and I will keep us safe. We all need to know how to take out zombies, including the children in case
somehow we end up not around. Don’t you get it that I am not trying to be a dick, I am trying to make you all understand that being knowledgeable about all of this, is what is going to save everyone. Stick with me and I will keep everyone and everything safe. Be one of my followers and I will stick this out with you all.
Disobey me, and it you will regret it one way or another.”
Ashley nodded not exactly sure what to say. “I need you to speak to the others as well, and make sure they understand that being part of this group consists of letting me guide them or else.” He tried to convince. “Get and give me power and you will be special as others have been. Resist and you will end up as others have.”
There was nothing for Ashley to say anymore. She has already been in an altercation with the man; she knew that he was capable of killing her, and somehow with his ‘not so tough’ look, he had it in him.
CHAPTER TEN
ANDREW AND Willy had filled
all of the gas cans for a total of six cans. They made sure that the tops were on secure and placed them all into the trunk of the car. Willy and Andrew piled in the back of the small four door sedan. Wiping the sweat from their foreheads, they were ready to go home. They had to go almost four miles down the road to fill all of the cans with partial tanks of gas that were left in each car. Alex turned the car around and started back home.
They dodged the cars they had just taken gas from and could see the tower and Karlin standing on the balcony. She pointed across the road, Alex came closer to the gate and could see three stiffs making their way onto the road. Alex stopped as they all three made their way in front of them. A car was on the right and left of them, there was no way around them.
“I can’t hit them, they will damage the car.” Alex made them aware. The group agreed, they all took their weapons of choice they had brought along and open their doors. They stepped out making sure to close their doors and Willy and Andrew stood on the side of the car and Alex and Bryan made their way to the front. They were definitely going to protect their efforts they had just made to get all of the gas they had. Willy waved Andrew to the back of the vehicle and Bryan and Alex stood on each side of the car waiting to help if needed.
Two of the stiffs were small women and one was a fairly normal sized guy. All three were chomping their jaws and began moving towards them. One of the women had a limp and was only able to move very slowly, the other woman dragged a foot and one of her hands was stuck bent at the elbow and stayed by her side as she walked. The man’s ribs protruded through his button down shirt and every time he would take a step and his arm would move, a rib poked further out of his body and then go back in as he took another step and dropped his arm.
“Take the women on the sides and I will take the man in the middle.” Andrew told Willy and Alex that made their way on each side of him. “Bryan, hang back just in case.
They all charged at them at once. Their weapons raised and ready to move them out of their way to get home. Alex swung his machete, Andrew thrust his knife and Willy lunged the filet knife; all three hit their marks and the stiffs fell at the same time.
Each of them grabbed the one they had killed and dragged them to the side of the road. The three turned to get back to the car and Bryan stood fighting off his own small horde. He swung his machete back and forth, heads were literally rolling into the grass on the side of the road. They ran to help as more approached from all sides. Surrounding the trunk of the car, they began their fight. Karlin watched from above and hollered for someone to come quick.
Ashley, Atora and Thomas ran to the tower.
“They are down there, they are right there!” She hollered down. The rest of the group grabbed tools that were leaned on the fence and left on the ground from building the tower and made their way out of the gate, latching it back for safety. They ran down the road to the car and began to attack on the horde that had
surrounded their other friends. The undead were everywhere; they were killing two and three with one swing of their shovels and long tools. Ashley had grabbed a hammer and was burying the claws into the heads of them.
Karlin screamed as she watched her mother kill them. Eric made his way quickly to the top of the tower and watched the fight as he quieted Karlin down telling her to pay attention on what they were doing to kill off the zombies so that she knew how to do it.
The stiffs were multiplying, with each one they killed, two more would appear. Nate climbed on top of the car and began swinging the hoe and taking out more than anyone. Their machetes and knives were only able to take one at a time. Nate swung like a baseball player and would knock their heads off. He would get it stuck and pull upward and their brain would come out of the top of their skulls, he would rare back again; with scraps still hanging from his weapon and swing again.
Ashley was having to get way too close to them to put the claws of the hammer in and had gotten herself surrounded and away from the group. Alex and Thomas saw her trying to fight her way out and hacked their way over to her. She took a swing and landed her hammer deep enough in one she could not pull it out. A
woman grabbed her around the neck from behind and went in for a bite of Ashley’s neck; she almost made it before Alex took her out. He grabbed Ashley by the leg and pulled, Ashley hit the ground face first hard and zombies fell on top of her expecting to have their next meal right there.
“MOM!” Karlin screamed. Eric snickered at Karlin’s tears that streamed down her face as he thought of their fight, if that is what you want to call it.
Alex pulled hard and dragged Ashley out of the middle of them. She was dead weight since the asphalt knocked her out when she hit. He ran backwards and the stiffs were left without. They all raised their heads in unison and followed their meal being taken away. They began to crawl to catch their meal. Blood trailed behind Ashley’s lifeless body.
“Do you want to go help your mom?” Eric asked. Karlin could not answer and only shook her head yes. “Come on!” He started down the ladder and ran over to the gate. “Ready?” He questioned.
Karlin held up her machete. Eric opened the gate with a wooden bat set up on his shoulder. He latched the gate and walked calmly down to the group trying to fight their way out. Karlin stabbed upward at the first one she came to and pulled her large knife out of the man’s chin. He fell to the ground and Karlin moved forward to another one as the tears stung her eyes. Adrenaline had set in and she screamed at the monsters that were surrounding the group that had become family. Eric took few out with the bat he had and knocked them in the head and their bodies fell off to the side of the road.
The rest of the crew were trying to drag Ashley and swing their weapons at the same time.