Surviving

by Jaron McFall

  Malcolm,

  If you come looking for us, we have left.

  We went to your grandparent’s house in

  La Follette. Please find somewhere safe

  to hide this out. When this is all over,

  we will come find you.

  We all love you very much.

  Mom

  Ross thought about the family portrait he had seen before he started rummaging through the cabinets for food. The family had taken most things but they must have run out of room. There were still some cans of soup, boxes of pasta and rice left. Wasn’t much of a great meal, but better than nothing at all. They found a bag of potatoes in the pantry floor and a half a case of water underneath it. They must have not seen the water, Ross thought as he tossed the potatoes on the counter and went back to get the water.

  Sue poured a large can of chicken soup in a pot and set it on the gas stove while Ross loaded the backseat with the food they had found. “Thank God,” Ross said when they turned the faucet and water gushed out. Ross wondered if it was well water or the city water was still working. While Sue cooked, Ross found every container, included used soda bottles from the trash, and filled them with water.

  After they had eaten, they went back to the car, barricading the entrance to the house. They had agreed that sleeping in the house would have been a mistake in case the infected, or looters, got in. This way, if the house was invaded, they would be able to drive straight out onto the road. Ross lay in his seat, reclined, thinking about what to do. If we go to Sneedville, then what. I know it’s secluded, but not by much. Is there any chance of safety? What will we eat? We only have enough food and water for a few days. His thoughts lulled him to sleep for the night.

  Chapter Six:

  CAPABLE

  Cedric lay awake in his sleeping bag, staring at the ceiling when his older brother walked in. He had spent half the day before playing cards with Adam to try to keep both himself and the boy calm. He knew Adam was scared and needed something to distract him—there wasn’t really any way to comfort him. When he saw Charlie walk in, he knew he could get up too without worry of waking everyone because Charlie would soon anyway.

  Cedric climbed out of his sleeping bag and immediately slipped the small pistol in its holster on his belt. He then put the piece of pipe through his belt on the other side. He knew that the piece of pipe had saved his and Adam’s lives two nights ago and Cedric did not want it to leave his side. Somebody, he assumed Charlie, had washed the pipe off at some point.

  Charlie noticed his brother was up when Cedric was sliding the pipe in his belt, “Raising early again little brother? Twice in one week is a miracle for you,” He teased.

  Charlie always tried to joke and sometimes it seemed he did it more at times when he should be serious. His brother wasn’t always like this, though; Denise had calmed him down a lot over the past three years. When Charlie was in high school, he didn’t joke much, but when he did, it was normally mean jokes. Cedric knew that was just part of high school. It didn’t justify Charlie’s behavior back then, only explained it. He started walking over to Charlie and responded, “Times are changing. I can’t sleep too well. I kept dreaming about Adam’s dad.”

  “So, you did then? I mean, you did kill him? I overheard you talking to Adam, and I wondered if you did do it.”

  “Don’t tell him. I don’t want him to know his dad is dead.”

  “Better he knows that than to think his dad is running around eating people. That, in itself, is enough to make the boy grow up to be loony.”

  “I won’t let that happen. I will talk to him when he is ready,” Cedric lied. He had no intention of telling Adam what really happened to his dad.

  “So, what? You plan on raising this boy? You’re only a kid yourself still. You’re in no place, especially not now that this has happened to us,” Charlie motioned with his hand to Cedric’s belt and the gun, “You can’t honestly believe that you can raise him.”

  “We are all in this together. Mom or Sherry can do most of it and we can teach him things too. He doesn’t have a family. If everything blows over then we can call child services. If it doesn’t, we don’t have much of a choice,” Cedric said in a lowered voice. “What else can we do? Give him car keys and say sorry kid, your stay here is over?”

  “No, of course not,” Charlie said.

  They both sat in silence for a short while after this before a thought hit Cedric. He hadn’t given it much thought, but something just popped in his head. Now, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it. He looked at his brother and drew a deep breath before saying, “Dad should have been here by now.”

  Charlie didn’t know what to say at this. He, like Cedric, had been too preoccupied with the events since the night before last to consider this. Their dad should have arrived last night at the latest. Cedric continued to stare at Charlie as he responded, “He probably just got held up. I bet the roads are bad with traffic, everyone wants to be with family.”

  “You said when you talked to him, he would be here by last night. He always keeps his word on when he will get here.”

  “I know, but this is a national disaster. I’m sure that kept him tied up on the road for a little while.” Charlie then exhaled loudly.

  Cedric looked troubled as Charlie continued a moment later, “I’m sure he will make it fine. Just have hope.”

  “But what if he doesn’t? What if something has already happened to him? He could have run out of gas. I don’t think many stations are open right now. What if they got him?” Cedric ranted with his voice getting louder with every sentence.

  Charlie grabbed his brother on the shoulder as he said in a soft voice, “He will be fine. I know he will. We just have to wait.”

  Cedric didn’t respond. He didn’t want to think the worst. He wasn’t sure what to think right now, but he knew he had to trust his dad to be able to get to them.

  After a short moment, Cedric noticed his mom had been woken up by their conversation as she was pulling the blankets off her. Cedric looked down to see that Adam, who had slept next to Cedric in another sleeping bag, was still asleep.

  He glanced back at Charlie then said, “I need to go check the water.” The water system they had constructed outside was pumping about fifty gallons a day, so the barrel needed to be changed every morning and the fire had to have wood added about four times a day. Cedric pulled his boots on and tied them up before reaching for the door.

  Before he got to it, Jack came into the living room from the kitchen and said, “I will go with ya. I could use some fresh air.”

  As soon as Jack got closer to the door, Cedric turned the handle and pulled it open. The first word that came out of his mouth before he slammed the door shut again was a four-letter word Cedric hardly ever used. Cedric drew his gun on instinct.

  Immediately Charlie pulled his pistol that was tucked into the rear of his pants and ran to the window. He yanked the shades open with enough force that they fell from the holders and smacked loudly on the ground. Charlie ignored this as his eyes became fixed on the road directly on the opposite side of the trench.

  Nearly twenty of the infected were scattered around the edge looking toward the house. As he watched, he saw one of them bump into another sending it falling into the trench where, Charlie knew, that the spikes had impaled it. A short, strangled screech answered his suspicions.

  At the screech, Adam quickly rose from his sleeping bag. A few moments later Ben came from his room, holding a shotgun. He ran next to Charlie and looked out.

  Cedric had quickly tucked the pistol into its holster again and gone to where Adam was. He picked him up and rushed him to Ben’s family’s room. Cedric set him down on the bed, next to Sherry and said, “Adam, stay in this room unless someone else tells you that you can leave. OK?”

  Adam nodded. Sherry started to ask a question, but Cedric had already stood back up and left the room. As soon as he was out of the doorway he saw Denise coming from her room. He pu
lled the pistol back out from its holster and handed it to her. “Get in the room with your mom,” was all he said as he hurried back into the living room. His own mom was on her way to the bedroom with the other women and Adam.

  When Cedric got back into the living room, he noticed that Ben, Charlie, and Jack had each taken a separate window and were holding their guns up looking out. The house was on a hill with only a few ground level windows, so the only ones that they had to worry about were the living room and kitchen. Ben and Charlie had taken up in the living room, so Cedric fished his rifle from underneath the couch and went to the kitchen with Jack. They now had every angle covered that the infected could get through, and Cedric really saw how many there were from his new kitchen angle. He had only been thinking of the ones he had seen on the road. Now he saw more on the east side of the house and assumed that there were just as many on the other two sides as well. If that was the case, that meant that there was a ballpark figure of eighty infected humans around them. “Nearly the entire neighborhood,” Cedric said aloud. He couldn’t think of what was drawing them in, other than if they could just sense the presence of food.

  Cedric noticed that the infected retained either some intelligence, or at least some basic instinct, because they stopped at the trench. Most didn’t even get too close to it. Although, some still fell in by accident. But even more were knocked in because of the rash movements by the other infected.

  Cedric couldn’t help but to keep wondering why the infected were swarming the building because, after an hour, there were almost twenty more around the three sides they could actually see. Cedric had been looking around at them when he heard Ben say, “I think it’s the fire.”

  Cedric turned to look at him and noticed the others had too. Ben continued, “I think the fire let them know we are here. I can’t think of any other trigger for it.”

  “Maybe they just know where we are. Some kind of sensor ability or something,” Jack said.

  “I thought about that too, but just watch them. They don’t have many basic skills and they seem really stupid,” Ben responded. “No, I think they see the fire and that’s how they know we are here. They seem to be focusing more toward the areas that they can see the smoke the best. I think it's acting like a beacon.”

  Cedric thought about this for a moment and it didn’t make any sense to him. “I don’t think so,” he said after a moment. “I don’t think they are that smart to associate fire with food. They can’t even get it right to not fall into the trench. They see one fall in and then fifteen minutes later, they fall in.”

  Ben stared at Cedric like he was a twelve-year-old and responded in a mocking voice, “Well then, expert, why are they here then?” The way he said it, ‘expert’ had been saturated with sarcasm.

  “I don’t know,” Cedric started to say but then saw the wind blowing out of the window and that gave him an idea. “Yeah, I do know. They look like they act off instinct and their basic senses, smell being one of them.”

  “So, you’re saying you think they can smell us?” Ben laughed in a cocky tone.

  “No,” said Cedric simply. “Not us, but the blood of the animals we skinned. That’s why they are gathering near the fire, they just smell the blood that is being carried downwind. We skinned the animals about five feet from there. Under that tree.” Cedric pointed at the tree they had hung the animals from to drain.

  Ben looked back in the direction of the fire and saw the remains of the animals. He noticed that the infected were staring at the spot of blood on the grass, not the fire. The rain and water hose had not washed it all away.

  Denise walked slowly into the room and said her husband’s name in a whisper, “Charlie?”

  Charlie turned around when he heard her and noticed the questioning tone she was using, “What is it, babe?”

  She stepped farther into the room, closer to the window and said, “Is it safe to come out of the room yet?” But she knew the answer to her question just as she finished it. She had noticed all the infected humans lining the border of the trench and stared as she saw one fall into the trench. “Did he just fall into there?” She asked in a shaking voice.

  It was Cedric who responded, “Yeah. They have been since we have been watching.”

  “So, what happens,” Denise paused her question as she took in a deep breath, “when the trench fills up with them?”

  Nobody answered because nobody had thought of that. If the infected kept falling in, they would be able to get across. After a moment of thought, Jack spoke, “We need to load up the trucks. Everything that we can get in them and be ready to pull out at a moment’s notice.”

  “Are you crazy?” Ben asked in his cocky voice again. “Where the heck would we go? We stay here. We have everything we need and this building has been fortified.”

  “No,” Charlie said out loud. Cedric assumed he was talking to Jack but then Charlie continued, “We don’t have everything we need in here. We have everything we need inside the trench. We didn’t think it through all the way. Our only source of water is out there.

  Jack and Cedric both had walked over to the window that Charlie was at and everyone looked out at the water.

  “Then we pipe it in,” Ben suggested, but even he wasn’t sure that idea would work.

  “We still have to put wood in the fire,” Cedric said. “I think Jack is right. We load up the three trucks and the Jeep. All the food, water, and guns we can, then we leave.”

  “We can't just leave, Ced,” Charlie said looking to his younger brother. “We need a plan, some kind of idea. Let's take shifts watching the windows. One person can cover these two,” he said pointing at the two windows in the living room. “And one cover those two,” he continued pointing into the kitchen.

  “And we all need to think of what to do next,” Jack added. “Cedric and I can take first watch. We can switch out every few hours, agreed?”

  After they had all split up, Adam came to stand next to Cedric. The women had started to pack the food back into boxes and Ben and Charlie had gone outside to pull the trucks and SUV near the front door. They had decided that even if people were outside it would be a good idea to keep people at the windows to warn the rest if anything happened.

  By dark, they had two fifty-five gallon drums full of water strapped into the bed of the Silverado and the majority of the food loaded into Jack’s truck and the Jeep. They had decided to keep the bed of one truck clear, so they chose the smallest one, the purple Ford F-150. It was now Ben and Charlie’s watch through the windows, which was considerably harder since the sun was going down. As Charlie watched, he noticed that the farther the sun sank, the more the infected seemed to fall into the trench. He wasn’t worried at this point though because he knew it would take a lot in one spot to make a bridge out of the infected, and they were all falling in sporadic places.

  When darkness had completely fallen, Ben decided that nobody should be outside, so Cedric and Jack were relieved from their work for now and came inside. “Any ideas?” Cedric asked as he entered the house.

  “Only one,” Ben responded, “We shoot them all before they make it to the trench.”

  “Then we run into the issue of we will be out of ammo before the end of the month,” Charlie said in a stressed voice. “And the noise might bring more. We don’t know.” Cedric could tell that they had been having this argument for a while and was confirmed when he saw Denise roll her eyes and exhale.

  Jack took this moment to interrupt Charlie and Ben’s argument to say, “Okay, no plans on that yet. That’s ok, but what about gas? Do you have any extra tanks?”

  “Well my truck is a diesel,” Charlie said, “but I did have enough gas in the shed to nearly fill up the other three. I nearly have a full tank too. So I would guess that we have enough fuel to get us wherever we need to go. We just need to know where that is exactly.”

  Cedric couldn’t think of anywhere and didn’t actually know what kind of place they even needed, so he asked, “Wh
at are we even looking for? I mean, what do we need?”

  “Something with good sturdy walls,” Jack said, “and well water.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt if it had a generator either,” Charlie added.

  “If we have to leave, we need plenty of room,” Ben suggested, “We are pretty cramped in here. But I’m still not convinced we need to. Be prepared just in case, but nothing for sure.”

  “How about that Holiday Inn just outside of Rogersville?” Jack said.

  “Now I know you're crazy,” Ben replied, “That place had to have had a ton of people in it. I bet there are two hundred of the infected there. And there are a lot of windows too. No, we need somewhere that there wouldn’t have been a lot of people in when this got here.”

  They all were thinking about it clustered in the kitchen, Denise had taken Charlie’s watch in the living room so they could talk. They had tried to involve all of the adults in the conversation, but Sherry, Denise, and Eliza declined the invitation. Cedric assumed it was because they didn’t want to argue with Ben and Charlie, who were both stubborn.

  “Well, I don’t think we are getting anywhere. Everyone just try to think of something. And you guys,” Charlie said nodding toward Jack and Cedric, “can take my room and get some sleep before your next shift. We will get you up around one.”

  Cedric gathered his sleeping bag and went to the room where Jack was already spreading his bag next to the closet. “You can take the bed,” Jack said.

  “No thanks, I prefer sleeping somewhere I know is clean,” he replied. They both laughed at the joke. The truth was that Cedric really did prefer a sleeping bag over a bed. He went camping every chance he could and thought that if worse came to worse, they could drive out to Smokey Mountain National Park and camp out there.

  They both laid down and Cedric quickly fell asleep. He wasn’t physically tired but mentally strained to the point where his mind just wanted an escape.

  Sue shook Ross awake. He sat straight up in his seat thinking something might be wrong but Sue just looked calmly at him and said, “Everything is ok. We both slept a long time, though. It's nearly noon.”