The Reanimates (Book 3): The Escape

by J. Rudolph

  While looking for food, we came across a health food grocery store that boasted that no genetically modified food would ever be found in their store, and no chemical additives would ever be sold to the smart shopper that came there. The poster in the front door was of this three-year-old girl in pigtails and in a font that was supposed to be child-like, the words "My mommy loves me so much that she would never poison me with bug spray." I rolled my eyes. I laughed out loud at the zombies that were stuck in the store. The smug shoppers were stuck wandering around in a place where the food rotted faster than usual, and to be a bit glib, those zombies weren't nearly as well preserved as the others that we'd come across in a larger chain grocery store.

  It was across the street from the overpriced health food store where we found this little building that caught our attention. The outside of the building looked to be hundreds of years old, standing out in a row of more modern designs. The facade was created from aged reclaimed red bricks. At first the name of the store didn't really catch my attention. What on earth could be of any use from some little shop named Spirit Quest? The paint in the window, although very faded, said they were a full service shop for magick supplies, and anything your spell needed, candles, oils, incense, herbs and stones were right there. We had been researching the hell out of herbal meds, and I adored Kristen and her skills in discovering new things to help us out. It was her interest that held the possibility of bridging the gap between alternative medicine and what I understood of chemical medicine. Yes, I was calling pharmacology chemical medicine. That started after a fight I had with her about what I was calling traditional medication. Kristen was mad at me because if one really stopped and thought about it, traditional medications were herbs. Long ago one peeled off a chunk of willow bark and ate it when they had a headache. That was traditional. It really wasn't until a corporation came about and started making powders from the willow bark and then sold the powder did we start thinking of that as medicine. I decided that calling meds by any separate designation really didn't matter anymore. Drugs were drugs now.

  I refocused my thoughts as I was staring in the window of this shop. The listing for herbs made me pause a moment. We had this desire to open up a homeopathic pharmacy. If this place had the right stuff, it could turn that desire into an actual thing.

  This was exactly what she had been wishing for, some silly little hole in the wall place that had options. Spirit Quest was a store primarily for people that practiced Wicca, and the herbs were more designed to be part of spells, but the wonderful thing about herbs was that there were options. We were definitely going to have to come back to this store soon and we circled this location on the map so we could find it again. When we came back to Wilsall and were unloading out discoveries, we told Kristen all about it. She was so excited that I couldn't help but to ask her if she wanted to come to the store with us and check it out.

  We went back the next day. Kristen barely contained her excitement over coming with us, and she was grinning from ear to ear as we approached this old, weathered door with glass panes and a drawn roll-up shade, blocking the view from the outside. Everything was intact, and on a piece of paper below a hand painted sign that declared that the store was closed, was a hand-written sign that invited us inside, to take just what we needed, and to do a random act of kindness for another.

  We tested the doorknob first and even with the weather-exposed metal and decay, there was this feeling that the door would work just as it always had, and this feeling was totally confirmed. With a gentle click and a minuscule resistance to the outside pressure, the door swung open, unlocked and unimpeded. It was like the owner understood that the end was happening and there would be people that needed help.

  In our previous runs, we did a mad grab and dash sort of shopping trip, but we realized this was not the kind of trip we were on. In this shop, we were asked to use moderation where possible. We all intended on respecting this, not really wanting to tip the bad karma scales.

  On every wall there were little packets of dried herbs, arranged by groups of primary uses in magic. There was a book next to the counter that said it was an encyclopedia of magical herbs, and as we flipped through it, we learned a lot. Kristen had talked about feverfew in the past, as it was supposed to be a great fever reducer, and we found it in the book. It was listed as a protective herb, but it also made the comment that it was excellent at warding off colds and flus. After we found that listing, we went to the protective section of the store and located a dried herb packet with the name of the herb printed on it, hanging on a hook with other protective herbs. Next to it, was a seed packet to grow them yourself, if you wanted to try. Almost all of the dried herbs were arranged like this, and the idea of growing our own medications was intoxicating.

  In a glass case near the register, there were extracts of various herbs, including elderberry, a general flu relief remedy, the obligatory St. John’s Wort for depression, ginger extract for nausea, and several balms for burns and muscle pain. I found crystallized menthol that I knew I could work into some jar of petroleum jelly, maybe extract some eucalyptus to make a chest rub. There were things called ear candles on a shelf to treat wax build up and I wondered if that could help several people in the group hear better and it might relieve pressure and ear pain in the kids. I'd try anything at least once.

  Bolts of fabric lined one area; it appeared like the shop had a seamstress on their staff that was also a fan of making various costumes and all natural clothes. I saw all the fabric and I thought of the blankets that we were going to make, curtains, and of course, clothes, as I gathered up several bundles of the fabric. I hoped that Louise was serious about making a quilting class, because some of the fabrics in my arms were just perfect. Despite being a nurse, a kick ass zombie fighter, and an overall fun gal, I wanted to be involved with a quilting bee. It seemed like a lovely and ordinary activity, and I craved that normalcy deeply.

  Kristen was smiling as she gathered the seed packets along with the ready to use herbs. She looked like she found her home after all, and she moved around the shop like she was floating in her long hippie skirt and flip flops. She had a clump of blonde hair that kept falling from behind her ear when she squatted down to investigate another packet. She absently pushed her hair back behind her ear and continued browsing. She had been trying to figure out how to plant stuff on her own, and was coming up empty at the home improvement store. This was her store.

  I was shocked that this place was left untouched by scavengers, although, had it not been for the insistence of Kristen that there were more options out there, I'd never thought of some little magic store being worth a thing, and we actually found a gold mine. If we used these, and if they worked, we could really use them to extend the medications. I felt like dancing.

  I was looking over this neat display of rocks when I came across a selection of amethyst. The card that explained the virtues of amethyst declared that it would bring good dreams when tucked under the pillow. I thought of all the kids and knew that there had to be plenty of bad dreams these days. I grabbed a couple handfuls and stuffed them into my pockets, to the confusion of Mike and Trent.

  "We need some good dreams now, don't we?" I replied to the unasked questions on their faces. Mike and Trent looked at each other for a moment before they both donned a look of agreement and conceded the argument before it began.

  Kristen walked up with a wicker basket tucked under her arm, filled with her treasures. Mike took her under his arm and kissed the top of her head, and we all walked out together to the truck and went home. As soon as we got there, Kristen went back to her house, reading a book on herbs as she walked. Something told me I wasn't going to see her out of her garden for days.

  That night we had a meeting to discuss the upcoming trade. We were affectionately dubbing our very first trade meeting as our swap meet, and everyone was encouraged to add to the pile of stuff that could be traded out. It was hard to decide what to bring with us, because we never tri
ed this sort of thing before. I rationalized that if the stuff we sent out came back, then there was no great loss, we still could use them. We were of course afraid that there was a trap in place so we didn't want to take anything with us that would have been a devastating loss if we had it taken and had nothing in return.

  I went through the piles of sheets that had overstretched elastic corners and started to cut them up into large squares that could be either diapers or bandages after I soaked them in bleach. If these people had kids or if they needed something to dress wounds, I figured that would be helpful. We knew fruit was on their wish list so we went to the trees that had fruit already on them and filled some brown paper sacks with an assortment of nearly ripe fruit so it wouldn't spoil right away. It felt like every house had a fruit tree in the yard, so it was easy to justify giving away so much, and Louise added several preserves from the harvest that we had in the spring. Tanya brought a box of tomatoes, both fresh and jarred. Kristen made some medicinal herbal tea packets from the supplies we secured from the herb shop.

  Trisha went through the book piles that were taken from all the houses and put in the school library. There were several titles that had more than one copy and so she put the second copy in a box. She hoped that the other groups would do this as well, because we were already tiring of the options we had in the library. I counted myself very grateful that my Kindle still worked and that there were a lot of titles on it that I still hadn't read, but that didn't mean that I stopped wandering through the other bookshelves in search for the next inspiring title.

  Five days before the swap meet was planned to happen, we were supposed to have a radio meeting to finalize where we would all meet up. The entire group crowded around the radio to hear every word. This was better than going to the movies. We cheered when the first hello crackled over the speakers. After a few moments of idle chitchat, we listened as the plan was put together. We were to meet in Miles City and trade our items, since that was a nearby half way point. Trent told them that we were going to be bringing several random things so there should be many options to choose from. The man on the other end swore that our group would not be disappointed with their offerings. When they signed off, we sent the kids off to play so we could discuss who would be going on the trip. It was decided that the men should be the ones to go, mostly because they didn't know anything about these guys or if they were going to try to pull some sort of stunt. I hated when the guys were doing the macho man who keeps the women folk at home routine, but I did have to grudgingly admit that they could be right. It might be better if the tough looking guys went, and besides, someone needed to stay behind and defend the town.

  Ultimately, Tyreese, DaWayne, Mike, Lucas, Matt, and Trent were going on this run. They looked like a good group of tough guys and I felt confident that no one would try to stir up too much trouble. I was glad that there were people from Jack's group going as well. No one in our crew knew too much about general animal stuff, and since the North Dakota crew said that they had cattle that they'd consider swapping, it only made sense to make sure we had someone who knew how to tell a healthy cow from one that wasn't.

  I kept thinking that I really, really hoped there would be a cow involved. Jack's group had one and it was nice getting milk from them every once in a while, but I always felt somewhat guilty when we traded for milk because milk seemed to be quite the commodity. The goat milk that we were getting to use now that Billy was getting a little older and eating weeds was nice, but it would be awesome to be able to have real cow milk of our own. It made me smile to think that I was looking forward to cow milk. Before the zombies happened, I hated milk. I hated how thick it was and I didn't really think it tasted that good. Of course, now that it was hard to have, I decided that I liked it and missed it. I couldn't wait to make things like butter, cheese and ice cream, and in my imagination, the food we would be making would be light years beyond what I ever bought in a store. The apocalypse was trying to make my inner fat girl come out. I thought about food nearly constantly.

  The guys left a day early to get a head start on finding the town and to make sure there wasn't any group of marauders staking out the meet. The radio wasn't like a phone call, anyone could have been listening to the when and where details. When they were about to drive through, hauling a horse trailer that held the little treasures, I ran the bus gate open and resealed the opening when they were through. I sat there watching them from the driver’s seat of the bus as they left, when I noticed that along with the boxes in the trailer, there was Matt, with his gun at the ready, just in case. I continued watching silently until the corner was turned and I couldn't see them at all.

  When they were out of sight, I retrieved the rifle that I put behind the seat and got out of the bus to start walking the wall. It felt good to have something to do so I could shake off the anxiety that was building up in my chest. I wanted this to go well. I wanted to know that there were more people out there that were like us, but even more, I wanted my husband and my friends to come back safe and in one piece.

  There was nothing I could do about the guys being gone other than to sit and wait, and waiting was something I was not good at. The medical clinic was almost deserted so I sent Trisha home to her kids. I scrubbed the waiting room for a while to keep my brain focused on something else. As I was almost done with the waiting room, the occasional person came in for a bandage and I had one person come in for a bee sting. Between the visits, I scrubbed the exam rooms down until they were as clean as any operating room. I was afraid that the light patient workload was a sign of the calm before the storm, and I fought to bury the fear. When I couldn't stand being in the clinic for a minute longer, it occurred to me that it would be a good idea if there was a way for people to reach me. In the emergency kit that I found in the back office, there was a pair of walkie talkies. I attached one to my waistband and put the other on the check-in counter. I left a note that I could be reached on channel three in case of emergency. I closed the clinic door behind me and walked across town to peek in on everyone.

  My first stop was to the auto shop. Jackson and Justin were inside with Derek and they were elbow deep in grease and grime, but they were grinning. They found a 1956 step side F100 in a yard. It was a pile of mismatched parts that barely cranked, and it wouldn't stay running. The truck was iconic for the town and had a lot of potential if they made it work. They even discovered cherry red paint that they were going to paint the truck with once it was functional. I listened to them snark at each other as they both tried to work in a very confined space while Derek pointed out some part that they had to unbolt. Derek rolled his eyes at me even though he wore a huge smile on his face.

  My next stop was at the café. After the crop went into the ground, Louise, Tanya, and Raine started to work on the kitchen. They had been working to make the café clean and usable so we could stop using the school cafeteria as a lunch room. Louise was scrubbing on the grill while Tanya and Raine worked in the dining room. They definitely had their work cut out for them, but declined my offers to help.

  Across the street, the large greenhouse was getting some action. Kristen was planting her new seed packets there and seemed to be at total peace even though our husbands were gone. She found a stash of small terracotta pots that she was using as nursery pots, and she made sure she read every direction that she could find to give her plants the best chance. Both of her ear buds were in as she listened to her MP3 player, and I don't know if she ever saw me in the door, so I let her stay in her own world.

  Lacey was down at the playground talking with Trisha as the kids played in the sand and climbed all over the equipment. I joined them and stared out at the kids. Liam and Drew were sitting under a tree trading cards in a game that they invented and I didn't understand. My kid was playing something, finally, and I felt this surge of happiness. Seeing him play reaffirmed my every thought about the benefits of moving here.

  While I watched the kids, Erin came strolling by with Sawyer,
holding hands with their fingers interlocked. Sawyer was Shayla's younger brother, and if you didn't know that he was younger by two years, then the natural assumption was that he was the oldest. He was quite a bit taller than Shayla, more or less by a foot. I was somewhat surprised to see Erin walking with Sawyer. I thought that she was infatuated with Justin, although I understood that Justin was in no place right now to accept a girlfriend, despite how much they had in common. It would be those similar situations, both losses that were witnessed by the other, that made things that much more painful, and every time they looked in each other’s eyes, they would be confronted with a mirror of pain. That sort of thing makes a new, budding relationship just crumble to pieces.

  I hung around for a while just listening to the others talk about the crops and the goats and how sometimes it was easy to forget what brought us together here. I stayed with them until the sun started to hang low in the sky. I used to believe that California had the most brilliant sunsets. I grew up hearing that the reason California had the best sunsets was because all the smog in the air bounced light different. I bet not a one of those people had ever seen a sunset in Montana. It was like God reached down and smudged the line between heaven and earth.

  That night, Drew and I opened a can of stew for dinner and ate it with crackers, then we both slept in the living room next to the fire. Drew was like me, neither one of us wanted to sleep alone with Trent gone. If all went well, the next couple of days were going to be long, but good. People were settling in nicely. It was like we were supposed to be here. Now if we could have the guys back home, everything would be perfect.