The Aftermath Trilogy (Book 2): The Aftermath [Town of the Dead]

by Smith, Daniel

“I mean it. I can get solar panels, wind generators. There are even three large wind generators on some flatbed trailers ready to go. Spare parts, a machine shop and a maintenance yard for equipment, all untouched. Ready for use,” he finished with a downcast look.

  Sandra sat speechless for a moment if what he was saying was true, it could help the town.

  “Where, how” she started, but Doug cut her off.

  “Is everything all right,” he asked Dan with concern. Dan’s dark look faded for a moment as he smiled slightly, Dan could see the psychologist in him for a moment. As for Sandra, he had never seen her so flustered.

  “There’s a catch,” he said interrupting them as the slight smile faded from his face. He watched as the composure return to Sandra’s face.

  “Of course there is,” she replied calmly. “What is it,” she asked him.

  “They are in a Town of the dead; the place is infested with zombies,” Dan paused after saying this giving Sandra a chance to ask.

  “How infested?”

  “Without an army I would not go back,” Dan said. His eyes flickered from their faces to the ground. He felt almost ashamed for saying it. Did he just tell them he was afraid, his thoughts interrupted by Sandra’s voice.

  “It can’t be that bad,” she had started. However, stopped at the look on Dan’s face. He could read the concern of Doug’s face.

  “The people I was with, we made the mistake of going in, just three of us and for a couple of days it was good,” Dan said slowly. “Then the zombies came by the hundred’s trapping us,” he stopped as the events replayed across his mind.

  “Low on food and water we made a run for it. I barely got out, the other two did not,” Dan finished. Sandra started to say something but paused, as Doug spoke,.

  “I am sorry, I know it must be hard.”

  Dan heard the psychologist in him coming out once again. However, Sandra interrupted him as she slowly asked.

  “How big of an army,” she asked.

  Dan looked at her, the cold calculating look on her face reminded him of Manny, and for some reason he could not explain the dark mood he felt lifted as the slight smile returned. The night wore on as Sandra listen to everything he said.

  The next morning Dan got up early after a light breakfast of bread and a sharp Cheddar cheese, he headed out to the backyard of the house. Under the white metal patio awning, he started with the exercise routine Manny had thought him years ago in the abandoned supermarket they had stayed in at the start of the plague. He went through the series of step and kicks with punches alternating between high and low stances. He had spent many of long hours learning how to do them; he remembered Manny’s words as he went through them.

  “No real use against a zombie. The dead are not the only people you must worry about,” Manny told him.

  Dan remembered shortly after that, that Manny would be right. After about twenty minutes of this routine he stopped. Before he picked up a black six-pound exercise bar the same size of his sword, Dan then started to go through another series of movements mimicking the moves of his sword. He went through one then two-handed side slashes, overhand chops, then another of front lunges. He was starting to sweat heavily after fifteen minutes but continued for several more minutes before setting the pipe down against an old green plastic patio table.

  Walking back into the house for a moment before returning with his dark brown Bear Archery recurve bow. Placing one end of the bow between his feet, he bent the bow enough to put the bowstring on the other end. Dan clipped the leather quiver of arrows onto his belt and attached the leather shooting brace onto his arm. Before walking out onto the freshly cut damp grass to look at a target on a stand in far corner of his yard. He shot three arrows at the target quickly before he stopped to evaluate his shots. He seemed disappointed at the first few shots that hit the target. He shook his head sadly, he had let himself get out of practice, this he would have to correct and fast he thought. Dan spent the better part of the next hour practicing with the bow before he checked his watch.

  “I will practice more this afternoon,” he told himself.

  Going into the house to wipe himself off and change his shirt before heading to the garage. He had to smile the flatbed maintenance cart was park in his driveway. Dan undid the combination lock to open the locking metal security gate on the garage. And started loading some cardboard boxes and plastic totes on to the flatbed cargo area of the low to the ground yellow metal maintenance cart. He had piled as many boxes as he could in the cargo area before he continue to fill the rear bench seat and front passenger seats of the partially enclosed cab. As he was finishing he saw Doug coming across the street.

  “Morning,” Dan greeted him as he approached.

  “Good Morning, glad I caught you,” he said cheerily.

  “Sandra would like you to stop by her office this afternoon at three o’clock,” Doug told him.

  “I can do that,” Dan answered as he packed the last box on to the cart.

  “Do you know that after the talk we had last night. She was up at the first light of dawn waking the town council up. She called an emergency meeting, I have not seen her, this worked up in a while,” Doug told him. Dan just nodded. She spent over an hour discussing what it would take to get the items she wanted. Plus what he would want this was business.

  This left Sandra with many plans to think out long in to the night, he figured that come morning she was going to be busy.

  “Well, I will leave you to do what you need to,” Doug said slowly before he turned to head home.

  “Thanks” Dan said a little distracted as he looked up from the cart. He did register the concerned look on Doug’s face for a moment.

  “Probably wondering how I am doing,” he thought. He saw that look before between their visits by him and Manny in the past. He finished checking the load that he had secured on the yellow cart before he started the drive over to Doctor McGee’s clinic. As Dan drove down the residential streets towards Main St, he passed several parents watching their kids playing out if front of their houses. He remembered, just as his parents used to do, but they never had rifles or other weapons slung over their backs.

  He pulled the overloaded cart up to the one story beige building. One of the few buildings in the town still used for the original purpose. Stopping at the medical building. He watched as Doctor McGee walked out of the glass door.

  “Hello and what’s all this,” Doctor McGee greeted him as she approached him as he parked the cart.

  “Hello to you to,” Dan said. Getting out of the yellow metal maintenance cart and went to give her a hug, the first time she had done it had embarrassed him but now he looked forward to it. She still had her short brown hair, but he would admit with her large brown eyes and big smile made her an attractive woman even though she was older them him. As he finished hugging her, he realized she was almost as tall as he was.

  “So what’s all that,” she said pointing to the loaded cart.

  “Stuff for your clinic,” Dan said smiling and wondering where she got that flora print shirt. She was wearing under the white doctor smock.

  “So the rumors were true, that you scored big this time,” she said studying him as his smile faded a bit.

  “We should get this inside,” he said trying to change the conversation.

  It took them a little over half an hour to unload the cart, Doctor McGee and Sara helped him. He figured she was still upset with him by the way she was silent towards him. Dan credited this to her having to walk to work today. As they finished unloading, the cart Doctor McGee asked if he would like have a cup of coffee with her. Dan checked his watch; he knew he had more than enough time before he had to meet Sandra at her office.

  “Sure, I have time,” he said quietly.

  “Loren, we do not have any patients scheduled today. Can I leave for lunch,” Sara asked avoiding looking at Dan.

  “Go ahead and say Hello to Steve for me,” she said with a smile as Sara blus
hed. Her blushing caused a slight smile on Dan’s face.

  “Here, take the cart,” Dan said trying to hide the smile on his face as he held out the keys to the yellow maintenance cart.

  “You don’t mind,” Sara asked as she reached for the keys.

  “No, I have to go downtown later and I can walk,” he replied nonchalantly.

  “Thanks,” Sara said excitably as she took the keys.

  Dan could hear the change in her voice; he figured she was no longer mad at him. Dan and Doctor McGee watched her drive off for her lunch date with Steve.

  “This stuff is getting hard to find,” she said as she poured the coffee into a cup on the table. Dan took a small sip from the coffee cup, he did not like the taste of coffee but he did not want to be rude. She sat down and sipped her coffee before finally asking.

  “Are you going out again soon are sticking around for a bit,” she asked casually while studying him. He was paying more attention to the coffee in the cup when he quietly answered.

  “I don’t know.”

  Loren studied him for a moment she did not recall him ever looking this way before.

  “What is wrong,” she asked.

  Dan looked up from the dark liquid in the cup; he could hear concern in her voice as she asked.

  “My last time-out went bad,” he started to say before pausing. Loren looked at him as he paused giving her time to remember their trip to Memphis she had thought that went bad. Nevertheless, he had to make her wonder what he meant by bad. To her, Dan had consider that just like any other day. He sighed slightly before speaking.

  “The two people with me did not make it.” Loren could see the hint of sadness in his down turned blue eyes.

  “I am sorry,” she told him. He nodded looking into the coffee cup his face darkening. This concerned Loren before she could say anything Dan started speaking quietly again.

  “James and Marion, I have known for a couple of years we had met them shortly after we got to Mississippi. They were a good couple married for twenty-five years. They had used to raise Clydesdale horses before the plague. Had a farm and everything, but like most farms they were overran with people looking for someplace safe after the plague started. Most of their horses where either stolen when people started to run low on gas or eaten when they ran low on food. When the zombies finally came the horses could handle a few zombies. Eventually they took six of the best horses they had left with a wagon and left their farm. They did trading mostly rented the horses to farmers to plow fields during planting season hauled people to different towns to get by. That’s how we met them on the road between towns. We were on bicycles then the minivan we use to drive broke down. We were riding down the road when we met at an intersection. Manny started a conversation with them, soon the bikes were sitting in the back of the wagon, and we started traveling with them. Manny like them because they were younger than him but older than me and he could talk about more stuff with them. They were good people James would do his best to teach me like Manny used to and Marion always fussed over me a lot it was embarrassing then.”

  “What do you mean,” Loren asked with a smile as she took a sip of coffee.

  “Well if I got a tear or hole in my shirt or pants she would make me give it to her so she could patch it. Always wanted me to eat said I was a growing boy and needed to eat. She was always telling me I was too thin, other stuff like always asking me if I was too cold or hot. Stuff like that,” Dan looked down into the cup of coffee.

  While embarrassing then now he missed it Loren studied Dan’s face for a moment before asking.

  “Did they have children?”

  “I don’t know,” Dan said slowly. “They never spoke of kids, but the way she would fuss over me. I think they did at one time,” he said sadly. He could see a slight look of confusion on Loren’s face.

  “I had that happen several times the first two years of the plague. People would see me mostly women and would try to adopt me on the spot usually calling me a different name. I always thought that was weird. However, Manny would remind me that some people could not handle loss that well. They were trying to deal with the grief by thinking I could replace their kids that they had lost,” Dan said. Almost remotely as he remembered how his mother had sunk into depression after a carjacker murdered his father at the start of the plague.

  “Manny was a smart man, I wish I could have met him,” Loren said with a warm tone in her voice. Dan looked up from the coffee cup he had been staring in while he was talking. The smile on her face lifted his dark mood.

  “So do I, but if he had been around I don’t think events would have went the way they did and I am not sure we would be friends,” he said thoughtfully.

  “You never know what could have been,” Loren said with a thoughtful tone and look of her own. Dan looked at her for a moment while he took time to understand what she had said. She noticed the look he always gave her when she said something he did not understand.

  “So if you do not mind what happened,” she asked looking at him now.

  “Since Memphis, I have been thinking about the talk we had about the future,” He told her and she remembered the conversation she had with him in an abounded clothing store.

  She remembered asking him if he ever thought about the future and planned for it. She was beginning to regret that conversation because of the way he looked now.

  “I was in Little Rock helping Mabel and Katrina on their last run not doing much I was just an extra guard. We were at a truck stop.”

  Loren smiled when she interrupted him.

  “Was it a converted mall,” she asked.

  Dan looked at her puzzled for a second.

  “No it always was a truck stop,” he could not understand the looked on her face when he answered. So after a deep breath and letting it out slowly he continued.

  “It surprised me when I ran into them. I think it has been a little over a year since the last time we talked. We spent time just catching up on everything since that last time we were together. They seemed sad that Manny had passed. After a little bit they started asking me if I would be interested in helping them with a job. They did not want to involve that many people then because they did not want me to talk to Mable to gauge her interest in helping. They had told me that they just wanted to check it out first,” Dan paused.

  “What,” Loren asked intrigued now.

  “At first they would not say just that they found a big score and needed help with it. Enough to restart their farm they said. They seemed excited. Since Mable and her crew where approached with a rush job offer that I was not needed on. I decided to see what this big score was. So I went with them; it was almost a day on the road before they would tell me where we were going,” he paused.

  As he absently took a sip of the coffee, when he looked up from the cup he saw Loren looking at him expectantly.

  “So what was it this big score,” she asked with excitement in her voice.

  “A town untouched by any one since the plague started,” Dan said looking at her. He could see the look of doubt on her face.

  “Surly you mean,” She started but stopped when she saw him shake his head.

  “I mean untouched it has everything. You need to change your life,” he said before she could answer.

  “That’s wonderful,” she said before noticing the long look on his face.

  “What’s wrong,” she asked him.

  “I would have to go back their one last time,” he answer looking at his coffee. Silence grew between them for a while.

  “Would it be worth going back,” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said to the coffee again.

  “Then what’s wrong,” she asked. The concern in Dan’s lack of confidence was bothering her.

  “When we were out there we broke our major rule of salvage and it wound up cost them their life’s and almost mine,” Dan said looking up from the coffee.

  “What was that rule,” she asked with concern. Dan looked
Loren in the eyes when he said.

  “We got greedy.”

  When he was ready to leave, he felt better; He had explained to her what had happened, how zombies had surrounded them. He managed to get away because he ran faster than them.

  “You could not undo the past but learn from it,” She told him.

  “If you do not go back now. What will you do,” she asked seeing his discomfort.

  Reaching out Loren placed her hand on his shoulder and with a smile.

  “You would know the dangers. And be better prepared increasing your chances of success,” she said.

  “The decision is yours, but if you can change your life and do not take the chance, you will regret it,” she finished. He looked up from his coffee cup. Shaking his head he stood.

  “This gives me a lot to think on my walk to city hall,” he started looking at her.

  “Tell Sara she could take the cart home I would walk back from city hall,” he finished. Hugging Loren good-bye he felt a lot better than before.

  As Dan was walking along the side street that would lead to Main Street and city hall, he started to get an edgy feeling and kept looking to the east for some reason. The last time he felt this way was outside Clarksville before Katrina and her mother showed up but they were not due for another day. It was about this time Dan saw the large trucks coming down the road towards him. He could just make out the baby blue model three eighty nine Peterbilt that looked like it just had come off the showroom floor. He watched as the block like truck starting with the chrome radiator grill and bumper. That leaded into a hood that was a long rectangle ending in a block style cab with attached sleeper shell with a chrome exhaust pipes running up each side of the cab. The big rig with dual trailers stopped next to him as a red headed young woman with green eyes and freckles stuck her head out the window of the truck.

  “He’s right where you said he would be mother,” she said into the truck. This intrigue and freaked him out a little this was the second time she had said something like that. He used the step on the large rounded chrome fuel tanks hanging below each door of the cab to bring himself up to the window.