“Sandy and I found ourselves at odds with this guy. I look back now and I can't believe how fuckin' stupid I was. I was crashing town meetings and crying foul. I was right, this asshole was crooked, but I was so naive that I actually thought the board was legit.
“They tolerated me for a while. Then we became friends with this guy we met guy named Jim. He'd wandered in with a group of refugees, and the “reverend” had been after this guy from the day he got there. Once he caught wind that Jim was gay the good reverend figured he’d get us all in one fell swoop; one stone, three birds.”
“What happened after that?” Brenda asked.
“We were framed, all of us, as stupid as that sounds when I say it out loud. Then they kicked us out. They took us right after the bullshit trial to the only gate in the fence that surrounded the town then tossed us out.
“The whole town was there. I told him that if I ever caught up with him again I’d kill him myself. He laughed at me. He was the on the right side of the fence, so he could afford to.”
“Wow,” Brenda commented. “That's fucked up.”
Dave nodded in the dark, although Brenda couldn't see him. “I don’t know if I can explain what that felt like, once the gate closed and we had no protection at all. We didn’t even get a blanket or food. It was a death sentence. I think he enjoyed that aspect of it, the idea of people sacrificed to the deadwalkers. 'Banished to the Badlands', as he liked to call it.
“I watched him walk away, preaching to the cattle about casting out sinners, divine justice, and some other such nonsense. They ate it up, then came back for seconds. There wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.
“At first I wished they would have just killed us outright; it would have been more humane. But they didn't, so I just decided I wasn’t going to die. None of us were. So we survived, probably much like the two of you did.”
Tammy nodded in agreement, then took another drag from the cigarette. She blew smoke into the cool, evening air.
Dave continued. “That worked for a year and a half or so. We survived. Sandy became more depressed than ever though, withdrawn and almost child-like in a way. I really got worried about her, but there wasn’t much I could do. Her pills were gone and her depression was really terrible. Every day she just got worse. Some days it was all I could do to get her up and moving. She was just so down. She scared me when she talked about giving up and ending it all, but I couldn’t seem to do anything about her pain.”
He took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled. The acrid smell of the smoke from the cigarette still hung in the air.
“One day we raided a house and picked up some supplies. We were trapped in the basement when a carrier came into the house. I killed it, and then we escaped after killing another one upstairs. We walked for another day or so and then these two guys just came out of nowhere with guns, demanding everything we had on us.”
Dave paused for a moment again, collecting himself. He looked down, staring at the ground. Brenda reached over and put a hand on his shoulder, then removed it.
“It all happened so fast. I pulled a shotgun on them and threatened them. I thought they were just going to run away scared. I was sure of it. I was positive they wouldn’t shoot. I kept telling myself they were just amateurs, that they were all talk.
“They shot Jim first, then Sandy, before I even knew what happened. I remember her covering a her neck, then she dropped like a rock. The blood; there was so goddamn much of it. It was seeping into the ground, disappearing into the dirt even. She bled to death.” Dave put his face in his hands.
“It’s okay,” Brenda whispered. “Go on.”
Dave removed his hands from his face, then looked up. “I guess I sort of blacked out. Maybe I went into shock, I don’t know. All I know is I dumped all my stuff right there and just walked off. I wasn’t thinking straight. I still don't remember what happened after that; it's all just a blur. Then I ran into you guys in that subdivision.”
Dave stared at the ground for almost a full minute. Night had fallen and everything around them drenched in black shadow. He looked toward both girls in the dark, despite not being able to see them clearly. “If you’d left me there I would have died, so this is where I say thanks. Really. I owe you two my life, or what little there is left of it.”
“It was mostly Brenda,” Tammy said. “I was gonna leave you there.”
Dave could feel irritation build. He dismissed it; she had conceded to Brenda's will, after all. “Well, whoever it was, I'm still grateful,” he replied.
“You’re welcome,” Brenda answered.
They traveled for another two days in the same fashion as before. Dave’s hands were tied in front and they camped each night in the woods without a fire. They spoke very little. After telling his story he didn't feel much like talking for a while.
Despite the catharsis of telling his story he still felt pain and guilt. He supposed those things would never fully go away. He was slowly becoming used to a reality without Sandy, despite how recently they’d been separated. He figured that was one of the things that made humans so resilient; the ability to move on after something so tragic. Still, it didn’t seem fair to her.
He thought often about Sandy while they walked. He remembered her in the beginning, when they had first met, how her eyes sparkled and her blonde hair fell in big curls around her thin shoulders. Her pale skin and pink lips, and the smile she always had on her face when she saw him. No wonder he fell in love with her.
But then the depression, followed by the outbreak, combined with day after day of living in Hell took its toll on her. She was already in agony before she died. She didn’t say it, but she didn’t have to. He knew it all the same. The suffering was unbearable for her. And in his most guilty of thoughts, he wondered if she was better off now.
The way it had happened, that she had suffered after the gunshot; he wished he could change that. Drifting off to eternal blackness while she slept would have been preferable. Unfortunately that had all been out of his hands. She’d gone quickly after being shot though, within a few minutes, for what little consolation that brought. But the look of fear in her eyes as she drew her last breath; that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
He missed Jim too. Sandy had been his wife, his true love, but Jim had been a good friend. He didn't talk much, but he was reliable. He was also helpful with Sandy, giving her someone else to talk to other than Dave. Jim was understanding and he wasn’t judgmental. Dave knew this wasn’t always the case with himself. Now Jim was gone too.
Dave's life had been saved by two women he’d never met before. He supposed it was more accurate to say it had been saved by one woman, really. A short little black-haired girl with tattoos and a tougher-than-shit attitude. Saved by a girl who looked more at home in the post-virus wastelands than she probably ever had in the world that came before it.
She seemed tough, but she was also sympathetic. She’d come back for him when there was no requirement to do so. There were no police, no laws, and no witnesses anymore; nothing to force her to do anything. It was a selfless act.
The other woman, Tammy, didn’t seem to appreciate his presence though. He hoped he wasn’t causing a rift between them, but he hadn’t really been given a choice, had he? He was, after all, still their prisoner.
They walked. The wooded areas were becoming more sparse now, turning into farmland. Most of the residential areas were now behind them. The girls continued sharing their food and water with him and he took it willingly. He thanked them and continued walking without protest. For the time being it was an amicable relationship.
Their rations, however, were beginning to run low. To keep going they had to resupply. Dave’s specialty had been raiding houses rather than departments stores and the like, so he felt a bit out of his element in larger buildings. In the end scavenging was scavenging, he supposed. He could easily adapt, depending on what they found.
After another hour or so of walking, a road sign for
an exit came into view. There were several convenience stores at this exit, as well as some fast food joints. No large department stores or discount warehouses were present.
“We should get off this exit,” Brenda suggested to Tammy.
She nodded in response. “Sounds good.”
Brenda then turned to Dave. “These smaller-type stores usually offer up slim pickin's, but we really have to stop. We’re gonna need food soon, no matter how little we end up getting there.”
Dave offered no argument. His rumbling stomach wouldn’t allow it.
As they neared the exit the girls followed the road as it veered off from the main highway. Suddenly Dave stopped walking. The girls stopped as well, then both of them turned around and looked at him, perplexed.
“What?” Tammy asked. Her tone was sharp, her body language impatient. She was tired of suffering him, Dave knew, but he had to ignore that. Kid gloves. He paused, thinking how best to make his case. “Look,” he began, “we’re about the head into one of these stores and we don’t know what the hell is in there. They could be full of carriers, or maybe thieves looking to do us in and take whatever we got.”
“And?” Tammy shot back. “We already know this. This isn't our first time, you know.”
Dave felt his frustration with her grow. He pushed it down and continued making his case. “And neither is it mine. I’m tied up,” he continued, holding his hands up for them to see. “I can’t defend myself, and I can’t defend either of you two, for that matter.”
Tammy chuckled. “No offense buddy, but we don’t need your help. You're slowing us down as it is.”
“Tammy, c’mon,” Brenda chided.
Tammy appeared incredulous. “What? It's true. He needs us more than we need him.”
“You may be right,” Dave replied, “but in any case I can’t do shit with my hands tied. Except die, I guess.”
“Or kill us,” Tammy added. “Don’t forget about that.”
Dave closed his eyes. His frustration simmered like a cauldron ready to boil. “Really?”
“Well, maybe. How do we know for sure you won't try something?”
“Well, I’m telling you now I have no intention of killing anybody, that's how. Look, you guys saved my life, and I owe you. I need to be able to help though. I also need to be able to protect myself. You’re taking me into a store, the kind of place we all know carriers frequent, with my goddamn hands tied. You might as well feed me right to them.”
He was becoming more irritated, and his voice was delivering a frustrated tone. He tried to reel it in a bit; if those girls took any notion that he was some sort of threat to them they’d never untie him. Then he'd be a sitting duck.
The girls thought for a moment, then Brenda spoke. “We’re gonna talk this over.” She and Tammy walked just out of earshot. He couldn’t hear the specifics, but he knew the gist of the argument. They talked for a few minutes, hands moving violently in the air through most of it, then they returned.
“Okay, we get your point,” Brenda began.
“Good.”
She continued. “But, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, if we untie you and try something on one of us, we’ll put you down. No bullshit.”
Dave nodded in agreement.
“Second,” she continued, “you pull your own weight. Carry everything you can, help us search, that kind of thing. Basically you do what we tell you.”
“Fair enough,” he replied.
Brenda looked at Tammy, then walked to Dave. Tammy pointed her rifle at him.
“Jesus, is that really necessary?” he asked.
Tammy just stared at him, saying nothing. Brenda untied the rope around his wrist, then unwound it. Once the rope was removed Dave rubbed his wrists, then shook out his hands. “You don’t know how good that feels.”
“Nothing funny,” Tammy warned.
“I'm at your service,” Dave replied sarcastically.
When the group stepped into the parking lot of the 7-Eleven, Dave began looking for a weapon. It didn’t take long to find one. He picked out a car at random then tried the front door; it was unlocked. He reckoned that when death was immanent, locking up one's car wasn’t a big concern. He reached inside, found the trunk release lever, and pulled. The trunk popped open.
“What are you doing?” Brenda asked.
“Self-defense,” he told her. Tammy shot at Brenda a glance, concern flashing across her face. Brenda shook her head.
Dave walked to the trunk, opened it, then began to dig around inside. Within a minute he produced a tire tool. He turned to the girls, imitating an infomercial host’s voice. “A versatile tool, sufficiently capable of changing a flat tire, or bashing in the head of an infected human.”
Neither of them laughed, so he dropped the act promptly. Truth was, he was nervous; the joking had been a cover up. He had a bad feeling about the building they were about to enter. He had little choice though; they needed supplies pronto if they planned to continue.
“Let's go, wise-ass,” Tammy said. Dave followed without comment.
As they continued through the parking lot, multiple decaying bodies lay all about, requiring they step over or around them. They quickly arrived at the front door to the convenience store. It had been almost completely removed from the hinges; it hung askew by the top hinge only. Mother nature had blazed a trail into the store through the weakness of the open door leaving dirt, dead leaves, and plants in its wake.
They stepped inside, Brenda in the lead, followed by Dave and then Tammy, her rifle still pointed at their new companion. They stepped very quietly, making almost no sound besides their gentle footfalls. After a whispered warning by Tammy they broke up and ventured out a bit more, the girls sticking together. Brenda chastised Tammy, who then allowed Dave to wander off on his own.
None of them spoke once inside the store. They kept their eyes and ears open for any sounds that might indicate carrier presence. The shelves were mostly bare; the store had been raided hard already. Dave looked under the shelves and in as many crevices as he could. His nerves were electric; places like this always bothered him.
Near the back of the store he found some candy bars and some beef jerky that had fallen behind a shelf and had gotten lodged halfway down. He thought he could get to them, but he’d have to move the shelves apart to do so. He was about to put down his tire tool to move the shelf when he saw something that made him freeze where he stood.
A female carrier knelt in the corner, chewing on the intestines of a raccoon. It had apparently been so engrossed in the activity it hadn’t heard them walk into the store. It hadn’t seen him yet either. It knelt there, covered in black filth, tearing away at the thing’s flesh, gulping down innards as if they were candy.
Dave’s stomach flip-flopped with butterflies. He couldn't warn the girls; the thing would hear him. He couldn’t run; because it would be on him in an instant. He wished he had his gun, but it was still lying beside his dead wife and friend along with the rest of his things. All he had was the iron tire tool.
He took a deep breath, gripped the iron bar tightly in his hand, and walked quickly up to the carrier. He was halfway there before it saw him. It hesitated for a moment, apparently not wanting to let go of its food, or maybe deciding if he was a threat.
That hesitation was all the time he needed. It screamed at him as he approached, but he was on it before it had time to get to its feet. He lifted the tire tool into the air then brought it down on top of the thing’s head as hard as he could. He could feel the skull split beneath the steel.
“Dave?” he heard Brenda yell from the other side of the store. Both girls came running. Dave brought the tire tool down on the thing’s head one more time. It dropped the raccoon from its grip, the innards hanging out of its mouth and onto to the ground.
Then from the front of the store Dave heard another scream. It was a scream of anger and fury; another carrier. He watched as it emerged from behind the counter. This carrier, howev
er, was just a child. What had once been an innocent little girl now screamed and began to run after him, death on its damaged mind. It snarled and drooled as it ran. Dave fixed his grip on the tire tool and raised it in the air, waiting for the thing to make it to him. He reminded himself that this pitiful monster was no longer a child.
It ran at him, growling. In the distance he heard Brenda and Tammy talking to him but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. It was as if he was underwater; all that mattered was eliminating the carrier.
Suddenly the charging carrier stopped in its tracks. It turned and looked at the dead carrier with the intestines hanging from its mouth.
Then it made a sound that froze him where he stood.
The thing screamed again, bringing him out of his immobile state. Dave had just enough time to raise the tire tool and bring it down squarely on the thing’s small head before it got to him.
It reeled, stumbled, then fell on its back. It twitched and kicked, muscles spasming. Bloody drool leaked from its mouth. He wanted to turn away, to run screaming from the building and never stop. He couldn’t though; he had to finish what he started. He walked up to the carrier, then brought the tire tool down onto its head. The thing's skull and eye socket crumpled with the blow. It kicked violently once more, then exhaled a final breath, its head falling to the side. Blood began to pool under it as it stared absently into the distance.
Dave fell to his knees. He looked up and saw Brenda and Tammy staring at him. He took a moment to regain his composure, then stood back up.
“Let’s get what we need and get the fuck outta here,” he said, his voice wavering.
After procuring the candy bars and beef jerky, some more searching revealed some additional foodstuffs they felt were probably edible. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to get them by for a while. Another search behind the front desk revealed an old baseball bat, presumably kept there by the clerk for protection. Dave helped himself to it. He elected to keep the tire tool too, just in case.
Into the Badlands Page 13