by Brown, TW
Now that I got a good look at him, I had to smile. The guy had those disgusting “pretty boy” good looks like a Brad Pitt or Leonardo Dicaprio, but the post-apocalyptic world was doing its best to curb them. There was some pretty scraggly growth on his face. That only made the fact that you could tell he was a pretty boy worse. He had eyes that were bluer than any girl I’d known, and teeth that were television commercial white. I do not think I had ever seen teeth that white before, now that I think about it.
Of course that brought on something else that I was not prepared for; all of a sudden, I was very self-conscious about how I must look…and smell. That was made worse by the fact that all three of them seemed to be making an effort not to wrinkle their noses at me. Man, we’d only been on the road for a couple of days. Was I that bad? And what’s more…how were they staying so clean?
“Well?” Ed urged. I realized that I was probably just standing there with my mouth open like an idiot while these thoughts went through my mind.
“We had a meeting and I volunteered to go.” That was all they needed, and I was being generous giving them that much.
“Well we saw that you have a handful of kids,” Katrina resumed control of the conversation. “Also, there were what appeared to be a few dozen women.”
“Which means that you guys might not be like some of the animals that we have observed…or dealt with.” When Hank said that, I heard something in his voice like I am used to hearing from Jon and Jake. I guess the pretty boy was also a possible bad ass.
“Couldn’t believe some of the stuff we’ve seen,” Ed said as he leaned back against a tree and began making a show of cleaning under his nails with a knife that was ridiculously large. It was a wonder he didn’t cut part of his finger off.
“Yeah…I can.” I guess it was my turn to start posturing. But I was not going to waste a bunch of time on nonsense. Either they were interested in joining us, or they weren’t. “We just took out some guys who had some sort of medical experiment thingy that they wanted to do on one of the ladies in our group that is pregnant.”
As soon as I said the words, I wanted to bite my tongue off. I had just given them some pretty major information. Maybe Jon was right…maybe I was still just a kid. The look on the woman’s face was nothing short of stunned.
“How far along is she?” Katrina asked. I had already said too much and just stared back at her. “Look, we have had three pregnancies…and none of them lasted to term. And one…” Her voice trailed off and I noticed both men had suddenly started finding very interesting things to examine on the ground.
I weighed out the choices. The need to keep information close to the vest versus the fact that these folks were seemingly being very open and out front warred briefly.
“She is ready to pop,” I said. “In fact, we almost delayed our trip a couple of days because it is likely that she will probably have this baby while we are on the road.”
“You guys were up at that campground,” Katrina made it a statement, not a question.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “You already knew about us, though.”
I had a hunch and decided to play on it. After all, the worst that could happen was that I would be wrong, and that happens several times a day anyways, so no biggie.
“We scouted you just before that last big storm came. We were headed that way when we heard what sounded like a pretty nasty gunfight taking place,” Hank spoke up. “Since we didn’t know who was on what side, we chose to fall back and wait. We were about to send a scout up to look around when that storm hit. For the last one of the season, it had quite a load to drop. We would have starved if that warm front hadn’t come through and brought rain to wash some of it away. We were actually stranded in a double-wide…the bunch of us.”
“And how many is a bunch?” I asked.
“Well, seeing as how we already have at least an approximate of your numbers, that seems like fair information to trade,” Ed joined in the conversation. “We have twenty-three men and women…” He got a look on his face that looked like real sadness; the kind that hurts physically. “No children.”
Something told me that they’d had at least one, and that the loss was still fresh enough to be painful. I stayed quiet, not because I was trying to draw out any information, just simply because I didn’t know what to say at that exact moment.
“It was just a cut…” Ed whispered. “But it kept getting worse and pretty soon started to smell awful. We did our best to keep it clean…we just didn’t have anything. Not like you can just pop in to the Rite Aid for some anti-bacterial ointment these days. One day, she just didn’t open her eyes…wouldn’t wake up. Hell, we didn’t even have a thermometer to take her temperature…” His voice choked off and he began to cry. He didn’t try to hide it or anything, he just started crying.
Hank and Katrina both moved in and put their arms around Ed. If I had to guess, I would say that he had some sort of personal relation to this girl…maybe a daughter, sister, or niece. Hank and Katrina both looked sad, but Ed was in pain. His hurt was much deeper.
I waited until he recovered. It took a few minutes and I didn’t really know what to say or do, so I just stood there. It wasn’t like I could step in like his friends and offer any sort of condolences.
“So, I guess the question is, do we join your group or not?” Hank spoke after patting Ed one last time and stepping away to give the man some space to compose himself.
“Well, that is up to you,” I said. “However, I would suggest that you decide now. My group is not going to be okay with your people hanging up in the woods following us all the way down into La Grande.”
“Why would you want to go down there?” Katrina asked. “That place has been a war zone for weeks…months. There was a pause for a while when the weather took a nasty turn, but you can see and hear stuff going on down there all the time. I realize that you folks have formidable numbers, but why walk away from where you were and walk into a war?”
That was almost the same question that I had. I didn’t have an answer for her because I didn’t know myself.
“There is a belief that the entire town can be reclaimed if the right people come in and make it happen,” I said. That was the best I had; oddly enough, it seemed to be working. All three of them were nodding.
“I think we can agree to meet with your group and see if this is a good match,” a new voice spoke from behind me.
I spun to discover five more people standing less than a dozen feet away. I had no idea how long they had been there, but I felt stupid…and scared. Stupid because I had totally dropped my guard with these folks—a mistake like that can get a person killed in a hurry—and scared because each of them had bows or blades in their hands.
“Jesus, Simon!” Katrina snapped. “You just about scared the crap out of this kid!”
Now I could add annoyed to my list of swirling emotions. Once again I was being referred to as “a kid” by people. Sure, this was the case that I had made for being the best choice for the mission…
“This kid moved past three of our scouts without being seen.” Simon closed the distance between us, making sure to slide his weapon—a wicked looking curved sword that reminded me of the Sinbad movies—into a loop on his belt. “And considering the fact that he is packing serious firepower along with the fact that the group trusts him enough to send him up alone…I wouldn’t underestimate him if I were you.”
I actually had to bite back a smile now. This guy was seeing things in me that I had always hoped to have seen in me by those in my own group. Not only that, but somehow, I had managed to “slip past” some of his scouts. I wasn’t about to tell him that it had been sheer luck and through no effort made by me.
“Name’s Simon Paul,” the man introduced himself and offered his hand. I shook it as he continued. “My parent’s had a sense of humor.” When I just stared at him, he shook his head. “Too young to remember…probably listened to that damn rap music.”
I too
k a good look at this guy. He was just a regular looking sort. Brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail that hung a few inches past his collar. He was a couple inches shorter than me, but had wide shoulders and his grip was strong. It wasn’t like he was trying to crush my hand or anything, but I could tell that he was pretty powerful.
“Not really into that sort of music,” I said with a shake of my head. “Actually, I was really into some cool indie stuff. Most of what I had on my phone or iPod came from groups that were local and self-produced their own demos.”
“Eclectic music tastes, I can dig that.” Simon nodded as he let go of my hand. “So you’ve met these three. I’d introduce you to these other knuckleheads, but why waste the time. Your people are probably waiting for you to come back. So, I guess you and I should head down the hill and meet with whoever is in charge of that little army and see what’s what.”
“Uh, Simon…you think that is a wise choice?” one of the people who had come up behind me with him asked.
“This kid came up here alone to meet us and see what our intentions are.” Simon shrugged and shot me a smile and a wink for some reason. “I figure the least I can do is return the show of confidence. If they thought we were actually bad guys, they would never have sent this guy up here on his own…unless they were hoping he would get himself killed.”
Hmm…that was not an angle that I had even remotely considered. Either Simon was joking around, or he was on to something.
“Let’s go meet your people,” Simon announced and headed into the trees like it was no big deal.
***
“You folks got into a pretty nasty fight a while back.”
Simon was walking a few steps ahead of me. We had hiked down the hill in silence for the first few minutes. I was still trying to figure out what the heck was going on when he broke the silence. I was still trying to figure out what to say when he continued.
“You play it close to the vest,” Simon spoke with a hint of something in his voice. I was pretty sure that there would be a big smile if I could actually see his face. “Smart. I mean, you don’t know me from Adam. You got no reason to trust me with a dang thing.”
“We got hit by raiders and a small herd,” I said. I didn’t figure I was giving away anything vital.
“Herd?” the man asked as he ducked under a low branch and came to a stop at a small creek.
“Yeah…herd. You know…a large group of zombies?”
“Oh. We call them clusters.” Simon shrugged as he knelt down and filled his canteen.
“I imagine folks probably all got their own words for stuff.” I nodded as I joined him. “Anyways, we had a bunch of walkers everywhere and these folks tried to use them as a diversion or something. We fought them off, but it was pretty costly. Lost a lot of people that day.”
“And you got that many left?” he exclaimed as he stepped across the stream and resumed our hike down the hill.
“Yeah.” I didn’t think he was looking for any information, but I didn’t see any reason to let him know that we had been knocked down to less that fifteen people or so and that all these others were newcomers to the group.
“Must have been a hell of an invasion force. It sounded bad, but damn…” his voice trailed off.
I was torn about what to say to this guy. He seemed like a really nice person…on the surface. However, after seeing what I had with Jake, I wasn’t willing to just believe anybody was what they portrayed themselves to be. We walked in silence again until I decided that maybe I could get some information myself.
“So, Ed told a pretty sad story,” I said to Simon’s back. I was surprised when he stopped suddenly. I had my hand on the hilt of my blade when he turned, and immediately felt like an idiot.
“That was his baby sister…Holly. She and my son were in second grade together.”
The way he said it was almost spoken as a warning. There was definitely something in his voice, but it wasn’t like Ed’s. I didn’t think Simon was going to cry, but I also was getting the message that this was not an okay topic.
“Sorry.”
“Yeah…one of the reasons why we were getting ready to try and hook up with your group before that day was the fact that our scouts had seen children in your camp. We figured you folks couldn’t be that bad if you had kids running around loose.”
Simon shrugged and turned to continue down to meet my group. I followed after mentally slapping myself. I’d had my hand on my weapon the entire time he’d been talking to me. The thing was, he hadn’t even bothered to give me a funny look or anything. It was as if he had completely ignored the fact.
It took a while, but eventually we came down the trail that dumped into the rest area where all of my people were waiting. I guess we’d posted sentries of our own because Jon, Jake, and Dr. Zahn were all waiting expectantly when we arrived like they knew we were coming.
“Everybody, this is Simon Paul. He is here to talk to you and see if his group joining our group is a good fit.” That was pretty much it in a nutshell. My work here was done.
I headed over to the cart where the few things that I owned were stored and dug through my bag. I knew what I was looking for and since I didn’t have that much—unlike some of these people who seemed intent on trying to re-gather a house-worth of belongings that they would just have to eventually leave behind if we ever had to make a run for it—it was easy to find.
The small box was the only thing that I had from my old life in a world where the dead stayed that way. I still remember when my mom gave it to me. I thought it was kind of stupid, but now, it was my most prized possession.
I pulled the cube out and rolled it over in my hand, pausing on each side to take a moment. I guess all those pictures on my phone were gone forever. Now, these were the only ones remaining. This plastic cube had a single picture on each side. My mom was one of those people that held on to the old ways. She bought actual books, listened to CDs on her CD player, and took pictures with a camera that used film.
I used to make fun of her and tell her to get with the times. She would always smile and say that I would be sorry if the world ever suffered a major catastrophe. Back then, I couldn’t think of anything that could happen on a scale that would have an effect on the entire world…that was just crazy.
One picture was just my mom. She had taken it using a timer. She was sitting in her favorite spot under the tree in our back yard. The others were of me, Jamie, Aaron, and Joe. There was a shot from after our first pee wee football game. We all had big, stupid grins on our faces and Aaron was missing a tooth. The rest were from different ages and times in my life that I had to think really hard on to remember. It was as if all of my previous life was fading. Pretty soon, it would be nothing but these six photographs. And each time that I looked at them, the people in the pictures became harder to recognize…especially me.
I stuffed the cube back into my bag and headed over to where I saw folks in line for the afternoon meal. I don’t really remember standing in line, or finding a spot to sit in the tall grass. Yet, that is where I ended up.
As I spooned mouthful after mouthful of whatever had been dumped into my bowl, I did everything in my power not to cry.
***
That night, we were joined by twenty or so new members. It was almost odd to see people wandering from campfire to campfire. Everybody was treating this like some sort of party. I took my sentry post shortly after sunset, volunteering when the watch list was made.
I was about thirty yards or so out, keeping my eyes peeled for anything or anybody that might be drawn by all the noise. I almost wanted to walk back to camp a few times and tell folks to quiet down. They were acting like we were safely behind walls or something and not camped out in an old rest area in the open where anyone or anything could just come stomping up and put an end to our little party.
“Kind of crazy, ain’t it?” a voice made me spin with my machete drawn and ready to strike.
“You really shouldn’
t do that, Katrina,” I managed through a throat that felt like it had been constricted to a pinhole.
“Sorry,” she said with raised hands. “I thought you saw me coming. You looked right at me.”
Damn, I needed to get my head back into what I was doing. I guess that cube had screwed with me worse than I thought. Here I was all bent out of shape with the noise and the partying going on and I am literally letting people walk right up to me without noticing.
“I guess I was drifting…so good thing you came out to…umm…why are you out here?”
“I just came to thank you for helping our groups come together.”
“I didn’t really do anything,” I admitted. “I went up the hill and then came down. Simon, Jon and all the others worked out the details.”
Katrina laughed. It was a nice sound. But she was close enough that I could see her face pretty clear in the light from the moon. There was something in her eyes.
“What?” I asked, suddenly wondering if I had a dangler in one of my nostrils.
“That is twice that I have come up on you without you knowing. You sure you are the best choice for a sentry?”
“Probably not,” I said with a shrug. “But if something bad happens, I guess I will scream loud enough. I’ve been told that my voice carries.”
“You’re funny.” Katrina laughed again and I felt my hormones starting to make inappropriate shifts in my biology.
She was absolutely older by a decade or so. Still, she was cute in that girl-next-door way. I could still see the dusting of freckles across her nose even in the moonlight. I guess I had been so focused on my so-called mission that I hadn’t really taken the time to look at her. Of course she was all bundled up in leathers with a head wrap, so there wasn’t all that much to see when we’d first met.
She had wavy blonde hair that was cut pretty short. She was maybe a couple of inches over five feet, and, like everybody else these days, looked just a bit on the undernourished side. Her cheeks were a little sucked in and now that she was not in full gear, I could tell that she was actually very petite.