by Wood, J N
Shannon turned to give Michael a knowing look.
‘It is Gintaras,’ he said.
‘Gintaras?’ I said, before everyone else also repeated it.
‘People always say it like alcohol, gin. But it is not said that way.’
‘But…if you just tell people your name,’ I told him. ‘Like you just did. Then people will say it correctly, like we just did. No?’
After a few moments, Gee responded by shrugging his shoulders.
‘Which do you prefer?’ Jack asked. ‘Gee or Gintaras?’
He seemed to ponder the question, before answering with, ‘Gee, I prefer Gee.’
‘In that case,’ I said. ‘Surely we’re pronouncing Gee incorrectly? If Gintaras has got a hard G, then so should Gee.’ I looked around at everyone. ‘No?’
Gee stared out the window.
‘Let’s just leave it like it is,’ Shannon said.
The time was approaching six in the morning. We hadn’t quite made it to Bend as the snow had slowed us down after entering Oregon. The sun was just starting to rise so we all agreed to stop somewhere for the day.
‘We can’t stay in the bus,’ I said, after Michael had suggested it. ‘Remember what happened to Jack and me in our truck?’
‘There isn’t much around here Chris,’ Michael said. ‘And the bus is a whole lot heavier than your truck.’
‘Where are we going to go anyway?’ Jack asked. ‘If the world’s strongest men have all been turned into zombies, and they all just happen to show up here, all they’ll do is push us into some trees.’
I looked around us. We were surrounded by woods. ‘Okay, okay,’ I said.
I thanked Shannon after she handed me a sleeping bag, and walked halfway up the bus to find some space. I decided on the floor so I could stretch out.
DAY FIFTEEN
Chapter 3: Shrapnel
My sleep had been fitful. Gee’s incessant snoring hadn’t helped, and people shouting at him to stop snoring had disrupted my sleep even more so.
It was silent now, so the Lithuanian must have been awake.
There was a slight breeze blowing into the bus, carrying with it the distinctive scent of coffee, along with the smell of food cooking.
I climbed up to sit on the seat and looked around. The bus was empty, so I unzipped my sleeping bag and headed towards the front doors.
‘Good afternoon Chris,’ Shannon said, after I’d appeared in the open doorway.
Gee was crouching over a little camping stove, a pan of what looked like baked beans was cooking over the flame.
‘Coffee?’ Michael asked me.
‘Yes please.’
‘No milk I’m afraid,’ he added. ‘The local stores were all closed.’
‘That’s absolutely fine,’ I said, before joining everyone to sit on the road. ‘No zombie swarms knocking about then?’
‘Not seen anything. Maybe they’ve turned nocturnal as well,’ Jack said. ‘Can hear the birds though, can’t remember the last time I heard them.’
‘That’s a good sign actually,’ I recalled. ‘I heard them singing when I was up in the hills, and there weren’t any zombies there, well, only a couple. And a huge swarm had recently passed through, so it might not actually mean anything.’
Michael leaned over to pass me a cup of coffee. ‘Very useful information. Thanks Chris.’
‘Sausage and bean for breakfast. Okay?’ Gee almost barked at me.
‘Yeah brilliant,’ I replied. ‘What time is it? I really need to get a proper watch. The battery dies too quickly on my fitness watch.’
‘Half two,’ Jack said. ‘We were just talking about setting off when everyone was ready. Not waiting for it to get dark.’
‘That way we’ll get to Seattle when it does get dark, at ten or eleven,’ Michael said. ‘Meaning we’ll have plenty of time to sort out getting over the border once we get up there.’
‘I don’t think the border crossing will be all that easy,’ Shannon said.
‘I expect you’re right darling,’ Michael acknowledged. ‘But you know me, ever the optimist.’
‘Okay. If that’s what you want to do,’ I said. ‘I’m happy to go with the general consensus.’
‘It’s decided then,’ Michael said. ‘Set off in an hour?’
We all agreed. I nipped off for a quick piss behind the bus, returning to find a plate of three sausages and a huge pile of beans waiting for me.
‘Thanks Gee. This could be the best plate of food anyone has ever given me.’
‘Sausage out of tin,’ Gee said. ‘Not real sausage.’
‘You could have pulled them out of your pocket,’ I said. ‘It wouldn’t have made any difference to me.’
‘I honestly thought you were going to say arse, rather than pocket,’ Jack said.
‘Jack,’ Shannon scolded him. ‘I’m eating a sausage. I don’t want to think about it coming out of Gee’s ass.’
Jack apologised, but with a huge smile on his face.
The first plate of hot food I’d eaten for nearly two weeks was beyond delicious. I tried to remember the last time I’d eaten anything cooked. It must have been when I met the Rodriguez’s, and Ali had made me some eggs.
An hour later and we were underway. I was driving and Jack had taken over the map reading duties.
‘Why do I have to drive right now?’ I asked. ‘When we decide to set off in the day time.’
‘Because it’s your turn,’ Jack said. ‘And I’ve only got one eye at the moment.’
‘Yes I realise that,’ I said. ‘But if I’d known we were gonna up the risk factor, I’d have volunteered to drive earlier.’
‘You’ve just gotta suck it up Christopher,’ Michael said.
‘Thanks for the helpful advice Michael. I hope you’re not expecting me to do Jack’s shift as well? We’re barely friends, I hardly know him really.’
‘How do you know each other?’ Shannon asked.
I looked to Jack, but he’d just started eating a Snickers. He nodded to me.
‘I went to university with a friend of Jack’s, then afterwards a few of us moved to Leeds, in Yorkshire. Jack moved to Leeds shortly after. Or had you already moved there?’
He swallowed his mouthful of Snickers, before saying, ‘I was already there, moved over a bit before you all turned up.’
‘Been friends since, Jack moved in with my wife and I for a few years as well, when he was homeless.’
‘I wasn’t homeless,’ Jack said. ‘I couldn’t be bothered to look for somewhere else to live. It was just easier.’
‘Fuck!’ I shouted.
We had just reached the brow of a hill when they came into view. It might not have quite been a swarm, but a large number of zombies were already sprinting towards us. The road was full of them. They must have heard us driving up the other side of the hill.
‘I’m going through them,’ I said.
‘Well, we’d prefer it if you didn’t stop and offer them a lift,’ Jack said.
‘Turn your wipers on now,’ Michael instructed me.
I did as I was told.
The zombies were all running for us, so the shape of the group had turned into kind of an arrowhead. The point of it was only twenty or so feet from us.
Seconds later, we hit them. I hardly felt the impact but the windscreen was hit by a wave of blood and gore. The wipers were hardly doing anything, just moving the blood from side to side.
‘Just drive straight,’ Shannon yelled.
Wave after wave of dark zombie innards slammed into the windscreen.
‘Turn little right!’ Gee screamed at me, his voice only just audible, like he was outside of the bus.
I turned the steering wheel to the right.
‘More!’ he shouted. ‘Little more!’
‘Little more!’ he repeated.
‘Now straight!’ he screamed. ‘Okay, no more dead.’
Once the barrage had ended the wipers began to work, allowing me to see where we were go
ing again.
‘There are no more. Road is clear,’ Gee said, his voice now coming from close behind me.
I swivelled my head around to look at him. His head and shoulders were a deep maroon colour.
‘What the fuck happened to you?’ I asked, turning back to the road.
‘I need to see,’ he replied.
‘He stuck his head out of a window,’ Jack said.
‘I only have one clean cloth left,’ Gee said, before stomping down to the back of the bus.
‘I think he means he only has one set of clean clothes left,’ Shannon explained.
‘I’ve only got what I’m wearing,’ I said. ‘I could do with getting some new clothes actually.’
Over the next few hours we hit three more similarly sized groups on the road. I only had two curved slithers of clear windscreen to see where I was going, and they were getting smaller and smaller each time we hit a group of zombies. It was also getting quite dark, which was hopefully good for zombie activity, but terrible for visibility.
Especially when your windscreen is covered in dried blood and shit.
As we approached the outskirts of a place called Yakima, I spotted a sign for Costco, and suggested stopping to clean the front of the bus. Everyone agreed. I also thought I could get some clothes.
Shannon suggested parking at the edge of the car park, and walking the rest of the way to the shop’s large building.
‘Why?’ I asked. ‘The car park is huge.’
‘It’s safer,’ she replied.
‘Surely it’s safer to park up in front of the building and not have to walk far?’ Jack suggested.
‘Trust me. It’s safer this way,’ she replied. ‘Our vehicle could be very desirable.’
‘Come on guys,’ Michael said. ‘The boss has spoken.’
Jack and I exchanged looks. He puffed out his cheeks and shrugged his shoulders.
‘Fine,’ I said.
‘Okay,’ Shannon said. ‘Clean the bus first, and then go shopping.’
We parked up between a petrol station and a peculiarly placed little park. Gee offered up his old and dirty clothes to wipe down the front of the bus.
Michael and I very carefully climbed up onto the front of the bus, making sure not to slip on the various zombie parts splattered on, and hanging from it. Gee had given Shannon a lift up to the roof of the bus. She was stood above us, pouring bottles of soda water, because none of us liked soda water, onto the windscreen, while we tried our best to wipe it clean.
I turned to see Jack stood watching us. He was very dramatically holding his ribs and bandaged head.
‘If you’re gonna do fuck all Jack, at least keep a look out,’ I said.
Michael suddenly vomited all over the windscreen next to me.
‘Fuck’s sake Michael,’ I said. ‘We’re trying to clean it, not make it worse.’
‘Sorry. I’m alright now–,’ he started, before very loudly vomiting again.
Half an hour of incredibly disgusting work later, the windscreen was almost clear. Clear enough at least.
Gee had been on fuel salvaging duties, and told us the bus was almost full. What he actually said was, ‘Bus fucking full, almost.’
We managed to scrape the gore from our arms, before using what was left of the soda water to clean our hands.
Shannon pulled us into a huddle. Organised as ever, she passed us all torches. ‘Michael and I are going to the pharmacy,’ she said. ‘You three grab yourselves some clothes, and then get food. And be careful. Any problems and make some noise. Don’t worry about attracting more zombies. If you don’t make noise, nobody will hear you, so nobody will come and help you. Okay?’
‘Okay,’ Jack said. ‘Do we all put our hands into the middle now, and do some kind team chant? Like go…something something? Shit, I couldn’t think of a name for our team.’
‘No we don’t,’ Shannon replied. ‘Now come on, let’s go.’
We all kept low as we headed towards the shop, using the abandoned cars as cover.
On the corner of the building there were two entrances side by side. Neither of them had doors, so the pitch black shop inside was open to the elements.
As soon as we entered we all froze. The faint sound of talking was coming from inside the shop. It sounded aggressive, like an argument. Over in the far corner, beams of light briefly shot up to ceiling, before lowering again.
Michael turned to us all with his finger to his lips, before beckoning us to go back outside.
Just as I turned to leave, I could have sworn I heard someone say the name Alison, followed by a woman saying Gilberto.
There’s no way they would be over here in Washington State. It’s hundreds of miles out of their way.
The others had left but I waited inside the shop.
From outside, Jack whispered, ‘Chris, come on.’
I quickly shushed him, trying to listen.
‘Don’t do it Richard,’ a woman’s voice said.
That couldn’t have been Ali. Could it? It definitely sounded like her.
‘We need to go and see who it is. What if it’s Beth?’ I heard Jack say.
I crept outside to join the others.
‘Jack, do you remember the family that helped us?’ I asked him. ‘When we first got separated, the Rodriguez’s?’
‘Yeah of course,’ he replied. ‘I remember Ali, your girlfriend.’
I forced a quick smile and pointed back into the shop. ‘Ha ha Jacqueline. I’m pretty sure that’s them in there.’
‘This is a long way from Utah,’ Jack said.
‘We’re here, and we went through Utah,’ I pointed out.
‘There would be no reason for them to–,’ Jack started.
‘It doesn’t matter who it is,’ Michael interrupted. ‘Like you said Jack, Beth might be with them. We have to check.’
‘Thanks Michael,’ Jack said.
Shannon and Gee both nodded their agreement.
These are really fucking nice people Jack has found, or that found him.
‘Stay quiet. Flashlight off. Keep low,’ Gee whispered, before heading back into the darkness of the shop.
We followed the sounds of the argument, weaving our way down the many aisles, using our outstretched hands to stop us from walking into anything.
‘Please Richard,’ someone was saying. ‘Just take a moment to think about this.’ I didn’t recognise the woman’s voice.
Gee stopped at the end of an aisle, torch lights were flickering across the floor in front of us. He turned and held his hand out to us, signalling us to stop.
‘She might be okay. Why not wait, just a little bit longer.’
That was definitely Ali speaking. I turned and looked for Jack, eventually finding his eyes in the darkness. He just held his hands out and shrugged.
‘Shut the fuck up Alison,’ a man’s voice said. ‘Richard is right. We can’t just wait for it to happen.’
I looked back to Jack, mouthing the word, ‘See?’
I can’t wait. If I do, something bad might happen.
‘Hello,’ I called out.
A couple of very audible gasps made their way to us from around the corner, followed by a strained silence. A hand rested on my shoulder, but I stood up straight and walked to the end of the aisle, stopping before I was visible to the other people.
‘Pete?’ Ali called out. ‘Stay back.’
It’s definitely them.
‘It’s Chris, we met…’ I paused because I couldn’t remember how long it had been. ‘We met in Utah about a week ago. Ali found me in a basement.’
‘Chris?’ Ali said.
‘Yep, it’s me. I’m coming out,’ I replied, and stepped around the corner.
In front of me was a kind of stand-off. In the centre stood a woman I didn’t recognise. Her right hand was pressed against her blood soaked left arm, and tears were streaming down her face. There was a pistol very close to the side of her head, being held by a nervous looking man. His eyes were
darting between the crying woman, me, and Ali, who stood only a few feet away from him. She was pointing a pistol at his head.
I quickly raised my hands above my head, and started walking towards them. I made it two paces before another man further to my right came into view. He was pointing a rifle at me. That was also when I saw Sandra, Ali’s sister, pointing a pistol at the rifle man.
Fuck’s sake. It wasn’t like a stand-off, it was one.
‘Hi,’ I said, trying to sound casual. ‘What’s up?’
Ali rolled her eyes.
‘Who the fuck are you?’ the nervous looking man screamed.
‘This is Chris,’ Ali said, very slowly and calmly. ‘We met him nine days ago. Chris, this is Richard,’ she said, nodding to the guy she was threatening to shoot in the head.
‘Hi Richard,’ I said, waving with my hand holding the torch.
Fuck. Why didn’t I wave with my free hand? Now he’ll wonder why I was waving my torch at him. Why did I even wave at all?
Richard just stared at me. With his free hand, he wiped at the sweat pouring down his face.
‘Richard, just look at Maya,’ Ali said, in a soothing tone. ‘She’s frightened, and she’s your friend. You don’t want to do anything to hurt her.’
‘She’s been bitten,’ Richard said, his voice cracking. He looked like he was trying to hold back his own tears. ‘We have to kill her, before she turns and kills us.’
‘Richard,’ Maya cried. ‘Just let me go. I’ll walk away and you’ll never see me again.’
‘You said you didn’t want to be like them,’ Richard cried. ‘I don’t want you to be like that.’ He wiped at his eyes.
Without thinking, I stepped forward two paces. The guy aiming the rifle at me shouted, ‘Stop! Don’t move!’
‘It’s okay,’ I said, immediately regretting my decision to get so close. I was probably only a couple of feet from this Maya woman, and Richard’s gun. ‘I have a friend who was bitten, only a few days ago, and she’s fine. The zombie thing can’t be passed on.’
‘Bullshit!’ Richard spat.
‘Please Richard,’ Maya loudly sobbed.
‘I’m being serious,’ I said. ‘Honestly, I’m telling the truth.’