by Jimmy Bird
We started to make our way to the nearest lift whenever a couple of average sized zombies made their way through the hole.
“Hey Logan. Can you get the tank while I take care of our ‘unwanted’ guest?”
Without waiting for a reply from Logan, I raised my weapon and charged. Surprising, they went down with ease. I stood over my two prey and felt indestructible whenever Logan whistled at me. I looked up and noticed many, many more zombies coming in through the fence. Judging by the sheer number coming in, we only had minutes. We were going to die!
I yelled at Logan, “Forget the tank. If we hurry, we can run to the safety of the Warehouse and blockade the entrance.”
I figured that it would buy us some time to find another way out. Logan however, saw things differently. He stood on the back of the lift and threw the tank towards me.
He told me, “Jimmy. Get out of here. Take the tank and go save everyone. I’ll stay behind and cover your escape.”
I started to argue with him on his decision, but he cut me off. He took off his sling to reveal a bite mark just below his right elbow.
He told me, “It’s too late for me, but you still have an opportunity to save the others.”
I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to tell him that there had to be something that I could do to save him.
He didn’t even bother to look at me, “You need to hurry. You’re wasting time.”
Before he jumped off the lift, he paused for just a second and looked at me with sadness in his eyes, “Tell Mia that I Love Her. Please, make her understand that this was the only way I could save her.”
Without another word, he turned back toward the horde of zombies and jumped. He landed into the heart of the horde and ran through them towards the hole in the fence. Whatever his plan was, it seemed to have worked because they were following him back out of the fence.
I silently said goodbye and turned back towards the truck. I had to focus on the opportunity that Logan had given me, otherwise his sacrifice was for nothing. I just about had the tank connected whenever I felt something touch my leg. Instinctive, I jumped onto the back of the truck and immediately looked down.
I didn’t see anything. I looked back at the big lift and could hear moaning but saw nothing. After a quick three hundred sixty degree turn, I still didn’t notice a thing. I thought that maybe my nerves were just messing with me.
I started to lower my foot to the ground when I felt something grab it. I literally jumped out of my skin that time. I tried lifting my foot back up, but something had a strong grip on my shoe. After repeatedly trying pull my foot free, the thing finally lost its grip.
After my foot was free, I took the opportunity to look over the side of the truck to see what it was that had grabbed my foot. To my surprise it was Bruce, or should I say whatever was left of him. The back of his head was dented in where I had hit it, but I guess I had failed to destroy the brain.
I watched him struggle to reach me, but I did notice that his legs weren’t moving. Maybe, I had destroyed part of the brain after all. Regardless, I had little time to worry about it. I knew that I could finish attaching the propane tank to the truck without getting back down onto the ground.
Once the tank was hooked up, I climbed into the driver’s side and turned the key. Without hesitation, it started right up. I felt both relief and horror at the same time. Was that even possible? Let me tell you, it was.
Lucky for me, the truck fired right up. It was a sign of hope that I could still make it in time to save Bobby. Though, I have to say that karma shows its ugly head when you least expect it. For every positive, we have a negative that is sure to follow.
I had forgotten how loud the truck was. The noise from the truck was drawing more zombies my way. I could hear the moaning on the other side of the big lift and it was getting louder. I looked up to see zombies moving around the lift as they made their way towards me.
Without wasting anymore time, I put the truck in drive and pushed on the gas. I could feel the truck wanting to go. I could even feel the tires spinning, but nothing was happening. I looked down and noticed that Bruce was halfway under the little truck. Was that why I wasn’t going anywhere?
I looked up and noticed that the first zombie was just an arm’s reach from the hood of the truck (which was only a couple of feet in width). I shifted it to reverse and pushed down on the gas. It started moving, but quickly got stuck again. I tried rocking the truck, but it was no use. I needed another miracle and quick.
An idea popped into my head. What if I used the zombies to push the truck over Bruce’s body? Was that possible? Would it work? I wasn’t sure, but I was running out of options.
I put it in drive and rolled the truck forward until the rear tires got stuck on the body again. I shifted it to reverse and put my foot on the brake. I wanted to wait until more zombies began leaning on the hood. When I got close to a half dozen zombies on the hood, I took my foot off the brake and placed it on the gas.
I used the zombies combined body weight and the momentum of the truck, I was able to hit Bruce’s body with enough force that the front tires started to roll up the body. Before long the truck stopped rolling backwards as it got stuck once again.
I looked up and noticed that the first wave of zombies that had pushed on the truck were flat on their faces. A second wave of zombies were stepping unsteadily on them. A thought popped into my head, maybe I could try the same trick with the second zombie wave.
After thinking about it, I quickly shot that idea down. With the second wave approaching, I just didn’t have enough room to maneuver. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about it. The second wave of zombies hit the little truck with enough force that I rolled right off of Bruce’s body.
I continued in reverse until I could safely turn around and head back towards the Warehouse’s bay door. While turning, I noticed that the second wave had tripped over Bruce’s wiggling body. It was a good sign. It meant that I had a little extra time to barricade the door before they reached it.
Once I was safely inside the doorway, I shut the overhead door. I knew that the overhead door wouldn’t hold up against the combined weight of the zombies, so I had to come up with a quick plan.
Without thinking, I quickly jumped out of the truck and got on one of the propane fork lifts. I figured that the new plan would still be the old plan. I could use some of our extra appliance stock from warehouse racks to reinforce the door.
I quickly raced off towards the racks. Surprisingly, I managed to use my damaged right arm to use the forklift controls (for those without any knowledge of forklifts, they have three to four levers that control lifting, tilting, and shifting from side to side). It was painful but necessary. By the time I got to my third appliance in the rack, my right arm was hurting so bad that I was practically crying.
I placed the appliances the length of the door with a little overhang on both sides. I placed them three layers deep in order to reinforce the first layer. It was the quickest and best idea that I could come up with to prevent the zombies from knocking over the first row. Once the door was secure, I jumped back in the truck and took off.
I wasn’t sure how long I had been gone, but I can tell you that it was long enough that both Danny and Ruff decided to carry Bobby to the clinic. They had successfully traveled around thirty feet but looked ready to collapse. To be honest with you, I was surprised that they even made it that far. They were in that bad of shape.
When I came around the corner, you could see the relief on their faces as they gently lowered Bobby to the ground. I could see how pale Bobby had become and worried that he might have died. I pulled up next to them and jumped out of the truck.
As I rushed towards Bobby, I asked the guys, “You guys okay?”
I had been so focused on Bobby that I had completely missed what Danny had said. I leaned down and to my surprise, Bobby was barely breathing. Worried that he was almost out of time, I grabbed him around the waist and started to lift.
I had been so focused on helping Bobby that I had forgotten about my useless arm and almost dropped him. If it wasn’t for Danny grabbing the other side of him, I would have.
We were able to put Bobby into the back of the truck. I turned around and noticed that Ruff looked like he was going to collapse at any moment. I rushed over to help him to the truck, he had been walking gingerly on his damaged leg. Once he was safely seated on the back of the truck next to Bobby, Danny and I got into the front seat and headed towards the clinic.
Without missing a beat, Danny looked over at me and asked, “Are you going to answer my question?”
I looked over at him and asked, “What question?”
He gave me one of those ‘are you stupid’ looks as he asked, “Where’s Logan?”
I looked away as I informed him, “Logan didn’t make it.”
Danny asked, “What does that mean?”
I glanced in his direction, “I’ll explain everything later.”
We stopped in front of the clinic and started to unload Bobby when Mia came rushing out to help us.
She glanced around, but didn’t stop helping as she asked, “Where’s Logan?”
I couldn’t help but look away.
She must have noticed me, “Jimmy? Where’s my husband?”
I slowly looked in her direction until our eyes met. I didn’t have to say a word, my eyes told her everything.
I’ll give her credit. She stood strong and continued working.
She looked over at me as she coldly told me, “When I’m done patching everyone up, we’re going sit down and talk.”
I nodded in agreement as I told her, “Yes, we will. But not until everyone is bandaged up.”
Danny helped me lay Bobby onto the clinic table, it was going to be Mia’s operation table. After laying Bobby down, we went back to help Ruff. On the way out of the clinic, I thought that it was a good thing that we had raided the hospital a few miles away all those months ago. It looked like we needed those supplies.
Mia started the surgery on the most severe of us and worked her way backwards, meaning that she started with Bobby.
Since none of us were of any use to her while she operated, Mia asked me, Jimmy? Can you go get your sister to assist me?”
She remained calm, considering the circumstances. I guess her tutelage under my mom had paid off.
Mia told me, “Tina’s down in the ‘War Room’.”
The War Room was an old underground meeting room, it reminded everyone of an old fallout shelter. It did have that kind of World War 2 bunker kind of feel to it, hence the nickname ‘War Room’. This was the room that was rumored to connect the Warehouse to the building across the street by a hidden underground tunnel. Even after all that time living at the Warehouse, we still couldn’t find the passage.”
I became lightheaded as I arrived at the stairway to the War Room. I guess the amount of blood loss was catching up to me. My shoulder was hurting like Hell, which turned out to be a good thing at the time because the pain reminded me that I was still alive.
Feeling like I was about to pass out, I yelled downstairs, “Hey? Don’t be alarmed, it’s just me.”
My words came out mumbled as I slowly made my way down the stairs with help from the left wall. I had to lean on the wall in order to keep myself from falling. As I made my way down the stairs, my mind started to work its way through the past few hours. I guess my mind was trying to find a rational reason for how I was starting to act. I realized that I might have used too much energy after being shot or that my adrenaline had finally run out.
I must have sounded like a zombie or something. I was met at the bottom of the stairs with chairs and I don’t mean that they were waiting for me to sit. Both Seth and Austin had the chairs up in a defensive position, sort of like how a lion tamer would hold the chair in front of a lion. They were ready to attack whatever was coming down the stairs.
I must have looked ghostly pale or something because they didn’t hesitate to lunge at me. They almost got me too, but my sister had stopped them. She must have sensed or realized that I wasn’t one of the zombies.
Her eyes focused on my wound, “Brother? Are you alright? What’s happening? What was that explosion? Where is everyone? Is everyone okay?”
I must have looked like I was going to pass out because she stopped talking and rushed forward to help me sit down. Seth quickly put his chair down so I could sit. JoJo rushed forward from some hiding place.
I slowly turned my head when I heard, “Daddy!”
JoJo rushed towards me with her arms opened wide, but she stopped short when she saw me. Her eyes became wide when she saw my blood-stained shirt.
I smiled faintly, “JoJo. Hey sweetheart, daddy has a bad ouchy.”
I glanced over at my sister, but addressed my daughter, “Some of the others have worse ouchies then I do.”
I looked over at my sister, “Mia needs your help with surgery.”
My sister looked confused, “What’s going on?”
When I didn’t answer, she demanded to know, “Why is Mia having to do surgery?”
“We’ll discuss it later, but for now, you need to go help Mia in the clinic.”
She caught my hidden meaning. Without responding, my sister jumped up and ran up the stairs towards the clinic. With a little effort, I slowly got up from the chair. Once I was on my feet, I felt a little better but that wasn’t saying much. Besides, how I felt was irrelevant because we had stuff to do and people to save.
I slowly made my way towards the stairs. I stopped before the first step and turned towards Seth, Austin, and my daughter.
I told them, “Everything’s going to be alright. I’ll be back to get them soon. Until then, I need you both to watch over JoJo.”
The both agreed to watch her, but Seth demanded, “Uncle Jimmy? Where are our sisters?”
Before I could reply, Austin blurted out, “They must be dead!”
Seth became offended by that statement and looked at Austin, “You don’t know that for sure.”
They looked at each other for a few seconds before looking back towards me. They stared at me in silence. I didn’t know what to do or say. Did I tell them? Was it my place to tell them? I didn’t know the answer to that question, but they did deserve the truth.
I turned around and slowly sat down on one of the bottom steps. I motioned for them to come and sit down with me. They sat down on their ‘lion’ chairs in front of me. I motioned for JoJo to come sit next to me. She crawled up on my lap and hugged me.
My eyes moistened as I hugged my daughter back. I held onto her as tight as I dared without crushing her little body. I feared that I was going to lose her. As a matter of fact, that was all I kept thinking about. What would I do if I had lost her too?
I lost it. My eyes moistened uncontrollably, and I wept. The worst part was that I could feel her crying too.
When I finally released her from my hug, I looked into her moistened eyes. She tried to apologize for running away but was too choked up to get her words out correctly. I smiled at her despite myself and pushed her hair out of her eyes. No, I thought. I would die before I saw any harm come to her.
I looked over at the two boys and noticed that their eyes were wet. Did they know? Had they guessed? Were they overjoyed at seeing my interaction with my daughter? I guess it didn’t matter because I was about to tell them everything. Well, everything that I knew anyway.
With my daughter sitting on my lap and her head on my shoulder, I looked at the boys, “Before I begin, I need you to tell me everything that happened. I promise to fill in the blanks with what I know.”
They each took turns as they confirmed what I had already known. Brian and Cleo had rushed into the Warehouse. They had gathered all the women and children and took them to the safety of the buses. Shaelynn had taken my twins, Cole and Corbin with her. JoJo had taken off looking for me when the shooting started. My mom had sent Seth and Austin to go help with the kids when they noticed
that JoJo was missing. Together, they had volunteered to go find her (they had been inseparable since the first days at the Warehouse).
After frantically searching the Warehouse, they ended up finding her with her Aunt Christina. My sister came across her while trying to find out about me and Bobby. My sister decided to take JoJo to the safety of the War Room until I could come and get her. My sister made sure that she told Mia where she was going just in case.
It was a good thing that my sister decided not to take her back to the buses. Seth and Austin had found her with her aunt. They had tried to talk my sister into allowing them to take JoJo back to the safety of the buses whenever they heard a couple of explosions. They weren’t sure what to do or what was going on, they decided to go to the safety of the War Room.
I sat there for a second as the information sank in, thinking about all the what-ifs that could have been. Maybe, all this devastation wouldn’t have happened if we had just killed the reservist imposters when they first arrived. What if we had just killed Kevin and Bruce when we had the chance? Maybe, just maybe, my twins would still be alive. I realized that I had phased out in my thinking and turned my attention back to the boys.
I told them, “ I want to Thank You both for watching over and protecting JoJo. Y’all did an awesome job, but do you think you can continue watching her until I get back?”
I should have known that I couldn’t outwit a couple of young smart teenagers.
They had caught my hidden meaning, while Austin asked, “Why aren’t we supposed to go to the safety of the buses?”
Seth questioned, “It’s because the buses had abandoned us, isn’t it?”
I took a deep breath and told them the truth, “Something spooked Cleo and Brian causing them to try to leave, but something happened. They didn’t make it very far. The explosions you heard were the buses being blown up.”