It was a hell of a run, a few miles. They chased me so far that Dennis got tired and yelled through his panting “Get him, I’ll catch up in a minute!” We were about a minute from the ranch when that happened, and I came upon the meadow and kept running for the house. That’s when I rolled my ankle. I fell down into the grass and screamed in pain. The ‘X’ caught up to me in no time. He stood over me and looked down, holding his gun in his hand.
He aimed straight at me, breathing like he was on the edge of throwing up. “Where are you heading kid?” He hadn’t seen the house hidden amongst the trees, just like I missed it the first time I was there. “Shit you look well fed… Why don’t you tell me where you’re getting all that food?” He kicked me in the side trying to get me to talk. “Come on you little-” And that is when the shot cracked. Gale had put one right in his chest. He fell to the ground beside me and I climbed to my feet the best I could. I grabbed his gun from him and pointed it back at him, but I collapsed from exhaustion and fell on my ass. I kept the gun in his face, but I waited for Gale. She wasn’t happy to see me.”
Chapter 22
“When Gale showed up she had this look on her face, and I could tell that she was more angry than she had ever been with me. She didn’t hesitate for a moment. She put her rifle right in his face, and he had just enough time to yell “Wait!” before she splattered his brains all over the grass.
“Why didn’t you shoot him?” Gale asked me, as she pulled the slide back on her rifle, ejecting the smoking brass casing. I was still breathing too hard to even answer her. I just shook my head and lay down in the field. She didn’t like that response and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. “Fine, I don’t have time for this shit. How many more are there?” she asked me at the same time that the other ‘X’ entered the edge of the meadow. He stood there trying to make out what was going on.
I spoke up. “That’s the only other one I saw.” I told her as I pointed to the man at the edge of the clearing. She let me go and aimed the rifle at him, but he ducked back into the forest to get out of sight.
“Are you sure that is the only one?” she asked lowering her gun, but keeping her eyes on the forest.
“Those were the only ones that chased me, but there could be more back in town.”
She ran after him without so much as a word, and I just lay there trying to catch my breath. It didn’t take long for her to run him down. He was already tired from the chase, so she got to him in about three minutes give or take, and I heard the gunfire echo off the mountains. I was nervous at the time, because I didn’t know who had won the fight, but I had hobbled my way back to the house by the time that Gale had gotten back. When I saw her coming I was relieved.
“You got him?” I asked already knowing the answer.
She sneered at me. “Not now, I have a mess to clean up.” She went and grabbed her bag, opening it up to make sure that she packed it with ammo and medical supplies, to my surprise it was already full.
“How… were you expecting this?” I stumbled over my words confused.
“I heard them shooting as you were running up, and got ready. Now get the fuck out of the house, I don’t want them to find you if you’re not going to protect yourself. Go to the Milford’s old supply shed and wait there.”
“But I can’t walk.” I replied.
“Then crawl.” She said back, and slammed the door behind her.
The supply shed was one from a neighboring summer camp that her friends, the Milford’s used to run. It was outside of the ranch and hidden behind a hill off the backpacking trail. That made it a safe bet that no one would ever find it again, but it was a long way out. It took about an hour to get there, and I heard gunfire coming from Bear Lake several times. It was a pretty nerve wracking walk. The hurt ankle seemed like the least of my problems as I tried to get there. When I arrived, the only thing I could do was sit, and wait. It was terrible, not knowing if she was going to come back or not. I didn’t want to think about it. Instead I just tried to pay attention in case any X’s showed up.
After sitting out front of the shed for three hours, because I didn’t have a key, Gale came out of the woods and walked up to me. She had a bandage on the upper part of her left arm, and some scrapes on her face.
“Are you ok?” I asked her.
“Yeah, they just grazed my arm a little.” she said. I bet the wound was worse than she said, but I never saw it with a bandage off. She stood there looking straight at me, her face somewhere between trying to find the right words, and just screaming at me.
“What di-“ I started to say, but she cut me off.
“You almost died.” she said more calm than I expected her to be.
“Yeah I kno-“ but she cut me off again.
“Why didn’t you shoot him when you had the chance?” she asked me. I looked at her blankly unable to answer. She waited for me, until she realized that I didn’t have anything to say at the moment. “Get up. We’re going back to the house.”
“Did you kill them all?” I asked nervously.
She started to walk back home, but had to slow down because my ankle was hurting. “Five of ‘em. I couldn’t find anymore. But more will show up to look for the missing ones. I doubt they’ll find the ranch though.” she said, matching my pace.
We were silent the rest of the way back, which gave me time to think about what had happened. I could tell Gale was frustrated about my reaction, but I was more concerned with my ankle, which was really throbbing now. It was a long and painful trek back to the house, and when we got there all I wanted to do was take a shower to get that nasty zombie shit off my face, and go to bed. I didn’t get the chance before Gale stopped me to continue the conversation.
“So are you going to answer me now?” she asked while she was cleaning her gun.
“I… I had the chance to kill him in town…” I said back to her.
She stopped for a moment at my words. “Why didn’t you take it?”
“Because I just couldn’t do it.”
“Bullshit!” She slammed down the gun and looked at me. “I have seen you kill plenty of things. I know you could have pulled that trigger.” She looked me straight in the eyes.
I knew she was right, it wasn’t that I couldn’t have done it, it was that I wouldn’t. “I wouldn’t do it because if I had I would have been no better than them.”
“Don’t you ever get tired of spouting all that shit from your mouth?! You can’t see the difference? It ain’t that fucking hard…” she said trying to collect her thoughts. “Look Jake, I ain’t good with words, so I’m just going to say this as simple as I can. There is a difference between killing people to steal their shit, and killing people to defend the ones you love…” She held her point but blushed just a little when she realized that that meant she killed those men because she cared for me. Her eyes watered a little before she started to talk again. “Look, I… Aw fuck it, I love you as if you were my own grandson you little shit. To see you die because you’re not willing to protect yourself… That would be a waste.”
I didn’t know what to do after that so I said the only thing that came to mind. “Ok.” I nodded trying to let the words sink in, but I wasn’t sure that she was right.”
Barry cut in. “I’m not sure that she was either.”
“What do you mean?” Jake asked Barry as he stretched his back a little.
“Well, what is the difference, between killing someone to get their stuff so that you can feed your loved ones, and killing someone who is attacking to protect them? The end result is the same.” Barry’s question made Jake feel a little uneasy.
“The difference… The difference is that one is murder. Yeah, they both have the same goal, but one leads to needless bloodshed, it doesn’t help everyone, only those who kill.” Jake tried to respond as best he could.
“Yeah, but even you said that you weren’t sure if she was right.”
“That was a long time ago Barry, things change.”
&
nbsp; “Well, I still don’t think that trying to save people is bad.” said Barry.
“No, of course it’s not. But how you go about doing it matters just as much as what you are trying to do. ”Jake stood up. “Hang on I have to stretch my legs out a bit.” He started pacing around the room for a moment. Time had passed quickly as Jake told the story, and hours had passed. He looked over at the clock. “Oh hell it’s getting later than I thought.”
Chapter 23
The day had gone by faster than either of the men had expected, and the light was already starting to wane.
Jake invited Barry “If you want something to eat before you go you’re more than welcome to some dinner.”
“No thanks Mr. Grumman, I have other things that I have to do tonight.” Barry began packing up his things. “I would like to hear the rest of the story though. Tomorrow’s good for you right?” He grabbed his bag and started toward the door.
“Yeah, I can do that. You have a good night Barry. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Barry stepped outside and made his was out to his car. Jake closed the door behind him and walked over to the telephone to make a call. It rang for a few seconds before someone picked up.
“Hello?” said the voice of a young man.
“Hey Dustin, it’s your granddad.” Jake said and watched as Barry’s car drove off into the setting sun.
“Hey Grandpa, what’s up?” asked Dustin from the other end of the line.
“Well, it seems that Barry fellow is going to have to come back tomorrow to finish the story, so you won’t need to check up on me.” Jake said, still feeling odd that people came to check up on him now that he was older and lived alone.
“Oh ok. I guess I’ll catch up on work around here then. I have to make a new string for my bow anyway, it’s getting pretty worn.” Jake was proud that his grandson was become willing to go out of his was to not only take care of his items, but to be the kind of person that would make them himself. He realized that that feeling must have been what Gale had felt in the years past when she started to think of him as her own. It changed the way he remembered her words; not what they were, but what emotions were behind them. They were no longer the bitchy instructions of an old woman, but the teachings required to make a person worth being proud of, and it filled him with joy.
“Alright well, if you change your mind and come over anyway, I’ll be sure to leave a note if we went to lunch or something. You know, as always.”
“Sure thing Grandpa.”
“Goodnight Dustin, and tell your mother that good night too.”
“Sure”
“I love you Grandson.” Jake said smiling at what he knew comes next.
“Um… yeah, I love you too.” Dustin was still embarrassed by all the mushy stuff and Jake couldn’t help but enjoy making him squirm a little. It was fun to him, in the same kind of way that it was fun for Gale to make him writhe with his chores. Jake realized that he really had grown a lot like her in his later days, and he didn’t really mind either.
Chapter 24
Barry drove down the road to his house. It was a smaller house on the edge of town. It had a garage, and lots of land out back. It really wasn’t much to look at, but that didn’t matter to Barry. There was no one to greet him as he opened the door. Walking inside he let out a huge sigh. There was never anyone to greet him, and he was getting a bit old to settle down into a life with a family now. There had been a few women in his life, but most of them wanted to bury the past, and when your job is to dig it up, it made things difficult. Barry dismissed the thought. There was never anyone that would really understand how he felt about his work, and he knew that as he got older, it was only going to get harder to find someone who could tolerate him.
“That was a long day…” he said to the empty room and turned on the lights. “I sure hope he’s got a point to this story of his…” He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer and a plate of leftovers. It was a good way to end a day, but it didn’t feel like it. He sat down hard on his couch, and looked at his answering machine. There were messages waiting for him, as usual. Barry found it odd that such machines were becoming a relic when the world fell apart, but that afterward it was much easier to repair the old phone lines and use answering machines, than to get the cell phone networks back operational. It made sense to him because the old system of hardwires could be managed with much less know how, and the phones were a lot easier to produce. But still he was envious of the old timers that talked about a time when everyone had cell phones, and access to a nearly limitless stream of information through the internet. “Lucky bastard.” Barry whispered to himself as he thought of Jake. It was a foreign concept to the ones born after the fall, but he knew that it still must have been nice. Although he knew it was because of the reliance on technology that people didn’t understand, that they were not able to easily get back to living once everything collapsed.
He leaned over trying to move as little as possible, and pressed the button to start the answering machine.
“You have two new messages.” The machine said blandly in its prerecorded voice. “Message one.”
“Hey Barry, this is Carl.” Barry rolled his eyes while the machine continued to play the message from his boss at the historical preservation society. “If you finished up with getting Mr. Grumman’s story I would like you to come in to the office tomorrow, but I know those old folks like to droll on.”
Barry snickered at his comment. “Yeah you can say that again.”
“If he still has more to say, then try and get him to finish tomorrow. I need you to help get through some of these old documents. So give me a call in the morning and let me know what is going on.” Barry dreaded the paperwork. It was nothing but garbage to him since most of the old documents were records of people who were all long dead. A person could dig through them for a lifetime, and there was no way to know which ones had actually survived. It all seemed pointless without some way of actually being able to track any of it, but still, there were small things that others might miss if he looked hard enough. It was one small connection, found just that way that put him in contact with Jake.
By tracing the family line of a woman that he found to be Jake’s deceased wife, he was able to find that Jake wasn’t a survivor of the immediate area. That in itself wasn’t uncommon, people traveled all over to get away from the advancing zombies at first. But the fact that he was added to the registry three years after the fall, was something else. The town that would later become Aegis had all but closed up, and started to kill anyone who came nearby at that point. The fear of the ‘X’s had gripped them so much that they had almost become the same thing just to protect themselves. So the questions were simple.
“What made them let Jake in? Why didn’t Aegis end up like the X’s?” Barry asked to himself as the message ended. He took a drink of his beer, looking into the glass, trying to figure out why only for a moment before realizing that he was off work, and didn’t want to think of those things while he didn’t have to.
The machine continued. “Message two.”
“Mr. Bradford this is Amelia, Dale Madison’s assistant with Madison Meats, Mr. Madison would like you to call him back this evening.”
Barry cringed at the thought of having to deal with the trucks. It was not a pleasant experience, but it was something that had to be done. He finished his drink and took a shower before finally going to the phone and giving his friend a call. It rang a lot longer than it should have for Dale expecting his call, and Barry was perturbed by this fact.
“Hello, this is Dale.” He finally answered.
“It’s Barry. What do you want?” He asked knowing full well where the conversation was going.
“We’re running out of time Barry. If we don’t move those trucks soon the meat is going to go bad.” Dale said with some frustration in his voice.
“I know, I know.” Barry rubbed his face for a moment before continuing. “Look, I have a lead with my other job, and I really t
hink that I should follow this one up first.”
“Yeah, but we need to get this done.”
“Hmm…” Barry hummed through the phone. “Can it wait till tomorrow evening?”
The phone was silent for a few seconds as Dale pondered his response. “Tomorrow…? Yeah tomorrow will work. Should I tell the other drivers?”
Barry nodded with defeat as he answered. “Yeah, I’ll be there. Just let me finish up with my interview first.”
“Ok, good night Barry.” Dale said.
“Night.” replied Barry as he hung up the phone.
Chapter 25
Barry had arrived early in the morning. It was just after dawn when he knocked on the door. Jake opened it up to see who it was. “You’re here early.” said Jake.
“Well, I have other things that I have to do today, so if this is going to take a while it would be better if I could get done sooner.” Barry said obviously underwhelmed.
“You don’t sound too excited.” Jake stated trying to see if anything was wrong.
“Well…” Barry closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. “I’m just not thrilled with the other stuff that I have to do. I just don’t want to deal with that stuff yet… you know how that is?” He came inside and sat down where he had been the day before and rubbed his eyes a little. Jake followed suit and sat down in his chair.
“Yeah” Jake answered. “We all have stuff we’d like to put off.”
“Well, shall we get started?”
Jake nodded, “Ok, if you’re ready to go then I am. It had been quite a while since Gale killed those men before anything else really notable happened. We didn’t see any more ‘X’s, but there were signs that they had been in the town. So things were going pretty…” Jake stopped and looked at Barry. “Aren’t you going to turn on your tape recorder?”
Barry sat there for a moment as his brain struggled to make sense of Jake’s words. “Oh yeah!” He took the recorder out and placed it on the coffee table, and pushed the button to start it. “Thanks for reminding me… It’s kind of early.”
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