The Human Spring

by Hollingsworth, David

  Mateo smiled and nodded. “I like it. We’ll call it Nimbus from now on.”

  “Sweet.” He handed over his shovel. “Be gentle with Dragon Hair. She isn’t as young as she used to be.”

  Ehsan watched Mateo go to work. He dragged the bodies to one of the front yards that didn’t already have makeshift gravestones. He worked quickly and efficiently. Having the shovel clearly helped. As Ehsan watched Mateo he thought of Fatima, crossing his arms and rubbing his chin the way she would. What was she doing right now?

  Soon Mateo finished and came back to the lookout building. Ehsan walked over to receive the shovel so that Mateo could climb up. After climbing back up he drank from one of the water bottles and sat down. The two sat in silence, watching the street. Ehsan couldn’t believe how tired he felt.

  Over an hour passed, Ehsan and Mateo alternating between silences and reminiscing about old episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Suddenly a voice called over from behind them. Fatima. She told Ehsan she had finished hanging out with Sarah and came to make sure he was okay. Ehsan could tell by the look on her face that she felt just as anxious about their separation as he did. He wanted to pretend that he was okay and didn’t also miss her, but he knew she could read him as well as he could read her.

  Mateo observed their interaction and gave Ehsan a pat on the back. “Fatima, your brother knows how to handle himself, but I think he’s kinda tired. You mind joining us? I need someone who’s at a hundred percent with me, just in case.”

  Ehsan and Fatima exchanged glances and smiled. “Yes, probably a good idea,” answered Fatima as she climbed the barricade. “We need to make sure nothing bad happens.”

  When she got to the top, the three of them walked over to the chairs. They rearranged them from a line to a triangle.

  “I also need a third person to make card games more fun,” Mateo declared with a grin. “What do you two wanna play?”

  Ehsan and Fatima looked at each other.

  “How about go fish?” Fatima suggested.

  Mateo chuckled. “Careful what you wish for.”

  The afternoon and early evening passed by without incident. The three of them spent the rest of their time playing cards until sunset came, after which they traded jokes and stories about their lives before everything had gone downhill. They learned Mateo had only been a firefighter for about two years before he came responding to an emergency call placed at the school, and ended up staying as things got worse. When the sun disappeared completely, Ryan and Josue relieved them of duty. Ryan and Josue would, like most nights, stay in the classroom underneath the roof on which they kept guard during the day.

  As Mateo walked them to their room, he suggested they help Sarah and Deon get the kids from the clinic in the morning so they could learn where the clinic was, just in case. They agreed, thinking it’d be better than just sitting around.

  “Well, I suppose we have a new place to call home,” Fatima commented after Mateo left.

  “Yeah.” Ehsan slipped underneath the blankets of the bedding on the floor. As he pulled up the covers to his face he realized how sore his forearms felt. “Unlike with my dreams to become a professional game tester, I think we have a real future here.”

  “Me too. Just try not to mess it up, Ehsan,” she joked.

  Ehsan scoffed dramatically. “Well, I never.”

  Fatima laughed. It was the most relaxed laugh Ehsan had heard from his sister since Costco. She settled into bed. “I wonder if they have thought about expanding before.”

  “Huh, good question. We’ll have to ask at some point.” He yawned. “Anyways, I’m starting to nod off. G’night, Sis.”

  “Good night, Ehsan.”

  DAY 2

  TUESDAY, APRIL 4th

  The next morning a knock at the door jolted Ehsan awake. He reached for Dragon Hair. Not there. He remembered he’d left it by the doorway. He looked to his sister, who bolted upright with eyes as wide as dinner plates.

  “Good morning, Mateo,” Fatima said to the door, trying to regain her composure. “Come in.”

  “Morning,” Mateo replied with a hint of apology in his voice. “Sorry it’s so early, Cecilia told me now would be a good time for a wakeup call. You two still wanna go with Deon and Sarah to get the clinic kids?”

  Ehsan and Fatima exchanged glances. “Yes,” Fatima answered. “When are they going?”

  “In about an hour or so. You can still rest for a little while, then we’ll have breakfast before you all head out.”

  “An hour?” Ehsan asked, confused. “Like, sixty minutes? How do you keep track?”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you two yesterday. We have a couple sundials at this school, so we’re able to keep a rough track of time.” He yawned. “Anyways, I’m gonna go lay down for a bit. See you soon.”

  “Sounds good.” Mateo closed the door and Ehsan turned to Fatima. “So, how’d you sleep?”

  “I slept well.” She laid back down and brought the covers up to her chest. “I’m still tired, though. I think everything from the last few weeks is catching up with me.”

  Ehsan nodded and yawned. “Well, at least we can rest without having to worry anymore.” He followed his sister’s lead, pulling his blanket up to his chin. Minutes later, Ehsan could hear his sister snoring. He grinned. Another thing he hadn’t heard since their Costco fell. Something about it made him feel comfortable. He yawned once more and thought about what he’d do after helping get the kids from the clinic.

  A knock stirred Ehsan from his rest. “Breakfast!” he heard Deon’s voice say from the other side. He looked over to see Fatima slowly removing the covers from her body.

  “Coming,” she replied groggily.

  Fatima got up and stretched. After she brushed her hair and put on mascara she’d scavenged from the house they stayed at two nights before, Ehsan got up and the two of them walked to the tables. Everyone except for Josue, Ryan, and Sarah had already gathered there.

  “Josue and Ryan are about to restart guard duty, so we brought ‘em their food,” Mateo explained.

  “What about Sarah?” Fatima asked.

  Mateo chuckled. “She likes to sleep in.”

  Fatima grinned. “Something she and Ehsan have in common.”

  “Hey, the results of my beauty sleep speak for themselves,” Ehsan joked.

  The group had eggs with spinach for breakfast, and strawberries for dessert. The eggs were seasoned to have a hearty, savory taste that Ehsan quite enjoyed. After Sarah came out to join them and Ehsan finished his second helping of breakfast, Ehsan and Fatima left for the front gate with Sarah and Deon. Ehsan and Fatima each had their normal weapons, while Sarah and Deon had machetes holstered on their backs.

  “Good luck, y’all,” Ryan told them as they walked out. He coughed.

  “If you run into any zombies, just give them that Fallujah fire!” Josue said.

  Fatima almost said something back, but Ehsan responded first. “I’ll do that, then give them a burrito beating!” Josue laughed.

  Fatima and Deon both glared at Ehsan, while Sarah kept looking forward. Ehsan didn’t like making comments like that, but he figured it beat another argument. Just thinking about all the future fights Fatima would inevitably have with Josue emotionally drained him.

  “Fallujah isn’t even in Iran,” Fatima muttered.

  “Don’t make no difference to him,” Deon replied. “In fact, it probably makes him wanna talk like that more, just to be obnoxious. He been to Iraq when he was a marine, he knows the difference.”

  “Well, at least we won’t have to worry about him on this little adventure,” Ehsan interjected. “So how does this work, anyway? Mateo said you guys have walkways going through the houses?”

  “That’s right,” Sarah replied. “We’ve gradually built walkways connecting the houses to each other to make a path. They’re connected on the second story, by little bridges we’ve built through the windows. We haven’t done it for every house, just the ones we need to for this r
oute. All we have to do is get to this house over here-,” Sarah pointed to the nearest house, “-and then walk upstairs, where we have a walkway connecting it to the next house. We’ve cleared all the houses in each row and their doors downstairs are locked, so once we get to the house, we’re good. The only houses that don’t have locked doors are the ones we enter and exit through to cross the street to get to the next row.”

  “Huh, not bad.” Ehsan looked toward the houses. “So the only times we have to worry are when we have to leave the house to cross the street?”

  “That’s right,” Deon affirmed. “We only gotta do that three times. If there are any zombies on the way, we usually just throw something to distract ‘em and sneak by.”

  The four of them arrived a two story, Spanish colonial-style house which would’ve looked exactly like the type Ehsan would picture in the suburbs were it not for its disastrously dilapidated condition. They opened the door. They entered cautiously, Deon leading the way. Deon and Sarah knocked lightly but firmly on the walls after everyone entered.

  “If any zombies somehow snuck inside, we wanna let them know we’re here so we can hear them shuffle toward us,” Sarah explained, whispering. “We knock loudly enough to attract any that are inside, but gently enough to make sure nothing outside hears us.”

  The house was empty. The four of them went upstairs and into the bedroom that contained the walkway without issue. Ehsan looked at the makeshift bridge that connected the two houses through the windows that faced each other. It was made with a combination of wooden beams and hard plastic, and took up the entire space of the window. Makeshift railings that stood about two feet tall, also made with wood and plastic, had been attached as well.

  “It’s a bit intimidating, I know,” Sarah said as they walked up to the window. “But it’s totally safe.”

  Ehsan looked over to Fatima, who had a life-long fear of heights. He saw her skin turn a shade paler, but he knew she wouldn’t say anything. Part of him wanted to tease her, but he thought better of it.

  Deon crossed first. Sarah then told them she’d wait for everyone else to cross before she did to make sure all was safe behind them. Ehsan decided to go after Deon. Ehsan took longer than Deon, but still moved at a solid pace. Fatima took even longer than him, needing to stop once to catch her breath. She clung to the makeshift guard rail the entire time. Sarah followed behind her.

  Sarah hopped off the walkway. “Not so bad, right?”

  “A bit scary, but not too bad,” Ehsan agreed.

  Fatima nodded, though Ehsan could tell her nerves were still recovering.

  They continued their trek across the row of houses until the time came to cross the street to the next row. Fatima seemed thankful for the brief respite from having to cross another walkway. The group looked at the street in front of the house from the second story window. They saw nothing but an orange SUV with shattered windows. They crossed without a problem, no zombies in sight. When they got to the first house in the next row they tapped on the walls once more. Nothing. They made quick progress with that row and crossed once more without trouble. The third time they had to cross, however, they saw from the second floor window that there were a group of about a dozen zombies outside, near an empty silver sedan with its doors open. They decided Sarah would distract them and the rest would make a break for it. Once the three of them were inside, Sarah would run to rejoin the group. Afterward they would go to the second floor and throw something to redirect the group’s attention.

  “You guys sure we shouldn’t just take care of them?” Ehsan asked.

  “No, we’re better off just running through,” Sarah answered.

  “Yeah, we don’t wanna fight if we got other options,” Deon added.

  The four of them walked quietly onto the porch and closed the door behind them. The zombies stood uncomfortably close to the front yard of the house across the street. Deon, Ehsan, and Fatima started walking in the general direction of the house without getting close enough to grab the attention of the zombies, while Sarah walked straight toward them. As soon as she caught their attention she began powerwalking away. They followed. Ehsan noticed one particular zombie with a navy blue trenchcoat, missing right arm, stern face, and surprisingly upright posture. He wondered what sort of person it’d been while alive. Another one right next to it looked like a cross between a Viking and a professional wrestler. It had long blond hair, tattered earth colored clothes, broad shoulders, and a missing lower jaw. It towered over the other zombies.

  As soon as they crossed the street, Deon waved his arms and Sarah noticed. She stopped leading them away and sprinted toward the house. She made it inside quickly and they closed the door, the zombies walking in their direction but still a few minutes away. After hastily knocking on the wall to confirm they were alone, the group dashed upstairs to cross the walkway. Inside the bedroom Deon found an old desk lamp. As he crossed the walkway, he threw it into the street to redirect the zombie’s attention.

  “That should keep ‘em occupied,” Deon remarked. They went to one of the windows of the house and looked at the street, and they saw the zombies looking at the items they had thrown. Ehsan watched as most of them walked in the direction of the lamp. The trenchcoat zombie and Viking zombie still looked at the house that the group had initially ran into, but they stopped with the rest of their herd and didn’t seem interested in walking any further.

  “Who wears a trenchcoat in SoCal?” Sarah quipped. Fatima and Ehsan chuckled, while Deon smiled.

  “Total fashion don’t,” Ehsan added.

  Sarah laughed while Fatima smiled. The four of them finished their trek across the final row of houses, then went downstairs and outside through the back door. Behind the house and across the street from them awaited the clinic. The back fence of the backyard had been torn down so that there was a path straight there. To either side of the path were rows of cars, concrete, and furniture forming walls that stood about eight feet tall. Right in front of a sign that read RANCHO MADERO COMMUNITY CLINIC stood four men, whose age range looked to be from early twenties to mid-thirties. Sarah waved, and Ehsan and Fatima followed her lead.

  “Good morning!” one of them said enthusiastically. The sight of this man amused Ehsan. He had a large build, both in terms of height and bulk, with impressive muscle definition and a well-maintained afro. Yet, at the same time, he also had large black-framed glasses and gave off an unmistakably nerdy air. He, as well as the other three with him, had metal gauntlets on their arms, just as Ehsan had heard about. The gauntlets seemed to have a base made out of rubber, with bronze-colored metal plating on top. The metal around their knuckles was shaped into triangles with sharp points at the end.

  “You like them?” the man asked, noticing Ehsan glancing at his gauntlets. “Made them myself. Or at least I helped. I used to go to cons a lot, so I had this idea-”

  “Yeah, we told ‘em,” Deon interjected.

  “Oh, okay,” the man replied, visibly disappointed.

  “They’re really cool,” Ehsan beamed.

  The man’s face lit up. “Thanks! I’m Hector, by the way.”

  “Ehsan.”

  “Fatima.”

  He shook their hands and the other three men introduced themselves. “I’ll get the kids,” one of them said.

  “So when did you two join Linda Vista?” Hector asked.

  “Just yesterday, actually,” Fatima answered.

  “Cool!” replied Hector. “Well, you’ll be good there. If you ever need something, just let us know.”

  “Thanks man,” Ehsan replied. He felt a certain kind of relief upon finding someone else who loved nerdy things. He hoped they shared some interests. “So, what kind of cons did you go to?”

  Hector’s face lit up once more. “My main ones were Wonder Con and Anime Expo. Big, but not so big that you can’t get through the hall like with Comic Con. There was a Black Nerd Con that I went to that I wanted to help start organizing, but-” his mirth suddenly def
lated, “-then everything happened.”

  “Yeah,” Ehsan replied, nodding empathetically.

  “Well, at least-” before Hector could finish, the man who’d gone to get the children came back. There were three of them. Two of them, one boy and one girl, appeared to be around third or fourth grade age, while the third was a girl who looked much younger than the other two, perhaps a kindergartener.

  “Miss Say-wuh!” the youngest ones exclaimed. She ran up to Sarah and started climbing up her leg. She had a wide, enthusiastic, mischievous grin that consumed half of her face. She got about halfway up Sarah’s leg before looking over to Ehsan and Fatima. Her look became a mixture of curiosity and intense concentration. “Who dat?”

  “I’m Ehsan.” Ehsan smiled and waved.

  “My name is Fatima,” Fatima added with the same gestures as Ehsan.

  The girl let go of Sarah’s leg and ran over to Fatima, the look of curiosity and intense concentration still on her face. She looked at Fatima unblinkingly, studying her from top to bottom. All of a sudden the wide grin returned to her face and she grabbed Fatima’s hands. “Come, come!” she said with a surprisingly strong voice, pulling Fatima in the direction of Linda Vista. “Let’s race!”

  Sarah chuckled. “Hold on, Andrea. We have to finish introductions first. We won’t be able to talk much on the walk there.”

  “Okay!” Andrea replied, by now having moved from playing with Fatima’s hands to climbing on her legs.

  “I’m Lucero,” the older girl replied with an impressive amount of personality. “The pleasure is yours,” she added with an exaggerated celebrity pose.

  “I’m Juan!” the boy added enthusiastically. “Are you two married?”

  Ehsan, Fatima, and Sarah laughed. “No, Ehsan is my brother.”

  “So let me make sure I have your names right,” Fatima said. She looked down first to the youngest of the group. “You’re Andrea.” Andrea nodded enthusiastically still mid-climb on Fatima’s leg. Fatima turned to the older girl. “You’re Lucero.”