by Jimmy Bird
They boys just stared wide eyed at me as Seth asked, “What did you mean the buses were blown up? Where are our families?”
I looked from one face to the other as I told them, “I’m sorry, but there were no survivors.”
Denial set in as Austin spoke, “That’s impossible, we had just seen our sisters a little while ago.”
“I know that it’s hard to accept, but it’s the truth. Everyone on those buses are dead! I’m sorry that you had to find out this way.”
I lowered JoJo from my lap and stood up. I slowly turned towards the stairs, trying to psych myself up to climb back up. I admit I was tired and hurting, but we still had so much to do. To be honest, I wanted all of this to be a horrible nightmare that I just needed to wake up from. Unfortunately for us, it wasn’t a nightmare.
I looked back towards the boys and reminded them, “Watch JoJo for me, will you? From this point on, I will need your help to protect her. Can you do that for me? I’ll need you to be strong for her. This world we now live in is harsh and y’all are going to have to be strong to survive in it.”
I stood there for a second just thinking. I felt bad for them because they were being forced to mature faster than they should have had too.
A thought occurred to me and without thinking, I told them, “Remember, there are but a handful of us left and only by working together will we survive.”
Chapter 16 Day 241, Plan D
I want to start off by saying that this will be my last few meaningful pages in this journal. No! I’m not joking. As you can imagine, we had to abandon our sanctuary but not right away. We knew that if we had to leave right away then we would all die. So, we waited for the right time. We had to make sure that we were at full strength before we left. I guess that it was a good thing that we now had gathered all those ‘extra’ supplies. I know that it was wrong for me to say something like that, but it’s the truth.
Now that I got that little piece of information out of the way, I’ll update you on everything that had happen since my last entry. As you can imagine, we have survived. Yes, us few have survived, and it was only because we had to quickly adapt to our new situation. Truth be told, we learned to live from our previous mistakes again.
As I’ve already stated, all of us who were injured had survived, including Bobby. It was hit and miss there for a few days but, he ended up pulling through. Believe it or not, the bullet fractured his collarbone. Luckily, Mia had learned enough from my mom and Ruff’s wife to doctor him up. She had been able to cut him open and I guess ‘stitch’ the bone back together or something like that. Hopefully, it heals correctly. She was then able to make him a makeshift type of cast. After twenty days or so, she began working with him trying to rehabilitate his left arm. After all that time, he still didn’t have full strength in his shoulder and Mia wasn’t sure if he ever would, but she did note his vast improvement.
In those early days after his injury, he told my sister, “Hun, don’t worry about me. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Much like Bobby, Ruff’s recovery had also been slow. I’m going to say that it took close to two weeks of healing before he could even put weight on his leg. It was discovered that he was shot three times in the leg. Lucky for him, only one of the bullets hit a major artery. I had to give Mia credit for what she was able to do for him. Especially, since she had limited medical knowledge and the limited tools, she had available. She was able to get in there and close off the artery. She had been so cool under pressure. Mia stated that Ruff’s main issue was that he had been trying to do too much after initially being shot. He ended up tearing the muscle and cartridge around the lodged bullets. Don’t get me wrong, he is up and moving around, but he had a noticeable limp. Mia expressed that she wasn’t sure if his leg was ever going to fully heal but informed him that he had to keep rehabilitating it.
Danny’s wound was a through and through. Meaning, it went straight through his shoulder without doing too much damage. His wound, however had to be cauterized before any infection took hold. It was observed that the exit hole was bigger than the entrance hole. I was told that the bullet that hit him was powerful enough to spin him around causing him to hit his head. His head had a four-inch gash across it. It was said that while I was in the War Room, Mia had worked on cleaning his head wound and could see part of his skull. It was said that it looked kind of gross. Mia and my sister had to hold the skin together while they applied super glue to the wound. I was informed that it was the sort of thing that field medics used to close wounds quickly while out in combat. Mia was able to use Band-Aid strips to hold it together while it healed up. Danny had a severe headache for a few days but was up and walking around soon after.
As for me, my wound wasn’t as severe as some of the others or so I’m told. The bullet went through me without causing too much damage. Luckily, it missed all the major arteries. Besides the loss of blood, I kind of widened the hole a little more then what it was initially, when Logan and I went to get the maintenance truck. They had to cauterize the wound in order to keep me from getting an infection. Unfortunately, my shoulder hadn’t fully healed by the time I needed to use it. I just didn’t have time for it to heal because someone had to see to our defenses.
Mia! What else could I say about that strong young woman. She stood in there and operated on all of us injured guys without batting an eye. She never faulted nor stopped to rest while we needed her.
When she was done working, she refused to go rest. Instead, she walked up and stood over me with her arms crossed. I looked up into her wanting eyes. I knew what she wanted. I had made a promise to tell her about her husband when she was done. As a man of my word, I slowly began to stand. I will tell you this much, my shoulder still hurt like hell causing me to wince as I stood up. I’m easily a foot taller than her and had to look down. What I found when I glanced into her eyes was an impatient tense expression.
I asked her, “Are you sure that you want to know what happened to Logan?”
Without hesitation, she confirmed, “I do. I want to know everything.”
As promised, I told her everything that had happened. I started off by telling her how Logan had come out to help us get back inside the Warehouse. About How we went to go find a truck in order to carry Danny and Ruff to the clinic. I finished my story by telling her that his last words were for her as he saved my life. I made sure to point out that he had saved all our lives when he had sacrificed his own.
I managed to control the strong emotions that were surging through me, but Mia on the other hand, could not. She had become unsteady on her feet as she fought to keep from breaking down. It looked like it was a losing battle for her. She carefully sat down in a chair in the corner and placed her face into her hands.
I could hear her crying softly as her whole body began to visibly shake. My heart broke for her. She was so young and inexperienced in life. What made things worse for her was that the one person she loved had been ripped away from her. To top it all off, she didn’t even get a chance to fight for that love. That choice had been stripped from her.
The father in me wanted to tell her to dry those tears, that there were plenty of fish still in the sea, but I realized that would have been a mistake. We didn’t know how many people were left out in the world and after our recent experience with people, we didn’t know what kind of people they would even be.
My sister walked over and knelt. She placed her arm over Mia’s shoulders. Mia slowly lowered her hands from her moistened eyes and leaned over as she put the side of her head on my sister’s shoulders. Tears began rolling down both of their cheeks.
I couldn’t stand the awkwardness of the situation any longer and looked around for something to do. When nothing popped out at me, an idea sprung to life. I could go look at our defenses again. I told myself that I needed to make sure that we were safe until we were a hundred percent healthy.
I asked my sister, “Can you watch JoJo while I take Seth and Austin with me to
go check on our defenses?”
I could see the worry on her face at the possibility of losing her last remaining child. I tried to reassure her that everything would be fine but wasn’t sure if I was successful in my attempt.
I told her, “I know your worried about Seth, but don’t be. He’s a very capable young man. Besides, with everyone else hurt, I don’t think that I can stop anything that manages to sneak in here on my own.”
She knew that I spoke the truth as she reluctantly agreed, “You’re right. But it doesn’t mean that I like the idea.”
To stop her from worrying, I told her, “Look, will it make you feel better if I told you that before I take him or Austin out with me, I’ll show them how to defend themselves?”
Tina sighed, “A little.”
Without saying another word, I slowly made my way down the hallway that led to the War Room. For the life of me, I couldn’t come up with a weapon that I could teach them that didn’t require the use of my hurt shoulder. I was almost to the stairs when an idea popped into my head. I remembered that the War Room was decorated in some old gas pipes and accessories. I could teach the boys to use the pipes as weapons.
I decided to go get two of the five-foot, three quarter inch pipes and put caps on the ends. After sealing both ends, I would then grind one cap into a spike. I would make them spears or should I say, they could help me make their own spears. With the use of only one arm, I was going to need their help.
I started walking down the stairs to the War Room and knew right away that something was wrong. It was quiet, eerily quiet.
Worried, I slowed my decent the rest of the way down. I tried to be as quiet as a mouse. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I froze in place and listened.
I could hear a low noise coming from around the corner that led into the big meeting room. It was faint, but it was there. Nervous about what I would find, I quietly pulled my knife out of its holster from my belt and peeked around the corner. I saw nothing.
Well, that's not entirely true. I did see something, it just wasn’t what I expected. You see, Seth and Austin took the assignment I gave them to heart. They had realigned the massive business table (I’m not sure how they were able to move it because it took over 6 people just to move it into the room) so that it was diagonal to the corners. It was flipped over on its side, giving them a safe triangle shape with the table being their barricade. They had placed the chairs on top of the table, I think that it was so they could hide better or maybe use it as a better defense. Either way, it was a brilliant idea.
I could still hear the noise, but now that my head was around the corner, it sounded a little like snoring. Without making a sound, I slowly made my way into the room towards the table.
When I approached the table, I stood in awe at what those young men had accomplished. To be honest, I’m not sure that I could have done it with two good arms.
I looked over the chairs stacked on top of the flipped table towards the sound. Laying between the two boys was my daughter, sleeping. She was wrapped up in my blanket (one of the boys must have gotten it for her in order to help her relax enough to sleep). Seth and Austin were also asleep, but they were in a sitting flanking position just in case of an emergency.
I couldn’t crawl over the table to wake them up, so I decided to quietly call out their names in order to get their attention. Instead, it was my daughter who woke up. Poor little thing, I think I scared her to death. She bolted into a seated position, her eyes were wide open while her skin had a pale look to them. She looked scared. I couldn’t help but think that she was probably having a nightmare. She began looking around for the source of the noise that had woken her up. She looked from right to left until she saw my face.
Her expression immediately changed from being frightened to that of happiness as she screamed out, “Daddy!”
Her scream caught Seth and Austin off guard. I watched as they sleepily tried to move into defensive positions. I couldn’t help but smile. It was truly a hysterical sight as they looked like two giant worms falling over from their sitting positions against the walls. To top it all off, they immediately tried to stand up as fast as they could.
JoJo was already on her feet coming towards me before Seth and Austin even knew what was happening. I dropped to my feet and waited her arrival. By the time they noticed that she was no longer between them, she had already started climbing the chairs in front of the table. Still dazed and confused, the boys tried to grab her. By the time they made it to her, she was already in my arms, hugging me tightly.
After a few seconds, she loosened her grip and childishly asked, “Daddy? What’s going on? Where were you?”
Before I could even respond, she quietly whispered, “Where’s Cole and Corbin?”
Her question hit me hard. What was I going to tell her? How was I going to tell my little girl that it was just us two now?
I couldn’t find my voice as I held her tightly. I closed my eyes and started crying. She must have known something was wrong because she began crying too.
After what seemed like an eternity, I slowly opened my blinking eyes. I used my good hand to wipe my moistened eyes. I gently pushed her back from me and looked down at her. I used the back of my hand to wipe her tears away. I struggled with my words as I tried to tell her that it was just us now. JoJo’s eyes were red from crying and she was sobbing horribly.
Somehow, she managed to ask, “Were my little brothers attacked the same way Bubba was?”
I knelt there speechless as I looked at my daughter. I keep forgetting just how smart she was.
I took a deep breath, “No JoJo, they were not. Some bad people killed them. The same bad people shot me and Uncle Bobby.”
She looked at me wide eyed, she asked, “Uncle Bobby’s hurt?”
I smiled sadly, “Yes. He got shot but thanks to Mia, he’s going to be okay. He’s hurt pretty bad and needs as much rest as possible so he can get better.”
I knew that this was just what she needed to take her mind off her brothers.
I told her, “In a few minutes, I’ll take you to go see him. He needs your help.”
She seemed excited, “What can I do to make Uncle Bobby feel better?”
“Well, you can help your Aunt Tina take care of him.”
Her face brightened up at the thought of helping her Uncle Bobby get better.
I put her down on the ground and looked towards Seth and Austin. They had stood there quietly and motionless as they watched us. It looked like they were trying to figure out if it was all just a dream or a nightmare.
I jumped a little as my daughter grabbed my left hand. Let me tell you, she has one heck of a grip. It was as if she was afraid to let it go.
I stood up, “Thank you both for watching over JoJo.”
I don’t think that they were prepared for my response. It was as if I caught them completely off guard. I looked once again at their defensive structure and smiled. I thought to myself that if anyone could survive in this new world, they could. I motioned for them to follow us as I led them all upstairs and out of the War Room.
As we walked down the hallway that led to the clinic, I noticed all the empty rooms. Just hours before, we were a thriving community and now look at us. Now there were just nine of us left. Would we survive?
I think that the answer to that age-old question was that ‘only time would tell’. One thing was for sure, we wouldn’t survive if we stayed at the Warehouse much longer. We did have enough supplies to last a few months, but that was it. We were now too few and too injured to go on supply runs, but that was a problem for another time. First things first, our number one priority was to make sure that the Warehouse was secure.
There was nothing but silence as we continued walking down the hallway. Maybe, we were thinking the same thing, it was just too quiet. There was no movement, no children running around playing. It was a horrible empty feeling. To be honest, it was almost as bad as losing my family. My wife and three boys we
re now gone, lost to me forever.
I looked down at my daughter and noticed that she even looked deep in thought. She was now the youngest child around and was being forced to grow up in a hard, cruel world. I vowed that she would have that opportunity to grow up. I was determined to protect her, my last remaining child. It was my silent promise to her and her mom.
I dropped JoJo off at the clinic and took the boys around the perimeter of the Warehouse. On the way, we stopped by the armory and picked up some useful weapons. Seth and Austin each wanted a gun, but I wouldn’t allow it.
I explained, “The zombies are attracted to noise and the gunfire would attract an even larger number of zombies outside. If that was to happen, we would be stuck in here forever or the Warehouse would be overrun. We only use guns as a last resort.”
Seeing the logic in what I told them, they reluctantly left the guns alone.
Seth asked, “If we’re not using guns, what weapons will we be using?”
With a straight face I reached out and handed them two of the five-foot, three quarter inch gas pipes and two of the fourteen-inch machetes.
Confused, Austin asked, “What are we supposed to do with the pipes?”
I smiled as I told them that a machete was basically a miniature sword.
Seth, “Okay. But, what about the pipes?”
I smiled even bigger as I asked, “What main weapons were used throughout history in every major battle, until the turn of the century?”
They replied in unison, “Guns.”
I kept smiling, “No. Guns weren’t invented until a few hundred years ago. I’m talking about a weapon a lot older than that.”
Seth and Austin glanced toward each other and shrugged.
Austin looked deep in thought and finally blurted out, “Swords?”
I looked at Austin, “Your instinct is pretty good. Swords go back thousands of years. What other weapon would be considered older?”
I looked from one boy to the other, waiting for an answer.