“Will do, thank you sir,” Ryan said in a way that was somehow both formal and casual. He turned to Ehsan and Fatima. “Thanks again for joining the group, y’all. I’ll see you around.”
“Our pleasure,” Ehsan replied. “Catch you later.”
Ryan walked out the door and closed it behind him. Ehsan and Fatima turned to Marcus, who had now turned toward them. Marcus, as Ehsan expected, was trying to look disinterested. The tension in his shoulders and throat, however, betrayed his social awkwardness.
“So, how long did it take to get it in order like this?” Ehsan asked. “Mateo told me before you came a few weeks ago they didn’t have anyone here that knew medicine.”
“About a week,” he answered curtly.
Ehsan looked again at the medicine. “It looks like they’re overflowing a bit, though.”
“Yeah.” They waited for him to elaborate a bit more, but Marcus said nothing else.
“Seems like a good problem to have,” Fatima commented after a moment of silence.
“Yeah. Maybe I’ll expand to two medicine rooms.” He looked toward the ground, looking as if he were trying to figure out an equation in his head. He sounded like he was talking to himself more than Ehsan or Fatima. “Maybe have one room with medicine for serious illnesses, and one room for less serious ones.”
“That seems like a good solution,” Ehsan said. “So, do you help Deon and Sarah scout normally?”
“Yeah.” He started going through the nearest desk of medicine to him. “Backup.”
“Are you usually the one who gets the medicine when you go out?” asked Ehsan.
“Yeah.”
“Nice. I heard you can actually treat zombie bites if they’re not too bad. That’s amazing,” Ehsan commented.
“Thanks.”
“So, have you had to use your knowledge of medicine for anyone here yet?” Ehsan asked.
“Not really. Just for a couple colds and some trouble sleeping,” Marcus replied.
“That’s all?” Fatima asked. “I figured there’d be more issues around here.”
“Nope,” Marcus said. “Only what I give Josue.”
“What do you give Josue?” Ehsan asked.
Marcus hesitated. His eyes darted about. “Uh, just sleep medication.”
Ehsan could tell it was more than that- not least of which because he mentioned sleep medication a moment ago as something less serious- but he didn’t want to press the issue. “Well, I hope it’s been working.”
“So far so good,” Marcus said with a clearly forced smile. Ehsan could sense Marcus reaching the end of his social energy. “Did you guys need anything?”
“Nope, just wanted to see this place for ourselves,” Ehsan answered. “Thanks for showing us.”
“No problem,” Marcus said. “Catch you later, then.”
“Sounds good,” Ehsan replied. “Later, Marcus.”
“Bye, Marcus. Thanks again,” Fatima added.
The two of them walked back to their room to relax and debrief on everything that’d happened. Still wearing the clothes they wore during the soccer game, they decided they wouldn’t lie where they’d slept. They sat down on the floor next to each other, under the whiteboard. With the thought of clothes in their heads, Fatima realized they had seen everyone wearing different clothes than the day before.
“They probably wash their clothes here,” Fatima realized. “We can finally wear clean clothes again!”
“That’ll be nice.” Ehsan looked down at what he was wearing. “I hadn’t even thought about it. After a certain point, you kinda stop noticing.”
“Maybe you stopped noticing,” Fatima said with a teasing push. “Though you already did that all the time before the outbreak, anyway.”
Ehsan laughed and pushed her back. “Hey, I’m not trying to impress anyone. You trying to impress Mateo or something?”
Fatima rolled her eyes and pushed him again. “Shut up, Ehsan.”
“I’m just teasing,” he replied with a nudge. He went from grinning to smiling. “So, are you glad we joined this place?”
“Yes, definitely.” Her demeanor changed. “Honestly, I’m still pretty worried about whoever wrote that map. But even if this place is in danger, I think we should stay.”
“Agreed.” Ehsan sighed. “But, yeah, I hope whoever drew that map isn’t out to get us. I know we’ve said we don’t know who the person is, but what do you think? Have any guesses?”
“Well, at first I thought it was a map for them to attack us. But Deon had a good point, there was no need to write it out for us to find if they were trying to ambush us.” She paused. “Unless they were trying to scare us? But I cannot see the point if their goal is to rob or attack us. All they managed to do is put us on alert. There is no way I can see that helping them, but at the same time, what other reason could there be?”
Ehsan nodded. “Maybe someone did it as a prank?”
Fatima shrugged. “I have no idea who would have done it, but at this point your guess is as good as any other.”
“Wow, you’re not saying I’m wrong? You must be stumped.”
The two of them laughed. Fatima’s look suddenly, somehow, both hardened and softened. “How are you feeling though, Ehsan? I bet this has been hard on you.”
Ehsan grinned reflexively, a grin that was more a shield than an expression of amusement. “I feel like playing some Xbox, mostly,” he joked without his usual comedic timing.
Fatima looked like she wanted to say something, but someone knocked on the door. They heard Mateo’s voice on the other side. “Hey, we’re gonna take the clinic kids back in a bit. Wanna come outside and hangout before we head out?”
“Sounds good,” Ehsan replied. “We’ll be right out.”
“By the way,” Fatima asked Mateo right after Ehsan finished talking, “is there laundry here?”
“Yep,” Mateo answered through the door. “I’ll show you a little later.”
The two of them stood up and stretched, then went outside. Everyone except for Josue, Ryan, Sarah, and Marcus were at the lunch tables or on the blacktop. Julie kicked the ball against one of the handball walls with Andrew, Sebastian, and Gustavo on the blacktop. Natalia, Juan, and Andrea were playing handball on the wall next to them. At the tables Ana, Estefanía, and Lucero hung out with Mateo. Cecilia and Manuel sat together, watching the kids play and talking in Spanish.
Ehsan and Fatima walked up to Mateo, Ana, Estefanía, and Lucero.
“How’s it going over here?” Ehsan asked.
“It’s fantastic,” Lucero replied with her normal diva voice. “They were just asking me about my plans to be a rockstar. I told them if they were good, I’d let them have VIP passes to my shows.”
Ehsan, Fatima, and Mateo laughed. “That’s very nice of you,” Mateo said.
“I know,” she replied with a pose.
“I love your shirt, Lucero,” Fatima commented. Ehsan looked and saw it was white shirt with a pink guitar made of glitter.
“Why thank you,” Lucero said with a flick of her wrist.
Suddenly the group heard crying from the direction of the blacktop. They looked over. Ehsan spotted Juan on the ground, clutching his bleeding knee and crying.
“Don’t worry, you’re okay,” Ehsan heard Julie say soothingly as she approached Juan.
“I’ll go get a band aid for Juan,” Ana offered to Mateo as she stood up.
Ehsan looked over and saw Sebastian running toward Room 11. “I think Sebastian is already getting one.”
Ana looked over. “Oh, you’re right!” she declared. She attempted a handstand, succeeding for almost two seconds before her feet returned to the ground, then sat back down. Everyone else did the same after they realized Juan was okay.
“So, you wanna be a rockstar when you grow up?” Ehsan asked Lucero.
“That’s right. I wanna make so much money I can buy houses for all my friends.”
“I think that’s wonderful,” Fatima commented. Ehs
an nodded.
“Why thank you. You two can also get VIP passes.”
Ehsan chucked. “Thanks, you’re too kind.”
Fatima turned to Ana and Estefanía. “Have you two ever thought about what you want to do when you’re older?”
Estefanía replied with an exaggerated shrug. Ana, however, replied, “I wanna help animals! Or be a firefighter, like Mister Mateo!”
Mateo smiled widely. “I think you’d make an awesome firefighter, Ana.”
“You can help put out fires at my shows if my fans get too crazy,” Lucero suggested.
“Okay!” Ana agreed with an enthusiastic nod.
Ehsan heard rapid scuffling behind him and turned around to see Andrea running toward them. Like usual she had a huge, mischievous grin on her face. She ran straight for Fatima and jumped onto her leg.
“Hi!” Andrea exclaimed. “What your name again?”
“Fatima,” she replied with a smile. Ehsan knew Fatima normally didn’t like kids climbing on her, but this one was especially cute in her mischievousness. Fatima laughed as Andrea inched further toward her knee.
“And you?” Andrea asked, focusing her attention on Ehsan.
“Ehsan,” he answered with a small wave.
“Eh-saaaaan?” she asked. She giggled. “I never hear dat name before!”
“It’s from I-ran,” Ehsan replied. Fatima glared at him for pronouncing it ‘I-ran’ instead of ‘ee-ron’ but didn’t say anything. Ehsan had gotten into the habit of pronouncing it the Americanized way to avoid suspicious glances. “Have you ever heard of Iran before?”
“Yeah. I run a lot!” Ehsan, Mateo, and Lucero laughed. Andrea had no idea why they were laughing, but laughed along as if she had made them laugh on purpose.
“Iran is a country, Andrea,” Lucero informed her. She walked over and pried Andrea off of Fatima’s legs, then hugged her. “Why are you climbing on Miss Fatima, you silly thing?”
Andrea giggled and hugged Lucero back. She then ran back to the blacktop.
“Are you her sister, Lucero?” Fatima asked.
“No, I just help take care of her sometimes.”
“That’s nice of you,” Ehsan commented.
“I know,” Lucero replied with mock arrogance.
Just then, Cecilia walked over to their table. “Hello, everyone. Mateo, the kids will need to get back to the clinic soon. Do you mind helping take them back?”
“Will do,” he replied. “I’ll go get Sarah.”
“Thank you, Mateo. While you help them, I plan to patrol the parts of the school not viewable from the lookout area where Ryan and Josue are. I wish to avoid any surprises.”
While Mateo went to get Sarah, Ehsan and Fatima looked toward the field by the lunch tables to call over Deon. They noticed that Juan, now with a Superman bandaid on his knee, had wandered over. He watched Deon and Manuel work on the fruit bushes, transfixed.
“Do you also help with the flowers, Mister Deon?” Ehsan heard Juan ask Deon as he walked over to get them.
“Yeah,” Deon answered.
“Could you teach me how to help them grow?”
Deon paused. “If you wanna, yeah. You like flowers, Juan?”
Juan nodded his head. “Yeah! They look so cool.”
Deon smiled. “You got it, Juan. You can help me next time.”
“Alright guys, time to head over,” Ehsan informed Juan and Deon after their exchange. Juan immediately joined Ehsan, Fatima, and Lucero while Deon put away the tools he’d been using.
Mateo and Sarah made their way to the lunch tables with Andrea. “Are you coming with us, Mister Mateo?” Juan asked as he walked toward the group.
“Yep,” he replied. “I know one of the walkways is out, so I’m gonna come to make sure nothing bad happens.”
“You think monsters broke it?” Andrea asked excitedly.
“Probably just some rando,” Lucero answered before Mateo could. “He’d just better hope he doesn’t get in our way, right Mister Mateo?”
Mateo laughed. “That’s right. If we stick together, I’m not worried about us. I’m worried for them.”
The nine of them went to the gate and left the school. Deon and Sarah led the group while Ehsan, Fatima, and Mateo covered the rear. Everyone remained on high alert, weapons at the ready, but they encountered nothing out of the ordinary on the way back. All of the other walkways remained intact. They checked every room they could along the way, but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. With the walkway still gone on the house near the clinic, though, they had to walk along the street. No zombies showed up. They walked briskly over to the last row of houses, got to the last one, and went outside to find the walls guarding the clinic perfectly intact.
As they walked closer, the nerdy boxer who had greeted them before, Hector, stood watch. “Hey everyone!” he said as they got closer. “How was the trip here?”
“Not bad,” Mateo replied. “Though we do have to tell you something.”
Hector’s expression became less cheerful, though he still kept a smile on his face. “Okay.” He turned to Lucero, Juan, and Andrea. “You kids mind going inside?”
“Nope, let’s go!” Juan replied, who seemed anxious to go play. Juan and Lucero went inside, but Lucero stayed.
“Is it okay if I stay?” Lucero asked, her usual diva persona gone. “I wanna know what’s going on.”
Everyone exchanged glances for a moment, unsure of how to answer. Hector spoke first. “What do you guys think? She’s only a fourth grader, but she’s pretty mature.” Lucero’s normal charisma returned momentarily as she smiled and posed.
“Sure, why not?” Mateo answered. He looked at Lucero. “She’ll probably be the leader around here in a few years, anyway.” Lucero grinned.
“So what happened?” Hector asked, his face becoming more serious.
“Someone took out one of the walkways nearby,” Sarah explained. “We saw it on our way back. There were also zombies inside the house, and Ehsan thought he saw a person in the second story window.”
“Oh, damn, okay,” Hector said. The smile completely disappeared from his face. “What happened after that?”
“We kept going. We got back to the school without any problems,” Deon replied. "After we dropped off the kids, we went back to see what was up. We went inside and didn’t see no one. But, there was a badly drawn map of the route from the school to the clinic inside on the wall. Shit was labeled and everything.”
“Hmm.” Hector massaged his temple. “Was it, like, a map of the whole area, with all the houses around here? Did it just happen to include the school and clinic?”
Deon shook his head. “Nah. It was specifically the school, the houses with the walkways, and the clinic. Wasn’t nothing else on it. They know about us, whoever they are.”
“Damn.” He pursed his lips. “Nothing else at all? We have no idea who it was?”
“Nah. Wasn’t anyone there when we went back, neither. We ain’t got a clue who did it.”
“We’ve thought about it and talked it over, though,” Mateo added. “Deon pointed out it makes no sense for them to draw that on the wall if they’re planning to attack us. All they’ve succeeded in doing is putting us on alert. So we can’t even say they did it with bad intentions, though of course we still gotta be careful.”
“True,” Hector replied. “I guess we’ll just let people on lookout duty know and be extra careful. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Maybe,” suggested Lucero, “they’re trying to help people?”
“What makes you think that?” Fatima asked her.
“Maybe the person saw where we live and put that there for other people to find. That way people don’t have to be alone.” She struck a pose. “I mean, who wouldn’t wanna live with us?”
“Could be,” Ehsan replied with a smile. He didn’t think that’d be the case, but like everyone else, he had no better ideas.
Hector nodded. “Well, whoever did it, thanks
again for letting me know.”
Everyone said goodbye and those from the school departed. They walked back to the house across from the clinic, then across the walkways of the first row of houses. With the kids gone they took their time, searching rooms they normally didn’t walk through. They found nothing. When it came time to cross the street, they looked outside through the second story window. Nothing but some abandoned cars. They went downstairs and checked all the rooms before going outside. As they stepped onto the porch and then out the street, however, Ehsan heard zombies somewhere nearby. Since there was no point to going to the house across the street without the walkway being there, they had no choice but to walk along the street until they could get to the next row of houses. When they rounded the corner Ehsan saw them: a herd of dozens of zombies.
“Shit,” Mateo muttered under his breath. They snuck quietly back to the previous street. They decided to go back inside the house they had just come from to make sure they were safe.
“Y’know, I find it pretty hard to believe they all gathered here on their own in such a short amount of time,” Sarah pointed out after they got inside. Fatima nodded in agreement. “We’ve been gone for, what, like five minutes?”
“I dunno.” Mateo bit his lip. “It’s odd, but who could even do something like this? Getting that many together and trying to lead ‘em somewhere? It’d just backfire, and anyone who’s made it this far would know that.” He looked in the direction of the zombies. “I think we’re just on edge about the map. We’ve seen herds before. We probably just got lucky and missed ‘em a few minutes ago.”
“Well, either way, we can worry about that shit later,” Deon said. “We gotta focus on getting past ‘em right now.”
“Alright, so what should we do?” Fatima asked.
“Same as usual,” Deon answered. “One of us distracts ‘em, the others get past. This’ll be trickier than usual, though. I’ll handle this.”
“You sure?” Mateo asked. “There’s a lot. Might be easier to try to take some out first.”
Deon shook his head. “Nah. I’ll lead ‘em away, y’all go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”
“You sure you don’t want me to come with you, Deon?” Sarah offered.
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