“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her. “Dad said that there were supplies in the truck when he arrived. We’ll go see whatever he has in the truck and we’ll take that with us on the journey. I’m sure we’ll find food along the way too.” I don’t believe that we’ll find food along the way, but it sounds nice. I just don’t want everyone going at each other over something as meaningless right now as a can of corned beef hash. Devon and the others have needs, just like we do. “But, Devon, we’re going to need ammunition. You’ve got to give us that.”
“I’m not giving up anything,” Devon snaps back. “And whatever you’ve got in that truck isn’t just yours. You can’t just claim everything your dad brought in that truck. It’s not like an inheritance here. When he pulled up, he offered that stuff to everyone, not just you guys. So you can’t just stake claim to it.”
“Are you kidding me, Devon?” I look at him, thoroughly pissed at him being this greedy right now. “So you just want everything?”
“No,” Devon snaps back. “I think you’re entitled to ten percent of the stores. The rest should be left for those who aren’t going out on a suicidal mission.”
“It’s not suicidal,” Lexi shouts at him. “Why do you keep saying that like you know what’s out there.”
“Because I do,” Devon shouts at Lexi. “If it’s not suicidal out there, then go ask Tony or anyone else to back you up on that. Oh wait, you can’t; because they’re all fucking dead. So I’m not splitting with anything more than ten percent on people who are just going to drive off into the distance and die. For everyone smart enough to stay put, they should get the supplies.”
“That’s not how this is going to play out, Devon,” Marko speaks up. “So everyone just needs to cool their jets right now.”
“Now you decide to be all reasonable?” Katrina snaps at Marko. “Where was Mister Reasonable last night when he was telling me that it’s the right thing to do, going off with the sisters?”
“Not right now, Katrina,” Marko says. “We can talk about this in private, not out in the open like this.”
“Why not?” Katrina snaps. “Let’s talk about all of you deciding that it’s a good idea to drive off on a wild goose chase with the only vehicle we have and over half of our supplies. How is that fair? If it were just the sisters, then fine. I’d say give them their equivalent proportions, but it’s not. Just because all of you are getting cabin fever, you’re going to leave those of us thinking clearly thoroughly fucked.”
“Baby, it’s not like that,” Marko answers. “If there’s a chance that there’s hope out there to help people trying to fix all of this, then it’s worth it. It is our duty and we have a moral obligation to do whatever is necessary to see that sun rise tomorrow on a brighter future. Don’t you see? This has nothing to do with want.”
“What about what I want?” Katrina snaps. “What about what I want, Marko?”
“I’m sorry,” Marko answers. “But that’s the sacrifice we have to make.”
“You’re still not getting seventy-five percent of our shit,” Devon snaps, throwing his hateful gaze at Lexi. “That’s out of the question.”
“Then just give us the truck,” I snap at him.
“Your dad left that for everyone,” Devon answers. “I think you’re entitled to ten percent of it.”
“I’m going to stick my foot up your ass and break off ten percent of it as a thank you present,” Lexi yells at Devon, whose face is now changing a thousand different hues and shades of crimson and scarlet.
“Everyone shut up,” Henry shouts over the argument. Everyone turns and looks at him as if he’s just pissed in a cathedral. We stare at him as he commands the attention and focus of the room. “Marko, Greg wants to see you outside. We have a bit of a problem.”
Chapter Nine
Marko is an artist. Tony had begged him to come with them when they decided to make their sojourn out into the world beyond our fences. Not only would he play a huge role in any physical confrontation that they might encounter, but his knowhow about construction and vehicles is something border-lining on the title of savant. From what Marko tells everyone, he’d go to work with his dad when he was a small child and help out the best he could. As the foreman of the construction crew, Marko’s dad imparted every last bit of wisdom he had to his son. It was his grandfather who taught him about cars. Marko rebuilt a car with his grandfather every five months. They were supposed to be this dynamic duo in the grease monkey world. Since I don’t have a clue what an alternator is, I just sort of smile and nod my head whenever he’s talking, but all the boys envy him.
We all stand silently behind him, watching him work his magic. He stands over the engine, staring down at it like a doctor examining a patient. He’s already fiddling with things, reaching in and tweaking and tugging on parts. I wish I knew more about cars, but my father had talents hidden elsewhere that he imparted. While Marko was the best person to make sure that this huge truck got moving again, he couldn’t even match my tracking or survival skills. That’s what made most of us such a great group. We all know exactly where we fit into the dynamic. It’s helped us this far and with a little luck, it might help us a little farther down the road.
I look over at Greg who has grease smeared across his cheeks, and his hands have blackened with the stuff. He’s going to need to get a bucket of water and clean up before we leave. There’s no way I’m traveling halfway across the country with someone who looks like he got the wrong paint color for the Braveheart reenactment. He grins at me and I smile softly to him. I don’t want to be mad at him anymore. We have bigger fish to fry. Who cares about last night anyways? What’s in the past is gone. The only thing that we have now is the future.
“How does it look?” Noah asks.
“Not good,” Marko chuckles. “You two should have called me out when you started looking at this thing.”
“It wouldn’t even start,” Henry complains.
“Yeah,” Marko nods. “And if it does it won’t run long.”
“What do you mean?” Greg asks.
Henry hops down and looks over at Lexi and then at me with a big grin on his face. “Your papa must have known a little something about cars,” Marko laughs. This is news to me. I don’t think my father ever talked about cars the entire time that I was alive. In fact, I think he was mostly about riding his bicycle as far as he could and then giving up on places farther than that unless absolutely necessary. I remember he used to have this crappy old station wagon that he would drive everywhere and would not let the thing die. When he finally got rid of it, it was like cutting off his arm. I freeze at that thought, the cold reality of what I just thought sinking into my stomach like a block of ice. I can picture the bladed stump in my mind as clearly as I can see Marko standing in front of me. “He patched this thing up pretty well, but it’s taken a lot of damage.”
“Can we fix it?” Greg presses.
“Sure, but we’re going to need parts,” Marko answers.
“Fuck it, we don’t have time for that,” Noah snaps. “Let’s just find another vehicle that we can use. I’m sure that there’s plenty just out on the A1A if we go look at it. We don’t have time to fix up a car.”
“Not a good idea,” Lexi shakes her head. “Those cars have been sitting out there for over a year, abandoned. They’re probably falling apart by now, right?” She shoots a glance at Marko. “It’s not good for cars to be sitting out in the open like that, right?”
“They’re probably not falling apart, but you’re right,” Marko nods to her. “They’re all probably in pretty bad shape. We’re going to have to clean up whatever we decide to take.”
“What kind of damage?” I ask him softly. Everyone turns and looks at me, but I barely notice their strange looks as I stare at Marko, waiting for a reply. “You said that there was damage. What from?”
“It’s pretty easy to tell, looking at the overall condition of the truck,” Marko answers. “I don’t think your papa stumb
led across this truck just sitting on the side of the road.”
“What do you mean?” I furrow my brow.
“Someone with a high powered automatic was shooting at this truck.” Marko points to the bullet holes that have completely escaped me along the side of the truck. I blink and look at the truck again with a fresh perspective. Someone was definitely opening fire on it. Whoever my father was running from, they wanted this truck back and they weren’t afraid to kill him for it. “I think your papa stole it,” Marko says with a smile on his lips. “Kind of a badass thing to do, if you ask me.”
“From who?” Greg crinkles his brow in doubt.
“The government probably,” Henry throws out there.
“What government?” Noah glares at Henry. “There’s no fucking government anymore, Henry.”
“Maybe there was one when he stole the truck,” Henry answers. “And please, don’t use that kind of smart ass tone with me, Noah.”
“Shut up, Henry,” Lexi snaps at him.
“Either way, this kind of damage had to be recent.” Marko takes over the conversation again. “It looks like several bullets punched through the radiator and one of the hoses has cracked. He used tape to fix the hose, which worked for a little while, but we need to replace it if we’re going to try and get halfway across the country. As for the radiator, he used roofing screws and a sheet of metal to keep it from bleeding out all the water, but it’s still leaking too much. We’ll have to stop every five miles to fill it back up if we don’t fix it.”
“So we fix it,” Lexi pushes. “How do we do it?”
“Get another fucking car,” Noah throws out there again.
“I don’t think there’s a finer vehicle for what we’re trying to do than this one,” Henry says with a marginal amount of authority on the subject. Even though he was just a Civil War professor who specialized in that era of history, he still knew a lot about all things military. I hate the man, but if anyone knows a thing about military equipment, then it’s probably him. “I mean, just look at the damage it took before your father had to stop and fix it. I say that if we can find a way to fix it, then we need to do everything in our power to do so.”
“So what will you need?” I ask Marko. He looks at me and shrugs as he thinks it over.
“We’ll need a new radiator,” Marko says nonchalantly as if we’re talking about what we should have tonight for dinner. I’m not sure what that means, but I’m sure that Marko knows what he’s talking about. I’m guessing that he’s got an idea of what exactly he needs. “It really doesn’t have to be a radiator of the same kind, so long as it is similar in size we’ll be able to fit the hose easily. All we have to do is find the right materials.”
“Do you think we can find all of that?” I ask him.
“Probably,” Marko shrugs. “We’ll just need to head out and have a look around at everything. I’m not sure how long it’ll take, though. It’s sort of a luck of the draw scenario if we don’t know exactly where something’s going to be.”
I don’t like the sound of that. It’s risky to just head outside and start turning over stones hoping that we find a lucky charm. No, we need to have a better plan than that. We might run into something or someone that we don’t want to mess with, or worse, we might lead them back here. If something were to attack us, right on the eve of our escape, then there’s no telling what damage it might do to us, our plans, and to Devon and those staying behind. I shudder at the thought that we might come up in more trouble than we went out there with. I look at Marko, who appears to be reading my mind. To him, it might be worth a shot, taking the risk and going about it slow. But for me, I can’t help but think that every minute we waste looking for a large vehicle is a minute we waste finding out what’s in Dayton.
“I know of a place we should look,” Henry chimes in.
“Quiet, Henry,” Noah snaps, trying to incur favor with the We-Hate-Henry pack, namely my sister. I don’t like the way he’s treating Henry. It’s not like he knew my father or he is that close with Lexi. If anything, she uses him out of convenience, nothing more. It’s not like he’s her husband.
“Where?” I cut off Noah’s attempt to belittle Henry more than he deserves.
“There’s a Coast Guard station up the coast a ways,” Henry says with a strange sort of excitement in his voice. I’m surprised that he’s as excited sounding as he is. The prospect of going out into the world terrifies pretty much everyone in this house except for him. I wonder where Henry stood on the whole possibility of going with Tony all the way back then. Does he regret not going? Was he even offered a chance to go out there with them? “They’ve got five ton trucks just like these up there and I guarantee you that if anyone has raided that place, they’re not looking for a bunch of trucks just sitting there.”
“But there might be like guns and stuff?” Noah lifts an eyebrow and looks at Greg conspiratorially. They’re such children. I wonder what they’re going to do with all of their guns when we head out there and every possible threat that exists has withered and died thanks to the powers of starvation and the elements. We have guns, plenty of them. If there’s anything that we don’t need more of, it’s guns.
“Sure, yeah, guns, MREs, you name it,” Henry says excitedly.
“It’s probably already been hit,” Lexi shoots down their excitement. “But if the trucks are still there, then it’ll all be worth it in the end. Just don’t fuck with us, Henry. You know where this place is?”
“Yeah,” Henry nods earnestly. “I know exactly where it is. I saw it when we were making our way here. The place was surrounded with soldiers and there were tons of people trying to get in, but from the looks of it, it’s probably still standing A-okay.”
“What are the odds of a military instillation not being ransacked and attacked during the Collapse?” Greg states ominously. “I mean, wouldn’t people have hit that place in one of the first attacks? Government facilities were like targets on everyone’s hit list. That place is probably burned to the ground by now. Plus, if the military was in control of it when the chain of command went slack, wouldn’t they take everything they could for themselves? I think it’s a thin chance that there’s anything still there and if there is, I bet there’s still people there too.”
“I think it’s worth the risk, man,” Marko shrugs as if his opinion isn’t worth much, except for lobbing out there. “It’s been months since everything went down in flames. I bet we can find at least one that has a radiator we can use.”
“If you think so,” Greg shrugs back at Marko. “I just got a bad feeling about it.”
“Well yeah, I mean, that’s natural,” Henry steps up, trying to fulfill his old role of being the mentor and the wise one of the group. Of course, we’ve all moved well beyond the need for his little pieces of advice and wisdom. “We don’t have a clue what’s out there, but think of it this way. It’ll be a good test run for us to go out there and see what’s going on. It’ll be sort of a reconnaissance mission for us.”
“I guess,” Greg shrugs, “but we’re going armed.”
“Absolutely,” we all say in unison.
I look at Marko. “What do you need from us?”
“I don’t know really,” Marko shrugs. “I’ll go get some tools we’ll need, but I guess you guys just need to get something to defend us with if there’s anyone out there.”
“Don’t have to tell us twice,” Greg grumbles.
“We’ll take the Sidekick,” Marko tells all of them. “Everyone get water and whatever else you think you’re going to need and we’ll meet up in twenty minutes. Sound good?”
“We’ll be there, lug nut,” Noah grumbles.
How is it that everyone closely associated with Lexi makes me want to slap them across the face so hard? I look at Noah as he slinks off, and resist the urge. I follow them up the path leading to the wooden steps, making our way up to the top floor’s balcony. This is what we call the Nest. The wooden railing has been fortified with sand
bags that we stacked as an armed post overlooking the surrounding vacation homes, beach, and sandy nothingness. Olivia had thousands of sacks that her parents used for controlling flooding when the hurricanes came. When we still had a full crew inside of the house, we lined the exterior of the deck’s railing with sheet metal. It gives the front of the house a sort of post-apocalyptic feel that is definitely appropriate now.
If someone comes for this place, which I’m sure they will, then it is so vulnerable that it’s alarming. I can picture Devon, Katrina, and Skye alone when the murderous killers come searching for them in the dead of night. It’s bothered me many times, but now it feels especially vulnerable out here. My father brought paranoia with him when he came calling on us and I’m having a hard time shaking it. As I follow Greg into the house, I can already hear Devon telling people what they can and can’t take. Thankfully, no one’s listening to him.
“Get the shotguns,” Noah advises, like he’s seen this kind of combat experience before. Honestly, the most violent thing that Noah has ever done was probably get in a fight at a midnight release party for one of his videogames. I think that his knowledge on the subject matter extends only to the videogames that he’s played and I’m not sure whether that kind of information is worthwhile right now. Reaching into my pack, I pull out my Sig and my binoculars as well. Lord knows what we’re going to find out there. I suppose that we should all be ready. I strap the holster to my hip.
“Make sure everything has the safety on,” I say, like I’m the mom of the house. They all look at me like I’ve just asked them all to make sure that they have two ears. “Just do it,” I tell them all again without compromise. “I don’t want my face blown off when we hit a speed bump.”
“Don’t take everything,” Devon snaps at us angrily.
Honestly, we’re running low on pretty much everything. We have plenty of ammunition, but it’s dead weight. If we never use our guns, then it’s just wasted energy and with food so scarce, that’s not going to be something that we can sustain for very long. We need to come to terms with the fact that all of our bodies are going to start shutting down soon, consuming muscle and fat stores. A few magazines and we should all be fine. I look at Noah who has two pistols, one on each hip, and is loading a shotgun. I want to tell him what an idiot he is, but I figure that he hasn’t logged any hours at the shooting range like I’ve had. He’ll probably need the ammunition and extra guns. Honestly, I think that everyone here but Lexi and I are just playing with the guns, not sure what exactly is expected of them right now.
LEFT ALIVE (Zombie series Box Set): Books 1-6 of the Post-apocalyptic zombie action and adventure series Page 56