by Marie Lanza
As Melody and Jason headed to get Melody changed, Joe was making his way down the stairs when he stopped at the sight of them.
“What the hell happened?”
“Nothing, it’s not hers.” Jason wanted to keep moving along, but Joe was down the stairs in less than a second.
Joe couldn’t take his eyes off all the blood spatter over Melody. “How do you know it’s not hers? What if it mixed with her blood?”
Jason didn’t want to get annoyed by the young kid’s concerns, so he took in a deep breath and pushed Melody along.
“Wait!” Joe grabbed Melody by the arm to stop her from going.
Melody’s adrenaline was still pumping from her kill. “Get off me!” Without hesitation, she pushed him back with all her might.
“What the fuck is going on?” Beck was in the room within seconds.
“Look, Joe, you’re tired. Mel is fine. We’re all fine. Either go back upstairs and sleep, or go sit down and we’ll chat after I get my wife cleaned up.”
“Go sit the fuck down.” Beck wasn’t giving anyone any choices. He pulled Joe by the arm and pushed him in the living room.
“I don’t know why I ever thought I had to worry about you.” Jason smiled at Melody and guided her to the bathroom.
Melody could barely give him a smile back with the mix of emotions running through her. “I don’t need to change. I’m just going to get them dirty again.”
“We can at least have a fresh start, right?”
Melody thought about it for a moment, “OK. I guess that makes sense. But go be with Aubrey. I’m fine.” Melody wasn’t comfortable with both of them away from her for too long.
Jason left the room and Melody quickly got dressed again.
In the living room, Beck was sitting on the couch, while Joe paced around in the kitchen. Jason entered and made his way over to the chair he was sleeping in earlier. Aubrey was still fast asleep on the floor.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to go back to this innocence?” Jason asked the room, hoping to break the awkward silence.
Beck leaned over to get a look at Aubrey. “Not a care in the world. Would be nice.”
Joe didn’t want to play Jason’s game of ‘small talk.’ He seemed to have a lot on his mind. Jason could see Beck’s impatience with the young soldier, so he thought it best he act more like a mediator, if it were even possible.
Melody entered the room with a soft smile over her face as she looked at her little girl still sleeping soundly. She was immediately aware of the tense air, but stayed quiet, hoping not to aggravate whatever she had missed.
“I think I should go out and do a quick run to look for ‘em,” Beck said with a hint of uncertainty.
“Are you telling me this to get my opinion?” Jason asked.
Beck leaned back against the couch cushions and took in a deep breath. “I don’t know.”
“Well, I’ll tell you. I think we should stay put. You going out there, they return, you getting stuck out there, then we’re waiting for you… It’s all a mess. Those two can take care of themselves. We didn’t give them a time limit, but they know we want to get back on the road when the sun comes up.”
“I think it’s crazy to leave here.” Joe walked in the living room from the kitchen where he had been pacing.
“Why don’t you tell us what’s on your mind, Joe?” Beck said with sarcasm
“I think we’re crazy to leave here, I said. We have shelter, food, a fucking unbreakable wall separating us.”
“You know we can’t do that. There’s a mission we must follow…”
“What fuckin’ mission?” Joe raised his voice. “Haven’t you noticed, no one is giving orders anymore?’
“How long you think this will last, Joe?” Jason asked. “A week? Two? How long until you have to leave these walls and go scout for food? We have to get to a safe zone.” Jason tried to speak calmly and use collected thoughts for Joe to at least consider.
Joe was young and stubborn. He paced in a small circle with his hands on his hips, carrying an intense expression on his face. “I thought about it all night.”
“We thought about it too…”
Jason, Melody, and Beck’s attention was immediately captured by the voice coming from behind them. When they turned around, standing in the doorway, Richard, the older man stood staring back. “We thought about it all night. We’re not leaving.”
Melody figured his wife and daughter were still sleeping upstairs or maybe they were awake and didn’t want to be involved in the confrontation.
Beck stood to his feet, “Now, sir, just a minute… It’s our duty to keep you safe. To get all civilians to safe zones…”
“And you have,” Richard interrupted. “This is the safest place we’ve been since we were taken from our home. We’re done being dragged around. My family and I have made our decision, and if this young man wants to stay, we’d like him to.”
“Sir, you should really listen to Beck. This place is a false security blanket.” Jason could see in Richard’s face he had already made up his mind.
Richard nodded as if he were thinking about their concerns, and considering their opinions. He looked at Joe, then to Jason and Beck. “We’ve made our decision.” Without another word, Richard turned around and headed back upstairs.
The room was silent.
Melody looked back and forth between Jason and Beck waiting for someone to speak up, but neither did. “We’re not really going to leave them… Are we?” Melody asked.
“What the fuck did you say to ‘em, huh?” Beck turned towards Joe with a demanding force behind his voice.
“I didn’t say shit. Like I said, it’s obvious this is the safe bet. No one wants to continue on this quest of safe zones that don’t exist. We’re creating our own safe zone.”
Aubrey started to stir as the men’s voices raised. Melody swooped her up and cradled the baby in her arms.
“You’re a sorry excuse for a soldier.”
“No, I’m just not a brain-washed old timer.”
Beck nearly jumped over the couch to get to Joe’s throat, but Jason was instantly between the two men.
“Whoa! Look, guys, both of you are right.” Jason held his hands up.
Beck shot an angry glare at Jason for even partially agreeing with Joe.
“I say we leave him and the family.” Jason turned his attention to Beck. “We can’t keep dragging people along that don’t want to be dragged along. Even if it’s for their own good.”
“At least someone else is making sense around here.”
Jason turned his attention to Joe. “Just know, this family’s blood is on your hands. Just yours, if anything happens to them.”
Joe didn’t have anything to say to that. It seemed he hadn’t thought about that burden.
“You wanna be on your own, be on your own. You take nothing from those trucks.” Beck left the room. Although he would never admit it, Beck wasn’t interested in pulling rank on Joe. He was well aware they had witnessed the collapse of what seemed like all civilization, including any kind of order. There were no consequences for Joe’s insubordination in this new world.
Melody was torn. On one hand, she knew what it felt like to be ripped from their home and dragged in a direction she didn’t want to go. She also knew, she and Jason would be in the same boat when the time came and they separated to go to Summer Springs. Melody thought maybe that was why Jason leaned towards leaving Joe and the family behind. On the other hand, Melody knew Beck and the others had good intentions. They were a key part to survival in this reality they were living.
“I’m gonna go make our exit plan with Beck,” Jason said as he left.
“I’m sorry,” Joe was looking at Melody. “I’m sorry if I woke the baby.”
“Have you really thought about this? How you’ll survive? The supplies in this house won’t last forever.” Melody was sincerely concerned about the young man and the others.
Joe walked around the couch
and sat down. “No. No I haven’t. But have you? How do we know the bases even exist anymore? No one has heard anything from anyone. Everyone was still moving forward with plans set in place a week before the outbreak.”
“No. We haven’t thought about it either. I guess we’re all winging it. And I don’t care about the bases. I care about finding our family.”
“I hope you keep that goal clear and don’t let Beck detour you from finding them. There’s nothing left, I’m sure of it.” Joe stood up. “I do wish you and your little girl the best of luck on that journey. I hope you find your family.”
Melody only nodded her thanks as she watched Joe leave the room and heard his footsteps travel back up the stairs. She figured at this point there was no talking him out of it. She wasn’t even sure there was a point to try. Joe had made up his mind and it was clear Richard and his family felt the same way. They could only hope the best for their survival.
The sun began to finally sneak through the window blinds, turning the grays to light shades of pink and orange.
Jason came back in the living room holding a bottle of water, “Look what I found…” he said as he gave the bottle a shake.
Aubrey perked up and reached out to grab the bottle.
“Where’d you find that?” Melody asked, delighted to see something that would normally comfort Aubrey.
“I found the bottle in the nursery. Filled it up with our drinking water.”
“Did you talk to Beck?’
“Yeah, he’s calming down. He’s outside sitting on the porch.”
“Honey, what’s the plan if they don’t come back?”
“Let’s only think that they’ll come back. The sun is up, I’m sure they’re on their way.”
Jason gathered the few items they found in the house that could be useful, baby items, clean clothes, and some canned food. He placed items in a duffle bag, but before packing the canned food, he gave it a second look and put it back on the counter. Joe and the family would need it more. Jason packed the baby food but left everything else. They had plenty of food in the trucks to last them for several weeks if they rationed right, and now with an even smaller group, he was pretty certain they would be fine.
Melody took Aubrey outside so they could join Beck on the front porch. There were a few wooden chairs set up, facing out towards the fence and gate. Melody imagined this is where the owners would sit and have their morning coffee staring at the beautiful sun rising in the east, creeping over the mountaintops.
Melody’s eyes caught the lifeless body of the infected woman she put down only hours earlier. She thought its face would surely haunt her, but she was certain all their faces would haunt her. The infected, the living who they’d already lost, and those like Vic, someone she didn’t want to know, but met under unfortunate circumstances.
There were no infected roaming around the entrance gate, not even any sounds indicating they were close by.
“I left them a note.” Beck raised a folded piece of paper in his hand. “It reminds them of the roads we plan on taking in case they come to their senses.”
Melody was anxious to get back on the road, but didn’t want to leave Mike and Nic not knowing where they were or if they were OK. She hated not knowing. She hated waiting. Melody sat back in the wooden chair and took in a deep breath.
“You know the thing about Joe that’s so frustrating?”
Melody looked at Beck.
“He’s right. We don’t know if the bases are still active. We have no communications anymore with anyone. It’s all fucked up.” Beck sounded defeated.
“I think all of us see his point in some small way. But in the bigger picture, we should be sticking together.” Melody was uncomfortable with her words. A few days ago, she was certain she had no intentions of sticking together with anyone. Now, here they were sitting on a front porch, waiting for two people they’d grown close to, worried sick something terrible had happened to them. Everything in her at once realized just how much she was living in denial about really separating from this group, these people who had saved their lives more than once. In her mind, everyone would get to Summer Springs together. These talks about getting to bases were just ideas to keep them occupied on their drive north.
“Are we leaving them a vehicle?” Melody asked.
Beck fiddled with the piece of paper holding written details of their plans. “No. Like I said, they’re on their own.”
Jason walked outside with a duffel bag in one hand. “This is the last of it.”
Beck stood up and Melody followed. There was a small sense of panic in her stomach. “Can’t we wait just a few more minutes?”
Jason took in a deep breath. “Honey, we have to get on the road. We have hours traveling, we need to find shelter, you know this.”
“We’ll leave bread crumbs,” Beck said in a badly timed joke.
Melody wasn’t ready to give up on them. She walked back over to her chair on the front porch and sat down.
Jason knew it was a silent protest and he heard it loud and clear. No man left behind.
“I don’t like it either.” The words even surprised Beck as they came out of his own mouth.
“I have no problem waiting,” Jason agreed.
So they waited…
* * *
Gunfire.
It was only a single gunshot, but it brought everyone to their feet.
Melody, Jason, and Beck had been sitting on the front porch for nearly an hour. Taking it by the minutes. Watching as each minute passed by, telling themselves, Just one more minute.
“I’ll be damned” Beck stepped off the front porch and walked down the driveway.
It was Nic’s head that popped over the wall first, then with a leg up and on the wall, she flipped her body over. Next was Mike, doing the same maneuver to get himself over.
“What the fuck?” Beck asked in a delighted to see them sort of way.
“Sorry. We’re so sorry.” Mike was out of breath.
Melody and Jason were off the porch, right behind Beck.
“What on earth happened?” Melody asked.
Nic and Mike were ghosts, looking tired, hungry, and a bit worried.
“It’s bad. We just happened to drive down the right street. Otherwise, the neighborhoods are overrun,” Nic began to explain.
“Yeah, too bad we didn’t find that out until it was too late. We found ourselves holed up in a garage with infected coming everywhere.
“How’d you manage to get out of that one?” Beck asked.
“As you can tell, it wasn’t easy. By the way, we didn’t get much for supplies. Every house seemed run-through already.” Nic held up a half-empty bag.
“What the fuck, man? Were you leaving us?’ Mike pointed to the packed Humvee.
“Well, some of us were,” Beck said.
Mike looked around at Jason, Melody, and Aubrey, and knew instantly what was going on. “No way. You’ve got to be kidding me.” Mike almost laughed at the nonsense that occurred while they were gone.
“What’d I miss?” Nic asked.
“Joe, that fucking kid. They’ll starve here, Beck. There’s nothing out there. Let me talk to him,” Mike insisted.
“It’s not just Joe. Richard and his family were pretty adamant they had no intentions of coming along,” Jason explained. “We have to let it go. We can’t worry about them at this point. Just try they feel like they know what they’re doing.”
“I don’t feel right about it at all either,” Beck said, trying to reassure Mike that they weren’t abandoning them. “But we need to get back on the road.”
It was apparent the situation wasn’t sitting well with Mike, but Nic didn’t show much concern for Joe with her words. Her actions, however, spoke volumes. She walked up to the front door, set down her duffle bag with the supplies that she had risked her life for, turned and walked to the driveway. “Let’s go then, what are we waiting for?’
“Nic, why don’t you ride with Mike in the truc
k…?” Beck said as he climbed in the driver’s seat of the Humvee.
“That’s it then? No goodbyes, no good luck to ya?” Mike asked as everyone piled into the vehicles. Realizing he was being ignored, he hopped into the driver’s seat of the truck.
That was it. There would be no more words about leaving Joe and the family behind. There would be no more mention of them at all.
Melody cradled Aubrey who gave her small pats on her chest as she cuddled in her arms. They pulled up to the gate, and Beck hopped out to open it, then ran back to the truck to drive through. As they drove out, they pulled over and waited for Mike to close the gate behind them.
Beck took them through the neighborhood where they quickly saw what had held up Mike and Nic. Hordes of infected. It was like the entire subdivision died, and rose together again to wander their streets forever. Men, women, children, walking, rotting corpses. Their attention immediately turned towards the vehicles. Every street they passed had handfuls of infected, wandering aimlessly until they were stimulated by the rumbling sounds of engines.
They avoided the larger groups and plowed through the smaller ones. With every thump of a body hitting the Humvee, sometimes several at a time, Melody cringed.
It was minutes before the thumps became fewer and farther between, then there were none. As Beck pressed on the gas and the Humvee pushed forward, they were finally out of the neighborhood.
Melody thought how it must have been a beautiful neighborhood before the outbreak, full of families, so many memories. Now those memories still walked the streets as reminders of what life was once like – Men, women, children, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. All stuck wandering aimlessly. Until when? Melody thought. Would their bodies walk the streets forever? Or will the virus final die after it has taken every last piece of the human remains that were left?
“Kill me if you need to,” Melody said as she watched out the window. “Don’t let me walk this earth forever like that.”
Jason turned around a bit surprised that’s how she decided to start a conversation. “I promise to put you out of your misery if it comes to that.” He winked.
Melody knew he wasn’t taking her seriously in the moment, but she truly believed he would adhere to her wishes if it came down to that.