by Jaron McFall
Chapter Ten:
ALONE
Ross woke to his head banging against the cage covering the truck bed. He opened his eyes to see that they were pulling into the parking lot of the high school. The drive wasn’t very long at all, but the few minutes of rest had done him good. The truck stopped at one of the shop doors of the block building. After a few moments, the door began to open and the truck drove in.
Ross was looking in every direction making sure it was safe. He saw a girl that looked around his age holding a chain that controlled the door. After the second vehicle drove in behind them she quickly closed the door leaving only her flashlight and the headlights of the trucks giving any light. Ross began to open the cage when a man came up, grabbing the cage and shaking it violently. He yelled a wordless noise that echoed in the shop. Ross and his two companions fell backward scooting quickly away from the cage door.
Ben turned on Charlie and shouted as loud as he could, “What the heck did you bring more people back for? We’re not the damn Red-Cross.”
Cedric and Jack quickly rushed to Charlie’s side as he said, “Listen, the more people we have, the better chance we have of surviving this until help comes.”
“The better chance we have?” Asked Ben, “We don’t have a chance if we starve to death. We can’t afford to help everyone. We don’t have the food to do that. We will starve if we try to save everyone. First Jack, then that boy! Now, this! Three more people!” He finished glancing an angry look in Ross’s direction.
Before Charlie could reply again, Ben turned and stormed out of the shop towards the kitchen. Charlie turned to Ross, “I’m sorry about that. He thinks he runs things around here.”
“And he thinks that we have to leave everyone else to die,” Cedric added.
Ross just stared for a moment before getting his courage back. It wasn’t that he was afraid of a man he didn’t even know, but he thought there was an edge of craziness to him. He had jumped and screamed like a psychotic man when he saw them. In the dark, that was enough to make anyone’s face go white. Cedric helped the three new people out of the cage and led them to their living area. Everyone in there stared at Ross, Sue, and Danny as they came in.
Cedric held out his hand as if presenting the room and said, “Guys, this is everyone. Everyone, this is, um,” he paused, “The guys.”
Eliza was the first to speak, introducing herself and then the rest followed. After the two groups gave each other a small explanation of what had happened to them, Cedric tapped Danny on the shoulder and said, “Do you mind helping me a couple minutes?”
Danny followed him out of the room and back to the vehicles where Jack, Charlie, and Denise were unloading the day’s spoils into large, heavy-duty cages on wheels. They were normally used to transport metal scraps around the shops. “We call these the shopping carts from hell,” Cedric said with a smile slapping one on the side. Nobody laughed but that didn’t affect Cedric.
He began helping to load them up. When they were finished they had four carts overfilled with things they had gotten from the store and another half cart full of the things that came from Ross’s small group. They wheeled them back to the living area to find everyone dead silent. Ben had rejoined the group and Cedric and Charlie could tell that he was the reason for the silence.
Cedric dug around in one of the carts for a couple minutes until he found what he was looking for, “Ah ha. Here,” he said dropping a plastic box on Ross’s lap. “Money’s no object; I went all out on that one. It had the metal brace and everything.”
It took Ross a moment to realize it was a brace for his arm, “Thanks. I can use this,” He replied as he held up his injured arm, “When I was trying to open up a car door, an infected rammed me at full force.”
Cedric stepped back quickly and put his hand on his metal pipe. “Were you bitten?”
It took Ross a moment to recognize the words because the reaction Cedric took. “No, that happened three days ago.” He looked around the room and noticed everyone else except the two kids and his two friends had reacted the same as Cedric. “I was in that bucket in Wal-Mart for three days before you found me.”
Cedric relaxed. “Sorry” he began but Ross cut him off.
“I know, better safe than sorry.” Ross seemed to be saying that phrase a lot lately.
Ross managed to remove his sleeve with a pair of kitchen shears. Sue gasped at the bruise covering his arm, “Yeah, I think that’s broke,” she said. “I’m so sorry we let you go out there.”
“I’m not,” he said. “If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been rescued and be here now.”
Ben coughed and it sounded extremely fake. Charlie shot him a warning look but Ben didn’t notice it. “Well, we're glad you’re here,” Charlie said. “We can use the help. Are you tired or anything?”
Ross shook his head, even though he was drastically tired from the confinement of the scissor lift bucket.
“Well, Ross, Adam,” Cedric said with a glance at each in turn, “you guys can come with me. We can take the first lookout.” He grabbed a rifle from a nearby desk and a box of cartridges.
They walked toward a nearby janitor’s closet and Cedric slid his knife into the clasp again making it pop open. On one wall hung the mops and other cleaning supplies and on the other was a metal rung ladder bolted to the wall. It was obvious Cedric had done this before because he grabbed the key hidden on a shelf behind the ammonia and began to climb. Once at the top, Cedric paused to undo the lock and chain around a door that led to the roof.
He looked out at the road once everyone was up. “Adam, you go over that way,” Cedric said pointing to that corner of the roof. “And don’t get too close to the edge. Just stand there and watch for any people, cars or anything else that moves. If you see anything, come get me, don’t yell. And Ross,” he continued pointing in another corner that overlooked the football stadium and forest beyond, “you take that. I’ll take these two corners.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder pointing out the side of the building that overlooked the road back to town and the rest of the school.
They each went in different directions, not saying anything else. Cedric had the rifle since his directions were the likely spots someone would come from. Once he was on his spot, he began loading it. He paced up and down his side, since he had two corners, waiting for anything to happen.
Jack was in the shop going through metal when Charlie came in. “So, I take it your father-in-law is ticked at us?” he asked.
“Yeah, but he will get over it. Even with them, we still have enough food and supplies for a month, and then we go out again.” Charlie picked up a piece of metal and tossed it at his truck. It bounced off the new armor like it was a marshmallow. “I can’t believe we did that to my truck,” he said.
Jack laughed but didn’t turn to look at it. “Well, it probably did save us. No doubts from me there.”
“Well. If we get saved, I’m blowing it up and turning it in as an insurance loss. So, what are you doing?”
“Your brother gave me an idea. When we were back at your house, he kept talking about where they bit people at. It made me think about making armor; like a suit of armor.”
“Won’t that be heavy?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, well, I had a thought about that too. How strong are human teeth? Could you bite through an aluminum can for instance?”
“Probably, but it wouldn’t feel too good.”
“But you couldn’t bite through this,” Jack said slapping a strip of thick aluminum down on the table.
Charlie picked it up and examined it. It was flexible but strong enough that he had to agree. “I don’t think it would stop a bullet, but luckily…”
“They can’t use guns,” Jack finished with a laugh.
They spent the next few hours going through stacks digging out more pieces of the metal until Jack said, “Think we should go take the watch?”
Charlie agreed and they went to go get Ben and Danny. Each one of them t
ook a rifle. They knew why Cedric had only taken one. Ross wouldn’t have been able to shoot with only his right arm and Adam was too young and untrained to really handle one well. Charlie figured they would have to teach him soon.
Once on the roof, they each went to a corner sending the person there to go back down for lunch. Ben went immediately to the corner that nobody was in. It was overlooking the school. Cedric had just gotten to the roadside corner.
It was Charlie who relieved him.
“Hey,” Cedric whispered low enough so that only his brother could hear. “I think we need to do that again.”
“Do what?” Charlie asked looking confused.
“Go back out.”
“But we have enough food and supplies for right now.”
“Not for supplies,” Cedric whispered back again. “To help people out. To save people.”
Charlie sighed as he began to understand what his brother wanted to do. “Ced, we aren’t heroes. We can’t go out looking for trouble. We have people to protect here. We only go out for food. That’s risky enough. If we find someone, then we help them. We can’t go out looking.”
“But,” Cedric began but his brother stopped him.
“Listen. We will talk later, but it’s too dangerous. We have some sheet metal downstairs. Take a look at it. Jack said it would make good armor against bites. We can make some before we go out again for food. We can see how that goes and take it from there. Alright?” He finished with a smile patting his brother on the shoulder.
Cedric’s pleading expression dropped and he said, “I get it, bro. That’s fine,” before walking away.
He didn’t eat lunch that afternoon but went straight down to the shop and found the metal Charlie had mentioned. He began examining it and remembered that it was what they used the previous year to line the bottom of the metal carts. He immediately knew what to do. He started punching holes in the metal and lashing it together using coated speaker wire he found in the auto mechanics shop. He bent each piece and shaped it to form his outline.
As he worked, Cedric’s mind was racing, Charlie is right. We can’t just go out looking for trouble but what if we can help. Then again how could we? I’m a high-school kid, my brother is a landscaper and how exactly are we supposed to find people, he thought.
Then some new thoughts hit him, you’re not just a high-school kid anymore. You went up against those things to save Adam. Your plan saved your family. You went against them again to save the plan and make it work. It’s been you who has led them to safety. Cedric knew this was true. It had been him who had fought against the infected twice and made the plan to come here. “But that was luck,” he said to himself out loud.
“What was luck?” Ross asked.
Cedric looked up from his work, he hadn’t heard Ross come in. “Nothing. Just talking to myself about how we survived this long. How about you? Do you think it was more than luck for you guys?”
Ross picked up a piece of the armor and examined it before saying, “Well, yeah. Luck and friends at least. Especially once I got ambushed at that drug store. If someone hadn’t left a scissor lift in the middle of the store next door, I’d be dead. Or good as dead.” Ross set the armor back down, “But don’t sell yourself short Cedric. From what I hear, you don’t owe everything to luck. You owe a lot to yourself too. And the way you fought. Man, I wish you could have seen yourself.”
Cedric didn’t answer and after a minute Ross left. Cedric kept working on the armor for a while until another thought came to his mind, you do need to give yourself more credit. You did good.
By the time the four men had come down at dark, Cedric had made enough of his armor to cover his arms, legs, head, and neck. He had gotten it all pulled on and took a few test swings with his pipe when he heard clapping from behind him.
He turned to see that his brother, Jack, Danny, Ross, and Denise were watching him. He felt his face go red in embarrassment because he knew it had to look stupid. He quickly pulled his helmet off and tossed it to Jack, “What do ya think?”
Jack nodded in approval and passed it to Charlie.
“I used a cap I found in the lockers and molded the metal around it going down to protect my neck. We will get one made for everyone,” He finished with a pleased smile.
After a few jokes at how he looked as Cedric pulled the armor off, they went to go eat. Jack had informed him it was useless to keep watch at night because you can’t even see the ground below you, and if they used lights, it would attract too much attention.
“That’s fine. At least we have a few hours covered. We can figure something out for that,” Danny added.
They all talked and got to know each other as they ate, with the exception of Ben who had eaten hastily and went to bed.
After sitting around the table for an hour, the rest of the people began to get up and go to bed as well. Cedric was the last person sitting when Ross dropped his dishes in the sink. As he walked by the table, Cedric grabbed his good wrist to stop him. Cedric waited for the door to close behind his brother and he stood up talking in a quick, but quiet tone, “Listen, I need a favor. Will you help me?”
Ross just stared at him for a few moments bewildered, “what?”
“I need you to help me get out of here. Listen, there are more people who need help than just us. Some people out there don’t have any food or shelter. I can help them if you help me. We can save lives.”
Ross held up his bad arm, “I don’t know if you noticed,”
“I’m going alone. I just need you to close the door behind me and tell everyone not to follow. Got it?”
Ross looked wary for a split second before saying, “No. I don’t think I’ll let you go out there and get killed. You’re just a kid. Hell, I’m just a kid and you’re younger than me.”
“I was thinking that same thing until you told me different earlier. You made me realize I do need to give myself more credit. I can do this. Besides, if you don’t help me, then I am still going, and the door will stay open. If that happens, something may get in. If something gets in then…” He paused letting it sink in.
Ross took a moment to respond, “You won’t do that. Not to your family.”
“You keep telling yourself that. They won’t be hurt as long as they don’t go into the shops. I’ll clean out the shops when I get back. So I’ll see you later.” Cedric got up and began walking to the door.
“I said give yourself more credit!” Ross bit back. “I did not say give yourself more life-threatening situations!”
Cedric continued to walk away.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” Ross said letting out a long breath. “I’ll do it. When?”
“Right now,” Cedric said and nodded his head toward the door.
Ross followed Cedric through the hallway toward the shop. They gently opened the door to avoid the extra noise and slipped inside.
Cedric grabbed his armor from the work desk and put it on, except the helmet which he dropped into the passenger seat of the Jeep. He then pulled the chains that operated the big doors to open them about six inches. He handed the chain to Ross. Cedric got down on the ground and peered out into the night. Nothing was moving so he got back up and slowly pulled the door all the way up.
“Soon as I’m out, shut it, lock it. Got it?” Cedric commanded.
Ross nodded as Cedric jumped into the driver’s seat, slammed the door and cranked the engine to life. The noise echoed off the walls and he knew that the others heard it. He slammed the car into reverse and pulled out of the bay. As soon as he was in the lot he saw the door slam closed. Cedric smiled.
Inside the shop, Ross was just putting the lock back into the chain when Charlie came running in with his gun raised, “Where’s Cedric?” He yelled.
Ross put his hands into the air, “He asked me to shut the door behind him. He said for you not to follow him.”
Charlie slammed the butt of his gun against the wall and said, “Not follow him, my ass.” He jumped in the driver�
�s seat of his truck and froze. His keys were gone.
Cedric had every bit of this planned less than an hour after his conversation with Ross earlier that day, and half of it already done. The armor, the keys to all the trucks, get out and get the door shut back, get back safely. To Cedric, the plan seemed simple, yet good enough at first, but now he felt sort of stupid. He didn’t know where to start looking. He didn’t know how to start looking. He didn’t know anything. They had found Ross by chance and Cedric thought the chances of finding someone else at night were slim to none.
Over the next hour, Cedric drove the Jeep in the dark, making circles around the town, trying to find some way to find out where people were. A couple of times he saw a light flickering in windows, but before he got inside the house, he noticed the shadows of the infected. Even though they were people, the infected moved in a different, almost animalistic, manner. They jumped and stumbled a lot, but Cedric began to notice that there was a hungry sort of way that they stalked. Almost like if you gave a lioness a pint of whiskey just before she took down a gazelle.
Cedric pulled the vehicle into the abandoned parking lot of the library, thinking for the first time that he might actually die that night. He shook off the thought and opened his door. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping to find. He didn’t actually think that there would be anyone inside the library, at least not alive or sane, but he pressed on. There has to be some hope, Cedric thought to himself, one person. I’ll start with one person.
Once he was at the door, Cedric gripped his metal pipe tighter, making his knuckles bite into the metal-laced gloves he was wearing. He took a deep breath in and slammed his shoulder against the door. It shuddered slightly but didn’t open. He tried again and again but nothing happened, then he saw a window that was only a few feet from the ground. Cedric abandoned the attempt on the door and went for the window.