by Ethan Chione
“Good night sir,” I say as I squirm out of the cave.
We did good bringing in the soda. Me and my friends did good. It will give every person a good amount of cans. It will be good for later if we ever have to trade with other sections. Because the Can System is not perfect. Things are more expensive in other sections. The more cans we have, the better off we are. Over two hundred thousand people up and down the coast. Many sections. Two thousand people to a section. It is a nice community I suppose. Me and my friends did good.
We will go out again the night after tomorrow night. We go out almost every other night. The food we bring back is given out or traded around to the people in Section AAA. We also give some to the Keeper to eat and some for him to store up. We put anything that will last for a long time like canned goods and stuff. The canned goods are our emergency food. If for some reason Section AAA runs out of food or some disaster like that. Always smart to be prepared.
I walk into the tent. I am tired and my shaggy blonde hair is yucky and hanging in my eyes. It is morning now and everyone who was not up last night scavenging is just waking up. Almost everyone except for me and my two friends from tent AAA1 got a good night’s sleep. We are pretty much the only ones from our tent who scavenge. I walk over to my bed. Lucy has just woken up. She is pulling the blankets up over her bed and making it look neat. She always does that. She is cute. A neat bed is a neat life she tells me. I try to remember to make my bed look neat. I forget a lot.
A few months after Section AAA was made our home, me and my friends went out to scavenge. We quickly found out we needed to. It did not take long to know. I brought back some things for Lucy and for myself. I brought some toiletries. Just some stuff to help us stay somewhat clean. To keep us smelling somewhat fresh. I also got her some new clothes and some extra blankets and pillows. She was very happy. It made her happy to have the things I brought. I also brought her a pocket knife. I showed her how to use it. She had never had a knife before. I showed her how it opened and how it locked. How to close it and take care of it and clean it up. She liked it. It made her feel stronger somehow she said. She is strong.
She has finished making up the bed, and she turns to me and smiles. She gives me a hug and kisses me on the cheek. She does not love me I don’t think. We are just best friends.
“How did scavenging go Tom,” she asks. She is still smiling. She always smiles.
“It went well,” I say unmaking my basically already unmade bed. I pull off my shirt and jeans and crawl under the covers right away in my underwear. “We found a truck full of soda. Later today…tomorrow…wow…I guess it is later today not tomorrow.” I laugh. “Later today we will be giving sixty cans of soda to everyone. We have enough yes.”
“Sixty!” Lucy exclaims. “Sixty! That is a lot of soda! We will have a lot of soda to drink and many cans afterwards!” Lucy does a little twirl in the air. “This is fantastic! You sleep now Tom. Would you like me to wake you up later?”
“Give me just a couple of hours. Me and my friends can sleep tonight. We do not go back into the Badlands until the night after tonight.”
“Alright, I will wake you in two hours. Oh. I almost forgot. You know what day it is right?”
“Yes. We will swim in the harbor later alright?”
“Cool! I won’t go in without you. I don’t like swimming alone.”
“Yeah. I know what you mean.”
“Alright Tom. You sleep now. Sweet dreams!”
Lucy walks away. She will go play with the children or something like that. She is good with children. The children in Section AAA love her. She is like the mother of all the children here. They all love her. I love her.
Chapter 3
My dreams are haunted. They are haunted by the infected. The Stumblers. They haunt my dreams. They are like animals. When the virus first became a widespread thing people did not want to take it seriously. Only when their neighbors started turning into flesh craving maniacs did people really start to realize the virus was real. Is real. It is still real. The virus is still here…everywhere…as far as I know.
The Stumblers do not look like humans. They do not act like humans. They are not humans. They are Stumblers. Their skin is gray and the veins show purple against it. Their eyes are always rolled back into their heads. They have yellow teeth and fingernails and toenails and they are horrible-looking. They eat almost anything they can. They like fresh meat. Animals and humans especially. They will eat each other if they have to. But they don’t like to. They do not like the taste of their own kind I do not think. But they will. Because they only eat each other if they have to. They will. Like if there are no humans or animals around. Then they eat each other. They are like animals. They respect their own kind but they do eat each other if they get hungry enough. I have a bad feeling that they might breed too. They are like animals. Yet they are still human to some extent. What if they mate? What if they have babies? What if they never die out? What if there are always Stumblers in the world from now on? What if? What if the world is in ruins like this forever more?
I wake up. Most everyone is not inside the tent. I yawn as I wake up, and stretch. It is a beautiful day. The sun is out and the sky is blue and cloudless. I hear children laughing and the buzz of chatter coming from the adults outside. People are enjoying the nice weather. Nice weather does not come often. Most everyone is outside. Some people are inside lying on their beds. Some are reading books or old magazines that have been scavenged from the Badlands. We try and bring back books, stuff to keep busy with. Stuff to keep the mind going. To distract. There is a man who was a professor before the Great Evacuation and he asked us to bring in books. He wants to build a library right here in tent AAA1. He and several other people have moved their beds to different parts of the tent to clear space to start piling up books. Eventually the professor wants me and my friends to bring book shelves back. I don’t think we can do this. But I told him we will try. Maybe we will bring back materials to build the shelves. We will try. I do love books. It would be nice. I’ll try.
Most people are outside. Only a few people are still in the tent. I continue to lie on my back. I am thinking of the dream that woke me up. The Stumblers were chasing me. They do that often in my dreams. They chase me often. They are like animals. And what if they are breeding? I have told that to Captain Barnes. But he always says that it is nothing to worry about. He insists they are not smart enough to mate. But I have seen more Stumblers than he has I think. They are smart. They are smarter than he thinks anyway. I know it. I think I know it. Maybe I think I know too much, more than I really do know. Maybe I know too much or not enough.
Most people are outside. It is indeed a beautiful day.
I am not outside. I am inside lying on my bed. Lucy never came to wake me up so it must be before a couple of hours. Or she forgot. It does not matter either way. I feel rested mostly. I must have only been asleep for an hour or an hour and a half. Because Lucy did not come to wake me up. She probably did not forget. She doesn’t forget. I am lying there thinking this. Lucy walks in.
“Oh,” she says with her beautiful smile, “you are already awake, Tom.”
“Yup,” I reply sitting up. I quickly pull on my jeans and my shirt. “What have you been up to Lucy?”
“Playing games with the children,” she says happily. She is always happy. I do not know how or why. But she is always happy. Always.
“Good, good,” I say. “It’s good for them to have something and someone to occupy their time for them. You’re a good mom Lucy.” Lucy chuckles at that.
“Thanks, Tom,” she winks at me and then turns to leave. I want to tell her.
“Lucy,” I say.
“Yes?” I cannot speak. I freeze up.
“Um…I’ll be out in a minute okay?” I say.
“Alright, see you in a bit.”
I sigh and then stretch out my arms and legs. Lots of stretching because I feel a little sore. I let myself fall to the ground. Before I
hit it I put my arms out and begin doing pushups. I do a set of one hundred pushups every time I wake up. It really helps me to stay awake. Wake up and stay awake. It helps. It does help, it really does. I finish and then stand up and stretch again. I groan as I stretch and it makes me think of the Stumblers. How they moan and groan and such. I am not a Stumbler. Thank the Lord for that. I have so much to thank the Lord for. The Lord who let this happen to us. Am I mad? I don’t know. But I am thankful either way. That is at the top of the list though. I am not a Stumbler. After I stretch again I lay down on the sand on my back. I do one hundred crunches. One hundred pushups and one hundred crunches every day. But I still start to feel my arms and stomach getting sore and tired once I get to about seventy-five. That is when they get sore. It is good that I get sore from doing them. That means that I am building up the muscle. I am muscular. I’m not being prideful. I am just muscular. Anyone with eyes can see that. Doing those exercises and running around in the Badlands in search of supplies keeps me in great shape. Keeps me strong. It is good. I need to be in good shape. Good shape is good. I like being in good shape. Lucy is in good shape too. She gets her exercise playing with the energetic children. The children always have energy. I guess I was like that twenty years ago too. Hard to believe it. I know it because I feel old. Maybe I am just being worn out by life. Maybe this life is harder than I realize. Lucy also stays in shape when me and her swim together. Me and her swim together a lot. Once a week. Every week. Today is the day we will swim. Later today, when the parents or guardians take the children inside for some more quiet games me and Lucy will go to the harbor and swim. I enjoy swimming with Lucy. It’s fun. And I cannot lie I don’t mind seeing her in a bra and underwear. She stays in good shape. Sometimes we race across the harbor and back. Other times we simply tread water and talk while we do it. Then other times we just float on our backs. Eyes closed to the sun. Listening to the seagulls call and the water slosh around us. Today will be a good day. I know it.
I go outside the tent. I have done my exercises. Outside there are some children gathered around a board game that me and my friends brought back from the Badlands. We haven’t brought back many board games because there are more important things we need. Like the food and the soda. But we bring the children back toys and games if we can. We try to. They like it when we do. The children are the future, always. We want to help them. I smile at the children and say hello. They shout hello back to me cheerfully. Between Lucy always smiling and the kids’ energetic happiness, the Safe Zone generally stays a pretty cheery place. It is not all that bad really.
I find Lucy. She is playing a game of tag with a large group of children. A young boy is “it.” He is chasing Lucy and the other children around and around. He cannot catch them. I run and pick the boy up and run with him in my arms. I chase after the other children. The boy has his arms outstretched and together we chase them down. Finally we tag one of the fastest girls in the group. We all fall down to the ground. Exhausted. We are all laughing. But exhausted.
“Gotcha,” gasps the little boy between breathing and giggling.
We sit for a few minutes laughing and trying to catch our breath. The children decide to tackle me and Lucy and start a tickle fight. The battle is fierce. I fear that I will not be able to survive much longer. In one last wild attempt at victory I grab two of the children in my arms and pick them up. I swing them around in a circle. They are laughing with glee. I am making them dizzy. Lucy and the other children are laughing at us as they watch us. Lucy starts giving me a look. Too much spinning. When I put the two children down, the others run up to me shouting “Me next! Me next!” I laugh as I pick up two more children and spin them around. Lucy still gives me the look, but she just laughs. The children insisted. I spin around two more children after that. I fall down from dizziness. Laughing. Exhausted. We are all still laughing. I am done now though. I am too dizzy. The kids are a little disappointed but are quickly distracted when another kid shouts from the shore that a crab is wandering around in the sand.
Today is a good day. I look at Lucy as she and the children watch with delight and excitement as the crab bustles about on the beach. My heart is happy to see her so happy. I smile even more as I watch her beautiful face lit up with joy. She is everything that I have ever needed, and that I ever will need in this world. As I sit and laugh and catch my breath I am so thankful. I think to myself that this world. This terrible world. This world of sorrow and loss. This world is not so terrible after all. Not when I have Lucy in it. I love her.
Chapter 4
Me and Lucy are done playing with the children and we walk to the rocks near the harbor. When we get to the rocks, Lucy takes off her shirt and pants. She is so beautiful. I am trying not to stare or be a creep. But I cannot lie she looks very good in a bra and underwear. I take off my shirt and pants as well. I wonder if she thinks I look good in underwear too. Good Lord am I really that childish? She does look good though.
Me and Lucy are swimming in the harbor. We swim laps from one side of the harbor to the other. Back and forth. We are not racing. We are just swimming laps. Then we stop on the side of the harbor away from the Section AAA. We climb up onto the rocks that border the sand that is the beginning of Section ZZ. There are some people out on the beach from Section ZZ. But they do not pay attention to us. People from other sections trust each other. That is part of what makes the Safe Zone so safe. People can trust each other here. You learn to trust. You have to. You earn it. You give it. People trust each other here.
Me and Lucy swam laps. Now we are sitting on the rocks near Section ZZ. We are just sitting. Talking. Laughing. Today is a good day. We talk about all sorts of things. Nothing of importance. Just fun things. After we sit and talk for a while, we swim back across the bay. We stand on the rocks, staring out at the sea. Lucy takes my hand in hers. I hold her hand, and she holds mine. We are just standing there peacefully staring out at the sea, holding hands, on the rocks. I love her. I want to tell her. But it is getting dark now.
We go back to our tent. It is getting dark and we will go to bed soon.
As me and Lucy are walking to our tent, I hear my name being called. I turn to see Captain Barnes walking briskly towards me. He is a nice man. A good man. A good leader. But him wanting to talk to me cannot mean anything good. He does not talk to me ever unless it is business, which is not good. I say goodnight to Lucy and walk over to Captain Barnes to talk with him. He is a large muscular man. His cloths are tight and seem too small for him. He always wears a beret on his head, and often has a large cigar sticking from his mouth. He has a thick, bushy handlebar mustache. He’s a decent man. But sometimes I think he is a coward. A chicken. He is scared, but it gets the best of him. But he’s decent. I guess.
“Hello sir,” I say.
“Hello Tom,” Captain Barnes says. “May I might have a word.”
“I don’t have a choice do I?” I ask. I am joking a little bit so I say it with a laugh. But it is true. I do not have a choice. Captain Barnes chuckles as well and then claps a hand on my back. Me and Barnes know each other well enough. He treats me with respect. More than most anyway. But this is business. Always business with Captain Barnes.
“Tom,” he says as he guides me along at a slow walking pace. “I have a matter of importance that I must discuss with you.”
“Yes?”
“Well, to be perfectly frank with you, I must tell you that you cannot go out into the Badlands anymore.” I freeze. I look at him in disbelief. I hope it is a joke. No. He is serious about this.
“But sir, why not?”
“One of the military outposts about fifty miles from here reported a massive army of Stumblers heading towards the coast. Heading right towards sections XX, YY, ZZ, AAA, BBB, and CCC, DDD. That is the general area they seem to be heading towards. This of course is not good news. The outpost reported so many that they had to hide for fear of being found by the Stumblers and overrun. There was no fight. They couldn’t risk it. Ev
eryone in the sections I just mentioned is being told this news. No one from any of those sections will be allowed to scavenge anymore.”
“But sir! You know that we can’t survive for long on the military rations. They just aren’t enough! People depend on what me and the other scavengers bring back from the Badlands!”
“I understand. But we can’t risk it. You see, if you are out scavenging, you could be seen by the Stumblers. You could lead them right to the Safe Zone. The outpost estimated a few thousand Stumblers are headed this way. We wouldn’t be able to hold out against a force that size.”
“But they might find us anyway!”
“They might, and they might not. No reason to openly invite them to the Safe Zone by letting you scavengers go out and about the Badlands.”
“But,” I begin to argue again. Captain Barnes cuts me off.
“That is enough, Tom,” he says sharply. “You are not to go out into the Badlands anymore, and that is an order. Do you understand?” I surrender.
“Yes, sir,” I curtly say, feeling utterly defeated.
Captain Barnes leaves me standing there. How long will we be confined to the Safe Zone? We have enough emergency food stored up in the Keeper’s cave to last us about two weeks. Maybe three weeks. But not more than that. We will give out the cans of soda. Each person will get sixty cans. Soda can fill people up to some extent. What will we do? If each person only drinks two cans a day, they will have enough soda to last them a month. This is bad... At least it will keep some weight on them. Hopefully. Soda is full of sugar. Hopefully that sugar will just build up as fat in their body and give them some kind of energy. This is not good. Sugar and energy is not good but not bad. It is not ideal. It’s better than nothing I guess. But even then it won’t last long. Once we run out of soda and food we will have to survive on the military rations. Which of course we cannot do forever. The military tries. They really do. But it is not enough. It is never enough. After a month or so of eating nothing but the food the military gives us people will start to get sick. They will be too weak from lack of food. We will slowly starve to death. It won’t be enough. This is bad...