The Reanimates (Book 3): The Escape

by J. Rudolph

  Have a Cow, Man

  After a couple of days, there was the rumble of a truck engine approaching the walls. I prayed that it was Trent and the rest of the guys and not something worse. Part of me had been worried that without the bulk of our fighters, the town would be vulnerable to attack. I scaled the ladder I discovered in one of the garages to get to the top of the wall and grabbed the binoculars that hung on a coat rack that I had mounted up there while I had some free time over the last couple of days. I figured that the coat rack would also be a good spot to hang a quiver with an extra set of arrows and a bow, as well as the binoculars, just in case. I knew that I would earn some weird looks from Trent when he saw it, but that was fine by me.

  I stood there staring out over the road, waiting for the sound of the vehicle to be paired with the sight. In a world with absolute silence, any noise carried farther than before. I could hear it getting closer. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait much longer as the truck turned the corner and I saw Trent behind the wheel, with Matt sitting shotgun. Mike, DaWayne, and Tyreese were sitting in the back seat. The horse trailer was still attached but I noticed that there was less bounce in the trailer than there was when they left. There was something heavy inside. Jack, Lucas, and one other guy from Clyde's were following behind in an old Jeep. Trent saw me from the driver's seat and waved out the window. I returned the gesture with a wide smile. I watched as they came closer before I climbed down to the bus gate and let them in. As soon as the truck and the Jeep were through and the gate was closed, I jogged over to Trent's side of the truck.

  "Hi sweetie!" I chirped cheerfully. I was very aware of the four other sets of eyes on me, so I looked at each one of the others and added, "Oh, hi, Matt, Mike, Ty, and DaWayne!" I smiled before I continued, "So, I'm hoping that since you brought Jack, that it means things went really well for us?"

  "Well, that depends on your definition of well..." Trent had an expression that I wasn't sure how to read. I held my breath for a moment before he broke into a wide smile. "If your definition of well means we lost all our fruit, medical supplies and books, but gained a dairy cow and her calf, then yes, we did well."

  I felt my eyes go wider than they ever had as I started to jump up and down. "Really?" I squealed. My face twisted into a look of skepticism, because something that cool seemed almost unreal, and asked, "Really, or are you messing with me?"

  "That's why Jack came with us. Well, that and we had to get Lucas home. We should have places to keep them since this was a rodeo town, but we decided that it would be a good idea to have him take a peek at our fenced areas."

  I squealed with joy. "I gotta tell everyone! Drew and your mom are going to flip. This is awesome!" I leaned into the truck window to kiss Trent before I skipped off towards the school area to tell the group while the guys drove up to find a place to home the newest members of our group.

  As I figured, everyone was as happy as I was over this development. When the guys found a good plot of land to keep the cows, DaWayne came over to the school to let us know they were ready so we could watch them unload our new friends.

  I fell in love with our new cow instantly. She had stunning brown eyes and her hide was a beautiful blend of browns and white, like cream being added to a hot chocolate. She looked terrified after her journey, and I wondered if she had ever been trucked anywhere, not to mention I'm sure there were a lot of weird smells that she encountered. Her calf was a sweet little guy who wasn't fond of leaving his mother's side. He found a patch of grass and started to gnaw on it.

  "The guy we traded with, William, said that the calf was starting to eat solids more and more so we were going to have to be on it to keep her milk coming in or she'll dry up. If that happens, she'll have to get pregnant again." Trent explained.

  "Uncle Trent? What's the cow's name?" Nathan stared transfixed at the size of this animal in front of him.

  "I don't know, kiddo," Trent replied. "What do you think it should be?"

  Nathan looked at the cow with a very serious look, before he asked, "Is it a boy cow or a girl cow?"

  "It's a girl cow. The baby is a boy."

  "So maybe the boys should make a boy name, and the girls should make a girl name." Nathan suggested.

  I couldn't help but to smile a huge smile right then. "I love that idea, Nath. How about you take your daddy and all the boys over there to that tree and come up with a good name for the boy, and I'll borrow your momma and all the girls and we'll come up with one for the girl. Would that work?" Nathan nodded. His face was intense, and it showed that he was thinking about this very seriously. The girls were also thinking very earnestly about the job in front of them.

  Abigail was the first to offer a suggestion. "I like Harry Potter, but since it's a girl we can't name her that. I liked Luna. She was funny. Maybe that's her name?" The rest of the girls fell in love with Luna, and so from then on, her name was Luna Cow. Trisha scooped up Dalynn and started saying the nursery rhyme about the cow jumping over the moon, which made the name more perfect. When the boys came back, the name they chose was Longbottom, which was funny to me that they chose a name from Harry Potter as well. When Lacey was told the names, she started to laugh. I must have given her an odd look because she quickly explained that they were reading Harry Potter in school. I laughed too.

  The animals were hope, a constant reminder that life finds a way, that the circle of life continues even when you were so sure that the ride stopped. Feeding them, milking them, petting them when they came to you, all of it was a thread of promise of more days to come. Some days I felt like I was always meant to be here in this farm town. I felt like I finally came home to doing what I always should have done. I worked still as a nurse, and in this context, with all the other parts of our town, I finally felt like I was making a real difference. In the before world, it was always about getting everything done as efficiently as possible, balancing taking care of the person and making sure your butt was covered in the event of a lawsuit. Some days it was easy to forget what I was trying to do, that 'new grad' glow where you feel as if you're healing the world and making a difference invariably burns out. I felt alive even among the ruins of the world.

  It seemed like a lot of people were feeling that hope. DaWayne and Shayla were for sure. They were inseparable. One day they took a walk over to Clyde's to have dinner and when they came back, Shayla was wearing a diamond ring. Shayla's folks were gone, only her brother, Sawyer remained. DaWayne arranged a meeting with Sawyer and Jack, to ask if he could marry Shayla, and they agreed instantly. DaWayne was a good man and even though Jack and Sawyer didn't know him for long, they could see that easily.

  DaWayne told us the story about how he asked her, and we all melted a little. He took her to the creek to have a picnic lunch, and spread the blanket that he stuffed into his backpack close to the water’s edge underneath a weeping willow. He pulled out the sandwiches he put together and homemade potato chips he made before he went to retrieve the colas he had planted in the cold water. After they were settled in, just enjoying the sounds of the creek and the breeze in the trees, he pulled out a ring and went on one knee. Shayla had tears falling down her face even before the first word came out of his mouth, and when he finally asked her to marry him, she fell into his arms with a thousand kisses, saying yes with each one. He slid this perfect square princess cut solitaire diamond ring on her slender finger, where it sat proudly, shooting rainbow sprays in the sunlight against her pale skin. With the birds singing in the cloudless sky, they kissed their first kiss as fiancés.

  I wasn't surprised that his mom and his sister were crying tears of joy, but what did surprise me was that I was crying happy tears too. This kid, who's life plans were totally derailed by zombies, who was shot and survived, who never gave in to the easier path of negativity, was going to have a real shot at happily ever after, and for that, tears continued to flow down my cheeks and off of my chin.

  They didn't want to wait a single moment to be married, but final
ly conceded to a couple of weeks for preparation. It was the event to end all events, and brought both neighboring towns together in Wilsall. The ceremony was in front of DaWayne's house. Trent built an arbor for them to stand under, decorated with white netting from long ago wedding dresses and tea lights in mason jars strung from the many trees in his yard. Guests brought blankets and sat picnic style under those floating lights as the sun began to go down on the beautiful day. All the guests mixed together, there was no bride side or groom side, just the alive side of everyone together to witness this union, this reaffirmation of life. The weather was warm and crickets sang while some of the guests from Clyde's Park strummed softly on their guitars.

  DaWayne stood under the arbor with Sawyer as his best man and soon to be brother. Shayla chose Trisha to be her maid of honor and the pride that Trisha wore on her face for her brother was absolutely unmistakable. Tomisha and Dalynn walked together as the flower girls and walked right behind their mother, carefully spreading little white flowers on the green grass behind them.

  When Shayla took her position with Jack at the end of the path, everyone got on their feet.

  Shayla was breathtaking. I always saw her as a fairy princess and she looked even more the part in her white sun dress that ended mid-calf. White ribbons laced up

  her calf muscles in a crisscross pattern, tying just behind her knees, securing her sandals to her feet. Her bouquet was a mixture of lavender and daisies, and a delicate veil covered her face. She held on to Jack's arm as she slowly walked to where her husband-to-be waited for her. Terri officiated the wedding and after the exchanging of vows, DaWayne lifted her veil and kissed Shayla for the first time as her husband.

  We had prepared the empty houses for guests since we knew it would be a late night, and it indeed was. We danced and sang, and ate together. We felt the earth under our feet move as we celebrated what it meant to be alive, with no regard to what our volume was. Tomorrow we would have to fight the dead who would be drawn to our sounds, but tonight, none of that mattered. Life continued on and it was good.

  When the bride and her husband were spent, they went to his house, now their house, and we moved the after party to the café where we drank coffee. Those of us who were married already recalled the night that we said our own vows, and those who hadn't been married dreamed of the day that they too would find their true love. Group by group, people turned in for the night, until Trent and I were the only ones left in the café. Drew had plans to sleep at Liam's house so it was just the two of us. We picked up the café for a bit before we decided that the rest would wait and went home ourselves. We crawled into bed together and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  Days like today, when new love had the chance to take root, reminded me of how much I loved Trent. After all this time, this was my version of heaven. I snuggled next to him and fell asleep. I dreamed of the day I became an Anglin, one of the best days of my life. In those dreams, I danced with my husband and felt every moment of joy with him all over again.

  Plague

  It wasn't long before the newlyweds announced that they were expecting a baby. Their baby would be the first one in Wilsall and the first one since JJ was born a couple of years ago. It was awesome to know that we were settled in and didn't have a huge threat from a bunch of bad guys this time. Shayla was going to be able to have her baby in a clean, stable environment. The hope that this baby was going to be born safe and into stability was all that I had hoped for with JJ, and that yearning was stronger than ever.

  We established a set trade schedule with a few towns. Like with Jack's group, the thing people needed most was medical care. I was grateful for Trisha learning so much with me, because on a few trade circuits, I needed to go with the guys, and it was comforting to know that I wasn't leaving our group empty handed.

  Since the beginning, I was worried that the lack of medicine would catch up with us. I worried about infections rising up and that I would be powerless to help the sick person. I was right to worry.

  There had been another call from one of the towns on the radio, specifically calling about medical care and help in a diagnosis. I knew that there would be a few people that were going to be waiting for me at the next meet, they planned to bring the sick first so I could see them and they could go home. I made sure that there were several bags of IV fluids and IV start sets in the medical bag I was taking with me. I sorted through the mostly expired meds that I still had, and I hit up Kristen's house for as many herbal remedies that she could spare. I didn't know what I was getting myself in to, but the nagging thought in my head was that I was bringing a knife to a gun fight. I had no idea of how apt that feeling was, and it terrified me.

  Since this was going to be mostly a medical mission, we didn't need the whole team of trade people, so only Trent and Lucas were going with me on this run. We worked well together, Lucas was kind and compassionate, and I knew that he would be a lot of help, and I was grateful to have him with Trent and me. As it turned out, compassion was going to be a key ingredient in this visit.

  These people were sick. Really, really sick. I was under the impression that there were just a handful of sick. There were nearly twenty people waiting when I came to them. I thought that I was going to be able to arrive at the site, build up some sort of field hospital before the rest of the people got to the meet and get set up, but they were waiting for me in a large tent, shivering despite the bundles of sleeping bags wrapped around them.

  The sick were deathly pale, the sheen of sweat on their faces gave a wax-like look to everyone. Their eyes were red rimmed and lost a lot of the life they should have had, and their faces showed signs of significant weight loss; disproportionate to what the others had experienced. Deep, rattling coughs shook through them like thunder and left them gasping. Many hands came away from their faces with splattered droplets of blood on them.

  These people looked like they were infected with tuberculosis. My heart plummeted into my stomach. I was going to be worthless here. There were no meds to treat them. This infection would rip through them unchecked by any antibiotics, and for close to 70% of them, they were going to die a slow death, drowning in blood and mucus. I looked at the faces of the people who were sitting with their loved ones, holding them close, trying to keep them alive and comfortable. I stood there, taking in all the faces, and I couldn't make myself move.

  Trent noticed my face, how I was reacting to the scene. "Cali, what is it?" Trent whispered in my ear discretely.

  "They're sick." Tears started to spring to my eyes. "They're really sick. It looks like TB and I can't help them. I don't have the resources. And the healthy ones holding the sick? I can't help them either. They are probably already infected."

  Lucas was standing behind me and gasped when he heard what I was talking about. "What would you need to be able to help them?"

  "About nine months of a few different meds per sick person, same for the people that are taking care of them, and that's just for the actual bacteria. They'd also need all sorts of respiratory meds, and stuff to help the symptoms. I can't even begin to imagine where to find enough for one person, let alone enough for everyone who has symptoms and the ones who haven't started to feel sick yet, but have it. I don't know what to do." I took a few deep breaths and forced my brain to stop panicking. There is always something that can be done. I channeled my days of hospice care, where all the treatment was centered around making the person comfortable.

  This was the only card left to play. It wasn't the best card, but it was better than nothing. Feeling resolved, I turned to the others and said, "What I can start doing is help make them more comfortable. It isn't a lot, but if I help get the coughing under control, there will be less droplets in the air. I can also bring the fevers down. We need to protect ourselves and that won't be easy. I don't have TB masks. If we double up on bandanas, that would be better than nothing. We need to have the people who are trying to help to wear a mask as well. I'm hoping that if they aren't sic
k yet they stay that way. We'll have a lot of work to do, but we have to try."

  I tied a pair of bandanas over my face and shook my hands at my sides, like I was trying to make the anxiety I felt fall off of me like water. I looked at Trent and put on my most confident facial expression that I could muster. I looped the mantra of 'I could help make them more comfortable' over and over until I about convinced myself. With a determined stride, I walked to the tent.

  "Hi, everybody. I'm Cali, and I hear that there are a few of you that feel like crap. I have some stuff that might make you feel better, so I'm going to borrow the people that are feeling okay to help mix up some teas and sort pills, and get the meds into you." I smiled as reassuringly as I could, and I was glad that no one would see how forced it was through my mask.

  When the tea was all brewed and passed out, I made individual visits to the sick. I started an IV on the people that were showing signs of severe dehydration, but for the most part, people were doing better than I feared. A few of the healthy asked if they could do anything to help, and I had very few ideas. I asked if there were any nearby drug stores, and I sent them out for a run. I wrote out a list of helpful items like ibuprofen, chamomile tea, and anything that said cold or flu therapy, as well as any sports drinks. I added nice tissues and hand sanitizer in hopes of being able to contain everything.

  I think that the idea that there was something being done was more helpful than the actual treatment. People seemed to perk up when they saw that there were people that were moving around like they knew what they were doing, and I think that seeing the people that were sicker than they were being treated by getting IV's started, helped them to know that when the disease progressed in them, there was someone there to make them comfortable.

  Doing something helped me too. That freaked out person I was that didn't have a plan when I got there scared me. I didn't recognize her at all. I had to be someone doing, not sitting, or else I was prone to a freak-out episode.