End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle

by Lara Frater

  “We can make it one,” Jim bought up. “How about a book party?”

  Steven laughed. “It’s nice to be here among fans.”

  “I’ve never read any of your books,” Grace said, no emotion in her voice.

  Steven looked a little awkward. “How about a get together with friends?”

  Grace didn’t respond and I was glad she kept her mouth shut.

  “So now for awkward small talk,” Steven said. He took a bite of salad which was just kale and lettuce.

  “No sir,” Jim said. “I want spoilers for your new book. I want you to talk about the creative process. I want—“

  “Take a breath and I told you, call me Steven. The creative process is a sham. When the call comes to write you do, when it doesn’t, write anyway. And you can read the new book as soon as it’s printed. I don’t want anyone to be in awe of me. I’m just another survivor like all of you.”

  Jim didn’t respond but he smiled.

  Carol and Emily sat at the table but didn’t say anything. Joyce looked like she was finishing up. “We’re gonna clean out Harbor Height real soon,” I told him. “Been getting more zombs attacking, think they’re comin from there. I wanna do this soon.”

  “I know it well, and I’m not a bad shot. I’ll come with and be your guide.”

  “Appreciated, but warning you it’s dangerous.”

  Steven started laughing. I joined in. I liked Steven, weirdo and all. I didn’t feel like I had to walk on tiptoes like Joel.

  “You sure you don’t want to stay around the farm?” Jim asked. “We’re fixing up some houses across the road. They’ll have some electricity.”

  “Thanks for the offer Jim,” he said, taking another bite of salad and chewing slowly before he spoke again. “But people bring trouble.”

  “You mean the zombs? Mike thinks they’re dying out.”

  “Believe or not I think zombies will become the least of your troubles.”

  “Then what will be?”

  “We got fewer zombies, now we have to worry about other humans.”

  “We’re not bad people,” Jim said and he looked a little disappointed but I didn’t think Steven was talking about us.

  Steven smiled, but didn’t laugh. “I don’t mean you fine folks. I’m talking about others. The world has changed. There’s no police, no law and order, no civilized society and that’s going to bring out the monsters. In this world, we basically have four types of people: Good people like your group, the people who live in the past who want the world to go back to normal, you got to be careful of them, they are more likely to commit suicide—“ he paused and took a drink of water.

  “The third are the lawless. Instead of helping their fellow man in a crisis, they’ll take advantage of them. The fourth are those who follow them and make the mob more powerful.”

  “What a minute,” I said. “We can’t, you know, stereotype people.”

  “Not everyone will be exactly as I say, but you know it’s going to be leaders and followers. Good people versus bad. The thing about bad people is they aren’t willing leave good people in peace.”

  “You can’t make people good or evil,” Jim said, his voice lower than usual. “A lot of people are in between.”

  I looked at Grace but I thought about myself. Don’t know why the zombie apocalypse changed me when I wasn’t so good before. I could have easily taken advantage of the situation, but my daughter’s death changed everything.

  “Look at Joel,” he said.

  “Who’s Joel?”

  “Joel’s a hunter we trade with,” I explained. “He’s the reason we got running water again.”

  “Give a kiss on the lips for me. I was tired of peeing in a hole. Sounds like a good guy.”

  “He isn’t.” This came from Felicia, still with no emotion in her voice. I was surprised she said something. “He’s an opportunistic jerk.” Felicia stopped talking, looking embarrassed that she said anything.

  “Hence someone who is neither good or evil,” Jim said. “Joel has been good to us in trade but he stole people from Felicia’s group because he’s recruiting hunters.”

  “People I still haven’t seen.”

  Felicia was right. I’d been so hung up on finding Aisha, I hadn’t realized no one came from the camp, but Joel usually only bought Bill or Chris.

  “Do you trust him, Tanya?” Steven asked.

  “No, I don’t but he hasn’t given any indication that he’s evil or plans to hurt us. I think he’s scouting for potential hunters.”

  “And you still let him come?”

  “I rather have a friend than an enemy. This ain’t a prison. Everyone is free to go.”

  The conversation was interrupted by Joyce who plopped down next to me. She smelled of the rice and beans.

  “You talking about Joel?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “He’s trouble. He took our soldiers and our best people. He left us almost no protection. And the people who took, they weren’t all hunter material, they were just young.”

  I didn’t like what she was saying but I had to keep in contact with him. I looked at Grace again. I wondered if she would leave if Joel asked her.

  I pulled more pest infected plants and weeds than vegetables. I told Jim we should use pesticides but he said that unless we had some pesticide manufacturing plant to make us new and more vibrant pesticides, we had to stick with organic. Luckily this farm used to be an organic one. Lots of stuff in place to get the pests and weeds, but it’s ain’t enough. I’m tired of leaning over and yanking weeds and I hate fucking dandelions even if Joyce made tea out them. Our crops were coming in okay but not great. We did manage to grow about 12 heads of lettuce, smaller than the ones in the supermarket, ’cept it should have been about forty. We gave four to Joel ’cause of the water. We got the cold house set up to keep the vegetables fresh, but at this rate we’re eating all our crops instead of saving it.

  I worked that afternoon with Jim, Dave and Grace. Olive was asleep not far under a tree. That dog loved Dave. Grace wore a wide brim sunhat, her hair in a long blond braid. Since that time she cried for her daddy and brother, her face had softened. Maybe she wouldn’t look like a dried up turd when she got old. She wore a pretty sundress and carried a basket Martha Stewart would be proud of. Her rifle was still on her back. I told her she didn’t need it in the field and she gave me a look of horror. If she wanted to carry a heavy ass rifle while doing back breaking work, that’s her problem. Me, I got a wet bandana on my head.

  Last week three people showed up in Greenport, thanks to Bob Bam and his recruitment. One woman vanished after one day of farm work. Mike didn’t take her back, so she was probably hiding in one of the houses. We didn’t have any problem with her stayin on the island, but she ain’t getting anything from the farm. We set up the new people in the bunkhouse. Mike worked on two nearby houses now we got water.

  Still the work was tiresome and sweaty. After field work, there’s a line for the shower, even though we now had three working showers, a couple of kiddie pools in the back and some sprinklers for the field. After field work, everyone got 5 minutes. In, out wearing a towel or robe. Dry in your room, don’t worry about modesty. Even with the five minute limit, it could be a half hour if you at the end. I could go to the beach today. Paul and Rose would be taking a bunch of the kids.

  Or I could dump a bucket of water on my head, eat a quick lunch and pass out. That seemed like the best way to go.

  Instead I heard a buzzing sound that I knew right away was motorcycle. I was in the field closest to the road. I had a feeling it was Joel or someone from his group picking up vegetables for the week. I got to the road as the motorcycle came in.

  Usually when it was a vegetable pick up, Joel sent two of his men, always Chris and Bill. Never anyone from the camp. I didn’t like either of them ‘cause of what Felix and Keith said and they almost never talk. I was always pleasant when they came.

  The man wasn’t wearing a
helmet, no cops to enforce it, and when he got closer I saw it was Joel. He was wearing jeans and a black windbreaker, must be hot.

  He pulled to the front of the house as I made my way over to him. He revved the engine once and turned off the motor. I took off my bandana and wiped down my face.

  “Howdy Joel,” I said. “Like your ride.” I know nothing about motorcycles, but I saw it was a black and silver Harley.

  “Yeah, I got it fixed up. Uses less gas and we can transport it on a boat.”

  “I could use one of those. You should let Henry look at it before you go. I’m surprised to see you and not one of your guys.”

  “I do my share of the work. Besides I thought I might show off my ride to Grace. Maybe take her for a ride.”

  “You don’t give up, do you?”

  “You don’t like the competition?”

  “For Grace’s gun, yes. I meant dating.”

  “Dating, I can work on. She’s a very pretty woman.”

  “And still very young.”

  “She’s your age, isn’t she?”

  “We grew up in two different worlds. I grew up fast. She lived a sheltered life.”

  “Come on, Tanya,” he said and he was serious. “She’s wasting her time here. She could be a fabulous hunter. She can clear out Harbor and the rest of the island. We could have a real community again. All of us.”

  I liked the sound of that, but I also I thought about Aisha, Joel leaving the camp people without protection and Keith. Joel didn’t seem to know Keith was here. Other than that brief conversation we had about Rachel, he hadn’t asked again about carriers.

  Some of the old people remembered Keith but didn’t seem suspicious. Joel didn’t have many fans among the government camp. I wasn’t worried they’d blab.

  “First off, I’m not Grace’s keeper. I can’t stop her from leaving, and I hope she won’t, but they don’t mean you can’t talk to her about it.”

  “I have, and she’s refused.”

  I hadn’t realized.

  “She doesn’t want to leave your group. I don’t why but she likes you folks. Maybe you can convince her to come on some hunts with us? See if she likes it. She don’t, she can come back and be a farmer.”

  “I won’t convince her—To be honest, Joel, I ain’t 100 percent sure I can trust you. I don’t know where your people are. I want to see Aisha. Where is she?”

  Joel paused for a long time, then finally said. “I told you we move about and—“ he paused. “Aisha doesn’t want to come.”

  “What?”

  “Aisha’s pissed at you for taking in that woman. She’ll come around, but that girl is so angry about her mother. If I talk to Aisha and she agrees either to a short visit or in a neutral location, you’ll talk to Grace?”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “Tanya, we’re hunters, not farmers. Grace wastes her time here.”

  “Is Aisha hunting?”

  He didn’t respond.

  “Come on, Joel.” I let that little bit of anger in my voice.

  “She isn’t. Promise. I got a bunch of people who take care of the house and a bunch that go hunting. She can be a good hunter, but not until she’s older. Aisha is doing home defense.”

  I didn’t respond. For some reason I felt he was lying.

  “Look, there’s a reason why I took the stronger people from the government camp. Not because we’re some kind of survival of the fittest, but I needed people to help me kill the rest of the zombies. I didn’t need old people to slow me down. Besides Felicia could look after them and Manny would protect them.”

  “They were living in squalor at an airport.”

  “They were living that way in the camp.”

  “No, in the camp they were living in filth, but they had enough food because the younger people were growing and gathering. At the airport, it was pretty much Manny, Brian and a few others doing the work. Brian went crazy and murdered someone. He was going to murder a lot more if he didn’t drown.”

  “I remembered Brian. He wanted to come, I told him no. I left him because the people at the camp needed some protection. I never thought he would go crazy. Now what about Grace--”

  I didn’t like how he dropped talking about the camp. I noticed he hadn’t mentioned Brian before. I didn’t bring it up.

  “Grace is free to come and go. But I need her here and I ain’t gonna convince her to go. I can’t stop you from talking to her but you’re wasting your time.”

  Joel didn’t respond. His face changed for a moment to someone looking pissed. It faded a moment later.

  I looked around. People were staring at us. “Go inside, and I’ll join you in a few minutes. I got to get my basket. I’ll tell Joyce to get some food ready. Of course you’ll stay for lunch?”

  “Of course.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted him wandering the house unescorted but the weapons were in the basement with most of them locked up in gun cases. A fair number of people on the island had guns and some of them had gun safes using a key easily found on the body of the owner. The basement was locked with a key that only I, Jim, and Mike had.

  I watched Joel go into the house. I went back to the field. Jim was already holding my basket.

  “I’ll take it in for you. Go talk to Joel.”

  “Keep me company for lunch?” I asked him.

  “Sure. I’ll invite Dave, Frannie and Annemarie.”

  I looked at Grace, she looked amused. “I have to work,” she said and walked away.

  When I went inside I didn’t find Joel in the living room. I felt nervous but saw the basement door was locked as always.

  I found him in the communications room, his feet, wearing nice leather boots were up on the table and he was looking over Jim’s scheduling sheet. When he saw me, he didn’t look startled.

  “What are you doing?”

  He smiled, “Seeing when Grace was alone,” he admitted. “Trying to get a date with her. Thought I might show up one day and surprise her.”

  “Joel,” I tried not to sound serious but his being here bugged me. “She ain’t interested.”

  “She is—“ he said with a sheepish grin. “She’s just playing hard to get.”

  After lunch, I saw Joel talking to Eric before he got on his bike and rode away. I thought about asking him what they talked about but I was late to my meeting with the medics.

  Hannah, Gwen, Felicia, and Annemarie were already waiting in the parlor that now served as an infirmary. Not a lot of volunteers and I had to push Annemarie to join ‘cause she used to help Mindy at Costking. Most medical professionals got wiped by the flu or the zombs.

  Every week I got what Jim called an admin day and sometimes I got meetings. Jim said I got to meet with my people even if I got nothing to say. I listened to the number of injuries, most of them minor and heat related.

  “Could we set up some kind of air conditioning?” Gwen bought up. “Not all day, but maybe like an hour a day to cool people off who seem sick.” To push her point, she mopped her brow.

  “I don’t know if we got the power for it. We got the beach.” Gwen looked at me with her doe eyes. “But I’ll talk to Dave.”

  “Might be better getting a van and using that as a cooling station. Henry can get it to start. Mike can syphon gas to keep it running. We’ll do it for days over 90,” Hannah saved the day. She was a smart lady.

  “Better idea.” I wiped the sweat off the back of my neck. It was only late May, summer was gonna be brutal again. I was afraid something gonna happen to our crops.

  “What else is going on?” I asked. “People getting enough grub?”

  “The vegetables are helping, but I worry about long term issue with not getting enough nutrition. People are sick of rice and beans. We need to look for pharmacies and stock up on multi-vitamins. Everyone needs to take one a day especially the kids.”

  “I’ll tell Jim. Whether they like it or not, I can’t get us anything other than what we find. Mike’s been good
getting us some game.”

  “It would be good if they watched you eating,” she said. “People look to leaders.” Oh so that was it. It ain’t got nothing to do with vitamins but everything to do with me.

  “I eat.”

  “Most people eat lunch at 12. Try to be at lunch then. You sit there reading, barely eating your food.”

  “I got stuff I need to do. I always finish my meals.”

  “That’s good,” Gwen said. “But you might want to put reading aside and be sociable.”

  “I ain’t the sociable one, Jim is.”

  “And Joel.”

  “Joel ain’t a farm. Besides half the people here he didn’t want.”

  “Some of my people wanted to go with him,” Felicia said. Her first and only time saying something. “They’re mad at him for rejecting him, but they’ll go if he offered.”

  “Then they’re idiots,” I said, a little mad. I was trying my best here.

  “That’s why you’re having problems,” Gwen said. “You can’t call your people idiots. They’re frightened and need a strong leader.”

  I didn’t respond. I never wanted this responsibility but unlike Rachel I took it with almost no complaint. I wanted my people to stay safe. I also hadn’t planned to look after more than 12 people. Now I got a town. I knew why Felicia had some much trouble.

  “I ain’t Joel,” I finally said. “I’m honest. I ain’t educated and nicely spoken like he is. I don’t got chiseled chest or blond hair. This is what I offer. If they have to go with Joel, then let them.”

  Gwen looked at me again with them doe eyes. Hannah pushed up her glasses. Annemarie and Felicia said nothing. “But how about I be social at lunch?”

  “That’s a start,” Hannah said.

  Truth was, being social scared me more than the zombs.

  “Do you think I’m a bad leader,” I asked Jim as he got ready for bed. It was 9 o’clock. In my old days this would be when I was going out. Turns out I was. Tomorrow was my late morning and tonight I got overnight watch. Everyone gets a late morning if they want it but only fourteen of us do overnight watches. Jim don’t because he likes to be up at dawn, the bastard. If I could fix it, I get up at noon every day. Jim says I could do more of that in the winter. I didn’t want to think of winter. Not just the cold, but there ain’t much to do. We got a greenhouse, but only need a couple of people to run it. I guess I could get my reading done in winter. Maybe we can do games and stuff.