by Joe Kelly
“Tell you what kiddo, step out into the hall with Ms. Beth and let me get some clothes on and then I will take you outside and teach you a few ‘karate’ moves.” Jared said as he tussled the kids hair. Blue eyes gleamed with excitement. To Billy all martial arts was Karate and frankly Jared wasn’t going to waste time trying to get him to understand till he was older.
“Cool, then can I shoot a gun?” Billy asked. “I want to help kill zombies” he said with an intensity that rivaled that of any of the adults.
“No guns till your older” Jared said ignoring the part of him that thought with the world the way it was teaching the kids to shoot might not be a bad idea.
“My dad would have let me” Billy said as if that would convince Jared to listen, it didn’t.
“scoot kid, the longer you sit there, the longer you have to wait to learn some Karate.” Jared said.
Billy hopped off the bed and ran into the hall, Beth mouthed I’m sorry before she shut the door. the kids seemed to be dealing with things better than the adults, he thought. not that they didn’t have their share of nightmares and bouts of fear and depression but they damn sure bounced back far quicker than the adults but Billy was different. “Myself included” Jared said aloud.
There were times he had seen Billy just sitting and staring at the trees, or laying in bed eyes focused on something beyond the ceiling above him and then he would shake his head and smile and be back to the excited, helpful kid he normally was. Ori had started calling Billy, Jareds ‘sidekick’ because the kid seemed to be near Jared as much as he could.
“are you dressed Yet” Billy shouted through the door.
Jared felt a smile coming as he laced up his boots, “Almost”
“can you hurry”
Jared grinned as he tied his laces then stood. “okay I’m ready”
He opened the door and scooped Billy up in his arms, “Come on little man lets go beat up some air.” He said giving Beth a wink being around Billy made him believe that they would make it and gave his battered spirits a sorely needed boost.
Billy exhausted sprawled in the grass his fingers laced behind his head, inquisitive blue eyes boring into Jared who sat on a stump enjoying the sunlight. “Do you love Ms. Jill” He asked suddenly.
“Why?” Jared asked as nice as possible and wondering who might have put the kid up to it.
“Cause you look at her like my daddy looks at my momma.” Billy said, there was quiver to his words at the end. Jared felt his heart go out to the kid but resisted the urge to comfort Billy who was determined to put on a brave face. “We are just friends” Jared said keeping his voice level.
“She’s nice and really pretty. When I grow up…” Billy said his voice trailing off. He lay there staring vacantly up at Jared and then smiled his eyes lighting up again.
Something about that gave Jared a shiver, it was as if Billy had left for a moment Jared couldn’t explain why he believed that was exactly what had happened.
“when you grow up your going to a brave guy.” Jared said attempting to lighten the moment.
“No I wont but don’t be sorry Mr. Jared.” Billy said cryptically then bounced to his feet. “Ms. Beth is going to read a book to us today.” He said and raced off towards the main cabin where Beth held her classes.
♦ ♦ ♦
The scavenger team’s trucks rolled through the gateway and came to a stop in front of the main cabin. Jared slid out of his truck then walked around to the passenger side to open the door and help Ori out.
“how ya feeling?” Jared asked Ori, whose clothes were torn and covered in dirt and blood.
“I’m fine” Ori insisted not even glancing at the bandage wrapped around his left bicep or the splint that Jared had placed on his right calf.
“what happened?” Beth asked emerging from the Main cabin.
“nothing just took a tumble” Ori said as Beth came to stand beside him.
“Tumble my ass” Mark commented. “we were clearing the second floor of a house, when this zombie lunges out of a closet and pile drives Ori through the window behind him. He bounced off the porch roof, losing the zombie, slashed his arm open on a nail or something then landed with his leg bent up behind him.”
“I’m pretty sure there are no breaks, but I splinted it anyway just to be safe” Jared said as Beth slipped a slim arm around Ori. “Let me help you to the porch” she said.
“I can make it.” Ori said stubbornly. “oh, please Ori, you couldn’t even stand up back there and your leg is swollen. So shut it and let us help.” Jared chided almost smiling as he watched Beth mothering over Ori. He had suspected for a few weeks now that Beth liked Ori and this Florence nightingale routine was a dead giveaway.
They got Ori to the porch and settled while Beth retrieved the first aid kit from the cabin. Jared had put up with lots of ribbing over the size of his first aid kit, which was two large gym bags filled with supplies. But when it was needed there wasn’t a joke in sight.
Beth tenderly removed the bandage around his arm and cleaned the wound, liberally using hydrogen peroxide and triple Bac on it. Infection in today’s world could be a killer and they all knew it.
“are you sure his legs not broken” She asked Jared who shook his head. “I’m not a doctor but I’ve had enough broken bones and seen even more that I’m pretty sure its not and if it is there isn’t much we can do but immobilize it till it heals.”
“It’s not.” Ori said gently touching Beths hand on his thigh. “I just strained it.”
“Let’s hope so” Beth said rising to her feet. “you rest there I’ll get you something to drink and then fix you lunch.” She said smiling at him then headed into the cabin.
“nice of her to offer to bring us all drinks and lunch” Ronny muttered. “she doesn’t like you” Steve said smiling down at Ori. “Every one likes me” Ronny disagreed.
“really what was that guys name… Lee.” Mark said as steve chuckled. “was that the one that went after you with a bat.”
“He was a bit miffed.” Ronny said managing to look serious.
“Miffed, he wanted to, and I quote, knock your nuts into next month.”Mark said as Steve chuckled.
“in my defense I had no idea that was his wife.” Ronny said then grinned as he turned to Ori. “so.. Beth is it.”
“it’s not like that” Ori protested. “I… well you know Kelly” the grin fell away from Ronny’s face who nodded in understanding. “I know Ori, I was joking.” He said kneeling beside Ori. “we could all be dead by tomorrow, so if you like her don’t waste time okay.” Ronny said. Ronny did have a serious side though only those closest to him ever really saw it.
Do we dare get involved with someone else now, Jared asked himself not for the first time. Ever since they had settled into the camp he had kept his distance Jill for a wide range of reasons. Relationships were not the only things that were endanger he decided as he thought about Carol, what kind of world, hell life even would her kid have and that’s assuming carol and the kid survived child birth. I can’t say that out loud morale is already bad enough. The real question is what can I do about it. Surviving is pretty much pointless without something at the end to make it worthwhile and its only just now starting to sink into everyone that we can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.
There are times I wish I was more like the nihilist survivalists whose only goal was to survive and nothing else. Work, guard duty and eventual death, fun guys those. but I know the truth, with out something to drive you, some thing to look forward to at some point people just wind down and nothing really matters. You go through the motions but its all auto pilot. and that leads to sloppiness and mistakes which if your really unlucky means death. Nothing but meat automatons with no hope
He realized that Ori was looking at him as if expecting him to say something, shaking off the dark thoughts he forced himself to smile. “you know I liked Kelly, but Ronny’s right. If you like Beth go for it.” What else will we give up b
efore we stop being who we were, Innocence died when the dead rose, then hope and now we have to decide if Love and mourning are going to be casualties too.
He looked around and saw Jill watching him, their eyes met for a moment then he looked away. Coward, he told himself.
CHAPTER 11
The Camp
Steve sat silently in the LP/OP drumming his fingers slowly as he watched the road to the camp resisting the urge to look at his watch. He was feeling antsy for no particular reason really. He had that feeling that something was brewing just over the horizon. The last time he had felt this way the world had been swallowed by zombie’s intent on eating the life out of the world.
Two and half months had passed since they had arrived at the camp, two and half months since the world had ended. The town had still been alive back then, but barely. They had listened to it die over the radio, like some perverse old time radio show full of horror and despair.
It had taken the town almost a week to die and Tobias Kent of WNT 104.2 who had once hosted the weekend trade your stuff show spent that week on the air telling the world, or at least those in the listening area what was happening, he was the second to last local station to go off the air.
The final broadcast from the last station on the air had ended not with a scream but a prayer and after that there had been nothing but static. Steve shook away the dark memory and tried to focus on something more positive.
Like everyone else he tried to focus on the here and now and the fact that few of the undead had wandered up to the camp he, like the others he wanted to believe it was a good sign but deep down he didn’t believe it. Small groups occasionally appeared on the road up to the camp more often it was an individual zombie. No one doubted that at some point the numbers would grow but for now they were no problem.
The only real problem was keeping the groups spirits up, Steve thought. Every one with the possible exception of Jared was subdued, depressed. Even Ronny the eternal smart ass was sliding down the dark off ramp as the scope of the disaster that had engulfed them was finally setting in.
No one talked about it, no one wanted to talk about it. But they all knew that if there was an end to this it could be years from now, maybe after their deaths. But it wasn’t going to be next month or by Christmas, the calvary wasn’t going to come riding over the hill and drive the undead out.
But not Jared or at least not when any one could see him. Jared was a rock in the storm kicking everyone in the butt keeping them working, cracking jokes and organizing scavenging parties and patrols. It was an act, Steve knew, but Jared as the defacto leader of the group saw it as his duty to do whatever was possible to keep them alive and hopeful. If not hopeful at least to keep them from being swallowed by black despair like the kind they had heard over the radio as the world died.
Steve settled back in the camp chair watching the tree’s sway gently in the wind remembering trips they had taken up here over the years. Back when you didn’t have to constantly look over your shoulder in case of the dead. Back then he could stop to admire the gold, reds and oranges of the Autumn trees.
Don’t dwell on it, he told himself determined to keep the bleak thoughts from taking over.
At least we’ve gotten a lot done, he thought. They had cleared the trees and pulled up large rocks on both sides of the road for over two hundred yards of its length and out to forty feet on both sides. The Tree’s and rocks had been hauled up to the camp and were being used in the palisade wall that Jill and Rob had designed.
Steve had no idea what Jill had done for a living before all this but that woman was smart as whip, he thought remembering Jared asking a question about how well the wall might work against a large horde and Jill had grabbed a pen and done the math right there. It had been some complicated formula that involved heights, lengths, back fill, stress loads and who knew what else. In the end she had convinced every one that it would work if they could get the whole thing completed before a horde showed up.
Ronny had asked her at one point during the discussion where she had learned about this stuff and like a pro she had passed it off with a casual remark about being a history buff and having taken a few history courses in a junior college. Yeah like a history course was going to teach you the kind of math she had been using to show them how well the wall could withstand the weight of hundreds to thousands of undead against it.
Steve was sure that her education hadn’t ended at some dinky junior college either but had gone on to a bigger school, one with a well-known name and that she had an excellent advanced education under her belt. The only thing he couldn’t figure out was why she tried to pretend otherwise.
Whatever she was thinking she and Rob had come up with a great idea and the work was moving along thanks to the old bobcat, a small version of a bulldozer, that they had recovered from a house a few miles away and a back hoe they had found abandoned in a pasture near the Park entrance. Fuel tanks at the old lumber mill kept the group supplied with the fuel needed to run the equipment. Though they had to thin out the ranks of the undead every other trip out to refuel.
Once Jared hauls back a real dozer and some serious construction equipment we can have this thing finished in short order, He thought.
The LP/OP or watchtower as most here called it, stood in the center of the open area in front of the Cabins. It was basically a small box mounted on four creosote telephone poles with heavy bracing. It was nothing more than a fancy Hunters blind really with a camp chair to sit in. A zip line ran from the tower to a upstairs window of cabin Two, so if someone was on watch and zombies somehow got into the compound, they would be able to get to the cabin without having to climb down and run thru the undead. That had been Ori’s idea and a damn good one at that. Now if the little man could only learn how to tell jokes, Steve thought with a silent laugh that amusement wasn’t long lived but it did keep his thoughts above the roiling depression that swirled in his mind like a whirlpool.
He lifted his binoculars and swept the perimeter once more. Focusing for a minute on the backhoe Erik was running to dig the trench that tree trunks and the railroad ties they had taken from the lumberyard down the road would be placed into.
Jill had once again come to the rescue devising a system to speed things up; each section of wall was laid out and assembled on the spot. Then, using block and tackle and a truck winch, each newly completed wall section was lifted upright, its base sliding into place in the trench. It was held in place while the trench was backfilled securing the wall sections in place. It was a fast and efficient way to erect a palisade. The walkway for that section was quickly assembled in place, while the next section of wall was assembled.
The arguments for towers along the wall had been put off for now, which was good since Mark and Ronny had almost come to blows over the whole idea. Ronny thought it was a waste of time and hadn’t hesitated to call Mark a dumb ass for thinking this was like the middle ages. Mark surprisingly had bowed up and had started forward with clenched fists and only Jared stepping between then had gotten both men to back off. In the end Jared had decided to wait till after the wall was finished pointing out that building the towers would only take manpower away from work on the wall and the wall was the most important thing right now.
And while the building of the wall was going on, Jared had been leading small scavenger team’s out and the team had to be small since there had to be enough people left to pull guard duty and keep the work on the wall moving forward. All in all they were working harder than they had ever worked before but this was for their lives instead of making money.
It was looking more and more like a military camp, he reflected what with the Antenna towers for the ham radios they had recovered, fuel tanks, stacks of building material, and cords and cords of wood. The framework of a smoke house sat to the west, they had plans to get it finished before hunting season. Assuming they found deer or anything else to hunt, Wild life, animal life in general was making itself scarce these days.
He finally gave in to temptation and glanced at his watch, assuming nothing had gone wrong Jared and the others would be back in a few hours. He wanted to pray for nothing having happened, but he suspected that God wasn’t in a listening mood anymore.
At least Ori would be replacing him on watch as soon they were back and then he could get back to doing something that wasn’t so mind numbingly boring. Assuming Bridget was in the mood. The end of the world had put a damper on their sex life.
The sudden growl of a large motor jerked him out of his thoughts. He focused his attention back on the road, while keying his radio as the sound of other motors became clear. “This is the tower, I have vehicles approaching the camp.” He honestly would prefer to set the throat mike on Voice activated, but the damn things tended to broadcast at the slightest noise. So people were constantly stepping over each other’s transmission, which was the reason they used the remote call button because if you couldn’t actually transmit important info at the critical moment then radio was pointless.