by Steve Kuhn
The gunfire drew the crowd from the camp, but I couldn’t care less. Word spread quickly about the Council being dead… and Junior too. Most people had perceived Junior as just another Haven asshole because he walked the guard post… and they cheered. That hurt the most. They cheered over the body of our man. There was no way to explain at that moment how he was monumentally important to their freedom from the Council, and there were no words for how we felt.
Kylee had been able to kill Nicko and Devin, but Gunner ran, and we didn’t have time to adapt. The mob dragged Tyler off into the distance, and I could hear his screams as they tossed him over the fence and into the pen to be devoured alive… but none of us left Junior.
I’ll never forget how mixed my emotions were at that moment. I was elated to be alive… I was still terrified and shaking over the shootout… I was… I am so sad to have lost my friend. And I was sick and tired of this whole epidemic as I reloaded and put another round into Junior’s head so he didn’t turn.
I’m worried about tomorrow when Trey gets back with his men.
But I’m more worried about Wyatt. The last thing he said to Kylee before storming off was, “This is my fault…”
Entry 42
The morning was spent cleaning up last night’s mess. It’s a good thing we started early, too, because the first guy Junior took out hadn’t turned yet. It was the only kill that wasn’t a headshot. We didn’t even bother destroying his brain. Fuck him. We just tossed him over the side. Kylee dispatched all the pen deadheads, so it seems Tyler was their ‘Last Supper.’
We buried Junior in the center of the Arena. No one outside of our group attended his service. Cutty said a few words, but it was missing the spark. I kept waiting for Junior to pipe up and say something funny or inappropriate, but it didn’t happen. We laid a can of dip and his old spit bottle on his grave as well as his old, flannel shirt. I called Cutty a dumb-shit, but no one laughed.
None of us had seen Wyatt all morning, either. He didn’t help with the cleanup, nor did he bother to show up and help us assure the fifteen road-crew guys who didn’t go with Trey that we were only interested in a more humane and proper treatment of the other survivors. Very few balked at the idea. I had expected more resistance, but it seems that the process of survival is much less important as long as the end result is the same.
We still have a lot to sort out in terms of rules and such. I’m starting to realize that it’s a lot harder to enforce rules and keep even a small group of people working as a cohesive unit. As much as I hate how extreme the measures of the Council were, I can understand how much easier it is to control people when they’re constantly scared. Certainly explains why dictatorships worked. I still think we’re better than that.
I was hoping to have a meeting with everyone once we were tightened up a bit so we had something to tell Trey and his men when they returned. I’d hate to have fifteen to twenty heavily armed men show up at the gate without something damn good to tell them. We never even got the opportunity to have that meeting.
I asked Kylee if she would talk to Wyatt and try to reassure him that just because it was ‘his idea’ doesn’t mean anything that happened here was his fault. She gave me a nod and headed off towards Bizzy’s tent.
I took a minute to chat with Cutty. I asked him how he was holding up, and he told me, “Ain’t too good, Dext. Me an’ Junia been togetha since befo’e it got bad. I’ma miss him… Tha’s all I can say right now.”
That really is all you can say about that. Junior gave Cutty hell all the time, but it was really no different than a couple of buddies crackin’ on each other.
Kylee came running back over and told us, “He’s not in there. Bizzy’s gone too.”
I wasn’t too concerned. They had to be around somewhere. Cutty opted to go check out the manor while Kylee and I went off to find Bizzy’s dad, Tom. We found him along the catwalk keeping watch on his own, which I thought was pretty cool. Seeing someone willing to volunteer may make some others follow suit.
We asked him if he had seen Bizzy or Wyatt, and he told us it had been awhile. He did, however, see them heading up to the manor earlier in the morning.
Figuring Cutty would find them at the manor, we took a moment to ask if Tom had seen any deadheads yet.
“A couple way off in the distance by the woods is all I’ve noticed. We’re going to need a few more eyes up here before the day wears on, though. Might want to get us some rifles and see if any of the road guys mind training us.”
Kylee nodded her assent and added, “Agreed. Also, probably wouldn’t hurt to offer some of the rooms in the manor to the family groups and give everyone a chance to get cleaned properly.”
Tom smiled at the prospect of being treated as an equal.
Cutty came flying across the lawn to us in a full run. I hadn’t seen Cutty run like that before… ever. He stopped in front of us after tromping up the steps and put his hands on his knees, trying to talk while catching his breath. “They gon’.” He was wheezing and shit, so you can imagine our need for clarification.
I pressed him for info, saying, “Gone? What do you mean ‘gone’?”
Cutty took a deep breath and told us, “Bizzy an’ Wyatt… They left, man. One of the cars is gon’, an’ Wyatt’s weapon and clothes is gon’, too!”
Kylee spat on the ground and angrily said, “Shit!”
Tom flipped his fucking wig on the spot. He was panicking and snapped at us, “Where the hell are they gonna go? Someone has to go get them. We have to go find them right now! I knew that boy was no good!”
Cutty reached out and grabbed Tom by his shirt. He pulled him down, thumping him on the ground hard and pointed his huge finger right in Tom’s face. Cutty growled, “Dat boy is like my son… You sayin’ my son ain’t no good?”
Tom grabbed at his aching hip and stammered, “Uuhhh, no, no… I’m just upset. Can we please just find them?”
Rebecca evidently spotted Cutty running across the grass, and she made her way to us by this point. She helped Tom to his feet and said, “Uncle Curtis, what’s wrong?”
I told her Wyatt and Bizzy ran away, and she shut her eyes tight, frustrated. Rebecca looked at us all and said simply, “All right… let’s go—right now. We’ll have to get back before Trey and his men.”
Cutty sobered himself and told Rebecca, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere. Kylee and you gon’ stay here, and me, Dext, and Tom’ll go.”
Kylee scoffed and shot back, “Pfft. Like hell you are. I’m goin’—period.”
Rebecca agreed, adding, “Yeah, you guys sound like the Council, for Christ’s sake.”
Cutty told Rebecca to watch her mouth, to which she nodded an apology.
I summed it up with, “That’s it then. We’re all going.”
Kylee asked the most logical question since the start of the conversation with, “Fine, but where are we going?”
Cutty and I looked at each other and said simultaneously, “The warehouse.”
Entry 43
The last thing I said to one of the guys at the Haven was, “If Trey gets back, tell him to just unload and stay cool. We’ll be back shortly, and everything can be worked out.”
I used to plan everything carefully and always have a backup if things didn’t work out as expected. Nowadays, I’m getting the feeling I should be more of a ‘cross that bridge when we come to it’ kinda guy. We armed ourselves and piled in the jeep.
Kylee drives like a maniac. I’m not sure if it was the urgency of the situation or if it’s a female thing—Shit… no eraser, so I can’t take that line back. Forgive me, ladies.
Anyway, there were stinks here and there along the route to the warehouse, but we could give a shit less about them.
Side note: Remember back in the day when the dudes in the movies would just plow through bad guys and whatnot? Utter bullshit. No way we can afford to even lose a headlight at this point, much less risk breaking down. Sitting in my cube back before all this crap went d
own, I knew a lot of that action-movie shit was far-fetched, but having been balls deep in a bad situation, I can’t even remember why I liked them in the first place. I totally get why some of the cops I used to know wouldn’t even bother with them.
The approach to the warehouse was a terrible rollercoaster of emotions. I slumped in my seat when we didn’t see the car Wyatt stole out front, and my mind started racing about where we would head next. They had an indeterminate head start and could be miles away by now.
Luckily, Kylee had the presence of mind to drive around back. The relief was palpable when we spotted the car sloppily parked in the rear of the building, but anger trumps relief any day of the week. We jumped out fast as fuck, guns drawn, and made our way around to the door.
Cutty pounded on it hard while we scouted the area and made sure we weren’t drawing any attention. Cutty pounded again and shouted, “Wyatt! Git yo’ ass down here an’ open dis do’, boy!”
Nothing.
Kylee called out, “C’mon, Wyatt! We’re sitting ducks out here! Open it up!”
Finally, there was the sound of barricades moving on the other side of the door. As soon as that door cracked, Cutty pushed it open, knocking Wyatt to the floor. We rushed inside like a fuckin’ SWAT raid.
Tom ran past Wyatt and hugged Bizzy before placing his hands on her cheeks and asking if she was all right. She nodded and said, “I’m fine.”
Cutty yoked Wyatt up by his shirt and put his face to Wyatt’s, nose to nose. “Boy, I’ma bust yo’ shit!” Cutty was just blind with rage.
Tom turned around and addressed both of the kids, saying, “Do you have any idea how stupid this is, both of you? I cannot believe that you would risk your lives just to run off and have sex!”
I have to admit, it was pretty fucking stupid. I mean, it’s the end of the world. If I needed to cut a slice that badly, I probably would have preferred to just deal with Tom and all that back in the safety of the Haven, but kids will be kids. I was pretty pissed off, though. I jumped in on Wyatt with, “Seriously, dude? All this was entirely unnecessary! After all the shit we’ve been through, you of all people should know better!”
It was Kylee that broke us up. “Enough! Look at him, Cutty. Dammit, Cutty, look at him!”
The rage left Cutty instantly. He pulled Wyatt into his hulking chest and hugged him. I couldn’t even see the little shit with Cutty’s big-ass arms wrapped around him, but I heard Wyatt start to sob and sniff. When Wyatt backed away, I never felt like more of an asshole. Wyatt’s cheeks were raw, and his eyes were nearly swollen shut. It looked like he’d been crying for days. They didn’t come here to bang. They came here to get away. It was just two kids being scared stupid, and they ran… just like I would do.
Rebecca squeezed her way to Bizzy and gave her a hug as well. She told Bizzy, “I know. I’ve been there, but this is not the way.”
We all took a seat on the floor and sat in silence for a long time. Tom just stared at Bizzy, and she kept her eyes on the floor. Wyatt finally spoke, saying, “I tried to come alone… but Bizzy insisted. I figured if I ran away, people would stop dying. Everyone around me dies. Everything I touch turns to shit. I didn’t want it to happen to you guys, too.”
Kylee took on a tone that I rarely hear in her voice and explained, “None of this is your fault, Wyatt. I fucked up at the manor, not you. Gunner should have never made it out back… And if it wasn’t for you and your rifle, he would have killed all of us right there on the lawn. You and Dext saved us. We need you, kiddo.” She reached out and chucked him on his chin to raise his head. “Hear me? We need all of us right now.
Cutty, Rebecca, Tom, Bizzy… We have strength in numbers just like the Zs.”
Rebecca added, “Next time, let’s leave the running to Dext, eh?”
Wyatt nodded solemnly and inhaled deeply.
Cutty said, “We should go now… Trey gon’ be back anytime.”
We stood up and prepared to leave as Tom headed to the door. He opened it, but then immediately shut it again and turned chalk white. Kylee’s instincts were sharp, and she snapped at all of us, “Upstairs, now. Tom, block the door.”
We darted up the stairway and looked out the windows, down into the lot. The herd that passed the Haven was directly below us… all three hundred of them.
They’re there right now! We’ll have to wait them out, but the clock is ticking…
Entry 44
I paced for an hour or more while everyone else stared out the windows. The geeks were so slow to move on. If we didn’t figure a way out of this soon, everything at the Haven would have been a waste and Junior would have died for nothing. I think the others were thinking the same thing, but no one wanted to go outside with any of the dead in sight. I know I wasn’t feelin’ the idea, but we were almost out of time.
They had certainly thinned out quite a bit, and the day was going by quickly, so I finally spoke up and told them, “We gotta get movin’. They’re fairly spread out now. All we have to do is make it to the vehicles. We can leave them in the dust.” I looked at Kylee to get my back on this one.
She took a long look out of the window and said, “We’ll have to be damn fast. I think we can handle it, though. Cutty, what are your thoughts?”
Cutty stood beside her with his arms crossed and shook his head, saying, “If it was just us, we could do it, but we got us too many people here fo’ me ta be sayin’ yes to dat one, y’all.”
Rebecca chimed in, “Give me a gun. I’m not worthless, ya know! And stop treating me like a baby, Uncle Curtis.”
Cutty sighed heavily and told Rebecca, “Last thing yo’ momma said to me was dat all she was worried ‘bout was you. I done buried you once in ma mind, Rebecca… ain’t gon’ bury you again.”
Tom piped in, saying, “This is madness! You’re actually considering going out there… with them?”
Tom was already getting on my fucking nerves. He’s like one of those people that won’t offer anything, but will bitch about everything. Back before the outbreak, you could give a guy like him a hundred-dollar bill out of your own pocket, and he’d piss and moan because it wasn’t five twenties. I jumped in his shit and told him, “If you can’t think of anything better, I suggest you go along for the ride.”
He fired back at me, “Yeah, I got something better. Stay here! They’ll pass on eventually.”
Bizzy came to my defense and reminded him, “Dad, if we wait here too long, Trey will get back and we could be right where we started before all this.”
Tom raised his hand to smack her, and she flinched hard. He warned her, “Stay out of this, Bizzy. I’m your father, and I’ll decide what’s right for you—not these people. We wouldn’t be in this mess if they had never shown up”
Kylee corrected Tom. “You’d be giving your daughter to a gang of thieves and rapists if we hadn’t shown up. Bizzy’s coming with us. Now you can come along, or you can stay here. I couldn’t care less… And if you raise your hand to me like that, I’ll cut the motherfucker off.”
Tom looked from Kylee to Cutty and gave up. “Fine,” he said with a huff. “But don’t tell me how to correct my daughter.”
I passed my second pistol to Rebecca and asked her if she knew how to use it. She didn’t look too confident. Cutty took it out of her hand, pulled back the slide, and said, “Point an’ shoot… Aim for the head. If ya need to reload, we already dead.” He handed it back and glanced at Kylee, silently asking her if he had instructed Rebecca correctly. Kylee gave him a wink. It always sounds cooler when black guys rhyme.
We looked to Kylee for the strategy, and she dissected the situation to herself before telling everyone, “When we hit the door, we need to stay single file and go left. Let’s keep Tom and Bizzy in the middle with Rebecca. I’ll lead with Dext… Wyatt and Cutty, bring up the rear. We shoot only if we have to, and try to conserve the ammo. We’ll also need to shoot while we move. Got it?”
“No,” Wyatt said, finally deciding to speak. “That plan
is shit.”
I think everyone was pretty much stunned that he outright crapped on Kylee’s idea, so she was like, “How so?”
Wyatt explained, “Kylee, you can’t keep assuming that we can handle these tactics. If one thing goes wrong, we’re done.”
He was right, and I think everyone else wanted to hear what he had to say… so we listened.
He continued, “It’s like playing a game with a complete noob. This stuff is second nature to you, but you can’t expect someone like Rebecca to make a headshot while on the move when she’s never even fired a gun before. Shit, man, I barely drop one geek for every three shots.”
I totally understood what he was saying. Back in the day, I played some shooting games with guys who were in the actual military, but they’d spend the entire session learning how to walk, much less shoot a bad guy. My dad tried to play Xbox one time, and he looked absolutely retarded. The reverse was true here. I got his back and said, “Wyatt’s right on this one. We have the idea of what we’re supposed to do, but actually putting it into action with no muscle memory and practiced coordination is asking for trouble. How many more times do we have to learn the hard way?”
Kylee was obviously frustrated, but she understood what we were saying. She asked Wyatt, “Ideas then?”
Wyatt answered her, “Simple and effective… When we open the door, you post up with Rebecca and Cutty and cover our asses from a fixed position, while me and Dext run to the cars. We’ll swing around, and you guys can hop in. I’m the only one who can keep up with Dext on the run.”
I shrugged and looked at Kylee. She shrugged as well and said, “Fair enough. Dext, you good with that?”
What was I gonna say? No? This is something I was comfortable with, for once. I nodded my approval and passed my other pistol to Cutty.
When the door popped open, we caught the attention of two deadheads. Wyatt and I broke out quick as hell, so I don’t even know what happened to that situation. I can only assume that Cutty handled it, because I didn’t hear a shot until we rounded the corner to the back.