“What is it? Are we having another party?” Andrew asked excitedly, hopping up and down on the tree stump as he spoke.
Ehsan grimaced and shook his head. “It’s about the other places in our community.”
“Like the clinic of Juan?” Gustavo asked in his thick accent.
Julie nodded. She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry to tell all of you, but the pier and the clinic are gone.”
Ana and Estefanía’s eyes widened in terror. Sebastian pursed his lips and looked at the ground. Andrew, Gustavo, and Natalia didn’t seem to understand, the latter two because of language limitations.
“Gone?” Gustavo repeated.
“Gone, like… they aren’t there anymore,” Ehsan clarified.
“By the same people who killed Mister Ryan?” Sebastian asked point blank, his eyebrows furrowed. Ehsan nodded.
“They eat-ed everyone?!” Estefanía cried. Her voice quivered, as did the rest of her body. “Are they gonna eat us?” Ana and Andrew looked similarly petrified, while Sebastian and Natalia looked worried. Gustavo didn’t look affected at all.
“Not everyone, the kids are okay,” Ehsan clarified. “Plus some of the grownups, too. And no, they’re not gonna eat us,” he added, feeling a pang of guilt for making a promise he had no way of knowing if he could keep.
Gustavo grinned. “I no scared. We will win the bad guys, right Mister Ehsan?”
“That’s right, we’re gonna beat them,” Ehsan agreed with an enthusiastic pump of his fist, despite the uncertainty that lurked underneath. “And the bad guys only attacked the clinic when some of the boxers were gone. They were too scared to fight all of them.”
“S-so we’re not gonna get eat-ed?” Andrew stammered.
Julie smiled reassuringly and shook her head. “The clinic’s strongest grownup was gone when they attacked. Now him and a couple other of the clinic’s grownups are with us. Plus we have our grownups, like Mister Mateo and Miss Torres, who are also super strong.”
“And Miss Fatima!” Ana exclaimed.
“And of course me, the strongest grownup of all,” Ehsan said with mock arrogance, standing up straight and putting his hands on his hips like a superhero. The kids giggled and cheered.
“So Lucero lives with us now?” Ana asked. Julie smiled and nodded. “That’s neat. Where is she?”
Ehsan and Julie exchanged glances. They hadn’t expected this question. “She’s talking to Miss Fatima, along with Juan and Andrea,” Julie answered. Ehsan suddenly thought of Fatima, comforting Lucero, and wished she could help them talk to the Linda Vista kids. “She feels very sad, and scared, so Miss Fatima is helping her feel better.”
“That’s nice,” Ana replied with a nod, not entirely grasping what Julie meant.
“So does all this bad stuff mean no more treehouse?” Estefanía asked, looking at the tree behind Ehsan and Julie.
Ehsan forced a chuckle. “No way, we’re definitely still doing the treehouse. Miss Cecilia has a plan to beat the bad guys tomorrow. We’ll be starting the treehouse by Sunday!”
Estefanía cheered. A smile spread across Ana’s face. After a few more minutes of reassurance the kids felt comfortable enough to disregard the adults and return to playing on the blacktop, though Sebastian and Natalia went to check on the chicken coops and feed the chickens before joining the other kids.
“Glad they seem okay,” Ehsan remarked as the kids resumed playing. “I wish I could be as confident as them.”
“That’s the thing about taking care of kids, I guess,” Julie replied with a tepid smile and a shrug. “We gotta teach them to be brave, even when we’re scared senseless.”
Ehsan left the garden and looked over to the kindergarten area. Hector and Emma sat at one of the brown wooden benches in the courtyard, their heads slumped down, talking in whispers and mumbles. Ehsan went to join them.
“Hey guys,” Ehsan greeted as he walked up. “How’re you two holding up?”
Hector shook his head. “Still doesn’t feel real.”
“Feels pretty real to me,” Emma said, her eyes glazed over and unfocused. “I can’t believe everyone is gone.”
Hector put his hand on her forearm to comfort her. “Not everyone. We still have the kids.”
A strained smile spread across Emma’s face. “That’s true. Still, seeing Mike get mauled, and then Tim…”
“I know what you mean, we’ve been through the same thing,” Ehsan sympathized, recalling the pain of losing his Costco after it first fell. “It’s a lot to handle.”
Emma’s smile turned into a sneer and her eyes narrowed. “You still have your school. I’m sorry Ryan died, but it’s not the same.”
Ehsan didn’t expect Emma’s response. His faced burned and he hesitated to reply. Hector answered for him. “He’s only been here for a few days, Emma. Him and his sister came from somewhere else.”
Realization swept across Emma’s face. Her sneer evaporated, replaced by an apologetic grimace. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t just- wow, I just fucked that one up.” She put her hands over her face.
“It’s totally okay, you just lost your home,” Ehsan responded, regaining his composure. “It’s only natural to be on edge.”
“Thanks,” Emma replied, a conciliatory, guarded smile on her face as she moved her hands. She sighed. “Sorry again, though. How long ago did it happen?”
Ehsan rubbed his chin, trying to remember. It kicked in for him that he’d only been at the school for a few days. “A little under a month ago, I guess. Feels longer, though.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” She looked at the ground. “Does it get any easier?”
“Yeah, it does,” Ehsan answered. “Though it was really, really tough the first few days. And even the first couple weeks, honestly. But now I feel okay. I mean, I still think about it, and it still sucks, and sometimes I really miss some of my old friends there. But I’m definitely doing better.”
“You got any advice for us?” Hector asked.
Ehsan grinned meekly. “It’s kinda cheesy, but this school has been the biggest help. Other than that, the only thing I can really say is give it time, and to try to keep busy.”
“Makes sense.” Hector nodded, then sighed. “Honestly, I’m tired of all this depressing shit. What was your life like before all this, Ehsan? What’d you do?”
Ehsan rubbed the back of his head. “Not much, really. I worked at Gamestop and drove a little for Lyft on the side. I also took a few classes at the nearest community college, but honestly, I had no real plan.”
Hector adjusted his glasses and smiled. “You worked at Gamestop? That must’ve been pretty cool.”
Ehsan chuckled. “I wish. I spent most of my time at the cash register and cleaning the store.”
“Did they let you play any of the games, at least?” Hector asked.
Ehsan shook his head. “Nope. Had to be working at all times. It’s basically just like any other retail job.”
“Bummer,” Hector commented.
“What was your favorite part of working there?” Emma asked.
“My coworkers, for sure. Some of the regular customers were also pretty cool, and I got to find out about some really good games, too.”
Hector’s smile widened. His nerdy air that had first appeared when Ehsan initially met him and asked him about his gauntlets reemerged. “What kind of games did you like?”
“A bunch of them, really,” Ehsan responded. “I liked role playing games, like Dragon Quest and some of the Final Fantasy games, plus Call of Duty. Oh, and FIFA. What about you?”
“Action games and fighting games,” Hector replied. “You ever cosplay?”
“Nope. I was too broke. You said that you did though, right?” Hector nodded enthusiastically. Before Hector could go into detail, though, Ehsan turned to Emma, as he felt bad for leaving out of the conversation. “You ever play any games, Emma?”
“A couple, yeah,” Emma answered. “I used to play with my fiancé. Mario
Kart was our favorite.”
“You had a fiancé?” Ehsan asked.
Emma nodded. “Yeah.” Her eyes strained as she tried not to let the depth of her sorrow show. “I really miss her.”
“Her?” Ehsan repeated.
Emma looked him dead in the eyes, unflinching. “Yes, her. That’s not a problem, is it?”
Ehsan shook his head, his face burning with embarrassment once more. “Not at all. I just haven’t met any, uhh, L-G-B-T people since everything happened. But no, yeah, I definitely don’t have any problem with that. I’m really sorry to hear that she got, well, y’know…”
Emma shook her head. “She didn’t die. Or at least, not as far as I know.” She shrugged. “She broke up with me a few months before everything happened. Said my career was too much of a strain on our relationship.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Ehsan replied, once more regaining his composure.
“Thanks." She smiled sadly and sighed. “Tracy always said I was working myself to death in that clinic. She used to joke I’d die in there, on my feet, in the middle of my shift. Who knew it’d be the other way around?”
The three of them spent more time discussing their lives before the outbreak. The entire time Ehsan thought of the enemy beyond the walls, only half paying attention to Hector and Emma’s words. After a while, however, Emma asked him to show him to Marcus’s medicine room. Ehsan agreed, thought he warned her about Marcus’s inability to hold a conversation. He told Hector he’d come right back after showing Emma to Room 11.
Ehsan walked with Emma away from the kindergarten area and around the building in front of them, which contained Rooms 10-14. He noticed the door to Room 10 open and heard movement inside. He knocked there instead of Room 11. Marcus beckoned them inside. Ehsan entered to see desks with medicine inside them, just like Room 11.
“Looks like you decided to go through with having two medicine rooms after all,” Ehsan observed.
“Yeah,” Marcus replied, not looking up.
“This is Emma, by the way,” Ehsan said, gesturing toward her. “She’s from the clinic.”
“Nice to meet you, Marcus,” Emma said with a smile.
“Same,” Marcus replied, looking in her direction briefly before turning back around and organizing a stack of tiny white pill bottles in front of him.
“Well, I gotta get back to Hector, so I’ll let you guys get to know each other,” Ehsan declared. He left the classroom. As he passed Room 14, however, he heard Josue’s voice through the door, which had been left ajar.
“Can you come in, Ehsan?” Josue’s voice asked from inside.
Ehsan opened the door. The room was bare yet messy, an abundance of clothes with camo patterns strewn about. All of the educational posters had been ripped off the walls. Instead Ehsan saw a poster of the movie Die Hard, a larger poster of the rapper Notorious BIG, and five model muscles cars in his otherwise spartan room. Josue sat on the couch that functioned as his bed playing solitaire. His white tank top had sweat stains and his normally well-kept facial hair had grown into a thick stubble.
“What’s up, Josue?”
“I need an update. Cecilia’s been keeping me in the dark all day.”
Ehsan braced himself to deliver the news. He straightened up his posture and cleared his throat. “Well, the clinic’s gone now.”
“Son of a bitch,” Josue muttered before Ehsan could say any more. “Any survivors?”
“Yeah. Some of the adults made it here, and all of the kids. A group went to go warn the fields a little while ago.”
Josue remained silent, staring ahead. He took a sip from a water bottle next to him on the ground. He looked down at his cards, then back ahead, his eyes unfocused. “This can’t go on.”
“Agreed. We gotta stop them.”
Josue shook his head. “I mean what we have here. The world’s catching up with us, Ehsan. This was never gonna last. I thought we’d at least have more time, but not if half our bases have been taken out.”
“Miss Torres said-”
“Look Ehsan, I like Cecilia, and Mateo, even if he gets too sensitive about stuff. I respect them a lot. But they’ve never seen war, and neither have you. I have. This is it. We’re losing, and we still don’t know shit about them.”
The dread Ehsan had tried to avoid ever since returning from the clinic pulled him down once more. Deep down, he knew he didn’t have the confidence Mateo and Cecilia had in their success. Still, he felt an instinctive need to disagree. “So that’s it? You’re just gonna give up?”
Josue chuckled and shook his head. “Nah. I’m a marine, I’ll keep fighting till the end and go down swinging. Dying for a lost cause is nothing new to us. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t keep your hopes up too high. Sucks you’ll probably have to find another new home so soon, but it is what it is.”
“I dunno, we’ll see,” Ehsan mumbled, breaking eye contact. The fate of every fallen community, from the Costco to the pier to the clinic, made its way into his mind. He could still see the eyes of the sentient zombies, focused, ape-like, hungry for his blood. He shuddered.
“Don’t worry, though,” Josue began, interrupting Ehsan’s thoughts, “Fatima’s an annoying bitch, but-”
“Don’t call my sister a bitch,” Ehsan muttered. His immediately regretted his words, his body becoming tense as the sentence left his lips. He looked up at Josue. Josue laughed dismissively.
“Fine, your sister isn’t a bitch, whatever.” He cleared his throat. “But anyway, she’s annoying, but she’s also smart. Stick with her. You’ll be okay with each other, even when this place falls.”
“Why are you saying all this?” Ehsan asked, unsure if he felt more annoyed or confused. “And if you think we’ll survive, why do you think this place will fall?”
“Mateo and Cecilia are like me. They’ll go down with this ship if they have to, even if they could survive without it.” He scratched his nose. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you and Fatima don’t care, I’m sure you’ll fight when the time comes. But I also know your sister is smart enough not to die for a lost cause.”
“If you think it’s smart not to die for a lost cause, why are you so-”
“Because I’m a useless fuck-up anyway, Ehsan. All I’m worried about now is getting back at whoever’s out there. I dunno how much damage I can do in the grand scheme of things, but I wanna hurt them as much as possible.”
Ehsan didn’t disagree about the first part of Josue’s sentence, but he felt the reflexive need to say he did. “Josue, you aren’t-”
“There’s no need to sugarcoat-”
Before Josue could continue, Hector popped his head in. “Hey guys, everyone’s back from their trip to the fields! They’re gonna give us a quick update.”
“Cool,” Ehsan replied, his shoulders relaxing ever so slightly, relieved to hear they made it back. He turned to Josue. “I see what you’re saying about our odds, Josue, but I dunno. I think we’ve got a shot.”
Josue shrugged. “We’ll see, Ehsan. We’ll see.”
Ehsan left to check in with Mateo, Deon, Sarah, and Ken. They informed him and everyone else that the mission had gone off without any problems. Those at the fields now stood ready, understanding the full scope of the threat in front of them. They’d offered to send an extra marine to the school, but Mateo and Deon had declined, not wanting them to risk their safety. Ken had disagreed with the decision while Sarah remained conflicted.
After catching up with everyone, Ehsan resumed patrolling with Hector. Fatima finished talking to the kids and went to meet with Cecilia, Mateo taking over look out duty with Manuel so that the two could meet. Emma took Lucero, Juan, and Andrea to set up their room. Ehsan and Hector spent the afternoon and early evening immersed in forced small talk about different games and movies they liked. The evening dragged on, Ehsan’s mind repeatedly wandering to the threat they faced despite his best efforts. He wished he had Mateo’s bravery or Cecilia’s determination.
Ken took over for Ehsan after it got dark. Cecilia had offered for someone to replace Hector, but he insisted on staying outside, explaining that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep anyway. It was agreed that they’d patrol for the first half of the night. Deon and Marcus, who had already relocated their rooms to that side of the school, would take over sometime in the early hours in the morning. Josue and Cecilia went on lookout duty in the front, Josue still recovering from the previous night, Cecilia with bloodshot eyes and slower movement than usual. Mateo and Manuel agreed to take turns patrolling the rooms by the library.
With the guard schedule established, Ehsan and Fatima settled into their beds. He changed into his pajamas as his mind still raced. He asked his sister how talking to the kids went as the two of them settled into bed.
“I think it went alright,” Fatima answered. “For the most part, anyway. Lucero seemed better, and I finally got Juan to talk by the end. I cannot figure out little Andrea, though. She was alternating between being really sensitive and clamming up completely.”
“I’m sure she just needs time. How did planning with Cecilia go?”
“It went well, though I’m concerned about Cecilia. She has been worrying nonstop for the last couple of days, and she is exhausted. I had to point out a couple details she would have normally figured out herself. Still, I have confidence in our plan, even if I am scared.” Fatima said the last part with a gentleness that made Ehsan assume she wanted to coax him into sharing his own feelings.
“I hope it’s enough.” Ehsan faked a yawn, not wanting to talk or think about what lied ahead for them the next morning. “We should probably get to bed, anyway. G’night, Sis.”
“Good night, Ehsan,” Fatima reciprocated with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
Ehsan soon regretted bidding his sister goodnight so abruptly. His mind wandered back to the normal list of terrors: his Costco, the pier, the clinic, Ryan lying face down, the remains of the devoured boxer right in front of him. Yet he also felt some comfort in the presence of everyone else at his school. His terror and confidence wrestled for control of his mind. Just as one seemed to be gaining ground, the other came thundering back. This battle continued until it depleted an already drained Ehsan, finally allowing him to drift off to sleep. His last thought was his sister, ten years old, covered in bruises, holding him and telling him everything would be alright.
The Human Spring Page 26