by Weeks, Kris
“Actually, it was Eric who wanted you in the lobby.” Willy warned.
Mary took in a deep breath and walked back to the lobby with Willy and made her way next to Adrianna. She put her arm across her back and smiled a half smile knowing that none of them were happy being here.
“Now! Here is the plan. Are you listening? We are going to get supplies. Andrew, you will drive, Nate and Willy will be getting out and getting the supplies as we go along. I, as usual will be supervising. The women and children are staying here. I want sandwiches made for us to take along with a few bottles of water.”
Eric peered at the women. “Go do that now!”
Adrianna and Mary skipped off arm in arm laughing, knowing that there happiness would irritate Eric. But, knew that this would benefit Andrew, Willy, and Nate, so they were happy to do it.
“Grab some weapons of some sort. We need gas, some more weapons since we left ours, as well as things like batteries, flashlights and anything that may be useful. Understood?” He explained.
“You know Eric, I usually don’t say much...” Nate started.
“Then no reason to start now.” Eric advised before turning to go back down the hall.
Nate watched him with his jaw dropped open until he close the door to the back office. He looked from Willy to Andrew, both of them laughed as Willy put one finger under his jaw and closed his mouth. The three rummaged around the area and found a few things to use as weapons. Tire iron, mortar spatula and a pole that looked to hold up scaffolding were the weapons they gathered. They stood by the door and waited. Adrianna and Mary rounded the corner with plastic grocery bags they had found filled with all that was requested.
“Here guys, there are two sandwiches and some chips for each of you, two waters and a soda for each. Be careful.” Mary handed Nate the bag.
Mary hugged all three of them and kissed them on the cheek. “See you soon.”
All of them directed their attention down the hallway when they heard the door squeak open. They all leaned their heads over to look. Rue was giving Eric a hug and she kissed him on the cheek. Eric backed out and closed the door, with head down and arms down by his side, he held them away from his body like he was buff and had just got done working out.
“Why does he walk like that?” Willy asked. “He really isn’t all that good looking.”
Nate turned and wrinkled his face at Willy and took a step back. Andrew laughed at Nate’s silent response and laughed harder when Willy took a step toward Nate and put his hand on his shoulder. “You’re kinda cute though.”
“Let’s load up.” Eric demanded of them.
Chapter 9
NATE TOOK the liberty of unlocking the door, Andrew and Willy stood behind him waiting to follow him out. He pushed open the door and stepped into the entryway. He was able to see straight ahead, but not to the sides. He took another two steps knowing that Willy and Andrew were behind him. He peered left, then right and forward again. He held the metal pointed spatula ready to gouge at anything that came into his path. Nothing appeared in immediate view so Nate dropped his spatula to his side and stepped fully out into the opening. Andrew and Willy moved up next to him following Nate’s actions and dropping their weapons as well.
“Drunks must be passed out somewhere.” Nate kept looking around.
Eric appeared behind them. “Why are we just standing here?”
They all moved to the parked van, hopped inside and shut the doors. They watched behind them to see if the noise of the doors had drawn any attention. Andrew started the van, backed up and pulled up to the street.
“Left, we know there is nothing back the way we came.” Eric pointed.
Andrew headed out onto the road and drove only a few feet when a man seemed to jump from out of nowhere and hit the driver’s side window. Andrew jumped, swerved onto the side of the road and pulled the wheel back onto the asphalt. He drove on with both hands gripped tightly around the skinny brown wheel. Everyone else was startled but couldn’t help but laugh at Andrew jumping the way he did.
“Man, I thought you were going to go through the roof!” Nate said between laughs.
“Shut up Nate!” Andrew belted back. “That asshole came out of nowhere.”
They moved on down the road at a semi slow pace as they all looked from side to side looking for somewhere to stop. Andrew hit the brakes with force and made everyone jolt forward. Everyone slammed back against their seats and started looking for why he had stopped so suddenly. Andrew pointed in front of him.
A small boy stood in front of the van waving his arms at them. He had a dirty little face and could not have been more than five or six. His little transformers t-shirt had been torn through the symbol and laid open exposing his chest. Andrew peered over at Eric.
“Go around.” Eric pointed to the side.
“Come one man, it is a kid.” Willy begged.
Eric shook his head and waved Willy out of the van. “Then you go get him and make sure he is clean.”
Willy pulled open the sliding door and stepped out just as a woman topped the asphalt holding a mass covered in a blue and white striped blanket. He stopped mid step and watched her make her way to the little boy.
The woman was about average height for a woman, about five foot five or so, she wore a tank top and an old torn pair of blue jeans and black tennis shoes. She carried the bundle of blanket gently in one arm and a hammer in the other.
“Please let me in, please.” She begged.
Eric rolled down his window. “We aren’t accepting new members right now, sorry.”
Willy stepped forward and glared at Eric. “Man, she has kids.”
Eric looked at Willy and rolled up his window.
“Are you okay?” Willy hollered to her.
“No, please…I have two babies here. We have been fighting for days. Please let me in to rest.” She mumbled.
Willy took slow steps toward the woman and children. “I am Willy, we are out to find materials and food. Have you been bitten? Are the kids okay?” He now stood next to the little boy.
“I am Jennifer Williams, this is my son Garrett and my newborn Caden. We stayed in our house for the first couple of days and then I could not get Caden to quit crying so the zombies broke in. I left with my boys and have been on the run with a hammer and them and nothing else. Garrett has not eaten in three days and neither have I. Please can we just have a little water and I will leave you alone.”
“Come on.” He picked up Garrett and headed to the van.
Willy held open the van door and let Jennifer climb into the back bench seat with Caden and placed Garrett in to follow his mother. Willy got back in his seat and slid the door shut.
“This is Nate, Andrew and Eric.” Willy introduced. Everyone waved except Eric.
Nate handed a bottle of their water to Jennifer and she gave some to Garrett and poured just a bit into Caden’s mouth. “I have been able to breastfeed, but it has had to be on the run.”
Nate handed her one of the sandwiches from the bag.
“If we are going to be giving away our food, you better make sure that she is willing to fight for some more.” Eric mouthed off from the front seat.
“Yeah, I got it Eric.” Willy let him know.
Garrett ate most of the sandwich and handed the last few bites to his mother. Nate and Willy watched Jennifer become relieved and Garrett sat back in the seat and closed his eyes.
The van turned then stopped. Willy and Nate turned to see a small mom and pop shop. It was a small general store that appeared to be locked up tight. All of the windows were intact and the door was closed. There were three or four zombies scattered around it, but nothing they were unable to handle.
“Here y’all go, get after it!” Eric told them.
They all hesitated for a moment and waited for Eric to lead the way. “Are you not coming?” Willy asked.
“Nope. I’m waiting here and going to let Jennifer here know the rules.”
Nate,
Willy and Andrew exited the van at the same time with their weapons on hand. They all met at the front of the van and quietly told each other which zombies they were taking out. They all three moved forward and each one took out the undead they claimed. Nate’s spatula easily took out his, Willy had the crowbar and took his out. Andrew swung at his with the steel pole and the man only stood there still clattering his teeth. Andrew drew his pole back again and hit the man again, still the man stood there.
“What the hell?” Andrew blew out.
Andrew brought the pole over his head and lunged it into the zombie’s forehead and ran him backwards into the building. The pole had stuck through the head of the zombie and impaled into the wooden wall. Andrew backed up from him.
“Take that asshole!” He told him.
Nate laughed and took Andrew’s arm and pulled him to the side waiting for Willy to pop the door open with his crowbar. Andrew and Nate kept their backs to Willy watching for any approaching.
“Wonder how Eric is making out with Jennifer?” Nate expressed out loud.
Andrew shook his head with nothing to comment back.
Eric turned in his seat and cocked his head at Jennifer. “I want to let you know the rules. I have already gotten rid of numerous people for disobeying MY rules; do not think I will not hesitate to do the same with you OR your children. Understand?”
Jennifer stared at him in horror. “Do you get it?!” Eric hollered.
“Yes Yes, please don’t scream at me!” She hollered back.
“What I say goes.” Eric turned back around, he was able to see the door to the store close behind the three that he sent in. “I normally do not allow anyone to stay behind and not help, but you need to feed that baby and give me two more strong men for my group.” Eric opened his door and headed across the parking lot to the front door. He pulled the door to go in and supervise the situation but the door would not open. He knocked lightly to catch their attention. He stood for a few seconds waiting for them to let him in, when a woman came around the corner of the building. He backed up from the door and watched her carefully. He had no weapon on hand and stopped when he heard a growl behind him, he turned and was face to face with a man that had half of his face torn off and a his lips were both split open. He opened his mouth to come at Eric. He held both of his hands up and grabbed Eric’s shoulders. With a kick to the man’s torso he flew back from Eric and hit the ground hard, Eric turned and the woman was almost on top of him. She waddled a few more steps to him and then hit the ground with a hammer sticking out of her head and Jennifer standing over her. Eric grabbed the hammer from the woman’s head and turned fast swinging the hammer and hit the man that had made it back to his feet in the head and watched him fall. Eric blew out a breath of relief and looked at Jennifer without saying thank you.
Andrew ran out to the parking lot. “Are y’all okay? I saw Jennifer in the parking lot through the door.”
Eric hurried inside, Jennifer nodded at Andrew and started walking back to the van. Andrew followed Eric and closed and locked the deadbolt that Willy had pried open.
“Where in the fuck were you all? I knocked and you just left me out here!” Eric hollered.
“You mean like you have stuck everyone out before to fight your battles?” Willy stated.
Eric glared at Willy. “What is your deal? Did you all of a sudden have some gay confidence take over your stupid faggot brain?”
Willy flipped him off and turned to continue what they were all doing. Nate followed. “Stupid gay man you are!” Nate said in a low voice with a laugh.
Willy looked over his shoulder with an angry face and then laughed knowing that Nate was making fun of Eric.
The store had a back storage area and nothing had been touched in the store. The shelves were filled with food on one side and extra things on the other. Nate and Willy found gas cans as well as tools to restock up on and brought them to the front of the store. Andrew had already gathered tons of food and bagged them up in the bags he had fetched from behind the counter. Eric had made a mound of clothes that he grabbed from the two aisles that were lined with shirts, pants and shoes and underclothes.
“Not sure how much we can fit in the back. We have to be able to have access to the gas cans to put gas in them.” Andrew made a point.
“Put everything on one side and all of the gas cans on the other. Let’s get what we have in there and then we will collect more if we can.” Eric supervised.
The three grabbed armfuls and took them to the van. Jennifer had seen them coming and had crawled over the back seat and already had the back doors to the van open for them. Andrew began organizing everything as Nate and Willy poured their things into the back after him. With materials piled to the top of the van and gas cans covering the other half of the back, Andrew closed the doors and the three piled into the back. Eric stood at the open door of the building and watched them from there.
“Get your asses back in here!” He hollered.
They all hesitated since there was no room for anything else. They had all gotten their weapons and there was nothing left to do except get gas, they all wondered what the hell he wanted them to do. They piled back out of the van, closing all of the doors to secure Jennifer and the kids and walked back to the building.
“We can’t fit anything else in.” Nate pointed to the van.
“We are not done until I say we are done!” Eric spat out to them. “Now you may go.”
The three stood in awe of the balls this man had staring at him with anger. Nate turned before he did or said something he regretted and pulled the shoulder of Andrew’s shirt and tapped Willy on the shoulder. All three followed each other out and loaded back in the van. They could hear Eric laughing about the control that he had over them. Jennifer was confused at what was going on. Eric hopped into the front seat and turned to the back.
“Apologies for the delay Jennifer, sometimes you just have to teach people how to listen.” He explained.
Andrew started the van and headed out of the parking lot down the same way they were headed before. There were not many cars scattered on the roads, but the ones that were Andrew would stop and Nate and Willy would jump out and syphon gas into one of the gas cans with the hose they had found at the shop. Soon Andrew came upon a building with a parking lot full of cars that had been left in their spaces. Andrew pulled just inside the driveway and stopped. The building was only two stories, it was brown on the outside and read Daily Record across the top. It was an old building, and looked to be falling apart.
“Pull up by the first row of cars.” Nate pointed Andrew in the direction.
Andrew slowly pulled forward scanning through the crowded parking lot. Zombies were at the far end of the lot bouncing back and forth between cars.
“Watch it guys.” Andrew nodded toward the ones that were confused on how to make their way to them.
“Just a couple of drunks, we will be okay.” Nate laughed.
Andrew stopped at the first car, Nate and Willy jumped out.
“Quick, fast and in a hurry!” Willy whispered to Nate while they got gas cans out of the back.
Each had one gas can and a piece of hose. They made their way through four cars filling the cans. Nate was running back to the van to switch a full can for an empty one when a scream shot out through the air. Nate dropped the empty can and clapped his hands over his ears. The scream was as though someone had taking a metal rake and scraped it across one of the cars. Nate could hear the scream through his covered ears and started looking round for what was making the horrid scream, Willy’s arms were flailing in the air from behind a blue car about six spaces away from where the van was parked. Nate ran toward Willy with only a piece of green water hose in hand. He rounded the blue car to see Willy holding off a man on his knees. He was lunging his head forward as Willy held him at bay with the full gas can. Again, the horrid scream sounded; Nate covered his ears and stared at Willy with his mouth wide open.
“My God, pleas
e shut your mouth!” Nate hollered.
Willy closed his mouth and took a few steps back and the man dropped forward face first onto the concrete. He pushed himself back up with his arms and caught the two stubs at the end of his thighs. He rocked to the left and shot his right side forward and did the same for the left. Nate wrapped the hose around the man’s neck and pulled him back to him. He pulled each side tight and with one more hard pull, the man’s head snapped from his neck and fell at Nate’s feet, the body fell forward with a thud.
“Did you really just scream like a girl because of a legless drunk?” Nate heaved out in between breaths.
“He crawled out from under the car and scared the shit out of me.” Willy leaned against the car and put his hand up to his chest.
“Sometimes, you are really the biggest girl.” Nate leaned over to catch his breath.
Willy and Nate made their way back to the van. They gathered empty gas cans along with weapons this time and went back to the cars they had not hit yet. They made their way through the whole row while watching the wandering group on the other side of the lot. They started back down the row in front of the one they had finished. They both had about half of each can left empty and wanted to fill them. Nate and Willy both checked each car for keys that may have been left in them so that maybe they could have another vehicle. They so badly wanted to get away from Eric, but could not do anything without another mode of transportation.
Finally filling the cans, they made their way in and out of cars and to the van to trade out again. They hurried back down the row and continued their same routine. Nate bent over securing the cap back onto the can and heard footsteps on the other side of the car. He knew that Willy was two cars in front of him. Nate dropped to his knees and watched the dragging feet make their way to the back of the car. Nate stood and turned quickly, he raised the metal bar over his shoulder and swung with all his force like a bat. The man fell immediately and Nate turned to see a man coming up on Willy. Nate rounded the ends of the car to his right and headed to Willy. Andrew had already jumped from the van with t-post he had picked up from the store and made it to the man that was behind Willy at the same time and took him out with ease. Willy had already raised his crowbar and was waiting for the man to get close enough to him.