“I heard your feet shuffling on the pavement too,” Alejandro said.
“Geez, were we that loud?” I asked.
“Not really, it was quiet out here, but I have pretty good hearing, especially now that my eyesight is pretty crappy,” he replied. I filed that away. If Alejandro—who was similar to the zombies—had poor eyesight but could hear us walking, we’d have to be more careful moving around.
I put my thoughts aside for the moment. “Jasper, this is Alejandro,” I said.
I’m not sure what I expected to happen when I introduced the two, but I didn’t expect Jasper to walk over and shake his hand, which is what he did. “Hello, Alejandro,” the old man said. “I hear that you’re hungry. Looks like you could use a little medical help too. We can help you out if you’d like. We’ve also got a stash of clothes and I’m sure we could find something to fit you.”
Because of his disfigurement, I wasn’t sure, but Alejandro looked shocked. “Just like that?” he asked.
“Just like that, son. Chuck tells me that you’re in need of a few things.” He gestured around the general area, “Before all of this happened, my wife and I were missionaries and after we got older, we were involved in several Christian outreach programs. We like to help people.”
“I didn’t know people like you guys still existed,” Alejandro said. “I’ve never needed charity my entire life. I mean, I was the one out donating clothes at my kids’ coat drives and working in the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. Not…not this way.” I was pretty sure that he was on the verge of tears.
Even though I was sure that Alejandro was harmless at this point, I was genuinely surprised when Jasper wrapped him in a hug. That was the breaking point for him and he sobbed uncontrollably against the old man’s shoulder. “What did we do to deserve this?” he asked.
“None of us deserved this, son. It just happened. It’s up to us to make the best of what the Lord has given us. He’ll judge us by our actions when our time on this earth is done.”
I’m not a member of the God-squad, but I could really feel the love and goodness pouring out of Jasper. I wasn’t sure what the hell I believed anymore, but if I did find something worth believing in, I hoped that my belief would be as strong as his.
“Let’s get you inside, son, out of this cold and in front of the fire.”
“I…I can’t,” he muttered. “I don’t feel the cold at all anymore, but my skin burns like crazy when it gets warm. And I’m scared of fire. I really appreciate the offer, but if it’s okay with you, I’d prefer to stay outside.”
“Alright, we can do that for now. Maybe one day, when you’re more comfortable, you can come inside. But for now, Chuck has some food for you.”
I nodded and pulled the small vacuum-sealed package from my pocket. “Here you go, man. It’s lemon-pepper tuna from an army ration. I think it’s pretty good.”
“Wow, thank you!” he exclaimed. “It’s been a couple of days since I had anything that wasn’t rotten or moldy.”
“Well, for the time being, son, if you’d like, you can stay here and you won’t have to eat rotten food anymore,” Jasper said in a fatherly voice.
“I’d like that,” he replied.
“I wish you’d reconsider coming inside,” Jasper said. “Chuck and Jesse have been outside for quite a while. I’m sure they’d like to go in too.”
Alejandro glanced back and forth between Jesse and me. “Do you think the people inside would be alright with me? I mean, look at me. I’m a freak. Just like those other ones…and I know what you do to them.”
“You’re different. The ones we killed would have attacked us and tore us to pieces,” Jesse said.
“How do you know? You killed them from the roof without any interaction with them at all. I mean, these ones would have, but what if there were a group of people like me traveling together?” Alejandro asked around a mouthful of food.
There it was. I’d been thinking the same thing myself. What if we’d inadvertently killed people who were just sick and not some type of twisted creature like those others were? I didn’t like to dwell on it, but it was definitely a possibility and it presented us with a sticky problem. Undoubtedly, the majority of the ones we’d seen were lost beyond reason, however, now I might hesitate before killing one of them. That hesitation could get me, or Rebecca, or anyone in our group for that matter, killed.
Then it hit me. “Alejandro, can you tell if people are like you or if they’re like the things that we can’t reason with and want to kill everything around them?”
He paused with a spoonful of tuna halfway to his mouth. “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought of it that way before. I did recognize Harley right away. I saw her walking in the ruins of Dallas one day and I knew she was different than the others I’d seen. I also knew the group I joined up with wasn’t totally like me when I first saw them. Maybe I can sense it or something,” he said.
“That’s really interesting,” I replied. “We’ll have to be very careful how we deal with the infected from now on. Now that we know that people like Alejandro exist, we can’t just go about killing indiscriminately.”
“Well, except for the few we’ve hit on the road with the truck, I can guarantee that every one of them that I killed was crazy as hell,” Jesse stated. “Come to think of it, the ones we hit were because they tried to jump onto the truck as we drove by, so they were just like the others.”
I thought back all the way to my very first interaction with those things, to the one that ambushed me while I was taking a shit. Each of the ones that I’d personally killed was trying to attack me. “I’m in the same boat,” I said out loud. “For the most part, I’ve always had to defend myself against these things from up close and personal. Obviously, I’ve survived to dread another day.”
“I’m definitely not defending what they do—far from it. Just maybe, I don’t know…ask it a question before you kill it,” Alejandro shrugged.
“I think we can figure something out,” Jasper said reassuringly. “Are you sure that you want to stay outside? Aren’t you worried about frostbite since you can’t feel the cold?”
“I think I’m beyond that, but…okay, I’ll come inside if I can stay on the opposite side of the room from the fireplace. I’m still not comfortable around fire since the nuke.”
“Deal. Let’s go back,” I said. “I think that Jasper and I should go back inside first and talk to Mark about you, maybe take his gun away. He’s our group’s resident hothead,” I said as an aside to Alejandro.
“I don’t want to be the source of problems for your group,” Alejandro said.
“Nonsense, son,” Jasper said. “That guy needs to learn that we don’t know anything about our environment anymore and that people like you exist. He’ll just have to leave all of his preconceived notions behind or he can leave my hotel.”
Jasper agreed with me to go in before Jesse and Alejandro to smooth the way with the residents of the hotel. He didn’t foresee any problems with anyone besides Mark. I asked him about Rick, but he said that Rick was a pushover and would go whatever way the group went.
I rapped out the little code on the glass and waited for an answer. Right on cue, Sam’s head popped up above the furniture again to verify that it was me. A few moments later Jasper and I were standing inside on the welcome mat.
Mark stood behind his desk and looked over our shoulders. I noticed that he was holding his gun in both hands with his finger along the trigger guard like he was expecting trouble. Jasper unwound the scarf from around his face and laughed out loud.
“I never would have believed it, folks. Chuck and Jesse have found a very nice man to add to our little flock. He’s the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet,” Jasper said.
“Yeah, but he said that this guy was just like those freaks who killed Chris,” Mark said, gesturing with the barrel of his rifle towards me.
“Put that thing down before somebody gets hurt,” Jasper admonished.
“I’m
just trying to protect everyone in here,” Mark replied.
“And we appreciate it, son, but I’ve talked with that man out there. He may look like some of the others, but the only reason is because he’s been burned horribly, as I’m sure most of those others have as well. But he’s still got control of his mental facilities.
“Monica and I spent most of our twenties and thirties in the Third World. I believe that I’m a pretty good judge of character because of those experiences and I think that man outside is honest and well-meaning.”
“I second that. He looks different than us, but he’s still a normal person inside,” I said.
“I don’t like it. That guy was out there with those things and now you want to bring him inside with us?” Mark asked.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Jasper said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Mark, you know me. Hell, we’ve lived together for about five months now, so you know that I’m as easygoing as can be, but don’t push your luck on this one. We’re human beings. If the Lord Almighty has given poor Alejandro this cross to bear, then it’s our responsibility to help pick it up and carry it without complaining about the splinters.”
“What are you talking about? You know I don’t understand all your biblical references,” Mark stated dumbly.
“It means that we’re helping that man out there. If you try to get in the way, you’ll find your rear end in the cold,” Jasper hissed.
Mark could see that he’d been beaten. “Fine, but I’m gonna keep my weapon pointed in his general direction the whole time. Probably save your asses too, but I won’t get any thanks for that either.” He harrumphed and sat back down at the little desk.
I nodded with approval when he’d placed the rifle down on the table in front of him instead of holding it like he was going to shoot someone. “Alright, I’ll go out and get Jesse and Alejandro,” I said as I turned around to let our friends know that it was safe to come inside.
The two of them came in from the bitter cold and Alejandro hung back to the side while we locked the doors and pushed a few pieces of furniture back into place. After we had enough piled in front of the door to stop them from being shoved open from the outside, we stepped back and turned to face the assembled crowd in the room.
I removed my mask and gestured for Alejandro to pull his hood off. “I’m not so sure about this anymore,” he said as his shadowed face peered around the room at the expectant crowd.
“It’s okay, son,” Jasper whispered. “These people are our friends. They’ll be yours if you let them.”
He was still hesitant until Sam appeared before him with her hand stuck out. “Hi, I’m Sam…Samantha,” she said.
Alejandro started to take her hand but instead pulled the hood of his sweatshirt back to reveal his burned and scarred face. He watched her face carefully and when she didn’t jerk back in horror he took her hand. “I’m Alejandro. Nice to meet you.”
The tension in the air fled away and everyone crushed forward to meet our new companion. Everyone except Mark. He watched the proceedings from the little desk in the corner and drummed his fingers lightly on the pistol grip of his rifle.
* * *
Our time at Jasper’s hotel passed quickly while we rested and prepared for the next leg of our journey. The pull to stay and take up full-time residence was strong, but I knew that we would need to begin farming in the warmer south if we were going to survive. Everyone in our party agreed that the hotel’s supply of canned goods was not inexhaustible and that we should leave before we used up all of their food.
We spent the days talking about our world, playing games and learning everything we could from Alejandro, who’d been out in the wilds living with the zombies for almost six months. We also wanted to help Jasper out, so Jesse and I used our experiences from Virden to help shore up the hotel’s defenses and increase stand-off distance for the residents.
We commandeered fencing from the farm next door and stretched it across the parking lot in the front and nailed it between several trees, wrapping back along the sides to the edge of the hotel. I wished we could have used fence posts, but the ground was too frozen to risk the terrible noise that would accompany the pounding of a sledgehammer. The fence wouldn’t even come close to stopping a determined human, but it should be sufficient to at least hinder a mutant long enough to dispatch it.
It was the least we could do for Jasper and Monica’s hospitality. They took us in when everyone was feeling low about yet another day of travel and we’d been able to recuperate. Jesse’s leg was fully healed and he proclaimed that with all the walking, restricted diet and stress, he was in better shape than when he graduated from his army basic training.
A surprise coming from our stay at Jasper’s was the friendship between Sam and Alejandro. They’d immediately taken to each other from the moment that Sam introduced herself to him. Rebecca thought that maybe it had something to do with their experiences since the apocalypse began. They were both damaged; one in body, the other in spirit. Sam did a good job of hiding the psychological damage that the gang rape had on her, but it was there and she’d sometimes lash out in anger at seemingly inconsequential occurrences.
The two of them had been thicker than thieves for a few days and Alejandro surprised everyone when he announced that he would be traveling with Sam when she left. On the evening before we planned to leave, I finally got the opportunity to talk to her alone.
“Hey, Sam, you got everything packed for tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ve torn apart my room a few times to make sure that I’m not forgetting anything,” she replied. “I don’t like all the traveling, but it’s a lot easier to move from place to place without unpacking your stuff—not that any of it was mine before we took off.” When we’d evacuated from Virden, Sam didn’t even have a backpack with her personal gear. Everything she currently owned had been procured during our journey.
“Hadn’t thought of it that way,” I said with a smile. I took a quick breath and said, “Look, it’s none of my business…”
She cut me off and said, “Then stay out of it.” She knew instantly what I was talking about.
I held up my hands to show her that I didn’t want a fight. “I just want you to know that we may run into trouble having Alejandro traveling with us.”
“Then we’ll go our own way. We don’t need you,” she retorted and crossed her arms over her chest.
I started to reply, but then stopped and thought about my way ahead from this point. It was easy to forget that she was still a teenager, learning to deal with her emotions and also had some baggage upstairs. “I didn’t mean that we didn’t want him to go with us. We do,” I said. “It’s just that other people won’t see him the way we do. They’ll see him and immediately think the same thing that we all did the first time we saw him.”
“The first time you saw him you mean. The first time I saw him, I saw a beautiful human being who was misunderstood by everyone.”
“Okay, you’re right,” I agreed. “I was shocked when I met him.” I leaned wearily against the hallway’s chair railing. Once again, as the leader of our group, I’d been nominated to deal with the hard problems and we’d had a lot of hard problems along the way. It made me feel so much older than I actually was.
“Sam, I need your help to keep us all safe. Jordyn and Jackson are counting on every member of this group to do that. The biggest thing is to remind him to cover his face while we’re out; you know how he forgets about things like that since he can’t feel the cold. If we can keep him covered up, we shouldn’t have any issues.” I sighed and said, “We all really like him, but we just need to be careful, that’s all.”
“Are you done, bossman?”
“I…Yeah. Look, once we get to west Texas and settle down, things will be better.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” she said as she unfolded her arms and stormed off down the hallway.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with her?”
I muttered to myself as I walked towards my room.
“Talkin’ to yourself, Chuck?” Jasper asked.
“Oh geez, you scared me, Jasper!” I said with my hand over my racing heart. He was sitting in one of the wingback chairs in an alcove of the hallway. I was sure that he’d heard my entire conversation with Sam.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I was sitting here doin’ a crossword when you started up your conversation with Samantha,” he said as a form of apology. “I’ll open this up the same way you opened up with her. This is none of my business…but you’ve gotta let the girl make her own way.”
“I’m trying to,” I replied. “But I also have the safety of six other people to worry about besides her and Alejandro.”
“That’s true, son, you do,” the old man replied. “But if you really do care about the two of them, then you’ve got to let them be who they are. Our world is pretty messed up right now and I wish that you’d change your mind about staying here with us. Since you won’t, you need to lean on the strengths of everyone in your group.
“That’s one of the hardest things about leadership,” he continued. “You’ve got to figure out how to do what’s right, but not alienate everyone around you while you’re doing it.”
“There’s no doubt that Alejandro could be a help out there,” I mused. “I’m just worried about what others are going to think. Hell, we would have killed him from a distance if we had the chance. He looks just like those other things and people probably won’t give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“Okay, I accept that. You’re right, but it’s not your choice to make.”
“Bullshit, Jasper. It is,” I countered. “If he’s traveling with us and someone decides to take a potshot at him, they could miss and hit one of the others. Or worse, they could just attack us all outright because we have a zombie in our group. We don’t know what we’ll face down the road.”
“You’ve got to try to see the good in other people son. I know it’s hard right now. This world that we live in is a crazy place. Alejandro can’t stay hidden for the rest of his life, that’s just not realistic. You were able to see past his looks and accepted him into your group. Others might as well.” He paused to let the words sink in and then said, “Your little group needs to stick together and trust one another.”
Enduring Armageddon Page 20